[Aria]

"True enough, my apologies!  Strangers make me nervous, and they don't come much stranger than Overworlders!

Tamsyn's message said you were going to help us...and something about a concert?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn likes the girl already and can feel the hydras on her body responding to the ink on the Flower girl.  After all the years wearing them, she is used to the way it feels when they move about on her skin, but she can imagine what the casual onlooker might think.  She looks over to ISaint to get the discussion started.

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint nodded. 'Better to get that over with quickly'
"We are doing a favor for the Old One. Uniting the two houses through a wedding, stabilizing your underground dominions.
I probably don't have to introduce us, but we..." he indicated towards Al and himself, "... were part of the group you house had that little falling out with that resulted in your stupid shock troops causing the death of one of the Harlekinade.

Now, the sensible thing would be to have both your houses do this on their own volition, but obviously down here that is as alien a concept as above.
Our group established a cover as musicians, touring Below, so we could invite people from different houses to the same place without arousing suspicion.
The plan insofar as we were able to make one, sees us holding a concert at a holy place, bringing all the witnesses into the audience and than drop the ceremony as a surprise during the concert. That way the opposition in your houses should be taken by surprise and unable to sabotage the proceedings beforehand.

At the moment we are trying to find such a holy place..."

"Let me stop you right there," the girl interrupted Isaint, "the Flowers have a sacred place for their weddings and it's always on Lyonesse."

"Lyonesse? As in the mystical island from Arthurian Legend? Or the one that rose from the water near Cornwall?"

"Yes, both."

"As far as I know that island is heavily protected by the British military and since it started to glow blue, not even they dare to go there or let anyone else near."

"The flowers don't actually go there - we use the astral gate to travel to its real self."

"So, you hold your ceremonies while astrally projecting at some kind of meta plane?"

"That's so typically overworldlerish. You use fancy words for things you don't understand."

"I just don't hold with mysticism where clear communication is key. And the answer is no. Especially if that astral gate is where I think it is. I lost two team members there and the Harlequins had to slay there bodies after some Shedim took them over."

"Oh, is the big burly overworldler afraid of a little magic?"

"Cute, but I shouldn't be surprised that your house has such customs. It fits with the general death wish theme. The answer is still no. If your girls want to they can arrange for another ceremony afterwards, but that won't be the concern of my chummers and me. We are not leaving our bodies and our gear behind just so we can satisfy your dangerous customs."

[adamu]

The dwarf woman pursed her full lips and toyed idly with the ceramic flowers affixed to her ear.

"I would hesitate to question the Old One's wisdom. But I hope someday to ask him why he selected Overworlders for this task. Certainly for us we see the journey to the real Lyoness as no more daunting than you would a stroll to the village steeplehouse for one of your weddings. And I can assure you that the protocols protecting the waiting husks of nuptial celebrants are most sacred and inviolable."

"Yeah, well missy, ol' Al's attachment to his own damn husk - as in, stayin' the hell in it - is pretty well inviolable too. Like the bossman says, no dico on the astralo journeyo."

"I do see your reticence, and putting myself in your shoes I believe I can understand it somewhat. But I hope you did not think to arrange a legally viable union between star-crossed lovers from two rival Houses of Below while staying entirely on your preferred playing fields, or by dictating terms to two such tradition-bound institutions. I should think such an expectation naive at best. If your aim is a marriage that will withstand the ex post facto approbation of some very powerful and disgruntled critics from both sides, then you will have to make sure every t is crossed and i dotted. And that, my new friends, will mean holding the ceremony on Lyonesse. Without adhering to these customs, the entire ceremony will be on the shakiest of foundations, vulnerable to annulment proceedings by any number of Flower and Iron House powers."

After a brief pause, she softened her expression and added, "I do like your concert idea, though."

[Mercy Merchant]

>>Could not Deckard watch over our bodies?  Maybe even Jackhammer and Iris if they recover quickly enough?<<

[Jack_Spade]

<<You remember that Nightmare Lord swearing vengeance on us? Also I'm pretty sure that such a high background count would stop Rick and Karasu from being very effective.>>

Isaint replied to the dwarf: "I understand your concern about legal shenanigans, but frankly: Even with a proper wedding they could annul the proceedings by just killing the other's spouse. Leaving them legal options would even improve the two lovebirds chance of survival.
Now if you say the enemies within the house wouldn't dare go that far, they also should consider the fact that hundreds if not thousands of witnesses from Below will see the proceedings. I'm certain that will not be easy to counter - especially if both house heirs proclaim their "I do" obviously from their own free will.
We might even convince the Harlequins to weigh in on that. After all, once the wedding is accepted as fact, undoing it will make whoever tries to undo it very petty in the public eye and inside the courts.

If nothing else we establish here a new tradition: A shot gun wedding with the guns turned towards anybody who dares to object."

[adamu]

Al's cybereyes flicked back and forth between the faces of the noble ork shadowrunner and the dwarf hippie-slaver-drug pusher.

One of them would have to give something up.

Or not. Which was his first choice, because then they could tell that old geezer to take a flying leap before leaving the Underdark forever.

But if he knew Isaint, the tusker would figure out some way to get the job done.

Dammit.

[Aria]

[Sunday July 5th, 2076; Somewhere near Nightside Market, Below, London]
 

"Cute, but I shouldn't be surprised that your house has such customs. It fits with the general death wish theme. The answer is still no. If your girls want to they can arrange for another ceremony afterwards, but that won't be the concern of my chummers and me. We are not leaving our bodies and our gear behind just so we can satisfy your dangerous customs."

Cara smiles gently, “Is it that that you are most afraid of?  That you will be at a disadvantage in Lyonesse?  I don’t know how much you know of the metaplanes, and I suspect you know even less about somewhere as peculiar as Lyonesse and its relationship with Below…but I can assure you that your corporeal bodies will be quite safe while you are there.  Only those who step through the portal with a physical connection appear together on the island, and on the mortal plane their bodies are completely inaccessible to anyone who wasn’t linked at the moment of stepping through…we know there are Shedim Below, do you think anyone would risk an astral journey without protection from their kind?  There is no need for mortal guards, your bodies will literally have stepped out of Time!
 
Furthermore, the form you take on Lyonesse will effectively be a replica of your mortal form…bar some cosmetic changes that happen to fit the metaphor of that place.  The only limitations as I understand it are that you can only take three weapons apiece, and a deck for example is a weapon, even a drone can be represented if you have sufficient emotional attachment to it…three pieces of armour or other equipment…three is a significant number as you are surely aware!  Spells you know, adept gifts, those are unchanged…even the metal that some of you have polluted your bodies with go through unhindered and appear there…
 
If you won’t take my word for it perhaps you could ask your patron for confirmation that what I say is true?”
 
She pauses and the smile grows on her face
 
“A grand Masque…there has not been one in so long…do you think you could persuade the Harliqinade to perform one for our nuptials, such a thing would be the stuff of stories for generations!”
 
***
 
#67
 
 
 

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn smiles.  She is already counting the three weapons and pieces of gear.  She pats the head of her Hell Hound.  "And would my protector be allowed through this portal?"

[adamu]

"When you go through, do you imagine there is any power above or below that could keep him from following?" There was an admiring smile in Cara's voice. She edged forward in her seat and - cautiously - stretched forth a tentative hand. "May I?"

Robyn spoke a quiet word to her companion and nodded, and a beaming Cara began to stroke the beast's head and neck as she spoke. "No, he would be most welcome there - his journey will likely be easier than any of yours."

Al hadn't been keen on leaving his body behind with a bunch of drug-addled free-lovers, but he wasn't sure he liked the idea of it stepping out of Time (!!!!!) - whatever the hell that even meant - any better.

Still, that was starting to look like the way the wind was blowing.

"Okay toots, let's jist say fer shits an' giggles we's entertainin' the idear o' goin' along with this cockamamie stunt. Reckon that's jist a mite beyond the call o' duty. So I'm wonderin', we do this thing...whatcha gon' do 'bout the lights?"

The hippy girl played dumb, her face a clever facsimile of complete incomprehension. It was all right. He'd anticipated this sort of initial obfuscation.

"The messages, sweet cheeks. Whatcha gon' do 'bout the messages inna lights?"

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint pinched the bridge of his nose where his glasses sat. 'Great. Three and three and three - and all in a theme to match - no wonder the Old One insisted on the three of us getting involved. Motherfragger.'

From the corner of his mouth he said towards Al: "I don't think you should engage her about messages in the light - that is probably something you should ask the Old One about as he is at the top of this pyramid."

To Cara he said:
"I admit that this does somewhat assuage my concerns - the limitations are annoying but workable. We would still be leaving a lot of power behind, but the majority of our group would at least be able to be useful.

If I see this right, you'd have to invite all the houses to the island if we wanted to keep the true purpose a secret. And if I understand this right, this will all have an Arthurian/Morgan Le Fey/Lady of the Lake theme, meaning we'd appear as armor clad knights, Celtic berserkers and enchantresses. 
That would take care of the witnesses, the lovebirds and the holy place.

All we would need than would be the official holy man or woman to officiate the ceremony - unless you think our Shinto priestess would suffice.

Still what you ask of us is monumentally dangerous. And Everything has a price - for this service I have three requests:

1) The slavery ends. No more abduction and addiction games. If you want members get them by paying a salary
2) Active fight against the shadow spirits. It should be self evident why this is necessary. All the more puzzling why the houses haven't done more to clean their domain.
3) Same as the two things I said before only in a much louder voice and with more force. The Flowers are granted a great boon by us their erstwhile enemies. Only when these conditions are met we can be sure not to clash again.

If she can guarantee that, I'll do my best to get you and your beloved one safely to and from Lyonesse for your wedding."

[adamu]

Al breathed an immediate sigh of relief and silently congratulated himself on his choice of Isaint as leader. The ork had just created a morally unassailable way to walk away from this ridiculous job and its weird trip to an imaginary island out of time.

Obviously this Cara girl could never make such a promise. Even if she were inclined to do so, which Al doubted, it was miles above her pay grade. If she had even a fraction of the influence needed to make such sweeping and economically disruptive policy changes for her House, then she wouldn't be having to have secret meetings with mercenaries pledged to help her sneak her little wedding past the real powers-that-be.

On the other hand, if anyone tried to tell them they should stick with the job, then they'd have to explain why they wanted to condone the ongoing enslavement of innocents. He didn't doubt that the morally flexible Old One could come of with an elaborate rationalization to that effect, but that didn't mean the more pure-minded Isaint would have to buy it, and if Isaint didn't buy it, then Al would be saying goodbye as well.

Brilliant!

He lit a cigarette and sat back to watch the whole thing fall to pieces.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn can tell when Cara reaches for Al and makes a soft clucking noise to calm him.  After all, it would not do the mission much good to have one of the brides cooked and eaten by the Hell Hound.  To her, everything she says makes perfect sense and she does not understand why ISaint seems so determined to throw rocks into the gears to force it to stop.  >>ISaint. why are you making demands that she cannot possible make happen?  Even if she were the head of her House, she could not do as you ask.  What you are asking is tantamount to requesting that the Mafia stop dealing in prostitution or that Ares stop making guns.  Are you trying to make this fail?  If not, can you please be more reasonable?  And you, Al, I can sense from your relaxed attitude that you approve of these demands.  I think that you are both wrong.  There is a reason you have been tasked to do this.  Do you think that going to the Old One and telling him that you tried is going to cut it with him?  Especially when he finds out that making these demands is your attempt at trying?  You are the leader here, but it seems to me that you are forcing a failure or forcing her to promise something that she cannot make happen.<<

[Jack_Spade]

<<Robyn, the only reason why I entertained the idea of helping the Flowers was that I want to affect change. Slavery is unacceptable and if I could I would also force the Mafia to stop forced prostitution.
This is a negotiation, by starting with a very heavy demand that can't be fulfilled outright, I'm preparing the ground for a realistic that will be received more positive.
Case in point: II didn't specify when this change is to happen. What I want is a commitment that when she ascends, she'll start a policy change. Once she's married she'll be able to indirectly access the Iron Company's resources. That has to count for something.

Your respect for this house is misplaced: They are rotten as are the philosophies they are built on. It was a direct consequence of there rotten policies that brought them into this situation. Reform is a necessary if painful part of getting better>>

[Mercy Merchant]

>>You are a stranger here and you are allowed your opinions and they do not need to agree with mine.  We will just have to agree to disagree, but I am not sure that your previous experience here has not colored your outlook in some way.  You seem far more against these people than you do the various sources of suffering in the Overworld and I do not hear much about changing any of the multinationals or the major crime syndicates to make life better for the many more people they oppress than the relative few down here in Below.  I have lived in both worlds for only thirty years and do not claim to know everything about either Below or the Overworld, but while I will agree that there are some truly horrible people down here, there are even more up there who are far worse.  I am sorry that we disagree so much and will try to not raise the issue again.<<