Runners
Kinnie Zest
Hotkey
Avocado
Test
Aylin
6 Cylinder
Carol Turpentine

The team wakes up ready for Morning Hearing, and drugs Aylin’s mom again to keep her chill during. They see scenes from last night’s Ball displayed on the Great Hall’s shifting tapestries. They also overhear gossip that Hermit has stabilized Aesha Viltharion, the young nighttime explorer and Executioner’s niece, due to Castle alchemists being thus far unable to cure her poisoning. Woops. The Executioner himself leaps up and butts in line to petition the Court to ban Earthlings as they are obviously unsafe, given their poisoned food- he publicly aligns himself with Hermit’s goals, and also requests all the Tarot cards in the Taco Temple set. This seems to go over poorly, and Avocado sees his chance.

He butts in next, and present the Bracelet of Whispers to the Queen, mocking Viltharion for his outburst while doing so. The Queen seems amused, and suggests that all Earthlings should learn this level of appropriate decorum. Eclipse seems pleased. The hearings continue, with a man pleading for help finding his missing wife, Tzuri Group archaeologists finding Higher Power sponsors for their proposed dig in the Wilds. And Gary Cline, the CEO of Horizon, petitions for a joint plane travel agency, he seems to be playing up his Cali Bro vibes, which some at the Court love and some hate. He makes some sort of bargain with the Queen for provisional approval for a year and a day.

Test messages Cline and requests a meeting, not expecting him to show. Aylin messages Chloe Glowworm, of Magician, to help with her mom. And the rest of the team lines up meetings with Xoc and Glasseater. Glowworm takes over magical care of Aylin’s mom, helping to soothe her (she seems to recall everything), and suggests seeking a skilled dream mage to help her process. Test and Hotkey also verify that a UV node could potentially work for that too, with an AI or dedicated therapist. Test actually meets with Cline, who tells him that orks have to stick together. They head to the Hall of Whispers, which seems like a good meet spot, and Cline and Test share some info. Test isn’t super impressed by him but recognizes a potentially useful and/or dangerous connection.

The rest of the team meets with Xoc, and trades more info. She seems cautious an well-informed, but interested in future collabs. They decide to confer amongst themselves but likely ally- she seems to have a lot of Tarot and other knowledge, and has managed to operate in secret for a while at Court. They head to Glasseater’s lab and get some Taco Temple tests run- they all have the trace elements from Carcean except for Aylin, and Glasseater confirms that HMHVV infection appears to clear it from the system- strange. Glasseater requests future collabs should they find anything else weird. The team then heads to some libraries to start looking for the Ashen Mirror for Harlequin.

They find info on the Chapels of the Castle, and search them to no avail. They decide that High Priestess’ hidden mountain Chapel or the AZT temple in Geocache seem likeliest next options.