A squeaking wheel can be heard approaching from the main road. Moments later, an aged fairy in a green tunic appears, pulling a cart behind him. The cart is loaded with pumpkins, apples, masks, faux spider webs, wax body parts, and various other decorations both ordinary and grotesque. The fairy appears distracted and mutters to himself quietly as he drags the goods down the road.
He stops by the town post, unrolls a piece of decorative parchment, and sighs deeply. "Doom, doom, doom. Maybe this town can survive one of her parties," he says to himself, then tacks it on the post. He snorts. "Sure. Just like the last three." He hoists the cart back up with a grunt of effort and rolls it in front of the tavern, squeaking along the way.
He pulls some decorations out, takes them into the tavern, and begins hanging them without any word or ado. As he goes about his work, he starts to sing:
Doom, doom upon us all
The party bell's about to toll
Hide the candy, save us all
The queen, the queen has come to callHang, hang the decra'tions
Make some goodies, make a ton
Smile big and have some fun
Or else, or else you'd better runWoe, woe upon this land
For no place yet could long withstand
Surely you could not foresee
The doom, the doom that comes for thee
He sings the song merrily as he works, apparently unfazed by its dire lyrics. He hunches over briefly and cups a hand to his back. "I'm getting too old for this."
Grandpa Thad raises an eyebrow at Glimmer, tentatively plucks a cookie out of the sack, and gnaws on it thoughtfully. "Mmm, thank you, dear. My you are energetic, aren't you? And with so many cookies, I don't suppose you'll be wanting any of the candy I've brought. Such a pity. There's far too much of it." He gestures to a sack on the table with a twinkle in his eye.
Grandpa Thad waits for the fairy to rush the sack of candy, then continues. "You can call me Grandpa Thad. Everyone does. Ever since… well, ever." He scratches his head and wrinkles his nose as if trying to remember something. "Am I your grandpa, dear? Probably. I have trouble keeping track. So many little fairies. Anyway, the queen sent me here to… to… look for glitter, I think? You wouldn't happen to know where I can buy some glitter, would you, dear?"
Glimmer rushes the sack of candy and sticks her entire head and both arms in the bag (only a feat a Fae can accomplish), while saying "Glitter you say? Are you quite sure you don't mean Glimmer? Cuz' me and Gaius sended the High Queen Festivia of the Seelie Court of Summer a letter a few days ago. We had one of our own get his face into an accident with a mask of the other Court's kind." Glimmer pauses briefly, pulling both herself and two handfuls of wrappers back out of the candy sack. "She sent you, you say? IS SHE COMING? MY LORD LOOK AT THIS TOWN! Look at ME, look at YOU! We pust prepare! This is certainly a grace upon as all it, Grampa Thad. And you are most definitely my Grampa. Nobody carries that much candy unless they're family. Blood or not."
Glimmer begins fiddling with her tutu, stuffs four pieces of unseen candy into her mouth and says "There's much so much to do! I must let Dr. Griffon know. He's my goblin. His real name is Grishal. AND UNCLE WREYNN! He'll be simply overjoyed and out of his head at my good news! Why do you speak of the High Queen Festivia of the Seelie Court of Summer as if we are all doomed. You shouldn't say such things outloud. Or even think them really. You know she can kill you dead, rightey-oh-right, dontcha?"
Idris walked out of the tavern wanting absolutely nothing to do with the bodysnatching going on in there. "Way too high for that shit"
Idris hears Glimmer talking to the old man about his unseelie guildsman "Hey man........."Idris pauses for a long time, obviously and embarrasingly forgetting his own guildsmans name. "Anyway man hes not so bad. A little on the spooky side sometimes but so is just about everyone else here."
"Oh, so YOU'RE Glitter. Nice to meet you, dear. Yes, the queen got your note, right after her last party. It was easy to read from all the flames, you see. And she decided Jastrey sounded like a lovely place for her next party."
"An accident on his face, you say?" Grandpa Thad nods sagely. "Mm hm, mm hm, that is dire. There's a potion that'll fix that right up. Get me three fresh rutabagas picked on a full moon, an onion from an ogre's den, a spring chicken, a handful of salt, and a dash of chives." He frowns for a moment. "Oh wait, no. That's a recipe for rutabaga soup."
He continues listening to Glimmer. "You shouldn't keep goblins, dear. They spoil and smell most foul. And invite everyone you can. Just be sure to warn off anyone you like. Wouldn't want too many innocent bystanders."
He resumes putting up decorations, talking as he does so. "And don't mind the doom talk, Glitter. It's just something I made up to pass the time. Just an old codger prattling on about nonsense. Don't worry about the queen. She wouldn't hurt her dear sweet grandpa."
"She wouldn't have anyone to clean up afterwards," he adds under his breath with a light chuckle.
"Dr. Griffon is perfectly dignified and bonified. Certified even. You'll see! And I'll invite every single body here. They'll show up too! I know a song about doom. It goes like this! DOOOOOOM DOOMIE DOOOOOOOOOOOME DOOOMIE DOOOOMIE DOOOOOOOM!" Glimmer begins fixing the decorations behind Grampa Thad, and then begins helping to hang them herself, continuing to sing her doom song.
A watery shimmer of a portal begins to form a few yards from the entrance of the shady corner, the image within it that of dark cavernous halls, and perhaps a dwarf or two. It stood open for a moment, the visage of Akon, Cail, Blisdon, and Finian seen on the other side, the warlock speaking a few garbled words before giving a bow and then turning towards the portal and stepping through it, offering a glance at the dwarf which seemed guardian to it.
She looked among the cart and decorations being put up along the tavern, red eyes scanning the scene with some fire before walking directly to the tavern doors and sliding them open, shutting it behind her without a word.
At the sound of the tavern door closing, Glimmer's eyes dart to them. At the sigh of Akon, she clucks her tounge and says "MY OH MY, LOOK WHAT HELL DRUG IN!" Glimmer continues hanging decorations and addresses Akon. "My Queen is coming soon, Akon. I'd suggest you find something much spiffier than the brimstone coated swamp smelling attire you insist on wearing constantly. A bath even! Do Deki's do that? She can kill you rightey-oh-right dead, she can. Wanna come to her party?" Glimmer dives into the candy sack again, burrowing her torso to the bottom, then coming back out with bits of candy stuck in her hair.
Cail exits the Portal only a few moments after Akon and follows her into the tavern as well, also noticing the cartfull of... things. Looking around the tavern he notices the new decorations that glimmer and another gentleman were putting up. Questioning aloud to the few people in the Tavern he says, "Is there a party I don't know about?"
Akon's eyes flicker down to her wine as she is addressed. Her tone hinting annoyance. "I bathe.' She answered shortly. "And these are the garbs of my people...which I wear proudly." She rose, looking towards Glimmer. "Your people have customs, mine do as well. Perhaps respect both ways would at times...be appreciated." She set down her glass of wine then, unfinished, and went to the door of the tavern, making her exit.
Glimmer flits down from hanging decorations when Snowball mews. She takes one of the pumpkins from the car and says 'Here Snowball! You can play with this. Try not to knock Grampa Thad over. He's pretty fussy!" Glimmer pats the very large cat on the head and rolls the pumpkin to him. She then places a small bowl of milk and cookies on the floor before setting back to decorating.
Sliding out of the tavern shortly after Idris, the dark haired and masked Uordeq eyed the gathered group and the portal from which some of them had stepped. Her eyes narrowed at the bearded figures she could just glimps through it. She stopped the low growl threatening to form in her throat and approached with an air of calm. Katerina dips her head in greeting to the old fae and offers up a somewhat grim smile to Glimmer and Cail. "A fairy party? Sounds like quite the adventure."
"Miss Glimmer, your courier was wonderful, thank you for your help again." Katri continued to smile and offered out a small pouch- this time containing brownies. The slight grimness returned to her face almost immediately though, "Also, it would seem Miss Binx has been taken through some kind of portal against her will."
She seemed to largely ignore Akon and offered a hand to the meowing avalancher that had caught her interest during her last venture to the tower where the brotherhood resided. She hoped he didn't bite.
Glimmer quickly slaps Katri's hand away from Snowball and says 'He may bite, love! And what's this of Binx? She's gone? Deary-oh-dear. I fear I'll have to speak to Barbaal at once. Is he aware? Were you there when it happened?" Glimmer nervously munches cookies and plops down against the cat.
Katri calmly moved her hand back to her side, before continuing on to answer Glimmer's questions. "Barbaal knows, he was standing by her when a portal opened behind them not far from where I was sitting in the far corners of the tavern. Several assailants came out and pulled her through and closed it. It was a breif scuffle, no one had really any time to move. Barbaal didn't even notice she was gone for an instant. Whatever it was, whoever, it wasn't good. The magic left behind was rather powerful and felt... unpleasant. Almost ominous, in my opinion. Certainly dangerous. He raced off, presumably to the Quarter, and said we should let people know to try and ensure no one else gets taken. This would be one of the few times an Angori and I agree on something."
Cail nods in Katri's direction as she offered what she called a smile and as he overheard the conversation between the Fae and Uordeq, his own visage became rather grim.
"I would say that the situation is rather curious, to be honest. Who would want to kidnapp Binx," said Cail mainly to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear.
Glimmer flits rapidly out to the post, wondering who the winged being is and says "HELLO HELLO EXTREMELY! Who are you? Are you okay? Have some cookies! I have tea. You look old and travelled and devoid of sugars. Come sit, dearie. Mama Glimmer takes care of everybody round' here." Glimmer holds out a sack of cookies and waits patiently as a Fae can be expected to.