#odyssey

August nods. "You did what you did to help someone you loved." he restates.

"Yes, I love her with all my furking heart, you oathbroken yahoo"

"How did you meet?" he asks evenly.

"Oh, that" Her eyes go dreamy "I got an email asking me for help making a cloaking vehicle... damned pooka torment her wherever she goes so she wants to hide from them"

"That.... might actually be a popular idea. Without the ensuing baggage. Please go on."

"Well, she was geased to never stay at a place too long so when I did meet her, she was so forlornd and lost... How could I say no? But then I realized I might break the gease itself.. .and when I mentioned it, she and I talked about how to maybe pull it off."

"And then what happened?"

"Well, I freaking... I guess 'm jumping ahead... but some of this stuff ain't your business"

"Tell me as much as you wish. Please remember, I can only help you with as much as I know."

She rolls her eyes "I want you to help HER!"

"His Grace gave me to understand, and to say to you, that if I help you ease your sentence, it might help Baroness Rathbone in turn. Those were his words."

She stiffens, "Give me that notebook and I'll furking WRITE IT ALL"

"Ahhh.... yes, we might take that step. For now, let's be more cautious." he makes notes "I'll ask again, then what happened?"

She relates an excited tale of how wonderful the Balor was, how caring ,and intelligent. It is clear that she's smitten

(Int plus investigation for August)

/roll 6

The order of events, very important, includes that... Rathbone didn't seem to really kiss up until she found out HOW talented the nocker was and ideas were made about how to remove a geas

"Would you object to being kenned by a reliable third party?"

"Not like I can stop them. If it helps her, that's all that mamtters"

August makes that note, and taps his lips with the pen in thought a moment.

"Alright.... what happened next?"

She relates how they were sure they had the remedy, how she used the glamour from one Dream Dancer, one near... to do the working "Just one, right? But... the ritual went wrong..." And she describes her lover freezing up

August takes -careful- and -close- notes.

The nocker's memory is somewhat suspect, but it is earnest

August listen, in particular, for details about what the ritual was and how it went wrong.

A lot of it is beyond his magical knowledge, but the main part seems to be you don't try to undo the most powerful soveriegn spell by faking it out

He taps the pad with his pen in thought. "To your knowledge, does Baroness Rathbone have the Art of Sovereign?"

"Oh yes, she does... she was able to explain a lot more of it to me"

He nods, makes a note.

"Once the geas was lifted, what were your plans?"

"We were going to run away together.. she promised" A wistful happy look