"Can you tell us when, and perhaps, how this all started? When did the council first become aware of the alien magic in Avelyssia?" Lurel asks.

'She's lonely... none of her kind are still living. It's not likely that she would be politically motivated to help Anromainyus, but what if he promised to unite her with her dead people? Perhaps there are even some of them among the undead,' he wonders, not entirely happy how suspicious he has become.

She stares at you non-plussed. "What alien magic?"

Siffli only knows of it because of you and Anima.

"If you mean the King's madness, it is very annoying. Were he to die, Siffli would be able to act on his behalf. As it is we don't know what to do. There are decisions that need to be taken over colony expansions and the arguments beteen the Corvidians and the Falconians."

She stops then says surprisedly "They seem to have stopped for the moment."

OOC: She's a bug?

OOC> A dodo.

"Could you tell us more about this conflict?" Lurel asks, and frowns. "How can you tell that they have stopped?"



//OOC - I assumed the 'mindprobe' involving the coronets would have told their interrogators about the alien magic?///

OOC> moot point. You would have to have been linking the alien magic to something other than Mara's tomb and I thought that came later. In case it was my mistake it can be assumed that they accept alien magic as being whatever disturbed Mara's tomb, including putting a key there. Your question by implication involves a wider effect about which they have not made any connection.

"Well some colonies are always quarrelsome. When the king lost his mind they saw it as a threat to the whole of Avelyssia. Those who secretly longed for more power took over weaker colonies to 'protect' them. The appearance of that key has frightened them all into believing there is a REAL threat. It means they must work together. Both Corvidians and Falconians are moving out of the colonies that were not their own and are talking to each other again."

She gives you a penetrating gaze. "Do you think there is some suspicion one of the council members could be corrupt?"

Lisette nods. "It might make sense. Those with power, or simply responsibility, are more effective as tools. Have you noticed any unusual...em, *more* unusual behavior recently?"

"We haven't met since the King's illness. But I tried to keep away from them as much as possible. Coralot is an irritating woman always repeating what you say to her and in a loud raucous voice. Then she is typical of Psittacidians. She has never formed a partnership which makes her bitter but not stupid. Ehglette and Cro-Chuff are wrapped up in their own colonies. They resent having to come to the council at all. Kumor is a motherly type but far too complacent for me. When her colony was taken over by the Corvidians she didn't seem to care. That - apathy - is inherent in all Columbidians. They are too home loving. You never see one without a twig in around somewhere. Aliss - well, you'd have to see him - vain and such a poser but a crowd-lover at heart. He won't give you an opinion about anything other than himself without checking what the other members of the colony think. He's a phoenicopteridian of course.

As I say, talk to Steno. She's a Sagittariidian - they usually know everything that is going on around them. "

"Thank you," Lurel replies. "Where can we find Steno? And - is there anything you can tell us that might be helpful?"

[OOC]
Order Psittaciformes (parrots)
Order Columbiformes (doves and pigeons)
Order Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos)
Didn't see Sagittariidian, but I think that's swans and suchlike.
[/OOC]
"We may as well talk to Steno, then. Thank you for your assistance"


Oops, didn't see Theta's there.

OOC> Suprised you couldn't guess! Secretary Birds! I so do like a good laugh.

Archivist says "Best to see them first then come back and ask."

You are whisked away to meet Steno, a sharp and busy female Avelyssian who is moving objects around with an air of great efficiency. She is apparently looking after a wealthy plump Otian (OOC> rich fat bustard).

She looks up from what she is doing enquiringly. "I'm afraid Scrooem is far to busy to see visitors today."

Lurel's empathy tells you that she is very efficient, ruthlessly protective of the Avelyssian she works for and fond of a gossip. She does not however seem unduly ambitious either for herself or her employer.

OOC> Off in ten. Back next Monday.

"We're sorry to interrupt," Lurel says politely, "but the Archivist said that you might be able to help us. Could you perhaps spare us a few minutes?"

Steno glances up. "I could spare you ten minutes if I had ten minutes worth of information for you. What do you need to know?"

'If only I knew that.'

"The archivist said you would be the best person to ask about the council," Lurel says. "It would be good to have some information before we speak to them all, especially with the conflict between the colonies going on."

"Well now let me see. The war between the colonies? No I don't think I can help you there. Bit of local difficulty. All blown over now. If you want to talk to Cro-Chuff or Eghlette about it... If I were you I'd keep a low profile on that one."

She is moving things about ever more quickly.

"Coralot is a noisy creature but doesn't really have a great deal of matter to say if you understand me. She certainly doesn't have any idea of her own. To be honest I'm not sure if she even has a brain of her own. She just spouts back what other people have told her. Sociable type but don't ask her to do anything. If you want to see her take ear plugs. That colony is..."

Steno makes a funny shuddering movement.

"Aliss is almost as brainless. He doesn't seem to notice what's going on. Just stands around admiring himself. Sometimes I think he spends half his day with his head buried in water so much escapes him. And he doesn't do anything unless all the other members in his colony agree to it. You could speak to him I suppose if you want to hear how wonderful he is. To be honest that lot are almost as bad as the Pavians. The Pavians do a great deal of strutting their stuff but it's only the men. If you do see him don't mention croquet. Something to so with his name but don't ask me what."

She works for a moment.

"Archivist you have met. She is very lonely but fiercely devoted to Avelyssia. If anything were to seen to be a threat she would risk her life to dispose of it. And if you are on the same side she is a very loyal friend. I am proud to be counted among her friends."

The is another pause. "Kumor. Hmm. She comes across as being a muddle-head who is too involved with her family to know what is going on around her but I am not so sure. She asks penetrating questions. And she is less peaceful than her kind is usually portrayed as being. I don't think I can give you a proper portrait of her."

After a veritable whirlwind of tidying she ends with: "If I was to say what I think of the others I could get myself into trouble. About the only thing they agree on is keeping the keeper locked up. And keeping Avelyssian blood pure. They do not like 'foreign' intervention. You'll be lucky if they say more than three words to you. That is one thing you can be sure of. Whatever they think of each other they hate non-Avelyssians with a vengeance."

She looks up. "Have I helped?"

"Thank you very much. We will certainly be careful not to mention the war," Lurel replies with a smile. "I appreciate you taking time from your duties to help us. I know you must be very busy, but there is just so much we as strangers don't know. Can you tell us about the incident with Mara's tomb? Surely that would have been debated in council? How was the desecration first discovered?"

She looks a little surprised. "You know in a way we can send our bodies into a different place. It is the way Avelyssia came to be. Before my time of course. Archivist might know how it worked. The King used to send himself to mourn at Mara's grave. When he came back one day profoundly distessed..." She looks at Siffli clearly not wishing to use the word mad. "...I sent myself to look at the tomb and found what had happened. As for debating it - no. We are not the ruling council of Avelyssia we are the council of judges. Our role is to determine guilt and innocence and to pass sentence. It has to be approved by the king. In the current circumstances we do not meet. This causes certain difficulties as I'm sure you can imagine. Are you thinking one of the council members might have been behind it? I would doubt that very much. I would say it had to be a third party."

She pauses for a moment. "It is possible that one of them may have facilitated the actions of this third party I suppose. Not Coralot or Aliss, they haven't the brain. Not me of course and certainly not Archivist. Now I'm really very busy, I don't think I can help you more. If you have a specific and precise question you wish to ask go ahead. But I cannot gossip any more just now. You may come back of course."

Ford whispers to Lurel.

"Oh boy this is getting confusing... all the politics, all the species... my mind is in a knot."

He sighs.

Lurel gnaws his lip, unsure of what to ask her.

"How did the war between the colonies start, and when?" he asks at length. "If we want to avoid offending Cro-Chuff or Eghlette, it might be wise to know what topics exactly to avoid."


He grimaces at Ford. "I wish we had some more clues to go on."

"The war began when the king became ill and because he became ill. Each side believed Avelyssia was under attack and they would make the best defenders. Well that is what they said."

Steno frowns. "If I were you I would not mention the war at all. Why not tell them of your suspicions and see how they react?"

"Attack?" Lurel frowns. "Who were the suspected attackers?"

"If you ask me they used the King's illness as an excuse, nothing more. We never saw any attackers. If you wish to talk to another member of the council I can arrange for you to get there quickly. I really have no more time. I note that you have not asked me about the pending cases. You might wish to ask whoever you see next about it. I doubt if it will help you but you never know!"

She turns away indicating your time with her is over.

Siffli turnes to Lurel, "well then, whose next?".

"Let's go ask Aliss," he suggests.

"Fine by me. Whch colony does Aliss represent, again? I've never been one for remembering faces..."

Aliss is in a crowded room towards the centre of his colony. He is dressed in white with reddish pink splashes as are most of the colony members. Are are tall with long necks and exaggerated noses. They are a fidgetty lot.

"Cases pending?", he says as you ask. "I don't bother with cases until they are being tried. I have no idea what might be pending."

Lurel's empathy shows the reply to be a truthful one. Aliss is, as everyone so far has pointed out extremely vain. He is also quite unintelligent. You can sense no malice in him, indeed you can't sense much at all.

'This one isn't clever enough to hatch any plots, I think,' Lurel ponders, 'but perhaps it's this lack of thought that would make him an ideal tool for someone else to manipulate?'

'I wonder what she meant by 'croquet'?'

For a moment Lurel is tempted to ask, but decides to listen to the advice they have been given.


"How did the war between the colonies affect you?" he asks instead.

"War, what a disgusting subject to talk to me about! There was some petty little squabble earlier. We don't demean ourselves by getting involved in such nastiness. Go away please."

"Let's go and see Eghlette then," Lurel suggests to the others. "Perhaps she'll have something useful to tell us."

As soon as they are out of earshot, Lurel asks:
"Princess Siffli, I don't mean to be rude, but what is someone like Aliss doing on the council of judges?"

Eghlette is hardly more welcoming than Aliss. But she answers your question about cases pending.

"The usual interminable agruments between the colonies about who should be allowed to sing first in the theatre, who should be responsible for repairing this that and the other. Why does it matter? I hear you have spoken already to Aliss, Archivist and Steno. What is there about our boring legal system that could possibly interest you to the extent that you would face a moron like Aliss?"

Lurel's empathy reveals Eghlette to be easily angered. However she does seem very interested in the answer to the question she has asked.

"Mara's tomb," Lurel replies without hesitation. "We heard from Steno how the desecration was discovered. Sadly, she did not have time to tell us more. Not knowing who all the ruling judges are, we simply picked the first one off the list. Sadly, Aliss had nothing to tell us. Perhaps you could help us, though."

He pauses for breath before continuing: "I am assuming that there was an investigation to find the person responsible for the desecration? Has anyone been brought to trial, or convicted for this crime? If not, do you have any suspicions who might do such a thing? From what I hear Mara was highly respected - who would have a motive to desecrate her tomb?"

"We have it from Strigid that Mara's tomb was desecrated by magic. This we find hard to accept but he is adamant. The magic not only desecrated the tomb but somehow placed the key there. It does not seem as though you were meant to find it, though. That makes no sense to me. Perhaps you found it to prevent it being used to free the keeper. It..."

Something stirs in her mind.

"Theoretically our decisions must be unanimous. We do however usually accept one dissenting voice. There is one regularly recurring argument to which that applies. Every time there is an interment on Xetcherin the colony from which the entombed hero came seeks to allow freer access to the tombs. In the past it has always been three in favour, four against. But if one of the others were to change their vote Aliss would certainly go with the majority. In theory there would still be two against but... I wonder? Were that law to be changed perhaps someone could have gone to fetch the key. Interesting."

She is regarding you with a calculating look in her eye.

"I suppose you will want to know who already votes in favour and why. Cro-chuff and I do because we believe Strigid has too much power to himself. One of us can always persuade Coralot. Aliss is unfortunately not quite stupid enough to miss that Coralot does what she's told. He votes at present with the others. If one of the others changed, so would he."

"When was the last time you voted on this?" Lurel asks. After a brief pause he adds: "From what I have heard, the keeper is reviled and feared on Avelyssia - surely his release would not benefit anyone here?"

He gives Eghlette a puzzled look. "After what we've encountered in Xetcherin, I can understand why access needs to be controlled. Is this control of access the only power Strigid holds?"

"We do not like it that we have no idea what these guardians are or what they do. Strigid says he knows nothing of them either but that is hard to believe. We are not in favour of removing access controls altogether but of freeing them to the important functionaries in Avelyssia. Currently not even the King may go there."

"The subject was discussed a while ago. It comes up at least once a year and is one of the matters pending. I raised it for the very reason you are talking about, because of the desecration we could not investigate!"

"And you are right nobody would see the keeper free. But id someone behind the alien magic is influencing one of us. Would we know what we are doing?"

She pauses.

"I cannot think why the key did not simply appear with whoever was meant to get it. Unless it is not the alien magic itself that is behind it but someone taking advantage of it?"

She looks as though she feels you have taken up enough of her time.

"Thank you for your time," Lurel says politely. "Who do you suggest we should talk to next?"

'I wonder.. could it be her, to gain an advantage in this war between the colonies? She appears intelligent and ruthless enough. Though I think we should speak to this Coralot.. if she is easy to influence, perhaps Anromaynius discovered that too. I wish we had a little bit more to go on.. I don't even know if I'm asking the right questions! Though I suppose we can probably rule Aliss out as a suspect...'

Lurel can't prevent a small sigh.

"If my suggestion is correct you should visit Archivist, Steno and Kumor to find if any of them was intending to change their vote and why. Coralot is almost as useless as Aliss but she tends to repeat things told to her. If she were to say something that did not tally with what others have told you... Plan to be there for some time."

There is no doubt that she is mocking you but Lurel cannot sense more than a general dislike of 'foreigners'.

"Thank you for your help," Lurel replies, trying to suppress a sarcastic tone - not entirely successfully.

He looks at the others. "Any preferences as to where we go next?"

Ford blinks.

"No particular preference here. Whatever gets this political jargan over with soon. I'm starting to get a serious headache."

He grins.

"Let's see Kumor, then, as Eghlette suggested," Lurel decides. "And you're not the only one getting a headache from all this.... I get the feeling that they're not telling us all they know."

"Too bad we don't have a mind reader...Lurel, would you be able to tell if Coralot says something original, versus repeating what he has been told to say?"

Kumor is deep inside the colony. There are a great many youngsters around and the parents have an annoying habit of cooing at them repeatedly. The lady herself in dowdy clothes flutters around her own brood. She has five of them.

Lurel's empathy shows Kumor's interest is in her family only. However he feels that part of her mind is not accessible to him. This may or may not be his imagination.

She is distracted constantly by her youngsters.

"Yes. I know you are speaking to the council. Why? Anyway I will help you if I can but please... Oh Olive! That is Columbine's branch, do stop taking it! Please be brief."

"I do apologize for interrupting," Lurel says. "It must have been such a difficult time, for you, with your colony being threatened by the war. We were told that there has long been a dispute over access to Xetcherin - could you tell us your view on that?"


'What is she hiding? And does she even know it? Like Steno said, there is more to her than it appears - what is in that part of her mind? Could it Anromaynius controlling her?'

"Well there is war and there is war. We were never threatened. Our freedoms were perhaps constrained a little but one should accommodate such things."

She separates the squabbling children.

"The access to Xetcherin - yes. I confess to being unsure, after the desecration, that we should continue to allow no access. I had such concerns before but there had never been evidence of abuse. But it wouldn't have matter if the vote was 4/3 in favour of change it has to be at least 6."

"Would greater ease of access not also make it easier for a grave to be desecrated?" Lurel asked, puzzled. "Who has access to Xetcherin now?"

"Well, perhaps but surely the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. At present access is available only to those that are part of an interment ceremony. The guardians, whatever they are, teleport the party to the tomb and straight back after the ceremony. Strigid tells me no one else, not even himself can get there except through some horrible maze or other. I really can't understand why the others are against change. I've voiced my concerns before but Steno and Archivist are sooo definite. Even so I'm not sure I can vote with them any more."

She breaks off to keep her children together. She does seem to fuss over them to a greater extent than is necessary.

"Sometimes one has to take a stand on principle!"

"What would be the advantages of allowing people access to Xetcherin?" Lurel asks. "What are your concerns about access? Please, I don't quite understand."

"If we inter a loved one in any necropolis but Xetcherin we may go in person to grieve by the tomb. It is not possible at Xetcherin. Oh we can send ourselves there but we cannot touch the tomb or bring offerings. Our youngsters cannot know the solemnity of the place or hear stories of heroes. Well..."

She flusters around her offspring again.

"They lack the immediacy of being there."

She frowns. "You say giving access to the tombs would let them be more easily desecrated. Anyone can access the other tombs and they are never desecrated. It is not something an Avelyssian would do. That is what is so shocking about Mara's tomb. If the damage was not done by an Avelyssian we should be able to go there to find what evidence we can as to who did it and how and why!"

Lurel frowns.

"Are there any non-Avelyssians in Avelyssia except for us?" he asks. "What was done to investigate the desecration? I presume that members of the council would have sent themselves there to examine Mara's tomb?"


'It all sounds so plausible, about not being able to touch the tomb... but the Avelyssians can move things by telekinesis. They don't have to touch something to move it.'

Again he uses his empathy skill on Kumor.

'Avelyssians might not do that sort of thing... but what if her children were threatened? Could she have done it to avert a threat to them?'

Lurel senses that Kumor's maternal instincts are very high but he cannot find out what she really feels of Mara's tomb. She may very well mean what she says.

"Our forward selves cannot use telekinesis. Of course we all went to look. Much good it did us. There are NO humans or any other race in Avelyssia. The desecration was done by magic, presumably wielded by someone outside our realm. This is all very worrying. Someone should go to investigate. Why don't you?"

Presumably only the six key-holders and the Laridians who brought you know that you have actually been there. They have kept it quiet from the rest of Avelyssia.

"But how would we get there if there is no access to Xetcherin?" Lurel asks innocently. "But I think you are right about the magic... it might even be the same magic that has been trying to destroy other dimensions - it's a magic that doesn't shrink from hurting and killing the innocent."

He looks around the room and sighs.

"I hope that this magic can be stopped before any more harm comes to Avelyssia. We will do what we can - as I'm sure will you and all the other council members. Is there anyone else you think might be able to help us?"

Lurel watches Kumor closely as he implies that her children might be threatened by those behind the desecration of the tomb.