Ironmaster Session 1/11/13 part two

Well, I already posted the session notes, but what actually happened?
As always happens the players tried to go of piste in a couple of places, but we quickly drifted back onto the topic with some little prods.
Initially, Jack thought about trying to break in on his own, and went to have a look at the court on his own. He encountered Marquessa Margot Pica on the trip back, and walked with her and listened to her speak, assuming it was the toll for the trod. Up until now, he has only been able to trod up to 11 kilometres at a time. She told him that the distance between places was not important, the trod are connections in the world, but only because they are connections in people’s minds. Her trod, the Magpie trod,connects London to Brighton (with the Magpie pub being on the line of the trod). She told him that his family had its own trod, and that they used to trod across Europe, ringing in the changes from Seelie to Unseelie Court, but that his Queen (not hers-note) had banned the Fæ from being part of the commonwealth unless they were only Seelie. She claimed that by taking land for themselves the Fæ could no longer truly walk the trods and change the courts. She also told him that his father’s cousin now owned his family land, but had no ability to walk the trods. He listened to everything she said, asked questions and was very polite (if a little rogue-ish). So that went perfectly and she didn’t start hunting him or anything, although she may be fattening him up for later…
I slightly over emphasised the painting, and the players jumped straight to the Weft Loom, so I reversed the order and had the mid-summer’s night dream Warp scene play out as a retelling of Mercurio’s Mentor’s nightmare instead. Mercurio points out that the Professor often is able to dream future projects up, and even in some cases actually dream the future. Jack comments that maybe he has been having nightmares because he has already seen what they are going to have to do.
They worked out that it should be possible to use his nightmares as a direct connection to the Summer Court which Jack can Trod along. With Steve having constructed a device to enhance dreams from the Somnadium that he was working on (he’s thinking about going into business for himself with some dream machine devices based on the technology- and has started Annie on the patent applications).
So with the Mentor all ready to help with the “caper”, as he was already annoyed with the Summer Court for being out of session when he was getting nightmares. They turned on the dream machine and immediately the Cu-Sith Goblin hounds turned up at the Cambridge research company (turned out that’s where they gathered). They hear the baying of the hounds for the first time.
Jack and Steve went to the Summer Court leaving Annie and Mercurio to guard the Professor. They slipped away into the Professor’s dreams and had to break into the court through the iron gates. Steve made short work of the iron chain with his tools, and then Jack trod them across the grounds and then through the front door (reminds me, Steve will soon need to pick up a magical immunity descendant/annex and handicap- so he can’t trod along with others like that). They are already in the court when they hear the baying of the Cu-Sith for the second time. They grab the painting, which Jack thinks is a single word written in red “DON’T”, Steve read “DOUBT” so they nick it.
Then Jack opens a trod from in the court through a door that says “Records” linking it to the records at the library of the university of Cambridge, figuring the connection should be easy to maintain.
He steps through and drags Steve after him, and is rather surprised to walk into the Professor, having a nap in the Records room. They realise that they have come back in time and trod back from one sleeping professor to another. Steve snaps off the dream enhancer and reality seems to reassert itself.
The session ended with Jack dashing off with the painting to hand it over to the gang, but not joining up, instead he decides he intends to freelance. Meanwhile Annie proposed that it would make good sense for her and Steve to get married, we don’t really know yet what Steve makes of this.

Next Session: Time to investigate the party’s resident slightly mad scientist Mercurio (no middle initial no last name)…