Calling in the babe sitters...

Elrondir

This is not by any means what we had hoped for at ALL. Sigh, then again given everything that has happened since we first stumbled into this debacle . . . I guess . . .

. . . .

Damnit, why did that old crow have to open up her stupid mouth and practically invite this to come upon herself?! If nothing else, living in a world where magic is common (and other "fantasy" themes abound), shouldn't one have learned by the through all the years that Xyllis OBVIOUSLY wore that sometimes it is a VERY good idea to not . . .

. . .

To not do what she did. In the stress of the moment she practically demanded her gods to deliver onto HER what she had delivered upon Freda and Astra!!

Unbidden by anything in the room, the word "Parsley" appears on the new bawdy girl's collar.

. . . .

Parsley?! What kind of frickin' name for a whore is THAT?! What? If Queen Helia shoots of her mouth the wrong way will we have to worry about a streetwalker with a name like some line out of a Simon & Garfunkel song: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and f*cking Thyme?!

What? Are we ALL going to be going to Scarborough Fair in a moment here!?

. . . .

Hrmph, sorry. Mind went to a REALLY strange place there for a second!

As for Parseley . . . Well, so be it. Not like there is now a Hell of a lot we can do for "Parsley" now!!

Hm. Speaking of Parsley...

"Oh, don't be like that!" purrs Parsley towards Allan (who looks like he'd like to hide from this now man eating woman).

Pouting, she continues hopefully: "Hey, I make men happy! Wanna be happy?"

Okay, I think I've had enough of this already. I'm getting a bit sick to my stomach right now that what appears to have been something of an accomplished mage (at least by her world's standards) being reduced to THIS.

Parsley is put under by spell (so as to not be underfoot) and this time Inquirer does the explaining since B'Elanna did the honors the last time.

. . .

Cannot say that even in her distress that Freda doesn't have a look of savage . . . . satisfaction at what befell Xyllis, but that is by the by. Nor is it too unexpected the rather marked lack of sympathy that some of the group give towards Queen Helia over her long time associate and advisor. Oh, some are good enough to give something, but in the end all (Queen included) such an outcome could have happened (and had expected something like THIS after Xyllis' rather hasty outburst earlier).

At least the Champions have the good taste and not suggest that Helia should put a notice that read "Wanted: Court Sorceress" in the local newspaper OR to make the most of this situation by having "Parsley" still render SOME kind of service to her kingdom's coffers by . . .

Hrmph....

By "servicing" other paying clients.

. . .

Yeah. Well, er. Whatever Parsley's ultimate fate now will be decided by Helia once they return home.

Anyway, after that and people pull themselves together as best they can who need it (Parsley was going to stay out until delivered back HOME so we aren't counting her in this) the plan was this. The Champions (with Freda and Astra in tow) would go ahead of the others via the now departed Terra Prime Dr Vincent's machine, scouting ahead to establish (with Freda's and Astra's aid) whether or not their chosen destination belong to Queen Helia's gang or no. If not, they'd quickly depart and try the next destination on their list avoiding or dealing as quickly as possible any obstacles or problems in route (or earmarking them for a return engagement if nothing else). Once found, Queen Helia's gang would be dumped off and probably all would say good riddance to the other.

They must be quick about this, though. While the magical sigil (the broken chalice) had disappeared on Parsley's (no longer Xyllis') cheek, our Queen here still has her mark! Being that what has happened to the sorceress, we may have a window on what'll happen to Helia if she stays beyond the stated time limit that Queen Astra put in that curse. That or she should return to Terra Prime by ANY means (magical or mundane), the curse would strike. That was something to avoid.

THEN the other displacees world's/realities would be found and THEIR problems handled . . . the best they could be once there.

. . . .

However, there was this ONE last piece of business to attend to here. Inquirer, somewhere along the way, had made a call for some . . . family help, which arrived in the form of . . . her parents, Probe and Evis 7 and a few of her old squadmates/family (Golems all). See, there still was this open ended question of just WHAT Princess Astra really was. Quick and discrete scientific tricorder scans had revealed some rather . . . odd things that magical scan hadn't.

Princess Astra was NOT what she appeared to be, but what exactly (or who if not exactly an imposter) remained to be seen . . . by Probe magically and Evis 7 with science.

The other Champions didn't have time to look into it themselves. At least Inquirer was able to trap the princess behind a heavy forcefield barrier (codeword activation word: redsnapper) which nothing short of a warp core explosion could break.

Helia wasn't . . . exactly pleased with this latest development (rather aghast at what the implications were) after getting over her snit at what Inquirer had done. Right now, she's too far out to see to know WHAT to exactly think, now. She is, however, smart enough to realized that if she cannot wine a melee fight with one Golem (Inquirer) then there was no chance of trying to muscle free her daughter (or whatever Princess Astra actually was) against a whole family of Golems.

The rest of the Golems would play babysitter while the Champions were away.

1. Meanwhile, at the Champion's first destination....

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