Chapter Forty : The Plan or The Great Escape Part 2

So you might wonder how I Princess Ali’Ama Er’Odar of the Feywild Summer Court ever ended up on a Starlord spacecraft facing down aliens and their aberration leader or Commander if you will. To be honest I sometimes asked myself the same question. I know from my Mothers past that she had been instrumental in the preservation of those we perceive as Gods before my birth on the world of Hyboria. I had even become aware as of late she had even used her knowledge and persuasiveness to even instrument the fall of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts and in turn become the Queen of the Summer Court. It even seemed according to her that it was my turn to take up the mantle of savior of the Gods and the descendents of worshippers they loved from destruction on this Plane of Existence. Which of course was where the real issue finally chose to reveal itself for the Quasi-Deity Cthulhu known to many as the Dreaming God had finally decided to show us how our greatest had fallen. For it was revealed to us in the form of a Psion Aberration Starlord and her minions who with her nearly godlike mental powers of domination almost utter laid waste to Dragonfirre and our Organization Agents believe it or not. Even I was dominated and helpless before her power as all of our Organization Agents were either slain or captured. Only Slick Rick who I only barely managed to save before it was too late was able to call upon a Dark Drudical ally who whisked Dragonfirre away before the Starlord Commander could finish what her minions had started. I had never in my life felt such failure and defeat as I had at that moment. We had arrived safely yet still hunted and chased on Berker Island needing to recover from the battle in space. Vadania had been whisked away from us during the battle and not yet returned as I began writing this entry and as I will reveal this was the last straw and perhaps it was time to lay claim to what had been lost and declare myself the Princess of Air and Darkness and rebirth the Unseelie Sidhe and unleash all of the horrors of the Abyss and the Hells on this world and if need be destroy it before Cthulhu has a chance to lay waste to it. Alright I will admit perhaps a bit grandiose but the gauntlet had been thrown down and I was going to make sure Dragonfirre’s answer would be worthy of legend.

To believe all that happened so quickly looking back it is almost hard to believe. One moment we had been in the middle of a fight being surrounded on all sides by Starlord’s when suddenly Vadania had vanished. Suddenly our healer was gone whisked away to wherever our other Dragonfirre members went when they vanished. I could draw on the narrative of how Slick Rick had faced the Starlord Commander and aberration that possessed vast psionic powers even by their standards that was cut down by one of her minions. Or even how Symerria had nearly exhausted all of her magical powers even unleashing her mighty Nymph Daze to only in the end be put unconscious by the Starlord Commander. Lucky Ron had fought valiantly and even with the aid of one of the force field belts had almost been slain himself. The last I had seen of Swami Donnie his mind had been crushed by the Starlord Commander and he was either slain or captured. While all of the other Organization Agents had either been slain or rendered unconscious. I had been busy of course I had summoned Unicorns to heal my companions. Even used my Amulet of the Mage to prevent other fallen Organization Agents from dying including my favorites Gizmo Dent and Mac Daddy who like we all had been in grave danger but ultimately I was unable to save them or any of the other Agents. For while I had even dominated one of the Starlords and gained knowledge of how I might have disabled their weapons and shields even managed with my trusty Amulet to acquire one for Lucky Ron it was to no avail. I of course had made it to the Control Room with the aid of the my Thrall with whose aid I had even managed to save the life of Gizmo Dent but at the time I write this entry I wonder if I really did him a favor considering his fate. Once in Control Room I had harnessed all of brain power to attempt to grasp the workings of control and given just a little more time I know I would have succeeded. Alas that was time I would not have for while I had tried to dominate the Starlord Commander I had failed and gained her attention and with an ease I would have never believed possible she warped my mind. For I know now from Angelica my item familiar even thought I still find it hard to believe for such was her power that I had not as I believed somehow opened windows in the control room sending freezing cold and bleeding all of the air for the chamber forcing me to withdraw from the room. During that withdrawal I had lost valuable time during which Slick Rick and Symerria had fallen. To even describe the many options I might had devised to turn the tide would truly be a waste for while we might have prevailed with all us able to command arcane or divine forces either weakened, unconscious, being dominated the odds would not have been in our favor. That does not mean by any means I had give up on the contrary and while one of my Unicorns had been dismissed after taking heavy fire from the Starlords the two remaining had via dimension door saved Slick Ricky when one the Starlords had made an unbelievable shot to his eye almost slaying him on the spot. He had come too and called to a force I know now to be a Dark Druidical Godlike Force that has been helping us from the shadows which whisked him away to Berker Island on the surface of Emerald. I had sensed it and communicated with it and had been given a choice stay and continue the fight or be taken away to Berker Island where I would have the task of finding my fellow Dragonfirre members. My plan had been to regroup all of my allies and continue the battle and I will never know what might have happened for Slick Rick had already made his choice and was already leaving I had no choice. I had even made a desperate plea to the Drudical Force to give me the chance to gather my allies so that we might all be saved hoping that my Fey nature would have give me just another moment which would have been all I would have needed to save our Organization Agents. Of course my plea fell on deaf or uncaring ears either way I could only watch as I began to fade as the last thing I was aware of was Swami Donnie’s mind being crushed in a psychic battle with the Starlord Commander and I knew while in the past victory had been ours we had been defeated and force to turn tail and flee for our lives.

As I had appeared within the Berker Island Welcome center within the day room I was alone but thankfully I could see Slick Rick in a garbage bin some one hundred feet down and my heart had leapt for at least I had not lost him which I doubt I would have at the moment been able to bear. I was in pain and anguish and I had no choice but to withdraw to lessons I had learned from the Unseelie Sidhe. I had to embrace “Change is Good” and while I had just lost associated who had become dear to me perhaps forever who had been Hyborian decedents I had to believe we had survived. So I stayed focused and remembered “Glamour is Free” as I let the shadows shroud me as I descended to the lower levels of the Welcome Center to fill in Slick Rick on what had happened. I had a feeling it might only be a matter of time before the Moonbeast Commander might chose to come after us but I felt confident that for at least a little while we were as safe as we were likely to get. For while I knew “Honor is a Lie” I told Slick Rick the truth that I still had the power to contact the others and would secure a room and wait the others being I told him would only be Symerria and Lucky Ron. I had with ease acquired and entire floor one within one hundred feet of the ground and Slick Rick had retired to heal while I had contacted Slick Rick and Symerria. I no difficulty with my next actions for while my passions fought to overwhelm me for I had really had only wanted to find a way back to that ship and ram Widow Maker down that Starlord Commanders throat. “Passion before Duty” I had reminded myself for Symerria and Lucky Ron were my friends and my passions they came first and when the time was right that Starlord Commander I swore would be mine. Wait let me correct that when I was finally done with the Starlords they and every planet or world that had ever known of them for that matter ever even touched would know of the Princess of Air and Darkness as the one who had destroyed them.

I had cast sending spells to both Symerria and Lucky Ron informing them of where to find us and they had replied and were soon to be on their way. The Welcome Center floor had been still fairly free of other occupants and the three gangsters who had been looking over the place had been easy enough to work with and as my friends had arrived I directed them upstairs. Lucky Ron had arrived first and while I knew he was severely wounded with his Hat of Disguise he had looked both dapper and fit. Symerria had arrived last and we had retired to our on the eighth floor. I had summoned new shadow servants having lost my others in the transit setting them to guard the entrances, elevators, and windows and set Item Familiar Angelica the task of watching them and while I had wanted to talk with the others my mind could only keep working on ways to bring down the Starlords. I also knew it was time we acquired some new allies but I knew I needed to rest so the others could rest in safety while I kept watch over them. I had entered trance with Widow Maker in my hand which of course I had hid with Glamour which is of course free and had thought of the loss of Gizmo Dent too whom I owed the many upgrades to my Desert Eagle and I realized I would indeed miss him and the other Organization Agents. As I had been awoken right on time by Angelica I rose and set my servants to prepare me a bath for which I was grateful. I had let my servants undress me and remove my outer garments and my Feycraft Mithral shirt which truly was more like a bikini and eased into the warm water and submerged myself beneath the surface to enjoy the warmth like I would a lovers caress which I realized for now might very well be limited to my shadow servant lovers unless I could bring any of Dragonfirre around one could only hope. Knowing that we had limited time at best I focused my intellect on finding some advantage we could exploit in order to reclaim our title as the Hunters. I had doubted a four hundred mile sea voyage would have been possible without one of the high tech sea craft of Emerald which was why I had chosen the Plane of Shadow. I had of course underestimated the Starlords and it started to make more sense why the Red Menace Red Kings had been setting up their own contingency plans against them. I had gained a great deal of knowledge of the Red Menace operations which I knew I would need to relate to my companions and I also knew with the loss of Swami Donnie I would need to find a way to pierce the shield of my stunningly beautiful and sexy cousin Symerria if we were to maintain one of our few advantages. I had a feeling that or new Starlord Commander would soon be able to with the aid of her captives had a good idea of where they might begin searching for us. It all depended on just how powerful her psychic abilities proved to be and if the display she had already shown us was any indication they were formidable indeed. I had considered a short jump to the Plane of Shadow and to be honest there was another way to travel that plane that they would be unable to detect it would just involve multiple castings of the spell for looking back their scanners must have been somehow able to detect the shadow path created by the spell. Now of course if I just used the spell to enter the plane and then dropped the spell I could being as much a native of the Plane of Shadow as the Prime Material still navigate the plane and then just be forced to cast the spell again to enter the Prime Material. More expensive in energy but it seemed a small price to pay in order to avoid being scooped by one of their sensing devices again which was an experience I did not care to repeat any time soon. The Starlord Commander of course made the first move Slick Rick awoke some three hours later alarmed and distraught. I had long since cleared my bath and had already redressed in a shall we say female gangster hit woman garb over my Feycraft Mithral Chain and I of course looked Lethal even stunning actually. I had even taken the time to create some boring low class cloths for Symerria per her request as well as a few outfits for Vadania to wear over her Mithral Chain armor. I had planned to work on their disguises once they woke up anyway which I looked forward to in addition to helping them change into their new cloths. Which I figured might very well be the most excitement I might get that day but as I said there was a disturbance and Slick Rick had awoke. He looked slightly alarmed a state I had never seen him in before and it almost gave me a chill which I assure it not an easy thing to do and then he told me he felt like someone had been fishing around inside his head and devouring his memories. Well so much for a relaxing day I thought as the others were awakened by my servants and I brought them up to speed. I informed them it had seemed that the hunt had already begun and I would be heading downstairs to consult with the gangsters downstairs and find the location of Fluky Luke who along with Smiling Ed who had mysteriously vanished and therefore been spared the fate of his friends might very well be our best chance to equip ourselves before the Starlords turned up the heat.

Dealing with and befriending the three gangsters along with my ability to read their minds made it a simple task indeed to acquire for them the best place to find Fluky Luke. It seemed on Berker Island he was sort of like their Chief of Police or something like that. I informed the others that our next stop might very well need to be the local Police Station since it was the best place to begin looking for Fluky Luke. I also had to find us a place where we would be shielded from the mental powers of the Starlord Commander at least until we had a chance to regroup and recharge our energy. I knew that the Mithral buildings which was an element that was in great supply on emerald seemed to block their ability to detect magical aura’s and the like but I knew of only one way to block psionic energy and that was lead. So as I headed back upstairs to confer with the others I realized that we might also have yet another possible ally for looking back Symerria had said when I first contacted her that she had been helped by a Moonbeast and if so perhaps he might have insight that might very well prove to be helpful since I knew the two races were enemies. After all “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” A quote from an obscure text my Mother used to read to me as a child. So of course we had options but time was not our friend and changes were on the way which after all was a good thing indeed.

Things were about to get really exciting on Emerald for Dragonfirre pretty soon not that they had been boring before but I was looking forward to it. We were closer to our goal of achieving the items needed to construct the Lightning Gun. We even had the Horn of Nodens as a fall back and it seemed even in dire emergencies the possible aid of a Divine Dark Drudical ally so we had options. When my dearly departed lover Nialla had been with us as well as Clean Eugene I had been trying to remain pure in my actions and thoughts. Well I had already seen that our enemies were under no such compulsion and I had a feeling it might take every Unseelie Sidhe trick I had ever seen or learned to stay ahead of the of the Starlords. I had a feeling I would soon be acquiring a lot more thrall to aid us in our mission. I also realized it was time that we perhaps reached out to possible allies that I had avoided before but now seemed the most logical choices. There were of course the Moonbeasts which I had a feeling would try and betray us at the first chance they had but they were no friends of the Starlords. Which would more than likely lead to the Mind Emperor supposedly a former Moonbeast who was rumored to rule over an army of ghouls or in reality cloned Hyborians. Now that leads to of course Garbage a group of supposedly powerful ghouls who were already if rumor was to be believed working towards the same goals Dragonfirre already sought. Which in turn I rationalized would lead to Queen B a possible Avatar of Bast and Hecate who it seemed was not on the side of the Dreaming God as well but perhaps seeking to pit each side against each other so in the end only those who served her would be on top. Not a bad idea really and of course that led back to the well informed reporter Nick Carter who worked for the Ajax Miltren press and had set us on this mission to begin with. Nick it seemed could be reached by his editor which might very well be our next stop for we need a Seer on our side. Which finally lead to the Seer I really wanted to see named Olga who it seemed was Nick Carter’s mysterious source. But first there would be Fluky Luke who if things had worked our well would be able to put us in contact with female Hyborian Spirit who had joined with Sneaky Pete who even if still decease I had hope that Vadania would soon return and we could raise him and perhaps bring her back into our sphere of influence once again. Lastly there was our ace in the hole the Great Race of Yith who were enemies of not only the Dreaming God but the Starlords, Red Menace and even the Mind Emperor who most recently had taken up residence inside Mongo. Either way Swami Donnie had said they had worked our an arrangement and I had a feeling once we found him they would be eager to give us access to their network for the small price of giving them a chance gain vengeance on the Dreaming God as well as the those who held members of their race captive. This was as a rule was why I had always believed that you should treat your Thralls with love and respect and if so they will love and respect you as opposed to be ready to rise up against you and the slightest provocation. After all it the best Thrall was one that served you and worshipped you of their own free will, well with the exception of those pesky Gnomes of course who were born to serve.

Of course the hardest task was not putting together my plan but making sure every member of Dragonfirre understood the plan and were prepared to do whatever it took to carry it out. Lucky Ron had said it best when he saw how the loss of Nialla and the Associate were affecting me in a moment of weakness. He had said “Before this mission is over I expect a lot of things to change even perhaps members of our team.” He had been right of course and had been reminding me of an Unseelie lesson without even realizing it. I had expected to be working much closer with him in the coming days for he had shown a devotion to the cause that had never wavered. Slick Rick I never doubted of course for I knew he was prepared to lay waste to his whole world if necessary to achieve our mission. He was my rock my foundation perhaps the last Druid and whole heartedly believed if not logically then emotional that he might very well find a way back to save Hyboria and rewrite history itself. I needed that kind of faith life and speaking of faith there was Vadania and she only had to continue to do her duty and continue to keep us alive and if she came around and loosened up a little so much the better. I also realized for yet another reason while I had believed Athena had blessed her with the knowledge and wisdom to aid us it seemed there were limits on what she had been able to foresee. We needed to bring her up to speed and fast before her attitude and worship of my cousin Symerria got her killed. So my awesome and provocative cousin Symerria and by the grace of Aphrodite was she blessed and sure my Mother as well as a few my Sisters were more beautiful if you could even use that word to describe such beauty which almost brought tears to one’s eyes was going to be I could tell a slight problem. I had seen it before I had liberated the Dust of Hermes she had been worried about the loss of life and even voted against it. Don’t even let me get started on her Vow of Poverty but the there was a bright side the Arch’s had indeed blessed and continued to bless her and we would need every advantage we could muster before we faced the Dreaming God as we dealt with its minions so I was willing to put up with her issues. Of course I could not worry about the moralistic Clean Eugene and Mickey the Torch and actually of felt it perhaps best if they were otherwise occupied since I felt they would have had issues with the direction we would soon be embarking on. I had always told Dragonfirre I always have a Plan well it looks like it’s become time to reveal that Plan and work the Plan. It was our time and by my divine patrons Aphrodite, Loki, Dionysus, Pan, and even Malcanthet under whom I had learned and studied it was time to open the Beguiler Black Book and let the show really begin. Before I was done Dragonfirre would turn Emerald inside out and all about and reveal to them what the Dreaming God is all about.