[D5 LM] Report Card

[Gray]

Gray looks a bit more on edge than usual when he returns to Biblos, getting a few smiles from people who remember his ghost story. He tries to find Jason Whitt, the King of his Court for a nice quiet chat. Gray impatiently grips the thin yellow volume in his hand. He has not read it, whether due to his own fear or the pressures of preventing Craig from being shanked.

Someone who knows more than I...well, I was going to have to talk to him about the drug thing anyway,

[Dapper Dog]

Sometimes he thinks the book whispers to him... or maybe that is just his imagination.

Jason is seated in the bistro enjoying a coffee and tapping away at his laptop.

[Gray]

"Mr. Whitt...or, um, my King...I have some things to relay to you. I have found some things, and I reaallllly don't want to be stumbling into more than I already have."

Gray slides into a seat beside him.

"Oh shit, I didn't ask to sit, is that ok?"

[Jason Whitt]

"You are already seated," he said removing his glasses.

"So please continue."

[Gray]

"I know I'm kinda burying the lede here, but there's a bit of a tizzy warming up between some of the Knights of the other Courts. Winter has been making crystal meth laced with something Arcadian that makes away our...us-ness" Gray motions to his mein. "Numbers says that it's a weapon to fight the...Others, but Craig and Asluf don't seem to be having it. Craig especially. I can try to guide him as friend, but I have a feeling that he might stir the pot when it doesn't need to be."

"I don't know if Autumn is already involved, but if there's a weapon that Winter is developing to use against the True enemy, and if there is anything we can offer them...well, it seems like our thing, right?"

[Jason Whitt]

"A rather curious development. How does Winter intend to use it, and how do we know it is as effective as they say?" the Autumn King responded.

[Gray]

"Numbers was pretty vague on how they intended to use it. I was snooping and staying hidden at the time, so I didn't get as much of a chance to really press him on it, though I let him know I was interested." Gray seems to be relaxing, mirroring the more relaxed speech of his King.

"But as for its effectiveness...well, I was there when this thing started. Long story short, looks like Boney Louise OD'd on the stuff, and when I found the body it..." Gray pauses. "It was if something had wiped away the Mein. Now, that's perfect for the Wintery folks who aren't interested in fighting, and I have a hunch Numbers is using their debts to fund their efforts. But if it can be made a weapon..."

[Jason Whitt]

"Find out how or if they have a means to effectively deploy this weapon, if so we can work with them on this," he replied calmly.

[Gray]

"I'm on it. I mentioned to Numbers that I was interested...and he told me that I would need the favor of his Queen. There is the event tonight, and I think that may soften my position with them beforehand. If you wish, I will keep quiet any involvement and only relay the results...though they may want an alliance."

Gray clears his throat. "But, when I said I was burying the lede, there is also this." Gray puts down the book he is carrying.

"There was something hinky about one of the professors up at the college. They were running a psychic study of some kind, and he immediately set off warning bells. So...I stalked him home, and walked in his dreams. In there..." Gray shudder, remembering. "There was a thing, called itself Karkosa. Not Arcadian, but still..."

Gray shuffles in his seat. "I hit it with my best shot...and it was fucking amused. So amused that it yeeted me out of the dream without so much an eyeblink and when I came out, that" Gray points. "Was with me. I don't know if I took it, or it gave it to me"

[Jason Whitt]

"It said Karkosa?" Jason replied with concern.

"That's a name that comes from an old set of strange fiction stories... often gets tied to Lovecraft and existential horror," he continued putting his glasses back on and started tapping at the keys on his laptop.

"Tell me everything."