087. Siege

The attack on the Spark comes to a head.

### Play of the Game:

Liz as Sophia, for out-willing an Elder Dragon and making a deal to save the Spark.

***"It's a lot of fun to play war, but what happens when you introduce an element you can't control?"***

Having left Sir Xaeron to secure Heart's Light, and Scythe and Little One at Westmount Park, the motley returns to The Spark to confirm Sophia's safety. She is, of course, sorry that she frightened Claude with her dragon transformation and fire breathing, but she maintains that protecting the Spark was paramount. Before the motley can wonder too much about what the vampires and thralls might have been looking for at Riverside Designs, the White Dragon makes its return! It is demanding that "both" remaining dragons cede their territory to him. Jigg Grifter, surprisingly, offers to buy them some time. After Braum swears to protect Millicent until he returns, Jigg leaves The Spark and transforms into a delicate blue dragon, ceding the territory to the other before flying away!

In the meantime, Patches gets to work: she disguises Sophia's dragon smell, and helps the white dragon to even forget what another of its kind smells like, so that when the sidhe emerges onto the balcony, he is convinced that all of his rivals have left. Sophia flatters the white dragon, asking to learn from him, and they manage to have the creature call off its attack… for now. The white dragon curls up around Sophia's penthouse, asleep.

What can they do? Having "driven off" all its rivals, the chimera now has its sights set firmly on the Spark and its workshop. The motley, Kyoko, Zistor, and Incisor all discuss different possibilities: attack it, show strength, parley, "sour the milk" of The Spark, or even blow it up. In the end, it is Sophia who makes the decision: with Ramzia's help, they will venture into the dragon's dreams and seek out its fears and desires.

The motley venture inside the dragon's dreams, and find the beast curled around a clearing. The clearing is empty save for a string quartet playing music that sounds akin to Beethoven… the sheet music they are reading is old, worn, and hand-written, and not something any of the motley recognize. They realize the dragon, rapt and attentive, almost obsessed with the music, wants more than anything the ability to have an experience that is only for him. The dragon awakens, booting them from the dreamscape. Back in Sophia's penthouse, the sidhe is snarking, trying to goad the dragon into understanding that she is no mere mortal to be used and thrown away. As Braum and Patches try to hurt the beast, it flies up into the sky, clutching Sophia. The beast freezes the garden below, but Braum manages to shatter the ice wall and get Incisor. As the rest of the motley fly up to try to save Sophia, they discover she is not in need of saving: the sidhe has been humming the melody of her latest composition, and teases the dragon with it. In the end, the dragon agrees to leave Cross' Shadow and return only once per year, on this date, so that Sophia can regale it with a private concert.

While they have managed to appease the chimera, a swirling cloud of smoke and fog from Riverside Designs tells the motley their troubles are not yet at an end. Heading down a floor, they meet another mortal with coifed hair and suit, who lays out his truce with them. If the Kithain will leave them to their devices for 24 hours, they will use their abilities to clean up and "get rid of" any evidence that they were ever there. Sophia and Patches are naturally suspicious, but they agree with the man and let him begin. They send Claude down, disguised, to observe their goings-on. He reports back that the vampires (if that is what they are), were trying to install surveillance devices in the ceiling, knowing the freehold to be above it… but thankfully the protections around the Spark keep them in the dark. But will they make their return one day?