Forum Fiction Troubleshooting/Comments Thread

Prior to the story, Lucia Velli meets up with her brother Luka in a tavern.  They’ve not been on good terms, due to Luka’s earlier dangerous plots and an as-yet unrevealed unpleasantness with “father”.  (If that refers to their real father, he’s dead now.  The rest of the Velli family are all dead.)  Together, they plot to steal something from the Royal Palace, situated on the Island of Kings, at the Winter’s Ball.  Behind a door in that palace, locked with a key the King keeps on his person, is an undescribed item known as the MacGuffin.

“Guests” to this ball include Lucia, because Luka “arranged” for her to attend; a masked man, who gets past palace guard Dick (who probably votes UKIP) without producing an invitation; Charles “Chuck” Eagle, reluctant heir to the Eagle Magic Technologies empire; and other notables.  Luka is already in, having snuck in using a supply cart.  Head Servant Ronald Harrison is in charge of setting up the seating.

At the party, Lucia has convinced the head housekeeper (presumably a different person to Harrison) to strengthen the wine.  She mingles, pretends not to see her brother, and clutches a locket containing a key in her cleavage.  Chuck misses his books, downs drinks and heads quickly to the lavatory.  Luka hides himself in a servant’s quarters.  Outside, Dick and his young partner shiver; the former is armed with a spear for show, a sword and a lightning gun, none of which are any defence against the charms of a couple of lady vampires.

Harrison discovers a small black box in the kitchen.  Leaving his deputy Cooper in charge, he goes to his friend Hieronymus, the King’s Chief Engineer, for advice; the box astonishes Hieronymus, who hasn’t seen one in years.  In the absence of any serving staff, the masked man emerges in the kitchen.  He pours something (later revealed to be the illegal drug psychoquina) over some goodies.

Eventually, the guests are called to their seats.  Lucia makes the acquaintance of the rather brash Captain Francis Parker, Head of Palace Security.  

Above them, the royals are preparing to descend.  These include the withered old wheelchair-bound king, his rather more active spouse, and twin princes, the charismatic Douglas and the bitter Harlan.  Douglas asks Cooper about the guests in Harrison’s absence, telling him to ask Lucia Velli for the first dance, and laughing at him when opera singer Madame Olivia de Rosetta’s seat is taken by the masked man.  Cooper rushes downstairs to sort things out.

Back outside, Dick is eventually relieved by a cocky dragon called Rik’Shal/Roger, and decides to enter the palace to find the masked man (and the vampires).  He rejects an automaton’s aid in unlocking the secret side entrance.

The royals come down through the Magiglass ceiling, to the astonishment of the crowd.  At the same time, Cooper tries to ask the masked man to leave, but forgets what he’s doing.  Douglas gives the customary speech; far away, at least one automaton takes offence to it.

Chuck is forced out of the hall prior to the speech, and remains stuck in the men’s lavatory while it goes on.  He does see something, though: a pair of red heels asking Francis about the location of the black box, and stabbing him with his own sword.  He eventually staggers back to his place as the speech finishes, mistakes Lucia next to him for the murderess, and is speechless while Cooper demands the first dance of her.  Afterwards, he (Cooper) heads to the lavatory, and reveals himself to be metal.

The first two rounds of posts end with Rik’Shal having his head crushed by a charging automaton.

What's in the box?

What exactly IS the Macguffin/Item?

Who is the masked man?

What's the endgame for the copper men?

Who murdered Francis Parker, framing Lucia Velli in the process?

Will Chuck get laid?

We rejoin Cooper, sitting in the bathroom and expositing.  He's an automaton, and he's confused.  He chats in his mind to the Brass Commander, who seems to have "a soul" and has given or is going to give "the gift of freedom" to automata.  He (Cooper) can't get the king's key, the masked man is apparently a Time Magus and has brought a box (same box?  Different box?  How does Cooper know?), and the operation involving The Item must be put on hold.  The BC apparently agrees.  However, a few moments later, it changes its mind, and the bewildered Cooper is left trying to organise for an attack.  Instead, he ends up near the MacGuffin door, which can be unsealed with just one key.

In the Great Hall, the king and queen bicker about "her" while Prince Douglas flirts with Lucia.  Then the Duke of the Low Forest, an industrial elf, is poisoned by the psychoquina used by the Time Magus earlier.  Soon everyone else begins to suffer: Lucia witnesses the masked man make his escape, and tries to take the king's key in the confusion, but an attack on the palace is announced and she decides to play drugged instead.  She witnesses automata step in and kill a guard, and crawls over to the sober but terrified Chuck.  She witnesses the BC take the king's key, and say, "We are going to set her free."

Outside the hall, the masked man kills a dragon guard, out of "guilt".

Dick finally makes it through the locked door, and is set upon by a pair of automata.

Having placed Harrison in an "Invincible Booth", Hieronymus is approached by the BC, who calls him "father" and gives him a key (probably the key).  Hieronymus seems to expect this.

Luka Velli hears... not much, and is perturbed.  He fears for his sister, "one of the only Vellis who would acknowledge him" - because the others are dead?  He finds a dead servant, and then his sister, who is crawling out of the great hall.  They reunite, and plan to steal a rowboat from the dock and escape: a copper puts paid to this idea, but the injured Luka is saved by Chuck with Luka's rapier.  Apparently you can learn how to cut up a copper from books.

At this stage, Cooper has checked out the revolution and is having doubts.  He meets the BC by the MacGuffin's door.  The conversation goes along these lines:
"Y U attack?"
"Be glad for the drugs LOL.  But they weren't part of his plan."
"Whose plan?"
"He don't trust you, weirdo."
"Am not weird."
"Are too.  I'm weird, but you're more weird.  Show you my mechanics if you'll show me yours."
"NO U."
"Wait, no, he says deal with fleshies.  Go do that instead."
And Cooper leaves with "his heart thumping.  Not ticking: thumping."

Harrison is freed from his booth after over an hour (or what seems to him like an hour - who knows what Hieronymus can do to time in there? ), and asks Hiero about the box.  It is unlocked by a key and and a magical seal, and contains... another key, this one a flat disk with protrusions.  They leave to investigate, the castle almost silent, and find Dick being attacked.  After Hiero disables the robots, Harrison takes Dick upstairs to the kitchen to get him a brandy.  He bounds up further stairs to find the great hall full of the psychoquinated, and reveals that he's been on national service before.

Left alone, Hiero is cornered by exposition in red heels.  She accuses him of having the box stolen from a tower, via two automata and Francis Parker, who she has "broken", and tricking Harrison to bring it to him.  Season 1 ends with an implication that Hiero is involved with the Time Magi over his head.

What's in the box?  A key - the key to The MacGuffin's door, perhaps?

What does the key in the first box unlock?

Did the masked man bring a box to the party?  How does Cooper know about it?

What exactly IS the Macguffin/Item?  If they're one and the same, based on the BC's words, it seems that whatever inside is a "she".  Everything else is unknown.

Who is "she/it" that the royal parents refer to?

Who is the masked man?  A Time Magus, according to Cooper - who is guilty about something, and likes using illegal drugs.

Why is the masked man involved, and what does he feel guilty about?

What's the endgame for the copper men?  Assuming that the BC has already given them his "freedom", there's one line that sticks out: "We are here to do what you lacked the courage for.  We are going to set her free."

How is Cooper different from the other coppers?  And what about the BC, with his "soul"?

What's going on behind Hieronymus' funny spectacles?  Did he order the attack to go ahead, overriding Cooper, and if so why?

Who murdered Francis Parker, framing Lucia Velli in the process?  The woman with the sword, who has links to the Time Magi and "knows" just what Hiero has done.

Who is the woman who killed Frankie Parkie?

What was the incident with "father" between the Vellis?  Is it their real father, who is now presumed dead?

Will Chuck get laid?  Chuck x Lucia OTP. <3