A'leia gets to Portland, after selling her horse for a bus ticket just over the border.
Her email is "down for repair" and so is her bank account.  The ambassador's concierge ignores her. She catches on and decides to hang out and meditate for a while.

<i>Meanwhile, the party is up to their usual tricks:</i>

"With your god as witness, did we have anything to do with this?" -Barton, about the attack<br>
"No" -Alpha, Questor of Vestrial

<i>Jonathan is still trapped in Koda's necklace, while his body is on life-support</i>

"You can get a sentence off while you're in his hand" -GM<br>
"LET ME GO" (in booming deep voice) -Jonathan in the necklace<br>
"He critfails his unnatural check and drops you on the floor.<br>
You can scurry under the bed if you want" -GM<br>
"Yes!" -Jonathan in the necklace <br>

"Please don't drop me" -Jonathan

The party gets out on bail after Tom signs a plea bargain, misdemeanor (not reporting that there are dangerous criminals around, fine, no conviction)

<hr>

Back in Portland, A'leia takes a Judo class and uses it as a training montage--throwing other class members, etc. She gets a call from the Ambassador's concierge to call, calls him back and a lawyer shows up to interview A'leia. She tells what she knows, that the party was planning to steal their stuff from the trucks non-lethally, but that the tapes seem like they might be only slightly exaggerated.  The lawyer notifies her that she is also currently wanted for "flight from prosecution" (nothing else, just flight) in the UCAS.  She continues going to Judo classes, and looks for a cafe or bar job to suppliment her meagre cash.  She listens around and tries to get an idea how the Tir operates (training montage for savoire-faire: TT).

<hr>

News: Ares is recalling it's line of stunners, as they've discovered that they are trivially modifiable to disintegrators.

<hr>

A'leia starts looking for college magery classes, and posting to message boards about the dangers of tainted-mana areas.

<hr>

<i> Back in Boston, the party discusses critical shifts and getting out of their current mess (after skipping bail to go to Nantucket)</i>

Do you realize that the world has probably shifted seven million thousands of times and you didn't even notice?-Tommy<br>
And two that you did. -Andy<br>
<hr>

<i>And A'leia is trying to make up for lost time...</i>

She decides that a good way to get to second circle is to write something--to impress on the world that she is a [Troubadour], a storyteller of the highest degree.  Maybe another storyteller can help her learn to tell stories better, but it can't be just any storyteller.  It has to be a legend.
That sounds like it'll require some serious magic...maybe a Spiritquest to find Shakespeare. He can help A'leia write a play!

But that kind of Quest would need to start somewhere special...from the Globe Theatre. The rebuilt Globe is standing in England, but getting there will be expensive. The Ambassador's concierge recomended (in a moment of annoyance) that she should go through the Netherworld. She thinks this is a fine idea...

A'leia goes to the Space Needle hoping to get from there to Big Ben. She flails a bunch but serendipitously finds her way into a martian landscap in the Netherworld...