Remembering the encounter downstairs, Sarah readied the gun. Now, however, her focus was more on the one in the back -- the one who had been fully dressed, and could conceivably still be armed.

OOC: Shift slightly to be ready to shoot the guy in the back if either of them does anything aggressive.

The one at the back doesn't move, but the one closest to Cathal does.
Having never fired the Winchester before and having to shift aim, Sarah is not quite prepared for the difference in recoil between the muskets she's used to and the Winchester, and rather than hitting him in the chest, she actually hits him in the top of the left arm.
The effect is more or less the same, and whilst not quite taking him off his feet it's more than enough to stop him.
The one at the back, will now raise his hands.

Cathal moves towards the man who is now raising his hands, still leaving Sarah a clear  view.

Cathal get close enough the the man can understand him.

"We re looking for a woman who was brought her recently by a carriage. A Lady where is she? And before I have to hear another threat in regard of the shade the man is dead."

"Ugh," Sarah grumbled as she cocked the gun for another shot, just as she practiced, and drew a bead on the center of the chest of the ragtag man in front of her -- this time accounting for the difference in recoil.

"Ok, I'm losing patience," she said, channeling all of the frustration she'd been feeling from this trip into an imitation of Charlie's style. And although it at first appeared that she was addressing Cathal as he walked back, her eyes were focused on the man in front of them. "Dead men might not answer questions, but the guy over there might be more willing to speak after seeing this guy bleeding out from a gaping chest wound." Her eyes hardened as she tensed, ready to fire. "Where. Is. She?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Thu 21 Mar.

As noted earlier you're going to have to get closer for him to understand you and you to understand him...

The guy Sarah shot is not dead, just somewhat wounded and disinclined to currently do much other than lie on the ground holding his arm, which will bleed fairly profusely. He's not in immediate danger of dying.. might take a few hours.
The other one by the fire, will come forward if you gesticulate enough, especially if you wave the rifle at him..
As to where the Lady is..

If you ask him where they are then the answer you'll get it

If you ask who Glanna is then

Cathal went to talk to that guy, so hopefully he's translating for the rest of us. Sarah was talking to the guy lying on the ground holding his arm.

Cathal looks at the iron bound door. "Who aside the shade has a key?"

"Help the this man down the stairs." Cathal gestures to the wounded man and to the door that leads down.

He steps back to Sarah's side and informs her about what the man said. "We should go down and discuss with the others."

You can get the uninjured ragtag to assist his injured buddy down stairs into the hall.
The body of the dead ragtag has been moved (to the guard house if you want to know).

Lord Kylestenson appears to be in the processing of 'sealing' a set of orders for one of his men to take back to the camp. There is no way they can break camp and get here before it gets dark, so they will have to wait until first light to move here to secure the place.

The girl who was cut by the cook, is called Kelynen Trelawney and is apparently the eldest daughter of Lord Kylestenson's Household steward. She apparently died 9 years ago in a riding accident. She is currently sitting on one side attached to Charlie's device. Her face has stopped bleeding and the wound appears to have closed itself.

Both Kelynen Trelawney and Talwynn Chenoweth, the two 'captives' in rags, whilst substantively undernourished are generally healthy given the conditions they've been kept in. They appear to have been taken hostage to ensure their parents do what the Shade wants, which is in effect to act as his 'informants' in each household.

Natalie has finished dressing the cook's wound. Aside from beating, and abusing the two girls she's not actually guilty of much else.
The other woman, Lowen Treddenick, whilst guilty of occasionally beating the girls under the direction of Glanna, the Cook', is also not really guilty of much else.

Charlie, and most of the others now know about the 'access door' to the Shade's quarters. They also know that Lady Meridith is being held there. Apparently like the door to the cellars/dungeon it's concealed by magic, such that you can't see the door when it's closed. The door to the Shade's quarters is through the left-hand dormitary on the 3rd floor. The door to the cellars/dungeons is through the store room. It's in the far wall (turn right when you enter, Talwynn can show you how to 'open' it). Both doors are apparently 'weighted' such that they close automatically, but there is a small barrel of salt in the store room that they use to prop the door open when they're carrying water up from the well.

The well is underground, on the first level of the cellars. There are 3 floors in total, with a set of cells on the lowest level. Nobody has had a chance yet to verify any of this information. The doors to the cellars/dungeon shouldn't be locked. There are apparently additional barrack rooms on the first and second levels of the cellars.

The next delivery of supplies is supposedly due in 3 days.

"Do we have a key to open those doors. The Shade was said to have it?" Cathal asks. "We also should check the second floor I saw someone from the outside."

Charlie looks at Cormac.




He disappears for a several minutes.

He examines the scroll case with care, then carefully removes the end cap. As he does so he notes that there are some keys attached to the underside of the cap by a piece of silver chord.

Upon learning everything that the others had learned in her absence, Sarah glanced at Kenneth.

"Was there anyone else that you... um... registered?" The word didn't make any sense to her, but it was how he'd described his knowledge that the soldiers were there, and -- so far -- the information had been reliable. "Should we still sweep the rest of the place for any other surprises? If you're willing to protect me, I'll bring up the Pattern, and we can assess the place for any other surprises while they deal with those doors and keys and such."

If Kenneth agrees, Sarah will begin reconstructing her Pattern image.

"Then we better check the 2nd floor. I wait till Sarah has the pattern up and then we go just to be sure." Cathal says.

Still concentrating on constructing the Pattern image, Sarah said, "Cathal saw someone. Should still check."

Talywnn, Winter, and Blake will move in the direction of the store room and go and check out the cellar/dungeon and cells.

Sarah can finish Mind Walking the Pattern. She'll need to finish before she can then move anywhere slowly. Kenneth will need to steady her as she climbs the stairs just to ensure she doesn't trip or fall whilst maintaining concentration on the Pattern.

The Keep, as far as all floors you know about is now empty. The person Cathal saw on the second floor was the one who fell down the stairs!
By the time Cathal, Sarah, and Kenneth reach the third floor, and in particular the left-hand dormitory on the third floor. Charlie and Cormac will have joined them.
The prisoners, bar the one Natalie is still treating, will have been locked in the cells, which appear to have been refurbished, and are in full working order. One of them has also had a stone wall built around the inside of it to convert it to a powder store. There are about 20 kegs of powder and several hundred musket balls in the store. The powder is as good as, if not better than that used by Lord Kylestenson's men.

On entering the left-hand dormitory on the third floor, it appears 'normal' to everyone except Sarah, although Cormac will be able to sense the magic emanating from the far wall. There are a row of 3 beds with foot lockers down the center of the room, with a fourth off to the left. There is a fire place on the left-hand side of the far wall, then another foot locker.
To Sarah, looking through the Pattern, the area between the foot locker and the right-hand wall glows. Cormac will also be able to sense the magic is eminating from here.

Cormac has 3 keys.. and unfortunately luck is not on his side, and it takes 3 attempts to work out which is the correct key to open the door.
Unlocking it, he can pull it open, at which point the illusion disappears, and he is now obviously opening an iron bound oak door, covered in 'sigils'.
The door is also weighted. There is a heavy chord attached near the top of the door, which passes through a couple of 'eyes' in the frame, which is attached to a lump of lead which hangs on the hing side. As the door is opened the weight rises.
Beyond the door is another dark spiral staircase leading down.

"Well then lets go down and check." Cathal says and takes the way down the new stairway.

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:33, Sun 24 Mar.

Sarah gestured for Kenneth -- with the light on his gun -- to go first; she'd follow him down the stairwell, still concentrating.

Kenneth can take the lead, pointing the gun at an angle onto the ceiling as the small amount of light is more effective that way.
None of the 'Shape shifters' will struggle in the low level of illumination by Cormac and Lord Kylestenson will.

The stairs go down a long way! In the 'dark' it takes about 10 minutes to reach the bottom, and without any definitive source for reference they go down at least 3 times the height of those you ascended in the tower.
Opening the door at the bottom of the stairs, it's not locked and has a similar sliding latch to those elsewhere in the tower, although like the one on the roof its metal and not wood, you find yourselves in a dimly lit 20ft square room. The light is provided by a 4 wick lamp hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. The room smells of 'bees wax'.
Various barrels, of different sizes, kegs, crates, and boxes are stacked into the corners of the room. There are 3 doors, one in the opposite wall, and one in the center of each of the right-hand and left-hand walls.
To Sarah, looking through the Pattern, the door on the opposite wall is glowing quite brightly.

Once Cormac enters the room he will say.

This message was last edited by the GM at 10:27, Sun 24 Mar.

Cathal looks around in the store room if there are some spare candles.

There are 2 more of the 'bowl like' lanterns, like the one hanging in the center of the room, both filled and ready to use. There are 3 which are half-round, also filled and ready to go, and there are 2 'bowls with handles' https://medieval-market.com/de...id_towar=875&s=4, also filled and ready to go. There are also 3 of the 'full round bowl, 3 of the half-round, and 5 of the cresset lamps all of which appear to have been used and are in need of refilling.
There are no 'matches' - they haven't been invented yet!

There is also quite a large stack of regular beeswax blocks. The fact they are all the same size and exact cubes seems a little odd.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:29, Sun 24 Mar.

Cathal takes a lamp and some refilling and hands one to Cormac and Lord Kylestenson.

Then he looks around if there is a Candle lighting stick ( basically a long stuff with some wax wick at the end. You use the wick to light lamps that are out of reach) or a striking flint and steel.

Upon entering the lower room, Sarah pointed out the obviously (to her) glowing door, then move to one side. As Cathal collected lights for the others, she studied the magical door. While she had little experience with using the Pattern, and no training with magic at all, she took every opportunity to observe and learn as much as she could. After all, when would such an opportunity present itself again?

"Is it better to try to understand what is on the door, or simply to destroy it like before?" She asked, mostly to Charlie. "It's probably worth checking out the other two doors first, in either case."