The morning of the 15th dawns.

You have a meeting scheduled for 08:15am

Blake will arrive at about 3 minutes past. Cormac, Kenneth, and Natalie will all arrive a couple of minutes later with Alana, Winter, and Edward arriving at about 12 minutes past.

After dinner on the previous evening, Rhiannon retired to her room to study. She didn't push it too hard, going to bed early so she would be refreshed for the meeting in the morning. Waking up before dawn, she got in her usual morning practice, exercised, showered and then made it to the meeting by 8:10.

When she walked in, she greeted who was there. "Good morning, brothers, sisters, cousins." Her voice was melodic and full of joy. "how are you all doing thins morning?"

Cath comes in after Rhiannon. "Good morning everybody."

Anyone crossing the landings of the foyer on the way to breakfast at about 12 minutes past 8 will notice a trump portal form, through which steps a girl of obviously Asian descent. At well over 6ft tall and stunningly attractive she is quite a contradiction. Dressed in what one was obviously once in the recent past a white blouse, although this is actually  now tied around her middle under her bust, a mid-thigh length pleated blue skirt and mid-calf length dock martin boots, with a blue and white tie, tied like a necklace around her neck, she has a 100l bergen carried by a single shoulder strap over her left shoulder, a trump card in her left hand, and an anodised aluminium case about 5ft in length, 15" wide, and 9" thick in her right hand. Threaded through the shoulder strap by which she carries the bergen is a blue blazer, and strapped down the side of the bergen is what appears to be a katana.
Once in the foyer she takes the stairs 3 at a time, leaving an impressive scent trail of alcohol, cigarette smoke, and something else. Once she gets close enough to people its obvious that her blouse and skirt, like a large portion of her exposed skin, are covered in stains, most likely from spilt drinks.
Upon reaching the dining room she dumps the bergen and blazer on one of the chairs, and carefully stows the aluminium case in one corner, before making a beeline for the catering trolley. Grabbing a sausage she takes a huge bite out of it before grabbing a plate and loading it up with scrambled eggs, kidneys, sausages, and several slices of toast which she liberally coats in jam. In the process of loading her plate, she devours 3 sausages. Dumping the plate on the table she pours herself a large mug of coffee, into which she spoons 3 teaspoons of sugar.
Taking a large gulp from the mug she sits down by her plate.

She goes back to stuffing food from her plate into her mouth.
Most of you will either recognise her from the Disjunction trailer or video at the Expo launch or from a much closer encounter.

The appearance of the portal drew Rhiannon's attention immediately. This was supposed to be an important meeting and she was curious about who else would show up to attend. She who appeared was immediately recognized as Cordelia's daughter, Charlie. The woman had obviously been out partying. Based on her restyled outfit and alcoholic fragrance ,she'd been hitting it hard.

"Good morning, Charlie."  Rhiannon smiled "It looks like you had a fun night. I confess that I'm quite jealous."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Thu 28 Sept 2023.

"Good morning. Nice to meet you." Cathal greets the new relative.

"You have been given the who is who of us?"

"OH yes! I'm so sorry. I'm Rhiannon. It's nice to meet you " Rhiannon looked a bit embarrassed

In between mouthfuls Charlie replies "Night! Hah.. been going 36 hours or so.. had to leave before the fun really got started Friday evening."

"Hmm.. yes and no, Cathal O'Donoghue Chaosite and Shapeshifter, formerly of Killarney, now in your 3rd year at University College Cork. What are you going to do about Liliana? She's quite cute in a fluffy bunny sort of way."

"Thirty six hours?" Rhiannon marveled. "Even better. Madison said you'd be the one to tag along with. She was right. If you ever want a wing...tag me in!"

"A difficult question. As long as I do no have a good understanding about my situation, I find myself in the situation that I do not know." Cathal replies.

"Any advice, I'm surly not the first of the family in this situation."

"Ive no idea. You could just ask my mother."

As if on cue Cordelia will arrive. She is dressed very much in the game style as she was for the Expo Opening Ceremony.












At this point her Cordelia grabs hold of her and she becomes silent, before glancing in Winter's direction, and then sort of visibly sagging.

!0 minutes before the time Cathal is at the meeting point, dressed as advised.

Sensing some mother daughter friction, Rhiannon simply nodded, and kept her head down. She wanted no part of that, not to mention that Charlie scarcely acknowledged most of what she said. But if there was to be an excursion, she wasn't going to miss that. The only question in her head was whether she should dress casually or posh. Maybe they had different definitions of the word in Carnelian.

Charlie will arrive in the foyer at 14:55 dressed in a Chinese silk dress with phoenix motif in black, silver, peach, and hues of blue, a midnight blue cropped sleeve leather jacket with Celestial Dragon Motif, blue and silver calf boots, with midnight blue and silver chausses and matching vambraces. Around her middle she has a midnight blue flashed with silver Obi. Pinned to her jacket lapel is one of the badges Cordelia gave each of you on the morning of the Expo Opening. She is also carrying a cylindrical bag about 5" in diameter and 4ft in length.
Once everybody is assembled she heads for the 'airport arch' which activates as she approaches. Once more you find yourselves in the foyer of the Mizzurian Expo. Checking her orientation she heads for the main reception, where she asks about the minibus and driver. The receptionist says that the driver will be with her presently.
After about 3 minutes an average looking woman of Asian descent, in a Mizzurian Security uniform approaches, and suggests they follow her. She will lead you all down to the VIP car park where a Mizzurian flagged mini-bus is waiting. Opening the doors, she then makes her way to the drivers door and gets in. Charlie takes the front passenger seat then directs the driver to head for route 10.
Once out of the complex and on the main highway you feel the power of the Pattern being drawn.
2 hours later you find yourselves on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Charlie has the driver drop you all just off the Golden Mile.

"How about the simply, why you want us doing that?" Cathal asks.

Rhiannon loved her ability to always know the exact time. When it came close to three, she started getting ready, choosing a back evening dress that was supported mostly by friction, but also had thin spaghetti straps over the shoulders. The basic black was offset by a gold  necklace and bangles. In her ears were diamond studs, that were large enough for the sparkle to be noticeable. She only had one pair of heels, reminding her to go shoe shopping at the next opportunity. Her makeup was subdued as usual, mostly just on the eyes, and some color on her lips. Charlie said smart causal like if they were going to a theater or a posh restaurant. To her, that meant dress up but be comfortable.

At a couple minutes before the hour, Rhiannon appeared. Everyone looked nice, but exactly what kind of shadow excursion they were about to experience remained a mystery. She doubted they would be visiting any medieval castles dressed as they were. She really liked Charlie's dress. Chinese dresses always looked so elegant and colorful

"Charlie, your dress is lovely. I should add some Asian designs to my wardrobe. Everyone else looks quite smart."

It was a bit disappointing when they emerged yet again at the Expo, but it seemed that that was just a pass through. A shuttle soon had them out on the open road. A couple hours later, they were headed into Las Vegas. Charlies directions from there were very specific. They were each given cash and instructed precisely how to use it. She also predicted how they would go through the money and then start winning. When asked for questions, Cathal wondered why they would be farming winnings. Rhiannon assumed it was a demonstration of how the pattern could manipulate the machines or maybe the odds. It seemed reasonable. If they could manipulated the fabric of shadow, are the machines not also shadow, or even the likelihoods of getting a Jackpot.

"If you don't want to learn anything then don't bother. You can just stand around like a lemon for the next couple of hours whilst the rest of us enjoy ourselves whilst I do what my mother asked of me."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:47, Tue 03 Oct 2023.

"That is neither what I said nor what I indicated." Cathal answers.

"So we are about to learn something but you are not telling us what." He shurgs.

"I'm all game." He adds with slight grin.

"Whilst you might learn something, that's not the purpose of this outing. We're here so I can demonstrate some things you can do with the Pattern, and I've sort of knocked one off already; or do you think the normal travel time from down-town Los Angeles to Las Vegas is a little under an hour?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:30, Sun 08 Oct 2023.

Cathal smirks a bit. "Geography of the US was not a topic in my school education. But I did noticed that the pattern was used."

"Okay then,one more things before I forget.."
Her features appear to change until she resembles Rhiannon's twin sister, which takes a couple of minutes all told
"Right, shouldn't attract any untoward attention now, at least initially, lets go."
She heads in the direction of one of the major casinos.

As you approach the entrance she says
"You go in I'll catch you up in a few minutes."

You'll notice once she re-appears that she's not carrying her bag any longer..
This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Wed 04 Oct 2023.

"I'm not sure I like that." Cathal says to Rhiannon.

He follows the instruction with his share of money.

Rhiannon had noticed that the pattern was being used, but like Cathal, she wouldn't know how much time the journey should have taken. The important point was that shadow could be used as a shortcut and not necessarily to move into who new worlds. It wasn't surprising actually, and she could imagine how such a thing could be done.

What was surprising was watching Charlie change her shape, and the final result were a bit freaky. It was like looking in a mirror. She didn't say anything, but she wondered why Charlie felt the need to hide her own appearance. Cathal didn't like it. "Well. I always wanted my own sister." She was joking, but the choice was puzzling

It became more mysterious when she left them only to appear a few minutes later without her bag. "Charlie, if I may. Why dod you choose my face to go run that little errand? Should I be expecting someone to approach me later?"

"That depends on how much attention they're paying. Since this is a large group they might not work it out till we're cashing up. And of course I'm not me nor anybody else I've been which just adds to the confusion." She smirks and chuckles.
"As to  my bag .. the valet is kindly minding it for me."

The first hour passes pretty much as Charlie's commentary. You play the slots, occasionally getting a payout although nothing major, and by the end of the hour you're out of tokens. Restocking your supply you commencing playing again, although it's about another 15 minutes before you notice that the machines are now starting to pay out a little more often. Another half an hour passes and you've now most made back the $100 you spent on tokens, well at least in 'token' form.
Now you're all into the realm of the machines noticeably paying out more frequently, which means you're all starting to attract a little attention, and not only from other excited gamblers who've noticed your apparent luck with the machines, but also from the Casino staff. As if on cue, when you reach the point of calling it quits two of the machines light up with a fanfare as 'Jackpot' comes up. These are the machines being played by Natalie and Cathal.

Charlie will quickly make the rounds at this point telling everyone, well other than Cathal and Natalie, to go cash your winnings up and then meetup back where you were dropped by the mini-bus, whilst she sorts out the situation with the jackpot winners.
It's probably about 40 minutes later than Charlie will appear with Cathal and Natalie. She also has her bag back with her.
When you tally up your winnings, having subtracted the $150 stake money, the tally is as follows...
Natalie   - +70 + Jackpot 10,000
Alana     - +$720
Blake     - +$180
Cormac    - +$500
Kenneth   - +$500
Edward    - +$100
Winter    - +$500
Cathal    - +$320 + Jackpot 10,000
Natsuki   - +$240
Cassandra - +$720
Rhiannon  - +$180









Charlie takes out her phone, consults the search app she's using then sets off.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the rental office. There's what appears to be a very bored booking clerk manning the sales desk.
Charlie greets him politely, then explains that she needs to rent a mini-bus with immediate delivery.
When he start to prevaricate and try and explain that it's not possible, she grabs hold of him. After about 30 seconds she lets go, and he says "Right lets see.". He begins typing on the terminal, then picks up the phone and dials a number. When the person on the other end answers he explains he needs a mini-bus pronto, then gets cross with the other party, before eventually coming to an agreement. He turns back to the computer, types a few things then asks whether this will be card or account. Charlie says card, prompting Edward to hand his card over.
It takes a few minutes to conclude the hire, before the clerk says,  "The bus will be here in about 45 minutes. Would you like coffee whilst you're waiting?"

"Coffee would be nice. Anything yo u want to tell us in advance about the 'shopping' we are gone do." Cathal replies.

The demonstration itself wasn't mind blowing. Sure they netted gains on the slot machines, but it wasn't like they were hitting jackpots all of a sudden every single time. But, while the streak of good luck was rather muted in fanfare, the implication was literally seismic in importance. Everything in life was based on odds. If they could decide that those odds could be tilted to their desire, there was little they could not do given enough time. The casino management noticed, but what could they do. No surveillance could possibly detect a change to the odds. This alone made their powers almost godlike.

Charlie demonstrated another power. The rental clerk was initially resistant to finding them a van on such short notice, but then Charlie grabbed him rather violently and he changed his mind. In fact, his entire attitude changed. To most people watching they might have assumed that she somehow bullied the man, but that wouldn't have made him so amiable. The other detail of note was that she grabbed him in much the same way that Cordelia grabbed Charlie when her attitude changed about leading this little excursion. It wasn't the same as changing the odds, but it was still altering reality towards a more favorable outcome.

The implications were mind boggling.

"Yes, coffee." Rhiannon needed time to process this "Irish coffee if you have it."

Most people will opt for a coffee whilst waiting..

Cathal leans over to Rhiannon. "If we are back we should make this trip a topic in the pattern class."

In reply to Cathal O'Donoghue (msg # 31):

After getting her coffee, Rhiannon returned to the group, sipping as she waited.



"I agree. There's a lot here to discuss."

The bus actually takes 55 minutes to arrive, somewhat to Charlie's annoyance.


A little over 3 hours later you find yourselves approaching Washington, and about 30 minutes later, about 7.40am local time you pull into the parking lot of a large Army Surplus store.

Grabbing her bag Charlie jumps out and heads for the front door.
By the time you catch up, she's opened the door and gone inside. You notice the sign on the door which says "By Appointment only - Buzz for entry."
Following her in, you notice the front counter is unmanned.
She re-appears a couple of minutes later, holding a dvd in her hand.


This message was last edited by the GM at 08:26, Fri 13 Oct 2023.

Cathal takes over the driving.

He notice the shortcut, even having no great knowledge about US geography he knows that Washington is at the east coast and days away with a car.

He Exchanges glances with Rhiannon after Charlie enters the store.

And then follows Charlies into the store and helps to go through the shopping list. He get things fro himself, making sure everything fits. He takes Glock 26 with a spare magazine and a box oaf ammo. He gets a knife and a Winchester 73 with some ammo  for himself.

He helps the others when needed to get everything on Charlies shopping list.

There was no mistaking that shortcut. 3 hours was way too short for where they ended up, but it did raise a question as to why it took them any hours. When it occurred to her, she asked Charlie.

"Charlie? I love the shorter travel time, but if we can just shortcut through Shadow, then why does it even take hours? Why does it take any time at all?" If she had been keeping track, she would have checked if the travel time and the clock time matched.

Still unsure of the destination, they continued into Washington for another half hour, arriving in a place Rhiannon found quite surprising. Why a military store? Cathal seemed to wonder the same thing, exchanging a glance with her. She gave him a shrug, then followed him through the door.

After Charlies instructions, Rhiannon looked lost. She understood fatigues and boot. "If I may? I don't know what any of those things are." Cathal seemed to have a clue, so she pleaded with him.

"I can pick out the cloths, but can you help me sort all that other gun stuff?"

"Charlie? Why are we dressing up as if we're going to war?"

Cathal points to the webbing. "That is a kind of belt,  mostly for attaching something to a backpack for example."

"Not so good with guns, but lucks there are little price tags at the arms that help. In any case take a knife and when you are not used to a weapon the lighter Glock 26."

"If you want another fire weapon, Shotgun  ammunition hold little balls inside so lot of ouch. Winchester is bit more prizes has longer reach. Not that I used on of them. Just some memories from my mother.

Rhiannon wasn't reassured by either Charlie or Cathal. She found some camouflage patterned pants, a matching brown tshirt and a pair of decent boots. They weren't the nicest looking things with heavy canvas sides, but they fit well. She let Cathal help with the webbing, knife and the Glock, but she had no interest in the shotgun. Looking over the others, the smaller MP5 seemed more appropriate for her size. Charlie would have to help with the grenades and other unusual weapons.

"You do realize," Rhiannon opened up to Charlie. "I've never fired a gun and my fighting experience consists only of self defense classes. Where are we going and why?"

"If you've never fired a gun then just don't draw it unless you absolutely have to."

"Now as to where we're going I don't know exactly, but we'll find out when we get there. As to why, because I want to demonstrate another use of the Pattern and one of the limitations in using it in that manner, oh and the millon or so in US Treasury bearer bonds might just be useful."

"Are we doing a bank robbery, more or less?" Cathal comments. He is fine learning stuff about pattern usage, he is no sure he is going to like this example.

He picks several tactical balaclava, just in case, hands one to Rhiannon and offers the rest to the others.

"If I wanted to rob a bank, then I'd open an account, get a safety deposit box, create a trump of the vault, and then trump in and out. Robbing banks is a mugs game, and only done if there is no other way to achive the objective. So no we're not robbing any bank."

"We are collection US Treasury bearer bonds with weapons? You have all my attention." Cathal replies.

"If you really want to know we're going to emulate a stunt pulled by my mother in her mid 20's. We're going to hijack a drugs deal, and relieve the participents of the payment."
"And just so we're clear my mother did this with only the assistance of her then boy friend in her 4x4 with no preporation. I'm not making the same mistakes she did."

"Ah, sounds great. And you figured into your plan that most of us just know at which end to hold a gun?" Cathal asks friendly.

"You mean did I factor in the fact that you're all wet behind the ears and know diddly squat about shit, with possibly the exception of Kenneth and Cassandra, then the answer is yes."

Cathal shrugs and smiles.

He has a small problem with what is going on and the way Charlie treats them. It is not their fault that she was pointed out to babysit them.

Right. Rhiannon glanced around at her kin nervously. Aside from sounding outlandish, this was completely bonkers. Charlie's plan was to rob drug dealers of a million US dollars. Rhiannon wasn't a cop, or even a screenwriter, but she could guess that if a million dollars was on the line, these drug dealers would have a lot of guns there to protect it. She could imagine that a well trained and properly equipped team with pattern powers could easily take that money with little risk to themselves, especially given they could skew the odds in their favor. The problem was that while everyone present had the power, only Charlie had the skill. And not just with pattern, but also with the equipment. It just felt reckless, especially given that their leader was just ripped away from the best parts of her 36hr bender and then coerced into this excursion. Her supercilious attitude didn't help either.

That all said, Rhiannon had some faith that Charlie did have a workable plan. That faith was mostly justified by the sense that her family possessed godlike abilities. The rest of her confidence was hope that Cordelia's daughter's cocky-bitch attitude was based on no small amount of competence.

"Well. Would let us in on how you see this going and what we're all supposed to do?"

"How this is going to go exactly.."
"No real idea. We'll just improvise. That said the mini-bus isn't going to cut it. If it were just a few of us I'd go grab an ex-military Landrover, but given that there's a dozen of us, we're going to need an MTV of sorts. I had thought to raid an FBI deport but that's off the cards given the time of day, so we'll just have to go find one somewhere more convenient."
"In the mean time just load yourselves, your gear and my shopping list onto the mini-bus."
As she says this she pulls her sword, and a pair of pistols (Glock32s from those who recognise the model) from out of her bag, holsters the pistols, and slides the sword through her webbing.

Rhiannon's eyes widened at Charlie's response. Fuck all of the woman wasn't outright insane. There had to be an easier way to get a million dollars. "Are you serious? What happened to not making the same mistakes as your mother? How do you even know this drug deal is going to take place?" This felt like this was about to become the field trip from Hell.

"What even is an MTV, aside from music television?" Rhiannon looked around at her relatives for anyone else to raise a question or a concern. Cathal?

"Perfectly serious, and I'm going in prepared. My mother wasn't.""
"As I'm using the Pattern to locate such a transaction I know it will be taking place, and MTV stands for Medium Tactical Vehicle, basically a Caimen. They're used by the FBI, Law Enforcement Agencies, and the US military, amongst others. "

Cathal looks troubled when Rhiannon give him a glance.

"We improvise, serious? You lead us against a bunch of armed most likely highly violent Drug-Dealer and want to improvise with several people who never pointed a weapon at a human target."

"We did not grew up knowing like you did, we did not grew up being trained in fighting like you most likely did."

"What do you want to prove that we are useless?, That we are easy prey?"

"Nope. The point of the exercise is to demonstrate what you can do with the Pattern. If you're not interested then you're welcome to return to the Mansion."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 07:45, Sat 14 Oct 2023.

"The question here is if you have to demonstrate what you want to demonstrate in the way you are about to do it." Cathal points out.

With everybody back onboard the mini-bus, Charlie takes the wheel this time, although its about 10 minutes before the bus departs from the parking lot (and yes you all notice the Pattern in use again).
Rather than head for the highway, she heads West towards the Appalachians, turning left and right at seemingly odd points, although after a few turns it becomes reasonably obvious that the landscape is changing subtly with each turn she makes.
After about an hour and a half you find yourself on a reasonably windy mountain highway. A further 15 minutes and you find yourselves approaching a low-loader that's pulled to the side of the road. On the low loader is a Caiman MTV <img
src="http://www.armyrecognition.com/images/stories/north_america/united_states/wheeled_armoured/caiman_mtv/Caiman_MTV_MRAP_BAE_Systems_multi-theater_mine_resistant_protected_vehicle_United_States_American_640.jpg">.
Charlie pulls the minibus in ahead of the low loader.

Getting out she approaches the low loader, which causes the driver and co-driver to get out. When she gets to about 10ft from them they both pull their guns, which causes her to stop. After a few seconds, the driver puts his gun away, followed about 15 seconds later by the co-driver.
All three then walk back to the cab, where Charlie retrieves a small unit, whilst the driver begins lowering the ramp on the back of the low loader.
Walking back to the minibus she says.

"I'll drive the van. Though, I should warn that I don't have a lot of driving experience."

"By not a lot, what exactly do you mean? Got your driving permit? How long have you been driving?"

"I just got my license when I came to the US a couple years ago. I've driven a car for more than local driving only three times. All from Harvard to Cape Cod and back."

"And yes, Cormac. Thank you. Some company would be lovely."

"Charlie? Since we'll be in separate cars, would it not be wise if you provided us with a trump of yourself? Just in case we need to communicate."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Sat 21 Oct 2023.

"How exactly do I put this??"
"Trying to take or make a Trump call whilst driving a car is probably the fastest way for you to commit suicide short of you jumping into the Abyss."
"And.. why would you think I would have a spare Trump of myself secreted about my person, just on the off chance I needed to give to some other member of the family? And you're making the assumption that I have more than just the ability to use Trumps into the bargain."
"All you have to do is follow the MTV and not lose sight of it.. how difficult do you think that's going to be?"

Under Charlie's rather aggressive retort, Rhiannon just raised her hands and backed off. She'd been trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the younger Chan was kind of a bitch, even making her mother seem like miss congeniality.

"I was just asking. Barring a cell phone, I felt it would be prudent in case we had to pull off for some reason. You know, you don't have to be so unpleasant."

Charlie ignores Rhiannon's comment..

Once the drivers have finished unloading the Caiman, and siphoning the diesel from the low loaders tank into the Caiman's, Charlie will handcuff the pair to the back of the cab. If anybody asks about it "its to maintain the appearance and story that they were hijacked at gun point".

Charlie will then indicate that other than Rhiannon and Cormac everyone should board the Caiman, the transfer of all gear from the minibus also having been completed. It will be noted that Charlie is now wearing her sword, although when she climbs into the drivers seat she will stow it by her side, along with the M16.
There will then be a short delay whilst she summons the Pattern before you set off once more, not in the direction of the 'freeway' but more into the narrower and less frequented roads of the Appalachian foothills.
After about an hour, at least for those in the Caiman, Kenneth will say "Um, I'm not being stupid am I but this all looks familiar like we're in the Sierra's, and if I'm not mistaken close to Big Creek.".
Charlie will chuckle slightly and then say "No you're not wrong. I need both gas and somewhere to leave the minibus and the terrain and setting here is a good jumping point for our final destination."
A few minutes later you enter Big Creek. Charlie will pullover adjacent to the parking area by the Edison power generation complex.

Cathal slips out of the Caiman and walsk over to the minibus.

"Park it here Rhiannon and then you two join us, she does no want that you loose her when she starts to shortcut soon."

H shakes he head, it is clear that he is not happy we the situation.
"I think we are about to enter the latest stage of Charlie's plan. I have a bad feeling about this."

Driving the minivan, Rhiannon followed behind the Caiman with a bit of a glower. From the beginning, she had sensed that Charlie had some attitude problem but she had brushed off in the name of civility. After their last 'conversation', though, she had no more doubt that Cordelia's daughter was not just unpleasant, but a self-absorbed cunt. There was no reason for her to be so snide, and less for her sanctimony. Whatever the younger Chan's problem was, she wasn't going to engage, but she would keep her guard up.

After more than a few scenery changes, the Caiman pulled into a parking lot in the middle of nowhere. Rhiannon followed, stopping just behind. She didn't know why they were stopping, but she couldn't help but think that this would have been a perfect example of where a phone or trump would have come in handy. Cormac could have used either so as not to 'commit suicide'. Not that it was completely necessary in this case, but staying in communication was a the best way to coordinate. But instead of a phone, bitch had to pull over and send her message by way of Cathal.

At Cathal's instruction, Rhiannon turned the van into a marked parking spot. She exited the vehicle with Cormac and then went with Cathal back to the Caiman.

"I have a bad feeling about this also, but only because our squad leader is a git." When they reached the Caiman, she climbed in and found a clear seat.

At Rhiannon last comment Cathal raises any eyebrow as if saying 'understatement of the day'.

With everyone back on-board the Caiman, Charlie will depart on Big Creek.
After passing the Main Power Station on the right, the road descends, the heavily wooded hillside rising sharply on the right, and heavy woodland encroaching from the left, putting the road into a sort of 'forest tunnel'.
After less than a mile Kenneth begins to fidget, looking rapidly around through the front and side windows. His unease grows with each passing mile, especially once the trees start to thin, and you find yourself on a dual carriage highway, which narrows down after about half a mile, and bends left, with a Valerno Gas station on the right. Charlie will pull the Caiman in adjacent to the diesel pump (self service - pay at pump).








Reluctantly Edward will get out an put the requisite amount of fuel into the tank.

Having refuelled, Charlie will set off once more, taking the next right, and after passing a school once more entering a tunnel of trees.
The next stage of the journey takes about an hour, the trees changing from a mix of temperate woodland and pine forest, firstly to sub-tropical forest, and then dense tropical forest. As the trees change the elevation, temperature and humidity all increase, and the road changes from a metalled road, first to a gravel track, then a mud track, and then not much more than a set of wheel ruts through the forest.
Before the incline you've been ascending runs out, Charlie stops the Caiman.


From the way she moves its fairly obvious she is very used to doing this....

Cathal is not used to such thing but he goes with Charlie, he does no trust her to fill them in on all.

He tries to follow her example while he sneak a bit behind her. Having veiled his face keeping his won pair of binoculars ready.

Not wanting to sit idly in the vehicle, Rhiannon followed behind. She didn't have binoculars or a way to cover her face, but if they needed binoculars, no one was going to see her face anyway.

Cathal had given Rhiannon a tactical balaclava, same that he is wearing now.

The track, as much as it is, continues for about 30ft before the trees thin and then cease, and the track turns left and begins a steep descent. As she reaches the tree line Charlie drops to all four and begins a slow crawl forward and to the right. As she nears the edge of the ridge she drops onto her stomach and then inches forward until she can see into the valley below.
Several miles away and several hundred feet below on the other side of the valley is a large palatial looking building. About a mile south of that is an industrial looking building, possibly a warehouse of some description, with a cleared area to the front of it. The cleared area is about 2miles in length and may be half a mile wide, probably a landing strip of some sort. Charlie takes out her binoculars and scans the scene, then using her scope scans parts of the area again.
Survey over she backs away from the edge, then returning to all fours crawls back to the tree line before returning to the Caiman.

"What is with the helicopter. Will that be a problem?" Cathal asks.

Without her own binoculars, Rhiannon could only see the large features of the scene. The buildings and what looked like an airstrip. It was nothing like what she thought they would see. What she thought was that there would be a bunch of guys in a clearing and a couple of vehicles with a few large bags of stuff they wanted to trade. So now this was less a robbery and more some kind of military operation.

She huffed, shaking her head at the absurdity of the situation. She had half a mind to return to the mansion, but was still hoping there would actually be something to learn here. As she was arguing with herself in her head, Cathal mentioned the helicopter.

"Wait. What helicopter."

"I've no idea. One of them looks like a Bell Ranger or derivative. The other I've no idea about, couldn't see enough of it to identify it. Can't see it being an issue, all helos have two vulnerable spots, the tail rotor and the main rotor linkage, so all you need to be able to do is shoot straight if it comes to that."

"So the plans we speed in with the Caiman hop out storm the warehouse and hope that all work out." Cathal asks.

"And an Caiman is of course a craft that is seen everyday speeding up into you homestead?"

"In its simplest form that's about the size of it"
"Once we're on the valley floor, assuming there are no surprises waiting for us, we should be concealed until we get onto the airfield."
"Everything hinges on us being able to get in and out without them being able to react."

"I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this plan is mental. This has to be where you influence shadow to keep them clueless?"

"No. Attempting to do so at this point would just move us into a Shadow where what ever we retrieved would be useless here. If I'd had a week to concoct this whole scheme then yes that would have been possible. We just deal with what ever happens, when it happens."

Cathal exchanges another look with Rhiannon.

"When we are back we will have to ask you question about the different uses of pattern so we can clear out some misconceptions we might have gotten on this trip."

Charlie climbs up into the Passenger seat, transferring her sword, the M16, and the Nosler to her side of the truck. Cormac reluctantly takes the drivers position.
The upper section of the descent is tricky, but the engine management, transmission management, and traction management systems of the Caiman handle most of the complexity leaving Cormac to most handle the steering.
Once back into some semblance of tree cover Charlie relaxes a little, and relaxes further once you reach the valley floor. It's also now noticeable that the tree cover is not contiguous, it's there mostly to hide the Coca bushes.
A little over 7 minutes after leaving the plateaux, Cassandra fractional ahead of Natsuki suddenly screams 'Stop!', causing Cormac to slam on the breaks.
Cautiously, Charlie gets out and carefully examines the track ahead of the Caiman, then tells Cormac to back up about 20ft.
As Cormac backs the Caiman up, Charlie moves in the direction you were heading carefully stepping over the wire strung across the road, and then moves to examine where it leads on both sides.
After a few minutes she returns to the Caiman and dives into one of the bags, extracting a reel of wire, a pair of cutters, and a pair of pliers. She cuts several lengths of wire and then bends and twists them to form, 4 substitute pins. She then returns back to the Claymores, that reside at the ends of the wire, and inserts the makeshift pins into the trigger mechanism, disabling the devices. She then disconnects the wire.
As she does so the distant drone of and approaching multi-propeller aircraft reaches you. She looks up scanning the horizon behind you.

Having climbed back into the passenger seat, you once more feel the power of the Pattern being drawn.

As you exit the tree line onto the cleared expanse of the airfield, the Hercules has finished taxiing to a position in front of the Warehouse where it has lowered the rear ramp. Adjacent to the ramp on the airfield side is a black limousine.

Cormac looks at Charlie who gestures and says 

As the Caiman accelerates, the scene ahead changes with people running about, then taking up aim at the oncoming Caiman. The sound of impacting bullets reaches your ears, before a huge surge in Pattern Energy, and then silence other than the scream of the engine and transmission. The limo begins to pull away from the Hercules.

Cathal looks a lost. He was not in the Irish army. He is glad to know how to hold a gun and to have and idea how to fire it. But he is not trained in going out under fire and keep his head low. Going out under fire, keeping his head low and shooting at something is out of his league.

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Wed 01 Nov 2023.

Absolute madness was the only way that Rhiannon could describe what was happening. The Caiman was racing across the airfield as bullets hit the vehicle. Never having been shot at, she shrieked, holding her hands over her ears to block out the loud pings and ducking her head against her knees. She could feel the pattern use, and then the bullets stop, though she had no idea what happened or how. Charlie was issuing orders, but from her place in the back, all she could do was go along for the ride

Kenneth had to agree, Charlie was insane, except she kept demonstrating that she at least knew what she was doing in some things.
He'd recognise that hair on the back of your neck feeling that had caused Cassandra and the Japanese girl to cry out, except that they did so before he had recognised the feeling. Did this mean they were both more sensitive than he was?
Charlie had then dealt with whatever had caused the issue in such a manner that it suggested she'd done it before, or at least had some training in how to do it. This begged the question from where?

That wasn't the current problem though. He'd guessed she'd picked this vehicle for a reason, and the fact that the initial volley of shots had pinged off the hull might have something to do with it, but she'd also said that one Pattern ability could only be demonstrated one way. Had she engineered this just to demonstrate that one ability, and was the fact that the bullets were no longer impacting the hull, the ability she was demonstrating in some way.
He didn't really have time to either ponder the question or seek and answer.
If he'd had his rifle with him, dealing with either the aircraft or the car in front wouldn't have been a problem, but he didn't. He did have an M16, other than the shotguns it was one of the few weapons in the store he'd been familiar with, but against a target the size of the plane it would do little damage, at least whilst it was stationary and on the ground.
Tactically knocking out the aircraft was also pretty pointless, it wasn't any form of threat, so why had Charlie even suggested it. What it would be tactically sensible to do was to stop anybody trying to shoot at them, and a couple of grenades in the right place would at least have discouraged them, unless Charlie was implying that in attacking the plane it would divert their attention, but that just came back to grenades and explosions, which he didn't have.
But, and he'd thought it odd at the time, why had Charlie bothered to ensure that at least one long barrelled large calibre carbine, and half a dozen flares for it had been amongst the items that had gone into the bags? We'll flares both burnt under water, and had the capacity to set fire to things, and potentially if they landed somewhere that had flammable material they might just set fire to the plane, which if nothing else might just serve as the necessary distraction.
There were a lot of ifs in that thought, but right at this moment it was about the only thing he could think of that might work..
Reaching into the bag he pulled out the odd looking carbine and 3 flares. Attempting to fire through one of the windows wasn't going to cut it. He just hoped that what ever it was Charlie was doing, meant that if he stuck his head and upper torso out of one of the roof hatches he wasn't going to get shot.
Releasing the hatch, he hoists himself up, to find that he's not being buffeted by the wind given the Caiman is racing towards the limo which is making a get way.
He doesn't really have time to aim properly, it's just a case of load, fire, load, fire, load, fire and then they're parallel with the aircraft. As bullets ping off the hull once more he drops back into the main body, but not before noting that one of the helicopters is now airborne, and it's one he recognises, which makes it bad news.
"Charlie, they've a Huey, and it's airbourne.."
Charlie doesn't respond..
He leans forward to get a better view and notes that not only is she perspiring heavily, but that there is a constant flash from the muzzle of the M60 mounted in the doorway of the Huey indicating its firing, but none of the rounds are impacting the Caiman.

Several things happen next, almost simultaneously.

1) From behind the Caiman, in the direction of the warehouse and Hercules, comes a series of explosions, a small one first, then a second larger one, and then a huge one as the Hercules is blown apart.
2) The Huey massively accelerates into a steep banking climb, passing over the Caiman
3) Cassandra and Natsuki, both scream, "Right, Go Right"
4) Charlie drops the Pattern and grabs the steering wheel, force the Caiman to veer sharply and heel over dangerously to the right

A couple of seconds later, a number of metal objects of varying sizes whistle through the space previously occupied by the Caiman, one of which impacts the Limo with significant force. The driver fights for control, unsuccessfully, causing the Limo to roll over completely before coming to rest, battered and some what slightly crushed the right way up.

Cormac fights for control of the Caiman, and manages to hold it all together, skidding to a halt a short distance from the wrecked limo.




Kenneth grabs a second magazine, the M16 and climbs back into the hatch space. Charlie exits the Caimen and using the bonnet for support begins to sight the Huey which has now turned to make an approach.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:37, Thu 02 Nov 2023.

This is Charlies show, she messed up, so she better solve it.

Cathal stays inside the Caiman.

The situation hadn't gotten any better. Rhiannon held onto whatever or whoever was close when the Caiman lurched to right. That's when the shooting started again, this time from a helicopter. The vehicle seemed to be ample protection, but that didn't stop her from cringing at the sounds of bullets striking all around. Kenneth jumped up to shoot back, but there was no way Rhiannon was going to join the fight unless she had to.

Natsuki looks away initially then looks back to see Cassandra staring at her.

Cassandra unstraps herself and makes her way to the rear door. As she opens it Kenneth begins firing at the Huey.
Cassandra drops to the ground and ducks round to the left of the Caiman. Natsuki exits the vehicle and Natalie unstraps herself to follow the other two.
A sharp piercing shot rings out, as Cassandra makes her way down the side of the vehicle, followed by Natsuki and Natalie.
As Cassandra moves to cross the gap between the Caiman and the wrecked Cadillac, Charlie moves to her left and fires a second time. As Cassandra reaches the Cadillac and Natsuki crosses the gap, Charlie fires a third time.
Cassandra scans the interior of the Cadillac and notes the armoured brief case handcuffed to the semi-conscious goon in the back seat.As she does so a whine can be heard from the Huey as it begins to spiral downwards out of control.
Natalie joins Natsuki, as Cassandra half clambers through the window of the Cadillac. Natsuki notes she reaches for something concealed in her right boot.
A loud thud followed by the sound of an explosion indicates the demise of the Huey, and shortly thereafter, Cassandra half extracting herself from the wreck shouts "catch" as she throws the briefcase to Natsuki. Natalie notes she does something else but what is obscured by both the body of the Cadillac and Cassandra's position. However she does note Cassandra does something with her right boot one she exits from the car.
Charlie meanwhile has reloaded her rifle and turned to look in the direction of the Hacienda.


Natalie looks round and then sprints for the back of the Caiman, followed by Natsuki, as the first shots hit the car and the side of the Caiman.
Kenneth starts to return fire, and Charlie manages to get a shot off as Cassandra follows Natalie and Natsuki towards the back of the Caiman.
As Natalie climbs into the back, Charlie fires a second time, firing a third time as Natsuki throws the briefcase into the back and climbs in after it.
As Cassandra climbs in the back, Charlie moves to climb into the passenger seat once more, appearing to stumble as she does so. Bullets start to rattle against the side of the Caiman and ping off.
Almost as soon as Charlie is inside, Cormac hits the accelerator, forcing Edward to grab Cassandra to stop her being flung out the back of the Caiman. With Edward hanging onto her she manages to grab the rear door and pull it shut, just before a hail of bullets rattle off the rear of the vehicle. Kenneth is taken by surprise by the sudden acceleration and falls from his perch, colliding with Natalie as she tries to strap herself in once more. Natsuki just about manages to stay on her feet, although Blake does have to grab her to stop her colliding with Edward and Cassandra.


The draw of Pattern power is felt once more, only far more intensely than anything felt previously...

As Charlie runs the Pattern image she screams in anguish at the effort. As the Caiman reaches the road at the edge of the airfield, the Pattern flares and the world goes haywire, the engine cuts out for several seconds, before springing back into life again briefly, then cutting out again. The outside world gyrates and flashes alternating between recognisable reality and the completely weird and alien.
After what seems like an eternity, but in reality is about 30 seconds, the engine springs into life one more, and the outside world returns to 'normality'.

Charlie then slumps forward against the dashboard and the draw of Pattern energy ceases abruptly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:32, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Cormac starts by loudly saying "Charlie? Charlie? Wakeup Charlie!"
When she doesn't respond he tries shaking her as best he can but again there is no response.

Disconcerted he brings the Caiman to a rapid halt.
He then reaches across and with some difficulty hauls Charlie back into her seat.
"Ugh I think we've got a problem. There's a what appears to be a wet blood stain on her left leg. Anybody know any first aid?"

"Bloody hell." Rhiannon sounded calm, but she wasn't. This was a disaster, but not one they couldn't get out of. "Get us someplace safe. We're going back to the mansion. I have the trump."

Cathal squeezes in next to Charlie.

"Let me have a look. Give me the first aide kit. It should be under the driver's seat."

Cathal quickly and cautiously cuts the trouser leg, checks for the wound. He suspects a bullet wound and applies a pressure dressing. If the shot goes through, it is double-sided.

"First sound plan of the Day, Rhia. Please make the contact."

In terms of where you are, you're somewhere in semi-mountainous terrain, somewhere on the borders between semi-tropical and temperate woodland. The road you're on, such as it is, is unmetalled but is a made road. Exactly where you are you have no idea, but currently you seem to be alone.



If anybody questions her she'll say

Between them Natalie and Cathal extract Charlie from her seat and lay her on the ground so that Natalie can work on her.
Blake and Winter will get out with them. Kenneth will return to his roof hatch perch and keep watch from there.

Trying not to get in either Natalie’s nor Cathal’s way Blake will put his hand on Charlie’s head and speak a word that no-one understands. Outwardly it appears to have no effect.

As Natalie works to create a pressure dressing for the wound, and yes it’s a through and through, Winter appears to enter a semi-meditative state. After a minute or so she will place her hands on Charlie’s head for about 30 seconds. When she removes them and stand up, Charlie’s breathing and colour appear to have improved slightly.


Once Natalie is satisfied that she has bound the wound as best she can with the limited supplies in the first aid kit, she asks Blake if he can wake her up. He responds by saying that he can try the power word a couple of times which might work. Winter then comments that she can also use one of her techniques to help restore the body’s energies, at least temporarily.


Blake casts his power word a couple of times, and on the second time Charlie becomes vaguely conscious, although when Winter executes her ability by 'laying on hands' she becomes much more alert.


When Natalie explains that they’re going to take her back to the Mansion by Trump portal Charlie says



Once she gets her bag, she will stow the M16, Nosler, and her sword in it, then take out her trump deck from her jacket. Sorting out a card she will activate it and disappear. Anyone observant will notice it has what could be a robot or similar on the reverse.

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:15, Thu 09 Nov 2023.

Cathal's opinion of Charlie has is not the best, which is an understatement.

She has made a decision to go, he will no stop her. Good riddance!

He waits till Rhiannon has the trump to the Mansion ready and then goes there.

(If nothing happens that prevents that.)

Not having been at the front, Rhiannon had no idea what was safe, and what wasn't. But since everyone was jumping out of the Caiman, she had to assume that the current location was safe enough. In her mind, time was of the essence, but those who knew better felt that attending Charlie's wound was more urgent than escaping. She had no medical skills or abilities, so with nothing to contribute to the effort she stood back out of the way and got ready with her trump.

Charlie roused after a few moments of work by those who could. Once she was lucid, she was no less officious than before her students saved her life. Without so much as a thank you, she requested some of her effects and then trumped herself out. Apparently she wasn't concerned about anyone else's safety, scarcely looking to see where they were. Maybe she had a sense for it, maybe se didn't. To Rhiannon, the urgency hadn't changed. Once the distraction that was Charlie Chan was gone, she focused on her trump, opening a portal.

"Time is of the essence, people. Let's go." She held the portal open until everyone was through. She would go in last. If the time limit got too close, she would let the portal close then open another. When they were all safely back in the mansion, she looked at the others, expecting comments.

"I can't say I didn't learn some things, but I think it could have been more instructive with proper explanations and forewarnings."

The time when you return to the Mansion is 06:48 on the 17th. You left at 15:20 on the 15th.
Everyone will make it through the portal in time, assuming they all know in advance that you are going to open a portal, and can therefore prepare themselves, including Cormac who will lock the Caiman before you leave.

"Yes she was everything else then happy with it. She used the situation and us to pull through some heists. She endangered us. She gave and gives a shit about us. She has a big attitude problem."

"She could have done it differently, she choose to be as unhelpful as possible."

"Are you hard of hearing or something? She told us she was going to pull a heist so lighten up about it."
"That said she probably did put all you normies, excluding Kenneth, in more danger than you're used to."

"Look, I'm not necessarily the most knowledgeable person round here, given I don't have the profs memories left to him by his mother, but I didn't have much of a clue as to what she was doing most of the time, therefore I'd like to know what she could have done differently to demonstrate what ever it was she was demonstrating."

"Do no know what that has to do with my mother's memory." Cathal returns, his usual friendly self gone for a moment.

"What I figured out was probability manipulation, taking shortcuts. There was more, but I have no idea. Her little Highness was not very forthcoming in telling, what she was doing. It might have made the trip more enlightening, if her little Highness had told us."

It is clear that Cathal has lost nearly all respect for Charlie.

"In reality nothing then. So you like me had pretty much no idea what she was demonstrating, yet you think she could have done it in a different way. The two don't jam."
"Now, could the whole trip been more enlightening? May be. Did we learn stuff? Sure, I think I did and not necessarily about how the Pattern can be used."
"Yes I think I got that she did something to change the odds so the slot machines would pay out, but I also got the impression she's done that sort of thing before on more than one occasion, and that those that run the casinos are on the lookout for such manipulation. Otherwise why the cageyness?"
"I also got that she was using the Pattern to move us from one place to another, but then we already knew you could use it to move from one shadow to another, so she's either really clever or just very practised in using it. I'd wager on the latter."
"What she did on the airfield I don't know other than she did use the Pattern in some manner, and how did she know about that drug buy in the first place and where it would take place? I doubt they advertised it anywhere, and even if some agency like the DEA knew how did she find out about it? She did use the Pattern to get us there, was that different use than just crossing shadows?"
"All that aside we learnt a few other things as well. She's a shapeshifter, and has a decent level of control over it. I don't think I could have exerted that level of control with that level of injury, if you get my drift. She's also a crack shot with that rifle, you don't get that good without practice."
Pausing briefly to organise the remainder of his thoughts he continues
"Would her telling us what she was doing at the time been more enlightening, probably. Was she able to do so in all cases, I don't think so. She drove the bus to where ever it was the airfield was, but then she had Cormac drive. Why?"
"It sure wasn't so she could lean out the window and shoot goons. You got how clipped her orders to Cormac were at that point. What ever she was doing with the Pattern possibly required a lot of concentration. May be we should just ask her when she gets back from where ever she went."
"If it were me I know where I'd go, a private clinic that didn't ask any questions. The difference is I don't have a Trump of such a place; I guess she does."

"On the airstrip, I'm pretty sure she was using the Pattern as some kind of shield. Now I can't be one hundred percent certain, but I'm pretty sure that the gunner on that Huey was letting rip with everything he had at us, and we weren't being hit. As I said I can't be sure, I was paying more attention to where the Cadillac was and where it was going than to what Charlie was doing."
" After we got that case, she did something different when we left. That was a really weird couple of minutes until she passed out. Not sure I could have endured much more of it and stayed sane."

"Oh my God. Will you just listen to yourselves." Rhiannon was usually pretty easy going, but this was bordering on the absurd. "Yes, Charlie is amazing. Obviously she's been doing all this for so long, but her practiced skill isn't the issue. There are dozens of lessons she could have shown. Why those... whatever they were? We still don't know."

"After all that, though, she could have told us what exactly she intended to show us. She said we were going on a heist, but not that we'd be assaulting an airfield. And even if she didn't know all the details in advance, she didn't have to be such a git before hand. She endangered every one of us, And that she herself was shot is proof of that. Not only that, she wad dismissive, officious, and arrogant. Everything else aside, there was no reason to be so rude. We're all on the same team, supposedly."

"Please add thrill seeker to the list. We do not want to leave out any of her great qualities. Since she is so  good at all of it" Cathal dryly comments.


"Without some explanations what she did and when she did it, we are playing a guessing game. And most likely our fantastic little Highness will not give us any explanations."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:54, Fri 10 Nov 2023.

In reply to Rhiannon Erica Kerrigan (msg # 99):

"Well as Cordelia told her to show us what you can do with the Pattern, then logically, may be that's all she can do with the Pattern, which would mean its all basic stuff we need to learn first."
"And yes I agree with you Cathal she's a thrill seeker, so she would choose to do things that appealed to her nature. "
"Could she have told us about some of the things she was doing with the Pattern in advance, yes, but if she'd said she was going to show how you could stop an M60 in full automatic from hitting you would you have gone along? I doubt I would and I've done my basic training, and they do shoot at you with live rounds, and you have to crawl through the mud to ensure you don't get shot. It wasn't something I enjoyed but it is something that comes with my chosen career."
"One more thing, I speak Cantonese. When her mother first asked her to show us what you could do with the Pattern, she was exceedingly rude and derogatory about all of us, almost as if she knew everything about us already, which tallies with what she said in reply to Cathal's initial question, and why she seems to treat Cassandra and Kenneth differently."

"Thank for telling us. Which only confirms my opinion about her. I would not call her a git but a self-righteous priggish narcissist." Cathal politely replies to Winter.

Alana looks a little nervous, as does Natsuki, then Kenneth says

"I will take a nap. Attend breakfast, take another nap and then see if I hit the dance lessons."

"See you at breakfast." Cathal says and leaves for his rooms.

Rhiannon listened but had no further comments on Charlie. She said her peace. It seemed everyone else but Cathal was ready to forgive Cordelia's daughter for everything, but Rhiannon wasn't feeling as generous. Was it petty? Maybe, but she sensed there was some personal animosity coming her way from Charlie. Maybe she was being sensitive, but there was definitely no love coming her way from the beginning, and it still struck her as offensive that Charlie used her shape to do whatever she did at the casino.

Whatever. The who sordid episode was past and she was ready to move on.

"Yes, dancing is something I'm on board for more of. I'll see you all at breakfast."