Breakfast, as usual will be served between 8am and 9am.
Charlotte is not at breakfast.
Cordelia will appear at about 8:25.
Kenneth arrives first at 8:09, followed a couple of minutes later by Alana, Winter, and Blake, and a couple of minutes after that by Cassandra and Natsuki.
Edward and Cormac arrive at 8:16, with Natalie arriving at 8:18.

Cathal is already there when everybody comes.

"I will take a car to the gate. Anybody who wants to hop on."

Sarah arrived around 8:15AM; as the newest arrival to the Mansion, it took her a bit of time to find her way to where breakfast was being served. Quiet and subdued, she grabbed a bit of meat and a roll -- something that she could easily eat on the way -- before looking up at Cathal. She quirked an eyebrow and around curiously.

"Acar?" she asked, finally looking back at him. "Um... I'm not familiar...?"

"Just Car. It is like a carriage but without horses, not magical. There is an engine that turns the engerie of burned fuel into mechanical movement, kind of. This is very simplyfied. " Cathal tries to explain. "Hop on, I will drive and you will see."

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:19, Sat 24 Feb.

Sarah blinked, and looked around. No one else looked surprised at this, so she assumed that it was yet another one of those bizarre contraptions they used -- like the 'elevators'.

"Oh, maybe I've seen one of those," she said. "But I think someone said that they don't always work in Shadow?" She shrugged. "But I'm fine going to the Gatehouse by whatever means... and experiencing a car would be something different, I think." Sarah had ridden in a carriage once, but that had been pulled by horses.

Since not everyone could take the car, Rhiannon opted to walk. It was interesting to watch Sarah get so excited about riding though.

"If everbody walk then I will do too."
"I will show you the cars and give you aride at another point of time Sarah."


He turns to Natsuki
"Metting at 9:10 in the entrance Hall?"

"Yes, although by the pond at the front of the mansion might be slightly better."

"Pond sounds good too. I will be there."

Cathal leaves.

He will be at 9:10 at the pool.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Sat 24 Feb.

Sarah nodded to Cathal's offer, feeling somewhat relieved not to be in the position of having to experience the car immediately. Seeing that they were not leaving immediately, she slid into a seat and began nibbling on the food she'd grabbed, waiting for everyone else to finish before they would all head out together.

[OOC I think we can go on with walking to the castle.]

People leave the dining room between 9:45 and 9:50 returning to their rooms to prepare for the day ahead, before migrating to the area adjacent to the pond at the front of the  house.

As people gather a few things become apparent, Kenneth is wearing trousers and boots which match those that the Garrison use. He is also wearing Chaps, has a well worn rucksack on his back, and appears to have a high tech rifle of some description slung across his shoulder. Alana and Natalie are also similarly dressed. Both Alana and Natalie are also carrying well worn rucksacks. Additionally Alana also has her leather shoulder pad rig on, as she did on the first evening.
Natsuki is dressed in durable modern outdoor gear the sort worn by experienced long distance hikers. She also appears to have acquired a Katana. As ever Choki is present.
Both Blake and Cassandra are in jeans and both are wearing leather jackets. Cassandra looks to be made of a much leavier leather and also appears to be far more worn. Winter is in a set of grey/beige fatigues with military style webbing. She is also carrying her sword.
Cormac is in 'work wear', and whilst his trousers appear to be a modern heavyweight fabric, and most likely waterproof, they are not denim.
Edward appears to be the least appropriately dressed, although he is wearing jeans.

Once everyone has assembled Natsuki, with Choki a short distance ahead will head out down the drive. Exiting the front gate, she doesn't turn left as the road does, but heads across the road and slightly to the right of the pillar that marks the right-hand edge of the gatepost, and the start/end of the wall on that side.
Initially it doesn't appear that anything is there, just the edge of the escarpment, and a long drop to the forest below, but as you approach the edge it becomes apparent that there is a narrow, about 2ft wide, natural looking path cut into the face of the escarpment which descends to the right.

Natsuki follows Choki down the path. The path switches back on itself a couple of times as it descends, eventually exiting to a point which would be left of the mansion gateway. As you descend the view across the forest below becomes 'foggy' in the distance and the top of the Mizzurian buildings which were clearly visible from the top of the escarpment fade out. The forest here looks younger than that in Modern Carnelian, and whilst there are older trees here there is some evidence of fire scarring.
When you reach the bottom, the modern road with it's roundabout and the modern switch back has all gone. In it's place is a crushed stone road and equivalent switch back about 3/4 of a mile away.The only thing 'modern' being the concrete and steel stair about 300 yards away which serves as the 'short cut' for foot traffic to avoid having to use the switch back road to ascend the escarpment once more.
As in the Modern Carnelian shadow the road leads to the south and to the East. Taking the road south leads to the Medieval town and beyond it the river and the docks, some 4 miles away (If you're familiar think the Thames of Medieval London between London Bridge and Tower bridge (The Legal Quays)).
If you continue East then after about a mile the road forks, the crushed stone surface road turning North into what appears to be a natural canyon, whilst the narrower unmade track continues East for another couple of miles before turning North East  - it's effectively parallel to the river at this point, with the river about 2 miles away.
Natsuki follows Choki as he heads for the stairs. Kasamir will also swoop down at this point an alight on Alana's shoulder.
At the top of the stairs Natsuki turns left and heads for the gate house about 300yards away.
It appears the guards are expecting you and direct you to head for the stables.
Natsuki heads around to the right then bears left passing the ramp that leads upto the entrance to the keep.

Ahead of you are a cluster of 11 horses being held by 4 grooms. Charlie is in conversation with another groom, her black Arabian stallion behind her. She is dressed in jeans, and a leather jacket in a similar style to her mother. She is also wearing chaps and a leather boots. Her Katana hangs at her side.

As they walk up to where the horses are, the head groom, Wilson, breaks off conversation with Charlie and turns to the group.

Cathal comes in hiking clothes wearing and hiking boots and a backpack, a water bottle attached to the backpack and a pair of telescope treking sticks. One of the guns form the first trip with Charlies is in a holster.

**********************

When asked about experience with riding he says. "I have done some basic riding, country tours." He eyes he horse. "Irish tinkers."

Rhiannon appeared in jeans, brown leather boots that were too stylish to be very tough. She had on tight pink cropped yank top, but also over that a plaid button down tucked and halfway buttoned. Somehow she heard or sensed this trip trip might take a couple days, so she had a backpack with spare clothes, some hygiene essentials and snack bars. She noticed that some had weapons. It made her feel better about taking the handgun and knife from their previous outing with Charlie. She didn't know how to use either very well, but better to have something than nothing, especially considering the chaos Charlie led them into last time.

When the arrived, there were horses waiting. Rhiannon loved horses, but had never ridden one. Well, she had, but follow along rides didn't count as riding. Not really. When the man conversing with Charlie asked, she raised her hand. "I've sat on a horse while it was moving. I was nine. Does that count?"

Although Sarah had been planning to wear her normal clothing -- the things that she'd been given or loaned since she'd arrived -- someone had been kind enough to deliver an appropriate outfit for her to wear. None of it was particularly comfortable, from her perspective, and she dearly hoped that soon enough she'd be able to retrieve the things that she'd requested from Elysium. Today, however, was not that day, and so she simply wore the jeans, heavy boots, and linen shirt that had been delivered. The satchel bag slung across her body did not appear to have much in the way of modern conveniences, but it did appear to be well packed. A rather large knife was strapped to the outside of Sarah's leg, but otherwise she did not appear to be armed.

When they arrived, Sarah shrugged at the man with the horses as she weighed her answer. Compared to many Lenape, she had had lots of experience; compared to many of the English -- especially the soldiers -- she had had very little.

"I worked in a stable for a time. I have ridden... but I have not participated in raids on horseback." She glanced around at the others -- was that a thing that these people did? -- but her face did not show much concern for reactions. Instead, most of her attention was saved for Charlie, her eyebrows high with hope and excitement. Still, she said nothing yet, instead stepping aside so that the others could get sorted with their horses by what she assumed was the stable master.

Kenneth gets Turpin and Sarah gets Edgar.


All the horses are equipped with blankets and saddle (adapted Western Style Saddle), saddle bags, a Winchester 73 rifle, canteen, and a bed roll (carry-mat and lightweight waterproof sleeping bag). The saddle bags contains 2 days of horse feed supplement for the horses, horse care kit, hobbling strap, loose bridle, a box of 50 shells for the rifle, and 2 days of survival rations.

The grooms will help those who've never ridden to mount their horses, and provide some very basic guidance on controlling them.

Once everyone is on their horses, Charlie waits for about 10 minutes for the grooms to finish getting people settled, then nudges Salazar to a walk and makes her way out of the castle, turning left and following the castle wall anti-clockwise until she can head west across the escarpment.

As the hard limestone surface of the escarpment begins to give way to upland grassland, the borders of the forest several miles to the west, Charlie says

She waits a couple of minutes then brings up the Pattern as well.
Once everyone has their Patterns up, they will 'see' that Charlie has assembled the Pattern about 16" in diameter over her left shoulder.
Unlike the form you're all currently use to, this form very much resembles a car wheel and tyre with complete with a 3D rim, the tyre being 4" wide, and 3" deep, leaving the central area which looks like a 'flat' metal disc, about 12" in diameter.


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:47, Mon 26 Feb.

When Rhiannon was handed the reins for the mare, Luna, she took the moment to speak to the horse using a soft voice as she pet its snout. "Hello, Luna, I'm Rhiannon. You're a beautiful thing aren't you. Yes you are, you're gorgeous." After a few moments of soothing, she grabbed the horn, then used the stirrup to swing a leg over and settle into the saddle. She had never really ridden, but she knew the concept and had at least pretended to do it once. As long as they didn't do anything crazy, she felt she would be okay.

Once they started up the trail, Rhiannon brought up her pattern per Charlie's instructions. The pattern wheel was interesting, and she noted that Charlie used the term 'constructed' when talking about summoning the wheel. And she mentioned reforming it to find a lunch spot. Those were interesting ways to describe it.

"Scotland would be lovely. Can you explain what you mean by having 'constructed' the pattern wheel, and changing its 'form' to find a lunch spot?"

"Once you've bought the Pattern to mind/assembled or constructed the image, however you want to describe it, it's form and function are fixed by the way you assembled it. If you want to do something else with it then you need to drop it and bring it to mind again. Some forms/capabilities stack, others don't."
"The form I'm currently using, just to demonstrate the basics of Shadow Walking can't be used to locate an Inn, or anything else for that matter."

When introduced to the horse she'd be ridding -- a stallion -- Sarah's attention shifted to the groom that brought him forward.

"Tell me about him," she asked, even as she started a visual assessment of his condition and temperament. In her experience, just like people, horses had different personalities; having a smooth and fruitful experience required learning how to approach and relate to the horse as an individual -- just like people.

When she saw the rifle, she glanced around with a moment of uncertain disquiet, before shaking it off and continuing her examination of the stallion. "What is his name?"

As they're waiting for everyone to get arranged with their horses, Sarah looked at Charlie hopefully.

"I am not sure that the rifle is the best weapon for me," she said, "but perhaps a bow....?"

As the group headed out, Sarah gave a nod to Charlie and fell in near the back of the group so that she'd be able to assist those who were having trouble. When they stopped, and Charlie called for everyone to summon the Pattern, Sarah did so carefully, looking through it so that she could see what was going on. Sarah didn't know what or where Scotland was, so she simply nodded in response to that question as she concentrated on keeping the Pattern active. She cocked her head as Rhiannon asked her question, studying as best she could the changes that Charlie had made to her Pattern image.

"Searching through Shadow is different than Walking through Shadow," she murmured in response to Charlie's answer. "And I'm guessing that different embellishments -- for different purposes -- can't conflict... especially if they alter the same portion of the image? The whole must still work together, right?" Even if the image was very different from what she had become used to, Sarah could see the harmony and unity of the image as it now existed, floating over Charlie's shoulder. Anything combination that would disrupt that harmony would disrupt the image's cohesion, making it impossible to visualize and invoke.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Mon 26 Feb.

Cathal brings up the pattern as suggested.

The first thing that people obviously notice is that the 'center' of the Pattern image changes to apparently resemble the shadow you're in.
The second thing that people will notice is that Charlie keeps changing tack, turning left or right, apparently at random.
The third thing is that the density and type of trees is slowly changing.
The fourth thing is that the 'image' in the center of the Pattern appears to change before the actual world you're traversing and oftern prior to Charlie changing direction.
All this takes about half an hour to unfold.

"It looks to me like you're changing the image in the pattern first. Is that how it works. You tell the pattern what you want, and then the pattern makes the change?"

"Sort of but it's a little more subtle than that. If you can visually see the change then you can't apply it, you have to apply the change in anticipation of what you want then make the step, hence why I keep changing direction, picking a new path, but those are the obvious changes, the ones that are easy to pick up on."
"There are some others, that you're probably not aware of."
"The Scottish highlands are rugged and windswept, almost entirely gorse and heather moorland with almost no trees. It's something of an extreme change from where we started. I could have picked somewhere like Iceland, but that's even more extreme and a lot colder."
"So not only do I need to remove all the trees I need to change the climate, and I can't do everything at once because natural landscapes don't work like that. So aside from thinning the forest I've also been changing the climate, which will  then allow me to change the tree types over slowly whilst continuing to thin them out, change the climate, and change the undergrowth."
"Moving shadows in cities can be easier, because of narrow streets and alleyways, but it can bring it's own problems, one's we're less likely to run into out here in the middle of no where"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Tue 27 Feb.

Sarah's heart fell at the admission that Charlie had forgotten the bow; still, she didn't let her disappointment show on her face. Instead, Sarah just nodded and fell into line with the others. She did listen carefully, however, to Charlie's description of what she was doing; it made some sense -- as much as walking through different Shadows could make sense, that is. Her correction, that forms were different than embellishments, got another nod in return. Sarah wondered if there was something more fundamental about the form changes than the embellishments, but that was a question she decided to keep to herself.

"It seems almost as if you're using the Pattern as a kind of medicine of divining -- figuring out what direction you need to travel in this Shadow to get closer to what your destination is like, then shifting to a similar adjacent Shadow and repeating the method. Kind of like finding a path to the other side of a mountain, you might have to wind your way back and forth, looking for either a pass or a navigable slope over the top."

"Not quite, because I'm dictating the changes using the Pattern, so I need to be familiar with what the destination looks like, and therefore what I need to change to get there. There is a faster method of doing the same, which is hell riding, but you need to be travelling at speed to do it, and if you're on horse back you need a very well trained and experienced horse, otherwise you'll send the horse insane and it'll likely throw you the instant you try. It's why it's usually done by ship under cover of a gale, less chance of sending the crew insane."
"When it comes to finding an Inn, then I will dictate to the Pattern what I want and it will find the path that leads to it, automatically changing shadow as I move to move me from where I am to where the destination is. You have to be a lot more explicit when doing this otherwise you might end up somewhere you can't survive. The shortest route may not be one you can travel."
"Before I can think about finding an Inn for lunch I need to move us further out of the influence of the Carnelian Pattern, more into no-mans-land."

"How far away from the pattern do you need to be before you can start making changes, and why is the inn more problematic than the trees and climate?"

"Is there a difference between going to a place that you know and going a place you do not know."

"From either version of Carnelian, a couple of miles, at least once you're proficient. Once you're starting out I would suggest not trying within 10 miles. The same is true for Elysium, although the complication in Elysium is the canyon, so it's not worth attempting to shadow walk until you're on the other side of it from the city. I belive the story is similar in Amber but never having been there I don't actually know. I believe there are complications inside the Golden Circle as well."
"But that's isn't the complication as far as an Inn goes. I could pretty much find an Inn somewhere around here if I needed one. The complication arises due the fact that there are 12 of us, and we need to pay our way. Medieval societies don't have the internet, telephones, telegrams, or Klax, so there is no way to make reservations ahead of time. Assuming I could find a motel or similar that can handle 12 riders, in a modern setting the motel would have a reservation and be expecting us. I'd still need to pay but then I could have arranged a delivery of a credit card there in my name at the same time, so all taken care of."
"Medieval inns work on a pay as you go basis, and generally payment in coin, usually silver. We'd still be subject to what ever food they had on hand, but that's another consideration. The constraint the Pattern imposes is one of 'order'. It's far easier to find things in highly entropic shadows, such as out around Elysium, given that the Logrus is a highly entropic entity, than it is to find things in highly ordered shadows."
"Were I on my own locating a pouch of coins to cover a lunch stop or an overnight stay wouldn't be too difficult. It would take longer than out near Elysium but I would still be likely to find such a pouch."
"Finding 12 pouches in a row, is a nightmare of probabilities, as to a degree is finding a single amount of coin to cover all of use. People generally don't carry that much coin about, or if they do they travel in large armed groups and are unlikely therefor to just 'misplace' an amount."
"Therefore I'm going to have to try a different solution, and for that I need to be further away from the ordering influence of the Pattern."

[OCC Ignoring the question because of rp or over looked it?]

gm note:

[OOC Because I was already in the process of replying to Rhiannon's post when you made you post. I was at work and had to deal with actual work in the middle of composing the reply.
But aside from that Rhiannon asked her questions first, ergo Charlie would answer them first.
And your post wasn't up on the system when I got in from work and checked 6 hours ago, nor when I checked again 3 hours ago, so RPoL appears to be lagging posts or not updating the thread status to notify new posts, or because I was already editing a response to Rhiannon's post, when I actually made the post it cleared the new posts status hence masking you post. I'll get to it in the morning, or sometime later.]

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:26, Thu 29 Feb.

In reply to Charlotte Chan (msg # 29):

Sarah wasn't quite sure that she saw the difference. Charlie navigating her way through Shadow by choosing which aspect she wanted to hold onto as she crossed between them didn't seem all that different from Charlie choosing to dictate a small local change on an aspect of Shadow, then moving through them to enact that change. It would be like the difference between saying, "I want to get to higher elevation, so I'll choose to walk a path through Shadow that will lead upward," versus, "I want to get to higher elevation, so I'll dictate that the ground rises, and then walk in Shadow so that it does." The discussion about finding an inn, however, was pretty interesting -- both the methodology as well as the complication of payment. Sarah listened to that with interest; it sounded like it could be quite helpful, and would be something they engage in doing quite a bit.

Hellriding, on the other hand, sounded rather dangerous, and Sarah remembered comments by both Tiberius and Madison about Cordelia doing such a thing during the last war.

"Hell-riding tends to attract Shadow-storms, right?"

"How can you go to a place you don't know. By implication you don't know it so how can you go there. If said take me to 'The Kyle of Lochalsh' would you even know where that was, or how to get there?"

"Right now you are leading us to Scottland. I got that but if you could only o to place you know. Then how did someone reached Earth in the first place, it was unkonw. You change things right now are all of place you are just crossing known to you?"

"How would I know how something that happened a couple of thosand years ago happened?"
"Yes we're travelling to Scotland to a place I know, that's sort of th point, I know where I started and I know where we're going, as I've already explained I just keep changing parameters until they match the destination."
"I can go to lots of places I don't know just by artitarily changing parameters at random to see where I end up. In that case I have no idea where I'm going, I just end up somewhere. Once I've been there then I know where it is."

"Hell-riding can attract Shadow-storms, but not necessarily."
"Hell-riding significantly weakens the boundaries between shadows, not to the same extent that smashing holes in them with the Logrus does, but significant all the same. This in effect creates a line of weakness, which makes it easier for a storm to track across shadow, so if it finds a line of weakness it follows it."
"The complication, as it were is why if there is a storm in the vicinity of somebody Hell-Riding does it appear to home on the path they are taking and why does it bear down on them. There may of course be some subtlty relating to how quickly the barriers reform, and hence they are always going to be weaker in the direction the Hell-Rider is travelling, but who knows? There may be some other sort of complication like the gravity wells associated with Black-Holes, where Hell-Riding creates a gravity well like effect, thus the storm will fall down the well as it were, homing on the rider."

Charlie's response to Cathal made sense to Sarah, even if it was kind of pedantic; Sarah was getting inklings of why he found Charlie so insufferable. As for the response to her own question, most of it made sense, as Sarah translated her words in her head. If the storm was like water pouring down a hill, then the Hell-Rider was cutting a trench across the land -- of course the water would have a tendency to divert into the trench and follow the rider.

Then Charlie's language jumped off into space, and Sarah boggled, almost losing concentration on the Pattern in front of her. She threw bewildered glances at Cathal and Rhiannon -- given they'd been the others asking questions -- to see if what she'd said made sense to them.

Cathal is not doing Sarah the favor to ask further question. He seem to be perfectly fine with other to bear Charlies sharp tongue idiom.

Charlie continues to manipulate shadow for about another hour before dropping the Pattern.


She re-assembles the Pattern in its more usual Shadow walking form. It’s much the same as before, other than she reassembles it to be 32mm id diameter, except the side walls of the tyre now have a grove about 2mm wide and 1mm deep in it, and bordering this on the inside a band of “decoration” about 2mm wide. In addition instead of the tyre to hub transition being a step the hub is formed into a lens, like a magnifying glass, about 4mm thick where it borders the type and ½mm thick in the center.

Those still observing closely will notice a difference at this point. As you move forward the Pattern 'view' in the changes and more substantively than before when Charlie was forcefully manipulating it.

After about 30 minutes the rate of change slows and after about 35 minutes it stops changing completely.
Charlie will drop the Pattern at this point.


You are on what appears to be a road, or at least a well used track, in a craggy hills region partially forested with thickets and copses of trees. The road heads both the way you are going and back from nominally where you’ve come from.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:48, Fri 01 Mar.

Rhiannon looked back and forward, getting a sense of where the were. Her ass hurt from the bouncing, though she did figure out how to lift in the stirrups to minimize it. Based on what she had heard so far, any riding skills she picked up would be useful for the rest of her life.

"Charlie, why couldn't we just get bags of silver coins before we left? I imagine that it's the metal that's valuable, not the coinage."

"A couple of reasons. First despite what you may think I don't have unlimited resources, anything beyond a small stipend I have to earn myself."
"Second, if I'd asked my mother, even if it was a training outing, then I'd have been told to 'go find it yourself, you're more than capable' which is quite true."
"And the third which sort of in may ways relates to the second, is that you all need to get used to the fact that the vast majority of shadow doesn't run like a 'just-in-time consumer economy with everything on credit'. If you don't have it then you either have to wait till you can afford it, go earn it, or wait till its 'in season' and then store the excess in a way that can be used at a later date. "
"So if I had brought along a big bag of coins, and yes it's both the purity and weight of the metal that's important, then you'd not learn anything, about the reality of surviving out in shadow when you find yourself without what you need."

Sarah nodded thoughtfully before asking, "what is 'just-in-time consumer economy with everything on credit'?"

"Before I can explain some of that how much do you understand about the 'English' and credit or loans?"

Sarah's face screwed up a bit.

"The English? Some. Credit and loans...." Her voice trailed off with uncertainty. She'd heard of these things, but the concept made little to no sense to her.

"To put it in very very simplified word. You buy something let's says for 10 coins but you do not pay yourself, a second person pays and at the end of the month you give the second person 11 coin, 10 for the thing you bought and 1 because he provided the money when you did no had the moneys."

"I'm sure Charlies can fill in the finer details especial the difference between the American credit card system and the European one."

In reply to Cathal O'Donoghue (msg # 47):

Sarah nodded, but still looked quite dubious.

"And what if you just run off with the thing, and never give the person their 11 coins?" she asked. "Why bother taking the risk?"

"Because this second person knows where you live and if you do not pay. That he will bring it to court."

"Yes, the people loaning the money are protected by force of law, but also people who don't pay are labeled. The system is based on trust. If you are untrustworthy, no one will give you credit anymore. You can live very well on credit. Better than by cash alone, even if you're wealthy. If your name is tarnished, you can't take advantage of it. People do it, but the ability to get credit is more valuable than any one thing you can buy by abusing the system"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Sat 02 Mar.

"So it is the community that requires that the person make good on their promises, then," she said. This idea, at least, made sense to her; it was similar to how Lenape dealt with most social issues. Payment, of course, was not one of these; if someone needed food or clothing or shelter, the community would help them with it -- without holding such need against them in times of plenty.

"Seems like it would simply be easier to make sure that everyone has what they need, and to work together for the good of all, instead of keeping count of coins, or bills, or written ledger to know who has accumulated more things." She held up a hand to forestall argument, clearly having heard many on this topic before. "I am very aware that this is not English custom," she clarified.

"Anyway, we are seeking to make due with what we have, so we're looking for coins -- or something else of value -- that we might trade for a meal at an inn," she said, looking around. "I could hunt, snare, or gather enough to feed all of us... but it would take time." Her eyes scanned the thickets and copses along the sides of the road.

"We are rather exposed on the path here -- are we not?"

"Not really. Open ground is generally good. If I wanted to ambush somebody I wouldn't do it here, but I don't sense anything untoward, and as neither Choki nor Kasamir are reacting in any way we're not in any form of danger."

Charlotte will continue in the direction the road leads, entering a wooded copse.

"Returning to your earlier question, as Cathal and Rhiannon explained, borrowing money you don't have on the basis of a fictitious assessment of your ability to pay it back called your 'credit rating'" is just one third of the equation.
"Armed with your 'credit card' you can drive the 100yards down the road, you know why walk when you can drive?, to the superstore, where you can buy all those 1001 everyday items, from clothes, to toys and games, kitchen implements, furniture, kitchen appliances, carpets, flooring, tools, and food, all neatly packaged and available 'off-the-shelf' as long as they have it 'in-stock'."
"It doesn't matter if we're in February with 3 feet of snow on the ground, if I want 'fresh' apples, I can get fresh apples. Except they possibly not fresh, depending on the source. They were either picked last September before they were ripe, and put into temperature controlled cold-store to stop they ripening. They were then removed last week and artificially ripened in anticipation that a store somewhere would want them this week, based on the last 20 years of buying patterns. The alternative is they were shipped in from half way around the world where its harvest season, but again they were picked before they were ripe so that when they reached the store they were ripe."
"The last part are all the manufactures and transporters who move all these goods about, such that they arrive 'in-store' just in time for you to buy them. They have contracts with farmers or producers that they set-up months or a year ahead. These commit the farmer to produce a certain amount of produce of a given quality for which they get a certain price. If they can't meet the quality and quantity then the contract is either terminated leaving the farmer with produce and no where to sell it or the farmer gets a vastly reduced price leaving him substantively out of pocket."
"There is of course the other problem that not everything grows the same way so in an average year 2/3 of the crop will meet the standard the producers require, so he has to grow enough to ensure he meets the contract, but the rest, well he doesn't have a contract to sell that because nobody wants it so it just gets thrown away."
"So modern 'just-in-time consumerism' where everything is made to break or has built-in obsolescence so that you have to buy more. It didn't used to be like that, but it is now. Out in shadow it's very much how things used to be before mechanization and industrialization so people need to adjust their whole expectations and get used to how things are in reality not how they are in the artificial environments which they're too used to."

The copse is perhaps a mile or two wide. As you exit the copse the road begins to descend into a gully, a large wooded copse extending off to the right of the road, although the road skirts around to the left of it.

Sarah looked at the hound and bird; she'd forgotten they were with them. As they rode, she listened to Charlie's description of credit and just-in-time production -- it was a lot for her to try to wrap her head around.

"What qualifies as substandard food?" she asked, trying not to be horrified at the idea of so much food being thrown away -- and, from the scale of Charlie's description, Sarah guessed that it was actually far more than she could even imagine.

"Is it not edible? Could it not be used to feed people?" She thought back on times when the winter had been particularly hard -- times when starvation had been a very real possibility. "Or is everything so abundant that everyone has more than enough to eat? No one is starving, so discarding the excess is somewhat reasonable?" The look she cast at her cousins was hopeful, but clearly it was already tinged with the anticipation that the answer would not be so pleasant.

"On earth where I come from it depends on the country. In Ireland we have enough, nobody would need to go hungry. But the excess is not shared by those who have it. And yes it is thrown away. The government has set up some institutions who take care about those who can not earn money to pay for housing and food and clothing. They are given money to pay for the bare minimum, but sometimes that is not enough.

And then there are those who fall through the system who life on the streets without home and by this fact are not reached by this institutions of the state. Those often go hungry."

"Substandard can mean many things. Potatoes that do no have the right size. Cucumbers that bend to much. Tomatoes that do no have the right color. Carrots whose root split into two."

"I grew up in one of those institutions. They work well enough, but they're not always run by people with kind hearts." Rhiannon stopped there. This didn't seem like the best time or place to discuss merits of government child care or small tribe utopias.

You follow the road down into the gully and back out the other side.
As you start the ascent out of the gully bottom Kasamir takes to the air.

Out of the gully you continue on and whilst the road flattens out, the sides become steeper and wooded, effectively putting you in the bottom of another gully.



This message was last edited by the GM at 13:57, Mon 04 Mar.

Sarah's face grew more and more disturbed as Cathal, Rhiannon, and Charlie not only confirmed her fears, but suggested that it was actually worse than she'd imagined -- especially the fact that even children did not seem to know where their food came from. She did not respond at first, and instead rode in silence as she processed her reaction to this information. Some of the concerns Charlie had voiced earlier now made more sense to Sarah -- especially if the other cousins had grown up in that environment.

When Sarah heard the voice in her head, she looked around sharply. It didn't take long to identify both the source and the reason for the contact, but the unexpected nature of the communication still came as a surprise. She opened her mouth to ask a question; then, however, closed it; instead of speaking, she looked to Charlie with one raised eyebrow -- and one hand descending upon the butt of the rifle.

Cathal also makes himself ready to use the rifle on Charlies command.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:27, Mon 04 Mar.

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she listened to the bird's description.

"How likely is it that our weapons will work in this Shadow?" she asked of Charlie, before turning to look at Alana. "Can your friend see how they are armed? And has the hidden war party noticed our presence?"

On seeing Cathal take out the rifle, Rhiannon considered drawing hers. What held her back was the fact that she really didn't know how to use it. She would draw it if necessary, but she needed more information. From what Kasamir said, it sounded like an ambush, bur the target seemed more likely to be the coach.

"What should we do? Hold here, maybe?"

In response to Sarah's question Alana ask Kasamir the question.

Sarah pulled up short and dismounted, guiding Edgar to one of the trees off the side of the road and tying the reins off to a tree.

"Horses generally like to stay as a herd," Sarah explained. "If we tie off the stallions here, the others shouldn't wander too far -- so long as we keep the threat away."

Pulling the rifle from the saddle, she examined it to make sure she had a sense of how it worked. For a second she appeared ready to follow Charlie; then, after a moment's thought, she checked to make sure that the rifle was loaded -- and loaded it from the box of shells in the bag if it wasn't. In addition, she shoved another handful of shells into the pockets of her jeans. Finally, she set off after Charlie, letting her hunting instincts take over as she moved in behind Charlie, sweeping a bit further out to her left. With luck, Sarah hoped that she'd be in a good position to provide Charlie with support from cover, if things should go awry. Seeing that the rifle was nothing like anything she'd used before, she grimaced -- if only she had a bow! With a sigh, she shoved it back where it had been stowed... and noticed that the coach had come into view. Sarah glanced into the woods, and realized that Charlie was gone.

So that's how this was going to go.

She sighed, taking a moment to assess how the others were reacting. Given what had been already occurring, and her proximity to the side of the road already, she decided that moving into the woods -- and out of the line of fire should shooting commence -- was the wisest immediate move to make. Depending on how things went, well... that would decide her next steps.

OOC: BTW, did Charlie take any weapons other than the katana mentioned earlier?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:22, Wed 06 Mar.

Charlie's steel framed, multi-pocketed 110lb military Bergen, had at least 3 gun cases/sleeves attached to it, two between the pack and the frame, and at least one strapped down the side. She was also wearing, on a belt a pair of holsters, with what to Sarah would might be pistols (the stock of a flintlock/matchlock pistol is not that substantively different to that of a Colt Frontier which is what she actually has holstered.)

When she dismounted she didn't take the rifle from the case attached to Salazar's saddle.

By the time Sarah has sorted herself out with the rifle she would have lost track of Charlie in the trees, but potentially more consequentially, the coach will have hove into view bracking to a halt about 60 yards from you, having seen you all on the road, and not expecting you to be there..

It's now clearer what Kasamir was saying about the coachmen being at odds with the oppulance of the coach. Potentially, Sarah at least, would have expected the coachmen to be 'well turned out'. The 'escort' is similarly at odds, if it were a military escort then they'd be in uniform, they're not, if fact all look a little rugged.
The riders will pull up partially along side the coach, on the right hand side as you look at it. The ground is slightly more open on that side.


Kenneth will remain in the saddle and unsling his own rifle from his back. At this point he doesn't believe what Charlie says about it not working here.
Natalie will also remain in the saddle drawing the Winchester.

Alana and Blake will both dismount with practised ease. Alana will then draw the Winchester from the gun case.

Cormac, Edward, Cassandra, Winter, and Natsuki will all dismount, some more ungainly than others. All will initially be suffering the consequences of having ridden for about 3 hours and being completely not used to it. Choki will stay fairly close to Natsuki and start to growl menacingly at the group.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:22, Tue 05 Mar.

Rhiannon had no idea how to handle this situation. She assumed the men with the coach were hostile, but she didn't know whether to just move out of the way or prepare to shoot. Pulling out a gun could just provoke these men, making the situation worse, but since others already had done so, she decided to dismount and take it off the road while drawing the rifle. Once clear, she moved over to the others, and hoped that shooting was as easy as it looked on the movies

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 64):

OOC: Um, Sarah was attempting to not be seen -- the coach and its folks spotted her anyway? Did I miss something?


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:42, Tue 05 Mar.

Cathal has dismounted, taken the rifles and waits with it, ready to use it.

Why does he has the feeling Charlie is using them as bait he think.

He friendly greets the stopped coach. "Hello there. We lost a bit our way. We where looking for a farmhouse called Creek Manor. Do you have any idea where that might be."

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:13, Wed 06 Mar.

Cathal shouts his greeting, but there is no response from those on the coach.
Perhaps 20 seconds go by, then Rhiannon, Cassandra, Cathal, and Natsuki catch something shouted in the distance, which is then radidly drowned out by the sound of musket fire, distinctive plumes of smoke eruting from first the right-hand side of the ravine and then the left.
The result of this is that

• first - the two coachmen fall from the coach, falling forward and to the left
• second - two of the mounted riders, at the rear of the group fall from their horses
• third - spooked by the gun fire the horses pulling the coach decide that 'getting out of here' might be a good option and the coach starts to accelerate towards the party.

OOC: Sorry for not replying sooner, I hadn't remembered that you tend to add notes to existing posts, and thus there would be no marker of a new post. I'll update my post above now.

Edit: Now responding to the post above.

Sarah, watching the previously noted ambush play out upon the group, looked on with alarm as the carriage began bolting forward, now driverless. Seeing as how the people in the carriage itself had not done anything hostile, and Kenneth -- the other experienced rider -- was still mounted, she made a snap decision. As the carriage approached, she emerged from the woods in an attempt to intercept it and climb into the driver's seat. At the very least, if she could get it under control, perhaps they could speak with the occupants and find out why they were being attacked.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:26, Wed 06 Mar.

Cathal gets out of the way of the accelerating coach. He is hardly an acrobat and does no try to jump on the coach. He has no experience at all with such vehicle. He just know to be in the way would be a bad idea.
He has no clue what is going on. The coach is bait but are the military man the good one or the bad one no idea.

"Take cover." He tells his cousins. And follows his own advice to get cover behind a tree


[OCC
I have  bit trouble to get everything right
2 of the raider with the coach are down so there are 4 left. what do they do?
What I did no get the reinforcement. Is it reinforcement for the military or do the belong to the ragtags?
]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:11, Thu 07 Mar.

A few other things happen simultaneously as a result of the musket fire..

• Sarah, as per her stated intent is going to move to a position where she can attempt to jump onto the coach as it passes
• Kenneth Eday Elgrim:

  Kenneth, not quite waking up from whatever he was doing, will shout "Treat those with the coach as hostiles, those in the woods as neutrals. There are two more hostiles up on the ridge, about 350ft away, to our left."
• Alana will remount her horse, and maneuver so that she can  accelerate after the coach.
• The 'escort' that was with the coach does react, but given they are 180ft away, and you're now faced with a coach accelerating towards you it's going to be difficult to actually see what they do......

People move as follows:Edward, Winter, Cassandra, Natsuki, and thus Choki all move to the right. Cormac, Blake, and Natalie move to the left


Kenneth will then sling his rifle and move his horse to a position where he can accelerate after the coach.

When the coach gets to the half way mark, or there about, Kasamir will say


When the coach is about 30ft away Alana and Kenneth will spur their horses, and Sarah can start her run...
As the coach passes through where everyone was, Sarah can leap onto the footplate, and begin to pull herself up onto the drivers seat, although by the time she has done do both Kenneth and Alana will be along side the two horses on the left, and the coach will be 20yards beyond the rest of the party.
As Sarah makes an attempt to grab the drive reins, which will have fallen down onto the traces, Kenneth and Alana will attempt to grab the bridals of the two horses.
Behind them, men will erupt from the trees, and four shots will ring out. Two of the men emerging from the trees, one on the left hand side and one on the right will go down, wounded if not killed out right.
There will then be a very short fight, which results in the 4 men who were part of the escort going down.
Kenneth, Alana, and Sarah will be able to bring the coach to a halt, about 50 yards away from the rest of the party. It is empty!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:45, Thu 07 Mar.

Cathal moves to the right.

"We are not your enemies." he says men coming out from the trees. And seeks cover behind a tree.

"This was a setup for you. Reinforcement is incoming. 20 men, 5 on horse the rest on foot"

[OOC: Cathal is completely wasting his time trying to communicate over a distance of nearly 2 international standard football pitches! Aside from anything else, once a battle has started trying to communicate at more that 20ft is impossible. Too much noise and too many other things going on. And I'm ignoring the fact as to whether they understand English or not.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:02, Thu 07 Mar.

quote:

OOC: I already stated that Rhiannon moved off the road before the ambush began. It will be the right side.

When the shooting started, Rhiannon took the nearest cover. If there wasn't a tree, she would drop to prone position and aim her rifle at the road. She will not fire unless fired on as she had never been trained with a rifle and would be afraid to hit a friendly

With the carriage finally under control, and having discovered it was empty, Sarah took a bit of time to calm the horses down -- simultaneously trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Clearly the carriage had been bait of some kind. She looked at Kenneth, who had helped bring the carriage under control.

"Explain the situation," she asked, knowing that English folk -- and he certainly acted like one of the English -- often preferred brevity and directness. Once the horses were manageable, she sought to turn the carriage around and return to where the others had stopped.

As Sarah turns the carriage around, there is a flash of lightening, which appears to originate on the ridge above the ravine.

It flashes down to the ground where the battle had taken place, striking 2 of the men and one of the horses before impacting the ground in a loud explosion.
Several of the men appear to be knocked down by the force of the explosion.

Cathal tries to figure if that came from the area that has been describes as cloaked illusionary magic.

Yes that would be the area from which it originated.

And the object took out some of the ragtags?

Is Cathal on side of the area or at the other side?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Thu 07 Mar.

No the ragtags were all dead at this point. It took out two of those who emerged from the woods,the ones in the militray uniforms, plus one of the horses that formed part of the ragtag escort. It has also thrown a number off their feet and possibly stunned or dazed the whole group as well.. maybe that was the intent?

Cathal, like most of you is 60 yards from where the battle took place and the stike happened.

[OOC sorry Mobil]

Cathal waits behind his tree. This is not good. Is Kenneth near enough to exchange words with him?

No. Kenneth, Alana, and Sarah are currently 50 yards away turning the coach around...
The closest people to you are Rhiannon, Edward, Winter, Cassandra, Natsuki, and Choki.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:39, Thu 07 Mar.

"We have to find out what is in the cloaked area before it is used against us."

"Natsuki does Choki smells anything?"

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 75):

Sarah cocked her head at Kenneth's explanation frowning as she weighed his words. If this was, in fact, a battle between two forces, one of which was trying to purposefully trigger the other's ambush, then it would make sense that the folks with the carriage would see their group as hostile -- why else would they be out in the middle of the road, blocking their way? Before she could respond to ask him how he'd known that, however, lighting struck from the ridge above. Sarah flinched, turning her attention back toward where the battle between the two forces was still raging.

"Um... that seems to have come down upon the folks who are neutral to us," she said, holding the reins firmly to keep the horses from spooking again. After a second of thought, she passed the carriage's reins over to Kenneth. "Here, hold this," she said as she sat down in the driver's seat. "Try to keep us still for a moment." Then, as quickly as she could, Sarah attempted to construct an image of the Pattern in an attempt to get a read on what was happening at the top of the ridge.

OOC: Looking at the battle and the hill where the lightning came from through the Pattern image, hoping to get a sense of what's up there.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:23, Fri 08 Mar.

"So any idea aside hiding in cover and hoping that nobody targets us."

"We basically have no clue what is going on. Yeah would think the military are the good guys and this would be the most logical explanation.
But who knows the ragtags also could be some freedom fighter. Nazi against Resistance. Mexicans against the French. Such sort of thing." Cathal points out.

"And as long as this thing is there in the hidden area sticking the head out and fight the ragtags is a bad idea."

[OOC GM can you please add an update what is to  going on right know. How many of the military men can bee seen, if the reinforcement is showing up such things, where everbody of the cousins is, what they (NPCs) do.
I actually lost the overview.]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:44, Fri 08 Mar.

As of this point in time...

The party is in 3 groups
Cathal, Rhiannon, Edward, Winter, Cassandra, Natsuki, and Choki are hiding in the trees along the right-hand side of the road.
Cormac, Blake, and Natalie are hiding in the trees along the left-hand side of the road, which actually means they have the slight better view 'down' the road where it leads into the gully/ravine.
Alana, Sarah, and Kenneth are 50 yds away, back the way you came, having stopped the run away coach. They are in the process of turning it around.
Charlie went into the woods on the left-hand side.
Kasamir is somewhere overhead.

About 60 yards away from the 'party' is where the Ambush took place, and has been the subject of a bolt of lightening which originated somewhere on the ridge of the ravine.

The ragstags that were the initial escort of the coach are all dead.
Two of the troopers went down initially, and two more in the fight.
The lightening bolt struck two of the troopers and one horse, killing all three, before it struck the ground.
The blast knocked half of the remaining troopers (6) off their feet and stunned/dazed the remainder (7). It also stunned/dazed the 5 loose horses.

Somewhere down the road and rapidly aproaching from what Kasamir has said are the ragtag reinforcements, 10 riding double on horseback, and 10 on foot. You don't know exactly where the reinforcements are as you cannot see them.

Kenneth has previously said that the ragtags were hostile and that the troopers were neutral. He also said, and this has nomininally been vindicated by what happened that there were 2 more hostiles on the ridge of the ravine.

Remember also that the Pattern bought you to this place as a means to acquire the coin necessary to pay for lucnh/a stop over at an Inn.

"I think this was a trap designed to lure those in the uniforms out into the open, so that they could be killed or captured, possibly the latter, as once out in the open they would have been a much easier target for a weapon with a larger area of effect."
"There is also something else odd here. Why would 8 men ride blindly into an ambush knowning they're going to likely die? The coach only stopped becase we were on the road.  Did our being here change how the Ambush was to take place?"

"I think we should help those in the uniforms. They represent some form of organised rule or authority. Whilst we're not in the best position, and I'm not overly familiar with these rifles, we should be able to shoot from here without too many issues"

"We should help the guys in uniform to get into cover." Cathal suggest.

"Lets make sure that the approaching men thing twice about approaching."


He slips from tree to tree to get a bit more nearer. When he sees the reinforcement he stops behind a tree and fires on them.

Winter will also move forward if Cathal does, and Natsuki will send Choki in support.

Cathal and Winter will make it about 30ft through the trees before the riders gallop both into view and into range.
As they slow to drop those riding double off the back of their horses, Cathal and Winter will open fire, both firing at the same target, who goes down.
The troopers are all now starting to recover with those who'd been knocked prone starting to get up, whilst those standing turn to face the oncoming threat.
Choki will charge as Cathal and Winter open fire, heading for those who'd been dropped by the riders.
By the time he arrives on the scene (he covers the approx 220ft distance in 4 seconds) they've barely recovered from dropping off the horses, and he shreds two of them before they can even react.
Cathal and Winter fire a second time hitting two seperate targets this time, although Blake, also now firing hits the same rider as Winter.
The two remaining riders, committed to charging the troopers, will manage to take two of them out before Cathal, Winter and Blake can fire again.
Cathal and Winter take the two remaining riders out with their next shots, whilst Blake is now unsighted against those at the rear.
Choki downs a third ragtag, ignoring the strikes from the other two which bound harmlessly off his skin, much to the attackers surprise.
The fourth goes down to Choki's next attack and the 5th barely has time to turn to attempt to run before he suffers the same fate.

The remaining 10 men now come into view, and all stop, completely stunned by the carnage in front of them. This was obviously not what they were expecting. Choki turns to face them, blood dripping from his mouth, and off his fur.

Cathal reloads and will fire on the ragtags on foot as soon as they are in range.

The 1873 Winchester, which is basically the model you have, even if it is made to modern specifications, has a 15 round chamber, so as you've only fired 3 rounds there is no need to reload at this point. It also has an effective range of between 150 and 200 yards.

You're going to need to move forward at least 30 yards to be able to fire on the ragtags, who are about 50 yds beyond the group of troopers, due to the oclusion of the trees and ground, or move out on to the road, but then you'll have the troopers between you and the ragtags.

The troopers are also going to try and organise themselves to deal with the threat from ahead, forming a 'kneeling' line having un-shouldered their flintlocks, as they also reload them. It's also possible to identify the leader at this point from his style of dress.

The ragtags will similarly unshoulder their weapons and move them into a firing position.

Cathal takes the route through the tree, he is not keen on becoming a target of the lighting thing. He moves the 30 yards into a fire position and will open fire.

As Cathal makes his way throught the trees, which is going to take a couple of minutes, the ragtags open fire.
3 fire at Choki, 2 scoring hits and inflicting minor injuries, and the other 7 firing at the troopers, effectively taking 4 out of the equation.
Choki will then reach the ragtags before the troopers have finished loading, and set about them in a much less than business like fashion.

The remaining 8 troopers, will then return fire, trying to pick off the ragtags which are now desperately trying to avoid the manic beast in their midst. 4 of the ragtags will go down to this volley.

Choki will take out the remaining four, 3 of which will try and run for it.

By the time Cathal is in a position to fire it's all over.
As he looks around the top of the ridge appears to have changed in appearance. There is now a distinctive tree line, and there appear to be two demonic looking figures standing on the ridge line.

Cathal takes out a spy glass to get a better and closer look at the  demonic looking figures.

The two figures are quite different. One is much heavier set than the other and significantly shorter.
The taller of the two is more skeletal and boney, and much lighter in colour, a sort of orangey-brown colour. It appears to have a segmented tail, appearing to be made of bones segments such as those which make up a skeletal spine, which arches upwards and ends in a blade or stinger, similar to that of a scoprion.
The shorter is more humanoid with a pair of narrow horns which sweep backwards partially over its head. This figure has almost black chitinous skin, appears to be wearing a set of webbing, and has a Katana in its right hand.
The two appear to be in conversation.
It's difficult to make out but there may be one or two bodies at their feet.

Rhiannon is stunned by the ferocity of the fighting. Even counting that raid with Charlie after Vegas, she had never seen such bloodshed, not been involved in killing anyone. As the shooting started, she stayed out of the way, prepared to defend herself, or perhaps someone else, but not to actively engage.

The 'troopers' will now begin to see to their wounded. Their leader on the other hand persues a different option, taking out the pistol from his belt and systematically going around and shooting any of the ragtags still alive. Being a flintlock and a muzzle-loader he will need to reload each time.

After a couple of minutes the figures on the ridge disappear from sight, and about 4 minutes later Charlie will re-appear through the trees carrying her Bergen. Her sword is now sheathed.

Choki will return to Natsuki, looking distinctly pleased with himself. He does have a couple of minor wounds but doesn't appear to be bothered by them. Natsuki on the other hand appears to be a little shocked by the ferocity and capabilities he's just demonstrated.

Cathal hangs his rifle over the shoulder and steps over in a nin thrwatning way to the wounded holding out his hands.

"I want to help." He says while checking the nearest wounded. If nobody stops him he helps to put on some dressing on the wounded.

With the fighting over, Rhiannon emerged from the cover of trees. As far as she was concerned, the troopers were still unknown, leaving her cautious.

In a similar manner to Rhiannon, once the shooting stops others will also emerge and make their way over to help. Natalie will begin triaging, and after seeing what Blake had done previously will ask him to use his magic on two of the troopers, one of the two shot in the initial exchange and one of the others. Their conditions improve to Natalie's satisfaction.
All in all 4 of the troopers are dead, along with one of the horses. Three have serious wounds although for two these are now not immediately life threatening, and three more have wounds but none are particularly serious.
Once people start helping, one of the two troopers who have Halberds will ask

In reply to Sarah Williams (msg # 84):

OOC: Ok, nix using the Pattern then.

Sarah, driving the carriage, turned it around in time to see the others firing at the group down the hill. She watches the battle carefully, as she slowly guides the carriage back. Seeing the others gather up on the remainder of the uniformed group, Sarah guided the carriage past their horses, up toward where it seemed that everyone was converging. Evidently, they'd decided to help that group -- the neutral group that Kenneth had identified; as such, Sarah guessed that they would be able to use the cart to transport the injured folks more easily than trying to have them ride.

"We are travelers. We came by and well it looked like those guys." He points at the dead. "Tried to lure you in a trap. Looked wrong so we helped."

He gazes over to Charlie with a questioning look if he should go on or if she want to skip in.

The gentleman stumbles a little but then recovers.

Cathal comes with Charlie and listens to the conversation. Waiting. Keeping his silence.

Rhiannon joined Cathal and Charlie if for no other reason than to hear how she negotiated. Like her cousin, she just listened

Once Sarah was close enough, she also paused to listen to the conversation without interruption, although she also watched the remaining soldiers for their reaction to what was being said.

Cormac will head off in the direction of the ridge, along with 2 of Lord Kylestenson's men and anybody else who chooses to go with him in addition to Winter.
At this point Kenneth will approach Charlie.

"Doe the Shade have a names aside 'Shade'." Cathal asks.

"Can you tell us more about him. If he is known it might help to know what you know." Cathal asks.

Of the choices, Rhiannon decided to go with Cormac. She had never seen a shade and was curious about the thing.

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 107):

At the comment about the coach, Sarah climbed down from the seat, yielding control to whoever came to claim it. She was curious to see the Shade as well, but given that both Rhiannon and Winter were already accompanying Cormac, she decided against it. Instead, she walked back toward the group's horses, seeking to bring them up so that they would be ready when it came time to ride.

Cormac, Winter, and Rhiannon, accompanied by two of Lord Kylestenson's household troops, and the occasional comment from Kasamir than they need to head 'further to the left' or 'further to the right', which at times is impractical due to the nature of the terrain, make their way up onto the flatish area that marks the ridge of the ground above the ravine.
One onto the more open ground, it's easy to observe the two bodies, one which appears to be dressed in robes and is lying face down, and the other in a 'back-and-breast' and helmet which is lying at a 'funny' angle, as if it's been picked up and then slammed down hard across an object.
The figure in robes, which appears to be human, appears to have two sets of blood stains and wounds, one across the back of both legs, slightly under the buttock line, and the second on the left-hand side of its back, as if it's been run through with a blade (anyone with a rough idea of anatomy will know this is the area in which the heart is).
The robes look to be quite ornate and are covered in symbols. Cormac frowns when he sees them.


Cormac will concentrate for a couple of minutes before moving closer, carefully moving his right hand over the body and removing, first an ornately carved staff, then a pair of rings, and lastly a scroll holder.



Cormac then stands and looks at the other body.

"Ah okay, you should start making preparations. With him dead there will power shifts."


Cathal waits for the other to return with their information.

Up on the ridge, the two troopers move to pickup the body of the armoured figure, one grabbining his feet and the other grabbing him under his arms.
They make heavy weather of trying to move with the body, at which point Winter says.

Cormac turns to the Troopers


Once back with the party, Cormac will approach Charlie and say.

Cathal looks around. "We can use the jackets of the dead to warp the Shade in."


He turns to Lord Kylestenson. "I do not know your customs. I expect you are going to bury your own. Are you plan to do that here or at your camp. We can tie the bodies to some horses. What is with the carriage?
What about the body of the Shade's follower?"

Sarah pondered the challenge of wrapping the Shade's body so that it wouldn't be directly touched, and, as she was prone to doing, she looked around at the surrounding environment to see if the environment provided any potential solutions. Although this area was wooded like her home, she had not taken the time to see how familiar it was, and so she took a moment or two to do that now.

"One jacket yes. We take two longer poles. We slips the sleeves, right and left, through the poles. 3 jackets should do it that gives us a kind of strechter. We role the shade with the help of poles onto the strecher cover him with more jacket, secure with some ropes and get him down."

The forest is a mix of oak, beech, and pine, the pine predominating on the upper slope. There will be some birch and holly interspersed, especially in an area where a dominant oak or beech has fallen or died.

Cathal turns to Sarah. "Sarah can you lock for some strong branches or larger sapling that could be turned into poles, please.

I will gather the jackets an the belts. Those guys do not need them anymore."

Cathal start to do as he said and collect belts and jacket from the bodies.

Okay the first problem.. Who has a means of cutting poles/wood on them..A hatchet or Saw? None of your compatriots do, and none of the Shade's men will. There are may possibly be axes and/or hatchets at the camp of Lord Kylestenson.
Gathering jackets and belts from the dead is not going to be an issue.

Sarah volunteered to rig up the belts to best secure the body to the posts. She wanted guidance on what was safe to touch and what she should avoid, but otherwise she was willing to try to put Cathal's plan to work.

During the gathering of the belts, she also looked to see whether she could reclaim one of the Shade's men's guns -- to see if it was something familiar enough for her to use, should the need arise.

"Lord Kylestenson do yiur men atbthe camp have an axe or hatechet? I would acompany your men an return with some hands to help to better get the wounded back?" Cathal asks.

It seemed there were plenty of leaders at this point. Rhiannon continued to observe, helping out where directed

Organizing everything to take the coach back to the Lord Kylestenson's camp will take about 20 minutes, with the actual trip will taking about 25 minutes. It's a detour back the way you came as there is no direct route from where you are into the gully where the camp is (which you sort of passed) for the coach.
They will take all the horses that the Shade's men were using as well.
There is a 20 minute delay in camp, whilst sufficient of the horses belonging to Lord Kylestenson's household troops are re-saddled, and then a 10 minute return trip at a brisk trot.
Natalie will go with Cathal if no one else chooses to (it's suggested that perhaps only experienced riders may want to make the trip).

The Shade's men have matchlocks, so yes Sarah would be familiar enough with the basic technology, although they're loading power and shot separately (Sarah would be more familiar with the combined paper and shot cartridges that had come into fairly common use in her shadow). They are not particularly good quality weapons. Lord Kylestenson's troops are using matchlocks of far better quality, but still have to load powder and shot separately (which is what slows down the reload and fire rates). When Lord Kylestenson sees Sarah looking through the Shade's weapons he will give her one of the now 'spare' rifles from one of his troopers. There will be enough ammunition and powder for a dozen shots.

Those of the party left waiting for the return of those who took the wounded back to the camp, will notice an intermittent and continual use of the Pattern for about 40 minutes.
Charlie will then approach Cormac.


Charlie, Cormac, and anybody who wants to observe can then make the trip up to the ridge.

Charlie won't manage to pull a tendril successfully on her first attempt, but will after a couple of minute's break manage it on her second.
There are no 'bright flashes', 'thunderous roars', 'poping sounds', or anything else that obvious, other than the robes looking less ostentatious than they did.

Charlie will then ask Cormac to check again, and this time Cormac will sense no magic. He will still suggest that they don't actually handle the body other than by the inert fabric it is now clothed in 'just in case'.

By the time people have returned from the camp, the Shade's body has been retrieved, it will be taken back to Lord Kylestenson's camp, it will be approaching 3:30pm.
Now that the matter of the Shade's body has been resolved Lord Kylestenson will be eager to be on their way to locate the Shade's hideout and hopefully the Lady Meridith.

Sarah thanked Lord Kylestenson for his willingness to share the rifle -- regardless of whether he considered it a loan or a gift -- and slipped the new supplies into her pack next to the Winchester that they'd been supplied. She then followed Charlie and the others up to the ridge, making sure to summon her own image of the Pattern on the way up.  She definitely wanted to see the details of what Charlie was doing, and made sure that she got a good look at both the body and the robes both before and after Charlie managed to dispel whatever enchantments had been woven into them. Even if she couldn't hope to create such a tendril herself, at least she would have gotten some experience as to what such a thing looked like.

After descending with the Shade's body, Sarah will remount Edgar, and if there are any remaining horses without riders she'll gladly lead them back to Lord Kylestenson camp. On the way, she'll ride next to Kenneth (assuming that he is amenable), and ask that he show her how to use the Winchester at some point in the future -- when they have both time and space to do so. Once at camp, she'll wait with the horses, clearly ready to ride and assist.

Since only Charlie knows the way.

Catahl asks. "What details you got about the hideout. Its rough location, that it is protected by magic. Do you think you can dispell that or Cormac? Any details about men guarding the hideout?"



Edited moved to discussion.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:03, Tue 12 Mar.

With everybody assembled you set out. For the first 45 minutes Kasamir sits on Alana's shoulder. Charlie wants him to rest before she needs him to actually determine where the entrance to the hideout is. As you ride the condition of the road deteriorates, and the terrain becomes more rugged, craggy, and rocky, especcially to the left of the road.
After Kasamir takes to the air, it takes him the best part of 15 minutes to locate and anomanly, an area of magic in what otherwise appears to be a normal rock face, although it takes the party about 20 minutes to reach the location, a short distance away where Kasamir is perched on the remains of a dead tree.
Charlie will dismount and walk to an area of the cliff face about 30ft away, on the left. To all intents and purposes it just looks like a continuation of the cliff, with no obvious signs that it is anything but.
It will take Charlie half an hour and 3 attempts before she manages to knock down the magic, primarily because it requires a much more elongated and drawn out tendril to reach the ward which is drawn onto the rock about 20ft inside the crevice that is revealed once the protective capacity of the ward is destroyed.
The crevice is narrow, and barely wider than the coach that went through it. It heads into the blackness of what could be a natural tunnel in the rock.

"I could go in and check, maybe Choki can come with me." Cathal shifts his eyes to be able to see in low light areas.

I need to post an interlude piece for Sarah as she asked Kenneth to show her how to use her Winchester, and the time whilst Charlie was taking out the Ward would have been an ideal opportunity.

Cathal, accompanied by Choki, and anyone else who feels sufficiently brave enough, can venture into the tunnel.
Once about 10ft into the tunnel, it's fairly clear, that the tunnel isn't that long as light can be seen at the far end.
Cathal, Choki, and any others can make their way through the tunnel, which is about 50ft may be in length, before it opens out into a slightly wider crevice. There is evidence that horses passed this way sometime today.

Sarah asked the others to signal them before going in; then, she and Kenneth moved a bit away from the entrance to the cliff, with Sarah leading the way to a spot where she thought that they could speak somewhat normally without risking warning anyone in the Shade's hideout. Once there, she pulled out the musket.

"I understand how this works," she said, demonstrating the musket's operation. "Powder goes in here and is packed down, then shot is packed in on top of it. The ones I've used before had everything bundled, but it was the same basic idea." She then swapped the musket for the Winchester.

"How do I make this work?"

When Charlie starts trying to take down the ward, Kenneth will turn to Sarah and say
"Looks like this may take a while, would you like me to run through how the Winchester works?"

He will start by taking out his own rifle from the saddle pack and looking at it.
"Hmm. These look new, or at least recently manufactured. I don't recognise the maker though."
He will then walk Sarah through the process of using the weapon and how to reload it, although he won't fire it and suggests she doesn't. He'll empty the breach if necessary.
"According to myth, you can fire these one handed, and reload them just by spinning them on the leaver in the correct manner. Never had the chance to try it myself."
"Lets see what the propellant in the bullets is. Modern bullets use a highly explosive synthetic chemical. The early ones, when this weapon was first manufactured used gunpowder, although this was later replaced with nitro-cellulose."
He uses his knife, and a couple of pieces of rock to break one of the bullets apart. He then takes out a small metal tube from his pocket, and using the back of the knife runs it along the cylinder producing a shower of sparks, a couple of which land in the small pile of powder, which produces a characteristic 'puff' ball
"Interesting. These use gun powder, and quite a fine quality."
Lesson over he will put the Winchester back in the sleeve.

Sarah indeed did want him to empty her gun; although she did not pull the trigger, she did practice moving with it raised, getting used to the weight and balance of it. It wasn't enough to fully become comfortable with it, but now she had a chance to perhaps hit something without making a fool of herself. She then spent a few moments loading and unloading it herself several times under Kenneth's supervision.

Everything else he'd described -- about the internals of the projectiles and such -- didn't make much sense at all, but it wasn't necessary for actual use. She just nodded as he spoke, continuing to practice silently. When he put away his rifle, she put away hers as well.

"Thank you," she said, her face serious as she looked at Kenneth. Then she headed back up to the rock face, looking to see whether any progress had been made. When Cathal offered to go in, Sarah nodded, and -- armed with the newly familiar(ish) rifle -- she followed Choki into the cave. As they walked, Sarah paused to kneel and examine the traces left behind by horses.

OOC: Does it roughly correspond to the size of the force the group saw earlier in the day? Is the passage wide enough for the carriage to fit? If so, are there carriage tracks as well?

Yes the passage is wide enough for the coach to go through but only just.
The ground at this point is quite hard and rocky so the coach wouldn't have left tracks here.
It's difficult to judge the numbers of horses that went this way from the droppings, but the freshness would indicate that horses passed this way sometime in the last 6 hours.

Cathal moves to the exit of the tunnel.

Staying in the dark Cathal kneels down at Choki's side. "Do you smell anything brave friend?" He shifts his eye back.

He listens if Kasamir  has anything to report.


[OOC How do you handle clothing and shapeshifting?]

Pa11ad!um2023

Choki can't speak...so he will just look at you. He appears quite calm, almost relaxed.
Kasamir is still perched on the tree.. he won't fly in the tunnel..

[OOC as per the rules... you need Mould Non-Living Non-Self Organic Matter to shapeshift your clothes with you. Note I class anything made of long chain carbon molecules as organic, given that that's principly what plant fibres are - even if in the form of cellulose, cotton, or linen. Wool is keratin, which is just a form of protein and again a long chain carbon, and since this is classed as organic in the original rules, then you can also mould most forms of plastic or long chain carbon compounds, including carbon-fibre.

Cathal did not expected a spoken answer. Since Choki seems to be calm Cathal enters the crevice. Looking out for the tracks of the horses, he follows them.

There is nothing particularly spectacular about the tunnel, as far as Cathal can tell in the dark its a natrual formation in the rock strata.Other than its a little damp and smells vaguely of fresh horse manure there is nothing else remarkable about it.
Exiting the other side, Cathal emerges into a continuation of the crevice, although the walls are considerably higher of this side, at least a hundred feet. It's also slightly wider on this side.
It's also difficult to tell how far it continues as it's not straight but it goes at least another 100yds.
There is also more soil on this side, so there are the occasional full or partial hoof prints, and possibly an indentation caused by the passing of a wheel.

Cathal goes on and follows the tracks.  Any indication that the carriage might have stopped and someone left the carriage.

 Cathal continues along the ravine. The further along he goes the greater the depth of soil along the base of the crevice and the easier it is to determine that a coach and horses have passed this way, at least twice, one set of wheel tracks being deeper and fresher than the other.
The sides of the crevice vary in height between a few tens of feet and possibly upto a couple of hundred, with no obvious exit point encountered.
After about 550yds the crevice appears to slope downward slightly, perhaps loosing a couple of feet over the next 50 yards. The ground here is much wetter, with visible water moving left to right over the surface, and a pool of water a few feet wide along the right hand edge of the crevice.
From this point it is clear that from about 50yds away the ground appears to slope upwards, gaining perhaps 50ft in elevation in the next 150?yds. The crevice has widened to about 20ft wide at this point and is now relatively straight. The Coach and horse tracks favour the left-hand side of the ravine through this stretch.

Cathal waits for a moment if someone of his cousins has joined him before he goes on.

Sarah followed Cathal to the ravine; once there she paused to take stock of the terrain and its contours, even as Cathal and Choki forged on ahead.

Remembering the magic that the Shade had used so far, Sarah went ahead and took the time to raise the image of the Pattern before her. So far there didn't seem to be any reason to rush -- worst case scenario the others would catch up -- and she definitely did not want to get ensnared by some nasty trap left by the Shade. Once she could see clearly through Patternsight, she would follow Cathal and Choki along the ravine, watching for anything that seemed off.

Since bringing up the pattern will take 10 minutes Cathal goes on. He uses the side the carriage took.

He gives Choki a glance from time to time, checking if Choki changes his behavior as indication that Choki noticed something.

For the party back on the road, several minutes go by with no sign of Cathal's return.
Charlie turns to Alana.







The group will move of through the tunnel, and once through Kasamir will take to the air once more.
By the time they catch up to Sarah she is probably 3/4 of the way through assembling the Pattern.

Meanwhile further down the crevice, Cathal starts to make his way through the wet area, using the tracks left by the coach as a guide. The ruts are perhaps an inch deep, with about 1/4" of water trickling across the surface of the ground, across the 50yd wet patch.
Having crossed the wet area, he starts to ascend the slope, the ground substantively drying out after about 10yds, although there are obvious lines in the ground which would indicate that water flows here on a regular basis.
He makes it about half way up the slope before a voice in his head says.

Catahl takes 3 steps back and looks around for the Gatehouse Kasamir is revering too.

If he sees it he memorize the details, then turns around and walks back


When he passes Sarah he says. "Wait here for me."


He walks back till he meets the others and reports what he has seen so far.

Cathal can't see the gatehouse from where he is. It's above the apex of the slope. Likewise he cannot be seen from the gatehouse either (even allowing for any potential elevation of the gatehouse itself).
Cathal won't make it back as far as Sarah, as he will encounter Charlie, Alana, Kenneth, and Lord Kylestenson before he reaches her. The crevice is about 1/2 a mile in length and Cathal was almost at the far end, whilst Sarah is perhaps 10yds past the tunnel.
Once Cathal starts the journey back towards the tunnel then Kasamir will broadcast the following.(Note Kasamir doesn't measure distance in the same way as humans do but has learnt to relay distances and sizes in terms that people may understand, assuming he has some reference to use a gauge.)

Cathal give the distances where he know them.

Then he seems to ponder a bit and sighs.

"Can you please not turn around. And something should talk my things."

He walk past the group so that their backs are in his back slips out of his clothes and shoes and changes into his demon flight form.

"Okay I can get you some more measures of the distances but they will likely spot me. Any advice. Anything I should keep an eye on"


He steps over to Charlie in says in a low voice. "I can go back the path out of sight. With the right height I can glide over the gatehouse and open it from the inside."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:47, Fri 15 Mar.

Edited in response to the changes related to Cathal 'gliding' rather than 'flying'.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:22, Fri 15 Mar.

"Do you want me to gather those men. Kasimir can relay a commands to me and I can then direct them"

"On thing more Charlie, it looks like we are in the outer caldera of and old and probably long dead volcano. Just as info."

"I now go back crawl up and when Kasamir gives me the sign I glide over and open the door." He says in a low voice.


Then he walks the way back till he is out of side and reaches a good location for a optimal height starting point. He slips out of his clothes and shoes packs his things together and climbs up the  rock.


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Fri 15 Mar.

Charlie, Lord Kylestenson, and Kenneth will move forward to just before the wet area, whilst Rhainnon returns to organise the horses and men.

Lord Kylestenson's men can take Salizar, Kenneth's horse, and Lord Kylestenson's horse. Natlie won't chose to actually join them.

Perhaps 15 minutes will pass whilst everyone moves up..
Charlie will also have a conversation with Kasamir on the subject of a diversion..

Once everyone is in place then Charlie will explain the basic plan (note Cathal will only get the bits that Kasamir relays to him...)

Rhiannon went back to where the soldiers were gathered. "Soldiers of Lord Kylestenson, I am Rhiannon Kerrigan, Princess of Amber. You're lord and my cousin are about to invade the Shade's keep and require your assistance. I am here to bring you forward to be sent in when the moment is right. Gather your weapons and your horses. Whomever is in charge in Lord Kylestenson's absence, muster the men and follow me."

Once the men are organized, Rhiannon will lead them back to the keep

Cathal waits for the signal, whne it come he will glide over that gatewall to the tower and secures the door.

"I'm ready," Sarah finally said, moving the Pattern so that she could see through the center clearly.

Even as she'd been concentrating on bringing up the Pattern, she'd been cognizant of the planning going on around her. She waited for someone to bring Edgar over to her, and gratefully accepted assistance in remounting. When Charlie explained her plan, she nodded her agreement.

"First group: Choki and Kasamir. Second group: Cathal, Charlie, Kenneth, Natalie, Lord Kylestenson and his men. Third group: everyone else." she repeated. "Alana, you are willing to coordinate things with Kasamir?" The assumption had been made, but Sarah preferred to clarify any potential issues beforehand.

"I would suggest that either Cormac or Blake ride forward with the second group, and the other remain back with the third group -- that way you'd have someone with magic both immediately available, and we'd have someone to bring in as support if necessary." If there was some kind of magical defense on the towers, it wasn't clear to Sarah whether it would be better to have someone close up or far away.

When everyone is ready Charlie will signal Kasamir to begin.



Choki bolts away more of less before anyone else can spur their horses into action, and disappears from sight. Charlie, Kenneth, Lord Kylestenson and his three men will all spur their horses forward, across the wet ground.
Cathal can drop off the ledge he is perched on.

By the time Charlie and the others reach the gates and reign their horses in, it's pretty much all over. The right-hand gate remains in the half open position it was in, and Choki is lying on a body half way across the courtyard, a second more bloody body lying by the side of the gate house. The inner entry door to the gatehouse is open.

Cathal will have a pretty good aerial view of the horsemen racing away from him and arriving at the gatehouse as he glides over the terrain. As they disappear through the gates he's still about 150yds from the fortress, before they emerge once more into view and race across the courtyard towards the Tower.

He's still 75yds away by the time they have the doors open, and two of Lord Kylestenson's men appear on the gatehouse roof. The body of the guardsman struck by Kasamir appears to be missing its head which is lying a few feet away from the torso.



As the ground rises from the 'wet patch' in the crevice, so the crevice both widens and it's walls reduce in height, so that after about 150yds you emerge onto a roughly level and roughly circular plane, formed by the conjuntion of 3 'valleys'. Using clock notation, with the 'keep' directly ahead, one valley is between 2 and 3 o'colock, one at about 10 o'clock, and the third at about 1 o'clock with 'ridges' of rock demarking thier inner edges.

The 'Keep' appears to be old, a lot of the stonework crumbling and in a state of decay and dis-repair.
That said there are signs of 'recent' repair, especially to the gatehouse and the base of the tower inside the courtyard. The doors to both the Gatehouse and the Tower look 'new' (as in replaced within the last 10 or so years).

There are also a new set of stables on the left hand side of the courtyard, adjacent to the gatehouse, built from timber, and another new timber building on the right-hand side much closer to the tower.

The 'guard' Choki was lying on, whilst injured, is alive. The other one is definately dead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:28, Sat 16 Mar.

Cathal drops off at Kasamir  signal to secure the tower door.



I thought Cathal is responsible to keep the doir of the tower open, so he would be there before the others?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:17, Fri 15 Mar.

Sarah gave Edgar a nudge to get him moving, but otherwise allowed him to follow the other horses toward the small keep; most of her effort was on preserving the image of the Pattern so that she could analyze the area as they approached. Although much of her attention was upon the towers that Charlie had mentioned, she let her enhanced gaze roam both the rest of the keep and the surrounding area. Hopefully there was nothing to find anywhere, but she had no intention of being caught off guard by unconventional or foreign thinking.

I thought Cathal is responsible to keep the doir of the tower open, so he would be there before the others?

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:42, Fri 15 Mar.

When the signal comes. Rhiannon will relay to the senior person of the troops that it's time to go forward, along with whatever other instructions come.


This message was last edited by the GM at 21:57, Fri 15 Mar.

There is nothing obvious as you approach the Keep.
By the time the main group get to the Keep, the Gatehouse doors will have been opened, and everyone can ride through into the courtyard.
Charlie will come and assist Sarah to dismount, as she needs to know what she can see in relation to the tower, and its entryway.
Again there is nothing obvious on either the outside of the tower nor in the entryway.

The inner doors of the Keep whilst closed haven't actually been barred. Charlie asks Kenneth what does his gun see.

Nobody gets any prickly feelings as Charlie opens the door.
You find yourselves in a small hall, about 20ft long, 12 ft wide, and about 10ft high. It's dim and eerie in here and doesn't feel right. The walls are all hung with dark and foreboding tapestries and banners. Several of the banners and the fire place radiate magic.
Aside from the Throne on the small dias at the far end of the hall, in front of the fire place in which a fire burns with a black light, and the 8ft long 4ft wide table in front of it, set across the hall, there are two obvious doors, both near the far end of the hall, one in each of the side walls. In reality there is a third door, in the end wall of the protuberance, in the left hand corner of the hall as you enter. All the doors are 2ft wide and 6ft high. They are all iron bound oak and appear to be 'new'.
The hall is otherwise empty.

Having done her bit, Rhiannon went back to wherever Alana went and waited for the big kids to be done.

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 164):

Sarah dismounted with Charlie's help, and relayed the lack of magic on the tower doors. Before advancing, however, she carefully and slowly removed the Winchester from the holster where it had been placed, making sure to continue focusing on keeping the Pattern up. She wouldn't be able to fire it while concentrating, but if she had to drop the Pattern she'd at least be armed. As the group advanced, she pointed out every thing radiating with magic, including the banners and the fireplaces in a quiet voice. However, she definitely kept her distance from each of those as well.

Cathal keeps out of sight as best he can to no distract the Lord Kylestenson and his men.

He crawls up the tower and risks quick looks through the window he passes.


Can he send thoughts to Kasamir?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:26, Sat 16 Mar.

If you're on the side of the tower then you'll be out of sight..

There are 'arrow slit' windows in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors of the tower. From what he may be able to tell, the rooms behind the slits may be dormitories.

You can only 'talk' to Kasamir if he's talking to you, the reverse is not true, he has 'true' telepathic ability, so can send to anybody he chooses to. You would either need to shout and hope he hears or attract his attention in some manner.

Cathal is looking for the kidnapped Lady. So is anybody in the rooms?

You can't see anybody in the room on the 1st floor, but then you can't see the whole of the room through the arrow slit anyway, they're only about 8" wide, where they open through the wall.
There may be somebody in the room on the second floor, whether it's who you're looking for you can't tell.

Logically Kenneth is the only 'spare' person in the room so he'll go fetch Cormac.

Cormac will return with Kenneth.



She moves across to the door and opens it.
The is the sound of clanking chain, and then a subdue cry of pain, as a young woman in leg and wrist manacles and chains breaks away from a pair of women holding a second girl, and crashes to the ground just in front of the door way.
Beyond the door is what appears to be a kitchen, about 14ft in length but barely 5ft wide. A hearth is set into the right hand end wall.
Two middle aged women are now holding onto a second young woman, also in leg and wrist manacles and chains. Both of the middle aged women, unlike the two in chains who are dressed in rags, are reasonably well, if not richly dressed. One of the women holds a knife at the girls throat.

Charlie moves slightly to the right of the door, clearing and opening.



The girl on the floor, having recovered a little from her fall crawls forward as best she can. When one of the women move as if to try and grab her, Charlie levels the rifle at her.

The girl will crawl through the doorway, before attempting to stand again.

Does the tower has a roof or is a crowned by crenellations?

It's crowned with a ring of crenelations. Kasamir said previously that there was a small tower with a door on the roof.

Cathal crawls up to the top. He looks around if Kasamir is somewhere to be seen.

Cathal can pull himself up over the crenelations and onto the roof. Kasamir is perched on top of the small subsidiary tower on the roof.

"Kasamir can you broadcast that there seems to be someone in a room in the second floors but I could not get a good view on him or her. And that I now enter the tower from the top and go to check if I can find the lady."

"Thanks."

He walks over to the door and opens it.

Cathal walks over to the door and attempts to open it. There is a toggle attached to a short length of leather cord which is probably there to allow the door to be pulled open, but the door doesn't open. It would appear to be either locked or latched in some way. There is what appears to be an oversized keyhole in the place where a key hole would be expected.

Cathal shifts on of his fingere to mak it longer and thinner and feels around the keyhole to figure out if he can picklock it.

Cathal thins down a finger such that it fits through the key hole. There appears to be no obstacle on the other side of the door that prevents his finger from passing completely through the door.
Carefully he feels around the keyhole in the inside of the door. A little above it there appears to be some form of metal bar which appears to have a recess cut into it. With a little effort, and by twisting his bent finger he can get the bar to slide to the left, releasing the latch.
Withdrawing his finger he finds that he can now pull the door open..

Sarah, seeing the standoff between the woman and Charlie, froze; with the Pattern still up there wasn't much she could do... except examine the auras of the four new arrivals to see if there was anything 'off' about them. Once she'd done that, she moved to where she could get a better look at the woman with the knife.

OOC: How far away is the woman with the knife from Sarah?

Charlie is to the right of the door as you go into the kitchen, adjacent to the hearth.
The kitchen is only 5 foot wide, wall to wall and 14 ft long, again wall to wall. There is a dresser type unit against the far end wall which is about 18" wide and the two women are against the dresser.
The one holding the knife to the girls neck is in a sort of corner, formed by another unit, again about 18" wide and 7ft long which runs along the wall far wall and is set equidistant between the hearth and the dresser at the far end, which leaves a space of about 2'6" at either end.
There are also 3 barrels along the near wall, which leaves a walk way, again about 2'6" wide through the middle of the kitchen.
The girl is thus sort of in the space between the unit along the wall and one of the barrels, and the woman is more or less using her as a shield.
Above the unit on the far wall are a series of shelves, on which various pans and food stuffs are stacked.
Above where the barrels are, are a series of hooks, for which chains are looped, and from which more pans, utensils and food stuffs are hung.
There is not a lot of room for maneuver in here.

As far as aura's go they're all human, and quite mundane.

The girl, once in the hall, will shakily get to her feet. She has a bruise and graze on her face, and her lip is starting to swell. She obviously bit it when she fell. She also has grazes on her right arm and right leg which are now starting to bleed. She looks a little befuddled.

Sarah looked at Charlie for a moment, then let the image of the Pattern drop. She held out her gun for Kenneth to take, and put both of her hands up and out, clearly empty. She did not move into Charlie's line of fire, however.

"This can work out cleanly," she said, her voice calm and even as she watched the eyes of the woman with the knife. "Right now, there's nothing keeping you from just walking away from this. Release her now, without harming her, and you both may leave this place with your freedom. There are some in our group who might be unhappy about that, but... I'm willing to do what it takes to make sure it happens. If you harm her, however..." Sarah shook her head slightly as her expression turned serious. "... her father will be the least of your concerns."

Cathal pulls the door open and enters the tower.

What happens next happens really quickly. The knife twitches as the woman reacts in shock to the news Charlie has just delivered, and the young woman feints. As she does so the knife rakes across the side of her face drawing blood. The middle age woman, in desperation at her situation lunges in Charlie's direction, who fires once as a result hitting her in the right shoulder.




Meanwhile out in the Hall....







The conversation is broken by the gunshot from the kitchen.

The spiral stair case is defiantly not built for Cathal in demon form. The entrance door is barely 24" wide and 6' high, but the stair case itself is even narrower, each tread being 21" wide and barely 5" deep on it's outer edge and 1/2" at the central column.
The central column of the staircase is about 6" in diameter, whilst the head room on the staircase is barely 6'4".


This message was last edited by the GM at 12:30, Sun 17 Mar.

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 184):

As Charlie spoke, Sarah could feel the tension rise in the room, and when the Shade's death was announced, she internally sighed. She'd been hoping to avoid bloodshed, but perhaps that was too much to ask. Charlie fired, and the loud gunshot sparked Sarah into motion, lunging forward to meet the woman who'd conveniently put herself closer to the two. Seeing the blood blossom from the woman's shoulder, Sarah grabbed for that same arm, hoping to do three things. First, she wanted to swap places with the older cook, separating her both from her accomplice and the young woman they'd taken as a hostage. Second, she wanted to twist that arm to increase the cook's pain, hopefully making it more difficult for her to do anything more. Finally, she wanted to leave the woman off balance and teetering, an open target for Charlie's next move.

"Don't kill yet," she managed, hoping Charlie would take the hint and take a prisoner. So far, they hadn't left anyone in the Shade's employ alive long enough to question, so to Sarah's mind, these two women might be valuable.

Once past the first woman, Sarah moved to grab the second middle-aged woman before she could pounce upon the now-unconscious hostage. And, as soon as she made contact, she lashed out with her mind, seeking to knock the woman unconscious before she could cause any further harm.

Cathal tries to go down as best a he can without changing his from crunching a bit together, changing would take some time and he would be bar anything.

The cook initally screams in pain from the impact of the bullet dropping the knife in the process. Sarah's twisting motion of the same arm as you passes the cook is more than enough to cause her to drop to her knees and clutch at the shoulder.





Sarah can grab the woman and render her unconscious without issue.

From the hall comes a shout.


Kenneth will go and get Natallie.








Charlie will pass Natalie and Kenneth as they re-enter and she exits.

Cathal makes his way as best he can down the stairs. He finds that going down backwards almost on all fours, dragging his pack after him is the easiest.
 After a few minutes, and having descended about 10ft, he comes to an opening. If he were descending normally it would be on the left. Given the absence of any light, it's pitch dark on the staircase, there is most probably a door here.

Cathal checks the opening for a door and a door handle if there is one he tries to open the door.

There is a latch mechanism similar to the one on the door onto the roof, except this one is made from wood and has a fairly obvious handle by which it can be slide back. The door opens away from Cathal and to the right. Dim day light now filters in (it's getting towards evening and light fades faster in mountainous terrain).
Beyond the door is a narrow room, barely twice the wide of the door. To Cathal's right is the curving outer wall of the tower, and an arrow embrasure which is what is admitting light into the room. There is a door in the wall to his left, and another door diagonally across the room to the right. Both doors look to open into this room. Both appear to have similar sliding latches to the door to the staircase.

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 188):

Sarah picked up the unconscious young woman and gently carried her out into the hall, depositing her in what seemed it would be the most comfortable place for her to wake up. Standing, she ignored Lord Kylestenson for the time being, instead following Charlie out of the door.

"Charlie," Sarah said, "this place is perfect for us, isn't it? I mean, once we clear it out, it's a safe place from which we can work on our abilities, right? Assuming we promise some degree of alliance -- or at least, not hostility -- Lord Kylestenson shouldn't have any issues with it, right?"

"I mean, yes, but..." Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. Charlie had her own way that she wanted to do things, and Sarah felt that arguing the point would be counter-productive. "At the very least, yes -- let's use the place for food and rest tonight, at least. We might also want to look for any other resources we could use -- like coins, or magic things that Cormac or others can use to learn more about magic. I'll look for the well."

Heading back inside, Sarah retrieves her gun from Kenneth before setting off to look for signs of fresh water.

Cathal walks over, unlock if necessary, and open the door to check what is behind.

Where is Sarah going to look? There are two more doors off the hall. One on the opposite side to the kitchen, and one in the 'front' corner on the same side as the kitchen. Or is she going to look outside?

As Cathal pushes the door open to allow him to cross the room, he thinks he hears someone on the stairs behind him.

Cathal turns around.

Appearing on the stairs is a 3/4 dressed ragtag, carrying a bundle of clothes and other parafanalia in his arms.
Catching sight of Cathal, he stops dead. a look of sheer panic on his face. His mouth opens but no sound comes out.
Adrenalin overcoming fear, he drops what he is carrying, and turns to flee down the stairs.
As he disappears from sight there is a cry of pain, then a shriek, then a sort of thudding sound, then silence.

In reply to GameMaster (msg # 196):

Sarah will start with the door across from the kitchen.

The door, like that of the kitchen opens into the hall. The room appears to be a store room, predominately dried food stuffs, sacks of various pulses, several sacks of flour, various pots and bundles of dried herbs, and a number of kegs and barrels of various kinds.

Not seeing a well, Sarah closed the door.

"Store room," she explained to those waiting for Charlie's return. "Some stuff we can use before we move on."

Not waiting for a response, she crossed over to the final door, opening it to see what was behind door number 3.

Cathal sighs and shift back to human as fast as he can and puts on his trousers, then checks what happened.

As Sarah crosses the room she notes that Charlie has taken some sort of metal box from her pack and from it has extracted a cylinder, attached by some form of tube to the interior of a case and is fitting it to the girls arm.
As she nears the door she hears a sort of 'thud'.
Kenneth has also reacted to the sound.
Carefully opening the door, which opens into the hall and to the left, she finds there is the body of a three quarters dressed man, lying at an odd angle in a heap at the base of a spiral staircase.
Given the  way he's lying he's probably dead. If you check then he is, broken neck, and several broken bones in his limbs (all probably consistant with falling down the stairs).
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:41, Tue 19 Mar.

It takes Cathal a couple of minutes to shift back into human form and then a few more to partially dress himself. He's going to need to remove the clothes, weapons, and other items from the stairs before he can safely use them..

Sarah peered down at the dead body curiously, looking back at the others before checking him for a pulse.

"He's dead, Ken," she said in a flat monotone, before looking up at the curve of the stairs. "But... why?"

Raising her rifle, she begins slowly ascending the stairway, looking carefully for whatever caused him to come tumbling down.

Entering the stairwell, it gets pretty dark pretty quickly. Sarah ascends maybe 10ft before she comes to an opening in the wall which could be a doorway. There is a very feint trace of light percolating from above.
Suddenly she finds the darkness is not so dark any more as illumination suddenly appears from below. Turning she will notice Kenneth on the stairs behind her a feint glow radiating from the front of his rifle.

The opening is indeed a doorway, with a iron bound oak door a little way off the stairs, which continue upward.

"Huh," Sarah responded; still, she was happy to have the company. "I was supposed to be looking for the well, but now I'm thinking maybe it's better to clear this place out first." She gestures toward the door.

"You said no folks showed up on the second floor, right? Let's deal with those on the third, then we can make sure about the second." She proceeds to continue her climb toward the second floor.

They continue to climb the stairs. As they approach the second floor it's obvious why there was some light coming from above, the door to this floor is open and a low level of illumination is thus shed into the stair well.
Sarah also notes at this point a matchlock pistol lying on the stairs. There also appears to be light above, although again it's low level, but it's also not steady as if somebody were moving between the light source and the entry to the stairwell.
As she continues upward she finds a matchlock rifle lying on the stairs, and then a whole pile of things littering the stairs which she'll have to pick up inorder to continue upwards. It's as if somebody dropped a whole load of stuff on the stairs for some reason.
As the opening to the doorway comes into clear sight, a  figure appears in the doorway.


This message was last edited by the GM at 18:43, Wed 20 Mar.

Cathal picks up the things that block his path and make his way down the stairs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:17, Wed 20 Mar.

Sarah pushed the stuff on the stairs to one side with her foot, clearing space to continue climbing without burdening herself with the stuff. It was slowly becoming clear what had happened -- clearly the man tripped and tumbled down the entire stairwell, breaking his neck in the process. But why? She vaguely remembered something about Cathal coming in from the roof to make sure the doors remained open; given his Aura, she could make a guess as to what might have transpired. Squinting, she held her rifle ready in case she needed to fire quickly.

"Cathal?" she hissed up at the figure backlit in the doorway.

"Yes it me Cathal. There was a man. What happened to him?" Cathal asks.

"Dead," Sarah said, turning her attention to the things the man had been carrying. "Tripped, and fell the entire way to the bottom." She proceeded to fill him in on what had happened with the women in the kitchen and then the search for the well, ending with, "that's how we ended up investigating up here. But now that we're up here, we're checking things out to make sure there are no more surprises. You can join us, or go back downstairs to check in with Charlie." Turning to Kenneth, she gestured toward the third floor door.

"You know where they're marked as being -- lead the way."

"I saw someone in the second floor, could have been the man, could be someone else. I was about to check the floor below the roof when I encountered the man. I startled him and he felt down the stairs. So let check the room."

Cathal leads up the first door ( first floor?) and checks if it is locked.

You're on the 3rd floor. Kenneth will tell you that who'm ever they are, they are on the right-hand side of the building.. so probably the door diagonally opposite the entry door from the staircase.

He'll also say that at least one of them is now moving, and towards the back of the tower.

As noted previously the door opens outwards and to the right (i.e towards the outer wall of the tower). Other than the simple sliding latch, there doesn't appear to be any other form of lock.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:45, Wed 20 Mar.

Cathal unlocks the door as he has done before and then opens the door.

The stairwell is in effect in the lower L/H corner of the interior of the tower (noting that the tower is circular, with 5ft thick walls at this height).
The stairwell leads to a room which is approx 4ft wide and 6ft long, thus the wall through which the doorway goes effectively divides the tower into two.
Cathal thus enters a semi-circular room. To his immediate left is a bed and foot locker, and across, against the outside wall of the tower is another  bed and footlocker that looks to have been recently vacated.
Further along the 'dividing' wall is another bed, again recently vacated, and in the far wall of the tower, adjacent to the dividing wall is fireplace, in front of which a ragtag looks to be rebuilding the fire. Against the outer wall of the tower and perpendicular two it are 2 more beds, each with foot lockers.
To the right of the fire place is another iron bound door.
In the central 'aisle'  formed by the beds is another 3/4 dressed ragtag, with his back to you and heading away. Both will look around when the door is opened. Their initial looks will turn to ones of surprise, given the 'odd' clothes those entering are wearing. The ragtag in the aisle is about 12ft from you as you enter through the door.
The ragtag in the aisle says something, although you have no idea what he said.

Hearing the speech, Sarah stepped into the room after Cathal, aiming her rifle at the two men. Giving a clear shake of her head for them not to try anything, she gestured with the tip of the rifle for the two of them to move to the center of the room. Clearly she was prepared to fire on the closer if he did anything she did not like.

"Two here," she said, mostly for Kenneth's benefit. "What's your plan, Cathal?"

OOC: Open fire at the closest guy -- shooting to kill -- if he does anything other than obey instructions.

How big is the room again? I'm not sure I quite understand your description...

The tower is circular. The exterior diameter is 40ft. That would make the interior nominally 30ft at this height allowing for the thickness of the outer walls.
The room is thus an approximate semi-circle, about 22ft along the dividing wall, and 13ft on the perpenicular axis. The doorway through which you entered is in the approx lower L/H corner of the room, about 2ft in from the exterior wall.

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                            Wbbb          WW
                            Wbbb    lbbbbbbWW
                            Wbbb RT lbbbbbbWW
                            Wbbb    lbbbbbbWW
                            Wbbb           WW
                            Wlll           WW
                            W          lllWW
                            Wbbb       bbbWW
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                            Wbbb      bbbWW
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               SSS     D    Wlll      WW
               SSS     D    W        WW
                      WW    D      WW
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                      WW    W  WW
                         WWWWWW

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Thu 21 Mar.

OOC: Thank you -- that helps!

Cathal makes a more friendlier gesture to the two men to come more near. He also steps into the room moving out of the way so that he is no in Sarah's way.

"We talk, dead do not answer questions."

"Hmmm," Sarah said in response, clearly unconvinced of the truth of the statement. Still, she did not shoot them immediately, and instead motioned for them to approach slowly, with their hands visible.

With Cathal moving closer, both he and the closer ragtag can understand one another.


The one by the fire doesn't move.

"The Shade is dead. We are looking for the Lady that was brought here by the carriage. Where is she?" Cathal replies unimpressed.

Cathal will sense there's a certain degree of bluff going on here driven primarily by bravado.

"Well good luck waiting for him for the next eternity. Where is the woman?" Cathal repeats.

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."

To refill the lamps requires melting the beeswax in a cauldron or similar and then pouring it into the lamps with the appropriate number and size of wick.

There are no tapers in obvious evidence nor any obvious flint and steel.. people would generally carry such things on them.
The central lamp unit is on a chain which is hooked on the wall by the stairs. It can thus be raised or lowered by 2ft to allow the lamp to either be changed or lit.

Charlie just smiles and withdraws her Trump deck from her jacket pocket.

Even through her concentration on the Pattern, Sarah had to suppress a wry grin. She was quite familiar with this form of negotiation, having learned from the English -- originally, very often on the receiving end of it.

"You would prefer the Shade's presence?" she asked. "Instead of those who actively assisted you against him with -- as you said -- basically nothing to gain by doing so?"

"You never know," Sarah responded. "If Tiberius or Cordelia see the benefit in working with you, you might end up having a powerful ally where before you had an implacable enemy. Just something to keep in mind."

Cathal looks a bit surprised at the last statement of Sarah but says nothing. He lightnes the lamps.

"Till you figured out how to proceed with this magical door we check the two other doors."

He walks over to the left door and opens it.

The left hand door, which opens towards you, opens to reveal a well, although not overly opulent, sleeping chamber.
The room is about 20ft wide and 10ft deep.
A large 4 poster bed dominates the center of room, with a fire place on your left in the corner between the wall the door is in and the left-hand wall.
Two, 5ft wide, 6ft high, 18" deep wardrobes form and L shape in the far right hand corner, with a 6 high, 5 ft wide chest of drawers to the right of the door. Tucked into the right hand corner is a wash stand.
In the far left hand corner between the bed and the left hand wall are two chests, one of which is iron bound. This one appears to have a lock and has sigils on it.
 There is a half-round wall lamp to the left of the bed above the 'normal' chest, and a second in the right hand corner above the wash stand.