John says, "OOC Yes."

Moriya OOCly says, "Okay."

Jacqueline says, "pardon.  i need to invest 20 minutes into shutting up my
family."

Kanna OOCly says, "Whee."

Jacqueline says, "OOCly okay, right, my some small miracle, i think i'm
ready"

Kanna OOCly is ready and praying.

Moriya OOCly says, "Let's go."

=============================================
=============================================

You all assemble at Miki's room.

Miki is suited up in black clothing and looks rather ninjaesque...as
much as Miki could ever be ninjaesque.

Moriya stares at Miki a bit blankly.

Yumi is dressed in a rather similar fashion.

Moriya shakes his head, then turns to Mitsune. "Mitsune, if you could
please disguise me with shapeshifting? They're looking for me, after all."

Beowulf shows up wearing one very similar.

Jacqueline is stil dressed as an MIB field agent, though now she's
sporting long blue hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.

Kanna is clad in the black "eating light" bodysuit she was wearing
earlier, pack on back, headband tucked into the back neck of the suit,
beryllina sheathed on hip, Caine Dagger on opposite side.  She arches an
eyebrow.  "Nice look, Uncle Miki.  You ever wear that for Aunt Madoka?"
She quirks a smile, and then settles herself.  She goes quietly 'd'oh' as
she hears the word 'shapeshifting'.  "-Knew- I'd forgotten to ask Mia for
another one..." She sighs.

Mitsune turns Moriya into a large blue smurf with a mohawk.  "There you
go.  If they recognize you like this...they're damn good."

Moriya says, "..."

Kanna says, "..."

Jacqueline snickers.  "Smurf poetry."

Moriya says, "I'd also like to keep some of my dignity."

Beowulf sighs ruefully and rolls his eyes.

Mitsune says, "That would be 'Poetry Smurf' to get the naming style
right."

Jacqueline says, "aaahso."

Kanna glances aside at Beowulf, and looks wry.  "He's got a point,
Jacqui."

Jacqueline says, "well, Papa Smurf is really dignified."

Mitsune says, "Besides, if you have no dignity, they'll REALLY never
think it's you, because of course, you'd never do this voluntarily."

Kanna . o O (Do not think of Moriya in Smurf Lederhosen.)

Moriya twitches.

Jacqueline says with an absolutely straight face, "Don't worry, it'll all
be smurfy."

Moriya sighs. "Whatever. I'm not in the mood to argue much."

Beowulf just shakes his head. "You know, Mitsune, he can always get you
back later..." He grins slightly.

=====
=====

You page, "Quick review for myself and manifestations... if Gaby isn't
trying to communicate with me, or vicea versa, or using powers, it's
effectively dormant and undetectable?  As Kanna's done sneaking around
while wearing it before..." to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "There's some chance a being of Daffyl's power might be
able to sense the existence of the link." to you.

Akemi pages, "But it's much less dectable." to you.

You page, "Damn.  So it's a tossup for all of us, really... utility vs.
detectability." to Akemi.

You page, "(as, afaik, I, Bey, Moriya, Miki, and Jacqui all have
manifestations of one type or another.)" to Akemi.

=====
=====

Mitsune says, "Oh, I look forward to seeing how devious I can make him be
to get revenge."  She smiles that closed-eye smile of hers.

Kanna just smiles, nods, and looks to Miki for final breifing
instructions.

Kanna also looks quietly pensive.

Miki says, "Alright.  We're going to be trumping to a city in a nearby
shadow, then using Logrus to close the short distance to where Daffyl's
tower used to be.  Once we get closer, we'll have to scout it out and see
what the best way in is."

Beowulf nods.

Kanna nods.  "According to some reasearch I did a long while back on the
history of the patternblades, there's supposedly a forest around the place
where the swords were... of course, that very well may have been clear-cut
since then."

Miki nods.  "The forest was there when Mutsumi was there, but we won't
know until we get there if it still exists, but I already trump scried the
city we're going to.  If everyone will join hands..."

Beowulf says, "I don't think we can assume much of anything has remained
the same since Morgan took Merehallow, except perhaps the terrain."

Kanna nods, and stands.  She extends her hands to those available.

Beowulf nods, and takes the hands of the nearest folks.

Moriya grabs on.

====
====

You page, "Hrm.  THAT'S a good question... if Bey's bringing the  bag with
him, would the manifestations be undetectable in there?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You don't know." to you.

You page, "Point.  As the thing's effectively a portable link to a
private shadow, and who knows HOW that would interact with Daffyl's
setups.  Whee. :P" to Akemi.

====
====

Jacqueline joins in

Kanna hrms, arching an eyebrow, and glances to see if Bey's taking his
Magic Bag with him.

Beowulf hms as he sees Kanna looking at the bag. "You think taking it
would be a bad idea?"

Kanna hrms.  "I'm not sure... it depends on how 'detectable' its
connection to the Closet it... useful in some ways, or Daffyl may be
able to block it entirely." She frowns.  "And that level of
shadow-molding is out of my experteise... I was thinking of it as a
place to stash the manifestations so we're as 'quiet' as possible yet can
still get them back... but if the connection goes pif, we'll be buggered
anyway."

Kanna says, "I so -hate- catch-22's..." She sighs, and looks resigned.

Beowulf says, "Let's see... I don't know the extent of Daffyl's powers, so
I can't be sure. I do know that it's never been detected as far as I know,
though it was blocked/shut down once in Mystara. By deity-level powers in
that Shadow, though."

Moriya says, "If there's a chance of it blowing our cover, then leave it."

====
====

You page, "I can always have sis trump away and trump back my
manifestation if need be, if I use a regular trump to reach her, yah?" to
Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Yep" to you.

You page, "I'll prolly do that, then, once we trump out of Chaos. :)" to
Akemi.

You page, "Or I can mentally ask Gaby to do a manifestation shutdown and
reactivate upon trumping her, yes?" to Akemi.

You page, "(as it'd still be a normal shapeshifting weapon, just without
anything funky, like Corrine dealt with back during FoF)" to Akemi.

In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods.

====
====

Beowulf says, "You wouldn't really need to store the manifestations in the
bag, though... if you turn them off, they're pretty much undetectable."

Moriya taps his Kafuin manifestation. "Then we shut them off. Is there
anything else? Time is of the essence."

Miki says, "Anyone else carrying anything likely to shine like the sun?"

====
====

You page, "[Kanna] Sis?  Manifestation shutdown.  I'll trump you if I need
it reactivated.  We can't take chances with Daffyl sensing us." to Akemi
and Mercutio.

Mercutio pages, "*click*" to you and Akemi.

====
====

Jacqueline has, at this point, shut down the Mo-ring and handed over
patternblades to Moonsahde.

Kanna takes a breath.  "My Gabrielle Manifestation is Offline."

Kanna moves a little bit closer to Beowulf, as if for reassurance.

Beowulf turns off his Aeris manifestation as well, after giving her a
virtual hug through it.

Moriya puts down the Knife. "We shouldn't have to use this."

Miki says, "Alright, then.  Let's go."  He whips out the trump and
activates it.

=====
=====

You page, "(wait, loaning Knife for the scouting mission was part of the
REASON I was loaning it to Moriya. *wl* Unless his tactics was saying
otherwise.. *wl*)" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You argue with him :)" to you.

=====
=====

Kanna says, "Erm, moriya?  Part of the reason I was loaning Knife -was-
for this mission... so that we'd have more than one rather potent weapon
among us that wasn't a Patternblade."  She looks wry, speaking even as the
trump effect starts...

Moriya says, "I will bring it when we attack the Serpent's Horn. Not for
scouting."

=====
=====

Kanna OOCly says, "(of course, Moriya's currently a Smurf right now,
which prolly means the balance is screwed anyway... aaanyway.)"

John says, "OOC He's a human-sized Smurf"

John says, "OOC I should have made that more clear :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "That's still smurf-shaped."

=====
=====

Kanna ahs, nods, and entrusts Moonshade with Knife then, or whoever's
picking up the gear, etc...

Beowulf leaves the bag with the group remaining.

You all land in a city carven of basalt and pumice and other dark
volcanic rocks.  There's an ugly haze in the sky, smoke and ash mixed
together, and the place stinks.

Miki says, "This is the city of Dylath-Leen.  We'll be heading upstream to
Ulthar, assuming it still exists."

He says, "Follow me."

Jacqueline follows

The city is full of people clad in dark clothing, most of whom don't
look too happy, some of which are somewhat deformed.

Kanna wrinkles her nose, and checks her watch breifly, to check tech and
time gradient and other reality parameters.  She nods, and follows.

Beowulf sets off after Miki.

Moriya walks along in silence.

======
======

Akemi pages, "Medieval tech, 1 to 1 Amber time, high magic levels." to
you.

You page-pose, "Aerianne nods." to Akemi.

You page, "(hey, I wonder if I'll get to recite the Cats of Ulthar from
memory? :)" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Heh." to you.

======
======

Beowulf frowns. "Lovely place," he whispers when they reach a spot when
they're not likely to be overheard. "Slavers and all. The people aren't
going to be much of a threat, but some other creatures could be a
problem."

Miki nods.  "We should look tough enough for them to leave us alone."

Kanna frowns slightly, and murmurs back, "High magic, medival
technology."

Miki heads down to the riverdocks, then pulls a small box out of his
pocket.  With a series of twists and contortions, it unfolds into a full
sized boat big enough for all of you.

Kanna raises an eyebrow, but otherwise remains quiet.

You all load onto the boat, and the wind shifts and begins blowing you
upstream.  Yumi sits at the front and concentrates, black tendrils
reaching off into the murky darkness ahead from her hands.

Jacqueline stares at the black tendrils with a neutral expression,
silently.

Hours pass as the sky becomes less murky and the stars come out.  The dead
rocky fields turn fertile, and now you pass endless fields of grains and
vegetables.  Patches of woods begin to appear, growing thicker as the
river slowly shrinks in size.

Kanna blinks at this tangible evidence that yes, Duchess Yumi does
indeed know Logrus.  She then settles back to enjoy the ride... but
always on guard, keeping watch for any oddities.

Moriya looks off into the distance ahead, blankly.

Beowulf keeps an eye out around, eyebrow raised.

The boat then rounds a bend, and you see a huge obstacle in it, driving
the waters higher onto the land as they flow around it.  It looks like
some kind of zeppelin turned on its side and fallen into the river nose
first.

Jacqueline says, "that seems familiar somehow....."

Bodies of mostly naked men (they do seem to be wearing skirts), hang
from the trees nearby.  The gasbag looks deflated and full of water.

Beowulf sighs. "Mobius again. Lovely."

Kanna blinks at the Zeppelin, and studies it for insigina.  "Hm.  Well.
Looks like somebody had a bit of an accident," she murmurs, and then looks
up at the nearly-naked-hanging-men, to check if they're hanging by nooses.

Yep, they've been hung deliberately.

There's about three dozen of them strung up on each bank.

Kanna winces slightly, and rubs her throat, absently.  "... and I
suspect the natives here are very restless," she continues to murmur. How
'fresh' do the bodies look?

Miki steers around the zeppelin.  "Mutsumi told me a zeppelin like this
showed up when they were getting Merehallow.  Might or might not be the
same one.

Beowulf looks angry. "I have my own bones to pick with that crew, but
this... this is..." He sputters for a moment, trying to find the right
word.

Kanna starts kicking in her arden training, keeping watch on the
riverbanks for people in the forests beyond.

=====
=====

You page, "how recently did it look like the men had been hung?" to
Akemi.

=====
=====

You manuever past the zeppelin and continue on.  There are more woods than
fields now, and every so often, you hear animal noises in the distance as
you sail along.

The stars shine down brightly.

Kanna tries to determine if the animal noises sound like 'normal' animal
noises, or ones of creatures on the hunt, incited to violence...

They sound pretty normal.

Kanna allows herself to relax.  A little bit.  By about one percentage
point.

You round another bend, and now you can see a chunk of leveled forest. It
looks like it's been burnt; there's a lot of rotting humanoid corpses, too
burnt to be sure if they're human or just human like, perhaps three dozen
or so.  They're all on the right side of the river.

Beowulf rubs his chin thoughtfully. "And the zep looked like it could have
been taken down by a large blast of fire..."

====
====

Kanna OOCly says, "Can I tell the direction of where the blast came
from?"

Kanna OOCly says, "Observing the pattern of leveled trees, corpses,
etc..."

Beowulf asks, "OOC Or did it look like it could have come fram a blast of
fire swung around, like a hose? Or, say, breath from a dragon?"

====
====

It looks rather like it came from the river, and it looks like distinct
bursts of flame.  You'd think something on the lines of flamethrowers,
although those shouldn't work here in this low-tech shadow.

Kanna frowns, and murmurs, "Somebody using Breath of the Dragon from a
boat?  Or straight fire magics?"

Yumi says, "Quite possible."

Beowulf nods. "Quite possible. Although I wouldn't quite discount
dragons, either."

Kanna mmms at those options.  "Joy."  She then lets out a breath, and
steels herself, increasing her wariness.

You continue along the river, and come round another bend.  The trees fall
back from the river, and there's a town here.  Or what used to be a town. 
Now it's a gutted, burnt out ruin.  There's dead bodies everywhere, a
mixture of humans, harpies, cats, and centaurs.

Miki frowns intensely.  "Well, that used to be Ulthar."

Beowulf growls. "Someone seems to *like* being very indiscriminate with
destructive forces."

All the corpses (except the cats), wear medieval clothing.  The humans are
all dead from weapon wounds.  The centaurs and harpies look to have been
ripped apart with tooth and claw.

Kanna draws in a breath through her nose, but otherwise says nothing, her
eyes continuing to check for 'safe' cover at the forest boundaries,
checking the sky, and up the river for anybody who might be approaching.
 Her right hand rests on the hilt of Beryllina, briefly.

Jacqueline just looks away, though she's surprisingly numb about it.

Yumi calls up a shimmering Logrus image and begins examining everything
through it.

Miki pulls the boat up to the docks.  "It looks like this battle was
days ago, so we're probably in no immediate danger, but..."

Kanna nods, murmuring.  "Best to go to ground, try to find the cover of
the forest, if it's any good, and any other evidence."

Beowulf concentrates in thought for a moment. "Harpies and Centaurs
aren't exactly common around here..."

Kanna considers.  "Perhaps other herald candidate troops trying to come
this way?"  She looks about with her investigation skills, to see if she
can find any evidence or information they can use.

Moriya looks around, studying the terrain. "The harpies and centaurs
came and killed the humans and cats with their weapons. Then something
fanged and clawed killed the harpies and centaurs afterward."

Looking around, it would appear that the harpies and centaurs probably
killed the humans and cats at least a day before they all died off.  The
humans seem to be largely unarmed.  And there's a LOT of cats dead here.
 Probably 2-3 for every human.

Moriya says, "If we had the time, perhaps we could investigate. However,
we have more important matters ahead."

Kanna murmurs something about the Cats of Ulthar, under her breath,
looking around.  She nods.

While the town has been burned, there's not anyone you can find of any
group who seems to have actually burnt to death.

Miki now gets out six horse statuettes.  He mutters a few words and they
grow and turn into regular full-sized horses.

Miki says, "We ride from here."

Moriya mounts up on a horse.

Kanna nods, and mounts up as well.

Beowulf swings into the saddle.

Jacqueline blinks.  "That was neat."  She saddles up.

Yumi takes the lead slightly as she begins her logrus workings once
more.

You now head down a road that swiftly becomes a trail bending and
winding its way through a forest of strange, brightly colored trees. Every
so often, you pass a few humanoid bones scattered by the trailside,
usually appearing to have weapon gashes on them.

====
====

You page, "how severe do the weapon blows look to be?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "They're generally not too hugely deep, but you'd guess
that they were probably inflicted by Chaos or higher strength." to you.

====
====

Kanna utilizes her skills learned in Arden to keep on guard, glancing at
the forests... even oddly colored, they're still trees.

Then, out of sight up ahead, you hear the sound of perhaps a dozen or so
bipeds walking along in your general direction.

====
====

Kanna OOCly says, "(travelling in the same direction, y'mean?  staying
ahead of us?)"

Moriya OOCly says, "I think he means approaching."

John says, "OOC Approaching, I mean."

Kanna OOCly says, "ah-boy.  Time to look for cover in the forest areas, if
we can do that.  I do not relish a confrontation at this juncture. If
possible to shrink the horses, do so, if not find a way to -hide- the
things, as they sound to outnumber us.  (IS there sufficent cover?)"

Kanna OOCly says, "(oop.)"

John says, "OOC Doh."

John says, "OOC There's a LOT of cover, as the forest is very thick. Y'all
could easily move off to one side, hide, and watch to see who/what is
coming."

Beowulf OOCly sighs, and hopes it won't be like *last* time this
happened. x.x

Then, out of sight up ahead, you hear the sound of perhaps a dozen or so
bipeds walking along in your general direction.

Moriya OOCly says, "My tactics advise hiding?"

John says, "OOC There's a LOT of cover, as the forest is very thick. Y'all
could easily move off to one side, hide, and watch to see who/what is
coming."

John says, "OOC Yep.  Hiding and seeing what's coming seems like the
best idea."

You page, "(do my tactics advise hiding, for that matter? :)" to Akemi.

You page, "Well, that answers that. :)" to Akemi.

====
====

Moriya advises Miki on how to direct the movements of the group to hide
away among the trees.

Kanna gestures quietly to the group for them to hide along one side of the
road, in the depths of the forest, to see who walks past.  She arches an
eyebrow at Moriya, and quirks a brief smile, before going along with the
group to do the hiding thing.

====
====

You page, "(still night-time?)" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Yep." to you.

====
====

Beowulf hides along with the rest.

Jacqueline follows suit

Kanna hides in the forest.  How such a big girl can -hide- is anybody's
guess... most be that Arden Ranger traning coming to the fore.

You conceal yourselves and watch a dozen scaly humanoids, armed with
poleaxes, go by.  Some of them are winged, some not.  One of them is
rather green, but most of them are reddish.  They seem blissfully
oblivious to all of you.

====
====

Moriya OOCly says, "Any insignia or livery that we can see on them?"

====
====

No particular insignia on them.

They head on past you all, off out of sight through the woods unless you
do something to them.

Beowulf blinks. "I'd guess they were Chaosians in demonform."

Moriya says, "Very likely with the Serpent's Horn."

Kanna nods, slightly.  "That would be my guesstimation.  The weapon
damage on the skeletons we passed were from more than human strength, even
though they weren't very deep.  Probably a patrol."

Yumi nods.  "Let's move on, then."

Beowulf says, "Probably best to let them go, so as not to alert their
masters." He sighs. "Unfortunately."

====
====

You page, "Tactics would advise moving on, and try timing from here to
when we next encounter a patrol?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Yep." to you.

====
====

Moriya says, "Yes."

Yumi leads you away from the trail, arcing through thick forest.  the
forest suddenly opens out into a huge quarter mile across arc of ground.
 On the far side is canyon with a river running through it.  It's about a
hundred and fifty feet across.  A great stone bridge arcs over it; there's
a very new looking stone keep on the other side.

Beowulf asks Yumi how close they are to the borders of Daffyl's shadow.

Kanna arches an eyebrow at the reeaaaaaly big keep, and keeps an ear
open and eye peeled for approching patrols, ready to direct them to the
forest's safety at a moment's notice.

Yumi says, "According to Mutsumi, you have to cross a bridge over a
canyon to reach the road that leads through the woods to the hill with
Daffyl's tower.  I believe that's the bridge."

Moriya says, "It looks as if they've built a city around his tower."

Kanna says, "I get the feeling they've done some urban renewal, yes."

Beowulf mutters, "Over the river, and through the woods..."

Yumi says, "So we'll need to get past this to head on to the tower."

=====
=====

Beowulf asks, "OOC Is the Keep right at the end of the bridge, i.e.
bridge guard, or is the whole area beyond the bridge the Keep?"

====
====

You page, "Options for getting across?  how risky does it look to brave
the river?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You'd have to climb down some depth that you can't see, then
climb up.  From this angle, you aren't sure what the conditions are like,
though it looks pretty steep." to you.

====
====

The Keep is about a hundred feet across, and the Bridge ends at the gate
into it.  The forest is cleared away around the keep for several hundred
feet.  You can see sentinels up on its parapets.

====
====

Kanna OOCly says, "sentinels that can, oh, potentially -see- us? *wl*"

John says, "OOC They don't seem to have seen you yet."

====
====

Beowulf quickly gestures for folks to back into the cover of the
forest's edge.

Moriya says, "We are not going to be able to approach very closely this
way."

Kanna purses her lips, and gestures that's it's probably a good idea to go
for the cover of the forest so they can discuss options further, while not
being in the open.

====
====

You page, "WE're synchronizing again, Travis... :)" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Heh." to you.

====
====

Miki nods and moves back deeper into the forest.

Beowulf says, "So, we appear to have a brand shiny-new guard post."

Kanna says, "And a very steep canyon with river at the bottom... I
couldn't tell how deep it was or the conditions from the casual
glances."

Beowulf says, "The keep would be a very nasty place to try and break
through, or even to try to sneak into. I suspect our best bet is going to
be moving off to one side and cross the canyon some other way."

Kanna says, "If we can find a place where the forest gets closer to the
canyonside..."

The forest seems to go right up to the canyon further up and down
stream, outside the area which has been cleared off to give the keep
some visibility.

Beowulf nods. "We could always try catapulting over... no magic use that
way."

Moriya says, "I would suggest having our shapeshifters shift us all into
insects to fly closer."

Beowulf says, "So long as there's nothing nasty that eats insects out over
the canyon... shouldn't be too hard to test, though."

Kanna asks, "A combination of approaches?  Move up further outside the
area which has been cleared out, do our insect impersonations, change
back?"

Beowulf asks, "Which would be harder to detect... a conjured insect or a
blood creature?"

====
====

You page, "... if I get changed to Insect-size, do I still have my
strength and endurance and stuff? *wl*" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You aren't sure, as you haven't been insect sized before :)"
to you.

You page, "Wheee. :)" to Akemi.

====
====

Beowulf says, "Oh, definitely move out of sight of the Keep and out of the
cleared area before trying anything."

Moriya frowns. "The last time we used blood creature insects...it didn't
turn out so well."

Beowulf asks, "Back in Mystara, you mean?"

Moriya says, "Ebenscrux."

Jacqueline says, "i'd think blood creatures would be the safest thing. but
that's just me."

Beowulf nods. "I wasn't there for that part... but this is a rather less
secure area, and they didn't cause us any trouble in Mystara, as I
remember."

Moriya says, "Ebenscrux sensed Anno-sama's blood creatures. They tipped it
off to our presence." He sound faintly pained.

Kanna winces a bit.

Beowulf nods. "How close to Ebenscrux were you?"

Moriya says, "We were outside its room. We sent the blood creatures
inside to scout."

Beowulf nods. "Right next to it, in other words. We're still quite a
ways out."

Yumi says, "Blood creatures are harder to detect than conjured
creatures, as they don't radiate magic, and most people won't be able to
see insects very well from very far away to see any signs of them being
blood creatures."

Jacqueline frets

Moriya is silent for a while. "Let's hope the same result isn't
repeated, then."

Beowulf nods to Lady Yumi.

Yumi says, "If we turn into insects, they will likely not notice us,
unless they have some sort of thing up to detect people's Pattern
Imprints, in which case we're all doomed anyway.  I am inclined to
suggest we go down the river, fly over the canyon as insects, circle
round this keep, turn back and head on from there.""

====
====

You page, "Any alternative plans suggesting themselves to me, given the
situation we're in? *wl*" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Either that, or just going off in the woods and trying to
climb down the canyon and up the other side is the other thing that comes
to mind." to you.

====
====

Beowulf smiles a bit. "Never argue with the expert."

Beowulf asks, "Shall we head to a good out-of-the-way spot, then?"

Kanna nods.  "WE'll be able to get a better look at the canyon, too,
closer up to judge it."

Your group heads off down through the trees to find a place where the
woods come up to the canyon.  A closer look shows it's about a hundred to
a hundred and fifty feet down to the raging river full of rocks below.  It
wouldn't be impossible to climb down and up the other side, but it would
certainly be pretty difficult.

You can't see the Keep at all from here.  There's a few fish in the
river, but no sign of bigger creatures.

====
====

You page, "Would it be doable if I shifted Beryllina to its grappling hook
with launcher form, set the spool of cable to free-release, and
effectively rappel down?  The river itself looks more dicey, though..." to
Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Yes, you could do that." to you.

You page, "'course, there's crossing the river, and -ascending- the
other side... *wl*  And we'd be noticeable to anybody coming along the
canyon." to Akemi.

====
====

The river itself is about forty feet across at the bottom.

Kanna kneels down breifly, to study the canyon and river below, and
sighs slightly.  "Feh.  Don't know how viable a decent and ascent would
be.  I could shift Beryllina to its grapping-gun mode, set the cable spool
to free-release to descend from the hooked line up here... but there'd be
the questions of -crossing- that river and getting back up the other
side."  She looks rueful shaking her head.  "Nevermind visibility
questions for those coming along the canyon, or getting the hook across."

Yumi says, "I could attempt to make a cable bridge with Logrus tendrils,
but I am somewhat worried they might notice the amount of power
expenditure necessary."

Beowulf nods. "I've got a grappling tool as well, but we would be
equally visible."

Moriya says, "We can discuss how to cross this when we make our assault
later. Right now, we should continue to gather information and proceed."

Kanna nods, and gets up.  "Bug time then, I guess."

Jacqueline sighs

Yumi starts turning everyone into insects.

Beowulf nods. "Right. Just make sure we stick close to Yumi, so that we
all get across the shadow boundary."

Kanna nods... buzzes... SOMETHING agreement here.

Then you all start across the canyon.  It quickly becomes apparent that
it's like trying to fly through maple syrup.  Miki and Yumi don't seem to
have much trouble, but the rest of you have a hard time keeping up, and
it's rather tiring, like walking into hurricane winds.

You eventually reach the other side, feeling somewhat zonked, and Yumi
turns you all back to normal.

Moriya grunts. "What was that?"

Kanna buzzes in frustration, and keeps beating wings frantically, trying
to keep up with Miki and Yumi.  She gets turned back to normal, and gasps
for breath.  "... what the fuck?"

Beowulf takes a few deep breaths. "That was harder than I thought. A
psyche barrier?"

Yumi says, "Barrier to keep people out.  I was able to make us enough of a
path, I think, but it wasn't easy."

====
====

You page, "How winded am I, given my strength and endurance and the fact I
was wearing my Adv. Barrier Ring?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "The psyche barrier didn't help, as you were trying to push
through that with tiny insect wings, which is why you're tired." to you.

====
====

Moriya frowns. "I wonder if they noticed."

Beowulf smiles a bit. "All hail the mighty lady of mystery. And strong
abilities."

Yumi laughs gently.  "Onward ho."

Beowulf looks innocent. "Compliments when compliments are deserved,
right?"

Kanna says, "... great.  wonderful.  hopefully getting -out- will be
easier..."  She stands and mutters, rubbing her shoulderblades
sympathetically.

Beowulf does a full-body stretch, then moves along.

You press onwards through the forest, which begins to thin out as you move
along.  It also becomes more hilly, and you start up a long slope.
Finally, you reach the edge of the woods and look out onto a five mile
across cleared area.  There's a large lake about 2 miles across in the
center, and a walled town along one shore of it.  A long bridge stretches
from the town to a island in the center, most of which has a huge castle
in it.

All sorts ot strange, but edible looking plants grow in fields and
orchards around the lake, and patrols of demonformed Chaosians march
about the fields or stand on the walls of city and castle.

Beowulf says, "Well. Some definite changes."

Moriya stares at the scenery. "This will be very annoying to get to."

Kanna says, "... yes, definitely doing urban improvement here."  She
keeps low and down close to the ground so as not to be noticed.

Beowulf stays low to cover himself. OOC How big is the central castle?
Much bigger compared to the original tower?

Observing reveals the patrols have been planned very well; they won't be
impossible to slip past, but it won't be easy, either.

The central castle is big enough you can't even see the original tower.

The town looks sized to hold maybe some 20,000 people.

====
====

Beowulf asks, "OOC About how many rooms would I guess are in the
castle?"

John says, "OOC Hundreds."

=====
=====

You page, "Safe to look like taking sketches, or better to just memorize
and draw later?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You think youhave time to do some sketches." to you.

=====
=====

Kanna pulls out her sketchbook, flips to a fresh page, and starts
hurredly but efficently sketching what she's seen so far-- the bridge and
keep over the river canyon, and now all this that's been erected.

======================
======================

Moriya OOCly says, "Pause. Heading home."

Jacqueline trumps back to gainax and jumps Thori-   OOCly oh, pause.
right.

Moriya OOCly says, "And I leave you with this quote of the day. "When I
take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty
tent and hit a camel in the butt.  It's going to be decisive." President
George W. Bush"

Jacqueline says, "OOCly wow, when did he say that? :)"

Moriya OOCly says, "Not sure. It may be apocryphal, but it's great. :)"

======
======

You page, "(hm. What day we on, now?)" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "65" to you.

======
======

Motoko says, "Hmm.  Well, this all looks to be going well so far..."

=========
=========

The_Prof pages, "Well. If the castle's that big, they almost certainly
have the captives there; if it were just the original tower on the island,
they'd likely be in the town. Of course, it couldn't be that easy. <wry
g>" to you.

You page, "Well, yes.  20,000+ serpent horn fanatics to fight
through..." to The_Prof.

You page, "(or to avoid, or suchlike.)" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Yah. But it'd be easier than trying to get across that
lake without being spotted..." to you.

You page, "True. *wl*" to The_Prof.

You page, "Oh, did you have a chance to talk with Lucien?" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Ayup. That's right, haven't sent you the log... things
are kinda mixed up until I get the laptop back." to you.

You page, "Well, cool, anyway.  And I got a chance to spar with Moriya.
^_^" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Lucien was quite pleasant, and hardly arrogant. Very
pleasant to deal with, I was glad to see that after the debacle at
Marches." to you.

You page, "*nods* He's had some hard times, but it helps to show that
there are, yes, folks in the family -willing- to help out. :)" to
The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Saw that. Glad you got him out of his funk somewhat... I
was working on getting Thoric back in good shape with the card game, and
seemed to go pretty good." to you.

The_Prof pages, "We *did* confirm that the battleship he had the map for
is Annadil's, and I pointed him in Lian's direction to take care of the
Outsider-based weaponry on the ship." to you.

You page, "Whee.  That's going to be interesting.  Lian isn't too
hyper-hepped on Lucien. :/" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Was worried about that, some... but he's much improved,
and she *is* the best person we've got for dealing with Outsider items."
to you.

You page, "*nod* If Kanna's able to come along, she'd be able to buffer.
 We'll see how it paces." to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "I did feel somewhat envious, since I'd been planning on
going after it myself, but he's got the time right now and I don't." to
you.

The_Prof pages, "Especially if I end up organizing a rescue mission for
Grandma." to you.

You page, "(see, Kanna doesn't know this IC, but OOC... Wasyuu's home
shadow (not her lab shadow) was based around a Broken Water Pattern.)" to
The_Prof.

You page, "(Guess what happened to that home shadow when Rebma went
Bye-bye...)" to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Owww. ;_;" to you.

The_Prof pages, "That would hurt, and I understand why she'd have a
grudge against Lucien." to you.

You page, "*nod* Yup.  Can you say Lingering Long Term Grudge Against The
House Of Derith?  I knew you could." to The_Prof.

You page-pose, "Aerianne ponders a combined air/sea assault on Daffyl's
stronghold.   Might need one." to The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "If we could *get* one. Remember the Mobius zep." to
you.

You page, "That's part of the reason why I'm concerned. *wl*" to
The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "I'm trying to figure if we should go ahead and try to
infiltrate the castle now, or go back and report what we've seen so far."
to you.

You page, "I'll prolly have to ponder that, too.  Kanna's getting
flashbacks to infiltrating Rebma (didn't we just do this? *wl* )" to
The_Prof.

========
========

Kuonji Ukyou wakes up.

Beowulf grins at Merc. "Or So You Think. ^_^"

Nan desu ka? (Type 'Help' for help)

Shizumaru has connected.

>> "Tsuki yo ni agake."

Moriya OOCly returns.

Motoko licks Moriya.

Motoko says, "Mmm, raspberry."

Moriya OOCly says, "..."

Kanna OOCly says, "welcome back, Droo."

John asks, "OOC Excellente.  Shall we continue?"

Moriya OOCly says, "Sure."

Kanna OOCly says, "nods."

Beowulf nods.

Jacqueline exclaims, "OOCly HAJIME!"

============================
============================

Kanna takes sketches, sketches, and more sketches, flipping through
pages rapidly to get as much info as she can put down onto paper, trying
to evaluate how hard it would be to -take- this place, by air or land...
especially given the downed Mobius Zeppelin and the resistance they had
crossing into the Shadow proper.

Beowulf hmms thoughtfully. "Well, the castle's big enough to probably
house the captives and leadership cadre."

Kanna offhandly comments, "and probably who knows how many troops and
such...", and continues sketching.

=====
=====

You page, "Am I getting a good idea of sizes of things, given my
sketching abilities, etc?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Yes." to you.

You page, "So, how big are we talking here, size of city, castle, etc?" to
Akemi.

=====
=====

Miki says, "The hostages are almost certainly in the castle."

Moriya says, "You can sense them with the Logrus, right, Yumi-dono? We
could do some telemetry to locate them for certain."

The defenses are pretty impressive, although not up to the level of
Castle Amber.  But few things are.  The city looks to be home to about
20,000 people, though it doesn't look like they're all soldiers.  The
castle probably has a garrison of maybe 2,000 or so.

The lake greatly complicates any assault on the castle.

====
====

Beowulf asks, "OOC And no cover at all in the area around the lake,
right?"

====
====

Kanna mutters somewhat at the existance of the lake there, and mumbles
something under her breath about how it seems folks seem to be pulling
reinforcements out of their asses these days all over the place.

Beowulf says, "...reminds me of the Yellow Temple, in a lot of ways."

The area around the lake has a lot of orchards and fields of crops, so
there is some limited cover, enough for y'all to try to sneak up closer
past the patrols.  But an army attacking the place would have to charge
across a large killing field, as the crops aren't high enough to hide
people walking upright.

====
====

Kanna OOCly says, "can we get to the Orchards from where we are, by
skirting the forest/city areas, if need be?"

====
====

Kanna hrms, glancing at Beowulf.  "Hm."

Yumi says, "The lake probably has lake monsters.  It would if I built this
place, anyway."

Beowulf says, "Looks like a commando raid would be the best way to
rescue the hostages, anyway -- as infiltrating would be easier than
trying to storm *that* place."

Miki says, "We may need to siege this place in the end to eliminate
them."

Miki says, "But yes, a siege would likely just lead them to kill the
hostages before we could save them."

Beowulf says, "We'd still have to worry about getting across the lake, up
the walls, and through whatever security they've got inside."

Kanna tries to eyeball what the place seems to have in the way of
ground-air defenses.

There are ballistas and catapults which could be turned against an air
assault.

Kanna fehs quietly.  "Daffyl's dudes do seem to have taken care of
pretty much all the regular-force approaches.  We'd need to go
special-forces to sneak in."  She purses her lips, and sketches more of
the castle and bridge across the lake, to get more details of the place.

Beowulf says, "I hate to say it, but the Yellow Temple security was kid
stuff compared to this place. Serpent's Horn has some very capable
tacticians, not just weaponsmasters."

===================================
===================================

Beowulf asks, "OOC How do the defences look compared to the Yellow
Temple's?"

Kanna OOCly warns about 10 minutes or so, fyi. *wl*

Beowulf OOCly acks. :p

Moriya OOCly says, "D'oh."

John asks, "OOC Okay, if Phil needs to go in ten...What time do youthink
you can be on tomorrow, Travis?"

Beowulf says, "OOC Assuming the laptop is back... no earlier than 9
central, since I'd have to put the HD back in it once I got to Chicago."

Moriya OOCly says, "That'll be pretty shortly before I get off work, but
we can try."

John aargles, I'd hoped to get this done tonight.  ^^;;;  Well, such is
life.

Jacqueline says, "OOCLY we may be doen yet.  GAME FASTER."

John says, "OOC Well, if you want to scout inside the place, we'll need to
go another night."

Jacqueline asks, "OOCly okay, lads, ARE we going to try to break in?"

=====
=====

You page, "Gomen, gomen,b ut you know how my schedule is, john... -_-;;;
I'm not the sort that can blow off work multiple nights until 2-3 AM...
*wl*" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "I know.  I expected this to go faster than it did.  ^^;;;"
to you.

Akemi pages, "Althoguh part of it is me forgetting about Drew having to
get off work." to you.

=====
=====

Beowulf says, "OOC That's the big question. :)"

Jacqueline says, "OOCLy so answer it :P"

Kanna OOCly says, ".. yeah.  we have a pretty decent team here, and OOC,
we could probably sneak in/out... we've gotten THIS far, and it'd take
time to head out and go BACK in again, time we very well may not have."
Kanna OOCly says, "On the flip side, we're not exactly going to have full
reinforcements ready to go.  I default this decision to those who are More
Tactically Inclined Than I. :)"

Jacqueline says, "OOCly alright, war gods, assess."

You page, "(prolly -should- have brought the Knife... *wl* )" to
Shizumaru.

Beowulf OOCly assesses. :)

Moriya OOCly hmms.

Kanna OOCly assesses as well... let's see if we get a consensus!

Jacqueline asks, "OOCly i.e.  ICily does our tacticians like teh odds of
breaking in?"

Beowulf says, "OOC Like Bey said, the security is *much* tighter here than
it was at the Yellow Temple; nothing simple like hitching a ride with a
caravan here."

John says, "OOC You thik you can probably get in and over the walls.
You're not sure of what the defenses past that will be like, other thna
probably involving various powers as well.  The big risk is that there may
be something able to sense your Pattern Imprints, which are rather hard to
hide."

John says, "OOC On the other hand, you need info on the layout inside if
you're going to pull a rescue with any chance of success later."

Jacqueline says, "OOCly given we're dealing with a creature of raw
Logrus power here and lots of it, it's risky."

Moriya OOCly sighs.

Beowulf asks, "OOC Are there any supply caravans coming *out* of this
place that we could ambush and mind-drain to get some idea of the layout?"

Jacqueline says, "OOCLy now THERE is an idea."

John says, "OOC People with Logrus don't NEED supply caravans.  You
reach out with the Logrus and yank the supplies to you."

Beowulf says, "OOC Duh. Right. :p"

Kanna OOCly nods.  And with the fields and orchards around, they're
pretty self-sufficent as it is.

Jacqueline asks, "OOCly right then.  perhaps we can overwhelm a patrola nd
do  massive psychic surgery?"

John says, "Although you could try ambushing a patrol as Jacqui just
suggested, to get the info, then make them forget they were ambushed."

Jacqueline says, "OOCly exactly"

Beowulf OOCly nods... sounds like the best plan.

Moriya OOCly says, "That sounds better."

Jacqueline says, "OOCly good thing I upped finesse...."

Moriya OOCly says, "Regardless, I don't think we'll be able to do this
tonight."

Moriya OOCly says, "Feh. Let Yumi do it, not Jacqueline. :)"

Jacqueline says, "OOCly hm. nope, geuss not."

Kanna OOCly nods.  Yah.  Gomen, folks. *wl*

John says, "OOC We will try and do this ambushing tomorrow night, if
schedules sync up."

Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. Break here for tonight."

John says, "OOC If not, then we'll likely need to wait until Thursday,
since Wednesday, I have KUGAR."
-------