The Lost Girl, part eight

"Well, this is certainly something," Antoinette remarked quietly. The tunnel had emerged through another arch, depositing them at the foot of a surprisingly solid dirt road. Old, heavy trees surrounded the road on either side, and from out here the arch was just an arch: a free-standing arrangement of mortared stone in a small forest clearing. "Someone's putting some work in to maintain this road."

Peter chuckled. "They are, but that's not going in our reports."

Antoinette looked puzzled. "Isn't this sort of thing illegal?"

"Discretion is the better part of legality," Peter replied easily, and Morri grinned hungrily at Agatha. "Having a passage to the Grey is legal. Trading with outsiders may or may not be, depending on exactly what's being traded. Bringing unregistered outsiders into the Mundus is illegal, but unless it causes a problem the Ministry generally ignores it; we don't have the resources to stop all of it, so we save our efforts for fairly egregious -- and public -- violations."

Antoinette considered that, then nodded. "All right, I can see that." 

Chris could, too. He didn't like it, but he could see it. No wonder the old snake asked if I planned to bind it... That had been more than a year ago, nearly two, and he hadn't really understood at the time. It was only after he'd come to the Ministry and seen just what could be done with a geas that he'd begun to understand. 

Peter turned to Agatha. "Do you know which way they went?" He glanced at the road, and then amended the question. "Do you know where they were headed from here?"

Agatha looked momentarily panicked, then shook her head. "There's a seasonal pattern," she said, "but I don't remember much about it, and I don't know what season we're in, here."

Antoinette turned to look at Chris. "Scent?"

He'd already been tasting the air; now he shook his head. "I think it's rained since they departed." He glanced at Elyssa, but she shook her head as well.

"All right," said Peter. "Then we'll do it the hard way. We'll start by following the road, though." He shook his head. "Before we do... I want you to look around this place. Study it. The Grey is malleable, and even if you're not a pathfinder it'll sometimes take you to a particular place if it's important to you."

Antoinette frowned. "So Seekers are just... better at bending it to their will?" 

Peter considered that, then nodded. "Something like that. Pathfinders can command the Grey to shape itself to our will as we move through it; everybody else has to ask and hope it responds. It takes practice, and it's a matter of sensitivity as much as will, but if we get separated... well, even if none of you have that particular talent, you can still try to picture this place, start walking, and focus on avoiding everything that isn't here until you return here." He paused and looked at Antoinette. "Your Arcana will still work out here, so you could also get back to the Mundus through the cards." Then he looked a Elyssa, Chris, and Agatha. "If you can't find your way back, find someplace safe to stay and just wait until I can collect you."

They nodded, and then started looking around. Peter gave them about five minutes before he said, "All right, let's get moving. We'll stick to the established paths for now; I don't want to have to force my way through the Grey this close to the Mundus."

The Lost Girl, part seven

"Wait," said Maggie Hargrave, as they descended into the cellar. "Mother, let Agatha go with them."

Amelie Hargrave paused, considering that, then opened the door at the foot of the stairs and motioned everyone through. "That is... not the worst suggestion I have heard. Was it your idea, or hers?"

"Does it matter?" asked Maggie, sounding acutely exasperated. "We both want her back, and safe." Chris hadn't really focused on her before, but this was definitely the other girl from magus Frummelt's slideshow: brown-haired, lean, and intense. 

"Hers, then," sniffed the materfamilias. 

"Ours," Maggie countered. "I was about to suggest it to her when she suggested it to me." She broke off from locking glares with her mother and turned to Peter instead. "Agatha can help. She may be able to help you find the travelers, and she can definitely help you talk to them."

Peter looked to his companion, who shrugged her broad shoulders; then he looked to Antoinette, who nodded without hesitation. "As you wish," he said.

Agatha came forward then, but stopped alongside Chris and Elyssa; she didn't place herself beside the magi. "Thank you," she said. 

"This way," said Amelie Hargrave, suddenly impatient. "The stone arch will take you through a short passage, and then out into the Grey. Bring Tammy back intact, and the Hargraves will owe you a favor."

"With our shields or on them," said Peter, which caused Amelie to quirk a grin at him.

Chris was already staring at the stone arch; it was crude and roughly mortared, large enough to drive a truck through, and the passage on the far side had the look of some sort of underground roadway. It was the sort of connection that a family would use if they were engaged in regular commerce with the Grey, rather than just stepping out to recharge their magic. 

Peter turned to regard it, then motioned them forward; they followed him through.

Dark Armor: Violations

"Put your mask back on," said Pallian, as the carriage shifted again and its wheels bumped against the ground. He lifted the helm and let it once again enclose his head. 

Beside him, Ashmiren nodded and slipped her mask into place. 

"Both of you seem to be skilled at blending into the shadows," he continued. "Can you conceal yourselves when the doors open, and follow unseen while I return the armor to its place and try to uncover what exactly just happened?" After the Grandmother's work, Pallian was no longer certain that he didn't possess such talents himself... but even if he did, this was neither the time nor the place to invoke them. 

"I can certainly try," said Ashmiren, while Ember responded with, "I will keep us hidden."

"All right. Stay secret; stay safe. I'll let you know when it's safe to show yourselves."

The carriage rolled to a stop, and a low boom -- more felt than heard -- indicated that the gate to the crypt had closed behind it. The carriage door swung open, and the Black Knight stepped out. 

He was not surprised to see Tybben, hairless and dog-headed and dressed in an ornate red robe, waiting as his boot touched the ground. He was surprised to see a double-dozen dead ancestors gathered behind the disfigured servant. Still, this was the crypt and these were his people; even in his role as the Black Knight, he was not forbidden to speak to them. "What has happened?" he asked. "What brings you all here?"

Three of the dead started forward; four more pulled them back. Tybben said, "The Emissary has arrived at the Obsidian Citadel. It has forced the gates, and battle rages within. The Wizard-King remains absent, as does first-prince Ravaj. The Amedin commands the defense, but without the royal family or their champion..."

The Black Knight nodded. "My friends," he called quietly, "I need you."

Ember and Ashmiren stepped out of the coach as if they'd never been hidden inside it. The long-dead lords and ladies drew back as they came to stand beside him.

The Black Knight looked around at his dead ancestors. "We will need someone to carry us to Obsidian Citadel," he said. "Someone who can pass its defenses, and doesn't fear death. If you can hide yourself and be ready to bring us back afterwards, all the better." 

There was a brief moment of stillness and silence; then one figure, who was very nearly a skeleton, hawked and spat. "I'll take you in, lad. Dakrin Eld, your great-grandfather's brother. I can carry your friends as well, and I might even be a bit of help myself." He grinned, or at least Pallian thought he did; the movement of that nearly-fleshless jaw might mean anything. "And if I die at this, it's a good death in defense of the realm."

"I'll follow your lead," said another, whose bones were still clothed in flesh. "If you can get us there, I'll protect you as best I can."

"A third," said a woman's voice, firm and solid despite the nearly insubstantial figure who spoke. "I haven't dissolved anyone into mist in centuries. Let me help." 

"Uncle," said Pallian, before this could get out of hand, "How many of us can you carry?"

Dakrin Eld looked around. "The six of us," he said. "It gets too risky after that."

"Then come forward," Pallian said, trying to sound certain and commanding when he was uncertain and even utterly baffled. "Let us counter this threat." Please let that sound inspiring, and not like something from a tale for children...

Dakrin Eld stepped forward. The other two ancestors followed him. Pallian, Ashmiren, and Ember stepped forward to meet them. "Let's do this," said the ancient skeleton, and lifted a hand. 

The world swirled away around them.

Terra Povos: Pit Fighting

Amergin, male dwarf druid

James male-presenting dwarven stabby thief

Pythia female dwarven cleric

Whisper male dwarf rogue

Lithos male goblin wizard

Archibald male human bard

Max arrives to grab us in the middle of the night. The Alderman’s outside: Senator Ragnus Goldbeard’s son is dead! In his town! We have to help! Balin Goldbeard (middle child) has a place that he rents out here to do his carousing. One of the neighbors said she heard a disturbance, and saw a strange dwarf she didn’t recognize so she called the guard; the guards called Nori, and Nori called us. 

Whisper: I need 25 pounds of quicklime and a steel basin to make this go away. 

Nori: “I can get rid of a body by myself! The guards won’t say anything, but if word gets out there’ll be quaestors crawlin’ straight up me butt! Give me an update in twenty-four hours.”

Whisper checks the lock before we go in; it doesn’t seem like the door was locked at all. There’s another dwarf, not so well dressed, over by the book case. There’s a table in the middle of the room with three tankards on it, spilled; there’s a book case toppled near the second dwarf, he might have been knocked into it. 

Whisper starts by looking at the footprints. There is more than one pair of bloody footprints leading out of the door. In the mess of footsteps on the ground there are four total footsteps. Amergin starts looking over the bodies, starting with the unknown one; he was stabbed in the gut, probably with a sword of some sort. Balin’s head was bashed in from behind with a large blunt object. Amergin attempts to detect poison; he finds nothing. Amergin and Lithos both detect magic; neither of us comes up with anything. Lithos looks at the fallen bookcase; the books there seem like they were chosen more for decoration than reading material. James checks the cabinet, and finds plates, tankards, and things like that. He finds a book that fell behind the cabinet; it appears to be a bestiary with several pages marked: black bear, crocodile, wolverine. 

Archibald heads across the street to talk to the neighbor. She immediately adopts him and is serving him tea and crumpets and introducing her cats. He asks about what she saw and if there was any distinguishing about the dwarf she saw. She spends about ten minutes complaining about Balin and the company he keeps. “Definitely wasn’t from around here. Pinkish skin, maybe orange hair. Looked very mean, up to no good – had a sword, shield, and crossbow. But… she’s emphatic that she only saw one person. Archibald puts her back to sleep and backs out the door.

Whisper checks the bodies for valuables. Balin has nothing of value other than his outfit, which is quite expensive; there are marks on his fingers where he clearly wore rings, and a moneypurse has clearly been cut away from his belt. A key has tumbled to the ground and is laying next to him. Whisper marks the key with a chalk arrow. He moves to the second dead guy, who has ten gold in a pouch a writ of admittance to the Lion’s Bane under the name of Riley. It’s about a mile outside of town; it’s a pit-fighting place, for Vat Fights in old brewing vats. 

Since this kind of establishment is borderline illegal, you ned a writ of admittance to get in. 

 

Amergin goes looking for animals that might have witnessed the murders. He’s going to use Detect Animals and then use Speak with Animals to interview them. 

Mouse: “Hello human! Where’s the food?”

Amergin: “There was food here?”

Mouse: “Lots of food! Always has friends. Sometimes food over there.”

Amergin: “What happened to the other two food-carriers?”

Mouse: “One of them didn’t eat. That was weird.”

“Do you know where he went?” 

“Out?”

“Do you know when?”

“Before the last food.”

Lithos, meanwhile, goes over to check the sleeping bags. One of them has faux fur inside it, which kind of matches what the second dead body is wearing. There are also some weird crunchy patches in the cloth. The second one has 60 GP and a pouch of Jafreese’ Breeze. 

James goes to check one of the doors to the back; he starts by checking it for traps. She doesn’t find any. Then she checks the lock; it’s unlocked, Then she opens it very carefully. It’s a bedroom, and there’s 100 GP and 100 SP sitting on top of the counter. We take the money and the writ, and Whisper goes to inspect the chest at the end of the bed. It is locked. The bed is not made; Whisper attempts to open it and sets off an alarm. So now it’s screeching at us. He races back for the key, and uses it to open the lock; the alarm stops as well. He stops to examine the lock, which is a good quality lock. Inside are fifteen hundred GP in gems. 

Whisper locks that back up. James goes to check the keg in the front room. It has wine in it. It’s actually pretty good wine, and apparently not poisoned, and there’s about 40 bottles worth in it. Lithos checks the middle of the room; the table was definitely shoved aside. 

Archibald comes in and looks at the bodies as well. Balin was definitely bashed in the back of the head with something heavy. His rings were basically ripped off his hands. The other guy was stabbed from the front, and then fell back against the shelves. James checks the dresser and finds a flask of alcu’ul, 15 GP in change, and… it’s obvious that this wasn’t searched. So this wasn’t the robbery that it was half-assedly rigged to resemble. The bottom drawer has a bong, another bag of Jafresse’ Breeze, and a flyer for the local distributor. The nightstand has a book of Jensenian poetry and a writ of credit for 1000 GP at the Lion’s Bane. Whisper swaps his mundane dagger for the masterwork dagger in the chest. 

We close up the house, leaving the key inside. Amergin is taking the mice with him so they don’t gnaw on the bodies. We also take the noble outfit and its jewelry. The description of the dwarf sounds like a deep dwarf – which would definitely not be local – to Lithos. 

We make our way out to the Lion’s Bane. Lithos and James knock on the door. 

Massive Orc: “Closed.” He’s wearing a surcoat that says Thing #1 on it. 

Whisper, acting as the footman, shows the writ.  We manage to bluff our way inside by promising Thing One 500 gp. The pit boss looks over at us: “Who the hell are these guys?” 

Thing One: “They Riley!”

Pit Boss: “You’re not Riley! Get over here.” His name appears to be Dane.

Whisper looks around for somebody with pink skin and orange hair. There’s some humans who look like pirates. There are two armed and armored dwarves drinking up by the front of the place. On one side of the pit, a necromancer and a couple of skeletons are watching the action in the pit. 

Dane: “Who the fuck are you?”

We explain about where we got the writ. Amergin discreetly shoves a bench into the pit, but the wrangler emerges and hauls the wolf back. 

Dane: “You’re not starting shit in my place.” 

Amergin: “Ye started it by keeping wild animals trapped in here.” 

Dane starts expounding on how his place is the only place underhill where you can see animals from overhill. He yields a bit, and tells us that Balin hung out here all the time with Leaf and Riley. He doesn’t know about any deep dwarves. He’s willing to let us hang out a bit as long as we partake in some of the activities. We pull out Balin’s writ of credit. Archibald: “Perhaps a wager?”

“Not the dire wolf, not for children. For you… rats.” 

Amergin hops into the pit. The rules are that you can only send down two people. If we win the first round, we win 300 gp and can continue the challenge. Whisper jumps down there with Amergin, and a couple of dire rats come out. They attack immediately, one missing Amergin and the other biting Amergin. Whisper tumbles around to flank, and taking more damage on the way. He stabs a rat. 

It goes down, and Amergin curses loudly. He then casts Calm Animals, and the rats suddenly settle down. Amergin gives it scritches. “All right, next?” We’ve won 300 GP. The wrangler carries the injured rat back to the bat. He thinks Amergin is his friend now. Amergin: “Think on your sins.”

Garg retreats back to the cages. Amergin bolts in after him. Dane: “Wait! Stop them!”

Thing 2 jumps into the pit and follows him. They make it through the door and spike it close behind them, blocking Thing 2 out. The wrangler knows a secret, but Aergin misunderstands him and thinks that there's a door that Leaf used to get out.  Thing 2 starts to force the door. 

There is a dwarf imprisoned in cell three… it’s Balin’s other companion, Leaf. There’s no secret exit. Whisper frees Leaf, and moves on to a human prisoner and a kobold family. They're armed, since they were going to be made to fight in the pits. 

Up top, Thing #2 swings and hits Archibald. He goes down. Lithos fires off Color Spray and takes out Thing 2 and Dane (temporarily). Pythia heals Archibald, who pulls out his whip and trips Dane into the pit while he’s stunned. Lithos steps back and casts Shield on himself. James moves for the back door. Archibald tries to trip one of the guards, but the guard grabs the whip and tries to trip him; he drops his whip and backs off. 

James opens the back door and finds the kitchen; he goes inside. Pythia heals Lithos enough to pull him back from the brink of death. Archibald sings one of the guards to sleep. He then moves back over next to Lithos. Lithos uses the last of his spells – grease – and causes the other archer to fall into the pit. Archibald uses the wand of healing on Pythia and sets himself beside her. 

The archer in the pit stands up and backs up. 

Meanwhile, downstairs, Whisper tries to release the kobolds but fails. Thing One smashes through the door. Glarg the wrangler is not happy with this. Amergin: “We’re going to save the animals together. We’re going to get them back overhill.” 

Glarg is convinced. He hands Amergin the keyring and steps in front of the door, holding his halberd. Amergin tosses Whisper the keyring. He pops the kobold lock and moves over to the badger’s door – off to the side – with the intent of opening it next.Steve the Gladiator Prisoner charges straight down the hall and attacks Thing One, but misses. The family of kobolds charge down the hallway, right past thing One, who swings at them as they pass but misses. Leaf moves up next to Glarg. Amergin is still Speaking with Animals. 

The dire wolf isn’t having it; he just lays down. The rats have a mixed reaction: the injured one runs out and starts gnawing on Dane. Glarg smacks Thing One with his halberd and damages him badly. “To the happy overhill!” Glarg yells. Thing hits him back, and now they’re both damaged. 

Whisper opens the badger’s cage as well, and it runs out into the pit; Thing One ignores it. Leaf attacks Thing but misses. Amergin throws some jerky on top of Dane. It comes out of its cage and eats the jerky, then starts licking Dane. Glarg and Thing try to hit each other; both miss. Whisper opens the Hyena door, and Amergin’s persuasion works much better this time. They run out and swarm around Thing One, who attacks one and hits it, Steve the Gladiator swings and misses. The kobolds get to the top of the pit, and one of the pirates pushes him back down. Leaf smacks Thing One with his warhammer, and Thing one goes down and starts getting gnawed on by hyenas. 

Dane stands back up too, draws his rapier, and skewers the rat. James comes back out of the kitchen and throws a spear at Thing Two but misses. Amergin emerges back to the pit and swings his club. Glarg runs out, looks at Dane, then moves over next to the wolf without attacking him. Pythia attacks Thing Two but misses. Archibald steps back and puts a crossbow bolt in his back; the archer in the pit promptly puts an arrow in his back, and Archibald goes down. Steve runs past Dane. Dane attacks Amergin and hits him, James moves up a bit and throws another spear, then misses. Pythia takes a five foot step and collects the wand, then Heals Archibald with it. Leaf attacks Dane but misses; Amergin moves to flank with Leaf and attacks Dane, but misses. 

Glarg leads the dire wolf over to the ramp; the necromancer and his skeletons retreat into one of the rooms. Archibald puts another crossbow bolt into Thing Two’s back. Whisper emerges from the dungeon. Thing Two hits Lithos, and he goes down. The kobolds manage to climb up and swarm the pirates. The barmaid has retreated into the kitchen and is bitching to the halfling cook. 

Leaf attacks Dane but misses. James puts a spear into Thing Two’s back. “Ha-Ha!” Pythia steps in and jabs Lithos with the wand of healing; the second archer wakes back up and tries to shoot Archibald; he misses so badly that he hits Dane instead. Whisper takes a shot at Dane from the doorway; the archer doesn’t see him, but Dane probably remembers that he’s back there. He shoots again and takes down the archer in the pit. 

Steve the Gladiator races out the front door and disappears into the darkness. Thing Two takes Lithos back down. (OOC, James' player: "Again?" Me: "Yeah, well, despite all my rage I am still just a wee goblin mage...")

 

Leaf: “This is for putting me in a pit! Like an animal!” He attacks Dane. Dane attacks Amergin and hits, and Amergin goes down. James pulls out his pickaxe and charges, flanking Pythia; he misses. Pythia hits Thing Two with her greataxe and takes him down. 

Archibald shoots at Dane but misses; he moves in close to the remaining archer. Whisper slides along the wall and tries to take a shot with his hand crossbow. He misses, and hits Amergin’s prone figure instead. Leaf hits Dane again, doing a bit of damage. Dane attacks Leaf, doing similar damage. Amergin and Lithos are both still bleeding out. 

James throws himself off the edge and takes a hit on the way down before slamming into Dane and smashing him into the ground. Pythia restores Lithos to consciousness. Baldy takes a five foot step back and shoots at the archer, who shoots back at him. They both miss. Whisper advances on Dane and tries to stab him with a dagger. He makes a perfect hit. 

Lithos throws an Acid Splash at the archer, but misses. Dane surrenders, and James knocks him out. Pythia jumps down, and pulls Amergin back from the edge of death. Archibald steps in to keep Leaf from killing him. Leaf is very, very impressed with Archibald. He explains that he came by the house, found Balin dead, and went to tell Dane what happened. Dane promptly threw him in the dungeon. We throw Dane in one of the cages, cantrip him back to consciousness. 

“Who killed Balin?” 

Dane: “You guys just busted in here to find out who killed Balin? Look, I just locked up Leaf because he was going to bring the heat down on us! Balin had been losing, but he had some kind of plan to come back with some kind of creature that he was sure he could win with.”

We leave him in the cage and walk out. The pirates and the kobolds have bonded over brawling, and they’re now swapping drinks. We are now down by five charges on the wand of Cure Light Wounds. We’re commandeering the rest of Dane's fortune. We loot the dead bodies; we take Dane’s Masterwork rapier for Uncle Baldy, and +1 leather armor for Ambergin. Dane is very sad about this.

Challenge: What's New?

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews. I have not been following along as reliably this year as I did in previous years, but I'm still participating! Sort of.)

Prompt: What's new in my life lately?

Well, the big one is that Firstborn is getting ready to go off to college. 

Hang on, I need to stop and sit with that one for a moment. 

...Okay, I'm back. Yes, right: college. Firstborn. He's been accepted to a couple of places, and we're sorting through costs and scholarships as they come in. This is complicated by the fact that the standardized scholarship form -- the FAFSA -- got revised this year and so everything involved with that is going out late. 

But mostly it's just weird to think that we'll only have one kid in the house most of the time. 

Beyond that... we're starting a new D&D campaign, which (if you aren't familiar with the game) means that we're all back to playing weak, newbie characters. This is fun, but a bit jarring. We'll have to strategize more, and we'll have to be a lot more careful. 

I have added another patch to the Patch Jacket. 

I have ordered more teeth in anticipation of Halloween this year. 

How about the rest of y'all? What's new with you?

The Lost Girl, part six

"Nothing," Chris told Antoinette quietly. "She's not here, or if she is she's well hidden. Maggie's friend Agatha showed us around a bit, and she seems to think that Tammy left with a wagon train that sometimes comes by to trade with House Hargrave."

Antoinette nodded, then glanced over to where Peter was reading back through a hand-written journal. "Kidnapped?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe," said Elyssa. "Maybe lured away. Maybe just decided to run off. Nobody seems to be too sure."

"Maggie didn't seem too sure, either," Antoinette admitted. "I don't think we get any answers until we get out there and locate the girl. Are you two doing all right?"

Chris glanced at Elyssa, who lifted a hand. "So far, so good," he said. "We can work together."

Elyssa nodded. "I know you didn't plan to have another RO, but... this is good. I can work with this." She met Antoinette's eyes. "I'll make you proud if I can." 

Antoinette swallowed. "Don't make me proud," she said. "Just do the job. We're here to watch out for each other and do what the Ministry requires. They don't pay you twice if you do double the work."

Elyssa smiled, then stepped forward and pressed her cheek to Antoinette's. "Thank you."

Peter looked up as his partner returned; the older woman -- named Morri -- wore a grin that made Chris think she'd been out terrorizing the staff. She exchanged a few words with her magus, then stopped as he added a few more notes in his book. She noticed that Chris was watching her, and her smile widened as she looked over at him. It was not a reassuring expression.

"Lady Hargrave," called Peter, standing up and closing his notebook. "We'll need access to your passage now."

Lady Amelie Hargrave was standing in the doorway. "Of course," she said. "This way."

The Lost Girl, part five

"Agatha, was it?" Chris asked gently as they ascended the stairs. 

The girl nodded. She still looked to be about two years younger than he was, but her movements were graceful and precise; he thought she could take care of herself. Her skin was milk-white, and her hair a pale gray. "I can't speak against the family, you know." 

He nodded back. "I know. Speakers and Binders. Are you happy here, at least?"

"Yes." She didn't hesitate in answering. "I'm not just Maggie's companion, I'm her friend. They treat me like part of the family, and I get to have my lessons." 

"What do you study?" asked Elyssa, sounding curious. 

"Dance," Agatha answered, "and gymnastics, and martial arts, but dance is my favorite."

Chris nodded, considering that. "And if I loosed you from the geas?" he asked casually. 

Agatha stiffened, but she didn't hesitate. "I'd keep doing this," she said. "The Hargraves... they've given me a home."

"All right," said Elyssa, shooting Chris a Look. "What can you tell us about Tabitha... Tammy?"

"She goes by Tammy," Agatha said. "She's nice -- maybe a little too nice, but not so as it's a problem. She's a good mage, even if she sucks at fencing-- sorry." 

Chris waved it off. "It's fine." He had a moment of insight and asked, "You and Maggie fence pretty often?"

Agatha nodded. "Maggie's good. I can't do it the way she does it, with the offhand magics, but I have my own tricks. Tammy is decent enough with a blade, but she doesn't have the magery committed to reflex the way Maggie does. She did try, though."

They reached the top of the stairs and turned on to the second floor. It was, if anything, even fancier than the first floor had been: wood-paneled walls, a painting that Chris was pretty sure was a genuine Goya, light fixtures that were works of art in themselves. "Her room is down here, across from Maggie's." 

The room was rich with scent, from the sheets to the pillows to the suitcase set back in the closet. Chris breathed it in, tasting it, and knew that Elyssa was doing the same behind him. All right. I can find her now. "Can you tell us what happened?" he asked. 

"I can't speak against the House," Agatha repeated. 

'You can count on our discretion," he said, borrowing the line from Peter. 

"It was going well," Agatha said after a moment. "Tammy and Maggie had their differences, but they were well on the way to being friends in spite of it. Tammy was better with magics that influenced the world, while Maggie was trained in magics that influenced people, so they were learning from each other and... I think we were all friends." She swallowed. "Then the wagon train returned. It's... It's people like me. They trade with the Hargraves." 

Elyssa frowned. "So the Hargraves go out into the Grey to trade with them?"

"Sometimes they allow them through the passage and into the house, when they want even more privacy and security than usual," Agatha admitted. "This was one of those times. I don't know why. But Tammy was quite taken with one of younger ones, and... when they left, she left with them."

"Was she kidnapped?" asked Chris, who had serious opinions about people doing their own things for their own reasons and why they should be left alone. 

"...I don't know." Agatha looked, sounded, and smelled troubled. "She might have just run off. Arguil's a handsome lad, and I wouldn't blame her for wanting to lock him down-- even if her family would be absolutely scandalized."

Chris leaned his head back. Why couldn't anything ever be simple? Then he straightened and said, "You're protecting Maggie. Generally, I mean, not in this situation specifically." 

Agatha met his eyes and nodded. "That's my duty, and I don't mind it a bit."

He nodded back. "Was Maggie ever hostile towards Tammy?"

Agatha shook her head. "No."

"All right." Chris glanced at Elyssa, but she shook her head; she didn't have any further questions either. "We'll look around a little bit, but I don't think we're going to find anything until we get out into the Grey. What can we expect from this wagon train, if we catch up to them?"

Agatha hesitated. "I mean... they're just travelers. They move around, buying and selling and doing odd jobs. I don't know what else to tell you."

"You said they were like you," Chris said. He hesitated. "Meaning what, exactly? Your people have some particular magics of their own?"

"Yes," Agatha said, and there was a momentary pause while she waited to see how he would react. He kept his face still, and she said: "Yes, we're shadow-walkers." 

Chris stiffened, then forced himself to relax. "Shadow-walkers," he repeated. "Not nightwalkers? Not blood-drinkers?"

Agatha looked taken aback. "No." She shook her head. "No, that's completely different."

"Thank the dark and forgotten gods," Chris muttered to himself. 

"You've met blood-drinkers?" asked Agatha. 

Chris nodded. "It was... It nearly ended very badly. I'm glad to know your people are different."

"No, I'm..." She swallowed. "I can call up shadows. I can even give them a physical presence. I can step through them to other, nearby shadows, if I have enough on hand. I don't know what else to tell you. Some of my people might be able to do more, but I don't know what."

"Then that will have to do," said Elyssa. "Thank you, Agatha. You've been a big help."