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Post by Eivor on Mar 22, 2023 8:21:40 GMT
[I'm going to assume that this is Ryland and he confronts her at this point, so continuing in that thread.]
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Post by Admin on Mar 27, 2023 1:00:37 GMT
The cousins part, heading in opposite directions down the path. The rain has washed away almost all signs of others who have used this trail. There is an occasional horse's hoofprint in the mud, but the conditions are so bad that Eivor can not tell if the prints are from the same horse or one of many. The ghosts continue their drifting along the path, but a few now seem to be more solid or at least more opaque.
There is a clearing In the forest to the right of the trail—a patchy grass field with a small mansion set back from the path. The building was once damaged but now shows signs of repair. A tree once growing inside a broken wall now reaches through carefully placed holes in the wall and roof. A stubby tower rises from the far side of the house. A dim glow leaks through dirty windows. Close to the trail is a small stable. Eivor can hear the soft snorting and scraping hooves of a horse.
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Post by Eivor on Mar 27, 2023 7:37:40 GMT
Eivor stops and gazes at the small mansion, wondering how long this building has been here. She doesn't recall it ever being mentioned, but then its original occupants were probably long dead. The signs of life are encouraging, especially as its an excuse to get out of the rain. She lengthens her stride and approaches the tower and looks for a means of entry. If she can get inside she calls out to warn the occupant of her presence.
"Anyone home?"
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Post by Admin on Mar 29, 2023 2:39:16 GMT
There is no answer to her call. She can hear some tuneless humming from someone inside. The door to the mansion is open a hair and a slice of warm, golden light cuts through the darkness outside. An unidentifiable smell comes from inside.
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Post by Eivor on Mar 29, 2023 6:59:09 GMT
Eivor has the odd notion she is being drawn into some sort of fairy tale and Baba Yaga might be sat somewhere inside, but she didn't have much fear if witches. She pushes open the door and closes it behind her as she steps inside. Taking a look around, she tries to get a feel of who the owner of this place is and the mansion's purpose as its seemed so out of keeping with the rest of the forest.
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Post by Admin on Apr 2, 2023 1:50:18 GMT
The first thing she notices is puke covering the floor of the foyer. Oddly ruby-red slashes that are seeping into the hardwood. From her angle, Eivor notices that it is somewhat unicorn-shaped. Pst the befoulment, she sees a dusty, cobwebbed room. The walls and floor are separated into old and new sections, similar to Castle Amber's rebuilt masonry. A few paintings hang on the old sections of the walls, and others have fallen to the floor. Eivor recognizes Dworkin's style but not the people and places in the pictures.
The humming is coming from upstairs, and she hears one set of feet walking on the creaky floorboards.
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Post by Eivor on Apr 2, 2023 7:59:32 GMT
Avoiding the mess, Eivor takes a closer look at some of the pictures and props up any that have fallen before making her way up the stairs. Whoever was there was clearly too busy with their work to take notice of her, and she hoped this might give her a chance to review the upstairs room before being challenged.
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Post by Admin on Apr 4, 2023 5:42:13 GMT
One of the fallen pictures is of a young Oberon. Still a grown man but not the graying elder Eivor remembers from her youth. Another, upon closer viewing, is probably the Golden Sands, but it has that old-timey photograph look to it, and the people are dressed and coiffed in an out-of-date style. Heading up the spiral staircase, she sees a painting of Brand among the other unrecognized images.
The stairs creek as she climbs, and the whistling stops.
"I know you're there. No need to try and be sneaky." a man calls out in a friendly voice she doesn't recognize.
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Post by Eivor on Apr 4, 2023 7:28:45 GMT
"I'm not trying to be sneaky," Eivor replies. "I did call, but you were clearly intent on your work. Sorry to interrupt."
She continues up the stairs and heads towards the source of the voice.
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Post by Admin on Apr 6, 2023 5:56:48 GMT
The stairs end in the tower. The round room looks like an observatory. A large brass device similar to a telescope fills the centre of the room. a tall, broad-shouldered man stands in the middle staring at Eivor. His golden hair curls at the back of his neck. He wears a red shirt and pale purple pants. He holds a meter-wide ring of wood in his hands. Eivor can see runes and symbols scorched into the ring's outer edging. Similar rings lie scattered on the floor or leaning against the walls. Each is made of different material and, from what she can tell, different writing. The man has been making preliminary attempts to clean the place with little success. Dust, dead leaves, and cobwebs abound, and giant spiders lurk in massive webs in the shadowed corners of the room. Broken glass flasks and tattered papers cover the only table. No chairs remain standing, just tiny heaps of scrap wood.
"Welcome! Welcome to my little home away from home. Just in the process of getting it cleaned up for visitors. It has been unused for many, many years until a fellow came by and started the restoration."
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Post by Eivor on Apr 6, 2023 7:11:10 GMT
Eivor bows. "Thank you for your welcome. I confess you could use a housekeeper, but then you are clearly a busy man. You are working with another then? I would ask what you are working on but I, a mere novice, am unlikely to understand."
She walks over to the table and shuffles through the papers, ostensibly to tidy them and put them in some sort of order.
[OOC: Bit of a punt but anything like what she encountered in the basement of the DelAmbre mansion in Diega?]
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Post by Admin on Apr 10, 2023 4:44:31 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/QQq3fVm/dworkinmaybe1~jpg The papers are scattered, dirty, mouldy, and worm-eaten. Most crumble at her touch, but the man doesn't mind. What she manages to see on the pages are diagrams of unrecognized devices, and messy writing in a language she doesn't understand. A few have the faintest hint of trump energy to them. "Thank you for helping out, but there isn't anything worth saving on that desk. It's all from long ago, and the world has changed too much for them to be of any use.
"Novice?! I wouldn't say so - you have the look of the Pattern about you."He wipes his glasses and then puts them back on. "Yes, yes, I see you now. One of Julian's, yes?"
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Post by Eivor on Apr 10, 2023 7:20:24 GMT
"Indeed," Eivor replies. "My brother told me to walk the dark paths, but I didn't expect to encounter anyone. It must be a solitary existence for you here, surrounded by ghosts."
"And yet you talk of visitors, of restoration. Something, or someone, has changed then."
She had a quick look around for something to clean up with, and something to put rubbish in while sifting through the debris.
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Post by Admin on Apr 12, 2023 5:28:34 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/QQq3fVm/dworkinmaybe1~jpg "Brother? The Edmund one? What a coincidence! He's the one who started the restoration here. Normally I think poorly of vandals who vomit all over my foyer but he seemed to have ingested something of the Pattern and the released energies are doing wonders for this old place. Doesn't mean I like him. Just like his father, he used to sic his great horse on me. At least the son didn't also have those dogs that bark and bite.
"Oh yeah, his horse is out there in the stable. Maybe you could return it to him? I'm not so good with animals."She doesn't find a trashcan or broom. Some of the large rings still need cleaning.
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Post by Eivor on Apr 12, 2023 6:30:15 GMT
"I'll try to do that, though there's a lot still to do here. I never had Edmund down as the mystic sort, but something must have piqued his interest," Eivor muses. "So what is your role? Caretaker? Apprentice?"
How can you ingest something of the Pattern? What the hell Edmund.
With a sigh she takes a cleaning rag from her pack and attempts to wipe the worst of the muck from the rings, though it seemed a futile effort. It really needed an army of domestics and strong detergent.
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