[OOC: How public is the cat's shapeshifting power? I seem to recall her using it fairly freely in the exploration of the Faerie regio, but that didn't involve Gregorius.]
Let's assume he knows.
Scott
Then Gregorius will assume that if there was anything really important to tell him, she'd have used it.
Gregorius will head back to where Patrick was casting the ward. [Assuming he's still there, but finished:]
"Thank-you for your help, with this, Patrick. I'm planning to stay the night here, but I should be back at the covenant tomorrow morning. Before you go, though, a quick question: was that trail" - he points in the general direction - "there when you first came here? And have you ever seen anyone else walking it?"
Patrick has spelled up quite a secure lean-to for you while you've been gone. You see several warding circles, with a small moat. He's also set up a few tents, and a nice fire. He's leaning against a rock, reading his summa.
OOC: writing this while taking a break from the drive through Chicago snow, forgive the lack of color.
Patrick glances at the path. "Ah thought it was a deer trail at first, but t'was long unused. May have been a road from the city that was, though heaven knows what was out there they'd'ha' travelled to."
Gregorius' eyes widen slightly as he sees Patrick's efforts.
"Thank-you. Are all the circles against ghosts, or are there other effects as well?"
After the conversation with Patrick, he will follow the trail a short distance, preferencing the older tracks over Patrick's if there comes a decision point. However, he isn't going to go a significant distance from the Necropolis (to the extent he can tell where it's boundaries actually are, anyway, but he's not going to go deep into territory obviously not it). He'll also aim to have returned to the circles by the time night falls. [This is late in the first season of the year, so Marchish?]
"Oh, gosh no. This one here is fer mosquitos, and that one is for those infernal sorts, and this wee big one off'ta side is 'gainst mythic beasts like fair Alcimus yonder way -- for I did recall you preferred not to be kept from his company, right enough. Oh, and this one here is for the dissolving the campfire smoke, so as not to give 'way our retreat. Here, ye can walk across this plank so as to not lay foot 'pon the warding lines." There is the (possibly familiar) glint of slightly crazy self-gratification in his eyes, the occasional furtive sideways glance.
The trail heads fairly straight to the east, keeping to the troughs between the hills. There is a murky pond which seems to collect most of the run off from the nearest dozen hillocks, notable in that a few of the hills around it do not point east-west. The trail splits up into many paths at this point, and it is here where Patrick's path veers around the north side of pond before turning south.
Gregorius looks slightly surprised at the mosquitoes, but merely asks:
"Any ones for corporeal undead?"
Gregorius will ask Alcimus whether he can tell what made the tracks, and how old they are.
Patrick seems surprised at the idea of a ward versus corporeal undead. Grumbling a bit, he grabs his chalk and incense and begins to make further preparations.
The tracks are ancient by hunting standards, having been several years since their usage.
Gregorius hastily tries to reassure Patrick that that hadn't been intended as a complaint - he'd just been surprised by how varied a set of wards he'd created, and had wanted to check he knew all of them.
He's still looking rather bemused, though.
Gregorius picks the (not Patrick's) trail that comes closest to heading back east and follows it, keeping an eye on the light as he does so.
Back east? Do you mean east, away from the covenant, or back west towards your warded lean-to and the covenant?
[OOC: I meant back towards the warding circles - I saw:
when I was checking for the direction but not:
Somehow.]
As the sun begins to peek between the hills, comes the moment of Twilight, the hour when it is neither day nor night, and yet it is both. As your mundane eyes struggle with the fading light, your Second Sight takes over.
Gregorius sees 3 of the low hills behind him (back towards the murky pond) now appear to be tiny fortified watchtowers. Ahead, the 1st tier of taller appear to be houses (with the southern houses appearing distinctly higher-class than the northern ones), and beyond them is a huge crumbling castle of a hill. He suspects that the castle-hill is where Patrick has set up the camp. (Second Sight roll of 25)
The Cat notices that her offspring is now being haunted by the butterfly he killed earlier*. She's also smart enough to realize that this is pretty unusual, and is probably related to the site where the butterfly was killed. (Second Sight roll of 9)
The Kitten, who has not yet noticed the butterfly-ghost, notices through Second Sight that one of the low hills to the south seems to be flickering between two different states. However, as you're all traveling between the hills on the path, he cannot determine which one from here. (Second Sight roll of 12)
- Scott had previously said that there was now several litters of supernatural cats, and I've done this entirely to distinguish this Kitten from her other offspring.
Gregorius spends a few moments just gazing at the buildings, before starting trying to work out what they are - is he seeing into regiones? Or are the structures in this world? He'll check with Alcimus whether he can see them.
[OOC: Are the structures ghostly, or do they appear solid?
Per + Magic Lore is 3 + 2 = 5, should it be relevant for trying to work out whether they're regiones.]
He sponts a quick non-fatiguing spell to check the strength of the aura again, and tries to roughly memorise the layout of the important buildings, so he can match them to the hillocks in the day time.
It is at approximately this point that he realises that the last he saw of Patrick, he was in the circle where the castle now is, with no apparent intent to leave any time soon, and that his Parma would have gone down at around the same time the buildings appeared. He doesn't quite run back to the circles, but it's certainly a very brisk walk.
Some may be regiones, though most of these are simply the ghostly truth of the location. You're too far away from any that might be regiones to tell for sure, and there's far too much Second-Sight activity going on to tell the trees from the forest.
Your spell says Magic Aura is a 4.
As you race back to the campsite, Twilight passes, and the Second-Sight images fade. Do you continue?
Yes, he'll continue back to the camp. Once the buildings have completely disappeared, his pace slows slightly, reasoning that either everything will be fine, or it'll be too late to do anything about it.
Gregorius and Alcimus get back to the camp. The felines are apparently taking their own time to get back.
Patrick seems to be fine. He's staring moodily into the fire, and is drinking from a flask. It may be the firelight, but that could be a few tears trickling down his face. Did something happen while you were gone? Or is this more of The Unrepentant's hidden anguish that so often assails him?
[OOC: It's hard not to bring up Patrick's more melancholy flaws in this chapter, but they're not related to the story here. Gregorius would be familiar with his mood swings by now.]
Do you wish to cross the plank into the circle, or will you leave him to his heartache and explore some more?
Gregorius looks relieved to see Patrick, if not "fine", at least apparently unharmed. For a few moments, he watches him; then he slips away, leaving him to his grief.
He heads towards where he saw the southern "more high class" houses earlier. On the way, he casts a couple more spells:
[Detect current strength of magical aura (as before - non-fatiguing spont).
Personal range variant of Eyes of the Cat: Base 2 + 2 Sun = 4. Fatiguing spont. Casting total is (Mu 0 + Co 3 + Sta 1 + Wild gestures 1 (NOT loud words) + Aura ? + die 6 (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3340459/))/2 = (11 + Aura)/2, should work unless aura is being very odd.
He also, somewhat belatedly, casts his formulaics "Bitter Taste of Betrayal" and "Comfort of the Weary Travellor" upon himself. (Bitter Taste: detect any magical influence upon himself as a taste in his mouth. Comfort, a keep warm spell.) I think neither should be stress, and they're unlikely to fail assuming the aura isn't being odd, so I haven't bothered rolling.]
Magic Aura in that time and place is 3. Spells go off as expected.
You head south for a half-dozen hillocks or so.
They appear little different from mid-sized hills to the north. Gregorius spooks some kind of tiny critter. When he investigates, he finds a rabbit hole in the side of one of the hills. His cat-eyes notice some distinct impressions that look like tiny booted feet and very small hands near the hole. They look human, but he or she would have to be around Size -4.
OOC: How's my pacing?
You've done what to distinguish between kittens? At any rate, this one (which has a character sheet), is by far more powerful than any of the others, and therefore the one of most note.
Scott
"Hmm."
Gregorius tries to remember if he's heard of such little people before. [Int 1 + Magic Lore 2+ Creatures speciality 1? = 3/4 + die. He doesn't have Faerie Lore.]
He also looks at the hillock more carefully, and then the neighbouring ones, looking for any more similar burrows. [Per 3 + Awareness 2 +searching speciality 1 = 6 +die.]