Soooo... Is there anything else anyone wants to do on this island? Are you all finished exploring this regio? Someone let me know what's going on.
(/me hoped for a little more description for the rest of the Magi re: horse appearance)
Attravere looks surprised to see Iapetus return from the stables with a horse. "Impressive discovery, Iapetus. I wonder if there are any other creatures alive here. This place can't have been abandoned that long ago if a horse was still here."
"Shall we check the Manor House? That seems the most likely place to find some hint of what happened."
(Ah, apologies. I think I just assume players metagame everything other characters have learned in public threads!)
The mare has a rich chestnut coat with silver points, and a shining golden mane and tail. The coloring and pattern is highly unusual (impossible, even) so this is quite unlikely to be a mundane creature.
"Good thinking, 'Trav," Sanno says. "I'll scout ahead!" The otter must have been bored or impatient, because he suddenly bounds forward and leaps into the manor house through an open window.
Attravere nods to the others and moves over to check the manor house. If it seems structurally sound he'll enter and take a look around.
The manor house is sound, though musty smelling and overgrown with grapevines.
The doors open to a large foyer, with a ruined chandelier collapsed on the marble floor. There are three sets of doors, one to either side and a larger set leading directly forward. The doors to the left would lead to wherever Sanno jumped in through the window.
As if on cue, a cracked part of the wooden door bursts forth with a gush of water, and Sanno squeezes through the hole he's made. "Living quarters, for guests or servants," he explains. "Onwards?"
Gesturing his companions forward, Attravere nods to Sanno, "Onward!" and proceeds toward the larger set directly ahead.
The large double doors open into a long hallway.
Two sets of doors on the left open into the ruins of a large, open kitchen, with a huge brick baking oven and a few rusty iron stoves. The kitchen connects to a large dining hall, with two other sets of doors back into the main hall. The dining hall features an enormous circular table with two dozen seats around it. All of the wooden chairs have sprouted moss and lichen, but for one which seems untouched by time, but otherwise normal.
On the right side of the hallway are a number of doors. The first opens into an armory, with suits of antiquated armour, and an arsenal of old weapons. There are two other doors within the armory-- one leads out to what must have been a training yard, the other opens into a smith's forge. Beyond the armory and forge, a staircase leads up to the second floor. Beyond the staircase is what seems to be some kind of old office; there are two desks, an old ledger, and some broken chests. Beyond that lies a room full of old musty books, scattered about in rough piles. On the floor, the ruins of an old door lie collapsed on the floor, with obvious hoofprints indented into the wood.
At the end of the hall is a large pair of ornate doors, carved with leafy vines. Before you can approach those doors though, the mare steps forward and tries to block your passage, shaking her head from side to side.
Sinmore scowls at the horse, there was obvious something special about it.
"Pretty mare..." she says in English, since everything else about this plac seemed to be regarding England. "Can you understand us?"
"Do you need us to help you speak?"
She adresses the magi. "Is this mare perhaps a familiar or a transformed person maybe? Or just a smart and magical creature of this realm?"
The horse nods her head in the affirmative.
The mare seems not to like that suggestion, as she shakes her head side to side and stamps her front hooves angrily.
The mare rolls her eyes and snorts loudly.
Anyone who chooses may attempt any local Area Lore, or realm lore, or any roll pertaining to the history of the area (just let me know what you're rolling) if you're fishing for information on what kind of creature the mare might be.
I have Stonehenge Tribunal Lore and Magic Lore, if either would be appropriate.. both sadly at only 1.
Iapetus will give the mare one last pat on the shoulder before he looks at his fellow Magi. "I would believe her name is... eh, Llanre," he says, using the butchered Spanish pronunciation of the spelling. He still has the book rather securely tucked under one arm as he mvoes to follow Attravere's lead into the manor.
The Tytalus will crouch down in the hallway and take a look at the hoof-prints indented in the collapsed door, taking a quick glance at Llanre to check the relative sizes of the prints, and if they're shod. In the 'office', Iapetus would find himself looking over the ledger at first, picking through the many piles of books for any that would seem useful or interesting. Similarly, he would study the smithy forge for anything interesting, and the armory. He isn't so much looking for equipment as he would be for clues, hints. Signs of what happened to the people here, or signs of Maribus.
When Llanre moves to block the door, he gives a thoughtful murmur under his breath before asking, "We are not allowed back there?" he asks. "Is it dangerous?" He gives a pause, then adds, "or forbidden?"
Ouch. The mare winces visibly when Iapetus introduces her as "Yon-ray."
The hoofmarks look to be the same size as the mare's. When you lift Llanre's hoof to inspect it, you see that she is, in fact, shod, but the shoes are old and rusted. To confirm, you do notice a bit of rust wedged into the hoofprints on the door. She doesn't seem to limp, but even without any knowledge of horse husbandry, you're pretty certain that those shoes must pain her whenever she's standing.
She goes to a pile, noses a couple off the top, and picks up another book and offers it to Iapetus. Assuming he takes it, she goes back to the pile and replaces the other two she knocked down. The book she gave you is De divina praedestinatione by one Ioannes Scotus Eriugena.
The office has only accounting books that detail purchases of salt pork, iron and minerals, and other sundries.
The armory has a number of very fine quality weapons, which show some wear of time, but otherwise look to be very fine indeed. Iapetus does find a mace with a head that gleams with some rippled metal he's never seen before, though when he picks up the weapon to test it, he has a moment to appreciate the weight of it before the rotten wooden handle snaps in half.
The forge is quite large and made of ceramic.
No sign of Maribus, or the inhabitants of this place, though.
She doesn't seem to respond to any of those suggestions, but knits her brow thoughtfully.
After a moment, she glances at you, turns towards the door, shakes herself as if to shoo away flies, and then turns back towards you expectantly.
Sinmore's scowl turns to one of concern and perhaps a kind of motherly instinct as she sees the mare in pain from lack of care and groming.
"Oh...you poor dear, your hooves must hurt terribly! We need a smithy to remove those shoes!" she reaches forward to stroke her mane if the mare allows it.
"You're so clever aren't you?" she says as the mare indicates the door and the books. "We need to speak with you, who can cast a spell on themself to help with this?" she asks the other magi.
She does not allow it, taking a few steps away when you reach for her mane.
The horse snorts and stamps.
The mare blinks, and rolls her eyes again.
In Iapetus's favor, it's very obviously butchered by an adorable Spanish accent.
Of course Iapetus takes the book! "Are you alright with those hoof-shoes?" the Tytalus asks, looking concerned at the magical beast. She is an intelligent young woman, after all, even if she's, uh.. a horse. "Is there anything we can do to help you?"
Iapetus is going to store that rippled metal away in his bag for later study!
Iapetus is thoughtful, but seems to be enjoying the guessing game with an amused smile. "Hmm. Place is disturbing somehow?" he asks. "Perhaps magical aura, path to another place?" He peers at the door, fingers idly twitching in almost anticipation. "Hmm. perhaps there is nothing of note back there? Would seem odd you do not want us to explore."
She pantomimes trying to scrape something off the bottom of her hooves.
She shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes. She seems to do that a lot 
To sum up, there remains unexplored:
- A set of double doors to the right of the main foyer
- A staircase leading upwards from the main hallway
- A set of ornately carved double doors at the end of the hallway
Please let me know what, if anything, you explore next.
Does Rhodri's vision pick up anything about the mare? That could answer some of Sinmore's questions.
"I will have to make you some new shoes when I get the chance. Things have been busy lately..." Rhodri says.
That earns Rhodri a nuzzle under the chin. (There is a forge, metal, tools, and even some coal stacked up here, but it would take the better part of a day to get a forge fire going from nil.)