Sir Turren lets out a sigh and follows Barlow over to the newcomers, all ears. He considers something, shrugs shoulder plates and begins eating his peach.

Aphail goes over to the workshop to speak with Sammel.  Aphail is hoping to trade silver and services for a Brigandine coat.  A castle such as this should have plenty of resources and availability of equipment?  Aphail his pack down, strips of his ragged jack and gets ready to work.

"Master Sammel?  I am Aphail-o'-the-hood at yer service.  I'm looking for a Brigandine coat, to replace me auld jack.  I can trade the auld leather jack, but its dunnin, I have silver, and I ken arrowsmithing.  Can we come to an understanding?"

When the court  ended and folk broke up to follow orders, Usopi moved toward Cene and Diarmuid, hoping to have a conversation.

Sammel grinned, " Give me two days. It'll be done, leave the jack. I'll reuse what I can."

Deise seeks out Sammel hoping to catch up kn Castle gossip and maybe procure a cross bow.

Good day Sammel, 'tis good to be back, did we miss much. I am looking to trade a bow for a cross bow if ye can help. Some o' de things we faced needed much more power in the  bowstring that my small frame could manage. Can ye help at all? 

OOC: Deise presumes he knows Sammel from the months spent at the castle before leaving on the mission.

Lann casts perception of sorcery and tries to see if there's magic in the place. He will do it subtly

Cene nodded and thanked Usopi, " Excellent work, Sir Venia. Asmulian name, though your accent is Albish?"

Diarmuid gazed at Usopi for a few moments and Usopi felt the hairs go up on the back of his neck before the huge man reached out a meaty hand and clapped it against Usopis upper arm, " Good Man."

Cene looked across at his large companion surprised, " Indeed. Welcome, Sir Venia. Rest, there will be much more talking later."

" Aye, no problem. Now, only one I've got is from the bad days, I've cleaned it up best I can and oiled it but don't get the damn thing wet...smells like wet dog for a day or so after. Works fine though."

As Lann summons his magic he sees the eyebrows of the elegant sable haired woman raise slightly and his spell notes a similar dweomer about her own eyes as she looks everyone over, a dagger at her side and something in her pouch glows softly, the green dressed mans verdant spear also glows slightly .

Ignoring the various signs of his companions belongings he regards Cene, King Corbin and Diarmuid, several of the robed mans fingers glimmer as does a pouch at his side and something about his neck, as King Corbin heads inside Lann notes the sword at his side glimmers slightly and something about his neck also does....it is when Lann turns to regard the hulking figure of Diarmuid that the brutal looking spear in the huge mans mailed grasp shines with an almost blinding light as does the mailed gauntlet he holds it with.

No one else in the courtyard seems to possess anything enchanted.

”I have always assumed one of my ancestors must have come from afar and settled in Albion when he was done wandering. It is a bit strange, but most folk do not recognize it as foreign.” Usopi said with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

When his hairs began to raise under the eye of the large warrior Usopi wondered why. Was the man’s strength so palpable that merely being appraised might be so intimidating? Eventually Diarmuid broke the moment of tension with praise, and Usopi grinned. He could feel and feel the strength of the two men, and knowing hints of what the duo had gone through to rid their kingdom of evil made their praise all the more warming to the large knight’s heart.

With Cene’s dismissal Usopi nodded his thanks to the pair of courtiers and made his way to find Sammel. He needed his armor repaired, and he still had the lump of melted metal that had once been a mirror in the war temple.

In reply to GM (msg # 98):

"Thank you Sammel, sure I can smell a bit like that myself. I'll leave the bow and arrows in exchange. Do ye have bolts with it?"

" I've ten, will that do ye?"

Sammel looked across from Deise to Usopi, " Ye've a bit o' mess there....heave it off, I'll have a look at the breast plate and get Mirren started on repairs and upkeep o'the rest."

" If the rest o'yer folk have needs bring it all across, looks to be a busy couple of days at the forge."

Having given what she would call a fair answer to King Corbin, Caith sinks into to the silence of a woman contemplating how to hunt a vastly different kind of wolf. She is withdrawn from the world, even in the court of a king, gold, greed and the bickering of clan and clanless over them dwindle to mere playing pieces upon the great board of the gods.

The predictable outcome, no matter how she tested the strings of of the weave she saw in her mind, seems inevitable, but a name to the beast changes things. Names have power, even over a demonic wolf the size of a mountain...

The all too well known to her prickle of sorcery in the air draws her from the silence of future forebodings and Caith suppresses a sigh as recognizes it's source.

She gives Alphail a lingering stare, as if trying to fix his face in her mind, a familiar marker in a reality that feels like a trap waiting to open beneath her feet.

Caith looks briefly to Brannon as she says softly "A druid woman from well far of Glissom, and a law mistress with a fine sleekness of a cat. I nay ken what the evening will bring, but I will see what the ladies have to say afore then."

And with that, she calmly walks off in the direction of Leofwyn, and Mammon, and the feline whose seemingly amused stare reminds her uncomfortably of her great aunt's raptor guardian of the henhouse's canny gaze.

Caith politely asks of them "Greetings to ye. Might a stranger make a humble request for directions? I've already lost track of where ladies quarters are in this maze of walls..."

Mammons eyes drag across from Lann to Caith as she approaches, " Ladies Quarters. North-west tower, just to the left of where King Corbin has entered."

Her eyes flashed as she took in Caiths dress and demeanour, " Well, well...am I not an Albish Rose between a Gliss Thistle and a wild Honeysuckle..."

" Or perhaps snow between two fires?"

" Little matter, for there is beauty and power in all things."

She stroked her cat under the chin, " This is Otto. I am Mammon o'Greybridge, or simply Mammon to yourself."

" You've an interesting band there, lot of boys to keep in line for one woman."

Uthen nods his acknowlegement of the thanks. "I had good teachers myself. Simply tried to pass on the lessons they taught me as best I could. When you are going to ask men to fight when needed, you need to give them the best chance to do it well so they survive the experience."

He looks down at his armour. "They also taught me to keep my kit in good repair, so by your leave, I am off to find the armourer to enlist his help with the bits that need an expert touch."

" Aye, go get that seen to. Looks like a nasty scrap."

Sammel pointed to Sir Uthens plate and maille as he approached, " Aye, same as your fellows.  Pass it over and we'll get to it, Sir Uthen."

Leofwyn waits until the two women finish their introduction before offering,

"Lady Caith, I would be happy to show you the way to the ladies quarters, if you would like. Do you have any other belongings with you?"

In reply to GM (msg # 102):

"Thanks Sammel, I'll have to settle up when I get settled, but ye can have this  bow, arrows and quiver. The bow is true and in hands of a stronger man would fell both boar or man."

With that Deise turns to Uthen and Usopi at the forge and nods before turning toward the keep. He tries to think of matters mundane, outgoings owed to Mistress Caith and Master Sammel, but the forboding sense of doom is sickening. The small man cannot get the reaction of The King and the Boar from his mind. Was it safer to have kept the amulets to himself? Fengris - is this my future now?
He resolves to speak with Strawberry, Beathon and the Hearthfather. Then there was the red haired lass, was that a Cornumbrian accent. He is sure it was. Past catching up and a wolfs demonic maw looming in the future.
Panic rising like bile . . . meditate, need to breath.

Deise walks toward the tower to find calm. "I'll catch ye later lads, something I need to do. Usopi, view from tower is breathtaking."
With that he is gone to find some inner peace.

OOC: corrections.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Sun 20 Oct 2019.

Usopi nodded graciously at the order to remove his armor, and he did so, taking off the heavy pieces of plate and setting them down gently for the craftsmen to see too.

After all the metal was turned over Usopi reached in to his pack and withdrew the lump of minerals that had once been the war temple mirror. ”I am also looking to sell this. I do not know its worth, as it once was a magical mirror of silver and hold, dedicated to a forgotten war god. We recovered it, but it was then melted by the acidic venom of a multi-headed snake woman. If it is worthless then I will hold on to it, but I thought perhaps the precious metals would still be of interest.” he said to the man, extending the mass toward him.

He turned to Deise and Uthen as the blacksmith examined the goods, ”Once finished here I think I would like to see the view from the tallest tower in the castle. I recently found myself looking out from a great height, and the view was magnificent. I am curious though if such an experience might have been influenced by its proximity to certain death.”

" No need for that, your Household.", Sammel said happily. " I'll take the bow though, will always come in handy."

Sammel listened to Usopi talk with an odd expression, " Magical mirror...A forgotten war god....acidic venom....multi-headed snake woman...look, theres no need to over-egg the pudding...Sir Venia.", he said with a chuckle.

" Its good quality metal, I could do an inlay in your plate...do you have a coat of arms or house sigil or the like?"

Caith looks embarrassed to admit "I was nay paying attention to the king when he left..."



Caith smiles in amusement, such gentle combat a welcome change from claws in the gut, and gives the rose her due in a honeyed reply of "Perhaps, but I could nay give a certain answer so a thorny question."



"Nay puddles here..." Caith murmurs in apparent innocence, seemingly checking the courtyard's ground for signs of snow melt.



Caith nods in total agreement at beauty and power being a ubiquitous quality.

"I am Caith, of the road of late. Pleased to meet ye, Mammon..." the wolfskin clad woman replies in formal tone, and then addresses the cat in equally grave courtesy "I am likewise pleased to meet ye, Otto."

She offers the feline of the partnership a left hand to inspect before attempting to stroke them, aware the smell of both wolfskins and Gat, and several sheepdogs besides  likely still cling to her.



Caith agrees cheerfully as she answers "Aye, and sometimes have been, but they tend to be less of a handful after they've been seen what I can do with a handful of herbs and bandages after battle."



Caith looks mildly startled at being called a lady, but essays the manner of one as she offers "I would greatly appreciate that, and I have nay baggage other than myself, thank ye." in reply, then asks both ladies "If ye nay mind me asking, what brings such flowers of far off places to Ereworn?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:54, Sun 20 Oct 2019.

Usopi chuckled with the man, "I suppose it does sound fantastical."

He continued smiling at the humor of it as the man explained he could do an inlay of his armor. Usopi demurred a bit at the thought of adorning his armor with designs, thinking it perhaps slightly prideful. Then the armorer asked about a sigil, and the large knight's thoughts became focused entirely on describing a coat of arms.

"That would... be... a Wolf Hound, like Gat here... seated, but with its forelegs raised in front of it." Usopi managed to describe after a moment's thought.

OOC - that would be Sejant Erect.

So the full coat of arms would be... A Silver Wolf Hound Sejant Erect on a Green Field.

This but with a wolf hound instead of a lion.

This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Sun 20 Oct 2019.