Back at the road outside the Lodge, Marek is loading Amelia in the sleigh.

He looks at Iain and loudly questions, WELL, are you getting in?

Iain finishes wrapping her warmly, and nods.

He silently prays as he regards Amelia, looking for any sign that physically distancing her from her attacker was having any effect...

  At the sound of the scream,  Si's head moves a little, his eyes  move alot. As he seeks to see  anyone running  away.

 The then moves towards  the   people  near the steps, slowly,  to hear of  anything going on, or if he can pin point , if he ever  saw the man, outside  this gathering.

The Captain was about to answer Artemis' question when there was a rumble that seemed to go along the nearby wall punctuated by the scream of a woman just outside the doorway.  Artemis out of habit moved towards the noise and not away and stepped out into the foyer.

Others were in front of him, but he could see that a body lay on the carpet at the foot of the stairs and he thought he recognized the dead man.

The Lodge
2124 hrs

The body lay at the foot of the stair, spralled out, contorted, unmoving.   A man identifying himself as a doctor rushes forward and starts to check the asian man out.

Si looks at the seen and the surrounding area.  The only thing he spots is a light out at the top of the stairs.  The top landing of the grand staircase is dimly lit with shadows.

At the bottom of the stair the doctor announces flatly, He's gone.  There is a loud gasp from the crowd. It's an odd seen, all these people in tuxdos, ladies in ball gowns, and jewels, and the man is dead.  Goro Adachi, the man that was to meet privately with Governor Roosevelt was now dead.

Iain and Doc load Amelia in the sleigh and Marek whips the horse.  The sleigh lurches, throwing the passengers against the back seat.  Amelia is shivering, her eyes rolling back in her head, she's muttering.   My knight, My prince, My hero, don't take me from My knight.

The sleigh continues on toward the edge of town.

 Si mov3ed towards the stairs, his eyes on the shadowy  part of the stairway,

Si notices everyone is focusing on the body of Goro Adachi, and now elderly Mr Dewey is trying to get people back into the ballroom.   Looking up the stairs, Si sees nothing in the shadows.

Artemis shifted out of the way for the man saying he was a doctor.  There was a bit of a gap in the crowd and the man's dead face was more visible.  He wasn't one of the Carpet Brigade that gave Artemis and Mason a pretty good beating upstairs, but Artemis wondered a lot more about those that were upstairs.

He saw that Si had made his way a lot closer to the stairwell.  Mr. Dewey was attempting to restore order and calling people back into the ballroom.  Artemis hung a bit at the back and tried to see if any of the men who had been glaring at him at dinner or that were part of the Carpet Brigade were lingering about.  However, there were a lot of people moving about as he tried scanning the room

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Going to say his perception efforts were a complete fail - rolled a 1 modified for an 11

---

 with his  keen eye  , and Hunter's skills,  Si makes his way up the  steps, his   hand slips the piece knot  off the top of the  tomahawk, for an easy  draw.

 he looks  for   clues  or movement,  once he reaches the top, he will try to blend into the darkness...

In the Foyer

The crowd grudgingly started to part the area as a doctor attended to the fallen Japanese athlete.   Both Artemis and Si had seen enough of life, death and war to know the man was dead.  His tongue was limp, no nerve function to it at all and sticking distended, the tip out of the corner of his mouth.

Artemis began to study the crowd. He saw that the Japanese team mates were not dispersing, they were staying near his side.  Some of them mumbling in their language.   No one was looking at Artemis or suspicious at all.  While there we plenty of gawkers, it seemed the same as any serious accident might see at a construction or farm accident.

Si made his way upstairs.  As his face comes level with the next floor and he can peer down the hallway the scent of pine trees and a feint cool breeze hits his face for a moment, lingers for a second and is gone.  Getting to the top of the stairs, Si sees that two of the lights are out.  A quick check reveals the bulbs were simply unscrewed enough to break the electrical connection.  There is no one in the hallway at this time.

  Si   will continue    to look around, standing stock still. If he  doesn't see anyhting else, he will  go back down to  rejoin the party.

As Si and Artemis hang around, they see the dead man carried off by a group of five men and escorted by the doctor.  At that the crowd disperses and people go about their business.  All seem to be talking about the freakish accident.   Rumor's swirl on whether the man is dead or alive.

LaMont Cranston walks up to Artemis, as Si descends the stairs.
LaMont wryly comments, He was dead before he stopped hit the bottom of the stairs.

I don't think a world class athlete, who wasn't allowed alcohol, slipped and killed himself on carpeted stairs.

  Si  said  in a quiet but  firm tone...he  did not  die from the fall. He was killed  and the Fall was to  trick  folks who want a  quick answer.

 Danzo was here, that means at least one of his lackeys as well. They all know how to kill with hands, and quietly...and.....quickly, None of the  'better folk' in this  gathering should  be alone with one of them

 we still owe them for the suffering  they gave our  friends...the time is  coming   for us to collect.

LaMont quizzically asks, Who's Danzo ?  and why would he want to kill one of his own countrymen ?

If there are murderers out there, do you know where the rest of your people are ?

  Si   gives a small tight, thin lipped  smile  as his eyes  keep scanning the people he  is able to see.

  I know Danzo  from my travels , he and others like  him seek power,  whether it be from wealth  or  other means.

 his eyes  settle on Lamont,... not all his countrymen are without honor, though it is in short supply?.. I feel   the dead fellow  may have  wanted to warn   the powers  that be, of some ill game , that Danzo and others  play..and he was silenced.

  talking a  quick   look around,our  people are scattered right now, we had a bit of trouble  earlier with the  Woman  who had  hired us, and our Pilot. I do not think you will understand, and  it  does not matter much whether you do..because it is there, plain and simple... but  there has  been  some  'mind' tricks going on, like that of the  Great Mesmer? Only much more foul, and much more deadly.

Oh, Excuse me.
I'm LaMont Cranston.   Artemis here saved me during the Great War.  I'm in his debt.   He glances at Artemis.  I have come upon some resources recently.  So, if there is anything I can do to help.  I'm your man.

LaMont listens to Si speak of mind tricks.   He nods.
Oh, I understand quite well.  I've spent most of years after the Great War travelling and have seen very many strange things, and people who have powers that cannot be explained.

I get this feeling your friends may be in trouble.

  The Halfbreed  nodded his  head with a small smile,I am Si Darkshadow. I  have been  working as a  Guide  and  forager, and  worked up and  down the west coast for a few years, even into South American. Myself and the fellow doing the rope  tricks  are fiends, we worked in the  Movies  a few years, he had more speaking parts. i had more  dying parts... he smiled.

 It is good you have seen such things. One of the greatest weapons of those  with strange gifts or powers,  si that no one believes  they are there.

Lake Sarnac Boathouse
2155 hours

The snow continues to fall on the sleigh ride to the boathouse that contains Iains plane on Lake Sarnac.  It's quite beautiful and peaceful. The anxious, tormented look on Amelia's face fades a little more the farther they get from Lake Placid.

As they Marek whoa's the team of horses at the boathouse Amelia starts blinking her eyes, appearing to start to recognize Iain.   Doc says, She's coming around.  Lets het her inside and get a fire going.

The three carry Amelia inside, but the boathouse is warm, a strong chemical smell hangs in the air.  Iain sees that his plane is freshly painted, a strong dark green shiny coat with a thin portion of the top of the fueselage, the tail fin and the top of the wings still mylanta blue.

Doc finds a small fishing boat near the big wood burning stove, makes a bed of sail canvas and lays Amelia on it, covering her with a blanket.

Artemis listened to the discussion between LaMont and Si.  He stayed silent and winced when he realized that he had not introduced the two men to each other.  He watched LaMont's reaction to Si's description and then when he saw both acceptance and recognition, he felt it worth sharing what had happened to him and Monty.

"Well then, neither of you would be surprised to hear that these nice marks were the result of an attack that Munro and he endured upstairs.  Two men, from the orient for sure, nearly killed the two of us had we not had a bit of luck and good instincts, well, we would be joining him in the ice house for certain.'  Artemis shrugged.

"My face plant in the carpet had nothing to do with a simple trip, but also hard to explain why you are suddenly nosing about the Governor's room when you see two others in there." He looked about and then continued.  "What I don't get is why kill one of your own, unless maybe that poor lad knew what was up and was trying to warn folks?"

He thought about LaMont's feelings and looked up at both of the men.  "Well, we would need to go check on them in the boathouse and I think they should be safe if our lady friend snaps out of the spell that the one in there seemed to cast on her.  Never seen anything like it."

The Lodge Foyer
2155 hours

LaMont responding to Si.  I've seen a man in Tibet who could become shadow.  You could see him, barely, but he was nothing but a dark shadow, featureless.  He could move with blinding speed.

LaMont listens to Artemis. So, you believe these attacks have something to do with the Governor.  Are they going to assassinate him ?  They've clearly shown the ability to kill.  The Governor is not a physically strong man.  If he were to die of an accident, I'm sure it wouldn't be questioned.  He raises his eyebrow.

I'll tell you what.  I have my car outside, I'll drive you out to the boathouse.  My car and driver are right outside.  He motions with his hands toward the front door.

  Si   looks around  for Cowboy. as he  replies to  Lamont, That is a fine  idea, , he looks towards the holy man and the mobster,

 this  is something   that might  run deeper then any here thing... Mobster here are the perfect  fall guys, for  anything that happens, While Kato extends his agenda

Si finds Cowboy in the stewards coat room doing rounds of shots with the staff.  Charlie isn't drunk, looks like they just started, but he has a couple shots under his belt.  HEY, Wanna Drink ?

Without too much hassle, Charlie is persuaded to leave.  LaMont leads them outside.  A brand new blue Auburn Limousine pulls up, the driver stops, hops out and hustles around the back to open the door.   The seats are thickly stuffed and covered in leather.

"Thanks, Captain, that would be of great help," Artemis said to LaMont.  "There's a lot that can be brought to the fight if we just understood what the parties were up to in all of this.  Too many red herrings swimming about I fear.  Yet, the target of those two we tangoed with on the carpets upstairs, it was the Governor."

Artemis followed LaMont and stood with the man at the front door.  There were a few others slowly leaving the dinner in spite of the hosting committee trying to reestablish the mood lost with the death of the Japanese athlete.  Si stepped off to find Charlie and in a short time returned.

They stepped out and the blue Auburn with its gleaming chrome and white-walled tires impressed. "Someone has done really well compared to the mules and the old betties we had over there."

Artemis stepped back and looked at the car before getting in.  "Gorgeous, truly, just gorgeous Captain."

When he worked his way onto the butter-soft fine leather with its well-padded seat, he sighed taking in the aroma that was mixed with a touch of rose and he looked about and saw small redbuds in thin glass tubes held in place on both side posts and the rear posts of the interior.  Roses in winter, Artemis thought, very nice.

"How do we protect the Governor?  Munro and I shared with his staff our concerns, but not sure if anyone actually listened to us."

"Thank you, Dearest Lord..."

Iain breathes a thankful prayer as her eyelids flicker, and settles in next to her after helping carry her in.

"Amelia?  Can you hear me?"