(Starting at first light, I suppose...?

I'd like to get Elihu in on things when I can, but we're not quite ready yet. We'll see what happens. As long as everyone is having fun, though, I guess...)

Harry reaches the crossroads within half an hour of first light. She hangs the larger rucksack from a convenient tree branch and begins rummaging through her smaller rucksack for a bit of bread, cheese, and fish jerky. "Big one's fer ye," Harry says to the morning air, as if expecting Adam to appear from it. "Most of a roasted chicken, some day-old stew, and more of what I got... bread, cheese, and a mix of jerkies. Aleskin fer us each."

When Harry spoke, Adam sat up from his laid out position on the ground. He had been asleep. He rubbed his eyes, being used to being up at night and sleeping during the day. He shaded his eyes and squinted even in the early morning sunshine. "You have my gratitude." He took the chicken and consumed it quickly. He then ate the stew and drank the juice. He wiped his face with his sleeve. The rest he put away in his pack. "So now we head to another mansion?" He stood and continued to shade his eyes. "I am ready. You say you are a ship's captain? From where do you hail?" He kept his eyes forward so as not to frighten her further with his face.

Harry answers whilst carving off a piece of cheese with her knife. "Grew up in a similar town. Been a sailor all my life. Sea always called t' me." She gestures to the southwest as she pops the chunk in her mouth. "Reckon th' old Stockbridge place can't be more than a mile down th' road. Sign and gate are partly overgrown, but oughta show signs of bein' recently disturbed." Harry takes a swig of ale to wash down her breakfast and stows the remainder for later. "Don't know how long th' place has been abandoned. Generation or two, maybe."

Adam began walking the direction she gestured, and thought about her answers. "If you do not wish to tell me, you may as well just say so. I am originally from Boston." He went on, "How similar? Did dead things refuse to stay dead there as well?"

Harry pauses as if trying to recollect something. "Author from my childhood wrote somethin' that reminds me of home... 'Cursed th' ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil th' mind that's held by no head. Happy is th' tomb where no wizard has lain, and happy th' town at night whose wizards are all ashes. Th' soul of th' devil-bought hastes not from its charnel clay, but fats and instructs th' very worm that gnaws. Out of corruption horrid life springs, and th' dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought t' suffice, and things have learnt t' walk that ought t' crawl'." She gestures broadly. "Welcome t' Collinsport."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:38, Mon 25 Oct 2021.

Adam looked at her sidelong with his blue eye, "So...yes?" Turning back to look in the direction they walk. "Collinsport is not new to me. I died here." He looked at her to see how that bit of information sat with her. "Cyrus Collins put me into this...I use the term loosely...body." He clutched his shovel to the point that his knuckles turned white, "I have always wanted a dog. I think Cyrus will make an excellent Rottweiler."

Harry snorts and laughs. "Ever try t' housebreak a Collins? Personally not sure it can be done. Distemper runs in th' family." She continues to walk, her eyes vigilant for a gap in the roadside foliage that might indicate the entry to the old Stockbridge property. "Expectin' this Cyrus fella t' pay his kin a visit, or that just wishful thinkin' on yer part?"

Adam looked over at her darkly, "I can break him." Then back at the road, "I am told he will be here soon. If not I will bring their manor down around them." He did not speak for several breaths, "Do not let my jolly disposition fool you, I have done my share of killing."

Harry's piercing gaze meets Adam's. "Done my share as well. Ain't proud of it, though." She returns her gaze to the roadside. "Never makes things better. Just... some folk need killin'. Know what I mean?"