Liam heard a conversation in the kitchen, which cut short as he ascended the stairs. He emerged in the main area to find Maggie in the kitchen, rooting around in Robyn's impressive herbs cupboard, armed with a hastily scrawled recipe. Alex was seated on the countertop behind her.

"Good evening, Mr. O'Farrell," Maggie said politely. "I trust you slept well?"

"Like the dead," Liam said with a straight face. He winked after a moment and pulled out a stool. "And Liam is fine. Most of the time when someone addresses me as Mr. O'Farrell its because I'm in trouble for one thing or another."

He glanced at the handwritten recipe in Maggie's hand. "Robyn told me she'd taken on a apprentice. I think that's terrific."

"Sorry, Liam," she replied. "The Boss drilled manners into my head as soon as I was able to talk."

"She's starting me with the easy stuff," Maggie said in response to his second comment. "Herbology and poultices."

"Yeah, you say it's easy," Alex quipped. "All those plants and roots look the same to me."

"Fortunately for me all this stuff's already cured and labeled," Maggie replied cheerily. "And even when I graduate to foraging, that's still a fair sight easier than making lightning bolts shoot from your fingertips."

"Sign me up for that shit," Alex said dreamily. "I wanna hadouken some motherfuckers." He made a gesture with his hands that Liam could only assume was a reference to something.

Maggie laughed, and elbowed his knee gently.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Sat 10 Apr 2021.

"The night your mother calls me Mr. O'Farrell I'll know I'm in trouble," Liam said, cracking a grin.

"If you do go foraging off the compound, be sure to take Caleb with you," he said, looking for the hound in question but coming up empty.

"He'll keep you safe, and he has a decent nose besides if you show him what you're looking for."

"Last I saw him he was going over to greet the newcomers," Alex said helpfully.

"Who I still haven't met," Maggie added. "Mom was pretty crystal clear about that."

"Yeah, what's the deal with those two?" Alex asked. "Are they cannibals or something?"

Liam blew out a deep breath and leaned back on his stool. "Well now you really are trying to get me in trouble with your mother," he said, pausing a moment to collect his thoughts. "No they aren't cannibals."

"Tim used to be a member of the Caern. His given name was - is - Borealis. He's... sweet. Kind. Generous." Liam hunted for words, trying not to reduce Tim to the banality of 'simple'. Tim was so much more complicated than that.

"He's also deeply empathetic and trusting. To a fault. Years ago, before you were born, before even I arrived in Verdant Falls, he took pity on a pitiless enemy and it consumed his mind; drove him to do terrible things. Borealis is fearsome in his crinos form. Few I've ever met are larger or stronger. People died. The Caern drove him out; spent years hunting him, your mother included. And I don't blame any of them. Not for a moment. They did what they had to do."

"But he isn't that person anymore."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Tue 13 Apr 2021.

"Mom tells that story a little different," Maggie said. She considered his words, and gave a shrug. "I guess I'll have to get to know him and make up my own mind, then. Once she cools off a bit, at least."

"So who's the other one?" Alex said. "The one that dresses like a hardware store lesbian?"

"Your mother lived through it," Liam said. "I had to piece it together after the fact. She might know something I don't. Trust your mother. She's looking out for all three of you. All I can speak to first hand is who he is now, and he's not a monster. At least, no more than I am."

"As for Kat... well that's a whole other story. Kat's a bastet, the only one I've ever met. There aren't too many of them left, I don't think. I'm a little foggy on how she fell in with Tim in the beginning. Again, that was before my time. But she's been watching over him for years."

"Verdant Falls is a strange place. There are vampires, werewolves and witches all over the world but there are things in Verdant Falls that aren't found anywhere else. Things that have been here for a very long time. I'm not sure how much Moira has told you, or how much she'd want me to tell you. Its a lot to take in and may have to wait for another night."

"I get the impression that Mom blames Kat for everything," Maggie said. "Whether that's truth or just projection is anyone's guess. She's not exactly chatty about the topic."

"As for what's... different about the city," she continued. "I'm guessing it has something to do with the world-endy stuff that went down with your new friends."

"We've got the spookiest town museum outside Salem, for crying out loud," Alex quipped. "I swear that place is haunted."

Nothing about this appeared to shock or concern either of them. It seemed that when one spends their formative years under the yoke of undead wizards, one doesn't spook easily.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Wed 14 Apr 2021.

"So you do know," Liam said. "Or at least, a piece of it. Yeah, the world-endy stuff. It seemed a lot scarier before the stuff that came after. Now its questionable what's worse. Not that we have a choice in the matter."

"Anyway, I've probably said enough for one night. I should let you get back to your work and go find them. And Robyn."

"Robyn's in her office," Maggie said, returning her attention to the herb cupboard. "Getting ready for, and I quote, 'a real gnarly time'." That was one way to describe the process.

Robyn's door was closed. She was talking to someone inside.

[Roll Per + Sub DC8 to eavesdrop, otherwise proceed.]

Liam paused just outside the door and knocked. He waited for Robyn to acknowledge him or open the door herself. "Bad time?" he asked quietly. "I can come back later."

"Nah, c'mon in," Robyn said.

She was alone in the room. The floor had been cleared off and lined with pillows. The air was thick with cannabis smoke. She was sitting cross-legged among the cushions, with the Tome on her lap - closed but unlocked. There was no sign of whoever she had been speaking to.

"What can I do for ya?" she asked.

"Thought I'd inquire how the day went before venturing out to find Tim and Kat," Liam said finding no one else in the chamber besides Robyn. "Was that Nex you were talking to?"

"Things went okay," she said. "They kept to themselves. I think Joyce dropped by their tent with some chow, but other than that the village is satisfied to leave them in peace. I think they're a little gunshy after how the last batch of new arrivals went."

"No," Robyn said, evading his question. "Which reminds me, we gotta drop off that recipe."

"When? I'll come with you," Liam offered. No one should have to face Nex alone.

"How much are you telling Maggie, by the way? She and Alex were just asking me about our new arrivals and the conversation drifted towards the cult. Moira must have told her about their involvement. I didn't quite know what to say admittedly."

"Any night you're free," Robyn said. "And I'm not recovering from a Tome hangover. Truth be told, we shoulda dropped it off the moment I knew it worked. That was the deal. But I'm kinda worried that once I'm no longer useful, they're gonna... well, eat me."

Robyn smirked at Liam's second comment. "Didn't have the heart to tell her she's in the Fourth Tribe, huh? Probably smart. Unless you're planning on involving someone in the actual release, there's no need to drag them into it. They might get it in their heads to try and stop us."

"That's more or less where I landed too," Liam agreed in regards to Maggie and Alex. "There's no upside to it. Only worry. I'll leave it alone for now."

"If you're diving into the Tome tonight, we can see how you're doing night after next. We've probably pushed this one off long enough. I don't think it'd try to hurt you, but then again with Nex I wouldn't bet on anything."

"It's saved my ass on several occasions," Robyn replied. "Hell, it was my first ally, way before Jack and Maeve showed up. But it's also completely stripped of anything resembling humanity. And its cohorts are even worse, because they're political. They're here for the security of Enoch, and a wizard with access to limitless knowledge and the ability to distribute it to the masses is exactly the kind of threat they'd want to nip in the bud. They're less likely to try if I have a one-man wrecking crew with me."

"That might have been said about me before," Liam remarked. "At the moment though I'm just a walking corpse. Nex doesn't have any reason to suspect that, I suppose, so at least there's that. At least I'm a familiar face."

"For all that means to it," Robyn replied with a shrug. "Still, I appreciate your help."

"And maybe we'll get lucky and Hasan or Miss will strike oil. I owe Hasan a call tonight anyway. I'll see how he's making out." Admittedly there were several things he didn't miss in his current state, but he was getting antsy all the same. He could only imagine what Pockets was going through. And Hasan himself, for that matter.

"Miss doesn't have the same kind of informational pipeline as I do," Robyn said. "It takes the average blood-mage weeks of dedicated research to learn even the most basic elements of a discipline. And we're asking her to perform a masterwork. I'm sure Hasan will crack this particular nut before Miss does."

"On your way out," she added. "Can you ask Maggie to hurry up with my tea? She's a good student, but a bit distractable. Who isn't, at that age?"

Liam nodded. "Of course," he said, turning back to the door. "I hope you find whatever you're looking for in there," he remarked before departing. "Be careful."

Back in the living room he called for Maggie. "Robyn is wondering how you're coming along with her tea."

"All finished," Maggie said, now seated on the counter beside Alex. She got up quickly as Liam reentered the common area. "I was, uh, just waiting for you to finish up."

"Sure ya were," Alex quipped. Maggie elbowed him again.

She quickly slipped away to Robyn's office, tea in hand. Alex watched her leave, then hopped off the counter.

"From what Maggie said about what's going on I'm guessing she'll be busy the rest of the evening," Alex said. "I guess I'll look around for some way to be useful."