Several things happen next, almost simultaneously.

1) From behind the Caiman, in the direction of the warehouse and Hercules, comes a series of explosions, a small one first, then a second larger one, and then a huge one as the Hercules is blown apart.
2) The Huey massively accelerates into a steep banking climb, passing over the Caiman
3) Cassandra and Natsuki, both scream, "Right, Go Right"
4) Charlie drops the Pattern and grabs the steering wheel, force the Caiman to veer sharply and heel over dangerously to the right

A couple of seconds later, a number of metal objects of varying sizes whistle through the space previously occupied by the Caiman, one of which impacts the Limo with significant force. The driver fights for control, unsuccessfully, causing the Limo to roll over completely before coming to rest, battered and some what slightly crushed the right way up.

Cormac fights for control of the Caiman, and manages to hold it all together, skidding to a halt a short distance from the wrecked limo.




Kenneth grabs a second magazine, the M16 and climbs back into the hatch space. Charlie exits the Caimen and using the bonnet for support begins to sight the Huey which has now turned to make an approach.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:37, Thu 02 Nov 2023.

This is Charlies show, she messed up, so she better solve it.

Cathal stays inside the Caiman.

The situation hadn't gotten any better. Rhiannon held onto whatever or whoever was close when the Caiman lurched to right. That's when the shooting started again, this time from a helicopter. The vehicle seemed to be ample protection, but that didn't stop her from cringing at the sounds of bullets striking all around. Kenneth jumped up to shoot back, but there was no way Rhiannon was going to join the fight unless she had to.

Natsuki looks away initially then looks back to see Cassandra staring at her.

Cassandra unstraps herself and makes her way to the rear door. As she opens it Kenneth begins firing at the Huey.
Cassandra drops to the ground and ducks round to the left of the Caiman. Natsuki exits the vehicle and Natalie unstraps herself to follow the other two.
A sharp piercing shot rings out, as Cassandra makes her way down the side of the vehicle, followed by Natsuki and Natalie.
As Cassandra moves to cross the gap between the Caiman and the wrecked Cadillac, Charlie moves to her left and fires a second time. As Cassandra reaches the Cadillac and Natsuki crosses the gap, Charlie fires a third time.
Cassandra scans the interior of the Cadillac and notes the armoured brief case handcuffed to the semi-conscious goon in the back seat.As she does so a whine can be heard from the Huey as it begins to spiral downwards out of control.
Natalie joins Natsuki, as Cassandra half clambers through the window of the Cadillac. Natsuki notes she reaches for something concealed in her right boot.
A loud thud followed by the sound of an explosion indicates the demise of the Huey, and shortly thereafter, Cassandra half extracting herself from the wreck shouts "catch" as she throws the briefcase to Natsuki. Natalie notes she does something else but what is obscured by both the body of the Cadillac and Cassandra's position. However she does note Cassandra does something with her right boot one she exits from the car.
Charlie meanwhile has reloaded her rifle and turned to look in the direction of the Hacienda.


Natalie looks round and then sprints for the back of the Caiman, followed by Natsuki, as the first shots hit the car and the side of the Caiman.
Kenneth starts to return fire, and Charlie manages to get a shot off as Cassandra follows Natalie and Natsuki towards the back of the Caiman.
As Natalie climbs into the back, Charlie fires a second time, firing a third time as Natsuki throws the briefcase into the back and climbs in after it.
As Cassandra climbs in the back, Charlie moves to climb into the passenger seat once more, appearing to stumble as she does so. Bullets start to rattle against the side of the Caiman and ping off.
Almost as soon as Charlie is inside, Cormac hits the accelerator, forcing Edward to grab Cassandra to stop her being flung out the back of the Caiman. With Edward hanging onto her she manages to grab the rear door and pull it shut, just before a hail of bullets rattle off the rear of the vehicle. Kenneth is taken by surprise by the sudden acceleration and falls from his perch, colliding with Natalie as she tries to strap herself in once more. Natsuki just about manages to stay on her feet, although Blake does have to grab her to stop her colliding with Edward and Cassandra.


The draw of Pattern power is felt once more, only far more intensely than anything felt previously...

As Charlie runs the Pattern image she screams in anguish at the effort. As the Caiman reaches the road at the edge of the airfield, the Pattern flares and the world goes haywire, the engine cuts out for several seconds, before springing back into life again briefly, then cutting out again. The outside world gyrates and flashes alternating between recognisable reality and the completely weird and alien.
After what seems like an eternity, but in reality is about 30 seconds, the engine springs into life one more, and the outside world returns to 'normality'.

Charlie then slumps forward against the dashboard and the draw of Pattern energy ceases abruptly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:32, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Cormac starts by loudly saying "Charlie? Charlie? Wakeup Charlie!"
When she doesn't respond he tries shaking her as best he can but again there is no response.

Disconcerted he brings the Caiman to a rapid halt.
He then reaches across and with some difficulty hauls Charlie back into her seat.
"Ugh I think we've got a problem. There's a what appears to be a wet blood stain on her left leg. Anybody know any first aid?"

"Bloody hell." Rhiannon sounded calm, but she wasn't. This was a disaster, but not one they couldn't get out of. "Get us someplace safe. We're going back to the mansion. I have the trump."

Cathal squeezes in next to Charlie.

"Let me have a look. Give me the first aide kit. It should be under the driver's seat."

Cathal quickly and cautiously cuts the trouser leg, checks for the wound. He suspects a bullet wound and applies a pressure dressing. If the shot goes through, it is double-sided.

"First sound plan of the Day, Rhia. Please make the contact."

In terms of where you are, you're somewhere in semi-mountainous terrain, somewhere on the borders between semi-tropical and temperate woodland. The road you're on, such as it is, is unmetalled but is a made road. Exactly where you are you have no idea, but currently you seem to be alone.



If anybody questions her she'll say

Between them Natalie and Cathal extract Charlie from her seat and lay her on the ground so that Natalie can work on her.
Blake and Winter will get out with them. Kenneth will return to his roof hatch perch and keep watch from there.

Trying not to get in either Natalie’s nor Cathal’s way Blake will put his hand on Charlie’s head and speak a word that no-one understands. Outwardly it appears to have no effect.

As Natalie works to create a pressure dressing for the wound, and yes it’s a through and through, Winter appears to enter a semi-meditative state. After a minute or so she will place her hands on Charlie’s head for about 30 seconds. When she removes them and stand up, Charlie’s breathing and colour appear to have improved slightly.


Once Natalie is satisfied that she has bound the wound as best she can with the limited supplies in the first aid kit, she asks Blake if he can wake her up. He responds by saying that he can try the power word a couple of times which might work. Winter then comments that she can also use one of her techniques to help restore the body’s energies, at least temporarily.


Blake casts his power word a couple of times, and on the second time Charlie becomes vaguely conscious, although when Winter executes her ability by 'laying on hands' she becomes much more alert.


When Natalie explains that they’re going to take her back to the Mansion by Trump portal Charlie says



Once she gets her bag, she will stow the M16, Nosler, and her sword in it, then take out her trump deck from her jacket. Sorting out a card she will activate it and disappear. Anyone observant will notice it has what could be a robot or similar on the reverse.

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:15, Thu 09 Nov 2023.

Cathal's opinion of Charlie has is not the best, which is an understatement.

She has made a decision to go, he will no stop her. Good riddance!

He waits till Rhiannon has the trump to the Mansion ready and then goes there.

(If nothing happens that prevents that.)

Not having been at the front, Rhiannon had no idea what was safe, and what wasn't. But since everyone was jumping out of the Caiman, she had to assume that the current location was safe enough. In her mind, time was of the essence, but those who knew better felt that attending Charlie's wound was more urgent than escaping. She had no medical skills or abilities, so with nothing to contribute to the effort she stood back out of the way and got ready with her trump.

Charlie roused after a few moments of work by those who could. Once she was lucid, she was no less officious than before her students saved her life. Without so much as a thank you, she requested some of her effects and then trumped herself out. Apparently she wasn't concerned about anyone else's safety, scarcely looking to see where they were. Maybe she had a sense for it, maybe se didn't. To Rhiannon, the urgency hadn't changed. Once the distraction that was Charlie Chan was gone, she focused on her trump, opening a portal.

"Time is of the essence, people. Let's go." She held the portal open until everyone was through. She would go in last. If the time limit got too close, she would let the portal close then open another. When they were all safely back in the mansion, she looked at the others, expecting comments.

"I can't say I didn't learn some things, but I think it could have been more instructive with proper explanations and forewarnings."

The time when you return to the Mansion is 06:48 on the 17th. You left at 15:20 on the 15th.
Everyone will make it through the portal in time, assuming they all know in advance that you are going to open a portal, and can therefore prepare themselves, including Cormac who will lock the Caiman before you leave.

"Yes she was everything else then happy with it. She used the situation and us to pull through some heists. She endangered us. She gave and gives a shit about us. She has a big attitude problem."

"She could have done it differently, she choose to be as unhelpful as possible."

"Are you hard of hearing or something? She told us she was going to pull a heist so lighten up about it."
"That said she probably did put all you normies, excluding Kenneth, in more danger than you're used to."

"Look, I'm not necessarily the most knowledgeable person round here, given I don't have the profs memories left to him by his mother, but I didn't have much of a clue as to what she was doing most of the time, therefore I'd like to know what she could have done differently to demonstrate what ever it was she was demonstrating."

"Do no know what that has to do with my mother's memory." Cathal returns, his usual friendly self gone for a moment.

"What I figured out was probability manipulation, taking shortcuts. There was more, but I have no idea. Her little Highness was not very forthcoming in telling, what she was doing. It might have made the trip more enlightening, if her little Highness had told us."

It is clear that Cathal has lost nearly all respect for Charlie.

"In reality nothing then. So you like me had pretty much no idea what she was demonstrating, yet you think she could have done it in a different way. The two don't jam."
"Now, could the whole trip been more enlightening? May be. Did we learn stuff? Sure, I think I did and not necessarily about how the Pattern can be used."
"Yes I think I got that she did something to change the odds so the slot machines would pay out, but I also got the impression she's done that sort of thing before on more than one occasion, and that those that run the casinos are on the lookout for such manipulation. Otherwise why the cageyness?"
"I also got that she was using the Pattern to move us from one place to another, but then we already knew you could use it to move from one shadow to another, so she's either really clever or just very practised in using it. I'd wager on the latter."
"What she did on the airfield I don't know other than she did use the Pattern in some manner, and how did she know about that drug buy in the first place and where it would take place? I doubt they advertised it anywhere, and even if some agency like the DEA knew how did she find out about it? She did use the Pattern to get us there, was that different use than just crossing shadows?"
"All that aside we learnt a few other things as well. She's a shapeshifter, and has a decent level of control over it. I don't think I could have exerted that level of control with that level of injury, if you get my drift. She's also a crack shot with that rifle, you don't get that good without practice."
Pausing briefly to organise the remainder of his thoughts he continues
"Would her telling us what she was doing at the time been more enlightening, probably. Was she able to do so in all cases, I don't think so. She drove the bus to where ever it was the airfield was, but then she had Cormac drive. Why?"
"It sure wasn't so she could lean out the window and shoot goons. You got how clipped her orders to Cormac were at that point. What ever she was doing with the Pattern possibly required a lot of concentration. May be we should just ask her when she gets back from where ever she went."
"If it were me I know where I'd go, a private clinic that didn't ask any questions. The difference is I don't have a Trump of such a place; I guess she does."

"On the airstrip, I'm pretty sure she was using the Pattern as some kind of shield. Now I can't be one hundred percent certain, but I'm pretty sure that the gunner on that Huey was letting rip with everything he had at us, and we weren't being hit. As I said I can't be sure, I was paying more attention to where the Cadillac was and where it was going than to what Charlie was doing."
" After we got that case, she did something different when we left. That was a really weird couple of minutes until she passed out. Not sure I could have endured much more of it and stayed sane."

"Oh my God. Will you just listen to yourselves." Rhiannon was usually pretty easy going, but this was bordering on the absurd. "Yes, Charlie is amazing. Obviously she's been doing all this for so long, but her practiced skill isn't the issue. There are dozens of lessons she could have shown. Why those... whatever they were? We still don't know."

"After all that, though, she could have told us what exactly she intended to show us. She said we were going on a heist, but not that we'd be assaulting an airfield. And even if she didn't know all the details in advance, she didn't have to be such a git before hand. She endangered every one of us, And that she herself was shot is proof of that. Not only that, she wad dismissive, officious, and arrogant. Everything else aside, there was no reason to be so rude. We're all on the same team, supposedly."

"Please add thrill seeker to the list. We do not want to leave out any of her great qualities. Since she is so  good at all of it" Cathal dryly comments.


"Without some explanations what she did and when she did it, we are playing a guessing game. And most likely our fantastic little Highness will not give us any explanations."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:54, Fri 10 Nov 2023.

In reply to Rhiannon Erica Kerrigan (msg # 99):

"Well as Cordelia told her to show us what you can do with the Pattern, then logically, may be that's all she can do with the Pattern, which would mean its all basic stuff we need to learn first."
"And yes I agree with you Cathal she's a thrill seeker, so she would choose to do things that appealed to her nature. "
"Could she have told us about some of the things she was doing with the Pattern in advance, yes, but if she'd said she was going to show how you could stop an M60 in full automatic from hitting you would you have gone along? I doubt I would and I've done my basic training, and they do shoot at you with live rounds, and you have to crawl through the mud to ensure you don't get shot. It wasn't something I enjoyed but it is something that comes with my chosen career."
"One more thing, I speak Cantonese. When her mother first asked her to show us what you could do with the Pattern, she was exceedingly rude and derogatory about all of us, almost as if she knew everything about us already, which tallies with what she said in reply to Cathal's initial question, and why she seems to treat Cassandra and Kenneth differently."

"Thank for telling us. Which only confirms my opinion about her. I would not call her a git but a self-righteous priggish narcissist." Cathal politely replies to Winter.

Alana looks a little nervous, as does Natsuki, then Kenneth says

"I will take a nap. Attend breakfast, take another nap and then see if I hit the dance lessons."

"See you at breakfast." Cathal says and leaves for his rooms.

Rhiannon listened but had no further comments on Charlie. She said her peace. It seemed everyone else but Cathal was ready to forgive Cordelia's daughter for everything, but Rhiannon wasn't feeling as generous. Was it petty? Maybe, but she sensed there was some personal animosity coming her way from Charlie. Maybe she was being sensitive, but there was definitely no love coming her way from the beginning, and it still struck her as offensive that Charlie used her shape to do whatever she did at the casino.

Whatever. The who sordid episode was past and she was ready to move on.

"Yes, dancing is something I'm on board for more of. I'll see you all at breakfast."