Hot Dignity Dog

Brennan awakens with no memory of dreams, although it may be that those he had were not pleasant. He's sweating, although the room is not warm.

He finds Dignity with Lorcan in the former's office. Dignity is going over maps with the Dvart.

"Good afternoon, Sir Brennan," he says.

"Castellan Lorcan," Brennan says. "Dignity. I hope you're properly rested." Seeing maps on the table and being something of an afficianado, Brennan takes the opportunity to study these briefly. If anything jumps out at Brennan as being particularly important, he'll look in greater detail and ask about it. Other than that, he'll trust both his own acute memory, and Dignity's organizational skills to have already made a sketch of the best one before setting out.

They're tunnel maps, with terrain elevation. It's pretty clear that whoever made these didn't care about cities or boundaries or rivers or trees.

Interesting and potentially useful, but unless there is a tunnel running right into Weyland's Basement, there is simply no way Brennan is going to make an underground approach for an anticipated showdown with a creature whose heritage is that strongly earthen.

The tunnels avoid it like they avoid the forest across the river.

Brennan-- who is not in a mood to waste time this day-- will shepherd them gracefully but irresistably to wherever their horses have been stabled. There, Brennan will make his final preparations, donning his armor and helping Dignity into his own. When they had entered, Brennan had not worn any of his distinguishing signs-- no shield device, no pennants, certainly no banner. He still doesn't break out the ostentatious pennants and banners, but he does wear the shield he bore to the Courts of Chaos on his left arm, with the device of the Tower on a flat Plain, being struck by lightning out of a clear night sky, with the moon bearing witness to it all, all differenced below with the sign of the Order of the Ruby. The axe-hammer is strapped in easy reach at Four Iron's right side, and his own blade is strapped across his back. The ruby he prepared hangs from a chain at his neck. He hands Dignity the pick-hammer, with a murmured directive to treat it with care and respect.

Brennan is ready to proceed.

If Lorcan has any final words of wisdom, warning, or otherwise, now is a good time for them.

"The ground level of the tower is a single block of solid granite, faced with stone. This was to stop particularly dim heroes and townsmen. You'll have to find another way in. Beyond that, there's no advice I can give you, as the configuration of the tower changed at the whim of its master.

Brennan listens with proper attention, and keeps his smile inward-- a simple block of granite, no matter how large, wouldn't stop Brennan from going anywhere or doing anything. A block of granite enchanted by Weyland might, but Weyland's not there any more and has probably been gone for a year.

"Good luck, Sir Brennan. We will await your word."

Brennan nods. "Thank you, Castellan Lorcan. Perhaps the day will come when the proud Dvarts of Redvein can return a favor for a favor." He favors the Dvart with a bleysing smile.

Then, to Dignity, "Let's ride." Brennan will lead them back onto the same trail they took to approach Redvein, keeping a stiff pace for at least a quarter hour until they're well out of earshot of anyone. At that point, he'll slow them to a walking pace, and survey the area mundanely and metaphysically (including, for the latter, up in the air and below the ground.) He doesn't expect anything, but this behaviour has kept him alive for quite a long time, and he expects that it will continue to do so.

"Dignity, at this point, I'm sure you have questions. Now is the time for them. I'll answer those I can, but right now, no question is out of bounds," Brennan says.

Dignity nods. "I'll ask them all, and then wait for you to finish before following up on any.

"First, how do we fight this 'Eater?'

"Second, what are our goals? Are they different from the Dvarts?

"Third, who in there might not be an enemy?"

He nods at Brennan, ready for a round of answers or non-answers.

"Fair questions, all," Brennan says. "I'll answer them as best I can, but to do so best requires that I ask you a few along the way. Our goals are the easiest to lay out. I came here with one, and now I have two. The first is to find and speak to Weyland. You may not recognize his name, but he forged Corwin's blade, Greyswandir, and I need to know as much of what he knows as he is willing to share, if not more. That," he gestures in the direction of Weyland's Tower, which might be visible on the horizon, "has been his home for quite some time, evidently. He was here as recently as a year ago, locally. That he is not now is a matter of some concern. The second goal is the destruction of the Eater, if it's really there. I suspect the second stands in the way of the former, and if is there, its destruction is something the Dvarts would desire if they knew enough about it. No good will come of it being here.

"Who might not be an enemy?" Brennan says. "Good question. You heard Lorcan mentioning children of Weyland? I knew perhaps more about that than Lorcan. He has a daughter, named Signy, a cousin of mine. He also has a son, another cousin of mine. His name is Marius."

Brennan lets that piece of information hang in the air like an executed horse thief. "From that, you can easily work out the name of the Lady of the Tower that Lorcan mentioned." He makes direct, almost forcible eye contact with Dignity before saying, "You would have put that together as soon as we returned to Amber anyway, as Signy is there now, returned with her brother and I. Take a piece of free advice: Never share any of Lorcan's speculations along those lines. You will earn the anger of Kings and Princes, and I cannot protect you from that. Best to forget you ever heard any of it." Brennan holds eye contact until Dignity nods or acknowledges.

Brennan does not have to wait long, as Dignity nods almost immediately.

"All right. I left Marius and Signy in Amber, but time runs strange here. It is just possible they are there ahead of us, one or both. They won't be enemies. This hypothetical third child... probably doesn't exist, and if it does, probably isn't there. Not automatically an enemy. Anything recognizably human is probably not an enemy. Anything not recognizably human... suspect, at best."

Brennan takes a deep breath, and uses it to blow the hair out of his face, then starts gathering it behind him to tie it back. "And then there's the Eater. That's the really good question. Tell me, veteran of foreign wars," he says, "everything you know about Chaos and its Lords. Even-- especially-- if it's just rumor."

"I don't know much, Sir Brennan. They were our enemy in the war, and we assumed that they had Lords and Kings just as we did, Those who stayed in the citadel and ordered them to attack just as we had--" He pauses. "I couldn't have told a Lord from a Monster on the battlefield, and I was lucky to be allowed to stay outside of their keep. The things we met coming back were as bad, and those weren't even of Chaos proper."

As Dignity is answering, Brennan takes another good Astral glance around the area, and for good measure a good glance at Dignity. Even discussing shapeshifters and Lords of Chaos brings out the operational paranoia in Brennan.

Brennan finds nothing he does not expect. Dignity does not appear to be a Lord of Chaos or a Shapeshifter.

"It would be hard for you to tell the difference between simple monsters," Brennan says, "and things of Chaos, anyway," Brennan says. He pauses, still thinking about the most efficient way to tell Dignity what he needs to know, without burdening him unduly with things he doesn't need to know. Eventually, he errs on the side of generosity. "Understand that I've never killed a true Lord of Chaos, so some of this is speculative, although it's informed speculation.

"Lord of Chaos are as inhuman as anything I can imagine. They 'eat' each other, for lack of a better word, but not like you or I eat beef. A strong one will eat a weak one and absorb it's essence. Memory, abilities, old grudges, attitudes. If a strong one eats something only a little less strong, there is so much of the weak one in the strong one that it is effectively-- really-- a new entity." Brennan is familiar enough with all this that he can and does say it without the shudder of revulsion that many of his cousins display. But he waits for Dignity to understand that before continuing. "That is where this one came from. You may remember a Knight named CloudEater in service to Dame Aisling, and later to Sir Marius. It 'ate' a creature named Hob, or perhaps the Hob, which Dame Lilly and Sir Daeon had encountered on the road home after the war. That happened in front of Weyland's Tower, and the new creature is in some ways both, and in more important ways neither of them. And from what I heard, it is not in service to anyone or anything any more. Lorcan doesn't know anything about any of that, and doesn't really need to. I'm telling you because if you ever had cause to deal with CloudEater, the new thing might recognize you and try to take advantage of that. Don't let it. Speaking as Knight Commander, Sir CloudEater is dead and that thing usurps his memory and holds no loyalty to the Knights. That's one of many reasons I want it dead. I don't know of any way to undo that merging, but we can hack it apart... and the weapons Lorcan provided are fine ones. The Hob was a creature of stone, and these are fine weapons for stonework. And Lorcan may not have realized what he gave us, since his people can't really use these."

He directs Dignity to take a swipe at a conveniently nearby tree, and observes with a critical eye both Dignity's form and the effects of his own Sorcery.

However much Dignity understood of the previous discussion, the call to action is clear. He swings and whacks the hell out of a nearby tree, shattering it. Dignity stumbles; he didn't expect to meet that little resistance.

Brennan impassively admires his own work, and does wonder briefly if he should have added that particular option to his own weapon.

"Hacking it to pieces is a start, but be warned, the pieces will probably continue to fight as new creatures, weaker than the Eater. I have reason to hope that once the pieces fall below some critical size, they stop functioning, although they can probably be 'eaten' by another Lord, which means if we get that far we'll have to figure out something to do with the debris."

Brennan pauses to take another glance around, then grins and says, "Then there's the subtle option. Since I knew we were coming back to a place where the Eater had been... born, I guess, and recently, I had this prepared." He puts a finger to the ruby pendant he's wearing. "I'd like to see it indulge its hunger on this." Pause. "And then we hack it to pieces."

Dignity smiles. "I think we can do that, Sir Brennan." He strokes the hammer possessively.

Brennan grunts, non-commitally. "Just remember, it fought off Lady Signy, Dame Lilly, and Sir Marius. It is not to be under-estimated. When we meet-- if we do meet it-- follow my lead as you can. If there's an opportunity to trick it into eating the pendant, here, so much the better. If not... try not to let it eat the pick-hammer," he says in that ha-ha-ha-I'm-deadly-serious tone of voice he's got.

If Dignity's got nothing else, Brennan will kick Four Iron to a much faster pace for the rest of the journey back to Weyland's Tower, taking those occasional glances as they travel. He did not expect to find anything during their conversation, but the closer he gets, the more plausible it is that a creature with a stoney heritage could be under the ground waiting to grab their horses' hooves. It's what Brennan would do, and he doesn't want any part of it.

He does not catch sight of the Hob/Eater conglomerate (or any child of it) and he and Dignity arrive at the tower unscathed.

If they reach the Tower without incident, Brennan will make a quick circuit around the base of the Tower looking normally and Sorcerously. Does he see any evidence of the opening Weyland created for them?

To Brennan's Third Eye, the whole tower reeks of enchantment; it's bright and hard to look at. There is nothing specific that looks like a door enchantment to him.

Dignity rides with him, waiting a bit nervously as Brennan takes a circuit of the tower. He has the hammer in hand, ready to attack if needed.

Brennan wasn't looking for an active door enchantment, but more the after-effects of the one they used before. However, it's irrelevant, because if it takes more than casual effort to even see the after-effects (if any) then it would take much more effort to manipulate them than Brennan wants to invest... if it's even possible. It was a long shot, but you never see the longshots if you don't look for them.

As he rides around, he breaks down his possibilities and settles on what he thinks is the least bad one-- when in doubt, claim higher ground. So he takes a grappling hook out of his saddle bags and starts to tie a good, long rope to it. Meanwhile, he directs Dignity to lead the horses out a little bit, maybe a few hundred yards, and slap their flanks to have then run even farther. The horses can be found later, if need be.

When they're ready, Brennan lofts the hook up and over. If it hooks, he climbs as fast as he can, just hauling himself up, mostly on main strength. He's in armor, but on the other hand, he's strong. Dignity might need an assist once Brennan's reached the top, though.

Brennan is able to climb to the roof, and with his assistance, Dignity follows. Dignity has the armor training that lets him climb tall towers in his gear, but it's not easy. Both of them are a bit tired afterwards, Brennan far less so than Dignity.

Dignity looks at Brennan once he's managed to catch his breath for the climb, and says, "If it's here, it's in the basement, isn't it?"

"That'd be my guess," Brennan says. "On the other hand, trying to break through a solid slab of granite maybe twice as tall as we are didn't sound like a lot of fun." And if there's a chance they can draw the occupant away from said basement, so much the better.

While he and Dignity are getting their winds back, Brennan will take the opportunity to take a look around, both mundanely and Astrally. A mundane hatch leading into the Tower Attic is too much to hope for, but is there anything remarkable or unusual about the roof of the Tower or the near environment? Brennan doesn't spend more than a few minutes, maybe five, nosing around looking for anything of interest. Anything that doesn't jump out after a minute or two is would take more of an investment of time and energy than he wants to make right now. After that, he'll catch his breath next to Dignity.

A quick look around with his Third Eye leaves Brennan convinced that this place was constructed in part by sorcery. The whole thing radiates low-level magic. There's not an immediate hotspot that Brennan thinks is an obvious, easy-to-trigger door either.

There's no obvious way to get into the Tower from up here either.

And Dignity is always welcome to make his own observations. Brennan doesn't stand on protocol out in the wilds of Shadow.

[Actually, how high is this Tower, anyway?]

[Probably close to 100 feet. It's magic! Fortunately, you guys are tough.]

After a little while, Dignity asks, "How do we get in, Sir Brennan?"

Brennan gives something closer to a grimace than a grin: "Plan A: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." After reversing the grappling hook and securing themselves to it-- just in case-- Brennan and Dignity will take an experimental swing at the stone beneath their feet, testing the feasibility of the enhanced brute-strength approach.

Brennan's thought is that the astral enhancements might-- might-- help cut through whatever defenses Weyland might have placed there, although that's not really their prime purpose. Their prime purpose is to hack the Eater into little tiny bits. On the other hand, it's been a year, and who knows how long Weyland intended his defenses to last?

More immediately useful, Brennan thinks, will be the momentum enhancement of Dignity's pick-hammer, and his own native strength. There are reasons Dignity got the pick and Brennan took the axe-- this is one of them. A few swipes of Dignity's pick, backed up by a few swipes of Brennan's hammer if the surface cracks should be enough to see if this is a viable approach... or to bring Eater up to investigate.

It's going to take a while, but Brennan is pretty sure that the beating-his-way-in approach is going to work. It would be a lot easier with a little applied sorcery, but it is doable the other way. Too much of this kind of thing and he'll wear Dignity out, though.

Brennan's reaction to this is mixed. He's pleased that this is working at all, since there was always the chance that even year-old defenses from Weyland would be a lot tougher, but unhappy at the expected pace. Particularly unhappy that he's in a position where he needs to perform Sorcery out in the open, so to speak, in order to speed things up. It takes him longer to make that decision than to assess the handiwork of his own efforts, but after a moment, he makes the decision: He makes a bit of a show of winding up for his next hammer blow, and exactly as the hammer hits the stone, he gives his axe-hammer the same momentum treatment he had given to Dignity's the night before. There are definitely more effective techniques he could use, but those are being held in reserve for an element of surprise, if necessary. There is no sense in advertising and every reason to keep this looking like it's something the Dvarts gave him rather than something he's doing.

The sorcery is apparently successful, and doesn't seem to have any side effects.

With that, he and Dignity will get back to work. He will not allow either Dignity nor himself to overwork, and will enforce short breaks for food and drink as required. He will allow himself the luxury of humming or even singing to keep a good cadence going, but he will not allow himself to be so distracted or engrossed that something can easily sneak up on them. If they make a Brennan- or Dignity-sized hole in the roof before anything else noticeable happens, Brennan will gingerly take a peek through, then lower himself down if it seems safe. (He's still roped to the reversed grappling hook.)

The hole is made before anyone/thing comes to investigate. Brennan lowers himself on the reversed grappling hook with Dignity's help, and Dignity holds onto the rope so he can pull Brennan up quickly if needed.

Brennan is able to look around. He's in a small room, not nearly the size of the inside of the tower (which if it's sorcerous, may well be bigger inside than outside). It may be a storage room, based on the lack of furniture. There's a wooden door, and it's closed, with hinges on the inside.

After a moment to ascertain that nothing in the room is immediately hostile to him, Brennan lowers himself all the way, touches down on the floor, then tugs the rope twice and calls up to Dignity, "Come on down." After the audacity of breaking and entering Weyland's tower by an extended period of bashing through the roof with enchanted hammers, Brennan reflexively uses his hushed, quiet voice for that. He then rolls his eyes at himself-- anything in here has known for the past hour that someone is coming in.

When Dignity is down, they'll untie themselves and have a look around the room. There's probably not much to see here, but Brennan doesn't hurry. He's not going to surprise anything in here, and Dignity's arms can probably use the rest. What sorts of things are stored here, if it's a store room? Is there any indication how long its been untouched? Now that they're officially inside, Brennan looks around with his Third Eye, as well, with some reasonable attention to the door.

Dignity has a lantern and he lights it so he can see. (Brennan might be able to fake it, but this is better)

Everything is still enchanted, although clearly some of the enchantments have worn off or down over time to Brennan's Third Eye. They seem frayed.

Is it immediately obvious what they were intended to do? Brennan has no intention of trying to unravel every enchantment he runs across, but if he can tell through a minute of inspection even roughly what they were intended to do, it's a minute well spent.

It varies. Some are preservation, some are glamours. A lot of domestic enchantments. Some of them aren't immediately obvious.

What appears to have been stored in this room was food and supplies and some disassembled furniture, particularly a bed that's been broken down. Most of it is desiccated and dead. Cloth items appear to have survived without damage.

It may have been longer than a year since Brennan was away.

When they've gotten whatever information they can out of the room, they'll try to open the door.

The door opens onto a hallway that seems to cross the center of the tower. There are two other doors, one which goes to the other side of the tower and what might be a small closet if the room across the way is the same size. Off at the other end of the corridor, at one edge of the tower, Brennan can see what looks like the stairway down.

Brennan takes a piece of chalk out of his pocket and marks that door with a symbol that means, "Up," then looks down the hallway, both ways, then at Dignity. "Okay, here's the plan, such as it is-- I don't want to leave anything both unrfiendly and unknown above us, before going down any further. So I want to take at least a quick look everywhere on this level. I'll go in first, and I want you close behind me so we don't get separated. Among other things, this is a wizard's tower, and Weyland is absolutely no ordinary wizard, so if you see anything that strikes you as odd, curious, or somehow wrong, speak up."

"I will," Dignity agrees.

They'll start with this half of the tower, and either work their way around or, if the level seems partitioned, do this part then head to another part through the center. Knowing the sort of things Clarissa does with (or to) geometry, Brennan is mindful that space may be warped here. He may not be able to do much about it, but he does try to keep in mind where he is relative to the hole in the ceiling and to where the external walls should be. He also uses the chalk, which should make that easier. If there seems to be a large space on this level that he can't get into but that should logically exist, that would be a flag in his mind.

In each major area, he does take a brief look with the Third Eye, but mostly to avoid walking into some horrible-but-frayed magical trap. Other things that Brennan keeps an eye out for are:

o Signs of life or movement more recent than what he's seen so far
o Signs of a struggle
o Any written material
o Any of Weyland's work tools or his forge (not really expected up here, but hey, he's a Sorceror)
o The room they met Weyland in before

Or anything else that the GMs think would flag Brennan's interest. Since Dignity has the light source, Brennan goes about with the hammer in his hand. He also has the ruby pendant in fairly plain site on his chest.

The rest of this floor seems to be taken up with bedrooms and storage. The place has been abandoned for a while and a lot of the charms, as seen in the storeroom, are wearing thin.

About how big is this floor, both in number of rooms and physical size?

About as big as Brennan expects from the outside. The tower is maybe 30'-35' in diameter.

This level seems to consist of four major rooms: the storeroom, another storage closet, and a two-room suite that belonged to a woman, based on the furnishings (mirror, clothes chest containing dresses, hairbrush, etc.)

One of the rooms has a small box in it that's sorcerously sealed. It's in what might have been a woman's chamber. There's some kind of lock on it and Brennan suspects from a preliminary glance that it contains--something.

That certainly gets Brennan's interest. He motions to Dignity to keep a watch at the door, while he considers. Whatever enchantment is on this box evidently hasn't frayed as much as the more common enchantments, which means it was more important to whoever-- presumably Weyland-- crafted it. In Brennan's ideal world, this greater longevity would imply less strength, but Brennan's belief in the ideal world died at the age of twelve. It probably means Weyland just spent more time on it.

But it does fit the notion that wherever Weyland went, he probably didn't intend to be gone this long, and might have left in haste... because if it was that valuable and he intended to be gone a long time, it wouldn't have been left behind in a decaying tower. That's not the only thing it could imply, but the conclusions are heading in that direction.

Brennan takes another look around the room, trying to get a sense of who might have lived there, Signy or Deirdre or someone else.

Brennan doesn't know enough about the two women to say.

Then he takes another look at the locked box, spending a good long two minutes looking at it, trying to understand what the protections might be, how they might function, if they're connected to anything else, and if they've decayed like everything else. He does this in a fashion that is relatively standard for him, which is a look through the Third Eye and a more comprehensive Astral examination. He does nothing that attempts to open it or tamper with it, yet, but his investigations are geared toward figuring out how to get in without having the box start screaming for help, or bite his face off, or both.

He'll decide if it's worth the effort right now, and how to proceed if so, based on what he learns.

Brennan can see magics of Space and Entropy laid on the box. He can't tell what's in the seal without breaking it unless he examines it longer.

Dignity is waiting, ready for anything.

And those are the ones he recognizes. If that's all that's there, this is probably a stasis box of some sort. Probably bigger on the inside than the outside. Probably magikced up to preserve whatever is in there against the ravages of time. Probably not going to try to bite his face off.

Probably.

But then, Brennan probably doesn't want to spend the time or the energy on this that it really warrants, at this exact time. He will gingerly use a piece of fabric or a rag from his pouch to pick the small box up and put it in a belt pouch, with a mental note to open it at a time of greater liesure and see if he acn figure out whether Weyland should get it back, or Signy, or Marius. Whatever it is.

Picking up the box doesn't set anything off. It's too big to put in a belt pouch; it's more of a "carry under your arm" size of box. Dignity could carry it. He's got a pack with some supplies, but he'd have to ditch some of what he has in the pack to put the box in.

If nothing untoward happens, he and Dignity will head downward and follow the same general pattern as they did on this level.

Brennan gives exhalation of grudging acceptance. He's not willing to leave it behind, and doesn't want to encumber Dignity with it... not so much because he is unwilling to sacrifice whatever else Dignity is carrying. Conjury can solve those problems. On the other hand, when things get ugly, Dignity's first response should be to ditch the pack, probably by dropping it, and that Brennan is unwilling to risk.

Brennan considers several crafty general purpose methods for getting through the box, then discards them for a simpler but still general purpose approach: Use his own understanding of Entropy and Time to prematurely age or degrade the wards protecting the box, until they're weak enough that he doesn't need to worry about them.

Given the amount of poking and prodding he's done, Brennan is starting to think that the thing isn't trapped, but he's still safety-conscious. The approach is primarily Entropic, but if the reaction seems accidentally or purposefully extreme-- and Brennan can't shut it down-- he's ready to shunt the adverse part of the reaction into the future. In true paranoid form, Brennan is also mindful that the box's own Entropic principle might be not a preservation, but a self-decay of whatever is in the box. That is a type of reaction that, if Brennan can even detect it, he would try to shunt into the future.

He uses a minute to perform this. If it seems safe to open at that point (and hasn't done so on its own) Brennan takes a torsion wrench from his pocket and picks the lock manually.

Dignity takes watch at the door while Brennan does--whatever it is he's doing.

Brennan spends the minute casting.

[We'll call this adverse conditions because of the need for secrecy, which you haven't told us you're breaking--and we're nice GMs, so we're assuming you send Dignity away.]

[Well, set to gaurding the door, looking outward, was the intent. I have always assumed, possibly without justification, that if rituals aren't described and the casting time is relatively short, then there's not necessarily any action that would be obvious to Dignity-- i.e., Brennan would be standing, considering the box right up until the point that his belt broke. Unless he chose to be flashy and point imperiously at the box or whatever.]

[Card draw: the Lion reversed--Weakness]

Brennan's attention is split too many ways between his worries about the box and its contents, the tower and its contents, Dignity possibly seeing what he's doing, and everything else that's on his mind. His spell is weak, and the other sorceror was competent.

The seal breaks and the spell releases, and his belt decays and breaks.

The box is still closed and locked (although the lock is no longer spelled) and Brennan doesn't think the spells on the box are broken.

When that happens, the only thing that breaks Brennan's stoic expression is a momentary shutting of his eyes and two twitches at the corner of his mouth. Without a word, he pulls a new belt out of his pack to replace the old, decayed one. Conjury has to be good for something.

Previously, Brennan couldn't tell what was inside unless the seal was broken. Now that the seal is broken, can he see inside?

Using his Third Eye, Brennan can see that there are additional enchantments on and in, probably Space and either Time or Entropy. His best guess is that Space is somehow messing with the internal dimension of the box based on the way it's affecting his vision. The other enchantment he's not sure about.

But the last spell did what it did.

"Right," Brennan mutters to himself. "Store under the heading of, 'not enough time to meddle with at present.'" But on the other hand, it's probably safe to leave here for a while. He does make a mental note, though, to return after he's done with the rest of the place. Then he underlines it.

Brennan puts his game face on, collects Dignity from his post outside, and heads downward.

Dignity doesn't notice the new belt, or if he does, he doesn't have anything to say about it.

The stairs curve around the inner wall, somewhat like a lighthouse, except that the well isn't open. Brennan thinks it would be trivial to defend the stair with any kind of thrusting weapon.

The floor below appears to have almost the same layout as the one they've just left from the safety of the stairwell. The hall on this floor extends all the way across to another stairway that presumably goes down, so there's no closet in the hall. There is one door on either side.

If the storeys are all the same height, there are about six aboveground, of which they have explored one.

Brennan will search this level in the same fashion as he searched the one above. If there's nothing interesting, he'll keep heading down until either he finds something interesting or he can't.

This floor seems to be more bedrooms. There are no exciting boxes on this floor.

While they're exploring the second bedroom, Dignity says, "I think there's something here with us."

Brennan turns around and shifts his vision to the Astral Plane, to see if there's anything living but unseen in the area. "Show me," he says to Dignity.

"I see it out of the corner of my eye, only when I'm not looking. It's in the shadows." Given the lantern light in the shower, that could be anywhere. Dignity does helpfully point where he thinks he saw it.

Brennan catches something with his Astral sight in the general direction Dignity indicates, but it moves quickly and Brennan loses it almost immediately.

Brennan nods to Dignity that he saw it, but concentrates on not concentrating on their newfound friend. He spends another few minutes, still in the Astral view (assuming that helps) trying to observe it out of the corner of his eye, focussing on other objects hoping it appears in his peripheral vision, etc. Although information on its shape and appearance would be nice, what Brennan is really interested in is its behaviour. Specifically, does it seem to be able to move through objects, and does it really seem to be confined to shadows? He also pulls a mirror out of his pocket to see if it has a reflection that might be more easily observed.

It doesn't seem to have stayed with them, because Brennan doesn't catch sight of it again while he is standing and looking.

After a few minutes of that, he calls out to it, "Show yourself." By tone, it is unambiguously a command, but not an intentionally hostile one. If it doesn't comply with the command, Brennan still spends another few minutes trying to observe it indirectly.

Again, Brennan doesn't find it. It may have run away.

Brennan narrows his eyes in distaste and distrust. "Fine," he says, more to himself and Dignity than to the creature itself. "Be that way." Then, to Dignity, in a more conversational tone, "You did right. I saw it for a moment, too, before it flitted away. Keep an eye out for it, but try not to be so distracted that you walk into something else." Knowing how that sounds, he adds, "Try not to think of elephants, either," with a half grin.

Brennan keeps an eye out for it, too, as they work their way methodically through the rest of the level, but nothing heroic. If nothing else jumps out as interesting on this level, they'll head down again, taking care on the stairwell. Since there appears to be only one stairway down on any given level, those are the natural locations for intentional roadblocks.

And a question: Is there, on this level, a small room or storage closet area that has a door and is either empty or nearly so that could be emptied entirely?

No. Storage in the chambers here is restricted to furniture (chests or armoires). The rooms are close to 1/4 of the storey, given the room required for the hall and the stairwells.

[Well, that scraps that plan even if the thing were still willing to come out and play.]

They're about halfway down the stairs when Dignity says "It's back, Sir Brennan."

Ready for something like this, Brennan turns immediately to try and catch sight of it where Dignity indicates. If he does and if, as expected, it flits out of sight too quickly to do anything about, Brennan cheats. He shifts his astral vision back in time just marginally enough that he should be able to see it clearly, including where it came from and where it went. He is ready for a pursuit or a defense.

[This is essentially what Brennan did when watching the Dragon attack Daeon's and Paige's children some time ago. Concentration time is instantaneous, e.g., none, but the lag between time frames shouldn't be more than a minute.]

It does indeed flitter back out of the way around the bend so quickly Brennan sees nothing but a blur. Then Brennan shifts his vision back in time and he catches sight of it. It's almost like there's nothing more than the magic there: just a shadow among shadows.

The thing/creature might be Chaosi.

Brennan had been poised for a pursuit, but when he gets his first clear-- or at least, clearer-- view of the thing, he hesistates. "A shadow?" he mouths to himself. That's funny on at least two levels, and he ruthlessly surpresses the urge to smirk. But is it a shadow of something? Or just a shadow?

The only light source is Dignity's lantern, so if it's a shadow of something in any conventional sense whatsoever, the thing casting it can't be far. Brennan pauses a moment to look at himself, and Dignity, and their posessions (especially that Lantern) with the Third Eye making sure they haven't picked up some extraneous, unwanted enchantment somewhere along the way.

Nothing that he can detect with a quick once-over.

Regardless what that exercise might tell him, he then tries to recreate the image in his mind to do a little mental geometry... and stops when he realizes he has a better way. He takes a step back and to the side and again extends his sight just a bit into the past, because he wants to see the whole scene that just happened, from a broader perspective-- he wants to see not only this shadow, but himself and Dignity and the lantern. Perspective will keep him from getting too much detailed information, but does it seem like the shadow of something humanoid? How does it interract, if at all, with Dignity's and Brennan's own shadows? Does it seem like it is flitting away because Brennan wants to see it, or-- a very fine distinction-- because Dignity is moving the light source?

And if it seems like it might be cast by something local, can Brennan get an idea of where it might have been standing?

Brennan is aware that he might look a bit odd to Dignity, or he might look like he's lost in thought or trying to recreate the image in his head. He's not too concerned one way or the other, unless Dignity says something about it.

It's very difficult to tell what's going on with the shadow precisely because of the limited light source. On the other hand, Brennan is reasonably observant, and based on his observation, the shadow appears to move independently of any objects he can see. The shadow isn't quite humanoid and it doesn't move as if it were human; it's too fluid in its extremities.

When Brennan stops and refocuses his attention on the world around him, Dignity is looking at him a bit oddly. "Sir Brennan, are you all right? Did that thing hurt you?" The young man sounds worried.

"No, I'm fine," he says. "Just trying to work something out in my head about how it moves and what it might be. You've got a talent for spotting it-- I only caught a glimpse."

Now Brennan allows one corner of his mouth to pull into a faint smile. Unsure whether the thing is still close enough to hear... and betting that it even has a sense of hearing... he indicates by mime to Dignity that the next time he spots it, he should tap a finger on his lantern to alert Brennan but not otherwise do anything to spook it.

With that, Brennan will continue his investigations of the Tower, heading down to the third level from the top if that's what comes next. But, Brennan is ready and has a plan in mind. He does not begin it because he does not wish to give any warning, but he has a piece of Sorcery in mind to be combined with an action when Dignity gives the alert.

The third level down opens into a room that is used for the storage of raw materials: there are wooden palettes covered with metal ingots and several sets of leatherworking tools. The room is well lit, but the light doesn't look like the sunlight of the plains. Nor is there an obvious source for it. There is a creaking sound from the back and a glass case mounted on the wall, which has a single sword in it. It seems to be differently lit than the room.

Dignity looks at Brennan. The creaking seems to have disturbed him.

Brennan puts a hand on the young man's shoulder: Steady. Then two fingers to his own eyes and out, in the traditional sign to keep alert. Brennan is depending on Dignity's eyes and his talent for spotting or sensing that shadow creature. He keeps Dignity relatively close to him, and despite the light sources he does not let Dignity extinguish the lantern.

Dignity doesn't seem to have considered extinguishing the lantern. He's staying behind Brennan, or rather letting Brennan stay between him and the creaking with a weapon. He is careful to keep the light up so Brennan could see things clearly if the light were suddenly to fail.

With that template in place, Brennan gives the non-creaking, non-glowing areas of the room a quick look, just to make sure there's nothing there laying in wait. Then, a cautious, ginger approach to the source of the creaking sound, looking through his third eye as he goes.

Also, does this room seem to take up (most of) the whole level, or is there more?

The room takes up most of the level. It's crowded; the metal takes up a lot of room and there are also some hides and such in piles. It's not very easy to see. There doesn't appear to be anything living running around as far as Brennan can tell from the quick glance.

Good enough for Brennan.

As Brennan and Dignity approach the creaking thing, Brennan can see that there's something enchanted roughly where he hears the creaking. "Something's moving," Dignity says at about the same time, pointing with his free hand at the same place.

Brennan nods and gives an affirmative grunt: he can see it, too.

Brennan approaches it slowly and cautiously, mostly trying to get a better look at whatever it is before taking any definitive action. Brennan will cycle to an astral view for a moment, as a test of whether he's seeing another creature or something else that pegs as 'alive' then relies on his normal senses.

There's nothing living there, but it doesn't look like the shadow thing is hiding there to Brennan's astral sight.

As Brennan gets closer, he realizes the noise is a repetitive creaking and the motion he's seeing is something repeatedly moving up and down in sync with the noise.

Dignity is still with him.

The light shows that it's something wooden moving up and down, as if on a pivot. There's a gusty noise, too, as Brennan and Dignity get within arm's length. It's a bellows, Brennan thinks, possibly damaged or it would be making more noise.

Brennan continues his slow and cautious approach until he can see it clearly, then takes a few more steps closer. He looks it over to see if there's a clearly visible cut-off mechanism, but even in that process reconsiders. He does not even attempt to turn it off, but looks over at Dignity, "A hands-off bellows doesn't really bother me," he muses. "What bothers me is, why is the spare bellows even running? At the forge, I'd take it as evidence that he left in a hurry. But here? Someone else must have turned it on."

"We know we're not alone," Dignity points out. "Or maybe it comes on when someone comes near?"

The former was exactly Brennan's point, and he nods approvingly when Dignity reaches it. To the latter he says only, "In a storage room? Maybe. Even so, not something Weyland would have set up."

He seems inclined to move closer for another look, but doesn't when Brennan turns to go.

Brennan feels no need to turn the thing off. Instead, he and Dignity will head to take a look at the other point of interest in the room: the glass case with the sword inside.

The sword is a large hand-and-a-half, almost a zweihander by length of blade and pommel. There's a blunted portion of the blade; Brennan has seen such things when swordsmen are meant to use them to withstand cavalry charges or smash pikes. There is no obvious opening in the glass case.

"Ah, now that's a beauty," Brennan says, reaching out a hand to touch the case, more in admiration of the contents than to try and open it. "Not the sort of thing Prince Garrett would want to see while leading a cavalry charge," he says with a grin. If Dignity seems confused or particularly interested by that comment, Brennan will take a few moments to mime how such a device is used against oncoming horsemen. He'll use his hammer as a prop, which is probably about the same size.

Dignity's interested. He saw the cavalry charge Bleys led against the Chaosians, and poses a couple of questions based on that.

Brennan responds as best he can to Dignity's questions, regarding the unenviable task of stopping a Bleys-led cavalry charge by the Altamarean Knights, postscripting the impromptu lesson with, "But of course, Bleys' tactics would change in that case, too."

While he's admiring it, he takes note of any distinguishing marks that would confirm his (obvious) suspicion that it was made by Weyland. Is it plain or elaborate, spare or ornamented?

Reasonably plain by Amber standards, which is to say it's got jewels but they're not flashy. There's a maker's mark on the ricasso that matches the one on Werewindle.

Then he'll take a longer minute to admire the blade with his third eye. He tries to distinguish between magics laid on the the sword and the case, in favor of the sword. Is it enchanted? If so, can Brennan tell what sorts?

The sight of his Third Eye is blocked by the case.

Well, now that's interesting. Probably more interesting than the contents of the case itself, and in less hurried circumstances, Brennan would probably stay to figure that out. However, knowing it can be done, and done in a way that lasts as long as this has, is enough to get him to ponder it on his own time, later.

Brennan frowns in thought for a moment, and even in disappointment. He'd thought the shadow thing would follow him down here, but evidently not, which displeases him. He concludes that if he wants another view of that thing, he's going to have to go back and get it, which is what he does.

He reminds Dignity again that if (when) he catches sight of the thing, he should signal that by a tap on the lantern and no sudden movements. With that, they head up. Brennan hasn't had any luck so far in being the one to detect the creature, and it's been skittish enough to begin with, so Brennan affects to be looking for something in the various storerooms on that level. He maintains a casual sense of where he is in relation to the lantern light, and while he does not cast a spell, he has a course of action in mind.

Brennan and Dignity go up the stairs. Dignity says "What?" when he reaches the top. The furniture is not just rearranged, the layout of walls and doors is different.

Even if Brennan hadn't recently visited Clarissa in her geometry-optional Court, he's had more than one person tell him that Weyland's Tower plays games with space. He is not terribly dismayed or distracted by this development. His biggest worry is that they're no longer in the hunting range of that Shadow-creature.

Dignity gasps and almost immediately taps on the lantern, pointing it down the corridor.

But he's still ready, so when Dignity taps the lantern, there is no hesitation. He lunges forward, arm shooting out like a hungry rattlesnake. His own shadow moves naturally in sympathy, its arm darting out down the hall. At the instant he and his own shadow move, he casts the spell he's been thinking of for the past half-hour: He infuses his own shadow with energy, pushing it into the Astral plane, just as he's pushed the Dvartish hammers, giving it metaphysical solidity and pseudo-life.

Solidity enough that, even though Brennan may look like he's tried to grab an invisible man by the throat, his shadow should actually grab and hold the Shadow-creature.

Brennan grabs nothing, but he feels resistance coming from his shadow. The creature struggles to escape. It's hard to tell what its form is, but what Brennan can tell is that it's growing.

Brennan doesn't need to know what its form is to move his left hand so that the doubly-astral shadow of his axe blade is between them, in the thing's path of growth. "I am Brennan, son of Brand, son of Oberon and Clarissa," he says, in a voice as cold as Weyland's forge has ever been hot. "Stop struggling, or I will end you."

Threats are best delivered in threes. Brennan has a good connection to the thing by way of his own shadow, now, but they quite naturally retain their respective integrities despite that contact, no energy passing in either direction. He is not inclined to let natural laws have the last word in this discussion, though. Instead, Brennan's third threat comes right after his words-- he changes the laws of entropy so that the creature can feel its life energy begin to drain out of it and into Brennan's shadow.

But only for an instant.

It is a measured display of force. It is the threat of being dismembered and consumed. It is a threat that a creature of Chaos should understand implicitly, even viscerally. It is a threat that Brennan would prefer not to carry through on, preferring to see this creature as an aspect of the virtuous Usurper of his last Trump reading.

Despite that, what it is not, is a bluff.

(Card draw: the Fish - the Soul Prevails)

The thing stops struggling quickly. It sits unmoving in his shadowy hand, as it were, no longer trying to grow its way out of trouble.

Brennan does not relax his grip, neither the pseudo-physical, nor the meta-physical. "Very good," he says, with the practiced neutrality of five hundred years. "Now. Who or what do you serve?"

While he has the thing as motionless as it is ever likely to become, Brennan takes the opportunity to examine it with the third eye and Astral sight. He is not concerned with the thing's physical form terribly much, but he is curious to see what makes the creature tick... and more pragmatically, does not care to be blindsided by a Sorcerous attack.

He listens to the answer with an Astral ear as well, just in case the thing cannot produce physical sounds. Brennan wonders if the thing will give the correct answer.

The creature or construct (hard to tell which even with the Astral eye, perhaps because there isn't much difference) doesn't seem to have anything to attack with other than itself. It's unclear what it could do with shadow-stuff, but Brennan guesses it could do unfortunate things to a non-sorcerer in the dark.

It doesn't seem to speak, either, perhaps because it cannot. An image forms in Brennan's mind: fire and earth and darkness.

Brennan concentrates on the image and embellishes it, adding an image of Weyland as Brennan last saw him, but working a forge in the dark, underground. "Weyland the Smith," he says, waiting for a sign either of affirmation or denial.

There's a strong sense of negation in the contact now.

After a moment, the image of fire and earth and darkness returns. It is hungry, Brennan senses. And utterly inhuman.

"Ah," Brennan says, with some amount of scorn and distaste. "That." Fire, earth, and darkness: Brennan begins to consider, in the back of his mind, how best his own personal toolkit can counter effects based on those components. Then, for Dignity's benefit, he says, "Eater." That's about all he spares in the way of attention for Dignity, unless he hears the body hit the ground behind him, or the lantern light wavers.

Dignity says, "oh," but it mostly seems to be to reassure Brennan that he's still on guard and not unconscious or dead.

Brennan gives a bit of a sideways nod to Dignity: he heard, but he's concentrating.

Still, the creature seems talkative. As a show of good faith, he cautiously puts the axe back at his belt, in order to have a hand free. He does not slacken his Shadowed grip on the thing.

"Were you here--" Brennan rapidly re-words his question, "--When Weyland was here? Did you serve him?"

There is a sense of affirmation, but no details this time. The creature is talkative, but it's extremely alien and may not be very smart by Amberite standards.

As Brennan puts the hammer away, he accidentally-on-purpose moves in such a way as the ruby pendant comes into view, glittering unnaturally in the dark. Then, he performs a very small working (unconnected with the ruby pendant.)

He concentrates and very briefly reworks the laws of entropy so that his shadow generates a small bit of energy instead of dissipating it into the background. He then moves his now free hand in such a way that his shadow hand strokes the Shadow creature, not unlike stroking a cat or a dog, and slowly, gently releases a little bit of the energy into the Shadow creature. The sensation should be comforting and rewarding, but certainly shouldn't be enough energy to make the creature any more dangerous than it is. Brennan repeats the process for a few moments, while he considers the situation.

The shadow desperately sucks in the energy.

He decides to try one last time on the Weyland topic, and begins again by building up a mental image of Weyland, at work at a forge. "Can you show me what happaned to Weyland? Show me what happened to Weyland." He stops the slow, soothing flow of energy into the Shadow creature with the implicit promise that more information will bring another reward.

Brennan doesn't know how to help the process, but he is patient, repeating the question if the creature at least seems to be trying.

There is an image of what Brennan recognizes as Weyland, then an image of darkness and a sense of aloneness. And finally, a sense of the thing Brennan thinks is the Eater.

There may be more information in the contact, but it's not something Brennan immediately understands.

Brennan gives out the previously implied reward, stroking it like a cat and giving it another gentle flow of energy. "We're going to have to teach you how to talk," Brennan mutters to himself. "I think I understand-- Weyland was here, then he wasn't for a while, and then Eater moved in and took over." Then, more for Dignity than himself, he adds, "About what I expected."

Brennan cuts the flow of energy off.

"All right," he addresses the Shadow, slowly and clearly enough to make sure he is understood, forming mental images where appropriate. "I am going to release you. You will not flee. You will kneel before me. You will bind yourself my affine and serve me. I will protect you and teach you and feed you and name you." Brennan does not bother to vocalize the implied threat, but in his mind, the or-else is a bright searing light of destruction.

Brennan waits a moment, both to prepare a manipulation of Time in case it is needed, and in case the creature is bound so tightly to Eater, or so principled, that it tries to deny this.

Then, release.

The shadow folds itself into a kneeling position before Brennan. There is no word in the communication it makes to Brennan, but the concept is pretty clearly "Lord".

Dignity asks "What is it doing?"

Brennan holds a hand up to Dignity, not unkindly. There are things he needs to do before speaking to anyone else, because he does not want to confuse the new affine. He promised to feed it, so he does, one last moment of energy transfer into it, about the same amount of energy now as in the previous feedings, combined. Not enough, Brennan thinks, to be substantial and certainly not enough to make it dangerous, but hopefully enough to take the edge off its hunger. He promised to name it, too.

"Skiaza. Your name is Skiaza, and I accept your service."

He lets it remain kneeling there while he turns back to Dignity. "It's doing what I told it to do-- kneeling and offering its service. For what it's worth," and Brennan indicates by facial expression how little that might be, "we now have a native guide."

He briefly considers doing something about the shifted floorplan here, but decides against it. He's not sure there's anything exceptionally useful he could do, anyway.

"Okay, let's get moving again." To Skiaza, he adds, "Stay with us. Be ready to conceal yourself in my shadow if I tell you to. Oh, and don't harm or hinder Dignity." With that, Brennan heads back down the stairs. If Dignity has questions, he can ask, otherwise they'll finish the inspection of the storage level below, including anything outside the one large room.

Dignity is looking at Brennan as if he were a strange and slightly alien being himself. He mutters something under his breath about Princes of Amber but follows Brennan down the stairs without demur.

Brennan does not take offense at this, but instead grins and mutters back cheerfully, "You did ask to come along, you know."

They inspect the remainder of the floor below (the storage room) without major incident.

Brennan notes three things about the floor below. The first is that he has been here before; the room where he met Weyland is part of this floor. The second is that it is dominated by what appear to be giant floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out at the plains. The third is that it's been very thoroughly ransacked. Even the anvil is overturned.

Dignity looks out the windows and says "Hey, is that my horse?"

"Yours or mine, I hope," Brennan says. "Otherwise, we have company." Brennan is curious to see if Dignity has gotten used to strange things, or if he's going to remember that there were no windows visible from the outside.

While he waits, he surveys the room that he had met Weyland in before. He's got no idea what might have been the target of the ransacking, and it's probably futile to try and tell by mundane means. Instead, he tries to determine the tangent details: How long ago has the place been ransacked? Are there signs of it being ransacked by men or man-like things, vs something obviously inhuman? One ransacker, or many? For the sake of nostalgia, he takes a good look at the fireplace, as well.

Some long time ago, Brennan guesses by the details of the fireplace and the condition of the room. Could be a man or manshaped creature, but to move that anvil would take someone very strong. Then again, Brennan could manage it, certainly with the assistance of one of his cousins. He can't tell whether it was one over some time or many.

The only Sorcerous part of this is to look around with the Third Eye and try to gauge if lingering effects of Sorcery seem stronger or more recent here than other places in the Tower that he's seen.

Sorcerous traces are equally recent.

Then he remembers they have a native guide. Addressing Skiaza, and suspecting the answer, he asks, "Skiaza, who or what did this?" and waits for the mental image to form.

Skiaza sends back a mental image that Brennan doesn't quite recognize. It has a taste of power and of binding and something in common with the beings that Brennan has come to recognize as the Eater and Weyland. It's obvious to Brennan that Skiaza is desperate to please him for all that it's not immediately obvious what he means.

Brennan can invent any number of interpretations to that, that he doesn't particularly like. His eyes narrow at a sudden thought, though, and he looks around at the ransacked forge: Is it possible that this damage is the result of a fight, rather than someone searching for something?

Possible, but Brennan will need to review the place in that light instead of dealing with horse thieves.

Dignity is still watching out the windows. "Sir Brennan, my horse! Someone's taking it!" His free hand has gone to his sword.

That gets Brennan's attention. He mutters again to Skiaza, "We're really going to need to teach you to speak." Then he heads over to Dignity to take a look out the window. He doesn't bother reaching for a weapon. He's pretty sure he'd have to fling the anvil at the window, at least, before he could break it.

"How do we get down there to stop him?" Dignity asks.

"With great difficulty," Brennan says. "Remember seeing a window from the outside?"

Dignity starts to say something to Brennan but something stops him. Probably Brennan's expression.

As Brennan gets there, he can see a young man mounting up on Dignity's horse and preparing to ride away, and an older man mounting up on a horse with tack of a style that Brennan's pretty sure is the local gear.

The young man mounting up on Dignity's horse is Garrett.

Brennan stands there expressionless for a long, long moment. Then he cocks his head to one side and scowls, wondering if the scene is going to resolve into something that makes sense. Any sense. After another long, long moment, he decides it isn't going to.

"Some day, Dignity, you're going to tell your grandchildren about the time you stood at the wreckage of the forge of Weyland the Smith and watched Prince Garrett steal your horse. And they will never believe you."

He shakes his head in disbelief. "...the Hell is he doing here?"

"That's not Prince Garrett! It can't be!" Dignity turns to look at Brennan for a moment. "Can it?"

The other rider gestures to Garrett to follow him.

Brennan waits a moment for Dignity to tell him why, exactly, that can't be Prince Garrett. "It's an honor, really. I mean, I've never had my horse stolen by a Prince." Then, more seriously, "I don't really like the idea of trying to smash through the window, since we didn't see one from the outside. It'd probably take us as long as it did to smash through the roof. And by the time we did that, or found our way back up through the shifting floorplan...." he spreads his hands. The conclusion is obvious. "Don't worry-- we'll have another one if we need one."

Dignity seems like he'd like to protest, but he subsides at Brennan's logical reminders about the nature of the situation.

"I wonder who his new friend is," Brennan says. "I don't recognize him. Must be one of these Heroes we've heard so much about. Come to think of it, keep watch out there, see if there's anyone else moving around or watching back at us."

"Yes, Sir Brennan," Dignity says with some resignation.

Brennan nods. He doesn't point out to Dignity that they didn't see Four Iron down there, either. Pointing it out would be counter-productive to the real lesson in stoicism and focus.

Brennan turns his attention back to the room. He is interested in two things. First, could the wreckage here be the result of a fight rather than a ransack? Second, and this will require his Third Eye, is there anything that would prevent a ransacker from going up the stairs?

With his Third Eye, Brennan does not see anything that would bar him or anyone else from going up the stairs. It's possible that there's a very subtle trap spell laid that he can't see, but he feels it would take a master sorcerer to lay it.

Brennan believes the place has been ransacked. This does not, to his mind, rule out that some of the damage is due to a battle. However, if such a battle was conducted, it was blade to blade and not magical in nature, because the damage to the surviving furnishings would look different. On yet another hand, though, there's no evidence of a major blood spill (or ichor spill, for that matter).

The easiest interpretation, Brennan muses to himself, is that it was a proper ransacking without a struggle, and that the ransacker found what he, she, or it was looking for without needing to go any higher in the Tower. What bothers Brennan is that the culprit was not Eater, at least not according to Skiaza.

He's got the sense of grasping at straws, but very important straws. As much as he hates the cards, they've been right by more than one interpretation: Sorcery has been useful here, he now has a Chaosi ally, and moreover, a Chaosi ally he has usurped from Eater. But the capstone card was the Dragon's Tail. What he faces is an opportunity to learn the true scope of the problem, and as hazily defined as that may be, someone or something ransacking Weyland's Tower seems like a problem.

He is tempted-- sorely tempted-- to use brute force and simply scry the past, but over a span of years or decades, that might take more time than he'd like. So he turnes to Skiaza, and asks again, "Skiaza, who or what did this?" But he follows it with a sequence of images, each maintained for a minute or two, as best as he is able. "Was it one of these?" He presents them in the following order:

Madoc, as Brennan met him at Oberon's funeral, urbane and grave; transforming into Madoc, as Brennan saw him at Clarissa's court, bellowing and wrathful, horns twisting, probably not far from triggering a stress form. Madoc is known to have had dealings with Weyland in the past.

Saeth, a briefer image, as Brennan met her that one time in Clarissa's court.

Dara, as Brennan saw her every time he ever crossed her path, raving to the point of incoherence, probably capable of picking up an anvil and throwing it out of pure pique, known to ransack abandoned hiding places.

Cleph, brutish, thick and always willing to do Dara's heavy lifting, certainly capable of picking up an anvil and discarding it out of willful negligence.

Clarissa, a long shot, standing aloof waiting for the crew of grackleflints to find whatever she sought.

One after another, each image is negated. In what seems to be an act of frustration, Skiaza tries to impart something to Brennan. The image is entirely of white, and the glare is painful, even in the limited memory of the nonexistent shadow lizard.

That puzzles Brennan utterly, and he does not bother keep the puzzlement off his face. He can interpret that in one very clear fashion... but it does not easily reconcile with the previous impressions of a thing like, yet unlike, Eater and Weyland.

Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, Brennan mutters, "We have got to teach you to talk."

Then, "Dignity, come here. I need you to do something." He hands Dignity both the axe-hammer and the ruby pendant that he's enchanted, and instructs Dignity to stand at one end of the room, in a corner. He then takes Skiaza and moves as far away as possible in the same room.

[OOC: My impression is that this room is large and takes up much or all of this level. If not, this may need to be modified a bit.]

Then, speaking to Skiaza, and making sure he has a good shadow-to-affine contact, says, "Skiaza, I'm going to show you something. This might be painful. This is not a punishment." Again with Skiaza, he speaks slowly and pauses, both because he is uncertain just how bright the affine is, and because even if it is brilliant, he and Brennan barely have any language in common.

Then he breaks the shadow-to-affine contact, and asks, "Did it sense like this?"

And he brings the smallest, weakest projection of the Pattern he can manage... pointed away from Dignity and away from Skiaza, and only for an instant. He is ready to use Sorcery to grab Skaiza again if it bolts, or to use entropy manipulations to feed him more energy afterwards as a reward.

Skiaza does not bolt, but it is frightened and Brennan is pretty sure it didn't understand what he did, only that it hurt. But if someone had attacked Skiaza directly with the Pattern, Skiaza would almost certainly have been destroyed.

"Okay, so it wasn't that," Brennan says, "We won't try that again," as he uses his own shadow to rub down Skiaza with more strengthening energy-- just a little bit to soothe it and calm it. He makes eye contact with Dignity, too, indicating that this might take a while longer than he'd thought.

Once Skiaza is settled down, Brennan resolves to make one last grand attempt at learning who did this to Weyland's Tower. He starts just by communicating to Skiaza what's going to happen-- or trying, at least. He concentrates on an image of a sundial, as seen through a window or a door. But the shadow cast by the sundial moves forward and backward at Brennan's command. It is Brennan's chosen image for looking forward or backward in time.

His best read on Skiaza is that Skiaza sees a creature like himself getting more or less powerful.

When he thinks Skiaza has the idea (or is convinced that that just won't happen) he takes a minute to cast a spell that will last a watch-- he wants to be able to look back in time at controlled points, and some reasonable distance. He is much more interested in those, than in seeing a full motion image. Just a sequence of still images would be enough to suit Brennan's purpose of identifying who did this to Weyland's forge and meeting area.

He includes Skiaza in the spell, though, not just as an observer, but as a potential guide, so that he can help direct Brennan to the time when this happened. Brennan and Skiaza probably sense the world very differently, but Brennan tries to bypass the details. He doesn't think about how his eyes work when he does this, he just moves the perceptions forward and backwards in time. He tries to do the same for Skiaza, so that it perceives the past naturally, whatever "naturally" means to it.

Brennan rapidly becomes convinced that Skiaza has little or no concept of time or causation. It may be that when asked "who did this?" Skiaza will reply with whoever provided him with the vision of the past. What little it understands, it understands in a very literal sense.

If Skiaza can't or won't help, Brennan is somewhat methodical about this-- an image from a year ago, two years, five years, ten years. He'll know he's past the point when the area looks pristine, then try to hone in on the time somethign actually happened, and identify who did it. But he hopes that after a few changes of scene, and with some coaxing, Skiaza will get the idea and help guide him to the right time more directly. "Show me, Skiaza. Show me who did this. Show me when this happened."

Just one good fully incriminating image. That's all Brennan wants.

Brennan can't find a point where it was pristine. He finds a point where it can't be viewed (it's all white), and a point where it was ransacked, but nothing in between.

"Ah," Brennan says slowly. "You weren't allowed in until after it happened, were you? That's what you were trying to say?" he says. At this point, he doesn't really expect an answer, but he'll listen for one anyway.

There's a sense of something like affirmation from Skiaza. If Skiaza could be said to have emotions, he would feel relieved.

Whether it needs it or not, Brennan takes the opportunity to renew the spell which lets him touch Skiaza, and gives it a very spooky-looking scratch behind the ears. "All right. I am very interested in..." and he gestures with hand and shadow, "... how this happened. If you see something that can help me, you get my attention."

If Skiaza were a cat, Brennan thinks it would be purring.

Not that it makes a difference. He's out of ideas, and chooses not to spend the energy necessary to even try to break what he believes is Weyland's past privacy ward. There might be a way, but conserving energy for Eater is far more important right now. Brennan takes the hammer and ruby back from Dignity, and gives them a quick examination to make sure they're still all right. Well aware of what that episode looked like, he chooses not to explain his actions-- he's still the only one in the room that can use his own shadow to grab another one.

Dignity hands back the hammer and the ruby. Brennan doesn't feel that Dignity is afraid of him after what he's seen, but the legends of the strangenesses of the princes of Amber are about to grow again.

Then, if nothing else out of the ordinary happens, it's onward, either to the rest of the level, or the next one down. But cautiously-- unless Weyland has seriously rearranged the geometry of the Tower, they should be approaching the base, and they've already been told that the bottom storey above ground is a slab of solid granite.