(Bibliophile)Dinner, Wine and Doors

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel was disappointed by the vague answer but he kept his expression calm. It could be HAL was telling the truth but Daniel somehow doubted an Autumn courtier of Horace's stature truly knew so little about his own creations. More likely Daniel thought HAL was deliberately leaving out information, maybe due to pride. There could be another reason but then again it was in his best interest that they succeed. The robotic tenure of the Darkling's voice made it hard for Daniel to read to much into HAL's words.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-05 13:13:39		Daniel Leto rolls 7 to Hiding information? Wits+Empathy (10 Again)		9, 4, 8, 6, 10, 3, 4, 10, 2		4 successes

"That's not a lot to go off of," he said "We''ll do what we can but we can't make any promises. At least not more than we have already." Stacking vows could help the Wryd assist them but multiple pledges tended to step on each other's toes eventually. And HAL's comment of fights between Elders seemed it made that even more of an eventuality.

[Forn Clakes]

HAL | Darkling | Antiquarian/Levinquick
Presence 3 (Haunted) | Distinctive Voice 2 (Robotic) | Mantle 5 (Autumn - Staring into the Unknown)

"Splendid!" HAL said, standing suddenly, all thoughts of food forgotten. His chair scraped back on the stone floor as he wiped his mouth on a napkin. "The door/entrance/gate is right this way," he adds, moving away from the table towards one of the heavy tent flaps. He makes a series of gestures, arcane swirls with his fingers, covering several inches in circles and dots. Finally, the tent flap shimmers and HAL takes a step back.

"This doorway will lead you directly to my Hollow, a place only I know of. It is how I made my escape. The Hollow covers several large rooms. I would recommend being forthright with my creation. You need to speak with Kathryn," he said, eyes focusing on them. It was obvious that there was something akin to love when he mentioned the name. Almost obsession.

[Trickster]

And of course we’re expected to go right the hell now. Why would that seem strange?

Lynn took a breath and picked up her fiddle case, once again slinging it over her shoulder. Looks like they wouldn’t even get the chance to choose between the fire and the frying pan, HAL was pushing them over the edge with both hands.

She gestured towards the door with one hand, looking at the rest of the Motley. “Shall we?”

In the very back of her mind, she was wondering if they could try making a separate deal with the automatons to get what they wanted. After all, if they didn’t come back, HAL would have every reason to believe they were dead. On the other hand, if and when the former Dread Lord found out about it . . . that could not be a good outcome. On the third hand, how much longer would it be before the Hedge and it’s denizens rebelled against what he was doing?

[Degnar]

Degnar wasn't all too happy with how quickly everyone agreed to do what HAL was asking. Certainly there was more to the story, but perhaps it wasn't as important to the rest. Regardless, he was not going to show his suspicions to the rest, so he kept up his poker face as he simply nodded to what HAL and the rest were saying. He had agreed to help this trio out in their quest, and he was certainly not going to back out of it now. Even if it presented some unknown danger, he should at least do what he could to make sure that they managed to escape if they weren't successful in their mission.

Kathryn?

The name of the automaton caused the Darkling to quirk an eyebrow. What was the likelihood that HAL's creation had a similar name to his own Queen? Perhaps there was more to this, but prying further into it at that very moment was likely not a good idea. It was yet another thing to bring back to Katrin Byeli, for she would know what to do with this information. After all, the Tunnelgrub had suspicions that the relationship between his Queen and the banished HAL was a little more complicated than most folks knew.

When HAL spoke of his Hollow, Degnar was amused by the fact that he assumed he was the only one that knew of the place. Clearly that wasn't the case, considering he had ventured the halls of the Antiquarian's Hollow in the past. Yet, that was neither here, nor there. It wasn't something that needed to be brought up, and likely would make HAL upset if he found out of the Archer's prior expedition into his secret hiding place.

"I'll bring up the rear," he said in response to Lynn.

[Morgan Bellanar]

With a sigh, "Okay I-I guess we go," Morgan nodded Lynn, claws twitching and ready to drop the blade from her sleeve,"Sssshould I d-d-do the stealth-thing a'fore enter oro-or non?" She really hoped it wouldn't come to violence. Nor did she did like the idea of helping someone as crazy as HAL. Nor facing unknown threats. She really didn't like not having a chance to plan with the others before meeting said unknown threats. And the rebel automaton leader's name was Kathryn? Morgan crossed her fingers, hoping that they wouldn't find a mechanical doppleganger of the Winter Queen. That would be very, very, very awkward.

She was suddenly very glad they hadn't mentioned Degnar's backdoor to HAL. It gave them a way out that didn't bring them back through here. Multiple exit were always a good thing to have.

With another resigned sigh she made a silent vow. If she died doing this, she was going to haunt HAL. She'd haunt him lots.

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel was more than a little surprised when HAL conjured an entrance with handwaving. A little upset too since this not only meant they wouldn’t be able to discuss things before diving into the exiled king’s Hollow, but they wouldn’t have a chance to talk to the Blues on the way out either. It felt almost like HAL was just throwing them headlong at the problem. Maybe that was his plan. Send them in without to plan so they didn’t have time to plot a betrayal.

Still, he watched HAL’s movements with intent fascination. Maybe if Daniel could replicate the movements… that would be a useful thing to be able to do.

“It's okay," he placed a gentle hand on Morgan's shoulder. He knew she was probably scared "I’ll go first; make sure things are safe,” Daniel said. No sense in putting the others in danger. “If I don’t give a signal after ten seconds assume I’m dead,” he said with a smile of very morbid humor. Or maybe he was being serious and his melancholy smile was simply his last goodbye.

The Gravewight stepped through the gate, feeling like he was stepping into a dark abyss. He told himself it was probably just HAL’s mantle but he couldn’t quite convince himself of that completely. At the very least I’m not walking into a white light.

[Forn Clakes]

End Scene! Great stuff, I'll start the next scene later