Broken Freehold Common Ground

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel starts to carefully started picking his way through the bones of the building. He was determined to find something. Which was easier thought than done. It wouldn't do to get tetanus. Sure, the Autumn Queen could probably help if that happened. That would mean getting help from the Ogress, though. Something he'd rather avoid.

And so it was that when he was watching his step, he felt the ground give away slightly under his foot. He backed off immediately, afraid he might collapse something. When nothing happened he stepped forward again and tested the ground. It creaked and sprung back when he lifted his foot, and that was when he noticed the bit of metal door nob.

"Hey, I think I found something," he called as he began brushing away dirt. Low and behold there was actually a door that had fallen flat in the collapse. It was scarred by fire and water damage but was still fairly intact.

"Please open," he whispered breathlessly. As he took hold of the misshapen handle he realised he wasn't breath. He paused, gave small pray to the dead around them and gave the scorched door a tug. It groaned painfully, and sounded like it wanted to break. And underneath the open door, there was the Hedge!

"Ha," Daniel laughed softly, barely able to believe his luck.

"Haha!" he exclaimed.

  Found something 1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-12-27 15:20:31		Daniel Leto rolls 6 to Wits+Comp-3 (10 Again, WillPower)		8, 3, 5, 5, 3, 6		1 success

  Open sesame 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-12-27 15:46:16		Daniel Leto rolls 2 to Knock Knock Wyrd (10 Again)		10, 8, 6		2 successes

[Malcolm Green]

Green returned empty handed to a very happy Darkling. He grunted.

"Uh. Eh. No. Is it relevant?" He asked, responding to Sasha's query.

[Evelynn East]

Evelynn wasn't entirely certain where even to begin. The others knew, at least, what they were looking for, so she was left alone, staring around, trying to determine if she'd have better luck following someone else along a more likely path or whether she should check in a direction none of them had gone yet.... But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Daniel calling out that he'd found something. She smiled at the sound of his laughter as she picked her way through the rubble toward him, meeting Malcolm and L'aire by the door he had opened.

She was peering through the door into the Hedge when L'aire asked her question, and she looked up at the other two, uncertain of what she meant. She remembered Terri, she was pretty sure - it had been hard to miss the lovely redhead and her rather visible reunion with Milo at the Coronation. But Evelynn hadn't know why she left, of course. It hadn't occurred to her that maybe the dark events here had been what drove her away to begin with. She had been about to ask when Malcolm asked if it was relevant, and Evelynn's mouth snapped shut again. Maybe it was a private thing. Malcolm had a point. Maybe she shouldn't ask if it wasn't important... but if it wasn't important, why had L'aire brought it up? She hadn't struck Evelynn as the gossipy type, but she hadn't really ever considered herself to be a particular talent at reading people. Well, unless that person was a threat, anyway.

So, without saying much, she turned her attention to L'aire, curious about her answer.

[Parable]

"Not really," Daniel admitted when L'aire asked about Terri, though it hadn't been for lack of asking his part. "I know she was here when the Four Seasons fell but she managed to escape. Lost a lot of friends when it did. Spartan, Bates... she doesn't like talking about," he finished with a shrug.

It sounded like the Beast had found someone to confide in since the Dancer had brought it up. Which was good in the gravewight's opinion, but he wasn't sure what that had to do with what they were doing now. Then again he didn't know all the details. He looked at L'aire curiously for what she might say.

[Evelynn East]

Evelynn blinked at L'aire for a moment, then her eyes went wide. Oh. Oh. What may be left. She went a little pale and swallowed hard.

She peered back down into the Hedge, looking suddenly much more hesitant. "Uh. Shall we?" She shifted her weight, looking for a moment as if she might be the first to make the leap. But then she stopped, suddenly uncertain about what she'd find on the other side. She looked up at the others, wincing, and took a step back from the door. She was ready to help, but maybe not so much interested in jumping in head-first.

[Malcolm Green]

Green said nothing but looked between Daniel, Sasha, and Evelynn. Eventually there was a whoosh of air that could have been a sigh. Or a combination of a sigh and a grunt.

The mountain leaned forward and stretched out a mighty arm, groping hand gripping some of the remaining masonry. Eyes closed, the Elemental made a silent invocation. Motes of dust rose from the space around him; then dirt; finally, fragments of stone and masonry joined the cloud of debris that engulfed, then settled, upon him.

Green had not activated his Contracts with the Earth for quite some time.

-1 Glamour to activate Seeming Blessing. Green now has an effective Health of 13!

-2 Glamour to activate Armour of the Elements Fury (Stone). Green now has an effective armour rating of 1.

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel wasn’t sure exactly what L’aire meant when she said to be cautious on the other side of the Gate. Did she know of another danger that Terri hadn’t mentioned. Or… did she mean that they should be wary of find dead bodies. Those that had failed to escape. As Green activated his clause, he seemed to expect a threat. Evelynn seemed to expect the dead.

“I’ll go first,” Daniel said solemnly "but we'll stay near the Gate." It was his idea to come here and search after all. With very little hesitancy, he stepped/fell through the gate and felt a sense of vertigo as his sense of balance reoriented to the Hedgescape around him. Behind him was an arch of charcoal and at his feet was a small patch of burnt grass.

It was a fairly large clearing, though only the small portion wasn’t overgrown. Spiky vines snaked along the ground and here and there thorny brush with bright red flowers flourished. A short ways off, stands of threatening trees loomed in the evening light. However, despite the greenery, signs of fire and destruction remained even here. Aside from the flaming crimson of the shrubbery’s flowers, here and there, twisted steel girders protruded from the ground. Thin, desiccated, blackened trucks could be seen covered by newly grown thorns. Even further off, the groan of trees hollowed by heat could be heard as the night wind sighed from the outer edges of the clearing. Just off the Path, below the brush, clumps of sharp grass grew between patches of pale white moss that where oddly lumpy. And further than that, a large tree grew in the low area of the Thorns. A deformed oak, whose trunk shimmered like wet blood and oil.