Introduction

I'm now upto 4 players with Leo joining the throng. Of the 5 stat sets I'd randomly defined and used in the auction he picked set 3, which is one of the two I hadn't yet developed a possible character history for.

The Thirteenth Hour - Ion's Native Shadow

Midnight Black Road Day 27 - Midnight Hour Day 15

Diedre's Logrus Tendril having found its target and massing to grab Ion flashes a bright blue and winks out of existence. Ion breathes a sigh of relief and wows to consult the Court Wizard for his opinion on this strange nightly phenomenon.

Midnight Black Road Day 28 - Midnight Hour Day 16

Six minutes of the thirteenth hour pass before the tentacle appears this night. Ion is prepared, mounted on and now stuck to his trusted Dragon - Spout, the court wizard frozen where he sits in observation. Breaking the stone like straps holding him in the saddle, he braces himself for the tentacles arrival, reliant on the knowledge that the sword he carries will cleave this demon entity before it can reach him. Ignoring the sword, for it can do no damage to the Logrus tendril, Diedre grabs Ion and begins to extract him from the room. As she tries to draw him through the window he braces himself and resists. Just before his legs are about to be broken he dives through the window and the tendril yanks him across shadow. It takes Diedre a moment to recover and she slows the Tendril whilst searching for the pattern signature from last night. Locating it she accelerates Ion toward his waiting destiny.

Shadow Earth - Sacramento : January 18^th 2004 00:20:00 to 08:07:00 (approx)

Whilst Cordelia, Vialle, and Taala sleep Charity and Daida exchange histories and philosophize about the nights events.
Vialle wakes about 4am and calls to Cordelia but is answered by the other two. It takes several minutes to reassure her, including allowing her to feel Cordeilia's sleeping form. Diada's healing of her leg helps considerably. The three of them converse for nearly two hours before deciding to wake Taala. Vialle vetoes waking Cordelia, although Daida heals her wounded leg whilst she sleeps.

Cordellia wakes about 7.15am, and immediately dives into the lavatory. She then puts a fresh pot of coffee on before taking a shower. Whilst in the process of extracting and putting on clean clothes she stops, concentrates and begin speaking to herself for a couple of minutes. As she finishes dressing she directs the waifs as to the location of the components of breakfast, before grabbing her sword and going outside to check on any 'bandit' incursions in the vicinity.

Ignoring Taala's complaint about the 'lack of anything being done about their current situation' Cordelia eats breakfast before climbing into her armour, before distributing various weapons, and grabbing her pack. She instructs one of the waifs to assist the Queen as they're off on a little walk to collect a pair of armoured artic's, a number of cannon, and a quantity of black powder, and delivery the lot to Carnelian.

Shadow Walking - The next 30 hours

Cordelia leads them off down the road, turning left, then right, every 500 yards or so until she can manipulate shadow to put them on a forest track. In conversation with the waifs the idea of using horses to speed progress occurs and she modifies her manipulations to bring them to a stables with waiting horses. As they prepare to mount the horses to leave, Cordelia senses the approach of a Logrus tendril and begins to construct a pattern defense. The tendril merely unceremoniously dumps a bewildered and angry Ion 20 feet from her and the rest of the party. After a short exchange, comprehensible only to Cordelia and Vialle, and during which Cordelia delivers the ultimatum, "you can either get on a horse and ride with us where you might learn something, or you can stay here", Ion agrees to get a horse and ride with them.

With the acquisition of horses the rate of travel increases but it still takes Cordelia another 6 hours to perform the manipulations necessary to get the shadow of the imprint Fiona had left in her head earlier that day. After a brief respite, they leave in a pair of armoured 60 tonne articulated trucks; Cordelia driving the lead truck and Charity driving the second. It takes 3 hours for Cordelia to return them to Fort Worth, where they collect about 20 tonnes of cargo - muskets, according to Cordelia.

The next leg of the journey, to York England, is the one Cordelia has been trying to figure out all day. When the waifs don't offer any hope that they have any abilities that are of any use, she adopts a plan she's been formulating although she has no idea whether it will work and it'll mean a significant delay. The party leave York and drive for nine hours before they arrive at "The Royal Chanith Regiment - Mobile Artillery Barracks". It appears that no only are they expected but also that Cordelia is commander in Chief here. Most of the waifs choose to grab three hours sleep here although Cordelia resists the temptation to sleep. 4 hours after arriving they party leave accompanied by two APC's and six 20 tonne cargo haulers. A further hours drive with no shadow manipulation this time brings them to with half a mile of the Black Road!

Crossing the Black Road

It takes the artillery troopers nearly an hour to prepare and couple their computer coordinated mortars so that they can lay down a plasma trail ahead of the trucks as they cross the Black Road. Whilst Cordelia believes this will take care of any rampant vegetation, the solidity of the ground still gives her cause for concern although there is little she can do about it. The plasma barrage begins and the trucks roll towards the road. They're about a third the way across before any thing reacts, and they're two thirds the way across before anything physically challenge them - although the two Wyverns that make it past the barrage from the anti-personnel turrets on the trucks are swiftly dealt with by Taala and Daida, although Sir Ion runs up and down the roof of one of the trucks for some reason. By the time they clear the road, Cordelia is in need of a coffee and Charity is on the verge of exhausted collapse.

On to York, Lucern, and then back into Shadow

After a brief coffee break, they're back on the road, arriving in York about six hours later. In the four hours it takes to load the mortars, cannons, and ammunition, the waifs grab some sleep, before they hit the road again this time for Lucern. A further 4 hours and they arrive at a rather non-descript building. As Cordelia gets out to arrange the cargo load Taala is left to puzzle over how they've managed to drive all over the USA , England, and Europe in two armoured articulated trucks without being stopped by the National Guard, Army, or police once.

A further hours delay whilst cargo is loaded, and then they're back on the road. After driving for a further six hours and deep in a forest, Cordelia halts the trucks and orders every one out. Back on foot again, they walk for three hours until Cordelia again calls a halt. " We're now close to Carnelian. From here on in we have to be careful. Once we get within sight of the Castle we need to find a way to get in."
When Taala asks why she can't just Shadow Walk them in she responds by saying that she's not familiar enough with the place and also that Fiona has the castle pattern shielded.