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((Yikes, hope you're feeling better!))

Everyone seemed more worried about politics than the fact that she'd just told them an orc might have slipped in through the gate and Brenna set her mouth in frustration. Though, she wasn't even remotely sure that was what she'd seen.

"I'm going to check on the horses," Brenna told Pint, then headed toward the door.

"You best stay here," she whispered to the cat, still suspecting it could understand her perfectly. "Those dogs start barking, they'll give me away."

But most likely, if the cat still insisted on slipping through, she wouldn't physically try to stop it.

So she slipped outside, then off to the side of the porch out of the torchlight where she stood for several long moments, letting her eyes readjust to the darkness and simply listening...

(Oof, yeah, hope you feel better, m8)

Why Pint nearly went cross eyed when everyone started talking politics and who should marry who and what not. It was impossible for him to keep up. Although there was a particular point of interest for him that he focused on.

“Wait wot?? That big orc was a chieftain??” The dwarf held his head. “Aaggh!! And I didn’t scalp him!! That woulda meant big money with my clan!!” As usual, Pint was solely interested in gold.

He barely heard Brenna saying she was checking on the horses as he hit his head on a table repeatedly. Eventually he stopped though and shook his head while rubbing his head. As much as he would have wanted to rescue the lass, he was not going to venture without a platoon of -competent- soldiers, and these guys thus far had failed to impress him.

As Kitty arrived, Pint frowned profusely as he got a weird feeling from her. A very weird feeling indeed.

Kitty... cat. It was a long shot but Pint was completely out of ideas by now.

So he pulled a string out of his pocket and dangled in front of Kitty looking on to see how she reacted. It was clear he suspected this might be the cat in disguise.

"Miaow!" says Catherine the cat, and sidles into the Inn. Brenna is sure that it understands what she is saying.

She goes out into the darkened courtyard, and listens intently. The pigs from the pig sty are awake, and grunting. An owl swoops overhead, giving a distinctive call.
She is surprised by Samuel, the stablehand. For a moment she gasps, assuming him to be the orc, but his approach is friendly.
"Is that you, Brenna? Are you coming to see me? You won't be hiding from any orcs like that - you've still got the smell of orc bloood right over you. See how all the pigs are excited? They know orcs are near. The orc is such as what a wizard crossed a man with a pig, folks say."

"Are you teasing me because of my name?" says Kitty, as Pint dangles the string. She makes a sudden, cat-like swpie for it, and Pint sees the flash of gold of her ring. "I've got the same name as poor Caitlin."
"It's a form of Catherine" says Mr Swathmore, "from Hecate, the triple godd.."
There's a sudden hush as jaws drop.
"Virgin, whore, and witch" says Lady Helena.

As her heart rate subsided a bit from the momentary thought that the orc was coming toward her, Brenna nodded toward Samuel. "I was just coming out to check on you and the horses. I thought I saw something slip through the gate. Just after Caitlin slipped out." She looked troubled, her failure to stop the abduction weighing heavy on her.

"I was in too much of a hurry then to stop and go check. So it could have been nothing more than a shadow. But I'm worried it was an orc slipping in. Are the dogs in the stable?" she asked. Maybe they'd raise the alarm if there really was an orc about. If it managed to kill their horses, they'd really be in trouble tomorrow if they could not make Fort Middlesburgh in the short amount of daylight winter provided.

Wellp, that was bust, but no one could blame Pint for not giving a shot.

“Uh.. aye! Just a wee bit o teasing, me lass. Ye know, since everyone’s so tense after the orc attack and all that rot, heh.” Pint tried to play it off as teasing, looking only mildly disappointed that Kitty the maid hadn’t transformed into a cat.

His eyes caught the flash of gold from her ring, but before he could ask if she was married Lady Helena waltzed to explain some pagan goddess or some such.

“Huh? I canna tell if being named after this goddess is good or bad..”

Pint was a very agnostic dwarf, on occasion he’d used Moradin’s name to curse, but overall the only religious he followed was gold.

"I'll get the dogs" says Samuel, "I don't know exactly where they are, but they'll be about. They'll soon sniff out that orc, if he's got into the gate".

"Rex, Lupus", he calls. The two huge animals come running.
Brenna accompanies Samuel as they circle the Inn. It looks all strange in the light of Samuel's lantern, but it is the nucleus of a little, almost self-sufficient compound. There are chickens for meat and eggs, pigs, and a cow for milk. The privies are opposite the kitchen entrance. Samuel opens the door and gets the dogs to check inside.
You find nothing on the circumambulation of the Inn, and make for the stable.
"Orcs eat oss meat", he says, "So there's a risk of them killing our osses. They don't ride osses themselves. The oss has more sense than to have anything to do with them."

"Who do you think killed Captain Baring?" he asks.

"How many girls are named Catherine?" says the Petulan ambassador. "They're all named after Hecate. She's the goddess of witchcraft. But Mistress Weather would tell you more about her than I can".
"Beyond good and evil" says Mistress Weather. "Hecate has a triple aspect. Virgin, whore and witch. Sometimes she is shown as three women, standing back to back. But the witch is her main aspect, the virgin and whore show that she is simulataneously pure and defiled. The natural world is all about balance, you see. This is her symbol."
She draws out a symbol.

"See the waxing and waning moon, together with the full moon?"
"Why that is similar to the symbol carried by the orcs" says Martha, the bar maid. She draws it in chalk.


"And it's the same as in your moon card" says Lady Helena.



"The horns have become two towers, on either side of the full moon."
"What does all this mean?" The Lady wonders, "Virgin, whore, and witch. Kitty is clearly a virgin ..."

Having dogs to scout ahead was a huge comfort. Maybe she should consider getting herself a puppy when this was all said and done. In all likelihood, Seth would not appreciate one as large as either Rex or Lupus living in his shop, but perhaps he'd permit her a smaller one.

Considerations for later.

"I still don't know for sure." she answered Samuel. Her mind had changed numerous times over the course of the last hour and she wasn't sure it was done changing yet. "A rich woman is the culprit, if Mistress Weather and her cat are to believed.

"But I cannot put together why any of the women here would want him dead. Does that make any sense to you?"

As they came close to the stable, she drew her blade just in case the dogs flushed out an orc...

That was all very interesting and even a warmongering, greedy dwarf like Pint could see the similarities.

Too bad he didn’t really understand them.

“Uh.. alright, so three’s the number then?” He tried to wrap his mind around this bit of witchcraft.

“So kitty is the virgin, heh not my words, lass.” He said trying not to offend anyone.

“The witch is obviously that cat.” He pointed at the ever suspicious cat.

“So the whore would be... Caitlin?” On top of getting kidnapped by orcs now she was getting called a whore. That woman couldn’t catch a break. Though it had been entirely her fault she got captured...

"Cap'n Baring was sweet on Martha" says Samuel, "But she wouldn't have anything to do with him. She wanted Lieutenant Peter. That really ticked him off and he gave Peter a hard time. But I don't see why that would have made Martha want to kill him. Maybe he tried to force her, but I don't think so. He wasn't that kind of man".

"Then Bertha. She'll sleep with anything, including half orcs. So a half orc might have bribed her to poison Baring. That's a possibility. Aye." He looks at the ground. "Definitely a possibility. Without Captain Baring, we're at the mercy of these orcs".

"Kitty? Can you imagine it? She's the sweetest little thing. Never has a bad word to say about anyone."

"That leaves Rosalind. That's all the women. Obviously I can't tell you about the guests. Rosalind didn't really like Baring, because it's her Inn, but he was coommanding officer. So he acted like he owned the place. You had two people in charge, if you like. But it didn't go very deep, he was responsible for security, she was responsible for the running of the Inn. She also made Martha sleep with Henry Fitzroy - Fitzroy is her son, that's why the King gave her the Inn, so set her up with a life well away from court. Baring really hated Fitzroy for that, even more then Lieutenant Peter. But Fitzroy was his commander, there was nothing he could do."

"Rosalind. A rich woman. Then so is Lady Helena, and arguably Caitlin, though really it's her father who is rich. But what do you think, Brenna, Do you think Mistress Weather can really tell who is responsible by reading cards?"

Meanwhle Pint is discussing with the other guests in the Inn.

"We have made powerful magic," says Mistress Weather, "and the goddess Hecate has come amongst us in human form. We see now why Caitlin went to the orcs. It was the dark side of the goddess, drawing her towards them. And they won't sell her as a slave - there's no way they could get her over the Black mountains."

"This is nonsense" says Macey, "My daughter was never a prostitute. I see that dwarf has a sceptical air. I share it. My daughter ran out because she was so upset that Henry Fitzroy promised to marry her, then it emerges that he's engaged to someone else. She just wanted some time and space."
"Fitzroy even promised to marry me" says Martha, "It was all nonsense, of course. But he's rich, isn't he?"
"Actually he's not" says Macey, "He relies on an income from his father. He doesn't have means of his own. That's why the King wanted him to have some lands".
"My lands", says Lady Helena.
"If the orcs aren't going to sell Caitlin as a slave - thank goodness - " says Kitty, "what do they plan to do with her, Mistress Weather".
"Sacrifice" cackles Mistress Weather.
"Then you must save her" says Macey. "Pint, Dalin, where is that cleric?" You must ride into the woods and mount a rescue."

"I am commanding officer here" says Lieutenant Peter, "I can't put more people, maybe the whole Inn, at risk to save just one. But I agree that there is maybe something we could do. If anybdoy has a plan, please run it by me for permission".

She listened closely to Samuel’s take on matters. “I’d find it hard to believe it was Kitty as well,” she agreed. Though something about the girl was still bothering her… the King’s obvious concern over her, paired with the mentions of the King having a daughter. “Does she get along with Fitzroy?” She asked… trying not to come right out and ask if Kitty was Henry’s sister. That would likely lead to questions that might out Mr. Swathmore as the king.

But then her jaw dropped at the next bit of news.

“Rosalind made Martha?!” Brenna exclaimed. “Why?…. How?” She fumbled the questions, shocked that a mother would have such a direct hand in that aspect of her son’s life. It seemed … unhealthy. “Why would she do that?! Surely Fitzroy was not short on women fawning over him! What did she do, threaten to fire her?”

She shook her head, trying to focus on Samuel’s last question to her despite now thinking about how Rosalind had gotten so bent out of shape about her just washing her hands in the kitchen after handling the rats. "I think there's something to her readings, yes..." she admitted.

Though the realization that she really did believe made her worried all over again about the first reading she'd gotten from Mistress Weather this night and she did her best to push those worries aside as they closed the distance to the stable...

Pint shook his head at the request to mount and ride into the forest to try and save to Caitlin.

“I hate to say it but Lieutenant Peter is right.” He almost felt nausea having to call that obvious rookie a lieutenant.

“Dalin and I would be the only ones worth a fight against the orcs in these conditions. The rest of ye all are humans and ye canna see in the dark like we dwarves can. Unless ye can find me a regiment of dwarves or.. I dunno...Hobgoblin mercenaries— anyone that can see in the dark and can fight worth a damn.” Which in Pint’s mind was not any of these soldiers. “I ain’t going.”

Honestly, Pint already had his hands full protecting the king, Dalin and Brenna. He had everything to lose by going into the forest.

“Sorry, maybe I can do something about it in the morning.” Provided they hadn’t sacrificed the girl already that is.

Cruel? Perhaps. But Pint’s ultimate goal was to get stinking rich, he wasn’t running a charity here.

It was good that Galiena wasn’t here to watch Pint bail on rescuing someone, she’d be very disappointed...

"Kitty and Fitzroy?" says Samuel, "Oh, they get on like a house on fire. She's his favourite barmaid. He was flirting with Kitty first time he saw her, I mean, really flirting. That's probably why Rosalind got Martha to share a bed with him. Kitty won't give him what he wants, unless he marries her, and Henry Fitzroy might do just that. She doesn't want her son marrying a barmaid. So she distracts him with Martha. Also she shows Kitty the bad side of his character. Kitty's got her head screwed on, she might have more sense than to accept Fitzroy when she sees how he treats Martha. Cunning, is Rosalind."

He pitches some hay to a horse, and Brenna see the swellings on his neck stand out - scrofula.

"Martha told me that Rosalind said she would send her away with a bad reference if she didn't go with Fitzroy. Martha would probably be on the streets. She made out it was all for the Inn - you entertain the King's son properly, and all that. But that wasn't really it. It was to keep him away from Kitty. I'm sure of it."

"If you believe Mistress Weather's cards, Rosalind is a rich woman. But I would have thought, with poisoning, you'd be looking at Mistress Weather herself. I must confess, I don't trust her. I thought of going to ask he to cure my neck, but I don't think I will now. Too mixed up in all this business. Why do you think she's not a charlatan?"

"Rex, Lupus!" he calls the dogs, "Let's do another round of the yard."


"I'm employed to protect Mistress Weather," says Dalin, "if I could help rescue Caitlin with no danger to her, I would agree to do it. But I can't leave Mistress Weather at the present time. The murderer is still on the loose, and might strike again. Besides, it is Caitlin's fault she got captured. I have little sympathy."

"It is the call of the darkness" says Mistress Weather, "it wasn't really her fault. We all have a dark side of our nature we try to integrate. See my Moon card".
She produces the Moon tarot card.
"See those three red stones on the shore? They represent the three natures of Hecate. Imagine Caitlin as the crawfish, leaving the secuity of the pond, and setting off on the winding road between the two opposites of reason and imagination. She was over-protected, was Caitlin."

"Whilst the orcs are busy with Caitlin, maybe you and I and Kitty could make a break for it." says the King quietly to Pint. "Their real objective is to kill me, I'm sure. Someone must have betrayed me."

((I’m feeling “PC dense” as the clues are beginning to repeat and I still haven’t figured it out. ))

“Oh…”

Well, there went her theory of Kitty being the King’s daughter. Probably. Maybe. At least.. it seemed less likely based on what Samuel was telling her. There was a remote possibility that Kitty and Fitzroy didn’t know themselves that they were siblings, but that seemed far fetched. Why the King’s interest in her then? Was it simply because he knew his son fancied her?

As the dogs didn’t find any orcs in the stable, Brenna relaxed slightly. But then who … or what … had she seen slipping through the gate? Maybe it hadn’t been anything but her imagination or a trick of the light. She had been in a very big hurry, after all. Nevertheless, she accompanied Samuel on his next lap around the compound.

“Maybe it’s a silly reason, but I have a difficult time imagining a dwarf being hoodwinked by a charlatan. And if Darlin trusts her…” she let the statement fall off. Part of her wished she didn’t put any stock at all in the fortune-teller. Then she could quit worrying about this demon lover and the trouble he was going to bring.

“Can you see any motivation for Mistress Weather to have killed him?” She asked.

“See? There ye go. It’s out of our hands.” Pint shrugged and gestured towards Dalin and Mistress Weather, one saying he couldn’t go and the other claiming it was fate. At the end of the day, Pint did hate leaving the girl to the orcs but a rescue mission would be suicide.

He frowned as the king suggested making a run for it and whispered to him. “With all due respect yer majesty, the inn is the safest place right now. We may have a poisoner on the loose here but there could be hundreds of orcs out there for all we know.”

“We just have to make it through the night.”

"Dalin, yes I trust him" says Samuel, "but never telling a lie isn't the same as knowing everything. I don't like his mistress at all. Which in my book, makes her guilty."
He sighs.
"Captain Baring dies of poison. Then it turns out that one of the guests is an expert in poisons. That can't be a coincidence. Then that expert in poisons claims to know who the poisoner is - I know she used cards, but what did she do? Did she choose the cards herself? It's too suspicious Brenna. You've got to figure out what's her involvement."
"Then I don't know what her motive might be. Maybe pure malevolence. That's what witches are like."

"We've got some of the best ossses I've ever seen in the stable. Lady Helena's palfrey, the the Petulan ambassador's 'os. Then Macey's and Caitlin's. No regular 'acking osses those. Then Mr Swathmore's. I've never seen such a fine 'os. How he got that, I can't tell. So maybe that's it. Maybe someone wants to steal the osses."

"If Mistress Weather is right, and Caitlin, Kitty, and that cat are mainfestations of the triple goddess, we're not going to make it through the night, are we?" says Lady Helena. "You men are all useless. I can't believe that there were ten of you out there to four orcs, and you still let Caitlin be captured."
"I did what I could," says Lieutenant Peter, "but if people are going to leave the Inn without my permission, how can I keep everybody safe?"
"You never really wanted to marry Fitzroy, did you?" says Macey, "If you hadn't said 'yes', Caitlin wouldn't have run out, and none of this would have happened."
"So now it's my fault, is it?" says Lady Helena. "The King would never have allowed Fitzroy to marry Caitlin. So she should have shown a bit of initiative. Eloped. Except then she wouldn't be able to go to court, which is all she was interested in."
"It was all settled long ago", says the Petulan ambassador. "I'm genuinely sorry it has come to this, but it's no-one's fault except Caitlin's".
"And Fitzroy, for implying he was going to marry her when he couldn't" says Lady Helena.
"Fitzroy has an honourable side as well" says Kitty, "You mustn't think too badly of your future husband"
"How dare you speak to the Lady Helena like that?" explodes the Petulan ambassador, "You, a serving wench!"
"The goddess is working her magic" says Mistress Weather, "She's not afraid of you any more".
"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" says Mr Swathmore, "Kitty is no slave. Look how beautifully she carries herself, how quiet but confident her air."
"I beg your pardon if I offended you, your Ladyship" says Kitty.
"Think nothing of it" says Lady Helena, "he's just an ambassador. A high level servant. But just a royal servant, like you."

The talking goes on a bit more. The king takes the chance to speak to Pint quietly.
"I'm not sure what's going on with Kitty", he says, "but something is happening to her. Maybe her personality is merging with Caitlin's. I don't know."
Pint takes another look at Kitty, who is busy at the bar, and gets that strange feeling again.

“I thought that too… but….” Brenna shook her head, unconvinced that Mistress Weather was the culprit in Baring’s murder. “…Dalin doesn’t strike me as the sort to be hood winked easily. And I drew my own cards for the reading.”

Not that she knew Dalin very well, of course. “Don’t you think he’d have picked up on it if she were a malevolent witch?”

She didn’t mention the cat at the moment. If anyone was a witch, it was that thing… but was it good or evil? She could prescribe even less motivation to Catherine the cat than to Mistress Weather herself.

“Possibly,” she commented about his ‘steal the horses’ theory. She’d never taken much of an interest in the animals beyond the basics. And could not have pinpointed exactly what made one horse superior to another. But she could guess easily enough why ‘Mr Swathmore’ has the nicest one. Sounded to her like he needed to be more careful with his disguise.

Pint rolled his eyes as Lady Helena went on another one of her rants. If he could, he would cover his ears to drown out the arguing but that would make it a little too obvious.

He really wanted to yell at everyone to shut up, but not only would that stoke their fires, he would probably risk offending some royal types which would end up with him not getting paid.

“Hmm??” Pint gave a grunt as the king suggested there was something wrong with Kitty. He was getting some strange vibes from her and he kept a wary glance on her. Maybe if he did some small talk she’d show some of her cards.

“Ey there lass.” Said the dwarf as he all but slid next to her trying to act smooth. “How come a pretty thing like ye ain’t married yet, huh?” Pint was tremendously bad at flirting and he was honestly not trying to hit on Kitty but he was absolutely out of ideas here.

"You drew your own cards?" says Samuel, "That's impossible. She must have used some trickery, some sleight of hand. And maybe she tricks Dalin too. I'm sure he's honest, like. But he's not the sharpest tool in the box. You could maybe tell a lot, questioning him, him telling no lies and that".
You leave the stables and do another circuit of yard, with the dogs.
"See how the pigs are all excited and grunting about" says Samuel, as you reach the pig sty, "Because they know there are orcs around. Normally they would be asleep, this time of night. They think they are going to get revenge on us, for us eating them. And maybe they are right."
"Now that rich woman she said was the culprit. Did she say anything more about that? I'm thinking, maybe this Mistress Weather knows who the murderer is. She wouldn't make herself look bad by making a false prediction now, would she?"

You complete the circuit of the yard.
"Well I can quite categorically state that there is no orcs in this compund. Except the dead one, of course. You go back in the Inn lass, I need to guard the stable".

Pint is getting frustrated at the endless court gossip of the nobles. But he has got to endure it. The Petulan ambassador is in full flood.

"The important person here is the Lady Helena. She is engaged to be married to the King's son. And we know that there are some people who oppose this marriage. My suspicion lies on them. I demand that no soldiers be diverted to the attempted rescue of Mistress Caitlin, who has only herself to blame."
"Mistress Weather said my daughter was not wholly to blame for her actions, it was magic. That's right, Mistress Weather?" says Macey.
"We see deep magic" says Mistress Weather. "More than your marriage is at stake here, ambassador".

"How come I aren't married?" says Kitty, "I'm only fifteen, Sir ! I still have hope. But my mother is just a palace cook, and I never knew my father. So I've no dowry, and no-one to arrange a marriage for me. And I couldn't be a peasant woman, I'm not sturdy enough. It would have to be someone very special. My face is my fortune, except for this."
She flashes the ring on her finger.
"It's the only valuable thing I posssess. The King gave it to me when I left the palace as a leaving present. It came with instructions to keep it on my finger, always. I'd hardly ever seen the King - you don't, working in the kitchens. But I served plenty of the noble ladies."

Rosalind comes into the common rooom. "How about, she says, the women go to bed to catch up on some sleep, whilst the men remain awake to guard us through the night? The orcs will have to hide by dawn, then we can get the Lady Helena off to Fort Middlesburg."

"I'll try to ask him," she agreed. It probably wasn't a bad idea to speak with the dwarf, though she'd have to think on what exactly to ask. Somehow she didn't think "did your mistress murder Captain Baring" would do more than insult the dwarf. Unless the answer was 'yes'.

"Thank you for putting my mind at ease about the orc," she said to Samuel before she headed back inside to the Inn. At least she didn't need to worry (as much) about their horses being stolen or about one of the pig-like creatures sneaking in to slit her throat during the night.

She stepped back inside in time to catch some of the conversation and made her way over to Pint. "Horses are fine," she said. "I walked with Samuel and the dogs around the compound and all seemed okay other than animals being on edge."

She looked over toward Dalin, but as Rosalind suggested the women go to sleep, she thought that a good opportunity. Less people around might mean she could move about a bit more freely.

"We could use some rest..." she said, letting herself yawn.

Indeed, Pint had to endure all the endless royals gossiping if he wanted to get paid. He rolled his eyes and looked the other way as the ambassador insisted that no one went to look for Caitlin- that had already been determined to be logistically impossible, why was he still harping on about it?

Anyway, focusing back on Kitty, the dwarf frowned as she revealed her age. “So.. that means yer not an adult yet?” Even after all the time, Pint was still not sure how humans age. At fifty years old himself, Pint was considered a young adult by dwarven standards.

“Wait, the king gave ye that ring??” Talk about suspicious. But again, Pint couldn’t really do anything about it other than perhaps steal it.

Speaking of, he was glad to see Brenna retuning and he pulled her to the side as she expressed wanting to go to bed.

“Actually lass, I’d appreciate if ye stay up with me. I need another pair of eyes to keep guard on the king. I’d be willing to split the reward fifty fifty. Wot do ye say?”

“Fifty gold pieces enough fer a night with me?” He immediately facepalmed himself realizing what he just said to Brenna. “I mean, to stand guard- bollocks, I need coffee.”