After passing through the mirror, you see what appears to be a rooftop of a rundown building - given the size and general structure it is probably a warehouse of somekind. The dimensions of the rooftop look like it is about 50 meters by 40 meters. You are roughly in the center of the roof. There is a lot of broken glass in the immediate area from a broken window in the side of a small structure on the roof - probable where the stairs lead down into the building. Beyond the roof you see several similar looking buildings on both sides in a row (call it east-west since that is what it would have been in the Chancel and you can't see the sun through the smog). To the north, you see what looks like a busy harbor filled with large freight boats and assorted smaller craft. To the south you see a fairly large city spread out. The sky is colored with soot and it appears a sharp strong wind is blowing. You can hear the sounds of steam engines and the occasional shout from below over the wind. The air stinks of coal smoke and brine. [Desiree]

As Hu arrives, he sees Desiree still standing near the Gate taking a look around at the rooftop, in particular at a patch of the gravelly rooftop off to one side of the roof.

A moment later, Allegra arrives as well, apparently in mid-sentence. "...things. They are most fond of breaking things. It has no name. And, it is most dangerous. I think that about sums it up."

As Allegra talks to herself, Hu stares up at the sky and mutters angrily to himself. It's something about childish Nobles who are not willing to behave themselves even when in front of others. "He was a guest there, after all," he finishes.

Looking up from her scribblings, Allegra smiles confidently. "I believe this is a job for The Mole. The Mole. My contact at the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. Perfect for him really, seeing as how the Padfoot is most likely on the hunt for a soul to suck and if it should find a suckable soul, it would prove a most dramatic event. Now, if you were a Padfoot, where would you go? Legend seems to a lonely country scene, yet, souls are few and far between in such places. No, I would rather think that an infant would seek out a more populous area. Easier pickings, so to speak. I can't imagine a better hunting ground than the east side of London, by the docks. Whitechaple. They are quite used to the occasional missing person, the poor louts are all missing from something down there. Also, there are many places to hide. Have you ever been down there? Drunks, prostitutes, rogues of every sort, the wretched of the earth without a copper to their name. Easy prey there. All it has to do is wait for the sun to go down and the area becomes a veritable buffet."

"Allegra, dear," Hu continues, "I may not be an expert on geography, but I do believe there is quite a lot of water between here and the Docks of London. Glass, I also believe, does not float exceptionably well. In fact, I rather think it tends to sink. Not only that, but I could even go so far as to argue that the persons associated with the nightlife of the London Docks do not have souls of a particularly high degree of quality. Certainly nothing that would cause a glass dog to swim there from Ireland.

"If you'd like to investigate matters there," the Power of Exploration continues, "you are welcome to do so, of course. I'm just thinking that it might be better to start our search closer to where the Beast was last reported to have been." [Hu]

Allegra looks up from her note pad and stares about her for several confused moments. "Well! Would you look at this! Indeed, London it is not! I suspect I should not be surprised, but I *had* thought we would be returning to the Grand Old City. Or at least Paris. Hu, if it were not for you, I would have marched straight into the sea and not blinked until I was assaulted by a whale. Thank you ever so much for straightening me out. Of course we cannot search through the stews of London from here, delightful though that may have been. Ah well, we shall have to save that bone for another chew."

Peering about intently, Allegra dives into her bag and pulls out a rather tattered map. "Now. Where exactly do you suppose we are? Not being an expert on Exploration, I find I have to rely on my maps rather heavily. A bit of work there when they are out of date, don't you know. I believe this one is sadly behind the times, it still calls the Emerald Isle Aerie. Or something like that, it's rather smudged at the top. Everywhere else for that matter."

"We are in County Cork, Ireland," remarks Neville dryly, appearing next to her and peering over her shoulder at her notebook.

In his breast pocket, something gibbers. He gives no indication that he knows about it.

"Perhaps, Darling," suggests Desiree to Allegra sunnily, "It might be more Effective to try a bit of Divination. For, after all, there is Cohesion nearly everywhere, is there Not? So both Locating it or Failing to Locate it thereby would prove a most Interesting turn of Events, don't you Think? And Neville, as you always Struck me as a Spirited fellow, perchance you could do the Advanced version of the Witch Hunt Rite? For I am most Curious as to whether the Portal was Wrench'd open by Means Mystical, or merely Unstopper'd by a Tragic Accident. And Hu, are my previous Thoughts on your changing Exporation for yourself and Thereby searching the Globe in mere Instants in any way practical, or are they a mere Fancy of my Overheated Imagination? A Pity Silas is not here yet, as he is the very Lynchpin of our Plan, of course, although dear Nikki, I would Venture to say, will probably prove most Effective once we Find the Beast, as we shall Undoubtedly need his calming Influence to render it Docile. And I, at any rate," Desiree concludes, "shall Do what I am Best Suited for."

And Desiree proceeds to stand and look pretty.

Allegra smiles back at Desiree, absolutely charmed with her antics as usual. "A Divination? Do you think it would be helpful? Well, of course you think so or you wouldn't have brought it up. Silly me. Right then. A Divination it shall be. I can look for areas where there is a ripple in the natural order of things, a spot where the fabric has been rent by a power not meant to be. In this case, a Padfoot! Of course there are constantly disruptive things going on everywhere, but that is *natural*, common, quite needed, in fact. But, when a creature such as a Padfoot is lurking about, it creates chaos and mayhem of a special sort. Mrs. Clause will need to assist me."

Plucking the attitude impaired feline from her bag, Allegra holds Mrs. Clause out away from her with her furry face pointed toward the horizon. Slowly turning in place, Allegra murmurs, "Find it." As the two turn, Allegra whispers, "Mrs. C. is quite sensitive when we Divine together. Puffs up like a bottle bush at the first twinge of our dear Cohesion going flat." [Allegra]

Silas and Nikita both arrive. The Family is now all present.

On the roof, Allegra is turning slowly with Miss Clause held at arm's length in front of her. The expression on the cat's face leaves no doubt that it feels its dignity is being put upon.

"The Padfoot was indeed here," Hu says quietly. "It left the city and travelled North, searching for roads, trees, and darkness. About six hours ago it found such a place. It hasn't searched for anything since then. The place we should be searching is about 6 and a half miles north of here."

He pauses, throwing his cigarette to the roof, and smothering it with his boot.¹ "I can have it decide to Explore someplace and then we can meet it there, if you like. I reckon we should have some plan about how we are going to subdue it before that happens, though. I get the impression that it's not quite a friendly critter."

"Well, then, we must depart at Once!" cries Desiree as she heads towards the way down. "We can Decide on an appropriate place to Meet it along the Way. As for how to calm it, perhaps darling Nikki can use his soothing Influence. Or, I am said to have something of a Way with Animals, if that proves Unfeasible. At the very least, Allegra can stick it in Place while we Ponder the Question. At any rate, if dearest Silas will Appropriately defutilize our plans, surely we cannot help but meet with Success!"

"Of course, Sister. Right away." Silas looks down to see that he has been writing in his notebook the whole time. The surprise only lasts a microsecond and he quickly reads over his work. "Yes... Hmm... Ah, yes. Quite clever." He flips backwards through pages, and nods appreciatively at the quality work.

"I don't believe I have the plan committed to paper in its entirety. I have no problem in working 'off the cuff,' so to speak. It's just that I can't give an accurate timetable without an itemized plan of attack to work with." Silas writes furiously as he talks, forgoing eye contact, a rudeness he allows himself when time is of the essence. Since time is always "of the essence," his conversational skills leave something to be desired.

"When we 'shoot from the hip,' as Brother Hu is fond of doing, there is an inevitable delay between the planning and the analysis. At the moment I'm attempting to remove the futility from actions we have already taken. I should have an up-to-date appraisal and full status report in approximately thirty-eight seconds."

Silas's pen and eyes zip through his notebook. Once or twice, he appears to have a rubber stamp in his hand, but it disappears in a blink. [Silas]

"By all means," says Hu quickly, before Desiree can make any sort of comment about shooting from the hip, "Let's go find this thing."

"Animal Magnetism," Nikita says, shaking his head as he heads off towards the last known location of the Padfoot, "is not truly a way with animals, Desiree, though the padfoot isn't really an animal, either." [Nikita]

Allegra stops turning in place facing directly north. In her hands, Mrs. Clause has puffed into a splendid imitation of a ripe dandelion top; her whiskers arching forward stiffly and her tail looking exactly like a bottle brush.

"Hu is absolutely right!! The Padfoot is north of us!" Running her hand over the electrified fur of her cat, Allegra searches out every single clue she can. "Yes ... yes ... oh dear ... slender specifics ... right then. The Padfoot has already struck! Only a mile or so away, not two miles but certainly more than one. Sometime early this morning yet it is difficult to tell exactly when from up here. It certainly did not waste any time once it arrived. At least it has a full tummy right now and isn't hunting. That's something positive. I suppose once we find the beast we are going to have to make it cough up the soul it has pinched. I couldn't bear to leave behind a body without its soul. A rather messy state of affairs, leaving behind shelled bodies. They aren't just so many peanut husks on the floor of a nasty pub, after all."

Neville merely raises an eyebrow at this comment.

Tucking the cat into her bag, Allegra gives her scarf a tug and squares her shoulders. "Forward then? At least downward, considering where we are." Crunching through the glass fragments, she follows the others off the roof and onward to confront the escaped glass beast.

Desiree strides toward the low structure with the broken windows which is next to the pile of broken glass serving as the Chancel Gate. The door opens to her touch and she begins descending the steps into the warehouse. There is virtually no light except a few weak slivers and spots. The echo of Desiree's footsteps on the metal steps suggest the building is largely empty.

After 35 seconds of work, Silas puts away his pen and tears off a sheet of paper. "All done, and ahead of schedule. As of now, if we act upon the elements of the plan previously put forth, it is officially Not Impossible that we will succeed in returning the padfoot to Locus Pararch unharmed and within an acceptable timeframe. 'Acceptable timeframe' in this case being within the lifetime of the padfoot OR that of the last surviving member of our current Family; whichever is shorter. I will provide updates as necessary." [Hu]

Under the new illumination, you can see that you are descending down a somewhat rickety-looking metal stair. The stair descends to a catwalk that crosses the middle of the warehouse, suspended by wires from the ceiling. The catwalk extends in both directions were it runs around the walls of the warehouse. At the north end, there is a supervisor's room. The room appears to be two stories (it is both at the catwalk and ground levels). Its windows are dark. There are also several stairs down along the walls. Above the catwalks, large screws run across the building. (These would turn to move pallet lifters back and forth along the length of the warehouse.) [Neville]

The ground floor is mostly empty. Here and there broken pallets are piled. Here and there a rat stops what they are doing to regard you. The pallet lifters are motionless and the cables that they would use to carry their loads now droop unevenly. The coal furnace next to the supervisor's room is dark. There doesn't even appear to be a coal scuttle left behind. The main doors are all closed, and one is crumpled slightly suggesting that the counter-balance spring is probably broken. There are two smaller doors, both closed. One is to the docks, the other is next to the supervisor offices leading out to the north.

From outside, you can hear the hiss and rumble of steam engines and the shouts of dock workers.

While descending the stairs, Allegra's nose suddenly twitches and a sparkling curl escapes from her carefully coifed hair style. With twinkling eyes she announces, "Tea Time! Queue up for a cup and saucer." Not waiting for a line to form or seeming to be concerned that walking down a wreck of a staircase while pouring might prove hazardous, she draws forth a china teaset for each of her 'siblings'. This particular antic is an old and familiar one to all the Chancel Nobles, each having their own odd compulsions and quirks. In light of the fact that a Noble, who should remain anonymous, has the rather dangerous need to fire a pistol at the top of every hour, this need for Tea Time is a minor, but pleasant, annoyance. [Neville]

"Yes, yes, I know. Rotten timing, but time does march on as it always will and we simply must fortify ourselves if we are to maintain our cheery dispositions. Make the best of it I always say." Pulling out a teapot from her bag, she lifts the lid and sniffs, "Oooo! China Black! Delightful! Never know what this dear old pot will come up with, but it always seems to know what is best for the occasion. Biscuit anyone? Lemon wafers today."

Hu takes the tea gladly. "Thank you, Allegra dear. It would be a sad state of affairs if we were forced to miss Tea! As to the biscuits, I think I'll ..." He lingers, savoring the choice, "... pass for today. But thank you kindly for the offer. Would anyone like some sugar?" He searches through his pockets and eventually pulls out a handful from the depths of his jacket. "I tried to come prepared, but I'm afraid I did not have time to cube it properly."

Glancing up from her hostess duties, Allegra takes a look about the warehouse. "Dreary, isn't it? Can't imagine how it escaped my notice. Well, warehouses are not exactly top on the list for restoration. One can only do so much in a day, and I'm quite certain I will need to glue a few things back together elsewhere. Best save the effort for later. Careful now. I wouldn't fancy anyone pitching off the walkway with cup in hand. Yes, best to move on. Our Padfoot certainly isn't going to sit on its bum and wait for us while we enjoy ourselves."

Marching ahead toward the nearest descending staircase, pouring tea as she goes, Allegra swats aside the dusty air and warns, "Mind your tea! The room is simply a riot of dust."

"Psst," Nikita says to the rats, "come over here. You seen a padfoot?" [Nikita]

"It's taken the form of a big ol' black ram," adds Hu, more to Nikita than the rats. "Not to tell you what to do, Nikita, but could you maybe do one of them Greater Divinations and work out where exactly this Padfoot is? It should be an almost trivial matter for you, right?"

Silas takes his tea with a short "thank you" and adds an item to 'The Plan.' "Take Tea," he mumbles as he writes, then continues with various calculations as he drinks. He stands there like that for a few seconds; drinking and holding his newspaper with his left arm, somehow writing and holding his notepad with his right hand. "China Black... Carry the 'T'..." Silas's eyes widen for a moment and he almost chokes on his drink. [Silas]

Allegra smiles happily at Silas, "Ever so glad to be a source of comfort and pleasure for you. It makes me content beyond words. You are a dear."

"Thank you, Allegra, darling," says Desiree gratefully as she sips her tea and very carefully picks her way down the stairs to the warehouse exit. She has once again slipped into a vague I-got-bored-and-therefore-distracted-for-a-fraction-of-a-second-and-have-now-com pletely-forgotten-exactly-what-it-was-we-were-supposed-to-be-doing kind of expression.

"My dear," says Neville to Allegra, again in his "You're Not My Dear" tone. "Why tea? Why now? Tea-time is yet thirty eight point four three minutes away. I should think you are more punctual than this."

The family descends the stairs to the crosswalk running over the center of the warehouse. Desiree takes a left at the crosswalk and keeps going. There are a several ways down to the ground floor. There are four ladders down from the catwalk against the walls. One is ahead (relative to Desiree's new direction) and about 50 feet to the left (and relatively close to the door exiting to the docks) another one up ahead and about 50 feet to the right, and then two more ladders opposite these on the other side of the warehouse (opposite Desiree's direction). The back door (towards the city) of the warehouse on the back wall opposite the corner where the front door is.

Several rats are now following under you sqeaking up at you and at each other, and scrambling for any crumbs dropped from Allegra's Tea.

"Oh, Neville, Neville," sighs Desiree as she continues to make her way padfoot-ward, "If you really wish to be nitpicky, English tea - for while tea is, of course, native to China, it spread by the first millenium AD to all of East Asia, and in the seventeenth century to Europe (although, strangers to Chinese and Japanese customs, the Europeans added milk to tea and then sugar), and in England its adoption is credited to Cathe-"

"I am familiar with the history of English Tea," says Neville acidly.

"-rine of Braganza or Anna, Duchess of Bedford, who are said to have taken tea in the afternoon with pastries, a custom that the British continue today, a practice I shall refer to hereafter as the English-style tea ceremony, to distinguish it from the Japanese tea ceremony, which has its origins in Zen Buddhism and the glorification of beauty as its object (however, where Anderson sees in Japanese tea ceremony a ritual that reaffirms the world, Schivelbusch detects an expression of bourgeois class consciousness), although it has been argued that the English have no true ceremony of tea in the same sense, but, if the Japanese tea ceremony is the only tea ceremony, then certainly no other people on earth practice a tea ritual, and, as the Chinese and Korean tea rituals have been amply docum-"

"...what you spectacularly fail to answer is why we seemingly must pause here, now, in the middle of a rat-infested warehouse, lest we as civilized Englishmen miss a ritual for which the commonly accepted time has not yet arrived," Neville attempts to interrupt once again. Neville more or less ignores the rest, concentrating instead on the job at hand.

"-ented, Goodwin, Hobhouse, and many others argue that the English practice of afternoon tea, while not the same as the Japanese rite, is in every sense of the word a ceremony, and its importance may be duly revealed, as the anthropologist Sidney Mintz notes, by the transformation of the English diet with the introduction of what he calls the 'tea complex': the replacement of one or two meals daily with tea, jam, and bread-substituting addictive sugar and tea for more filling vegetable foods, which, as consumption of tea and sugar increased, caused the older use of alcohol to fade slightly, and this tea ritual - that is to say, gathering for tea in the afternoon, accompanied always by sweet pastries and sometimes by meat or savory foods, presided over by women and adhering to decorum, and which may be a gathering of friends and relatives or a formal affair announced by engraved invitations, although at any but the largest teas the hostess, with her servants if she had any, makes pastries and bakes bread, or buy these things from a store, and when the guests arrive, she boils water, using it to warm the pot before she puts the leaves in, that pot usually being porcelain, or silver for the very best company, and the same goes for the cups, and to the warmed pot the hostess or her helper adds one spoonful of leaves per cup and one for the pot, then pours boiling water over the leaves, which in three minutes, usually, means that the tea has been brewed, and can be poured by the pourer, in England called 'mum', who is usually the hostess, while the guests add sugar and milk or lemon, which is served along with the tea - lemon and milk are never added together - and the cakes or bread can then come round, their elaborateness depending on the circumstances, although none of this truly conveys the immaterial part of the tea ritual - that is to say, the creation and re-creation of the social world of the tea-takers, which, like the reading of novels, is a feminine pastime (in the words of Nancy Scherer-Hughes, a gendered work - although with so few outlets, it is little wonder that we women cluster round the tea table), despite the fact that, of course, both men and women take tea, and a man who wishes the approval of the ladies must be a gentleman, and as polite at the tea table as we are, and, while some modern women see etiquette, the taking of tea, and the use of the language of flowers - tasks that reaffirm peoples' expectations of sex roles - as also ways to keep women occupied without really educating them - the womanly arts are in fact something more, that is to say, a way for women to carve out a sphere of influence, however small, and to build a base on which to establish more lasting achievements (and I would dare say that efforts toward moral reform and suffrage have grown out of such beginnings), but, to get back more closely to the subject at hand, that is to say, the English tea ritual, it is also interesting to note incidentally that the British preferred green tea to black until about 1900, although green tea is almost unknown today, and the reason for this is unclear (certainly the Chinese and Japanese prefer green tea to black, but green tea's decline is heard to explain, and, further, black tea tastes vile when left to stew, whereas Green tea, drunk without milk, does not, but milk consumption has been rising and that of green tea dropping from the mid 1800^Òs to the present), and possibly this is because the practice of boiling tea in a pot ruins green tea and the need to treat green tea gently has likely kept many people from making it twice in these modern and fast-moving times, which is ironic when one considers the social meaning of tea, which, from its advent in the West, has carried with it a connotation of ease, calming, and relaxation - a paradox, as tea is a stimulant - and, of course, the connotation of 'tea' go far beyond the cup itself, since, as I have already stated, 'tea' is a ritual involving pastries, sugar and milk for the tea, and a sense of order and decorum, almost recalling the tea ceremonies of the Chinese and Japanese with whom the beverage originated - all of which goes to support my thesis, that is to say, while the ritual of tea is complex on many levels, nothing in the English ceremony dictates that it need to conform to any particular time save that it be in mid-afternoon, and indeed attempting to make it a slave to such a precise clock, not to mention reprimanding the hostess for failing to adhere to it, contravenes the essential sociocultural mores of taking tea in the first place. So there."

"The padfoot lays this way," Nikita says, pointing in a particular direction. "And it is currently not moving!" Being the impulsive sort, he begins to move in that direction, unless something is obviously in the way of going in that direction, such as a large wall or something.

"Shall we pursue it, then, rather than fussing about with crumpets?" snaps Neville. Nikita and Neville take a right at the crosswalk and begin walking (in the opposite direction in which Desiree is traveling).

[short summary and layout of warehouse]

Turning toward Neville, Allegra tosses her hair and shrugs. "Neville, I can only do what I must when the spirit strikes. We have all been stressed by Inter-Chancel travel, a new and most dangerous assignment, and the interruption of our dear past times. A spot of tea is appropriate, particularly when it appears we have a bit of a traipse ahead of us. Quite fortifying. You can save yours for later if you care. It will be cold, but it cannot be helped. If you would like, you can work on my timepiece, I know *I* would greatly appreciate it. It *is* rather mucked up. That way, I could be perfectly on time. In light of my past, that would be quite something, wouldn't it?"

"YooHoo!! Desiree!! Where in the world are you off to? You are going to become lost and that would mean you would miss out on the hunt! Come back, dear. I would love to hear more about tea." Following Neville, Allegra looks at the biscuit in her hand and comments, "It's not a "crumpet", it is a lemon wafer. Quite a different thing altogether."

"Very little good can be said of being on time, Ally," Nikita says, daring to use a shortened form of his sibling's name. "Better to be fashionably late, than unfashionably on time." That said, he continues to skip ahead towards the location of the glass Padfoot.

"Much as it pains me to admit this Nikita," Neville says, blinking more than is his custom, "But I am much more of the mind to agree with Allegra in this matter."

"You," Niki says to the Dominus of Clockwork, "are biased."

"You," Neville replies to the Dominus of Influence, staring over his pince-nez, "Are insane. The perceptive among us will notice that I still work with you."

Desiree is continues to walk toward the west. Silas follows her. They take a right at the wall and descend the ladder near the furnace. Meanwhile, Nikita continues to walk east, along with Allegra, Neville, and Hu. They take a left at the wall and head down the ladder next to the rear exit. The rats, initially following under you as you walk along the catwalk, scurry away as you descend. Desiree and Silas reach the bottom of their ladder and then cross back over the floor of the warehouse to meet the rest of the Family by the rear door. Beyond the rear door you hear the occasional rumble of trucks and shouts, although not as many as were heard at the front.

Desiree concludes her soliloquy as she rejoins the majority of the family, delivering her concluding "So there!" directly to Neville. She looks vaguely self-satisfied for a second, and then her expression becomes perplexed.

"Hm," she muses. "I had rather expected Something to Happen, given all the Importance seemingly attached to our Relative Positions within the warehouse. But it seems to have all been Utterly Irrelevant. Ah, well. How shall we best Encounter our Prey? Hansom cab to outside the city limits, and meet it There?"

She opens the back door, and assuming there is no reason not to, walks through.

Threading her arm through Desiree's, Allegra grins. "Nearly thought we were going to lose you there for a moment. You must have many things on your mind, it's not like you to drift like that. Would you like a Cohesion Patch to keep you near the what are to be certain to be Exciting Events? It would be no trouble at all. As to hiring a mode of transportation, I would have no objections. Walking to the Padfoot would be tiresome in the extreme. Also time consuming." She wrinkles her nose at the thought of a long hike.

"Oh! Before I completely forget, here you go, Neville. My timepiece. Rather sad shape. Sorry for the mess, but as you can see, it can hardly be expected to run correctly with its gears stuck together like this." Handing Neville a lovely pocket watch which is rather worse for the wear and is sporting clumps of a long forgotten afternoon repast, Allegra daintily wipes goo from her gloves. "There. Problem solved. Now on to more interesting things!" Following Desiree outside, Allegra takes a deep breath, "Ah, the scent of a bustling city. Nothing like it for inspiration."

The door to the warehouse swings open on rusty hinges, heavy and slowly. Behind the warehouse, Desiree and Allegra find themselves to be in an alleyway, just large enough for one of the midsized steam trucks to travel down. One of the more hopeful rats sits twitching his nose at Allegra, hoping she'll drop a few more crumbs as she leaves.

Allegra wrinkles her nose at the hopeful rat, proclaiming, "No. The last bite is mine. Go twitch your whiskers at someone else. What do you want to do? Ruin your teeth? Eat yourself into a sugar stupor so a cat can pick you off at its leisure? I think not. Now scoot. Go on before I decide Mrs. Clause needs some exercise."

As they step out into the city air the sounds and smells which had been muted in the stale, still warehouse rush over them once again. From here the alleyway runs just a short distance east and west, crossed by larger streets on either end upon which a fair amount of traffic can be seen, mostly in the form of dock activity. On the street to the left, some dock workers appear to be wrestling with some boxes, trying to load them onto the back of a truck.

Looking to Desiree, Allegra sighs, "Well, we certainly are not going to find any kind of reputable transportation lurking about in an alley. Seems we ended up at the docks despite the country of choice. And one dock is as good as another what with stabbings, shootings, low brow entertainment, women of the evening, absolutely no lack of excitement to be found. Shame that we must move on, I should like to take in a variety show. Now, we must choose an exit from this dreary alley. Shall we go east, or shall we go west? It doesn't matter a great deal as we will eventually be going north toward our prey." Looking down at the crumpled map in her bag, she sighs, "I'm certain my dear little map doesn't show this particular area. It can only be responsible for so many byways, after all."

"The padfoot is up that way, I do believe," Nikita says, nodding in a direction and, barely hesitating before taking the most direct route possible under the circumstances.

Neville, content to let the others spend their MPs on divinations, follows warily.

Desiree suddenly starts in surprise. "Oh, my Goodness! How very Peculiar. Have you ever had the Most Unusual experience , where, although you have but Blink'd, you feel that somehow Days and Days have passed without your being Aware of them? I Wonder what is the Cause of such things. Ah, well. If we are to Progress by Hansom Cab, I would suggest that we head towards the Busier street, being much more Likely to find one, rather than Haring off in Random directions as if we had no Plan."

She proceeds to walk in that direction, following Nikki if he is going that way and going in the opposite direction if he is not.

Nikita finds that due North is occupied by another warehouse, which appears to have a door in it further down to the left of the one which they stand; fortunately this also lies in the direction of the apparently busier street - the street where the dock workers are trying to load things onto a truck. [If Nikita decides to go into the warehouse rather than to the street let us know]

Walking down that direction, with Desiree in the lead, one of them looks up and accidentally drops the corner of his crate on his foot, the immediate pain causing him to look down and curse significantly while trying to remove said box from his foot.

It only takes a moment to reach the street and the dockworkers. Despite their loading there is enough space for the family to walk around them and out onto the busy street. From here to the left (south) they can see the docks, with a few ships immediately in their view and some further out from which the steam can be seen. Lining the street are what are presumably more warehouses, and various loading and unloading machines can be seen. There does seem to be a fair amount of traffic along this street and as the family turns to the right and heads north, they hear a whistle from somewhere behind them - presumably at Desiree.

"Nikita," says Neville, catching up. "Where is the Padfoot exactly? I require as specific information as you are able to produce."

And of course, Tap Tap Tap, though a bit faster than normal.

"Well, he's, uh... right over there, Neville." Nikita points in the exact direction of the glass padfoot. "We should get to him in, uh... a hair or two past a freckle," he says, glancing ceremoniously at his non-watch-bedecked wrist. "Come now, no time to catch a cab."

A small trail of smoke escapes Neville's ears, at Nikita's unhelpfully helpful precision. A moment later, Neville comments, 'The last sight of it I can find is about three miles in that direction, around 8-9 hours ago in the early morning.' [Neville]

The Family continues heading North along the street, after Hu gives a brief glare in the direction of the whistle. More catcalls follow from different groups as they walk along, only stopping for a brief bit should someone glare in the direction of the speakers.

"Eh, bold beor, c'mere 'n I'll give ya a ride!" calls one, followed by another across the street, "It'll be right better'n the feckin' tosser ye be with!" Laughter ensuses and someone else sniggers "Hey Brit, where'd ye find the li'l brasser?" [Neville]

As they walk, the docks become less crowded, and the catcalls fewer between. After about five minutes, a steam-powered cab trundles along the next cross street ahead, leaving a trail of whiter steam which rapidly blends into the city gloom.

"I Fail to Understand why walking Six Miles is in Some Manner speedier than acquiring a Vehicle," Desiree fumes. "You are all Behaving in a Manner I find Incomprehensible - why, that Nice Man offered us a Ride without our even Soliciting him, and you all Sped On as if he had not even Spoken! I Wish you would Sometimes take into Account that there are members of the Weaker Sex present." She spots the cab crossing the street ahead. "Oh! Perhaps if we Hurry we might catch That one!" She rushes ahead towards the cross street.

Allegra pales at the thought of taking the "ride" offered by the dockman and clears her throat, "Desiree? I believe the gentleman was referring to a roll in the hay rather than a mode of transportation. It is *not* the sort of "ride" one takes with a complete stranger, as it is in *his* interest and not in ours. Weaker though we may be, I fear I would have to disassemble him limb from limb should he force the issue. I would prefer to hike to the moon rather than take him up on his rude offer. Truth be told, I think I may disassemble him on the principle of the matter except our dear Neville seems to have taken care of that for us. Thank you, Neville. You are indeed a gentleman in the truest sense of the word."

Seeing her sister make a dash toward the available cab, Allegra follows in her wake like a leaf in an eddy. "Yoo Hoo! Kind Cab Man! We wish to employ you at once! It is a matter of gravest urgency, so all other potential riders must wait!" Hu takes off running after the taxi as well.

Niki rolls his eyes. "What is happening to the world today," he asks himself. "Can't people simply relax and enjoy a nice stroll?" He casually, without any great rush, saunters after his Familia.

With much of the family in a run, the cab driver, being the alert fellow that he is, slows and then stops and idles the steam-powered cab at the side of the street. While this view of the taxi is blocked by a low building, it is nonetheless evident for those looking by the steam which rises now in a more or less straight column from the vehicle.

Upon arriving, Desiree first followed by Allegra and Hu see that it is the usual type of steam powered taxi that one can find on the streets these days - perhaps not the sleekest of vehicles with odd pipes and shapes out and over it, as well as some interesting bubbles. Still, the interior is modestly comfortable, as well as heated somewhat, which perhaps is welcome or not depending on how hard individuals were running. The interior, alas, only seats four comfortably. The driver like the hansom cabs of yore is seated outside with a long steering column protruding to where he sits. This is still at the same level as the interior, however and as they arrive the driver says "Be ye needin' transportation? Ye look like it might be a bit nippy out fer ye."

Hu looks at the seating capacity of the cab, mentally counts the members of the Family, then looks at the driver. He grins. "Indeed. We do, in fact, be needin' transportation." With that, and an Aspect 1 miracle, he pulls the driver out of his seat and drags him to the ground. "This here's a hijackin'. I'd advise ya to not make a big deal out of it. We don't really have time to be messin' around." Hu stands above the driver, his good hand resting on the pistol that, for the time being at least, remains in its holster. He glares down at the man, waiting for the rest of the family to get in the taxi.

Neville mutters something unbecoming about the propriety of such an action, but makes no move to stop it either.

Some of the workmen around stare in shock for a moment and then start advancing, stopping only when they see that Hu has a pistol. Then, anyone listening overhears a quick heated discussion on whether they should call a cop or a foreman, with a couple of guys taking off after a few seconds in the easterly direction.

Below Hu, the cab driver sputters, "Wha...I ... " but seeing the pistol makes him just quiver instead, hoping this insane madman will get off his chest and wondering how the hell he will explain THIS to the boss.

With a squeak of excitement, Allegra hurries into the cab and takes a seat. "It's a hijacking! Quite thrilling, really. One always hears tales of pirating on the high seas, but on the street? It just isn't done. I hope Hu plans to drive, it would be silly for all of us to merely sit here and wait for the local constabulary to throw us in irons. How would we ever explain it to the Boss? 'Well, yes, Sir. We had the cab and were ready to set out. We simply forgot to do the setting out part.' I am certain he would frown severely at us."

Desiree looks absolutely appalled by the current turn of events.

"This is Madness! At some point in the Near Future, you must Inform me why we can't just Pay for a Taxi like Civilized People!" She removes a large sum of money from her purse and delicately places it on the prone figure of the cabby. "Here, sir. This is for our Ride, and any Rides you may Miss due to the Circumstances, and the Cost of the Taxi should it be Damaged or Destroyed, plus a Tip which is, alas, all I can offer as an Apology for any Inconvenience afforded you by these Ruthless Desperadoes, who are of course holding me, an Innocent, Captive at Gunpoint, or I should never Stoop to Joining them in such Terrible acts of Savage Rudeness." The driver barely even notices as Desiree places the money onto his chest.

She looks at the interior of the cab, and, realizing that even with Hu driving they are still one seat short for the entire family, asks, "May I, dearest?", and assuming she is given permission, sits in Allegra's lap. And snuggles in very, very close.

At the very last moment, Allegra moves her bag out of the way of Desiree's descending bottom. From beneath her sister's cloak, skirts, and sundry petticoats, she manages to wheeze out, "Feel free. Plenty of room. Nice and cozy this way. Warm, too. The Eye have mercy, are you wearing lead bloomers under there? I think I'm getting squashed. Here, stretch out your legs across Nikki's lap ... and keep them tightly crossed at the ankles. There are reputations to be considered. Wait, I have the perfect solution! Mrs. Clause? I need you to sit on Desiree and guard her virtue. One false move by anyone and you may shred them. There. With a chaperone in place we have no worries about proprieties." As Mrs. Clause takes position on Desiree, she knits out a comfy spot, crouches down, and goes into her 'Cat Disguised As A Meatloaf' act. Her eyes, however, are trained on Nikki and her flattened ears indicate she will entertain no nonsense.

Neville acknowledges none of this, definitely requiring an Aspect Miracle to do so.

Silas hurries to get into the taxi. As he does so, he notices - being the only one presumably out and paying attention at this point, a horse-drawn carriage clopping up the street. Upon the carriage top, just below the driver, is a sign stating "Taxi".

However, the driver, seeing the ruckus up ahead, decides that perhaps he had made an error in investigating this particular street, and quickly turns his horse to head down a perpendicular street heading down toward the docks themselves. Briefly, the sign visible on the side says "Cork Cab Company" before it disappears down the side street at a trot.

Neville grimaces. He stalks over to the downed driver, places something in the driver's shirt pocket, and stalks over to the vehicle. [Neville]

"Assuming you have drawn sufficient notice," he says acidly to Hu, "Let us be off."

After the scuffle is over, and just when everyone else finished situating themselves in the taxi, Nikita finally arrives, still walking at his leisurely pace, and climbs into the cab.

Hu nods to Neville. "Quite so, Sir Neville. Allegra, could you be a dear and make sure the streets are flowing smoothly in the northernly directions? I'd hate to get caught in a traffic jam. And Silas, could you perhaps attempt to make things a bit harder for those men over yonder and their quest to summon the police? No time to quibble over details, just do your best."

"Well there's quibbling and then there's clarif--" Silas stops, thinks better of it, then shrugs as if to say, 'As much as I'd like to quibble over the details of quibbling over details, I'm sure a gun-toting, frontier-living, action-oriented individual such as yourself would not appreciate such an exercise. Normally that wouldn't stop me, but I will respect your wishes and save the conversation for later, even though now would be the perfect opportunity to attack such splendid subject matter.'

Hu turns back to the driver and sneers, "Now git, before I really get angry."

With everyone stowed in the Taxi, Hu climbs into the driver's seat and pulls the taxi out into the street, heading in a northernly direction. [Hu]

As they leave, Silas gives a word of consolation to the fallen cabbie. "Don't worry, my good man. Our friend here is an excellent driver."

Silas unfolds his newspaper as best he can in the crowded cab, happily pages to an article of interest, and refolds it with the article on top. He reads for a bit. [Silas]

Hu gets the engine out of idle and takes off at the rapid pace of about 25 miles per hour, the few people in the road scattering out of their path. It doesn't take long for him to find a rather wide street heading what looks to be due North. As you drive along, you can see more horsedrawn vehicles than steam-driven ones, unsurprising because the cost for steampowered ones is higher than the average person can afford.

As you bounce along the rutted street, hitting numerous unavoidable holes, Hu occasionally swerves to avoid a pedestrian or errant ball, in addition to occasionally stopping for cross traffic. This has the inevitable consequence of bouncing Desiree against both Allegra and Silas, the two nearest to her.

It appears as the Family heads away from the docks that the neighborhoods become slightly nicer the further you get. After nearly ten minutes of jostling uncomfortably (or not, depending) up against each other, it seems that the neighborhood has even gotten quite affluent, for a smallish city such as Cork.

No one seems to be (to the eye, at least) following the car as you drive along. [Allegra]

Desiree emits small gasps as she is jostled about, and clings closer to her sibling.

Neville maintains his infuriated dignity, sitting upright and unmoved.

After riding for a bit, Allegra looks around Desiree's shoulder at the cat and exclaims, "Goodness! Look! Mrs. Clause has a bushed up tail!! The Padfoot has been here recently, quite recently judging by the fluff factor. But not here any longer I'm sorry to say. The fur isn't stiff enough. At least we are hot on its trail. That is something to be happy about. Sad about the soul that got sucked, though. Somewhere there is a husk of a person which quite goes against my nature. Loose ends and all. I wonder is a person can be unsucked? Once we get hold of the Padfoot, we might try to make it choke the soul up. Now, how to go about it ..."

They bounce along merrily - or not so merrily - as Hu continues to drive them in a generally northward direction. Occasionally they are forced to turn this way or that, but eventually the houses give way to more rural areas and they find themselves in the countryside. The roads become narrow and gravelly, with numerous ruts. The trees interspersed with the barren fields have nary a leaf upon their branches, and the sky remains grey and overcast despite smelling slightly better for being out of the city. Every now and then they pass a horsedrawn lorry.

After a bit more driving, Hu speaks to those inside the cab by way of a clever device built into the vehicle that allows communication between the inside of the taxi and the driver. "Hello? Nikita? I'm going to need some more specific directions here. I've lost track of our quarry in this general area. Have the rest of you come up with a plan to capture and transport the Padfoot back to the Gate?" [Nikita]

"I will have a construct bring it for us," declares Neville.

"Um... guys? The padfoot's gone," Nikita says.

"I beg your pardon?" says Neville calmly. [Silas]

"It just, you know... fell off the radar, so to speak. It WAS right over there," he says, pointing. "It started moving, and then... nothing. It's no longer somewhere where my miracle can affect it." He believes the others knows what he is talking about. [OOC Note: Anyone with aspect of 1 or higher could keep the "line of sight" Nikita pointed out in mind relative to the car on the roads, no matter how twisted they were, if you do choose to take the car.]

"Well, there are several possibilities," proclaims Neville irritably. "It was either enNobled, entered another Noble's Auctoritas, or entered a chancel. My guess is the second." Neville scowls, and looks to his fellows.

"Or anchored. But an Auctoritas was what came to mind myself."

"I would not mind a Padfoot as anchor," Neville muses to himself, in a voice that is meant to be overheard. You wouldn't know this to look at his face, however.

"But hopefully not THIS particular padfoot, Neville," Niki says advisedly.

"Indeed. Do we know of any particular enemies the chancel of Glass has made already?"

"Perhaps the chancels whose Estates those were prior? After all, for one Imperator to steal an Estate, another must lose one." [OOC GMly Note: There were not *necessarily* Nobles of those Estates before. There could have been, but it isn't necessary (maybe no one thought glass was important before or whatever). But yes, stealing estates often leads to enemies.]

The taxi slows down and pulls off to the side of the road. "I guess we'd better go investigate the location of the disappearance. Should we keep the car, or would it be faster if we hoof it?" asks Hu. "I ain't familiar with these Glass folks. I was thinking that this was probably just a straightforward job, but now I ain't so sure. It seems like there's more to it than there seems." He sighes, then brightens slightly as he discovers another possibility. "Maybe it's just a 'crucian trick to lure some hapless Nobles into an ambush or something. There's always that."

"And had you not hijacked the cab, perhaps they would have to use less mundane means to track us, if that is the case," snaps Neville. "At any rate, let us investigate the scene, and keep our options available until we have done so."

Allegra tries to move about beneath Desiree, nudging her sister to budge over so she can be part of the investigation. "Do you hear that, Desiree? We are going to investigate! Mover our elbow before you poke out my eye, it would be terribly inconvenient to investigate anything with only one eye. I can't get to my notepad while you are sitting on it, dear. Up you go, slide pass, one side, Lady coming through." Looking down at her hopelessly crushed skirts, Allegra sighs, "Drat. Nothing worse than looking like one of the Pigeon Girls. Well, no help for it now, there are clues to be gathered!"

Alighting from the taxicab, Allegra looks around, paper and pen in hand. [Allegra alights gracefully from the cab, slightly crumpled from serving as a cushion for a mass-enhanced Desiree (currently with 60% more mass than usual).] "Enemies of the Glass Chancel? With those Brownies running about? I would guess they have made plenty in a short time. Not *mortal* enemies, there is a limit to how angry one can become at the nasty little tricks the Wee Folk manage to pull off. But someone is likely to be feeling out of sorts with them already. We, on the other hand, have more than our share. I wouldn't put it past someone to attempt to lure us out on a goose chase in order to catch us unawares. I suppose it would be most prudent of us to keep an eye out for hints of another Chancel's hand in this."

Desiree has by now fallen fast asleep. After Allegra's exit, she turns to her side and unconsciously clings to Nikita tightly, having been deposited upon him by Allegra, and sleepily murmurs sweet nothings into his ear as the cab crashes through the underbrush.

At the words "wild goose chase" Silas's head pops up from behind his newspaper. "Let's hope so! Anyone who seeks to put _us_ off balance with a wild goose chase should re-evaluate their strategy. They should realize that any such diversions would pale in comparison to the convoluted details of our daily duties. Indeed, they'd be much better off blindsiding us with a logical progression of events towards clearly obtainable goals."

"Now that the padfoot has disappeared again," (He gestures towards the boldface, front page headline 'Padfoot Disappeared Again!') "we can start to see the direction this investigation will go. Either he can pop in and out of detection at inconvenient intervals or he is permanently gone from our sight. If we do ever find him, we'll probably find the padfoot has been enNobled by the Darkest Lord himself to become the Power of Naughty Puppies and Bad Dogs or somesuch thing."

"In any case, returning him to his former post will present us with an irresolvable conflict of interest of some sort. If previous experience is any indicator, whatever decision we make will result in intense suffering for the parties of the first part..." He makes a gesture to indicate this refers to his Familia.

"This is all speculation, of course. I don't have anything factual as of yet." He peeks at his notebook. "Oh, by the way: Element 14B of the plan is indeed futile." He states as an afterthought.

Silas rubs his hands together, renewed interest in his eyes. "Let's hurry to his last known location. I expect the complete lack of evidence there will be the first item in a long list of dead ends."

Neville blinks once, twice, at Silas. "I truly had never thought to appear overly optimistic by comparison," he declares with a scowl. "If you care to be damned indeed with faint praise, here is your opportunity."

Silas nods modestly in acknowledgement. "Thank you for your kind words, Neville. I didn't know you cared." The moment is somewhat spoiled by a little bewhiskered clockwork snout poking out of Neville's breast pocket, then retreating. As usual, Neville acknowledges this not at all.

"Let us make haste to the last known location, I agree," finishes Neville.

"Ahh, but Allegra is talking about a regular goose chase, without the qualifier 'wild'," says Hu from the driver's seat. "Perhaps the distinction, if this is indeed not a 'wild' goose chase, will be enough to catch us unawares. A more sedate goose chase, like what we've been doing, would probably be normal enough for us to be unused to it. Thus I suggest that we attempt to make this chase more wild."

"In fact," he continues after exploring the idea further, "I conjecture that the reckless theft of the taxi on my part has resulted in a delay in our erstwhile enemies' plans, as we have clearly demonstrated that we are not fully in control of the situation (as we must take drastic actions), and thus are more accustomed to our current role. Clearly, our greatest strength is our ignorance of the true nature of the situation, combined with our desperate need to achieve our goals. We must act without undue thought or subtlety! "

"...without undue thought or subtelty..." Silas quickly adds a few lines to 'the plan' in his notebook. "Some excellent thinking, Hu. Excellent! For a man who regularly fails to file handgun registration or adhere to proper bandana regulatory guidelines, you have a very keen mind."

He inclines his head towards his sister. "I apologize for the misquote, Allegra. I fear that at times, like all men, I only hear what I want to hear."

...And with that Hu drives the car off the road and across the barren fields, heading in a nearly straight (but bumpy) line towards the Padfoot's last known location.

Hu gives the car a sharp turn to the right. With a violent jolt the car leaves the road, plows through a hedge, and begins a direct path across the field in the direction the padfoot was last noted in, swerving to avoid trees and small pools of water when necessary. The cab rattles and creaks ominously as it travels its new course. Still, Hu manages to keep control of the vehicle and continues towards his goal. Despite Hu's avoidance of the major obstructions, the ride becomes signifcantly rougher than was experienced along the pitted road and anyone not performing at least a level 1 aspect miracle will be tossed about within the cab (or possibly out of it). Fortunately, the ground outside the vehicle looks soft.

Hu's path is taking the group along the edge of a moderately large copse of trees. The copse is not terribly dense, but the grey skies and lack of foliage make it a gloomy, shadowed place. It certainly seems like an appropriate place for a stalking creature to lie in wait for unsuspecting travellers in the dead of night.

Hu's path of reckless abandon manages to make it about 40 yards before the narrow street tires begin to have some trouble with the aforementioned soft ground of the field. The vehicle manages to struggle another 10 yards before it finally squelches to a halt, its rear wheels spinning ineffectually in a deepening rut.

Behind, Allegra can clearly see the stopped vehicle through the hole in the undergrowth the cab created in its passing.

"I guess this is our stop," says Hu cheerfully as he jumps down from the drivers seat. "Let's go look for clues!" [Hu]

Nikita leaps out of the Mystery Machine to follow Hu. "Clues would be a good first thing to seek." He performs another major divination, this time influencing himself to find things the padfoot has touched in the past hour. [Nikita]

"I found one," exclaims Hu. "There's a Chancel about a mile north of here. Call it a hunch, but I bet that's where we should go next." "Hey Allegra!" Hu shouts, performing a Lesser Creation to have his words explore towards the Noble of Cohesion so she can hear his voice. "Sorry about leaving you behind! I didn't realize you had gotten out! There's a Chancel north of here! I think that's where the Padfoot went!" Barring any objections, Hu will set out on foot, heading towards the Chancel. He wraps his leather coat tighter around him against the wind, and keeps an eye out for ambushes or Padfoot tracks.

Concluding that Hu's findings match his own, Nikita heads in the same direction, making a beeline for the last position of the padfoot available with his divination. If and when his paths and Hu's diverge, he calls out to Hu and, hopefully, gets Hu to stop long enough for them to plan out their battle.

"The rest will come along shortly," Nikita thinks to himself, judging his companions unneeding of any further commentary to make their own decisions to head northward.

Nikita extracts the tightly clinging Desiree from his bosom (and vice versa) before heading off after Hu. He sets her carefully down in the cab.

"I do not suppose you to wake Our Lady Of Besmirched Honour?" says Neville to the departing, nodding at Desiree, who as far as this player knows is still fast asleep.

"Well bugger all," scowls Neville. He makes his way back to the ex-cab, and peers in at Desiree.

"Come on, out you go," he snaps at her, regarding her with some concern. [GMs - Does her sleep appear unnatural in any way?]

Desiree lies gently upon the seat, her hair flowing in waves down across her bosom in a most fetching way. Her breath is light and she smiles as in some far away dream, her cheeks glowing as if she were a delicate rose waiting for someone to take in her breathless beauty. So no. Nothing unusual.

Neville reaches in and gives her a shake.

Just as Neville is reaching in, about to shake her, Desiree shifts slightly in her sleep, and Neville's hand lands firmly on her left breast. Desiree's eyes fly open with a start. She stares wide-eyed at Neville, then down at the hand on her bosom, then back at Neville again, and she looks rather at a loss for words.

Neville attempts to avoid that, but unfortunately for him, his hand still lands in the inappropriate spot, despite his too-late attempt to avoid the motion. Indeed, his late response to her motion makes his hand almost caress her as he pulls his hand back. Except that Neville's obvious disgust belies his true sentiment at this predicament.

Raising quite an eloquent eyebrow, Neville says, "If you would care to quit this vehicle, we may be on our way. In the opinions of our colleagues, the Padfoot has entered another chancel."

Neville turns to go, not acknowledging in the least what just happened here.

Desiree quickly regains her composure and changes her expression to a completely neutral one which suggests that she is just as eager to completely forget about this incident as her sibling is.

"Thank you, Neville," she says graciously, as she steps out of the cab and begins making her way after the others.

Those following Hu and Nikita squelch wetly through the field along the edge of the copse of trees. The mud isn't too deep - just enough to be an annoyance and dirty your footwear. Desiree seems to be having a bit more difficulty and in some cases is sinking up to her ankles. On the other hand, those watching Hu might note that, while his boots sink slightly in the mud, the ground rebounds as he lifts his foot to look just as it did before.

The clouds continue to form a shadowless grey overhang for the day, and the wind, while not particularly strong, is cold and damp. Even the birds seem to have declared today too unpleasant to venture out as none are visible. Aside from your squelching footsteps, the light wind, and the occasional crackling of branches, you hear nothing else.

After a several minutes of walking you pass through a line of bushes and are able to see a little further ahead. Several low mounds, largely clear of any vegitation, stand in the distance, just in front of them row of trees suggests a road or path.

Allegra takes one look at the muddy field, the backs of her departing siblings, and smiles. "A chase! Splendid! Excellent for the soul ... if you happen to have one." Hiking up her skirts and performing a minor Miracle of Cohesion so the mud stays put and provides a firm footing, she skims across the field unimpeded by the sucking goo. As she catches up with her family, she comments, "Healthy to hike along the countryside, isn't it? Fresh air, the breeze in your hair, a Padfoot on the loose. I am in ecstasy!"

Stopping to help Desiree out of a particularly nasty patch of bog, she shakes her head. "I told you lead bloomers were a hindrance, dear. One should go with garments of a more light construction if one plans to go cross country. I suppose you could shed them right here and no one would mind too awfully. Cain't have you floundering before we even find our prey. In fact, they might make an acceptable weapon should one be needed. Sturdy yet soft, perfect for wrapping up a glass creature. And think of it. One would not want to visit another Chancel whilst dressed in some less than the latest designs. Completely unfashionable."

Focusing on the treeline ahead, Allegra chews her lip for a moment and asks, "Are we headed in the right direction? Is the Chancel we seek along that path over there? I would hate to drag about a field and find nothing for our efforts." Silas remains silent. [Hu Nikita]

"The Chancel's got a gate up on top of that mound over there," says Hu, gesturing to the nearest mound. "I can't see much of it... They've got protection. Maybe that's why we lost track of our Padfoot." "Can anyone see any fresh tracks going up the mound? It would be good to know if the Padfoot entered under it's own power, so to speak."

Hu frowns, then sidles over to Futility. "I don't know, Silas. It just seems like dealing with a potentially hostile Chancel requires thought and at least somewhat careful planning." He's not talking loudly, but he is speaking loud enough for the whole family to hear him. "This whole 'Not Thinking' plan may not be the best for this particular situation. What if we miss some important detail because we don't take the time to look? Besides, there's etiquette. Barging in there unannounced kind of makes us look like uncivilized cretans. I wasn't raised in a barn, after all."

"Well, I've already incorporated the Not Thinking Clause into the official plan. The standing procedure is to remove elements only if they are certifiably futile. So you can either go against the plan, and keep planning, or follow the plan and not think." Silas stands with his pen at the ready. "Should I amend the plan revision policies? I can't speculate much more on the consequences of such an action without violating the aformentioned clause."

Neville turns slightly pink,and his eyes widen with repressed fury during this, as he appears to check Silas for any other signs of going mad.

"I believe," he says, finally mastering himself, "that in drawing up the plan you seem compelled to follow, you have indeed thought about it, and that renders this argument moot. Of COURSE we're going to bloody well think about what we're doing! The Padfoot has most likely entered another chancel, and to enter a foreign chancel without some sort of plan, no matter how addled, is an excellent way to have His Ineffable Fnordness rip his spirit shard out of your stiffening body, and give it to someone with half a brain!"

"Now," says Neville very quietly, facing the rest of the familia. "Does anyone have any better ideas on approaching this matter?

Silas shrugs his shoulders to Hu, as if to say "I didn't realize this was an argument." He drones on casually to Neville's back. "I wasn't suggesting we proceed with a complete absence of cognitive functions, as that interpretation seems rather absurd. I believe the relevant phrasing of the Not Thinking Clause is 'to act without undue thought or subtlety.' I had assumed you would take advantage of the rather loose wording to avoid extraneous discourse of the sort I am currently engaged in, but I take it by your outburst that you are seconding Hu's motion of amending the plan and formally removing the offending paragraphs. Consider it done."

"Maybe we should knock and present our calling cards? It would be the polite thing to do, after all. One can hardly be considered an intruder when one follows basic social protocols." Allegra rummages around in her bag and pulls forth a lovely calling card edged a in sheen which changes color without any seeming rhyme or reason. "Now. Does anyone see the doorbell?"

Desiree yawns prettily, and then says, "Well . . . can any here perchance Determine how the Chancel is Entered? For that may tell us whether the Padfoot could have Wandered in Unawares, or must Perforce have been taken in by some Outside Agency. And following that, can any Divine the Nature of this Chancel, and who Rules there? For that may give us some Inkling of what our Reception might be should we Enter, whether Announced or Incognito. And once that is Discovered, depending on our Findings, should we not either enter in Secret, or Create, Summon, or Select from Among our Ranks an Ambassador to announce our desire to enter and request Permission?"

"I could send a ghost miracle into the Chancel, giving everyone there the impression that someone intends to explore it from this location. Even with the Defender's Blessing, the Nobles would be able to pick it up. That would certainly function as a good doorbell, not to mention ruin any advantage of surprise that we currently have."

Desiree looks at Hu, amused. "I think we are all quite Aware that if we decide to Knock, we shall lose the Advantage of Surprise, dear brother - you need not Spell it Out for the slower members of the Class."

[Clarification: The mounds are each about 10 - 15 meters tall. You are still a quarter mile away from them. The tree line which probably denotes a road obscures the bases of all the mounds.]

Those Nobles with a few years' experience will note that chancels (in general) *sometimes* employ guardians (sometimes hidden) outside their Chancel gates. This is not common (most don't) but it does happen enough that it is worth bearing in mind.

As you approach, even before you get to the treeline, the mounds bear a striking resemblance to fairy mounds (everyone should be familiar with these, at least from fairy tales). Stories of people disappearing as they cross into "fairy circles" of stones may stem from those chancels which are Open during twilight; not all chancels with these mounds are Open at twilight, and some are only open on certain evenings, but it is common enough. Oftentimes actual entrance requires a token or passphrase at other times (or even at twilight if the chancel is not Open then) though stepping into the circle will most likely make your presence known (the equivalent of "knocking").

Twilight is about an hour away.

[The Family is a few dozen yards from the treeline, and have not passed through it to cross the road or gotten to the foot of the mounds, in case people wish to decide on a course of action before getting closer.
info on miracles within other chancels]

Hu stops as the group approaches the tree-line, and scan the area with the Sight, looking for any visible guardians. If the Divination isn't too rude, he'll look for people who were exploring the mounds and disappeared. He's looking for the circumstances under which people disappeared into the Chancel, and if it happened to the Padfoot. "My vote, I guess, is to go over there and present ourselves. Hopefully they won't be immediately hostile. Anybody got any good gifts to give them?" [Hu Desiree]

"I speak the obvious, dear Desiree, with regard to Allegra. I want make sure that we all, even the 'slower members,' are up to speed. If we leave cohesion behind, we will end up working at cross-purposes." Hu pauses for a moment and then asks, "Well, what's the plan? Are we just going to go announce ourselves, or does someone have a better idea?"

"I say knock. It would be rude to take the Chancel by force without at least asking about the Padfoot first," Nikita responds and is seconded by Desiree. "I am also in favour of Announcing our Presence. I find this entire Discussion extraordinarily Dull, and Knocking looks to be the Far less Tedious alternative." Without any further Ado about Nothing, Niki does whatever Noble thing he has to do to knock. Kneville joins in the Knoble Knocking.

Nikita strides forward, followed by Neville and the others who wish to go. With the briefest of pauses at the treeline to survey the mound beyond, they head across the hard-packed road, Nevilles cane tap-tapping across it before going back to the "splut" of the wet ground on the other side. Now that mound is closer, a small flat space near the top can easily be seen.

Allegra frowns slightly as Neville's cane sinks into the mud and, knowing him for the fastidious Noble he is, gently extends her Cohesion to surround his path as well. Smiling at her 'brother', she whispers, "I hope you don't mind a bit of assistance. I just can't bear the sight of you sinking into this mire. Mud is completely beneath you, and there is where it should remain. Besides, I like your shoes and it would be a shame to ruin them for no good reason."

The first of the mounds is devoid of weeds. In fact, the brown grass of this time of year is not terribly high and hence walking up the slope is not difficult for the Nobles. There appear to be some footprints meandering across the mound in a more or less zig-zag fashion. They appear to head down to the road but do not return.

There appear to be several sets of tracks from the road up to the top of the hill, possibly around six or so. It looks as though some of them were dragging something quite heavy, as between the footprints the grass is smooshed flat and there are occasional points where the mushy ground sinks deeper than the undisturbed areas.

Nikita continues striding forward toward the top flat space. Upon reaching it he and those with him see a round ring of gray moss-covered stones around which low-lying creeping plants seem to be growing. There appears to be a very narrow path through them on the side facing away from the road. Inside the ring the grass is very short. The tracks lead to the path, and inside the ring the ground is fairly trampled with individual footprints being muddled together and difficult to distinguish. [Hu Desiree]

Hu looks at the tracks and declares, "It appears that there was a man here weeding this burial mound. He was in his 60s, wore modern work clothes, and was probably from the Chancel. About half an hour ago, he heard an odd noise from over there," Hu points down the road, "and went to investigate. The Padfoot struck and consumed him. Several residents of the Chancel then went and captured the creature, incapacitated it, and dragged it back into their Chancel."

Following the family to the top of the mound, Allegra looks around and nods at Hu's observations. "Excellent, Hu! We now know what happened here and what has become of the Padfoot. I suspect the Chancel's inhabitants were not at all amused by the antics of our prey. Very bad form to go about sucking up souls from the neighbors. The Glass Chancel might want to consider reparations once we have made diplomatic contact. I wonder how they managed to capture it without incident and bodily harm to yet another of their folk. Perhaps they would be willing to share their information with us once we meet."

"Speaking of meeting, has there been any type of response to our knocking? Someone or something should be on the other side of the entrance. Perhaps this might assist our cause." Without stepping into the ring of stones, Allegra tosses her delicate calling card directly into the center.

The group is now standing just outside the ring at the top of the mound nearest to the road. Allegra's card lies inside the ring although, interestingly, it does not appear to get dirty from being dropped on what is, to all appearances, fairly damp ground.

The family waits. A minute passes.

Allegra stands outside the ring holding her breath as she watches her calling card simply wait for several moments. Then Allegra's card disappears. As the card vanishes, she lets out her breath with a whoosh and relaxes visibly. "Well, not such a bad idea after all. At least it has gone somewhere, inside this Chancel I should guess. Now, all we have to do is wait for a polite reply."

A few seconds later, a young man steps into being in the middle of the circle. He is dressed in a somewhat archaic fashion wearing a red tunic with brown stripes running along the sleeves. On his chest is a design in a circle. The design is of a stylized tree in the lower half and a falling star in the upper. He wears a red cloak against the chill of the Irish winter. The cloak has the same sigil on the back. All his clothes are in excellent condition and are quite clean. On his belt is a dagger (simple but well made) and two small (slightly larger than thumb sized) pouches that appear to be made of thin woven grasses. He is holding Allegra's card.

After very fast glance around, he faces Nikita (whom he happened to be facing as he appeared) and speaks. "My Lords and Ladies. I am Kep, at your service." He bows. "My masters have bidden me to greet you in the name of the realm of Time's End and inquire as to your business."

Before responding, Nikita racks his brain, attempting to remember what, if anything, he knows about Time's End. Neither Nikita or anyone else have heard of "Time's End." The name is not a formal name of a Chancel (a formal name would be Locus ) although it is not uncommon for colloquial names to be used in introduction.

It is also not that uncommon not to have heard of a Chancel. Many Imperators and Families move in relatively small circles.

Allegra claps her hands with delight and coos, "Good form! It is indeed a pleasure to find gentle company when one is traveling. That would be my calling card you are holding, Mr. Kep. Allegra. Allegra Ward. And I thank you for you courteous greeting from the Realm of Time's End. As you can see, we are in an adventure mode. Would it be possible to secure an audience with your masters? The nature of our quest is one of great interest and import, something they might find amusing ... or not, depending on their disposition. But being on a quest has noble value and is not undertaken lightly, so our presence does herald a worthy cause."

Kep turns toward Allegra as she speaks. When she is done he responds, "I will be willing to take your request to them. Could you provide a bit more detail as to how the matter affects my masters?"

"Respectful greetings to you and your masters," says Neville with his usual lack of friendliness. "We pursue a deadly creature, and have reason to believe that it has recently entered your chancel. If we are correct, your people are in grave danger. I respectfully ask that we be allowed to enter, determine its whereabouts, subdue it if necessary, and then leave you in peace."

Kep faces Neville and goes slightly more to attention. When Neville has finished, "I will convey your request to my masters. I... cannot offer you access to the Chancel without their approval at this time. I shall dispatch a courier post haste." There is a fractional pause. "Could you perhaps describe this creature you are pursuing and the reason for your pursuit, my Lord?"

"It is a Padfoot," says Neville plainly. "It is very dangerous, and was last seen in the form of a black ram." With a glare through his pince-nez, he continues. "We are equipped to retrieve it, and it must be retrieved undamaged at all costs."

"Ah," responds Kep. There is definitely some recognition in his expression. "I see. One moment." There is another short pause during which Kep remains largely motionless.

Finally, Kep continues. "My masters have instructed me to bid you welcome and offer you entry to Time's End. I will open the Gate for you. Please, follow me with me."

Barring any last minute objections by the Familia, Kep disappears. The Gate, however, remains "unlocked" and you may each follow him.

Continue on to Time's End.
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