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#1
Forgotten Shadows / Re: Forgotten Shadows
Last post by Jerusha - Today at 10:33:20 AM
Still in the safe house, same afternoon

As Bede explained to Edwin what he believed Macbee had done to the student's memories, Elspeth gathered their bowls and her mortar to wash. It wasn't as if she wasn't interested in what Macbee had done, but something was niggling at the back of her mind. It remained just out of reach no matter how hard she tried to latch onto it.1

With a sigh she set the bowls and mortar aside to dry and returned to the others. Edwin was listening intently, and Elspeth quietly took a seat on the bench near the fire. She tried to follow the conversation, but the comforting warmth of the fire caused her eyelids to droop and her chin soon dropped to rest against her chest.

It was a sunny afternoon, and Little Huw paddled their coracle away from the bank and into the small stream. Most coracles were small, but nothing small would hold Little Huw, and he had custom made this one to comfortably hold him and a passenger as well. 

Huw told her a story from his last voyage that he would
not have told her within their father's hearing. Elspeth laughed heartily, and thought it might actually be true.  You could never be completely sure about Huw's stories. Elspeth used her own paddle to steady the boat, which now rocked gently.

The sun was warm, songbirds were singing in the trees and the bees buzzing among the flowers on the bank. She turned her head from watching the bank to look at her brother and gasped. 

Instead of Little Huw sat a man whose face was framed by short brown curls, and a lazy tonsure could just barely be seen. Both eyes were a kind blue, and he didn't seem at all perturbed by the colors of her eyes. He smiled at her, looking quite pleased with himself. What great teeth he had!

Alarmed at thinking such thoughts about a man who was obviously a priest, she dug her paddle into the stream. The coracle spun around, and around and around....


Elspeth's head snapped up and she looked with dismay at Bede, who was looking quite amused.

"I thought a tale of my days performing might cheer Edwin up, but it looks like it put you to sleep!"

"Oh, beg pardon!" Elspeth said hastily. "I didn't realize I was so tired. We should probably all get some rest as best we can."

"Now that my head is not throbbing so badly, I just might manage that."  Edwin was smiling, too.

Elspeth was mortified, and not only by the fact that her companions looked amused at her expense. She was sure she was blushing, probably all the way down to her toes, which fortunately were still hidden by her almost dry hose. 

Bede stood and distributed the blankets he had found when he had searched the house earlier.  "Given all that has happened," he said, "I am not comfortable, in the role of guard I am so often reminded of, with the idea of us splitting up into separate rooms. If Mistress Elspeth would not be too horrified, I think Edwin and I should bed down near the door, and leave Elspeth with her own space across the room closer to the fire."

"I think that is an excellent idea," Elspeth replied stoutly. "But make sure you both stay out of any drafts."

"I'm more worried about a flood at this point," Edwin said as he opened the door briefly to observe rain pouring down again. "I'm beginning to wonder if we should worry more about Grecotha burning down or washing away." He closed the door and folded one of the blankets into a makeshift pallet. 

Elspeth made herself as comfortable as possible, but as she began to drift off to sleep again, she suddenly sat upright.

"Wait," she said urgently.  "Now I remember what Sir Airich said to me that was so important.  And he was right!" 2



1 Eidetic memory to remember what Airich had urgently told her. Rolled at disadvantage because Elspeth is exhausted.  1d6 = something abysmal.  I forgot to write it down.

2 Eidetic memory, standard roll with success on 4, 5, 6.  2d6 5 + 1 = 6.
#2
Forgotten Shadows / Re: Forgotten Shadows
Last post by Marc_du_Temple - April 02, 2025, 08:08:14 AM
"Ye already apologized, didn't ye?" Bede grumbled. He then tried to laugh through the remainder of the pain. "I am na judge, that I require just desserts for every offense. Just desserts when I can get them, eh?" He swept back his matted straw hair and cleared his throat, remembering to speak plainly instead of natively when relating a lengthy tale. "Well, there's many a true story about MacBee I could tell you, if I wanted to outrage you, but one that comes to my mind now is something that I know he did early last July. It was when Scimmio's Entertainers were marching through Marley, but awhile after we had picked up ole' Macbee near Arranal Canyon, that we had begun touring in the city of Marbury. With the encouragement of our troop, a fairegoing old gardener came up onto the stage to play his part in his 'Hypnotic Confessional.' We all thought it was very amusing as he confessed to stealing seeds like a pauper, a wild night in his garden every now and again, owing some outstanding debts, having an embarrassing given name, and a foul lineage, but nobody expected him to confess to a robbery and battery from the night before. Least of all me, because I knew where he was at that time of the night: chasing me out of his garden with a shovel in one hand and a lantern in the other."

"What were you doing there?" Edwin asked.

"Watering his bushes, but that's another story," Bede waved a hand sheepishly. "The mood was ruined irreparably when a youth in the livery of the Earl of Marley strode forth out of the crowd, boxed the man's ears and loudly reprimanded him, swearing he would never be allowed to garden for the family of Marley again." Bede sighed with pity.

"I don't understand your half-finished suggestions," Edwin responded, becoming mildly bemused.

"I did not understand at first, either," Bede assured him. "Even now I cannot say with certainty when he used a greater Deryni trick on the gardener, only that I'm now convinced he did, and that he very well could have done it in broad daylight on the stage. Later, in the evening, when Macbee was the guest of honor in the Earl's hall and the rest of the troop were left to wander (with a small promise of a reward for the association with the confessor), I washed the paint of my stage persona, 'Spotted John', off, put on a proper shirt and trousers, then visited the gardener in the local jail."

"'Surely,' I insisted to him, 'there must be some detail you are confused on. What reason do you have to confess to so great a crime when I am your alibi?' But he swore he had never seen me before that morning, and became emotional over the memory of the crime he believed he had committed, when I knew he was heroically doing his duty as a gardener and groundskeeper, chasing a mischievous youth out of the Earl's garden. I left believing he was just mad or maybe that I was."

"Now I see that there is a pattern of illusory manipulation that all leads back to Macbee, that perhaps he had some motive to torment this man by framing him for a crime, that perhaps he had committed, inadvertently freeing me from culpability for my petty rebellion. And perhaps he has done something similar today, laying another one of his attacks on an innocent at someone else's feet. Only this time, the innocent is you, as well as the one whose memories he has tampered with. Perhaps he is becoming more skilled at this evil art."

"It's almost beyond belief," Edwin stammered, trembling from the certainty he felt creeping in.

"If only we had Mistress Amy here to testify to the truth of my words," Bede gazed at the door, "But I swear to God I embellish and change nothing of what I tell you now."
#3
The Chronicles of the Deryni / Re: Why Llyndruth Field, not L...
Last post by tmcd - April 02, 2025, 12:59:25 AM
(BTW, I was being a smart-aleck with "Why Llyndruth Field". A less-common definition of "field" is "battlefield". Which it was, albeit small.)
#4
About This Site / Chatroom Bots
Last post by Bynw - April 01, 2025, 07:48:47 PM
Our chatroom has several bots. That is short for robots. They aren't real people and have specific functions and duties in the chatroom.

On IRC, the main chat, we have 2 bots there:

derynibot - this is an olde time bot for the chat. Today it only has a few functions.
  • It sends everyone joining the chat a welcome message. This can be customized if you have a registered nickname on the IRC server.
  • It gives chat moderator privileges to those members that have that responsibility in the chatroom
  • It can roll dice for games

Camber's Ghost - this is a bot that allows the main chat to communicate with the Rhemuthcastle Discord chat. Without Camber's Ghost members would only be able to communicate with someone on the same service. When Camber's Ghost speaks look for the name in between the angle brackets. This is the person you should address.

On Discord we have 3 bots there to assist members with the service. They are generally easy to spot too. The member list on the right side of the Discord screen will have a blue box with the word "bot" in it to indicate which name is a bot and not a real person.

Camber's Ghost - this is the same bot as listed above. And without it as before IRC and Discord would be isolated from one another. So it allows us to communicate between the two systems.

Dice Maiden - another Discord bot. This one only has one function. It can roll dice for any online games that might be played on the Discord service.

Forum Bot - this bot is tricky. It doesn't show up in the member list. So you cant see that it is in the chat. It's tied to the forums here. And it just posts a notice anytime there is a new post added to the forums. Giving information on who posted it. What board and what the title of the post was and if it was a new post or a reply to current post.
#5
About This Site / Re: Regular Member Ranks
Last post by Evie - April 01, 2025, 07:03:54 PM
Aww, I'm a baby Legend! 🥰  Though since I would need to double my entire body of work/comments in order to level up again from there, I doubt I'll manage to make it to Supernatural in this lifetime. 😭
#6
About This Site / Re: Regular Member Ranks
Last post by Nezz - April 01, 2025, 06:36:35 PM
Quote from: Bynw on April 01, 2025, 06:07:20 PM
Member TitlePosts
100
Advanced Fan
300
Maniac Fan
500
Serious Fan
1,000
Addict Fan
1,500
Psycho Fan
2,000
Guru Fan
3,000

I'm a maniac, maniac on the forum
And I'm writin' like I've never writ before
#7
About This Site / Re: Regular Member Ranks
Last post by Bynw - April 01, 2025, 06:07:20 PM
Well the Forum ranks went through another revision some time ago to put it in the notion of a fan site. And thus the following ranks were born and have been used now for several years.

The ranks are based on engagement. The more you are engaged and posting on the forum with other fans. The higher rank you will climb.




Member TitlePosts
Newcomer
0
Junior Member
1
Full Member
5
Advanced Member
25
Senior Member
50
Fan
100
Advanced Fan
300
Maniac Fan
500
Serious Fan
1,000
Addict Fan
1,500
Psycho Fan
2,000
Guru Fan
3,000
Legendary Fan
5,000
Supernatural Fan
10,000
Mythical Fan
25,000
Impossible Fan
50,000
#8
Forgotten Shadows / Re: FS Out of Character Chat
Last post by revanne - April 01, 2025, 03:46:15 PM
Quote from: Evie on March 14, 2025, 04:11:20 PM
Quote from: Bynw on March 14, 2025, 04:08:08 PM
Quote from: Nezz on March 14, 2025, 04:05:16 PM
Quote from: Bynw on March 14, 2025, 04:04:27 PMAny decently trained Deryni could probably fix Edwin ... wouldn't take Collos' level of ability.
Yeah, but who's Edwin going to trust now?

Pretty much no one.

Maybe Gwendolyn? I mean, she's Deryni, she's pretty, and he's nineteen....  ;D
Not sure how I missed this. Now that's a good idea...
#9
Forgotten Shadows / Re: Forgotten Shadows
Last post by revanne - April 01, 2025, 03:39:52 PM
Back in the safe house, the same afternoon

Edwin bore Elspeth's brusque ministrations with as good a grace as he could muster. He still felt wretchedly ill, and though fighting with Bede had helped to lance some of his frustration, it had done nothing for his headache or his other aches and pains. The warm water felt good to his battered face but when the begrimed cloth was replaced with one laced with some astringent liquid he could not restrain a yelp, for all his pride. Elspeth stopped for a moment and said in a voice as sharp as her liniment, "I can leave these cuts to fester if you would prefer." 

Then she added more gently, for in his battered state Edwin really did seem to her more like a forlorn child than the arrogant youth he tried to portray, "Hold still a moment longer, then I'll give you a draught for your sore head and something warm for your belly. For once I'm willing to believe you are not the agent of your own misfortune. I might even be prepared to think you showed sense in declining to go haring off with my brave guard here."

Bede might have been ready to dispute this but Elspeth forestalled him by taking coin from her pouch and dispatching him to the nearest cookshop for whatever soup or stew they might have ready. A soldier might never turn away from a fight but still less would he turn his back on a warm meal.

Bede gone from the room, Elspeth turned her back on Edwin and began to pound a mixture of dried herbs in a mortar, which she then steeped in a measure of boiling water. Without turning to look at him she said, "You did not hear me say this but that fight has been a long time brewing and to my mind it will have done you both good to get it over with, misguided though your reasons were." Then she drained the liquid into a cup, brought it to Edwin and stood over him while he drained it to the last bitter dregs. After a while, Edwin's head began to pound less, and when, shortly after, Bede returned with a large bowl of stew which Elspeth divided out between them, even his abused stomach gave a hungry gurgle of anticipation.

All three of them were hungry enough to eat in silence, and as they did so Edwin brooded on what he had heard. His memories were clear, but just as clearly they were false. The archer he took for a man who would lie as soon as look at you, but it took a braver man than he was to accuse Elspeth of falsehood, even in thought. But how could he know? It occurred to him that surely a visit to the Dean's house would confirm whether or not he had been there. In the meantime, he must swallow his pride and ask Bede for all that he could tell him of MacBee.

Trusting that the food had softened the archer's ire as it had his own, and taking a deep breath, Edwin asked in a conciliatory voice, "I ask your pardon. It seems that I can show the same arrogance that I accuse Sir Airich of. If you know anything that can explain the mess inside my head, I'd owe you one. If it's good enough, I'll mebbes even stand still when you pay me back for that punch."

#10
The Chronicles of the Deryni / Re: Why Llyndruth Field, not L...
Last post by Bynw - April 01, 2025, 06:53:46 AM

Checking online for medieval differences for the term "meadow" vs "field". And I get that a Meadow is grassland used for haymaking. Very important for winter months to feed livestock with the hay. While a field was used for growing crops. It wasn't cropland, even though the soil was fertile and moist, since it was used as a haymaking.