Liliana's Wagon
Colorful, lacy, and feminine would be the best way to describe Liliana's wagon. Swathes of multicolored translucent fabric hang from the ceiling. At the far end is both a ceiling perch as well as a pile of pillows for lounging. Along the walls are a few shallow cabinets that probably contain her various bits of jewelry and trinkets she's collected. A trunk on one side contains her clothing what little she has, anyway.

While Natasha prepares for her little trip, Amelia decides to see if Liliana is about, to ask her if she's heard anything – and also ask her to listen for chimes. She has her story about Kevin all ready, so that the Eeee hopefully won't be too curious. The Kadie heads towards the dancer's wagon.

"Hrrraamamaana," answers Morgan blearily, his body leaning heavily against the wagon wall for support. You'd think with so little energy he couldn't maintain that wide grin on his face.

"Vou speak so vell," Liliana remarks, then giggles. Her head then turns and ears flick towards the door. "Someone is comin'," she says suddenly.

Outside, Amy finishes looking around. Not finding the Eeee, she goes up and taps on the door of the wagon.

"Uhm, vho is it?" Liliana calls out tentatively.

"Amy Blacktail," Amelia says through the door. "I wanted to talk to you about something Lili."

"Nnnnmaaa," Morgan whispers urgently to Liliana. He makes a vague gesture towards the door, which causes him to lose his balance. He promptly falls over on the bed and decides to stay there for the moment.

Liliana's eyes go wide and she turns to regard Morgan. "Uhm, er, vhat do I do? How do ve explain dis?Vhy are vou just' lyin' dere?" she says quickly and in a low voice, gesturing at herself. She sighs and shakes her head. "Uhm, Amy, I be a little busy righ' now! Morgan is here and he no feel very vell."

"He is?" Amy asks. "Ah, I need to talk to him too!" the Kadie claims. "It's sort of important… I don't have a lot of time."

Morgan places an unsteady hand on the bed and with a long I-want-to-sleep-now-but-can't sigh, pushes himself up. "Erm. Sounds … ," yawn, " … important. Might want to … clothes and … , " he eyes Liliana a moment, " … uh … explanation."

"What's wrong with Morgan?" Amy asks, a bit more insistently. "Is he drunk? Has he been drunk from?"

"Uhm, I, er, heh," Lili stammers, then fumbles and grabs a robe, pulling it on haphazardly. She then opens the door, yanks Amelia inside, and closes it quickly. "Ok, fine, but no commen'," she hisses at Amelia. From Amelia's perspective she sees herself looking at Liliana. Well, it looks sorta like Liliana, anyway. Except this Liliana has catlike pupils surrounded by glowing red, small horns on her forehead, behind her a spade-tipped tail swings limply, and she's walking on hooves.

"Uh," Amy starts, then has to think over her words a bit more. "Is that a costume? I need to warn you about a monster," she finally says, and then turns her head to look for Morgan.

Morgan is, of course, still naked. In Morgan Time, a degree of time created when completely unmentionable things occur frequently enough to distort both time and energy, he's still back at the point where Amy is at the door outside. Her sudden arrival, thus, confuses Morgan considerably. He stares now at Amy with a bleary sleepless look, though he grins widely. "Hi," he says.

Amy looks at Morgan in silence, then looks back at the transformed Lily. "Mmmmm," she goes. "Going to explain this?" she asks the once-Eeee.

"He did it to me," Liliana insists. "He an evil leetle boy with dirty thoughts."

The Kadie girl seems to consider this, then asks, "Did you bite him or… you know… ?"

Liliana grins and says, "Both." She looks rather proud about it, too.

The Kadie boy giggles lightly, in the sort of way addicts do when high on their chosen poison. He giggles again at it being suggested he has a dirty mind, in the sort of way the innocent who are trying to sound embarrassed do. He just grins a bit more at Lily's explanation.

Amy turns towards Morgan, and even kneels down to be closer to eye level with him. "Morgan," she says, "this sort of thing had better not happen every time you… spend time with a girl!"

Morgan sort of rolls his shoulders in a relaxed shrug, as if to say he wasn't sure about that but would be willing to test it because he's cool like that.

Liliana slinks up behind Amelia and whispers in her ear, "I kin just imagine vhat vou vould look like… " She then licks Amelia's ear, with a distinctly forked tongue.

Amy nearly jumps, which would be bad for her head in such a small wagon. She spins around so fast that her tail whacks into Morgan. "Don't even joke about something like that!" she squeaks. "I need him to be sobered up! Does he have any blood left for thinking?"

With a soft sounding thump Morgan gets knocked over, and like before just lays there. Well, lays there and grabs a pillow to cover his lap, as he seems to having interesting opinions on Lily licking Amy.

"I didn' draw dat much, no even a glass full was drawn," Lili says and shakes her head. "He jus' been up all nigh," she says, then goes to a cabinet to get a glass of water. "Jus' toss some water on him, he prolly get more coherent," she suggests and holds the glass out to Amelia.

The Kadie takes the glass and splashes the contents on Morgan's face. "Does that help any, Morgan? Or do you need something colder?" Amy practically growls.

Morgan blinks, looking quite soggy and wide-eyed. "Oh? What now?" He paws his face to get some water out of his eyes, then squints. "Mmm, that was a bit rude you know."

"Vou're bein' pretty cold already," Liliana comments, trying not to grin.

"Yes, I'm oh-so-sorry, Morgan," Amelia says. "But while you were not-sleeping last night, a monster attacked Zahn and beat him nearly to death. I only hope that Lily's changes haven't affected her hearing, or made her too top-heavy to fly anymore."

"What!" Morgan quickly rubs his face off in a very hurried and yet not so productive manner. It leaves his facial fur in a bit of a puff. "What," he repeats, pauses to think about what he could add to this to make it less of a mantra, then adds, " … what? I mean, what happened and why and there wasn't anyone there? Where?"

Liliana's expression quickly grows more serious too. She looks between the two Kadies, but doesn't bother to repeat Morgan's question on the matter. Instead, she actually starts getting dressed, which now involves wrapping certain parts of her anatomy down tightly now.

"It happened at the dam, and I didn't get to him fast enough to help," Amelia says, looking down. "I was hoping Lili could help us out by flying around listening for chimes. You know, like the ones Kevin makes from the bones of his victims and hangs from his antlers." She emphasizes that last part into a statement rather than a question, giving Morgan a stern look as she says it.

"Kevin's involved," repeats Morgan, and it seems to take a moment to sink in because he says "what" again in a rather oblivious and tired sort of way.

"I see," Morgan says at length once it does, indeed, sink in, and he seems to have run out of "whats." "Is Zahnrad missing bones then?"

"No-oo," Amelia says. "He just has lots of broken ones. The monster ran off when I showed up. Your mother went to see to his wounds already, but Natasha needs to talk to her at the Gnarly Tree about all this. She wants to help, and Bravil is coming with her."

"Erk, Natasha is leaving de camp? I need to talk to her! Be righ' back!" Liliana says then then hurries in a rather wobbly manner to the door and out. The last they see of Liliana is the bat nearly tripping and falling down repeatedly as she heads towards Natasha's wagon … then Lili's door blows closed.

Morgan takes a deep breath to steady himself, or maybe because his brain has been low on oxygen what with blood flow mostly focused elsewhere. He looks at Amelia, he looks at Lili leaving, and he looks at himself and frowns before saying, "I'd better get dressed then. It seems we have a full plate of problems to eat, and we'd best get to it."

"Hooves! How could you give her hooves?" Amy asks Morgan. "But now that she's gone… it isn't Kevin," she says, lowering her voice to a whisper. "It's a necromancer. We don't want that getting around though, okay? Natasha will fill you in on it. The wards on the Tree need to be reinforced against undead, too."

"Okay, first, what happened to Lili is not my, or Lili's, fault. It is something unexpected we will have to manage." Amelia might swear Morgan winks to her at this, but it's dark and he's getting dressed, so it might be a trick of the light. "Second," and he gives Amelia a very that-is-not-something-you-should-know sort of look, with an added young-lady sort of eyebrow raise for good measure, "my mother and I will discuss what magical means we can see to to repel the undead."

"There's more to it as well," Amy adds. "The necromancer is likely someone from Natasha's past, who is spirit-linked to her because of a botched ritual where she was going to be the sacrifice. You need to dig up everything you have on breaking spirit-bonds without killing Natasha from the shock."

"Spirit bonds." Morgan says this in a very ominous and sagely sort of way. The way wizards tend to refer to ancient artifacts of great power, or old devils. "Yes, I'll see to it. I assume this involved necromancy, which is … different. Hm. Yes." He taps his chin. "Mmm. I could … no … Hm, Might need … but that would be … Hm."

"He also knows how to use corpseweed to control living people," Amy notes. "I'm pretty sure he drugged Bravil with it and hypnotized him into attacking Zahn, and others before this incident. And did you like being bitten?"

Morgan keeps rubbing his chin through Amy's recount of events until she asks about the bite. Then his hand sort of screeches to a halt without the screeching. "Er," he explains, then thinking maybe he could be more detailed adds, " … It was an experience. We think it somehow triggered Lili's transformation, actually. I'll have to mind where my blood goes – not that I'm fond of sharing it usually."

"Mmm-hmm," Amy grunts. "Dirty thoughts… coming from Lili that's pretty impressive," she comments, and waits for Morgan to finish dressing.

"Well I had a good teacher," Morgan insists as he slips on his boots. Interestingly he leaves his blousey shirt unbuttoned a bit at the top, perhaps suggesting he has been on the cover of a romance novel. "Are you ready then? I imagine Natasha will be glaring at me soon, so we may as well get that over with."

"Yeah, let's go. And you'd better hope Isolde doesn't see Lili and start asking questions," Amelia says, and goes to open the wagon door.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll find out. It's just a matter of when. We see all, remember?" Morgan doesn't look excited by the prospect.

And with that Morgan steps out the door and in to the unforgiving light. He squints and covers his eyes. "Is it always this bright?" he asks as he continues on.

"Right," Amy says. "Nobody else knows about this except for Olivia. The dam is in lock-down, so nobody should know about the attack on Zahn yet either. The gypsies definitely don't need to know about Natasha's connection." She gives Morgan an odd look. "Yes, it's always this bright. Let's see if Natasha is ready yet."

"I had a good teacher," Morgan says, dryly. He glances about the wagon and seems to note the various arcane items with a mixed air of approval, familiarity, and in some cases surprised interest.

"Morgan, dis is a first. I never had someone corrupt a member of my tribe before," Natasha remarks dryly as Morgan and Amelia enter her wagon. She then busies herself with strapping some books together. "It be a good t'ing it shoul' be only temporary. A day or so. Once she digest vour blood, she shoul' return to normal. Typical magical trigger, it wear off."

"I need to borrow Lili, Natasha," Amy tells the Khatta. "Will Djivan be okay for looking after your wagon?"
"I didn' know vou too vere into dat sort of t'ing, Amelia," Natasha comments to Amelia, then smirks slightly and waves her hand. "She tol' me, and dat is fine. As for Djivan, yeah, it be okay. I just haf' to air out de smell of dirty socks afterward, I guess. He no very tidy." She then glares at Morgan and says "Don' touch. I know dat look."

The joke seems to go right over Amelia's head, as she looks out the door towards Bravil's wagon.

Bravil is out on his wagon stoop. He's just sort of sitting there, carving a log into … something.

Morgan looks very surprised by the order not to touch. Apparently no one has ever accused him of thinking about stealing before. "I would never," he insists. Then he shrugs lightly, explaining, "I'm just familiar with the use of some of this. I've heard you have the Talent."

"Some of dis stuff is too dangerous for a novice," Natasha chides and lifts a small pack full of clothing onto one shoulder. She then hangs a bundle of books off the other. "An before you insist vou are no a novice, I be at least twice vour age, so to me, vou are a novice."

"Wow, it's like talking to my mother," Morgan mumbles to Amelia. He smiles at Natasha though, "That's fine. I'm used to that sort of response."

"You should appreciate wisdom in women more, Morgan," Amy says, and leaves the wagon, heading towards Bravil. She waves to the big wolf.

"Quit' righ'," Natasha says approvingly as Amelia leaves. She then looks at Morgan and tilts her head. "So, I suppose vou are witch in trainin' eh?" she asks.

"Well yes, I have the hat," Morgan answers simply.

Bravil sets down his log and waves to Amelia. "Didn' expect to see vou again," he comments. "I no have any bad dreams or weird stuff last night."
"That's good, Bravil," Amy says. "Natasha is going to come visit with the witches, would you mind coming along to watch over her?"

"A hat no make vou a witch," Natasha chides. "So, vhat sort of spells kin you cast?"

Bravil scratches his cheek lightly. "Visit de town vitches? Ve never been asked to visit dem before. I … guess I go. Dey won curse me or anyt'ing vill dey?" he asks.

"No, but they'll feed you," Amelia promises.

"Vell, okay," Bravil says and stands up. He brushes off the chips of wood from his pants. "We go now?" he asks.

"That was a joke," Morgan insists. As for spells, well, he tilts his head and he non-answers, "Spells are the tools of mages and the like. I do not cast spells."

"Yes," Amy tells the Jupani. "It'll probably be overnight, so if you have anything you need to bring along, you should get it now."

"Even vitches invoke de powers of magic gifted to dem by de land spirits. Call it vhat vou like. Dey just names," Natasha says and waves her hand dismissively.

"Uh, I bring, uh. Vell, nothin', really," Bravil replies and stands. he turns and shuts the door to his wagon, locking it. "Let's go."

Amy leads the way, although really there's just the one road that goes through town and across the river anyway.

"Important distinctions, I like to think. It is a sacred accord," Morgan says, and he sounds rather proud of that. He does, however, nod to Natasha. "I understand your distinction though, I merely felt I should say that. I have my ways. If permitted, perhaps I will tell you of them later. We go to see my mother, and I will ask."

Morgan glances behind him. "We should get going. Amelia's a bit impatient sometimes," he tells Natasha.

"I travel a lot, de distinctions no so important after awhile," Natasha replies, then nods. "Ves, she be thick headed as a boulder, sometimes," she agrees. So, the two head off and follow Amelia down the road and through the town.

---

The Gnarly Tree
Climbing halfway to the top of Witches' Rock, the Gnarly Tree dwarfs even the oversized trees used by Kadies. The tree trunk-thick roots are twisted and knotted, and the multiple trunks bulge out oddly in places – some of the bulges even sporting windows. Beneath the shade of its canopy, an oddly shaped log cabin sits, its angles skewed to conform to the wandering roots it hugs. A clearing surrounds the tree and Rock, with several fenced off herb and vegetable gardens filling most of the open space. To the east, the bulk of the Gnarly Woods looms darkly, contrasting with the calm tinkling of the numerous wind-chimes hanging from the twisted limbs of the tree.

"I think you'll want to take down the wind-chimes, Morgan," Amy says to the junior witch. Isolde steps out from the odd-looking house built around the tree, wiping her hands on a towel. "My my, company of all sizes," she says.

Morgan steps forward and offers introductions, "Hi mom. This," he gestures at Natasha, "is Natasha, the gypsy mystic. With her is Bravil, also of the gypsies. And you know Amelia of course."

"Vour friend, Amelia, thought ve shoul' come here," Natasha explains and tries to smile. Being a Khatta, who knows how that might look to a Kadie. "I hope it no bother."

"It's about the person behind the attack on Zahn," Amy chimes in, then seems about to ask Isolde something, but closes her mouth instead.

"We have met," Isolde says, giving a little bow to Natasha. She gives Morgan a sidelong glance, and says to him, "And you'll have to tell me about the girl you were with, my son."

"Yes, Zahn was attacked – by a necromancer, at least indirec- er … Yes, of course, um, later mom," says Morgan.

Natasha bows her head politely to Isolde. Bravil bows deeply, and yet he still manages to be taller than the Kadies. "Perhap' ve shoul' go inside," Natasha says, then casts a warning look at Morgan.

"I'll leave you in Isolde's care then," Amelia says to the gypsies. "I need to head back and see about getting Lili to do a search for me."

"Of course, please come inside," Isolde says, and gives Amelia a somewhat sad look before leading the others inside.

"Ah, vell, Amelia, please stay for at least a little bit," Natasha and Bravil both say at the same time. Natasha shakes her head, then says, "Please, vou can help explain. Give Lili some time to deal wit' stuff at de camp."

Morgan grins at Natasha, then head towards the house. "Natasha's a bit haughty. Zahn's a worry though," he whispers to his mother on the way in.

The Kadie girl hesitates, then nods and follows the rest. Thanks to the odd sizes and shapes of the various rooms that make up the witches' cottage, Isolde manages to find one where Bravil can actually sit down and stand up without breaking the ceiling or his head. "Now, what is this really all about?" the senior witch asks, once everyone is seated.

"Dat is … a long story," Natasha begins and sighs. "I been a traveler for a long time. Dis prolly be about, twenty vears ago now. I vas travilin' near de town of Schadel in de far sout' of Sylvania. Dere … I vas attacked by a powerful necromancer."

Morgan pauses hesitantly once seated, then stands up again, explaining, "I'll get some tea ready."

Isolde nods, both to Morgan and to Natasha. "I vaguely recall mention of that town, please continue, Dame Natasha."

"Vell. Vou both know I hav' some skill wit de mystical arts. But, ir was no' near enough to stop him. I won' go into details, but he captur'ed me dere on a cliff edge. Killed everyone else I vas vith, or so I thought. He … tortured me. In ways I dare no speak of. He was abou' to kill me, vhen one of de people I vas travelin' vith pushed himself up an stabbed him, takin all of us off a cliff in de process. We hit de river and I woke up miles away. Barely alive. De tribe I wit now found me dere and took me in," Natasha continues.

"Natasha was going to be a sacrifice in the necromancer's quest to become a Lich," Amelia clarifies. This perks up Isolde's attention further. "I take it the necromancer did not perish in the fall?"

Morgan goes about lighting the fire under a cauldron in an adjoining room. The scent of freshly cut wood burning wafts in with the occasional breeze, but most of the smoke escape through the chimney vent built in to the tree itself. Occasionally he peeks back inside, usually at important points of the story.

"I though' he did. But … it looks like he did' not. To further de problem, I t'ink he spirit boun' to me in par' of de ritual, to try an absorb my talen'. It also look like he may be stalkin' my tribe, an be de cause of much of de misery dat seems to follow us," Natasha says, then looks between Isolde, Morgan, and Amelia. "I further suspect he be tryin' to redo de ritural an' complete it dis time.'.

"My, when you bring me trouble, you don't go halfway Amelia," Isolde notes. "What is the nature of this spirit bond?"

"I kin only guess it is a partial bond, from an attempt to absorb my power. But dat is speculation. I no try to determine much yet," Natasha replies. "Determining dat sort of t'ing is no simple."

Morgan walks back in for a moment and leans forward until his mother leans back, and he whispers to her, "Don't we have any old necromancy books? What about Dr. Pike?"

"I wish I'd known of this before I sent the other witches back home," Isolde says with a sigh. "Probing the nature of your bond would require a major summoning, such as we did for the bird-man and his unusual spirit bond." She looks to Morgan, and asks, "Dr. Pike dabbles with spirits? And of course we have no books on necromancy. Necromancy has nothing to do with proper witchcraft. It is… blasphemous magic."

In the middle of the conversation comes a soft rapping on the door. "Hello?" comes a very tired voice – Olivia's voice. "May I come in? I thought I might find Amelia here."

Amy gets up, and says, "I'll get the door!" She hurries out of the room, through the maze of doors and halls, and lets Olivia in. "Olivia! Did things go well with Gunther?" she asks the mouse.

Morgan nods to that, shifting his weight to one leg and tapping a cheek bone. "Nothing from the years? I thought maybe if we knew what he was trying to do, from their perspective, it would be easier to unravel. As for Dr. Pike, well, she seems interested in just about everything."

Natasha looks as if she wants to say something and shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Then she looks very relieved that Olivia has shown up. she sits back heavily in her chair.

"Isolde," Natasha asks and looks at the elder witch. "Where did you hear of Schadel before?"

"When I was a girl, my grandmother mentioned the name when she showed me the Sealing Box," Isolde recalls. "They had sent for it, I believe, but we had used it a few years before and it could not yet be opened at that time."

Olivia gives the Kadie girl a small smile. "Pretty well, yes – after I convinced him not to run off by himself and attack anyone." As she steps inside, Amy can see that she is carrying a small white bundle in one hand. "He's agreed to my request. I just came by to tell you the details. Oh, and since I had to stop by at home on the way, I brought you your blouse back. You must have left it with me all that time ago, when I was helping you try on the clothes I made you." She offers the folded bundle to Amelia and says, "You might want to check it over first for holes and suchlike – it's been in my mess of a room for a while now! Let's go in where the light is, all right?"

"And vhat is this sealing box you speak of, then?" Natasha asks, brows raised a bit. "And, vhat did you hear about dat town?"

Amelia blinks a bit in confusion as she takes the bundle. "We were just discussing the nature of our enemy, come this way," she tells the Skeek, and leads the way back to the makeshift conference room.

Morgan looks very interested about this 'Sealing Box' too, as his ears have distinctly perked at the mention of it. When he spies Amelia returning with Olivia he hesitantly backs away before heading out of the room and to the tea. "Hi Olivia," he calls out, and can be heard adding more water to the cauldron.

"I heard only that they needed the box, which is a true sarcophagus," Isolde notes. "It is used to seal the remains of a Necromancer, blocking all magics, for a period of thirty years. Over that time, it 'devours' the remains, leaching the evil from them so that the necromancer cannot rise again."

"Ah, a vay to prevent any residual influence from something corrupt'," Natasha remarks and nods. "Vell, twenty years ago I coul' see why dat town voul' need it. They were under de yoke of a rather nasty one."

Olivia follows the Kadie through the hallways – somewhat slowly, from what Amelia can tell. She waves to Morgan at his call, but says nothing further for now.

"Hmmm," Isolde purrs, and nods in greeting to Olivia. "Why am I not surprised to see you caught up in all of this, Miss Weaver?" she notes. "The box should be done with the last necromancer by now, I would imagine."

Bravil, meanwhile, is just sitting in the corner. He apparently found a collection of teacups and has for some reason known only to him, put one on the tip of each finger of his right hand.

Amelia sits down next to Olivia, and says, "You look like you can use some tea." The Kadie begins unwrapping the bundle Olivia gave her, setting it on her lap as she does so.

Olivia nods in return to the elder witch. "It just seems like I have a talent for getting into trouble," she answers, with a heavy air of irony. Then she fastens her eyes on Amelia as she unwraps the blouse, watching her with an intense curiosity.

Now hot enough for it, Morgan begins adding the tea leaves and, after another look at the group and their expressions, a bit of spicing. "The town certainly seems to be attracting unusual attention lately," he comments idly.

When Amy unfolds the blouse, she finds that a message is written upon it in a very light, watery blue dye: Let everyone read this. Have Isolde or Morgan ward the room or take some other precaution so I can speak freely after this, if it's necessary. Gunther and I were attacked by the necromancer. He threatened to kill my parents and Djivan in front of me if I didn't help him or if I betrayed him. He wants to find Zahn, he wants you as a slave, and he wants Natasha. Think of a decoy location where you can say Zahn has been hidden. I will ask you for it while the witch places the ward. I'll take that information to him while you make it look like the decoy location is inhabited. We have to ambush him there, unless you have a better plan. You'll need to be there, too, so it will look like I am delivering you to him at the same time.

Make an excuse out loud so you can burn this blouse NOW. We don't want evidence lying around and I don't know if I've been followed again. We can speak freely once the ward is in place, or somewhere else if you think it would be safer.

"Oh," Amelia says, "you've fixed that tear I put in it… have you ever seen such fine stitch work, Isolde?" She offers the blouse to the witch, who gives her an odd look before noting the writing.

"Serve the tea, Morgan," Isolde says a moment later. "First to Olivia, then to Bravil, then to Natasha, then to Amelia, then to me. Then stand in the northeast corner of the room, and light the incense there would you?"

Natasha watches with curiosity. Her eyes flick to the shirt being shown around, though she can't see it. Then they flick to Olivia, her expression grim.

Morgan pauses in his stirring, then nods and continues. "Oh. Of course," he says distractedly, and then he's busy pouring cups.

Isolde offers the blouse across the small table to Natasha, "Truly, have you ever seen such quality work, Dame Natasha?"

"By the way, Amelia," the Skeek continues, as the blouse is handed around, "I know you wanted me to tend to Zahn once in a while, so that you could get some rest. You'll have to let me know where he's been moved to, though, if you want me to do that. I can even start tomorrow, if you'd like?"

Bravil wiggles his cup covered fingertips, then sets the cups back down. Natasha takes the shirt, then peers at it. Her expression grows harder the further her eyes flow down the shirt. "Indeed, it be excellent work," she comments off-handedly, then folds the shirt up and sets it in a chair for Morgan. "Vou shoul' see the stitch work, Morgan. I lef' it in vour chair."

"Just a moment," insist Morgan as he circles around the group and presents people their cups of tea. He circles onece, then twice, then three times as he has to keep returning for more cups. "I'll just be right back with the incense. The wood's a bit smelly this time of year, you know." Off he goes.

"Oh, of course," Amelia says, thinking furiously. "We moved him to the Blacktail infirmary, so Isolde wouldn't have to travel as far each day."

Olivia nods solemnly to the Kadie girl and answers, "Thank you. Then I can begin helping you treat Zahn whenever you want. Just let me know, all right?"

"Rheumatism," Isolde says. "Gets to me now and then. The curses of age, you know."

Moments later Morgan is back with the incense censor. "Let me just get this going then," he insists, then circles the group three more times, wafting a hand. When he reaches the final lap he takes a seat and puts the incense censor down in the center of the table, and then picks up the blouse.

"I'll have to take you there then," Amelia says to Olivia, and keeps an eye on the witches.

Natasha watches the strange ritual circling that Morgan does with interest. Her fingers then tap on the tabletop, almost impatiently, her expression looking restless.

Isolde waves her hands over the incense burner, then covers her mouth and coughs three times. "Okay… we're unobserved for the next ten minutes," she says.

"This is very interesting stitch work, and it reminds me I should bring in my summer clothes," Morgan says as he hands the blouse to its owner. And, when his mother declares it safe, he adds, "I'd right like to stitch a certain someone, in fact."

Olivia leans toward the group, then suddenly sways and nearly loses her grip on her teacup, her free hand going to the sore place on her chest. She's sagging out of pure exhaustion, both from what the necromancer did to her and because of all she's had to do to before finding Amelia. "J-just give me a minute to r-rest," she stammers.

"Where are Gunther and your parents now, Olivia?" Amy asks as soon as it's safe.

"If ve vere observed in de first place," Natasha points out and sighs. Her attention shifts to Olivia. "He used magic on vou, didn't he? I seen how vou look before," she says, her tone edging on upset.

Olivia does her best to collect herself, forcing herself to lean with her back right up against the back of her chair. After a few seconds, she replies, "Gunther is safe back at the dam. I don't know how my parents are – I haven't spoken to them for a while now." She shoots Amy a significant look as she says this. "And yes, he used magic on me… he pulled out some of my energy to give to Gunther, to revive him after he knocked him flat. I should be okay after some sleep, though. I think."

"Where did he find you?" Amelia asks next.

Natasha starts to extend her hand towards Olivia, then abruptly stops and withdraws it. She sighs quietly, then says, "I'm sorry, Olivia. All of vou. I brough' dis nightmare on vou all."

"I wonder if he's aware of us. That is, that we have so many people with the Talent here. It suggests he's strong, badly informed. or just reckless, don't you think?" Morgan considers aloud. He waves a hand dismissively at Natasha'a apology, "As long as you're staying here you're part of this town too, so, your problem is our problem."

"Some distance away from Gunther's secret laboratory in the woods by the dam," Olivia tells her. "I'm not exactly sure where in the woods that is – only Gunther would know. I was blindfolded for part of the trip. Er, don't ask. Kettenrad secrecy and all that."

"Yes, Natasha, we're still going to help you, nightmare or no," the Skeek girl says with a ghost of a smile.

"Morgan, you'll need to ask Lili to overfly the woods on either side of the dam, and listen for chimes," Amy says. "Natasha, how many of these sacrifice-attacks have there been so far?"

"Why the focus on the chimes anyway? Do you mean the necromancer actually does that thing with the bones?" asks Morgan.

"He's powerful, Morgan, very powerful," Natasha says with a glance towards the young witch. She then looks back to Amelia and says, "Dat is hard to say. Some may hav been him, some may no'. If we err on de side of safty an assume all, at leas' twenty. over a period of five vears."

"He already had the bones, Morgan," Amelia says, and then sighs. "Okay, so he could have upward of twenty undead at his command. We'll set up the underground armory as the 'infirmary', it only has one way in or out. Someone needs to find Parsley too, and find out where Axel is. He still may be able to help with the spirit bond thing."

Isolde says, "I will take some time to clean out and prepare the Sealing Box. Then it will need to be moved to the proper place. If I work all night, it can be ready in the morning."

"An any graveyard he may find along the way," Natasha points out. "An wit' necromancers, what dey raise doesn' have to be a person, he coul' raise dead monsters too."

"I'll help you mom, unless you want me doing something else? You know I'm not very good with-" Morgan gestures vaguely at the censer, "-but I can try."

"Our graveyards are pretty tapped out," Amelia says. "We cremate. And the ghouls have cleaned out any remains in the manor graveyard."

Olivia takes this moment to snag the blouse back from Amelia and hand it to Morgan. "Burn this, would you please?" she asks. "I don't know where your fireplace is… and it doesn't need to be in one piece any longer than necessary." Then to Amy she says, "Gunther does have some good hand-held weapons for you to use against any undead. He showed me how one worked and it was pretty effective at breaking things up into small pieces. You should talk to him about that."

"I hav' some skill wit' de magical arts. I can do my own part, if need be," Natasha offers. "I woul' recommend if vou hav de ability to do dispells of necromantic arts, den you prepare dose. Dey may prove invaluable."

"I've seen his shredder," Amy says, nodding. "It needs to be used at close range though. If he has copies, we can arm the people in the bunker with them." To Natasha, she asks, "Can those 'dispells' be placed on weapons or arrows?"

"Small level vards can be placed on objects as long as dey no iron. Iron disrupts magic," Natasha explains. "De wards may be decen' to stop de type of attack Olivia experience, but dey one shot. When it hit, it gone. Which … I shoul' have offered to try to make one for each of vou in de first place. At least it give you better chance to escape. Sorry."

Olivia says to Amelia, "He's making more of those weapons right now. I know you've seen the large prototype, and you may be able to get one of those out of him, too, if you think it would help."

Morgan looks at the blouse a moment before getting up and feeding it to the tea fire. "Amelia's idea reminds me of something I read on this," he shakes the burning blouse a bit. "If I have some time I can possibly concoct something. A potent mixture of, hm … Yes that would work. Mom? Do we have any holy water?"

Amy taps her claws on the table, and asks Olivia, "How much time do we have before he decides you have to let him know Zahn's location?"

"Yes, we have some, and powdered thistlebark as well," Isolde notes, frowning slightly. Such things are hard to come by, but she can replace them later.

Olivia looks grim at Amy's next question to her. "That probably depends mostly on him. I get the feeling that he's going to come to me, rather than the other way 'round. It's not like he's going to give me a location at which to meet him. That, at least, begs for an ambush."

"Larg' dispells are dangerous, if vou wanted dat, Amelia," Natasha says and sighs. "Dey tend to, vell, strip all de spiritual power out of an entire area, depending on de skill of de one performing de dispell. Any one with Talent caught in one will suddenly find demselves powerless for a time. Dat woul' render him a lot more vulnerable too, but … not sure if anyone here capable of performing such… "

"Okay, so we can delay him a little in that," Amelia says. "Almost all of our weapons are iron or silver tipped, since the Necromancer Wars. Wards on the people that will be closest to the Box will be good to have."

With the blouse reduced to cinders Morgan removed the cauldron, puts it aside to cool, then grabs a bigger one and begins filling it with water. "I hate to use the thistlebark," Morgan confides, echoing his mother's thoughts, "but this is an emergency."

"Now, you've had the most experience with the necromancer, Natasha," Amelia notes. "Is he arrogant enough to press on even if he loses all of his minions, and does he have to be within a certain range to control them?"

"He didn' seem to have to be dat close in de past, no when … well, when I encounter him," Natasha answers and taps on her teacup with a clawtip. "An, I guess it woul' depend on how well he prepare. If he prepare several spells an rituals beforehan' he may be quite arrogant. Of course, dat does buy us some time. Preparing anyting' more den a basic attac' coul' take him hours or days, dependin how much power he want to put into it. So, if he felt de situation urgent, he may try an hurry." And then suddenly she smiles and looks at Isolde. "An I t'ink I know how to make him hurry."

"You want to be the final bit of bait then, I take it?" Amy asks Natasha, then blinks and turns to Olivia. "Wait a minute, did he say why he wanted me for a slave?"

Morgan peeks back inside, "Yes, what was THAT about? Not that he doesn't have good taste Amelia!" He ducks back in to the other room.

"I assum' I vould be anyway. But, i expec' he vould hurry if vou, vell, killed me," Natasha says bluntly. "Ve linked, vhich means if I die, he die. Ah no, I don't mean kill totally, but push me to de edge of death. He vould' vant to lose the power he vants from me, or die himself."

"The bird-man can help in that, I think, Dame Natasha," Isolde says.

Even in this tense situation, Olivia manages to grin at Amy. "Well, I don't think it was for your mental powers, since he referred to you as my little half-wit Blacktail friend." Then her smile fades. "I think he wanted you for your combat ability. He said you'd make an excellent soldier for him."

"Though, when he does die, I vill die too, vou know. Unless de link can be severed, our fates are intertwined," Natasha adds and shrugs sadly. "An, I know not of any link dat has ever been successfully broken."

There's the sound of glass rattling against glass as Morgan does something in the other room. That something seems to be getting holy water, because when he peeks back in again he's holding it in a hand. You can tell it's holy water by the 'this is holy water' type cross on the stopper. "Well, we'll do our best to see that doesn't happen. And, ah, speaking of the bird-man won't he be in danger? He's of the type to be vulnerable isn't he?" The Kadie looks to his mother for confirmation.

"Well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it," Amy says darkly, clearly a bit miffed by the 'half-wit' remark. "Our time is almost up. I'll go and get the militia ready after this."

"Once the box is ready and moved into the bunker, I'll come get you Olivia. If the necromancer shows up before then, just tell him I'm taking you to Zahn in the morning," Amy tells Olivia.

"Ah, am I assum' to be stayin' here tonigh?" Natasha asks. "An, if so, vill I have a privat' room? I hav a lot to t'ink over, and some t'inks to prepare. Vou may also vant to summon de bird t'ing,. if vou t'ink he kin help."

"And I guess I'll go back to the Weaver's, so that this necromancer doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, especially if he's been following me," Olivia tells the others. Then she says just to Amy, "Right. I'll do that. If he appears tonight. Gods, I hope not. I really need some rest… "

"Yes, we'll put you up here for the night," Isolde says, then looks at the big Jupani. "What of your bodyguard though? Should he be kept out of any fighting?"

"If you can set up a ward on Axel and yourself, Natasha, that would be useful," Amy notes. "Hiding your presences from him until it's time to draw him in would help."

"Bravil? Vell, he vould be a good fighter. An it be up to him, really," Natasha replies. Bravil looks up and says, "I do whatever needed to protec' Natasha. If vou want me to, I go hunt him righ' now."

Natasha considers Amelia's question, then nods, "I coul try to do that. Or vard say, a room. It voul take many hours to do, though."

"The room then, I'll bring you to it early," Amy says. "I'll have a Lapi go find Axel and pick up the weapons from Gunther too."

Morgan's eyes widen at the mention of warding. "No no, no, don't ward Mr. Axel, I dare say he'd be allergic to it," he insists.

"Do vou know somet'ing about him I do no?" Natasha asks Morgan. "I no examine him very closely last time. Jus … how much of a spirit is he?"

"Just Natasha and Bravil then," Amy suggests.

"Well … " Morgan looks to his mother to explain.

Natasha sighs and says, "Fin'. Just bring him by an I'll completely examine him dis time." She mutters, "Never get a straigh' answer."

"Axel is half spirit," Isolde says. "More to the point, suppressing the spirit part of him will kill him, as it sustains his damaged body."

"No," insists Morgan as he waves a hand, "I'm just not the one to answer, that's all. It's not my place. Witch in training, remember?" Axel grins a little at Natasha.

Olivia mutters to herself, "Well, that explains the 'me and me who is not me' bit he was ranting on about when I met him."

"Den I recommend he be novhere nearby. I hav' a feeling dis may get really ugly an de level of spiritual magic may get … intense," Natasha says frowning.

"I thought he was just nuts," Amy says. "So, any loose ends anyone can think of, aside from what to do if he doesn't show up?"

"Maybe you can teach him to protect himself then?" Amy asks Natasha.

Olivia looks askance at Amelia. "If he doesn't show up, grab the ones you love and run for it, because that would mean he knows about our plans and we should get out while we can," she says dryly, and only half jokingly.

"So, you see, he'll suffer from a ward. The thing is if he can't be warded he's just as vulnerable to necromancy. We'll have to think of what to do with him while we manage the rest of this," Morgan explains.

"I think we'd go with Natasha's plan to get his attention, actually," Amy says to Olivia.

"Teach a spirit to put spirit wards aroun' himself?" Natasha asks, sounding incredulous. "Dat sounds so utterly absurd. But, it migh protect against a hit dat vould otherwise kill. But really, dat … I can't even predict vhat vould happen."

Olivia looks worried at this and murmurs, "Y'know, I kinda hoped we'd forgotten about that plan, as it seems very risky. But, if it's the only Plan B we have… "

Isolde says, "It may be worth a try. Goodness knows the lad needs to hide himself from other spirits. And without him, we can't reliable bring Natasha to the brink of death and then revive her."

"Fin'. Bring him an I see what I can teach him tonigh'," Natasha says. "At leas' being a spirit, he shoul' understand de concepts decently."

Amy looks to Olivia, and asks her, "You had him in your room… just how simple do things have to be for him to understand them?"

An uncomfortable look creeps across Olivia's face. "Um, well… I'd say you'll have to keep it very simple. He, uh, set himself on fire on one of my candles that first night. Then sparked his hair. It was a mess."

"Well, at least he can provide a distraction," Amy mutters.

Natasha groans then lays her head on the table. It rocks back and forth slowly. "Maybe I shoul' just go surrender to him. Dis is hopeless," she mutters.

Morgan looks a little worried about the idea of Axel understanding. He gives a hopeful smile anyway, then slips back to pour the contents of the holy water into his cauldron.

"What?!" Amelia says, slamming her palms on the table. "Natasha, this is Stonebarrow! We've never buckled under to any necromancer or other tyrant! This guy doesn't stand a chance against us!"

Olivia glances over at Natasha. "But he did seem somewhat more focused when we talked to him and Parsley the other day," she notes. "I did wonder then if he'd gotten any better after his meeting with the entire conclave."

Natasha stands up a moment after Amelia's hand goes down. "Yes, dis is. Dis is vour home. Dis isn't my home and dis is my problem. An I can' even do some of de t'ings I t'ink dat vould help because … " she counters angrily. "N'othin. I gon to retire and t'ink."

"I'll have Axel found by nightfall," Amy promises.

"By the way," Morgan interjects, "when I'm done here I want all of you except Axel to take some of this." A ladle appears in the doorway and waves about to indicate itself. "Put it in a bot-" the Kadie himself peeks back in, frowns, then adds, "I'll explain later, this is a bad time." He vanishes again.

Isolde stands up, and says, "I'll show you to a room, Natasha. Then I have to begin preparing the box. And don't think I won't forget to talk to you later, Morgan."

"Ves, I need t discuss vith you about vour son corruptin' someone of my tribe," Natasha tells Isolde.

Olivia thinks back on Morgan's association with Liliana and comments, "Er, wouldn't that be the other way around, Natasha?"

The party can distinctly hear what sounds like, "Oh no," from Morgan in response to his mother's comment, followed by a louder, "Yes mother."