Intruder at the Tree House Thursday (26 Sep 2001) Tom's time out at his tree house is interrupted by an uninvited guest.

The Gnarly Tree
This tree seems nearly as wide as it is tall, a great mass of twining branches and leafy boughs unlike the conifers prevalent in the area, but resilient enough to weather Ainigton's cold winters. Within its boughs are many forks and nooks, and anyone properly nestled inside is granted considerable cover from prying eyes, as well as vantage-points from which to look down upon Ainigton and Danzwyck Stables, with even more majestic scenery beyond. A dirt path runs nearby, making this tree not entirely secluded from the paths of casual explorers of the wilderness, but it nonetheless offers considerable privacy for the adventuresome at heart.

Less visible would be the tree house that is snugly hidden within the tree branches. Even less visible would be the bundle of supplies hidden in military-inspired camouflage off in the bushes.

It's mid-afternoon now, a sunny but still pleasantly temperate day, especially thanks to the shade afforded by the tree.

The tree-house has undergone significant progress over the last couple of weeks or so. No longer is it merely a flat platform with an area of white bare to anyone who -- however unlikely -- might look down at it from a higher vantage. The wall sections that were painstakingly constructed in modular fashion back at the Winthrope residence have now been raised into place and secured. Although there are numerous frills and features to add, all that really remains to make this a proper tree house is to finish the roof -- and someone is working on that right now.

"Ow, man, Genji sure knows how to do a workout. I didn't think I'd be this sore afterward," mutters a spiky-raven-haired boy currently atop the roof of the nearly complete tree house. Tom rubs his arm and takes a break from nailing down the plywood sections on the roof. "Good thing Dad helped me raise the frame up here, and it's good that we bolted it instead of just using nails. That way, we can take it down if we need to. The nails are just to anchor it, he said, to make it safer," Tom says. "Then just the railing and it's basically done. Cool!" A wide grin creeps across his face.

As silence falls upon the tree house for a moment, as the breeze stops blowing, Tom hears ... a jingling noise.

Tom looks around momentarily and says, "Huh...?" Slowly, he picks up his hammer and shrugs, "Nah, couldn't be Bragwaine. She doesn't even know where this place is, much less get up here with me." He hammers another nail in, then stops and listens again, just in case.

*jingle*

*rustle rustle*

Tom sets down the hammer. He opens his mouth to call out, then promptly claps his hand over it. It would defeat the purpose of having a hidden tree house if he made it that obvious. Instead, he scoots over to an edge and peers out into the leaves.

There are scraping noises, and then Tom's worst nightmares are realized! There is a girl sitting in the tree, on one of the lowest branches. She looks out on the path, kicking her feet back and forth. And even though he hasn't a clear look at her, what he can see is enough to give him an awfully good guess as to the identity of the intruder. She can't have been there long -- unless that is, Tom has been spending longer working on the roof than he realized.

Tom twitches. "Gah! How'd she get .. why ... argh! No!!!" Tom thinks to himself, struggling to not say anything. He then face palms, realizing she has also probably heard him nailing and thus knows the tree house is up here. But, if she doesn't, best to get her away from here. He tries to scoot quietly to the other side of the tree house, then eases himself into the branches to climb down.

Almost eerily silent is Tom's descent from the tree house (not using the elevator, of course) into the tree proper. Or, at least, it sure seems to Tom like he's being pretty quiet. In the distance, he hears the ratcheting noise of a woodpecker at work. Sabrina's head turns to look that way. It doesn't seem like she's noticed him.

Tom eases himself into the branch-level Sabrina's currently in, then carefully makes his way around towards here. He grins slightly, wondering if he could startle her with a "boo!". He shrugs; of course he has to get over to her first.

This is all too easy. Maybe she's putting up an act? Every once in a while, she glances around, but there are many other noises in the forest that she seems to be reacting to, and the tree already makes considerable rustling and swaying on its own, thanks to the intermittent breezes. Astoundingly, Tom manages to get very, very close. Tom himself would probably be given a fright if anyone (or anything!) popped up this close to him in a tree.

"So what brings you out this far, Sabrina?" Tom asks, trying not to grin too much. He sits, attempting to look nonchalant about just popping up.

Sabrina lets out a squeak of alarm, but not quite as impressive of one as Tom might have hoped for. (Certainly not an ear-piercing shriek, anyway.)

Sabrina immediately spins around, and makes a fumbling punch, but -- hey! -- practice does pay off! Without even thinking, Tom's free hand flashes up to intercept the blow, and neatly catch Sabrina's arm. This, however, does not calm her, and as she thrashes about, screaming now, she slips off of the branch!

"Good lord, quit struggling!" Tom yells, locking his legs around the branch he's sitting on. He tries to retain hold of Sabrina's arm and keep her from falling down to the ground. His free hand whips up and tries to grab onto any close-by branches to keep himself from being pulled off or spun upside-down!

Tom realizes in a split-second, he won't be able to hold onto Sabrina safely. So, he releases and uses his legs locked around the branch he's sitting on to swing himself around quickly. Fortunately, grabbing her arm slowed her just enough that he does meet up with her underneath the branch. He has just enough time to grab onto her and curl himself underneath her. Not a moment after he positions himself, he feels the edges, then the rest of the bush beneath them rush up to meet their descent. With a loud "Oomph!" Tom lands into the bush, Sabrina right on top of him. He blinks, then lifts up his arms and legs and wiggles them. "Whew, intact," he mutters, then takes in a breath.

Sabrina, however, does not seem to share Tom's relief. She shrieks and flails about in a manner not unlike Shadow when trying to give him a much-unwanted bath. She smacks Tom several times with ineffectual punches, and twists and finally scampers free, tumbling out of the bush, falling to her knees with a crunching of broken twigs and crushed leaves, and then skids around, standing up, tears in her eyes. "I bite!" she threatens.

The boy slowly sits up, black hair sticking out worse than usual and full of twigs. "Hey, Sabrina, calm down. It's just me. Man, if I knew you'd fall, I would've been a bit louder when getting over to you," he says, holding up his hands defensively. "You're alright. you're fine," He says calmly, "The bush and I -- ouch -- broke your fall."

"What were you trying to do?" Sabrina demands, her voice still unsteady. "You scared me! I almost fell! You could have hurt me!" Before he has a chance to respond, though, she follows (after a momentary breath) with, "How'd you get so sneaky?"

Tom grins weakly. "I saw you there and wanted to surprise you, is all." He stands up slowly and dusts off his pants, then places his hand against the small of his back. "You did fall," Tom explains, "I let go so to try and keep you from getting hurt. It was my fault you fell and the last thing I wanted was to hurt you. As for being sneaky, I've lived here a long time and the woods are where I spend most of my time, so I've just gotten pretty good and sneaking about in them."

"Oh," Sabrina says. "Well, I'd thank you for saving me, but that seems rather silly, since you're the one who got me in danger in the first place. So it just cancels out." She puts her index fingers together and makes a "popping" noise with her tongue and cheek. She wipes at her eyes, and stands up straight now. "Please don't do that again, though. I don't like being snuck up on."

Tom nods, pondering explaining to his parents any bruises he may get are just from slipping during martial arts class with Genji. "Yeah, it would be silly to thank me for that," Thomas agrees, now picking the twigs from his hair, "As for doing it again, well, I won't 'sneak' up on you in a tree, I promise."

"There's a lot more than trees to be sneaky in," Sabrina says, with a wary look. "Don't try to trick me! My big brother tries that all the time."

Tom laughs and smiles at Sabrina. "Oh, I'd lose my reputation if I didn't try to sneak now and then. I just would make sure it wasn't such that you'd get hurt." He shrugs and grins. "Okay, okay, just don't tell anyone I promised not to sneak up on you, then? And since it was my fault you almost got hurt, how can I make it up to you?"

Sabrina hmms, grinning a little too much at this, perhaps giving Tom cause to wonder at the wisdom of an open ended offer of "how can I make it up to you". At least it was only a question, not a promise. "Wellllll," she says, obviously still mulling the matter over, as she doesn't finish her sentence.

Tom raises an eyebrow, suddenly not liking the turn of the conversation. "Well, what?" he asks.

"Don't rush me, I'm still thinking!" Sabrina says. "I know! How about if I hang out with you for a bit, and you don't knock me out of any trees?" Oh, she's probably going to milk this one for all it's worth.

"You doom yourself, Tom. You really do. At least she's only here for the summer," he thinks to himself, forcefully keeping himself from grumbling. Slowly, he says, "Um, hang out with me? But, um, er..."

"Don't mind if I do!" Sabrina squeals, bouncing on her toes. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She does a happy-jig in a circle. "Whee!"

Tom covers his face and mutters, "Why couldn't I have broken my neck?"

Sabrina does a cartwheel, then stands upright, hands in the air. "Tada! Now then ... what's your favorite color?"

Tom looks at Sabrina funny. "You know, you're really odd. My favorite color is green, probably because my eyes are," Tom says. He then glances back up at the tree, almost forlorn, knowing if he goes back up, she'll know what's up there.

Sabrina doesn't follow his gaze. Perhaps her adventure has spoiled her interest in the tree. "Mine's blue. And of course I'm odd! So are you! What's your favorite candy?"

Tom takes in a breath and his shoulders slump slightly. "Depends, I tend to switch around. I like both butterscotch and watermelon hard candies. Probably watermelon candy right now," he says, then asks, "What's with all the questions, anyway?"

"Well," Sabrina says, "I figure that I haven't got much time to make friends, and one thing about being friends is that you know lots of things about each other, so I'm trying to get past all the talkie-talk stuff and get right to the point! What's your birthday?"

"October fourteenth," Tom replies and grins. "Nice time of year. Trees are changing and it's cool, so running and such is great. Less sweating. How about you?"

"Well, I'm born in August," Sabrina says. "August thirteenth. Max was born on May ninth. I think he'd far rather wish he were born on something creepy like Halloween, but don't believe him if he tells you that."

Tom shrugs. "Why would he want to be born on some creepy day? I think he must like to act all spooky or something," Tom says. "Does he have many friends?"

"No," Sabrina says. "Not really anybody but me. And he says I don't count. I'm his sister, after all."

Tom shakes his head. "He should try to get some. Not like any of us around here are any odder, really. Look at the folks I tend to hand around, for instance." He looks thoughtful. "Come to think of it ... "

"Well, he is," Sabrina insists. "He just has a really weird way of going about it."

Tom grins. "And you don't?" Tom then shrugs and says, "Heck, he could even make it into my fort ... oops!" Tom covers his mouth and says, though muffled, "You didn't hear that."

"What fort?" Sabrina asks, not quite as obedient as Tom might like.

"Nothing, nothing. Something I was thinking about. Not anything that exists," the boy replies quickly.

Sabrina has a look in her eyes that suggests she's not buying it. "Liar, liar!" she taunts.

Tom crosses his arms. "Maybe," he replies.

Sabrina crosses her arms, mimicking Tom's pose. "What kind of fort is it? Pretty please?"

Tom looks pained. "If I tell you, you'll run and tell everyone! It's supposed to be hidden!" Tom pleads.

"I will not! Only my big bro-- Oh, all right!" Sabrina pouts. "I don't need to know. But if you push me out of another tree, I'm serious, you'll owe me!"

"Only friends get to know where it is. I really don't want everyone finding it. If you can swear you'd tell absolutely no one -- not even your brother -- I'll show you," Tom says, giving in to the pout. "But," he warns, "if you tell anyone, you're gonna have to be wary of everything, because I might pop up anywhere and scare the crud out of you, got that?"

"Eep!" Sabrina squeals. "No, I won't tell anyone, honest! Cross my heart and hope to ... well, I don't want to die, so I just won't tell anyone, okay?"

"Okay, then. Remember you said that," the boy says, grinning. "You've already been very near it, you know," he says, teasing.

"Awwwww! How close?" Sabrina asks, taking the bait.

"Mmmmm, really close," Tom replies, grinning. He points up.

"Nooooo!" Sabrina says, disbelieving.

Tom grins. "Well, how did you think I was able to get to you? You didn't see me walk up, did you?"

"Well, noooooo," Sabrina admits. She walks back over underneath the tree, peering into the shadows of the boughs.

Tom laughs. "Just wait here," Tom says. The boy then jumps up and grabs a branch and scurries upward into the tree.

"This had better not be a trick!" Sabrina warns, half-heartedly.

A couple minutes pass. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe Tom's just trying to escape the onslaught of perkiness. The branches then rustle and the base of a platform breaks into view. Slowly, the elevator of Tom's 'fort' comes into view, settling to the ground a couple minutes later. "Well, I guess this is a trick anyway. Not often you have elevators in forts, eh?" He says, grinning from ear to ear.

Sabrina just looks on in slack-jawed awe. "Wowwwww!" is what she has to say, at long last. "Can I ride in it? Can I? Can I please?"

Tom laughs. "Well, that is why it's here after all. It's also what I meant about your brother being able to get in. Hop in," He says.

There's another sound of footsteps in the underbrush. "Uh oh," Sabrina says, looking down the path.

The younger girl quickly scrabbles into the elevator, seeming as if for the moment she's more interested in a place to hide, than in an interesting ride.

"Any more surprises, feline?" comes a familiar voice from down the trail. It sounds like Agatha's voice.

"Hang on!" Tom says and starts spinning the winch as fast as he can, "We're going up, quick!"

Sabrina clings onto Tom as if he were a safety blanket, but the elevator works as intended, and smoothly glides up and into the tree house.

Tom settles the elevator into place and whews. It was a bit rougher than normal, but he was in a hurry to get the elevator back up. He attaches the rope to lock it into place then hops out and runs to a window, peering out. He tries to see if he can see the individual through the leaves.

Yes, it's most certainly Agatha. She's carrying her sword.

"Ah, I do believe we're heading back onto the Way of the Dwarves," Agatha calls out.

Tom squints, trying to see if anyone is with her. "Say, isn't today Agatha's test?" he says back to Sabrina.

"Shhh!" Sabrina hisses, as she leans over, trying to get a look (though from her vantage, she's probably not able to get a very good glimpse of anything).

Agatha is most clearly alone at the moment, and making her way along the path with a certain purpose to her movement and bearing that suggests that she's 'in character'.

"Who's she talking to?" Tom murmurs, peering this way and that. "Maybe I should go down and see what's up," he says softly.

It looks as if Agatha is pausing, making some notes on a map she carries.

"Well, if you do," Sabrina says, "she's supposed to keep going that way." She points further down the path, in the direction Agatha was headed anyway.

Tom walks over to the floor hatch and lifts it open. He then looks back at Sabrina. "I should leave her alone, shouldn't I?"

Sabrina gives him an impish smile. "Well, if you leave, I'll just have your tree house all to myself!" she whispers, stifling a giggle.

"Not if I drag you with me," Thomas threatens.

Sabrina's eyes go wide. "I won't touch anything, promise!" She folds her arms around herself.

Tom shrugs and sits down. "She knows about this place, so if she wanted me along, she could just call up to see if I'm here, too," Tom says, "The test did seem directed mainly at her. Say, would you like to go watch in secret?"

"I was supposed to halt her with another challenge," Sabrina whispers, then cuts off as Agatha calls out, "BRAGWAINE?"

Tom nods, "Go for it. I'll watch." He grins, "Feel free to use whatever, but be careful with the elevator, okay? Unless you want me to take you down."

Sabrina says, "I can go slip ahead. Could you come up with some way of delaying her? You could pretend to be ... uhm ... Lord Explorer Tom but you're under a spell. I know! You're a werewolf. I need to buy some time for Max to get ready. He's got some trouble with the Green Knight. I was supposed to find a pouch around here, but Agatha caught up on me too fast, so I had to leave it behind. You should have seen how fast she went up that wall! She's almost as good as you!"

Agatha is now standing right next to the huge tree.

Sabrina whispers, "Uh oh."

Tom laughs. "She hangs around me too much, I guess. I'm sure I could think of something." Tom leans over the opened floor hatch and shouts down, trying to make his voice lower, "Hold there, knight. You shall go no further until you pass the next trial."

Agatha takes a few steps back, and looks behind her momentarily. "And what is this next trial?" she asks suspiciously.

Sabrina starts to scrabble out of the tree house, gingerly making her way down the back side of the tree.

Thomas chuckles deeply. "As a knight, you must excel in all things. So, you must face an opponent who is skilled, although perhaps not in the ways you are." He slips through the hatch and clambers down. Reaching the lower branches, he then calls out, "You must face the skills of a friend, mimicked through a forest changeling." Tom grips the branch he's on and swings down, dropping near Agatha. "You must face a mimic of your own friend, Lord Thomas. If you can face him in both knowledge and skill, you may pass. You need not beat him in all things, but simply prove yourself capable in his area of experience. Knights must also understand how to survive in nature, after all...."

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This site serves as a chronicle of sessions in an online roleplaying campaign moderated by Conrad "Lynx" Wong and May "Rowan" Wasserman. The contents of this site are (c) 2001, 2002 by Conrad Wong and May Wasserman except where stated otherwise. Despite the "children's fantasy" theme of this campaign, this site is not intended for young readership, due to mild language and violence.