Mead update

Last night we check the Mead. She's still fermenting. A bubble in the fermenter lock about every 25-30 seconds. We took a reading with the hydrometer. We got a reading of 1.032. So to figure the Alcohol, we subtract the O.G. (1.104) with the gravity, (1.032), and multiply that by 105.

1.104 - 1.032 = 0.072
0.072 x 105 = 7.56 percent alcohol.

According to The Complete Joy of Home Brewing Book by Charlie Papazian and the recipe we (mostly) used falls close to the 8.95%-11.25% range.

Orienteering

For those that don't know what Orienteering is, it's the skill and sport of Navigating the Land with a map and Compass.

Last weekend I decided not to stay at home and rest like I said I would but instead, decided to go and help out the Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club with their land navigation class. Twice a year, usually in the end of March/first of April and End of October, they have a Land Nav Class. So if you are ever lost in the wilderness, (which I have been) and you have a map and compass (which I didn't have when I was lost, so it really wouldn't have helped me out) you get find your way back to civilization. At any rate, if you love the outdoors and don't like sticking to trails like me, I highly recommend learning Map and compass skills.

Here are some pretty pictures I took while out Orienteering.

Desert Thistle
First is lovely picture of a Desert Thistle. I know thistles are weeds but it's still pretty plant.



Field of Wild flowers and cactus.



Tomatio (sp)
I'm not sure how you spell it, but this plant was shown to us by one of the students. She had tons of knowledge on plants said this plant's fruit is eatable. I did eat some of the berries and I'm still alive, yeah! The berries are the size of small jelly beans and if cut open have small seeds like tomatoes and has a taste very similar to tomatoes. Although I don't like tomatoes, and I could detect a hint of tomato flavoring, but it had more appealing taste.



Birds Nest in Cactus





Roblas Butte



Picketpost Mountain



And now for a little learning lesson on Orienteering.

Boxed Y
A Boxed Y is is term for a reentrant junctions. First a reentrant is the valleys of hills. Look at the picture below, and try to visualize where water would travel if it were raining hard enough to cause flash flooding.



Rivers and creeks are also examples of reentrant, but they are usually referred to as rivers and creeks. But if there was no water in the rivers and creeks then you have a reentrant. A reentrant junction is where two reentrants meet.

I've drawn where the reentrant junction are at.



On a Topographical Map all land features looks something like this. Land features are drawn in brown. Keep in mind this is not the same hill in the previous photos.



Can you see all the valleys? They are the represented by all the V's. The hills are more U shaped lines.



Now if you were to draw the reentrant junctions you have Y's like the the previous photo showed. The name Boxed Y comes from the way the contour lines box in the reentrant junctions.



Hope this helps a little and you found it entertaining.

ARF Recap

2008 marked the fifth year I worked the Arizona Renaissance Festival. This year was the 20th Anniversary of the Arizona Renaissance Festival. As always it was fun, and probably the best weather we had for an entire run. At least since I started working there. We had no rainy day, a couple overcast and cold days. No snowy days like last year. No days canceled like the last two years. A couple days were on the rather warm side but no hot days.

I was out there with the Lion Share, an improve troupe of Pirates Honest Merchant Sailors. We were up to our normal shenanigans like Robbing the taxes, Invading the Royal Pavilion, Blowing up bridges, Kidnapping the Lord Mayor and the Lady Lord Mayor. Swag Stacking, and getting patrons to walk the plank.

Swag staking is a game we play with a bunch of swag, or booty, (pause so you can giggle at the word booty).... Ok it's a bunch of junk; cups, candle sticks, plates, other various pieces of metal that we stack on top of one another in an effort to see how tall we can get it. The record was 24 pieces of swag. The record was set by 2 kids, 7-8ish, up in Flagstaff during Ren in the Pines. This year we set the record to 29 pieces of swag after 2 other kids set a new record of 27. We were determine to beat the record after the kids set to 27 with dumb luck using no reason to pieces they selected to place on top of the previous piece.

This year we were part of the open gate show. We started the show. It starts with us stumbling drunk towards the gate singing what do you do with a drunken sailor as loud as we can and then demand to be let in. Then we remember we have the keys to the village that we won from the Lord Mayor in a game cards the previous night. But none of the keys work. Then Dittle runs us off. We return with a bigger key. Two kegs of gunpowder. Then as boy is trying to lit the fuse Dittle comes back and calls for the Lord Mayor and we run off. We then dress boy up as a princess and sneak in with the Royal procession only to kicked out as opening canon goes off.

Toll Free Troll Bridge
Another bit we did, not a new idea mind you, but still it's fun. We sit on a bridge and wait for patron to cross the bridge, then you stop them and get them to pay a toll. The toll was One Pirate joke. If they don't know one help them with it. We start off by saying, "What's a Pirate's favorite..." Then wait for them or ask them to fill in the blank with a noun. After they say something, we say "We don't know, what is a Pirate's favorite (insert patrons noun)" Then they usually laugh because we just caught them not knowing the punchline. But it doesn't matter whatever they say, whether in makes sense or not We laugh like its the funniest thing we ever heard and tell them they may pass. If I had a dime for every time I heard the one about the pirate walking into the bar with a ships wheel hanging around pelvic area. Well I'd be a rich man. For those that don't know the punch line, it's driving me nuts.

With the recent success of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean there are too many pirates. Everyone wants to be a pirate, and well we kind of are redundant. So next year, the Lions Share Pirates maybe a dance troupe. Assuming we get enough musicians and dancers.

Why I'm a libertarian with a small-l

The core belief of libertarianism is Liberty and Freedom, the non-initiation of force. The belief that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want, as long as you do not harm anyone. For the most part the Libertarian Party believes this as well. There is even a pledge you must take before you become an official party member. The Pledge is,

"I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE IN OR ADVOCATE THE INITIATION OF FORCE AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING POLITICAL OR SOCIAL GOALS."

Sounds good so far, then why am I not a party member. Well first of all I don't like collectivist terms like; Democrat, Republican, Caucasian, Black or African-American, American, Islamic, Christian, etc. I don't like labels, and I don't what to be group in with them. I don't even like to call myself a small-l libertarian. But our culture is fixated with labels, collecting and classify people. To me this dehumanizes all of us. When I go to vote, I want to vote for a person not a party. So I read all I can on the people running and then I vote for the person I think is best suited to keep my freedoms free (which few we have left now). Granted I tend to vote for more Libertarians then not when they're running for a position, but I'm not voting for the party. I'd like to see the party system be done away with, or at least the R, D, L, I, next to peoples names be done away with. Even if all it does is make the Republicans and Democrat Party-line voters do at least some research as to who's in the party they support.

Second I see the Libertarian Party as somewhat of contradiction. Here you have a party that doesn't believe in the initiation of force, working within the government system. Government by it's very nature is initiation of force. If you don't believe me quit paying your taxes, it's your money isn't it? Quit registering your vehicle, you bought it, it's yours, right? Quit obeying laws that don't harm others, where's the crime, who was hurt? See how long it takes before the government sends men after you, men with guns I might add, to take away your freedom by throwing you in jail or prison. Government is force. If I might paraphrase Mao Zedong

Government extends from the barrel of the gun.

Lastly, but it sort of ties into the previous reason. Last week, Mike Gravel announced that he was joining the Libertarian party. So I went over to the Libertarian party website to see what they had to say about this and they seem to be in support of this. There is even a quote from the Libertarian Party Executive Director, Shane Cory.

"We're honored to have a former member of the United States Senate join our ranks,"

Now I agree with Mike on the War on Irag, War on Drugs, Same-sex Marriage, and some of his other issues. But Mike Gravel is not a Libertarian. IMO, he is a socialist. He believes in Taxes (a different form a taxation, but a tax is a tax), Universal Healthcare, Social Security, Government Education. If he was a Libertarian he would not believe in use of force to steal your money (taxes) so he could give it to a failing government Education, a socialist government run Healthcare System, a bankrupt government Social Security program. Let me keep my money, all of it and let me decide how to spend it on; Education, Healthcare and my own Retirement. And let me do it in a FREE Market, free of government control and regulation. Thats what a Libertarian would advocate. Since the Libertarian Party is endorsing him, this tells me, the Libertarian Party is no better then the Democratic or Republican Party. And their non-initiation of force pledge is meaningless.

Gaming recap

Last week I had 2 games, first the Eberron game, and then the second mini-session of my 7th Sea game.

Eberron
The Eberron game was fun, we talked about our place in the world, each given a reason to be on the same road together all traveling to King-Crossing. But other then that no reason to work together. The weather turns bad and we all took shelter in a near by ruin that just happen to be revealed by a resent lightning strike. Another lighting strike shakes the earth and causes a door to blast open. We were attacked by panicked rats. After the rats were gone we still had no reason to work together nor given an incentive to investigate the ruins. But knowing that our GM probably had nothing for us unless we investigate the ruins, Matt and I start to poke around. We enter a room and attacked by some lesser outside. After it was killed we discover a ring and continued to investigate the ruins. This is were we ended for the night.

The adventure was a module, so it is very generic, which is fine. I guess I was hoping for more intrigue then just a dungeon crawl. We will see what happens next.

7th Sea
The 2nd-session of my new 7th Sea game picked up with our characters on the run from the Musketeers. I felt the session went really good, and I'm just about ready to introduce the B-Story as they work through the A-Story. Basically How I want to run the game is like this,

A-Story Starts < - > A-Story Middle < - > A-Story Climax
. . . . . . . B-Story Starts < - > B-Story Middle < - > B-Story Climax
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-Story Starts < - > C-Story Middle < - > C-Story Climax

So at any time 3 separate story arcs are going on at the same time. With the touch of Soap-Opera drama thrown into the mix.

Eberron

Although I said I never would, I've decided to get back into playing D&D. It came about because sometimes gaming a game system you don't particularly like is better then no gaming at all. Although I am still looking for another game and working on getting my 7th Sea campaign up and running. Awhile ago I met with the GM. We talked about the Campaign, system and other stuff. Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about my character. I proudly introduce you to Lord Emrys ir Teutorigs, Esquire. He is a noble from Aundair. Raised with the all the luxuries that the Nobles enjoy. But he also has seen the corruption that the Nobles inflict upon the people that serve them. With the help of his best friend and personal valet, Carwyn, they set out to fix the system from within during the day and remove those that oppose the change they are fighting for at night. Emrys works as a Barrister for those that can't defend themselves and works to change the laws that he feels are unjust. Sort of a cross between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Robin Hood.

Because of Class system that D&D uses it's hard to create the character I wanted, but I think I manage to figure it out. My plan is to take the Rogue class until I can take the Master Inquisitive prestige class from the Eberron Campaign setting. After that I was thinking of taking the Duelist prestige class from the DMG. With the Rogue class I get tons of points to put towards skills. It also fits for the Batman/Vigillante part of his character.

Faber est suae quisque fortunae "Every man is the artisan of his own fortune"
This is the Motto of the Teutorigs Family. There Family chest is Red and Black Checkered field Shield, with a Standing Lion on the left of the shield and Dragonhawk on the Right of the Shield. Below the Shield is an Olive Branch and a Bunch of Grapes.

Tomorrow we will be gaming our first game. More to come...

Super Bowl XLII

With the World watch the 18-0 Patriots and the underdog Giants battle out who will be this World Champions, I tuned in as well. I didn't care which team won, but was rooting for the Giants mostly because they were the underdogs. I probably would have supported the Patriots if it wasn't for the video taping scandal that happened early in the year and how New England handled themselves after it. It would have been nice to for someone to finally shut up the 72 Dolphins. But we'd probably have to hear about it from the 07 Pat's for the 25+ years how they had the perfect seasons and had to play more games then the 72 Dolphins. Although it was hard to root for Eli "Crying" Manning. But I have to hand it to him. He played one hell of a game and it came down to the wire. The best play was the pass from Eli Manning to David Tyree with about a minute left in the game. Eli some how manages to escape getting sacked and just throws up a Hail Maryesk pass and Tyree manages to pull it in, in a miraculous catch.



Even though Eli was awarded the MVP trophy I think it was the Giants Defense that deserved the award. They Sacked Tom Brady, another QB I don't like, 5 times, hurried and/or knocked him down a dozen or more times and forced a fumble. They keep the #1 Ranked Offense scrambling. They never let the Pats get into a rhythm. That allowed the Giants to stay in the game and up set the favored Patriots 17-14.

But the main reason I watch the Super Bowl was the Commercials. The Super Bowl has well know history of airing some of the best commercials. The last few years I have been disappointed, and was hoping for some good commercials again. Most were alright, some just sucked, which is ashame because of how much money they spend on them. Se here are my top 3 Super Bowl XLII Commercials.

#3 Pepsi Max Nod Ad
Watch for Chris Kattan at the end of the commercial. If it wasn't for him I doubt it would of made it on the list. Although Night at the Roxbury is not one of SNL's best movies made from a 2 min sketch. It is one of my favorite movies because there are jokes in there that I feel the writers put in there just for me.


#2Cars.com Glondor
Both Cars.com commercials where good but this one I though was better.


#1 the T Mobile Charles Barkley Top 5
Be careful what you wish for.

New Art

Not sure who did the original B/W.

Here's the Color.

Mmmmm, Fermented Honey

Something I've wanted to do but never got around to do was make mead. (What kind of Skald would I be if I didn't know how to make Mead.) So last night I finally did it. Yesterday after work I went to a local homebrew place picked up the essential supplies. Then went and picked up the honey and other items we needed. Then went to a friends house and started brewing. After we sanitized the equipment, pasteurized the honey and mixed everything together a few hours had past. We needed the temp. of the must to be 80º. And being the impatient type that I am, it was cooling fast enough. So it was moved to a tub with cold water and late packed with ice. Finally around 4 AM it reach the desired temp. The yeast was added and went home to go to bed.

The following are notes I took.

Mead
Makes 5 Gallons
15 lbs. of Mrs. Crockett's Country Hill Honey
4 Gallons of water
2 tsp Irish Moss
1 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Stale hops
1 capsule of servomyces

Heated 2 gallons of water as honey was mixed in. When temp. reached 170 remove pot from and mixed in Irish Moss, Gypsum, Stale Hops, and servomyces. After 5 mins rack must into carboy with 2 gallons of water and aerated. When the temp dropped to 80 added yeast. (Which was about 4 am) Getting the must to drop to 80 degrees was a long wait. We placed carboy into tub and filled the tub with cold water and pack ice around carboy. Later more ice was added and a towel soaked with cold water was place to help with the cooling process. Next time we will place 2 gallons of ice instead of water.

11/10/07 Pitched yeast. O.G. 1.1045

One Small step towards Liberty

I finally did it. Before today I have never donated anything to a political canidate. Mostly because I didn't have the time or money. I'm not in a different boat. I still don't the have the time or money, but this is the ONLY canidate that speaks the message that I believe in. FREEDOM from Big Govnerment. (Yes, I'm looking at you Republicans that speak of small government but have expanded the government more then LBJ) Freedom to pursue the things that makes me happy. So even though I don't have the money to spend, I gave all I could and will have do without a little happiness for a while. Because Ron Paul is America's last hope for Freedom and Liberty.

Game 1 NLDS DBacks vs Cubs

Post Season Baseball Begins
Thanks to my Uncle, we went to the DBacks game last night. It was good game with the DBacks winning 3-1. The score was 0-0 through the third inner until Stephen Drew #6 hit a home run in the fourth. Then in the 6th with bases loaded, 2 outs, when R. Theriot of Chicago hit a single to the 3rd basesman. The DBacks had a chance to end the inning but pitcher Brandon Webb #17 didn't cover 3rd base, where the 3rd out could have been made. All the runners advanced, allowing D. Lee to tie the score. The DBacks took the lead with a homer in the 7th inner by Mark Reynolds #27. Later in the 7th with Chris Snyder #19 on 3rd, Pinch hitter Conor Jackson #16 hit a sacrifice fly allowing Snyder to score. The DBacks went on to hold the lead and win. Although in the 9th with two outs, Relief Pitcher José Valverde #47 walked pinch hitter D. Ward of Chicago. Next up, A. Soriano of Chicago. Probably Chicago's best hitter. But managed to close the inning with Sorino hitting to the 2nd baseman, and him tagging 2nd base forcing the 3rd out.

CGS Coloring Contest

Here's the finished coloring of DC Comic's Countdown 36 cover, as part of the coloring contest over at the
Comic Geek Speak Forums.

Summer Actions

Harvest
The summer harvest was good and plentiful. The hunters in Leszek Forest cut down the finest trees. Again, both Grego and Brynnmor Farms had good crop production. Doino Plains were in full production of their Wined Spices. The miners in the Morywyn Mountains delivered the finest stones. The village turned over some fine spears for the Valru Guard. Kalisa introduced me to our Spy Master, Senka Yvarai. As I introduced her to Decebal Thorne, the former Headman of Leszek Forest as our new Master of the Roads. Both were given there yearly payment of food up front.

Planning
For the Autumn harvest I gave orders for Miners to collect more metals for the sword Duchess Mira will be crafting. Some of the finest woods from the harvest were given to Crina village to produce a fine walking staff. Grego farms were asked to grow crops and Brynnmor was asked to spine wool. Leszek Forests will be cutting down more trees for regional upgrade. Doino Plains will produce more of their famous Wined Spice.

Trouble
The headmen of two regions reported trouble. Crina Village and Doino Plains.

Actions
Kalisa was sent out to Quell the trouble in the Village. As Decebal was sent to quell the trouble in Doino Plains. Alvosis continued to train my wife and the Valru Guard. The Shades and Senka increased Security of the Veles. With my research done, I left for Morgana Castle to start process of crafting the sword. When I returned I started train Alvosis.

Some of the Wined Spices were given to Alvosis, the Shades for their loyal service. The spears were also given to Valru Guard.

Spring Actions

Harvest
The spring harvest was good and plentiful. The hunters in Leszek Forest trapped and/or hunted many animals. It will keep the food stores full for some time. Both Grego and Brynnmor Farms had good crop production. Doino Plains were in full production of their Wined Spices. The miners in the Morywyn Mountains filled their carts with metals.

Planning
For the next season I gave orders for Miners to change to cutting stone for upgrades to the region. The some of the metal was handed over to Crina village to produce spears for the Valru Guard. Both farms were asked to grow crops again. The men of Leszek Forests were ask to cut down and plant trees. Doino Plains were ask to produce more of their famous Wined Spice.

Trouble
The headmen of the regions were happy to report no trouble was reported.

Actions
Since I took control of the Veles Province, I have made many improvements and stabilized the region. But there is still many progresses that need to be made. I asked my wife, Kalisa, to hire a Master Spy. Alvosis, my senechal, was asked to train my wife and train my personal guard, the Valru Guard. The Shades, my spynetwork, increased Security of the Veles. I took to finding a Master of the Roads. Last year I performed that duty, my I was asked by Duchess Mira Yvarai to be her Master of the Roads. She is my Duchess, I am her vassal, so I could not turn down the privilege to be her Road Man.
In exchange for my service, she will craft me a sword. I have research I need to do before the sword can be created.

Food was paid to The Shades, Alvosis, and the Valru Guard.

Yet another

Image pulled from
Comic Geek Speak Forums.

More Works

Original
Line Art taken from a friend's RPG supplement from I.C.E. Rolemaster's Pirate's book.

Final Color

Signatures & Other Works

Baron Iver Thorne
Here is an image I've colored as an image to represent my Houses character. To give credit where credit is do, the line drawing was taken from Larry Elmore's website. It was taken from a couple of his drawing and I combined the two. The colors where then done in Photoshop as a practice of my coloring technique. The Forest was a Google image that I applied some effects too.



Houses Signature

7th Sea Signature
Both signatures where inspired by the AEG signatures available at the AEG Forums for L5R. I was jealous that they didn't have any 7th Sea Signature so I made my own.

Every Gamer must have one.

Make a Rubik's Cube Out of Dice

Spring Story II

Spring
In the morning the Duchess Mira Yvari (Played by Renee) joined us. We continued following the tracks. The tracks lead out of Gregor's Mountain and into one Count Kether's regions. The tracks lead to a village, Eriksburgor.
Things we know about the Village
Known for Silk
Direct trade route to Count Kether's Castle
Village is small

As we are on a bluff that over looks the village a carriage pulled by fine ponies exits the forest. They stop at the largest building of the village and a large man comes out to greet the carriage. Two people step out of the carriage a man and a woman. They enter the building.

We make our way into the village and the large man too greets us. He is Grunholt the headman of the village. He welcomes us to stay and rest. As he talks he makes wild exaggerated jesters. We explain the nature of our visit and Timus was called over to see to our needs as Grunholt flabbgasterly runs to make inquires.

We enter the building we see the woman from the earlier carriage. She’s Lady Shara Yvari from the Far, Far East and cousin to Duchess Mira. As we talk with Lady Shara, Crav comes in to the common room.
Things we know about Crav
Lady Shara's Swordsman
Bald and Shaved
Big as a Bear
Mountain Man

We speak with Lady Shara until Grunholt returns. He asks if the tracks were strange. The tracks were strange. The men were on horseback. Grunholt, Lysandra, and Crav for the stables. As the go to the stable Grunholt explains they breed horse for Count Kether. Pievu, the stable keeper, was called for. Pievu is short, and has little blue eyes. Crav and Lysandra examine the stables. The last stable was missing a horse. After further questioning and examining, they discover the missing horse was a mare, a bay coloring with star marking on her forehead and was here two days ago. Pievu was discovered to be lying about the horse presence earlier today. Pievu was then taken back to main house for further questioning. It was revealed that Pievu was lying and that Grunholt has the horse. Lady Shara looks to the headman and plainly says "Your in trouble." Grunholt confesses to having the horse. He was going to tell Count Kether that the horse was stolen. The man that took the horse was wearing a mask and threatened to kill everyone in the village if Grunholt report this to Count Kether. After he left, all the cattle started to bleed. The Masked Man was tall, strong and had the regalness of the blooded. When asked, Count Kether was described as Dark, Tall and Handsome, you don't want him to ever touch sort of way. After some discussion we decided to leave for Count Kether's castle.

Count Kether's Castle
Because of our hasty departure, we arrived to Count Kether's place well after dark. Torches light the path as we ride. Count Kether's Castle was built on top of the remains of the ruins of the Sorcerer-Kings. The castle gate rises and we enter into the courtyard. Which was designed for killing. Ernst, Count Kether’s Seneschal, greeted us. Ernst speaks with a high voice and informs us we are early for the party that is to take place to tomorrow night, but will arrange rooms for us in the east wing of the castle. We are shown to our room and give time to eat and wash up before meeting with Count Kether. During this time there was a knock at our door. There’s a young lady at the door, after some stammering, the young lady manages to invite us to a meeting with Lady Niassa. As the young lady leaves, Lady Shara enters. The Duchess MIra and Lady Shara discuss fashion that is to be worn at the party when a loud BANG interrupts the meeting. Our impulsive nature urges us to go investigate the noise, but Count Kether’s guards stop us. We tried to talk our away past the guards or at best look past them, when Ernst finds us. He informs us that Count Kether was ready to see us and we were escorted to a sitting room. After some time passes, Count Kether enters. Pleasantries were exchanged, an explanation as to the nature of the meeting was given. A quill was called for and brought in.
Grunholt was then asked to write, “My name is Tomas” .

Grunholt writes, “My name is… Grunholt”

He was then asked to write, “I am not responsible for the horse’s theft.”

Grunholt writes, “I am… responsible for the horse’s theft.”

Kether then asks Grunholt to write, “I do not know who threatened the village.”

Grunholt writes, “I… know who threatened the village.”

Grunholt was then asked to write the name of the man.

Grunholt writes, “Duke Dannon.”

After Grunholt was finish writing, Count Kether draws his sword and kills Grunholt. Count Kether then picks up the quill, asks Gregor to pay close attention, and then writes, “I am not responsible for poisoning your lands.”

Gregor replies with, “We now know who our common enemy is.”

Count Kether then places the quill back into the box and the Seneschal departs. Count Kether then says that he has a guest has violated his hospitality but wishes to speak with us tomorrow about the letter sent to Gregor. Count Kether then stands and leaves. Ernst then sees us back to our rooms. Before Ernst leaves, Duchess Mira tells him that we were ready to see Lady Niassa. To which Ernst gives her a surprised look and says, “Lady Niassa is not here.”

The Duchess insists that she must be, because she had spoken to her lady. Ernst assures her that she isn't and then departs. As we prepare to bed down for the night. Alyss, Lady Niassa's lady was found hiding in the wardrobe. She asks for our help in hiding her. Alyss says, Count Kether has kidnapped her brother. He is being used as leverage so that Alyss will spy on Lady Niassa. Alyss plans on killing Count Kether before Lady Niassa arrives to the party. As we are discussing what to do with Alyss, there comes a knock at the door. It's Kether's guards and they are asking to search the rooms. When Alyss hears this she takes off running. Gregor's gives chase, but loses her. As Alyss was sneaking away, she runs into Lady Shara. Lady Shara exclaims "Alyss!" which causes the guards to run after Alyss. The guards catch her and beat her up and drag her away. Lady Shara was on her way to speak with us. Our conversation causes us to explore the castle further.

Secret Library
Lady Shara leads us to the library. Entering was a bit unnerving but we manage to summon up the courage to enter. As we explore the library Iver finds a book from the Sorcerer-King containing ritual that very few ven know about. Lysandra finds a hidden door and opens it. Hidden behind the door was a corridor, which has a slight decline and leads into a room. The room was filled with iron instruments. Each item was about 2 feet long and was used as a torturing devise. It's humming because it's been used recently. The item seems to be drawn towards the black table in the room. Just then Count Kether enters the room. He then locks us in the room as he leaves with Lady Shara. Lady Lysandra tries the door, its locked. Gregor looks for another hidden door. He finds one, the black table moves to reveal a ladder leading down and Count Kether doesn't know about it. We all climb down and Lady Lysandra covers the entrance. As she does, the table catches on something making it difficult to reopen. Then the humming instruments of torture fall silent. About midway down, the ladder stops. After some jumping down, some falling, we all make it too the bottom. Some better off then others. The room at the bottom was cooled and wet. A small stream of water flows down the path the leads up and out of here. Before heading up the path we tried healing ourselves as best as possible. The path twists and turns as we walk up the path. It leads to wrought iron spiral staircase that end at a landing. We are once again in Count Kether’s castles, standing in a corridor. As we walk down the corridor we see tiny pinholes. The pinholes look into a bedroom. We continue down the corridor peering through each new set of pinholes. As we move further we hear voices, the voices of Count Kether and Lady Shara. We peer into another pinhole and we see them in a bedroom.

”Do I please you my Lord?” Lady Shara asks

”More then that vacuous slutty whore.” Count Kether replies.

Lady Shara smiles, ”You are far too kind my Lord.”

”Put it away.”

Lady Shara flirts and teases him, ”Very well.”, she then pulls back a hood. Lady Shara appearance changes to that of Lady No.
3 Things we know about Lady No
Multiple Widow
Small, Petite, & Demure (So cute you just want hug her)
Houses of the Elk

Duchess Mira gasps then quickly covers her mouth. Count Kether and Lady No look towards the wall. Lady Lysandra takes the torch and quickly runs down the corridor leaving the rest of us in darkness.

”Did you hear that?” Count Kether asks Lady No.

”I did.”

Lady No then gets up and walks towards the wall. She then turns back to Count Kether. ”My Lord, is there a secret panel here?”

”There are many secrets panels in my castle. The Sorcerer-Kings have left me with a cache of secrets.”

Lady No asks how the secret panel works. As Count Kether explains how it works, Gregor and Drustan run away without being heard by Lady No. Iver uses his Greater Suaven ability to make him look like one of Kether’s guards. Lady Mira comes and stands next to him. As the panel opens Lady No stumbles. Iver goes to help but was quickly dismissed. Count Kether is called over. After some questioning he orders Iver to take the Duchess to the tower. As Iver escorts the Duchess to the tower, he rounds a corner, breaks off from the route, and backtracks towards where the others hopefully will be. As the others argued as too what their next move will be. Iver, still looking as a guard, rounds the corner. Lady Lysandra jumps on him. The disguise he was wearing fades to reveal Iver’s true appearance. Lady Lysandra stands in shock, then apologies and helps him up as the Duchess finishes rounding the corner.

FIRE
Back together again, we plotted about either going and rescuing Alyss or escaping. We decided to set fire to Count Kether’s bedroom as a distraction for our escape. On our way out, we enter the courtyard. Across from the courtyard are the stables. We tell the stable boy that Count Kether wants to release the horses so they will not be harmed but the fire. The stable boy releases the horses as Gregor raised the gate. Once outside the castle, Iver shot an arrow to close the gate as the others collected the horses. We then rode towards Lady Niassa’s lands to tell her that Count Kether has Alyss.

Spring Story I

Spring
Our story starts in the spring. Baron Gregor Steele (Played by Matt) received a letter from Count Kether stating it was a matter of great importance and we all should come. But Gregor was also having troubles in his lands. So we decided to go and investigate the trouble on our way to Count Kether's. We were also invited to Lady Peacocks Late Spring Social. Baron Iver Thorne (Played by Me) sent his wife with his Seneschal and Personal Guard in his place. Some of the others sent their spouse as well.
3 Things about Lady Peacock
Blooded of the Elk
Called Lady Peacock because of her Outrages Dress
Has the Aspect of "I know everyone"
Also has the Aspect of "Matchmaker"

Trouble in Astrel Farms
Baron Gregor was having trouble in multiple regions but we could only visit one. So we went to his farms. We meant with Jack Coffin, the Head Man of Astrel Farms.
3 Things about Jack Coffin
Not Blooded
Tall
Walks with a Limp
Bald
Has a dog

Jack showed us the fields. When he placed a spade into the ground blood come out of the soil like the earth was bleeding from a cut.
Things about know about the blooded earth
Soil was cursed with a Vendetta ritual
Bad sorcery (Illegal)
To undo the curse you must salt the earth
Someone in towns knows who is behind this curse
Conclusion: Someone is after Gregor's land

As the people were looking onward, one fellow, Levlin, was trying not to be seen. His suspicious actions caused us to question him. When we asked him to come forward he ran. Baroness, Lysandra chased him as Baron Iver shot Levlin in the leg with an arrow. Baroness Lysandra Burghe (Played by Quin) dragged Levlin back and presented him to Baron Gregor. When questioned he revealed these truths.
Things we know about Levlin
Man dressed in black wearing masks
Gave Levlin and his brother pretty things, (Glass Beads, Worthless, From Kether's Lands)
Gave them vials of Blood to pore onto the fields
Men spoke like the Blooded, "Regal countenance"
Levlin and his Brother could not refuse them (Not sorcery, but supernatural)
Brother was killed by Orks 2 weeks ago

Levlin then salted the fields, Baron Drustan Mwrr (Played by Pam) helped with the task. Baron Gregor should mercy to Levlin, which cause the loyalty in the region to go up. Jack was then order to keep an eye on Levlin.

Track to the North
Baron Gregor's Roadman, Brian and his men found tracks to the North. The tracks lead into the "Bad Lands" and then into Baron Gregor's Mountains. The tracks then double backed and turned to the east as they lead out of Gregor's land. Wyr, Drustan's Swordsman, found us a good place to camp.
3 Things about Wyr
Autumn
Blooded
In love with Baron Drustan's Wife