Play@YSDC

Ines wouldn't have been doing a great deal else while recovering from her injury (though she also wouldn't have been interacting with many people). In any case, the Intelligence check was unsuccessful.

Intelligence roll (13 + 3[Fast Learner] + 3[Gift for Languages] = 19):
[dice]0[/dice]
Oh, I forgot that Elizabeth would be with me! That makes the 20 a success.

Mr. Handy wrote:Intelligence roll (13 + 3[Fast Learner] + 3[Gift for Languages] = 19):
[dice]199951:0[/dice]
Oh, I forgot that Elizabeth would be with me! That makes the 20 a success.

Automatic success for picking up a working knowledge of formal/scientific French over the several days that have passed.

Away for a few days, so you may wish to make these decisions in the meantime:

Who will go with whom.

What equipment (within reason) you will carry.

Whether you will follow someone to the cathedral or go on your own.

Once at the cathedral, whether you will attempt to contact someone or search on your own.

My thoughts:

If we divide, it should only be into two groups, Lila in one and Henry in the other, because they're the only ones who can speak French.

Lila going ahead and leaving a trail does sound like a good plan, if a dangerous one. It would also be easier and less suspicious for one person to follow someone than four. Or perhaps "bump into them on the way."

I don't think we should try to pass Henry off as a peer of Rotterstein, because most people coming to this meeting are here to see Violette-as-Jeanne, and we don't know how many of them even know Rotterstein is a part of this.

Those with pistols should bring them, but Henry might be better off leaving his sword cane behind - a stick is a class marker. Ines will bring her brass knuckles. Do we want one lantern each or one per group?

Ivan has a sword cane, Henry just has a cane, but you're right, both are indicators of wealth and privilege. We shouldn't go unarmed, though, but we can carry knives. Our pistols were confiscated when we crossed the border, but perhaps we can buy some. I agree with splitting into two groups at most, though Lila could scout ahead a little, and we might want to each appear to be alone, though somewhat near each other. We should each have our own light source, in case we get separated.

Huh. For some reason I'd got it into my head that you already had, and used them against the boar at the gardens. Definitely not unarmed, though, I agree.

The cathedral is a Catholic institution so Ines might have some cover. If Lila is to use stealth to follow one of the cloaked figures maybe she could carry some colored rosary beads to leave markers for the others to follow. I think she will stick with her daggers though Dr. North buying a new pistol sounds useful.

Ines could go to the catherdral before nightfall and keep an eye out for anything that happens shortly before the Sun sets. (After the injury from the boar and excursion into the mirror, she'd welcome a few hours there before we go into battle again).

Back after quite a while. I will presume the above suggestions meet with no objection.

I have this draft of a Lila Davenport short story (approx 4.5k words) titled "A Cure for Melancholy". The tentative idea was to release it as a free ebook-only download in December to promote the novel. But I'm inexperienced at this length and I think I've messed it up. If anyone has time to read it I would appreciate any feedback you can offer.

I thought this was a good story up until the very end. The way in which Mr. Pilson fights off the demon was much too sudden. I think you need to expand this climactic scene quite a bit.

Here's one idea, just as an example. Suppose the struggle is between Mr. Pilson's lighthearted nature and the humorless nature of the demon. Mr. Pilson, even though in physical and spiritual agony, would force himself to laugh at the demon, and would do whatever he could to make the others laugh at it also. This would make the theme of your story (and its title) stronger. Perhaps the ladies could be induced to sing comic songs and so forth.

Just a notion, anyway.

Thank you. You're absolutely right, I had wanted the story to be around 3k words long so when it reached 4.5k I was just rushing to tie everything up. Your idea is a brilliant one. It's a mark of how differently out brains work that such a thing never occurred to me and also that I have no real idea how I would even write such a scene but you've certainly shown me the way.

On reflection I'm going to discard the short story idea as they're too refined a skill for me. A short story basically has to be flawless but a novel is allowed to have something wrong with it. It's clear to me now that this, if it goes anywhere at all, should be repurposed and expanded into a novel chapter. Even the references to Mr. Pilson's occupation and why he has attached himself to Lila are just fragments of a larger story.

Thanks again for all your help.

On another note I've just taken delivery of a paper copy of the Ghastly Affair Player's Manual from Amazon to complement the PDF and can highly recommend it as a physical object.

Yes, they are very nice books, full of fine artwork and nice little bits of historical trivia.

Away for another three days, so make plans for your excursion and for whom you will inform.

Away again for a couple of days.

Well there's a cliffhanger.

Away again for a week.

And once more away for a week.