IC-Ep 1-The Rats in the Walls(Story/Elizabeth/Brook/Gui)

[SunlessNick]

"Arabic or Hebrew, maybe," Story replies, figuring those for the most likely Middle Eastern languages to be spoken in this place and time.

Presumably the TARDIS would translate a regular human language if we could make out the words - would it also allow us to ID the language itself? The series suggests not, since it rarely seems to occur to companions that the people they talk to aren't speaking English.

[Mr. Handy]

There was now only silence on the other side of the wall.

You have it right, Story. You can only hope to identify a language through accent or tone, the same as non-time travelers do. Since your Listen success wasn't better, you couldn't hear the actual words. A Know roll will help you identify the language, and in your case that's practically an automatic success, though you may make the roll anyway. A better success will give you more information. With a normal success, which you'll presumably get, you can figure that it is probably either Arabic or Hebrew as you surmised.

The chanting had stopped.

[SunlessNick]

"It's stopped."

Rolled 27 for Know.

[Philulhu]

”But what does that mean?” asked Gui, moving back from the panel so his whispering wouldn’t be transmitted to the other side.

”And why did they stop? Do you think they may have heard us?” He stepped forward to listen again at the panel, to see what he could hear from the room beyond.

(35%) 1d100

[jp1885]

“We’ve not exactly been quiet I suppose,” Brook whispers in reply.

“I wonder if there’s another secret door around here? If whoever it is comes out after us, we could get the jump on them if we can find it.”

[aine]

Elizabeth flutters her hands, trying to signal total silence for a few minutes. She continues listening, trying to hear more than just her heart thudding.

50 roll: 15

[SunlessNick]

Rolled 15 for Listen.

[Mr. Handy]

The mechanism to open the hidden panel was clearly visible from within the passage. The catch on the other side, if it was like the ones in their rooms, would be hidden.

I already had everyone roll Listen not that long ago, so the original roll still applies for each of you.

Story could hear someone walking around in the room on the other side of the wall. There was only one person as far as she could tell. The brief chant was definitely Hebrew, but there was also a hint of Spanish to it.

[Philulhu]

Gui stepped back from the wall and beckoned the others closer. ”They may be aware of us,” he whispered. ”Perhaps we should go back and try and find out who has the room next to you?”

[aine]

“How about two go and knock on their door and two stay here and listen what happens? A two pronged attack as it were.” Whispers Elizabeth. “I’m happy to stay here.”

[SunlessNick]

"I'll go knock," Story says, a somewhat shamefaced expression on her face.

[jp1885]

“I’ll stick with you,” Brook tells Story.

[Mr. Handy]

While Elizabeth and Gui waited in the secret passage and listened, Story and Brook returned back down the passage, went through their own room and out into the hall, and proceeded down the hall in the same direction to the door of the next guest chamber. Story knocked on the door, and a moment later a tall man with Spanish features opened it. He had dark hair and a thin mustache, and he was well-dressed for court. "Good morning, ladies," he said with a bow. "I am Don Diego Vega de Almeida de la Cruz. To whom have I the pleasure of speaking?"

[SunlessNick]

"You can call me Story, and this is my friend Brook."

[Mr. Handy]

"What may I do for you, Senorina Story?" asked Diego.

[jp1885]

Brook smiles when she is introduced, but keeps quiet, lest she contradicts whatever Story is planning to say.

Instead, she tries to take a sneaky look behind the man, into his room.

[SunlessNick]

"There was some sort of commotion in the night," Story says. "I was wondering if you might have heard anything of what occurred."

[Mr. Handy]

"I heard nothing and slept soundly," said Diego. "Why, what has happened?"

Story and Brook, you may both roll Spot Hidden.

[SunlessNick]

"That was precisely what I was hoping you might know," Story smiles. "You hail from Spain?"

Rolled 36 against Spot Hidden 38.

[Mr. Handy]

"I was born in Almeida," said Diego, "which is on the Portuguese side of the border with Spain, but more recently I have lived in Spain. My father is Spanish, and my mother Portuguese. And whence do you hail, Signorina?"

Story noticed what looked like a fringed shawl left haphazardly across the back of a chair.