Spoiler: Tetch Hall
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Barbara did her work quickly, efficiently and ruthlessly, emptying the lab's valuable contents into her bag with speed, accuracy and determination. By the time she was done, virtually nothing of true value remained.

Except, of course, the metal chest below the table. She blasted aside the wards with a well honed and masterfully delivered dispel, and managed to more or less force her way past the lock while the arcana was neutralized. Inside she found a book radiating intense power, along with two masks, (one of which was made of crystal, the other leather, but the second mask only covered the wearer's eyes, not the lower half of her face), a magically enchanted cloak, and a specially molded crystal that looked like it ought to be set into something -- this radiated psionic power.

There was something about the chest -- it's wards, the clearly expensive content -- that seemed to underscore a certain element of urgency. Whatever these items were, Tetch either found them incredibly important or incredibly dangerous. In addition, though the tome was magical, she was sure almost immediately that it was not a spellbook, unlike the other three books she'd seized.

After exiting the tower, Barbara was made good her escape from Tetch Hall, moving silently and almost effortlessly away from the dangerous lunatic castle. The gnomes would be furious, of course. She expected that repercussions would follow after the apparent "disappearance" of their lord (she hadn't bothered to try cleaning up the blood, after all) but she was already in the mood for it. The Tetch's might've been crazy, but they were ultimately extremely culpable in the city's woes, and given what she'd seen, more than a little too fond of mind control and enchantments for her taste. Flashes of the fireball engulfing the innocent crew on the casino boat burst into her mind, and she tried bitterly to suppress them. Yet the helpless feeling she'd had as they burned remained.

It was pretty easy to get away from Tetch Hall and take one of the Uptown bridges to South Channel Island. Near Candle Park was another elven hamlet, this one similarly ensorcelled like the one they'd visited the first time they'd been to the island. However, it was plain and obvious that the mood was quite a bit more subdued than it had been the first time they'd arrived. Elves, humans and even the occasional gnome lounged around, drinking and smoking, but the entire village was mostly quiet, and seemed emptier and less festive. The prestidigitations that the elves had used to decorate before were largely absent or much more subdued, as if the magic artists who'd put them up felt melancholy or disenchanted. Eventually, she found what looked like would pass for an inn.

The bottom floor was largely open, not packed with tables or chairs like a human tavern. To the side, large pillows lined the floor and more than a few people were lounging on them, some asleep, some simply holding one another. A single faerie fire lamp flickered in a corner, casting shadows over the figures there. A second lamp lit the desk near the stairway, where a positively ancient looking gray lef sat reading a book. Oracle proferred some coin.

"Got any rooms with a desk and a study?"

The old elf didn't so much as say "yes" as he took her coin and handled her a key, barely looking up from his tome. "End of the hall." he replied, speaking in elvish instead of common. Fortunately, Oracle spoke the language, otherwise she'd be guessing. She trundled up the stairs, fatigue finally starting to set in, and found herself walking down a long hallway, lined with six doors, three on each side, and a single more ornate door at the end. The key did it's work and the door opened, revealing a rather spacious suite. It had a round elven "bed" (more a huge cushion sitting on the floor, complete with additional cushions for her head) a sprawling L-shaped desk, and a secondary foyer area with a table, cubboard, some food and wine. It opened to a balcony, which also had a couple of chairs and a small table, looking out over the lantern lit village below.

This would do nicely.

Now all she had to do was figure out what to do with her bag and it's...contents.


Spoiler: The Batcave
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Spoiler: OOC - Please Read
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Okay everyone, for this next bit I'll ask you to pop into roll20. What you should see there is the front page of the Gotham Herald scroll which I'll be mentioning in the post below.


Bruce nodded.

"Unlocking the book is the key, I agree. But we've got more mounting troubles. We still need to be sure that once we've got what we need that we can draw that beast out, and destroy it. And in the meantime, we need to make sure that Gotham's corrupt nobles don't burn the city down while we're at it. Black Mask took a hit today, which is good. But he's just the latest threat to rear his head. We've got the Bankers and the Thieves to worry about too. And since we weren't able to bring him to justice, I think it's fair to assume this battle isn't over."

"Isn't it possible that Lord Gordon will have seized him and his men by now, Master Bruce?" Alfred said.

"Possible, but not likely. When I left, the Justicars had amassed a huge force -- there might have been as many as five hundred men -- and were working their way onto the Hill Hall grounds. But House Sionis was very well armed and stocked. Their war wagons had light ballistae and Black Mask had as many troops holding the grounds as he did in the keep. Don't get me wrong -- you all did great work, and we've got some new leads to work with, but it's a lot more likely that they managed to get away. Once the Justicars reclaimed Hill Hall I doubt they bothered to pursue, unfortunately."

"If we found their hideout, we might be able to get the Justicars and the Blackgates to descend on them. They've got all the evidence they need to bring them low, we just need to find them." said Nightwing.

"That's not a terrible point. Right now I think we could all do with some healing and rest, but tomorrow that ought to be where we start." Bruce replied.

The party slept uneasily in the castle that night and into the morning. They were safe -- they'd all made it out of Hill Hall alive, and uncrippled. But Oracle was still out there, doing The Gods' knew what, and that night, the city had bled. Things were getting more and more dangerous, and their ranks were still shrunken.

The following afternoon, when they awoke, Bruce gathered everyone in the Great Hall. It was, predictably, empty, though a large fire roared in it's main hearth. The servants of the castle, whoever and wherever they were, remained absent. Kate, Renee, Stephanie, Robyn, Damien, Richard and Alfred all joined Bruce around the large darkwood table with the direbat sigil in the middle. Hanging from the ceiling around them were the banners of the Wayne's vassals and allies. Kate couldn't help but notice the red direbat sigil of House Kane still hung behind her. Not far from where Sir Richard sat, a black banner, with a blue raven gleamed. Behind Alfred, the sigil of House Pennyworth, and so on.

"Alright, we've got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. I know everyone here is nursing an injury or six from yesterday. We'll need to do what we can to heal up and get back to work. I'm afraid circumstances in the city are moving faster that we are."

Questor nodded.

"Well I have one piece of good news, for those who are interested. I've been working on our snake headed friend down in the cave. It's not been pleasant, but she's finally started talking. I gave her some food and rest last night, but we should probably go pay her a visit today."

"We also need to talk about what happened last night." said Stephanie. "Boss Falcone, Lord James, and Lord Tetch all attending the same party? In the open? Plus it's both revealing and odd that Black Mask decided to hit Hill Hall that night. He had to know who was there. And this isn't the first keep he's knocked over, from what we understand. But Lord James won't be able to keep his raids quiet anymore. What else, is, he seemed to think that one or more of the lords at that party, possibly Falcone himself, seems to know where Harvey Dent is hiding. Why would he think that? Is he right?"

"That's not all." said Bruce. He took out a rolled up fist of scrolls and tossed them into the center of the table for the party to read. They were Gotham Herald scrolls from that morning. The headlines were....bleak.
Spoiler: OOC
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Okay! Time for some roleplay. Tell me what you want to do. We've got a medusa who's ready to talk (though don't expect her to be friendly), we've got leads from last night, and leads from the morning's paper (or are they warnings?) and you've got a quest log full of missions. Who's up first?