| Seashore Meetings 2 |
| Summary: | Kathryna and Nares do a bit more plotting. |
| Date: | 23/12/2011 |
| Related Logs: | General pre-invasion plotting |
| Players: |
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| Rocky Cove, Terrick's Roost |
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| To the west of the path leading down, the beach extends below a cliff face and takes a turn inland where the terrain above has collapsed down to be claimed by the pounding waters below. It has formed a small, almost private cove with jagged rocks in the water at the cliffs while the ocean has relaimed most of those from the beach. Due to the elevation of the cliffs, the top of the tower to the north is just barely visible despite the relatively short distance. |
| Fri 23rd Dec, 288 |
It's darkening, and the cove is completely unable to be seen from anywhere now that the twilight has fallen, but Kate's given him a small note to meet here after dark, so he should be able to pick through and find it. She's settled onto a large boulder, staring out across the waves that lap at this little hidden away area. She's got a pipe in her hands that she's dragging upon. Her expression looks sleepless and worried when occasionally lit by the orange embers of the pipe.
Nares had indeed got the note and so made his way down towards the cove when the light started to fail. Making his way across the rocks it's still light enough to spot Kathryna as she waits closer to the shore, and easy enough to navigate a path down to her. He doesn't call out any kind of greeting, but then, with his mail back on and all, he's not exactly a figure of stealth in the dwindling light.
Kathryna looks up as he comes in, her brows lofting though it's difficult to see either of their expressions well in this light. "Were you followed?" and if he gives the negative, she asks with a frown, "You are certain?" She's thrice paranoid, it seems, as she gently slips off the wall and ducks her head around, listening to the waves at the wind. Apparently, she wants to be beyond certain they are alone.
Nares shakes his head at the first question, then raises an eyerbrow slightly a the follow up. He says nothing though, paranoia being something he can see the use of. To give a buffer between arrival and whatever it is that Kate thinks is so important, he starts with his own bit of news, figuring if anyone is following him then it'll give them more time to notice them before anything potentially sensitive is discussed. "I heard today that Ser Jarod has relinquishes his command of the Guard here. He's apparently recommended that dunderhead Ser Hardwicke as his replacement."
Kathryna blinks, double taking in Nares' direction as she hears that. She keeps her voice low and quiet, a whisper that would be killed by the waves and crashing shore if anyone was even a few feet beyond. "…In truth? Did you hear why?…" She then shakes her head. "It's of no matter. One week off and this place will be ours. That is what we must speak of…"
"He's off to Stonebridge to play peacemaker with the Naylands apparently," Nares replies. That imparted he drops his voice to match Kathryna's, his expression faintly surprised. "That soon? I can't say I'm not glad, but I hadn't been expecting anything so imminent."
"The 28th day. I do believe that's about five days away… I've been commanded to disable all the signal bells on the coast and be back at the Roost by dawn. I suspect that means they will hit just after dawn, or in the morning. But they are coming, and soon. I… I need you're help, if you're willing. The Lord Paramount has commanded me to keep the gate to the roost open. I've studied the mechanism, I know how many guards they normally have on… but I still don't know if I will be able to hold it alone." Kate keeps herself mostly in shadow as she speaks these fast, husky words, trying to well and hide her face so she doesn't see the nerves there. He might hear them in her voice, though.
Nares nods as he takes in Kate's words. "People seem to be used enough to me coming down here first thing in the morning, so I don't see there being too much trouble." He replies, his tone confident and sure. "You don't need to ask if I'll help either. You already know the answer to that. Even if I weren't sworn to your Uncle's service, and through him the Lord Paramount, but you know as well as I do that this could be just the opportunity I need to prove myself and get my ship back." He doesn't ask for further details, not yet, just in case the worst should happen. "Just let me know where I need to be a when, and I'll not disappoint." He means it to. Prove himself, get his ship back. It's beautiful in it's simplicity.
Nares nods as he takes in Kate's words. "People seem to be used enough to me coming down here first thing in the morning, so I don't see there being too much trouble." He replies, his tone confident and sure. "You don't need to ask if I'll help either. You already know the answer to that. Even if I weren’t sworn to your Uncle's service, and through him the Lord Paramount, but you know as well as I do that this could be just the opportunity I need to prove myself and get my ship back." He doesn't ask for further details, not yet, just in case the worst should happen. "Just let me know where I need to be a when, and I'll not disappoint." He means it to. Prove himself, get his ship back. It's beautiful in its simplicity.
Kathryna frowns a bit more, studying him in that darkness, trying to see what she can of his handsome, older features. "Well, I'd rather like to hear your… opinion on this. Have you actually been able to get into the castle at all? Do you think you could sneak in and help me from the inside, or get close enough to slip in the guard house from the front as I go through the back? I want to take them out and fast. Hell…if we could do it before things start…" She frowns thoughtfully, "Possibly we could don their clothing. Pose as them."
Nares pauses slightly, thinking over his response before speaking it out loud. "Disabling the alarm bells is a good idea, and one Id noted as something to look into as well. Holding the gate could be tricky. Given there's only two of us then ideally I want to find some way to knobble the guards so they can't come to reinforce the gatehouse themselves. A sleeping draught would be useful but getting it too them possibly beyond us. A distraction maybe? Fire in another part of the Roost so they're distracted saving the lives of their nobles and thus we don't have to hold against the main force?" He's mostly thinking aloud by this point although he seems less keen on the idea of disguise. "I might be able to pull it off, especially under the cover of first light, but you are, for everything else, quite obviously a woman and it'd be harder to make that work." He's been in the castle a few times now, but wouldn't claim to be an expert on its inner layout. "We'd probably want to find someway to disable the drawbridge and so on, so we don't have to focus solely on taking and defending the mechanism, but can instead destroy it and then find as defensible position as we can."
Kathryna considers him quietly, "A pike through the mechanism hammered in place should do it. It'd be suicide to stand there and just wait for more and more to come at us… though it might have to be done as well. God… I don't know." Yes, she's scared. She most certainly is. She shakes her head slowly. "I doubt we could get a sleeping draught into them. Regularly, there are only two guards. During an attack they might double that to four, but it is not heavily guarded… we… have a chance." She breathes out slowly again, "But… Once that is done, you should know… I am riding. I am not going to remain for the fight. I'm riding north to… to Dafydd. I've done my part."
"A pike might work well enough," Nares replies, his mind really starting to kick in on this, "or, to prevent some enterprising Terrick removing it and thus fixing the workings there's got to be a rope that can be cut to stop it from being raised again." Okay, so that'll mean re-stringing it once they're in charge, but will certainly stop the locals fixing it quickly. "Two guards are easy enough to dispose of, four not that much more provided we got the element of surprise," he states confidently enough before raising a question eyebrow at the final part of her speech. "His brother would still allow that? Even though he appears to be courting the Banefort?" He says nothing of his own plans for now, waiting instead for a response, not entirely sure he can believe it' a viable option.
Kathryna smirks slightly. "I've spoken with his brother… he will allow it. Dafydd is non-consequential, as families go. A third brother… it hurts nothing, and it makes him happy. We've gotten the blessing. I… I just have to get back there. Alive." IN all the years they spent together, all the other men Nares has seen her take, she's never spoken about one the way she does about him. This man may truly have tamed her, and just when things have gotten into the most dangerous part of the game. "…The ropes cannot be accessed, I looked. The only way to do it is to fuck the mechanism. Which yes, can be fixed." She admits softly.
Nares nods slowly at the news about the ropes. "I'll see if I can get a better look at some point, but assuming you're right then it looks like I may get a chance to impress our Lord sooner than I's imagined." His voice is starting to betray his excitement at the whole venture. It's not exactly hard to imagine that he'd rather be in his usual position at the head of a beach charge, but holding such a strategic position is about as damn fine an opportunity as he's going to get.
Kathryna doesn't look nearly so excited. Perhaps these lands have softened her. Or, more likely, love has. She sinks back against the wall of the cove. "…I just wish I had felt they sent us here on anything but a suicide mission." She shakes her head to him, taking another absent puff of that pipe. "Hold the gate… that's all we can do. It's up to you if you want to try to help me hold it from the inside. Maybe you could 'assist me back into my rooms drunkenly' that morning before the dawn."
"It's as good a ruse as any," he agrees, with a nod, "it's not as if we don't already have a reputation for it." Play to the stereotype, it works wonders apparently. He takes a slightly deeper breath, enjoying the invigorating feel of the salt air in his lungs. "Don't think of it as a suicide mission Kate," he says, turning back to her with a smile, "think of it as an opportunity to make a difference, to prove we are strong to your Uncle and to the Lord Paramount. They want to win this fight I am sure, and if they didn't feel we could achieve this then we would not be here."
