I think last night falls under 'what not to do while trying to sneak around a castle without getting caught'.

It might also be catalogued as 'When everything goes to hell in a handbasket.'

And best of all - it wasn't Lyra's fault! :)

We'd sent a forward party ahead to scout out the fortifications of the ducal palace of Mardavia. This party consisted of Toes, Melvin, Ethan, Hoon and Lacha - everyone except Lyra, Richard and the army. Lyra's only in contact with Melvin through several minutes of scrying once a night, and that's only one-way contact which he may or may not perceive.

After getting on the back side of the manse, Melvin cast invisibility on Toes, Ethan and himself, did his rope trick (huge invisible interdimensional 'pocket' at the top of a line of rope) and all scrambled up the rope without attracting the notice of the guards (thanks to the feline wiles of Lacha). Melvin made straight for the pocket, while Toes and Ethan crept quietly into the open window of an occupied bedchamber. They made it into the corridor, and began to explore the area, looking for the duke's chambers.

Here arises the problem: this invisibility doesn't last forever. During the shenanigans getting up the wall and in the window, they took at least 5 minutes, leaving them roughly 10 minutes of invisibility time left. Toes was very careful about this, making his way back in time to get to the bedchamber before he began to become opaque.

Ethan, however, completely forgot about this effect (or something). He was quite a ways away from the chamber when he noticed himself turning opaque; he panicked and slipped inside a room that looked like a laboratory **with a person inside**. Having shut the door, and noticing that the person had his back to the door and seemed to be absorbed in the beaker he was holding and muttering something, Ethan tried to grab him and put a knife to his throat.

Bad move. The alchemist/wizard disappears. --Collective "Oh shit" from group-- Ethan looks into the adjacent room, which is a library... then hears a lot of guards jangling this way. He looks out the window - a 15 foot drop to ground level, and another 5 feet down into the moat - hesitates, and jumps for ground level. He doesn't make it. The guards outside are now alerted, and seeing a pikeman coming at him, the bruised and winded Ethan takes off running like a madman away from the castle.

Meanwhile, Toes has come back to the rope trick, and discovered that Ethan isn't there. Melvin becomes concerned, hops out of the pocket and takes off down the corridors after casting invisibility on himself. Toes is left to contemplate the intimidating interior of the pocket: "Grey Chaos swirls around you."

Melvin eventually finds the lab, where the alchemist/wizard is ordering a group of guards to keep double watch over the demesne. As it sounds like Ethan's no longer in trouble, he stays after the guards leave and peeks in the doorway to see the wizard staring toward the door. Caught in a sudden fit of... something, he is seized by the urge to break the intricate, expensive-looking glassware sitting on the countertop of the lab. He sweeps it to the ground, and as he's eyeing the next target of destruction, the alchemist dispels his invisibility. Ensue one very quick wizard's duel, where Melvin give the equivalent of a 'So long, suckers!' and changes to gaseous form to escape through the window... and is suddenly hit by a freeze spell that nearly crystallizes his organs. So much for escape. Near death, he morphs back to human form, falls to his knees and surrenders. In the meantime, the alchemist hurls another spell at him - this one a Charm Person. Melvin deflects it with the strength of his will, "Knock it off, will you?" Unfortunately, he manages to fail the next save.

Welcome to our worst nightmare. Melvin now believes the alchemist is his best bosom buddy, and here come the questions. Within 5 minutes, he's given the alchemist the names and descriptions of the people in the forward party, the composition and size of the army, and our final objectives. Well done.

Meanwhile, Ethan's limping away from the castle, Toes is sitting in the pocket wondering what the hell happened to Ethan and Melvin (and gearing up for going in as a servant), and Lacha's wandering around the corridors. At least she manages to spot Melvin being led away by the alchemist; she follows them and watches in disbelief as the alchemist convinces Melvin to spend the night in the jail cell, gag himself and put on handcuffs.

At this point, the alchemist/wizard is undoubtably headed straight for the ducal chambers to wake his lord and inform him of the coming attack. This, of course, will give the duke plenty of time to call for aid from surrounding duchies, and Lyra, Richard and army will be marching right towards a possible trap and a castle locked tighter than a drum.

Yup. Well done, indeed. With luck, we might be able to pull this chestnut out the fire. Unfortunately, there's absolutely nothing Lyra and Richard can do, so it's up to Hoon, Toes and Lacha to fix this situation. Here's to hoping it turns out well in the end...