It is a scrubby sort of day, with rain threatening, but not arriving. Filinia sits by the fountain in the mid part of the lower town, watching the world around her. Once more, her back is to a big rock.

Hard to sneak up on folks with their backs to a big rock, certainly. Amy, on a scrubby sort of day, has been busy cleaning up an area in town that looks like it might once have been a first aid hospital of some sort. She's now on the way back to get cleaned up.

Filinia takes out an apple from a deep pocket in her grubby clothes, and looks around suspiciously. On seeing Amy she puts it back into her pocket, gets up, and heads towards the little blonde.

Amy catches sight of movement, since it's nearly in front of her and pauses. "Filinia, hello. How are you doing?" It's been a bit of time since they've run into each other after all. Amy might be a bit grubby herself at the moment, given what she's been working on.

Filinia says, "Not bad. I got a thing I thought you might wanna see. But you gotta trust me.""

Filinia stands talking to Amy, not far from the half-working, half-repaired fountain.

It's an overcast day, although it is almost impossible to tell how much, given the fog that lies over the clouds in most places.

"Even I know that phrase usually comes in front of a scam, Filinia," Amy teases. She shrugs a bit though, before she asks, "So what is it you are going to show me, and what do I have to trust you for?"

Filinia helpless-shrugs. "There's something I think the fog's done, and we have to wiggle a bit to get through dark places. But... I think it might be important. Only I ain't got anything you can hold to ransom, so it's gotta be trust." Maybe it is a scam - she certainly *sounds* like she wants to get Amy into a dark place, alone.

Amy looks intrigued at this. "Right," she says after a moment. "That seems like nothing can go wrong, doesn't it? Alright, I'm in. Let's see what you've got." She might totally be playing with her words on purpose.

Alonzo has found his way into the Lower City and comes into view up the street from Amethyst and Filinia, though with his back turned he hasn't spotted them yet. Instead he asks a passerby a question. The words "Docks" and "College" can be heard, but provoke no response, as if he wasn't there. A wisp of fog reach out from nearby and attempts to touch him, and he responds vocally with a half kiai shout, half primal scream. It seems to drive the fog back a bit. It is at this point that he notices the others, and waves. He starts toward them.

Filinia looks towards Alonzo with a jump, and a start, and nearly flees at the scream. However, after a quick look at her options she stays where she is, and watches him approach.

Amy flashes a grin as she spies Alonzo. "Hey there. How are you settling in?" she asks him. "Filinia, this is Alonzo. Alonzo, Filinia. Fil - Alonzo is a new arrival here. He woke up here a couple days ago." The petite blonde certainly doesn't look perturbed, more amused at this point.

Filinia says, "Oh. Right." She settles down a little more. "Yeah, fine."

Alonzo smiles, and bows a courtly bow to both ladies - stiff leg and all. "Hello. For now I'm settling for the Breeze Inn, but am looking for a better place. Still, it's a bed and a roof, and a place to do some research. I am trying to figure out to make my magic more reliable. This fog worries me, and I feel naked without my magic. Despite the bow, which I'm decent at, it's nothing to magic. I haven't found Maggie yet to compare notes. I decided to take a break from the research and try to see the docks, and maybe find ships flying the Pathi flag, or find someone who knows where the college of sorcery? Academy of Magic? I do not remember, but I could swear it's a thing in Amber. But where are my manners? A pleasure to meet you both today, and how are you ladies today?

Filinia says, "Uh..." and looks to Amethyst. "He for real?"

Filinia is, very definitely, not the sort of person who attends the Academy of Magic, and has probably never been inside an institute of learning in her life.

Amy blinks and then she shrugs. "Yes, he is." A pause. "I have no idea if any of those things exist, Alonzo, sorry. I did find what looks like it might once have been a hospital which I've started cleaning up, so it can hopefully be one again one day." She pauses and then says, "And Filinia has something to show us, if you're interested."

Filinia says, "S'a thing."

Alonzo looks piqued, "Oh? If you ladies wouldn't mind the company I'm of a mind to see this thing with you.", he says.

Filinia thinks a moment, then nods. "But you go at the back. You might have to lose the bow - can you stow it? Or do you wanna wriggle more?" She sets off at a walk despite the question, obviously not caring about the answer, and nervously eager to get to a thing.

Amy shrugs, looks at Alonzo. "I've no idea where we're going, or what we'll see," she says honestly. "But I am trusting Filinia. Up to you what you choose to do here." She also starts to follow Fil, curiously.

Alonzo looks around and seems to choose a nearby building set a bit back, nodding to himself. "Bide a moment.", he says as he moves toward the building a quick trot, unslinging bow and quiver as he goes. "It will take a moment, but I'll stash the bow and quiver in the rafters here while we are about our business."

Filinia watches. "He's an eager little... big... well, yeah. Gonna get hisself killed." But she shrugs. "No difference to me." She does break for long enough to let Alonzo stash his weapon.

Amy flashes a grin. "Well, he's here. So maybe he'll surprise you," is her comment to Fil's perhaps expected negativity. She also holds up, waiting, since she has no idea where they are going.

Alonzo enters the building and climbs to rafters with ease, tucking the bow and quiver neatly out of sight before jumping down and coming back. He doesn't seem to have heard the recent exchange between the two women, or gives no sign of it. "Right, ready. Lead the way.", he smiles.

Filinia does just that, quickly, like she wants to avoid the rain. There is a short trip through alleyways, and then she boots a door open, and says, "You gotta lift up the short one, big man," and begins her own clamber up to height - an old gantry with a rickety support and a broken staircase is no match for her wiry frame. "The fog's being weird," she says, on the way up. It is only about eight feet above the ground, but in this dusty, abandoned place, the only tracks are hers.

The short one? Big man? Amy looks affronted, despite her short height. "Hey!" she protests with a grumble. "I can maybe make it up there," she offers.

Alonzo shrugs, "I have every confidence you could, but if you should wish to conserve your strength for later, I would be happy to give you a leg up. What say you?", he asks. He steps closer, in case she says yes.

Amy looks up at Alonzo, and lets the smile cross her face. "Oh, aren't you the charmer," is her comment. "Alright, fine." She'll accept a leg up so as to move things forward, and get up there to see what Filinia is on about.

Filinia is now crawling through a gap between boards. For her, it is a decent fit. For Amy, it will be easy. For Alonzo it is going to be very snug indeed. "You remember all the lights an' stuff? On that foggy bit?"

Alonzo clambers up after helping Amy, taking a knee and peering ahead before moving more. "Lights and stuff? Perhaps a refresher would be prudent?" He makes ready to follow when they are ready.

Filinia shouts back, "You tell 'im!"

Amy makes a face in Filinia's direction, as she ascertains which way they're going, and starts to follow. She finds the gap between the boards, and looks a bit flummoxed. "Goodness, Filinia. Whyever did you come in here in the first place?" she calls to the other woman. Then to Alonzo, she says, "Maybe a week back, maybe less. About that. Anyway, the fog was being weird, getting like it had lights flickering in it, and then it crossed from one window of a building to another, we could see it and when it was gone, that part of the building was shiny new. It was really weird." She ducks into the gap, starting to make her way. Hopefully poor Alonzo doesn't get stuck in there.

Filinia says from up ahead, "Gotta find somewhere to sleep, right? And it's not too hard to get in. And I thought it'd be safe, but this is kinda-hard to explain." Dimly, visible around her, is a coloured glow. It comes from ahead, making her shape into a silhouette.

Alonzo raises his eyebrows, and peers forward, extending his magical senses to perceive what he can about the glow. He will squeeze in behind Amy, a tight fit but doable. "Interesting, the the fog seems to be creating things, and the lights. Yet another way the fog seems to be behaving with signs of intelligence. What is that glow?"

Amy opens her mouth, and then closes it. She'll leave that alone, for now. Sleeping ... here?! She spies the silhouette, and then continues to catch up. "That seems to be the question. What is that glow?" she echoes.

Filinia says, "Yeah. That..."

Filinia keeps crawling, around a corner, and then scuttles sideways. "Look down. Hold on." They are on another gantry, in a different place now; this too was probably a warehouse.

Alonzo follows, pushing through at the end and nearly falls off the gantry but gathers himself before falling and scuttles to the other side from Filinia. He takes a deep breath, then looks down. He looks with his eyes, and his Sight. He careful to observe everything in detail.

Below, there is a deep pit in which tendrils of fog are moving like a snakeball mating. They ooze over each other, sparking lights that rise up, delicately coloured soft fireworks. The pit is stone-sided, and does not belong to the architecture here. "I have no damned clue what in hell is going on," she admits frankly. "But... something? Only what?"

Up above, a skylight reflects Alonzo looking upwards, but shows only an empty pit below him.

Amy is small enough she manages easily, and there's no balance issue there. She also finds a spot to hold on and look down, as requested. Blink. Amy looks up, spies the skylight, loks at Alonzo, looks down at the fog snakes with some bemusement.

Filinia gives Amy a look and a shrug. "They've calmed down a bit. They were... more argue-y before?"

Alonzo looks downward, and then closes his eyes and extends his senses to the material of the pit. He is trying to sense any magics at play, and possibly their character.

Alonzo rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 10, using Notice, Magic Sense.
The result is a success.

Amy comments, "whatever they are, they don't have a reflection - if you look at the skylight, it's like they're not there." Which doesn't mean they're not. She reaches into her beltpouch and pulls out one of those corroded coins from before, quite deliberately dropping it down.

The coin disappears into the fog, as Alonzo closes his eyes. Filinia looks disgusted at Amy.

There is something strange here, and unwholesome. A twisting of what Alonzo knows to be 'right' from other areas of this city, or maybe a difference of opinion as to what the rules should be. There below is some sort of alteration... and then that difference begins to vanish away, and the lights fade. Before he can truly get to grips with what it is, those who still have their eyes open can see there is just a deep pit below, with lights rising up and popping and vanishing. Going, going... gone. A few wisps of fog remain, untwisting themselves as they shrink back to nearly nothing, and then vanish. Below, a silvery shape, not quite round, is at the bottom of the pit.

Alonzo opens his eyes, "Interesting. I sensed something. A twisting of what should be, based on what I've sensed elsewhere in the city..or maybe two versions of it competing for who's right. Then one seemed to win and the magic seemed to go away. Whether it left due to one of those versions getting the upper hand, or because it sensed being observed..I do not know. My eyes were closed, what did you see on the physical plane here?"

Filinia says, "Lights, and then stuff jus' vanished. Amy dropped a coin in."

Amy considers for a moment. "I dropped a corrupted coin in, one that fell from the sky some time ago, tarnished. There have been some quite odd events indeed since we arrived here. And then as I watched, there was some sort of - yes, what Filinia said. And there's still soemthing down there. I am going to try to get it."

Filinia grimaces, but says, "There's a lot of rope an' stuff in the backs of this kind of place." She does not offer to help.

Amethyst rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 15, using athletics.
The result is a failure.

Alonzo will follow Amy in, attempting to find good places to go down and levering himself down by stabbing his daggers into the wall where softspots might be and slowly making his ways down.

Alonzo rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 15, using combat.
The result is a failure.

Alonzo goes tumbling down.

Amy finds some rope, and she ties it to something up here, and then she starts to make her way down. Which starts out fine, until she slips and ends up landing on the bottom with a "Oof!" And then Alonzo falls too. Which gets Amy laughing, despite it all. "I think I sprained my ankle," she says, despite the laughter.

Filinia watches, and just stares. "So, that rope bit, yeah?" she says. "Try to hold onto it."

Amy looks to find the silver thing she could see from above. Since she's down here.

There is no fog here now, just a bright silver coin, with a unicorn on the uppermost side.

Aha! It fixed it! Amy reaches for the coin, looking it over. "Yup, the fog is definitely being strange."

For Kyrie, what there is, is a warehouse with a slightly open door, and the sound of an 'oof' and laughter from inside, and what might be Amy's voice drifting out. It's in the lower city.

Alonzo sighs, "I'd try healing it, but I was never good with healing when my magic was reliable and it's not reliable at all at the moment, unfortunately. Here I'll help you as you look around." Alonzo offers to be a living crutch.

Amethyst rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using healing, healing nature.
The result is a success.

\Slightly open door and voices within? Practically an invitation. Kyrie peeks her head in, and says "Afternoon?" As usual, for uncertain situations, her hand rests on the hilt of her blade.

The coin is now a double-sided disc of mostly-silver. Going through it, there are round bits of gold; it is like something went through and changed the metal, and even the design. On the back is a King's head, but the fase is distorted by a gold spot, and there was never a name on it. He is crowned, though - he must be a King.

Filinia sits on a gantry in a dimly-lit warehouse - only a skylight above and the door Kirie has opened give any light. She is about ten feet above the ground - or rather, a pit, in the middle of the warehouse. From the pit, voices rise - Amethyst's, and Alonzo's.

Filinia says, "Hiya," from where she is. "They're being heroic."

"Don't worry about that - I can heal it," Amy replies with another smile. She accepts the help, graciously, and examines the coin. "I dont' see anything else in here, do you?"

Alonzo raises an eyebrow and grins at Filinia's comment. "Amy's being heroic, I'm just along for the ride. And no, nothing else. Though let me take a sample of the pit surface." He'll reach out to attempt to take a scraping using his dagger, and if sucessful will put it into his pocket.

Heroics? Kyrie ahhhs quietly. "I see." she says, walking in, then. She isn't rushing towards those heroics, though. "Anything that needs another set of hands, or under control?"

Filinia says, "They probably need help out of a pit."

Amy waits while Alonzo deals with getting his sample. It's hard smooth stone though, so it might not work so well. And then she looks up. "Did I hear Kyrie?" she calls up.

Alonzo looks thoughtful, "We could use help out please." Turning to Amy he says, "Is anyone managing a clearinghouse for information at the moment, perhaps at the palace?"

Kyrie mmms quietly. From the pack she's taken to carrying she pulls rope. One of those things you learn to carry around these parts. Mostly because, fog. "Happy to oblige." She walks over to peek over the side. "It is." she says, surveying the situation before finding a sturdy beam for her end.

Oh there's a rope there, not tightly tied, and definitely not something that Amy managed to hold on to. Nor did Alonzo. oops. "Thank you, Kyrie," she says with a smile. She tucks the coin back into her pouch for the moment, and then waits for the rope to come down.

It will not be difficult for those up top to retrieve those down below, certainly. "Was the pit always here, or did it just appear?" she asks. Because in this weird place, it could be either.

Alonzo pauses, "Amy, do you mind if I perform some magical analysis on that coin?"

Amy fiddles in her pouch, and pulls out the coin, passing it over. "Go ahead. Oh, and by clearinghouse do you mean like a library?"

Alonzo nods, "Something like that, yes."

Amy shrugs. "There are just over a dozen of us, not even 20. We are so far just sharing information with ourselves. Then the people who seem to be from here, they don't seem to have any idea about the fog and give us blank looks when we mention it to them." She winces a bit, and then says, "Right. To the inn with me, so I can rest my ankle."

Alonzo nods, "I am going there too and wouldn't mind the company, care to bother my shoulder on the way?"

Kyrie mmms, looking at the coin as it's passed over. "Until something finally wakes them up, anyway. It's like they're all trapped in one moment, and then time starts up for them again. Our fault, I'm pretty sure. But that's not a bad thing."