Appease. On a MISS, Barbara Torch's enemy comes seeking .

Barbara Torch asks you in a low voice, "When are you coming to visit Miss Redmoor again, Morgan?"

"Oh, w-whenever," you stammer.

"She's just finished an exercise," the Warden says. "How about now?"

That look in her eyes. Your mind flounders around, looking for an excuse. "Fay?" you say.

"Certainly," she says. "Let us go fetch her."

"But she's in Minerval, you can't just...?" you say.

The Warden grins. "Certainly I can," she says. "Come."

Barbara Torch takes you by the wrist and pulls you into a doorway where you're out of direct view of the main courtyard. She raises her wand.

"We'll go in the back way," she says.

With a gesture of her wand and a whispered word, a passage opens in front of you, its boundaries traced out with lines of blue, flickering fire.

She's showing off to you. Perhaps how casually she can make such an impressive working, or perhaps how she has easy access to a secret way you never suspected.

You follow her along the blue-glowing magical passageway until you reach a turn.

"I CALL YOU OUT, TORCH!" you hear a voice call. You know it from the memory you stole from the Warden. It's Vindicatrix, the enemy who attacked her via the magic mirror and cost Saralinda her voice and her love of Barbara Torch.

"NO!" the Warden says, angry, raising a ward in front of her and calling down the passageway.

"Ha ha ha ha," her adversary laughs, the sound echoing from all around. "Is THAT where you think I am?"

You spot a flicker in the ceiling, a sense of presence, and snatch up your wand. "Warden, up!" you cry.

But you're quickest to move, and you leap upward, wand in hand.

There's a conflagration of magical spells discharged all at once.

⚁⚁ + 1 = 5, Miss.

When you APPEASE YOUR HANGER-ON, on a MISS choose one from the list in The Hanger-On.

• They follow you into danger, or bring it upon you. Roll to GET OUT OF DANGER (at -1).

Roll +BRAVERY(-2) (-1 Bravery, -1 HANGER-ON) to GET OUT OF DANGER.

⚄⚀ - 2 = 4, Miss.

Choose one from When you have to GET OUT OF DANGER/Miss:

• You're hurt. Gain a CONSEQUENCE and next turn, GET OUT OF THE INFIRMARY.

It's dark. Your head aches. You ache all over. You can tell by the feel of the sheets, the scent in your nostrils, that you're in the Infirmary again.

What happened? Where's Barbara Torch? Did she explain anything?

Your head throbbing and your mind swirling, you fade back into sleep.

Roll +BRAVERY(-2) (-1 Bravery, -1 CONSEQUENCE) to GET OUT OF THE INFIRMARY.

⚅⚅ - 2 = 10.

On a 10+, you are back on your feet soon. If you have a CONSEQUENCE, remove it.

"Well, Morgan," Miss Wormwood says, in her cool, dry voice. "I am surprised. When Euryale brought you in last night, you seemed in dire straits. But a good night's rest and a little tonic have put you to rights."

You shiver. "No purges?"

"Purge for a case of magical shock?" she hisses. "Do you think me a quack?" The green serpents growing from her head in place of hair move about uneasily.

"No, no, Miss Wormwood!" you say. "It's just..."

The Nurse laughs. "There are many other complaints for which purging is indicated," she says.

Many, you agree silently.

You blink, seizing a thread before you forget. "Wardress Euryale, from Minerval?" you say. "Not Warden Torch, from Leontes?"

"I did not mis-speak," Miss Wormwood says. "Now dress and go." She pats a folded Minerval robe. Your robe, cleaned and pressed, and your wand.

What had happened to Barbara Torch? What had happened to Vindicatrix? How had Euryale found you?

You need to know.

Roll +AMBITION(+2) to ENCOUNTER Euryale and ask her what happened last night.