Miss: A disastrous result.

"Alright, it was down here?" you ask Golondrina.

"Yes, down here somewhere," Golondrina says. Her red hair brushes the low ceiling, collecting dust and cobwebs. She grimaces.

Fay holds her wand high, the tip illuminated, shining into the disused cellar below House Leontes' common quarters. "What a heap," she says.

This chamber seems to be where several generations of House Leontes' staff and scholars have abandoned things that were too tedious to dispose of some other way. There are old doors, bent curtain rods, crooked benches and chairs, and other miscellany. Even a few riding brooms, though if one were abandoned down here, you'd be **** to trust yourself to it. There's a freshly fallen pile of furniture which must have been where Golondrina was injured. Miss Wormwood's bandage job was neat and expert, but the one on Golondrina's hand shows up conspicuously, while her knee and elbow bandages are hidden under her robes.

"Dim your light, Fay, maybe we can see where the hole comes in from above?" you say.

Fay hides her wand in her sleeve. You stand for a moment in darkness, letting your eyes adjust.

"There," you say, pointing to a dim shaft of light filtering in from above. "Off beyond that pile of furniture. It must be beyond the pillars, there."

"Mm-hm," Golondrina assents. "That's where I was going."

"It'll take us an hour to pick up all that," Fay says. "After all, I'm sure they don't want us to make the mess worse."

You clear your throat impatiently. "Oh, hang it all, I'll just summon from here," you say. "We don't have to do anything fancy."

"If you say so," Fay says.

"Golondrina, let me hold the poppet wand," you say, reaching for the stick you've prepared with Similarity and Contagion.

"Alright Morgan," Golondrina says, handing it over.

Your heart speeds, recalling how Golondrina had prepared the dowel of lignum vitae by rubbing it between her legs.

"Hold up your light, now, Fay," you say. "Here goes." You take a deep breath, holding the rod in your off hand as you point your wand. "Remeo virgulus!"

⚂⚀ + 2 = 6.

Miss. Custom Move results: You fail in your attempt. Choose an adverse result appropriate to what was being attempted.

Result: DEAL WITH YOUR HANGER-ON.

As you fly through the air, you have half a moment to shriek before you crash headlong into the pile of furniture.

You wake in an unfamiliar cot, blinking at polished wooden ceiling beams. Barbara Torch bends over you, rubbing a moist cloth over your brow. She puts on the semblance of a smile. Perhaps a real smile, but you've always seen House Leontes' Warden as fierce-looking. Warden has a resting bitch face, Fay had remarked. Must have had to practice up to it, she's got a sweet round face like mine.

"It's a good thing you have that owls' nest of hair," the Warden says. "You took a bump, but barely a scrape. I see worse, routinely, at dueling practice. Better?"

You take a deep breath, roll your eyes left and right and up and down. "Can I sit up?"

"Here," she says, helping you into a sitting position.

You roll your shoulders. Everything seems to be in working order. No dizziness, soreness, or double vision.
"Oh," you say. "So you don't send folks to Nurse?"

"Miss Wormwood objects to dealing with the consequences of what she terms House Leontes' fetish for dueling," the Warden says. "So if the injury is minor, I or my assistant will provide treatment."

You nod. House Minerval, to some extent, takes care of the consequences of birchings and lashings under its own roof. Though you've ended up in Miss Wormwood's care more than once, perhaps since your mishaps never included a lashing until you took Pip's punishment, and that once was enough to make you faint.

She smiles again, showing white teeth in her broad brown face. You see the smile in her eyes as well, and decide it's genuine.

"Well, Miss Woodbine," the Warden says. "May I report to Fay and Golondrina about your good health and interest in spending the afternoon with them?"

Lolo, you think. Fay.

"I'm, ah, in good health, yes," you say. "Thank you." You furrow your brows. "What about Golondrina's wand?"

"They went back after I took charge of you," the Warden says. "Fay recovered Miss Redmoor's wand."

And Fay probably kept the wooden rod with Lolo's juices on it. Maybe later she'd magic it up as a special present.

Barbara Torch raises her eyebrows, letting her face repeat her question.

Choose APPEASE YOUR HANGER-ON (bring her to watch you and Fay with Golondrina) or PUT OFF YOUR HANGER-ON (not in the mood, sorry!).

Roll +AMBITION(+1) (+2 AMBITION, -1 HANGER-ON) to APPEASE or PUT OFF Barbara Torch.