Now, I knew the Pne of Shadow would be strange: The documentation from Mom made that clear… but there's a world of difference between knowing and seeing. Like… it's one thing to know that the pce is in bck and white, but it's quite another to see an apple tree with bck leaves and gray apples. Seriously, the only color here is us. Now, we're only on the border of the Pne of Shadow… which is a good thing: There's actually a lot of nasty things here. I mean, there are a lot of nasty things on the material pne too… hmm. Eh. We can tell where we are retive to the material pne… because here at the border, the Shadow Pne is a twisted reflection of the material pne… not enough to be useful for spying or scouting, though, partly because everything is warped and compressed: Each step takes us a hefty distance, which is why we're actually here: It's a fast way to travel, ten times as fast as using the horses. It also equalizes speed: Roger's short little legs are exactly as effective here as Bearcw's longer ones. It's really weird… and an hour ter, it's boring. Which is okay.

  Still: “ten times as fast” for what was going to be a month long trip still takes three days. After eight hours of traveling, we return to the material pne and “make camp” - which consists of me opening up my Keyhome… which has a surprise.

  “The magic is on in here?” Wesley is grinning.

  I shrug, “Yeah… we're not on the Prime Material Pne. The main room… I think I'm powering that area. The side rooms Mom made,” technically her copies, but still, “so… yeah.”

  But really, camp is just normal.

  The second day of travel, we actually find a spot of color… such a pity it's the hypnotic purple insectoid wings of a ten foot long moth… a Gloomwing that wandered to the edge of the pne. Nasty beast, about as smart as a dog, driven to impnt eggs in anything it can find. I shatter it's carapace with a quick stone from my sling before it can act… and it wasn't carrying anything.

  I make a point of visibly renewing the Countermoon spell every time we make or break camp, of course, and I set it up to st an entire month each time (sixty one applications of Extend Spell make it st thirty one days… and would raise the spell slots required by sixty two, but I pay Mythic power for that instead thanks to my rings, and I have unlimited Mythic power to spend, so it's essentially free).

  We finally reach the pce at the end of the third day, and drop out of the Shadow pne a few hundred feet from the gate: The pce has a big wooden palisade around an area with a castle under construction. Given that we're a good ways away from any established kingdom, it's unlikely anyone will object strenuously. Of course, this also makes it very difficult for Srid Fmeflow to get workers… and for workers to leave if they find employment isn't suitable. Both are for the same reason: The wilds are dangerous, and not generally supported by dungeons past the first few dozen miles in. It generally takes rge, well-armed groups to cross them… or mages that can bypass them, but those are rare, and there has to be a dungeon at the receiving end for the spell to work… for most people.

  Wesley casts a spell when we arrive, just a cantrip to make light, and smiles when it works.

  I raise an eyebrow as we all walk towards the gate, “it's not like you've been without. It's only the material pne where we need to import magic; everywhere else gets it natively, which is also kind of why all the magical monsters.”

  Wesley rolls his eyes, “As opposed to the mundane monsters we get in the wilds?”

  “Hey, dinosaurs are good eating,” Bearcw objects, “if you can catch them.”

  “I'm more concerned about them catching me,” the halfling huffs, “But that's not what we're here for.”

  The gate is properly closed when we arrive, which I guess makes sense… this area isn't really established, so they won't have people coming and going all day to be worth keeping it open and paying a guard to stand there all day. The wall is certainly patrolled with fairly standard guards, though; one man in armor with a pike and longbow spots us, then sounds out a short pattern on his signal horn. A few minutes ter, the gate opens to four guards with sword and shield in hand, eight more archers behind them with bows drawn and arrows nocked

  Unperturbed, our party leader shouts out, “Hello! We're here for the dungeon crew position at the behest of Lord Fmeflow.”

  There's a pause, and we hear a deep voice from man in the back, “You're early; we weren't expecting you for another month.” The guards sheath their swords, while the archers put their arrows back.

  Roger ughs, “Favorable winds. Might I ask your name?”

  A four foot tall man in slightly scratched and dirty full pte comes cnking forward; he has a full beard, red starting to go gray, and a weathered face visible through his open facepte, “I'm captain Firebeard. From the records of the guild, I'm guessing you're Roger,” he turns to our elf, “you're Wesley,” then to our barbarian, “you're Bearcw,” and then to me, “and you're Marty. The records mentioned Mary as well… where's she?”

  Roger seems prepared for that question, “Handling a few minor things outside the fence line; she can handle herself well enough and will be by when she's ready.”

  The dwarf briefly seems annoyed, but covers it quickly, “Ah. Well, I will cheerfully send a squad out to assist her with anything she needs, just let me know where.”

  The party halfling is much better at controlling his face, but I can still tell that has him concerned, “No need; as I said, she can handle herself just fine, and will be by when she's ready.”

  The captain takes a breath and nods, “All right. Well, Lord Fmeflow is eager to meet ALL of you. Please follow me.” The dwarf turns and starts walking at the slightly slow pace his short legs demand, and we follow, easily keeping up.

  I look at the construction as I go… the lord-to-be has a mage in his employ. The outer palisade was done with hand tools, the castle not so much. Ground preparation was clearly handled by a Move Earth spell, then they id down a bunch of loose rocks, and have been building on them with Wall of Stone spells… I wonder if I should tell them about the cracking problem that comes with that on structures of this size? The guildhalls are JUST at the limit of where they can get away with it, but still end up patching with mortar in areas that have unusually rge temperature swings over the course of the year; this castle is well past that point, they're going to need to insert some other materials periodically to absorb the slight size shifts as things expand and contract… eh, wizards are smart folks: I'm sure whoever they have handling it already knows, and has a pn for it.

  I idly watch the crowd as we go… a soldier in uniform polishing his sword… a uniformed courier running a package, his shoes starting to get muddy… a woodworker with the tools of his trade heading back to the barracks… huh.

  I think at my party (I don't use it much, but my graduation present included telepathy): “Ah… am I blind, or are there no girls around here at all?”

  Bearcw thinks back at me, “No merchants, either. It's strange, even if there aren't any trade caravans, I'd expect people to be buying and selling locally made items.”

  Roger thinks back as well, “Right. I made that connection earlier; I expect it's one of the reasons he was so interested in your other identity. I'm thinking we want those ‘few minor things’ to take longer than expected.”

  The elf gives me a mental chuckle, “Oh, I don't know… I am quite curious to find out what's going on here.”

  I consider, “I don't mind pying bait… and I can arrange for a body double.”

  The rogue replies, “I don't imagine they have a detailed picture for the comparison… so yeah, if you can fake ‘Mary’ that seems safest.”

  I start to nod, then think better of it, “Okay. I'll set it up this evening. Hopefully we have a private room; the timing gets erratic if I need to use Pne Shift to get her in position.”

  “I have Invisibility now,” Wesley volunteers, “just have her head out when we open the door for us.”

  So do I. I should have thought of that. Eh, let him have his moment, “Works for me. So cast, have her rush out when we do, and come back in through the main gate when the spell wears off. Sound good?”

  Everyone sends their assent back through the telepathic channel I established as we approach the a stone doors in a stone room inside where the castle is still under construction….