"It ist good to see thee as well, most conversational of minions!" The dryad said, greeting the hooded newcomer. "I am glad we are on the same team this time. Verily, methinks we wilt have a grand time talking the enemy's ears off," she finished with a laugh that was not entirely unlike a cackle.

The dryad looked at the lieutenant called "Sweeet," who, it must be said, did not much look her nickname at the moment.

"Much pleased to meet thee, Lieutenant," the dryad said carefully. "Methinks thou need not fear having to deal with multiple lieutenants. . . . Yet."

But before the Lieutenant could say anything to that, the dryad caught sight of a familiar face.

"Silv'ry Wanderer!" She cried, recognizing the friend who had also been part of a grand Monastery quest only a few months before.

Button had, indeed, abandoned the wolf to run back upstairs and through the courtyard. She was beginning to huff and puff, so she slowed to a walk. She soon reached where Kat was sitting.

"Welcome," she said. "Will you come in? I suppose you're looking for the White Lady, too."

~~

"Hmmm... How about the Official Castle Mounte?" Lady A said, after thinking for a moment. And Sweeet, don't worry, no one will take your place."

"That's what they said before," muttered Sweeet, "And it happened anyways." The Lieutenant fixed her gaze on Mountie. "Are you a member of the canadian police?"

Sweeet was, unfortunately, a very suspicious sort. There was no reason for her to be. Perhaps it was in her nature.

Kat, who was awed by the the grace of everyone around her related her story to button, including that she have previously been involved with the Monastery. Kat felt warm inside and completely welcome to indulge in hospitality of the castle. But
as she walked in the door she looked Sweet up and down and said evenly: "I am not Canadian"

"The Castle of Ivory and Gold..." the Silv'ry Wanderer mused. It had a nice ring to it, she decided. Turning to the Hoodie, she replied, "Well, I've come from a great many places, the Monastery being the most recent..." She frowned. "Hullo! I've only been gone for a week or so, and I already seem to have lost my monkish accent!" She shook her head and quickly switched back into Ye Olde English. "There. 'Tis much better now. I liketh this manner of speech much better than my other accent. And my! It seems to hath cleared my brain. Couldst it really be thee, Conversational Minion? I thought thy voice sounded familiar!"

Silver heard her name shouted amongst the quiet babbling, and when she spun around, she spotted a friend. Her face lit up. "Good Dryad of the Rose Trees! I wondered where thou wouldst go when the doors of the Monastery shut so impolitely in our faces!" She drew in a long, deep breath and grinned widely. "What is this I smell? Couldst it be? A coffee bar?! Oh joyful hour!"

The Hooded Mountie nodded slowly in Lady A's direction, deep in thought. "Yes, that title shall be satisfactory. But what duties does the Castle Mountie have?"

"It's good to see you too, Dryad. I'm glad we're on the same team as well. This shall be interesting, I think."

Then she folded her arms, turning towards the suspicious Lieutenant, whose intentions the Hoodie still doubted. "At one time I was. But what about you? Where did you come from?"

The Hoodie folded her arms and leaned against the wall, retreating back inside her cloak to think. She would have traded in her Evil Lair garb long ago if not for the convenience of her hood.

She was brought abruptly out of her reverie by the voice of the Silv'ry Wanderer. "Oh, the Monastery you say? I've been there a time or two." Then she sighed when she heard herself addressed by her old nickname from her days at the Lair. "Yes, I'm afraid it is so. I am... er, was, the Conversational Minion. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I'd be recognized." She sighed again in disappointment. "I guess my cloak might have something to do with that, but I can't bring myself to part with it." She caught herself rambling and abruptly stopped. "Anyway, I think it's time for another cappuccino."

Ze wolf got a tad bit lost in ze castle. She was still unable to find ze Queen. Infact she was not even quite sure of exactly what happenned. She had seemed to have traveled everywhere except ze right spot. She had a strange encounter in ze attic, a peculiar adventure in a wardrobe, and somebody knocked her out and took her to zis place she t'was unable to pronounce. "It began with an "M" and ended with an "A,"" she recounted later. She only woke up once during her journey to zat place, and ze floors of ze vehicle were on ze walls. Other zan zat, ze only detial she could recall was a picture of a strange ship on a floor-wall. But somehow she hath managed to make her way back to ze castle.

She remained lost and milkless however. But she zen stumbled upon a bowl of white fluid on ze floor. She approached it carefully and sniffed.

"MILK!!!" she exclaimed, as she hastally drank it down. Being a wild wolf she had know knowledge of pet bowls. If she did perhaps ze following events would have came about differently...

*EDIT* (OOC: Are we allowed to post in ze Tower as well or just here?)

The Hermit curtsied to the Queen. "Thank ye, my Lady. I shalt be most honored to join this noble band, and I pledge the use of my wits, my books, and my mouse to the furthering of our great cause. Before I becameth a Hermit, I was known as Malkah. This, as well as Mal, Mally, or Hermit are all acceptable. Hermie, however, is not."

"As for titles, I fear I hath been in my cave too long to know the current fashions. Whatever you deem fitting is fine." She cast a nervous look at the one called Sweeet. "As long as 'tis not Lieutenant."

She took her cappuccino and nodded to the Hoodie. "Indeed, you look familiar as well. Or perhaps 'tis the cloak. But if you haileth from Spoiler Summit, we hath both hast a long journey! This bodes delightfully ill for the Dark Overlord, methinkeths, if folk from his domain joineth the forces of good and cappuccino!" Her eyes brightened. "Mayhaps we can convert more!"

Settling back with her cup, she nodded rather shyly at the flood of new arrivals.

Eusy responded, "I cameth from the Spoirlerth too. The three of us shall conqueer the Dark One."

"Okay, okay, let me revise that," Lady A said to Sweeet. "No one will replace you as Lieutenant until I promote you to Captain. In which case, I will need to find a replacement lieutenant, because you won't BE a lieutenant anymore. Happy?"

Button sneezed to announce the new arrival, something she was very good at.

"This had better be one of the last ones," she grumbled, turning and marching back out the door. "I want to finish my nap!"

"Welcome!" Lady A called. "And, dear Mountie, don't worry about parting with your cloak. I love cloaks, and think they are pretty, so no one shall ask you to remove it. Right now, all of your duties are to become familiar with the castle, and the computer systems. In these welcome packets, you will find a generic passcode to be able to access the computers. The first time you go on, the computer will record some vital information that will ensure that no one can hack into our systems pretending to be you. The coffee bar is open at all times, and is designed so that it is completely impossible for it to run out of coffee. I'm actually not quite sure how, its such an ancient technique. It even pre-dates me. Unfortunately, because of the rowdiness of the Wyrm, we must also work on weapons training, in case he attacks, or we see fit to attack him."

((OOC: I will post a castle map for ya'll as soon as I can design one. ))

A very confused person wanders up and down between the Castle and the Tower. She really doesn't know what to do. She was a member of the Lair but really participate in any of the warlike efforts. She doesn't like coffee at all and can barely stand the smell of plain coffee (although flavored coffee does smell better and doesn't bother her as much). Otherwise the Castle does seem very nice. She has heard it has talking cats, and she likes cats a lot, especially talking ones. Cats are ever so much better than dogs. She also heard it has a library and she absolutely loves books. The buffet in the Tower sounds very good, but she notices they eat a lot of chocolate over there and she likes chocolate as well as she likes coffee which is to say not at all. There is something about the Tower that appeals to her scheming side. However, she is not sure about the whole take-over-the-world idea. She has no intention of ever becoming spoiler free. Maybe she should just forget about joining sides and watch from the sidelines. She had told herself she would never get involved in Ditto Town Role Playing because then she might never be able to drag herself away from NarninaWeb and one does have to earn a living. Or maybe she should continue to wander between the two gates and see if anything happens. ...

(Out of character: This is my first post in Ditto Town role-playing, so let me know if there's something I need to change or don't know. I'm going by 'Galadriel' here.)

After attending the Blessed Day, the elf stowed her blindfold in her pocket and, after telling herself to keep it in hopes of using it again some day, turned her attention away from it. She had heard that the members of the Monastery and Dark Lair were now flocking to a castle and tower. Being that the colors of ivory and gold appealed much more to her than shadow and flame, and that there seemed to be no present middle way in this conflict, she decided to head for the castle instead.

The gates opened for her as she entered, and she stared about in amazement at what she saw, unsure where to go or what to do.

(Out of character again: Pattertwigs Pal, I feel much the same way, so I'm not sure how much I'll post, but I do want to participate to some extent. I loved the Spoiler War threads!)

Lu bounds into he castle again and plops on the floor in front of Lady A's throne.

"I seek counsel of you majesty. I have many questions to ask you."

Lu pulls up the hood of her cloak to reveal a sweet, innocent face.

"May I stay in your castle, m'lady?" she asked pitifully. "For some see what they have done wrong and wish to change."

Than, sobbing, and so quiet that it could scarsely be heard. "I...I may miss Izzy, though. Perhaps I could get her on my side in this..."

Then she wept.

Mountie was becoming extremely overheated and uncomfortable, in spite of her second frozen cappuccino. She decided she needed a breath of fresh air, and took away the heavy cloth from her head at once, letting the hood settle around her shoulders. For the first time, the group got a glimpse of her face. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her; in fact she would have looked pleasant if not for her serious expression. She had a full head of long, dark hair that curled gently around her shoulders, and soft bluish-green eyes.

The slightest hint of a graceful smile touched her face as she studied both Mal and Eusy. "Yes, how exciting! We will band together and fight the forces of evil! This is a valiant quest, one I am glad to be a part of with you both - and everyone else."

"Thank you, Lady A. I shall retain my cloak, it's useful in protection against the weather elements, especially thunderstorms." She then accepted the welcome packets, peering at the contents inside. "I shall log onto the computer straight away, then take a tour of the castle so that I may become familiar with my surroundings. Also, I do have experience with weaponry, so I would be willing to help train the others in the art of sword-fighting, archery, and other such methods, so that we may properly defend our castle."

And just like that, she put her hood back up and retreated back to her normal, stoic self.

((OOC: I can't wait to see the map, Lady Arwen!))

Ze she-wolf, having finished off ze milk, continued on her trek across ze castle. She had tried everything from sniffing out ze cat to trying to ask the creatures in ze wardrobe. But ze creatures seemed to know not what she meant, and ze place 'twas so full of strange scents and smells zat even if she hath been in ze area of ze cat, she would not have been able to detect it. At a loss of what to do, she remembered something zat a bat told her once. Something of using sound to see. She knew not how to do zat, but perhaps her howl may attract someone who should help her. So she took in a very deep breath and let out a mournful cry zat traveled 'cross ze castle, cross ze mountains, and even shook ze clouds near ze Tower of Shadows. 'Twas enough to make her poor head spin and writhe in pain.

ooooOOOOooooOOOOooooOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!