[b]Nin and Tristan[/b]

King Pellinore watches your display of affection with a cold but tolerant remove. She does not interrupt, but instead gestures to one of her men who brings up a spare horse. "We only have the one, I'm afraid, one of my squires navigated poorly and was thrown from his horse. We left him to recover at a nearby town north of the forest before we entered properly. You'll have to ride together. The beast is surprisingly slippery, but you've confirmed it was just here, so haste is the name of the hunt, hurry if you don't wish to be left behind."

With that she spurs her own horse forward without even waiting for you to mount, though a few of her knights are more courteus. Left to her own devices, it's difficult to say if she'll find the beast or not and where both of them will go. Honor would compel you to stay with the party of your rescuers, but cunning suggests that you may wish to ride ahead and try to head off both King and Beast to keep the both in the forest. For if they do battle near anyone else, it will be fatally unpleasant for them.

[b]Robena[/b]

You ride with determination and Apricot, despite any protestations, knows her rider and gallops as you direct (with perhaps a few unnecessary bumps for Constance as the horse picks up speed). You're at the old castle in no time, and you dismount to avoid creating a commotion and scaring off the cat or attracting whatever dark things the traveler may have referenced. 

As you approach quietly on foot, you can see that the castle is empty and rather battered. The moat is old and dry, the bridge lowered and the front gate long since rusted off its hinges and lying halfway into the pit next to the bridge. Inside, the entryway to the courtyard is uncovered and exposed to the elements save for a few mossy beams, and the inner keep, though solid, has no doors left to it, likely having been broken into by brigands or animals long ago. The courtyard itself is strewn with stones and loose debris: old bags and leather that has been covered with fungus until it's barely distinguishable from the dirt, and loose soft wood mixed with the stones. Once, this might have been a mighty practice field, but no longer, the work of the nature and time has been thorough indeed.

You may recall, from your youth, that this castle once belonged to the Brythy family, who were known for their forest hunts and their independent streak. They had only a single daughter, and she was slain by the forces of King Uther Pendragon during the early conquest, for the Brythys had opposed his unity and been part of one of the armies that fought him on the field. Without an heir, the family had faded away and the retainers had abandoned the keep, though it had not been like this when you left. You had heard stories that it was haunted, and the family consorted with ghosts. Perhaps that has kept most travelers at bay and made for the trouble here.

Constance is foolishly creeping ahead of you, which may be unsafe. 

[b]Constance[/b]

You see much of what Robena does, but your eyes see more still. The moat here was once fed by a river that flowed from the forest. Though it is dry and faded, you can see what once was and it respects your right to the old blood. You can feel the resentment from the place. Angry ghosts live here and they would treat with you. Their essence compels you ahead of Robena as you approach, and so you are the first to see the extraordinarily plump white cat, black spot easily visible on her back, perched atop a short broken stone pillar in the courtyard. She is paying the whole thing no mind as she basks in a late-afternoon sunbeam and stares straight at you with her two-colored eyes yellow and blue eyes. The lockbox is not visible, but may be nearby.  

Both Cath and the spirits beg your attention, and the wrong move may set off one or the other. What do you do?