Chapter 16

In which Frelik swears off all liquids... and then a snake fell on them

After a successful day of buying finery and various other things, the group returned to the mansion, Frelik with his noble red fox fur cloak, Valeria and Cecilia with their dresses, Akura with new vestments, Magpie with a new, deep blue robe, Olivine with a sleekly tailored, classy dress and Yuri’s single concession to fashion: a golden bowtie purchased for him by the Magpie.

Magpie, returning first, scoured the house, losing several hours to eating salted jerky in the basement.  As he came back up the stairs, Barnsworth, the elderly Halfling butler met him at the top, “May I help you, sir?”

“No... no I’m fine.” Magpie grinned.

“Hm.”  The dour little man nodded, “Very well then.”  He wandered off again.

Once the butler was out of sight, the bird-man continued on his search of the house, moving on to the upper hall.  Under the bed in the guest room he found a weathered leather scrapbook detailing Cecilia’s youthful adventures.

In Cecilia’s room he found a pile of tearstained letters from her husband, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary, just fine gowns, lacy underthings and a box full of flashy gold jewelry.

He eyed the jewelry, reaching for it.  With a grumble Akura marched into the room, grabbed the Magpie by the scruff of the neck and dragged him out in a shower of jewels, gold and caws.

“You!  Stay out of this room or I will drop kick your face!”  Akura shouted as the rest of the group came through the front door.

Akura stormed back down the stairs and straight out the front door as the Magpie continued on his search, moving up into the attic.  There he came face to face with the creepy, cymbal wielding monkey.  He poked it a couple of times.  Nothing happened.

He moved on, finding a magical rapier and darkwood buckler.  And a less dusty crate of ridiculously cute modern clothes sized for an eight to ten year old boy.

Shortly before six oclock, lady Dromdel made her way down to the main floor in her elevator.  Valeria managed to smuggle in pistols into dinner, while Magpie brought some daggers, and Frelik wore his sword in a ceremonial fashion. 

The girls and the rest of the guests arrived shortly after six.  Barnsworth was pleased to introduce Jebediah Stewardsfield; a greasy middle aged man who identified himself as the prime banker in town.  An older woman, Nina Gusenholdt, arrived accompanied by her slightly slow, upperclass twit nephew, Ned who stared at Magpie for a long moment before exclaiming, “You’re a birdman!” He then turned to Frelik, “And you’re not from these parts.”  The two men gave him blank stares and he clapped his hands, “This is gonna be a great party, what?”

Lady Dromdel and Lady Gusenholdt filled the time before dinner by engaging in some light conversation about the dreadful weather they’d been having, the state of their grounds and the terribly inconvenient murders.

“So what about these murders I’ve been hearing so much about?” Valeria asked Ned, twirling her hair on her finger.

“Oh yes, dreadfully smashing stuff to read about!  Papers dubbed him Swanny Todd.”  Ned bubbled, clapping his hands, “Several other nobs got their throats slashed right good.  In fact, Cecilia’s husband was the first.”  He looked faintly appalled as he met Cecilia’s eyes.  He tittered nervously, “Oh, there were many others that followed, what?  Wasn’t like he was the only target.  But ah, yes, crimson smiles across their throats and they arrested a little fella, couldn’t be more than three, four feet tall.  Just like...”  He waved Barnsworth over, “Just like this fellow, though it couldn’t have been him, he’s so old!”

“And what about the weather?”  Valeria asked, interrupting pointedly to save Cecilia some of her obvious embarrassment.

Ned paused for a moment, then laughed, “Oh yes, do forgive me, I sometimes get carried away.  Yes, dreadful weather, what?”

“Isn’t it always drizzling here?”  Valeria asked.

“No.  Sometimes there’s lighting.”  Ned replied, just as a huge crash of lighting sounded from outside.

Lady Dromdel took over the conversation again, “Cecilia, I believe you’ve met Jebediah?”  The red-faced banker nodded, “A man like Jebediah never has to worry about his means.”

“Yes.”  Jebediah rumbled, making eyes at the girl, “I never need to worry about financial security.”

After some quick whispering between Valeria and Magpie, Valeria leaned towards the banker, making sure to display her cleavage as she said, “So... you’re into money, hmm?  That’s so... hot.”

Once the banker was suitably distracted by the gunslinger, Magpie had a decent chance to chat with Cecilia.  Which caused much dismay for Lady Dromdel and much relief for Cecilia.

At one point Magpie accidentally knocked his knife off the table and it skittered across the floor to twang into the wall next to Barnsworth who simply rolled his eyes and brought the bird man another one.

Somewhere around the dessert course, Baron, Lady Dromdel’s lapdog leapt off her lap and bolted for the window, yapping wildly and running in circles.  In addition to the yapping, a faint howling could be heard from outside.  Soon Sashie, Lady Dromdel’s mastiff, could be heard baying from upstairs.

Akura stood, moving to the window and peering out as the Magpie excused himself, heading outside.  Once outside, it sounded to Magpie that the howling was coming from inside the house; from down below.

Magpie came back inside and headed for the basement.  Akura instructed Frelik to stay and protect the dinner party while he followed the Magpie downstairs.  The other guests seemed pretty shaken by the noise.

Finding nothing obvious in the basement, the two dashed upstairs to get Sashie but the door to the room was locked.

The Magpie darted back downstairs, “I’m very sorry Lady Dromdel, but I’m afraid we need access to your quarters, may I have your key?”

“Very well.”  The Lady replied, “I will meet you up there.”

Once Lady Dromdel arrived on the upper floor she shushed Sashie and opened the door for them.  Magpie moved into the bedroom, looking around, “Lady Dromdel,” he said, “I hate to be insensitive and ask this, but do you have any magical items in your vanity?”

“Yes.”  The old woman replied, “I have some medications to help with my strength these days, I am not as young as I used to be.”

Akura listened at the window and heard the howling again, but it seemed to be much more clear from the elevator shaft.

“Does your elevator only travel between this floor and the main floor, or can it go to the basement?”  Akura asked.

“Only between these floors.” The lady replied, but the reply rang with untruth.

“I see.” Akura frowned, “Well, it must just have been some howling off in the hills, I suppose.  Please, feel free to return to your guests.”

The old lady eyed them suspiciously, “Very well.  I’ll meet you back downstairs.”

Back on the main floor the old lady announced, “I’m afraid all this excitement has been too much for my aging nerves, Ned, you’ll see your aunt home?  Jebediah, a pleasure, as always.... Cecilia, say goodbye to Jebediah.”

Jebediah slipped his card into Valeria’s bosom, “You should come by and see me sometime, my dear, I have some... investments we should discuss.”

“Oh really, Jebediah, get out of my house!”  Lady Dromdel snapped.

“Mother, are you all right?”  Cecilia asked, seeming worried.

“Yes, yes.”  Her mother replied, “I’m just a little shaken from the dogs and whatnot.”  She got back into the elevator and went upstairs.

“I’m so sorry about my mother.”  Cecilia murmured, “I could use some fresh air, if there is someone who would like to escort me?”

Magpie and Valeria escorted the girl out.  Akura and Frelik moved over to the elevator, attempting to open the door.  With a little jimmying, Frelik managed to get it open and they look inside.  About ten feet above they could see the bottom of the elevator floor.  Olivine stepped up to the opening, casting some dancing lights and sending them down the tunnel.  The shaft went thirty or forty feet into the ground; well past the basement... and no one remembered seeing an elevator exit in the basement.

Outside, Magpie asked Cecilia about the mysterious box of modern boy’s clothes, but she seemed to know very little.

Once the three had returned inside, Akura told them what they’d discovered about the elevator shaft.

“How old is the elevator?” Valeria asked.

“It was installed about ten years ago when mother started having her health problems.” Cecilia replied, “Though Mother had some men in to service it about a year ago.”

“Did anything else odd happen a year ago?”  Akura pressed.

Cecilia frowned, “Now that you mention it, Father was away on a hunting trip about a year ago and sent something back in a crate, but I have no idea whatever happened to it.”

An uncomfortable look passed between the party.

“Lady Cecilia, I suggest you take Davros here and lock yourself in your room.”  Magpie said.

“If you think that’s best.” The girl murmured.

Once the group was back in their adventuring gear and the girl was safely in bed Akura went first down the shaft and was immediately assailed by the stench of wet animal.  He signalled the Magpie to come next, then Frelik, Valeria and Olivine.

By the light of the sunrod Akura had dropped, they could see a partially hewn stone room.  There were stone faces carved into the walls, the last two of which still seemed to be fleshy.  The room was filled with straw palleting, a rough-hewn table and a delicate tea set.

In the corner was a stout, dog-like creature with a long whipping tail with a grasping claw at the end.  It was growling.

“Anytime guys.”  Akura whispered back up the shaft.

Ever impatient, Frelik pushed past the Magpie, knocking the bird-man down the shaft and sending the barbarian tumbling after him.

Olivine shimmied carefully down the rope, with Valeria successfully scooting past.

Akura and the creature swung at eachother, but they both missed.

“That’s an ahuizotl,” Magpie shouted, “They’re tenacious grapplers from the Mwangi Expanse... they like to kill and eat people.  They’re dicks.”

Akura tumbled past the thing, taking damage while Frelik charged it and got struck by its lashing tail before striking it with a solid hit.

Valeria pulled out her gun and fired, heedless of the noise.

Magpie attempted to heal Frelik while Akura scored a solid one-two hit.

Frelik pulled out his hand axe and finished the creature with flourish, reducing it to a steaming pile of badly hacked meat.