Bloodstone

[Firesprite]

The skirt rustling continued up the hall. A door opened then closed

 

[Zircon]

Belly

I heard another rustling in the hallway, I peered heavily into the morning light, but there was no one there. Remembering the night before, I followed the noise. The apparition was not malicious. At least up to this point. There was no reason to fear, only curiosity was stirred.

Then I heard a door opened and closed. I was just in time to see which one. It was one of those near the far end, where there were no guests staying. I knew that because there were not many guests to begin with. Now why would a chamber maid be cleaning one of the empty rooms, when my room remained to be looked at? I reasoned that it had to be a chambermaid. I felt some stirrings in my loins this morning, and I longed for the warmth of woman. And if I could catch a chamber alone in an empty part of the manor… Who knows what kind of mischief we can cook up.

The door was again a piece of solid oak. It took a some effort in opening it. I was very surprised that the room was empty. It was a big room to begin with, but there was no place to hide.

‘Hello…’ and only an echo returned my call. The four poster bed dwarfed everything else in the room. I bounced on the bed, just out on a whim. And the softness sucked me in. The room was comfortable, with its own fireplace. I sighed again when I looked out the window, and saw that the rain had not abated. Although, this was a day to be snuggling with someone.

I reluctantly got up and went to look out the window. And surprisingly this room had a balcony. I opened the door to go outside and breathe some cold, fresh air. A canopy above had prevented most of the rain from splashing the balcony. And to my surprise again, there was a private staircase from the balcony that led to what seemed like a garden.

I wanted to go and see where it led to, but the rain was preventing that. I closed the balcony door and laid down on the bed again. My hands propped up my head, as I wondered if this room was special.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Zoé Lépine

"Bonjour, M. Guthrie, M. Grey..."

The words came out of my mouth toneless, almost unconsciously. My concentration laid solely upon the rustling sound down the hall.

"I-I think breakfast will have to wait", I almost whispered, fearing the discontinuing of the mysterious noise far beyond whatever could be producing it.

Somewhere deep in the corridor ahead of me, on the other side of the stairway, I heard a door open and close, putting an end to the ghostly whooshing sound. M. Guthrie had also come forth drawn in by the noise.

I remained quietly observing his exploratory walk around the chamber. By the time he laid on the huge four poster bed, I darted him a disarming smile and a mischievous wink:

"Oh, M. Guthrie... This is no time for rest! I wonder how focused you are in finding out what's behind this manor's mysteries..."

I laughed wholeheartedly at his 'who-me? frown, and my laughter was amplified repeatedly my the ominous echo. I entered the room and decided to have a look around by myself. Besides the large glass double-doors that led to the balcony, and the colossal bed, the main feature of the chamber was the monolithic fireplace that stood in the centre of a bookshelves' lined wall. A thick coat of dust had accumulated on them, only four or five forgotten volumes reminding us of its former usage. I idly ran my fingers over the spine of the books, especially drawn to an anonymous looking red leather one, in the left-hand side top shelf, but when I attempted to pull it out, the book simply retreated to its original position with a metallic clicking sound.

I looked back at M. Guthrie in amazement as the entire shelf rotated over its own axis to reveal a hidden room behind the fireplace wall: it was a relatively small private study with only a few scattered papers and notebooks on top of a modest looking desk; boxes containing what seemed to be a fairly well organized herbarium were staked in the corner by a disproportionably large window. Through the wrought-iron and glass end wall of the hidden chamber, I could see a huge luxuriant conservatory, inundated by the grey-white morning light and sending out bright green reflections in all directions.

 

[Khadgar]

Alexander Grey

Alexander groaned on the inside. wait? for breakfast? stay up late, wake up late, and eat when you want. thats what he liked. but the lady did have a point. be had heard just like Belly told him a soft rustling.

he followed the Madame and watched as she pulled on this and that, idly looking round the room. suddenly, the book shelf swung open.

"my word.... what the deuce could this be?!" he put on a confident grin on his face and stepped into the room. it was certainly different from the rest. even if you disclosed the odd green light everywhere.

"come on my friends, doesn't seem to be any danger here. lets have a look."

 

[Zircon]

Belly

‘Oh, M. Guthrie... This is no time for rest! I wonder how focused you are in finding out what's behind this manor's mysteries...’

I laughed out loud, for it was a down bed, and it was very comfortable. I reluctantly got up when I heard the creaking of the door to the secret room opened up by Mlle. Lépine. We looked at each other in absolute amazement. She even stretched out her hand in an attempt to close my dropped jaw. I snapped it shut before she could…

Then I heard Mr. Grey speaking from the room, ‘Come on my friends, doesn't seem to be any danger here. Lets have a look.’

I walked into it; the dust was heavy in the room. I saw what Mlle. Lépine saw. It was not so much of a secret room, but a private study, a very private study. The sun was barely filtering into the room. I wondered if there are any clues to be had amongst the scattered and varied items…

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Zoé Lépine

Instead of examining the papers on the desk, or the contents of the boxes in further detail (although a very quick scan didn't reveal anything significant - mostly there were quizzical notes on botany) I was drawn to the glass and wrought-iron doors. I lean against them, trying to push them open. After a small initial resistance, the door opened. A gentle draft feathered my cheek, stirred my hair. I could feel the change in the air, a richer taste. Swinging the door wide, I looked through into the massed greenery.

Without looking to see if any of my companions would accompany me in, I stepped over the sill and entered the conservatory.

Potted plants and low-pruned trees stood all about. I could recognize mimosas, camellias and azaleas, magnolias and even flowering quince, a variety of flower' shrubberies. I bent to breathe the fragrance of a dark blue rose, straightened to peer around the room.

(I could also swear I had seen some of the more exotic unlabelled plants - back in Paris, in a book about naturally grown or home made venom, perhaps?)

I parted a jungle overlapping of leaves, opening my way to the centre of the room.

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

He went back to the dining room, and glanced around, frowning to himself. Where were the other guests? Sleeping in? He hoped they weren't ill from wandering around all night. If there was one thing he didn't need was a bunch of people whining about how their trip out here was so bad.

 

[Firesprite]

A wrought-iron railing prevented Mlle. Lépine from moving further out into the room. She was on a walkway that went around most of the conservatory. To her left was a steep spiral stair leading down to the ground floor of the conservatory, and across the room there appeared to be another. The plants, though in good condition had been alowed to run riot. The glass ceiling above had been shattered, shards glittered in profusion on the floor below. In the center of the room was a fountain, the water stagnant and green. Everything was wet from the rain that had entered with the storm.

 

[Zircon]

Belly

Mlle. Lépine had already walked out onto the conservatory. A cacophony of rain and wind could be heard. The roof must have been shattered. A sudden gust of wind confirmed my suspicion. I wish I was back in the main room lying on the bed, with a fire started in the huge fireplace.

That particular thought was growing in my mind, even though I made the decision to follow Mlle. Lépine out into the conservatory. It was still raining outside, and no doubt that it would be very wet and unpleasant. We’re not dressed to venture in there.

There was a desk in the small study. Then as I walked pass it, my shoes made a squeaky sound. It echoed in the small room. I felt my cheeks going red. This was no time to joke around with abnormal sounds. I quickly averted my eyes, and bent down to see if the soles of my shoes had came off.

Whew! It was the loose floorboard that made the sound. I felt so sheepish at this time. I pressed on the board a few times, sounding the room each time. Then in the corner of my eye, I spotted something in between the loose floorboards.

It took a little bit of effort, but I eventually got what was stuck in between the floorboards. It was a key. A rather ordinary looking key. The brass was dulled. I tried using the key on the drawers of the desk. It did not fit. Nor too did the locks on the doors. Apparently this key opens something else.

‘Mr. Grey. I’ve found this key here. Any ideas of whom it might have belonged to or what it opens?’

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Zoé Lépine

The rain kept reverberating over, under and through the shattered glass ceiling as I started my way down the stairs. Even with the partially destroyed dome, the sheer force of the wind was enough to prevent most of the rain from falling straight down, throwing it against the only granite side wall of the conservatory. The moisture was surely taking its toll on the structure of the manor. Rivulets of greened rainwater formed amongst fungi and growing cracks on the stone wall. At its base, sickening pools of stagnant water infiltrated the foundations, threatening to make the whole wing collapse.

I shrugged the thought away and proceeded down, reaching the lower level of the conservatory. The surroundings were those of an impenetrable tropical jungle, the unusually warm breath of decay mixing with the chilled breeze entering the greenery through the broken glass above.

In the middle of the glade, the only recognizably manmade element, other than the enclosing structure: a marble fountain, dead, filled to the rim with indeterminate green slime. I looked around, trying to ascertain what to do. There was no way I'd be able to conduct a thorough search, all paths but the stairs blocked by the exuberant flora. With a look of repugnance stamped upon my face, I picked up an abandoned rake lying against the wrought-iron rails and walked towards the fountain, decided to make the discomfort of being there worth it.

It only took a couple of minutes before I felt a clatter of metal caught in the rusty rake's prongs:

"Oh, Mon Dieu", I said to myself. I knew those symbols well. After all, my own father was a Mason, and even though I wasn't supposed to, I had found ways to learn more about the Freemasonry than any woman was allowed. The square and compass: the square, the Mason is told, is to remind him to square his actions, and the compass to circumscribe his desires and to keep his passions in due bounds, I remembered, and The letter G in the centre stands for the deity of any religion...

"What could be the relation between all this? The ring, the inscription, the diary, and now this pendent... What could it all mean?"

I hesitantly decided to hold on to the pendent. There was no need to show it to everyone. And the less an eventual suspect was aware of what I knew, the safer I was. Especially if the killer was a Mason.

Pocketing the brass piece, a shouted up, calling out for M. Guthrie and M. Grey:

"I found another set of stairs, leading to the other side of the conservatory! Do any of you want to come check it out with me?"

 

[Zircon]

Belly

Mr. Grey did not answer me. But that mattered not. There no doubt in my mind that the he would have no idea what this key opened either. I looked around in the conservatory, and Mlle. Lépine was nowhere to be seen. I could however hear her efforts in making progress through the thick foliage. She was one strong willed woman. She had forgone breakfast to explore this part of the manor. I knew that I could not, and would not, miss breakfast unless it was the end of the world. And even then, I would have left this world with breakfast already in my belly.

‘I found another set of stairs, leading to the other side of the conservatory! Do any of you want to come check it out with me?’ Mlle. Lépine shouted.

I was reluctant at first, looking at the my wet self. But the day had started innocuously, but it had progressed unexpectedly to here. There were clues abound, even if we did not know the answers. Sighing, I made my way to where her voice came from. Passing through the stagnant fountain, I cringed my nose, even though there was no smell. The look of the ugly green waters elicited an automatic reaction from me.

‘Mlle. Lépine, here I’m. Please take a look at this key that I’ve found. It doesn’t open any doors or the drawers in the room. I don’t know what to make of it. Do you have any ideas? And did you find anything else while you’re down here?’ I asked as I handed her the key. I did not anticipate any answers to my questions. I was stumped as far as the clues that we had found so far.

I turned from her and looked up the stairs expectantly. I said to my companion, ‘Shall we go look and see what else we can find?’

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

His cane touched with each step as he moved up, a little faster than he usually took these steps. He had to figure out just what was going on today. He'd said to wait until the morning to go about on their little 'ghost hunt'.

He hoped they hadn't moved out at the crack of dawn. He sighed, and looked around as he came to the top of the stairs. He'd check in on them. Maybe over breakfast he could answer their questions, get them to let go of these foolish little dreams for a bit. After all, he had yet to see anything.

"Now, who to 'check in on' first....?"

 

[Firesprite]

Stepping out from behind a wall hanging at the top and to the right of the grand staircase, Bell emerged. Closing the servants stairs access door quietly so as not to disturb any of the guests if they were still abed, she straightened her cap on her curly hair and twitched her heavy skirts back into neatness.

The Professor was standing at the top of the stairs looking away from her along the hall muttering something.

"Sir?" She said, wondering if he had seen her it was to her he was speaking.

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

He turned, looking behind him. "Hmm? Oh, it's you,...Bell. Ahh, yes. Well, our guests are a little on the adventurous side, and I was just wondering if their all sleeping in or ripping apart the house, as they did not deem themselves to come down for the morning meal. And how are you this morning?"

He glanced off down the hall, making sure no one had suddenly run out oif their rooms while he was talking to her before he gave her his attention. There were so few people willing to work in the old house he liked to be as polite as possible with them.

Although he was begining to wonder if his guests should be treated as well.

 

[Firesprite]

"I heard a few doors open and close when I was in my quarters upstairs, sir. I didn't expect anyone to be up what with all their activity last night, and I was delayed in my going to bed with cleaning all the mud from the entryway so I accidentally slept in." Bell continued "Look sir, the room at the end has an open door - I didn't think anyone was staying so far down the hall."

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

"You slept in? Have you had your breakfast yet? It'd be getting cold by now. And thank you fopr clearing up that mud. Dreadful manners, this bunch. Think themselves a real-life Dupin, probably."

He sighed, and looked down the hall, adjusting his spectacles. "Why yes, it is open. Well, I'd best go see what they're up to before they ripp up the floors searching for bodies that aren't there."

He began to move down the hall, his tired old body bringing him closer to the room as he went.

 

[Firesprite]

Following a respectful half step behind the professor, Bell smiled. It was so like him to worry more about the staff than the paying customers.

Reaching the door a moment after the professor she gasped as she saw the revealed room beyond the bookcase and heard murmering voices of the guests.

"Oh!" she exclaimed to the professor "How rude of them to invade this room then not even report to you the discovery of that bookcase entry!"

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

He sighed. "Oh, I'm sure they're too busy 'exploring'. Although this does explain the odd layout of this floor, I suppose. Oh well. Best get them before they cause too much trouble."

He stretched a little, and started forward again.He looked around the little study, glancing across the notes and into the conservatory. He sighed again. "I just hope they're not taking anything as 'clues'. And considering these poeple are taking personal effects of the dead, I wouldn't put it past them to take anything that looked interesting. I'm going to have to search their pockets as they leave, I swear. Finding things on my land, and then saying they won't let me even hold it for myself. Like some petty theif. But am I the one snooping about with wild stories probably brought on by a sickness they got playing in the rain? No, I most certainly am not. Last night they were all for dragging me out into the cold to kill me so I could see their body, and now they won't even show their faces. I swear, a bunch of children act better than this!"

He continued his mutterings as he went down the stairway into the conservatory, noting a variety of weeds that would have to be taken back, and...he stopped. "Well at least one good comes of this, look at the. That shall need some repairs, before the whole manor starts to crumble. You'd think the state of the house itself would be enough to tell these people this house hasn't see excitement in decades."

 

[Firesprite]

Bell stepped forward, glass crunching under her feet and looked up at the hole in the glass ceiling.
"I wonder what could have caused that?" she said. "I don't see anything on the ground here that could have broken it. How strange..."
With that comment, Bell crouched down at the edge of the debris, occasionally glancing up at the ceiling, but there was something about the glass on the floor that wasn't quite right.

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

"Huh?" He glanced over at the glass, than up at the ceiling. He shrugged, and continued looking around. After a few moments, he shrugged again. "Well if you don't see anything, maybe whatever it was is already gone. Like these guests of ours will be once I find them. Then they'll have a murder to solve. I don't know what I was thinking, opening the place up."

He slowly continued on, looking around at the rampant growth and wondering why in the world someone would hide the enterance to this place.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Zoé Lépine

I clenched at my discoveries within my pocket. I was certain M. Guthrie hadn't seen them. I took a step in his direction and looked at the small brass key he held up.

'No, M. Guthrie. I was not able to find anything in this awful place, other than humidity and mould. The plants are quite lovely, though. This conservatory must have been very impressive, once.' I smiled gently. He believed me. 'I would not know what that key could open either, but maybe we will find something up these stairs; I don't think there is much in the ground floor. Mon Dieu, my dress... it is getting all wet down here.'

As we were climbing the stairs, we heard Professeur Plum and a petite fille de service, maybe my age, were coming toward us, down the opposite stairs. I looked at M. Guthrie and we both descended back to meet our host.

'Bonjour, Professeur' I also acknowledged the girl with a courteous smile. He didn't seem very happy with to find us here, so rushed a few questions before he could answer, hoping to stir his curiosity. 'May we inquire about this remarkable place? M. Guthrie found a key. Is there anything up these stairs, which the key may open? Another entrance, or... another study? Maybe...'

 

[Zirconn]

Belly
I smiled at Mlle. Lépine. Her dress was soaked, as was I. The chill had nearly gotten into my bones. If we do not hurry and get dried soon, pneumonia would be the least of our worries. I felt there was something that she was not telling me, but I shrugged it off as a by-product of the nasty weather that we have been having. The skies did not look like it was going to let up any time soon. I was rather glad that she agreed to leave the conservatory.

Professor Plum did not seem worse for wear from having made to climb all those stairs to meet us. I tipped my head in acknowledgment, but said nothing, as my eyes were beginning to lock firmly on the rather lusty chamber maid, Bell, I believed was her name. It was as if my eyes were mimicking the rolling movements whenever her ample bosom heaved with each breath.

I handed the key to the Professor as Mlle. Lépine explained the circumstances and possibilities of my find. It seemed rather innocuous that the key would be any use in our mystery, but one can never be too certain. I had felt that it was meant to be found.

I was expecting that the Professor would be tight-lipped as usual. Hopefully, he would be less so, in deference to Mlle. Lépine’s questions.

 

[Firesprite]

Bobbing a curtsey to Mlle. Lepine and the man who called himself Belly, Bell noticed his eyes pinned to her cleavage.
Breathing deeply and with a slight smile Bell was distracted from Mlle. Lepine's words untill Belly handed the key to the professor.
She frowned, it looked slightly familiar but the memory was hazy.

 

[The GrandMage]

Prof. Plum

He raised the key in front of his eyes, peering at it before he put it in a pocket as he turned looked around the room. "Well, I can't say I've ever been in here. I haven't had the time, or youth to run about the house checking for hidden rooms. As to what the key may open, I have no idea. A house this size, completely furnished,...there could be any number of keyholes this could fit."

He sighed, and reached into his pocket, pulling out the odd page he'd found in the library earlier that morning. He handed it over to the man. "I think you were asking about someone with the initials LC earlier today? I found this in a few of my things. I think it comes from a diary of some sort."

 

[Firesprite]

A stray breeze ruffled the diary page urgently, then disappeared as quickly as it came