BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW Prelude

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steveflam
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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GERTIE IN THE TAPROOM

Gertie follows the stairs, heading for the alcove she saw with the candle light. She listens as she walks
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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steveflam wrote:GERTIE IN THE TAPROOM

Gertie follows the stairs, heading for the alcove she saw with the candle light. She listens as she walks
She hears her own footfalls, and some muffled sounds from the barroom behind the closed door at the top of the stairs, but nothing else notable.
The strange feeling of being watched comes to her, though she sees nobody else down here.

When she reaches the alcove where a single taper burns, she notices a painted stone carving set into in the otherwise plainly dressed masonry: a stylized face as big as her own face, depicted half grinning and half frowning. It looks like a carnival mask from back home in Rio Rico.
The eyes holes look slightly shiny as if polished or greased.



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Last edited by ewancummins on Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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Gertie will try to look through the eyes first. Failing that. she will look for a door or something like it.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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steveflam wrote:Gertie will try to look through the eyes first. Failing that. she will look for a door or something like it.

RUFFFF RRUFFF RRUFFFF!

The door at the top of the stairs pushes open and Gem darts down to join Gertie.

Tom's hound snuffles the burglar-girl's pants.

After Gen calms down a bit, Gertie returns to her examination of the mask carving and its eyes. Just looking closely, she can see that the material inside the eye holes isn't stone, but greased tin. That's why it shines in the candlelight. Straining her eyes with the candle held up for a really close look, she sees what could be shallow curving scratches in the metallic surface.

No obvious door.

But there is a draft seeping through the back of the alcove on the right side. It makes ten candle flame quiver and lean toward Gertie.
Smells damp and feels cool.
The masonry there has a long vertical seam or crack just wide enough to admit fingertips.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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Gertie greets Gem with a big hug, scratching behind his ears. "Hey Gem! Good boy, good boy." She hands him a piece of dried meat. "Our little secret, ok? Don't go telling Tom now," she giggles."

She will continue towards the draft very slowly now. She inerts her fingers in the masonry cracks. Whether it be for a handhold or perhaps a lever.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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steveflam wrote:Gertie greets Gem with a big hug, scratching behind his ears. "Hey Gem! Good boy, good boy." She hands him a piece of dried meat. "Our little secret, ok? Don't go telling Tom now," she giggles."

She will continue towards the draft very slowly now. She inerts her fingers in the masonry cracks. Whether it be for a handhold or perhaps a lever.

She finds a cold, rounded, upright metal object. Could be a staple, a hinge, maybe a lever...
She cannot see it, but she can push it with her fingertips.
Doing so gently, she feels it angle down and away.
Stone grates on stone.
The back wall swings inward along the seam.

A shadowy passage opens beyond, running lateral to the secret door with a floor lower than the taproom. Water trickles down the passage floor from left to right, evidence of a gradient. Looks like she could stand upright in the passage.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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Gertie moves slowly and carefully to the new passage, testing if she can stand. Once she deems it safe, she will proceed further.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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steveflam wrote:Gertie moves slowly and carefully to the new passage, testing if she can stand. Once she deems it safe, she will proceed further.
It feels stable and solid. A bit slick and damp, but safe.

She can walk left or right, up the gentle slope or down to where water is trickling.
In either direction, by candlelight, she makes out rocky tunnel braced by swollen wooden supports, running into darkness.

Gem sniffs the tunnel and wags her tail. Then the dog clambers in and laps up some of the water.
She sniffs about to the right, downslope, still wagging her tail.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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Trusting in her friend Gem, Gertie will proceed in the dog's direction.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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steveflam wrote:Trusting in her friend Gem, Gertie will proceed in the dog's direction.

The rightward passage continues, so gently sloped that Gertie would not have noticed the slant in the floor without the thin stream trickling around her feet.

It ends after a short walk, with a mildewed door set into a stout frame. Gertie spots a crudely wrought iron lock built into the door.
Testing the portal, she finds it closed, apparently locked. The warping of the panel shouldn't be enough to hold it closed without the lock, she thinks.

Gem is busy sniffing at the base of the door, and now at the lock, and now again at the floor.
The dog has discovered a partial footprint in the muck that polls about the door base. Not GERTIE's, but bigger. Looks humanoid.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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Gertie will listen carefully at the door first. If she doesn't hear anything, she will use her listening cone. Next she will check on how solid the door is,

if the lock is easy enough to open.
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW

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GERTIE


The lock grates and clicks. The door panel quivers and then swings inward.
Masked figures lurk in the shadowy chamber beyond the threshold.
One of them--there look to be at least five--lifts a pale hand and bids Gertie enter.

A voice, hollow and distorted, issues from somewhere deeper in the gloomy room.

"Enter, thief, and meet the Mummers."
Last edited by ewancummins on Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW Prelude

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Alfonse looks over a shoulder at Fild, but seeing that the question has been more or less answered he heads into the indicated shop to try and acquire the ship's mast and other large items.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW Prelude

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Adam wrote:Alfonse looks over a shoulder at Fild, but seeing that the question has been more or less answered he heads into the indicated shop to try and acquire the ship's mast and other large items.

ALFONSE , after some explanations, introductions, a security check, and a brief delay, is admitted to the UNWYNE compound.
Weapons must be left in a closet.
Oona waits outside.

The interior of the building is well patrolled by men in padded jacks with swords at their hips and small shields strapped on their backs.
These men make certain Alfonse and Fild do not stray into off limits areas--which seems to be most of the place.
Two armed guards escort Alfonse and the gnome into the presence of a gaunt old man seated in a well-appointed office.
The old man leans over the desk and squints in the weak daylight (admitted through a window high on the rear, East facing wall).
He studies BENN a moment, idly fondling the iron key he wears on a chain around his neck outside his gray tunic.
Then he coughs.
"Do you have a list, sir? Ship needs repair, yes? Mast timber, sailcloth, and other supplies and parts. That's right, yes?"
Before BENN can answer, the old man says, "No need for bowing. I'm Lord Unwyne's factor, not His Lordship."
Then, glancing at Fild, "Is that person a gnome?"
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: BEYOND POVERO: CRABCLAW Prelude

Post by alhoon »

Fild doesn't answer the question personally, but looks at Alfonse waiting for him to answer. He's not sure of protocol and he decides it is best to leave Alfonse reply.
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