RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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ewancummins
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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THE GERHMAN HOUSE

Charlotte--with help from Kat and the maid-- gets the two little boys calmed down, fed, and gathered in the parlor to play with pasteboard books and wooden blocks.

''Thank you, Katrina. " The hostess smiles as she sets Baby Tilda down in her basinet, which the maid has wheeled in from another room.

Hornsby appears in the door connecting with the hallway.
"Madame." He bows. "I believe they are finished in the cellars. Monsieur Raen has come up."
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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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BOARDING HOUSE

Dorgio shuts his eyes tightly, and takes a deep breath which he holds for several heartbeats. When he lets it out, he looks tired and much older than his thirty five years.

Turning to the Gendarmes, he says, "Gentlemen, there is one more thing I am wishing to try, but it is of a...sensitive nature. Would you be giving us a few minutes alone with the...deceased?"
"You said I killed you--haunt me, then!...Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” -Wuthering Heights
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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Brock Marsh Runoff wrote:BOARDING HOUSE

Dorgio shuts his eyes tightly, and takes a deep breath which he holds for several heartbeats. When he lets it out, he looks tired and much older than his thirty five years.

Turning to the Gendarmes, he says, "Gentlemen, there is one more thing I am wishing to try, but it is of a...sensitive nature. Would you be giving us a few minutes alone with the...deceased?"

THE BOARDING HOUSE


The gendarmes nod.
"No difficulty, monsieur."


...


Whether or not Benn comes with him on the walk back into the boarding house, again up the creaking stairs,
VIEW CONTENT:
Dorgio does not walk alone. Remi and the others crowd along with him, silent now, their pale faces blurred like reflections in a wine bottle. The spirits hang back as Dorgio approaches the garret door.

...

The garret door hangs open a crack.
The musk in the room has diminished a little, giving way to a rusty scent of dried blood.
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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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Bennedict follows Dorgio, face grim but set with determination.
"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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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Adam wrote:Bennedict follows Dorgio, face grim but set with determination.

Going up behind Dorgio, Benn feels a deep chill wash over him, despite the lack of a draught in the stairwell.
The sensation fades, but doesn't go away completely, as he reaches the uppermost floor and comes to stand beside Dorgio outside the garret door.
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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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THE RITE


BENN AND DORGIO

Both men hear the stairs groan behind and below them.
A glance down the open stairwell reveals the landlord, red-eyed, holding a candle, staring up into the uppermost level.
But the man does not ascend to investigate. He grumbles and moves away into another part of the house, leaving the lower section of steps swallowed by darkness.

The night wind blowing past the garret window picks up strength, shaking the shutters and whipping the curtains back to reveal rooftops in silver moonlight.
A sudden shift in direction, and a gust rattles the panes in the borrowed lantern the men use for light.

If they shut the garret door behind them and draw the curtains, nobody should be able to see into Anabelle's room unless he creeps up very close and spies on the ritual to come.


Dorgio begins chanting in Luktar.
He leans forward and touches the dead woman's eyes, ears, and lips. He doesn't muss her hair.

The wind subsides.

The room falls very quiet, except the breathing of Dorgio and Benn.

And then Anabelle's eyes flick open. The dull orbs brighten, her wide pupils constricting, focusing on something above her.
Her lips quiver.
She whispers,
"Please, no...don't hurt me."
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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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Bennedict's eyes widen as he sees the dead woman's eyes open, speaking despite the still very visible damage to her organs which should make vocalization impossible. He hustles to the door, closing it quickly and turning to do the same for the curtains.
"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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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MEANWHILE, AT THE GEHRMAN HOUSE


SARA and THOM the Printer find little else in the cellar, beyond what they have already discovered. No secret doors or niches. At least, not that they have found after a hasty search by lantern light.

Raen has gone upstairs. He finds Hornsby finishing the job of cleaning up the pantry.

Kat sits in the parlor with Charlotte and the young ones, perhaps chatting or having some after dinner wine and cakes, as she pleases.

The house creaks a little, old timbers and older masonry settling in as the air outside cools with an westerly wind.
The breeze through the windows carries in a damp smell like rotten wood. The smell of the Musarde and the wharves.

Charlotte's maid closes the shutters and lights a small clay pot of resin. The honeyed smoke seeps out of holes in the little ceramic censer and drives the clammy smell from the room.
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: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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BOARDING HOUSE
Her lips quiver.
She whispers,
"Please, no...don't hurt me."
“No,” he says quickly, “of course, we won’t hurt you.”

For just a moment, his eyes flick to mirror on the dead woman’s dresser. Remi and others stare back, yet only Dorgio can see them. He doesn’t know if they are some trick of mind, or if he is seeing their ghosts in truth—he never does. Some of the faces glare balefully at him, knowing what he is about to do and disapproving. Others give him looks of pity. Two of the younger faces seem on the verge of horror, as if the years of unlife have done nothing to inure them from the shock of it.

And Remi grins back at the priest, as toothy and eager as a goblyn.

He believes he steps outside of his god’s whenever he uses this magic. And as the woman begins to speak, the blood on her makes him think of The Morninglord, and the drop of blood said to hang from the corner of the sun god’s mouth. Perhaps even The Morninglord sometimes stepped outside of his own domain, as well.

No time for philosophy though. “Annabelle, you do not know me,” he says, “but I am a friend. Forgive my disturbing you, but I must ask a few things of you.”

The corpse that was once Annabelle stirs and stretches, and Dorgio tries not to look at the shifting wounds .

“First,” Dorgio says, “do you know the person who slew you?”

Annabelle mumbles something indistinct. “…who?”

“The man you met tonight,” he says, careful not to use up another question so soon.

“Yes,” she says, almost groggy sounding. He had hair like mine…he said he liked my hair.” And at the mention of her own tresses, she seems to waken to Dorgio’s questions.

"This man, was he younger than me?"

"He said the beast was ancient. And so strong. The beast that whispers in the dark, the voice echoing in his skull. It came to him first in Mordent."

Of course…of course. Dorgio feels something cold in his stomach, a confirmation of what he’d been hoping wasn’t true.

“Did the man give his name?”

“Yes. Jonathan Maytr.”

So there it is. By all the damned heads of all the damned gods. No denying it anymore .

And now a final question: “This Jonathan Maytr. How did he come to slay you?”

Annabelle seems not to understand at first, and instead gives a mischievous giggle. "The sheets? Like a rope? I never...alright.” And then her expressions turns distraught. “Ouch. That's too tight, love.”

And here the look of concern turns to pure terror. “What...what is the knife for? Just loosen with--ahhh!" The woman gives a ghastly shriek, which is quickly stifled before trailing off into a low moan. And then the dead woman falls back onto the bed, cold as the clay and red as sundown.

“Gods…she didn’t know she was dead until the very end. Until my last question, and then she felt it all over again.”

He looks to his friend Benn, and the priest of the Morninglord’s green eyes tighten in the guttering candlelight.

“Maytr must die.”
"You said I killed you--haunt me, then!...Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” -Wuthering Heights
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

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END OF CHAPTER TWO
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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