The Fall of House Pancrazio Chapter One

[RocEter]

Julian takes Anga's advice and sits down. "No worries Agna, I can't exactly chastise you for fainting in blood now can I? Besides I have seen more barmaids serve me food, with more grime on their aprons." he says with a light smile.

" I was looking for any herbal remedies which can slow poisons or cure them." he says as he removes his plate boot. Julian runs his hands down the swollen leg and the swelling goes down some.(1)

Julian watches as Tristan takes Mariabella's corpse outside.

He looks at Tuke "I found my Great Aunt Luisa, walking around. Something entirely unexpected, when I thought it was a bandit. You will have to ask my Uncle he is the head of the house, I am merely guest, coming to pay my respects. Did anything odd happen after I left earlier this evening?" he asks.

Julian sighs I am going to have to get used to being called "Master" all over again. he thinks to himself.

1. Lay on hands for 2 hit points.

Status

HP = 15

[PathOfDreams]

Goran enters the stables, quietly clicking his tongue and cheek as to not entirely spook them. He calmly approaches each one of them, running a hand over there flanks and patting their jowls (1) .

"All is well you poor steeds, tonight you bed with a premier woodsman, there will be no worries."

Goran produces a large root from his pack, discards the cloth wrap, and begins to devour it. If the horses show any interest in the root he will share his remaining two, leaving an emergency chunk for later.

After his guts are sedated properly he stashes his two longswords at either end of the long stable. Slowly and methodically he unbuckles his leathers and removes his longcoat hanging both from the rafters above him. Goran lays down his pack and props his head atop it, curling up next to one of the horses in the hay with his simple hand ax in his fist. Ezra may your wilds lull me to rest this night.

(1) Handle animal check, result 8, request +2 bonus for familiarity with the steeds.

[Irving the Meek]

Tuke swears under his breath, sets down the fruit and vase, and swats Julian's hands aside. "Oh, stop being so noble about it. Here." He closes his eyes and recites the old poetry under his breath, then brushes Julian's hair with an oddly gentle touch. Immediately, Julian feels the pain in his leg ebb.(1)

Oddly enough, Tuke feels a touch better as well. He was getting increaingly crabby about being badgered by Julian and Tristan, but something - or someone, no doubt - reminded Tuke to be patient, even as She went about Her errand. It's late. Everyone's had some shocks. Take it easy.

"No. I haven't seen anything else strange tonight. Although I might have heard someone say something about a ghost upstairs? Agna? Did you hear anything about that?" I'll leave it up to her if she wants to bring that up. Even after all that's gone on so far, the living are more dangeous to us downstairs folk than the dead.

(1) Cure Light Wounds, 6 hp healed.

[RocEter]

Julian removes his plate head band and sets on the arm of the chair, he reaches for his saddle bag and pulls out a piece of clean cloth. He then unties the cloth dirty cloth that serves as his eye patch, revealing a piece of skin where an eye once was. He ties the new cloth around his eye, and head. the not just blow where his head band would rest.

"Thank you Tuke." he says.

he looks in Agna's direction, and watches her as she searches for the remedies.

[Griselda]

Agna flushes, twin spots of hectic color in her cheeks. Julian's comments may have been intended to lighten the mood, but Agna only feels all the more aware of the state of her dress and how it got that way.

As Tristan picks up Mariabella's poor abused body and steps past her, Agna stops her search, stiffens and presses herself as much as possible against the shelves, facing away from him. She squeezes her eyes shut, cursing her tears. Not yet, not yet, still work to be done, oh Mariabella, I'm so sorry....

Agna methodically pushes clay vessels and glass bottles aside on the different shelves. Even now, she can still hear the howl from the once-Luisa's throat, and the slightest scuffle or noise outside the larder makes her jump. She sees motion of something dark out of the corner of her eye, outside, and nearly drops the bottle in her hands. No, nothing then -- maybe Julian or Tuke's shadow. She reaches higher, to the medicinal shelf, and begins pulling down likely suspects, hoping that what she wants is not in fragments all over the floor and her dress. At last, she finds a wide-mouthed clay jar covered in blue and white glaze. She sniffs the contents and nods, "This is what you want."

She hands him the jar. Inside is a greasy-looking substance that smells strongly of medicinal herbs, what the country folk would call a drawing salve.

She crosses to the stove, picks up a pan and dips up some water from a large pot simmering on the stove. After briskly scrubbing her own hands, she dumps the water and passes Julian and Tuke a fresh pan of very warm water and clean kitchen towels. "You'll want to wash that wound out before salving it." Her words are spare, her movements tight, her face a badly drawn blank with staring, reddening eyes.

Tuke mentions, "...something about a ghost upstairs?". Agna's breath catches as if she's been punched, and she can feel her face losing color. She sees Tuke and Julian's reactions to her, and panic races under her breastbone. The air suddenly feels very cold, whether from the draft from the back door or the fear surrounding her like a white fog. Even now, she remembers the boy she saw, the same black hair and eyes like Roderigo and his sons, like Julian sitting just across from her. He's a Champion of Ezra! If anyone here can help you -- will understand what you have to say -- it will be him! Then cold survival instinct reminds her, Can he save you if Saverio wants you hung for assault, or if Roderigo and Gianna want you thrown out of the house as a threat? He'll have to tell them and there will be no one who can help you.

Agna's lips part and what emerges is a voice nearly stammering with fright "I-I... you'll need fresh bandages -- there's old sheets -- upstairs -- I-I should --" She turns and flees for the back stairs.

[RocEter]

Agna flushes, twin spots of hectic color in her cheeks. Julian's comments may have been intended to lighten the mood, but Agna only feels all the more aware of the state of her dress and how it got that way.

As Tristan picks up Mariabella's poor abused body and steps past her, Agna stops her search, stiffens and presses herself as much as possible against the shelves, facing away from him. She squeezes her eyes shut, cursing her tears. Not yet, not yet, still work to be done, oh Mariabella, I'm so sorry....

Agna methodically pushes clay vessels and glass bottles aside on the different shelves. Even now, she can still hear the howl from the once-Luisa's throat, and the slightest scuffle or noise outside the larder makes her jump. She sees motion of something dark out of the corner of her eye, outside, and nearly drops the bottle in her hands. No, nothing then -- maybe Julian or Tuke's shadow. She reaches higher, to the medicinal shelf, and begins pulling down likely suspects, hoping that what she wants is not in fragments all over the floor and her dress. At last, she finds a wide-mouthed clay jar covered in blue and white glaze. She sniffs the contents and nods, "This is what you want."

She hands him the jar. Inside is a greasy-looking substance that smells strongly of medicinal herbs, what the country folk would call a drawing salve.

She crosses to the stove, picks up a pan and dips up some water from a large pot simmering on the stove. After briskly scrubbing her own hands, she dumps the water and passes Julian and Tuke a fresh pan of very warm water and clean kitchen towels. "You'll want to wash that wound out before salving it." Her words are spare, her movements tight, her face a badly drawn blank with staring, reddening eyes.

Tuke mentions, "...something about a ghost upstairs?". Agna's breath catches as if she's been punched, and she can feel her face losing color. She sees Tuke and Julian's reactions to her, and panic races under her breastbone. The air suddenly feels very cold, whether from the draft from the back door or the fear surrounding her like a white fog. Even now, she remembers the boy she saw, the same black hair and eyes like Roderigo and his sons, like Julian sitting just across from her. He's a Champion of Ezra! If anyone here can help you -- will understand what you have to say -- it will be him! Then cold survival instinct reminds her, Can he save you if Saverio wants you hung for assault, or if Roderigo and Gianna want you thrown out of the house as a threat? He'll have to tell them and there will be no one who can help you.

Agna's lips part and what emerges is a voice nearly stammering with fright "I-I... you'll need fresh bandages -- there's old sheets -- upstairs -- I-I should --" She turns and flees for the back stairs.

Julian sighs as Agna rushes away up the back stairs. He slams his foot back into his plate boot. "Stay here and wait for my Uncle." he says pointing at Tuke.

Julian stands and follows Agna up the stairs. Crazy girl, running away only makes you look more guilty.

His clanking boots can be heard behind her as she runs up the steps.

[Griselda]

Agna stops at the top of the stairs, realizing that she's up here without a light and to get to the linen closet means going down the near-black hallway. Once she could have done it easily -- how many times had she padded down the hallway from her room just before dawn to stoke the downstairs fires and start water boiling so Mariabella could make tea for the kitchen folk -- but not tonight, not now, not when there was almost certainly something lying in wait, slipping out from Phebe's room and waiting to trap her in the linen closet or even her own chamber....

She really did mean to get one of the old sheets from the linen closet, one those too raggedy to be put on a bed but still good enough for clean bandages or a shroud. Why, in the name of every good thing, did Tuke have to bring up Phebe's room?! There were no marks left on Phebe, thanks to Tuke's efforts for her, and Phebe wouldn't be able to tell what had happened. Even if she did, wouldn't it be dismissed as more of her raving or even dreaming? Unless Harold somehow interpreted her noise, as he often did. Agna sags, her hand on the bannister. Oh, yes, Harold -- wouldn't he get the earful about this tomorrow. She briefly remembers his struggle to teach her her letters when she was a child, a slow task eventually accomplished; between that and watching Phebe, surely he was due the honor of a saint.

Even if Julian believed Agna about seeing Luisa, what would he do about Phebe? Champion of Ezra or not, he was still a Pancrazio who would ultimately never take the word of a half-Vistani brought home like a stray kitten by his great-aunt. And if he brought her to Roderigo, as he was required, Roderigo would certainly never swallow her story, however truthful. Another day, she might have had the wit to simply pass off a lie of omission or even explain everything away and no one asking further. Tonight is not that time, though, and she feels little motivation to hunt for it.

Agna slowly drops down to the top step. All the nervous energy and fire that had propelled her up the stairs had vanished like smoke in the wind. She can hear Julian's boots coming up the stairs toward her and involuntarily thinks, Slow down, the stairs are steep and the bare wood makes them noisy. You wake up the family and I'll never hear the end of it.

[RocEter]

Julian continues up the stairs at his current pace. He reaches the top, bumping into Agna, Julian catches her before she falls to the ground.

"I guess I should have brought a candle. Now tell me why did you run off like that?" he asks her still holding her.

He continues on talking "Why is everyone acting strange? First Harold, then both you and Tuke. It is bad enough that I saw Luisa back from the dead and not in a good way either. I want answers and I want them now." he says.

[Griselda]

Agna flinches slightly as Julian takes her arms.

As Julian speaks, she keeps glancing nervously down the darkened hall. The family sleeps toward that end, and while not waking them is a priority, particularly after the evening's events, she seems to be watching for something. The mention of Luisa brings a frightened hiss, as the memory of the larder door tangles with Phebe's room.

"I-I can't -- there's something...," she manages to stammer out in a strained whisper. "It-it-- I swear, I don't know why -- I just heard her screaming and-and sh-she was there, with Mariabella--"

[Irving the Meek]

Tuke, finding himself alone in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning, decides to take decisive action. He grabs a cushion from a rocking chair, finds a warm corner underneath the back staircase, and promptly falls asleep. With any luck, no one will wake me before noon, is his last thought before rest overtakes him.

[Lord Skybolt]

Tahl takes a look around the manor before going to his room to catch up on his 4 hours of meditation for the day .

[ewancummins]

Tristan, having laid out Mariabella's body in a locked shed, now beds down in his own quarters. He sleeps, as always, with weapons near at hand, in case the wolves come.

[RocEter]

Agna flinches slightly as Julian takes her arms.

As Julian speaks, she keeps glancing nervously down the darkened hall. The family sleeps toward that end, and while not waking them is a priority, particularly after the evening's events, she seems to be watching for something. The mention of Luisa brings a frightened hiss, as the memory of the larder door tangles with Phebe's room.

"I-I can't -- there's something...," she manages to stammer out in a strained whisper. "It-it-- I swear, I don't know why -- I just heard her screaming and-and sh-she was there, with Mariabella--"

Julian sighs and release Agna.

" I can see that talking to you now, would be useless. Go get some sleep, you and I shall discuss this tomorrow morning. I will talk to you tomorrow before my Uncle does, if you need anything do not hesitate to wake me." Julian says.

Before Agna can respond Julian makes his way back downstairs. Once in the kitchen he grabs his saddle bags and the ointment that Agna had retrieved for him, and returns to his room.

Once in his room, he takes off his armor and neatly sets on the desk, he then applies the ointment and wraps in cloth, after that he goes to sleep, keeping his sword close at hand.

[Griselda]

Unable to think of anything to say in response beyond a bare nod, Agna watches Julian depart. She goes downstairs after the sounds of him in the kitchen recede.

Back in the kitchen, she gazes at the mess in exhausted dismay. No one's touched and probably no one except her will. Oh, well...

In the larder, she carefully sweeps up the broken jars and the pungent mess of blood, spice, tea and preserve. As the broom sweeps over a sticky spot of drying blood, she remembers what she heard under the floor, from the dripping blood. Before she can forget again, she picks out a sturdy piece of broken ceramic and gouges a couple of lines in an inconspicuous spot on the floor. Remember this, remember there's something under here, do this and remember. The ash bucket, which she never did get around to checking she puts in the larder under a rag cover

Having made the kitchen at least appear that civilized people can cook in here without killing the diners, she glances outside to note the arrival of "blue-dawn" -- when the night is retreating but the sun is not yet arrived. She takes her meager taper and some of the warm water from the stovetop and hastens upstairs to her own chamber, where she washes up and changes her filthy clothes for clean. She wastes no time, fearing another meeting with whatever was in Phebe's chamber (and not wanting to think about the possibility of it coming to visit). Clean and dressed, she takes her comb and cap and returns to the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen, she wraps herself in her shawl and curls up in the rocking chair near the fire for a catnap. This way, when morning and breakfast comes, she won't risk sleeping through it.

[JMaytr]

As the various members of the Pancrazio household succumb to sleep finally, a calming breeze moves through the house. It is a cleansing breeze, washing over the darkness of the night like a mountain spring.

In the larder a spot on the floor begins to bleed, as if the house itself was wounded. As the breeze fills the kitchen, the blood recedes as if healed by a cleric.

Miss Phebe stirs in her room, alerted by a scratching sound. It is the same sound every morning, the one she doesn't utter a squeak about. She clutches her bear and forces her eyes shut. Dawn is only a couple of hours away.

END OF CHAPTER ONE