RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

[VAN]

Sara looks around and says with a big smile.
" Look! There is an animal snuffing along the cobbles in the street behind the house. Four legs, black, bigger than a typical Pont a Mouseau stray dog and way bigger than an alley cat."

She points where she spotted it but then disappointed says:

"It run away to the left!"

She heads where she last saw the animal and looks again.

[kintire]

Kat frowns.

"So, we get a quick sighting that draws us away from the house until we stop moving then we get another... I don't like this. I'm getting back to the house. We're being baited."

She turns and swiftly heads back towards the front door of the town house

[ewancummins]

No one else sees any creature.
The boogeymen run and hide in the alley.

A further search of the area turns up no clues.


And now Charlotte begins calling softly from inside the house...


A SHORT WHILE LATER, INSIDE THE GEHRMAN HOUSE

KAT



KAT finds Charlotte and Lorna having tea in the parlor, attended by Hornsby.
A gentleman sits with them.
RocEtr, let's get a fuller description of THOM, okay?.

Charlotte smiles at Kat.
"Is everything alright, outside? I was getting worried...Oh, how rude of me! Kat, this gentleman is Benn's friend Thom, master printer and bookseller.Thom, this is Miss Katrina."


The front door creaks behind KAT, and she hears footsteps in the hall.

Juergin hustles in, trailed by the boogeymen.
He hushes them, wagging his finger at the little humanoids as they titter and hop about the floor.
"Wait outside!"
But the terrified, gibbering monsters cling to the youth's legs and whimper,"The Bad Thing!"

Charlotte stares.
"No."
She stands.
"I know what those...Gauntcliff. They took my baby! Get them out of my house."

Juergin turns round and straightens up.
"Ja, well I can explain. My acolytes-"

But he shuts up at the hiss from Charlotte.

Juergin's bandanna slips down his face a bit. He moves to adjust it. But just then, Smezel leaps on his back." We are good boys now."
The monster crawls up the young man's back.

Juergin laughs.

And then his mask slips off all the way, falling to the floor.

Pale gray tendrils wave from his upper lip and spots on his chin, like the feelers of some noisome burrowing creature groping towards Kat. When he pulls back his lips to laugh, multiple rows of triangular yellow teeth glint inside his pink mouth . It looks as if one bite would serve to rip Kat's face from her skull.
What she can see of the rest of Juergin looks human and normal, even handsome, creating a horrible contrast with his abberant features.

Lorna screams and then faints in her chair.

Hornsby stares, wordless.

The little ones in the next room begin wailing.

[ewancummins]

THOM

Only a moment after meeting the lovely young Miss Katrina, THOM witnesses the horror under the mask.

[VAN]

Sara turns to Raen.

"I agree with Kat, it seems to easy...but is night and we don't have our equipment. Lets go inside there is still a party going on! Tomorrow we can return here and I will try to track this animal."

Sara walks in the room as soon as the mask falls from Juergin's face and Lorna faints. Sara doesn't think twice and getting her dagger out of her purse places herself between Juergin and Lorna in order to protect the woman.

"Who are you? Or should I ask what are you?"

[ewancummins]

Sara turns to Raen.

"I agree with Kat, it seems to easy...but is night and we don't have our equipment. Lets go inside there is still a party going on! Tomorrow we can return here and I will try to track this animal."

Sara walks in the room as soon as the mask falls from Juergin's face and Lorna faints. Sara doesn't think twice and getting her dagger out of her purse places herself between Juergin and Lorna in order to protect the woman.

"Who are you? Or should I ask what are you?"

Juergin claps a hand to the hilt of a smallsword at his hip. His eyes narrow.
"I am...I'm...a..."

Smezel slides down his back and pulls a small knife. The other two boogeymen, King and Gruz, heft blackjacks. All three small monsters stare at Sara with their horrible, bulging cyclopean eyes.

Juergin coughs, setting his facial tendrils into a violent spasm as his lips roll back further to reveal even more of his sharklike teeth.
"...a monster."

He draws his sword as he backs out the front door. His bizarre acolytes retreat with him.

In a moment, the strange guests have fled into the night, leaving horror and chaos behind them.

After Sara and Raen get things clamed down, and Kat has recovered from her shock, a check reveals no sign of Juergin near the house.

[VAN]

Sara helps Lorna lie on the couch, fetches a glass of water and makes sure she is as comfortable as possible. Then turns to Charlotte.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I think me we should call back Mr Bennedict and for sure Dorgio. If you want I can go get them."

[ewancummins]

Sara helps Lorna lie on the couch, fetches a glass of water and makes sure she is as comfortable as possible. Then turns to Charlotte.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I think me we should call back Mr Bennedict and for sure Dorgio. If you want I can go get them."

Charlotte takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales.

''I'm not sure where he went. I think we'd better wait."

[VAN]

"Right. In any case better lock doors and windows and wait in the house."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

BOARDING HOUSE

Dorgio furrows his brow at the mention of the boatmen. He'll have to ask Jeurgin about that one.

"Yes," he says in reply to Benn. "One more thing. Did you see an animal abouts...perhaps something like a weasel or a stoat, only bigger?"

[ewancummins]

BOARDING HOUSE

Dorgio furrows his brow at the mention of the boatmen. He'll have to ask Jeurgin about that one.

"Yes," he says in reply to Benn. "One more thing. Did you see an animal abouts...perhaps something like a weasel or a stoat, only bigger?"

"Weasel? I don't think so, m'sieur. But maybe I should buy one. I hear they are good ratters."

[kintire]

Kat stares in stupefaction at the sudden revelation of the...thing. As it draws its sword she mechanically steps a pace back, but takes no other action until it has gone and for a good few moments after. Then she staggers back suddenly, her hand drops into her skirts and emerges holding a long dagger.

"What was it?"

Then she shivers

"It was trying to lure us into those alleys..."

[ewancummins]

Kat stares in stupefaction at the sudden revelation of the...thing. As it draws its sword she mechanically steps a pace back, but takes no other action until it has gone and for a good few moments after. Then she staggers back suddenly, her hand drops into her skirts and emerges holding a long dagger.

"What was it?"

Then she shivers

"It was trying to lure us into those alleys..."

IN THE GEHRMAN HOUSE, PARLOR


Charlotte, who now holds and comforts baby Tilda, looks across the small room when Katrina speaks.

"Which thing do you mean? The sailor...boy? Or something else, something you met outside the house?"
Benn's wife shivers, drawing her baby in close to her breast.

[Adam]

"You might think about it," Bennedict agrees. "Or perhaps a good hound. Their barking works as an alarm as well."

He reaches into his coat, pulling out a small business card. "If you see or hear anything else of use, contact me here. The gendarmes will see to the young woman's remains."

He turns towards the door, reaching into another coat pocket and pulling out his magnifying glass. "I'm going to go have a look around outside. Care to join?"

[alhoon]

Benn's House
Raen, having heard some commotion from the house but just witnessing a weird humanoid-like Jurgen rushed outside comes in the house, concerned. After things settled he turned to the others and asked: "What happened to Juergin? Is he cursed? The little ones seemed fine to me... peculiar, but fine. Yet, I see madam Charlotte has had some grievances with them in the past."
To Thom he says "Goodevening, I'm Raen. I wished I've met you under better circumstances". To Charlotte he says. "If I may ask, when and how did you meet Juergin?"