RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter 2

[ewancummins]

Raen is taken aback "What are they again? The name sounds familiar but it doesn't come to mind at the time. You say they're your acolytes sir? In any case. You said there's something bad outside. Let's go see if that bad thing endangers our host and friend" Raen says and moves to get out.

Smezel shuffles forward a bit further. It scratches at its sallow, dirty face. Then it points at Raen.
"You are Giants."

[steveflam]

Juergin listens, a little perplexed, then realizes this is not a good thing at all.

"Dodds? You mean bad thing worst than Dodds? And is that where Benn and Dorgio went? Where bad thing is?"

He turns to Raen

"Yes, my acolytes Gruz and Smezel. They're Boogeymen but mean well. I tink dere ist something bad outside. They came in because something bad or evil is outside.

Something worst than Dodds by the sounds of it."

THE PANTRY

The two bizarre, diminutive acolytes creep into the doorway of the pantry.
Smezel, the one wearing a coat of rodent skins, bobs its oversized head at Raen and Kat, blinking the cyclopean eye.

The one dressed in faded motley, whom Jeurgin called Gruz, sticks its ugly head out the door. The big bulging eye stares, unblinking, at Kat's dress. The monster drools.
It cocks its head to the right, still staring.
"Give to Gruz. Cloth. Cloth is nice."

"Gruz! Listen to boss. No take cloth, is Miss Kat's dress! I give you some cloth later at home, ok?"

He turns to the others "I'm really sorry. I'll bring them back to my room and meet you back here?"

[VAN]

Sara follows the others at the pantry. She remains silent as Juergin talks with his acolytes and tries to mask her curiosity when she finds out that he is apparently their boss. But as soon as they mention that something bad is outside she asks:

"Do you know where outside? Can you get us there?"

Addressing mostly Kat and Raen she adds:

"I need to change outfit and get my armor and guns. I wasn't prepared for an encounter..."

[ewancummins]

Gruz mutters, shuffling backward.
The clownish little manthing trips over a fallen box lid, arms wheeling, and lands hard on its rump.
"Ow!"

Smezel chuckles at Gruz's accident.

Gruz pulls a letter opener from its fool's garb.
"I stab!"

Smezel jumps behind Juergin.
" Boss!"

Gruz takes one look at Juergin and stows the little knife.
"I not stab. " The boogeyman kicks the box lid farther into the pantry's dim interior.
" Friend." It smiles in an exaggerated fashion, its facial muscles twisting in ways not quite human.
The single eye blinks.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

OUTSIDE

Dorgio hears commotion from the house--no wonder though, he and his friend have made a right mess of the night with their abrupt exit.

"We're going to catch havoc for this, the both of us," he tells Benn as they move towards the team of horses. "But if it's him...or somebody like him, and he's back, then there can be no rest until he dies."

[Adam]

"Agreed," he says, looking around for the gendarmes to escort them to the crime scene.

[steveflam]

Gruz mutters, shuffling backward.
The clownish little manthing trips over a fallen box lid, arms wheeling, and lands hard on its rump.
"Ow!"

Smezel chuckles at Gruz's accident.

Gruz pulls a letter opener from its fool's garb.
"I stab!"

Smezel jumps behind Juergin.
" Boss!"

Gruz takes one look at Juergin and stows the little knife.
"I not stab. " The boogeyman kicks the box lid farther into the pantry's dim interior.
" Friend." It smiles in an exaggerated fashion, its facial muscles twisting in ways not quite human.
The single eye blinks.

"Very good, Gruz. Now, Gruz, Smezel, take us outside and show us the bad ting. Come," he offers a hand to each Boogeyman.

"Mister Hornsby do you vish any person to stay vist you inside in case? I do not vish any harm comink to deiner childs or de Frau's Lorna or Charlotte."

He looks pointedly at Hornsby "I tink you haff knowledges of what Dodds wast like, ja? Be prepared in case."

He looks at Sara, Raen and Kat. "Who is comink ant who is stayink inside?"

[ewancummins]

The boogeymen come all the way out of the pantry and take Juergin's hands, just as two little boys might reach for their father.
Raen and Kat cannot help but notice, here in the candlelight of the kitchen, the creatures' hands seem a bit too long for human proportions at their size.
Long but thin.

[ewancummins]

Bennedict brusquely passes Thom on the way to the murder scene. If addressed, he may give him a brief nod of acknowledgement, but his mind is clearly on the task at hand.

THE STREET

[alhoon]

"I am coming." Raen says with determination. "Are your acolytes coming too? They seem lacking in discipline."

[ewancummins]

"I am coming." Raen says with determination. "Are your acolytes coming too? They seem lacking in discipline."

Gruz blinks.
"What is deeseeeplend?"

[ewancummins]

BENN AND DORGIO

"Agreed," he says, looking around for the gendarmes to escort them to the crime scene.

THE TWO GENDARMES
hustle along,leading BENN and Dorgio halfway down the block to a waiting cart.
One clambers onto the crosswise plank that serves as a driver's seat, and gets the draft horse moving with gentle giddyups and the light tough of a stick.
Clop, clop, clop.

The cart rolls down the street , headed west toward the river...



LATER

The ride isn't too far. Twenty minutes , perhaps, have elapsed.
BENN and Dorgio recognize the neighborhood and some local landmarks: Odell's Eats, a fish oil shop, a brick wall plastered with peeling handbills and manuscript notes, and a jetty sticking out into a canal that connects with the Musarde.
Now that true night has fallen over the city, most of the reputable places around here appear closed;locked and shuttered.
But a ruddy, flickering light shines through the front windows of Odell's Eats and a lantern burns on a dangling chain hung above the ground level floor of a two-and
-a-half story limestone and black timber building that rises a short distance behind the Arkandale restaurant.
This close to the Musarde, a wet, fishy smell permeates the cool air.

"The boarding house back there." The gendarme driving slows the horse, then guides it to a halt beside Odell's, in front of the dark mass of the boarding house.
" She's in the garret. I'll take you up, monsieurs."

[steveflam]

"I am coming." Raen says with determination. "Are your acolytes coming too? They seem lacking in discipline."

"What vould you expect from a Boogeyman exactly? Dey are my acolytes unt my friends, unt dey mean well."


He turns to Gruz, "Dis- iii-plinn, is just way saying you not always good , but the Boss here, he does not care, you are also my friend."

[ewancummins]

"I am coming." Raen says with determination. "Are your acolytes coming too? They seem lacking in discipline."

"What vould you expect from a Boogeyman exactly? Dey are my acolytes unt my friends, unt dey mean well."


He turns to Gruz, "Dis- iii-plinn, is just way saying you not always good , but the Boss here, he does not care, you are also my friend."

Gruz says,
"Dis--iii--plinn. Boss is friend. Friend is nice."

[VAN]

Sara nods. The boogeymen presence is actually bothering her but they seem to know something so she cannot tell anything.

"I'm coming as well."