Café de Nuit

Brock Marsh Runoff wrote:THOM'S MANSE

Dorgio arrives with Lorna and Sandor, and he feels a rare pang of jealousy as he surveys his friend's estate. The priest has never been much for creature comforts, but looking at the house makes him wonder if he's doing enough for his family--the family he'll soon be sending away. For their own good of course, or at least, he hopes.

PARLOR

Dorgio's wife settles down onto a sofa in the parlor with Sandor sleeping in her arms.
She smiles at Charlotte, BENN, SARA, and RAEN.

A little noise rises, like Sandor squealing.
Again.
Not the baby.
Something nearby...






Lorna hops up, gasping.
A brocade cushion, flattened where she had sat on it, flops onto the floor and splits at the seam.
Tiny brown shapes erupt from the white stuffing. The mice flee in all directions, seeking cover under the furniture and in chinks in the walls.

Kat's eyes narrow, and she reaches down into her dress and produces a lethal looking dirk in a leather scabbard with a leather tong apparently designed to attach it to something, which ends with fraying indicating it has snapped. her hand moves toward the hilt as she maintains eye contact with the servant and for a moment it almost seems as if the situation is turning hostile, but she seems to remember her situation and merely wraps the trailing thing around the hilt before slipping it into the closet.

"Dear me, I had quite forgotten it was still in there."

She delivers the line deadpan, maintaining the social niceties without any expectation of actually being believed, and heads inside.

She greets the assembled company, and politely ignores the presence of any rodents!

Bennedict's grip tightens on the cane, and before he can stop himself it's held over his head in a defensive posture, his body between the mice and Charlotte.

He stops himself, however, sheepish smile appearing. "It seems our host has a bit of a rodent problem," he chuckles. He does not, however, lower the cane.

THE PARLOR


KAT (after having delivered her dagger to the serving man at the closet) has joined BENN, DORGIO, the wives, baby Sandor, SARA, and RAEN in the nicely-appointed, old fashioned parlor.

Nice, except for the mice.
But that isn't an uncommon problem in a city infamous for rodent problems.

The squealing vermin vanish into dark corners, leaving sight and hearing of the assembled guests.

THOM has yet to appear, but the guests can hear people--possibly the servants-- bustling about nearby rooms.

Raen stands up alarmed. He notices that people actually... think that's not too much out of the ordinary. He looks at Benn.
"Is this kind of behavior from mice expected? Gathering in a pillow and all?"

alhoon wrote:Raen stands up alarmed. He notices that people actually... think that's not too much out of the ordinary. He looks at Benn.
"Is this kind of behavior from mice expected? Gathering in a pillow and all?"

Lorna giggles.

Charlotte says,
"I pay more attention to mice than I think my husband does, Raen. Yes, it's normal. They nest in all sorts of places."

Little Sandor wriggles in Lorna's arms.
"He's getting hungry." Lorna says.

Bennedict lowers his walking stick, resting on it and deferring to his wife's comments. "Yes, it isn't that odd. There are vermin to be found everywhere you look in Pont, I'm afraid."

Charlotte and Lorna scoot closer to each other and set to fawning over little Sandor and chatting about fashion, cooking, and domestic matters.
A skilled observer of customs and dialect
(Knowledge Local or Gather Information DC 20)
picks up that both women

Thom's Manse, Parlor

"I apologize for being late and being a horrible host; I was securing an item I stumbled across from the investigation, and became distracted by some mementos from my past." Thom says, after entering the Parlor.

Thom quickly looks over the room and his guests, his gaze seems linger at the wall behind Benn, before returning to his guests. "Dorgio, Lorna, I see you brought you Sandor with you. There is a fully furnished nursery should have need of it."

Raen gives a polite greeting to his host.
"Good evening sir. I don't think we've had the pleasure to meet. I am Raen." he says simply.

Kat curtsies deeply, face a picture of respectful admiration.

"I am most grateful for your invitation to this beautiful house."

Bennedict nods in greeting. "We are pleased to be invited. Should we retire to a dining room to discuss things further?"

Sara jumps up when the pillow-mice dissolves and checks her own chair twice before making herself comfortable again. She is pretty sure that Pont has more mice than her hometown, at least there she doesn't have to look twice before taking a seat!

When Thom arrives she stands up and smiles.

"Thank you for inviting me Sir, lovely house."

She quirks an eyebrow when Thom mentioned he secured an item and his past, but asks nothing. It isn't polite to ask the question at the patron first time she comes to his house.

DINNER AT THOM'S MANSE


The party retires to the grand dining room to eat and drink.

Thom and his guests eat a pleasant meal, and have ample opportunity to converse.

Neither Charlotte nor Lorna looks very happy if anyone brings up the woman-killer at the dinner table. If given a polite opportunity to bring it up, the two women seem more interested in discussing Mordentshire, river travel, and related topics--but they do not attempt to stymie the sharing of vital information about ongoing investigations.


After dinner, servants bring a rolling service table stocked with coffee, tea, cakes, tobacco, and liqueurs to the library, where the guests may relax and continue discussion.
Charlotte and Lorna take baby Benedek off to a nearby room to admire some of Thom's eclectic collection of prints and artwork.

The two wives have been gone just long enough for Benn and the other investigators to compare notes (about the murder of the prostitute Annabelle, the derelict boat Thom investigated, the party's search under the Black Cloud in the Ghost Streets, meeting Alain, and all that) when the butler, Pharamond, enters and bows to Thom.
"Excuse me, Master, but there are two gendarmes at the front door. They say they have come for Monsieur Benedict Gerhman, about a disturbance at his home."

Bennedict stands from the table, his hand tightening on the grip of his cane as he heads to the door. He makes eye contact with Dorgio and gestures towards the door with his head, but doesn't wait for him before following the servant to the gendarmes.