Café de Nuit

kintire wrote:Kat nods

"Yes! Alchemically treated protection sounds good." She sighs "And so does a shot of gin..."

FLAMMARION retrieves a bottle from a drawer and pours Kat some gin, using a small beaker as a cup.

''The concoction to soak the masks will take some time to prepare. I've sent my apprentices and hired workers out on errands or set them packing the volatiles and delicates in the cellar stores. Hmmm...it would speed things up if you remained here in the workroom to assist me. Nothing complex or dangerous, just fetch-this-stir-that sort of stuff."

BENN

Later that morning, Benn hears loud scratching at his back door.

The gin slips down and hits the spot, calming her frayed nerves expertly.

"Act as your assistant?" hmmm... stay in the alchemists shop or head out into the follower haunted ash polluted streets without protection. A difficult choice... no wait, no it isn't.
"Of course! Happy to help. Just say the word!"

ewancummins wrote:BENN

Later that morning, Benn hears loud scratching at his back door.

Benn creeps as quietly as he can to the back door, waiting until the last minute to throw the door dramatically open.

BENN

Adam wrote:

ewancummins wrote:BENN

Later that morning, Benn hears loud scratching at his back door.

Benn creeps as quietly as he can to the back door, waiting until the last minute to throw the door dramatically open.

A big rat--really big-- squats in the garden near the door.
The thing's the size of a small dog.
It squeaks at Benn, then points its snout toward the garden gate.

KAT


Flammarion chats as he prepares-- with Kat's assistance--the chemical bath for masks.

"You know, it's strange, but I feel happier these last few days than I have in a long while. Yesterday an old customer remarked my manners had improved. Impudent fellow- but he might be right. I think it's because of the Black Cloud. I now know it is dangerous, but studying it has really set the beakers bubbling in my skull, if you will. Real scientific work that no one else is doing, at least nobody outside Pont-a-Mouseau! That's much more interesting than mixing firebombs for mercenaries or rat poison for housewives.
I'm certainly not going to remain here, but I think I'll purchase a spyglass so I can study the Black Cloud phenomenon from safe distance, in the countryside. Rent a hilltop house, if I can find one such."

He pours himself a second drink.

Benn exhales slowly, lowering the cane he was holding as a weapon.

He turns, walking towards the gate silently, but never taking his eyes off the rat.

BENN AND THE BIG RAT

Adam wrote:Benn exhales slowly, lowering the cane he was holding as a weapon.

He turns, walking towards the gate silently, but never taking his eyes off the rat.

The rat scuttles on ahead of Benn, making it easy enough for Benn to keep an eye on it as he heads for the gate.

Benn finds the gate latch hanging loose.

The rat noses the gate open and crawls into the street that runs behind Benn's house.
It pauses to look up at Benn. Then, it starts off to the left down the lane.
After a few yards, it pauses again, looking back at Benn.

AS THE DAY PROGRESSES…


BENN’s rodent visitor leads him to a nearby derelict house. Within… RAEN finds a sympathetic ear with Master Dupont. The old guildsman seems willing to credit Raen’s story as truthful and unexaggerated. No laughter or scornful remarks, at least.
"Your account is remarkable—but I’ve long suspected the rat-men are smarter than we give them credit for being. If the creatures knew you by sight and named you as Bennedict Gehrman’s friend, then surely, they have been observing you both for some sinister purposes of their own.
I don’t know why rat-men should follow you. It’s all very strange.
But even common rodents have been acting strangely of late. You mentioned the mass flight of rats across the river--we are aware of it, of course, but we do not know why the creatures would flee. It seems an unlikely coincidence that the Black Cloud appears and not so long afterward the rats abandon the shadowed neighborhoods...
Hmmm...you wanted advice.
Well, then, I suggest you hasten to Bennedict Gerhman and tell him what happened. Perhaps between the two of you, you can puzzle out what the rat-men want. Or maybe not, but at least he’ll have a warning. And he’ll want to know his office has been trashed.
And as to your questions about the Old Builders, as I said before, I cannot read their script. Nobody can, so far as I know. Magic supposedly fails at that task. Very strange indeed. But I know their architecture well. It's all over--and under--the city. Judging from what they built, and from old accounts of human remains dug up in ancient cemeteries, I'd say there were very likely men, like us. The big mystery is how they vanished and why some curse prevents us from learning more about them.
I don't know if the monster that attacked you has any connection with ratmen or the Old Builders, but I do know dog-headed--or perhaps fox-headed-- humanoids show up in some Old Builder frescoes. You said the thing that savaged you was a little like a dog or wolf, no?
If you have more questions about the Old Builders in particular, or at least about what early explorers found, I suggest you read Isabeau Saint-Loup's histories of Pont-a-Mouseau, mainly the first and second volumes. I suppose you could just go look her up. She lives in the southeastern city, near the PortMaster's offices.''

“


KAT

Finishes brewing an alkaline mixture that looks like the makings of soap.
" I can handle the last steps without aid. I think you’d better go and fetch your party. The mixture won’t remain effective for more than a night. And I don’t have everything I need to make more than one more batch, not without unpacking some things. In any case, I don’t plan to tarry long in the city. So, go and get whoever is going under the Cloud with you. I’ll be here, with your masks ready.”




END OF CHAPTER