The Fall of House Pancrazio Chapter 5

[PathOfDreams]

Goran, hearing the shouts from down the hall, hustles towards Pheobe's quarters. As he approaches Tahl he points from the direction he came, "Down there Tahl, Julian should not enter that room alone".

Upon entering the room from which the gunslinger beckoned, the grisly sight halts Goran's pace. His sword arm falls limp from its low ready position at his right side; his fingers loosen and the longblade slips slowly from his grasp, chattering as it collides with the laquered hardwood floor. The ranger steps around the lifeless form of Harold and approaches Tristan's side. His voice is audible only to the houndsman next to him, "What is happening to this family? Is there no salvation from these horrors?" Goran does not look at Tristan as he speaks.

After a moment of pause, "Tristan, help me place her on the bed." Goran moves to Pheobe's head and secures a grip under her arms.

[Varrus the Ethical]

Sebastian, who is already holding Miss Phebe, lays her out gently on her bed. "Someone should tend to her, but she does not appear to be harmed in anyway, despite initial appearances. I'll go an help my brother with the nursery." says Sebastian before going to the hall to stand behind his older brother before Julian enters the room.

[Lord Skybolt]

Tahl goes to do what Goran says considering that Tristan now has someone else to watch his back . He moves down the hall to follow the brave Julian when he enters the nursery .

[RocEter]

Julian opens the door to the nursery and goes inside...

[JMaytr]

The flute music immediately ceases as Julian opens the door to the nursery. The room is cold, but the temperature slowly becomes comfortable. The room has been unused for sometime. Dust clings to most surfaces, while sheets cover the furniture like old ghosts. A pram rests against the far east wall and a toddlers bed lies on the opposing one. The window that overlooks the side courtyard is stained yellow with age, sunlight barely breaking through.








Spot check

[ewancummins]

in Phoebe's room


Tristan packs the little piles of sulfur into the jar he'd brought from the cellars.

When he notices that the flute music has ceased, he remarks-

''Good, good. That was really begining to bother me. Hmmm, let's see if there aren't any other clues in here."

[Varrus the Ethical]

Unsettled by the silence, Sebastian looks over the room.

[JMaytr]

The Nursery-

As Julian, Sebastian and and Tahl scan the nursery, the find the room deathly silent and still as the grave.


Pheobe's room-

Tristan takes a look around while Saverio tends to his daughter on her bed. He is queerly affectionate. The houndsman sees Miss Phoebe's discarded teddy on the floor but his eye is draw to a stack of charcoal drawings that lie stacked on her vanity. Had Harold been alive, the sight of these drawings would come as a shock to him, as they do to Tristan, but for other reasons. They are breathtaking in their detail and style. The drawing atop the pile depicts a young woman and a boy of about two years walking towards a stream (1). It is a sunny day and the pair appear happy. Their backs are to the viewer, so Tristan cannot make out their faces.

Before Tristan can turn the page, Saverio shouts at him.

"You, find Emilio at once."
Roderigo stops Tristan at the door.

"No Uncle, Tristan stays. You go find Emilio. You may be my uncle and Pheobe's father, but you are a stranger 15 years to this place. have him bring hot water as well, go at once."

Saverio, chastened, does as Roderigo instructs and leaves to find Emilio.



(1) knowledge geography check

[PathOfDreams]

Goran stands ominously at the fringe of Phoebe's room, watching silently, like a cold statue, as his great uncle attends to his aunt. He is struck with a reassurance that his father may be able to retain a hold on this home when he snaps at Saverio. He turns toward the drawings after the lashings of his father's words strike home. Goran, while glancing at the drawings in Tristan's paws, engages Roderigo, "What are we to do next father? Are we to return to the catacombs below and continue our final search of the place?"

[JMaytr]

Roderigo nods to his son.

"yes, most urgently." He says.

[ewancummins]

Tristan takes the entire pile of drawings. He leafs through the stack, looking for any drawings of people that show the face- whether he knows the person in the drawing or not.

[RocEter]

Finding the nursery empty, save himself, Tahl and Sebastian, and not finding anything of importance Julian leaves the room to go back to Pheobe's room.

"The music stopped playing as soon as I stepped into the room, Uncle. There was nothing in the room, can everything here be handled with out our assistance? If so, we should head to the catacombs below the manor to continue our investigation." He says to Roderigo.

[Lord Skybolt]

When Tahl looks around in the nursery he spots a panel concealed in the ceiling . On seeing the that rest of his comrades can't see the panel . He points it out to Sabastian"What is wrong with Julian can't he see the panel in the ceiling !!!" Tahl leaves to follow Julian out of the room to make sure he had seen what he had noticed while in the nursery .

Tahl hears what he says to Roderigo with his keen elven hearing . "What are you talking about Julian there is a concealed panel in the ceiling of the nursery that someone could have used to come and go out of the nursery without anyone the wiser ."Tahl says to Julian after he comes into the room .

[ewancummins]

Tristan quickly stows the drawings in his satchel, and then looks over at Roderigo, Tahl, and Julian.


''Hold on a moment- did you say that there is secret panel in the nursery? Whatever killed Harold could have snuck in that way, probably from the damned tunnels; there was sulfur up here and down there. Hurry!"

Tristan rushes out of the room and heads straight for the nursery.

[RocEter]

"My one good eye is not nearly as keen as your two eyes Tahl."Julian says to Tahl.

Turning on his heels, he follows Tristan back to the nursery. "Right.." He says before following Tristan.