Home 25: Still making mortgage payments

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Sylvess sighs and leans into Spako, content for the moment in this warm, relaxing, embrace in this warm, relaxing bath. "O-oh, that's fine, we'll just have a good shake a-and a lie down afterwards a-and make a note to tell them to get some dragon sized towels." Lots of improvements to be made, yes?

Sylvess will relax and enjoy his bath for as long as he and Spako are allowed to, then climb out with some reluctance. Eventually. When they reeeally have to.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Dreamshard]

"Ok," Electra says when Cass explains she doesn't need help. "Good luck!"


She watches Cass go as her clothing shifts from what she had on when she fell asleep to a simple black bodysuit, then to a uniform she's never had here in the Nexus: a deep blue dress uniform with a knee-length loose skirt, a formal suit jacket and white blouse with a short blue tie, and a black beret. On the jacket's left breast are a number of medals and rank insignia, and pinned to the collars are a pair of insignia with a diamond stacked onto a pair of chevrons, with two circular "wings" extending up around the rest of the insignia, a result of her mentally preparing what she saw in order to brief Wenomir. After a moment, she'll note that she's not alone, instead, there's someone here with her, a male elf that looks startlingly similar to Cass. Wasn't this supposed to be private?

"Uh...excuse me, but, who are you?" She asks, looking towards the figure. Maybe it's a manifestation of Cass' familiar?

[Recaiden]

"Aah!"
Miri, wearing just a couple of towels, jumps back into the bathroom with surprise when someone else turns out to be in the room. Surely the cook would be in the kitchen and the undead would have stayed at their posts. Who is this?!
But apparently she's wrong, and it's just a helpful mansion employee after all. She peeks her head around the doorframe.

"Oh. Hello, Sara. I'm-" What was it she had said again? "-Miri. Thanks for all those things. It's been way too long since I had something to eat." Like, she couldn't say for sure what day it was. She inches out into the main bedroom and towards the silver tray of food.
"Are there people here often?" The cook is reassuring. Surely she can't be mixed up in anything too bad.

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"Well, that depends on what you consider 'people'. I'm always here, and Benedict doesn't go far most of the time. And there's the prisoners in the basement. We've got two right now, but I'm not allowed to talk to them. They've not been here long, one of them was taken downstairs shortly after he, well, changed. The other's been there longer. And there's the dead. Good listeners, they are, but not great conversationalists, you know?" Sara smiles a little weakly. She doesn't get to talk to people often, since most of Benedict's employees are undead, and whilst she feeds the prisoners she dares not talk to them.

[Recaiden]

Miri eats an entire sandwich very quickly, although not just in one bite. It's too big for that. "Mmm."

"So, yes. Two of you, and, uh, why do you have prisoners in the basement?"
There's lots of reasonable answers, but also lots of unreasonable ones, especially with that mention of a change.
She sits down on the bed, and motions that Sara could do the same. Of course there's also a chair.

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

Sara sits on the bed, putting the clothes she's brought on the chair. "Benedict is a mighty wizard. A mighty, mighty wizard. I... don't know how much he's told you, but... One of them was going to be drained for his youth, before Benedict stopped being an old man. He doesn't tell me this, but I feed them. I notice that a young man comes in once a month, and then when Benedict's looking at his eldest they both go into the tower and when they come out, Benedict's looking much younger and the young man is much, much older. The other came in after Benedict became a woman, and I don't know how or why- he doesn't tell me anything- but he's stayed young this time. Normally it wears off, if he strays too far or the prisoner dies. One of the prisoners in the basement is a woman, too. She wasn't when she went down there." So Benedict's studying the curse that's affected him, hoping it will provide answers and a long-term solution to the problem of ageing.

[Recaiden]

"Mm-hmmm." Miri comments disapprovingly through a mouthful of sandwich. That's not really an okay thing to do, keep people prisoner and magically make them old/female, but she is just a guest here, and really has no way to oppose a mighty wizard and her army of undead, does she? Not becoming the third prisoner has to come first.

"So what are you like? How'd you come to work here?"

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"Benedict bought me from Skyside when I was fourteen. He had another cook, then. She taught me how to cook, and organised the meals and then Benedict let her retire. Sent her to a village nearby, with a pension. That was... Oh, nearly fifteen years ago. Benedict lets me know how she is." Of course, Sara only has Benedict's word that she's retired in a village with a pension. He might have killed her and added her skeleton to his staff. It's not like she'd know. "I've got another ten years or so before Benedict is likely to buy an apprentice for me. How about you? How did you meet him?"

If Benedict knew Miri had qualms regarding his activity regarding other humans, she'd be disappointed. She knew Miri had no qualms about undead and fiends; and assumed that carried over to human experimentation.

[Recaiden]

Miri nods along, nibbling on the last sandwich. She was very hungry, but it's kind of a lot of food.

A slave, who was kept here for half her life now, well that's not terribly encouraging.
"Skyside? What's that?"

"Oh me, there was, uh, a meteor crash, and I woke up in this strange wilderness, apparently in this 'Nexus'. That's not what happened at all, as it happens. The story Miri has managed to piece together is deeply wrong. "I wandered around, and eventually I found a road, which led to this Inn full of strange creatures and also Benedict was there, and he offered to help me."

Anyway, it's different to use humans in your wizardry, Benedict. Undead are just weird things, but humans are people!

"Did he tell you anything about me?"

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"It's a city. Doesn't have any laws. Not a nice place; I'm glad I'm well out of it." Not that there's any law here beyond Benedict's whims; feudalism has some unfortunate implications, though Benedict's homeworld discarded feudalism a long time ago, the Beaulieu family kept some of the trappings because they were convenient and nobody cared about them enough to interfere. "That she met you whilst buying that wand thing. That you didn't have a memory or anywhere else to go, so she'd offered you a place here. And so I got you some clothes, since I don't think you've got any. They're mostly mine, so I don't know how well they'll fit." They're simple dresses, mostly. She doesn't leave the building often, so she doesn't have a coat or jacket.

[Deathkeeper]

[Fort Aegis]

Sylvess sighs and leans into Spako, content for the moment in this warm, relaxing, embrace in this warm, relaxing bath. "O-oh, that's fine, we'll just have a good shake a-and a lie down afterwards a-and make a note to tell them to get some dragon sized towels." Lots of improvements to be made, yes?

Sylvess will relax and enjoy his bath for as long as he and Spako are allowed to, then climb out with some reluctance. Eventually. When they reeeally have to.

[Fort Aegis]

Spako is not as graceful getting out of the pool as he was getting in, but he still manages to get out without making too much of a splash.
Almost immediately the kobold attendees reappear. Suspiciously quick, even.
"Hello, yes sirs. Have you made any decisions about the place? Us?" asks the attendant on the right as they offer them the largest towels they could find, which are sadly only orc-sized.

[Karaoke Party]

The fact that one of them knows what he's doing seems to lift Batu's spirits and lead him onwards.

"Tonight there's gonna be trouble

Some of us won't survive

See the boys and me mean business

Bustin' out dead or alive"

He's actually swaying to the music and giving it his all, despite his untrained singing voice. The timid hobgoblin does have some hidden depths.

[Karaoke Party]

Jim leans forward, putting himself front and center for just a moment (and hoping he can get the others to do the same for their part).
"I can hear the hound dogs on my trail
All hell breaks loose, alarm and sirens wail
Like the game if you lose
Go to jail"

[Halae]

[Kathy's Shop]

Fayyaad's foot starts tapping to the beat of the music and his tail sways to it.

"I think I remember a dance that will work with this. It's simple and can be performed alone or with two people. Even in a group. It's a sort of... spontaneous party dance."

[Kathy's Shop]

Kathy smiles as she moves over to Fayyaad, "Alright then, want to show me how to start?" she stands ready to follow his instructions in doing an interesting dance routine

[UncleWolf]

Sam's Place

Dorry gives a small nod after a bit of thought. "Maybe not what I'd like to have heard, but you're plodding along and making progress regardless and that is the important part." She points out, taking a sip of wine from a glass that simply hadn't been there before. After the sip, she sets the glass aside, leans forward, and laces her fingers together. "So, what did you want today? And even if I assume, I need to hear it directly from you, remember?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Sam's Place]

Sam nods, putting down the food from the cart he'd been munching on.
"You told me you had some information on my former roommate back on Halloween. I'd like that from you. And I know that advice is free from you but information isn't."
Sam really does wish they could just be friends instead of this weird thing where Dorry has to encourage him to get in over his head. He knows she's more benevolent than plenty of other beings doing the same thing. But it always nags at him.

[Morty]

[Kathy's Shop]

"Alright, so the two-person version of this dance starts out slow, then becomes quicker later. I've seen it performed at gatherings, where people would try to impress others in twos or threes." He has taken off his shoes by now, as well as his coat and jacket, leaving him in his shirt. He's definitely more slim and toned than muscular. "Take my hand and follow my movements." He'll lead her in a slow circular motion, getting closer and farther, jumping back and forth and switching places by passing under their joined hands. It shouldn't be too difficult to follow for now.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Sylvess promptly buries himself in several towels.

"Um. He tilts his head and peers at the kobolds. "W-well, i-it's a big decision a-and it probably needs some serious conversation. We'd, um, be wanting to make a few, uh, expansions. I-I'd be looking to move in, you see." He pauses, glances at Spako not quite long enough to give him a chance to interrupt, then adds "A-also we're both, um, carrying."

[Recaiden]

"It's a city. Doesn't have any laws. Not a nice place; I'm glad I'm well out of it." Not that there's any law here beyond Benedict's whims; feudalism has some unfortunate implications, though Benedict's homeworld discarded feudalism a long time ago, the Beaulieu family kept some of the trappings because they were convenient and nobody cared about them enough to interfere. "That she met you whilst buying that wand thing. That you didn't have a memory or anywhere else to go, so she'd offered you a place here. And so I got you some clothes, since I don't think you've got any. They're mostly mine, so I don't know how well they'll fit." They're simple dresses, mostly. She doesn't leave the building often, so she doesn't have a coat or jacket.

That sounds familiar? But there's nothing she can do about some awful lawless city, is there?
"That's all true then." Miri says. She looks the clothes over. Since she's very short, and underweight even for that height, and has these inconvenient antlers, there is absolutely no way these dresses are going to fit.
"Thanks. Yeah, I just had the coat on my back, I guess." It's hanging in the bathroom after she washed it up a bit.
"So I guess there aren't guests here very often?" It's kind of neat being in a spooky old house like this.

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

Sara's pretty short, as a result of historical malnutrition, though Benedict's ensured she has a healthy diet now. The necks are reasonably wide, but there's also a pair of button-up shirts; one is plain white, the other green cheques. There's also a couple of belts, though Miri might have to add some holes to tighten them sufficiently.

"No, not like you. Benedict does not host often. Not for three years. Last was a halfling called Dame Nosewrinkle. She... scared me a little. Kept a pair of scarecrows with her at all times; she didn't trust Benedict." Not counting the guests in the basement dungeon, anyway.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Dreamshard]

"Ok," Electra says when Cass explains she doesn't need help. "Good luck!"


She watches Cass go as her clothing shifts from what she had on when she fell asleep to a simple black bodysuit, then to a uniform she's never had here in the Nexus: a deep blue dress uniform with a knee-length loose skirt, a formal suit jacket and white blouse with a short blue tie, and a black beret. On the jacket's left breast are a number of medals and rank insignia, and pinned to the collars are a pair of insignia with a diamond stacked onto a pair of chevrons, with two circular "wings" extending up around the rest of the insignia, a result of her mentally preparing what she saw in order to brief Wenomir. After a moment, she'll note that she's not alone, instead, there's someone here with her, a male elf that looks startlingly similar to Cass. Wasn't this supposed to be private?

"Uh...excuse me, but, who are you?" She asks, looking towards the figure. Maybe it's a manifestation of Cass' familiar?

[Cass' Dreamshard]

The elf looks up, giving Electra a wry smile. "Kinda rude. Given that you're currently in our dreamshard, Electra."

The elf averts his eyes, looking guilty. I'm... ah... Well, it's a little complicated. You can call me Wren."

[Elsewhere]

meanwhile, over in somewhere else, a little magpie sneaks into the dream of a certain Vigil commander. It'd taken a while to find him - knowing where the person would be in the waking world wasn't necessarily a boon when it came to finding their dream. But eventually Cass feels a pang of recognition, skimming over the dreams of countless sleeping others, and dives in.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Dreamshard]

Electra ignores the bit about Wren saying she's being rude. Cass brought her here, and as far as she's aware, is whose dreamshard this actually is. But...

"Our? I'm sorry, I'm not used to this, but....can you explain, please?"

[Morty]

[Wenomir's Dream]

Cassandra might find a little more than she bargained for in Wenomir's dreams. For one thing, it involves her. It also involves Wenomir himself and another elf with purple skin - but far taller than Cassandra and with colourful hair. What the dream doesn't involve is any kind of clothing at all. Predictably enough, Wenomir and the two elves are engaged in vigorous activities of the curtainous kind.

[Deathkeeper]

[Fort Aegis]

Sylvess promptly buries himself in several towels.

"Um. He tilts his head and peers at the kobolds. "W-well, i-it's a big decision a-and it probably needs some serious conversation. We'd, um, be wanting to make a few, uh, expansions. I-I'd be looking to move in, you see." He pauses, glances at Spako not quite long enough to give him a chance to interrupt, then adds "A-also we're both, um, carrying."

[Fort Aegis]

"Digging! Yes, digging is allowed if you follow our plan. Gotta have rules or we'll collapse the place." the kobold says with a nod.
"And yeah? Kinda obvious." The kobold gestures at his nose. "That a problem?" he asks.
Spako looks properly mortified.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Well, Sylvess looks more than a little surprised by that response. "I-i-i-it's that obvious? I-I mean, um, w-we're both male, I didn't think anyone would, um, n-not without us saying something?"

He cranes his neck round to peer at his rear. Did it get that much wider? Is it really that obvious?

"A-anyway my point is that we'd...you know, i-it's nice and warm and secluded here a-and...um."

[Recaiden]

[Benedict's Manse]

Sara's pretty short, as a result of historical malnutrition, though Benedict's ensured she has a healthy diet now. The necks are reasonably wide, but there's also a pair of button-up shirts; one is plain white, the other green cheques. There's also a couple of belts, though Miri might have to add some holes to tighten them sufficiently.

"No, not like you. Benedict does not host often. Not for three years. Last was a halfling called Dame Nosewrinkle. She... scared me a little. Kept a pair of scarecrows with her at all times; she didn't trust Benedict." Not counting the guests in the basement dungeon, anyway.

"Don't worry; I don't have any scarecrows." Miri assures Sara, although it was totally obvious the whole time that she didn't have any scarecrows.
Seeing that the shirts are alone, she gets up and takes a dress to go and try to change into. Probably she'll end up with several misapplied belts on as well.

If Sara's still around then, she'll ask "Can you show me around the estate?"

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"Oh, good. They were really creepy scarecrows." Dame Nosewrinkle prefers scarecrows to undead. They're possibly a little less sturdy, but far more socially acceptable. "Not the tower, and not much of the grounds. I'm forbidden to enter the tower, and most of the grounds are also off-limits." Though for a different reason- the skeleton guards are instructed to kill anyone who isn't in Benedict's company.

Sara will try to adjust Miri's clothing slightly, just straighten the collar a little- that sort of thing. Then take her on a tour, firstly of the kitchens, her vegetable plot and the servant quarters. The kitchens are large, well-appointed, but a little old fashioned and mostly disused. Benedict doesn't keep a large household of living servants and family to need such a large kitchen. The vegetable plot is rather small, as Sara's the only person who looks after it, and grows herbs and berries. There's also a lone lime tree, planted in a large square pot. The servant quarters contains ten single beds and chests, with no privacy, with a shared bathroom for the servants; Sara's bed is the only one with a mattress and sheets, and she has put several drawings and pictures on the wall. Sara drew all of them, as she will state proudly, but she's not a skilled artist.

After that, several libraries filled primarily with books, each with a writing-desk and padded chair and a few unusual relics. The libraries are separated by subject- Necromancy (with unusual skulls, bones, metal spikes and clay deathmasks, plus a shelf of urns filled with ash), Daemonology (with bottles, boxes and jars, plus a curled black horn and a potted plant with red leaves and fanged mouths in the centre of its bright orange flowers), Religion & Mythology (with animal-headed humanoid statues, a metre-long bronze thunderbolt, and a tumi) and History & Geography (old coins, a corroded iron sword, and a plain cut-throat razor in pride of place). Nothing's labelled, and the books are in several languages- English, Latin, French, Old English, Infernal, and Sumerian, with a few texts in other languages. Sara can't help in the libraries; she can't read, and doesn't know much about any of the artefacts on display.

[Recaiden]

Clearly still bother people, though.

There! Miri looks a little more presentable now.

She likes the kitchen, although clearly Benedict needs to keep this place busier.
"You grow all this? Wow. I was never any good at gardening." she comments, a bit automatically. Huh. Apparently she was never good at gardening.
She'll comment that the pictures decorating the servants' quarters are nice! It's true, they're not ancient works of art, but who can draw like that?

Miri is quite interested in the libraries. Although at first she's just admiring the unusual skulls.
"What? You don't know how to read?!"
Eventually I imagine she'll grab some random english books and start reading them.

[Deathkeeper]

[Fort Aegis]

The attendants exchange a glance. Did the dragon not have a working nose? But he seems to want to change the subject so they can humor him.
Sadly. staring at his own back half does not give Sylvess any more information than he already had.
"Well yes, you're going to want an egg-hall. It's okay to not want to use ours. You can talk to our architects. But if you want to make any deals you should talk to the chief." says the one on the left with a nod, trying to get the subject off the thing Sylvess clearly wants to get away from.

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"No, I don't. I don't think Benedict was interested in any skills I had beside cooking." And a lot of that she learnt from Benedict's last cook.

A random book is selected off the shelf in English! Well, they're all intermixed and not all have visible titles, but there's three main possibilities at about hand level. Nekromansi fore Novvises by an anonymous necromancer of the 1500s, Famous Necromancers, Their Methods & Achievements (with a bookmark on page 263, for one Baron Maleficium Beaulieu, of Tresco), written by Isobel Cornwell and My Unlife by Dame Alice Kyteler.

[Recaiden]

Miri has opened up My Unlife
"Well, I could start teaching you." As if Miri has ever had to learn to read in her life.

"What else do you do? There's those drawings, and cooking, but just for four people, right?" It doesn't sound like the heaviest responsibility, in this household that was once meant to be much larger.

[Earl of Purple]

Benedict's Manse

"Some cleaning, looking around at the studies and libraries where Benedict keeps his interesting things. Gardening, bird watching, weeding. There's stuff to do, even if not much of it." Which is one reason why she'd like an apprentice. So she had someone to talk to. Well, besides the skeleton maids, but they don't talk back. Or respond.

Dame Alice Kyteler was a moneylender and diabolist, she murdered four husbands in her native Ireland before she was caught and fled to England. There, according to the book, she achieved eternal life through a pact with a potent Rakshasha, which ate her heart- and mercy. The book's quite long, detailing not only a brief overview of her life in Ireland, but also the five hundred and seventy years since that point and she wrote the book. It's not exactly light reading; she describes creating a spectre from a town by poisoning its water supply so they died in agony, 'to see what it would be like'.