CHOCOLATE DESTINY

Amos and the others move ahead to manor house. Amos observes the quantity of guards roaming about and the quality of their gear.

Skuld sticks near the back, observing the groups surroundings for any signs of ill intent.

The guards not manning the walls are mostly lazing about, playing dice games and chatting. They are clad in polished steel half-helms and breastplates, but most either have no spear or have put theirs aside. One of them leans against the front wall of the manor, a simple pipe in his mouth. His helmet is tilted down over his eyes, but there is a sheathed sword attached to his belt. As you go through the door, he lifts the helm briefly to see you. After taking a puff of his pipe, he lowers his helm again without incident.

The manor house's insides are spacious yet cozy. From the entrance the group squeezes through a narrow opening corridor into a well furnished receiving room, lit by several brass stand-lamps. There is a coat rack immediately to the left of the entrance, and a simple rug rests in the center of the floor. A frilly-dressed serving maid walks into the room from a side door and makes a startled jump at the sight of you.
"Great Merciful Mother!" she exclaims. "Will all of you be attending tonight's dinner?"

"Respectfully, a dinner invitation would be most graciously accepted but as we understand the lord of the house is away. Who else of high station is here to receive us?"

"I would like to, though if I can be taken to the kitchen to help the cooks."

The maid takes on a quizzical expression. "Pardon me, but you must be mistaken, for my lord isn't away. I believe I saw him just this morning."
She gestures at the side door, and another, younger maid walks in scullery garb.
"Freda here will show you to the kitchen, mistress," she indicates to Skuld, and turns back to Amos.
"I'm sure milord will be happy to receive you. May I take down your names?"

Skuld nods and follows behind Freda, silently observing the manor and its staff.

Freda leads Skuld out of the room through the side door (and into this thread)
The bald man slips out behind her.

"Yo Ali, sounds like this nobleman has been playing the villain and feeding lies to these people, abandoning them in their time of need."

"I agree, friend Amos. I have heard this tale a dozen dozen times; an aloof aristocrat, invisible to his people which he his obligated to serve, living in grandeur while the rest serve or suffer." Lucas clutches Hautbrenne. "And I know the disease that causes such wickedness, and I am trained in its cure."

Lucas turns to address the maid. "I am Lucas Van Luft, and my profession is to keep the living alive and the dead in the grave. If you would be so kind as to let us tour the facilities I would be most grateful, as it is my duty to ward places of import from evil most foul. My work protects not only the physical well being but the metaphysical, and from nary a glance I can see this place be almost spiritually bankrupt."

(I will be on the constant lookout for signs of Vampires or other undead, rolling everything I see and am told against Profession - Vampire Slayer, unless I state otherwise.)

The maid is now even more confused. "Disease? Evil? No one is sick in this house that I know of, least of all my lord. We say our prayers every morning at the altar. Mayhap you are a healer, Master Luft? My brother has a bad leg, that could use a healer's touch."

Lucas nods. "Indeed I am. Bring me to your brother so that I might have a look and hopefully aid him."

Ali shouts at the top of his lungs.

"I AM LIL' PRINCE ALI OF THE SWAGGAFID KINGDOM, HERE TO SEE THE BARON. WHO WILL TAKE ME TO HIM?"

"Please, not so loud your highness," the maid hushes. "My brother's leg will have to wait. I shall leave to inform my lord you want to see him, and return shortly with his answer. You may have a seat here or walk the grounds if you wish."
She walks out the side door.

As soon as the maid turns her back, Ali and Coterie go to explore the rest of the castle.

Amos sneaks off from the group to explore basement floors.

(Stealth Check)

(Your stealth check fails, as you were standing right next to everyone else. Not to mention you don't know where the basement entrance is.)

The group ventures out into the garden, where there are arrangements of both decorative flowers and farm crops like potatoes.
Lucas identifies wolfsbane as one of the flower types, and notices a pair of guards sitting in the shade of the manor, avoiding the sunlight.
Two children are at play on the grass, and a manservant watches from a nearby stone bench.

"This patio is wonderful and all ... but where is the lord? He won't greet us?"

"Milord is a busy man, I reckon," one of the guards says, "He asked us not to disturb him unless it was really important."

"Then tell us where we can bother him."

He shifts uncomfortably. "Milord hates when we do that. Says its a bit like betrayal."

"Yet letting guests wait without company is acceptable?"

He shrugs. "It's not a crime. There used to be a couple of performers come up here for entertainment, but not anymore."

Amos is irate. This castle has nothing to offer in the way of entertainment and he's certain the lord has no above board village business to attend to.

"Fair enough. But you wouldn't stop us from going to look for him ourselves would you?"

"Nah."

(Where you can go from here: manor house, keep, outbuildings, or leave the castle.)

Amos steps into the manor house and explores the upper floors trying to find Baron Kurloz.

[Committing the sin of a double post, admin-sama can edit this together later. This is serving as a bump and an update to my actions.]

Even further frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to locate Baron Kurloz, Amos returns to Lucas the Wampyr hunter and prompts him for assistance:

"Hey Lucas! My Wampyr hunting buddy! The Baron's estate is pretty decent but also surprisingly labyrinthine and I completely and utterly failed to find our host to be. I do not want to get in the way of any ... investigations ... or other activities you are doing but I wanted to ask if you could perhaps help me find Kurloz."

"Of course, friend Amos. I have seen the signs myself, and I need a word with herr Kurloz. To the manor house!"

(y u gotta assume ur gonna fail dawg )
The upper floors are mostly deserted save for the occasional servant cleaning out dust and cobwebs. Amos' ears pick up a faint sound of people talking in another room. He tiptoes silently through the carpeted hallway, getting closer and closer to the source, until finally he reaches a ornate red painted door, a gold outlined keyhole beneath the knob. Checking that no one else is around to see, he presses his ear to the keyhole, and the sounds resolve into words.

"...punished for their incompetence." A man's voice, thin and reedy.
"What should I do about them?" asks a woman, quavering.
"Wha- Send them away, of course! You should have done so when they first arrived!"
"But I can't do that, they have the guest right!" she wails.
"Guest right be damned, do you realize the danger you've put us in?"
Amos recognizes the woman now. It's the maid you met before. And that can only mean one thing.

Amos silently slides away to Lucas and speaks in whispers:

"The maid is in there, and she's lying to us. I'd guess that the lord is out and they're busy committing secretive sins."

Amos pauses and turns his head to his sheathe.

"It isn't exactly our business, but I haven't been involved in the business of the upper class in a long time. I'm kind of itching to see what's back there. It could be sorcery, or a Wampyr, or something else altogether. What say you?"

"This is some sick shit, Lucas. I agree with A.D. Let's shank that mothafuckah."

Amos and Ali proceed back to the door and Amos knocks on it.

There is no response. You hear footsteps and rustling sounds from within.

"Hey Ms. Maid, we heard you singing in there earlier. You said you'd arrange our meeting, what is going on with that?"

Amos suggests to Ali:

"Hey those effers are trying to sneak away. You and your coterie should stop them from running away through some other path. If it is a Wampyr then Lucas has me covered."

Amos bashes at the handle of the door with his sword's pommel.

Ali and Coterie loop around to try and find another entrance to the room.

Ali's group circles around. They find another door into the room, but it is locked as well. Amos bashes the handle once, twice, thrice, and on the third time breaks through to the other side. He slams the door open to see a cozy study, furnished with bookshelves, cabinets and a writing desk.
The maid gets up from behind the desk, wearing a slightly less frilly dress. She is blushing heavily. She coughs and starts talking.
"S-sorry, young man. You should have kn-knocked earlier, Baron Kurloz is already g-gone. He l-left to see Prince Ali just now."
There does not appear to be anyone else in the room.

Ali and Coterie use Portable Ram to enter the room in one shot.

"FUCK YOU BITCH, I GOT TIRED OF WAITING. TELL ME WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW."

The other door to the study bursts open, showering wood splinters everywhere. The maid lets out a high pitched scream at Lil' Prince Ali's Spectacular entrance.

"I told h-him you were in the receiving room downstairs, so- so that's where he's going!" she says after calming down. "Please don't hurt me."

"ALI! Send some of your cohort to search the room for Baron Kurloz. We gonna run down this runaway and mess him up ourselves if he's getting away!"

[By the way it's actually evening now, I screwed up time tracking]

Ali narrows his eyes and unsheathes Zulfiqar, lopping off the maid's head in one swing.

"She's a lying bitch. How could the Baron have bypassed both of us? Anything strange with her corpse, Lucas?"

Before taking any other action, Ali quickly inspects the room for a secret exit or possible communication devices.

"Lord above, Ali, this one was probably just as much under the Baron's thumb as any given peasant. I'll check her, but I'm not expecting the taint of Un-death."
(I use Profession - Vampire Hunter to determine if the maid was a vampire anyways)

Amos starts searching for the Baron elsewhere. During his mad dash search he peers out a window to see if anything has changed in the courtyard.

The maid falls to the ground a bloody mess, her face frozen in a wordless scream.

Lil' Prince Ali's search of the room finds no secret exits, but one of the desk drawers contained several gold rooks, and a small triangular stone with a spiral pattern carved in its center.

Lucas walks over and begins his customary tests on the maid. Suddenly, both body and head jerk, and undergo a metamorphosis before his eyes. Her head ripples, changes to that of a man, then cycles through several different faces before finally settling as a featureless blob of flesh. He pokes around and confirms the exposed creature is still dead. If it is a vampire, it is unlike any Lucas has ever seen in his travels.

Amos dashes around the mansion, flustering the servants. There is no unusual activity in the courtyard, but he does hear the ringing of a bell.
The rings grows in intensity, becoming loud enough for everyone to hear. It is solemn, ominous, and can mean only one thing:



The hour at which the majority of human society customarily partakes of its evening meal draws near.

Ali wraps the meat blob in the maid's dress (taking it with him), and pockets the triangular stone.

"Come on Lucas, we gotta go catch the Baron."

Lucas follows Ali.  "This is truly a puzzler, friend Ali.  Whatever she was it was neither human nor kindred.  I have many a question buzzing in my skull right now.  Was she, or rather it, able to change shape under it's own power or did it require outside magical aid?  Is the baron such a creature, or any of the staff for that matter, or was this thing unique among the rogues gallery?  I can think of a dozen unsavory reasons one would want a shape changing maid, and perhaps you could think of more friend Ali, but I am doubtful the reasoning behind such a hire is mere carnal desires.  It is clear there is some conspiracy afoot, but it's scope is unclear.  The guards let us wander with little resistance, which would make it seem they aren't aware of the nature of the baron's maid.  Hmm..."  Lucas strokes his beard in contemplation.

"We know little for certain, only that there is at least one shape changer and the baron has a reason to fear us and flee."

Lucas pulls close to Ali and whispers to him privately.  "Keep a look out for inconsistencies in people around us.  The maid's clothes were different from before, so the shape change must be imperfect.  If someone comes with an improbable change of garb I would lop their head off posthaste.  We know not the limits of their power, the baron might have assumed some winged form and taken off through the window, or some tiny creature that could navigate the crooks and crannies with ease.  And keep an eye on your Coterie's numbers and garb, it would be easy for a shape shifter to blend in with them and tail us."

Ali pound-hugs Lucas and daps his fist.

"I gotchu homie. You da expert on all this monster shit. I'll be countin' on you to watch my back."

As they walk, Ali observes the Coterie members following him. (How many are there?) He then asserts his dominance and AUTHORITAY over them.

"My servants and flunkies, put down your burdens for a sec, and flash me the gang sign of our homeland on the count of three. Any who fail to comply will die."

Sorely unaware of the dangers lurking in this keep Amos moves quickly to the meeting room to confirm his growing suspicious that the Baron is not there, and perhaps no longer in the keep at all.