Grim Deed Part 4

In the Manor of Umbergloom...

The stolen sword of the sky pirate had been rescued - and the greater dilemma of how to leave the kitchen was equally resolved, if not with threats of one sided violence. The mimic however, had escaped - and yet another strangely silent servant, a cook, had prevented further entry towards the basement.

Meanwhile, two of the party, Carver and Reithak, had moved to investigate the mysterious light from before and discovered a secret passage with a skeleton and a crossbow in it. It does not take long for the rest of the party to catch up and open the door to the lounge, only to be assaulted by...

A comfortable, luxurious lounge with one occupant - a lady in a refined dress seated on it, shuffling black playing cards. A masquarade mask hid half of her features, but not her red lipstick.

"Ah, the lovely guests." She smiles, a charming smile. "I hope you did not do such a number on the poor waiting staff as it sounded like, now did you?" She asks, with a light tut.

A red queen of hearts is neatly flipped out with her fingers, then quietly shuffled back into the deck.

Reithak has arrived.

<OOC> Culix says, "Can I attempt a perception check to get some clue as to whether she is as she appears, or is another puppet?" <OOC> Aelwyn rub chin. "Sure! Is there something you are specifically looking for?" <OOC> Culix says, "Mostly to see if she appears to be made of meat, and not metal and/or ceramic and/or wood." GAME: Culix rolls perception: (3)+13: 16 <OOC> Reithak wouldn't mind a sense motive, herself

"Hi," Carver says. It comes with a cautious sweep of her eyes about the room as she steps inside. "Listen. We really don't want to be givin' all yous a hard time, but all yous seem to do is give us a hard time. We are trying to complete what seemed like an easy gig and everyone of the help seems deadset on makin' our lives miserable. So, respectfully, real sorry we're jerks but as hosts? Yous could be better."

She steps into the lounge, carefully, ducking her head. "Respectfully. Mostly."

<OOC> Reithak says, "I want to see how hostile they are or may be pretending not to be" GAME: Reithak rolls sense motive: (16)+10: 26

Jarik eyes the woman skeptically, then back in the direction where the skeleton sat with a crossbow before looking back to her with a raised eyebrow. "No, I think we've been nicer to the staff than most would have been." He mutters. For a moment his hand twitches like he wants to cast a spell, but thinks better of it for now and lets his hand drop back to his side.

Culix eyes the woman skeptically, and then looks back towards the way they came, and then back at the woman. "Us causing trouble?" she asks, and then thumbs towards Carver. "Wot she said." she agrees then. "So are you the puppet master of this circus? Or just another mummer?" she asks then, rather less politely than Carver was going for. "You know what, I don't actually care that much. Where's the deed? that's what I actually want to know. And why all this bloody farce? But, deed first."

"Ah, well, hello miss, sorry for barging in through your hidden door, didn't know anyone was still living here aside from those servants, really." Reithak apologized. "Don't worry, we haven't harmed the servants in any way, and I don't really have any intention of doing that."

"The deed...?" The shuffling slowly ceases - and there is a gradual tilt of the strange lady's head. Her pretty red lips open in obvious confusion - and then there is a sudden lilting laugh. She quickly covers up her mouth with dark gloved fingers, hiding her smile.

"Oh, Quintin." She exhales in obvious amusement and picks up the near empty glass of wine from the table. "I am sorry to say you are mistaken. I do not belong to the..." She makes a vague gesture towards the walls, before continuing, "Similar to your charming presence," Her red lips close up in sweet murmur, "I am another esteemed guest of this manor."

Finally, she drinks the last of her wine and slides the glass aside on the thick mahogany table. "Hmm, the deed." She smiles, her rudy red eyes glinting from within the mask. "I am Lady Fortuna Blythe, and what may I call you as?"

The cards are picked up and shuffled again.

"I'm Carver," The ranger says, nothing if not honest. "I guess you're familiar with our employer." Mr. Graves if you're feeling nasty. She scratches along a fresher scar on her throat. "Uh, goin' by your reaction, guess you're here for another purpose?"

Culix frowns, and scratches her cheek. "Great, more questions and still no answers." she complains to herself. "Culix." she begrudgingly offers her name. "What do you mean guest?" she asks then, plainly. "Kinda guest who can leave, or the kind who can't?" she adds then, guessing at a possible meaning for the woman's words.

"Ah, sorry, thought you lived here or something, not as a guest." Reithak sighed. "Well, I guess if you are a guest here, you don't own this deed we're looking for. Name's Reithak, would you mind telling us a bit more about what's going on here? Seriously, it would be really appreciated."

Semi-distracted looking around the room, "Jarik." He murmurs simply. He's pointedly avoiding eye contact with the woman, or even looking in her direction, instead finding everything else in the room endlessly fascinating. "Blythe.." He repeats. "The name sounds familiar." It doesn't, but maybe its a way to get her talking.

Despite the semi-distracted gaze laid upon it, the room continues to stay the same. Muffled music could still be heard coming from the other side of the building, but now it simply sounded like a muffled creepy ambiance.

Those pretty lips continue to smile. The deck of cards is spread out onto the table; before with a long fingernail, she gently rolls all of them over, in perfect order. "Do you believe you cannot leave?" The woman asks, "Whatever could have given you such a _ghastly_ impression?"

Lady Blythe slowly stands up, and turns to walk towards one of the walls. "What is going on? Ha! A splendid question." Hand upon the wall, she turns around and leans back against. "If you are within these walls, then you must be Quintin's guests. Perhaps on a missive of some sorts, to fetch this deed?" She leans forward. "It is a charming place. Perhaps a little isolated, perhaps the staff could be livelier, perhaps there could be..." Her eyes turn towards the party. "More livelier mood, but..." She rolls her bared shoulder. "Nothing strong adventurers like you could handle. Or are you mercenaries? He does, oh, so hate dealing with mercenaries."

"Hm?" Lady Blythe's eyes turn towards Jarik then, "Do you recognize the name, handsome boy?" A quiet click can be heard behind her, as one of the wooden panels sinks slightly.

"You related or somethin'?" Carver asks. "You got the, uh, same energy." She walks a little farther ahead, "Respectfully." She walks up to the woman, closer this time. She looks to where the wood gave a little, lifting a brow. "What was that?"

"No, just wondering why anyone would be here if they didn't have to be." Culix answers the woman's retort to her earlier question. She frowns as a non-answer is given. "Given it's such a splendid question, maybe you cou-" and then there's the click, Culix goes from wary to alert in an instant. A dagger is drawn and rolled over her knuckles into her hand, "What did you do?" she asks.

Jarik raps a knuckle against one of the wood panels and humms softly. "Mahogany, fancy." Then he looks over to Lady Blythe when she calls him handsome with a bit of a blinking stare as if he wasn't fully paying attention. "No, just tickled something in the brain is all." Though he loses the slightly distracted look and stands a little straighter as the panel clicks behind her, suddenly wary.

"If someone related to this place could give us a straight answer, that'd be real, real appreciated." Reithak grumbles loudly, perking up a bit at the noise. "What's that? You not answering because you've got something else in mind? I'd recommend against trying anything, miss."

The panel is slowly pulled open... and Lady Blythe pulls out one of those glass decanters filled with wine. "Oh, relax your shoulders and blades," She says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I know Quintin can be an obtuse child, but we could not be further distanced."

The woman then strides across the table back over her seat. Wine is poured, deck of cards is once again picked. "Now, it is not that I am not answering to tease your charming selves," She smiles, "But it is Quintin's mansion and he is avery, _very_ careful man." Another card is flipped.

"So perhaps we should focus on this deed of yours, should we not?" Lady Blythe points at the seats surrounding the table. "Come. Sit." She takes a long sip from her glass.

Culix rubs her face with the hand not holding a dagger, "We're going round and round in circles." she complains then. "It's all just smoke and mirrors leading to nothing. I feel like I'm stuck in one of those dreams where you think you've woken up but it turns out you're still dreaming." she says, exasperation clear in her voice. "I knew it was fishy, but I expected a knife in the back not... whatever this is." she says and throws her hands up in an emphatic gesture of frustration. She puts her dagger away and then flumps into a chair. "Fine. I'm sitting. Say something that means something, or I'm about to just go back to Alexandria and tell Quintin he can fetch his own bloody deed and shove it up his arse, because I've just about had enough of all this vapid intrigue." she folds her arms across her chest and waits.

Her anger's edge is dulled somewhat by the fact that her feet don't touch the ground, and she kind of looks like a petulant child. She does have a lot of pointy objects on her though.

Carver looks at Culix, then shrugs. She moves back to the table as prompted. The sound of her chair scraping across the floor takes longer than it should and it's because she's dragging it right beside to the Lady Blythe. "What game we playin'?" She could mean the cards, she could mean what it is that the masked debutante is hoping to accomplish.

Helping them out of the goodness of her heart? Kinda doubt that to be true. Culix's irritation does warrant a smirk. Wee gobby feet kickin' at the air. "Honestly, I'm not even mad anymore. Now I just want to know what's behin' all this cloak and dagger stuff."

"I feel like I'm in a scandalous Crimson Pen, and somebody is about to get madly ravished. Kinda excitin'." Carver finishes.

"Well, usually if you find a mysterious person in a hidden alcove you get a bit wary when they're suddenly activating hidden switches. Suppose I'm at fault for barging in here though." Reithak shrugged, taking one of the spun around seats. "Alright, lets get to the bottom of this."

Carver has reconnected.

JArik eyes the seats but as the others sit down he shrugs and approaches one. Though he grabs it by the back, spins it around and sits on it backwards, scandalous. Folding his arms along the back of the chair he simply waits for the Lady to get to the point, even as he nods along with Culix's sentiments abouit where the deed could possible go.

Lady Blythe continues to smile, ignoring the fit of frustration from Culix. After all, was it even her business to begin with? She leans down under the heavy table, and after a moment she pulls out more glasses and starts pouring wine.

Though for Culix, she slides a martini glass full of cocktail cherries. "Do not worry darling, a blade to the back can be easily arranged." She smiles, and picks up the playing cards again.

"Dealer's choice," The woman says and then with a final riffle shuffle, slides the cards over to Carver. "Unless it is strip poker, darling, we would have to close the curtains."

The wine glass is picked up after. "Quintin is a very practical man, but he rarely hires outside help." She sips the glass. "Which leads me to the interesting question, why are you here for such a silly deed?"

She smiles at Culix. "Because he is unable to come himself, of course. And whomever else knows where that deed could be?" She pulls out few stacks of white and blood red chips, gently stacking them onto the table. "There are plenty of residents in this mansion. Many are more jumpy than you are, with all those pretty knives."

Culix smiles sweetly at Lady Blythe, "No, it couldn't be." she retorts on the topic of knives to the back.

She lets the talk about games go on without comment, and seems to relax slightly. She eventually speaks up again, "We're here because someone is paying us to be here. Why he wants it? He said something about it being seized by- who was it again?" she asks, glancing to her companions to fill in the information if they recall it. "Some kind of audit. So, we've told you something. Are you going to tell us something useful? Or is it just going to be more innuendo?"

Carver slides a hand over the cards, and then slides them over to herself. Where they lie for a second as she considers her options. She does stand up.

She does pull the curtains.

She starts dealing to all who are sitting. Strip poker it is! Or at least poker as the metaphorical cards are laid on the table by the others.

"Been a while since I played cards." Jarik murmurs as he looks at the stack. "Mostly with my father and I'm sure he was a complete cheat." He looks over to the others, saying "Caravan guard." With a shrug, as if that explains why his father would be a cheat. "So, he usually prefers to use the hulk in the armor.. hulk that is the armor.. whatever that guy with him was."

"And why exactly can't he come over here and deal with this? It's not like we've been attacked here, outside of a box that ran off with someone's sword." *Reithak shrugged.* "Haven't met anyone else at this manor aside from the servants."

Lady Blythe tilts her head. "An audit? Why would anyone want to audit this decrepit place in the first place?" She takes another sip, watching Carver move around and close the curtains. The very little outside light that was coming through the boarded windows is swiftly hidden behind the thick curtains.

"Is not looking for fortune in cards cheating fate itself?" She asks from Jarik, and then her smile widens, before she lets out a little laugh. "Lord Maximillian? Ah, I did wonder why they left with that silly old armor." Another sip from the wine. "No, he prefers to handle matters on his own. Poor Maximillian? They are there for the company." She reaches out and pats Jarik on the hand. "Let us not worry about them, let us enjoy the night instead."

"Now," She smoothes out the smooth surface of the table with her hands. "This deed. Quintin is a practical, overcareful and obsessed piece of a man. He would not place the deed in any _boring_ safe. Otherwise the butler upstairs would have simply fetched it for him."

There's another smile, and she shrugs her shoulders as if to shake off something. "Oh, this is exciting. Now, what would you like to know?"