Toil and Trouble (for diceroller4)

If Nancy were to poke her head back out into the hallway, she wouldn’t find the source of the disturbance. Merely the suit of armor, still retaining its original pose with sword to the ground and mask over face. The halls were empty otherwise, the cell door still closed and locked, the door at the end of the hallway still glimmering with light from the other side.

Nothing new awaited Nancy in the lobby - at least, not yet.

[diceroller4]

Nancy let out a small puzzled sound upon seeing no source for the noise she hear. She glanced at the suit of armor and shrugged. "Hey you'll keep an eye out here right," she joked towards the armor. "Gonna keep me safe from all the ghosts and ghoulies good Sir?" As nervous as she was joking around with the inanimate decoration was helping to keep her calm.

Move back she took another look at the keys before heading towards the door she had seen before. Perhaps if she checked out the lock she could find some subtle hint as to which key was the right one.

The knight, as one might hope, did not respond. The hallways beckoned and so Nancy walked past without a response from her inanimate pal. Though once she was a few steps out, the silence of the dark and desolate hallway - formerly only occupied by the occasional rain drop or echo of a turning page from upstairs - was briefly broken. With a loud, clumsy ‘Thud.’

A look around the perimeters and no monster or person was to be found at the source of the noise. The sound itself was clunky and weighted, almost like something metal being knocked against the floor. Like a metal door’s hinges closing shut in the wind, or perhaps that finicky librarian upstairs… there were a few explanations for the source of the sound. With no time to waste, the end of the hall waited for Nancy.

Once she made it there, she’d find someone had already so generously left a key in the door. There was a stripe on this one as well, a black one, and it’s end hung out of the door’s lock. Accompanying the lonely key was a note to it’s left, previously out of sight behind the wine racks. This one appeared to be torn out of some kind of management statement. Like it’s defaced poem before it, it was marked with thick ink, leaving only certain pieces visible.

TREASURED SERVANTS,

Some of you seem to be rather negligent to the exquisite nature of the manor with which you serve. Whether you are here by debt or by wilful employment, the Kendall’s have invited you into their home at very little cost of your own, to enjoy their wealth and splendor. Some of you have not been showing your gratitude.

XXX XXXX XX XXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXX XX XXXXXXX XX the XXXXXXXXXXX XX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX. XX XXXX XX XXX XXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXX XX XXXX XX XXX most expensive XXX XXXXXXXXX XXXX XX XXXXX. Whomever of our servants is deciding to help themselves without replacing what they take are diminishing our limited supply.

All servants are to report to their quarters at noon and await punishment. XX XXXXXXX XX key XX XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX, each and every servant, innocent or guilty, will be punished until the ne’er-do-well chooses to reveal themselves if not for their fellow servant’s XXXX XX is XXXXXXX tradition. Once they do admit to their crime, they will be quickly XXXXXXXXXXX XXX XXXXX the XXXXXXXX way out XXX XXXX.

Your regards,

The Management

[diceroller4]

Nancy was finding the noises that occasionally seemed to fill the basement despite not having a source a little disturbing but she did her best not to let it bother her. Instead she focused on the door she was heading towards, and the key that stuck out of it. Grinning she gave the key a quick try, only a little disappointed when it didn't work. It wasn't like she had expected it to so she pocket the black key for the moment and started reading the note.

Going over what was written she couldn't help a small frown. She was fairly glad she hadn't worked here back in the day if punishing everyone was a common occurrence, especially if it was anything like the punishment she had gotten earlier. She'd especially hate to be the one who called that punishment down on the others if they ever found out. For the moment though she tried to focus on what kind of clue she could find in the words before her.

She had a feeling that the bit about expense was the most important line, it was after all left unmarked despite much of the words around it getting scribbled over. However the question was the most expensive what? Glancing around for a moment Nancy's eyes fell on the wine around her and she had an idea. She quickly rushed back to the room with the keys and sure enough she confirmed the colors on the keys. Red, yellow, and white; wine colors. Now she just needed to learn about the costs of wines.

After considering the problem Nancy let out a groan and headed back towards the study. She knew absolutely nothing about wine and so there was no way she was going to figure this out without help. Once she was back in the book filled room she looked around at the volumes around her and sighed. She could try to do this alone, but where would she even start. Instead with nervous steps she approached the book with the flipping pages.

"Excuse me," she called out in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry to disturb you but could you help me? Please? I need a book about wine costs and I don't know where to find one." Normally she probably would have felt silly talking to an empty room but at the moment she was more scared about the fact that room was apparently not so empty, and may take offence to her question.

When Nancy would return to the dark study, her first step into the room again would bring about a brief silence from the turning pages. Whomever was there wasn’t bothered for long though, perhaps just surprised she had bothered to come back. Once again, those pages began to turn. Thwip. The troublemaker had certainly learned her lesson, it seemed, and there was too much work to do to bother with shooing her away. Thwip. The pages soon picked back up their average pace.

Twhip.

‘Excuse me.’ As suddenly as they had started, the pages stopped turning once again, the last folded corner drafting to a pause as it laid across the hard cover. Whomever was there was listening. No facial expressions to tell Nancy if they held a grudge over her past grievances; no sounds to even prove they were there. Yet she knew, and they knew, that someone was. And as her request was placed, the candle’s flame flickered in the breeze, as if someone sitting next to it had stood up.

Imprinted on the carpet, obscured by darkness, were the imprint of old, worn boots, the soles of which led back to a certain bookcase poised in the middle of the room, stocked with public records, census, et cetera. The sound of brushing finger, thumping across the spines of countless books, told Nancy she had been heard… and eventually settled on the spine of an old dictionary. With no one there to hold it, the book still pulled itself free from the shelf, rising into the air and opening wide as the pages flipped on their own time.

Until eventually, it settled on a certain page. The book lowered itself down to Nancy’s height, and held itself open for her eyes. Amidst the old dictionary, someone had slipped in an old grocery catalog.

“Vin Gris; Eighteen shillings,”
“Skin-Contact; Twenty-five shillings,”
“Merlot; Thirty-four shillings,”
“Vin Jaune: Thirty shillings."

And that was seemingly all. A sound of a foot tapping below tested Nancy’s time constraints.

[diceroller4]

Nancy tensed as the spirit or what ever it was set to work around her. She finally let out a sigh of relief when a book was held out before her. Reaching out she took the list from the book in her own hands, eager to let the spirit get back to it’s paper shuffling as the sound of a tapping foot put her in a bit of a rush. “Thank you,” she said before putting her attention towards the list.

“Okay so here’s red and yellow but where’s white,” she mumbled as she tried to work things out. It didn’t make sense that the list would be missing one. She could try the red banded key then, it was the highest, but still something didn’t feel right. After a few moments of staring at the page she suddenly gained a small smile on her face. Whoever had made up the catalog had printed the color of the wine in that same colored ink, clever unless you were writing shite ink on white paper.

Moving over to a candle she held the list out over the flame, feeling her heart soar as she saw the words indeed printed there in white. Sure enough it was a good thing she checked as the white wine was indeed the most costly. “Thanks again,” she called out to the room returning the list to the book it had come from before rushing back into the passageway.

Heading to the room with the keys she eagerly grabbed up the white key, though she couldn’t help pausing for just a moment to be sure nothing happened. Once she was sure nothing was about to fall on her head she turned and headed towards the door. She had the key now so she just had to try it in the lock. In side she was filled with joy, glad her mind hadn’t failed her in this.

Sauvignon Blanc; Fifty shillings

The book didn’t budge the whole time Nancy read over the grocery list, intending on staying suspended in air rather impatiently until she was finally finished with the piece. When she brought the paper dangerously close to a lit flame, that almost struck a nerve – one made abundantly clear by the silence of the previously tapping foot – but when she pulled back, it started again. The book closed once the paper was returned, and found it’s place amongst the shelves again, so the busy librarian could get back to work finally.

Thwip.

In her haste to return to the awaiting keys, Nancy must have missed that the stoic Knight statue, previously facing the opposite wall, was now facing the staircase she had come from. It’s hands, face or stature hadn’t changed even the slightest bit, but there was definitely a new aura around it… still, it was just a statue, and thus didn’t bother Nancy while she moved past to celebrate her clever solution to a mysterious puzzle.

The white key was acquired. No traps were sprung. No demons were summoned. It was just a key, after all. So she now had an easy way onto the next phase of the awaiting cellar, undeterred by the many secrets the house seemed to hold and certainly untouched by any stingy invisible hands. Everything was normal. Or so it seemed.

A series of sounds would cue Nancy that not everything was as it seemed. Firstly, the familiar sound of metal scraping across the floor as someone or something made of granite was moved. That sound only lasted a matter of seconds. After, it was replaced by the sound of heavy footsteps, stomping off to a farther part of the house. And finally, the squeaking of rusted, metal hinges.

When she returned to the hallway, the Knight was nowhere to be found. And the closed cell’s door hung wide open.

[diceroller4]

Nancy froze as she heard the unexpected sound fill the cellar. "That can't be good," she muttered. Moving back into the hallway she looked around and was confused at first to find the armor missing, unsure how something of it's size could just vanish. Further seeing the previously close cell door now open had her really confused.

With a small gulp the brunette pocketed the white key and moved closer to the previously closed door. "Please no ghost, please no ghost, please no ghost," she whispered to herself as she approached nervously. Peaking past the now open cell door she took a quick look around to be sure there was nothing waiting beyond, her flashlight being aimed into the darkness to reveal any hidden secrets.

As the flashlight scanned across the dungeon cell, Nancy got her wish - no ghosts. None that could be seen, anyway. The room was completely devoid of life, but there were certain signs something had been living there at one point. To start with, heavy chains laid on the ground, connected right back to the wall. The wrist clamps were broken straight in half, worn down from heavy straining.

And surrounding the chains was a plain dinner plate surrounded by torn scraps of food and the unidentified bones of numerous animals, past meals of whatever had lived here. It didn’t live here anymore, it seemed.

Thump. From outside, a thunderous footstep shook the whole room. Thump. And another, Thump. Even the sound of turning pages upstairs had come to a stop. Something was nearing the hallway entrance outside.

[diceroller4]

Nancy couldn't help but stare for a moment. Those chains and the scraps of food... what could have been here? And how long was it here, for that matter how long ago did it leave? There were no remains to indicate anything had starved to death there and the scraps of food didn't all look old enough to be from something that had been gone decades.

Already feeling nervous the brunette jumped and let out a loud shriek of surprise at the first thump, dropping her flashlight. She clamped a hand over her mouth, her heart beating a mile a minute as she dropped to the ground to retrieve her flashlight. She did't know what that was and for once she didn't care. Turning she made to rush for the locked door, intending to use the white key to get it open and get going before whatever was making that noise arrived.