Sunday 26 January 2014

III: The Baron's Daughter

Hodgkiss examines the room he is in, but doesn't notice anything particularly amiss - it is a sitting room, with what looks like a low table, a chaise-longue, and some arm chairs, and a desk. It's dark, though, and there is no electric light in the room. He hears the door to the room next door opening and closing.

Downstairs, Claspington, Kitson and Brindleton are chatting to the butler about art. [Let me know what questions you'd like to ask Smith, if any, and if there's anything you'd like to do.]

Meanwhile, the Baron leads Foxworth up the stairs to the landing, and then opens the first of two doors, leading him in to a chamber lit by lamplight. It is a grand room, with a high ceiling, and expensive curtains.

Sitting in the centre of the room is a pretty girl, somewhere between 16 and 20, who is obviously the Baron's daughter. She is sitting in front of a painting, staring at it intently. Next to her is a trolley holding a pail of water and some glasses, and a plate of half-eaten food. There is also a bed-pan next to her.

"She's been like this ever since she saw the painting," the Baron said. "She eats and drinks in here, and...well, so you can see. If we try to remove her, she simply becomes impossible."

The painting itself is highly unusual. It is a collection of 11 people arranged roughly in a rectangle, viewed from above. Each is looking upwards towards the viewer. Their arms are linked together in a kind of web. Their faces are pale, and yet seem somehow to have a luminescent green hue lurking underneath.

31 comments:

  1. "Smith, the painting that seems to be bothering the Baron's daughter. is it by the same artist?"

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    1. "I believe so, sir," says Smith. He's then lead out of the room by Claspington, giving Kitson and Brindleton the opportunity to do some snooping. [See G+ comments.]

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  2. "Hello there Miss. Perhaps you could tell me about this painting?" - Foxworth attempts to engage the girl in conversation, positioning himself to her side, and attempting to scrutinize the painting more closely.

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    1. She doesn't so much as glance at Foxworth, remaining focused on the painting. "There are eleven of them," she whispers. "Eleven shells."

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    2. Foxworth whispers to the Baron "Have you considered destroying the painting? I have no idea what affect that would have on the young woman's state of mind, but it might be a final option."

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    3. The Baron nods, and whispers back "That is something that I have considered. But I am extremely wary of the consequences. She is, quite literally it seems, spellbound."

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    4. Foxworth is going to employ his knowledge of Mysticism (how do skill checks work in this?) to see if he can notice anything familiar in the painting's arrangement.

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    5. [I'll do the rolls myself and let you know if they succeed or fail.]

      Foxworth notices that the arrangement of the figures is reminiscent of the way the Tree of Life, the Sephiroth, is arranged in Kabbalah. [See here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Tree_of_life_bahir_hebrew.png]

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    6. Foxworth interjects his body between the girl's line-of-sight and the painting to see what happens.

      (Also -do any of my colleagues have mesmerism or hypnosis as an ability?)

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    7. [I don't believe so... Will create a new post to deal with what comes next.]

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  3. Hodgkiss opens the curtains a crack to let a little light in, and then quietly starts to look around the room for anything out of the ordinary.

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    1. It seems an ordinary room, although the desk looks like it has various papers on it - it's clearly often in use. There isn't quite enough light to read properly, though.

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    2. [It is still mid-afternoon, right?]

      Hodgkiss takes up some of the papers over to the window and quickly starts to scan through them.

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    3. [Dusk by now really. There is just enough light to read by the window.]

      The papers are correspondences of various kinds. Most of it rather ordinary, but the Baron seems to have been in contact with an art collector in London called Hermann Adler about the Defernex painting, asking about its history and provenance. Adler has written a reply saying that the painting was only recently painted and he considers it a movement by Defernex to a new plateau of accomplishment.

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    4. (I'm referring to the Defernex painting that the Baron's daughter is looking at, not the one in the sitting room.)

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    5. Hodgkiss folds the letter carefully and slips it into his inside pocket, replacing the others as carefully as he can.

      He then exits the room and attempts to walk quietly back down the stairs towards the WC and then on to the reception room where he expects everyone apart from whoever went in the other room to be.

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    6. Done. He appears back in the sitting room with the others.

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    7. [Phew!]

      "Hello chaps, sorry, must have got turned around then! What are we all talking about?"

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    8. "Art, eh? Reminds me of some research I've been doing recently [raises eyebrow]. For, erm, a new book. Suspicious circumstances [taps nose] when a painter [meaningful look] increases in talent suddenly. My detective investigates what the cause could be. Who knows where the mystery might lead?"

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    9. "We have already discussed that Hodgkiss. It leads to France."

      Pauses. Sips his drink.

      "You know Hodgkiss, there's a rather unusual inscription on the back of this painting.... perhaps you should note it down."

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    10. "France you say? Well [pats breast pocket absent-mindedly], I'd have thought for a start one could get information about the painter much closer to home. London, I'd wager. Yes, [pats pocket again], London."

      Recovers glass from wherever he had put it before, realises it is empty and shakes his head.

      "I will take a look at the back of that painting though, let me get my notebook."

      [makes a copy of the inscription, and takes some details down about the arrangement in this painting]

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  4. Trying to chat up the butler pretending to be an art collector

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    1. He chats back enthusiastically enough. He clearly fancies himself as having a bit of an eye for art. He says that Defernex was recommended by a man at the club, who everybody calls Admiral Nelson.

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    2. I want all the information I can get on both: appearance, location, background, history. Where this club is, etc.
      Not afraid to display _untoward fascination_

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    3. He means another local gentleman's club called The Tynemouth Circle, which is in Tynemouth, a village by the sea not far from Newcastle. The man called "Admiral Nelson" was given the nickname because of his appearance - he has lost an eye and an arm, just like Admiral Nelson, apparently during the Crimean War. He's incredibly old.

      Regarding the painting, Smith doesn't know all that much. Just that Defernex painted it within the last 10 years or so, and it's in the south of France near a village called Macon, which is close to Lyons. He knows Defernex lives near there.

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    4. Thank you, sir, if there is anything else you'd like to communicate to a fellow admirer of…art, do let me know.

      Otherwise I shall rejoin my friends

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  5. As soon as Smith is out of the room Brindleton scratches down the Arabic inscription (again) and then snoops around looking for letters or newspapers or books out of place or anything that seems generally out of the ordinary. He doesn't know the first thing about art but he knows what an amateur sleuth is supposed to do and if there's correspondence with this Defernex or if the father is up to some poisoning scheme or anything like that, he means to find it out, by Jove.
    He will stop short of actually ransacking the place, but otherwise he will be quite impertinent and ungentlemanly in rifling through private affairs.

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    1. He notes down the Arabic. He also finds a diary in the drawer of a desk. But it is locked with an old-fashioned key/clasp affair.

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    2. Does Brindleton want to do anything with the diary? He has just a few seconds until Smith and Claspington return.

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  6. Kitson finishes his drink, pours another. Informs the room thusly;

    "I'll tell you one dammn thing. I am not going to _France_"

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