Play@YSDC

The sun is high in the sky when Maud makes her way through the streets of Westminster towards The Strand and the Adelphi Theatre, where the production Arthur had the playbill for was shown. She passes by newsboys and fruit hawkers as she turns under the awning overhanging the show poster - for a showing of The Gondoliers - and draws up to the ticket booth.

Maud has spent the morning at her small office sorting affairs with her secretary; she books a few days off for the investigation and arranges for messages to be sent to the stable offices below her apartment. When she reaches the theatre she recognises the fellow in the ticket booth. "Allo Benjie, it's nice to see you again. How's Mrs Benjie?" Maud lowers her voice. "How are you on faces Benjie? I'm researching for a tour on the toffs and theatre and came across this portrait. Do you recognise this lovely lady? I thought maybe she's an actress." She unrolls the portrait and lays it flat on the desk for him to see.

"Ahh, Miss Marrick. She's doing well enough, I suppose." Benjie flashes a grin as Maud shows him the sketched portrait. He peers at the drawing of the mystery woman and shakes his head. "No, I'm afraid I don't recognise her, although she is looking a rather theatrical sort, though, isn't she? Sorry." He begins to slide the portrait back across the desk and then pauses. "Actually..." He looks at the sketch again, pulling a set of spectacles from his pocket and holding them to his eyes as he nods to himself. "Yes. She does look rather like a woman who's been in here quite a bit recently... I'm sorry to say I haven't a name for you, though. Quite the popular lady, though, I'm taking it, always had a different man on her arm. Perhaps some of the other gents inside might have more for you." He thumbs towards the back.

"Hmm, she sounds just the sort to add some spice to the tour. Thankyou Benjie, you've been very helpful." Maud tucks the portrait away and pushes open the swinging doors into the theatre. She then walks purposely towards the backstage area looking for anyone who might be helpful.

As Maud makes her way through the backstage area, it occurs to her that the current production seems rather cheap and slipshod. The sets seem to be rather poor; there also seems to be a disturbed undercurrent. Most everyone seems rather preoccupied and too busy to speak to Maud; eventually she finds a stagehand who'll speak to her.

"Just a minute," he says, as he speaks to another stagehand for a moment. "Who are you? Ahh, but where are my manners -- Richard Chapman is my name. Can I be of some help?"

Maud bows her head. " That's very kind of you Mr Chapman, I appreciate you must be very busy. My name is Maud Marrick. I operate an exclusive tour-guide company specialising in Theatrical productions. It is very beneficial for the theatres in introducing new patrons. I can give you references and testimonials if you like but as you are so busy I'd hate to bother you with them now. However, just a few minutes getting a run-down of 'The Gondoliers' and some behind-the-scene details would enable me to create a brief synopsis and start structuring a tour. I always think the chaps behind the scenes never get the credit they deserve. Do you have a good team here Mr Chapman?"

"For the most part, for the most part," Chapman says. "A few that are only here for the money, but... well, I'm sure you know as well as I that the theatre's not exactly the place to be for the payouts, so most of those type folk are elsewhere. I suppose that your services could be quite beneficial; it's just that the showings haven't been doing as well as we'd like. Most of these folk just haven't the motivation since what happened to Freddie..."

Mr. Chapman nods slowly. "I'd appreciate that, Miss, thank you. Well, Freddie Milton always was a bit of a rake, not certain if you know him or not, he always did bring his friends 'round and they behaved most appallingly. And then when that foreign lady... what was her name... Madame something-or-other? started showing... well, that was his downward spiral. Freddie never could resist a pretty face, and those two and some of the cast started having some get-togethers, and the goings-on there are only the stuff of the worst kind of rumours, I assure you." He looks rather grim as he comes to the last part. "After a few weeks, Madame So-and-So moved on, and Freddie did himself in, unfortunately." He looks as if he's beginning to say something that never materializes.

OOC,You can go ahead and make a Fast Talk or Persuade roll to see if you can coax it out of him.

GM,persuade(40) [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3296517/]1d100=16[/url]

Maud pats his arm, "Poor Mr Chapman! You've had a terrible time, lets go back to the green room and I'll make you a cup of tea. " She takes his arm and gently leads him towards the rooms behind the stage, nodding at the other stage hands as she goes. "What were you going to say Mr Chapman?"

"Thank you, my dear," Chapman says. "It's just that all Freddie's responsibilities have been put on my shoulders, and sad to say I'm not quite of his calibre. He wasn't always the most likable of men, but a businessman he was."

Once he's sitting down with his tea, he turns towards Maud. "The wild parties that some of the folk were having with Madame whatever-her-name weren't the last of it. The theatre was having bad luck, things going missing backstage, sets being damaged, even theater-goer's jackets being slashed. There was talk among the cast and crew that the play was cursed. Then people started getting hurt. Two vanished and were never found. All of these were people who were in the Madame's circle." He drinks a bit and then makes a gesture with his free hand. "Bart Maxwell, that's one of the fellows that was in the circle. Set-painter. Don't know where he got to. Haven't seen him since the Duchess of Malfi stopped."

"When did Madame stop coming to the theatre - and did the bad luck stop then or is it still continuing?"Maud sips her tea. Are there any of her circle still around?" She opens her bag and pulls out the rolled portrait of the unknown lady but doesn't unroll it.

"It seems to have stopped once the woman left," Mr Chapman says. "She stopped coming 'round shortly after the ending of The Duchess' run. So this show's been mostly free of her influence. As to her circle? Most of them left the theatre when she did. Bart Maxwell was around for a bit - he helped paint many of the sets we're using for this show - but he left about two weeks back, and left no word as to where he was going. He has a rented house in Greenwich, I can get you the exact address if you'd like. The only other one from her circle is Lily Foile, one of the ones who disappeared. We found her in a frightful state." He finishes his tea. "Wasn't anywhere else for her to go except the streets or the workhouse, so I gave her a job cleaning up the theatre. I'm not exactly sure where she is at the moment."

OOC,Had to backtrack a bit - I had said that the two disappeared folk never reappeared, when one of them did. Whoops.

"That address would be very helpful thankyou." Maud unrolls the portrait and shows it to Mr Chapman. "I don't suppose you know who this is?"

OOC,Don't worry! I'm having fun trying to keep track and I've only got the one character to deal with!

Chapman nods, pulls a pair of spectacles from his pocket, and examines the portrait. "This looks rather like our mystery woman," he says. "Quite a good likeness, in fact. Follow me," Chapman says. "I'll get that address for you."

Maud puts down her cup and stands up. "Certainly Mr. Chapman, thankyou." Maud follows the stage manager. "Point out Miss Foile if you see her here." Maud concentrates on avoiding delicate-looking props and stepping over ropes and weights.

Chapman leads Maud through the backstage area and holds up one finger. "One moment," he says and disappears up a stairway into his office. After a minute or so, he comes back down the stairs. "The address we've got on file for Mr Maxwell is 10 Haddo Street in Greenwich." He walks over to Maud. "That..." he cranes his head to look towards a woman a short way up a side hallway, and puts his spectacles back on. "I can't be certain... I believe that may be Miss Foile up there."

Maud takes out a scrap of paper from her bag and writes down the address. "Thankyou Mr Chapman, you have been very kind. I'm sure there is some substance here for a tour although maybe you'd rather I waited until the theatre was running smoothly?" Maud digs out a business card and hands it to him. "Just drop me a line when you are ready. Now I've taken up too much of your time so I'll let you get on. I'll just have a word with Miss Foile on my way out." Maud extends her hand in thanks.

Maud walks up the steps to the woman. She smiles, "Lily?"

Mr Chapman takes the card from Maud and kisses her hand. "Thank you, Miss Marrick, we will be contacting you in a few weeks. Any help would be of course appreciated. Good-bye for now." Chapman bows to Maud and goes off to return to work.

"Yes?" The cleaning woman turns towards Maud as she approaches. She looks as if she's seen better days -- strands of her brown hair hang around her face, her face is exceptionally pale, and her eyes have a haunted expression. It looks as if she hasn't slept very well in a number of weeks. Having been present at that interview, Maud sees some similarity between the appearances of Ms Foile and Mr Borelli. But most notable, one of her eyes is foggy and like the eye of a blind person. As she puts her broom down, Maud also notices that she is missing two fingers from her left hand.

"Mr Chapman said we could talk. Here, come and sit down for a few minutes." Maud leads the way to some steps, brushes the steps with her glove and sits down. "My name's Maud and I'm trying to find a friend of mine who has gone missing. He's a nice young man and I'm very worried about him. I was hoping you may be able to help me, Lily." Maud takes out the portrait and shows it to Lily. "Now I have a feeling you don't want to see this picture but I'm really hoping you can tell me who this woman is or something about her. Could you take a quick look at it as I think she has something to do with my friend Arthur's disappearance."

OCC,I'm wondering if the others may be heading to Mr. Maurice's for tea and don't want to hold them up; so I've bundled all my sentences together in one post. As it looks like Lily is traumatized Maud would normally try a softly-softly approach. But as time is running out she's going for shock-treatment instead.

Lily sits on the step next to Maud and as she sits looks at the picture. She puts her hand to her mouth. "Oh my." She touches her hand, the one with the missing fingers. She turns her head to look at Maud. "Arthur Sommers? I remember Arthur... so charming he was, so bright. He and Peter and Max... all three courted," she points towards the drawing, "that lady. She took him? Poor Arthur... poor, poor Arthur... that house...

OOC,No worries, nobody else is there yet.

"Oh yes, Arthur is a fine gentleman, a fine gentleman indeed." Lily shakes her head several times in quick succession. "The lady's not nice, not at all. Oh, she seems so at first, but she's really not. Do you think that anyone who would do this could be so nice?" She holds her hand up in front of her face. "And over time, she makes other folk be not so nice, either. Max, he was such a dear at first... but by the end, I was sort of afraid of him. I... I don't know her name..."

OOC,Psychology roll.

Maud quietly feels more optimistic on hearing the present tense used to describe Arthur. She looks more closely at the hands"Your poor hands Lily! How did this happen? Why did the lady do this?"

Psychology,psychology (5%), roll=13 % (rolled by hand as I can't access invisible Castle)

Lily wraps her arms around herself. "Last I remember is going to the house where she said she lived, the house in Camden Town, myself and several others from the theater. It was the first I'd ever been there, she was having a party for us after one of the shows... Max was there... We were drinking too much. Last I recall clearly was her raising a curtain and there was -- oh, it was horrible -- a man's arm... but withered, dry, like one of the mummies at the Museum! Reaching for the sky... then... everyone was... doing things with each other... but I'm not that kind of girl, so I tried to leave. She stopped me at the door, asked where I was going... then she tries to kiss me... only bits after that." She covers her face with her hands and when she looks up, tears cover her face. "I remember being held down... she had a knife... feeling her cut. Hearing things crawl... horrible things. The stink..." She shudders with the memory. "Then I awaken on another wooden floor. Not her house, another... in the train yards at King's Cross and St. Pancras. And... this had happened," she says, gesturing to her hand. "And my eye..." She turns towards Maud and raises her voice. "Most frightening thing is... I'm afraid... I'm afraid that she can make me go back... even if I don't want to... help me!" She buries her face in her hands again and begins to sob more loudly.

Maud feels a bit sick. "Can you see out of that eye?" She puts her arm round Lily's shoulders. "Lily, you have been exceptionally brave, I wonder you can even talk about your experiences. But everything you can tell me is helpful. You see, my friends and I are determined to stop this woman and rescue Arthur and the others. Now, from what you've told me it sounds like it's going to be very dangerous but at least we know and can take precautions." Maud murmurs to herself," i wonder if she uses hypnotism like they do in magic shows." Then she looks at Lily."You may be right about her influence over you. Is there anywhere outside London you can go to stay for a while, with family maybe? If you were far away you may be safer. If you do go, send me your address and I'll let you know when it's safe to return." Maud grimaces to herself, Hopefully.

"It's time for me to go Lily, is there anything else at all you can think of which will help my friends and me? Do you remember the address of the house in Campden or something near it like a Landmark? Did you go by private or hired carriage? And the house at the train yards, it must have been a rough place, can you tell me anything about it; the colour of the front door, was it in the middle of the terrace, who you saw there? Please think hard Lily; anything you can tell me will help."

ooc,Which fingers are missing on the left hand?

"My Aunt Sophie lives in Margate, it's not all that far from London, but I'm sure I could go there." She shakes her head. "No, I can't see out of this eye. Makes it a bit hard to do my work, but... Please do whatever you can for any caught there at the house. I know that I'd feel better..." She looks grim. "And I'm certain they would too, though unfortunately I don't know how they might be when you find them.

"The house was in Camden Square. The door was a dark colour... a dark red? Maybe even black? I'm not sure on the number, though... Pete Blaylock was one of those there, he just hired a carriage. The house in the train yard, so far as I could tell, was vacant, I don't think anyone lived there. Anyhow, it's the only house in the yard."

OOC,It's her little finger, index finger and middle finger that are missing.

Maud presses Lily's good hand. "You have a good memory and, thanks to you, some leads that we can follow to track down Arthur and your other friends. Now I want you to come with me and I'll put you in a cab who'll take you straight home to get your things and then onto the station." Maud stands up all business like, brushes down her skirt. "Come along and I'll clear it with Mr Chapman on the way out." She leads the way out past Mr. Chapman's office on the lookout for him. "Is Max the same as Bart Maxwell?" she asks Lily.

OOC,Maud thinks it's a bit odd that the lady should only appear while the [b]Duchess of Malfi[/b] is shown. She wonders if there is anything especial about the play that could be relevant or if it is just coincidence. Know (75%) Art (20%) [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3320033/]1d100=18[/url]

"Thank you. I hope you can help them. And the more distance between myself and Madame, the better." Maud can hear Chapman's voice yelling nearby. As Maud and Lily walk across the stage towards where he stands, arms moving wildly as he barks orders at an employee, Lily nods when asked about Maxwell.

OOC,It's probably mostly coincidental, although [i][b]Duchess[/b][/i] has many murders, suicides, and depravity (one character is a grave-robbing cannibal) and seems to fit with the personality of this woman as you know it.

Maud waits patiently until the manager has finished his harangue. Then she walks up to have a quiet word with him. "Mr Chapman, sorry to bother you again. I've been talking to Lily, you've got a bright girl there, worth hanging onto although you might want to employ her in something more administrative rather than cleaning because of her hand. I have reason to believe that the thugs which caused her harm may be tempted to do so again. Would you be kind enough to give her leave to go away for a couple of weeks to stay safe and recuperate? I'll pay for her fare and see her on her way."

Mr Chapman thinks for a moment, letting this idea digest, then nods. "That's fine. Miss Foile can take as long as she needs to -- I know these last few weeks have been hard for her, and a vacation might be just what is needed to help her relax somewhat, anyway."

"Thankyou very much Mr Chapman." Maud bows her head and then turns. "Come along Lily, lets get you on your way. Here, before you leave," Maud rummages in her bag and pulls out her purse. She gives Lily some money, "This should be enough for your fares. I'll send a message to the local postoffice when it's safe for you to return and here's my business card should you need to contact me. Okay let's find you a cab." She leads Lily out of the theatre, nods to Benjie, and walks along the cab stand looking for a driver she knows.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Marrick," says Lily as she pockets the money Maud gives her and the card. Eventually, a cab is hailed and as Lily steps into the waiting cab she looks back towards Maud. "And good luck to you and your friends in helping Arthur and the others."

Maud smiles and waves to Lily before shutting the door. "Thankyou Lily, I think we may need it. Have a good trip!" She looks up at the driver. "Afternoon John, how are you? Please can you drive Miss Foile home, wait for her while she picks up her luggage, then drive her to Charing Cross station. I'd be obliged if you can deter anyone speaking to her." Maud winks, "There may be some unsavory characters after her so it's the regular damsel-in-distress scenario. I'm sure you're up to the challenge; she's a nice girl despite her looks." She passes up a tip and then backs away looking for another cab to drive her to Richard's mansion. She's thirsty, looking forward to the tea, and also very worried about what they are getting in to. She's glad that Lily is out of it now.

By the time Maud's carriage draws up to Richard's manor, she sees Alicia has also arrived and stands on the stoop waiting to be let in. She disembarks and hurries up towards the front door to meet with the reporter.

OOC,You can start posting back in The Investigation thread.