Upstairs Corridor

[Overlord87]

Jonathan joins the two people talking in the corridor, a note of impatience in his voice. "Well, now we've got a rope... shall we use it? I'd like to be out of this place as soon as possible... and the train could leave any moment."

[Ritterton]

"I think we can make a go of it. Do you want me to hold the rope after we tie it down to something? Then if you are game, you could use it to climb down to the station platform, holler up what you see blocking the door?" Artemis' neck stiffened at the thought of going back into the room, but if they could get someone out on the outside, that may help them understand what was going on, he told himself.

[Ejstricker]

Countess Bathory favours them both with a small smile. "Do you think it will be safe out there? No, of course it must. You two would no best, wouldn't you?" She looked thoughtful. "Perhaps it would be best if we didn't mention it to the others just yet. With each additional person we involve, we increase the risks that the traitor in our midst will learn of our plans and make a move to stop us. I feel sure that the two of you, being the ones who took it upon yourselves to craft a rope, can be trusted but I am very uncertain of the others. Particularly that fellow, Mr. Hagan, who came up here earlier without a thought to the rest of us, isolating himself from the safety of our companionship and doing who knows what in the time it took for him to come down again."

[Ritterton]

"Well, I don't know about him, he seemed a bit more scared than anything else, but Jonathan, if you are game, we can get you down to the platform. Lady Bathory, would you will be willing to hold the light, or torch as you all call it?"

He turned and went back into the Room Two and looked about to find a place to tie the rope to on the bed's frame.

[jimjam]

Ilona comes up the stairs, her hair now messy from wearing the gas mask, no jacket, no shoes, and a large tear in her stocking. She goes over to the first locked door and goes through the keys until she finds the right one.

[Laraqua]

Frank yelled up, "Hey, is everything alright up there?" moments before Miss Aston came up the stairs.

[Laraqua]

Half a minute later, Artemis speaks from the second bedroom: "Countess, he's outside on the platform. Maybe you could run down and let folks know in the waiting room that we have a way of getting out of the building if we want or need to do so."

[Ejstricker]

The countess turns to Miss Aston and whispers in a low voices, "I'm not sure whether we should tell them just yet. The man with the gun gives me the most awful shivers and that Mr. Hagan ... why I swear he knows something more than what he's saying! He went off on his own earlier and I imagine it must have been him who tore up that Bible for who else could it have been? I dread to think what they should do if they realise we have a way out of this trap."

[Laraqua]

Ilona Aston manages to unlock the first door.

Places to go:

• Door 1 (unlocked).
• Door 2 (unlocked).
• Door 3 (unlocked).
• Door 4 (unlocked).
• End Door (unlocked).
• Main Waiting room (accessible).

[jimjam]

"We should keep an eye on him." She whispers back before entering the room.

[jimjam]

Ilona walks back into the corridor. "Nothing in there, it seems someone graffitied the inside the wardrobe but I couldn't see what it said."

[Ejstricker]

"I doubt it was anything important," says the countess. "So peculiar that so many of these rooms are so ... vandalised. I can only imagine what it might mean." She pauses, then tilts her head to one side and smiles at her oddly. It's hard to describe what makes it so odd. Perhaps it's the fact that she is standing here in a dark corridor, utterly alone, no light but that which comes up the stairwell and ... is it just Miss Aston's imagination or has she been standing there in that exact place the whole time? Had her entire body, in fact, been in exactly that spot she'd left her when she'd gone into the first room, waiting for her to return to the corridor before shifting and gesturing. Perhaps it's just the craziness of this moment and the night that surrounds it. Perhaps it's how her ruby red lips are the only colour glimpsed in the darkness. "Perhaps try the third room?"

[jimjam]

"Ah, yes. Let's go to the third room." Ilona smiles at the countess nervously and heads over to the door and unlocks it with the key.

[Ritterton]

Artemis stepped out into the corriodor and looked about. Down the corridor he saw the two ladies enter one of the rooms that had been previously locked. With the flashlight in hand, he set off to follow after them.

Spoiler:

Laraque, let me know timing wise when I can follow into the room.

[Ejstricker]

It took him a moment to notice the countess still stood in the darkness of the corridor. When he turns toward the door to follow Miss Aston, she speaks. "Mr. Durant's been yelling up the stairs awhile. I think he's worried about where you've been and what you've seen. Most everyone has gone down below. If there's a way out, are you going to inform everyone? And is it safe out there?"

[Laraqua]

You may leave the dark corridor for any room whenever you please.

[Ritterton]

"Mr. Durant's been yelling up the stairs awhile. I think he's worried about where you've been and what you've seen. Most everyone has gone down below. If there's a way out, are you going to inform everyone? And is it safe out there?"

Richter jumped and the beam of the flash light bounced about as his hands moved in reaction to the Countess' voice in the darkness. He gathered his senses and turned towards her and shined the light down at the floor in front of her.

"Oh, oh, I thought you ladies had told them that we were trying to get Jonathan outdoors. Well, we have a rope down to the platform. The train is just stopped waiting there. We have a way out, and I guess back in, albeit it would be climbing back up. Apparently the doors are chained shut and not able to be opened. As to safe, I really don't know how to answer that with all that has been going in this place since we all arrived. Have you ladies discovered anything of note?"

[Ejstricker]

First she raises her hand to protect her eyes from the light, but then the countess smiles at his words from beneath that hand. "Miss Aston has managed to fetch the keys and allow herself into the other rooms. Apparently there is graffiti she couldn't read that she spied inside the first hotel room. Regrettably she had no torch to see ... to truly see the markings." She makes no room to enter either room.

[Ritterton]

"Then maybe we should both check out that graffiti with this," Artemis waived the flashlight creating a circle of light around the Countess' feet. "Which room was that in? If you open the door, I could shine the light from behind so that we both can figure out what it might say together."

[Ejstricker]

She gestures toward the first room. "The graffitti was in there. If you don't mind terribly, would you be able to go in first? I'm ... a little unnerved by this place and I ... I shouldn't want to be the first one into any room. Avowedly empty, or otherwise."