The decorations of the hall were a somewhat eclectic mix of new and old. Some of the pieces of furniture and paintings were obviously very old while others were of a much more recent style and showed no wear. The floors were a very impressive imported marble that was inlaid in such a pattern that a practitioner of magic would recognize the circle in the center of the room to be a place of power. One particular piece on the wall drew the attention of the girl, a massive grandfather clock standing a full 9 feet tall with giant crystal windows set into all its sides so the inner workings of gold plated gears could be seen. The girl bent closely to the clock to watch her reflection in the massive pendulum as it made its ponderous journey back and forth. “I do hope you’re not too interested in that piece as it’s not for sale.” Boomed a genial voice from down the hall.
The raven haired girl bolted upright and looked somewhat abashed as a large, red faced man in a pressed white suit joined them in the entryway. “Didn’t mean to startle you young lady, the name is Thaddeus Mann, pleased to meet you.” He said as he extended a meaty hand to the older man whose grim expression had yet to change. The grim man stared at the hand for a long moment and again at the portly man in white before finally extending his own hand for a quick, and exceedingly stiff, handshake. The young woman quickly stepped to his side and took Thaddeus’ hand herself. “Do not mind my father, he does not mean to be rude.” She intoned through a thick eastern European accent. “He speaks little English so I will be speaking for him today.” Thaddeus attempted to compose himself and took the young woman’s hand kissing it lightly. “Very well then, with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” Smiling demurely the young woman curtsied slightly before continuing “My name is Katarina Belmont and this is my father Lord Belmont.” The grim man bowed his head ever so slightly at his introduction. Thaddeus shifted uneasily on his feet, trying without success to avoid the merciless stare of Lord Belmont who looked as though he had never had a joyous thought in his life. Grinning unevenly Thaddeus clapped his hands together “Well I understand that you’re only in town for a short while and are looking to buy some of my family’s old relics. We’ll get there soon enough but would you care to join me for breakfast first?” A flurry of foreign words exchanged between the visitors. Turning back to the visibly sweating gentleman Katarina offered him a disarming smile and said “My father is wearied from his travels, he wishes to inspect your manor to see what pieces he may buy from you.” Thaddeus visibly relaxed at the prospect of no longer having to eat with the cold stranger. “An inspection won’t be necessary,” he claimed smiling broadly “I took all of my father’s collection of these so called ‘Magical Relics’ and placed them in the east wing.” Another quick flurry of translation and Lord Belmont’s expression finally changed from grim composure to righteous fury. Just as it looked as though Belmont was about to shout several untranslatable things at Thaddeus, Katarina stepped between them murmuring soothing things to her father. Exasperated she turned to the terrified man and told him “My father wishes to express his concern that you do not respect the magical traditions of his household and yours.”
Getting the distinct impression that he should have just had his life flash before his eyes, Thaddeus wiped his brow and apologized before offering to lead them personally to the east wing gallery. The trio walked down the hall with Lord Belmont talking continually to Katarina and Thaddeus feeling grateful that he couldn’t understand the curses that were being thrown his way in a language he didn’t speak. Stopping at a nondescript door on a far end of the house Thaddeus summoned the harried servant from before and instructed her to see to any of their guests needs before excusing himself to his waiting breakfast. After a long moment of searching for the correct key from a ring she had pulled from her apron she finally let them into the gallery and rushed in to draw the curtains back letting light spill into the darkened room. Meekly showing herself out the servant closed the door behind her and left the pair of foreigners in the gallery. Shooting a pointed glare at the older man “Katarina” started unbuttoning her collar. “You know I hate this dress” She said, dropping her accent. Jonah had already started loosening his own collar so he could only chuckle “But you look so cute in it” He mocked playfully. Alice rolled her eyes, grinning and started fishing around in the myriad of ruffles for her toolkit. Finally withdrawing the chalk from a deep pocket she tried to hand it to Jonah only to have him gently push it back in her hand. “You’re up kiddo, I’ll keep watch.” He said with a conspiratorial wink.
Alice’s hand trembled despite herself. It was a simple spell, one she had practiced hundreds of times, and when it came right down to it Jonah had trusted her with far more important and complex things before. Somehow though, this small task seemed monumental. Clutching the chalk tightly she smiled softly and started drawing the necessary circles and runes along the floor as Jonah took several small devices from the cuffs of his gloves and attached them to the door, placing one in his ear. The spell Alice was tracing into the floor was designed to track magical essences. It would tell them which, if any, of the artifacts in the room were actually worth being stolen, as well as if any had been recently removed. Jonah and Alice had to stand in circles specially designed to exclude them as it was likely that the devices and enchantments they had on them would far overpower anything found in the Mann Family collection. As the last of the lines went into place Jonah gave her a silent signal “All clear” signal and Alice focused energy into the runes activating the spell. A slight pressure wave emanated from the center of the design rebounding off the walls and protection circles making it appear as though reality itself had just rippled in a pond. Faint glows lit up all along the room where items of minor power sat on display. As they had suspected, none of the pieces that were left had any real value or power. Curiously, there were some residual auras where powerful pieces once lay. “Hmm.” Sighed Jonah thoughtfully “What’s this tell you?” Alice studied the room carefully, noting the placement of the items, the strength of their auras and the trails some of them had left when they had exited the room. “This guy has no clue about magic…” She began after a moment “Almost all of these are trinkets. He probably paid too much for them too. The room hasn’t been used and he’s selling them off so he most likely doesn’t care either, my guess is that he’s got some kind of expensive hobby.” Jonah nodded to himself as she continued, lost in thought. “Some of the pieces are missing, so it looks like he’s sold a few though, the trails are faint on most of them, but a few are recent. The weaker ones all leave through the door, the stronger ones though…” Jonah smiled to himself as it dawned on her “Hidden passageway!” She exclaimed as her eyes traced the more powerful trails to a nondescript part of the far wall.
Alice broke the spell with a wave of her hand and went to examine the wall. “Now all we need to do is find where this leads.” She mused. “Good job kiddo, but there’s no need, only one place this passage would let out.” Alice looked at Jonah puzzled. “Things don’t get built underground around here due to the high water table so there’s no tunnel underground. It would have to let out somewhere else in the house. This is most likely a servant’s passage, something so they can get around without disturbing they master of the house. It would let out in the servant’s quarters. If we’re going to figure out where the missing artifacts went to we should listen in.” Smiling Jonah gestured to the chalk lines “Get this cleaned up while I send the bug.” Normally being assigned to cleanup duty would have annoyed Alice, but right now she was beaming with pride and didn’t care as she brought out a cloth to wipe away the chalk. Jonah, meanwhile had drawn a brass beetle from the inner pocket of his jacket and was busy winding it up as he searched for the entrance to the hidden passage. Finding the release he slid the concealed door open a crack and placed the clockwork insect at the door. A few whispered command words and it was off clicking down the passage on tiny legs. Sliding the door closed behind it with a barely audible click Jonah straightened up and retrieved his listening device from the door, affixing them back into the cuffs of his shirt he looked over to Alice who was already re-buttoning her collar and sliding back into character. Opening the door “Lord Belmont” brusquely signaled the serving girl who had been standing patiently at the end of the hall. “We are, eh, ‘feen-eshed’ here.” He said in his thick and slightly broken accent “If you would, eh…” and he looked imploringly at “Katarina” who stepped up to politely continue “My father would wish to speak with Sir Mann about the items on display” Alice finished for him having returned to her proper character. The servant curtsied and lead the pair to the dining area.
They found the portly businessman listening impatiently to a stranger who was apparently doing his best to ruin breakfast. “I’ve told you,” he continued, heedless of the new arrivals “I checked the recognition coils, and run tests on all the babbage devices. I don’t know why the clockwork guardians attacked your son, but they seem to not have recognized him.” Alice shot Jonah a meaningful glance, “Lord Belmont” however, stood in stony silence with a distant gaze as though nothing had happened. “I don’t care about your technical talk boy! Just fix it dammit! Lord knows I’m paying you enough.” The stranger sighed and rubbed at a spot on his forehead that seemed permanently stained with machine oil. It was then that Thaddeus noticed the new arrivals. “Lord and young lady Belmont! I trust you found what you were looking for in my… collection?” Jonah was staring intently at the stranger and made no notice that he had even heard Thaddeus, the stranger for his part was obliviously muttering something about “recalibrations” to himself as he absentmindedly picked at some fruit. “Oh him? Don’t mind mister Baker there, he’s brilliant with those lovely little machines, but I’m afraid his manners get away from him at times. He came all the way from England just to build my clockwork servants. John! Introduce yourself.” John looked up with a blank expression as though interrupted mid-thought. “John Stewart Baker, I build things.” He said simply by way of introduction before returning to his ramblings. Thaddeus shook his head and asked “So are there any items you might be interested in Lord Belmont?” A flurry of translations passed between Jonah and Alice before she started in again as Katarina. “There are some items of interest, but my father wishes to know about the pieces that were missing, have you had many sales?” Thaddeus found himself shifting again underneath an uncompromising glare coming from the severe gentleman across the table. “Not as many as I’d have liked. It seems as though some of my former servants had sticky fingers and made off with a few minor pieces. Nothing important I assure you, but I’ve yet to track down where they hid the darned things. Rest assured though, the problem is solved and if you wish to purchase anything I’ll be happy to keep it safe and sound until you can send for it.” Another brief round of translation and Alice left Thaddeus with a reassuring smile “We will have to check with the estate back home, but we shall return soon with a most generous offer for several of your items. We bid you a good day sir.”
A short time later the pair were back in a taxi heading to “The Wandering I”. “So what’s the plan?” asked Alice. “We should give the bug a day or so to listen in. In the meantime we should ask One Eye for any pawn brokers who specialize in magical items. If we can find who’s been selling them, or more importantly who’s been buying them it ought to help find Renee.” Alice, who had been busily working a potion into her hair to revert it to its natural red asked “And then?” Stretching out his stiff back Jonah just raised an eyebrow “One step at a time kiddo. I don’t know about you, but this old man could use some sleep.” The taxi rattled along towards the other side of town as the city bustled around them a world away.
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