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[Introduction] [History] [Location] [Game
Aids]
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The manor is red brick, two
stories tall with white, shuttered windows, surmounted by lichened
tiles. It is a truly beautiful example of period architecture. The
graveled driveway sweeps up the hill around a green lawn centered by
a classic wishing well. Around the northeast side of the house is a
formal garden.
The entrance hall is large and has
stairs running up to a gallery above. The overall impression is that
the period manor has been turned into a walk-through museum, with
white plaster walls and waxed wooden floorboards. Polished wooden
furniture, each item a valuable antique. Hand-painted china. Linen
with hand-tatted lace on tables and beds. Candles and kerosene lamps.
Embroidery samplers and Schreibach portraits.
Elsa's favorite haunt is the
Sitting Room. This is where her harpsichord stands under the portrait
of her father and she spends her spare hours here, with the shutters
thrown open on the garden.
The Library has a wooden door with
an ordinary lock, that Elsa is in the habit of using ("to keep
the children out"). She carries the key on her at all times. One
thing Elsa has not been shy about is extending her collection;
although all the books are hardcover without dust jackets, there are
many modern works on history and occultism and modern reprints of old
titles. Then there are the antiques. Anything the Chronicler wishes
can be found here.
On the second floor, the Nursery
has a thick, wooden door with a deadlock. Elsa carries one key,
Josephine another. The external windows are sealed shut behind their
curtains. In short, although still furnished as an nursery with
cradles and child-sized furniture, it has been adapted to hold adult
prisoners as necessary. Some of the chairs are nailed to the floor
and have restraints attached. There are antique toys scattered about,
some of which have been damaged by past residents.
At the Chronicler's option, Elsa's
bedroom is also on this level.
The functional area of the house
is to the back. The Kitchen is period, with brick fireplaces complete
with spits, wooden tables and stone sinks that must be filled from
the well in the corner. The one thing that cannot be found in the
kitchen or Storerooms is salt of any kind. This means that certain
sacrifices of period authenticity have been made; there are canned
goods instead of salted, and the old coolroom (in the cellar) now
contains a freezer. All the storerooms are lockable with ordinary
locks but seldom are, and the keys hang on a board in the kitchen.
One storeroom is devoted to the manor's supply of kerosene.
The other sacrifices of
authenticity involve security. Concealed security cameras cover the
front and back doors, feeding back to security headquarters. The
front and back doors can be deadlocked but seldom are. The keys hang
in the kitchen and all the staff know where; Elsa and Josephine also
carry keys. All the first floor shutters can be locked, but the keys
are generally left sitting in their ordinary locks. A sprinkler
system has been installed throughout the first and second floors, but
this has to be triggered by buttons located in the kitchen or at the
top of the stairs (a smoke detector would simply go off all the
time). There are also fire extinguishers in closets in the kitchen,
at the top of the stairs and at the bottom of the cellar stairs.
Other than the live staff, there are two zombies, neatly dressed as
maid and manservant, which are constantly cleaning. They may be found
anywhere, day or night, and attack as their brethren above.
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The door to the cellar is lockable
with an ordinary lock. Elsa, Josephine and the cook have keys, but it
stands open most of the time. The subterranean chambers are vaulted
around stone pillars and flagged with stone. There is no natural or
electrical light, and lamps or candles must be carried. Small vents
allow for airflow, but these are scarcely big enough for a rat. At
the Chronicler's option, Elsa may sleep down here in a suitably
furnished room.
The door to the ritual area is
heavy, wooden and usually deadlocked. Elsa, Josephine and a number of
servants carry keys. This area is mainly used by Elsa as a workroom,
her real rituals taking place at the true spring. But sometimes, when
a seasonal sacrifice or other such occasion merits the attendance of
the servants, it will be performed here. The rush of water can be
heard from the large well set level with the floor.
A series of cells are suitable for
holding prisoners. The doors are wooden with deadlocks. The keys are
hung on the wall outside.
The wooden door to the spring
passage runs off from the near southeast corner. It is locked with an
ordinary lock to which only Elsa has the key.
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The water from all those wells
scattered across the estate is pure, fresh and perfectly ordinary.
None of the subterranean streams are traversable by humans and most
are rapidly absorbed back into the water table. Cast Members cannot
get anywhere by going down a well!
The actual spring, for those who
can tap it, is pure power. The head generates 80 points of Essence
per day. This potency evaporates as the waters run into the earth.
Elsa identified the spring very
early in her career and was responsible for its concealment in the
brick-lined passage that runs between the cellars of the brewery and
the manor. She carries the only keys to both ends with her at all
times. There is no light of any kind supplied in the passage,
although ventilation is reasonably good.
Elsa uses the spring to feed her
zombies and empower the ritual that creates them and maintains her
control. This means that she spends a minimum of an hour every night
at the spring, recasting Create Zombie (see Abomination Codex, p.
103) and giving them water in a strange, communion-like rite. Three
zombies per night are cycled this way and she loses one only rarely.
She is a good judge of a zombie's condition and will perform an extra
ritual if she thinks it prudent.
The spring chamber is roughly
circular. At the center, the spring head emerges into a circular
pool. A wooden gate prevents the water from reaching the underground
streams until released-this is partly how Elsa keeps the Essence to
herself. Around the pool is inscribed an elaborate vever, which Elsa
renews every time she has gone through the complete cycle of 14
zombies. Any Gifted who remains in the chamber for any length of time
will start to hear "voices" in the water. It is impossible
to tell what they saying, but the impression of whispering,
multitudinous voices is very real.
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