HOUSE OF PAYNE INTERNATIONAL: Archive: GMP
The Gold Monkey Project: Episode 8
Subj: Tales of The Gold Monkey
Date: 7/29/00 9:18:42 AM Mountain Daylight Time
From: [email protected] (TIMOTHY FRANTZ)
To: [email protected] (John Payne)
When last we left our intrepid Hero (sort of), He had just convinced his erstwhile, although far too nervous, sidekick, SHAFT!, to join him in the innocent exploration of an unusual warm area half under a bookcase in a library that isn't exactly either of theirs. ( OK. He had broken into some dude's house and was looking for the good stuff.)
"Chisaibu!", Shaft whispers urgently to you. "We need to blow this joint." You've noticed that in times of stress Shaft reverts to the odd colloquialisms of his native land.
You repond with serene patience and pity. "With the guards approaching this side of the house we're better off staying here a few more minutes. Now let me concentrate." You examine the bookcase in front of you. It is a very well camouflaged door. If you hadn't noted the residual footprint even you might have passed it by.
You spend several moments scrutinizing the shelves, the casing, the books and the surrounding wall. Shaft is growing ever more restless and continually mutters something about guards and dogs. Finally you notice two hairline cracks in the third shelf almost a foot apart and very nearly parallel. Carefully checking under the books on that shelf, you find a third crack connecting the first two. A moment's cautious checking does not turn up any thing that looks like a trap. Carefully you lower the shelf.
The four foot section of the bookcase slides directly back into the wall with a loud rumbling of grating stone. This brings a chorus of vicious barking and shouts from the window you and Shaft entered through. Shaft draws his sword and motions for you to join him in a rapid departure and seems inclined to force the issue upon you.
When you hear the bookcase stop moving you turn back towards it. There is now a five foot depression in the wall. To your right is boarded off. To the left is a passage out of which rapidly comes a man in very fine clothing. He appears middle-aged and slightly portly. That is all you get to see of him since him quick motion continues and carries him to the floor where he seems intent on examining it intimately while ignoring the nine inch gaping wound in his back. You don't see a weapon on, near or in him. Your infravision tells you the body is still quite warm. Nearby you hear the sound of footsteps approaching the room mixed with Shaft's expletives.
YOUR TURN.
Subj: Nine Inch wouNd
Date: 7/29/00
To: [email protected]
CC: jpayne1138
Timothy!
So good to hear from you again! I am indeed coming to Boston-- actually in just over a month-- and would be delighted to come up and visit you (or vice-versa). I have just one question: What is it you have done with your hair that I should see?
Now... I am determined to finish this scenario before the Second Coming, and so you will be happily surprised to see that I am responding quickly for a change.
First things first. Loot the body! Perhaps a medical professional would have first checked to see if the man had a pulse or some such nonsense, but to Chisiabu, death has always seemed an intimately personal matter between one's god and oneself. But as a priest, he is qualified to perform the rite of Last Frisking.
The worry here is that the wound in this man came from something inside that tunnel, and Chisaibu has no wish to see such an interesting wound in his own tiny body. Such a florid and garish decoration would ill suit a man of the cloth, such as himself. Thus, if it is possible, he will get Shaft to pull the body out of the line of fire from the tunnel while he himself rids the man's body of the material things which would otherwise bind his newly freed spirit to this temporal world.
Once this important deed has been accomplished (and it shouldn't take much longer than twenty seconds), there is the matter of a departure. There's the window, but we heard voices out there, and so I would suspect that we would be jumping into trouble there. We could also try our luck running through the house, but I suspect that we would be at a disadvantage there. We don't know the layout, etc., and would probably get cornered and then caught. The only remaining option is, of course, to go back in that secret passageway.
It seems to me from your description of the events that the trigger for the secret door is pretty easy to manipulate. So, Chisaibu will try raising the shelf, to see if that gets the door to start closing. If it does, then he will jump inside, ju-te out and ready to use. Naturally, he will be staying low and hugging the walls, because whatever hit that poor fat man got him right where Chisaibu's head would be if he were in the center of the doorway.
Shaft should follow. He's a good man, which means he probably won't abandon Chisaibu. He's also a good leader, persuasive and charismatic, but he just hasn't figured out how to deal with madmen. If Chisaibu siezes the initiative and acts first, it will nearly always be easier to acquiesce to his bizarre demands and follow his wild ideas than to argue with him, especially when time is short. Thus irrationality trumps good judgement through presumption. Hee hee.
Next Episode!
The Gold Monkey Project: Episode 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
GMP: Episode 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19
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