HOUSE OF PAYNE INTERNATIONAL: Archive: GMP
The Gold Monkey Project: Episode 9
Subj: Monkey!!!
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 5:19:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: TIMOTHY FRANTZ
To: John Payne
Monkey!!!
"Shaft! Stop standing there like you want to comb your hair! We need to hide. Help me get this guy the rest of the way into the room so this panel can close again."
Shaft pauses only momentarily to consider why Chisaibu is suddenly barking orders. Then deciding that self-preservation can
make anyone act brave, he helps drag the body.
As Chisaibu rolls the body over to get a better hand hold, the closer view shows that the wound in this guy's back is some kind
of large claw mark. Not bear or wolf claws, at least not natural ones. This is more like ragged knives on the end of
humanoid-like fingers kind of claws. The body is cold and rigor is starting to fade. Being a devout and holy man, Chisaibu does
what he can to help the departed spirit find its way to a proper afterlife by releaving the corpse of any heavy and valuable
objects that the spirit might get entangled in.
The poor soul might have been a pauper. There is only a large silver ring and the man's girdle, which obviously has something concealed within it. He can feel lumps and something dropping when he slips it off. It's too large to conceal, but he cuts off Shaft's incipient rebuke. "No time now. We need to get behind the panel."
He sets off the mechanism again which does indeed cause the bookcase to slide shut. Chisaibu jumps into the closing space,
keeping low and guarded, just in case their new ex-friend's friend is still about. Shaft is close on his heels. The case finishes closing just as the guards enter the room.
"My Lord!!!" The bookcase is nowhere near soundproof and Shaft and Chisaibu can hear clearly. This is a cry of alarm, not
an expletive. Five sets of boots cross the floor to where the body lay.
"The lord has been slain!"
"This isn't possible." This one sounds as though he is stating a fact, not expressing his disbelief.
"Sir, with all respect, the body is cold and the face is blue. He is quite dead."
"I can see that, Corporal. But I was with Lord Halworth myself when the alarm of intruders was raised. I left him well not more than two minutes ago in the dining hall."
There is a heavy thud that sounds a lot like a dead man's head being quickly dropped.
"What vile sorcery is this, Sir?!"
"I know not. You, get more men and seal the grounds. Not a fly leaves without your knowledge. You three, guard well this
body untill I return. I would speak with Lord Halworth on this matter."
Footsteps fade, but not enough. The guards are indeed watching the body. Looking around with his dark vision, Chisaibu
sees this is an unadorned space between the inner and outer wall of the house. Barely enough room for the two of them to fit,
and that only with Shaft's chest against one wall. It is very dusty and makes their throats scratch. Three feet to Chisaibu's left, he sees a ladder attached to the wall. It heads down to a lower level. The way they are packed into the space, if they wish to use it, Chisaibu must go first.
Subj: "Justice is served!"
Date: 10/8/00
To: [email protected]
Hey, I found a copy of that email I tried to send to you earlier this week. I've already said this much and more over the phone,
but I found it and so now I am going to mail it to you whether you like it or not. And so, here it is:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Timothy,
Sorry I've taken so long to get back to you. What can I say-- I'm a cretin. Let me tell you my schedule. I have classes
weekdays except for Thursday, although this next weekend we have no classes Monday or Tuesday because of Columbus Day. So maybe we could get together on Monday or something (I have an appointment with a Prof on Tuesday). Are you heading down to my neck of the woods any time soon? How far are you from Boston, and how would I get there if I were so inclined?
Y ahora, damas y caballeros, presentamos con mucho gusto:
<<��Las aventuras de Mango Negro y el Mono Dorado!!>>
The Dining Hall is not in the basement, or Chisaibu will eat his lucky sumo diaper. That means that the dead lord didn't come up from the ladder. Chisaibu therefore is going to climb up and over his good friend Shaft and poke around looking for another
secret door on the other side of this little passage. That should lead to the dining hall, where the dead lord came from.
Somebody just killed this guy, and they must have had a reason for it. In Chisaibu's experience, murder is often associated with valuable commodities. Thus, to the dining room.
Chisaibu will poke around in the secret passage looking for a door to the dining hall until he finds one, or until he hears the
guards abandon their posts in the room with the dead lord. He is unsatisfied with the loot he got off the body and if he can help
it he's not going to take the chance that the lord's spirit will become a ghost because it was too heavy to depart into the next
world. (PS, I didn't understand that bit about something dropping off of the girdle. Did Chisaibu drop the girdle? Did he find something in the girdle, but then drop the thing he found? What happened there?)
If he finds a secret door which opens into the dining hall, he and Shaft will very quickly case it looking for clues. Those dumb guards can obviously not be trusted to figure out what happened here, and this is a crime that must be solved. First, because having been there when the man died, Chisaibu and Shaft might be pursued by vengeful ancestral spirits of the dead lord unless justice is served. Second, because Chisaibu had his heart set on going to a costume party, and someone just killed the guy who was going to throw the party. For that, Chisaibu has sworn in his inconstant little heart, whoever did it is gonna pay.
Vengeance is mine!! (Or it will be, once I get a couple of clues, find the dude with the claws and get Shaft to take him down.)
JOHN
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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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