The Library

Hal and Roland leave the gallery, heading back into the library. Intending to find out they can about the pictures in the gallery. The modernist metal chairs, seeming unsuited for comfortable sitting for any length of time, are brought into service to hold books of interest, and the two men begin their researches. They combine their respective fields of experience, in architecture and the libraries to good effect.

The stark white shelves of the library are well stocked in terms of books on architecture. Each of the books they take off the shelves features a bookplate in the inside cover featuring the words 'Sammlung Von Adhemar Grau: Architeckt'. Grau's library is also well served in terms of culture and other artistic works, leaning towards the cutting edge of modernist thinking and philosophy, and the more nihilistic types of literature. There are books here by Gropius and other members of the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Taut. There are texts in English, German and French.

It is Hal who first notices that despite the leaning towards the modern, there are no books here less than seven years old. Of course, it would be difficult to get the most up to date literature out here in these backwaters, but Hal knows that you could send to a publishers to have any book you needed delivered from the more civilised parts of Europe, even to these parts.

Searching through the books on architecture for the names of the four architects whose buildings are exhibited in the gallery reveals one fact that seems to united them, despite having different architectural philosophies behind them. It looks like each of the buildings was designed by an architect who later committed suicide.

Having found this fact for Eichler, Maher and Trevail, both men are searching for confirmation on Wittek. For a moment, this takes them out of each other's eyeline as they search the shelves for an appropriate volume.

Roland starts to think that the guy who lives here. this Grau, is clearly a strange one. The lack of new books, combined with the other factors about the house is starting to give him a feeling of something genuinely sinister going on, a very morbid side to everything here.

Why on earth hasn't their host shown himself? Impetuosity taking over, Roland is inclined to start looking for the owner, politeness be damned.

Hal's search takes him along the shelf, in the direction of the gold signet ring displayed on a diorite hand in a break between the books. Hal had ignored the ring up to now, but as his eyes move along the self below they feel drawn upward and he glances at the ring. It glints in the light, and holds his gaze.

Suddenly, Hal feels as if he is not looking at the ring with his own eyes, but with those of another. Another who wishes to place the ring back on their hand in its rightful place. Hal is rooted to the spot as the thoughts and sensations of another fill his mind.

You smell someting sharp; not foul exactly, but dangerous. Your eyes water, you start to choke.

Perhaps it's the gas; perhaps that was the scheme all along.

You can barely see; breathing is painful and difficult. But its the gas choking you, not that foul snake Emil. He's probably choking to death too; both of you caught in something bigger.

God it hurts. Hurts your lungs.

Can't see to read, can't see if Emil is still here. But he's choking, that's what matters.

Hal finds himself collapsed against the bookshelf, coughing and hacking loudly, his eyes watering. He is on his knees half supported with one hand on the shelf. He has dislodged a shelf worth of books, which are now scattered across the floor.

Roland's search takes him along the shelves in the oppositite direction to Hal's. He is looking through the selection of titles, hampered somewhat by only being able to properly read the ones in english.

His fingertips brush against a slim folio volume. He's not sure that this one will help, but it's worth a look. He pulls it out from the shelf. He starts to pick through it. It's not about architecture at all. It's a play of some sort. Something European no doubt - it seems to be about a noble court in some decaying city on the shores of a massive lake. It might occur to Roland that if it was an obscure play nobody in Hollywood had heard of, that it might make a good basis for a screenplay.

Roland is about to turn the volume over to check the title when he hears a loud crash, followed by heavy coughing. His eyes flick up from the book to where Hal had been standing.

Hal has collapsed bodily against the bookshelf, coughing and hacking loudly, his eyes watering. He is on his knees half supported with one hand on the shelf. He has dislodged a shelf worth of books, which are now scattered across the floor.

Roland thinks this looks like what happened to Manny earlier, or maybe this guy has a condition. He absentmindedly slips the play into his jacket, and hurries over to Hal, doing what he can to help.

For Hal it is too soon to process the vision. Hal thinks he's being poisoned. The brandy perhaps? Or something more targeted? Poison darts, gas vented from the ceiling? Hal naturally assumes people will come to his aid. It's the British thing to do.

Upon hearing the coughing and the crash, Richard immediately rises and runs into the library, grave concern almost completely overshadowing the slight hint of fear in his eyes. On hearing the crashing noise and the coughing Kurt head towards it. Manny follows the others at the crashing sound

Richard, Kurt and Manny enter the Library, pushing themselves out of their chairs in the drawing room in response to the crash. In contrast to the image of studious research that had presented itself as the three walked through the library to the drawing room earlier, the scene that greets them is one of disarray.

A whole shelf of books has been dislodged and is now scattered across the floor, the shelf hanging at an angle off its brackets. Amidst the heap of books, Hal is slumped, with a dazed expression on his face that is slowly regaining clarity. It looks like the man had fallen against the bookshelf and sent it flying.

The sculptured hand that had sat on the shelf with the books is now lying mixed in with the pile of architecture books, several falling open to display blueprints, or architectural projections of various buildings.

Roland is kneeling next to Hal. It must have been his quick footsteps as he moved to help that the others heard from the gallery. He looks as if he is doing what he can to help Hal.

"Say, you with me buddy?" Roland looks for signs of awareness on Hal's face. "Someone get this guy some brandy or something"

Kurt asks Roland and Hal:

"What happened?"

Richard stops briefly to survey the devastation, before nipping back to grab a glass of brandy for Hal, only half-heartedly trying not to spill any as he hurries over to the collapsed man.

"Here, take some deep, controlled breaths first, then take a drink. What
the hell happened?"

Richard finds it very hard to believe that two people collapsing in coughing fits is a co-incidence, either something sinister is afoot in this house, or these two 'victims' are linked somehow, likely some sort of scam, or act of misdirection maybe? Richard is certainly worried that the owner of the house might be a little upset that we've wrecked his library, and wonders if they can swiftly replace the books and items onto the shelves. Looking at the piles of books, restoring the original order of the library will be rather difficult.

Richard is surprised no one came when Manny collapsed half an hour ago, but surely someone must have heard the crash of all those books! He listens for any sounds outside of the room. There is little other noise to be heard in the house in between the conversation in the library. You can hear the wind and rain buffeting against the windows, muffled by the glazing. There do appear to be some faint sounds of movement, coming from the dining room, or perhaps beyond it. Other than that, the house seems inertly unresponsible to the collapse of either of the two men.

Hal is obviously badly shaken, but does his best to keep his upper lip stiff and understand what has just happened. After draining the brandy glass in a single gulp he struggles to his feet.

“I think I’m fine now. For a moment I felt lightheaded and had what I can only describe as a hallucinogenic episode. It could only be the gas seeping in to the house, or perhaps a narcotic introduced into my system by some other means.”

Hal pauses for a moment before glancing down at the empty brandy glass in his hand.

“Two men suffering similar symptoms within minutes of each other. I suggest we find a common link quickly. I think perhaps it may soon be time to put politeness to one side and begin a search for our absent host.”

Roland stands as Hal stands up. A look of frustration passes over his face as Hal speaks. "I agree. It's time we found our host, damn the mess. Let's go."

Richard nods "Agreed, we have waited long enough, and two troubling events have so far gone unchecked by our host."

Now that something strange has also happened to Hal, Manny feels more sure of himself again.
"Was there a voice friend?" he asks Hal. "An artist in love with the woman in the painting?"

“No,” says Hal grimly. “There was a murder.”

"Who was murdered? The woman? Was Karin murdered?"

“It felt like I was being murdered, but… I was someone else, I don’t know who, but I man I think. My thoughts were of malice and vengeance, not what I would associate with a woman.”

Hal straightens and marshals his thoughts.

“But it’s irrelevant, it was a hallucination, nothing more. Now let’s find our host and find out what cruel joke he’s playing on us.”

With that Hal strides of towards the part of the house the butler retreated to.

Manny and the Painting

Kurt and Richard have remained close enough to Manny so that they see as he slips into a strange trance state as he touches the painting of the woman in the yellow dress. His expression is confused, and his eyes unfocused. He starts to speak in a low, quiet voice, as if recounting a memory from long ago. His words are occasionally indistinct, but it is clear that they come from a powerful source. The manner of speach is odd, unlike Manny's normal delivery, words run together, or have strange breaks in the middle of pronouncing them. This is what Manny says.

"My greatest work was the portrait of the mayor. It was a commission, at long last, but they gave it to me to ruin me. So that I would become respectable, a mere painter rather than an artist, a copier not a creator. They wanted to take me into the establishment and churn me out, as it had churned out them. So i took their commission and gave them truth."

"There are a million colours between white and black without ever leaving grey. They said that the painting was just lines, drab lines of grey and black but of course they could not see. I gave the mayor his portrait as he was - an unimportant man , from an unimportant city. He wanted to be bold, in proud colours, like Caesar come again or some civic saint, but the man was nothing.

"He was grey man, part of the architecture, from a grey city, and was too pompous to see that there was something grand and beautiful in obscurity. I made him an archetype but he only wanted to be a cliche."

"Of course he didn't like it. The city refused to pay for it, and it was a long time before I received another commission again."

Seemingly having said his piece, Manny's eyes refocus and he stops speaking. There is a sudden silence as the other two realise how intently they have been listening. This silence is only broken by the sounds of Roland and Hal in conversation on the other side of the gallery.

Hal and Roland are talking at one end of the gallery. They are too far away to make out what the lion-tamer is saying in a hushed voice as he stares at the painting of the woman in the yellow dress, his back to the two men. But he seems to be saying a lot, his jawline moving almost constantly for a minute or two.

If they look closely, they are also able to make out that Richard and Kurt are paying close attention to whatever it is the man is saying. Looking down at the other group Roland turns to Hal and says quietly: "Uh oh. Looks like our lion tamer friend is having another episode." He calls down the gallery

"Hey fellas. Everthing ok over there?"

“An interest in books?” Hal is about to launch into a convoluted monologue regarding his exploits as an accomplished author but is cut off when Roland calls over to the rest of the group. Hal frowns, annoyed and deflated, but he decides to let it pass.

“You know,’” says Hal quietly. “I’m beginning to think our lion tamer friend may be mad. OF course I’m no expert, but I’m wondering if there’s perhaps some information regarding those prints in our host’s library. Perhaps if we can uncover a mundane origin for them…”

Hal looks at Roland expectantly. Keen to distance himself from the clearly mad lion tamer and lose himself in something as routine and everyday as browsing a library, but not comfortable enough with his surroundings to wander off alone.


Richard will stay by Manny until a few minutes after his mumblings to make sure he's ok. After about ten minutes, he'll calmly suggest to Manny that we go to the little study, where we can sit down and have a brandy. If Manny agrees, then that's where they'll go to relax a little and ease the nerves.


During this time, and after a little small talk:

"So, Manny, what exactly happened in the gallery? You seemed as if caught in a trance by that painting of the woman, are you aware of what you were doing?"

Kurt follows Richard and Manny to the drawing room and avaisl himself of another brandy. He is interested in hearing Manny's account of his "episode".

Manny has that terrible sinking feeling that he has had before. He knows the others think him mad, catching his blood-stained reflection in the window glass only confirms his suspicions that he looks like a lunatic. Manny isn't sure he would believe himself right now. He mutters about something otherworldly going on.

A grey man, part of the architecture, from a grey city

My greatest work was the portrait of the mayor. It was a commission, at long last, but they gave it to me to ruin me. So that I would become respectable, a mere painter rather than an artist, a copier not a creator. Thay wanted to take me into the establishment and churn me out, as it had churned out them. So i took their commission and gave them truth.

There are a million colours between white and black without ever leaving grey. Thay said that the painting was just lines, drab lines of grey and black but of course they could not see. I gave the mayor his portrait as he was - an unimportant man , from an unimportant city. He wanted to be bold, in proud colours, like Caesar come again or some civic saint, but the man was nothing. He was grey man, part of the architecture, from a grey city, and was too pompous to see that there was something grand and beautiful in obscurity. I made him an archetype but he only wanted to be a cliche.

Of course he didn't like it. The city refused to pay for it, and it was a long time before I received another commission again

The Negative Photos

Magerstadt House, Chicago

Headlands Hotel, Newquay

Sarajevo City Hall

Saviour's Church, Baku, USSR

Falling and Coughing

Whilst the other four are engaged in conversation about bus timetables, the polarisation of windows, and enthusiasm for meeting the owner of this place, Manny, standing in a position to see deeper into the house, appears distracted by something he has seen.

He walks out of the drawing room without saying anything, passing through the library and out of sight, unless you move in order to keep him in view. From the layout of the house (or at least what they saw as they were escorted through the library to the drawing room) they might assume he had walked over to the gallery. Perhaps some piece of art had caught the showman's interest.

After a few moments there is sudden muted noise - as if of a body crashing to the floor. This is followed by a series of violent hacking coughing sounds, as if a man was trying to cough up his own lungs.

Richard immediately looks towards the apparent source of the noise, and starts to move quickly in that direction. He then stops, his eyes widening slightly, as he pulls a monogrammed handkerchief from his jacket and clutching it to his face, before walking briskly yet more cautiously towards where the sound came from. "No art gallery has made me collapse in a coughing fit, but then I haven't been to a gallery built on top of a chemical weapons facility before" Richard thinks to himself as he tries to think over what could have caused the noise.

Richard is concerned about Manny, but is at least glad that there's coughing coming from the sound of the crash; any noise is better than a deathly silence. Whilst not convinced that his handkerchief could protect him from whatever has caused the violent coughing, he's glad for it nonetheless.

Roland joins Richard on his way to the gallery, pushing past as Richard slows and heading towards Manny. He doesn't really know how to help if this is a medical issue but wants to be at the centre of things, find out what's happening. "Maybe that Manny guy's bump on the head was worse than we thought" Roland is concerned for the man, but heedless or unaware of any potential dangers to himself in this situation. Maybe he really is brave like the men he plays, or maybe he can't yet fully grasp the possibility of real danger.

Kurt proceeds cautiously in the direction of the gallery. He is not sure what has happened, but the possibility of a chlorine gas escape does suggest itself. He has some concern for Manny, but more for himself.

Hal follows the others to investigate. He may be unsuspecting but is not at ease and is more interested in not being left alone than finding out what happened to Manny.

Roland is first to reach the gallery, with Richard a few steps behind him. Kurt and Hal follow afterwards. The gallery is another L-shaped room, the end which you enter from joins the library and the dining room in an open-plan space. There is another external window. At the far end is a closed door, again of burnished steel.

The air in the gallery is warm and slightly stuffy as in the rest of the house so far - there are the same forced air heaters at the top of the wall - but bespite the investigators possible suspiscions, there is no tell-tale scent of lethal chlorine gas in the air.

The gallery prominently displays a large portrait, executed in oils. It is of dark haired woman wearing a dress of yellow silk. She is beautiful but somewhat cold and haughty. The painting is captivating despite their speed of your entry and the circumstances.

Below the painting, lying doubled-up on the carpet and coughing heavily is Manny. His racked coughs reverberating off the plain walls and glass frames in the gallery, as he gasps for breath between coughs. He has a slightly glazed although oddly contented expression. He does not at first react to your entry.

After a few moments, Manny sits up, gasping for breath. He is disorienatated. He cannot understand why the same air that seemed to choke him a minute ago is now clear. He wonders how long he has been out? He wonders why he is lying on the floor and for a brief moment he wonders who he is. Fearing that he is losing his mind he addresses Richard:

"Herr Doktor, I am feeling very strange. Do you think there could be side effects to my head wound?"

Richard moves to Manny and looks into his eyes, checking their focus.

"Sorry chap, I'm no Doctor, just picked up a few first aid skills over the years. Now, calm down, you're okay. Just focus on my finger as it moves... good... Right, let's see if you've banged your head again, hmm?"

To the best of Richard's First Aid knowledge, Manny isn't showing any serious symptoms. His pupils show an appropriate amount of dilation for the level of light in the room, and his eyes are able to follow Richard's finger without delay. The fresh bandage is in place, and there is no further sign of blood seeping through it.

It could be concussion, but that would have been expected that to show itself with the exhertion of getting across the former battlefield in the rain. The fall also doesn't seem to have done him much in the way of damage, falling onto the carpet as he did. Perhaps there is some psychological cause? Richard's training in psychoanalysis suggests that Manny is agitated, and something is causing him some psychological stress. Perhaps above and beyond just being in this unusual experience and surviving a coach crash.

"Now, are you ok to stand, or would you rather sit? Oh, and what happened?"

Manny knows it is not the head wound. He is simply hoping against hope that there might be another explanation - something mundane and rational. Otherwise he can't be sure that he wants to know the meaning of the strange things that keep happening to him.

"This will sound strange, I know," he says, "but as I looked at the painting I was overcome by the thoughts of another. We five hardly know each other I accept, but you must believe me. I have experienced something similar before and the message was proved correct. Such things are strange but there is always meaning in them."

"The presence, the vision, I know not what, loved this woman. She was real and she rejected him. There is something more in the painting and in the house too, there is a significance to everything I think, but alas I am no intellectual. These riddles are perhaps for smarter men such as yourselves..."

Richard offers his hand to help Manny stand.

"I've heard of people being overcome by an artist capturing a moment or emotion, but had always thought it mere hyperbole. We were involved in a terrible crash, walked through a nightmare, and are sheltering somewhere I doubt many of us could comfortably call 'homely'. It's a lot to take in, but time is on our side, if the bus timetables are anything to go by."

Richard looks at the painting, without any apparent ill effect. There is a signature on the painting. It's hard to make out, but it looks like it starts with an E then decends into a a squiggle, with an upturn at the end. There is no obvious occult symbolism to the painting. There is no information card.

Seeing that Manny seems to be ok and in good hands. Kurt decides to check out the "negative" pictures, to see if a closer examination reveals anything interesting, such as any common elements. Wondering if the buildings look alike - perhaps built in the style of their current refuge from the elements?

One of the buildings looks like a church, possibly orthodox, another a modern house, one is a large impressive hotel on the coast, the fourth looks like a civic building of some sort, a central European town hall if Kurt is not mistaken. They are all different types and styles of architecture from the look of them.

There are no names of the buildings, nor hints as to their location, but each of the them has a small card beneath it with a name, (in the same order as above):

Eichler, Maher, Trevail & Wittek.

Unfortunately, none of these names mean anything to Kurt. From by the photos Kurt says "Anybody know anything about art, and stuff like that?"

"Not my area of expertise I'm afraid, unless you need pieces attributed to eras." says Richard, having helped Manny to his feet, and looking one more time at the painting of the lady.

'Me neither I'm afraid. The written word is more my forte,' says Hal. He turns to Manny. The bus crash, the injury, the unsettling nature of their surroundings. It's not surprising he took a strange turn. Besides, a psychic lion tamer? Could be the poor fool was delusional to begin with.

'A good stiff drink will see you right,' he says with what he hopes is a reassuring (if slightly patronising) smile.

Roland has some knowledge of both architecture and photography.

The church is Saviour's Church in Baku, USSR designed by the architect Adolf Eichler
the Hotel is the Headlands Hotel, Newquay, by Silvanus Trevail
the house is magerstadt house in Chicago, Illinois, by George W. Maher
and the civic building is the City Hall in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, designed by Alexander Wittek.

They are all disperate types of buildings, and in disperate styles. None of them is modernist in the same way this house is, but Roland has a niggling feeling that there is something that connects all four buildings, or their architects. If only he knew more about architecture than his passing interest. It occurs to Roland, that there might be something of use in the library in this house. It looked like it contained plenty of books on architecture.

Photography indicates that the same photographer shot each picture - the same film type, exposure speed, and certain tell-tale aspects of the photographic style. The photographs were also lit with great care (or some sort of special filter) to avoid washing out the stars.

"I have an interest in architecture and photography, let me take a look. Hmm, I recognise all these places, and the names here are the architects. Can't figure out what the connection is though. Maybe... nah, I'd have to look it up.
Looks like the same photographer for each though. Probably some kind of amateur astronomer as well by the looks of it."

"I wonder if these were taken by our mysterious host?"

Manny steps forward and starts to examine the negative photos, pulling them away from the wall and looking behind them. They are fixed in place with what appear to be very normal picture hooks, and could be lifted off the wall entirely if anybody so wished. As Manny investigates, he spots the names on small cards underneath the four pictures.

Manny then moves to further examine the painting. He reaches up, places a hand on both sides of the frame. He then stops and seems fixed on the painting, he begins to speak quietly, almost inauibly, as if remembering something and talking to himself.

Still a little concerned about Manny, Richard stays close to him to make sure he doesn't collapse again.

The drama appears to have passed now that the strange lion tamer is now examining the photos Hal decides to wander off slightly and nosey around the rest of the room. There is a window looking out over the blasted terrain outside. It has the same control panel beneath it as Richard Pimms examined in the drawing room. The storm is still raging outside, although the glazing of the window blocks out much of the noise of the wind.

In the direction he entered the room from is the open plan area that links through to the library, and also through to what looks to be the dining room. There is a long rectangular table in the middle of that room surrounded by upright black chairs, There is another sideboard, similar to that in the drawing room, and another door on the far side. In a more conventional house, it would make sense for that to be a door to the Kitchen. If so, It's probably where the manservant went.

On the other end of the Gallery, past the painting and the negative pictures, is a door. It is made of burnished steel, like the main doors of the house, but is a smaller, standard size internal door. It is currently closed. These two doors, one from the gallery, and one from the dining room, are so far the only internal doors Hal has seen in this house.

Not thinking anything of Manny's strange behaviour, Roland joins Hal in looking at the rest of the room.

"Say, Hal isn't it? I fancy having a look at this guy's library. There's something bugging me about those photographs. Are you interested in books?"

The Art Gallery

From where Manny is standing near the door of the drawing room, he can see through to what looks like a gallery. On the wall is a large painting. You can't make out the details from there, but it appears to be of a beautiful young woman with dark hair, wearing a yellow gown.

It is strangely captivating. Manny heads to investigate the painting, intending to rejoin the group if he encounters anybody in the house.

It is quiet in the house, away from the others, although Manny can hear parts of their conversation, and some occasional noises coming from through the dining room, where you think the manservant headed. He encounters no-one.

The gallery is another L-shaped room, the end which you enter from joins the library and the dining room in an open-plan space. There is another external window, and you can see that the storm has not abated in the slightest. At the far end is a closed door, again of burnished steel.

A row of four odd negative-image photographs hand on one wall. Their black frames contrasting against the white walls and gray carpet. Each photograph shows a different building at night. Because they are negatives, the skies are white and the stars are black. One of the buildings looks like a church, another a house, one is perhaps a hotel. Manny recognises one of them after a moment. It is the City Hall in Sarajevo. Manny imagines there is some symbolism to both the photos and the paintings, but he cannot work out what.

The gallery also displays the large portrait, executed in oils, that caught your attention. The woman in it wears a dress of yellow silk. She is beautiful but haughty, and is looking away from the artist. In some ways she could remind Manny of Anya, although her expression is perhaps colder. The woman in the painting unsettles him. He does not like cold women or wish to possess them. Anja is passionate, wild and untameable, this is why he is drawn to her and this is why he's chasing her across europe.

Suddenly, Manny feels as if he is not looking at the portrait with his own eyes, but with those of another. He is rooted to the spot, as thoughts and sensations of another fill his mind.

He is in front of the portrait, of course. Gazing at it for the first time in years; he had to sell it to see her again in the flesh. Now here it is, and he's unsurprised somehow.

He inhales a great lungful of gas; it's scent seems to clarify and revive his artistic sensibility. The whole thing is a design, a portrait.

He will die choking in agony: even now his throat closes and he almost vomits, but sinks to his knees. He chokes, his lungs seem swollen shut, but finally He and Karin will be together. She cannot reject him when they are both dead.

Manny is sure the others will find him. He trusts them, especially Richard, from how they have acted so far.