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.

map of the black chateau so far

Respite

The manservant leads the passengers through the library, into another room, a drawing room. The rooms is slightly smaller than the library onto which it opens, although it can hold all five of them. Going clockwise from the doorway through which they enter, there is another outside window looking out across the battlefield, and flecked with rain from the storm, then a large mirror the same size as the window. Hanging on the wall opposite the window, and again matching it is size is a framed architectural drawing. Below the window, is the same set of unusual controls as beneath the window in the Library.

The drawing is an external elevation of the house at night, with a constellation of stars visible in the sky above it. The house sits on the brink of an enormous lake. This is odd in that there was no sign of a lake in the area around the house, and certainly, there was no lake right against the walls of the house. There is a label below the drawing.

The drawing room is furnished with two angular, white chaise lounges, and three chairs, the same type as in the library. There is a white metal sideboard equipped with decanters of what looks like wine, brandy, and vodka, as well as the requisite soda siphon, glasses and a square bucket of ice. The manservant walks to the side board, stiffly produces a metal tray from within the sideboard and begins to pour each of the travellers a strong measure of brandy. Having passed a glass to each of them in turn, he gives another slight bow, and leaves the room, passing back through the library. If you are a connoisseur of such things, it smells of good quality and offers warmth after the rain.

On one of the chaise lounges, there rests a child's doll. It is expensive looking, and the one of the few signs of personality and character in this ordered, minimal and stark house. You get the impression that even this object, which in a more lived in home, could be cast anywhere when a child finishes playing with it, has been placed here with thought and intent.

The silent manservant returns after a few moments. He places a stack of folded white towels on the low coffee table. On top of the pile rests a folded map and what appears to be a local time bus or train timetable. Having placed this burden down and handing Manny a sealed packed of fresh bandages, he once more departs the drawing room, leaving the bus passengers alone once more.

Richard takes the glass with a smile and a nod, sniffing it to confirm that it is indeed brandy, not some local concoction that you could no doubt strip paint with (remembering one time in Russia when he was all but temporarily blinded by a liquid that clearly was not the vodka he'd been expecting). Having drained the glass, and feeling the warmth gradually seep through his body, he places the glass back on the tray and walks over to take a peek at the strange dials and controls, before noticing manservant bringing the towels in.

Richard's knowledge of things mechanical and technological suggests that this might be some sort of fancy control for polarising the window. The wall is thick enough to contain the system of recessed lighting that would be necessary. It would allow the windows to be changed from transparent, to dark, and potentially to a reflective mirror. If the windows could be controlled together it would explain why the lights had not been visible as they approached the house. Perhaps they were lit, but the windows simply polarised in the wrong direction.

Or the butler had been sitting alone in the dark before they arrived.

"Ah, thank you" he says to the manservant, as he takes two towels and walks over to Manny, offering him one.

"Mind if I take another look at that bump of yours? I can redress it now we're out of the dark and rain."

Manny allows Richard to look at his wound. As he is being tended to he drinks the brandy and voices his concern.

"I am thinking that perhaps our friend [meaning Kurt] is right. There is something strange afoot. The servant is a monster of some sort, and where there is a monster there is often a master."

Once Richard has finished and Manny feels more himself again. The daze and fuddle of the injury have been alleviated. He springs to his feet and walks to the window. Addressing the group, he says:

"I was once a master of monsters myself, a beast more ferocious than he I should wager. The African lion. It is a simple thing to control a beast if one remembers a golden rule. Never should you trap the beast and never should the beast trap you..."

Manny taps the glass of the window in an attempt the gauge thickness, The glass of the window reverberates solidly under Manny's tap. It is thick and well fixed in place. Then he walks back to the drawing room door and checks that the route back out of the library to the hall is still open. The way through the library to the entrance hall is clear. The large open doorways between the rooms make it easy enough to see from one room to another. He then adds, melancholically,

"...It is when you are cornered that there are problems"

Kurt says to Manny.

"Steady on friend, I never said the chap was a monster. I was just remarking that anyone who lives in a place like this is going to be a mite strange. And then some."

He then moves to take a closer look at the picture with the house and lake. The label underneath the drawing reads: Adhemar Grau: Architekt and Schwarze Wohnung. Kurt's no art critic or student of architecture, but it's not the best drawing he's ever seen. From the way the house is positioned against the landscape, it really does look like it is a drawing of this house in situ. Apart from that sizeable lake that sits right up against it, of course. The constellation of stars is not familiar to Kurt. He shrugs non-committally and heads for the drinks cabinet.

"Oh come now," scoffs Hal. "The manservant is no more a monster than you or I. He is simply an unfortunate soul who happens to have an excentric, and elusive, master.

"Besides," continues Hal as he picks up the bus timetable, "if you wish to trap people presenting them with their means of escape is not a good way to proceed."

"I don't think there's going to be a bus coming any time soon. This is probably the kind of place where they get one a week, and we left it back in a ditch remember?" Objects Kurt.

"There is something unsettling in his eyes - deeply unsettling. And as our friend says even if we are not trapped in this house. We are trapped in this wilderness." observes Manny

“Only until lunchtime tomorrow,” replies Hal. “Given our backwater location I think going back to town is our best option. From there we can make what alternate arrangements are necessary to reach our respective destinations. I’m sure our host will offer us a bed for the night, and once we are rested, warm and dry we shall be able to view our current circumstances from a more balanced perspective.”

With Brandy warming his belly and the harsh weather firmly locked outside Hal is beginning to enjoy himself. Although their situation is reminiscent of many horror stories he has read over the years (the ultra-modern architecture of the house is a nice deviation from the traditional gothic mansion). He sees their current situation as odd, but not threatening.

The timetable is byzantine in it's complexity. However, If Hal is reading it correctly, then there appears to be a local service, stopping at all manner of local hamlets and towns. It's going in the wrong direction, back towards the city the bus departed from..

It should pass along the road near here at some point around lunchtime tomorrow.

Richard looks somewhat relieved upon hearing Hal's remark.

"Tomorrow, you say? That is a relief!"

Having finished tending to Manny, he then returns to the dials and controls by the window.

"Hmm, this may explain why we couldn't see any lights from outside, this seems to control the polarisation of the windows."

He looks up from the dials, and unsure as to whether the faces of his companions are blank through tiredness or confusion, adds

"You can use these to darken the windows, and make them so that light cannot escape. You could possibly even create a mirror effect, though I shall not venture outside to test that theory."

"Don't count on it," says Kurt pouring himself a drink. Then to Richard "You sure you know what you're doing with that?"

"Oh, it's been a while since I've seen a device like this, but the layout and counters certainly fit. I won't touch the settings, so don't worry."

Richard dries his hands on the towel once more, before walking over to Kurt and extending a hand.

"Apologies, in all the chaos I didn't introduce myself, I'm Professor Richard Pimms, but please call me 'Richard'."

"Pleased to meet you. Kurt Steinhauer, currently on holiday."

"Pleased to meet you too. Let's hope that this setback doesn't impede your holiday too much!"

"Good to meet you Professor. Well I for one am fascinated by this whole encounter. To find the Black Chateau, fully constructed and out in the middle of nowhere? This is an extraordinary opportunity, I certainly wouldn't want to leave before meeting the man responsible. Besides, I'm really out here more for experience than to reach a particular destination, so all this suits me just fine." adds Roland joining the conversation.

The Black Chateau

A silvery, actinic light suddenly floods simultaneously from all windows on the ground floor. It is in sharp contrast to the dark night, and casts long shadows behind the rain-sodden bus passengers standing outside the house. As their eyes adjust to the sudden presence of artifical light, the enormous double doors of the mansion swing inward noiselessly, despite their weight.

A tall, impassive looking male figure, dressed head to toe in black now stands in the doorway. His complexion is pallid, almost grey and he is completely hairless. He wears a tightly buttoned black tunic and trousers. He also wears small mirrored spectacles, tightly covering his eye sockets. He appears as some modernist take on a butler, or manservant.

Behind him they can make out a white painted two-story room with grey carpeting.

He says nothing, but beckons the travellers with both hands, inviting them forth into the house.

"Mein Gott! This is like something from a horror film." exclaims Kurt.

“Nonsense!!” exclaims Hal. “It just proves what I was just saying.” Hal rushes forward, he notes the oddness of the man waiting for them, but most foreigners are odd anyway. But that persistent part of Hal’s mind wonders why the man was sitting in complete darkness only a few moments before. As Hal approaches the man he extends his hand and says,

“Hello, my name is Hal Apnyo, myself and my travelling companions appear to be in a spot of bother. I wonder if we might use your telephone?”

Manny says to Kurt,

"I think we should worry about what is real, not illusions. The storm is real, the horror show is not. The doors on castors, quick lime in the windows, the albino in the black suit - it is an old look. I've seen better shows in a two-mule carnival. And anyway, what options do we have?"

Manny shrugs and follows Hal. Kurt replies to Manny:

"On the contrary, the look strikes me as modern - like one of those expressionist films the Nazis are so fond of banning. Haven't you seen The Cabinet of Dr Cagliari? I'd agree there's little choice but to go inside but I suggest we keep a close eye on mine host."

Kurt thrusts his hand deep into the overcoat pocket where he keeps his Luger and starts to follow the other two inside...In the doorway of the black house the dark clad man looks at Hal from behind those dark glasses. At first it looks as if he has not understood Hal, and will simply stand there passively and uncomprehending. Then after a few moments he makes a gesture at his throat with his open hand, seemingly indicating that he cannot talk.

As Manny, Kurt and Richard follow Hal into the doorway, the tall figure turns to regard them each in turn. Seeing Manny's head injuries, he slowly nods, then steps aside, gesturing into the house with a sweep of his arm.

The air inside the house is warm and very dry. In sharp contrast, and blessed relief, to the cold and rain of the storm outside. Warm air comes from the metal grates of a forced air heating system set high along the walls near the ceiling. The walls are painted matte white, and the carpets some sort of artificial fibre in a complementary grey

The entry room is dominated by the staircase leading upwards to the second story. A large open rectangular doorway leads through to what appears to be a library. On the wall below the staircase, is mounted a mirror the same size and shape as the doorway to the library. Other than that, there are no decorations in this stark white room. It is akin to an expression of artificality and modernity pressed into the chaos of the former battlefield outside.

The manservant's gesture points through the entry hall and through the library.

Richard takes off his hat, shaking the collected water off to one side as he eyes the dark clad man with slightly hidden suspicion, before stepping into the stark room. He scans the room briefly, there not being much to focus on, but is thankful for the warmth and shelter.

Turning back to regard his companions, he catches the dark clad man gesturing to his throat, and begins to ponder what manner of eccentric would live here. Catching the eye of the mute man, Richard nods politely and smiles, before heading towards the library.

Richard isn't very familiar with Modernism, indeed his knowledge of recent artistic movements is limited to the occasional article in the news papers. His focuses lie more in the past.

There's not a chance, that he would want to live somewhere like this, a home should be inviting, a place to relax in. These sorts of places are not meant to be lived in, they're statements, where dwellers are as wanted as dust is on a painting. Kurt has a similar aversion to the house, although he is more bothered about the surrounding fortifications and detritus of war.

Regarding the modernist aesthetic, he thinks: "I don't know much about art but I know what I don't like, and I don't like this. At the same time I'm not in favour of people as ignorant as myself going around banning stuff they don't like e.g. the current shower of shits running Germany."

For the present, Kurt remains with the group, while observing mine host as closely as possible without making it look as if he's staring at him like he's an exhibit in a freakshow.

Manny doesn't have any full formed opinions about modernism. It is unlikely he knows what it means. He is deeply distrustful of the modern world, of progress and any attempt at demystifying the passions and the horrors of existence.

He has no time for architecture, and fails to understand the fascination with bricks and fences, or the longing for a fixed and confining home that exists amongst settled people. He has always been a traveller and as such would not want to live anywhere for too long, let alone this stark monstrosity that attempts with steel and glass to blank out the depths of the human soul.

He tries to fix the butler with a cold stare, to see if he can judge the subtleties of his mood as Manny used to do with lions. Manny's stare is reflected back at him in the tight dark glasses the manservant wears. For all the strength contained in Manny's gaze, the butler does not flinch or back down. He appears to hold the gaze, cutting through the small crowd of people gathering in the entry room, or moving through the Library. It is as if he is simply waiting for Manny to finish.

Roland is familiar with Modernism through friends and general talk back home. He's conflicted by it. Although he appreciates the progressive feel of it he leans more towards nature and ideas of the rugged outdoors, which are at odds with modernism's mechanised, ordered feel. A house like this, possibly filling the role of cabin in the woods does appeal. He's making mental notes of things he might want to incorporate when work on the new place starts.

After looking around with evident interest Rolands turn to the manservant and says:

"This place is amazing. Those guys at the architectural society dinners will choke on their soup when I tell them about this. Is the man of the house around? I sure would like to talk to him. Name's Roland Drew by the way."

He extends a hand.

The manservant does not take Roland's hand. Instead he holds Manny's gaze for a moment longer before turning to face the actor. He moves somewhat stiffly, turning his whole torso. He bows slightly, inclining his upper body forward a few degrees in a gesture of silent deference. Roland cannot be sure if it is a nod, or in recognition of the famous name.

He gestures forward through the library, indicating that the group should head further into the house. Now that all of the group are inside the house, he sees to the door. Pulling it firmly shut, and silencing the storm outside.

On one wall of the the L-shaped Library, high windows look out over the blasted and unwelcoming landscape outside. The storm lashes against the windows. The windows appears to be thick, polarised glass. Beneath the window, a small burnished steel dashboard mounts three Bakelite dials.

On the other walls, white metal shelves hold row-upon-row of books. At a glance, many of the titles are in German, but there are others in French, English and other more obscure languages. Two modernistic metal chairs, neither of them particularly inviting or comfortable looking, complete the furnishings.

Richard seems to spend great portions of his time and career scouring books and papers in libraries both public and private, in England and Russia. It was within a private collector's library in Saint Petersburg, access to which had been a particularly tiresome task to secure, that he found the diary of a member of a Khlysty sect visited by Father Grigori Rasputin, detailing how Father Grigori joined briefly and partook in their decadent rituals, before persuading certain members to leave with him and form a separate sect, one that focussed more heavily on the decadence rather than the salvation, and to look not to the clergy for guidance.

The diary went on to describe in unrivaled detail the early stages Rasputin's occult involvement, and whilst difficult to verify, enabled Richard to request his superiors for permission to delve further.

Hal is no fan of libraries. People get to read his books for free!?! Outrageous!! Kurt feels, that Libraries can be useful for research. But the most important thing? The football results. Hertha Berlin? Sehr Gut!

One shelf at chest hight, devoid of books, holds nothing else but a sculpted dark grey diorite hand. On it's ring finger is a substantial gold signet ring.

Richard wears a simple gold ring on his left ring finger, which he subconsciously turns around his finger during moments of contemplation or stress. Age and a largely sedentary occupation have led to his fingers becoming slightly chubbier around the ring, while the ring preserves the small part of what he once was all those years ago, with her. He has never for a second contemplated trying to remove the ring.
Neither Kurt nor Hal wear a ring. Hal pawned everything of value to finance this trip, though in general Hal is not the sentimental type.

There are two other exits from this room. Both are large open doorways of the same size as the one from the entry hall. One seems to open onto a drawing room, the other onto what looks like a gallery. The manservant's movement and direction seems to indicate that he wishes the bedraggled group to head towards the drawing room.

Having looked around the room, and curious as to the books on the shelves, Richard becomes very aware of the manservant's gesture, polite yet insistent. Not wanting to offend, Richard walks through to the drawing room. Of course, Hal and Kurt follows the manservants gesture, Kurt cautiously.

We look to be a ragged bunch of drowned rats, Richard thinks to himself as he straightens his overcoat and attempts to cajole his hair back into something resembling a side parting, I only hope we haven't ruined anything priceless by trailing mud and rain water! Kurt doesn't think they look very impressive but he's not overly bothered. The house owner's a weirdo who lives in a modernist bunker in the middle of a battlefield. What's he going to look like to me?

Hal's assumption is that he will simply look English.

No Man's Land

The walk to the mansion is punctuated by rapid-fire series of nightmarish images illuminated by lightning blasts and then wiped out by black sheets of rain. Patches of fog cling to the mounds and well up from sinkholes and craters, resembling old shell holes and trenchworks.


Rusted, yet still sharp, barbed wire left over from the Great War twists across one stretch of hill.

Richard Pimms, clutching his bag tightly, tries to focus solely on making his way down the drive to the mansion, however he cannot turn his head away as the lightning illuminates another hellish scene, burning the images onto his retinas like a photograph. His work during the War, hundreds of miles away back in Blighty, couldn't have prepared him for this, and he starts to feel a little queasy.

For Richard, The Great War was largely senseless, those in command acted with absolute disregard of the men they were sending to their deaths. Undoubtedly a lot went on underneath the fighting, atrocities that may never come to light. It's astounding the lengths, and depths, that men will go to for victory, or power.


A sudden slide of earth from the side of a nearby ravine, provoked by the heavy rain that permeates everything, reveals a pile of dismembered skeletons, obviously a mass grave.

In the brief flash of lightening that illuminates the scene, the bodies look like they may be wearing the remnants of army uniforms, although you cannot tell which side of that war - the war to end all wars.

Kurt regards the war as an absolute disaster and a shocking waste – the royal houses of Europe get to use everyone else as their own personal chess set in a family dispute that nobody can make head nor tail of except that it involved Serbia in some way or other. And Austria. Germany's defeat in 1918, supposedly due to the mythical stab in the back, also seems to be one of the Nazis' pet grievances; the nursing of which seems to provide them with the justification for all sorts of vile behaviour. He had some good mates in the army, but most of them got killed.

Kurt doesn't like to be reminded of the war. It takes it's toll.

Roland's experience of the war came well after its end. As a variety of heroic commanders or young Lieutenants, all actually fighting under the bright sun of Hollywood. Roland is arrogant and removed enough to feel slightly disappointed at having missed out on the war to end all wars, and a real opportunity to distinguish himself as one of the dashing Americans helping to save the day.

He's a little shocked by some of what he sees. Real death has never been a part of his life, though at the same time there is a small thrill about finally experiencing the 'real world'.

Manny reacts with fascination to the sights around him. Like firelight flickering from a cave his eyes begin to shine. He has always believed in fate, fortune and the other superstitions of travelling people, but increasingly Manny has started to look for messages in everything. He looks for some fateful image to form in the fog and half expects the muddied skeletons to speak to him. He is wary, but only in the way he is always wary of his environment.

War, he has no experience of. He is used to the macabre from his upbringing with the freaks and fortune tellers of the circus. He understands death and killing - these are animal urges - but not the senseless slaughter of war. War - like industry or politics - belongs to the world of settled people and not to the circus, and Manny does not understand it. He was too young to really remember the great war and spent its duration in the south of Europe where people still had money for travelling shows. He knows that it changed everything, especially for his kind. People lost their faith in illusion and spectacle so that they no longer saw the point in taming a lion when it was easier to shoot with a machine gun.

A shift of the wind blows a sharp, chemical scent of pineapple and pepper their way; Those passengers with experience in the Great War experience recognise it as chlorine gas. If that fog contains traces of chlorine, leaving the path could be fatal. Perhaps there are old stores underground, seeping chemicals into the soil as the containers slowly rust.

Hal, although a 2nd Lieutenant during the Great War, never saw any front line action and so the walk to the mansion doesn't trigger any old memories. Nor does he recognise the acrid smell as anything dangerous. Still a little shaken up by his first encounter with a dead body most of the grisly scene is passing him by (something he will later regret as he tries to recall the scene to commit to paper).

The only consolation is that the way is easier than first thought; there is some sort of graveled road – pitted by ponds and split by runoff to be sure -- running in the direction the former bus passengers are traveling. A long, poorly maintained driveway that leads up to, or away from, the house.

Concentrating on his feet trudging through the mud and rain, Richard grimly makes his way forward, his body hunched against the rain and the nightmares that lie just off the path. Manny walks forward taking in the scene, fascinated but aghast, a mixture of kid in a sweet shop and nun in a brothel. Roland is pushing ahead, relishing the stormy weather and dramatic lighting, eager to see what comes next.

Kurt walks like when he was in one of the storm groups in the final offensive: Walking hunched up, trying to present as small a target as possible.

Thinking: Everybody else is bunched too close together. One burst from a machine gun ,or a well placed grenade, and they'll all be dog food. Need to watch out for hill crests and obstacles like walls and gates. We don't want to be silhouetted against the horizon.

All this going through him more or less unconsciously. He checks the luger in his pocket.

Just like riding a bike. You never forget.

Kurt tells everyone to spread out and keep low, his voice carrying over the thunder.

Also thinking – some of this lot don't look like they'll be able to go far. They're injured and/or wet plus a couple of them looked decidely shaky. The house is probably our best bet, people can rest up and maybe get dry. Although...I don't like the look of the place...not one bit.

Hal is still somewhat withdrawn at the moment. He is following the rest of the group, but is lagging a little behind, for fear of being engaged in conversation. He is not yet ready to "join in".

Despite being on this trip to seek out adventure, his unremarkable, but comfortable life has rendered him somewhat blind to the fact that the adventure has now truly begun. The crash and the walk to the mansion are little more than an inconvenience on his route to finding it.

About 150 yards from the house, the begraggled passengers are forced to pick their way across a line of barbed wire, tangled with logs and boards. This slows their progress and bunches them up together. Taking care, they are able to negotiate this obstacle with little difficulty, only slightly tearing some clothing, or picking up small scratches. It looks like the remains of a collapsed gate.

A lightning flash reveals a shattered wooden sign. It reads TVERODA KASILDA in stencilled, weather faded writing.

Hal, Kurt and Richard are able to translate this as reading 'Fort Kasilda' in the backwater dialect of these parts.

By this time, they are close enough to make out the details of the dark house, even against the stormy skies and driving rain.

Rather than the anticipated gothic pile that would be expected in these parts, the architecture of the house is high modernism, stark lines and sharp angles . It's exterior walls seem to be smooth, polished black stone. The house rises to around fourty feet tall, although judging by the arrangement of windows, it only seems to have three visible stories. At the top of the path, the house has enormous double doors of burnished heavy steel. There are currently no lights visible in the house.

Roland's amateur enthusiasm for architecture allows him to identify the house. It is the 'Black Chateau' the final masterpiece of the reknowned and brilliant modernist architect Adhemar Grau. Roland recalls that Grau, a fanatical Modernist and disciple of Le Corbusier, exhibited plans for the Chateau at various academic shows and conferences for several years, before he mysteriously disappeared seven years ago. The house was supposedly never built - but here it is.

"Say, I recognise that house. Any of you fella's interested in architecture?"

Roland turns to look at the other members of the party group. Richard looks puzzled for a moment, before turning to Roland.

"I'm more perplexed as to why that building was built here, I'm certain this site used to be a chemical weapons depot during The War."

"It was." says Hal "and a big one. Though I should imagine it was decommissioned years ago."

Hal looks suspiciously at the drifting clouds of acrid smelling mist

"Perhaps not as thoroughly as it deserved."

"In that case perhaps we should keep away from it? " suggests Kurt. "Alternatively, anyone got a canary?"

"Under normal circumstances I would be inclined to agree," says Hal, "but this wretched storm somewhat limits our options."

"However, things may not be as grim as they appear. These Balkan Johnnies may have desposed of the chemicals by simply burying them in the grounds. The building itself may offer shelter not just from the storm but also from the chemicals."

Despite his words, a small part of Hal, the part that remembers the plots from his own horror novels and the hundreds of horror stories he mined for inspiration, is quietly, but insistantly trying to make its concerns known. It is foolishness of course, Hal knows this and lends no credence to the idea that although the building may indeed offer shelter from the storm and the gas, something worse than either lurks within those imposing walls.