h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The ballroom is grand and gothic, with a guilded bat motif. a giant bat with a brass D on it is inlaid in the marble floor. Aside from an enormous piano, the furniture in here is mostly side chairs and small ocassional tables. A large mirror is set in the wall above a long, low fireplace.

*enters and looks around*

*the image of a woman appears in the mirror*

*she, no more than fifteen years old, is dressed all in black and clutches an open fan to her bossom*

*she becons to Lans*

*eyes her suspiciously*

Who are you?

[Fredi] I am Fredi DuBois, the younger daughter of The Baron of these lands. Why have you come to our house?

We're on our way to the Outpost.

[Fredi] You should not have stopped here. This house is under a cloud.

*as she says this, however, the clouds outside move on and some daylight fingers in through the tall windows*

*turns head slightly to watch the change then looks back to the girl*


As is the outside, the orcs move.

[Fredi] You must see...

*she steps aside. The mirror is so large as to cover the entire wall over the low fireplace, giving the illusion of a doubled room. The lighting changes in the reflected room, candles appear, as do flowers. It is nighttime, and a fat and important-looking figure is practicing his fencing. Another man enters, wearing a chocolate brown suit. The second man is Eastern-looking and approaches the fat man. They talk for a bit, and then the Eastern-man plunges his hand into the fat man's chest. The fat man falls to the floor*


*The scene changes, it is another night. Then there are other people, dressed in black and brown, strolling about the room. In the center of the room is a pedestal with a small brass urn on it. Ocassionally, the guests walk to the urn and say something, though the illusion is completely silent.*

*In the mirror, it is aparent that there is a disturbance in the next room, as the guests turn to look a tthe Grand Entry Hall door. The door bursts open and a hoard of terribly creatures from the dead storm the room. The guests funble in their clothes, futily looking for weapons. Some try to escape through the windows, but they are locked*

*the candles go out on the silently animated panic*


*as the lights return, the reflection of the room is as it is now, dusty and still. Fredi is still in the mirror*

*looks at the whole mirror*

*clenches fists*

... when was this?

[Fredi] 165 years ago, last may.

*hobbles into the room*

Who's this, Lans?

*as he speaks he stands up straight, rubbing his neck*

*sees Heidi in the reflection*

She is Fredi DuBois, Heidi

*Fredi curtseys, closing the fan and revealing the bloody hole in her chest*

*raises eyebrow*

Pleasure to meet you, Miss Fredi. If it is not much trouble can you tell me about death. and your fathers, if thats alright.

*smirks then stands guard against the door frame*

[Fredi] My father, the Baron DuBois, is the most powerful necromancer in the country, but in his last years, he became more difficult to live with. When agreeable, his mood was pleasant and charming, but when disagreeable he became monsterously canktankerous. He insisted that my sister Patty and I marry necromancers, as our parents and their parents had done so as to keep the magic pure. To that end, and due to a lack of purebreed necromancers, Patty was engaged to her cousin Dagrom Hapt and I was left to become a spinster.
My father sent Patty to the Magicians Guild in Imardinto take the necromancer's seat on the High Council, a seat that has always been held by a DuBois. While there, she wrote me letters about her studies, her colleagues, her adventues, but mostly about her growing love for a man at the Guild. The man was a healer, and a commoner, but she never told me his name. When my father found the letters, he was furious. He sent Dagron to Imardin to force the High Lord to break up Patty and her lover's relationship.
We never heard from Hapt again. Patty returned a month later and told us that she and Hapt had been married and that Hapt was looking for house in Imardin for them to live in. I didn't believe her, but was taken under the spell of the man who came with her from Imardin. She introduced him as Prince Vanii of the Eastern Lands, a necromancer and a nobleman. My father, too, fell under his spell and seemed disapointed that Patty had married Dagrom instead of the Prince.
Father then insisted that I should seduce the Prince into marrying me. Little did we know that the prince was a powerful and dangerous vampire. He killed my father in this room and a week later, at the funeral, he lead a hoard of demons on a rampage through the house and village. I escaped with my father's secretary in one of the carrages, but when we reached the village, it had been completely destroyed. The Prince caught up with the carrage while we waited for the ferry and killed both the secretary and I.
I never saw my sister again.
You must be careful; the vampire is still here in the house somewhere. I believe that father's secretary knew, but was keeping it a secret for an unknown reason. His note boo is somewhere in the house aswell, and may contain that vital information.

~~Lord Curmanis I think I have gained his trust a little~~

~~can you both come to the kitchen and bring ~~