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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4710299" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter Ten, “Touring the First Floor” September 1st, 1882, 4:30 P.M.</strong></p><p></p><p>Ruby asks cheerfully, “Shall we go see our rooms?" James looks towards Mina and says, "All except for Mina that is, we already know where her bedroom is and I can show her around the house later. For now I wouldn't mind some alone time with my lovely young bride. I think a bicycle ride down to Chicopit Bay sounds in order.” “And where is that darling?” Mina asks. He replies, “Around a mile-and-a-half to the southeast. The way there is one of the many stone bicycle paths that the Academy students built on the property. Much easier to ride on the stones than the sandy soil, plus it gave us something to do with all of the rocks that we kept digging up.” </p><p></p><p>Alsoomse finishes her drink and says, “While you do that I’ll go put away the carriage and tend to the horses.” "I prefer to stay outdoors if that's alright with you so I won't be needing a room. Alsoomse if you wouldn't mind the company I'll assist you with the carriage and the horses." She replies, "Certainly Nanuet, I would welcome the company." The head outside and instead of climbing up to drive the carriage she goes to the front and leads the first pair of horses from the front yoke. Fish calls out under his breath, impishly, "That first mare likes carrots!" </p><p></p><p>Luiz also stands and says, “And I will go and pay a visit to the Delroy-Kingsley family to check on how tonight’s dinner is coming along.” James laughs and says to the Doctor, “Or rather, you'll go check on Jasper and Jemima’s daughter Antoinette.” Luiz's face takes on a shocked expression and he answers, “James, How could you ever think such a thing? You know that I’m happily married to my darling wife Julie." James replies, "Your darling wife Julie, who currently resides in Paris, France you mean?" Luiz counters, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And I am also old enough to be young Toni’s grandfather! We’re just good friends.” “If you say so,” James chuckles. </p><p></p><p>After Sol hands Lawrence his drink he exits the bar and says, “We might as well start the tour right here with the Chairman’s Office.” He opens the door to the ten-by-twenty foot room with an eight-foot high roof. It has two large windows on the wall by the porch and another large window on the eastern wall. Between the windows are short bookcases filled with books. In the far corner is a closed roll-top desk. The most prominent feature in the room are a pair of long and deep wooden file cabinets along the south wall, each seven-feet-long, five-feet high and four feet deep. </p><p></p><p>Near the door is a small desk with a pair of chairs, one on each side of the desk. On the north wall between the two large windows is a framed portrait of the Doctor with his wife and six adult children. On the wall near the desk are several framed certificates in the languages of French, Polish and Portuguese. The only document in English is a license to practice medicine issued by the State of Florida. Fish scans the room for entrances and exits. It's not as though he's casing the joint -- it's force of habit, kinda like how that cowboy fella looks someone up and down every time he meets 'em for the first time.</p><p></p><p>Sol says, “This is our first of many hidden secrets, our secret hospital. You’ll want to step clear of the filing cabinets.” He goes over to the desk and fiddles with an inkwell made into the desk. As he does so across the room the two apparently hollow file cabinet facades begin to rotate forward and down into the floor and away from the wall, pivoting on an axis built into each cabinet side. The back of the cabinet that had been against the wall therefore pivots upward, now becoming the top. They both eventually come to rest at a ninety-degree angle from where they had been with both having now transformed into state-of-the-art stainless steel medical operating tables. Sol next goes to the roll top desk and inserts a key, turning it clockwise. The desktop rolls up and the lower drawer extend, revealing themselves to contain several dozen metal medical instruments, rolls of gauze, and close to one-hundred elixir bottles. </p><p></p><p>Sol states, “Luiz is one of the very best physicians on the planet and you won’t find better equipment than what you see right here. Alsoomse is also a very skilled nurse, experienced with healing magics from several cultures. No matter how serious any injuries that members of our team might sustain, if we can successfully get the wounded back to this room alive, then I would conjecture there is a 99.99% percent probability that our medical staff will be able to save them. That is also why we his office is here in this corner room with the wide windows, as he prefers direct sunlight to operate by than artificial." </p><p></p><p>George, always interested in light and lighting then asks "If the good doctor prefers natural light so much, why have north facing windows? Surely a southern exposure would provide more direct light all day." Sol says, "We thought of that, but needed the southern section of the building for another purpose. This works as we also have special reflectors that can attach to the porch railings to reflect light inwards as necessary." George says, "I would be most interested in seeing those after the main tour Sol." says George muttering about wavelengths and refractive indices. </p><p>Ruby says, "Injuries? Have their been a lot of injuries?" Sol replies, "There may be in the future, better to be safe than sorry" Sol resets the medical tables back to their file cabinet form and they exit the room. </p><p></p><p>Continuing the tour, the next room is the President and Vice President’s Office. It is also ten-by-twenty feet with windows on the east wall and a vented chimney in the southwest corner. The room has a plush red carpet is furnished with two large desks each with nice leather chairs. Three other leather chairs are also within the room. Mounted on the wall to the left of the is a metal shield that has fancy navy blue and red heraldry with a white sword painted in the middle. Painted around the edge are the Latin words “Magnus Imperium Maximus Officium” </p><p></p><p>Several paintings line the south wall, the most prominent being a four-by-seven foot painting in an elaborate gold leaf frame. The painting is of seven well-dressed men standing beneath a banner that reads “Massachusetts Abolitionist Society”. The clothing styles of the men indicate that it was painted some time in the mid-to-late 1850’s. The man in the center is a younger James A. Parker. </p><p></p><p>Abigail recognizes two of the others as the authors John Greenleaf Whittier and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ruby and George both recognize a man in the painting as somebody who they met during earlier this summer. He is a young Frederick Seagram, the father of Ruby’s best friend Katherine Seagram Kale. Thomas, Lawrence and Roy are personally acquainted with all seven men in the portrait, the other three being John Albian Andrew who was the Governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War and the five-years that proceeded it; William Phillips, a prominent Boston attorney; and William Lloyd Garrison, also from James’s home town of Newburyport, who published an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator. </p><p></p><p>Thomas took in the sights of the house and facilities, amazed by the solid craftsmanship and detail obvious in their construction, impressed at the rapidity with which the structures had been built on the grounds. And once again, he thought to himself, Parker is one of the most resourceful and capable men he's ever had the pleasure to meet, and to work so closely with. Thomas only hoped that he'd be able to make contribution to the efforts to come that would be truly worthy of the trust and respect Parker gave him. Stirring from his reverie, he followed the others on their tour through the house. </p><p></p><p>Continuing south, Sol opens and leads the group through the lobby doorway between the two fireplaces on the south wall. This leads to a north-to-south hallway eight-feet-wide and twenty-five-feet long with three doors along the east wall to the left, one door in the center of the west wall to the right and a pair of double doors at the end to the south. </p><p></p><p>The first door to the left has a plaque similar to the previous two offices, this one reading: </p><p>AGELESS Corporation Secretary</p><p>Alsoomse da Rosa </p><p></p><p>Sol opens the door to another ten-by-twenty foot room with a large window on the east wall. The room has a simple desk, just one chair, and various mats and pillows on the floor. The south wall is lined with filled bookcases. The north wall has several dozen shelves containing various Native American items. The room smells of incense. The chimney in the northwest corner of the room doesn’t have heating grates but instead is open, with a small fireplace built into it. On a shelf near the fireplace are cast iron pots and pans. </p><p></p><p>Abby took a deep breath of the incense as they entered the room. With a faraway look she said only, "This room smells of home." The particular scent wasn't familiar, nor were the items, but the feeling of the room... Suddenly she was a tiny girl again, in her nanny's rooms where there were all sorts of items that seemed spooky to a child. Exotic scents floated to her nose and the glitter of magic, things her mother and father couldn't see, floated with them. Beautiful Suzanne's rooms; she with the skin the color of creamed coffee, the lilting voice and comforting arms. She missed her father who had passed on, loved her mother, but only for Suzanne was she homesick. </p><p></p><p>There is a painting on the wall between the chimney and door. It is a portrait of three people with a seascape behind them. One is Alsoomse when she was the human equivalent of late teens or early twenties. Next to her is an olive-skinned human male with curly dark hair who is dressed as a fisherman. They are holding together between them a half-elvan toddler-aged girl who bears a resemblance to them both. </p><p></p><p>Ruby exclaims, "Awww, Sol, is that Alsoomse's daughter? She is so cute! Is her daughter here too?" Sol replies, "No, Natalia lives at her home up in Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard. That's where this portrait was painted, around one-hundred-and-forty years ago. The only relative of Alsoome's who is currently in Florida is her Grandson." </p><p></p><p>Continuing the tour, they return to the hallway and approach the final door on the left from the hallway has a sign that reads:</p><p>AGELESS Corporation Treasurer</p><p>Solomon Star </p><p></p><p>Sol says, “This is my office, come on it.” The room is the same ten-by-twenty foot size as the previous three, again with a window on the east wall. It has very little open space to walk, with two desks, three chairs and four tables, each piled with various papers, charts and books. The walls have several framed newspaper stories, most about the ‘Bullock & Star Retail Stores’. The room has a doorway on the south wall near the east-facing window. </p><p></p><p>Sol points to the door and says, “That will be your office Attorney Hardin, as we will probably be working closely together.” The door to that office is opened to reveal a ten-by-fifteen foot room, with longer section parallel the east wall with two windows. The room is currently furnished with a desk, two chairs and two wooden filing cabinets. There is a door on the opposite wall. Fish peeks in to see if there's a spittoon installed therein for the Texan. Ruby inquires, "Mr. Hardin, what is your role in our party, if I might ask?" “Attorney,” is his response. </p><p></p><p>Returning again to the main hallway he brings them to the final door on the left. It has a plaque reading:</p><p>AGELESS Corporation </p><p>Photographic Laboratory </p><p></p><p>Solomon opens the door to reveal a windowless interior room that is also ten-by-fifteen feet in size. The only other door is to the south wall. It has various shelves, cabinets and sinks. Benjamin thinks to himself, "I bet there's some silver in there!" </p><p></p><p>George Eastman is impressed by seeing that the room is stocked with all of the latest equipment for the development of film, many being from his own company but also a few things made by his competitors, some items of which he had heard of but had not actually seen until this very moment. Sol references to the chimney in the southwest corner and says, “That grate has special vents to allow you to regulate the level of light or heat to radiate from it so that you can keep this room as hot, cold or dark as you need it to be.” Very nice Mr. Star" says George admiring the space.</p><p></p><p>Ruby rolled her eyes just a little. "Oh no, I've lost him. George that is, he'll always be in here!" Then she smiled. "Hopefully he'll have something great to photograph. Looks like you've got all the best stuff here for him to work with though." George smiles at Ruby "Well Constance, this is why James brought me down here. But I promise to not live here. Or better yet , you can assist me in the lab here" says George with a smile. The look on Ruby's face could peel paint off the walls. And George had to laugh "No, of course not." laughed George. "But I will make time for us my dear, have no worries." </p><p></p><p>Lawrence says, "I take it by your wife's comments that you're in the photography business? I've seen Mr. Brady's fine work documenting the War of Rebellion." George looks at Lawrence "I......dabble a bit in photography, yes Mr. Cantrell." says George with a wry smile. "And Mr. Brady was a pioneer in his work, an inspiration to the art of photography. It is a shame though that he has fallen on hard times." says George wistfully. Lawrence replies, "That is too bad. His pictures helped bring the war to the general public. Someone should do something for him."</p><p></p><p>Sol heads away from the double-doors on the end and towards the center door on the western wall. He opens it and leads them into a good-sized kitchen, fifteen-foot-square. Two large ice chests are to the left of the door on the south wall. Wood stoves line the east wall of the room, vented to both of the chimney sides. The chimney also has open doors on both sides into this room revealing bread ovens. The west wall is lined mostly with cabinets. In the center of the room is a table with a butcher-block top. A sink with a hand pump is in the southwest corner. A dumbwaiter is also on the west wall. </p><p></p><p>Sol says, “We have an arrangement with the Delroy-Kingsley family where they cook and share one meal a day with us. During the summer that was always the noon meal, as the student archeology teams therefore didn’t have to stop at mid-day to prepare anything. Ever since the students left we’ve varied which meal it is. Today they’ll be joining us for our evening meal. They always cook extra, which goes into the iceboxes, so there is usually something that can be heated up for the other meals. Of course, if any of you actually wish to cook that would also be appreciated.”</p><p></p><p>"I can cook!" offers Fish cheerfully. "I did so often enough, preparing meals for the big top gang." He shakes out his shoulders and rolls his head. "Mr. Solomon, is there a high ropes course or some-such here on the grounds? I need to stretch a bit. There's no rush. I'm just curious." Sol smiles and says, "No, nothing of that sort, although we have plenty of land if you wish to build it. We actually own around three square miles of land here." Fish grins, "Nah, that won't be necessary -- if y'all don't mind my using the second-floor porch railings as balance beams, the peak of the roof as a catwalk, and the south trellis as rigging!" </p><p></p><p>Sol points to the north wall door and says that goes back into the lobby. He opens the door on the west wall, to the side hallway, which is ten feet across to the porch door and a five foot wide corridor going north for fifteen feet to the lobby door, with the two water closet doors on the left of this corridor. </p><p></p><p>They exit the kitchen from the southern door and enter the main dining room, which is twenty-foot-square. It has three round tables with white-and-red tablecloths on each. The tables each have seven chairs around them with place settings at all twenty-one chairs. A lazy-Susan with various spices and condiments is in the center of each table. An unlit chandelier is in the center of the room. The east wall has large picture windows, the drapes being drawn to show the porch and let in light. China cabinets are along the south wall. </p><p></p><p>"This is nice," Ruby comments. "Who does the shopping?" Sol replies, "Until today, primarily me. I've work retail stores most of my life so know prices and merchandise. I get the basics from the Mill Cove store on the daily mail runs. Around once a week I also make a trip into the city, and would welcome assistance with that run. Going to the city for shopping is actually a rather leisurely activity when you use the larger sailboat to travel there and back." </p><p></p><p>She states, "Oh, I love shopping, any kind. I can help you out with that. And I would love to see the city - Jacksonville is it?" Sol says, "Yes, the city your train arrived at. It currently has a population of 14,500, which means that there are plenty of stores." "Excellent!", she answers. </p><p></p><p>They exit the dining room in a door on the west wall near the fireplace in the southwest corner. This leads to a small ten-by-seven foot hallway that is immediately south of the first central hallway, with the double doors to that other hallway on the north wall. This hall also has a water closet. There is a door to the right which Sol says leads down to the basement, where they will light the fires for all of the chimneys during the winter months. He adds, "And by next summer we hope to also have installed a cooling mechanism that will circulate cold air using the same chimney and ventilation system.” </p><p></p><p>A pair of large double doors are on the south wall of this hallway. These doors have more than one lock on them. The left door of these double doors has a plaque reading:</p><p>AGELESS Corporation</p><p>Transportation and Logistics Office </p><p></p><p>Fish discreetly sizes up the locks -- through sheer force of habit! Ruby also stares at the locks curiously to determine how complicated would they be to get open. As someone who once tried to break out of the inside of a bank vault, this wasn't too complicated, though she wouldn't doubt magic was involved. She asks, "What's in the transportation office so valuable that needs multiple locks?" </p><p></p><p>Sol unlocks the doors and leads the group through. Inside is a vast windowless room, running twenty feet north-to-south and the full fifty-foot east-to-west width of the building. In the center of the south wall is a staircase running up to a doorway to the second floor. Both southern fireplaces are half within this room on the northern wall. Doors along the northern wall east of the fireplaces lead to the photography lab and Attorney’s Office. A set of thick double-doors that open into the room are along the back southern wall near the southeast corner. It is currently bolted shut and blocked with an iron bar. Fish sizes up those doors too, for good measure.</p><p></p><p>The room has a single-story for the eastern thirty feet, but in the western twenty-foot-square section there is an eighteen foot high ceiling comprising the first and second floors. On the north wall next to the chimney at the beginning of this section is a ladder mounted to the wall that leads up to a catwalk balcony on the northwestern corner of the room. The single-story section of the room has several large filing cabinets.. Signs above each pair of cabinets read “The Frolic”, The Heidi”, “The Isabella”, and “The Magnificence.” Those who have known James Parker for decades recognize the latter as the name of his own three-masted sailing ship. Two desks and five chairs also fill that section of the room. </p><p></p><p>Lawrence asks, "Are those ship logs, Sol? I recognize The Magnificence. It looks like James has been quite busy." Sol replies, "The cabinets will hold the logs. The company is new so, we're on our initial voyages right now. The Parker family is renting The Magnificence to the AGELESS Corporation for the indefinite future. She's an old ship but has been well maintained and is very swift on the high seas." Lawrence states, "I know that ship well. Old Boss Tweed thought he could get away from us. But the old girl got us to Spain in record time. Let's hope these other ships serve as well."</p><p></p><p>The most impressive item in the room is a huge fourteen-by-eighteen-foot table in the center of the two-story part of the room and up against the eastern wall, with just a few feet of walking space around both sides to the north and south of the table. The table itself has painted upon its entire top a detailed map of the Atlantic Ocean, showing the Atlantic coasts of North America, South America, Africa and Europe. Eight red two-inch diameter stars mark the map. There is a brass plaque next to each star naming its location. </p><p></p><p>North America has stars marked upon “Newburyport, Massachusetts”, “New York, New York” and “Jacksonville, Florida”. South America has a single star marked on “Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”. Africa has a pair of stars, one towards Africa’s southwest coast marked “Luanda, Portuguese West Africa/Angola” and another on the northwest coast marked “Bissau, Portuguese Guinea”. Europe has a single star marking “Lisbon, Portugal”. The remaining star is at an island chain several hundred miles west of Europe and marked “Ponta Delgada, Azore Islands”. </p><p></p><p>Also on the map are four model ships cast in metal, each four inches long and each with a wooden toothpick sticking up and flying a full-colored one-by-two-thirds inch cloth flag . A three-masted sailing ship model with a United States flag is at the Newburyport location. The other three models are all two-masted paddlewheel freighters. One has a United States flag and is currently southeast of Cuba and pointed towards Jacksonville. Another has a Peruvian flag and is sailing across the south Atlantic between Bissau and Rio de Janeiro. The other has the flag of Switzerland and is at the Lisbon location. </p><p></p><p>A rack with several long pointer sticks is mounted along the north wall, apparently used to move the ship models across the board. Ruby stepped into the room and curiously approached the table. She ran her hand across the painted on map as she gazed upon it. "Oh, the world is big," she said in awe. Her eyes flitted from area to area, her imagination running wild in her head. "This is a beautiful map. Does it have something to do with our little adventure?" She couldn't quite contain her excitement at the possibility of going somewhere more exotic than Florida. </p><p></p><p>Sol replies, "It does indeed. This map illustrates the commercial side of the business, which will fund the academic exploration side. You see here the eight ports of the AGELESS corporation and the tracking of our vessels when in port or at sea. The manager at each shipping location is responsible for lining up commercial shipments, with the focus on agricultural products of the indigenous populations, dealing directly with the people at the lowest level whereever possible. For example, once this Jacksonville location is fully established we hope to purchase citrus and rice directly from the underprivileged humans and ogres who grow them rather than rich intermediaries and plantation owners. We also plan to purchase alligator-skin products from the Siminole elves further south." </p><p></p><p>Ruby paused only briefly, the word business immediately bored her. She says, "Oh that's right, Nana mentioned that briefly. Smart to set up business to fund the fun stuff." Abigail nodded, listening with interest. "Sound plan. Not only does it make sure that the right people are getting paid for their labor, it also lowers the corporation's costs by cutting out the middleman . This map and set-up is amazing, but it does seem a bit... over the top for just tracking business. I'd guess it's also used to keep track of the more adventurous side of this corporation." Sol replies, "James will explain the details of the adventuring side of the business tomorrow and some of this will make more sense then. But think of it this way, we have now established a legitimate means to explain any travel being done by any of you between these four continents."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 4710299, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter Ten, “Touring the First Floor” September 1st, 1882, 4:30 P.M.[/B] Ruby asks cheerfully, “Shall we go see our rooms?" James looks towards Mina and says, "All except for Mina that is, we already know where her bedroom is and I can show her around the house later. For now I wouldn't mind some alone time with my lovely young bride. I think a bicycle ride down to Chicopit Bay sounds in order.” “And where is that darling?” Mina asks. He replies, “Around a mile-and-a-half to the southeast. The way there is one of the many stone bicycle paths that the Academy students built on the property. Much easier to ride on the stones than the sandy soil, plus it gave us something to do with all of the rocks that we kept digging up.” Alsoomse finishes her drink and says, “While you do that I’ll go put away the carriage and tend to the horses.” "I prefer to stay outdoors if that's alright with you so I won't be needing a room. Alsoomse if you wouldn't mind the company I'll assist you with the carriage and the horses." She replies, "Certainly Nanuet, I would welcome the company." The head outside and instead of climbing up to drive the carriage she goes to the front and leads the first pair of horses from the front yoke. Fish calls out under his breath, impishly, "That first mare likes carrots!" Luiz also stands and says, “And I will go and pay a visit to the Delroy-Kingsley family to check on how tonight’s dinner is coming along.” James laughs and says to the Doctor, “Or rather, you'll go check on Jasper and Jemima’s daughter Antoinette.” Luiz's face takes on a shocked expression and he answers, “James, How could you ever think such a thing? You know that I’m happily married to my darling wife Julie." James replies, "Your darling wife Julie, who currently resides in Paris, France you mean?" Luiz counters, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And I am also old enough to be young Toni’s grandfather! We’re just good friends.” “If you say so,” James chuckles. After Sol hands Lawrence his drink he exits the bar and says, “We might as well start the tour right here with the Chairman’s Office.” He opens the door to the ten-by-twenty foot room with an eight-foot high roof. It has two large windows on the wall by the porch and another large window on the eastern wall. Between the windows are short bookcases filled with books. In the far corner is a closed roll-top desk. The most prominent feature in the room are a pair of long and deep wooden file cabinets along the south wall, each seven-feet-long, five-feet high and four feet deep. Near the door is a small desk with a pair of chairs, one on each side of the desk. On the north wall between the two large windows is a framed portrait of the Doctor with his wife and six adult children. On the wall near the desk are several framed certificates in the languages of French, Polish and Portuguese. The only document in English is a license to practice medicine issued by the State of Florida. Fish scans the room for entrances and exits. It's not as though he's casing the joint -- it's force of habit, kinda like how that cowboy fella looks someone up and down every time he meets 'em for the first time. Sol says, “This is our first of many hidden secrets, our secret hospital. You’ll want to step clear of the filing cabinets.” He goes over to the desk and fiddles with an inkwell made into the desk. As he does so across the room the two apparently hollow file cabinet facades begin to rotate forward and down into the floor and away from the wall, pivoting on an axis built into each cabinet side. The back of the cabinet that had been against the wall therefore pivots upward, now becoming the top. They both eventually come to rest at a ninety-degree angle from where they had been with both having now transformed into state-of-the-art stainless steel medical operating tables. Sol next goes to the roll top desk and inserts a key, turning it clockwise. The desktop rolls up and the lower drawer extend, revealing themselves to contain several dozen metal medical instruments, rolls of gauze, and close to one-hundred elixir bottles. Sol states, “Luiz is one of the very best physicians on the planet and you won’t find better equipment than what you see right here. Alsoomse is also a very skilled nurse, experienced with healing magics from several cultures. No matter how serious any injuries that members of our team might sustain, if we can successfully get the wounded back to this room alive, then I would conjecture there is a 99.99% percent probability that our medical staff will be able to save them. That is also why we his office is here in this corner room with the wide windows, as he prefers direct sunlight to operate by than artificial." George, always interested in light and lighting then asks "If the good doctor prefers natural light so much, why have north facing windows? Surely a southern exposure would provide more direct light all day." Sol says, "We thought of that, but needed the southern section of the building for another purpose. This works as we also have special reflectors that can attach to the porch railings to reflect light inwards as necessary." George says, "I would be most interested in seeing those after the main tour Sol." says George muttering about wavelengths and refractive indices. Ruby says, "Injuries? Have their been a lot of injuries?" Sol replies, "There may be in the future, better to be safe than sorry" Sol resets the medical tables back to their file cabinet form and they exit the room. Continuing the tour, the next room is the President and Vice President’s Office. It is also ten-by-twenty feet with windows on the east wall and a vented chimney in the southwest corner. The room has a plush red carpet is furnished with two large desks each with nice leather chairs. Three other leather chairs are also within the room. Mounted on the wall to the left of the is a metal shield that has fancy navy blue and red heraldry with a white sword painted in the middle. Painted around the edge are the Latin words “Magnus Imperium Maximus Officium” Several paintings line the south wall, the most prominent being a four-by-seven foot painting in an elaborate gold leaf frame. The painting is of seven well-dressed men standing beneath a banner that reads “Massachusetts Abolitionist Society”. The clothing styles of the men indicate that it was painted some time in the mid-to-late 1850’s. The man in the center is a younger James A. Parker. Abigail recognizes two of the others as the authors John Greenleaf Whittier and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ruby and George both recognize a man in the painting as somebody who they met during earlier this summer. He is a young Frederick Seagram, the father of Ruby’s best friend Katherine Seagram Kale. Thomas, Lawrence and Roy are personally acquainted with all seven men in the portrait, the other three being John Albian Andrew who was the Governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War and the five-years that proceeded it; William Phillips, a prominent Boston attorney; and William Lloyd Garrison, also from James’s home town of Newburyport, who published an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator. Thomas took in the sights of the house and facilities, amazed by the solid craftsmanship and detail obvious in their construction, impressed at the rapidity with which the structures had been built on the grounds. And once again, he thought to himself, Parker is one of the most resourceful and capable men he's ever had the pleasure to meet, and to work so closely with. Thomas only hoped that he'd be able to make contribution to the efforts to come that would be truly worthy of the trust and respect Parker gave him. Stirring from his reverie, he followed the others on their tour through the house. Continuing south, Sol opens and leads the group through the lobby doorway between the two fireplaces on the south wall. This leads to a north-to-south hallway eight-feet-wide and twenty-five-feet long with three doors along the east wall to the left, one door in the center of the west wall to the right and a pair of double doors at the end to the south. The first door to the left has a plaque similar to the previous two offices, this one reading: AGELESS Corporation Secretary Alsoomse da Rosa Sol opens the door to another ten-by-twenty foot room with a large window on the east wall. The room has a simple desk, just one chair, and various mats and pillows on the floor. The south wall is lined with filled bookcases. The north wall has several dozen shelves containing various Native American items. The room smells of incense. The chimney in the northwest corner of the room doesn’t have heating grates but instead is open, with a small fireplace built into it. On a shelf near the fireplace are cast iron pots and pans. Abby took a deep breath of the incense as they entered the room. With a faraway look she said only, "This room smells of home." The particular scent wasn't familiar, nor were the items, but the feeling of the room... Suddenly she was a tiny girl again, in her nanny's rooms where there were all sorts of items that seemed spooky to a child. Exotic scents floated to her nose and the glitter of magic, things her mother and father couldn't see, floated with them. Beautiful Suzanne's rooms; she with the skin the color of creamed coffee, the lilting voice and comforting arms. She missed her father who had passed on, loved her mother, but only for Suzanne was she homesick. There is a painting on the wall between the chimney and door. It is a portrait of three people with a seascape behind them. One is Alsoomse when she was the human equivalent of late teens or early twenties. Next to her is an olive-skinned human male with curly dark hair who is dressed as a fisherman. They are holding together between them a half-elvan toddler-aged girl who bears a resemblance to them both. Ruby exclaims, "Awww, Sol, is that Alsoomse's daughter? She is so cute! Is her daughter here too?" Sol replies, "No, Natalia lives at her home up in Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard. That's where this portrait was painted, around one-hundred-and-forty years ago. The only relative of Alsoome's who is currently in Florida is her Grandson." Continuing the tour, they return to the hallway and approach the final door on the left from the hallway has a sign that reads: AGELESS Corporation Treasurer Solomon Star Sol says, “This is my office, come on it.” The room is the same ten-by-twenty foot size as the previous three, again with a window on the east wall. It has very little open space to walk, with two desks, three chairs and four tables, each piled with various papers, charts and books. The walls have several framed newspaper stories, most about the ‘Bullock & Star Retail Stores’. The room has a doorway on the south wall near the east-facing window. Sol points to the door and says, “That will be your office Attorney Hardin, as we will probably be working closely together.” The door to that office is opened to reveal a ten-by-fifteen foot room, with longer section parallel the east wall with two windows. The room is currently furnished with a desk, two chairs and two wooden filing cabinets. There is a door on the opposite wall. Fish peeks in to see if there's a spittoon installed therein for the Texan. Ruby inquires, "Mr. Hardin, what is your role in our party, if I might ask?" “Attorney,” is his response. Returning again to the main hallway he brings them to the final door on the left. It has a plaque reading: AGELESS Corporation Photographic Laboratory Solomon opens the door to reveal a windowless interior room that is also ten-by-fifteen feet in size. The only other door is to the south wall. It has various shelves, cabinets and sinks. Benjamin thinks to himself, "I bet there's some silver in there!" George Eastman is impressed by seeing that the room is stocked with all of the latest equipment for the development of film, many being from his own company but also a few things made by his competitors, some items of which he had heard of but had not actually seen until this very moment. Sol references to the chimney in the southwest corner and says, “That grate has special vents to allow you to regulate the level of light or heat to radiate from it so that you can keep this room as hot, cold or dark as you need it to be.” Very nice Mr. Star" says George admiring the space. Ruby rolled her eyes just a little. "Oh no, I've lost him. George that is, he'll always be in here!" Then she smiled. "Hopefully he'll have something great to photograph. Looks like you've got all the best stuff here for him to work with though." George smiles at Ruby "Well Constance, this is why James brought me down here. But I promise to not live here. Or better yet , you can assist me in the lab here" says George with a smile. The look on Ruby's face could peel paint off the walls. And George had to laugh "No, of course not." laughed George. "But I will make time for us my dear, have no worries." Lawrence says, "I take it by your wife's comments that you're in the photography business? I've seen Mr. Brady's fine work documenting the War of Rebellion." George looks at Lawrence "I......dabble a bit in photography, yes Mr. Cantrell." says George with a wry smile. "And Mr. Brady was a pioneer in his work, an inspiration to the art of photography. It is a shame though that he has fallen on hard times." says George wistfully. Lawrence replies, "That is too bad. His pictures helped bring the war to the general public. Someone should do something for him." Sol heads away from the double-doors on the end and towards the center door on the western wall. He opens it and leads them into a good-sized kitchen, fifteen-foot-square. Two large ice chests are to the left of the door on the south wall. Wood stoves line the east wall of the room, vented to both of the chimney sides. The chimney also has open doors on both sides into this room revealing bread ovens. The west wall is lined mostly with cabinets. In the center of the room is a table with a butcher-block top. A sink with a hand pump is in the southwest corner. A dumbwaiter is also on the west wall. Sol says, “We have an arrangement with the Delroy-Kingsley family where they cook and share one meal a day with us. During the summer that was always the noon meal, as the student archeology teams therefore didn’t have to stop at mid-day to prepare anything. Ever since the students left we’ve varied which meal it is. Today they’ll be joining us for our evening meal. They always cook extra, which goes into the iceboxes, so there is usually something that can be heated up for the other meals. Of course, if any of you actually wish to cook that would also be appreciated.” "I can cook!" offers Fish cheerfully. "I did so often enough, preparing meals for the big top gang." He shakes out his shoulders and rolls his head. "Mr. Solomon, is there a high ropes course or some-such here on the grounds? I need to stretch a bit. There's no rush. I'm just curious." Sol smiles and says, "No, nothing of that sort, although we have plenty of land if you wish to build it. We actually own around three square miles of land here." Fish grins, "Nah, that won't be necessary -- if y'all don't mind my using the second-floor porch railings as balance beams, the peak of the roof as a catwalk, and the south trellis as rigging!" Sol points to the north wall door and says that goes back into the lobby. He opens the door on the west wall, to the side hallway, which is ten feet across to the porch door and a five foot wide corridor going north for fifteen feet to the lobby door, with the two water closet doors on the left of this corridor. They exit the kitchen from the southern door and enter the main dining room, which is twenty-foot-square. It has three round tables with white-and-red tablecloths on each. The tables each have seven chairs around them with place settings at all twenty-one chairs. A lazy-Susan with various spices and condiments is in the center of each table. An unlit chandelier is in the center of the room. The east wall has large picture windows, the drapes being drawn to show the porch and let in light. China cabinets are along the south wall. "This is nice," Ruby comments. "Who does the shopping?" Sol replies, "Until today, primarily me. I've work retail stores most of my life so know prices and merchandise. I get the basics from the Mill Cove store on the daily mail runs. Around once a week I also make a trip into the city, and would welcome assistance with that run. Going to the city for shopping is actually a rather leisurely activity when you use the larger sailboat to travel there and back." She states, "Oh, I love shopping, any kind. I can help you out with that. And I would love to see the city - Jacksonville is it?" Sol says, "Yes, the city your train arrived at. It currently has a population of 14,500, which means that there are plenty of stores." "Excellent!", she answers. They exit the dining room in a door on the west wall near the fireplace in the southwest corner. This leads to a small ten-by-seven foot hallway that is immediately south of the first central hallway, with the double doors to that other hallway on the north wall. This hall also has a water closet. There is a door to the right which Sol says leads down to the basement, where they will light the fires for all of the chimneys during the winter months. He adds, "And by next summer we hope to also have installed a cooling mechanism that will circulate cold air using the same chimney and ventilation system.” A pair of large double doors are on the south wall of this hallway. These doors have more than one lock on them. The left door of these double doors has a plaque reading: AGELESS Corporation Transportation and Logistics Office Fish discreetly sizes up the locks -- through sheer force of habit! Ruby also stares at the locks curiously to determine how complicated would they be to get open. As someone who once tried to break out of the inside of a bank vault, this wasn't too complicated, though she wouldn't doubt magic was involved. She asks, "What's in the transportation office so valuable that needs multiple locks?" Sol unlocks the doors and leads the group through. Inside is a vast windowless room, running twenty feet north-to-south and the full fifty-foot east-to-west width of the building. In the center of the south wall is a staircase running up to a doorway to the second floor. Both southern fireplaces are half within this room on the northern wall. Doors along the northern wall east of the fireplaces lead to the photography lab and Attorney’s Office. A set of thick double-doors that open into the room are along the back southern wall near the southeast corner. It is currently bolted shut and blocked with an iron bar. Fish sizes up those doors too, for good measure. The room has a single-story for the eastern thirty feet, but in the western twenty-foot-square section there is an eighteen foot high ceiling comprising the first and second floors. On the north wall next to the chimney at the beginning of this section is a ladder mounted to the wall that leads up to a catwalk balcony on the northwestern corner of the room. The single-story section of the room has several large filing cabinets.. Signs above each pair of cabinets read “The Frolic”, The Heidi”, “The Isabella”, and “The Magnificence.” Those who have known James Parker for decades recognize the latter as the name of his own three-masted sailing ship. Two desks and five chairs also fill that section of the room. Lawrence asks, "Are those ship logs, Sol? I recognize The Magnificence. It looks like James has been quite busy." Sol replies, "The cabinets will hold the logs. The company is new so, we're on our initial voyages right now. The Parker family is renting The Magnificence to the AGELESS Corporation for the indefinite future. She's an old ship but has been well maintained and is very swift on the high seas." Lawrence states, "I know that ship well. Old Boss Tweed thought he could get away from us. But the old girl got us to Spain in record time. Let's hope these other ships serve as well." The most impressive item in the room is a huge fourteen-by-eighteen-foot table in the center of the two-story part of the room and up against the eastern wall, with just a few feet of walking space around both sides to the north and south of the table. The table itself has painted upon its entire top a detailed map of the Atlantic Ocean, showing the Atlantic coasts of North America, South America, Africa and Europe. Eight red two-inch diameter stars mark the map. There is a brass plaque next to each star naming its location. North America has stars marked upon “Newburyport, Massachusetts”, “New York, New York” and “Jacksonville, Florida”. South America has a single star marked on “Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”. Africa has a pair of stars, one towards Africa’s southwest coast marked “Luanda, Portuguese West Africa/Angola” and another on the northwest coast marked “Bissau, Portuguese Guinea”. Europe has a single star marking “Lisbon, Portugal”. The remaining star is at an island chain several hundred miles west of Europe and marked “Ponta Delgada, Azore Islands”. Also on the map are four model ships cast in metal, each four inches long and each with a wooden toothpick sticking up and flying a full-colored one-by-two-thirds inch cloth flag . A three-masted sailing ship model with a United States flag is at the Newburyport location. The other three models are all two-masted paddlewheel freighters. One has a United States flag and is currently southeast of Cuba and pointed towards Jacksonville. Another has a Peruvian flag and is sailing across the south Atlantic between Bissau and Rio de Janeiro. The other has the flag of Switzerland and is at the Lisbon location. A rack with several long pointer sticks is mounted along the north wall, apparently used to move the ship models across the board. Ruby stepped into the room and curiously approached the table. She ran her hand across the painted on map as she gazed upon it. "Oh, the world is big," she said in awe. Her eyes flitted from area to area, her imagination running wild in her head. "This is a beautiful map. Does it have something to do with our little adventure?" She couldn't quite contain her excitement at the possibility of going somewhere more exotic than Florida. Sol replies, "It does indeed. This map illustrates the commercial side of the business, which will fund the academic exploration side. You see here the eight ports of the AGELESS corporation and the tracking of our vessels when in port or at sea. The manager at each shipping location is responsible for lining up commercial shipments, with the focus on agricultural products of the indigenous populations, dealing directly with the people at the lowest level whereever possible. For example, once this Jacksonville location is fully established we hope to purchase citrus and rice directly from the underprivileged humans and ogres who grow them rather than rich intermediaries and plantation owners. We also plan to purchase alligator-skin products from the Siminole elves further south." Ruby paused only briefly, the word business immediately bored her. She says, "Oh that's right, Nana mentioned that briefly. Smart to set up business to fund the fun stuff." Abigail nodded, listening with interest. "Sound plan. Not only does it make sure that the right people are getting paid for their labor, it also lowers the corporation's costs by cutting out the middleman . This map and set-up is amazing, but it does seem a bit... over the top for just tracking business. I'd guess it's also used to keep track of the more adventurous side of this corporation." Sol replies, "James will explain the details of the adventuring side of the business tomorrow and some of this will make more sense then. But think of it this way, we have now established a legitimate means to explain any travel being done by any of you between these four continents." [/QUOTE]
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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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