Caillou unceremoniously sweeps the books and maps from the table. They fall among the folds of his coat and are gone.
Then the Tengu King, King Rook, Doctor l'Arcand, lowers himself in the house's one intact chair, behind the creaky table, in the room at the end of the dark hall.
A fire has been allowed to burn down in the hearth and the walls are smudged with eerie-looking marks: some voodoo, some Norse runes, some spooky-looking nonsense, for appearances and atmosphere. Bunches of leaves, feathers, and bones are tied against ragged drapes of a broken window, framing the dark and brooding sky. A storm looms outside. One guttering lantern smolders on its hook.
Caillou reaches into his pocket, scattering some feathers, seashells, and odd-shaped stones from the beach across the tabletop. The scene is set.
"Here they come now, up the hill," whispers Verner the kobold. His accent is heavy.
"Good," Lorelei nods primly, standing on the rickety stairs. By now the gypsy woman has donned the somewhat patchy dress, and assumed an air of disheveled nobility. "Places, everyone."
"...Who is everyone?" Verner complains, moving away from the boarded-up window. "Am I everyone? There's no one else here."
"Shush!"
Lorelei sweeps up the stairs. Verner ducks into the dark hole underneath them.