"Awfully friendly woman, isn't she?" The Baron said, watching Claudia disappear around the corner, leaving his alone with the girl from the conservatory. "Got the right idea too. Better to buddy up in this type of situation. After all, our mysterious host could be lurking around any corner. In fact..." he let his eyes stray conspiratorially to the unopened door set into the wall of the foyer. He lifted his finger to his lips and began to slowly creep over to it, weapon bag under one arm and umbrella raised. "I think..." he continued, punctuating his sentence with every sidelong step,"...they might...be closer..." he rested his hand heavily on the doorknob, raising the umbrella higher, "....than...we...think! HAHA!"

He wrenched the door open and brought the umbrella down inside the opening, beating on the numerous inhabitants hiding in the shadowy space with great vigor. They fell, one by one, before the furious might of his blows. Which wasn't surprising, because they were coats.

The Baron slowly ceased his rampage against fashion as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He peaked his way around the doorway to check on his buddy. "I've discovered a closet." He said brightly, slipping the point of his umbrella umbrella under the collar of one of the stately Victorian style coats that now lay scattered and crumpled across the narrow floor. He lifted it up to examine. "My size." he said after a moment. He then spotted something else amid the pile and fished that out. It was a long white evening gown, the type a sociable debutante would wear to impress all her friends at the ball. He swept the dress out of the hanger on umbrella tip, holding it at length between himself and the girl, overlaying the dress on top of her and closing one eye. "Yours too, if I'm not mistaken. And I rarely am when it comes to costuming. Hmmmmm." He replaced the dress onto the closet floor then, almost as an afterthought, took the bag of weapons and threw it in roughly among the clothes. A few pineapple grenades bounced out and rolled into the hallway as he piled coats on top of it and shut the door. "There. Now we know where it is in case we need it."

[@Amithea]