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A game of chance in the mysterious manor? It sounded like the thing of distant fairy tales, or perhaps a tale of deviance doting parents would recall to their slumbering children. Perhaps one of these individuals would find fondness in the similarities; only in this difference they were to be the guinea pigs to this so-called game. Whatever the game even was. No doubt the Countess would explain her rules in due time, after everyone had marked their protests of course.

It was only natural in human behavior, to refuse and defy rather than accept and submit. Thrust into this strange new reality, eating strange new food, and finding themselves to be lectured by what was presumed to be a strange young girl…it was all a bit strange. But alas, events were only going to get stranger for them as time progressed in this most special of manors.

For while the hand that had pawed Libe was in fact gone from sight, there was still something shifting around in the darkness under her former seat. Something not human that seemed to scuffle closer and closer to her and whether she would check the commotion or not mattered not to the creature. Because sure enough a loud yowl was heard right beside her feet, the lithe form of a black cat screeching in panic before running across her boots and bounding across the floor.

It seemed scared of both the people and the raging storm outside, having found solace under the nearest guest table it could find, away from the group. As if heralding forth a bad omen, the thunder outside banged louder than before, followed in suit by the heavy plops of rainwater smacking against the side of the building. So powerful was this sudden outburst that the innards of the manor had actually begun to tremble slightly.

The candles high above were rapidly singed away as something heard deep in the interior of the manor crashed with a loud bang. With what little light they had having been snuffed out now, the guests and their hosts’ sight would be inhibited for this short while. But assuming one had found an alternative light source, they’d be shocked to discover both the Countess and her maid were nowhere to be found.

What they would find instead would be a large mark of red liquid coating the Countess’ chair. A closer examination would reveal every inch had been covered, as if the seat was painted in fine detail. And the scent the red liquid gave off was most fowl indeed; but perhaps most disturbing were the states of the rest of the dining hall’s chairs. For every chair that did not belong to a guest, it was place upside down and rested in perch.