Post by Taika of Narfell on Feb 9, 2007 22:57:28 GMT 1
You've been through the Entrance Hall many times. You remember the first time you stepped through the large oaken doors and beheld the magnificent staircase leading to the first floor galleries circling the large hall. It is an awe-inspiring sight, and it makes you wonder just what might have helped build the place. According to the Mistress of the Mansion the manor house is ancient, no one now lives to remember anything about its origins or its former owners.
But you have your suspicions. You are certain that the Mistress isn't telling you everything, not that you could demand it of her, but you're very curious as to what sort of story she might be hiding.
The Mansion has many grandiose halls, even the Dining Hall is quite impressive, not to mention the Feast Hall, but the Entrance Hall holds a special fascination for some - perhaps because it's the first room they enter in this ancient Manor House. Time and again you've found your feet taking you back to the Entrance Hall. Not just to welcome others, not just to take a stroll outside, but also because the room simply draws you in.
This is one such time. You once again find yourself wandering around the Entrance Hall. The tapestries depict scenic pictures from myth and legend, though the realism of the images makes you wonder if there might not be some truth to some of the stories. Nah, nonsense, these tapestries are nowhere near old enough to be from before real events faded into legend and myth. They look no more than a good century old. And that banner waving gently in the breeze over a bloody battle-field: you remember having seen it before. A short moment of recollection brings it to mind. The banner shows the crest you've seen over a mantle-piece elsewhere in the manse and the Mistress told you herself that the crest has not been used for at least 13 centuries.
Wait a minute. Over the mantle piece... Does that mean the mansion used to belong to this warlord of the tapestry? And the Mistress said she inherited the place, but didn't she say that the family had been gone for at least 13 centuries?
Something is not adding up here, why is the crest still over the mantle piece if the family is long gone? And then who did the Mistress inherit the place from? Now you're all the more curious as to what story she's been hiding.
You walk past the rest of the tapestries and take no particular note of the people and beasts in them. Moving on to the great staircase you place a hand on the carved wooden banister. The wood feels old, though it's well kept and is finely lacquered. You let your gaze drift upwards along the age-darkened wood, along the curve that will soon lead you to the first floor gallery. The gallery is a suitable vantage point from whence one can observe people without much chance of being seen. The balustrades are of the same dark lacquered wood and stretching over the entire circumference of the Entrance Hall one can never keep and eye on all parts of the gallery at once. It is in fact quite easy to remain hidden.
You suddenly get the feeling the you're being watched. The pricking at the back of your neck is unmistakable, you quickly turn around glancing up at the gallery at the other end of the hall. No one seems to be watching you; there are two young'uns talking to each other - they don't even seem to have noticed you. Still, you can't quite shake the feeling. Turning your eyes heavenwards you inwardly laugh at yourself - it was probably your own thoughts that brought on your paranoia. What was that?
You thought you saw something up there. That's strange, you never really raised your gaze above the windows, tapestries and and paintings on the first floor gallery. You never realized that the wall over the windows above the great doors stretch into obscurity. It looks as if there is no ceiling at all, but you're positive you saw something up there.
You hurry up the stairs to the gallery to see if getting a little closer to the heights will get you a better view of whatever it was you saw. When you reach the gallery section by the large windows the youngsters you saw there before have left. You did think you heard a door close over on the right moments ago. But you've more important things to concentrate on. You look up again.
You're in luck. The setting sun casts its reddish glow through the windows and envelops the Entrance Hall in a preternatural light. The long shadows reach up the far walls as if pointing to what you need to know about. As you let your eyes feast on the carved wood panels on the walls - you had no idea they were decorated that far up, why would anyone do that? - you suddenly see what you had only glimpsed before. Up there, very far up there. It is there. Another gallery! A gallery so high up that it normally lies concealed beyond the reach of the first floor lights. Amazing! You knew the mansion had several more floors than were accessible through the Entrance Hall's galleries, but that there was a hidden gallery you had not imagined.
You wonder if anyone else has noticed. You haven't seen anyone but you out here tonight, but surely the dying sun would illuminate it like this every night. Whatever the case, the way to the upper galleries does not go through the Entrance Hall. But where then?
You will have to explore. You simply must find a way to this secret of the mansion.
The seemingly Forgotten Galleries.
But you have your suspicions. You are certain that the Mistress isn't telling you everything, not that you could demand it of her, but you're very curious as to what sort of story she might be hiding.
The Mansion has many grandiose halls, even the Dining Hall is quite impressive, not to mention the Feast Hall, but the Entrance Hall holds a special fascination for some - perhaps because it's the first room they enter in this ancient Manor House. Time and again you've found your feet taking you back to the Entrance Hall. Not just to welcome others, not just to take a stroll outside, but also because the room simply draws you in.
This is one such time. You once again find yourself wandering around the Entrance Hall. The tapestries depict scenic pictures from myth and legend, though the realism of the images makes you wonder if there might not be some truth to some of the stories. Nah, nonsense, these tapestries are nowhere near old enough to be from before real events faded into legend and myth. They look no more than a good century old. And that banner waving gently in the breeze over a bloody battle-field: you remember having seen it before. A short moment of recollection brings it to mind. The banner shows the crest you've seen over a mantle-piece elsewhere in the manse and the Mistress told you herself that the crest has not been used for at least 13 centuries.
Wait a minute. Over the mantle piece... Does that mean the mansion used to belong to this warlord of the tapestry? And the Mistress said she inherited the place, but didn't she say that the family had been gone for at least 13 centuries?
Something is not adding up here, why is the crest still over the mantle piece if the family is long gone? And then who did the Mistress inherit the place from? Now you're all the more curious as to what story she's been hiding.
You walk past the rest of the tapestries and take no particular note of the people and beasts in them. Moving on to the great staircase you place a hand on the carved wooden banister. The wood feels old, though it's well kept and is finely lacquered. You let your gaze drift upwards along the age-darkened wood, along the curve that will soon lead you to the first floor gallery. The gallery is a suitable vantage point from whence one can observe people without much chance of being seen. The balustrades are of the same dark lacquered wood and stretching over the entire circumference of the Entrance Hall one can never keep and eye on all parts of the gallery at once. It is in fact quite easy to remain hidden.
You suddenly get the feeling the you're being watched. The pricking at the back of your neck is unmistakable, you quickly turn around glancing up at the gallery at the other end of the hall. No one seems to be watching you; there are two young'uns talking to each other - they don't even seem to have noticed you. Still, you can't quite shake the feeling. Turning your eyes heavenwards you inwardly laugh at yourself - it was probably your own thoughts that brought on your paranoia. What was that?
You thought you saw something up there. That's strange, you never really raised your gaze above the windows, tapestries and and paintings on the first floor gallery. You never realized that the wall over the windows above the great doors stretch into obscurity. It looks as if there is no ceiling at all, but you're positive you saw something up there.
You hurry up the stairs to the gallery to see if getting a little closer to the heights will get you a better view of whatever it was you saw. When you reach the gallery section by the large windows the youngsters you saw there before have left. You did think you heard a door close over on the right moments ago. But you've more important things to concentrate on. You look up again.
You're in luck. The setting sun casts its reddish glow through the windows and envelops the Entrance Hall in a preternatural light. The long shadows reach up the far walls as if pointing to what you need to know about. As you let your eyes feast on the carved wood panels on the walls - you had no idea they were decorated that far up, why would anyone do that? - you suddenly see what you had only glimpsed before. Up there, very far up there. It is there. Another gallery! A gallery so high up that it normally lies concealed beyond the reach of the first floor lights. Amazing! You knew the mansion had several more floors than were accessible through the Entrance Hall's galleries, but that there was a hidden gallery you had not imagined.
You wonder if anyone else has noticed. You haven't seen anyone but you out here tonight, but surely the dying sun would illuminate it like this every night. Whatever the case, the way to the upper galleries does not go through the Entrance Hall. But where then?
You will have to explore. You simply must find a way to this secret of the mansion.
The seemingly Forgotten Galleries.
))))