Changeling: the Lost
Venice: Broken Masks, Shattered Dreams
Episode 1 - Promises - part 3
The motely were once more in the hallway of the building of one of the previous victims. Their investigation was not over yet as they planned to go to the square where the the female suicide was last seen. Freki joined them there and they filled her in on what they had discovered. Asking around at the bars that opened up onto the square they discovered that the suicide had left with a local man, Cicero, and with a little more time they discovered the Cicero lived in a block of flats near the Ghetto. On the TV they heard that a boat had gone missing, but with the weather being so poor it was impossible for the police to find it.
*****
The motely arrived at the block of flats where Cicero lived. Something was wrong, it smelt bad. outside the flat some dogs were barking and scratching at a door where the garbage bags for the flat were kept. Freki called upon her contracts and spoke to the Pomeranian in the pack. It spoke, as dogs do, of little that made sense. but Freki did work out that in the garbage there was meat, a different meat. More than likely the remains were a persons. Opening the door to the garbage they found numerous bags, and Stitches had a root about. He finalyl came upon a bag that to his trained eye contained human bones. They had been gnawed upon and the marrow sucked out. Stitches ran out and found a place to vomit.
*****
Freki and Sonata entered the foul smelling flat of Cicero. The kitchen come living room was small, with a sink filled with dirty pots and pans. Freki checked the bathroom and was met with a horrific stench. Filth coated the toilet and sink. There was a pair of pliers and teeth on the sink top, and the shower was coated in blood, with smeared hand prints. Freki just about held back from vomiting. The scene was no better for Sonata. The bedroom was a mess. Sheets were torn and stained with bodily fluids. There was vermin and the walls were covered in bloody words. Something about the Burning Eyes.
Outside the others watched as the lights in the apartments flickered and dimmed. It was suddenly quiet outside. In the apartment the TV flicked on and was nothing but static. Freki tried the front door but it was shut. She and Sonata back away, and were up against the sink. They watched in terror as two burning eyes looked out from the tv. Skeletal hands pushed at the glass, warping it like rubber, and slowly the figure crawled out. It had double joints and was just a big black cloak. The eyes looked out and it spoke. "Cicero? Where are you?" It walked about the flat repeating this. It went to the kitchen table and picked up a video tape, and with glee pulled out the tape and smashed the casing. It then went to the fridge and took out what looked like a jar of pickled human fleshed, and sucked down a piece. The pots in the sink shifted and the Other looked at Freki and Sonata, or at least in their direction. It peered closely, looking past them, and then moved away, back into the TV.
*****
Sonata and Freki joined the others and knew that they had to get to that island. The news report had come in of the 4 people missing, and it fitted with Sonata's dream and picture the girl had drawn. They took Else's boat, and using her token to get the boat to the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio quickly. At the island, in the pitch black, the lagoon was a seething storm about them. They could barely hear the dogs inside the gates. They went ashore. With a brief talk to the mongrel dogs, Freki worked out where the captives and Cicero was. Sonata drew upon the contracts of darkness and the night became blacker, fog and mist rose up from the waters and the wind above howled. The motley was invisible within the night.
They approached the old hall and could see some light and shadows. There was a scream and the motley moved forward, with Sonata, Freki and Stitches climbing up to the roof to find a way in, while Else and Clio watched the doors. Inside Cicero, now a savage shadow of a man, was driving a knife in the chest of a woman on the table. She was dead and her husband and the 2 other captives watched as Cicero tore her heart out. Stitches made a move, but the sound alerted Cicero. He looked up and proclaimed that he would not be taken and that he no longer wanted the nightmares he suffered from. With that he vanished.
Freki and Stitches got down into the hall and freed the captives while Sonata returned to the boat just in case. Freki then sniffed the air and spotted foot prints moving towards Stitches. Cicero was visible again and lunged at Stitches. He cut at him but Freki lept forward. Her claws tore at the man before she killed him, driving her claws deep into his throat.
*****
Freki and the others, along with the surviving captives, escaped to the main islands. Freki was deep in thought about how she had killed a man, and all now feared the Gentry. However, it seemed the magic of Carnival had allowed for them to hide from the Gentry, but it would mean that just regular people would be used as tools of the Fae more often.
*****
Near the church of Sant'Andrea della Zirada another body is found in the cold. Again two ribs removed, but this time with the number '7' marked in Roman numerals on the forehead, and nearby the bloody writing 'Sins souls lie'.
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