As soon as Mylyna breaches the door, Yelenn dashes through after her, vaulting over the bed to where Yasmin's jin had last seen Katherine.
Tucked away by the rather large bed Yelenn finds the hearty old woman prone on the floor, cold, but with a peaceful look on her face.
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"Damn it! She isn't breathing...she's cold...mist've been like this for a few hours at least. She looks peaceful though." Yelenn says looking up at the others in a bit of shock.
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Yasmin steps in and checks for a pulse, breathing, anything.
She turns gravely to her tiny water elemental, which is worriedly wringing its watery "hands," and says, "She's dead, jinn."
”What?!” Nalada calls from the doorway.
Mylyna saw the body and heard what Yasmin and Yelen said and frowned sadly, "Maybe wallace ran away when she died?"
"That's definitely a possibility." Yelenn says looking toward the window. The door was locked from the inside, leaving a limited number of possibilities as far as an exit.
"Xeros hasn't called out or come running so he's most likely not in the basement," Nalada says without entering the room.
Yelenn looks around the room for any signs of violence or anything else that may have led to Katherine's death.
The room does not show any signs of a struggle, and Katherine has no obvious wounds upon her body.
"To the best of my knowledge, her death looks either natural....or extremely supernatural. Not a mark on her, no sign of struggle..." she trails off in thought before muttering an arcane phrase as her eyes glow blue. She carefully studies Katherine's body.
"Hopefully," Nalada starts, though she hated using that term, "she drifted away in her sleep."
"Looks like it. No sign of magic whatsoever." the magus confirms.
Nalada lets out a sigh of relief before rubbing her head. "Do you think Wallace went upstairs then... or outside?'
”Perhaps he is scared after finding her like this,” says Yasmin.
Nalada solemnly nods.
"That makes sense. I think we should check upstairs first." Yelenn suggests.
Nalada nods then backs up out of the doorway, peering down across the hall into the rest of the second floor, arching a brow after a moment. "Um, was the stairs leading up barricaded before this morning?" she asks.
As Yasmin suggests checking out the third floor he nods. ”Okay, did you need me to look for anything? Oh, and, um... it might be hard to get up there though, I moved some furniture to block the stairs.” he says in a bashful tone.
"Yes they were actually, Wallace apparently barricaded them before." Yelenn says, going to join Nalada at the foot of the stairs.
"... why did he do that?" she asks, curiosity taking a bite out of the the dread.
"I think he might have been afraid of whatever may have been up there. They hadn't been in the house very long." the witchblade replies.
"At this current time I believe his fears may have been justified." Nalada says as she gazes up the stairs, which revealed a hallway going left and right.
"Since we didn't go up there, we never did establish if there's something upstairs, or in the attic," says Yasmin. "We have no choice now - we have to find Wallace and make sure he's safe."
Nalada nods.
"Close your eyes Nalada." Yelenn warns as she draws her sword, extending a hand with an arcane phrase. Up the staircase, a quartet of bobbing, glimmering lights wink into existence, illuminating their way.
Nalada does so reflexively, even turning her head when the witchlights appear. As the lights ascend nothing lunges at the new brightness from the darkness.
Finally made a map of the place >_>
While the assembled furniture would present a beacon of obstruction and safety for a child, to adults the sofa, nightstand, and pair of chairs in formation are simple enough to move or step over. Heading up the stairs and turning left they are met with a wall housing a door for the dumbwaiter from the kitchen, and to the right a glass door with intricate silver tracery. Beyond the entire third floor seems to give way to some sort of lounge, with paintings adorning the walls.
Opening with a well preserved clack the doors dispels the silence building on the other side, as the ladies are promptly greeted by a husky yet feminine voice. "Mmm, Gio, so you finally returned? A bit late I might add," her words are promptly cut off by a well toned gasp. "No, not Gio, what new visitors do I have?"
The voice seems to be coming from the right, off in the middle of the room.
Taking in the elaborate silver tracery on the delicate glass door, Yelenn studies it for a moment, looking for any mystic sigils that might be contained within.
As they enter the room she takes it all in, turning toward the smoky voice of the speaker.
Stepping into the room, which is apparently a lounge of some sort, with the middle of the room having a step down then ringed by sofas. All along the walls alternate between paintings of various planar scenes and shuttered windows. Draped across one of the sofas is the owner of the voice. Seven foot tall if she were to stand and skin a blood red crimson that competes for what catches your eye first. A crown of horns growing from her head letting her black hair dangle inbetween she also sprouts massive horns curving from her back. Draped and wrapped around these horns and herself appear to be long thick reams of parchment filled with writing. Aside from that she only wears a simple silk garment that covers her breasts and drapes past her legs without covering them. ”Ah! And who might you be?” she purrs on seeing Yelenn. Curled up at her stomach currently getting a scratch behind the ear by a long black claw is the husky pup.
"Wh-who are you?" stammers Yasmin. "How long have you been in this house?"
The crimson woman’s yellow eyes noticeably widen in interest when Yasmin steps out. ”You may call me Lalazrue, but I prefer Lala. And what or who can I call you?” she coos back but then continues before the Sha’ir can respond. ”Not long, an hour or two? Or three? I was alerted to the door opening so I thought Gio had returned but it was just this little puddle of fluff snooping around.” she says while indicating the pup.
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"Whoever Gio might be, he must be important to have the attention of a someone of your stature, Phistophili don't visit just anybody." Yelenn says with a hint of deference, taking a guarded approach. "Nice to meet you Lala, you're the first contact devil I've met."
She gives her companions a sidelong glance of warning, her tone of voice doing the same for Nalada.
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Smiling the devil shifts back, moving some parchment in the way of her barely covered chest and chuckles, an obvious practiced effort to emphasize her chest to her guests. "Oh I like you, flattery WILL get you on my good side nameless swordswoman. And he was important enough, or rather, he was interesting." she says before tapping one of the scrolls of parchment hanging off of her horns.
"Nice to meet you Lala, you're the first contact devil I've met."
Behind her Yelenn hears something that sounds like angry gurgled scream, glancing back the Drow seems to have enough awareness to clamp her hand over her mouth.
Eyes shifting ever so slightly to the noise before drifting back to the Magi the Contract Deil continues. "The first? Well I am honored, I do love meeting virgins."
Poking her head out Mylyna was curious about the alluring crimson porcupine lady, but since Yelenn wasn't moving she waited back with Nalada. "She's not a vi-" she tries to say before a blue hand reaches out to cover her mouth as well.
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Mylyna was intrigued by this strange woman she was sure she'd been seen a male one before though she was pretty sure that his endurance was lacking but he had volumes of experience and did some sinfully inventive things to her. Then again maybe she was just imagining it. She spoke up and said, "Hi porcupine lady! You can call me Mylmmmphhhh!" She had started to try and talk to the woman but a blue hand wrapped around her mouth and silenced her.
Lalazrue snickers and raises her hand, gently waving her fingers in greeting towards the Lamae. ”My, what a mouthful. And yet fitting if I were to wager.”
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Quite suddenly and rather snappishly, Yasmin says, "Do not engage me in mental contact without my consent."
Her eyes slide sideways and she adds, "As she just attempted to do, so you all know."
Yelenn's eyes narrow as she shares a glance with Yasmin, her body language taking on a more guarded posture as she subtly moves between the others and any likely line of attack. "Well that isn't very polite," she says, knowing that the subject of mental influence or seduction was a touchy one for her friend.
The devil smiles, but holds up the palm of her hand. ”My apologies,” she then promptly rolls her hand around in a beckon ”May I continue our conversation?”
Turning her eyes to Yelenn she adds ”What is? Having more than one conversation at a time? I assure you I am accomplished multitasker, and would not neglect either of you.” Smiling, her question rhetorical she adds ”Consent is paramount, I agree. Especially in my line of work.”
"What are you doing in this house?" asks Yasmin. "Did someone summon or call you here?"
The Devil smiles at Yasmin and taps the long stream of parchment she had been reading again. ”As part of our agreement, the wards of the door, and this room, are constructed in such a way that I’m able to notice it when the door is opened. It had been opened earlier so I assumed Gio had returned. So, I invited myself. But no Gio.” she fixes her lips in a pout as she finishes before affixing the parchment back onto one of the large horns coming out of her back.
The pout immediately vanishes as she looks back to the two women visible with a smile. ”If I may? What are you doing here?”
"Looking for someone who may have wandered up here by accident." Yelenn says guardedly.
”Oh?” Lalazrue remarks, her eyes widening ever so slightly in interest. ”As I previously said I was alerted to the door opening, but when I arrived I found only this one.” she explains while idly stroking the pup’s fur.
”If whoever you seek was quick, it’s possible they went up that way.” she continues while pointing out a pull down staircase leading up into the attic on the other side of the wall they emerged from. ”Haven’t heard anything up there though.”
"I think we'll be checking up there, thank you." Yelenn says as she moves towards the pull down staircase.
Yasmin nods in agreement with Yelenn. "Don't mind us. We won't take long... assuming the attic isn't an extra-dimensional space that's larger than it looks from the outside."
"Hope you find what you're looking for," Lalazrue says. At Yasmin's comment she thinks for a minute before shrugging and then going back to her infernal parchments.
Ascending the staircase it creaks from use but is otherwise supportive as the women ascend in search of Wallace. Meanwhile Nalada unintentionally draws the attention of the devil by hugging the wall as she moves around the corner and quickly over to the staircase. "Silence, you," she hisses as she follows Yasmins and Yelenn up, earning another apologetic raising of the red hand before it goes back to it's penmanship.
Emerging into the attic their noses are greeted both by the staleness as well as a lingering smoky scent in the walls. Next to them is a brick chimney uncovered by any wall or plaster.
The rest of the attic space is blockaded by blocky forms obscured by white sheets.
Yasmin can't help but keep an eye on the devil while the party ascends... just in case.
"Interesting. Wallace? Are you up here?" Yasmin calls out when they reach the attic. The sha'ir moves to the nearest large object and her hand pauses and hovers just over the dust cover, not quite willing to touch it yet.
"Lots of old furniture... maybe other things."
"I still feel a bit guilty for barging in and taking over someone else's home."