(Sorry for the lateness of this. I've been a tad busy lately.) September 3rd, 1876. There is a small town in rural south England known as Arkham. The town is known for its beautiful ocean-side view and constant rain. Beethoven's moonlight sonata was being played by the tall man, a rather somber party for the social elite in his castle estate. The gothic visage of the architecture and decor was both intimidating and yet, at the same time, awe inspiring. Dark sea blue, seaweed green, dark rgey, and black were the primary colours theming the party. The strange man was dressed in his usual attire, his cane leaning upon the sleek piano, with it's black body, and strange keys as to where the keys that would usually be white were black, and those that were usually black were a dark blue-green. Various crests were upon flasg in the grand room, and in the middle of them was a massive pendant, the octopus with four eyes, green against black with a dark blue edge and silver trimmings. Heavy rain poured down upon the icredulously sized architecture from clouds a deep, cast-iron grey. The strange man was the Professor Count Adrian Ludig von Vogelscheuche. A Germanic aristocrat coming from a long and dark history. As he, himself, was once a man who waged glorious war in the Franco-prussian war, siding with the Prussians. He held nothing against the French, although, sometimes, he found them a little... weak. Pale, spindly fingers were hidden behind thin, tight leather gloves, prancing like spider-legs above the piano keys quite gracefully. Of course, he was strange not only of physical features, but the fact that at the moment, he wore a mask not all too unlike the emblem of the sea-creature that floated high above them in the massive room, a silver beast of the ocean with eyes as black as night, and even more so eerie made by the fact that his eyes seemed to glow a pal green like a creature of the night... which he was......
Walking in to set down a tray, a butler with an odd mask around his mouth was pouring in tea, as was ordered. He was completely silent, his pale white skin matching his blood red pupils and the mask... why did he wear it? No one knew. "Here is your tea master," The butler said, "As you ordered, dinner will be ready in approximately one hour fifty minutes, I will send someone to grab you." He said, picking up the tray and tucking it in his right arm, as always. The tea sat on a cloth on the end-table, and he walked for the door, his white gloves turning the knob and opening the door, then shutting it.
At the the end of the room, a group of patrons socialized about petty politics or inhumane business practices. Annette was near the edge of the group and beyond bored. Bored of the conversation they had, bored of the group of fat bureaucrats and foremen, bored of the lanky host and his somber sheet music, bored of the entire gaudy party in general. The boredom soon crept into anger. No matter how much wine she knocked back, she could feel it growing. Her hand gripped the wine glass tight enough that it slowly started to crack...
