Productivity Is Important (Venetia)

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia went over to a corner and put fire on some candlelights that were standing on small tables. After finishing she turned to the talking woman and gave her a nod. She went back to the door and stood still, waiting for the red haired woman to finish.

“Not really.” She replied at the other woman’s first question. “We can go upstairs after finishing this and I’ll show you the contract. To be honest I can’t remember his name right now. If I remember correctly though, he was a butcher.” She frowned slightly as she pictured the man cutting the head of a chicken with an evil grin on his face. Quickly shaking her head she smiled politely back at the woman. “I don’t mind at all.”

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty was taking her time. In the light that was available, she was taking in as much of the sights as she could see. Every inch of the wall was covered by the detective as she paced about. "Anything down here, left behind by this butcher fella?"

Her impression of the previous owner was far less sinister than that her hostess. While it was possible that there could have been a connection to the more recent smuggling. But, Dusty was not sure just how long this operation had been in existence. Rapping her knuckles against the walls, revealed nothing hollow. So far, the odds were not looking that good...

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia started walking across the room, gesturing towards a table. “He left me the table here and that’s about it.” She told the other woman. “I washed it but… Have never really moved it.” The black haired woman admitted, raising her hand to scratch her cheek a little, wondering if that would be useful information or not.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Ya don't say?" Dusty smirked and strolled up to the table. She grabbed it and gave a haphazard push, expecting to hear the grinding of the legs against the floor. When it failed to move and no such sound greeted the detective's ears, she couldn't help but grin.

"Ah-ha!" she exclaimed. With hurried, excited motion, Dusty engrossed herself with the table. Gloved fingers ran along the sides, she scowered every inch of the surface. But, nothing of any particular interest struck her there, "No...wouldn't be there. Not when ya could accidentally trip it..."

Ducking down, she crawled beneath the table, "Hey, could ya get me one o' them candles?" she asked, "If I'm right, we're about ta be goin' to a helluva darker place than this here basement!"

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia blinked a couple of times as she watched Dusty with curiosity. “D--” Just when she was about to ask if the other woman needed anything, Dusty spoke up first. Going over to one of the lights she grabbed it and brought it back to the red haired detective.

Wondering how to give it to the crawling woman she kneeled holding out the candlelight. “Here.” She said, feeling really exited at the moment.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty grabbed the candle and returned to her search. Being able to see was a marked improvement. As Venetia knelt by the table, Dusty crawled about, beneath. Curious fingers roamed about the wooden furniture. Until finally, Dusty came behind a portion of the table that didn't feel right. Flipping open the hidden panel revealed a small button. Hidden away and out of sight. From the looks of it, it hadn't seen a whole lot of use in recent years. It didn't even open all that easy. With a click of the button, gears slowly clunked to life and the table slid forward and the floor beneath her began to lower into steps. Through a mix of skill and luck, Dusty prevented herself from tumbling down the makeshift staircase.

"Yeah, there it is!" she declared pushing herself to her feet, "You just found yourself some extra storage space, pal!"

She grinned and put her hands on her hips, triumphantly, "OK! Now, let's find out what we got tucked away under here."

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia looked curiously at Dusty as she looked for something. Straightening herself up she quickly took a step back as the stairs appeared. “wh…” Swallowing hard she looked at Dusty with a serious look. “You have to believe me, I didn’t know about this.” Was all she could say as she turned to the stairs, slowly starting to feel more exited than nervous.

Taking some steps forward she looked at the stairs, following how they disappeared down into the dark with her eyes. “It’s just like in a book or something.” She mumbled, not sure if she was talking to herself or Dusty.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Now, I'm inclined to believe ya...used one o' these things, before." she said, taking the lead, "From the sounds of it, this one ain't been used for some time."

She shrugged her shoulders and continued the trek down. The candle cast a sparse light around them. It wasn't much, but it was better than the darkness that was sure to keep them from seeing just about anything.

"Haha, yeah! I read about all this sorta stuff in all them stories they had about Aces Addy!" she glanced over her shoulder, "Uh...you all've heard o' her, right? She's a big hero back home, but I don't know how many other folks know 'bout her."

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia sighed with relief at the first thing Dusty said, though she couldn’t help but feeling slightly stupid for not knowing about this before. She had after all been living here for quite a while.

Being half vampire gave Venetia a better night vision than most people, though she was mostly used to live in the light making her unable to see much more than Dusty in the dark. Looking at the red haired woman’s back and down at the floor she made sure not to trip or step on anything.

“Right, right!” The dark haired woman nodded grinning as she thought back at some of the books she had read about Aces Addy.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty grinned, in approval. It was nice to hear that Addy's journey had left an impression. With any luck, she would carry on that legacy. But, there was still work to be done. After all, it was what she came down here to do in the first place.

To the best of her ability, she navigated her way down the stairs. Not that the path down below was particularly tricky. It was rather straightforward. However, she still had to be wary of traps. She was lucky, the last time. It was a hidden room used too frequently to plant traps. The same could very well be said about this one but...well, experience had told her to never be too sure about anything.

But, so far so good. No pressure plates or trip-wires. All in all, it looked like it was going to be pretty easy to navigate. She strolled down and let the candle shine what light it could on the nearly empty chamber below. As was expected, there didn't seem to be much of interest here. Whatever purpose the hidden room had served, the owners had cleared it out some time ago.

Dusty didn't even notice the line chalk dust she stepped in on her final decent. Which, in retrospect, was probably not a very smart thing for the normally observant detective to do.

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia started looking around, feeling somewhat disappointed. The room didn’t seem to hold any secrets and it was merely just an empty secret room. “well…” The dark haired woman said. “Should we go back now?” she asked.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Can't leave until I've given it the thorough inspection." she said, "Just 'cuz there ain't much down here, don't mean it's entirely useless. An' look on the bright side! You got more storage space!"

She grinned brought the candle around, getting as much as she could out of it's light. Still, it was looking like Venetia was right. There really wasn't much the room could offer. But, on the off chance that she could find an additional passage that linked up to different shops, than this would certainly prove to be a very good find.

A loud grinding sound echoed in the chamber. But, Dusty could gather it was coming from the opposite end. The strange thing was, she was almost certain that she had not triggered any mechanism that would have brought on such a reaction.

"Well...this sure got in'restin'." said the detective.

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia stood still, nodding at what Dusty said. She had right after all; this room surely could come in handy. “I guess you’re right there…” she trailed off.

She then jumped of surprise at the sound. “What was that?” she asked, sounding slightly nervous. Suddenly the idea of having to go down to this room to get materials didn’t sound that luring. Forcing herself to remain calm she slowly moved closer to the light Dusty was holding, not feeling very safe in the dark.

[Dusty Dawson]

"That...was probably a door. Or somethin' real close to one." she shrugged her shoulders reached around to pull her knife from it's sheath. Normally, Dusty would prefer her katana...but seeing as how it was upstairs, she didn't have the leisure of being picky.

When the grinding came to a stop, footsteps echoed their way into the chamber. They were heavy and sounded none too pleasant. Not to mention puzzling. Could they have stumbled their way on to an active smuggler? That somehow didn't sound right. Seeing as how this room had not been used in years, how could anyone just happen to check in on it for the first time, right now. When Dusty and Venetia had only just discovered it themselves.

OK, so that theory was not the most impossible, but it was still a very unlikely one.

"In.......trud......ers......" a hoarse voice made an attempt at speech, almost as it hadn't been used in some time. But, it was certainly the deeper voice of man, of that Dusty was relatively sure. Not that it necessarily meant the voice of a human man.

"Ya know...gettin' back up them stairs is probably a good idea..." Dusty whispered, "Let's move slowly, now. Unless, o'course, I suddenly yell out 'Run'...in which case movin' quicker'd probably do us a lotta good."

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia quickly turned to the sound of the footsteps. She couldn’t see anything as the person… or whatever it could be was still hid in the shadows. So this person was hiding down here in her house? The thought made her grimace.

As the person decided to use his voice the dark haired girl quickly reached for her weapon that she always brought. Sometimes she would bring a bow, but usually she used a sword for protection. “No way.” She whispered, gritting her teeth. Venetia de Artio was a proud woman, and not would she ever let a person talk like that in her home, she would claim to know exactly who this person was.

Stepping in front of Dusty the tall woman looked straight at the source of the voice. “This is a part of my home.” She said in a stern voice. “Who are you to call me an intruder in my own house?” Unlike a moment ago the storeowner didn’t seem nervous at all, and her serious voice held no hint of fear.