The Arwich Grinder

Upstairs
Kari, Tiny, Beladil, Mother Breadwife

As Kari opens the door and hears Lorna calling, another sound pierces the stillness of the house.
"NOOOOO!"
A black-haired woman lunges from the room, jumping at Kari's throat!

---

The Grinder Below
To'mas, Jasen, Josen, Duri

Wyna nods and clutches her dagger, visibly nervous.
"I will keep watch and scream if I see anything."
The group then proceeds to the north.

The floor here is damp and slimy from rain coming down through a well far above the heads of the townsfolk. A large iron sausage grinder with a wooden hopper occupies the northeastern corner, with bags of salt and various herbs piled neatly at hand.
Barrels full of salted meat and cleaned intestines for sausage casings occupy the majority of the room and many remember the Curwens coming to the village with these very barrels of salted meat and sausage, saving the town from famine.

There are two doors leading from here - one to the east and another one to the west.

Hekem walked inside to meet Lorna, ready to follow and find out what's happening, along with Slim, hearing the fearful tone of her voice.

Lorna tries to smile but fails, giving her true feeling to any present that there was something terribly wrong. She was about to explain on their way toward the trapdoor, when she turns her head sharply to the scream.

Vyncent was correct and the fair skinned brunette nodded in agreement to the man. She was heading back to the main room to meet up with Lorna when she heard the scream from upstairs. "Slim... that's your cue!" Pointing him in the proper direction.

Poor boy wasn't sure which direction to even go until Victoria points him, but Slim then moved to assist those in danger, if possible.

Upstairs
Kari, Tiny, Beladil, Mother Breadwife

Slim's initiative, for next round.

Upstairs
Kari, Tiny, Beladil, Mother Breadwife

The Grinder Below
To'mas, Jasen, Josen, Duri

The room to the west is stained with blood, while crates of finished sausages and smoked meat are piled neatly near the southeast corner. The group hurries forward through the room to a corridor leading to the north.
After a few steps the group arrives at a crossroads, with one road leading to a dim-lit room to the north and another one to the east. While the townsfolk consider their options, a tiny person sticks his head out of the passage to the north.
"ALLEN!!!"
Everybody can hear the scream of Wilbur Curwen, a 12-year-old boy, who just spotted the group.
"What is it?" replies another voice, in which some recognize Allen Merritt, a man who recently married into the Curwen family.

The Grinder Below
To'mas, Jasen, Josen, Duri

Before Wilbur can reply, another silhoutte appears behind him. Allen Merritt, dressed in a bloodied butcher's apron and still wearing a recently used meat cleaver, gasps upon seeing the group.
The fuck you doin' here?!

He then pushes Wilbur back into the room, raising his cleaver in case anybody tries to attack him. The boy seems to move willingly.

Upstairs
Kari, Tiny, Beladil, Mother Breadwife, Slim

As Kari opens the door, the crazed woman jumps on her, knocking the dwarf down and pinning her.
"LEAVE US ALONE!!!"
Fists are raised, ready to pummel Kari. Tiny jumps forward, his razor slashing at the woman and finding target with surprising precision... or was it pure luck?

A splash of blood covers everybody present as Lurlene Curwen rolls to her side in shock, grabbing a fatal wound in her neck.
"My baby... " she sobs, before blood loss makes her loose consciousness. Slim arrives to the room at this exact moment.

The elephantine stomping upstairs gains on frequency, now accompanied by low squeals, almost as if belonging to a child.

The Grinder Below
To'mas, Jasen, Josen, Duri

Allen lowers his hand and backs off further into the room. He stays silent for what seems like an eternity before replying.
"I believe all of that can be explained. Come here into the light so that we can see you proper."

Slim looked quite skeptically at Tiny and his razor. He believed what the man said, but was not comforted by the instinct to kill the unarmed woman. Choosing not to press the issue, Slim nods to Tiny, then looks to Dwarven woman. "Is there a baby here too? I think we have stumbled upon a bad place on a bad night. Lorna wants to show us something, and doubt it is any better than this."

Lorna takes the time and attention of anyone in the main room or in ear-shot, that there is a Butchering room for those large man-beasts, and that that is what the CUrwens are really ranching up here. She continues that there is a trap door into some sort of tunnels below the house and that some of their search party have already gone down.

"Oi! So the feck we do'in here then girly? We should be running right out of here before they put us next on the slab."

"What about Bessie? And what would we even tell the magistrate? ... and I doubt seriously that whoever was screaming upstair, stopped because they were happy to see us. We are in the shit now."