Lights Out

Parish stands before the door to the basement, broom in hand. He turns to regard the group of guests and residents brave enough to volunteer to join him. "I say, what a noble band we have assembled here. As I said, there is nothing to fear down below. In the dark, cold, twisting, cavernous chambers that lie beneath our safe, cozy inn."

He glances over his shoulder at the ominous wooden portal. He clears his throat and looks back to the motley crew. "Ahem. Still, if any of you wish to rescind your volunteer status, now is the time to do so. I will not look poorly upon any who make such a decision."

Percy shifts awkwardly from foot to foot, the little flame flicks of his hair crackling and sending tiny lights dancing around the dark room. He's clutching a rolling pin in his hands, inspired by the frog knight's own self-defense broom, and is still partially covered in crisped flour - he has been helping Parish with the cookies earlier, and accidentally dropped a pack onto himself. Gosh, that was a little embarrassing. Hopefully his magma skin cooked it enough so he doesn't leave trails of it anywhere.

"Mister Parish, I'm sure it won't be any trouble for us to get to the generator. Not under your command!" He smiles earnestly at the frog and then gestures towards the yawning abyss of jet darkness that is the basement stairs. "And I can even provide a little light for everyone, so we don't trip on the stairs. Please be careful and watch your steps, friends!"

Amelie rolled back into the room carrying a small pile of unlit candles in one hand and a lit one in the other.

"Oooh, are you all going down into the basement? I've been meaning to do some cleaning there. Looks like the perfect time to do so." They say with a cheerful attitude.

They head over to the broom closet, skillfully getting there even in low light. As if they do this every day, when in reality it's even more often than that. "Let's see... I'll need a broom, a bucket, dust pan, soap spray bottle, small cloth, ..." They look over at the gaping black hole that is the basement entrance. "... Maybe a second broom." They say ponderingly while reaching for another broom.

Amelie knew that closet inside out, blindfolded and backwards! No cleaning tool was ever out of reach.

"Alright, I think I'm ready!"

Amelie overlooks the flour-covered body of Percy. "You better walk in front of me, Percy" They say with a bit of a frown, realizing he might create extra work.

Viv sat in the back of the room, on a small chair, her legs drawn up in front of her. She wore a big well-worn, loose-fitting hoodie, which she pulled over her legs. She looked like a worn fabric lump with a head and some slippers poking out the bottom. The slippers were fuzzy and shaped like little fish. He head was mostly obscured by her waist-long straight black hair, which covered her face like a curtain. A round yellow eye was visible peeking through an opening in her hair, as was some of her face. She had blue skin that subtly rippled with soft, skin-like, irridescent scales. She wore a pair of headphones around her neck, its wire extending down to an old cassette-tape walkman.

When the lights went out, she squeaked, but breathed a sigh of relief when they were restored. She wasn't afraid of the dark, exactly -- just surprises. Well, surprise darkness maybe; after all, she liked surprise parties. To prove this to herself, she volunteered to join the others in an expedition into the sub basement. "Um... I'll go. I don't think I'm scared of the dark... I think." She said quietly, from the back of the group.

"Very well. We have gathered our party. Now, the time has come to venture forth!" Parish declares. He marches down the stairs into the basement. As he leads the way into the dank, gloomy cellar, he imagines himself the brave knight of old he once was, delving into the lair of a mighty dragon. A worthy foe, indeed! And what wondrous treasures might it guard? What glittering prizes might he claim from its hoard?

Caught up in his flight of fancy, he is scarcely aware of his surroundings as he pushes open the door to the next basement room...The light from Percy's body illuminates a looming shape in the corner of the chamber ahead. Yikes! Is that a ghost, or just a sheet awkwardly draped over a broken clock?!?

Behind Parish, Amelia is busy wrangling all the stuff they're carrying. As they step down the stairs, they slip on some of Percy's detritus. "Wohhh ahh ... oh no ... I ... " They say trying to regain their balance, but it's too late. Before they know it, they're tumbling down the stairs, past the people in front and straight towards the looming shape. "Waaaaatch ooouuuut" Says the mess of robot and cleaning products zooming by.

Yazeba, having been in the basement beforehand, turns at the sound of the approaching party. She never gave much consideration to the way others would perceive her, that being their responsibility first and foremost. A ghost wasn't the worst thing she'd been called, and inwardly she couldn't help but think of the description with undue relish. The well worn scowl on the outside didn't fade in the slightest.

She stepped aside when Amelie hurtled toward her, stray eyebrow raising in in mild bemusement at the end result along with the stray brushes, brooms and other detritus. Why were they down here? She'd specifically included a staff only sign and a most foreboding reputation which, to any good minded witch, is the best spell for keeping unwanteds out. Good spells, after all, were less about the magic and more about the mentality of the people they're cast on.

She turned her head, slow enough that people might've thought she was a statue after all, to the group's leader. "Parish?"

Her tone made that both a statement of recognition, and clearly a question. To Parish it read Parish, why are you here, where I am, with a gaggle and not elsewhere? despite being only one word.

Viv followed behind the others, headed downward -- or was this upward? When a ghost that looke like Yazeba appeared, she froze, her hair making a solid curtain, obscuring her face.

"Oh, Yazeba!" Parish said, belatedly realizing that she wasn’t a ghost after all. He clears his throat and straightens his back, wincing as it cracks. "Oof, we came down here to turn the generator on. We’ve lost power due to the storm raging outside, you see. I’ve assembled this brave cohort to accompany me in our quest to restore electricity! Would you care to join our adventurous band?"

At Amelie's scrutinizing look, Percy flushes, the breaks in his skin lighting up ember red as he apologetically tugs on his shirt - only resulting in actually dusting the flour onto the floor and the robot themselves. "O-Of course!" He hesitantly looks at the array of cleaning tools Amelie is carrying, a haul seeming remarkably bigger than their own lean frame, and shyly offers: "Do you need any help carrying all of this? I can-"

But ii seems that the elemental was a bit too late with his offer, as by the time he gets out the words, Amelie already takes a step forward - and promptly slips on the stairs, tumbling down with mops and spraying bottles scattering everywhere. Percy gasps in horror and quickly runs after her, awkwardly squeezing past Viv and Parish and... Yazeba? He skids to a stop next to the fallen robot. "Amelia! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Oh no, this is all my fault, I'm so sorry!" Percival fusses as he tries to help them upright. "Do you need first aid?"

"System diagnostics running ... 65% ... 84% ..." Then a series of beeps can be heard. To know what they mean, someone would have to check the manual.

Amelie seems a bit out of it before returning to their normal selves. "Oh, Percy. What happened? I just remember the world spinning. I mean faster than usual." They say in a factual way. "Oh, no! My stuff..." They look at the floor as far as the light reaches trying to spot everything they took with them and checking inventory.

"Could you help me up, Percy? I think I'm ok." They gladly accept his help to get up again. "Yazeba?!? Were you down here in the dark?" Then the filth of the place registers in Amelia's sensors. "Oh my, oh my. This place needs a good sweep. I will get right on that, Yazeba. Don't you worry."

In the presence of the owner, Amelie was always on a heightened sense of dirt-alert-ness. Worried that they might make a bad impression in front of 'the boss', they find the nearest broom and dust pan to get to work.

"That won't be necessary, Amelie." Yazeba says in a tone so flat it's hard to know if she doesn't realise the distressed robot has already began its work, or if she deliberately refuses to acknowledge the efforts.

She reaches into the pocket of the large coat draped across her bony shoulders and extracts a rather too long and thin cigarette. It gives the impression of something a stereotypical witch mike smoke, although she doesn't light it. Instead she perches it on her bottom lip, softly held in place by her teeth. When she looks up from what she's doing her expression falls in disappointment.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Weren't we searching for the generator?" Her tone is strict, though she doesn't raise her voice.

She glanced back, a look of concern at the contents of the room that might have been read as a worry for the group though she'd deny it completely. She dropped it from her face as soon as she could, and ushered everyone out.

Viv stares at the dress form in disbelief and blurts out, "You used to dress like that? What occasion did you wear it for?"

As Yezeba orders Amelie to stop cleaning, they cannot disobey. After all, it's part of their programming. The dust pan that Amelie was already holding is promptly turned over causing a small dust cloud to form around them as it hits the floor.

"Right. Sorry about that. You are ... sure this place doesn't need dusting?" At this point Amelie coughs. Even though a robot doesn't really need to breathe, they were programmed to mimic the behavior of those around them to fit in better.

"Oh yes, the generator. Parish, which way do we go?" They ask, having received a more important instructions.

"I wore it for occasions you shan't be privy to." Yazeba says flatly, her eyes fixed on the robes as one might stare at a snake before it strikes.

Despite several attempts to tear, burn, hide or destroy in any way these robes they kept coming back. Someone had enchanted them in a manner most unfit for a witchling in training but not unusual for the spiteful inconvenience that marked wars of fully fledged witches, which could mean anyone from her long and tireless list of mortal enemies. So, until she found out how to break the enchantment, Yazeba had to contend with the nightmare reasserting itself.

"Unless you'd rather suffer a similar curse as theirs." Still not tearing her eyes away, she quirked an eyebrow at Viv.

"Eep!" she yelps, and shrinks back behind the others, hiding behind a curtain of hair.

Percy hesitantly pats Amelie's shoulder in a gesture of somewhat misguided support. "It is probably ineffective to clean this place starting from here - with how big the basement is, the rooms closer to the stairs will just get messy while you move dust from the further away ones. Besides, I don't think..." He looks at the ceiling with a frown. "I don't think it is very structurally sound. It's probably best to make sure there aren't any leaks or cracks before cleaning."

He pauses, then hurriedly adds after glancing at Yazeba: "Not that it doesn't have its charms, dust and old things and all! But if you do plan to clean it up later, I'll happily assist." The elemental gestures around, almost knocking down some other dress stand in the process: "Although I'm afraid I cannot with curses; that is a little too advanced and magical for me. But leaking pipes, that I can fix! I-If you want me to, of course."

Parish looks around at the numerous exits from this room. "I believe the generator is this way! Or, er... Hmm... Is it that way? These basement chambers have a pesky habit of moving about when one isn’t looking..."

"Thanks, Percy!" Amelie responds, trying to understand what Percy meant. "I might need some time to adjust to this new logic." They appear to be a bit confused as their circuits work overtime.

When Parish seems unsure which way to go, they speak up again. "Oh my, Parish. I think I might be able to help!" Amelie's eyes start to dart from side to side as they search their memory bank for information. "Aha! Got it. An old map of the basement... Oh but it's complicated."

It takes Amelie a bit of time to study the old document. Cross-referencing visual input with the blueprint as best they can. "I'm not sure it's still up to date, but it's something to get us started at least." They say to the group. "Looks like we need to go east from here." They point to a dark side of the room they're in. "That way."

"Eeek!" Amelie freezes. Not just in the figurative sense, but literally. Their processing functions freeze and initiate the emergency shut down sequence to prevent any damage to their hardware. They stop dead in their tracks and are unresponsive for now.

Yazeba sighs and rolls her eyes. It was bad enough that Amelie had decided to take it upon herself and lead their group like this, but the addition of shutting down the moment something strange crosses their path. Down in a place like this there could be anything going on, not even Yazeba herself knew everything in the twisting, turning labyrinth of the basement, so...

"If you're going to come down here, you all need a bit more spine." She says flatly, pressing the reboot button on Amelie to bring her back to readiness. "And I don't mean in a literal sense. I'd say follow Parish, he's got the most courage here, but even he's a bit... slippery."

Naturally she leaves out the part she most wants to say, that she's worried for their safety, because no witch is allowed to be worried about anything. It's not proper.

Percival steps towards the direction which something ran off in, squaring his shoulders and trying to look intimidating against anything scurrying in the darkness. His posturing is only marginally effective, as despite his massive bulk and physical strength, an expression of protective worry on the elemental's face reduces the general result to only mildly dangerous. Not to mention that the humidity of the underground dampens the flames of his arms.

"Sorry, ma'am!" He guiltily glances back at Yazeba at her comment, then quietly sighs in relief as the witch reboots Amelie; he'll never grow accustomed to how the robot can just go still like that. For an elemental, it seems so unusual! "M-Maybe I can help Mr. Parish lead the way and be more... courageous?" Percy isn't entirely sure what will constitute as courage in Yazeba's eyes, but asking seems improper.

As something scurries across her feet, Viv jumps up on a box next to her. Once it seems that whatever was there has gone, she begins to step down, but then hesitates. "uh, is it... is it safe?" Once again, she lowers a foot to the ground, only to withdraw it once more. "Oooh," she whines, "I can't decide!" She seems to be stuck, unsure of what to do next.

"Steady everyone, steady!" Parish calls out, holding his broom high. "It was probably just a rodent. Take heed to the wise words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'

Once everybody has settled down, he looks up (and up... and up!) at Percy. "Now then, young elemental. Would you care to open the next door? I'll be right behind you!"

In the background, a series of beeps and bleeps signal that Amelie is rebooting and probably performing some kind of system diagnostics. It might take a minute.

Percival frowns as he watches Viv climb on a box which seems even less structurally sound than the basement itself - it probably has been here since times immemorial, and therefore can't be safe to stand on! Promptly forgetting all about moving forward, the elemental instead steps towards the Lady of the Lake. "Miss Niviana, I think the interloper is gone. You are safe to step down, I assure you!"

He hesitates for a moment, then puts his hands together; his fingers glows with warm yellow-orange light, and then Percy reveals a small red gemstone, one which he offers to Viv. "Here, it is a little nifty trick my folks taught me. It has some elemental magic inside, so it should scare off any small beasties which might scurry about."

Whether or not Viv takes the offering, Percy's attention is then drawn by Parish's words. "Me?" As he peers down at the brave amphibian knight, the elemental looks befuddled to suddenly be the center of attention. He offered to help leading, of course, but it wasn't as if he actually expected to be offered to actually lead! Not that it is a problem of courage - few critters or beasts are bold enough to pick a fight with even a small fire elemental - but surely he isn't competent enough for navigation of any way? Then again, there isn't that many ways to go forward...

"Alright," the elemental glances at the door nearby and hesitantly puts his hand on the handle. "We should be close enough to the generator, I think! Otherwise this place really violates some safety protocols..."

Viv feels the spiderweb on her body and yelps. She frantically wipes off the old cobwebs, while she says, "Yuck Yuck! Ugh. This reminds me of that time I learned that some spiders wait in their webs for much larger creatures, like us, to stumble into them, so they can hitch a ride on their bodies. I wonder if spiders are on our bodies right now..." She shivers, wondering why she needed to share that disturbing factoid right a this moment...

Percy winces at the spiderwebs brushing against his body and tries to hurriedly back away before any of them catch on fire, but only succeeds in stumbling into Yazeba. That, by itself, is startling enough that the elemental tries to jumps away with a flurry of apologies, flailing his arms and consequently managing to fall over Parish and land straight into the middle of the spiderweb. The web, despite Nivian's theorising about it being woven to catch large creatures, promptly breaks and goes down together with Percy, leaving the elemental partially cocooned - and well-disoriented - on the floor.

"Sorry," Percy murmurs, embarrassed, as he blinks at the ceiling. There might be a spider judgementally looking back at him, although maybe it's just a random shadow. "...A, a little help, please?"

Parish uses the broom to sweep the webs off of Percy. "There you are. On your feet, brave warrior! This is not the place to be sticking around." The frog grins at his own pun.

Once the elemental has been disentangled, Parish turns to Viv. "Lady Niviana, would you like to do the honors of taking the lead for a time?"

Amelie opens their eyes and says "So we go this way!" to nobody as they have been left alone in the room. Oh my! They think, not sure about what happened, but they can see the glow of light coming from an adjacent room so that must be the way everyone went.

I don't want to stay here in the darkness goes through their head as they hurry to catch up with the others. Luckily the group isn't far away and they quickly find them... in a mess of webs with Parish trying to clean up Percy. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." They say "You should see yourselves right now." They shake their head. "Well maybe if someone would have been allowed to clean down here, this wouldn't have happened. But a robot like me needs to follow orders.""I suppose Yazeba didn't say anything about cleaning residents, though." They pull out a soft dusting broom and a pair of scissors and walk over to where Percy is doing an impression of a caterpillar trying to become a butterfly. With a positive sense of duty, they help Parish dust off Percy and anyone else who would like to be cleaned up.

Viv meekly nods and carefully moves to the front. She glances over her shoulder, a look of uncertainty on her face, and then she proceeds forward.

Viv slowly walks forward, clearly tentative and afraid. Finally, she stops, takes a deep breath, and turns around to face the others. She speaks, her voice a little shaky, and she says, "I know it's silly, but it would really help me if I could hold someone's hand as we go."

Parish, ever the gallant knight, smiles up at Viv. "Of course, dear." He holds out a webbed hand to take hers as they walk to the next room.

Yazeba hadn't been paying attention to the direction they'd been going for a few minutes. She'd left her mind behind in the previous few rooms, with the spiderwebs. That wasn't in the figurative sense though, she'd literally left her mind behind. It lingered there, looking at the webs and wondering how they got to be there.

To a witch, spiders are very useful. They are incredibly lazy creatures, as evidenced by their idea to wait and hitch a ride from a larger mode of transport, and are willing to make anyone a deal if it makes their life easier. She, as a younger witch, had employed a great wealth of arachnids to form a spy network about her BnB, until something had shuffled them along. Now she thought she'd been without enough of the eight legged layabouts, but these webs were developed and suggested someone else had paid them off instead...

Before the implications of who would have the wealth and access to pay the spiders of her(!) BnB to spy could arrive at her body's position though, they were interrupted by a loud noise. Her mind snapped back into position, along with her eyebrow adopting it's customary arch, as a vampire she'd forgotten about many years ago made a surprise reappearance.

Amelie followed behind Parish and Viv, mostly looking around and making an internal heat map of the spots in the basement that would need the most urgent attention if Yazeba were to change her mind. It was always good to have a backup plan in case there was nothing else to do.

As the vampire sits up and makes their noise, Amelie, with no regard for any danger, walks up to the coffin and inspects it's cleanliness. "Impressive! How do you keep this wood in such good condition? I can hardly see any wear or decay on your coffin." they ask the fanged person.

Amelie had no need to be afraid of vampires. With a lack of blood in their body, there was nothing the dracula would want from a robot. If anything they'd want to employ a robot as an everlasting servant. This meant that vampires were often friendly to non-humans. The "Boooo" also didn't impress them. Anyone who wants to scare Amelie should shout "Mess" Or "Dust".

"A friend of yours, Yazeba?"

Percy looks at the vampire with mild confusion and politely waves his hand in greeting. Somewhat similar to Amelie, he has no need to fear a blood-drinker - if the sharp-toothed basement dweller tries to feed from him, he'll probably scald his tongue on hot magma. Maybe Percival should warn him about that? Although the vampire seems more interested in scuttling about and making vaguely scary noises than biting anyone, so maybe it's alright if he doesn't.

"Um, hello," the elemental turns around so that he can follow the vampire with his gaze, just in case he does decide to make biting motions in directions of Percy's less armored companions. "Apologies for bothering you, but we're simply passing through. Maybe, by chance, you can point us towards the generator room?"

When the Dracula targets her with his scary words, Viv cowers with her hands on her ears, her hair a solid sheet in front of her face. "Ooooh! This reminds me of the time I went out at night and forgot my flashlight! I was so scared I forgot to tie my shoes and fell in the mud..."

"Oh my. Blood?!?" Amelie is shocked by the suggestion. They knew vampires had a strong connection to blood, but they never considered it could be Viv's blood. No, no, that won't do.

They wheel themselves in between the two. "You better not be thinking of spilling blood, mister pointy teeth! It's already way too messy down here. They say, arms spread in a T-shape. "I won't stand for it!"

"Now there, sir, I must agree with our robotic friend!" Percy crosses his arms as he steps to stand next to Amelie. "While I acknowledge that this is your way of nourishment, it is quite impolite to attempt feeding on someone without asking - and without introducing yourself, either. I'm sure there is a proper etiquette for these things among the vampire kind?" The elemental huffs in disapproval, a small wisp of smoke escaping his mouth. He then glances at Amelie and, after a moment, attempts to mimic their T-pose - surely it must be the most optimal method of intimidation if Amelie chose it.

More noise, of course. Yazeba sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose. It'd barely been more than an hour ago when she'd thought she'd have a day of peace and quiet. She'd never expected to find Dracula again, let alone the curtain covering the Crypt-Kicker Five. Once again she found herself questioning the decision to open a BnB. She definitely didn't question the decision to take away the Crypt-Kicker's brass instruments.

"I thought you left, Dracula." She cut into the confusion. "After recording that god awful collab we all knew your career in music was the only truly scary thing about you."

With her hands on her hips, she cornered the wayward vampire. "Since you didn't leave though, how much room and board do you owe me, now?"

"Wow uh oh..." Amelie exclaims as they accidentally brush off the tarp. But what appears from underneath causes them to stop in stunned silence. Their processing chip runs on overclocked mode trying to grasp the situation.

Is that *THE* Crypt-Kicker Five?!?!?! That was Amelie's all time favorite band! Especially their latest single - Let's Chill To The Bone - was A-MA-ZING! Completely and utterly star-struck, they just stand there in fear of somehow ruining the group's dance routine.

Parish breathed a sigh of relief when Yazeba chased the dracula away, but now there was this confounded cadre of cadavers to contend with! The frog leaps into action, interposing his tiny frame between Amelie and the skeletons and shaking his broom at them. "Back, you ruffians! Shuffle off!"

The skeletons ignore his efforts. Parish frowns and taps his chin with a webbed finger. 'Hmm. Aha! There's only one sure way to defeat dancing skeletons. By winning a dance-off!"

Stowing his broom, Parish shakes out his arms and legs to loosen his muscles. "Very well, boneheads. Prepare to be amazed by the latest dance craze!" He strikes a pose and then--

--Parish does the Macarena."Arms! Out! Hands! Flip! Elbow! Elbow! Head! Head! Cross! Arms! Hip! Hip! Heeey Macarena!" Parish calls out each move. He then turns and hops, but he underestimates how far a frog's legs would propel him. He hops clear across the room to the dark corner of the chamber!Parish crashes into a box, scattering its contents. "Oof!" As he dusts himself off, he looks to see the box was filled with the baby clothes Hey Kid used to wear, along with a macaroni picture of the Bed & Breakfast. "Aww... They were so cute back then!" Parish says with a warm smile. He feels a bit more courageous, enough to march back up to the skeletons. "Let's try that again!"

And he does the Macarena again. Hop and turn. Hop and turn. Hop and turn. He's nothing if not committed to the moves.

The skeletons glance at one another. One scratches its skull. Another looks at its feet. Eventually, they all slink away, too embarrassed for Parish to keep watching any longer.

"Ha ha! Victory!" Parish declares, pumping his fist in the air!

As the last skeleton leaves the room, Amelie regains motor functions. They open up a waist-compartment and pull out a cassette tape and a black marker. "Please sign my..." They sigh realizing it's too late. "They're gone." They say sadly. "Why did I not ask sooner... Bugger. That might have been my only chance."

They then glance at Parish and offer the same two items to him "Maybe an autograph from a dance champion instead?"

Parish grins. "It would be my pleasure, dear Amelie!" With a flourish, Parish signs his name, along with a message:

Don't stop believin'!

Yazeba rolls her eyes at the autograph, the entire concept silly to her. She doesn't say anything though, because sometimes you have to keep people guessing. It's definitely not because she didn't want to interrupt something heartfelt, because that would be ridiculous for a witch like her.

Instead she heads to one of the doors and considers it. She doesn't tell anyone her metric for consideration, that's for her to know and preferably for none of them to find out, but she shakes her head and points to the other one. It'll be safer for them all in the long run to use the other door after all, none of them want to find out what's behind the one she'd picked first.

"Shall we move on?"

Amelie accepts the autograph from Parish. This is one for their collection. It consisted mostly of things they had found around the house while cleaning. Things that nobody would miss because if they did, then they wouldn't have left it just laying around in the first place. The signed cassette tape and marker once again disappear inside one of their storage compartments. "I'm ready to continue!" They say mostly to Yazeba to indicate their ability to receive new orders.

The pantry was entered by Amelie with much approval! "Neatly stacked shelves. Expiration dates in order." They could not see anything wrong in this room. A paradise, for as far as cleaning robots could imagine such a thing. Their core programming sequences took over. "Searching for job... " As some of the guests or residents may know, when Amelie can't find a job to do, they automatically shut down for a while. But for now, they were still scanning the room. There had to be something out of order.

Percy is taken aback at the chain of events which leads to the basement journey briefly becoming a dance-off and a little concerned over the number of undead residents dwelling underneath the house, but decides to go with the flow and just stay quiet for a while. He does cheer for Parish and the skeletons, lighting up his skin for a bit of funky illumination, but stops it quickly after - it wouldn't do to be distracting anyone.

As they enter the pantry, the elemental perks up a bit, examining the bin with curiosity, and hums in approval when Amelie comments on the expirations dates. "This is very impressive rationing, Sir Parish," he comments to the frog, gesturing at the arrays of non-perishables arranged in rows inside. "Maybe we should bring some upstairs for the others? Some canned goods will make for good snacks after the movie - and offset all the popcorn with somewhat healthier sustenance." Percy wrangles his hands absent-mindedly; a part of him really wants to check the contents of the bin, intrigued by the possibility of baking ingredients or even baked goods like crackers or cookies, but he doesn't wish to seem too forward with his interest. And it's a silly interest, anyway.

"Maybe we can make something with it later?.. Ah, nevermind, I'm sure you're busy as it is! Ah-hah..." He trails off awkwardly, then clears his throat and looks at Amelie in hopes of seeing something to help them with and change the topic he foolishly brought up.

"Aha!" Parish cries, hopping forward happily. But a few moments later, his smile fades. "Hmm. I could have sworn the generator was stored here. But it’s not here. My friends, I am afraid we will have to keep looking!"

Amelie snaps out of her job-searching trance to respond to Percy's suggestion. "Making a snack? Sounds messy! Please let me know if you do so, Percy. I will clear my schedule to clean up afterwards."

Then the wall shifts and some of the cans drop onto the floor. Luckily they are merely dented. None the less, Amelie has found a job to do and gets to work picking them up, not even noticing the generator in the other room.

While Amelie knocks cans onto the ground with a crash, and Parish apologizes to the others, and Percy laughs off his own needs, Viv quietly examines the fuse box and determines wether any fuses are blown and fixes what she can, making sure that they have, or know, what they need to get that generator running.

Whoopsie! When the thunder crashes, Viv startles and instinctively cowers behind her hair!

"Fear not, dear Viv! It is only an atmospheric disturbance!" Parish declares. "Or maybe it is giants bowling in the sky! Ha, can you imagine that? Giants in the sky! Big, tall, terrible giants in the sky!"

The frog gets a wistful look in his eye and begins to wax poetic. "When you're way up high/And you look below/At the world you've left/And the things you know/Little more than a glance/Is enough to show/You just how small you are..." Clearly, he's been watching too many musical on TV. He barely registers those around him as he hops forward in to the next room.After wandering through a series of dark and dusty rooms, Parish shines his flashlight on the generator! It is tucked into a crumbling crawlspace...

"There it is, friends! Who among us will be brave enough to go in there to get it started?"

Amelie follows the group after they're done picking up the different cans. "Oh that's what a generator looks like!" they say when Parish announces that it's been found. However the way to it seems small.

No problem for Amelie, though. They press a button on their body and their arms and legs shorten to create a mini version of Amelie. "Leave it to me!" they say as they head down into the crawlspace.

Unfortunately, it appears that mini Amelie is not quite mini enough. After wheeling forward a few meters they hit their head on the ceiling and a grinding noise signals that the fit is too tight. "Oh my. I believe I have wedged myself between the floor and ceiling." They have inadvertently become a support beam for the crawlspace.

As the jar hits the floor, a few of the tiny glass shards hit Amelie's joints and cause a few sparks to spring forth from their circuitry. *zoinks - zoinks - zoinks* The sound of electrical discharge fills the air as it messes with their speech protocols. "A g-g-g-g-ghost!"

Percy blinks at the ghost circling around him, not entirely sure what would be a polite reaction to being haunted. "Hello? How may I help you?" He tries to offer the spirit a handshake, to little results as the phantom seems more interested in dramatically flying about and utilizing the ambiance of a thunderstorm to its full potential. "You have a very fashionable sheet. Are you also the part of these... Erm... Vampire musicians? Or dancing skeletons? This is a very artistically inclined basement!"

He is then distracted by sparks of light emitting from Amelie, jumping to assist the robot. Or try to, as there is no chance he can fit into the crawlspace. "Amelie, are you alright? Do you need help?" The elemental bends over to offer them a hand in case the maid needs any assistance getting up since they seem to be having technical issues. He also examines the fuel tank; it smells edible, although probably not to his companions.

"The r-r-r-records don't show that they are part of the Crypt-Kicker Five." Amelie responds to Percy's question. "I'm sorry ab-b-b-bout smashing your jar." They call out to the ghost. While they are there, they might as well clean up the glass shards, so they get to work.

"Uhm... I'm f-f-f-fine." Once again, they run a diagnostics program to see if anything vital has been damages by the glass. Nothing that can't be fixed once they get back to their room. "However, it seems that I'm st-t-t-t-tuck." They tell Percy as they reach out one arm. "If someone would p-p-p-pull my arm."

"OoWooOOwoo! the ghost moans again, circling around Percy and Amelie and generally being a pest.

Parish squares his shoulders as he marches up to the ghost. He raises his broom and pokes at it. "Hey! Go on, now! Get! Remove yourself from this place! Find somebody else to haunt!"

The ghost contemplates the courageous frog for a few moments, then shrugs. "ooWoo," it groans before phasing through the wall and vanishing from sight.

"There, now. One less poltergeist to worry us. We've found the generator, but we still need to find the fuel. It can't be much further, now! Come, friends, let us press on!"

Yazeba sighs, not for the first time this morning. It'd been her philosophy for last few decades that a person only had so many sighs allotted to them in their life, and that a sigh should be reserved for an important situation and a strong look would suffice. Right now, though, she couldn't help it and so her quota lost yet another among it's number.

"You all stay here, I know where the fuel is." She sets off, long strides with her tall frame. "Who knows how lost you'll get if I let you go."

"Huzzah! Well done, Yazeba!" Parish cheers. He eagerly fills the generator's fuel tank and pulls the ripcord. It begins to chug and churn, and the electric lights hanging above flicker on. A distant cheer comes from the Bed & Breakfast above as the power is restored.

"Our quest is complete. Come friends. Let us ascend triumphant from this Underworld!"

---

Soon enough, the party returns to the safety, warmth, and comfort of the B&B, a cozy shelter from the storm outside. Parish accepts the accolades of the other guests and residents, happily passing around mugs of hot cocoa or warm tea to everybody. He settles into an oversized armchair with a sigh as he smiles at Amelie, Percy, Viv, and Yazeba. "Now that was an adventure. I couldn't have asked for a better group of brave individuals to share it with. Cheers, my friends!"

---

And that is the story of the night the lights went out at Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast!

"Hu-r-r-r-r-ray!" Amelie says, still stuck in the crawl space. "N-n-n-now I can finally get back to my duties." They are soon helped from their precarious situation by the other residents.

---

Once back in their room, they manage to repair the speech issue and head back to the kitchen to start their cleaning routine. After all, Percy had made the remark of wanting to do some cooking.

Amelie enjoys the rest of the day in a positive solid state.

**The camera on this scene zooms out and moves to show a glimpse of Amelie's room, where the album of the Crypt-Kicker Five is hanging on the wall with Parish's signature clearly visible.**
Don't stop believin'!