Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Caution: Spoilers
Discussions all around the Kittstrom Lucas Vulpan story.

Moderator: Sennadar Moderators

Forum rules
Please Read the forum rules.
boballab
Sui'Kun
Posts: 497
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:41 pm
Location: Ocean City Maryland

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by boballab »

GBLW wrote:Gee, so far no one has hit on the one I see as most likely to want Kit and his line dead.

And knowing that as a writer, I check my reader's guess, I ain't gonna say anything about it here.
(If I am right, I don't want Fel p'd off with me for giving away a great plot line.)

GBLW

(And off he rides into the sunset, with a vicious chuckle echoing behind him! :twisted: )
(Well, maybe just snickering a bit, since the choice is so obviously unobvious.)
hmm to me you are hinting at Clancy since he is the most unobvious, and yes there is evidence that someone on the staff was helping the Paladins. Some facts stand out that implicate Clancy.

1. Stonebrook was finished being built in 1936 and is now 72 years old. Clancy is 73 years old and his father was the head butler before him just like himself before Stanely. That tunnel had to been built during Stonebrooks construction or Clancy would have seen it being built. However Clancy's father had to have known it was there and it would be inconcievable that he didn't pass that on to Clancy.

2. The dust pattern on the floor shows that someone cleaned the footprints up after the Paladins left after the first visit.
he saw a curious mar in the dust of the stone floor, that was almost perfectly three feet square, offset in the floor so one edge was on the edge of the wall. The dust was striated and disturbed in straight lines…almost as if something brushed over it.
The Paladins could have swept the rest of the floor (if they brought a broom with them that is) but they couldn't sweep on top of the trap door after using it to leave, someone int he Manor had to do it. It couldn't have been Jahal he was at the gate under observation, so that only leaves one of the staff who would have access to cleaning supplies in the manor and wouldn't stand out having a broom.

However with that being said Clancy doesn't have a motive to kill Kit but he does have motive to try to protect the next unobvious person not mentioned already: Stanley
It is logical that Clancy would pass the knowledge of that tunnel onto Stanely as being head butler. Stanely also doesn't have the history with Kit that his father does, Kit was like a son to Clancy and we don't know if Stanley has any purist leanings. There is another piece of circumstancial evidence that Stanley is not on Kit's side and that is the Stonebrook accounts. Zach was moving money in and out of the Stonebrook accounts, the same accounts the Head Butler is in charge of.
The manor ran itself, and while Zach had access to the manor’s accounts, that money was not his, and neither was he the primary fur that managed that money. That responsibility was actually Stanley’s, since he was the chief butler and primary overseer of the estate.
Remember it was Stanley that contacted the auditors and it was Stanley that told Kit that the suditors found more money in the account then was supposed to be. kit was never shown the report from the auditors he has only Stanley's word that it was Zach doing it. Kit then had Vil remove Zach's access to the accounts which would remove Stanley's cover if he was using Zach to cover his own Purist dealings. Remember Stanely had Zach sign for everything and has been pointed out Zach doesn't read all the documents given to him to sign ie the Stonebrook contract.
Stanley wasn’t kidding when he said that he’d been extremely careful since Zach moved in, according to Clancy, making sure that he had written authorizations from Zach personally for everything Zach wanted done around the manor, and Stanley was extremely thorough and careful when it came to his own management of the manor, capable of producing a detailed trail of exactly where the money he took from the accounts went
So Clancy doesn't have a motive to kill Kit but Stanley would if he was using the Stonebrook accounts to launder Paladin money.
The Mizriath Jihad is on hold.....for the moment
User avatar
GBLW
Mi'Shara
Posts: 615
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:31 am

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by GBLW »

So Clancy doesn't have a motive to kill Kit but Stanley would if he was using the Stonebrook accounts to launder Paladin money.
Well, I won't say you're wrong, but I don't think you're right either. You see Fel has left another faint trail of clues that lead in another totally different direction, but you have to be willing to go back many chapters to find the beginning of that weak, but potent trail. And another personality fits the venture into Paladin territory much more firmly.

Dang, now I may be giving out important clues. :x My bad!
K Pelle aka GBLW
My recent stories are available at: http://www.grynenbayritpublications.com/
boballab
Sui'Kun
Posts: 497
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:41 pm
Location: Ocean City Maryland

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by boballab »

The acid test for any suspect behind the plot to kill Kit and Jessie is that they had to be in a position to know about that secret tunnel. Now we know that the knoweledge of that tunnel is restricted due to the fact that Kit didn't know about it. This could be due to what Kit mused on, as being just forgotten, or to me more likely that it is deliberately withheld. So that narrows the suspect list.

Any of Kits Aunts and Uncles could have had that knoweledge since we don't know how it is passed on. It could be something passed from father to child when they reach a certain age, say 18, or when they go to work for the company, or something along those lines which explains why Kit didn't know about it.

As I put in the last post it is almost 100% certain the head butler of Stonebrook would have to know about that passage. Clancy's father certainly knew of it's existance since he was there when Stonebrook was built. It is also logical that it would be the head butlers responsibilty to ensure that the tunnel is not in a postion to collapse due to neglect, so that info has to be passed to the next head butler.

Vil has two ways she could have learned of that tunnel. One her father could have told her, when he officially made her the heir. The other way it might have been in her fathers secret files that she has.

That is the nine people that have the most logical and easiest routes to the knowledge of that tunnel. Anyone else would have to get that info from one of them, that includes all of the cousins. They were not raised in that house so they wouldn't know about the passages, but could be told about them. Of the cousins the one that has the right personality to be a purist pig with a grudge against Kit and Jessie is Victor. He could have learned about the tunnel from one of the Elders and he wants revenge for getting thrown out from the wedding. He is also a known purist.

For those thinking its Cybil well she has the least reason to know about that tunnel. One Lucas married her only as a trophy so he wouldn't tell her squat. Two she isn't likely to stumble over the secret room and then the trap door herself, that would be beneath her. Her best bet would be one of her servants finding out from the Stonebrook staff and passing it on to her. The downside is that Vil not only ruined her reputation, fel also stated that Vil ruined her financially. So scraping up the money for the op is a weak spot for her.
The Mizriath Jihad is on hold.....for the moment
User avatar
expedient
Mi'Shara
Posts: 522
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:24 pm
Location: Pantora

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by expedient »

So, there has to be someone inside the house to clear away any evidence and be the eyes and ears of the chief conspirator. That would have to be a member of staff (or outside bet: Muffy).

There has to be someone who can put up the money ($40,000) without being traced and has reason to be strongly aligned to both Vulpan and purist interests. That would leave senior servants and Vulpans.

They have to know certain secrets about the house that few people know. Leaving Vulpan elders and very senior servants.

They have to have so much influence that the caught Paladins fear them more than being killed by Kit’s security. Which would suggest the Vulpan elders.


The attempt is too unprofessional and misses out Vil, so Zach seems unlikely. Sarah is too busy sitting on the fence. Tom has other more important things worry about.

Leaving, in my opinion and in order of most likely to least likely:
Jake, Alicia, Brian and Maxine.

I put Brian before Maxine as I feel that he cares less about the family cohesiveness than the others and I suspect Maxine would want to handle things “in-house”. I see Jake and Alicia as more likely to do something rash and foolish.

The disloyal servant I can’t guess at, yet...


Of course, there may be more than one plot afoot from the various interested parties. That might uncover all sorts of contradictory evidence as the wedding and honeymoon progress. :twisted:
Represented by Senator Riyo Chuchi
Mad Monk
Sui'Kun
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:03 am
Location: England

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by Mad Monk »

expedient wrote:So, there has to be someone inside the house to clear away any evidence and be the eyes and ears of the chief conspirator. That would have to be a member of staff (or outside bet: Muffy).
I would disagree with this.
Kit came over and bent down, and after his eyes adjusted to the gloom of the single naked light bulb in the short passage before it opened to the stairs, he saw a curious mar in the dust of the stone floor, that was almost perfectly three feet square, offset in the floor so one edge was on the edge of the wall. The dust was striated and disturbed in straight lines…almost as if something brushed over it. But only on that one section of the floor. “Did you sweep it?”
“No, it was like that when I got here,” she said. “Look down. Remember when you showed me the passage, how it was all dusty? Well, where are our footprints on the floor? Nobody else has been in here since we were, else there would be prints in here from them.”
If someone inside the house had swept up after the "break in", then the marks of the secret tunnel would have been swept away as well. As it was, these were left, indicating that nobody had been in the tunnel after the Paladins. They did not need to use a broom to clear up their footprints - they could have dragged a jacket to re-arange the dust to hide their prints.
Rational people have supported the worst dictators of history - Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc.

I'm mad - at least I have an excuse for what I do.
boballab
Sui'Kun
Posts: 497
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:41 pm
Location: Ocean City Maryland

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by boballab »

The area "swept" was on top of the hidden trap door which sets flush and is tight fitting. Remember how hard it was to get out, it took Nick's 7ft size to get it out. The Paladins couldn't have swept the top of the trap door, climbed in, but the door back without leaving handmarks in the dust around the door. Someone had to be on the top side of that door to get it to fit properly back in its place, then "sweep" away the evidence they did so. Also the Trap door is heavy and took two people on top to open it. There is no way one person standing on a ladder can just push that door open from below, he would need help from someone on top.
The stone was flat and level everywhere except for up against one wall, and she puzzled out that by stepping hard on that side, it lifted the other like a lever. Nick stomped it with his seven foot frame and got it up high enough for Kit and Donny to get their fingers under it, then the two of them lifted it up and lifted it to discover that the heavy stone slab was nearly a foot thick and was hinged, opening like a trapdoor.
Then there is the outside door at the other end of the tunnel which is locked from the inside.
The grating was rusty and looked solid, but Kit could see the single hinge on the right side, and a very clever bolt lock that would be all but invisible from the outside, hidden behind the frame and crossbar of the grating.
Someone had to go down there and unlock that door for the Paladins before they came in. I doubt it was left unlocked prior to the Paladins comming.

Did anyone else see the continuity problem with Stonebrooks age?
This is from Clancy
Kitstrom Arthur Vulpan, Kit’s great-grandfather, bought the land in nineteen and thirty-eight, and Kit’s grandfather, Kitstrom Daniel, started construction on the main manor house in nineteen and thirty-nine, when he was seventeen. It had always been Samuel’s dream to build Stonebrook, but he died before they began construction, leaving young Daniel to shoulder both the burden of running the company and building the manor. It was finished in nineteen and forty, and I remember the first day I stepped through the gates
Clancy is 73 years old so he was born in 1936 since it is now 2009.
Kit was really worried. Clancy looked so, so weak. So old. He was 73 years old, but that had barely slowed him down when Kit remembered him from his late sixties.
Stonebrook was finished in 1936, and since the first day it was completed and the Vulpans moved in, a MacArren was here to greet them, since the MacArrens moved in before the Vulpans. This house, Stonebrook, is as much the home of servant families like the MacArrens as it is us Vulpans.
According to Clancy earlier in the story the land Stonebrook sits on wasn't bought until 1938 and finished in 1940, then according to Kit in the article he writes it was finished in 1936 the same year Clancy was born.
The Mizriath Jihad is on hold.....for the moment
User avatar
expedient
Mi'Shara
Posts: 522
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:24 pm
Location: Pantora

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by expedient »

boballab wrote:According to Clancy earlier in the story the land Stonebrook sits on wasn't bought until 1938 and finished in 1940, then according to Kit in the article he writes it was finished in 1936 the same year Clancy was born.
I’d guess that Kit isn’t as good a researcher as we were led to believe.

At least there was no time traveling aliens from the 24th century signing the construction contracts. :P
Represented by Senator Riyo Chuchi
User avatar
GBLW
Mi'Shara
Posts: 615
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:31 am

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by GBLW »

Wow, in the last half dozen posts, one of you guys came close to grabbing the brass ring.
Unfortunately you turned off too soon and moved the wrong way. :?

At least that's my guess. :lol:
K Pelle aka GBLW
My recent stories are available at: http://www.grynenbayritpublications.com/
User avatar
expedient
Mi'Shara
Posts: 522
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:24 pm
Location: Pantora

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by expedient »

GBLW wrote:Wow, in the last half dozen posts, one of you guys came close to grabbing the brass ring.
Unfortunately you turned off too soon and moved the wrong way. :?

At least that's my guess. :lol:
I’d guess you’re going for a insider plot. With Walter, Sally and Muffy being the vanguard of a Brian and Ruth Vulpan takeover? :|
Represented by Senator Riyo Chuchi
kabalman2000
Sorcerer
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 5:43 pm

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by kabalman2000 »

GBLW wrote:Wow, in the last half dozen posts, one of you guys came close to grabbing the brass ring.
Unfortunately you turned off too soon and moved the wrong way. :?
So you think it's Vil, huh? Interesting, I'd like to here more.

On how many people could know. Remember that there are two other mansions that are supposed exact copies of Stonebrook. One of them built within the same time frame by people who would have known all the secrets of the original. Might that one also have the same tunnel that that part of the family remembers?

Just a thought...
User avatar
GBLW
Mi'Shara
Posts: 615
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:31 am

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by GBLW »

I’d guess you’re going for a insider plot. With Walter, Sally and Muffy being the vanguard of a Brian and Ruth Vulpan takeover?
(Chuckle) Now you're just reaching for straws!
So you think it's Vil, huh? Interesting, I'd like to here more.
ROFLOL - Vil, no way!
K Pelle aka GBLW
My recent stories are available at: http://www.grynenbayritpublications.com/
User avatar
Omegano
Initiate
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 2:33 am
Location: Eastern US

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by Omegano »

Being at school, I don't have the files, nor the time to go searching through them, but who was that cousin that sent their family off to England? Not remembering who they are, I definitely can't remember if they have a reason to hate Kit & Jessie. Anyway, we might want to take a closer look at the cousins on the other side of the fence. They have the money, and just being a Vulpan gives them the clout to get the contract accepted. As for knowing about the passage, even if Kit may not have know, that doesn't mean that the information wasn't somewhere. Someone might have stumbled across it, and realized the possibilities. Blind luck can sometimes be the match that starts the bonfire of truly brilliant plans.

Omegano
Go ahead. Ask me any question, but if it needs logic or intelligence, you will want to ask that brain thingie that lives in in my head instead.
boballab
Sui'Kun
Posts: 497
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:41 pm
Location: Ocean City Maryland

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by boballab »

Omegano wrote:Being at school, I don't have the files, nor the time to go searching through them, but who was that cousin that sent their family off to England? Not remembering who they are, I definitely can't remember if they have a reason to hate Kit & Jessie. Anyway, we might want to take a closer look at the cousins on the other side of the fence. They have the money, and just being a Vulpan gives them the clout to get the contract accepted. As for knowing about the passage, even if Kit may not have know, that doesn't mean that the information wasn't somewhere. Someone might have stumbled across it, and realized the possibilities. Blind luck can sometimes be the match that starts the bonfire of truly brilliant plans.

Omegano
I believe it was Louis, Zachs 4th child, that sent his wife and children to England.

On just stumbling over that secret tunnel that is very low. First the cousins didn't have free run of Stonebrook while Lucas was alive. After that it's possible that Louis might have been able to find first the secret room, then the secret tunnel after that. However it must needs to be remembered that until Kit showed Jessie the secret room behind the conservatory the dust on the floor in it hadn't been disturbed. That leads to the conclusion that the person knew about the secret room and the tunnel with out entering them beforehand. That points to one of the elders, Vil, or one of the McArrens because that is who the knoweledge of the room was restricted too. Not even the staff as a whole knows about the secret room only the head butler and his replacement.
“Who else knows about this passage we’re in?”
“Just me, Jessie, Vil, Clancy, Stan, and Bart. The other servants don’t know about this passage. We don’t advertise that there’s a shortcut to the master bedroom from the first floor.”
You have to assume the elders all know about that room because just like Kit and Vil they grew up there, but their children didn't.

Now about that "escape" tunnel did anyone else notice that there is a discrepancy in that explanation?
There is a small room down there, an escape tunnel wouldn't need a small room just a tunnel. Notice also that the exit is right next to the river. I believe Fel choose the 1936 date in this last chapter because he plans the actual tunnel and room to have been for something else then escape. Remember this furry universe is suppose to be a sort of parralle to our own in 1933 prohibition ended in the United States but that type of tunnel fits in with a booze smuggling operation. Near the river where at night a boat could drop off the booze, a secret tunnel from there, to a secret underground storage room, off a secret room of the manor. If you go by the 1936 date as completion date the plans for the manor and start of construction might have been during the prohibtion era. After the repeal of prohibition that tunnel and secret room could have been set aside for the support of the early Puritist movement in Boston. Also note that there is two types of materials used in the construction of the tunnel.
The Mizriath Jihad is on hold.....for the moment
User avatar
GBLW
Mi'Shara
Posts: 615
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:31 am

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by GBLW »

Between all the names thrown around, you folks have managed to mention the family connection that I suspect, and a lot of other data that needed to be noted, but you've missed the 'insider' that I believe had to be involved.

However, let's face it, I'm not the one writing the story, so what Fel will write is as much a mystery to me as to you. I just have an opinion of how I could complete the plot - with the facts that I have at hand.

It has been interesting to make people scratch their heads though.
K Pelle aka GBLW
My recent stories are available at: http://www.grynenbayritpublications.com/
User avatar
dellstart
Child of Niami
Posts: 1062
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:20 pm
Location: The Holy SCG

Re: Kit - Chapter 36 [Spoilers]

Post by dellstart »

so the butler did it uh?
Last edited by dellstart on Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Locked