Who: Herrick and GUESTS When: December 28th, evening What: House Party Where: 819 Irving Hill Warnings: NSFW
I live for the nights that I can't remember with the people that I won't forget.
819 Irving Hill rarely sits quietly but hasn't been as alive as it is that evening in a very long time. The crowd it's drawn lingers on the porch, in the yard, the house itself which oozes music, and the garage, the door lifted for the sake of fresh air as the guests inside line the perimeter of a circle printed onto the concrete floor, surrounding combatants locked in a brawl. The house itself in unassuming, especially given that it's the chosen domicile of a vainglorious, loudmouth demi-god, not at all like one might expect. The exterior is lined with vertical gray siding, the eaves and trim in white, and the landscaping modest and tucked away under protective mulch and twine-wrapped burlap for the duration of the winter months. It has an air of newness about it, everything too crisp and clean to have been around for too long especially given the rough nature of the town and the people who live there.
Upon entering, visitors step into a spacious foyer with a stairway leading immediately up although hallways branch to the right and the left leading deeper into the house and a small door that leads down into the basement. Set against the wall is a table lined with bottles of booze that guests are free to take with them as party favors, one per visitor, with two special bottles labeled "Robert" and "Curtis". Party-goers are given generally free reign of the house although various rooms are locked, which would be safe to assume meant 'off limits', trespass at one's own risk.
The party is clearly intended to center in a particular Party Room, which is large, made of dark wood and burgundy paint with heavy curtains over large windows and wooden floors. It seems built strictly for the sake of entertaining. There is a fireplace (unlit), and various chairs, couches, and love seats ordered together in two distinct groups with an area in the middle for standing and conversing. Along one wall is a respectably stocked bar and set in the center of two coffee tables are low fishbowls filled with various colorful pills in all shapes and sizes, prescription and street drugs alike.
Food can be found in the kitchen, another large room which seems to infer that it gets a lot of attention. In front of the kitchen island is a trapdoor that leads to a jaw-droppingly impressive wine cellar which doesn't seem to line up with the fact that there are also three boxes of Franzia in the refrigerator. Food provided are all hors d'oeuvres type of snacks. There are also two kegs and a large stack of plastic cups.
Other locations on the first floor are: a bathroom, dining room, study, a library which hosts several display of antique weapons although there are noticeably a few vacancies, a smoking room, and one locked door -beyond it sits a large empty table bolted to the floor, no chairs, and two large safes.
Going up the grand staircase takes one to the second floor, which consists of 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a sitting room - this is the floor reserved for human claims.
The third floor consists of three bedrooms, two smaller with attached baths and one master suite. The door to the master suite is locked. Beyond it sits a room dominated by a four-poster throne like bed and typical bedroom furniture. The eastern wall, which doesn't have any windows, is filled with an intricate Romanesque mosaic depicting a massive battle scene. There is also a full bath with a shower large enough to fit half a dozen people.
If one takes the door from the foyer that leads to the basement they will find two more bedrooms, much more modest than the others, a room that looks like a cell with the metal frame of a bed in the center and an old, uncovered mattress with a bucket in the corner. There are no lights or windows. There is also a laundry room, utility room, and greater display of old weapons gathered and preserved through all the eras that Herrick has lived as well as other artifacts from throughout history and another safe tucked away beneath the stairs.