We discuss only here – That rather conventional, aye, we recognise that, but we don't want to give anybody any bad idea… – the options on the ground floor but it is clearly thinkable to make things more complicated by staying on trying to enter through a window on the second floor or even over the roof! Some hints to such options are given, however, while describing the Governor's Bedroom, of which you can, Game Master though whatsoever dearest friend, inspire to develop your general approach of breaking and entering attempts – Aye, a dog isn't a cat!

The Porch

Provided one approaches the house from the side of the Vegetable Garden and the two old litchi stems, one can avoid being seen from the Governor's Office and reach, unseen, the Mansion's Porch. At that point, one only needs a bit of chance to not cross the way of the Gardner or his wife but, according to the time of the day, they'll be busy somewhere else.

The entrance door to the Governor's Mansion is not closed during the day from sunrise to sunset – generally, and to be more precise, from after Allemania came back from buying things at the market until the time when Irma leaves the house after having roomed the Governor's and Elorria's dinner table. That's a good point but there is also a bad one: the door is equiped witht a bell which chimes as soon as one opens it… Poerava knows it all too well and would have – Aye, let us hope! – already informed our friends Young Pirates before they runs head on in!

The door is bolted from the inside overnight, which makes it impossible to pick.

There is a way to block the mechanism of the bell: knowing where the system for releasing the little hammer is located, one can try to use a stick and insert it when the door is still barely opened so as to block its movement. For sure, lacking the least bit of Dexterity then and the stick will slide off and the mechanism be set in motion. There's no way then to avoid the bell chiming. So it implies that one maintains the stick in the blocking position until the door is completely closed again to avoid making any noise. That requires of course Dexterity but also a minimum of time to not make a rough movement, that means - Let us not hide that any longer! – a successful Roll versus « Dexterity + Balance / Acrobatics », despite a Malus of 3, and a second Roll with an increased Malus of 5 if time would suddenly become a critical factor because somebody seems to be coming…

Another solution, if there is enough time to plan, would be that Poerava, being back home before the others, disassemble the spring and puts a cotton buffer on the little hammer of the bell. It is not necessarily so simple to furtively get done, including because somebody else could use the door before (or shortly after) our Young Pirates enter: a Roll versus « Perception + Look-Out » of the person using the door must be done to check whether he or she becomes aware that the bell doesn't chime… Moreover, it will then quickly be clear that it is no coincidence, but a planed sabotage, quickly leading to an investigation about Poerava and probably a reinforced watch on the house. Indirectly, that solution is thus not necessarily the best nor without any risk!

The Main Entrance

It is an impressive piece of interior design, in pure « Art Deco » style, all in curvy lines everywhere. Do not ask what « Art Deco » could be, shut up and stay in awe, if you please! The floor cover is a beautiful marquetry made with woods of three differentcolours, black, blond and red – certainly not to be found on Yellow Lizard's Island – panelling made in the same woods, cut in curvy ornated pieces with carved volutes curling like the leaves and smoke of Tobaggo, a favourite plant of the Governor.

The doors are made in a clear wood but that which immediately grasps the look is the big stairway in the same wood, which starts opposite to the entrance door, turns and stretches in the whole room to reach the first second floor. It is covered with a red velvet carpet and a finely-worked cast iron banister of which our Young Pirates have of course never in their life seen any equivalent! And one must say here, the mere presence of such a work is quite astonishing for there is neither iron nor anybody able to work it with the required skill on Yellow Lizard's Island.

That said, there is not much time to belay here in the middle for the Main Entrance is a frequently used passage in the Governor's Mansion: immediately to the right of the entrance double door, a door gives way to the Lesser Living Room. The other doors are under the stairs, where also some cupboards have been built, among other things for the cloakroom – dusty cupboards, which probably remained almost unused during the last years. A door, on the left in the back, opens to the Window-paned Passage at the back of the house. At last, a double door in the left wall gives way to the Living-Dining Room.

So, let us not stay here, let us make ourselves scarce before Elorria, the Governor or Gomez Garcia turns up!

One will, however, maybe still have the time to note that there is a hatch in the ceiling of that room, that is to say, leading to the space under the roof and over the second floor. There, in the attic, is installed a dovecote which is still in use for the Governor to manage his overseas mail… The dovecote can be seen from the outside since it makes a small pinnacle on the roof with little openings which could give some (bad?) ideas to our Young Pirates… Anyway, we won't discuss that topic longer here, Friend Game Master, but you can use that item if the situation makes it possible or necessary.

The « Garden Side » Verandah and Window-paned Passage

Drawbacks: first of all, the Verandah on the garden side opens directly to the holes number one and three of the Governor's Golf Course, providing for a clear view over several tens of meters; second, the Bedrooms of Gomez Garcia and Elorria look on that side of the house; third, the door is usually only open when the Governor is out for a golf game. In the night, all that side of the house is closed with strong wooden shutters, including the window panes of the Passage and the door. It is thus impossible to enter in the house by night without breaking a shutter. Difficult to do without waking up every one in there!

Advantages : first, when the Governor is playing golf, it is very likely that Ruggero, the gardner, is with him to talk about trimming and planting things to maintain and do up the Golf Course – provided they are playing the second hole, that makes for two persons quite away from the house; second, once on the Verandah, there is no more way to be seen from Elorria's nor from Gomez Garcia's windows; third, the lock of that door is easy to pick when it is locked during the day: only a Normal Success on a Roll versus Dexterity + Locks & Mechanisms is required.

Once entered through the door of the Verandah, to remain unseen from the outside, our friends will have to go forth on four or crawl. The other issue is that the Kitchen opens directly on the Passage, which may imply a sudden encounter with Allemania…

There's nothing special to say about the white-painted wood-paned Passage itself, except that the raw wooden floor creaks nicely as soon as one walks too far from the walls… (Warm-up the dice, me hearties!)

The Passage leads into the Kitchen at the one end and the Living-Dining Room at the other one. In the opposite wall to the windows viewing at the Verandah, the double door on the left opens to the Lesser Living Room and the single door on the right to the Main Entrance, under the great stairs.

The Kitchen

That's the least conventional - and probably not the most convenient! - way to enter the Mansion: the window of the Kitchen is indeed often enough wide open over the day but that room is also busy most of the time, Allemania officing there at least from dawn til dusk. However, very early in the morning, while Germany is still procuring the necessary products for the day on the market and the Governor is not yet up, the Kitchen is empty. Well, most of the time is the window also closed at that time of the day, except if Allemania forgot to close it or if the wheather is too hot to not open it. One then has to force it to go forth, an easier task as with other windows of the house since it is more often used. Compared to a door, properly forcing a window (to avoid making to much noise) requires however more skillfulness and some practical experience, which you will manage, Friend Game Master, with a Malus of 3 points to any Roll attempted versus « Dexterity + Locks & Mechanisms ». Another annoying point is that the Kitchen is under the window of Elorria who has a very light slumber and opens through the same wall as Gomez Garcia's Bedroom, who could well come to check and watch at his window from time to time…

If, however, our Pirates in the blade manage to enter in the Mansion through the Kitchen, they thus arrive in a nice floor-tiled rectangular room of almost three by six meters, with two doors and a stair going down to go out of it.

As for the rest, this is a magnificient kitchen with many cupboards, wide working planes and a long table, a big stove, a vast sink and a whole series of hung pans, ustensiles and various knives: the impressive knife collection of Allemania, be she working with it, cleaning it, sharpening or maintaining it, well in short, of which she never is too far…

For those who would be in search of provisions and ingredients, there is here only the quantity which will be used for the day and has no need to be stored in a cool room, all the more since the Mildew worsened the storability of food… All the rest is thus below, in the Storeroom on the one hand and in the Cellar on the other hand. The Cellar can be accessed only through the Storeroom, its bottom being deeper in the ground than that of the Storeroom, so as to keep the room cooler and at a more stable temperature.

Close to where the stairs go down into the Storeroom, still in the Kitchen, there is a hook, where the key of the Cellar is hung. The other key kept in the Kitchen is close to the entrance door, it is Allemania's key to open the door of the Verandah on the garden side when she arrives in the morning; enough words for the wise… The door facing the window opens on the « lesser » dining room, the one on the left on the Window-paned Passage, which leads into the Garden-side Verandah and the rest of the ground floor. There isn't much to add about the Kitchen, except for those who would be a bit peckish… at their own risk!

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