Estate

Secret Archives of the Office
"Dossier № 313"
A true and accurate record of the oral testemony of the witness, one carpenter Jacek.
Declared to be of sound mind

Puppet-play

"... So, Mr. Investigator, there was not a single living soul on that entire estate. Only puppets! Some were made of wood, but were carved so carefully that to the human eye they looked just like people. As for the others, well they appeared to be downright complete automata -- sheer mechanism. They could move around under their own power, speak by themselves, even kill by themselves. First, they seated us in armchairs in a large hall and put on a performance – a puppet theater, it was called. But then, you see, they became angry and attacked us. They clawed at us with knives, and rolled around wildly on wheels, chasing us all around!

I thought I was a goner, but I managed to escape. How, you ask? I pretended to be dead, and then snuck from shadow to shadow until I finally escaped the terrible place. And of course, I thereafter went directly to the city guard...

How did I and my party arrive there in the first place? I told you before, Mr. Investigator. We took three carts from the city, from the fair, where a great tree marks the road. We stopped, and then crept across of the woods... Before we knew it, we are all tied up with ropes and taken to their Puppet Estate, in captivity, I mean.

What? What’s that? Well... the house was quite large, at least a few floors. The windows were high and beautiful. The walls were all painted with designs in gold and finely decorated. The whole place was quite splendid -- the floor was lined with clever designs, and on the walls, tapestries and expensive velvet curtains hung. And fine images hung along the walls!"

Illustrations based upon the testimony of an eyewitness by a Master portraitist of the Secret Office.

	Watch It seems to be but a clock - only on legs. And just when the hands started to spin very quickly, it sucked in my godfather!
	Alice A girl with long hair in red plaits. She seems alive, but she is inanimate. Just a doll! And my, how she handles a knife...
	Harlequin Exactly like a street puppeteer at the fair! Only it is rather larger than a human, and sports knives as hands. It spins like a top, and chops.
	Croupier So there I was playing a game of cards, you know what they say about fools and money! But I was only playing for fun – if fun it be to play a doll who controls all the cards!
	Master Every other doll called this one by a single name: master. And every other doll obeyed it without question. Large and solid, dressed in an expensive overcoat. In short, it was the master.

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