Chapter 12: Chapter 12 A Series of Fortunate Events Triumph

  While correcting the corrupt judges cases the children and Judge Strauss tried to contact all the former V.F.D. good guys to see their plans going forward now that the fire-fighting side's leaders were imprisoned. It turns out that now that they didn't have a secret foe to fight, many of the members just wanted to either continue their research or retire. Dewey Denouement married Kit Snicket and said that they would leave the secret library under the hotel Denouement to Klaus once he was ready to take over and retire to raise their daughter Beatrice Snicket-Denouement in safety. Jacques Snicket planned on continuing to run the Daily Punctilio as Editor-in-Chief, so wouldn't be running anymore V.F.D. missions to maintain journalistic integrity. In fact he was looking forward to hiring Duncan Quagmire once he finished his education. Frank and Ernest Denouement decided that all they wanted to do was run the hotel and that they were done with V.F.D. in general since it interfered with their business and almost led to breaking up the family. Monty Montgomery decided to devote himself fully to herpetology and was done with V.F.D. nonsense. No one else could be contacted, so while handling the cases they had discussed if V.F.D. the organization needed to continue at all.

  The children figured since the previous generations had run the organization so complexly and terribly that none of the previous members wanted to continue or could be contacted that they would make a new public one with Judge Strauss's help. On deciding that they setup the former Baudelaire home as a temporary headquarter while construction of a new fire-proof university campus would be built for the new organization they would start once all the former V.F.D. knowledge was gathered and catalogued. They would call the new university Wondrous Innovative Technologies Institute, WITI for short, and to honor the good that the previous organization meant to be they would have a branch office called Volunteer for Freeing Development or V.F.D. for short. All that would have to wait while they finished the cases and continued their education.

  Once Judith's duties as High Judge was reduced, she and the children restarted the search to find all the empty V.F.D. safe-houses starting with the Valley of the Four Drafts located in the Mortmain Mountains. After finishing packing the supplies the children and Judith left the city feeling better now that they were finally on their way. While on the way there Sunny noticed signs for a circus and requested that they stop and take a look, since they weren't under pressure to hurry the other children agreed to the stop. Just outside the grounds is a sign that reads CALIGARI CARNIVAL printed in old-fashioned script, with a faded painting of a lion chasing a frightened young boy. Behind the sign is a ticket booth and a phone booth, and behind both structures is the roller coaster, which appeared to have been out of order for quite some time, as it was overgrown with poison ivy. Past the roller coaster are several tents, with a caravan alongside each for employees to reside in, all painted with different decorations. As colorful as it looked it didn't escape their attention that the carnival was very worn-down and fraying at the edges. The only reason they didn't leave is that Duncan had spotted the V.F.D. eye on one of the tent's on the fairgrounds.

  Upon seeing this the children realize that here was a V.F.D. clue and decided to explore. Near the entrance to the tent is a cupboard, and there is a large trunk in one of the corners, holding Lulu's disguise kit. In the center of the tent is an enormous table with a large black tablecloth decorated with shiny stars, upon the center of which is placed a crystal ball. The corners of the tent are covered in heavy curtains. The ceiling is decorated with small lights in the shape of stars, with a small mirror hanging from a piece of metal at an angle among them, attached to a piece of rubber that leads to a large knot of wires and gears, attaching to more mirrors on a wheel. The lights and invention are controlled by two switches on a tent-pole. When the sun rises, a small hole in the tent hits the mirrors, which creates false lighting, while the mirrors are unseen as the lights are off. Violet takes a closer look at the mechanisms admiring the ingenuity, meanwhile Quigley walks up to a woman dressed as a fortuneteller complete with turban who introduced herself as Madame Lulu. He then spoke the passphrase, "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion." Her eyes widened as she responded, "The world is quiet here."

  Madam Lulu then reintroduced herself as Olivia Caliban a former V.F.D. member who had escaped the schism and had been hiding in the carnival since then. Her fear had been so strong that even when she had heard that the leaders of the fire-starting side had been captured, she remained in hiding in the circus she led. With the assurances from Judge Strauss and the children she was finally ready to take the knowledge from her hidden library and come out of hiding. Before leaving with her worldly possessions she handed a coded map of the Mortmain Mountains explaining the finer details of the former V.F.D. headquarters. Quigley thanked her and began to decode the map while the rest of the children helped Olivia Caliban pack up her belongings. Once packed Olivia called her fellow carnival members to a meeting to inform them that she was leaving the business and that they could either continue working there or find something else to do with their lives. There wasn't much of an outcry from her announcement since the crew had seen the signs that their carnival was failing and Olivia their leader had done almost nothing to improve their situation. The only people who commented were the three members from House of Freaks. They asked her if she had any advice for where they could go since this carnival had been the only place to give them purpose to use their freakishness to make a living.

  Upon hearing this Klaus asked what made them freaks the three turned to the children and introduced themselves as Hugo a hunchback, Colette a contortionist and Kevin is ambidextrous in all his limbs and apparently his eyes. Upon hearing this Isadora asked what did they love to do when not working. Hugo said he loved to cook, Colette said she liked art, Kevin said nothing although he did always want to act onstage. Isadora said, "That answers your question then, all you need to do is embrace your passions." Kevin in response, "What does our passions matter when the world will make fun of our freakishness and impede our goals?" Klaus replied, "I have read many books and most start with the main character starting out with tremendous disadvantages. You may see what you have as disadvantages, but you can turn them into strengths. Colette why don't you be the first painter who uses their whole body to make paintings? For Kevin you can play any role from any angle with your ambidexterity. Hugo's issue is medicinal all he needs is the appropriate doctor's care and a lot of physical therapy." Before Kevin could interject with more negative feedback, Judge Strauss stepped in and stated, "I'm currently looking for people to help with the setup of a new university being built in the city, along with construction of it I need people with various skills and talents to run various projects I have occurring. If any of you fine folks from Caligari Carnival are interested I can hire you immediately and while projects are ongoing you can enjoy the lessons the university will have to train towards your dream at the reasonable price. Anyone who makes fun of you for your quirks will be dealt with accordingly."

  After hearing that almost everyone as well as the 3 so called freaks signed up to work for Judge Strauss in the setting up of the new university for the city. Olivia Caliban put up the closed sign and a mismatched set of vehicles headed toward the city. With that taken care of the children and Judith continued on their way to the Mortmain mountains. Having been properly prepared they were ready for the snow gnats and made their way undisturbed to the V.F.D. headquarters. Found at the base of Mt. Fraught in the Valley of Four Drafts was a small cave with a Vertical Flame Diversion which is a chimney that can be found at the back of a cave which is used to stop caves from filling with smoke when a fire has been lit. The footholds were discovered by Klaus Baudelaire after he read of Remarkable Phenomena of the Mortmain Mountains. They followed the footholds chiseled into one of its sides, that also serve as a passageway to the hallway leading to a Vernacularly Fastened Door, which is a door used by members of V.F.D. to seal entrances or passageways until the correct set of words is inputted into the locking device. This device can be very dangerous due to how an incorrect input can lock the door forever. Quigley Quagmire's commonplace book proved very useful in unlocking the door, the passwords were; Sir Isaac Newton, the name of the scientist most widely credited with the discovery of gravity, Panthera leo, the Latin name for the Volunteer Feline Detectives, and "A rural life of moral simplicity, despite its monotony, is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy," the central theme of the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

  Within the door led to a stairway that led to a 2 story rectangular school shaped building were the central window which was shaped like the V.F.D. eye. It looked very much abandoned since the building was covered in ivy and some of the less grand windows had cracked and everything looked dirty. The children and Judith made their way through the building exploring it to see if anyone had been there. There were many tracks in the dusty halls and signs that some people had been there for a bit, but it looks like whoever had been there left months ago when the food ran out leaving a small coded message. While Quigley was decoding that the other children cataloged what could be salvaged from the base.

  In the exploration they found that this headquarters while extremely out of the way was well built and had many amenities that had become dusty with disuse. The headquarters had a kitchen, a dining room,a parlor, a disguise center, a movie room, a set of stables, a gymnasium, a training center, a garage, Six laboratories, dormitories, schoolrooms, a lounge, a theater, a music room, a museum holding the various secret triumphs of V.F.D., an ice cream shop, 2 rehearsal studios, testing centers, a swimming pool, many bathrooms, and the grand V.F.D. library. They even found a mechanism just outside a large window in the kitchen that turned some of the water extracted from the waterfall at the source of the Stricken Stream into steam. This steam would then rise up and cover the headquarters so it could be obscured by mist. After much discussion it was decided that although they were going to transfer the V.F.D. materials they would turn this place into a mini resort for vacationers who wanted to explore the Mortmain mountains and climb Mt. Fraught.

  Quigley finished decoding the message which said to meet at the last safe place next signed J.S. Hearing this the children and Judith decided that they would need to bring movers to transfer all the devices and knowledge to their new headquarters in the city so they could continue to follow the mysterious survivor. With the movers it took them about 4 months to transfer everything and begin the process of renovating the place once the materials were out. During the 4 months they had run into the snow scouts who were traveling to the top of Mt. Fraught to celebrate False Spring. The Snow Scouts were led by Carmelita Spats and her uncle Bruce. After spouting some mean words she and the Snow Scouts continued on their way to the top, with a warning to not get in her way. Feeling no need to join such an unpleasant individual for a trip they could enjoy at a later date the children wished the rest of the Snow Scouts luck and continued with the moving of materials. Also during that time Judge Strauss spent the night time reducing the snow gnat population because their distinguishing feature is that they enjoy stinging people for no reason whatsoever, similar to red ants. The gnats' stingers contain mild poison which may kill a small animal with a couple of stings. Thinning the population would make the place a safer location for anybody to go.

  With the transfer of materials complete they did one last sweep of the area and saw in the deeper part of the Stricken Stream what looked like a submarine that looked to be mooring to a rock there was an inflatable dinghy was heading towards the shore in it was a girl and a familiar looking man. Once the children and Judge Strauss walked up to the individuals and introduced themselves to the people. It turned out that the familiar looking man was Phil from the Lucky Smells Lumbermill in Paltryville, and the girl introduced herself as Fiona Widdershins an aspiring mycologist who is the stepdaughter of Captain Widdershins of the submarine Queequeg. They were trying to find the lost sugar bowl that had been part of the reason the Schism occurred. They were stopping here to see if any messages were left for them at the formerly active V.F.D. HQ. Klaus replied that the only message they found was to meet at the last safe place, he began to blush as he and Fiona began to exchange glances. 'Oh-ho' thought Judge Strauss 'hormones are in the air, I'm definitely gonna need to be careful because when teens have romance on the brain mistakes get made. Although it is sweet, I will definitely need to work around that especially since Violet and Quigley have also been starting to step out and have private moments as well.'

  Phil seeing this opened his mouth to comment when Isadora spoke up and said, "Be that as it may we'll need to discuss things with your captain about this sugar bowl since we haven't seen it in the V.F.D. HQ since we cleaned it out and fixed it up." Hearing this Phil got the hint not to mess with young love and mentioned that they could meet the Captain in the Queequeg since he rarely left the craft preferring to maintain his sea-legs. They went to meet the captain who proceeded to do the V.F.D. passphrase. Violet responded with "the world is quiet here" and they were allowed in. There they see the captain who is an enormous man dressed in a shiny suit made of some sort of slippery-looking material with equally slippery-looking boots on his feet. On the front of the suit was a portrait of Herman Melville. Widddershins had no beard, merely a very long mustache curled up at both ends like a pair of parentheses. His crew wears uniforms with a picture of Herman Melville on them. After talking a bit about the current state of the remnants of V.F.D. Captain Widdershins reports that his telegram device had been damaged for the past year keeping them out of the loop all they knew is that Count Olaf was still on the loose. Violet offers to repair the device and the Captain accepted.

  The Captain then offered to let them rest in the Queequeg for the night before they could discuss things further. Agreeing to the suggestion the children and Judge Strauss turn in for the night.

[Ding for preventing the death of Olivia Caliban increase Acting skill +15 Karma. Helped the "freaks" become successful and avoid becoming victims of the fire-starters increase Cooking skill, gain perk Ambidextrous and Contortionist, +20 Karma. Prevent Snow Scouts from being kidnapped gain Camping J skill +25 Karma. Prevent the destruction of V.F.D. HQ and successfully collect all the knowledge and inventions. increase all current knowledge based skills and gain the Bookworm Perk it allows User to learn skills 5% faster from books and reading speed 5% faster. +30 Karma. Snow Gnat Essence absorbed gain Snow Gnat Perk allows member to have Mild Poison Bite ability, increase cold resistance skill, and Flying ability. +5 Karma]

'Status'

Age 63 Level 40 (exp 1300/39000)

Condition: Normal

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Stats

Strength 39H>40H

Dexterity 60H>62H

Constitution 80H>82H

Intelligence 62H>63H

Wisdom 58H>59H

Charisma 23H>24H

Skills

Acting G>F, Basic Languages D+>C, Body Language E+, Camouflage F+, Car Mechanics H+, Cartography I+>H, Cleaning G+, Cold Resistance F+, Cooking G+, Cryptology I+>H, Digging F, Dive D, Driving G+, Enhanced Hearing D, Enhanced Smell C, Enhanced Swimming C, Enhanced Touch F, Enhanced Vision E, Fire Resistance I, Fist Fighting F+, Gem Craft I+, Heat Resistance G, Herpetology G+, Hypnotism H+, Night Vision H, Maintenance G+>F, Mathematics F+, Marine Martial Arts H+, Medicine F+, Parallel Thinking G+>F, Shooting H+>G, Surgery H+, Taming I, Teaching I+, Volleyball G, Woodcraft I+, Writing I+, New Skills (Camping J, )

Perks

Ambidextrous, Bookworm, Contortionist, Eidetic Memory, Entomorph: (Fall Armyworm), Fashion Sense, Fungalmorph: (Mushroom), Jurisprudence, Lachrymose Leech, Leadership, Plantamorph: (Elm, Evergreen) Pupa, Snow Gnat, Stoic, Uncommon Physical Growth, Zoomorph: (Anchovy, Bass, Blue Wildebeest, Camel, Carp, Chicken, Crow, Cow, Crab, Deer, Eel, Goat, Goose, Hare, Horse, Impala, Kangaroo, Llama, Lobster, Mackerel, Mole, Mouse, Mussel, Octopus, Oyster, Pig, Pigeon, Possom, Prawn, Rabbit, Raccoon, Rat, Reindeer, Salmon, Sardine, Seagull, Sheep, Shrimp, Squid, Trout, Tuna, Turkey, Vole, Zebra), World Compass

Corpse Absorption Progress

Ant (.07929), Aphid (.00255), Bedbug (.00073), Bee (.00504), Centipede (.00012), Cockroach (.00723), Dandelion (.00027), Earwigs (.00084), Flea (.00045), Fly (.11809), Ivy (.069), Jellyfish (.00022), Lice (.00055), Mosquito (.07902), Moth (.00167), Pill Bug (.00187), Slug (.000502), Spider (.00057), Wasp (.03209), Worm (.00063)

Abilities:Tutorial Pocket. Sealed (Diagnose H+, Flight G+, Ink Squirt, Mild Poison Bite, Rally, Photosynthesis)

Achievements: Family Man, For The Family!, Globetrotter, Survivor

Karma: 621 Total Positive

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