Chapter 7: Chapter 7 A Series of Fortunate Events Continue

  Since they were well rested and finally in the safe-house, once they were done with breakfast Judith gathered the Baudelaires and embraced them. She began to comfort them telling them that they were in a safe place and that it was OK to grieve for their parents. For a moment they were stunned at Judith's sudden change in demeanor, but as they felt comforted and safe their emotions began to flow. Sunny started sobbing, then Klaus, and finally Violet, embracing each other and sharing the pain of their loss with each other. After some time Violet sniffed and asked, "Thank You, what do we do now?" At that Judge Strauss reminded to the children about the list Mr. Poe had been going off saying that since Count Olaf had shown up at the last location, that maybe not only were these people somehow related to them, but also might be in some way related to V.F.D. Thus might be targets from the bad elements of V.F.D. and that they would have to check on each person on the list to learn whatever they could from them and safeguard them from harm. Klaus then asked, "Won't that interfere with our studying of the material we've gathered so far?" Judith replied, "Books and papers can keep for a long time as long as stored safely, but the knowledge from people are as fragile as they are. We will learn many things from people that books are unable to convey. For example what did you learn from Monty while staying with him for a bit?"

  While the Baudelaires pondered this Judith pulled out the list and saw the next target for saving. After a bit of discussion Violet, said, "We learned the hidden value of names, that not every person sees beyond their impression of someone, and that it takes more than knowing somethings wrong to be able to handle a dangerous situation." Smiling at their reply, "And that was from saving a relative, not just someone who actually knows anything about V.F.D. I've read the next person on the list and seeing at how quickly Count Olaf was able to get there, it is unfortunate, but we must make haste to the next person. Let us pack a few essentials and some of the documentations to search through on our way. I will fill you in once we are on our way." They quickly set out since they Baudelaires still hadn't had time to really gather many possessions it was easy to pack.

  Once on their way Judith began to explain who their next target was and to further their education of basic acting to improve their ability to respond to sudden changes in any situation that occurs. Once they arrive at the town of Lake Lachrymose, which lies next to the lake with the same name. After questioning the townsfolk the whereabouts of Josephine Anwhistle who is their second cousin's sister-in-law. After being told where to go and being told that a hurricane is predicted to arrive sometime this week, and as such several businesses closed for the storm, such as the Fickle Ferry, though it seems that others such as The Anxious Clown remained open. After hearing this they head to a house on stilts perilously perched on the edge of the hilltop that looked out on the lake. Awed that someone would live in such a scary looking place they make their way to the door. Answering their knock is a kind-hearted seeming person, yet peculiarly was a very paranoid and seemed to practically have every fear there could be. She asked the Baudelaires to refer to her as Aunt Josephine and proceeded to give a short tour of the house, all while correcting everyone's occasional grammatical errors.

  The house has a library filled only with grammar books and a large window at the far end of the room, which offers a spectacular view of Lake Lachrymose. It is here where Aunt Josephine recounts the tale of her last day on the shores of the lake with her husband, Ike Anwhistle, and how he met his end due to the carnivorous Lachrymose Leeches, which have the ability to smell food on a human if he or she does not wait an hour before going into the water. Ike only waited forty-five minutes dying horribly. Josephine becomes upset and cries while remembering what happened to Ike, and wishes she could move somewhere else. The Baudelaires offer to go with her, but Josephine replies that she is too terrified of realtors and could never sell her house. Judge Strauss then suggests that she could handle the realtors and all that she needs is Josephine to give her the Power of Attorney to make any transactions site away from Josephine's presence. The children convince her using the acting skills that they had recently learned from Judge Strauss. After a bit she is convinced and signs the paperwork so that Judge Strauss can begin the process.

  Judge Strauss paperwork in hand asks Josephine, "Where do you want to move to? I can sell this house and in the process and buy a new home for you to move to." Josephine replies, anywhere that's warm and safe from those leeches, realtors, and all the other things I fear." Judge Strauss smiles wanly, turns to children embraces them and whispers, "I may be a bit trying to find this dream location for Josephine. Protect Josephine to the best of your abilities, learn what you can from her, most important stay safe and know that you are loved. I should be back before this storm hits" As Judge Strauss makes her way back to the city the Baudelaires sniff a little, then firm up their spines and turn to Aunt Josephine.

  Aunt Josephine led them back into the house where she prepared a bedroom for them that was neat and clean, and even gave them gifts, though they were gifts the Baudelaires did not like. Violet received a doll named Pretty Penny, Klaus received an electric train and Sunny got a rattle that was, to her dismay, not worth biting. Violet gave the doll to Sunny to bite on, Klaus gave the electric train to Violet to tinker with, which unfortunately left Klaus with a rattle, She also gave them chilled cucumber soup because she was too afraid to use the stove, as she was afraid it could explode, set the house on fire and kill them. After their somewhat unappetizing meal the orphans turned to Aunt Josephine and began to ask her what she knew of their parents and if she was prepared for the storm/hurricane that was predicted to come within the week. She replies that she hadn't been aware because she feared the telephone, radio, and television would electrocute her and that she hardly went to village because of all the deadly dangers that the outside world held, so didn't hear any of the news and had not prepared.

  After much discussion and persuasion the Baudelaires convinced Aunt Josephine that is scarier to be unprepared than prepared so they went to town and set about gathering supplies for the storm. While in the town market, they encounter Count Olaf, disguised as a sailor named Captain Sham. Recovering quickly from the shock of Count Olaf having somehow escaped from the authorities, the three children attempted to warn Aunt Josephine about Captain Sham's true identity, but she does not believe them due to Sham's charm, his use of a peg leg to hide his tattoo of an eye on his left ankle, and because he has a business card - despite that anyone can go to a print shop and have business cards say whatever they want. Josephine notices a grammatical error, as it says "Every ship has it's own sail" with an apostrophe in what should be "its". The Baudelaires can sense his annoyance at her, concerned he may kick her in anger, but he forces a smile before leaving. Once again another relative of theirs has failed to spot an obvious disguise, they make their way to Aunt Josephine's house with heavy hands and heavier hearts, while their Aunt is filled with joy at finding a handsome man who shows interest in her is oblivious to the mood.

  During dinner that night they receive a phone call, filled with trepidation Violet answers it, "Hello, is anyone there? This is Judge Strauss I'm almost done securing a new location to send Josephine, I've already found a buyer for the house and have sold it, just need to finalize the deal and will be their shortly to assist with transporting her possessions. Is everything going well with you children?" Violet filled with joy let's Klaus and Sunny know who it is and then proceeds to explain how Count Olaf was there as well. "Really? He escaped custody so quickly tells me that the police have either been infiltrated by V.F.D. or still need further training as to not fall for criminally stupid tricks. In any case do the best you can to be safe. I'll be there as soon as possible before that I had noticed that Josephine's house didn't have a lightning rod, nor were the stilts of the house secured to the hilltop. I have taken the liberty to hiring a reliable construction firm I know to perform a rush-job to make the house more secure they should be arriving any moment now. I'll be there as soon as possible, Love and Kisses."

  As soon as she hung up there was a knocking at the door, Aunt Josephine was so frightened that she ran to her room before the Baudelaires could explain what was happening.When Klaus opened the door he was met by a rather average looking person who happened to be wearing construction clothes. He asked in a rather rough voice, "Is this Josephine Anwhistle's house? If so me and my boys were called here to do a rush job, and seeings as this house looks like a deathtrap waiting to kill someone, I'm thinkin' I'm in the right place. Names Joejoe Abel and my company motto is if the house ain't stable you ain't hired Abel." Sticking his hand out he shook each of the Baudelaires hands and then explained that he and his crew would take approximately 2 days to finish the requested modifications pulling in overtime and the like. The children were surprised at the efficiency of the construction crew. For what felt like the last few months it seemed that the only competent person they had met other than Judge Strauss seemed to be Count Olaf and his troupe. All the other adults seemed lost in their own little worlds and seemed to spend time talking down to the children and ignoring that something was obviously wrong. During the 2 days that Joejoe Abel and his crew were there they heard nothing from Count Olaf and Judge Strauss.

  During the time that the children were spending with Aunt Josephine, Judge Strauss had finished her task much earlier by using professional realtors to do the job for her, using a little of her own money she convinced the realtor to buy Josephine's house for a better deal and find a house that would fit Josephine's requirements. She then spent the rest of the time farming the essence of the Lachrymose Leeches, she knew that if her plans were successful she would never see this lake again and the abilities of this creature would be worth the loss in Karma from hunting them. It didn't take long to get the essence she just had to be careful about is. Once she caught what she thought were enough Leeches she went to as far as a location as she could get and proceeded to put them through a blender to ensure the demise of the Leeches.

[Ding Lachrymose Leech essence will take 24 hours to completely absorb, it is the first unique species essence user has obtained. User will be unable to absorb lesser essences of the same creature type. If user absorbs essences of superior or unique creature the essence will overwrite previous essence and new separate perk/skills/abilities related will be generated. No loss in Karma due to the Lachrymose Leeches needing to have their population thinned.]

  Feeling happy at the success Judge Strauss headed to the nearest police station to begin the finding out who let Count Olaf escape and his immediate re-apprehension. In the meantime she sent a trusted construction company to ensure that the property survived the storm so all of Josephine's collected resources would be preserved and that Count Olaf would be stalled in his attempts to harm Josephine and capture the Baudelaires. She was frustrated that his plot armor prevented her from doing something more permanent until the appropriate moment in the story came about. At least she could save as many of his would be victims as she could.

  At Aunt Josephine's the children were relieved to not receive any phone calls from Count Olaf during the rush-job and were sad to see Joejoe Abel go when he and his crew left, throughout the whole time Aunt Josephine refused to leave her room except to cook the cold meals they all ate and ensure the children were safe from these interlopers. The 2 most obvious things about the fixes that occurred is the long lightning attached to the house and the gleaming bolts attached to each stilt that was planted deep into the hillside. It was truly impressive how fast and able the construction crew had been. As soon as they were gone however the children heard the phone ring and before Violet could volunteer to respond, Aunt Josephine who had seen Violet answer the phone so easily before had screwed up her courage and replied.

  Of course is was Captain Sham calling to come over to share a dinner with them, he apparently wanted to get to know Josephine and the children better. Overjoyed at her first date in many years she immediately agreed before the children could protest. As soon as she hung up the phone rang again, this time it was Judge Strauss who had found the house that fit Josephine's requirements, had completed all necessary transactions, and was on her way with some very safe movers who would be moving Josephine and all of her worldly possessions to the new location. She would be there tomorrow to pick the children up. Happy that Judge Strauss was coming the Baudelaires explained that Count Olaf was coming tonight and needed a plan of action. Strauss advised the kids to use their ingenuity to either reveal who Count Olaf is of stall till she could arrive. In the meantime she had contacted the police and they were on their way to apprehend him once more. Judge Strauss explained that even though Count Olaf might escape again at least they were successful in saving the targets on the list.

  Bolstered by Judge Strauss words the Bauldelaires began to review their options and attempt to come up with a plan that involved the materials they had on hand. Violet invented a one time use punch tool using the toy train parts and rattle, Sunny practiced her biting on the doll, and Klaus figured what words to say to cause Aunt Josephine to correct Count Olaf's grammar in the coming conversations that would happen at dinner. When the time came and the dinner was held Captain Sham walked and was warmly greeted by Aunt Josephine, while the children used pretended as hard as they could that they had been fooled by Count Olaf's earlier explanations and greeted him civilly. As they sat down to the table Captain Sham grimaced at the selection of the cold meal which consisted of more cucumber soup, whole vegetable salad, and a bowl of fruit. Captain Sham attempted to woo Aunt Josephine, but Klaus kept interrupting with questions about various sentence structures and when to use the appropriate word. Every answer Captain Sham gave was immediately corrected by Aunt Josephine, which infuriated Sham further and further. while this was occurring, Hurricane Herman came into existence and was en-route to hit the town.

  After the Fifth correction from Aunt Josephine Captain Sham lost it and immediately got up to shut her up forever. As he did so Sunny who had crawled under the table during Klaus's distraction, bit into his fake wooden leg breaking it in half, revealing his tattoo and real leg beneath. Seeing this Aunt Josephine is horrified and in her fear reveals that she know about V.F.D. Standing revealed Count Olaf reaches out to grab Josephine when Violet fires the punch toy that she had been winding up to the extreme throughout the confrontation. The fired rattle strikes Olaf in the head causing the rattle to explode into pieces dazing Olaf allowing the children to grab Josephine and escape out of the house. As they race out of the house Hurricane Herman strikes. Count Olaf exits after them as the lightning rod is hit causing a massive flare of light, the children hear the scream turn and see that Count Olaf had been touching the grounding wire when the lightning struck causing him untold damage, possibly even killing him. In shock they head back to see if he has died, when they get their the first think they notice is that his mono-brow is no more it has been burned off he also is steaming somewhat. Getting even closer the realize that he miraculously is still breathing. The winds begin to pick up and the children decide that it would be safer in the house as even though it is shaking, Joejoe Abel had explained that the method that had been used to secure house on stilts had allowed for shifting of the wind and earthquakes. As he said, "As we have it now this house may squeak and moan, but she's tight like a barnacle to a rock."

  Aunt Josephine came back with them and assisted the children in treating and securing Count Olaf. She bandaged his wounds expertly while the children used many lengths of rope and twine to ensure that he wouldn't escape once he woke up. As they were doing this Hurricane Herman shook the house for a few more minutes then as suddenly as it blew in it blew away. When it left in came Judge Strauss along with some police who proceeded to take Count Olaf away. The police took him away exclaiming that the bandaging was topnotch while the rope and string tying needed work. Expressing delight that they were unharmed she asked how they had been able to subdue the elusive Count Olaf. The Baudelaires explained how each of them had played their role in distracting, revealing, and stunning Count Olaf. Aunt Josephine listening realized that the children had been telling her the truth and apologized for not believing them.

  As the movers began to take Aunt Josephine's stuff to transport it to the new safe location she revealed to the children her and Ike's former connection to the fire-fighting side of V.F.D. She also explained that after the loss of Ike she had lost her bravery and withdrew from the secret organization just a bit before the Baudelaires parents had, she told them a few funny and sad stories of their parents. She then thanked them for saving her life gave what documents she had on V.F.D. and left to be safe in the new home Judge Strauss had gotten her. Judge Strauss turned to the children and said, "We will stop off at the safe-house to access the new knowledge we have acquired as well as get a little rest. I don't know about you, but I'm bushed from all this running around." The Baudelaires agree and they immediately head off to the safe-house with their newfound resolve and that they can face their problems if they work together.

During the trip there Judith heard a ding.

[Ding for successfully assisting in helping save Josephine Anwhistle, her extensive knowledge in grammar will be added into your basic language skill. +2 total positive Karma. Absorbing of the Lachrymose Leech essence complete, stat increases applied, Lachrymose Leech Perk allows user consume blood safely and allows the user to survive heavy damage for a short period of time. Enhances skill cold resistance, swim, dive, and enhanced smell.]

Once they arrive at the safe-house they go to rest. Feeling pleased that the Baudelaires were beginning to come into their protagonist power, Judith thought 'Status'

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User 01010111

Race: Eukaryomorphic Human (Human with many animal and insect, and some plant traits)

Age 60 Level 39 (exp 9100/39000)

Condition: Normal

Stats

Strength 38H

Dexterity 56H

Constitution 70H

Intelligence 55H>56H

Wisdom 55H

Charisma 20H

Skills

Acting H, Basic Languages D+, Body Language E, Camouflage F, Car Mechanics H, Cleaning G, Cold Resistance F+, Cooking G, Digging F, Dive E>D, Driving G, Enhanced Hearing D, Enhanced Smell D>C, Enhanced Swimming D>C, Enhanced Touch F,  Enhanced Vision E, Fist Fighting F, Heat Resistance G, Herpetology G, Night Vision H, Maintenance G, Mathematics G, Marine Martial Arts H, Medicine H  Parallel Thinking G+, Shooting H, Surgery H, Volleyball G, New Skills ()

Perks

Entomorph: (Fall Armyworm), Fungalmorph: (Mushroom), Jurisprudence, Lachrymose Leech, Plantamorph: (Elm, Evergreen) Pupa, 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 (.07814), Aphid (.00203), Bedbug (.00072), Bee (.00502), Centipede (.00009), Cockroach (.00694), Dandelion (.00026), Earwigs (.00081), Flea (.00043), Fly (.11801), Ivy (.068), Jellyfish (.00011), Lice (.00052), Mosquito (.07871), Moth (.00161), Pill Bug (.00184), Slug (.000496), Spider (.00053), Wasp (.03207), Worm (.00061)

Abilities:Tutorial Pocket. Sealed (Diagnose H, Flight H>G, Ink Squirt, Photosynthesis.)

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

Karma: 164 Total Positive

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