Alfredo attic

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The attic floor can be reached via stairwell from the Alfredo upper hallway.

Sensory & Appearance

Your skin tingles in a most unpleasant way as you leave the top of the stairs. The tingles graduate to a full on skin-crawling sensation when you approach the east wall of the landing area. It is not entirely so bad if you continue north to the half-sized door into the attic crawlspace, but it won't go away until you are either crawling around in the pitch black storage area, or else you go downstairs again.

Perhaps that has something to do with the pervasive odors of smoked rosemary, garlic, and something subtle. Something that does not travel far. Sort of an acrid, earthy, sickly sweet smell ... with a hint of moldy, charred undersides from last year's fallen leaves.

Since it is still late summer (or is it finally officially the beginning of autumn?), the air up here is hotter than what you ahve experienced in the rest of the ranch house. Of course, thanks to the stone construction of this building, that is not anything like as hot as what you experienced that first morning on the main street of Purgatory Gulch!

Alterations

This half-attic for the Alfredo House has served many purposes since the house was built. It has been a solarium, a children's playroom, and storage, but for most of its existence under Ludwig K. de Alfredo, it was set up as servants' quarters for the residents of Alfredo House who were not part of the family. Mauricio, Ludovicus, and Piera kept on three long-time employees after their father's death, but moved them into the late Ludwig's room on the upper floor. This kept the heirs from having to decide who among them had to move into their parents' room, which seemed like a guaranteed route to bad feelings all around.

The attic spent several years as storage before Big Lui suggested to Big Mauri that it could be remodeled for another purpose entirely.

Architecture

The attic level exists mostly over the east side of Alfredo House, since the western slope of the roof is significantly steeper for weather-resisting purposes.

Also to be found on the western side are the vents and pipes coming up from various sections of the house, ferrying any unneeded heat or fumes up from the working areas, carrying down water from the rain drum^* whose pump Piera de Alfredo activates once per day during the dry season.

In the space immediately surrounding the stairwell:

Like the wood floor of the level below, the hard rock of Alfredo House's initial construction has been padded, then overlain with these long, dark-stained beams oriented north-south. Unlike the wood floors of both lower levels, this floor has not been so meticulously maintained or even cleaned: it is not polished to a glasslike luster, and finely tuned senses will feel the thin layer of prairie grit that has blown into the attic over the many seasons.

The walls in this small space are white, probably painted at the same time as the walls of the upper hallway from which you just came.

The small glass window in the southern corner of the west wall is thickly frosted. It is not designed to open: the point must be only to let in a little light. On the white south wall are a couple of square air vents, covered to keep anything bigger than a cricket out, that create a lackluster crossbreeze not even strong enough to swirl the dust on the railing.

As for those two doors: they look heavy. They are probably rather thick.

Odd that the one on the east wall lets in a tiny glimmer of bright light. One would think that the Alfredo Family would want to block out heat as much as possible!

In the dark western side:

The exposed floor in this attic is made of stone fitted together, mortared with adobe mud, as is the core of most floors and walls in Alfredo House. This area does not get scrubbed, and probably has never been swept. Dust and other particles float thick in the air. Sound amplifies strangely, making it all but impossible to identify minor components.

Watch your head! This is a bad place to suffer an impairment of any kind!

In the brightly lit, partially finished eastern side:

The exposed floor in this attic is made of stone fitted together, mortared with adobe mud, as is the core of most floors and walls in Alfredo House. This one has been worn somewhat smooth over the past hundred years, which suggests frequent foot traffic plus (almost as frequent) scrubbing and sweeping.

It is cool underfoot even in the summer heat.

It would not be comfortable as a barefoot walking surface.

Maps

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  Alfredo House attic floor

  The majority of this map is a copyrighted map created by DramaScape. It is available for free download via DriveThru RPG. I added the stairwell, assembled by taking an existing asset and rotating it into place, and fitted everything into the surrounding darkness.

  All image rights remain with DramaScape. No infringement is intended or implied.

  I recommend several of DramaScape's products, which usually include a VTT version and a printable version. The text description may not fully match the visual, but they make great starting points!

Type

Room, Common, Attic

Parent Location

Alfredo House

Connected Rooms

• Alfredo upper floor

Owning Organization

Alfredo Family