Lydia’s

The Building

The public entrance to the floors above is normally unlocked because of the businesses there. On all of the landings, however, a locked door prevents access to each floor. Any visitor must call from the door on the intercom for it to be unlocked. Access to the roof is available through a locked door on the fourth floor landing. The public entrance is locked by a patrolling contracted security officer at midnight and unlocked again at 6:00 am the following morning: few people aside from Morgana and the nightclub manager have keys to the public entrance.

Morgana maintains her (relatively) public Haven in an apartment that occupies the rear half of the second floor. All mail comes to her mailbox in the public stairway; all phone messages are intercepted by an answering machine. Morgana rests in an secured, reinforced, windowless interior room. She uses the other rooms to greet guests and keep her collection of magic tricks and mementos. A secret cabinet, disguised as a piping conduit, holds, among other things, a collection of scrapbooks detailing her entire career (starting in the 1930s), her private books and notes on stage magic, and her collection of occult references. A trapdoor from under the bed in her Haven leads to her dressing room below and the secret passage to her secret Haven in the basement.

Morgana’s most private Haven, known only to herself and Gregory, is located in the basement, accessible only by a stairway through a secret panel from Morgana’s dressing room. The panel is activated by twisting a knob on the dresser against the wall while at the same time pushing the dresser aside; it can be opened easily from the inside. Gregory is unaware of the trapdoor from her Haven above to her dressing room.

There are two other apartments on the second floor: one is occupied by the nightclub’s current manager while the other is unfurnished and unoccupied.

The office of the holding company that officially owns the building is located in a small office on the third floor. It is occupied by a secretary to answer the phone and mail and a manager who visits three times a week: Morgana keeps careful track of the manager for fear that he may be controlled by Gregory. Morgana and Gregory control the company through the mail and via phone messages: they regularly communicate with each other to avoid managerial conflicts.

The Stacked Deck, a professional magic supply store with a world-wide clientele by mail, is also located on the third floor of the building. The store holds only a few demonstration models, with a large library of catalogs and books: the actual magic props are located in a warehouse in the suburbs. Despite that, the store takes up half of the space on the floor. It keeps late hours because of the business of the theater district, as it also stocks miscellaneous theatrical items such as stage makeup and standard props. The owner, Marcus diConcini, a third generation stage magician himself, will sometimes appear on the stage below, showing off a new trick or dusting off an old family tradition.

The other businesses in the building are a theatrical booking agent (who has worked with Morgana in the past) on the third floor, and a studio photographer on the fourth floor. The last office on the third floor and the other three studio/lofts on the fourth floor are unoccupied.

Both buildings to either side are one story taller than this building: ladders from the roof lead to both roofs on either side. The building to the East is entirely apartments: there is an alley on the other side that connects with the one behind this building. The building to the West stands on the corner: it has an antique store and used bookstore (primarily paperbacks) on the ground floor and medical offices on the upper floors.