Play@YSDC

Elizabeth gracefully steps out of the car and takes Andrei's arm, purposefully choosing to leave his gun hand free. "I am also tired of sitting, but let's not wait too long after dark, okay? Oh, we didn't happen to bring a flashlight, did we?"

Elizabeth digs around in the trunk of the car and grins. "Good, I found one." She seems much more comfortable now that she has a light source in hand.

ooc,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1859921/]Chapter 2 - Luck (75) - find a flashlight (1d100=48)[/url] no prob for the delay, I think we're all pretty busy right now

Near the Warehouse
5:25pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

As the sun sets, the temperature quickly falls back below freezing. A crisp frost appears on the footpaths and roofs, and a thin mist descends on the city, it is nowhere near as bad as the thick fogs from earlier in the week though.

Johnny, Elizabeth and Andrei return to where they parked the car. The warehouse appears as they left it. The same pair of uniformed constables still stand outside the warehouse, though they look both bored and cold now.

Elizabeth snuggles up against Andrei for warmth. "Brr." She looks around uncomfortably. "Johnny, shall we go around through the back now?"

In front of the warehouse:

“Ok lets go!” Andrei checks his revolver again and then leads the way enthusiastically around the back of the warehouses. Johnny follows at the back keeping his eyes open for threats or policemen.

******************

Behind the warehouse:

There aren’t any cops stationed around the back of the cult’s warehouse. From behind a pile of crates stacked outside an adjacent warehouse, Johnny points to a door into the target building.

“That is how I gained access yesterday. It wasn’t locked.”

Johnny turns to Elizabeth, “I’ll take a look. If the way in clear I wave you two over.”

“If the police get me, you two should just try to get away.”

Elizabeth looks as if she's going to say something in response to Johnny, but stops herself and merely nods. As he takes off she whispers to Andrei, "If there is any danger, any at all, we are going to run, right?" She is obviously nervous.

Andrei’s hand slips inside his jacket to touch the revolver, “But we can’t keep running forever Ellie, we have to make a stand.”

“Now that I am protected against the bloody tongue cult’s sorcerers, these madmen aren’t so threatening anyway! Their assassins were no match in battle for me and Maksim...”

Andrei stares intently at the warehouse door as Johnny slips silently inside the building.

Elizabeth looks with dawning concern at Andrei and then shivers as she watches Johnny disappear from view.

After a moment of quiet, Elizabeth says, "Andrei? I am not protected from sorcerers, nor can I do 'battle' with assassins."

Behind the Seedy Warehouse

“Of course not Ellie, but I’d always make sure you were safe first. You know that.”

As Andrei speaks, Johnny’s head reappears from inside the warehouse. He nods and waves Elizabeth and Andrei over.

Despite his bravado Andrei looks visibly relieved, “Lets take a look then!”

Elizabeth, looking not at all relieved, nods and moves to join Johnny.

Inside the Linehouse Warehouse
5:30pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

The warehouse is deserted inside. In the torchlight the investigators can see several rows of boxes, mostly as Johnny remembers them. All of these look like they have been opened by the police, and one entire section has been removed – the crates in the area where Johnny found the weapons.

The crates in the area where the Penhew Foundation boxes were temporarily placed, over by the far door, are still there, although they have been opened.

There is a small office at the side of the warehouse, where Johnny saw the warehouse’s seedy owner yesterday; its door now hangs ajar.

Elizabeth moves cautiously inside the warehouse. The shadows in the corners give her pause, but she takes Andrei's hand tightly and goes over to the Penhew Foundation boxes.

Inside the Warehouse
5:32pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

Andrei grips Elizabeth’s hand in one of his, in the other he holds his revolver. His eyes dart from shadow to shadow and he looks if anything, more nervous than Elizabeth is.

Johnny leads the way cautiously across the warehouse, “The Penhew Foundation’s crates were all here, but some sailors came to collect them very quickly. They were taking them to a ship called the Ivory Wind”

“I just had time to remove one or two of those strange machinery parts that I showed you. I didn’t check any of the other boxes in that area; perhaps some of them are from the Foundation as well.”

When the trio reach the far side of the warehouse Johnny lifts the lids off a couple of crates, but he finds only mundane items; one crate is packed with straw protecting some pot ornaments, the second contains machine parts for motorcycle engines.

Johnny looks disappointed, “The guns were over there,” he points to an area close to door that they entered through, “it looks like the police took all of them though. Perhaps there’s something in the office?”

Elizabeth's eyes flicker from the door to the office to the exit and back. "Okay, but let's just take a quick look."

Inside the Warehouse
5:35pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925

Johnny leads the way into the warehouse’s small office; as he is about to enter he glances towards the front doors and whispers, “Andrei to you think you could keep an eye out for the cops?”

Andrei nods and silently takes cover behind some nearby crates, while the other two enter the office.

Inside it is a bit of a mess, having already been searched by the police. A single cluttered desk stands in the middle of the room, while a wooden cabinet filled with files stand open in the corner.

Johnny gets to work immediately browsing through an open ledger, and after a few seconds he beckons Elizabeth over.

Upon entering the office, Elizabeth glances around at the mess. I hope we don't have to search through all of this, that could take a while. Presumably the police have already taken anything of interest. When Johnny beckons, she goes and peers over his shoulder at the ledger. "Yes? You found something?"