IC: Johnny Stakes Out the Penhew Foundation

[Raiko]

Near the waterfront - Limehouse, London
7:10pm - Wednesday 28th January, 1925.

The truck finally stops outside a small warehouse in a particularly seedy area of Limehouse, about a hundred yards from the busy quays and wharfs of the River Thames.

The paint on the sign over the warehouse door has long since peeled off, leaving the building unidentifiable from outside.

Johnny glances around the neighbouring buildings, apart from another couple of warehouses all of the buildings hereabouts seem to be poorly disguised opium dens and brothels.

The driver of the truck the horn twice, then the truck waits outside the warehouse doors with it's engine idling.

[Grafster]

Johnny quickly slips out of the cabbie, tipping hansomly, and tries to blends into the seedy background.

Piece of luck to have this kind of cover. No point in sitting around the telltop looking suspicious.

[Raiko]

From his vantage point nearby Johnny sees four men (two Europeans, two Chinese) emerge from the warehouse and start helping to unload the boxes from the truck.

[Grafster]

Johnny slips casually into the shadows between an opium den and cat house.

The smells and sounds return him to San Francisco again, but only partially, the days when he crusaded to stop crime seem far away now. Looking at the men across the street, he feels curiously numb about the vice around him.

The idea of humans falling to understandable, reasonable vices is oddly comforting to him.

Focus Wong. The whites complicate the picture. Are they checking the package for receipt? Why operate out of this neighborhood, if not for the fact that your neighbors mind their own business?

Johnny tries to get a closer look at the two new men.

[Raiko]

OOC:

Spoiler:

Just to clarify:

There are six men in total, the two from the truck, and four newcomers from the warehouse.

Also: Although Limehouse contains a significant percentage of Chinese people, it’s a very mixed community, with a large transient population of sailors. As well as the Chinatown parts, there are also communities from places such as India, Pakistan, Singapore, etc, as well as a large number of run-of-the-mill Londoners (if such a creature ever existed).

Apparently, until the 30’s it was still common for ships to recruit new crews in port, so sailors would arrive on one ship and then (attempt) to return home on another. This is actually how London’s ‘Chinatown’ came to exist, it actually started as a community of sailors stuck in London while they tried to hire on with departing ships.

This particular part of Limehouse is predominantly Chinese though.

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

Johnny takes a good look at the two Europeans as they help the three Chinese to unload the truck (the driver remains in the truck with the engine running). The white men appear to just be labourers, if anything they look less affluent than the Chinese men.

A fifth man appears from the warehouse, he is middle aged, quite well dressed, and looks to be Indian or possibly Pakistani in origin. The newcomer urges the workers to hurry up with the crates. Johnny notices a revolver tucked in this man’s trousers, partially concealed beneath his jacket.

He’s actively looking around, probably for cops.

[Grafster]

Johnny leans against the opium den, trying to stay in the shadows and affect an air of a disconnected addict.

[Raiko]

The Indian man with the gun doesn’t appear to even notice Johnny. The other men take a few minutes to unload several boxes, and then the lorry prepares to drive away again. The second guy from outside the Penhew Foundation gets back into the passenger seat, and the driver shifts into gear.

As far as Johnny can tell, all of the boxes that were loaded into the lorry at the Penhew Foundation have been unloaded at the warehouse.

The warehouse workers, including the ‘gunman’ go back inside and start closing the main warehouse doors.

[Grafster]

Johnny considers. The warehouse isn't going anywhere. And for all I know the Foundation could simply be conserving camital by using this place for storage.

That's why the Indian fellow is wandering around showing off his iron.

Definitely not part of some kind of continent spanning criminal organization.

Since I'm here, no harm in taking a closer look....

Johnny sidles up closer to the warehouse trying to be a conservative as possible in his approach.

[Raiko]

The lorry drives away as Johnny steps out of the shadows, the warehouse workers are all back inside now, and the main warehouse door is closed.

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

OOC:

Spoiler:

There’s nobody around outside the warehouse now, so Johnny should be safe checking out the exterior of the building.
Is there anything specific that he’s looking for? Is he trying to check out the whole building, or just the front?
I’ll try to provide views of the building again, if it becomes necessary.

[Grafster]

OOC: Johnny is being deliberately general. He doesn't really know what these people are doing, even if it's shady his options are limited. He wants to be thorough, have a good look around but isn't actually that inquistive...
Even if the boxes are filled with illegal goods he's not sure what he'd be able to do about that.
(this is something he may very much regret later -- but that's life -- he's still thinking in "criminal organization" terms)

He'll get close to the building, note any details (ownership, etc), make a quick circuit of the building, lurk around a bit more and probably either follow the Indian with a gun (if he heads off somewhere) or leave.

He's keenly aware that this isn't a neighborhood that would be shocked by the appearance of a body.

Of course if he notices that the members of the Carlyle Expedition are all hanging out inside with Alistair Crowley and a team of armed bolshivicks he may become more interested.
Who knows? The night is still young (unless it's late and the rest of the group is waiting for me... then Johnny gets inexplicably bored and heads back to the hotel0

[Raiko]

The warehouse is built from brown bricks, stained darker by Limehouse’s smoggy air. The front door (used to unload the truck) is large; there is also a small side entrance down an alleyway between the warehouse and an adjacent building. There are large windows on the front wall, to either side of the goods door, but they are high up (seven feet above the pavement) and appear to be very dirty. The sign over the door is more readable from closer up, Johnny is fairly sure that it reads, “Chabout Storage.”

As Johnny considers whether to check the side door out more closely, he notices that a man is stood in the shadows close to the door smoking a cigarette. It’s too dark down the alleyway for Johnny to see any details of the man, but there seems little reason that anyone would stand alone down there, except to act as a sentry.

He decides to walk around the warehouse in the opposite direction instead, and finds that another two men stand watch over a back door. It is better lit around the back than down the alleyway and Johnny can see that both these men are Chinese. The two men are chatting quietly, and one of them is smoking.

Johnny strains to hear what they are saying.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Make a listen check if you want to try to overhear the conversation. If the rolls fails then you can post that Johnny wants to edge closer if you like - in which case I’ll use my opposed skill system to see if he’s noticed.

There’s some cover (empty crates) between Johnny and the two men, if he successfully sneaks over to it, he’ll be close enough to overhear the conversation without making a listen check.

Don’t worry about holding up the others, I’ve managed to get everybody into sync now, and at the moment your thread is the easiest to keep in sync.

[Grafster]

Chinese? Johnny is momentarily surprised. Ah, that's probably because I'm in the local Chinatown.

The detective finds that it's surprisingly easy for him to pick out what they're saying.

OOC:

Spoiler:

Listen 28%
Rolled 14
SUCCESS!

[Raiko]

The two men are speaking in Cantonese, Johnny listens to their conversation for a few minutes. Mostly they just make small talk, but Johnny does learn that “Punji” wants them to remain outside on watch until “sailors from the Ivory Wind come to collect that shipment that just arrived.”

They aren’t happy because, “it’s freezing” and “who really cares about smuggled art anyway? There’s worse stuff than that stored inside.”

Eventually one of them says, “Ok, I'm going to walk around make sure no one's snooping,” he laughs, “I just want to warm up my cold feet really!”

“Yeah me too, I’ll walk with you.”

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

GREEN = Cantonese

OOC:

Spoiler:

Obviously there is a chance that they will walk towards Johnny. Make a luck roll, failure means that they move towards Johnny and he has to do something right now! (move quickly back the way he came, hide behind the crates, etc). Success on the luck roll means that they walk away from Johnny (down the side alley where the smoker was), this obviously gives Johnny more time to decide what to do, eventually they’ll come around his side of the building.

Either way, the two ‘sentries’ appear to be leaving the back door temporarily unguarded.

[Grafster]

Luckily for Johnny the guards start their tour of warehouse by moving away from him.

Worse than art? What? Children singing Christmas Carols?

Johnny eyes the entryway of the warehouse. Once the guards move out of sight it will be unobserved, and they don't seem too serious about their security; maybe they'll have left a door open?

As the guards round the corner of the building and out of sight he makes his decision, slipping up to the back door.*

Hopefully they'll have left it unlocked, if not, I can pick it. Hopefully this Punji isn't the sort to spontaneously check up on his guards; if he is this could get messy fast.
Johnny remembers the Indian's gun in his belt and frowns. Isn't this country supposed to be so safe the beat cops don't even carry guns?


OOC:

Spoiler:

Luck 65%
Rolled 29
SUCCESS!

Not sure what other rolls I should make.

*=If I!m seriously wrong about the situation (i.e. the area is obviously being observed, or really out in the open) then, of course, he!ll abort.

Likewise if he hears voices on the other side of the door when he!s trying it he!ll abort.

I think Johnny!s assumption is that all the guys on the outside of the warehouse are the security. He!s betting that
1) they don!t have patrols inside
2) there will be ample hiding spaces inside the darkened warehouse
3) if worse comes to worse and he gets "stuck" inside for a bit the arrival and departure of the Ivory Wind people will probably ease up security

Obviously this could be nearly suicidal, but I think he!s gotten a lot more curious about these "things that are worse than art" inside.

[Grafster]

OOC

Spoiler:

I suppose this is risky, given how heavy the guards are security is. I guess that my thinking was that, basically, if the group decides that this is worth investigating further (probable answer> yes; since it!s probably illegal, which would be the easiest way to get the authorities involved) Johnny!s just going to have to come back here by himself.

The goal, such as it is, is, of course, not to commit suicide.

[Raiko]

Edging the warehouse door open carefully, Johnny takes a look inside. The interior of the building is about half full - from where Johnny is looking, the left hand half of the room is piled high with boxes and crates, while there are only a few scattered items to the right.

Across the floor (on the right hand side) Johnny can see a small office; the Indian man and one of the others are chatting in there, nobody else is visible from here.

Johnny thinks that he can make it into the crowded half of the warehouse easily without being spotted by the guys in the office, but obviously there is at least one other man unaccounted for. He’s also fairly sure that he’ll be able to recognise the boxes from the Penhew Foundation if he comes across them.

[Grafster]

Suck it up Wong. You wanted to man a desk you could have stayed in San Fran.

Johnny slips over to the left. Holding his cane in it's middle he tries to maneuver himself into low risk spot, take a moment to see if he can see (or hear) the "missing man" before finding the boxes from the Penhew Foundation.

[Raiko]

Limehouse District - London - A Seedy Warehouse

Peering in through the doorway Johnny spots the other man, he’s leaning against the wall close to the office smoking a cigarette. He isn’t looking this way so it should be safe to sneak in.

[Grafster]

Move Wong! move!
Johnny slips inside heading toward the area with the boxes.

[Grafster]

Spoiler:

Thought it would be faster if I just rolled a sneak check.
Unfortunately Johnny!s hot streak has ended with a bang.

Johnny rolls a 76 when his skill is 66.
It seems like I can!t put a link the spoiler block...