Play@YSDC

Its not hard to find the Professor home, a rented cottage in a charming little country village called Deerhurst. Even from distance it is clear the house has been damaged by a fire, a large blue plastic sheet has been spread over a hole in one side of the roof the white exterior walls are extensively smoke blackened. The garden is full of smoke blackened furniture.

A pale green Morris Minor car is parked outside and someone is clearly working in the cottage.

Jacob nods to Greg.
Someone is working in the house. let's check it out.

Hmm..Someone is working in the house.
Jacob says to himself. let's see who is it.
He stops next to the car and note the car number in his cell phone - The car could belong to the late professor or the man who works here - before he circle the house silently to see if there is someone at the back.

The house is surrounded by similar buildings to left and right, there is a small track to the rear of the house but access to the house is blocked by a rather ferocious looking hawthorn hedge and a tall wooden garden gate. As far as Jacob can tell there is only one person working in the house a grey haired older man (Jacob thinks mid 50's) who seems to be scrubbing the walls down in the kitchen.

Hello?! Anyone here?
Jacob pretends to miss the man inside as he knock on the door and opens it.
Hi, who are you ?

The man drops the sponge he is using on the walls into a bucket and wipes his hands on a cloth. "Hello? In here! How can I help?"

Hi, I'm Jacob. who are you ?
Jacob says with a smile
What are you doing? Anyone knows you are here?

"I'm the owner and landlord, Tim Wilshaw. What can I do for you Jacob..." he pauses clearly waiting for Jacob to fill in the gap in the conversation with his surname.

Jacob Greenberg, a friend of the professor.
Jacob takes out a business card and hand it to the landlord.
It is sad what happened to the professor, I'm helping to investigate what happened to the professor, hoping to trail the murderers.
Jacob walks back and forth, studying the floor where they are
Tell me Mr. Wilshaw. HAve you heard anything, any complaints about the professor or any one who visited him from the neighbours?

"Oh...No as far as I'm aware he didn't have any problems with anyone around here. I got on really well with him, he was a model tenant infact, 'd like to think we were more than tenant landlord I think we were friends."

The kitchen floor shows sign of water damage which Jacob assumes is as a result of the fire brigade putting out the fire.

I understand.
Jacob replies
Do you know where the fire began?
Jacob asks and quickly add another question
Do you mind if I look around a little bit as I do not with to interrupt your work here.

"No that's alright I'm finished up here anyway. ...and the insurers have got a bit funny about sitE safety recently. Let me show you around." he walks off through the door without waiting for a response.

"As you can see the kitchen and the living room are relatively undamaged except for smoke and water damage. However the other half of the ground floor was severely burnt, especially the dining room which the Adrian used as his study. The fire brigade believe this was the where the fire broke out...they thought it was arson at first because the fire was so fierce, but they couldn't find any accelerant in the room. It is lucky really despite the intensity of the fire the house’s old wooden structure has survived pretty much intact."

OOC,The entire house has been stripped there isn't any furniture or possessions in the house it is in essence a building site, with much evidence of post fire cleanup and repair in progress.

They probably burnt something specific with their fire tricks. clearly they avoided to burn the other parts of the house.
Jacob thinks to himself as he scans the fire scene, trying to spot anything unusual or occult.
You painted the house right ?
He turns to the land owner
Any strange carvings or symbols were drawn on the walls or the floor that you might noticed? Anything was claimed as stolen by relatives? Any one else came here after the police left, someone that looked like East European, Greek or Turkish in nature?

"What a lot of questions you have, let me think. Graffiti no none. Nothing was stolen as far as I know or if it was Adrian didn't tell me about it. Adrian and I put nearly all of his stuff into storage, he had lots of strange odds and ends though, it was quite interesting packing it away."

OOC:,Bear in mind that most people do not believe in magic, so outright asking about strange carvings or symbols is going to arouse suspicion. If you don't want to waste 'real world' time dancing around the issue then I'm always happy for you to paraphrase what it is you want to know and rely on the [b]Persuade[/b] skill. While a solicitor isn't a barrister (a courtroom lawyer) it seems reasonable Jacob would know the best way to get people to open up and tell him the things he wants to know.

Adrian, who is Adrian?
Jacob replies
and may I ask kind sir, since you were unfamiliar with the professor's belonging you might not suspect if something was stolen. Can I kindly ask you to show me where you storage the late professor's things as I wish to see for myself.
Jacob asks with a smile.

"Well Adrian didn't seem to think anything was stolen when we...."

As though hearing Jacobs words for the first time, the man stops mid sentence, his open body language suddenly changing dramatically with Jacob's words as he crosses his arms and stop to look at Jacob.

You said you were a friend of the professor's Mr Greenberg. Well its a strange friend who doesn't know his friends first name. So who are you really?

I'm sorry ... I thought you spoke about another man called Adrian that helped you storage the professor's things after his death, after all how could he helped you storage his things if he was dead.
Jacob replies innocently

ooc - that what I thought as a player as well, not a character.
I'm in the house of the professor that died right ?

Greg took the opportunity to walk about the outside of the dwelling looking for rubbish piles or other strange things that just didn't fit in while Jacob kept the man inside busy through conversation. Might be some of the more valuable clues could have been tossed out like yesterday's garbage.

As far as Greg can see there isn't anything particularly out of the ordinary. A large builders skip is full of burnt and or water damaged furniture and builders rubbish, but apart from that, whoever is managing the site has kept everything neat and tidy.

Greg circles around back to the front after making sure there were no remains of the prior tenant and came up to the front door to knock.

The front door is open and Greg can hear raised voices inside "Come on Mr Greenburg, who are you really? Are you with the press?"

ooc - sorry. I'm asking the question again.

ghill wrote:"What a lot of questions you have, let me think. Graffiti no none. Nothing was stolen as far as I know or if it was Adrian didn't tell me about it. Adrian and I put nearly all of his stuff into storage, he had lots of strange odds and ends though, it was quite interesting packing it away."

OOC:,Bear in mind that most people do not believe in magic, so outright asking about strange carvings or symbols is going to arouse suspicion. If you don't want to waste 'real world' time dancing around the issue then I'm always happy for you to paraphrase what it is you want to know and rely on the [b]Persuade[/b] skill. While a solicitor isn't a barrister (a courtroom lawyer) it seems reasonable Jacob would know the best way to get people to open up and tell him the things he wants to know.

May I ask kind sir, since you were unfamiliar with the professor's belonging you might not suspect if something was stolen. Can I kindly ask you to show me where you storage the late professor's things as I wish to see for myself.
Jacob asks with a smile.

"Adrian packed them and he didn't seem to think anything was stolen...So where do you know Adrian from then Jacob? I've never seen you at the house in all the years Adrian lived here. I'll be honest the press have been sniffing around here a lot since he was killed and I'm not letting you look at Adrian's possessions unless I'm 100% sure you need to."

Persuade roll,You need to make a [b]persuade roll[/b], for someone who is supposed to be a friend, jacobs language is excessively formal. 2000's not 1930's remember ;). Like I've said before if your not sure what Jacob should say just paraphrase and and rely on the [b]Persuade[/b] roll

Persuade roll (1d100=16) - Success.

That is a long story and I don't want to waste your time, you need a house to paint right.

Jacob says with a smile

"No go ahead" says Adrian, "I was finished up here for the day"

So Jacob spends about ten minutes telling Tim of how he met Adrian about 5 years ago while on a walking holiday in Southern Europe, how they have kept up their friendship through the post and email and irregular meetings in London swapping ideas and interesting books whenever they came across them.

"Oh in that case I guess you want to take a look for your books then. Are they marked in some way? I wont be able to let you take anything otherwise."

OOC: Royya - Persuade/Fast Talk,Remember [b]Persuade[/b] is about convincing a person of the truth, so you need to at least tell me what Jacob is going to persuade someone [i]eg 'Jacob will persuade Tim that he and the Prof were friends and he should let me look at the profs stuff"[/i]. Tim now believes Jacob was the profs friend and will do so until Jacob does something to stop him or someone [b]Persuades[/b] him otherwise. "its a long story" is the sort of thing used for a [b]Fast Talk[/b] roll.

Greg paused at the door, not sure if he should barge in or stay put since it might put Jacob's charade at risk. He decided to just wait on the porch for now.

Do not worry sir. Just show me the way.
Jacob says

"If you just let me lock up, we can drive over. Do you have a car?"

Tim then busys himself going around the house shutting and locking windows and then locking the door, before heading out to his car.

Sorry,thought I'd answered this post.

ghill wrote:"If you just let me lock up, we can drive over. Do you have a car?"

Tim then busys himself going around the house shutting and locking windows and then locking the door, before heading out to his car.

Sorry,thought I'd answered this post.

Yes I have a car.
While the man goes and locks the house Jacob sends an SMS to Greg indicating that he managed to persuade the man to show him the professor's stuff and he suggests Greg will stay tuned and he will send him the address where to come once they will arrive their since the man thinks Jacob is alone.

Greg acknowledges with a nod and starts a leisurely walk down the sidewalk, greatful it isn't raining currently. Using his smart phone, he starts searching for a taxi service that runs this area.

Luckily for Greg there is a local firm who can pick up in about 10 minutes.

Tim jumps into his Morris Minor and leads Jacob to a lockup on the other side of the village. The lockup looks as though it used to be a mechanic’s workshop or something similar. At the end of an old lane It looks old and worn, but weather proof and secure.

Tim unlocks the door and a separate padlock then pulls open the clearly stiff door. Inside, the lockup is cluttered with tools, garden supplies, car parts and camping gear most of which looks as though it has been untouched for some time. In a space by the door however is a selection of dismantled furniture and a collection of about a dozen boxes each marked “Adrian”. Tim gestures at the boxes, there's Adrian's stuff. "I think its the three boxes at the back hold the books and bits. He took a load of books and papers to his office at the college."

Jacob text message the address to Greg, telling him to stop several buildings away so he will not raise suspicion.
Thank you
Jacob replies
I will be here for a while. where should I return the key when I'm finished?

Tim laughs "Oh I couldn't leave you here unaccompanied. I don't know you from Adam. I suggest you take a quick look now and if you can't find your books then we can arrange to meet here another time."

Oh...I thought you had business to take care of, it can take me a while. You can trust me, I will return the key to you when I'll finish.

Jacob tries to convince Tim as he begin to skim the boxes for their content.

Tim thinks for a moment, then nods his head in agreement. "Well its true I do have some jobs I need to do, I'll come back in half an hour. If you need more time then I can always tidy up here. It certainly needs a bit of a reorganising in there"

See you later.
Jacob says without looking at him as he continue to look at the various boxes. The minute he is gone, Jacob waits several minutes and then he text message Greg. Come quickly, we have 20 minutes to search the place together before the landlord come back.

The three boxes Adrian indicated to Jacob are a small transparent document storage box (30cm x 50cm x 20cm) it is stuffed full of papers with a couple of books on top. A more substantial black plastic packing box (about 1m x 45cm by 10cm) secured with cable ties. Both sit on the final box a heavy wooden packing case which is securely screwed closed.

Jacob skim the papers' titles quickly before opening the secured black plastic packing box. He have a feeling that the papers is about the Maltese fragments, the plastic bag is more information and could it be ... the fragments in the heavy box ?

The smallest of the three boxes contains several years’ worth of correspondence, the majority of which has been carefully tied up with ribbon. There look to be several hundred letters. The Plastic black box seems to contain books by the sound of it. Its impossible to tell whats in the large packing crate, although its clearly when packed whatever it is.

The boxes,How is Jacob going to get into the last two boxes? Both have been well secured. He needs a screwdriver to open the large packing case and a knife to cut or something to twist off the cable ties of the smaller box. Naturally, he could simply break both boxes open.

Hmmm... I need a screwdriver or a wrench to break it open.
Jacob thinks.
Ahh ... there is a kit with tools for changing tires in his car.

After 5 minutes rooting around in the boot of the cat Jacob pulls out a tire iron. He can use it to twist off the ties and lever the top of the box off.

Jacob takes the wrench and twist off the ties.

Greg returns to help if it is possible in the given timeline.

ooc,I do apologize for my post rate. Feel free to NPC Greg if he holds anything up.

OOC:,Imp. Feel free to jump in. In subjective time, very little has happened, everything he has done could have happened in the gap between him messaging Greg and Greg turning up.

The smallest of the three boxes contains several years’ worth of correspondence, most of which has been carefully tied up with ribbon. There are several hundred letters, some of which are several sides in length. Working carefully through the letters for anything of interest is a day’s work. There are also several loose sheafs of paper which look like bills and or invoices and general correspondence.

The second box contains about a dozen books just reading the titles of the ones on top Jacob can see the following titles: The life and times of UlpiusCrinitus - Latin w/English translation, The History of Alexander: Bks.V-X v.2: Bks.V-X Vol 2, Baxter’s “Ancient Tribes of the Balkans. All three of the books look rather old and dated but are otherwise well cared for.

The large packing crate contains four smaller boxes each clearly carefully wrapped and individually packed in bubble wrap.

The books in the second box must be important and my best guess is that the Maltese fragments are packed in the large crate.
Jacob says as he takes one of the bubble wrapped boxes and open it.

Wrapped inside the bubble wrap is a well-made velvet lined wooden box opening this Jacob finds another small, unadorned stoneware box inside which is a codex with four pages of what appears to be solid gold sheets- The book measures 8 centimeters in length and 4.5 centimeters in width.It is bound together by gold wire. Each plate is covered in what appears to be text of some kind.Although the characters are indecipherable at the center of each page is a single image: they are a horse, a boat, the sun and a knife or possibly a sword.

Greg, here take a look at these. Let's open the rest of them, take a picture with the cellular and place them back. They will be secure over here if we'll ever need them in the future. Once the landlord will come back I will try to convince him that I need to take the books.
Jacob says as he place the book to the side for Greg to photo and takes the second one.

OOC: Just to move things on a bit here are the descriptions for the other items in the large packing crate.

The Golden Femur
Wrapped within a velvet cloth and sealed within a hard leather map case:
About 20 inches in length the two ends of a human femur have been carefully covered and capped the whole thing has an embossed design of a naked male with upraised arms the head however is that of a the sun or more likely a star, the whole thing is covered in flat, thin sheets of gold which have been carefully beaten around the bone.

The Coin necklace
Stored in a blue velvet lined box,the necklace consists of18 ancient coins hanging on a heavy gold 9" chain. The coins have all been crudely struck on fragments of other coins.

The faded ceramics
Wrapped in a yellowed copy of the Times dated 12th October 1913 are three large pieces of ceramic.Two bear heavily worked painted decorations incorporating equine motifs. The third, larger, piece was also decorated, but has been defaced:At some point in time someone has scratched the same pattern of symbols into the pottery over and over again.

They take quick pics of the artifacts before placing them back into the crate.
You better leave, the landlord will come back shortly. Send the address in SMS to Liz and Clay and write them we found something.
Jacob say to Greg as he place the lead on the big crate and the other boxex back in place. he goes to his car to place the wrench back and return to second box again. He takes pics of the titles of the books and then shuffle through the envelopes, trying to sort them by date before taking the latest one to read.

Jacob has everything back in place except the letters (there are three years worth of correspondence in the box in no particular order) when he hears the sound of the returning car.

OOC:,Spot Hidden please.

Spot Hidden (1d100=21) - Pass.

Jacob turns to see what is hapenning around. Not wanting anyone to surprise him.

Out of place among the letters Jacob spots an invoice from the couriers DHL for the delivery of a manuscript and camera memory cardto a Ms. Maria Demachi in Trieste Albania.

OOC apologies,Sorry for my absence. In case you were unaware, I work as a government contractor, and things have been very busy lately, as you could imagine. Again, if ever I hold anything up feel free to NPC me as necessary.

Greg slips away as quickly as he can without looking too suspicious, checking the pictures on his smartphone as he goes to see if he can make any better heads or tails out of it. He tries to recall if any of what they had just seen is similar to what they had researched in the library before. Undoubtedly, it all looked historically significant... but Greg was no historian. He wondered if they'd be returning later to acquire these items in a more shifty manner...and what they might do to cover their tracks. As he distanced himself, he took a few snapshots of the surrounding area on his smartphone so they could get an idea of the lay of the land should they need to make plans for sneaking in, and he marked his current location on his GPS app for future use.

The quick photos don't really do justice to the pieces the only thing Greg can say with any confidence is that the pattern of symbols scratched onto the pottery shards bears some vague resemblance to the photos of the Maltese fragments.

OOC: Feel free to go over to join the other thread, time-wise by the time you've driven back to Brichester they'll coincide.

Jacob takes a snapshot of the invoice, fold it and place it in his wallet.
He then place the bundle of papers and envelopes back before taking one of the books. He will skim Baxter’s “Ancient Tribes of the Balkans" as he waits for the landlord to come back.

Tim turns up with a smile. "Oh good, have you found your book?"

“Ancient Tribes of the Balkans",If the bookmarks are anything to go by its a book the prof used to research the verbetoi (classical name for the verbti).

Yes, I found several of them. I so happy they were not stolen.
Jacob says as he taps on the big boxes.
You did a good job, helping Adrian to storage them. This is important stuff that was supposed to be published in a future paper, sadly, now that Adrian is gone, it will not. Now, I want this to stay between you and me. Since this is a delicate matter and could be a breakthrough to the investigation. My instincts are telling me that the professor was murdered in connection to his research. please, keep these boxes here, safe from others, I will contact you soon as I wish to investigate more.
I want to take that book with me now, I'll return the book when I'll finish to go over the professor's notes. I will take another books later until my research is complete.

Tim looks a bit confused by Jacobs admission. "I'm sorry Jacob as I said before. I'm happy for you to recover your own possessions if they are mixed up with Adrian's, but I'm really not prepared for you to take anything if it isn't yours. If you have any suspicions about Adrian's death you really ought to take them to the police"

OOC:,Remember this wasn't what you said to [b]persuade[/b] him to let you look through the books. You'll need another [b]Persuade[/b] roll, otherwise he's not going to let you look at the books again.

ooc - Yes, a mix - I want Tim to think that the boxes were mine and I want to leave them here for safekeeping if he allow me to.
Persuade Tim (1d100=31) - Pass

Sir, These books were a mutual work of the professor and me and as I stated earlier, I belive that our work is connected somehow to the professor's death and I will be happy if you will let me keep them here for now and allow me, on short notice, to open the storage for me when I'll need or even copy the key for me.

OOC Persuades,OK Royya there are a couple of different things you are trying to persuade him to do, a) the contents of the box is yours or at least partially so, b) they are connected somehow to the professor's death c) that he should let you leave them here and open up at short notice should you need them. I'm adjusting his response to the fact he's suspicious your trying to take books which aren't yours.

"I'd rather you take your books now, I'm a busy man, not a public storage facility. Most importantly, if you have any suspicions about Adrian's death you really must take them to the police"

You are right sir.
Jacob is taking some of the books and puts the big box with the "fragments" in his car.

ooc, I passed the roll to convince him that the box was mine.

Tim politely points out that some of the books Jacob is claiming are his have dedications to the professor in them, so are clearly not yours. He's polite enough that he doesn't call you a liar to your face. When Jacob suggest taking the fragments he points out that you never mentioned anything other than the books as belonging to you and unless you can provide him with some evidence of ownership he not going to let you take them.

OOC:,I know that you made your [b]persuade[/b] roll,but basically the evidence, contradicts what you are saying so a straight persuade roll isn't going to cut it sorry.