Play@YSDC

Clay finishes off a piece of pizza and washes it down with a beer. "Ok, it looks like we still aren't any further along as to figuring out what the prof was into? There is some weird stuff there. What is with the scratches?"

Greg shrugged. "The only thing I can tell you for certain is that it is somehow related with the Maltese fragments. They are very similar... the pattern scratched here and the fragment designs. I have some photos of those too, scroll over to the next folder," he said pointing at his phone in Clay's hand. "He... or she... scratched those patterns in repeatedly, like a ward or something."


"So here's my suggestion, for what it's worth. I think we should go back to this place after dark, cover the windows and cracks in the door with blankets, and do a more thorough investigation of the contents. Clearly, our answers are contained within, and if we don't move fast we might lose our opportunity."

Jacob is happy to see his friends and greet Albert. He politely rejects the pizza they ordered since it's not kosher.

The professor storages several important things with the help of his landlord. I managed to convince him that I and the professor were close friends and to let me see and take some of "my" stuff. Now I hate to lie and I will pray for the lord forgiveness but it was crucial for our investigation.
The books are in my car.

Jacob, with the help of someone will bring what he found to the room.
Well, what do you say ...
Oh, and one more thing ... I found this invoice ...
He take the invoice from his wallet and show it to the others.
The invoice is from the couriers DHL for the delivery of a manuscript and camera memory cardto a Ms. Maria Demachi in Trieste Albania.

"All that gold certainly fits with the Verbetoi," says Liz, looking over the photos. She examines the invoice next. "Maria Demachi...that's prolly the same person as Mazzi Demachi in the prof's third email. Interesting how he uses the word 'love' - sounds like there was something between them. She must know a lot about this, and she's got the manuscript and an SD card. I thought Trieste was in Italy, though it's right at the border. The recipient of the first two emails must be connected with the Kush nderton charity that funded his research. I dunno who Charles and Tom are."

"Can we give this Ms. Demachi a call?" Clay jumps in.

"I don't know," says Liz. "We'll need her number; I'll see if I can find it online. We can certainly send her an email, of course. Her address is right here."

With the delivery address on the invoice its relatively easy for Liz to obtain the relevant contact details for Maria Demachi as well as the following background.

Maria Demachi PhD, Director of the Albanian Archaeology Rescue team.
Received her BA in 1986 from Oxford where she studied Classics; received a separate MA in 1989 from Miskatonic University. Main research interests include the colonization in central Albania and the Adriatic Coast, and the study of jewellery from Archaic to Hellenistic periods. Other interests: mortuary archaeology, techniques of excavation, sciences applied to archaeology, techniques of production of ceramic and metal objects, conservation.
Was the assistant director of the Albanian Archaeology Rescue team since its foundation in 1998 till June 2007 when she became director.

While at Miskatonic she co wrote one of the leading papers on ancient linguistics with a Prof Tom Mathers

NB Trieste is a typo I mean Tirana (Albanian Capitol)

"Found her," says Liz, showing the information to the others. "We'd better work out what we're going to say beforehand. I'm not even sure if she's heard about the professor's death yet."

"What is it we want to know from her? As you say she may have been romantically linked to him. How do we want to play this? Colleagues of the professor following up on his work? Concerned friends trying to help tidy up his affairs?"

"Good question," says Liz. "Well, she's likely to know his colleagues, as she's one of them. She'll prolly see through it if we claim to be them. I think our best bet is the concerned friends bit, though ones with a keen interest in his research."

Greg looks up from his phone a bit sheepishly. "She's not answering her home phone and there's no answer phone either."

OOC:   GM: NPCing Greg in his absence, if the others don't pipe up you two should feel free to move things along. If you others are waiting for something from me feel free to pipe up.

"All right, then we'll just use email," says Liz. "We may have to wait some time for a reply, but at least we can compose what we're going to say with care. Which of us should send it, and how shall we phrase it?"

Now this is completely out of place but everything we went through is out of the ordinary and wierd but I can suggest ... oh, I don't believe I say it ... but breaking in to the storage and take the rest of the books and the fragments when we'll need it.
Jacob says, clearly with unease.
I'll have to have a good alibi as I and Tom, the professor's landlord, are the only ones to know about the place I belive. There are too many clues inside the storage.

"Right, because we haven't committed enough burglary tonight," says Liz. "Aren't these things in the prof's storage going to take up a lot of space? And how are we supposed to carry them all? If you can get access to the storage unit, wouldn't it make more sense just to look at the clues while they're there, where they'll be safe, and perhaps photograph them? I can see removing the books to study later, but those fragments are pretty bulky from the way you describe them."

"I think Liz is correct, let's try and reduce the incidents of law-breaking. Being locked up won't help our cause much."

He turns to Jacob - "Describe the lock-up to us. Where is it? Is it a garage? A warehouse, a lock-up in a storage facility? How easy is it to get in and out of? Is it overlooked or remote? If we need to break into this place - let's try and gather what we need in one go. We don't need to take anything, I can photograph anything that's of importance. OK one or two books might need to be lifted but let's try and leave the actual thieving to a minimum"

"Now about this email. How about we frame it that we are trying to tie loose end ups on behalf of the University. That way we aren't necessarily close friends of the professor, we're just admin staff trying to arrange the professor's affairs that pertain to the university? As I am enrolled at the university I have genuine university email address - so we don't need to spoof emails and the like. I think this way we can initiate contact without raising suspicions. Then we can decide what to do after we receive her reply"

"How does that sound to everyone? Have we forgotten anything? Liz let me take a look at those emails again"

"Its an old mechanic's garage at the end of a quiet lane, 1930's redbrick, frosted glass, solid doors but nothing super special, relatively private as it is at the end of a short lane and its surrounded by hedges. Greg adds that he saw an old looking burglar alarm bell on the front of the building.

"Good thinking, Albert," says Liz. "I'm actually a student, but from Cambridge. If we need to explain my connection, I'm a friend of the prof's assistant, Shauna Wilcox. I've only met her today, of course. Still, it might be best for you to be the sole contact and keep the rest of us out of it for now. That way, if she won't cooperate with you, she won't know you're associated with us and the rest of us still have a chance."

OOC: E-mail,Someone want to paraphrase the contents of the email, there isn't an immediate response to it BTW, so feel free to move on.

"OK" says Clay "E-mail sent, whats next?"

"What about the books you brought back from the garage?" Liz asks Greg and Jacob. "We could start looking through them."

"What about these guys that are mentioned in the email" Albert looks up from his laptop "Charles and Tom? says here he needs to ask them for their copies of his work back. Have you come across these names before? I think we should try and track them down. You know, I think that we should expect that everyone that has seen the professors work is a potential target for these killers and i think they should be warned that their lives might be in danger"