Play@YSDC

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"Oh bloody hell guv, I'm not sure, gimme a moment" the cabbie grabs an AZ and starts flipping through its pages after a minute or so he looks back at Greg. "Right that'll be Hounslow town centre, take us about 15 minutes guv." with that the cabbie pulls out into the traffic and starts a running commentary of the latest ups and downs in the UK news...

Greg's trapped, every door in the house is locked, every window barred, there's no way to climb onto the roof. The house is large and well furnished, but there is no way out for him. He runs from room to room, searching, but each door he pulls open has only a featureless brick wall behind it. Eventually he come to the front door, and as he reachs for the handle, it unlocks, a bright light moves across the glass. As the heavy, iron-studded oak door opens towards him, a nameless dread flows through his veins...

Greg awakens, drenched in sweat to the clearly distressed cabby "...Guv! Guv! Are you alright there? I saw you dose off in the back there like, but then you went all grey in the face, was it dodgy food on the plane?"

Greg wiped the sweat from his brow off on his arm sleeve and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, something like that. I'm all right though... just a bad dream I guess," Greg responded to the cabby. He fished out his wallet and looked at the meter trying to guess what the total bill was going to be, then tucked on a 10% tip... so he had the money ready when they got to the Hounslow Town Centre.

As he looked out the window and let the cabby drone on, he kept thinking about the house in the dream. Had he seen it somewhere before? Was it significant, or just some obscure dreamscape setting? And just what was that light that filled him so full of terror?

Greg gets out of the Cab at the entrance to a pedestrian precinct with directions from the cabbie to go "straight ahead" he quickly finds a large modern red brick building which, until he sees the signs for the library, he assumes is some kind of shopping mall.

OOC: Greg,Greg doesn't recollect ever seeing the house. The light was some kind of wild fire. What kind of research does Greg intend to conduct now he's found the library?

Greg wants to find his way to the newspaper archives of the library ... and dig through the microfiche to see if he can find anything of interest regarding the items on Jacob's list.

As the Librarian shows him to the the Microfiche reader, Greg starts to contemplate the scale of the task ahead of him. He needs to decide on an area of research and a limit to his investigations and even then a thorough investigation is going to take him days. In addition the Librarian has already apologised for the limitations of her small library.

OOC: Greg,Assuming Greg has told the librarian he is doing some generalised research, the Librarian has suggested he go to the British Library or the National Archives at Kew. I generally assume that Library rolls always involve a time element and the more generalised the search the longer it takes before you get a roll to see if you come up with something useful.

"Why are you suggesting I go to the other libraries," Greg asked. "Is your archive incomplete?"

ooc,He literally has nothing better to do... has spent a great deal of time in libraries during his education, so it's not a big deal to him to spend the rest of the day - until closing time - in the library searching. A generalized search does seem like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we don't have specifics to go on. So Greg will start by looking for A) stories of people who have 'lost time' and check for any correlation with dehydration... and B) look for any articles discussing bodies that had been carved up with what appears to be occult symbols. Later on, he will spend some time researching Athens - like what the next couple weeks hold in store for the country calendar wise, if there are any strange happenings in Athens recorded near this date in past years... like maybe a recurring thing.

In comparison to the two she suggested, yes woefully. The Librarian just points out that from a research point of view these locations are by far the best in the UK. The British Museum archives contain microfiche of every major newspaper in the UK. By Law, every book, periodical or magazine published in the UK is supposed to send a copy to the BL.

Either way by the end of the afternoon Greg has determined that there doesn't seem to be any correlation of 'lost time' with dehydration.

ooc,Greg would relocate to the British Library then ... why do the work with only some of the information?

Having struck out on that portion of his search, and after a quick plate of fish and chips, he settles back in to do some more digging to see if there is any articles on bodies that look like ritual murders or occult related where people have symbols carved into the skin. He'll continue until the library must close for the night.

ooc,You know, I was hoping one of those others would have invited Greg over to bed in a spare bedroom - but I guess not all the British are so friendly and welcoming as they show on TV. :P

It doesn't really matter wether he conducts his research at the local library or the British Library, all he has time to do before the Library closes is determine that there doesn't seem to be any correlation of 'lost time' with dehydration. He'll have to start on ritualised murders tomorrow.

OOC:,Holding off going any further to try and keep others in step. We can assume Greg arranges himself a nice little hotel somewhere in the holborn area (between the British museum and the British Library). As for an invite actually, I think thats pretty typically British response, the majority of us are quite a reserved lot really.

ooc,You ever watch European Vacation with Chevy Chase? Say these libraries are closing pretty early, aren't they? Ours here in the states tend to stay open until at least 8 or 9PM. Sometimes later if there's a university nearby. 'End of the afternoon' would seem to imply it's only around maybe 5 or 6 PM.

Greg looks for a place with internet capabilities so he can continue searching online. He knows some of the others are doing this already, but ... he might get lucky. He goes to Google, types in "ritual murder symbols' and hits the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

Greg reads a web site by some fundamentalist Christian group about how the Jews tattoo their murder victims, another on how the masons were responsible for the death of JFK as part of a ritual killing of the Winter King, but nothing which seems to have any conection with the events of today. However, he does find the web site for Symbol & Ritual Intelligence.

Formerly The Institute for the Research of Organized & Ritual Violence, it specialises in the research, analysis and investigation of symbolic and ritual violence. Areas of expertise include; unfamiliar cultural traditions, ritual activities, religious terrorism, desecration controversies, ritual murder, and the identification of symbols, artifacts and unusual practices. Its likely these guys could help but their services don't come free.

OOC,Its actually about 8PM when the British Library closes, however travelling to and obtaining a reading card at the British museum all ate into Greg's time to do research.

ooc,Fair enough.

Greg searched the Symbol & Ritual Intelligence website for a gallery to see if any of the images resembled what he saw on the girl, and annotated the web URL on a notepad for future use. He'd also copy down any contact information they provided.

ooc,Weird. Looks like they specialize in gang symbols. But a group like that should have an occult section as well - probably not readily available to the public in order to keep the riff-raff away and stupid email to a minimum.

Greg was satisfied that he'd at least gotten something to share with the others out of the day's work. And so... after a nice, hot bath, he went to bed.

Greg is sitting in the bath when his e-mail pings. It is an e-mail from Liz which basically describes a similar dream to the one Greg had when he fell asleep in the back of the black cab.

Greg is sitting in the bath when his e-mail pings. It is an e-mail from Liz which basically describes a similar dream to the one Greg had when he fell asleep in the back of the black cab.

Greg emails Liz back, telling her about his dream in the cab, and asks to know if anyone else tells her they had the same dream.

ooc,Yes...

Greg gets up the next morning and takes a taxi to the British Library, is pointed to the microfiche, and starts researching articles in the news presented as ritual murders containing occult-like symbols carved into the bodies of the victims - or the bodies of the occultists doing the rituals.

After a morning poring over the microfiche the only thing he finds is an article in the Guardian from May last year.

Second body part in a week discovered in rural Hertfordshire

"Police are trying to establish the identity of a murder victim after two limbs believed to be from the same body were found a week apart in rural Hertfordshire.

A body part, believed to be a forearm, was found by two walkers in Drovers lane, Wheathampstead, yesterday afternoon. It was left unclothed and uncovered on a grass verge with no apparent attempt made to conceal it. A week earlier a foot was discovered half a mile away miles away in Cottered, off the A507. Analysis suggests the leg came from an adult white or Asian woman between 5ft 4ins and 5ft 6ins tall. The foot was found by the remains of a large by a local resident. A full DNA profile obtained from it did not show up a match on the national database, indicating that the woman did not have a criminal record. Police believe the arm may have been moved by a fox or Red Kite. Both arm and foot were heavily tattood in a style which the police described as ethnic or possibley occult. Both forearm and foot were badly burnt.

Also the Evening Standard August of 2006

Body Parts found in Abandoned factory

A double murder inquiry is under way today after the hackedup body parts of two women were found inside a derelict factory.

The upper torso of a teenager and the leg of an older woman were found buried in ash and rubbish.

The gruesome discovery of the leg was made by an elderly tramp searching through the rubbish yesterday at the factory near Wandsworth Bridge, South London . When police searched the area they found the torso.

An initial post-mortem examination today revealed the torso was that of a girl as young as 14, while the leg was that of a woman aged about 20. Both victims were white.

The factory is on the edge of a housing estate and police are hopeful-that because of the location of the find, someone in the area will have spotted any suspicious behaviour.

College Bar landlady Rachel Musrati said today: "We heard yesterday morning that a body had been discovered. Now we know it's a double murder hunt. The whole area is crawling with police trying to find the rest of the bodies. It's an awful situation."

Police believe the body parts may have been dumped several months ago. Police are uncertain whether the body parts are those of a mother and daughter, or whether the victims had been working as prostitutes in the area, which is close to Euston station both body parts were heavily tattood.

The estate was cordoned off today as police carried out house-to-house inquiries, hoping to find anyone who knows of two women who have recently gone missing. Officers were also searching other derelict buildings in the area for any further body parts.

if possible, Greg makes copies or print-outs of these articles to take with him to the meeting.

Having enjoyed a reasonable meal in the local restraunt recomended by the concierge Greg returns to his room kicks off his shoes and flops down onto his bed flicking through the channels on the TV he settles for a show on the comedy channel.

...Greg wakes in a girl's bedroom, full of stuffed animals and toys, the light is off, it's nightime, but light streams in from outside. Pulling the window curtain aside, just a little bit, Greg sees an old man standing underneath a street lamp. He wears a long dark coat with a thick fur collar turned up, his hair is long and unkempt. Even from this distance Greg can tell he is looking up at him and the mans eyes are full of fire. He kneels and touches the ground, a bale fire burns on the street in front of the man, rushing forward it splits apart, coming back together to form a sigil, a living, burning brand on the tarmac. The flickering light illuminates Greg's arm, the same one he pushed the curtain open with, the same sigil has been cut into his forearm.

Greg awakens on his hotel bed to find the same symbol on her arm, it feels like sunburn but is quickly fading.

Greg quickly picks up a paper and pen and tries to copy the symbol as it appears before it disappears.

Greg jots down on piece of hotel note paper a likeness of the mark. Its no easy task though as he keeps having to stop to examine the sigil which is on the same arm as he is trying to draw with combined with the fact the sigil fades quite quickly. When he's finished Greg has something which captures little more than the shape of the sigil and little else.

OOC:,No pluses I'm afraid

ooc,So I take it the sigil was quite intricate. Ok, fair enough.

Greg then texts Liz and describes the dream as best as he can remember it. Using his phone, he takes a picture of the sigil that he crudely drew and sends that to her too.

Fifteen minutes later Greg's laptop pings with an email from Liz: "I had the same exact dream Greg did and woke up with this symbol on my arm. It started to fade quickly, but I was able to snap this piccy. It's a bit rubbish, but there wasn't enough time to get a proper shot." a photo is attached to the mail it shows a familiar sigil.

OOC: SAN loss,SAN loss 0/D3 - as Jacob realises he and Liz have both had the same dream.

Sanity - Succeeded,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3199435/]Sanity check (85%) (1d100=49)[/url]

Greg was shaken, but somewhat expected this. And then he wrote back, "Shoot... a camera picture, why didn't I think of that? I draw like Van Gogh - if he'd chopped off his hands instead of his ear. Sleep well..."

Helping himself to a drink from the mini bar Greg kicks off his shoes and plops down into the Hotel rooms one comfy seat and flicks on the TV, another late night but at least he's over the jet lag now.

Greg is at the staff new years party; there are people around laughing at some joke. Greg starts to feel hot, sweat breaks out all over his body. The woman in front of him steps back looking surprised, heat pours from Greg's body, and as he collapses to the floor, his body is illuminated from within, his chest and stomach begin to swell, veins and organs become visible as though illuminated by some intense light from within. his stomach swells as if pregnant, and he can see something, alight and inhuman silhouetted against the stretched skin of his abdomen.

Greg awakens to the incessant chatter of the TV and light pouring in through his open blinds.

"A house fire claimed the lives of two Albanian Immigrants in a North London suburb today, the fire service responded to a midnight emergency call but arrived too late to save Edward and Rose Tolka, second generation Albanian Immigrants. Police are currently investigating the whereabouts of the young girl who was only recently placed in their care by social services as a result of events at Heathrow earlier this week"

His phone begins to beep, first Liz, then Clay then Jacob all text him to say they've had similar (although this time not identical dreams) while Greg is listening to further report on the news Jacob sends a mail suggesting he pick everyone up in his car and they head out to the scene of the fire.

Greg texts back, "Will be down at the front waiting for you."

Back from speaking with Odetta, Greg felt pretty satisfied that he'd been so helpful today. Speaking to Mr. Sprigs really proved to be door-opening for them.

He wished he had the opportunity to speak to Odetta about roses, but she was ushered away before he could interject a question. So he decided instead to try to do some research on Albanian folklore, Verbetoi, and roses.

Greg finds a couple of different versions of the Two Princes story which Odetta read to them, a couple more shorter stories also including the Verbetoi as the baddies.

There also seems to be some inference the Verbetoi are involved somehow with the "Zana". In Albania every mountain is said to have its own Zana, or “Fairy of the Mountain”. These beings are supposed to appear as beautiful young women, extremely courageous and formidable opponents. The zana is believed to have the power to petrify humans with a glance.

All the newest folklore stuff seems to have been written by the same man Prof A C Gosshamm

There is absolutely nothing about Roses

Having exhausted his research in his limited avenue of access, Greg decided to start looking for this Prof A C Gosshamm. Perhaps he could shed more light on the situation in person. Greg looked for his (or her) address and phone number... or at least that of the the publicist.

Greg has a number for the departmental secretary for the Eastern European Studies at Brichester University, but calling the department will have to waite until tomorrow.

He

Professor Adrian C Gosshamm, Chair of Eastern European Studies at Brichester University.

He is a prominent anthropologist, linguist and folklorist whose work has “mined the rich, often overlooked territory of the Balkans” specifically Albania.

Professor Gosshamm states his academic net is cast so wide he does not believe there is a single name for his field of study he has he claims been an linguist, sociologist, anthropologist and an archaeologists.

As a linguist, studying at Miskatonic University Professor Gosshamm started a long-time interest in the Ur-language, the idea of the hypothetical common ancestor of all the world's spoken languages.

Professor Gosshamm is well known for his preference to carry out his studies in the field where the subjects of his studies are flesh and blood.

Born on June 24, 1960, in Winchester by the time he was a young man, he was already deeply interested in the Balkans. He earned a bachelor’s degree in literature and anthropology from Kings College in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Miskatonic University in 1986.

Before joining the Brichester faculty, Professor Gosshamm taught at Harvard; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of London. He was a past president of the European Anthropological Association.

Greg smiled. He realized that there could be a mutual interest here and perhaps talking the professor into helping them would not be too far fetched a possibility. Excitedly, he texted the others to let them know of the man.

"Professor Adrian C Gossham, Chair of Eastern European Studies at Brichester University - very well studied in Balkan culture, specifically Albania. Good chance we can convince him into helping us with our research as a mutually beneficial endeavor. Must try to speak with him tomorrow."

Moving now to St Agatas the next day.