IC: Ch 1. Welcome to M.A.P.S.

[Papa Gateau]

Sonny finishes his short tour of the lounge and ambles over to Harrison

"Applesauce? Why would a learned man, a doctor no less, be full of applesauce? I'm sure he'll be along shortly to tell us all about it - I mean, we all chose to come here tonight. Maybe it's us who is all full of applesauce!" he drains his, glass holds it up and nods at it, smiling at his joke and heads back over to the bar.

"Ma'am, I don't remember catching your name but if I may just have another little drop of this rather fine bourbon..." he leaves the question hanging as he pours another generous glass before moving to the humidor and extracting a corona. He sniffs it along its length "Hmmm-mmm, now papa would have loved a fine cigar like this, would surely reminded of him of home". he replaces the cigar and ensures that the humidor is properly closed.

He turns to Ms Patton again "Ma'am, as I already said, I'm new to these parts and the good doctor is unknown to me by deed or reputation, maybe you could tell us a little about his activities and areas of interest? "

[BenTheRat]

Ms Patton turned towards Sonny, "Oh I'm sorry I thought I told you, but you know it might have been before you walked in. I'm Ellisa Patton, Dr. Chambers secretary. And let me tell you Doctor Chambers may be a lot of things, but full of it, isn't one of them." She takes a breath and glances over at the doorway. Then a bit more of a hushed tone. "He won't say it, but he has saved the world at least a half-dozen times. He is a great man. All these pictures around this room," She pauses to look around. "They are what the doctor would call retired. Too many of them, I was always sure Karl would join them, but he kept coming back. He can tell you more, but for now, relax and get to know each other better. Your lives may depend on it. Welcome to Maps."

[Papa Gateau]

Sonny tries to keep the humour out of his eyes as he says to himself, barely audibly "Saved the world, huh? Our lives may depend on it? Sonny boy, what have you walked in to?"

He turns and faces the other two men in the room, speaking normally he says "I believe I wasn't present when you you made your introductions earlier. I'm Sonny Goodman, musician up from New Orleans, though you probably already know that. Who might you good gentleman be and what brings you to this little gathering tonight?".

[Yigcredible]

Listening to the secretary speak, Harrison does a poor job hiding his amused expression behind his glass of whiskey. He closes his eyes and snickers to himself as he knocks back more of the hard stuff.

When Sonny approaches, Harrison tilts his head to the side and cocks an eyebrow. "My name's Harrison, a rummy who finances his drinkin' by writin', 'ceptin' I haven't done much of the latter lately." He takes another drink. "That's why I'm here. Like a rube, I answered the Doc's ad in the paper about a 'peak behind the shadows,' on the chance it might be somethin' worth writin' about. Figured I'd be here with a bunch of dopey grad students and wonder-lovin' grandmothers listenin' to some lecture on witch cults or Atlantis, not drinkin' whiskey with a cocoa kid and an accountant. No offense." He grins his halfway grin a little wider, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette. He sets the whiskey down, retrieves a lighter and ignites his smoke. "I don't know nuthin' about no 'maps' or savin' the world, but like I said, until I see what the ole Doc has to show us, I reckon it's probably nuthin' but applesauce."

[BenTheRat]

Ellisa looks a little perturbed at the snickering. "Laugh now young man, I've seen things that would turn your shit white. Now if you'll excuse me I need to let in the late arrivals."

With that Ms. Patton walks out of the room and back towards her reception area.

OOC All,I'll give you guys time to relax and talk in game for a bit while the others hopefully catch up. There are supposed to be 4 more coming, and I've heard from all of them as late as today or last night still confirming their intentions to play. So I'll give them till tomorrow afternoon, then I'll get the ball rolling. After that they will just have to play catchup.

[Occigon]

Charles take a closer look at the names and dates below the portraits. "Tea would be fine," he tells Ms. Patton. Turning to the others, he says, "Applesauce doesn't pay for all this leather. I'm Charles Francis, by the way". He has a slightly distracted air, as if his mind is elsewhere. "I confess that I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here. Needed a change, I guess."

Ms. Patton gets you the tea just as she is leaving. "I'm sure the doctor wouldn't have called you hear without a purpose."

[Yigcredible]

Setting his whiskey aside and taking a drag on his cigarette, Harrison shrugs and folds his hands behind his head. He reclines on the sofa, stretching out so his legs are fully extended along the floor. "White shit, huh? I think I read somewheres that white stool is a sign of hepatitis." He smiles at the others as Ms. Patton leaves, especially at Charles when he mentions the niceness of their surroundings. "This place is spiffy, no doubt, but in my experience applesauce can pay especially well. Hell, I write applesauce for a living, so pimply kids with no friends can bury their noses in cheap paperbacks about ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night. How did Warren G. Harding get elected? Talkin' phonus balonus on the campaign trail, sure enough. And there were a few dames who almost got me to slip on a ball and chain by talkin' nonsense into my ear. Rest assured, malarkey will get you farther in this world than the God-honest truth." He clenches his smoke between his lips, slips off his coat and folds it across the chair next to him. "Okay, so Charlie here had nothing better to do tonight, so that's why he's here. Sonny, how 'bout you? Why do you wanna 'peak behind the shadows,' whatever that means?"

[BenTheRat]

Charles and Sonny,You both notice the dates are sometimes 10 to 20 year spreads while others are 1 year, for people obviously in their 20's or 30's. No date is after 1909. So example one might be 1883 to 1888, while another is 1908 to 1909. You do not recognize any of the names.

[Papa Gateau]

Sonny looks at Harrison and decides to overlook his earlier racial slur, he'd heard and been called a lot worse. in fact he was more shocked by Ms Patton's vulgarity.

"New boy in town, don't really know no one, don't have a job yet, so don't have the spends. Tonight seemed like a good night to pass some time somewhere dry and warm and meet some people, for free" he looks around the place again and grins as he says "can't say I'm disappointed so far".

Remembering that he left his trumpet in the first room "Excuse me, I'll be back shortly, just gonna fetch my trumpet, don't like to be apart from her too long".

Sonny leaves the room and checks the corridor is clear.

OOC,Sonny wants to take a look at what is behind the curtain at the end of the corridor. If the corridor is empty as he leaves the lounge then he will do so then. If not then he will collect his trumpet first and then try again on his return.

[BenTheRat]

Sonny walks into the hall and looks both directions. There is no one in sight.

Charles and Harrison,Roll a spot hidden check if you care what Sonny is doing. If not feel free to ignore.

Sonny,The coast is clear. You try and sneak down to the curtain, not sure if either of the others saw you. It wasn't like there was anything to hide behind. You simply turned the wrong way. Boxes are stacked on either side of the hall up till the curtain. It looks old. As you reach and pull the curtain back enough you see a hall that goes as far as you can see and disappears into darkness. About every 20-30 feet there are doors on opposite side. The one closest to you is labled [i]Storage Room 1A[/i]. On the floor about 3-4 feet past the curtain is this: [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2060/w96n.jpg[/img] On the right wall is this: [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img534/481/b50h.jpg[/img] On the left wall: [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img834/2456/k7ei.jpg[/img] And on the ceiling is: [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img801/8673/j7fn.jpg[/img] The symbols do not appear to be static, but instead are moving. They are drawn in a black chalk with bits of brown or red in it. The scorpion in the floor symbol seems to be moving towards you. Make a sanity (0/1) check for me.

[Mouchinator]

Michael crumples up the newspaper article, after reading it for the third or fourth time, and tosses it into the waste bin outside the museum. He runs a hand through his sweaty hair and second guesses the leather jacket in his heat. The splash of a car driving through a puddle forces the man to turn and take notice of a Boston police patrol car moving down the street. His eyes narrow as he watches his former employers roll off into the night. He stuffs a cigarette into his lips and strikes a match off the sidewalk. He brings his hands up to light the smoke and notices the two days of growth on his face. 'You're a mess Michael' he spits as he walks up towards the museum.

The thoughts of the last day roll through his mind as he strolls. After waking up in 'whatever-her-name-was' bed somewhere down by the docks, he skipped out on saying his goodbyes and headed over to the diner to get some grub. He then headed over to his apartment-slash-office for a change of clothes and something a little stronger than coffee. That's where he saw the paper, sitting in front of his door. A quick read on the can revealed an ad asking for some God-knows-what kind of meeting in a museum back room. He should have paid it no mind, but after receiving no messages on feelers he had put out for work and his cash supply running short he figured that he should at least check it out. There are leads to cash paying jobs everywhere and even some creepy librarian in a musty cellar might need something found or someone investigated. An empty liquor cabinet, a bare fridge and no desire to pay another call to what's-her-name further sealed the deal. He packed his job-bag, threw on his leather jacket and headed out.

Michael takes a long drag from his smoke when he gets to the museum entrance and then tosses the butt to the ground. He navigates the halls and walks down the stairs to where he can hear conversation emanating from the listed office. Not bothering to knock, he opens the door and steps into the room, further following the chatter to the lounge. He leans against the door frame and raps on the wooden door and addresses those within. "Yeah, I'm responding to an article in the Globe, something about shadows or what-have-you? This the place?"

[BenTheRat]

OOC,Welcome aboard Muchinator. I'm going to let Sonny finish his bit before you show up. Assume you show up right after he gets back in the lounge.

[DrVendetta]

Richard looked down the stairs at the door. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see if it looked like anyone else would be coming. He had been watching from a distance and had seen 3 men enter before he approached. He always wanted to know what he would be walking into before he walked into anything. This type of add was not his usual mark but it had clearly called out to him. It had continued to stir thoughts of his mother ever since reading it. Strange emotions had been swirling in him ever since reading it. It had clearly called to him as if his mother was beckoning to him from beyond the veil of life. He had always wanted to know what had driven his mother to dabble in the occult. He had always taken it as her grift, she was very good at using it for that, but he could never understand what had driven her to the rituals that eventually backfired and had taken her from him and had left him scarred with burn marks from that fate full out of control fire. Something about this add wanted him to be here tonight, like it or not he was going to find out what it was that had subliminally spoken to him in that add. Not seeing anyone else approaching he walked down the stairs and opened the door.

[BenTheRat]

Sonny retrieved his trumpet and re-entered the lounge. Soon afterwards Michael enters the room without Ms. Patton.

OOC,Sonny you still need to do your check and both of you can role-play this out. But I wanted to get this moving.

As Richard walks in Ms. Patton has just re-entered the room. It has a small desk with a type-writer on it, and the whole office is cluttered with boxes and crates.

"Oh welcome, if you will follow me, I can show you to where the others are waiting." She leads you through a door and into a hall. To the left the hall ends. Across the door you entered is a door with the word 'Office' on it. To the right about 20' down is a an opening on the same side of the hall as the office door. And about 10 feet past that is a curtain covering the hall.

As she steps into the entry way she says, "Please make yourself at home, have a smoke or drink and the doctor will be right out. Oh, I'm so sorry sir," speaking to Michael. "I didn't see you come in. Also, please make yourself at home, it won't be but another minute." Richard notices there are 4 other men in the room.
And she finishes by once again saying, "Welcome to MAPS." She then walks out of the room.

[DrVendetta]

Richard takes a long glance at what was being typed on the sheet in the typewriter, and or any other papers lying out on the desk as they walk by it.
As Ms Patton turns to leave "Excuse me Ms Patton but what is MAPS?"

[BenTheRat]

"Don't worry, Doctor Chambers will explain everything." She says as she walks off.

[DrVendetta]

Richard walks to the bar pulls out a glass and pours himself a double shot of tequila. As he glances around the room he takes in the looks of the other four mens faces to read them to see how they react to his facial scars. He also glances at the sliding door that appears to go to the office to see if he can spot anything or anyone behind it.

[BenTheRat]

As you walk over there, it is not difficult to see beyond the door.

Richard,You see this: [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img199/4421/py0q.png[/img]

[BenTheRat]

OOC: I am going to leave this thread open so you 5 can continue to role-play as you wish with introductions or what you like before the doctor shows up.

You can even post on both threads just realize this is happening before the next thread.

When you are ready you can go here..

[Papa Gateau]

OOC: Sorry - didn't see this thread develop, I didn't receive any email notifications.

Sanity check[55]: 43 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4175584/