Dragons of London

[Tabs]

"Professor Hawthorne, Ms. Bly is quite right, the naked Simon Higgins is not an appropriate sight for a young lady, even if he is dead!" exclaims a flustered Klevendon. As is his habit, he peers over the rim of his spectacles and looks at the corpse. "He is so young," says he, almost admiringly, "ahem!"; he wonders at 'A slight catch in the professor’s voice' and compares it to his own, admittedly base, first impression of the naked young man. An obvoius question springs into Klevendon's mind, "Professor, why is Higgins naked and where are his clothes?"

[Priest]

"Professor Hawthorne, Ms. Bly is quite right, the naked Simon Higgins is not an appropriate sight for a young lady, even if he is dead!" exclaims a flustered Klevendon. As is his habit, he peers over the rim of his spectacles and looks at the corpse. "He is so young," says he, almost admiringly, "ahem!"; he wonders at 'A slight catch in the professor’s voice' and compares it to his own, admittedly base, first impression of the naked young man. An obvoius question springs into Klevendon's mind, "Professor, why is Higgins naked and where are his clothes?"

At both Miss Bly’s obvious discomfort and Klevendon’s admonishment, the professor looks aghast.
“Please accept my apologies my dear Miss Bly. I know it is little comfort but in my defence I must say that I simply did not think. Again apologies to all of you for my carelessness”

From the reddening of his face you are certain that his apology is sincere.
“You ask why he is naked? The search for a wound to explain his death, possibly from the bite of some venomous snake or something similar showing that the eggs occupant had been of the reptilian species, necessitated the removal of his garments. However no evidence of a wound was forthcoming in fact the only odd thing to mar his body is the look of sheer terror that death has left frozen upon his features, so awful is it that I confess I found it necessary to cover his face with a cloth.”

He continues to stand in the doorway showing little intention of approaching the body.
“His clothing I have placed on that shelf there” He points towards a neatly folded pile of clothing on a nearby shelf beside which stand a pair of lace up boots.
“You will find there is nothing therein that sheds any light on Simon’s fate”

[DrPeterson]

Wellington pats the professor on the shoulder and exclaims,
"Good man, for a moment I feared you'd discarded his clothes!"

The man barged into the room, seemingly indifferent to the undressed state of the dead young man.

Horatio looks over the partially covered remains of the young assistant and twists his toe. He then produces his glass from his pocket and check under the young man's nails for traces of soil or tissue and examines the exposed pieces of the corpse before removing the face cloth.

Investigation roll (2),[dice]0[/dice]

[DrPeterson]

Roxborough stares incredulously as the callous detective enters the room.
He puts a caring hand on Miss Bly's shoulder to offer some comfort and whispers some soothing words, sounding more like he's trying to calm down his horse than a person.

[Priest]

Wellington,Despite your intense investigation, you can find no trace of anything untoward. His fingernails show nothing that you would not find under any museum assistants finger nail. Likewise you can find no evidence of wound, or mark that might reveal either the manner of death or evidence of foul play. The lack of such evidence leads you to consider simple heart failure as the reason for his death, and when you consider the look of sheer terror frozen on his features it is easy to conclude that intense fear was the cause of this heat failure, but fear of what?

The abrupt removal of the face covering cloth by the detective causes the entire assemblage to loose a collective groan, for in doing so Wellington had allowed the full horror of the young mans last moments to be seen by all within the room.

The features are frozen by death into a rictus of fear. Dead eyes have almost burst from their sockets, the mouth strains open as if in mid scream, the volume of which must have been enormous.

“Dear God sir, have you no sympathy for the dead?” mutters the professor obviously shocked by the detectives lack of societal niceties.

[Tabs]

Klevendon's first thought, gentleman that he is, is: "Ms. Bly, whatever you do, don't look at Higgins' face"; next, reaction sets in, and he begins to hyperventilate himself.

"Mr. Wellington," says Klevendon carefully,--concentrating on his breathing--"did you discover anything?"

Klevendon checks out the dead man's clothing and boots.

[Priest]

Klevendon,Your Investigation rating is 6 with an average of 3 which is enough to tell you that there is nothing untoward with the clothing and boots. There are signs of dragging on the clothes, as you would expect, and the boots show evidence of being roughly dragged on the back. Yet other than that there is nothing to be found.

[DrPeterson]

Wellington sucks his pipe as he stares at the terrified face for a few moments before covering it up again. Most unsettling to a lesser mind, he suspected.

He cocks an eyebrow as he gives the professor an almost condescending stare.

"I respect the dead so much I try to clear the fog that surrounds their passing, Professor, I am quite sure Mr. Higgins has little objection to that."

He puffs his pipe, notices it has gone out and puts in his coat pocket.

"And yes, Mr. Klevendon, I have observed that Mr. Higgins is indeed deceased without discernible wounds or lesions. Given his expression, one would be tempted to say he was scared to death."

Wellington moves the fingers on Higgins's right hand and then his toes to establish if the rigor mortis has passed from the rest of the corpse.

Priest:,Would Wellington be able to make this assumption? "[color=#0000BF]It has been observed by my good friend Dr. [b]Alexander Bell[/b] that the facial muscles of a body can contort after death, forming what is a known as a death grin, typically the result of tetanus or poisoning.[/color]"

[DrPeterson]

"By Jove!"

With strong hands, Roxborough turns Miss Bly away from the scene. He had no stomach for dead humans and was glad to have the lady present as an excuse to not be in the room.

[carnage_lee]

Nellie takes the time to write a few more observations into her trusty notebook. She leans against the wall to one side of the doorway and listens to the action in the 'cold-room', her face drains as she hears the gasps and low mutterings followed by the Antiquarians somewhat unnecessary warning.

Nellie too a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. "His face? You said he bore no discernible marks upon your poor unfortunate assistant Professor."

[Tabs]

[ooc: Re. examining the clothes, is it worth for Klevendon to roll vs. "Investigation"? Here goes anyway: [dice]0[/dice] ]

[Priest]

Dr.P,in reality probably not but for the sake of the scenario - yes he could make this assumption.

Tabs,the three successes granted by the average of you investigation would be better than the two you scored with rolling. But it can be worthwhile, after all you could have rolled a full house of successes. However in this situation you would have learned nothing more.

[DrPeterson]

Mr. Wellington steps away from the corpse to stand by Mr. Klevendon and adds:
"It has been observed by my good friend Dr. Alexander Bell that the facial muscles of a body can contort after death, forming what is a known as a death grin, typically the result of tetanus or strychnine poisoning."

[Priest]

Nellie too a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. "His face? You said he bore no discernible marks upon your poor unfortunate assistant Professor."

“Indeed it is so Miss Bly, whatever had killed him had caused the lad such fright to have contorted his features most hideously. But as I said after a thorough investigation of his body, I could discern no indication of foul play or means of poisons introduction”

"It has been observed by my good friend Dr. Alexander Bell that the facial muscles of a body can contort after death, forming what is a known as a death grin, typically the result of tetanus or strychnine poisoning."

“And he is right" Interrupts the professor, "Or so I am led to believe, yet when one looks at the expression of sheer terror on young Simon’s face, surely it can not be the result of mere rigour? And as you yourself have observed there is no evidence of any puncture where such poison could be introduced to the body.”

[DrPeterson]

"That is true, but syringes are not the only way of administering strychnine, it could be consumed or inhaled, the latter being more likely in this case. If there is case of such poisoning, which I am not claiming there to be."

Once Klevendon is through with the clothes, Wellington gives them a cursory examination, feeling and smelling the fabric.

Investigation(5),I'll go my average of 4+1 here. [dice]0[/dice]

[carnage_lee]

Nellie gives a pained but thankful smile to Roxborough for his comforting pat and supportive words.

Hearing the Consulting Detectives conjectures...

"That is true, but syringes are not the only way of administering strychnine, it could be consumed or inhaled, the latter being more likely in this case. If there is case of such poisoning, which I am not claiming there to be."

.. gives Nellie some half formed idea, some way of rationalising the unfortunate events in the Museum.

Nellie thinking:   'What if the egg contained some toxic substance and reacting over time with the heat from the steam-pipes or perhaps some other mechanism casing the egg to 'hatch' breaking and then exposing the deadly poison to fill the room, killing the Professor's assistant. And if so was this some kind of assassination attempt...' Nellie's mind raced ahead.

"Was there any evidence downstairs of broken glass, perhaps in the nest? Nellie enquires.

[Priest]

Wellington,there is nothing in the clothing to worry you. His clothing consists of a simple black woolen suit, a linen shirt, plus the usual undergarments etc. The only smells coming from the clothing are those you would expect from worn clothing, and the smeels of the museum.

[Tabs]

"Oh, well thought out, Ms. Bly," praises Klevendon.

He remarks: "I could not discern anything noteworthy about the clothes."

[Priest]

"Was there any evidence downstairs of broken glass, perhaps in the nest? Nellie enquires.

The professor shakes his head, "Not that I was aware of the nest contained nothing more than pieces of the egg shell, whether Mr Wellington or Mr Klevendon found such evidence they have not said"

[DrPeterson]

"Indeed I have not, nor have I discerned anything amiss in young Higgins's attire apart from some lacking imagination. Might I suggest we adjourn to your office, Professor Hawthorne, it helps to be in a calmer environment to get our facts straight."

Wellington wipes his hands on his kerchief and starts making for the door again.


Roxborough coughs, the thought of leaving the dead man was sharpening his appetite. "Might I suggest afterwards retiring for a spot of lunch, perhaps at the King's Head Inn?"