Play@YSDC

Dunwich Museum- Dunwich, England
12:50 PM - Thursday, September 5, 1985

The bell over the museum door tinkled as Tobias, Valerie, and Elliot entered. The visitors entered a vestibule that opened up into a larger interior area. Within, they could see a counter along the exterior wall with a cash register. Shelves behind it stocked postcards, books, and various other items that might be found in a museum gift shop, including cheap box cameras. In the room were a number of displays, the ones nearest the entrance depicting Dunwich's origins as a Roman fort.

Further back, they saw a woman with gray hair, about average height and around fifty years old, only a few wrinkles decorating her face. She was talking to a young man, a young woman, and a teenage girl that Valerie and Elliot recognized as Lucius, Elizabeth, and Brook.

The old woman looked up when she heard the bell. "Excuse me for a bit," she said, walking over towards the entrance. "Good afternoon," she said to the new arrivals. "Welcome to the Dunwich Museum. I'm Amelia Cressy, the curator."

"Yeah hi. We're just visiting, can we have a look round? I'm kinda interested in the local marine history, do you have anything specific?" Tobias accentuates his mid Atlantic drawl and scans the museum. His cool eyes flicker seemingly non interestedly over the other occupants and focuses on the displays. His movements are precise, with the minimum of wasted effort, but occasionally he flinches as if in pain; maybe that is what makes him seem impatient.

Brook waves to the little old lady and her nephew that she met at Soames' house, then looks to Elizabeth and Lucius, mouthing:"Are they following us?"

"Don't know," whispers Elizabeth to Brook and Lucius. "Possibly, though this is a very small town. Then again didn't we say we were coming here when we were at the house?"

"Of course, that's why we're here," said Amelia to Tobias. "Admission is free, but we'll gladly accept donations. The recommended amount is one pound. If you're interested in maritime history, you've come to the right place. Dunwich was a thriving port a thousand years ago. You'll probably be most interested in the exhibits on the Saxon and Norman periods, during the town's height." She waved an arm at a series of exhbiits beyond the Roman ones. There were more exhibits past those, and they seemed to be arranged in chronological order.

Tobias nods curtly and sets off down the aisle, taking out a notebook and quickly scanning each exhibit he passes. He very much doubts that the curator would have anything useful on show; but still. He looks out for anything do with weapons and munitions, treasure, myths, diseases and plagues; and any historical/geological events of significance. He also keeps an eye out for a back door.

Lucius eyed those that entered the museum with mild fascination. "The chances of this being a coincidence are not likely... however, it's not like there is a lot to do in this town," the Roman responded to the others quietly. He nodded to those about him politely saying, "Excuse me."

Lucius followed behind Amelia to greet the newcomers and smiled in as charming a fashion as he could muster, "Valerie, wasn't it? Pleased to see you again so soon. The museum displays are quite remarkable. I'm sure you'll appreciate them."

Mr. Handy,Anything in the book from the mid 40's?

As Tobias passed by the Roman exhibits, he couldn't help noticing some things that had to do with armaments, albeit ancient ones. A display case contained a model of a Roman fort, and the placard said that the Romans had built a fort like this here. A taller case showed a variety of Roman artifacts, including a helmet (though one missing the crest) and a small silver Roman coin. At the back of the museum he saw a door with a small sign that said "Employees Only."

"Would you and your friends like to see the Victorian era exhibits now?" Amelia asked Lucius. "Those are the only ones you haven't yet seen."

Lucius Verres,You haven't had enough time to do much more than flip through the book so far, but from what you've read so far it appears to focus on events and legends from centuries ago. There is nothing recent that you can find.

OOC,[b]Tobias[/b], please roll Spot HIdden to see what else you notice as you progress through the exhibits.

Tobias makes a show of looking at the exhibits; on a normal day he'd find the roman artifacts quite interesting but he has a job in hand; he but doesn't see much else of interest. He takes a quick look to check the coast is clear before trying to nip through the door.

"Yes I think so, please," says Elizabeth to Amelia, looking questioningly at her companions as she does so.

Valerie listens politely to the museum curator. "Thank you, Amelia. I have heard some wonderful things about the museum from the local Dunwich author, Mr. Soames. He highly recommended a visit here. Being something of an amateur historian myself, I have been looking forward to seeing the exhibits here."

Valerie turns and nods in recognitions to Lucius. "Why hello again! At this rate we are practically vacationing together!" Valerie chuckles.

Elizabeth saw the stranger who had just arrived limp through the door in the rear, but Amelia was too distracted to notice. "Yes, Mr. Soames is quite a colourful character," said Amelia to Valerie with a grin. "I'm glad he was able to have some company. Most of the locals shun him. I'm one of the few that talks to him now and then. It's always a pleasure to meet a fellow historian, ma'am. I see you've met this young fellow already."

The door opened easily at Tobias's touch, revealing a short, narrow hall extending further back. There were additional doors on the left and right, as well as a larger door at the back end of the hall. All of them were currently closed.

When Amelia and Valerie are chatting to each other Elizabeth nudges Brook and nods her head discreetly towards the door Tobias went through. She also tries to catch Lucius's eye to indicate to him what has happened, again discreetly, trying not to be seen by the others in the museum.

Tobias closes the door quietly behind him. He has an excuse ready should he be caught and the big door was the best option to support this. He walks down to it and tries the handle, fervently wishing his skeleton keys hadn't been lost in the accident.

Spot Hidden - Fail,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4152388/]Spot Hidden (57%) (1d100=65)[/url]

Lucius smiled to Valerie and bowed with a mild flourish, "If only I were so lucky, I suspect you are quite an interesting lady."

Lucius hadn't caught Tobias go exploring in the nether-regions of the museum, but he had a habit of keeping an eye on his companions and couldn't miss the subtle motions Elizabeth was making. He wasn't sure what she was trying to say to him nonverbally, but it seemed she had some sort of infatuation with the Employee's Only door. The Roman took to an assumption and said to Amelia, "I had a question about one of the exhibits over here..." he led her away from the Employee's Only door toward whatever exhibits were in that area and struggled to make something up on the spot. "Were the buildings always done in such nature tones back in this era? Seems to me, paint has been around a very long time, and I'd be willing to bet they painted some of their buildings out of vanity much like they do today."

Tobias found that the door was unlocked. Beyond it was a deserted open outdoor area behind the museum.

Amelia walked with Lucius through the exhibits back towards where Elizabeth and Brook stood, well past the door. "It was mainly the churches and other prominent buildings that got painted in Dunwich's heyday," said Amelia, "and the churches tended to be painted white, not in nature tones. Ordinary cottages didn't usually get paint jobs at all back then, so of course they'd look natural. Later on, they were painted in a variety of styles, as you'll see when we reach the Victorian Era where your friends are waiting."