IC: Ch1. The Lounge

[BenTheRat]

Location: Boston Museum of Art
Date: August 11, 1921, 7:00 PM
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As Ms. Patton leads you through her office, you notice it is clean with no boxes in sight, unlike your last visit. The hall is clean as well. There is still the door that says office, but at the end of the hall the curtain is replaced by a door, that is dead bolted shut, it looks fairly new.
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She motions for you to enter the lounge.

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The plush lounge seems out of place in this museum basement. There is food laid out, various meat, vegetables and fruits. As well as any liquor you can think of.
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"Please help yourself, there are of course cigars in the humidor, and if you would prefer tea or coffee just let me know. Oh I think I hear someone else at the door." Ms. Patton turns and walks away.
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As you glance around the room you see the familiar paintings hanging on the walls including several new ones. Harrison, Sonny, Michael and of course Jordie. All of them just have the date 1921 on them.

[Priest]

Warren Kaine:

As I walk through the familiar setting of M.A.P.S. I look around at the changes in decor and furnishings. I tip my battered fedora to the back of my head and let out a low whistle.
"I like what you've done to the place Mrs Pa..."

I never finish that sentence as my eyes alight on the pictures of dead comrades, Sonny, Mike and Harrison next to...

I pull up a chair and sit, my back to the pictures especially the one of a smiling female. My scar starts to throb...

[jbibblesworth]

Warren's pain at the sight of Jordie's likeness is all too evident, but Scott decides not to address it. He scratches uncomfortably at his chin and strolls idly around the room, inspecting each picture with a mixture of regret and detachment.

"Wonder where the old man gets these done?" he muses aloud. He leans in and inspects Harrison's portrait closely. "They're remarkable."

The blatant denial does little to calm his rising worry. How long before his image takes it's inevitable place upon the wall?

[Priest]

Warren Kaine:

When the scar starts throbbing its usualy a sign of either bad weather, or lack of booze. Doing my best to ignore the way Scott is peering at the picture of Harrison I wander over to the drinks tray and retrieve a couple of glasses and a bottle of Southern Comfort. I probably should eat something but somehow food is not on my list of priorities right now.

I rattle the glasses at Scott, "Drink? It helps"

[jbibblesworth]

Scott feels a wave of relief wash over him at Warren's proposed distraction. Even his moderate distaste for liquor fails to overcome his discomfort at the silent stares of the memorial portraits.

"May as well." he sighs as he takes his place at Kaine's side, "I suppose cirrhosis of the liver is the least of our worries at this point."

He takes the tumbler from Warren and raises the glass towards the light for a moment, peering through the swirling amber liquid thoughtfully. He holds his glass towards his compatriot.

"To the others." he toasts somberly.

[DrVendetta]

"Greetings gentleman" says Richard as he walks into the Lounge.
Richard removes his hat and coat and walks over to the bar and starts to pour himself a drink of Tequila.
As he finishes pouring his drink he turns to the others and raises his glass to them and says "I hope life has been treating you all better since the last time we were together"

[BenTheRat]

Richard,You jumped threads but that's fine. As you walked down the stairs there was a rather sheepish man standing there like he was unsure what to do. As you passed him and walked in, he nodded to you but did not speak.

[Priest]

Warren Kaine:

I nod a greeting at Richard. Its been a long while since I last saw him, but I guess after the Corbitt thing, he had kept his head down.
Now as he turned to speak I felt a cold feeling run up and down my spine. It was obvious from the body language both he and Scott probably shared a common bond, like two survivors of a trench raid that had gone horribly wrong. Richard had been there when I got butchered, hell he had helped pull me out I later learned, but the bond between us wasn't as strong as that between him and Scott, together they had walked, no crawled, from the mess that had been 121 Norman Street.

"Hardly, if it had I doubt any of us would be here"

[DrVendetta]

Richard smiles at Warrens reply as he looks the others over "Well you all look better 'physicaly' then the last time we were together then and I will toast to that" as he raises his glass he ask "So does anybody know who the guy standing outside looking confused is?"

[BenTheRat]

Richard,please review your character sheet. I added the mental disorder you picked up from that final combat with Corbitt. You now have a taste for blood. Its called clinical vamperism. At this point you haven't told anyone about it. So its a private guilty pleasure.

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Scott,Please review your character sheet. I have added his mental disorder he picked up from the Corbitt fight, hemophobia. You are basically afraid of blood. You are being treated with something called Radionics. Feel free to look it up. But when you feel the fear you should strap on your radionic device and it allows you to act normally. Ie. you think it works, therefore it calms your nerves so you can work. If you are wearing it you must still pass the tests, if you pass the sanity and idea roll you may act normally and not spend the round putting it on. If you fail you suffer the same penalties as described and if you fail enough you realize the device doesn't really work. But you need to fail 2-3 times before you can determine that.

[BenTheRat]

Ms. Patton walks into the lounge with a rather timid looking man. "May I present Mr. Norman Smith. Mr. Smith, this is Mr. Richard Rahl, Mr. Warren Kaine, and Mr. Scott Brown. Please make yourself at home. Please eat something and make yourself a drink. Dr. Chambers will be in once everyone has arrived." Ms. Patton says and then leaves heading back to her office.

[Silver Priest]

Norman adjusts his glasses and gives an awkward nod at the three men, trying very hard not to look at the fellow with the scars.

"A uh, pleasure to meet you all. Are you all here to 'take a peak behind the shadows' as well? Fascinating stuff, truly!"

[DrVendetta]

Richard looks at Norman as he speaks then chuckles slightly when he finishes his statement about how fasciniting it would be to peak behind the shadows "Clearly you havent peaked behind the shadows' before Norm" Richard takes another swig from his glass of Tequila. Norman turning away from looking at Richard to avoid seeing his scared face does not go unoticed by Richard "Don't worry you will get use to my face, everyone does it just takes some time" as he walks over to the wall of pictures and starts looking them over with his back to Norman to make it more comfortable for Norman to talk without being selfconcious about starring at his face or away from him until he becomes accustomed to it. Richard has become very good at the game of moving around and looking at other things while caring on conversations over the years. People tend to find it much easier to speak openly and honestly with him when his scarred face is not distracting them from the converstion.

[DrVendetta]

Richard walks around looking at ll the pictures now knowing what it means to make it into one now. He stops for a second and tips his glass to the pictures of Harrison, Mike, Sonny, and Jordie. He takes in the the pictures with dates just previous to 1921 and then the ones with the earliest date to get a reference of the years involved with MAPS.

Ben,I am basically looking for a couple of things with the dates: When was the last investigation just before the Corbit one, how many pictures have the same year on them just to get an idea of the cost of some of these investigations, and the earliest investigation to get an idea of how long these have been going on.

As he is walking he ask Norman "So what is it that you do for a living Norman?"

[BenTheRat]

Richard,before the 1921's the latest date is 1898 and there were 3 of them. The dates stretch back as far as the 1790's. That is the earliest one you see. The 4 for 1921 is the largest group of dates. There are several with 3 but most are singles or doubles. There are about 40-50 paintings total around the room.

[Silver Priest]

At Richard's comment, Norman looks a bit indignant. "I participated in a séance just last week. The spirit of Teddy Roosevelt himself was called up to speak with us."

Richard's awareness that Norman was avoiding looking at him caused him to squirm. "That's not it at all! I am just rather...ill at ease around people. Excuse me for a moment." Viewing the liquor as salvation, he walks over to it, pours himself a stiff drink, and quickly focuses on consuming it. If he ever needed a little liquid courage, now was the time.

"I'm a uh, Liberian. Books have always interested me, but it was not until recently I felt myself drawn to the paranormal. Quite an interesting subject. Do you have much experience with it?"

[DrVendetta]

Richard pauses form his viewing of the pictures and fixes a plate of food from the spread that has been left out for them by Ms Patton and then sits back down at the bar with it and starts eating as he replies to Norman "We have experiened moments with those from the past before but I do not think this is the time or the place to review those incidents." Richard has sat at the bar so Norman only has a side veiw of him to help try to help keep him relaxed. Richard looks over to Warren and Scott and says "You two look like you have recooperated well, especially you Warren, I am glad to see it. I am truely sorry for not staying in touch with either of you but I needed a break to clear my mind and my soul and try to find some clarity again."

[Priest]

Warren Kaine:

By now I'm into my third glass of Southern Comfort without feeling any effect from the liquour. I take another large mouthfull, swill it around and swallow.
Trying not to laugh out loud at Norman's innocent sounding comment about being 'drawn to the paranormal' I incline my head towards Scott,
"Thats how Scott there got drawn in - curiosity. Ask him if he feels the same 'draw' now."
I indicate the pictures with my glass, "Ask her how it felt to be drawn in..."
Suddenly aware that my tirade is becoming nasty, and realising that none of this is the owlish looking Norman's fault. I take another drink, emptying the glass. Then I turn to Richard,
"I understand buddy, didn't feel too much like reminising anyway. Wouldn't be here now but I still have questions that need answering."

[jbibblesworth]

Richard's entrance utterly eclipses Scott's senses as his thoughts are consumed by tightly repressed fears and anxieties of the Corbitt House and that dreadful, dreadful day. There's a yawning sensation that causes reality seems to momentarily come free of it's axis. Time and space seem to bend and tilt before his eyes. It's all he can do to throw his head back and gulp down the fiery liquid in order to provide himself with an excuse to turn back to the bar and away from the group.

There, he trembles slightly as he refills his glass, but the world becomes corporeal once more. He nods at Warren's comment.

"Drawn in?" he echoes, his voice thin and distant. "More like sucked in."

Another sip of the choleric drink seems to steady him and he turns back towards the group, his glazed over eyes resting on Richard.

"Good to see you again Richard." he lies, "Once more into the breach, eh?"

[DrVendetta]

Richard responding to Scott "Unfortunatley I believe that to be true based on past history, so you and Warren both get letters to then?"