A Victim of the Art

The year is 1999. A group of agents with the FBI quickly discover a routine case is anything but. Thrust into a world that's as incomprehensible as it is deadly, can this team hope to hold back the darkness?

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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by Mr. Handy »

OOC,That is a risk, depending on what the police say to the NSA agents when they interview them and if they recognize the agent from the description. We could give a vague description (or none at all) instead.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,Yes, I would just report seeing a 'suspicious person', avoiding any description. Then report a break in, which we can check out. Search the place as best we can, making it look like a burglary occurred. If we find nothing or something incriminating, we can move on Thomas, questioning him and if necessary sedating him like Cearlan suggested.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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ooc,Okay, so if I've got your plan right, you want to call the police and report a break in, then investigate the house. How do you want to break in? Just smash the back door and get in and case the place? I also assume you'd want to break in before you make the call, otherwise the alarm time may raise questions( why did it go off after the agents called?) If this is your guy's plan, I'll try and update it tomorrow.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,That's not quite the plan. We're all going to be at the police station talking to the cops about the case. One of us (probably [b]Rue[/b], since he's had the least interaction with the police) is going to step out for a minute, ostensibly to use the bathroom or something. While there, he'll use his cell phone to place an anonymous call to the police saying that he's seen an intruder poking around the [b]Dengler[/b] house before returning to join us again. He should use a phone that isn't linked to him. Then we can offer to come with and help check out the house with them.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by Cearlan »

ooc,That's the gist of it. We could also set up a diversion to distract the local police to the opposite end of town - a break-in at a local jewelers or some such, then we could offer to take the Dengler intruder on our sweet lonesomes, as opposed to having the local police looking over our shoulders, or worse, the NSA goons.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,Sorry but I think these plans are making everything a bit too complicated. Is it necessary to be at the police station when we start this thing? There has to be a break in at the house, otherwise we cannot justify entering the property. If we go from the police station, we can’t break in, and we have to bring the locals, which may include the officer who likes to inform to the newspapers, and so we can’t search the house properly. And why would the FBI agents want to respond to a domestic burglary? Plus, we’re already at the house anyway. How is this? 1. As 2 of us break in, one other, who is watching in the car, calls in to say that they have seen and chased away a suspicious character near the Dengler house. They will investigate the house for any sign of break in, but they don’t need back up right now. That will give us time to search. 2. Search Thomas’ room first, and any other likely spots.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,I thought the point of being at the police station when the call comes in was so that we have an alibi for not having made the call ourselves (which we're doing), and so we could tag along with them when they respond to the burglary (we can say that [b]Thomas Dengler[/b] is a "person of interest" in the case due to his relationships with all of the victims, though I don't think that term existed yet in 1999). If we do the other plan, we run the risk of the locals wanting to be involved and showing up anyway.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,But there is no burglary unless [i]we[/i] break in – we can’t legally enter the house otherwise. If we go there with the local police and there is no sign of break in, they won’t let us into the property – there’s no reason or legal justification to enter. The locals will show up at some point, but telling them that one of us is on site and can investigate without help will delay them giving time for us to search. That’s different to actually going there together with them. Telling them we’re looking at Dengler risks them leaking to the press and tipping him off.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC,Those are good points. Let's see what Cearlan says.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by Cearlan »

OOC,I am known for overthinking things sometime - (according to Mrs C anyway). We could follow honeydogs idea of doing the breaking and entering following a search of the house, especially Tom Denglers room, though I think little will be found there as whatever he has would probably be kept on his person, something like a lucky silver dollar for example. This gets my vote I think - after all what do we need with an alibi anyway? After all we [i][b]ARE [/b][/i]the good guys here ;-)
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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by HoneyDog »

OOC,I think Cearlan's probably right. But a search of his room should give us an insight into his mind and character at least. SP - can I retroactively say that Nik faxed the drawing of the beast to Jensen Wu before leaving the hospital? Hopefully he might have seen it before.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC:   Sure, Nik could have done that. Dr. Wu's not gotten back to you yet, but he has possession of it now and is digging into its origins.

In order to get us moving again I'm going to narrate a lot of the scene at once. if I get something wrong let me know and I'll try to edit it accordingly. But because one of you passed an idea roll you feel reasonably confident the plan is solid enough to avoid excessive risk. From the police, anyway.  
The casing concluded, the burglary on the Dengler home begins. The agents break the glass on the back door, and shortly after a robbery is called into Detective Gregson. The Agents assure him that they don't need immediate backup but are investigating the breaking as it may be connected to the Chiropractor investigation. Maybe Gregson believe them, or maybe he's just seen enough weird stuff recently, but he seems tot rust the agents to handle it, though he does tell them to report in with the results of the investigation and to contact the PD immediately if they need assistance.

Assured that no one from the police will immediately be coming to investigate, the team gets to work. The residence is the stereotypical house of modern suburbia. It's immaculate and well furnished. Knowing they have a limited window, the agents first head to Thomas Dengler's room.

This room is a little messy, but only just. There are a few book cases, the titles largely fantasy novels and role playing games. Dungeons and Dragons and Vampire: the Masquerade seem to be Tom's favorite. But there are also quite a few books about archaeology, especially concerning South and Central America pre colonization. Anyone glancing through the texts quickly learns that these books are very advanced for a high school student.

Dengler also has a computer and aol instant messenger, though none of the agents know his password to access his chat conversations. None of the rest of the files on it seem very interesting; most of them look to be school assignments.

The only other object of note is found besides his bed. It's a large wooden chest, thankfully not locked. Looking inside the agents discover quite the collection of what appear to be artifacts. There are arrowheads, fetishes, dolls, and jewelry. There are even what appear to be a few knifes. It would take some time to go through everything in her,e and even after it would take some time or an expert in archeology to determine just what if anything was the pattern in here. The pieces range from incredibly well constructed to looking like they'll fall apart the first time a person picks them up.
OOC:   Can I please have a search roll from everyone. If you want to try and get into Dengler's aol account, I'll need a computer use roll, which only Nik apparently has. Ah, the 90's.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC:   I wouldn't tell the police that we think the break in is related to the case. One of us was passing and witnessed it - a total fluke. We can't trust the locals to be discreet.  
Nik takes a look at Thomas’ computer but he soon realizes that trying to access the locked files will be beyond his ability. No hope there.

The contents of the box interest him though. He takes pictures with the small camera he keeps in his pocket.

“Dungeons and Dragons” he says, eyeing the title of the book. “They were right about that game.”
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Image

Vanessa wears the same sort of gloves she uses for crime scene investigation to avoid leaving fingerprints, and has made sure the others are wearing them too. She performs a hasty but effective search of the room.
OOC,We might want to tell the police that we think it could be related, but we don't have proof yet. They're likely to interview the neighbor who helped us, and she'll probably tell them about seeing us when we were staking out the house. Search roll (52% skill) in [b]Thomas[/b]'s room: [dice]0[/dice]
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC:   I'll let you guys work out if you mention a suspicion that this is related or not to the serial killings, but I'm fine either way.  
Thomas's password proves too difficult to crack, so accessing his aol account proves a dead end.

But Nik's keen eyes do find a note located on top of the dresser. It seems to be an open letter.

Eloise,

I was looking through the attic and found a lot of dad's old knickknacks. I thought you might like to have them. I have the house, and frankly with the new baby coming I need the space.

Feel free to keep what you want. Some of the pieces may belong in a museum, and I know New York has some good ones. Failing that, I'm sure some of the pieces could net you a few bucks, not that you need it after marrying Mark. Or amybe Thomas might like them. It might help to give him a connection to dad, and I think you mentioned how he was always interested in hearing about dad's career in archeology.

Give my love to Mark and Thomas, and I'll try to swing by soon so you can see your nephew.

with love,

Annette


Vanessa's keen search picks out a piece of paper. Dark with age, the faded writing seems to serve as an inventory to what was in the box. With this, the agent is quickly able to scan the box's contents. Most of the pieces seem to be remaining, save one listed only as a Chimu Clay Necklace. A little box it must have been stored in now contains no trace of the artifact.
OOC:   Nik can make an idea roll.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik regards the letter for some moments, thinking about its significance.

He goes to Vanessa to compare. Thomas was wearing a chain when I saw him” he recalls. “It might be this necklace.”

He takes pictures of the note and letter, and then of the books on the shelves. He then starts to look more closely at the authors. Perhaps if more than one are written by the same person, it could be Thomas’ grandfather. He guesses that these are probably from the archaeologist’s collection.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Image

"That may be what he uses to summon the monster," says Vanessa. "We need to show pictures of this stuff to Jensen Wu and tell him about the Chimu clay necklace. If there's nothing else, let's get out of here."
OOC,Don't forget to roll Idea.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC:   HoneyDog's a perceptive player. Turns out he did not need my clue. The idea roll was just to have him remember Thomas had been wearing a necklace. Well done. :D  
Nik examines the books. Of course, he does not know Thomas' grandfather's name, though it was not likely to be Dengler. There are half a dozen authors it could be, if the man even wrote to begin with. Most of the books are written by different individuals, preventing any connection along those lines either. The lion's share of the collection is fairly recently published in the last ten years or so, and the oldest books only seem to go back to the 70's.
OOC:   If you guys are planning to leave, what do you want to do next? Contact Wu, head to the school, or something else?  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by HoneyDog »

OOC:   We probably need food. But we should see if Wu has found anything yet. We'll have to pass on Nik's photos to him. I think digital cameras were too big to fit in your pocket back then, so the film would need developing. We should report to the local police too about our 'burglary'  
Before they go, Nik has a quick look at the first pages of the books to see if they have been signed or have dedications from the giver or owner.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

Post by Silver Priest »

None of the books have any dedications that seem connected to Thomas.

As the group leaves, Nik gets a call.

"Hello, Agent STANLEY, was it? This is Jensen Wu. I thought I would check in and see how your investigation is processing.

"I've been looking through my texts and believe I may have found something useful, but I'd like to have a little more information to confirm my suspicions. I don't wish to endanger any of you by sending you down the wrong path
."
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