[IC] Chapter 1: Eton

[LTD1969]

"I'll help however I can," says Cynthia. "I'm not sure what this conundrum is, but it sounds like we're in for a grand adventure."

"I hope it won't turn into anything strenuous, I was rather hoping for a quiet weekend in the country."

[jp1885]

Such convivial conversation among like-minded individuals makes the task in hand a rather pleasant one. Therefore the requisite information readily comes to light.

Mr. Tereshchenko

You find a brief entry in The Lives of Lesser Saints relating to Saint Wergyn. The book states that this early Christian Welsh saint is reputed to have once captured the Devil by calling on The Almighty to ‘command the elements to form a wall around The Beast’.

Apart from this legend, St. Wergyn’s life seems rather obscure, save that he seems to have been venerated around the Anglo-Welsh Marches, as evidenced by a number of place names, to wit: Wergyn’s Bridge, Wergyn Hall and the village of Wergynstone in Herefordshire; Wergin’s Brook and the hamlet of Wergene in Radnorshire; Wergyn Alley in Monmouth etc.

Miss Knight

Memorials of Old Herefordshire contains a section on the folklore of Herefordshire, written by a Mrs. Leather. This appears to be a collection of stories and superstitions taken from interviews with local Gypsies, hop-pickers and workhouse residents.

Most of them seem to be standard rural fare: the healing of warts, water divining, fertility rites and the like, but there is an intriguing mention of the name Jack O’Kent.

According to Mrs. Leather, there are several legends regarding a ‘cunning man’: a wizard or warlock of some kind. This figure, feared and respected in equal measure, often went by this particular name.

In the tales he crops up in, O’Kent is called upon to put right some supernatural wrong: uncovering changeling babies, removal of curses, laying to rest ghosts and evil spirits etc. Quite how he does these things is not specified, but it is believed by the interviewees that he used 'weird magicks' and so forth.

Prof. Garrett

Who’s Who contains a small and rather unremarkable paragraph on Desmond Barneby, bachelor and squire of Wergyn Hall. He appears to have lived a life typical of the country gentry (farming, hunting, fishing etc.) and was the last direct ancestor of one Barnabas Barneby: progenitor of an influential family that has held most of the land around the village of Wergynstone since early medieval times. This honour was granted to him by persons unknown following the death of the original landowner, one Sir Guy de Lancey.

Frustratingly, none of you can find any financial information among Sinclair’s papers.

The hour is almost up and somewhere among the venerable tomes, Lewis' shrill voice can be heard berating some unfortunate individual. However, with him thus occupied, there may be time to delve a little deeper if you so wish.

[Mr. Handy]

"This Jack O'Kent must be the JOK mentioned in the papers you showed me," says Cynthia. "O'Kent's Boundary must refer to him as well. There was a mention of JOK's lineage. Perhaps we can find books that mention the O'Kent family. While it's a legend, many legends have some basis in reality."

[speshul]

Tom has sat quietly most of this time attempting to help but mostly staying out of the way watching the others trying to read them, seeing who is going to be an asset, who needs protecting

Seeing the others need more time, he will observe the good librarian and when he feels time is running out he will wander over and try and charm him "Mr Lewis good sir, I haven't been around the library much, busy keeping this place ticking over and repairing what the students break. I didn't realise quite how many wonderful books were in here. Nothing breaks in here you see, as you do such a fine job, ensuring disclipine. Discpline is such an important thing. I was in Boer war you know, where I got this" Points to face in attempt reinforce point " Do you have any books on the war, maybe I'm in them" He will attempt to charm and confuse Lewis in order to buy the team some more time, know this isn't where his skills line, talking to people isn't a skill he has either and he doesn't know or like this fastidious little man. However being a good sergeant he has lots of experience talking to people who think they are better and know more than him. If it goes well he will start on the war stories, the gorier the better. "that's when Philips lost his eye, popped clean out it did, looked just like a yo yo giggling about like that" also "The screams, you could hear them from the other side of the battle field, still have dreams about them you know"

Library use 20% [dice]0[/dice]
pyschology 10% [dice]1[/dice]
spot hidden 60 [dice]2[/dice]
charm 20% [dice]3[/dice]
Intimidate 20% [dice]4[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

Cynthia looks up genealogical records of any O'Kents in Herefordshire.

OOC,Library Use roll (75% skill) researching the O'Kent family: [dice]0[/dice] Bonus die: [dice]1[/dice] Amazingly, I failed.

[LTD1969]

Good show, Tom. Distracting Lewis with some blood curdling tales of the Boer War.

I say to Cynthia: "I'm guessing O'Kent's boundary describes the wall put up to encircle whatever it was the Squire was so worried about. His papers also mention a "JOK" being ill. Perhaps the person in question may have made a recovery by the time we arrive in Herefordshire. Would certainly be worth looking him up I think."

To the group generally: "Did anyone see a reference to Squire Barneby's cause of death in the papers old Preedy gave us. Are we sure it was natural causes?"

[jp1885]

Mr. Pritchard

Lewis’ eyes widen as you recount such gruesome tales of war. He twitches, not with fear or discomfort, but with excitement.

“How- how did he scream exactly?”

Mr. Pritchard only,It is evident that the unpleasant Mr. Lewis is becoming somewhat stimulated by these gory tales of suffering. Continuing along this path will indeed distract the fellow and buy the others more time, but at the cost of reliving those terrible days of war. To keep talking, please make a SAN roll (0/1d2).

Miss Knight

Managing (just about) not to knock over any more books, your search reveals nothing related to the genealogy of the O’Kent family.

Prof. Garrett

You may have just enough time to scan the papers once more.

Prof. Garrett,Please make a Spot Hidden roll.

Any further research will, alas, depend on how well-disposed Mr. Lewis is.

[LTD1969]

The Professor tries to speed read through the papers, searching for something he's sure was mentioned earlier...

Spot Hidden: 45,[dice]1[/dice]

[dice]0[/dice]


(OOC - not getting the hang of the BBcode I'm afraid. First attempt I just had "O" everytime I viewed the post. Thought I'd messed it up and tried to re-edit but ended up with a second roll).

[jp1885]

OOC:   No problem, you did it right. It always shows up as a 0 (or 1, 2 etc for any subsequent rolls) when you preview or go back to edit the post. Thankfully you passed both rolls

[LTD1969]

OOC:   No problem, you did it right. It always shows up as a 0 (or 1, 2 etc for any subsequent rolls) when you preview or go back to edit the post. Thankfully you passed both rolls

(OOC: Thanks Jon, sorry to be such a Luddite - I think I've got it now though)

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,If there is no time for further research, could I push my roll? Perhaps the books I need are right near where [b]Lewis[/b] is, and if I fail again, I'll incur his wrath.

[jp1885]

OOC,You may indeed push your roll, but failure will probably result in Lewis throwing everyone out immediately.

[jp1885]

Prof. Garrett

You find nothing relating to Barneby's death in Sinclair's official papers, however your you do spot a newspaper clipping crumpled up in the bottom of one of the storage boxes (one assumes it got there when the papers were collected together following Sinclair's death).

It is from the Hereford Times newspaper, dated a few days after Barneby's death. To summarise, it is a short piece detailing how the elderly squire's body was found by one of his tenants, a Mr. Alfred Franklin, near the ruins of St. Wergyn's church. The coroner reports that Barneby died of natural causes, to wit a heart attack brought on by the strenuous walk from Wergyn Hall to the ruined church which, the reporter relates, is not an easy one. It was, however, a trek that the old man made at least once a week.

The article continues with a brief biography of the squire (based, it seems, on his entry in Who's Who), stating that he was well-regarded in the village of Wergynstone. His frequent visits to the old church is remarked upon, reminding older readers of his loud objections some fifty years ago, when the proposed Great Western railway from Hereford to Worcester was mooted to run through the site.

The piece concludes by stating that the old squire's solicitors are in the process of locating any living relatives so that they can properly execute his last will and testament.

[Whitehorse]

OOC:   Sorry for scant posting... I've been busy & travelling, and notifications of new posts do not seem to be appearing in my email... I'm away all next week, but will try to chek in when I can!

While Tom has the librarian distracted Grigori slides over to the lending records, to see if he can discern traces of Sinclair's own researches here.

Libray Use 50%,[dice]0[/dice]

He also scans the shelves for a choice ancient bible,preferably with apocrypha and lives of the saints...

Appraise 60%,[dice]1[/dice]

"You don't mind if a sign this out do you Lewis..."

Persuade 60%,[dice]2[/dice]

[Whitehorse]

OOC:   Crap, sorry to make such a mess in my last post! There was supposed to be an Appraise 60% die roll in the middle there - to select the best old bible... Trying again!

Appaise 60%,[dice]0[/dice]

[speshul]

Lewis’ eyes widen as you recount such gruesome tales of war. He twitches, not with fear or discomfort, but with excitement.

“How- how did he scream exactly?”

Tom takes a breath and glances past Lewis at the others, they are still frantically grabbing books off shelves and flipping through them, (he had skill fully turned Lewis's back away from the others, always good trick that one. )

Tom continues his recollections, not something he has spoken about in over 10 years, it is horrifying and therapeutic at the same time. He ups the level of gore and embellishes only slightly as he continues "Mr Lewis have you ever heard the sound of a shrapnel the size of your head ripping clean through a mans torso, you could almost count the ribs break as it goes through, there is a silence and then wet sucking sound like a bucket of slop being chucked, that was a lucky one, dead before he hit the floor"

Tom does not talk about himself, his facial scars are obvious, the surgery effective but unslighty, even under his hat the patches of baldness and scaring is obvious. He continues talking almost hoping to send Lewis to the bathroom both to defeat him and to buy the team more time

Sanity roll 60 [dice]0[/dice]
Sanity damage [dice]1[/dice]
Charm or intimidate both 20% [dice]2[/dice]

OOC:   I win right with the first santity roll?

[jp1885]

OOC:   Yep, you rolled lower than your SAN score, so no loss in this case.

[jp1885]

Mr. Tereshchenko's experienced eye picks out a suitable tome. Lewis, irritated that his reverie has been disturbed, waves aside the question as he pulls himself together.

"Yes yes, if you must, but keep it within college grounds: you know the rules! Now hurry up, I can't have you all loitering here when the students arrive!"

[Mr. Handy]

Cynthia imagines that she is the sultan's daughter, abducted by the wicked vizier, who is of course Lewis. Having discovered that he plans to force her to marry him and assassinate her father so that he can seize the throne for himself, she now must find proof of his treachery and escape without him noticing. She manages to sneak around him and find his secret diary - or, rather, the book with genealogical records of Herefordshire.

OOC,It's situations like this that pushing is usually effective, where you have a very low chance of failure but fail anyway the first time. I wouldn't have tried it without the bonus die, as 75% is not a good enough chance. Even if I fail, I can still spend Luck to succeed. Pushing is also useful when you're desperate to succeed at a roll at all costs and you don't have enough Luck to spend to make it otherwise. Pushed Library Use roll (75% skill) researching the O'Kent family: [dice]0[/dice] Bonus die: [dice]1[/dice] Success!

[jp1885]

Mr. Tereshchenko

You discover nothing that you don’t already know about St. Wergyn. The saint supposedly prayed to God, who trapped the Devil by commanding the elements to form a wall (whatever that means).

Miss Knight

Creeping past the evil sheikh, you reach the small genealogy section. Here (as you know) you can study the lives and achievements of some of the nation’s greatest families (many of them old Etonians).

However, the O’Kents, if there is indeed such a bloodline, do not feature in any of these august histories.

Lewis is now pointedly looking at his fobwatch and you do have a train to catch...