Chapter 2- Rio de Janeiro

[kabukiman]

OOC: No, the guy is hit.

Crowley sees that the dagger has a swastika with what seems two runes of the S letter and a small H at the bottom.
The man was preparing to attack when he was hit by Harry; he looked incredulously to his wound, drop the dagger and fell dead to the ground.

Somewhere a dog started to howl


Alex, you find what seems a very old journal (several centuries old) written in what is probably old Spanish.

[Mephistophilis]

Alex flicks through the journal to try and get a sense of what it contains. He then pockets it before anyone else can see.

OOC,Alex has the Linguist talent so can identify any spoken or written language. He only has 11% in Spanish but has a bonus die. Alex Spanish: 11 [dice]0[/dice], Bonus die [dice]1[/dice]

[Snapper]

"Nice shot."

Still holding his Detective Special in his right hand, Crowley pulls a white handkerchief out of a jacket pocket and uses it to quickly wrap the knife. He stashes the knife in his jacket then pats down the body for other items of interest.

"Hmm, it would appear our assassin here was a Boche. Well gentlemen, do we wait for whatever passes for the authorities in Rio? Or do we return to the hospital posthaste?"

While waiting for an answer, Crowley resumes his watch of the area, scanning for other attackers.

OOC:   No offence to any German readers of course.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thanks," says Harry, bending down to search the dead man to see if his possessions will give some clue as to his identity or motive. His eyes widen when he inspects the dagger more closely. "Nazis. I hate those guys. I think we'd better tell the authorities. We caught the guy red-handed, and his victim's blood is on the knife. We just need someone who can speak Portuguese well enough to explain it to them."

[Starspawn338]

"Well I have no interest in speaking with the authorities." Butch says as he holsters his pistol. "I'll see you back at the hospital."

[Snapper]

Crowley nods to Harry. "Very well, I'll wait with you."

If no one else seems likely to attack the party, Crowley holsters his revolver, pulls out a pen and notepad, and makes a quick drawing of the runic letters with the swastika on the blade.

OOC:   Can Crowley make any rolls to recognise the importance of the runes? History perhaps?

[kabukiman]

OOC: It would be a know roll in this case or ocult.

[Mephistophilis]

OOC:   I think Crowley and Alex could do a swap

[Snapper]

As Crowley draws the runes in his notebook, he contemplates them...

Know 75%,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

Harry reloads his revolver and returns it to his holster. He knows that the runes are used by the Nazi SS, having run afoul of them before, but he isn't quite sure of their meaning.

OOC,Know roll (65% stat) about the runes: [dice]0[/dice]

[kabukiman]

The runes mean SS (Schutzstaffe) a special Nazi force; the H is probably from Sonderkommando H a unit from the SS; their main task is to find valuable artistic objects. They are the "muscle" from the Ahnenerbe, another organization more intellectual.

After a while, the police appears, you explain everything; they confirm with the receptionist of the asylum and let you go.

OOC: It will take some days to translate the diary; you can also make any inquiry of Germans/Nazis in the city if you want. Or about the previous expedition. Or anything else you want.

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,Some ideas to think about. Alex speaks some German so could go check out the expat community, see if he can learn anything about Nazi activities in the city. I'd say we're familiar with the Ahnenerbe as academics, particularly Alex with his occult leanings, so maybe we could check out local university colleagues for information - Alex speaks Portugese. Can we learn anything more about Higgins's last words?We could find out from the police about the killer, any other recent murders, art thefts etc. We should look into the last expedition, they annoyed people somehow I recall

ETA OOC,We should talk to Higgins's doctors and nurses as well, find out how he got there and what he was talking about before he died

[Snapper]

Once the dust settles, the blood is washed off etc, Crowley confers with his colleagues.

"Gentlemen, I've been on a few expeditions, I'll make some enquiries about this lost expedition."

Crowley will visit the US Consulate (if there is one) during business hours to see if the previous expedition left any details or had any interaction there. And he'll see if there are any camping outfitters who may have been approached but the previous expedition for equipment or porters.

Finally, are there any English language newspapers in Rio?

[Mr. Handy]

"Good thinking," says Harry. "I've been on expeditions too, so I can help you. I can ask around for guides. We'll need one of our own if we're going into the jungle, and they may also know who served as guide for the previous expedition or if the Nazis have been trying to recruit a guide. There's a chance the local guides could speak English if they're used to hiring out to expeditions, or possibly Quechua."

[Mephistophilis]

Father Malone turns to his colleagues. 'I've been trying to figure out the significance of Higgins's last words before he died, "Shift of three, Risen is key", it just doesn't make sense. I'm going to go back to the hospital to talk to Higgins's doctors and nurses, see if they can shed any light on how he ended up there and what he was saying in his final days'. He looks troubled. 'The appearance of this National Socialist thug is a worrying development. I speak a little German. I think I will make some discrete enquiries with fellow members of the Catholic Church to see if there is any talk about the SS and Ahnenerbe being in Rio, and what they might be looking for'.

[Mr. Handy]

"It must be some sort of code!" says Harry, realization striking. "Some simple codes shift the letters in sequence in the alphabet. With a shift of three, A becomes D, B becomes E, and so on. Or it could be the other way around, depending on which way the letters are shifted. Some codes also have a key word that's used to decipher them. That could be the word 'risen.' They might shift the first letter by eighteen because R is the eighteenth letter, then the second letter by nine because I is the ninth, et cetera. After the fifth letter, they go back to the first. We just need a coded message to try it on. Could be something in that journal."

[Mephistophilis]

'That makes sense'. says Alex. 'Although I believe the Spanish word for "risen" is "resucitado"'.

[kabukiman]

OOC:

Who will translate the journal in Spanish from the XVI century conquistador?
Who will decipher the diary of Mr Higgins now with the key and code?
Father Malone will make some inquires in the hospital and German community
Crowley and Harry will go to the US consulate and try to organize the expedition.
Yes, there is a local newspaper in English language.

[Snapper]

OOC:   Sorry, I didn't even realise we had the conquistador diary until you mentioned it.

Crowley will make enquiries at the Consulate with Harry, that won't take long. Then he'll leave Harry to hit up camping suppliers and potential porters while Crowley tries to translate the diary.

Might be worth someone checking out back issues of the English language paper too?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I can also try to decipher [b]Higgins[/b]'s diary, if it's in English. It was my idea how to do it.