Statement 2: New Row

[jp1885]

Skipper, it takes a little time to find search results other than the pages from the Stonewaters website, but eventually you find something on a local history Facebook page. This confirms that the shop is a listed building, dating from the Georgian era. It's known for it's glass dome, which is an original feature. The original use of the building is unknown and could have been anything from fancy balls to cockfighting.

OOC:   For further information, you'd have to push the roll in an attempt to get a Hard success. However, failing a pushed roll usually has consequences...

Des, you take a good look around. There is a large, disorganised pile of books in the middle of the cookery section. The mess appears to have originated from five shelves in the art section. To have thrown them, someone would have had to sneak round behind Anderson without him noticing — extremely tricky, but not completely impossible if he was engrossed in his work.

Please make an INT roll.

The main problem with this theory is: where did they hide when Anderson searched the shop? And how did they throw so many books at once?

Izzy and Leo: Saffron cocks her head at the mention of magic. She gives Leo an odd look, before looking at Izzy as if to say 'what the hell?'

"Um, yeah, you have a point. If you'd like to follow me, I'll show you to the office."

To Leo, she raises an eyebrow.

"You can come too I guess."

OOC:   Leo, take a penalty die whenever making Social rolls when dealing with Saffron.

Saffron leads you both through the basement door into a plain, grey corridor, past the storeroom and staffroom, and into her office. After fiddling with her keyboard for a moment or two, she turns her computer monitor towards you and shows you the recording. The footage’s time stamp reads 12:30 am. Warwick Anderson appears on the far left of the screen, almost out of shot. because of the camera angle. Suddenly, books appear, entering the frame in mid-flight, shortly before hitting him. The force of their impact pushes him further into the frame as well as knocking him down. Warwick then pulls himself up and staggers drunkenly towards the till, disappearing out of shot again.

Please make a magic roll.

You are well aware that magic can destroy microprocessors, disabling electronic devices. If the books were thrown using some kind of spell, then why is the CCTV still working?

Jordan, you continue to inspect the scene, taking a close look at the trail of art books. You take a step back and unfortunately trip on a heavy art portfolio that lies midway between the pile and the shelves of the art section. Staggering backwards, you crash into the shelving!

OOC:   Nasty fumble there! Take 1 Damage, meaning that you're Hurt (Injuries in RoL go from Hurt, Bloodied to Down - 1, 2 and 3 Damage). Being Hurt doesn’t give you any negative modifiers, just some bruising and a knock to the ego.

While you wrestle with the bookshelf, please make an Observation roll.

At least you're able to look at the shelves up close! While most of the shelf labelling relates to art, one shelf is labelled 'pre-school fiction', even though the books are all related to art.

[SaintMeerkat]

DC Leo Dansby.jpg (16.73 KiB) Viewed 609 times

As Saffron turned away to lead them to the office, Leo turned toward Des. Once he was sure Saffron's back was to him, he caught her eye, and silently mouthed an expletive, clearly embarrassed at his slip up. Magic isn't official. Not yet. The Nightingales are supposed to help keep it that way. For now, anyway.

Once they were in the office, he turned his attention to the recording. "Great googly moogly..." Leo said softly as the books suddenly took flight. "Poor guy..."

Magic (60/30): 1d100

[jp1885]

OOC:   Excellent roll! Don't forget to click on the 'Success' spoiler button to see what it gives you

[Philulhu]

INT (65%) 1d100

Des studied the scene carefully. Yeah, she could see how someone might’ve got around the shelves if Anderson had his nose in a book, but how did all those other books fly off the shelves? She went a stood behind the shelves and tried to think how she could do it, but there was no way as far as she could see. If she was stood on the other side and swept the books off with her arm, she could’ve moved the books but then she’d have been seen.

She glanced up at the CCTV camera. Perhaps the tape would provide more information? As she contemplated that, Jordan clumsily barged into the shelves, almost knocking them over! Des just shook her head and rolled her eyes… …

[Snapper]

OOC:   Won't try pushing a roll just yet, given Skipper's abysmal track record so far.

Skipper puts the phone away and looks for any interesting photos to take. He looks around for any left over clues as to the premises' original, or at least earlier, purpose, pre Stonewater.

[Mr. Handy]

Jordan is too distracted to notice anything else, and he holds the bookshelf steady to keep it from collapsing. "I'll be okay," he says, grinning sheepishly. "It could have been worse. I could have been the one to use the M word in front of a muggle. I wonder if that's what we actually call them."

Observation roll (60% skill) at the crime scene:
d%
May I roll Medicine to treat my injury? Does my Natural Toughness help?

[jp1885]

In the office, the noise of Jordan crashing into a bookshelf causes Saffron to look up from the computer screen.

“What the-?”

Walking back into the main basement area, she sighs.

“You know what? I still haven’t finished re-shelving the children’s books upstairs. I’ll leave you lot to it - please be finished within the hour.”

Shaking her head and muttering something about ‘weirdos’, she heads back upstairs, leaving you to your investigations.

OOC:   Is there anything else you want to do before you report back to the Folly?

[Snapper]

Skipper hastily catches up with Saffron. "Don't mind my colleague, he's an epic clutz. Big guys, you know." He shrugs.

"Can you just help me, I'm still trying to get this shop's layout straight in my head. There's a space connecting to Garrick Street on the Ground Floor that's inaccessible. What's in there?"

[jp1885]

Saffron pauses her ascent.

“Oh, that’s just the entrance to the offices on the upper floors. The door is between the two Garrick Street entrances. It opens up to some stairs.”

“Anything else, or can I get back to sorting out the Julia Donaldsons?

[Trivun]

Izzy doesn't say anything to Leo immediately, but she gives him a look as if to say "what the hell?" as soon as he begins talking openly about magic. She then glances at Saffron and gives her more of a sympathetic look, trying to suggest that her colleague is simply talking nonsense, and that she has no clue what he means either.

"Thanks for showing us the footage. It looks like those books were thrown with a hell of a lot of force, to knock him down like that." Izzy speaks with an air of disgust that anyone would treat books in such a disrespectful manner. "It's useful, though. We should be able to pinpoint where they were thrown from, and take a look there."

Magic (60%):

1d100

OOC:   Wow! Can I please spend 1 luck to make that a hard success?

[jp1885]

OOC:   Of course you can!

In addition to realising the information above, you also estimate the best place to cast a spell in the basement without frying the CCTV. Please award yourself a bonus 10's die when casting a spell in the basement.

[Mr. Handy]

I think I'm done here, but can you please answer my questions above?

[jp1885]

Oh crap, I totally missed that, sorry! Yes, your natural toughness will mitigate the damage.

[SaintMeerkat]

DC Leo Dansby.jpg (16.73 KiB) Viewed 529 times

Leo looked over at Saffron as she left. "Thank you again, miss..."

Once Saffron was well out of earshot, he looked over at his fellow practitioner. As they made their way up the stairs, he quietly asked "I tried to get a feel for vestigia, but there was too much background noise for me. Did you get a sense anything happened that was worthy of Falcon hours?"

[Trivun]

Izzy recalls the smell from the residual magic left behind near the ground level till, and it takes effort not to retch again. The discomfort is clear on her face.

"I didn't think anyone else caught it, or you'd have the same look as me. There was something by the till upstairs, it smelled like a slaughterhouse. Last time I smelled anything like that was when I was back on the murder team, my first case working with the Folly. Found a body drained of fluids and it turned out to be some weird vampire thing from Rotherhithe. Lived under a converted abattoir, hence the vestigia. Actually, that's what got me started with the Folly to begin with."

She turns her head to look around the space, mentally calculating distances between the spot where the CCTV suggested the books had been thrown from, and the camera above the till. "I have an idea, if we can get away with it before Saffron comes back." As she speaks, Izzy glares at Leo, unwilling to let his earlier comments on magic slide so easily, though there is clearly a camaraderie in the look alongside the annoyance.

"The camera still worked, so I guess nobody was using magic, but Warwick said something about a poltergeist. If I can figure out where to cast something simple, like a werelight, that it won't damage the camera, then maybe we can draw something out. Assuming it is a Falcon case after all."

Izzy proceeds to take her disposable phone from her pocket (having left her expensive iPhone at home, safe from harm), and removes the battery so as to protect the chips inside prior to any magic being cast.

[Mr. Handy]

"Does it cause an electromagnetic pulse or something?" asks Jordan when he sees this, removing the battery from his own mobile phone, just in case.

[Trivun]

"Something like that," Izzy replies. "When you get to meet DC Grant he can explain it, he understands it way more than I do, but magic kind of destroys the microchips in anything nearby that uses them. Taking the battery out of your phone seems to protect it though, like there needs to be an electrical current for the chips to be wiped."

She looks at the stairs slightly nervously, hoping Saffron isn't coming back any time soon, before calling across to the others as well. "Hey, if you don't want your phones destroyed, take the batteries out and put them in your pocket or something!"

Turning back to Jordan, she lets out a very subtle smile. "You know, I'm surprised you're taking all this so well. You've seen magic before? And I don't mean Derren Brown at Shephard's Bush Green."

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm a medical examiner," says Jordan, pocketing his battery. "I saw the corpse I was about to autopsy get up and walk away. I'm sure he was dead, or I'd have chalked it up to him being mistaken for being dead by someone else. I haven't seen anything else weird, but I guess that was enough. I figure it's part of this world, so I may as well get used to it. Once you've woken up, you can't go back to sleep. How did you get involved in all this, Izzy?"

[Snapper]

“Anything else, or can I get back to sorting out the Julia Donaldsons?

"Last question, I promise. Any idea why the basement doesn't extend all the way to level with New Row, like the ground floor does?"

[jp1885]

Saffron shrugs.

“Don’t know. The shop used to be two buildings. I guess one had a cellar and one didn’t. Can I get on with my work now?”