Maksim looks a little guilty as she pats his hand. "Best time for it might be dawn, really. Before the newspapers are released but after we can get a good view of what's waiting for us. I'll take you down then, okay? We can head to the records office together. I tend to be pretty good at distractions." He smiles sadly. "At the very least, I look swell in a chauffeur's uniform."
His stomach growls and he looks embarressed.
He looks at the others, feeling self-conscious. Here he was, having to convince a lady that it was too dangerous. Any of the other people here would have gone in a heart beat. It was only him who was having heart palpitations.
Then again, stripped of a gun and a plane, he really was nothing more than a mechanic with a handsome face. Unlike the other people here, he had no real belief in his other skills. His smooth talk had hardly worked at the Carlyle estate. Heck, he'd hardly proven himself driving yet.
He felt tired, hungry and in need of a drink but refused to give in to any of it. He would stay, listen, and hope his cowardice wouldn't undermine his own efforts to be helpful, yet again.
When Andrei makes his suggestion, Maksim merely shrugs. The look on his face shows he has no interest in talking about money just yet. "Timour and the BAR should stay with you two. My vote is that Caroline should stay with you..."
...and I should stay in the car with the rest of the useless belongings. At least then I wouldn't be watching people slowly die, piecemeal, or getting in the way of other people's lives.
IC: Chapter 1 - NEW YORK, Starts 12th Jan 1925
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coffee demon
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Andrei nods to Maks. Sure, Timour and the BAR. Might as well get that talk over with.
When he sees Johnny picking up the phone, he sighs loudly and leans against the wall near the exit doorway, arms crossed over his folded jacket. He starts fiddling impatiently with the lining of his gloves, ignoring anything but direct questions.
When he sees Johnny picking up the phone, he sighs loudly and leans against the wall near the exit doorway, arms crossed over his folded jacket. He starts fiddling impatiently with the lining of his gloves, ignoring anything but direct questions.
"I'll see you around..." simply says Thomas as he puts his hat and coat on. Everyone was being overly emotional and starting arguments about pretty much anything, and it was beginning to irritate him. He felt there was absolutely no good reason for him to stay at the Dakota at the moment. He felt further discussions about the investigation were best left to tomorrow, and personal discussions would not amount to anything good in such a situation.
"You have my number if you need me." he adds after a pause.
"Meeting here tomorrow in the afternoon?" he says while standing on the doorstep, finally turning his head to look at the others.
"You have my number if you need me." he adds after a pause.
"Meeting here tomorrow in the afternoon?" he says while standing on the doorstep, finally turning his head to look at the others.
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Maksim Rukov
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Maksim runs his fingers through his hair and leans in towards Elizabeth and Andrei. "Hey, uh, well, y'see, Caroline kinda needs some new garments to wear and, well, it's best we don't split up too much so I was wondering if maybe you could, perhaps, sling some her way?"
He puts his hat on his head, sniffs at the coat slung over one arm and reels a little. He tosses it to Timour. "Looks like it's your oil rag now."
He shivers, bracing himself for the cold outside in little more than a three-piece suit.
He puts his hat on his head, sniffs at the coat slung over one arm and reels a little. He tosses it to Timour. "Looks like it's your oil rag now."
He shivers, bracing himself for the cold outside in little more than a three-piece suit.
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warhammer wrote: "Meeting here tomorrow in the afternoon?" he says while standing on the doorstep, finally turning his head to look at the others.
"Tommorrow morning, my apartment, 8:00 am. Unless you're planning on taking matters into your own hands," adds Andrei.
Thomas seemed like he was good at taking the reins, but, in Andrei's tired and irritable state, the lawyer's strong personality was starting to grate on him.
Andrei ignores Maks' talk - any more talk meant staying longer and he was ready to go. He sweeps the notes and cards up from the table and tucks them carefully under his arm, putting the smaller pieces into an inside pocket of his coat.
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Maksim Rukov
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"Look, Thomas, I know you wanna go home and all but you gotta gun and this here lady needs to pick something up," Maksim says the moment he notices Andrei's resolve not to speak, without waiting to see what Elizabeth says, attempting to take hold of Caroline's elbow. "How about you do me a big favor and play the armed escort while I take her home to get a few things? Then I drop you off home?"
"Personally, I don't figure I'll be able to sleep anytime soon so I'm up for a game of cards or something at your place or Caroline's, though odds are, knowing my luck, you're both tired and not in the mood." He shrugs, setting his hat even more firmly on his head. "In which case, I still ask if you could do me and Caroline that favor, anyway."
As far as Maksim's concerned, he'd rather brave gun-toting gangsters than deal with a grieving woman and her irritated fiance. He genuinely feels in the need for a little camraderie and maybe a little vodka, though has prepares himself for what he believe are the inevitable excuses and hurried demands to go home.
"Personally, I don't figure I'll be able to sleep anytime soon so I'm up for a game of cards or something at your place or Caroline's, though odds are, knowing my luck, you're both tired and not in the mood." He shrugs, setting his hat even more firmly on his head. "In which case, I still ask if you could do me and Caroline that favor, anyway."
As far as Maksim's concerned, he'd rather brave gun-toting gangsters than deal with a grieving woman and her irritated fiance. He genuinely feels in the need for a little camraderie and maybe a little vodka, though has prepares himself for what he believe are the inevitable excuses and hurried demands to go home.
Elizabeth pipes up. "Oh, Caroline, of course you're welcome to borrow some clothes. I need to pack some for myself anyway. In fact, I have an outfit that would suit you quite well, I think. Why don't you come try it on, and then you can save yourself the trip home in this weather? Johnny, could you ask about the lecture for me, please? I'd like a summary if at all possible." She turns, beckoning Caroline to follow, but spots the coatless Maksim. "Maksim, you can't be thinking of going out without a coat! It's freezing out there. You know, I think there's an old coat that's been hanging in my closest, left by someone last winter. Let's see ..." she opens the closet and pulls out a coat that's obviously made for someone taller and thinner than Maksim. "Oh, that won't do at all. I'm sorry." She blushes a little, puts the coat away and heads toward her bedroom, encouraging Caroline to follow.
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Maksim Rukov
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Maksim frowns a little, startled by her reaction. "So no game of cards then?" he calls out after their departing backs, then shrugs. He clasps Andrei's shoulder absent-mindedly and speaks to him out of the corner of his mouth. "I figured you'd want time alone with your lady which is why I haven't invited you."
imme wrote: Johnny, could you ask about the lecture for me, please? I'd like a summary if at all possible."
Ear to the phone, Johnny nods. "That's right he's a professor," he tells the operator.
Phone plan:
1. He'll ask for a schetch of the seminar,
2. any recommended books
Three leading questions:
1. "It must have been quite an interesting night,..." (designed to ilicit any comments like "yes, in fact there was a man wearing a mask and holding a butcher knife in the front row the whole night... he gave me his business card... I have it right here... his name was....")
2. "I know that Mr. Elias' was hoping to be there." Relationship between Cowles and Jackson.
3. "Actually this whole cult-thing is quite a topic right now, what with that horrible string of murders. The press have taken to calling them voodoo-killings. If you can imagine such a thing."
"Thanks, Elizabeth. Let's take a look at that outfit." Caroline follows her friend, momentarily happy just to be doing something seemingly normal for a bit.
She looks back toward Maksim. "Looks like I won't need that ride after all." She'd felt like she'd been in the middle of a tug-of-war, with different ideas and plans pulling in different directions. Something as simple as going home for a little bit had turned into an ordeal. She understood there was good reason to be cautious, but it all had gotten a bit crazy. She felt like she was in the middle of a play wihtout a script, without any idea of who the players were.
Well, perhaps it was time for bed, she thinks as she stifles a yawn.
She looks back toward Maksim. "Looks like I won't need that ride after all." She'd felt like she'd been in the middle of a tug-of-war, with different ideas and plans pulling in different directions. Something as simple as going home for a little bit had turned into an ordeal. She understood there was good reason to be cautious, but it all had gotten a bit crazy. She felt like she was in the middle of a play wihtout a script, without any idea of who the players were.
Well, perhaps it was time for bed, she thinks as she stifles a yawn.
Decrepit wrote: "Thanks, Elizabeth. Let's take a look at that outfit." Caroline follows her friend, momentarily happy just to be doing something seemingly normal for a bit.
"Please Caroline, only my parents call me Elizabeth." She rolls her eyes but gives Caroline a smile. Elizabeth also seems to enjoy the normalcy of trying on clothes, and her spirits lighten as she helps her friend put together an outfit.
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Maksim Rukov wrote: "So yes, Timour should guard Andrei and Elizabeth."
Timour rubbed his face in annoyance as his brother offers up his services as a baby-sitter. Oh course he had told them all exactly what they should be doing but they were all too cold and frightened to tackle things properly. Best defense was a great offense. None of them had listened. Looking over at his brother he wondered sullenly if these soft elitists were going to get both of them killed.
Maksim Rukov wrote: Maksim puts his hat on his head, sniffs at the coat slung over one arm and reels a little. He tosses it to Timour. "Looks like it's your oil rag now."
When the eldest Rukov turned to see what his brother was talking about he caught jacket square in the face and a button dinged his tooth with a sharp crack that made him wince and wonder if it had been chipped. Rolling his eyes as his oblivious brother walked away the big Russian reached down and picked up the coat to sniff it. Hmm, Maksim was right, it stunk of gun oil but it was far too big and made of the wrong material to be used effectively as a rag. Unless he shredded it into tinier pieces...
When he heard Maksim at the door he rushed over to him. He was escorting Caroline outside and when Timour caught up to them he yanked his brother around roughly and stared at him with a disapproving grimace, <<youll catch your death.>> he said and placed his own jacket around his brothers shoulders.
Stepping back inside he retrieved his other possessions and headed toward the exit and the awaiting cars.
You sleep well tonight because rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf...
-Orson Wells
-Orson Wells
"That's okay with me if somebody needs an escort." answers Thomas, still standing on the doorstep. "However, I intend to walk, as my car was involved in the chase earlier, and it's probably the worst car to drive at the moment if we want to keep a low profile... which is what we ought to do."
Thomas then leaves the Dakota (accompanied or not), keeping an eye open for any suspicious behaviour around him.
Thomas then leaves the Dakota (accompanied or not), keeping an eye open for any suspicious behaviour around him.
Johnny manages to contact Cowles on the phone, at his hotel in Boston. The phone is initially answered by a lady with an Australian accent.
«Hello?»
Hello, I was wondering if I could speech to Professor Cowles, it concerns his lecture in New York.
«Ok just one minute»
Johnny can hear talking off the phone, «Dad, its for you! Somebody asking about your lecture»
A few seconds later an Australian man speaks on the phone, «Hello this is Anthony Cowles, what can I do for you?»
Hello Professor, Im in New York and I unfortunately missed your Cult of Darkness lecture at NYU, I was hoping you could tell me a few of the details over the telephone and that maybe I could attend your lecture at a future venue. Your university told me where you were staying in Boston.
Professor Cowles is audibly happy to have a fan on the phone and immediately begins chatting enthusiastically, «Of course, of course. Well Im stuck in Boston because of the weather at the moment, but Ill hopefully be back in Arkham tomorrow. Youre welcome to come and see me anytime once the weather has cleared. No need to wait for a formal lecture, just come and see me at the university or at my house, Id be delighted to run you through the whole thing»
«My lecture concerns a bat cult that once existed among the Aboriginals of Australia. It was known across the continent, and the god of the cult was always known as the Father of All Bats. Adherents believed that by making human sacrifices to their god they themselves would become worthy enough that the Father of All Bats would appear to them. Once he was enticed to appear, he would conquer all men. Sacrifices were run through a gauntlet of worshipers who struck the victims with clubs embedded with the sharp teeth of bats. The teeth were coated with a sub- stance derived from rabid bats. The poison was quick-acting, but victims apparently went mad before they died. Leaders of the cult reputedly could take the forms of bat-winged snakes, enabling them to steal sacrifices from across the land.»
«An Aboriginal song cycle mentions a place where enormous beings gathered, somewhere in the west of Australia. The songs say that these gods, who were not at all like men, built great sleeping walls and dug great caves. But living winds blew down the gods and overthrew them, destroying their camp. When this happened, the way was open for the Father of All Bats, who came into the land, and grew strong.»
«Of course this is all myth and legend, and this cult clearly became dormant or extinct hundreds of years ago. However in 1921 an explorer, one Arthur MacWhirr of Port Hedland located some enormous blocks of stone deep in the Great Sandy Desert, pitted and eroded but clearly dressed and formed for architectural purposes. Some of them seemed to have carvings cut into them. However while they investigated the stones MacWhirr and his men were attacked several times by a party of Aboriginals. MacWhirr kept a dairy in which he recorded
deaths to victims from hundreds of small punctures, reminiscent of the earlier bat-cult.»
«I have the diary, but its at my home in Sydney. I have a few photographs of MacWhirr with his men and the stone blocks, I show them as slides during my lecture.»
The Professor finally stops talking and so Johnny says, My friend Jackson Elias is a admirer of your work, I think he was going to your lecture?
«Jackson Elias? Well I know the name Ive read a couple of his books, but I dont ever remember meeting him. He may well have attended the lecture, but if he did then he didnt make himself known to me.»
It must have been a memorable night?
«Well I suppose it was, its good to go to a big university and draw a crowd.»
«Hello?»
Hello, I was wondering if I could speech to Professor Cowles, it concerns his lecture in New York.
«Ok just one minute»
Johnny can hear talking off the phone, «Dad, its for you! Somebody asking about your lecture»
A few seconds later an Australian man speaks on the phone, «Hello this is Anthony Cowles, what can I do for you?»
Hello Professor, Im in New York and I unfortunately missed your Cult of Darkness lecture at NYU, I was hoping you could tell me a few of the details over the telephone and that maybe I could attend your lecture at a future venue. Your university told me where you were staying in Boston.
Professor Cowles is audibly happy to have a fan on the phone and immediately begins chatting enthusiastically, «Of course, of course. Well Im stuck in Boston because of the weather at the moment, but Ill hopefully be back in Arkham tomorrow. Youre welcome to come and see me anytime once the weather has cleared. No need to wait for a formal lecture, just come and see me at the university or at my house, Id be delighted to run you through the whole thing»
«My lecture concerns a bat cult that once existed among the Aboriginals of Australia. It was known across the continent, and the god of the cult was always known as the Father of All Bats. Adherents believed that by making human sacrifices to their god they themselves would become worthy enough that the Father of All Bats would appear to them. Once he was enticed to appear, he would conquer all men. Sacrifices were run through a gauntlet of worshipers who struck the victims with clubs embedded with the sharp teeth of bats. The teeth were coated with a sub- stance derived from rabid bats. The poison was quick-acting, but victims apparently went mad before they died. Leaders of the cult reputedly could take the forms of bat-winged snakes, enabling them to steal sacrifices from across the land.»
«An Aboriginal song cycle mentions a place where enormous beings gathered, somewhere in the west of Australia. The songs say that these gods, who were not at all like men, built great sleeping walls and dug great caves. But living winds blew down the gods and overthrew them, destroying their camp. When this happened, the way was open for the Father of All Bats, who came into the land, and grew strong.»
«Of course this is all myth and legend, and this cult clearly became dormant or extinct hundreds of years ago. However in 1921 an explorer, one Arthur MacWhirr of Port Hedland located some enormous blocks of stone deep in the Great Sandy Desert, pitted and eroded but clearly dressed and formed for architectural purposes. Some of them seemed to have carvings cut into them. However while they investigated the stones MacWhirr and his men were attacked several times by a party of Aboriginals. MacWhirr kept a dairy in which he recorded
deaths to victims from hundreds of small punctures, reminiscent of the earlier bat-cult.»
«I have the diary, but its at my home in Sydney. I have a few photographs of MacWhirr with his men and the stone blocks, I show them as slides during my lecture.»
The Professor finally stops talking and so Johnny says, My friend Jackson Elias is a admirer of your work, I think he was going to your lecture?
«Jackson Elias? Well I know the name Ive read a couple of his books, but I dont ever remember meeting him. He may well have attended the lecture, but if he did then he didnt make himself known to me.»
It must have been a memorable night?
«Well I suppose it was, its good to go to a big university and draw a crowd.»
On the telephone
Professor Cowles doesnt recognise the symbol carved into Jacksons forehead from the description that Johnny gives him, nor does he have any knowledge of the voodoo murders. After a few more minutes chatting though he does offer some help:
«To be honest African cults arent really my area at all, but Im sure that there would be an expert at NYU. If not then I can put you in touch with someone at Miskatonic. You really must come up to Arkham anyway, once the weather has cleared. Youd be most welcome to have dinner with us. My house is number [OOC: Ill look the address up at home, and edit], I hope I see you soon.»
The conversation quickly ends after that, and Johnny hangs up.
[OOC: Im assuming that you all split up, as per your plan now. I need a few dice rolls to resolve thing now (see OOC thread)]
Professor Cowles doesnt recognise the symbol carved into Jacksons forehead from the description that Johnny gives him, nor does he have any knowledge of the voodoo murders. After a few more minutes chatting though he does offer some help:
«To be honest African cults arent really my area at all, but Im sure that there would be an expert at NYU. If not then I can put you in touch with someone at Miskatonic. You really must come up to Arkham anyway, once the weather has cleared. Youd be most welcome to have dinner with us. My house is number [OOC: Ill look the address up at home, and edit], I hope I see you soon.»
The conversation quickly ends after that, and Johnny hangs up.
[OOC: Im assuming that you all split up, as per your plan now. I need a few dice rolls to resolve thing now (see OOC thread)]
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Andrei flicks on the lights at the rear of the hallway, shocked to see Timour laying in the darkness with his BAR pointed at them
He lets out a fearful whoop-ing sound before relaxing. "Oh!" he calls. "Good to see you!" To Caroline and Elizabeth, waiting anxiously on the fire escape below, he smiles widely and says "It's Timour!"
Andrei crawls through the window and walks to his rooms. "We had a hell of a time", he explains to Timour before opening the door and surveying his belongings.
He lets out a fearful whoop-ing sound before relaxing. "Oh!" he calls. "Good to see you!" To Caroline and Elizabeth, waiting anxiously on the fire escape below, he smiles widely and says "It's Timour!"
Andrei crawls through the window and walks to his rooms. "We had a hell of a time", he explains to Timour before opening the door and surveying his belongings.
"Turn all the lights on and stay on your guards until we've looked everywhere." says Thomas, entering with Andreï without wasting time with chit-chat.
I'll be social later. First, we make sure there are no intruders in there. Stay on your toes. he tells himself, still keeping his gun handy and attempting to detect any sign of any cultist still being inside.
I'll be social later. First, we make sure there are no intruders in there. Stay on your toes. he tells himself, still keeping his gun handy and attempting to detect any sign of any cultist still being inside.
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