Play@YSDC

Location: County Clerk Office
Date: March 21, 1921, 2:00 PM

As you walk into the county offices you are in a lobby area. There is a hallway that leads off of the lobby and you see stairs going up opposite the entrance to the hall.
Several offices also lead off of the lobby and you see a sign that says 'County Clerk'

I walk over to the sign that says County Clerk and address the person there and with a smile "Good afternoon, I am looking at reviewing some old court case documents could you let me know who I need to speak to about these records?"

"That would be me," an elderly woman says. "But they are not just open for anyone to come in and look through."

Richard continues to speak calmly and assurantly to the lady "What would I need to do to review the records of a specific case? I am working for the family against a home owner and we are afraid that this may have already been tried in the courts in the past and we do not want to waste the courts or the clerks time with another case just to have it thrown out because it has already been tried. With any luck it has already been tried against a previous owner of the home and this information would help the whole issue speed through the court system faster and with a minimual amount of paper work. We know how valuable your time is and are just trying not to waste it, any help and or advise on how I can review the files would be greatly appreciated. "

Persuasion Roll,roll of 43 ability is a 75 so the roll succeeds [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4210290/[/url]

The woman looks up from her type writer and doesn't look too pleased by the interuption.
"Ok, what case are you talking about?"

Now that Richard has the woman's ear he starts laying the empathy a little thicker "Well there is this old house called the Corbitt house at this address (Richard gives her the address) and supposedly the local people took Mr Corbitt to court for practicing witchcraft and other occult things years ago. Supposedly he wanted to be buried in the house as well if you can believe that! At any rate this family that I am working for moved into the house a few months ago and they had all kinds of issues with there house and their sanity, the parents are now in a psychiatric ward and the two poor boys had to be shipped off away from their parents. I am trying to get some information on this case to show that the current owner new of the issues and continued to rent the house out to poor unsuspecting families with out letting them know of the issues in and with the house that had been documented in the previous case."

"Anything that you could do to help me get a chance to review the court documents would be greatly appreciated by myself and this poor family who are mostly wards of the state now and being cared for with our tax dollars. I hope to help push some of that burden on to the current owner."

"Like I said I am not trying to make more work for you or the courts so anything you could do to help me would be greatly appreciated, even if I could just read threw the records that would save everyone a lot of time and extra work, I promise I wont take anything and place it all back in the files as I find it, I am just looking to read the case files to see what had been documented previously"

Richard looks at the woman with an empathatic frown on his face hoping to help push her into helping him gain access to the files as he waits on her response.

The woman looks at you in this weird quizzical way, "Huh?" She starts to head back to her typewriter. "Listen if you have a case file # or something I can help you out, but if you want me to just start digging through my files looking for anything about a a person at some address, then you're the one who needs to be sent to the psych ward."

Richard says kindly to the woman "Ok if I get the case file number you will let me read through the file? That's all I will need?"

As Richard waits on an answer he adds an additional question "Also what court would have juristicion over that address and where would there office be?"

The woman goes back to work, "Look again at the sign above the window, we handle all the court records for the county unless its a real serious crime in which case it would be in the Federal courts." She takes a breath and looks over at you.

OOC,make an appearance check. (your appearance x 5)

She looks you up and down, and you see that look that you have almost come use to seeing. "Yea, get me the case number and I'll get it for you."
And she goes back to work.

"Were in this building would I find the case number logs so I can find the proper case number?" Richard ask

She gives you this over the top exasperated look, "Really, I have to do everything for you. Do you have a year for this case?"

Richard smiles and reply's "The year of the case was 1852 and I know the person acussed was named Walter Corbitt"

She pulls out a book for 1852, it is pretty thick and she lays it on the counter for you, "Have fun."

OOC,Make either a library use or Law roll, whichever is higher.

As you flip through the huge book, it doesn't make any sense at all to you. Tons of pages and listings, most of it hand written that is hard to read, and as you flip through the pages, you don't spot anything like Corbitt or Norman street.

I look around the offices for anyone who I would think might understand how to find something in this book, as I do not want to ask the woman any more favor's, maybe a lawyer or legal assistant there doing there own research.

There is no one else in the lobby with you.

Richard checks his watch for the time knowing he is suppose to meet some of the others at the library at 6:00pm.
He wished one of them was there with him to help decipher the book.

Its only about 3:00. You hear the clerk at the desk say, "Instead of standing there and looking lost go on back to the library and look lost back there. Go upstairs and you'll see it. Just bring the record back when you are done."

Richard says "Thank you Miss" I will be back shortly" turns and goes in the direction she indicated and up the stairs to the library with the record and looks around

As you enter the library, you see 3 other people sitting around the tables in the room. They all have really large books open while taking notes. There are a lot of bookshelves here full of books.

Richard look around to see who would be the most likely to understand the book I have, maybe someone with a similar volume in front of them.

All of them seem to be doing the same thing. They look like lawyers or assistants doing case studies.

Richard walks over and sits down to the one that looks to be the easiest to convince to help him and starts looking throught the volume for any mention of the name Corbitt or the address of the house.

After about 20 minutes of searching through the book (which I assume provides me no knew information) Richard turns to the legal assistant next to him and quietly ask "Excuse me, I am sorry to disturb you but I have no training in these types of manuals could you spare a moment to help me understand how to look up a specific case? I have the name of the defendant and the address of the location involved"

"I'm pretty busy," he replies.

OOC,make a persuade roll. ;)

Persuade Roll,chance = 75 roll = 59 so a succses [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218353/[/url]

Richard slides the open volume towards the gentleman and says "I just need to know the case number and I cant figure out how to look that up in this book. Here is the name of the defendant and the address of the house involved"

The young man looks over at you, "alright let me take a look." He pulls the book over and looks at the name and address.
.
"Well you really need another book to look up a case with only a number. Let me guess Ms. Jones downstairs just handed you this and said have at it. She does that to all the new assistants. This only works if you have the case number." He goes over to a shelf, looks for a second and pulls a book out. Comes over, flips through a few pages. "Ah here is the case number, 54729." He then goes back over to the book and quickly finds the case. "Ok, see that, now once you find it in this book you cross reverence that number to case file. F32-856-12"
.
He smiles and shuts the book, and starts to back to work on his stuff.
.

OOC,make a spot hidden check

Roll,spot hidden chance = 45 roll = 10 so a success [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218477/[/url]

Richard watch's to see how the assistant looked up the number in the book he took off the shelf and trys to understand how the assistant knew what book on the shelf to retrieve to find the case number for future reference.

You are watching this person go through the paces that seem 2nd nature to him, but it goes right by you. One thing you did notice is that in the other book he looked into there was a section for related cases and there were 2 numbers listed.

I write down the other 2 case numbers for the other two related cases.
I then quietly thank the assistant for his help and say yea this was my 1st run in with Ms Jones.
"I appreciate the help, here has some fresh jerky to keep you company this afternoon" Richard hands several pieces of the jerky over to the legal assistant.

He kind of sneers at the jerky, "yea thanks." And goes back to work.

Richard takes the 3 cases numbers and the book that Ms Jones had given him and walks back down stairs to Ms Jones counter.
Richard has the 3 case numbers written down to hand to her when she comes to the counter.

"Hey you're back faster than I thought you would." She smiles as she takes the book. "Wow, 3 case numbers. I thought it would just be one."
She writes some numbers down on a piece of paper, "Now just take these down to the file room in the basement and they'll give you the files you're looking for."

Richard smiles back to Ms Jones "Thank you very much, and you have a Happy Day Ms Jones"
Richard then walks down to the file room to collect the 3 case files.

As you go downstairs you see a small room. A door to the right and a opening in front of you. As you walk up to the window a young man is there reading what looks like a law book. He notices you walk up and he wheels in his chair over to you and holds his hand out.
.
As you hand him the slips, he says, "yea this will take a minute, wait here."
.
He disappears into rows and rows of shelves with boxes on them. After a while he comes back with three folders. "Yea, sign here" and he hands you a clipboard and pen.

Richard signs the form and ask "When do I have to have these back in to you?"

He looks up a a clock, "well its almost 4 now, I'm out of here at 5. But there is a box you can put them there to your left. If they aren't there when I get here in the morning, the police come and arrest you. So keep them as long as you like." He smiles as he goes back to his book.

Richard quickly returns to the library upstairs to start reviewing the files

You look through the files and they are extremely confusing. Lots of legalize speak and court filings, etc...
.
In the first file you can tell its a civil action of Norman st. vs Corbitt.
.
In the 2nd file you can see its a civil action of Norman St. vs Corbitt's estate, and Rev. Thomas.
.
In the 3rd case file you can tell it is a criminal case file with police reports, etc... and Notes from the DA concerning a raid on the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets.

OOC,make 3 library use rolls (1 for each) to get more out of the files. Or a Law roll, but I'm guessing you'll go for the library use.

1st roll,this is for the first file library = 65 roll = 30 so a success [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218626/[/url]

2nd roll,this is for the 2nd file library = 65 roll = 70 so a failure [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218628/[/url]

3rd roll,this is for 3rd file library = 65 roll = 75 so another failure [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218629/[/url]

As you read through the first file, you find where it says the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence and the court being unwilling to believe that witchcraft was real. However, it gave a warning to Mr.Corbitt to stop trying to practice witchcraft when it obviously didn't exist.
.
The 2nd case you only see that they are trying to prevent him from being buried in the basement. But try as you may you cannot find a resolution to the case.
.
The 3rd case involves a raid in Feb 1912 of the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets, where 54 members were arrested. No names other than Reverend Michael Thomas, all but 8 were released. Other than the fact that the file seems very thin for a case where 54 people were arrested, that is all you can figure out.
.
Its now 5:30 and all but 1 of the people have left the room. The guy you talked to earlier is now gone.

I walk over to the person and ask for some assistance with the 2nd & 3rd files, as I know the person is busy as they are the last one there I go offering to pay for some of there time (I am not sure what an appropriate amount of cash would be for this time period but that's the amount I use in my conversation with them.

"Excuse me I know you are quite busy but I am not very familiar with all of the legal conversations in these two file could I persuade you to loan me some of your time for the proper price?"

persuade roll,roll = 12 so a success [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218655/[/url]

He smiles as he looks up at you. "You looked a little lost over there, sure let me have a quick look." He takes the 2 files and his eye browse raise a little as he reads some of them, flipping through the pages, reading some more. He seems to know exactly where to go flipping back and forth. After a bit he says.
"Where the hell did you dig these 2 files at? That is some of the strangest cases I've ever seen. Now the first one here looks like the people on Norman street were trying to keep the corpse of..." he flips back a page, "Mr. Corbitt from being buried in his basement. Looks like they won that case due to health code reasons. Seems reasonable."
.
Then he sets it aside and picks up the other one. "This one, you want to go put this one back and leave it alone. It has trouble with a capital T written all over it if you know what I mean sport."

OOC,if you want to push for more info you need to make a 2nd persuade roll

Richard reply's "Unfortunately there is already alot of trouble and I am trying to find out why, everything seems to lead back to this case, I really need to know everything else I can on this case"
"Also on the other file does it give any mention of where Corbitt ended up being buried at?"

Persuade Roll,roll = 49 so another success [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4218681/[/url]

"Alright, but you if you ever tell anyone I helped you with this, I'll call you a liar to your face under oath, you got me?" He reopens the file.
"Ok, from what I can tell they got a warrant to storm the chapel. They ended up in a huge shootout, 17 people were killed, yea and 3 policemen as well. Wow, this is just incredible. There was some sort of explosion, and a fire. In the aftermath 54 people were arrested, including the good reverend. Of those all but 8 were released. Now this is interesting."
.
He stops and reads some hand written notes. "This one officer thought there was some illegal pressure being made to drop the whole thing. Then is says the reverends case will be handled separately, and the case just ends." He flips back and forth through a more than a dozen pages. "It looks like motions to dismiss, promises of protection, but in the end, no one else ever went to trial. Very weird, someone swept this under the rug. Looks like only Reverend Thomas ever went to trial."
.
He hands the file back to you, "Like I said leave me out of it. And for the other one, no, just not to bury him there. Now if you don't mind if I don't get this research done my boss will have my head. Don't worry about pay, just reading those cases was payment enough." And he goes back to work.

You hear a clock chime 6 times.

Richard quickley replies before the gentleman gets back into his work "I promise these are the last questions I have, who was the officer that thought there was pressure to make the case go away? Where was the church located at, Why was it raided to start with? I mean what was the warrant for?, and lastly what case number would I find the Reverand's trial under? And if anyone every ask me I tell them I have never seen you before" and I lay the money back on the table

He sighs and looks at the folder again, "The officers was a guy named O'mally, the church is oh here, number 6 Hale street. The original warrant was signed off on by a judge, I can't make the name out. But it says for suspicion of kidnapping. Supposedly someone heard a child scream inside. And hmm, no record number for the reverends case. That's a bit weird. But then again, this whole case is a bit weird. Now if you'll excuse me." And he puts his head down to work.
.
If you try and say anything else he raises his hand without looking at you.

Richard says "thanks, and have a nice evening" He then scribbles down notes on the information quickely and then heads off hastily to the box to drop the folder in.
After placing the folders in the box he high tails it over to the library to catch up with the others.

You go downstairs and easily find the boxes that say night return and put the folders in there. Then head out to meet the others.

OOC,You are actually late, the others planned to meet at 5 not 6. 2 of the 3 groups are finished, but the 1 is not moving at all. I may close it anyway. When I start the next get together it will start at 5, so I'm going to put in a part about you not returning. So it maybe a few days before you can post again. I'll make sure I let you know when you can jump back in. I hate to tell someone not to post. Sucks.

Richard high tails it back to the museum

As you drive back to the museum you see the library is already closed. You pull into the museum which also looks closed. You pull around to the back and you can tell you are the last one here.

OOC,ok, I got everyone caught up, but there was some timing issues getting everyone back here. So you guys are staggered for now, I'm going to let each group into the next thread in the proper order, and we will go from there. I'll post here again when I'm ready for you to jump. I think you can feel free to read the other threads now if you want to.

You are now good to go here.