CH2-11 Brichester U.

[ghill]

Professor Westerlund meets you in his office, but its immediately clear the room is to small and he leads you all to a small classroom.

"I've not told anyone you're with the media" says Westerlund "So I'd appreciate it if you don't interview anyone else while you're here and burst that bubble. Now I understand you have some follow up questions you wnated to ask?"

[royya]

Jacob leaves the questions to the others. He checks the corridor and the outside from the windoe if someone is watching them.

[Mr. Handy]

Liz finds a seat, feeling at home in the classroom setting. She takes out her notepad and pen, sitting poised and ready to take notes, but she'll let the others take the lead in asking the questions.

[carnage_lee]

Andy Wade

Andy nods to the Professor "That's just fine Professor Westerlund, we don't plan on interviewing anyone else here." Andy nods to Jacob as the Rabbi double checks the corridor and then looks out the window.

"The situation has changed somewhat since we spoke last Professor it appears that some others are interested in what Gossham's work and as he was murdered were taking the situation very seriously... Andy pauses to make sure Jacob is satisfied....

"We've had some further information and 'objects' have been give to us... obviously these sources need to be verified and we'd like to ask your opinion on these..." with that Andy open the large holdall and takes out the map case.. uncapping it he pulls out the 'golf plated' femur.. What do you make of this?" he asks... eyes on Westerlund's face.

OOC:   Are we all there?

[Papa Gateau]

OOC:   Albert isn't - he will concentrate on creating the ids and credit cards sorted at his place. I think if we were all there we may spook him and we have already taken his photo at the previous interview - so there is no need for a photographer to be present again

[ghill]

"What the hell man, put it down at once" says Westerlund in a tone of voice which seems entirely unfitting for the rumpled old man. "the oils in your skin will be doing it irreparable damage"

Westerlund quickly dashes back to his office returning wearing a pair of silk gloves. Picking up the sceptre he starts to examine it in detail "Remarkable metal work, here around the top its almost like leaf and the wire.....Minoan perhaps? It looks remarkably similar to a Minoan religious mace, but the metal work is remarkably complete and shows remarkable craftsmanship?" Westerlund places the sceptre carefully down on the table in front of him, glancing at the large hold all. "Is there anything else?"

[BenTheRat]

Clay stays out in the car, just to make sure they have a get away and can be an early warning if he sees anyone entering the building looking suspicious, or carrying big guns.

[carnage_lee]

Andy Wade

Andy is a little taken aback by the admonishment received for handling the 'sceptre'. "Minoan.... as in the 'Minotaur'? he asks.

[ghill]

Indeed Minoan as in the Minotaur, but the Minoans weren't in the habit of using bone like that and as I said the metal work is more advanced than you'd expect for the period. Would it be stupid of me to ask if you know it's provenance is, or wether you are prepared to tell me what it is? It's an extremely unusual piece. Quite unique.

OOC:   Can I have a Psychology roll from those present in the room bother ing to watch the professor

[Mr. Handy]

Liz carefully observes the professor's reaction.

[ghill]

Spoiler:

The professor is clearly both excited (could be a natural reaction for a guy who's lifetime is spent looking for and digging up this sort of thing) and a little bit shocked/confused by what he's being shown.

[carnage_lee]

Spoiler:

carnage_lee rolled 1d100 and got a total of 35:
35

[carnage_lee]

OOC:   So Andy doesn't notice Westerlund's excitement/confusion - in deference to time zones, I'll hold off till Mr H has had chance to review Liz's roll and information gleaned.

[Mr. Handy]

"I see you're as thrilled by this as I am, Professor," says Liz, excitement in her voice. "Wait until you see the other objects."

Spoiler:

No need to wait for me, but thank you. I can only post for a few hours each day during the week.

[ghill]

"I'm not sure thrilled is quite the word I would use young lady" grunts Westerlund as he examines one and then another of the artefacts. After twenty minutes of silence, during which Westerlund examines each piece in minute detail, he finally looks up. "This is why Adrian was killed isn't it. He was peddling fake artefacts and someone found out. Are they Greenhalhg's or someone like him?" He picks up the sceptre. "I mean they're all like this, absolutely beautiful pieces but each of them is slightly out. Whoever made the pieces clearly did a lot of work, but they probably had a background in art, rather than a archaeology or history. I mean they all suffer the same problem they're displaced, the quality of work doesn't match the closest historical analog. Its a bit like finding oh I don't know....Um, a working steam engine in Medieval times. I'm sure if I subjected these to radiocarbon dating or neutron activation analysis we'd find the real age of the object, and the bone in the sceptre came from the butchers last month.

[carnage_lee]

Andy Wade

Andy watches intently as the Professor inspects the artefacts that they had liberated from where Gossham's belongings has been stored. Andy ponders Westerlund's remarks after his inspection.

"I'm not in a position to say where these items came from, I'm sure you can understand... and I appreciate your appraisal of the pieces. But I will say that it would be premature to link Gossham to the sale of any 'fakes', perhaps that wasn't his link in this, would you consider it 'in character' for your colleague to be involved in something like that... a forgery ring?" Andy asks... the declaration that these were all 'modern' fakes has him a bit stunned, the idea didn't occur... his mind raced.

Andy Wade thinking:   'Fakes! But expertly made but all 'anachronistic' the same phrase that was used to describe the statue remnants in that dig on Malta. So... if it's forgeries then they're coming in from Albania... something 'organised crime' might be involved with - but a lot more effort than running prostitutes and drugs - doesn't sit with what we know about the Albanian gangs. Where and when did Gossham get these, all in one go or collected over time... Gossham had some trouble on his last visit... possible that was to do with these artefacts ... do they somehow support his theories too? Were they made to support his views... fakes that Gossham was to produce to prop up his thesis? Or was it all simply that there was a gang dealing in fakes and they wanted Gossham dead .... did he double cross them, did he discover their 'game'...? More puzzles... no answers.. So on the face of it we have.... Gossham was a crackpot... these are fakes and he was taken in by them and they helped forge his weird ideas... or Gossham was right, these are the proof(s) of his ideas .... or Gossham was a 'fake peddling criminal' and was silenced for..? or Gossham discovered some conspiracy to sell fake artefacts.... Ok... if he did discover a criminal gang.. why not alert the police? If he had alerted the police then he wouldn't have the artefacts... they'd be 'evidence'.. so that leaves ...

OOC:   Greenhalgh would had been very topical in 2008 - the trail was in November 2007. I vaguely remember the documentary that the BBC made. One thing that Andy will ask for is the 'thing(s) that's wrong with each item' and what they are supposed to be... where from, era, usage (don't you dare say ceremonial...!)

[ghill]

The book
Stored within a small, unadorned stoneware box itself placed within a well-made velvet lined wooden box:
A codex with four pages of what appears to be solid gold sheets - The book measures 8 centimetres in length and 4.5 centimetres in width. It is bound together by gold wire.
Each plate is covered in what appears to be text of some kind. Although the characters are indecipherable at the centre of each page is a single image: they are a horse, a boat, the sun and a knife or possibly a sword.

"Well OK, this piece is fairly unique, I've not really seen anything quite like it before. There's no practical way to understand the writing without either some vast computing power or a Rosetta Stone of some kind. However, I would say there are some similarities between the script in the book to, Linear A but this is far more refined which doesn't make sense considering the gold smithing is far beyond the period.

I'd have to carry out Noble Gas Analysis on the gold to date it but gold work versus Linea A says deliberate hoax and random scratching to me. If it was Linear A which it isn't...its far more complicated, nor is it Cretan hieroglyphs which is slightly older still and neither culture has ever turned up what is in essence a book!!

The Golden Femur
Wrapped within a velvet cloth and sealed within a hard leather map case:
About 20 inches in length the two ends of what looks like its abone have been carefully covered and capped the whole thing has an embossed design of a naked male with upraised arms the head however is that of a the sun or more likely a star, the whole thing is covered in flat, thin sheets of gold which have been carefully beaten around the bone.

OK well I don't really have much to add to this one. It resembles some ceremonial artefacts of early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. Which would mean it predates Linear A, its a bit like a bishops scepte. I digress, but the craftsman ship would date it some considerable time after that, almost late Hellenic, not impossible I suppose but highly unlikely, again Noble gas analysis of the gold and carbon dating on the bone wil probably tell us the truth.

The Coin necklace
Stored in a blue velvet lined box, the necklace consists of 18 ancient coins hanging on a heavy gold 9" chain. The coins have all been crudely struck on fragments of other coins.

OK so coin necklaces are common enough throughout the ancient world, its a ostentatious way of showing wealth what I don't understand is why someone would spend so much money and effort creating this. I cant identify any of the fragments which have been struck onto other coins. But lets be clear the complete coins could grace a museum, the fragments themselves are unrecognisable, Oh and I bet if we were to separate the coins we'd find modern solder, you couldn't attach the coin fragments to the complete coins without a very accurate and precise controlof heat.

The faded ceramics
Wrapped in a yellowed copy of the Times dated 12th October 1913 are three large pieces of ceramic. Two bear heavily worked painted decorations incorporating equine motifs. The third, larger, piece was also decorated, but has been defaced: At some point in time someone has scratched the same pattern of symbols into the pottery over and over again.

Well these are just rather more detailed examples of Maltese fragments....

Westerlund's voice drifts off as he picks up a piece of chalk and starts to copy the characters off the third larger piece of pottery and starts to duplicate them on the blackboard. After five minutes he's still writing on the blackboard as though he's been told to write lines by some headmaster and is completely ignoring the rest of you

[carnage_lee]

Andy Wade

Andy checks with Liz that she's got notes of what Westerlund has to say about all the pieces... he then becomes aware that Westerlund is still writing on the board..

Andy thinking:   'What on earth.... talk about absent minded professor... pity Albert's not here he could take some snaps of those marks he's making... what IS he doing...

"Ummm.... Professor... what are you doing?" Andy asks a bit nonplussed at the man's actions....

OOC:   Quick check... 9" chain for a necklace?

[ghill]

The professor seems entirely consumed by the task and pays absolutely no attention to Andy, its as if everything else in the room has ceased to exist.

OOC:   Can I have POW checks (roll D100 and the result is a multiple of your POW characteristic, the lower the better) from everyone in the room or who might look into the room at this point.

OOC:   lee - The chain connects to the coins at each end so the coins are also part of the length of necklace ie another 9-10 inches, it will fit around a normal person's neck

[carnage_lee]

Spoiler:

carnage_lee rolled 1d100 and got a total of 12:
12