Joe looks over to see another woman step and and claim to help with the case. This woman almost looks like a larger version of Median; glasses, hair up in a bun. She might have given off a 'sexy librarian' vibe if she didn't dress so drab. The vibe she gave off..was 'off'. Something about this taller woman gave off a weird vibe, almost like a silent threat. It could be nothing, but Joe did just have a mental conversation with a total stranger, so normal has gone out the window.
If their eyes meet, Joe give a noncommittal nod of acknowledgement.
Salim goes around introducing himself to everyone who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting him yet.
"So, it looks like we'll be working together. The name's Salim Agrippa; proprietor of the Sanctum Obscuri. Though you may know me better as THE ASTOUNDING FANTASMO!" he says, wiggling his eyebrows.
To everyone he gives a single business card, and a handshake...save for Jennifer, who he's still not sure won't try to hit him with minimal provocation.
After moving back again to a safe distance, he asks, intrigued by the curator's remark. "Are you ill, miss? Nothing we should be worried about, I hope."
To everyone Salim gives a single business card, and a handshake...save for Jennifer, who he's still not sure won't try to hit him with minimal provocation.
After the enthusiastic handshake and receiving the business card, Joseph looks down at the card and says to himself, "Jesus Christ.."
"We will figure it out, I'm sure." Solomon reassures Jacob. "Now if you could see to the catalogue...?"
As "FANTASMO" introduces himself, Solomon plucks the card from his hand with visible distaste. "I... see." He briefly wonders if this clown, or whatever he is meant to be, actually has any idea what's going on here. But he doesn't care enough to linger on the thought.
Clearing his throat, Solomon addresses those still gathered. "It seems fate, or perhaps something else, has brought us all together for a similar purpose. There are a few things to manage and I doubt I'll have time to do them all before tonight, so I'll take volunteers for the following tasks." He alternates looking down at his notepad and then over his glasses at the others as he reads aloud.
"Make contact with the 'king of Fever'. If he has a sword here, he may know more about the other artifacts as well. It's a long shot, but it may be worth pursuing."
"Find the text of the missing items. That's the tapestry and the book. If we can get a copy we can try to decipher them. Unlikely perhaps, but there may be records available somewhere. I'll leave that to you."
"Investigate the mayor of Fever and his wife. If we can learn anything about them, we may learn more about the gown."
"Learn more about the items remaining. If the thefts have a supernatural end in mind, we may be able to solve the whole riddle before they can finish."
"Look for black market dealers. You might have to get your nose a bit dirty, but if these items are being sold we might be able to track down the seller."
"And, let's see... Last on my list is," He holds the notepad back a bit and adjusts his glasses. "Ah yes, I see. There is that new Thai place on St Clair I've been meaning to try. Perhaps we can meet there for lunch and discuss our results." Solomon closes his notepad and briefly smiles in self-satisfaction. "What do you say then?" He's not sure they'll actually uncover anything useful, of course, but if nothing else it should hopefully keep them busy and out of his way.
Clearing his throat, Solomon addresses those still gathered. "It seems fate, or perhaps something else, has brought us all together for a similar purpose. There are a few things to manage and I doubt I'll have time to do them all before tonight, so I'll take volunteers for the following tasks." He alternates looking down at his notepad and then over his glasses at the others as he reads aloud.
"Find the text of the missing items. That's the tapestry and the book. If we can get a copy we can try to decipher them. Unlikely perhaps, but there may be records available somewhere. I'll leave that to you."
Holding up his phone, the big guy holds up his phone. "I have a copy of the celestial text on my phone, Professor. I'll work on it this morning, and meet with everyone at this..new Thai place, with my findings at that time."
"So..", Joseph paused. "Where is Fever's library?"
At the curator's comments, Jennifer's eyes flare wide with anger, and she takes a deep breath before speaking.
"No. It won't be a problem. It's never a problem. The only problem I'm seeing is that you seem to know about things you shouldn't, but you don't know why s$#& is disappearing from your own museum."
Jennifer ignores Salim's question, but speaks up when Doctor Solomon finishes his list of tasks.
"Look for black market dealers. You might have to get your nose a bit dirty, but if these items are being sold we might be able to track down the seller."
"I know who to talk to for that. I'll handle it.
"Is there a plan for security here? For when they want to hit this location again."
Holding up his phone, the big guy holds up his phone. "I have a copy of the celestial text on my phone, Professor."
Jennifer pauses before speaking, wanting to get away from this crowd of people whom she feels has taken an uncomfortable interest in her, but she also doesn't want to pass up the opportunity to make progress.
She approaches Joseph. "If you show me the text, I can read it."
Median was glad that the group seemed to be listening to someone, no matter how he came across. Since she had been asked to prevent another theft, she wasn't planning on leaving, but in the spirit of cooperation she volunteered
I'll look up the mayor and his wife and see if I can learn anything.
Moving over beside the cup once again, so she could keep it and the sword in view, she pulled up the internet entry for the museum, checking for staff pictures to see if there was a picture of Jacob and he was the real curator because to her, he still seemed pretty shady.
If things look okay, she sends an update to Valda listing the former items stolen, and the people that have been hired by the curator, then she does an internet search for the mayor of fever, drilling down to anything she can find about his career, personal life, home, and family (including first wife), and then drilling down further to his second wife, preferably with pictures in case she can get a glimpse of the gown that was stolen.
She doesn't let her involvement in reading interrupt watching the items in the exhibit however, looking up to check consistently, and if anyone comes close. She also keeps patiently listening to any unusual or extreme surface thoughts around her.
She approaches Joseph. "If you show me the text, I can read it."
Joe opens the page on his phone and hands it over to the new woman. "It's definitely Celestial, but also coded, see?" The big guy points out the sentence structure is wrong.
"I'm Joseph, by the way", as he introduces himself, hoping for a similar response.
Ross shrugs, "Go by feel, I suppose. See where these holes feel the strongest."
She approaches Joseph. "If you show me the text, I can read it."Joe opens the page on his phone and hands it over to the new woman. "It's definitely Celestial, but also coded, see?" The big guy points out the sentence structure is wrong.
Jennifer sees the Celestial text on the phone, and does her best to ignore he irritating itching in her eyes. She pulls a titanium glasses case out of her leather duster and takes a pair of spectacles out of them. She dons the glasses and takes Joseph's offered phone.
"Definitely a code. Of course it wouldn't be that easy."
She reads the text aloud.
"I'm Joseph, by the way", as he introduces himself, hoping for a similar response.
"Jennifer," she replies without looking up.
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"Understood," the curator said with a small nod. "Unfortunately, I still can't assume why things are going missing." He seems moderately undisturbed by the intimidating warning.
"The library is actually part of the building. We aren't directly connected by the public areas, but some of the employee areas connect. Give me a little bit and I can make some temporary keycards that will allow you mostly unimpeded access, and the library shares our security.
The same will go for security information, which I can grab with the keycards and item files."
Median pulls up Jacob Wallace's social media without much trouble. The man doesn't post much, but what few images there are certainly look like him. He seems a lot brighter and happier in the images, but it might be stress.
Nurai's smile tightened for a flicker, "My feelings only let me know it's there, I'll need to pause in different spaces to measure the strength and condition.", before she walked back to the entrance of local art gallery section. Her shadows pulled in tight around her shoes, tense & avoiding others.
She peered around for signage, considering what could interest or link the museum to the Twilight for such repeated visits -- or looked the most interesting to her to check out next.
Median is relieved to see that the curator is probably really the curator, unless it is a shapeshifter in disguise of course. He didn't reek of illusion magic, so it couldn't be that. She does wonder what he has tucked into his shirt though, and how he stopped her from reading his surface thoughts.
She checks the cup and the sword again, and then proceeds to do an internet search for the mayor of fever, drilling down to anything she can find about his career, personal life, home, and family (including first wife), and then drilling down further to his second wife, preferably with pictures in case she can get a glimpse of the gown that was stolen.
Solomon once again dons his jacket as he prepares to travel out. Just a quick pass by Nurai to exchange a few words and he would be out on his way to see Valda. Though last time she'd asked him to text first, which he found rather impersonal, but apparently calling is too 20th-century for most people these days.
">> Valda, I'm following up on this 'King of Fever' we've previously discussed. Do you know where he is now? I'd like a moment of his time."
He frowned at the cold efficiency of it all, but perhaps it would save him a bit of driving anyway. But he already had his jacket on.
Solomon audibly sighs and pockets his phone.
Soon Jennifer is brandishing her reading glasses and it's enough to catch Solomon's attention. "A code you say? Would you mind?" the Doctor reaches out expectantly, eager to take a look at the apparent code.
The bug guy offers his phone to the Professor, the page open to the celestial code.
Median's internet search mostly just finds a short wikipedia article and the Museum's website. It has portraits of both the mayor and his wife, and an image of the gown in the musuem's interactive exhibits. The history on the mayor, William Quent is brief - that he was a British officer who came to America after retiring from the army, helping to find and locate the place where Fever where he eventually settled and became Mayor - and even less on his wife, Justinia Quent, mentioning that she was the daughter of a French trapper and outlived her husband by quite a bit.
Running the code through his head, Solomon deduces that someone really didn't want anyone reading this. The first step will be translating the Celestial to a different Alphabet - a Runic, Dwarvern script - which was, in itself, the code. That was why the grammer and syntax of the Celestial didn't make any sense. It was another word, translated into Celestial, after being coded.
Solomon's phone made a twinkly noise. Even though it probably wasn't the text sound for Valda, it was now. I can probably get hold of his Highness, if you give me a bit. It sounds like the sword was one of the tricks his predecessors used, but he might know something.
Nurai considered the exhibit list. Two ticked off, four more to go, plus any other areas and fun dark corners not advertised. With her recent experience with the Twilight, one choice stood out. She'd save the one that likely had to the most hidden spaces for last.
She leaned briefly into the Fever exhibit. She nods to Doctor Solomon, and seeing Jennifer using those interesting glasses again, Nurai's smile perked up, "Jennifer, we're heading over to the military exhibit next, general history after that... she said, in part to inform, though more in the tone of giving an open but not pressing invitation to join her later before she quickly walked off, pointing the way to Ross as she went.
Quietly to Ross, "Hopefully, this doesn't involve military-drama. I could do without that again. She lingers over some of the exhibits, keeping an eye out for anything that seems like it would be of particular interest or missing before getting to detecting work.
Median examines the picture of the gown to see if there is anything unusual or that stands out to her.
"Jennifer, we're heading over to the military exhibit next, general history after that... she said, in part to inform, though more in the tone of giving an open but not pressing invitation to join her later before she quickly walked off, pointing the way to Ross as she went.
"No, I've got a thing. Call me if s!$+ gets hairy." Jennifer leaves the museum and climbs into her SUV, which is almost paid off. She thinks about where she'll need to go to find someone who may know about stolen items from the museum. And then she'll go visit them in person without calling first.
Before Jennifer heads off, the curator gets her phone number, along with the others present in the Fever Exhibition. "Sorry, I'm afraid our system is rather digital these days. It's easier to send your details and keycard via phone than it is to print out a physical card. If you could send me your fellows contact, I can also invite them to this temporary partnership as well. By the time you return the doors will be locked, so simply use your card to enter."
Phone numbers acquired (if anyone wants to give him Nurai's number, and Median wants to mentally send a message to those not present with his number) Wallace headed up to his office. 20 minutes later a link was texted to the numbers the curator had, which once clicked upon opened up to a digital keycard - simply show your screen to the locks - and copies of the maps of the facility.
When she arrived, she was both in and out of Luck. The boss himself was present. While he was absolutely certain to know of anyone trying to sell stolen goods, especially valuable ones, there was also absolutely no way to simply intimidate the information out of him. He looked like a withered old man, hunched over and walking with a cane. But even Syar'ammag felt uneasy near him.
Ross looks around the exhibit. Military history was never his favorite, but if blood had been shed by anything, Zaoth was sure to take note.
He lets the unseen forces wander, hoping they'll find any holes into the Twilight.
(Jennifer will supply the curator with Nurai's phone number before she leaves.)
Jennifer pulls up to the pawn shop in her horrible, gas-guzzling SUV. She walks inside and tries not to pause and stare at the old man when she feels how her inner demon reacts to him. She gives him a quick nod in greeting before looking around the store. She's not looking at the wares; she's looking for any unanticipated security or eavesdroppers. Assuming there's nothing overtly detrimental to having a conversation with the pawn shop's proprietor, she approaches the counter and meets the old man's eyes.
"Hi. I've heard this is a good place to find what's been lost. I'm looking for information about things that have been lost at the museum."
Phone numbers acquired (if anyone wants to give him Nurai's number, and Median wants to mentally send a message to those not present with his number) Wallace headed up to his office. 20 minutes later a link was texted to the numbers the curator had, which once clicked upon opened up to a digital keycard - simply show your screen to the locks - and copies of the maps of the facility.
Joe looks at his phone and sees all is in order. "Sweet." The big guy then asks google for directions to Fever's Library, and gets ready to leave. But first, Joe finds Median looking over an old dress and was about to interrupt her, but decided to try to project his thoughts again. From about 50 feet away, Joe concentrates.
<Median. This is Joseph. I've gotten my digital pass for the museum. I'll be at The Fever Library for the morning. If you need help or a question, find me there. If not, I'll see you at lunch. Nod if you receive this.>
Nurai looked for any signs of non-Earth or even just non-US insignias or sigils that would be of more interest -- not that she's really recognize most of them, but it would be more interesting to her.
Once she'd moved farther into the exhibit, she started to trying to detect anything else non-Earthly.
Nurai's magic does detect a spell around the tank, one of Abjuration - maybe something to keep people from trying to climb it?
"Oh, you speak of the things taken by someone recently? I don't know why you think I might know anything about them. No one's tried selling them to me, that I do know. But perhaps the value is not the reason for the theft, eh? Perhaps the result of there, ah, relocation is the goal." He grinned again, a sight that seemed...sharper.
"Could you send me that?" Solomon asks of the code on the phone before putting himself together and preparing to leave. The chime on his phone, one he doesn't remember having, notifies him about Valda's answer. He passes out his phone number to the curator and others as needed before announcing, "I'm going to go see about this 'King of Fever', but keep me posted if anything interesting comes up. Otherwise, I may see some or all of you for dinner."
Resuming his conversation with Valda, Solomon replies, <If you can arrange it just send me the location. I can meet him somewhere.> It's not much trouble as the museum is closing anyway, and he's not especially booked otherwise. Plus, anyone that refers to themself as "king" is most likely someone who expects a bit of accommodation. Which gives him an idea.
Solomon remote starts his BMW and slips in the driver's door, setting his coat and cane in the seldom-occupied passenger's seat next to him. He taps around on the touch screen console to pull up directions to a nearby winery. Perhaps a nice gift basket would be an appropriate gesture.
Not detecting anything unusual about the dress, Median mentally passes on the contact information to everyone in the party.
She nods to Joseph's mental message.
At closing time, Median gives up watching the items, but goes to the curator and asks if it would be wise to take the founding of fever display down until they can track down the bad guys.
While she is there she tries to figure out what he has tucked into his shirt.
She then returns to her condo to write up her notes, emailing them to Valda, and works on her latest book for several hours before going to bed.
Nurai laughed as her shadows slipped towards the tank.
Pulling them over towards Ross, Some are weak, but seem to be older than the one from the art gallery. Let's head to the general exhibit, before they decide testing the security system is the best way to help."
Exploring the tank went on her list of things to do someday.
He nods, "Whatever caused these might've come here early if they're old.
She nods to Joseph's mental message.
<YESS!! I [u]AM[/u] getting the hang of mental projection!>
Pleased with himself, Joseph exits the museum, but not before playing his admission at the front desk. "Thanks", the big man says to the front desk clerk before leaving.
Joseph gets in his truck and carefully makes his way to The Fever Library, following Google's directions. He parks outside what looks like once had been a upper-middle class residence near the turn of the century. Joe whistled his approval as he entered. The big guy walked up to the check-out desk, and waited in line while a young mother or babysitter was helping two boys about the ages of 4 or 5, checkout some summer reading. The small boys noticed the large man and stared at him. Joseph smiled and whispered "Vegetables. Vegetables and drinking my milk."
As the young family leaves, the boys still staring at Joseph, the big guy is greeting by the checkout assistant. "Good morning. Could you direct me to your esoteric languages, particular Celestial and Enochian?"
You're quite certain, from the shape pressing through his clothes, that he's wearing some kind of amulet on a long chain that has been hidden underneath his clothes.
"Yes", Joseph fibbed. The bug guy pulled out his phone to show his new museum security credentials. "Authorized by the curator of The Fever Museum this morning."
Median tries to learn more about the amulet the curator is wearing.
Joseph's phones goes off when showing the library attendant his digital credential. "Fu<k! Sorry! Gotta go!"
The big guy gets in his truck and hauls it back to the museum.
Salim leaves just long enough to grab something for dinner that will keep well, since it seems like it's going to be a long night. Then he returns to the museum.
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Thankfully, the security card really was permission to gain access to those rooms - or rather, it was itself access. The front desk assistant was happy to direct Joseph to the room that held unusual languages, marked 15 on the map.
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Everyone's phone lit up, thanks to the new software that had been provided. A few minutes ago the museum's staff had left and the alarms had been armed. And now a sensor had been tripped, with more details buried in the app.
Zone EXH6-325
Cause: Movement without disarm
Timestamp: 17:23
Military Exhibit
Snapshot Taken
Having been with the curator when the alarm went off, Median is relived to find that he probably isn't in on it. Reading the details of the alarm, Median asks him.
What was the snapshot of?
Jennifer looks askance at the old man as she considers his words.
"I'm impressed by your insight on the situation."
"But I'm not actually interested in the items' values or where they are, as much as I am who took them and why. But if their value or where they are help me understand who took them and why they took them, I'm ready to listen.
"I'm not assuming that you know anything inappropriate, of course."
Yes, I would like to see that picture, thank you.
Solomon puts the wine on his credit card and continues on towards Valda's to see if she's set up a meeting yet.
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sometime later
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When his phone pings, Solomon realizes he's a bit past due to get back. "I thought I'd have more time..." He grumbles idly as he moves for his car. "It's been a pleasure. Let's do this again."
Speeding across town in his BMW is nothing new, but this time he has a good reason. Solomon wheels into the museum lot and slams it in park, pulling the parking brake and withdrawing the key from the ignition. He steps out with a grandeous flourish that places his coat properly upon him to cover the sword at his hip. Not to be left unprepared he also grabs his hand case and stands firmly for just a moment, sizing up the building in the evening light, before adjusting his glasses and heading towards the door. "The game begins."
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Jennifer thinks on what the old man is saying, recalling what she's heard about recent attempts to pierce the veil of non-attention that surrounds Fever. So, there's something about the town itself that's not just the "people" that live in it. Numerous questions form in her mind, each answered immediately with obvious answers.
"So whoever took these items is probably interested in using these items, not selling them."
She reaches into her pocket to pull out a business card. Her face screws up in annoyance when she realizes she's pulled out Salim's card. She replaces it with one of her own (which only has her name and a phone number) and places it on the counter in front of the old man.
"Here. I'm good at finding interesting things. Thanks for your help."
Unless the old man offers anything else, she goes outside and gets into her vehicle. She'll review any recent text messages to see if there's something going down somewhere or if she should head to Solomon's restaurant.
Nurai explored the general exhibit area and its things of interest before she starts to search for more issues.
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Thinking for a moment, Salim lets everyone in on his insights for the chalice, since it looks like everything is in the open now.
"It may be the next target, though I'm not sure. Angry spirits don't tend to stick around insignificant objects, after all."
Taking a moment to double check and reference which camera it was, Wallace brought up the picture in question, showing the military exhibit. Nothing was immediately obvious.