Joseph will have re-entered the building at this point, so he should appear at the Main Entrance.
Ross spots the re-opened hole, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck while saying, "Well, ah. That's not good."
Zaoth's voice echoes in Ross's head,
The big guy from earlier follows Jennifer and Solomon into the museum entrance.
"Hi, everybody? Anyone know what's going on?"
Joseph then sends a shout into the Astral Plane. <Median! Are you okay?! Where are you?!>
Jennifer looks like she's about to say something to Solomon, but clams up when Joseph enters.
Median doesn't hear Joseph's mental call since she is concentrating on something else and isn't actively listening for individual thoughts... just her always-on passive telepathy is up.
Median examines the security system pictures.
Wait, go back one. There, do you see that? That Mannequin is moving!
She immediately sends out a telepathic message to everyone in the party:
<The thief was posing as a mannequin. Description follows.>
She then sends a mental image of the mannequin, but also snaps a photo of the security image and email blasts it to the team, BCC Valda, along with the information, in case anyone isn't in range or isn't able to comprehend mental images.
Thanks to the heavy walls and simple distance between groups, no one hears Medians mental call. They do get a message sent to there phone shortly after.
"This way, I guess."
Jennifer heads west into the gift shop, intending to head to the military exhibit.
Solomon exchanges a glance with Jennifer before Joseph comes barreling into their midst. "How lovely to see you again." He says with a half-smile. "What was your name again?"
About that time his phone goes off. Fishing it from his coat pocket he examines the message from Median. "Military exhibit. Living mannequin." He follows Jennifer quickly as she'd already begun to move, adding as an afterthought on the way, "Let's hope it's just a silly costume."
"Joe Zaidel", the big guy blurts out. Joseph hussles after Jennifer and Doc to the military exhibit.
Racing back to the military room, she mutters next to Ross though, "As soon as we leave...an unlucky moment or too convenient? Her shadows hum briefly in agreement.
Nurai checks her phone as it buzzes. Mannequin? Oh this will a fun story -- once this is dealt with. She shows the attached picture to Ross, her reflective sunglasses hiding her search for a matching figure.
Median checks the live security monitors. Is the same mannequin on the screen anywhere else currently?
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Not realizing that the door ahead of her was "beckoning," and assuming it was just there, because it's a door, Jennifer moves forward and opens it.
Joseph ready himself as Jennifer opens the door, ready to smash a mannequin.
Solomon glances behind as Jennifer moves for the door and Joseph looks tense, ready to pounce. He idly wonders if it's the man's first time out.
Ross studies the display not to much success.
Joseph carefully enters the Military Exhibit, and looks for anything out of the ordinary as well as mannequins.
Nurai adjusted her sunglasses, chuckling, "Seems someone left that door undone. When we see a staff member we should let them know...any sort of vicious critters or humid air could get in."
It would probably be a better staring contest if Nurai's shining eyes were visible as she waited to see if the figure would move.
After a minute, her shadows huffed and slid around to the display entrance door.
Without looking, JOSEPH waves the other two into the room quickly.
<Median, I hope you can hear me? I have visual on the mannequin>, the bug guy sends out into the mental plane.
Joseph slowly approaches the mannequin, ready to make chase.
The mannequin, wearing a rugged looking set of clothes and a long rifle with a bayonet, completely fails to make a break for it. It doesn't seem to move at all.
The shadows spread out like a wide doormat by the display door entrance, trying to get a better feel for any movement, as they tried to peek inside the door.
Nurai kept watching the dress up doll, trusting her shadows to deal with any mischief the other way.
"I don't suppose either of you have the means to close that door from across the door, do you?" Joseph said in a low voice.
Solomon adjusts his glasses and looks around the room. The exhibit seems rather dull compared to what he'd imagined from Median's text. In fact, there is a distinct absence of Median herself. Could this be the right exhibit?
Solomon sends a response. "At the exhibit. Where are you?"
However, not wanting to wait around, he begins to investigate. "We'll need to look past the obvious. Anything could be in play." He slowly walks around the exhibit, looking around, and closing his eyes to concentrate here and there.
The tense moment between Joseph and the mannequin was deflated somewhat, as Solomon begin to deduce the room. "Okaay..!" The big man, still coiled like a spring, uttered to himself as the good doctor goes about his way.
Fu<k it!
The man in the black hoodie springs toward the mannequinn, intent on breaking or dislodging it's arms holding the lethal weapon.
So I guess now I do? But also, are you okay?
"I don't suppose either of you have the means to close that door from across the door, do you?" Joseph said in a low voice.
"Indeed! Hold just a moment, and be amazed, as the Great Fantasmo's magic makes the space between spaces DISAPPEAR!"
Salim fights off the lethargy and flourishes with his cape; when he drops it, a shimmering edged portal beckons, opening right in front of the doorway Joseph wanted blocked.
"Now you are free to enter, but the room only has one exit: here!" he says proudly.
"I can also close the door too if you want." he adds.
Solomon's blindsense tells him something is behind the display.
(fail)
(fail)
Median keeps concentrating on the monitors and she can tell something is off, but is having a hard time figuring out what.
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Jennifer looks back and forth between Joseph shattering the glass case and Salim using a portal for two places in the same room.
"Look, I'm all about overcompensating, but there's got to be less elaborate ways to do things."
But she reaches through the portal to close the door.
"Less elaborate? You mean...boring? Why would anyone want to live their lives that way?"
The tugging on the bindings between her and shadows pulled Nurai to shift around the side of display case. "Curious incorporeality. Fancy a chat? I'm sure there are more fun things we could do than making holes and messing with soldier dolls...
The mannequin continued to fail to move, even with the door behind it being closed.
The door suddenly clicks shut.
--If she hears nothing, she becomes concerned again that the curator is in on this in some way and trying to distract her. She says Nope, I didn't hear anything, and keeps scanning the live feeds for anything unusual. However, she does mentally recast detect thoughts in case there is someone close.
--If she does hear something, then she will say Yes, I do hear something, but I don't think it is one of my group... they would have texted. Is the door locked?
In either case, she will say I need recordings of all of this so we can get other people to examine it as well.
The shadows flinched back at the sound of the click. Clicks weren't often a good sound.
After a brief glance around, Nurai cast Detect Magic again to see if there that was any sign of a change in the Twilight holes in this room - or ant scarier magic.
Wallace moves over to the door and engages the lock. "Everything is saved to both a local and external server."
Oh good. Let's arrange for copies of the surveillance video from today to be sent to the whole team so we can compare notes... perhaps someone will see something that you and I can't.
Do you have surveillance video from the other thefts? If so, we might be able to catch something there as well.
She texts everyone and tells them
There are sounds outside the admin office on the first floor and we have locked ourselves in for now, just to be sure that the footage isn't compromised.
Copies of the footage should be forthcoming.
She also texts Valda the same information, but not in the group text.
Solomon looks over his glasses at the curious display in front of him. Not the military display, but the two characters that appear to have joined them on their anti-theft expedition. Perhaps it's better than being left alone with Jennifer in present circumstances. Then again, perhaps not.
"Very good, but was anything taken?" He idly checks his phone for more security alerts, then his eyes close and suddenly open back up like he'd been shocked by a live wire. "There's... something in there." He says, pointing a hand towards the display case.
Closing his eyes, he concentrates on the whatever behind the glass and reaches his consciousness through the portal of Salim's making, searching for something. "Joseph, would you mind investigating?" He says without opening his eyes, still pointing where he believes someone, or something, to be.
"There's... something in there." He says, pointing a hand towards the display case.
Joe silently nods at the academic, and walks around behind the display case. With eyes closed, the big man concentrates his sense on what's inside the case.
Whoever was retreated was unlikely to stay gone and who knows where they would pop up next. It would take some effort to track them or to convince the still silent entity to stay & chat - or at least know that waiting them out was likely to take far longer than whoever expected.
Which one would take more or be more successful was uncertain so Nurai tried all the options. Using the display as a wall, she started to peer into where the figure was going in the Twilight as she spoke, "You're not leaving, are you? Here I was planning an overnight lock-in party here in the museum...do some fun and repair work."
After a moment, the following text hits both phones, There are sounds outside the admin office on the first floor and we have locked ourselves in for now, just to be sure that the footage isn't compromised.
Copies of the footage should be forthcoming. It's shortly followed by a link to an online archive of the footage.
Joseph detects that the creature on the other side of the case moving away. If it had been in the case, or if there was something else in the case, then Jacob couldn't sense it.
After a moment, the following text pings everyone's phones, There are sounds outside the admin office on the first floor and we have locked ourselves in for now, just to be sure that the footage isn't compromised.
Copies of the footage should be forthcoming. It's shortly followed by a link to an online archive of the footage.
"Dammit!" Joe curses. "It's on the move! I wish it was corporeal. But it doesn't look like it's taking anything at least."
"That...They...that's weird...why..." Nurai said mostly to herself. She ignored her phone for the moment as she started to slowly circle around the back towards her shadows, keeping her eye on the 'wall' of the display case as she tried to figure out the oddity as she moved to the opposite side of the display case.
Her shadows followed their confused summoner.