Books on the loose !

[Miach]

Jag , Kathritana
Follow up to >this thread<

As he was about to enter Written in Water, it struck Miach for the first time that he didn't know where that name came from. Hmmm... He'd have to ask eventually. Passing below the angel and the snake that decorated the door, the Enchanter wondered how best to start their research. Maybe Aenigma would have an idea. Feeling confident that things would sort themselves out well, he ordered a sweet cappuccino for himself, and...

What would you like to drink, Aenigma ?

The time for thinking would have to wait after the time for caffeine.

[Aenigma]

"Oh, a cup of green tea will do for me," says Aenigma in response to Miach's question. He offers the other Mystagogue a smile. "And I totally didn't mean to make that rhyme..." he lets his words trail off as he laughs out loud and shakes his head.

I wonder if they have a catalogue of some sort, somewhere where we can take a look at what books they keep in here.

[Miach]

Shrugging in good humour, Miach turned toward the bartender.

And heed my plea, add a cup of green tea.

Once served, he went to sit in a remote corner, where he and Aenigma would hopefully be far from sight, and left to themselves by other potential Awakened. Sipping his cappuccino, he let the taste of coffee and chocolate mingle on his tongue, distinguishing between the various sensations, and enjoying each separately, but the sum even more, that was greater than its parts.

Well... I wonder how those books are found... they're on no shopping-list at Walmart, so what ? How do you think they find their way in the hands of their owners ?

[Aenigma]

Once at the table, Aenigma considers the Acanthus' question for a moment. "Well, the note said they sell fairly well due to how rare they are, especially when sold as a collection," says the Warlock, taking a sip from his cup. "I have a feeling that they just don't end up in any random bookstore."

He pauses for a moment, thinking in silence as he takes another sip of tea, savoring the subtle flavors of the concoction.

"If the author is trying to reach a certain audience, he must be carefully selecting where to put these books," he whispers to Miach as he leans a little closer. "The note said there are three of them, so if we are lucky all three books are being sold as a collection. Now we just need to figure out which are the likely spots where the books may have ended up at."

[Miach]

It makes sense. If you ask me, they can be at any bookstore with a shady shelve for small-time wannabe occultists... We can always resort to making a round of all bookstores in Sacramento. We might even get lucky... the Acanthus's smile didn't reach his eyes, though. He trusted his luck quite a lot, but it would be pushing it to hope and merely stumble upon the books nicely packed up.

Your search on the net was pretty thorough, I'm sure. We need to look for other channels. Are there sleeper occult stores around here ? There must be. That could be a good start. And we haven't asked the owners of this place yet.

[Aenigma]

Aenigma nods in agreement to Miach's words. "Yes, I think our best bet right now would be to check out any local stores that target that sort of audience," he says before taking another sip from his tea. "I can browse online and look for any local stores that may sell that kind of merchandise." He offers the other Mystagogue a smile and then reaches into his bag, as he slowly pulls out his laptop and places it on the table.

"Perhaps you can track down the owners in the meantime?" he asks the Acanthus as he opens up his laptop. "That way we can explore two different avenues and hopefully get better results."

OOC: ST

Kathritana , what should I be rolling for Aenigma to look for local occult stores/occult book shops in the area?

[Miach]

Miach finished his cappuccino, and thought for a moment about other venues. There were some, from the patient, to scrying the future, but they all had built-in flaws as well. After a short while, he nodded to his fellow Mystagogue, and walked toward Crowley, with whom he had had former dealings.

Hello. I was wondering, my friend and I here are, you know, real book connoisseurs, and we would be searching some rare tomes. Perhaps you could direct us, if you don't mind ? We're looking for What is Laid before us, by Dafetin Styande, or Seeing the Light, by Uriel ? Does it ring any bell ? Oh, other books in the same collection might interest us too, so don't worry about broadening your proposals.

While the Enchanter had some use to tense situations, his mundane job saw to it, he was still somewhat ill-at-ease about his dealings with some aspects of the Awakened community. Had he crossed some invisible threshold he wasn't aware existed ? Well, he had learned not to overthink too...

And a refill of my cappuccino, if it's not too much to ask ?

[Kathritana]

ooc

Jag, you can roll Int+Computers if you plan to search using a computer/phone, or Manipulation+Persuasion if you plan to ask around the bookstore.

"The refill on the cappuccino I can do," Crowly replied, already working on the cappuccino. "As for the books, I don't think I've heard of them. They must be very rare indeed."

[Aenigma]

Aenigma takes another sip of tea while he waits for his laptop to boot up. Once it is done, he uses the wi-fi at the coffee shop to search the web for the locations of any local occult stores in the area.

Let's see what we've got here.

  4 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-04-03 20:59:14		Aenigma rolls 6 to Intelligence + Computer + Equipment to search for local occult shops (10 Again)		2, 6, 10, 9, 9, 9, 1		4 successes

[Kathritana]

Aenigma finds two occult stores nearby: one is on L Street, and one is on J Street. There is a third farther south across the Interstate on Freeport Avenue.