(SK) Grimm Tale

[Swift]

Continued from here.

Dr. Swift arrives early to the Avalon on the pre-appointed night. As is now his habit, he checks his hat, coat, and cane at the entrance upstairs before heading down to the Elysium proper. His satchel tonight is heavier than was normal, but the extra weight doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest. He pauses for a moment at the base of the stairs and considers. On one hand their investigations weren't exactly for public consumption. On the other they weren't explicitly private affairs either, given the number of Kindred involved. Still, the Avalon had a number of private rooms for a reason.

Dr. Swift checks to make sure there is one available for use and then selects one that they can all work in comfortably. He begins to pull out a few items from his satchel as he waits for the others to arrive. First he produces his laptop and a few cords. He begins the start-up on the computer while he connects the power cord to a wall socket. Next he produces a spiral notebook, a pad of graph paper, and several pens and mechanical pencils, and a large, rubber eraser. Truthfully, he hated mechanical pencils, but the wooden ones had become notably more dangerous since his embrace, not to mention being borderline illegal in the Elysium. Finally he produces three books. The first is an old, plain journal; the same from the previous investigation. The second is a copy of Grimm's Fairytales first edition in English he'd picked up from the library. He had wanted to pick up a copy in German as well, but even if the library had such a thing he doubted they'd have it for check-out. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of stealing a library book, even if he intended to give it back later. Some things were sacred. Besides which, he could easily look up the text online if they needed it. The third book is a yellow paperback volume on German. Dr. Swift could speak, read, and write several languages, but German wasn't one of them.

He glances around and then wonders aloud, "Is the Avalon wired for the net? I wonder if we have a wireless network down here..."

[Aileen McFarlane]

Aïleen hadn't been at her best during the former assembly at the Avalon, but would she ever be at her best in such circumstances ? It felt to her like a daunting prospect, and not one she looked forward to amending. So much work for so little gain. If she had been meant to be otherwise, she... stopped that line of tought. It was exactly what the Ordo was trying to teach. Change and Transcendance. Trying to steer her will in the right direction, as well as her steps, the little Shadow stepped into the Avalon's Elysium. She of course had no weapon, wearing only casual, non-remarkable clothes. Easily coming in, she brought along her computer though, that now left less and less her side. Perhaps she could prove herself useful more easily in a less crowded setting, and with two of her Clan and Covenant at her side to boot.

Sliding down into the chamber, she noticed that the Gangrel doctor had arrived first, so she moved toward him, trying to make some obvious noises so as not to surprise him. "Good evening, Dr Swift." before extending her hand. Her eyes couldn't help but noticing the various book, though, and so she didn't look him right in the eyes.

[West]

Avalon has Wi-Fi, but it's clearly an open network for patrons upstairs.

[Swift]

Dr. Swift glances up as first Ms. McFarlane and then Brother Raluca arrive. He nods to each in turn and replies to their greetings, "Good evening to you as well." He pushes a few more buttons on his laptop to link into the wireless network. "I trust the past few nights have treated you both well?"

He nods as Brother Raluca produces the binder. "Excellent. I'm certain we'll need every resource at our disposal." He gestures to the books he himself brought. "These are the journal in question, a copy of the first edition of the Brother's Grimm's Fairytales in English, and some translation help of my own." He looks past the two Kindred to the door briefly.

"Did either of you see Herald Villiers on the way in? I know her schedule can be rather demanding with all of her obligations. I do hope nothing delays her unduly."

He glances at his computer making sure it finished loading everything. "Oh, and please feel free to examine the journal. I could use a new pair of eyes or two. I've read mine near bloody."

Chrisie

[Martha Villiers]

Martha hobbles hurriedly to the meeting chamber she had set aside for the team. Under one arm she carries a supply of yellow legal notepads and ballpoint pens for people to use.

Wearing her more usual school uniform and clearly ending a call on her cell-phone she can be heard muttering words of encouraging valediction to someone named Amber before ending the call on a happy note and smiling apologetically to those already gathered. As she tucks the cell-phone into her blazer pocket, she grips at her cane to steady her Beast and offers; "Goodness...I do apologize for my delay, ladies and gentlemen...I had to pass on some good news to a freshly recruited dancer at the Ember!" she smiled bashfully. "I am so sorry for my delay...how can I be best useful to you all?" she looks at those gathered. Wide eyed and clearly sincere.

[Aileen McFarlane]

Even though nothing awkward had happened, Aïleen was glad to see her two Dragon Clanmates arrive, and saluted them with relief. "Brother Raluca, Herald Villiers, good evening."

Looking at the books on the table, she wondered if she wouldn't be able to better get something out of them with her mind focused, and stopped the mental process that afforded her protection from tampering. Hopefully, it wouldn't last long. She didn't feel safe without it, even though she knew it impaired her cognitive capacities. She idly perused the books, waiting for the superiorly prepared Kindred to start their job. While she had abilities, she only expected to be useful in a support capacity, after all.

[Martha Villiers]

Martha smiles and nods eagerly. She hobbles over to study the documents and nods again to Aileen; "I wonder...should we begin to look at these with the Power of Auspex? Or is there an alternative mystical option we could use before that? I would hate to contaminate them, you see..."

She sneaks another smile to Aileen and then looks to Teo and Co.

[Swift]

Sorry for the delay! And my apologies for a small wall of text.

"Good evening, Herald Villiers!" Dr. Swift says with a smile as she enters the room and greets everyone. "And thank you for preparing things for us."

He nods as everyone is present, "Well, now that we're all here we can get started." His voice takes on a note of a professor starting class. As he speaks he grabs one of the pads of paper and a pen and begins taking down notes.

"Well, those with the gift can certainly take another look at the journal," he says in answer to Herald Villier's question, "but Regent Heinz already did so at the scene. Maybe a second examination will reveal more detail? I doubt that a second use would cause any further...contamination? Is that possible? For a use of Auspex to contaminate an object noticeably? Since the crime scene it has stayed with me and I've only handled it when necessary, though I did make an electronic scan of the contents to help reassemble them. Also, Hierophant Wooding mentioned another text in his investigation similarly employed as a hiding location. I do not have this artifact, however, so for now I suppose we start with the journal?"

He glances down at his notes. "Alright, as I see it we have two avenues of attack on this problem. The first is to examine the journal itself. Several have already done so, but I can't help but feel there might be more information to be discerned from the book. As Herald Villiers so comprehensively explained at our last meeting, the journal was found at the scene of the murder of two Kindred. It was hastily hollowed out to serve as a hiding place for some as of yet unidentified object. The pages removed from the book to provide the hiding space were found scattered under the bed and recovered to the best of our ability. The object within was, perhaps obviously, missing. The book appears to be a journal dating back at least 100 years, but the exact age -- and whether or not this is simply an intended facsimile of age -- cannot be determined without examination equipment we do not yet have access to."

The Doctor pauses, adding something to his notes.

"The second avenue deals with the text. The book is handwritten in English and appears at first glance to be a direct translation of the first edition of the Brother's Grimm collection of fairytales. However, upon reading of the reconstructed text we have discovered several minor mechanical variations that revealed a message, 'This to bares pain.'" As he speaks he writes out the message on a fresh sheet of paper and turns it so the others might see how it was spelled and constructed in the journal. "It is entirely possible that further clues can be found in the text. I attempted a full text comparison between the journal and the original Grimm's Fairytales - an English copy - and was unable to find anything further. It is possible a comparison to the original German would reveal more. That language is not among my own talents, however."

Having given yet another review of the situation he tears off the top page of his notes and tucks them aside for now. He begins a new page as he speaks. "Now, I suggest we divide up the possible areas of examination and proceed from there. First I would suggest that any who can and are willing perform further mystical examinations of the journal. Perhaps one of you will be able to glean some new clue about the journal or, if we're lucky, a glimpse of the object hidden within its pages. I am told that such things can prove traumatic, however, so I will not blame anyone who does not wish to perform such an examination.

"After that we can in pairs or individually pursue examinations as best fit our given talents. If any of you have experience with such things an examination of the physical journal may help determine more information. For the rest of us we can begin combing the text for more ciphers or codes, and we can also discuss the meaning of the crypitc phrase already found. Finally, I'd like to see what resources we might have for further investigation. I can, for instance, likely get us access to the university's equipment for a night if we need to examine some aspect more closely, but doing so might raise a few eyebrows so any assistance to avoid that would be appreciated."

Finished with the monologue Dr. Swift drops the lecturing attitude. "Personally I've had plenty of time with the journal so I'll devote myself to the text. I'm also very interested in discussing the linguistic choices and their meaning in the message already noted. If anyone has any alternative or additional suggestions please speak up. That's why we're all here after all."