(AGToO) Risk of R(*)in

[Vincent]

Another beep, another string of sensible data is being broadcasted quite openly from the young Arrow to the Hierarch's and the First Talon's unencrypted devices.
"Rabbit hole for Guardians to look at the intersection to Vacaville on I80"

[Campanella]

Campanella does not linger in the deposit. After finding few clues despite his efforts he turns to the gallery at large. He moves carefully and measuredly, ever mindful of potential security systems. He continues to look for clues and periodically attempts to read the resonance of the building, hoping to unscramble the muddle of impressions that continue to plague him.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-29 03:41:47		Campanella to avoid detection rolls 5 to Dexterity + Larceny (10 Again)		3, 7, 10, 2, 2, 9		2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-29 03:43:54		Campanella to looks for clues rolls 5 to Intelligence + Investigation (10 Again)		7, 10, 6, 9, 4, 4		2 successes
2019-03-29 03:43:24		Campanella to look for clues rolls 8 to Intelligence + Investigation (10 Again, WillPower)		4, 5, 6, 10, 7, 2, 2, 4, 7		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-29 03:47:00		Campanella to examine resonance rolls 8 to Intelligence + Occult (10 Again, WillPower)		7, 1, 10, 2, 7, 2, 1, 6, 7		1 success
2019-03-29 03:45:42		Campanella to examine resonance rolls 5 to Intelligence + Occult (10 Again)		4, 8, 2, 1, 9		2 successes

His going is slow, not just in time, but in results.

A pulse of frustration begins to work on his jaw.

I lagged and ended up with a pile of unwanted rolls for Larceny. I have taken the first roll only and added it here.

[Vincent]

Kaze had seen Alastor's message. Soon, a reply was delivered.

"Dropping off partner at his home. He's hurt but walking and talking. Then heading to rendezvous."

In the deposit

@Campanella: even from the scant clues he's assembled, the Hierarch can tell his acquaintance was up to something that he feels might have been illegal.
Stale smell, humid air, solvents. Gagosian had seemingly little care for the bread and butter of the art world. Large, shipping crates littered the deposit. Either Gagosian knew his pieces weren't worth much or he didn't care. Forgery? Had they stumbled upon something worse, smuggling maybe?
The chainsaw reeks of death, but not a peaceful one, one marred and burdened with violence and resentment. There's more, the thoughts attached to it aren't entirely human, there's something alien, malignant, domineering. It's a feeling similar to the one he experienced when first dealing with the USB stick.

@Alastor: The seesaw of jagged vertices around the chainsaw's blade suggests something important occurred on a metaphysical level and it involved the item in such fashion that the surrounding space manifold was warped as a result. Space is an illusion, it's the Laws of sympathy that dictate how the world really functions and how the geometry of a place is morphed. Love, hate, friendship, acquaintance, death. Inert matter can't develop connections this strong spontaneously, on their own. The blade must have inherited it from a living pattern, and even then, the act must have been powerful enough to leave such a fingerprint over the surrounding world. One can't exactly make love to a chainsaw so only one alternative remains. And the threads of sympathy suggest that this event must have been related to the contents of the crates.
The signs on the floor are not deep. It could have been a piece of furniture, or a statue but not something as weighty as a crate. The threads connect it to the other boxes and the desks on the foreground of the deposit.

Inside the gallery

@Campanella The Hierarch astutely avoids the scrutiny of the camera, keeping himself below its field of vision. The lights turn on as soon as he's stepped over the patch of sensors. On the opposite end lies the reception desk, at the far right of the room there's the elevator with its opened doors. As he steps closer to the middle, he can feel himself oversatured by the jumble of different thoughts. There's the ones from the groups he's been tailing, the stench of death ends in the elevator. And then there's a vast ocean of emotions. Vacuous thoughts from the most shallow minds, amid a torrent of exalted creativity, awe, love, inspiration. A prism of emotion filtered through the kaleidoscope of art.
But like the gallery - an elegant cage of glass, polished metal and empty whiteness - everything is new and feels somewhat artificial.

Give me an arts roll (int or wits + academic, relevant specialty applies), add a +5 bonus to reflect your accumulated clues (from the investigation roll, the mind scrutiny, and your mastery of matter), target 3 successes.
Alastor Campanella Yumyumcrow Cross

[Campanella]

Campanella stood to one side, secure against the gallery's security while the wave of emotions percolated around him. The Moros emitted a doleful sigh and carefully raised a hand to massage his temple and forehead.

"I think my art world colleague is dead. And I firmly doubt he died well. In fact I don't think he was much of art dealer at all; that must surely have been a cover and side-line for where he really made his money. I don't see the fit right now; but he was involved. Probably silenced because he facilitated the movement of stolen goods."

The pulse was back, working on his jaw. With effort he unclenched his teeth.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-30 19:22:17		Campy to put things together rolls 15 to Intelligence + Academics + Specialty (Art History) + bonus (10 Again, WillPower)		4, 10, 9, 3, 5, 10, 7, 9, 9, 5, 5, 5, 3, 2, 7, 5, 8		6 successes

Please note I have used Campanella's Art History speciality in the roll

[Vincent]

Inside the Gallery

For those mapping the art world, reputation is a glistening edge, either gilded currency or the tip of the spear, in other words, you live and die by it. Accusing a colleague of misdemeanor, or worse, felony, would be unwise. It would be tantamount to slander, that's it... if the Moros hadn't witnessed what he had just seen.
But stuck between the various prints, monochrome canvas and the handful of polished steel installations on the side, the Moros is awash in realization.
First of all, they are all minor works. It's an important detail, as smaller names are harder to catalog and to track, it's exactly this kind of pieces that are the easiest to authenticate.
Second, this kind of operation wouldn't have worked without the cooperation of the acquirer. The insurance companies - really - were the victims of the scam, furthermore the conspiration likely ran much deeper than that, some insurance purveyors had to be in cohort with the perpetrators for everything to work smoothly. Sell forgeries, authenticate and insure them, and then file an insurance claim after the pieces have mysteriously disappeared, it was a profitable enterprise.
Were the deceased Emily Eisenduller and her father involved? Had they stumbled upon something that wasn't quite like the forgery they expected? And what about the strangers they had just met outside?
Spurious evidence not truly actionable, but with the pieces he had collected in the deposit, it painted a less than edifying picture of his acquaintance.

[roll wits + composure or larceny to focus on the paintings, 1 suxx]
Furthermore, by merely staring at the canvas on the wall, the Moros will notice something more, how woefully inadequate the security of the locale truly is.
Alas the most damning proof comes from his Awakened scrutiny. The Hierarch is used to trudging for hours over his dusty tomes and rare collectibles, he recognizes authenticity when he sees it.
To the Awakened mind's eye, the art of appraisal is akin to the job of a geologist exploring different layers of sediments. True art has inspired countless people, thoughts, emotion, hundreds of sparks being ignited over the years. It's in the smell, different breadths and flavors of resonance versus the aseptic of the freshly minted forgery. A Chianti aged in a chestnut casket just tastes different from your artificially flavored grape-juice. Going further, if Leonardo's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci at the National Gallery of Art in Washington would summon the image of a torrent, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome would possess the strength of the ocean, the pieces he was being confronted with right now were nothing than the trickle of water in a kitchen tap.
Fake, all of it.

Inside the deposit

The backslash hits Alastor with the strength of a luxury sedan being rammed by a SUV. But the Arrow keeps going.
A coppery smell assaults his nostril, it's a poorly lit room. On the floor he can see them, strange signs, smeared in blood. He's not entirely sure , but it might be a bedroom. Sweet is replaced by pungent, and his window shutsdown.

Next, he examines the boxes.
His arms plunge elbow deep inside one of the open crates, sending a handful of Styrofoam balls on the floor. The boxes are big, as if they were supposed to carry something heavy, solid. A statue, maybe? A thud announces his hands have met the wooden boards of the bottom of the crate way too early than he had anticipated by looking at the outside of the box. His fists grasp at something.
Pulling out, he realizes it's just a small idol of crete, something that could comfortably fit a cardboard shoe-box. His spatial perception is near perfect, something must be amiss.

What do you do with the boxes?

[Campanella]

Campanella coughed. He thrust his hands deep in his pockets and hunched in his coat as he started clocking, one by one, the spaces where there should have been security measures. He roamed - carefully still, let us not fall into bad habits - and grunted with ever increasing sourness at the artwork on display.

Quite suddenly the Moros decided he did not really need to view the art dealers body; that it was some inconsequential. His eyes fell on the locked front door, where the remnants of a portal spell hovered in the ether, slowly unravelling and returning to the ambient mana from which it had been woven.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-04-05 03:50:31		Campanella to know nefarious deeds rolls 5 to Wits + Larceny (10 Again)		6, 4, 7, 9, 1		1 success

"Its a scam," he announced at last, loud enough for the Arrow to hear.

The Moros returned to the deposit, ironing out the pulse at his jaw.

"Its a scam of some kind. See - my colleague was trafficking in unknown artists and middling talents. It would be much easier to make forgeries of their work and slip them into circulation and just as easy to manipulate sales and insurance due to the obscurity of the works. He'd have needed help, of course. Either insiders working in the insurance industry, owners willing to flip their possessions for quick cash, criminal friends to organise the robbery and equally grubby fences. Given how appearances stand I would suggest he was part of a forgery or scamming ring."

He stopped in the deposit and continued speaking, droning on while Alastor started digging through the boxes.

"I venture two hypotheses. One: that either my art dealer friend or someone else in the ring got greedy. Tensions rise and for whatever reason young James was singled out as an example. Our Awakened interlopers were involved in the ring and they were either party to what occurred or else came by later and found the grizzly work complete. They leave. Doesn't have a ring of truth to it, does it?"

"That leaves option two, which is more disquieting. James has his smuggling ring. They do a good trade in forged artworks. Quite unintentionally, something of rare and important value falls into James' hands. Let us assume for argument's sake that he happily takes the opportunity to draw me in when I call upon him hoping to get some clarity on the theft of the Eisenduller painting. And of course, before I can get to him, a third party silences him and makes off with the painting. Those other mages we met were also looking for the paining; they get her before us but find the evidence snatched away, so they leave by the front door and disappear into the night. And bump into us."

"I'm still not understanding how Eurydice came upon the USB stick in the first place, or where my visions and all of that spell work fits into this picture."

Alastor had found something.

"Hello? What is this?"

Campanella joined the Arrow, standing over the box.