This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
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Presence
New Identity Clayton Jordan Carter
Obfuscate 2 Mask of Tranquility
Occultation (Vampire)
Dirt Nap in rat form keeps working and gnawing at the wiring, determined to take out the lighting to a wide enough area to cover any shenanigan's required.
I am not sure when enough time will have passed to account for the extended action he already rolled. I think he is still committed and not yet done and thus not yet caught up and free to act with the others?
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Mable was oblivious that the man had spoken to her, she had assumed he was speaking to Twist. However, she followed the others in. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and gave it a shake activating the flashlight. She shines it onto the rolled up painting. "Have you been painting long?" She asks gently, trying to put the man at ease.
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"Indeed?" Edward wasn't sure how much Twist had been told, but that could wait. He moved at Twist's direction.
For the most part, Edward ignored the Kine. Only bothering to fully acknowledge Small at the end of his nervous mutterings.
"No matter, Mr. Small. There is light enough." Edward directed blood to his eyes, bringing the dark into easy view, "all art to be shown is now present, I presume? We shall make a sweep, to ensure there are no other objectionable items, before taking that canvas off your hands." He didn't take a close look at the painting. Edward assumed Mable would say something if the painting were other than what they expected.
He turned to Twist, "unless, of course, you had something else in mind, Ms. Torsione?"
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Dirt Nap - precisely. He's 2/3 of the way done now.
Mabel, Edward and Twist- The rolled up painting is concealed, and ought to be unfurled to see if it is the correct painting. Holding Small and Melanie until Twists post
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There was a bit of a grimace as Melanie noted a painting all rolled up and ready to go in Mr. Small's hands. "I'm going to go check on the guard." She suggested, her East Coast accent apparent. She pauses for a moment, looking to Twist. After the moment, she takes two steps backwards to not disrespect Twist by showing her back, then walking towards the guard's station.
"Yeah, I had some classical training. Then I found my own style." Rosario Small replies to Mable."I mostly paint what I see. That appeals to people. This was something that I saw, " He gestures with the rolled up painting. After listening to Edward, he extends the painting out to Edward.
"My friend Simone said I was to give this to you, quick like. This," He gestures to the walls, too dark for him to see. "Is my current work. Please, look it over... if you can find a flashlight or something..."
His manner with Edward, Mable and Ms. Torsione is agreeable, for all the agitation and annoyance he had shown to Melanie.
One might remember that they have not asked Rosario for his account of the evening. If the gaurd stays out of earshot, one should be sure to follow up on that aspect of the investigation. That would be a Manipulation + Persuasion to convince him to talk. Taking the time to look over the paintings - and the portfolio bag by the chair - will take some time to search. Go ahead and start describing where your character is looking and how they search, and what subject they are looking for. It is a Wits + Investigation to search. If they are looking for the original sketch that they were shown by Simone, they should keep an eye out for pencil drawings. The Paintings on display are oil paintings. There is a bonus +1 for the pencil drawing if you describe looking for just that one in the search action.
Anyone sharpening their senses hears the sounds of a motor being cut outside. Mable, having completed Cruac devotion on Melanie earlier, can see that she is walking towards the guard station as she said. Suddenly, her gaze is directed out of the window. Two Caucasian men wearing expensive but outdated suits are looking around outside, turning their attention towards the building that the Kindred are in. One is blond and one has brown hair. Melanie acts quickly, stepping backwards into the dark area of the art display. This seems to keep her out of the awareness of the two men outside. Melanie and the gaurd are about 15 feet from the Kindred and Small. The art is on display in a room, meaning that those with Rosario do not see the arrival of the two men or Melanie. There is the exception for Mable and her use of Cruac, seeing what Melanie sees.
The gaurd towards his head towards Melanie questioningly. He is not alarmed by the well dressed men outside.
Dirt Nap has now completed with his task, and the building is cast into darkness...
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Presence
Striking Looks
Twist gave a neutrally pleasant smile to both Mr. Small and Melanie, neither designed to put Mr. Small at ease or to diminish the nod of respect Melanie had offered.
A glance up at the sudden darkness is all the acknowledgment she gives to the event before turning her attention to where Edward's voice had come from. A fact confirmed as Mable's phone brings some light to the situation.
"No- please proceed," she says as she smoothly reaches out to intercept the offered painting from Rosario, freeing Edward to proceed with his mentioned sweep.
Assuming Rosario allows Twist to take the painting and Edward Heinrich doesn't stop her ...
"Please bring the light over here," she murmurs to Mable Wood as she begins to unfurl the canvas.
"You said this was something you saw?" she says as her fingers work the canvas, her dark eyes glancing up to Rosario, encouraging him to speak with more than just her words.
4 successes
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Mable glances around the room then smiles sweetly at Mr. Small. "These paintings are beautiful. Are these all your work? I look forward to seeing this one. Can you tell us the story behind it?"
She then gets a slightly blank stare for a moment as she watches through Melanie's eyes. She hears Twists request and goes over with her light. She bumps into Twist lightly grabbing her arm briefly to catch her balance. She whisper's in Twist's ear, "two men outside look suspicious." Out loud she says, "Sorry, got dizzy for a sec."
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Presence
New Identity Clayton Jordan Carter
Obfuscate 2 Mask of Tranquility
Occultation (Vampire)
Having finally succeeded in gnawing through the wiring to take down all of the lighting, Dirt Nap still in rat form above the ceiling over the show room that formerly held the artist and his art, lets out a primal, rat scream that summons all rats to him from six hundred yards around!
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Edward decided to take the lack of an answer from Small as a "yes." He glanced down at the offered painting with a frown, about to ask if Small had he had listened when Twist took the painting.
Edward gave a small bow to Twist in reply to her indicating permission. His priority is are the paintings on display; the portfolio bag could wait. He carefully inspected each one of the displayed paintings for any other possible breaches.
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Edward sweeps over the paintings on display – they are oil paintings of various night scenes. Homeless people speaking quietly in doorways of darkened buildings, laughing young people departing Rhapsody and an old man smoking a cigarette are the better ones. He does not have time to check the portfolio bag for the pencil drawing that Simone showed the assembled when they met at Rosario’s apartment. Surely that pencil drawing needs to be found!
Rosario does allow Twist to accept the painting. His eyes widen slightly as Twist utilizes her family Gift. Rosario seems agreeable as he tells what happened.
“It happened early [two nights ago]. I was walking back from a night at Rapture to meet up with Simone, when I heard the sounds of fighting in the back alley. Normally I try to avoid it when the locals get rowdy, but something prompted me to take a quick peek. I saw a guy with red skin, like a lobster, biting on the neck of some homeless guy. The scene just seemed so surreal, so I pulled out my cell phone and took a couple of quick pictures. That’s what I do, right? I take pictures of local street scenes and paint them. Anyhow, I heard Simone call my name from down the block. The lobster guy looked up at me just then, and I decided to run. “I didn’t see Simone, but she must have run with me, because she was behind me by the time I ran back to my apartment. She made sure I was okay, and I told her I was tired. When she left, I looked at the pictures I took. I noticed that the lobster guy was really blurry in the shots, even though the homeless guy wasn’t. I didn’t want to forget what I saw, so I stayed up all night and most of the day painting the scene.”
As the painting is scrutinized, you see the half-finished picture of Mr. Kowalsic drinking the blood of a homeless person. Even though the picture isn’t completed, the level of detail on the depiction of Mr. Kowalsic and his victim is extremely realistic.
This is an immediate problem as the presence of a mortal – Michael the security guard about 15 feet away- makes this a dangerous threat to the Masquerade. In about thirty minutes, people are going to arrive for the showing. Already, you can hear the sounds of others being let in by Michael.
They wear black and white uniforms, some wheeling in carts containing small hors d’oeuvres. There is some confusion regarding the lights – some pull out their cell phones and use it as a flashlight. Michael gets on the radio to call someone from Maintenance.
Its when the door is still sliding shut that someone asks: “What’s that sound?” She’s a young Asian woman, petite and wearing her dark hair styled up off her collar. The three caterers with her turn, looking this way and that. For there is a definite confusion regarding a cry that they had overheard. One clever Black man glances upwards, towards where Dirt Nap has been working.
Yet before anyone can speak, the much more prevalent sounds of animals’ flood in. Not just the sounds – the pitter patter of little feet become the swarming, rolling mass of rats. They clamber out from the sewers, the streets and the little hidey holes all over this little area of Downtown. They all seem to need to be in this Gallery showing right now!
Michael makes a startled shout and helps another pull the front door closed. Its too late though, and rats have all sorts of little crawl spaces to come in. Mable, Edward, Twist and Rosario suddenly hear little sounds as the rats fall down from the ceiling, scurry along the dark floors. Dark, furry forms even brush against your legs and scurry over toes! The people are not having a good time out front!
Out by the front door where Melanie had quietly observed, the two men in suits had slid in with the chaos of rats. They give the rats nary a glance, occasionally even kicking a beast out of the way as they stride away from Michael the security guard. They direct powerful flashlight beams down the hallway and start walking towards the Gallery room. Mable can see that Melanie watches from her darkened observation point… and does nothing.
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