Researching the Bismark(Mundane)

[Aurora]

After leaving the Bismark, she stopped by her loft to transfer some of the notes she took to another notebook. The names were kept, but some of the, words, needed to be well, reworded, for the safety or researching. In other words, she wanted to make them Sleeper safe just in case. Things about Spirit Courts and all that was safer tucked away in her Hallow than in her bag.

You just never know.

That done, she figures a good place to start was about the history of the Bismark over the years.

Mundane research was her first stop, then she would play with the spirit side of things.

Heading over to the public library, she knew they had a local history section, called the Sacramento Room. Not sure if it would have anything good and useful on the Bismark, but seemed like a good place to start, she puts her messenger bags down, takes out her notebooks, and begins to work.
ReubanBrightwood

[ReubanBrightwood]

To research in the public library please make an extended Intelligence + academics roll (Library card (+1), Internet connection (+1) Unusual topic (-1)

Each roll represents 30 minutes of research.

The target number is 1 suxx to get the most basic information. More Suxx gets more info and of course an E-Suxx gets the most.

You can of course use magic to help if you want (bearing in mind the public library is well a public place).

[Aurora]

18 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[07] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	2, 6, 4, 7, 1, 1, 4, 4	failure
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[06] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	10, 3, 10, 9, 3, 4, 1, 1, 5, 2	3 successes
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[05] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	2, 10, 2, 8, 4, 8, 2, 4, 10, 7	4 successes
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[04] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	6, 10, 4, 4, 2, 8, 6, 5, 1	2 successes
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[03] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	2, 5, 1, 8, 5, 2, 6, 4	1 success
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[02] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	2, 9, 2, 10, 4, 6, 10, 1, 1, 1	3 successes
2026-05-16 12:42:58	[01] Aurora rolls 8 to Research(Intel+Academ+libraCard(+1)+InternetCon(+1)-1UnusualTop) (10 Again)	8, 10, 3, 1, 9, 8, 5, 2, 10, 6	5 successes

[ReubanBrightwood]

Aurora spends the better part of four hours trawling through information both online and via the records of the public library. She knows the address that helps narrow down the field of searching, she knows the name of the building that had remained unchanged. And so it is not to difficult for the to access what is publicly known about the historical building.

Unsurprisingly there is no public mention of any tie to awakened life, or anything supernatural. And certain records are not a matter of public record and so would be missing from the libraries accounts, that is unfortunately the way of it. But Aurora is confident that what she had found is all there is to be known about the place from the sources she has employed.

She finds out that many many decades ago the first iteration of the Bismark was indeed a hotel! During the founding of the downtown area of the city in the 1850's. However when that business failed it due to a combination of the final crisis known as, The Panic in 1907, The building remained vacant for some time then construction work was employed to turn it into a department store which it remained during the 1910's and most of the 20's.

During time of finical hardship, the great depression, however that also failed over time and what followed was another period of sitting empty and more interior work to convert the building into office space during the urbanization of the city in the 1950's-1960's

This was short lived as during what is known as the great Sacramento revival in the late 1970's the building was reclaimed this was an era that focused on historical preservation and during this time the Bismark gained a heritage listing.

The building of today has been returned to a mix of it's earlier occupation combining luxury residential complex and apartments from the second floor and above while the first floor has been given over to a cafe and a parade of shops added a mix of retail to the buildings charm. The paper work and legislation to change class was made harder by the heritage status and great pains had to be taken to ensure no damage to the shell of it and remaining parts of the original build would occur, greatly lengthening the process and dramatically increasing the finances required to make it happen.

[Aurora]

The information she had been able to gather had been fascinating. The building had gone through more changes than she had expected.

And those changes, mainly to the inside of the building from what she read, would explain a lot of things. Mainly the spirits loss of the path they kept looking for. Had whoever made the changes done so with the distress of the spirits in mind? Knowing they had Courts there? It was hard to say this early in her research, but it was hard to dismiss the thought. One to look into later.

Is there any names, personal or company, associated with who owned the building, past or present?

[ReubanBrightwood]

Can Aurora make a check to remember something Intelligence + composure -5 (time elapsed)

The heritage buildings of the city are owned by a mix of mix of private, state, and municipal ownership but all are overseen by the City of Sacramento Preservation Commission. The current private owners of the property are listed as Located on the riverfront and owned by Monarch Alternative Capital an opportunistic credit and real estate manager with offices in New York, London, and West Palm Beach but evidently with reach far beyond those few cities.

[Aurora]

The name and cities were noted.

The owners being private wasn’t too surprising, not that she had any knowledge on how owning property worked. But seemed like a smart move. Though them being here in Sacramento caught her attention. That would take some digging, and she didn’t think she had the connections to find the names.

Not yet anyways. But it meant possibilities. Just not at this moment.

Looking at her notes and what she had, she wasn’t sure if there was much more she could get.
Mundane wise anyways.

If she heads back to her loft and shifts her focus to the spirit side of things, who knows what she could learn.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-05-20 11:18:33	Aurora rolls 2 to Remember Something?(Int+Comp)-5 (10 Again)	6, 2	failure

[ReubanBrightwood]

The version of history in her head is still a stark contrast to what is on the pages and websites and records in front of her, but reality is a lie, this is just another facet of that truth, one of so many lies. Yet the research does not spark anything p[articular in her memories be it from the time before or the investigation she embarked on after the time war changed everything.

But yes indeed there is only so far that mundane research can take a person, what is public and knowable has it's limits. Of course connections in the right places can open doors, as can magic. The truth.

Is Aurora moving back to her sanctum to begin magical investigations?

[Aurora]

Reality is a lie, but it gives her a starting point, and that was better than what she had, and what her memory gave her.

Closing her notebooks, filled now with mundane knowledge that will hopefully take her pursuits closer to the truth, she had more to do.

Would the spirits be helpful? Now that was a whole other matter in and of itself.

This slipped right by me. That would be next on the agenda, but there is the Shaman meeting going on atm.

[ReubanBrightwood]

The mysterium wing is currently free if that would work for your plans?