Case 2: Withered Old Man

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Jun 17, 2024 12:30 am
OOC:
I think that I would rather have them at one spot in force, and to guard the house. The Vault will likely have beefed up security after the most recent attacks, so they should be better off.

Girl at the library

Ironmonger42

Jun 17, 2024 2:32 am
Girl at the library
OOC:
Ok, the squad will call you if they spot anything. In the meantime, if you don't hear from they haven't spotted anything yet.
You head to the Lexicon library. It is a small library in a little ways out of downtime, around a few corners that make it feel a little hidden. The library itself seems small, but the walls are covered in books. You get this sense that the inside is somehow somewhat bitter than the outside would suggest, but you aren't sure if that is an optical illusion from how tall the bookshelves are and how far back they seem to go. As you enter, there doesn't appear to be anyone at the front desk. The only person you see is a college age girl who notices you come in and says, "Oh, not many people come here. You seem to be a group. I don't work here, but can I help you with anything?"
Jun 17, 2024 4:51 am
Ajay listened to the girl and then said, "What's your name? You come here always? Who runs the library?" He looked around the sombre ambiance of the library wondering where the nothic might be right now. Was it a mistake to come to Lexington library? This library seems so desolated and lonely that if something was to happen, no one would ever know. Which also makes this a very good target for attack.

Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 17, 2024 3:27 pm
Girl at Lexicon Library

The girl leans back as if startled a little. "That is a lot of questions. Are you police? Is something wrong?"
Jun 17, 2024 6:23 pm
Ajay smiled and said, "I am new to here; just want to know how it works here."
Jun 18, 2024 3:10 pm
Elizabeth laughed softly as the college-aged girl became startled at Ajay's line of questioning. She was right to jump to the police, it sounded like a line of investigation off the jump. Still, he had played off the remark well so she thought better than inserting herself into the situation. Questioning people was one source of information, but there were other means of finding out what they wanted to know as well. Feigning interest, Elizabeth glanced from wall to wall as if in marvel of the book collection.

"Amazing," she mumbled to herself and then casually drifted from the group to begin browsing through the various shelves. On the surface, it would seem like the simple enthusiasm of a scholar. In truth, Elizabeth was merely searching through the library for anything of note pertaining to the Nothic. If not the next target, it was possible the creature had already been there. If there was anything to learn from the girl, she was certain Ajay could work out the info from her.

Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 18, 2024 3:15 pm
Girl at Lexicon Library

"The name is Sofia. I come to this library frequently. It has some obscure books many don't even know to look for. The library is run by an old lady who isn't here right now. If i'm the only one here and I plan to stay a while, she'll sometimes entrust it to me while she runs a few errands. This place is lucky if it gets 3 visitors a day, let alone just me."
Jun 19, 2024 8:21 am
Ajay looked around and said, "So Sofia, what interests you? Can you tell me about the collection of books here? I don't want to sound insulting but given the condition where you handle most of the stuff, does the collection get updated frequently or is it like run mostly by donation. I don't mean to demean, I am merely interested."
Jun 19, 2024 1:49 pm
Seth also leaves Ajay to talk to the girl, as he knew that his own demeanor could be intimidating. He would listen in just in case the situation required him to show a badge, but he would join Elizabeth in feigning interest in the shelves while keeping an eye out for the Nothic.

Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 19, 2024 2:10 pm
Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

"It's mostly by donation. It I recall, that guy who died recently, Mr. Pennington I think, was the last one to make any substantial donations, and that was a little over a year ago. There might be the odd donation here or there of one book, though, but even they are only maybe one or two a month on a good month. I like obscure things, let's leave it at that." You get the sense that talking in more detail about what she likes won't just come out without some kind of convincing, if you care to dig deeper.

As for the others, you see books on the most random topics like obscure theories that likely aren't true but have not been disproven yet to historical periods and their more niche events that don't have much weight on the grand scheme of history itself. Despite this, the library has a lot of books, and there even appears to be a second floor, as well as a basement with a sign on it that says "For approved members only" and has an electronic card lock on it.
Jun 19, 2024 6:26 pm
Ajay started to walk with Sofia, "You know quite a lot about this place. Do you perhaps have any books on occult practices throughout the ages? I mean some kind of archival records perhaps. The news of Mr. Pennington's death is very sad. I didn't know he was related with this library. Also, have you seen any other person coming to library today?"

Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 19, 2024 8:10 pm
Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Sofie seems slightly more nervous after the question about occult practice books. "There might be such books here. Feel free to look around. As far as other people, other than the old lady who runs the place it has really been just me today so far. Are you looking for someone?"
Jun 20, 2024 8:51 am
Ajay raised his eyebrows at the sudden nervousness of Sofia. He looked directly at her eyes, "May be, May be not. But, when you are the only person here, I guess he hasn't arrived yet. Can you tell me where exactly is the occult's book section?"

Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 20, 2024 1:05 pm
Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Sofia's nervousness increases with the repeated mentioning of the occult book section. "This place isn't the best organized. You may just have to look around. I will be reading over there." She then goes to a small section with some plush chairs in a darker section of the building away from windows that has a lamp on a desk next to it. It seems like a cozy place to simply read for a while.
OOC:
What is everyone else doing? Seth isn't sure if it is lack of activity or not, but his scouts have not reported anything yet.
Jun 24, 2024 1:47 pm
Having finished with a walk around the library, Elizabeth made a path back to regroup with Seth. It appeared nothing out of the ordinary had occurred so far. Of course, that didn't specifically mean they were in the wrong place. Something about the basement being locked off had piqued her interest.

"Sure you saw it, but the basement is card locked," Elizabeth whispered to Seth in a low voice to try and avoid being overheard in the silence of the library, "Anything of occult importance is probably so old or rare that they'd want to keep access restricted. Not sure how far you want to push things here though..."

Elizabeth didn't want to overstep her bounds. A bit of magic could accomplish many things. Still, she knew both Seth and Ajay were quite accomplished themselves. Breaking into the basement, stealthily or not, would be an escalation of things and as the newest member to the team she didn't feel right making that choice for them.
Jun 24, 2024 2:06 pm
OOC:
In case it helps, here are some things you can do at the moment (not limits, but options):
- Try to get Sofia to say more (requires Manipulate Someone)
- Try to sneak into the basement (may require magic or act under pressure)
- Spend an hour or two just reading and seeing if anything comes up (may ask for a roll with no modifier, where failure wouldn't be any exp but also would just be a failure rather than a "turned against you" moment)
Jun 24, 2024 6:27 pm
OOC: @zatatmando,@Kharis Ajay can try to manipulate Sofia in trying to coax more information out of her. You can try to infiltrate to the restricted access.
Jun 26, 2024 7:40 pm
ok, for Ajay, what exactly is he asking her to do? what is the request he makes? And go ahead and roll Manipulate Someone, which is Charm by default.

As for Elizabeth and Seth, what method do you use to try to get past a locked door? Reminder that the door appears to need an electronic card, not a metal key. If you can think of a way to use magic, you can either roll Use Magic (though anything not on the default list would be big magic instead and might have requirements first), or if you have some way to hack the card reader you can roll Act Under Pressure.
Jun 27, 2024 7:06 am
Ajay will look at what books Sofia is reading. He will then try to comment about it's subject and then lure to the conversation towards occult again. "You know this place is big and I would rather not get lost and misplace books. As someone who is expert, can you suggest an archive of supernatural creatures? Perhaps, some book of records on magical creatures, real or imagined? You said that Mr. Pennington donated books here? He was also interested in occult? Perhaps you are interested in it, as well? Can you show me the books he donated most recently?"

Rolls

Manipulate someone - (2d6+1)

(36) + 1 = 10

Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Ironmonger42

Jun 27, 2024 12:40 pm
Sofia, Girl at Lexicon Library

Sofia looks around to see no one but Ajay is within ear shot. She then whispers, "I'm not sure if I should say this so I'll tell you this just once, but keep it between us. Mr. Pennington was someone who liked magic but could never really use much more than the absolute basics. Despite that, he collected a lot of actual magical tomes. Fearing that thief would break into his house and steal them, he donated the most interesting to this library under the requirement they be put in the restricted area, since the only way in is with a key card. There are plenty of books on the main floor about folklore and magic that won't actually work, but the real stuff is down there. I've been allowed to go down there, but I don't have my own key card just yet. The old lady would go down with me and let me stay for 30 minutes before we had to go back up so she could do other work."
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