Leo followed Stanley in to meet the others. "I found some very interesting information as well." He noted that Rosie was standing and appeared ready to leave. "Are you heading somewhere?"

Arriving at Columbia Tommy felt his heart beating faster than expected. With a glance at Bishop he offered his hand to Leo by way of introduction.
"Mr Elias? It is an honour to meet you.

Tommy cotton, New York times.".

He nodded to annabel politly, glancing North across campus to where his cartographic contact was housed.

Leo took the young man's hand in a firm handshake. "Doctor Leonardo Elias. It's nice to meet you Mister Cotton." Given that they were in a library, Leo didn't want to engage in too much chit-chat, but a little would be forgivable so long as he kept his voice low. "How long have you been with the Times?"

"My apologizes I forgot that you two did not meet this morning." Bishop said.

"Perhaps we could find someplace more private to talk. Tommy hear said he has a friend here that might be able to help us with some items we picked up."


OOC I thought we all left together. Sorry.

Surprised to see the entire crew had come to visit, Rosalie offered a smile.  "I'm very interested to hear what you all dug up.  We were just taking a little break for lunch.  Perhaps we can all talk over a nice meal."  She eyed Thomas.  "Glad to see you didn't strangle the reporter, Stanley.  Admirable show of restraint."

  Annabel gave a polite smile to Mr. Cotton as he introduced himself to Dr. Elias. He seemed nice enough. She watched as Rosalie and Walter came over to join them and tried to suppress a giggle at Rosalie's quip to Stanley but did not do a very good job of it.

  "Oh Rosalie, you read my mind, I am famished. Yes I do say our dear reporter was lucky indeed. Are you sure you want to hang around us Mr. Cotton? From what I have seen, it can be quite unexpected at times. Oh, you don't take pictures do you," she asked curious.

Bo extends his hand to the reporter: "Cotton? I'm Walter Brandon."

Formalities out of the way, he turns to the others. "There should be a couple places along Broadway below 116th, mostly Jewish delicatessens and such. Not a great place for quiet talk. Leo, you have any pull around here that would get us a meeting room?"

"Days still young Rosalie." Stanley said with a sober expression.

"Probably best we get a conference room and telephone for a delivery from a deli." Bishop added.

Leo gave a non-committal shrug to the question from Walter. "Possibly. Though it's been quite a few years since I walked these halls as a student, I have several friends among the faculty. I'll see what I can do. In the mean time, everyone should have a look at these notes. They are from Doctor Huston's files on Carlyle."

Leo left his notes with the rest of the investigators and then went to see about obtaining a room for their use.

OOC: Notes are contained in the Campaign Journal thread

Tommy smiled and eagerly shook Elias' hand.
"I've been with the Times a year or so sir. A new story every week; keeps things interesting.". He stepped back as the PI approached and spoke.

"Yes, as Mr Bishop says, I've had some contact with Dr Blake, somewhat of an expert on East Africa.". He gestured to the maps he carried. "We picked up these maps of the region and I figured my man might be able to tell us a thing or two.".

The group began to walk together as Leo led the search for a more private space. Tommy suppressed a chuckle as Rosa gently teased Stanley, and when Annabel chimed in he chuckled warmly. "Perhaps I am a little lucky. I confess I was fairly sure Mr Bishop was going to squash me this morning, but we've made friends since eh Bish?".

Seeing Leo looking for a room Tommy nodded to the left. "Not so long since I graduated chief. I'm a Columbian too". His youthful eyes twinkled happily. "I think if you head down there you'll bump in to one of the administrators offices, they might have a room we could borrow.".

Delighted to be meeting so many new faces, when Brandon reached out in greeting Tommy took his offered hand too. "Walter, great to meet you.".

A recent gradate of the university, Thomas is able to guide Leonardo to the appropriate staff members who are tasked with stewardship of the conference rooms, among other things. Usually reserved for students and current staff, the famous name and reputation of Dr. Elias is persuasive enough to open doors that wouldn't otherwise be open to the group, and they are able to secure a conference room, and a telephone through which to place lunch orders from a local deli.

Soon enough, they find themselves in a suitable conference room, awaiting an order of sandwiches that are on the way.

OOC:

10:30, Today: The Keeper, on behalf of Thomas Cotton, rolled 11 using 1d100 with rolls of 11. Knowledge.
10:26, Today: The Keeper, on behalf of Dr. Leonardo Elias, rolled 64 using 1d100 with rolls of 64. Credit Rating (75).

Leo nodded at Tommy's response and thanked him for pointing them in the right direction. The staff at Columbia tended to stick around for a while, but there were new faces mixed among the old. Leo did notice that the reporter didn't respond to Annabel's question about pictures. "Always nice to meet a fellow graduate of this fine institution. We're not such a fearsome bunch once you get to know us. Being secretive is mostly for safety - the people that we are interested in have shown willingness to kill anyone that gets too close to their trail. Including my son Jackson. So we appreciate you keeping this out of the news for time being. The day may come when that will change - it seemed that Jackson was convinced that writing a book to expose all he discovered would be a good idea."

Leo gestured toward Annabel. "Miss Ashcroft's question was a good one - are you an experienced photographer? I can imagine that being able to reference pictures could be quite useful."

He looked back and forth between Stanley and Thomas. "Now that we seem to have privacy, tell us about East Africa."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Mon 22 June 2015.

Tommy waited for the group to congregate in the room and for the helpful university staff to disappear down the adjacent corridor. While they waited he nodded to Elias.
"I understand sir. And yes, I've done a little photography in my time though its not my major.". He suppressed disappointment that it turned out Annabel wasn't looking for pictures of herself. That might have been a fun shoot. "But I'll do what I can to help.". He resisted the urge to ask about Jackson's book for now. The time for him to ask questions would come later.

When they were alone he carefully laid out the maps Bishop had purchased and ushered the others closer to examine.
"Mr Bishop and I had a busy morning visiting Poole, and a Mr Hargrove who I believe you all knew?". He glanced at the others to see if they recognized the name, and if they did he would continue with a shrug "Though it looked like the guy was outta town.

Anyways, we took a visit to see the widow of one of the previous victims. A bookseller in Brooklyn named Thurmond. When I spoke to the family when the murder first happened it didn't occur that there might be a link between Jackson and Thurmond. But since then...well Bishop asked her about a few specific connections.".
He gestured to the maps.
"Turns out Thurmond had developed an unusual obsession with maps. Maps of East Africa to be precise...and isnt that where the Carlyle expedition where killed?

So we came over here to see if we could do a little digging...".
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 17:46, Mon 22 June 2015.

"Thurmond was also caught up in the nightlife of Harlem at the time of his death." Bishop added.

"One more link to both the Carlyle Expedition and to Harlem. "
This message was last edited by the player at 02:36, Tue 23 June 2015.

"Right. You mentioned the Carlyle expedition before. They went some place in East Africa right? Were they part of whatever book Jackson was writing?".
Tommy's brow furrowed as he thought back to his interviews with the other victims families. "I don't remember any association to the Carlyles in the other cases though. Maybe it's a red herring. Have you investigated that lead much? My man Dr Blake might know a thing or two about it.".

"There are some things that will may never see print. At least for now this is one of them, if we are going to discuss these matters we will have your word to respect our wishes in that regard and refrain from writing about these matters. Do we have your agreement Mr Cotton?" Bishop asked.

The young reporter's expression turned solemn.
"Cards on the table time? Ok.
Sure, I'm a journalist. When these killings first began I'll freely admit my only interest was the story. But its more than that now. These aint a few one off murders. They are something different. And the last man who died...your son Doctor...well the fact we were both Columbia brought it home.".
He looked around the group gauging their reactions.
"I still want a story. But I'm starting to think the story aint murder. Its bigger than that.". He shrugged. "I dont want to lie to you. Africa, the Carlyle expedition, death cults in New York, thats page turning stuff. The sort of thing a reporter could make his name with. But journalism 101: dont burn your sources.".

There was an honest eagerness in his voice and he looked Leo in the eye.

"You have my word that I wont release a thing without your permission first.". The telling smile crept back.
"And right now in all honesty I have no idea what I'd write anyway. For better or worse until this thing is unraveled we share the same interests. Figure out what happened and get the perpetrator behind bars. We can talk story after that.".
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:30, Tue 23 June 2015.

"Well said, Mister Cotton," Rosalie said, glancing up from her uncle's notes.  "So long as you are a man of your word, I doubt any of us will have a problem.  You are correct in that this isn't just one incident, but an entire string of them that leads somewhere dangerous.  This is not simply an investigation.  It is very personal for us, and we simply will not tolerate anyone interfering with our efforts.  I hope that you shall be an asset for us.  Heaven knows that we can certainly use whatever help we can get."

Leo nodded at Thomas' indication that he wouldn't release anything without permission. "That will do. And as you say, the real trick is trying to figure out exactly what to write, anyway." He turned his attention to his niece as she spoke, nodding in agreement.

He then returned his attention back to Cotton. "The Carlyle expedition appeared to have been lost in Kenya. That and their previous visit to Egypt are the links we have to East Africa. So what did you discover in the maps of that region?"

There are ten maps that Tommy laid out in on the table with different views of different sections of Africa. The maps are all from different companies and to different scales. There are small 'X' markings on all of then where the Kenya Colony is, but none of them seem to match up. One of them in the margins says "Mountain of the Black Wind" in a  neat handwriting.

Bishop looked at Tommy "Perhaps you can call up your expert and have us meet us here to go over the maps or suggest a place and time."

Then back to the others "No real idea why he became obsessed with the maps."

Leo let out a low whistle as he read the neat handwriting. His finger stabbed at the notation. "Mountain of the Black Wind...wasn't that mentioned in one of Jackson's notes? The one about when he visited the massacre site?"

"Sure thing bish.".
Tommy slipped from the room, ears pricking up as the word massacre tugged at his attention. It nudged his memory, as he tried to recall what he knew of the expedition. But right now Leo was right. A little expertise from a regional expert wouldn't go amiss.

Glancing left and right to familiarise himself he wandered down the halls to the front desk. If he found a helpful member of the faculty he would politely ask to make an internal call, and see if his African contact might be free to meet.

"You can call me Stan or Bishop." Bishop said in reply to the moniker Cotton had used again.

Thomas managed to find his way to the right place and make the right inquiries and made contact with Dr. Blake, who with luck, happened to be headed to the library to conduct some research of his own. He agreed to meet them in the conference room in which they were located. In a few minutes, the door opened, admitting a kindly looking clean shaven older gentleman wearing thick black spectacles and a shaggy mop of white hair that sat behind an impressive expanse of forehead.

"Tommy! Good to see you. What does the Times have for me today?" He seemed to notice first the maps on the table as he took a seat, and then the others present in the room.

"Forgive me. I'm Dr. Howard Blake. I teach History and Anthropology here at the university."

OOC:

I used Thomas's ideas to locate the right place to use the phone, and Stanley's Luck (as it was one of the group's highest) to see if Blake was nearby.

09:48, Today: The Keeper, on behalf of Thomas Cotton, rolled 26 using 1d100 with rolls of 26. Idea (60).
09:46, Today: The Keeper, on behalf of Stanley Bishop, rolled 27 using 1d100 with rolls of 27. Luck (80).
This message was last edited by the player at 14:55, Thu 25 June 2015.