In reply to Walter 'Bo' Brandon (msg # 73):

"That works. Let me grab a few things from my room." Bishop said. If they were hiring a car they would have no issuegoing heeled.

Moretti nodded in response to Cotton's suggestion. "You're right. Showing up two days in a row shouldn't attract any unwanted attention. I'm sure the Pyramid gets plenty of return business from customers who have fallen under the spell of one dancer or another. Worst case, we can go in there to find her but, as you said, I'd like keep our faces as unfamiliar as possible at the place. With a truckload of the Brotherhood gathering there once a month, someone that works there is aware of the cult, and is cooperating with them, out of fear if nothing else."

"Yes," he answered when Cotton asked if he was ready to depart. Before leaving, he gathered any items that weren't needed for the Museum and secured them in his room.

In reply to Stanley Bishop (msg # 75):

Bo was waiting by the elevator when Stan came out of his room. They ride down together to inquire with the concierge about hiring a car.

"Take care," she said to those departing, quite seriously.  They all knew how dangerous this investigation had already been, so she knew they would take precautions to protect themselves, but she couldn't help but worry.

Once the others had gone, she turned to her uncle and Millicent.  "I would be very happy of your company at the museum.  I could use your researching skills, Uncle.  You always seem to have a knack for finding what you need in a library."

 Millicent watched the men get prepared to leave, then wished them well. "Good luck and for heaven's sake, be careful; and if you do get to see Zubaida Tommy, well just be your suave self." she gave a wink at him, showing a little of her old self.

 Afterwards, Millicent stood with the Doctor and Rosalie and gave a nod when the other woman asked for Millicent to join her.

 "That sounds like a fine idea, it will be a nice change of pace from bar hopping and sneaking around shops;" she said in light jest. "I mean it's not like anything bad would happen there right?" I'm sure there probably something I could help you with; and maybe I could talk with Dr. Elias more about what happened to me."

Just be your suave self.
Despite himself the young reporter blushed. He was far from suave, but Millie's words were a welcome boost. A little bashfully he responded with false bravado; "Obviously! Zubes will be putty in my hands.".
Trying to show he wasn't tooooo flustered he smiled earnestly to soften the mood. moreover, as the group dispersed...Bo and Bishop walking away, Tommy almost awkwardly lingered by the red head. His youthful bravado was replaced by halting concern.

"I'm glad you are ok Millicent.". Tommy confided awkwardly, lowering his eyes. "Good luck today. Hopefully this time tomorrow we can reminisce over a beer.".

Seeing Vincent stir the younger man cleared his throat.
"Shall we adjourn Mr Moretti?".

Stanley had hesitated to leave Rosalie. He wanted to be with her to keep her safe, but knew that the best way to keep her safe was to find the men behind the killings in London before they discovered their dead accomplice and followed the clues back to the group. Before leaving Stanley looked at Rosie, smiled and tipped his hat.

Stopping off in his room, Bishop picked up the weapons he had gotten through customs as well as a few extra shells. If there was trouble Bishop and Bo would be armed.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Thu 29 Sept 2016.

"Sure," Moretti answered.

When they well out of earshot from Leo's room, Moretti grinned mischievously and said, "I think I've had you pegged wrong, Mr. Cotton. Last night, I was convinced that you were completely entranced by the exotic young lady we rendezvoused with at the pub. Now, I'm thinking that your feelings are leading you in a more...Irish direction."

Leo nodded at his niece's suggestion - he did enjoy libraries. "Yes, I have spent a lot of time around stacks of books, Rosie. Perhaps we can turn up something helpful beyond your planned research."

His gaze moved over to Millicent, though his eyebrows inched upwards when she proclaimed the library safe. He had stopped considering anyplace safe, but that didn't mean he couldn't reassure her. "Nothing bad should happen there. But that doesn't mean we should let our guard down. And I'd be happy to discuss what happened to you." He was looking forward to it - perhaps it would provide some insight into the cult they now faced.

As the others got ready to depart, he gave them a thin smile. "Have a care, fellows. Don't take unnecessary risks."

Once the other men had departed, Leo looked at the ladies. "Shall we be off then?"

In reply to Stanley Bishop (msg # 81):

Bo looks doubtfully at the pistols, shaking his head.

"Stanley, you are a rascal.

"Really think it's a good idea when we don't really need to anticipate violence? Not sure I'm anxious to see the inside of a British gaol."

"I always anticipate the possibility of violence." Bishop replied. There was no menace in his tone, just the certainty of a man who had spent the last decade dealing with problems using physical trauma as lever to achieve his goals.

"Since we have an automobile of our own we can stash the in the car, but at least they will be at hand if needed." Bishop added.

"If Scotland Yard had any idea what they might be facing they would arm every man, woman and child in England."

When the car had arrived, and they had been handed the keys Bishop looked "You up to drive?"

OOC Not sure what kind of driver Bo is, though I Bishop would know.

In reply to Stanley Bishop (msg # 85):

Bo shrugs as Stan pockets the pistol.

"Sure, I'll take the wheel." Though not a professional wheelman by any means, Bo knows he's a cut above the average mug.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Fri 30 Sept 2016.

 Millicent gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you're right Doctor, just still recovering from all the craziness last night; puts a girl a little on edge you know. And that sounds grand, maybe talking about it will help me work it ll out and get some better sleep."

 Getting her coat, Milly got ready and moved over tot the door, she was looking forward to the ambiance of a nice, quiet museum. "I'm ready, lets go see what we can dig up, eh?" 

By the time the others had made their departures, Dr. Elias, Rosalie, and Millicent were ready to be underway. It was easy enough to get a cab from the hotel, taking them right to the British Museum again, where they made for the Reading Room. 

---

OOC: Rosalie, give me a Library u

Leo mostly made small talk while they were in the cab, as one never knew who the cabbie really was.

Once they made their way to the museum, Leo first checked with Rosie to see if she needed any help. "Rosie, let me know if you could use help finding anything. Once you've settled in, I'd like to chat a bit more with Millicent about last evening."

The museum felt like home.  Rosalie loved England, London especially, and spending time in her birthplace was a real treat.  How often had her father taken her to the various museums in town?  The library within the British Museum was vast and had several departments dedicated to various eras in history.  Mentally noting which she'd need to visit, Rosalie set up a research station for herself at the polished table and gave her uncle a nod.

"I certainly will, Uncle.  It might take me some time to find the references I need, so you two should have plenty of time to talk things over."  She threw Millicent a pitying look and gave her a squeeze on the arm.  "I will see the two of you in a bit."

Leaving them to their discussion, Rosalie ventured off into the stacks in search of books that might help her translations.  The books here were well cared for and the shelves dust free.  Whoever was in charge of building the library took great pains to keep it tidy.


19:23, Today: Rosalie Elias rolled 4 using 1d100 with rolls of 4.  Library Use (25).

BLAM!

  Millicent gave Rosalie a warm smile and said, "thank you, I'm sure Dr. Elias will be able to help me, good luck with your research."

  Watching her leave, Millicent then turned to the good Doctor. "Well, now's as good a time as any, right?" She gave a look around; "where's a good place to do this," she said in a voice that betrayed a  little bit of nervousness.

Rosalie's research was productive and efficient. While it was easy to get lost in the Reading Room's library, her searches tended to hit right at the source, yielding her the best materials on ancient languages that the library had to offer. The sole source for translating Cuneiform translated to German, and combined with an English-German dictionary, she knew she had what she needed on hand to make the translations of the markings on the back of the mirror that Vincent had found in the spice shop and copied down for her. Additionally, her existing expertise in hieroglyphics combined with the sources that she found gave her confidence that she would be able to tackle the scroll as well, and rather quickly at that.

Leo looked around to see if anyone was close by, then indicated that they should stay put. "I'd like to an eye on Rosie, and we're fairly well secluded here. Why don't you start by telling me what led up to the incident? Bring us back to where you were and how you were feeling."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:17, Tue 18 Oct 2016.

  Taking a seat near where Rosalie was working, Millicent thought for a moment on Dr. Elias's words than started speaking.

  "Well Doctor, we were in the spice shop on the upper floor searching for... well anything interesting. That's when the owner..., well I assume the owner came back and was downstairs. Having nowhere else to go, we quickly entered the bedroom and set a trap to hopefully subdue him and buy some time to escape." She stopped and backtracked her words.

   "Well make that the fellows did, I was busy searching for something that might help so did not see too much, more like heard. While searching a chest he came in, and there was a sound of pain. I turned to look and saw someone in the doorway pointing at me and mumbling something and then....then..." She stopped, licking her lips, a look of hesitation and pain crossing her face.

  "saw horrible images Doctor. I don't know what of, Buildings, of some kind, places so alien, but it was..was..too much and I guess I just blanked out, screaming according to the others though I really don't remember that part; Just when Tommy got me to stop."

  She finished and looked down to see that her hands had been working subconsciously, twisting a scarf she had taken off earlier. She looked back up at the Doctor.

  "Sounds crazy doesn't it? I mean how can people do hocus-pocus like that?"

Leo nodded as Millicent spoke of what she'd seen during their trip to the shop last evening. Her state of mind meant something. Or maybe it didn't - its not like he'd exactly dealt with this sort of thing before. Oh, he'd seen plenty of insanity. He had done a lot of research on patients who seemed to have lost their marbles, or were on their way to doing so. But this was different.

He shook his head when she said it sounded crazy. "I don't know how people do hocus-pocus exactly like what you describe...but there were some mentions of things, rituals and the like, in some of the stuff we've discovered. Roger Carlyle thought he'd discovered the ability to call forth powers exceeding what most of humanity believes to be possible."

He tapped a finger on the table as he thought. "And in some of the books I've been reading, there are rituals. One of them appears to be able to re-animate the body of the dead. So...let's just say I'm readjusting my understanding of what is truly possible. And if I readjust that from what I thought I knew...nothing you're saying sounds crazy. It sounds like we have a difficult and dangerous road ahead of us. And if you don't want to continue down this path with us, none of us will think ill of you. Every last one of us, well, I think you've heard what we've seen and what we are beginning to understand. So I assure you that you aren't crazy."

He paused and licked his top lip with the tip of his tongue as he considered. "Now, it sounds like you saw something, a vision of, what. A different reality? The future? Can think back to what you saw, or the image that was placed in your mind? It may be a vision of some importance as we attempt to unravel this mystery."

 Millicent listened to the Doctor's words then thought for a moment.

   "It would be so easy wouldn't it, to leave and all, all of this craziness behind. But," she said with a sad smile, "I don't think I would be too happy with that, knowing what was out there and wondering what is happening with you, with their plan, whatever it is. No Doctor Elias, I'm not going anywhere, foolish that it may sound. I came this far, I'll stick it out."

  Millicent sounded resolute, but a little worried too, then she continued.

  "I..I don't know if I can really describe what those images showed me; I wasn't quite in my right mind, if you know what I mean. Like I said, it was mainly places, buildings and such, rooms with odd angles, sometimes stars all around you; but everything felt so weird, it was very overwhelming."

Leo nodded at Millicent's response, glad that she was given the choice and decided to continue on, same as everyone else. It would be good for her psyche long-term, knowing that she hadn't been forced to stay. "I'm glad to hear that, your skills will be very helpful as we continue our investigation."

He went quiet as the woman described what she'd seen, at least in vague terms. He thought for a bit, then frowned briefly. "I'm not sure what to make of that, except that perhaps this fellow you ran into was trying to send frightening thoughts into your mind in order to cause you anguish. The places and things you saw, may exist. Or may be things that he imagined, or that deep down your mind knows would make you uneasy."

Leo paused. "Were there any living creatures in what you saw? Any words written anywhere?"

PM

  OOC: I'm sorry for taking so long, I didn't see someone had posted.

  Millicent thought for a moment and tried to remember. Her face contorted and she began breathing hard, her lip quivering. Then she closed her eyes and and shook her head in a negative response.

 "No, I'm sorry Doctor, try as I might I can't seem to really focus on anything. I...I can't really explain it. it's like I don't want to remember when I try too much to; maybe that's a good thing considering what that spell did to me? It might just make it worse."