Leo followed his niece over to where the professor stood and introduced himself as well. "And I am Doctor Leonardo Elias - Rosalie's uncle. I'm afraid my training is medical rather than academic - I'm mostly here out of general curiosity and to accompany my niece."

Armistead looked up from his notes, smiling warmly at Rosalie and Leo. "Most certainly, Miss Elias. Doctor. A pleasure to meet you both." He waved at the stack of papers on the lectern. "Please forgive my distraction. I'm off tomorrow on a lecture tour. My first, I'm afraid. New York is among my destinations. I'm just making certain every thing is in order. I was very much a field man until about two years ago. So I'm still trying to adjust to academic life, with limited success quite honestly."

He frowned slightly."Elias. If I might ask, are you any relation to the late Jackson Elias?"

Leo smiled thinly at the question and nodded. "He was my son, yes. And Rosalie's cousin."

Armistead nodded. "I am so very sorry for your loss."

"Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet Jackson, but I have been a great admirer of his work for many years. His willingness to venture to relatively unexplored locales, to engage indigenous people that most shunned...well, let's just say I appreciated and envied his courage. I thought him an impeccable researcher. He did much to shed light on some of the dark corners of the world. He will be sorely missed."

"My apologies. Archaeologists tend to prattle. One of the hazards of the profession, I'm afraid. What questions might I help you with?"

Bo hangs back by the door to the lecture room, keeping to one side of the opening and in the shadows.

Leo would let his niece ask the difficult questions. But one came immediately to mind. "Have you ever heard of or encountered information pertaining to a group known as the Brotherhood of the Black Pharoah? My son was apparently doing some research on them for his next book and I'm curious about what they might be about."

OOC: If needed - 12:59, Today: Dr. Leonardo Elias rolled 24 using 1d100 with rolls of 24.  Psychology (78).

Armistead frowned. "I have encountered mention of this Brotherhood before, Doctor, in some of the research that I've conducted. But, I fear I don't have a great deal of information to provide you."

"Please understand, my research, and many of the digs I conducted, were aimed at answering questions about common spiritual and funerary practices of the Ancient Egyptians. To help better reconstruct the traditions of that time. This Brotherhood seems to have been well outside the accepted religious beliefs of the period. What little information I've stumbled across suggests that they were decidedly, well, non-Egyptian in the faith that they pursued. To be frank, what I have read seems to be more in the realm of conjecture than fact. I've no doubt that they existed, but their specific tenants seem lost to history."

"The one thing that is consistent in accounts of the Brotherhood is the figure they venerated. It was called Nophru Ka, or the Black Pharaoh. I don't know anything of this presumed deity beyond its name. Mention of it does not appear in any of the sacred texts, such as The Book of the Dead, and the name does not, to my knowledge, correspond with any Pharaoh or other prominent leader of the time. So, like the Brotherhood itself, this...god and its origins are a mystery."

Leo nodded at the response. "Were there ever any mentions of the Brotherhood in terms of causing trouble for the living? Murdering other Egyptians for example?"

Armistead pursed his lips. "From what little I know, it seems that some accounts tied them to a variety of terrible acts, murder among them. The problem is, Doctor, all of those stories have something of a third hand, anecdotal quality to them. There's nothing in any primary resource that I know of, such as any of the formal Pharaonic records, that mention their activities directly or records anyone associated with the cult being punished for some kind of misdeed. They were assuredly feared in their time, but unfortunately what we know of them falls more in the realm of rumor and folklore, as opposed to any kind of historical evidence that could be considered reliable."

Leo nodded at the response from the archaeologist. "Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Do you have anything further, Rosalie?" Leo looked over at his niece to see if she might have any more questions to pose.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Wed 11 May 2016.

She shook her head.  "No, Uncle.  Thank you for your time, Professor.  I do hope you enjoy your time in New York."

Armistead smiled warmly. "Of course. I only wish I could have been of more help with your inquiries."

Nodding, he added, "I appreciate that Miss Elias. I confess I haven't spent much time there. I'm eager to explore a bit of the city."

"I hope your time in London is fruitful." Gathering the last of his papers, he took his leave.

Once they were done visiting with Professor Armistead, they followed the directions the docent had given them to a section on African artifacts, which featured an assortment of them broken down by the different regions of Africa. Moving to the East Africa section, they find various artifacts labeled under different regional headers of Kenya, Tanganyika, Ruanda-Urundi, and Uganda. They found masks, articles of clothing, photographs, bits of jewelry, knives and other tools, large containers that were hollowed out of gourds, and statuettes from the area.

Again, Bo keeps his distance from the others, seemingly absorbed in a nearby display case, using its glass front as a mirror to observe the room for any watchers.

Leo looked over the artifacts, though mostly waited to see if Rosie found anything interesting or useful. He did look to see if any of the artifacts resembled anything that had picked up during their work in New York. They had already collected several artifacts of one sort or another, particularly from that cult. Maybe this museum had stumbled upon something else of importance to their work.

OOC:

Feel free to make Anthropology, Archaeology, and/or Occult rolls.

OOC:

That's a bundle of fail, unless I can switch the order of the rolls and move the 16 over to Occult...

Or unless there's any kind of bonus to the roll....

09:56, Today: Dr. Leonardo Elias rolled 16 using 1d100 with rolls of 16.  Archaeology (01).
09:56, Today: Dr. Leonardo Elias rolled 81 using 1d100 with rolls of 81.  Anthropology (05).
09:55, Today: Dr. Leonardo Elias rolled 72 using 1d100 with rolls of 72.  Occult (29).

Leo could only think, Oooooo, pretty... and how glad he was that his niece was here. None of these things meant a damned thing to him.

Rosalie enjoyed museums in general.  She did work for a couple of them, after all.  The past fascinated her.  As they wandered through the African exhibit, she found herself thinking of the places the artifacts had come from, who had touched them, and what they'd originally been used for.  As she so often did, she wondered what it would be like to travel back in time to see ancient cultures in their natural environments.  Though realistically, you'd probably end up being a tribal sacrifice to some god or another.  Better to stay in the present where such things don't happen all that often.  It was a nice thought, but it brought with it the grisly picture of the Juju House basement and a slew of slaughtered cultists.



I got a hit on my lowest skill -

Archeaology: 11

23:11, Today: Rosalie Elias rolled 89 using 1d100 with rolls of 89.  Occult (27).
23:11, Today: Rosalie Elias rolled 66 using 1d100 with rolls of 66.  Anthropology (65).
23:10, Today: Rosalie Elias rolled 11 using 1d100 with rolls of 11.  Archaeology (21).

Walter hardly looks at the exhibits, concentrating instead on anyone showing too much interest in Leo and Rosalie or who seems out of place.

[Walter rolled 59 for Spot Hidden 58% to pick out anyone suspicious.]
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Sun 15 May 2016.

Rosalie notes that the pieces on display are all authentic and traditional artifacts of the sort that would be on display at any museum. They don't seem to be at all esoteric or related to any unusual or occult traditions, but instead can be properly placed within historical context as related to cultures from the regions she's examining.

After browsing, she turned to Leo with a shrug.  "Nothing of note here that I can see.  Perhaps he was only mentioning it in response to our queries about artifacts from other regions in Africa?  In any case, I think we should probably head out and meet up with the others."  She threw a glance at Walter and mock whispered.  "I think he's bored."

Leo nodded. "Entirely possible, though we had to follow the lead even if it ended as a fruitless endeavor. Let's be off to meet the others."

Leo allowed Rosalie to set the pace, and walked with her back toward the entrance. It was time to meet the others at the Blue Pyramid.

As they near the entrance to the Museum, with the crowds thick around them, Walter sidles up to Leo and says quietly, "I got to hit the head. I... may be in there a while. You go on ahead and I'll catch you up."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Wed 18 May 2016.

PM:

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This message was last edited by the GM at 12:51, Sat 21 May 2016.

In reply to The Keeper (msg # 35):