3e: Earth-47: The New Guardians Reboot (IC)

[Neo-Paladin]

---Arkham---

Lovecraft calmly listens to Hazid's explanation. " It is unusual for these people to be involved in occult crime. I had the...misfortune of meeting the group once before and besides causing mayhem by their mere presence, they did not express any interest in obtaining any arcane lore." Again, he motions you to follow, opening another door into a huge library filled with dusty old books from floor to ceiling. Another fire is burning in an antique fireplace near a set of chairs surrounding a table. " Please do sit. Of course, it is my duty to help you in obtaining these lost pages. Normally, I would suggest you leave this task to me and the other members of the Circle, but at this moment, they are all scattered across lands and dimensions."

---Prison---

The guard looks skeptical for a moment but does as he is told, punching a few buttons on the control panel next to the cell. With a dry clacking sound, the manacles open, releasing the mercenary, who elegantly lands on his feet, rubbing his wrists. " Thanks a lot, dearest. Now, as for your question...apparently, each of us was contacted by another. My contact was a tall, willowy woman with whitish-blond hair and frantic eyes. She'd be no good in normal combat, her bodily equilibrium was completely untrained. A name I never got from her, unfortunately."

---LA----

Barlowe nods. " Of course. Follow me, please." As she steps towards the museum, waving away a few other officers and nosy reporters, she says, " Our biggest problem is that every single thing that could favour an intruder happened. They got in through the roof during a 5-minute blackout of this area. The camera overlooking the storage entry had a malfunction and the 10 minutes of the break-in are corrupted beyond anyone's ability to repair. Jonesfield, the guard on duty down there suddenly got the runs and, of course, forgot to call in a replacement from above. The only reason we know who did it was because an old lady looked out the window and saw five luchadores climbing into the Museum..."

[EPIC]

Valkyrie

"Oh, I gathered you wouldn't be GIVEN the name of your employer, and a smart mercenary doesn't ask questions...but a smart mercenary also knows his employer anyways. Surely a smart man like yourself must have pieced some idea together."

She pauses and frowns slightly. "Hmm...but I suppose a mercenary couldn't tell a couple of heroines THAT could he. Would be bad for his reputation I suppose. But no one could fault him for talking to himself out loud. After all he wouldn't be TELLING anyone...just thinking out loud." She smiles coyly, hoping the Brit was smart enough to pick up on the idea, and cooperative enough to slip at least a clue, assuming he knew anything at all...but she figured he looked smart enough he might have worked it out himself.

[Evolución]

"Ic understand, what would thou need from us?" Hazid asks.

[Zen_Gypsy]

Jack Vandal / Apex
Hero Points: One.
Condition: Disconcerted.

The camera overlooking the storage entry had a malfunction and the 10 minutes of the break-in are corrupted beyond anyone's ability to repair.

Jack's heart sunk a little at the Detective's comments. Electronics were inherently sensitive, and a metahuman's ability to manipulate a luck, or probability field, would most likely fry the devices past any salvageable state.

"Well Detective, we better let Timber Wolf do his thing. I can take a look at the hard drive, but if I can salvage anything, I am probably going to need to take it to a lab and take it apart. Assuming we have jurisdiction. So lets see what he can make out of the physical evidence." Jack shrugged and looked to the nervous police at their vehicles. "Or I could stay out here, and try to talk Kerberos down if he shows up."

[Walking Dad]

Gloom
Character Sheet - HP: 2 - Cond: normal

Gloom followed silently around for know, arcane matters better handled by his older peer. But some questions remained unasked:"We are not sure this group acted on its own. Are the pages they have stolen powerful and informative on their own, or would they supplement other editions of this dread book. In the later case, which editions and how common are they?"

[Shock]

Trissa
HP: 1 LP: 0

Trissa sighed as Valkyrie talked. It was very possible that this sort of verbal dance was necessary but that didn't make her like it any better. The mere fact that the man was a mercenary meant he had little honor to begin with. Why he'd be concerned with protecting an employer that used him as a throwaway pawn, she couldn't guess. Best to just let Valkyrie keep him talking as long as she could keep it up.

[timothy]

TimberWolf
HP - 1
Condition - Thinking out loud...

"I'm going to need to start at the roof, I think. Follow the trail, see what they did and how.

"These guys don't seem high-tech savvy to me and luchadore masks are easy enough to get ahold of. If the Hermanos are involved, which I'm not entirely certain about yet, they either had someone helping them or were being used as patsies."

He turns suddenly to Det. Barlowe.

"Could someone take me to the roof, please. I'll need a route that doesn't intersect with the assumed route used by the thieves, though.

"Jack, if Kerberos shows up and isn't wanting to play nicely, give me a holler, 'kay?"

[Zen_Gypsy]

Jack Vandal / Apex
Hero Points: One.
Condition: Wary.

Jack turned and nodded to Timberwolf. "If he shows up and doesn't play nice, you can bet your duster you'll hear some yelling." With that Jack slowly turned and paced towards the circle of cruisers at the museum entrance, the aroma of coffee making him wish he hadn't agreed to take the gut punch 'porter.

Yelling. Hur. Hur.

Shush you.

[Neo-Paladin]

---Prison---

" That mercenary might even remember that he got a very very bad vibe off his contact. Maybe he could even go as far as think that he never saw the Hyena spooked before...until he brought up their common employer...And he could even remember that Hyena mentioned that his contact stank of dark magic", the Brit muses to 'himself'...

----Arkham---

" These pages contain only one spell, but that one is hinted at in any edition of the book that I know of. To use it, one would have to have read an edition. To try and use it otherwise would simply be gravest folly", Lovecraft explains carefully, " but someone with knowledge gleaned from reading the dread tome could use the spell to disastrous ends, for it would allow a mortal to merge with one of the Outsiders."

Expertise(Magic) or Expertise (Cosmology) please

---LA-----

Barlowe nods and quickly grants each of you an escort.

Jack is paired with a young, pretty officer by the name of Hensley. She is quite obviously nervous but tries her best to keep it under control. " Mr...Vandal, was it? Detective Barlowe said you needed help...what do you want to see?"

Wolf is led up to the roof by way of the emergency stairs on the back of the museum by a grizzled police veteran named Keene. " This is where they got in...quite simple, actually. Just waited for the blackout and then climbed down...", he says, pointing at an obvious open ceiling window.

[Evolución]

"Hmm" the wizard seems thoughtful.

I'll take 10 on that for a 22.

[Shock]

Trissa
HP: 1 LP: 0

Trissa ground her teeth in impatience. "That mercenary might want to consider that he'll end up chained to the wall again if he doesn't give us some useful information."

[timothy]

TimberWolf
HP - 1
Condition - having fun

"Excellent.

"I'm going to be working the area and following the trail to the vault. I'd appreciate if you could come along to help answer any questions I might have. Just stay behind me please."

He flashes Keene a quick, lop-sided grin.

"Come along, Detective. The game is afoot..."

skill mastery + investigation 15 should be sufficient for a thorough search and gathering of evidence. will take the full amount of time because a) he's thorough and b) this is his idea of fun...

[Zen_Gypsy]

Jack Vandal / Apex
Hero Points: One.
Condition: Computer repair time!

" Mr...Vandal, was it? Detective Barlowe said you needed help...what do you want to see?"

Jack turned and looked at the young officer inquisitively. Quietly pondering whether his reputation preceded him, or if she was just nervous dealing with the current situation. "Jack's just fine Officer. I'm kind of ... a computer nerd, so I was thinking of poking around and seeing if I could recover images, or footage from the security hard drive."

He gave the officer what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Or we could wait around to see if Kerberos shows up, I've got a friend that wouldn't mind talking to him."

Not friend, he call Apex big dumb guy.

Apex, you *are* a big dumb guy.

Apex knows, but why he gotta remind me? Hey ....

[EPIC]

Valkyrie

Valkyrie turns towards Trissa and pulls her aside. "I figure this method must be frustrating for you...but he did tell us something useful. Have you ever heard of Hyena being spooked by anything? I haven't. By all accounts, he's utterly fearless. I don't really want to meet whatever got him spooked, but from what I gather, we may end up doing just that."

"Based on what I know, as feral as Hyena is, he's also very intelligent. But thanks to his animal senses...well...you know how they say animals can sense evil? It sounds like just that.. and this dark magic that spooked him. I mean, there is a lot of dark magic...but dark enough to spook a supposedly fearless beast-man? I'm thinking outsider...do you think T.E.O. might know something about them?"

[Shock]

Trissa
HP: 1 LP: 0

"I could not guess at what might scare that animal or what The Enlightened One might know about it." Trissa paused for a second, pushing her impatience aside. "However, you do have a point. The information is useful, however minimally. Seeing as how you're better at this, perhaps you should continue your line of inquiry."