La Maison Soloumbre: Afternoon of April 10th

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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Buchvold turns to Brother Rocchea.

Now is as good a time as any. And I really need to know more infomation on the man.

"Excuse me, Brother Rocchea. With refards to Brother Perison's actions yesterday morning. Are you aware of what the man has been researching? I feel that that might be an explination of his... ecentric actions."
Last edited by Moral Machivelli on Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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[OOC: Actually, it was yesterday that Perrison handed out those slips, Moral. :wink: ]


The bard waits out the last of the questions, by all appearances having given up on following the gist of its obtuse wizardly shop-talk. A book, left in the study-carral by a previous reader -- touched only after a precautionary burst of mental snappishness to his secondhand sigil-ring, just to be on the safe side: tripping a member-keyed alarm-spell set in response to his previous raid would've been as embarassing as it would be, fatal! -- spares him from boredom, as the second lecture winds to a close. To his amusement, it's one he recollects tossing down into the Manoir's dining hall, himself: Mordenheim's Enigma Vitae, no less!

As the Rajian respectfully thanks his audience and the gathered attendees rise from their seats, the bard glances at a last anatomical diagram -- one that brings an involuntary grimace to his face; mere gruesomeness seldom affects him thus, but its graphic illustration of the musculature and tendons of the dissected human forearm makes his wrists twinge in sympathy -- then closes the cover. He glances again at the unidentified clerk-type he'd singled out for a word or two, then notes that Roeccha has been momentarily distracted ... by Buchvold, no less! Handy bit of timing, there; Crow briefly wonders if the Borcan did it intentionally.

(How fast was Buchvold learning, anyway? Would that constitute his mission's next complication?)

One chore at a time. The bard takes advantage of Roeccha's diversion, sets the anatomy-text aside and retrieves his guitar-case. He moves into the crowd, weaving through the knot of departing Brothers, and winds up 'coincidentally' exiting alongside the nondescript-seeming figure whose demeanor had struck his intuition as out-of-place, in a manner not easily quantified or described.

Crow walks alongside the man for a moment, while the crowd disperses and thins, then speaks up mildly:

"Pardon me, Brother --? Might you spare a moment?"

His voice's slight hesitancy after "Brother" plainly expresses a desire for a name by which to address the other man.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Rotipher wrote: Crow walks alongside the man for a moment, while the crowd disperses and thins, then speaks up mildly:

"Pardon me, Brother --? Might you spare a moment?"

His voice's slight hesitancy after "Brother" plainly expresses a desire for a name by which to address the other man.
The other Brother--a rather worn-looking man, perhaps in his mid-forties, with longish dark hair and a weak chin--looks at Crow slightly askance, taking in his guitar-case and youthful appearance quickly. His reaction is as clear as good glass to Crow's people-reading perception--the brother is about to opt for "overtly polite, covertly supercilious".

"Brother Magnus Wolfsbane, at your service," he replies, with a professional-courtesy smile. "And you are...?"
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Moral Machivelli wrote:Buchvold turns to Brother Rocchea.

Now is as good a time as any. And I really need to know more infomation on the man.

"Excuse me, Brother Rocchea. With refards to Brother Perison's actions yesterday morning. Are you aware of what the man has been researching? I feel that that might be an explination of his... ecentric actions."
"I don't think he researches anything," Roeccha replies grimly, his eyes following Crow for a moment as he leaves with Brother Wolfsbane. "I believe his actions are eccentric, as you say, and quite without any external referent."

Returning his attention to the Borcan, the darkling raises a sardonic eyebrow and says, "Why do you ask?"
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"I was unaware of where he comes from. I thaught it possible that he maight have been located in Darkon, in which case, you would of cource have at least some idea of what he is researching."

"But that is not what you ment. Assuming you mean "Why am I asking in the first place, the reason is simple, when you consider what his activities were... and just how accurate."

"Almost every man here will cry outrage at me for surgesting it, but I found his work... somewhat correct. On the first three points certianly, and the over two I have no knoladge of."

"What about you Brother? How did you find his little sets of 5?"
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Roeccha snorts. "How hard can it be for a poseur to invent an impressive fortune? If you really insist on wasting your time on games of this sort, Buchvold, you'll need much more than the help of de Casteelle to come forward in the Fraternity. Stick to your manufacturing; you seem to have a certain aptitude for things of that sort. The trick with the crystal was fairly impressive, although you'd better be careful; those are deep waters indeed you're launching into."

Turning away, the darkling reaches into a jacket pocket, then withdraws his hand. "If it will sate your curiousity, Brother, have this."

Thrusting the paper into the Borcan's hand, he walks away. Buchvold opens it to see the following words scrawled across it: "The Conjurer, Prison reversed, The Horseman, the Soldier reversed, The Diviner".
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Well, Rocchea believes me a fool obsessed with party games. Hmm he was very angry. Unuserly for him. Could it be that Perrison touched a nerve. There are no end of possibilities in this combanation... On the bright side, I now have his reading. If it is as accurate as mine was, it should prove usefull

Buchvold smiles at the departing brother

All in all, good work

The borcan briefly skimms through Enigma Vitae, trying to find what had given Crow such a shock. He laughs when he finds the appropriate diagram, then returns the book to the shelf.

He then joins the exodus, making his way to Antony Reuland's study.
Last edited by Moral Machivelli on Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:"Brother Magnus Wolfsbane, at your service," he replies, with a professional-courtesy smile. "And you are...?"
Hearing the bookish Brother speak his name, the bard's past enquiries as to the Brautslava Institute's staff -- the ones whom he'd known, coming in, were most likely to dispute his "Il Aluk" story -- are rewarded. Slotting the archivist into place within the Darkonian cell's ranks, Crow's devious wits pounce upon a tactic which might reveal far more than a mere plea to check his own lecture-notes against Wolfsbane's.

(The look of gratification that brightens the VRS spy's features, as he returns the junior curator's stiff smile with a rather broader one, is not wholly feigned.)

"Oh, capital!" crows Crow, clapping his hands together in a satisfied gesture, as if he's found a man he's been looking for all day. "You're just the one to ask! I thought you might be him, y'know, but I wasn't certain: it's a great pleasure to meet you, Brother Wolfsbane ... and I hope you'll not judge me too harshly, sir, if I ask your advice as to a matter rather more up your alley than mine.

"Oh, and do call me Crow, everybody does."

He bows amiably, in a pose bespeaking gratitude and respect ... with a subtle seasoning of 'I've-A-Nagging-Problem-And-Am-Foisting-It-Off-On-You', just in case he's being watched by eyes more perceptive than he's betting Wolfsbane's happen to be.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Rotipher wrote:
"Oh, capital!" crows Crow, clapping his hands together in a satisfied gesture, as if he's found a man he's been looking for all day. "You're just the one to ask! I thought you might be him, y'know, but I wasn't certain: it's a great pleasure to meet you, Brother Wolfsbane ... and I hope you'll not judge me too harshly, sir, if I ask your advice as to a matter rather more up your alley than mine.

"Oh, and do call me Crow, everybody does."
"Er...very well, Brother Crow," Wolfsbane replies, his reaction wavering between flattered and nonplussed. "I would, of course, be happy to advise you, if I can be of assistance."
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:"Er...very well, Brother Crow," Wolfsbane replies, his reaction wavering between flattered and nonplussed. "I would, of course, be happy to advise you, if I can be of assistance."

"Splendid! Outstanding!," the spy gushes on, speaking with a rapid-fire exuberance meant to keep the pencil-pusher off balance. "I can't tell you how deeply I appreciate or respect your wisdom in this matter, Brother," the spy adds, with absolute honesty.

The bard glances about quickly for a moment, to confirm their conversation isn't about to be interrupted ... or eavesdropped upon. He leans in closer to Wolfsbane and lowers his voice, as if entrusting the man with a minor, yet potentially embarassing, private confidance.

"It's a matter of some ... delicacy, you see. A certain item -- of no conceivable intrinsic or scholastic value, I assure you! -- that quite inadvertantly found its way into my hands, in the course of the rather ... chaotic events of five months ago."

Crow's features contort with mingled embarassment and anxiety, for a fleeting moment -- though not so fleeting that Wolfsbane wouldn't take note of it -- and his soft-spoken tone drops even lower.

"You are the keeper of records at Brautslava, yes? You would know how best I might... tactfully... return such an item to its original keepers, yes? I'd rather not raise a fuss about it, if such can be avoided, but I daren't bloody well keep the dratted thing ... nor simply dispose of it, either: not if it's imbued with tracing-magics or the like."

The bard looks Wolfsbane right in the eye, and his own gray eyes widen, hinting at the unintended dilemma which 'Brother Crow' finds himself caught up in.

"It was empty when I found it, you must understand -- emptied, by a certain individual to be discussed, tomorrow morning -- and I'd not even have looked into that file-cabinet in the first place, had he not left the rifled drawer unlatched. It seemed like a good idea at the time, to take it -- and I assure you, had I but been with the other Brothers in the aftermath, I'd have turned the sleeve over to them, then and there -- but now ... given all the new security-measures and so forth ... I'm afraid simply handing it over at this stage might look a bit...

"... well, perhaps this might explain my cause for concern."

As he was speaking, the spy'd retrieved his pen and notebook from his jerkin-pocket, and he now scribes a few characters on a blank page at the back of the book, then tears it out and shows it -- discreetly, hiding its contents from anyone passing in the hallway -- to the bewildered curator.

It's the FoS archives' accession number for the Doomsday Device plans, as copied from the empty folder Crow'd taken from the Manoir five months ago.


[OOC: Let's see if Wolfsbane recognizes that accession number, without being told which document it corresponds to ... and how much his eyes bug out, if he does! :wink:

[Note, BTW, that even these remarks aren't actually lies: the file folder, after all, really did fall into Crow's hands "inadvertantly", as it's the one item he took from the Library that he hadn't been planning to steal! :lol: ]
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Rotipher wrote: "It was empty when I found it, you must understand -- emptied, by a certain individual to be discussed, tomorrow morning -- and I'd not even have looked into that file-cabinet in the first place, had he not left the rifled drawer unlatched. It seemed like a good idea at the time, to take it -- and I assure you, had I but been with the other Brothers in the aftermath, I'd have turned the sleeve over to them, then and there -- but now ... given all the new security-measures and so forth ... I'm afraid simply handing it over at this stage might look a bit...

"... well, perhaps this might explain my cause for concern."

As he was speaking, the spy'd retrieved his pen and notebook from his jerkin-pocket, and he now scribes a few characters on a blank page at the back of the book, then tears it out and shows it -- discreetly, hiding its contents from anyone passing in the hallway -- to the bewildered curator.

It's the FoS archives' accession number for the Doomsday Device plans, as copied from the empty folder Crow'd taken from the Manoir five months ago.
Wolfsbane looks slightly put out by Crow's cloak-and-dagger theatrics, but when he sees the characters written on the page, his expression changes. "Direct-er, Exalted Brother Roeccha," he says, and the darkling (now near the end of the corridor) turns. "Yes, Brother Wolfsbane?" he says, slightly impatient.

"Ah...Brother Crow has some information that pertains to the archival material we were discussing a few days ago. Brother Crow, would you care to repeat to Brother Roeccha how you obtained this information, and...er...how you came to recognize its significance?"
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Nathan of the FoS wrote: Wolfsbane looks slightly put out by Crow's cloak-and-dagger theatrics, but when he sees the characters written on the page, his expression changes. "Direct-er, Exalted Brother Roeccha," he says, and the darkling (now near the end of the corridor) turns. "Yes, Brother Wolfsbane?" he says, slightly impatient.
The bard's mild surprise, at Wolfsbane's hasty decision to pass the buck to his superior, passes onto his features, albeit nudged slightly in transit, to read as nervous dismay. Were this gathering's attendees worthier men, Crow'd have tossed in a slight undertone of betrayal, as well -- he had, after all, begged the archivist's discretion in this matter -- but such would be taken for weakness by an audience of vipers.

"Ah...Brother Crow has some information that pertains to the archival material we were discussing a few days ago. Brother Crow, would you care to repeat to Brother Roeccha how you obtained this information, and...er...how you came to recognize its significance?"
As Wolfsbane obsequiously rats out the bard's disclosure to the Director, the VRS spy takes his own turn at looking nonplussed, then pensive, and lastly -- at the clerkish Brother's final words -- as if he's just realized something very important. The last, he lets flash across his features for less than a heartbeat, then carefully blanks his expression: an unreadable poker-face, to the undiscerning, yet a direct giveaway to the cunning that Wolfsbane's own words have told him something.

(For the first time since the Tarokka-incident of the day before, the bard's impish love of gamesmanship rises to the fore, as he covertly relishes the razor's-edge thrill of his work.)

Crow's features animate anew, with an eager-to-please look of anxious deference, and he turns to Roeccha with the falsely-apologetic demeanor of a student caught peeking at a neighbor's examination-paper:

"Well, sir -- Director -- as I was just saying to Brother Magnus, here, it seemed like a good idea at the time...."

There's an art to deception, and the spy is well-practiced in avoiding the pitfalls of the novice artist. He doesn't embellish those events at the Manoir which led him to possession of the emptied file folder, nor abridge them per se; he simply relates his own account of the Library-battle as it occurred, hiding those truths which would damn him (his thefts and lack of membership) within the camouflage of innocuous, equally-valid statements, and reluctant "confessions" to lesser offenses. Yes, he had gone into the Manoir's Restricted stacks -- he knew he didn't have authorization to do so, and was so very sorry about that -- but only after the zombies' appearance made such information critical to the embattled Brethren's escape. Yes, he had looked in the file cabinet -- it had clearly been left ajar by Van Rijn; would the Exalted Brother have done any differently? -- but he'd not taken anything but the folder from within ... not that he'd have had time, even if he'd wanted to salvage the other forbidden files' contents: the room was in flames by then! Yes, he had missed the coaches which Buchvold brought to pick up the escaping loyalists -- he'd seen how close the Library floor was to collapse, and had 'ported away as quickly as he was able, soon as he'd alerted the others to the danger -- but with Unholy Order zombies on the rampage, all through the estate, saving his own neck had (he reluctantly admitted) rated a higher priority than figuring out where the devil the other survivors were planning to rendezvous.

"So," he concludes, "I wound up with one souvenier of the evening, at least. No use to locate the traitor, but at least it revealed something of his despicable purposes to Buchvold, Conrad and I. I'd have turned it in, but as I said, I wasn't certain where the Richemuloiuse Brothers had gone to ground, and it didn't seem a particularly pressing matter: the folder was empty, after all, though its title made the 'significance' of its former contents quite clear.

"Nor, it seems, was I mistaken to keep my souvenier 'under wraps' until this gathering ... that is, if your own interest is any indication of its import. Frankly, I'd intended to return it to Brother Reuland's care -- I thought it might be an appropriate receptacle for the traitor's crumbled bone-dust, once the Fraternity metes out a fitting revenge upon that wretched backstabber -- but if its existence is important enough to invite your interest, Director..."

The bard bows, then rises with a sly expression.

"...then perhaps its value is greater than I'd initially estimated. That is a Brautslava accession-number, is it not? The first two letters do indicate the location where it's normally stored, yes?"

The spy smiles broadly.

"If so, perhaps it's best if I return it to Brother Wolfsbane, here, instead of troubling Anthony with unpleasant memories. No need to raise a fuss, as I'd said."

And he turns his grin on Magnus Wolfsbane, showing perfect white teeth.


[OOC: Yes, Crow is hinting that he could embarass the Brautslava Institute, if he wished to, by disseminating the fact that it was their archives that loaned out the Doomsday Device plans to the St. Ronges cell, from which Van Rijn promptly stole them. No, he's not actually saying he'll do such a thing ... only that his turning over the folder so discreetly won't happen, without his receiving some kind of favor in return. :twisted:

[Granted, I'm just guessing that the plans were on loan from Brautslava, but I figure it's a safe assumption that the Fraternity would have acquired them in Darkon, not anywhere else. The accession-number will reflect where the plans were originally added to the FoS collection, even if they've been moved elsewhere since then.]
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

"If so, perhaps it's best if I return it to Brother Wolfsbane, here, instead of troubling Anthony with unpleasant memories. No need to raise a fuss, as I'd said."

And he turns his grin on Magnus Wolfsbane, showing perfect white teeth.
"Indeed. There is no need for a fuss," the darkling replies, dark eyes glittering. "Wolfsbane, please arrange to take the folder as soon as possible and see if you can't keep track of it this time. Brother Crow, a word with you, please?"

Wolfsbane takes the paper from Crow; despite what Crow would rate quite a crushing dismissal from a high-ranking brother (not to mention his boss), Crow thinks he notes relief in the brother's face as he turns away.

The darkling steps back into the library, now empty, and seats himself. "Clever," he says, smiling very slightly, "but not a winning gambit. The Fathers of the Fraternity have already learned who took that folder and when; there is no hay to be made there, Brother Crow. But your display of initiative...rather catches the attention. I noticed that you asked the Borcan the right questions, as well--it's an enviable talent to recognize the right question, and not many possess it. Indeed, it rather makes me ask--who is this brother? Where is he from, and why have we never met previously? How does he have the cheek to declare himself at large in the restricted stacks, and the possessor of the folder containing the plans for the Doomsday Device, on an occasion where the Fraternity library was rifled and robbed of those plans and many other valuable manuscripts? At the very least, Brother Crow, you are angling for recognition, and a bigger piece of the pie. If you can answer questions as well as you ask them, you may get a chance at it."

[OOC: Yes, Crow is hinting that he could embarass the Brautslava Institute, if he wished to, by disseminating the fact that it was their archives that loaned out the Doomsday Device plans to the St. Ronges cell, from which Van Rijn promptly stole them. No, he's not actually saying he'll do such a thing ... only that his turning over the folder so discreetly won't happen, without his receiving some kind of favor in return. :twisted:

[Granted, I'm just guessing that the plans were on loan from Brautslava, but I figure it's a safe assumption that the Fraternity would have acquired them in Darkon, not anywhere else. The accession-number will reflect where the plans were originally added to the FoS collection, even if they've been moved elsewhere since then.]
OOC: See the letters between Kingsley and Wolfsbane in the Cut Scenes; van Rijn apparently stole the plans from the Brautslava Institute while visiting Darkon and took them to Richemulot for perusal at his leisure.
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[OOC: Actually, Crow doesn't have the original folder with him at the moment. (As Van Rijn specifically left it behind, the bard worried that it might be keyed to FoS alarm-spells that are also in place at the Maison, and he far prefers to explain how he wound up with the thing on his terms.) Crow's perfectly willing to turn the folder over to Wolfsbane, so Brautslava's careless security-lapse -- wherever it occurred; sorry, I'd thought the Wolfsbane letter referred to S's research and other related notes, not the DD plans themselves -- can remain a secret from the rank-and-file members; he'll just need to do that tomorrow, not here and now.

[He probably did give Wolfsbane the page he'd written the accession-number on, as a good-faith gesture to show he'll turn the real folder over at the first opportunity.]
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Rotipher wrote:[OOC: Actually, Crow doesn't have the original folder with him at the moment. (As Van Rijn specifically left it behind, the bard worried that it might be keyed to FoS alarm-spells that are also in place at the Maison, and he far prefers to explain how he wound up with the thing on his terms.) Crow's perfectly willing to turn the folder over to Wolfsbane, so Brautslava's careless security-lapse -- wherever it occurred; sorry, I'd thought the Wolfsbane letter referred to S's research and other related notes, not the DD plans themselves -- can remain a secret from the rank-and-file members; he'll just need to do that tomorrow, not here and now.

[He probably did give Wolfsbane the page he'd written the accession-number on, as a good-faith gesture to show he'll turn the real folder over at the first opportunity.]
Woops--speaking of fine distinctions, the "paper vs. folder" thing escape me. Post altered accordingly. Carry on!
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