Greek Antiquities (Search for Chryseis)(invitation only)
Mai led the way through the sewers towards the museum with the confidence of long familiarity. This was a trip she made often in search of Thaddeus and she'd have to admit that she liked the place also. It was quiet and there were interesting things to look at. Walking the silent halls late at night was as peaceful as walking through some of the old temples. It certainly seemed to bring calm to her blonde clan mate but the last time they were there had started Thaddeus on this personal journey of his and this night also boded to be anything but peaceful.
She hoped they found Chryseis alive and well, though difficult at times to become close to, Mai found she liked the woman. If she were harmed they had better find out who was responsible quickly because Nachton had not seen fury until they'd seen Morrigan's spirit unleashed in vengeance.
Carefully avoiding the few rats she sensed in the area, Mai eventually came to stand under the grate that would let them out in front of the Arch.
"Here" Her whisper was mostly for Thaddeus who had a lot on his mind. The sewers were not familiar to him either and she was sure he'd be relieved to be out of them. Climbing the ladder, she slid the cover away enough to give her a cautious look around before pushing it aside and coming out to stand on the roadside as she waited for the others.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for her senses so far but even they could be fooled and she'd remain alert until they knew what the situation was.
Yes, yes, of course. Thank you for this bit. Be safe.
She feared the longer Thaddeus was speaking with her, the more likely they would be too late in finding Chryseis. Gently placing the receiver in the cradle, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. This would be a long night.
"Come, We will see what Talon has found."
Mai looked to the others, taking in Cyrus who had sneezed several times tonight and she wondered if he was allergic to animal hair, there were the dogs earlier and Talon perhaps but Cyrus himself smelled faintly of a feline, it would be unfortunate to be allergic to animal hair and have a furred animal form. If that were so she wondered what lesson there might be in it for him but it was not something for discussion at the moment.
Turning her gaze towards Talon, she smiled.
"Will you lead us to this room, kudasai?"
Still, it was something.
He slipped the phone in his pocket and absently smoothed his jacket, as though trying to cleanse the pallet of his senses, before joining the rest of the party.
I told Morrigan we would continue to stay in touch.
Let us find her some good news.
"Sure, it's back this way"
he turned and started twords the storeroom he had come from. It was close so the walk was brief, he opened the door and waited for the others.
His thirst was assuaged for now and he had found items of importance, possibly. He could not get overly distressed. Soon his sensitive nose would adapt to the stench of dog and stop rejecting it. He hoped it would be soon else he would not be able to take a room at the Manor, with all its beautiful trees to climb in.
He watched Talon lead the way to the room he had found. Standing back and scanning the area, Cyrus would bring up the rear.
He approached the vases, frowning, then saw what he was looking for; an empty podium shoved to one corner of the room. Looking up at the ceiling, he saw six spotlights. He was currently standing where the sixth podium was clearly intended to go. He turned to face the door, nodded to himself, and pivoted to look down the length of the wall. There was a small alcove with a window, and Thaddeus thought it possible that had there been a sixth stand in place, it would have partially concealed the break in the wall.
And it would have been in the way had someone entered through the window.
He approached the window and wrapped his fingers around the open pane, noticing broken pottery crunching under his shoes as he did. While the mess had been cleaned and the room rearranged, it appeared the alcove had been neglected. So much the better.
After a moment, he stepped away from the window and looked to the group.
The two women and a man, still alive, possibly a vampire, entered through here. I did not see his face. He smirked a little at Talon. I am amazed that you managed to get through there as well. He gestured to the sixth light and stood under it. The two women stood about here, where they apparently knocked over the vase.
In theory, Chryseis could have come through the door and frightened the two women; I imagine that would be a quite normal reaction considering they had just broken one of her artifacts. Their killer, though, came from...he walked to the other side of the alcove, where the wall formed an outward pointing corner, and pointed further along the wall....over here, I believe.
He turned back to the podium shoved in the corner, running a hand over it. This, unfortunately, had been cleaned; he got the briefest flash of the stand falling to the floor, but nothing more useful than that. He shook his head.
The room has been cleaned since this incident occurred, and likely by maintenance as well as the attacker. He looked to the hunters. If I knew where the blood was the strongest, I may be able to sense more of what happened; clearly the room was not cleaned perfectly. He nodded in the direction of the alcove.
With the mention of blood, she nodded and changed form. Stoats weren't known for having the best eyesight but then Mai was used to that, they did however, have an excellent sense of smell. She gave Cyrus a wary eye before wandering about the room sniffing as she went.
The scent of blood was closer in one corner and Mai was rather certain it belonged to Chryseis, other scents far more faint, combined to give her the impression that her clanswoman had been injured somewhere near here.
Mai came to stand in the spot and stood back on her hind legs and waited for Thaddeus to arrive. This form might be needed again soon so she continued to stay in it.
((OOC: Mai is always a white stoat with the little black tip on her tail, no matter the weather outside.))
When the elder changed into the small furry stout, it was all he could do not to pounce. The need to extend his claws had him cracking his knuckles. She wasn't quite the dinner those dogs would have been but chasing her down could be fun.
Finally he turned his back to the room else he break out in claws and tail as well.
He had neither a stoat's nor a trained hunter's senses, but his eyes told him there was a hairline crack in the drywall about three feet up. He crouched down next to Mai and carefully placed two fingertips over the crack, trying to avoid touching it too much and possibly distorting other senses for the hunters.
After a long moment's concentration he stood abruptly. The images had been brief but useful, though the news was not good.
Chryseis struck her head against that wall and lost consciousness. She was lifted, most certainly by her attacker, and presumably carried to another location.
He bit his lip in thought before turning away from the corner. The pieces were slowly falling into place; now the question was...
...where did he take her?
The thought of Chryseis being held captive sent chills up his spine; he could only hope that she had found some mode of escape, that she was hiding somewhere until it was safe for her to return home, but that thought seemed far too optimistic with each sensing. He had hoped when she changed forms she might have found a mode of escape, but perhaps by then it had been too late. Nevertheless, it was a hope he clung to in spite of its likelihood.
We know he went to the back to hide the evidence. If there are no other leads, I would suggest we return to the back exit together and see if a trail can be picked up there.
She chittered at him and bounded towards the back entrance, trying to catch the other scent from the room that she didn't know or the smell of Chryseis.
The animal part of him was very strong. Living as a panther for so long made some reflexes automatic. Small scurrying things got pounced on.
Breathing heavily he glanced through his hair, way up at Talon. "Guard her"
Gasping out just the two words he flung himself into a corner and attempted to overrule primative reflexes.
He looked to Talon.
I rather think he's the one who needs guarding.
While Thaddeus was not unsympathetic, and his logical mind knew Mai was very unlikely to come to harm in any case, his own instinctive nature was not at ease with the idea of his friend being at risk. He stepped out of the room quickly to follow Mai.
Catching up to the Elder, he went down on one knee, resting his hand on the ground, fingers splayed.
Perhaps this is a better arrangement.
It was in may ways more practical for Mai to stay close to him; his jacket provided an easy hiding place should a guard come by, and perhaps she would look less tempting to Cyrus on his shoulder.
Agreeing that Thaddeus's solution might be helpful, she carefully climbed up the offered arm and sat delicately on his shoulder. Mai rubbed her head against his neck once in silent approval of his quick thinking before settling down to watch where they were headed, keeping her senses alert for her fellow hunters behind her.
((OOC: weak...*injured sniff* ))
Talons eyes narrowed, studing Cyrus for a moment, assessing him. He was busy determining the best way to stop Cyrus if his animal instincts won the battle he seemed to be waging with himself when Thaddeus said "I rather think he's the one who needs guarding."
'I think your right' Talon thought to himself, but didn't say anything..
he waited until Thad and Mai left the room following the trail to walk over to Cyrus, he leaned on one of the ways Cyrus had cornered himself trying to keep from making the man feel cornered and likley more agitated
"You gonna be alright?" he asked.
Just as he thought he could regain his calm, Talon walked over towards him. The reek of canine gave him the last bit of push he needed to fall off the edge of control.
Snarling with fangs no longer vampire but leopard. "Dog, go away."
((Sorry Mai! but yer food.))
The stress in the mans voice was ovious, so he let the probably unintended insult slide. He either hadn't fed recently enough or his animal side was stronger than the man, either way it was a problem.
"I'll give you your space, but unless you can get some self control your not going to be alot of help to us.. and I'd hate to have to thump you"
he turned and headed out of the room following Thad, keeping sight of Cyrus out of the corner of his eye.
Novak shook his head. He supposed Joe having an overactive imagination was slightly better than having to deal with a real dog in the museum, and it wasn't like his coworker was the only one guilty of getting carried away at times.
Still, Joe would make a fine ogre. A fine -stupid- ogre.
He made his way to the front desk, where Steve looked up, a frown on his features.
"Hey Nate, I asked around...no one has seen Ms. Angelique since the night the vase disappeared."Â?
Novak nodded, frowning. Yes indeed, something fishy was going on.
Time to track down Mr. Grey again.
"Thanks for looking into that...this is definitely getting concerning."Â?
With that, he turned to track down the strange company.
He looked questionably at Talon when he rejoined the party, taking in Cyrus's absence, but decided there were just some things he was better off not knowing. Cyrus could join up when he was ready.
They were progressing at a good pace through the museum when Thaddeus heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned, and, seeing the now familiar face of Officer Novak, stopped. It would not be prudent for the museum security to discover they had been in a storage room rummaging around, especially when Cyrus was still in there, and he felt it best to keep the guard otherwise engaged. Mai was well able to conceal herself and they would look far less suspicious this way.
"Did you find something?"Â?
"Well yes and no Mr. Grey. See, Ms. Angelique wasn't the only thing to vanish from this museum; a vase was stolen as well, and it's looking like both went missing on the same night."Â?
Novak looked from one man to another.
"Now that strikes me as very odd, Mr. Grey. Sure, there're possible explanations for it, but that hits me funny. And I think you know more than you're saying about the matter."Â?
Right now though Thaddeus was speaking to him and she'd let him handle it the Order of the Night's way and hoped that worked. If not, Officer Novak would make an excellent meal.
((OOC: I'm very ferocious puddy tat so watch out! ))