Chapter 2B - By the seat of one's pants

[pringerbeam]

     COnstantine looks up from the bar to you.  A look of concern on his face.  "Jace what are you doing here?  I thought I told you to keep a low profile.  People are looking for you."  He looks over his shoulder to the pub entrance and the murky haze outside.  He grabs the whiskey bottle as he stands up and motions you to follow.  "Tobias, I'm using the card room."  He rushes over to the back of the pub to a door in the rear wall.  He quickely disappears into its confines, leaving the door ajar for you.

[Mysticsage]

Jace followed behind not so quickly in a rush as his companion closing the door behind him, "About that, I think I've one up'd you in our on going bet who has the worst luck Constantine." Jason chuckled "Guess who I immediately took by surprise directly after you took the time to find me. Almost got splattered across the museum floor right in public if I had not managed to talk my way out of the worst of it. Though I could use your help with some of the aftermath if you are not busy with a case or something." 

[pringerbeam]

     "Well, I guess I can give it a shot."  He pours out some whiskey which he then downs.  "This is at least a private place to talk and business is slow for anyone not trying to sell your head to that fellow from this morning... So what is the case?"

[Mysticsage]

"Honestly I need someone who can do some discreet book work who can recognize when to keep there mouth shut and when someone might shiv them. I don't want you ending up dead for this understand." Jace sat down at the table digging out a notebook. "First off before I made it out of there I was forced to give some blood to the mage who wanted my head along with a mission and a hyperbolic threat I'm sure he wants to make good on." Jace drew the approximate size of the vial with a scrap of charcoal in his pocket. "Any clue what he could use that blood for besides the obvious? Do I need to be second guessing my own thoughts? Any loop holes I can use to get out of a jam or protect myself?"

"As for the second part, there has been a series of thefts the last few days of magical objects. Someone is being brazen about the whole thing using corpses and such right under people's noses. The guy who wanted my head had something called the Fang of Anibus stolen even after finding an animated corpse. The second as far as I know was a theft at the museum last night if these things are connected like my new friend believes someone is planning something rather big. And they've dragged me into this mess in more ways then one so I'd like to know what the hell is going on. Without either of us ending up floating in the Thames or some meat puppet. I got some names of some noble families that might help but i figured you and i could dig through those together now?"   

[pringerbeam]

     Constantine looks at the drawing for a moment before responding.  "Well blood can be used for many things.  It can be used as a catalyst for the summoning of minor demons and the like.  What I think you are going to want to be most worried about is that it can let more skilled sorcerers have a great deal of power over you.  It could be used to place any number of curses on you... that would be on top of what you already have unless your curse wards you against the magics of other spellcasters.  The exact nature of the curse depends on what kind of arcane knowledge the sprcer has access to.  It is said that the Roman sorcerers could use the blood of their slaves to prevent them from ever harming their masters and that the most powerful could prevent the slaves from even speaking against them so that what arcane secrets they might have witness would follow them to their graves.  Supposedly the only weakness of such magics is that the blood usually needs to be bound into some kind of magical construct which can be destroyed to lift the curses."  He pushes the drawing back to you.  "I would be careful in dealing with him from now on.  Some of the curses are said to have had very dangerous effects.  As for the thefts I haven't heard about last night but there was a theft from the museum last week as well.  I don't know what was stolen but it was something brought over from Egypt by an archaological expedition.  This Fang of Anubis might be connected since they are an Egyptian god.  I haven't heard about this artifact in particular though.  Who is involved?"  He leans forward with a curious expression.

[Mysticsage]

"Well from the expedition side that's Amelia Kusanagi if I had to guess this expedition was privately funded at least in part by the Darby family. From the near mental breakdown he had in public I would say he was more then passingly involved trying to search for his lost property plus him having the Fang before it was stolen puts him rather involved at the table." Ghostly images of both Amelia and Darby sat around the poker table along with several other masked shadowy figures as Jace filled out his mindscape continuing to speak. "Someone has been peeking at his cards this entire game and doing it so openly that everyone at the table knows yet doesn't worry about getting caught. Killing a lesser noble without anyone noticing and then using him as a meat puppet at a mage's party takes guts resources and serious abilities not to mention following it up with a museum heist."

Imaginary cards sliding into the center of the table representing Strong Magic, Money, Social Influence, and Skill. "So that limits our suspects at least out of the amateur league into either a high society war or there is some crime lords involved. Now I overheard the lady adventurer saying she had to ensure the authenticity of whatever they found and kept the find under raps at least on her end to a few well named individuals the Moseby's, Dalton's, Leblank's, and of course Darby himself was informed and involved with the find to various degrees. But that doesn't mean that there are not other's playing at this game without showing their faces at the table or using a proxy. Any thoughts?"

[pringerbeam]

     Constantine ponders for a moment before answering. "Well none of the names are familiar right off the top of my head.  I would need to look into them to get a better idea of who could be a likely suspect.  This may take quite some time, especially if I try to keep my investigations quiet.  I can help you out but this could be a full time investigation so I'm gonna need either some compensation or a big time favor.  A man's got to eat after all."  Constantine takes another shot of whiskey. "And drink as well."  He puts down the shot glass and gives you a wink.

[Mysticsage]

"Yeah, I figured as much. But first and foremost focus on the artifacts and any possible future problems. For the people I can do some digging on them myself, research on the fang and the like however, that is out of my depth. As for compensation this is coming out of my pocket so its probably best to go half and half if you get my meaning. If you needed a favor that badily I would have probably done it regardless, but as long as you don't send me one a suicide mission I'll give you some money one way or another to fill in the gaps. How much would you need for this, keeping in mind I'm not the queen, nor own a tavern?"

While the pair continued chatting Jace fianlly got a chance to relax feeling the pressure of the day hit him like a ton of bricks and he still had to go to blackblade and start digging into each family. Maybe it was best to ask if he could sleep in a closet there tonight if he was getting any sleep at all.

[pringerbeam]

     Constantine takes out a scrap of paper and quickely scrawls on it with a piece of charcoal he produces from his vest.  "I'll see what I can dig up.  I'm not incredably educated in Egyptology but I might be able to sniff out a few leads."  He folds up the scrap and returns it to his vest along with the charcoal.  "In the meantime, I'll find you when I have something.  Good luck for your own investigations.  I'm going to start getting to work, I have a few books on Egyptology in my collection so I will give them a look to see if they can point me in a direction to get started."  He rises from his seat.  "Feel free to finish off the bottle."  He nods to the bottle, only a knuckle's depth of whiskey remains, and pats you on the back as he takes his leave of you.

[Mysticsage]

"Be careful Constantine." Jace said with a nod watching the man leave. He poured a small sip of the whiskey in the glass, downed it and then stood himself contemplating what he had gotten himself into. He would need to make it to Blackblade's home before much longer and it would need to be on foot to try and not draw to much attention. He would probably end up sleeping there as well based off the time that was flying by. With a sigh and waiting a good five minutes he exited the back room and began making his way to his destination trying to block out the chill that was settling at the nape of his neck.

[pringerbeam]

     The evening has truely set in while you and Constantine talked and you emerge into the dark streets of London still shrouded in the acrid smog.  It seems as if no sensible folk walk the streets as you rarely come across anyone else on your way to Blackblade's home.  It's a long walk and by the time you arrive at Blackblade's residence your eyes are beginning to sting and your sensitive nose is irritated by the offending smell.  You find the need to sneeze frequently as the pea souper embeds itself in your nostrils.  The familiar brass stag gazes upon you from the door, its facade lit by the soft light of the gas lamps flanking the door.

[Mysticsage]

Jace after taking a moment and pinching the bridge of his nose he knocks on the door. He prepared himself for the imagined response from the butler and his master.

[pringerbeam]

     The door swings open with a creak that pierces through the smog that has muffled so much of the sound on your journey across the city.  Carlson stands at attention, his eyes looking down his nose at you from his considerable height.  His composure seems unaffected by your presence this time around as he simply continues to stare at you with no emotions crossing his face.  He says nothing nor makes any other movement as he stands inside with one arm on the edge of the door. 

[Mysticsage]

"Now this is where things are going to get tough" he thought to himself with a small sigh. "Hello sir," he was not sure how Carlson would react to him using his name so he figured formality was best. "I'm expected by his Lordship, I realize the hour is probably improper but I have information that is worthwhile for him that cannot wait." He paused not realizing he was holding his breath he always hated these kinds of conversations. "Please feel free to do whatever you feel is necessary as long as I can have the talk that needs to be had in relative privacy."

He made sure to maintain eye contact with the orc the entire time while speaking however. He stood by the extent of his actions and at the same time completely understood the butler's distaste. He knew from the very beginning that this kind of scene would happen sooner or later and gave fair warning. He just had not expected it to be so soon. He had begun to like the man and respected his convictions.

[pringerbeam]

     Carlson doesnt say a word.  The ogre's beady eyes stare blankly at you for a moment that seems to draw out for hours before the gaze turns to the end of the hall towards the entrance to the solarium.  He slowly steps aside to allow entry.  His every movment seeming to be crawling at a snails pace and it feels as if an eternity passes in the time it take for him to take up his position next to to fully open door, his looming presence seeming to dampen the warm, well lit interior to the home.