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Post by Janus on Jun 3, 2018 5:22:54 GMT -5
You settle down at your desk, ordering a copy of the book suggested and writing up an advertisement for a new personal assistant when a couple of things occur to you. First of all you have actually heard from Beth (your PA) for some hours. If would be normal for her to send you a sign off note by text before she went to bed. In fairness she wasn't the brightest girl in the world but she was normally quite conscientious. You've found her at your house a couple of times to give you an explanation in person if she hadn't been able to complete a task.
Secondly you remember now that your grandmother had a small personal reading room off the main library. You had forgotten all about it, which was even more odd. What was worse you can't remember having seen or even thought about the room since your grandmother vanished, which should be impossible.
You set out to the library. It's one of your favourite parts of the house your grandmother and you spent long hours collecting all the books there. Many many arcane volumes line the walls of a special section. Other than that you have books on every conceivable topic and a six foot diameter world globe as the centre piece. It was a joint gift to each other from your grandmother and yourself and stands there as a reminder.
With the luck spell in effect you should see something, then you trip over something on the floor next to a chair, hitting your head hard and as your head swims you see a door, one that you would swear hadn't been there before, or maybe it had, a long time ago.
As your head clears you find yourself in the garage. Working on enchanting your car had taken a long time and isn't done by a long shot. You have made yourself a list of the ingredients you need however, some quite rare ones. You have also made plans for the sigils you will need to put into the cars chassis, and have noted down a few ideas for a control mechanism. A coffee is on the chair next to you, half drank and you notice it is long past time you went to bed.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 3, 2018 5:30:42 GMT -5
Christopher pulls out his cell phone and dials Constantine, even though he really should be in bed right now there is no way he can sleep.
Mr.Constantine it is detective Bradley, I believe that I have found a room in my house that has forced me to forget it for about a decade, furthermore my luck spell knocked me out rather than letting me go into that room, please let me know when would be the best time to have you over.
Christopher goes up to the living room and phones his assistant if he does not get in touch with her this time he will activate the GPS in her phone.
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Post by Janus on Jun 3, 2018 9:09:06 GMT -5
"Alright, this is John, I'm probably pissed, so leave a message."
Apparently John is busy, who knows why. It could be that the problem with Jade is taking a while to resolve.
So you call Beth's phone, the phone rings and from off in the distance, somewhere in the house you hear an unfamiliar ring tone. It makes the GPS a little redundant but you try it anyway. Her phone is definitely in your house.
You sit back and ponder, your luck spell could have knocked you out, but that wasn't what happened. If you'd been knocked out you would have woken up in the library, you didn't. You banged your head, saw something you hadn't noticed and then time skipped.
Something is going on.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 3, 2018 17:46:05 GMT -5
Christopher keeps his cell phone with him after leaving the above message for Constantine and begins to look for the cell phone ringing in the house.
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Post by Janus on Jun 3, 2018 18:20:51 GMT -5
You keep ringing and follow your ears, through the hallway, along a passage way and into the library. There is a ladies purse by a chair and in it Beth's phone.
You remember the spot from earlier, this is where you tripped. Over the purse. You hit your head on that shelf just there.
Your memory flashes back to the door, it had sigils of some sort on it.
You stand there for a moment certain that you were looking for something. Was it a door? No, you were... What were you doing? Oh that's right you were going to bed. Long day ahead of you tomorrow.
You find yourself out in the hallway, Beth's purse, now placed on a table beside the front door before what just happened hits you. No luck spell in place this time. This time however you know what is going on. A misdirection spell. A powerful one at that.
Your butler, Adthorpe, takes this moment to show his face.
"Ah, good morning, sir. I trust last night was not too eventful for you."
It's seven am, long past your bedtime.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 3, 2018 19:14:16 GMT -5
It certianly is Adthorpe, I was looking for Beth she left her purse and cellphone. When was the last time you saw her? Oh and I am afraid I am doing something delicate in the library would you be so kind as to inform the rest of the staff it is currently off limits to anyone but me? I may have to just go without sleep tonight as I am quite busy please have some tea brought up.
Christopher hands Adthorpe the purse and walks back into the library muttering a counter to a misdirection spell.
********************************************** 3 defense specifically against misdirection.
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Post by Janus on Jun 3, 2018 19:56:18 GMT -5
"Ah, very good sir, right away. I left Miss Beth in the library last night, she seemed intent on waiting for you so I thought it might be best she have a book to keep her occupied whilst she wait. The special section was locked obviously, sir."
You walk back to the library as the mystery deepens, a protection spell wrapped around your mind and senses. Misdirection is part illusion and part mesmerism, so you shield yourself and walk back in. The library looks as it ever did with one very small exception. A door in the east wall, on the surface of it a magic circle has been carefully etched and embossed in gold leaf.
It is your grandmothers handiwork, you'd know her style anywhere, only someone has cut a chunk out of one of the lines with what looks like a knife. It's not enough to disable it completely, but more than enough to weaken it.
The circle looks like it was built to last and conjured over a long time. There is enough power in it to last for years, if someone hadn't come along and disabled it you would never know the door or room was there.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 3, 2018 20:46:07 GMT -5
A smart man would call this in and wait for backup to arrive.
Christopher continues to shield himself, now wondering no only about the door but who has been in the library with enough power to see through the magic and disable it. He steels himself and opens the door.
(3 in defense still)
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Post by Janus on Jun 4, 2018 16:10:21 GMT -5
You open the door, what appears to be a small reading room. A chair, a table, lamp, all covered in a thick layer of dust. A large book case covers one wall containing, books of all kinds, mainly however pleasure reading. This was your grandmothers private reading room, the place she went to have 'a little me time' as she called it.
Your speciality is not in forensics but it is quite clear from the disturbances in the dust that someone, or perhaps some ones have been in the room recently.
You also notice on a shelf on the book case is a hardback copy of Rivals, by Jilly Cooper that someone has wiped the dust off of.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 4, 2018 23:33:27 GMT -5
While his specialty may not be in forensics, he is particularly good at putting himself in the shoes others. He stands in place for a moment taking a mental photograph of everything he sees and then begins to move slowly around the room disturbing nothing remembering it all. He then uses any evidence he gathers to reconstruct what the trespasser did in this room.
Private investigator 3 Mystical Evidence gathering Reconstructing the scene
photographic memory enahnced vision magical auras.
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Post by Janus on Jun 5, 2018 3:12:19 GMT -5
The room is small, so very little walking around it is necessary, with all the dust going into the room will cause disturbance. This however can be a good thing as well.
Powerful magic users often leave a trail and one of the two people in this room was definitely one. A man from the marks he left he entered the room first and carefully, looked around the room in much the same way as you are doing right now and went over to the book case.
He bent down to look more closely to look at the shelf then turned and walked out.
The second person was still cautious but much less professional. A woman she entered, paused looking the room over then went over to the book shelf. You can see disturbances where she wiped dust off to get a clearer look at the books on the shelves, seemingly to read the titles then her trail simply vanishes, she never leave the room.
It takes you a moment but you realise that there is a disturbance around the shelves themselves as part of the shelves actually moved.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 5, 2018 5:51:59 GMT -5
Christopher walks over to the door and closes it placing a ward so that if the door is opened he will know.
He the moves over to the bookshelf and pulls on Rivals to see if it opens the passage.
***********************************
Witchcraft 6 for the ward.
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Post by Janus on Jun 5, 2018 10:33:16 GMT -5
You pull the book, and as expected a small section of the book case swings away from you revealing bare brick walls and a staircase going downward. Lights that radiate magic flicker on as you look down. A hand rail covered in dust is attached to the wall though every few feet a smudge in the dust indicates that someone has recently used the stairs. That said, only one someone and only one way.
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Post by lilithsboy on Jun 5, 2018 14:46:37 GMT -5
Once again Christopher thinks to himself, a smart person would wait for help... but this is closer than I have ever been I am going to go over this whole house when I am done. He heads down the stairs, muttering a little spell in an attempt to make as little noise as possible and cover his tracks. He feels as though he could kick himself for not having remembered his grandmothers old sitting room, then again it was powerfully spelled, she is much better at magic than he is obviously.
Witchcraft 3 cover his tracks and move silently
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Post by Janus on Jun 5, 2018 16:31:36 GMT -5
The stairs go down about two stories. The wine cellar is under the library, this is now under that. It seems that whoever built the house build a sort of panic room or secret storage space. You know it is not on any of the architects plans so it is intended to be unknown.
Why this might be is yet another mystery but the stairs open out into a large room, maybe ten feet in height then a twenty by twenty foot square. Your magical sense go from a faint tingle to practically starting to sizzle as you get to the foot of the stairs and look in.
Inside the room towards the back is a triple circle ward seal and at its centre a pedestal with what looks like a disk made of stone. On the disk are carved letters in concentric circles. Around the room are boxes, wooden crates, a table with some old bits of pottery on. A few books on another table to the side of the first. Candle stubs, loose sheets of paper with what appears to be notes scribbled on them and everywhere a thick layer of dust. Everywhere except the magic circle.
As you take the scene in something else catches your eye. A woman's ear-ring just inside the first of the magic circles. After that it doesn't take much detective work to notice the trail in the dust of a woman's foot prints. They go from the entrance way to the table and then to the circle.
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