SX:2 The Antiques Roadshow (Keia judging)-Completed

[Salix]

Avatar knows that the four treasures were held as sacred and used in the most important ceremonies of the priests of Ur. One priest who was especially powerful was Amar-Sin. He was said to have unrivaled power in the Sumerian culture.


Slightly before Dr. Theodopolis begins speaking Psyren picks up most of the details.

The doctor begins, "The whereabouts of the three remaining artifacts aren't totally known. The Prayer Stela of Nanna is in the private collection of Lord Brixton, an English gentleman. He has a large personal collection, and it's rumored that he has obtained certain items through questionable means. There are even rumors that some otherwise prestigious college professors have aided him in these efforts. He has offered to pay for the Amulet of Nanna before, but we always turned him down. These artifacts are for the public, not for private collectors. The Winged Disk Tablet recently sold at a Kensington's auction in London, I really don't know who the buyer was, although the purchase price was well beyond the means of the Oriental Institute. No one knows where the sacrificial bowl of Nanna is, it is rumored to have been carried off by a Mongolian Warlord sometime in the 13th century. One other thing, the mask of the theif appears to be of Sumerian origin also, but it is hard to tell given our footage of the crime."

OOCsyren senses that Dr. Theodopolis isn't holding anything back.

 

[Bront]

"Have you met anyone you think might be suspect?" Psyren asks, taking a mental note of any faces and names that fly by in her mind when she asks.

 

[El Jefe]

Avatar knows that the four treasures were held as sacred and used in the most important ceremonies of the priests of Ur. One priest who was especially powerful was Amar-Sin. He was said to have unrivaled power in the Sumerian culture.

Avatar was disturbed. He was forgetting something...something obvious, but it just eluded him. Something about those objects...he racked his brains a second time. There was something about these objects, wasn't there?[sblock=OoC: ]Using Second Chance feat if allowed, 2nd roll is d20+18=26.[/sblock]

 

[Salix]

"Have you met anyone you think might be suspect?" Psyren asks, taking a mental note of any faces and names that fly by in her mind when she asks.

[sblock=Psyren's eyes only]Several images run through the doctor's mind. Most of the faces appear to be either seemingly mild-mannered professors or very seedy thieves. One face in particular is very distinctive. It is the angular face of a bald man with a dark goatee. A deep scar runs from his forehead through his left eye and down to his jawbone.[/sblock]

Avatar was disturbed. He was forgetting something...something obvious, but it just eluded him. Something about those objects...he racked his brains a second time. There was something about these objects, wasn't there?

[sblock=Avatar's eyes only]
Avatar isn't really sure that there is anything else to know, but comment by Dr. Theodopolis does jar something about the mask. It was discovered by one of his rivals, Dr. Samuel Dawson. His great-grandfather was the discoverer of the Piltdown man, one of the greatest intellectual hoaxes of the 20th century. Dawson was extremely driven to prove his legitimacy and had built quite a reputation as a discoverer of archaeologically significant sites. The last paper he published dealt with the crypt of Amar-Sin, last high priest of the Sumerian city state of Ur. The mask was said to be the one Amar-Sin was sealed into the crypt with. Dawson disappeared about five years ago, after being laughed out of academic circles for claiming that certain artifacts were magical. Since then he was known for procuring artifacts for collectors. In his younger days at the University of Chicago, the two men had been fiercely competitive, a condition that persisted into Avatars days of obtaining artifacts.

Avatar also feels his face flush hot at the mention of Lord Brixton, a former client.

He begins to remember some of the descriptions of the objects:
The Amulet of Nanna. A large gold disk on a heavy gold chain that features a recumbent crescent moon (the symbol of Nanna) floating over the Great Ziggurat.
The Prayer Stela of Nanna. A roughly 1-foot square arched stone slab featuring a cuneiform prayer to Nanna.
The Winged Disk Tablet. A small clay tablet that features the winged solar disk (a sun with the spread wings and tails of a raptor).
The Sacrificial Bowl of Nanna. A flat-bottomed gold bowl hammered with the recumbent crescent moon of Nanna on its side and the Great Ziggurat on its bottom.

[/sblock]

 

[El Jefe]

[sblock=Avatar's eyes only]
Avatar isn't really sure that there is anything else to know, but comment by Dr. Theodopolis does jar something about the mask. It was discovered by one of his rivals, Dr. Samuel Dawson. His great-grandfather was the discoverer of the Piltdown man, one of the greatest intellectual hoaxes of the 20th century. Dawson was extremely driven to prove his legitimacy and had built quite a reputation as a discoverer of archaeologically significant sites. The last paper he published dealt with the crypt of Amar-Sin, last high priest of the Sumerian city state of Ur. The mask was said to be the one Amar-Sin was sealed into the crypt with. Dawson disappeared about five years ago, after being laughed out of academic circles for claiming that certain artifacts were magical. Since then he was known for procuring artifacts for collectors. In his younger days at the University of Chicago, the two men had been fiercely competitive, a condition that persisted into Avatars days of obtaining artifacts.

Avatar also feels his face flush hot at the mention of Lord Brixton, a former client.

He begins to remember some of the descriptions of the objects:
The Amulet of Nanna. A large gold disk on a heavy gold chain that features a recumbent crescent moon (the symbol of Nanna) floating over the Great Ziggurat.
The Prayer Stela of Nanna. A roughly 1-foot square arched stone slab featuring a cuneiform prayer to Nanna.
The Winged Disk Tablet. A small clay tablet that features the winged solar disk (a sun with the spread wings and tails of a raptor).
The Sacrificial Bowl of Nanna. A flat-bottomed gold bowl hammered with the recumbent crescent moon of Nanna on its side and the Great Ziggurat on its bottom.

[/sblock]

Avatar slipped his PDA out of a pocket, and started entering notes while Dr. Theodopolis spoke. He listened patiently to her "list of suspects", listening for a particular name.[sblock=If she mentions Dawson: ]Avatar waited until she finished, then broke in: "Dr. Dawson...wasn't he obsessed with Sumerian artifacts? I understand he had some controversial theories about them. Can you tell us anything about that?"[/sblock][sblock=If she doesn't: ]Avatar waited until she finished, then chimed in: "Miss...er, Dr. Theodopolis, do you know anything about a Dr. Samuel Dawson? He popped up as a potential suspect...something about some crazy theory about the amulet being magical or something like that."[/sblock]

 

[Salix]

"Miss...er, Dr. Theodopolis, do you know anything about a Dr. Samuel Dawson? He popped up as a potential suspect...something about some crazy theory about the amulet being magical or something like that."[/sblock]

"Well according to legend all the items are magical. Amar-Sin was reputed to have been using them to cast a doomsday spell when the city fell to the Elamites. He was killed before it was completed, but his followers took the body and buried it in a hidden tomb. That's where Dawson found the crypt of Amar-sin. Dawson's problem came when he claimed the Death Mask of Amar-Sin had real magical powers. He was pretty much run out of the scientific community after that. He's a well-known grave robber with no apparent scientific morals.", she explained. "How do you know about him?"

 

[El Jefe]

"How do you know about him?"

Avatar cracked a smile, his lips the only part of it visible under his mask. It was a smile he'd practiced, that of a bureaucrat who had stayed up half the night researching something in hopes of impressing his boss, only to have just the perfect moment to spring it during the big meeting the next day. It was the smile that bureaucrat would have one moment after the startled expression appeared on his superior's face, the expression that said "that Johnson kid really knows his stuff" and the slight smile that whispered back, "You betcha I do!" "Our intelligence arm is very good", he replied, playing that little smile.

Avatar studied the young lady. Had she seen him before? Would she recognize his voice? A face in the crowd at one of his lectures, maybe? He decided not. He had a memory for faces, especially pretty ones. Regardless, it was a good time to change the subject. "But Dr.", he continued, using the title as if it was her first name, "could you elaborate a bit on the supposed powers of the...Four Great Treasures. If some nutcase like this...Dr. Dawson is behind this, it might give us some idea as to his motive...what he hopes to accomplish." Avatar was careful to put the pauses in just the right places, and to pause just enough at each one.

 

[Salix]

Avatar cracked a smile, his lips the only part of it visible under his mask. It was a smile he'd practiced, that of a bureaucrat who had stayed up half the night researching something in hopes of impressing his boss, only to have just the perfect moment to spring it during the big meeting the next day. It was the smile that bureaucrat would have one moment after the startled expression appeared on his superior's face, the expression that said "that Johnson kid really knows his stuff" and the slight smile that whispered back, "You betcha I do!" "Our intelligence arm is very good", he replied, playing that little smile.

Avatar studied the young lady. Had she seen him before? Would she recognize his voice? A face in the crowd at one of his lectures, maybe? He decided not. He had a memory for faces, especially pretty ones. Regardless, it was a good time to change the subject. "But Dr.", he continued, using the title as if it was her first name, "could you elaborate a bit on the supposed powers of the...Four Great Treasures. If some nutcase like this...Dr. Dawson is behind this, it might give us some idea as to his motive...what he hopes to accomplish." Avatar was careful to put the pauses in just the right places, and to pause just enough at each one.

The young doctor responds, "Of course this is all legend surrounding what are probably perfectly normal artifacts, but there was never any properties associated with each individual artifact. They were supposed to be used in concert to enhance the magic of the high priest, Amar-Sin."

 

[El Jefe]

"Of course this is all legend surrounding what are probably perfectly normal artifacts, but there was never any properties associated with each individual artifact. They were supposed to be used in concert to enhance the magic of the high priest, Amar-Sin."

"That fits together perfectly", thought Avatar. "If it is Dawson, he'd want to collect the whole set to become as powerful as he can." The historian-come-superhero spoke up: "That's very helpful, Dr. Theodopolis. Anybody else have any questions? Once we finish up here, we might want to take another look at the scene, then we'll be on our way."

 

[Velmont]

"I would have agreed with you ten years ago, Doctor, but with all these Supers around, we have some recorded mutant, but other that we can't explain there power except by magic... so if these artifacts is supposed to be a doomday device in the hands of someone, it would be a mistake to put that track aside. And what the mask looks like?" asks Sergeant, thinking of the masked wizard who stole the amulet.