Alone Against the Dark - Ironmaster's CoC game (IC)

[Ironmaster]

For you, Professor Antonio Solari, this first day of September, 1931, has been tiring and uncomfortable. Light mist has covered Arkham for most of the day. You held two uninspired undergraduate classes at Miskatonic University. You also met with the new chairman of the Literature Department, a giddy Technocrat. You survey your desk and see that a stack of papers to grade has already formed. With a bit of relief, a friend of yours, Shane Douglas, has dropped by, and you’re enjoying the conversation and your second pipe of the evening. Lucy must be in bed by now, the housekeeper having already prepared dinner and a bath. Normally, you would be home, but the chance for adult conversation drives you to delay for a time. Both of you are engaged, Shane trying to convince you about the arcane American past time, baseball, and some gentleman sportsman, a Lou Gehrig who hits his 3rd ‘grand slam’ in 4 days and his 6th ‘home run’ in consecutive games today, when the doorbell to Solari’s cluttered office rings. To your surprise, it’s a telegraphic messenger. The messenger is a mere boy himself.

“It arrived at Kingspoint Head station not more than an hour ago,” the boy says. You sign for it, and slip a dime into the youngster’s hand.

“Oh, thank you, sir!”

You open the envelope and scan the contents.

ATHENS, GREECE 9/1/31 via Kingspoint Head Station

IN JAIL FOR ANTIQUITY THEFT STOP NEED HELP STOP CAN YOU COME STOP URGENT STOP SEE CORPORAL ILIONAS, ATHENS BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.

GLIERE

You both are old colleages of Gliere. Both of you recall that he had gone to Greece to work on his book concerning primitive myths. What has he gotten himself into? Should you wire money? You recall all of the amusing discussions you’ve had with him, and a sudden insight lets you understand that Tibor Gliere had no close friends outside of both of you. Should you go to help him? You suppose the University or the Arkham Advertiser would grant you leave. What to do now? Both of you have only pocket change. You’ll need to visit the bank in the morning. Trans-Atlantic schedules-surely the Advertiser carries that information. You know that Gliere kept a room at Mrs. Harding’s boarding house.

You go home, get your passport in order, pack clothes and sundries, and turn in. When you both wake (in your own homes in Arkham), it is September 2, 8:00 AM.

[OOC: Many places have phones, and information can be obtained my making a phone call. Other places do not. Shane Douglass has $6,000 in savings at the bank, Solari has $8,000. Time in this game in important. Pay attention to the time in the title entry of each post.]

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Upon waking up in the morning, Shane takes a peek out a window of his small apartment, hoping for better weather than the previous day. After banging around in his tiny kitchen making a pot of coffee, he picks up the phone and places a call to his employer, the Arkham Advertiser to see if he can get the Trans-Atlantic schedules. Once he has that information, he places a second call to Antonio to give him the details, seeing if the professor wants to meet to discuss a possible trip to Greece.

Assuming that Antonio is agreeable to a meeting, Shane leaves his apartment and heads out to meet his friend. He doesn't bother with the bank just yet, wanting to discuss plans with Antonio before making a decision to pull money from his savings.

 

[Spell]

Another bad dream.
A bad taste in the mouth greets Antonio's wake up. Throughout the night, he has wondered what to do about Tibor Gliere's telegram. "NEED HELP STOP CAN YOU COME STOP URGENT". help. don't we all need help, in one way or another?
Shane looked willing to send money and even leave the country to help Tibor... but that wasn't that easy for him.

The courses at the university. the reason he returned to Arkham to begin with. The only source of money he had, at the moment. The only chance to make his mathematical dreams come true.
More importantly, there was Lucy. Would have she been alright, alone in a city that she didn't know yet, in a relatively new house, with the housekeeper?
Once again, Antonio felt guilty for her, for not having been able to save her mother from her death.

As he was washing and dressing up, Antonio tried to decide what was the best course of action. He just couldn't ignore a plea of help coming from Tibor. Was sending money enough? No. In fact, the telegram didn't mention any money to be sent. Tibor wanted them to reach him in Athens.

After the second cup of black coffee, a plan started to form in Antonio's head. The accuse of being an antiquity thief was certainly ridiculous. The matter could have been solved quickly, if handled in the proper way.

Going to Mrs. Harding’s boarding house and have a look at Tibor's room and things might have shed some light in the matter. He and Shane should have done that as soon as possible.
Then there was Lucy to sort out. Maybe having a word with the people at the church, and making some arrangment with the housekeeper for the occasion would have provided her with the love and the affection she needed for a three or four weeks, so that Antonio would have had the opportunity to take Tibor back in Arkham.

...

A phone call from Shane. Details about boats. He would pay a visit later.
Antonio hoped that everything could have been sorted without leaving the country, but he understood very well that that was just impossible.
Maybe he would have had a word with Lucy. Maybe...
Maybe it was a good idea to bring her with him, after all. After this matter would have been putted to rest, they could have visited Sicily and his family. He wondered if that was a good idea after all.

 

[Ironmaster]

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1931 - 9am

Upon waking up in the morning, Shane takes a peek out a window of his small apartment, hoping for better weather than the previous day. After banging around in his tiny kitchen making a pot of coffee, he picks up the phone and places a call to his employer, the Arkham Advertiser to see if he can get the Trans-Atlantic schedules. Once he has that information, he places a second call to Antonio to give him the details, seeing if the professor wants to meet to discuss a possible trip to Greece.

Assuming that Antonio is agreeable to a meeting, Shane leaves his apartment and heads out to meet his friend. He doesn't bother with the bank just yet, wanting to discuss plans with Antonio before making a decision to pull money from his savings.

Dialing the Advertiser, Shane finds that a Cunard liner departs Pier 56 in New York City every Saturday for Athens and Alexandria, with intermediate stops. The trip takes nine days to Athens, and one more to Alexandria. It costs $300. Acting with your usual reporter's efficiency, you also call the Arkham Depot for the Boston and Main RR schedule. Trains leave for Boston at 9am, noon, and 5pm. The trip to Boston takes and hour and costs $1.25. You'd have to purchase tickets at the Depot. From Boston, two trains leave for New York City's Grand Central Station. Once leaves at 10am and arrives at 5pm, the other leaves at 4pm and arives at 10pm. Tickets from Boston to New York are $6.00 each. You have friends in Boston who can put you up for the night, in the event that you miss the train for New York.

 

[Ironmaster]

Wednesday, Sept.2, 1931 - 10am

Shane arrives at the house of Antonio Solari, a prim New England Saltbox of fresh white plaster, dark green shutters, and flower boxes making a last, herculean effort to bloom their last before succuming to oblivion.

[OOC: Antonio, you will probably need to get permission from the Dean before leaving. Father Cromwell, with whom you are well-acquainted, might be the man to talk to about Lucy, or even for good spiritual guidance. The rectory does have a telephone. Shane, you might be able to convince your editor to follow this as a story, and get time away from the desk in the field.]

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Shane knocks on Antonio's door and once admitted and face to face with his friend, he tells him what he was able to find out regarding train schedules and costs and the Trans-Atlantic schedule and cost. He relates all of this in a matter-of-fact fashion, just wanting to pass on the information, not make Antonio's decision for him.

"So, what do you think? Leave for Greece at the first available opportunity? It may be the only way to help Tibor I'm afraid. The paper should give me the go ahead I think. Might see a story in all of it, which will make it somewhat of a business trip for me. Do you think you can get away from the University?"

 

[Spell]

"So, what do you think? Leave for Greece at the first available opportunity? It may be the only way to help Tibor I'm afraid. The paper should give me the go ahead I think. Might see a story in all of it, which will make it somewhat of a business trip for me. Do you think you can get away from the University?"

Antonio looks up at Shane with an uneasy smile.
"I have no idea. In order to leave the university there are a couple of things that needs to be settled. The first, of course, is Lucy. I can't leave her alone here without explaining her the situation and making sure the there will always be at least one person that will take care of her.
Then, naturally, I have to get a temporary leave permit from the Dean of the university, and from the head of my department. This won't be easy. I suppose I won't be able to have a permit just to go and save Tibor from..."

Silence falles between Antonio and Shane. Anotnio's eyes turn away from shane, towards the wall behind Shane. All over the wall there are numerous pictures and drawings of mathematicians from the past.
"Ecco... ecco la soluzione..." he mutters. His eyes relives, as if he had gained strength from some unknown source.

"Shane, I have the solution. I remember that the was some talk, last April, about a project by John Fields, a Canadian mathematician... the name might not tell much to you, but he's one of the leading researcher of the Riemann hypothesis... but i digress. Apparently, some time before I returned to Arkham, he proposed to assign medals to the most brilliant mathematicians in the world every international congress. In April the department tried to contact him to discuss the matter further, but he said he was in Europe and he wouldn't had returned to North America until the end of November. I think he is currently in Italy. Of course the department didn't want the spend the money to send somebody to meet Fields in Europe. But if we find out that Tibor's research in Greece was directly tied to the University, and the his arrest could cause scandal, there might be enough room for me to be granted a leave permit to investigate in both situations.
The fact that you work in a newspaper could be useful, too. If a scandal cannot be avoided, at least your articles could avoid the university lots of troubles... of course you have to give me your gentleman's word that your articles will go in that direction. I am sure that Tibor has been the victim of some misunderstanding. But if that is not the case, and your editor has some reason to attack the University, then I must know."

If Shane agrees, Antonio will propose to go to Mrs. Harding's lodging house after a call to the head of the department and to the Dean to explain the situation.
Before going out, he will also try to contact father Cromwell about Lucy.

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Shane nods in agreement, an easy smile on his face. "Sure thing, Antonio. I'll do what I can to make sure the University doesn't look bad no matter what the outcome of Tibor's case ends up being."

Shane tries to relax while Antonio makes the call to the Priest but he is too wound up about the upcoming trip and what adventures lie along the way. He has only been out of the country one other time in his life and never to Greece so the excitement is understandable.

When Antonio finishes on the phone, he stands up from the comfortable chair he had been sitting in. "So, off to the boarding house? Hopefully there will be something there that gives us some more specific information on what Tibor was doing in Greece."

 

[Spell]

"Let's go. Father Cromwell has agreed to meet us there, so that I can speak about the whole matter with him personally. I don't like telephones too much. Besides, I think he might know Tibor, as well"

 

[Ironmaster]

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1931 - 10am

Harold Douglass, tenured professor of Archaeology at M.U., had heard a disturbing rumor. Disturbing, if one understood the nature of academia and scientific inquiry, that is. Rumor had found it's way to his desk in the person of A.E. Carlisle, an annoyingly predatory new hire who happened to prowl about the walnut panelled corridors of learning sponging about for gossip. This morning, early as it was, he was smirking, perched on the corner of Douglass' office desk. The clock read 8am, and Harold's only duties that day were an afternoon class, and a meeting regarding funding after that.

Carlisle had confided that Tibor Gliere, that dotty old fool, had gotten himself in some sort of legal entanglement in Athens, and that the new adjunct, the Italian fellow Solari, had been informed directly, instead of Gliere doing the responsible thing, and contacting his department. Gliere's work with ancient artifacts was delicate, and anything that could embarrass the department and interfere with funding should be handled by those concerned, instead of a math professor.

After heavy hinting and shuffling of papers, Carlisle realized he had done his duty to Discordia, and flown off looking for more bodies to hover about, and Douglass had made up his mind to inform Solari that archaeology business needed to be handled by archeologists. He had his number about. Yes, there it was, Solari's home telephone number...