Kingdom Lost - Episode 1 "Pilot"

[Tokiwong]

Hmm, how to break the ice...

"Professor Wilson, I presume?" James asks, smiling politely and offering a hand to shake, "I'm James Hale, and this is Dexter Kaufman. There's something we'd like you to take a look at if you have a moment. I think you'll find it very interesting."

With his free hand James gives her a photocopy of the scrap of paper, then stands back to let Dexter get into the details.

James rolls a Diplomacy check to adjust the mood of the Professor. She is Unfriendly, and he rolls a 23, moving her to Indiferrent. Nice roll, 2 short of Friendly

Professor Wilson listens politely, "Oh I apologize then, I thought you were students," she snatches the paper from James and looks it over, "is this a joke, all I see is a blank sheet of paper with some faded designs on it, hardly noteworthy. Are you stupid or just trying to waste my time?" she asks of the two private investigtors.

 

[Festy_Dog]

"is this a joke, all I see is a blank sheet of paper with some faded designs on it, hardly noteworthy. Are you stupid or just trying to waste my time?"

"We're private investigators, Professor, and that piece of paper is a photocopy of the original. We're trying to find out about those faded designs, they look like some kind of language but we were unable to determine anything more than that. We decided to see an expert in the field and thus we came to you," James says, hiding his dislike of the woman.

Urgh, hope we can get this done without too much difficulty. Just gotta keep coaxing her along.

 

[JimAde]

"We're private investigators, Professor, and that piece of paper is a photocopy of the original. We're trying to find out about those faded designs, they look like some kind of language but we were unable to determine anything more than that. We decided to see an expert in the field and thus we came to you," James says, hiding his dislike of the woman.

Urgh, hope we can get this done without too much difficulty. Just gotta keep coaxing her along.

Dexter says, "It looked to me like some of the characters were ancient greek and some maybe archaic Chinese, but some I didn't recognize at all. I recently read your paper on Indo-Aryan orthography and its possible influence on Tibetan and Miao, so I figured you'd be the person to talk to."

He reaches into his pocket and unfolds another piece of paper. "I went over the original as carefully as I could and made this copy of the symbols," he says. "The source is, as you can tell from the copy James gave you, modern. Done in ball-point I think."

After handing over the paper, Dex shifts a little uneasily on his feet and waits anxiously for Professor Wilson's reply.

(OOC: Sorry I've been out for a day or so. If possible, I am trying to Aid Another on any further Diplomacy checks James has to make. I did specify I was making a hand-copy of the symbols for just this reason, since the original was described as faint and hard to read.)

 

[Tokiwong]

Dexter says, "It looked to me like some of the characters were ancient greek and some maybe archaic Chinese, but some I didn't recognize at all. I recently read your paper on Indo-Aryan orthography and its possible influence on Tibetan and Miao, so I figured you'd be the person to talk to."

Professor Wilson nods, "I see you have done your homework. Well I can barely make out anything on his copy..." gesturing to James.

He reaches into his pocket and unfolds another piece of paper. "I went over the original as carefully as I could and made this copy of the symbols," he says. "The source is, as you can tell from the copy James gave you, modern. Done in ball-point I think."

After handing over the paper, Dex shifts a little uneasily on his feet and waits anxiously for Professor Wilson's reply.

She takes the paper and looks it over carefully, "Amateurish it seems, but you are correct in your hypothesis these symbols are as you say they are, but these unknown ones, hmm," she looks at it intently for nearly five minutes before saying anything.

"Hmm, I will need to take some time to further examine this, I would have discounted this as some kind of joke, but there is a pattern here, some type of structure, though I won't know for sure without some research," she finishes.

"Can I ask where you found this, and why would a couple of Private Investigators be interested in this?" she looks up curiously.

 

[JimAde]

"Well, Professor," Dexter begins, "I'm afraid we can't discuss the details of a case. We represent a discreet and confidential firm." Dexter opens his wallet and withdraws a business card. He hands this, too, to Professor Wilson. "But I can say that an innocent woman's happiness might hinge on this." He keeps his attention on Professor Wilson, actively resisting the urge to look at James in any meaningful way.

"If you would be willing to spend some of your valuable time looking this over, I would of course be more than willing to assist you."

 

[Tokiwong]

"Well, Professor," Dexter begins, "I'm afraid we can't discuss the details of a case. We represent a discreet and confidential firm." Dexter opens his wallet and withdraws a business card. He hands this, too, to Professor Wilson. "But I can say that an innocent woman's happiness might hinge on this." He keeps his attention on Professor Wilson, actively resisting the urge to look at James in any meaningful way.

"If you would be willing to spend some of your valuable time looking this over, I would of course be more than willing to assist you."

"Hmm," she weighs over the words, "I will look this over, and see if there is any type of significance to this, script, which I doubt there will be, but it can't hurt to at least check. Check back with me tomorrow, I have a light evening ahead, I can devote some of my valuable time to this unknown woman's happiness," she says sarcastically, and then brusquely passes, "Good day, gentlemen."

 

[JimAde]

"Hmm," she weighs over the words, "I will look this over, and see if there is any type of significance to this, script, which I doubt there will be, but it can't hurt to at least check. Check back with me tomorrow, I have a light evening ahead, I can devote some of my valuable time to this unknown woman's happiness," she says sarcastically, and then brusquely passes, "Good day, gentlemen."

Dexter turns to James. "Well, that actually went a lot better than I expected. Do you want to head back?"

 

[barsoomcore]

"What did Harvey have to say?"

"He just, I don't know, really. He asked if I was working on the Pepperdine murders. He knew I worked for you."

The events of this morning have unbalanced Dan for reasons he can't really articulate.

"He said something about me being wired? Do you know what he was talking about?"

BTW Alicia reads Cosmopolitan and Maxim

Of course she does. What was I thinking?

 

[Tokiwong]

"He just, I don't know, really. He asked if I was working on the Pepperdine murders. He knew I worked for you."

The events of this morning have unbalanced Dan for reasons he can't really articulate.

"He said something about me being wired? Do you know what he was talking about?"

Graham sighs, "Harvey is a good man, but a little out there like I said. He keeps tabs on my operation, says that he is trying to protect me in case..." he pauses, "well its a little hard to beleive but he thinks people are after him or something, or maybe, he would like people to be after him. He takes some strange cases too, but I am not going to knock him, he gets clients."

"Don't feel bad he called me wired too, I thought it was a slang word the way he threw it around. One of them terms I was too old, and not hip enough to know," he says with a laugh. He takes a moment before continuing, "I bet you he is working on something related to them murders, and I bet yah he has a strange theory for why they are occuring too, man always had a slight hard on for all things occult."

 

[barsoomcore]

Dan nods, listening intently.

"Okay, thanks, Mr. Vanderwolf. It was a little strange. I didn't know if I should say anything or not."

He takes a breath.

"I kind of... screwed things up over at Best Buy. I don't know what happened, I just... well, anyway, sorry about that. I'll do better next time."