Post by TheUdjat on Sept 5, 2008 16:43:53 GMT -5
Tommy, William-
Tommy focuses his attention on the case of statuettes first, curious about why one would keep such a collection and yet have it closed, apparently completely unaware of mankind’s tendency to decorate with artwork. He examines the statues, and despite his poor knowledge of scholarly things, feels fairly secure that the statuettes are all replicas, meant to duplicate pieces of ancient Egyptian art from various periods of time; there appears to be no particular pattern to what is there, but Tommy is no expert. He sees what he knows as the major Egyptian gods—one with a jackal’s head, one with a cat’s head, a seated man and a seated woman, and so forth. The names escape him, but they are familiar in their way.
Although replicas, the pieces are probably modestly valuable, and it occurs to Tommy that the case may be meant to discourage theft—though as it is glass, it isn’t a great deterrent. It is locked, however. Presumably Tewfik carries the key, or has it tucked away somewhere.
Looking instead to the mirror, a large, full-sized affair that he guesses to be heavy, but not immovable. Tommy has unfortunately has very little experience with actual gold, but what he does know tells him this is either it, or nearly it. The gold frame of the mirror is either very well kept or else it is gold, for it is not at all tarnished. Of course, it could be a slight gold alloy, but Tommy knows little about metallurgy. Still, the thing looks valuable, and if he carried it out he could probably find a buyer, though it would take time to fence such a large piece of art in a foreign city. He would need both hands free to carry the mirror outside, but guesses there it would fit easily enough in the car.
Meanwhile, William examines the Koran, but he quickly discovers nothing out of the ordinary. The book looks to be in good condition, and he finds nothing to indicate that it has been tampered with to hide other text or that it is somehow an imperfect copy.
Moving on, William proceeds to take a few awkward photos of the room. This itself turns out to be a timely affair, for cameras are still quite bulky and cumbersome, but he does it all the same. When this is taken care of, he moves on to the roll-top desk as Tommy suggested. It is locked, of course, but both men are adept at dealing with such things. The whole thing could probably be forced open, too, but that would be a bit more obvious to Tewfik on his return.
Inside the desk, William finds only invoices, shop records account books, extra paper, pens, and other such trivialities. All of it is kept with impeccable neatness and precision—Tewfik must work meticulously to keep all his records in order. Throughout the desk, though, William discovers nothing incriminating, either in the account books or otherwise, and Tewfik appears to keep no papers of a personal nature in the roll-top.
With the living room investigated, the only major room remaining in Tewfik’s flat is the bedroom, where Tewfik’s closet and bed take up most of the space, along with an elaborate wooden trunk, many plush cushions, a couch or two, and the hookah at the center of the lounging area. The kitchen and bathroom yet remain as well, though these will be quicker areas to search, being much smaller.
Thurman, Grey, Sam-
To pass the time, Grey begins talking with the other men in the car, ironically contributing more dialogue than they have managed to in the past 3 or so posts. While they discuss the relative merits of breaking into ancient tombs over modern shops, Thurman takes notice of something peculiar taking place in the street. Nothing major, granted, and if the archeologist hadn’t been watching for things so carefully he never would have caught onto it, but he notices a car pass by—the same car that swung through some minutes ago. It would be difficult to tell, given that it is black like any other vehicle, but Thurman noticed a scratch just over one wheel on its first pass.
Paying close attention now, the three men take notice of a peculiar shape along a nearby alley that they had at first mistaken for trash or innocuous debris. The shape shifts, clearly a someone rather than a something, but there is not much more than can be gathered save that.
It is uncertain whether the dark shape is watching Tewfik’s shop or the parked car, but it is difficult to imagine that the person would be there for any other purpose.
List of clues
Tommy focuses his attention on the case of statuettes first, curious about why one would keep such a collection and yet have it closed, apparently completely unaware of mankind’s tendency to decorate with artwork. He examines the statues, and despite his poor knowledge of scholarly things, feels fairly secure that the statuettes are all replicas, meant to duplicate pieces of ancient Egyptian art from various periods of time; there appears to be no particular pattern to what is there, but Tommy is no expert. He sees what he knows as the major Egyptian gods—one with a jackal’s head, one with a cat’s head, a seated man and a seated woman, and so forth. The names escape him, but they are familiar in their way.
Although replicas, the pieces are probably modestly valuable, and it occurs to Tommy that the case may be meant to discourage theft—though as it is glass, it isn’t a great deterrent. It is locked, however. Presumably Tewfik carries the key, or has it tucked away somewhere.
Looking instead to the mirror, a large, full-sized affair that he guesses to be heavy, but not immovable. Tommy has unfortunately has very little experience with actual gold, but what he does know tells him this is either it, or nearly it. The gold frame of the mirror is either very well kept or else it is gold, for it is not at all tarnished. Of course, it could be a slight gold alloy, but Tommy knows little about metallurgy. Still, the thing looks valuable, and if he carried it out he could probably find a buyer, though it would take time to fence such a large piece of art in a foreign city. He would need both hands free to carry the mirror outside, but guesses there it would fit easily enough in the car.
Meanwhile, William examines the Koran, but he quickly discovers nothing out of the ordinary. The book looks to be in good condition, and he finds nothing to indicate that it has been tampered with to hide other text or that it is somehow an imperfect copy.
Moving on, William proceeds to take a few awkward photos of the room. This itself turns out to be a timely affair, for cameras are still quite bulky and cumbersome, but he does it all the same. When this is taken care of, he moves on to the roll-top desk as Tommy suggested. It is locked, of course, but both men are adept at dealing with such things. The whole thing could probably be forced open, too, but that would be a bit more obvious to Tewfik on his return.
Inside the desk, William finds only invoices, shop records account books, extra paper, pens, and other such trivialities. All of it is kept with impeccable neatness and precision—Tewfik must work meticulously to keep all his records in order. Throughout the desk, though, William discovers nothing incriminating, either in the account books or otherwise, and Tewfik appears to keep no papers of a personal nature in the roll-top.
With the living room investigated, the only major room remaining in Tewfik’s flat is the bedroom, where Tewfik’s closet and bed take up most of the space, along with an elaborate wooden trunk, many plush cushions, a couch or two, and the hookah at the center of the lounging area. The kitchen and bathroom yet remain as well, though these will be quicker areas to search, being much smaller.
[All rolls made for the above kept in secret.]
Thurman, Grey, Sam-
To pass the time, Grey begins talking with the other men in the car, ironically contributing more dialogue than they have managed to in the past 3 or so posts. While they discuss the relative merits of breaking into ancient tombs over modern shops, Thurman takes notice of something peculiar taking place in the street. Nothing major, granted, and if the archeologist hadn’t been watching for things so carefully he never would have caught onto it, but he notices a car pass by—the same car that swung through some minutes ago. It would be difficult to tell, given that it is black like any other vehicle, but Thurman noticed a scratch just over one wheel on its first pass.
Paying close attention now, the three men take notice of a peculiar shape along a nearby alley that they had at first mistaken for trash or innocuous debris. The shape shifts, clearly a someone rather than a something, but there is not much more than can be gathered save that.
It is uncertain whether the dark shape is watching Tewfik’s shop or the parked car, but it is difficult to imagine that the person would be there for any other purpose.
[Congratulations, Japic, on your Spot Hidden roll of a 4. Bravo, sir. 
]
]List of clues
