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two crows ([personal profile] crowmod) wrote in [community profile] thecrowbar2020-09-01 01:43 pm
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Downtime #1

downtime, september 1st-14th
the briefing Interviews have concluded, job offers have been made and accepted, and everyone is getting settled into their new Las Vegas lives. On the morning of Tuesday the first, all aurors are called together for orientation. Phones are distributed, slideshows are watched, and at long last Eleanor Oddtree makes an appearance to give her initial briefing.

Her demeanor is cool and her tone clipped as she presents the facts as she knows them:

On July 13th, the MACUSA National Archive was robbed. Since that time, they have been conducting a thorough internal investigation, which is expected to come to a conclusion within the next week or so. After they reopen their doors, the Crowbar task force will be allowed to investigate.

The Archive is quite confident this was not an inside job, and suspects that the heist was executed by a highly organized group of at least five thieves.

The thieves left no trace of themselves behind, no ward or window broken. The anti-apparition field, however, appears to have been temporarily weakened. Archive specialists have not been able to restore it to its former state, hence the extremely heightened security.

Five pieces of art have been stolen:
1. A living portrait of Wymerus the Weird, completed in Paris, France in 1599 by the painter Roger Follie. Wymerus was portrayed as an old man with long grey hair and a dirty beard, red of face, dressed rather like a monk in a sackcloth and sandals. He gulped from a perpetual pitcher of ale and spat out curses at people who disturbed him. It seemed Mr. Follie did not much like the subject of his painting; it’s not all too flattering. The other portraits in the hall did not seem to like Wymerus, either, and neglected to tell security staff of his absence for at least ten minutes.

2. An opulently decorated egg, in a similar style to those made in the house of Fabergé. It was given to the MACUSA president at the time as a gift in the year 1901. It’s about the size of a goose-egg, painted light green, with delicate silver tracing in vine patterns. Clusters of pearl form lilies of the valley. It does not appear to be inherently magical, some things in this museum are just pretty.

3. A crystal bowl that traps and kills or destroys any item, including human flesh, that is placed within it. Within seconds, any item, including often hands, are rendered to dust. It’s an extremely cursed item, nicknamed the Venus Fly Trap candy bowl. The bowl was seized after a raid on a pureblood manor. Year of acquirement 1822; original artist unknown. This was in one of the deeper vaults, not because of any danger to the public from this fairly limited vessel, but because of the intense necrotic curses that could not be unwound from the bowl.

4. The Staff of Hermes, a simple etched ash wand made of wood. This is the oldest magical wand on record, dug up in 1962 by wizard archaeologists in Athens, Greece, and dates back to the 6th century, B.C.E. It was preserved very well because of its inherent magic and is surprisingly ornate for such an old tool. It does look like a traditional staff of Hermes, with two snakes wound around the staff, hissing at each other.

5. An ornate silver dagger, without a sheath. This was made of fine goblin-wrought material and pilfered from a mansion by a statesman’s wife in 1734. They decided to donate it to the national archive because of its fine quality, and there it’s been ever since, to avoid any international unpleasantness. Although the original owner, Richard Pye, started rumors that this dagger sucked the souls of those it pricks out of their bodies, there is absolutely no evidence to support that conclusion.
The archive isn’t sure what the significance of these pieces is, but they do know that they were not stolen at random. Each was archived in its own separate section, with its own specialized security -- save for the portrait of Wymerus the Weird, which was on display in the museum.

Between now and such a time that they are allowed to investigate the Archive themselves, the aurors are asked to do recon work on the local art scene, familiarize themselves with the security and layout of the National Archive, and prepare any questions they might have for the Archive staff.

major events IC/OOC on 9/7: Everett Oddtree will be evaluating all aurors on their dueling technique. While he goes toe-to-toe with each one of you himself, you’ll also test your mettle against one another.

Petition Event on 9/11: Arden Oddtree will be evaluating all aurors on their occlumency technique. Rumor has it he’s also trying to sniff out any remaining conflicts of interest among the ranks.

Mission on 9/15: Investigating the National Archive.

minor events (You may take one slot in the first 24 hours. After 24 hours have passed, you may take a second slot. Items marked with a 🔎 will come with some secret information delivered to your screened Action Hub comment!)

On 9/1, Ichabod Godfrey's luggage is lost in the mail! Auror robes are easy enough to get hold of, but they're out of lounge clothes. A shy Healer Ashley drops off about five hospital gowns at their door to function as pajamas. Cool...?

9/2 is National Coconut Day AND the full moon! The cafeteria elves decided to accommodate any potential werewolf employees and honor the day by providing Coco Surf and Turf, a nice protein-y meal that [CHARACTER B] finds...weirdly good? Though mostly everyone agrees it's super inedible.

Meanwhile, Madison Maddox and [CHARACTER D] decide to welcome themselves to Las Vegas by attending !!!GLUTTONY!!!, the All You Can Eat Buffet in the Magimall. Unfortunately, that establishment is also guilty of the cardinal sin of greed, and kick the two out after their impressive amount of eating in less than two hours.

On 9/3, a lost-in-thought Wendelin Sparks decides to go for a walk and forgets they're in their Auror robes in the streets of Muggle Vegas. They're mistaken for a religious figure on holiday, and two very inebriated tourists ask for them to officiate their wedding. They'll pay $50!

On 9/4, the Coffee Fairy is having a busy week learning everyone's orders, but seems to take particular joy in harassing Teagan Oddtree with just entire glasses of straight espresso all week. She's seemingly deaf to complaints.

On 9/5, Amadeus McCracken asks a contact of theirs at the National Archive to catch up over coffee. 🔎

On 9/6, [CHARACTERS H, I, & J] get anonymous tickets for a Criss Angel show left for them at the front desk of the Crow Bar? And they go. And it's a little strange. But ultimately, kind of fun.

On 9/7, Rory Howlan sets themselves up with a new cover identity -- a European art collector spending a few months abroad in the states. They make a few contacts in the New York and Las Vegas magical art scenes. 🔎

On 9/8, Paloma Oakley loses their pens steadily throughout the day. They suspect subterfuge.

On 9/9, A tourist family wanders into the Crow Bar and tries to make a reservation. Most people are more easily put off, but they're on a budget. While on their obligatory Crow Bar shift, Desdemona Moore is stuck babysitting 2 kids for a full hour while their parents wonder why they can't get the slot machines to work.

On 9/10, Kit Mulholland is working on a personal project of theirs in the tech lab when they realize they have someone hovering over their shoulder -- X Quintana, the surly quartermaster. She’s impressed with their work and tells them to stop by her office if they ever need anything for their project.

On 9/11, [CHARACTER O] was late to their very first branch briefing. Everyone was too polite to say anything, but over the course of the day they get no fewer than three summons from Eleanor Oddtree to help with clerical tasks even though Friday is definitely in the office.

On 9/12, Vigilance Pryor recalls a detail from an old case file they read about the National Archive’s security system, way back when they were still in academy. It takes them a while to track it down, but they finally dig up a copy of the file. This could be useful! 🔎

On 9/13, in an impressive show of why you shouldn't take work home, Parker Digby's roommate/housemate/special house friend spilled water ALL over their first report. Time for a murder.

On 9/14, Luca Romero is called into Eleanor’s office late in the evening. She asks them to keep an eye on her nephews in the field tomorrow, since she’ll be held up here on business. Was that… familial concern? It felt a little cold, but all the Oddtrees are.

locations! THE BRIEFING: Eleanor takes questions from the aurors after she concludes her briefing. Reactions & scenes also welcome.

OOC - VOLUNTEER SLOTS

OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

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