Notable beauty and workmanship.


The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has one of the world's greatest collections of medieval and Renaissance works of art, ranging in date from 300 to 1600 AD and in scale from the miniature to the monumental. The 44 masterpieces shown here focus on the "Treasury Arts" and provide insight into artistic production across this vast period, highlighting both continuity and change. The exhibition includes carved ivories, bronze sculpture, jeweled metalwork, stained glass and a rare notebook by Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Whether designed for church or palace, these works not only were admired for their beauty and workmanship, they also tell a variety of stories about their makers and owners.


Medieval and Renaissance Treasures features mostly small-scale works that are rarely lent. The foundations of the V&A collection were laid during the 19th century when the museum was known as the South Kensington Museum. Highlights include a Leonardo da Vinci notebook, the Codex Forster I; the Symmachi Panel, a 5th-century Roman ivory possibly carved to commemorate a wedding; the front cover of the Lorsch Gospels, a richly decorated ivory cover of the Gospels made for an abbey in Charlemagne's Germany; the Basilewsky Situla, a small vessel used by priests to hold holy water and gifted to the Emperor Otto II in 980; a pair of gilt-bronze statuettes of prophets from an altarpiece by Hubert Gerhard; and Donatello's bronze Putto with Fish. This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see these works together before they are installed in a new suite of galleries devoted to medieval and Renaissance Europe at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2009.

Opens in September

In spite of a schedule that is filled to overflowing, and more jobs being put on her slender shoulders, Christine will take the time to go through the museum.

Enjoying the time away from everyone and anything, as well as the chance to see precious and rare artworks.  One of the few times, recently, her mind hasn't been caught up with Thomas, numbers or fear.

I am less interested in art than your average museum patron. Painting stir the soul or the emotions, but not for me. They are mere pictures, no more descrïptive than a cheap polaroid only far more time consuming...

I have been lingering in the area of the da vinci notebook exhibit for the last hour. I am interested, but nowhere near to the lust seen on the faces of Dan Brown readers...

In a flash ive made up my mind. That notebook is perfect for my collection. I want it, i need it. There isnt a damn thing i could do with it myself, but its value in a trade could be immense. For a split second i nearly salivate.

I will wander away from the exhibit and head for the bathroom down the hall. Inside i have to climb onto of the toilet to enable my short stature to bump a cieling tile ever so slightly out of place.

2008-12-01 09:00:34 Nayk rolls 6 dice to Perception+Alertness 9,6,4,4,5, 8 (3 successes)

In just moments i am certain that i am alone. Its a rare thing in a public womens restroom, with any luck, this will coincide with it being close to closing time.

2008-12-01 09:05:32 Nayk rolls 6 dice to Stamina and Primal Urge 10,1,9,3,7, 5 (2 successes)

With a roll of my shoulders i dissolve. My body hunches down and turns black as if i suddenly burned or turned to ash. There will be a symphony of clicks as hundreds upon hundreds of tiny black widow spiders run up the wall and into the exposed space left by the cieling tile. In just seconds i will be no more, and the restroom will once again be empty.

Entwined among the wires, pipes and ducts that make up the space beetween the suspended cieling and the true cieling above i will wait for the telltale humming of the flourescent lights to stop. Only then will i know the museum is closed and next to empty...

When the lights do begin to go down, the guards will begin their rounds, ushering people out and checking the bathrooms and other hiding-spots. From her vantage point, a hundred-thousand eyes will see a dark man, his skin like burnished copper with a meticulously trimmed and graying beard, in a security uniform open the door. He walks through the room quickly, checking each of the stalls in turn before turning to leave and shutting off the light on his way out.

Timing is everything. Ananasi teaches her children patience. If i were to leave my hiding place now, mere minutes after the museum closing i would surely betray myself to someone working late or a guard who hasnt been numbed from hours of inactivity.

2008-12-02 09:57:12 Nayk rolls 4 dice to Patience of Ananasi (Diff 7) 7,10,8,6 (3 successes) [3 hours]

Thousands of tiny black widows settle in and become motionless en-masse. Like a carpet of black entwined among the pipes and wires and insulation we wait. I wait.

For the next three hours an observer wouldnt be able to tell if the spiders were living or dead, there isnt a single audible click of mandibles or chitanous legs clicking against neighbors.

[3 hours passing since close should put us at what; 10 or 11 pm?]  

When i am satisfied that enough time has passed i will crawl down from my hiding place as a black mass with a million legs.

2008-12-02 10:06:36 Nayk rolls 6 dice to Stamina and Primal Urge 8,8,10,9,2, 1 (3 successes)

All at once a billion eyes turn to one single point as hundreds upon hundreds of spiders meld together forming each foot, each leg, my torso and arms and finally my head. My skin melts from black spotted with red to a pale white, a billion eyes turn to white and blue and a mass of red turns to my blond hair.

The combining of a million consciousnesses into one is always disorienting. For a small moment i am dizzy as i climb to my feet, but the feeling, like all feelings, is weak and will pass before i can become concerned.

I am not the female who walked into this bathroom hours ago. When i look at myself in the mirror my hair is shorter, my shoulders broader and my chin more square. I have gained a few inches in height, i am a short male and i appear underweight for my age. I could pass for the brother of the female who entered here hours ago, but i am clearly not female.

[Gender Morph Merit, just in case I end up on cameras...]

I unzip the front of my sweatshirt and flip the hood up over my head. I walk to the door and pull it open slowly, peering out through the crack to insure that the coast is clear.

2008-12-02 10:24:20 Nayk rolls 6 dice to Perception+Alertness 8,1,7,6,3, 7 (3 successes)  

--Last edited by Nayk on 2008-12-02 12:14:38 --

{{I would say it was easily 11pm.}}

The museum is deathly silent. More so than one might expect, even this long after closing. The Sanfield Art Museum has long relied more on security of the electronic persuasion than of the rent-a-cop variety. Even so, there are usually three to six guards on duty during the day, depending on the current exhibits, and at least two on the graveyard shift. Since the arrival of the current showcase, not to mention certain ruffians spray painting the building and spontaneously combustible vagrants, security has been doubled, but as the androgynous stowaway cracks the door to the bathroom, not even the  distant footfalls of guards making their rounds can be heard...

Fear, like all emotions serve only to hold you back. There is no hesitation from me. I walk right out of the bathroom and head straight down the hallway towards my prize.

2008-12-03 15:34:23 Nayk rolls 5 dice to Dexterity and Stealth 6,5,8,8,2 (3 successes)

My well worn sneakers are near silent on the Museums marble floors. The hallway will open to the small foyer with the new exhibit. I suspect its one of the most secure, given its valuable and ancient nature.

Life is never like the movies. There wont be visible laser trip wires, there wont be an obvious hole in the cameras recorded areas. I dont expect to get what i want without setting off at least one alarm, but i am well aware that i am no highly skilled art thief. I am walking into this entirely unprepared, ready to do a million dollar smash and grab.

2008-12-03 15:52:58 Nayk rolls 6 dice to Perception+Alertness 9,3,9,9,6, 9 (5 successes)

I will peer around the corner to get a view of my target and see exactly what kind of shit i am up against here.

The security would appear to be fairly standard fare for priceless, one of a kind artifacts: There are multiple cameras with overlapping fields of view and thick, shatter-resistant glass cases around most of the objects, likely locked somehow and rigged to pressure, vibration, and audio switches which trigger a silent alarm if tampered with before deactivating them from the central security room.

However, adjacent to this room is an older display that has remained at Sanfield for several years, a small collection of middle-eastern artifacts including the highly controversial Ivory Pomegranate, long believed to be the only relic ever found from Solomon's temple. Few realize the true sordid history of the object, or that it's mysterious benefactor, Qadiral Al-Asmai, was responsible for both proving it to be a fake nearly five years ago, and subsequently providing new evidence that it was, in fact genuine. Or that he made a killing on the profits.

Of course Nayk will be unaware of any of this, the only thing that would be immediately obvious from his position, is that the glass-case for the object is laying neatly beside it, instead of over it as it should be.

I cant help but focus on the Ivory Pomegranate. Its vulnerable state and strange origins are too much to pass up. Its signifigance is entirely lost on me, i dont even recognize it as a pomegranate. I just know Ivory is a great trinket to bargain with...

Disabling security is simply beyond my know-how. Im lucky if i can navigate the internet, nevermind crack security in a museum. The smash and grab is my best chance.

There is no way to avoid the cameras so i wont even try. I run straight into the room and snatch the Pomegranate, depositing it immediately into the bag at my side. I will turn, grabbing one of the metal poles that supports a velvet rope that is supposed to keep me away from priceless artifacts and using it as a spear i will throw it full force into the shatterproof case that keeps me away from the da-vinci notebook.

2008-12-03 17:41:58 Nayk rolls 3 dice to strength and athletics (Diff 7) 7,10,7 (3 successes)
2008-12-03 17:42:48 Nayk rolls 6 dice( 3 successes +2 strength +1 weapon) to damage 8,7,8,4,7, 10 (5 successes)  

--Last edited by Nayk on 2008-12-03 19:35:16 --

The palm-sized hunk of Ivory is snatched up effortlessly, perhaps it is just the heightened paranoia of the moment, but Nayk suddenly has the sense she is being observed.

The glass spiderwebs with cracks but does not shatter. Had she used the makeshift device as a sledgehammer, as most would, to smash into the top of the case, the damage would have been far less. In striking the side of the case, there is an audible click among the grinding of glass-on-glass, and the top flips back and falls to the floor with a loud crash. Apparently she found that hidden lock.

Her prize lay exposed just before her, on a black-velvet stand, waiting... begging... to be claimed.

2008-12-03 17:57:25Lethargg rolls 8 dice to Perc+Awareness (Diff 7) 3,2,5,9,1, 3,10,9,8 (3 successes)

As she reaches to take what is hers and make good her escape before the fat, lazy security force musters up the gumption to run down here, Nayk will suddenly feel as though someone were trying to cram a nebula into her tiny skull as some ephemeral force burrows its way into her consciousness, haphazardly digging through her alien thoughts and memories.

The sensation is literally mind numbing, like something simply punched through her skull, removed her brain, and is now slowly vivisecting it while the brain-stem is still attached. She will quickly realize that she is slowly bleeding from every orifice in her head.

{{3 Bashing damage, can be Soaked with a Willpower roll, Diff 7}}

2008-12-03 18:31:09 Nayk rolls 4 dice to willpower (Diff 7) 3,6,2,10 (1 success) Nayk is at Hurt, -1 to all physical dicepools but no movement penalties yet.

If pain were only an emotional response maybe i wouldnt be screaming bloody murder at the top of my lungs in a varying male then female octave. If physical pain were as easy to resist the long forgotten urge to cry, or give a beggar my change i wouldnt be waving a priceless Da-Vinci notebook around like i was swatting rabid flesh eating flies.

When the pain stops i have probably twisted the priceless notebook into a funnel and begun batting myself in the head with it. I will snort, spurting a small amount of blood onto the marble floor from my nose. I will quickly shove a finger in my ear and when it comes out red my supspicions are confirmed.

I have no explanation for what happened to me and i have no intention to waste my time searching for one. I shove whatever is left of the Da-Vinci notebook into my bag and I run for the nearest exit, be it a door or a window.  

--Last edited by Nayk on 2008-12-03 20:29:01 --

Not surprisingly, there are no bells, whistles, or any other audible indication that an alarm had been triggered when the case containing the notebook was destroyed. What is odd, is that the only sounds Nayk can hear echoing through the museum are the ones that she herself is making.

There are no slapping footsteps to indicate that anyone is giving chase. No doughnut-choked yells to say that anyone at all has taken note of her violation.

As she hooks a corner toward the first portal in the outer facade of the building to be emitting the telltale glow of the streetlamps outside, Nayk will also spot her first clue as to the reason for the stillness.

Laying on his side, next to a liquid pool of his last meal -pepperoni pizza by the look of it- is one of the guards weakly holding on to consciousness. When he sees the blurry blob that has just robbed the world of two treasures it will never see the likes of again, he raises his arm out to it and softly sputters

"help"

I skid to a halt next to the man. The blood from my nose is running down across my lips, and the blood in my ears is starting to make hearing difficult.

When he reaches I kick his arm, rolling him onto his back so I can step on his face.

'Dont touch, dont look. Talk.'

I tilt my head and bob it at a strange angle, like one would do after coming out of a pool to clear water from the ears. I leave a few more drops of blood on the floor. With one sense dulled i keep my eyes moving constantly, from the doorway to freedom to the hallways behind me to the poor rent-a-cop who is likely unarmed and dying.

As the rotund man rolls over onto his back, his face coming to rest in the soft glow of the light pouring in through the glass door, multiple sores can be seen on his cheeks, neck and forehead. When the bulk of his stomach frees his other hand, his open cellphone clatters to the floor, the digits 9-1-1 above the words call ended, still visible on the illuminated screen.

"It... was the new guy." he chokes out as his eyes roll up. "Ahmed. I knew he was a god-damn terrorist. I think... I think he put anthrax... in the pizza. The security system..."

He trails off as he begins vomiting again, much of it blood, and summarily passes out.  

--Last edited by Lethargg on 2008-12-04 06:46:08 --

Its really a fortunate coincidence for me how badly Ahmed fucked up the security crew. The name, for obvious racial stereo-typing reasons brings back the image of the bronzed, bearded man i saw with a billion eyes from my hiding place above the suspended cieling.

Its less curiosity and perhaps more the urge to complete a puzzle, or maybe collect something from this Ahmed who unknowingly helped me so much. I will be seeking him out if i have the chance; but now, I run again. THe guards sentence dies on his lips unfinished and i see no reason to wake him and make him finish it. The police are definitely on their way and i have stalled long enough.

I run straight through the glass door, shoving it open with my hip, i will stop just long enough to make sure im not running into the open arms of a hundred baton-happy cops or maybe one of those vicious police dogs jaws...

The doors to freedom are still unlocked, presumably from when Ahmed walked out of them less than an hour ago. There are no dogs or batons awaiting Nayk outside, just more of the same mortuary-stillness from inside.

As ridiculous as it sounds, it is almost like someone planned for all of this to go in her favor every step of the way. She may as well have been handed the keys to the museum.  But if that were really the case one would almost certainly beg the question... Why? There is that old saying: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. There must be some price to pay, some undesirable tradeoff.

Or maybe it really was just dumb-luck. Either way, the covetability factor of Nayk's little collection has just skyrocketed, and the cool night air seems the only witness to her deed.

I consider it to be Ananasi's blessing. She watches over her children, her chosen. My tactics may have been reckless but my cause is what matters. My prize secured i vacate the area post-haste. I will run a few blocks before i am sure i am out of sight of the museum then i will flag down a taxicab.

I want to be sure i am back in my lair in time for the evening news so i can put the rest of this puzzle together.