Adventures of a C.P.A. (Episode 4, Part 2)

The next day Hank wanted to see if he could get a way in. He took on a more flamboyant persona and talked to the guards the next morning applying for a security job. The guard told him he would need to come back later and talk to Apollo, the curator. He did just that, but changed his intentions. He talked to Apollo saying that he, Hank, deserved to be preserved in stone. He said it would add to the atmosphere and exhibit to preserve his beautiful face and body in sculpture. Apollo, who was a tall handsome imposing figure that radiated an aura of authority you would expect from his namesake (6'6", 230 lbs, gold hair, muscular frame, reflective makeup), leaned down to him and said "I'm afraid you have already been sculpted."

If you know Hank, you would know this would be a shock to him and his ego. Hank is very conscious of his looks and appearance, they are very important to him. His death was from a fire that left his whole body horribly scarred, and he has spent the rest of his life perfecting a facial mask to cover it up. This tall insensitive man insulted his look, and knew he wasn't as beautiful as he came off. Hank went back defeated, and hurt.

The rest of the group waited until after the exhibit closed at night to try their hand again getting in the building. This time it would be stealthy. The magical rune Flint had left made it easier for Hank to teleport everyone into the very room he left it in, and where our stoned friend lie. Their first shock came when they discovered the Kent's statue was now gone, but there was a new statue. A stone angel, with hands covering her eyes. This statue was not on a pedestal, and had no red ribbons around it. Flint noticed this and immediately started to get scared. He stared intently at the new statue, steeling himself not to blink. The rest of the group was confused as to why he insisted on never taking his eyes off the new statue, but when he explained they were even less believing. Flint is a big tv and movie fan, and being a fan of the British tv show, Dr. Who, he knows of a creature in the show called the weeping angels. If you take your eyes off of them, even for a second, they attack. Staring at them freezes them in place. Hank also noticed an image of the same type of weeping angel on a tapestry hanging on the wall.

Flint was able to convince Kody to smash the statue, hoping they would be easier to destroy in real life than in the show. Kody did not complain about getting an opportunity to smash some statues. He already didn't have a favorable opinion of the facility because of the capture of Kent and insult to Hank. With magnificent force he brought a summoned sledgehammer down on the statue, it seemed to pause as the pieces shattered, then fell to the floor. Flint breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes. Everyone looked at the pieces, then to each other. Then they quickly noticed that all the pieces on the floor were gone, and the image of an angel on a tapestry was gone too. Now the group was beginning to believe something behind Flint's ravings about his tv shows.

They found the best strategy was to go back to back, and keep a 360 degree view. Working their way to the pedestal where Kent used to be, Hank tried to scrye where it could be now. He found it was definitely still in the building, but toward a specific direction. Keeping back to back, they worked their way there, a double door at the other end of the room. Briefly one member closed their eyes, and found the 2 angel statues nearby in the room. Like an omnipresent voice in the room, they heard Apollo, the curator. With a smirk and in his baritone commanding voice, he warned them of being careful where they looked.

The group kept Kody at point, armed and ready to meet anything. When they made it there, he kicked the doors in, and silence. Hank and John who were next to Kody, but never looking at him, felt him go... stiff. Feeling him, his body was like stone. They then heard hissing of snakes, and the situation just went from bad to worse. A gorgon was in the other room.

John, the magic detector, had to concentrate hard and figure things out. He got the sense of how the magic worked here. Prime forces were what was keeping things in stone, so it could be reversed with some work. The weeping angels are just golems under control of the Apollo, an astral. They cover their eyes because if the gorgon were to look at them, Apollo himself could be turned to stone remotely. The group deduced that this gorgon was Electra, the famed sculptor and creator of the exhibit. John thought quickly and took a few blind shots into the room. Luckily he scored a hit. They heard a raspy female voice scream in pain and quickly leave the room.

The group was running out of time, because security in the building would have had to heard that. The rest took measures to prevent them from getting here too soon, and Flint went to work on the Prime magic that was holding Kody in place. Fortunately it didn't take much to break the bonds, and Kent's statue was in that room as well. Flint was able to free him.

Teleporting a group of people was very taxing for Hank, and even with no witnesses, it accrues some paradox. Reducing the number of teleportees would help with that. They decide to leave Kent behind, because he could make up a believable story, and had the connections to back it up. The rest left as the police arrived to the building.

Kent was able to return home, having talked himself out of the situation. Sure enough, the next day the exhibit packed up and left ahead of schedule.