romania ♔ in the end of the night i can feel you breathe

[pickyourbattles]

♬ Night - Zola Jesus

WHO || Willow, Paige, Nathan, Henry, Aurelius, Dovan [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights travel to Romania to investigate a mysterious, magical fog
WHERE || Romania
WHEN || April 11th [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

February in Romania isn't very comfortable, so hopefully everyone bundled up for this little trip into the countryside.  The appearance of a mysterious bank of fog into which several locals have gone inexplicably missing upon entering, has caused Wynn to speculate that it might be connected to the mist that appears when the Veil brings people from other worlds.  Could this be the first instance of a door going the other way?  If so, here's hoping it's a round trip...

Comments

[autorevive]

Safe except for his bloody hands!!

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[A wry smile crawls across Strahd's face.]

Actually those particular Dwarf hands belonged to an underling of mine named Varikov. You might recall barging into his home unannounced, and killing him. Useful, even in death, it seems.

Yes, Dovan is safe - though I would imagine quite frustrated and rather hungry.

[somepagesturn]

[Paige literally looks like she's going to scream and hurl herself at Strahd's throat at any moment, and the only thing stopping her from doing it is the fact that she doesn't want Strahd to murder anyone and also a 26 will save.]

Then this is good-bye. And, if you'll pardon me being extremely impolite, good riddance.

[pickyourbattles]

Wait. [ aurelius speaks up, looking troubled. he glances over at willow, before turning to strahd. ] My sister.

[olreliable]

[Willow moves over to Aurelius' side and gives him a little nod, trying to convey that she'll totally stay behind with him to find his sister if need be.

And to Strahd:]

She wasn't with the witches- so where is she?

[wanttobeahero]

[ What the hell, Strahd. But at least Dovan is safe. Mostly. He looks over at Aurelius silently, hoping for his sake his sister is safe and silently vowing to help in some way if he can. ]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[Strahd's eyes narrow, almost imperceptibly, and he locks his gaze on Aurelius.]

Ireena is in good hands. No harm will come to her.

[His eyes widen, and his will presses down hard of Aurelius' mind, Will save DC20 vs dominate. This is a supernatural effect, so it doesn't give anyone clues as to what's happening]

You would be wise to forget about her, and leave this place, before I change my mind...

[With the slightest twitch of his wrist, the gates creak and groan - a reminder that he can snap them shut if it pleases him.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ oh my god he rolled a nat 20 i'm cry ] Yes, we should forget-- [ the moment where his mind fogs over breaks, and he shakes his head violently ] No. No I can't. [ he looks desperately back towards the gates, vacillating, and strahd's growing impatience seems to make one thing very clear – if they don't go now, they might never go back. ] I can't forget about her. But we... we have a duty to return. [ his eyes swing to the others and they can see how torn he is: staying could easily mean his death, and it very likely will mean never returning to their world and the knights again. But going means that he might lose this chance to help this woman who may or may not be his sister forever. He's clearly vacillating between the two options, and his eyes entreat them to try and sway him one way or the other. ]

[olreliable]

[Catching his gaze as he looks to each of them for guidance, Willow isn't sure which side she should stand on. This place is terrible, and Strahd wouldn't allow them to live. If they escaped him now and chose to remain, it would be a life constantly on the run. But she knows how important saving his sister is. How could she ask him to abandon that?

Reaching down, she takes his hand- the one not holding onto that wand and gives it a small squeeze.]

We do have a duty. And...resources. [Look she doesn't want to say they can find a way back while the asshole is standing right here, but she can try to imply it for Aurelius. She would work day and night with him to find a way back. Wynn would find it a worthy cause, she thinks. Knightly backing on this one would be great to have.]

[somepagesturn]

Aurelius, please... [Paige follows Willow's line of thinking with her... nat 20 wis lol good job Paige.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ he looks between the both of them, seeing their reasoning, and they can tell that they're swaying him. still, he glances at the others as well, to see what the other dudes think. ]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[Strahd folds his arms. "This spineless little wretch has more willpower than expected. Troubling." He thinks.]

It seems that, once again, I have failed to properly motivate you. Why don't we try it this way - Kavan!

[And a wisp of gaseous fog roils in, and takes form - a bestial, savage looking vampire. Yet with a glint of unnatural cunning in his eyes.]

Allow me to introduce Kavan. The culmination of my efforts to build a better Vampyr. Blood of the ancient Noferatu, a dash of my essence; all of the strengths of a Vampyr, and none of the vulnerability. Infused with the necromantic curse I was able to test on that priest's son. Kavan is an engine of destruction. And he is just the first of many.

[He breaks away from fawning over his creation to wheel back towards the party.]

You have performed admirably in removing the one threat to my machinations. But now you have me troubled. Kavan, go forth and take stock of these "Resources."

[And in an instant, the silent brute discorporates back into fog, and surges forward out of the gates...]

[Strahd faces them, with a large fanged grin on his smug face.]

Somebody should probably warn someone about him.

[somepagesturn]

[R U KIDDING ME RN.

Paige looks like she's about to cast a spell, but it's too late as the creature passes them, and she's left clutching her harp pin and looking between the gate and Strahd like he just fed a bus full of orphans poisoned candy.]

That was.... [a lot of words come to mind, but the only thing she manages to get out as she stammers her way through her anger is a very shrill:] unnecessary

[autorevive]

Are you mental? Fuck this shit! Maybe we'll just let the town get eaten! What about that?

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[Gaseous Form isn't fair sometimes. Strahd looks at Nathan, bemused.]

By all means, waste time here with your impertinence. You saw the havoc the plague wrought on this desolate village here. I wonder how much carnage there will be if Kavan reaches one of your large cities?

You would doom thousands just to spite me? I'm flattered, honestly.

[pickyourbattles]

What is wrong with you? [ aurelius sputters at strahd, looking utterly put out, but decided now. ] Come on. We can't ... stay here, with that thing on the loose in our world. [ he casts strahd a baleful stare ] But this isn't the last you've seen of me. [ he tries to make a precious intimidation check. really tho. he got an 18 tho??????????????? it won't scare strahd but he at least doesn't look like an idiot. ] Let's go.

[olreliable]

[Willow is horrified by this turn of events. Swallowing hard, she nods in agreement with Aurelius and moves towards their exit, making sure not to get too far ahead of the group. The point of this is that they need to stick together.]

[autorevive]

[nathan isn't letting all these cinnamon rolls go off on their own, so he moves to join them. but not before flipping strahd off and yelling]

Wanker!

[yes. thank you, nathan.]

[somepagesturn]

[Paige is one of the last to go, because she's still trying to contain her anger, but the urge to protect ALL THE DECENT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD outweighs her need to break Strahd's stupid face, so she follows Nathan out with a huffy noise.]

[wanttobeahero]

[ Call it blind idealism or something like that, but Henry just hadn't expected things to go like this. Heroes saving the world and stopping the bad guy and all. Which...not that they won't, ultimately--he has to believe they will--but this is a huge mess now and another threat. Not unlike his life once in Storybrooke, though. But he's quick to move, to follow his group out. ]

[ironsides]

[ and out they roam into the fog, dizzying and cold to the bone, until they've lost sight of each other in it, and for a moment think maybe strahd has tricked them yet again and sent them to some new torment.

but finally a voice breaks through and the fog starts clearing as they all begin to emerge out into the romanian countryside: ] HELLO?

[somepagesturn]

[Well, that's enough to get Paige to forget she's wet cat pissy.] Sir Dovan!

[she rushes at him as fast as her little legs can go.] Oh thank gods, you're all right.

[autorevive]

[nathan is also happy to see him :'(] DOVAN! We were worried about you, mate! And your hands!

[olreliable]

Dovan! [Willow adds to the chorus of relieved voices, but moves towards Aurelius more than towards their lost friend. She's worried about him too and knows that Paige can do more for Dovan if he's hurt, so she's going to try to be all moral supporty.]

We'll find her. Your sister.

[She's not about to forget about that part of this with all the death and destruction threats that got added on top.]

1/2

[ironsides]

Me hands? What's wrong with me hands, then? [ dovan looks down worriedly at him. he looks tired, and hungry, but all in one piece, at least. ]