switzerland ♔ the words tightening around my throat

[silverguardian]

WHO || Nyna, Cara, Felicity, Stiles
WHAT || The Knights are sent to hear about a prospective job from an art collector
WHERE || Bern, Switzerland
WHEN || April 13th, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

The streets of Bern swell with the myriad sights and scents of its industry: the wood and polish of carpenters' shops, tantalizing aromas wafting from dozens of bakeries, and the heavy oil scent of artists.  Meanwhile, hundreds of rich colors give the district an appearance of a holiday festival.  The townhouse of Asheron Coyl comes into view, perched on a small rise that overlooks the street.  A low fence covered in vines abuts the street.  A gate opens onto a flagstone path that wends past frozen flower beds, fountains, and sculpted shrubs to the front doors.  A bell hangs next to the gate, reading "Please ring bell" in several languages.  With an 11 disguise check, Nyna didn't really bother to dress all fancy, opting instead for her paladin armor, sorry guys.   She can be the sexy bodyguard.  

Comments

[mordsith]

[Cara is tired of this thing attacking her! She's even more tired of it actually hitting her. She continues with two more attacks, hoping to start to weaken this creature. (atk 19 | dmg 6 // atk 24 | dmg 8)]

[silverguardian]

[ where do i even start - morgan taylor reid

nyna swings at the chain devil again with another smiting blow (nat 20... and NAT 20 boom badaboom: dmg 30+20) which effectively cuts the head off one of them. that draws the hag's attention, and she manages to also nat 20 nyna with a bite wtf is wrong with my dice. for 74 dmg... which is... incredibly fatal. basically the night hag buries her teeth in the paladin's neck and rips out the entire side of her throat. she screams horribly, the greatsword slipping from her hands, that strange paint-like oil dripping from the wound. her eyes roll back and she slumps to the floor, lifeless as the hag cackles manically.

the other devil is weak indeed, but lashes once more at cara (atk 12 which i doubt hits) ]

[allmydreams]

[It all happens too fast for her to really register what's going on until it's too late. Nyna takes down one of the chain devils and her focus is on Stiles who is not looking good, the the hag is moving and Nyna is dead and it's enough to stop her in her tracks, just for a second. The body is lying there and the feelings of blame come all too quickly because this is someone's squire, someone's family, her responsibility and she died on her watch.

If there's a sound or a noise that comes from her in the moment of realization, she doesn't hear it. All she can hear is the hag cackling, and that's all it takes for the doubt and guilt to quickly become rage.

Her eyes flash as she turns on the hag, raising her gun and gritting her teeth.]

Shut the hell up.

[Then she fires (attack nat 20, damage 18).]

[herebemonsters]

[ there's a spray of viscera as she blows a hole right through the hag's head, knocking her right off her mount, and leaving only the heavily injured devil fighting cara. ]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles is just... dumb struck. And he's not exactly doing much good in the battle, so he scrambles over towards Nyna, glancing over at Felicity like what do I do??? His gaze shifts to Cara briefly, wondering if he's supposed to help her, but uh- the bad ass ladies of the team are probably more likely to take care of that. Instead, he drops to his knees and gather the paladin into his arms.]

C'mon... No, that's not how this goes. [He mutters quietly, not willing to believe that she's really gone.

I don't know if he can do a treat injury when he has no ranks in it... and she's probably too far gone for it to matter, but it looks like he remembers something from earning a first aid badge in boy scouts with a nat 20 (seriously this mission is weird with our rolls). He does his best to stop the bleeding, tearing off his fancy jacket that he wore to impress the art dealers and applying pressure to her throat wound.

Stiles is young. Sometimes he acts older than he is, but he's still just a kid. And seeing someone die right in front of your eyes, their throat literally ripped out? It's jarring. It's disturbing. It's too much. Tears spring to his eyes as he keeps one hand pressed to the wound and just keeps hoping that she'll manage to open her eyes for him (will save 10).]

[mordsith]

[It takes Cara only a moment to see Nyna fall to the ground and with the thought of another warrior falling in battle, her anger rises to a boil. She moves toward the remaining creature to continue her punishment. (atk 21 / dmg 7 | atk nat 20 / dmg 12)]

[herebemonsters]

[ cara slashes the creature open, and black blood pours forth, as the creature slumps to the ground alongside the others.

stiles, in the meantime, realizes very quickly that there's nothing left to save here, nyna's injuries too extreme, her body already lifeless. as the last devil falls, the entire world around them seems to start to melt, like a ruined oil painting, and then with a sound that's not unlike a loud splash, they'd all find themselves deposited back on the floor of endrik's studio in a flood of wet pains. all but one of the worm like creatures melt as well, but one's features stretch and widen until they turn into a shaking, frightened looking man who looks around wildly. ]

[allmydreams]

[As they all tumble out, the reality of it all starts to settle in. It hadn't, in the painting, probably because it didn't feel very real to begin with. She glances over at where Stiles has Nyna, trying to save her even though there's nothing to save and she knows that this isn't how it should have happened. But she pulls it together, just for now, because they aren't done yet (will save 23). She can let the weight of it crash down on her when they're back at the castle.

She turns to the other man, who came out of the painting with her, and somehow, manages to remember who it was they were going to save in the first place (wisdom 18).]

Mr. Archerus?

[behindcloseddoors]

Huh? I-- what is-- [ he shakes his head, but finally looks to felicity, before his eyes skid over to nyna and stiles ] Who are you? What happened? Is she-- my God...

[mordsith]

[Cara, though often cold and too serious for her own good can see Nyna now and the way that Stiles is trying to cling to some shred of hope for her.

While Felicity handles this gentleman, Cara moves to Stiles and places her hand over his.]

There is nothing more you can do for her. She fought bravely and I am sure she would have been touched at your efforts to help her.

[allmydreams]

[Felicity just steps between him and Nyna, allowing him to focus on her face rather than worry about their fallen friend. She's not as steady as she could be, but she's still keeping that professional air together (diplomacy 15).]

Sir, we're from the Karthur Institute. Do you remember receiving a painting delivery today?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the man grimaces instantly. ] Seeing as how it trapped me in that hell, I would certainly think so.

I know who sent it, too. I'd recognize that style anywhere.

His name is Imron Gauthfellow. And he'll pay for this.

[allmydreams]

[Damn straight he will. In fact, Felicity would like to personally shoot him in the face herself, but she knows that's probably not something the boss would approve of.]

Do you know where to find him?

[behindcloseddoors]

He lives not far from here. What do you intend to do?

[allmydreams]

[She pauses for a moment, before shaking her head.]

I don't know. I have to talk to my boss, but he's killed at least two people today. I definitely don't want him running around where he can do it again.

[They have connections in the police department, so that might be something. She reaches for her phone because she needs to call this in, but she gives the other man a very thin smile.]

If you could get us an address that would be great.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he rattles it off for her, a place right in the same district ] The sooner you deal with him, the better. I have reason to believe he may have harmed a friend of mine, Tharivol, one of his servants. I'd like to see the man found safely, if it's not too late.

[allmydreams]

[She plugs that address into her phone, before nodding in agreement.]

We'll see what we can do. Excuse me.

[And with that, she'll step out of the room to call Wynn and fill him in on what's going on.]

[wynn]

[ wynn's horrified to hear about nyna, and tells them he'll send someone to reclaim her body and bring it home, so that the clerics can make their best attempt with her as soon as possible. he's equally disturbed by stories of pocket dimensions inside paintings where people are trapped and turned into horrible purgatory worm monsters, so while he says that he will contact the local authorities, he fears that they won't move fast enough to save this tharivol, and suggests that they take the initiative to go track down this imron as soon as they can, in case there's a chance of saving the man.

to that end, however, he's clearly concerned about just the three of them going on, especially after losing one of theirs and offers to send back-up, if they're willing to wait until the next morning. it will give them some time to rest and heal up as well. ]

[allmydreams]

[Felicity will absolutely take that back up, thank you boss. She will agree to those terms because she thinks they all need the break to regroup and process, before making her way back into the main room to address Cara and Stiles.]

Wynn is sending someone to get Nyna so that the clerics can start working on her as soon as possible. He's also going to send back up so that we can deal with Gauthfellow, but he wants us to wait until morning.

[Which hopefully is amendable to both of them. She doesn't know Cara that well, but Stiles is a kid and she wants to give him a break if she can.]

[mordsith]

[Cara is fine with the option presented to them. With the loss of Nyna, they need to rest and regroup. She nods, agreeing in silence as she tries to remain near Nyna's body to ensure she is never alone.]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles just nods numbly, barely registering the words. He's still sitting there with Nyna, not really making much motion to get up.]

Should we..? I mean, we can't just leave her here. Do we move her?

[allmydreams]

[There's a beat as she thinks that over. They probably shouldn't impose on the victim any more than they already have, but getting a dead body into a hotel would be tricky. She glances over to Archerus (diplomacy 9 action point says nat 20, 27 total).]

Is there somewhere we could wait, just until our they come to collect her? I'm not sure it's safe for us to travel with her, and we don't want to leave her. We'll be out of the way, I promise.

[behindcloseddoors]

Of course, of course. I've plenty of room here if that's what you require. [ he gives the body an uncomfortable look but clearly isn't about to argue with his would-be saviors. ] She can... she can remain here if you'd like, as well, while you deal with him.

[allmydreams]

[She shakes her head with a small smile.]

I don't think that will be necessary. My boss is sending someone to bring her back to our clerics to see if anything can be done for her. We just need to wait here for the rest of our team and then we'll be out of your hair.

But thank you.

[killingtodeath]

[There's a visible sag of relief in Stiles' form as Felicity says they'll wait here for the others. He didn't want to argue about how he wanted to stay with her, didn't want to leave her alone. So he just sits, looking down at her and wondering if this ever would have happened if he hadn't knocked on her door.]