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

[killingtodeath]

So what is your plan?

[allmydreams]

[She shrugs.]

Keep checking the doors until we either find Archerus' servant or our bad guy.

[killingtodeath]

Okay, well I'm going to vote for torching the painting before we go in that case. The last thing we need is something crawling out and surprising us while we're down the hall.

[druidisms]

Sounds like a plan. Back up, kids. [ he means all y'all up by the paintings, but gus gathers a small ball of crackling flame in his hand, murmuring in korean under his breath and with a yankees pitcher's wind up, hurls it at one of the paintings at random. (produce flame, ranged touch atk 23, dmg 6) ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the painting starts to simmer, catching fire quickly. there's a noticeable lack of horrible death noises coming from it as it's destroyed, at least. ]

[allmydreams]

[That is a relief. She exhales a breath she didn't know she was holding and takes a step back to head back into the hallway.]

Let's keep looking. They have to be around here somewhere.

[She's still going to lead with her gun, keeping her eyes and eyes peeled as they search (search 20 total, spot 26, listen 28).]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles nods and follows, glad to see the painting go up in flames. He sure crit failed his spot check and got a whole 5 on a listen check so... he's not here to be the look out, guys.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ two more of the doors in the hall enter into similar guest rooms, both of which sport more paintings that felicity recognizes as being incredibly similar to some of those that were on sale at the other painter's gallery. there's also a bathroom with a large porcelain tub and polished wooden floorboards. a wide mirror is mounted on the wall over a marble countertop that holds scented lotions, bath oil, mint leaves, towels, brushes, combs, and hair cream. a shelf near the tub holds several carefully folded towels of various sizes in shades of plum, cream, and sage.

the rooms at the farthest end of the hall that curves to the right are simpler versions of the guest rooms - one of which contains two beds. the dust accumulated on the furniture shows no signs of disturbance for several weeks. felicity notices a letter fallen on the floor beneath a little writing desk.

it reads:

Your last sketch was lacking. If you expect to receive the agreed-upon payment next time, I expect a much better rendering and something a little different. I've had quite enough alien landscapes. And do be careful. Imron recently came by my gallery and left with a peculiar look. He may suspect. ]

[allmydreams]

[Felicity moves closer to pick up the paper, reading it over and processing it, but eventually she manages to read between the lines (wisdom 12) and she closes her eyes with a groan.]

Looks like Archerus and his friend were ripping Gauthfellow off. The servant was giving him sneak previews of Gauthfellow's work, and Archerus was passing it off as his own.

[She holds out the note so the rest of them can see.]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that they got caught.

[killingtodeath]

So he decided to send crazy paint monsters after them? Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

[mordsith]

[Cara leans in to read the note.] Men are petty creatures.

We need to find out how he was creating the monsters in the paintings.

[allmydreams]

Yes. I think we also need to be a little more careful with the paintings we destroy from here on out. If this was Archerus' accomplice's room, no one's been in here for a couple weeks from the dust.

[If the guy isn't dead or worse already, he is incredibly lucky.]

[killingtodeath]

So...what now? [This teenager is so helpful. Nah he's mostly just antsy about finishing so they can take care of Nyna.]

[allmydreams]

We keep looking. If we've covered everything down here, maybe it's time to try another floor.

[Up or down, she's not entirely picky.]

Maybe we should start with trying to find an art studio - Cara's right, we do need to figure out how he's bringing these paintings to life.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ recap of options: there are stairs down, stairs up, and also a door back out of the foyer that they skipped. \o\ ]

[killingtodeath]

I'm guessing upstairs. Secluded attic artsy crap.

[allmydreams]

[She nods, because she was thinking the same thing. There's no light in the basement.]

Works for me.

[And if there's no objections, she's going to start heading towards the stairs, getting ready to repeat the process from the first floor (spot 29, listen 30, search 21), still leading with her gun.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the winding staircase ascends to a carpeted balcony overlooking the chamber below. a short corridor exits the balcony to the north with two more doors, one in each wall. the moment they get up there, however, a figure standing in the corridor lets out a roar - he wields an antique greataxe, and wears a suit of overlapping green and brown leaves - and he charges right at felicity, attempting to rush off the edge of the balcony. she has to make a strength check to oppose his (str 26), but she gets to add a +2 because of the railing. if she fails, she falls 10 feet to the hard flagstones below, outside the house, but takes no damage. you can post the resolution to that action and then we'll be in init! ]

[allmydreams]

[YOU WOULD THINK WITH THAT SPOT CHECK SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PREPARED, BUT YOU ARE WRONG. Felicity is not exactly the queen of upper body strength. She tries, but not hard enough and goes over the balcony fairly easily (strength 3), landing on the ground with a groan.

Give her a sec, you guys. She'll be right back.]

Ow.

[killingtodeath]

Felicity! [Stiles shouts as he watches her tumblr over the railing. Gripping his trusty bat, his eyes are wide with panic as he steps up to the creature ( and hopefully leaves room for other melee folk to get their hits in too?) and swings (attack 23, damage...3. He tried)]

[druidisms]

[ gus lets out a shout when felicity falls that quickly shifts into a roar as he charges forward, using his wild shape ability to transform into a huge golden lion and leaping at the leaf armored figure, batting at it with one of his huge paws (atk 29; dmg 10). ]

[trebond]

[ Alanna doesn't really have a 'pull back from falling off a balcony' spell prepared, so instead, she casts produce flame and hurls a ball of fire at the figure (ranged touch attack 23, dmg 10). ]

[mordsith]

[Cara was not prepared for this, at all, and also can't really contribute from where she's standing. She's just going to keep an eye on things. (spot 14 | listen 19)]

[goonsquad]

[ stiles moves up in front of it and whacks it, albeit not very hard, but gus' lion claws are much more effective right beside him. a ball of fire flies between them, striking it again, and it turns to make a sunder attempt on stiles' bat, so sorry yo. he got a ... 38 on his opposed attack roll as he brings his greataxe down... STILES COULD ALWAYS NAT 20... unsure....... 24 dmg would probably break it if he doesn't. ]

[killingtodeath]

[Spoiler: Stiles did not nat 20. The bat shatters into splintering chunks of wood. Moment of silence for the bat :( So he'll just try to book it around this asshole since he has no weapons and needs to regroup. And probably get hit as he does but at least one of the bad ass ladies on the team can jump in to do combat stuff??]