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

[trebond]

[ with a will save of 21, Alanna stays awake despite the rune, blinking through the grogginess just barely, in time to catch sight of the bizarre creature lumbering toward her from within the frame. she doesn't let up her efforts to burn the painting the ground, and tries to resist whatever the fuck is going on (will 27). ]

[allmydreams]

[FLASHING SIGILS ARE NOT A GOOD THING. Thankfully, Felicity manages to force her way through the effects of the spell and stay awake, at least for now (will save 24). She turns on her heel towards Alanna when the octopus creature comes out of the painting with her gun up, shooting at the thing to try and get it off her (attack 28 with precise shot, damage 17 with penetration damage if it hits).]

I hate these stupid paintings.

[Helpful commentary with Felicity Braddock.]

[killingtodeath]

[Meanwhile, there's a strange groaning noise that you might think is the bear, but no it's the sound of Stiles crit failing his will save and collapsing into a sleepy heap.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ alanna recognizes the octopus as an illusion meant to frighten her to death. ignoring it, she finishes lighting up the painting, just as stiles hits the ground in a deep sleep. ]

[trebond]

What — [ thud. She turns to look behind her and rolls her eyes. ] Oh for Mithros' sake. [ She drops her hands and heads over to Stiles, nudging him with her boot. ] Wake up, will you?

[allmydreams]

[Oh. Well, that was an overreaction on her part. She has had a long couple of days, don't judge her. Since Alanna is waking up Stiles, she glances over to Gus with an apprehensive look at the sleeping bear.]

Is this one of those situations where waking the bear up will end well?

[druidisms]

It's one of those situations where everyone might want to be out of the room. [ he's not going to slap the bear with people around tbh. if it can even be broken that way. he crouches down next to mellie, peering at his companion and trying to suss out the sigil that had flared to be sure of the spell. (spellcraft 20 total) ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ it seems to be a heightened symbol of sleep, but it's a simple enough matter to wake up those who have fallen prey to it. it's likely designed to thwart lone intruders - or those with less willpower overall. ]

[druidisms]

It's just a sleep spell. Slap him and everyone get out of here so I can wake up Mellie.

[allmydreams]

[Felicity will not wait to see if Stiles will respond to Alanna (sorry Stiles) and she will just step forward and crouch down next to him to slap him right across the face (attack 14).]

Sorry, Stiles, you can be mad at me later.

[killingtodeath]

[Wow, that slap was so unnecessary, but it does jolt him awake. And what comes flying out of his mouth in a sleep haze?]

Get his dick out of the pickle jar we need to go to Russia.

[idk]

...What happened?

[allmydreams]

[Clearly amused, but she'll just take his hand and pull him away from the bear and out of the room.]

You got hit by a sleeping spell. And we gotta get out because Mellie did too.

[So let's not be in the way of the rampaging bear.]

[killingtodeath]

[Yep, Stiles gets up and moves with her so that Gus can get his bear up and at em.]

[druidisms]

[ once everyone is out of the room, gus slaps the bear awake. she wakes up unhappily and with an almighty roar, also with a pretty crappy will save which means when gus and mellie join everyone else, they do so with a series of claw marks on his arm and quarterstaff and blood on one of mellie's paws. ]

Alright. [ he doesn't want to talk about how he just got bitchslapped by a bear. ] Where to next?

[trebond]

Down the hallway until we find your man. [ Alanna shrugs like ok this seems simplest. ]

[allmydreams]

Sounds about right.

[Yep. They'll just keep checking room by room until they find the painter in question, probably destroying art as they go (search 6 action point says 21).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the only other room to explore that's not a guest room up here is a study. the cozy chamber is lined with tall bookshelves along the north and part of the south wall. at a glance, the subjects of the books lining its shelves seem to mainly be art, history, and popular works of fiction. a writing desk occupies the southeastern corner, its surface covered in maps with notes scrawled on them. a comfortable-looking couch rests against the south wall and a pair of matching chairs flanks the western door.

felicity's examination of the bookcase reveals an abundance of books about art, history, and fiction, but also contains numerous tomes for magical research of a kind. the papers on the desk are local area maps. the homes which received trapped paintings are each marked with an X on it. ]

[allmydreams]

[She scans everything, taking it all in, before finding the map and tapping her finger against it as she glances back to the rest of the group.]

Here's our evidence. He planned it here.

[killingtodeath]

Because the house full of creepy paintings that have evil shit in them wasn't evidence enough. [Stiles quips because that's what he do.]

[trebond]

Don't suppose the map points to where he's gone.

[allmydreams]

[She glances back to the map again, before shaking her head.]

Just marking the houses of the victims.

[druidisms]

Is there one we don't know about yet?

[allmydreams]

I don't think so.

[Felicity glances down as she counts them off, searching to see if there's a house they didn't visit marked (spot 30).]

Coyl, Vittanis, Gertwright, Archerus ...

[behindcloseddoors]

[ nope! it seems they've hit all of them... ]

[allmydreams]

Yeah, it looks like we stopped all of them. So either he's here in the house somewhere, or he stepped out and we should wait for him to come back.