casablanca ♔ i've signed this contract with my blood

[pickyourbattles]

WHO ||Willow, Paige, Aurelius, Nathan, Cora, Allison [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights travel to Casablanca to track down a vampire unleashed by Strahd into this world
WHERE || Casablanca, Morocco
WHEN || Fall 2016 [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

It's been well over a year since an unexplainable phenomena occurred - the usual mist that hails the momentary gap in the Veil between worlds hung around in Romania, and actually seemed to work two ways for a time.  A time long enough for the Knights to wander into the realm of Barovia, where they discovered a people terrified by the Vampire Strahd of Castle Ravenloft.  Confronting the vampire, they managed to be reunited with their lost leader, Sir Dovan, but they drove an increasingly irritated Strahd to send something else back along with them - an ubervampire of his own creation, one of his bizarre experiments, which he unleashed upon their home world.  There had been no clues as to where the creature had ended up until now.

Six disappearances in Casablanca across the last six months have turned up no bodies, but sightings of a creature that matches the description.  The Knights travel to the last location of one of these sightings - near one of the piers.

Comments

[somepagesturn]

[Paige, in her overzealous and determined fashion, is asking the people in the general vicinity if they've seen anything with probably minimal success (gather information... 10). she probably keeps finding people who don't speak english.] Excuse me! Hello, hi. I'm just curious... have you seen anything odd here lately?

[autorevive]

[nathan, simply trying to be helpful, elaborates on "anything odd" by holding two fingers in front of his mouth and making a hissing noise. it's supposed to be a vampire ok ... ]

[impetere]

[Cora does a bit better, possibly because of her cute tiny teenage appearance (gather information 19). She is also more focused on the information around her, though, wanting to make sure she doesn't miss anything (spot 21, listen 29, survival 24).]

[olreliable]

[Willow still isn't great at people-ing. Her babbling probably does more harm than good as she tries to ask about vampires without spooking anyone (gather info 7...)]

[pickyourbattles]

[ paige's over-enthusiasm is indeed met with looks of discomfort from those she accosts, who are quick to dismiss themselves in the local language.

it's cora that manages to find someone who can actually speak english, and with his good role, aurelius saddles up beside her. the local is a dockworker who takes a pipe out of his mouth from where it's nestled in his grizzled beard, and looks them over.

"Strange, eh. You're talking about them disappearances." ]

Yes, sir. We're hoping to help find these missing persons.

[impetere]

We just want to get them home to their families.

[Which is true! It doesn't really matter that Cora is probably assuming that most of them are already dead.]

We were hoping that someone might give us a good place to start?

[somepagesturn]

[Paige sort of wanders up closer to back Cora up if need be, but stays silent since CORA CLEARLY HAS ALL THE PEOPLE SKILLS HERE.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ "What makes you think you can do more than them police have done?" he asks, screwing up his face to study her and paige ]

[impetere]

[She gives a small shrug in return, but her abilities of persuasion are not as good as her ability to get information, but she's gonna try (diplomacy 13).]

It can't hurt to try. And the police have to play by rules we don't.

[pickyourbattles]

[ "Who's 'we', then?" he asks, pulling the pipe from his mouth and glancing across them, looking unimpressed by their relative youth ]

[autorevive]

We're [wait shit he can't say knights] detectives!! Me and this one. [he gestures at paige.] These lot are our assistants. [bluff 20 total]

[somepagesturn]

[Paige looks at Nathan slowly like Stewie Griffin tilting his head.

okay so we're doing this.] We... probably shouldn't be announcing that. We don't want to cause a kerfuffle since this is out of our usual jurisdiction, but... what he said.

[impetere]

[She blinks at that, before nodding once and playing along (bluff 21).]

Private investigators, hired by the families.

into the woods~

[pickyourbattles]

[ it doesn't take long for cora to pick up the scent of a creature that screams 'WOLF' to her, right at the outskirts of the city. following along behind her, they head towards the woods. there's nothing particularly unsettling about it off the bat - the tracks certainly stay free of any path, but cora seems intent on knowing the right way, and so they follow her through the underbrush, up the hills beyond, until some of them might have lost their sense of direction entirely.

at some point, however, something in the environment starts to change. a chill wind ripples through the skeletal trees, and a heavy ominous vibe fills the air around them. ]

[somepagesturn]

Cora, stop! [Paige throws out an arm to stop the rest of the party, taking note of the creepy vibe around them.]

Do you feel that?

[impetere]

[Cora stops and nods, eyes scanning the area for a sign of trouble (spot 29, listen 22).]

Yeah, I feel that.

[pickyourbattles]

[ there's distinctly movement in the distance, the sounds of snuffling and what seem like multiple four-legged creatures in the brush out there. there's something wrong about the smell of them, however, something that unsettles even cora and gets her hackles up, so to speak ]

Well, that's... that's what we're looking for, really, isn't it? Something off, so to speak.

[somepagesturn]

Let's just hope it isn't so off, it attacks first and doesn't think to ask us why we're here. [she clutches her harp pin, ready to put up one of her magic circles if something lunges.]

[impetere]

[Her eyes go to the sounds, trying to track the movement, and she definitely looks not happy about the situation they're currently in. She holds out her arms to either side of her, and gestures for the rest of the party to come close, behind her.]

We didn't come here to hurt you.

[She calls out into the woods, in the direction of the wolf pack, and her eyes flash gold, both an olive branch and a threat all in one, saying both I am one of you and If you do, we will hurt you.]

[autorevive]

[nathan is gonna ready a grenade though. just in case. not that he's going to throw it or anything ... holding it just makes him feel better ok. it's like a deadly security blanket.]

Yeah, mate, let's all just be real friendly here! No funny business.

[pickyourbattles]

[ the sound of growls rises around them, and cora can hear them being surrounded, the footsteps growing closer, encroaching on every side. in front of them, the brush parts to allow a huge black wolf to step out, its eyes glowing unnaturally red. it stands over waist high on a human, its dark fur seeming to drink in the light around them. ]

Can you... can you understand them? [aurelius asks cora nervously]

[impetere]

Not exactly.

[But she's going to try and communicate with them as best she can (diplomacy 21). Her eyes glowing gold to show that she's at least partially one of them, more than anything else.]

As I said, we're not here for you. We just want to talk. We're looking for a vampire.

[somepagesturn]

[this is what it comes to. communicating with wolves. Paige still looks nervous, but since she's ready to put up a protection circle at any second, she's holding strong at Cora's side.]

He's very dangerous. They should know that.

[autorevive]

Compared to what, the harmless vampire that just wanders around the countryside pickin' turnips? If they know a vampire, I think they'll know that part.

[pickyourbattles]

[ cora gets the strangest sense of wrongness from the wolf, as though there were more than just animosity at play here. its lips curl back from its fangs and a horrible snarl erupts, teeth gnashing all around them.

and just as quickly, it recoils, turning and vanishing into the dark thicket ]

Should we... should we follow?