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

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?

[olreliable]

As much as all of the logical, self preserving parts of me say 'oh god no' ... I'm pretty sure that's our only lead.

[somepagesturn]

Willow's right... [unfortunately.] Gods preserve us... Stay on alert, everyone. Be wary of traps. Cora?

[she nods at her.] Take the lead.

[impetere]

[Cora ... doesn't really want to follow them, the wrongness of it all making her skin crawl, but she also knows that given the situation, the wrongness is probably what they should follow. So she simply nods before slowly heading forward into the thicket, keeping her guard up to make sure that they're not ambushed (listen 19, spot 31, survival nat 20).]

[pickyourbattles]

[ ambush is right - as they approach what seems to be a clearing, she would notice that a canopy of leaves on the ground ahead dips down strangely - and see a bit of netting beneath it revealing a trap ]

[impetere]

Stop!

[She throws out her arm as soon as she sees it, stopping right in her tracks to keep any of the rest of the group from going further.]

There's a trap there, in the leaves.

[olreliable]

[Willow's eyes go a little wide]

A trap? As in... for us specifically?

[autorevive]

We've been here for five minutes! You think they can dig that fast?

[impetere]

I don't think it matters who it's for. What matters is it's there.

[She takes a small step forward, eyes peering around to see if she can spot anything lying in wait (spot 31).]

[somepagesturn]

A pit trap seems... very primitive.

[she's gonna cast Detect Magic just in case this is a decoy or if there's something else at play here.]

[pickyourbattles]

I mean, it might keep the locals at bay, at least. [ she senses no magic on the trap at least. cora, however, sees furtive movement quickly skirting through the trees ]

[impetere]

[Cora is incredibly on edge with all of this, maybe it's just the wrongness of the wolves getting to her or maybe it's just the obvious trap and lurking ambush, but it doesn't take much after seeing that movement for her eyes to glow and her claws to extend growling out in the direction of the trees (intimidate 23).]

Pissing off a werewolf is really not your best move. Get out here, now.

[She takes a step forward from her team, not into the trap, but enough to put some distance between them.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ well. she asked for it. out of the woods behind them comes rocketing a figure at lightning fast speed - a pale figure with a dark beard and long hair, eyes red and blazing, fangs bared, a massive bastard sword in hand.

time for init! ]

[olreliable]

Look out!

[Willow jumps and yelps in surprise. Despite the fact that they have been looking for this exact thing, it's still spooky to see it up close and personal. And it's charging. At them. She brought her best spells but in the moment, she doesn't shoot fire or lightning at him. All she can see is him tearing her friends apart, so instead, she raises a hand and fires of a ray of enfeeblement (ranged touch: 22, 6 str damage for 5 mins)]