cape town ♔ heard you moving up now in the city of gold

[withasouvenir]

♫ these streets -- bastille

WHO || Dawn Summers, Indra Crestrage, Sebastian Trevethor, Shawn Spencer, Taradiddle Gezuntheit, Thea Queen
WHAT || Cape Town Mission
WHERE || Cape Town, South Africa
WHEN || Summer 2016
HOW || Actionspam

The Knights fly into the port city of Cape Town in the height of summer, which luckily for them is actually a comfortable Mediterranean climate. They have come in search of Le Chien de l’Onyx to return it to it's former (and rightful) owner, the elf mage Nieulor -- it had been stolen from him in eighteenth century France and once Nieulor was freed from the Bastille, he had tracked its whereabouts across the globe trying to retrieve it. Finally, he has found it in Cape Town and the Knights have been asked to meet him for further information at the Blanched Escargot, a hole in the wall French restaurant on the waterfront.

Comments

[withasouvenir]

[ thea at least is picking up what he is putting down (wis 17), fluidly shifting her stance to get a better look. her eyes are drawn to the dog, that must be the dog. sirius black is here. ]

[bloodrager]

[ the bugbears set up on two separate park benches on either side of the thin man, who sits, the dog heeling beside him. indra's eyes move towards her partners, clearly itching to start a fight already. ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn shakes his head a bit, because not yet. They don't want to blow their cover before the person they're helping indicates they should. He just shifts into another yoga pose that's not a yoga pose and keeps his eye on the proceedings (spot 20 total, sense motive 21), keeping an eye out for a change in body language that indicates someone's in trouble.]

[bloodrager]

[ nieulor arrives precisely at the appointed time, the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. as he approaches lastrode, the dog perks up its head, clearly reacting to a familiar presence. lastrode's glance shifts rapidly between the dog and the approaching courier. no fool, it seems, he comes to an immediate, intuitive realization. he snaps an order to the dog, "Get him!" and signals to the bugbears to leap into action.

time for initz! ]

[withasouvenir]

[ thea sprints into action, darting to stand in front of nieulor with her katana drawn and holding her action. ]

Hey now! Let's not do this.

[ but like heyo if they attack, thea will attack right back. (atk 29, crit on 19, dmg 16) ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn will also dart forward after her, but instead of pulling his weapon like a smart human, he's just going to ... throw up his empty hands in a "stop" gesture.]

Look, he came here to make the exchange. Why are we escalating things? Let's talk it out.

[Breaks out his most persuasive skills (diplomacy 20 total). He's trying at least.]

[bloodrager]

[ lastrode looks momentarily hesitant as they fling themselves in the way, but instead of responding... he abruptly books it back in the direction of the road away from them. the bugbears close together to block the way between thea, shawn, and nieulor, raising guns from beneath their trenchcoats abruptly and each fixing one on thea and shawn. they each fire their Colt Pythons, attack 17 vs thea (dmg 6 if it hits), attack 6 vs shawn, an attack clearly meant more to threaten the unarmed man into fleeing, than to hit. the black dog charges forward right towards them, but there's something half-hearted in its movements as it comes towards thea, apparently heading towards her legs to try to go straight through her to nieulor. the elf shouts out "Don't kill it!", an edge of panic to his voice from behind her...

does she take her planned attack? ]

[withasouvenir]

[ thea is going to divert her attack from the doggo to the closest bugbear with seeming relief because she doesn't want to fight a doggo. the fast shift makes the bullet whiz past her. (ac 20)

since i think it is her go again??? she will attempt the disarm the same bugbear. (atk 29) ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn's eyes widen as the shot zings past him, and he does pull out his own weapon to aim in the direction of the bugbears, but since he ... doesn't actually want to shoot people or run the risk of shooting Thea, he's just going to hold his attack until one of the bugbears tries to attack Thea or Indra.

It looks they have the dog. It doesn't have to end this way. But if they do move to attack (attack 7), it's really more of a return warning shot.

LET'S NOT RIDDLE EACH OTHER WITH BULLETS PLEASE.]

C'mon dude. There's gotta be another way to resolve this.

[bloodrager]

[ the bugbear tries and fails to attack of opportunity her by bringing the gun down towards her head but she whacks it out of his hand before he can. lastrode is still running for it in the distance, heading towards the road, where a limo is parked. he reaches the door just as the other bugbear turns to fire on thea, but he overcompensates to not hit his friend and the bullet goes stray, drawing screeches from people in the park who are running away. the other bugbear tries to slam a fist into thea's chest (atk 20, dmg 3), just as the dog busts through to chomp at nieulor, grabbing onto his leg (dmg 5). indra finally gets her shit together, and takes off running after lastrode ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn glances back and forth, his eyes darting from Thea to the dog to Thea to the dog and since the dog is currently biting their client he's going to ... go for the dog. He stashes his gun and runs to ... basically jump on the dog and attempt to grapple it? Or pull it away from Nieulor?

He's gonna try (grapple 18).]

[withasouvenir]

[ ow. bugbear fist to chest is not the greatest feeling even for someone mostly immune to pain and thea whooshes out a pained breath before whirling around and bringing down her katana on that fist. fuck you, furball. (atk 27, crit on 17; dmg 22) ]

[bloodrager]

[ the dog snaps at shawn as he reaches for it, but misses him i assume (atk 11). he manages to get his arms around the dog, but it wiggles free with surprising strength, shaking him off (grapple 20).

thea's katana slices neatly through the bugbear's arm, and he has only a second of surprise flashing across his features, raising his stumped arm in front of his face, before he crashes bleeding and unconscious to the ground.

lastrode vanishes into the limo, the door slamming shut.

horrified by the fact that this girl just pulled a fucking sword out of nowhere, the other bugbear backs up, firing at thea again as he heads thirty feet away, also in the direction of the limo, looking over his shoulder in slight panic, his shot going wide again (atk 8). the dog lunges at nieulor again (atk 15, dmg 5), his teeth gripping into the man's arm this time. nieulor rips it free, and then, fear in his eyes, fumbles backward a few feet and raises a hand in the dog's face, a bright flare of light expelling from his palm and stopping the dog momentarily in its tracks, dazing it.

indra makes it just to the limo. ]

[withasouvenir]

Shawn, the limo! Shoot the tires.

[ that works on tv so... thea pauses, though her katana is still at the ready, and practically growls at the remaining bugbear. ]

Drop the gun and take your friend to the hospital or you will both be bleeding out on the ground.

[ she's clearly not fucking around so even though she is all five foot five and thin as a twig, she's scary. (intimidate 23) also she just cut his partner's arm off so there is that. ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn is clearly not afraid to go with the "it works on TV" angle. He glances between the dog and limo for a moment before raising his Excalibur in the direction of the limo.]

Bad dog!

[And then he turns, actually takes aim and fires (attack 15, idk how to roll damage for this but if it's the normal way damage 8).]

[bloodrager]

[ the vehicle starts to peel off, as the crack of shawn's gun echoes through the park, taking out the front driver's side tire. the vehicle skids wildly aside and crashes into a fire hydrant, which sends a torrent of water shooting into the sky.

the remaining bugbear looks between the crash and thea, before dropping his gun and raising both hands to show he's unarmed, stepping slowly in the direction of his friend without taking his eyes off her.

the dog, however, is still dazed and nieulor's hands adopt a complicated pattern, striking it with another spell of some kind.

indra rips open the door of the limo and reaches inside, grabbing lastrode and literally yanking him out with masterful strength, as he squawks in indignation ]

[withasouvenir]

[ go shawn!! they are a powerful team. thea hesitates on deciding to go back up indra or make sure the elf doesn't get mauled by a dog, before sprinting over to shawn and nieulor. ]

Nice work. [ high five ] Can you go find the briefcase?

[ look thea knows what she is good at and it's hitting things. shawn is clearly the sherlock of the two of them. ]

[pwnspatrickjane]

[THAT. WAS. AWESOME.

Shawn is literally bouncing up and down with joy because did you see that, but once Thea gives him a new directive he will leap back into action again, running towards the limo and searching for the briefcase if he doesn't have to run so far that he can do that in one turn (investigate 25).]

[bloodrager]

[ he'll have to run this turn, and as he starts towards them, lastrode suddenly jerks free of indra, much to her surprise, and starts running up the road. she bolts after him, trying to hurl herself bodily against him but misses and falls flat on the concrete, cursing under her breath.

the dog shakes off the daze, but now seems to be moving in slow motion, heading after him but only reaching him, as he quickly backs up from it again, now casting a spell on himself. ]

[withasouvenir]

[ thea is too far to back up shawn and indra now, but lastrode doesn't have the briefcase so thea lets them finish handling it, moving so stand next to nieulor with her katana still raised. ]

Honestly, this is why there are leash laws.

[pwnspatrickjane]

[Shawn is presumably close enough now to use his investigation check from before (investigate 25) and he'll start scouring the limo to try and find the briefcase as requested.]

[bloodrager]

[ lastrode keeps booking it and indra gets up, starting to run after him but realizing that he's going to get too far, stops halfway, stamping in irritation.

shawn, however, turns up the briefcase :D

nieulor speaks up to the dog abruptly, addressing it in elvish, and the dog - already slowed - begins to come to a halt, whining in slow motion. nieulor lets out a breath of relief.

"It's alright now, I believe. He knows who I am." ]

[withasouvenir]

[ thea wipes her katana off and slides it away, looking between nieulor and the dog. ]

Good dog, now? I have half a granola bar if he needs a treat.

[pwnspatrickjane]

Got it!

[He pulls the briefcase out of the car and brings it back to the rest of the group, handing it off to Nieulor with a nod.]

I believe this belongs to you.

[bloodrager]

[ "I think he deserves a treat after all he's been through," he says, taking the briefcase with a nod. "Thank you. I'm sorry that you all had to deal with all this, but I owe you more than you can imagine." ]