london trial ♔ i guess i'll save the best for last

[mislabeled]

WHO ||Lydia, Sark, Francesca, Cora, Will, Sam, Lila, Carol, Rose, Sydney, Dean, Audrey, Grant [Closed]
WHAT || Audrey Petersen is tried for her involvement in the schemes of Nicholas St. Andrew
WHERE || London, England
WHEN || June 2017
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

They're calling it one of the trials of the year.  Some of the more hyperbolic tabloids have referred to it as the "trial of the decade" or even "of the new century".

Audrey Petersen, wealthy socialite and wife of Professor Grant Petersen, curator of the Knights' archives has been involved in an extended proceeding ever since the day that the Knights and the London police stopped Nicholas St. Andrew, a charismatic cult leader, from completing a dark occult ritual.  St. Andrew was killed in the assault, but Audrey was taken prisoner, her role in the business less black and white. She now stands trial for the crimes she allegedly committed with her former mentor.  The authorities are still uncertain as to whether Audrey was a willing accomplice or just another of St. Andrew's brainwashed cultist lackeys.  Her lawyers and the popular press have taken to painting her as a victim, but Wynn is hardly so sure.  Dozens of people, including prominent citizens have said they are willing to appear as character witnesses for her, and some have even been obliquely criticizing the work the authorities did in arresting her.  Many of the Knights who were involved in thwarting the Children of Chaos have been asked to come to the trial to provide more insight into the situation.  

Police chief Jared O'Keefe paces nervously outside the doors as they arrive, rubbing his mouth with one hand.  

"Oh good.  You made it.  Now, we've insisted on no cameras anywhere nearby - we want to preserve the sanctity of the Knights' secrecy as much as possible.  The attorneys have a ... bit of a history.  They've sparred in the courtroom many a time.  I believe the plan is to call you up on the stand in small groups."

Comments

[familybusiness]

[Meanwhile, Sam bombs his check, so he looks super confused.]

She's doing something?

[littledhampir]

Yeah. A ritual. [And Rose is already looking like she's going to stand up in the middle of closing arguments, which I'm sure the judge is really going to love.]

[impetere]

[Cora just barely made her spot check (spot 20 total), but she's not in the mood for Audrey making a jailbreak so she's also going to stand with Rose and draw everyone's attention as she points.]

Hey!

[She'll start moving that way if she can, but if not at least she's making a disruption.]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila recognizes magic, but it doesn't seem to be coming from audrey herself (spellcraft 39), so on a reflex, and keeping her butt in her seat, she silently casts dispel magic to hopefully slow this roll. (caster check 22) ]

[immuno]

[ Lydia's on her feet. She's not much more than a canary in a coalmine, skills-wise, but she does what she can— ]

Everyone get out! [ whether or not it can actually impact them, it'll at least give them more room to move and stop whatever this garbage is. but, knowing this mission? it's going to be something ugly. diplomacy 44 to persuade all the jury, bystanders/etc?? ] Clear the courtroom! Clear it, now!

init plurk incoming

[mislabeled]

[ sa bir - dir en grey

lila's dispel fizzles out, which... seems like a bad sign, but not as bad of a sign as what happens in the wake of lydia's sudden shout:

a shrill wailing sound seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, causing the panicked citizens within the courtroom to not know where to turn. the lights in the courtroom, which until now had produced a typical fluorescent glow, take on a sickly greenish-yellow tint. and a gigantic, shapeless monstrosity appears in midair above the witness box.

the sickly green creature is about fifteen feet wide and covered in a mucous-like slime. its body seems to be a collection of pulsating nodules clustered around a central core. as it moves, they can see a sharp beak, like that of an octopus or squid, protruding from somewhere deep in the midst of the body. extending from the mass at seemingly random intervals are long, slimy tentacles. most of these seem to be made for grabbing or bashing victims, but others end in tiny mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth.

people begin to scream, and now that this horror has manifested, they take lydia's advice and flee the room. the judge is too stunned even to call for order, breaking for the door along with the four bailiffs and other onlookers. a few reporters hang at the back of the room, pulling out phones to try to record the sight. but audrey petersen sits in her chair, hands folded in her lap, calm as the day is long and smiling coolly. ]

One way or another, I'm walking out of here a free woman. If you have a problem with that, talk to my friend.

[impetere]

[Given that Cora is the only one in the room right now with weapons, she's going to do her best to try and take the creature for now.]

Don't let her leave.

[And then she will shift and jump the railing (jump 21) to head towards the creature, tearing into it with her claws when she gets there (attack 38, damage 31 damage with penetration, 22 damage without).]

[littledhampir]

We need our weapons.

[That aside to Dean so he knows where she's running off to, because while Rose does pack a powerful punch, Holy Cthulhu, kids.

Running montage goes here and she's in a hurry so Heroic Surge 1/5 to grab as many weapons as she can carry... lbr here, she grabbed hers, Dean's and Sam's.]

[bittersweeter]

[ she tried, therefore no one can criticize her. knowing there is no way in hell she can try to dispel that now, lila casts legion of sentinels under the snot monster and a phalanx of twelve ghostly warriors appear, ready to fight, spectral swords drawn.

they may not do shit to actually hinder the monster, but they could be a very nice distraction. ]

[immuno]

[ Lydia casts lesser confusion on Audrey because there's no saving throw and the goal is really Keep Her Here. ]

[impetere]

[And Cora will go and tear into the creature again, this time doing a full round attack (attack 29, damage 24, attack 35, damage 16).]

1/2

[antiquaria]

[ grant stands up, chin lifting as he raises his head to look at the creature in astonished horror. he seems overwhelmed by the sight before him, not as quick to spring into actions as the others, his eyes settling back down on his wife, taking in her smug countenance. ] Audrey, what are you doing?! Call that thing off! You're going to get everyone killed! Yourself included! [ full round nat 20 diplomacy check...? damn dude.

cora moves forward to tear into the thing, which... is easy to hit, being tremendously large, but the bizarre material that makes up its strangely stringy, fibrous body does not make for easy damaging. jsyk it is immune to penetration and critical damage. ]

[superswank]

[ sydney stares after cora, hesitating at her order to hold audrey back, calling after her: ] Cora! [ but the werewolf girl seems to uh, have that under control maybe, so syd goes to jump over the railing, but... finds it difficult without any way to get a running start (jump 8 lmao). failure. ]

[airforceful]

[Well, shit. Carol's clothes shimmer into her costume as she flies up over the crowd and shoots off a blast of light energy (touch atk 28, dmg 18. Reflex 18 for half damage).]

Thought we were done calling witnesses.

[likedillinger]

[ ref 7, this cthulu fucker doesn't even try to dodge, ok. it just eats all that damage up, but it seems to be burning it slightly so that's... good?? dean yells after his lady: ] Rose! [ but realizes she's right, they need weapons, stat, so he's gonna let her go do that, and look over at sam with wide eyes ] Tell me you've got somethin' out of Lovecraft for this, Poindexter. [ cuz he sure don't. what he does have, though, is some magic, so he's gonna step back and yank out some chalk, drawing a fucking magic sigil on the table with damn impressive speed and accuracy (craft art 20). he dumps a couple coarse looking hairs in the middle, and mumbles some latin, slamming his hand down on the symbol. a glowing light ripples up his arm, the muscles tensing, and he winces a bit, before clutching his hand into a fist as if testing something, and then releasing it. ]

[familybusiness]

[He almost wants to get annoyed by the namecalling...except he totally knows what this thing is and Lovecraft is really not far off at all (nat 20 knowledge check).

He's gonna give Dean a confused look first, though, because what the hell is that all about dude? Are you flexing? Hurting yourself? Stop that.

And then he's glancing back toward where Rose went before looking back out into the courtroom, yelling loudly so that the others can all hear him.]

It's a Khor'dyl! [He's about to go into other specifics when he realizes that probably isn't useful nor does anyone particularly care when it's trying to kill them.] Don't let it grab you or it'll make you its lunch in hurry! Don't think you're out of range, because you aren't, so stay on your toes. If you can hit it with fire, water or acid, give it hell!

[He seems like he's hesitating to do more, and for the moment he's holding action until Rose gets back.]

[mydesigns]

[will is super thrilled to be here with no weapons and a giant cthulu monster. he should've stayed home today. he's staying the fuck out of the way and also asking sam]

What if we can't hit it with those things?

[certainproclivity]

[Sark's gonna stay RIGHT WHERE HE IS just watching, because he's an asshole. And he doesn't have weapons. And if you had just LET HIM KILL HER BACK THEN, SHE WOULDN'T BE CAUSING THIS PROBLEM NOW.]

[mislabeled]

[ well, the horrible ooze cthulu monster is gonna snap out a tentacle - and try to lift cora right up. 24 to attack. if that hits, grapple vs. 41.

also if it hits... 40 dmg... plus 4 alkali dmg, which she will take every round on her turn, as she is now covered in a corrosive sludge that is burning away at her.

either way, it's going to start floating slowly towards the very center of the room also. lila's sentinels get their attacks of opportunity.

affected as she is by the lesser confusion spell, audrey... starts running away in fear towards the outside wall. ]

[littledhampir]

[Weapons gathered, Rose pauses long enough to address Faith's Papa.]

You need to help us clear the courthouse before people end up dead.

[But alas there's no time to explain and it doesn't really need one once he gets to see the Cthulu hour.

And now we get another running montage as Rose races back to the others and with another heroic surge 2/5 she's going to make sure the boys are covered.]

Dean, Sam! [Have your weapons and don't get swallowed by that thing, k thanks.]

[bittersweeter]

[ so theoretically half the sentinels get attacks of opportunity because the monster is in their threat square which would be atk: 12, 8, 15, 25, 10, 11 WOW THOSE GHOSTS SUCK??? (3 slashing damage for the 25)

and lila casts invisibility sphere which puts everyone within ten feet of her into a bubble of invisibility. the whole sphere will not burst if someone attacks, but they personally will become visible. ]

Come on. [ because she wants to move, at the very least to get her own gun, so she might as well take them with. ]

[immuno]

[ lydia will haul ass at all costs after audrey because they did NOT go through all of this just for her to get away. fuck that. she looks to grant like ? ? ?? r u coming ? ?? and vaults the half-wall to pursue (jump 19 thank god she rolled well bc that was about to be so ugly). ]

[impetere]

[Her AC is just 24 so ... yep. Sam's warning comes a bit too late as the tentacle ensnares her and lifts her up off the ground, thrashing in response to try and see if she can get free, but not being quite strong enough (strength check 24).

If this thing tries to eat her, she will not go down easy. But for now, I think that's all she can do in this turn.]

1/2

[antiquaria]

[ grant hurries after lydia, but he's not a super athlete so he's gonna take his turn to climb over the thing carefully ]

[superswank]

[ sydney is going to shoot sark a venomous look ] Don't just stand there. Help or get out! [ and take the rest of her turn to climb over as well. ]