new orleans ♔ there's always a siren singing you to shipwreck

[dragonsclaw]

♫ Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse

WHO || Buffy, Alainn, Rose, Sam, Dean, Faith, Felicity, Isabella  [closed]
WHAT || The Ex-Knights of Failboat head off to interrupt an auction for Rafael Giovanni's life...
WHERE || New Orleans, LA
WHEN || A couple weeks post-LA
HOW || Actionspam

Held in the grasp of the Knighthood's enemies for a stretch of time that has been an aching splinter in the heart of the ones who love him, Rafael Giovanni's life now stands up for auction.  Having made a number of powerful enemies in his days as the vigilante assassin The Black Scourge, including the secret Vatican police known as Iscariot, Draken Crombe's organization sought to capitalize on the many who sought revenge by sending out word that Eterna Jade was not, as his trial had seemed to prove, the Black Scourge at all, and offer the chance to kill or torture Giovanni to whoever would pay the largest sum.

The Knights, being made aware of this, did what they could to stymie this auction from coming to pass, and Buffy Summer and Jack Chessing managed to at least thwart it several times, leading to its cancellation and inevitable rescheduling elsewhere.  However, none of this led to Giovanni's actual location. 

The capture of Draken Crombe finally allowed them to learn of the latest plans for the auction - to be held at a location in New Orleans, a temple of some sort.  It seems that Crombe's other followers still intend to follow through with ridding themselves of Rafael, making it clear that even with Crombe in Knights' custody, the villains still have some organization or leadership.  Tia Ellison rattled out the plan by invading Crombe's mind, learning of the way that he had been psychically manipulated by the Mind Master for years, and doing what she could to start to heal his shattered psyche.  

Jack Chessing, eager to see Rafael rescued after their many efforts, cautioned however against sending too many on what might be a mission from which there is no returning.  To that end, they've tried to split the forces of their magic-users, fighters, and researchers.

Now, it's up to a few to save their friend... without losing any more.

Comments

[familybusiness]

Alright, give me a second. I'll see what I can do.

[He moves slowly away then, back into the forest and a good distance to the side, while still trying to keep them in his line of vision.

He pulls his lighter from his pocket, flicks the flame on, and then starts to concentrate, letting it float out of his hand and continuing to move it with his mind even further from their location, toward the edge of the forest where it might be seen flickering behind the branches and leaves.

Once it's where he wants it, maybe he'll even let it light a thing or two on fire for good measure.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ there's not enough flame to really catch anything substantial on fire, however one of the men squints out at the light, tapping the other guy on the shoulder as he points his gun in that direction. ]

Hey! You see that? [ the other man begins scanning the forest edge as well, finally catching sight of it. they signal to each other, and one of them begins stalking slowly in that direction ]

[familybusiness]

[With another wave of the lighter in the air to further attract attention, as well as create a tiny bit of noise in the leaves and against a nearby tree, he starts to guide it away from the guard slowly, further into the forest and trying to draw him even further away.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the guard follows, but the other stays on alert at the door, and begins reaching towards a walkie talkie on his belt ]

[msattentionspan]

[Faith watches as the one guard starts off toward Sam's distraction and she's trying to think of what sort of move she could try for distraction. She's about to ask Felicity if she has any bold ideas, but she spots the guy reaching for a walkie and she knows there's not enough time for strategy. At least, not enough time in Faith's mind. She glances to Felicity briefly.]

Cover me? [That's what they say in almost every movie that depicts this sort of thing, but she's really not sure what sort of covering she needs. If this guy starts to open fire, she's pretty sure no amount of cover is going to help her against a machine gun. Which, to be honest, feels like overkill.

Without much more thought, she rushes through the area they were taking cover in and into the open area near the door. She's hoping to just take the guard by surprise - but not too much of a surprise that he just opens fire...

She stops in front of him and opts to forgo any witty Slayer-speak and just throws a right uppercut to his jaw. (charge attack 39 / damage 16) Then if he's still standing, she'll add in a left jab (attack 21 / damage 15 ) ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the first attack sends his head snapping to the side, but it's the second one that emits a dull grunt as her hand slams into his stomach. he slumps against the door, the machine gun in his lap ]

[klep]

[Felicity very slowly starts to creep her way towards the door (move silently 29), ready to duck out of the way in case the other guard comes back.]

[familybusiness]

[While the guard follows after the bait, Sam starts to slowly move backwards toward where he left the girls, only letting the lighter fall when it's finally drifted out of random of himself (75 ft).

If they have to take him out quickly, it's better if they do it as a group.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the guard vanishes into the tree line entirely... for the moment at least, not seeming to notice them. ]

[klep]

[Felicity makes it to the door, immediately going to town on the lock and getting to work (disable device nat 20, 43 total). While she's there, she'll glance over to Faith and nod to the guard.]

Grab the walkie talkie.

[familybusiness]

[Sam starts to hurry as the guard disappears entirely, heading back to their original spot, then to the door as he realizes the girls have already unlocked it.]

Let's get this guy inside, see if we can find somewhere to hide him before his buddy gets back.

[He moves to pick up the fallen guard (str 19)]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the lock immediately turns green, with startling ease, swinging open to reveal a hall that runs to the left and right, while sam easily picks up the guard. the hall doesn't appear to have any doors in it, but it does round a corner at both ends. ]

[klep]

[She glances back and forth for a moment, before glancing back to Sam.]

No convenient closets so ... left or right?

[familybusiness]

Of course, we wouldn't get lucky. We can't just cart him around forever, though.

[He takes a moment to listen for any movement nearby (listen 19), and if all is quiet he'll head down the left hallway.]

[klep]

[Felicity is listening as well (listen 27), and if Sam starts moving, she'll move ahead of him, trying to keep an eye out for any guards coming their way (spot 38).]

We could always find somewhere in the bushes to stash him.

[msattentionspan]

I vote stashing him in the bushes. If he's outside, without his walkie [she waves the one she snagged off of him] he's got a few more obstacles to overcome before he alerts anyone - right?

[familybusiness]

If we tie him up and gag him, then hopefully his other buddy outside won't be able to find him if he comes back.

[It's the best plan they have so he'll go with it.]

[klep]

[Felicity nods in agreement.]

Okay. Let's do it.

[And she'll poke her head out the door and see if she can spot the other guard coming back (spot 22).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the other guard is indeed slowly making his way back, but scanning the woods to try and find any source of anyone else. he doesn't look suspicious of his partner not being there yet at the door, perhaps thinking he went to look in another direction? ]

[klep]

... Scratch that, the guard is already on their way back. I think it's either find somewhere to stash him inside or leave him and hope we can cover more ground before they figure out which way we went.

[Which is not very quiet, but those are their options. Heading back out the way they came is not.]

[familybusiness]

We'll gag him and leave him far enough from the door that if he peeks inside he won't see him. We should already have things moving by the time he wakes up.

[Hopefully, anyway.]

But we've gotta get moving.

[klep]

[Felicity nods and starts heading further down the left hallway, scouting a head to make sure that no one was coming in their direction from the inside as well (spot 26, listen 31).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ it seems like the coast is clear in the hallway. at the end of the hall, it twists to the right, and a glance around there shows it ends quite a ways down in a big doorway. there are several doors on either side in between, and felicity can hear a few people moving around behind some of those doors. ]

[klep]

[Keeping her eyes poised ahead, she speaks over her shoulder.]

There's a few doors down this way, but it sounds like there's people behind them. We've got a turn to the right and a big door down at the end of this hallway.

[familybusiness]

[So no real place to hide an unconscious guard. Oh well, time to just put him down and hurry the fuck up.

Sam unloads the body against the wall a good portion of the way down the hall, where it turns, hopefully somewhere a little shadowy if possible.

Then he gestures toward the big door at the end, speaking quietly.]

Let's see if we can hear anything over there.