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]

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.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ stealth checks and listen checks please! ]

[klep]

[Felicity nods as she follows Sam's lead, inching forward towards the large door at the end of the hallway and doing her best to keep her ears open (move silently 27, listen 18).]

[familybusiness]

[Listen 20, move silently 18]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ their trek down the hall doesn't seem to attract any attention, and when they get to the big doors, they hear a lot of hub-bub out there - it sounds like a general party atmosphere, lots of chatting and conversation. ]

[familybusiness]

[Sam's brows furrow as he listens before glancing to Felicity, speaking low.]

Auction hall?

[Sounds like maybe pre-festivities, maybe some drinks to grease the palms of the attendees.]

[klep]

[She nods, because that's her thinking too. When she speaks, she's also keeping her voice low.]

They're probably keeping him somewhere nearby.

[And she'll start glancing around for any clues (spot nat 20, 40 total).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ felicity notices a few things that help identify some of the doors in this area: she can catch a glimpse of black and white tiles beneath one door that seem to indicate a kitchen. other rooms general shape based on what she note of the layout seem to indicate office rooms or something of that size. there are a few ducts in this hallway high up. ]

[klep]

[She takes all of this in for a moment, before pointing to the black and white tiles - ]

Kitchen.

[She turns and points to the rest.]

Some offices, maybe? I'd offer to crawl around in the vents and investigate some more, but I'm not sure I'd fit.

[New body proportions + uncertainty of the vent size = complications.]

[familybusiness]

If one of us is gonna fit, it's going to be you.

[He squats down low, turning around.]

I'll boost you up. Might as well check if you can fit or not.

[klep]

[Felicity nods, before following his lead, using the boost to get hoisted up to the vents and see if she can get herself inside (disable device 42 if she needs it to get part of the vent off or something?).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ she manages to unscrew the vent with incredible ease, sliding it free and squeezing in with zero problems. it branches ahead, going back down the hall the way they came from originally, and also in the direction of the big room. ]

[klep]

[She's going to head towards the big room, keeping an ear out to see if she can hear anything that would be of interest to them (listen 31).]

[familybusiness]

[After seeing Felicity get into the vent with zero problems, he figures he might as well try to follow after her, jumping up and then pulling himself in after her (climb? 23).]