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

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Buffy finishes her fancy flip through the blade barrier and lands square behind the scorpion (ref 30), catching her breath easily now that she's free of the locust swarm (fort 27). Of course, they have a bigger issue.

She passes her Excalibur pistol off to Rafael for his move action because it's gotta be good for something in his hands, and then she goes for the cultist in front of them.

atk 38, dmg 32 (penetration) +14 vs evil
atk 29, dmg 22 (penetration) +9 vs evil
atk 29, dmg 20 +2 vs evil
atk 34 (crit), dmg 38 +15 vs evil

Provided the cultist goes down, she has great cleave and can just move on to the scorpion. ]

[Felicity is out of easily accessible targets from her position in the duct, but she's sure not getting out of the duct so she can have acid death flashbacks so she's just going to try and shoot the red cultist by the stage. She may be too far away, but she's going to try anyway.

She might get lucky (attack 26, damage 15 with penetration, attack ~~crit fail~~ action point says 14, damage 14 with penetration which that one might not hit).]

[ faith's final blow is exactly what's needed to ultimately take this guy down, as he sinks to his knees, eyes rolling backwards, and falls to the floor.

buffy drops the cultist in two hits, moving in to get in a strike on the scorpion as well.

even with the negatives from the distance, felicity's first shot strikes true, hitting the cultist in the shoulder.

isabella glances around her at the fallen bodies, and gives rose a small nod of appreciation, rushing off around the table to engage the scorpion (atk 27, dmg 7), one eye on rafael and buffy. she yells to them in a loud voice: ]

The doors! Go! [ indicating the nearby exit.

meanwhile, the scorpion turns and swipes at her with its two pincher-like claws (atk 14 & 20) which isabella quickly dodges and ducks, and then gives a clumsy tail strike (atk 8) that she rolls away from deftly.

the only remaining iscariot agent closes with faith as she stands over the guy she just took down, reaching out to grab her shoulder (touch attack 20). if it hits, she must make a will save (DC 20) or take 70 dmg. a successful save takes half.

two of the cultists come around now to shoot at felicity (atk 19 & 7, 5 dmg if the first hits and atk 23 & 16, dmg 9 and 10 if either hits).

the other cultist charges madly through the flames, taking the damage and swinging an axe at rose (atk 25), but still not fast enough to surprise the dhampir.

thunder rumbles out of the darkened cloud, and abruptly lightning bolts crackle out of it, targeting six of them: sam (40 dmg), alainn (43 dmg), rafael (31 dmg), buffy (56 dmg), isabella (45 dmg), and faith (29 dmg). they may reflex save dc 26 to take half damage (or none, if they have evasion). with a 31, isabella leaps out of the way of the bolt entirely. rafael, however, is not so lucky, taking the impact directly (ref 19), leaving him singed and grasping the edge of the stage for support.

and to make matters all the better, at that moment, a pair of doors behind the stage open, as well as the doors that they had originally come through, and more cultists begin streaming in... there appear to be even more behind them. ]

[Sam manages to entirely avoid the lightning strike (reflex 32, evasion), just in time to see more cultists coming in the door behind himself and his brother.

A quick glance around the room has him locating only one door that doesn't have cultists streaming through it, to the south, so he'll start heading 30 ft in that direction before taking a well-aimed shot at the scorpion (atk nat 20, dmg 22 + 7 vs evil).]

[Rose dances out of the way of the Cultist with a deathwish as he comes charging towards her, greeting him with the slice and stab of her stake a moment later; Atk 43 Dmg 17, Atk 40 Dmg 25 (Penetration), Atk 36 Dmg 18, Atk 44 Dmg 66 (Critical + Penetration), Atk 25 Dmg 16 (if that last one even hits).

Whether he's down or not, she takes a moment to assess the situation, her protective instinct wanting to pull her back to Dean, Sam and Alainn, but one look at Rafael? She had to trust the others to be able to take care of themselves.]

Get him out of here. [ Nodding to Rafael as...

...assuming the Cultist is, in fact, out for the count, Rose will use a Heroic Surge (2/5) to move closer to the Scorpion and the Cultists closest to the stage to try and help keep the path clear for Buffy or whoever to get Rafael to safety.]

[ sam lands a perfect shot into the thing's heart, staggering it, but it somehow is still - barely - on its "feet", so to speak. rose straight up murders a guy, and dean whirls around to face the flood of incoming cultists, backing up to stand in front of alainn and firing a shot back to give them some cover (atk 38, dmg 6). to alainn, he says: ]

You gotta pull that firewall. We got people on that side!

[ rafael takes the pistol from buffy, as he manages to push himself back up to standing from the aftershock of the lightning bolt. for a moment, he stares at it with a grim and almost confused look on his face, before tightening his grip and pulling up next to buffy, on the side of the doors, aiming it up at the monstrous scorpion. his grip is weak, his aim shoddy, for the practiced assassin, but it still manages to strike (atk 26, dmg 10). the shot buries itself into the thing's side, and it reels again, but still, somehow, does not fall.

it seems that the half-elf hasn't even noticed the other cultists beginning to stream in the door behind them. ]

Seriously? [Faith glances to the guy that probably just watched her take down all of his buddies without them getting a decent piece of her. (touch ac 32) She slips away from his attack and throws a punch to his face (atk 36 / dmg 22) before glancing around. She's trying to see if Buffy got Raf or not, but there's a little issue with a GIANT WALL OF FIRE blocking her view. Then lightning strikes (reflex 34) and she feels that a little. Shaking it off, she is grateful for her fast healing (+4HP each round) and makes another hit to the guy that apparently might not know he should stop (atk nat 20 / 37 total | dmg 38).

Of course, she can hear Dean yelling for the wall to come down, but she's also pretty sure that she could run through it and take the heat if it came down to it.

Being that she's on this side of the wall, she can't see all the hell going on the other side and will just try to clean up this mess first.]

[ There's some part of her, no small part, that resists the notion to leave her friends behind to deal with the clean-up. With her there, Buffy thinks they could probably clear the room. But this is about more than that -- they don't need to clear the room. They got what they came for. And if there's anything she's learned since joining the Knighthood, it's that sticking around unnecessarily gets people hurt.

Sometimes, it gets them killed.

She has to have faith that her friends will be able to handle themselves. Trust in their abilities. She grabs onto Rafael's hand and tugs him to the southern door beside Isabella, making a break for it and full retreating before the cultists can close in on them. ]

[Felicity may not be able to hear anything, but she's at least aware enough to see the bullets coming and she jerks back into the duct to take cover, one of the bullets whizzing very close but still missing her.

She then pushes back out again, and takes another two shots at orange cultist but hopefully doing better now that he's much closer (attack 35, damage 8, attack 28, damage 22 with penetration).

She also can't hear what anyone else is doing so hopefully from her angle she'll be able to see when everyone is retreating.]

[ faith gets in two incredibly rough blows to this guy, who reels from each one, especially the fist that DIRECTLY IMPACTS HIS FACE dear god. he staggers five feet away from her and intones some latin, a flash of dark light shooting out from him, dealing 33 damage to faith, felicity, sam, alainn, dean, rose, and isabella unless they make a 21 will save, in which case they will take 16 dmg. there's a sudden wave of pain that shoots through each of them, and by the way she gasps and nearly falls, isabella seems to take the full brunt of it, looking even more worse for the wear, but steadying herself to let out a growl of frustration, whipping her blade around and then thrusting it straight into the scorpion's side (atk 32, dmg 10). it wheels up onto its back legs, and then turns to ash, leaving the point of her blade covered in black dust. she moves to be between the retreating rafael and buffy and the cultists pouring in from that door, pointing her blade in that direction and looking back over her shoulder to see that they get out safely. even dean seems to take the blow fully (will 16), hissing through his teeth as he tries to ignore the wracking pain.

felicity plugs a few bullets into the cultist but he doesn't go down either. the cultists near faith continue to fire at her (atk 19/10/23/17, dmg 23 if the 23 hits).

at that moment, alainn drops the fire wall spell and faith can see clearly into the remainder of the room. the mage begins heading for the exit as well, gun in hand, scanning the room for more targets who might get in the way of their escape path.

three more axe-wielding psychos head for isabella, each getting in one swing at her (atk 21/17/20) but none connecting, as she dodges each blow or deflects it with her own blade. three more move to surround dean, trying to punch him with unarmed strikes (atk 17/26/13 - dmg 5), but only one able to land a blow.

the storm continues to worsen as now hailstones begin to bludgeon everyone in the area (18 dmg - no save to everyone but felicity, buffy and rafael), making a terrible racket as it collides with everything in the room that's not fleshy, as well. isabella staggers beneath the blows, looking close to failing. ]

[Sam also takes the full hit of that darkness (will 18), sucking in a pained breath through grit teeth. He looks back at Dean briefly then forward again, quickly noticing how poorly Isabella is doing, especially after they're all pelted with hailstones.]

Come on, Dean!

[He yells to his brother over his shoulder, noticing that he doesn't even hear his own voice, before dashing to Isa's left, trying to catch all three of the cultists going after her in front of him.]

Hey, assholes!

[He lifts a hand and concentrates (heroic surge to attack) and summons a ray of sparking electricity that shoots through all three of them (dmg 40, reflex 27 to halve).

Luckily, this time, he doesn't seem to suffer any mental backlash.]

[ Rose was fully prepared to take down those cultists and offer cover to Isabella with Sam to help her get out of there... until that wall of fire dropped and she was hit with the full force of the dark magic. (Will Save 19). Her eyes snap around towards the source, tension radiating through her body as she finally sets her eyes on the Iscariot Agent (Know Religion 26).

Her gaze darts between Dean and Sam then a quick check on the exit, before she does the one thing she knows that Dean is going to hate, but has to be done for the sake of the Winchesters...]

Go - get out of here.

[ Rose taking the hits from the hailstorm as she runs towards the Iscariot Agent (HS 3/5), unwilling to let him out of here alive.]

I'll be right behind you. [An aside for Faith. She wasn't about to ask her to risk her neck for something she didn't understand.

And now she unleashes a flurry of blows in the hopes of taking him out so they can get the hell out of dodge? Atk 41, 53 (crit), 47 (crit), 29, 28. Dmg 18, 57, 54,14, 15.]

[ yeahhh none of them were expecting the psychic wonder over here and they all miserably failed, cringing from the overload of electricity, although none pass out from the pain.

rose is on top of the iscariot agent before he even knows what is happening, her very first blow going right through his chest, making the rest... unnecessary stabbing, as he falls in a bloody heap to the floor.

dean hesitates, clearly not happy about the idea of leaving these three chuckleheads attacking him alive, but when he sees rose running further into the fray, he curses under his breath and does a full withdrawal towards the doors, keeping a close eye on both her and sam over there. ]

[ ♫ deliver me - sarah brightman

rafael is still shaking his head, and it's hard to tell whether it's from the injuries he has sustained, or because he can't hear anything, but his hand tightens in buffy's and he allows her to draw him out the two main heavy double doors into a hallway with a deep green rug that heads down a long white-columned expanse towards the exit. there are cultists lining the hallway here and there, turning to look towards them as they bust out. the moment seems to draw out in slow motion as they break towards the doors, rafael ~~using a heroic surge~~ making a perfectly placed shot at the one closest to the path they're heading down (atk 24, dmg 31), that drops that guy to a knee. his eyes trace over to buffy's for a moment as they run, and she can see a great number of emotions racing through them: concern, gratitude, disbelief, certainty, and a certain haunted quality as well. they make it to the exterior doors just as the turn ends... ]

[Look, she's not going to mess around here. She ducks out of the way of all of his attempts at injuring her and she manages to tolerate most of whatever that guy tries to throw at her with that light trick (will 25). It's just frustrating, but also a little amusing since she's been technically holding ~~her third attack~~ back this whole time. She likes it better when they cower and run away.

When the fire wall drops, she takes that moment to get her eyes on everyone else. Buffy and Raf aren't anywhere to be seen -- which could be good or bad. Still no one seems to be sticking around to look, so she's assuming things are falling on the 'get the hell out' side. Which is pretty much what she hears from Rose as she tries to urge the Winchesters out of the fray.

The fray that she's headed right toward.

Her fray, which isn't an issue -- but of course, she kinda doesn't retreat as quickly as she should. Watching Rose demolish that guy was a little bit more than just interesting. She recognizes that brand of rage and makes a mental note to buy her a drink... or seven, later.

Faith starts to head to the side exit, glancing up to the vent and hoping that Felicity gets out of there. She slows up, shouting up to the vent.]

Felicity -- if you're heading back the way you came -- I'll stick around and make sure you get out, too. Just -- decide quick! We've got more incoming and who knows what's past these doors.

[She doesn't want to leave her behind, in a literal trap in the ceiling.]

[ Buffy bursts out through the exterior doors and tears off to try and make it back into the cover of the surrounding foliage. The faster they put something between them and any potential people following after them trying suppressive fire, the better. ]

[Yeah, about that Faith? Felicity can't hear a thing you're saying.

She does make her will save (will save 25), so only eats half of that damage, but she still can't hear shit and it's only by the fact that Faith is looking right at her that she realizes that Faith is talking to her (wisdom 20 total). What is she saying? Who knows. But given the fact that everyone seems to be leaving, she's going to guess it's some kind of retreat.

The way out seems clear for now, the way they came does not, so she's just going to just take one last shot out at the cultist she shot at before if he's not already down (attack 32, damage 5), before crawling her way out of the vents (if that needs a tumble check, 26 since she's coming out head first) and moving however far what's left of her movement will take her to Faith.]

[ felicity lands another shot peripherally on the cultist, but he is definitely still standing.

isabella hesitates for just a moment, turning to stare at sam for a split second, as she clearly debates whether to leave him here with all three of them or get to safety... with a nat 20 wisdom check, she seems to come to the conclusion that she won't be much hope, and the bad guys aren't going to stop coming anytime soon. plus, rafael is already out safely and that's her priority numero uno. so she will do a full retreat and get out into that hallway, running past the cultists there on her way to the doors, one hand clutching at her worst wound.

the two cultists near faith and felicity fire off more shots at them as they convene (atk 14/15 & 7/14 aren't hitting anyone tho). sam is surrounded by three cultists, who move to flank and swing their axes (atk nat 20/9, 20/10, 28/crit fail), one of them managing to bury the head of the axe right in sam's shoulder (dmg 21 from the crit) while another gets him from behind (8 dmg), before yanking the axe backwards so fast that he hits himself in the head and knocks himself unconscious. the other three cultists continue to chase dean, getting in one attempted hit at him apiece (atk 13/27, dmg 7 and a crit fail)... one of them tripping over his robes and faceplanting on the ground. alainn keeps running for the door, following isabella out.

it's at that point that the priest's storm kicks up to eleven. the rain begins to beat violently down, as gusts of wind suddenly fill the room, stemming from absolutely nowhere. it's coming down so hard, that it becomes impossible to see more than five feet in front of yourself all throughout the main room, and speed becomes reduced by three quarters as you are forced to fight against the incredible winds to make any headway. ]

Edited 2019-02-11 02:53 (UTC)

[He's effectively back himself into a corner, but he also can't turn tail and run, needing to cover Alainn and Isabella's exit. There's also the fact that Dean and Rose are both still in the room and further from the door, so he's just gonna....not leave yet (wisdom...3).

He shouts out to Rose, who hasn't started to fallback yet, as if that will get her to hurry her ass before he places his palms against his chest, his wounds starting to rapidly heal until it's as if he were never hurt at all (Body Adjustment | +78 health). You know, except for the blood stains left behind.

That provokes AOO for the two standing cultists, and one hits with his axe (8 dmg). The other crit fails, his axe sticking into the wall.

He'll then use heroic surge to ready a movement action; he'll haul ass out of this storm through the exit once Dean or Rose also reaches the door.]

Edited 2019-02-11 03:17 (UTC)

[The last thing Rose sees before that storm levels up is Sam and Dean each surrounded by bad guys, just as Sam takes an axe to the shoulder.

This would have been fine if she didn't just Crit Fail her Will Save... so ya know. Rose will just be spending this whole round fighting against the storm to try and reach Sam as he was looking pretty shit (until he healed himself but thanks storm for blocking that one out) last she checked.

This is fine.]

Sam - Come on! [ We could be at this a while I imagine. Why didn't they kill that priest fool?! ]

[ dean and rose both fight against the wind towards the exit, where sam waits... he thinks. the driving rain makes it impossible to see the door, and he yells out: ] Sammy! [ bellowing at the top of his lungs, hoping for a response that'll tell him which way to go, relieved to hear rose somewhere in the direction he's heading. ]

[ buffy and rafael break out of the front doors, making their way into the thick of the tree line. blessedly, there is no one out front gunning for them - just a bunch of cars peeling off into the distance as some of the auction guests get out of dodge as fast as possible. when they make it a little ways into the tree line, rafael grabs her sleeve and comes to a halt, turning to look at her with conflicted and disoriented eyes. ]

Carina... [ he traces his gaze over her, looking for any serious injuries, despite the fact that he has sustained numerous of his own, has a number of scars and bruises visible across his own skin, and looks exhausted ] You came for me.

[With no reply from Felicity, Faith still hovers a bit as she hears the shot coming from the vent and movement. Of course, when she catches sight of the other woman coming out of the vent, she's relieved and starts to move toward the exit as best she can. Faith wishes someone had taken out that priest, but there's no sense in trying to fix that issue now. Maybe Felicity will take a few parting shots at him -- but the storm isn't helping them in any way, shape, or form.

Faith tries to just get the hell out of dodge, as best she can.]

[ Buffy skids to a stop when Rafael tugs at her and turns, still tense with adrenaline. They're not safe. They're not safe until the whole team is safe and they're out of here. She's been living on such high anxiety for so long at this point that she doesn't know that they'll ever be completely safe.

But Rafael looks ... bad. She can't exactly tell him to stow this conversation for later. Especially not when finally looking him in the eyes has her tearing up. She tries to blink away the glassy affect with a shake of her head. It's not the time for her to be emotional. Rafael is in bad shape; he needs support. Both the emotional kind and the regular kind.

She reaches out to take his hand. ]

I did.

[ And she says it kind of like truth. Like there could be no version of this where she didn't. And honestly, she's still Shook by how many other people joined her on this nigh suicide mission, but she'll process that with them later. She just wants to make sure Rafael feels in the warmth of her expression and the squeeze of her hand what she doesn't manage with words — he's worth that. To her, no matter what he's done, he's worth all of this and more. ]

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