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]

[Look, they could have been followed. Paranoia is the mood these days.

He heads up the stairs, pushing open the doors to the library and taking a quick look around inside before heading toward the computers. He shoots a look at Dean over his shoulder.]

Anything specific as to where I should start?

[littledhampir]

[ I mean... sure. My D20 came up 16 so Rose empties her pockets of whatever junk change and lint she has in there and hands it off to Dean. ]

If there's not enough for printing, email it to a fake account or something. We can always find somewhere to get it after we leave. I'm going to do a loop.

[ AKA get a lay of the land, in case searching for this knife triggers a death squad and they have to get out fast and as Sam and Dean (and Felicity?) go inside, Rose will do... just that Spot 30 & Listen 37. ]

[klep]

[Sure, Felicity will go inside. She sets herself up over near one of spinning stands of romance novels that are near the computer and let Sam and Dean do their thing, while she keeps an eye out in the library.

And maybe look for a new read. Don't judge her for her trash, they're going back to Russia and she didn't bring any books (listen nat 20 to keep an ear on Dean and Sam's conversation, spot 26).]

[likedillinger]

I'm guessin' there's not gonna be a lot in the stacks about what we're looking for, but if you wanna check, you can. [ so dean is going to find one of those cloistered computer kiosks and slide in there, opening up an incognito tab and getting to work.

googles 'evil dagger'...?? his research roll was embarrassing. ]

[familybusiness]

[He meant as far as an internet search goes, but fine, he'll see what he can scrounge up before he asks more questions.

He does the same, pulling up an incognito tab, and goes to town looking for anything that might be related to a god-killing dagger. I think he's at least seen it at this point??? (Research 38)]

[likedillinger]

[ a nervous tic motion of the head to the left - andrew bird

dean might be strugglebussin' but sam is over here infiltrating the fucking deep web.

it takes a lot of digging, but what he finds leads him to a private internet forum that he somehow manages to get an account for (???). the forum is called the "Darkhouse", which leads him to think that it's just the home of some internet edgelords at first, but he finds mention of something called the "Jathiman dagger", sketches of which correspond eerily to the dagger they saw Blade use at the concert. the conversations come on an anonymous message board, where someone is claiming to have seen the thing, and other people are expressing their disbelief that such an important 'Netherese' artifact could be here on this plane. the more he delves, the more he sees references that lead him to realize what kind of people he's dealing with: the message boards seem to be the home of those who follow shar.

yeah. that shar.

what's more, the person in question is bragging about how he will prove that he saw the dagger at his 'initiation' at 'klun's darkhouse'. there's a date given for when that's supposed to happen, which i'm leaving vague so that we can timey wimey properly if necessary. but it's not for weeks.

further crossreferenced research leads him to a man named zembrath klun, an egyptian man, living in cairo, whose home is sometimes referred to as 'the darkhouse'. ]

[familybusiness]

[The sound of his fingers pressing rapidly against the keys of the keyboard, along with tics from the mouse, are a pretty good indication that he's getting somewhere, as they grow faster and almost fevered.]

Dean.

[He says it low to get his brother's attention even as he's starting to print out the most important pages.]

You should see this.

[likedillinger]

[ dean tears himself away from surfing the public library computer from porn or whatever he's doing to slide over by sam and start reading over his shoulder.

his expression falls by the word, and he too seems to recognize the symbols - black circles with purple borders scattered throughout the pages. ] Oh, that's just peachy.

[klep]

[Felicity will just be over here, listening as they sound less and less happy. She's sure this means great things for their lives moving forward.]

[familybusiness]

We've got a lead. That's more than we had an hour ago.

[He's trying REALLY hard to find the silver lining here. Sadly, the tone in his voice isn't really selling it.]

[likedillinger]

Might be, but is it enough of one? We already know where the damn thing is. What good's it gonna do to see where this clown mighta seen it, assuming he even did?

[familybusiness]

Look, we've got a date. We've got a name. We've got a place. If it's part of this initiation ritual, it should be there.

[He points out the various pieces of information, eyes glued to the screen.]

It took time to even get into this place and that was after I even managed to find it. This isn't just some kids shooting the shit on a public forum.

[likedillinger]

Guess it beats nothin'. Let's grab those printouts and get outta here.

[familybusiness]

[He nods.]

Go grab the car. I'll meet you down there.

[Then he's making sure to close down all the browsers and such, delete his history or take any other necessary precautions before going to grab the sheets from the printer.]

[klep]

[And Felicity will pick her head up, placing the novel she was browsing back onto the rack and make her way out of the library, almost as though she doesn't have one of the more beat up novels tucked in the back of her jeans for the plane (sleight of hand 32).

No one will miss it, probably.]

[littledhampir]

[ And by now Rose has probably done her loop and is lingering by the doorway keeping an eye out because paranoia is a way of life these days. ]

[likedillinger]

[ dean is on his way out the door, where felicity would notice there are some alarm sensors set up to walk through with her earlier spot check. she can make an escape artist check to try to stealthily skirt them if she wants ]

[klep]

[Well, this is a fancy library. She'll definitely do that, doing her best to slip her way through and not attract any attention (escape artist 35).]

[likedillinger]

[ she slips around, getting one weird look from an incoming teenage patron, but otherwise, no one seems the wiser. dean pushes out the door past rose, nodding to her to come with, and heads to get the car warmed up. ]

[littledhampir]

[ And with a really unnecessary Nat 20 spot check, Rose will do another scan of the area as she follows Dean to the car, taking shotgun this time - suck it, Sam - and glances at Dean. ]

Any luck?

[klep]

[Felicity slides in not far behind them, sitting on Dean's side so Sam can theoretically have more leg room.]

It didn't sound like it was anything happy.

[familybusiness]

[Sam comes out shortly afterward, sliding in behind Rose (rude).]

It never is these days, but at least it's something. We can talk about it back at the hotel.

[likedillinger]

It ain't gonna be a good idea to say some of it out loud, if you catch my drift. [ and if you don't, too bad, apparently. STARTIN UP THE CAR. the coast looks clear, rose. they don't seem to have been followed. ]

[littledhampir]

[ She does (Wis 18) and groans, audibly. ]

Just what we need. More of that shit. [ Finally allowing her paranoia to subside.

Okay not really she's going to keep checking for a tail until they get back because this is their life. It's fine. ]

[klep]

[Since Felicity missed that part of the Failboat adventure, she's just going to glance between them all and go:]

Oooooooookay.

[But she won't question it now, at any rate. If they say back at the hotel, then back at the hotel it shall be.]