new orleans ♔ need a fix cuz i'm going down | down to the abyss

[romanticidal]

♬ Season of the Witch - Dr. John

WHO || Rafael, Buffy, Spike, Des, The Mind Master, Olean Gilbert, anyone guarding Olean in the car... (including Gar) [closed]
WHAT || The Knights go to investigate Chad Becksworth's mysterious 'advisor' in her bayou home
WHERE || The Lousiana Bayou, outside New Orleans
WHEN || Thurs, Oct 18th, evening
HOW || Actionspam, don't sweat tag order! Keep it a rollin'.

Crammed inside a big white van, Olean rides up front, directing the driver outside the city of New Orleans, and in the direction of the stretches of swampland for which Louisiana is famous. He has them turn down a side dirt road, which leads them far off any highway or main street, and seems to go on without passing anything remotely similar to civilization for at least sixteen minutes of the drive.

The closer they get, the more he begins to sweat profusely, wiping his face repeatedly with a handkerchief, until he can't find a spot on it that isn't drenched. Finally, he tells them to pull over, waving his hand at the side of the road, and the vehicle pulls to a stop.

"T-this was about where we w-went in," he says. "But I can't tell you anymore, because it was only the once, and there wasn't a real path and ... and... I wasn't exactly paying attention to how to get back there anytime soon. Or ever."

Rafael cranes his neck to look out the back window, but then just pops the back doors of the van open and hops out.

"We'll find it," he says, a determined look in his eye. He nods a bit up the road, at what looks like a dilapidated shack that could be straight out of Cabin in the Woods. In front of it stands a sign that's fallen over, with "FREE TOURS" in white paint that dried dripping half down the wood. There's a light on inside, glowing through one of the windows. "And it looks like someone knows of a path."

Comments

[romanticidal]

[ rafael reacts like lightning, quick drawing two guns and unleashing a pair of bullets from either, all four of which rip into the beast's tough hide (dmg 8 + 7 + 5 + 5). it roars angrily, blood oozing out and splashing into the dark murky water below. it's still alive, however... ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des gets out his revolver, staggering back a bit towards the door.] Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?

[It's hard to tell if he's more shocked at Rafael's sudden badass or if he's pissed he wasn't that awesome.]

[slay]

[ buffy acts quickly, and because it's close enough to her, she can just step forward and drop her heel in a powerful kick to its head, right between its eyes (atk nat 20, dmg 24). ]

[romanticidal]

[ her foot goes THROUGH THE FUCKER'S SKULL and crocodile brain asplodes all over everyone standing close enough. it's beautiful.

spike gets a moment to feel entirely demasculated before he and buffy would be the first to notice further movement in the moat.

and not of the crocodile variety. right underneath the surface of the water, there's a squirming mass of slimy looking creatures with pallid skin and spikes and nasty teeth, roiling around like so many giant grubs.

the whole moat seems full of them.

oh, and then everyone else might notice the two other crocodiles who were climbing out behind the first one. c:

the guide had a secret initiative at this point in time too, and she presses another button on the pad, which extends a sudden metallic bridge across to the other side of the moat. ]

[bigbad]

[Ugh, way too manly. Spike spares a moment to seethe in hatred and jealousy because goddammit Rafael it is NOT FAIR to be that attractive and that good with guns and then he just swoons over Buffy putting her foot through a crocodile skull because that is seriously sexy. Really. DON'T JUDGE HIS KINKS.

He notices the things in the moat and grimaces, then turns to Buffy.]

Go. I'll hold them off. [Translation: LOOK I HAVE A PENIS TOO. He rushes towards the closer of the two crocodiles and slams his fist down on its face (atk 16 dmg 9). It is definitely manly and attractive and way more badass and manly than fighting them from far away with guns. Poncy Italian wanker.]

[romanticidal]

[ the croc he kicks in the face proceeds to clamp its teeth right down on his leg, which just goes to show one of the big pros of guns. (atk 25, dmg 15) and as a crocodile, he doesn't evoke an attack of opportunity to attempt to drag spike under the water. luckily, his touch attack fails just barely and his teeth slide off spike's leg painfully. the second crocodile swings its tail towards him since he's the asshole who ran forward, but it slams into the ground beside him (atk 15). meanwhile those demonic creatures are still churning below the surface of the water for the time being.

rafael can only shoot once with each gun as he runs past the scene, and while his first bullet and penetrates through the thing's hide entirely (16 dmg with one bullet oh my god penetration damage), the second bullet

accidentally

hits

spike.

yeah, that just happened. as if he needs more reasons to hate him.

( 7 dmg... ) ]

Mi dispiace. [ frustrated with himself, he moves across to the other side of the moat and fastens himself there with his guns held up, waving buffy over. and des too, sure. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[WOW THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH MANLY SHIT IN THIS SWAMP. Des cares less about impressing Buffy and more about getting away from this swampy death trap.]

Nice shooting, Romeo. [He heads across the bridge, himself, and fires a shot at the nearest crocodile. (attack 19 for 11 dmg)]

[slay]

Yeah, I can see you're doing a really great job of that. [ buffy can't help but snipe as spike's leg turns into lunch, and she moves to pry the croc's jaw open in an effort to free him, and when she realizes it's working, goes ahead and breaks it backwards (atk 29, dmg 15). ] Get out of here before you get more hurt. [ because yes it's somehow spike's fault that rafael shot him. don't question that summers logic. ] I'll be right behind you.

[bigbad]

[Between that bullet wound and the fact that his leg was going to be croc chow, Spike's not coming off quite as badass as he'd hoped. But he's not ready to give up yet. Especially not when Buffy's right here. He grunts in pain from his leg, but he grits his teeth and ignores it, slamming his fist into the side of the crocodile's head (atk 25, dmg 18 THANK YOU PENETRATION).]

I'm not leaving you. [Even though he was trying to get her to leave him seconds ago and she's way more badass than him most of the time. WHATEVER. HE HAS CROCODILES TO BEAT UP TO IMPRESS HER.]

[romanticidal]

[ Blood spurts out the croc's nostrils disgustingly as Spike's fist connects with its head,and with a shudder, it slips back into the moat, dead. There's a disturbing chittering noise from the water, as the demons there are disturbed by the splash.

The remaining crocodile wheels on Buffy now, gnashing its teeth and lunging for her leg with a cold-minded singularity of purpose, but not so quickly that she can't avoid its jaws (atk 17).

Meanwhile, unearthly arms and tentacles and spines are latching onto the edge of the bridge...

and at its opposite end, the doorway through the high wall slides shut again, leaving them all inside. A spot check of 16 or above would note the guide standing there with her hand on the button and a dark smile on her face before the door hides her from view entirely.

there's one more stark gunshot, as Rafael lands a bullet in the back of the thing's head. it shudders and slumps at Buffy's feet.

luckily rafael gets a nat 20 to notice a very important fact as well: ]

The bridge is retracting! [ and so it is, starting at the side where buffy and spike were fighting the crocs. time to reflex save their way onto it... or be forced to swim through demon/croc-infested waters (dc 15 to make the jump and run across in time) ]

[slay]

[ buffy whips her head around at rafael's observation, distracted from the sinking corpse of the croc. with a nat 20 spot, she takes this moment to notice the tour guide being shady and responsible for this crap as well.

she exchanges a hurried look with spike, and then makes a run for it, springing off the ground on their side in order to try and jump onto the bridge - she makes it with ease, feet landing firmly on the bridge, which she runs up as it continues to retract until she's on solid ground on the other side (ref 20). she scrambles over to the side by des and rafael, turning back to watch for spike to follow. ]

So can we all agree that I mighta been onto something with thinking we found the Mind Master? Because I think we just got caged.

[bigbad]

[You know how today is not Spike's day?

Jump check 14 is how.

Guess who's swimming with the crocodiles and demons?]

[nothingsodivine]

She's a real piece of work, that one. [Des got a 16 on that spot check, but it doesn't matter because Raphael is Captain Obvious about it. He makes sure Buffy is okay and watches Spike plummet into the water.]

Sucks to be him. [Look, he'll be nice and throw an arm out for Spike to grab onto when he gets close enough. Assuming the bleeding crocs don't eat him.]

[romanticidal]

[ as the bridge vanishes from sight and spike lands with a sploosh in a hot mess of disgusting slithering things, rafael grabs buffy's arm to make sure she lands safely, and spike has to make a swim check of 15 to get over to des' arm. if he manages to get there, des needs at least a 12 strength check to pull him up.

some weird thing with a sucker for a mouth climbs onto spike's chest and hisses at him, looking ready to attack his face. but no more crocodiles in sight for the moment... ]

[bigbad]

[NOPE that would be too competent for Spike (swim check 11). Actually it's perfectly competent he's just distracted punching demons SO THERE. He sort of flails towards Des's arm and squishes the demon on his chest like a mosquito (atk nat 20 dmg 26).]

[slay]

[ despite her other boyfriend's hand on her arm, buffy takes a step nearer to the edge, looking distressed as spike slips in. des seems to have it under control, but she's not over it. ]

Spike! [ she looks back at rafael, lips pressed in concern, then she looks back to spike. ] Stop fighting those things and get out of there! There's too many of them!

[nothingsodivine]

[Des does not, in fact, have it. (str 7). He grunts and tries to tug Spike up onto the platform.] Jesus Tapdancing Christ...

[romanticidal]

[ with a str check of 21, rafael moves past buffy to join des in reaching for spike and yanking him towards land with a vise grip. spike still has to get at least either a 10 swim check or a 10 str check to make it up onto the shore though ]

[bigbad]

[Invigorated by manly demon killing, Spike finally struggles to shore with the help of Rafael and Des (str 23), though considering Rafael shot him, he's not as grateful as he might have been.] Bloody bracing, that was.

[romanticidal]

If you are done with your swim now, perhaps we should see what is inside, no? [ he nods ahead to what lies on the little island here at the center of the moat.

it's the same cabin as they'd first met the guide in - the creepy rundown one - rendered more creepy, because not only is this one buried under more undergrowth, but there are shadowy things moving around it, hard to discern when one looks straight at them, but reminiscent of what's in the water. not to mention the dark old stains of what look like blood on the exterior walls.

at least only spike and buffy can see the demons. 8| ]

[slay]

[ she waits until he's up on the shore and grabs his jacket to drag him to his feet so she can swat him in the abdomen now because it seems like the reasonable answer for him nearly drowning. her blow misses, though (atk 19), because she's distracted by the building before them.

she assesses the cabin (spot 20) and notices the demons. she looks back over at spike, wary. ] Do you see ... ? [ her voice is quiet, because she doesn't want to freak out des and rafael, but ....... ]

[bigbad]

[He rolls his eyes at the swat.] Were you worried? [Because he's pretty sure that's how he should interpret Buffy violence in this instance. He steps up next to her, eyeing the cabin (spot 23).] Yeah. Place is covered in 'em.

[romanticidal]

[ meanwhile, rafael strides forward oblivious to the things and raps on the door... which suddenly gives way beneath his knuckles, and falls slowly off its rusty hinges inward, slamming onto the floor of the cabin's interior and stirring up a shit ton of dust. raf coughs and puts his sleeve over his mouth, waving away the debris with his free hand, and looking inside.

if the cabin as they'd first seen it - or its twin - looked bare, this one looks like a ghost town. there's nothing in sight to indicate anyone lives here... or ever did. but across from the door, there's what appears to be two large cellar doors leading down, although there's a heavy lock keeping them closed. ]

[slay]

[ buffy opens her mouth to protest as he knocks on the door, but it falls under his touch before any sound comes out, and it doesn't appear the demons are coming after him. so she just shuts her mouth, exchanges one more look with spike, then follows him inside.

she casually observes the empty room, meandering around, then makes her way to the cellar doors. she crouches down to get a look at the padlock, checking it for any other means of opening, then giving it a good yank (nat 20 str check). ]

[romanticidal]

[ sure enough, the lock busts off immediately, and rafael raises an eyebrow, looking turned on impressed. he takes one door as she pulls the other, and they yank the clattering wooden panels up.

revealing a dark, industrial-looking stairwell. ]

An interesting place to live.