andres ♔ the terrifying rarity of truth

[bancroft]

♬ Haunt - Bastille

WHO || Thomas, Thoster, Brantley, David L., Andie
WHAT || The Knights intercept a boat shipping something to Andres Isle... with some high seas piracy
WHERE || The Atlantic Ocean
WHEN || December 9th, 2013, 6:00PM
HOW || Actionspam , single thread to start.  

The mission to intercept a shipment heading to Andres - one among many such mysterious deliveries that Wynn suspects have some sinister ties to the movements of Prime Minister Dimitris Sarandis' involvement in a Shadowkind slaver cult - is already off to an interesting start.  No sooner have the crew gotten aboard Thoster's pirate ship and headed out on a course that's meant to intercept the vessel then the winds start kicking up and dark thunderheads roll in on the horizon.  Lightning streaks the horizon as rain starts to fall, and Thomas stands on the deck, looking out with one foot up on the railing, frowning out. 

"Gonna be rough waters.  Not sure yet if that's going to work to our advantage or not."  

Comments

[bluffcheck]

Happy that the both of you have such compassion for filth like this, but don't forget about our dear friend back on the ship. Can't show his face if any are left alive.

[generaldavideus]

He surrendered.

[David is going to throw his lot in the moral police. Sorry, Thoster.]

We're not killing him. We'll put him somewhere else on the ship. Or we can knock him out - I'm not really opposed to either.

[bluffcheck]

[Outnumbered and injured, Thoster is pretty surly about the whole thing. But he's not really in any shape to try to convince them or go about doing it himself.]

Fine- if you won't do what needs to be done, bind him, blindfold him, and for gods' sakes gag him so we don't have to listen to him.

[generaldavideus]

[Well, that settles it.

David moves over to take the man gently by the arm (grapple 11), before leading him to another end of the boat to tie him up and blindfold him (dexterity 8) though possibly not very well, someone might want to double check that.]

[fixyourproblem]

[Brantley feels a little bit relieved that they won't kill the man. He follows David and helps him ties the sailor.]

Why don't you help the other release the prisoners? I'm going to interrogate him first. You could stay if you want, of course.

[He whisper to David. Though a low-level thug wouldn't give much info, even the tiniest hint could help in the fight against Sarandis. He usually uses peaceful diplomatic approaches to gain info, but one of the perks of having a hard-boiled detective brother is knowing how rougher negotiation works.]

Listen, if you fully cooperate, I'll make sure you get out of this without losing a finger. I can help you disappear from the system so you can live your life peacefully if you want to. But if you think your loyalty to whoever employs you is more important that your life, I know ways to make you doubt your loyalty, and it will be painful. Understand? [He calmly offers his deal to the man. He really doesn't want to use the latter but he will if he needs to. (diplomacy 29)]

[bancroft]

[ the sailor frowns beneath his blindfold ] Yeah. Yeah I understand.

[generaldavideus]

[David shrugs, deciding that's good enough for him, and with that, he'll wander back to Thoster and Andie.]

Where do we start?

[bluffcheck]

We need to get those people free. [His voice drops a bit lower because he DOES NOT TRUST THAT SAILOR even if he did surrender.] Need to get back to Thomas, too- tell him what we found.

[Patching himself up is not on his list of priorities. Mission first.]

[asap]

You do that. We can take care of the freeing part. [This may have to do with how beat up he's looking, but her tone is still a little frosty. WE CAN'T JUST KILL PEOPLE, THOSTER. She holds out a hand for the key.] Don't argue, they've already been waiting forever.

[Or a few minutes. Same thing.]

[bluffcheck]

[Dropping the key in her hand, he just nods.]

Be careful, lass. No way to know if this ship holds more surprises for us.

[But he turns and heads back to jump back to his own ship (jump 17), heading down below to find the Dragon's Claw.]

Bancroft?

[bancroft]

[ thomas lofts an eyebrow at his condition instantly, arms folded where he sits atop a crate ] That went well, I see.

[bluffcheck]

[Really, bro? Can we leave the man's pride intact at least.]

Afraid I'm not quite used to gun fights just yet. One of them left on the ship, but he surrendered and it seems my crew is full of better people than I. They've got him tied up and blindfolded for now.

[And now for the actual news.]

The cargo. It's... people. Not sure how many. Andie and David are setting to get them out of their chains.

[bancroft]

[ thomas nods darkly, but doesn't look surprised. ] Good thing we played our hunch then. Remember to keep up the pirate charade - we should leave one alive to tell the tale, or Sarandis will likely suspect us anyway, when the captives go missing. [ he claps thoster on the shoulder as he moves past him and a bright light surges through his palm, restoring all the man's hit points. ] A job well done. Let's try to finish clean - and get these people to freedom.

[bluffcheck]

[BLESS YOU, YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD. Thoster stands straighter.]

You're full of surprises, aren't you? [He says with a grin.] You want to wait here while we wrap up? You're welcome to join us to ransack the place.

[What? PIRATE CHARADE MEANS HE GETS TO LOOT]

[bancroft]

Does that mean the remaining sailor's locked out of sight?

[bluffcheck]

Not sure where they've put him, but they blindfolded him before I left. Have him tied up and got Brantley questioning him, for now. If that's not enough, I'll go ahead and make sure he's secured. Just say the word.

[You healed him, okay. You can do whatever you want.]

[fixyourproblem]

[One of the ways of detecting lies is through the eye. So he unties the blindfold. Using his knowledge in psychology, he focuses his mind and eyes to detect any signs of lie for the upcoming questions. (Sense motives 22)]

What's your name and who do you work for?

[Though it might seem trivial, asking basic questions is to establish baseline and lower the guard.]

And who are those people and other than them, do you carry other kind of cargo?

[bancroft]

"Emile." [ the man squints up at him for a moment, clearly suspicious of being blindfolded then having it removed seconds later. his eyes dart over brantley's shoulder, then back to meet his gaze. ] "And look, I don't know much about what we're shipping, it's just a job." [ whiiiich is very ostensibly not the full story.

IN THE MEANTIME, thomas strolls up top on the other ship, waving a hand. ] No need. I've faith in the crew.

[bluffcheck]

Well placed faith, that it is. I'm man enough to admit that if not for them, I'd be dead. [Thoster joins Thomas topside on his ship.]

After you, then.

[generaldavideus]

[IN THE MEANTIME, David and Andie have headed back over to the prisoners, and are helping release them. Since Andie has the key, David is checking them over for injuries, making sure they weren't any more maltreated than they already were (spot 16).]

Do you speak English?

[He's not sure what kind of native tongues the Shadowkind have, but he wants to make it clear that they're not going them. His tone is gentle, and he's trying his best not to be as intimidating as he was above ship.]

[bancroft]

[ one of the men nods, although he looks by all accounts to be entirely human. he has a thick eastern european accent. ]

"I do. Where are you taking us?" [ by the terrified looks on most of their faces, it's clear that most of them are under the impression that they've arrived at their intended destination. ]

[generaldavideus]

[He gives a small smile.]

Somewhere safe - somewhere away from the prime minister.

[Because safe can mean a lot of different things.]

Is anyone hurt?

[fixyourproblem]

[Brantley doesn't really want to hurt that guy, so he'll give him one more chance. He turns around and releases a long breath before turning back to Emile. There are several things Brantley's brother taught him about interrogation. One of them is crush all of their hope of winning against you.]

Emile, let's make this quick. I have a degree in psychology, so it is useless to hide things from me. [Well, not purely psychology, but criminology is in the same family.]

And...[He draws his knife, holds it in front of Emile, and smiles devilishly. One of the other things he has learnt from his brother is a little bit psychotic act always helps.] I like to play with knives. [He makes a sudden stab just right between Emile's thighs. After that, his face tenses up again and then he angrily states his intention.]

Tell me everything you know or I'll make sure you'll scream very, very loud!

[His act might not be very convincing (perform(act)9), but with that last stab, Emile might learn that Brantley isn't very good at aiming. So even though Brantley doesn't want to stab the man, he nicks Emile's thigh a little bit(dex 7). Brantley's glare also seems deadly, so Emile should think twice before trying to hide things from him again (intimidate 27).]

[bancroft]

[ the guy's gaze is fixated on brantley in terror as thomas leaps over with astonishing grace (nat 20 jump) and lands on the deck of the ship. he looks lost in thought for a moment, glancing across the deck, and doesn't notice that the sailor's eyes skid right over brantley's shoulder and lock onto him, widening in recognition. ]

"That's... that's..." [ he looks back up at brantley ] "You're not pirates."

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster heads back over behind Thomas (jump 15) and immediately notices the problem.]

The hell we're not. I thought I told you to blindfold him?! [He's pissed. Really pissed. (Intimidate 21 in Brantley's direction)]