london ♔ this is a bad town for such a pretty face

[wynn]

WHO || Wynn, Val'drin, Helen, Francesca, Eric, Lila,  Tia, Grant Peterson, Audrey Peterson, Peter Jayson, various others [closed]
WHAT || A mission gets personal when a cult takes a member of the Knights hostage
WHERE || London, England
WHEN || April 2nd, 10:30 AM  [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam or prose

This is exactly the kind of mess that the Knights like to avoid, and having two missions become very public spectacles in the course of less than a year is not doing much to keep Wynn's hair from turning... oh, wait.

It's already a media circus when the team flies out there in a helicopter that carries Francesca, Eric, Tia, and Lila. Across the street, Wynn has usurped the top floor of an office building to keep an eye on the situation. He watches the screens broadcasting the video taken by the three going on with a tense eye, along with Val'drin and Helen, who are here to consult. Below, the police have blockades of cars, officers, and police line keeping the civilians and reporters back, under orders of Chief of Police Jared O'Keefe.

The Bell 212 chopper hovers for a minute above the building, enough so that Eric can toss a long rope down to dangle over the top floor balcony in the southeast corner. He looks back over his shoulder at Lila, giving her an encouraging but grim nod, and then pulls his SWAT helmet on and grasps the rope, turning around and then hopping back as he slides down. (climb 12) the dc is 10 to climb down, and you are allowed to "take 10" (assume a roll of 10) if you don't have a negative strength score.

Comments

[telekinection]

[ with a 17 climb check, tia's got this shit on lockdown too. all four of them land on the balcony quietly, and then the rope is hoisted up and the helicopter moves to its designated landing area. aww yis. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ aww yeah bitches and bitchface get shit done. about to ask tia something, francesca's very familiar necklace catches lila's eye (spot nat 20) and whatever was in her head rushes out because no, that's impossible. but she saw that diamond every day for years, she knows it better than barron and barron was creepily knowledgable.

her mouth falls open and she just stands there stupidly, the shock of seeing something from home keeping her from actually doing anything (will save 10). like realizing she's outright staring at francesca's rack like a perv. whoops. ]

[telekinect]

[ eric and tia both notice the staring, and tia frowns, sending a private message straight to lila's brain: ] Is something wrong? [ while eric draws his gun and flattens against the wall.]

[bittersweeter]

[ she jumps a little and automatically winces at tia's voice in her head. but it's enough to snap her back to the present with a tiny shake of her head. hostage first then she can figure out what the hell is going on with the tie tack that isn't a tie tack. ] I'm fine. [ as if to prove this, she follows eric. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca surprisingly doesn't notice (so at least that awkward moment is somewhat adverted) but she does zip up her jacket a bit b/c wow it sure is windy up here. she gestures to tia something about maybe connecting them all in their heads so they don't have to risk exposure through communicating outloud, and then moves to her own spot along the wall. following eric's lead, she flattens against it as well, doing her best to hide (hide: 21) and peek into one of those giant windows (spot: 33), waiting for eric's signal ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ well, that's a little hard to do since all the blinds and curtains are pulled. but she does notice a shadow cross in front of the window slowly, that looks like someone moving in there, in the room that the blueprints said must be the master suite. eric beckons them towards the doors to the office. he tries one quietly, but it's locked, so he moves aside and nods to francesca. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Meanwhile, Helen is going over the information they have at their disposal from a distance.]

They haven't got any sort of security system on, have they?

[Said through the com system as well as to Wynn and Val'drin. She just wants to be sure before they start opening shit okay.]

[valdrin]

[ val'drin nods ] We have the name of the security firm Peterson used, don't we? Let's get them on the line, have them remotely disable anything. [ wynn nods to him and val'drin moves aside to make the call, identifying himself as a member of the police without a beat, relaying details of the case with the smooth ease of someone who's used to doing this kind of thing. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[While Val'drin goes to make that call, Helen focuses back on the team.]

Hold on with that window. We'll have the security system offline in a moment.

[valdrin]

[ when it's clear, val'drin points to helen with a sharp nod. git it. ]

[daredtobelieve]

Team? Right- Val'drin's taken care of the security. You should be fine to go ahead with the window.

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric nods to francesca again to disable the lock. aww yeah. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca stealthy slides to the door, and makes quick work of the lock (disable device 21). the door clicks open, and with a nod to eric, she quietly pushes it further to look inside (move silently 22).

inside is a large square office, about 20' by 25' feet, and to her right is a set of double doors that have glass windows, through which she can see a long hallway. there's a wooden door straight ahead, and another wooden door on the left hand wall. the room is decorated with some tasteful art and relics in glass classes. grant peterson's name is on the big fancy desk, clearly indicating this is his office.

she opens the door further, inviting the rest of the group to follow her in. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila is quiet like a ghost (move silently 22), but once she's in the office... she blanks on the blueprints and immediately forgets where the doors should lead (wis 5). whoops. but whatever, she decides looking around would be a better life choice anyway. (spot 19) ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ lila gets a good look at some of the artifacts on display in here: one is a hardwood club spiked with glistening diamond-tipped blades. another is a bejeweled collar with a bright green emerald at its center, that looks made of alligator skin. yet another is a carving of a falcon made from fresh looking wood, its wings arches as if preparing to lift off its pedestal, a squat cylinder about six inches wide and an inch and a half tall, whose edge portrays birds of all types. eric's not quite as quiet as the ladies in all his combat gear, but still moves without much sound (move silently 15), tia doing about the same. he moves to listen at the right hand door, gesturing for others to check the other two, signalling that he doesn't hear anything in the hallway, or see anything when he peeks through the panels. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca moves to the left side door, following eric's lead and listening intently with her ear next to the wood (listen 34) ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila has apparently gone deaf. she's fucking useless idek. (listen crit fail) ]

[telekinection]

[ while tia signals that there are no noises in the door straight ahead, francesca hears what is definitely one set of footprints in the room to the left, plodding slowly, as if pacing. the steps are heavy, probably belonging to a man. ]

[socialgraces]

[ she signals to the group that there's obviously someone behind this door and she's not certain how they're going to all get past a guard without engaging him, so if no one objects, she'd like to sneak out there first and get sneak attack damage ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric nods to her. get it gurl. ]

[socialgraces]

[ she waits for the foot steps to pass again, counting a few seconds to make sure there's decent room for her to squeeze through the door and into the next room, hopefully without him noticing. she silently turns the handle, pushing the door an inch or two forward (move silently 25) to peek out from the shadows (hide 29).

she knows she needs to act quick, but she wants to see what she's dealing with first. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the man pacing the room appears to be an armored commando, sporting an AK-47, with another gun holstered on his hip. he wears some sort of combat fatigues, and a beret, except that his outfit is sleeveless, allowing for a glimpse of his large biceps. he seems oblivious to francesca's entrance (12 listen 22 spot), looking about in the other direction as he paces the length of the master suite. ]

[socialgraces]

[ she moves lightning fast, not making a sound even as she's suddenly on him (move silently 34), drawing her rapier smoothly before effortlessly piercing him through a gap in his armor and right through his middle, all within a matter of seconds (attack 35 vs. flat-footed ac; critical threat if that hits for 26 regular damage + 17 sudden strike damage for a total of 43 damage) ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the guard curses in surprise and pain, glancing over his shoulder to see her there, and yelling in the direction of the northern door: ] Intruders!

[socialgraces]

[ that's enough of that there, sir.

as the words leave the guard's mouth and he turns his head back in her direction, francesca does some impressive evasive move (feint 51), catching him off guard and slicing fast three times, two of them hitting their mark (attack 31, 14, 24; 24 piercing + 36 precision for a total of 60 damage).

and the guard falls over dead.

now to worry about whoever he alerted before she had a chance to finish him off. ]