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

[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. ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric moves inside, pulling his gun up and positioning himself directly beside the door that the guard yelled at. if anyone throws it open, he's ready to blast 'em. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila follows, taking the wall opposite eric. so she's not in the way, flicking the safety off her gun. ]

[telekinection]

[ tia moves into the bedroom as well and closes her eyes, her brow twitching as she lays a finger against it for a few seconds. when she flicks her gaze back towards eric, she holds up 3 fingers, indicating the door beyond, and then moves to the side. there's no movement from within, no voices to be heard now. it's too quiet. ]

[socialgraces]

[ assuming they're in a stand-off with the group of men on the other side of the door, francesca decides to take initiative, lest they have the time to alert more guards to their aid.

she gives a quick hand signal to eric, then suddenly disappears from sight (ninja class ability: ghost step), and the door opens from their side a moment later. although the others can't see her, she's going to tumble 10 ft. diagonally into the room (tumble: nat 20, which is completely unnecessary 8|), as to not have to walk through potential gunfire, and ends up on the right side of the guard to her left. but she's... still invisible, so no one sees that. ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ no one may see it... but the third soldier in the room hears something, swinging his weapon around to bear at the air. all three guards sport AK-47s. eric leans around the door with his gun and unloads two rounds (atk 32, 20), the first shot ripping through the tactical vest of S1, but the second hitting him harmlessly (9 dmg). ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila mirrors eric, though she aims for s2. (atk 27, dmg 16) ]

[telekinect]

[ tia keeps a finger to her temple as she stares at Soldier 2, and his eyes suddenly seem to go blank, his tense posture slackening a bit as his mouth drops open slightly. he'll be... like that for four rounds, you're welcome. Soldier 1 fires back at eric (28/20), striking him with one shot (15 dmg). Soldier 3 opens fire in a straight line across the room, hoping to catch Francesca, but she ain't even there. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca blinks back into visibility, but now she has this fancy living meat shield between her and solider 1. thanks tia ;; she's also going to grant herself additional concealment by using her ki dodge ability (swift action; 20% miss chance vs. all attacks for 1 round). the outline of her body begins to shift and waver, and there's a blur of movement as she quickly sheathes her sword and draws her gun, managing to fire off one round into soldier 3 (atk 27, dmg 8) ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric pokes around the corner again, firing two shots in Soldier 1's direction, but both hit the wall behind him instead. he curses and ducks back around the corner. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila takes his place, curling around the doorframe and firing twice at soldier 2. (atk 24 &nat 20, 29 total; dmg 13 & 22) basically no one is allowed to shoot eric, but lila and she is annoyed her mentor got damaged. she spares a glance over at him as she moves back into cover. ARE YOU OKAY??? BECAUSE YOURE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE. ]

[telekinect]

[ he's fiiiine, don't worry bout him. tia tries to stun another guard with a similar blast, but the fucker resists x( soldier 1 fires at eric again (atk 22, 18, 5 dmg). the 3rd soldier fires at francesca (atk 29, 23) but she's too fast for that shit. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca fires back at soldier 3 (atk 34, 27, 26 dmg 32), before ducking back behind soldier 2 for cover again ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ apparently eric isn't doing as hot as he thinks he is because BOTH HIS SHOTS AT S2 MISS. AGAIN. WOW. GO TEAM. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ clearly eric is not fine, don't lie to her, she knows the truth. lila fires twice at s2. (atk nat 20, 29 total & 24; dmg 32 & 5) the soldier not a bugbear, but golly, lila does not give one semblance of a fuck that she's shooting at a human being. tbh she probably cared more about the bears she shot in the face in scotland... #peta. bears are people too. ]

I'm not an architect, so I don't know about any soundproofing going on. but I'm pretty fucking sure the kidnappers know we're in the house now. [ so... you know... hopefully they don't kill that professor guy while they're in the middle of a firefight. (unsure) ]

[telekinect]

[ lila's shot strikes s2 right in the chest and he slumps against the wall, gun clattering to his feet as he stops moving entirely. tia shoots eric a glance, but it's more along the veins of KEEP IT TOGETHER FUCKER than concern rn. ] We've got this. Someone should search the rest of the penthouse. [ and, as if to prove that they've got this, she raises one hand to her head and brain locks s3 as well. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca nods firmly at tia's instruction, quickly moving back through the door between lila and eric. she looks lila's way as she passes, as if to urge her to come along, then heads towards the door to the office on the right side of the room. she pauses to listen at the door (listen 22). ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric is gonna stay there to mow down those non-moving bitches, IT SHOULD BE EASY THEORETICALLY. c'mon eric you've got this.

nobody hears anything in the office, but TIA WAS TALKING ABOUT THE PENTHOUSE which is... the opposite side, basically everything to the left.

francesca does hear a scream, however, issuing from somewhere north in the building. on the penthouse side. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ wow lila sure doesn't trust eric to murder some incapacitated dudes on his own. she is torn with moving after francesca or making sure eric does get more shot. but whatever, eric has tia and francesca has that god damn necklace lila still wants to just rip off her throat.

it's hers.

lila doesn't share well.

but she moves opposite the drow woman (no necklace snatching yet because her eyes are on the prize, which is this being done). her hand goes to the door handle as her eyes glance down at her watch to check the time since they're running on a schedule. she hears nothing though. still deaf (listen crit fail). in her defense... maybe her ears are ringing from the gunshots. but since tia said search the rest, she's going to just open the door gently and peer around it (spot 16), looking for an opening to dart in. ]