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]

[ 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. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ lila opens the door to... the study. the walls are lined with rare and unusual looking books, but there's no one visible. the door on the opposite end is closed. ]

[socialgraces]

[ well if lila's opening doors, francesca's just going to move to that side of the room, as well. also, she hears the scream, but she's already on high alert, so it doesn't change her urgency. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila sneaks across the room (move silently 28), trying not to focus on the books because oooh, books. and she just opens the second door because.

she crit failed her listen check.

again.

this is concerning. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the dining room beyond is... also empty. a banquet table which seats thirty gives mute testimony to the petersen's love of dinner parties. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ i can't even with her listen checks, we're just not going to talk about it. SHE IS STILL DEAF. and still very quiet somehow (move silently 30). idefk. pausing by the edge of the table she takes in the doors before darting to the open archway as she orients herself on the floor plan they'd been given. doors to the kitchen on the north wall, in door and out door. ooh, do they have servers? that's some high class shit right there. which left the archway as the entrance to... something else. (wis 16) she peers around it, trying to stay sneaky as she checks it out. (hide 29, spot 10 wtf) ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the archway opens into a small parlor furnished with plush chairs and a handsome sideboard. it also affords a view into the large marble-floored foyer. one commando stands there with his back to them, facing the front doors. he seems to be guarding a person who is tied to a chair. ]

[bittersweeter]

[ she darts back to francesca to relay the info and as she does so slides the safety from no pew to pew. just in case. ] One guard, one hostage tied in a chair.

[socialgraces]

[ francesca nods, responding very quietly: ] There's probably more out of view.

[ she then sneaks very carefully into the parlor (hide 30; move silently 26), taking cover behind the north wall at the archway to the foyer for just a moment before making her way along the west wall that separates the kitchen from the foyer. it's a bit too far for her to move all the way to the man at the door on this turn, but she should have a better view of the room from here in the shadows (spot 19). ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the woman tied to the chair is also gagged and neither she nor the guard seem to take any notice of francesca ]