pembrokeshire ♔ the day has come where i have died

[immuno]

WHO || Lydia Martin, Alaric Saltzman, Helen Magnus, Rose Hathaway, Sydney Bristow
WHAT || A couple of knights take a short trip west to investigate reports of Shadowkind deaths.
WHERE || Police Station, Pembrokeshire, Wales
WHEN || May 20th
HOW || Actionspam

The briefing was simple and direct: a string of disappearing Shadowkind centered around a small farming town in Wales. The Karthur Institute wasn't called in until the local authorities got reports of incessant, blood-curdling screams coming from a barn just past the edge of town. They found a girl curled in the corner there, screaming her lungs out, shaking, and looking like she'd been running around the forest alone for days.

They also found the five bodies of their missing townspeople in the barn.

They tell the knights (and thus, Wynn tells them) that the girl is in police custody, but they don't tell them that she's pinned in a cell. They've fed her and given her a coat by now, but the deputy is quick to alert Helen, Rose, Sydney, and Alaric as they arrive of the bad news.

"She hasn't shut up since we put her in there." He glances back over his shoulder, toward the lock-up. "Not screamin', just wanting to know who they were." He looks back at the knights, grim. "Don't think she's got any idea how she got out there. I don't have it in me to tell her I don't either; wherever she's rom, it inn't Pembrokeshire."

Comments

[ex_ric243]

[Meanwhile Ric opens up the suburban to check under that tarp because he is not going to take this guy's word for it ok. And his sense motive is 20 total but he is either unaware or unconcerned with the bystanders at the moment. He just doesn't want to find three girls dead in here. D:]

[immuno]

[ Just the opposite for Helen, in fact. The very real terror in Eddie's expression has Helen fairly convinced that she's just made an innocent shopkeeper piss himself.

He drops his head, looking like he's afraid she's going to kill him. It's Ric who realizes, as he rips the tarp back and finds nothing but landscaping tools, that there's more to this. ]

I didn't do anything with them!

[ Ric probably picks up that he specifies, as if Eddie is saying he's not the one who grabbed them. ]

[ex_ric243]

[If this guy thinks he's being cute then he might want to reconsider his approach because Ric is not amused. He doesn't bother closing the vehicle's door again, and instead marches right over to where Eddie's kneeling in a puddle of his own piss.]

You have five seconds to tell us who did and where they took them, or my associate here is going to shoot you in the balls. [Because his intimidation modifier is shit (he still rolled an 18 tho), but Helen got this guy to piss himself. Ric glances over at Helen like get ready, gurl, before looking back toward Eddie.]

Five, four...

[immuno]

[ Wow he was already pissing himself over Helen ok now he's going to start crying (will 15). ]

I don't know. I don't know where he took them. I swear. I swear to you: he didn't tell me, he —

[ The loud sound of a warning shot interrupts him. This is what y'all get for threatening this dude in the middle of the street and not acknowledging civilians. A uniformed officer approaches them, gun raised in her hands. ]

Drop your weapons and put your hands on the ground! Now!

[ Pls roll knowledge local. ]

[ex_ric243]

[Wow this cop's timing. Alaric rolled a 16 for that knowledge check ftr.]

Who is he? Give me a name. [Maybe Eddie still wants to cooperate before Alaric has to actually comply idk. His focus is getting some sort of lead on the girls.]

[daredtobelieve]

[knowledge local 18

While Ric shouts at Eddie, Helen turns towards the police officer, weapon still in hand, but not pointed directly at the woman.]

Apologies, officer. But I'm afraid we can't do that.

[immuno]

[ Both of them are well aware that

Cops in Wales do not carry handguns. :) ]

You better bloody well figure out how! Get on the ground!

[ Behind Helen, Eddie has full-on started to cry. He came out here to have a good time and he is feeling so attacked right now. ]

They're with the Grand Wizard.

[ Those are words that he actually just said out loud, yes. ]

[ex_ric243]

[r u fucking kidding me rn tho. (pokerface)

alaric doesn't even skip a beat before he presses his gun to eddie's damp lap, as if to indicate that he's prepared to follow through with that "shoot him in the balls" threat, even if helen is otherwise occupied at the moment.]

I said give me a name.

[he trusts helen to deal with the fake police officer, but he's so done rn.]

[daredtobelieve]

[The moment Helen comes to realization about the weapon in the woman's hand, her gun is up and trained on her. She can hear the sounds of Eddie's sobs and is perfectly fine with the way that Ric is handling the situation.]

I think not. I don't know who you are or what you have to do with this, but I will not hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes. Drop it. [Intimidate 16. Not quite the same punch as she gave Eddie.]

[immuno]

[ The cop is effectively spooked, but ... not into dropping her weapon. Rather, she fires a shot at Helen (attack 22, dmg 2). The gunfire terrifies Eddie into throwing his hands over his head and cowering. Pls hold while he acts like a big baby. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[The bullet grazes her arm, biting into her skin as it flies by. Helen sucks in a sharp breath, recovering a second later and training her own weapon to fire (attack 20 total, damage 5) She will spend the rest of her action to move towards the woman, not at all afraid to close the distance between them. Shit is about to get real.]

[ex_ric243]

[Is this bitch for real? Since Eddie has proven himself to be fucking useless for anything other than soiling himself, Alaric is just going to leave him there after instructing him to "Stay down or get shot."

He then turns away so that he can offer Helen some backup. Ric sets his sights on the "police officer" and opens fire because apparently this person didn't know who they were fucking with (attack 23, damage 11).]

[immuno]

[ Eddie is not so afraid that he'll just hang out. He tries to throw a punch for Ric, but it doesn't connect (atk 8). The cop has better luck. While both bullets hit her, she continues to try and fire back, moving behind a mailbox to try and gain some cover now that this has become a fire fight. She shoots for Ric (atk 15, dmg 8) since his bullet dug deeper. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Oh my god fuck this bitch. As the cop sinks a bullet into Ric, Helen continues moving in. Presuming she can reach the woman and attack in the same round, she throws a hard punch across her face. (attack 21, damage 7).]

We won't hesitate to kill you if you continue to get in our way. Where is the Grand Wizard?

[ex_ric243]

[Note to self, get Ric's icons together again after catching up with game tags because fifteen ain't cuttin' it. But yeah, ouch, that bullet may only have grazed him but it tore a nice chunk of flesh in his side as it did so.

Also, fuck you, Eddie. Since Helen has their trigger happy cop imposter covered, Alaric is going to make good on that earlier threat (attack 17, damage 12). Just be glad he was aiming for your leg and not your balls, bro.]

[immuno]

[ The bullet doesn't hit him! Because in the time he lunged forward to punch Ric, i guess, he moved from where Ric had last seen him. It ricochets right past his thigh and skids off the asphalt, knocking some of the remaining dangling glass from the storefront.

Luckily Eddie can't throw a punch for shit right now (atk 8 AGAIN). Meanwhile, Helen's punch connects and the cop takes a 5-ft step back to raise her firearm between them in return. ]

Listen up, lady: I don't know what you're talking about, but back-up's on the way, and you bet your arse that you'll be seeing plenty of jail time for firing on a police officer. You should really think about dropping your weapons.

[ That said, the cop takes another shot — this time at Helen (atk 24, dmg 5). ]

[daredtobelieve]

If you were actually a police officer, I might be concerned. As it stands, I'm not.

[Helen fucking Magnus is fucking done with this bullshit, so she will just step up and try to grab the woman's wrist, to twist it around to grapple the shit out of her, thanks...

And based off the dice rolling Tifa and I hashed out in IM, it was a success! Helen is holding a bitch.]

[ex_ric243]

[Yeah, Ric's about done too. Fuck you, Eddie, as soon as Ric steps back enough to get a clear shot, he's aiming for your junk. (attack 22, damage 7).]

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[immuno]

[ woW THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR. eddie staggers back, bleeding from the genitals apparently because ric is heartless, and leans against the open driver's side of his truck.

out of which he pulls

a 10-gauge shotgun.

that's what you get for looking under the tarp and not in the rest of the car, i guess.

he fires it off at ric with an attack of 26 for 19 penetration damage.

the cop, meanwhile, struggles to break free from helen's grip (escape artist 14 vs her next grapple check). ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen rolled the exact same 23 so that's funny. Also have 4 points of lethal damage since she has the brawl feat so the unarmed stuff hurts :) ]

You'll tell us what we want to know or we'll leave you here for dead. This is your last chance.

[ex_ric243]

[I guess that is karma for shooting a guy in the dick tbh. By the grace of Jesus, Alaric is not blown apart when he's shot at pretty much point blank range with a shotgun idek. Give him a second to even register that shit as he attempts to keep his vital organs from spilling out all over the concrete and scrambles to move behind the suburban for cover while firing blindly at Eddie as he does so (attack 19, damage 4).]

[immuno]

[ You deserve everything you get for that, Ric. Eddie takes another shot (atk 16, dmg 5 if it hits).

Meanwhile, cop lady continues to struggle (escape artist 14 again???). ]

You're making a mistake.

[ The cop insists. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[...Okay that's the third time I've rolled a 23 for grapple in a row. This is getting weird. 7 damage for the struggle.]

Really? Have I?

[She doesn't sound convinced but I will toss a sense motive of 22 out there just in case.]

[ex_ric243]

[So Alaric is a bloody mess at this point. On the bright side, at least he's still conscious. And now that he's managed to put the suburban between himself and the redneck with the 10-gauge shotgun, he's bought himself another couple of seconds at least.

He nearly collapses behind one of the vehicle's tires in an attempt to take cover because standing upright was starting to be an issue here. As was seeing straight and idk breathing. But he is trying to not die, and Eddie could easily turn his sights on Helen while she was occupied with the other woman.

Time to pull his shit together and see if he can go for the kill shot through the suburban's windows (attack 23, damage 11). It was either kill or be killed at this point and Ric wasn't trying to die again sry.]

[immuno]

[ Eddie goes down. The blood loss takes him unconscious, and he thankfully makes his fortitude save to stabilize. So he'll just be hanging out here unconscious.

Meanwhile, Helen gets the distinct impression that the cop's warning carries some weight. Despite the gun, maybe she's not lying about the repercussions from law enforcement here ... Now that Helen's listening, she stops struggling. ]

You don't know who you're messing with. We own this town.

[ As if on cue, a police car pulls up with officer incompetent in it. He pushes open the driver's door and steps out, using it as cover as he pulls out his bullhorn to speak with them from about 50 ft away while the civilians continue to flee. ]

Put the weapons down.

[ Smirking, the cop drops her gun, holding her hands up. ]