london ♔ the monster i have hidden in my mouth | it has to scream

[untethered]

♬ She Wolf - Shakira

WHO || Cora Hale, Belle, Kate Bishop, Faith Lehane, Gus Harrison [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a monster tearing up a tenement building on the night of the full moon...
WHERE || Knights HQ, the briefing room
WHEN || July 12th, evening [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. 

While most missions are assigned with a few days or weeks of leeway for preparation, naturally some situations call for a much more immediate response.  Such is the case on the night of this month's full moon, when Wynn is forced to call on Knights who are already out and about in London for whatever reasons, delivering their instructions via video message on Drakenet.    It seems that some kind of creature has been spotted in a low-income neighborhood of London, destroyed some property, and appears to have retreated into a tenement building where screams have been heard.  Wynn suspects it to be some kind of Shadow creature, and considering that it's a full moon, well--  

He advises caution, but also reminds the Knights that it is their duty to investigate the matter and decide how best to proceed - not to charge in hunting something without understanding what it is or what is motivating it.  

So together they gather, from whatever brought them into London tonight, in front of the rundown brick building, which is... for the moment... rather quiet.  

Comments

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate seems a little surprised, for some reason, especially by Belle's response, but nods. ] Oh, okay. My bad, I guess I confused you with someone. [ She is possibly about to say something else, but with a Listen 21 there are gunshots to be heard and she's quick on Gus-wolf's heels down the stairs, drawing and nocking an arrow as she goes. ]

[msattentionspan]

[Faith shrugs as the "not werewolf" opts to just bolt toward some unknown thing. Not liking to be one left behind, she continues that direction. The stairs get taken quickly, and quietly (move silently 15).]

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate opts for speed over stealth (move silently 12), heading down the steps along with the rest of the team. She'll do her best to stay in front of them, ready to fire depending what they find, and preferring not to do so from around the backs of their heads. ]

[druidisms]

[ gus just zooms past all y'all on his wolf legs, quite stealthily as well (move silently 17), and tackles the solider not being attacked by the fluffy girl. more accurately, he bites the soldier like an over-enthusiastic police trainee in a buddy cop movie (atk 22, dmg 3) and then attempts to trip him because that is just a thing wolves do, planting his paws on the guy's chest (trip 20 total). down, bitch, the ladies have work to do. ]

[goonsquad]

[ yep, wolf boy knocks him right on his ass. He scoots backwards on his butt a few feet, and then raises his gun at gus instead, from where he sits, yelling: ] Two of em! [ also ow, that was a nat 20 shot. 16 dmg total. ]

[impetere]

[That is very rude, both of you! There's a snarl in Gus's direction because that was hers, she saw him first, but then Soldier Boy starts shooting at Gus, and that just won't do.

The only one killing anything is her.

She's short, but the change in height still throws her and the rage doesn't have her thinking all that clearly. When she swipes at him again, she misses, swinging wide and missing him (attack 7).]

[untethered]

[ belle follows along after the others in a hurry, but only gets to the bottom of the basement steps behind the others in time to see cora swiping at the soldier on the ground. she gasps a bit, and the soldier still on his feet backs away, swinging his gun around to bear on gus-wolf (atk 20, dmg 5).

also, with their spot checks, everyone notices the patches on the arms of the soldiers. ]

[msattentionspan]

[At first glance there's too much going on. Faith looks to the situation and tries to make a call. She knows that they can't fight everyone - not with the training those military-types seem to have. They were there for the werewolf and it won't help anything if those soldiers hurt her or make her think that they're on their side.

Faith moves toward the girl, putting herself between the werewolf and the soldier that had been trying to directly attack her.

(Base attack 3 + strength modifier 9 + d20 roll 5 = 17! {if I did that right...})

Faith moves to try and get the soldier more interested in the girl who is reckless enough to get in between an angry werewolf and a motivated soldier. It must be time for some Slayer Banter!]

You know, I've heard of guys goin' for that all natural thing and I'm pro a girl not feeling like she has to get her best look on every time she goes out, but you really gotta learn when a girl says no - she means no.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Once down the stairs and in sight of the confrontation in progress, Kate steps back to let Faith rush past towards the girl. Wolf. Wolfgirl? and the soldiers(???) opposing her. She has an arrow ready still but doesn't fire yet, just sweeping her sight across the armed men with their patches and the werewolf they were sent for. ] Hey Blues Brothers, drop your weapons. She's not going with you.

[druidisms]

[ omigosh hellsing no, that's not who gus wants to run into as a fucking wolf. just shoot him.

wait no.

don't actually do that. again.

he yelps at being shot, again, but seems to take it in stride, limping slightly. he turns and bats at the still standing soldier with his front paw in an attempt to disarm him (atk 22) and aggressively thinking "CALM YO TITS, GIRL, DISABLE NOT DISMEMBER" in cora's direction. which probably sounds like a growl bark snap snap snarl to they people without any puppy physiology. you're welcome for the puppy bowl. ]

[goonsquad]

[ wow gus, i'm sorry b/c this is some bs. the guard's attack of opportunity ... was also a nat 20 (dmg 20). which cuts off his attempt to disarm him, unfortunately. only bleeding for you.

the soldier on the ground backs up five more feet and fires at cora again, but he crit fails, and accidentally shoots his buddy there right in the back. (dmg 3) amazing. ]

[impetere]

[EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP ATTACKING HER WOLF BUDDY, OKAY. ESPECIALLY SINCE HE CAN APPARENTLY TALK TO HER WHICH IS REALLY WEIRD.

Also Emma rolled for alpha voice and it was high so there's that.

But now Gus is making a sad wolf noise, and she is has had it up to here with these people and their guns and SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE NOW. But not Faith. Faith is cool. Probably.

REGARDLESS Cora gives a very angry snarl and Gus said disarm not dismember but they keep shooting him so she is a very unhappy wolf. She turns and swipes at the guy not on the floor, since he's the one who keeps shooting Gus, and the other guy clearly disagrees with this plan, claws catching skin and tearing (attack 16, damage 5).]

[untethered]

[ her blow is enough to send him spiraling to the ground, eyes rolled back in his head.

belle looks around wildly, searching for some way to distract the soldier still on the ground, but failed her check to pull a Trick, so she... doesn't find anything. :( womp womp. ]

[msattentionspan]

[Alright, so there's one guy that's left for Faith to deal with (unless I am confusing these two guys without names) and she's fine with those odds. She'll just make sure she's still between Cora and the guy as she crouches down to the guy on the floor and sends a fist of Faith-sized fury to him in an attempt to knock him out.

( attack = 3+9+11 ~ 23! | damage = {brawl 5+9 streetfighting 1} = 15! )]

Try and stay down.

[untethered]

[ that's enough to knock out this guy too! he also slumps to the floor, and they both look unconscious, but not like they're bleeding out.

/init, now back to your regularly scheduled lack of tag order

belle turns towards cora, holding up both hands as she casts a worried glance in gus' direction. ] It's alright. We aren't here to hurt you. We wanted to stop those men.

[druidisms]

[ gus is fine. fine. no, his puppy ass is laying down with a whimper before he changes back into a real boy. the +6 hp boost he get for changing out of wild shape is enough to get him to his feet as the adrenaline fades into pain, so much pain. getting shot, twice, is a bitch. so he is going to delicately kick their guns away because hell no is he willing to get shot again. ]

Are you okay, kiddo?

[impetere]

[Okay? No Cora is not okay, but articulating that right now is difficult. Because as much as the wolf wants to surge forward and tear them apart there's still a teenage girl under there and she's trying to rationalize her way out of this. It's not really getting very far, but it's getting ... somewhere (will save 13).

But really the wolf's not a wolf anymore and they're trying to reason with her and she's just going to back up a few feet. The actual threat is gone, with the guns but now they're trying to talk to her and Cora just feels like a cornered animal.

She's just really confused and if anyone tries to get any closer they may get some claws to the face. She'll even give a warning snarl to that effect. Back up.]

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate provides cover, less and less necessary as the Hellsing soldiers quickly manage to attack each other and get easily dispatched afterward. Even once it's clear they won't need shooting she keeps an arrow at the ready, aimed up the stairs in case there's any chance of reinforcements. That's how it looks, anyway; mostly she's concerned about Cora, but pointing a weapon at her seems like a good way to escalate a situation that needs the opposite. ]

We know you don't want to hurt anyone, [ she says over her shoulder, tone confident despite very little evidence to support that idea. ] We're here to help.

[druidisms]

[ gus is going to let the others handle this because he knows he doesn't have the best bedside manner, healing himself for a whole +6 hp with cure light wounds before crouching to rifle throught the pockets of the hellsing guys. maybe they brought tranqs. also he's curious as to what hellsing carries around, so sue him. ]

[untethered]

[ gus pulls up a radio in one hand, and guess what: someone starts talking on it the moment he grabs it. it's a brusque female voice, a very british tone.

"Jenkins, report. Have you eliminated the target?"

belle's eyes widen, hoping that doesn't set cora off, and she quickly adds (diplomacy 20): ] We won't let anyone touch you. This... transformation won't last. We can bring you somewhere safe, if you'd like.

[impetere]

[No, this transformation won't last. She knows that when the sun comes up, she'll be back to normal again, but she doesn't have that kind of time. Because she hears that call on the radio and all she can think is hunters, but she hasn't hurt anyone.

She hasn't broken the rules. She knows what "eliminate" means and she hasn't done anything wrong.

She backs away from them, pushing her back against the wall and with the giant force of will, she manages to hold her wolf back, if only for a little bit (will save nat 20). She exhales shakily, before shaking her head.]

I can't ... I didn't hurt anyone.

[Except for the guys with the guns but they don't count.]

[druidisms]

We got it. [ whoops lying to hellsing. he drops the radio like its dirty and steps away from the guy. he looks at cora, firm and calm. ] They're not taking you. Nothing is going to happen to you. [ he glances between the women. ] We need to go, now.

[msattentionspan]

[Faith has been keeping an eye on the guys that are down, but listening to the discussions, as well. She's glad that the girl has wrangled herself down to a decent baseline and she's pro getting out of there.]

I'm all for finding the nearest exit and ... maybe stealing their ride. [Because, let's be honest, she really thinks that faster is better and since they were all called here... there wasn't any car pool lane action.

So if it's cool, she's gonna go pull a Search 13 and try to find those keys with a quick frisking of the dude that's closest to her, probably the one she knocked out herself. Because, this girl is a criminal after all.

Though, legit if this isn't cool... then she just gets told the real way they are gonna handle this and there is no searching going on, except for the nearest door.]

[untethered]

[ faiths search is successful, yielding a set of keys with a hellsing logo keychain. Belle moves up the steps, glancing down the hall and then motions back down to the others. ] It's clear.

[impetere]

[Cora is definitely unsure-facing about this because while she's happy to have managed to keep it under control, she isn't sure how long it will last.]

I don't know how long this - [Meaning her current human-ness] - is going to last. I'm not safe until the sun comes up.