andres ♔ but what he told me last night lays on me like lead

[affianced]

♬ dear ophelia - abney park

WHO || Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Kat, Gar, Archer, Des, Rafael, Fred Jr., Vi, Rocket, Lara, Dimitris  [Closed]
WHAT || A diplomatic mission to Andres Isle goes about as successfully as one would guess
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || August 15th  [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Even the briefing for this mission went well, with Wynn walking in on Dragon's Claw Jack Chessing macking on Sir Gar, in direct violation of his vows of, er, abstinence, both romantically and physically.   Following the briefing, and the team's attempts to make Wynn see reason in the face of Jack's resignation, they gathered up a large amount of weapons of all kinds into their private plane and took off for Andres Isle.  

Upon arrival, they found the island did not match up to their expectations.  Instead of fields of torture, they found themselves in a very upscale part of the city, full of affluent manor houses close to the palace.   They spun a cover story upon learning about a party there, using Finnick's celebrity on Andres to get access to the festivities.  

Inside, they met Dimitris Sarandis, Prime Minister of Andres Isle, who invited them to stay for the party, which was being thrown in honor of Countess Lara Tamon, who had helped Jack, Spike and Myri escape from their torment on the Isle.  They took the opportunity to chat up the local aristocracy, picking up the vibe that most of them had either benefited from Dimitris' rise to power, or were too afraid to stand up to him.  Spike talked to the Marquesse de Lyons, and learned that her son, Percy, had been a friend of the late Prince's, and had died shortly after voicing his belief that Sarandis had framed the Andres family in order to seize power.   Archer was shocked to find his manservant Woodhouse employed at the palace, and extra annoyed to learn that he didn't remember him.  For once, Archer found a reason to care about liberating the Andresians... if not purely for selfish reasons.

The party itself was to announce the breaking of the betrothal that had long stood between Lara and the late Prince, even after his death, a blemish on the reputation of the Tamon family that Sarandis sought to rectify by arranging a new betrothal: between Lara and her childhood friend, Lord Michael de Collines (aka Michael Collins).  Neither of them seemed particularly thrilled about the arrangement.  Lara managed to sneak a message to Myri to meet her that night under the bridge.

Following the announcement, the gang went to speak to Sarandis in private and find out his demands for the safe return of Sir Thomas Bancroft.  He wasted no time in making clear his position - he painted the Knight's vigilante attitude towards policing the world as the ultimate evil, and warned that no more Knights would set foot on Andres, lest they be killed.  He also demanded that Wynn himself bring the artifact Excalibur to the island to give to him - so that Dimitris could behead Wynn in exchange for Thomas' life.  The demands were met with outrage by the Knights, and in the face of their fear that Thomas was not even still alive, Sarandis agreed to let one of them stay the night to speak with the Dragon's Claw.   He specified that Kat be the one to stay, and despite protests, she agreed, and convinced Gar to let her stay.  

The other Knights headed back into town, where Gar, Fred Jr., and Vi headed to the nearby hotel to wait to hear from Kat, and be ready in case they should need to reach the palace quickly.  The others headed to the bridge across the river, where they met with Lara and her friend Lord Dana Green, another of her childhood friends.  They explained the situation on the Isle, and how many of the younger generation wished to see things returned to the way they'd been before, but the challenges they faced in doing so seemed almost insurmountable to them.  Lara expressed her fears that toppling Sarandis' rule would only wind up putting Andres in an even worse position.  They also related how Dimitris had created programs and taxes that had basically banished Shadowkind to the other side of the river and left them all but destitute, all while pumping more and more money into the coffers of the rich, particularly those serving on his Parliament.   She secured the Knights' promise to help in every way they could, and Myri asked her to show the way back into the woods where she'd found them before.

Finnick, Archer, and Rafael crossed the bridge into the Shadow village to do some recon, and spoke with a local tavern owner/dwarf who related that people down here were turning up missing more and more often - likely to feed Dimitris' experiments in the woods.  They seemed largely disheartened, but could potentially be talked into fighting if giving the means to do so.

In the woods, the others ran across a strange talking raccoon named Rocket, who was running for his life from a beholder, which the party managed to take down.  They discovered that Rocket had escaped from captivity in Dimitris' labs, and he was none too happy at the prospect of going back, even to show them where it was.  They argued briefly over the best course of action - whether the break out would be the best or worse time to try to make their way into the lab, particularly given that Dimitris had Kat as well now. 

Comments

[slay]

[ Myri manages to successfully get through to her. After all, she'd been the one hurt by them before. However reticent she still is, she does reach out to take Myri's hand. There's a brief, hurried look into her eyes—a promise that they'll come back, that they won't leave Thomas and whoever else alone down there—and then she's turning to start after Des and Rocket. ]

[witchwoman]

[Myri's hand tightens around Buffy's, a slight sight of relief coming before they bolt. Follow that formal immortal and the raccoon!]

[bigbad]

[Spike brings up the rear because he's the tank.]

[nothingsodivine]

[des didn't get too far out of concern for buffy. they catch up to him easily.]

Figures we picked the night of a goddamned jailbreak.

[slay]

We need a plan. That can't be the only way in—I doubt Sarandis is hiking all the way into the woods just to pop in for the occasional torture session.

[ runnin. ]

[witchwoman]

The hotel. [huff puff, running awayyyyy] We can regroup now that we know where to find it and what would be waiting for us.

[Slightly more reasonable??]

[beatupgrass]

[Hey, look you found the raccoon. He failed his dex check (7...) so he... probably tripped over something or the bourbon hit him OR HE'S JUST SICK OF RUNNING AROUND THE WOODS. Either way, he's slumped over an exposed root, looking tragic against his will. It's just sort of hard not to look tragic when you're a battered cyborg raccoon having THE WORST NIGHT OF HIS LIFE.

His listen check was really good though (23), so at least he hears the conversation as everyone comes up.]

Are you kiddin' me? [He pauses to laugh breathlessly.] That sick son of a bitch loves to watch.

[Myri's words hit him and he looks up, somewhere between annoyed and unnerved... It's possible that he's annoyed, because he's unnerved.]

You're going back to town?

[slay]

He might love to watch, but he also loves the finer things. A guy like that? Not hiking miles out of the way into the forest just to get a peek. There's another way.

[ There ~has to be.~ Her dex is like 7 so she's doing about as well as Rocket here. ]

[affianced]

[ lara stops to help rocket up, looking back over her shoulder into the dark woods ] We can't take him back into public. Dimitris' men will be looking for him. We need to find a way to get him off the island without being seen.

[bigbad]

[Pathetic. Spike's comparatively...... well, not much better with his whopping 8 dex check.]

Hide him in our luggage. He's not large.

[beatupgrass]

[ACA-CUSE ME???]

You're not gonna cram me in a suitcase, you jackass.

[I mean if it's his only way off the island, he'll man up, but right now he's gonna be offended.]

[slay]

Can you get him to our plane?

[ yep relegating babysitting jobs to lara. she seems put-together, ok, and she probably draws less suspicion than their entire troupe. also aggressively annoying rocket's indignation. ]

[nothingsodivine]

It's a raccoon. Do you really want to leave it alone with our shit? They're little sticky-fingered vermin.

[DES ARE YOU REALLY ITCHING TO CONTRACT RABIES HERE?]

[affianced]

I... I could try. I'm not certain what kind of excuse I could use for getting into the airfield at this hour. I suppose I could say I left something on my family's plane... [ she frowns down at rocket ] But I'll still need a way to hide him.

[slay]

Can't you just ... pretend he's a scarf or something?

[ 100% totally not racism. ]

[beatupgrass]

[He keeps rolling great will saves to keep from losing his marbles, so that's happening, but he still looks like he wants to kill all of you in your sleep. Or possibly cry. Or both.]

Or here's a great idea! I could figure it out myself. [His tone's a little slurred. Hi bourbon.] I don't have t' stand around and be treated like a- like some kinda- [He looks like he's actually actively trying to PICK A WORD, because he has heard a number of them, but he finally decides there's too many and gives up. Throwing a paw out dismissively to hide the fact that he looks DEEPLY UPSET.] To hell with it. I'll find my own way off this d'asted island.

[While vaguely intoxicated. Great plan. Excellent plan. IT'S BETTER THAN RACISM.]

[bigbad]

Don't be melodramatic. What if you took off your clothes and pretended to be a real raccoon?

[beatupgrass]

[That does get him to stop, but only because he seems to be having a tiny conniption fit. A spot over 10 (because it's kinda RIGHT THERE) can see why- his jumpsuit's ripped enough that you can see at least half his back. Now with 85% more scars and horrible shit. Thanks Dimitris.

However, the stopping and trying to compose himself is enough to get him to think straight.]

You. Local broad. [Yeah, that would be you, Lara.] Can you get a cloak or something. Small one. With a hood. [He turns around and gesticulates this like he's convinced she's not gonna get what he's putting down unless he explains what he's getting at.]

[affianced]

[ still moving, moving, moving towards the outskirts of the woods, which they can now see. ] If I can't, Dana can secure one. You'll just need to wait somewhere safe for me.

[witchwoman]

The bridge? [Myri at least recognizes that bringing a raccoon back to town might be a little weird... Wanna play troll under the bridge, Rocket??]

1/2

[beatupgrass]

[Running, running, stumbling, attempting to run on all fours, getting up again. Yeah, that is happening.]

As long as it ain't someone's frickin' suitcase...

2/2

[nothingsodivine]

[Meanwhile, Des got a sixteen dex, so he's sprinting along.]

We're almost out. He's not gonna send anything this close to town if he wants to maintain his rep. We oughta be able to regroup with the rest- see if Fluffy and the other two got anything or if Gar's heard from Kat. If she has, then we'll know where we need to go next.

[bigbad]

That's optimistic of you. [Spike has ZERO faith in Dimitris' rep stopping him from doing anything.] Then again, once we lose Rocky here, he'll probably back off. No recent fugitives and all.

[affianced]

He still doesn't know you were involved. He doesn't have to know. I'll-- I'll get him to your plane, if you can take it from there.

[nothingsodivine]

Why are we keeping the fugitive around again? [HE'S JUST SAYING. DOES THE RACCOON ACTUALLY HAVE A USE??? He comes to a stop once they hit the edge of the woods.]

Okay, seriously. Stop. I think we need to get our heads together before we go back in there and think this through, because if we bullrush the hotel with some bullshit plan, Gar's gonna throw a British shitfit.