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

[romanticidal]

[ oh well, archer dug his own grave, i guess, and rafael isn't going to waste the opportunity. so he moves across the alley, sheathing his guns, and like, idk, does some kind of fancy ass kick up jump off a trash can or something and starts scaling the wall like spider-man (climb 20). it's pretty badass. the others would notice his curly head climbing up right behind the strangely swathed thing. ]

[bigbad]

[The fuck is that thing (spot 22). Spike... is gonna join the not helping Archer stay alive thing and starts climbing the building (climb 11 climb 25 thx action point) to join the exciting rooftop chase adventure. Turns out he hates Rafael slightly less than Archer. Whoda thunk?]

[slay]

[ Lbr there is no mystery here in what Buffy will do, unless that mystery is 'will she make a ranged attack to throw her underwear or won't she?' Spoiler: she won't.

But thanks to Myri pointing it out, Buffy's eyes race up the side of the building in time to spot the mystery figure vanishing and Rafael getting up close and personal with the wall on his way up. Blah blah sex joke about shoving Rafael's face up against the wall and pegging. You can fill in the rest. She's a beat behind Spike in reacting, following his lead to scramble up the side of the building beside them in lieu of slipping past the truck full of soldiers (climb 20, how romantic).

Good job, Archer. ]

[romanticidal]

[ soldier2 stares down the darkened alley and can still make out the shapes down there. unmoved by archer's crazy shouting, he looses some bullets that way (atk 25, 10), one of which strikes rafael as he hits the roof (4 dmg). soldiers 3&4 turn their attacks on archer (atks 21, 19, 18, annnnd a crit fail). miraculously, none of those hit him. soldier4 shoots a fire hydrant by mistake, which shoots out a jet of water between them and archer, obscuring him partially from their sight. ]

[isisagent]

OW! Fuck. Great plan, Sterling. Get yourself shot at for the Italian and the Mermaid. Damnit...

[He reloads, and fires a shot into the air to try to bait them in his direction, then retreats further into the alleyway.]

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!

[rationalizes]

[ gar slows beside myri, staring at the chaotic spectacle before them. she also sees rafael and the thing on the roof, but it's hard not to gape at archer's singing and the gunfire and the fire hydrant spraying the street. she goes pale, horrified, and slowly reaches for her gun, drawing myri around the corner of the building they're beside, or trying to. ] My god. If they recognize us...

[graveflowers]

[ vi focuses on the soldiers while everyone else is playing roof top rodeo. myri is nearby so she is not leaving her side, to the surprise of no one ever. she draws her bow, calmly shooting at soldier two (atk 28, dmg 16) with her very distinctive pink arrows... look. she will collect them later. (unsure) ] We're sort of fucked either way.

[65]

[JESUS RAF DON'T LEAVE HIM DOWN HERE. finnick is following suit in the climbing. (climb 15 minus one action point jesus take the wheel.)]

[romanticidal]

[ finnick isn't going to be able to make it all the way to the top yet with that, it's gonna take him one more round of movement (he'll have an action left). on top of the building, as rafael climbs up and gets shot, the thing above whips out two rapiers and comes at him instantly (atk 20), one blade sailing past his head as he just manages to duck. rafael evades it so quickly that it almost loses its balance when it tries to change its attack at the last second to compensate, and it teeters for a second near the edge, just managing to catch itself from falling (crit fail). ]

[witchwoman]

[Myri finally spots Finnick as he starts to climb up the building as well. But she knows her limitations and can't go running after him. What she can do? Help Vi take these soldiers out. Time to find out if her sweet searing light spell can hurt more than suicide shadows things. (ranged touch attack 20 total, 28 damage if that hits.]

[romanticidal]

[ myri's attack strikes the soldier who whips his head that way as he's wracked with pain.

above, rafael is in too close and too dangerous of quarters to pull his guns back out, so he takes advantage of the thing teetering to try to elbow it in the face (atk 19). it ducks out of the way, however, and steps easily back from his other two attempted blows, dancing away lightly as it gains its balance again. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike runs across the building and jumps (jump check 33) landing nimbly on the other roof.] Need a hand, Spaghetti-breath?

[Well you will have to wait a round for it. BUT HE'S OFFERING. THAT'S SOMETHING?]

[slay]

[ Blinders on, she's not worried about what's going on down in the streets below. She trusts Myri to get shit done. Truthfully, she's got a feeling Myri needs all the stress relief vs Dimitris' people that she can get. The beholder wasn't quite the same as actual soldiers, a'ight. Girl deserves it.

Anyway, Buffy's taking the jump between buildings at a run, and making it with markedly less grace than Spike, but making it nonetheless. At least, I certainly hope that qualifies as making it (jump 29).

Her heels are left conspicuously on the previous roof, and she is now bare foot. Wise life choices. There's really nothing to be done about the formal dress, tho. As she straightens up, battle-ready, she asks a more pressing question: ]

Who is this clown? What happened?

[ aka dipLOMACY?!?? ?? ]

[romanticidal]

[ s1 finally gets out of the driver's seat, hopping down from the truck and bringing his weapon up in the direction of myri and vi up the street. he unleashes one shot at vi (atk 25, dmg 9). soldier two takes a move action to yank the arrow out, swearing, and then also fires that way (atk 18), barely missing her. soldier4 shoots at myri (atk 25, 19, 2+5 dmg = 7 dmg). s3 hops down from the truck on his side and goes charging through the hydrant spray after archer. ]

[isisagent]

[Archer will duck behind the nearest corner and/or object and reload - then wait for a soldier to run past/near/withinshotgunrange. He'll Ready an action to shoot the first uniform he sees with a Double Tap from his trusty shotgun.]

Oh boy, I sure hope nobody has followed me...[He says jokingly to himself, as he levels his gun at chest-height.]

[When/If that happens: 25 Atk, 1+6+8 + 7 Penetration. -1 == 21 Damage.]

[rationalizes]

[ gar hesitates for just a moment, but when she sees vi and myri out in the street openly attacking the soldiers... she moves out with them and says between gritted teeth, her tone begrudgingly determined: ] We can't let any of them get back to Sarandis. [ she fires off a shot, that pings off the back of the truck (atk 17) ]

[graveflowers]

[ okay, boss. no one gets back to sarandis. vi fires two arrows at soldier 1 because she actually found a shred of self-preservation somewhere and he's the one that hit her. (atk 24, dmg 8 & rapid shot atk 24, dmg 6) ]

[65]

[climb 20 total HE WILL MAKE IT ONTO THIS ROOF GOD DAMN IT. and now that he's flanking their bedroom intruder friend with rafael, he's gonna take that kneecap shot again. (ranged(??) atk 24; 8 dmg if it hits)]

[romanticidal]

[ finnick's bullet hits... but there's a strange ass metallic sound as it strikes the kneecap, and it doesn't seem to disable the creature at all. it turns to look at him with narrowed eyes, and then drops into some kind of bad-ass crouch stance, lunging a blade out in both directions (atk 25 > finnick), but it had to move too far in his direction to hit raf (atk 13). this deals 24 damage to finnick, as it's a crit, and the powerful thrust is so strong that it nearly knocks him over, but he manages to keep his footing (ref 27). a strange series of whirring noises issue from the thing. weird. ]

[romanticidal]

[ raf glances back to see buffy (and spike), and responds as he moves forward to take a swing at the thing again now that it's faced mostly away ] He was trying to kidnap Shadowkind for Sarandis! [ (atk 17)... and then a crit fail, as the thing dodges so adeptly out of the way that rafael charges right through his space and slams into finnick, pushing him backwards five feet. finnick can make a balance check 12+ to not be knocked prone, and while they are dangerously close to the edge of the roof, they do not fall off. ]

[65]

[just confirming that finnick crit failed and got knocked the fuck over :') what a day to be alive in the year of our lord 2014.....]

[witchwoman]

[The fall catches Myris attention (spot 21) and has her worried about what in the world is going on up there. But she doesn't sense enough pain from her teammates to feel like she needs to try to find a we up the wall. She has been shot, though! Which sucks... Gritting her teeth, she fires off another ray of searing light at soldier 4. Only one of them is making it out of here alive okay. (Range touch attack 18, damage 25 if it hits.)]

[bigbad]

[Spike spares a disdainful glance at Rafael "friendly fire" Giovanni then moves towards the ninja robot thing.]

All right, wanker. Time to die.

[He pulls his fist back and swings it hard at the thing's face (atk 23, dmg 16 if it hits).]

[slay]

Don't kill him!

[ She lets out a shout, but it works out well because Spike misses. Ahaha. Luckily, Buffy is here to try and one-up him. She takes a quick step closer to get into fightin' range, and attempts to clock their ~foe~ right across the jaw (atk 30, dmg 19).

Her next hit comes in the form of a sharp elbow aimed at the solarplexus (atk 30, dmg 20 because she's not trying for penetration here so I'm not rolling another d8). ]

[romanticidal]

[ spike's hit whiffs right past the crazy-fast thing, but buffy manages to strike it both times, much to its annoyance. down below, myri's searing light blasts that guy again, but his need to follow orders overrides his sense of self-preservation and he keeps firing at myri, one of the bullets ripping through her shoulder (atk 13, atk 24, dmg 17). s1 keeps firing at vi (atk 21, atk nat 20, dmg 13+24=37 total), while s2 fires at gar (atk 27, atk 10, dmg 10).

meanwhile, the other soldier runs out the alleyway after archer... and gets shot at point blank range with a shotgun. BLAMMO. he lets out a loud HURK of pain and backs away from archer, firing off one shot wildly that goes nowhere near him (atk 14) ]