[Nexus] The Black Dragon's Den IX

[The Bushranger]

Lellienth also takes a sip of her drink when the server brings what they've ordered, though hers simply being toxic rather than magical, it doesn't cause any effects at the moment.

"You know him?", she asks, noting Erin's raised eyebrow.

"Not really. Know of him, really. Of course last I checked I think there's actually several of him so it might or might not be him him..."

...which is almost kinda-sorta like how there's so many Erins running around!

[Lady Serpentine]

Lellienth frowns, starting to play a soft tune on her harp with one hand, which should foil most listening devices or heightened senses, since she's taking Erin's voice dropping to be a sign that her friend doesn't want to be overheard, and thinks there's a risk of it.

"I take it that you don't know of him in a good way?"

[Hattish Thing]

Well....The roaches hearing is drowned out. This alarms Thenadier. He has to think of something fast...This was definitely suspicious. They started whispering when the cat-creature walked in...Hmm...I have an idea....

The Inspector walks out of his chair and views the cat thing. The Inspector walks over to the cat and tries to shake it's hand/paw after he removes his own glove. Thenadier will then start to explain, Hello Mr. Ellswerth! I'm a great fan of your books! I have read all of them! Marvelous pieces too, I'm a collector you see, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind signing one of my copies sir? Thenadier changes his voice to a much higher pitched and nasal one. The Inspector was always a very good spy. He would find out what all the whispers were about this creature. ((Did he shake his hand?))

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt, this one anyways, is quite human when he's in this form. Description in spoiler.

Spoiler

Show

Merely a man. A really, really amazing man. Screw Jazirian, Harth, Fanboy, even... Wait. He's probably, in fact, the most attractive humanoid to have ever walked the universes, in an over-hyped, inhuman, Stephenie Meyer described, kinda way. Take Amour’s intrigue (without the weird loner, and lover, issues), Nomlas’ boldness (without the uncouth idiocy, and ignoring the occasional bouts of OMG-cowardice), Vespe’s flair (without the moral weakness – don’t try and deny it), Butler’s sexiness (without the overtones of rank easiness), Fanboy’s gothic impressiveness (without the tendency to get on your nerves), and everyone else good looking you can think of’s attractiveness (without that ugly stench of mortality). He has slightly pointed ears, pale, almost luminous skin, big, red-pink eyes, lacking pupils, and a wiry, muscular physique, that screams effortlessness. He's flaming hawt. Of course, anyone who was in the Waves plot might recognize the form of Prince Kaelaroth Maschin of Magtok-Armennia.

He's wearing jeans, boots, a white shimmering scarf, a furry vest, a leather jacket on top of that, and a blue shirt underneath, largely chosen as his dress of choice to protect against unexpected zombie attacks. A pretty, if nondescript necklace hangs around his neck. Attached to his belt is a wicked looking dragon tooth knife, ammo for his rifle, and a pouch holding the lock pick set he wants people to find when they search him, the secret set hidden in his boots. Slung over his back is his ever present sniper rifle and it looks shinier than normal lately. Painted on the butt of the rifle is an elder sign symbol.

He was glancing over at Erin, thinking he found her familiar. Seeing as how he knows Sharon and visits Erin's Emporium frequently.

But his attention is pulled away before he can figure it out as he looks at the strange man. Now, if there's anything he has trouble believing, it's that he can be mistaken for anyone. He has pink, pupilless eyes for goodness sake! Still... no reason not to play the part. If he can be someone else for a little while, he'd be happy for the break.

Reinholdt will shake the hand. "Sure. I don't mind giving a few autographs."

[Hattish Thing]

When Thenadier shakes Reinholdt's hand a small jolt of pain will erupt from Reinholdt's palm. Thenadier reacts with a whelp and explains, "Ow! Ow!....Sorry, static shock. My apologies." The pain did feel like a small static jolt of electricity...It stopped hurting after a second. Thenadier had implanted the SPL1NTER into Reinholdt's palm. It's a tracking device and it also records. All it is composes of a sharp needle infused with the same microchip used in the roach. The needle shot itself under his skin while releasing painkillers to seem like nothing happened. There. Whoever he was Thenadier would find out.

[Reinholdt]

Those are attempts there Noodle. Make sure to include that factor in your posts.

Though in this case it does work. Reinholdt shakes his hand. Ow! He almost thinks nothing of it.
...
Wait...

With that hand he pulls a pistol out of hammerspace and points it at Thenadier, no longer even close to being amused. "I don't like being poisoned. The antidote. Now."

That is particularly odd. For all intents and purposes, that seemed like a static shock. Even Rein can't tell the difference.

Perhaps he's overreacting and bluffing?

[Hattish Thing]

Thenadier falss back on the floor completely playing his part of a middle-aged book collector. He falls to the ground and lays there. What?! don't shoot! I have done nothing! You...You're not Ellsworth! Thenadier backs up before he bumps himself against a chair. I didn't do anything! Help! Police!!

[Reinholdt]

"Like hell you didn't." Reinholdt says standing to step over to Thenadier and even try to step on him with one boot to keep him pinned as he leans down to wave the gun in his face. With his free hand he points a thumb at his necklace.

"This. This absorbs electricity. There's no way in hell there could have been a static shock. NOW TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!"

I'll pause here for BR and C'nor to react.

[The Bushranger]

Erin nods to Lellienth.
"He has a...reputation, let's say. Supposedly he's undergoing redemption, but for a lot of people, that's a believe-it-when-they-see-it thing..."

Then suddenly: action!

Pistols at dawn! Cries for police! Mexican standoffs!

Erin springs to her feet!

"What's going on here?!"

[Lady Serpentine]

Lellienth also hops up, one hand going to her dragon-hilted sword, and the other intensifying in its playing.

"Unpleasantness?", the drowess ventures, frowning. "I mean, it's just a guess, but given that he's waving something* in the other one's face, and demanding to know what was done to him..."

*Lellienth, being a drow only recently transplanted from Ched Nasad, is unfamiliar with firearms. Though Erin may have explained them to her in HALO; I don't remember.

[Hattish Thing]

Bu-! Sir! I have done nothing! Are you insane!? Thenadier does nothing. The roach turns to record the confrontation occurring. The Inspector could easily activate his cane but decides to wait and see what Reinholdt's reaction will be.

[Reinholdt]

"I'm ******** dangerously insane and this man is trying to kill me! Stabbed me with a poison needle!" Reinholdt chooses to grind his boot down on Inspector Thenadier a bit to emphasize his point on how far he's willing to take this.

[The Bushranger]

Erin might well have. She certainly wears one.

...as it is, though, the HALO member steps forwards!
"First of all, both of you take a deep breath. Step back. Where did he stab you?" she asks Reinholdt, clearly intending to play nurseinspect the wound.

[Earl of Purple]

Oh, hey, nobody's looking at the scroll and keys? Perfect. The scroll unrolls all by itself. Though, it waits until everybody is looking away.

[Lady Serpentine]

That shouldn't take long, since Lellienth is keeping a close watch on Thenadier, not really bothering with keeping an eye on Reinholdt, though she is semi-watching him from the corner of her eye, as Erin seems to have that covered quite well.

As the fight doesn't seem to be moving towards them, and her friend just stepped forward, putting her in the path of a sword anyway, Lellienth has moved her hand from the dragon-hilted rapier she's wearing, and drawn her hand-crossbow, which she keeps loaded, and is aiming at the inspector.

[Hattish Thing]

The Inspector whimpers on the floor, completely in character. Well, the "wound" would be almost impossible to see. The clear and tiny SPL1NTER would have absorbed into Reinholdt's skin by now. Almost impossible to see if anything happened seeing as there's no wound.

[Reinholdt]

The small hole in the skin where it entered wouldn't have just disappeared even if the device did.

"In my hand." The one wrapped around his gun. Which he is still holding. And not stepping back.

He does take a deep breath though.

Granted, the whimpering just makes him want to shoot the guy even more.

[The Bushranger]

"Well, then," Erin says, "how about I have a look at it and check to see if there is in fact poison?"

[Lady Serpentine]

Lellienth nods thoughtfully, shifting tunes; anyone hearing it should feel compelled to answer questions truthfully, including saying that they don't know if they're simply guessing.

"While you're doing that, I can question this guy under a truth spell."

[Hattish Thing]

Oh...Not good...truth spell...bad. Well, Thenadier had been held under hostage and magical interrogation before. And he was ever so resistant to magic. But it would still get answers from him...which would not be good and would spoil his cover. So, he does something that he supposed would eventually come back to haunt him. He sends a message to his cane. Which was a magical weapon and responded to The Inspector. The cane rolled on the floor and then promptly throws itself at Reinholdt. This will hopefully distract Reinholdt in which case Thenadier will quickly pull a pistol from his coat and fire at Reinholdt. He guessed that any uptight citizen would try to defend his or herself against an attack and reasoned that this was a necessary move.

[Lady Serpentine]

((Sorry for interrupting the posting order, but attempts to interrupt actions need to be made before people react to said actions, so...))

As soon as Thenadier's hand goes into his coat, Lellienth fires her crossbow at him; it should be fairly accurate, since she's been aiming at him for several posts, and is quite a good shot with it anyway.

She's also not foolish enough to aim at his chest, since his coat could be armored. If the bolt stays on course, and he doesn't get out of the way somehow, it should bury itself in his throat.

[Reinholdt]

Well Reinholdt still has his foot on Thenadier, so I'm not sure if moving out of the way for either of them is a difficult option right now.

The cane is an effective distraction as he starts to whirl to react to it, shielding himself with his arms against the blunt weapon and moving the pistol away from pointing at the Inspector.

Most of the rest of my post and Rein's reaction depends on whether Thenadier actually gets the gun out and the shot off. I forgot about the crossbow myself.

[The Bushranger]

If the gun gets pulled:

The gun is pulled!

Erin thrusts her hand out!

The gun is fired!

A field of shimmering green springs forth between Reinholdt and the gun!

Ectoshields FTW!

Unless of course it's a ghost-touch or shield-piercing bullet.






If not:

Erin just blinks in surprise and then stares at Lellienth in shock at her crossbow l33t skillz!

[Hattish Thing]

Question before I edit this and respond: Would the ecto-shild stop the crossbow bolt?

[The Bushranger]

((*tweaks above post just a tad to make more sense*

I don't think it would, since the shield is between Reinholdt and Thenadier, not between Thenadier and Lellienth. ))

[Hattish Thing]

Ah. In that case, The crossbow bolt flies through the air aiming for Thenadier's neck. The Inspector tries to use his arm shielded by bracers hidden under his coat to cover his neck. Hopefully the arrow will just hit the bracer instead of sinking into The Inspector's neck. However, Thenadier's shot is completely off target and he shoots a chair accidentally. The Inspector's "cane" flies now back at Reinholdt. Except, that's odd, the tip of the cane morphs and elongates into a spear. Now the cane/spear flies at Reinholdt's chest.

[Reinholdt]

Well Reinholdt's diving to the ground right about now, looking for some cover. Tends to happen when gunshots go off. If the spear moves and actually changes directions and such like I expect it does, and there's no further interference from Lellienth or Erin which I doubt, it will skewer Rein right in the chest.

[Lady Serpentine]

There's no interference from Lellienth, at least; she's quickly recocking her crossbow, which is repeating, with five bolts in it, and, if she's not interrupted in doing that, popping a potent paralytic into a small slot in it, which will apply a dose to each bolt as it's loaded.

[The Bushranger]

Erin, for her part, dives in an attempt to grab the spear!

[Hattish Thing]

The spear is grabbed before it sinks into Reinholdt's chest. Thenadier continues blocking himself with the armor he hides under his coat. Thenadier has not been hurt yet. He points the pistol at Reinholdt right as the spear is grabbed. You! You tried to kill me! I came here to get an autograph! And you attack me! Shame on you! What kind of thing are you! Thenadier holds the pistol at Reinholdt. I'm leaving! You people let me go or I will shoot! All of you are worthless murderers!