The Darvulian Cartel [Closed Skyside plot]

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty - Tester

Team Amnesty

Tester sits down at the female seating for a minute or two, and then makes to go to the bathroom. Once in, he summons Rush again, although he manages to signal it as it appears so the spirit doesn't give its normal tell-tale bark as it enters the room. Tester gives it a pat on the head and says a few quiet words to it. The spirit nods and fades into the astral plane, going to look about the rooms upstairs for the astral signature of Arthur's sister it was told to find before. With its summoner here, it should be able to identify it this time. He also summons up an air spirit, but that's just to await future orders. He's calling in a lot of favors to get this done.
Well, not quite true. If there's an obvious camera in the room, before anything else he'll make the innocent gesture of waving his head, saying a few words as well, which should fry the circuitry of any normal electronic device. Hopefully they'll just think it's a technical failure.

There doesn't seem to be a camera in the room. Rush explores, but can't find Arthur's sister. She's nowhere on the property, though there are a few feathers in the stairwell that seem to be hers rather than one of the dancers.

Team Amnesty - Krait

Team Amnesty

Aha! That will show the stupid window for daring to fracture Krait's arm! The kobold trudges slowly through the darkness, sneezing along the way. A light switch would certainly help right now, or a map. If he can find a door he'll probably knock on it, to lure someone in he could interrogate in relative seclusion. He might not know where his targets are being held, but the people who work here would surely have some idea where hostages could be kept.

He'll find the door first, and the lightswitch near the door. Knocking on the door brings no one, thanks to a noise muffling potion. Turning on the light reveals the glories of the storage room.

"Hey! Who's in there?" a voice says. If Krait can hear voices through his potion. Ah, it's one of those doors with a frosted glass window in the upper half. Someone saw the light.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

Tester told Rush to check for both hostages, so if the lady isn't here, the spirit-dog will try to see if there's anyone around that seems to be here under duress. He can phase through walls, and the building isn't that big...

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty - Krait

Krait turns the light back off. Guaranteed to get this curious individual's attention now and lead them into the room, and it gives their inevitable scuffle the cover of darkness, once that person is inside. Krait braces himself to tackle the unlucky fool, picking out a landing spot slightly less likely to result in things clattering all over the place and grabbing the attention of everyone in the entire building.

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

Team Amnesty

Tester told Rush to check for both hostages, so if the lady isn't here, the spirit-dog will try to see if there's anyone around that seems to be here under duress. He can phase through walls, and the building isn't that big...

Rush soon reports a young man tied up, covered in sick, in a closet on the 3rd floor.

Team Amnesty - Krait

Krait turns the light back off. Guaranteed to get this curious individual's attention now and lead them into the room, and it gives their inevitable scuffle the cover of darkness, once that person is inside. Krait braces himself to tackle the unlucky fool, picking out a landing spot slightly less likely to result in things clattering all over the place and grabbing the attention of everyone in the entire building.

Sure enough, the door opens, and a uniformed figure enters. Krait achieves complete surprise, tackling her to the ground. I guess I need to know if the noise dampening potion is still in effect and whether it stops her voice from carrying.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

After a few moments Rush returns to the bathroom to make his report. Tester nods and dismisses the spirit-hound, and exits the bathroom, making sure to flush the toilet to be convincing. As he exits, he checks the stairwell to see if anyone at all is actually watching or guarding it.

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

It does. Not for much longer, though, which is why Krait wants this done as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

Team Amnesty

After a few moments Rush returns to the bathroom to make his report. Tester nods and dismisses the spirit-hound, and exits the bathroom, making sure to flush the toilet to be convincing. As he exits, he checks the stairwell to see if anyone at all is actually watching or guarding it.

There is a uniformed person at the door, an androgynous elf who looks too young to be allowed in such an establishment (if there were such a thing as laws in Skyside), but knowing elves, could be hundreds of years old. Their uniform is deep purple with a stylized falcon embroidered in white. They have a glazed look that expresses either extreme boredom or being high.

Team Amnesty

It does. Not for much longer, though, which is why Krait wants this done as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

"Intruder! Help! Intruder!" she tries to yell, without her voice carrying anywhere. She's struggling, and manages to get a hand free with a bully club to try and whack Krait with a few times.

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

"They cannot hear you," Krait explains, as the billy club smacks against his faceplate a couple times. Ugh, bothersome pest. He throws a punch at the captive's shoulder for such arrogance.

"There are prisoners being held here. Tell me where they are, and you will live. I will not ask a second time; there are other guards who might comply faster."

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

Tester makes a subtle gesture, and calls in his second assistant that he'd bound a few minutes earlier. A small air spirit, this one shaped like a nearly-round ball of swirling air and gas, has small stubby arms and legs without much detail, but an expressive face. Well, it's also invisible, as spirits tend to be. The spirit flits over and whacks him in the back of the head. It'll heckle him a few more times before becoming visible and silently laughing at the elf, floating off a bit to taunt it away from the stairs.

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

"They cannot hear you," Krait explains, as the billy club smacks against his faceplate a couple times. Ugh, bothersome pest. He throws a punch at the captive's shoulder for such arrogance.

"There are prisoners being held here. Tell me where they are, and you will live. I will not ask a second time; there are other guards who might comply faster."

The guard, Marissa, hesitates, eyes wide. But it had been her girlfriend, Jem, who had been knocked out and tied up during the prisoners' escape attempt. The angel prisoner had cast an illusion to make herself look like Jem, but when "Jem" didn't recognize Marissa, the ruse was soon discovered. But until they found Marissa, tied up and unharmed, Marissa had been terrified that she'd been killed.

Now Marissa's life was at stake. A life she was starting to realize should be a lot less about work and a lot more about Jem. They could leave Skyside, find someplace safer to live and work. Get married. Have children.

"The boy is still here. The angel was taken away. Boss wants to see how she works. Pleasedon'thurtme - I'll show you where he is!" Marissa says.

Team Amnesty

Tester makes a subtle gesture, and calls in his second assistant that he'd bound a few minutes earlier. A small air spirit, this one shaped like a nearly-round ball of swirling air and gas, has small stubby arms and legs without much detail, but an expressive face. Well, it's also invisible, as spirits tend to be. The spirit flits over and whacks him in the back of the head. It'll heckle him a few more times before becoming visible and silently laughing at the elf, floating off a bit to taunt it away from the stairs.

"Hey! Show's that way, lackwit!" the elf says, pointing in the direction of the performance. Sure, it may be some sort of spirit thing, but it wasn't like Chickadee's discriminated!

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

"Do that." Krait stands, and offers a hand to help the woman up, though he certainly won't hold it against her if she passes up this offer.

"The angel must be freed as well. I can leave a bag of coins under a tree in a park after the mission, if you have information worth the barter." Krait's not about to play the death-threat card a second time, certainly not if he has to continue off-site to rescue the other hostage. It'd be too easy for this guard to just lead him into a trap or send him on a wild goose chase, and by the time he got back here to make good on his death threat, she could be anywhere in the Nexus by then.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

The spirit raises a hand, which grows enough digits to properly give the elf a middle finger, and swats the elf in the forehead with a small blast of air.

If the elf seems thoroughly distracted by this, Tester sees if he can't sneak up and hop over the railing of the stairs, silently ascending them out of view. The spirit is purposely drawing the elf's gaze away from the side he's approaching from. Tester is very good at moving silently.

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

"Do that." Krait stands, and offers a hand to help the woman up, though he certainly won't hold it against her if she passes up this offer.

"The angel must be freed as well. I can leave a bag of coins under a tree in a park after the mission, if you have information worth the barter." Krait's not about to play the death-threat card a second time, certainly not if he has to continue off-site to rescue the other hostage. It'd be too easy for this guard to just lead him into a trap or send him on a wild goose chase, and by the time he got back here to make good on his death threat, she could be anywhere in the Nexus by then.

"If I learn anything," Marissa says. She has no intention of doing any such thing. She's taking her girlfriend and getting the hell off of Skyside. But she does lead him down the hall.

Team Amnesty

The spirit raises a hand, which grows enough digits to properly give the elf a middle finger, and swats the elf in the forehead with a small blast of air.

If the elf seems thoroughly distracted by this, Tester sees if he can't sneak up and hop over the railing of the stairs, silently ascending them out of view. The spirit is purposely drawing the elf's gaze away from the side he's approaching from. Tester is very good at moving silently.

And Tester succeeds in sneaking up the steps.


The team-mates meet up on the third floor, outside the closet. The cowed guard, Marissa, unlocks the door. Inside are a bunch of dance costumes and a tied up teenage boy who is half covered in his own vomit. Wesley blinks at the sudden light, trying to see what's going to happen to him now.

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

"Woman said 'The angel was taken away. Boss wants to see how she works.' There is another building," Krait explains as he steps back to let Tester retrieve Wesley, lapsing back into his usual avoidance of names and pronouns. Huh, odd. Wasn't he speaking somewhat normally a moment ago? I suppose he dropped his persona so he could focus on getting information out of the guard, but now that he's reunited with his comrade, he has to get back in-character and whatnot.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

Tester nods, using a knife to cut the boy's bonds and heading the kid a handkerchief to clean himself up.
"I can get another read with Rush if she's still in Skyside. But this one needs to be brought to safety. We probably ought to get the bike and get him back to base while we wait for Rush's search. Any info on where the other location is?"

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

Wes looks at his rescuers warily as he rubs his ankles and wrists, then struggles not to yelp when the blood returns to them. Marissa is edging back against the wall of the corridor, but Wes recognizes her. She's the one who foiled their last escape attempt. "Where is Tori?" he asks, directing his question at Marissa.

"I don't know. Just get lost before someone else arrives." she says.

He gets to his feet, unsteady between the motion sickness and the lingering pain in his ankles. "Who are you?" he asks Tester and Krait.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

Tester sticks the knife back in its hidden sheathe and smiles to the kid. It's quite the toothy one. "Consider us Arthur's cavalry. Who really didn't talk to him before today but whatever. We need to get you out though while we start looking for Tori. I'm guessing you busted a window, Krait? Probably easier to jump down there than go back out the front." says Tester, seeing if he can't send Arthur a message about having gotten prisoner 1 of 2 while he wonders if Marissa will blow their escape, keeping a finger close to Paragon.

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

"Down that way," Krait points, towards that room he came in through. There's probably still blood on some of those shards of glass.

"Not binding or killing the guard, though. Your choice, not here for shedding innocent blood," the kobold remarks, glancing towards Marissa briefly. It'd be so easy to just stab her right in the heart, but she wouldn't really be so foolish as to draw their ire by making a fuss once their backs are turned, would she?

[happyturtle]

Team Amnesty

Marissa twitches at Krait's words. So he was bluffing before. Well, too late now. She's made her bed. She pulls the closet door closed and locks it again, Wes now on the outside. "I'll lock the storage room behind you. It could be hours before anyone checks, as long as I report back in that everything's fine." That's a veiled threat, but not an unreasonable one.

"Don't kill anyone," Wes says faintly. "But please, can we go?"

Team Bait

Team Bait

The servant's shoulder-holster didn't go unnoticed. Arthur mentally cataloged that information. It would come in handy the instant this went to hell.

Keep her busy. Don't antagonize her, but keep her busy.

"I want them out of your custody and in mine, Elsbeth. I want them free, unharmed, and welcome to go and mind their own business. This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Then I'll come to work for you directly. You've made your point. I should've taken your offer the first time. I get it." He let a tone of desperation sink into his voice, hoping to give Darvulia the impression Arthur knew just how screwed he (and more important, his sister) was if he got too out of line.

He just hoped Darvulia wouldn't do anything to further 'strengthen her position', and hoped that Reyna and the Freaks were in position by now. He couldn't possibly keep this going much longer, not believably. If Tester and the kobold would just report in, this would be over soon enough and he would have Darvulia's head on a pike.

"Honestly, Ms Darvulia, I'm the reason he didn't take your offer," Willow says, improvising a story. "He didn't want me to know he was dealing in weaponry again. Obviously, that's all come out now, and obviously I'm not very happy with him right now." Not much acting required for her to shoot Arthur a dirty look. "But if he's going to do this, then I have to be kept in the loop. So I want to hear exactly what you're offering him - over and above letting my brother go." Willow's stalling for time, as well as hinting that she is willing to cut her own deal for Wesley and throw Victoria under the bus.

Elsbeth takes a sip of wine. "Leaving your lady out of your plans? That was not very gallant of you, Monsieur Rock." Elsbeth begins to go over her original offer again. Willow draws it out by asking questions, and making counteroffers, and hopefully Arthur takes the hint and does so as well.

Did Willow's plan actually work?

Willow is in the middle of going over exactly what she thinks her chemical expertise is worth to a criminal syndicate (rather a lot, when that syndicate deals heavily in drugs, as it turns out), when the message comes through from Tester: Wesley has been rescued. Victoria was taken to an unknown location.

Well, ****... Any chance of getting both of them liberated during a single dinner conversation has pretty much gone to hell. She exchanges looks with Arthur. What do they do now? Bluff it out longer and let Elsbeth keep them in custody? Blow the cover and try and take Elsbeth hostage to exchange her for Tori? If there's a third option, she can't think of it right now, but perhaps Arthur can.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

Tester nods and lets Wes lean on him as he leads him down the hall to the window, helping him move as much as possible and using some rope from his bag to help the kid down without hurting himself. With any luck they can get back to his bike without fuss.

[blackouttwo]

[Team Bait]

Wesley was free. Finally some good news.

But Tori was still in Darvulia's custody. Moved.

Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit-

He tried to keep up with the bluff Willow had in place. A glance to Willow. Worried. Terrified, even. He couldn't hide it.

He had to think fast, before Darvulia suspected something. Turning his head to look back at her, he takes a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself. "Alright, Elsbeth. We've been talking terms, but we don't even have evidence she's alive. You gave us the recording, great, but how do we know you've kept them around past that point? Proof of life, Darvulia, something current, something immediate. Now."

He had to hope she had something. Proof Tori was alright.

Could he even try to pull something if Tori was still in Darvulia's custody?

I might have to. We don't have any other option at this point. She'll find out Wes is gone eventually.

[happyturtle]

Team Bait

"Monsieur Rock, so little trust. Laurent, the phone, s'il vous plait," Elsbeth says. Laurent takes an upmarket phone out of an inside jacket pocket and offers it to Elsbeth, who dials a number in memory. She puts the phone on speaker and sets it on the table as it rings.

The voice that answers is speaking in ... Abyssal? No, not Abyssal exactly, or not exactly the same form of it that Arthur knows. Another dialect? A splinter language? Arthur can only make out pieces of the conversation.

"[Mistress, ... ... I ...?]"

"[I require you --- --- --- half-human --- ---. Make her ---.]"

"[As you desire.]"

Elsbeth smiles at Arthur and Willow. "It will be a brief delay. Have you tried the stuffed figs? I really do believe my chef is ..."

She is interrupted by the sudden sound of someone screaming in pain over the speaker of the phone. Arthur will recognize the voice.

Victoria.

Elsbeth reaches out with one manicured finger and hits the end call button on the phone, her smile widening.

"Alive, as you see. Now, are you ready to sign?"


Team Amnesty

Wes is helped out to the bike. He wishes he wasn't on a floating island. He wishes he knew what had happened to Tori. "Where are we going?"

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

"Back to Arthur and Willow's for now. That's our safehouse while we find you and Tori and Arthur does his thing." responds the Ork.

[Lord Magtok]

Team Amnesty

"Has to be a faster way. Process is too slow, angel is losing time. Can anything expedite the search? Would proximity earlier mean the boy smells of her? Could that smell narrow things down?" Krait grumbles, sure that the clock is ticking down, and unwilling to accept failure. The client must be satisfied, but more important than that, the innocent must be set free. Slavery is a filthy business, and all those who engage in it ought to be put to the sword.

[Deathkeeper]

Team Amnesty

"Hrm. Maybe. Rush!" shouts Tester, causing the spirit to appear with a friendly bark, ignoring the speed of the motorcycle and keeping up easy.
"Give me another sweep. Same target as before. Get her within five minutes and I'll double your pay."
The spirit dog barks and vanishes. Tester chuckles.
"Good old dogs. Never realizes that I don't pay him."

[blackouttwo]

[Team Bait]

Arthur's blood ran completely ice cold.

They were hurting Victoria. For what? To demonstrate their superior bargaining position?

This was his fault.

All of this was his fault and Darvulia was just rubbing it in.

And all the while, Vice whispered at the back of his mind, urging him to take action. To punish the people responsible. To make them hurt. To kill them in a painful manner. It was tempting. A little too tempting to ignore. He tried to steady his breathing. He tried not to show that he was already on the verge of tears. None of this was ever supposed to happen.

He thought as quickly as he could, processing information as much as his mind could recall relevant facts. There was a way to get Tori out of this, but it hinged on a vital bargaining chip, and this meeting was going to be their only shot at getting it. His eyes blazed with a calm rage as he looked to Willow, then back to Elsbeth. "Alright. Nice to see you and your people enjoy torturing defenseless college students, Darvulia. I really need to wonder where this fits into your grand vision." His tone took on a heavy element of desperate, angry sarcasm as he slowly let his hands fall beneath the cloak - concealed, but not blatantly so.

If we can take Darvulia captive, we can bargain for Tori's release.

The thoughts of him and Willow being ruthlessly gunned down the instant they made a move went ignored.

[Darkcomet]

[Team Carnage]

Suddenly, hovercycles.

Now, this bears some explanation. Say, for example, that you had recruited a maniac who actually used a deathtrap of yours, against all sensible caution, due to some fancy temperature powers for this job, and feeling quite reasonably that you would need the firepower, you have her and this other cyborg bastard to act as an attack team. But then these maniacs stop for a moment and realize that there is a problem with this plan: All this stuff is going on indoors, and they can't get their heavy firepower in so easily.

So they decide to make one, by having the aforementioned maniac with a hoverbike soar out from behind some other buildings, dive towards the restaurant, and blast a hole in the front with a heavy gauss cannon the length of the vehicle it's mounted on, with some secondary heat blasts following it as the temperature-manipulating madwoman diverts the excess heat to make the hole-blasting even nastier.

And that isn't even the end of it, because they decide to immediately follow this up by...

[Lost_Deep]

Team Carnage

...ramming a spined and overtorqued pickup truck into the building.

The thing may have started life as a respectable heavy-duty pickup, but several layers of paint, crude spikes, and performance add-ons make the vehicle itself just as frankensteinian as the people in it. After the truck plows through the rubble, the man in the back stands up. The man with guns for arms.

The guns are really obvious and large, especially given that he immediately starts hosing the entire restaurant down with them. Bullets and rapid-fire laser blasts streak everywhere, especially at people standing around. If Arthur and Willow are obvious, they will be casually not bathed in fire, but... anything else, and everything else, is fair game.

At the same time, other freakshow members drive up to surround the building, to make sure that getting out isn't easy.

[blackouttwo]

[Carnage In Progress, Please Hold]

Arthur had a few pet peeves.

One of them was when Willow took his stuff. Wore his shirt, smoked his cigars, and so on. It was annoying.

Another pet peeve was when the hired help couldn't follow simple instructions like 'shove the guns through the portal fabric first, and then shoot up the place.'

This was a step further than annoying. It was like being served an undercooked steak. It was like being forced to wait an hour for the explicit purpose of being served an undercooked steak. An undercooked steak with a wilted side salad, and a bread roll hard enough to break teeth on when you bit down.

It was downright insulting.

Arthur was going to have some words with the Freakshow's leadership. Words to the tune of 'I will ****ing murder you if you **** up like this one more godsdamned time.'

Assuming he lived through the next five minutes.

Speaking of which, there were bigger concerns at the moment. Like finding cover.

"MOVE!" Grabbing Willow by the arm and pulling her in the direction of some nearby pillars big enough to grant them some temporary cover, just enough to last the next few minutes, Arthur muttered a quick shield spell, just enough to keep Darvulia's men from mowing them down immediately. "Idiots! They didn't send the weapons through first!"

Peering around the pillar to get a quick look at Darvulia and her men while the Freakshow shot the place up, Arthur tried to keep to cover as much as possible. This wasn't going to be quick or clean. "Looks like this is gonna get bloody. You ready?"

'Bloody.' Understatement of the century.

[happyturtle]

No more tags needed, at Teams Bait and Carnage have now arrived in the same timeline

Willow hears the screams. Hears Arthur's words. Tenses, reaches for his hand, expecting a handgun to be placed into it. We should have thought of this. Should have drilled... so many ways this could go wrong....

And then she's being hustled away into cover, and there isn't a gun after all, and that was one really bad way for it to go wrong.

Bloody. No weapons, no armour, no protection at all from friendly fire. Chances were not looking good that they were getting out of this alive. This wasn't like the Not-Yakuza incident at all.

She does a quick check with herself. Regrets? Yeah. That she hadn't gone to Wendy's last cricket match. That they hadn't gotten Tori back. Her dad... No, she couldn't think about her dad, and how he'd cope with his favourite child being gunned down. She clears her mind, and forces a smile.

"Ready, Tiger."


Meanwhile, Ivy (the Willow lookalike) and Laurent (who has been acting as waiter) hear the gunfire and both instantly drag Elsbeth from her reclining position and towards the rear exit, using their bodies to provide cover for their Mistress, and drawing their guns as they move.

The other guests / mooks / guards will be played by blackouttwo, who agrees that I owe him one.