Serious Plots 6: Srs bsns

[FireFox]

[Ballroom]

"You came to kill us." The wizened old man waves his staff and a burst of gale-force wind threatens to buffet Quinn and Reinholdt away from him. "Yes, we have captured your assassin. Cowards, sneaking in to kill children that never threatened you! Many lives will be saved by taking yours."


[Front Hall]

Carrie's blow connects with a bone-crunching... um, crunch. At least it's a reliable sound? Pulping something nasty's skull never let anyone down before. But this dead head starts rapidly decomposing as well. After the blisters popping up through the scales comes the breakdown of tissue into the thick green gas. The other one doesn't quite have the reach to strike her again and sways back and forth in a hypnotic pattern, fangs bared as it waits for her guard to lower.

Linda slashes one of the heads that had just missed Arlem. Unless I misunderstand the nature of her weapon, the entire head is destroyed and cannot break down into that noxious gas. The last head feints a lunge at the shapeshifter, but twists in mid air and tries to bite the vulpine soldier on the wrist.

Now Linda and Arlem are on the far side of the hydra, closest to the stairway, and Carrie is still on the side closer to the front door. The green smoke starts diffusing away from the killed heads of the hydra in the center of the room. That should start irritating the eyes, nose, and throat of anyone breathing it in. Chemical burns on the skin and damage to the lungs should be the next steps for anyone remaining in the toxic cloud without appropriate countermeasures.

"Uh, copy that," comes over the communicator. "We're not seeing any attempts to escape, unless they're slipping out a window on the opposite side of the house from us. They might be barricading themselves up with the hostages somewhere."

[Fenric]

[Front Hall]

Linda's eyes water up and she immediately sneezes several times in the convulsive nature of canids as the gas irritates her sensitive nose

No fair!

Convulsive sneezing is not condusive to dodging, and she is bit!

YIP!

[The Bushranger]

Ballroom

Rein catches up! Is that Quinn? Wow. She definitely looks better than Reinholdt remembers. Maybe it's the angle.

"Hey Quinn!" Rein kitty, stop being all distracting in a middle of a tense moment between a druid and a paladin.

Speaking of the druid, "Excuse me sir. Have you seen an assassin around? Around yay high?" The cat elevates to about where Kyne's head would be.

"You came to kill us." The wizened old man waves his staff and a burst of gale-force wind threatens to buffet Quinn and Reinholdt away from him. "Yes, we have captured your assassin. Cowards, sneaking in to kill children that never threatened you! Many lives will be saved by taking yours."

"I came here because I heard people dying," Quinn retorts, driving her sword into the ground for a moment to balance herself against the blast of wind!

As she gives thanks for magical sharpness preservation.

...aaaaaand reaches out to grab the poor kitteh before he gets blown away.

Which means he's now snuggled against her side. Putting his head right about-

"Fancy meeting you here!" she says, more cheerful than necessary, perhaps! Before looking back to the druid. "Perhaps everyone should stand down and explain themselves!"

[Beans]

[Front Hall]
Poison gas? Thanks, Boudica. Why don't you just take a big crap in Carrie's dinner while you're at it?
She takes a moment to infuse herself with a pulse of deathly Essence; her pale skin turns a more ashen grey, and if that hydra has thermal pits, it'll feel her body heat dropping---to help protect herself against the gas, she's becoming more... corpsey.

And then Linda gets bitten, and that's just great. By which Carrie means it's terrible, she hates it, and she hates this terrible snake thing. She draws back her instrument for another murderous chord, wanting to get herself and Linda the hell out of here ASAP.

[Reinholdt]

Ballroom

"If it's all the same to you, I'd-" Yeah, Rein is generally pretty vulnerable to directed gusts of wind when he's being cat. Thankfully Quinn is there to keep him safe. Right there. Keeping him close. And removing his focus. "Uh... whatever she said, yeah."

[Shadowcaller]

[Rivi Des]

Holding onto Obriane's hand, Kitty is just about torn to the ground with her. The kitsune reacts quickly and thrusts out her hands. From it pours a fountain of white fire. It washes over the two on the ground, but while Obriane will only feel uncomfortably warm, her attacker will feel it like real fire.

[Rivi Des]

The creature hisses and gibbers incoherently as the flames washes over it, but the next moment it's standing in-front of the door, with it's back turned to Obriane's terrified parents. "D-d-die! There have to be some justice!" It utters in a child's voice ready to break into a cry.

Then it seems to grow in size as it extends it's heads in Kitty's direction, trying to knock her prone.

[Recaiden]

[Front Hall]

Linda, l-
Oh. Poor fox. Didn't really have a chance to get away from that one.

Arlem chops down at that extended head, hoping to take it down quickly and spring back to the stairs, away from whatever toxic gas that is.

[Gullara]

[Rivi Des]

When the monster lunges at her, it'll suddenly find its targets have multiplied. One Kitty stands defiantly facing it, the second turns and runs to the side, and the third crouches down next to Obriane. It's the last one, the true Kitty that speaks hurriedly. "Hurry hurry, you have to get up!"

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Wenomir leads Anika to the address Jay had given him. He's in high alert mode, but it's doubtful anything will jump them just yet... or is it?

[Shadowcaller]

[Rivi Des]

Obriane is already getting up, but as she sees the spirit attacking the Kitty-clones with it's many heads, she appears to hesitate. Just what was she going to do against this thing? it was far stronger than any other spirit she had ever encountered. She looks at Kitty for ideas, pulling her knife out of it's holster. She wasn't sure if going in melee with this thing was such a good idea, but what else could she do? Her bow didn't seem terrible effective here.

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Anika seems a lot more relaxed than the warrior, strolling along, watching the various sights of the city as she go by. It might seem ordinary to others, but to her this area was rather fascinating. It didn't look at all like the cities back home.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

The apartment looks like many in this part of the Red Zone. Crumbling brickwork coated in moss and mold, cracked or broken windows, and a door that looks like it has been knocked off its hinges or broken several times, and then clumsily repaired. At the moment, it seems that the approach of the two Vigilants has gone unnoticed. There don't seem to be any guards or lookouts posted. In fact, the apartment would otherwise appear to be totally abandoned. Only the dull flickering glow and occasional flashes of multicolored light coming from an upper window hint that something nefarious is going on.

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

"We probably shouldn't bust in through the front door," Wenomir observes, and looks at the window. Is it big enough for him to get through?

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

"I could turn into a cat and sneak scout the premises, but maybe the more mundane method would be more effective now." Anika remarks as she seems to have figure out what Wenomir is looking for. "It's up to you. We can always do both." Just no cat-girl jokes.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

The windows are certainly big enough for a person to fit through, and a couple of them on the ground floor look to have been the preferred entry of thieves in the past, despite having been barred against such. One particular window has had several bars cut away and the window broken to allow a thief entry. However, the thief seems to have been much smaller than Wenomir. He'll have to do a bit of glass breaking himself, in order to make a bigger hole, and will have to take off his sword any other bulky gear in order to get past the gap in the bars.

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

"We'll see when we're inside," Wenomir says, before getting to work on entering. He uses an adamantine knife to cut the hole bigger, and then takes off his two belts, sheathed sword and overcoat. Holding them in his hand, he squeezes through the opening.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

"I'll be right behind you then." And so the druid will climb in after Wenomir, despite being taller than him she could probably squeeze past once he cut the hole bigger.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

The two of them will find themselves in the bedroom of an abandoned apartment. It looks to have been abandoned for quite a while, judging from the thick layer of dust that has built up on the empty bedframe and the top of the dresser. Should they venture out into the main room of the apartment, they'll hear the sound of some man humming tunelessly in the hallway outside.

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

Wenomir puts his gear back on, and presses his back to the wall next to the door. He listens in, trying to make out anything else, and motions with his head to Anika. She can find out more, probably. He hardly makes a noise as he moves - surprising for someone with his size and equipment.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartments]

Anika leans in close to listen as well, if her stupid oversized ears were good for anything, it would be this. It would almost make up for all the times they got into her way, or made her adjust her clothing for them, almost.
If not she could try to shapeshift into a cat and sneak even closer, a mouse would be better but there were some limits to what she could do.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

There seems to be three people in the hallway outside the door. One (the hummer) is standing right outside the door, presumably keeping watch on the front. Two seem to be playing cards quietly further down the hall.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Anika shares this information to Wenomir only using her fingers, pointing in the directions and then raising as many fingers as there are guards there.

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Wenomir tries to open the door quietly. If he manages to do so, he'll leap through, trying to grab the guard by the face from behind, stifling any sounds he could make, and run him through with the Answer. He wills the sword to deal non-lethal damage for now. If he goes unnoticed, a living captive will be more useful. It makes the weapon pass through its target, inflicting stunning and weakness proportional to the damage it would otherwise inflict.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Opening a door silently is an iffy proposition in an apartment like this. Luckily, he seems to be spared the humiliating prospect of the door simply just falling off its hinges, but it gives a noisy shudder when it opens. Wenomir is quick enough to subdue the red-robed cultist standing directly in front of him, but it seems the noise of the door has alerted the two card-playing ones further up the hall. Wenomir can hear the creak of chairs being pushed back as they stand, and footsteps as they come to investigate!

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Robes, why was it always with the robes? People seemed to be dressed in far more practical clothes around here, so unless those clothes were magical or something, she had no idea why every cultist she met insisted on having exactly the same fashion sense.
Anika creeps down on all four, ready to charge in as it appears the time for subterfuge was over. The cultists just needed to come out and they'd have a bear in their face...

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Wenomir pulls the unconscious cultist with him into the room as he hides behind the door-frame. All this stealth will be blown in a few moments, but any confusion he manages to sow is valuable. They don't have much information about those cultists, and the warrior wants to find out more.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

The two cultists step into view. They're pretty similar to the one that Wenomir just dispatched, what with their heavy red robes that conveniently serve to cover any other distinguishing features, thus eliminating the need to describe them further. Whoever runs this cult must shop in bulk for those. Perhaps the money spent on those fancy robes might have been better spent on things like weapons, however. One of them is wielding a crude wooden club, the other one of those cheap replica katanas you can buy in a mall. Upon spotting Anika they raise their weapons and charge, yelling bloody murder.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

As soon as the cultists come into view Anika turns into a huge bear and with a speed that shouldn't be allowed for such a large creature, she charges right at them with a terrifying roar and open maws. She aims to simply trample over them and knock their weapons out of their hands with her claws, her teeth, or the full force of her body.

[Morty]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

Well, so much for subtlety. Wenomir gets out of the room again, just as the cultists would get past it, and swings his sword in an arc calculated to neatly decapitate one of them.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

At the sight of the giant godsdamned friggin' bear charging at them, the two cultists stop just short of Wenomir's entryway and turn tail and run, heading for the stairs. Whether this puts Anika in the path of Wenomir's sword I leave up to the players.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dilapidated Apartment]

I believe Wenomir had activated the non-lethal function of the sword, but if he does hit the bear, he will find it's fur far more sturdy than fur has the right to be. A accidental cut of the sword won't even make a flesh wound. While she would likely feel the cut, the bear is still charging after the cultists, Anika really enjoyed this part.