V for Victory! (IC)

[The_Snark]

Melusine nods along with the Atlantean princess's points, right up until the last one. "They would not tell us what they know willingly, and I doubt they know much. Better if they never wake at all."

She directs a glare at Jane. "Is that so. I do not recall the Prime Minister giving you command."

[Nintendogeek01]

Though he did not step all the way between Melusine and Jane, Silver Star did put himself in both women's line of sight, "I for one think Jane's idea is worth a try, she's confident in her skills so I don't see the harm in giving her the chance to demonstrate them," he vouched before turning to Jane, "So Jane, I wish you luck, I hope for their sake you can succeed," he told her, albeit there was a grim undertone to his voice as he said that.

[Ridai]

"Of course I don't have the command, don't be stupid, but I'm not hearing any ideas other than not even trying and shooting them, either," Jane hisses back to Melusine.

Jane has no trouble keeping her stare deadset on the serpent lady as Silver Star speaks, only redirecting it to look at the American superhero once he adresses her, followed by a nod. "If no one has any further objections, I am going to work. No interruptions."

[The_Snark]

Melusine bites down on a retort as Silver Star intercedes, glancing at him briefly before looking back to Jane. She tilts her head, not breaking eye contact. "What is this idea of yours?" she asks, sounding a bit less hostile. "You are trying to make them desert?"

[Ridai]

Jane's tone calms in response. "No, I am making them entirely unfit for war and unwilling to talk about us."

[Tar Palantir]

Sparrow speaks up, and her voice is unusually quiet for her, "I share your desire to avoid needless bloodshed, Jane, but I have to ask: how much of your confidence is based on a genuine assessment of your abilities, and how much on a desire to avoid contemplating options you find repugnant? If you fail and they rejoin the fight, will you be able to sleep without seeing the faces of those who die because of your mercy? With few exceptions, there are no bloodless paths in war. War is swimming in an ocean of blood, stretching to the horizon in every direction, where the best you can do is stick to the shallows, swim to shore, and hope to make it there before you drown." As she speaks, she stares off into the distance, giving off a sense of someone much older than her appearance would suggest (much less her true age). "For my part, I would suggest crushing their index and middle fingers, badly enough that they will never regain sufficient use of them to fire a gun. It's the minimum amount of force necessary to ensure they never spill blood again themselves. As of this moment, they know nothing we fear becoming known, save possibly our presence here, and we're collectively about as subtle as a hurricane so I doubt we'll keep that secret for long either way." She pauses and sighs. "That is as merciful as I would dare to be."

[Chivy]

Elizabeth had been uselessly trying to steer the big truck when they were hit by an incoming Atlantian, reflexively compensating for the impact by trying to turn the truck with the hit. It was also useless, and she didn’t like being out of control behind the wheel, but Sparrow did an adequate job of compensating for it. Despite the goddess’ quiet grumbling. She checked the back, and once she was sure that Marina had joined the ‘bus’ she switched off the truck’s lights. No use in telegraphing their presence.
"We are all on board Sparrow, take us to our contact." She yelled out of the window.

The landing proved that the old saying ‘every landing you can walk away from’ was true, and Elizabeth would be lying if she said that the truck being in one piece after the flight didn’t surprise her. Her own experiences with landing things were a lot different.

"Lady Athanasia. It is good to meet you Lieutenant." She introduced herself to their contact, then pointed her thumb over her shoulder, back towards the truck
"We have acquired a few guns, ammunition and other basic supplies if you want them. We will not be needing them."

Elizabeth listened to the discussion about killing the prisoners and a few of the hard-line stances of her companions.
"We... well I am not a coldblooded killer. I will kill when needed, but executing prisoners is not something I want to do or have done for me."
She said making her stance on killing clear.
"I do understand the need for them to be taken out of action though."
"But killing or shattering their bones is excessive. Jane should have a chance to do whatever she needs to do."

Elizabeth looked at the others before she gave them a back-up plan.
"If Jane’s plan does not work, and we need to stop them from pulling a trigger, there is a tendon in the index finger that can be cut with a minimum of pain. It will take them months to recover and only then after surgery. Until that time, they will be almost useless as soldiers."
"I used to be a nurse, so I can cut the tendons cleanly."
"Everybody knows nurses do the real work anyway, not those uppity doctors. All they do is tell nurses to do things that are obvious or have already been done."
She finished her mutter with a quick look of embarrassment, she hadn't planned on saying that. Not that it wasn't true, but still.

[Red_Jenny]

Durant's grim look softens with gratitude, not for the debate over killing the soldiers, but as he notices the collected gear the heroes have stripped off the Nazis. "Thank you, madam. You can trust they will be put to good use." He glances down at the back of his hand, wiggling his fingers in a way that makes the movement of the tendons clear under his skin, and nods gruffly. "That would work. I have a good blade, if you need one." He pats a worn combat knife hanging from his hip, his expression offering the first bit of humor you have seen from the man as he looks over Elizabeth's arsenal's worth of weapons of ancient and modern. "The family who live at that farm are kind souls. I would not see them exposed to more trouble. Leave them at the edge of the woods when you are finished. It is far from anyone their leaders will care to blame, and the common soldiers know better than to come in after us."

[Ridai]

Jane is feeling increasingly out of place in this whole operation. Elizabeth proposing the most merciful alternative at least will save the lives of the soldiers in case she fails and as much as she'd like it to be the case, Jane is not entirely confident in her ability to achieve what she is hoping for. In the previous messes the Spirit got her into, she would never have been in this sort of situation. She nods to Elizabeth, then heads into the truck.

Spoiler: OOC

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Not sure how to play what Jane is planning out. The gist is generally being imposing, telling them that some of her allies want to execute them, and telling them just who they're talking with, the latter banking on her reputation. For example, revealing that she took down the infamous Jagdhund squad, sent Dr. Fürchterlich home crying etc. and implying that she deliberately tracked all those down (instead of the Spirit throwing her at them), so if they plan to harm anyone again instead of going home to their families and their officer vouching for extreme shellshock to the point of being unfit for combat, she will be there and she will mess them up badly (whether or not that would actually happen, she wouldn't want to bet on).

Accompanied by adjusting Right Tool for the Job! to max out her Intimidate and give her Ultimate Effort (Intimidate)

[Chivy]

Elizabeth’s hand slipped behind her into the small of her back and she pulled out her F–S fighting knife, expertly twirling it around her fingers. It wasn’t worn, they hadn’t been in production long enough to have one which could be called ‘worn’, but she held it comfortably, like an old companion.
"Thank you Lieutenant, but I prefer my own... If it comes down to it."

She smiled at Durant when she noticed him looking over the weapons she carried.
"Well, a girl needs to be prepared. And I like things that go bang and boom, so carrying the things that go bang and boom is a necessary burden."
She said by way of explanation, then turned to Sparrow
"Sparrow, when we’re done here, could you fly the truck to the edge of the woods?"
"That will prevent any truck tracks in this area and keep the people here safe."

When Jane nodded to her, Elizabeth tried to give her an encouraging nod back, but she might have looked sympathetic more than encouraging. She knew there was a good possibility that she’d have to maim the soldiers. She could rationalise it as an operation to save their lives, not unlike she had performed dozens of times before, but she hoped Jane would be able to do whatever she wanted to.

[Ridai]

Hero Points: 4
Condition: The night

(I am going to assume that the soldiers know who she is if she tells them her name, and that they have heard of the events she mentions)

The soldiers are awakened by splashes of cold water. Looking around in the dim light, they soon see the huge silhouette against the exit of the back of the truck, recognizing it as the giantess that subdued their entire squad in a matter of seconds. "<Shut up and listen carefully,>" Jane begins in native German, her voice hard, authorative. She knows the tone of an SS officer tightening the proverbial screws, and she seeks to outmatch that while drawing onto something familiar, and something scary at the same time. "<Let me introduce myself. My name is Jane Hale, and you picked a real bad time to piss me off.>" Even in the dim light, Jane sees the recognition in their eyes, and perhaps them swallowing in beginning panic. "<Let me paint a picture of how much trouble you are in. Remember when your precious Jagdhund unit got taken down? That was me. Dr. Fürchterlich running home crying? Guess who made that happen. Thule missing people? I am confident you can figure that out. I am where you people are trying to rise hell. And now, a bunch of grunts I could break over my knee.>" Jane balls a fist casually, but given its size and the context, along with the cracking noise and the silence from her, the soldiers likely don't feel very casual about it.

"<Luckily, you ran into me, and not one of my friends, some of who would love to just kill you and be done with it. You have heard the tales of a monster hunting Nazis in France, yes?>" Jane steps a little to the side, allowing the officer and some others to catch a glimpse of the distant Melusine. After a moment, Jane steps closer, positively towering over them now. "<If you want to get out of here alive and with everything intact, you are going to tell me everything you know about troops in the vicinity and whatever plans of the German army you are aware of. If you are smart and tell me, you will be free to go home to your families. Your officer, of course, will vouch for the extreme trauma combat has caused, making you all unfit for battle. Because if you ever pick up a gun again in this war...>" Jane bends down to them, especially the officer, her voice sharp and quiet. "<I will know, I will be there, and there will be no more mercy.>" Jane lets that sink in for a moment.

"<So what will it be, Kameraden? Die a meaningless death in service of your Führer who cares nothing about you, or go home and be with the family you were forced to leave behind?>"

Spoiler: OOC

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Right Tool for the Job! switched to +8 Intimidate and Ultimate Effort (Intimidate), which is used to get an Intimidate result of 38.

[Red_Jenny]

The captured soldiers have been silent during the ride and subsequent conversation with Durant, not least of which is because many of them were still unconscious. Jane's sharp order snaps them out of their fist-induced slumber. The officer opens his mouth to say something, but before he can get a word out, recognition of who is speaking shuts him up.

Alarm grows into panic as Jane continues to lay out her resume. A couple of the soldiers try to wriggle free, but it's a hopeless prospect wrapped in steel.

Even if the men haven't heard of Melusine, seeing her certainly does the trick. One, a kid who's maybe 18 if he didn't lie about his age, simply starts crying. Another has wet himself. It's clear that this is the first brush with the supernatural for this squad.

The officer nods numbly when Jane lays out what she expects to happen next. These are not diehards or fanatics, ready to mindlessly give their lives for Führer and Fatherland. <"Y-yes. O-of course. Don't feed us to the monster! Please!"> His voice a strained whisper that clearly wants to be a scream, muffled by fear.

It takes the officer several minutes to babblingly lay out everything they know. When he starts to clam up out of reflex, his corporal, a hard, tired-looking man who says he's a veteran of the Poland and Norway campaigns, picks up the slack with a glare at the Lieutenant. It's clear he wants to go home in one piece.

The squad are part of a division based in and around Paris, one of several. Their regiment is garrisoned to the southeast of the city, guarding Fontainbleau, Melun, and the rest of the outskirt towns and villages that aren't quite suburbs. Their misfortune in crossing paths with Jane and the rest of the heroes was pure bad luck, they had no idea the landing was taking place, and had simply been on a routine patrol to keep the roads clear of Resistance activity.

The officer has no real sense of what the greater German Army is up to. Other than dealing with the Maquis, France is a relatively quiet front, used to rest and refit troops from the Eastern Front. The constant rotation of troops in and out of the occupied zone means he's unable to give you an estimate of how many there are in Paris. The answer changes daily. Many thousands, for sure. Beyond that is guesswork.

He judges there to be around 1,000 combat troops occupying the area you've landed in, with an equal number of support and second-line soldiers - clerks, cooks, mechanics, medics and the like. They have small artillery and armor detachments, a modest motor pool, mostly trucks and staff cars, and a sizable stable. Despite what the propaganda reels show, the German army is not a fully mechanized force. The great majority of its troops move on foot, its artillery and supplies towed by horses. A small airfield is crewed by the Luftwaffe. A squadron of fighters stationed there to help defend Paris from Allied attack. In Melun itself, the majority of the soldiers are garrisoned in an old French barracks or the town hall, with smaller groups manning the usual checkpoints and gatehouses on the edges of town, or farmed out to guard and occupy the smaller, more rural settlements that ring the forest. He notes with some envy that the regiment's colonel, a "grim old martinet" named Hugo Illenberger, according to the corporal, uses a small spa in town as his command post, while the division's entire general staff have moved into Vaux-le-Vicomte, a grand and famous chateau a couple miles outside the town.

The Gestapo are active in the area, but he knows little about them, and from his tone it seems he is happy to keep it that way. There are SS formations in Paris proper who occasionally make swings through the countryside on anti-partisan operations.

So far as he's aware, there are no "special" forces in the area. This, of course, runs counter to personal experience, since not 15 minutes before Marina was stabbing a shadow creature. There may be some in Paris, he claims, but he can only repeat wild soldiers' rumors. It's obvious his knowledge of such things is limited at best. The Thule Society has agents in the city, this he is more sure of. A couple came out to look at Fontainbleau Forest, but they apparently found little of "unusual" interest, much as Hambro told you in the pre-mission briefing. Of vampires, the Lieutenant says nothing.

When they have exhausted everything they know, the man tremblingly asks if <"Y-you will let us go? A-as you promised. I swear, we won't take up arms again! P-please!"> You reflect that claiming to be traumatized probably won't be that hard for these poor dopes.

Spoiler: OOC

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So, needless to say, the soldiers can't make that roll. There are PLX characters that couldn't make that roll. They are thoroughly scared straight, and provide all relevant info they have as well.

[Nintendogeek01]

Silver Star isn't versed in German, but based on the sobs and the long string of sentences it sounds like Jane succeeded. Silver Star crossed his arms as he waited, turning his attention to their surroundings.

Spoiler: Perception

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Because why the heck not? (1d20+10)[17]

[Ridai]

Jane listens to everything they have to say, maintaining her tough demeanor. At the end, she raises a hand, probably causing some flinching, but it comes to rest with surprising gentleness on the man's shoulder. "<Yes. There is no reason to be afraid now anymore. We will bring you to the edge of the forest and from there, you are free to go, unharmed, just as promised. Head home to your families, that is where you can do far more good than on the battlefield.>" Jane gets up and exits the truck. "They won't cause any problems and talked. Let's bring them to the edge of the forest and let them go, I'll fill you on what I learned," she tells the others, before heading to check something at the driver's cabin of the truck. Elizabeth (and whoever else cares to look and/or is particularly perceptive) can probably spot the guilty expression on her face after she turns away. That boy crying will stick with her for a long while, and she can only hope the memory will feel less awful with time (and that said time can fix whatever damage she may have caused).

Spoiler: OOC

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Do you want me to paraphrase the information or can we assume that Jane shares it with the others?

[Tar Palantir]

Sparrow walks up to the soldiers, giving the group an appraising eye before approaching the officer. Jane really did a number on these poor bastards. I just hope it sticks. She stares him dead in the eye, not a trace of warmth upon her face, and says, <I do hope that you appreciate the chance you're being given.> She runs the back of one finger down the side of his face, before placing her hand around the metal binding him. <Just remember, mercy once is a blessing, but twice is a mistake.> On that final word, she crushes the bumper in her hand and twists it apart as though it were wet cardboard, letting the remaining metal fall to the earth with a quiet thud. She makes short work of the bindings of the other soldiers; once they are all free she gives them a wide smile that fails to reach her eyes and a finger-wiggling wave that in other contexts might be construed as flirty, but here is equal measures condescending and unnerving. She makes sure that at least one of the soldiers is still present and paying attention when she hoists the truck up into the air with one hand and walks it to the edge of the woods.

By the time she's dropped it off and returned to the group, Jane is in the midst of recounting the intelligence she'd gathered from her little 'chat' with the Germans. Once she's finished, Sparrow frowns. "Not as much to go on as I'd like, but the Thule probably know more, if anyone does, and the limited mechanization is interesting. I'd still like to add 'punched a tank to death' to my resume if we get an opportunity. Heck, I'd settle for 'walked off getting shot by a tank' if we're in a hurry. Either way, not a top priority." She seems rather . . . wired, or distracted, even more so than usual, though without knowledge of her nature (and specifically, her aggression- and violence-encouraging subroutines), it's hard to see how her behavior flows from the situation.

[Ridai]

Jane looks gloomy at the mention. "For the record, I don't want to be shot at by a tank. I've already had a squad shoot at me today, and hit me as well." She retrieves a small notebook from a shirt pocket, showing the bullet embedded in it (and the hole in her shirt). She pries out the bullet, flicks it away, turns the notebook around, and puts it back into her pocket. She sighs. "Let's just... let's just head to wherever you resistance people are and plan how we'll get into Melun."

Spoiler: OOC

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Slight retcon of what happened when Jane was hit. Just having the bullet bounce off didn't really fit, in hindsight.

[tonberrian]

Marina shrugs, and lets Jane do her thing. Judging by the reactions of the prisoners, Jane has this well in hand, and Marina secretly wishes she had that kind of presence when dealing with her home life. She has nothing to add to the conversation, still wondering about the shadow-man but obviously these prisoners know nothing about them. She is ready to follow the rest of the group.

[Chivy]

Jane’s quiet, confident and obviously threatening tone made her a lot scarier than screaming would have. Elizabeth only understood a word or two, it would have to be something that she needed to remedy someday soon, but the German voices from inside told her that Jane knew

either extra scary or the prisoners had caught sight of their reptilian team member. Maybe they spoke bad Latin and worse English and had confused anguis with anguish. She smiled a bit at her wordplay, but didn’t mention it. The others probably wouldn’t understand it. Then again she may be selling them short.

Elizabeth caught Jane’s look, then followed her over to the front of the truck. She hesitated for a moment, she barely reached the woman’s shoulder and it made comforting her slightly problematic. Eventually she slipped her arm around the giantess’ waist and gave her a comforting one-armed hug.
"You did the right thing Jane." she said quietly before releasing the Heroine.

When Jane showed her notebook taking a bullet for her, Elizabeth cast a critical eye at where the bullet would have hit. There was no blood, so she put it from her mind. If Jane needed medical attention she’d ask for it, so instead she agreed with the intrepid adventurer
"I agree, we will avoid the tanks. Until we steal one for our eventual getaway of course."
Then she walked to the back of the truck and pulled out the backpacks holding the weapons and supplies she had packed in them, fumbling with them to try and carry them together with her own expansive arsenal, before giving up and looking up at the others
"Could one of you help me carry these to the resistance hideout?"

[Nintendogeek01]

"Certainly, I'll be glad to carry those," Silver Star said, his own gear of choice from the start of mission fairly light so a few backpacks would not burden him in the slightest; a fact he demonstrated as he loaded backpacks onto his arms one-by-one.

[Red_Jenny]

Once the soldiers have scattered into the night, Durant leads the heroes deep into the forest, a winding path that takes so many twists and turns that eventually only Sparrow has any idea where they are.

"Mot de passe?" A gruff voice calls out of the undergrowth. Eyes catch the telltale glint of a rifle barrel in the distance.

"La liberté ou la mort." Durant dutifully replies. After a moment's hesitation, dim lights begin to light up the woods, revealing several watching silhouettes and the Resistance camp itself. And camp it is; tents, lean-tos, caverns and rifle pits dug into and around the strange rock formations of the forest, every boulder turned into a strongpoint, a collection of natural fortresses cunningly hidden by great constructions of camouflage netting and underbrush. The result is unorthodox, but formidable. To force the Maquisards out, the Nazis would have to bleed a whole brigade dry - or burn the whole forest down.

"Welcome to our temporary home." Durant waves a hand at the camp. "It's not pretty, but it keeps us safe. You can put the supplies in the large tent over there, we will hand them out later. There are empty beds if you want to sleep, food and drink for those who need them. If not, come with me, and we will find you a way into Melun."

Durant leads those who decide to follow through a narrow defile in the rocks, which opens up into a grand sort of half-cavern, tucked under a great granite overhang, nearly invisible from the right angles. It looks to be the command post for the fighters here.

The rock has been hewn and carved to provide a facsimile of civilization. There are shelves and stairs and a few rather immobile desks, and even a couple of chairs, supplemented by actual mismatched and ramshackle furniture, no doubt "liberated" from wherever they can get it. There's a radio set tucked into an alcove in the stone, and a huge oaken table that must have taken six men to drag out here from God knows where, spread with documents and maps.

A pair of fighters are sitting inside, hunched around a small campfire. A dark-haired woman whose "uniform" is nothing more than trousers and a civilian work shirt smiles broadly and elbows her companion, a big, older man with a great bushy beard, in an immaculate but rather threadbare French Army uniform from the Great War. <"Look at them! Lazare found the circus!">

<"They're missing the bearded lady. I'll lend them mine."> He chortles at his own joke.

"Vincent Richard and Nadine Travert." Durant introduces the pair with a weary wave. "Two of my best lieutenants."

Spoiler: Nadine Travert

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Spoiler: Vincent Richard

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<"Has Lazare been telling you he's in charge again? I suppose we'll have to humor him.">

<"We really shouldn't encourage his bad habits like that. Who knows where it will end!">

<"Are you two finished? We have work to do. They're here to fight the monsters. We need to get them into Melun, to investigate, without bringing down a division of Boche on their heads.">

<"With all the supplies we steal, you'd think he'd have found a sense of humor.">

<"That's the problem. The Huns don't have any to steal.">

The two rouse themselves and make the rounds through the heroes, shaking hands, and doing a lot of hugging and poking and prodding and pinching, like a mischievous aunt and uncle meeting the children at Christmas.

"Are you truly..." Nadine searches for a word and comes up empty, settling for flexing her biceps. She sighs. "Parlez-vous français?"

Vincent lights a lamp with a twig from the fire, then uses it light his pipe, which he puffs thoughtfully as he pages through the documents on the big table. Eventually, he finds what he's after and waves you over. "Melun." He taps a finger on a well-worn pre-war Michelin road map of the outskirts of Paris.

The trio crowd around with pencil and pen, chattering animatedly, and have soon laid out the town's noteworthy points for their guests.

"The men from Melun were murdered here. Their meeting place was the cellar of an old watermill. When we found them, we took the bodies and burned them." Durant admits. "We feared the Germans would take them, or that they might... rise again. We have a few of their personal effects, if you wish to look. They told me nothing. Perhaps you will see more."

"This is the home of Sergeant Paul, he was head of the group, and this is one of their safehouses. It was where they were hiding the British officer. Speights, his name was? There may still be something there, I don't think the Nazis are any wiser."

"This is Adam's house. He was the one we didn't find. No body, no note, nothing. He may have died somewhere else, or been captured by the SS or the vampires, or perhaps he betrayed them. Maybe aliens came down and took him to the moon. Who knows, it's just guesswork. He lived alone, so it might be good to look."

"The cemetery. Who knows if it's of any use, but we are speaking of the living dead, who knows anything any more?"

"Out here, the airfield. It's small, but well-guarded. Flak guns. The Luftwaffe don't cause us much trouble, they keep to themselves. They keep a squadron there to bother the bombers when they come for Paris."

"The market, in case you get hungry."

"Nadine..."

"What? They might get hungry. Fighting is hard work. So is sneaking."

"This is the main German barracks. It used to be the officer's school for the gendarmerie, the police, for all of France! They have other little bases scattered around, too many to mark, little guardhouses and watchpoints, mostly on the roads at the edge of town. They shouldn't be trouble for you, but the main nest of vermin, I would stay clear."

"Town hall, here, and the mayor's house. On paper, poor Cyril is still in charge of the town. In practice, he's a prisoner in his own home. I'm sure they'll drag him off to some camp sooner or later. He's a clever man, keeps him ear to the ground. He might know a thing or two if you can get to him."

Vincent scribbles two arrows off the edge of the map. "Vaux le Vicomte. She is beautiful. If you were here on holiday, I would say the chateau is the first place you should go. Now it's full of Huns. And here, Blandy-les-Tours. The old town castle, much much older than the chateau. Now, if I were a vampire..."

"Vincent..."

"What? Vampires live in castles. Everyone knows that. Didn't you have a grandpa to tell you scary old tales? See, and here, the cathedral, in case you need holy ground."

"Enough!" Durant scans the map for what he considers important and adds two final X's.

"The railway station. The men from Melun blew it up a couple weeks ago. The Boche are still trying to clean it up. Might not be much there, but who can tell. Maybe one of you knows how to drive a locomotive."

"The German regiment occupying the town has their headquarters here. An old spa, a resort, near the park. The colonel and his staff stay there while the common grunts sleep four to a bunk in the barracks. He's our next target, if we survive this madness. Not a fool, for all that. Might be worth asking a few questions."

Spoiler: The Map

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Oh hey, I misspelled cemetery. *Eats self in shame.*

"How are you thinking we get them in?"

"Some of them can fly, Nadine." Durant smiles gently, and sure enough, Nadine's eyes light up in astonishment. You get the feeling you're getting asked for a demonstration as soon as the meeting is done. "I'm sure they have their own ideas. They left a German truck near the forest edge, though. Might be useful."

"Or perhaps a boat? The Huns do not watch the Seine as they should. It is simple to come and go by river, so long as you are quiet."

[Ridai]

Jane does not understand anything as the French exchange words in their native language, and when asked if she speaks it, the giantess just offers a helpless shrug and a shake of the head. However, she does offer a smile and handshake, as well as not minding too much when she's having her abs poked or her size gawked about.

As the map is rolled out and the various spots are explained, Jane has to face another harsh truth: things are a lot less straightforward this time around. The mention about vampire habitats does make her look up in consideration, head leaning from side to side. Vampires do have a tendency for showiness, and there have been castles involved in the past.

"I'm liking the boat idea. Hard to say where we might find a lead, so we could start at the safehouse and snake our way up north from there." As she considers for a moment, she tries to ignore the determined sound of drums in the background. "However, I'm not the most stealthy and you already saw my kind of luck. Maybe we should form smaller groups so that in case things go sideways and start to explode, it doesn't happen to everyone?" Immediately after saying that, Jane kind of regrets it. That couldn't have been good for morale, right? It could very well happen, though...

[tonberrian]

"I could swim across easily, even carrying one of you. But I am more skilled at fighting monsters than tracking them down. I leave the decision of where to search to the rest of you.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Hmm... well we should have a look at their personal effects before we go," Silver Star added before staring back at the map. "So where would the Mayor be at this hour?" he asked their newfound allies, "Oh and... does he speak English? I'm afraid I'm not as well-versed in French as I'd like to be."

[Red_Jenny]

"He does, and this late he would certainly be in his home. The Huns only let him out to play pretend during the day, when the propaganda cameras might be watching."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Perhaps, once we've taken a look through the collected belongings we could divide into two teams," Silver Star suggested, looking at the map with a contemplative face, "I'm not much of an investigator but I could speak with the mayor along with two others. The others could inspect Adam Couture's home before moving to inspect the other riverside locations. Does that seem reasonable?" he asked his teammates.

[Ridai]

Jane nods to Silver Star. "It does, and I'd like to volunteer for the riverside route. We should make sure to have someone who can understand German on each team, just in case. Having the information advantage is great, even if it often leads to a false sense of security."

[Tar Palantir]

By the time they reach the resistance base, Sparrow has calmed down from the fight, for the most part. I knew this was going to be tricky, but damn. It's going to be much harder than anticipated to keep myself under control. She shakes her head, dismissing the thought and instead devoting her attention to the resistance fighters. In response to Vincent's joke, she strokes her chin, growing out a beard the spitting image of his own. <Hmm. Not really my look. I think I'll stick with the strongwoman act.> With a shake of her head, she shifts her appearance back to its default state, before offering the two a handshake, taking great care not to break any fingers. <You can call me Sparrow. Love what you've done with the place.>

Once they get down to business, Sparrow turns her attention to the map, committing it and the marked locations to memory and running through possible routes as she speaks. "Two groups would be best. How about this: Team One, consisting of Silver Star, Melusine, and Marina, will head to the Mayor's house and see what he knows. Team Two, consisting of myself, Elizabeth, and Jane, will make a sweep of the murder scene and the homes of Sergeant Paul and Adam Couture. I fully expect at least one of those to be a bust, quite possibly all three, but the smart money's on at least one of them panning out. Each team should follow up on any leads they get at their own discretion, and we'll meet up at the cemetery shortly after dawn. That and the castle are the best bets we have for the vampire's lair, and I'd much rather try to force a confrontation during the day, when we can retreat and regroup with relative impunity should the creature or creatures prove more difficult to dispose of than expected." She looks up from the map at the assembled group and blushes slightly, before adding in a less authoritative voice, "Does that work for everyone?"

[Ridai]

Jane nods, liking the pretty sound procedure. No plan survives contact with reality, but hey, A for effort. "Quite so. Do you think we should radio whenever we are done with a location, or only when we find something?"

[Tar Palantir]

Sparrow smirks. "Depends. Will you keep your radio turned off when trying to be stealthy?" She gives the tall woman a playful shoulder bump. "But seriously, periodic check-ins are probably a good idea."

[Ridai]

"I probably won't be struggling out of a harness and a tree, so I think I'll manage," Jane answers with an "Oh you" expression.