IC: Dawn of the Artifacts., In Character Thread. Options

[pbangarth]

>>Dartha may have a point. Influence could work better after something like this.<<

Something about the torture makes Hodder feel uneasy. Yes, the elf was trying to kill them. But now.... helpless before them all... this seems, excessive. He wonders what would cause a young woman to want to give pain like this. It's not natural.

"Places you are going, Simon, dangerous they are. To your body, perhaps... but more to your soul. Many who walked this road, fallen have they."

[SincereAgape]

Dartha feels the spell drop whether she did so on her own accord or not. Jane steps in between Dartha and the sniper.

"Back off Dartha," Jane does not look pleased, "I think you made your point."

The man on the ground begins to breath heavily and cower. The pain he was experiencing was not real, but nonetheless the effects were done. Everyone notices that the man is open for interrogation. He does not have the willpower or desire to resist.

[Kerenshara]

Dartha inclines her head towards Jane and steps back out of her way. "As you wish."

"She's got to be Awakened!" Dartha thinks to herself in surprise while keeping a completely straight and impassive face. "And very capable at that. Useful to know. I feel a lot better about taking orders from her now, though."

[Chrysalis]

Vera looks at the man and at Dartha at her enjoyment. "Dartha, stop it. Just stop it."

She ignores whatever sounds may be coming from Dartha and looks at the sniper.

"Are you okay?"

She eyes the rest of the group like badly behaving children. There was no weakness there, but a very assured expression behind her eyes. She took a cup of water from the galley and helped him drink a bit of it.

"Now," she said firmly, "tell us why were you shooting at us. No lies, just the truth." She let her eye move to Dartha. "And I think you should answer quickly for both our sakes."

[I rolled negotiation of 27 dice with 12 hits. Sorry but invisible castle is down.]

[pbangarth]

"Interesting. I didn't counter the spell. Dartha would keep it going for quite a while, I bet. And Jane's comment seemed to be in synch with the spell coming down. Yet at the first meeting, she seemed mundane to me. I wonder."

Hodder opens his senses to the astral and looks at Jane closely, again.

[ Spoiler ]

Assensing: INT 4 + Assensing 1 + active looking 3 = 8 dice. Hodder is a Level 1 Initiate if it matters.
==> What the hell is the matter with Invisible Castle? Seems like every other time I try to use it, it gives me a server error. I will keep trying.

[SincereAgape]

[Spoiler for Belloq]

[ Spoiler ]

She still looks mundane to you.

The man looks up Vera. Still silent, but shaking tremendously. He nods to your response, acknowledging that he heard Vera's question. He leans against the plane, and then looks up before speaking..

"I was hired yesterday by an elf. SHE told me that there would be a plane matching this plane's description, landing on the Tarmac around the time you arrived. I was to try and kill her..."

He lifts a finger up, pointing it at Jane.

"But I couldn't resist shooting the trog. And then I saw the sniper rifle pointed at me, so I decided to attack her first."

[pbangarth]

Hodder can't resist. "Lucky for your target that your unprofessionalism allowed your prejudice to win out."

[Chrysalis]

Vera held him by the face, looking the sniper in the eyes. "Who was the elf woman who hired you? What did she look like, was there anything distinctive about her? Were you the only one who was hired?"

[SincereAgape]

The sniper looks at Hodder as if he wanted to spit at the dwarf, before Vera grabs his face.

"She had red-hair. Curly red-hair. That's a rarity amongst your kind, isn't it?" He shakes his head. "No. I don't think anyone else was hired."

[Mister Juan]

Back on the plane, and back in the air. We're barely up for a few minutes that our new guest starts to fucking get it. And he gets it bad. The way she behaves, if Dartha was a guy, she'd have a raging hard on right about now. At least, thats what I get from the look on her face. Its not so much what she's doing that bothers me. Far from that. It's the pleasure she seems to be getting from it, and the fact she didn't even consider anything else.I grab the seat closest to the door.

Nevertheless, I don't feel like getting involved all that much. The guy's an ennemy combatant, and we got to treat him as such. Doesn't mean we've got to torture him tho. I rest my rifle agaisnt my seat, and I start swapping bullets in my revolver. I ain't likin the idea of having to shoot anyone inside the plane, but if I got to pull the trigger, I'd rather not decompress the entire thing.

For second, I almost get up to intervene. The treatment this guy is getting is harsh as hell. If we fuck him up too much, there's no telling what he'll start making up. Vera beats me to it, and gets a bit in Dartha's face. When things finally cool down, the Deputy goes back in its holster. There ain't much I can do at this point to help out, so I go round back where the luggage is, with the firm intent to gear up. Fuck comfort. I won't feel at ease until I'm well inside a tac vest with 600 rounds of ammo.

[Chrysalis]

Vera continued to look the man in the eyes. Making sure he could not see the rest, "I want you to describe her, down to the last detail. Every movement and pose, anything you can think of."

"What do you call yourself? My name is Vera."

[SincereAgape]

"Bunker."

He continues..

"The woman is Mediterranean with fiery red hair. I'd say around 5'8. She was dressed very sharply, black business suit and skirt over a white blouse. She was wearing shades. We met at a coffee shop. She came alone. The pay was okay, she knew I needed the money so I took the job. That's all I remember. Said she would contact me in by the end of the week if the job was done correctly. Half up front, half upon completion."

Jane takes her eyes off of Dartha for a brief moment to listen. Shaking her head.

"The description means nothing to me. I'll go through my footage of Lockwood to see if anything with her description is associated with him."

Digits broadcasts his image over the cabin's monitor.

"Asante. Estimated Time of Arrival is 20 minutes. Get ready to strap yourselves in."

[Chrysalis]

Vera helps Bunker into a seat and straps him down. She moves to an adjacent seat, well outside of his grasp if he should try something stupid during the landing.

[pbangarth]

Hodder sits in one of the seats at the front of the cabin that face backwards. He straps himself in, watches the cabin as a whole, still open to the astral, and waits for landing.

[Kerenshara]

Dartha seats herself and buckles in, turning the chair to face the captive, but she remains passive and simply watchful as she was instructed.

[Karoline]

Everyone seems very distraught by what Dartha did. Me, I didn't move. It seemed as if I wouldn't get to take a second shot. I don't really feel anything as the man is tortured, it seems... somehow unreal. Maybe it is the thought that he is 'lucky to be alive' in the first place, maybe it is because he tried to kill me, but maybe it is something entirely different, something from my past. I catch small glimpses into my own personality from time to time, like how I dislike missing so much, but there is still so much hidden.

At Digit's warning that the plane is about to land, I pull out my backpack, disassemble my rifle, and stow it orderly in the bag. I could have done the whole thing in a few seconds, but I take my time, and make sure the pieces are put away properly so they'll be easy to reassemble when I need them. I figure I'll likely put them back together once we've landed, I just don't want the gun to go flying if we get jarred on the landing.

"So what are we going to do with him when we land?" I ask. I'm not apprehensive about what will happen, just curious. I'd like to hang onto his gun. It might be a bit easier to carry around than my own if I need to travel light.

[DigitalOYABUN]

Jack sits silently in his chair using AR to type out commands in his programming suite, but his attention is elsewhere. The ruse is to remain looking like he isnt observing everyone, but he gleans from the time spent in observation that they are professional, but not cohesive.

...not an established team, an assembled one.

[pbangarth]

Hodder catches Jack's attention once again. "So, Jack, how about those Seattle Mariners?"

[DigitalOYABUN]

Jack stops his phantom typing "Phhhhffftttt! The Mariners? I prefer the Cardinals anyday, yeah a few bad seasons is no reason to jump ship, eh?"

[SincereAgape]

Monday, April 9th, 2072, 0815. Accra, Asante nation, Nigeria.



Jane makes her way over Texas Jack and Hodder before strapping herself in for the landing. She pats the two runners before smiling.

"Let's go Yankees."

[Spoiler for Belloq.]

[ Spoiler ]

When you assessed her before. You did notice three pieces of jewelry on her that emitted strong magical energy.
1. Necklace.
2. Bracelet on left hand.
3. Ring on left hand.

Since Hodder took part in the battle in Cairo. He will not be able to 'heal' in Accra. Sorry.

Jane looks back over at the sniper. And addresses Hawkeye.

"I am not entirely sure at this point. Hodder or Dartha, do you have any way to wipe this man of his memories? Otherwise we'll bring Bunker with us to Lagos, then we'll figure out something to do with him. Dexter, would you mind helping Vera keep an eye on him?"

The flight touches down upon a well-maintained runway, and taxis to a simple by well-maintained single story airport. When you get off the plane, your luggage is waiting for you. Digits and a few members of the ground crew, place your items on the ground. Jane walks into the airport terminal.

Looking around, you see that Accra is a metroplex, but at a smaller scale. There is no smog, factories, etc. There are a few high rises in the distance, surrounded by poor residential houses. The tallest structure belongs to Aztechnology. It seems the corporations influence is everywhere.

When you enter the terminal. It looks like it is an isolated terminal gate area away from the rest of the airport. There are only seven gates in this section. You can see from end to end. There are a few metahumans waiting for their flights, but not that many. There is a small stuffer shack shop in the center.

Janes goes up to the airport security, under the protective eyes of four heavily armed border guards, fusses over her travel documents and licenses. The guards point her down the terminal. At the end of the terminal, there is a sign that says "Lagos" over it. She makes her way over to the gate. There is an armored guard standing there. Jane begins to speak with him.

"Going to Lagos?" He says in English.
Jane nods.
"There's a travel tax for each of you."

Janes sighs and turns to all of you. "I'll take care of this," she tells you. "Go Ahead if you can see our pilot. Goes by the name of Innocent Dobiri. He's supposed to be waiting for us. Tell him Black Mamba vouched for us."

[Kerenshara]

Dartha makes a point of carefully scanning her surroundings before leaving the plane. She is concerned that Jane doesn't seem to have learned a single lesson from the airport in Cairo.

[SincereAgape]

[When and if you guys decide to listen to Jane, and go through the gate to Lagos. Here is what you see.]


You walk into the open fresh air.

The waiting area opens out into a private runway. One the runway is a small airplane. At least you THINK it's an airplane. You saw something like it once on a historical trid. It has dual propellers and a rusted airframe, and looks like it should have been scrapped before in 2040. A rail-thin African man is leaning against it, smoking. When the team approaches, he carefully looks at all of you ---- and the luggage and equipment you guys have. You see a few flakes of rust drift to the ground when he pushes away from the plane to speak to you.

"I hope you don't think you'll be fitting all of those items onto my plane. I have medical supplies to deliver to Lagos, and we're not going to be able to carry everything. Everyone has room for one carry on-item. And that's it."

[Kerenshara]

Dartha looks at the aircraft and uses all her talents and power to resist gaping in disbelief.

She thinks to herself incredulously, "You came in THAT thing?! You're braver than I thought!"

[SincereAgape]

Innocent Dobiris grins. As if he was reading Dartha's mind.

"Don't worry. I'm the best pilot in Lagos. The rust on the plane is just camouflage, and she's got character. There are no other flights to Lagos. I'm it."

You look around, and see no other planes in this area. It looks like he is right.


"Now about your luggage...."

[Karoline]

Jane seems to be determined to play decoy by getting out of the plane first, seemingly without even glancing to make sure no one is pointing a gun at her. Seems she plans on making us earn the payment to keep her safe. I exit the plane following Dartha, the detached scope of Bunker's rifle getting used to give the surrounding area a quick scan, attention paid to potential sniper nests.

Seeing nothing, I continue on behind Dartha. I have Bunker's rifle on my back, and the extra weight is making walking a bit harder than it should be, especially as I have to pull along my baggage as well. Jane seems secure enough here, telling us to go on ahead. It would be a real pain getting transport back to Seattle if she were to get killed, but still, I leave her be and go on ahead to the plane.

The plane looks like it'd be lucky to survive taxiing off, much less a flight anywhere. Still, I don't look much like I could handle my barrett, but I manage well enough.

Someone could have told us about this before we left Seattle. I think to myself, giving a sigh at the man's instance that we only get to bring a single bag. Well, I suppose Pope will finally get his wish to see what exactly my equipment is. I drop my backpack on the ground next to my larger suitcase, opening both. "Medical supplies?" I look at him disbelieving. Lagos is a port city, why would they be getting medical supplies from a defunct plane like this?