Behind the Crown [IC], Behind the crown are shadows Options

[Koekepan]

Connor has a fair degree of latitude in terms of coming and going, because who else in that location would be able to know what he was really up to? All he'd have to do is mumble something about a post-cleanup inspection or orichalcum residue or something, and as long as he weren't obviously setting dynamite charges, nobody would be likely to challenge him.

It's just the nature of the job.

[ntwi]

Carlos starts doing some rough math in his head. +++ Let's see, 60 seconds to the office, 2 minutes to write a quick script, two more minutes to the lab, five through the pipes, another couple to exit the tank and get to the woods. That's about 15, and then another 30? to get down the hill quietly to a nearby road? That's gonna be the hard part, I drive or fly not walk normally, and with a dwarf?+++

<<<45 should be fine. No need for heat on this one omae>>

[Koekepan]

Vigo responds to Carlos with:

<<<On my way. Let me know when you have an exact location. By the way, what happen to your wheels? Gutterball them running from the last squeeze you ditched?>>>

The hallways aren't entirely deserted yet; there are a few people still clearing the decks around the drekkers, including a few of the tech team who are scrubbing off some face sweat after being in those bunnysuits for the last three hours. Carlos can still see through one of the viewing windows how their last guy is closing the trash chute hatch and hanging up the big bulkhead wrench. Not technically necessary for a big, beefy ork, but it helps a lot for the smaller team members. Of course, it's heavy enough that the big, beefy ork is more comfortable carrying the thing, but ain't that the way it goes?

The music from the kitchenette speakers fades as Carlos walks down the hall, but not entirely; it must be on the overhead announcement speakers as well.

[Koekepan]

Carlos can quickly turn in at his office. Nobody else is there, except for a Connor trailing in his wake. There's nothing to hack, and no complex work to execute here; all he has to do is to put those cameras controllers into test mode, and rerun the same window of time over and over again. One second here, one second there and ...

yup! All done. Three naked trolls could cavort down there with a dragon's egg and nobody watching the video streams would be any the wiser. Every camera between his office and into the lab is now useless for creating a track record, or revealing the current state of affairs.

[pbangarth]

"""OK, Carlos. My turn. I'll see if I can conjure up a spirit to make us less noticeable."""

Connor takes a deep breath. Daytime magic is tricky for a follower of Owl. He does a little meditation trick to empty his mind, opens his perception to the astral, and concentrates on the, I don't know, 'soul' of this place. ::: Spirit of this place, come now, I ask service of you. In the name of Owl, I summon you. :::

He feels energy flow through him, reminiscent of the flow of bio-sludge through the tubes. In the astral a form appears, like a table or bench formed of pipes and slabs of ferrocrete.

::: I am here, servant of Owl. You ask, I will do. :::

Connor feels the tug of the energy on his mind, trying to numb him. He pushes back with his mind until the tug ceases.

::: We travel from this place to elsewhere in the building. Turn the eyes of others away from the two of us. Let them not see us. Do so until I ask you to stop. :::

::: I will do. :::

The spirit materializes in Carlos' office. """ Hold still, Carlos. It's alright. """ The spirit waves one leg at the two men and a faint green aura envelops them, fading immediately. The spirit returns to the astral plane.

"""Ready to go, then. """

[Koekepan]

The spirit doing its thing, it's easy enough to slip back out to the rest of the office. A few stragglers are still walking around, but nobody pays the least bit of attention to Carlos and Connor wandering down to the R&D production floor.

The spirit leaves once they move from the carpeted office to the different environment, but by now they're alone. All the technicians have already gone to scrub up for cake. Their respirators and bunnysuits hang neatly in a row on the wall, ready for the next shift. The viewports on the fermentation tanks show that everything has been sprayed down and flushed. Work done, ready for the next batch.

[ntwi]

___skip the suits but grab a respirator, you'll want it in the tank__ Carlos whispers to Conner as he grabs the big wrench before heading for the pipe hatch.
___You can clean us up afterwards right?___

[pbangarth]

___ Uh, yeah, but in the daytime magic is way tougher for me, and I risk not dealing with the drain of the magic flowing through me. I wanna stay strong for when magic is needed. We have clothing here to obviate the necessity for the use of magic. It's wiser to use what we have at hand rather than risk failure. I'm getting into a suit. We can ditch the suits at the other end.___

Connor grabs a suit that fits him.

[Koekepan]

The suits are pragmatically designed for a world of metahumans, and will fit anyone short of a troll, no problem. There are cinches that will blouse up the legs for a dwarf, and draw in the waist for an elf, while easily allowing for the burly bulk of an ork.

Fortunately, they're also designed to allow for quick and easy donning and doffing. A mere minute of grab, draw and zip, and Connor is ready to face the mean streets - or at least, effluent pipes - and a face mask should stave off asphyxiation - or at least, respiratory discomfort.

The pipe's access hatch is regularly used and actively maintained, so it doesn't take major muscle to open. The wrench makes quick work of the release; insert, turn, open. The hatch swings easily on its hinges, and reveals a dimly-lit tunnel wet from the flushing process, and stinking with a combination of chlorine fumes and chemically decomposed yeast. Access to the tunnel is a few steps down, with the interior marked with well-worn blobs of luminescent paint. Standard industrial design, in other words. Painted arrows indicate the direction of flow, the location of the egress hatch, and various emergency instructions and warnings. They stipulate how to work the hatch's latches from within (no wrench required), that protective clothing is required, that no user serviceable parts are within, and that in the event of inadvertent flushing while someone is inside, to follow the current into the effluent tank.

Aren't health and safety regulations great?

[pbangarth]

Once in the suit, Connor is ready to go. ___ You go first, Carlos. That way, if you get in trouble, I can easily target you with the appropriate spell. ___

[ntwi]

___ Sure thing Conner, you going to be able to swim when we hit the tank? ___ Carlos replies as he heads into the tunnel.

[Koekepan]

The passage through the tunnel is fairly brief (as Carlos and Connor already knew), and dimly lit (although dwarven vision made it less of a concern). Mostly, it was a couple of minutes of tedious crawling, because while a dwarf could crouch and still walk, it's just easier to crawl through.

The pipe itself is not as filthy as one might have expected. A slight greenish slime does build up on hands and knees, but the flushing was thorough enough. The smell, on the other hand, is like a janitorial supply closet dumped into an algae pond.

Warning splotches of luminescent paint are hardly necessary to determine that they're at the threshold of the tank. It's dimly lit because the walls of the tank are mildly translucent. The rain sifting down on the top of the tank gives a steady sort of drumming noise, but at least there's enough room to stand upright.

The tank itself is actually not flooded, but rather like a round, ill-lit, malodorous ballroom with a large drainage hole at one end; this last is guarded by a grille that would prevent anything larger than a fist washing down into the sewage system. From far below there's a faint sound of flowing water that echoes up until it seems faintly omnipresent in the tank itself.

Other than the effluent pipe down which they came, and the exit pipe to the sewage system, the only evident exit is a hatch in the top of the tank, to which there is a metal ladder, similar to what one might find on the edge of a swimming pool. A clearly-marked lever lets the ladder down, so that one can reach the hatch. There's an exit handle, which gives way with a mere tug so that the hatch unseals. It would swing outward, when opened.

What a way to investigate green cake icing. Want to taste some of the slime?

[pbangarth]

Connor thinks a moment. +++I should go up first. If someone is watching, they will see a typically suited person exit the tank. Wonder why I am not at the meeting, but not concern. I can talk or magic my way out of trouble.+++

He operates the lever to drop the ladder.

[Koekepan]

The ladder swings down with a slight creak, then a soft clunk as it reaches its full extent, and rests against the metal arms that support it in its lowered position. The lowest rung of the ladder is perhaps one foot off the floor. Inconvenient for a dwarf, but not insurmountable. The ladder reaches all the way up to the top, by the hatch, so it shouldn't be hard to open things, once at the top. Because it opens up outwards, a careful person could open the hatch a crack and peer out.

[pbangarth]

Connor mounts the ladder with agility and grace. He climbs to the top of the ladder, opens the hatch a little crack, and carefully peers out.

[Koekepan]

The view through the gap between hatch and tank wall is panoramic, but narrow. Most of it displays trees, of course, but some shows grass leading up the slope to the building. There, because Connor knows what to look for, he can spot the four goons occupying the back two corners of the BioZu building.

Right now they seem relaxed, but low profile. One couple is barely visible around some low junipers, the other pair is standing under the boughs of a cedar.

None of them appears to be specifically looking at the tank, rather than at each other, or the building, but the tank is at least potentially in their view.

[ntwi]

__Just stay low and creep out while you wiggle your fingers to conceal us or distract them. We just have to slip into the woodline. If you need a distraction I can have my car start up and drive, but that's just as likely to raise their alertness___ Carlos whispers up to Conner ___Keep low and use the concealment you can___

[pbangarth]

___Yeah, gimme a minute.___ Connor lets the lid close so he can shed the protective suit. ___Easier to conceal if you don't look so much out of place.___

Once that is done, he opens a crack again, to be in the realm of forest. +++I could use the invisibility script, but a spirit should do here.+++

Connor opens himself to the astral and seeks a forest spirit to help them escape. Maybe it was being on the ladder, maybe it was sunlight in his eyes, but this summoning nearly knocked him on his hoop.

[Koekepan]

The suit makes a sort of slithering plopping noise of a lump of synthetic fabric landing in a puddle.

The crack of rain-softened daylight from the slightly ajar hatch brings with it a welcome breath of forest air - itself a mercy with the respirator off. While Connor reaches beyond himself, it seems to cloud his senses, but he sees a red-tailed hawk sitting on a bough, near the tank, eyeing him.

:::What do you seek, child of Owl? This is not your hour, but we listen - ah, escape from the chiding jays? Very well. Follow in my shade, and do not tarry.:::

[pbangarth]

___ OK, Carlos, we have spirit cover to make us less noticeable. Lets just climb out and walk towards the forest. The less obtrusively we behave, the less likely the guards will take notice.___

Connor lifts the lid a bit more and steps out. Then he holds the lid for Carlos. Once they are both out, he slowly lowers the lid to shut it quietly. Then it's off to grandma's house through the forest. Connor nods to the hawk.

+++Don't look back. Don't look back.+++

[ntwi]

___That might work for you, your 2' something, it ain't gonna work for me.___ Carlos responds as he crawls out of the hatch, keeping it between himself and the closest pair of guards as moves. ___Keep the hatch and the bit of slope here from the tank between you and the building. These guys are here to keep anyone from leaving, there isn't a "normal" for them___

Carlos bear crawls quickly, keeping his body low to the ground and using every dip and divot in the ground for cover as he works towards the woodline. +++Less obtrusive??? These guys are watching for people leaving the building and area, we need to get out of their line of sight quick. At least our ride is already on it's way, we just need to get there to meet it+++

[Koekepan]

As Connor and Carlos make their way down and into the treeline, they hear a distant voice behind them. """Hoi! Down there! Hold on, chummer!"""

[pbangarth]

Connor chastises himself for his carelessness. +++ Lazy! Lazy! Lazy! You're on the run now, you drekhead. Do better! Well, we're not concealed anymore. No point in keeping that going. +++

::: Thank you, spirit for your aid. Your service is done. Return home, please.:::

Connor considers his options. They are into the trees and really just need to get to the getaway vehicle. So holding up the pursuit is all that is necessary. While the guards are still just talking, he calls again for spirit aid.

[Koekepan]

The hawk takes flight, its call echoing and fading in Connor's ears.

It is gone, and then he calls again on the spirits of the wood, when he sees the shape of a doe rising behind a thicket of brambles. Her large eyes gleam, and she speaks: :::A noisy owl in the morning is an omen. What do you seek?:::

Behind them, there's the thumping sound of a pneumatic launcher; typically used for nets or the like, but Carlos sees something that looks like a gleaming baseball bouncing into the forest near them. A surveillance drone? Something more sophisticated, or less?

[ntwi]

"""GAS! This way!"" Carlos turns and sprints, maximizing distance from the possible grenade while still heading deeper into the woodline and away from the Mitsuhama goons.