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

[Koekepan]

When Blue looks through the veil, he sees fire. Flames licking in every direction.

Then he realises that the fire elemental that he had seen earlier is drifting around almost exactly where he is.

[pbangarth]

Figuratively speaking, Blue pulls his head out of that hole as fast as he can. Back fully in the material plane, he advises Karmakaze as he moves around erratically, trying not to make it easy for the elemental to materialize right around him.

""" There's a fire elemental in the astral that might be interested in me. If we immobilize these two and remove any way they can communicate with Jimmy, maybe we can ditch the thing by going inside. Maybe it's been told to patrol the perimeter, or something. """

[Bastard]

Karma attempts to open the passanger side door, assuming that the unbloodied guard is more likely to come to first.

[Koekepan]

The passenger door opens, no problem, and Karmakaze can drag out the slumped human in the shotgun seat, although she lacks the strength to lift him bodily. He lands on the kerb like a sack of turnips and lies there, inert.

Blue's frantic dance doesn't make a lot of sense to the casual viewer, but perhaps it works because he is not suddenly enveloped in flame.

[pbangarth]

"""Damn!""" says Blue as he dances around, trying to be a moving target. """ I dredged up my knowledge of elementals. This thing won't necessarily disappear just because its master is unconscious. It could be just picking on the nearest target, me, and going for it. I don't dare Assense the two in the car for fear the elemental will have a shot at me on the astral. If one of them is a mage, it should have gone after him. Maybe the car made a barrier through which it could not find him. Can you pull the other guy out too? If one of them is the master, it might turn its flames on him. """

Blue continues to dance and makes sure his astral armor one-shot spell is to hand.

[Bastard]

"""Drek!""" Karma says as the body slumps out.

She pats him down for any weapons, and assuming he may be the mage, she removes any jewelry from his body. Any artifacts she will place on the dash (+++maybe Blue will want something+++), weapons, comlinks and identifications she will keep.

She looks back at Blue, who looks to be entertaining the magical threats still. Hopefully she can finish quickly before whatever they are turn their focus toward her.

She then pulls the laces from the passengers shoes, and ties his hands behind his back, then his ankles together. She attempts to shove his body back into the vehicle the best she can, but if too difficult, she will just have to move to the driver and repeat the process.

[Koekepan]

Karmakaze quickly finds a long knife, an Ares Predator with two extra magazines, all loaded with hollowpoint ammunition. He also had two sets of handcuffs on him. Jewelry is there, of course; a fancy wrist chain, a chain with a locket around his neck, and half a dozen rings that, to judge by their wear, serve as brass knuckles as well. There's a 'link, a credstick but no separate ID.

The driver has a sort of billyclub, a Browning Maxpower (also with two extra magazines, all loaded with hollowpoints), but no jewels besides a single gold ring and a single gold earring. He, too, has a 'link, a credstick and no separate ID.

Both of them have DocWagon bracelets, but they're obviously lowest-tier contracts. It's not clear that DocWagon will even care as long as they aren't actually dying.

Shoving them back into seats unaided is a bit beyond Karmakaze, but there they are. At least they are immobilised.

[Bastard]

The handcuffs are an excellent find, and instead of using shoelaces Karma handcuffs the passenger with the linkage running through the "drek-bar" and the driver through the steering wheel.

"""Blue, how are you doing with whatever you doing it with?"""

[pbangarth]

""" I'm trying to keep from being a stationary target for the fire elemental to materialize beside. But, honestly, I could keep that up forever and not know if I still needed to. I'll take a magical look at the items you stripped from the two of them to see if anything lights up. While I do that, do you think you could switch to the nastiest ammo you have, in case the elemental does materialize? I don't think I could handle it by myself. """

Blue gets close to the items Karmakaze dumped and takes a magical look at them.

[ Spoiler ]

Assensing: INT 4 = 4 dice, target 4: 1 success Meh, but enough to see if anything is magical, I hope.

[Bastard]

"""All I have is gel rounds. Are those even less effective against spirits and the like than normal rounds?"""

Karmakaze wonders to herself if there were some sort of foci that could be placed on ammunition to make dispatching ghosts, and assumes if there were such a thing, it was probably quite expensive.

[Koekepan]

No fire elementals - nor any other spiritual entities - materialise when Blue, huffing and panting a little, comes over to look at the items.

It's hard to look for magical traces on items when one's view of the astral is dominated by a fire elemental, and this nonetheless appears to be Blue's present condition. They probably aren't, but all that his view confirms is that fire elementals are undeniably magical entities.

On the material plane everything has been so quiet that there's no sign of alarm or concern, as far as Karmakaze and Blue are concerned. The lovenest still has visible lights peeping from windows, but nobody is silhouetted against them.

[pbangarth]

Blue replies to Karmakaze. """ This issue with spirits is that they have a magical armour that is like vehicle armour. If your attack isn't powerful enough to overcome the armour, it has no effect at all. Fortunately, this elemental doesn't seem interested in materializing. Out here, anyway.

""" So let's ditch all the equipment somewhere so the two of these guys can't easily re-equip, and go after our target. It looks to me as if the occupants of the residence don't know yet that we are here. How do you propose we effect entry so as to keep them ignorant as long as possible? """

[Bastard]

"""We could wait for him to come out, or we can try to find an unlocked entry. Or we could knock on the front door... Really I figured we would have to bust in through a window or something."""

[Koekepan]

In this weather, it comes as no surprise that all visible windows are shut, and at this time no light seems to be coming from behind any curtains or blinds.

It doesn't look as if the front door has anything as sophisticated as a maglock. It's possible (although not particularly likely) that the back of the structure would offer alternative access. There is a second storey, with an abbreviated roof over it that shelters a sort of narrow porch in front of the house; if the dynamic duo could find a way up there, they could address the upstairs windows with some degree of stability, but as for other points of access there are no skylights visible from this angle.

[pbangarth]

Blue responds, """Waiting for him to come out could be a problem. He probably will want to check with his security out here before he does that.

"""If we could get up to that second story, that might be an easier way in, and closer to our target. Second story doors and windows are sometimes left unlocked ... I understand. I don't have an easy way to magically get us up there, though. No spell, and I suspect the fire elemental on the astral plane would eat any spirit I summon out here to carry us up. Are you any good at climbing?

""" Might be an idea to check the back, too, to see if there is a fire escape or back stairs. """

[pbangarth]

Thinking further, Blue adds, """ If I could get to a place where I could see the inside of a door, I could use a spell to open it from the inside. Like, a side window or back window giving a line of sight to a front door, for example. """

[Bastard]

"""I am thinking the same thing. Let's try the back."""

[Koekepan]

Karmakaze and Blue walk around the end of the structure, and find a narrow access road at the back, mostly populated by raccoon-proof trash bins. The look is rather different here; there are no cute little porches or overhangs, just a flat facade with uniform windows and a back door per apartment. It's pretty obvious that the builders maximised the internal space of the houses by building right up to the access road's easement, while saving any hope of appearances for the side facing the main traffic.

On inspection (by counting) they find a glimmer of hope: the window to the left of the back door in each dwelling is a kitchen window, and it is slightly open with a smell of steak sauce coming from the deserted kitchen.

[Bastard]

"""Here we go,""" Karma whispers. """Can you provide any protection or stealth as we enter?"""

[pbangarth]

""" Well, I can make one of us invisible, even to machines, but I don't know how that will help when there are two of us. Let's see if there is any camera equipment aimed our way. """

Blue takes a look around to see if there is a camera overlooking their actions.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception : INT 4 = 4 dice: 4, 11, 3, 3

[Koekepan]

The closest cameras that Blue spots are up on the corners of the rowhouse, at the entry to the access road on which they stand. Presently the nearer one is maybe thirty yards distant, and not pointing directly at them.

[pbangarth]

Blue informs Karmakaze. """ I can't see any camera looking our way at the moment. Let's go. See if you can pull the window wider open and climb in. I might need a little help getting up there and in. """

[pbangarth]

A action enters Blue's mind. """ Wait! Magicians can have more than one elemental on call at the same time. Watching an open window from inside would be cautious. Let me look in the window astrally to see if there is something waiting for us in there. """

Taking the risk that the fire elemental isn't hanging right on him, Blue looks inside through the opening with his astral sense.

[Bastard]

Karma crouches in the shadows while Blue does his magic.

"""Tell me when to go. If you want to make me invisible while I enter and clear the first floor, then you can enter after."""

[Koekepan]

The fire elemental does not appear to have followed around, for whatever reason that made sense in its mission.

The interior of the building looks refreshingly mundane. The astral doesn't add much to the view of what Blue sees anyway with his vision, and there's enough ambient light that Karmakaze gets a pretty good view as well.

In summary, the interior of the lovenest looks rather like what Karmakaze would think of as ex-fratgirl chic. There are cutesy bits of kitsch decorations adorning what is a functional but relatively mid-range household interior. Sure, the kitchen countertops are probably polished concrete or similar artificial stone, and it looks nice but the reality is that it's a cheap solution. The appliances are nothing to get too excited about, for all that she has an automatic rice cooker and an autowok, but in all fairness they're probably better than were originally with this place.

Maybe the money goes on her underwear drawer and perfume selection.