[closed] player plot: the making of a villain

[ebeje]

WHO: Max, Kitty, Nikos, Loki, Hanzo
WHAT: Breaking and entering
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Minrathous
NOTES: Slavery cw, blood magic likely. Top-levels to be added as we go.

Comments

[rathercommon]

Because I'm it.

[ Kitty's demeanor is confident. Not cocky: she's not smirking, not smug. But she knows what to do. How many times, after all, has she stood outside a house like this, one shielded by nothing more than the arrogant belief in the infallibility of magic? How many times has she slipped past a barrier just like this one, her resilience allowing her to move through it with no more trouble than a needle going through water? How many artefacts has she made away with over the years? But this time, she's not working for anyone's greed. This time, she's not going to be lining anyone's pockets. This time, she's going to be extracting intelligence, and intelligence for a purpose. No blind action, this. She's going to be doing good.

Briskly, she winds her hair up into a bun atop her head, pinning it in place. Then she steps into the long skirt she'd brought with her, shimmies into the tunic in the Rogers family livery, covering up her dark thief's garb with quick efficiency. With a moment's work, she looks the part of a Tevinter servant girl. Then she turns to the others, saying firmly - ]

I'll pass through. It'll take me three minutes to get from the front door to that window there -

[ She points at a high window that juts slightly over the magical barrier below. The rope ladder, thrown from there, will be outside the barrier's perimeter. ]

I'll throw down the ladder, you'll use it to get inside, and then I'll get the hell out of there. [ Because the others might have plausible deniability regarding their Inquisition affiliation, but she - with her anchor-shard - does not. In, out, and then off into the night for her. ] And you'll be subtle and clever and get the good stuff.

[ The rope ladder is tied up in a bundle that looks just like a parcel from the market. She picks it up, lifts her eyebrows, and then sets off assuredly towards the house. ]

[eruit]

[ It's interesting for Hanzo to work with other people than to work alone. He's used to simply moving around a place, climbing in alone, drawing his bow and leaving the mark of an arrow through the head, usually at range. He doesn't like getting too close when it comes to assassinations, especially not when he's on home soil, but given the nature of what they're doing... He doesn't think he can complain too much. It's a job, and it's a means to prove his worth, which is just as important to him.

Proving himself to the Inquisition, proving himself as valuable, as useful...

He's already prepared for the mission, at least. His hair is tied back with a simple black ribbon, his clothes are dark, his shoulder is bare. Now isn't the time to worry about people seeing his detailed tattoo, not when he's drawing Storm Bow and checking it over before he slips it back over his shoulders. ]

I could climb the walls to keep watch. [ It's an easy enough thing to offer, and he's capable of scrambling up any surface that lies in front of him. He does worry a little for the magic barrier, given the spirits housed in his bow, but... It's more important that they have someone on point, keeping track, being stealthy and careful. ]

If that is acceptable then I can act as watch for the mission. If necessary I can use my bow at range - if you set up a signal I will listen for it.

[hwaaaitsme]

Get to it, then.

[Loki snaps a bit waspishly in the direction of Kitty and Hanzo. If he'd had his preference they would have moved before the sedan meandered off into the night, but these people felt the need to banter on the doorstep of the man they were here to rob and subsequently expose. The barriers and locks were surely problems, likely formidable and definitely time-consuming to deal with, but they didn't worry him. No, he was far more concerned with the possibility of a random slave passing by.

Normally, he would be all for simply killing them and disposing of the body, but they were supposed to execute this mission without being noticed.]

We've enough rooms to search in this eyesore before she returns.

[Loki is not clad especially for this mission; all of his clothing is some shade of black. Tonight, in deference to stealth, he elected to leave his gold and green accents behind. In the darkness, his pale face and hands stand out, but there is little he is willing to do about that.]

Go. [He gestures to Kitty and the window with one hand.]

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty hears the Tevinter-accented sneering, and barely manages to stop herself turning around to say something to him. Hanzo is useful, no question of that, steady and clear-headed. (His offer to keep watch earns a firm nod from her as she goes.) Nikos has discretion and wits, and even if he's frustratingly mopey it's clear he knows how to handle himself. Loki, though? If his pasty skin doesn't get them caught, glowing like a torch in the moonlight (honestly, hasn't he ever heard of camouflage before before?) then his utterly unnecessary talk and self-importance will. If he doesn't stab them in the back, which she's honestly not sure he won't.

But she's not here to think about him, even as her insides churn with anger. She's here to do the job. So she'll do the job.

She makes her way past the barrier without much trouble. It's like a barrier back home: her resilience disrupts the magic in some way she still doesn't understand, so that what ought to be a solid wall gives her no more resistance than dipping her hand in water. She steps through easily, adjusts her bundle, then steps into the house. Soon as she's inside, she moves like any other servant: steps purposeful, eyes steady, following the route she'd figured out from the plans of the home. Up one staircase, down a hallway, up another, into the tower room; other servants pass her in the halls, but they don't question her for a moment. God, she loves large households with rich bastards who think they're safe as long as they've got the very best in magical protection.

The lock on the window requires a key, she finds, which is a little bit of a surprise; she'd thought it'd be a latch. It doesn't pose any trouble, though. She picks the lock easily enough, and the lock pops open. And so, four minutes after she'd entered the house, the window is open and the rope ladder thrown down to the others below, so they can climb up and bypass that barrier altogether.

It always does feel good to be good at something. ]

[exsecutus]

[As Kitty goes on to slip past barriers and massages locks, clearing the way for their volunteer watchman, Nikos busies himself with alternating which of his fingers he is twisting. Index, then middle, then ring, and then reverse, ring, middle, index, sharp enough to twinge mild pain up his hand. Anything to keep him from kicking the Vint. To say that he is predisposed toward disliking the man isn't the half of it. The Tevinter Imperium sucks nug ass.

He didn't pick this team. That was Max, the mastermind of the whole thing, stood with them in their impatient little group. Max saw fit to include the Vint, who will no doubt prove to be useful, or else he would not be here. Use could be anything--say, a body on which to pin the whole thing should they fail and be caught, only this one seems the sort to slither off and save himself, which, all right, so would Nikos, if it came to it. But still, but even so: Nikos keeps twisting his fingers to keep himself distracted, ignoring the very real urge to drain his flask and get a little extra numbness.

It is blessedly not long before the window pops open, with blessed quiet. The toss of the ladder makes a soft phud, and Nikos twists sharply at his thumb, and waits.

No household slave come to investigate. No guardsman. Nothing. The sound has disappeared into the night. Good.]

The signal will be the Vint, [he says, quiet and dry, to Hanzo--who he does not mind, incidentally; who has demonstrated some usefulness already--] saying something charitable. You'll recognize it for a signal because it will be vastly out of character.

[Like he has any room to talk. But still. Ignoring everyone else, Nikos does shoot a brief look at Max, before sulking his way forward toward the rope ladder.]

[ebeje]

[ Max is a quieter presence, never having been the sort of authority that need insist upon its own importance, and tonight having no interest in standing in the way of any of their areas of expertise. She can move quietly, dress in the simplest men's servant garb like donning an old skin, but she is no rogue by trade, and each of them is here for skills that exceed her own.

Granted, she would rather Loki were not here at all, but she's well aware that sentiment needs no encouragement in present company, particularly not when the prospect of dismissing him now carries as much risk he will stab them in the back all the swifter. None of which she chooses to explain to Nikos, and instead answers his look with an idle, ] If you should suddenly acquire the ability to wield magic yourself, Monsieur, do inform me.

[ Until that time, chances are they'll need a mage to access something in this mage's home, Kitty's rather impressive talent notwithstanding. She's never seen anything quite like that. There's hardly time to gawk, but she wonders if next time she might take Kitty and leave the rest of them behind.

Hanzo is all right, though. ]

The signal will be a whistle, [ Surely any of them can manage that, loud enough to carry out here, ] And you will take care where you shoot.

[ A murder would gather more attention than she'd like, and she's not so eager to end any lives tonight. At least, not any of the lives here. But she nods assent to Hanzo, trusting his judgment, as she moves toward the rope ladder herself. ]

[eruit]

[ The Vint. It's lazy and does little to offend Hanzo or cause him any moment of pause or concern; he's used to far worse commentary on his people from his travels throughout Thedas. People dislike those from Tevinter and he knows it would be even worse if they knew the truth of his background and history - admitting to being a scout is better than admitting to being a Magister. It's easy enough to shrug off because he truly doesn't care; his pride has long since been broken on that account.

It's not directed at him, at least for now. He has done nothing to offend, other than existing.

If you should suddenly acquire the ability to wield magic yourself, Monsieur, do inform me. Hanzo's arm flexes and his fingers twist; oh, but if he could, if he dared -

But Loki knows that, doesn't he? Loki knows. Hanzo twitches, but says nothing.

Nodding his head, he glances up, scouting out places for him to keep watch, preparing for a climb and for a long wait. ]

A whistle is acceptable. [ As though he has anything like a choice. ] Go. When you are ready I will get into position. I will watch over you.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty waits at the top of the ladder. She's laid her skirt out on the floor under the window so that the cloth will muffle any footsteps as they clamber inside. And as they ascend, she grasps their hands (even the hands of people who are the worst) to help them inside quickly and smoothly.

Once everyone's in, she whispers - ]

I think someone broke something in the downstairs parlor, so a few of the servants are cleaning in there, so avoid that room. Otherwise, everything looks to be normal.

[hwaaaitsme]

[Loki's dry and impatient expression twists to something a bit closer to open offense as the remainder of the team moves past and up the rope. He is the last up, apart from Hanzo who will remain behind, and he shoots the man a confused look as he passes. The fact that Loki is the only Tevene mage suffering any ire is more than a bit telling.

Still, Loki is clever enough that he says nothing--they can speak later, assuming nothing goes terribly awry while they rob this woman and her churl of a husband.

Loki moves up the ladder last and drops into the tower room after the group. He does not, however, resist the urge to wipe his hands off after Kitty has helped him in.

The interior of the house is...much as he had expected but, since he is not given to being a chatty idiot while in active danger, he refrains from comment. Instead, he reaches behind them and casts a quick spell to disguise the ladder in the darkness. Rolling it up would cause a commotion and leaving a viable exit was worth the risk.]

Wonderful. Let us be quick about this, then--even an incompetent servant is quick to clean up messes.