[Chester December 24th 1230, 6:00 PM] [Last time you arrived in Chester, Moriel, Eliana and Thalaba met with the Baron of Chester and investigated his haven, while Cosimo and Rolf tried to track down Gerard. No one had very much luck, although Eliana did discover where the exit from the Baron's haven is most likely located. You all decided to spend the day in an inn and it is now the next night.] [Begin.] * Moriel rises much the same way he has every other night this journey: he gets up, straightens his clothing, washes if water is available, then waits quietly as the others rise. * Eliana wakes up, checks her possessions, and then spends quite a bit of time getting her hair in order. * Cosimo awakes and begins his usual ritual of making ready, though this time, he carefully dons a dark turban, wrapping it carefully so that his features are completely hidden except for a small opening through which predatory eyes can survey the world. He smiles to himself, places the final weapons in his sash and makes his way to the common room to join the others. * Thalaba does the same, rises and gets herself in order before going to meet the others. * Rolf is a little bit of a slow/grumpy riser, and he growls as he sits in a chair that barely holds him, eyes squinted a bit. * Rolf is in the common room growling. [The common room is mostly empty, except for a few customers who are still drinking and have not yet gone to bed.] * Cosimo nods a silent greeting to Rolf and takes a seat with his back against a wall where he has a clear view of the exits. * Eliana walks into the common room, hair now untangled, and nods to the others. She's weaving a white ribbon through her gloved fingers. "Shall we?" * Moriel rises and nods sharply. "Yes." * Cosimo nods to Eliana and raises to his feet. "indeed" * Thalaba is standing at a window looking out. She turns to Eliana when she speaks and nods "I'm ready." * Eliana heads right on out, then. * Cosimo grins at the thrill of the hunt, though thanks to the turban, nobody really notices. * Moriel follows, because he certainly can't find Gerard on his own. At least, not outside his master's haven. * Rolf rises to his feet and walks out, scratching his head and growling out, "So eager, y'all are." Time for this is short. * Moriel glances at Rolf. "As were you, yesterday." * Rolf half-grins, still peering. "Yeah, but none of you are today either." * Eliana walks out and for an alley, where she stands, back towards any populace. She dangles the ribbon between two fingers and stares at it, the end farthest from her catching fire. [A trail appears that only Eliana can see, heading north.] * Eliana smiles to herself. She drops the rest of the burning ribbon to the ground, stamping it out with her boot, and moves, following the trail at a quick walking pace. * Thalaba follows behind Eliana quietly. * Cosimo follows Eliana, sticking to the shadows. His eyes, dart back and forth down every alley and in every window. * Moriel also follows quietly, though every once in a while his eyes flick ahead as if to try to see what she's looking at. * Eliana is certainly looking at *something*. She's so intent on it that she pays little to no attention to others crossing her path. * Cosimo tracks Eliana closely, though he often shifts from one side of the street to the other. * Rolf starts to growl a little louder, watching for people that might intersect Eliana so he can scare them off. Grr. [A few passerbys quickly avoid the angry looking, huge guy and head duck around corners. The trail leads Eliana to the north side of town, and passed the north gate. Half way between the gate and the moors, she spots Gerard along with 4 other Brujah, heading towards one of the hills.] * Eliana points them out, "There," she murmurs, glancing at Moriel. Mm. A fair fight. I dislike those. * Rolf says, lowly, "But where they goin'?" The Baron's. There's an entrance this way. then we should decide our next moves quickly * Moriel considers. Quickly. "No easy way to separate him from the rest, is there?" "I doubt he'll do it if we ask nicely.." hmmm... no. * Moriel chuckles darkly. "I suppose Master Castelletti could run ahead and tell him he has a missive from Prince Mithras for him." * Cosimo pats the blade in his sash. "i'm afraid he would miss the point" Provide one for him. an ambush could potentially work We'd have to get ahead of them. Quickly. indeed. how long before they reach the entrance? * Eliana starts moving; she knows where the entrance is, after all, and it's not like the Brujah are walking quickly. * Moriel glances at Eliana for the answer to that one. * Eliana is already gone! Er, going! * Cosimo smiles and follows Eliana, but again, nobody really notices the smile. * Moriel can still look at her. They are probably all walking together, after all. * Thalaba quickly follows Eliana. She seems to have some kind of plan in mind and it's better then standing here debating. * Cosimo pauses briefly, letting the calming silence fill his mind and steady his purpose. slowly, he pushes that calm outward, and the sounds of the evening cease. only the calm silence exists. [Eliana successfully moves in front of Gerard and his crew without them noticing.] * Eliana tries to find somewhere not in their immediate view and glances at Cosimo. Well? she doesn't say, because that would involve noise. * Cosimo looks at Eliana and gestures at her and himself, then points to Gerard and his men and then brings his hand together with a squashing motion and then makes a vague Rolf gesture. * Cosimo then tries to convey "do you understand" by opening his eyes wide and inquisitively. * Eliana nods. She looks to Rolf and Moriel, gesturing for them to move around. * Rolf understood the 'Rolf' gesture, because he knows all about Rolfing, and moves to suit the plan, stayin' low. * Moriel nods at Eliana and moves as stealthily as he knows how to block Gerard and his group from retreating. * Cosimo pulls his poisoned kukri and readies himself for the ambush. * Rolf just barely avoids accidentally rolfing a snow bunny with his foot! Whew! [Most of Gerard's group does not notice, but then Gerard himself spots some movement out of the corner of his eye and turns, spotting Moriel, and hearing Rolf and drawing his sword. "Who are you? And why do you skulk about like cowards? If you wish to die, draw your blade and advance!"] * Moriel steps out and does his very best to distract them, so the people who didn't get caught can attack from behind. * Moriel smiles widely, spreading weaponless hands. "I admit I don't wish to die. What happens if I don't draw a blade and advance?" [Gerard smiles. "Then you either give me an answer to your purpose here that I like, or you do not get your wish."] * Moriel smiles wider. "Oh dear. That would be unfortunate. As it happens, I was here looking for you." (Any time now, guys...) * Cosimo launches himself out of his hiding spot, his poisoned kukri headed straight for Gerard's back, the bubble of silence cutting short the parlay of Gerard and his men. [Cosimo's blade stabs into Gerard's back and he spasms in pain before turning to face the assamite, noticably weaker now.] * Cosimo grins, but not that Gerard would notice. * Rolf comes out of his not-so-hidden hiding with a claw out, eyes glowing, and a roar that would make a bear proud as the claw cuts through the nearest Brujah, almost killing him. He snarls out, "We got words to have, little man. Ya should go peacefully." [The Brujah crumples to the ground, then gets up, wobbles some, and attempts to swing at Rolf with his sword, misses, and tumbles to the ground, dropping his sword.] * Eliana took a moment to pull her right glove off and reaches her bare hand out towards one of the brujah from her hiding place. A small flame dances in his hair- wait, no, it's *burning* his hair, and then his scalp. [The vampire's hair bursts into flames, and his eyes go wide with fear as he attempts to pat it down with his hands.] * Moriel draws his sword now, in a fast, fluid motion, and slashes at Gerard. He connects, but only manages to carve a shallow furrow into Gerard's chest. [Gerard doesn't wince, but he narrows his eyes at Moriel.] * Cosimo whips his other blade around, narrowly missing Gerard's face. Cosimo recovers from his miss, spinning around gracefully to be ready for the next attack. * Moriel smiles back at Gerard. "Changed my mind," he says brightly. [Gerard growls at Cosimo as he dodges the attack and the next Brujah is currently on fire and runs for the moors to try to put it out, screaming as he does so.] * Thalaba comes out of hiding quickly and tackles one of the Brujah to the ground! [The final Brujah rushes forward to attack Rolf, since he seems like the biggest threat. He charges forward, swinging his sword as he does so.] * Rolf twists his body slightly so as to make the blade's glancing hit just get lost in his leathers, grunting slightly before he snarls, "Is that all you scum have for us? Were you in on his little plot too?" * Cosimo whirls around like a dervish, spinning the poisoned dagger towards Gerard. The unpoisoned blade slices through the air harmlessly, though creating the feint that allows the second to slip through Gerard's defenses and deliver its dark t toxins to the rather fatigued brujah. [The Brujah who missed Rolf takes another swing with his sword, not even noticing that Gerard had gone down.] * Rolf actually takes the hit this time a bit more solidly, blade meeting flesh, but Rolf doesn't even wince at it, instead just staring the Brujah down. * Rolf then brings his fist down, claw first, into the guy's chest, tearing away a good chunk of him along with his consciousness and a snarl. * Moriel glances at Gerard's collapsed form as he casually steps over to stab downwards at the Brujah Thalaba tackled. He still doesn't hurt the man much, but hopefully it provides Thalaba with a helpful distraction. He says almost conversationally to Cosimo, "Did you bring along any stakes with your other supplies?" * Cosimo starts running towards the somewhat charred brujah, jumping over the legs of the one pinned by Thalaba and bringing his blade down across the chest of his target as he lands. um... no. Rolf said anything at hand would work * Eliana jumps from her hiding position and runs over to Thalaba, laying her bare, freezing fingers on the other woman's back. Thalaba's blood rushes with power, and Eliana darts away, watching carefully. * Moriel shrugs, smiling faintly. "I'm not an expert." * Thalaba is empowered by Eliana and growls as she sinks her fangs into him, biting him savagely! [Before long, the fight is over, and some makeshift stakes are found and used. The journey back to Mithras' court is relatively uneventful, and when you arrive, Mithras removes the stake from Gerard who spits out "I never got to kill that French fucker!" oddly enough, in French. "I was going to, but I got attacked on the way by those damn wolves, and I had to hide out for a few days." Mithras shakes his head "I think not. We have evidence of your conspiracy, and you will be executed." Mithras places the stake back into Gerard before the Brujah can protest further and the next night there is a festival held in honor of the victory. Gerard and his four accomplices are tied to stakes and burned outside the manor and all the kindred of London are asked to attend. Once the screams from outside die down, Mithras rises from his seat. "This is a great day, and one for celebration. Five of our new kindred have assisted in the capture of a true threat to our way of life. Further, Matriarch Salianna has sent word that she is particularly pleased with these proceedings and is even more willing to form an alliance now than ever, since we have worked so hard to capture her subject's murderer. In fact, she will be holding a feast in honor of this event, and the five young kindred who brought this Brujah traitor to justice are invited, and shall attend." Note that, he did not ask you, or even mention this before, but he seems very sure of this fact. "For today, let us all celebrate our new alliance and a stronger kindred civilization for all!" There is much clapping and cheering in celebration as Mithras sits back down on his throne.] [Story End!]