World Tree MUSH

    Calimport is a fairly active port town that sees ships come in from all over the Tree. With the sounds of ships coming and going and gulls everywhere even in the middle if the night, right about now makes for good cover. Calimport has a problem, though.
    The head of the Theives Guild thought it would be a bright idea to kidnap a noble of some weight and influence to try and twist a few arms.
    It's not going well, and if anything it's bringing a lot of unwanted attention and heat down on the Thieves Guild.
    That's why other members have decided it's time for new management.
    Lether, somehow, got word of this and managed to get wrangled into the position of needing a posse to overthrow the head of the Thieves Guild.
    Probably because the guild people figured she was cheap and expendable in the event of something going bad.
    Lether has at least managed to figure out where the entrance to the crimelord's lair is.
    It's about midnight and the sharp-toothed shanker is crouched in the shadow of a large drain pipe that leads out into the water. The inside is a large storm aqueduct.
    At least it's not filth-sewers, but more city drainage as she waits for others to arrive.

"Is this the place?"

In theory, Neviah Younger's patron deity is a god of subtlety. In practice, Neviah's execution of subtlety tends to have a different style than skulking in drains. She had to leave her flashy dungeon-boss armour to the side for this one. In its place, she's gone with a black catsuit with heels that really are a little too high for this sort of thing, complete with a Katsuragi-length jacket. The khopesh-bayoneted rifle's still on her person, though.

Slipping up into the drain pipe, Neviah sends a little smile down to Lether before moving to lean against the pipe's curvature.

She immediately pops back from the wall with a grimace as she realizes it's cold, clammy and damp. "Ugh...."

     Getting involved with other people's business isn't typically something Nanami gets up to. If anything she's the kind of person that's inclined to simply leave the matters of others alone. But at the end of the day even she needs to make a little money now and then. Not everything can be solved with violence. Not directly, at least. Sometimes someone's palm has to be greased with a little cash. Cash obtained through violence, but still. and so she finds herself recruited for a little excursion. 

     "It seems that it is." she says as she approaches the place, apparently having heard Neviah as she drew close. The slight woman eyes the pipe with a mostly neutral expression, perhaps tinged with the slightest amount of disdain. "...must we sneak in? Can we not simply enter the usual way?"

    Dante didn't technically kill the guy last time, which means he only got half pay from the guild. Typical Dante luck there. At the very least he's in their good graces enough they want to give him a second chance. So here he is helping a coup. He follows Neviah into the pipe, grumbling about the stench. He's wearing all black except for the coat, that is still dark red, and Dante refused to change anything about his favorite color there. The fact he can maneuver in here with a sword almost long as he is tall is a miracle, maybe oweing to the fact it's magic and technically bound to him. There's no real downsides to this.

    "'sa what the job says, kiddo." Dante asides to the new girl. "But I'm with you. I'm more the 'kick the door down and blast the bad guys' type myself."

    That sure is an outfit, Neviah. The catsuit gets something of a stare before Lether looks up a bit.
    "What's with the heels?" She asks matter of factly before her attention shifts as Dante and Nanami arrive as well.
    All familiar faces.
    "This is the usual way." Lether says point blank. "Thieves Guild's got hidden places all over under the city, and this's the way into where the guildmaster was last seen."
    She then looks at Dante.
    "You really like red, huh."
    That said she draws a knife from her boot and starts creeping up the pipe.
    It IS cold, wet, and clammy, but that's Lether's natural habitat.
    "Brings back memories." She mutters.
    "When I was small I was dumped in a rain gutter. They said I was a runt. Too small. 'Not even good enough for leather'." Growled as she stops at a locked door deeper in.
    It's actually a fairly difficult lock, but Lether has it undone soundlessly in about a minute.
    "Donno what's on the other side. Be ready for anything. Try to keep it hush hush but... Well."
    She looks at Dante.
    Lether opens the door slowly. There's a tiny creak but it looks like there's no one on the other side just yet but the door does lead into a damp room with a series of crates in it. Looks like the crates have been ransacked though and there's a hall leading east and a door to the North.

When Neviah got away from the Victorians, she /really/ got away from the Victorians. None of her recent outfit choices would fly at Cambridge. She does huff lightly at the question. "They look good."

Neviah's calves and arches don't care much for that answer.

Up the pipe they creep. Neviah has wrapped a dark sheet around the barrel of her gun, though the underslung blade is still an issue. As Lether recounts her story, the former professor bites down to her lower lip. "Don't let anyone make you believe that. You're more than good enough for me." No matter how much she wants to, she resists the urge to distribute a headpat; her fingers are much nicer on her hands than they would be in Lether's mouth, after all.

The lock is popped, and Neviah raises her rifle in readiness as the door swings open. She squints, trying to catch sight of anyone who may be lurking. Once she's convinced no one is there, she lowers the weapon and focuses for a second as if to check for signs of ambient magic that might disrupt their adventure.

     Nanami regards her new coworkers, her eyes lingering upon each of them in turn as she seems to be thinking to herself. Then she shrugs, not seeming particularly inclined to comment about any of them, or their attire. Not out loud, anyway. 

     Like Lether she seems to have some manner of dagger or knife, sheathed at her hip. Unlike the gator she doesn't seem inclined to draw it. With no bulky weaponry to get in her way she simply moves through the pipe with confidence, calmly awaiting their little leader to pop the lock. 

     Then, quite unlike Neviah's more careful approach, she simply walks right inside with no regard for anything like checking for an ambush, or any traps she might spring along the way. Is she really that confident that she can just take whatever may or may not be in there?

    "You know it." Dante shoots Lether a cheeky grin before he realizes Neviah's catsuit may in fact be made outta leather. Awkward. He hopes it's not made outta gator hide. When Lether recounts her story, Dante scowls a bit. "He didn't know anything about you. Prove him wrong, kiddo." He says.

    He flexes a fist as he gets ready to enter the door, only for Nanami to go right past him and the others. Dante chuckles, "Hah, ladies first I guess!" Dante says, before drawing one of his pistols and heading inside too.

    A rifle, handguns, and a handful of knives.
    This probably won't stay quiet for long.
    "Mmmmmm..." Lether murmurs as she glances to Neviah.
    "It's fine. I've grown up a lot, since."
    Technically she's still a runt by Lizardfolk standards but she doesn't say that.
    Not was Nanami starts walking right in.
    "Wait--" Lether hisses as Nanami triggers...
    A trap!
    A crossbow hidden in a nearby shadow goes off with a soft twang, the bolt streaking through the air on a course for Nanami.
    Regardless of how Nanami handles that it reveals that this place isn't just left abandoned and Lether lets a slow breath filter through her razor teeth as she starts heading along the hallway VERY CAREFULLY.
    There's no signs of ambient magic for the time being, but once through the hall and another door, there comes a series of hushed voices.
    "Man, the boss sure made a bad call."
    "Yeah, I can't believe he managed to sneak a noble down here. ... They're probably in the cells, but this is gonna cause such a headache."
    Two rogues are muttering to each other in a dark room, playing cards by candle-light.

Neviah's catsuit is made out of lycra!

The professor blinks as Nanami just strolls right in - and what Neviah suspected would happen, happens. She widens her eyes and starts forward a little, but ultimately there's not much she can do here. It's all up to Nanami.

With no ambient magic about, Neviah merely prowls along with the rest of the group, rifle in hand. She leans over to check down the hall, then through that next door, before maneuvering towards the mouth of the entrance to that other room.

Rogues, muttering. Neviah holds up a hand a moment before lowering her rifle and weaving her fingers together.

The air around the two rogues slowly grows hazier, denser. They may not even notice the cloud of fog forming around them, obscuring any view they might have of danger approaching.

    Dante is going to move to intercept that crossbow bolt...by letting it sink into his shoulder. He grabs Nanami and covers her with his body, barely flinching as the bolt enters his shoulder. "Ow. You really gotta look before you leap, kid. Or just let me blunder through these." He says with a wry smile before pulling out the bolt.

    When he hears voices ahead, Dante grins widely and he promptly invites himself inside. "Yeaaaah, I can't imagine this being anything but a stupid idea. Now he's got us comin' for him!" Dante says as he nonchantly joins the conversation, before taking aim to shoot the chairs out from under the two rogues. Ebony and Ivory bark loudly and spit fire in the darkness with their muzzle flashes.

    "Jump 'em, ladies!"

Neviah just stares as she casts the fog cloud and then Dante strolls in and caps a couple of dudes conspicuously.

"I am very sorry," she sighs, rolling her eyes heavenward, "that I travel with someone who does not do subtle."

     "Correct." she comments to Dante as she walks past, not even giving him a glance as she steps through the doorway... 

     ..aaaaand right into a crossbow bolt headed right her way! Despite her seeming lack of observation she doesn't seem particularly shocked as one hand raises up, outstretched in the air as the bolt whizzes towards her. An act that it turns out was not necessary, as Dante dives in to heroically shield her! 

     "That was not needed." she quite calmly says, not seeming particularly impressed with Dante's selfless display. She does pause at least to make sure he isn't about to bleed out, watching him open fire with an approving nod. 

     "He's quite direct, isn't she?" she comment Neviah's way...a moment before she himself follows the man's suggestion and rushes towards the thugs, taking full advantage of the fog and the shots distracting them as she closes in, hands moving quickly as she makes to strike them both before they can recover! 

     She might even leave them alive. 

     There's a possibility.

    "That's... Huh."
    "Weird, is it getting foggy in here?"
    The two rogues notice the fog cloud rolling in but it;s kind of too late.
    "Anyway, yeah like I said it's totally a bad idea like that guy said--- wait what?"
    Shots ring out and chairs are destroyed, the rogues go down in a tumble and Lether simply puts her head in her hands while Nanami handles the two men.
    Lether doesn't even bother to check if they're alive or dead.
    "Time to up the timetable." She mutters and lifts a set of keys off one of the men while shouts of alarm start to rise in volume from a set of stairs leading up.
    That's going to be a problem.
    Lether takes a second to muddle through the keys to unlock another door though while guys gear up for battle and shoves her way inside it.
    On the other side of the door is a dank series of rooms, with barred cells, cots and such, and towards the back of the room there's movement in one of the cells...

It is getting foggy in here. Neviah lets the fog die down, then slinks forward, rifle hanging off a strap slung over her shoulder. The alarm begins to sound, and she quickly darts through the open door once Lether's worked the lock free.

Amidst the gloom, there's a soft shimmering noise, and a pale white light leaps to life, radiating from a small bead in Neviah's open palm. She bounces it across the floor and towards the cell. The light travels with the tiny object as it bounces across the cobbles, under the bars and into the cell, illuminating whomever is in there.

Sometimes, simple cantrips come in handy.

     With those two dealt with, Nanami walks away from their probably dead bodies without giving them so much as a second glance. "That is the one we were sent to retrieve?" she questions as she eyes the dark cell, peering a little closer as Neviah's spell lights things up. Then the woman lets out a beleaguered sigh as she hears those voices, turning towards the stairs. 

     "Well, I suppose it was inevitable." she says quietly as she raises one arm, the limb covered by the long, concealing sleeves she wears. She keeps it pointed towards the stairs as she awaits whoever might come rushing down. It looks like she might have something planned for them

    "Yeah we really don't have time to skulk around. C'mon!" Dante ushers the rest along as he reaches behind to pull a crossbow bolt from his shoulder. He heals fast enough that bleeding out isn't an issue. "How'd that get there?" He asks jokingly, before tossing the bolt away. As they reach the cells, Dante raps the frame of his pistol against the bars, "Hey, you there? We're the rescue service."

    The Light-bead bounces and rolls and illuminates the cell, prompting a man in dirtied clothing that looks like it was very expensive at one point to shield his eyes.
    "Oh... You're here to-- well that's wonderful. But I think you've made quite a bit of noise." He points out.
    Just as a bunch of guys come down the stairs with weapons drawn, knives, daggers, swords-- hopefully Nanami does have something planned for them as Lether pops the lock on the cell.
    "Go." She says motioning for the way they came.
    "Get going." She then urges her party mates to run back for the pipe.

    Normally Dante would handle this, but they got someone to escort. Instead, he just grabs a bag of sand and chucks it like a shotput at the thugs, putting a bullet in it to create a cloud of obscuring sand. "Pocket sand!" Then he grabs the mayor by the collar and books it. "C'mon, no time to shake hands and mingle!"

Neviah is not generally in the business of committing heroic rescues. And yet....

And yet, there are the armed men, and there are the knives. Whirling, the professor holds her hand out. "You should hold on to something," she calls over to the disheveled nobleman.

She barks a word of power. Magic roils down her arm and bursts forth in a gust of air. The force in and of itself probably won't kill anyone, but it will hopefully be enough to throw the incoming ruffians off their feet and hurl them against a far wall to buy everyone time to flee.

     "Don't get hit." Nanami announces to the party at large and Dante into particular, given the bolt he's just had to yank out of himself. 

     While Neviah's wind scatters some of the thugs, the ones that managed to stay on their feet or didn't get slammed into the wall /too/ forcefully find a flurry of little barbed projectiles coming their way, launched from beneath the dimunitive woman's voluminous sleeve. They mostly seem to be aimed at the men's legs, and at first they don't seem to do very much. 

     At least until the poison starts to spread, at which point they find that the sudden numbness they're feeling down there makes it quite hard to give chase. 

     As she turns to leave along with the others leave, she glances back at the two men that weren't so lucky as to get away with only a poisoning. Perhaps, given that strictly speaking they were also employed by the thieves guild, she should have been gentler with them. Ah well. 

     There's no time to think about that. It's time to leave.

    Stuff happens. Between Dante hurling a bag of sand and Neviah's sudden gust of wind, it's almost a comedy as guys come tumbling down the stairs snarling and cussing.
    Poison?
    What poison?
    Oh that poison.
    Bowled over, numbed and struggling, the men stagger and stumble after the party but they won't be making good headway to catch up.
    It's not a long trip back out the way they came, the nobelman is a little weak from malnourishment but adrenalin and freedom are a hell of a pair of motivtors.
    But uh.
    Where's Lether?
    She didn't seem to leave with the group.
    That could be a problem.

Back up the pipe they go. Neviah props a heel against the pipe rim and exhales heavily. Finally, she throws a look back over her shoulder, checking if they're being pursued.

"It sounds like we made a clean getaway," she says with a faint smile before fishing into hammerspace and flipping a little silver coin towards Lether.

The coin passes through empty space and clinks against the pipe.

"...Lether?"

    Dante doesn't hesitate, he lets someone else fret over the men while he rushes off. "I'm goin' after her!" He says, dashing back into the pipe. Like hell he's gonna let her go.

     Nanami moves quickly, steps making little sound as she makes her way down the pipe and out towards freedom. 

     "I don't think they'll be following. If they do, we'll simply have to deal with them." she says as she steps out of that pipe, wiping her outfit down with her hand in a dismissive gesture. But then it becomes apparent that someone is missing. And then another is, with Dante rushing back before anyone can stop him. 

     "...I don't see anything that would have stopped her." Nanami says, a tiny little smile curling onto her lips. "Do you think she may have stayed behind on purpose?"

    It is AS Dante goes rushing back, that a foot sticks out of a shadow to trip him up in the doorway back into the lair.
    "Don't bother." Lether says as she emerges from said shadow, cleaning off her knife.
    "HAd to handle a loose end." She says, kneeling to pluck up the silver coin and tuck it into her pocket.
    Yep. Stood behind on purpose.
    "The Thieves Guild will have to figure out who's in charge without us though. I'm ditching town once we get paid."
    Oh dear.

    There is almost a comical screech as Dante stops in his tracks. "Oh. Okay."

    "Was worried for a second there."

     Nanami eyes Lether's knife without saying a word, that gentle little smile lingering a little before she returns to her neutral expression. It doesn't take a genius to determine what happened there. And it's not as though she herself has any right to call someone out on a little killing. 

     "Then let's leave."