Brom 2012/12/17(Mon)19:51 No. 479568 ID: 3b440e
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After ten minutes of waiting (Elvin doesn't make for particularly good conversation), Bird's people show up. Five of them. They don't look like the friendliest bunch.

"Where's Joseph?" Elvin calls out to them.
"He ain't come," says the big guy. "Wants us to give you a phone. You talk to him that way."

Five seconds of silence.

"Okay," says Elvin.
"Okay," says the big guy.

Five more seconds of silence.

Nobody moves.

Oren's lips twitch beneath his bandana.

"Why don't you boys put your weapons down," says Big Guy, "and come over here'n get it."

>>479568
Here's a better idea. Slide the phone over towards us and we can just go pick it up.

Vidder what the shit? Joseph wanted to talk to us, he even went through the trouble of killing an enemy gang member and now he is going to pull of some shit like this?
Bring the fucking phone over here if you want us to go along with this charade.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)00:32 No. 479619 ID: 3b440e
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"Hell, no," says Oren. "Our weapons ain't going anywhere. Your boss hassle us into a meeting and we get his receptionists?"

"Ease up," Big Guy says.

"Look: Toss the phone," says Oren.
They lock eyes for a second, then Big Guy chuckles, low and soft.
He pulls out a small red phone, which starts to buzz, and throws it to Elvin, who catches it one-handed and flicks it open. "You got the Nines," he says. "Or the one that matters."

"What?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of alliance? What?"

"The Cutters, too?"

"What?"

"Hold on."

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)00:32 No. 479620 ID: 3b440e
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He looks up at Oren with quizzical eyes. "He wants to talk to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. 'Give the phone to the other guy,' he said."

>>479620
Might want to disguise your voice a little... although, I suppose, you already spoke out loud here, and your voice suddenly changing would be suspicious? Dammit. Maybe just keeping your voice a little low would work, as if you just speak on the phone differently.

We could try using as short answers as possible, or even just simple grunts.

Protip: If the person on the phone is saying stuff like "Hand the phone to the other guy." He is either taking a shot in the dark, or more likely, is watching the deal from some other location.

This means if you take the time to look around, you can probably find whoever is on the other end of that phone. If Joseph is on the phone and therefore looking at the deal, he probably already knows Oren is present.

On the off-chance that passing the phone is a shot in the dark and the person on the phone is nowhere nearby, he's probably trying to figure out who is at the deal, or it's a distraction so someone can line up a shot on Oren.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)12:18 No. 479671 ID: 3b440e
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"Give me the phone," says Oren. "I'll uh, I'll talk to him."

He's thinking of how he'll keep Joseph from realizing it's him.

Big Guy moves with a speed belying his size and slides a knife right into Elvin's back as soon as it's turned. Elvin's throat makes a sort of gasping, clicking noise.

Aw fuck.

"IT'S GONE TITS-UP! SHOOT 'EM!"

Time to fight.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)13:47 No. 479678 ID: 3b440e
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"Fuck." Oren scrambles to bring his mace up as Big Guy yanks the dagger out of Elvin and sprints toward him. "[b]Shoot. Shoot!"

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)13:47 No. 479679 ID: 3b440e
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A bolt whizzes from Vesta's crossbow through the skull of Oren's attacker. Its tip blossoms out of his right eye. His expression doesn't change as he pitches forward.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)13:47 No. 479680 ID: 3b440e
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Nessie pops up from cover and dispatches one of the men in the back. The other hastily cranks his crossbow while the spearman in red charges Oren down. The man with the axe starts circling him.

Big Guy died before he hit the ground. Elvin is curled up, clutching his stomach and making an unsteady keening noise.

Back up there is plenty of room behind you, either keep the spearman between you and the one with the crossbow or dash for the alley.

Bat the spearman's spear away with your free hand and brain him with the mace.

Their fault for bringing knives to a crossbow fight.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)19:01 No. 479739 ID: 3b440e
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Oren braces for the spearman and tries to bat the point aside, but he's good. It's all Oren can do to keep from being run through. Red's clearly well-trained, but he's fighting with his heart, not his head. That big fella may have been a friend.

Oren pulls back from that wicked polearm and ducks into an alley to try and negate some of that flickering reach Red's leveraging. Red comes round the corner hell-bent, putting his weight into a swinging chop that coulda took Oren's arm if he hadn't been quick and if his duster hadn't been so solid.

He told Nessie this was a good purchase.

>>479739
You're inside his range now. Get up in his face and clobber him.

Pound him like you pound women in the bedroom.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)20:37 No. 479764 ID: 3b440e
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Oren grabs the spear and yanks Red closer and further off balance. He turns round a little and uses the momentum to clock Red in the side of the head. The crunching noise Red's jaw makes is gratifying. His grip on the spear goes limp.

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)20:37 No. 479765 ID: 3b440e
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If Red ain't down all the way he sure is for a minute or two at least.
Oren twists the spear out of his slack fingers and takes a couple steps to the edge of the alley, making sure to stay out of sight of that crossbowman. The guy with the axe is further back, rendered uncertain by the quick takedown of his ally.

Oren's not sure if that means he's more experienced or less.

>>479765
That spear any good for throwing? You could throw it at him.

I guess our snipers are still reloading... but you should keep in mind once they are finished reloading, any of our enemies still out in the open are toast.

Keep them out of this alley.

Lets see if this guy can be reasoned with.
Yell at him to give up now or he is a dead motherfucker!

Brom 2012/12/18(Tue)22:41 No. 479778 ID: 3b440e
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"Drop the fucking axe," yells Oren. There is a silence which he responds to with a flung spear.

It wasn't ever meant to be thrown, though, and the balance is all off. It sails harmlessly past its target.

Oops.

Oren decides to try some words again. "Drop that axe or you're dead, boy!" His words are punctuated and his confidence bolstered by the sudden, vibratory appearance of one of Vesta's bolts in the gut of the crossbowman. Axe here is on his own.

Before Oren can point that out, though, he hears Nessie's voice from the building. "Oren! They're trying to get in from the back!"

Confidence gone.

>>479778
Alright, advance towards him and block his axe with your mace, then kick him in the nuts or knee.

Or just let him block your mace with his axe, if he goes on the defensive.

>>479779
I forgot to mention the second half of the plan which is to go into the door and help with repelling the dudes trying to get in.

Brom 2012/12/19(Wed)00:15 No. 479787 ID: 3b440e
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Oren advances toward Blue, but he don't exactly go on the offensive OR the defensive.

Instead he snaps his axe above his head and just sort of stands there.

What's this guy's deal? He seems pretty scared and hesitant. I bet we could convince him to withdraw, if we can get him to snap out of his hesitation. That is probably too time-consuming right now, though. Do you have anything else you can throw at him? If so, do it. If not, are you close enough grab his arms with your hands and prevent him from chopping down? If you're close enough for that, just drop the mace and grapple his arms, surprise him that way, wrestle it out of his hands. Otherwise, you might get a chunk taken out of your arm or something, if you try to swing that slow and heavy mace at someone ready to attack. If neither option works, then I give up. Roll to attack.

>>479787
Just go hit him in the head. That's not a proper stance for using an axe; this guy's a novice.

Brom 2012/12/19(Wed)01:46 No. 479797 ID: 3b440e
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Oren figures this kid's an amateur; he's shrinking back and that ain't any kind of axe stance he's ever seen.

Accordingly he goes for a quick uppercut bash to his opponent's unprotected head, prepared for an overhead chop.

It never arrives. As he swings, Blue chokes up on the axe with expert speed and brings the haft squarely down on Oren's forearm, checking it mid-flight. The combined momentum of his swing and Blue's counter send spasming pains up his arm. His hand goes numb.

Son of a fuck, just kick him away and go for the door and bar it behind you. Call out for your buddies to shoot the fucker.

Gonna have to go off-hand with the mace from now on.

Ah fuck, that's no good. Withdrawal!

No backing off! Seize the momentum either by charging this fool and pushing him over with your shoulder or by kicking him in the chest/guts. Then start stomping him until he stops existing.

Don't push the offensive when he has a solid grip on a weapon and you don't.

Brom 2013/01/14(Mon)00:57 No. 485132 ID: 975f80
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Oren pulls away from the axe man and sprints for the door, narrowly avoiding the bite of the blade as he runs.

"Shoot him," he yells as he runs up the stairs. "Shoot the-"

He gets to the top of the stairs.

"Oren," says Squires, her voice low and calm. "Run."

"Now, Nessandra," Joseph tells her, pulling her closer and tightening his grip on his thin, mean little knife, "Show some self-preservation. Because if the Sheriff makes any move that isn't dropping that mace of his, the first thing I do after I plant a bolt between his eyes is open your throat up from ear to giant ear. And the kind of gentleman who would waste the life of so charming a lady isn't the kind of gentleman who deserves her.

"Isn't that right, Sheriff?"

Don't make any sudden moves. Ask him what he wants.

Welp. Drop the mace.

Any convenient ropes you could let loose to drop something heavy on his head or something similar? Because other than getting lucky with something like that, I don't see any way out of this.

Brom 2013/01/23(Wed)01:39 No. 487096 ID: f707c7
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Oren drops the mace.

"All right, Joseph," he says, and his voice is quiet but it's got a bitter edge. "What do you want?"

"I just want to take a little walk with you," says Joseph. "Nessie can stay here and sit tight and we can go have us some us-time."

"And you won't hurt her."
"Cross my heart." He grins. "New perfume, Nessie? It suits you."
"What about Ve-" Oren starts, but he catches himself as Nessie's eyes widen and she mouths, nearly imperceptibly, "No."

"What about what?" asks Joseph.

What about the guy downstairs with the stab wound, is what you were going to say.

Ask him about the vests you guys are wearing. We don't walk into no ambush. We talk. Ain't gonna be no killin', otherwise there's just no point to this and we may as well get into a murder suicide pact right now. We say what's in our vests. (Because if we say anything other than what starts with Ve than he gets suspicious and we got to spill the beans.)

If he asks why you didn't just ask that, tell him you stuttered. Your fucking nervous as all hell, can't get your words straight. "What about Vests?" Yeah that makes a lick of sense. Gotta think out these sentences, yo.

>>487096
"Vengeance. You dragging me off just to off me, or do you have something bigger planned?"

>>487204

Ooh, that one's much better than vests.

>>487204
Good idea.

Brom 2013/01/27(Sun)00:52 No. 487921 ID: 5a4bc5
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"Vengeance," says Oren. "You dragging me off just to kill me or do you have something bigger planned?"
"You'll see for yourself, Mr. Sheriff," says Joseph. He pushes Nessie into the arms of one of his thugs, keeping the hand crossbow trained on Oren. "Let's go for a field trip. The deputy can stay here."
"You do anything to hurt her," Oren says, and his own voice echoes in his ears like hollow glass, "and I will end you."
He looks back at Nessie as Joseph pushes him out of the room. "Don't worry about me, baby," she calls to him. "Don't."
Joseph slams the door.

He leads Oren out the building then down a dingy alley, then another, then a third. Ahead Oren hears a low scraping noise.

As they round a corner he sees blueshirt and another guy lugging a dumpster along a wall. They have uncovered a large gutter in the street.

"Climb on in, Oren," says Joseph. "The fall probably won't kill you. And if you don't take it, I most certainly will."

>>487921
I think I know what he's doing.

He's bringing you in to Blejwas.

Take your time getting down there.

Brom 2013/01/30(Wed)00:43 No. 488756 ID: c0c515
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Oren gathers himself up and prepares to leap into the darkness.

"Wait! Almost forgot," says Joseph. "Phone, Oren." He reaches into Oren's duster pocket and pulls his cell out. "Don't want to give you any unfair advantages, now. Okay, Sheriff." He mock-bows. "Have a nice time."

Joseph pushes Oren, hard, and he stumbles into the pit.

Brom 2013/01/30(Wed)00:46 No. 488757 ID: c0c515
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It's very dark.

The smell is catastrophic.

Joseph's voice echoes from above. "You can just stay here a while. I've got some business to attend to, Sheriff, but I'll be back. Hope you had a hearty dinner!"

"You're not getting away with this, Bird."

"I don't want to ruin your tough sheriff idiom, Oren," says Joseph as his 2 cronies push the dumpster across the hole, "but I believe I already have."

Oren 5 End Brom 2013/01/30(Wed)00:47 No. 488758 ID: c0c515
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It is cold, and dark, and it smells godawful, and Oren is alone.

Hope there aren't any alligators in the sewer.

Maaaaaaaan.