"Oh. That sounds interesting. Myself I can win on any card game there is, no matter the odds. I can also work miracles with cards."
In order to demonstrate his statement, he produces a deck of cards seemingly out of nowhere, though you suspect his sleeves are involved. He spreads the deck and shows it to you, their plastic sliding against each other with a pleasant ease. You notice many of the cards are missing.
"Pick a card. Don't show it to me. Just put it back in there."
You do as he says, picking the 9 of diamonds and then putting it back in the deck. He shuffles the deck with great flair. With a flip he puts the card you picked at the top of the deck, picks it up and shows it to you.
"Is this your card?"
"Merely a few simple card tricks?"
"Who said they are simple?" he counters with a smile.
Before your eyes the card blurs, dissolving into 9 tiny diamonds. You inspect them. They look quite real to you. A few seconds later they dissolve into nothing.
"I can cause any effect I want, as long as it's related to the card in question somehow. Unfortunately, it doesn't last too long and the card is consumed in the process."
♚The Doll Prince: Two Cats In the Dark.♚
Napoleon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Jack's ability may prove useful if the two are ever pulled into a card game, especially when gambling is involved. Perhaps he can use Jack to win valuable items, especially money and a nice rapier? During battle, Jack may be able to summon useful items that will aid them in their endeavors, whether they entail medicine or even weapons. Of course, that would mean that Napoleon would have to do most of the work, mainly by protecting him... unless he can take care of himself. Either way, he and this well-dressed pleb will have to watch each other's backs if they are to survive what lies ahead.
"I look forward to working with you, monseigneur," Napoleon said with a smile as he motioned toward the double door. "Let's be off then. I'll handle the tactical details of any battles we will face." A pause. "Of course, any input will be much appreciated."
Enter the double door with Jack
"Ah, how gracious of you."
You open the doors and find a small chamber, similar to the one you came in, the only difference being that there are two sets of boot imprints on the ground. When both of you are in, the doors slam shut and you begin going up again. This one is a bit slower than the last one...
"So. What's with the kittens?" Jack asks, probably trying to make small talk.
"I don't know, I didn't choose it. What's with the quotes?"No idea either. It's not like I'm a quote guy."
He stays silent for a second, then laughs.
"Heh. Dear God, they're all over the place. Ancient Chinese, the Bible, Criminals, Stand-up Comedians... There was even one from Justin Bieber! Oh, there was this one, I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the platform."
He doesn't elaborate. The walls finally give way to the black void, revealing your next destination. From below it looks like a large modern building, a wide block of concrete with rebar, pipes and wiring coming out of it, disappearing into the void.
"Hm. Next level looks pretty big. I guess it's because there's two of us now."
There is a great metal box attached to the bottom of the building, surrounded by rebar and wiring. Jack points at it.
"Looks hard to get into. Ten bucks says our goal is in there."
The platform keeps moving for a while but from this angle you can't get much more info.
"Looks modern too. I guess I can blend in better if that's true. Don't know 'bout you though."
Your entry point is layer of dirt and stone on the edge of the concrete block. The platform slides through a hole and deposits you in a small room similar to the one you entered. As expected, there is a quote on the door.
Burglars know there's more than one way to skin a vault.
Underneath it is an image of two cats. One is wearing a stethoscope. The other's wearing a balaclava and holding a cartoonish stick of TNT in its paws.
"Huh. So I suppose this makes us cat burglars?" Jack says half-joking.
You open the door and inspect the area beyond. You've exited a small structure on the edge of a parking lot. There's a lot of expensive cars in front of you. Beyond them there's an impossibly high wall, illuminated by distant multicolored lights. You guess you're not supposed to go that way then.
"Hah! Jackpot!"
You turn around to see what has Jack so excited. It's a casino, one of those Las Vegas monstrosities full of neon and spotlights. There's a giant rotating antenna-like structure on its top with the words "Queen's Tower Casino" glowing near its top. A path takes you from the parking to its front garden which is dominated by a gigantic water fountain, the few shrubs and palm trees planted around it looking sad and tiny in comparison. Beyond that there's a red carpet that leads you to the front door. There's a big queue in the front door. The bouncers aren't letting people in, which you find a bit strange. Casinos are supposed to let everyone in so they can take their money, right?
"I bet I could restock on cards there. And get me some Benjamins while I'm at it."
He turns to look at you.
"If that is OK with you, of course."
Stephano Falcone
Too many things could go wrong here. Better play it safe.
Check the front door and lock it if I can. Check all of the building's other entrances and windows. Lock or secure them as much as possible. Afterward, go wake up Iris and tell her about the suspicious vehicle. Ask her if she knows them.
If at any point I hear people outside the house, then stop whatever I'm doing, position myself behind cover, and ready my gun. If someone enters the house, observe them from cover. Only fire at them if they seem hostile. Aim for non vital organs.
You pick up the keys from where Iris left them and lock the door. You also put a chair behind it for good measure. The windows don't open from the outside and are quite small, so you don't think they will be an issue, though someone could still shoot you through them. Let's hope whoever it is wants to take you alive.
That done, you go and wake up Iris. It takes her a few seconds for her to wake up and realize what's going on.
"What? Nobody's supposed to be here, not this early. Unless..."
She gets up and quickly runs up to the window.
"No, this doesn't look good."
She starts breathing quickly.
"This is bad. We need to get out of here."
She moves towards the kitchen and starts moving the kitchen table.
"Okay. Come with me. There's a trapdoor underneath."
You hear a sound on the door, like someone is trying to slowly turn the knob. You're running out of time.
Campaign
Campaign, Ike!
"Thanks for the offer, but unless you'd like to join our entourage we're probably not gonna be doing the gathering for a while yet. If you do wanna join our entourage though, I'd definitely promise you first dibs on doing the Dark portion of the ritual."
Ask if Grim would like to join the party, seems like a trustworthy sort. Accept goodies, hand over the WMD, make checklist:
- Focus for the soul (eyes, possibly something else as well), check!
- Powerful dark mage, maybe check?
- Powerful order mage
- (Optional) Water-aligned resurrection spot, for example a Nexus of Water
Then return to the rest of the party so we can get back to the quest at hand.
"Nah, I'm not joining you guys. I'll stick with the Boss. The job is good and I hate being out here more than I have to. I was just offering some help cause I'd love to try casting this sort of spell or at least seeing it with my own eyes. ... Though, if you are going to try casting it soon, I could stick around for a while. Maybe gather some more information for the Boss while I'm at it. I mean, we're not in any hurry to get this thing back to him."
Depending on your answer, Grim may temporarily join the party.
That done, you can get back to the others. If you went with the guy with the horse you could get there and join them right now, you'd just be leaving the rest of the team behind to get there on foot. Otherwise it will take about a day to get there, which means you just have to wait for them to end their current day. Or I'll just move time forward if nothing happens after a while, don't want to leave you waiting doing nothing.
Alan, Introductions Master
"Oh, you don't know who I am? I thought you did and my brain tubes were just taking a while to catch up with me. In that case..."
Alan attempts to form his balloon self into a smiley face.
"Fantiddlytastic to meet you, strange pseudo-anime metaphor girl! I'm Alan the Amazing, and when I'm not a bunch of balloons I can throw practically infinite milkshake all over the place - and I don't even mean like in a really weird sex metaphor, I'm talking them good diner milkshakes, baby! Therefore, since you need all the milkshakes you can get and I am the premiere milkshake provider in this here plane of reality or metaphorical dream sequence or whatever this is, I propose we become best friends starting immediately. It'll be great -
Squeaky Alan Balloon and Graveyard City Anime Girl, fighting crime with slapstick and jarring amounts of mood whiplash!"
Get distracted from what I came here to do, become friends with Metaphorical Anime Dark City Milkshake Girl.
((Speaking of Magical Girls, have you checked out Syvarris' Magical Girl Game? I just laughed imagining Alan in it, acting like Alan while believing he totally is a magical girl.))
The you closest to her turns into a balloon with a smiley face on it. She laughs.
"You're funny, little balloon."Her smile fades. She looks at you thoughtfully for a few more seconds
"I'm still not sure if I should trust you. But I could use some help. And you sound quite helpful. What do you say? Will you help me float out of here and give me milkshakes if I tie all of you together?"