Private Eastern Brisshal You Son of a Bee, I'm in!

[Corsair]

The four adventurers claimed a table on the second floor of the Comb and Foam, out on the balcony overlooking the Honeyhome market square. It was a welcoming little establishment, and Corsair set right to business. "Thank you all for joining me," Corsair said, hands resting on the recently cleaned table. She had the air of a manager starting up a zoom call, and her serious demeanor cut easily through the bustle of the tavern.

"I'm sure there's no need for pseudonyms or mystery here, after all I know two of you quite well already." She looked over at @Brutus Dahlgren and @Toko, before settling her robotic gaze on @Lucy. "I don't believe we've met, but my name is Corsair. I'm looking forward to working with you." She held out a hand to shake.

A barmaid came around, and Corsair put in her order. "Any sort of smoothie is fine. The thicker the better. Straight orange pulp would be ideal. No food for me, but I'll pick up the first round." She smiled. A cold, professional thing.

Once they'd all ordered, and were alone again, Corsair continued. "Before we get into the nitty-gritty of our task tonight, let's go over some necessary points. First, this is a stealth mission."

"Our employer has specifically stated that any evidence of our actions tonight will result in a heavy penalty to our potential reward, and that any fatalities will mean a complete breach of our contract with them, so I must insist. No killing."

Their drinks arrived and Corsair slipped the woman an extra gold piece. "That will be all. We'll call if we need anything." She took a sip of her drink and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing.

"Second, I understand that morality is subjective, but I'm assuming nobody here holds any reservations regarding returning a stolen piece of property to its rightful owner?" On the scale of Jesus to Stalin Brutus had already placed himself as a Robin Hood, which was ideal, as they would be robbing, and potentially wearing hoods.

"Lastly, if anyone has specific skills or experience that would make entering and exiting a well-guarded manor silently and without being seen then now would be the time to mention it."

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko @Lucy

 

[Toko]

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She had been excited when Corsair had extended Toko an invitation through the UI's messaging system one day, and while Toko would have said yes regardless of the request she had been quite interested when the Magia had given a few more tidbits of information. As a result Nao had made sure to prepare herself for a long session today, her errands and chores completed the day before, as the girl locked herself inside her bedroom and slipped the VR headset on.

The chosen meeting spot was a delightful building, the view afforded from the balcony of the Comb and Foam entertaining as the last few details were getting prepared. A smile and a wave was given to Corsair when she looked in the rabbit's direction, before listening intently to the next word the Magia had to share.

She was always impressed by the Magia's cool and professional demeanor, always aware of those around and knowing when to share additional details of the mission. Her own drink had arrived, a cold black tea infused with lemon and honey, and Toko took a few sips while nodding in agreement to various conditions that Corsair was laying out regarding their mission.

"None at all, if something lost is found then it's only right we return it to its proper place~" Considering the present company the Lepus doubted any of the other two present would have an objection. "Lucy and I are good at Nature magic, if there are areas to be scaled we could definitely create vines to make our access into the grounds quiet... and also ensure a smooth exit route once our objective has been claimed."

@Corsair @Brutus Dahlgren @Lucy

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"You all know me," Brutus replied. "I'm a bit of a hammer, and this doesn't seem like a problem we can just nail down with brute force, but I'm willing to adapt." He felt slightly guilty recruiting @Toko and @Lucy into this sort of thing, but his veritable Oceans Eleven of people running around didn't exactly scream "Top tier heist professionals"

Instead he'd went with those with a softer touch.

"But that being said," he would take a sip of his drink, a nice warm spiced cider, "If we run into anything like a safe or a gate we need to blow on our way out I'm gonna be our man. I've been working on my pyromancy, and I'm looking forward to being able to try cracking a safe with it."

He would lightly drum his fingers on the table nervously. This would be a unique challenge of his skills, and he relished the chance to excel.

"So we have some infiltration, and some exfiltration, what else do we have?"

@Corsair

 

[Lucy]

𓍊𓋼˙༺❀

​

child of nature...

Being invited here by Brutus, Lucy had no idea why she was here. With Scarey-Crow Jr. perched on her head she felt out of place, "I definitely shouldn't have brought my cat to this one..." She chuckled awkwardly, "I totally didn't read we were going to be going into a stealthy heist... All I noticed was we were meeting here at this time and Brutus and Toko would be here..."

What a lovely first impression on one of Brutus' good friends, Lucy internally groaned, before reaching out to give Corsair's hand a shake, "Lucy as your service! I only have nature magic, but you best expect I'm gosh darn good at it!" Lucy wasn't one to brag, but she felt like she was glowing with her most recent achievement in reaching S rank with her magic...

Her friends would hopefully be proud with her, as she had spent a lot of time cultivating her bond with nature to do so... It was something she had put a LOT of effort in, and she had finally achieved the max rank. Although she did have more she could do, "What skills do you have Corsair?" Then she ordered her drink, just straight up apple juice!

She sipped on it, and began wondering if they had any cheese crackers here......

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko @Corsair

 

[Corsair]

"I have magitech expertise, which means I have these," she said, and dropped a medium frog and a large spider on the table. They were both made of burnished metal, with sections of transparent glass which showed their swirling, milky insides. "They each house a spirit, so they can act semi-autonomously. They are perfect for stealth recon."

She took a sip of her chunky drink.

"I also have this," she said, pulling out a large sheet of paper. As drinks were moved out of the way she unrolled the hand-drawn map, revealing the basic layout of a massive manor. "I only have exterior details," Corsair said, flattening out the paper and using bowls, empty glasses, and her own magitech animals to hold down the edges.

"This is the home of one Uzias Guld, our target. He's head of the artist's guild. Former master, now art dealer, and apparently art stealer also. We've been hired with retrieving a painting called the Blank Canvas, that I've been assured is somewhere within this manor."

She cast her eyes across the sketched lines for the hundredth time, wishing they were more filled in. "Standard fantasy mansion. Two floors above ground, one basement below. Basement connects to the sewers, and inside he's got at least two private studies, one of them up in that wizard-tower in the East corner, and apparent also a guarded vault on the ground floor."

She tapped her chin with her finger, a sure-fire sign that her processors were spinning up to full speed, calculating a plan with the resources available. "I don't suppose anyone else knows anything about this place? @Lucy, you wouldn't have happened to do some topiary work for him in the past?" she asked, joking with her signature deadpan look.

@Brutus Dahlgren @Lucy @Toko

 

[Toko]

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A questioning eyebrow was raised as Toko noticed the familiar Scarey-Crow Jr perched atop Lucy’s head, concerned over the kitten’s safety as the briefing of the mission continued. Hopefully they’d have time to stop by Fort Gundame and drop Crow off with the ginger sibling.

"Ah, Sam~!"

There was a look of delight as Corsair producer her two magitech creatures, the Lepus’ eyes focusing on the familiar frog she’d come to like quite a bit. As the map and its guidelines were slowly stretched across the table Toko was quick to help, the chunky boy moved specifically to the corner closest to the fighter to prevent the paper from rolling back up.

"Mmm… that is a pretty big place." Her cooing over Sam was cut short as it was time for all the heads to work together and think, Toko’s resting softly atop the back of Sam as she unconsciously rubbed the exterior cover of the frog fondly. "Corsair, do we know what this ‘Blank Canvas’ painting looks like exactly?"

She didn’t want to assume the contents, even if the title heavily implied a certain theme, as Toko looked towards the Magia. "If I know more about it then maybe—although this is a huuugeee maybe—I could use Astramancy and see if Fortune guides us in it’s direction?" The urge yo pick up and coddle Sam was resisted for the time being, but only because it would’ve caused the map corner where the frog magitech currently sat on to curl back up if he were removed.

@Corsair @Brutus Dahlgren @Lucy

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Chances are." Brutus would begin, leaning forward and poking the tower study. "If I were a piece of shit asshole art thief, I'd hand that shit in my study, probably the one harder to get to". He would then turn to the other study and jab it. "Or maybe I'd have a hidden room connected to here somehow, be a little less obvious." He would frown, furrowing his brow. "Although finding it will be risky. Both those areas are probably guarded to the nines, there's probably gonna be magic involved if I was a betting man." He would rise to his feet, placing both hands on the table to steady himself as his eyes scanned the floorplan with a mental intensity rarely seen from the giant.

"I happen to be a huge fan of Pay Day 5, so I happen to be a bit of a..." he paused, "I wouldn't say an expert, but I would say I have an idea of what we're doing. We need to figure out an Infiltration point, and then and Exfil." His finger would reach over and tap to the Sewer entrance. "We could do either from there, sneak in from down low and then hoof it on the surface? Or vice versa, sneak in through the roof and fuck off into the sewers?"'

@Corsair @Lucy @Toko

 

[Lucy]

𓍊𓋼˙༺❀

​

child of nature...

The name Uzias Guld definitely sounded familiar, but Lucy just brushed it off as nothing as she studied the map, memorizing its contents.

"I think we should definitely use that Astramancy of yours, now I'm not the smartest but I do know that stolen art is usually placed in a safe or a secret room, rather than just hanging out bluntly. Unless this Mr. Guld is stupid, it won't be somewhere where we can find just by snooping and looking at the walls. Maybe a safe hidden behind a painting above the fireplace or the like..."

She fiddled with her fingers, anxious now that she had spoken her own ideas. Although this was the planning table and she was surrounded by friends she still felt uncertainty in her suggestion or idea on potential intel. She didn't know the first thing about stealth missions or heist-type games like Brutus or the others.

She truly was terrified.

@Brutus Dahlgren @Corsair @Toko

"Talking"
Thoughts

 

[Corsair]

"There are benefits to using the same entrance and exit, especially if we are doing stealth," Corsair argued. "If we can locate the painting and extract it directly, then retracing our steps upon an already secured path is ideal."

"However."

"If we are spotted, then the first thing any competent guard will go is secure our entrance point. So we will need an alternate exit for if that eventuality..." she tried to think of another word that wasn't 'eventuate', "occurs."

"So. I propose two plans. Let's call the first one plan A, for Astute. We enter as close to the painting as possible, obtain it, and leave the same way. Plan B, or plan Brutus, is if we get discovered then someone," she looked pointedly at the big man, "makes a big distraction and we all exit via the sewers."

Toko's Astramancy was a perfect tool for narrowing down their task. Between all of the secure locations in the manor they could be hunting all night. However, the client had been so secretive that even the image of the painting was still a mystery. "Well, as for details. I have never seen the painting, and I couldn't exactly ask about it directly for fear of suspicion. However, I know three things about the painting. The canvas is three inches thick, it is six feet high, and it is eighteen feet long."

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko @Lucy

 

[Toko]

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.

"I think exiting through the sewers would be the best option... but not so much for entry. After all they're smelly, and we might accidentally leave tracks as a result of whatever muck we step on while under there."

While the main clearing objective was to kill no one, something the entire party had happily agreed to honoring, a second—even if lesser—caveat was managing to complete the mission without being spotted or leaving any trace of their infiltration behind. The Lepus' brows furrowed then as she was deep in thought, but without knowing much of the estate save for the ground plans that Corsair had obtained Toko wasn't sure how best to approach it.

"It's still early... do you think we'd be able to gain something from perhaps scouting the place while the sun is still out?"

There was always the off chance a less guarded point of entry could be found among the grounds and, as long as the guards didn't spot them, entering the mansion should've been the easy part of it all. She wasn't sure how they'd be able to sneak through the roof though... but perhaps looking at the place physically could give them further thoughts on how to handle the job.

"Hey, Lucy..." Speaking of ideas... the Lepus' suddenly perked up as a thought raced through her mind, red eyes quickly turning to look at the Faerin before she continued. "Are there any plants that can function as a form of tranquilizer? Maybe via spores or something that would be easier to distribute...?"

If someone could think of one it was probably the redhead... and who knew, with enough potency maybe whoever saw them could be fooled into thinking they'd simply had a very weird dream?

Toko's attention turned back to the Magia then as Corsair shared her two plan proposals, although Plan Brutus certainly elicited a soft chuckle that the rabbit was unable to contain as her hand remained petting the back of Sam the frog. Next came the very little information available on the mysterious painting in question, the Lepus frowning as she committed the few details into memory... though she wasn't sure they'd be enough to guarantee her Astramancy not leading them astray.

"... what about who painted it then? Did they use anything unusual in particular when making the painting perhaps?"

If getting more details out of the canvas wasn't possible, then perhaps information about the artist that created said work of art would be available without arousing too much suspicion...?

@Corsair @Brutus Dahlgren @Lucy

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus chuckled for a moment. Plan Brutus sounded quite fun if he was being honest, but unfortunately would be less ideal for their current motives.

Damn.

There was a lot of touch on here, so he would start with his first comment. "That painting is fucking huge. It's about as long as a little under three of me. There's no way he's got it it tucked in any small nook or cranny. That's like, almost the size of the Last Supper. He's got that displayed our somewhere big." He tapped the private studies. "Neither of these rooms is big enough to possibly to display something that fucking big. It's probably out..." he would tap the main lobby. "Here. Probably displayed on the stairs or something."

He would frown. "As for moving it, is that something we can just...shove in our inventory? Because otherwise we're gonna need two people to hold that at least, and we run a really high chance of shenanigans lugging that fucker around."

Lastly, as he finished up and took a sip of his ale he would state. "There's some fungi out in the woods that Gertrud uses the spores of to make sleeping medicine. In theory we could use the spores from them as knock out gas if we wanted. Lucy could make em grow real big so we can harvest a bunch, Corsair can make us like...gas grenades? That means would need gas masks or some way to not get effected by our own sleep gas though."

@Corsair @Toko @Lucy

 

[Lucy]

𓍊𓋼˙༺❀

​

child of nature...

What everyone was offering to the table made more than enough sense to the fairy. "Sounds like Brucey needs to be the one to carry it. He's the strongest and the tallest!" Lucy laughed a bit at her own joke before she got her serious face on. They were in a really important meeting right now! She had to be serious, calculated and responsible. No childish antics here!

Everything had been laid out on the table, and Brucey mentioned a psychedelic shroom that she was overly familiar with. Not really having a chance of her own to speak, she would just nod her head in agreement. Everything that they had mentioned sounded doable. No one would have to get hurt or die, as for checking out the place ahead of time....

"I can always offer to do some gardening as an aspiring florist? I can uhm... Also cook... I could present myself as a chef that wants to learn... It would stroke his ego if I did it in a way that was 'train under the house that has the best cooks in the region' or something.... Either way I'd have a little bit of access and I can always pant stuff ahead of time.." She spoke very quietly as she was uncertain of it herself. The others definitely had more brains to come up with better ideas.

"Talking"
Thoughts