CYOA: Sholmes, Yoo Joonhyuk, Nanaly, Susato (and Greg)

[grigori]

mmm whatcha saaaaaaay

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INTRO

[gregore]

[You vanish from wherever you are... and wake up, a few minutes later. The memories of your life before are gone. Now...

You live in the city of Catapecchia - a lovely shithole of a place, as most like to describe it. Your life here is passable, but every single one of you has a desire and goal to drag yourself to a better life.

You are approached, one day, by a man in a cloak. He is gruff, and short with you, but refuses to go until you hear him out. He has a proposition for you: he’d like you to steal something for him, from Baraca. This makes you scoff, at first - it’s well known around these parts that Baraca is an impenetrable prison, often used by the authorities in this city to hold both high profile prisoners and high security items. You are about to excuse yourself from his presence when he tells you the figure he aims to pay you for completing the heist.

Well. That’s a number you can’t really refuse, huh?

You alone know your reasoning for taking this job. And now, you’ve been gathered together to discuss your plan. Tonight, you are clustered in the backroom of an inn, meeting each other (maybe for the first time? maybe you've met in various places before?) and talking. The cloaked man - who tells you to call him Duster - is in the corner of the room, and will answer questions if needed.

Here are the things you know:

- Baraca is a high profile prison. It is near impossible to get into if you are not part of the local police force. People who break in are often just shot first, no questions later.
- Most of the police force has magic.
- Every week, once a week, they transport new prisoners into the prison using a covered wagon.
- You have a list of guard names - these are guards who are known to be local drunks, or easily bribed.
- You have a layout of the prison, and various weakspots in the walls and gates.
- The name of the item you are stealing is Jurda.
- You have various items at your disposal to break in - your character has one thing they can bring to the table, and as long as it makes sense with your backstory, it can be anything, from like lockpicks to something abstract like “I know a guy”.

(and if you have questions about the world itself, ask flurry!)]

TALK TO DUSTER

[gregore]

christens

[malewife]

What is Jurda?

[gregore]

[duster glances at him from under his hood.]

Powerful thing that enhances your abilities.

[malewife]

[ SHADY SHADY HOODED MAN ]

What does it look like? Do you have a picture?

[greatdeduction]

[Sholmes is here! He's dressed like so (sans metal hand) and is currently propping his feet up at the table lazily. In his hands is a gun, that he's currently reloading with a bullet between his teeth, glancing over at Duster with a smile.]

So! [And after putting in the last bullet, he jerks the gun closed, spinning the cylinder.] I do have a question. How large is this Jurda, exactly? I'm supposing it may not be something small...or is it?

[gregore]

[the gun gets a nose wrinkle, but it's fine.]

Big. Like a large painting. It's not a painting. But it's that size.

[booksleeves]

[Susato is here. She's wearing. . . an outfit. She bows her head graciously to Duster.]

. . . I can only accept, sir. Would you happen to be able to mark where on this map the item is located?

[gregore]

To my best approximation, it's here.

[and he pushes forward a map. the X is near the bottom of the map, close to the pool of water.]

It's in the basement. I believe. Could've been moved, though.

DISCUSSION

[gregore]

[booksleeves]

[Susato bows politely to all of the gathered individuals.]

Susato Mikotoba. I hope we will be able to work well together. [. . .] I am a trained acrobat, and am capable of picking locks. Please rely on me to reach any difficult locations. I may be capable of making my way inside and allowing you all to enter.

[greatdeduction]

[Herlock Sholmes salutes her with the barrel of his gun.]

A pleasure, my dear madam. The name's Herlock Sholmes. You certainly do have a wonderful set of skills, there. Me? I'm a sharpshooter. If you give me a target, I will never miss it, no matter the circumstances.

[burnstrike]

Nanaly.

[ Just kind of standing there with her arms crossed and definitely not bowing, but she'll give a nod of acknowledgment. ]

I've got some magic that should be useful -- making myself look like someone else, for one. Can probably trick someone into letting me into off-limits places.

THE BREAK IN

[gregore]

[seems like you have a plan! probably.

duster tells you all that he will be waiting on the north side of the prison. said prison is very tall, and very imposing - towers over the entire city like a grim reminder. it's not snowing this time of year, thankfully, so the area around baraca is lush and green, maybe a little swampy in places.

about a mile out from the prison, into the city, is the station. this is where, as duster has informed you, the guards gather their uniforms and start their work day. this is also where prisoners are kept in transit. five wagons wait outside, pulled by horses. ignore the polar bears in the image. wolves prowl around on patrol. there are guards around this area as well - maybe some of them are on that list you've got.

what do you do first?]

[malewife]

[ We will assume that we are starting near the station, but not extremely close to be caught by patrol. Using the binoculars, please tell me which familiar bribable fellows are working today. ]

So we’re looking to bribe one first for more details, then knock out another to steal their uniform for Nanaly. Nanaly will infiltrate the station using her illusion magic to bring back a trainer uniform for Mikotoba Susato, then return with Herlock Sholmes and I as newly arrested prisoners to be wagoned in.

[ Is that all for first phase, getting into the prison? ]

We can bribe them to overlook our wagon so that we aren’t as heavily checked. Or we can leave our supplies with Nanaly and Mikotoba Susato to smuggle.

[ Cause. They have weapons. ]

If something were to happen, we can depend on Herlock Sholmes’ strange gun.

[ just his gun. not him. feel free to add more!! ]

[booksleeves]

Yes - I would be happy to smuggle in some of the supplies for you.

[She will wait a little while for Nanaly to infiltrate the guards, before she tries showing up as a new hire.]

If anything goes amiss, I will try to release you and Mr. Sholmes as soon as I can - otherwise, I will release you inside the prison.

[greatdeduction]

[Doing the Revolver Ocelot gun spinning thing - no, he's just spinning it once to put in his holster.]

Which one do we want to bribe? We have choices, here. I'll make good work on whoever I can.

[And a nod.]

I'm thinking of the drunk one, the seducable one, or the one that everyone bribes. Ah, perhaps more than one is best overall, here.

THE HEIST

[gregore]

[the wagon loading goes without a hitch! haha, hitch.

the ride up to the prison is a long one. there are enough prisoners for there to be three wagons, which means that there are two other guards driving the two other wagons that all of you are not on. one of them is a straightbacked, stern looking man with blonde hair. the other is a lazier black haired man, with a sharp jaw and dark eyes. they're in front of the four of you, leading the way up to the prison. they don't pay any attention to nanaly and susato, though the stern looking man does tell susato to sit and watch winslow do his job, shortly.

there are two other prisoners in your wagon. a man with brown hair and a beard, bangs brushing sideways across his forehead. his green shirt is torn in places and he's pretty beat up and bruised. the other is a young girl with long purple hair in a hime cut, purple eyes on the ground. she's thankfully not beat up, but her sundress is a little dirty and she's not wearing shoes. both are quiet, maybe alarmingly so. their eyes are distant and they don't respond to anything said to them.

they... feel familiar, though, to sholmes and joonghyuk. they're not sure why.

the drive up is mostly silent, and takes about fifteen minutes. and once everybody has arrived, the straightbacked man in the front goes through the process of showing off his ID card to the guard at the gate. a wave of blue energy washes over the wagon, and there's a soft DING as the gate clears the prisoners for entry.

the black haired guard goes next, flicking his ID card at the gate guard. this time, when the blue energy washes over the wagon, there's a BZZRT as the system finds something wrong. the guards both sigh, like this is annoying, rather than a legitimate problem, and the black haired guard just waves a hand.

there's a heavy silence as he climbs into the back of the wagon. susato and nanaly can't quite see what is happening, but the wagon rocks a bit - there's thudding noises, the black haired guard muttering, a few pained yelps -- and then:]

Found it! [comes the guard's voice from inside. and there's a sharp, sudden bang. like a gunshot.

moments later, a body gets kicked out of the wagon into the mud in front of susato and nanaly's wagon. the guard follows, brushing his hands off. he clambers back to his seat for his wagon, and takes off into the prison proper.

... it's nanaly and susato's turn!]

[burnstrike]

[ Hm. All right, not great!! At least they've got enough ankle devices in there for everyone if that's a problem, and at least she's the guard here, so they can probably just fake-murder Sholmes or something if they need to.

When she leans over to speak to Susato, it's with some gesturing at the gate to make it look like Winslow's mansplaining some basic gate knowledge to new recruit Naruhodo, totally innocuous. ]

We're going through, right?

[ They'll at least start to move forward rather than lingering too suspiciously, though a little slower than the other wagons went.

RIP to that guy who got thrown out because the horses are probably walking right over him right now, she's not that good at steering. ]

[booksleeves]

Yes. Thank you for allowing me to take the lead, sir.

[Taking a deep breath and starting to go through. She doesn't have an ID card yet, so she'll gesture to Nanaslow.]

Pardon me - it's my first day and my ID hasn't been made. Um. . . but everything should be in order. [Glancing at Nanaslow as if questioning 'it's all correct, right?']

[malewife]

[ As their “guards” try to weasel their way in, Joonghyuk looks over to these oddly familiar people? Who? He stays quiet and squints at them.

Joonghyuk has never been a social person. ]

THE DECISION

[gregore]

[it's dark.

the air here is cool, the atmosphere calming and easy. you can hear crickets in the distance, and when you come to entirely, you can see a wagon. a man sits at the helm of it, reins in hand, and when you all appear, he puts said reins down and jumps from his perch to make his way to you.

it's duster, in the spot you were supposed to meet him.

you are, for the moment, not dead. all four of you are, despite your injuries, able to stand and function. physically, anyway. the two sets of memories still fight for dominance in your head - the ones from this world, and the ones from the life you came from. the compulsion to finish your goal has lessened. behind you, jurda struggles to try and get to his feet, his waterlogged and broken wings causing him more trouble than not. he looks exhausted as all of you feel, worn out from the boost he'd given you all in battle.

duster folds his arms.]

You survived. Surprising. But it looks like you found your mark. Help me get him into the wagon, and I'll give you your reward.

[... what do you do?]

[booksleeves]

[Susato is bleeding from the wound to her chest, breathing heavily, the image of blood and violence fresh in her mind. But they're here, they're here and they're safe, and -

Right.

There are two sets of memories here, and one set belongs to a girl far more ruthless than the other. A girl who needs the money badly. And yet Susato - both versions of Susato - doesn't lack for conviction. After everything she's seen and everything she feels, she's not willing to let it end like this.

She's still holding a gun in her hand. So she raises her arm and points it at Duster.]

You didn't tell us he was a person.

[How is Jurda acting? Does he seem threatened? Does he recognize Royce?]

[malewife]

[ Joonghyuk has went through a similar situation before, so it only takes him a minute or two before he chooses what he believes to be his true memories. It also helps that he basically bleeds words and they read his story. Despite that, the sight of the bodies in the basement don't leave his mind nor does the desire for money, but he focuses heavily on Duster. This man. This little shrimp who isn't greg.

He's just going to grab Duster by the neck and lift him up (17, do i only roll well for choking). The pain in his wounds are there, they ache and resound throughout his body, but the rage consumes everything. ]

This is over. Take us back to Ahnkeen.

[ Or else. ]

[greatdeduction]

[Everything Happens So Much.]

[Sholmes just lays there, shocked for a moment. Everything that happened. Abilities. Sharpshooting. Kazuma, dead. Kazuma was...dead. No, he wasn't. Yujin...Yujin was there, forcing him away, and Kotetsu, he...]

[He rolls over to his side, crying out in pain with the pressure to the stump of his arm. There's a man that he is that wouldn't care for this. He needs to get the money. And there is...a great detective who needs money, too. But there's a lot more that matters to the great detective than just some cash. There's so much more to him than that.]

[He staggers to his feet, and when the other two make their move, he steps in front of Jurda, throwing his arm in front of the other protectively. He's only a whole twunk, but...you'll have to get through him first, anyways.]

A gentleman would never give away a person like this, to be used as an object. [He hangs his head, exhausted, pained.] We can't...allow you to do this.