Raiders of the Temple of the Last Crusade (Aiden, Fergus, Karlsen)

(Ooc - David do I have a trump of Karlsen?)

OOC - Sorry I've been away, busy weekend. Glad to see I didn't hold you all up.
On the way over Karlsen explains, "If she wore it for a significant time it could have absorbed a bit of her aural signature. With certain occult methods that would be enough to track her through shadow."

Karlsen fishes in his pouch, then flips through a thin deck and pulls out a Trump. He gives it to Fergus. "Here, now you have one. Let's go." Karlsen takes off the protective coating on Blue Dragon and it's blade shines in the light. He then reconsiders his action and then slips on the sheath but does not retie the bindings. (OOC - It will look like it is still covered, but will come off with a quick flick. Not quite as threatening as carrying a barred blade.)

Fergus takes the card from Karlsen and nods for them to be about their business. He then goes to find an alcove to hide in and watch the front door.

Typical, they don't trust me to do the hard stuff after the house.

Not many folks around this time of day as the whole city gears up for the Festival. A door near the back of the warehouse looks simple enough, with what looks like some kind of combination lock. Nearby, in the water, is docked a ship of some kind. Seems to have collapsible masts and sails ready, but the upper deck looks curious. After a few moments, Karlsen and Aiden will soon realize it to be a submersilbe freighter. A tall smokestack and several extendable tubes indicate the ship is intended to go only a little bit under the waves--presumably enough to hide from ill weather or inquisitive eyes.

The name of the ship can be seen--Weredolphin.

As Aiden leans against the door and pulls down on the shackle of the lock to see if it really is locked, he turns slightly and nods his chin toward the submersible. "Whatdya think of that," he asks Karlsen.

Karlsen responds, "A very interesting vehicle for this where and when. I would enjoy going over it at some point. But right now I believe we have more important matters. I will follow your lead and watch to the back." Karlsen stands with his back to the wall and scans the area behind them and the rooftops for anything out of the ordinary. He will quietly follow Aiden into the building and gently almost shut the door behind them.

Fergus keeps watch for any comings or goings from the warehouse. He experiments with trying to adjust his eyes to view longer distances and scan the roof for any lookouts. The question he keeps asking himself though is how long does he wait if he doesn't hear from the others?

"I would bet that our mysterious follower has a rendezvous with someone on the boat. When that ship pulls out, we should be on it." Gesturing to the lock, "This will take a few minutes. Give Fergus a Trump call. Let him know we may be leaving in a hurry...by water."

Aiden turns his attention to the lock. Spinning the dial a couple of times quickly, he then stops and puts tension on the lock as he begins to turn the dial one number at a time until he finds the first place it seems to stick. Making a mental note of the number, he then spins the dial slowly back the opposite direction.......

A few minutes later, the lock clicks open in his hand. Slipping the lock into an outside pocket, he turns back to Karlsen and gives him the sign for 'shhh.' Then cracks the door very slowly....and listens...

Karlsen Trumps Fergus and assuming he gets him, whispers "Take out my Trump and hold the contact so you can keep in the loop. We may be leaving in a hurry."

Fergus does as instructed and continues to keep watch at the front.

"Yeah, we're headed out to the compound later tonight," says a voice barely audible. "but you're not scheduled to make a report."

"Things have changed," another voice insists. "People came to the Target's House. After a time, they went straight to the Target's boat. And they left something important on the boat when they left."

"Really," a third voice intones. Calm, very intelligent, not at all impressed. "They just happened to leave something important behind. Just happened to?"

Silence. The third voice continues "By all means, come to the compound. I sure your account of events will prove fascinating."

[OOC: Can Aiden tell if the door and area immediately inside is blocked from the speakers' vision...stacks of boxes or crates or something in front of it ?]

Aiden turns and whispers quietly to Karlsen,
"Looks like the party's headed out to 'The Compound' this evening. I don't think we need to watch the front door anymore. See if Benjamin would like to play spy and find a way to sneak onto that ship while we're hanging out here. Tell him to keep in Trump contact in case one of us needs to be pulled out fast."

"There's some cover a few yards inside the door. I'm gonna try and get to it. I'd like to see who our mysterious friends are. If you want to come with, give me 2 minutes to get inside and settled."

Aiden turns back to the door to hear what he can hear. If it seems clear enough, he'll move slowly and quietly inside at a low crouch, and make his way over to the stack of boxes....

Karlsen keeps Benjamin informed.

Before Aiden leaves Karlsen pulls out a small mirror on the end of a handle, rather like a dentist's tool and hands it to Aiden to look inside without sticking his whole head into view. He then pulls a second out so that he can watch Aiden's progress from the door.

[Ooc - I'm assuming Karlsen tells Fergus what Aiden said]

Fergus comes out from hiding and sneaks around the building until he spots the submarine parked by the jetty. All the while Fergus watches for anyone around as he approaches the hatch on the submarine. Assuming the hatch is open Fergus will head down into the sub keeping his eyes open for anyone down below.

"Oh, that's handy," Aiden whispers, taking the small mirror offered him. Continuing to kneel, Aiden adjusts the angle of the small mirror and then slips it through the cracked door, making a slow 360 degree sweep of the interior of the warehouse...

The mirror shows Aiden three men about ten yards away, illuminated by a hanging electric lamp. One looks an ordinary guy on the street, wearing brown, including a reasonably long coat. The second, bald with a beard, dresses more ruggedly, in gray. But the third, ramrod straight, is all in dark red. His clothes are very simple, but very nice. He looks middle-aged, clean-shaven, with hawklike features.

And he wears a monocle.

Fergus can hear voices aboard Weredolphin, muffled but with no intensity in their speech. His guess--the speakers are around some corner on in a cabin with the door open. One of the speakers laughs. He realizes the voices are all feminine.

The interior of the submersible feels cramped. Tiny electric lights are built into the sides of the ceiling. Although ironclad, the walls and deck are of highly varnished wood. He's in a hallway, with a T-section roughly ten feet forward and another about twenty feet aft.

Fergus decides against his original plan which was to take out a man on the submersible and steal his uniform. He has visions of the old lady Esmeralda in his mind and cant bring himself to hurt another woman, even if these were working for his enemy.

Instead Fergus moves down the corridor away from the voices and looks for a cubby hole to hide in. He blends his skin tone like a chameleon to further hide his presence.

Fergus touches Karlsen's card whispering a message. . "On board now. Two female hostiles identified in front of the sub." Fergus has heard plenty of Holo-Vid cop shows and imitates how they talk.

Aiden retracts the mirror and whispers what he has seen to Karlsen. He decides against moving into the warehouse, to avoid the risk of alerting the opposition to the fact that they are being watched. He continues to listen for a few moments to see if he can pick up any further snatches of useful conversation before deciding on his next course of action....

He also scans the surrounding docks for any passersby who might become a problem.

[OOC: What time is it getting to be? ]

The monocled man would make a nice catch for our Minister of Special Affairs, but he will have to wait

Aiden closes the door silently and replaces the lock. Then, motioning to Karlsen to follow, he heads around to the side of the warehouse and then to the far side of a small dilapidated wooden shed.

He explains, "There are three: our little shadow, another one, possibly one of the sailors from the boat, and the last, the only one who's actually important, is one is one of our infamous monocled men. Though it was dark enough inside, cover was somewhat sparse. And I'd just as soon not give them a chance to find out just how close we are. Besides, I think I know where they're going, "

"I overheard one, the 'sailor', I believe, mention heading out to the compound later tonight. From the phrasing, I take it to mean the 'mysterious' island....at least I hope so. In any event, that boat is important, and one or all of us need to be on her when she sails. "

"Give Fergus a heads up. Tell him to find a dark, out of the way place and get comfortable. It may be a couple of hours. I also wouldn't mind having a look inside that warehouse after they've gone. Could be more than just a random meeting place. Might find something of interest inside. Fergus can Trump us aboard afterward."

"I'm gonna move around to some cover nearer the front from where I can see both you and the front door. I'll signal you when they leave."

Aiden gets ready to move out....

Karlsen responds, "Benjamin is on the sub now so he can follow them and bring us there later. We are free to follow the others and see where they lead us. Unless they can block Trumps." Karlsen moves into position and gets ready.

Fergus settles into his cubby hole as best he can and then suddenly comes to a realization.

They'be got me on a damn boat and are going to let me go through all the misery of being on the sea and then when we get whereever this is going they're going to let me bring them through trump right as rain. Damn sneaky trick!

OCC -