IC: Sun in the Shadows

Tenah motioned Ashur over to him. "I have need of you in this situation. My cultural heritage prevents me from taking advantage of the element of surprise - something we cannot afford to throw away. I sense a droid moving away from us down a T-intersection hall. I need you to engage it first, then I will join you."

Ashur nods and notches an arrow, moving silently down the hall. The droid does not notice him, and a swift arrow from Ashur's bow shatters the droids metallic skull. Ashur retrieves the arrow and returns to his companion.

"I got a lucky shot," he says.

Stepping around the corner only to see that their target was subdued, Tenah nodded his approval at the outcome. Pulling out his computer, he looked up the house schematics to find the location of their target. Both members of the party stood alert, just in case any other security measures were enabled...

Sidralaynu quickly surveys the situation, noting the outlay of the room, as Valco leans against the desk with an easy smile and watchful eyes.

She turns to the droid and affects a flighty manner.

"What a lovely place! I am Sidralaynu Tahl, a friend of Alijah. We met at a banquet a while ago, and we've unfortunately been out of touch. When we last spent time together, she told me to stop by if I was ever in the area, so here I am! Would she happen to be in today, I'm afraid I'm only passing by and can't stay for too long, but I would really love to see her."

The droids response did not please Sidralaynu or Valco. Sidralaynu gives a minute shake of her head in his direction when she sees his fingers brush against the hilt of his blaster. Thankfully, he sees this and hesitates just long enough for her to reach out to Ashur telepathically to see how far he had gotten. Pleased to discover that he and Tenah were close to their object, she decides to retreat from the front of the mansion.

"I am very sorry to hear that she is not available, I was so looking forward to seeing her."

She hesitates just a moment in the middle of the room and looks around with regret, discreetly making a slashing motion with her hand when she has Valco's attention, before pointing to a bunch of wires half enclosed in a pipe, running the length of the wall from the ceiling to the floor. They are on the wall with the door and are somewhat obscured by a large plant in an ornate vase.

"What a beautiful plant! The flowers are so brilliant, Valco, do you think you could cut a sprig for me? That is just the right color flower to go with my dress!" She moves to the door, opening it.

Valco quickly moves forward, drawing his vibroblade, as the administrative droid beeps out a protest, and cuts off a bunch of flowers, smoothly moving the knife to "accidentally" slice through the wires.

Seeing their exit cut off, Valco turns to Sidralaynu angrily, tossing the flowers to the floor. He stamps over to where she stands by the busy droids, sheathing his knife.
"Thanks, now we're stuck here!"

"Oh dear. This is a mess." She sighs and turns to the droid at the desk, who really is frantic with worry. "I am so sorry about that. Is there any other way out? No? What a pity. Is there any way that you could summon help from the droids in the rest of the mansion? I'm sure the Van Fluyt's have many."

The droid immediately took action, turning on the mansions intercom and summoning almost all of the mansion's technical and service droids in his distress.

Sidralaynu nods her thanks to the droid and gracefully sinks into a couch positioned by the door, patting the seat next to her for Valco to sit, which he grudgingly does.

"What a diverting way to spend the afternoon, isn't it, Valco?" In an undertone she whispers to him to keep his trigger finger ready.

He simply grunts in reply and turns to watch the more dangerous droids work at the door as they wait for the other droids to let them out.


(OOC: In my minds eye, the door Sidra was holding was a real, swinging, door. I had her hold it open so this wouldn't happen. )

Ashur sends an ancestor messenger to Sidralaynu, with the word "Help!"

[OOC: It requires special training to send complete thoughts telepathically. The combat that will take place beyond the ornate door was designed with four people in mind... ]

Coming right away! Sidralaynu sent back.

Sidralaynu quickly stood and headed for the lift.
"Well, this is getting boring. Come on Valco, we'll find our own way out. Thanks for the hospitality, boys!"

With a little wave to the droids, she pushed the button to open the lift, which was thankfully available and working.

Valco swiftly pulls out his blaster and takes a shot at the droid closest to him.

Sidralaynu deftly steps behind another large vase while pulling out her own blaster, and aims through the plant's leaves.

Valco shoots the damaged droid again and pulls out his other blaster.

Sidralaynu shoots the other droid.

Valco shoots back, one shot with each blaster.

Sidralaynu waits to see if it is enough, but makes sure that her blaster is properly aimed at the remaining droid.

Valco turns around and blasts the lift controls. No reinforcements will be coming that way.

Seeing the rest of their group arriving, Tenah says "About time," paying little heed to the battle Valco and Sidralayna had gone through to get to them. Using his computer, Tenah hooks into the control panel next to the door and attempts to hack through the security to get inside.

Sidralaynu glared at Tenah.

"We did our best. I tried to create a bit of a diversion downstairs, hopefully that should help, which, if I remember correctly, you called for, Ashur. What can we do now that we're here?"

"You can watch me do all the work, then be prepared for whatever's beyond this door."

OOC: Did you enjoy getting to control multiple characters at once?

Tenah plugs his computer into the door controls and ||successfully slices|| into the system. A moment later he has the door open, as easy as pazaak.

Inside is a posh bower adorned in the richest fabrics, tiles, and stones. Beside the bed is a table of solid coral with two ivory chairs. In one ivory chair sits an elegant golden haired girl in her late teens sipping tea; leaning against the wall is a burly Zabrak man, armed and armored. You take all this in in an instant, for as soon as the two beings see you they react.

The girl leaps up--dropping her tea--and grabs a rapier, shouting, "Intruders! Destroy them!" The Zabrak readies a tough-looking blaster rifle and moves in front of the marchioness.

COMBAT HAS BEGUN; INITIATIVE ROLLS:
Alk Rosh: ||31|| (||FP||)
Tenah: ||30||
Ashur-Zannukan: ||27||
Valco: 20||
Sidralaynu: ||13||
Alija: ||11||

Alk Rosh defends Alija while ||laying down a barrage|| against Valco, ||url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3318166/]grazing[/url]|| the scoundrel's shoulder.

OOC: Alk Rosh has designated Alija as the target of his Harm's Way talent, allowing him to absorb damage for her.
OOC2: Attacking your allies removes you from the moral dilemma of preemptive strike, Tenah, though Alija's order to attack was probably sufficient for your loose morals.
OOC3: I'll take Valco from here.

Tenah begins firing blindly, laying down cover fire for himself as he ran into the room. Reaching the bed, Tenah takes cover and fires a few carefully placed shots at the Zabrak, noting that he was the only real threat in the room.

Tenah moves into the room and ||fires|| on Alk Rosh, summoning ||extra strength|| to bring success. The shot ||grazes|| the Zabrak's shoulder but does mostly cosmetic damage.

OOC: Wes, I spent one of your Force points to improve your attack. You described more actions than you can actually perform, so I considered them flavor text. You used a move action to move behind the bed, a swift action to kneel, and a standard action to attack.

Ashur draws his heavy broadsword and moves beside the door where he can't be fired upon.

Meanwhile, Simannu attacks while Tassuḫtu remains perched on her master's shoulder. Simannu pounces into the room and attempts to rake the Zabrak with her claws; sadly, she ||fails||.

Valco lays down fire with both his pistols, but ||his attack|| goes wide.

OOC: Ashur had to use a move action to draw his sword, so I'm waiting until the next turn for him to attack.