The Bear may be dead, but that doesn't mean Our Heroes (tm) are out of the woods yet. We still need to track down his accomplice, the Comptroller, and try to prevent the release of the Jezebels onto Terra Nova. And to do that… we need to go to a party. Of course we do.
[Minnie has offered to take Lukas back to Port Arthur to finish up his recuperation from his injuries.]
Lukas: "I'm 'safe to move', and by 'move', I assume they mean 'walk slowly'."
[They rest of the team have a debriefing at BCG's Prince Gable offices.]
Ti Corovan: "This is how Fennec and I figured out how things will go moving forward."
Zac: (pointedly) "Yeah, this is how we figured things out."
[Torgath has received some sensitive intel from the debrief, which Lukas is absolutely not supposed to know. So of course he attempts to tell Lukas.]
Lukas: "You're sending mixed messages, Torgath."
Julie: "Does he ever not?"
[The conversation turns to Dawn.]
Torgath: "I think I might have won some of her back."
Zac: "'Some of her'."
[Nicosa Renault has informed Lukas of an upcoming masquerade ball hosted by Miss Jacyntha Fein, where he might find out some information on how to track down Lieutenant Gorash, the Comptroller. Lukas asks Minnie to be his plus-one.]
Minnie Bartok: "Do I get to wear a slinky dress?"
Lukas: "The most expensive one you want."
Minnie Bartok: "So long as it's 17th century period-appropriate."
Brock: "We spend an obnoxious amount of money."
[It's always important to make an entrance.]
Brock: "What's the closest thing to a carriage I can get? I'm prepared to outbid someone who's already reserved one."
[Lukas and Minnie arrive at the party, which doubles as a dead-drop hot-spot for local intelligence operatives.]
Brock: "Minnie's the person I can mock all the other spies with. I've never had that before!"
[More about Minnie's outfit.]
Georges the GM: "Minnie's outfit does mask her identity, but does nothing to render her… inconspicuous."
[The other PCs have likewise heard about the party, for roughly similar reasons. Ti and Fennec try to get into some of the restricted areas of the party, past the guards.]
Ti Corovan: "How do you wanna handle this?"
Fennec: "It's a little early for fisticuffs, is it not?"
Ti Corovan: "Yeah, but what about drunken stupor?"
[Sadly, Ti and Fennec don't coordinate as well as they might have.]
Ti Corovan: "Next time I distract a person, maybe don't draw attention to yourself."
[Fennec decides to take a… less populated route. She doesn't roll as well as she might.]
Zac: "I pull myself into a window and thank goodness Lyta didn't see that."
[Fennec finds herself in an off-limits upper library room. On the other side of an ornate door is an antechamber with a guard dog.]
Zac: "Well, that seems… suspicious."
Georges the GM: "Or intriguing."
[Fennec hears the sound of approaching footsteps.]
Zac: "Any places for concealment in this room?"
Brock: "Just turn invisible."
[The intruders turn out to be Torgath and Dawn.]
Fennec: "I really hope you came in through the roof access; otherwise, I'm gonna feel silly."
[Fennec tells Dawn and Torgath about the dog.]
Gabrielle Summers: "All right, I don't deal with anything that doesn't have mandibles. I'm out."
[Fennec and Torgath try to open the ornate door. Its locking mechanism is very elaborate.]
Zac: "Aw, man, I wish I had explosives!"
[There are three locking mechanisms on the door, each apparently booby-trapped. Fennec barely manages to avoid the first booby-trap activating. It turns out to be a series of dart-launchers.]
Georges the GM: "It's a dart coated with… something."
Zac: "Well, now I know what I'm stabbing the dog with."
[The second locking mechanism turns out to be a concealed panel, behind which is a terrarium of poisonous snakes. One gets out, but Torgath manages to capture it in his sock.]
Zac: "Well, a sock with a snake isn't a bag of cats, but I can see why it would appeal.
[More about the snakes.]
Fennec: "I'm starting to feel like I was safer on the ceiling."
[Meanwhile, Lukas and Doc Chambers have identified each other.]
Doc Chambers: "I want your Chatterbox."
Zac: "Damnit!"
Brock: "What's the orientation where everyone is standing right now?"
Zac: "I see a face-shooting coming…"
[After Lukas takes his leave of the Doc, Lyta approaches. Note that the Doc is supposed to be acting as Lyta's agent for her stunt-double career.]
Doc Chambers: "I got you everything you wanted, whether you knew you wanted it or not."
[Ti approaches Lukas. Minnie decides to leave the boys to it.]
Minnie Bartok: "Incoming. I'm gonna watch this from afar."
Brock: "I look pleadingly at her."
Minnie: "That's the look I was waiting for – consider this an object lesson."
[Ti tries to mend bridges. It goes predictably badly.]
Ti Corovan: "This is going about the way I thought it would, but not the way I wanted it to go."
Ti Corovan: "I don't want to be the cause of a falling-out between you and Lyta."
Lukas: "Oh, we're long past that."
[Yet more.]
Ti Corovan: "I am more than capable of faking a peaceful coexistence with you around Lyta, and I know you can too…"
[The rest of the players watch on as Ti and Lukas parley.]
Julie: "Is there going to be a duel?
Zac: "They're dressed for it."
[Meanwhile, Minnie has approached Lyta.]
Minnie: "Port Arthur doesn't seem like your sort of town."
Lyta: "It really isn't. Too much purple, and that's just not my color."
[Ti returns to Lyta after his conversation with Lukas.]
Ti Corovan: "Have I told you how much I love you and how glad I am you are the stable one in your family?"
Lyta: "I think you're the first person on the planet to call me stable."
[In the course of their investigations, Minnie has been made by security. She is taken into custody while Lukas tries to find a reason to hang around nearby.]
Dramatic Drunken Southerner: "I am going to drink my drink, and you are going to melt my brain until I forget the world…"
Ariel: "You could just sfika her."
[The dramatic, drunken Southerner is being particularly melodramatic.]
Dramatic Drunken Southerner: "So, tell me your sad, boring story for being here."
Ariel: "Oh! Tell her the truth!
[Torgath and Fennec have finally made it through the ornate door and taken down the guard dog on the other side. They find themselves faced with… another door. A puzzle door. That neither of them can figure out.]
Torgath: *long pause*
Fennec: "Yeah, me neither. Let's kick it in!"
Zac: "Who designed this safe, Dan Brown?!"
[Fennec and Torgath try to figure out the puzzle door.]
Georges the GM: "There are no prints."
Zac: "Damn you and your white-glove lifestyle!"
[After quite a long time without any results, there's a knock at the door where Torgath and Fennec are.]
Georges the GM: "It's Gabrielle and Ti."
Zac: "Ah! Smart people!"
[Sadly, Ti and Gabrielle aren't only there to help with the door.]
Fennec: "So, what are you doing up here?"
Ti Corovan: "Trying to escape the guards who are coming after us."
[It takes a long time to figure out the door.]
Georges the GM: (exasperated) "So, you guys figure it out. Huzzah."
[The door is opened, but the PCs are being chased by guards.]
Georges the GM: "Ti suggests that the better part of valor is discretion."
Zac: "Or a room full of snakes!"