Realistic or Modern SMITED [Mission 1: Team Alpha]

[VaskarTheHunter]

Fable r e i Zer0 Gilzar
Velix soon noticed as someone was watching him while he finished up his portion of the windows. Turning his head slightly he locked eyes with another elf. Just what he always wanted. Another person to hate him in the group just because they were of the same race. He tried his best to steer of elves through his travels. He was of no high decent, which meant he would have to look up upon other elves instead of see them as equals. He would have much rather stood outside with Moo Moo. But in all she didnt seem so bad. There wasnt exactly disgust in her stare, nor kindness at that. It was neutral ground at this point as long as he didnt do anything stupid he would be fine.

Finishing up the windows Velix offered to help with. He soon found a spot beside his back pack and slowly set down to lean against the wall. Holding his rifle close he sighed softly as he waited for the interrogation to begin. It was up to the team lead what was about to happen. As he thought about it he would now be staying with this team. What he had with him was his gear now until they sent the rest of his equipment to his lock up at headquarters. He would need to find an agent to bunk with whrn they got back to the hotel. He wouldnt mind sharing a room, because most of the time he would just stay out on the balacony and watch the moon glow.

Resting his head against the wall he thought about what his father told him of the ancient times. When their race would prosper and thrive over their territories. How all of the elven species charished the earth like a delicate vessel. But now the world was cluttered. All the building that were put up where sacred earth use to be. All the pollution that filled the sky. It almost made his stomach turn over at the thought of how much this mighty earth had fallen.

 

[Gilzar]

Rosalia Liotta
Agent
Vampire
Hit: 10
Light PanOtterPus r e i Zer0 Fable VaskarTheHunter​

[/user]

Rosalia kept her composure in a professional manner despite being well aware of the antics outside and surrounding her. They know about vampires, right? I can hear everything happening inside and outside of this building.... Right now they had a job to do, and that was get as much information that they could out of this lady peacefully while maintaining order in this area. Though, order might get hard to keep if the large bovine figure outside continued to harass the locals.

Rosalia grabbed the rim of her jacket with her hand, and reached into its inner pocket, pulling out the case file on the mysterious forest that team bravo was dealing with. Though this was sensitive information, Rosalia had taken the time to properly censor the document so that someone who wasn't SMITED, yet was assisting with the investigation could read it.

Rosalia approached the front counter, opened the file, and tossed it in front of Slane.

"The cursed forest. Your ancestors cast it, and we have strong reason to believe that you might have valuable intel on how to revert it."

Rosalia then opened her mouth slightly, just enough for her vampire fangs to be noticed by the young magician. This was a little trick she'd learned years ago to intimidate the unsuspecting. It was unlikely that this young lady had met many vampires, and as Rosalia knew well enough already, vampires don't have the best reputation.

"Do please be cooperative. We don't want to have to do this the hard way...."

At that moment the gun at her hip seemed to weigh just a little more for Rosalia to notice. An interrogation was not something she wanted to do, especially since they take a long time, and sometimes the information isn't always reliable. Back in her days on the Vampire Council's police force, interrogation methods were much less...civil per say. Rosalia never did the torturing that stirred controversy across the supernatural community (As this was pre-SMITED), but she did witness it and even questioned subjects during sessions.

She blinked a few times, and came back to the moment. This magician didn't seem to have any exterior motive. An interrogation wouldn't be necessary...hopefully.

 

[Fable]

Tristan Valvon
Agent
Demon
Hit: 10
Gilzar r e i Light Zer0 VaskarTheHunter​

Tristan wasn't impressed with the newest addition to their team. He wasn't sure what the elf was thinking, but he had clearly annoyed Rosalia. They didn't know if their target was friend or foe right now, and he could only guess what the hell he was doing on the roof that had frustrated Rosalia. When she asked for the other demon of their group to find something to cover the windows, he moved to assist. Thankfully there were some decorative curtains that they could close, which both he and Krahe swiftly shut. It wasn't perfect, but it would keep prying eyes out.

With the task done, he only glanced at the elf before turning his attention fully to their target. She didn't look like much, and based on her body language and expression was genuinely concerned and confused about their visit. He wasn't a fool to believe anything at face value though, there were some devious people that existed and as much as it was cruel to apply 'guilt by association' due to this girl's ancestor's actions, something was just nagging at him.

Sláne Céin
Person of Interest
Magician
Hit: ??
-​

Sláne blinked and then looked at the file that had been tossed before her, hearing the woman who seemed to be the one in charge mention a cursed forest. She glanced up at Rosalia, who let a little fang exposure occur, and cautiously picked up the file to read what hadn't been redacted.
There really wasn't much and she set the file back down where it had originally landed.

"I'm not trying to be difficult, but... you do realize how many generations down the line I am from whichever ancestor may or may not have cast this. I've honestly never heard of anything like this from anything my relatives had ever shared or passed down. I mean, not even in our family grimoire does a spell like this exist. I don't want any trouble, but I'm being honest when I say that all I can offer you is access to my small library. It has quite a few old books handed down, about 90% of them I've never bothered to read."

 

[Light]

Victavia Annesworth
Agent
Vampire
Hit: 10

Victavia had simple orders to carry out from Madam Rosalia, so simple she couldn't mistake a singular piece of the order. Victavia bowed deeply to both Rosalia and the presumed witch. Without touching anything, Victavia walked around the area, memorizing every small detail. She found the situation to be odd, Victavia didn't entirely understand the point of this mission. If a forest was growing, she didn't see an issue with it. The only species that could be harmed are humans. That being said, this seemed like a great outcome. Victavia didn't entirely understand that SMITED guards humans as well.

Victavia noticed some strange things while examining the area but she wasn't ordered to speak up about it. All the vampire did was return to Rosalia's side and bow once more, greeting the two having a conversation. She didn't say a word and stuck to her thoughts. Was it possible that they could use old interrogation tactics if the witch wouldn't answer properly? Victavia wished she had brought her tools just in case it was necessary.

 

[Zer0]

Moo Moo
Agent
Beastial - Tauren
Hit: 10
Gilzar Light Fable ​

Moo Moo was enjoying the smell of baked bread glazed in butter from a nearby bakery, when a voice spoke from his radio. It was a SMITED agent from the hotel saying he was urgently needed in a classified location the agent wasn't willing to disclose through the radio. He was to return to the hotel this instant and await transport to take him to the airport.

"Must be serious." he muttered. "Copy zat. Heading back now."

With that he interrupted the talk inside, telling the team through the radio that he was being recalled for this mission and was returning to the hotel. He peeked through the window at Victavia, clearly disappointed he wasn't going to be working with her, and said. "Till next time, Victavia."

And off he went, lumbering through the road amongst passing cars and motorcycles, until he turned a corner and was out of sight.

 

[Gilzar]

Rosalia Liotta
Agent
Vampire
Hit: 10
Light PanOtterPus r e i Zer0 Fable VaskarTheHunter​

Rosalia frowned upon hearing the woman's answer. Somehow she just knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Weren't magicians suppose to know all of their families history and knowledge bases, or was that just a stereotype?

"A library you say?" She asked inquisitively, peering to the back end of the store.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted once she noticed Moo Moo's absence. Immediately she turned to the front of the store. If her irritation wasn't obvious before, it would be now.

"Where the hell is that cow going!?" Rosalia shouted in frustration. She had no clue as to why was Moo Moo leaving, nor where was he going? It absolutely stupified her how something as simple as questioning and investigating was turning into a disorganized mess. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed her glasses back up to cover her eyes.

"No one else leaves the premises of this store without my permission, is that understood? Someone radio Moo Moo and figure out what the hell he's up to!"

With that order being stated, Rosalia turned back around to face the subject of questioning. Leaning against the counter, both her hands gripped the edges as she tried to ease her displease with how things were going.

"I have a hard time believing you don't know even just a small amount about this forest. Afterall it wasn't hard linking your family to this."

Leering over her shoulder for a second to check back on her team, Rosalia continued.

"But if that really is the case, please show us this Library. Tell my assistant Victavia here the names of all the books we should look through. She'll find them, trust me."

 

[Fable]

Tristan Valvon
Agent
Demon
Hit: 10
Gilzar r e i Light VaskarTheHunter​

Tristan grimaced as their team leader shouted loudly, asking what the hell the Minotaur was doing as he left the scene, followed by asking someone to inquire about it. He sighed to himself and used the radio to quickly and as quietly as he could, get an answer. Moo Moo gave a quick reply of being recalled for something else and he paled. He wasn't sure he wanted to be the one to tell Rosalia this message and as tempting as it was to use Victavia as a bit of a scapegoat for the information, he was sure Rosalia would wring his neck for using her like that.

"Seems he was called to do something else. Not sure what or where, but we're down a man again. Part of me wonders if someone is on the radio frequency and pulling his leg, never did like using radios..." he trailed off somewhat nervously. Tristan found he didn't want to get on Rosalia's bad side.

Sláne Céin
Person of Interest
Magician
Hit: ??
-​

Sláne nodded when asked about the library. Her body couldn't help but tense when the pale woman became agitated at the large bovine agent who had suddenly left without a word to any of his co-workers. It wasn't her problem, but still it made the tense situation all the worse. When she was at the center of attention again, the woman commenting about how they'd traced her to the witch, she sighed.

"Of course The Syndicate would have long-standing records because of the required registration. That doesn't mean that I personally can trace back my entire lineage. The only family tree I have only goes up to my great-great-grandmother. I wouldn't even trust that family tree anyway since my grandmother at one point magically scratched out the name of my uncle after he made her upset and lost her pet cat when he was pet-sitting. She did add him back in before she passed away, but I couldn't say nothing else in the family tree wasn't tampered with."

She glanced at her watch to check the time before glancing up to the woman again. "None of the books are really named. They're all old hand-bound leather books. I also already said I haven't read most of them, so I'd not even be able to direct you which ones to look at, just the ones I know of that have nothing connected, but even then you'd probably want to check over those as well. So, I'll take you back to my place and give you access to the library. Could I possibly open my shop while you dig around? You can leave whoever you want here in the shop if you think I'm gonna flee or something, but I do have to make a living. The access I use to and from the shop to my home is a magic door anyway."

 

[Gilzar]

Rosalia Liotta
Agent
Vampire
Hit: 10
Light PanOtterPus r e i Fable VaskarTheHunter​

The sound of loosing yet another agent to the ever changing conditions of this mission was dissapointing to Rosalia, yet she wasn't going to let that get her down. She loosened her shoulder muscles, and relaxed her posture just a bit. For a moment or two, she examined her surroundings and thought to herself. Right now team Bravo was facing god knows what inside of that forest. Their lives could very well depend on whether or not they get information about this forest. No more nonsense. Rose was going to take this situation into her own hands and make sure this job gets done right.

"Tristan, Victavia, Velix, Calliea, I want you all to head into that library and search every journal you can. We're not leaving this store until we find information on this topic."

Rosalia then looked toward Slane. Young and pretty she was, just 23 according to the document. Already her scent was flowing into her nostrils, and beginning to entice Rosalia. Just then she realized her tongue was as dry as sandpaper. It'd been a long flight, and she hadn't drank anything in hours... She found herself instinctively moving forward toward Slane before she had to halt herself. Not here, not now. Can't jeopardize the mission now.

"As for you, Slane, you can keep your store running. But protocol dictates I stay out here and make sure you don't leave until we're done here. However long that takes..."

Rosalia then began pacing the store, acting like she was browsing items, when in reality she was keeping a watchful eye on their person of interest. While 'browsing' she reached into her handbag and brought out a decently sized insulated, steel bottle. Contained in this bottle was not water, but rather blood. This was Rosalia's somewhat discrete method of hydration when out in the field. The insulated bottle kept the drink at a nice warm temperature, just the way she liked it. Drinking it through a straw, Rose began to drink as much of the substance as fast as she could. In all honesty she couldn't get enough of it, and this stuff wasn't even as good as the real deal.

After a solid minute of non-stop drinking while 'browsing' the store, Rose put the bottle away, and brought out a small mirror to examine her face. With a few seconds, she determined that she had no stains on her face. Her teeth on the otherhand would be stained red for a good 10 minutes or so, but that couldn't be helped.

"So tell me, Miss Cein. How does a talented magician, such as yourself, end up stuck in a small town of humans, in the middle of nowhere at some Herbal shop. Couldn't someone with your talents be working at a university?"

 

[Fable]

Sláne Céin
Person of Interest
Magician
Hit: ??
Light r e i VaskarTheHunter Gilzar​

Sláne hadn't expected the woman to allow her to run the shop while they dug around her personal library. She gave the smallest appreciative look of relief that at least she could keep business running as usual, well, as usual as possible since their appearance today might have caused some concern among her normal customers.

"You're welcome to my library for as long as it takes, though obviously we'd probably both prefer it resolved quickly. I won't waste your group's time and get the door open." She stepped away towards the back area where the backdoor of the shop was. Using her fingers, she traced a peculiar path across the old wood releasing a faint tingle of magic into the air. She opened the door then and revealed not the outside to the backside of the shop, but a rather large and open library.

Spoiler: Library

It wasn't the most organized library as there were some books just piled onto the floor, mostly there due to the lack of space on the shelves. There were probably at least a thousand books in this space. Sláne didn't enter the library, but she left the door open for them to go in and out as they wished, moving to go back to where Rosalia was wandering the shop. "The books that are shelved are in order, I'd appreciate if once you were done you just placed it back where you found it... and to pardon the dust. The computer isn't connected to the internet, I mostly use it for work in typing up invoices."

She tilted her head slightly and crossed her arms over her chest as Rosalia began to question - interrogate really - about her life. "This shop has been in my family for a while and I came back to run it after getting an associates degree at a small college, just business management. I wouldn't call being here as 'stuck' or being in the 'middle of nowhere.' I was raised here, I worked here as a teen when my mother was alive, and it serves both the mundane and fantastical."

Should the other agents begin to search for books, there are a variety of them, from mundane topics regarding floriography, old encyclopedias, to magician written words regarding herbology and botany. There are even a few shelves with some old and modern romance novels. It will take some time for them to go through the books, even if they are just glancing at the book spines, which any smart agent might consider fake if someone were to try and hide a book they didn't want found.

( Go ahead and roll a 1d100 for your agent's book search. ;3 Light r e i VaskarTheHunter One of y'all will find something, just gonna use the dice to determine who and get y'all back into practice with the dice. )

 

[r e i]

Calliea Ru
Agent
Woodland Elf
Hit: 10
Fable Light VaskarTheHunter Gilzar ​

​

Calliea nodded to Rosaila as she journeyed through the portal that brought them to the young magician's library. She looked at the others and nodded to a shelf of books to the right of her. "I can search that side." She said to them both, they could break up the other sides among themselves. She just started to look, taking books out and putting them back in. Making sure to place them back in the right place like the young lady requested. She was looking at a bunch of romance books when something strange shot out to her.

A thick book, with a thin cover. While not totally unusual, but strange nonetheless. Normally with thick books, they do a thick cover so the book can withstand the pressure of about thousand pages against it. A normal person wouldn't have questioned it. Just glance at it, and thought it would be fine. Calliea was normal but was also a SMITED agent. She grabbed the book carefully. Smiling when she noticing the cover was a fake. She took off the covering, finding the grimoire they've been looking for. Young magician probably wouldn't have thought of it since she wasn't focused on looking for it at the moment. She looked at the time, it was about 40 minutes since they came into the library.

"Guys I have it!" She exclaimed softly. Calliea walked towards the portal sticking her head out of it towards Rosalia. "Ma'am I think I found the book we're looking for. "

 

[Fable]

Sláne Céin
Person of Interest
Magician
Hit: ??
Light r e i VaskarTheHunter Gilzar​

(Tried to give others time to post... buuuuttt they haven't. So, moving forward.)

The book Calliea picked up was a thick, black, leather-bound tome that was clearly fairly old. There was nothing special about the cover, nothing identifying on the spine such as a title or subject. It was closed with an old metal clasp to secure it, but it wouldn't keep anyone from opening it. The clasp wasn't like a lock at all. What was the most odd thing is that should the book be opened, the old and stained pages were completely blank.

Every single page contained nothing, not a single scribble or ink stain. It was odd. Why would a blank book be hidden away with a fake dust cover?

Sláne didn't pay any mind to the agents as a customer entered the shop. She just swiftly drew a curtain to hide the door portal to her library and greeted them with a friendly smile. She conducted her business, listening to the customer's inquiries about wanting a custom tea made for her, which Sláne promptly set to work. She pulled out various glass jars and let the customer smell them or taste them to determine what they would like in the tea.

It was a long ordeal that distracted Sláne for a period of time. When the customer finally left, she pulled back the curtain and looked into the door portal to see which book had been found. "I already said that you'd not find anything of interest in the grimoire," she sighed.