The Good Old Days 1

[Smoothie]

Nicolai enters the house and closes the door behind himself. He slips on a black ski mask, then works his way through the house looking and listening for any sign of an ambush before heading upstairs.

[Storyteller]

The ground floor is all quiet, a kitchen, lounge, cupboard and bathroom. No sign of life, all peaceful and tidy. You find the stairs, a short, narrow flight, and head up, coming to a white door at the top.

[Smoothie]

This time it's no game. No posturing. No psych games and no politics. There is death on the other side of that door. Will it be mine or his? ...Let's find out.

Nicolai slowly tries the knob.

[Storyteller]

You reach forward, put your hand on the handle, take a deep breath.

And stop.

Something isn't right, something you saw; what was it.

Staying still, you study the door.

There it is

A little magnetic sensor, one on the door, one on the wall, with a wire running into the wall.

Shit

[Smoothie]

Nicolai lets out a slow and quiet sigh, massive amounts of adrenaline now going unused in his system. He takes a few more deep breaths, then goes back to the back door to check for any sensors there that he may have already triggered.

[Storyteller]

Back door looks clean

You check the door, and find nothing. You check over the route you took through the ground floor, but find nothing suspect that you could have tripped.

Thank providence for that.

[Smoothie]

Nicolai does several things. He is prepared to take all night, so he is slow and careful. He checks to make sure he's left no trace of his entry. He checks his shoes and the floor to make sure he's left no tracks, inside, or leading up to the door. Then, he tries to find where the wires from the magnetic sensors lead. He locates the circuit breaker and the phone lines, then double-checks for redundent systems hidden away in cabinets, behind walls or in a basement. He also looks for any cameras or microphones that might give his presence away.

[Storyteller]

You take about 10 minutes going over the house. You clear up a slight footmark you find, just inside the back door, which you must have trodden in from the garden.

After you're happy, you hunt around for the circuit breakers. You can't track the wire from the magnetic sensor directly, as the wire runs into the wall, and you can't follow it.

You find the breakers in a kitchen cupboard, behind a bunch of boxes. There are 4 switches in all. You continue to hunt, but find no other electrical control switches.

[Smoothie]

Nicolai, a bit irritated, finds a place to sit and wait.

Nicolai, sits and thinks for a while and then goes to work. He goes back to the kitchen and gets a broom or mop handle, then, unplugs a lamp and cuts off the cord. He makes slip knots on both ends and secures one to the handle and lays one over the bottom stair, out of sight from above, as best he can. He removes the pictures from the wall so avoid bumping them and making noise.

Then he goes back to sitting and waiting.

...And that is what he does, he sits and waits, fiddling with his knife to keep himself awake.

[Storyteller]

It's a long wait, and you're tired, having been all the go all day, and most of the night, so you have to fight to stay awake.

Stamina+resolve (pool 5) = 4 successes

But you manage.

Eventually, 5:00 AM, by your watch, you hear noises from upstairs. Footsteps, and voices.

You manage to discern that there are at least 2 men up there, but you're not sure if there are more or not.

[Smoothie]

Another surge of adrenaline brings him fully awake in moments and he stands squats a few times to get his blood going. He then skulks over to the base of the stairs, takes hold of the handle and waits, careful not to cast a visible shadow.

[Storyteller]

It's another 10 minutes before anyone leaves the upstairs. You hear various noises from the plumbing, presumably as people use the bathroom.

Finally, you hear a *beep*, then the door opens. You can now hear a bit of what they're saying, as someone starts to descend the stairs.

"Yar, i'll be outside with the car in 5 minutes."

[Smoothie]

Fuck!

Nicolai slips into the kitchen and hides, hoping he won't notice, or at least question the pictures being down.

He'll watch from the cracked door of the kitchen.

[Storyteller]

He turns out of the stairs, towards the front door. You just make into the kitchen without being caught out in the open.

The guy who comes down is dressed in a suit, and he turns right, towards the front door. He sees the paintings, and stops dead.

"Boss, why are the paintings down?"

From behind, it looks like his left hand is fiddling with something on his jacket.

Well, at least he's got his back to me.

[Smoothie]

admin said:

Well, at least he's got his back to me.

exactly.

Nicolai takes advantage of the situation as it presents itself and strikes.

Goes for Broke, All-out Attack, Willpower

[This attack: Str2, Brawl+3, equipment mod (punch dagger)+2, specialized+1, all out attack+2, willpower +3 13 dice maybe without defence]