ihinka

🦄 Machiavellian Masquerade - Chapter 1

Yay, more elderly folk!

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

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Zoya Nikolova

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Location: Sci-Tech Building 4 - Medical Ward
Skills: N/A

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Z was startled out of her self-reflection by Tinley launching herself at Emilia. What followed was a whirlwind of action and commotion and before Nik could get anywhere near to the two agents, Emilia had screamed her last 'Hail, Hydra!' and expired in jerking convulsions. The explosives engineer stood gobsmacked in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but her medical gown. Yet managing not to feel self-conscious because of what had just happened.

"I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to be squid free! What the bleeding actual fuck!" She pointed at Emilia. "We studied with this one, trained with her, lived with her! How do we continue to allow Hydra to infiltrate us?!" Z shook her head. "Moreover, how did she get passed the vetting process for the experiment?!" Nik was throwing questions at no one in particular. Rather it was more a statement of disappointment. "How are we supposed to trust each other after witnessing something like this?" Z asked, her tone now quieter, more uncertain. "I mean... Even I was somewhat friendly with Agent Rivera and didn't catch wind of her true nature." She shook her head again. This was not a good foundation to build a team of super powered individuals on! Not even a bit.

It was rare for Z to react so strongly in such an open forum of people, but Libra's were usually like that. They tended to be creatures of balance. But when their scales tipped, they usually tipped all the way.

Z glanced at Niah. She's probably the only person I can truly trust! God damned Hydra tossers! Always messing with our heads like that. Then something else penetrated Z's perturbed mind. Something Agent Ridgeway had mentioned while Nik was busy with her self-reflections. Antoine hadn't survived the procedures. As if things weren't bad enough already! Z felt a familiar rage rise within her. She went to Niah, sticking close in case her friend should need her.

Nik was still there when Fury arrived with their evaluations, and power rankings. She almost balked hearing she'd been promoted to Team Beta Field commander. Considering her low power ranking and her next to abysmal performance in the Framework. Z couldn't even muster the energy to feel chuffed with the promotion. In her eyes she wasn't deserving of it. But if the senior agents had decided to promote her than she would bust her ass off to become deserving of it. Forget stealth! I need to study up on mission and team tactics. Z was familiar with deploying tactically EOD specialists during a mission, but as a Sci-Tech alumna she hadn't really studied much S.H.I.E.L.D. mission tactics. More importantly, however, she needed to get a handle on her powers. Though simplistic in their nature, she'd had trouble deploying them in the Framework. And deep down Z had this feeling that they could potentially grow to be a rather powerful mix of super abilities. If only she knew how to hone them!

Gaia Frontier (5e)

@Black Keys I mean, I suppose you can still catch up to Shem if our DM allows it.

Gaia Frontier (5e)

@Lucius CypherOh, boy!

Well, first things first. Shem will unsheath her claws and look about for anything untoward. Doing a full 360.

Once that's done she wold like to, mark a tree with chalk, and then carefully investigate around the herb, the herb itself, and the pipe.

Also, if she is not completely lost, maybe correct her map and stuff.

Gaia Frontier (5e)

Shem'et slung the haversack on her back and waited for Barthem to appraise the gem she'd given him as currency. She knew it was worth about 10 GP so she wasn't worried she might come short of the amount demanded for the items. The tabaxi looked around the shop while the merchant worked the gem with his magnifying glass. She kept ignoring the peacock of an elf that had stepped into the shop. Somehow she felt that man would be incredibly high-maintenance and she had a task to complete, she could not be held up by colorful individuals demanding her attention.

When Barthem put the gem down and declared its worth at 10 GP Shem returned her attention to him. The merchant was already counting out her change and telling her about a little side quest she could do for him. He needed some herbs gathered from the forest and he would pay her by the pound. Well, since I'm going out in the forest anyway, might as well. Shem'et looked carefully at the drawing of the plant in question. "Of course, Master Barthem. I'll be happy to gather some of this herb for you!" The tabaxi gently scratched her year, pondering. "As for helping you seep the herbs in alcohol... I'm afraid I can't help you there, as much as I wish. Brewery is not a craft I'm trained in." Shem'et shrugged. "But maybe you can find someone interested to take you up on that offer while I'm out hunting for the herb. I'll grab as much as I can, but I have to leave room in my bag for Master Bookie's requested items as well." Shem started to leave, but then hesitated and turned back to look at the merchant once more. "I'm sure you get enough customers in your shop, maybe one of them would be interested... or at least know someone who is." The crafter finished and exited the shop.

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As soon as Shem'et stepped outside the gates of the town she took the road Master Bookie had indicated on the map. But before really travelling any distance she stopped and took in the landscape from far left to far right as far as her eyes could see. She took the parchment out and started sketching out the topography. The road, the forest in the distance. At first the sketch was pretty barren. With only a road and some wavy lines indicating the treeline. Shem made frequent stops along the way to add new features to the map. Like land-markers and some such. She tried to use her feline keen eyesight as best she could as to add as much detail to the map as she could.

Shem wasn't a cartographer, but she knew her way around drawing a design, as she did it often enough for some of the more complex inventions she and her master were working on. The tabaxi hoped to do a good job of compiling this map as it would serve the town well. Not only to establish a more detailed route to the iron sands deposit, but to list any anomalies and things to look out for on the map itself. A true and proper map!

Rolls

Perception on things that go bump in the forest! - Nat1 for a total of 4 T_T
Survival for drawing a map - One iota better with 6
Survival to find iron sand deposits - A little better with 11
Survival to find the herb - Yes, 16, find that herb!

Inventory

• Haversack
• A bag of ball bearings
• Five pouches
• One tinderbox
• Waterskin
• A sling
• Sling bullets/20/
• A piece of parchment
• Ten pieces of chalk
• Tinkerer's tools
• A maker's mark chisel
• Traveler's clothes
• Coin pouch/9.5GP/

Gaia Frontier (5e)

@Black Keys I'll wait for you to post

EDIT: Scratch that, I'll post now, since it would look weird if I post it after you. Sorry

Gaia Frontier (5e)

Just asking to know if I should continue my separate post or consider a collab.

@Black KeysI'm not gonna force a collab on you if that is not you're preference. I'm okay either way

Gaia Frontier (5e)

@Black Keys@Lucius Cypher Should we do a collab, or do you prefer separate posts?

Gaia Frontier (5e)

I think it was Survival to find the iron sand and herbs, since we don't know what they look like. And then go with nature to find more.

@Lucius Cypher Does the low roll on compiling the map mean we do it badly or just that it takes us suuuuuper long to do it

Experiment X

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Carolina Tamayo Camacho

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Location: Building in New York
Skills: Vintage Jefa Charm!

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Carolina followed Moira, Erik and Elle into the building as the woman led them through a series of hallways. There were security cameras in key locations, but as Caro stopped to look more closely at one, it didn't appear to be working. So we were never hear, huh?! Caro scoffed and shrugged. Soon enough Moira led them into a room lined with filling cabinets explaining all the information they could ever need on the program was in those.

Maya looked at Moira suspiciously. "How exactly did you obtain this information and why aren't you doing something about it?" The question was delivered with Carolina's signature gruffness, but laced with a hefty dose of sarcasm. "¡No importa!" Caro shrugged, looking more sullen than usual. She didn't care for spooks and their theatrics. Opening the first cabinet she came across, she started looking through the files distractedly. Unsurprisingly she didn't find anything so she moved on over to the next cabinet. Chika, you're here to help fellow mutants, if these spooks have the information you need, grit your teeth and get with the program! Maya scolded herself and started looking through the files good and proper. "¡Diana!" Caro exclaimed thumbing through one of the dossiers. She found a folded piece of paper, which turned out to be a floor plan of the building. Unfortunately it didn't contain any additional information on the security measures. And they would need that if the mission was to succeed.

Maya looked up and noticed that Erik's friend was aimlessly searching through cabinets. "¡Oye, bonita!" Caro approached Elle. "Sorry." She apologized gruffly. What had Erik called her? Elle...? "Elle, right? Placer, soy Carolina. Mira, I found a floor plan for this building we need to infiltrate. Is good, but not enough. We need details on the security. Think you can help me look?" Caro looked Elle in the eyes expectantly. So what if the girl was rude. She wasn't miss Congeniality either. One could always learn manners if they worked on it. Caro handed the floor plan to the young woman and went back to studying the file she'd found the building layout in. There was information on Charles and Erik there. Possible ways to enhance their abilities, as well as the name of the person in charge of the experiments. Dr. Zhi "Michael" Jiāng.

Doctor Mengele, huh? Let's see if we can find something more on you, Good Doctor! Caro's thoughts dripped with venom. She continued thumbing through the file and even looked in a few other ones as well. All she managed to find was that Dr. Jiāng was a mutant himself with the power of Age Manipulation. "Interesting!" Maya muttered. "Experimenting on your own kind. That's really low, Doctor!" Caro looked at Erik. "¡Oye!" She called, approaching him with the file on him and Charles. "Might wanna take a look at this." She handed him the file and returned to where Elle was. "Find anything?"