450/A pirate, a samurai and a thief walk into a hotel...

A pirate, a samurai and a thief walk into a hotel...
Date of Scene:	17 September 2023
Location:	Hotel Augusta
Synopsis:	Jolly Roger and the Shadow Shogun follow this weird noise surrounding the Hotel Augusta. There, the two of them end up teaming up with the Princess of Sarek to defeat the youma responsible for all the chaos.
Cast of Characters:	Veronica Perenna, Erika Shimizu, Hinata Muramasa

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Veronica Perenna has posed:
The board of directors at Hotel Augusta has been quite conflicted the recent days. The increased amount of attempted thefts has been ground for more frequent presence of the police on the hotel's premises among many of the them, but there has been equally as much pushback due to the fear that would startle potential clients.

In the end, the faction that thought the presence of thieves would be a bigger deterrent won out, the final push being a calling card that was unexpectedly unsettling to the boards of directors despite there being no indication it was from anything more than another small time thief.

The card got even shown on the news, reciting "Your recent acquisition of a precarious enchanted artifact is a matter of interest to me. I shall pay you a visit this coming Sunday to relieve you of such an object. ~ The Princess of Sarek". Had someone magically attuned being close to the card, they would have recognised the ruckus it caused was due to an enchanment coating it.

Thus the great number of police forces at the Hotel's doorsteps, where a huge crowd of passersby was also concentrated. The police force was in fact struggling to hold the crowd out, so much so that despite the attention the other thefts brought to the hotel, no policeman was patrolling the corridor.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "Huhhhh. So that card on the news was some kind of big deal." Erika Shimizu muses as she eyes the entrance to the hotel. It's Sunday and this is about the time that the card said the theft would occur.
    "We should probably look into it. Maybe acquire the booty for ourselves." The nosy pirate-chuuni considers while motioning for her friend and companion to join her in just...
    Walking right into the hotel like a pair of nosy kids.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata nods in response to Erika. "Perhaps we might encounter this. Princess... I'm interested in finding out who they are." she says, walking with a quiet, assuredness alongside the pirate-chuuni.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Meanwhile, the Princess of Sarek had already made her way inside, of course. That was easy when one of your powers was literally the ability to become ethereal. Meanwhile, just like she had prospected the hallways had soon enough made themselves empty of potential victims for the youma that she knew laid in wait inside the hotel once enough curious bystanders had wandered up.

Except... for two girls about her age that had somehow wandered in there anyway. 'This is going to be trouble', she thinks once she ears the voices behind her. "Hello, my friends, what brings you wandering in?" she speaks, going back to them and undoing her ethereal state once she is close.

"I would suggest you turn back. This isn't quite a safe place right now", she comments, bringing her top hat down in a flourish with her right hand while her left holds her ebony cane.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Erika Shimizu is ALWAYS trouble.
    So when the Princess of Sarek appears, in her dapper blue suit and advises that she and Hinata turn right around and walk away...
    Aw naw dawg that ain't gonna happen.
    Though she puts on a big smile, she waggles a finger.
    "We came to see what all the commotion was about." She admits pretty blatantly.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    "Princess of Sarek, I presume." remarks Hinata without missing a beat. She looks over to Erika for a moment, then back to the Princess, offering a bow. "Danger is not an issue for us... what is your real reason for doing this?" she asks next, pulling a piece of metal from inside her blouse. it's a fragment of something larger, looks like four pieces fused together and tied by a sturdy string. Sengoku-era kanji are etched into the fragments.

    "I think you'll find we're capable of handling ourselves."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica chuckles at Erika's statement. "Amusing, I get that. Were I your situation, I would have behaved that inquisitively too." She straightens back up, putting her hat on top of her head with a smile. "If you don't want to turn back, at least please stay here. You ought to be safe at this length."

The princess of Sarek regards curiously the piece of metal Hinata brings out. "Oh, so you are now?" Veronica comments, way more amused at the implication of Hinata's sentence. "Well, it would be not with an offcut of metal that you would be able to defend yourselves, and if you are what you are implying, I am surprised you elected to come in as you are."

In an exaggerated but fluid motion, she raises her cane, putting it to rest on her shoulder. "I am in no position to stop you, I guess. My real reason for doing this is keeping people out. As you saw, the crowd of curious people has forced the attention of any police officer that was in here, both those that were in due to the other thefts and those that have called in due to me."

Her face is quite self-assured and complacent as she announces the positive result of her actions. As a result, nobody is wandering these corridors as a result of the hotel's inhabitants regarding me as a menace. But that is goodbye from me, friends. Stay safe." And with that she starts running down the hallway.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "Should we go after her?" Erika asks, looking to Hina as the mannerly thief breaks into a run down the hall.
    "... We should probably go after her." She decides after a beat.
    She's simply not the type to stay back when told, so that's not going to be happening.
    "Come on, let's go!" She settles the matter and breaks into a run after the Princess.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata side-eyes Erika, adjusting her grip on the metal fragments. "She's definitely magical... I can feel it, how about you?" she asks her partner. "Let's dance, then." she adds as Erika runs off. She tucks the fragments back into her blouse as she sets off after the pirate-chuuni and the thief. "I think we should suit up... I have a bad feeling about this." she says as she catches up.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica is leaving the thoughts of the other two girls behind for now, knowing that what was up ahead would react to her advance soon enough. Her ethereal form might make a joke of any mundane intervention, but the same is not to be said for the magical obstacles this demon prepared in advance. She sneaks a glance behind her as she keeps running and sure enough, the blonde girl and the dark-haired one are chasing after her.

'We shall see what you can do then', she thinks, an intrigued smile appearing on her face. As soon as she passes a certain point of the corridor, strings of silver shoot at her, the material distinctly cutting the air as the Princess of Sarek is quick to point her cane at them, a beam the colour of moonlight coming out of it.

The strings get cut by the magical attack, the cane quickly returning to normal as the severed parts fall to the ground, Veronica still running forward. As soon as Erika and Hinata surpass the same point in the hallway, 6 more strings of silver strike out at them, 3 to each target, audibly cutting the air as they rapidly approach the two girls.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    The sight of those strings pulls Hinata up just a little. She pulls the fragment from her blouse again and intones a haiku. Sakura blossoms billowing out of nowhere as her outfit begins to change.

    "Good habitation
    A luminous, dark flame eats
    because of the sword"

    Samurai armour forms and as the transformation completes, she opens black eyes and grasps her blades from over her shoulders. "The Blade Sings in the pale moonlight."

    Those strings are intercepted by three rapid strikes from her paired swords, slicing through them in rapid succession without breaking stride.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    It is mid-sprint that the glimmering glinting gleam of a single gold coin flits in Erika's fingers.
    "Under a black flag we sail and the sea shall be our empire! Take what you can! Give nothing back!"

    That's what she says as she flips the coin up and then snatches it out of the air. When she does, her clothes are instantly replaced by a pirate's regalia; bicorne hat and greatcoat and all as she continues to book it down the hall after the mannerly thief.
    The sudden appearance of razor cutting strings are met with her cutlass, gleaming in her hand as she slashes through two and baseball slides beneath the third.
    "Har har! I'll be takin' more than this to slow US down, mate."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica tips her hats to the magical girls behind her as she sees them transform before slowing down to let them catch up. "That was quite the marvel, you two. The aesthetic work you have going on is quite entrancing", she praises their transformations.

"It is comforting to know fellow defenders of the people are already at work." During the run a section of the wall breaks above them, various fragments of cream-coloured cement the size of fists raining down upon them

"And that is the next one!" the Princess of Sarek exclaims, just as quick to react as the ceiling was quick to break. She raises upwards her cane, a circular barrier appearing on top of it just as soon as the rocks hit it, dissolving into a silver haze as they do. "It is debatable there will be another one, we will have reached the hall soon."

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    The Shadow Shogun sheathes one of her blades, using the other tot bat aside errant falling fragments. "These feel like traps laid by an especially clever youma." she mentions, sheathing her remaining blade at her hip and holding it there, one hand on the pommel, the other pressing her thumb up against the crossguard, ready to flick it free as she keeps pace with the others. "What's the plan, then?"

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "Well ye know what they say. Where there be trouble, we'll be there."
    Mostly because Jolly Roger is a touble magnet, sure but that's neither here nor there as she flashes a smarmy little grin.
    Then the ceiling collapses.
    A huge chunk drops right on top of Jolly Roger's head with a dull WHUNK as she collapses from the impact and the weight.
    She's silent for a moment, laying there looking dead. Before she twitches and starts picking herself up, standing a moment later and dusting off her greatcoat like she didn't just eat a deadly blow to the head.
    "That smarts a bit." She admits before seconding Shadow Shogun: "Aye! ... What be the plan?"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Hmm, ok", Veronica comments, Jolly taking the rocks to the head just like that being the first event to break her out of her bravado. "Observing the traps that have been laid for us, it is quite probable the youma has chosen to fuse itself with the silver of the vase to appear here, so we would need to take into account it will come at us by taking the shape of what it thinks most suitable at the moment, just like the silver taking the shape of the reliefs of the vase."

The Princess of Sarek opens the door as soon as the trio reaches it. If they would follow her, they would find the infamous vase standing on a pillar at a center, the protective glass all exploded in shards around it. "So you managed to make it here", says a bubbling voice belonging to a humanoid figure resting its back against the pillar. "It was quite annoying that you brought companions too, I had to expend more than I liked."

The silver mass shrugs, the action making it quiver all over. "Bye to all three of you then", it states plainly, dividing itself into three and launching itself at the three magicals girls in three different shapes: a giant painting brush for the Princess of Sarek, a giant skull head with a clamped jaw for Jolly Roger and a giant Kabuto for the Shadow Shogun.

The Princess of Sarek stands upright, planting her cane onto the ground. Somberly, she starts reciting:

"When colour's absence gives escape
To the deeper spirit of the shape,
Then do the clouds like silver flags
Stream out above the tattered crags
And darkened land, and brightening wave,
The moonlight slants through Merlin's cave."

The ground below them starts shimmering as if water, and a reflection of the moon magically shines below them. Suddenly from in front of them, her top hat surges above swallowing the brush and making it disappear with no trace.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    The Shadow Shogun nods in silent understanding.

    The doors open, and the youma starts talking. That's new. It doesn't last long as the thing changes into a trio of forms to assault the girls.

    The Kabuto comes in, and Hinata sets her stance. Breath in.
    The Princess starts reciting verse. Breath out.
    Jolly does her Pirate Things. Breath in.
    The giant silver helmet gets closer.
    Breath out.

    Eyes snap open, locking onto the Kabuto helmet with those pitch black eyes. She issues a "KIAI!" and is suddenly on the other side of the helmet, her sword clicking back into its sheath as a thousand cuts appear all over the silver monster.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "I be fiiine, I be fiiiine. It's all daijobu. Everything is dai-jo-bu." Jolly Roger says plucking her hat off her head and putting it back into shape. She's not even bleeding after taking a hit like that. But then moving on. The doors open and there's a mass of silvery stuff coming at them.
    Jolly Roger looks past the figure to the vase. Then back at the figure.
    Then it comes at her in the form of a skull.
    She's WAY too casual in the way she draws a single flintlock pistol from her belt, aims, and fires for the center of the flying skull's forehead as the mannerly thief makes the paintbrush vanish without a trace.
    "Heeeeeh... That be a neat trick, lass."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
After the three girls execute their attacks, what is left of the demon after Hinata and Erika's attacks dissolves into a fine mist, a few words echoing in the hair: "not... enough... then..." The Princess of Sarek brings her hand to the hat, slightly tipping it towards her companions.

"Thank you for the assistance, friends", she says with a wide smile as she moves to grab the vase with silver reliefs from the stand. "I better take this. It's not something to be left around, even with the youma gone."

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    And thus ends the youma. Apparently.
    Pistol still smoking in her hand for a moment, Jolly Roger tosses it aside, casually discarding the gun. It dissolves into seafoam and sparkles as soon as it hits the ground and... That seems to be it.
    "So. What d'ye plan to do with the vase?" She does ask.
    "And do we get a share of the booty?"

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata straightens up, "Shadow Shogun... that's what you may call me." she remarks to the thief. "I have a feeling we will be meeting again in the near future."

    While she was talking she sidled around to stand next to Erika, giving the pirate a smack on the shoulder at the mention of 'splitting the booty'.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"This one is going back to where it came from. It is actually wayward magical energy in the form of a precious object and I need to put it back to restore the seal on these demons." Let's go with that for now, no need to get into details with everyone you meet, after all.

"So there is nothing to be shared either. You can help yourselves of some of the other items in the room if you think they got unjustly taken from their original owners. I would not be surprised if they were, although I haven't taken note of any conclusive mark in this regard."

"And you know my name, the Princess of Sarek." she replies to Hinata. "Fare thee well, my friends." And with that posh remark, she disappears, becoming ethereal once more, moving away from the hotel.