[Quest] Moriarty's Heist

Moriarty's Heist

@Earley @Tania Montique

Hidden: Quest Details

Difficulty: Hard (10 posts per person)
Party Size: 2-3

Location: Stokbon
Season: Summer

Doctor James Moriarty of Stokbon has requested the services of stray mercenaries and crooks to assist him in a planned heist at the Stokbon Bank. You'll have to evade law enforcement, plot together with your comrades, and elude the intelligent Detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner John Watson. Steal the valuables and leave rich or be imprisoned for the rest of your life. Slaughter everyone in your way or find compromises and bribes. Betray your allies or befriend your enemies. It's all up to you, your teammates, and the duo of James Moriarty and Sebastian Moran.

Objectives:
• Avoid getting caught by officers and avoid detection by Sherlock Holmes.
• Plot with your team to steal the valuables within Stokbon Bank.

Alpha gave her lollipop a long lick before tossing it over her shoulder and straight into the trash bin a short distance behind her with a clang. The taste of caramelized popcorn coated her tongue with a thin layer of bronze sugar and she clacked her tongue up the roof of her mouth in distaste. Although it had been quite sugary, enough to bring another into a diabetic panic, it hadn't been sweet enough to tempt Alpha's sweet tooth. She needed something more, something better, and her next footstep had landed onto a fallen pendant on the floor, which cracked in half from the impact. She pouted distastefully, brushing her shoe against the pavement to rub off the glass shards that stuck to the bottom. Her bunny slippers were, luckily, highly durable and able to withstand such treatment.

Finally, after that mess, she had finally reached her destination: a fancy, Victorian-styled gate that divided the common, dirty areas of urbanized Stokbon from the gallant mansion of one James Moriarty. The man had sent a request for associates in his criminal ways and, while Alpha wasn't too keen on the more morally-dubious acts, she felt that robbing a bank of all things, filled to the brim with the excess cash of the upper class, would feel no harm from what she was to do. The consequences of her success were great and she could imagine drowning in a sea of the Stokbon Sweets Emporium's candies and the adoration from her group of companions (consisting of a sea snake, a parrot, a bunny-rabbit, a hedgehog, and a dingo) from her efforts to procure them the finest quality of kibble and toys.

She knocked on the stone wall which stretched in both directions in equal measure, spanning a length which she could not estimate with her mere eyes alone. It was grandiose and overtly complicated but it was something that very much impressed Alpha. "Anyone here?" she asked, hoping there would be guards or anyone to assist her in entry. Unfortunately, with the appearance of no one, she was forced to take her lockpicking kit out. "Urgh, this is so much work! You sure you guys wanna do this?" she whined. They gave no solid response, simply off in their own world whilst she fiddled with the lock that hindered her quest. After a few moments, the lock opened and dropped, releasing the chains and, with that, Alpha opened the door with flourish.

"Guess who's here?" she sang before moving along to knock on the mansion door. It was scarcely a single knock in until a man, muscled and with a neatly-combed bed of blonde hair, opened the door. He had an intimidating face and even Juno, the eternally drowsy bird, had flinched and tensed up. Despite being on their guard, the group found nothing to worry about as the man bowed, no emotions displaying on his stone-cold features. His voice was soft yet gruff and the aura of both hospitality and danger lingered in the chill air pouring out from the abode.

"My name is Sebastian Moran. Please wait for a moment while your fellow mercenaries arrive. Sir Moriarty shall see you all soon; together."

Alpha grumbled and waited, sitting impatiently. She wanted to finish this quest already and get her cinnamon sticks!​

 

Few and far between were the jobs that Earley had come to truly appreciate and enjoy in this game. There were always crooks in need of a simple burglary, or corrupt merchants lacking an edge on their competition that he was paid to provide for them. But those jobs were merely a distraction from his truest of passions: the heist. His entire reason for joining this game; for being here in this world, was to find job precisely like this one that could test the mettle of his mind against the metal of bank vaults and lofty mansion gates. He had not been on any yet but when the quest link had been sent to him by an NPC, he had accepted with mild eagerness. True, it was precisely the kind of work that he was most excited by and ready to begin but... there were complications.

For starters, he had always imagined himself as recruiting his own crew based on how he saw others perform and tested their morality. If he were being totally honest with himself, nobody seemed particularly ready to team up and take on an elaborate mission such as this; at least not the people he had encountered in his travels thus so far. None would work well with the sort of intricate plans he'd prefer to construct. Yet jumping in blindly to a quest this large, with a crew he had never encountered before, seemed the height of stupidity. That was precisely why he did not jump in blindly, though. No sooner had he accepted the job than he had rented a coach to take him to Sir James Moriarty's household in the capital city of Stokbon. The name had made him groan, as had the addition of one Sherlock Holmes, which made the game feel as though it were breaking down. Certainly a character based off such legendary figures would have been amusing; appropriate even! But to simply steal the names of them and force them into the world of Terrasphere, felt as though the video game were trying to make up for its own shortcomings by reminding players of other things they enjoyed. Similar to the entire Hastur Debacle, really. It was a quickly growing headache that left him sighing and slamming his head against chimneys, which was where he was sat.

Across the street from the mansion, he had made his perch, looking down upon the street and inspecting it for the arrival of his would-be partners in crime. He laid low against the top of the roof, and still, spending hours simply thinking to himself and watching. Patience was a talent he had cultivated long ago, and there was no boredom to be had when his attention was so raptly focused upon the upcoming job and everything that could go wrong with it. His character could be capture and imprisoned which might result in avatar deletion, or account banning. He could also die, and have to deal with those pesky death effects that people had rumor milled about around him. Supposedly they actually changed the way you thought or acted, implanting fears or character traits that were not your own. The entire thing sounded like a bad lark, but if it were true in any fashion, then death was something he did not want occurring. Ever. There was simply no reason to play a game that altered your own behavior. God forgive the bastards that gave soccer mothers a justification such as "video games are responsible for my child's behavior." Disgusted with such thoughts, he turned to happier things.

Silver coins and gold bullion. Emeralds and sapphires and rubies. Faberge eggs and classical paintings. Candy from children.

Children?

Narrowing his eyes, he inspected the image of Alpha as she stopped outside the mansion and began to pick its locks with her tool kit, sitting there in broad daylight. She was bold or stupid to do that. Possibly both. Around here seemed to be a swarm of animals and he felt his heart sink as the horrifying truth settled in upon his screaming mind. This was going to be one of his partners in crime. He immediately predicted that she would be caught and captured running back to rescue a fucking rabbit that fell out of a magical hat, unwilling to leave it behind during their heist. Her safe cracking snake would screw the pooch. Something, somewhere, some way, would go wrong on account of those stupid animals she couldn't possibly hope to control all at once. Still, he had already resigned himself to probably failing this job on the account of such people. With a sigh he army-crawled backwards out of view of the mansion and rolled down the roof to its edge, gripping it with his fingers before jumping down to a window sill, and then dropping easily into a back alley. Adjusting his clothes, he then walked out of the alley and over to the mansion gates which Alpha and Mr. Moran had opened. He entered, looking the girl over once more with a disapproving look, before turning to the NPC.

"My invitation," he said simply, holding out the letter he had received which invited him here to discuss the bank job. He gave no name, and his menu was set up to where any PC trying to investigate him would not receive a name, inventory, abilities, or any information on him at all. NPCs couldn't use the investigate function at all, so he had no worries of them... But he didn't want a passing PC to catch him in the act of a crime and learn his name by a simple button push, so he kept all player details private. The fact that he elected not to use his name despite the NPC Moriarty likely knowing it should have spoken volumes to his lack of trust in Alpha and whoever their third member was meant to be. It would also serve as a test of trust.