Kicking the Hornets Nest

Kroll stepped over the traps that lined the doorway as he slid back into the observation post, nodding Aella and Sten as he passed the bag of cinnamon rolls over to them. "Well, if that store is a front for something illegal, they're not doing too bad of a job covering it up...these rolls aren't too bad taste-wise, but they're definitely using some kind of filler...bleh, it feels like I just swallowed a fistful of wet cement..."

The captain paused to cough before continuing his report.. "As far as the patrons inside go, most of them looked like they were there to get something off the shelves, but one or three of them looked like they were looking for something a little more 'under the counter'...oh, but did either of you two see anything while I was in there, perchance?"

Aella shook her head as she fastened the buckles on her armour.

"All quiet sir"

Kroll sighed as he took off the civilian clothing he wore into the store, shifting his armor slightly as he took a seat on the floor and began to fiddle with his crossbow. "So...by the looks of it, they only do their legal business during the day, so we may have to stick around until nightfall to see if things change up." he paused from adjusting his crossbow to look up at Aella and Sten with a sarcastic smirk. "It's not like you guys had any plans for the evening anyway, right?"

Aella chuckled.

"Can we at least set up a fire?... or two"

"Yeah," said Sten, grinning as best he could under the circumstances. "Just a small one. They'll just think it's squatters."

It wasn't much of an excuse, but Sten wasn't going to numb himself for the sake of the Cap's arrogance.

Kroll sighed, nodding at Aella's request. "That sounds like a fair idea...I think there's an old set of drawers around here somewhere..." he mumbled to himself as he pulled out his khopesh-like machete, walking into one of the darker corners of the room. There was the sound of something heavy being pushed across the ground of the room, followed by a series of hard chopping sounds that echo around the room, followed up by the splintering of wood. A minute or so later, the captain returned with an armful of chopped up pieces of a chest-of-drawers, which he dropped onto the floor in front of his two companions and began to assemble the smaller shards of wood into a small teepee, which was surrounded by a log cabin-like configuration made from the larger wood fragments. 

Standing up from his woodwork, the captain went over to his bag and pulled out a small tinderbox, using its contents to light a fire using the wood construct he made. Satisfied with the small fire, Kroll looked up at Sten and Aella. "There we go...that should be good for now."

Aella sighed with relief and sat down beside the fire, warming herself. She looked over to her handler.

"What is the plan for the raid tonight?"

Sten huddled close, focusing on the fire and not giving so much attention to anything else. The plan, he felt, would pretty firmly not be in his best interests, i.e., relying on putting him in morbid and terrible danger. He felt he didn't need that right now.

Kroll rubbed his chin as he stared into the fire. "Well, I'm not quite sure what the store's state is at night...I doubt they have any alarms, but breaking the door down may be too noisy. If we can find a way in through maybe a vent or something on the roof, perhaps one of us could crawl into there and open the door from the inside..." he looked up at Aella and Sten, trying to see which of the two was the smallest before returning his gazed to the fire.

"If that doesn't work, we can just take the door off its hinges or pick the lock. From there, we'll just do a search of the storefront to see if we can't find anything that points to what they're up to. As far as the ROE goes, keep it quiet. Nothing lethal unless its necessary, but do what you gotta do."

Aella nodded

"What do we do if they find us? run away or fight?"

Kroll sighs, scratching the back of his head. "Try to knock 'em out, I guess. This is just a raid for intel for the time being; anything that helps with the investigation gets bagged, tagged, then brought back here. If shit goes sideways and we end up squaring off against hostiles, we can use lethal force."

Sten nodded. Stealth it was.

Fuck.

"Alright then," he said. "When shall we head down?"

Kroll paused in thought for a moment. "A few hours after closing time should do it."

Aella nodded and settled down for the wait.

Sten had a stretch and yawned.

"Well, alright then. Suppose we have some time on our claws," he said. "Anyone bright a pack of cards?"

Kroll frowned slightly. "I think there might be a deck in one of the bags, but I'm not too sure. You and Aella can go on ahead and use 'em, I'll keep watch on the bakery and see if anything interesting crops up."  The captain slowly got up and headed over to the mounted set of binoculars, grunting quietly as his joints popped. "I'll let you guys know when we'll be heading out." he murmured, adjusting the lenses of the binoculars slightly.

Aella raised an eyebrow at Sten.

"I dont think I have ever played a card game..."

Sten rooted around for the pack of cards amongst the more useful clutter. And there certainly was a hell of a lot of it... Ah, there it was.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you," he said, fishing the pack out and shuffling it idly. "I'll teach you how to play poker. That's simple enough. Or Cheat, if the cap'll play too."

"You two go on and play. I'm fine over here." murmured the captain as he adjusted one of the binocular's lenses. "Besides , I only know. 'Go Fish', 'Solitaire' and ' War'..."

Aella and Sten played cards for several hours by the fire until the sun set. As the last rays faded from the cloudy sky they gathered their gear and prepared to move.

Sten sighed and packed the cards away and thought it an awful shame. Aella was surprisingly good at poker, considering she'd (supposedly) never played. Still, nothing to be done about it. He shrugged his shoulders and clicked his claws. Not the sharpest, but sharp enough.

Kroll sighed as he walked over to the others, rolling his shoulders a little. "Alright looks like the building's clear for our little visit. Aella, I suggest you go get your polearm ready to go, and Sten...do you have any weapons with you? Clicking your talons like that isn't going to make one magically appear in your claws."

Aella moved over into the corner and collected her signiature weapon, spinning it in her talon as she got a feel for it again.

Sten smiled across at the cap.

"It's gonna be indoor fighting down there if it comes to it," he said. "A weapon bogs you down in a pinch like that. And it's one hell of a noisemaker."

He shrugged and padded over to the door.

"Trust me, I was in the light infantry back in the day."

Kroll raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. "That so? Well I take back what I said, then! By all means, use what you feel comfortable using, Softclaw...I just hope you don't live up to your last name is all!" he chuckles as he opens up his crossbow as he pulls out the inner components of his crossbow and replaces them with padded components before putting it back together. Rolling his shoulders, he glances over at Aella and nods at her before following Sten out the door.

Aella trotted dutifully after her handler, keeping her head "on the swivel" for potential threats.

Sten sidled out into the street, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. The way was clear right to the storefront, but the lights were on inside. He gestured a thumb idly to it, shrugging at Kroll.

Kroll furrowed his brow at the sight of the lights still on inside the bakery. "Well...this may make things a little complicated...since we don't have any proof of any clear wrongdoings, we can't just barge on in and raid the place..." The captain trailed off for a moment as he scratched the back of his head. "Maybe we could cut the power and just incapacitate anyone inside...I brought some ski masks for the three of us, but if you guys have any ideas, feel free to speak up."

Aella frowned.

"Cutting the power would alert everyone inside... maybe it would be best if we went in a window and moved about quietly?"

"I'm all for cutting the power," said Sten, softly. "The system's so bad they'll assume it's just a blown fuse or a crossed wire. And anyway, it's not like three griffons armed and armoured is exactly the height of subterfuge."

He paused. "Er, sir."

Kroll nodded as he considered Aella's and Sten's points. "Well, Sten may have a point, this district isn't exactly the most reliable when it comes to its electricity...but if we're going to cut the power, we're going to need to find the breaker panel first." he trailed off and craned his neck around the corner of the bakery. "I think that may to the rear of the store, so let's try checking there first."

Aella bowed her head quickly and took point, moving around the store on her hindlegs with her polearm held close to her body.

Sten slunk behind, keeping an eye out for anyone with the poor taste to try and interrupt them during their work. That or witnesses. Either one would do at a time like this.

Kroll unsheathed his khopesh as he approached the breaker panel that was fixed to the back wall of the bakery. "Alright, here we are..." he murmured to nobody in particular as he inspected the panel's weathered cover, using the the oddly-shaped blade of his weapon to pry it open. The captain looked at the column of breaker switches for a moment before turning to Sten. "Well, what do you make of this? Should we just shut these off or cut the wires?"

Sten shrugged. He was a soldier, not an electrician. Hell, he'd been twenty before he knew what a lightbulb was.

"Cut 'em?" he said, gesturing with a claw.

Kroll cracked a smile as he weighed his khopesh in his claw. "Works for me." he said before swinging his blade into the breaker panel, using his free claw and a wing to shield his face from the small shower of sparks that flew from the wires as they were severed. After looking over his handiwork, the captain closed the breaker panel's lid and turned to Sten, sheathing his machete as he did so. "Well, I think things just got a little darker inside...shall we carry on?"

Aella took up position beside the door leading inside the bakery, half leaning on her polearm as she waited for the others.

Sten nodded and stacked up behind Aella and nodded to her, grinning nervously.

Kroll nodded at Aella and Sten as he moved past them, craning his neck against the window of the bakery's door, trying to see if there were any trip wires or traps that were in the doorway. "Alright, the doorway looks clear," he murmured to the others as he shifted his crossbow to a more ready position. "And any burglar alarm should be shut off, but let's just be on the safe side and take it easy, alright?" With one claw on his crossbow's handle and the other outstretched and clasping the doorway, the captain looked over at Aella and Sten for confirmation that his request was made clear to them.

Aella nodded and re-checked her gear, making sure that no clasps or plates would rattle as she moved.

"Yeah, yeah," said Sten, "now c'mon, are we doing this? Sir."

He was all for not doing it, but the waiting was killing him.

Kroll sighed a little at Sten's impatience. "Safety is paramount, Sten." he retorted as he slowly opened the door to the bakery with one claw while keeping his crossbow raised with the other. After poking his head in and checking the doorway for any tripwires for a second time, the captain opened the door to the store all the way and began to make his way in quietly, keeping his crossbow ready for any unexpected occupants.

Aella followed close behind, trying to keep her footfalls silent as she moved. She was acutely aware of the close confines of the area. If they got into a fight she would not be able to use her polearm.

Sten padded in last of all, keeping an eye out for all the good it did. All he could do was hope ponies had worse night vision than him. Which was probably unlikely?

What was preying on his mind more was that they hadn't heard a peep from any pony since they'd shut off the lights. Paranoia was part and parcel of Sten's life, but right now it was blaring like a foghorn.

Kroll lowered his crossbow slightly as he walked behind the main counter, gently easing some of the draws and cupboards open, trying to see if he could find any documents or papers that could would warrant attention. Aside from some alarmingly outdated health-inspection documents, nothing looked too suspicious.

Aella tried to stay out of the way, moving to the back of the line where her less-than-impressive stealth skills would be less of a problem. As she moved her polearm scraped across the roof causing her to freeze and wince at the slight noise and shower of plaster dust.

Sten froze and squeezed his eyes shut. That fucking pike, he thought. Why why why why why.


Slowly, he cracked an eye open and slid past Aella further into the shop. Come on, where the hell were they? He glanced at the doors in the back of the shop, rather glad the Cap was between him and them.

The feathers on Kroll's back straightened at the sound of Aella's polearm scrapping against the ceiling, turning to glare at the hen with a look as if to say What the fuck did I just tell you outside?! Shaking his head in disappointment, the captain continued to poke around behind the counter, furrowing his brow as he saw a small pile of a white, powder-like near the cash register. He was about to touch it when he began to hear muffled voices coming from behind the door that lead to the store's back rooms.

Kroll looked over at Sten and Aella, making a signal with his free claw for them to keep quiet.

Aella smiled sheepishly at her handler before he motioned for them to keep quiet. The griffoness carefully extracted her polearm from the roof and held it level as she watched carefully for the source of the voices.

Sure enough, there were voices in the next room, and Sten had a hard time not sighing with relief. Sure it was a problem, but at least it was quantified. He hunkered down behind the counter, staying low and (with any luck) out of sight.