(Skeleton Keys) Hunting Coturi

[Konrad Roth]

"The other has gone to warn her," says Konrad darkly, both to Ale and over the headset. Coturi would be on them soon. "Juan, you and Hilda bring the Molotovs. We may have to burn her out after all. Ale, let's head to the bunker entrance. If they're all inside we can keep them bottle-necked there until Juan gets here. Watch out for traps within the perimeter."

After issuing is orders, Konrad follows the trail of flattened grass towards the bunker entrance, believing it to be a safe route.

[Alessandra]

She glances down at the body on the ground, nudging it with her boot. Always paid to be sure, plus she didn’t want to waste ammo not knowing what they were going to encounter.

Why did they always run away? It was such a pain to have to hunt them down.

When Konrad heads toward the bunker entrance, Ale wasn’t far behind. Her body was turned slightly sideways, allowing her to follow Konrad and glance behind them every once and a while. The gun was at her side and her finger was close to the trigger.

[Hildegarde Bingen]

Hildegarde looked on uncomprehending for a moment. Then her Daeva companion moved. The Lord was quick to follow suit, fumbling for the crude firebombs. Her annoyance was announced by a series of bitter hisses... and hysterical giggles.

"Why am I sensing deja vu?"

Hildegarde will be activating her Resilience at this point. -1 Vitae

[West]

There's a soft groan from the body as Alessandra toes it.

Tall grass gives way to fresh, patchy growth. In some places, the ground is completely barren, save for soft mud make dark by soot and ash. Small, blackened twigs stick up from the ground like skeletal fingers. The dead area slowly narrows, pointing to a concrete entrance.

A steel door bars the way, and the steps are lined with soot, ash, and scorched twigs.

Nothing happens, just want to be clear the body is still alive. In mechanical terms, Incapacitated.

[Konrad Roth]

Konrad hangs off to one side of the bunker entrance and glances to Alessandra. "We've found the entrance," he says over the headset. He eyes the door warily. Something bothers him about the layout. And it's not just that the hole in the ground that might contain both a murderous Kindred and her Kine army. While Coturi's archery would be at a disadvantage in the tight space, so would Ale's firepower, and the Kine would provide a nice buffer for Coturi.

So long as the targets remained holed up they were contained but with the sentry's escape they would soon be aware of the attack if they weren't already. They could try to catch up to them, but rushing into the bunker would be reckless.

"There's got to be another way out," Konrad says. It would be the worst case scenario if Coturi went out the back only to pick them off from the treeline. "Ale, watch this door and shoot anything that comes out. I can lay down the caltrops in case they try to rush out at you."

"Juan," he says over the headset again. "Does Hilda know if there's another entrance?"

[Alessandra]

An eyebrow was raised at the groan, but they had bigger enemies to worry about. If this one decided to get up, then, well, he would be dealt with accordingly.

Her eyes take in the entrance and the area around it. What struck her as odd was the soot and ash. Why would this be so close to an entrance?

Yah, door duty! She thinks with a nod to Konrad, “No problem.” For one so used to being in charge and directing how an operation went down, she was surprisingly agreeable. Konrad was her Priscus, and as such, it was his show. But permission to shot anything that came out, that made it a little easier.

[Hildegarde Bingen]

Hildegarde, juggling molotov cocktails, had to stop and think.

"Not that I am aware of. I only saw the one. Cotouri had her thralls roll burning barrels of fuel down it. No doubt intended to erase what David, Sir Baldwin and the others discovered within. After that I only really remember the firestorm and the escape."

[Konrad Roth]

Hearing about Hildegarde's uncertainty over the headset gives Konrad pause, wondering if there may be only one entrance. If that were the case then they'd turtle up and wait for Dawn. The barrels of fuel explained the ash and disturbance of growth on the ground. The molotovs wouldn't do squat to the bunker itself.

"Alright, going to check around until you get here. Then we go inside," he says, though something in his voice says he really doesn't want to enter the deathtrap. Maybe he aught to have gotten explosives and just buried the entrance, or tear gas would have possibly driven the Kine out. Hindsight, dammit.

Konrad checks around in a thirty yard radius to see if he can spot another entrance or sentries until the others catch up to them.