A Quest For Adventure! RP Thread

The night was young but already a fog had descended over College Park Airport. This ominous weather gave an ominous atmopshere to the Maryland airstrip where a dull grey Short Solent seaplane stood. No airport staff seemed to be around and the lights were all off. A dark night for dark business.

Assembled near the plane were a seemingly random collection of people that were all gathered for one purpose - adventure. An old cowboy-type man stood in front of all of them, holding some papers. He was a grizzled looking sort, with rough clothing and an eyepatch, and by his side was a little black dog.

"Okay, everyone! We don't have a lot of time so I'll say my piece and then we can get going." the man said, holding a notebook and a pencil.

"For the odd idiot who might not know me, I'm Mississippi Brown. You can call me Sip or Mr. Brown or Jackass if you'd like. I don't really care that much. What I do care about is the Lance." Brown explained to his group of adventurers.

"I want to find it, I want to sell it to a museum, and I don't want to die doing so. Now, here's all we as a team know so far. I have contacted an Italian monk who says that he has information regarding the Lance's location. Now, Italy's crawling with Mussolini's goons so I decided not to discuss this with him over the phone in case the wire was tapped. So we'll be flying there tonight in that plane, flown by the fantastic Mr. Lucas. He's in the plane now waiting for us so if anyone has any questions, now is the time to ask them." Brown told the group. His dog barked happily and started licking the hands of the team members.

edited 22nd Jan '15 8:47:41 PM by FantasyLiver

"Sacré bleu!" Pierre said. "Brown, when I agreed to come on zis adventure, I was expecting your usual adventure where we wind up on the run from primitive, uncultured savages with no sense of decorum. But this...."

He spat on the ground. "I hate Italians. Arrogant and they cannot even speak properly. I am still going, but please note it is under heavy protest, and only so that I may urinate around ze Basilica di San Pietro."

"Frenchman," Spades said, "I don't think we need to go to Italy to find arrogant people on this trip."

edited 24th Jan '15 12:22:57 PM by deadpool616

Dave reached down and scratched Spot between the ears, his expression carefully bland in stark contrast to the Frenchman's gesticulations. "Easy there, mate. They can't hear you all the way from 'ere."

While Mississippi was an old acquaintance, the rest of the party were strangers. "Didn't know there were going to be so many of us, Missy, old chap." To the rest of the party, he raised his pipe in salute. "Name's Dave. Missy and I go back a couple of decades. Don't think I've met the rest of you, though."

"Call me Spades", the young sharpshooter said.

A tall man wearing a white button up shirt walked up, tying his shoulder length blonde hair into a ponytail. "Hello." He said with a thick German accent. "This is the Mississippi Brown thing, right?" He held a paper that had an address and a time hastily scribbled on it.

"Yes, yes it is," said Will to the newcomer, before speaking to the group at large, "My name William Myer, call me Will."

He looked at Brown and asked, "Are we going to Rome?"

EDIT: Linky to Will's signup and the discussion thread

edited 29th Jan '15 1:35:10 AM by Luthen

Mississipppi stared at Pierre for a bit before rolling his eyes at the Frenchman's outburst about Italians.

"Please try to keep your manners around you when we're talking to our contact. Italians aren't the only people who can arrogant, Pierre." Brown warned. Spot rolled over in an attempt to get Dave to rub his belly. Brown gave a rare grin at this but it soon disappeared when Will asked the question.

"No, not Rome I'm afraid. Assisi. We'll be going to meet in the Basilica there." Mississippi told everyone before whistling for Spot to come over.

"I'll give you all a chance to get more acquainted with each other before we take off." Brown said as he climbed aboard the plane, presumably to pick out a good seat.

So you guys have the rest of the day to interact with each other and then I'll timeskip us to Italy tonight.

edited 24th Jan '15 8:50:07 PM by FantasyLiver

"Feeeh, this I do just for you, Brown. Ze adventure better be worth it," Pierre said. He looked at David. "Very well, Davé, for ze benefit of those who have somehow not heard of my genius, I am Pierre Depardieu du Despereaux Laplace," he said, taking a bow.

"Ze Third."

edited 24th Jan '15 12:11:58 PM by nman

"My name is Jack Dowl, but Brown has long since christened me 'Spades'", the young man said.

"Hans." Said Hans, adjusting his shirt. "What are we looking for?" He asked, deciding to punch the first person who called him a Nazi.

Once everybody had finished introducing themselves, they would find the plane to be very cramped but it seemed as everybody would fit. The pilot was an extremely short elderly man wearing what looked like a World War I fighter pilot helmet. If anyone attempted to make conversation with him, he simply scowl.

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND HOLD ON TO YOUR GODDAMN HATS!" the pilot suddenly shouted once everybody was strapped in. Spot started to bark loudly at the pilot's screaming and Mississippi rolled his eyes.

"Mr. Lucas, d'you have to scream like that?" Brown asked wearily. It seemed as this was not the first time the treasure hunter had asked this of the pilot.

"I TOLD YOU BEFORE BROWN, IF YOU'RE NOT FULL OF PASSION AND RAGE WHEN YOU'RE PILOTING, THEN YOU AINT FLYING RIGHT!" Mr. Lucas shouted even louder as the engines began to whir to life.

==========================================================================================

Much later

After a long and cramped journey, with the occasional layover, the trip was finally over. Brown and his team were finally in Italy. Due to the Axis Powers not being the most...favorable people towards Brown, the plane was, as Mississippi explained, forced to land in a meadow outside a small farm near Assisi. The farm belonged to an old friend of Brown's and they would stay there the night before talking to the monk in the morning.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Mr. Lucas continued to psychotically pilot the plane and eventually touched down smoothly in the meadow right on schedule. Brown, who had been asleep up until this point was roused by Spot licking his hand and yapping when they touched down. The treasure hunter rubbed his eyes and grinned.

"Alright everybody! Let's get moving. Look, Nico is already here to meet us." Mississippi pointed out the window. Sure enough, a large, poor-looking man was outside the plane. His description matched that of Brown's farmer friend.

"Thanks, old chap. It's nice to be a passenger for once," Dave remarked to the pilot as he disembarked, none the worse for wear. "Jolly fun ride, wasn't it, gentlemen? And you," he said to the Italian farmer, extending his hand in greeting, "must be Nico. Name's Dave."

edited 24th Jan '15 11:03:59 PM by Pyrite

James clambered out of the plane and took quick stock of his surroundings. Seeing the furrows left by mr. Lucas´ ...enthusiastic landing caused James to wince. The flight had been James´ first experience of aerial travel and he was not clamoring for a repeat performance any time soon. James noticed Mr. Enderby had already gone to greet Brown´s contact, but did not appear to actually speak Italian. Approaching the two, James also extended his hand in greeting to the farmer. "<Good evening. My name is James Bell. Pleasure to meet you.>"

OOC: Just for clarification, I am using that formatting to indicate James is speaking Italian.

Pierre stepped off the plane and gave a snort as he took in a breath of the Italian air.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked. "The sooner we are done here, the sooner we can leave."

"A pleasure." Nico said to Dave. When James began speaking Italian, Nico cracked a smile and responded in kind. However, when Mississippi climbed down, James expression began to darken. However, it was only momentary and he clapped his old friend on the back jovially.

"Come, come. Let us go to my house and rest for the night!" he said excitedly as he marched to the house. Assuming the others followed, they would be led to a quaint little farmhouse. The front door led to the kitchen and Nico bade them to stop there.

"I will go fetch Carolina. She will be pleased to see you again." Nico said, a bit nervously, and he headed upstairs. Perhaps his wife made him uneasy?

While they were waiting in the kitchen, a loud gunshot could suddenly be heard coming from outside.

"I say, Missy, I think you've set a new record - I didn't expect trouble this soon." Dave drew his service revolver and shuffled towards the window, taking great pains to keep out of sight. "Now, who d'you think that might be?"

He peered around the windowsill, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything going on outside.

edited 26th Jan '15 5:24:54 AM by Pyrite

Spades, rifle in hand, followed Dave.

James got away from the windows and cursed under his breath. He had got his belongings from the plane after meeting Nico the farmer, but clothes, books or even a wrench would not be much help against someone with a gun. More than the gunshot itself James was worried who or what had been shot at.

"Neither did I." Brown said darkly, pulling out his gun and taking a look outside the window. Those who were also looking out the window would see a grisly sight. Somebody (appearing to be a man but it was hard to tell at this distance) was right in front of the airplane's cockpit and was firing round after round into it. It was hard to tell if Mr. Lucas the pilot were still alive after that.

Even worse was what was actually inside the house. After Nico went upstairs, loud footsteps could be heard coming down the steps.

Three soldiers in black uniforms came marching down the stairs. Two of them carried Mannlicher M1895 rifles while the largest one held Nico's hands behind his back. Even he had a handgun holstered to his belt. It was clear who these people were. Mussolini's men. Blackshirts. Spot began barking loudly

"I'm sorry! They said they'd kill my family if I didn-OOOF!" Nico began to plead to Brown before being jabbed in the gut by one of the Italians.

"Mister Brown, you tell your men to surrender your weapons. And tell that dog to shut up!" one of the Blackshirts with a rifle ordered. He was somewhat portly and had a ridiculous looking mustache. Spot, however, continued to bark even louder than before. The soldier lowered his rifle and aimed it at the dog, causing Mississippi to draw his pistol in a flash and fire.

That's when everything went to hell.

He grazed the heavier of the soldiers in the shoulder, causing his companion to shoot Brown in the chest. Brown went down in a heap and Spot barked even louder than before. Nico rolled for cover into the kitchen but was tackled by the guard who had been holding him. And the man who had been firing at the plane started dashing for the farmhouse. A battle had begun!

edited 26th Jan '15 8:29:24 PM by FantasyLiver

"Hon hon hon, I was afraid zat Italy would disappoint me, I am glad that it is living up to my expectations," Pierre said with a sigh. "If you vill excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

He then went to the bathroom and hid in the tub.

"I say, that's jolly unsporting." It wasn't immediately clear if Dave was referring to the Blackshirts or to Pierre - or to both - but it mattered little. He ducked around the stairs and loosed two shots at the Blackshirt who hadn't fired his rifle, and immediately began barking out orders without batting an eye.

"Jimmy, lad - check on Missy. Spades - to the window, see if you can't put that rifle of yours to better use. Rest of you, boys... let 'em have it!"

edited 27th Jan '15 5:46:20 AM by Pyrite

Spades ran outside of the house then fired upon the Blackshirt closest to Brown, using the wall as cover. "And I was worried that this would be boring!", he yelled, making sure that all could hear.

edited 27th Jan '15 7:40:46 AM by deadpool616

"...have it!" Dave blinked in astonishment as he watched Spades run outside the house right after he'd finished speaking. "Shooter in the yard, boyo!"

edited 27th Jan '15 5:52:03 AM by Pyrite

Spades ran back inside, to the window, and put his rifle to good use. "Let's try this again."

edited 27th Jan '15 7:46:40 AM by deadpool616