Thérèse Beaupre's page

"Recon," Therese replies. "Using the plural might be optimistic, given the time constraints, but I would like a thorough examination, from as many angles as possible, of the facility's current status, before we plan our next step. In particular, we need to know where and how people are moving in and out of the facility, and to look for ways we might enter that don't involve those access points. And, of course, we'll need to know what the security setup looks like from ground level."

Shockingly, the clairsentient wants more information!

Therese nods. "But I would still like to get a closer look. We can use this place as a base camp of sorts to launch our forays from."

"This seems like a good place to take a moment, and possibly to prepare as a shelter, if we should need one," Therese says, looking around.

I'd like to poke around a bit more thoroughly in case there might be something useful to find in the area.

I'd like to scout the perimeter, staying away from the security measures and under cover as much as possible, just to compare our data with what's in front of us. In particular, we'll need to look for human-sized accesses, and anyone who might be using them...

Thérèse hops down, checking her gear, then looking around. "It looks different from the ground," she says, pointing, "but we should be heading that way, I believe."

She looks at the driver. "Thank you," she says slowly. "I would ask one thing more from you, beyond what you have already done: pray for us."

How long a walk are we looking at here?

"More Aberrants?" Thérèse asks, doubtfully. "So many in one place?"

Thérèse leans down, her attention such that she seems to have missed Spyros' look. "Define 'monsters.'"

Fates:

Thérèse frowns for a moment as she feeds ammunition into the gun, but shakes her head and finishes the job. She does touch the laser on her hip for reassurance, however.

Fates:

Thérèse swings up into the gunner's position without hesitation. She slides her HUDset eyepiece down over her right eye, then grips the gun's handles firmly and give it a few experimental swings. Noticing the stacked ammo belts, she feeds one into the weapon and settles herself in for the ride.

Think she has everything she needs just now.

"I was thinking more that they will decide we've kidnapped her when we all disappear together, and come after us."

Therese follows after the telepath, chewing her lip. "Will this arrangement provoke the others into some sort of rash and potentially dangerous action? I do not wish to start another fight over someone's soul."

Therese approaches, curious about the exchange. Most of her attention is on the surrounding cultists, however, watching for signs of trouble or renewed violence.

Therese nods. "We should definitely warn them not to risk the Duskwing's security measures, though I don't know that they will be willing to make any further deals with us. I will go with you, however, in case I am wrong."

Therese stares uncomprehendingly at Frederick. It takes several long moments before she finds her voice. "Are you mad?" she finally demands. "You prevented our mistake from turning into a complete slaughter! And as for misreading... surely you did no more so than I, or even Urso." She shakes her head, her expression still a little surprised. "You carry no blame that the rest of us do not share, and did more than your part to get us through it."

After a few final adjustments to her equipment and the careful activation of the Duskwing's self-defense capabilities, Therese adjust her pack on her shoulders and faces the doorway. "No, m'sieu Falen, your mistake - our mistake - was in acting without knowing first what we were dealing with. We cannot make the same mistake again. We need to learn everything we can about the occupants of the compound before we reach it, so that we have not only a good plan, but the right plan when we get there," she says. "We had a good plan for dealing with these cultists, but it was the wrong plan nonetheless. We cannot afford tht kind of mistake again."

For a moment, Therese looks as though she is about to snap back angrily, but she cuts herself off. Instead, she takes a long breath. After several moments, she replies in a level, even friendly tone, "I agree, as it happens. We don't have time for... navel-gazing... while we remain in the field. We must continue with our mission. But while we travel - and I believe we have several miles of walking ahead of us - we should discuss how we can avoid similar mistakes in the future."

She glances over her shoulder toward the hangar to which the cultists retreated. "We must begin by gaining more intelligence," she frowns.

Therese quietly watches the crowd disperse. As the figures fade, she glances at Urso and Frederick, her face grim. "We need to talk about what went wrong here, for all of us."

"You are not God," says Therese flatly. She pumps the shotgun with an almost impassive air. "Neither am I. But whoever He is, you're about to meet Him." With that, she fires a blast directly into the woman's ruined face, pumps the gun again, and fires once more, stepping slowly closer with each shot.

Two shots, Willpower point on each.

"Merde!" whispers Therese in frustration, watching her team scatter and the situation go to hell. After a second's hesitation, she turns to Urso and says, "We have no choice now. If Frederick is to have a chance to find and use a car, and those people are to survive, we must keep her attentions on us." She lifts the shotgun demonstratively. "I'm going to have to get closer. Coming?" And with that, she heads off in the opposite direction from Falen and Spyridonos, circling to get behind, and closer to, the burning Aberrant.

Glaring briefly at Frederick, Therese asks, "The armored vehicles?"

Thérèse shakes her head. "There is a third option. One of us can divert it with attacks, hopefully at a long enough range to avoid immediate counterattacks, while the others flee for the Duskwing. Those," and she gestures at the rifles that Spyros and Urso are carrying, "might make such a plan workable. She felt your shotgun blasts, Urso. She might feel bullets." Thérèse takes a deep breath. "Based on our dossiers, I believe I am the most skilled sharpshooter amongst us, and this plan would only work if the shots were enough to actually hurt her."

She looks around at the others. "I can stay while you reach the Duskwing and can bring its weaponry to bear, or flee, if the situation seems to require it. Spectre can get you home, if not comfortably."

Thérèse apparently really wants her Willpower point back.

Two shots of laserfire the first round - if they appear effective at all, the same on the second round. Otherwise, "I need a shotgun!" in Urso's general direction.

In Portguese:

Fates:

Thérèse turns pale, and her gun moves slowly toward the woman on the pyre. "Not a witch, non..." she whispers, but even so her hand is rising to point at the woman's head.

Thérèse will dodge M1 and shoot M2. I'd prefer to do it in that order, but I don't think I get to choose. Regardless, a Willpower point on the dodge attempt.

In hopes of distracting the gunmen from Spyros, Thérèse will dash across the rubble and try to grapple with M1. If she succeeds, she wants to put her gun to his head and order the guards to stand down.

Spending a Willpower point, and eyeing my Nature speculatively...

Waiting for A4 to declare, since it's probably going to have a hefty impact on what I do...

Confirming the body count...

Preacher: dead
A1: dying (friendly fire)
A2: dying
A3: just fine
A4: stunned (how long does that last?)

Thérèse Beaupre wrote:

To clarify, Thérèse wants to take out shotguns, not rifles, at least at first. Therefore, switch her target to A1. The rest of the action remains the same.

Oh, and do me a favor, Fates: roll well. I really don't want to set the woman on fire or shoot her instead. ;)

A2 is closer, also has a shotgun, and is less obstructed by bystanders, plus Urso has already declared a grapple against A1. Are you sure you want A1 and not A2?

Whoops! Read Urso's post backwards. Yes, I want A2.

To clarify, Thérèse wants to take out shotguns, not rifles, at least at first. Therefore, switch her target to A1. The rest of the action remains the same.

Oh, and do me a favor, Fates: roll well. I really don't want to set the woman on fire or shoot her instead. ;)

Okay, given all that, I've edited my above action slightly.

I doubt that Fred will stand aside, but if he has decided that the shooting's inevitable, here's Thérèse's action:

It's initiative time. As far as Thérèse is concerned, Fred had his chance and lost it.

Spyros:

Spyros:

Sorry! Though shouldn't Urso and Fred be whispering behind spoilers as well?

Spyros whispers to Therese, "It looks like it's going well, right?"

We don't lose our line of sight to the group and, more specifically, to its armed members, do we?

Fates:

Fates:

"The fact that you think there is ever a time for anything other than the right reasons frightens me no end," Thérèse mutters, shaking her head.

Urso turns his back on Therese, addressing Spyros. "Since it is a foregone conclusion that this will end in violence, you may want to take cover in the motorcade, keeping a line of fire to the burn pit. We will need the cover fire."

The motorcade is much too far away for anything we are carrying to be usable if we are going to confront them at the burn pit.

Urso turns to the other members. "We should set up station near the burn pit and attempt a little diplomacy. If that fails, we take cover and remove the threats. With a little luck, it won't come to that, but if we have to fight, do so with efficiency and not mercy. Mercy gets you killed on the battlefield."

"Spyros, you and I can provide cover fire from concealed positions near the station. We can leave our condescending Norça to provide more direct protection for Frederick while he makes his pitch." Thérèse looks over her shoulder at the hangar. "We need to move. They will be coming out in moments."

Brow furrowed, Spyros interjects, "We take out the gunmen she lives for the moment, we'll grab one of these killdozers and hide our plane, find out what we need to know and get on our way. Deal? We can keep our cover story. But we need to hit them once they are outside."

"Urso has a point with the demon thing. Let's keep a low profile on the flahy-psi front."

Thérèse nods, but she does not look away from Urso.

Thérèse narrows hers right back at him. "Don't presume to judge me or my guilt, filho. You can lecture these others all you like about the 'need to be able to kill' and how 'not everyone has it in them to be a killer,' but I have seen combat, I have taken lives, and I promise you this, the next time I do so it will be for the right reasons. And as for the mission, it might have occured to you that we are already quite far off-book. What we do now is up to us, not to the Trinity or anyone else."

Thérèse frowns. "Now we must make another decision, and we must make it quickly. Do we prepare ourselves for an assault here, where we can use cover and the darkness to give ourselves an advantage for combat, or proceed with Frederick's plan to present ourselves openly, sacrificing the tactical edge in the hopes of a peaceful resolution?" She glances around at her companions, her low voice carrying no farther than their ears - or so she hopes. "We must remember that a woman's life may be at stake, but we cannot yet know that. We only know that something is happening soon, and if we draw weapons, lives will be on the line."

"Neither of you are aware of additional persons in the immediate vicinity?"

Thérèse shakes her head, but glances both at Spyros and at Urso.

"A good point," Thérèse says, relaxing slightly. Three weapons, possibly four. Will fanatics run into gunfire? Those numbers are not good...

Thérèse is silent for a few moments as the group approaches the doorway. She clears her jacket away from her pistol grip almost unconsciously as she goes. Finally, just before they arrive, she looks at Frederick. "I will not sacrifice the right thing for the sake of expedience. Not again." She takes visible control of herself before adding, "Just remember that as you do what it is you do."

As long as everybody keeps moving closer, Thérèse won't be taking off on her own. She's just very, very keen to get some more information about what is happening in the ceremony.

Thérèse pales, visible even in this gloom. "There's a woman in there, crying," she whispers tensely. "I can hear her. I think they may be about to replace that foul decoration with a new one. We must hurry, and pray that I am very, very wrong."

Thérèse will push past the men and move closer if they are at all inclined to hesitate.

When Therese mentions the person on the tower, he looks and squints. "I can't see him... How far away is he?"

"Roughly three hundred meters," Thérèse answers immediately. "There may be more than one person up there; I saw more movement than shape. Regardless, if they have a rifle available to them, we are likely already within range."

"A religious gathering." Frederick observes, eying one of the phrases marring scratched and sun-bleached paint as they pass an abandoned truck. "That tends to be a mixed blessing."

Thérèse offers a low laugh of agreement.

Okay, is the group approaching as a whole, or are you throwing Fred to the wolves and hoping that the lookout (if that is indeed what Therese is seeing...) isn't packing a sniper rifle?

Thérèse has no intention of letting Frederick get too far away from the group. Herself or Urso, maybe; Frederick or Spyros, definitely not.

Thérèse is a lapsed Catholic, in case it should matter any time soon.

Thérèse peers into the darkness, in the direction of the airport tower. "I think I see someone up there," she whispers to the others. Just for certainty's sake, Fates, you did include Thérèse's penalty reduction for Sense Mastery?