See No Evil

[HoneyDog]

Nik speaks up.

"I killed Stromm."

[Silver Priest]

“Truly? A pity; I would have liked to test out if a child could last longer than the last of your agents I tortured. The man had no fortitude, though in fairness to him he knew what was coming.

“Regardless, it is good to speak with you. You likely expect me to curse your name and vow revenge, but I am a solder. You exploited a weakness within our ranks and took advantage of it, I can respect that. The Karotechia has no one to blame but itself for yesterday's sloppiness. Herr Linz, the one you knew better as Stromn, made a foolish decision and paid the price for it. As a result of his mistake, we lost a Bischof and revealed our existence before we wanted to. Both are setbacks.

“However there is nothing for us to do but push forward, and I was sent here to mitigate the damage. So I have concocted a little test. I have dealt with your group intimately and know you do enjoy protecting the innocent from the horrors that exist all around them. I will be intrested in seeing how far that devotion goes. I propose a trade, Mr... what code name do you go by?” Regardless of if Nik answers, he continues.

“The deal I have in mind is simple. Mein Triumph is an important text, and it is not for your eyes, not yet. Hand the book over to me, and you can have the children back. Refuse, and their parents will get parts of them back over the next few weeks. I realize this is a difficult decision, so I will allow you ten minutes to discuss it amongst yourself. If you do not call me back by then, my men and I will start carving the children up. Every five minutes after it takes me to hear from you another will die. Eventually.

“Be Seeing you.” He laughs and abruptly signs off with the DG callphrase.

McRay seems to be at a loss for words, his face ashen.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"You'd better get the photocopier warmed up McRay" says Nik. "I'm taking the book back".

[Silver Priest]

McRay shakes his head. "Don't be stupid. We don't even know if the kids are still alive. We're trusting the word of a Nazi here."

"The book clearly means a lot to the group, so it's vital we hold onto it. Giving it back means we give away one of our only sources of information on them. We could try photocopying, or taking pictures of the text... but that's never fully a reliable method when dealing with the preternatural. Many of them seem to have some sort of 'security measures'. Pictures may come out blurred, or otherwise compromised. Nothing beats the real deal. And I'm not about to risk another cell. For all we know this is just an excuse for Galt to lure you out,capture you, and pump you both for information. The risks are too high."

Those his words are firm, both agents can tell McRay looks genuinely torn. He seems to loathe the idea of negotiating with the Karotechia, but he seems equally unhappy that children might die if he does nothing.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“I’m not about to let a bunch of kids die horribly for some old book. I realized a while ago that it’s only a matter of time before I get killed – I don’t expect to live very long doing this job. So I’m willing to die to let them live. Let’s try to stack the odds in our favour. We want the kids before we give the book, and I’ll be their hostage instead. Arrange so that if necessary the book gets destroyed, along with me if necessary. A bomb or something. There’s no other way, McRay.”

[Mr. Handy]

"A photocopier would take too long," says Vanessa, taking out the camera they had used on surveillance and beginning to take pictures of the book's pages. "This is faster. We might not get the whole thing in time, but at least we'll get some. Maybe the copy won't be effective, but maybe it will. It's better than nothing. Nik, are you sure about this? A bomb may destroy the book, but if it's true that Galt can't be killed, the bomb won't stop him. It may at least cramp his style, though. And what happens if he finds the bomb and gets rid of it? They're bound to search you."

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“Maybe we can’t kill Galt but we can destroy the book anyway. If we can negotiate a place to meet, we can plant a bomb in advance. Or we can put it in my car and I can lead him there. Would they be expecting one of us to sacrifice himself? I don’t want to die but I can’t think of any other ideas which can help to guarantee us success.”

[Silver Priest]

McRay still looks reluctant. "I can't imagine they'll let you anywhere near Galt with a bomb. If they find it, chances are good he kills you on the spot.And that's if you're fortunate. And if you did die, I'm not sure he'd bother keeping the kids alive. We also can't count on him releasing them before the meet, though perhaps we can negotiate for the release of some of them before we make the trade.

He curses. "A-Cell would under no circumstances approve the exchange. Fortunately for you I've not reported that we have the book yet. If you really want to try and give it up... fuck, I can't have twenty four kids deaths on my head. Just be careful. Piss Galt off and they're likely to be dead regardless."

Photographing the book,This is another case where I wish the skillset had photography as a skill. I really like DG, but I feel its skill set is a bit sparse in some areas. I suppose technically it would be an art:photography roll, but I'm willing to give you another chance. If you're alright with me rolling to keep it dramatic, I rolled your luck at half to see how successful the photos would be. Later on I'll let you know how well the job turned out.

It's almost at the end of Galt's deadline. McRay clears his throat and gestures for one of the agents to redial.

OOC:   though again, any final conversation suggestions can be offered at this time.

Galt answers, his voice jovial. "Just in time. Well done. I take it you have considered my offer and are ready to accept?"

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“Yes, we accept. I’ll bring you the book personally, and hand it over once all of the students are safe. A fair exchange.”

[Silver Priest]

Galt chuckles. "A valiant attempt, but I am not going to release my leverage just based off of your word. No, bring the book to me, and you can go and retrieve them.

"But perhaps you need a sigh of good faith on my part. Very well, I am not unreasonable." He barks something out in German, and soon a crying child can be heard.

"Tell the man on the other end your name, my sweet."

The child continues to cry, and her cries intensify.

"You cannot of course see what I am doing, but presently I have a gun pointed at this child's head. I don't like guns, as a general rule. Knives allow one to savor the meat. But I am kind enough to grant this young one a quick death. Which I will very shortly if she continues to test my patience. Tell him your name." His tone iss till pleasant, but there's a mania to it.

"Carly..." the young girl speaks through tears. "Please let me go, I want to go home!"

More German, and the girl screams.

"Do not worry, she's not dead. But neither did I want a child sobbing in my ear. It gets very distracting, especially when we are trying to have a conversation. At any event, there is your proof that the children are still alive. But they won't be for long if I do not get my book back, and my patience is wearing thin."

OOC:   Nik or Vanessa can certainly try a persuade here, though what success means depends on what they ask for.

[HoneyDog]

“What a moron” thinks Nik.

“I just told you I’d bring you the book” he says patiently. “Once I get word that they’re safe, I’ll give it to you personally. Put it right in your hand if you like. You can’t expect us to give up our leverage so easily. There’s a bunch of people who are dying to read that book and who wouldn’t want to let it go, but I don’t care about that. You’re welcome to it”.

He continues more urgently.

“Look, you’ll have me and the book. Surely you’d rather be talking face to face with a Delta Green agent than a bunch of screaming kids? All I need is a phone call from our people to say that they are safe.”

He waits for the reply.

Persuade,Persuade 71: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/553907]Persuade[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]6[/b] Hopefully this is a good enough roll!

OOC,Nik has another idea, but he doesn't want to discuss it in front of McRay.

[Silver Priest]

Galt remains silent for a few seconds. Just when Nik wonders if he hung up, he speaks.

"We seem to be in a bit of an impasse. But as I've said, I am not unreasonable. I will release half of the children within the hour, then call you back. The other half will remain with me until I get the book. What is it you Americans say? 'you scratch my back, I shall scratch yours?' My final offer. Take it or leave it."

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa nods and continues taking pictures.

OOC,The 1/2 Luck roll sounds good to me.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"We accept. You'll be seeing me later, Herr Galt."

[Silver Priest]

"Oh, I look forward to it." Galt hangs up once again.

"Nothing to do now but wait for the release of some of the kids. Nice work." says McRay. "I thought for sure he was going to kill one of them to prove a point."

"In the meantime, I'm going to check in with my boss at the FBI, try and keep them away from all this. Knowing what I know, I don't think they'd have a chance." He pulls out his phone and walks out of the room.

OOC:   Going to give you this opportunity to discuss your other plan, HoneyDog. Once you're both ready to move on I'll advance us.

[Mr. Handy]

"Is there some way we can conceal explosives within the book itself?" asks Vanessa as she continues photographing the pages. "That's the one thing Galt is guaranteed to allow close to him, and we can be sure that the explosives will be close enough to destroy the book."

[Silver Priest]

ooc,It's probably possible, but not exactly easy. Galt at least has military training, and may very well be able to detect explosives. And neither of you have heavy weapons as a skill, so I don't really think you have a good chance of swinging it. I'm willing to give you a flat 10% if you want to try and plant something in the book undetected, but I'll warn you now that if you fail the consequences could be severe. Or maybe Galt would just be amused by the attempt. Up to you if you want to take the risk.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"It's too risky. In fact without having all of the children safe any plan like that is too risky."

Nik's voice drops to a whisper. "I was thinking. What about asking Alzis for help? I was thinking he might want the book in exchange for helping to get the kids back."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, it's too risky to rig the book to blow," says Vanessa. "I don't know about going back to Alzis. I hope there's a better alternative, but I can't think of one. McRay said he'd sooner get help from Majestic, but I wouldn't go to them. They wouldn't care what happens to the children and would be perfectly fine with getting them all killed so long as they achieved their objectives."

OOC,If there is enough time after photographing all of the book's pages, I would like to start photocopying them. The quality would probably be better.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"There's really no-one else who can help us. This Galt guy is crazy. He doesn't care if people die. McRay can't or won't do anything. I say we ask Alzis for backup,and see what he wants in exchange."

OOC,Can we actually contact Alzis?