Play@YSDC

"Ivy's action does not call for the men's attention. Their attention is called by the presence of the girl in the boat.
One of the men gets on the ramp connecting the boat to the dock. He aims the flashlight on the hull and moves the beam among the barrels.
As the light illuminates the scared face of the girl, the man vents his anger and exclaims."

"It is Vera! Damn it! ."

"I had told Croockey that she had to be locked up.
Go and get her, soon! And be careful not to kill her."

The four men run to the boat and point their flashlights to her. Vera
remains motionless in panic, with the knife in her hand as a disperate defense.

"At least they're not going to kill her," whispers Kathryn, "but they may have something worse planned. Still, we have time to rescue her, so we can wait and see what happens first. If we do rescue her, she'll be grateful, and she may tell us how to get to K'n-yeil."

"The Crookey family is in league with the Andersons, remember?" Ivy hisses to the others. "Perhaps we should assist this young lady."

In an attempt to distract at least some of the men, tries to push some of the barrels off the cart.

"No need for silence now,"Michael mutters, "with them barrels makin' one hell of a racket." He fires a shot directly into the nearest barrel, hoping the men will be more concerned about the booze inside than the woman."Freeze! Federal agents got ya surrounded! You're under arrest for violatin' the Volstead Act." It's a bluff, but he hopes it will give them enough time to get the woman out of danger.

The five men react immediately and one of them swears something. Two of them gets on the boat, trying to catch the girl. She makes a scream of fear and then starts moving quickly among the barrels.

The other three men point their flashlights at the barrels and cart, so that their shapes become invisible to investigators.
One of them has already begun to shoot at the origin of Michael's voice.

NPC Roll,[dice]0[/dice]

Michael feels the blow of the bullet hitting the barrel next to him.

Seeing that subtlety has now gone out the window, Kathryn fires at the man who had just shot from her position of cover behind the barrels, thankful that the flashlights and muzzle flash had lit him up nicely. Her gunfire is far more accurate than his, and her bullet strikes home.

OOC,Firearms(Handgun) roll (65% skill) shooting at the goon who just fired: [dice]0[/dice] Damage to goon: [dice]1[/dice]

Michael returns fire.
The shot strikes home.
It's not fatal, but it must hurt the guy.

"Let the girl go, or the next shot will be the last thing you ever feel."

OOC:   Sorry for being quiet. Ivy doesn't have a gun!

As shots ring out, Ivy takes cover behind the cart.

OOC:   The rifle found, unfortunately, had been immersed for a long time in salt water and was also unloaded.

One of the men screams and falls to the ground. His flashlight illuminates the sky above like a flash, and then falls next to him.Two men fire and the bullets hit again the barrels, releasing the smell of liquor in the cold air. The other man runs on the boat to help his companion getting the fugitive girl.

"Damn it," Michael mutters. "Can't let them take her." Tossing caution to the wind, he rushes after the guys who have the woman, not firing but ready to do so. He huffs and puffs as he runs as best as he can.

“Oh no you don’t”

Ivy scuttles out from her hiding place and races to the host, swinging her nightstick.

"Wait, stay behind cover, they're still shooting!" calls Kathryn. Remaining behind cover herself, she fires at one of the two men still shooting, reasoning that even if she doesn't hit, it should at least divert his attention and force him to take cover himself. Her shot is accurate and devastating.

OOC,Firearms(Handgun) roll (65% skill) shooting at one of the goons shooting at us: [dice]0[/dice] Damage to goon from .38 bullet: [dice]1[/dice]

Kathryn fires a lethal bullet at the forehead of one of the shooting men, who collapses on the ground.

Suddenly, a splash in the water distracts everyone. The girl has just dived into the water and is swimming towards the docks. The men on the boat blather something among them, difficult to understand, but none of them chase the fugitive.

When Ivy comes out of her shelter and runs towards the boat, she sees the two dead bodies lying in a pool of common blood. They are village men, bearded, dirty and badly dressed, long chaotic hair and sunburnt face.

The third flashlight stops pointing the investigators and runs towards the boat. As soon as the man is on the deck, one of his companions on the boat removes the ramp while someone else turns on the engine.

Two silhouettes are standing on the deck, ready to give covering fire against anyone who gets too close to the departing boat.

If Ivy is within running distance of where the girl seems to be swimming to, she will head that way to assist/intercept her.
If not, she will search the bodies of the men.
If she has time to do both, then she will.