o that's right

just the second part then!

Boc @ 29/6/2022 0:15

I'll need someone's roll first although either way Christian's next update should go before mine

I was waiting to see if Percy would get out of the cage or not lol

Boc @ 27/6/2022 0:12

5 to Christian

Steve turned his attention once again towards the hunter and the other animals.

They all circled around him.

"Alright," he said. "Let's do this."

The wolf lunged first.

Steve easily ducked out of the way and the wolf slammed into the wall and knocked itself out.

The panther was next to make a move.

But Steve's feet left the floor and quicker than a flash he was flying high out of reach of the panther's claws.

It was difficult to maneuver while using his wings (one good and one bad) to keep in the air and aim the paintball gun. But he managed to stay afloat and fire a shot that went right into the panther's eyes. Purple paint covered its face. But he couldn't hang onto the weapon and so he let it fall. It was either him or the gun.

The panther swiped wildly as he could no longer see, and luckily for Steve (and Percy), he struck the pig right in the head, knocking it to the ground and unconscious.

The panther then blindly turned in the hunter's direction and before he could move, the hunter shot the panther dead.

Steve was still in the air, laughing at the how easily he was vanquishing his foes.

He was going to save Percy, find Louis, and then rescue the others. He was going to be the hero of the Squawd!

BANG!

Oh crap!

I'm falling!

Did I just get shot??

I did just get shot!!

Oh, this is going to hurt.

Here comes the ground.

THUD!

Ow!

I'm not dead?

I'm not dead!

Saved by my bulletproof vest!

The hunter doesn't know I'm wearing it under my bartending clothes...

Play dead!

Play dead!

Steve lay still on the ground. Satisfied, the hunter left him for dead.

He wasn't concerned about the fat goose that may or may not be trapped in the cage.

He turned towards the exit.

He slipped in purple paint and fell smack on his head. The hunter was out cold.

"Percy?" said Steve. "Are you alright?"

"Percy?" said Steve. "Are you alright?"

Without a word, Percy wriggled out of his cage and waltzed over to the comatose hunter. He bent down and began rummaging through his pockets.

"Am now." Percy grinned as he pulled out a set of keys and jangled them in the air. He then glanced down at the weapons that the man had dropped: a hunting rifle and a pistol. Although the rifle was far too heavy for a goose to wield, the pistol could do the trick. Percy nodded to himself and kicked it over to Steve.

"Should we need it." Percy said solemnly.

Steve gave him a nod and stashed it next to his paintball gun.

"Now...let's blow this popsicle stand." Percy declared. "To the server room!"

On the way, Steve and Percy traded tales on what happened...last time...

"Hahaha oh man! They shot WHAT into your WHAT?! That definitely happened after the comms were cut, I woulda remembered THAT!" Percy giggled. "Oh! We're here."

Percy took a deep breath and stuck a key into the server room door. Before turning it, he looked back at Steve.

"This is it, my friend. The point of no return. After I go in there, if all goes well, we'll be about T-5 minutes from enacting Operation GTFO. Any last errands you wanna run, you better do em now."

"Why are you talking like a video game character? Anyway, I...wait, you think Louis is okay? I haven't heard from him since..." Steve trailed off.

"Oh yeah! Maybe you should go after him?! Or just run interference for me and make sure no one interrupts my operation. Or both, preferrably...somehow?! Any who I leave that entirely in your wings! I've gotta mainframe to breach."

Percy stuck out his wing, and Steve reciprocated the wingshake.

"See you on the other side, pal." said Percy as he turned back around and opened the server room door.

He slinked in and took a look around, but he mercifully seemed to be the only soul in here...for now. Percy pulled out his laptop and manually wired it into the server.

"I'm in." he said out of obligation. Just then, alarms began to blare overhead, echoing throughout the entire manor.

"Security breach detected! Security breach detected! Lockdown procedure commencing..."

It seems those bodies have already been found... I'm gonna have even less time than I thought.

[ROLL CALL!]

lol will you get JJ's 5 or my 2?

I mean, you'll get both eventually.

So you might as well have the 2 now. :)

Percy furiously clacked away as the alarms continued to blare out overhead. He didn't even yet know what exactly he wanted to accomplish once he had access to the main server, but he was gonna wing it.

After navigating through a few subdirectories, he was met with a choice.

Location access:

1. Foyer
2. Ballroom
3. Bathroom 1
4. Bathroom 2
5. Kitchen
6. Master Bedroom
7. Guest Bedroom 1
8. Guest Bedroom 2
9. Bathroom 3
10. Processing
11. Security
12. Kennels
...

The list seemed to go on forever, but there was one particular location that caught Percival's eyes.

"The kennels, eh? Wonder if its occupants want to come out and playayayyy..." Percy whispered to himself as he selected that option, bringing up another menu.

Action:

1. Lockdown
2. Open all
3. Punishment mode

Percival shuddered at that last option. He could only imagine...

"Option 2 it is!" he said confidently as he hit the '2' button.

The action you requested requires elevated access. Please confirm your identity.

Percival sighed to himself. Not this again. He did have the knocked out hunter that he could surely use, but that was a long way to drag a human body. As he pondered his options, another line of text appeared on the screen.

5......

Percy's eyes widened as he looked on in shock. There was nothing he could do at this point...all he could do is wait. He could only imagine what'd happen at the end of the countdown.

"Who has a biometrics check for a direct link?!" Percy blurted incredulously. "...sigh for me geese like me I suppose..."

5......4......3......2......1......0.

No biometric data found. Say cheese!

Percy raised an eyebrow as he read the last line. Just then, a camera flashed from...somewhere in the room.

A moment later, Percival's face was being shown on the large monitor above his head, with the words "BREACH DETECTED". He could only assume that just about every other monitor in the manor was showing the same.

There was no more time for subterfuge, for techie stuff, for any clean getaway. It was fight or flight now. Percival was going to have leave Doomore's loudly, or not leave at all.

He braced himself and quickly waddled towards the door.

yikes...

Just one left from Louis and Percival! Then I'll post the finale bit

I’ll be away on vacation starting tomorrow so if you could both post your last one tonight so I can get the last bit up that’d be gr8

Louis stood face to face with Dr. Doomore.. and the guy from the bar. He looked back and forth between the two. It wasn't looking good. There was something sinister on Doomore's face. Of course, there was. She was a monster, after all. But the man... Louis remembered how he had stared at him at the bar - right before Steve had started that fight with him. He had forgotten all about it until now.

"Hello, MS. GARNIER." Dr. Doomore said, pronouncing each syllable slowly and methodically, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh hello, Dr. Doomore." Louis managed in his best female voice, hoping the lack of confidence he was beginning to feel hadn't manifested itself out loud. He knew from years of disguising himself the most important part of any disguise was confidence. The costume was important, yes, but you had to be the character. He had to become Janine Garnier.

Louis felt his pocket watch in his hand and rubbed it slightly with his wing tip for luck.

The man beside Dr. Doomore cleared his throat before he spoke.

"So nice to see you again, Janine." His smile was a little too broad. Louis knew this wasn't good.

"Oh yes, it is so nice to see you, too.." Louis searched his memory from the quick web search for any hint of who this person was but his mind was a blank.

"Karl. Karl Offington. Don't you remember me, Janine?"

"Oh, of course I do. Karl, it's so great to see you!" Louis tried his best but knew he was caught.

"I'm just so surprised you didn't recognize me right away, Janine. We do serve on the board of directors of the PPP together."

"Oh, yes, of course, the PPP!" What in the heck was the PPP?, Louis wondered to himself. "Of course, Karl. It must be all the excitement tonight."

"Yes, the Porcupine Protection Platform. We do such great work for those little prickly creatures, wouldn't you agree, JANINE?"

And there it was, his "name" being over-pronounced again. This was definitely not sounding good. Not. At. All.

Dr. Doomore looked past Louis, toward the hallway he had just come from.

"Bring him forward." Dr. Doomore was speaking into a bejeweled instrument that Louis soon realized was a very small walkie talkie. Leave it to Dr. Doomore to have such a fancy one. While she spoke, she was looking directly behind Louis, toward the hallway. He followed her eyes and slowly turned his neck. There was a porcupine with a large white gauze bandage over their eye, being helped along by two guards. One was the person he had passed in the hallway on his way out of the security room. The guard said something to the porcupine and the porcupine nodded, looked at Louis, and pointed.

All eyes were now on Louis. He smiled apologetically and shrugged slightly.

"Oh, well, I - " Louis started to explain.

"SILENCE!" Dr. Doomore cut him off. She nodded toward one of the guards who started toward Louis.

Oh no, thought Louis. This could be it. Think Louis, think! What would Grandpa Orville do?

Louis pressed a tiny button on the bottom of the pocket watch. All of a sudden, a piercing sound filled the room. It sounded like a high-pitched siren and it permeated the room, seemingly bouncing off the walls so it was impossible to pinpoint the source.

But Louis knew the source. His Great Grandfather Orville had always told him that tradition was important but not to ever pass up a chance to improve upon a good thing. Since Louis was in a dangerous line of work, he had made a few, uh, upgrades to his favorite timepiece over the years. But he wasn't going to stand around reminiscing. He needed to MOVE.

As soon as the siren began, Louis had side-stepped around and behind Dr. Doomore and Karl, and was making his way through the crowd, keeping low and heading for the stage.

It was now or never. He had to try. Nene, Ryan, and Carmen were counting on them.

Louis was close to the stage, the siren was still going, but he knew Doomore and her entourage would be on his tail soon. As he headed to one side of the stage, he saw his three friends standing near the shattered tank, not moving, still in a trance from what he could tell. There were guards next to them but they were distracted, looking around for the source of the siren.

Louis made a quick change before heading up to the stage. He whipped off the skirt he had worn, revealing pants underneath. Short pants, given he didn't have the longest legs. He removed the shoes and pulled the heels off of each, making them into flat men's shoes which he placed back on his webbed feet. Then he took off the jacket he was wearing and turned it inside out. On the reverse side it was a masculine jacket. His time as Janine had come to an end.

He looked back up at the stage and crouched low, beginning to head toward his friends. Something on the other side of the stage caught his eye.

It was Steve! He was heading up from the other side. They locked eyes, looked at their three captive friends and looked back at each other, then nodded simultaneously.

The siren had quieted. Louis said a silent thank you to Grandpa Orville and placed the pocket watch back in his pocket. As he did, he felt the keys he had lifted from the porcupine earlier. These may come in handy, Louis thought.


Just as they were about to make their move, a giant monitor above their heads lit up. On the monitor was the enlarged face of none other than Percival. The words "BREACH DETECTED" were above his head.

Percival booked it out of the security room as fast as his chubby little goose legs could carry him. He stumbled and fell on his face several times, causing his glasses to crack along the way. Percy threw them to the side and kept going. He wasn't going to let any of this slow him down as he continued to cruise on, fueled by adrenaline. How could he not, when there was seemingly a monitor every few steps to remind me of how fucked he was?

All he could do is keep heading towards the ballroom, back to his zombified friends. Percy could only hope that Louis and Steve were somehow ready for extraction. Because if not...

The ballroom mercifully came into view a few hundred heaving steps later...at least best he could tell with his now blurry vision. What also came into view was the outline of a multitude of figures, human and animal alike. He felt all of their eyes on him as he stumbled into the room, terribly out of breath.

"Well if it isn't the bird of the hour! So good of you to join us, my dear!" a smug voice emanated from the crowd. Percival instantly recognized it.

"Doo...*gasp*...more...*gasp*...I...*gasp*..." Percival had a really quippy one-liner all lined up, but sadly couldn't quite get it out.

"Oh save your breath, dear. Whether you're about to insult me or beg for mercy it hardly matters. I could tell my security to kill you right where you stand, but luckily for you, I am nothing but a merciful woman. So long as you behave yourself, I can find a spot for you in my entourage yet!"

The crowd politely applauded Doomore's magnanimity; completely oblivious to the sinister undertones. Or if any of them were aware, they simply didn't seem to care.

As a phalanx of hunters began to close in, Percival surveyed his surroundings. One thing was clear: there was no escaping this place. No more gadgets to save him, no more tricks up his sleeve. He had simply gotten in too deep this time, his wings too dirty.

Percy saw the red blur of Carmen's dress on the stage along with the rest of his friends, lucid or otherwise. A dawn of realization began to come over Percy. His mind skipped through time, recalling all of the memories that he and Carmen had built together. Flying to the beach together...sharing corn cobs lady & the tramp style...the hot and heavy nights. All of those...memories...would be lost, like feathers in the sky.

"Time to die." Percy whispered to himself.

[ROLL CALL: 5]

Percival began to honk up a storm and charged straight at Doomore.

"Wh--what the hell do you think you're doing, GOOSE!" she screamed incredulously as she began to back away. But Percy continued to pursue.

When he saw the hunters reach for their guns, he realized what he was doing wasn't enough. He needed to buy more time than this.

Percival pulled out his laptop, pressed a few keys, and held it aloft.

"Don't come any closer!" he honked out.

"YOU are the one chasing ME!" Doomore bristled.

"No matter! What you need to know is I...have...a...bomb! Yeah!" Percival quickly pressed another key which caused a five minute countdown to start on his screen.

A hush fell over the crowd as all eyes trained on Percival if they weren't already. Most began to step backwards...but not Doomore.

"A bomb, huh? You expect me to buy that?" she scoffed.

"I don't care if you do or not, Doc! It's your funeral unless you let me defuse it. But I'm gonna need some assurances before I do that!"

"You really think you have any leverage here? You know what, stand down." she signalled to her security as they lowered their guns.

Percival wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but it was all too good to be true.

Doomore pulled out a small device, pointed it at Percival, and pressed a button. A ringing could soon be heard in his ears, followed by a sharp headache. It was almost as if...something was entering his brain.

"The Babble..." Percival blurted through his pain. He could quickly feel his faculties start to slip away...he was losing control over his own body. He began to see Doomore in a very different light, rationalizing all of his master's wrongdoings.

With the rapidly dwindling sliver of himself that Percy still had left, he knew he was down to one choice. He began to honk and charge once more, this time towards one of the hunters. He began to bite at his knees, letting out all the wild animal that had been hiding for all of these years.

"Awww what the hell!" the hunter cried out before instinctively pulling his gun back out.

"DON'T--" Doomore's command was cut off by a loud *BANG*.

And then another. And then another.

All Percival could see as he stared up at the fading world were blurry shades of red. The red of Doomore's eyes as she scolded the hunter. The red of the geysers of blood spouting from his ample belly. And finally...

The red of Carmen's dress, slinking into the distance behind all the commotion.

Percival looked back up at the ceiling, smiled, and closed his eyes.

o shit

WHAT??

It's time for the conclusion! At long last. We are going to discover the fate of The Squawd together. Here's how it works

First, the three of you need to roll 1d5 asap. Then, I'll combine your three rolls. The higher you collectively rolled, the happier your group's ending. The chart below corresponds to the total you rolled, lowest possible is 3, highest possible is 15. Obviously the chart has been adjusted to fit the story after the other three left:


3-5: You all six fail the heist and die. Someone betrays the group but still dies. Hearts are broken
6-7: You fail the heist. The three who are brainwashed remain brainwashed. Two of you three die. The other escapes but will never be the same
8-9: The heist succeeds, the brainwashed three are rescued, but one of you three dies. The other five survive and make a getaway but are full of guilt
10-11: The heist succeeds. Everyone survives and escapes, but one of you three takes the fall and goes to jail.
12-13: The heist succeeds. Everyone survives, no one goes to jail, and everyone goes back to living their lives. Right back where they started.
14-15: The heist succeeds and goes off FAR cooler and smoother than planned. Everyone survives, no one does jail time, and everyone ends up in a much better place than when they started.


After you three have rolled, we will compare your total number to that chart and that'll give us a gist of what must happen in the ending. Then, the final quick task:

Each of you three must post your character's ending. One........final..........post......... You can resolve the heist and the threat (including Doomore's fate etc) and if you want, go further past that to see how you ended up if you made it out alive. The catch is, there is an order to when you three will post



For being the most accomplished criminal throughout our time here, Steve will have the luxury of writing his finale segment first. That means if your group's fate is that x number of of you die or are captured etc, Christian has the choice to DECIDE where he wants Steve to end up. He can choose to sacrifice his life or his freedom, or he can choose to have Steve get away clean. Go with whatever story you like best for you, there's no selfish choice! After Christian posts, Boc will make his choice based on which fates are leftover and then JJ will do the same and round us out. Any questions??

Make your fateful final roll now!