because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

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[blyth]

[He considers before taking out his phone and calling his sister. He can't promise she'll know something, but it is the kind of thing she would be into.

He puts it on speaker. The phone rings twice before she answers. "Where are you? Did you forget to tell me you had plans?"]

Ran into a bit of a hiccup. Quick question for you, do you know anything about secret passages around New York City?

["Why? Are you stuck somewhere? Are you on a treasure hunt? Robin, you promised you wouldn't do schticky tourist things without me!"]

Darling, it's a yes or no question.

[Maud sighs dramatically. "Let me grab my laptop. Where are you?"]

[drugdeals]

An apartment on Broadway. Three floors up. Four or five buildings away from the Leaky Cauldron on the opposite side of the street. I think to the East. But, don't quote me on that.

( That he can answer. Even from the very little he's said, though, he loves Maud.)

[blyth]

["Oooh, is that the boy? How intriguing." Maud shifts and there's the sound of typing as she speaks. "Remember the rule about bringing dates back to the apartment."]

Darling sister, you are not helping.

["I never strive to. Alright, I am sending you a map. The red X's are the entrances you're looking for. Have fun. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."]

Who's the older sibling here?

["And yet you never act like it. Love you." And with that he hangs up, followed by a buzz as the text message comes through. He pulls up the map, and sighs.]

Alright, it looks like we have to go back to street level, but there's a tunnel entrance two buildings down.

[drugdeals]

I have an apartment of my own.

( And an out-of-town-sister who crashes, but she is in Baltimore, on a case. He thinks. Also, not the time, he knows. )

I like her.

( Also not the time. )

How very National Treasure. ( He knew she'd come through. ) What's your fighting weight?

[blyth]

I'm not a heavy weight but I can hold my own.

[Boxing as his recreational activity of choice may finally pay off, though he would prefer not to do it in dress shoes.]

If they have magic can punching them do much good?

[drugdeals]

They're still human.

( Which begs a later question of what might not be human. )

But let's see if we can get out without running into them. Avoid fisticuffs.

( He heads to the other end of the hallway, checking the elevator numbers and finding a back staircase. )

[blyth]

[Robin follows his lead, heading back down into the building and hoping that they can get out of here without him having to punch someone.

Stealth checks, please.]

[drugdeals]

( Luke and his sister are the same type of bulls-in-a-chinashop, so as much as he'd like to keep it stealthy, he's more about speed than stealth, trying his "best," (9) but, the echo of the stairwell isn't easy to mask. )

[blyth]

[Luke is not much quieter (11) - he has not spent a lot of his life sneaking around places or trying to go unseen, so he is just average at it. Fortunately for them, as they move down past the first few goons, they are able to go unnoticed (5). At least for now.

There's three of them on that first level, sniffing around at the edges of Luke's spell. "He's gotta be here somewhere."

"Maybe we should just let him go. If he's on the run then problem solved right? I don't want to be stuck in a maze all fucking night."

"Do you want to go back to Mr. Harper and tell him we let the Gemini Witch slip through our fucking fingers? Because I sure don't."

Robin doesn't know what any of that means, but he'll just keep following Luke's lead. Stealth round two, go!]

[drugdeals]

( He's not as entrenched in witch politics as his sister and the armory, so that name doesn't trigger any recognition (8), but he remembers it for later.

Outside of the staircase, Luke does even better (18), padding feet on carpet instead of echoing steps. )

[blyth]

[Luke, less so (5), his dress shoes squeaking on the finished wooden stairs as they slip past but these guys are ... really into having the fight they're having because they're ... not paying attention at all (1). They even manage to make it past the group on the second floor because that is what a crit fail gains them.

One more stealth pass please!]

[drugdeals]

( Crit fail meet crit fail (1), from the cockiness of getting past the group and their argument, and caring about getting Robin out unscathed. )

[blyth]

[Robin's is also not good (7), so it doesn't take much for the final group they're sneaking past to catch on (9). It's three of them, and their attention snaps away from the doors to the two on the stairs.

"Hey! There they are!"

Robin glances over to Luke, then towards the front door.]

So, run then?

[drugdeals]

Run.

( He lets Robin take off first, before following. He removes a flask he'd been carrying in his jacket. Unscrewing it, he throws it's contents behind them, making the three witches need dex saves or else they have a slip-sliding good time.

He points to a staircase leading down. )

Here, here!

[blyth]

[Two of them succeed (16, nat 20), but the first one's foot hits the liquid the wrong way and wipes out hard (4).

Robin just books it and wheels around in the direction of the staircase, following Luke lower into the building and hoping that they find an easy way out.

Two flings a stupefy spell over the edge towards Luke (15), hoping to freeze the witch in his tracks.]

[drugdeals]

( Two stupefies a fly, missing Luke altogether (nat 20) )

Is there a doorway down there?

[blyth]

[Robin glances ahead before nodding.]

There's a door, but I'm not sure where it goes.

[He's reaching the doorframe and pulling for the door all the same, while the three witches try to catch up, one of them waving a hand yank the door out of Robin's hand and pull the door closed again.]

[drugdeals]

( Luke tries to grab a hold of the door, too, but his 10 has him fumble and slam into it. His knuckles are hurting, but he won't add insult to injury.

Shaking his hand out, he places a hand on it and grabs Robin. )

Per.

( He and Robin phase through the door and - Luke saves on a dex check so he doesn't roll down the stairs. Does Robin? )

[blyth]

[Shockingly, he manages to stay on his feet, though he's certainly startled (16). His arm wind-mills as he glances back at the door.]

... Did we just ...?

[drugdeals]

I was in a tight spot a few weeks back, and I reverse engineered a spell I saw done.

( He takes the steps down at a quick pace, keeping one hand in Robin's, small lanterns coming to life as they enter one of the tunnels and make there way down the passage.

He neglects to say that Sierra's skillset is more about her natural power, like Robin's, but nothing is impossible with magic. Almost nothing. Most spells or attempts at anything are balanced. )

[blyth]

Ah.

[It's still a lot. So much a lot. It seems to imply that witchcraft is some kind of science and one that Luke is well-versed in. He has so many questions that he can't think about right now, and he tries to shake off the weirdness of it all and continue to follow him down the stairs.]

So you've been doing this ... witch stuff a long time?

[drugdeals]

I was born a witch. I'm from a pretty famous coven, actually, in my world. But, one that's best left in the shadows for a lot of reasons. One of which --

( is this. the stairs level off and break away into a cavern that resembles a catacomb. )

I think we found your sister's secret tunnels, Robin.

[blyth]

Right.

[Escape. They're supposed to be escaping. He can ask questions later. He looks down at the map on his phone, and frowns.

Then he realized that beyond "tunnels" they haven't exactly picked a destination.]

Where do we want to go? My apartment is on the Upper East Side, but ...

[He doesn't want to lead the bad guys right back to Maud.]

[drugdeals]

Mine is Lower East.

( He lets out a breath he'd been holding, evaluating. )

Maybe, instead, we trap them down here. Long enough to get away. Not lead them back to Maud or my cat. Any more visions up there?

[blyth]

I don't know. I've never tried to ... summon them on purpose.

[He doesn't even know if he can. He's still very new to this.]

Though if we keep walking maybe I'll see something I've seen before?