Voodoopunk [Closed- Goibniu/Claes the BEST COP TEAM EVER]

Arabella would arrive and turn to Goibniu, her hand clutching her chest nervously.

"Dear officer, you alright?" she asked. "That sounded like quite a fall and--what are you looking at?"

She would notice Goibniu staring at the path ahead, and seeing how dark it was, Goibniu would notice a faint yellow light floating next to him. Arabella had cast a small illumination spell.

"This should help us around," she said. "I take it that road will lead us where we want to go eh?"

She paid attention as Goibniu started toggling with his goggles.

"Do those help you see? Can you see anything up ahead?"

If Goibniu focused his goggles enough, he'd notice two silhouettes stretching against the wall and heading their way.

"Lesse..." He said, as he began to take notice of the distant figures. He couldn't make any discernible features from his view, but he could see that there was something moving. "There appears to be..." His words were interrupted by some sort of light next to him, and as he turned to check it, it was Arabella making a small light with a spell.

"Ah, handy! And yes, I can definitely see something. It appears that we are not alone." He said in a hushed tone, as he turned back to see the figures again. However, he looked rather surprised when he noted that the figures seemed to actually move. In their direction! "... Uh oh. Madam, it might be prudent if we move away to hide, there is something approaching us."

Followed by the shadows, the two would hear indistinct chatter as well.

"I definitely agree with you, Officer," she said in a whisper. "Though we're lacking in places to hide. Never you mind. I shall handle this."

Arabella would raise her walking cane and draw several lines to create a glyph.

"Baloo-balee, baloo-balow. I let you go, I let you go," she murmured.

Arabella would push herself and Goibniu into a corner before a wall of glass formed in front of them. The two would still be able to see, but as the two figures appeared they gave no notice.

Much like the people who had taken Claes, these people, too, wore skeleton masks and odd assortments of gears and goggles and mechanical parts on their garb. One of them held a glowing green torch.

"I thought I heard something," one of them said. "It was like a scream."

"I'm tellin' ya, no one's gonna bother jumping down a manhole. We pretty much covered our tracks and even if they did, they'd see nothing remarkable the moment they got down here."

The person with a torch would scan the area and then point upwards where the daylight poured in from above.

"Someone opened it," one said.

"So? It could have been one of us."

"No, this isn't good," he returned. "We're all here. So it's either they snuck past us or went back up to report to the Expiate! We have to hurry if--"

"Breviter somnum!"

Arabella's cane pointed straight at the two and Goibniu would notice a cloud of green smoke attack them. By the time the smoke cleared, the two had dropped to the ground. The woman exhaled.

"I hope you don't mind I did that," she said. "If we want to save your friend, we need to hurry inside and not alarm people, right? I'm guessing we'll catch attention if we go as we are, so help me tie these people up and put on their garb, hm?"

Arabella would start taking one of them and pulling of their mask and tying them with rope that had been cast aside in a corner.

"Well, don't just stand there, we should hurry!" she said.

For a moment, Goibniu thought that they could try hiding by going deeper into the sewers, to the point that they wouldn't be seen by the figures, but Arabella's words made him turn to her with a look of inquisition, wondering what she had in mind. "Do you plan of sorts Madam?" And indeed she did, through a chanting that sounded absurdly silly, but that generated a glass wall that was see-through. Confused by this, Goibniu saw that the two figures would eventually reach them, his blood running cold... before noticing that they didn't seem to notice them at all. Oh! It made them invisible!

Once the surprise washed away, he payed close attention to the figures and their conversation, their appearances matching that of the people that tried to assault him and Claes a moment ago, their conversation not revealing any sort of relevant information outside of weariness for the Expiate. And suddenly, Arabella conjured up another spell, a sort of gas that knocked the two unconscious. "Blazes! I thought it would have been more prudent to keep hearing their conversation, but you are right." Indeed, they needed to hurry before something bad happened to Claes.

And now, they had to tied them up and rob them of their outfits, with Goibniu gravitating towards the male figure, and began disrobing the sleeping man before helping Arabella tie them up. To his embarrassement, outside of their underwear, this was the only clothes the two had on, which made him shake his head in pity. "I definitely wouldn't want to be these two when they wake up." He said, as he began putting on the robes, removing any characteristics that might reveal his true identity, which also meant covering his mustache with his mask. "My experience in infiltration missions is rather minimal, so we'll have to be extra careful."

When Goibniu pointed out that they could have listened in, Arabella gasp.

"O-oh, you're right, I'm sorry, Officer!" she said, her eyes saddening. "I was just so alarmed that they might break our cover, that I needed to act soon. That said, worry not about infiltrating! I happen to be more of an expert!"

She gave Goibniu a small wink.

Once they were tied, she would examine the clothes. Both of them would have pin striped vests and trousers, and shirts underneath. She'd lift up her own clothes before turning to Goibniu.

"Well, Officer, I hope that if I promise not to turn around and peek while you change, you'll do the same?"

"Well... mistakes happen, I believe. Still, being more prudent can always help us strike gold unexpectedly." He pointed out, as he looked at the clothes in his hand, and the poor people they stole them from. "We can only hope there's no secrets handshake we need to learn."

At the comment of infiltration, the wink she gave him was lost on him, as he wasn't sure what she meant. Could it be she had more invisible spells under her sleeves? Nevertheless, noting how the clothes seemed rather fit to wear them over their own, Goibniu felt there was no choice but changing. The comment Arabella made caused his cheeks to blush gently, looking at his own disguise in his hands, then back to her. "W-What? Of course! I wouldn't be very gentlemanly for me to peek, don't worry!" He stammered, as he backed away a bit, before turning around and starting changing his clothes.

The things he'd do to rescue a fellow officer...

Goibniu would hear Arabella start to undress, particularly hearing her heavy layers fall off as she slipped on the new attire. When she'd finish, he'd hear her smoothing out her clothes.

"Well, I'm done," Arabella said before rolling up her clothes. "Just tell me when I can turn around. Meanwhile, I'm going to hide my clothes. This barrel here seems like a good enough place, don't you think?"

Goibniu would hear her feet shuffle and a wooden lid come off.

"I know I've been very lighthearted, but I do feel bad that things turned out this way for your partner. I take it you two are close?"

With a bit of effort, the disguise was all set on Goibniu's body, with the only detail from his original outfit being the black glove covering his right hand. Good thing the outfits had pockets, he could just simply just put his hand away. And just in case, under the layers of clothing he kept his gun hidden, in case they needed to do go guns blazing.

"There we go, I'm all set." He announced, as he picked his own clothing, and turned to see Arabella already hiding her own set inside a barrel. "Ah, smart observation Madam! Hopefully no one will think of looking there." He said, walking up to her and waiting his turn to deposit his garments. But then, she made him a question that was, rather surprising! Maybe a bit privy. "Mmmh? What do you mean? Officer Alfson is a fellow member of the Expiate, us Expiate can't abandon our own, it would be a betrayal of our ethics! Plus, Claes is a good friend, I can't turn my back on a friend. She may be a bit harsh, but I believe she'd do the same should I be kidnapped."

Arabella listened as Goibniu spoke.She managed a rueful smile.

"Well, you Expiate officers seem quite admirable being that dedicated to one another," she said. "I'll do my best to help you get your friend back, hm? Now, let's go."

Arabella would bring along her walking cane and guide Goibniu towards the inside of the tunnel. The green light got brighter and ended in a metal door where more bright green light was peeking through. Goibniu would hear what sounded like drumming and chanting.

As they opened the door, even more music would be heard. Were people singing?

Goibniu and Arabella would find themselves at a metal stairwell leading downwards to where people were gathering around a circular brick platform. Smoke was everywhere and the walls glowed with luminescent Cartic marks that were green.

The people were in the same attire as Goibniu and Arabella and seemed to be dancing.

At the middle of the platform, Goibniu would notice Claes tied up unconscious, lying down with someone standing next to her. However, if he decided to proceed too brashly, he'd definitely catch attention.

"It's what gives up strength, a unified front!" He declared, feeling rather proud of Arabella's words, as the two began making their way in the tunnels. The walk itself would be rather uneventul, as the two dutifully went towards the light, the only sort of guide that could take them towards those in charge of this conundrum. Their trip would end at a door, which wasn't emanating the light itself, but seemed to actually hold it at bay, the green peeking through its crevices.

"Wait, what..." He said in hushed tones, as he heard something akin to chanting from the other side. Peeking at the inside, they would see that they were high up, and downwards there was a big congregation of people, performing some sort of Cartic ritual, which featured more people dressed up as them, as well as a tied up Claes at the center! His concern increased, as he wasn't sure what to do. Every fiber of his body wanted him to jump into the fray, which was not recommended due to how many there were, as well as how close they were to Claes. But at the same time, he didn't know if they arrived too early or too late, and further hesitation might only make things worse.

"That woman...! That's Claes!" He whispered towards Arabella, looking rather worried. "What should we do?"