Not even a full month of peace and already creatures were being abducted out of the blue. Unfortunately not by aliens, but rather by pirate-bastards with fish breath. The thought of, in simplest terms, the bitch that waltzed right into their home and probably was torturing a blind man at the very moment was enough to make his blood -- er, apparition boil with a frigid rage. Claws curled into the boggy soil as he paused in his tracks, a tattered sack gripped tightly in half-exposed jaws and dragging through the mud behind him. The boy had done a little... spelunking, or something of the sort, and after rifling through musty shops and storage, he was nearly ready to get Vladimir back in their ranks. Not liked he actually cared if Vlad was safe or anything; he just wanted to show Pincher and his obnoxious crew not to mess with them. If anything, Vlad deserved to be captured and forgotten, right? It was his fault after all, letting someone sneak up on him even with his "other heightened senses." Despite his attempts at distancing himself from the people dwelling under his command, the sight of Amunet's anger upon discovering the discarded bandanna stabbed an equal hatred in his lifeless heart. He hadn't felt the fiery demand for revenge in a long, long time. What was this place doing to him? Part of him despised it -- I hate it, I hate it, I hate it -- but the timid half of his brain almost craved the attention and respect he was receiving. Almost.

    Unable to clear his cluttered thoughts properly, the poltergeist finally stalked towards his claimed statue, scrabbling onto the mossy stone just like he had done the couple times before. Beck wasn't fond of hauling objects larger than his own emaciated build up with him, abandoning his burlap sack at the base of the rubble. A feral glint to his lantern-like glare more common in predators chasing down prey than in sullen ghosts, his spine crackled with sparks of charging electricity before he could wrangle his seething anger back under numbed control. Scarred features still contorted into a grimace, he tapped his claws on the lichen-strangled rock, tilted his chemical-stained chin back, and crowed up into the air, "Hey! If any of y'all actually care 'bout the blind fella Vlad, I'd suggest y'all get on over here." Expectantly a concerned crowd slunk over at the mention of the missing cougar. Clueless faces quite possibly wondering what in the world he was shouting about soon swarmed and stared, and once enough rogues had approached, the snarling poltergeist continued with a bitter wheeze, "For those livin' under a rock, one of the folks here got snatched by who I'm guessing was the Guru-chick from the Typhoon. I could get pissed at how I told ya 'not to talk to strangers' and to 'not trust people at the border' but whatever. Vlad's been captured and we gotta do somethin' 'bout it." He straightened slightly, his illusion of existence rippling and distorting as he struggled for words. Twitching whiskers glistening with agitated voltage, Beck swiped away the vibrant blue drool from his disfigured snout and jumped right into explaining his plan. "So, what are we gonna do? We're gonna march right up to those pirate freaks and steal 'em back. 'Course it'd be dumb to actually do that, but I've got a pretty basic plan. Those of y'all who can fight, and even those who can't, are gonna come with me to their border-entrance-shit-thing, and hide yourselves while I distract them. Two or three of y'all will sneak off and try to find Vlad -- probably in a smelly dungeon or somethin'. Don't try to fight anybody or draw attention, just in and out, ya get it? For those with me, if things get bad on m' end, and they will, then I will give some type of signal for y'all to attack so we can stall longer. As soon as Vlad is back with us, then we can leave." It was simple enough, a diversion for the clan while others do the dirty work. Yet despite all his ragged wheezing, Beck wasn't entirely finished. Finally addressing the lumpy sack stuffed with unknown contents just below him with a stiff gesture of a freezing paw, the boy sloppily untied the sack and tipped it over. Its contents spilled at the crowd's feet, revealing various costume masks of all shapes and sizes and colors. "Also, I did some diggin' 'round in the old l'il shops and found these -- figured it could be an intimidation tactic or somethin' to make us look badass and not like the wimps y'all are. Bonus: it'll protect your face for the most part, 'less you wanna end up with your eyes gorged, uh, I mean gouged out. Pick whatever ya want, I don't care. Or find one yourself, I don't care either." It was an impulsive idea with little function, but he had found a bunch of creepy masks sitting around, and they needed a use, so why not? Except he wouldn't be taking one of the masks just yet; he needed to be as inconspicuous and believing as possible in order to fool the Typhoon for just a little while. Stretching a scarred arm down into the sack and shoving aside masks, he eventually snagged up a rusted paint can by a wire handle. Popping open the tin lid with hooked claws, he dropped the black paint down next to the masks as well. "Also-also, use this totally-non-toxic paint to try and uh, camouflage yourselves. Blend in so you don't end up dead." With that settled, he reared back onto his hind legs, standing in an awkward pose similar to a meerkat with paws tucked under his chest before flopping back on his haunches, and concluding, "With all that settled, which unlucky two of y'all wants to be the ones to sneak out and get Vlad? Volunteers?"

    Quite the crowd of volunteers. Glancing upwards defeatedly and puffing out a stale breath towards the disheveled tufts of fur drooping into his vision, Beck settled for eight willing participants. In a perfect world, all of Tanglewood would have come crawling from the woodworks, but he supposed the lurkers out there were too busy or some other excuse. The poltergeist's form rippled and distorted for a fragment of a second, his scowl darkening as he impatiently wheezed, "Guess that's all of y'all that are gonna show up, but let's get this over with. Bella, Valo, you two probably ain't gonna be useful front and center, so congrats, you've been picked for the sneaking around job. Take Happy with ya, too, if ya can even find him that is." He gave a grumbling huff at the unlikely pair, and hopefully having a peacemaker would keep their two clashing personas from turning on each other. "Remember, as soon as ya find Vlad, get outta there immediately. As for the rest of y'all, go get ready or whatever ya need to do. I'll be waiting, but tick tock."

    Concluding his rambling instructions and with a stinging throat, he clumsily jumped from his personal announcement statue. Beck ended up nearly slipping on an unused costume mask, and after a shaky landing, he stalked away from the small raid party. "And for those of y'all not speaking up, ya can still come on the raid -- the more, the merrier. And ya won't prove yourselves complete leeches to the clan." He added coldly over his shoulder before he settled down to wait next to brambles, lantern-like eyes glowering in the shade.

/ link to raid: click
[member=87]Belladonna[/member] [member=147]valo-kas[/member] [member=105]happycamper[/member] go ahead and make a thread for the vlad rescue for you three + vlad