Holy SHIT how long has it been?! Better make up for lost time here!
Salim, Dahndi, and Neyla had all decided to split up in order to best rescue The Panther, The Tiger, and The Lion. Salim was tasked with saving The Panther, Dahndi went to save The Lion, and Neyla, by process of elimination, went to rescue the Tiger.
"Okay, Salim. We know that Decibel has The Panther locked up somewhere in that tower. Trying to go through the palace itself would be impossible. Luckily this carpet shop is going to save us the trouble." Bentley said over the comms as Salim gave a nostalgic laugh.
"Ah yes. Honest Hassan's Carpets. He owns many, many shops. But, he is not so honest. Trust me. In fact, we used to run a flying carpet scam, where he would pretend to be-!"
"Kind of pressed for time here!"
"Fine. Please continue."
"According to me and Penelope's diagrams, the shop is connected to the tower. There's a vent system on the side of the building. All you have to do is crawl through the vents and it will lead you straight into the shop. From there you can make your way through the shop's interior to the tower."
"Hmm. You make it sound so easy. I would like to see you crawl through vents when you are my age."
"Ah, you get used to it, Salim." Dahndi chuckled on another end of the comms as Salim sighed before proceeding with the mission.
After sneaking in through the vents, Salim used his patented Cobra Climb to climb up a rope that was booby-trapped with snakes before swinging across into the next room. It was there that Bentley noticed something wrong.
"Wait, this room doesn't match my blueprints! It must have been renovated recently! Give me a minute to figure this out."
Salim rolled his eyes. "Oh, by Aladdin's beard! Do you not know that rule number 37 in the Thief's Handbook is: Expect the Unexpected. Foresee the Unforeseen. Predict the Unpredictable."
"Keep your turban on, Grandpa!" Penelope spoke in defense of her husband. "My sonar readings show an old passageway through a cave system beneath the floor."
Bentley began running some calculations in correspondence. "Let's see...Mass of payload, angle of incidence, relative humidity, divide by 2... Got it! Salim, If we can drop that pallet of carpets in the corner, it should smash a hole in the floor straight through to the caverns below!"
"We? It seems that I will be doing all the work." Salim said sarcastically.
"Ah, Salim, you act as if you've never heard of the royal pronunciation of 'We'. Ah, age has made you a complete ماعز غبي!" Dahndi scoffed over the comms.
After making his way across, Salim cut a rope holding the carpets and boarded it as it went down and smashed a hole through the ground. Quickly jumping off as it fell into the pits below, Salim quickly grabbed the ledge and climbed up.
"Oh, if only I had a magic lamp, I would wish for this job to be over!"
"Heads up, Salim! My sensors are picking up some giant Diablo Scorpions!" Penelope warned.
"How about I bring back some scorpions for your little طفل? Trust me, they taste just like chicken!"
"Uh, yeah, I'm gonna have to decline on that, sorry..."
Salim made his way up to the top of the tower, avoiding traps, guards, cobras in baskets, and scorpions. Soon, he managed to find The Panther, who was being hypnotized by some kind of gramophone.
"Your friend is in a kind of hypnotic trance. The strange sonic frequency modulations emitted by that device are causing it." Bentley noticed. "I've seen this type of thing once before, on a mission in Prague, but this is on a whole new level: Mind control by music! It's genius! Uh, well, evil genius."
"Bet The Contessa never thought to try this on you, Carmelita!" Ben chuckled as the Vixen Beastkin in question rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Ha-Ha..."
Salim wasn't sharing much of the joke. "Then all hope is lost."
"No, we just need to disable the device before freeing him, but we have to proceed carefully or we risk turning his brain into jelly."
"What is this jelly?" Salim questioned, nearly getting into a trance himself.
"It's like hummus or baba ghanoush made from fruits," Penelope explained. Salim winced as he now better understood the implications.
"Just get me a closer look at that thing so I can turn it off," Bentley said as Salim went to the computer terminal hooked up to the gramophone and inserted a hacking drive into it so Bentley could access it. After a tense hack, he turned off the device and The Panther was saved.
"My brother. Are you alright?" Salim asked gently as The Panther groaned.
"My head. Where am I?"
"You have been imprisoned, hypnotized, and compelled to create forgeries by that evil elephant woman. But I have freed you from her mesmerizing music. With, you know, some assistance."
"That's nice. I'm hungry. Did you bring me anything to eat? Perhaps some nice roasted scorpion tails? Maybe some camel milk?"
Salim scoffed. "Amazing. I climb halfway to the stars to rescue you, and you expect camel milk? Why do I bother."
Penelope marveled as she watched Dahndi make her way through the city streets, completely undetected to the turret sensors even without her smoke bomb cover. She was able to blend into her surroundings quite impressively and her robes even changed colors to better camouflage herself.
She simply held still in an area until a sensor wasn't pointing in her direction, then moved swiftly across an area until she was about to be detected before seeming to vanish as she froze against walls or the ground.
"She's good for an old lady," Carmelita said as she watched what was going on with Penelope.
Before long, Dahndi reached the location where The Lion was being held. Stealthily sneaking inside, Dahndi saw The Lion hypnotized in a similar manner to The Panther.
"Look what that الكلبة السمينة has done to my brother!" Dahndi scowled. "I will wring her sorry trunk around her neck and hang her from it!"
"Easy, Grandma!" Ben said from the comms. "Just plug Bentley into the computer terminal and he'll save him!"
Dahndi did as she was told and watched the magic happen with interest. Soon, the Lion was freed.
"Whoa. I had a terrible nightmare. I was being charmed, like a snake, and could not break free."
Dahndi gently put a hand on her old friend's shoulder. "That was no nightmare, my friend. But now you have awoken!"
"Ah, Dahndi! It is you!" The Lion said in relief. "You were in my dream too! You brought me many delicious snacks!"
The Old Shigura Ancestor chuckled. "Ah, you'll have plenty more to feed your face when we get back to the camp."
Murray and Jing King had opted to accompany Neyla into the taxi shop where The Tiger was being held. As scans had shown, there were no guards present to prevent the trio from reaching The Tiger. The only real obstacle was a great many traps between themselves and The Tiger, who was plainly visible at the opposite end of the shop.
"Is there any way we can get across?" Jing King asked as Neyla turned to Murray.
"Oy, big guy, mind throwing me over there?"
"Are you sure you can throw her that far, love?" Jing King asked worriedly. "If she fell short..."
"The Murray is nothing but muscle!" Murray insisted. "This is nothing!"
"Fastball Special!" Neyla said as Murray picked her up, spun around, and with a mighty grunt, hurled the Tiger Beastkin across the room. With her acrobatic skills, Neyla managed to make a safe and graceful landing before hacking into the hypnotizing phonograph, freeing The Tiger.
"Oooh. My head is spinning like a dust devil. Who are you?"
"Just a friend of your friends, don't worry."
"Ah, Salim. Did he give you anything for me? Like all the money he owes me for betting on the camel races?"
Neyla chuckled. "Sorry, love. You'll have to take that up with him."
"I most certainly will!"
Once everyone was back at the hideout, Bentley was able to analyze and research the devices the gang brought back, and they were able to formulate the rest of their plans.
Next Time: All Rolled Up!
Arabic Translations:
ماعز غبي: "Dumb Goat"
طفل: "Baby"
الكلبة السمينة: "Fat Bitch"