andres ♔ but life is for living

[nosdacariad]

♬ everything's not lost - coldplay

WHO || Everyone
WHAT || With Andres Isle reclaimed, the Knights deal with the aftermath of their battle to save its people
WHERE || Andres Isle, and various
WHEN || September 20th, 2014 - October 20th, 2014 [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

When the sun rises on Andres Isle the next morning, and the smoke and rubble clears, it is impossible to call the battle anything less than a victory, in terms of freeing the people from Sarandis' hateful regime.  

But all victories come with their costs.

Sir Zatara's team easily accomplished their goal, shutting down the power station that allowed Sir Trinall's team to wrest control of Isle communications, although Emma Swan was grievously injured in the process and Faye Chamberlain found herself facing an unexpected temptation when she got her hands on Jordan Reeves' genie bottle.  Sir Wellington and Carpenter led an assault on the prison base, that succeeded in freeing all of the captured Shadowkind and putting a halt to the hideous experimentation going on there - at the cost of Sir Maxwell Briggard's life.   (And Nathan Young's... but he got better.  Twice.)   Even Myrilandel's familiar, Amaranth, was found, but when Lan turned violent on a bank of computers in a fit of hatred for the machines and all they represented, a targeting system was activated that released all the mind-controlled Shadowkind hybrids from the facility, on a dread path of destruction for the castle, ready to kill anything in their path.

Meanwhile, Sir O'Rourke's team had managed to locate the love potion that Dimitris Sarandis was using to control Kat Samcelot's behavior, and made it impossible for the next dose to be administered on time.  Sir Hathaway's team likewise made it into the castle, after following a set of clues that indicated Sir Elena Gilbert and the doppelganger Kyp had killed a guard and stolen their identity, heading into the palace proper.  Eavesdropping within its walls, they learned that the Prime Minister had been shot, and that the woman responsible was being held in a tower.  This, however, proved to be a cruel trick of Dimitris' ally, the powerful psion known as the Mind Master.  Forcing Elena to shapeshift into Dimitris, she mentally dominated Elena, and made her sit outside the empty tower cell, where Rose, Will, and Dean found her.  Having been approached by Kyp, who had been separated from Elena and feared for her life, a grudging alliance was formed, and the doppelganger approached "Dimitris" alone.  Despite her attempt to drop hints to her real identity, the situation escalated - until the Mind Master made Elena wrest Kyp's gun from him, and shoot him right between the eyes.   

In the meantime, Sir Yassin's team had blown an entrance for Prince Marcus Andres to lead his group into the castle through the tunnels below it.  Dimitris had, however, expected something like this, and filled the tunnels with all manner of monster and creation designed to stop them.   With exceptional teamwork, they bypassed all threats and made it within, where they were shocked to discover the real Chad Becksworth was in fact a prisoner here, and that Draken Crombe, leader of the Church of the Lord's Humanity had been impersonating him with the aid of the Mind Master, for access to NOVA Records' resources, for years.  They also discovered the bones of former Dragon's Claw Sir Ellison, Tia's father, and helped lay his spirit to final rest.

Knights around the Island struggled to halt the hybrid creatures from charging into the palace and ruining the internal team's chance to save Kat and Thomas and stop Dimitris.  Wynn led his own team to hold the line between the forest and the castle, but the brutal creatures they faced were overwhelming, and even with back-up arriving, creatures broke through.  Wynn sent Sir La Krail and Francesca, whose team had secured the guardhouse, to stop several driders who had passed, while he chased down a chemical golem that crashed right through the palace doors.

Dimitris had already sprung his trap, however, sealing Marcus and friends in a room below the palace pumped with poisonous gas, while he asked Kat Samcelot for her hand in marriage on a screen for them to watch.  At that moment, however, the love potion wore off, and she stabbed him in the dick, and helped free the others below.  Myri teleported several of the Knights up to the main floor to save Kat, who faced the guards alone and weaponless, but the arrival of the chemical golem provided enough of a distraction for Dimitris to make a break for the throne room.

Elsewhere on the Isle, Sir Koraith's team had been gathering allies among the Shadow Village, to face an attack that  they had been warned about, by soldiers seeking the location of Rocket, who had escaped the Shadow prison after attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister.  Koraith led those who could not fight towards the boats, while the others remained to hold the line and take out not only the soldiers, but also the clockwork creations called nimblewrights, robots whose construction Failboat had learned was based on some kind of demonic creature held in Dimitris' basement.   The battle was brutal, and Sir Riddick fell to the clockwork soldiers' assault.  The fate of Sir Jaina Solo and a Shadowkind villager named Indra Crestrage remains unknown, as they were also grievously injured in the assault.

Sir Edain's team had secured various boats to transport villagers off the Isle, but also discovered a sinister shack where body parts were created up for export to Japan.  In the battle that followed to hold the docks, Hook lost his entire arm, but managed to hold onto his life.

Back in the palace, several Knights joined Wynn in taking down the chemical golem, as Marcus and company moved to confront Dimitris and the Mind Master in the throne room.  The Prime Minister was unrepentant for his crimes, and revealed that after capturing Kat, he had had the Dragon's Claw Thomas Bancroft killed, dumping his body off a balcony for them to see.  Enraged, Kat ran to attack Dimitris, and was nearly killed by his bodyguard, Asha, but Fred Jr. intervened, sacrificing himself to save her.  Des murdered Asha instantly, while the Mind Master teleported herself and Dimitris away, leaving the guards willing to surrender, and the Knights frustrated by the hollow victory.

A search of the Isle revealed no trace of where the two had gone, but it also meant that Andres was free of Sarandis' influence.  Sir Banks' team had managed to gather all the wealthy human elite of the Island together inside a country club under the guise of a gas leak, and when Emma Frost appealed to the humanity of Sergeant Alastair Stone, a local police officer, he assisted them in routing out potential supporters of Dimitris, and separating them from the others, so that they might be shown the truth about what had been happening on the Island, right underneath their noses, in the form of a video of the prison laboratory provided by Logan and Nathan.
 
Most of the natives were shocked by what they saw, but had already been distrustful of Sarandis' true motives.  Hearing that the true heir to the throne had returned has given the people of Andres a real sense of hope that things can change, but the road will not be an easy one.

Rather than pull out and head home the next day, Wynn has asked as many Knights as possible to remain and help with reconstruction.  There are families to reunite, injured to tend to, homes to rebuild, a palace to remodel, and much more.  This post is for things following directly in the aftermath of the Battle for Andres, especially for things happening on the Island itself.  More posts will go up in the near future to backdate less immediate events.  Characters are free to go back and forth to the castle as they please, but also have accommodations provided in the city or palace on Andres Isle.

Comments

[ambitionist]

[alex has been doing stuff around andres. stuff and things. probably a little bit of helping with the construction bc he's so strong and manly plus some diplomacy bc he's so good at bullshit. he's also not too shabby at noticing when people are avoiding him (sense motive 15 >:C ) but bc it's only 15, he probably thinks ... idk faye told lila something bad about his dick while they were off missioning together. i don't even know ok. ANYWAY. he approaches her, pausing in his smoking to hold his cigarette between two fingers so he can talk to her like]

Hey.

[yep. just hey.]

[bittersweeter]

[ aca-awkward. ]

Hey.

[ she fidgets, bending down to adjust her heels so she doesn't have to look at him. she hasn't exactly been subtle about avoiding him, but she's very, very exhausted. and alex has a very, very handy gift that kills her pain.

her willpower isn't the best when she's tired. ] How's tricks?

[ambitionist]

Oh, you know. [he takes a drag from his cigarette.] I'm not dead, so that's a plus. Killer migraine, though.

[bittersweeter]

[ MIGRAINE IS WHY SHE IGNORED HIM!!!! ]

Yeah, tell me about it.

[ pursing her lips, she reaches forward to steal his cigarette and take a drag before she gives it back. sharing is caring. ]

[ambitionist]

I'd rather not. [he chuckles dryly, letting her take the cigarette from him without comment.]

[bittersweeter]

[ she rolls her eyes, curling her arm across her stomach. a tiny smile flutters across her lips. ] Cute.

[ambitionist]

[grin. they are both actually the worst.] I know you are, but what am I?

[bittersweeter]

A dumbass. [ she huffs a thoroughly put upon noise and unfolds to reach forward and hug him, tucking her chin down and pressing her chest against his chest. dwi. ] Can we not do this again?

[ambitionist]

Yeah, sure. [he wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head.] Only champagne wishes and caviar dreams for us from now on.

[bittersweeter]

[ oh god she needed this hug. she swallows past a lump on her throat but doesn't trust herself to reply, squeezing her eyes shut against tears. dealing with cassel and family shit is one thing. lila can pull a trigger without flinching, she can drop someone into a nightmare and enjoy their writhing terror. she can deal with that. the people she cares about against her better judgement being in danger she deals with less well. and it seemed like almost all of them were in danger. so she squeezes alex tighter and nods, silent, forcing tears back because she's not fucking crying. ]

[ambitionist]

[well his sense motive was abyssmal so apparently he's acting like he's never even seen a crying girl before.] Woah, hey, you okay?

[bittersweeter]

[ she just smushes her hand against his face so she won't have to look at him. SHUT UP. ] Oh my god, Alexander!

[ambitionist]

Whaaaaat?!

[bittersweeter]

Don't talk about it. [ she's frustrated now so a few stray tears dampen her eyelashes, but it successfully pushed away the rest of her emotions, which is nice. alex was a good choice to hug. she makes an annoyed face, pushing her hand against his cheek again like gtfo, but in a companionable, sisterly way. dumbasses.

she tosses her hair like an sassy pony. ] Never acknowledge emotions unless they're happy, got it? This is a Frozen relationship, conceal don't feel.

[ambitionist]

Didn't the whole conceal don't feel thing blow up in Elsa's face? Not that I'm promoting sharing circles and kumbayah, but.

[bittersweeter]

I didn't actually watch the movie.

[ambitionist]

[he shrugs YOU WILL NEVER GET HIM TO ADMIT WHETHER OR NOT HE WATCHED THAT SHIT.]

[bittersweeter]

[ she raises her eyebrows like bitch pls and immediately assumes that he has totally seen it. ]

Seriously? Are you a five year old girl?

[ambitionist]

No! Are you?

[bittersweeter]

No, that's why I haven't seen it. [ DUH TIMES A HUNDRED. ] Who did you see it with?

[ambitionist]

I didn't see it! I'm just really good at guessing the plots to movies.

[bittersweeter]

[ ahahahahahhahaha she critfailed her sense motive so she just squints at him like omg why are you lying about this WHO DID YOU SEE IT WITH ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME WITH ANOTHER BLONDE RUSSIAN AMERICAN PRINCESS SURROGATE SISTER THING WHO IS SHE HDU.

all she says however is, ] 'kay.

[ambitionist]

... That's it? [s-so baffled by her dropping the subject. it's almost precious.]

[bittersweeter]

[ she shrugs like what do you want from me. ]

Yeah.

[ambitionist]

It was Abigail, okay? I saw it with her.