knightsoflegend | andres ♔ but life is for living

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andres ♔ but life is for living

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.

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[ while rose is cleaning up rubble or some such, wynn approaches her, somewhere between talking to dean and getting a response. ] Sir Hathaway, might I have a moment?

[Surprise briefly registers on Rose's features as she catches Wynn's words, brushing her hands off and straightening as she steps away to join him.

Assuming this is about Dean:] He said he'd decide before we leave Andres, if that's what...?

Actually, I'd hoped we might talk about you.

[Lets just say that was a Will Save of 28 as Rose simply, nods.]

O-kay? [Arms folding across her chest as she moves further away from prying ears.]

There is a conversation that we've had once before, that I think we may wish to revisit now.

But first, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the mission.

[She doesn't need a decent will save to not look surprised, Rose has been expecting this conversation, both of them.

She could however use a decent sense motive about now because her crit fail sees her jumping to the wrong conclusion.]

If this is about Kyp? I stand by my call not to arm a known psycho. He'd already proven he'd throw Knights under a bus just to help himself.

I wasn't questioning your decision, Sir Hathaway. Simply asking how you feel about the way things unfolded.

Oh... [The defensive attitude almost immediately falls away, Rose sheepishly rubbing the back of her head as she tries to find the right words and while there is a part of her that wants to tell Wynn exactly how she feels, apparently she's been learning that some things were better kept to herself, even if she still believed she had a right to be pissed off. (WS 28... again. IDEK Wynn-stan okay.]

I don't know... Did I want him dead? Not in the end. I'd rather have seen him rotting in a cell somewhere but am I going to lose any sleep over him being so? Not a wink. He had months to realize what he was doing was wrong, to make the right choice and he didn't. He was a smug piece of crap right til the end and the way I see it? He got off lightly.

[She pauses a moment and realizes that he hadn't specified Kyp, but Rose!Logic?!]

Everything else went smoothly up until then so I figure that's the part you want my thoughts on.

[Or, the Elena factor but yay Will Save?!]

[ nice try rose ] And regarding the recovery of Sir Gilbert?

[Silence lingers for a long moment, Rose's lips pressed into a line as a hundred different responses all dance on the tip of her tongue.

Finally, she looks at Wynn again.]

I'll let you know when I think that's happened.

She is certainly changed from the woman she was when we last saw her.

[Rose lifts her shoulder in a shrug, trying for indifference but there's a tension to her body, a hardness to her words that even she can't disguise.]

Nobody else really seems to care so, whatever.

I'm not certain I would agree. There is a large difference between relief is knowing she is alive and well, and being comfortable with the changes in her.

[Rose just looks at Wynn, a thousand things she'd like to say but with a perfectly timed Nat 20, she's keeping her mouth shut.]

Was there something other than Elena that you wanted to talk to me about?

There's a reason I wished to discuss your performance. I thought we might revisit the subject of your squiring.

Where do I stand on the whole being Knighted thing you mean? [There's a tightness to her features, Rose dragging her gaze away from Wynn to look out across the bustle of Andres.

In truth, nothing had changed. All her reasons for not wanting to be Knighted still remained, in some ways, even moreso now, what with talk of Kyp and Elena so fresh in her mind. She'd thought that maybe, once she finished this thing with Kyp, once she found the answers she'd needed she'd feel differently but she had no answers. She hadn't even gotten so much as an apology.

While she knew that she could walk away at any time on a logical level, Rose took the oath more seriously than others. For her, agreeing to become a Knight meant a life of service and once she took it, there would be no turning back, no more uncertainty about whether she should stay or go and she had considered it, leaving the Knights, never more so than after Elena had helped Kyp escape.

Her fingers brush the back of her neck, tracing the elongated 'S' she has tattooed there, her Promise Mark. Her memories of the life she'd led before coming here may have been hazy at best but she still recalled all that was wrong in her world, how poorly her race had been treated, even how she was part of a system that wasn't only broken, it was being made worse with every day.]

Do you know that on my first day as part of the Knights, somebody tried to set me on fire? [It's Rose, she's not about to drop names, though to be honest, she fully expects Wynn already knows about it, including Rose's nose breaking response.] We spend so much time trying to help people we don't even know but when it comes to those we're supposed to trust?

[Her hand drops from her neck, Rose's watching the streets with all the people coming and going for a moment longer before refocusing on Wynn again.] It's not just words to me, taking the oath, becoming a Knight. It's supposed to mean something, something more than just helping people who can't help themselves.

I should certainly hope so. But our organization is unusual, Sir Hathaway, and what we strive for is not a single standard to be applied to each Knight, to transform you all into the same exemplar of justice.

Your individual strengths are what we need. And with them come individual weaknesses. The oath you are asked to take is one that is meant encourage every Knight who takes it to consistently re-evaluate themselves, to see where they may be faltering, and work to grow.

I will not place your life in the hands of those that I feel you cannot trust, Rose. For that, I ask you to place faith in me.

[Rose knows how Wynn works, knows from their very first conversation and she’s even been the one to point out to people that he allows his Knights to make their own choices, that he inspires greatness rather than demands it so nothing he says to her now, comes as a surprise to her.

Her whole problem, not that she would even call it that, is that she wants to trust in her gut that she’s staying for all of the right reasons and that she can live with the consequences of her decision. She’d come to London originally because she had nowhere else to go. She didn’t want to stay because that was still the case.

Surprise comes at his final words however, Rose turning to look at him again and her reply comes without hesitation.]

I do have faith in you. That’s the one thing I’ve always been sure of.

I think you could have a real place here, Rose. A home, and purpose. But that decision is yours to make.

...

I was always going to say yes. [She just wanted to mean it when she did.] I may not always like the way things work around here, but I trust you.

I'm glad to hear it. I imagine it isn't presumptuous to assume you have an interest in joining the Dragon's Hide.

Don't think I can cut it in The Hoard? [Eyebrows raised, though her slowly growing smile gives her away.] I think we've established I'm more of a hit first, ask questions later kind of person so, yeah, Hide.

Sir Ironsides will be delighted to hear.

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andres ♔ but life is for living

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