london ♔ tonight darkness will shadow the light

[superswank]

WHO || Sydney, Sark, Francesca, Will, Sam, Lydia, Cora  [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights follow a possible lead into the ritual that cult leader Nicholas St. Andrew is attempting 
WHERE ||London, England
WHEN || Feb 26th, evening  [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

The Children of Chaos may not be what they appeared to be.   According to intelligence provided by Julian Sark, a previous employee of the cult's leader, Nicholas St. Andrew, the cult was founded merely as a way for St. Andrew to dupe his 'followers' into completing several objectives for him.  Including the theft and activation of two ancient idols, which, when coupled with some horrible ritual that seems to involve the removal of human hearts, might just grant St. Andrew some kind of supernatural power.  

Naturally, this is precisely the sort of thing the Knights are interested in stopping.  After pow-wowing with all those who had confronted the cult over the last couple years, Wynn's team heads out to investigate the most recent attack, which took place in an alleyway at night.   Jared O'Keefe is on hand when they arrive at the scene, and greets them with what information they've discovered.

"The victim was a white male in his early twenties, named Philip Juneau.   He worked as a lineman for the phone company and was responding to a report of intermittent service outages at the time of his death, according to his service log with the company."  He points to the nearby entrance.  "Our killer must have been waiting for him.   He didn't get his work done this time, however, thanks to the pizza delivery man's timely arrival."

Comments

[immuno]

Smart. [ Lydia is not above complimenting the enemy when they have a good idea. But she looks at Cora. ] Harder, but not impossible—you can still track them?

[certainproclivity]

[Sark meanders closer to Sydney. I say meander, it's more like he sidles up to her while avoiding touching the walls. Close to you~

No, really, he wants to talk to her, as he glances over at Cora and Lydia] Wynnfalshond seems to start them young, doesn't he?

[It's a sort of jab at the pair of them. He knows how young he started and he's certainly heard certain things about Sydney, herself. It's fascinating.]

[familybusiness]

[Gonna say Sam caught that with a listen 21. And after the weirdness at the briefing, Sam will just step up to Sydney's other side, glancing over at the man.]

I don't think that's relevant to the mission, do you?

[superswank]

[ honestly sydney looks kind of annoyed by both of you tbh. sark, for being a creeper, and sam, for acting like sydney can't rebuff him on her own about it.

there's no expansive metal tubes down in these sewers, rather it's a series of numerous interconnecting brick and cement passages. some that they pass are filled with several feet of fetid water carrying all manner of waste and garbage, while a few look dryer. pipes above bring fresh water up to buildings, and dump waste water onto the tunnel floors. doors, garage-style gates, and portcullises lead into what are probably building basements, access hallways, and storage spaces, and it doesn't take them long to realize how maze-like it is down here.

cora feels pretty confident about which way to lead them, and they walk along the little rim beside the stream of sewer water, sydney maintaining perfect nat 20 balance as it narrows out, relieving of her of anyone walking right next to her. she ignores both of them, sticking to the subject at hand, nodding ahead. ] Someone's up there.

[ indeed, a light shines from just ahead, illuminating a group of youths dressed in identical jackets. most are sitting on the floor around a coleman lantern, but a few are standing, lounging against the tunnel walls. the smell of cigarette smoke cuts through the odor of sewer. there look to be ten of them total. ]

[mydesigns]

[

no i changed my mind i'm leaving it but i'm gonna write a real tag later ... someday ]

[impetere]

[Fortunately being a teenager and dressed in a leather jacket and combat boots, Cora looks a lot like the street kid she used to be which she hopes will give her a little leeway as she approaches them. Her hands stay down at her sides, indicating that she's not there to pick a fight, she just wants to talk (gather information 17).]

Hey. You guys seen anything weird come through here in the last couple hours?

[superswank]

[ sydney eyes up the gang members, standing behind cora but doesn't say anything, letting the girl who seems closer to their age talk for now. there are some low, jibing laughs and sounds from them as they look across the group, a predatory note to their wide grins and the looks they exchange with each other.

"Maybe. What's it worth to you, sweetheart?" one of them calls, proceeding to make kissy noises. he's smacked in the chest by another one of the guys, who raises his chin and says: "What do you mean by weird?" ]

[impetere]

[Cora is less than impressed with the kissy faces and her face says as much, but when one of them actually offers to be useful, she refrains from saying that it was worth her boot in his face. She glances back to Useful Guy and holds up her hand with two fingers.]

Two people. One of them might not have been human looking. They probably wouldn't have stopped to talk to you unless you got in their way. One of them had blood on his hands.

[Because sedated or not, there's no way you start cutting out someone's heart without getting blood on you. That much is true.]

[familybusiness]

[Sam stays back, presumably with most/all of the others(?), as Cora talks to them, but he's sure watching in case anything goes sideways. She can hold her own, but they've still got numbers on her.]

[immuno]

[ Hanging back with Sam yep. ]

[superswank]

[ "If you're talking about the beast, no way that thing was a person," one of them pipes up, snorting.

the useless guy cuts him a look, before glancing back at cora, keeping his voice casual. "There's a guy who comes through here from time to time. With his beast." ]

[impetere]

You'd be surprised.

[Beasts are just as capable of being people. She can be pretty beastly herself.]

Did you ever get a good look at the beast? And do you know where they go?

[If they can describe it, maybe Sam or Lydia can identify it, and if they know where they go, it just saves them a lot of time of wandering through sewers.]

[superswank]

[ she'll have to make a diplomacy check or gather info with that ]

[impetere]

[Whoops, sorry, either way the roll is a 17.]

[certainproclivity]

[cora seems to have this, but Sark is leaving nothing to chance and doesn't expect that St. Andrew will have either.] I'm certain we can refresh your memory if need be.

[he's just gonna hold up... $20 in British money. don't ask me what that is. (Aid Another Diplomacy 22) he is a goddamed spy. do you think he's above bribes.]

[mydesigns]

[will glances over at sark like really? really???? reALLY????]

[impetere]

[Cora's wearing a similar face because seriously?! However, she is also a bit of a brat, so when she glances back and sees how much he's holding she promptly crit fails her will save against being one.]

You're wearing $500 shoes and that's the best you can do?

[Really, Sark, if you're going to bribe them, then bribe them. Also, she doesn't like you.

In case you didn't get that already.]

[superswank]

[ the kids grin at each other at sark's offer, before one of them speaks up to say: "We'll take the shoes, and tell you everything you want to know."

syd raises her eyebrows at sark like 'this is your own fault, are you gonna let pride keep us from finding st. andrew???????' ]

[certainproclivity]

[sark stares RIGHT THROUGH CORA'S SOUL with his blank look of fuk u and then proceeds to slip them off and shove them at the two boys.] I sincerely hope one of you is a size 8.

[impetere]

[Cora ... doesn't even care of Sark hates her. As far as she's concerned, he brought it on himself by being a creeper. So she'll just be over here grinning as he hands over the shoes, before waiting on the info they were promised.]

[superswank]

[ the kid grabs the shoes with a shit-eating grin, tosses them to one of his buddies, who looks them over, and nods.

"Alright, fine. We haven't given the guy any trouble when he comes through, cuz to be honest, none of us want to mess with that beast of his."

another one nods, and pipes up: "Thing looks like a big damn cat."

"He's got a hideout further down the sewers. It's good to know which way you're going, because it's easy to get lost down here. Go the wrong way, you might run into some alligators." ] And you can take us the right way?

[ they nod. "A couple of us can show you the way." ]

[certainproclivity]

Of course there are alligators. What else would there be? [Said the man in sock-feet, looking aggressively less emotionless about this entire situation by the minute.]

[superswank]

Lead the way. [ the 'leader' nods to two of them, who slide off crates and start down one of the side corridors. ]

[immuno]

[ The cat sounds a great deal like the shifter they've already been dealing with or I'd roll a knowledge arcana check. Wis 16 says Lydia's probably thinking the same thing, so she exchanges an ooooooh look with Will and Sam because they've been hanging back during this shake-down too. Smart people unite.

Anyway, she'll take off to follow the lead of the hooligans. ] If you know where his hideout is, and you're so afraid of his animal, why haven't you told anyone? [ sense motive 17??? ]

[impetere]

[Cora keeps the "probably because they didn't want to get eaten to herself" for right now. She knows that Lydia's smart, she figures she probably has a reason for asking the question beyond trying to get them to state the obvious, and just follows along behind the rest of the group, trying to see if she can catch anything as they go (spot 17, wisdom 19, listen 20 total).]