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

[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).]

[superswank]

[ he looks back at lydia like maybe she's nuts. "This is where we live. They could report us just the same as we could report them. What, you think we're gonna tell the police where our hideout is?" ]

[immuno]

I think they care a lot less about you than a giant cat monster.

[superswank]

[ "You see a lot of weird shit down here. You want any cred at all, you learn to keep your mouth shut." ]

[impetere]

Besides, the cops won't always believe a bunch of kids.

[Kids have way less credibility than other people, especially if they spend a lot of time where they're not supposed to be.]

[superswank]

[ they come to a section of sewer that's one of the wider passages, with raised walkways on both sides. about three feet of brackish water flows through the passage, and the smell is horrible. every footstep echoes loudly, mingling with the sound of rushing water and the noise from the street above.

along one wall is a steel door, and a garage-style sheet-metal gate. both are covered in years worth of graffiti, but they also bear official markings. a sign on the door reads: "access 247-D: Authorized Personnel Only." the handgrip at the base of the gate is engraved with the words, "Municipal Maintenance Station 38."

"This is as far as we go," says one of the boys. sydney's eyes trace the floor, where dried blood is spattered here and there along the walkway. the trails of bloodstains lead from both directions on the pathway, but are thickest by the door. ] We appreciate your help.

[immuno]

[ Lydia looks over at Cora like excuse me. But she lets it pass, stopping when she notices the blood. She doesn't need to crouch to guess that it's human. ]

Time to see who's home ...

[certainproclivity]

[Sark steps up to the door, cringing at the smell, and grabs the handgrip, giving it an experimental tug to make certain it will move.]

I suggest you prepare for anything. [He shuffles a bit and it's easy to see the Glock concealed in his suit jacket, visible enough to suggest that he's getting ready to pull it the second that door goes up and there's trouble.] And hope to be pleasantly underwhelmed by what exactly is behind here.

[impetere]

[Cora doesn't go for a weapon, but she will move between Lydia and the door, because the last time they went into something semi-blind, Lydia got shot three times. She's also not going to shift completely, but those looking may see claws from under the sleeves of her leather jacket.

And she'll just wait for the door to open in the meantime.]