squiring ♔ beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself

[wynn]

♬ Troy - James Horner

WHO || Wynn, Skye, Clark Kent, Kyomi Kato, Sawyer Kelly, Sara Lance, Baal, Lorne,  Peter Quill, current Knights attending the ceremony
WHAT || May Squiring Ceremony [backdated]
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || May 1st, 2015, 6:00PM
HOW || Actionspam

The impressively large Great Hall of the castle could easily pass as a royal throne room, with its length and the red carpet leading up to a set of steps. However, there is no throne set at the top of them, and the Hall is wide enough to accommodate hundreds of Knights. And indeed, several hundred Knights stand in ranks on either side of the wide stretch of red, each wearing the traditional set of ceremonial armor in their possession.

The newest squires have been fitted to his armor after meeting with Wynn as always. It's traditional for them to appear for the first time before the Knighthood wearing it and they are assured that only a very small number of the Knights make use of their armor for other circumstances. It does, however, create an intimidating sense of unity as they stand shoulder to shoulder in rank and file to receive their newest pledges.

They enter together, with a flair of orchestral music that fills the hall with as much pomp as possible. It's a lot like that last scene in A New Hope. Yeah, you thought I was going to get through an entire post being all serious, didn't you.

At the top of the steps, Wynn waits, wearing a sword on his belt that canny eyes† might recognize as familiar. Mark has, after all, brought it back with him from Andres - the famed sword, Excalibur.

It's one hell of a long walk past all those staring, curious eyes. Luckily, it's a long musical number.

For additional dice rolling fun (optional):

† Roll or randomize a d20. Those who roll a 15 or above can spot the sword for being the exact same sword that was suspended in the statue above the Round Table, when they met with Wynn in the Prologue.
† Roll a d20 dexterity check. If your character rolls a 2 or 3, at some point during their walk they're bound to stumble. A critical fail will lead to an epic faceplant ... or worse.

Comments

The Walk

[wynn]

[Optionally play out your character's WALK OF DESTINY down the red carpet, and people in the crowd can judge them / encourage them / gawk ]

[sakurasmile]

[despite finding the armor a bit archaic and gauche, kyomi is walking striding down that aisle breezily. (dex 20 total) It's kind of unfair.]

[hacker]

[ Skye is lumbering with loud thuds and a slow, awkward gait as she tries to maneuver in the armor and walk. She does not seem capable of doing it like a normal human being (dex 6). ]

[clarkfuckingkent]

[Clark is having no problem with this walk (dex 25). It likely has to do with the armor feeling like tin foil. Super strength is awesome. He glances around as the group of them walk down towards Wynn with a slightly serious expression. He doesn't come here with the best emotional state so his goofy smiles will have to come later.]

[starprince]

[ peter's dex is an 11 which is normal enough, although this armor is really cutting down on his ability to swagger. he turns a curious stare over the heads of those in the crowd, waving when he catches some eyes, winking at the odd pretty lady, and throwing a finger gun at any of his friends from mexico. ]

[incantatio]

[Don't worry Peter, Sawyer has enough swagger for the both of you (Dex 21), but she's less flirt more, careful consideration as her eyes sweep the faces in the crowd.]

[byyourleave]

[Baal is trying not to be amused as he walks with the other squires, easily adapting to moving in the fancy armor and having no problem with his swagger (dex 19). Sorry, Peter, you're not the only flirt in this group. He could see the awkwardness Syke was having and would offer to help, but the event was a bit more formal than he was used to and so he was just going to stay observant and silent at the moment]

[highnotes]

[Lorne manages well enough (dex 12), although the armor isn't quite his style. Reminds him uncomfortably of home-- and chafes a little. Still, he makes it down the aisle without incident, turning on a well-practiced smile whenever he catches someone's eyes on him. He's used to the garden hue drawing attention; at least he hasn't made a fool of himself yet to add to that.]

[canaria]

[Sara stumbles with a dex check of 3. This bodes well.]

The Ceremony

[wynn]

[ When they have arrived at the far end of the carpet and stand before him, Wynn addresses the would-be squires solemnly by name. ]

Skye. Clark Kent. Kyomi Kato. Sawyer Kelly. Sara Lance. Baal. Lorne.

Kneel. And repeat this oath.

The Pledge

[wynn]

[Each line is spoken separately as a call and respond.]

"I swear to defend the Knighthood."

"I swear that I shall protect all weaknesses and shall constitute myself the defender of them."

"I shall not recoil before mine Enemy."

"I shall make war against injustice, without cessation and without mercy."

"I shall never lie, and shall remain faithful to my pledged word."

"I shall be generous, and listen to and respect all."

[And finally, in ringing tones:]

"I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil."

[optional rolling; roll a D20 Wisdom check in order to see if your Knight can remember the phrases properly or not so much. Remember that a 10 is an average person's capacity to do so. :) ]

[hacker]

I swear to—

Wait, what? [ Skye is absolutely struggle bussing with her wisdom roll of 4. She looks to Clark beside her for help. ] What was the part about constitution?

[clarkfuckingkent]

[By some grace of God, Clark got a nat 20 on this one.]

-constitute myself the defender of them. [He says under his breath to help her out.]

[hacker]

Right. I swear to do that. And some other knightly stuff. [ She grimaces like god help me this is horrible and Clark seems like the only one who can save her. ]

[clarkfuckingkent]

[well, he's not going to feed her lines because he doesn't want to come off condescending so he'll just give her a reassuring smile like you got this champ.]

[sakurasmile]

[Wow. That's an oath, all right. Kyomi rattles them off, bouncing a bit impatiently on the balls of her feet so that her responses are punctuated by the clanging of metal, but she at least... remembers the words. (wis 19)]

No pressure or anything, yeah? [she beams toothily at Skye.]

[clarkfuckingkent]

[Clark takes this knighthood thing really serious because he got a god damn nat 20 on the check that is his worst score. He's paying so much attention!!]

[canaria]

[guess who rolled a 1 :D oh boy. so here she is, reciting the last line of a modern version of the Hippocratic oath: ]

May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

[so srs. she thinks she's nailed the Knight's oath though ... close enough???]

[incantatio]

I swear.... [...To get most of the oath right, kind of, sorta... (Wis 8).

She might have got caught up on the listen to and respect all and felt the need to add the caveat 'respect all who deserve it' which, makes the last bit come out more like;]

I shall be everywhere and anywhere and... something about doing the right thing and stopping evil. I'll do that too.

[byyourleave]

[The back and forth repeating is a breeze (wis 21) but a few of the remarks coming from the others to his sides has him trying not to lose his serious face and laugh.

Even if he himself was debating on purposely fudging the words on the whole "I shall never lie" business. That was going to take come getting used to.]

[highnotes]

[Luckily, Lorne's never been the type to get stage fright and choke. He repeats each phrase correctly and with confidence (wis 23), enunciating.]

-- I shall be everywhere, and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil.

[Hmm.]

'Champion,' huh. [That's a little bittersweet.] Gonna take some getting used to.

[starprince]

[ with his mighty 3, i'm sure peter's devolves quickly into a hodge podge of quotes from his childhood. ]

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. Do or do not, there is no try. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Goonies never say die. [ someone please stop him ]

Dubbing

[wynn]

[With a beautiful sching noise, Wynn draws the oh so shiny sword from its sheath. One by one he lays the flat of the blade upon the squires' right shoulder, then raises it gently above their head to place it upon their left. When he is finished with each of them in turn, he returns to his place at the top of the steps, and announces:]

You may rise: Sir Skye. Sir Clark Kent. Sir Kyomi Kato. Sir Sawyer Kelly. Sir Sara Lance. Sir Baal. Sir Lorne. Sir Peter Quill.

[The moment the squires begin to rise, the entire hall bursts into a frenzy of cheers, applause, hoots and hollering that's practically deafening. It quiets a bit when Wynn speaks again.]

We ask you to join us tonight in celebration of our newest members in the ballroom.

[byyourleave]

[Oh hey, isn't that the sword.... yes, yes it is (15). That is a very, very nice sword and Baal is in no way trying to figure out it's value when it's up close to him.]

[starprince]

[ peter looks pretty smug af when he stands and turns to look at the crowd. he puts two fingers to his forehead and salutes like an asshole at them like yeah cheer for me bitches. ]

Peanut Gallery

[wynn]

[ ONLOOKERS/GAWKERS/WHATNOT]

[felidity]

[ kali is here to excitedly watch her girlfriend brand new squire do brand new squire-y things and when she sees skye walking toward the front, she cheerfully (and loudly) calls out, clapping her hands, ] Yay Skye!!

[telepathy]

[ And Emma watches Skye stumble. And then Sara stumble. And lets out a loud sigh like not these people. Why is one of them my squire. Why is Kali excited that the other is her squire. Why this. ]

[bredinthebone]

[Malina catches that sigh from Emma from her spot next to Kali and smirks, before turning her eyes back to the scene in front of them.]

We can't all have feline grace.

[felidity]

[ kali is about to say something about feline grace, but then peter is flashing them finger guns and she's like yeeeeeeah. ] Go Star-Lord!

[ she remembers your name, dude. ]

[bredinthebone]

[Malina, on the other hand, may be facepalming at the finger guns, just a little. But at least he's enjoying himself, so that's the thing that counts, right?]