knightsoflegend | london ♔ when the gusts came around to blow me down

WHO || Everyone and their dog.
WHAT || In the aftermath of the attack, the Knights attempt to recover
WHERE || Knights HQ, etc.
WHEN || Dec. 1st-8th, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

As darkness falls all around the castle, the remaining Knights straggle out of their broken castle to survey the damage and count the dead – of which there are three: Rose Hathaway, Kali, and Killian Jones.

What began like any other day for most quickly descended into a nightmare, after Wynn and most of the Section Heads were lured out to downtown London to face a threat of dual dragons, who turned out to be only clockwork creations of deposed Andres dictator Dimitris Sarandis, robotic menaces that were nothing but a distraction from the real threat. Having rallied support from some of the Knights' other enemies, Dimitris sent an army of chipped creatures, Shadowkind, robots, and a giant tank to destroy the Knighthood's headquarters, dropping part of the roof down onto the training room and med center in the initial explosive blast. Sarandis' alliance with a mysterious hacker named One (who turned out to have been the man who invented technomagic in the first place along with Zero) not only downed the Knights' communications, but also their defensive and surveillance systems (with some help from a mentally dominated Eleven). Whatever preparations Zero had made for an attack by One were undermined by the sudden but inevitable betrayal of the humanized robot GlaDOS, who introduced a learning virus into the system before taking off, likely having made some kind of deal with One to restore her robotic form.

The Knights rallied under the remaining sect leaders – Lis'sa and Koraith – to make a plan to fight back and try to take down Dimitris, who sent a taunting message out across the Drakenet, announcing his intentions to leave the castle as a smoking crater littered with corpses. Fearing that the attack might also be meant to target Myri and Vi's children, a group moved them to the Round Table Room, perhaps the most secure location in the building. The attack was a smokescreen of sorts, something Vi realized, taking Elena, Des, and Faith O'Keefe with her to the library in hopes of saving the elven mage, Lazarus, whose blood the villains required to unleash the nightmare god Malaak'a upon the world. The library, however, was already in shambles, thanks to a fire-slinging red half-dragon who had confronted some Knights there (and led Kate Beckett to discover something strange about herself...). Des remained in the hallway to confront a demon, in the same place where Skye had nearly died to an ifrit pyrokineticist named Serafina, one of Dimitris' chipped experiments. Sawyer Kelly and Alex Karamazov butted heads when it came down to sparing the enslaved ifrit, but in the end, Alex made the decision by putting a bullet in her head when Mars wouldn't act – much to Sawyer's horror. Things went to hell pretty quickly when the villainous Mind Master drove into the library on a motorcycle and proceeded to almost slaughter Vi, Elena, Faith, and Gar, making vicious comments to the former about going to see her deceased husband again. When Elena grabbed the Mind Master, she abruptly vanished, and Elena's whereabouts remain unknown. The Mind Master proceeded to make her way into Lazarus' secret chambers beneath the library, slitting his throat and collecting the magic that coursed through his veins in lieu of blood, the lasting effect of his having survived the ritual that sealed Malaak'a away in the first place.

Meanwhile, downtown, while Carol Danvers and Clark Kent played superhero around the city, Sam and Buffy ran into the archangels Raphael and Zerachiel, who were assisting the wounded of London, and Buffy cut a deal with Raphael after he cautioned her that some sort of big demon was also involved in the attack. In exchange for allowing Hell's forces further freedom of movement (the necessary cost to maintain the balance of the universe), Raphael transported Buffy right into the middle of the fray. The demon already gone, the angel advised her to go and protect the children – which turned out to be necessary indeed, as Sarandis had sent chipped, invisible raptors after the babies. Will Graham nearly died in the attack, but no children – or dogs – fell prey to the beasts.

Outside, a number of Knights armed to the teeth with grenades, rocket launchers, and flame throwers took on a towering seventy-foot tall Colossus that was ripping the castle apart. However, when Steve Rogers cut its head off with an expertly thrown shield toss, the monstrosity fell into the front of the castle with all of its three hundred tons, (and on fire, courtesy of Baal) and many barely escaped with their lives. Wolverine was the only person trapped in the ensuing rubble, but Nathan Young and Amy Pond dug him free as his body healed up the massive wounds suffered.

A strike team was sent out to take on Dimitris in his tank, and Spike and Dean drove Archer's car straight into the oversized military vehicle as a distraction, while Cora Hale, Rose, and Kali disabled the tank and its weapons and broke their way inside. What they found, however, was merely a projection of Dimitris taunting them, as Cora's werewolf senses alerted her immediately to the fact that no one was actually inside but them. Too late, the girls tried to escape – as the tank exploded in a volley of shrapnel and gout of flame, that also caught Christos La Krail and Grant Ward off guard, who had just arrived at the gate so that Ward might meet with Wynn for his official Knighthood interview. As everyone scrabbled to save the injured, a bag of grenades that Kali had dropped caused a secondary explosion, that took Rose and Kali's lives. Dean and Spike proceeded to look insane when the archangel Michael showed up to collect the souls of the dead, and they were the only two who could see him, but Cap stood his ground anyway with them. Dean angrily refused to give up on Rose's life, despite the fact that the death of her bondmate Lissa less than twenty four hours prior had left her connection to life weakened already. Michael cautioned him against doing 'something stupid', as Dean stalked off with her body.

Meanwhile, after realizing Zero's role in all this and helping return him to his senses so that he and Skye could restore communications and defenses, Lila Zacharov-Gray took off with Alex to the upper floor to find Amara. They discovered the homo magi using her powerful magic to keep the ceiling from collapsing into the entire castle, and while she entreated them to evacuate, Lila refused to leave her, prompting Amara to use her most powerful spell to repair the structural damage that was threatening to capsize the castle, at the cost of alerting her father to her exact location.

Just when it seemed like all might be well, Emma Swan, cursed by Poseidon to turn into a flesh-eating kelpie if she wasn't in water by sundown, came across the body of Lazarus and found her monstrous hunger awakened. Dissatisfied with the bloodless corpse, she decided to make a meal of Killian Jones, magically teleporting him into the pond behind the Knighthood, where in spite of Faye and Alex's best efforts, Killian was drowned. Luckily, however, they prevented Emma from eating her true love.

The other Knights fought bravely against basilisks, clockwork mages, and giant scorpions, while trying to assist the wounded, rescue the trapped, and do everything they could to protect the Knights' assets from falling into Dimitris' hands. With the smoke cleared, their home – thanks to Amara – remains standing, but the damage to it is substantial and won't be repaired overnight, even with magic at their disposal. More lasting will be the emotional scars of watching the only home some of them even remember ever having broken around them, their illusion of safety shattered, and their peace violated – not to mention the looming possibility of the Nightmare God being freed.

[ You are now free to make top posts for your characters in the wake of the attack. These top posts may include multiple sections (with different instructions for whether you want them to be open to multiple threads for that scene or closed to a single thread with multiple participants), that deal with anything directly after the events of the event post, and in the week following. I recommend using letters or numbers to indicate each section, so that those responding can put what they are doing in the subject line, to help others quickly know where to go to jump into any single threads.

There will be a thread about Wynn's return and a subsequent Drakenet post addressing IC-ly where people will live. Those with rooms in the Dragon's Tongue, Dragon's Hide, Dragon's Hoard, and Dragon's Fire wing will find their rooms almost entirely undamaged and still livable, but there is a percentage chance that anyone in the Dragon's Light or squire rooms will have their room destroyed. Please ask me for each of your characters this applies to and I will let you know the extent of the damage. Your characters are free to try searching the rubble for their personal effects – just include it in their top post with a search check please, and I'll let you know how much of their stuff is recoverable. Rebuilding efforts will commence within the week, so if your character has any way of contributing to putting the castle back together, that's also top post fodder. There is limited space in the Knights' downtown London office for some Knights to stay, while others may have their own apartments, etc. Other options may open up eventually. If your character is no longer living in the castle, please use your top post to establish this! I will put up top posts for each potential resurrection attempt, as rezzes take multiple days IC-ly to even be attempted.

Destroyed/heavily damaged sections of the castle: front hall/lobby (the Colossus is still there)/stairs, but there are currently ladders to access the second floor; the Dragon's Light wing/office/small library/bathrooms; the chapel; the med center; the training room; the armory; the bowling alley; the piano room; billiards room; parlor; the Dragon's claws bedrooms; parts of the dining hall; the library is intact but heavily damaged, many of the books destroyed by fire. After the first couple days, additional doors have been added to the castle at the far west end of the horizontal squire bedrooms hall, and beside the Dragon's hoard wing to enter the building, and a door has been installed at the southwest corner of the dining hall to allow people to cut through it to circumvent the Colossus still taking up the lobby and blocking access to the main hall. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know yours either, I'm afraid. [she shushes her gently, rubbing her shoulder soothingly.] But I'm Paige, and it's as good a time as any to meet properly, isn't it?

[Sniffling, she manages to nod, trying to roughly wipe away her tears with the heel of her hand as she continues to suck in snatches of air between sobs.]

Saw - Sawyer. [Swallowing another just to get her own name out.] I'm okay, really...

[Which would almost be a little convincing if absolutely everything about her didn't suggest that the opposite was true.]

It's okay to not be. You don't have to impress me, Sawyer. I'm just a squire, myself, y'know?

[she manages a little grin.] You'll feel better if you let yourself be upset for a little while. Tomorrow, we can all put on our brave faces and try to work this out, but tonight... Well, tonight, I think we all deserve a good cry.

It's not - It's not that. [Still determined to pull herself together, even if Paige might be onto something there with their need to cry it out.]

It's just... People are dead. [Expression pained as she spits that last word out.] And they might not be coming back so...

[So she feels like she shouldn't be half as upset as she is, or at least hold it together more because while she saw horrors, she was not the one to have them committed upon her.]

And that's not a reason to be upset? [She squeezes her shoulders again.] I want to throw up just thinking about what could've happened and didn't, and I'd slap someone senseless if they told me I didn't have the right to what's gonna haunt my nightmares for weeks, just 'cause it didn't happen.

[she frowns, and then changes tactic.] Are you religious much, Sawyer?

[Her sobbing begins to subside at least, another swipe of her sleeve underneath her nose to keep from making a complete mess of herself.

There's a huff of humorless laughter, Sawyer trying to swallow down some of her grief and she shakes her head.]

The church and I have never really seen eye to eye.

There's more than one religion, you know. [she tries to manage a little humor in her smile.] And I've always found the gods to be helpful in my times of need. [she places a hand over her harp pin] It's not for everyone, of course. We all have our ways of coping.

[She manages a broken smile of her own, bobbing her head.]

I know... I just never really met anyone who believed in all that. Where I'm from you're either Catholic or you're judged. [Which may explain a lot about Sawyer.]

[she rolls her eyes a bit- not at Sawyer, of course. just at people being assholes. she hates it.] There's... a lot of that in Alabama too. Baptists get kinda uppity about that more than one god thing, but we didn't want any of their lard-filled potluck dinners anyway.

[That manages to draw a broken huff of laughter from Sawyer, the brunette lifting her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, intentionally highlighting the pointed tips that would mark her Elven heritage.]

Well you can probably imagine how welcome I was. [Though there were probably plenty of churches in other places who would gladly have opened their doors for her but not in the tiny town where she was raised.]

[paige's expression softens and just smooths back some of that tucked in hair with an expression of borderline motherly fondness.] People can be cruel for no reason. How'd your parents take it?

Um... [There's a tension that strains hr features as Paige unwittingly walks into a minefield of loss, but looking at the woman next to her, the fond way in which she looks at her and seems to really care? It's enough for Sawyer to speak of it, perhaps because recent events have it at the forefront of her mind. (SM 25).]

My Dad? He's the one who's Elven but, I've never met him... He doesn't even know I exist and my Mom, she died when I was little. It was my Grandma who raised me. She was... she was great. [And it's not a lie either, that much Paige would be able to tell.] But, small town. Like you said, people are cruel. Different isn't always welcome and I've never really hidden what I am.

[oh no sad bb half-elf child.] Well... I know I can't offer you anything to make your past better, honey, but I can tell you that whatever happens, you'll have a family here. One you can trust won't treat you differently because you're not human.

And if anyone does, let me know, and I will be very stern with them.

[Maybe if she hadn't just watched a human shoot a mind-controlled shadowkind in the head after they'd surrendered, Paige's words would provide some comfort at this juncture but as Sawyer turns to look at her? There's a question behind her eyes that while she doesn't say it out aloud, it's clear she has doubts about that one.]

I'm not sure everyone here thinks the way that you do. [Lips pressed into a thin line as she rests her head back against the wall, desperate to keep it together. (WS 23).] But it's nice to hear anyway.

[That gets her to draw back somewhat, expression softening.] Well, I hope they learn from their mistakes someday. This world is brutal enough without brutality from the ones who are supposed to be heroes.

[It's immediately apparent that Paige's words hit close to home. Emotion rippling across her features, the Half-Elf on the verge of breaking down completely when she steadies herself with a sharp intake of air. Holding it in until she can trust herself to speak again. (WS 30.)]

Mmm... [Nodding as she keeps the sob down by sheer force of will.] Couldn't have said it better myself, actually.

london ♔ when the gusts came around to blow me down

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