briefing ♔ a lion still has claws | and mine are long and sharp

[wynn]

WHO || Wynn, Buffy, Des, Myri, Astrid, Elena, Spike, Vi, Archer, Felicity, Rose, Steve, Kat, Gar, Dumage  [Closed]
WHAT || Wedding Crashers Mission Briefing
WHERE || Knights HQ, the briefing room
WHEN || Vague February date, shortly before 5pm [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The Knights might have known better than to expect their unseating of Dimitris Sarandis from his position as dictator would go without reprisal.  The sudden attack staged by Sarandis killed several Knights and leveled part of their home, shaking their confidence, but not their resolve.  It's hardly surprising, then, that the moment a lead has arisen as to Dimitris' whereabouts, the Knights are prepared to spring into action.

That lead has come in a surprising form - as Sir Dumage Moulet returns with the news that her sister, Amanda, is engaged to wed Sarandis, and that she's willing to do whatever it takes to prevent that from occurring, even at the risk of potentially compromising the cover she has established with the villains.  

Comments

[witchwoman]

Speaking of teleporting, though... Do we have a plan in place for that possibility? The Mind Master could be close at hand and she has a habit of doing exactly that. Is there anything we can do to prevent that sort of thing?

[allmydreams]

[She holds up a finger.]

Also on a Mind Master related note - how will the infiltration team avoid getting their minds read and getting outted that way?

[wynn]

Sir Reedhym is correct - one of the reasons I'm suggesting we make him believe he's having a heart attack is because it's not a condition that can be cured by magic, even if there is a cleric on hand. Even if it could, he'd want to make certain that he wasn't in danger of it happening again, and only a physician could be certain of that.

[ he looks to felicity ] There's no way to entirely prevent this woman from reading your minds, beyond not giving her a reason to try. That would be the other reason for this particular plan - it allows the interruption to look circumstantial, lets them believe that they are calling assistance that was unplanned, and leaves no reason for her to suspect your motivations. Mind reading requires an active effort, even for the most skilled psions. If this takes place during the ceremony, there will be a number of people present to serve as natural distractions as well, even if she is in attendance.

[ and to myri: ] As for preventing a magical escape, if the Mind Master attempts to leave on her own, I advise you to allow her to do so. We are not making an attempt to capture or attempt to hold that woman, not with what we've learned about her abilities. Des is right, however - it would be ill-advised for anyone to teleport a man suffering a heart attack, and as such, I doubt she will attempt to take him anywhere.

Should she, however, that will be your duty, Myrilandel - as a cleric, you have the ability to block such travel. Prepare yourself for that eventuality.

[doubletake]

[Elena looks to Dumage before she asks:]

I assume you'll be heading in as a guest before any of this occurs? [Then her gaze moves to Wynn.] I can pose as her date, if you'd like? Once inside, it would be easy enough for me to either stay with her, or even move around the location on my own to gather more information before we spring the trap.

[isisagent]

[Archer can't help but pipe up;]

Also, do we have a, uh... contingency plan for when the entire wedding party is actually like dragons or werewolves, or some shit? Or they're all robots, and he floods the place with like.... deadly neuro-toxin?

Sorry - call me pessimistic - but this will be like the third or fourth time we've gone in thinking we've got this guy by the balls, and it never goes our way...

[wynn]

That's what the rest of you are there for. We need to expect the unexpected, and to that end, I am sending a large number of you. Between your skills, I trust you can handle whatever Sarandis has in store.

[nothingsodivine]

Basically, we slice, shoot, punch, and do all other assorted violent things until we're out, and no civilians get hurt in the process.

[he shrugs.] Same thing we do every mission, Pinky.

[littledhampir]

[And with all those questions answered and Des's rousing call for contingency violence...]

Sounds good to me.

[slay]

[ The biggest ask in all of this is to keep Sarandis alive. Frankly, give him a real heart attack and let him die in the ambulance, as far as Buffy's concerned. It doesn't escape her, though, that in a way, that's Wynn's test here. He's assembled a collection of all the knights with the biggest reason to want Sarandis dead. Myri and Spike, who he tortured for months. Kat, who he mind controlled. Rose, who he killed most recently. He's lined all of these headsmen up and asked them not to drop the guillotine.

But harder, she thinks, will be letting the Mind Master walk away, particularly when Buffy believes that she's the bigger threat. No matter how terrifying her abilities, to just walk away from that is at odds with everything in her.

Being stuck on security sucks, in other words. But she grinds her jaw and swallows her pride and simply nods. ]

Understood.

[graveflowers]

Well. [ vi's thoughts are similar to buffy's in regards to the mind master, but she pushes them back, squaring her shoulder. ] Let's go then, I do love weddings.

1/-

[wynn]

You'll depart early in the morning. [ he looks to elena since he didn't answer her yet whoopsie ] I think that would be wise, yes, for you to accompany Sir Moulet, although be careful that it doesn't draw any attention to yourself if any of those telepaths are on hand.

Are there any other questions?

2/2

[postergirl]

More of a statement, really. I'd like to make certain that my sister makes it out of there in one piece. She can, however, be difficult, so I would ask that you leave dealing with her to me.

[nothingsodivine]

Also a statement. [Des sits up his seat a little straighter.] If approaching the Mind Master is unavoidable- and I hope it ain't- then leave the bitch to me. I'm all for not letting her get the chance to maim anyone tomorrow and I don't wanna pick a fight with her if I can help it any more than anyone else does, but if a fight's what she wants and she tries to call anyone out, then I'll handle it.

I know that ain't gonna go down so well with anyone else, so if you kindly disregard that, I won't hold it against you. Much. Let it be known that I did try to keep you from dying a horrible death, though.

But if we're lucky, that's not a problem we have to worry about. [he leans back against his chair again.] I really don't wanna fight her right now.

[littledhampir]

[Rose really doesn't hear... most of what Des just said because she's too busy looking at Wynn. Her head cocked to one side, eyes narrowing infinitesimally but other than an uncomfortable shift in her chair, she doesn't have much more to contribute for the moment.]

[doubletake]

[Elena's eyebrows lift up, her expression not so much defiant, but certainly disbelieving.]

That's suicidal and you know it. You can't take her on by yourself. Not for any length of time that would be helpful. She would tear you apart.

[She looks away from him. It's not like she can stop him, if it comes to that.]

So let's hope it is avoidable. Surrounded by a bunch of civilians is the worst place to be forced to confront her.

[graveflowers]

[ vi's expression matches elena's almost entirely, but she doesn't address des, instead focusing on astrid, steve, and felicity. ]

For those not in the know, the Mind Master is an incomprehensibly strong telepath who most recently almost killed Elena and I and then turned our weapons against us and almost killed Elena and I, again, plus Gar and Faith, for funsies. Because she was bored or something. She can literally scramble your brain until you think the entire world is a dream you're trapped in and that reality isn't real so part of Des' plan is sound: don't try to engage her.

There is definitely a reason we're planning on letting her flee and it's probably so we don't all die right now. One thing at a time. [ vi has a healthy appreciation for how terrifying the mind master is, especially after healing faith and gar from wounds she'd inflicted. ]

[rationalizes]

Vi is right. [ gar keeps it admirably together in the fact of that reminder, at least ] We have enough to deal with with Dimitris. Confronting that woman isn't something that we're prepared for.

Protect yourselves and don't let her fool you into thinking you've an opening against her.

[recruited]

Wow. This wedding sounds--eventful.

[ Steve has nothing real to add. He leans forward a bit. ] Guess I should find something to put over my tac suit. [ Weak smile. Steve, go back to being quiet. ] Don't mess with Mind Master. Check.

[bigbad]

[Spike... had kind of hoped he would be Dumage's date, not gonna lie. But the fact is, he knows Dimitris would recognize him. So he doesn't fight it, just crosses his arms and leans back in his chair.]

Suppose I ought to pack a book of sudoku or something. If everything goes right, this'll be bloody boring.

[There's no way this'll all go right. It never does.]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des gives Elena a deeply cowed look when she cuts in and sinks a little further into his chair, saying nothing more on the subject of the Mind Master. They're all in solid agreement- no one wants to fight her.]

But just in case no one wear anything you don't wanna get blood on. [he looks up at Wynn] Where do racist former dictators go to get married these days, anyway?

[wynn]

Are you familiar with the Eastern European nation of Slovechnia?

[slay]

Gesundheit.

[ Deadpan af. Though she's eyeing Des like lmao are you serious of all the people to want a one-on-one with the Mind Master I feel like 500 other people have first dibs. Not that she isn't ... thinking about doing it too. ]

[graveflowers]

That's not a real word. [ #american ]

[rationalizes]

Slovechnia is a nation that we've actually given quite a bit of direct aid to. Their economy collapsed years ago - some sort of ... cyberterrorism, I believe, but whatever it was, it threw the government into upheaval, as well as their black market for Shadowkind slavery. If I'm correct, we actually... helped seat their current monarch, King Valentin Milosovici. [ she looks to Wynn for confirmation ] Under the condition that he help bring an end to that slave trade once and for all. Apparently, he's had... difficulties in keeping in his word. But it isn't entirely surprising that Sarandis would feel comfortable there.

[allmydreams]

That and he and Sarandis used to bro it up back when Sarandis actually still had power.

[Felicity lives on gossip, no one should be surprised (knowledge nat 20). Or maybe it's just her pirate boyfriend going on the slave trade mission a ways back.]

I wouldn't be surprised if Slovechnia is where he's been hiding from us.