london trial ♔ i guess i'll save the best for last

[mislabeled]

WHO ||Lydia, Sark, Francesca, Cora, Will, Sam, Lila, Carol, Rose, Sydney, Dean, Audrey, Grant [Closed]
WHAT || Audrey Petersen is tried for her involvement in the schemes of Nicholas St. Andrew
WHERE || London, England
WHEN || June 2017
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

They're calling it one of the trials of the year.  Some of the more hyperbolic tabloids have referred to it as the "trial of the decade" or even "of the new century".

Audrey Petersen, wealthy socialite and wife of Professor Grant Petersen, curator of the Knights' archives has been involved in an extended proceeding ever since the day that the Knights and the London police stopped Nicholas St. Andrew, a charismatic cult leader, from completing a dark occult ritual.  St. Andrew was killed in the assault, but Audrey was taken prisoner, her role in the business less black and white. She now stands trial for the crimes she allegedly committed with her former mentor.  The authorities are still uncertain as to whether Audrey was a willing accomplice or just another of St. Andrew's brainwashed cultist lackeys.  Her lawyers and the popular press have taken to painting her as a victim, but Wynn is hardly so sure.  Dozens of people, including prominent citizens have said they are willing to appear as character witnesses for her, and some have even been obliquely criticizing the work the authorities did in arresting her.  Many of the Knights who were involved in thwarting the Children of Chaos have been asked to come to the trial to provide more insight into the situation.  

Police chief Jared O'Keefe paces nervously outside the doors as they arrive, rubbing his mouth with one hand.  

"Oh good.  You made it.  Now, we've insisted on no cameras anywhere nearby - we want to preserve the sanctity of the Knights' secrecy as much as possible.  The attorneys have a ... bit of a history.  They've sparred in the courtroom many a time.  I believe the plan is to call you up on the stand in small groups."

Comments

[certainproclivity]

[lol that's cute, Syd.]

Oh no, I'm quite fine where I am. It's fascinating to see the consequences of other people's actions play out.

[If it looks like he might be in legitimate danger, he'll book it, but for now, the eldritch horror seems to have its targets.]

[mislabeled]

[ there's a sickening sound as the tentacle is ripped off by the psionically charged bullet, sending cora crashing to the ground. the khor'dyl lets out a screeching noise that fills the building, and then suddenly its remaining tentacles go crazy, flinging out in every direction at the same time in a hideous frenzy.

one reaches out to whack at rose (28 atk, if that hits, grapple vs. 36, 15 dmg + 3 alkali). another goes for lydia (33 atk, grapple vs. 45, 14 dmg + 1 alkali), another for grant (29 atk, 30 grapple, 17 dmg + 5 alkali), another for syd, just barely missing, for carol (atk 21 which i'm pretty sure misses...), for dean (atk 28, grapple nat 20, 22 dmg + 11 alkali), sam (atk 19), and sark (atk 30, grapple 41, dmg 17 + 5 alkali). it lifts as many of them up into the air as it possibly can and audrey comes to an abrupt stop at the wall, turning to survey this horrible spectacle with widening eyes. ]

GRANT!

[littledhampir]

Dean! [In an instant everything else is forgotten, the tentacle reaching for her going wide (AC 36) as she steps into attack the one holding Dean.

Wielding her stake, Rose unleashes a flurry of vicious, cutting blows (ATK 43, 41, 40, 31), stabbing and slicing at the monster in her desperation to free him. (DMG: 30, 27, 32, 23).]

[bittersweeter]

[ all stretched out and murderous, at least all the sentinels can attack now, which they do. (atk 17, 11, 16, 19, 19, 21, nat 20, nat 1 sorry someone, 12, 22, 20 total, 25; dmg 4, 8, 8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 10, 7, 6, 9, 5)

lila meanwhile, scrambles over the railing (climb 24) to get down with will in their invisible bubble, heading toward the weapons and also police chief jared o'keefe love of my life. ]

[likedillinger]

[ annnnnnd jared no more gets in the doorframe than rose's rabid slicing starts hacking off limbs left and right, until the thing collapses in a gelatinous puddle to the floor, and begins melting away. dean and anyone else who got grappled hit the floor as it lets go, and he lifts his head to watch the thing bubbling away ] Jesus Christ.

[ /init ]

[bittersweeter]

[ since she's still invisible, lila darts away from will toward audrey, reaching out her bare hand to idk touch audrey's hand and curse the fuck outta her. (will save dc 32) and lila pops out of invisibility. ]

[familybusiness]

[Holy shit, Rose. You're so scary.

As the thing starts to fall apart, he runs over to Dean, crouching down slightly and looking him over.]

You alright?

[He offers a hand to help him up.]

[littledhampir]

[Rose stands there for a moment, breathing heavily as the creature turns to goo, wiping her hand across the back of her mouth before turning back to Dean.

Two Arms. Two legs. Breathing. It's enough that she can relax a little as she walks back over to the brothers, her eyes echoing the question that Sam just asked.]

[certainproclivity]

[THAT DID NOT GO AS PLANNED.

Sark pushes himself up onto his elbows with a hiss of pain- he is not in good shape and he FUCKING DESERVES IT, but he's singlemindedly focused on Audrey fucking Peterson, so his eyes scan the room, hunting for her.]

Don't let her escape!

[likedillinger]

I'm fine. [ he says as he's yanked up, trying to maintain his cool after being bodyslammed to the floor by a tentacle monster.

across the way, lila reaches out to touch audrey, and... well, that takes her down in an instant ]

[bittersweeter]

[ dryly, as she reaches up to wipe blood from her nose: ] Yes, thank you Mr Sark for all of your input.

[antiquaria]

[ grant moves closer to lila, looking down at his wife. ] She brought it here. She summoned that thing.

It would have killed everyone.

[impetere]

[Cora shifts back quickly at that, looking over at Grant as he speaks, before repeating, for emphasis.]

But it didn't. Everyone's okay.

[She glances around to double check that just to be on the safe side.]

Everyone okay?

[certainproclivity]

[Well now that he's satisfied that Audrey hasn't escaped, Sark is just going to flop back onto his back and sigh drearily.] As well as can be expected...

[ow his everything. he doesn't deserve this!! IF AUDREY WAS SHOT DEAD IN A WAREHOUSE NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.]

[familybusiness]

[He looks over to Audrey, less inclined to pick her up and carry her anywhere this time.]

Does someone wanna put handcuffs on her before she tries to kill us again?

[bittersweeter]

She's perfectly docile. She won't wake up until I let her.

[ but lila gonna make her stand up and stand there in a sleepwalker daze? creepy ]

[superswank]

Let's not take any chances if we can avoid it. [ she nods to jared, who is already making his way forward to cuff her ]

[familybusiness]

[He's not gonna take his eyes off her or Jared until those cuffs are on, though he does let out a breath.]

Alright, we done here? I'd say that counts as an admission of guilt.

[bittersweeter]

Technically they could declare a mistrial because this could affect the impartiality of the jury.

[familybusiness]

Don't remind me.

[He doesn't want to think about that right now.]

One potential disaster at a time.

[likedillinger]

I'm gonna say she's added some new counts to the charge. [ jared nods.

"Don't worry. She's not getting off for this. You guys have done enough. Thank you. We're glad you were here." ]

[impetere]

[Cora just nods a bit because please don't call a mistrial, she doesn't want to have to testify again.]

[likedillinger]

[ as the courtroom resembles a war zone now, the trial is unfortunately postponed - but only for a week, when it resumes in another venue. this time, carlson has no further questions or witnesses, so the two lawyers make their closing arguments basically at the top of the trial. donald mcgregory's statement is eloquent and passionate. he reiterates the points he outlined during the trial and drives home the point with a reminder of audrey's behavior during the defense's presentation.

the defense's summation is brief and uninspired. the main thrust is that audrey's actions in the courtroom are not the purview of this inquiry. the question is whether or not she committed the other crimes in question. but even mr. carlson sounds particularly unconvinced by his own words.

audrey is put away once and for all, the jury deliberating for 25 minutes before returning with the guilty verdict. the judge hands audrey a life sentence. further interviews with the woman eventually reveal that the ritual nicholas st. andrew had been enacting when he was killed was actually partially completed, and an extra-planar conduit had been partially opened, leaving room for a creature called the khor'dyl to make a connection to our world. it had remained invisible for some time, before speaking to her, promising her power if she could finish opening the conduit, that it would become loyal to her and make her the most powerful mortal on earth.

she knew it was dangerous to make deals with an otherworldly creature, and was uncertain if this was even the thing nicholas had originally intended to summon - or if it even truly had the power it promised her. but she knew that if she were to be caught summoning it, she would certainly be found guilty of being nicholas' accomplice.

so instead she waited. if she were acquitted, she would not take the creature's offer, but when it appeared that she was going to jail for life, she decided to take her chances on the thing.

unfortunately, that was also a gamble she lost.

/mission ]