new orleans ♔ there's always a siren singing you to shipwreck

[dragonsclaw]

♫ Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse

WHO || Buffy, Alainn, Rose, Sam, Dean, Faith, Felicity, Isabella  [closed]
WHAT || The Ex-Knights of Failboat head off to interrupt an auction for Rafael Giovanni's life...
WHERE || New Orleans, LA
WHEN || A couple weeks post-LA
HOW || Actionspam

Held in the grasp of the Knighthood's enemies for a stretch of time that has been an aching splinter in the heart of the ones who love him, Rafael Giovanni's life now stands up for auction.  Having made a number of powerful enemies in his days as the vigilante assassin The Black Scourge, including the secret Vatican police known as Iscariot, Draken Crombe's organization sought to capitalize on the many who sought revenge by sending out word that Eterna Jade was not, as his trial had seemed to prove, the Black Scourge at all, and offer the chance to kill or torture Giovanni to whoever would pay the largest sum.

The Knights, being made aware of this, did what they could to stymie this auction from coming to pass, and Buffy Summer and Jack Chessing managed to at least thwart it several times, leading to its cancellation and inevitable rescheduling elsewhere.  However, none of this led to Giovanni's actual location. 

The capture of Draken Crombe finally allowed them to learn of the latest plans for the auction - to be held at a location in New Orleans, a temple of some sort.  It seems that Crombe's other followers still intend to follow through with ridding themselves of Rafael, making it clear that even with Crombe in Knights' custody, the villains still have some organization or leadership.  Tia Ellison rattled out the plan by invading Crombe's mind, learning of the way that he had been psychically manipulated by the Mind Master for years, and doing what she could to start to heal his shattered psyche.  

Jack Chessing, eager to see Rafael rescued after their many efforts, cautioned however against sending too many on what might be a mission from which there is no returning.  To that end, they've tried to split the forces of their magic-users, fighters, and researchers.

Now, it's up to a few to save their friend... without losing any more.

Comments

[klep]

[She had suspicions, but it's good to have them confirmed. She missed the whole "He who Must Not be Named" era of Failboat, but she can read a room sometimes.]

So should we give her a code name or something?

[She pauses as she starts reading over things.]

Liiiiiiiike .... quesadilla?

[ ... she may just be hungry.]

[familybusiness]

[He actually chuckles at that.]

That's one way to make this seem less terrible.

[klep]

I try.

[a beat.]

Honestly my first instinct was Dark Helmet but I have a feeling she doesn't deserve to be Rick Moranis levels of cool.

[Or at least that's based on what she's reading which is just ... garbage, but suddenly, it hits her (wisdom nat 20).]

... Oh! I've heard of her before.

[familybusiness]

[His eyebrows lift and he scoots his chair a little closer, as if looking at whatever she just read will give him an indication as to what triggered her memory.]

Where from?

[klep]

Lila. Zacharov.

[Because that may need clarifying there are ... a lot of knights. but that being said, she'll just barrel into it.]

She went on a mission once where she and her team ran into a paladin of She Who Must Not be Named. There was a dragon and some kind of weird rift of capital D Despair ... definitely sounded like not a good time.

[familybusiness]

[Ah, yes. He's heard of Lila. But then again who hasn't?]

A rift? Any idea where it took them?

[klep]

I think it was literally called Despayr. But it was basically the churches of two evil gods in a standoff over some tributes, and the team went through the rift to where the dragon was.

[The information is kind of jumbled as she tries to think back to what Lila was telling her. They were shopping, and it was before she died so it usually depends on how hard she was paying attention at the time.]

Lila gets sent on all the terrible missions. I'd ask her what she remembers but she thinks I'm dead.

[They'd traded burner numbers just in case a long time ago. But a random phone call is probably not the way to have the "hey, I'm still alive" conversation. And that's also the first moment that she's realized that, and there's something on her face that's just a quiet moment of " ... oh," before it fades and she's back to business.]

So I'm probably not the best person to make contact.

[familybusiness]

[Oh, yeah. Right. That was a thing that happened.]

It doesn't sound like it's probably related, anyway.

[Having Shar come up once is concerning enough, though. Twice? Yikes. No thank you.]

[klep]

[She nods.]

But at least that might give us an idea of what to expect if we wind up looking into the quesadilla angle. Despair is a big theme and whatever mission we do to get it will likely be terrible.

[familybusiness]

[He cracks a half-smile at quesadilla. He's not sure that will ever stop being amusing.]

The problem is trying to contact any of the knights at all.

[klep]

Oh.

[She shrugs.]

Lila and I swapped burners a long time ago, and Hasmed is far from her favorite. Honestly, without Wynn, I'm not sure she's even still with the Knights anymore.

[They were always prepared in the event of something going to shit. It wasn't this much shit, but given who she and Lila were, there were back up plans for back up plans.]

But you're right. There's still a risk. And as I said, she thinks I'm dead, so it would be a hard sell.

[familybusiness]

[There's also the fact that Rose would shit a literal brick and Lila and Elena were tight, but that's another point for another time.]

Good thing a lot of us are used to doing things the old-fashioned way.

[Aka, by ourselves.]

[klep]

[Probably. Felicity doesn't really care so much about the Rose angle, and she trusts that Lila can keep a secret, but she's also not looking to rock the boat with the rest of the team.]

I'm sure there are worse ways to have to do things.

[familybusiness]

[The group has had enough boat rocking to last a lifetime. Some smooth sailing would be welcome.]

No matter how bad things are, they can always get worse.

[klep]

[Indeed.]

Ain't that the truth.

[familybusiness]

[In other news...]

By the way, I talked to Dean about that Hell 101 class. He agreed that it was a good idea, so we're gonna do it when we get back to the rest of the group.

[klep]

[Her eyes light up when she looks up, and honestly she may be a little surprised. Dean and Rose have been so withholding of information in the past, that she honestly thought they were just going to continue to ask them to operate on faith and hoarding the answers like a pair of cranky dragons.

It's a pleasant surprise though. It's good to know that at least one of them is willing to be a team player.]

Really? That's awesome. Thank you.

[No really, thank you, she's tired of feeling like she's five steps behind all the time.]

[familybusiness]

You guys deserve to know what might get thrown our way.

[It might not be the focus right now, but there's a good chance they'll show up again. Considering the circumstances surrounding a bunch of people in the group, hell involvement might just be something they have to deal with from now on.]

[klep]

[She nods again because yes, exactly. They deserve to know what the stakes are.]

It's kind of hard to understand when things seem so abstract. Hopefully this should help.

[familybusiness]

Well, it can't hurt, right?

[Knock on wood.]

I'm always willing to answer any questions, too. If I know the answers, I'll give them to you.

[klep]

[She nods because she's not really sure off the top of her head, but there is one about the current situation that could use some clarification.]

So why the whole She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named schtick? Is this some kind of power in a name thing like faerie deals in stories or something?

[familybusiness]

Because if you say a god's true name out loud, they sense it and can listen in on your conversation.

[Pretty self-explanatory after that.]

[klep]

Oh. So it's like a magical bug. That makes sense.

[Sort of.]

So can our two hell-adjacent friends do the same thing?

[familybusiness]

I wouldn't really call them adjacent. They're in it as deep as you can get.

[Just saying. However...]

Dean's got a scrying block on him from Heaven and Hell, so even if they could, it wouldn't work while he's nearby. But they're fiends, not gods. I don't think they would be able to, but I guess if they ever got powerful enough it wouldn't be impossible? [A beat.] That said, I'm sure the people they serve sure can and they're probably watching whenever they get the chance.

[klep]

[Okay, but on that adjacent point ...]

I mean, it's not like they were born in Hell. Theoretically they were human once. So is it like vampires where you get converted into something else, or is it just a matter of loyalty?

[... This is why they need that 101 class, honestly.]