briefing ♔ what's that tune he's always whistling.

[wynn]

♬ what's he building in there? - tom waits

WHO || Wynn, Thomas, Brantley, David, Andie, Thoster[Closed]
WHAT || Andres Mission Briefing
WHERE || Downtown London Knights HQ, the briefing room
WHEN || Nov 25th, shortly before 5pm
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

For whatever reason, Wynn has asked the Knights on this particular mission to come to the downtown office in Kensington Gardens Square. The main lobby area boasts an impressive silver dragon statue, about seven feet tall, immediately to the right of the entrance. The room is done in comforting wood and mahogany tones, and there's an array of tables and chairs across the room to the right, as well as a small piano. Statues of King Arthur and Lancelot flank the hallway that continues straight beyond the lobby, and there's a staircase leading up, with wooden dragon-shaped banisters, immediately beyond the bathroom door to the right.

On the left are two doors, and one of them leads into a room which also has a small reception window open, where they are received. Between the doors hangs an ornate blue and silver tapestry with even more dragon imagery. It is an exercise in subtlety all around.

The reception lady directs them upstairs, to the very small briefing room, that still, of course, sports a small version of a Round Table.

Come in, find a seat, meet your teammates if you haven't already. When you first arrive, the elusive Sir Thomas is deep in conversation with Wynn and the atmosphere is grim.

Comments

[bluffcheck]

...Andie. [He says it quietly, a little stunned to see her, but she seems just as surprised, if not so terribly disappointed. He just watches her move to sit, and for as much as he wants to go over to her, he knows better, so he just takes his seat and tries to focus on the task at hand.]

[generaldavideus]

[And rounding out this merry band is David who seems to be last to the party. Probably because he's still learning his way around London, but hey, at least he's learning.

He nods to all of the people, before quietly finding his seat.]

Sorry to keep you waiting.

[bancroft]

Nonsense. Right on time. [ he circles around the opposite direction from wynn ] Before we start, I suppose I should ask what any of you know - if anything - regarding Andres Isle.

[asap]

[Andie sits up straight, eyes wide (knowledge (current events) 18).]

That their ruler guy is a crazy supervillain who experiments on Shadowkind and would murder any Knights who showed up there?

[fixyourproblem]

[Brantley just sits there, listening, and noticing the tension between Sir Chatwyn and Sir Dodge (sense motive 28). He is not sure what it is, though. On the other side, he knows nothing about the Andres (know(current) 9). So he just sits there quietly.]

[generaldavideus]

I think I read about that.

[The name doesn't ring a bell, but the story does (knowledge (current events) 14). Even help from Andrew doesn't make him a news whiz in that short amount of time, he still has some catching up to do.]

But I don't know much.

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster has no idea (knowledge: current events - 3) and when he stops looking at Andie long enough to focus, he pipes up.]

Care to give us the basics? Fill in the gaps?

[bancroft]

[ many funerals - eisley ]

Sir Dodge seems to have hit upon the most salient points. [ thomas' tone is full of bitter humor, and he waves a hand over the small round table. it's like the 3d table in the X-men movies, and a functional map shows the location of a small island, located in the English Channel, more or less, to the north-west of Brittany. ] That villain's name is Dimitris Sarandis, and he's one of the most diabolical enemies we face these days. Not only because he's manipulative, intelligent, and powerful, but also because he's aware of our existence, and prepared for any 'meddling' we might do, as he sees it.

Sarandis was once the Royal Advisor to the last King and Queen of Andres. A close family friend, or so they thought. Some rumors would say that he was in love with the Queen, and it's certainly clear that he envied the throne. It's very possible that he attempted to turn her against her husband, and turn her heart towards him - but she evidently refused, as she was found murdered within the walls of the castle itself. The people were heartbroken - there have been few royal families so universally beloved as they had been - and their grief became only more potent when the young Crown Prince himself was implicated as responsible for the murder. Apparently she had penned a note in her final days and secreted it in her chambers, should something befall her. It spoke of her belief that her son conspired to be King before his time, and that he might be willing to go to desperate ends to attain the crown.

He was arrested, sentenced to death for high treason... would have been publicly executed for the murder of his own mother, but that the King broke him out of the Tower and attempted to smuggle him out of the country. To the surprise of very few who are aware of Sarandis' nature, he was waiting for the King, with a battalion of guards, and the Prince was killed, the King arrested and beheaded before the people as the worst kind of criminal. The Andres family legacy was in shambles, and the people embittered towards the monarchy. Sarandis was there to take charge of their confused hearts, to speak about the need for a new kind of government. And, even more telling, he already seemed to have high ranking nobles of the island in his pocket, as if he'd been prepared for exactly this eventuality.

Let us be under no illusions about who advised the King to take that passageway on that fatal night, and to try to free his son in the first place.

It was a simple matter for Dimitris to get himself elected 'Prime Minister' of the Isle, with a Parliament in his pocket that voted his way 99 times out of 100, given the power he'd secured for each of them.

[fixyourproblem]

[Brantley tensed up as he heard the bloody story. Brantley is not much a hater. But a twisted fairy tale is always on the list. And from the way he sees it, there's no way to end this one without a bitter aftertaste.]

And what's the thing we need to do?

[generaldavideus]

[David just sits in silence digesting it all. He can't say that he would mind going on a mission to screw this guy over, but he has to be curious as to what this particular one is. And what the risks are.]

[bluffcheck]

[Strangely, this story makes Thoster feel a tad more at ease, if only because it sounds like more of what he was used to from what he can remember of his life before coming here. Kings and Queens and evil advisers? He's on board.]

Overthrowing the bastard? Or something more subtle? [It's a grim humor, but if it was needed, he'd do everything he could to get the job done.]

[bancroft]

Too risky of a venture, at this point. Jacky Boy and I have been prodding about the island's defenses for the past year or so for our own reasons, but caution's the word, given that the last Dragon's Claw we sent there never came back.

Andres has been receiving increased traffic in its harbors: shipments launching out of England and France. We'd like to know precisely what Sarandis is up to, which, in this case, calls for a wee bit of high seas subterfuge.

[bluffcheck]

[Hello. Thoster perks right the fuck up. It's probably not good to be excited about a mission that's got both Wynn and Thomas so stone faced, but... he hasn't had the chance to be out on open water since he arrived here.]

I think I'm starting to see why I was called in for this one.

[generaldavideus]

[That gets David's attention too. He hasn't had a good sea battle in a while. Granted, they started the Bermuda mission on a boat, but all the fun was on land. He doesn't want his skills getting rusty.]

Are we just going to be raiding the ships or are we looking for something specific?

[wynn]

We're looking to see what kind of cargo they carry - and to disrupt its arrival, should it prove to be something we feel better off out of their hands.

Sir Bancroft is too recognizable to risk being seen by any of Sarandis' men. That's why he requires your assistance.

[bluffcheck]

[There's a joke in the back of his mind, about dressing Thomas up like a woman. But for once, Thoster holds his tongue. Now isn't really the time. He leans forward against the table.]

Seems plain enough. [Not easy. There's a difference.] Anything else we should know about this Sarandis or his men?

[asap]

[Andie's not sure she likes the idea of being stuck in such a small place as a boat, especially with Thoster, but that's not really the most risky part of this venture. And she knows she'll be good at running in and out fast enough not to be seen. She doesn't look particularly happy about the mission, but she doesn't speak up. It's what's necessary.]

[fixyourproblem]

[Brantley loves the sea. In fact he loves everything connected to it, including boats and ships. A little thought of spending time on the sea, cheers him up a bit.

As for the mission itself, Brantley is not the type who can sail a boat or sneak in quietly. But he knows things about how criminal world works (know(behavioral science) 28). A little bit more relaxed, he speaks up.]

Increased number of shipments might mean they're mass shipping weapons or materials. Probably on a strict deadline. Unless they are decoys for something else, of course. But it's quite unlikely.

[But of course, he could be wrong. After all, it's just a theory.]

[generaldavideus]

Even if there are decoys, that still tells us something - that he's shipping something worth hiding.

[And if they have the means, they can raid both, though David isn't entirely sure how many means they're going to have for this one.]

[bancroft]

We do know that Sarandis has been tied to a cult of Shadowkind slavers, who are interested in gaining a powerful artifact whose effects remain a bit mysterious. Supposedly, it's already on the island, but we've had poor luck in any attempts to ascertain whether that's true or not. Jack and I are working on that. What we're curious about is what they intend to do should they acquire that power, and what all these increased movements might mean. This cult operated numerous laboratories across the U.S. that another team worked on shutting down over the course of this spring - that involved rather horrific experiments, grafting human and Shadowkind together to try and figure out a way to use mind control technology on intelligent Shadow beings.

[bluffcheck]

[Well, that's interesting. Thoster dealt some with slavers on a one of this last missions. He's pretty invested in what's being said. For once, he's very serious about the task at hand.]

Could the shipments be tied to the artifact, something meant to be used along with it for whatever they have planned? [It's all pretty vague, since he doesn't know the properties of either item.] You two work on the one end, we work on the other- cut 'em off at the knee before they have the chance to run.

[wynn]

Perhaps not the artifact specifically, but something to assist in their plans to enslave Shadowkind, most certainly.

[fixyourproblem]

[And again, with years of experience in criminology, he explains his hypothesis.(know(behav)28 and know(arcane)nat 20)]

It's unlikely they're shipping the artifact itself, it's better to transport something like that in secret or using some kind of transportation magic. If they're experimenting on mind control, they are probably building some kind of long range control device or some kind of transmitter.

[There's one other speculation that cross Brantley's mind - they're transporting the battery of the artifact. And even though Brantley hates magic and wants to relate as little as possible about it, he knows enough to understand that every magics especially powerful ones come with some kind of cost. He just hopes that this is not the one that requires living sacrifices as the cost. He could explain about his conjecture, but it's grim enough, he doesn't want to spell it out.

He releases a deep sigh before continuing.]

Either way, we have to intercept them.

[bluffcheck]

Could be damn near anything. And I doubt sitting around's going to make it any clearer. Only way to be sure is to get out there and find out, I'd wager.

[bancroft]

Precisely the right attitude. Our hope is to outfit you all as proper pirates - we know Sir Chatwyn owns a ship already - and make it seem as if they got in the way of a routine high sea robbery. It's a gamble we can only pull once, but it should be simple enough to convince them.

[bluffcheck]

[For as serious and grim as the mission may be, Thoster has to take some time to be a little pleased that his dear love of a ship will be able to see open water again. He also may be glancing at Andie and thinking about getting her in proper pirate garb. Ahem.]

[asap]

[Is that what you're thinking, Thoster? Really? Or are you thinking about getting her out of proper pirate garb? Be honest.

She shoots him a look that's half glare, half blush, half awkward nervousness, and yes I know that's more than a whole SHE HAS JUST THAT MANY EMOTIONS WITH HIM.]

I can look at the stuff super fast while you guys do the pirate robbery stuff. They won't see me.

[fixyourproblem]

[This time, distracted by thoughts, he doesn't realize the increased tension between the female scout and the man of the sea.(sense 14)]

I'll... do whatever you need me to do.

[Brantley doesn't have much to give in this mission, but if they need special resources or a fast talker, he's ready to bash.]

[generaldavideus]

[David knows he's mostly there for muscle. It's long been allotted as his place in the world. He simply nods at the assessment, before turning back to the two men in charge.]

Is there anything else we should know?

[bancroft]

I'll come on board after you have them all secured in the hold - or disposed of, as the case may be. Obviously, if they're merely innocents hired to transport something they don't understand, we want to avoid killing any of them. But given that Sarandis is involved... I wouldn't put it past him to put his own men on the job, to avoid the possibility of information being leaked. If that's the case, they'll be ruthless, and they'll likely use lethal force to defend their cargo.

[bluffcheck]

Let them be ruthless. [Thoster says, clearly sliding back into the role he held before he ever became a Knight.] It won't save them. Only makes it more interesting.

[wynn]

I leave it in your hands to decide their fates. I trust each of you to make the right call.

[generaldavideus]

[Judgement calls weren't going to be a problem for him. He used to make them all the time. Still he nods to show he understands.]

When do we leave?

[bancroft]

Within a week or two, when the next ship launches.