london ♔ as the winter winds litter london with lonely hearts

[wynn]

♬ winter winds - mumford and sons

WHO || Wynn, Buffy, Spike, Finnick, Myri, Violet, Des, Luthir, Anastacia, Faith, Gar, Kat, Mark, Tia, Archer, Rafael
WHAT || Following Vi and Luthir's wedding, plans unfurl to help free Vi from the grasp of Malaak'a...
WHERE || The castle/various
WHEN || June 7th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

The wedding is a welcome respite from the trauma that's been haunting the castle lately, but after the evening of escaping from their cares (mostly...) passes, they're left to face the harsh reality of what waits on the other side.

Dimitris Sarandis desires the Talisman team to come to Andres, and it seems that Wynn means to answer his demands, if only to gather some intelligence by sending the team in. Before they can do this, however, they seek to finally break the influence that the dark Malaak'a, drow god of nightmares has held over Violet for the past year. It seems that Keijen Blade has offered a warning to some of the Knights in their dreams, however: that following through with this plan, offered to them by the elven goddess of dreams Sehanine and her daughter Eterna Jade, will end in blood. Unwilling to watch anyone die for her, Violet was quick to protest following through, and her wedding night was darkened by pleas from her husband Luthir, who convinced her to go through with it.

Her friends are still uncertain of her decision, so they plan to discuss it with her today.  Wynn, however, will be calling together those going to New York for two separate missions:  to help Violet with the aid of Des' unicorn friend, Nick, and to gather further intelligence on Keijen Blade.   It seems as good a place to discuss matters as any...

Comments

[littledhampir]

[Somebody is surprised to not see Elena here but for once in her life she keeps her thoughts to herself as she slides into one of the chairs (Will Save 18). Full credit goes to the donuts which she'll be over in her corner stuffing in her face. Food. The great Rose silencer.]

[wynn]

I think that's all of us. [ wynn nods as rose enters, and steps slightly around the table. ] I'll keep this brief.

We'll be sending two teams to New York, for two varied purposes, and each of you has been selected - or volunteered - to take part in one of them.

The first group will be traveling to New York in order to gather some long overdue intelligence on a man named Keijen Blade. [ anyone with a pop culture check 15+ in here who hasn't already heard of him can recognize the name from tv and radio - he's an up and coming metal band frontman for the band heatless passion. ] Blade is one of several tieflings drafted by a cult that appears to be an offshoot of the Church of the Lord's Humanity. They preach the inferiority of Shadow races to humanity, and believe it is their right to enslave Shadowkind to their whims. We know that the Cult has been signing these tieflings through NOVA Records, through their connection to another cult member, Chad Becksworth, who co-owns the company. They launched some kind of massive tour last year with these new artists, and we've yet to discover to what end.

You will be attending one of Blade's concerts in order to see what you might discover about what he's up to. You are not to interfere with Blade or interact with him in any way. Sir Spike will be the only face along that Blade might recognize - we'll be sending Sir Hathaway and Sir Mikaelson, as well as Sir Ellison here, to do reconnaissance, while he runs distraction if necessary.

Sir Moulet here has a great deal of knowledge regarding Blade, as she stayed with him undercover for the better part of the last year. I thought she should be here to answer any questions you may have.

[bigbad]

[This is definitely not everyone. Where is Buffy? Spike frowns and looks around at the distinct lack of Buffy. Lack of Elena, he can rationalize, though it feels weird too. She's not exactly in a mission-ready state. But Buffy should be here.

He slumps back in his chair and texts Buffy under the table. Wynn's starting! Shouldn't you be here?]

[isisagent]

Just to be clear - are my bullets allowed to interact with him?

[wynn]

[ wynn is smarter than arden, who forgot... to include archer along with spike in that last tag. SO HE ALSO SAID ARCHER. who he now fixes with a severe look. ] This is not an attack on Blade. All that's likely to do is call attention to us while he's so close to Sir Reedhym, and we cannot compromise the success of her mission. Do not engage.

[isisagent]

...Got it, boss. Ix-nay on the shooting-keijan's-dumb-stupid-face...-ay.

[wynn]

We know that Blade is a very powerful psion, with telepathic abilities that allow him to control others, as well as read their thoughts. All the more reason to avoid drawing his attention. What we're interested in is what purpose the Church has to these concerts.

We suspect there may be some measure of influence, given that they put considerable effort into recruiting the late Eterna Jade. She possessed the ability to exercise some manner of control over similar crowds.

Sir Ellison is a telepath herself, and will be attempting to get a glance inside the minds of some of those attending the concert. I shouldn't have to warn you all, to keep an eye on one another to make certain you also don't fall prey to his influence.

[graveflowers]

[ dis is a v interesting donut... ] I'm not sure what Keijen wants and what the Church wants are... exactly the same.

[postergirl]

Well, that would seem rather obvious, wouldn't it? Blade is Shadowkind. They want to lord over Shadowkind.

He's clearly getting something of his own out of this, and it's likely they're promising him immunity to whatever they have planned.

[isisagent]

Well duh...

[wynn]

Do you have any questions?

[bigbad]

I got one. [Spike glances around.] Where're Buffy and Elena?

[witchwoman]

[Myri's been distracted by trying to focus on being happy. She looks up and over at Spike, suddenly concerned. Mostly for Buffy. Elena she could understand, but Buffy should be here.]

[graveflowers]

Italia was only here for the day. She's probably bringing him to the airport, maybe she's stuck in traffic. [ burt needs his moneymaker back, mkay. ] Have you tried calling her?

[ her eyes cut to rose, but vi doesn't seem too worried about elena past all the worried about elena she is in general. if elena was in trouble rose would know. she's pm elena's personal bodyguard. ]

[bigbad]

I texted. [He holds up his phone with a shrug.] Thought someone might've noticed if I was calling.

[Not that texting is subtle when you TELL EVERYONE.]

[graveflowers]

They're probably busy saying goodbye [ WITH THEIR TONGUES. MOVING ON. vi raises her hand. ] So, this unicorn play, I'm gonna call it the Hail Mary, no offense the unicorns in the room for being a nonbeliever. But um... we're not going back to Des' shit hole, pardon my french, boss. 'cause no. I'm not going back there just to get some communicable disease yet unknown to man kind. Just... putting that out there. On the record. I'll burn it down.

[silvermaid]

Well, I don't have a home in New York anymore, but I do know a few places that might let us in. Of course, there's the danger of ... dragging in someone else who doesn't need to be endangered if we do so. It may be wisest to simply ... deal with the amenities as they stand, at ... Mr. Starkweather's. [ it's clear hard for her to say that instead of AT THE UNICORN'S UNICORN HOUSE ]

[graveflowers]

[ SUCH A DISGUSTED FACE. ] His cockroaches are the size of rats. I don't even want to think about how big the rats probably are. Can't we get a hotel? [ hopeful! ] Preferably one that won't give me cholera while I'm sleeping like a Swedish immigrant in the 1700s. I don't want to die like an American Girl doll's BFF never to be seen again in the sequel books. I deserve a sequel!

[moonheart]

Ooo, and if we get a hotel, there might be a hot tub! [ #priorities ]