CHAPTER FINALE ♔ as i went down in the river to pray

[telekinection]

♬ dead bodies everywhere - korn

WHO || Tia Ellison, Rose Hathaway, Sterling Archer, Spike, Klaus Mikaelson, Violet Reedhym, Finnick Odair, Myrilandel de Tanos, Anastacia O'Keefe, Faith O'Keefe, Nick Starkweather, various others
WHAT || The night following Luthir's death and the concert
WHERE || NYC, New York
WHEN || June 7th to 8th, 2014, middle of the night.
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

The night has not gone as planned.

With the help of the unicorn Nick Starkweater, Faith O'Keefe used her dreamwalking powers to take Violet and her new husband Luthir into Vi's dreams to face down the shadow remnant of Malaak'a that had consumed her nightmares and prevented her spirit from returning to full strength with the return of spring. Keijen Blade's warning, however, that such an attempt would end in blood, proved true: Luthir gave his life to allow Vi to do what must be done.

Meanwhile, the 'reconnaissance' mission meant to gather intel on what Keijen Blade was doing at his concerts went south when several of the team members fell prey to Blade's compulsion. After almost prompting Archer and Rose to commit suicide onstage in front of an eager crowd, Blade let the team walk out with their lives, which was almost as unsettling as the power he'd displayed in controlling such a large mass of people.

No one is really in the mood or shape to take a flight that night, so it's crashing at a hotel for the Knights tonight.

Some people might need the sleep, while others may be less than able to get any. Feel free to single-thread tag what your character is up to at 4AM or so.

Comments

[moonheart]

[ faith is over here looking out the window now and she speaks up again as spike and rose make for the door out of the hotel ] Uh, guys?

You might want to see this.

[graveflowers]

[ idk vi thinks tying up is a splendid idea. and no, she doesn't want to see. because anything prefaced with "you might want to see this" is bound to end in bad. but she moves over to the window anyway. ]

[65]

[finnick joins vi at the window, even tho he ... equally doesn't feel like actually seeing it.]

[telekinect]

What now? [ and tia will head over there too.

meanwhile, outside, spike and rose head out of the hotel doors, and spike shoulder-checks some guy on the steps and keeps going as if he didn't even realize he did it. ]

[witchwoman]

[Myri is still trying to catch up to the pair. But her steps falter slightly when she sees Spike roughly push past someone (which is the most polite way to put that...) She continues to follow them but is a little more wary.]

[asuma]

[Archer's lack of lemming behavior eases his paranoia some, but when Myri dips and Faith decides to be suspenseful instead of sharing with the class, he assumes he was right and proceeds to ... finishe his drink while wondering how long it'll take before someone goes after Myri, who just got left in the dust.]

[isisagent]

[Archer stumbles over toward the window.]

Am I drunk enough to see this... "this"? Whatever it is?

[moonheart]

[ ♬ down in the river to pray - alison krauss ]

You tell me. [ she moves aside slightly, pulling the blinds up further so they get a better view. the sun is rising over the hudson river, giving them a beautiful view of the colors sparkling over the edge of the water in the distance between buildings.

but along the shorelines here and there, people are making their way down to the bank. and where they do, they are walking with that same measured, blank expression spike and rose were sporting.

and they march right off piers and steps and docks, completely void of emotion or reaction, submerging themselves in the water and continuing to walk until they vanish below the surface.

the scene replays itself over and over as they watch. a spot of 20+ would see that most of the people walking out have clearly shadowkind features - bugbears, dwarves, and more. ]

[graveflowers]

[ vi's hands knot together, twisting luthir's wedding band around her thumb. with a spot of 26, vi can see clearly that most of them all have a little something in common. which begs the question why aren't she and anastacia and faith out there, too? they're not exactly human. but she doesn't ask, turning to bolt out of the room. barefoot and unarmed.

rose is luthir's squire. she doesn't get to die today. not like this. ]

[isisagent]

Nope. [Archer slumps down, defeated look in his over-drunk eyes.]

I'm getting pretty damn tired of people I can't shoot, things that don't give a damn when I do shoot them, and all this MAGIC BULLSHIT [Archer slams his fist on the counter for 10 damage.]

[Then, he huffs, and stomps off after Vi. Might as well try to do something.]

[witchwoman]

[As she makes it further outside and sees more people of all sort (because bugbears are people too okay), Myri gets more and more concerned.]

Spike! [She shouts as she picks up the pace to run towards the pair of them. Her hand reaches out and she... accidentally magics (casting Break Enchantment - caster level check 22). Myri is learning all kinds of things about herself lately...]

[65]

Oh, hell. [that's all finnick says before he joins vi (and archer) in the quest to save rose and spike from doing some stupid ass shit. he's still armed, at least.]

[littledhampir]

[As a rule, having a Dae Ja Vue involving mindrape-y suicide attempts? Not really something a person is looking to experience, Rose stumbling as she now has control over her own body again.

(Seriously Myri, when she's not having the worst day of her life - this coming from somebody who died once - She will actually thank you and apologize.)

Rose looks around (Spot 25) confusion twisting into anger again as her fingers curl into her palms.]

Now fucking what?! [As the mun wonders what sort of XP you get for almost killing yourself twice in one night.]

[bigbad]

[Spike blinks and looks around, looking confused, though not as blank as he had before.] Bloody hell, now what?

[telekinection]

[ Tia pales and looks over at Klaus as she turns from the window. ] I can't be the only one thinking this can't just be a coincidence. [ such suicide. much mind control. To the door she goes too. ]

[witchwoman]

[She knows Spike better than most after going through Andres with him. And shes learning to trust her gut about if he's acting like...himself (wis 19). Myri walks up, looking relieved and scared all at once, somehow. As Spike speaks, she slaps him (attack nat 20 idek damage for a slap but you have damage reduction so it doesn't matter. SHE FUCKING HIT HIM THO) but quickly grabs him to throw her arms around his neck and hugs him super tight.]

Don't you ever scare me like that again.

[craic]

[ Now what? ] You could start with an apology. [ The man Spike barreled through by the steps is still near enough to reply, his annoyance sort of lazy and token now that there's this weirdness to be observing all around them. He's been watching the masses heading for the river; now he's watching the two that've somehow been stopped and the friends who appear to've done the stopping. Not that this display of...whatever stops him from interjecting. ]

[littledhampir]

[Watching Myri with Spike is enough to make Rose's face crumple (WS 7), having to turn away as unpleasant thoughts stack up in her head. Nobody here cared for her like that. Elena would have, but she'd betrayed her. Luthir might have. But he was Dead. Dimitri... but he couldn't even tell the difference between the real her and a psychopath wearing her face. She's almost grateful for the stranger, somebody to channel her feelings at, Rose's face darkening at the request for an apology.]

You really chose the wrong day to be looking for manners.

[bigbad]

[Spike hugs Myri back tightly.] It's all right, love. I'd have been fine. They forgot vampires don't have to breathe. [Spike, you would have lost a third of your hp a round. He looks up at the stranger, raising an eyebrow.]

Maybe you should ask the bastard that did this for an apology instead. [The bastard that is still doing this. He looks back down at Myri.] Can you do that again? I don't know if we can stop 'em all...

i can't find a photo of him grinning fast enough to icon for this so just imagine

[craic]

Then how's your tomorrow looking? I'll give you a call, we can try again. [ I suppose there should probably be a roll of some sort here, but he's just going to flash Rose a wide, easy grin, the reply more joke than actual come-on.

He scratches at the back of his neck and eyes the crowd again, squinting into the morning light. To Spike: ] Yeah? Who's that then?

[witchwoman]

[She pulls back, releasing him from her hug and shakes her head, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.] I don't... I don't really know how I did it the first time... [She's going to need to spend some time getting in tune with the way her magic is changing to be able to get a better handle on this.]

I could end up making it worse. I'm just glad I was able to stop it, to stop both of you. [you too, rose. even if you were rude as hell :( She finally notices the stranger in their midst.]

A dangerous man in league with even more dangerous people.

[asuma]

[Klaus rolls his eyes and follows after Tia. Because he should probably feign a little concern here. Plus they were out of scotch. But he doesn't actually know what the fuck is going on because he didn't go to look, so once they get outside he's like oh, well shit.]

I think it's safe to say that we've found the reason behind the mass mind control at the concert earlier.

[bigbad]

[Spike looks back over at the stranger, frowning slightly.] Who are you, again?

[littledhampir]

[I figure he's being charming enough that a Will Save of 8 isn't enough for her to resist, so she does soften a little. Of course softening by Rose's standards today just means that she's not going to introduce her fist to his face.]

That could be hard. My phone is currently in pieces. [Tone dry. No but really. It is.

She does catch that both, lips twitching in a way that's supposed to be grateful but it doesn't quite work and instead just looks pained.]

We're in over our heads. [Almost in answer to Myri's explanation.] Keijen. That's what he said when he released Me and Archer and let us walk out of there without a scratch. [Wisdom 19] It was too easy.

[telekinection]

He was giving us a preview of the night's entertainment. [ she shakes her head ] We have to save as many as we can. But I don't know if I'll have any more luck getting in their skulls than I did in Spike's.