CHAPTER THREE ♔ what's done in the dark will be brought to the light

[wynn]

♬ god's gonna cut you down - johnny cash

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || The aftermath of Chapter 2
WHERE || London, England and variou
WHEN || Evening of June 7th --> onwards
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

In less than twenty-four hours, everything has turned on its head.

A Knight and her allies were kidnapped by Iscariot agents for execution in Rome, barely escaping with their lives.

A mission meant to free one Knight from the influence of a dark god succeeded - at the price of another's life.

A simple recon mission at a Keijen Blade concert nearly led to two Knights committing mind-controlled suicide in front of an eager crowd.

Several Knights went to see Draken Crombe, leader of the Church of the Lord's Humanity, speak in person, and learned just how sinister his religion's dogma is.

A call from Sir Hathaway alerted Wynn to the escape of the doppelganger from the Knight's dungeons, an escape perhaps aided by Elena Gilbert.

A demigod interrupted what might have been a simple smash and grab retrieval of an artifact.

And most horrific of all, in the middle of the night, hundreds of Shadowkind in New York City awoke, and walked in a mindless trance down to the Hudson River to drown themselves. Only the quick thinking and combined efforts of the Knights present and their allies prevented all of them from succeeding.

Beset on all sides, a dark time awaits for the Knighthood - who were already suffering from the capture of Dragon's Claw Sir Thomas Bancroft at the hands of their long time enemy Dimitris Sarandis of Andres Isle.

In times such as these, the light can be difficult to find. Hope itself seems somewhere just out of reach.

Comments

[trebond]

I only spoke to the creature once. I can't say I'm well-versed in its motives, but it did work with our enemies once before, did it not?

[ alanna is charging after, fastening a short sword around her hip. ]

Perhaps an answer can be found in that.

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen is worried sick, to be completely honest. While she's heard the whispers that Elena was the one who set Kyp free, she's struggling to believe it. It's entirely possible that the girl had fooled her in their meetings, but Helen's gut tells her that Elena must have had a reason- or worse, she might have been coerced in some way.]

Unfortunately, the few times I've spoken with her, she never gave me much indication of places she might frequent.

[People don't really advertise the local venues for doppelgangers anonymous. She glances at Alanna.]

You may be right. We may have more luck trying to obtain information from less seemly sources.

[parsecs]

They'll probably be trying to leave the pl--country. Least til the heat dies down. [A beat.] Then again, they can look like anybody. Maybe they won't bother.

[Han wants to drive, but he's not bothering to say anything about it for now. He's busy trying to strategize.]

[socialgraces]

Make sure to keep your phone close by, in case Lis'sa is able to send word about any phone or car traces. [ as they reach the garage, she pushes the unlock button on the key remote, and it's easy to locate the correct vehicle by its flashing lights ]

The only leads we have on the enemy is what's happening on Andres, and the mission group sent to New York yesterday. Otherwise I'm not really sure how to obtain such information. [ she also feels the need to verbalize what helen is thinking ] I'm not sure I can imagine Elena helping the enemy of her own free will.

[daredtobelieve]

No, but she was nearly on the verge of feeling like an outsider in our own walls. She's young and impressionable and hurting because she's not sure what to make of finding out just what she is.

[Helen shakes her head as she walks.]

I don't know what happened that brought us to this point, but I can only imagine her doing this if she was forced or if she thought it might get her some of the answers she so desperately needs.

[parsecs]

She might be young and impressionable, but he knows what he's doing. They won't be dumb enough to keep the phone and the car. Trust me, by the time we get the traces, they'll be long gone. [Speaking as an old pirate who's had to escape planets before. First rule: ditch anything that can be tracked.] Worse, they'll probably take further from the trail. Let other people follow those trails.

[socialgraces]

What about Crombe? He has some ties to them, as well, and he was just in London a few hours ago. Perhaps there was a reason they chose to make their escape now. Maybe the have some sort of rendezvous point.

[daredtobelieve]

Now, there's an idea. Do we know where the convention speakers were staying?

[trebond]

I can call Jeanne. [ she already has her phone out. ] She's likely to have a full roster, seeing as she's a presenter herself.

[socialgraces]

[ francesca nods, opening the driver side door and climbing in. she starts the car up as she waits for everyone else to pile in. ]

[parsecs]

[WHAT NO HAN WANTED TO DRIVE. But he only stops for a second before going around to take shotgun. Not exactly time to argue.]

[trebond]

[ backseat and ringing up gar! ]

[daredtobelieve]

[In the back with Alanna, looking worried and determined all at once.]

[socialgraces]

[ well, there's basically only one road out of the castle, and if they're thinking london, she'll just head that way (drive 26) while they wait for gar to answer ]

[rationalizes]

[ except gar... doesn't answer D: oh noooo ]

[trebond]

There's no reply.

[ she lowers the phone, looking between her companions. ]

Helen, would you run a search for the convention on the Web? Perhaps there's further information to be found in the announcement of the event.

[socialgraces]

That seems the next logical option, yes.

[parsecs]

Probably not a good sign. [Han leans over to look at the dashboard.] Can't this hunk of junk go any faster?

[daredtobelieve]

[That's... a bit odd about Gar. Helen gives Alanna a concerned glance before nodding and pulling out her phone to try to sort out if she can track down any mention of specific hotels that were accommodating the speakers.Apparently the google fu is strong as hell for Helen because she got a nat 20 research check.]

It seems the Wellingford may be our best bet. [/makes up fake fancy ass sounding hotels]

[trebond]

If anything's happened to her, I'm certain we'll find out what it is when we arrive.

[ talking about it won't help ok. she grits her teeth at han's comment and meets helen's gaze in the mirror as she speaks. ]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca steps on the gas, going as fast as she can without drawing unwanted attention ] I'm sure she's just busy searching, as are we.

Can someone pull the address up on their GPS?

[parsecs]

[Oh right Han's shotgun that's probably his job rather than... wishing he was driving. He pulls it up (use computer 18).]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen's phone rings]

It's Ric. Maybe he's found something.

[Picking up!]

Please tell me you have good news.

[trebond]

Have they found her?!

[ that was fast :o ]

[parsecs]

Could be they were still in the castle after all. Seeing as they can look like anyone.