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

[craic]

Thought I knew your face from somewhere. Cheers. [ He gives Finnick another little up-nod and ambles along with the rest toward the hotel. ]

[moonheart]

[ AND UP THEY ALL GO~

once everyone's in the hotel room... ] Does anyone want to explain what just happened out there?

[desperatewarning]

[There is no longer a unicorn in your party. In his place is a seven feet tall gangly man with glasses who looks very, very tired.

You would be too if Archer rode you half the night. PHRASING??]

I'd very much like an explanation for that, myself.

[telekinection]

Our best guess? [ she glances at rose ] This has something to do with the concert Keijen Blade's band put on last evening in the city. We were there, and we saw what he was doing: mind controlling the audience, planting some kind of suggestion in their brains that I couldn't even begin to read.

He almost made Archer and Rose kill themselves onstage, in front of the crowd.

[littledhampir]

[Finally something that drags Rose from her thoughts, taking her cue from Tia to contribute more than one word answers to the conversation,]

Did you get a look at how they were dressed? [Somebody has been doing math and not failing hard for once. (Wisdom 20 Total.] They looked like Blade groupies. [Thank you earlier spot check.] That's what gave me the idea to talk to them.

[graveflowers]

[ vi wearily looks over at the group as she passes finnick an actual towel, reluctantly putting some more pieces together. (wis 18) ] That must be why Chad's creepy cult scooped up Chad. Access to the artists gives them access to the fans. Especially with Keijen and Nadia's fans, their music is made for outsiders. No one will really mind if Shadowkind walk themselves into the Hudson. [ a beat. ] I mean, the coroner might mind, he's going to be working late. Added bonus that Keijen is super great pals with the Nightmare Lord. They might find working with him distasteful, but I doubt they mind the power he brings their "cause".

[craic]

[ New guy "Brendan" is going to linger near Faith, because why not. He gives the extremely tall man a brief, slightly puzzled look, but otherwise for the time being he just listens, leaning against whatever surface is most convenient and doing his best to sort of fade into the backdrop of the conversation for a bit and absorb. ]

[asuma]

[Klaus is sort of doing the same, though he's focused just as much on Spike, Rose, and Archer because he is paranoid as fuck and still considers all three of them to be compromised.]

[silvermaid]

But why would the Nightmare Lord ever wish to work with those looking to subjugate Shadowkind? Or even drive them to their deaths? He's drow himself.

[desperatewarning]

No offense meant, but drow aren't always the most tolerant of species.

[he's just saying.]

[graveflowers]

I don't know. Keijen said he, Hey Macarena, didn't talk... to the rest of his gang, they found it distasteful. [ her nose wrinkles and she shifts uncomfortably, trying to think back to what he had told her in her dream. ] He seemed to just be in it for what he could gain from us -- whatever deal Nadia made with him for her power, he can see through her eyes. I was useful to him and set myself up like a fucking fool, that's all. I don't think he gives a shit about anyone in this world. Keijen needed me to say yes because the Nightmare Lord was going to send him home as a reward. [ now he's stuck here and luthir is dead and it's violet's fault. if she had just stood her ground and said yes... ]

[moonheart]

If he doesn't care about anything in this world, why does he want to see it so badly?

[graveflowers]

[ shrug, that was all the energy she had to answer and... all she knows anyway. ] Because he's bored and he enjoys torture?

[littledhampir]

Maybe we're a threat. [Putting words to her thoughts.] Maybe that's why he wants the Shadowkind dead because we can take him down.

[graveflowers]

[ quietly: ] He was nearly impossible to defeat as a shadow. Killing a god is... [ actually impossible, is what she wants to say. fucking impossible. ]

[silvermaid]

Something none of us are expected to do. We've no reason to believe such a thing would be necessary. [ anastacia has strong feelings on this shit, ok ]

[littledhampir]

[Rose was kind of hoping somebody else would pipe up with a solution or theory but okay, she'll bite.]

Then what are we expected to do?

[asuma]

Sit tight for now, as we were instructed. [Look at Klaus being all reasonable.]

If further intervention is required, I trust that we'll be informed of such when the time arrives.

[littledhampir]

[Just. You can have a look Klaus. Trying to throw herself at Keijen on stage and two magically induced suicide attempts does not a complete idiot make Rose.]

I mean, long term. All this ties back to a god that we can't kill?

[asuma]

[Klaus counters that look by smiling like the smug ass he is. She is still compromised as far as he's concerned ok.

[ROSE SETTLE DOWN WE DON'T EVEN GO HERE. WE'RE JUST THE GUEST SPOTS.]

[moonheart]

The gods can't work directly on this world, anyway. That's why they need people like Blade.

We stop whoever's pimping out the god-juice, we stop the god.

[craic]

God juice? [ His eyebrows can't quite decide if they're incredulous or curious. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike looks over at the new guy, quirking an eyebrow.] If it's too much to handle, you should probably leave before you end up recruited. We've got nightmare gods giving power in exchange for... well. What you saw outside.

[He turns to the rest of the group.]

I think Nadia'll help us if we find a way to free her from her deal.

[graveflowers]

It took Jade's mom to break her deal, I'm not sure we have that kind of power.

[desperatewarning]

You might. [Nick looks to Faith, briefly, uncertain.] It would be risky, but if you can liberate her, I would be happy to lend whatever help I could in freeing that poor woman.