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

[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.

[craic]

[ New guy Brendan gives Spike a shrug and a sideways sort of nod. ] I'm good, [ he says, like god-juice is a totally normal bit of vocabulary to need clarifying. ]

[ ALTHOUGH... ] Who are you people, exactly?

[moonheart]

[ faith looks at nick, frowning a bit as she chews that over, but chooses to respond to brendan rather than that. ] The Knights of the Silver Dragon. Modern day knighthood, saving the world from monsters and madmen.

[bigbad]

Problem is, she's reluctant to be liberated when she's got a god in her head watching her every move. We need some way to block his power long enough to let her get out before we figure out how to fix her permanently.

[moonheart]

Well, what she's got going on sounds different than what Vi had too. He slipped into what corner of vi's mind he could by force. If Nadia let him in, I don't want to think about what the inside of her head looks like right now.

[littledhampir]

You said he can watch her every move... Can he hear her thoughts as well? Know what she's trying to do?

[bigbad]

[He shakes his head.] I don't think so. She got a message to me by writing on the mirror and not looking at it, but she had to be thinking while she did it. She said he couldn't know what she felt.

[He looks over at Faith imploringly.]

But she wants him out now. We have to help her. She's miserable.

[littledhampir]

[Rose frowns, doing some mental math then reluctantly speaks up again.]

Do we know anyone as powerful as Keijen who isn't a mass murdering psychopath? [Brow raised.] Cause... I think maybe his powers might interrupt the mind connection... thing.

[Not even rolling for Wisdom there because Rose Wisdom and actual Wisdom are two different things.]

[telekinect]

I'm the most powerful telepath in the Knights, and I couldn't come close to what we saw out there. No one could. When I looked in Nadia's mind, I could tell that the god was enhancing her powers. He has to be doing the same for Blade, which means Blade took the same deal. He's probably in his head too.

[craic]

Is there a good god that could boost you like this evil one's doing for them? [ He sort of figures this is probably a stupid question for reasons he's unaware of but spits it out anyway. Unicorns and knights and shit are happening; he might as well just keep winging it. ]

[silvermaid]

The Nightmare Lord is opposed by the goddess of dreams - my grandmother, Sehanine. But channeling power that way is unnatural - dangerous. Nor do I think it could be done in this world, which is why I'm unsure of how he's managing it.

[bigbad]

The people he's using're all part-god themselves. Think that has something to do with it?

[desperatewarning]

I don't think so. It certainly might help, but I sincerely doubt that's all of it. [He looks at Ana and Faith. They're part god too.]

Perhaps someone back in London might have some idea. Given the night you've lot had, I'm surprised anyone can think straight at all.

[littledhampir]

[Nick's words prompts enough agreement from Rose to earn a huff of almost laughter, the brunette dragging her fingers down her face before moving to stand.]

Yeah I gave up thinking hours ago. [Had it been hours? Time has ceased to have meaning okay.] I'm gonna go... [Not sleep?!] Shower. I'm still covered in Blade sweat. [A beat.] Don't ask.

[telekinect]

[ Tia sneaks a glance vi's way ] I think we're all feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. We'll head back to London after we get some rest.

[ she looks to brendan ] Speaking of overwhelming, maybe just a couple of us could stay up to... answer the questions I'm sure you have.