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

[littledhampir]

But it's possible... [Her face falling, this clearly not the response she was hoping for even though it technically helps them to find Elena and Kyp.]

[likedillinger]

[ wow that was a nat 20 wisdom check go dean. ] ... Let me guess. This is about when it had your face, isn't it? Somebody not catching onto the fact.

[littledhampir]

[She just nods because. Y e p.] I wasn't supposed to be in the Castle. He knew that...

[She frowns, pulling one sleeve over her hand.]

You know, I wanna believe she had a really good reason for all this but... Why did she have to involve me? That was a choice, to let him use my face. Either she just didn't think or she just didn't care.

[likedillinger]

We catch up to her, she'll probably plead the first. But that's almost worse - if they just stop thinkin' about who they might be screwing over.

[littledhampir]

It's worse. [She agreed, swallowing hard.] At least if she decided she didn't care... It means she thought about it. Even just for a second.

[likedillinger]

Yeah well, instead she was likely thinking about herself or about some asshole that she chose over you. Best to prepare yourself for facing up to that.

[littledhampir]

[That didn't sit right with Rose and she frowned, shaking her head.]

No... She left a letter for somebody else so she at least... thought about what she was doing to other people. She was my best friend. I guess I just wasn't much of anything to her.

Anyway. [The universal sign for if I keep having this conversation I'm going to break and I'd really like to not do that k, thanks.]

[likedillinger]

[ he knows that look well ok b/c he's usually the one giving it ] What else can you tell me about the other one?

[littledhampir]

[Yes. Good. This she can do, focus on the psychopath and not her own self pity.]

God complex, big time. He thinks he's better than humans. [Piecing together snippets from Elena's Knighting Ceremony and her visit to the Dungeon.] That we're limited because we see the humanity in things. Manipulative... very. [His words to Elena at the Party.]

But he's scared... [He'd seemed at least a little scared of her and what Wynn might do.] I might have suggested that we were going to torture him... a lot. I can generally tell how tough somebody is based on whether they look like they might wet themselves when I'm throwing death threats around.

[Kyp? Not as tough as he'd liked to think. Keijen?! Rose should run screaming. Rose Logic.]

I think he might actually be crazy. I mean, really crazy like... he's worn so many faces he doesn't even know who he is because, he doesn't see anything wrong with it. That or he's just a sociopath...

And I think... he wants to matter. I honestly think the worst thing that could happen to him? Is if he were thrown into the deepest, darkest dungeon we could find and nobody ever bothered to talk to him again.

[Also. Uncle Jesse. JS.]

[likedillinger]

So we need to work out who he wants to matter to. If he's such a showboat, it'll help us figure out where to look.

[littledhampir]

[An answer immediately pops into Rose's brain that makes her shift uncomfortably.

Elena.

Given what he'd done to her, that thought quite literally makes her want to throw up so, she keeps her mouth shut.]

I don't know... He's been doing work for this guy... Dimitris something or other. [She frowned.] Something in the letter she left, made Wynn think they were probably headed to a place called... Andres Isle? You heard of it?

[likedillinger]

The place with the psycho prince who offed his own ma? Yeah, made the news years back. Isn't Dimitris the name of the Prime Minister?

[littledhampir]

[This is the face of somebody whose mun just rolled a 6 on her Knowledge check.]

Y e s ? I just know. Island. Off limits to the Knights right now. Dimitris. Bad?

[likedillinger]

So we're up against a guy with his own private island. How very James Bond.

[littledhampir]

[Apparently Rose likes Bond films I guess (PCK 17).]

Right?! [She shrugs.] Things could get difficult if they've gone to Andres but... It's just Knights that can't go there. You're not a Knight and I'll do what I have to do.

[likedillinger]

Great. So this is gonna turn into one big game of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago. [ MORE PLANES, REALLY ]

[littledhampir]

[...]

I don't know who Carmen Sandiago is but I don't see what she has to do with any of this.

[2. Okay. I got a Pop Culture Knowledge of 2.]

[likedillinger]

It was a joke. [ wow cas don't you understand that reference ] A bad one, I guess.

Doesn't matter.

[littledhampir]

[TMW Dean discovers he's with somebody who has the Pop Culture knowledge of Cas with the Bitchface of Sam. Oh yeah. And she has voices in her head and can see dead people. How is Rose not an SPN character.]

Oh... [Crickets chirp.] Right. [Clearly this happens to Rose. Like a lot.]

Can I ask a question? [One she's going to ask anyway.] Why'd you agree to come? I mean... yeah I threatened to shoot you in the face and, I really wasn't joking about that but... I mean you still could have said no.

[likedillinger]

With that laundry list of crap you'd been through? Stopping monsters from screwing with people is what I do. Wasn't about to leave you high and dry.

[littledhampir]

[Rose regards him a moment, letting those words sink in before finally offering a nod in reply, opting for silence over thank you's as she filed that away.]

Anything else you wanna know? [A beat.] Other than where there's a secret stash of mini bottles on the plane? [A tiny smile.]

[likedillinger]

Anything else I can probably get from your boss. What's this guy like, anyway?

[littledhampir]

Wynn?! [Rose sinks back against the headrest, actually giving that question real thought.

It happens sometimes.]

Firm but fair... He's not one of those, hold your hand for you types you know? He might nudge you in the right direction but at the end of the day he lets you make your own choices and I like that.

He's why I joined the Knights. Him and... Luthir. I was with a group hunting vamps in Chicago a while back and we stumbled on a nest of them. Luthir and some other Knights were there, had my back. I'd probably be dead if it weren't for them. Or worse.

[That's not an awful bit of nostalgia or anything.]

Wynn just kind of... gets people. [A beat.] It's a little intimidating sometimes but he's - he doesn't demand loyalty. He earns it, if that... makes sense.

[likedillinger]

I can tell he's got yours, at least.

So you used to be a hunter? [ he sounds... surprised ]

[littledhampir]

[She considers that, then slowly nods.] Yeah I - [Searching for a word.] Respect him. [She shrugs.] Not that I know him that well it's just, my gut I guess.

[Pretty much, its the way he handled her the first time they met. Plus, he let Davin join the Knights and then he didn't deny her being angry over Elena. Wynn handles Rose without making Rose feel like she's being handled and I swear to god Arden if you make Wynn turn evil Rose is going to burn the castle to. the. ground.]

I killed Vampires. [A beat.] Mostly. Not sure that makes me a hunter but, yeah. [Another shrug.] What, you think only guys who hang out in hunter bars can handle themselves on the streets of Chicago? [The smallest hint of a grin.]