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

[parsecs]

[Wow, you are not Princess Leia-hot.] Easy, sister, I'm a married man. I ain't asking you to do a whole lot more pretending than holding onto my arm. Think you can handle that?

[trebond]

And quite a happy marriage it must be for you to use it as your first standby. Tempted though I am by your charms, Sir Solo, I'll decline. [ She scowls. ] You'll be my brother, or nothing at all.

[parsecs]

You haven't done many cons, have you?

[trebond]

I'm a knight, not a bloody rogue. How many have you run?

[parsecs]

Enough. I wasn't always a knight. They're gonna assume we're a couple anyway, and we don't look that similar. Yeah, we could probably convince 'em, but it'd be strange enough that they might remember us. The trick is to get 'em not to think of us at all. That means keeping it simple and going with what they're most likely to believe easily.

Don't worry, you just have to smile and look pretty. I'll do the talking.

[socialgraces]

[ oh god, she can tell alanna isn't going to take that well... so she'll just interject here ] We're almost there. Who wants to go in first?

[trebond]

[ Alanna reaches across Han to pull open the car door on his side and subsequently


throws him out.

That answers that. ]

[parsecs]

[Wow Alanna that's some serious bending you're doing. Han stands up and scowls at her.]

Liking it's not required either, your knightliness. But if you can't play along, you may as well stay in the car.

[socialgraces]

[ francesca glances back at the two of them in mild frustration, mostly because THAT WAS A VERY RUDE THING TO DO TO THE DRIVER OF SAID VEHICLE. seriously, this thing needs child safety locks x( ] You two go in first and Helen and I will come in a little while after, making it easier for you to slip away in the chaos.

[trebond]

[ Alanna nods at Francesca's prompting, then climbs out of the backseat and moves around the car to reach Han where he is grouching. ]

You didn't say it had to be a happy marriage.

[daredtobelieve]

[ugh children.]

If you're nearly finished? [Stern looks for both Han and Alanna tbh. Even if Alanna is her boo, now is not the time.] We need to focus on the task at hand. There are few knights that would take on this sort of endeavor, and fewer still that I would believe could possibly succeed in bringing home a confused young woman who likely could be in grave danger.

[parsecs]

...yeah. [The stakes are high on this one, and though his professional pride means he wants her to just admit he knows best, it's more important they get the job done.]

Look, if all goes well, the cover story won't even matter. Just... act friendly and let 'em think what they want.

[Which will probably be that they're married, but that's not the point.]

[trebond]

Oh, shut up, would you?

[ She grabs him by the arm and glances back at the car, then up and down the walkway before heading into the hotel with him. There's a bit of a shove in the way she pulls him along with her, but it does ... pretty effectively make her look like a flustered wife on vacation with her boy. ]

[parsecs]

Yes, dear. [He rolls his eyes as they make their way into the hotel.]

[trebond]

[ Okay time to find the concierge desk — oh, to the right. She drags Han off in that direction nonchalantly, scanning the lobby for any security or other threats (spot 16). ]

[daredtobelieve]

[There aren't any security guards present in the lobby currently, but Alanna does spot a few cameras up above, monitoring the entire area. The man at the concierge desk greets them with a wide smile.]

And how can I help you today?

[Back at the car, Helen is getting a bit antsy with Francesca.]

How long do we give them, then?

[parsecs]

[Han smiles back at her, hooking an arm around Alanna's waist.]

Hi. We were hoping you had a room open. [Bluff 24.]

[trebond]

Something with quite a bit of space. A couch, maybe.

[ For husband. ]

[socialgraces]

[ she turns to helen only minutes after the other two leave ] Now should be long enough. [ and she'll climb out of the car, adjusting her sunglasses ]

[parsecs]

[Oh my god, Alanna, he is never taking you along again. He'll fake marry someone else next time. Amazingly, he manages not to glare at her (will save 16).

The hotel clerk sees nothing wrong with this picture (sense motive 9). "I've got a lovely room with a bunch of insert interesting hotel room description details here," he says.

Han glances over at Alanna.]

That sounds nice. How bout it, honey?

[trebond]

I'm not sure.

[ primarily because she doesn't spot franny and helen inside yet (spot 18) out of the corners of her eyes. ]

Do you have some sort of list with rates and descriptions? I'd rather like to look at my options.

[daredtobelieve]

[With a nod to Francesca, Helen starts for the hotel, putting on her best angry expression in the process. She's meant to be outraged about Crombe's lecture, after all.

At the desk, the man lets out an exasperated sigh and gives a slightly sympathetic look to Han. "Of course. Let me just pull up our list of amenities." This will take him a moment.]

[parsecs]

[Han smirks and shrugs a shoulder, meeting the man's eyes and rolling his.] Whatever you want, dear.

[trebond]

[ Waiting with a sour, impatient look that is not at all a lie. She's keeping her mouth shut in the interest of not making this harder on them. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Suddenly! Helen Appears down the way of the long front desk, slamming a hand to the counter.]

I need the room number of that bastard Crombe! [LOUD NOISES!! Intimidate 31 so she is looking really angry. Which is the point, right?]