andres ♔ but what he told me last night lays on me like lead

[affianced]

♬ dear ophelia - abney park

WHO || Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Kat, Gar, Archer, Des, Rafael, Fred Jr., Vi, Rocket, Lara, Dimitris  [Closed]
WHAT || A diplomatic mission to Andres Isle goes about as successfully as one would guess
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || August 15th  [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Even the briefing for this mission went well, with Wynn walking in on Dragon's Claw Jack Chessing macking on Sir Gar, in direct violation of his vows of, er, abstinence, both romantically and physically.   Following the briefing, and the team's attempts to make Wynn see reason in the face of Jack's resignation, they gathered up a large amount of weapons of all kinds into their private plane and took off for Andres Isle.  

Upon arrival, they found the island did not match up to their expectations.  Instead of fields of torture, they found themselves in a very upscale part of the city, full of affluent manor houses close to the palace.   They spun a cover story upon learning about a party there, using Finnick's celebrity on Andres to get access to the festivities.  

Inside, they met Dimitris Sarandis, Prime Minister of Andres Isle, who invited them to stay for the party, which was being thrown in honor of Countess Lara Tamon, who had helped Jack, Spike and Myri escape from their torment on the Isle.  They took the opportunity to chat up the local aristocracy, picking up the vibe that most of them had either benefited from Dimitris' rise to power, or were too afraid to stand up to him.  Spike talked to the Marquesse de Lyons, and learned that her son, Percy, had been a friend of the late Prince's, and had died shortly after voicing his belief that Sarandis had framed the Andres family in order to seize power.   Archer was shocked to find his manservant Woodhouse employed at the palace, and extra annoyed to learn that he didn't remember him.  For once, Archer found a reason to care about liberating the Andresians... if not purely for selfish reasons.

The party itself was to announce the breaking of the betrothal that had long stood between Lara and the late Prince, even after his death, a blemish on the reputation of the Tamon family that Sarandis sought to rectify by arranging a new betrothal: between Lara and her childhood friend, Lord Michael de Collines (aka Michael Collins).  Neither of them seemed particularly thrilled about the arrangement.  Lara managed to sneak a message to Myri to meet her that night under the bridge.

Following the announcement, the gang went to speak to Sarandis in private and find out his demands for the safe return of Sir Thomas Bancroft.  He wasted no time in making clear his position - he painted the Knight's vigilante attitude towards policing the world as the ultimate evil, and warned that no more Knights would set foot on Andres, lest they be killed.  He also demanded that Wynn himself bring the artifact Excalibur to the island to give to him - so that Dimitris could behead Wynn in exchange for Thomas' life.  The demands were met with outrage by the Knights, and in the face of their fear that Thomas was not even still alive, Sarandis agreed to let one of them stay the night to speak with the Dragon's Claw.   He specified that Kat be the one to stay, and despite protests, she agreed, and convinced Gar to let her stay.  

The other Knights headed back into town, where Gar, Fred Jr., and Vi headed to the nearby hotel to wait to hear from Kat, and be ready in case they should need to reach the palace quickly.  The others headed to the bridge across the river, where they met with Lara and her friend Lord Dana Green, another of her childhood friends.  They explained the situation on the Isle, and how many of the younger generation wished to see things returned to the way they'd been before, but the challenges they faced in doing so seemed almost insurmountable to them.  Lara expressed her fears that toppling Sarandis' rule would only wind up putting Andres in an even worse position.  They also related how Dimitris had created programs and taxes that had basically banished Shadowkind to the other side of the river and left them all but destitute, all while pumping more and more money into the coffers of the rich, particularly those serving on his Parliament.   She secured the Knights' promise to help in every way they could, and Myri asked her to show the way back into the woods where she'd found them before.

Finnick, Archer, and Rafael crossed the bridge into the Shadow village to do some recon, and spoke with a local tavern owner/dwarf who related that people down here were turning up missing more and more often - likely to feed Dimitris' experiments in the woods.  They seemed largely disheartened, but could potentially be talked into fighting if giving the means to do so.

In the woods, the others ran across a strange talking raccoon named Rocket, who was running for his life from a beholder, which the party managed to take down.  They discovered that Rocket had escaped from captivity in Dimitris' labs, and he was none too happy at the prospect of going back, even to show them where it was.  They argued briefly over the best course of action - whether the break out would be the best or worse time to try to make their way into the lab, particularly given that Dimitris had Kat as well now. 

Comments

[affianced]

[ there seems to be some kind of mechanism attached to the beholder... on what was once the back of its head, probably. it's flashing with a red steady light, and looks wired right into its skin. ]

That followed you from the prison?

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket only gets close enough to see what the hell it is, before he backs the fuck up again.]

Yeah. That thing was wired into its brain so it could receive a signal from somewhere. Soon as word spread I was loose, they busted it out, I guess.

[And back to the bourbon. Something hits him and he gestures with the flask.] And if you think that's bad? It's nothin' compared to what's waitin' back at the prison. It ain't gonna do y'all any good to go back there. The place is crawlin' with guards lookin' for me and if Sarandis has heard by now, it's gonna get pretty hairy. You're never gonna get in- it took me two months to get out and breakin' outta prisons is a specialty of mine.

[affianced]

Break in? [ lara turns to stare at myri with wide, troubled, horrified eyes ] You don't even know that your friends are there! It's as good as suicide!

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket looks from Lara to Buffy and there's a flicker of something in his fuzzy expression that looks pained, but he shakes it off and finishes off the remainder of the flask.] And there's more where that thing came from anyway. You'd be lucky if I can even get you within ten feet of it.

[He was trying to tell you this, but you were all... You know. You. And he really needs a way off this island, but hey. Maybe logic will win out now that everything is calm.] If your friends are there, they're probably screwed. No one who goes in there comes out lookin' good and that's assumin' they come out at all.

[bigbad]

We got out. [He looks over at Myri.] And it was thanks to the guy we got stuck in there now.

[slay]

Wow. You know, much as I appreciate the entirely unwelcome peanut-gallery commentary, we're on a time crunch, and I am not leaving this island without my friends.

[ This whole 'never getting to come back' thing is a thing that Buffy takes very seriously—she's not up for risking leaving anyone here with that in mind. ]

[affianced]

How do you know that your friends are even being held there? If they aren't, and Dimitris learns of what you've done, he's certain to kill them.

[nothingsodivine]

She's right, Blondie. The vermin's been overturning trash cans in this neck of the woods, so the chances of him taking Kat here are slim. Our best option's to get back into the castle while he's trying to find his missing freak.

[Rocket takes so much offense to every word out of Des's mouth and is now growling at him but he holds his temper in check. The dice did not want newly mortal des to get mauled by a raccoon.]

[slay]

He's taking Kat to where Thomas has been held. Jack, Myri, and Spike were all here—why wouldn't Thomas be here too? I don't think there's a less likely place for him to be keeping prisoners than in his castle during a house party.

[affianced]

And you're willing to risk their lives on that? [ she shakes her head ] If he's bothered to meet with you at all, then he knows he needs to keep his leverage alive, or he won't have any. If he wanted to kill them, why wouldn't he have just killed all of you, instead of letting you run about the island?

Maybe he wants you to make the first move, to justify starting a war. If I know one thing about Dimitris, it's that he always tries to set the stage to make himself look as if he had no other choice. Openly attacking him is likely to be exactly the excuse he's looking for to start a massacre.

[bigbad]

He's asking for Wynn's head. He's not really waiting for justification at this point.

[Spike frowns. He doesn't like the thought of wasting the one night they have here either, but he likes even less the thought of being captured again. He'd rather die.

Of course, that's a pretty likely option at the rate they're going.]

Course, if we guess wrong, if we invade the wrong place and can't get Thomas...

[They'll do no one any good if they're captured. And he doesn't like to think on what they might learn from Buffy.

Lucky Des, he'll probably be killed quickly now that he's mortal and useless!]

[slay]

Are you completely blind? There is no version of this where there is no war.

[ And truthfully, she looks like she regrets that fact, but it's the one truth she walked out of the meeting with Dimitris with. They aren't going to talk sense into him. They aren't going to push this aside with diplomacy. The war's already starting. ]

[witchwoman]

[Myri looks to Lara, almost apologetic before shifting to stand beside Buffy, choosing her side of the argument physically as well as with what comes next.]

We have to. Sarandis has forced our hand. We only have tonight and we have to make it count. I can tell you that we won't attack him, won't harm anyone unless we have to. But we have to get in there, Lara. I've lived that nightmare. I've seen what he does to anyone he keeps within those walls. Our friends, my familiar... there are people from this island that haven't known a restful night of sleep in Stargods know how long.

[Spike's words seem to strike something in her.] We might be wrong. Thomas could be held elsewhere. But there's no way to know that. Tonight is all we have. After this, it all changes. Buffy's right. There will be war. We can only hope to bring them home before it begins.

[affianced]

Why are you certain you only have tonight? What happens tomorrow? [ she looks to myri anxiously, clearly feeling like she missed a memo here ]

[beatupgrass]

[rocket looks at the group open-mouthed and then runs his paws down his face.]

Tomorrow? [hysterical laughter. yeah. that laugh.] Tomorrow's the day I get my implants ripped out and skinned alive- and if I'm lucky? In that order. I'm sure the rest of you can hope for equally pleasant endings. Are you all freakin' insane?!

[witchwoman]

He'll demand we leave and said that any of our organization found on the island from then on would be killed on sight. It will become more difficult for us to hope to save our friends or anyone else. [/aggressively thinks about eebo and lucretia :( ]

[affianced]

He'll already try to kill all of you on sight once he realizes what you're doing. You have other friends here as well, don't you? Ones who aren't with us now?

[bigbad]

Yeah. One of 'em's with Thomas. [And his tone makes it clear he likes that just about as much as he likes Thomas being taken in the first place.] We've nothing but his word to tell us he'll give her back at the end of all this.

[slay]

Which is exactly why we can't sit around wasting any more time talking about it. We need to find them and get out of here. You don't have to come with; we'll still take you off this island with us when we go. But we need your help to find the entrance.

[affianced]

I told you: I'm not going anywhere until my people are-- [ and she stops, because she made the listen check 20+ to hear... things crashing through the woods towards them. a 20+ spot check notices the beholders in the distance.

plural. coming this way. ]

[beatupgrass]

Aw crap.

[succinct words from the raccoon.]

You wanna keep fighting those things all night? Be my guest. I'm getting the hell outta here

[AND HE'S OFF.

Des cringes.]

I think he has the right idea.

[witchwoman]

[Well, Myri got a nat 20 spot. She sees the fuck out of everything.]

More of them. [She grabs Buffy by the arm.] We have to go.

[slay]

[ well spot 22 and listen 25 she is all over this shit.

except she's too stupid to run. ]

We can't just leave them!

[ better go straight through. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike grabs her other arm. He didn't crit fail, so he sure sees what's coming too.]

We'll come back. Who gives a damn what Sarandis allows?

[And he gives her a str 20 yank, for all the good it'll do against her monster muscle life.]

[slay]

[ str 24 so she's ripping her arm away but at least he has her attention. she's just ... still not moving. ] And we'll get caught! Just like Thomas and Jack were!