andres ♔ a tiger's waiting to be tamed

[nosdacariad]

♬ clocks - coldplay

WHO || Prince Marcus Andres, Jeanne Gar, Myrilandel de Tanos, Finnick Odair, Spike, Buffy Summers, Sterling Archer, Desmond Descant, Dimitris Sarandis, Lara Tamon, Michael Collins, Dana Green
WHAT || The lost Prince of Andres leads a team of Knights in a coup against Dimitris Sarandis, to reclaim his throne
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || September 19th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam

[ It seems that Wynn was hoping for Sir Mark Sandazhard to reveal his true identity, and to lead the charge against Dimitris Sarandis' tyrannical hold over the island he was born to rule.   He was not disappointed, and Prince Marcus Andres stands poised to lead the group of Knights who he's worked beside for two years, to confront Sarandis, save their friend Kat, and search the castle dungeon for the captive Dragon's Claw, Sir Thomas Bancroft.    

Before they attempt to answer the castle, however, it's time to reunite the Prince with his childhood friends on the Isle, who had long held out hope that he was still alive, including his once-betrothed, Countess Lara Tamon.  Their first task will be to convince Lara to make a risky attempt to draw Kat out of the castle.  

The fate of their captured allies, and the future of Andres Isle, lie in their hands.  ]

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

[See this is why you don't cut the thing's arm off. It just slid out of Des's gut like... wow there is still no way to make anything in this thread not sound so sexual. His hand goes to his wound and he winces, but it's not that bad.]

I'm ready to get the hell where we're going. If there's anything else down here that ain't Thomas, they're gonna have to wait 'til Andres is a free country again.

[He spits blood on the floor to punctuate that. So classy.]

[bigbad]

Uh... right. [He grimaces.] This'll hurt.

[Not that she couldn't have guessed that, or like it's probably particularly comfy now. Anyway, gonna shove the spike the rest of the way through now (str 19). At least they have a cleric and Vi's magic flowers....]

[slay]

[ With a grunt and 11 damage, Buffy reaches out to grip Spike's shoulder as the arm comes out of her. Her eyes widen because wow that was bracing, but she stays steady on her feet. ]

Thanks. [ Reaching up, she wipes blood from her mouth. Because she is dainty, unlike Des. ] I hate to admit it, but Des is right. We don't have time to waste on things like this and ... whatever that ghost was. We need to safe our strength for Sarandis.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des sympathy winces and moves out of the cell. Luckily, his wound isn't too severe (with that whole ten hp he lost...), so he figures he's okay aside from the... pain of getting stabbed.]

I do love being right. [He leans against the wall, figuring Myri will want another heal-up with what few spells she has before they go.]

[nosdacariad]

Are we not going to talk about what that was and why it was down here?

[65]

[wis 20 total because finnick is smart sometimes when it comes to ... solving weird hunger games-esque mysteries.] Maybe its whistling was meant to demoralize any surrounding prisoners, the way it did Spike and Gar.

[slay]

Maybe ...

[ She stares down at where it had been crouched, eyes dark. Turning, she departs the cell because they really should get this show on the road, but they're totally okay to talk about the demon thing on the way. ]

Something's not adding up, though. It's not just the stabbing thing—although, hey, stabbing. That thing fought exactly like the robot from the rooftop. It doesn't make any sense.

[rationalizes]

[ gar approaches a bit sheepishly, but hears buffy's comment and adds: ] Or perhaps ... it was the robot that fought exactly like it.

[slay]

One of Sarandis' science experiments?

[ That ... does add up, actually. Although he'd have to have a REALLY good study team to simulate it that closely, damn. ]

[rationalizes]

I doubt his-- his technology could control such a creature. Which may be why it was locked up here instead, where he might take... inspiration from it.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des smacks his head against the wall lightly, closing his eyes.] That doesn't even touch how he got it in the first place.

[slay]

Friends in low places. I wouldn't put it past the Mind Master to be able to take that thing down for the count so he could stick it in his collection.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des's jaw twitches a bit as he starts to reload his gun.] Yeah, I thought so too.

[He glances up.] Let's get back on the road, gang, before the next surprise finds us.

[nosdacariad]

We're here to find Thomas, and then wait for the other team to send Dimitris and Kat right to us. I don't think we should beat ourselves up for actually taking the time to investigate what we find down here.

[nothingsodivine]

All things considered, I'd like to greet the bastard in one piece.

[Des totally forgot about the mission objective though. It happened somewhere between Spike getting EATEN and Buffy almost dying, and the penetration demon, so can you really blame him??]

[65]

So ... where would you like to look next? [he addresses mark. and not gar because finnick is not ruthi or des and totally remembered who's team captain today.]

[nosdacariad]

The rest of these cells look empty. [ mark glances in them as they move slowly and cautiously down the hall. ] I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news for Thomas. It could be the prison team's recovered him.

[nothingsodivine]

There's an optimistic take on things. [He doesn't want to be the one to say "Thomas could be dead," but it's probably on the back of their minds and it's one of those things they better make peace with. #pragmatist] So if we get to the end of the cellblock, then what? We wait for them to ferret Dimitris to us?

[rationalizes]

We let them know we're in position so that they can send a false message to Dimitris from the comm tower urging him to take shelter down here.

[slay]

Let's just try to make it to the end of the cellblock before we get too ambitious, huh?

[ Some of us are struggling to not die tonight. Buffy's heading off in that direction with little in the way of waiting. Her eyes remain peeled for more guests (spot 23). ]

[bigbad]

[Spike's walking down as well, still looking pretty unhappy about Buffy getting stabbed but... they're on a mission. There'll be time for healing later.

He keeps his eyes open as well (spot 32), though he's pretty much with Des on the plan to stay focused and not get Buffy stabbed again. Still, worth knowing what's down here, at least.]

[nosdacariad]

[ they emerge out from the hall of cells into a square room with a great sigil set in the floor - an ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail - with various words transcribed around it in a text that'd be unrecognizable to most of them. large torch-like sconces illuminate an elevator like contraption at the far end, and there's another hallway that branches off the third wall.

mark moves forward to examine the words. ] It's written in Andresian. Most people don't even know how to speak the language anymore, really. It's been years since I had classes but--

[ he cranes his neck, to read the circular phrase ] "The passage to eternity lies in bending the serpent to our will. Glory to God, glory to Man, glory to eternal life. Amen."

[slay]

That ... wouldn't by chance happen to specify that it's a metaphorical serpent, would it?

[nothingsodivine]

I doubt it. [Des follows Mark to examine the symbol.] The Snakebloods in New Orleans drew a symbol like that everywhere- only it was a double-looped serpent. [wis 19] Fits with what we've heard, doesn't it? This all started because of the Talisman, which supposedly grants eternal life. Hell, it might even explain why they keep so much company with snakes.

[nosdacariad]

Maybe the snakebloods are fascinated with immortality, too. Or whatever power they hope to gain from the Talisman. It could be that's why they agreed to even work for the Church - promises of a piece of what they've been after themselves. [ he points at the elevator ] That leads right up to the throne room. This was always meant to be an emergency shelter for the royal family - and a fast escape in case of siege.