The Knights Next Prequel

[I think I am here.]

“Yes, the ending marks go in the middle, but we’ll do that later,” Marcel said, calmly carving into the stamp.

“First there’s the condition. Then what the condition is. Then, what the stamp will do when the condition is correct. In this case... we’ll have it flash. Is that —” Sitting up he remembered her flashbacks. The seal only reminded her of fire when it flashed. “We’ll have it glow, once,” he said. “Not flash. Does that work?” He said, carving the sigils and trying to smile in a calming way.

[+Sorana]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Yes, the ending marks go in the middle, but we’ll do that later,” Marcel said, calmly carving into the stamp.

“First there’s the condition. Then what the condition is. Then, what the stamp will do when the condition is correct. In this case... we’ll have it flash. Is that —” Sitting up he remembered her flashbacks. The seal only reminded her of fire when it flashed. “We’ll have it glow, once,” he said. “Not flash. Does that work?” He said, carving the sigils and trying to smile in a calming way.

Gratefully Wita nodded. "Glowing is good." She told him and observed him, how he calmly continued to carve the symbols. It worked so well, every single one was neat and precise and she wondered if she would be as good as he was one day. She leaned a little closer, but made sure she wasn't obscuring the way he worked. She tried to follow the path the scalpel took, to make sure that she could remember how to carve each symbol correctly, although she suspected that she would forget it - Wita grimaced, her finger tapping on her bracelet. It would be easy. Just a little tapping and she could learn this in stride. She could remember the way he held the scalpel and - she would end up screaming in a corner. She had time. He had agreed that he was fine with her pace.

"Can everybody learn how to use the stamps?" She asked to distract her thoughts from the temptating wealth resting in her bracelet.

[I think I am here.]

On 29/11/2019 at 1:49 AM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

“Can everybody learn how to use the stamps?" She asked to distract her thoughts from the temptating wealth resting in her bracelet.

“Yes,”

Marcel said, casually carving into the bone. It was a simple enough seal, and while he wasn’t as good as his sister, he had enough experience to have a conversation while working on it. Once you got the idea for the seal in your head, the rest was just simply writing it down on the seal.

“It’s rare, though. Very few want to learn what they see as ‘blood magic’.”

He hesitated. “Well, it is blood magic, technically, but for many that means it is evil, and that is untrue. Bloodsealing, like any magic, is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the user, much in the same way Feruchemy is neither good nor bad.” He smiled and looked to Wita.

“But yes, anyone can learn, if they’re willing and have enough patience.”

Edited December 1, 2019 by Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[+Sorana]

17 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

He hesitated. “Well, it is blood magic, technically, but for many that means it is evil, and that is untrue. Bloodsealing, like any magic, is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the user, much in the same way Feruchemy is neither good nor bad.” He smiled and looked to Wita.

“But yes, anyone can learn, if they’re willing and have enough patience.”

"But you don't run around and harm people, do you?" She asked instead, although she knew the answer already. Of course he didn't. Otherwise he wouldn't be here with her, had agreed to take her as an apprentice and had tried to help the poor dead guy in the alley. He was a good man, and his magic was a tool. And she supposed that it was like with every tool. There were good people and there were bad people. Those that abused the power they had been given and those that didn't. But in the end, it all came down to one single fact. You were responsible for your own actions.

Wita remembered something and she got up, started to look through the cellar. The man had kept so many records above, and then all the older newspapers they had seen. She looked around and really, there were several boxes with older ones, sorted by date. Kneeling down she heaved one of them out of the shelf that contained records from about ten years ago. Her hands shook slightly when she tried to stop thinking about what she was doing and focused on the numbers instead. He hadn't kept everything, only some and then sometimes only a part but still, she felt numb when she saw the one she had been looking for. She averted her eyes from it's cover, it was thin, as if he had only kept the first few pages, but she bit her teeth, forced her self to reflect on that and at the same time to stay as she was, storing only a little bit. Carefully not looking at it, she got up and held it out to Marcel, nearly pushed it into his hands.

The cover was dominated by a picture of a burning house, and in short sentences, full of words fishing for attention it told the story of several houses that had burnt down completely. The reason for the accident was unknown and many had died in the flames. The firefightes called themselves lucky to rescue a child trapped underneath a burning log, and mourned one of their own that had died fighting the flames. For days the street had been covered in ash, blinking lights and every now and then more flames.

[I think I am here.]

On 02/12/2019 at 1:56 PM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

The cover was dominated by a picture of a burning house, and in short sentences, full of words fishing for attention it told the story of several houses that had burnt down completely. The reason for the accident was unknown and many had died in the flames. The firefightes called themselves lucky to rescue a child trapped underneath a burning log, and mourned one of their own that had died fighting the flames. For days the street had been covered in ash, blinking lights and every now and then more flames.

Marcel accepted the newspaper, stared at the image then read the accompanying text. A story of a massive fire, plenty dead, firefighters losing themselves in the flames and one rescued child. Briefly Marcel wondered what it had to do with Christopher, how it related to the other things he kept, when realisation hit him and he looked up to Wita.

“The child was you,” he said, sorrow in his words. He couldn’t imagine, to lose everything like that at such a young age, so quickly, to be in those conditions. Now he knew, why she disliked fire, the flashing stamp, now he knew what trauma she tried storing away in that metal bracelet of hers. Glancing back he looked to when the story had been written, a small date in the corner.

“You were just a child,” he said, rested the newspaper on his lap and looked at her. An unknown cause. That was odd, considering how large the fire had been, but then again, perhaps all witnesses had perished in the flames.

“I’m sorry. It is terrible,” Marcel said. Concerned he looked to Wita.

“Did you ever see a councillor?”

[+Sorana]

Wita continued to look through the newspapers, at least through the pages that the man had kept. It was the same. An accident, a murder, a crumbling house. And everytime, there was no reason. She spread them out on the ground, looked them over, carefully leaving the others about fires away. Idly she sorted them so that they were lying there in chronological order and only turned her head when Marcel adressed her again.

"I did." She replied quietly to his question. "For a while, then they stopped. I was storing, all the time. At one point, they gave up, accepted it as consequence of -" her hand described a vague circle. "They organized someone to look after me, got me a place in a house with disabled children and that was it. I repair the printers now and then, and help in the kitchen. Nobody expects me to talk anymore, so I don't." A wry grin touched her lips. "No and then I leave, go to a disco and dance. I like music. It doesn't care who you are, or what you do. It just is."

It felt strange to speak about it, stranger even that she could do so. She hadn't talked about this. Never. But then, nobody had listened so far. Getting up she walked over, wrapped her arms around him, burried her face against his chest.

[I think I am here.]

“Oh, seigneur,” Marcel said quietly when she hugged him, extended one arm around her, the incomplete bloodseal dripping onto the cellar floor from his other hand. Patting her on the back gently he looked to how she organised the newspapers, by their dates. Unexplained fires. It could be anything, though the nagging that Investiture was involved poked at his head. Maybe a Dustbringer. They were somewhat known for their infernal destructive capabilities.

“I like music too,” he replied and smiled.

“I remember back in France, when I was a kid, I used to have all the popular songs as cassettes. And when I came here, imagine my joy at seeing all of the songs just played freely, at discos and parties.” He smiled at the memory.

[+Sorana]

28 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“I remember back in France, when I was a kid, I used to have all the popular songs as cassettes. And when I came here, imagine my joy at seeing all of the songs just played freely, at discos and parties.” He smiled at the memory.

"I like cassettes." She smiled. "Their players are fascinating." She continued to hold on to him for a moment, before stepping back. She sat down in front of the newspapaers again. "Look." She pointed at them, at the different dates. "Accidents, murders," her fingers tipped on one that depicted a ruin, "a house that crumbled." Again she carefully skipped over those that spoke of a fire, trusted him to fill that part in by himself.

"And in every single case there was no reason. No murderer. They never found out how." she reached out for the postcard of Big Ben Ryan had found. "And now this guy is dead, and we've got nothing left but the postcard and some cryptic messages." It was too much to be a coincidence. All of them had some kind of magic, but before this night she had rarely met anybody like herself before. Maybe someone covered all of this. Maybe non of these had been an accident. Wita closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was unlikely. It was impossible to explain every crime that happened. But even if only a half of them - she continued to look at the different reports, the accidents, the crimes and considered the situation. Someone had killed Christopher. There had to be some kind of reason.

[I think I am here.]

On 07/12/2019 at 10:34 PM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

“And in every single case there was no reason. No murderer. They never found out how." she reached out for the postcard of Big Ben Ryan had found. "And now this guy is dead, and we've got nothing left but the postcard and some cryptic messages."

Marcel leaned forward, tried to read the newspaper headlines. Unexplained accidents, houses crumbling burning, or more murders. “And why would Christopher collect snippets of these accidents, unless they somehow meant something?”

Idly he looked up at the cellar roof, wondered how Kira was going.

“You’re right,” he said. “But lets go through those cryptic messages again, just in case.” Looking at the newspapers and then at his watch, Marcel began. It was almost midnight.

“The Big Ben. With the blueprints, you circled a place on Big Ben, the clock. ‘When the sun kisses the horizon, the portal will open’. That was the message Lewis found in the newspaper. Along with the Big Ben postcards, those anonymous cheques... what is this?”

Scratching more and more marks into the bloodseal, Marcel contemplated.

“He obviously has a care for this ‘portal’. That fabric patch I found with the blueprints kind of looked like a portal, you could say. Well, it was just a swirl of colours. He writes the date, so the ‘sun kissing the horizon’...” realisation hit Marcel as he looked up.

“He means this morning. This morning, the portal will open. A portal in Big Ben’s upper clock section, if the blueprints are correct. But why does he want to get to it? And why was he killed? Perhaps he wanted to leave? But no... why would he write that he misses his sister of that was the case? Hm.”

[+Sorana]

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Please take all the time you need, but if there is a way I can help you, tell me please?

@Ookla the Random

========================

51 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“He means this morning. This morning, the portal will open. A portal in Big Ben’s upper clock section, if the blueprints are correct. But why does he want to get to it? And why was he killed? Perhaps he wanted to leave? But no... why would he write that he misses his sister of that was the case? Hm.”

"Because he knew." Wita said quietly, when all the little pieaces fell into place. Her voice grew excited and she found herself stopping to store completely. She tapped a finger against one of the newspapers. "He suspected, that whoever wants to do something with the portal, was also behind a part of these accidents. There is always no reason - but what if that is, because there can be no reason? If there is no reason, because it was magic, just like you do and the police can't detect it, or maybe they don't know about all the different kinds."

She collected the newspapers and stacked them neatly in their box with all the other findings. "So if he suspected that they want to do something with the portal this morning - then maybe he knew that they try something evil, something that will harm those in the city, or maybe he wasn't sure about it."

Spreading her hands, she nodded at her conclusion. "And then they killed him, to make sure he couldn't tell anybody. Except that we were there. And we stopped them from finishing their deeds." She swallowed and a questioning tone entered her voice. "Do you think we should go and see what happens at Big Ben? That we should try to stop them? We didn't catch the brutes that killed Christopher - so they know about us. If we don't stop them - will they...?" stop us?

Edited December 9, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer

[I think I am here.]

59 minutes ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

Spreading her hands, she nodded at her conclusion. "And then they killed him, to make sure he couldn't tell anybody. Except that we were there. And we stopped them from finishing their deeds." She swallowed and a questioning tone entered her voice. "Do you think we should go and see what happens at Big Ben? That we should try to stop them? We didn't catch the brutes that killed Christopher - so they know about us. If we don't stop them - will they...?" stop us?

“Probably not,” Marcels said, nodded as more and more of what she said made sense. “They seemed like hired hands. They would mention us to their boss, but I doubt they would care. Or think we would be as deductive as we are. Or stubborn.” He smiled warily. A web had been discovered, a massive, overarching web discovered from a single thread. A single dead body.

“Christopher was planning to stop this group, with whatever they were doing at the portal,” Marcel repeated, looked at the newspapers, stacked neatly. “A group despicable enough to hire men to murder Christopher and that destroyed several houses a while ago.” He paused.

“Oui, we are going. My mother once told me — evil is not only doing bad, but allowing bad to be done. Looking back now, she must have been an expert in the matter, but the logic is there. We will go to Big Ben.” Marcel looked at the postcard.

“And we will stop them.”

Quote

Side note: Is there a canon reason we have for the evil group burning down and destroying houses and people? I had the idea that maybe since the evil group wants to keep Investiture separate (hence destroying the perpendicularity), they would have started out destroying families and homes of people with Investiture they didn’t deem ‘belonged’? Not sure.

 

[+Sorana]

3 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“And we will stop them.”

Wita tilted her head to the side at the mention of his mother, at the way he quoted her and at the same time spoke of her, as if he didn't like her at all. She must have been an expert. There was something there he didn't agree with, but she didn't ask, only reached out for his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. If her mother - she pressed her eyes together at the overwhelming sense of loss and pressed a hand to her chest, as if to hold something close.

"We have to stop them." She agreed mostly to speak of something else. "No matter what it is, if they are really responsible for all of this, then we have to." Swallowing at the loss that still ripped at her heart, at the scream that threatened to - Wita continued to keep her eyes closed, breathing erratic. She could do this, stop it, someone. Marcel had told her that there was a way to stop the flood to be bright and swimming. Mother, her mother.

She gasped, as if ringing for air, hand still pressed against her chest and then forced herself to look at the clues. "DoyouhaveanideahowtogetintoBigBen?" She asked quickly, words bluring together.

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No, we never really decided.

In my head, they used investiture for crimes and when they learned of the Perpendicularity, they tried to grasp that chance for themselves, saw a chance to create a "Investiture" monopol for themselves. As most people don't know that much about all and different types, I figured that maybe most of their cases never get solved, since they cover them up well. Like burning down houses to get money from their inssurance, or killing people hindering a deal. A little mafia style.

But I like your version as well. Maybe it's a mixture between greed and keeping the way they earn money secret?

 

[I think I am here.]

20 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

She gasped, as if ringing for air, hand still pressed against her chest and then forced herself to look at the clues. "DoyouhaveanideahowtogetintoBigBen?" She asked quickly, words bluring together.

“Wita,” Marcel said, leaned forward in his seat and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Relax. Deep breaths.” Demonstrating he deeply inhaled, held the breath for a while then did a loud exhale. He related the motion gestured for her to mimic him. He felt bad, that this was the only way he could help her, whatever she was feeling right now.

“Security will be an issue. We can distract them, I’m sure. Doors will be locked and the such, but I’m sure we’ll find a way. Now the issue is just - how to get there? There would be no buses at this time, and Big Ben isn’t really close by by any means.”

[AonEne]

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I'm picturing a glorious scene of Kira sliding everyone, and Marcel gives it the benefit of the doubt for five seconds and then uses a bloodseal to teleport himself or something 

 

[+Sorana]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Wita,” Marcel said, leaned forward in his seat and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Relax. Deep breaths.” Demonstrating he deeply inhaled, held the breath for a while then did a loud exhale. He related the motion gestured for her to mimic him. He felt bad, that this was the only way he could help her, whatever she was feeling right now.

“Security will be an issue. We can distract them, I’m sure. Doors will be locked and the such, but I’m sure we’ll find a way. Now the issue is just - how to get there? There would be no buses at this time, and Big Ben isn’t really close by by any means.”

Wita followed his gesture, inhaled, held her breath for a moment and then exhaled again. She repeated it once, twice, concentrated on his hand on her shoulder and then looked up at him. She wasn't alone anymore. He was here, and he hadn't left when he learned who she was. How she usually was.

She smiled at Marcel, took another deep breath and then nodded. "We could see if someone takes us?" Pausing for a moment she looked at him.

"Or we walk for a little, and then try to get a taxi. If you claim to found a disabled person, maybe they would drive us to a place close by?" It wasn't nice, but - "Or we see if we can find some money here and pay for one."

[xinoehp512]

On 12/9/2019 at 8:36 AM, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

Side note: Is there a canon reason we have for the evil group burning down and destroying houses and people? I had the idea that maybe since the evil group wants to keep Investiture separate (hence destroying the perpendicularity), they would have started out destroying families and homes of people with Investiture they didn’t deem ‘belonged’? Not sure.

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My thought on the motivations of the group was that they intended to have one or more of their members ascend after splitting the perpendicularities.

 

[AonEne]

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Do we have Ascension without Shards? 

 

[xinoehp512]

4 hours ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

Do we have Ascension without Shards?

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We have the power. The problem - at least right now- is that it's all mixed up together. In order to Ascend, one would need to concentrate the power (i.e. split the perpendicularities).

 

[Eluvianii]

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Wait, so we're doing our own Shattering here?

 

[xinoehp512]

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It's more of a reverse Shattering.

 

[+Sorana]

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Stop, please. Nothing was decided so far, so I would prefer if we didn't get back into endless discussion mode.

I would like this to be easy and simple. TKNP leads to TKND. At the moment there is no ShaTheoxis preventing humans from sensing Investiture, at least not where we are, and we've got the perpendicularity. Why they do what they do is open, only that it leads to the other situation. Suggestions see above.

Honestly I know, that we reached a point where we need to decide, but I think it should be up to the four active here, because we need to write it. Other ideas are welcome, but in the end we have to write it. So far we added worldbuilding when we needed it, with two or three quote boxes and that set it. I would like to go on like that.

========

I personally like the crime plot we have so far. And would like to use it. We talked a little about ultimatively having our characters fail, but what if the criminals we're tracking have no clue what they do? They found the perpendicularity, mess with, and accidently shut the 'network' down. Would lead to TKND and it leaves the option for TKND to reconnect them.

@Ookla the Maybe-Existent

@Ookla the Evil Penguin

@Ookla the Random

[xinoehp512]

5 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

I would like this to be easy and simple. TKNP leads to TKND. At the moment there is no ShaTheoxis preventing humans from sensing Investiture, at least not where we are, and we've got the perpendicularity. Why they do what they do is open, only that it leads to the other situation. Suggestions see above.

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What? No, Sha-thoexis is active. She has to be, or else everyone would know about Investiture.

5 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

I personally like the crime plot we have so far. And would like to use it. We talked a little about ultimatively having our characters fail, but what if the criminals we're tracking have no clue what they do? They found the perpendicularity, mess with, and accidently shut the 'network' down. Would lead to TKND and it leaves the option for TKND to reconnect them.

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Well, yeah. It might be their goal to Ascend, but I doubt they succeeded. 

 

[+Sorana]

33 minutes ago, Ookla the Blue said:

What? No, Sha-thoexis is active. She has to be, or else everyone would know about Investiture.

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It wasn't decided, so I would be glad if you would phrase it accordingly. And yes, we've got some NPCs that know about Investiture, because that setting was meant to be more open. I would like to stress that "knowing" doesn't mean "understanding" or "every little detail". Just like only a few here know how paper exactly is produced, most of us should know that there are machines that do that, and maybe have a vague idea how they operate.

Rereading our planning pm actually quite a few people have been in favor of her being imprisoned and because of what happens at the perpendicularity she will be freed. So maybe that is another consequence, we could implement.

In general ShaTheoxis wasn't relevant in this setting so far, so I wouldn't force her into it. What she is doing exactly has no impact on what we've done so far and even if we decide to set her free, it won't be more than a post, or a vague hint at something our characters can't grasp.

 

33 minutes ago, Ookla the Blue said:

Well, yeah. It might be their goal to Ascend, but I doubt they succeeded. 

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I would prefer to leave all this ascending stuff out of it. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Just let it be a bunch of criminals that found something powerful and want to use it. They mess it up, accidently split the thing and TKND is the consequence.

Additionally: a longer discussion severly impacts the flow of this rp and it also has a negative impact on my fun. I am sorry, but after TKND I am done with these endless pages of deciding nothing. I don't want to offend you, but it really, really wants me to close this thread and just stop posting here.

So far we went really, really well without it. I would prefer if we could stop it. Apart from that I am waiting for the opinions of the others that actively rp here, as like I said it I think the worldbuilding should mostly be up to those using the setting.

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer

[I think I am here.]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

I think the worldbuilding should mostly be up to those using the setting.

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I agree. In regards to the rest of this, I like the idea that they could want to mess with the perpendicularity, and accidentally cause it to break (what if the break happened partly because of the conflict around it, so our main characters would also feel a little guilty?). I like the idea of them burning houses for insurance money and things like that as well, matches now that we’ve got an idea of the overall bad-guy gang.

 

On 11/12/2019 at 0:10 AM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

Wita followed his gesture, inhaled, held her breath for a moment and then exhaled again. She repeated it once, twice, concentrated on his hand on her shoulder and then looked up at him. She wasn't alone anymore. He was here, and he hadn't left when he learned who she was. How she usually was.

She smiled at Marcel, took another deep breath and then nodded. "We could see if someone takes us?" Pausing for a moment she looked at him.

"Or we walk for a little, and then try to get a taxi. If you claim to found a disabled person, maybe they would drive us to a place close by?" It wasn't nice, but - "Or we see if we can find some money here and pay for one."

“Stolen money...” Marcel said, considering the option. It wouldn’t be like Christopher would be using the money any time soon. And besides, they would be using the money to get to Big Ben, to stop whatever the bad guys were going to do. To complete Christopher’s mission. Possibly the best use of his money.

“I have enough money on me,” Marcel said, shaking his head. “We can take his money, though — mail it to his sister anonymously after all this is over. She deserves to know his death.” Considering walking around the street, finding a taxi at this time Marcel rolled his tongue around in his mouth, stood up and paced across the cellar.

Briefly he considered Wita had said first. See if someone would take them.

“Like, as a hitchhike? That could work...” Marcel said. And wouldn’t require any money.

[+Sorana]

28 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

(what if the break happened partly because of the conflict around it, so our main characters would also feel a little guilty?)

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YES! That's a great idea.

Wita nodded, "Yes like a hitchhike. It can't hurt to try, and somebody is always awake at night." It would be fun to stop a random person, ask them if they could take them. They really were like some special forces soldiers from the movies, they would stop the evil ones and they would save the world. She smiled at the thought, the idea that she, Wita, was about to try to save London. Or at least to prevent some bad buys to get more power than they already had.

She tensed when she heard a car drive away quickly and then looked up at him. "Let's check upstairs, see if they are gone?"