A City Falls: Start

[voidtreckermods]

Preparation

Just after light on the seventh day of the month of Bassoon everyone’s SCA glows with the colour of the void before showing a message. A briefing for the mission to come.

Anyone who goes to investigate the dressing carriage will find all the cupboards and drawers open. They may need to battle through spider webs but soon will find an array of clothes. Trousers, skirts, dresses, shirts, robes, cloaks. Everything they will need and plenty of choice. All the clothes have accents of team colours in more muted hues than the normal bold hoodies they wear.

A few hours later there is an announcement over the speakers. "Arrival to Planet #25768 imminent. Prepare for exit from Void. Drop order: Purple, Orange, Red, Blue. All passengers are to wear their Safety Control Apparatus and are reminded that emergency evacuation protocol is three short taps."

The train shudders and jerks. It is time.

Purple

"Purple Team to doors. Drop in two minutes. Purple team to doors."

The train flies down through the air before coming to a stop between two rocky outcrops. The doors hiss open, it’s a bit of a jump down to the ground and anyone who looks back will find the train hard to see. Not invisible but definitely cloaked, shifting to blend in with the rock.

They can hear the sound of many footsteps and the high sound of young voices. It is easy to hear where they need to be.

As they move down the rocky slope they will see the main pass. A large group of children are walking. Spirits are high even if it is clear they are on their guard. Older teens are wearing weapons, swords, the odd axe, a few daggers. Nothing expertly crafted but they all wear them with ease. Slightly younger children carry the very young, toddlers and those too young to walk and keep pace.

There’s a sound from in front of the group. From around the corner a girl, about thirteen years old, runs towards them. Her braids bounce against her shoulders, her eyes are wide with fear and she waves her hands at the others. “Run! Run!”

A shadow looms behind her, a winged wolf, gaining speed towards her. Sat on the wolf is a spear wielding goblin.

From all around them a growling of many more wolves, in the hills, close and ready to pounce.

Orange

Once Purple Team are gone the train flies again. "Orange Team to doors. Drop in two minutes. Orange Team to doors."

The train seems to be still concealed as it hovers at the city walls. There’s a bit of a jump onto the walls but at least they are near one of the staircases down into the city.

Also luckily no one seems to have seen them appearing out of no where though that has more to do with the general chaos rather than anything else!

There is a lot of chaos! People evacuating, animals everywhere, people looking lost and bewildered. Get herding or helping and encourage people up that cliff path!

Red

The train flies onward. "Red team to doors. Drop in two minutes. Red team to doors."

The train makes a slightly bumpy landing on a rocky slope. Scrambling up the slope red team will see a group of fighters, perhaps eighty in total. There are some supplies to the side, not yet allotted. Some horses and weapons. All the fighters are currently focused on a tall woman who is on horseback, facing them from the front.

“… Say those that stand here, as few as we may be were the ones who end the goblin menace on our lands for good. For our children and our families. We fight!”

The end of what was clearly a rousing speech, the fighters cheer. They begin to move over the slope, towards the goblin camp below. If you are joining this battle the time is now!

Blue

The train flies low, skimming over the lake. "Blue Team to doors. Drop in one minute. Blue Team to doors."

Jumping down off the train they will land in the shallows of the lake. It’s not deep enough to go over their boots and now too far to wade to shore. The shore is rocky, loose rocks and pools of water to avoid. The tower stands before them. Three goblins, riding wolves perch on the walls high above them. The sky above crackles with lightning that is not at all natural.

The doorway to the tower is open, there are a lot of stairs to get up. The howls of the wolves fill the air as the wizards fight them off above. Time to climb!

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin finishes adjusting the hem of his cotte and looks over at Stark. He’s in surprisingly excellent shape for a man his age, scar and all. “You’re wearing it wrong,” he replies, simply.

“The shirt is an undergarment. It isn’t meant to be worn on its own. The tunic is worn over, more tightly fitted.”

He grins and drops his voice, “It was quite fashionable to dress this way in the 1370s. I speak from experience.”

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony sighs heavily and looks back at the mirror. "How can this be an undergarment when it's so baggy? You know people probably would've smelled better if you weren't wearing so many damn layers of clothes!" They could air out their stench anyway. Fortunately being stinky wasn't exactly an issue here.

"I have a metal suit of armor, how is all this supposed to fit inside it?" He was still bitching and didn't look even sort of ready to stop any time soon. "I'm not wearing that. It's pink." Well, closer to burgundy or a muted red than pink, but in his foul mood he was generalizing. "I don't wear pink." Unless his daughter makes him.

[dredefulchilde]

“You wound me, Stark. We didn’t stink nearly as much as most assume. We washed daily, we just didn’t take baths because it was impractical. And we changed our body linen as often as we could. Here.” He points to a long, woolen cloak hanging in the red team area.

“Just wear your armor and put that over the top.”

Then he pauses.

“Where did you find armor?”

[runs_on_batteries]

"Right. How often was that again?" He asks, turning a bit to the side to see how bad he looks from behind. His attention was brought back to the kid when he points out the cloak.

He makes a face. "I'm not putting anything over my armor! It doesn't need a freaking cape!" Or did he.. "What? No. It's not- I built it. It's a high tech armor superior to all military grade equipment from my time. And it looks way too badass for some cloak."

Was this really a mature conversation? No.

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin snorts. “We had money and status, so very often. Rather a perk of living in a castle.”

The vampire he’d been forced to call “Mother” had been a Roman, and scrupulous about bathing and hygiene.

“Stop being such an ass. If your armor is so good, why were you in such a hurry to cover it with ill-fitting clothing instead of a simple cloak? Just throw off the damn thing when you engage in battle. Honestly, sometimes I wonder who the child is in our little talks.”

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony sighs again, and can't help see Joss' point. "You do have several centuries on me, kid."

He pulls the tunic off before spotting another slightly smaller looking under garment. That might work better, he thought and peeled off the huge pile of linen. "And I was trying to come up with what to wear under my armor. See, when I activate it, it goes around my whole body. So something really baggy might.. this looks better."

It might not have been the peak of fashion back in the day to wear something a little more form fitting like Tony was, but with the right tunic and air of confidence, it would be sharp on him. He looks back at Joss. "What do you think?"

[dredefulchilde]

"At least six," he agrees, sagely. "But that doesn't mean I'm not a kid. You seem quite fond of reminding me of that."

Armor that activates over his clothing. "All...right," he says slowly, trying to imagine how that would look. "I'll leave the science fiction bollocks up to you, then."

But then Tony finishes dressing and the overall effect isn't bad. And Joss tells him so. "Quite fetching. You just need a rakish chapeau and then you could easily pass for a film star in costume. I can see it now: Robin Hood--The Twilight Years. A geriatric Prince of Thieves and Little John reunite for one last heist."

He giggles. Childishly.

[runs_on_batteries]

"It's not science fiction if it's real!" He shakes his head and continues to evaluate his appearance. He was just about to decide this was what he was sticking with for the mission when the little asshat says that.

He scowls at him. It was hard to maintain though, because as much as he hated it, that was one good zinger. "And you're like Robin Hood- Haven't Had My Balls Drop Yet." He snatches up a small rag and twirls it. The next second, he snaps the towel against Joss' forehead.

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin ducks the towel. Perks of being a vampire: excellent reflexes. They might even rival several Spider-persons on board.

"Hmm, I'm too wicked for that. I'd probably be the Sheriff of Nottingham whose balls haven't dropped yet." he says, pivoting neatly to the side.

Then his face goes serious. "Take care of yourself, Stark."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony laughs right along with him. It was so strange how these things could change. When they first met, he wanted to punt the little shit off the train and now he genuinely liked the boy.

His smile faded when he got that word of caution. "You too, Joss. You know where the other teams are going to be if you get separated right? Set the alarm on your watch a bit ahead of when the train should arrive. I don't want anything to happen to you, kid."

[dredefulchilde]

"I'm virtually indestructible, Stark. Perk of having died once before: I'm much harder to kill than the typical ten year old." Is there a little bitterness in that? "I had a whole bloody building drop on me during the Blitz. Christmas Eve, 1940. Got out without a scratch." He smiles in what he hopes is a bracing sort of way. "And that wasn't the first time."

"I'll be all right. I'll see you back here then, yeah? We can toast our victory with some of that cider Peter told me about. When he wore that idiotic sign of his."

[runs_on_batteries]

"Don't tempt fate, kid. Everyone and everything has a limit to their power." Even the Hulk, Thanos, and Captain America. There was always something or someone stronger. "But that's the last I'll harp on you till you get back."

Tony scowls. "The dumbasses drank it all. So if you see any bottles of liquor steal them for me, okay?"

[dredefulchilde]

Everyone does have limits to their power. Joss is keenly aware of his. The Daylight ring he wears on a chain around his neck protects him from the sun, and unless there’s fire, wooden stakes through the heart, of decapitation in his future he should be all right.

But he’s not immortal. Not really. Just exceptionally well-preserved.

“I’ll be all right,” he says again, more gently. “And if I’m not, I’m determined to go out in a truly spectacular fashion.”

He snorts.

“Will do. Though I’m meant to be watching children so I doubt there will be much to come by.”

[runs_on_batteries]

"Attaboy," Tony replies, giving him a grin. It was the best any of them could do. He was pretty sure that's what every warrior wanted.

He wondered how many felt that way when they literally knew the moment it was going to happen too. He pushed that thought away.

"Well, give 'em hell, kid. I know you'll do right by those children. Just.. don't freak them out too bad, okay?"