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

[faithfulsupport]

The advisor is checking his stash of healing supplies when he hears an unfamiliar voice. But he turns at the sound and a young lady is standing there.

Inwardly his heart drops at her saying she's on the team, which means she'll be fighting. Ignis has a strong sense of chivalry that ladies shouldn't fight, even if this one was Aranea herself. All of this is tucked carefully behind the advisor's professional front and he nods, bowing even slightly.

Holding out a hand to shake hers, he nodded. "Ignis Scientia, at your service."

[happyends]

Polite as ever, the girl quickly mimicks the slight bow before gently grabbing onto the hand that Ignis is offering her, shaking it lightly. "It's nice to meet you, mister Scientia."

It's a unique name in her eyes, and so she's taking great care to pronounce it slowly to make sure she doesn't mess it up.

"I just wanted to say.. I'll make sure to try my best to do my share for the mission, but.. I'm not sure how helpful I can be."

[faithfulsupport]

Shaking her hand and then letting hers go, Ignis shook his head.

"Just stay safe. My job is to protect you and the team in our mission to get us all back in one piece."

His team's safety was definitely at the forefront of his mind. And if push came to shove, they would come back even if he didn't. Those were the same stakes he played with back home, because he would see to it that Noctis would survive whatever the cost. Then of course there was the part where Luna's dog Pyrna had shown Ignis the king's fate of sacrificing himself to save the world, which then brought Tony's same predicament to mind.

This line of thought then brought the girl's safety again. "So if you like, you may travel with me but that is up to you entirely."

[happyends]

The idea of just hiding behind him for the entire mission is pretty tempting. Even just what they've heard so far - let alone experiencing it for real - already sounds so dangerous, and Madoka knows she can't even fight if she was driven into a corner.

But on the other hand.. that'd probably just inconvenience him. She can't let everyone else be in danger while she's safe. So despite him seemingly trying to reassure her, Madoka looks a little down.

"But.. wouldn't it be too much for you to look out for everyone and carry out the mission at the same time..? We have to protect those wizard people too, after all.. I don't want to be a burden to you or anyone else during all that."

[faithfulsupport]

The advisor looked at the girl. It wouldn't do to ask if she'd ever seen battle and he wished he could find out if there was some way that she could simply stay on the train. Sending people into battle who knew nothing of it would be hunted down and killed easier and that made Ignis' stomach turn. Madoka's look wasn't helping either, but it wasn't her fault.

Pulling out the passenger roster, his green eyes scanned it before putting it away again. "There's only five on the Blue team, one of which includes myself. My priority is my team, so should you choose to stay behind me, I assure you that you will not be a burden. The mission will still be accomplished all the same."

[happyends]

Honestly, it's incredibly amazing to her how easily Ignis can say these kinds of things. Here she is, feeling so insecure and worried about this whole thing even just when it comes to her own wellbeing, and yet he's saying that he will accomplish the mission and is intending to protect all of them too.. and so confidently. Like it comes naturally.

It's the kind of calm and confidence Madoka knows she could never have, but it's what makes him look so incredibly cool.

For a moment she looks like she still has to think about it though. No matter what he's saying, she does feel like it'd make things harder on him, even if just a little bit, so..

"I want to try and go by myself first to see if there's anything I can do to help when we arrive there.." So she won't feel totally useless. That'd just make her feel terrible. "But-- I promise that if I need help, I'll let you know somehow. And I won't put myself in unnecessary danger."

.. Well. She'll.. try to, at least. It's hard when Madoka has such a self-sacrificing heart of gold.

"It's really kind of you to look out for all of us though."

[faithfulsupport]

This advisor is used to putting his life on the line to protect and take care of others and it's been his duty pretty much since he was six. Having an extra person to look after didn't matter to him either as the four men occasionally had Gladio's sister Iris travel with them.

His head tilted as Madoka looked thoughtful, waiting to see what her decision would be. If Ignis had hi-potions he might put her in charge of healing. Too bad he didn't have a great shield to stash her behind though.

Ignis nodded to her assessments as it was only fair that she might want to help or see if she could before simply hiding away. Any way it worked out though, he would definitely keep an eye out for her.

Finally, he shook his head at her last statement. "Think nothing of it."

[happyends]

There's another small pause from her, but then she shakes her head.. very slightly though. She doesn't want to be totally rude by going against that last part he said, but she still thinks this is important enough to say regardless.

"Maybe it's normal for you, or it doesn't seem like a big thing, but.. T-To me it's definitely a big deal. Not everyone would go that far out of their way for others, so.. um.. please know that you are a really great person for doing so, sir."

[faithfulsupport]

To him it seemed like the girl wanted to say something, but changed her mind. Ignis had seen the slight shake of the pink head, but he wasn't the prying type. Madoka could keep her thoughts to herself as she so chose.

The praise she then gave him wasn't something he was expecting. So his own response was held back for fear of minimizing her heartfelt statement. Mentally he could hear the guys back home laughing if he could tell them about this and it made him smile.

"I thank you most kindly for your humbling words. And you may call me Ignis instead of sir, if you like."

[happyends]

"E.. Eh?! Just that?"

Granted, it's probably not as much of a worldshattering thing as Madoka makes it out to be here, but that's just what happens when you're overly polite.. It's the little things that get you this super surprised. He's quite a bit older than her, and also so super cool and capable that it feels wrong to be so informal with him.

"T.. then.. Um, maybe I could call you mister Ignis..?" That's a compromise to keep Madoka's fear of being impolite from exploding.

[faithfulsupport]

He's not sure why this is such a thing, but Ignis really isn't trying to make her nervous or upset. He's far more upset she's even being included in this battle when she shouldn't be. So as he stands there trying to come up with some sort of compromise Madoka pipes up.

"If that's more comfortable for you, that's fine."

The advisor can understand formal and polite because he does it to the others back home so he definitely relates. And he'll go out of his way to make sure his team is alright, especially if small things like this will help them somehow.

[happyends]

Sorry, Ignis, apparently this is now your life. Overly polite non-combatant children. But at the very least it does seem like he managed to comfort her, since she smiles - although very thinly, since she's still very much nervous about the upcoming mission - and quickly bows.

"Thank you, mister Ignis..! I'll do my best and try to not get hurt..!"

[faithfulsupport]

Madoka was just amazing to Ignis and he silently promised her he'd take care of her. That smile of hers was precious and would be protected.

"That's all I can ask."

When she bowed, he bowed in return.