voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-03-11 06:00 am

The Will to Fight: Start

"Good Morning Passengers, today is day six of the month of Kazoo." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preparation

They have an hour or two to prepare. Enough time to read their briefs, make decisions, meet in their teams and gather anything they may need. The dressing carriage is open with tents and other basic camping equipment.

"Shortly arriving in system #86525656412355. Drop order is Orange and Blue followed by Red and Purple. Orange and Blue to doors, arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train lurches as it exits through the void, before descending smoothly to the world below.

Blue and Orange

Arrival

If anyone peeks through the windows as the train lands they will see a glimpse of cracked and crumbling walls, a city on its last legs. As they exit the train, however, any passengers who aren't immune to magics influencing the mind will find themselves looking at grand, sturdy walls, flags with a blue field and golden tower fluttering from the ramparts.

They aren't too far from a gate, depending on where on the train they exited, and the gates are opened and unmanned. Inside, people are going about their business, selling their wares, while children run around playing among dogs and chickens.

The newcomers don't get too much attention, even though their hoodies and combat trousers seem very out of place in this city.

The Towers

The towers stand in each corner of the city. They are solid stone, no windows all the way up. The ground floor is the largest, grand doors leading into a functional yet beautiful foyer, and from there into smaller chambers. Wide, curving stairs lead up into the tower proper.

As they climb the towers they will come to the different levels which are all trapped, to dissuade intruders and train their disciples. They will be able to descend the towers and exit and enter again as many times as they like as they work their way up to the top.

The City

It will soon become apparent that persuading these people to fight isn't going to happen. The war has already been won, the demons were defeated. The world is safe once more. Welcome, travellers, to the Shining City.

Their SCA's show them the locations of the entrances to the catacombs. There are a handful, scattered around the city, clearly designed for quick evacuation should the city defences ever be breached.

Persuading people that the city needs to be evacuated might take a good while.

The Catacombs

The catacombs are cold and dark, lamps having gone unlit for months. Those that are sensitive or can sense magic in any way will be able to tell that at least here the wards hold: no demons will be able to enter.

The tunnels are narrow, able to fit two people side by side at their widest points, but more often than not they must move single file to avoid collapsed walls or leaning pillars. Or, sometimes, piles of bones spilled from the tombs set into the walls. Side tunnels extend out into the darkness, signposts or symbols marking old, unused storerooms, bunkers for temporary shelter, or private tombs and crypts.

At points the tunnels widen out into large chambers, rooms or galleries that have been used as cemeteries for centuries. At other points the tunnels have collapsed or become almost impassable. People will need to wriggle through the gaps or find ways to stabilise the tunnels in order to pass through.

Purple and Red

Arrival

"Red and Purple to doors." The train flies back into the air after dropping Orange and Blue at the city gates. It doesn't go very far; it's less than a minute later that they're landing again. The doors open and they can step out into the destroyed countryside.

They don't get much time to get their bearings as the train flies off again, because coming over a nearby hill is a band of demons, a gate crackling behind them. The band is mostly footsoldiers, with several of the larger breed interspersed.

It's hard to say which side is more taken by surprise, but the Voidtreckers will only have moments to ready themselves before the demons rush in.

Defending the City

It's a wide area to cover, surrounding the city, and there is plenty of work to be done. Bands of demons roam around, most headed towards the city. They run, claws digging into the ground, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Sometimes they will have a larger demon or even two with them, armed with toxic whips that they use with dangerous accuracy.

Other times there will be smaller demons, carrying ornate daggers, whispering foul spells to drain and bind their enemies. These demons become more regular as the days progress as it becomes obvious that taking the city will not be as easy as they first thought.

Closing the Demon Gates

The gates nearer the city are smaller, and easy enough to find, but the SCA's of the red team pinpoint more and more gates as they open in the areas further out. Triangular markings on their SCA maps indicate distance and direction.

The gates must be closed from the other side, so the first thing is to enter them. Entering the gates feels strange, uncomfortable, as if something were tugging and clawing at their very being, trying to pull them out of their own skin.

That feeling lasts for a moment, albeit one that feels stretched, and then they are in the demon realm: a monochrome world devoid of life, where every step taken tires the body, where even existing is exhausting.

The gates are guarded, so adjusting will need to be done in combat. Smaller gates have fewer guards than the larger, but all will fight savagely to protect the keystone.

The keystones are smooth black obelisks about a foot high, usually stood on a plinth or set above the gate location as a centrepiece. Each can be destroyed by blunt force or any other ability able to shatter stone, and once it is they will have a short amount of time to leave before the gate closes. Their SCA will helpfully start a timer indicating this.
flatteries: (so smile right before you fall)

preparation

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-12 05:28 pm (UTC)(link)
"Depends," Inigo answers. He doesn't look over at the other at first, seemingly too busy with grabbing stuff for himself even when he speaks. "It sounds like it might end up a total warzone outside of the city, but if you're going to stay inside there, it should be relatively safe."

Sure, it did say some demons already got into the city, but surely there are going to be people among them who are capable of fighting who will stay with either the blue or the orange team..

When Inigo finally looks over at him, he smiles a bit.

"Just make sure to be careful, really."
forleaving: (005)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-14 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded slowly while he listened. "I'll be careful," he promised.

"I'm more worried about everyone else, though. People will probably be injured." And he didn't know first-aid. He could comfort people though, be a distraction in between working on the things orange would be there to do.
flatteries: (you don't gain a single thing)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-16 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
Now that's a sentiment Inigo can understand.

Maybe a little too well. Maybe he should be more concerned about his own safety during a mission where he'll be doing a whole lot of dangerous fighting, and yet he can't quite get himself to be all that concerned about it. Instead he only finds himself worrying so much about other people.

It makes him sympathetic enough to think right along with the other.

"In that case, you should stop by the armoury carriage. My friend Tidus is over there, and he's handing out potions and stuff from our supply. If you keep a few of those with you, you could help people who got injured by helping them drink one." At least that ought to give the other some purpose during the mission, right? If he's going to worry about others anyway, he might as well channel that energy into ways to help other people, just like Inigo himself is.
forleaving: (008)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-19 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Potions?" He repeated. He was torn between being skeptical and just believing it. He'd seen so much already, why start being skeptical of the things on the train now? He'd seen so many examples of magic, and yet...sometimes he couldn't help it.

"Those really work?" If they did, and he was assuming they did, they were probably a lot better and easier to work with than first-aid.
flatteries: (wearing my best little girl pout)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-19 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
He laughs.

"Yes, of course they do!" Under any other circumstances, he may have been surprised or even downright confused by the other's reaction. Stuff like potions is pretty normal in Inigo's own world, after all. But he knows by now that some worlds don't have magic.

Somehow. It's still kind of a weird thought, even if he can accept it.

"You just drink a bit and the wounds start healing right up. It's a lot easier than having to wait ages until they do so naturally."
forleaving: (008)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-21 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
"That's amazing. There's nothing like that in my world." The ways potions could change Adam's world were...vast. If anyone allowed them to exist, that was, and didn't price them exorbitantly. "I'll have to stop by the armory and check that out. Thank you for letting me know."
flatteries: (and sat in the back booth)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-21 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"No problem. After all, it's important to take care of each other so we all make it through the mission just fine, don't you think?"

And in Inigo's case, taking care of others means fighting to protect them. But he's well aware that even the people who can't do that can still do other things to contribute. Have potions on them, keep an eye on each other. Heal each other, keep each other safe. That's much more important than anything else while they're out there.

"No one should have to feel like they're all on their own during a mission."
forleaving: (005)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-22 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Adam was used to being on his own. Not because people didn't love and support him, but because he'd gone seventeen years before he found those people and he was used to relying only on himself. Sometimes, especially during missions, he still forgot that there were other people he could lean on if he needed to, or ask for help with things, or just...collaborate with.

He nodded in agreement. "We have to have each other's backs." Because no one else would; they were teams for a reason. He might have been used to relying on himself, but he didn't want other people to always have to do the same. "Besides, working together makes us stronger. A whole instead of scattered individuals."
flatteries: (set it free)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-22 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
He grins.

"That's the spirit!"

In fact, maybe he's spreading a little too much positivity here to Adam right before a mission that sounds like it's going to be really rough on most of them.. but as long as it doesn't lead to overconfidence, it can't hurt too much. And Inigo certainly doesn't think Adam seems like the type to go overconfidently rushing into a battle. Inigo isn't even sure whether he's a warrior, really..

"I don't know what team you're going with, but make sure to ask around for help. There's pretty nice people on all four of the teams, from my experience."
forleaving: (005)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-24 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm staying with Orange," he said. "I'm not sure what we're going to end up finding in the towers, but I think I'm better suited for that than any fighting."

He had...issues still, with asking for help sometimes though, so he was just. Not going to comment on that part. He was sure there were nice people on the teams who would offer to help him, but he'd rather help others, if possible.
flatteries: (and some just won't)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-24 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Adam is so lucky that Inigo just glancing over the fact he didn't reply to it, just assuming the other got the message and doesn't have anything else to say about it.

Which means that he instead nods when the other talks about the tower. "Right, it did mention something about investigating towers for orange, didn't it.. It almost sounds like some sort of mystery you guys have to go solve."
forleaving: (015)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-26 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
Adam smiled and nodded. "I'm pretty good with mysteries," he said. "Especially on a time crunch." Which he assumed they were on here, with the war going on. "And besides, I'm not much of a fighter." Yet.
flatteries: (count your blessings)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-26 09:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, good thing they have you along then!"

And Inigo seems to genuinely mean that statement, judging by the grin on his face as he says it. If Adam says he's good at mysteries, then there's no way Inigo is just going to randomly doubt that statement!

"I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be much of a help at all there!" (Since he's a dumdum.) "Good thing that I can fight instead so I can make myself useful elsewhere, huh?"

It may be a tad selfdeprecating, but it doesn't seem to be meant entirely seriously. There's a bit of a joking edge to his words, if not at least a light one.
forleaving: (008)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-27 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Everybody's good at something, and everybody brings something important to missions." He didn't want anyone to downplay their own abilities or think they weren't good enough, even if Inigo was joking.

"And not just missions, but every day of life," he added. Nobody was useless. He held firm to that, especially on the days when he felt useless, himself.
flatteries: (i've memorized that phrase by heart)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-27 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww.. That is a sweet thing to say. And a sweet thing to believe, since Inigo is pretty sure that's a fairly firm belief on Adam's part, judging by the time he says it with.

"That's a good thing to think. Maybe you can spread it to the people within the city walls too? I have no idea what they must be feeling like, considering the demons surrounding their city.. I can't imagine they're feeling all that happy, or all that hopeful because of it."
forleaving: (005)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-28 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Adam nodded. "I'll do what I can to keep their spirits up," he promised. "They probably feel like giving up, or that they're doomed, but with all of us there I'm sure we can turn their situation around."
flatteries: (but now is better than never)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-03-28 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good luck with it. Listening to you talk right now, I'm sure you can do it!"

Inigo raises his hand, as if to briefly wave goodbye.

"See you on the other side of all this."
forleaving: (015)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-03-29 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you." He wasn't sure how well he'd succeed, personally, but he smiled anyway.

"Stay safe," he added.