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.
melodiouspacifist: (pic#9862682)

City Defense

[personal profile] melodiouspacifist 2021-03-13 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Okay. That had hurt.

Demyx had started out strong, really he had and he was wearing all of his protective equipment but really, he'd been at it awhile.

He was breathing heavily, blood trickling from his lip and probably from a few other wounds, his orange shirt is torn in a couple of places. When he defeated that demon with a decisive smack from his sitar he dropped to one knee. He raised a hand to cast cura, but the green light didn't come.

Good time Q'uila. He was beat up enough that there were whisps of darkness leeching from his body.

"Quickly, yeah, I'm totally drained!"
dragoonrouge: (Q'uila Determined)

Re: City Defense

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2021-03-13 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
Q'uila holsters her lance and dashes to Demyx's side to get a better look at his injuries. Seeing yet another person without proper armour has her hissing, even she wasn't fairing as well without her usual protection having picked up cuts and scrapes along her arms that would have normally been protected by her vambraces.

"One moment, I may need to cast Vercure a few times but we should be fine."

Shaping the aether into the Vercure was still possible, she still had her job stone, but without her rapier the spells seem to take a little longer to come together and the potency isn't quite as high as usual. Her arm still starts to glow a green that brightens and intensifies for a few seconds before, with two quick flourishes of her wrist, that magic is transfered to Demyx in two bright bursts of green.

"Can you still feel and soreness?"
melodiouspacifist: (Nort Yeah yeah I'm on it)

[personal profile] melodiouspacifist 2021-03-13 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Demyx wasn't entirely unprotected, he had what passed for armor in his world - a belt and a ribbon tied to his wrist, it just didn't seem to do that much for his skin.

"Phew! That was way too close!" Demyx chuckled. "Nah, not too bad." He rubbed his shoulder.

His sitar was still solid, so that was something too. Not that close but kinda scary, wasn't it? "Magic's a bit depleated, but shouldn't take long."
dragoonrouge: (Q'uila Fight Me)

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2021-03-15 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Q'uila grimaces, "I would normally have some sort of ether or elixer to hand but," She shrugs, "My usual equipment did not see fit to join us on this adventure."

She turns towards the remnants of that group of demons with a sharp grin, "Make sure to take a few, I shall be fine cleaning up this lot to give the time to rest."

Blue spectral dragons start to wrap around the Miqo'te before she dashes towards the remaining demons with a roar that sounds far more draconic than feline and begins tearing into them with her lance and magic.
melodiouspacifist: (Nort Yeah yeah I'm on it)

[personal profile] melodiouspacifist 2021-03-16 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"It'll be fine, I've got an item that helps me regenerate faster now." Demyx called, but he'll take that break.

That had been way closer than he was comfortable with and he was getting tired. He'd deny all this helping he'd been doing later, if it was commented on, but really what else can he do? The whole mission is fighting.
dragoonrouge: (Default)

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2021-03-21 10:18 am (UTC)(link)
Q'uila is more than happy to wreak destruction on the demons as Demyx takes a breather, a grin spread wide across her face as she lashes out with her lance and aether that starts to bleed from azure blue to brilliant red as she continues to take down the demons.

"How fares you?" She calls back to Demyx over the echoing roar of the red ethereal dragons as the spin and charges towards one of the larger creatures where they explode in a flare of light that looks like an eye between one blink and the next, "Will you be fine to move soon?"
melodiouspacifist: (Dance Water Dance!)

[personal profile] melodiouspacifist 2021-03-21 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Better, thanks." Demyx called, and he was getting back up on his feet.

Q'uila couldn't tell anyone about this, please, he didn't want a reputation for being helpful, or anything like that. He wasn't expecting an all out assault by demons though, and that...

Well he thought he'd planned ahead.

"Let's get this party started." He grinned, and now there were notes coming through on his sitar, as he balanced it, getting ready. "Here they come!"