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.
hashtagparkerluck: (WADX5QQ)

Drop

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-13 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
Peter's whole mission, that he's given himself is to smash as many keystones as he can manage. He's also found out by know that he can literally just yank them right out with a good solid yank on his webbing. He misses the initial distressing image of a kid shooting them self but he sees the Persona and yeah-he has to say that's pretty effective-he'd even go as far as to say it's super effective. Who knew!

He flips over Ken and over to a keystone, shoots his webs, yanks it free and then the SCA begins its countdown.

"Okay, Time to go! Let's move!" He calls out, turning to try and usher Ken back towards the portal.
miseris_socios: (not so innocent)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-13 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
He hears the SCA start to beep, and he looks up at - okay that looks like some other kind of superhero, he definitely doesn't look like he belongs in a sentai.

Ken nods and summons Nemesis again with a bang, seals spiraling up to hit the demon in their path before it can get directly in their path. It recoils and Ken sprints towards the exit. For someone with such short legs he moves pretty fast.
hashtagparkerluck: (228)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-13 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, he moves fast, but Peter's pretty sure he moves faster and time is ticking. He catches up easily thanks to being much faster than the average human and scoops the kid up before firing his webs outside the collapsing portal to pull them both through it before time is out.

"Sorry about this-" Peter apologizes, pulling them back through the portal and immediately setting the kid back down. That was... exhausting. "That's a pretty neat trick you've got there."

He takes a deep breath in and pulls off the mask. There's no real point in wearing it at the moment anyway. He glances towards the wasteland, looking for the next portal he can jump through.

"Up for another go?" He asks, tilting his head in the direction of more demons and another portal.
miseris_socios: (grr...)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-13 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
He stiffens under the touch and once he's back on solid ground he shakes it off a little like he's a dog.

"Always." He can only stay out so long, but the coat Vexen lent him is helping a lot. "Stupid dark-aligned places... I've got a few more goes in me before I have to go recover. My magic's not infinite."
hashtagparkerluck: (253)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-13 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
Peter considers making a quip about their definitions of 'always' not being the same but decides against it.

"Don't push yourself too much-I know plenty of people on the red team and I know you people are." Says the hypocrite but no one needs to know that. "But, that aside, how do you feel about a tag team? You go after the demons, I smash the keystones."
miseris_socios: (standing proud)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-13 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
"That works for me. Electricity and spears don't do too much against rock." Besides, he misses fighting. It's good to be back clearing things out.

He hefts his spear on his shoulder and heads towards the next portal.
hashtagparkerluck: (534)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-13 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Awesome." Peter pulls the mask back on over his face and heads for the next portal as well, it doesn't take long to find one with demons hanging around and he'll hang back to let Ken deal with the those annoyances but he's also ready to spring into action if for some reason, he's needed.
miseris_socios: (grr...)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-13 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
Ken moves forward, stabbing one in the gut with his spear and letting Nemesis take care of the rest of the damage before moving into the next one. For the smaller demons this seems to work pretty well.

He ducks around a larger demon that smacks Nemesis, a bruise appearing on Ken's cheek. He growls and plants the butt of the spear into the ground, using it to spin himself around and kick the demon in the chest.
hashtagparkerluck: (casual spider)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-14 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
Peter hesitates a second-hovering between dashing for the keystone and offering some help-that's a bigger demon than they'd been dealing with. Maybe he can kill two birds with one stone? He leaps up and flips and lands on the obelisk.

"Oh-shit!" Peter voices as he suddenly feels a little wobbly and drained. He tries to shake the feeling off opts to offer a distraction to give Ken a good open shot. "Hey guys, I just came to admire your keystone here. Be a real shame if like-" He reaches down and nearly passes out as he touches the keystone. Maybe he shouldn't do that. His grips tightly and he yanks on it, pulling right out of place with more ease than he was expecting. Gotta love that super-strength. "Oh man, I'm so sorry. I didn't know that was gonna happen-don't know my own strength, you know?" He shrugs at a charging demon before firing his webs to pin it to the ground.

"Okay, time to go, everyone exit stage right!" He hops off the obelisk and tries to ignore just how tired and heavy his body feels at the moment.
miseris_socios: (unimpressed.jpg)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-14 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
He notices that wobble and shakes off his own, hearing the SCA beep and he starts darting for the exit. He slides through the legs of a particularly nasty, large demon and stabs it in the ass for good measure as he gets up. He rushes through the portal, landing neatly on the grass.

He turns to Peter and narrows his eyes. "Don't touch things like that if you don't know what they're going to do to you. Sit down for a second." He summons Nemesis again to give him a healing spell to close any wounds and do at least something for the exhaustion.
Edited 2021-03-14 03:04 (UTC)
hashtagparkerluck: (ckcpchq)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-14 08:52 am (UTC)(link)
Peter winces and briefly thinks about the irony involved here. An eleven year old was telling him off for touching something unknown. He briefly thinks of Buttercup and that disapproving look she had sometimes when she thinks he's been particularly reckless.

"Hey man, it was stone how was I supposed to know that was gonna happen?" He's grateful for the healing, though he has no idea how that works. Suddenly, he doesn't feel quite as exhausted.
miseris_socios: (Default)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-14 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"How have you never been told not to touch things that you don't understand? These are fucking demons."

How is he the one who's got the most sense around here? Ugh. He reaches into his bag and pulls out half of a sandwich and splits the half in half. He holds one of the halves out.

... It's peanut butter.
hashtagparkerluck: (355)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-15 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course I've been told that!" He realizes though that that probably doesn't help him in the slightest. He yanks the mask off and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"But I landed on the obelisk which was stone and I did not know it was gonna be like a whole critical energy drain." He defends himself before staring the offered sandwich a moment. "Uh, no thanks. I'm good. You should eat it."
miseris_socios: (grr...)

[personal profile] miseris_socios 2021-03-15 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
"... Fine." He starts eating it, himself. "You have to be careful in places that only sort of exist. Ugh. At least we didn't have to climb up a billion stairs like in Tartarus."