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: (491)

III

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-13 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
Peter pauses briefly as Soldat comes up and then just rolls his eyes like a true sixteen year old. "I'm not gonna get overwhelmed, why does everyone think that? I know my limits. Usually."

Okay so, admittedly that probably isn't inspiring much confidence but never mind that. "I'm good dude, I've got super-strength and... webs." He mimes firing his webs.
worthallthis: (doubtful)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-13 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
"I have super-strength, super-speed, extremely high pain tolerance, and a metal arm," Soldat points out. They're from a point in the timeline well before any Bucky Barnes ever met any annoying kids who could catch the metal hand instead of being hit by it, so they only know Peter here as Buttercup's friend and as a rather chatty intercom kid. "Also, I'm technically dead. And I can still be overwhelmed. If something hit from behind or if eight demons piled on at once."

They know teenagers. They lived with a pair of them, back in Beacon. Sora would do the exact same eye-roll. "Seriously," they say, warm but sober, "everybody needs backup. We'd both hate for you to die in there because nobody bothered to watch your back, and then you wind up stuck on the train for the rest of the mission."
hashtagparkerluck: (491)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-15 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
"I have all of that minus the metal arm." He does not, last he checked, have a cool metal arm-no, no metal arm. "Plus I have a sixth-sense that warns me of danger and stuff-so I am absolutely settled-like one hundo percent." He assures.

His nonchalant demeanor falters for a moment there though-at the thought of being trapped on the train with nothing to do and all by himself. It's that more than anything that gets to him. "Yeah, okay fine, you can be my back up-um I'm Peter by the way-um.. I don't know if we've met yet?"
worthallthis: (friendly)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-15 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
They kind of doubt that Peter is in fact 100% fine to go alone, but they're also not going to argue since they got the permission to come along, anyway. "I'm Soldat. I've seen you around. You're Buttercup's friend." And also apparently got upset about Tony Stark's arrival, according to her, which means they might actually be from the same universe, actually. Interesting to think about.
hashtagparkerluck: (btLd4u3)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-15 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
He glances back at who had been mostly sure was Mr Bucky up until just now. "Yeah-she's great, isn't she?" He absolutely adores her even if she did sometimes think was an idiot. He also sometimes thought he was an idiot so it evened out in the end.

"I'm really glad to see she's branched out to talk to other people more-I really worry about her, you know?"
worthallthis: (Default)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-15 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
Well, they do look a lot like Bucky Barnes. And sound a lot like him. And have the same metal arm. Just some time spent in a dead world and a name different from the first one on the train. "I'm her friend," they assure Peter, checking their SCA for the nearest active gate, presuming that's the one Peter was heading for, but mostly following along wherever he leads. "She's a pretty interesting kid."

So, one might say, was the one with super strength and speed, and webs. Not that they're sure what exactly he means by webs, yet.
hashtagparkerluck: (241)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-16 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah." Peter agrees. He also thinks she's a little tragic because of how she's been taught to see the world. He knows what she'd think of that but now, even more so after their discussion, he just can't help but feel sorry for her. All the things she missed out on doing that kids should be doing. "She needs more friends."

He heads for the nearest active gate and shakes the thought out of his head. Now's not the time to think about that-now it's time to destroy the keystones. He spots some demons guarding the way and fires his webs to quickly bind them up.
worthallthis: (ruthless)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-16 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Welp, that sure does look like webs. "You want to handle the demons, let me shoot out the stone?" Soldat offers, pistol already in hand to shoot the demons once they're incapacitated. They don't trust those webs to necessarily hold against whatever magic (and claws) the demons have. Better to shoot them in the eye, turn whatever passes for their brains to mush. "I've got a lot of range on my rifle, and good-caliber bullets."
hashtagparkerluck: (W5W9E3L)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-18 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Uh.. yeah, sure. I guess that works." He's a little stiff all of the sudden, likely in part because he's not the biggest fan of guns. He encounters them in the field pretty frequently back in Queens but that doesn't mean he's lost his distaste for them.

"I'll web up the squad and you uh.. yeah, shoot the crystal." He agrees, moving quickly to snag a few more demons with his webs.

"I'm gonna have to make so much more web fluid after this mission." He grumbles. It's not that he minds but resources are a little limited.
worthallthis: (rifle)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-18 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
In most situations, Soldat would respect a dislike of guns and try to stick to something else, or stay out of a person's line of sight with them. They really don't have a choice here, though, sorry kiddo.

Trusting Peter to keep the demons at least at bay, Soldat shoulders the rifle and takes aim at the keystone. One shot isn't enough to destroy it, but it does make a nice-sized crack. "If your fluid comes in something," they say as they pause to fire on one of the larger demons surging up to block their line of sight to the keystone. "Might be I could refill it for you. Maybe."
hashtagparkerluck: (WADX5QQ)

[personal profile] hashtagparkerluck 2021-03-18 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Not really, It's kinda my own invention." Peter quips back as though it's perfectly normal to carry on an entire conversation in the middle of a fight.

"Hey! Watch it!" He tells a demon that might have gotten a little too close. "Ever heard of personal space?" He webs it down and moves to web another two.

"anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted- I just need the ingredients and I think I'm running a bit low on some the chemicals-Really, dude!?" Peter throws his hands up as a demon had just tried to throw a rock at him.
worthallthis: (catch)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-03-18 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"That might not matter." They take out another demon coming up on Peter's six, then aims for the stone again. Another bullet, another crack. One more should do it, if they aim properly. "The Arms Band reloads guns. Without needing to know the type. Or if they're special caliber. Might refill your stuff."