middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Start

Entry tags:

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah, they're startin' to notice. They just seem a little bit put off, though."

Well, some of them. He hears an all too familiar question behind him.

"Why are you blue?" in a childish voice, from a little boy about five.

He resists the urge to be a smartass and calls back his usual answer. "I was born that way!" It's not particularly mean or anything. If anything, it's almost amused.

Then the next expected question. "Whats that thing out of your head? Why's it glow?"

"It's a fin. And it glows 'cause y'all'd get lost if it didn't. Keep up."

Alley's kind of glad her differences from these bog-standard humans are a bit more subtle, compared to someone being blue with a glowing red fin on their head.

In the dark, her pointed ears are probably hard to see. And the giant shield bolted to the bar standing in for her arm helps hide that there's no arm behind it.

"Sounds like you get those questions a lot. Before the train, too?"

"Not the blue one, 'cause Kree're blue, too. Some of 'em turn brown when they breathe enough nitrogen. But the head thing is a real kid question, and my boy asked a lot when he was first in space."

He shrugs.

"Adults ain't asked anything yet. I think they're just scared 'cause they're seein' they got tricked. They're still followin' me, though, so that's what counts."

"Well... like you said, at least they're following."

So that's good.

"I may have had to threaten a few of mine to get them down here, but now that they're getting far enough away from whatever that is, I think my threats are nice and far from their minds."

Diplomacy, she's fantastic at it.

"Yeah, well... had a sweet lil girl that woulda been let down if I started slingin' threats, so I kept my mouth shut on her behalf." Madoka had a big heart, and he couldn't stand be mean to her. He'd been mean enough to Peter in his life. Doing that to that little angel? He'd have been torturing himself.

"Most of 'em got the right idea when we found a couple of demons in disguise."

And luckily, somehow, the fact he'd used his arrow was completely normal.

"Ah, I know the feeling. Some of my people on Thedas don't like it when I get like that, either."

Mostly Cole, but sometimes also Sera, depending on who she's intimidating at the time. Occasionally Varric? Are rogues just like that...?

"But none of them are here."

So she's free to be every bit the savage Dalish elf she feels like at any given moment.

"You were able to remove the illusion from some demons? That's a neater solution than mine, I thought I was going to have to just carry some of these people down here, one by one."

"Well, it weren't so much we removed the disguise, it's that when you kill 'em the illusion don't know what to do with a body that ain't there no more. An' poof." He snaps his fingers. "Up and gone. People lookin' one moment, look back? Where did that corpse go. It was just messed up enough to get people thinkin' and noticin'."

He chuckles though.

"Well, I did threaten one guy but he was wantin' to bring his whole inheritance with him an' I basically told him whatever shit he brings that he don't need I was gonna claim it for mine. Payment for bein' a guide. Weren't happy to hear that. He's still too heavy but somewheres way towards the back an' I ain't had to listen to him."

Rich tits always ask for more than they deserve! Alley can almost hear that line from Sera, back when they'd first met. Oh, the archer would have had some words for this situation, she's sure of it.

"...And they didn't just panic that you were 'killing' things?" Hm. "Noted. I may have to try that for the next batch of idiots."

Alleyana glances back over their little train of civilians, and snorts.

"Well, if he falls behind enough that we have to retrieve him separately, you can always rob him down to his drawers for it."

Maybe she pitched that a little louder, who's to say?

Yondu quickly looks behind and, before some of the closer ups can start faltering, throws back a, "I ain't robbin' none of y'all. Don't worry about that."

Mostly 'cause there are kids, and he could already hear from a couple of childish gasps they'd believe such a thing. And partly 'cause these are still humans, in a world where they've been badly victimized by demons. And, well, they're being led out by a really demonic-looking guy. He wants them to keep following him.

He's lying, though. He might still rob that guy. Hit or miss on that promise.

Alley makes a quiet, amused sound. "Well. That's why the Inquisition had a diplomat -- and it absolutely wasn't me."

And why Josephine had twisted herself into knots trying to coach Alley on how to behave before the whole ordeal at the Winter Palace. Or Halamshiral, as her people had known that bit of land, before the humans had thrown them all in chains for not believing in the Maker.

Maybe Solas was right to want to burn it all down. Pity she couldn't let him.

"When I was a captain, I had to calm down my crew every once in a while. Keep 'em from goin' completely buckwild. Sometimes I just had to get 'em distractable about other things... Ravager crews ain't the calmest sort, especially mine."

That last time, thanks to Kraglin, it didn't work out. While Nebula definitely played her role, the fact Kraglin turned on him, even for a moment, still weighed on him. He didn't do anything to deserve that, in his opinion. Was Kraglin really so fragile he'd been upset Yondu didn't want to kill Quill?

Didn't matter now, he supposes. But still.

"These people are a lot easier. They're just scared."

"My people mostly didn't need that from me. And when the civilians needed some rousing speech or words of calm, they definitely went to someone else."

Cullen was the rousing speech guy. Josephine or Leliana or someone from the Chantry was the calming option. Bother the Inquisitor directly at your own peril.

"Could definitely use them here with me, but I suppose someone has to be around to keep Thedas from burning down in my absence. If I can't be there personally to work on stopping the next big catastrophe, at least they're all there and know what's happening."

Her people are good, they'll figure it out.

"One would hope these people are more scared of what's behind them than in front of them."

"My crew was about three-hundred men deep, with at least a hundred in the field when I was doin' a raid. I ran a big ship..." The ships were practically mini-towns, enormous, the fleet composed of a hundred ships. Yondu's, a tainted outlier until its death.

"I did remember a lot about most of my men, though." He made a point of it. "But I know what I am. I made my whole life off makin' people scared. It ain't hard for me. It's a lot harder for me to keep people feelin' safe."

And he can sometimes hear whispers among the more hesitant souls. The ones with families. The ones that want to break off and make their own way, because they don't know what something like Yondu might do.

The Iron Bull had once made a point by having Alley dress in an Inquisition scouting uniform, and go drinking with him among the soldiers. Those men had looked her dead in the eye and not known who she was.

But she'd learned a thing or two about each of them, the ones she'd met that night, and that had been Bull's point. She couldn't possibly know all of them, but some was better than nothing. Kept them from becoming inanimate pawns in her head.

"That's a lot of people on a ship. Even the train isn't quite that big."

Close, but not quite.

"I only knew anything about maybe a dozen people in our forces who weren't part of my inner circle, so you definitely have me beat there."

To be fair, she was usually in the field herself, sealing the tears in the sky that had demons pouring out of them. She'd been the only one who could, thanks to the power contained in her left hand.

The left hand that's now gone, turned to stone and crumbled away before it could melt her down fatally. So all she had left on Thedas was her people, scattered across the land.

And now, here, not even them.

"...Must be weird to be solo, now."

It sure fucking is for her.

Knowing them didn't mean he forgave them when they were reprehensible. That bit he won't say out loud, though. Yeah, the train he's... he's not made an effort. Every person he's come to know has approached him first. He's not reached out. He's attempted, unsuccessfully, to close himself off.

"Feels like I'm nothin'. Even as a slave I was worth more than this." And that's the hardest part of it. He misses being worth something. He's careful about saying it loud enough for any of the townfolk to hear.

But maybe he shouldn't say shit like that to people.

"Doesn't matter. I put myself in the position, I did some shit that ain't the train's fault, so I might as well get these people out." He picks up his stride and walks a little faster. He whistles, and it translates, the sharp noise being a 'come on!' The fact that a whistle became words in the heads of the townsfolk causes a surprised hum among a few of them.

'Slave' is a fate Alley is quite familiar with; all corners of Thedas are rife with it, except maybe Ferelden. And even then, Ferelden just dresses it up in a nicer name.

"I understand the feeling," Alley says simply, "of going from leading people to... sitting around on a train staring at plants and shit. Like a weapon that's been retired to sit on a shelf and collect dust."

Sure, they're supposedly saving worlds, here, but. It doesn't take either of their skillsets to drag a bunch of frightened humans through a tunnel, now does it?

"I've been the Inquisitor for so long, I'm not sure what to do without my Inquisition." Seems it might be the same for Yondu and being the captain of a city-sized ship.

This time he opts to shut his mouth, rather than say what his part of the issue is. He spent so long building this dangerous social structure, rickety and weak, held together by tape and thin nails. It wasn't to be loved, it was to be a little bit better than hated. It was to be feared when necessary, it was to be commanding as he could be. He saved Peter at the expense of being a reliable leader. He was a reliable leader at the expense of being a kind father. He was a successful captain at the expense of being a good friend.

And he'd lost that balance. He'd failed and lost almost everything and could only give one moment in which he did something right. It all collapsed around him and he should be able to find peace but no, he can still feel the cold in his bones and hear the voices of the dead calling for his help.

He swallows it all, like a piece of ill-feeling food you don't want to be caught spitting out.

"What is an Inquisitor, anyway?" is what he goes with.

Edited 2021-03-15 11:24 (UTC)

"In my time, I'm the only one. Remember when I said the humans decided to make me their next prophet? That, but with extra steps."

Technically, the prophet bit was her being 'the Herald of Andraste', whether she liked it or not, no matter how much she'd protested. No matter how many times she'd explained that no, Andraste herself had not handed her out of the Fade back into the waking world. The mark on her hand was not from their precious Maker.

At the end of the day, the mark on her hand, the Anchor, had meant she'd had to stick around to clean up the mess anyway. Nothing and no one else could seal a Rift.

"Leader of a huge branch of the Chantry, which is the human church. I think by the time we killed Corypheus, we had about as many people camped under our flags as the neighboring countries of Ferelden and Orlais. Mostly fighters, but also support people, whole families. I wasn't in charge of logistics either, thankfully. I did a lot of delegation if something didn't need to be hit in the face."

This is absolutely, easily, hands-down, the most Alleyana has spoken at once in her entire time on the train. Her voice is actually getting less ragged as her damaged vocal cords warm up. It'll never not sound harsh, but. Improvement is improvement.

She's just sort of hoping that her rambling might help, somehow. Center him on something that isn't that feeling of worthlessness.

"...And now, I'm here."

Maybe her attempt to commiserate might even hold a little water? But she won't be shocked if it doesn't. Maker only knows her social skills are stunted at best.

"So... less of a dick than 'Accusor' then, good to know. I don't know what Corypheus is or any of those other places, but I'm guessin' you had a big ol' fight."

God, he's, in that moment, realizing how much bureaucracy he did. A lot. He did a whole hell of a lot of book-keeping. He was the only one smart enough to do it.

But at least he just lets her go on for a little while.

"With no other context, I'm going to assume an 'Accusor' is a real jackass."

The title alone sounds like it.

"So how long ago did you get free?"

Just thought she'd dropped what you'd said a minute ago, did you Yondu? Longer legs can only get you so far, so fast. Alley hasn't hurried to keep up with his increased speed, suspecting he won't try to out-run their flock of scared civilians. Several of which are kids, with kid legs.

"They're Kree warriors, set out to get rid of threats to the Kree Empire. They decide if somethin' is a threat or not. Move in with a military. Bam. Done."

Accusors were so much of a big deal that they were just terrifying to fight.

The talk of being a slave, though, partially isn't a big deal. He knows its written on his face. There's something dismissive to the way he says, "Long time ago," because it was. Decades, even. The sense of self-worth that he's lost, though, that he plans to keep tucked tightly in his coat. There are people that are sometimes good to talk rough stuff with, but you don't show those folks your weak points. He's was already an idiot for saying as much as he did.

"Hn, sounds a lot like the way the Qunari operate, that. Ruthless conquerors, and whoever they don't simply kill, they indoctrinate. Usually by force, they're not big on free will. Or freedom in general."

Helping Bull break away from his former people was a decision Alley had no real regrets over.

"Some of their shit makes sense to me, but most of it doesn't."

"I don't know what kinda background a lotta those places have. I figure that has somethin' to do with it. How many resources they had before they started actin' all stupid."

Says the pirate very aware of finite resources. But he considers that all the more reason to fall back on it.

"They just do like they do. Get proud of it. Get their ass beat when they're feelin' like they've got things under control."

"That's a pretty accurate assessment, at least from my perspective."

Also being an outsider to that sort of system, and all. But it rings true; the qunari people might not have been so eager to settle into a system where even stray thoughts were grounds for re-education, if they hadn't felt some pressure from the world. Scarcity was a likely culprit.

And with that to mull over, she's pretty content to just walk the rest of the way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Will to Fight: Start

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject