The Will to Fight: Start

[voidtreckermods]

"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.

Comments

[pleple]

"I wish." Might make her a little more useful under broader circumstances. At least she can keep a sixth sense out for any incoming threats though...

While Yondu gives her a lift.

"What, it can carry you?" she asks cautiously. Her added weight shouldn't be enough for concern, but it seems dubious.

[yondu]

"Not real fast but that's more 'cause it'd hurt my hand more than it couldn't hold my weight. This arrow's strong enough to pierce dropship hulls and starship reserves without slowin' down."

He wraps his free arm around her waist and whistles, and yup. Her little butt is getting Mary Poppins'd right up to a third story that looks like it should exist but doesn't. And once he's up there, the illusion fully falters and he can tell it's broke.

He settles them onto a solid bit of the half-caved floor. Goes to the edge and whistles really loudly. A few people were already looking up, but that grabs some more attention. People down below, milling closer, looking so very confused.

"You got somethin' worth sayin' to 'em?" he asks her first.

[pleple]

That's a meaningful description to her! It's also terrifying to think that this dude with his little arrow could potentially shred mobile suits, all while being such a tiny target.

Ple Two tenses when Yondu grabs her, but they've got to figure out how to get this done, and that means getting as many eyes on the problem as possible. At least he's not rough with her - he doesn't seem like the sort to be delicate with kids.

How strange, though, to see a building sort of fade into a broken wreck. And she further wonders what those on the ground are seeing and thinking now. "Oh, yes, I think I'll have to ask about why this floor doesn't seem to actually exist."

[yondu]

And he would likely know exactly where someone was sitting inside of one.

He's pretty gentle with her, holding on tight enough to keep her from falling and didn't plop her down with needless recklessness. She might seem tough but he's got no reason to be roughing her around.

He walks around what's left of the room, casually lobbing out the remains of some abandoned furniture. Not hitting anyone, but enough to make a stir, and to show some physical evidence.

"Y'all see this!" He shouts down. "'Cause there's more you're missin'." All hoarse and scratchy and defiant.

"Reckon we should unlock the front door so they can take a look for themselves?" He doesn't really give a rat's ass if this house even belongs to anyone anymore (he can't imagine the owners are still around, anyway). These people shouldn't be here in this place at all.

[pleple]

Good thing they're allies - getting sniped in her cockpit by an invisibly tiny projectile wouldn't be fun.

Ple Two moves carefully on the building. How structurally sound are these damaged buildings? What do they do with the illusion when one collapses? "It sure doesn't look safe from up here," she asserts loudly and firmly. "How strange that it looks like an entirely different building from where they're standing. We should help them out."

[yondu]

Just pick him up Fay Wray style and carry him after enemy mechs. A great team asset right there.

But aside from that? "Cain't tell ya. Looks like we could at least collapse it in, we take out that bottom pillar." That it's best done outside he figures they both would know.

He goes to the part of the floor that dips down and hops off of it. Then turns and reaches up a hand in case she needs the help.

[pleple]

This plan cannot fail.

...the building on the other hand is about to. "I can't say that I know much about safe demolition." As far as planning it herself - she can follow directions quite well.

Ple Two follows, and accepts the offered hand. She doesn't need it but spraining her ankle trying to look self-sufficient would be pretty stupid.

[yondu]

He takes the stairs down, getting a good look at whatever supports are left. Seems like there's some wood, and that alone should give him some ground to tear things down.

"Yeah, okay. I think this ain't gonna be as hard as I figured. We take out the wood supports, where they got cemented and bricked up should give way the rest of the way. An' it should fall in instead of on the folks outside."

Which, luckily, they're getting a little bit of attention now.

"Just gotta convince 'em to watch it happen an' think about it."

[pleple]

If he can put holes in spacecraft, then wooden supports shouldn't be a big deal. "And think we aren't just attacking them, yes. Point out what you're doing quite clearly, and why it's abnormal, or else we'll just get attacked or arrested."

[yondu]

"Well, considerin' most of my town square speeches in my life have been specifically to spit in the faces of whatever security was there I reckon I can use that absolute lack of damn experience to my advantage."

Thanks, Train, for the team assignment. 100% cut out for this.

He walks out in front of the gathered people and points behind him.

"Y'all. That buildin' is collapsed. All y'all see that, right? Hey! You. In the checkers in the back. You can see this, right?" He's gesturing, getting them to look, and they're kind of talking about it amongst themselves. He'll just give it time to percolate.

[pleple]

"Aha, you might be the perfect guy for it then." Something to that effect - they need a very blunt, direct member for cases such as this don't they?

"You can all tell when a structure is suspiciously unused, right?" It doesn't make them dumb, to be caught in such a powerful effect.

[yondu]

There's a hum of agreements. Of maybes. Of 'no way it looks normal.' Of the maybes starting to insist and lean towards the agreements. That's good enough for Yondu.

He whistles, arrow hovering in front of him in the middle of the air for a moment. There's a few blinks of, 'maybe that's not normal', whispers in the crowd but an underreaction from people that don't normally see things defying gravity on a daily basis.

He starts whistling in quick succession and the arrow zips into the house, red streaks visible through the window, loud chnnk sounds heard as it slams wood and plaster and stucco relentlessly and dust starts pouring out. And somehow that little arrow makes the place cave in, and he catches it in his hand, beside his head, without having taken his eyes off the crowd. He wanted to be sure they were watching.

[pleple]

Ple Two puts her hands on her hips. Of course that arrow's not normal - not here. She doesn't know if it's a trait of Yondu, his people, some kind of special training, but it's powerful and convenient.

"A soundly built structure would never collapse from such damage, right?" A rhetorical question, but if Yondu wants to follow up on it, he's more than welcome.

[yondu]

That great moment when "all three" is the answer, not that there's much time to discuss it.

"It ain't a trick! That house was all messed up from whatever this war y'all had goin' on was. It's still goin'."

There's someone that looks like he could be an old soldier that steps forward, creases forming in his brow as it seems to register that things are off. He doesn't know how off, but they're off.

"How could they do this? How are they changing what we see?" he asks, to which Yondu throws up his hands.

"The hell if I know. I'm just the messenger."

[pleple]

"I've seen a great deal of technology to affect peoples minds... I've been subject to memory alteration on a small scale myself," she admits to the soldier. "I can easily believe that, with a controlled location and a population willing to believe, you could readily extend an illusion over a much broader space..."

[yondu]

"Hey, if you was fightin'. You know any places that got knocked down but seemed to get put together real fast? You might wanna check them out."

"But the demons have never done this before. I-" The particular soldier is thinking very hard, but there's an older couple suddenly leaving to go check and see if one of the homes they suddenly saw 'rebuilt' is actually still gone. He finally catches up with his own head. "That weapon is strange..."

Yondu pulls a bit of a face despite himself. The one time him being blue would have been useful and no one catches it as strange.

[pleple]

"And don't let the people back inside those buildings." Ple Two puts her hands on her hips. "Hey, I think it's kind of weird too, don't look at me." Although she's used plenty of remote-operated weapons of her own before.