The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

[voidtreckermods]

Dawn Attack

It's been a busy few days of fighting demons, attacking keystones and fighting both on the demon and human planes. On the morning of day nine of the month of Kazoo a gate opens close to the base camp that the two teams have made.

It seems the demons have decided to focus on this unexpected threat, because it is a sizable force, with a number of the large demons. They march towards the camp with single-minded focus, the opportunity to stop these unwanted defenders taking precedence over their desire to destroy the city.

The advantage to the landscape being as ruined as it is, is that there isn't much to stop the lookouts from seeing this force headed towards them. A gate opening is not subtle. There should be enough time to make sure the defenders are ready.

Scouting Ahead

Once that skirmish is won those on the Red team will find their SCA's beeping, with an exclamation point far out to the east.

A group of demons is congregating at the location indicated. Investigate why, defeat the demons and close any gates nearby.

It will take a while to get there and there is plenty to do on the way for those that follow the exclamation point. Roaming packs of demons, gates to be closed. Exhausting work, especially for those going in and out of the demon gates.

Protecting the City

Once it is clear that these defenders are not going to be easy to wipe out, the attacks on the city itself get more frequent. The demons have changed tactics: rather than sending in large groups they open many small portals, sending small strike teams to harry and target individuals.

Some of the attacks are clearly meant as traps: they open the gates in or very close to the city, to lure the Voidtreckers in to where they will be affected by the spell. Ranged attacks may be useful here.

Comments

[lucklessgege]

Dawn
Xie Lian doesn't need a lot of sleep and he was up early doing some meditation when he sense the surge of demons getting closer. He opens his eyes and gets to his feet quickly. For a moment he wonders if they are coming for the dagger that he still has in his possession and for a moment he worries this is his fault.

He goes back into the tent and grabs the dagger, tucking it into his belt before heading back outside and hurrying in the direction of the coming pass of demons. He is going to do whatever he has to, to protect the camp. Even if it means giving up the dagger.

He reaches the edge of the camp and looks around to see if anyone else was woken up by the rush of demons coming towards them.

Protecting the City
Xie Lian has been running around trying to stop as many of the small strike teams as possible. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that he has become a target and these portals are opening simply to attack him.

He takes down yet another patch of them before collapsing down on the ground. He sits there trying to regain some of his energy, growing more exhausted the longer he is out there.

"How much longer will we have to endure this?"

[melodiouspacifist]

"Feels like days already."

Demyx was still on his feet at least, but he was flagging, easily. He was leaning a little heavily on his sitar, the break is short but really, all the haste on his magic in the world can't keep up with this.

A few more come lumbering out and he picked up his sitar properly, playing a few notes to erect a water wall between them and the demons.

"Do I look like some kind of hero?" He exclaimed at whatever was controlling all of this.

[lucklessgege]

Xie lian stares at the demons with an exhausted expression of contempt. There is few things that he would say he hates, but these demons are crawling their way up that list. He flops backwards onto the ground and lets the other man handle these couple remnants.

His own weapon is a silk bandage wrapped around his arms and even Rouye is growing tired of this constant warfare. "This is the most fighting I've done since the war..." And how many hundreds of years ago was that? And at least then he had a sword.

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx was all kinds of irritated, and it was pretty hard to accomplish that! He was just so exhausted, he could barely take it.

He continued to play until the water crested over and washed them out. One snuck through and he just whacked it, that was the best he could do.

He fell back on the ground himself, close to spent.

"I hate fighting." He moaned.

[lucklessgege]

"There can be an elegance to fighting...but this is not it." He doesn't like fighting himself but he knows how necessary it can be. All his attempts at stopping wars in the past have all failed. He has seen several of them himself over those 800 years. Been a part of them as a Prince and a General. But that doesn't make them any easier to endure.

"I just wish I was better suited to being out here. But this is certainly more in the realm of what I understand and can deal with then the previous world."

Robots...less good at dealing with those. Flesh and bone enemy? That concept he can understand.

[melodiouspacifist]

"I don't know about that, but I haven't had to fight like this maybe...ever!" Demyx said, looking a little bit like he was dragging even though he was just sitting there. He ran a hand down his face.

"Last mission wasn't like this at all." He mused. "I'm not sure I'm suited for anything else though." Orange shirt aside, he didn't feel like he fit into that team. They all seemed much smarter than him.

[lucklessgege]

"It's interesting how different they are. In a way it is good...but it also makes it hard to know what to expect." At least they will never get bored since they won't know exactly what to expect the next time they stop at a strange place.

"But it does seem like every world requires fighting of some sort." Which is quite sad.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Yeah, seems that way, maybe." Demyx agreed. "Oh, not that winter carnival thing. That didn't need any fighting."

Well it didn't need any, but he'd been tempted.

[lucklessgege]

"That is true. That one was quite nice." Very nice actually...not that he would ever admit to why. But at least that world seemed peaceful. So at least there is some places out there that haven't succumbed to war.

"Perhaps the next one will be nice as well." THey are going to need a break.

[melodiouspacifist]

"I hope so, but I don't really know. I haven't been on the train that long. The winter thing was the first thing I went to." Demyx admitted. So this was his second mission and it was exhausting!

[lucklessgege]

"Well hopefully we only have a few more days of this and then we can sleep until the next one." He smiles, hoping that might be the case and that this difficult journey is almost over. He knows that his body has gotten weaker since the winter festival and this is simply proving it. He is going to have to start doing more to get stronger.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Can't wait!" Demyx smiled, he could nap in the music room all day if he wanted to, like he was an overgrown Nobody-shaped cat.

[lucklessgege]

He points towards where another portal has opened up. "Looks like our rest period has finished." He pushes himself up to his feet slowly. At least the day is getting late and pretty soon they will be able to head back.

[crimson_rain]

Hua Cheng doesn't need much sleep either, but a few hours of rest and a few moments of meditation. He predicted accurately the demons are coming back and brazenly fight in full force in broad daylight as the morning sun rose.

"I'll return back to you." He promised. Fighting for his prince is his honor, so he gives him a good-bye kiss at the edge of the camp, and then he went off to fight on his own to push back the forces and help out the humans to defend the city and save what's left of it and to shut down as many gates he can to stop the flood.

"Dianxia." It's only hours since he comes back and returns to him as he promised, never leaving his side, and wordlessly picks up his collapsed form and lifts him up in his arms. "Are you all right?"

[lucklessgege]

"Just tired, San Lang..." He looks up at him and smiles as he rests against him. "Welcome back."

He doesn't have the spiritual energy that the ghost king has and constantly relying on just his own strength to get him through eventually wears him down. It's been a long time since he has had to fight this earnestly. At usually he has a sword with him to help take things down. Fighting with the smaller dagger can only help a little.

[crimson_rain]

"It's going to be okay. I'm here now." With all of this war and constant energy, he understands his exhaustion and resentment. Whatever pain and resentment he's feeling, he's felt it too.

He holds him tight in his arms and walks him to the campsite, where it's still intact thanks to his fighting efforts and the effort of others.

"How is your day gege? I felt like it's a long time. I missed you."

[lucklessgege]

"I missed you too. My day has been busy. It seems the demons still want to target the dagger." And yet he stubbornly still carries it. He is determined to keep this until he goes back to the train. But it has also helped him stay safe since he has been able to use it in the battles.

[crimson_rain]

He knew his prince wanted the dagger and if he intends to keep it as his treasure and if it's his will, he will defend it. But if any demons survives, they will follow them to the train, putting everyone on board at risk. So, he'll make it his goal to kill every demon in this world until the mission is over so his prince can keep it. It's not possible. It just takes time.

He carries him to the camp and lay him inside their tent where he could rest properly on the makeshift bedding. "Dianxia, do you want to eat anything? I'll get you something to eat and drink."

[lucklessgege]

"I'm alright San Lang. But perhaps a drink would be good. I think I need it." He doesn't feel particularly hungry and his body doesn't really need food. He has long learned how to live on meager portions. But getting dehydrated is still an issue. And if there is more battling in their future, he will need to stay hydrated for it.

[crimson_rain]

"Anything for you, dianxia." He leaves him there for a few moments to go fetch a thermos canteen and he brought back water for him to drink and sat next to him.

He hands him the canteen, "Here, for you. You overexert yourself. They were fighting very fiercely this morning, so they must be desperate to destroy everything."

[lucklessgege]

"They are probably getting ready to do something larger to try and stop us. The more desperate they become, the more dangerous. We've already killed so many of them..."

He has heard how rough the ends of missions can become and he wants to be able to help out as much as he can. But even he knows he is greatly outmatched without much more then a dagger at his disposal. His over abundance of strength can only go so far...

[crimson_rain]

"It could be that. I was in the demonic realm to try to close down the gates. They seem very desperate to destroy this city and what's left of humanity."

Thoughtfully, "I had seen a large number of them in the demon realm. If my prediction is correct, they're saving up their numbers for a full on and all out assault."

Looking at Dianxia, "If that happens, I'll say we split up. I'll go to the demon realm again to destroy the gates."

[lucklessgege]

He nods in agreement. He knows that their strengths are in different ways and Hua Cheng is more suited to fighting in the demon realm then most of the others.

"I agree that it is the best tactic. Just be careful when you go in there, San Lang."

He knows he can't do a lot to protect him, but that doesn't mean that Xie Lian won't worry.

[crimson_rain]

Hua Cheng brought out his dice from his pouch and gives the square dice a flip on his hand to predict what will happen in a few days. It doesn't matter what number it will rolled up and land, because he is always lucky.

"You have my dice and all of my luck. I predict they will attack in the morning before the week is over and we head back to the train. By then we have less time to prepare and we have to attack with our full strength."

[lucklessgege]

He nods, knowing that he has the dice tucked safely away in his robes but only wanting to use them in an emergency. Even with Hua Cheng's good luck, he isn't entirely sure it is enough to always overtake his own terrible luck. Even though he remembers how Hua Cheng showed him the best way to toss the dice is.

"We'll be ready, San Lang. I know we can handle whatever happens."