middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

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.

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The Asset also doesn't have Soldat's innate, if weary, optimism. Or their tact. "We have limited numbers and limited time. They do not. It is in their favor to attack us again and wear us down. Even if in each attack they lose the majority of their force."

It doesn't bother confirming who it is. Devero got it in one, and it wouldn't be efficient to restate it. But delivering a tactical summation is easy; that's one of the few times it is encouraged to speak.

Devero sighs. That's definitely not an answer he wants to hear, especially with how responsible for this place he feels. He pulls his low ponytail loose and rakes his hands through his hair, grimacing as he does. "There can't be that many of them, can there? Surely they need to exercise some restraint?"

"There is no sign of a limit yet," the Asset says. "There is no way to determine the extent of their resources. Even their motives are currently unclear." With motives, maybe it could determine a means of foiling them specifically, but "attack all humans for no reason" is a stupid motive.

"Maybe they're jealous of what the humans have, and all they want to do is take it away from them." His voice and expression both go hard when he says that.

It passes soon enough. "You've been in and out of their realm, haven't you? There's nothing in there that could give us an idea of what they're working with?"

"That is only one theory. The humans could have taken something of theirs. The humans could have something the demons need, specifically. The humans could have kidnapped or killed an important demon and this is revenge. The humans could have opened a portal and trespassed on their territory and this is to keep them from doing it again. The humans could be poisonous to the demons and this is an extermination. The--"

(That's enough.)

The cold recitation of potential motives cuts off. The Asset twitches once, shudders, shuts its eyes.

Soldat opens them, and drops out of rigid parade rest to scrub at their eyes with the heels of their hands. "Sorry. The Asset doesn't. It's not. It doesn't do small talk."

The change is immediate and noticeable. Dev watches them a-- a little warily, admittedly, at least until they speak. "Welcome back?" he says, sincere but uncertain given his unfamiliarity with multiple stuff in general.

"They weren't wrong, though," he adds. "Who knows why these demon fucks are attacking? We sure don't have that context, and it would be useful to know." He heaves a sigh.

"...Let them know that I appreciate the intel and their perspective, will you?"

(No. Asset. I'm not going to insist on people calling you "it". You might as well accept that now. No.)

"It heard you fine. It's growling at me about pronouns." Soldat just sounds tired. "To answer your question. Nothing specifically, no. Their realm is like this one. Only lifeless. Gray. Draining. Where there's a rock here or a hill or ruined building here, there's a rock or hill or ruined building there. The demons do not seem to live close by. No camps near to the gates. No cities in the distance. We haven't gone far in. It's not comfortable to be down there."

Lucky for the Asset, Devero's too attuned to pronoun stuff to just write that off. "It/its, then?" he says. That might throw most folks, but Devero just nods. "Copy that. If any of the rest of you have pronouns other than they/them, just let me know." He's not here to invalidate anyone's identity.

As Soldat continues, Devero combs his fingers through his hair again, then sweeps the shaggy locks back up into a short ponytail. "That's in line with the rest of what I've heard," he says. He shakes his head and sighs, sounding tired himself. "All we can do is work with what intel we do have, and just. Keep holding them back, I guess."

"Keep closing gates." Soldat chews on the inside of their cheek a moment. "I am concerned about another large attack, though. We'll have to stay on defense." Not being actually on Red team, they don't have the flashing warning on their SCA yet, and the Asset certainly didn't ask anyone for intel on it yet.

They look at Devero sidelong then, though, and decide that is someone's asking, it seems rude to the others in their head to not fill someone in. "Sarge is a he. Bottomless Pit is a they. I'm a they. And Asset's an it."

"He, they, they, it," Devero repeats, meeting Soldat's glance and nodding once. "Thanks for letting me know.

"I'll post more sentries," Devero continues, the words coming naturally. Looks like someone's more at ease now with his role keeping this camp running, isn't he? "We had enough advance warning to pull together this morning, and they won't catch us by surprise next time."

He pauses then, eyes going distant as something occurs to him. "We could post sentries on their side, too," he says slowly. "I-- have a. Cat. There's a cat holding a gate for us. Not far from here. Probably couldn't get a warning more advance than seeing them start to mass on their side, could we?"

"Saash. Yes, I heard about that. She told me about it then let me pet her a while. But no one can stay on that side for very long," Soldat warns. "Some of us longer than others, but still not long. Only one or two can stay long-term." And Soldat is, regrettably, not one of them, or they'd jump for the mission of infiltrating the other side.

"Maybe they wouldn't have to," Devero muses. "There's already a guard posted on the gate on this side to help Saash hold it. All they'd have to do it pop through on the regular for a look, right?"

Soldat likes the idea but they're still not sure about the practicalities. "Only if they are massing close enough for someone here to see. Some gates are a full day away. We have not seen any demon cities, none are close enough to see."

They consider a moment more, then say, "It won't hurt anything to do and it might help, yes, so we. Probably should do it. But not count on it."

"Maybe if they hike up to here from the gate," Devero muses, tapping the low cliff they're standing on with a foot. He gives his head a shake. "I'll talk to some people about it. Might not be worth the risk for that extra bit of advance notice."

The devil is in the details with these sorts of things, isn't it?

He brings his attention from the landscape to Soldat. "You need anything, before I drop back down to camp?"

They shake their head, then turn towards the cliff's edge themselves. "I'm coming down, too. Need to eat, and take stock. See who all is going out again, now, and who needs a sniper." And learn about the Red team's new goal.

"Sounds good," Devero says with a nod. He reaches out, making sure to choreograph the motion as he bops Soldat's metal shoulder lightly with the fist. "Glad you were here in camp this morning. All of you. Saw you fighting; the Asset was a real asset out there." ~~Devero did you really just~~

Har har. The punch gets a return one, very careful, to Devero's shoulder. With the flesh hand, because there's nothing fun about even a gentle pop from metal knuckles. "That's where the name comes from, you know," Soldat says with a kind of grim humor, turning to the second line to start climbing down. "The people who owned me just called me the asset. For a long time. Because I was an asset to them. Before that, it was the soldier."

Devero stands rooted at the top of the cliff for a moment, worried that he's just let something totally insensitive come out of his mouth inadvertently. And-- maybe he has, but it doesn't seem like he's detonated a mental landmine, at least.

He starts to climb down a moment after Soldat, frowning a little as he does. "Even if you chose never to use what they turned you into ever again," he says carefully, as if he's investigating each word before he voices it, "even if you didn't have those abilities at all, you'd still be an asset to us. I see how much you do for the community, back on the train."

He goes quiet for a moment, as if that might be all, but it's only because he has to focus his attention on the rock under his feet and the rope between his hands for a moment. Before the silence stretches too far, he adds in a bit of a rush, "And no matter what else, assets or not, you're a friend. That first and foremost, yeah?"

They are very good at being useful. That they'll absolutely attest to, and it's always a relief to be reassured that they're managing it. What else would they do, besides find ways to be useful? What else is there to do, but be useful?

They would probably let themselves down faster than Devero if they were alone, but between the conversation and wanting to make sure the guy makes it safe too, they stay about level with him. So they're at a good height to look over with a small smile, at the last. "Devero. I'm happy to be your friend."

Devero returns the smile with a pleased little one of his own. "Glad to hear it, Soldat."

That seems to be the last of what he has to say; he turns his attention back to the climb. Time to focus on making it down safely!

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The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

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Good to wrap?