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

[flatteries]

The light makes him blink for a moment, but thankfully it doesn't startle him enough for him to accidentally drop the thing. Instead he stares at the thing when he gets used to the light spinning by, thinking about what Tidus just said. Cassie's.. bot? Inigo has no idea what that one looks like, but why would Cassie's bot be here with them?

He frowns as he sees it spin around like that though. What is it doing that for..? The thing is kind of holding his hands now though, and if there's anything that makes Inigo trust something, it's that. "Did you get startled..?" He softly says to it, even though he's not expecting an answer in return. It's more just him musing out loud, really. Can something like this get startled?

Until Roland draws his attention. Inigo looks towards him and the paper, unsure how Roland got those letters from nothing but beeps, but fully willing to believe the guy. But even so, the message doesn't make much sense to him. Who's Anan? Where does he need to come?

He only knows one thing, so he shakes, gesturing with his head in the direction of the metal thing on his hands.

"This one makes the same sounds as the radio." He heard it beep! Softly, but he heard it!

[blitzcheer]

From where Tidus is standing, he can see the jotting below as Roland focuses in on whatever's going through his head, the radio beeping in his hands, the droid-looking machine that he's second guessing if it's really Cassie's at all. He's not sure if he should move - not wanting to interrupt Roland (though, man, can he? He's totally absorbed and muttering away!), but what good is he here, being this radio's frame?

It's hard to know where to settle his attentions, but he decides at least to lower the radio down slowly, careful not to lose the signal, or to see that he won't. That's better with Roland than him, with his ears catching the differences in the beeps, and maybe he's becoming aware of how... peculiar, or particular they are. But what does that mean for him when they're just a bunch of beeps and boops regardless?

So, the next plan should be for him to go over to Inigo, and that's half of the idea. That's half of the direction he's going, inspecting the metal thing from where he is. The same boops and beeps, and he wonders, what the heck is going on here?, when Roland lifts the paper for them, his scribbles on display.

'Anan, Come In, Anan'?

"It's talking?" Was it? Wait, were they even making the same kind of boops and beeps? But nevermind if it's making any new noises or messages; if Roland knows what the thing is saying, then-- "Say something back!"

[adregem]

Nothing could have forced Roland's attentions away from the radio, even as the guy holding it eventually lets it go, sets it down on the nearest surface for Roland to watch for. Even as Inigo cradles the thing scrounging about their things. (Will Roland ever be reunited with his lunch box? Stay tuned.) His ears are more perked up than ever, getting used to the rhythms required of decoding morse after so long of not hearing dots and dashes, secret languages of Earth that were meant to transmit messages faster than horses could carry into the wind.

But why? Why now? On this planet? There was so much of this that doesn't make sense.

Until eventually, it does. Somehow. While he struggles to decode even just the first series of the radio's signals, the second half he knows almost instinctively. If you can only know a little bit of morse by memory, after all, surely you choose the signal that spells out -

"...Mayday."

It's not quite saying something back as Tidus instructs him to do - not like he could or had the ability to, when the radio wasn't meant to transmit things back - but there's no mistaking it. He even repeats it in his own, hushed monotone, timed perfectly to the radio beeping it out loud. He could pass off as a possessed robot with the blank look in his eye, the sounds coming out of his throat...But upon a closer inspection, Roland looks to be completely engrossed. Worried. Brows eventually meeting in the middle, sure as any about what follows.

He writes this down with more certainty, and shows it to the Twin Teens without missing a beat.

Mayday / Pilot / MIA.

Roland turns away, leaving them to read the page one more time if they want. He's already on his comms line, relaying what they know immediately. He makes it quick, ends the line fast, and turning back to the radio in case it has more to say....

[voidtreckernpcs]

A third message, a third series of beeps and boops begins to play.

beep beep beep
boop boop boop beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep boop boop boop
beep beep beep beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep boop
beep boop boop boop boop
beep beep boop boop boop
beep beep beep boop boop
beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep

It repeats a few times before looping back, playing the very first sequence once again.

The small droid in Inigo's hands is whirring slightly as it shines its light on him, on Tidus and on Roland, it beeps softly again but if that was a response to Inigo's question was unclear.

[flatteries]

With how Inigo has been wandering closer towards the other two, he's practically meeting Tidus halfway. Just enough for him to be able to lean over and to whisper - in a way that isn't quiet enough to be a whisper at all, honestly: "How does Roland know what day of the week it is?"

You think Inigo understands what the word mayday means? Please, half of this whole situation is going over his head. This is way too much of a modern way to word things for him to fully understand how Roland is getting this message from the beeps and boops, let alone know what the message itself means.

So rather than trying to understand that, he turns his attention back to the little thing sitting on his hands. "Hey, is that you talking? Over the radio? Can't you talk with us in any other way?"

Look, Inigo isn't too sure if this thing can even communicate, but it's not like he's got many other leads to go by here. May as well look like an idiot talking to a metal moving thingy.

[blitzcheer]

TALK TO THE BOT NOT THE COMMS, OLD MAN!!!

Roland is engrossed in his own world right about that, and that puts the final nail in the decision for Tidus to join Inigo, though he doesn't need to move a step or more before the other guy is already coming over to him. This is a lot of absurdity going on at once, but at least with Inigo's question...

"Huh? Day of the...?" Oh, may day. "No, it's a distress call. Like alert, alert. Something's trying to get in contact."

With someone, or something, that much was what Tidus was making out. But it's clear that this bot...was not from this world, and whatever it was doing here...

While Inigo is being bot-mom, Tidus tries something - making his void ticket appear from his band and in his hand. It's got that weird light...maybe it's trying to read them, so maybe, as he lifts it up in front of him.

"We came from the void. You too? Where's your, uh...craft?"

Take us to your leader, oh space bot??

[adregem]

DON'T TELL HIM WHAT TO DO THIS IS A NATIONAL CRISIS-

This part of the transmission has Roland off for a loop. It forces him back to his diagram, hoping his phone is catching the recording of the beeps that he's missing. It's important too, because he can't keep up with this one until he takes his phone, stops the recording, and plays back the final part of the message that distinctly grows longer and longer the more he paces. He's on his feet, phone up close to his ear, his mouth moving to inaudible words, and his hand holding the chart with the letters.

When he stops to write down what he knows, a transmission from someone else on the team comes through his earpiece and he finally takes a look at the two, cradling the droid. What was it, and how was it related to these messages...? He's heard it's looking for something over the comms line, a backpack...?

"I think Devero wants to take a look at it," He finally says, writing down letters onto paper, multitasking with a stern calm, hiding an undercurrent of worry. "But if it's beeping like the radio, then maybe it'll respond to the same thing? Give me a sec."

The final piece of the puzzle is just as unnerving as the rest of the morse. S 8 6 5 2 5 6 5 6 4 1 2 3 5 5 (Erda) is written on his notebook, set aside on the nearest surface for them to read if they so choose. Anan, come in, Anan. Mayday, pilot MIA. S 8 6 5 2 5 6 5 6 4 1 2 3 5 5.

He starts talking into his comms line again while searching his discarded supplies for something. It takes him a good long minute, but he comes back to the Twin Teens holding a metal can. The FortiGro in Chocolate. Roland opens it and chugs quietly, giving the can air, hollowness for his experiment.

But that gives the droid enough time to respond to Tidus's own experiment first, if it does. He'll try his afterwards.

[voidtreckernpcs]

Beep The droid vibrated slightly in Inigo's hands, metal limbs curling a little tighter even as it ran a green light over the ticket that Tidus was holding up.

Boop
Beep Beep
Boop Beep Beep
Beep Beep Boop
Beep Beep Beep

[flatteries]

Look at his new little buddy vibrate like that. Maybe that means something is happening.. in there? Is that how these metal things work? Despite having seen robots during some of the missions, Inigo still feels a little unsure as to how exactly these things function.

But at the very least Inigo can understand that green light must be meaning something, especially when it's so specifically aimed at the ticket. He glances over at Roland - dad, why are you drinking now? - before looking over at Tidus instead.

"Do you think that's how he reads things?"