Attack on Heartless - A Crusade Bathed in Fire and Blood IC

[Remedy]

The OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503411-Attack-on-Heartless-A-Crusade-Bathed-in-Fire-and-Blood-OOC)


Episode 1

The courtyard is dominated by a low, constant rumble due to the clopping feet of many horses and the supply wagons they’re pulling. People all around are spouting off almost indecipherably about formations and supply counts and roll call and charging around in all directions.

The four of you have received orders to meet just off to the side of the mayhem. Waiting for you is a pair of hardened Crusader soldiers standing at attention. One is a thick-muscled human man with short, spiky black hair and scars across his face. The other is a plump, feminine anthropomorphic dog with golden fur and a row of stud earrings down each ear.

You’ve each received your official mission statement already, and know who your teammates will be. This pre-mission briefing is mostly to go over your duties, answer questions, and allow a chance for introductions for those of you who have yet to meet each other.

For some of you, this is a very new experience. Even those of you who already have experience in the Crusaders haven’t been in such centrally important positions before, and this is likely your first time forming such a striker-esque squad rather than one dictated by the rules of formal hierarchy. Your group is officially named the Central Priority Extermination Squad, but you all know the drill - you’ll take a more colloquial name quickly based on the successes and failures you become known for.

Your job is multi-faceted. Your primary job during the trek to the castle is to knock priority targets off the board and provide support to any parts of the formation that find themselves overwhelmed while trying to avoid needlessly wearing yourselves out on the more numerous typical threats. You’ll have a small squad of ten average Crusaders under your collective command as well, to do with as you please, though their main purpose is to relay any information smoke signals can’t convey.

Once you’ve arrived at the castle, it’ll be your job to take the surviving remainder of your contingent and scout out the castle first before the rest of the army comes in to set up base.

Should this all go according to plan, you’ll rest and recover within the castle, then head back towards the Walls with a small force (who you will manage to try and minimize casualties) to report to the kingdom, at which point the government will initiate plans for building a supply relay system with the castle.

You’ll have a large amount of autonomy throughout this mission. You will exercise your best judgment in most cases, deciding which threats to focus on at which times and how to utilize your small command. The only procedural demand the upper brass is enforcing is that you aren’t allowed to divide the team except during a state of extreme critical emergency - your main job is to concentrate fire on targets who might otherwise cause sweeping casualties, and they don’t want anything that might prevent you from moving on such targets all at once.

Of course, all that sounds good on paper, but some of you haven’t even met yet, and may have practical questions going in. Thus, the pair of soldiers now wait.

However you enter now will set your first impression for the team. Try to make it reflective of yourself, or, failing that, professional. :smallwink:

[NineOfSpades]

Olivia stood, her back leaning against the hastily constructed storage sheds that had been erected to house provisions while the main supply chain was still getting organized. Occationally, she’d glance up, looking at the mass of soldiers as they ebbed and flowed, catching snippets of shouted orders that flew thick in the air. Mostly her attention stayed on the object in her hands, which she fiddled with incessantly.

The object was a small metallic disk, slightly larger than Olivia’s palm. Even a first year trainee would be able to recognize it as the main coil for the ODM’s reeling winch. She’d pulled off the housing case and was diligently going over the inner workings. The coil had gotten replaced three days prior, having worn out enough that the cables would sometimes slip their joints if she fired to much gas at once. The kind of defect that was hard to notice during routine use, and could easily get you killed if the part finally gave out at the wrong moment. Thankfully, she’d caught it early, and put in the requisition to have the main coil replaced.

That wasn’t what had her attention though. The new part was, for all intensive purposes, working fantastic. The threading on the axel was smooth as a newborn baby’s behind, and it practically purred like a kitten when the inlet valve was released and the compressed gas Kickstarter the drive motor.

In Olivia’s experience, a fresh out of the forge part tended to be temperamental with the choke. And she’d had plenty of experience, since she’d strain her equipment to its mechanical limits if it meant shaving another eight of a second off of the time between reloading the grappling cable and firing it off again. The problem bothered her enough that she’d had to break regulations and invent her own workaround. With great care, she unfitted the compressor spring from within the gear works, and removed it from the main coil. With the wire-cutters from her field-repair kit, she clipped off a few millimeters of metal from the spring. Her job accomplished, she diligently reversed her work, replacing the spring and refitting the components back together. With the modification to the compressor spring, the choke would be able to run a bit more smoothly and wouldn’t seize up on her when she made those tight hairpin turns that made her eyes water from the G-forces.

Now came the harder part. The fine-tuning of her equipment had forestalled the need to actually talk to her new squad mates, but there wasn’t much opportunity to delay that any further. It was certainly an eclectic bunch. Olivia felt a small pang of an emotion she hadn’t really encountered for a few years: Nervousness. Not over the mission, that thought had her positively giddy. But over her new peers. In Training, she’d always been ahead of the curve, so she never had to worry about her performance. Now though? She was on the forefront of one of the most important parts of the whole operation. The men, women and animals running around and busying themselves with the preparations, all of it would probably end up going to waste if she and the three strangers assembled before her weren’t able to fulfil their duties. Heck, it was weird just knowing she had a squad of ten people assigned under her, and the majority of those crusaders were quite a bit older than she was.

In her mind, she flashed back to the sound of her keyblade shattering. Yeah, Olivia was nervous. Only a crazy person wouldn’t be at least a little nervous, with the responsibility that she had been handed. But, as she always did when she felt the tension building, Olivia believed it was better to press ahead rather than try and retreat. Lifting herself off from the storage shed, Olivia interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms high over her head, straightening out her back as much as she could as she loosened up her muscles. “Aaaaaaaallllllright then” She groaned, before releasing her body and letting her limbs fall to a more natural resting posture, one hand held loose at her hip while the other hung comfortably over the multi-chambered blade-holster at her side. “Guess I’ll start things off then. Private Olivia Frost, 113th Training Corps, Rank 1, at your service.” It occurred to her that she was [i]probably[/p] supposed to salute, since that was customary for lower-ranked soldiers to do so when addressing those of higher rank. The punishment for failing to do that in training was typically one hundred and fifty jumping jacks and a verbal lashing. But here? Well, the waters were muddied since the briefing said they were all on equal footing. Until somebody told her she was out of line, she wasn’t going to go saluting anyone if she wasn’t certain she had to. Last thing she wanted to do was look like some wide-eyed greenhorn who was trying to kiss up. “And hey, since we’re probably going to be going down in the history books as the first successful liberation of territory outside the walls, I’m just going to go ahead and call dibs on making any dramatic speeches. You know, those sort of vaguely inspiration quotes that they’ll carve onto the statues that’ll be built to honor us? Yeah, I call dibs” Olivia sported a grin that was ambiguous as to whether she was joking or not, but could certainly be called cocky regardless of how serious she intended her words to be.

[ELC]

Hakan scoffs as he witnesses both Olivia and Richard refusing to salute their superiors: if Captain Shang taught him one thing outside of how to fight, it was to have the discipline to respect those that had proven themselves in battle. He marches up towards the group, a stern look on his face as he nods towards his brother-in-arms. Then he turns and bows at the waist before the two senior Crusaders.

"Private, Hakan, 114, Division," he introduced himself in broken English before slamming his fist into his bare chest. "I, honored, here."

He takes a look back towards their charges and sees that most are still fairly new to battle.

"No, others?" he asks as he returns his attention to his superiors. "Not, mother, need, men, not, boys."

[Diplomacy Roll (+3)] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21302394&postcount=14)

[Remedy]

Perhaps to your surprise, the two older Crusaders before you salute back to Hakan and seem unbothered by Olivia and Richard's failure to do so... About the procedure for dealing with those of equal rank.

The human man looks Hakan square in the eye for a few seconds, then nods, seemingly impressed, but frowns. "I'm afraid we aren't in command of unit assignment. I couldn't reassign your team if I wanted to. The best I could do would be to put in a request that I be moved to subcommander of your squad. It isn't much, but I'm worth more than a clump of regular rookies all by my lonesome, and it might let you focus more on your fighting duties. Only if the brass thinks I'd be useful there, though."

"Well count me right outta that 'request' nonsense," the dog soldier says with some contempt. "I'm not joining the suicide team. I'll stick to my own command and the normal enemies, thanks." She gives Olivia and Richard a sly grin. "Listen up, greenies. You've got good looks in your eye now. Might even keep that way for normal Heartless, or Titans you've got in a good spot. Most rookies aren't even that tough, but the brass wouldn't have chose you for nothin'.

"But that all fades when you see an Abnormal." She returns to a serious frown. "First time that happens, all your cool-headed bull goes out the window. Not that the rookies ever listen... But I figured it's fair to warn you." She tilts an eyebrow at Hakan. "Pretty sure this guy knows just what I'm talking about..."

IT'S A TRAP

[ELC]

Hakan nods as the man offers to act as a sub-commander of the troops under them.

"Fair," the Powhatan acknowledges the potential that his request may or may not fall on deaf ears within the higher echelons of the military. "You, good, man."

As the woman mentions abnormals, however, Hakan's face turns pale for a moment as he stares silently into the distance, the sounds of the troops around them muffled under the memories of his brother's screams.

He closes his eyes for a second, clenching his fists as he does so before returning to reality.

"They, bad, very, bad," he confirmed the anthropomorphic dog's not-so-subtle allusion to his own history. "We, must, win, not, die."

[Possible compel for Trouble: Haunted by Brother's Death]

[flame12]

As Richard looks out over the crowd, he feels a sense of unease in the air. Everyone is nervous. This mission could literally change the entire kingdom, so it doesn't shock me, I only wish I could do more for them.

As he looks around, he brings himself back to his teammates. As he looks over them, he recalls what he knows about each of them and how it could affect the success of the mission. He turns to Olivia tinkering with her gear, and sighs. If it was anyone else, I'd need to report them. As it is, I should ask if there is anything wrong with the standard gear that could compromise my ability in the field. If she knows of some tweak that can improve performance, then it's worth getting for my gear to .

After her introduction and little speech, Richard smiles as he steps up. "Lance corporal Richard Maurice, 114th scouting division. If you want dibs on the speeches that's fine with me, just don't forget the little guys when you get up on that podium." Richard gesture towards the supply lines and then towards the troops under their command with a smile on his face matching Olivia own


Richard stares into the dogs eyes as he continues smiling, his voice gaining just a slight hint of an edge to it. "We are well aware of the dangers ahead. Abnormal titans, more powerful heartless, Nobodies. We might die out there to save you all. So we will relax and smile while we can, because we won't be able to while we fight the enemies no one else can."
By the time Richard finishes speaking, he no longer has a smile on his face, but his tone remains level throughout his speech.

He turns to face Hakan, and seeing the pain in that man's face from the talk of abnormals, places a hand on the Warriors shoulder. "Don't worry man, we will. We will win."

[Zerohour]

Almost immediately following that statement, laughter filled the air. Confused looks turned to glares as they settled on a figure cloaked in blue.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. it's been a long time since I've heard such unadulterated optimism!" he said, struggling to bring himself under control. He ignored the frowns and looks it garnered as he removed his hood, trying to compose himself before speaking again."I'm Zeros, of the 108th Division of the War Wizards." He paused for a moment as that bit of information sank in to those assembled.

"As one of the few familiar with operations of this scale outside of the walls, I think some caution and prudence would serve us better than platitudes. After all, we'll be isolated from backup, have limited supplies, be facing unknown quantities of enemy forces, and have only a vague idea of the territory we'll be traversing, but I'm just an experienced soldier. I'm sure a royal descendant of a Princess of Heart, raised withing the safety of the innermost wall would be far more knowledgeable than myself, wouldn't you say, my prince?" Zeros said, offering a mocking bow.

Possible Compel for my Wizard of the 108th AND flame12's Runt with Something to Prove, if we decide to escalate this into a thing, instead of just exchanging quips during a briefing. I can revise this if we decide not to make problems so early in the campaign, but that's up to Remedy and flame12 how this plays out, if it even happens in the first place.

[flame12]

Richards eyes narrow at the man called Zeros, before a smile spreads across his face. He wants to be top dog? Fine. I'll show him what it's like to try and climb that ladder.

"Zeros, of the 108th, huh? I read the reports, and honestly I'm not impressed. After your battalion died, you were presumed dead. Turns out, you'd just gone rogue. I'm not overly worried about heartless, or titans. I'm more concerned with having a despicable wretch like you watching my back!" As Richard speaks he lets his tone become as cold as ice, his fury like a frozen tundra. Richard moves towards Zeros and leans in, his voice lowered to a barely audible whisper when he continues. "I may have spent most of my life in the walls, but it means I've learned to see political betrayal a mile away. All I want to know is, why did you kill your own men?"

[ELC]

Hakan nods to Richard, a weak smile crossing his lips before vanishing as Zeros makes his grand entrance.

As the two go back and forth, Hakan shakes his head and grunts. Although he knew Richard more than any of the others from their time in the 114th Division, he also knew that the success of this mission depended on how well their team worked together. Before the debacle could escalate further, he placed a hand on Richard's shoulder, a stern look on his face.

"Brother," he addressed his fellow Crusader, "We, stronger, together."

He nodded towards Zero, Olivia, their potential sub-commander, and the squad of ten they were leading to the castle.

"All, stronger."

[flame12]

At the hand on his shoulder, Richard turns to snarl, but seeing who it is he calms down and listens. Taking a deep breath, Richard nods.

"We are definitely stronger together, but until I hear his explanation I won't be able to work with him. That being said," Richard turns back to Zeros, much calmer than before but with a hint of his rage leaking back into his voice " something happened last time this many people were mobilized. Most of them never came back. Information about what happened is scarce, and he has some of the few answers there are. I think before we continue, he should explain what he can of what happened and of his own actions since."

[NineOfSpades]

“Why don’t you both just go find a tape measure and whip it out already?” Olivia groaned, seeing her squad mates going at each other. Honestly, she sympathized with what the older war-wizard was saying. She certainly had no love for the upper-class royals who lounged in luxury while honest folks lived and died on the walls. But then, Zero’s wasn’t doing himself any favors by picking fights, either. So she found herself standing with Hakan. The guy didn’t have much to say, but at least what he said made sense. Or at the very least, he made sense for the most part, since Hakan didn’t seem to have the greatest mastery over syntax. She crossed her arms over her chest, Olivia watched the conversation pivot from alpha-male posturing to gloom, doom, and suspicious looks. Frankly, she was unable to decide which was worse. “Counter proposal, you two kiss and make up and then we all stow what happened in the past. Does that sound good? We don’t exactly have a ton of time here to prep, and I’d much rather use the opportunity to get our basic formations settled. I am NOT going to get eaten just because we ended up tripping over each other the first time a Titan shows up.”

[Zerohour]

"No, no, the prince has a point. If we're going to do something of this scale, it's best that you all know just what you're getting into. Wouldn't want some arrogant kid" Zeros said, shooting a malice filled glare at Richard, "Getting every killed because they think they understand what's beyond the walls. It's better if you have some idea of what we'll be facing, especially since most of the higher ups will tell you of the glory that lies ahead."

"For those of you unaware, the 108th War Wizard Division was focused on magic meant to be used on the battlefield level. Each member of the brigade was expected to have enough power to lay waste to armies of Heartless. We were rarely deployed in civilian areas, because the collateral damage was deemed to extensive in all but the worst situations. For the most part we were deployed along the outermost wall, or wilderness areas, where such destruction was considered acceptable.

Because of their ability to use magic on a grand scale, the 108th was the core of the first serious attempt to expand and create a new wall, opening up new territory for expansion, and making the kingdom a better place. The 108th, along with members of every other division of the military, as well as countless architects, stonemasons, laborers, and other professions involved in construction, went out beyond the walls, wiping out every trace of the Heartless as they moved to their destination. Upon arrival they assembled a basic outpost, fortified enough to withstand any attacks long enough for the 108th to bring their might to bear, and began to prepare for the creation of the new wall.

Things went well for approximately three months. The Crusaders' patrols tracked any enemy forces with enough warning that they were easily dispatched. The initial wall meant to contain the border town tentatively named Dawn City, was functional enough that a number of civilians brought their families in, certain that things were well in hand."

Zeros paused, letting out a dark sigh, "They were wrong."

"One day, the Crusaders stopped reporting in. Command at first though that simply meant they hadn't encountered any enemies, that our efforts had been enough to drive the Heartless away from the city. When they tried to reach them to confirm, there was no response. While this was unusual, they didn't worry, again assuming that things were well in hand. They increased the number of forces on the wall, but did nothing else, wanting to focus on collecting enough raw material to begin construction of the wall proper."

"As dusk started to fall, guards along the western wall began to report seeing strange shadows. As the sun finally fell beneath the horizon, they could see countless numbers of glowing yellow eyes. The Heartless had come, in numbers large enough to stretch across the horizon. The alarm bells started to ring, but by that point, the attack was well underway."

"At first, it wasn't so bad. There was no limit to their numbers, but they were the weaker breeds of Heartless, mostly Shadows or Soldiers. The 108th obliterated them by the thousands, maybe even by the millions, and everyone cheered, certain that the might of the Kingdom would stand against the Heartless here, as it did at the other walls."

That's when the death blow fell.

While everyone was occupied with the ground forces, the Heartless sent in their air forces in, using Wyverns, Air Pirates, Battleships, and every other flying Heartless to carry in their troops while we were distracted. They sacrificed countless numbers of their own in a diversion, circumventing our defenses and causing the maximum amount of chaos they could. The majority of them fell into the residential area, making it impossible to attack them with magic unless we were willing to sacrifice innocent lives. Invisibles acted as strike leaders, taking out anyone that was inflicting significant damage on their forces outside, most of them dying before they even knew they were in danger. Once they were dealt with, the Behemoths appeared and began to tear down the walls, aided by innumerable Armor variants. I could go on about how every single type of Heartless seemed to be there, but you understand what was happening well enough, enough to guess that what followed was essentially a massacre.

I suppose on this point, you're right, my prince. I did kill a number of my own men during the fighting, I won't deny it. Some were being torn apart by the Heartless, and death was a mercy at that point. Others were cut off, and completely surrounded, and they were just unfortunate casualties to the hell I brought down. If killing them gave others a better chance to escape, then they expected nothing less from me. We knew we couldn't stand up against their numbers, but we were going down fighting.

Finally, after who know how long, we got word from the base. The Commander was putting the Shiva Protocol into effect. Everyone even remotely close to the base was ordered to fall back, abandoning everything else to assist. Everyone too far away was ordered to evacuate the city will all possible haste, saving as many people as we could. I was part of the latter group, blasting my way through Heartless as a few Crusaders tried to escort civilians through the wake of destruction.

Those that remained made the Heartless pay for every inch of ground they took, forcing them to use everything they had to break into the fortress. Med died with defiance in their last breath, spending the last few seconds of their life killing a few more Heartless instead of reflecting on their lives or thinking of their loved ones.

It was all a trap. The Commander exceeded every member of the 108th by an order of magnitude. When they Heartless made it into the command center, the Commander unleashed everything. You couldn't properly call it a blizzard. It was like an Ice Age happened in a single instant. Everything froze, the base, the burning town, the shattered remains of the walls, and every single Heartless for miles around.

Most of those ordered to evacuate didn't get far enough, or didn't have enough power left to erect a barrier. Even those that managed to survive the blast were scattered with no chain of command, no way of contacting the kingdom, and weeks of marching before they could even hope to see anything other than the creatures in the darkness. We tried to rally, but any large group only served to draw the attention of the Heartless. As the highest ranking survivor, I ordered everyone to scatter, in groups no more than ten, and make their way back to the wall. Most of them didn't.

From a population of over sixty thousand, less than one thousand escaped the Shiva Protocol. Of those, less than one hundred made it back to the walls, many of them horribly injured or comatose after losing their Hearts. From the 108th, I can count the survivors on one hand.

That's the story of the 108th and the attempt to expand our borders. An army made of innumerable Heartless attacked in an organized manner, exploiting every possible weakness and vulnerability to exterminate every living soul that dared intrude upon their territory."

Over the course of the story, electricity had filled the room, the air swirled and twisted as Zeros recounted his experience. The temperature had dropped several degrees, and frost had formed on nearly every surface. As the story concluded, most of it began to fade, though the static filling the air remained, like lightning ready to strike.

Zeros drew in a breath, seeming to settle the power swirling around him, and began moving towards the edge of the room, clearly intending to resume his place leaning against the wall. As he reached the prince he paused, locking eyes with the son of one of the kingdom's most cherished treasures.

"Though let me offer you one parting piece of advice, my prince. If you ever say that I would turn on the people in my brigade, if you dare even hint that I would sacrifice those whom I bled sweat, and cried with, I will kill you. I don't care if you're royalty, if you're protected by an army of keyblade masters, or if you're the one and only hope to hold back the darkness. Call me a traitor again, and none of that will save you from me."

Zeros said, his eyes sharp enough to cut through mythril as he looked at the royal before him.

"Do you understand?"

[flame12]

Richard lets out a short laugh as the explanation ends, before his face sets into a snarl of disgust. "I was already aware of all of that, thanks, and I suspect most everyone else knows it too. Besides details of the Shiva protocol, everything you just told us is common knowledge, most of it available to civillians if they try hard enough to get it. No, what I wanted was an explanation of your actions specifically!"

At first the storm in the air seems to be subsiding after Zeros speech, but then the ice returns, twice as cold as before, as Richard steps towards the warmage. "Perhaps we should settle down, but then again you seem to have missed the whole point I tried to make. I'm not shocked, seeing as how your own experiences in command seem to have taught you nothing! You don't ignore the small victories, and you take the moments of peace when you can! That should be basic enough that even you can understand!"

Richard allows himself to take a breath, and the storm in the air fades once more before he resumes in a much calmer tone. "Let's face facts, shall we? We may be equal rank for this mission, but we should still have a single person giving general orders to the ten Crusaders at our disposal." His arm shoots out and immediately points to Olivia. "Despite your experience and rank, and my title, the best candidate is still Olivia. She doesn't have the anger issues I have, or the complete lack of understanding their soldiers that you seem to possess. The only reason I don't include Hakan is because the moment our soldiers take interpreting his orders may be the second that gets them killed, and once he is more fluent in our language he may very well be the best candidate at that time to take over for Olivia!"

Richard sighs and turns to head to the opposite wall from Zeros, before he hears Zeros threat and smiles, turning to face the man. "I will find out who betrayed the 108th, and the entire operation they worked for. When I do, no force, whether light or darkness, will save them. I will make sure that every soldier who died that day is remembered forever, every civilian written in the records along side them, and that there memory is not forgotten. Given your own mentality, I may one day find you to be a worthy ally. But if I find out you were behind it all?" Richards snarls as he says this last part "Then I will eliminate you myself in the name of those who fell defending you." Richard continues to the wall and takes his place opposite Zeros.

[ELC]

Hakan covers his face with his hand, masking his aggravation with the other three as he turns to stand by the door.

"Is this how it will be from here on out?" he quietly ponders as he folds his arms across his chest and listens to Olivia's jabs at the slightly more seasoned soldiers as they go at each others' throats. By the time Richard had finished speaking, Hakan waited a brief moment before talking himself.

"Done?" he asked the three others present before unfolding his arms and gesturing towards Olivia. "She, not, mother." He looked at both Zeros and Richard. "Be, men, not, boys."

The Powhatan warrior then sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes, and sighed, fully aware that the situation was much more complex than he was making it. He then sang a song in Chinese from his days under Shang's tutelage as he struggled to regain his own morale.

"We must be as swift as a coursing river~
With all the force of a great typhoon~
With all the strength of a raging fire~
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon~"

[Dudeons]

"What a lively debate we have here," a somber voice calls out, "I thought I came to a meeting of warriors, not politicians."

A man in a full plague doctor outfit strides in, his cane clutched in his right hand. His gaze is fixed on the ground, mostly his hat and the beak of his mask visible. He steps forward, silent and solemn as you'd expect from a plague doctor. As his slow walk draws attention, he stops in front of the gathered soldiers. He sets the cane in front of him, both hands rested on the winged hourglass headpiece. Suddenly, his head snaps up in a surprising motion, the sunlight giving the black lenses in his mask a twinkle that replaces the mask's uncanny dignity with a strange sort of cheer. Although the mask hides his expression, it's easy to imagine he's smiling right now. He tips his hat towards the assembled company.

"Good day to you! Or, at the very least, one that won't be as bad as earlier," Victor says, his cheery tone a dramatic contrast to earlier, "Doct-, er, Corporal Victor Mors, 112th Division, although you can say 'doctor' if you like. I've lost just as much sleep for my doctorate as I did for my rank, thank you very much!"

Victor adjusts his hat by the head of his cane, looking about the assorted crowd.

"But I ramble! A habit from my mentor, I'm afraid," Victor chuckles, "Now, I believe we were assigned to some large-scale house hunting for the kingdom. Let's keep our thoughts focused on that, shall we?"

[Zerohour]

"Politicians? Now, there are some insults that are just low." Zeros said, though a ghost of a smile appeared as he said it. "But I suppose these personal matters can be put aside for the moment, while we discuss our initial actions. We can move straight towards Wall Maria immediately, but given our...unorthodox nature as a unit, I doubt they would begrudge us a few stops along the way. Anything people need to take care of before we go? I could certainly use a drink or two before we're out in the wilderness."

[flame12]

Richard lets out a sigh of relief as the fighting ends, and talk of the mission ahead begin. At the thought of stops along the way, Richard finds himself nodding at the idea of one last drink before facing the imminent dangers ahead.

[Remedy]

The two soldiers exchange a meaningful look and nod, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Looks like you can avoid killing each other, but I'm not looking forward to leaving my life up to your ability to cooperate," the dog says with some disdain, prompting a cringe from the human man. "Have fun joining the suicide team, Eld." With that, she turns and walks away, muttering vague disparagements against the upper government.

"Right then," Eld continues with some hesitance. "We're opening the gate in two hours sharp. If you guys are planning to do something else, do it quickly and then get into position. We can't afford to break the whole mission plan so you can have a picnic, after all. If there are no further questions for us about your job, you are dismissed."

[NineOfSpades]

“Yeah, don’t worry” Olivia said, nodding to Eld “We’ll be here. Wouldn’t miss it for the world”. The more seasoned soldiers had tried to stifle her spirit with the pragmatic reality of the situation, and the dour story that Zeros had orated was certainly a mood killer, but the fresh-faced recruit didn’t let it get to her. Her Dad was Military, as were all his close friends. This was the world she was born into. Soldier’s tales of the horrors outside the walls might as well have been bedtime stories to her. “Let’s get our outfit coordinated. I want to be sure we’re all clear on our signaling and formations.” She directed the comment more towards the good Doctor and Haken, since they seemed to be more level-headed, though she gave Zeros and Richard a glance to let them know they were certainly invited to participate, along with signaling the squad of Crusaders to join in as well. Olivia tried to build the basic framework for their maneuvering, keeping in mind the strengths of her companions (or at least what she’d already been briefed on), and letting the others chime in with their own thoughts when needed.



Creating a clever advantage, Squad tactics, reflecting pre-mission preparation into our formations and group dynamics.

[roll0]

[Dudeons]

Victor listens attentively to Olivia, duplicating signals as she explains them. After she finishes, he reaches into his coat and withdraws a thick black tome from within. It's titled The Study On Emptiness: A Guide To Heartless. Victor had received it as a parting gift from Dr Finklestein, containing the senior doctor's research on Heartless.

"Many thanks, Ms Olivia," Victor says, "But now that we know each other, we should also know what we're up against."

He opens the book, flipping through the pages. He starts explaining everything his mentor had found in his studies, facing the book's contents towards the other soldiers to display a helpful diagram or a morbid illustration.

Cleverly create advantage: Know Thy Enemy. This represents knowing the behaviors and weaknesses of the Heartless. The stunt Voracious Reader applies here, and I'm spending a fate point to invoke Eerie Yet Kindly Doctor for an additional +2.

[roll0]

[ELC]

Hakan's hand falls squarely onto Eld's shoulder as the former sighs.

"I, sorry," he told the man, glancing towards Zeros and Richard as he said so. "We, not, let, you, down. I, promise."

He then joined the Doctor and Olivia, understanding the strategies and tactics despite providing minimum reaction.

Once they were finished preparing, Hakan looked over to Eld then to the group of ten soldiers they were to be in charge of.

"I, help, them, ready," he informed his team before walking over to the squad and clearing his throat.

"Down, to, business!"


Hakan cleverly creates an advantage--We're in this Together--representing Hakan giving a crash course to the squad of ten following them to improve their chances of survival. Shouldn't be too hard given Hakan's reputation and his mentor's own teaching methods.
+3 Clever Approach +2 Respected Among Peers +2 Captain Shang's Top Student (-1 Fate Point)
[roll0]

[Zerohour]

Zeros casually entered the bar. It wasn't the cleanest or the classiest bar around, but that wasn't what he was looking for. This particular bar catered to the less savory aspects of the Kingdom, the kind that probably had a few unusual skills that didn't quite fit in the military heirarchy. That was exactly what he was looking for right now.

"Still can't believe they call this the Snuggly Duckling." Zeros chuckled to himself, ordering from the bartender before grabbing an empty table. Despite the poor reputation, everyone seemed to be having a good time, and it was only a matter of time before an oddly inappropriate song broke out and swept through the crowd.

The bartender brought over four orders of food and drink, giving Zeros an odd look. He brushed it off with a quick "I'm a big eater." and the bartender walked off with a noncommittal grunt. Zeros started picking at his food, not wanting to dive in until his guests arrived.

"Zeros, it's been a long time." A voice called out. A smile spread across his face as he turned around, and looked up.

"Certainly has Yuna. How have you and the Gullwings been doing?" Zeros said, studying the tiny creature hovering above him. He had first run into the Gullwings a ways back, and after working together to get out of a few scrapes, they ended up striking up a friendship. They didn't spend much time together, but they tended to seek each other out when particular jobs came up.

"Totally awesome!" one of her companions declared, brushing her brilliant yellow hair out of her face. "But we're not telling the story for free!"

Zeros gestured to the table, indicating the three additional orders he had placed.

"My favorite!" Rikku shouted, diving down into the massive sundae to his right. It resembled a feeding frenzy more than anything one would expect from a fairy, but Zeros had long ago gotten used to the more unorthodox aspects of life.

He still didn't know where she put it all. The damn thing was bigger than her!

"So you're not the type to just call us out of the blue. What's up?" Paine asked, the gothically clad fairy settling down beside her steak, devouring it with a bit less gusto than her friend, but still making sizable progress.

"Been assigned a mission by the higher ups. I though the three of you might be interested in tagging along for the ride."

"What can you tell us about it?" Yuna asked, primly taking the spot directly in front of him. Her own meal was a great deal less extrravagant, being a simple salad, but she dug into it while waiting for his response.

"Not too much. There wasn't much information available from the scouts that managed to make it back, but they did find a few interesting things out beyond the wall, and I'm one of those going out to investigate it. I could use a few partners to watch my back in case things go south, people who can think outside of the box, instead of following military doctrine, if you know what I mean." Zeros admitted, signaling for another drink as the fairies ate their meals. "Can't promise much, but I can pay the usual rates, and whatever you can salvage once we get there."

"Will there be treasure?" Rikku asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

"It's certainly possible. Ruins always seem to have something valuable in them, but I can't make any promises." Zeros answered.

"Are there going to be any monsters?" Paine inquired, hand fiddling with her miniature blade.

"I'd be surprised if there weren't. We're going beyond the walls after all." Zeros said, "always something out there that needs killing."

"Will it be dangerous?" Yuna questioned.

"Without a doubt." Zeros admitted.

The three of them huddled together, whispering furiously. Zeros waited patiently, until they turned to look at him.

"We're in!" they said as one, clearly excited at the new adventure.

"Glad to hear it ladies. Departure time is right around the corner, so the four of us should get going soon." Zeros said with a grin.

"I demand payment up front!" Rikku declared, holding her hand out expectantly.

"How about another sundae then? I think we have enough time." Zeros returned, knowing what was driving her demanding attitude. "Not like we'll be able to spend much cash once we get going anyways."

"Good enough for now!" Rikku agreed, flying over to the bartender to place her order.

"I really wish she thought with something other than her stomach." Paine said, palming her face.

"It's the last one she's going to have for awhile. Why not indulge her?" Zeros said.

"Well, as long as your buying..." Paine hesitated, before a sadistic grin flashed on her face, and she joined her friend in ordering something. Zeros grimaced as he watched the bartender scribble down everything, needing to grab a second order sheet as they continued their demands.

"I just hope they don't break the bank." Zeros muttered to himself.

"Don't worry about it." Yuna said, perching on his shoulder to give a barely perceptible pat on the back to her friend, "If you end up broke, I know a guy in Wonderland who can shrink you down enough to crash at out place."

"Wonderful." Zeros groaned, signaling for another drink. He had the feeling he was going to need it.
Do I need to make a roll for this, or would Weird Friend in Weird Places be enough?

[flame12]

Richard watched as the others started up their lessons, keeping his focus on the 10 Crusaders, looking for anyone who looked like they might snap under pressure, while internally chastising himself for losing control during his encounter with Zeros. After watching from the sidelines for a while, Richard decided to step in and see what he could do to help Olivia drill the formations into everyone.


Clever +2
Total 1 see ooc for roll

[Remedy]

This is one drilled formation. They have a bit of trouble keeping up with everything at first, but they're by no means novices - they catch on and show substantially more battle-readiness than you were likely expecting. In addition, where many of them had been seemingly wary of you guys after the initial argument, you all manage to restore their faith in your leadership here. They aren't happy with their position in the formation, and you've hardly united them under a strong banner of comraderie, but they at least seem comfortable having you in command.

Zeros' return happens to coincide with your finishing of the drilling, teaching, and preparation.

Even more outlandishly, Eld returns at about the same time to confirm his position as sub-commander. He seems immediately pleased with the progress you made with the soldiers, though he doesn't say much about it.

"I'm sure you're all very aware of this," Eld comments approvingly, "but for completeness' sake, I'll review the smoke signals as we start getting into position." Elsewhere, soldiers are just finishing their own preparations and starting to form up into the larger formation so they can spread out into the long-range scouting formation as soon as Wall Maria is exited.

Eld turns to walk towards the center of the formation, beckoning you to follow.

I won't make a big dialogue out of it. Your characters are already aware of the smoke signals, and I don't imagine you guys are going to be picking a fight with Eld, so I can just make this information available now.

The smoke signals, color and meaning:

Red - Titan or Heartless spotted. Used in order for the squad to avoid concentrations of enemies. In general, dealing with normal Titans and Heartless is not you guys' job, but you may if you deem it necessary.
Black - Abnormal Titan or Special Heartless spotted. Your main job, at least for the trip there, is dealing with these guys.
Purple - A major emergency - anything threatening to do destroy an entire section of the formation. Abnormals may become this if you guys fail, but something that's immediately reported this way is on a whole other level. You guys are to address these as well, but you'll have support from the Tactical Reinforcement Squads across the formation.
White - A minor emergency. This is in theory an open-ended flare with many uses, but in practice it's used almost exclusively by people who lost their horses while using ODM.
Blue - An order to retreat.
Green - Change direction of the formation: Fired by the commander in one direction to indicate a change in the direction, and then repeated by the relay soldiers.
Yellow - This lets everyone know that the mission has been terminated, be it successfully or failed.

[NineOfSpades]

Well..it wasn't easy, but it seemed like the interpersonal conflicts had gotten stowed for now. Olivia suspected she hadn't seen the last of them though, and just hoped that they wouldn't end up butting heads again when lives were on the line.

She was also greatful that her exercise hadn't been a solo one, with everyone except Zeros contributing their own expertise. Made her feel a warm sense of pride, that she'd managed to get the group back on track. Not bad for a rookie.

Eld's return signaled to Olivia that it was time to bring their lessons to an end. Following behind him, Olivia listened. She was a bit shaky on the distinction between the blue retreat smoke and the yellow termination smoke, but didn't voice the question. Neither would be important, since they'd only come up if things took a serious turn for the worse, and Olivia didn't intend to let that happen.

She walked casually, hands clasped behind her head, a light bounce in her step. No longer focused on her formation drills, the antsyness had returned to her limbs, making her fidget with anticipation as they walked. The mission, her first real mission, was about to begin!

[Remedy]

The low roar of horse footsteps resounds throughout the courtyard as Eld leads you to your assigned place in the formation, where you find several fine horses waiting for you and your men as well.

Eld looks around for a few moments with concern, then sighs in relief as the dog soldier from before emerges from the crowd, bringing him his own horse. Her eyes dart around, seemingly to survey how many people are watching, before she catches Eld in a hug and whispers something in his ear. Then she turns and runs off towards her own part of the formation.

You catch Eld blushing a bit, then he turns and gives a serious look at your group of soldiers. "Alright, men, mount up," Eld orders them, then faces the five of you. "You've got some of the best horses the military can afford. Don't get them eaten, right?" He suggests, and by his tone it's hard to tell whether this is meant as a joke.

Eld mounts his large, well-muscled black steed, giving the animal a loving neck rub. He waits for you to mount your horses (or other choice means of locomotion, assuming you can do something else to keep up, ODM gear notwithstanding for hopefully obvious reasons) and then signals that his part of the formation is ready to move. A few boring minutes of preparation by the rest of the army later, the signal to move off is sounded.

A crowd of peasantry gathers around the opened gate to watch the force as it went off. From your position in the formation, you don't get close to them for very long, only even being close enough to make out individual faces when your segment is compressed to fit out the gate itself (which is, needless to say, not nearly as wide as the commencement march, never mind the fanned-out formation the army will take outside).

From that close, you can see an array of emotions. The worry or pride of the soldiers' loved ones - maybe including some of your own. The nervous itch of merchants who had helped fund and supply the operation. The frustration and boredom of those assigned to guard at the proceedings without actually going outside. And perhaps most strikingly of all, the excitement lighting up the faces of children of all shapes and sizes.

That hope twinkling in their eyes is why the Walls you're leaving exist in the first place. Now, in stepping outside of them, you take on the duty of keeping that spirit alive.

As you cross over the threshold to leave the gates, you feel something intense. It might not be your first time experiencing it, but it is no less daunting than ever before. Despite how relatively spacious the land inside the Walls is, it feels as if you're getting to stretch out for the first time, like your whole life had been a ride in the back of a cluttered car and you were finally getting to walk. The air, rather than hanging putrid and stagnant as you might expect from the effects of the darkness, rushes into your nostrils with great vigor, swelling you up with energy. It's as if the land inside the Walls were filled with smog, but you'd never noticed because it was always there, and now you're breathing something clean, possibly for the first time. Even the horses seem stunned, though they don't spook.

Perhaps this is frightening for you. Perhaps it's exhilerating. Or perhaps you even find it enlightening. But whatever it is, the effect of stepping outside the Wall is rarely weak.

You look out over the vast landscape before you, even as it fills out with a spreading mass of galloping soldiers. The grass out here is vibrant, and those inclined towards it see small animals (mostly rodents) and bugs darting around to dodge the many hooves trampling through. Trees are scattered about, seeming to get more thickly packed in one direction and more sparse in the other. Where you could make out even the faintest signs of prior intelligent influence, they had been long overgrown by bushes, vines, and various other plantlife. The history books told you this area just outside the Walls was constantly built upon, but by sight alone you might assume it had never been altered from its natural state.

A loud crack pierces through the wave of sensations, and you see short-range light signals being set off as the last of the army starts coming through the gates far behind you. You just faintly hear the low roar of the gate slamming shut after everyone is through.

"Now, everyone!" You hear a commander shout almost angrily. "Fan out into the long-range reconnaissance formation!"

Clumps of soldiers brake off and move in unison, fluidly spreading out from their starting positions. Many soldiers, especially inexperienced ones, have their breath taken away by the expansion, as soldiers manifest a huge variety of spirit weapons, from flaming hand cannons to giant roses to crosses emblazoned with lightning bolts... At one point, one soldier even jumps up from their horse and rapidly forms a small biplane around himself, taking to a place high above the formation. Your group, towards the front quarter of the central column in the formation, had little maneuvering to do, and you quickly found your way to your places.

Eld pulls up alongside your party, making the motions to cast a spell upon a rolled up sheet of paper he's holding. A moment later, a holographic projection of the map of the army's route appears in front of you, maintaining pace with the horses, who are only momentarily startled by the effect.

"Now," Eld shouts. "The front of the formation is mostly our heavy hitters and scouts. This keeps us informed and always on the move, but it means also means they're at the highest risk for taking heavy losses if an Abberant shows up. The side columns contain the bulk of our soldiers and are off-center, so they're the least likely to have anything they can't deal with, but if they do it's where we'll lose the largest amount of soldiers. Our flanks are guarded by our lightest and fastest, and are the least likely part of the formation for normal Titans to attack, so they aren't a large concern as far as losses go, but that's also the shortest route any Abberants will have to reach the center of the formation and hit our supplies, which could cripple the entire mission. We've got it set up so that the side columns can fall in on the center quickly in the case of a breach, making it the deadliest place for a Titan to rear its head, but it's also the worst place for one to be in the first place.

Right now, we're between the front and center of the formation, so we're about equally close to the heavy cavalry and the supplies, but the flanks will have to rely on the support of their side column if anything happens.

As sub-commander, I can take the strain away from you as far as directing the soldiers, but now would be the best time to decide what your general plan for what you'll want them to do. Are you going to have us back you up during Aberrant fights, stay on standby to transmit messages individually, or split off to support other parts of the formation? I'll follow your orders on this, but can also offer advice if you think you need it."

Feel free to respond to the prompt in chunks, detailing character reactions to each part of the experience and all that. No need to jump straight into your response to Eld - I don't mind hanging in the moment a bit.