eastbound | un: white pawn; video

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un: white pawn; video

[Anduin appears over the broadcast, his face set in a grim expression. It isn’t clear at first where he is, but something is clearly wrong. The air around him is filled with the sound of falling rubble, and the anguished cries of injured men.]

There has been–

[He’s jostled by a group of people who run by, a frantic sense of urgency to their movement. Anduin’s attention drops from his broadcast for a moment, the pendant falling to his chest as he runs to join them. The base of one of the watch towers is just visible in the background as it moves. It seems they are attempting to rescue a man who has been trapped beneath a pile of debris.]

Hold! Lift that beam, I will pull him clear! On my count! One, two, three!

[The men move together as one, struggling to lever a large wooden pillar off the top of the pile. Once it has shifted enough, Anduin murmurs a spell, and a pair of golden wings appear on the injured man, dragging him out of the rubble to land gently at Anduin’s feet. Anduin bends, the bright light of a healing spell filling the pendant’s frame.] He needs further healing. Bring him over to--

[A terrible noise sounds in the background. The sound of something large crashing into stone, and the groan of ensuing collapse. All of the men in the foreground freeze, their attention turned up toward the tower above as the sound of screaming begins. Stones crash to the ground around them and Anduin turns to look himself just in time to fling his hands up and cast – a pair of men gently levitating down, cradled in a soft golden light, where moments ago they were falling.

When at last he has the time to address the pendant directly once more, his expression is as stone, his voice just as hard.]

The Northern Watch Tower is falling. Any hands that can be spared for civilian rescue. Triage. Healers that can be spared from areas of the fortress. We need your aid on the ground. Here, now.

[He cannot do this on his own.]

((ooc: replies will be distracted from Anduin for obvious reasons BUT if you’re on the Northern Tower or are planning to take up his call for assistance, feel free to set up an action thread for such purposes!))

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[As much as she thought it would end like this, it doesn't mean Wanda's letting the tower take anyone with it. Her magic, as ever, is hard to miss: red bursts and flashes, but here as a side of stone and people begin to topple towards the ground, she plants her feet and catches both bits of tower and living people alike, all pausing in mid air in a glow of red before being safely deposited below.]

Go, get to another tower! This one is done.

[Then there's the matter of their healer. He was stubborn before and she can only imagine now it'll be worse, but Wanda still marches up to him and grabs a wrist or elbow or whatever she can reach.]

That's it. It's done. We have to move--

[She jerks her gaze upwards just in time to spot a chunk of tower toppling towards them. A grunt and a wave of Wanda's hand has it flying out towards that endless siege to crash and do some damage. No time to see who or what it takes out.]

Come on.

[Wanda is absolutely right in that Anduin is not going down in this without a fight. The tower is a loss, and it's only a matter of time before it comes down completely. He's not on it himself for a reason, but there are still men trapped up there!

He appreciates her assistance in making sure that they don't get crushed by falling debris, but once the chunk of the tower has hit the ground he's moving to pull away from her again.]

I can't. Not yet. There are still men out there --!

There are men on other towers, too.

[She's not letting him go far, reaching out again.]

There are our people on other towers. Go there and I'll do what I can here.

[She can pluck and scoop whoever might survive out, but he'll know she's no healer.]

[Anduin throws her a sharp glance. He appreciates her concern for him, but he spent so much time without guards in this land that to suddenly have anything resembling one... Rankles a little.]

Just because these people do not belong to our group does not mean they should not matter.

[Perhaps that reaction was a little too sharp. He reins it in a little bit, shaking his head as if to clear it.]

...I can't just leave you here while you bundle me off to safety. Not while there is a chance that I can still help these people. We both can. Please, Wanda.

[He has a good heart. She knows that much by now. But she doesn't want that good heart to get itself killed.]

Twenty minutes.

[The words are sharp, but she's compromising.]

Twenty minutes and we stay together. Then we have to go. We have to go to the next tower.

I can be with you in a moment.

[ He cannot heal but he can... lift heavy things? Help move people?

Make sure Anduin isn't coming to harm. ]

[Lifting heavy things and moving people is important too! As is keeping an eye on Anduin himself. He cannot keep an eye out for himself and pay attention to what he's doing at the same time.]

Wrathion.

[There is another crushing, crashing sound of stone on stone in the background, far too close for comfort. What could be happening! Since this is only audio, it's difficult to say for certain, but Anduin's breath catches for a moment before he continues:]

Please, come.

Of course.

[ He moves quickly through the keep, picking up a container of drinking water on the way and a few rough-spun blankets. It's not much, but it may be worth something. When he arrives, in all the chaos, Anduin may not hear him approaching. Wrathion, however, can always pinpoint Anduin easily in chaos like this. His magic is bright, eye-catching, and Anduin can feel its warmth. He moves up beside him, offers him his water and blankets. ]

Tell me where you need me.

[Anduin turns at the sound of Wrathion's voice, from where he has been healing a man's hand where he had cut it open on a piece of hidden glass in amongst the rubble. He offers him a softening of his expression in greeting, reaching out to take the blankets and supplies from his hands before turning to look out over the grounds before them.]

Come with me.

[Stepping forward, he flags down a boy (young man, he supposes, but he really is just a boy), handing him Wrathion's supplies and instructing him to bring them to the makeshift triage tent. He turns to Wrathion as he continues on.]

The catapult has compromised the structure of the tower. Half of it has fallen already. It's only a matter of time before the rest of it is coming down. We need to get these people out of the collapse as soon as possible, before they are buried completely.

[His expression hardens.] While there is still chance of a rescue.

[ Ah. He'd hoped Anduin might drink some of the water but, he should have known better. No matter. He moves within him, eyeing the fall of stone. ]

Lifting this isn't a problem for me --

[ Not that weight, he may have a slight build but he's a dragon. He's actually very strong -- ]

-- But there's risk of further collapse every time move something.

[ Fallen structures are precarious. Picking one one large piece of stone may cause more to fall if it isn't done thoughtfully ]

[Honestly, he probably should have, with all the soot and smoke in the air. But he had not been thinking of himself, when Wrathion had given him those things. (When does he ever...)

Anduin breathes out a sigh as Wrathion speaks.]

It can't be helped. Unless you have a better suggestion? My own abilities -- I can pull them out once we have them partially uncovered, but there is a chance that may do them more harm in the process.

Tactical coordination. It's tempting to have everyone run around, digging as fast as possible, but that does increase the risk of instability. Ideally, we want to move as little as possible, to reduce the risk anything becomes unstable and falls further. Search for people closest to the the surface of the collapse first, try not to have too many people climb the rubble.

[ A mage might be useful, to help carefully levitate pieces, but he's not sure how many people in their party have that form of ability. Pure strength will work. ]

[It's true, a mage would be useful. Anduin gives Wrathion a tight nod, casting a sideways glance to where he had seen Wanda disappear to last. Later. He has Wrathion here now, to hand, and it's true that pure strength will work just as well in a pinch.

He glances out across the grounds, toward the newest pile of debris, where a group of men are scrabbling to try and clear -- just that, as quickly as they can. They need direction, as Wrathion has said. But...]

I -- don't have commanding authority here. [As Licyn so tactfully reminded him.]

You don't.

[ On that, they're in agreement. ]

They can ignore you or listen, as they so choose. If there are lives on the line, however, and they want to save people -- then I suspect anyone already here to help would be willing to listen to the best way to save those lives. If they don't agree, and they have better ideas, we can listen to them instead.

Yes, of course.

[He shakes his head, as if to clear his thoughts, before steeling his resolve. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong, or who is in command or who is not. It only matters that there are people who need help, and they are here to see it done.]

Come, this way.

[He steps forward across the fray, with renewed purpose. Wrathion has not said much that was not the truth, but it was enough to remind Anduin of the task at hand.] This was the last section of the tower to fall. There were men at work on a section nearby during the collapse, and several are trapped here now. It's likely more of the tower may come down and bury them further if we do not act quickly.

Carts, for rubble.

( To extricate the buried before they suffocate. )

We shall plead with merchants.

[He does not have time to type, just now -- but he spares a glance to read Wangji's response before he replies:]

Carts or even just wagons if they have them. The men cannot move the debris so far on their own, and there is. Too much of it.

[These people do not have time on their side.]

Is there yet danger of further fall?

[A long, heavy sigh:]

It is only a matter of time before the tower is lost entirely.

( Right. )

More carts.

Please. Whatever the merchants are willing to lend to our aid, please bring them.

These men will not survive if we do not dig them out, and quickly. And we cannot rely on the strongest among our group to pull all of the weight. Soon enough even they will falter.

Retreat. You cannot heal, when you fall.

[A long, slow breath. Anduin understands there is danger in being here. He -- probably shouldn't be here, Lan Wangji is right. He is a healer, and therefore an asset. He is also a king. He needs to be responsible with his own life. But he hates that for himself.]

I -- can't just leave them.

Either become strong enough to save them all, or choose the greater number.

Edited 2023-02-27 21:54 (UTC)

The healers in the Wards are overrun, they can't come there. But I can bring the ones most likely to survive down here.

[sharply:]

I do not discredit the suffering of the people of the Wards, but there are more immediate concerns at present.

We are losing time, even now. These men are dying. Will die, if they do not prioritize their time to assist, and quickly.

Then field dress them. The people there already can do more than people underground and already handling too much. They can't get there faster than those already on hand helping, you know that. They can prepare for the wave of survivors pulled out of the wreckage.

And if there were skilled hands here to do that dressing, then there would be more hands available to shift stones and more lives would be saved.

We do not have the luxury of time, and I am sorry to say that those people in the Ward can afford to spare the healers the matter of hours it will take before a rescue mission becomes a recovery.

It's already a recovery now. Focus, and the people who can go where they go will. Stop expecting you have significant authority in this place. You don't.

( and it's not like people aren't reacting, but he's not going to waste either of their time arguing. there's other things to handle! )

[Licyn is perhaps... Not wrong. Wrathion has reminded Anduin much of the same, in other circumstances. This is not Stormwind. He is not their king.

But it is not as though it is just a thing that he can switch off, now that he has been pulled away from there. Anduin was raised to be a leader of men. Literally has it in his blood, much as he would try to argue otherwise. And Deimar has put them in these positions -- on the Towers, in the Wards -- while he... Where is Deimar, while his men are dying in front of Anduin?

So Licyn is perhaps not wrong, but that does not make Anduin happy. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's probably the angriest Anduin has been in a while.]

I will not give up on them.

[/end feed]

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