username: deimar

[jatharin]

( On this occasion, King Deimar in silvered splendor: tussled, armour scratched and drenched in blood and soot, surrounded each way by his men or Rathakku's creatures. He screams, just as harpies swing in: )

Fall back — fall back, fall back — ( An infantryman politely keels over, arrow driving through his ribs. Deimar stops to stare — ) ...maybe with less enthusiasm than that.

( But then, he's led to take cover off the field, and he can mutter into his pendant: )

Greetings, greetings. Your king speaks. Deimar. ( As if, perhaps, some need the reminder. ) Let's cut through pretence: Alem is lost. The merchants are offering their... obscenely costly help with evacuation. If we had any alternative or dignity, we would decline. It won't surprise you that I've agreed, gratefully. Go to Hassir. Yes, it's a monastery old and true. No, you cannot bring your wine.

( And gentler, firmer: ) It will have you. All of you who go, Hassir will have you, and it will save you. Make a new life, away from this mountain. Away from our blood's burden, away from Hell.

( Then lighter, in this breezy tone: )

...which, I regret to inform you, is opening nice, creaky and wide beneath our floorboard. You've heard the old stories: the Motherless Children beget their devastation, bolstered by whatever souls they consume in their putrid wasteland. They're breaking through. Terrible creatures. Filthy. Ugly, too.

To all men and women of Alem who are strong, gifted and able: I won't tell you to take up your weapons and join me below in glory. If you die there, no one will mourn you, no one will weep over your bones. No one will even remember you. No, they'll live peacefully, happily and oblivious to your sacrifice. But they'll live.

So. You have your choices: Hassir or Hell below. What say you?

( ooc: brainstorming post if you want to ICly figure out where characters are headed. Hell officially starts to open on March 18, but feel free to forward-date responses & threadjack at will. Good luck saving humanity! )

Comments

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Five wondered if Deimar would come up with a real plan, but it's not hard to see right through his speech. 'Living peacefully' isn't a real option and he knows it. ]

You expect it'll be contained to Alem if Hell breaks loose, or are you that confident we can stop it?

un: doubletap | audio

[dog_eat_dog]

There's no reason to think it'll be contained. If they could barely hold it back at the throat, what makes you think the mouth will do any better?

[somebadnews]

I don't. [ Most of what Deimar said was bullshit, but it'd be nice to hear him admit it. ]

Which camp does that put you in?

[dog_eat_dog]

Getting the fuck out of here. Alem's been at war for what now, a year? We could be across the fucking continent by time the army spreads past the next city.

[somebadnews]

You aren't too familiar with the apocalypse, are you?

[dog_eat_dog]

Fuck off. [There's a laugh on her voice, though, and there's no heat on her tone.] I've been putting bullets in the "undead" for twenty years. It doesn't actually end like [a snap of her fingers]

[somebadnews]

[ She obviously hasn’t experienced an apocalypse where he’s involved. They’ll get a week, tops. ]

Last I checked, zombies and demons are two different things. You might want to think again if your plan is to outrun them.

[dog_eat_dog]

Same shit, different details. I'll manage. And you're going to do what, exactly?

[This guy sounds like he's either ninety pounds soaking wet or twelve.]

[somebadnews]

[ Some of you haven't lived for decades alone in a wasteland and it shows. ]

Whatever I have to. This isn't a game, everyone is going to die if we don't stop it now.

[dog_eat_dog]

Yeah, I got that. What are you planning to do about it, specifically?

[somebadnews]

I'm going down there to look for another option. [ Aside from calling in a favor from a death lord, or activating a possessed artefact in Hell, both of which will arguably make it worse. ]

Unless you want me to go back in time, when I have no idea when it started, we've got to work with what we have.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She has zero fucking desire to be anyone's savior –– she's feeling sated on what's waiting for her at home, the inevitable smug success if she can just get out of this snarl.

But...]

Is that what you normally do, just go back in time?

[This is a little skeptical, but whatever, stranger things have happened.]

Do you have any idea what you're looking for, at least?

[somebadnews]

[ Her questions are valid; exactly the kind he hates. The truth is that he's never fully escaped the apocalypse. ]

...Going back is how I averted the last two. It didn't ultimately prevent it, it just appeared in different ways and different times. Like it is now.

I don't know what I'll find, but I do have an in with a demon. I'll start there.

[jatharin]

In my vast experience of stopping hell, contained to exactly one incident, I'm not completely certain.

[somebadnews]

[ Well, he does admit to his bullshit. Good for him. ]

So up until now, you've just been sacrificing people to it?

[jatharin]

No. Reinforcing the wards worked. Until it didn't.

[somebadnews]

For how long? Did this only start when Rathakku showed up?

[jatharin]

We've been warding for generations. But carnage creates... resent and anguish the likes of which strengthens Hell.

[somebadnews]

[ He's just going to pretend his anguish-sucking curse isn't actively feeding it. Small potatoes compared to everything else, right? ]

...And you're sending your people down there to fight it. You're not worried that'll have the same effect?

[jatharin]

We're short on choice, and pacifism has yet to sate Hell.

[somebadnews]

[ It’s not like he has a counter argument, but that doesn’t make him any more optimistic. He doubts the king here is, if he’s electing to die in battle. ]

So that’s it. That was Rathakku‘s plan, to break open Hell and set the world on fire?

[jatharin]

I believe he was planning to break open Hell and command whatever comes out of it. A permanent source of reinforcements isn't anything to cast aside.

[somebadnews]

[ ...He thinks he can command Hell. They haven't been able to defeat him, but they already took a dragon out of his control. He's taking a big gamble stretching his power to what could be an endless stream of demons. ]

You looked between him and Hell and decided your chances were better down below. [ It's pretty clear that they would have been massacred if Five's group hadn't shown up. ]

What do you expect to find?

[jatharin]

Something prone to dying. If my ancestors could contain it, so can we.

[somebadnews]

[ It says something that he’s going to deal with it himself, and still takes the time to field questions. What he has doesn’t sound like much of a plan, but he’ll give him that. ]

Stranger things have happened. [ Assuming demons can die. There’s a lot he doesn’t know and doesn’t have time to find out. ] Nothing else is known about how they did it?