END OF ARC 1: DAY 168 BATTLE

[asgardmods]

[The grey dim light of false dawn has just settled on the city when the sirens sound. The piercing shriek of a modern warning system begins, and within seconds is joined by the low, haunting wail of wood and bone horns from the Elven camp outside the Gate of Fire. A minute later, there is Thor's post to the network.

And now, as the sun slowly rises, the light reveals clouds of dust in the distance, far off to the North and West. In that time, the city will be awakening with a start. Anyone with connections to a god-supported group or to the elves will be roused and rushed off to their jobs. Folkvang comfort house will open its doors, revealing an interior cleared of equipment and converted into a shelter for those who must flee the incoming violence.

The whispers on the streets are of disbelief and fear. Is it really the end of days? Surely the walls will hold against any mundane army. Surely it will all be over soon... right? Healthy natives are saying goodbye to their loved ones "just in case". Perhaps you should be too.

Later, the armies arrive. First the enemy, made up of humans, monsters, and five dragons. The lesser giants look almost human, except for the flame or frost in their eyes and the warm or cool tint to their colouring. But the king of the fire giants is something else. He is tall and broad and strong, riding on a huge, splendid black boar. The queen of the frost giants is equally intimidating, in armor that looks made of glacial ice itself, seemingly too ornate to be practical but clearly worn as if it is. Her mount is a great white serpentine creature that radiates dangerous cold. The other kinds of creatures are uncountable in their variations, but all well armed.

They dwarf the small forces of Asgard and the forward units of the elves, but just as battle is about to break the sound of a great number of clockwork machines heralds the arrival of the full forces of Alfheim. They are joined soon by the modern outfitted soldiers of Utgard, and then the masses of people collide like conflicting waves of water. Above them fly the dragons, and one great flying ship that seems to have come from nowhere but fights on the side of the gods.

What will your characters do? Will they join the front lines? Hide in the shelter? Man the Arena-turned-war-hospital? There are a million things to do in a battle, but not even those hiding will escape the smell of gunpowder and metal and the sounds of battle.]


[ooc note: your characters are welcome to come up with any frost/fire themed monsters you like! They may not directly combat the giant king or queen. They may not fight dragons without first checking in with the mods in this post (and two dragons are already claimed). Try to consider that there will be a second battle, so you can vary what you're doing. Also make sure to read the plot post thoroughly, especially with regards to character death.

Make sure to include the rough time of day in the subject of your top-level comments, as well as if your thread is open or closed. This whole log will only cover Day 168. If you need mod participation/NPCing, please ask us asap and give us some allowance to be slow, since there's a lot going on.

There is a log for the downtime on days 169-170 here, and a full-event log for those staying in the shelter at Folkvang here. There will be a second pair of battle/downtime logs for the second battle (Day 171-172 with downtime on Day 173) posted on Nov 8.

Important note! There will be a lightning speed commentspam thread for taking down the most familiar dragon in this post beginning today at 6pm CST. At that time there will be a mod plurk to let everyone know we're starting. We will also ask those who can to join the AIM chat (asgardchat) at that time so we're all on the same page. It's a thread we want to get done from start to finish as fast as possible/within two evenings, due to mod business. Please don't feel left out if you can't participate in that thread. It's partly an experiment in seeing if this kind of thing works for us, and there's lots else you can do!

Have fun, everyone! If you have questions, please ask on the event post so that everyone else can see them/the answers. Thank you!]

Comments

[suppressthedark]

I didn't sneak up on-

[Oh shit, right, they're in the middle of a battle. A pair of frost giants suddenly come up on them, and he notices, swears, and turns to go back to battle.]

Whatever, come on!

[secondborn]

[You came up behind him while he was fighting, Ichigo, that's as good as sneaking up on someone, basically. Alastair sees what Ichigo's talking about and nods, his sword at the ready.]

Right.

[LET'S GO GET THOSE GIANTS, BRO]

[suppressthedark]

[Now that's what he likes to hear. He doesn't say anything else, just turns and gets into the thick of it, taking down who he can, every so often looking in Alastair's direction just to make sure he's not in a bad situation.]

[secondborn]

[Yes.

Alastair holds his own. His anger is flooding up again. He can't even really help it at this point. He fights, not wildly or aimlessly, but with a furious purpose. He's not particularly careful, but he's pretty good.]

[suppressthedark]

[So long as he doesn't give into his rage, it's fine. Anger has its place in battle-god knows Ichigo's fought while angry before.

The dead are piling up, and the enemies are backing off a little, obviously wondering what to do about the two travelers that keep felling them.]

[secondborn]

[The problem with fighting on anger is that either over time it begins to run out like a stream drying up, or you do end up falling into it, as if it's an ocean.

Alastair's rage is an ocean he's been feeding for years and years and he has no idea how deep it is. Soon enough, he's barely aware of anything apart from Ichigo fighting nearby, the enemies he himself faces, and the fury which burns through his mind and drives his sword.

In the end, the question becomes not when will Alastair's anger run out, but when will his body become incapable of keeping up with it?

For now, though, for now there is not much that can stop him.]

[suppressthedark]

[Every now and then, Ichigo looks back to keep tabs on Alastair, seeing the furious pace he's set and that he's sinking back into that uncontrollable rage again. And for now it seems like his body can handle it, but...if he can't, Ichigo will be there to defend him in a flash.

It's funny-he'll run himself down, but he won't allow others to do the same.]

[secondborn]

[For a while he's doing well, very well for someone who's never had any battle experience before. He's fighting strong, if ferociously.

But all it takes is one small mistake to get hurt, and that's exactly what happens. He's a little too slow to block the slice of a sword and it comes down hard on his left arm, cutting deeply.

He growls at the pain and steps back, managing to defend against the next couple of attacks. He's going to try to ignore it.]

[suppressthedark]

[And that's all Ichigo needs to instantly be there in front of him, fending off the attacks while his back is to the other.]

Oi! Get to a healer!

[A wound like that, you don't just ignore. That wound just increased his chances of dying here by a lot.]

[secondborn]

[Like he can't take care of himself. Like he's a child or something. Alastair snaps back.]

I'm fine!

[It's not even his sword arm!]

[suppressthedark]

No you're not!

[How many times has he heard that from other people? It's a good thing right now Ichigo can't see how hypocritical he's being.

He gestures angrily, pointing towards the city.]

Get to the Arena or I'll drag your ass there!

[secondborn]

[This is a really bad time for this argument, and if Alastair were thinking clearly he'd see that.

But he's not thinking clearly, so he whips around to face Ichigo more fully, staring him down.

There is no good reason for him to argue this, no good reason at all, but Alastair is furious, and that's all it takes. He growls back.]

I'm fine.

[suppressthedark]

[Ichigo does something really, really stupid-he grabs Alastair's arm, the blood from the wound getting on his hand.]

No, you're not.

[His voice is firm, and there's no way alastair can talk him out of this.]

Come on. I'm taking you to a healer.

[secondborn]

[For a very tense moment, a part of Alastair actually considers hurting Ichigo to make him let go. But he's in no position to do anything but actually stab him since he's still holding his sword in his free hand.

This makes him pause, which makes him think, and once he starts thinking he starts to realize how stupid he's being. He's still buried in rage but... he's starting to see the light.]

Fine.

[Doesn't mean he has to be happy about it.]

[suppressthedark]

[Good choice. Ichigo lets go of him, looking around and noticing they've bought themselves a minor lull in the fighting.]

Alright then. Come on.

[He doesn't actually want to have to drag him, and he wants to trust he'll follow, so he turns his back and starts off in the direction of the arena. Every now and then, he stops and turns his head, making sure Alastair's following.

You're not getting out of this, bro. If he has to, he will pick you up and carry you.

[secondborn]

[Now he's breathing evenly and thinking, he's slowly calming down. He follows Ichigo at a short distance.

As he calms down, he starts getting embarrassed. But he's still angry and frustrated enough not to say anything.

He's just going to follow silently.]

[suppressthedark]

[Fair enough. You can feel whatever you want, so long as you follow.

Thankfully, it seems the battle is elsewhere for the moment, so nothing serious happens along the way. They're getting closer, but the silence as they walk is long, deep, and...awkward.

He doesn't really feel like talking.]

[secondborn]

[He doesn't feel like talking either, so they'll continue on in silence, even if it's awkward.

He doesn't want to let go of his anger.

And that kind of scares him.

So he's going to concentrate on breathing and walking and not... not on the things that make him angry.

Which is hard when he's walking through a battlefield.]

[suppressthedark]

[Ichigo tries to keep alert, just in case they get attacked again. Step by step, they leave the fighting and the battlefield behind, but he won't relax until they're safely inside.

At least they don't have much farther to go, relatively speaking.

Actually, they're almost there.

Ichigo thinks about telling Alastair that the Arena's nearly in sight, but the silence has passed from awkward to oppressive, and he's not sure if talking to Alastair would set off that anger of his again.

Step, step, step.]

[secondborn]

[It's a good thing Ichigo doesn't try to make any kind of conversation. Alastair is concentrating very hard on his feet, on his walking, trying to separate himself from the anger, at least for the moment.

He almost feels like he's two people right now. One is the furious rage, boiling in the back, and the other is the emotionless wisp, floating somewhere else.

He can't reconcile the two. He can't balance it.

So he'll just concentrate on his walking. Step. Step. Step.]