EVENT LOG: A FRIEND IN NEED ( ALFHEIM )

[asgardmods]

Who: Everyone going to Alfheim
What: The mingle log for A Friend In Need
When: Days 387-390 ( Jan. 12-19 )
Where: Asgard, Alfheim, and the train ride inbetween
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

Day 387 ( Jan. 12/13 )

Before boarding the train around dawn, the leaders of the separate groups should run checks on everyone that's signed up. Natives will help dish out a simple weapon to those without their own that want one, medical supplies to the healers and a simple kit for everyone else, and a simple mask with strict instructions to put them on as soon as the kingdom is within sight. After everyone is geared up and boarded, Odin's spies will set out on horseback first, masks already in place, to clear the path ahead. This gives you a five hour train ride to go over strategies and coordinate with your fellow Travellers and the Asgard natives that have joined the ranks.

As the train crosses the halfway mark between Asgard and Alfheim, the dark black clouds of smoke and ash will sprawl across the horizon and thicken the air, prompting early placement of the gas masks as a precautionary measure. It's a short trip from there, and once the train has stopped, it's time to get to work. The homes and buildings of Alfheim will be in varying states of disarray and ruin, some still burning as the inhabitants and neighbours struggle to douse the flames. Others will be smouldering, successfully saved or otherwise left to burn itself out in the days since the initial attack. There will still be Fire Giants sparsely wreaking havoc amongst the living quarters, but the vast majority of the fighting will have been drawn into the treeline by the Elves to give room for relief efforts and any evacuation attempts. Homes and larger buildings still largely intact will have been turned into temporary hospital rooms or safe houses for the young and incapable of fighting, with the injured laid out anywhere there is room; the dead will be wrapped in sodden sheets in the alleys between buildings until they can be properly buried - if ever they should find the opportunity.

This leaves the Travellers to split up and jump head first into their tasks. The Elves will be pleasantly surprised and immensely grateful for the arrival of aid, but they will not spare much time to gratitude when the battle wages and every second counts. Those fighting will immediately accept the Travellers into their defence, and from there, they will begin to push back against the Giants' forces. At this point, it will be largely defensive combat, an attempt to keep the Giants from moving further into the kingdom and setting more to flames. Surt himself will be present in this, and a vast majority of those that try to stand against him will be met with a heavy hand. Move carefully, Travellers, for there is still fight left in these desperate Giants.

Day 388/389 ( Jan. 14-17 )

By early morning, just as the Sun is beginning to rise, the Travellers will receive some support from their patron deities back in Asgard. For the next two days, they will have their House Powers to give them that extra edge on the battlefield. Another surprise will arrive as well, as the trees themselves seem to move through the battlefield to push back the Giants. The Treepeople will have arrived, many of whom direct their efforts towards the support group to help control the flames while others exact their grief and anger on the enemy forces that still linger around. These beings are the oldest in Yggdrasil, second only to the immortals, and strongly resemble their respective forests, but they are strong and firmly rooted in the Mother's survival.

They will fight alongside the Travellers until they are cut down or the battle is won, which it seems it will be when the flames begin to significantly dwindle nearing sunrise on Day 389. From that point onward, those fighting for Alfheim will rise to the offence and the Giants will begin to fall back as their numbers lessen and their advantage wanes. They will begin fleeing the kingdom, leaving Surt with only his loyalists at his side - and against the might of the Travellers and the Elves emboldened by their allies' support, they few will not be enough to claim the entire kingdom.

Day 390 ( Jan. 18-19 )

The Travellers' House Powers will fade before sunrise, but between the combined strengths of them, the Elves, and the Treepeople, they will still quickly overpower Surt's remaining forces and send them scurrying back to their ruined kingdom of Muspellheim. Surt will leave weary and more furious than ever at his failure, but he knows too that to stand alone would be his downfall. The battle is won, but the damage has been great and there is little time for celebration. The Travellers will be given the most sincere gratitude from the people of Alfheim, and sent back home with packs of food and supplies to patch themselves up before they arrive back in Asgard as the loyal and true allies to Yggdrasil and her children.

[ OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the A Friend In Need plot event! Team sign-ups are over here and it is never too late to join, thought the leadership positions have already been chosen. To plot out a thread with Surt, please comment here. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns! ]

Comments

[teenyoda]

He laughed at that, a tired and worn out sound that probably came out sounding more like a bleat than anything. "Yeah, me and weapons aren't a good idea. I'm likely to gash myself open or drop it on someone's foot. They're really only effective if you know how to use them and, trust me, I don't."

Stiles could swing the hell out of a bat, but anything more complicated was likely to wind up doing more harm than good.

[timaeus_testified]

"Alright. If you want to learn when we get back, I or someone on the guard could teach you." If he wants to learn, Dirk has no qualms about teaching him. He cards his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes. The heat is hotter than anything he's ever had to deal with.

Damn.

To burn off a bit more of his energy and quell the temperature. Dirk conjures ice and turns it to water vapor, letting it fall back down.

[teenyoda]

Another short laugh. "You really think that's a good idea?" Well... it might be. He wouldn't always have his fire, as he'd been shown when they left the gates of Asgard. It was luck that he had it now, so... maybe learning how to ensure he didn't wind up getting brought back in a body bag was a good idea.

"I'll have to talk to my dad about it. See how freaked out he gets at the idea."

And give him a minute, Dirk, to just sort of... enjoy that little sprinkle of cold. It felt better than it should since they were all but living in an oven at the moment.

[timaeus_testified]

"If it makes him freak out less, I could show you something smaller." He isn't passing judgement, he'd created the cold for that reason. Got to enjoy what little perks a power gives you. "We don't always have access to our god-granted powers. A weapon or even hand to hand training could mean Hel isn't scrubbing your soul before putting it back in your body."

It's a little creepy. When he thinks about death, he has the sense that someone did not let his soul rest and kept poking at it.

Weird.

"Or long range weapons. Never used a bow or gun, but I assume there's some around that knows that shit."

[teenyoda]

Okay, eww. He hadn't thought about the fact that she got to put her hands on his... whatever it was when he died. Definitely no more deaths.

The long ranged weapons suggestion had him laughing. "Yeah, not a good idea. Jade almost bit my head off when I talked to her about guns and, uh, crossbows and me are apparently a bad idea."

He shook his head, continuing along with him. "I'm really better with something I'm less likely to hurt myself with. Like a bat."

[timaeus_testified]

Wait. Dirk blinks as he looks at Stiles a little more closely. He isn't close to Jade, but she's from his world and that means he has an even stronger obligation to help the guy. A friend of a friend, is still, well, a friend. "It's fine. I'm not that great guns or bows, either. I prefer swords."

He knew where he stood with a blade. "In terms of causing less damage to yourself, there's spears and staff fighting. Moonlights as a walking stick." It's a little ironic to be talking about this on a fire filled battlefield. He acts like this is a perfectly normal conversation, because to him, it is.

Wait. "...hold up. Your fire power. Think you could craft smoke with it?"

[teenyoda]

"They use swords a lot where you're from?" He should be one to talk. Here he thought they were archaic and the Argents were still running around chopping werewolves in half. The more you know, right?

Stiles was getting used to weird conversations in weirder places, sort of nodding along. "Are you saying that I can't just learn bat-fu? Really, anything more complicated is... I'm not very agile."

He could rock the hell out of a lacrosse stick (sometimes) and a baseball bat. That was the extent of his 'things Stiles can handle that won't kill him' list.

"Smoke? Uh, I don't know? I wouldn't think so. You need something to burn for it to let off smoke, right?"

[timaeus_testified]

"Right. You need heat for mist but, I can do that with a flick of my fingers. Mist wouldn't make sense if people need cover to get the hell out of dodge. I can do fog, but that won't be believable either." Fog would die too fast. He kicks a burning branch away from the tree it had been set against and puts the flames out with another wash of fine mist.

He should organize his thoughts instead of letting all the fragments dance in his mind. Dirk frowns. "Sorry to take us off topic, it was a thought in case we run into some shit. If there exists a bat-fu user, probably someone from a world where Zombies are the dominate thread." He sounds serious but then he breaks into a grin. "Whatever you think suits you best, I'm just tossing out ideas. It beats dwelling on all of this, doesn't it?"

[teenyoda]

"But with ice, just letting it appear and fade would create mist. It doesn't really need an outside fuel source for that. Smoke needs to come from something. Fire on its own doesn't produce a gas, right?" God, where was Lydia when he needed her?

He watched the mist fizzle out the flame, watching, yes, smoke plume up in its wake. "Things that if I trip over, I won't wind up impaling myself are probably better ideas." Or things that didn't have triggers he could touch and set off too early. This would be why his dad had gun vaults in the house.

[timaeus_testified]

"So staffs, bats, and maybe shields. Anyway you're right. The question was how far can the powers of gods step out of the realm of basic physics and science." He spots the faint outline of the healing station's edge up ahead and lengthens his strides. The sooner they're there the faster they'll be back out doing their job.

He has to meet back up with his group and keep reigning havoc on the fire giants. "Even the weird boost we experienced had some realm inside of believable." He actually pauses then shakes his head, navigating around a bush in their path. "Somewhat. I was able to create a hail storm like it was nothing for a set area, but hail storm."

[teenyoda]

"Not far enough. I can laser beam things, but when the thing you're trying to laser beam is immune to fire, that makes it surprisingly ineffective. And really freaking annoying."

A hail storm would be pretty awesome right about now. Huge chunks of ice bashing in giant heads. Hey, he could dream. "Sounds effective. Guess you don't have the juice to do that now, huh?"

[timaeus_testified]

"I'm 96% certain if I tried it I'd die, or pass the fuck out for days. The highest feat of ice I can achieve right now is a brief rain of short ice blades. Really brief. About thirty seconds to a minute of concentrated pain." He has done the math and this douchebag writing him nearly said a lot of death.

"Wait. Actual laser beams?" Dirk blinks. He hadn't heard about that.

[teenyoda]

"Right. So, uh, don't do that." Nope. He'd take a little extra fire work than watch someone else die over something that didn't really need to be done. They were winning, but it was slow. Steady. Sloooooow.

"Um, sort of. Not like, laser weapons or anything, but you know how a laser can cauterize a wound? I can do that. It's like... intense concentration of fire in one micropoint."

[timaeus_testified]

"So in theory," He pauses to make sure he's going the right way and not leading them into a spot that just looks at the station. Dirk lengthens his strides. He can still hear the sounds of battle but it's far off.

"You could sear right through a locking mechanism, is I weakened the metal with ice first. Depending on the alloy or quality." Some metals would break after the abrupt temperature switch.

This is like his talk with issac and getting past locks with shadows.

[teenyoda]

"Maybe. Probably. I haven't really gone into the particulars of what I can and can't do. I know I can do woodburning without a wand." His dad had a 'World's best Dad' plaque to hang in his room now.

[timaeus_testified]

"If you ever want to do some tests with it, I'm still exploring my limits. That survey on who can do what is really necessary sometime soon." How many fire users are there anymore? He has no idea.

"The last one has to be really out dated." Along with the study of who has been and gone and how many times. He has a lot of studies to do. Ugh.

[teenyoda]

"Sure. Catch me when I feel less like I'm about to faceplant into the nearest soft surface." He was a little curious about what he could do himself, not really having thought about the letters until Dirk had mentioned it. Seemed like a good idea to find out what his limitations were.

[timaeus_testified]

"I'll be sure to do that." Dirk smiles briefly and leaps up onto a fallen log and goes over the other side without pausing to orient himself. He lands soundlessly and after a minute gives the all clear sign in a small burst of fog that quickly fades away. "Speaking of our nearly drained batteries. We've got a few more feet then we'll be there."

Boy is he ready to sit down and take a long swig of water before he heads back out.

[teenyoda]

"Good." Because he was about to faceplant into the nearest soft surface. Just for like... ten minutes.

Maybe fifteen.

His climbing over the log process was much less agile and a bit more sort of slidey-tripping over it.

[timaeus_testified]

Dirk can't help thinking Stiles looks a bit like a penguin as he makes his way over the log. He waits until the other guy has recovered before he walks the last few feet and enters the camp. "If we don't run into each other again before this is over. Good luck and stay alive."

[teenyoda]

Aww, don't tell him that, Dirk. You'll hurt what little ego he has. But he nods at Dirk, heading for the general direction of a certain redhead's tent. "Yeah. And same to you, okay? Don't get dead."

[timaeus_testified]

"It's not in the plan." He makes a half-assed wave and walks away. He can find someone to charge him back up then he'll be back in the thick of combat.