hadriel_logs | Event Log: End of Arc 2

Entry tags:

Event Log: End of Arc 2

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the End of Arc 2
Where: All over the city
When: November 25th-December 12th
Warnings: A full-scale battle, including character death, NPC death, and various other ways to suffer

It was bound to happen. The Null warned you, after all, and this has been building for awhile - and now it's here. First comes the initial attack, the agents of the Null attacking Hope's temple. Then, an SOS, warning the city of what's happened: a betrayal, and Hope being injured. Luckily for everyone, thanks to the actions of his guards Hope survives the attack. Unluckily, his attacker, the goddess Delight, escapes and lets the Null in.

Flooding into the cave, the Null will attack anyone who they believe is resisting them. They'll destroy buildings and deploy dangerous crowd control weapons, in addition to their sheer strength and speed. Confusion empties the monsters in the tunnels into the city, to help distract the Null. Some gods fight, others provide safe havens, but everyone is in danger.

After about a week and a half of the attack, Fear summons enough power to teleport the city. This stops any new Null from arriving through the tunnels, but the remaining Null must be hunted down and destroyed, or else they'll signal their location to the rest of their species. The danger will lessen as Null are taken out, but things won't really be safe until Fear moves the city again, so don't get too comfortable.

What will you do? Run and hide? Fight? Help the fighters? Turn on the gods yourself? Whatever you do, it's time to make a decision.

► This log covers November 25th-December 12th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you get taken out by the Null, please let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Drake is completely done for at this point, but like hell are they going to be able to get him into his own bed. Save it for someone who cares for being comfortable -- this is what he needs. He found Ephemera lying here and stripped off his armor so he could hold his hand, lay his head on the other man's shoulder, and then fell into something approximating sleep. He dreams of cracking Jo's head open -- it was enough to sustain him for awhile but he'll need another soon and he'll never shake the guilt. They'll have to just contain him, or kill him, and if Ephemera doesn't wake up he thinks he might almost welcome the latter. The melodramatic thoughts of a monster who isn't cut out to be one.

But then there's movement under his cheek, a rough 'am I dead?' coming from Ephemera's throat and Drake stands up clumsily, leaning on the cot for support. ]

No. You're gonna be okay. [ He squeezes Ephemera's hand tighter, knowing he needs to go find a doctor to do a neurological exam or something. Make sure he's not a liar. But he's not willing to leave him yet. ] You scared me.

[Oh. Drake.

Ephemera smiles for him a little, squeezing his hand. Real. It's real, this is happening. He can't feel the Null in his head anymore. Everything hurts, a dull ache and sour taste in his mouth. Like a hangover, almost.

Drake looks exhausted.]

Hey.

[ Hurt, exhausted, and starving, but all of that seems far away now. He struggles to stand, running his fingers through Ephemera's hair. ]

Are you... you?

[Ephemera closes his good eye, tipping his head slightly. He doesn't remember losing his prosthetic, but either somebody knocked it clean out of his skull or one of the medics removed it.

He remembers hitting Drake. Remembers way too much.]

Yeah. Kyna shocked me pretty good. Reset everything.

[ Well thank you, Kyna. He'll have to send her a fruit basket when this is over, or something. Drake doesn't let go, doesn't stop touching, even though there's still blood under his nails. Doesn't want to give up what little time he might have left. ]

Can you look at me? I'll go find your eye if you want, just.... look at me.

[He breathes in. Lets it go. Looks up at Drake.

Carefully, he reaches out. Puts his hand over Drake's. Squeezes tight.]

Forget it. You're here.

[That's what matters.]

You okay?

...for now.

[ He shakes his head. ]

I'm not okay. I had to... [ he lowers his voice in case anyone's listening in on them but things are so chaotic it's probably fine ] I had to eat Jo. She consented before she died and no one saw, but the odds of another willing donoe... and there aren't as many bodies lying around now as there were a week ago.

[ It's his worst nightmare, come true. ]

I'm gonna fight for as long as I can but then someone's gonna have to lock me up.

[Fucking hell.

Ephemera breathes. Keeps his hand tight on Drake's. Focus. Break the problem into pieces. Address them one at a time.]

Okay. Okay, we can...we can work with that.

[Think, idiot.]

How long you have?

[ Ephemera doesn't pull away from him when he confesses he intentionally ate a friend, and for that Drake is ridiculously relieved. As much as he knows he didn't hurt her, and needed to... not everyone was going to see it that way. ]

I don't know, I mean. Nobody's ever done studies on this kind of thing, how long it takes til you're too far gone. This was... eight days into the attack. Eight days hungry, and it was... already pretty bad.

[Ephemera squeezes Drake's hand. Doesn't let go.]

Hope still alive?

Yeah, and still reviving people -- but they're coming back with things wrong. I think special meal requests are kind of down the line of importance there.

[ Unless he causes a fucking zombie outbreak... ]

[Coming back wrong. That's just fucking great. Ephemera closes his eyes. Swallows down the curse he wants to spit. It's not helpful.]

Make it anyway. Make sure he understands how fucked you'll get if he doesn't help.

[Cover all your basis.]

Then we're talking to Lup. She knows about necromancy and shit. Maybe she knows some tricks we don't.

How am I supposed to contact him? He's not going to appear at his temple and the Null monitor the network...

[ Drake scrubs at his face, still holding on to Ephemera tight with his other hand. ]

Maybe I could try going through a different god.

[Right. That.]

Think Rage's temple is still in one piece. Could try there.

[Ephemera squeezes Drake's hand again.]

We'll figure this out.

[ They can try, but Drake's having a hard time finding optimism. His mind's already moving on to plan B, containment. ]

There's nowhere secure right now. To lock me up.

[Ephemera tightens his mouth.]

If my armor's not too fucked up, we could try putting you in that. Then locking it down. But I don't know how much damage it took.

It looked okay to me. Some dings and dents and you'll have to repaint, but there wasn't any serious damage.

[ He doesn't want to take Ephemera's armor from him, knowing the other man will still want to fight... ]

If it's the only option. I'll try the other gods, or maybe I can find some bodies.

[ Speaking of needing to eat, though, he refocuses. The Null probably weren't feeding Ephemera while they had him under their control. ]

What about you? You hungry?

Good, good.

[It's already taken a beating. The flamethrowers won't work and though Ephemera's hammered out the dents, there are a couple joints that are starting to weaken. He hasn't found the right tools to fix it.

Worry about that later.

Ephemera grimaces.]

How many did we lose?

[He can't remember killing anyone, but that doesn't mean--

Breathe. Stay here. Focus on the problem in front of you.]

Sort of? I'm pretty out of it, still.

[It's admitted quietly. He feels like shit.]

[ Drake goes quiet for a moment, thumb rubbing against the back of Ephemera's hand. How many? ]

I haven't seen that many actual deaths, but a lot of people are down. The clinic was destroyed and split into two locations and they're both packed. I'd say right now... we've got less than half the fighters we started with, and people are getting tired. If the Null send more reinforcements, we'll be in trouble.

[ He doesn't want Ephemera pushing it because of that, though. Rushing back into the fray too soon will just get him killed, and Drake... couldn't handle that. It was bad enough knowing he'd been taken and there was nothing he could do to help. He'd just killed as many Null as he could in the meantime, hoping that it would make a difference.

Drake lifts his free hand, touching Ephemera's cheek. Relief that he's okay shines in his eyes even now. Even knowing he's about to be the one gone with nothing to do for it. They've got this moment, at least. ]

Don't move, okay? I'll get you something.

[No denying it, that's bad. But it could be worse. They have time to recover and regroup. Assess the damages. Come up with a strategy. Survive.

Ephemera leans into the touch, watching Drake.]

We'll ride it out. Kick some ass. Play cards after. And I'm not going anywhere.

[ He lingers another moment, holding on, smiling faintly. ]

You'd better not. I need you.

[ Whether he's bluffing or not, Ephemera's steady certainty that they'll make it through gives Drake strength. They'll keep fighting. He leans down and presses a kiss to Ephemera's forehead, then lets go. Five minutes, he promises, before slipping away.

When he comes back he's got a bottle of water and a couple of energy bars in one hand, and a can of soup in the other. People have been chipping in supplies to keep the clinic going, it seems. ]

No way to heat it right now, but if you want.

[ He settles back into the seat he was in before Ephemera woke up, offering what he's scavenged. ]

[Hey, food. Food he might be able to keep won.

Ephemera pushes himself up slowly, running a hand through his hair.]

I'll try the water. Go from there. Exciting, yeah?

Little sips. Take your time.

[ He puts the rest down on the edge of the cot and settles a hand on Ephemera's leg, squeezing encouragingly. Needing the contact. ]

[Ephemera nods, closing his good eye. Drinks slow.

It tastes horrible in his throat, like sandpaper or a particularly vengeful hangover, but he manages not to puke.

Awesome.]

Thanks.

[He opens his good eye. Watches Drake.]

You should try and get some sleep, Drake. Might help.

It won't. I'm fine, though. I slept a little while you were out.

[ His fingertips trace a seam on Ephemera's suit idly as he watches the other man sips his water. Keeping it down so far, that's good. ]

...I'm really glad you're okay.

(2) clinic;

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