The Watchers of Night (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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daybreakacademy2020-07-20 01:39 pm
thewatchers) wrote in daybreakacademy2020-07-20 01:39 pm
[Open] The Orichalcum Fortress
The Orichalcum Fortress
Log Comm | Network Comm | OOC Comm | Navigation
The Tower of Adamant has changed significantly from the last time it had Academy visitors. The top half of the tower is wreathed in black fire, casting eerie light like a daemonic mockery of a lighthouse. The bottom levels - as well as the grounds around them - are infested with thriving, thorny plants. The sound of howling and barking bounces around the cliffs that defend the Tower.
A base camp has been established to tend to what few survivors the advance teams could extract before things had become too aggressive to risk further searching without injury, mostly shell shocked students and one or two teachers. From what limited information they’ve managed to acquire, there are two forces concentrated in the Tower itself - a fae controlling the grounds, and a daemon sequestered in the upper levels. A multi-pronged assault is, as far as the various teams assembled can see, the only way to split the two’s defenses enough to get everyone inside for their various tasks. This work is far from easy; voracious, giant plants will snap and spit burning acid at those tackling the lower levels, while packs of snarling hellhounds await those who breach the upper levels. But even fae plants are susceptible to enough force and magic, ,and though these hellhounds are both fierce and well trained, they’re monsters that can still be subdued.
One thing is for certain, however; those responsible are ready, waiting, and eager for blood. Combat is all but inevitable.
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Hell, that camera feed should make it plainly obvious that things were going to be 'sloppy' no matter what anyone did.]
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[Rex will find that not only is his attempt at scanning the PA system to trace the message unsuccessful, he gets absolutely no data from it at all save the general sense of someone going, in a metaphysical way, "no, fuck you" at him for even having the audacity to try.]
[Apparently whoever handles the Tower of Adamant's wards is significantly more competent than their command staff.]
[...Actually, the Tower of Adamant is known throughout pretty much the entire supernatural community for being, among other things, extremely skilled with warding magic. Which makes this entire situation all the more troubling.]
[Bellona and Mellona were nasty enemies and vicious fighters, but neither of them should have been able to just break in. How did they manage to get through to the Tower in the first place? It's an alarming thing to leave as a loose end...]
Cadet, shoot him.
Wh-! [Cadet Winters makes an alarmed sound at a pitch high enough that several of the unconscious hellhounds twitch reflexively in their sleep and finally completely abandons their attempt at military discipline to attempt to simultaneously hide behind the little hound and still shield it with their own body. It's not working very well, but there's something admirable about the attempt.]
[The janitor steps up.]
[He gives Cadet Winters a calm, reassuring pat on the shoulder, then continues past them and makes direct eye contact with the camera.]
[And flips it off.]
[Holds the position for a long moment.]
[And turns around to face the Daybreak group, pulling something out of his pocket, and holding it out to them.]
[It's a keycard.]
What do you MEAN he has access to-?! [From the PA, there's a sudden burst of static and slightly fainter voices talking all at once, as though the people behind the microphone have leaned back to have a furious argument.]
[The keycard is labeled EMERGENCY BUNKER 0: AUTHORIZED STAFF ONLY all others will be shot.]
[Any halfway-competent military organization has a backup site, in case everything goes to Hell and they need to duck down until the artillery fire stops.]
[But the people high-ranked enough to know about those sites don't usually like to mop the floors themselves.]
[Presumably, Bellona knew enough to know there was a bunker- she just didn't know how to get in. She certainly didn't know that this man had the key on him, otherwise she wouldn't have been using him as a chew toy. Not if he had something to bargain with.]
[The various officers on the PA are getting creative, sounding flustered as their yell orders and threats too contradictory to follow even if one wanted to.]
[The janitor is smiling.]
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This is a pathetic display for a General, and any command staff worth their salt.
[He said it loudly enough to make sure the staff heard it, too.]
That hellhound that's with Cadet Winters was a brave, stalwart fighter that saved the lives of students and staff here. If it were a human, it'd be called a hero, performing an act of valor like that. He'd be given a medal.
And you're more concerned about the carpet, then I think that says a lot about you, and why I'm not going to obey an order to murder an innocent.
Cadet Winters, that hound, and that janitor there have shown a lot more moral and actual courage than any of you have, wherever you're hiding. Not to mention the sheer negligence you all must have been party to to even let the daemons get this far. If anything, this whole debacle is on you, and your priorities about performance appraisals and the fucking carpet says a lot about your command, or lack thereof.
Superior officers are responsible for taking care of their subordinates. That's the cornerstone of discipline. Sir.
[Gunvolt's not sure what the janitor has in mind, but if a few more asses need to be kicked, he might not say no to the idea.]
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He lets out his actual laugh. His deep voice, reverberating in the mask makes it even more sinister than usual. ]
Huh...huhuhhahaha-BUWAHHAHAHA!*
[ He sounds a lot fucking worse than the actual daemon they just messed with. It's spine-tinglingly terrifying. He even raises his arms halfway and leans backwards as he does it.
It's just how he laughs.
With his mirthful outburst done, Rex extends a hand as his gigantic sword flies to his palm once more, this time to rest on his shoulder. ]
Please, lead the way. Incidentally, if you can get us into whatever archive or vault they keep their most valuable secrets and artefacts in, I'd very much appreciate that too.
*this
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He agrees with Gunvolt, but he's not going to actually say anything out loud. He simply walks over to the janitor, Griffon following behind him.]
Gotta say, SOME people around here are way more competent than the management!
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[Rex's laughter seems to unnerve the little hellhound, who fluffs up like a cat that just saw a vacuum cleaner. Cadet Winters seems to be having the human equivalent of the exact same reaction. They're clinging on to each other like something out of an episode of Scooby-Doo.]
[The janitor just nods, shrugging in a way that seems to indicate 'yeah, fair enough'.]
Cadet Winters, you are also fired. In the sense that you will be facing a firing squad. Additional firing squads may also be arranged as needed. Some of you may have to share, we're not made of money.
[There's a pause while they sort out what to do with the still-unconscious Cadet Adraska, but once they're carefully secured to the little hound's back, with Cadet Winters walking beside to keep an eye on them, the group is ready to set out.]
[The janitor opens a side door and motions for the group to follow him.]
Do you think this is some sort of game? No one is impressed!
[If they do, they'll find that he's leading them deeper into the base of the Tower, through a series of twisting, carefully-obscured side passages. If the battered weapon turrets are any indication, they would normally be much better-defended, but being able to remote-activate a barrage of magic doesn't seem to do much when the intended weapon has already been mangled to the point of nonfunctionality by giant claw marks and fast-growing vines.]
This is- are you even listening to me? God, what is Daybreak even teaching you people.
[The PA system, regrettably, appears to still be functioning.]
Do they actually let you out dressed like that? On purpose?
[Eventually, they'll come to a very heavy door, still untouched despite the best efforts of a large number of dead hellhounds and plant monsters strewn around it.]
[There's a sound from behind the door, as though someone just cocked a shotgun.]
Do NOT open that door.
[The janitor promptly swipes the keycard and unlocks the door.]
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That and the additional commentary that follows gets a simple response, spoken just loud enough to be heard over the system:] Vaffanculo.
[When the group reaches the door and the janitor unlocks it, she places herself in front of the group and takes hold of a few shadows here and there, ready to act if she needs to.]
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Daybreak is teaching us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. To be the change we want to see in the world. If you believe in justice, it means you do not allow injustice to stand, even if, especially if, it's a human committing it.
Like a superior officer that would order the murder of someone who submitted, and then ordering execution of someone who disobeyed an unlawful order. Moreover, I do not believe the Academy, or any magical institution, will look favorably upon any CO who orders the deaths of minors, insubordination or no.
You will stand down. And I would advise you do so peaceably.
[Gunvolt otherwise grimly followed the janitor deeper into the facility, and makes ready for a fight once the door opens. He will not open fire unless fired upon first, but he's ready to throw down with the non-lethal Taser Dart setting on his Dart Leader.]
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[ Rex brought his giant piece of rubble with him. As long as he's holding it with Blue Moon, it weighs literally nothing to him. He's been planning this since then.
He holds it just a shade off the ground in front of the door, so that when he lets go it makes a loud boom. He dusts his hands off before crossing his arms, making sure it's all very visible on the PA. ]
Someone will let them out eventually. [ He tips his head slightly, considering something before adding- ] If anyone cares. I'm relatively certain this organisation has reached the end of its usefulness, anyway. Now, about that vault...
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On the other hand: man, fuck these guys. Rex has the right idea, honestly.]
Nothing of value has been lost, really.
[V.]