[Fourth Wall Finale] Night: Fall

[thewatchers]

[Fourth Wall Finale] Night: Fall
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As the sun goes down on the day of February 28th, the darkness begins to swarm in earnest around the place where the final Herald will emerge - the shores of a dark and polluted sea in the Outlands. Clouds of choking, magical ash roll over the sky to replace the clouds, casting the battlefield into an eerie crimson twilight. Dark smoke boils over the landscape, and the jeering, howling cries of those who would bring on Nightfall can be heard as they amass for their final battle.

Yet, still, the cacophony of the opposition is nothing compared to their silence as a vast shape rises from the water and flares its wings, blotting out the sunlight with its mere presence.

The last Herald of Night, the great primordial dragon Suneater, has arrived. Its only aim is to devour the sun - and crush anything that tries to get in its way.

A comparatively small shape, bubbled in a shining rainbow barrier and casting rays of light down on allied fighters, floats expectantly on the field. The former Herald Iriceli calls out to those who would do battle with Suneater directly:

“Come on! I’ll protect you!”

The battle with Suneater will be conducted in a single long thread, which will have its own toplevel. Abilities directly relevant to those engaging the boss in close combat will be put there.

A. Daybreak’s Moving Castle
While the Academy has many tricks up its sleeves to be deployed in time of need, this one may be the most powerful - and most secret - of all. After everyone is assembled or evacuated as necessary, the staff and students who specialize in artificer work come together in the courtyard, in front of the clear, cold waters of the massive pond known as the Cross of Life.

Headmistress Duchene looks over to the lead among the artificers. She meets her eyes, nods silently, and holds out her hands. The artificer quickly, carefully nicks both of the Headmisstress’ palms with a ritual knife, and steps back as Mila Duchene turns around and steps onto the ice. The frozen pond melts where her blood touches it, and she steps smoothly from ice into cold water, walking forward until she reaches the fountain in the center and grasps it with both hands.

And then the night lights up.

Someone watching from above might see the lines of light moving from water to stone, the very architecture of the Academy itself beginning to rise up and rearrange, and realize: the entire campus is a ritual circle.

Some schools were built for experimentation, for pushing the limits of the accepted. Some schools were built for preservation, passing on hallowed traditions. But Daybreak Academy was built for this night, and ever since the first stones were laid on the campus grounds, it has been storing sunlight, storing power, keeping it for this:

The main buildings of Daybreak itself have been temporarily transmuted from their normal forms into a giant, winged robot.

It radiates stored sunlight in a wide area around itself as it moves through the chaotic battlefield, providing something of a reprieve from the smoke that Suneater constantly spews.

From here, combatants and non-combatants alike can deploy and regroup as needed. The main medical facility and the Academy’s extensive defense systems and armory are all fully operational.

Tasks involving the base of operations include, but are not limited to:
- Aiding medical staff (retrieving incapacitated combatants, fetching supplies, healing or conventional first aid)
- Manning defensive weaponry such as gargoyle cannons and long-range turrets to shoot down attackers aiming to destroy or disable parts of the Academy
- Monitoring and communicating with others on the battlefield itself
- Defending the Academy from enemy intrusions

B. Battlefield
As expected, the fight itself is chaos. Suneater itself may have little to do with its far smaller followers, but everything from Outlands human cults to daemons and fae have shown up on the side of Nightfall, and they give - and expect - no mercy or quarter. While some are merely taking advantage of the assembly to try and snatch those on Daybreak’s side who they’ve taken an interest in for one reason or another, others are far more vicious and terrifying.

We encourage players to create their own specialised foes as needed, but as a rule of thumb, the caliber of these enemies can range from anywhere to mobs of low-level minions to solitary figures with exceptional combat ability. Not all enemies are focused on combat; many are focused on sabotage, distraction, and creating other troublesome effects like traps and illusions.

To make things worse, Suneater’s other gift is rolling out in force. Wherever the miasma it breathes and exudes from its very pores touches, combatants - friend and foe alike - are struck with hallucinatory visions, a sense of profound exhaustion and a bone-chilling cold. Regenerative abilities, shields, healing magic, and natural or supernatural protective gear can aid in combating these effects, but as long as the smoke exists, there will be difficulty in the fight ahead.

Those afflicted by the hallucinatory properties of Suneater’s miasma may see both enemies and friends as figures from their pasts, their present, their nightmares, or even manifestations of their fears, or any other number of things. We leave it up to player discretion as to the strength and nature of these visions, should you choose to use them in your threads.

Tasks involving the battlefield include, but are not limited to:
- Fighting (anything from simple clashes to sneak attacks behind enemy ranks)
- Rescuing or aiding injured or ailing combatants; supplying them with masks, first aid or protective gear as required
- Maintaining and protecting set miasma-free zones with magical lamps and other items

C. Wildcard
Battle is fierce, and enemies are, now more than ever before, inclined to show no quarter. And even in the relative safety of the Academy, the sounds of heated combat can be heard clearly.
This prompt is for anything still finale-related that doesn’t fit into the above categories. Please feel free to use this log to play out your own confrontations!

Comments

[spelleton]

"You're certainly eating well, so I'd say sending you out here is at least partial compensation." He's noticed that Avery's just eating souls like popcorn, which probably means he'll be in a better mood overall.

He prepares himself for the next group of enemies and finds that for some reason, there's a lull where nobody wants to necessarily deal with the murderous shadow spirit and his equally murderous lich companion.

"Looks like it's quieter here," he comments. "Shall we move on?"

[subconmodo]

"Fair enough," Avery says with a half-shrug. "They do owe me, after all. Even if I'm pretty sure they'll regret it." He gets that it's the end of the world and all, but why they would want him to go so far as to fetch him is anyone's guess.

"Anyway! Those daemons aren't going to murder themselves!" he decides cheerfully, and circles around Ekke once before leading the way deeper into the fray.

[spelleton]

"Is there much of a difference between eating daemon and human souls?" It's a question that's been on his mind for a while now, but for various reasons, it's never seemed quite the right time to ask.

Apparently now is the time to ask. Ekkehardt dodges a swipe from a claw that still manages to cut his uniform and lunges with his spear to return the favour, impaling the daemon neatly. Fighting in close quarters isn't exactly his strong suit, but Avery is such a distraction that he figures he'll be fine.

[subconmodo]

"Different flavor. Or feel? One of the two," he replies as he casually snaps a fae's neck. "A little smokier but with an acquired aftertaste--one I'm acquiring quite handily, I'll admit." Though not one he had cared much for at first.

He tosses the limp body aside and sends a few traps snapping up into being a short distance away. "Surprised you're using a spear instead of your knives."

[spelleton]

"Knives are better for single targets," he replies, bringing the butt of his spear down onto an unfortunate cultist's head and following it up with a swift and fatal introduction to the sharp end of his weapon. "But I was trained with a spear, before I had a reason to use knives. It's the weapon I'm comfortable with for large-scale battles such as these."

His instincts warn him before he registers it - something moving through the smoke ahead, blending with it. Something so much larger and more dangerous that there are daemons hurrying out of the way rather than deal with it.

"That's not promising," he says, after a moment.

[subconmodo]

Avery is about to reply when a group of daemons runs toward and then past them. He turns his head to follow them as they run, then faces forward once again, glowing smile shifting to a tight frown.

"What do you think? Trap for someplace private or keep an open field?"

[spelleton]

He glances at him, and there's a clear moment of uncertainty before he makes a decision.

"Better to keep things open, I think," he replies. "No point trying to trap it if we have no idea what it can do."

The creature begins to take a shape in the smoke; something featureless, sinuous, its only notable feature the fact it's riddled with holes. It seems to be having trouble deciding how many limbs it wants; its gait is uneven.

[subconmodo]

Avery stares at the creature in silence, his glowing features contorting little by little. "Eugh. I see why they were running now." A shame they didn't have a large enough mirror on hand. One glimpse of that thing's reflection and it would probably run for the hills too.

It even has the whole creepy hole thing going on.

"Well then! Time to kill it with fire! Watch your feet, Ekke!" And no sooner does Ekke's name leave his shadowy, non-existent lips than a line of magic circles pulses forward toward the creature.