HERALD OF NIGHT - XELVAK, MAGUS OF LIFE BEYOND DEATH

[thewatchers]

HERALD OF NIGHT - XELVAK, MAGUS OF LIFE BEYOND DEATH
Log Comm | Network Comm | OOC Comm | Navigation

Just before finals, a campus-wide meeting is called in the main hall. The High Seeress addresses the student body directly.

“As many of you blessed with Sight are no doubt aware, a presence of great evil is upon us. I have read the stars and signs, and they all point to impending doom. Soon, we shall face our greatest trial to date. And this is but the first.

We have confirmed the emergence of a Herald. The first, to be precise, and the first being that has the capability to bring about Nightfall. This is why we exist. For centuries, Daybreak has prepared, and now the time is upon us. With the blessed radiance, the flames you have nurtured throughout your time here shall bring forth a raging inferno, a cleansing flame that shall scour the Earth and purify it of this fell night.

The operation will begin on the 2nd of July. We have identified the first Herald as the ancient Lich Xelvak. Our records speak of him as a man obsessed with conquering life and death. He calls himself “The Magus of Life Beyond Death”, and we have every reason to believe he has achieved his goals to some measure of satisfaction. The Radiance will be critical in bringing him down.

Beginning on the 27th following prom, we will begin deploying all volunteers to the basecamp being assembled by UN forces near Perth, Australia. Information from the indigenous peoples living within the Gibson Desert, as well as our own Sight, have lead us to identifying the location we believe Xelvak will emerge. Evacuation of the locals is already underway, we are moving them to a lakeside encampment near Perth. Our hope is that they will be able to return once the operation and cleanup have concluded.”

The High Seeress’s tone makes clear that she doesn’t expect this will be the case.

“Although they are skeptical, the UN Supernatural Division has committed the largest joint forces yet to this operation.”

At those words she hesitates for a moment before squaring herself and continuing.

“Most of the soldiers in these forces will not live through the day. And if we fail, humanity itself will not long exceed them. The UN forces have invited us as ‘advisors’ and ‘observers’, and so it shall be our duty to pay witness to the last moments of the brave men and women who will be forced to lay down their lives for an operation against our advisement.

But that is but one of our duties. Our true duty is to destroy the Herald, and it is this task that we are well-equipped. I say truly that no student or faculty is required to take part in this operation. We teach you in hopes that you will bring us salvation, but we understand, acknowledge and respect that not all students will take up the sword. To face battle is a grave decision only to be made by those who are truly willing.

The operation will be split into three parts. Daybreak will hold a presence within the UN’s main control room and will support combat operations. The second will be the bulk of our forces, you will need to use your radiance to break through Xelvak’s magic and crush his twisted undead shell. Finally, a third group will be stationed in the Outlands and will sneak into the Deathspire, Xelvak’s tower and the place he houses his Phylactery. The Phylactery must be destroyed, lest he return.

This will be a dangerous operation. Our vision is closed to the results, and the future, our future, is uncertain. But even still, I have faith. We will make it through this night. We will live. We will fight on. Thank you.”

[From this point on, students may sign up for the operation by speaking to faculty. All students who take part will be subject to a full physical and psychological evaluation (you may post about it if you wish but it will otherwise be conducted off-screen) to ensure they are ready to join the fight. Faculty will simply need to volunteer and sign up.

This is the first official sign-up for the Herald plot. It is open to all players and characters.

Student/Grad Student Characters:
Please sign up for one of the three mission types with your character(s), Control Room, Infiltration, and Combat.

Faculty Characters:
You may either sign up for a single mission, or, if desired, make yourself available for multiple missions, in which case your character will be assigned based on numbers to balance the teams.

Initial sign-ups will close on the 25th, after which we will divide the mission into smaller groups based on the total sign-ups and assign Faculty to each group. From here, players may sign up for specific groups if they wish. The second sign-up round will close on the 29th, and all the characters who haven’t selected a group will be randomized based on their chosen mission.

NOTE FOR COMBAT: Characters are allowed to call in NPC contacts to assist them in the fight, as long as it makes sense and they are in small amounts. If you are unsure of suitability, please direct inquiries to this toplevel.

To sign up, fill out the below form and reply to the appropriate Mission Sign-Up thread.]

Character Name: Character Position: (Student, Grad Student, Faculty) Desired Mission: (Select either Control Room, Infiltration, or Combat, if Faculty, select between one and three of the available missions)

code bases by tricklet

Comments

OOC DISCUSSION

[thewatchers]

Discuss where you want to group up, mission preferences, etc. here!

[bejustorbedead]

Ky Kiske is definitely going into battle, he was a military commander and a powerful fighter in his own right. So he can fit with about any group that wants a lighting-using knight with tactical experience.

Sherlock/Arthur is best suited for the infiltration mission but can serve as mission control if too many people are interested in breaking the sucker.

[fistsofchange]

Bai Lin is a walking, talking, magic null zone. She has no radiance, but even so she is still extraordinarily useful against any kind of spellcaster, including a Lich. She's got tons of battle experience, and would probably be at her best on the front lines.

I don't know if it even needs to be said, but she won't hesitate for a SECOND before volunteering to fight.

Kohaku Yuhara, on the other hand, is half trained and a lot more cautious with her own life. She'd probably focus on scouting and maybe some light skirmishing.

I'm wondering if she can pull some strings to get some NPC hunters from AEGIS assigned on this mission, though. They are some extraordinarily and efficiently dangerous motherfuckers.

[vengeancedivine]

Imelda Rivera will be going on the Infiltration Mission. She's knowledgeable about necromancy, so hunting down a Phylactery would be a good match for her skill set.

Count D is 100% not a fighter, so he'll be watching from the Control Room. He's there to perform his role as Consultant if he's needed, but also he's curious to see what happens with this attempt at thwarting Nightfall. His faith in Daybreak is pretty low, so I'm interested in him getting pulled into being more invested in all of this.

[shockingblue]

Gunvolt's going to put his Radiance to work. It worked wonders against undead before, and he'd want to do his best to bring his power to bear to put an end to the Lich. He'll probably opt for frontline work, given that's where focused Radiance will be needed, but if his skill at infiltration is needed on the other side, he'd go with that too.

Either event is what he's trained for.

Valvatorez... I haven't decided, but he'd happily opt for any position, but he'd personally prefer being boots on the ground and getting things done.

[foolishjustice]

Ziggy is capable at both combat and infiltration missions, and will be doing whichever needs him more. If he's combat, he'll be acting as a tank and doing his best to draw the Lich's attention so squishier people can not die. If infiltration, he'll be putting his tactical experience and infrared/magic aura vision to work.

David will be on infiltration, using a battlesuit designed by him and magically improved by Jail to give him extra mobility (including flight) and to make sure he's able to keep up with any magical threats they might encounter. He also has an ulterior motive of finding any information there might be on how this Lich conquered death, so people might catch him paying more attention to any research notes than is strictly necessary.

Akechi...is the one who's gonna have A Time. He's volunteering for combat and expects to be very useful, between his Wildcard versatility and his Radiance, but what he's not counting on is the first sign of the price of his daemonic contract. He's going to be getting partially possessed by his daemon, which will cause him to make mistakes and possibly even trip others up. To the casual observer, it'll seem like he's just slipping up under the stress, but people paying more attention might notice he's spacing out and seeming confused, as though he's losing time.

[wassup_persona]

Ryuji's going to be talking to Ren and Lia, first, t b h . . . Meaning, the final decision will depend on what they're going with/think is best.

While he doesn't have any extended... real, organized training with sneaking around, Phantom Thief sneakin' skills are still a thing he has. /o/ But, basically, he's good for either infiltration or pure combat.

[alreadyhuman]

Ekkehardt is pretty suited for infiltration, but he'd prefer combat if he's not put there. He'll be working in his capacity as a medic on the battlefield, if he's deployed to that mission. He'll take the position of forward scout/trap finder for infiltration purposes.

Vivi is ready to blast the shit out of everything! He'll need someone to point him in the right direction generally but he's a magical powerhouse and he does in fact have some actual combat experience, so he'll do fine.

[soft_focus]

So Gongenzaka is definitely coming, though I actually have trouble deciding if he should be combat or control room- while he's certainly great FOR combat, he's also fairly strategic despite all appearances...of course, considering his age he'd probably be considered more Combat-suited anyway, it's a hard call.

Reira...Could end up going?? As much as she's 9 she Is good where it counts (and let's be honest here, she's less a disaster than some of the older teens)- she'd be Infiltration for sure, just by virtue of being

1, more familiar with the Outlands Anyway
2, having Empathy Radar
and most of all, 3, having a sprite that literally makes her invisible to the blighted when no moonlight is present.

FINALLY, MOON HAS A TIME TO SHINE!

SIGN UP THREAD

[thewatchers]

[moonlitdancer]

Character Name: Serena
Character Position: Student
Desired Mission: Combat

Re: SIGN UP THREAD

[fireindreams]

Character Name: Grimm
Character Position: TA
Desired Mission: Combat

[hotter_twin]

Character Name: Android 18
Character Position: Faculty
Desired Mission: All of them if/where needed

[opheliaafterdeath]

Character Name: Nekane
Character Position: Faculty
Desired Mission: Infiltration or Mission Control

[alreadyhuman]

Character Name: Vivi
Character Position: Student
Desired Mission: Combat

[spelleton]

Character Name: Ekkehardt Gehring
Character Position: Grad Student/TA
Desired Mission: Infiltration preferred, but can go anywhere as needed.

[improbablenotimpossible]

Character Name: "Arthur Bell" (Sherlock)
Character Position: Grad Student/TA
Desired Mission: Prefer Infiltration, but can go Mission control if need be

[bejustorbedead]

Character Name: Ky Kiske
Character Position: Faculty
Desired Mission: Combat and/or Mission Control

[inkedspell]

Character Name: Sarona Gayle
Character Position: Student
Desired Mission: Infiltration

Character Name: Seiji Date
Character Position: Student
Desired Mission: Combat

[nor_iron_bars]

Character Name: Jailbreak
Character Position: Faculty
Desired Mission: Infiltration would definitely be best, she could also do mission control if needed, combat would be a last resort.

[vengeancedivine]

Character Name: Count D
Character Position: Consultant
Desired Mission: Control Room

Re: SIGN UP THREAD

[foolishjustice]

Character Name: Goro Akechi
Character Position: Student
Desired Mission: Combat

[just_as_planned]

Character Name: David Xanatos
Character Position: Grad Student
Desired Mission: Infiltration

IC REACTION

[thewatchers]

[nor_iron_bars]

[Quietly, her words muffled by the unabashed facepalm she's currently doing:]

I can't believe he actually calls it the fucking Deathspire. Christ, what an edgelord.

[Xelvak, you're a terrible undead horror and you've been giving her legitimately awful nightmares for months, but also she is legitimately embarrassed for you, as a person.]

OOC QUESTIONS

[thewatchers]

Any questions about the event can be asked here.

[fistsofchange]

Are there any guidelines we should follow in bringing in NPC allies that our characters might know? Not named characters obviously but like if we’re part of an organization that has armed forces it could send and was willing to do so to help stop the end of the world.