GRIMM TIDINGS

[thewatchers]

GRIMM TIDINGS

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On the morning of the 27th, the campus is put on high alert. Students and staff alike wake to announcements calling willing volunteers to report to the Anvil of Hadur to be geared appropriately or to have their equipment checked, or else warned to stay within the dorms or other secured buildings on campus to avoid being caught in the fighting.

Those who are sensitive to such things can feel an unsettling presence begin to enroach; monsters that feel little except malice and an urge for destruction, hungering for life.

The Grimm are almost here.


A. DIRECT COMBAT
Students and staff eager to get into the fray are assigned the task of splintering the Grimm forces into more manageable chunks as they approach the Academy and swarm onto its grounds, assisted by Daybreak’s on-campus forces and other allies brought in for the fight. The goal, if any, is twofold - first, to divide and conquer, forcing large groups of Grimm apart into wards where they can be more easily whittled down and neutralized, and second, to keep them as far from the classrooms and dormitories as possible.

B. TOWER DEFENSE
To aid in the defense of the Academy, those who are less able to greet the enemy directly have been granted temporary and supervised access to some of Daybreak’s ranged defense systems. They’re a mix of more traditional magic and advanced technology; runic sniper rifles and enchanted grenade launchers sit side by side with staves and wands made for the purpose of long-range casting and activation of wards.

For the more daring, the gargoyles that commonly sit docile on the Academy’s rooftops are being summoned to service as mobile cannon platforms - magically-reinforced stone creatures able to leap or fly high above the battlefield to target groups of Grimm with arcane cannon blasts and to engage targets in the air. They vary in size - some can only bear a single rider safely, while others can support entire groups. All prioritize the safety of their riders above their own structural integrity.

C. TITAN-KILLING
Among the mass of shadowy forces, one in particular stands out. Towering above the rest of the small army, the Leviathan will initially stand and watch the battle going on, ignoring any attacks - but once it catches sight of its four targets, it refuses to be diverted from its course. Able to move faster and more fluidly across large distances than its bulk would suggest, the Leviathan’s major advantage is in brute strength and size, and its fearsome ability to breathe torrents of electric fire.

However, it’s little more than an exceptionally oversized beast, in the end, and unlike a normal animal, it harbors very little in the way of survival instincts. Though it won’t sit and take any attempts to kill it, it has a tendency to ignore anything that’s not its mission, and therein lies a weakness that can be exploited.

D AFTERMATH
The army of Grimm has been successfully repelled or recalled, likely looking quite a bit worse for wear than when they first arrived. Now is the time for wound care, clean up, and a well-earned rest after such hard work.

E WILDCARD
For anything else, on or off the battlefield, that doesn’t fit in with any of the above prompts.

code bases by tricklet

Comments

[unlogic]

[Her response to him had all but certainly given away her initial game plan, and she realizes pretty quick that he's intending to go right along with it, shooting his darts at specific points almost as if to say "do the thing here", and do the thing she does; with every dart and subsequent line of electricity producing more light and therefore more shadows, more of those spiked walls spring forth, piercing through the Grimm that were directly struck by GV's shots, and shoving several of the others inward and toward a single center point.

It seems she's realized that he's preparing a much bigger shot and is working to put as many of them as she can into the line of fire.

Not all of those still approaching are trapped, but the extra light coming from the Dart Leader itself gives her the means to maintain the barrier that had been erected earlier, and it now reaches all the way around them in such a way that the only real vulnerability would be directly above them—nothing that couldn't be covered with a lightning strike, though, if necessary.]

[shockingblue]

[It's like she read his mind, and that brought a small smile to his face as he took aim with the Dart Leader, the barrel's glow intensifying. He braced himself, knowing the weapon was about to kick, and kick hard. Shifting his weight to his rear foot, Gunvolt snapped his view down the sights of the weapon... and his finger tightened around the trigger.

And the Dart Leader roared when the energy released, a loud crack as the dart snapped the sound barrier in half. Faster than the eye could see, it blazed through a line where so many Grimm had been gathered, piercing through and overpenetrating each one without stopping. ...Good thing nothing else was in the way. Even better? Every one of those Grimm in its path got tagged at once.

Gunvolt snapped on his Flashfield again, and an absolute barrage of bolts leapt forth into the crowd, just begging for an even bigger followup. If the enemies weren't in the direct line... they'd be feeling the pain soon enough.]

[unlogic]

[So many bolts jumping at such a large crowd in such a small area. It meant that the light in that general area was getting pretty intense which, of course, meant even more shadows. Now it was no longer a bunch of spiked walls popping up here and there to force things into Gunvolt's line of fire, but an entire circular cage of large shadowy spikes and barbs, surrounding the Grimm that had been struck as well as those others still nearby, using the shadows of those on the outer edges of the entire crowd.

Without so much as a warning, that cage abruptly withdrew into itself, crushing all that had been trapped inside, then the entire construct was struck by a crimson bolt of lightning and exploded into nothing—literally nothing—leaving behind only its victims, which quickly vanished as well.]

[shockingblue]

[...That worked better than he'd ever hoped. And he watches it unfold, almost in awe. He fully turned back to look at her after the dust settled, heat still swirling from the barrel of his weapon.]

That. Was awesome. I'm used to working more solo, but I could get used to having a partner.

[For the moment, it was quiet, but it probably wouldn't be too long before they got noticed again. Gunvolt quickly changed the magazine in his Dart Leader for a fresh one, racking off a new round to ready it for the next wave, whenever it came.]

[unlogic]

[It was quiet for the moment in one sense, maybe, but in the other sense, Desi is still looking at the space where all those Grimm were, giggling to herself just a little in a sort of disbelief.]

I've never really had the chance to do something that big before.

[Not on live targets at least, and definitely not as part of an improvised assault that just so happened to work out damn near perfectly. She shakes her head to herself a little.]

Remind me later that I need to tell the professor about it. [That's assuming, of course, that Valvatorez didn't see it happen for himself.]

[shockingblue]

Definitely. I'll make sure to remind you. And vouch for it, if you need it.

[Because that was something a lot of people wouldn't believe unless they saw it happen. Hell, he was pretty sure no one would believe it if he told the story to the people he knew.]

...And that was your first time doing something like that? Man, you must be a real natural at it. You made it look easy!

[unlogic]

[There's the briefest flash of...something, in her expression when he says that. Uncertainty? Discomfort? It's hard to say. This is his first time seeing what she can do, and he doesn't yet know the hows or whys of it.

She should probably tell him soon.

That expression vanishes as quickly as it appeared though, replaced by a sheepish little smile.] A-ah, grazie. Not my first time trying something like it, but...it's never been to this scale. I don't think it would have been possible without your help.

[shockingblue]

[He caught sight of the change in expression, for however brief it was, but... he wasn't sure what to make of it or why. And unfortunately, now wasn't one of those times that he really had much chance to think on it. They were still in the field, after all.]

We make a good team, then. Honestly, I've already had a much better time with you than I did with my last roommate.

[Not that the bar was terribly high, nor that Maple was unbearable or anything, but... it's actually a difference of night and day.]

[unlogic]

[She's pretty sure that he had noticed, and he is her roommate and should know what's going on, so "soon" may as well be "as soon as things have calmed the hell down"; once their work out here is done and they've had a chance to get back to their room.]

So it appears, though while I can clearly take advantage of your abilities, I'm not entirely sure of what sort of advantage my own would grant you. [If he's going to consider the two of them an actual team in situations like this, then she should find some way to assist him directly, like he'd clearly done for her.]

[shockingblue]

Well, they do give me the advantage of being not dead, so that's a start.

[The boy looks thoughtful for a moment, trying to rack his brain around what she might be able to do to give him a boost in battle somehow.]

But I get what you're saying. There's gotta be some way. ...How do those shadows work, anyway? Are they solid, and do you think they'd conduct electricity?

[unlogic]

I'm not sure how it works, exactly, but they're solid as long as I exercise any control over them. As for if they can conduct electricity or not, there's one way to find out, though I would expect them to vanish the moment they do—light shining onto a shadow would likely erase it, after all. [He did see how that big one just moments ago had disappeared after it was struck directly. But, if the shadows could be used as a temporary line despite that...

They'll have an opportunity to test it soon enough, it seems, as another wave of the creatures begins to approach, most of them directing their attention toward Desi.]