stresstokens (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stresstokens) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etrayalogs2024-08-05 12:05 pm
stresstokens) wrote in etrayalogs2024-08-05 12:05 pm
OPERATION: YOUTHFUL DISOBEDIENCE
WHO: Members of the grand curfew-breaking plan!
WHEN: During the Moorecroft event.
WHERE: Various Moorecroft locales.
WHAT: A bunch of youths have gotten together to break curfew in tandem to get to the bottom of the mystery at heart of this place -- but what they find leads to more questions than answers.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Probable violence, death, emotional trauma, cursing. All the fun stuff! I'll be putting the log headers for pre/during/post-curfew breaking logs in the comments, so just hang tight while I do that, though all members are of course more than welcome to post their own logs if that suits their tagging style better.
WHEN: During the Moorecroft event.
WHERE: Various Moorecroft locales.
WHAT: A bunch of youths have gotten together to break curfew in tandem to get to the bottom of the mystery at heart of this place -- but what they find leads to more questions than answers.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Probable violence, death, emotional trauma, cursing. All the fun stuff! I'll be putting the log headers for pre/during/post-curfew breaking logs in the comments, so just hang tight while I do that, though all members are of course more than welcome to post their own logs if that suits their tagging style better.
no subject
So though there's a touch of relief when he watches the goblin slide through a window, there's not too much surprise. This is how it always was going to go. Riz was going to get to the hospital no matter what, even if Fabian had to sacrifice himself and get caught in Riz's place along the way.
Luckily they are both here though. And luckily having darkvision means there's no need to turn on any lights in the first place - though it takes Fabian a moment to fully understand what the other is trying to tell him. He's picked up a lot through Riz's lessons and even watching his father when he was younger, but when there has been very little active need for Fabian to ever use it, it's a little rusty.
Not rusty enough that he doesn't understand though. He nods at Riz to show he got it, and then glances at the space ahead of them. It seems like there's so much to explore, but--
...
There's.. a strange sound. Like a whir, maybe? It's quiet enough in here that it stands out even to Fabian, and he turns his head towards Riz as if to silently ask the other if he heard that too. ]
no subject
And that infernal sound. Something mechanical. Something rolling across the ground. Frantically, Riz looks around for a hiding place and spots a grate --
And immediately acts as though he hadn't seen it at all. Fabian wouldn't fit in there. And no matter how much Fabian insisted that he could deal with things while Riz hid away, he's never, ever going to let him do that. The jig is up. They're caught. There's no use trying to communicate in Thieves Cant anymore. Instead, he closes his eyes, trying to distinguish the buzz of wheels against the varnished floor from each other.
That'd be one... two... three... four... five...
His eyes snap back open again, skin gone a faint yellowish-green. ]
We gotta run. There's not -- they don't send this many of them after us just to arrest us.
no subject
Not even just because he too can tell as much from the sound. He can tell that trouble is coming, but Riz's assessment of said trouble makes it clear that his friend has done the mental math here and decided that the odds are stacked too high against them. This is a battle they can't win with the two of them.
Which means it only takes another instant for Fabian to make a decision. He doesn't even have to think about it. This is the entire reason he insisted on coming with Riz in the first place, after all. ]
You go. See if you can find some information here and take it with you.
[ Riz stands a chance of sneaking out of this building somewhere, Fabian thinks. If anyone can, even under these circumstances, it's Riz. All he has to do is make sure that the other has a headstart on that, just so Riz actually has time to gather said information instead of immediately having to start on finding a sneaky way out of here, rendering their mission and effort absolutely worthless.
Fabian refuses to let his friend's plan have been for nothing in the end. Not with all the effort Riz put into it. ]
I'll hold them off. [ He grabs onto Fandrangor's hilt, taking the sword in hand. ] I can give you a few minutes.
no subject
[ He can't think about it now. He won't even be thinking about it later, too consumed by the mystery and how the mission went wrong to even stop and consider it. But weeks from now, he'll lie awake in the middle of the night and consider just how quickly Fabian had made the decision for a sacrifice play. ]
We either run together, or we fight together. It's one or the other, [ he says firmly, unsheathing his own sword, and pretending as though he isn't feeling the relentless patter of his heart against his ribcage as potently as he does. ]
I still vote run, just for the record.
no subject
Not that Fabian doesn't feel a thousand times more confident with Riz at his back, but that's not the problem here. It's that standing here and doing this makes him feel like he's doing something. It makes him feel like they've got a chance at actually getting something out of this entire operation, rather than them running back with empty hands, having to explain to the others that all their distraction efforts were for nothing.
They've been in this world for months. They have to find something out now. What's a little heroic sacrifice in the face of that, especially when it doesn't seem likely to be permanent here?
And yet Fabian knows there's no time. He can hear the whirring coming closer and closer, and he grips onto his sword even tighter. ]
I want at least one of us to leave this place with something! I want all of this to have meant something..! [ Especially after mission after mission of suffering without seemingly there being any point or advantage to it. ]
no subject
Over and over again, Fabian's well-being seems to be that line. But that's the way it should be. Riz would do the same for any of the Bad Kids -- it just so happens that Fabian keeps on landing in hot water. Not that it's his fault; it's Riz who'd pushed for this mission in the first place, and so it's Riz who will call the shots when it comes to making sure both of them return alive, or neither of them do.
He draws his rapier, heart fluttering in his chest as he stares down the expanse of the empty hallway, all too familiar with that pump of adrenaline and spike of fear he feels before every battle. ] I don't wanna find shit out if it means you wind up dead at the end of it. Besides, we don't know what's down on the bottom floors of the hospitals. What if it's some big monster, huh? Then I'll just wind up dead without you anyway.
[ So, you know... Spring Break, I believe in you? ]
no subject
Not that it should be anything touching, really. Fabian knows Riz. He knows the other well enough to know that Riz isn't cold or calculating enough to be willing to walk over the bodies of his friends to get the information he needs - and that's even without knowing the sacrifice the other made in that regard for him with Kalina. But it's one thing to know this about your friend, and it's another thing entirely to have him say it right to your face here.
To have him prove it by standing next to you and refusing to yield.
Fabian doesn't have too long to linger on it though. The sound is getting closer and closer, so he just buries it in his heart, allows its warmth to bring strength and courage to his limbs. ]
.. you are a true idiot, The Ball.
[ He reaches out, a hand hitting the top of Riz's chest, against his shoulder - casting Bear's Endurance with the touch. He doubts these robots have any magical abilities to resist, strength won't do much when Riz hardly has any and it's not like he needs even more help with hiding and sneaking when he's good enough at that. Giving the other some extra endurance feels like the best call here, especially when Riz doesn't seem quite as willing to let Fabian be a total meat shield here. ]
But.. I appreciate it. [ Even as the robots are now visible, whirring down the hallway from a distance, he smiles at Riz. ] Thanks. Now let's destroy these things!
[ That's some bardic inspiration for you, bro! ]
no subject
We're both idiots! [ He says, like that's some sort of call to honour. Which it kind of is! He gets to be an idiot with someone, which is an improvement on being an idiot alone, which has almost certainly been his default state for most of his life. It's not that he feels particularly optimistic about their chances, but...
Fuck it. Captain Fabian and The Ball, right? They killed a fucking dragon together. They take down a god. They can handle a few measly robots, or else what's the point of all of their rigorous training? ]
Let's fuck 'em up! [ Then, as the first robot finally wheels around the corner, Riz points a finger at them and all but shrieks at them with all of the intensity of a pro wrestler: ] We're gonna fuck you up!
[ He lunges in with nigh feral abandon now that they've decided upon a course of action, sword held aloft as he grabs onto the crook of Fabian's arm for an extra boost as he flings himself into the air and lands atop it, sword plunged directly into the juncture of its alarm and soundbox, muttering something about gonna gut you like a fish.
It's go time. ]
no subject
It's just good to see Riz tackling this with this kind of energy. Especially when Fabian knows that it's harder for Riz to stick to his usual fighting style when it's just the two of them - when hiding and attacking that way would mean leaving Fabian to endure the onslaught of attacks all by himself.
So when his friend throws himself into the fray, Fabian does the same. He's already charging after where Riz threw himself at. More robots quickly follow the first, after all, and Fabian slashes right into two at once with Fandrangor, whipping out his battle sheet to form a barrier for the other ones. ]
Let's keep them here in the hallway! [ He yells out at Riz, even thoug he isn't looking in the other's direction, too focused on the robots. ] Then they can't all come at us at once!
[ Which would be a rough thing to deal with when they're down some numbers compared to their usual party. ]
no subject
[ Teamwork is the biggest asset they have. There are others in Aguefort that are similar in skill to them, he's certain, and plenty of people here who are undoubtedly even stronger than they are, able to take on hordes of enemies without batting an eye. They may not have that on their side, but what they have on their side is years of practice not in hypothetical combat situations, but with more practical experience than practically any other adventurers their age. They barely have to say two words to each other to understand each other.
He can't say the same for when they talk to each other out of combat, of course, but at least that doesn't have the same life-or-death implications that failing to communicate on the battlefield does. He doesn't look at Fabian either; he can trust Fabian's got it covered, and all that besides, they don't have time. A split second of split attention could lead in the kind of hit Riz won't be getting up from. Even doing his damnedest to dodge out of the way, he can feel the sick sensation of a blade swinging into his forearm, too pumped up with adrenaline to properly feel the pain. ]
Caltrops at the barrier!
[ Right at the bottleneck, Riz throws out a handful of caltrops, not to get into Fabian's dancing feet (should they get Fabian sturdier shoes...?), but to slow down the robots, puncture their wheels, try to get an eye for how best to handle them. Fucking up their mobility will be the surest way to manage to handle the barrage, hopefully in a way that starts a traffic jam bad enough that the robots will have no recourse but to push each other out of the way with as much force as necessary. ]
no subject
In fact, after witnessing the robots more as he swings Fandrangor at them, he realizes they really aren't looking down. Either they can't, or they're just mindlessly going after Fabian and Riz enough to not think about it - but either way, it's something Fabian can use in his advantage. He casts a quick Faerie Fire to make them light up. It's not like it'll make the caltrops more noticable to the bots if they're not looking, but it'll at least keep Fabian from stepping right into one in the middle of combat like an idiot.
And he does manage to avoid them. Rather gracefully, considering Fabian is stepping around a whole lot, yet he doesn't lose his footing, nor steps into one of Riz's traps. He just slashes at the robots, hoping that if he can take out the first few, they might form a barricade against all the ones following--
Except the problem is that Fabian notices he's starting to get pushed back further and further from where he's standing, trying to hold down the line. ]
There's too many! [ He calls out to his friend. ] They are just pushing each other forward now-- It's like a fucking robot surge! [ A whole flood of robots!! Robot tide!! ]
How many of those things did they send here?!