Megathread - (Event) The Aftermath

The war was over it was over it was finally over, Aalam had severed his country with pride he ha severed on both of the watches, south and east. Hell, he had severed as a co-commanded on the south watch and as the truth of the situation settled in it didn’t feel real, well that was to be expected sense Terra was a fictional world but still, he wasn’t sure if this was that fell. If felt more along the lines of when he had lost….. No, he wasn’t going to go there. He had come to Terra to escape that reality but now what was he supposed to do. He had already said his goodbyes to those that had fallen guarding both of the walls; he had taken down the names of those that were under his command. He knew that Lord Seto would arrive when he was done in Falderen his last order was to report to the office of the king, and since the king wasn’t here it would be best to report to the office. That is why he did making his way through the capitals crowed streets it seemed that everyone was looking for news, new to anyone who had been a part of the war. They wanted closure, closure that he couldn’t and wouldn’t bring. It was a king’s job to comfort his subject not his.

So he waits his turn in the line making his way to the front until he stood before the acting representative of the king, a person that was the royal Secretary. Well, he needed to get to it there was a report to be made. She was a small woman, but she seemed to hold the weight of reasonability well so at least there was that. Giving the woman a proper bow as she was the representative of the crown at the time before he spoke.

“Aalam Abungu of the house of Kurama, Ranger to the Black Duke of the southern plain and co-commander of the southern watch, I have sent along a report of the outcome of the battle and also a list of those that have died defending the nation. I am simply here to report that what I have done and who I am, I wished to let you know before I head to the war camp. There soldiers there that could use my help.”

Getting up from his bow and moving off to the side she still had more people to deal with but he would stick around for a little while longer.

 

Where @Aalam Abungu bowed in deference to the nobles as he gave his report, Kijin remained to the fringes of the room, arms crossed as he nestled in the comfortable embrace of the shadows. Turmoil and panic threatened the Astorean Kingdom in the wake of their war, but that was true of any conflict. The second of two Commanders sent to Southwatch chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for the wind to stop gusting from the innards of royals.

Satisfied with the address he gave, the Ranger to the Black Duke turned from the limelight and rejoined the rabble. At that point, Kijin fell into step beside him, well out of sight of the lawmakers and judiciary.

"I'm afraid I'm not bold enough for politics," he admitted as the other man came within earshot. "So good on you for making the report; and good fortune." The lady luck may have been the only god Kijin had any respect for- good or bad, she always seemed to come through.

He only held it against her while he was breathing.

 

Blood caked her face as Vivian moved with sluggish steps. Her sultry dance and sway seemed to go out the window when she was tired and looked like shit. Smearing whatever it was that oozed from her lip, the woman erected herself with a grunt and her azure eyes were limp with a dead eye stare towards the sky.

"I...need a drink. A shower. And probably a million more drinks after all this bullshit. Somehow, I am alive." The woman who spat some thick phlegm mixed with blood onto the street. She winced lightly feeling a pulsating pain in her legs and arms, the spell circle had taken their toll on her and those brutal after attacks left her with little care besides getting to a log out point.

But as she looked around and breathed, she was in a lot better shape than many others. Names were called out in respect of the dead. Vivian cared little for the dead NPCs, this game of war was trivial. All she really cared about what was to come after. She had watched the Co-Commanders walk towards some building, she raised a hand to catch their attention but she was not so keen on yelling out towards them, "Ahh, fuck it all." The woman walked, a little more easily now as the pain seemed to numb down her senses. Her azure eyes flickered to the left and right as she moved through the broken parts of the southern gate.

They had failed here, that Angelic Abomination or whatever it was had ruined part of Astorea. No one was to blame though, Astorea in the end had come out the victors. And victory was all the sweeter. Rubbing her neck, the azure eyed Witch moved with a little more swagger as she kicked rock and dust away from her body. She had set her eyes for those of @Lucia Mierz and @Savannah Reed , the very woman whom she had seen the power of first hand and the girl Knight who risked her own life to save her.

There was a great deal of appreciation to be given from taking a hit like that. Hopefully finding both women, she could escort the two lovelies to a nice drink but with the war winding down and the aftermath coming, there was much more to do. But first to find those two.

"It's gonna be a busy day..."

 

Hmm. There was a lot to do. While Claire had been recuperating after the Angel's attack at the southern wall, the fight had apparently finished up at the east as well.

Good. Claire couldn't help much in the rebuilding effort, nor could she offer much in the way of healing the wounded. What she could do was provide some refreshments to people, however meager it may be. All she could really do was conjure up some cold fresh water to the carpenters and engineers who were repairing the buildings, or to people who were otherwise thirsty.

After a while, some healers caught her attention. They looked to be having trouble bandaging up some injuries. Well, she could do this, at least. Offering her ability to summon water to cleanse any injuries in need of cleaning, Claire quickly settled into a routine.

As she was going about her duties, she noticed a few familiar faces from the defense. Deciding to take a bit of a break to allow her energy reserves to replenish, she decided to do a bit of socializing. The two appointed commanders of the southern wall were both standing together to the side, so she decided to swing by.

"So, I take it all went well at the other wall?" she asked, wanting to get some confirmation on the situation at the eastern wall. "I apologize for missing out on the defense over at the east, I was incapacitated for a moment." Speaking of, she gave a brief smile to the sword-wielding fighter. "There wasn't much time for pleasantries in the middle of the skirmish, but it was good standing with you during the fight. And the same to you," she said, giving a nod to the archer.

@Aalam Abungu @Kijin Shihaku

 

Aalam was quite comfortable in those moments after he had given his report; it was nice to finally be done with the most substantial part of this event. The wall was done the account had been turned in, and he could just sit down and drink. He had seen Kijin sneak in earlier and the man was making his way over to him. It seems that the man was laying all the responsibilities of turning in the reports to the crown. Well, he was the General Commander, and @Kijin Shihaku was the field commander. The man did have a talent as he fell in step and join him in leaning against a lovely part of the wall that was far away from the gaze of the crown. “I see, well hope that our luck holds up under this stress, you might be able to get a medal from the king’s office. Be glad these things happen only once every now and again.” Taking a drink from his flask before speaking again, giving a little nod to the man. “So you’re just going to stick to the sidelines for the rest of this then, smart man.”

Draining the rest of the liquid that was in his flask, feeling the incredible burning sensation that was alcohol makes its way down his throat. There were few thing in this world that was as lovely, for a few seconds he ponded taking out his back up the flask and draining that as well but he still needed to focus and if the knocked that mixture back. He was sure it would put him back on his ass, and that would be something complicated to explain to Lord Seto, so the flask went back in a pouch. He could always drink that at a later date, while he was putting the container away someone else wandered up to the pair.

He recognised that face it was one that had started this thing with him and one that had severed under him at the south watch. Well, it was good to see that she had made it out of that hell hole in one piece, he did doubt that she was here to see him however as she worked directly onside of Kijin in defense of the wall. He did return @Claire Thalassa nod, however, “Good to see you made it out alive.”

 

"I'm afraid I lack the talent and presence to social climb," the swordsman chuckled lightly. "Between the two of us, you can keep the accolades and ranks. You were the mastermind that held the men together when Southwatch fell, after all."

Whether or not it was true, @Aalam Abungu would instantly understand that these were the exact words Kijin intended to relay to King Astor. All the glory would transfer to the Archer, and Kijin would go on his way as though he had never stopped to defend Astorea.

He wasn't in it for the trophies, after all.

When the woman apologized, Kijin recognized @Claire Thalassa as the other tank who held the line with him. He gave her a rigid bow and strained to recall her words to him on the field. "I regret to say that you are correct, ma'am," he told her. "I am a man who keeps most words to himself."

He reached up and brushed the hair from his eyes absently. "But you have my thanks for standing the Wall beside me," he told her. "If ever I have need of someone to watch my back, I should hope they are your equal in skill."

 

It was safe to say that it wasn’t he talent or presence at Kijin lacked if they were to take the king as an example. There was much that man seemed to be great in other than inspiring people to charge at the enemy and that was something that Kijin was able to do just fine. No, the man was just being smart and keeping himself out of the limelight; it was something that he wished he could still do. However he was wrong in one regard, Aalam would have preferred to skip all the awards and honours those ceremonies tended to be long, stuffy and high stress. That and the drink tended to be mostly watered down grape piss and a person couldn’t relax drinking that, the liquid didn’t even burn going down the throat. They did tend to have nicer finger foods and they were usually severed on nicely toasted bread.

Wiping that though from his head and focusing on the matter at hand. “You are determined not to take any reasonability for anything that had to happen at the watch. Clever play, it would be my word against yours if I were to push the matter. So now I have no choice to take the front.” A sigh escaped him at this thought he was more stress that he didn’t need. “Well played.” Grabbing his flask and taking a swig from the bottle before offering it to @Kijin Shihaku. Well, at least the man was polite in his actions if nothing else.

Making his seat back on the floor, relaxing with his bottle as he watched the people filed in and out of the hall. He still was waiting for everyone else to show up in the hall Lord Seto hadn’t turned up from his mission yet so there was that. There was nothing else to do but wait

 

"You have somewhere to go?"

The woman nodded, a sad smile ghosting across her chapped lips. The sight nearly broke Magdalyn's heart. From outward appearances, Mags seemed to be the one in worse shape; her skin was caked in dirt, sweat, and blood, whereas the other woman's was cleaner. But Mags knew the truth. She was a player, able to simply log out when the game was too much for her. Her friends and family were all safe and sound, and her world was not in shambles around her feet. It was the other woman, trapped in Terra Sphere and victim to all of its cruelties, who suffered the most. How could Mags possibly see them as only data? The person who stood before her was her height, and nearly her age. In fact, they might have been sisters. "You'll be okay?" she added.

The woman nodded, shoving her mop of blonde hair back as she did so. "Aye," came the soft answer. "I have family I can stay with. Truth be told, just thankful to be alive."

Mags bid her farewell, and watched her until the stranger turned a corner. Then, she inhaled slowly, enjoying the sensation of the air filling her lungs. Just thankful to be alive.

Her hands went to her hips as she turned to scan her surroundings. She had heard only half an hour ago that the king was dead, and the crowd was still slowly reacting to the news. Players and NPCs alike moved around her, some with purpose, some without. It was the latter that unnerved her the most, their eyes wide and glazed, their lips parted on unspoken words. She had spent her time tending to them, ensuring that those who were the most lost had some light to guide them back.

But her movements were growing more and more sluggish. Her wounds were healed, but both mentally and physically, Magdalyn was spent. She knew that she needed the same rest and relaxation she prescribed to her lost souls, but it was growing increasingly more difficult to leave these people behind.

 

It wasn't really an enlightening conversation, as brief as it was, but that was pleasantries done and over with. She gave a smile and nod to both of the commanders. "Indeed. And the same to you," she said to Kijin.

"Well, thank you both for your work at the walls. It looks like you both have some things to handle, so I'll leave you be. It was a pleasure." With one last shallow bow, she quickly slipped away, out of the hall and away from the crowd. It appeared that she left her duties long enough, and there was need for some help back at the medical tents. There wasn't much left for her here, with all the nobles and such. She's very much rather go somewhere where she could be useful, and sitting here playing at politics wasn't going to help much.

She doubted she'd be able to get any good stories or scoops here anyway, given that they still weren't certain of the condition of the group that was sent to assassinate the Falderen king. Better to wait for a confirmation, then see what she could find, to avoid getting bogged down in rumors.

 

Vina hadn't been that involved with the whole war: she'd helped take over one of the forts the Falderen might have used to hold the imprisoned players, which turned out to be the wrong location, and in the end it was more that they'd helped the frogs get in and that those had wrecked the place. Not the most pleasant of sights, and the only reason Vina was not more bothered by it was that at the time she had genuinely thought it necessary. She wasn't the type to spend a lot of time feeling bad about that kind of thing, since while she wasn't happy about it she preferred to stay positive, and beating herself up over it wouldn't actually make matters better.

Once the actual war had begun she'd stayed inside the walls together with the citizens, since despite the fact that she had managed to get through the expedition of rescuing the prisoners while avoiding any serious injury the fact was that she wasn't much of a fighter. She was a healer and a support, and beyond that she was too new in the game so her contribution to the fight would have been minimal. Instead she had tried to do her best to help out within the city itself, so she at least contributed with her attempts in the manner that if the ones on the frontline managed to hold off the invasion and the experienced players managed to kill the king they wouldn't return to a capital which had collapsed from within due to chaos, panic and a lot of troubles that came with a lot of people having to get relocated in a small amount of time.

Now that the news arrived that the invasion really was over and that the fighting had stopped Vina felt relief, since just like the civilians she had basically just been waiting to hear the good news, even if she'd tried to distract herself by continuing to help out where it was necessary. Of course she could simply have logged out if things became too dicey, but it would have felt... wrong... to just disappear and pretend that it had nothing to do with her when the people living her didn't have that kind of luxury. It was a silly thought since if the invasion had succeeded Vina dying together with the rest of the capital's inhabitants wouldn't actually have helped anyone, but she hadn't been able to convince herself to log out, knowing that even if she did she probably would have spent her time worrying about what was happening in Terrasphere anyway.

But now it was over, and it was time to see what there was left to do to clean matters up now that the storm had passed. Like a storm the war, brief though it was, had left a lot of trouble for the survivors to deal with. Not to mention all the dead... Vina felt nauseous as she thought about how many must have died in this brief but fierce war. There had been sounds from outside the capital that penetrated even the palace's stone walls... The thought that so many people had lost their lives... She shook her head and tried to focus on the present and the future.