The Twin Cages - Defense of the Outlands

[Gadwin]

Reina's camp-bound week of non-stop flip flopping between raids on small camps and prolonged idleness had taken its toll. It was a rough period of time that she was immensely thankful to be done with- even if this came by way of a decisive battle to be fought in a large scale, trans-dimensional war. Strangely enough, however, she came away from the first battle having learned more than a few things due to the interactions with her fellow walkers that took place before and after- nothing to do with combat or defeating the enemy, but no less welcome for it.

The Erinyes warrior would avoid prolonged stays in the camp now, instead resolving to simply not venture too far from Sigil so as to be available if or when she was needed.

[DigiDragoon]

A scrawny woman calling herself Nadya turns up to the camp asking if there's anything she can do to be of help in the defense. She bears no faction badge and carries herself more like a worried civilian then an actual planeswalker.

Strangely, it is not a Harmonium officer who sits behind the sign-up desk, but a Fated agent. He looks over Nadya with skepticism, and even outright asks if she's sure she isn't looking for a tavern to sweep. He doesn't refuse her, however, and soon enough slides over a document for her to sign. It seems to be a fairly standard registration and waver. Specifically; waving liability in the case of her potential death. On the bright side; it promises a wage of one platinum*, with room for bonuses under special conditions!

((*Per event. Bonuses depend on the groups overall performance))

The women had been quite adamant about being willing to help around the camps how ever she can. Even something as basic as cleaning in the camp itself. She seem particularly enthusiastic about the promised wages. She filled out the registration and waver.

In the following days she made a habit of showing up from morning until lat in the evening to work on any odd jobs and clean up needed around the camp including the occasional patrol looking for scout encampments.

[Viann]

Nica walked out of the warcamp and into Sigil streets seeming none too pleased. Though not uncommon, this seemed different. Where appealing for her faith in co-workers within Harmonium, and for her being "just" a human had failed, it was infact the rank her superior had to pull to force her to go get some R&R. Duty was all she had really known for years, and while she understood the value of rest for mind and body, particularly during war time... walking to her small amount of possessions in what constituted as a temporary kip - everything she owned these days. The lack of work only stood as a reminder of all she didn't have. Disowned by her family, and her friends were a list of people she enjoyed working with. She used to have a home, even a couple of friends, and a relationship, but never quite kept maintaining them. They always felt more like a distraction from what mattered more, her duty.

The event of being disowned by her family had been a sore spot for her for near two decades now. And ever since that time, she had felt inclined to keep distance to other relations as well. Her duty was the one thing that could truly fill the void. A great purpose, that could only be achieved with utmost dedication in her mind. But for now she'd be stuck away from it for two more days. She however thought that maybe she'd get lucky and simply stumble upon a crime that required her attention. Even during off-duty she could not decline from responding to such circumstances... and get an excuse to end her forced vacation. She could only hope for that.

For now, she actually made an appearance in the Sigil streets, beyond merely marching by.

[NeverOutPunned]

Kregorothax wasn't at the warcamp for the most part. They were nearby it sometimes, over it, on the other side of a portal from it, but rarely lingering inside of it. The only time they actively lingered was either to load up on ordinance or to tinker with their equipment or their own experiments. Still, as per the request of the officers, he filed his reports in neat, all too blocky writing that probably wasn't by "hand" and gave verbal reports when something had priority. After the battle, was the first time he was actually seen sleeping in the harmonium camp, claiming a corner outside the tents.

He had been pitching an idea to the sinkers in light of the ritual they'd interrupted a specialized "Single-unit, pressure sensitive cluster based sub-munition delivery system" With the sub-munition described as a "air bursting fragmentation device augmented with cold iron". The prototype was less complicated really, , it was a small string bag of shrapnel bombs that had been loosely clustered into threes and bound with small amounts of wax with a slightly delayed impact fuse, The knot on the bag had a feather attached, intended to pull the bag open and allow the munitions to spread and then probably bounce before detonating.

[Tingly]

The fire giant Ygthil Emberblood spent a while focusing his efforts on showing empathy for any of his fellow soldiers who seemed troubled after the first major battle; offering the most soothing words and large pats on the back he could muster. While this was certainly an odd sight, seemingly very uncharacteristic of a giant of his nature, he was able to quickly relate to those troubled by the horrors of war.

Once he was satisfied with these efforts, he invited the largest and strongest people in the warcamp he could find to 'projectile training', in which he offered them use of his collection of very large boulders to practice throwing with.

[Eldwen]

Perhaps a bit more silent than before, but slowly gaining more stability and his former talking nature - Resix has not left the camp at all, and is committed to his duty there, continuing the tasks he can of healing lighter wounds and attending to many of the camp's duties.

He looks tired most days, a bit drained perhaps...the fights are taking their toll.

[Viann]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekV-TLoIIHk

The horns of war called for the Harmonium and the batallions were assembled and marched to liberate the Faunel. The plan was simple, divide in two groups. The main army group would move head on and engage with the Crimson Dawn army, lead by Factol Sarin himself. The smaller portion would bypass the primary fight to enter their siege camp and disable their spelljammer which acted as a forward command post.

The main battle started in close formations and strict orders. Harmonium forming the bulk of the frontline, with Ciphers and Mercykillers acting as supplementary, yet still no less dangerous, units. Behind them stood the auxillary planewalker forces, undisciplined, but a force to be reckoned. Initial engagements were done in strict commands with the Crimson Dawns first wave marching forward and facing controlled hails of death in the form of arrows, as the Harmonium kept its discipline. Frontal formations preparing to meet the now marching shield wall, once the two forces clashed deafening roars and metal striking metal could be heard over great distances.

Many speak of the glory and honor in war, the courage of men. But in battlefield the war is nothing short of brutal. When men and women are reduced to pieces in chess to ensure victory. Crimson Dawn and Harmonium both clashing wave after wave throwing warrior against warrior, man against man, until only the other had more men left standing. Battlefield starting to turn into a field of bodies of dead or dying, but the battle would only be allowed to end in one way. The Harmonium way. Explosions in the distance disrupted the battle, but only for a moment, their spelljammer had been struct by the secondary team. Balistas striking it over and over until it finally crashed much to the cheers of Harmonium.

The battle however wasn't yet over, as the remaining forces of Crimson Dawn continued fighting hard for every foot, but now began to be sandwiched by the secondary unit within their siege camp and the main army front. It did not take long for their forces to scuttle and flee as the battle was won. But the cost has been great.


______________________________________________________________________________________

Nica fought along the frontlines and received wounds as did so many others, though the combat medics from auxillary forces proved crucial for the victory. She congratulated the people of their victory, though left main ceremonialities for Factol Sarin to handle, she wouldn't have dared to speak over him after all. Exhaustion, battle-grime, wounds were visible over many, but it was hard fought and won battle. Siege of Faunel broken. Minasien came to deliver Nica some documentation found within the Crimson Dawn camp and she tried to hand them over to Factol Sarin, whom let her keep them. But also ordered her to participate in celebrations. She did, disgruntedly. Factols orders had been to participate, not to celebrate, so she was around not celebrating.

She was clearly calculating the entire time in her mind if she had fulfilled the parameters of her orders to get back to duty, and after she deemed to have done so, she left to read through the documentation provided by planewalker Minasien. She however wrote initial report of the battle and its results before writing about the findings of said documents. *pending DM rebuttal on their contents*

The Battle of Faunel was Harmonium Victory,

However much remains to be done. We have a battlefield littered with corpses and if left unsorted we will have other issues such as diseases potentially spreading among the ranks. I suggest a message to be sent to the Crimson Dawn to come collect their own dead, and their unarmed force should be allowed a safe passage for that singular task. Under Harmonium supervision.

Next, the remains of their spelljammer needs to be secured and searched carefully. I believe it was said it acted as a command post, it may have vital documentation that is either still intact, or can still be pieced together. The sooner we can do this, the better. Their siege base is likely to hold other crucial information, and any supplies we can keep away from them, the better.

The families of the fallen should be notified, and considering the number of men, I will start contacting for those of whom I knew and I suggest superiors of others do the same. The Gatehouse should be notified of the influx of wounded requiring immediate attention.

I also suggest cycling Harmonium forces to fresh units gradually to ensure morale and physical capabilities of the fighting force remain up to standard as they get well earned rest off the battlefield and warcamp, and under better conditions once in a while.

Nica Brianna Kelter
- Measure One of the Harmonium

With that Nica proceed to indeed write letters for those that were confirmed deceased in the battle that she had worked with prior. It was already exceedingly late and she was starting to get worn out, hand cramping from all the writing, she hadn't had a good bath. But there was one more thing to do before rest. Marching with a limp to the courtyard where the bodies had been stacked into their own coffins. Standing tall, she spoke with a dry tone a short poem, though a poet she wasn't. Whether alone, or surrounded, she didn't care.

"Raise your drinks, to the heroes of a great fight.
We understand, the value of your sacrifice, bloody and costly.
Your deeds do us honor, once more, by Harmony made right.
Now enjoy the well earned peace, in your resting place, so lofty."

She raised a drink at the bodies and spoke the last sentence "We will meet again, when we have earned our place among you." it was her means to honor the dead, and their dedication. And more so, through the act of doing something she wasn't good at, poetry, she formed a stronger memory to them, and their legacy. Taking a swig from her drink and stayed there a moment in silence before march-limping back to get some well earned rest and bath.

[Tingly]

Ygthil Emberblood took a moment away from celebrating victory with the other Harmonium grunts, and returned by himself to the rolling plains where the major battle had taken place. He felt a distinct sense of 'jamais vu' as he looked over his surroundings; it had seemed like only hours ago that he was shouting provocations at an enemy army numbering in the thousands, while desperately trying to protect all of his determined little allies. It had, at least for the moment, turned into a solemn place, very much unlike the field of corpses he had last seen.

Walking up to the top of a nearby hill, Ygthil took a couple boulders out of his magic bags. Carefully using giant-sized chisel and hammer, he wrote a memorial into the stone.

ON SAVORUS 1ST LOW 136HA
AN ARMY OF SIGILIANS OF ALL FACTIONS CAME TOGETHER IN THE DEFENSE OF THE PLANES. MEN AND WOMEN GAVE THEIR LIVES ON THIS SOIL FIGHTING AGAINST AN INCURSION BY THE TYRANNICAL CRIMSON DAWN. MAY OUR MULTIVERSE LONG REMEMBER THEIR VALOR AND SACRIFICE.

What follows is a list of names; every fallen Sigilian whose name could be determined.

[newdevilofpromise]

The Sinker would make their way towards the outland, observing all the Carnage with a low blow whistle "Shite" Said the Opal Eyed Androygnus Sinker as they took one look at the scene, nodded slowly to themselves and walked off, making theirway back to their Fellow Factioneer's Camp, the Doomguards, Talking Plans in building a Giant Rapid reloading, lauching Catapault to cause the most explosion...

[Serena]

He had returned to the main camp straight after the siege had been successfully broken, along with the many other injured the battle had spared. The feeling of detachment from the current reality was still accompanying him, even as he resumed his work at the infirmary unconcerned about his own conditions: he had been careless, by the end of it, failing to remove himself from the action once he realized he had no means left to protect himself, and he knew well that oversight had almost cost him his life... part of him felt he should be more worried about this behaviour of his, but still, he couldn't bring himself to conjure the needed energies to do so.
He had been worrying too much, in the recent past, he had tried his best to no avail, and now exhaustion had finally caught up with him, allowing the alien thought that had been haunting him on and off for the past months to resurface.
He wanted to go home.

The concept was simple and yet somewhat painful, as now more than ever he was perfectly aware of the fact he had no such thing as a home to return to. Just houses, offices, apartments. Indifferent walls and faces.
Self pity threatened to set in masked as tiredness, and he was quick to chastise himself for it: feeling sorry for oneself was a one way ticket to failure, and that was not the time to be pathetic or weak.
Nor to be stupid.

He needed to heal, and he needed to rest - properly for once.
He needed to return to the Cage and to the Hall, because he had been waiting too long to hear news from Glorium, and the constant delays were wearing him out more than seeing all his plans fail before they could be set in motion.

He wrapped up his work at the infirmary once the emergency rush had subsided and slowly made his way through the camp, walking past the groups of mingling planewalkers and toward the path leading to the nearest portal, the knowledge of being alone in a crowd hanging heavy over his head.
And so for once, he allowed himself to look for friendly faces instead of locking himself up, and when he managed to find some, his spirit felt somehow uplifted by this choice.
For the first time in days he chatted and jested, the wounds and the tiredness momentarily forgotten. He let each of them feed him without opposing any resistance, even if the battle had left him with no appetite: there was an unspoken sanctity in the offering of food that he had learned to accept and respect long time ago now, and he gladly obliged even if it meant ending up eating more in a single evening than he had for the past week.
By the end of the cycle, he was back again in his house in the Astral, and as he glanced at the still somehow foreign space surrounding him, a new thought formed in his mind.

Even if it was just walls what he had been left with, they were still his walls.
And he was going to fight for those.