MISSION: SALT THE EARTH

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: October 17 - October 23
Location: Southwest Russia, 1223 CE
Characters: ALL; tag yourselves in
Summary: The Initiative sends all of the Transports on a mission to fight troops of the Golden Horde.
Warnings: war, violence, npc death (notify a mod if there's cause to add a particular warning!)

It is a warm day when the Transports arrive, a breeze blowing and sparse clouds in the sky. Before them is an expanse of flat land interspersed with some short, rolling hills. There are sparse trees, but for the most part it is grassland. It would be ideal for farming, but has not been utilized as such yet. Several miles in the distance is a small town, and the troops of the Golden Horde have made their camp just outside of it. There are about a thousand soldiers present, and the mission is simple: send a message that this land cannot be claimed. They will do this by defeating these warriors who are feared throughout the medieval world. They will then punctuate this statement by ensuring that this land cannot be farmed for centuries.

It is a small expanse of land that the Initiative has their eyes on, no more than ten miles in diameter. But for some reason, they have deemed it to be of a deep strategic importance.

The Transports arrive in the early morning, escorted by several Initiative officers, whose presence is meant primarily to keep things organized while the actual battle is to be left to the Transports. Under the guidance of these Initiative officers, the first order of business for the Transports is to set up a camp of their own. The battle will commence in the late afternoon, six hours after their initial arrival.

The battle will take place halfway between each side's respective camps. Many of the Mongolians will fall in combat. On the fifth day, the remaining soldiers will retreat, surrendering the area. Once the region has been secured, the second portion of the mission will commense, in which the Initiative will oversee the dispersement of a chemical agent over the land to ensure that no crops may be grown there. It will be harmless to all humans and animal life, and some weeds may even be able to take root, but the grain farming that would have otherwise taken place on this land will not be able to be undertaken. The land outside of this ten mile radius will be unharmed, but this small region will be barren, seen as cursed when the legend of the defeat of the soldiers of the Golden Horde is passed on.

A week after the mission's commencement, the Transports will be sent back to Exsilium. Their mission will have been a success. But the fallout of it will remain to be seen...

Comments

[rorosa]

Corosa combed the battlefield, too, looking grim as he marched through the bodies. He could not help but be somewhat horrified by what he saw -- of the aftermath, of the previous battle, of everything. It was overwhelming. Especially for someone who had spent the past few weeks alone in the outlands, not expecting to see or hear anyone for at least another few weeks.

He still hadn't a clue what they were doing here, or why. This whole affair seemed extraordinarily senseless to him.

When Corosa heard Simmaeri's voice, he stopped to search for her and started towards her right away, though his pace remained slow. Upon coming within range of her, he did not speak right away. Instead, he waited for her song to finish, and waited a little longer beyond that, too, staring at the dead and dying, listening to the latter breathe their last breath. He maintained silence, out of respect.

When death had come to pass, Corosa cleared his throat.

"Simmaeri." Said haltingly, awkwardly. The last he'd seen her, they had not met under good circumstances. These were hardly better ones.

[allsongs]

"Corosa Nyem."

In her voice, a note of fond regard mixed in with the hollow and sad. She had begun to smile when she heard the sound of him, and that much remained when she lifted and turned her head to his direction.

"You find me again. Here, after many days." However many mattered little to her; it could have been years and still be barely a flicker of an eyelash.

"Why are you here, Corosa Nyem?"

[rorosa]

"Simmaeri." A slight nod, in greeting. He shuffled his feet, taking a few steps away, grimacing at the state of the field, blood and gore soaked into the dirt. It had been a long time since he'd seen such an awful sight... and it was different, when most of the bodies were human.

He cleared his throat.

"I don't know," he said, scowling. "I wouldn't have come if I'd had the choice. There was-- is no reason for me to be here."

He hadn't participated in the battle, of course. Asking him to aim and shoot another man between the eyes was entirely too much. Initiative be damned -- Corosa had sat this one out.

[allsongs]

A far cry from the shrieking, incoherent madman underground...but not that far. Of course, there was no threat to those already dying, but her own safety...

Yet the placid smile remained. It faded from her eyes, leaving it more a mask than a warming welcome. Now was not the time for friendly conversation.

"I know no reason to be here," she said. "I do not understand why this has happened." The explanation was full of holes, the time too rushed to ask why.

[rorosa]

Corosa remembered their last meeting well, but he was determined to not talk about it. He'd had enough of the underground in his life already, and had no desire to walk through the details again, or relive the entire experience.

This battlefield seemed to be the more pressing matter, anyway.

"I don't know what to do now," Corosa said, bluntly. He turned away to survey the rest of the damage, the dead, the dying. "I don't feel right leaving these men as they are, but... killing them would hardly be any kinder."

He was lost, dazed by the slaughter, so much as to be curiously removed from it all. All he felt was a faint unease, and an incoherent sorrow. And he had nowhere to look for guidance, save for Simmaeri.

[allsongs]

Simmaeri's gaze dropped and moved back down to the man she'd sang to his sleep. There were too many like him there – too many for her alone to tend. She had all the time in the world, but they did not. And even with two...she looked back up at Corosa, searching his face.

He was in no state to be there. If he were to have another episode as he did underground...

She extended her hand, seeking his to help her up.

"No," she said. "No more killing."

[rorosa]

"Of course not," Corosa said.

He took her hand, and helped to pull her up. He was still looking around at the field but he could see Simmaeri out of the corner of his eye, and she had almost his full attention. She was as familiar as anyone could be in this world, and still strange. She stood out against the bloody field in a way that only made this whole situation seem even more surreal.

He was not yet fully convinced that this situation was even real.

"Are you staying?" he asked.

[allsongs]

Her arm sowly curled around his, having no qualms with drawing close to him – a piece of her sought the warmth of a living, breathing, undying body at her side then and there; she was often withdrawn from such intimate, mysterious moments, but not unaffected.

She missed so many long dead. She didn't want to stay, but she would.

"These men," she murmured, her free hand lifting and combing hair behind her ear as she turned her head to gaze about. "They are to die alone and far away. It is...much sad."

She closed her eyes, taking in and letting out a heavy breath.

"I will stay with these men."