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

[treasurehunter]

[Drake can appreciate a clear night. It's one of the things he liked about being out in a place where not even the map knows it exists: it's totally untouched. Sure, there's a thrill in the untamed, but the stars way out there? Nothing can really compete with it.

He has no armor to speak of, obviously, but when he's just a little ways away, he notices someone in strange-looking armor.]

Nice night, huh?

[raisedbybirds]

[Strange armor complete with a suddenly-there helmet.]

It is.

Much better appreciated than back on the island.

[treasurehunter]

[He'll pretend not to have noticed that.]

This place is pretty much untouched. No electricity, no big cities.

[raisedbybirds]

[She's quite fine with that sentiment, bringing it to no attention as if it were a very normal thing for her (it was a very normal thing for her).]

Do you prefer it that way?

[treasurehunter]

[Drake shrugs.]

I don't really choose one over the other. They're both a pain in the ass at some point.

[raisedbybirds]

Sounds like someone's well-traveled.

[Is it story time, Drake?]

[treasurehunter]

Yeah, something like that.

[Maybe when you're not a total stranger in a magical suit of armor from hyperspace, Samus.]

Though actually going into the past is totally new.

[raisedbybirds]

[She eyeballs him for a moment, and it'd be a rather blatant eyeball too were it not for the concealing visor.]

Historian?

[She sounds a little unsure of herself, even with that guess. He doesn't quite look like the bookworm type...]

[treasurehunter]

[Because he's not a historian.

Technically.]

Just something I know here and there.

[Like 16th century Spanish.]

[raisedbybirds]

[There's a deep rumble from the back of her throat as she looks over the darkened battlefield once again.]

What do you know of this time and place?

[treasurehunter]

Besides being dumped into the middle of medieval Russia with a powerful army? Really, I'd be way more worried about the torture sessions than anything else. Not that I think we're really at any risk of that since we've got guns.

[raisedbybirds]

[She'd gotten a brief overview of the nature of the Mongolians, and while detestable, she had yet to be impressed.]

These Mongolians are awful at fighting, I have reasonable doubt they'd be any better at torture.