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

[hostage]

[Jesse follows the guy's pointing as if he's interested, but he isn't. He doesn't have the stomach for helping medics. He'd only get in the way, he's sure. And he's flat-out against mess hall duty. Who would want to travel in time just to hang around a cafeteria?]

Ah, yeah, totally. What I meant was, I don't think I need any good luck for that.

[moralperil]

No, probably not. I mean, it'd be one thing if it was just you - I wouldn't want you to stub your toe or something! - but I'm rally only supposed to supply blessings infrequently, and I'm already giving them to way too many people. [Mahdi shrugs.] But I'm going to be hanging around here when I'm not protecting my friend who'll be healing on the battlefield - I mean, I guess assuming we get back okay. [His smile fades briefly, but flickers back into life.] Please stop by and say hi! We can catch up... what's your name, anyway?

[hostage]

[Aw, what a nice little guy. That attitude makes Jesse smile.]

Jesse. What about you?

[moralperil]

Jesse! I like that name. It's multi-purpose. [What he probably means is gender-neutral, or something like that. He offers his hand.] I'm Mahdi.

[hostage]

Uh, yeah, I guess it is.

[Really, that goes right over his head. Probably why he cheerfully shakes that hand instead of getting mildly offended at being called girly.]

Nice to meet you, Mahdi. Did I say that right?

[moralperil]

[Mahdi wonders what it is about his name that people seem to find hard to pronounce, this isn't the first time someone has asked him that even after he just introduced himself. Well, it probably has to do with something in human culture he's not familiar with.

Mahdi has a good handshake, friendly but not overbearing. He's definitely not the type to turn the whole exchange into a contest of wills.]

Yeah, that's fine! And um, I know I might not seem like it, but I have a lot of good advice, so please, if you're ever feeling lost or troubled, I can help you!

I hope you'll keep me in mind. Just in case you're feeling like your soul's a bit too heavy and you want to do something about it.

[hostage]

[It's a WASP thing, Mahdi. He gets the habit from his mother.

The comment about his soul leaves Jesse feeling uneasy, though. He knows it's probably just a cleric thing, but months later there's still something someone told him ringing in his ears, about how he's going to Hell when he dies and there's nothing he can do to change that. He believes that, that he's damned forever, even though he's 95% sure he was shot in the face right before he got here. It'll catch up to him when he least expects it, no doubt.]

Yeah, thanks. Probably a waste of your time, though.

[moralperil]

It's never a waste of time. Souls are precious, and while you might never undo whatever bad you've done, you still have a chance to turn it around. If you help save a life, you've started to work against the bad! [Simple as that, at least in Mahdi's mind.]

[hostage]

[That sounds kind of right to him. Except he has no idea how many lives he has to save before the scales even balance. Probably more than they have in their whole army.]

Yeah... I guess.

[moralperil]

You seem nice, Jesse. I'm sure everything will work out if you work hard to be kind to others and make sure to do the right thing. [He gives his very best smile.] See you around?