[Plot] Cimmerian [Complete]

[Axel]

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Those who stayed in Twilight Town when the search party left for Castle Oblivion don’t have the luxury of rest. Rumors have spread of an enormous black Dragon looming in the shadows. The survivors have moved to the Underground. But the tunnels will only provide sanctuary for so long.

Expected participants:

(Ciraph), Daros, Marmadue, (Jin), Era, Lea, Lorena
• Individuals in parentheses may or may not join into the thread at some point.
• Others not yet listed are welcome to join the thread, just PM me!
• Due to her wounds, Avari Highland will be recovering during this thread.

Where Twilight Town had a way of normally feeling empty, now the night held a certain sort of disquiet. It was like at any given moment, something frightening might leap out from the shadows.

A large wind chime still faithfully hung from its hook on the balcony of a dilapidated building. A breeze pulled the weighted disc at the center just enough to occasionally tap a single metal tube, causing a low gong to ring through the foreboding streets.

The citizens were just finishing their emergency move from the outside sanctuary, down to the new, shoddy underground sanctum. There were beds, medical supplies and all the dwindling food supplies that Twilight Town had to offer. Along with anything else a person could think to bring on the fly.

Lea stood at the entrance closest to Tram Commons as they brought the last of the survivors in. A stern expression was etched into the redhead’s face. His gaze shifted from the orange-haired girl who was encouraging the last of the survivors in the right direction, to the bleak ever-purple sky. Tonight was just off.

He and Lorena had located the safe zone. Everyone had successfully been brought in. They had successfully prepared for the influence of the rumored beast. There was just one problem. Nobody had seen or even heard the enemy yet. He could tell something was wrong. Would there even be an attack?

His gloved hands tightened around the black cross-grips of his chakrams. While he couldn’t quite place it, he could tell something was wrong.

[Era]

Era had ushered the last of the survivors into the underground. It wasn’t very comfortable down here, but they had done the best they could to accommodate on the fly. While it wasn’t comfortable by any means, the provisions meant they would survive.

Frosted-Caribbean eyes flicked over to the food and water supplies that one of the moogles hovered over. At this rate, it wouldn’t last them more than a couple days. They would have to send out a search party for provisions soon enough. And she would be a willing candidate when the time came.

[Marmadue]

The tunnels had quickly filled with murmurs and other similar sounds as crowds of people moved through them, settling in the larger openings of the underground. While Twilight Town was bathed in an eternal darkness, it was not as dark underneath the city as one might have expected. The man-made tunnels had a steady supply of light fixtures on the walls – even if not all of them seemed to be operational, having gone out or flickering in a way that surely would play tricks on one's eyes eventually. It was still a bit claustrophobic, what with so many people being encased in stone brick walls and ceiling that were a bit too close for comfort. Things also smelled a bit… Damp.

Still, it was safer in the tunnels. Probably. At first Marmadue had been a bit worried, as areas without people tended to have Heartless roaming in them… But the underground seemed to be safe. For now. The evacuation was going well, there had been no attacks… In fact, there had been no signs of the dragon that had attacked Avari. The Yuke considered that a good sign, though it was a bit worrisome that a large creature like that could hide so well. By hiding underground, however, they did take away an advantage from a flying foe – and perhaps it couldn't even fit into the tunnels, so they would be safe as long as they stayed in!

As long as their supplies lasted…

Marmadue breathed a sigh of relief and straightened his back, looking at what he had been working on. He wasn't going to be much help escorting people, so he had instead used up his time getting everything ready. Some cleaning, setting up bedding, keeping inventory of whatever was brought in… If this was to be their home for the time being, it should be properly organized and neat! And, as he was something of a healer, it was just good for him to try to get himself familiar with the place and set up necessary room for anyone who might get injured. As the crowds grew and grew, even the underground tunnels seemed to be less dreary.

Not that he would still dare to head deeper on his own.

In fact, the opposite seemed like a better idea, despite the threat of the dragon. He quite started to feel the need for fresh air, so the Yuke excused himself and took the tunnel that led to the nearest exit – at least, he was pretty sure it was the nearest one. His hand was glowing with a bright magical light, even if it wasn't absolutely necessary thanks to the other sources of light. More people were pouring in again, forcing Marmadue to hug the walls. It seemed to be a rather small group, now, led by… Ah. It was Era. His gaze settled on the girl, giving her a nod in greeting.
"Is this… Ah, do you think everyone has gathered?"

[Daros]

Daros had heard silence while roaming the less-populated areas of Luniel, but found it rather unsettling when he found that Twilight Town itself had become so silent. Having only just arrived not long ago, he didn’t really know anything that was going on, and so felt he was missing a major bit of information when he found the streets deserted. He had stood in the middle of the street for a few minutes before a rushed citizen had rushed by yelling something about underground and flying monsters.



After asking the man what he was talking about, he finally had his answers. The people were hiding from a possible attack from a large flying Heartless. It seemed as though things didn’t stay calm around this place for long.



“Great. An’ I just woke up.”



He had quickly set up his hoverbike, offering the man a ride to the Underground before taking off at high speeds. The ride was longer than the previous one he had taken with Era, mainly because he had to get directions from the man. It took quite a few minutes before he was given the order to go straight ahead. Hearing this, Daros hit the gas on the bike and kicked up a cloud of dust with the speed he was going.



As they approached the Underground, those within might hear a small rumbling noise slowly and steadily growing louder. Soon afterwards, anyone looking out would see the cloud of dust following behind Daros. After only a few seconds Daros would shift the left gear down and the right gear up, causing the bike to pivot once again like it had before. This time, however, he would also use his right foot to click another gear next to his right foot into place. The flame jet would shift to just between the gravity converters to help slow the bike down.



Once fully stopped, he would shift all gears back into place and set the hoverbike straight once more. After he and the man got off, he pressed the button above the radar screen and stand back as the bike shrunk down to pocket size once more. After picking it up, he turned to the Underground, wondering who all he might meet within.

[Lorena]

Lorena had been patrolling the underground as she had done many times over as more and more refugees had been escorted down into their new temporary home; a rather defensible place when considering the looming threat of the heartless dragon in their midst. If this dragon did plan to attack them, they had certainly removed its advantage of flight, and if they were lucky, it was far too large to fit down in the tunnels; Lorena couldn’t say for sure though, she had never encountered a dragon, after all. While the underground may dissuade the dragon, however, it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be heartless for them to deal with. There weren’t many battle-hardened folks among these refugees, and if they were to suffer an attack from either heartless or the dragon, the fighters among them would have to do all they could just to keep everyone alive.

She didn’t speak these thoughts out loud however. These people were already in such low spirits, as supplies were running low and living underground for the past several days had done little for morale. Lorena hadn’t been here long, and she didn’t know these people well, but she had the skills to fight, so she needed to use those skills to help those who couldn’t defend themselves; it was what her mentor would have wanted.

Lorena didn’t really know Lea all that well either, but should a battle indeed find its way here, they would need to rely on each other to make it through this. She met his tense gaze as the last few of the refugees filtered in, before turning to look at those who had settled into the large room they were using as a makeshift shelter for now, and among them she could see the girl who had been attacked by the dragon- Avari, was it? The girl seemed to rest more often than not after the incident, considering how grievous her wounds were, but her sleep never was restful, plagued by nightmares as she would occasionally toss and turn, mumbling things under her breath.

Lorena could see that it was unsettling to those around the girl; they didn’t want to be the beast’s next victim, most assuredly. And with no sight of the dragon still, it felt as though the world was holding its breath, waiting for the horrors to unfold. She was tired of watching people get hurt, seeing the plague that was the heartless time and time again. Lorena glanced down at her daggers, and as she empowered the blades with the bright white light of her magic, she silently vowed that she would do everything in her power to protect the survivors of Twilight Town. She returned her gaze to Lea, offering him a self-assured nod before returning to her patrols, eventually winding up back at the entrance to help the last of the refugees into their little Sanctum.

[Axel]

That strict jade gaze gave one last sweep of the outside area. It was still eerie how it was even quieter than usual outside. In the corner of his eye, a shadow seemed to flicker. Had it moved or was it his imagination?

A few long seconds of focussing on that spot didn’t reveal anything special. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He already felt uneasy about this whole thing. He still couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was: why he felt so wrong about this. Maybe it was because the evacuation went by without a hitch. It was too easy. And the night was too still.

Another twitch caught his eye. This time, two golden eyes looked back at him. The small creature scurried into the light, its head shifting in different directions as its antennae twitched. Another shadow moved ever-so-slightly off to his right.

A grin slipped across the fire-element’s features. At least it was some sort of action!

His hands gripped tightly to the chakrams and he dashed out of the entrance of the tunnel, taking it upon himself to protect those within. Of course, it wasn’t exactly an unwelcome event. The energetic redhead was already getting stir crazy, and he hadn’t even been in the underground that long! In light of that, the sudden appearance of heartless was, in some strange way, a pleasant change. At least now there was some action. And the extra practice would keep him from getting rusty. After all, he really hadn’t done much fighting since he came to Twilight Town.

“Burn!” He confidently shouted, tossing his chakrams at one of the enemies. They did their job to slice and burn before returning to his hands like the trusty boomerang-style weapons they were. The landed in his palms one right after the other.

His heart beat a little heavier. He could feel a little dose of adrenaline pumping through his veins now. And granted, the heartless weren’t the strongest foes he’d ever gone up against, they were still a welcome change to the sleepy stillness. The change of pace scratched an itch he’d been feeling for awhile now.

[Era]

The few stragglers that Era led to the safety of the tunnels seemed comfortable now in going the rest of the way themselves, which of course freed Era up to address her friend. “Hi Marmadue!”

Her composure was warm and confident. “Nobody else is in the town. At least not that I’d seen. I exclaimed that we were evacuating and did a quick sweep, but I didn’t see anybody else. I suppose a roster would help us know if anyone’s missing, but the Moogles would have those.”

Her lanky friend seemed a little distracted. Was there a problem she didn’t know about? Maybe something she could help with? “What’s on your mind?”

[Marmadue]

Marmadue gave Era another nod as a response to her greeting and stopped to listen to what the girl had to say.
"Ah, yes, good, good," he continued to nod along, seeming to be pleased with the news. Usually people knew each other and if someone was missing, someone else was able to tell the rest. Perhaps there still could be some loners, but maybe this was a sign that no one had been… Taken by the dragon. They could still check, have a headcount of sorts now that it seemed everyone had made it… The Yuke had already started to think about that, his hand rising to start stroking the bottom of his helmet in thought – though he stopped, once Era asked him what was on his mind.

"Ah? Ah. It is ah, nothing. The preparations inside are going marvelously. About as marvelously as one could expect, perhaps. It is just," Marmadue paused, absentmindedly ruffling the feathers on his glowing hand with the other as the crowds passed. Perhaps he was a bit nervous – who wasn't, honestly? Perhaps… Era. She didn't seem like she was too worried. Perhaps he was just worrying too much. The Yuke exhaled, his chest deflating and his shoulders coming down.
"Ah, I have an unfortunate habit of imagining the worst to come to pass, I'm afraid. I had intended to take a look outside to see how those of you gathering the rest were doing to distract myself. But I see now that everything is in order. I suppose next we should ah, try to get our bearings and get comfortable here."

[Lorena]

A sudden movement caught Lorena's eye, and she shot a glance towards the entrance to see Lea darting out to attack a shadow heartless. She glanced back at the crowd of people. She hesitated for a moment, before addressing the crowd, "We've got heartless movement outside! If you can't fight, head to the center of the tunnels!"

She then moved to the tunnel entrance, replacing her daggers with her bow. Lorena had to aid Lea from a distance, so as not to let any heartless passed her and into the tunnel. A bright light formed on her bow in the shape of a beam, and as she released it, the energy shot out to the second heartless that had appeared before Lea. This small number of heartless could quickly grow, so she kept her eyes peeled for more that would likely show up soon.

They couldn't focus all of their firepower on one tunnel entrance, however, not when the underground had so many entrances. If Lea seemed to have things under control here, she would have to go fortify another location to keep everyone inside safe. They just had so few fighters to work with, since most of them had gone off to Castle Oblivion in search of answers.

[Daros]

He had only just arrived. Barely had time to get off his hoverbike. And yet here Daros was, watching as a red-haired man ran out of the tunnels brandishing two fiery chakrams and fighting off some Heartless. It seemed that today was going to be much more interesting than he had initially thought. He had hoped that this might just be a simple case of just-in-case, but it seemed as though Heartless were indeed in the area and ready to attack. He sighed a little as he pulled out Ruby, checking her chamber to make sure she had full ammunition.

"Can't get a single day just ta relax, always gotta be somethin'. Ah hell. Least I'm not fightin' alone."

He would then turn the barrel of the weapon to the second Heartless, pulling the trigger and watching as the creature got impaled by the bolt and stuck to the ground before dissipating. The bolts used in his casters weren't big, but they packed a punch. Enough of one that they could impale themselves into most materials, even some of the more stronger metals. They were one of the only reasons he had confidence in battle, despite his less-durable body.

"Alright. One down. Who's next?"

Almost as though they were waiting for that very question, two more Shadows revealed themselves, followed by a Soldier just behind them. It appeared as though they didn't learn from their fellow Heartless being destroyed, or just didn't care. He turned himself so that he was facing the creatures, though made sure to keep his distance. He could deal damage, but he learned long ago that he wasn't one for taking any. His body was less built for such, having little training to build up a defense.

He looked to the man with the chakrams and gave a small wave of his gun before speaking.

"I'll cover ya. I'm not one for gettin' up close and personal like you seem to be. Shout if ya need a specific one taken out. Besides that I'll just shoot at whichever ones you aren't focused on. Sound good?"

[Era]

Action had a way of happening without warning in Twilight Town as of late. Lorena's statement about enemy Heartless was an example of how quickly things could change for the thin defensive line of battle-ready survivors.

If Lorena was going out to defend the entrance, Era would stay back. She tried to summon her blades. The atmosphere around both her and Marmadue got colder. A soft wind picked up, and the sound of softly-crackling ice resounded off the tunnel walls, followed by a louder pop. The winds died."Come on, now's not the time for this!" She murmured to herself and focussed harder.

She was able to summon up her weapons. A series of inverse sparkles weakly flickered and the weapons materialized with their hilts in her palms, but she could tell by their energy pulse when they finally assembled that the harvesters were weak. They wouldn't be able to stand against any major threat. So falling back to a defensive stance in front of the citizens would be a better place, she thought. It was less likely to be attacked, but she could still pose a semi-serious threat to the enemy if push came to shove. Her attention turned to Marmadue again. It was a shame that he'd just gotten comfortable when the energy picked up again. "I'm going to guard the citizens. Care to come with?" Perhaps such a position could help Marmadue feel important, without putting him in the heart of the chaos.

[Clio]

Heartless? Her bobble twitched with worry, one hand going up to her chin with concern as she fluttered slightly above the citizens. She resolved to finish her duty. Clio was still matching faces and checking off names from those faces they had on paper in the sanctuary city. A couple of folks were still missing...

One of the other moogles was still imbuing stones with a temporary light magic. The main room became marginally more comfortable as one was able to more easily see, one light at a time. When he was done there, he went to try and light the rest of the tunnels.

After she had taken note of the survivors, she flew back to the center of the main room (where most of the folks had gathered in worry) and cleared her throat. Maybe now wasn't the best time for this, but with things as they were, they were pressed for time. And she needed to get this out.

Dead center of the room was where the supplies had been messily stashed on and around a large table. She hovered just above it. “Attention, Twilight Town!”

She looked from one soul to another, making sure she had their attention. “There are three pressing issues at hand. With half of our forces sent out to Castle Oblivion, we won’t be able to accomplish everything at once. I know it’s a lot to ask, but we will have to divide our forces further.” Her bobble twitched with worry. “Our situation is grim, kupo. But we must do what we can to ensure that Twilight Town doesn’t fall to the darkness. We should still prioritize finding the keyhole to Twilight Town. I surmise that our rations will last everyone here no longer than three days, so finding supplies to keep us surviving is also very important. And lastly... We have some survivors who haven’t made it to the Underground. I know it’s a lot to ask, but we must do what we can to save and protect everyone. So we’ll need to see if we can find any who are lost.”

She scratched at an itch on her side. “And we’ll of course need a few defenses to remain here to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

The little moogle’s attention switched from one place to another while her thoughts organized. “We’re going to handle this with a vote. Anyone who would find supplies and search for lingering survivors, please stand to the left. Anyone who would prioritize finding the keyhole gather at my right. And anyone who would stay as valuable defense, stand in front of me.”

This was how they would determine what to achieve, and if they had enough willing and capable souls to accomplish what needed to be done.

[Axel]

The immediate threats were vanquished, and as the last of the heartless dissipated, a quiet stillness fell over the immediate area. The night was still somewhat uneasy, but the heartless threat, for now, was gone.

Lea smirked confidently. He let go of his weapons as he began to walk and they vanished in a glimmering flurry back into the aether. That red mane turned as his jade gaze fixed on Daros for a moment. "Those are some nice pistols," he mused in passing. He was headed back toward the main room. Whether anyone else returned or went about some other form of business was up to them, but he thought maybe it would be good to see if there was somewhere else he could lend a proverbial hand.

As he walked through the tunnel leading closer to the gathering he could hear one of the sanctuary's moogles. It sounded like she was just starting to give a speech. Her voice was a bit blurred by the stone hallways that separated them.

Once he rounded the corner to the main room her voice was much easier to hear. He could piece together what he’d missed while he listened. Nobody seemed overly interested in jumping into the action. Well, he’d be the first.

His decision was made almost before Clio was done speaking, and he took a place on her right.

[Marmadue]

It had been too calm, hadn't it? Perhaps Marmadue shouldn't have been surprised when finally someone called out that the Heartless were making their move outside, but he would have quite preferred if things would have continued being calm! He would have worried still, of course, but it was better to worry when those worries wouldn't be justified! The Yuke was quickly glancing over his shoulder, his eyes scanning their surroundings. No Heartless had made their way into the tunnels… Yet. And he certainly hoped it would stay that way.

A sudden, icy wind that ruffled his feathers was enough to make him jump, however. Of course he was afraid that it was going to be from the Heartless, but… But he still couldn't see any. It was… Almost as if the air was filled with magic, icy magic. But it didn't freeze anything, even though the air was clearly colder – even if the gust came to a stop as sudden as its start.

That was when Marmadue's eyes finally returned to what had been in front of him all this time, watching as Era focused and mouthed words to herself. He tilted his head, but the reason soon became clear as shadowy blades materialized out of thin air in the girl's hands. So, she too was going to fight, if it came to that…

And… She was asking him to join her?

"Ah," the Yuke started, clearly hesitating. He was no fighter, so he might very well just be in the way. But they also lacked most of their experienced fighters, so they needed everything they could get. Before he had to make his decision, however, he heard one of the Moogles calling out to everyone. Marmadue looked at Era before he started to make his way towards the voice, so he could hear it better – and he expected that Era would do the same alongside with him. He didn't need anyone telling him that the situation was grave, but hearing it from another source only made him more nervous as he finally made it to the Moogle. Stopping, the Yuke was rubbing his arm in a manner that probably made his discomfort noticeable despite his shielded face. It wouldn't have been easy to deal with Heartless attacks even if they had all of their forces, much less what they had now. Their supplies, well, they didn't have too much of those, either. The tunnels might have offered them some protection, but they also could be surrounded with no way to escape.

And they had so much they had to try to do. Marmadue raised his head that had started to droop from the severity of it all, looking around at the others to see how they were faring – and what they would decide.
"I, ah," he finally spoke after a moment of silence on his part, though he made no move to take his place,
"…I am not someone with ah, much combat prowess nor experience. But… Wherever we might be, ah, needing the services of a healer the most, I… I believe that is where I should be stationed."

Marmadue couldn't say what that would be. And he might not like the answer, either. But right now, everyone had to do their absolute best so they would survive.

[Lorena]

Lorena listened carefully to the moogle’s words, and glanced to each of the three spots indicated. Seeing Lea volunteer to look for the keyhole, she felt she should volunteer elsewhere, so they’re forces would be divided as evenly as possible. Her skills would be best suited for scouting, which would make her ranged attacks more easily accessible than down underground. The only thing was, they couldn’t leave their base too defenseless, so she felt like she should base her decision off what other people chose, yet not many people had stepped up yet.

She also heard the one called Marmadue was still indecisive as well, and unsure of where his skills were best suited, or perhaps he simply wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts on the matter before deciding. ”If you’re a healer, then perhaps your skills would be best suited to supporting the scouting party; and if you’re not confident in lasting through combat, you can simply remain here, and be ready for any possible injured the scouting party might find and bring back.”

”As for me, I think my ranged attacks would benefit the scouting party most, but if they’re aren’t enough people to defend this place, I may change my mind.” With that, Lorena stepped to the left of Clio after giving a thoughtful nod to her own decision.