Event || Esdham Under Fire

[melodiesmods]

Characters: Anyone.
Where: Republic of Esdham
When: From the 15th to the 18th of January
Summary: Event log for the Esdham Under Fire event. Feel free to start your thread and put in the header where your character is, when and what they are doing. refer to the OOC Post for details and plotting.
Warning: Battles, possible death and war horror.

Aqures Ixen
The Army Attacked
Transport from Aqures Ixen
The Coliseum on Fire
Rescuing the Civilians
Protecting the Airport and Mognet Office
The Bevelle
Attack on the Presidential Palace (Boss Battle)
Misc.

Comments

Aqures Ixen

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in Aqures Ixen as your characters get word of the attack and plan what to do. ]

Aqures Ixen - Zelda

[goddessofthesky]

She felt a chill go through her as her eyes landed on the note in her hand. Esdham where she knew a few of the heroes were stationed was attacked. Fear fluttered through her and she ran through her house grabbing her gear to head towards the air ship ready for the heroes.

Zelda knew that she should stay behind but she couldn't stop and do nothing. She swallowed her fear heading out towards the fray.

The Army Attacked

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of "The Army Attacked" part of the event. ]

[red_planet_blues]

[The marshal is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to mowing throw the mages in the Imperial Army, thanks to his Paladin/Magitek Knight skillset. HE can absorb their attacks to heal himself, or block them all together; he also can use Firewall to hurt them any time they tried to hurt them. He can even heal himself with Cura. For awhile, he's doing pretty well, but he gets a bit in over his head after they start sending more Warriors and Gunners at him at the same time. He can use some back-up.]

Evening 15th | Barracks [Open to other Militia]

[shinrasfinest]

[He hadn't even been asleep for very long, having got off duty only a couple of hours prior , before Sephiroth was awoken by the thickening smoke in the bedroom he shares with another of his comrades. With a cough, he'd felt the extra heat, then seen the glow under the closed door. An alarmed shout had both his colleague and Spencer awake (out of his nearby drawer-bed) and less than a minute later Sephiroth was equipped and making an exit out of their barracks through what had been a window.

But it was not enough for him to only save himself. Sephiroth went from room to room in the barracks as the fire spread looking for others that needed to be alerted or might have become trapped as the inferno engulfed where many might have been already sleeping for hours. His elbow up and bent around his face to prevent him inhaling too much of the smoke directly; but by the end it was of no use. He had no magic to use that might help to put out the fire and even those he managed to smother were quickly lit again under the ensuing attack.

At Spencer's final insistence, though Sephiroth had bid him flee on several occasions, it was clear that they could not tackle this blaze alone between the two of them. Sephiroth paused at the exit to the area and looked back, wheezing slightly with his breaths, and tried not to think of how many might have still been trapped inside. It made no sense but with the chaos soon erupting all around it was all that Sephiroth could do to continue to fight for the sake of those dozens who may well have just been burned alive.]

Transport from Aqures Ixen

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of the "Transport from Aqures Ixen" part of the event. ]

Transport from Aqures Ixen - Ales

[umslay]

A chance to visit Esdham once the fighting's over? That's enough reason for Ales to help out with protecting the city, though stopping forces of chaos and destruction is enough to convince him to do anything.

He donned his outfit he received the month earlier: a dark blue jacket with a clasp shaped like a leaf: if he was going to save anything, he was going to do it in style.

For the majority of the trip, Ales stayed in his own room, tinkering with the parts he brought with him and putting finishing touches on the shields. He had built a hammer during his spare time, but if the past was any indication, most of the Heroes needed more help with defending themselves. And it wasn't like he would be of better use patrolling the upper deck.

His work was suddenly interrupted by the pounding of feet on the floor above him and multiple panicked voices. He left his room and ran out to the hall.

"What's going on?" he asked when he spotted the first person he ran into.

Transport from Aqures Ixen - Yuna

[whereishe]

She knew that they were flying into a war zone but she hadn't expecting the airship to be hit so soon. Her fingers gripped the railing of the ship as he eyes watched the city get closer. It was on fire and even from this high up she could see the people running from the monsters that flooded the town.

Wind roared past her as she looked at those around her. "Please tell me we can still land.."

She had seen airships go down but she had never been on one as it plummeted towards the ground.

[timesout]

A barrel toppled over as she ship was hit, and Elle stumbled out of it. She wasn't sure if she would have been allowed on board, so she used her newfound abilities and natural wits to sneak on the airship. Although she was expecting a much smoother ride than this, it was much too late to turn back now. All she could do was swallow her fears and head on with a brave face. This is what grown ups would do, right? These people have been kind to her, and she had developed an affection towards the Moogles... she couldn't just sit back and do nothing, even if she didn't quite grasp the whole situation.

"O-Okay..! So the baddies are attacking us already... that's good, right?" Elle was trying to keep her balance, holding on to anything steady for support. "That means we can just take care of them right here and now!"

Hibiki Ganaha

[nankurunaisa]

[This isn't right.

At any point back home, she shouldn't be a fighter. Sure, she's played one in the movies. A gangster seeking revenge for her family, an animal keeper caught up in a war about giant robots, an esper who summons war animals to fight by her side...she's played all those roles. She's a serious actress.

But today, she's not playing a role, she's a Hero of Light.

Hibiki sits out of the way. Next to her is a St. Bernard, and on her shoulder is a hamster who watches what she's doing with her hands. She's stringing her bow. She's actually stringing her bow. Next to her sits a quiver filled with arrows and a pack filled with potions, and a timid Moogle is resting against her leg. With all the chaos and news she had to deliver, Kathy is tuckered out.

Every so often, she makes a mistake or looks up and has that look in her eyes like she's looking at nothing before she returns to work. If anyone comes close enough, they'll be able to hear her speak.]

C'mon, Hibiki...nankurunaisa. Nankurunaisa...

The Coliseum on Fire

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of "The Coliseum on Fire" part of the event. ]

Terra

[greenmagick]

She didn't have the confidence to fight against the soldiers after what had happened when she first arrived in this strange world but she also wasn't the type to sit and do nothing either. She wore her black mage outfit leaving her cloak behind as she approaches the raging flames.

She wasn't sure of anything yet, the changes of this place leaving her questioning everything about herself but even so she felt herself being pushed forward. Maybe it was because of what Bartz had told her or maybe because of the kind faces who greeted her when she first awoke?

Either way, there had to be something she could do. She held a thin wooden staff in her palm bringing it before her as she began to cast water over the raging flames. It was a slow effort but she focused on the powers she had at her disposal to fuel her efforts and lessen the flames that threatened the city. Her focus was pulled away from the happenings around her as she stood casting.

Ib

[her_rose_is_red]

"Watera!"

As soon as the airship landed got them to the city, Ib knew the first thing they had to do was put out the fires. The water spell she cast washes over the flames, putting some of them out. But there's still so many more...

Determined, she moves along to the next patch of flames and starts casting again. But it's only a matter of time before the soldiers close in on her. She could probably use some help.

Sephiroth | [Open to those who need a tank?]

[shinrasfinest]

They just kept coming. Ever since he had retreated from the burning barracks, wave after wave of Heran fighters had been sent into Edsham on their heels. At first, the adrenaline had swelled up into a rage and Sephiroth remained on the front line; between his advanced Warrior and Dragoon skills he easily cut down the Warriors that ran so eagerly into his blade, or sometimes leaping up and over to get to the Black Mages and Gunners who stood behind. Ignoring the sharp burning in his chest at almost every breath, utilizing Lancet with Masamune at any given opportunity to keep his health up.

But others were not so lucky. Comrades shot, burned or simply cut down along that initial line of defense forced Sephiroth, along with many others, back as the Imperial invasion continued. It felt sooner than he would have liked, or expected, as the familiar ache had returned to his hand and exhaustion began to creep around the edges of the latest potion he had taken. At least Spencer must have gotten away somewhere safe by now; even if that were the farthest thing from Sephiroth's mind.

The Coliseum- how far he had been forced to retreat? A fleeting glance around and he guessed it was around early afternoon. He'd been fighting for over 12 hours already but who was keeping time? The swarm of activity around the building called his attention to it's position. A light smoke already spilled into the air from one side of it, but there were other buildings close on the other side - the fire wouldn't stop if it hit those buildings. The whole City, with thousands of innocents, could perish. Sephiroth swallowed the burning in the back of his throat, coughed once more to clear his breath and charged into the fray.

He might have strands of silver hair singed significantly shorter, part of the tall tail of it that pulled up and through his Dragoon helmet, underneath his armor his body might be starting to ache as well, but he clenched his grip around Masamune and carried on.

Jump-d again right into the nearest cluster of Black Mages, Crescent Moon later and their latest casting was interrupted and they spread out away from him so that the Warrior's could do their job. Slash, cut, slice - the dervish is all that Sephiroth had become. It was the closest anyone might come to seeing a sliver of what his full potential had been back on his own world. Knowledge and skill working so expertly hand in hand.

Jade

[jadethenecromancer]

Once the Military Headquarters was under control -- or at least not on the verge of crumbling at any second -- Jade had hurried to provide support at the Coliseum. Its position made for a perfect target for the enemy mages; should the fire spread, there would be no stopping it fast enough to prevent countless civilian casualties.

As the battle stretched out and the night turned into a day, Jade had no reservations about shouting orders at the Esdham soldiers while he focused on casting water spells on the burning buildings. The fact he wasn't a superior officer was not raised -- there simply was no time to. The waves of Imperial soldiers were relentless, and more than once Jade was forced to halt his casting to defend himself. His Dragoon abilities would keep him alive, but time spent fighting meant less time putting out fires.

Hibiki Ganaha

[nankurunaisa]

[One moment there's an arrow, but there's no one firing it.

Hibiki Ganaha has made her way to the Coliseum. This isn't where she wants to be, but she's been separated and people are in danger here. It doesn't matter. She's been practicing for this, she can do this. She has all the tools of an archer and a beast master at her side, and that's why people don't even notice her.

Aim. She's firing from so far away that people can't even see her.

But as soon as her minute is up the spell breaks and she's on the move. A hamster leaps into the air from her shoulder and begins casting.]

Hamuzou, Watera! Aim for the fires!

[And by then, she's readied an arrow and is looking for her next fight. A dog runs at her side, ready to Protect Hibiki whenever needed.

Her heart is racing. So far, so good. Aim has left her disabling soldiers instead of killing them, but she can't play the role of Sniper forever, even with a Moogle and a dog protecting her.]

Everyone! Keep it up! Say it with me!

[Inumi barks. Hamuzou cries out. Kathy and Hibiki say the word at the same time:]

Nankurunaisa!

Rescuing the Civilians

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of the "Rescuing the Civilians" part of the event. ]

Rescuing the Civilians - Zelda

[goddessofthesky]

It had been a rush leaving the city and she felt the whole situation slip away from her in a blur. She had wanted to stay behind but she couldn't stop the worrying bubbling up from her core. She quickly rushed through the city with her sword and staff in hand. She hadn't had time to learn to use her bow yet so she relied on the skills she had when she first awoke to this world.

"This way! Hurry!" Her voice rang clear over the frantic crowd as they ran away from their homes. They had worked to clear a path and now they just needed to keep it that way. She watched the chaos over take the city trying her best to help those left behind.

Zelda's golden hair was tided back with a few loose strains falling to the side of her face as she moved. She watched as monsters roamed through the streets with their sights on the fleeing civilians. She stands between the people and the creatures as they get closer preparing to do what she can to save those trying to escape.

Rescuing the Civilians, Tear

[mysterical]

[When the call of the first attack came, Tear had just been about to go patrol the city. So, it takes her no time to run out and start moving women, children a few of the more spry elderly towards the fortifications that were quickly being made ready for such a case.

While most of her skills have been widely untested, she doesn't stop to think about trying to heal an older man who has a bleeding head wound from a piece of falling rubble. Or a woman who hasn't quite burning fully. (In fact, she had to tackle that woman to put her out first. It's not exactly her best skill, but whatever.)

She's headed towards a part of town on fire that has most of the civilian housing, knowing that she can be the most help there.]

Head towards the barracks! Hurry!

Rescuing the Civilians - street fighting with Sho

[urnotafraid]

It would be hard to protect the civilians if the army was just allowed to do whatever it wanted on its march. Sho knew this; he had been caught up in street riots as a child, continued throughout his life as a gang brat and even up to that point when he had enough and decided to take on the big boss single-handedly. Street fighting wasn't army fighting and one of the big things he saw with armies was that if they actually faced gangs in their territory, the armies would pack as if they were going to face tanks. That these guys were packed light meant they were not expecting resistance, and that meant they weren't going to expect civilians actually fighting them.

So when the blasts first hit and the reports came in, he was out and looking at matters, talking and cohering civilians to set up road blocks - sure, they were nothing to a well-aimed Fire spell, but what the blocks did was give them time for other things. Like having a couple sneak thieves go around the back and damage supply lines or slit a few throats. Civilians might not have weapons skills, but anyone can chuck a rock or three or loosen shingles off of roofs and have them go tumbling down on top of people. Make the environment work against the invaders, harass them, drive them crazy and then, a pair of quick figures can sneak up from behind and even out the Mages and the Gunners.

Then there were the fires. Trick was to make it harder for things to burn while making what's left burning to go back on the attackers. That took a lot more than talk, but soon a couple damaged stores were brought down on top of some advanced troops, acting as both barriers and helping with keeping the fires contained. A few of the quick barriers were also built in a weird con-curved manner so that when the Mages tried to light them, the fires blew right back at the Warriors instead of curving in.

Then there were bottles of flaming alcohol tossed into the center of the troops, or balls of flaming pitch that stuck once they hit and kept on burning no matter what was used. Civilians armed with meat hooks and sledgehammers, tools of trade and commerce that often people over-looked as weapons, would then follow up with well placed blows before falling back through back alleys and side streets that weren't really on maps.

Every once and a while, Sho would drop down from a roof into the center of a group of invaders, slicing Mage throats until he spun around, put a couple bullets into the back of a Gunner's head and then run for it. He had been fast back home having vampire-trained reflexes; the Thief Job only was making him faster and he knew how to make the streets work for him. So he was easily doing damage though after nearly a whole night of this fighting, he was growing exhausted. So noon found him leaning against a wall of a building, catching his breath while another group of civilians filter pass a barrier and get hurried on by a butcher wearing a pot on his head and carrying one of those slaughterhouse hooks that usually was used to pull slabs of meat around inside a warehouse. Another waves of attackers would hit soon, but for now he was going to catch a little sleep and then they were going to move again. It wouldn't do to stick to one spot that could become focused on by the army.

Rescuing the Civilians | Luke

[headfons]

A redhead in the male version of red mage's clothing, was working away from most other people at the moment. His focus was on the elderly, children, and injured people. Anyone hurt was getting healed, in the event that any other healers around were unable to do so. At one point he was vanishing to reappear in a different location, for the sake of stopping a monster from attacking any of the people. At another point, he was attempting to distract the creatures with about ten fake Lukes - it was the best he could do, at the moment, to help as many as possible.

Essentially, he was attempting to guide everyone in the direction of the cleared path that had been created. So, at another point, he was using the illusions to direct the crowd, as well.

Fighting the monsters and focusing on saving people, however, was an exhausting task. He wasn't going to be stopping on his own, any time soon. He would push himself to the brinks of exhaustion if that was what it took to save the people. If anyone asked, he'd claim he was more than fine - and, at the moment, he was fine to keep going.

Protecting the Airport and Mognet Office

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of the "Protecting the Airport and Mognet Office" part of the event. ]

Protecting the Mognet Office - Terra's Moogle - Tempest

[greenmagick]

The little moogle flew fanatically through the air towards her destination. She hadn't ever thought that being a companion to a hero would land her in a situation like this but she supposed it only made sense. Terra had gone off to fight the fires spreading through the city so Tempest flies towards the Mognet office hoping that it was still intact and unharmed.

She zipped through the city tripping up any soldiers that she came across by speeding past their feet. Tempest didn't like fighting but she was going to protect the offices as best as she could.

The Bevelle

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of "The Bevelle" part of the event. ]

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks had headed this way in order to help stem the tide of fighters that keep flooding in. But when he sees how close it is to the enemy warships, and how they're being transported in, an idea hits him.

He turns to someone fighting nearby once there's a moment.]

Hey. Hey. You think we can get up there? Reverse-engineer that thing?

Attack on the Presidential Palace (Boss Battle)

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for any threads occurring in the context of the "Attack on the Presidential Palace (Boss Battle)" part of the event. ]

Attack on the Presidential Palace (Boss Battle)

[whereishe]

Yuna ran through the city towards the main palace at Esdham. She knew that the army had to have a goal and the fires seemed like a distraction from whatever they might be planning. She watched other heroes being to help citizens and put out the fires so she raced forward without pause.

She carried her bow at her side as she moved through the city, shooting soldiers that came into her view if only to give her the chance to run past them. She hadn't known if any other heroes had the same idea but she hoped they could stop whatever the Empire had been planning.

Misc.

[melodiesmods]

[ Reply here for anything you want to play out that doesn't fit under any of the other threads. ]

Team Metal Hunt (pre-scatter)

[2hell_weride]

MarKus and crew were already southbound to Edsham when things went down. Hardly the first on the scene at all, they'd arrive second to the Heroes in the military. With the flames of the colosseum on the horizon, MarKus hurried his crew into the chaos.

"What in the actual fuck happened..."