[OPEN] Mission 156

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.

The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.

The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!

Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.



OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED]
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[crs01]

That was not something he wanted to hear...for now. It was inevitable though and if he was anything at all it was realistic. It did not help anybody to hold onto a false, desperate hope that she could be wrong. In a war or in the middle of a serious surgery, it did not pay to waste time with fantasy. That she was so calm to remain where she was, knowing that it could only get worse, was a commendable spirit to have.

As used to the cold as he was, that did not mean anything about seeing through it. To have to react to the sudden onslaught of creatures driven by their basest desires was not something he could fathom. Still...even he wished he could do something other than having to remain behind. No matter what he was able to do back here, it did not feel like it was enough once he was out here.

"...And there is nothing to be done about possibly creating something to go against the effects other than getting rid of the emitters?"

His lips twitched into a deeper frown.

"...Terrifying. You seem like you have a handle on yourself here. How does the madness get to you?"

[ghostofaqueen]

Sarah had no time for babying others with a sugar-coated version of the truth. She was here on business and anyone else who had decided to come along on this mission had also better be business-like. Goofing off would result in mistakes and mistakes could take lives. She had no time for such things while she was on guard duty.

She glanced at the other as she shifted her rifle to one hand and brushed her red bangs from her face. The wind simply blew them around again anyway, but her fingers needed the movement anyway. "Some meisters have the benefit of resisting madness or not being affected at all. The rest of us just have to get used to it. There is no wall of protection from it except distance."

Well now, that was an awful person question, but if he was bold enough to ask, she was just as bold to give a straight answer. "It allows me to kill friend and foe without remorse, and if it gets too bad, I see enemies even in friends."

[crs01]

Somehow he doubted he had the ability to resist this madness. It was not something he could block away after everything he had gone through in the past. The worse somebody was off, the more they would be a liability. If anything, he questioned what her madness would be like if it infected her to figure out the signs. It was less than comforting to hear her speaking of the urge to kill without feeling a thing for the victim and beyond that...

He was glad to know of it though. If he wanted to pretend like there was nothing terrible going on then he would really be useless here. If there was a better way to handle the darkness that would come from those around him and even himself, it was his duty to be able to understand the worst of it without experiencing any form of fear or weakness. Something like that erupting in the middle of assisting a patient would be inexcusable.

Though she said there was no way to train oneself against it, he wondered still if there might be a way. He was not going to ask about it though. Her answer was definitive and he got the feeling this was not the person that would appreciate being questioned further on a subject like that.

"...I will keep that in mind and do my utmost to keep myself from becoming a threat."

[ghostofaqueen]

She shifted her rifle in her grip, flexing her fingers to get circulation moving in them again as she squinted up the mountain. The blowing snow made it impossible to have any kind of real visibility, but she could assume that things were going alright. She convinced herself that she was just fine down here with the medical tents even if she longed to be in the direct action. There was a time and a place for such things.

She turned her attention back to the man that was questioning her and raised an eyebrow. She chuckled softly at his reply and nodded her head as if amused by what he had said. "Best you just not be around when the madness hits, but then, you'll most likely be doing what you can to resist it as well."

She remembered well Tassadar's probe and wondered if they could be used for a limited time for the vulnerable. "Perhaps in time we'll find a method of resistance to take up the mountains and such. For now, we endure. It builds character I'm told."

[crs01]

Somehow he had a feeling that it did not matter how far away he was from it. From what he could gather from the way she spoke and just the feeling he got inside, he imagined that there were plenty of incidents where people turned on each other during instances where the madness was particularly bad. It was nothing he should be concerned with until it happened, but preparation was indeed the key. He would have to make sure the clinic was prepared for a possible outbreak of that.

As for building character, he supposed that was possible. being able to endure something like that would prove to others strength or maybe it would simply luck for some. There were people like soldiers he imagined were more conditioned to resisting something like that. It was definitely conceivable that a way to resist it would come up that could be invented.

If it had anything to do with something he could synthesize then he would. If this was something more tangible than just a feeling, it could be possible. He doubted he was the only one to ever consider that though.

"Maybe somebody will come along that will figure that out. I wish there was something I could do, but I am convinced that my Meister ability will not be to calm others. There must not be many that can do that otherwise I could see a couple being sent along with each group just to calm the rest down."

[ghostofaqueen]

Sarah twisted around to regard the man next to her, studying him quietly as her hair was blown around her. He seemed rather curious about the affect of madness, so that must have meant that he was a fairly new addition to the war effort. She didn't remember seeing him, and she tried to keep up on the faces of war here. It was a professional curiosity on it.

"If you can feel the tug of madness on your mind, then no, your ability is not to calm others. Skills generally reflect the strength you had back in your world," she offered over the sound of the wind. "Sometimes it's random, but as a rule, what you're good at there is good here."

[crs01]

He wondered what the tug of madness would be like if he should ever feel it. He had a feeling though that he would know it when it came along. Maybe he did not experience it this time because he had been so preoccupied with the patients here. If he was concentrating hard enough, it was easy to make the world fall away for a brief enough time. That would likely not be the sort of luck he would always face.

This was another person telling him that his ability would be something related to where he came from. Perhaps that would be enough to make him useful enough here and not closer to these emitters. He stood there for a moment before looking her in the eyes and nodding.

"...Thank you for that information. I will not waste more of your time. If it is acceptable, may I have your name in case I have more madness-related questions?"

[ghostofaqueen]

She wondered about him, but she figured that he was part of the medical team and dealing with the health of others. It was probably best that his first mission was down here rather than with the ravages of madness up on the mountaintop.

"I hardly consider informing someone of what to expect a waste of time," she murmured with a careless shrug of her shoulders. "You can look me up with the Watch. I'm Sarah Kerrigan," she murmured before inclining her head respectfully towards him. "Yours?"

[crs01]

Still he was grateful for that. If she was protecting the tents here from being ambushed in some way then his speaking to her might end up distracting her. As he was not a warrior, he was not really sure how one extended their own attention span when is came to this. He nodded to her when she gave him her name. He would be sure to remember that.

As for his own name, once again he would have to give the awkward number as the one thing that he remembered. It did not really bother him for anybody to call him that. Any other name to him would be foreign to him. He could be accustomed to anything though.

"CR-S01...that is my name."