hadriel | 1 || Video; yo this shit is lit

[ She's quite a distance away from the city, and it certainly shows. Dirt and dust spot the scarf she wears about her face and neck, caught in the fabric as she has sped through the desert upon the motorcycle, and the leather of her armor could use a good cleaning. Yet strangely enough her hair remains tightly bound in a braid, and her skin is unmarked by neither sun nor sand. She addresses the network calmly but quietly. ] Good evening. [ Or midday. Or whatever. ] For those I have not met, my name is Zelda. I am currently delivering one of the orbs the deity Love has granted us to its shrine.

[ Seems straightforward enough, yeah? Well, maybe not so much anymore. ] However, I seem to have encountered a-- [ Zelda turns the camera of the phone away from her, during which the connection becomes spottier, her voice lagging, twisting behind the frames. ] --being-- [ She using the phone's features to zoom in to something just a ways away from where she's stopped. Lingering beyond the hazy mirage of the cracked ground is one of the Null, but the connection seems to worsen just as she focuses the image. ] Is anyone-- [ More static, this time longer than before. When the visual returns, the image remains distorted. ]

--iliar with it?

[ It's not like any of the various beasts she's seen in or around the city proper, and it seems strange that it travels alone. While Zelda certainly may be a capable warrior, she reserves herself to seek information first before taking any action. ]

[ OOC: If you want to jump in on her log comment instead, see here: Bloop!

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There’s a spot about the size of a human fist where its vulnerable. If you have no other choice, that’s where you attack.

But only if you have no choice. If that one spots you, others will follow.

[muttering]

Damn it, we should have expected something like this....

[ The size of a human fist is their hit box? Well that's going to be fun. ] I've been told tha-- [ Static, and the image shakes as she's moving. ] --Null.

[ At least she's been informed what they are. ]

Expected what, exactly? How many are there?

[He nods urgently] Yes. An army of them attacked the city some months ago. They were the enem-

[A burst of static on his end blocks when he's sayin]

-kind of hive mind. If one sees you, even if you kill it, the others will know.

[ Like bees to their queen? Or no, perhaps they operate by something more sophisticated. The image here cuts completely out at this point, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise as the audio connection becomes a little more fluid. ] And if we should kill it-- [ How hard it may be? She doesn't know. But she's thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be best to try on her own. So. ] --its kin will know as well, I take it.

[ Interesting to think about. ] Yet this one appears alone... [ Maybe a scout.

More of a pause here as she thinks. He mentions "months ago", which refers to back when the city had been underground, or so she's heard. So-- ] Is it possible that it does not know where the city-- where we are?

I think that a fair assumption.

[It was very hard to kill the Null, and became harder every time one went down. They analyzed their enemies, adapted to them, and rarely made the same mistake twice.]

They must know this world well enough. They were the ones who destroyed it, if what the gods say is true. Hadriel in particular? Probably not- this would be a good time to attack if they did.

[The gods are down to six from eight, and while Hope has recovered his strength, Fear has not. As it stands, Hadriel probably cannot flee an attack.]

Edited 2018-03-06 04:19 (UTC)

[ She considers his words carefully, weighing some options. One would be to turn and run, of course. But that would mean the Null may spot her anyway-- or someone else--... and if not, it could very well continues it course and make its way towards the city anyway. ]

If it operates as a hivemind, it has a directive. Can it be led astray from its current course?

[ Maybe. Maybe it can be led away from the city. Duped to some extent, fed false information that she may have traveled to this location from a different direction. ]

[He thinks for a moment.]

Possibly. You'd need to move quickly and make the lure plausible.

[Which would be difficult, considering there apparently aren't many living beings on this planet besides the Hadrielites.]

Is there anything there you can work with?

An acquaintance is coming to help, so I will not be alone.

[ As for what to work with. Not much, save for the terrain itself. But really that's all she needs: ] The desert is flat, but I can conjure up cover with wind and sand to obscure our presence if need be. Sudden dust storms are not uncommon in the desert. [ Which will be a starting point, she thinks. Not a solid one in this short amount of time, but one nonetheless.

But there are more questions. And so she thinks.

If she had an army of autonomous machine monster things... Well, first of all, she would have tried to boost her Science^TM stats to make them also able to bury themselves under the ground to remain undetected. But barring that, she would definitely make it so that if there is a scout that had been taken out and not returning, she'd send others to investigate it especially if she knew of its exact location one minute prior to being taken out. Recover its remains, see what sort of force destroyed it. Mark any tracks around it. The motorcycles are new, aren't they? And seeing tracks like that would give her the information that her enemies have acquired a new device, something to plan to counter at a later date.

And in the end, having them be a hivemind and the whole one-minute-message thing doesn't matter, does it? They'll know one of them has fallen regardless, which could lead to more trouble. They're in a lose-lose situation, anything they do would alert the enemy that they are close. At least, relatively speaking.

But leaving it simply be isn't really an option either. ] We plan to take it out within one minute. On the chance that we do not make that mark and it relays a message, we ought to approach it either stealthily or from a different direction. But if we manage to defeat it within one minute, the clean up will be easier to clear our tracks, investigate its remains if necessary.

I see. [And checking- OK, Law. Good choice of backup, Zelda] Trafalgar Law is a capable man, and he has experience with the Null. You could do far worse in partners.

A sandstorm might do the trick- particularly if you can obscure the manner of it's death afterwards.

Valar go with you, lady. You only have one chance, so be swift and strike sure.

Thank you. [ She's not sure what a Valar is-- something to ask about later-- but she'll take it as a blessing of sorts. And although he may not see her anymore, it's second nature to bring a hand to her chest as if making a pledge, although he may catch the soft clink of metal as the plating of her gauntlet rests against her breastplate. ] My blade will not miss. [ She assures him calmly in return. ]

--Ah, here he comes. May we speak again later.

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