[video|metaplot-related] Troubling findings at sea (slightly backdated)

[northerndragon]

[ Dark slate grey is Jon; dark blue is Daenerys. They stand near each other to address the network. They have been back in Hadriel for several days. ]

We've been out sailing for the past few weeks, and well, when we tried to shelter from the storm, we found this.

[ The images were captured with care, but not much expertise: neither Jon nor Daenerys has much experience with electronics or photographs other than their usage of the network, and it had taken them some time to get images even as good as these. All of the angles are amateurish, and the rain is always there.

The pictures show the remnants of buildings, familiar in style to anyone who has seen Hadriel, yet in a state of destruction and disrepair. It hadn't been a very nice place to shelter during a storm, but it had been better than nothing. ]

This island was a few days from here, if the winds are kind. Wasn't very big. The buildings on it look like the ones here in the city, Hadriel, but….

[ The pictures say it all, don't they? Jon looks distinctly troubled. Daenerys is far from indifferent, but also seems less-obviously bothered by the information they're relaying. ]

They were destroyed, as if attacked. [ Clearly. ] I would think it was some sort of assault, rather than another storm, but we had no way of confirming that information.

[ If only they could. Because, more concerning than that: ]

What was left of these buildings did not appear ancient. The onslaught seemed fairly recent, rather than long ago.

[ What does that mean? How many other cities like Hadriel exist in this world, and is it only the Null bent on destroying them? Or has this been going on for longer than anyone but the gods knows? ]

It might be that we need to be ready for something… more ready than we thought.

Comments

Video

[utulien_aure]

There are Null already here; all of Law's crew saw them. There were on the last world as well. Scouts, the lady who had seen the first ones thought....

[Shaking his head; they can't do anything about the desert planet now.]

[northerndragon]

Aye, but we didn't know what else was here. Door fragments, then Null scouts....

Has anyone else learned anything more of the history of this place? This place, these seas?

I thought the gods brought us here to hide. It's beginning to seem like it's not a very good hiding place.

[utulien_aure]

There has been no news on that front since we arrived, so far as I know. Just what we were told when Sorrow asked us to choose, and the existence of the fragments themselves.

Video

[lemontree]

I assume they are everywhere, in one form or another. [ ... ] Perhaps all that we can do is ensure that we fight back with all of our strength.

[audio]

[circumitus]

[Interesting. Rey was on board with Law's crew that encountered the Null themselves, but she had suspected that they were likely planted there from the last time they were on this planet. The implications of what these two are suggesting is hardly comforting.]

We don't really have an exact timeline for how long ago the Null were attempting genocide, so it might not have been too long ago. [Which would explain why the damage doesn't necessarily look "ancient", per se.]

If you've got a fragment, you should probably come back as soon as you can. Chances are the Null we ran into had already contacted reinforcements before we trashed them.

[northerndragon]

We've been back for a while. We had to land and take shelter during the storm, but we've been here for a few days.

Whatever the attack was, it can't have been too long ago. I've seen ruins, grew up around them, looked into abandoned villages. What happened to these buildings didn't happen just before our arrival on this world... nature had begun to overtake them, but -- a few years, maybe.

It might be that it wasn't long before the first of you were brought to Hadriel, if the things I've heard are right. Or might be that it was longer ago than I can tell.

[OOC: I'm going to edit this post to note that it's been backdated a few days!]

[circumitus]

Good. Wasn't keeping track of who all was sailing out. Hopefully everyone's back by now.

[She's thought about what it'd be like if Fear moved the city while they were fighting the Null at sea, and the very notion of being stuck on this planet makes her queasy. No thanks.]

This is just a guess, but the genocide probably happened not long before the first batch of people came in through the door, so it'd be more likely that it's been years rather than centuries or millennia. [But what does she know? Rey's not archaeologist.]

Sorrow had mentioned that his kind used to live here, including the Door, but the Null wrecked most of the shit here. Did you find nothing there intact?

[audio]

[lemontree]

We have returned already. The message was to alert the rest of the city to what we found.

[ Thankfully they hadn't drowned, or else it would have taken much longer to get back (she assumes). ]

How many fragments have been found in total?

[video]

[hot_mes]

So. There is more out there to discover.

[not that he looks or sounds even slightly happy about it]

No signs of life at all? Bodies, organic material?

[northerndragon]

No. Just buildings, and signs of burning.

Not a little burning, either. Whoever did this was trying to raze them to the ground.

[He hesitates as a thought strikes him.]

So why didn't they finish the job? They can't have been trying to wipe away all trace of what was there.

[That could mean a couple of different things, and he frowns, trying to decide which makes the most sense to him. Someone trying to get at the occupants and stopping once they had, someone trying to make the buildings uninhabitable but not caring if traces of them still stood...]

[video]

[lemontree]

There wasn't anything there beyond what you saw. [ So, the ruins of buildings, and... nothing else. ] If there were corpses, then they have been completely destroyed, or else taken.

[ It's possible, isn't it, that the storm swept them away? Or...? ]

[audio]

[synthedick]

I'd say if there's one thing we need to be ready for, other than the Null showing up uninvited, it's a move.

[Because the Null clearly know about this place, left sentries should anyone return. He's not entirely convinced they weren't looking for the fragments themselves -- or guarding them to make sure no one else did.]

Any temples there?

[northerndragon]

It was hard to tell. The island wasn't very big, and the buildings... what you see in the pictures.

But aye, I can't imagine that we'll be staying too much longer after this.

Daenerys and I brought back one of the door fragments, too.

[OOC: This is all the description we have! So I'm assuming probably not.]

[audio]

[lemontree]

Another move, you mean. [ They've done so twice already, after all. ] And if there was a temple, it was destroyed along with all the other structures. It's impossible to say what may have been there before.

video;

[dedikated]

( After so long in Hadriel, the sight is more than familiar to Kate, who's seen the city before the orchard existed, lived through the city being split in half when the Null first attacked. Who's seen the clinic be turned into rubble when they invaded months after.

But, more than that, she's seen ten years of fighting leading to countless buildings like that back home. Can all but smell the dust of brick shattered and crushed, the dull burning which winds through the air.

The alarm on her face is so brief it may as well not be there, and when she speaks it's with an accent which bares more than a few similarities to Jon's. )

Any signs of weapons?

( The Null certainly had some nasty ones. )

video;

[lemontree]

Not that we found. All that we saw were the ruins of buildings. Anything else that may have been there is gone now, one way or another.

[ Whether by Null or weather or something else entirely. ]

Are the Null known to wield weapons?

[northerndragon]

It's as Daenerys said.

What are you thinking of?

Video

[kingforboth]

[Kelson listened to the information, which was far from alright, troubling in fact. That meant that some what they had been told or left to assume had been lies. Or fabrications and omissions, which was almost the same thing.]

What kind of damage did you find?

[It certainly made a difference. While he doubted the inhabitants killed each other, it was good to rule it out rather than assume an outside attack.]

And are you fully recovered?

[northerndragon]

It's like you see in the pictures. The roofs are gone, most of the walls, all destroyed. They didn't raze them completely, but you can't use what's left for long. [Meaning: trying to shelter in them during a storm was only a little better than no shelter at all. If he thinks about it, he's not really sure how and why he and Daenerys survived... mostly luck.]

No bodies -- whoever was living here might have left, or been taken.

I'm well enough. [Probably, he could use a few more days of rest, but he's not wounded, and it's not like him to lie abed when he doesn't need to.]

Video

[lemontree]

What you see in the images. There was some fire, and now there is only the ruins of what once was. There is nothing else: no bodies, nor weapons...

[ She sighs shortly. It's frustrating that they don't have more answers to spare. ]

I am fine, and I believe Jon to be, as well. [ As far as she knows, anyway. ] ... We were endangered by the storm, but he has some experience sailing. We were lucky to survive the worst of it.

video

[roseofthetyrells]

Daenerys, I know we spoke about bringing our concerns about the return of the Null to the Jon and the Guard. Between what Law's ship encountered and what you've found, it seems as though the Null were already far ahead of our warning.

Jon, I implore you. The Null are fearsome and deadly foes. As terrible in their way as the White Walkers I saw in your dream. The trick about the Null is the Null learn from their mistakes and pass that knowledge on to their brethren. One method of neutralizing them won't necessarily work for the next. Everyone in Hadriel, every man, woman, and child must be trained in the art of war, for war is coming.

video

[lemontree]

Yes. This only serves as a keen reminder. [ Her jaw is set tight: the time is now to prepare for war, for battles far worse than those before the city was moved. ] We must take action immediately to defend ourselves and to ensure that every person in this city is able to do the same.

[northerndragon]

[He looks grateful to be hearing from Margaery in this capacity.]

We're in agreement. Those of us in the Guard could begin training people -- I know Sonya has been training some of you already -- but I don't know how we'll make people take the training if they don't want to. We're not kings and queens to these people, except as a matter of courtesy, not as a matter of rule. All I can do is convince people to take part... and I've never fought the Null before.

Valentine says Henry Percy is gone. He would have been a great help in this. Valentine will be a great help in this. Do you have any other ideas?

[video]

[pocketspa]

Ugh, goddamnit. Again?

[He doesn't even seem scared by this. Just utterly put-upon.]

Anythin' left behind? Stuff still smoking or what?

omg I am so sorry; we BOTH missed this.

[northerndragon]

It was recent, but not so recent. Maybe a few years ago. Nothing left behind worth speaking of, but the smoke there is long gone.

Why "again"?

[Jon looks puzzled; he thought this would be news.]