[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.

[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!]

[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.

[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?

[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...]

[northerndragon]

You're not the only one to mention Sorrow.

Has anyone spoken to him about the other things that have been found?

[northerndragon]

I hope someone has kept track of them. If they were out on the sea when the storm struck, and they haven't returned, it might be that they need aid. We thought we would probably wreck if we didn't find a place to land and wait it out. We were lucky that our landing was kind to the boat.

Nothing on the island was intact enough to be worth speaking of. We were able to find small shelter, not much more, and no true shield from the wind and rain at that.

[They are very lucky to be alive.]

Has anyone asked Sorrow about what you all found? The Null scouts? -- That was you, wasn't it?

[hot_mes]

Mm. [the pictures may be amateur but they tell enough. An experienced eye tells him even more] Given what we ran into, I wouldn't have a problem jumping to the conclusion that it was Null doing.

When they attacked the city, last year, they destroyed places that seemed the most important. Tactically speaking, it was smart and efficient. No need to destroy every last building when you've removed your enemy's armory, supplies, and medical refuge.

[circumitus]

[Damn, that's a good point.] Y... yeah, that would be bad. Not sure if they would be revived by Hope if anything were to happen to people outside of the city.

[She always assumed that to be the case, otherwise they'd have problems with the more homicidally inclined folks for those who venture out of the city limits.]

That sucks. Was hoping there'd be something interesting to find on this planet. [As if the Door fragments aren't "interesting" enough.]

And, ah, yeah, that was us that dealt with the scouts. Was told that the one who found them that they were inactive until they were triggered by motion, so it's possible that they were left behind during their genocide attempt. Otherwise you'd think they would've swarmed the planet by now.

[utulien_aure]

[Shaking his head; he's been kind of out of it since arriving back, to be honest]

Not so far as I know. But then, I wasn't aware there was anything other than fragments found. Has there been?

[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.]

[northerndragon]

Well, the Null scouts, and now this. It might be that he has something to say about it all.

But I wouldn't be surprised if the conclusion is another move. That means --

[More suffering for the lot of them, for one thing.]

[synthedick]

Good. One more piece in our hands.

[And not in the Null's.]

Aside from this and the storms, you didn't have too much trouble, did you?

[northerndragon]

The storms were trouble enough.

Had to dive to get the piece. I'm a stronger swimmer than I knew.

What happened here while we were gone? My sister has told me a little, but....

[But his sister has little and less to do with the Guard, and aside from that, she's wanted him to rest since his return.]

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

[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?

[synthedick]

[Nick will just be silently grateful Jon didn't drown out there.]

We had a period where just about everyone disappeared, save for a few. Most showed back up after it passed, but some never came back at all. [Sigh.] Including Henry Percy.

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.

[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]

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]

[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?