Endgame OOC: The Fallout

[hadrielmods]

THE ICE PLANET

Thank you to all who volunteered to escort Fear and [Name] to the ice planet to upload the Null killswitch! We hope you're ready for a fight because we've got a doozy.

The upload process is not instantaneous and will take [Name] over 24 hours to slowly break through each of the Null's firewalls. This process will be laden with false starts and pauses, as [Name] will need to stop and flush its system each time the Null defense measures fight back via forcibly installing virus countermeasures and attempts to shut [Name] down. Alphys, Peter and Maine will be instrumental in making this process far shorter than it might have taken otherwise.

And of course, once the Null begin to realize what's going on, all hell will break loose. It's time to bunker down and fortify everything that you possibly can because within hours, the Null will begin striking this base with all the firepower they can bring into the region on short notice- and given that this region used to be a complex of Null bases, that's quite a lot.

You need to buy as much time as possible here as the Null throw everything they have at you, including their combat units but also half-broken robots, smaller non-combat chassis, and even the few hosts that the citizens didn't manage to save last time we were here.

Fear will help at first: he blackens the sky, shrouding the base in darkness and obscuring the Null sensors so that they have a difficult time navigating to the main upload site and also are slower and less receptive in combat. He also will help to take out a few Null in the beginning, transforming into a green cloud of smoke and enveloping them one by one until they seize and fall to the floor, clicking and tremoring and falling silent.

Unfortunately, as more and more Null flood the base, it's harder and harder to hold them back. Twelve hours into your fortifications, Fear is hit with a Null weapon- though it's not a direct hit, as Sharon's host of monsters descend on the Null and throw off their aim. Still, the blow leaves Fear severely weakened and nearly dead, and he abandons the group, fleeing back to Hadriel and leaving the rest of the volunteers and [Name] alone to finish the job.

The fighting lasts for hours longer still- and without Fear's shroud of darkness, more and more Null are finding their way to the base, cutting through the reinforced doors, and pushing over the bodies of their fallen in order to try and get at [Name]. Injuries and death are encouraged here- this is your final stand, so please make it as dramatic and emotional as you like!

Finally, after what seems like forever, after sustaining heavy losses and just when you think that you can't hold them back any further- [Name] stops, disconnects itself from the terminal, and slumps over, the small indicator lights on its frame going dark. The Null turn toward one another and there's a moment of perfect stillness before they all scramble to attempt to remove the core from their bodies- some of them are able to eject it, some of them forcibly attempt to rip it from their center, but none of it matters. Within a minute, all of them have crumpled to the ground with no further life left in them.

You've done it.

But what now?

Fear is gone. [Name] and the rest of the Null are dead. The Door is away with Hadriel... and as the heat and adrenaline of the fight start to wear away, you suddenly realize how cold it is on this frigid planet. Did you make it in time? Does that even matter, now that you're here with no way home?

THE DOOR DEFENSE

The Door needs defenders and you have risen to the challenge! Once word of the Door's attack gets out, Sorrow and many of the others flood to take on the tide of Null who would try to compromise your greatest weapon and your ride home.

As the Null are also somewhat scattered and disorganized, it's easier to fight them, but be careful- the longer you stay in this section of the Door's defense perimeter that Kate and the others have set up, the more you feel yourself succumbing to the madness and chaotic nature that the Door encourages. Friendly fire may be an issue, particularly to those like Leo, who are already prone to losing control of themselves.

The defensive response to this particular attack has shown the Null that this is definitely a target worth pursuing and so they will continue to send forces into the protected zone, at times funneling the majority of their invading troops and using their ships to jettison Null fighters into the center of the defensive ring. These fighters are less affected by the Door and wholly more dangerous than the Null who have had to fight their way through- in addition, due to the higher concentration of magic and fire-based offense utilized, the reinforcements will be comprised more of the magic-resistant Null, with further fighters utilizing flame-resistant outer shells.

Ten Hours into the battle, the Null begin sending what could only be described as scavenger robots. These smaller canine-shaped Null aren't here to fight, but instead come to drag the piling-up husks of the former Null back into the streets, where they can be reclaimed by their allies and repurposed into new fighters. If they're allowed to escape then the Null forces will only intensify, with new Null being downloaded into the chassis that you already killed once before.

In the midst of the battle is Sorrow himself, who moves between the Null in a form that doesn't seem altogether physical, striking precisely at weak points that he can find- in this way, some of the Null will be missing limbs and other weaponry that he's divested them of. Roughly thirteen hours into the onslaught, something happens that staggers him for a moment and he pulls back, partially melting away into blue smoke.

For the rest of the battle, Sorrow plays the backlines, attempting to strategize the defense while retaining what strength he has to use as a last resort. He is joined (if you could call it that) by Fear, who holes up in his temple, barely a shadow on the wall as he tries to recover from being attacked on the ice planet.

Nineteen hours into the onslaught, as the Null aggressively surge forward once more, Sorrow tells Rey to blow the staircase hallway that leads from Fear's temple to the Door.

Luckily, there are still enough of you to hold them back around the immediate perimeter of Fear's temple, and with a smaller area to defend the battle holds strong until the very last moment when the Null all just... stop. They all look to one another for a moment before all lights on their bodies are extinguished and they fall to the ground in a crash.

Does that mean that the others were successful? Or is this some other Null trick?

There's no reason to leave anything to chance- within a minute, Sorrow issues orders to clear out the husks from the immediate street and catalogue the dead and injured. The battle seems to be over for now.

Unfortunately there's no time to celebrate, because the Null ships start falling out of the sky.

THE CITY DEFENSE

The fight for all temples is less of a constant onslaught and more of a fight that comes in waves, as additional Null troops are deployed. Thanks to the previous expeditions by Steak to the Null mining colony, as well as Nate's group's preemptive guerrilla strikes and Poe's squad taking care of some of the ships, reinforcements here will not be enough to be immediately overwhelming, requiring fewer people to defend each individual temple than those stationed at the door.

Still, the Null won't go easy on the people here and after some time, they will begin to bring and set up mounted cannons, with the intent of destroying as much of the god temples as they can. Those temples with enough people defending would likely be able to stop the process of setting up the artillery, but they will need to send characters (or helping gods) out to do so, since the Null will not be preparing them where the normal battle is taking place.

The cannons are entirely alien in nature, gleaming white and shaped like an egg with ‘feet’ that stands stationary on the ground. Once armed via a console that ejects from the main body, the top of the egg opens up to fire out a ball of pure energy that seeks out its target even if diverted. This ball has a similar function to the god killers in that they superheat and disrupt the molecular structure of their target, but they also have explosive properties to destroy sections of a building on impact.

Getting hit by one of these will almost surely disintegrate even the toughest person, and while they cannot specifically aim it at a god, if they manage to catch one in the crossfire then- well, they will also disintegrate. A temple being destroyed by these has no chance of being rebuilt in a timely fashion and the correlating god will be incredibly weakened.

Knocking the cannon to its side won’t do much after it’s been armed, and after being armed it will continue to shoot out these energy balls every 5-10 minutes until the target is destroyed. With no way of stopping the orb after it is in flight, your only hope is to either destroy the thing entirely in a controlled environment, reach the cannon and kill the Null around it before it can be armed, or somehow interpret the alien language to eject the console and shut it off (characters gifted with linguistic skills or those who have been studying Null language may come in handy here).

Hope's Temple:

In the beginning of the fight, the Null send scouts to the various power structures in the city in order to scope out their defenses. Their priority is of course, weakening or killing Hope and Fear. As Fear's temple is heavily guarded due to its proximity to the Door, that makes Hope's temple the secondary target. Thankfully, many of the defenders seemed to have known that and made Hope's temple one of the more fortified.

The battle is similar to the fight for the Door, except there are no innate defenses to guide you. Luckily (sort of), Love is there to help all defenders at Hope's temple, and they do so by covering the area in a soft pinkish smoke that seems to slow down the Null and make them clumsier in their attack and more prone to leaving their weak points open. Furthermore, with at least five people and a god defending Hope's temple, the Null artillery squads never stood a chance and Hope's temple remains entirely protected.

Unfortunately, the emphasis on Hope leaves others vulnerable. Ten hours into the waves of fighting, Love lets out an unearthly scream as the tendrils of pink smoke on the ground recoil, as if electrocuted. Elsewhere in the city, Love's temple falls and the pink glow-cloud god sags to the ground where they are swarmed by Null and snuffed out.

A short wave of intense affection and empathy reaches across the city, affecting those at Hope's temple most, but also momentarily halting all Null in the city and reaching even defenders of other temples.

Love's Temple:

Unguarded, as Love prioritized defending Hope's temple above their own, Love's temple is the first to fall, ten hours into the fight.

Rage's Temple:

Rage's temple is unguarded by gods but thankfully a few humans have decided to help her out by keeping her temple upright. While the defensive squad totals a small handful of characters and no god, they do thankfully have the armory to fall back on if they need weapons.

There are enough characters here to strike out at the Null forces and prevent the worst of the damage- however, the Null are still able to arm and send a cannonstrike toward Rage’s temple. It destroys a massive part of the roof before it can be deactivated, and those near Rage’s temple in the fight may feel themselves growing intensely angry for a few fraught moments- though it’s markedly less intense than Love’s death.

Rage herself will not be prioritizing her temple defense, but she can be seen going from battle to battle across the city. After a portion of her temple is destroyed, roughly seventeen hours into the fight, she becomes slower, weaker, and slightly less of a help- though she doesn’t stop attacking any Null that comes close to her and prioritizing a ruthless offense above all else.

Sorrow’s Temple

Sorrow’s temple is in a similar situation to Rage’s, with slightly fewer people there to defend it, but no god there to lend a hand and no armory to supply you with unlimited weapons. He’s counting on you guys to keep it up so that he can continue his Door defense and for the most part, the attempt is successful.

Of course, there’s those pesky cannons though, and with only a small handful of people, it’s impossible to get someone out there before it goes off. Twenty hours into the fight, one of them gets through and destroys a supporting pillar in Sorrow’s temple, resulting in- you guessed it- a short burst of intense guilt and sadness.

Thankfully, you’re able to use this to your advantage as it paralyzes the Null momentarily- now would be a good time to get to that cannon!

Tranquility’s Temple

With the fewest defenders and an injured Confusion hiding out, the situation doesn’t look good for our resident builders. Tranquility and Confusion have never been fighters themselves, and Tranquility is only able to create an aura of unreasonable peace that seems to throw the Null off their guard and make them pause before taking violent action. When the Null begin to storm the temple, they will suddenly stop and grow still, looking up at the structure with something that could possibly be described as awe or satisfaction.

Regardless, it’s not enough. With Confusion barely holding a form and hiding in the back, Tranquility and his sparse defenders must resort to direct combat with the Null in an attempt to keep them away from the temple- this leaves nothing for any sort of ranged defense.

The first blow from the cannons, thirteen hours into the fight, rips away at the foundation on Tranquility’s temple, staggering him and making him retreat- and Confusion takes notice. She emerges from his temple and orders everyone to go and take care of the artillery device and leave the temple guardianship to her. While she looks like she’s barely standing, she insists that everyone leave, no questions, no arguments- and she's backing it up with enough barbed insults that there's clearly no reasoning with her.

Tranquility takes the defenders to disable the cannon attacking his temple as Confusion holds the fort, mustering up the last of her strength to keep the rising tide of the Null back. Unfortunately, Tranquility isn't fighting at 100% either, as the second strike takes out another chunk of his temple, before you can get there, leaving him weakened and gasping. As you finally eliminate the machine laying siege to his temple, you feel... strange.

Upon returning to the temple, you find a crater in the earth, with the Null apprehensive to approach any further- Confusion has died, but as a parting gift, has drawn a final line in the sand that the Null cannot cross without somehow losing their way and doubling back. Their apparent inability to locate the temple merely twenty feet ahead of them with their sensors makes them easy targets, as their ranks fall to disarray for the rest of the fight.

IN SUMMARY

This is our final battle, what everything has been building toward. This is the time to go all-out with all the drama and confessions and badassery you could possibly want, and we're excited to see it all unfold!

Remember that all of this is happening simultaneously, and so all hours are concurrent. Please keep an eye out for the aftermath OOC post coming in a few days, which will tie up loose plot threads and still have quite a bit of action in it!

THE OVERVIEW

THE ICE PLANET	THE DOOR	THE CITY
1 Hour: The first Null attempts to get in 3 Hours: The Null begin attacking in full 12 Hours: Fear is hit and leaves 24 Hours: [Name] accomplishes its goal, leaving you stranded	4 hours: The madness of the Door begins to affect others 7 Hours: Null reinforcements begin dropping in 10 Hours: The Null send scavengers to repurpose their fallen 13 Hours: Sorrow is weakened and pulls back 19 Hours: Sorrow tells Rey to blow the staircase 24 Hours: The Null all simultaneously die	10 Hours: Love's temple falls and Love is killed 13 Hours: Tranquility's temple is damaged, Confusion dies 15 Hours: Hope's respawns are slowly getting further and further apart 17 Hours: Rage's temple is damaged, Rage is weakened 20 Hours: Sorrow's temple is damaged and he is weakened 24 Hours: The Null all simultaneously die

Comments

Re: QUESTIONS

[battlebound]

so.

once things at the door start getting more serious and there are more Null who are resistant to the effects, could Kate, in theory, use her power to try and increase the Door's power / defensive effects? Essentially the reverse of what she did that time she knocked her powers out of commission.

Just, y'know, in case I feel like killing her.

Re: QUESTIONS

[hadrielmods]

Sure! It would be temporary, but powerful, and it would push the Null back and confuse the ones within its effective range, making them easier targets. Unfortunately, it would effect everyone, so she might want to warn her fellow defenders first.

[dedikated]

Due to the problems it would cause for other players, I've decided not to go through with this, but thank you for taking the time to answer my question!