Post by Wolfe on Dec 10, 2019 12:48:26 GMT -5
The first day on the western front was completely uneventful. The populace was too fucked up on the emotion dampening water to do much to react to their coming, and the trainees largely had free reign over the area. This was both good because there was little interference, and bad because there was no guidance. It was common knowledge among the trainees at this point that the village elders did not take their own water, but it seemed like almost everyone else in the city did. Each trainee had four doses of dust of any type, up to and including up to one use of Hard Light for this mission and could use that dust in their preparations.
The primary goal was still fortifying the village in any way possible, though, and each group would do that in a different way. The number of trainees available for this mission was low due to both the unexpected nature of the assignment and the fact that there were some who were still out on vacation or other travels due to school being suspended. That meant that there was only a little more than half a dozen trainees for this mission, when the ideal would have been double that number. It made an already difficult assignment, frankly, much harder. What made it even harder than that, though, was keeping emotions in check.
The emotion dampening medication that they were all given only lasted twelve hours, and a new set of two was needed to keep the effect going. It was not as strong as the ones used on the locals, but it was a chemical calmness that prevented anyone from freaking the hell out and helped with focus. Shade had made it extremely clear that not taking it was dumb as hell because it put everyone else in danger, but the fact of the matter was that there was no supervision on this mission due to the circumstances of the mission. If the person decides that they don’t need it, they can just never take another dose and not mention that fact to any of their peers.
The villagers themselves almost seem like zombies, with their emotions repressed to the point of general sluggishness and apathy. It might have been how they survived this long, but the interactions with them definitely took some getting used to. While trainees would get some help with completing tasks, the fact of the matter is that the villagers are too apathetic and sluggish to really be of much help even if they agreed to do so. The bulk of the work was going to have to be done by the trainees, and because there was no supervision it was the trainees who decided what to prioritize.
Carmim decided that fortification was the most important thing to work on, and strengthened both the outward facing wall and the gate significantly by barricading and reinforcing it with the materials the Haven airship brought. Because the way to safety was not out of the gates, it did not matter if they were able to be opened again. Welding and other methods of adhesion were the name of the game in that regard, because the gate cannot simply be bashed open if it was not designed to be opened in the first place. The entire structure would need to be destroyed now, piece by piece, which would buy valuable time.
Colton decided that offense was the best defense, and took both his semblance of Polarity and his skill in metalworking to work in getting the weapons systems of the west side in as good a shape as possible. The turrets were banged up and malfunctioning due to lack of repairs, but new parts were sent in via the airship that were easily replaced by someone who knew what they were doing. The equipment was extremely heavy, but Polarity took care of that problem immediately in a way that didn’t even require another person. Due to the fast completion of the turret assignment, he was also able to work on the personal weapons of the town militia. The assisted aim functioning on the rifles was primitive but nonfunctioning due to lack of maintenance, and there was general rust and gunk buildup in the barrels as well as cheaper quality ammunition with roughly two thirds the amount of dust within each round as a standard brand. These deficiencies were all fixed, with the dust being redistributed to create more powerful shots as well as the assisted aim systems being updated to as close to current standards as the hardware allowed to create more accurate shots.
Qiu’li, distrusting dust and its general volatility, instead used other materials already present in the village to create three small explosive boxes made of scrap metal and primitive self-made gunpowder. While it was weaker than dust-enhanced weaponry, he had enough material to make a virtually unlimited number of these as time went on. The night was equally as uneventful, with zero Grimm attacking the city that night, at least in that part of town, in what was honestly kind of a bizarre stillness.
When the trainees woke up the next morning, Carmim and Qiu’li would find that their stack of materials had been fucked with at some point during the night. Carmim had some wood taken, and Qiu’li had some metal taken. It was not an insignificant amount, either, equaling easily ten to twenty pounds of raw material each. Either way, with a new day there were new preparations to be done. The students could either ignore the loss of materials or investigate, and each had its consequences. If they investigated, they lost time fortifying the city and if they left it alone whoever stole the materials could just come back the next night and steal more.
Colton, for his part, would focus on his own work and spend his day working with his untouched supplies to create grenades with two doses of lightning dust with his metalworking skill and worked on the first half of makeshift platforms besides that with wood. Once completed with a second action, the makeshift platforms would connect the rooftops in the sector and increase the speed of everyone in the group except for Qiu’li while moving around.
Actions for the second day and plans for the second night were needed, in other words.
The primary goal was still fortifying the village in any way possible, though, and each group would do that in a different way. The number of trainees available for this mission was low due to both the unexpected nature of the assignment and the fact that there were some who were still out on vacation or other travels due to school being suspended. That meant that there was only a little more than half a dozen trainees for this mission, when the ideal would have been double that number. It made an already difficult assignment, frankly, much harder. What made it even harder than that, though, was keeping emotions in check.
The emotion dampening medication that they were all given only lasted twelve hours, and a new set of two was needed to keep the effect going. It was not as strong as the ones used on the locals, but it was a chemical calmness that prevented anyone from freaking the hell out and helped with focus. Shade had made it extremely clear that not taking it was dumb as hell because it put everyone else in danger, but the fact of the matter was that there was no supervision on this mission due to the circumstances of the mission. If the person decides that they don’t need it, they can just never take another dose and not mention that fact to any of their peers.
The villagers themselves almost seem like zombies, with their emotions repressed to the point of general sluggishness and apathy. It might have been how they survived this long, but the interactions with them definitely took some getting used to. While trainees would get some help with completing tasks, the fact of the matter is that the villagers are too apathetic and sluggish to really be of much help even if they agreed to do so. The bulk of the work was going to have to be done by the trainees, and because there was no supervision it was the trainees who decided what to prioritize.
Carmim decided that fortification was the most important thing to work on, and strengthened both the outward facing wall and the gate significantly by barricading and reinforcing it with the materials the Haven airship brought. Because the way to safety was not out of the gates, it did not matter if they were able to be opened again. Welding and other methods of adhesion were the name of the game in that regard, because the gate cannot simply be bashed open if it was not designed to be opened in the first place. The entire structure would need to be destroyed now, piece by piece, which would buy valuable time.
Colton decided that offense was the best defense, and took both his semblance of Polarity and his skill in metalworking to work in getting the weapons systems of the west side in as good a shape as possible. The turrets were banged up and malfunctioning due to lack of repairs, but new parts were sent in via the airship that were easily replaced by someone who knew what they were doing. The equipment was extremely heavy, but Polarity took care of that problem immediately in a way that didn’t even require another person. Due to the fast completion of the turret assignment, he was also able to work on the personal weapons of the town militia. The assisted aim functioning on the rifles was primitive but nonfunctioning due to lack of maintenance, and there was general rust and gunk buildup in the barrels as well as cheaper quality ammunition with roughly two thirds the amount of dust within each round as a standard brand. These deficiencies were all fixed, with the dust being redistributed to create more powerful shots as well as the assisted aim systems being updated to as close to current standards as the hardware allowed to create more accurate shots.
Qiu’li, distrusting dust and its general volatility, instead used other materials already present in the village to create three small explosive boxes made of scrap metal and primitive self-made gunpowder. While it was weaker than dust-enhanced weaponry, he had enough material to make a virtually unlimited number of these as time went on. The night was equally as uneventful, with zero Grimm attacking the city that night, at least in that part of town, in what was honestly kind of a bizarre stillness.
When the trainees woke up the next morning, Carmim and Qiu’li would find that their stack of materials had been fucked with at some point during the night. Carmim had some wood taken, and Qiu’li had some metal taken. It was not an insignificant amount, either, equaling easily ten to twenty pounds of raw material each. Either way, with a new day there were new preparations to be done. The students could either ignore the loss of materials or investigate, and each had its consequences. If they investigated, they lost time fortifying the city and if they left it alone whoever stole the materials could just come back the next night and steal more.
Colton, for his part, would focus on his own work and spend his day working with his untouched supplies to create grenades with two doses of lightning dust with his metalworking skill and worked on the first half of makeshift platforms besides that with wood. Once completed with a second action, the makeshift platforms would connect the rooftops in the sector and increase the speed of everyone in the group except for Qiu’li while moving around.
Actions for the second day and plans for the second night were needed, in other words.
1061 words