my oath shall be sped;

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME;

Vorspiel; a land of song.

arrival for new recruits

You wake up in a patch of verdant forest, with the birds chirping all around you. You're not in a clearing; your body lies between the trees. Near you, a frail woman with tired eyes rocks back and forth. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

When the tired woman notices you've come to, she speaks in a tongue you won't recognize, but somehow understand, in tilting tones that somehow always rhyme. Tired and sorrowful though she is, if you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this dimension and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck. She thinks you'll need it.

And, she says as you depart, if you see the Gods, spit on them. They will do you no favors here.

ARRIVAL FOR VETERANS

While on BASE, you'll receive a message on your BCE.

URGENT MISSION: VORSPIEL UNDER MAJOR ATTACK. ALL POSSIBLE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PROVIDE AID.

ACCEPT: Y / N ?

Selecting 'Y' will instantly teleport you to Vorspiel. Or maybe you're not the volunteering type, but your BCE glitches and signs you up anyway. Them's the breaks.

When you appear in Vorspiel, you'll find yourself in that same forest with the same woman who is ushering new recruits. She will give you clothes and wish you luck-- though luck, she says, is something true heroes have in short supply.

VORSPIEL

Regardless of how you got here, your BCE will have a short rundown of the situation once you arrive.

Vorspiel is a mythical, magical dimension rich in rare and precious resources. During the course of the war, it's been fought over by both sides. The Regency has recently allied with the leader of the misty country of Nibelheim to issue what is known as a Time Break; a sort of spell only possible in ancient dimensions such as these. Essentially, linear time has been destroyed in this dimension. Everything is happening at once, simultaneously and perpetually, a never ending cycle of lives and deaths and battles. While Vorspiel is a vast dimension, its borders have become warped; it is possible to walk from one country to another across the sea in a matter of moments, by accident. While the BCE is trying to send people to Nibelheim, it's entirely possible it misses the mark completely, or sends them to several places before they reach Nibelheim.

This chaos is meant to be a punishment: bow down before the Regency, or nothing will ever be the same again.

There is good news, though. Vorspiel is a dimension of inherent magic; singing or humming or whistling certain magical tunes will have an inherent effect upon one's surroundings. The BCE lists all the spells, though it notes that some have varying results (AKA go wild, guys, have fun), and the ones named after people will do little unless the person in question is present (a statistical unlikelihood).

As you enter different parts of Vorspiel, the BCE will sometimes give you different assignments, prompting you to take this action or that. If you have any questions about how this setting works, feel free to ask!

THE RHEIN

You come upon a giant river with clear and beautiful water. The sun shines down upon it in yellow light, and wherever the light touches it, gold floats to the surface of the water. The BCE will prompt you to fetch as much of this gold as you can-- it is an extremely powerful magical resource, rheingold-- but it will not warn you about the Rheinmaidens.

The rheinmaidens are mermaids, essentially, and at first, they are very friendly and gentle, singing nonsense songs and welcoming you to their home. But as soon as you begin to make any moves toward the gold, they will curse you, dive for you with surprising speed, and attempt to drown you. They will be vicious, and their natural element is water. You're in their territory, taking their things, as far as they are concerned. They have every right to kill you.

Killing the rhienmaidens will work... for a minute or so. And then they will rise again. Wounds will undo themselves-- whether they're inflicted by the rheinmaidens or you. Drowning doesn't seem permanent either-- you're pulled under, and all air escapes you, death befalls you... and then you wake up a moment later, standing on the shore.

Time has been fundamentally broken. Nothing done here is permanent.

WALHALL

You stand outside a fortress bathed in rainbow light atop a glorious mountain. Around you, the air is cool and still, and the roof of the sky seems terribly close. No matter how far toward the fortress you run, you can never make it inside. And thundering footsteps are coming just around the mountain pass, coming for you.

Lumbering giants wander around the fortress, searching for something they mutter and murmur is theirs. If they see anyone around, they will attempt to carry them off, kidnapping them for unknown purposes. They do not seem interested in eating their catch; they seem more interested in kidnapping it. Still, they are dangerous, brutish and sloppy with their strength. It is best to avoid them if possible, hiding in the trees.

Or perhaps you'd rather fight these fifteen-foot monstrosities on your own?

Of course, if you kill them, they just... come back. Death cannot be permanent in a place where time has been caught in an endless loop.

NIBELHEIM

The misty country of Nibelheim is located within a network of caverns dug into the side of a great mountain. It's a foggy, polluted place that brings to mind a city on the brink of the industrial revolution, not unlike Victorian London, though Nibelheim is entirely underground. There is smoke and smog everywhere, and living conditions are generally poor. The rich class is one family, ruled by a Nibelung named Alberich. He has various objects of great power that keep him enslaving his fellow Nibelung, working constantly in factories of his making. He has allied with the Regency to achieve this goal, and the time break within his home dimension is due in large part to his planning and plotting.

Human visitors to Nibelheim aren't unheard of, due to trade, though they are in a minority. Nibelungs, for the record, look and feel and act completely human, but they are ultimately alien, averaging a foot shorter in height at least, having naturally sallow skin, large eyes, hairless regardless of gender, and long, nimble fingers. They are a race of people made to live underground, and it shows; most can see in the dark, and climb nearly any surface. They are famed as smiths and metalworkers. Most just want to make a living and feed their families, though Alberich's clan keeps them in line.

Your duty here, the BCE says, is to try and befriend these people, the average Nibelung, and spark some kind of revolt. There are Regency spies everywhere, however, so be careful; you cannot call for rebellion in an open voice on every street corner. No, it's better, safer, to be subtle about it. Win the trust of a local businessman, seek out influential Nibelungs and figure out their opinions. Be tactical, be clever, be quick.

And avoid Alberich and his family at any cost.

But if you can, try and save some of the Nibelungs. Due to Alberich's machinations, Nibelheim is the only part of Vorspiel that has been untouched by the time break, but that will only stay true for so long. If you can convince any Nibelungs to join COST, they will do so willingly; you'll just have to escort them to safe places in hidden back rooms within dingy bars and forgotten libraries, the places where COST cells have been fermenting under the nose of the Regency. Don't get caught, and be careful; save as many as you can.

AT THE BASE OF A GREAT TREE

A man lays dying. He looks very much like the woman who introduced you to this place. Regardless, he lies in a pool of his own blood, a stab wound through his heart. The time break keeps him from ever truly passing into the next life; as soon as he dies, his eyes open, and he begins the process of his last painful moments once again.

Each time, he begs you to avenge him and find his love (or sometimes his sister; he seems very confused), and if you ask him his name, he will only respond that he is, "the woeful one". And then he will die again, for the hundredth time.

In the trees, warriors watch, poised to attack. They see you communing with their enemy, and they wish to defeat you as well. These warriors care little for your protest; they are locked in an endless battle that they cannot free themselves from, and you have just joined it.

IN THE FOREST

There is a serpent, larger than anything you have ever seen, sitting at the mouth of a cave. It sits upon a hoard of gold that may be familiar to you. It may not, but the BCE will inform you of what it is: rheingold, an incredibly potent and valuable magical resource.

Regardless, the serpent will attack anyone that comes near it or its hoard, even by accident. It, too, is caught in an endless loop of battle long over, for it calls you boy and foolish young man regardless of who or what you are. It speaks in a deep and sonorous voice, and will not stop until its head is cut off. The creature is obnoxiously large and highly dangerous, and battle with it will be long and painful, not least because, like everything in this place where time has been so fundamentally broken, it is very bad at staying dead.

Be careful when you fight it -- if you accidentally get some of its blood in your mouth, you will be suddenly and temporarily able to understand the language of birds. Which is cool, but also, you know, distracting.

The birds will tell you to find the Valkyries, who will bring you great fame and glory. They will also tell you to run, for Fafnir does not die so easy.

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

You are at a funeral. A golden-haired woman stands upon an unlit pyre, standing next to the man who, she sings, is her dead husband. Her song is beautiful and loud and incomprehensible, and when the pyre is lit, the fire swallows her whole. But the burning doesn't stop there; it begins to destroy the assembled mourners, the forest around it, the castle, the very river burns. The fabric of the world crackles and sets to flame.

Run from the flame all you like, but it always licks at your heels.

There is a trick, though, to saving your life. If one is truly unafraid of death, the fire cannot harm you, or anyone you touch. The BCE won't warn you of this; it doesn't know. But if you are unafraid, you can simply walk through the flames unharmed.

It will bring you to a wide field atop a mountain, where a woman lies sleeping. It's the same woman at the funeral, peaceful in sleep, unmoving, unsinged. She can be awoken by a kiss.

Of course, awakening her will begin the cycle again: the pyre, the fire, the fearlessness, the clearing. Over and over again, endlessly, until the BCE manages to pull you out.

This is the will of the Regency.

As a final note: This will not be the main mission for January. This TDM is meant as a one-off to dump characters into a setting they don't have to read a ton of infopages for, while still getting a sense of what Agoge could be (and as always, this TDM is game canon).

The main mission for January will be the Gallipoli campaign, as detailed here. Future missions for Agoge are always listed here months in advance.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

[servitor]

He'd thought he'd seen everything.

He thought seeing old gods pass judgment and statues rising to fight daemons was enough to fill a lifetime.

Apparently, he had thought wrong. Glauca? Nothing compared to this man who clearly isn't from here with the get up and the capacity to just deck a giant and break its ankle.

"Are you crazy?!" he yells, realizing that he really doesn't need an answer to that. Looks like he's become inadvertently committed to the giant-slaying situation. "Here we go again!"

Nyx flings his knife, and in seconds he's materialized in midair, free-falling, before throwing it again and landing on the next giant's neck. Worse up-close, naturally. Nyx brings down the knife into the shoulder. Time to rodeo, with the twist of a knife. "Hey!"

Great way to call someone out, right?

[thingpuncher]

Is he crazy? Well, fuck. "No comment!"

But he's seen that kind of fancy knifework before. Noctis... isn't as good at it as this guy. So that's a tidbit of info to stash away for later. Until then, they've got giants to kill.

Midnighter doesn't need a knife to get up high. He runs back a yard or so, and then takes a running jump. Lands at the giant's hip, distracting him from the furry weirdo at its shoulder; the giant grunts and swipes at Midnighter, and Midnighter laughs like, well, a madman. He's having fun, dunno about you guys.

"You got some sorta plan," Midnighter shouts up to his new best friend, "now'd be the fucking time!"

[servitor]

"Get to the fortress! The giants might get us there!"

They can't make it by foot, he's tried a dozen times. The only ones that seem to making any headway are the giants. Might be the start of something, might a colossal waste of time.

It's not as if they have time to lose.

Nyx's knife stabs deeper into the giant's shoulder. With effort and gritted teeth, he forces the knife to tilt leftwards, cutting through thick, corded muscle and nerves.

The giant roars angrily. A giant hand swipes at the painful nuisance on its shoulder, quicker than Nyx expects. The full-body impact shudders through his bones, knocking him backwards, damn well nearly senseless. He's seeing and feeling stars, if that's even possible, but he manages an absolutely sloppy warp back to the giant.

"And stop pissing them off so much!"

That's supposed to be his job back home, thanks.

[thingpuncher]

Midnighter sees the amazing Knife Man get swatted like a leather-clad mosquito. Maybe he isn't so much better at this than Noctis. "Oh, for fuck's sake!"

Midnighter punches the giant again, and it swings its hand down at where Midnighter's perched at its hip. He jumps into its hand, fast enough to avoid getting crushed in its fist, before he begins running up its arm. "Just stab it in the fucking eye! They hate that shit! Jesus, show a little initiative!"

Sorry, he's here to piss everyone off, not just the giants.

[servitor]

Stab in the eye?

Might as well. Next best thing he can figure...

Or he'll just do a solid, just to get things back on track, to show some initiative.

He pulls the knife out, without missing a beat, throws the knife to pull a warp directly in front of the giant. The second knife cuts through the air, stabs the eye and when Nyx reforms, he's hanging off the hilt of the blade. He vaults backwards, taking the knife out and now he's got a new aim: the head. One, two, five steps up the forehead, he brings the knives down on the skull.

"How's that that for initiative?!"

Of course, he's not going to let the other answer, because he's gone again in shattered glass and smoke.

[thingpuncher]

"Fuck, yeah!" Midnighter cheers the shithead on from the dying giant's shoulder, because displays of grotesque violence are always welcome at his parties. And if they're fighting giant mythological shitheads, it's always a party.

Of course, this guy's just about killed the giant. Blood splatters out of the knife wounds, and Midnighter grins, shouting, "asshole!" It doesn't sound like an insult.

Midnighter jumps from the dying giant just as it falls, landing in a nearby tree. He has no use for subtlety or hiding, so he just shouts into the open air-- "Nice magic trick!"

[servitor]

The knife lands not far from the stranger. Nyx reappears in ember and glass, burning pieces of himself straying a bit before finally attaching themselves onto his body.

Despite the pain of the last 72 hours, he smirks. The scars along his temple, his face, down to his nape seem to simmer as if they're fresh burns from the inside out. "It's not the last of it."

So he sincerely hopes.

[thingpuncher]

Midnighter's seen his share of weird fucking scars. That one is, admittedly, a new one. None of his business, though, just like how his knife tricks are none of his business. However this works out, people's powers are their own. His cost him his whole life. He doesn't tend to stick his nose in shit.

"Gonna have to do more than kill a giant to impress me." But he holds out his hand; the expression on his face is already pretty clearly impressed. "Midnighter. Good to see someone else around here isn't afraid of these bastards."

[servitor]

"Midnighter. Hell of a name," he admits as he shakes the now-less-of-a-stranger's hand. "Nyx. These guys aren't much compared to what I've seen."

Nyx lets go, no less curious about this man's self-appointed name and his abilities. It's... whatever it is, it's impressive, to be able to crack bone with a bare hand. None of his business, though, not until it gets to be a problem.

[thingpuncher]

"Only one I got," he says. He gave up all the other ones as the crap they were. "Don't act like yours isn't impressive."

Date a guy obsessed with Greek mythology for a few years: you pick some shit up. He assumes the name is a moniker, one Nyx picked for himself; otherwise, who names their kid after a female goddess? But then again, Noctis' name is fucking weird, so maybe that's just how it goes.

If they're from the same world. He can't assume based on such limited data.

"Ohh, you're a bragger, too. Very nice. You'll fit right in with the home team."

[servitor]

Perhaps best not to mention his little sister's name was Selene...

At the comment, now he's just straight up grinning as wipes the less ornate of the pair of kukri on the darkest pieces of fur he has on. He's given up on the spear entirely by now. "I think some of my own might argue that."

Given all he did leading up to the attack was butt heads with half of the Glaive, he's not keen on trusting so soon. Not after the number of men and women that had allied themselves with the Empire for the chance of a better home. "But I don't know if it's really a brag when it's the truth. Last thing I did was ride shotgun on a statue five times a big as that."

[thingpuncher]

Midnighter whistles low. "Whoever the fuck's in charge of recruitment around here, I gotta shake their hand." That's Midnighter; once he's decided he likes you, he's a bit... effusive with praise. And basically everything else he can think of. What's a normal level of social interaction? Fuck if he knows. "You wanna take down another one, or really try'n make it for that damn castle?"

Because he's decided: they're in this together, now.

[servitor]

Nyx stares out thoughtfully. "There's no point in taking them out. They might be a way for us to get in. Anytime I move, I don't get closer. Next thing's to try and use them to get into it, if they're willing to do more than circle the castle."

This he thinks is some kind of magic, or a loophole to whatever time thing is happening. He's not smart, not by books, not by grades, but he's clever, and he can get anything done when he puts his mind to it. The plan might end in nothing, but it's better than just staring and running aimlessly.

"If that doesn't work, we'll have to regroup a bit. Find something that doesn't work the same." He glances over now to the Midnighter. "I'm guessing you don't care for the rules." You know, since he's to the nines in anything but the local attire.

[thingpuncher]

"You want me to do stealth." He sounds so put out by this... "Fine, fine. You're in charge. Lucky you're handsome."

He winks before launching himself at the nearest giant, this one with an impressive head of matted hair. Midnighter jumps right into it, hiding in dirty clumps of golden locks, while the giant itches stupidly at its head, trying to figure out what that strange feeling was.

[servitor]

Stealth hadn't exactly been the plan, but neither had been being called handsome not long after imminent death.

Alright then. He'll take it.

Nyx rounds out the giant before warping his way up, towards the giant, just above it before landing onto its head. "We need to get it actually moving towards the fortress. Any ideas?"

[thingpuncher]

Midnighter squirms up through a clump of hair. "This fucker better not have fleas," he mutters under his breath. He looks up at Nyx. "You wanna play carrot or stick?" A moment, and then. "They got carrots where you're from?"

Because it's sure as shit not where he's from.

[servitor]

Nyx gives the Midnighter a flat look. "I know what a carrot is, thanks. I don't think it'll matter to this guy. It's all the same."

It would attack anything that came across it, right? The only thing would be make distractions for it to follow... but what?

"I can make it follow me, and you can see how far you get."

[thingpuncher]

Midnighter throws up his hands. "That's what I get for being culturally sensitive." Because even if he isn't from Noctis' planet, just statistically speaking, he's probably not from Earth.

Speaking of sensitive. "That's a dumb plan. If you're playing carrot, I'm going with. No point in just one of us."

[servitor]

"Someone has to stay behind to know this works. We both go, we'll never know if it'll work."

But he suspects Midnighter won't care and do as he pleases anyway, so Nyx isn't going to argue too much right now. He's too tired for that.