text | un: 76

[personalwar]

[ Given everything that 76 has learned in the past few days, there's no doubt in his mind that he needs to inform the rest of the refugees about what might be coming. That bandit seems to have been telling the truth, or maybe what 76 saw up on Namarak Mountain was staged, but that seems like way too much work for no real gain that he can foresee.

Enough of the details have checked out that a warning seems necessary. Only a few of the refugee group had actually been on the missions to transport the heart and the skull, and there's no telling that all of them learned what he did.

While this is his first time posting on the network, 76 doesn't introduce himself, but just gets right down to business. Who he is isn't really important here. ]

Word probably got around that Nithor's skull and Ysverai's heart were being transported back to Olympia and Wyver, respectively. Well, things didn't really go as planned. Both caravans got attacked on the way by a group of bandits. I managed to chase down one of them and question him. He was surprisingly forthcoming.

Assuming he was telling the truth, and that's seeming more and more likely at this point, it was the heart that they were really after. These bandits are part of the same group responsible for the abductions, and they took Ysverai's heart up to Namarak Mountain to perform a ritual.

Apparently, that ritual was to revive Ysevrai, and if you've seen some of the skeletons of the old dragons, you know what that means.

I went up to the mountain to see if I could interrupt the ritual, but it was already over and cleared out by the time that I got there. I did find a cryptic note that looked like it was written in blood. It said "He Shall Rise Again."

According to the radical I interrogated, this dragon could mean the end of Olympia and Wyver and everything else. I don't know how much I believe that, but we need to be ready for anything. If you've seen anything, let me know. If you have questions, I can try to answer them, but this is most of what I know.

[ Not everything, though. There's one detail he's still sitting on. But Wyver family drama isn't something he wants to report to all of the other refugees, aware of what kind of unrest that could cause among the natives. ]

Comments

text | un: mai

[maipokerface]

This just keeps getting more and more tiresome.

[personalwar]

So far, their main motivation seems to be destruction for the sake of it. I don't know, maybe that's just the guy I talked to, but I'm not sure what they gain from this.

private text | un: colt.saa

[shashka]

That all the info you got?

[personalwar]

Isn't that what I said?

[ Well, he said "most of," and of course Ocelot would pick up on something like that. ]

Video; un: ROCKET

[beatupgrass]

See?! This is why I wanted to kill all of those guys. Let that be a lesson to everyone!

Video

[personalwar]

[ Apparently Rocket would rather not do this over text. 76 decides to put up with it; the two of them have been through enough together, after all. ]

I think some of them were killed off during the rescue efforts. But a good percentage of them got away, and they weren't so easy to track down after that.

[ He still doesn't know exactly what they're dealing with, in terms of numbers. ]

The guy I interrogated is in Ryder custody now... not sure what they're gonna do with him yet.

private | un: jtk

[willrevile]

Fastest fucking ritual I've ever heard of. Next time we all know there's a lunatic cult running half the known world, let's leave lookouts at their headquarters.

[ Sighs for one million years. Can't these people just take up knitting. ]

Did you happen to read any of the stories in Khalo?

private

[personalwar]

The guy I was interrogating told me that it would be too late, but I figured he might be bluffing. Apparently not.

[ They can't have eyes everywhere all the time, but setting up patrols and lookouts might not be the worst idea. ]

I did my share of homework there, but I couldn't get through everything. [ It'd be impossible. ] What'd you find?

text | un: manbun

[song_of_ice]

I don't know very much about the history of Wyver or Olympia. What have you heard about Ysevrai? If he needed to be revived, it means he was killed before.

text

[personalwar]

I don't know much more than you, but it looks like it's time to do our research. I can't say I have a lot of experience killing dragons.

text / un: sharp

[veneries]

Come on, bastard. We all know you've seen dragons,
but what's the harm in letting these cultists summon one for the rest of us to get a look at?



[he really really really really wants to see a dragon okay]

text | un: Crusader08

[panzersoldat]

Always wanted to slay a dragon. If that is what is coming, I will meet it. I am not afraid.

But beyond that, I worry that the rulers will use this to pin it on the other side. War has been narrowly avoided so far. This might just spark it.

text

[personalwar]

If this comes down to a fight, it's going to take more than one person.

[ This is so far above his pay grade. How are going to deal with a giant beast that can fly and breathe fire? ]

I'm pretty sure the whole point of this is to try and spark a war, yeah. But if we're forthcoming to the rulers about what's going on, it's possible they'll hear us out. Or they might just brush us off as out of our minds, but at this point that's our only option.

[ Then again, if this dragon is really as destructive as that bandit had made it sound, a squabble between nations may be the least of their concerns. ]

private;

[impavid]

[ Well he guesses there's no point hiding it if it can't be contained, but still. This is bound to get people riled up. ]

Guess we're going full horror movie then. I've had a few differing leads point me back toward Khalo so I'm going to hang out there. It might be that we can flush some of them out and see if there's still a way to contain this.

On the bright side, I finally got a decent gun if anything large and fast moving needs shooting down.

private;

[personalwar]

This is probably going to be more overt than a horror movie. What kind of leads?

Yeah, guns can be hard to come by around here. Where'd you get it?

un: revolution; video

[idealisme]

[for a heartbeat Enjolras is angry because this dragon will ruin the chance for better, more democratic governments. thankfully a heartbeat later he recognises that it's the people and cities themselves that have to take precedence here.]

The rulers of both cities should be informed. I am willing to address the Wyverian king, is there another who'll speak to the Empress in Olympia? Plans must be made to prepare for the eventuality that the dragon is raised and turned against the people living in these cities.

video

[personalwar]

[ It hadn't been 76's intention to do any of this over video call, but Mister Revolutionary here is speaking sense. Informing the rulers is going to allow them to spread the word much faster than they would otherwise, and to the natives as well. This doesn't only affect the refugees. ]

I have a lot more connections in Wyver than I do in Olympia, but I'm sure that we can find someone who can get an audience with her. I'll try to ask around.

voice; un: R

[winecasks]

[ He agrees with the first comment; this honestly is getting tiresome, and he tries so hard not to believe in much of anything, but it's getting difficult. ]

Ah, that does sound foreboding, doesn't it? I have little faith in rituals, but if it were to be true, who or what do we suppose their radical views are against? They must oppose something. It seems as though this group cares nothing for Wyver or Olympia if they're willing to see both in ruin. In the past, the cities have opposed one another.

voice

[personalwar]

I can't be sure, but it seems like they take issue with the two nations trying to make peace. They want things to stay they way they have been, with Wyver and Olympia constantly at each other's throats.

[ 76 wouldn't doubt that there's more to it than that, but that's all he'd been able to gather from the words of fanatics, and from what he's read. ]

[objectionattorney]

[Oh man. Seriously?]

Oh my god I called it.

[He really did.]

[personalwar]

You want a medal?

text | c.fraser

[nineteenfortyfive]

Time to hope we have some dragon slayers in our numbers.

[personalwar]

It wouldn't surprise me if there were a few in our ranks. Though some people are wondering if we can try to reason with Ysevrai before jumping straight into a fight.

text; @unburnt

[dorzalta]

[ Having traveled in the transport to Olympia, she was already aware of the attack by bandits. Whilst other allies tended to those who meant to steal, she remained with the caravan, far better suited in providing another set of eyes. That was the last of what she'd heard, the bandits driven off and their allies returning. But this? ]

They believe it possible to revive a skeleton?

[ Were it to be true, Balerion could have been revived, had they saved his heart. Any of the great dragons of the Targaryen family could have been. Viserion could have been. ]

The dead have risen in my world, but there was no need for a heart to accomplish this, nor blood magic to my knowledge. I'd never heard mention of the Night King using blood to accomplish what he had.

These radicals, though. Have you heard of those involved with the other groups escaping? To my knowledge, those involved with my group were all slain.

text

[personalwar]

What did it take to revive people in your world, then?

[ 76 finds it hard to believe that there's not some sort of price that has to be paid. The place where the ritual had taken place had been covered with dried blood. Something had been sacrificed, that much is obvious. ]

I can't speak for all of the groups, but I'm pretty sure at least some of the kidnappers got away. And those probably weren't their full numbers.

text, un. FREDERICK

[pebblestone]

Was the 'he' in this note referring to the leader of this particular group of misfits? I spoke to a bandit who claimed her leader was quite interested in regaining what he considered to be rightfully his.

text

[personalwar]

I assumed it was referring to Ysevrai, but there's no way to be sure. I learned a few things about their leader too, though. Maybe we should compare notes.

UN: SKULL

[sakabroto]

...well that's ominous as shit.

I missed a lot when I was gone, but why the hell are people tryin' to destroy the world?? We all live here, so isn't that kind of stupid?

[personalwar]

You would think so, but you're also assuming these people are rational or even sane.

Didn't realize you were back.

text | un: sparkler

[flashystyle]

A dragon? A truly undead dragon? Luckily, you have both a slayer and necromancer in your midst, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

text

[personalwar]

A necromancer, huh? So what can you tell me about how they'd pull off something like this?

[quevalry]

There's nothing wrong with everyone being prepared for the worst-case scenario. I'm happy to offer a hand, of course.

Maybe I'll be more useful than being a bodyguard for transport.

[personalwar]

[ Jack had been wondering if Lena might chime in here. It's been a while since they spoke, and that's probably for the best. He's been letting her live her life without his interference, just like he had been back home. But it would be impossible for her to ignore a public announcement from him. ]

Yeah, figured we'd need all hands on deck for this one.

You were with the group moving the heart? Can you tell me more about the attack on your end?

un: pholia

[baguablade]

That's certainly dire news.
Notes written in blood seldom herald anything good.
Can you describe the ritual site to me?
Often there's at least an attempt to control whatever's being revived.

private

[personalwar]

When I got there, candles were still burning. It smelled like metal and blood. Not surprising, given that there was dried blood all over the altar. There was also ash scattered around, like they'd been burning something.

There's something else you should know, too.

text; un: Stormflower

[nevernoaction]

So we could be dealing with a dragon on top of everything else?

Thank you for all of the information.

text;

[personalwar]

What do you mean by "everything else"?