elnysa | text | un: 76

[ 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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like I mentioned, whatever ritual they did with the heart happened up on Namarak Mountain. They left no trace of where they went after that, so while we can plan for evacuation and sheltering of civilians, we have no way of knowing where the attacks are going to start.

Wait.. The ritual was already done????

[Crap.

There goes the sinking feeling in his gut. Did his own inability to defend the heart lead to the revival of an ancient evil?

You mean the mass destruction of large cities and hundreds, possibly thousands, of people will be partly because of his screwup?????????

He suddenly felt sick.]

But there's no way to tell it was even successful right? After all, something like this has never really been done before...

[But still--]

I mean, if evacuations have to happen it would probably have to be Olympia again right? If it were the Shaman extremists from Wyver that would be who they're set in defeating.

Did you read my original post? I already said the ritual was done. You're right that it could all be a giant hoax and nothing will come of it, but it's better to prepare for the worst.

Olympia is a safe bet, but the ritual was done near Wyver, so it's a toss up. We also don't know if a dragon is going to care about some petty war when it decides who to incinerate.

Listen I... I got it.. I mean I read it but I guess I just didn't comprehend it? I mean... Oh god this is all so messed up.

[He had been in situations where people's lives were on the line, but never on such a grand scale. But suddenly it was hitting him just how serious the whole situation had been.

And he was now kind of freaking out a little because of it all.]

I'm really surprised they are not holding those of us who were part of the escort more accountable... This was our first big job as a coalition after all... But not only did we fudge it up, the worst possible outcome happened because of our lack of care... Incarceration feels like too light of an outcome.

[He could handle the thought of his own life being on the line, but the thought of an entire countries worth of people being harmed because of this was all too much.

His hands were shaking behind the screen. His palms sweaty and a sickly nauseous feeling forming in the pit of his gut.]

How would we even get around to evacuating that many people? Especially without those involved with the revival noticing?

[The task seemed fairly impossible.]

[ 76 doesn't know this guy, but just from this conversation, and the paragraphs of text that he's sending him, he has to assume he's the kind of person who's never had blood on his hands before. How many decisions had Jack been forced to make as strike commander that had led to his people dying? It's not something you get used to, exactly, but you learn how to deal with it. ]

The people who should get locked up are the people who are trying to revive and unleash a dragon on the populace. We may have failed our mission, but we also didn't know the full stakes. If they want to hold us accountable, that means they have less people trying to save their asses when Ysevrai comes to burn everything to the ground.

[ He could answer the question about evacuation efforts, he's organized similar operations in his past, but he doesn't want to get dragged into a leadership role. Better not to go there. ]

Yeah, I mean, you're right. In the end, we were just trying to help I suppose.

But that means we're all the more responsible for making sure as few people are harmed as possible because of all this.

[All right, Phoenix. Breathe.

In the end, he doesn't know how to deal with such a grand scale of people, but he's not completely new to country-wide epidemics either.

It was sort of like what happened in Khura'in, wasn't it?]

Do you know if anyone had approached the royalty in either of the two countries about what's expected to happen?

I'm pretty sure someone who responded to this announcement is going to try and get a word in with Shanrian. I don't have much in the way of connections in Olympia, though, so not sure about getting a hold of the Queen.

[ She's always seemed more difficult to access, but maybe that's just him and the slight bias he has against Olympia. ]

....
I'm sure I can attempt actually.
That is, I reside in Olympia and have visited the palace quite often to take part in the events leading up to the transport of Ysvari's heart. And since I work for the coalition it should not be that difficult for me to get in contact with her.

[Still... Admitting his own faults to the queen personally...]

I'm sure if I say it's in regard to the recent escort Queen Simwe would be more than willing to listen.

So there you go. That's a way for you to contribute.

[ Feel better now? ]

Let me know how it turns out, if you can actually get through to her.

Huh... Yeah actually.

Thanks.

[You are a good man 76.]

I guess, it isn't much, but even if it's something to compensate for my mistakes, I'm more than happy to do it.

I'll be sure to tell you about how it all turns out. Hopefully, we can get as little fallout as possible.

[ It's not like 76 had actively been trying to cheer this guy up, but if that's what happened, then he isn't going to take issue with it. Better that people feel galvanized than demoralized in this situation. ]

Good luck with it, then. Send a message with whatever the outcome is.

Yeah. Of course. And once again, thanks, I seriously mean it.

[You have no idea how much he had been beating himself up over this 76. Even if it wasn't meant to be much, it still made him feel useful. And it at least felt like he could do something to redeem himself from his previous mis-hap.]

And, um, good luck. Hopefully, if we play our cards right, we can all get through this in one piece.

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