Discontinued Vintergard Escape from Vintergard

[Ash Vargold]

With Ash being near the back of the line, it isn't difficult for him to hear the way Ilya's breath hitches. It's a familiar sound, and he glances back at her with a worried expression. He's not enjoying the tunnel too much himself - he feels like he has to bend over to keep from bumping his head on the ceiling.

"...going up against something like that without pain reduction off is pretty brave," Ash says, occasionally glancing behind him as they go. "Really, playing with pain reduction off at all. I can barely handle playing with the pain reduction, to be honest." He snorts a bit. "Serves me right going melee, I suppose..."

It's an attempt to keep her calm, to give her something to focus on other than the oppressive confines of the tunnel. Little menial things, a conversation with no real direction that continues as they travel. Whether it works is a whole other story.

---

Ash hisses as they step out into the sunlight, shielding his eyes against the sudden change in light. It's by sound and smell that he follows Bradwynne to the viewpoint. He blinks away the last few spots and stares at the skyline with growing horror.

"That's... what the hell?" He doesn't remember much of what Vintergard was, before. Ilusa's words about a king are unfamiliar. But the level of devastation is horrifying. "What kind of... ridiculous genre change is this?"

 

[Bradwynne]

As he then saw the other people becoming angry and horrified at what Vintergard had become, Bradwynne could only share the same sentiment. Every time he would see this destruction from this vantage point that he had seized from those unfeeling opportunistic bandits that had organized to pillage from those entering and leaving Camp Hope, his anger would always swell to the point of wanting to crush every single robot that was there. But knowing their capabilities - and the number of adventurers that had died a permanent death trying to seize back that city - he could only hope for a mass attack that could overwhelm the city's new inhabitants, which should be an impossible task, for the robots could organize an effective army - those patrolling robots as infantry, those robots collecting waste as cavalry, and the moving turrets as artillery. As he had experienced manning the defenses of Vintergard - formerly Dormont - as a sallying force, trying to attack an entrenched position is a difficult task. There had been records of a 600,000 strong force failing to take a city with 3,000 regular soldiers, and, barring any technological superiority, this should not be different. The only way they could win this should be finding out locations to infiltrate the inside of Vintergard, like this tunnel here. Neither a pitched battle nor a siege would work.

"Before anything, you should know that I was also a veteran from four years ago when this world was still open to Travelers. But unlike you who can access your UI, I had lost access to mine since my third death, and could never return to that world," Bradwynne then started. "And so, I had been here for four years, and witnessed everything that happened here, but sadly without the Internet, I could only tell you the gist without the detail." He then turned towards the remains of Vintergard, the Vintergard that he had helped erected and defended to the utmost. "Some years ago, that airship appeared out of nowhere, bombarding some of the areas within Astorea and Falderen, and then landing in Vintergard. The people there tried to attack, but the attacks were rendered ineffective by that airship, and everyone that tried to infiltrate it..." Bradwynne was trying to check his anger while he was saying these words, but could not help it, and so continued with an angry tone. "...did not make it back. Beginner and veteran alike. Even one of the strongest tanks the UI-locked had to offer had fallen, only managing to create a safe zone within Vintergard that no robot could penetrate before succumbing to an endless slumber." That tank was, in fact, one of his comrades way back when the Witch Ops was still existing, and he could not really control his anger after that. He then faced the person who had inquired about Astor's whereabouts (@Ilusa Nakhalee) and then spat out, "What of the king you say? He's currently soliciting support from other factions in order to reclaim Vintergard. I really hope, sincerely hope, he succeeds. So that the sacrifice of my friends will never be in vain." He again remembered Ivàn again, and he became angrier. Not at the king who he believed might be doing his job, but at himself for his cowardice.

@Ash Vargold @Ilya

 

[Ilya]

The story held a lot of big words that Ilya tried to piece together. The gist being that Vintergard was gone, and a lot of people had died in the process. Ilya felt the corners of her face lie down low in a frown. "I- I can't believe it... That all of this happened while we were gone..."

Ilya reached out and rested her hand on Bradwynne's shoulder, "I'm glad you're still here. That means that...." Ilya looked into the sky, "They all have a chance to still be here..." She was referring to her friends that had been UI-locked.

She let go of Bradwynne's shoulder giving him a soft apology at touching him without consent. "So how far out till we reach an outpost or a camp of some sort to let us get acclimated better? I don't wanna stay here for too long, lest the death bots come marching towards us and end our lives before we even have a chance to do anything or make an impact."

Ilya could be seen as impatient, but she really just wanted everyone to be safe. The last thing she wanted was to see someone die in front of her, again... Especially Bradwynne. He was on his last life.