3Hello, hello! I am back!
With another story!
Yes, yes, I can hear the boos happening about now. But I have too many ideas and I need an outlet. This is what happens when you're bored and you have nothing else to do after all!
Anyways, I really have no excuse or messages other than:
Enjoy!
Two eyes narrowed at the screen staring back at them, looking at what he saw over and over again. He wanted to believe they were fabricated or that there was some deception afoot.
Seeing as who sent him the intel, however, shed doubts on that theory.
On the screen were a set of photos, each showing the aftermath of what was a brutal battle.
No, Ozpin thought, it was a massacre.
Blood coated the grounds and even the stone walls of many of the houses in the photos. The attackers left nothing to chance and razed the village to the ground. Not through fire but through death and carnage. There were streaks of dried blood, showing that something was dragged before ending abruptly in a pool.
There were no bodies. None in the shot anyway. There was only signs of carnage.
The Headmaster of Vale's Prestigious Huntsman Academy, Ozpin, held a neutral expression and glanced at the text accompanying the photos.
They're coordinated.
Those two words should not have held so much weight behind them. Ozpin knew just who or what his trusted ally was talking about. He typed in his response and the message was sent.
Find Autumn. Bring her back as quickly as you can.
Another text was sent back almost immediately.
Omw.
Ozpin sighed at the casual tone Qrow had, scrolling up back to the photos.
It wasn't uncommon for a pack of Grimm to attack a village in the wilds. A buildup of negative emotions is one such reason the Grimm would attack. Tragic but not unexpected.
What got Ozpin so concerned about this was their numbers.
From what Qrow told him, much of the Grimm that invaded the towns numbered near the hundreds. A pack only had enough Grimm to level a small town if they had very few or didn't have any capable defenders. This went beyond that.
This wasn't a simple pack. It was an army.
Furthermore, these weren't isolated incidents either. The Grimm usually were mindless, reverting to animal-like instincts rather than true strategy though all lesser Grimm at least possess some level of intelligence despite popular belief.
However, there are Grimm who have managed to live for years on end, adapting to their surroundings and gaining experience to properly strategize instead of rushing headfirst into an obvious death.
But despite the increase in intelligence through age, most Grimm doesn't live long enough to fully think like a human can nor are they able to lead hundreds of Grimm to be able to invade several isolated towns and villages one at a time, sweeping through them like a wave of death. It was obvious something was controlling them.
It started off small. Rumors of small villages being wiped out by Grimm were nothing new to anyone. Tragic yes but not uncommon. Another loss of innocent life, Ozpin lamented, yet there was nothing he could do about it.
Then the attacks escalated in scale.
Towns were suddenly being wiped off the map left and right. No Huntsmen or Huntress could be properly deployed in time before the Grimm moved on. There were no survivors as the hordes of Grimm had hunted them down.
Disconcerting would be describing the situation mildly. This was a full-blown assault. Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden shift in the Grimm's behavior. It was almost too similar to how Mountain Glenn was destroyed by an ever-increasing wave of Grimm.
And to make the situation worse, the attacks were slowly nearing Vale's walls.
Thankfully, the terrain was making it difficult for the Grimm to properly travel across. The mountains to the kingdom's front stopped most of the Grimm's attempts to run straight at Vale. They were also kept busy by the remaining frontier villages as many of the towns were acting as bait, morbidly enough, buying Vale enough time to gather its defenses
The Council of Valetom advantage of the momentary distraction and immediately requested military aid from Atlas to wipe out the incoming threat as already it was clear that Vale's own personal army would be no match for the Grimm's numbers. However, they also requested (though it was more demanded) that Ozpin recall all available Huntsman to defend the borders. With the mountains impeding the Grimm's advances, they would have enough time to set up a choke point and be able to kill any Grimm coming their way.
Of course, that meant leaving the remaining towns defenseless. Many Huntsman and Huntresses often took up long-term or even permanent jobs as guards and as the defenders of their respective homes.
The Headmaster tried to convince the Council to redirect their Huntsmen to guard the last towns before they were destroyed, leaving the once inhabited lands lost to the Grimm. That was unfortunately denied.
The Council reasoned that they couldn't afford to spend resources to try and defend what meager-sized villages there were still against a seemingly endless army. Maybe there are hundreds of people still living outside of Vale's walls. But in the grand scheme of things? A hundred is nothing compared to thousands of civilians inside Vale. They would lose more trying to save the few that were left; it was simply not worth the trouble.
The needs of the many outweigh the few. On paper, it was the perfect ideology to adopt. In practice, however, it was a bitter pill to swallow and not many liked to follow through with it.
However, the Council was not heartless as to not try and save who they can. A few parties were sent out to escort any survivors back to the kingdom's walls. They had to limit it to one or two Huntsmen to minimize casualties. Barely a hundred managed to survive the attacks and escape.
Ozpin heard that the reinforcements from Atlas will arrive soon, giving Vale a sort of reprieve from this nightmare. Even if they somehow won't be able to kill every single Grimm heading their way, the Atlesian fleet can put a dent in their numbers and delay them.
Despite the seemingly great news, the Headmaster had his mind rather busy at the moment. He took a sip from his coffee mug to calm himself.
Much of his efforts were not spent on fending off the Grimm (though that was still one of his main priorities) but rather finding out a single question on the Grimm's behavior.
Ozpin's expression wavered slightly as his mind theorized on what could possibly lead a horde of Grimm in such a manner.
Or rather why.
What was the reason for leading such a huge push against a Kingdom known for its Huntsmen and Huntresses?
Ozpin had his theories.
Each one more foreboding than the last.
"It's times like these, " Ozpin sighed, drinking from his mug again, "is why I prefer to have a good cup of coffee by my side."
A large table stood, surrounded by nothing but darkness. However, it was larger than it needed to be. It stretched more than half a kilometer long and the table was just as wide. The object stood as if there was something concrete to stand on in the void. Much of the design was not that fancy or artistic. It was simply a wooden rectangular table albeit extremely enlarged.
On the furniture was a large map. Four continents were shown on the map and a single island was on the bottom right. The map was colored showing the physical features of the lands. Yet...the features of the lands looked too realistic to be a drawing. The terrain popped out and looked as if it was made out of the actual material. It was more like a model rather than a map.
Four figures sat on each side of the table. Their features were hidden and only the clothes they were wearing were shown in the darkness. Three of them stared at the lone figure at the opposite end of the table.
"Wait, so we're starting like that?" One of the figures said, looking at the one at the opposite end of the table. The figure wore what appeared to be a naval military uniform. The uniform was mainly black in color with small red designs strewn about. A small captain's hat in a similar color scheme as his uniform mainly covered his features.
Despite being faraway, everyone could hear the figure's voice perfectly.
Unless you like to run this yourself? Yes.
Another voice responded, originating from the figure opposite of one who spoke first. He slightly leaned forward, a large shadow casting over the table. This one wore a white robe with golden trimmings with a hood covering his face. A small folded screen was in front of him.
The General scoffed and crossed his arms, having nothing to say in response to the retort
"I think what he meant to say is: I didn't think we'd start in such grim settings."
This time, one of the figures on the west side of the table spoke. A scarf covered the figure's mouth though it didn't muffle it. The figure wore a purple trench coat over a black jacket.
Blame his character idea. He wanted to be the one to control a literal army of monsters.
The robed figure shrugged, looking down at the board in front of them.
"I can't complain. I did have a weird idea I wanted to try as well." The final figure chimed in and leaned back despite there being nothing to lean on. Immediately, a wooden chair appeared in a puff of smoke, allowing the figure to relax.
The final figure wore a trench coat as well. The color scheme was swapped to gray, however, and the belt in the middle straps held the coat in place. Armored plating could be seen in various parts of the body and a blue cape with golden trimmings was draped over the chair.
"I wanted to give everyone a challenge. It would be boring if everyone was a Good-aligned character." The General responded and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Where's the fun otherwise?"
"Strictly speaking, I am a Chaotic-aligned character." The Sleuth said, turning to the General. Despite the shadows covering their expression and distance, both knew what faces they were making to each other.
"I swear it's Chaotic Neutral…" The Ruler groaned, palming his face. "You know what happened last time."
"Oh, please, that was just one time." The General waved off and leaned back as well, another chair appearing to accommodate him.
"One time too many."
"Ok, in my defense-!" The General stood up in indignation.
I believe we have session to get to?
All eyes turned towards the lone figure at the end of the table. There was a reason why he had so much authority at the table after all. Who would run these little games for them?
"Yeah, I know. I want to have fun as well."
"Then let's get started. Don't waste any more time."
"I'm not complaining."
Everyone nodded and the General sat back down. None of them wanted to ruin this. All were in it to enjoy themselves and indulge in their hobbies after all. It wouldn't do well for it to be ruined by an argument.
The robed figure glanced at the Players before him and nodded as well. Hopefully, this will end just as well as last time. Bit like always, all bets were off.
Good. Now, where was I?
"You were continuing off on Ozpin's reaction."
Ah, right.
The Gamemaster snapped his fingers and the contents of the map began to enlarge. But the map itself didn't widen. As if it was magnifying, the map zoomed past several landscapes and stopped suddenly.
The map had landed on a small dot, slowly moving across before stopping at a large line. The Gamemaster gestured to the map again, further zooming in and revealing that the large line was a bridge.
Rickety ropes connected the bridge to the other side on a mountain where another bridge awaited which was connected to another cliff. It was a series of ropes and bridges, leading to one location where even the neon lights can be seen even from a distance.
A man stood near the bridge, holding up an ornate ship wheel on his shoulder.
The wind howled incessantly, blowing past the large mountains and shaking the already rickety bridges.
Let the games begin.
As always, read and review!