The Mighty Nein were nominated in absentia to face a psychic abomination on the moon they knew fuck-all about before they were sent to eliminate it, purely on the grounds that they have form with this sort of thing. Like, that was it. They're here for the same surface reason Bell's Hells are: Because they were considered uniquely qualified to deal with the specific threat set before them. They were asked to kill the Weave Mind because they can kill the Weave Mind, and that was reason enough for them to step up, lay their lives on the line, do the job, and (so long as Bell's Hells come through in what is now their Moment) slip back into their lives tomorrow with the world none the wiser.
They understood the task here, players and characters alike. There was no Vax equivalent to raise the personal and emotional stakes for them, so they didn't pretend there was. The moon plot didn't begin with a ground strike that killed any of their families, none of their mothers got sucked into the moon cult and are (possibly) in need of saving, and none of them are struggling with accepting that sometimes the adventure chooses you, fair or not, and all you get to decide is how you rise up to meet it. There was no other reason for them to be here except they were asked, because they're up to the task. They know how much that sucks for them, and yet nobody was taking anybody else aside to say, âYou don't have to do anything you don't want to do, if you want to bail I'll be right behind you;" they didn't need to take a beat where they considered that and rose above it, because this wasn't the making of them as heroes, so they didn't pretend that either. They're on the fucking moon, they're beat all to hell, Beauregard's down 150 gold, at least one of their options for getting safely out of there is off the menu, and they might still get called to go in and finish the job with Ludinus, only they didn't get to rescue a beloved friend who'd been lost to them for thirty years, or avenge the deaths of their loved ones, or become the heroes they were meant to be (while facing the risk of never achieving that) out of the deal. The only thing they're taking personally is that they weren't asked to fight the god-eater. Five days ago they didn't know what a Weave Mind even was when it's at home, but there are five piles of dust at their feet all the same, because the world needed it done, and they could do it, and so they came at a moment's notice and just fucking did it. Of course they did.
In the context of this story, The Mighty Nein are âI know a guyâ on an epic scale. They were here to wreck shit and to entertain us while they did it and they leaned all the way into that and played it for maximum fun. The dicks were flying, the bookies were making bank, and most of the planning they did was about weddings. âDo you want to hear my prayer?â has never sounded more like an existential threat, and neither has âThere are no chairs in here.â The stunning strike has rarely been this stunning, or the ball bearings this ballsy. Wizards have never been sexier. They're going to go home tomorrow (please) and tend the garden, open the shop, relieve the substitute teacher, and pick a colour scheme for the bridal party. I know who they were, I know what it took to get them to this place. I couldn't love them more.
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