Event #05: FIREWORKS FOR NEW YEAR EXECUTION LOG

[vivalamods]

EVENT #05: FIREWORKS FOR NEW YEAR EXECUTION LOG

The time is nearing midnight as New Year revelers mingle, many already quite drunk. The night air is crisp and cold as the Empire prepares a fanfare and fireworks display to ring in the New Year. Concealed among the revelers, cloaked Corsairs fan out, preparing to play their part. The explosives have been set and primed, all that’s needed is to broadcast the message and get out, ideally without losing anybody. Simple, right?

For most of the Empire, the event goes off without a hitch. However, in the mining community of Vindess, and in the Imperial City of Bluvink, the explosions shake the settlements to their foundations. Screams of panic start to spread as the Mine begins collapsing upon itself in Vindess, while the weapon’s facility in Bluvink goes up in flames, albeit surprisingly contained considering the amount of ordnance usually stored within.

Panic erupts into the streets as confused Imperial soldiers spring into action, barking orders and drawing weapons, although they have no idea who caused this. The speakers, placed to play the Emperor’s New Year speech and provide musical accompaniment to the fireworks show, suddenly spring to life. The Corsairs step up to speak, knowing they have little time Imperials track down their signal and re-take control of their communications system, as well as send soldiers to beat down their door.

MISSIONS

Sign-Ups are still open but we will post the current groups as they stand. The following missions are available, you may participate in as many missions as you wish so long as they are in the same region.

There will be three major stages to each log, each receiving their own top level. The final top level, Escape, is open to all characters in the region and can consist of multiple threads or one big singular thread depending on preference. Villain plots will take place during the first two stages. Depending on numbers, if desired players can combine stage 1 and 2 into a singular thread. If combined, the header should read [LOCATION] GUARD AND PROPOGANDA

Bluvink Guard: Heavily armed and armored Imperial Shock Troops, as well as a flight of three Feder Armors will be dispatched to keep the peace and destroy the Corsair group. The Guard group needs to beat or confuse the Shock Troopers during the speech
Conflict: The Shock Troopers will be out in force and will be quickly trying to track down the signal. If Troopers with scanners are left alone they will quickly encircle the broadcasters so the Guard will need to harass or otherwise disrupt the scanning to keep them guessing while the broadcast happens.
Sign-Ups: Nephenee, Yuki
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read BLUVINK GUARD
Region: Bluvink

Villain Plot - Terra:Wearing the Slave Crown and enhanced by the Empire’s boosting drugs, Terra’s consciousness sleeps while her body is used to wreak havoc.
Conflict: Terra will be going directly to the Propogandists as soon as they are identified, and will need to be stopped lest she burn them alive in their hideout.
Sign-Ups: Donatello, Natalia, Deedee, Harlock
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read VILLAIN PLOT - TERRA
Region: Bluvink

Bluvink Propoganda: As the people of Bluvink look on in horror, the propogandists will have to broadcast their message and garner sympathy from the masses.
Conflict: The people of Bluvink lead very comfortable lives in no small part to the factory and the industry and work it brings, losing it, even if no civilians were lost, is going to be a blow to the community. If the propagandists aren’t able to make a compelling argument, the populace’s mood will get ugly fast and they will actively help the soldiers find and eliminate the Corsairs.
Sign-Ups: Atom
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read BLUVINK PROPOGANDA
Region: Bluvink

Bluvink Escape: Once the message is broadcast, the team will need to escape. A disguised airship with two armors (players may choose 2 from the list) stored in the hull will be available for the Corsairs to make their getaway.
Conflict: The guard will be fully mobilized by this point and will likely attempt to give chase in Armors and airships, although they will likely break off when leaving Bluvink airspace.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read BLUVINK ESCAPE
Region: Bluvink

Vindess Guard: The Guard within the mines is much more meager, and with the miners turned to the side of the Corsairs they will be caught considerably more flat-footed. Two Schild Armors will be on standby and may be deployed once the Corsairs are found.
Conflict: The area will be chaotic and the civilians can be expected to be unhelpful at best to the soldiers. While keeping the soldiers off the team is important, what is equally important is ensuring the soldiers don’t turn on the civilians and start making examples of them if they suspect collusion.
Sign-Ups: Ilhpyl, Rezo
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read VINDESS GUARD
Region: Vindess

Vidness Propoganda: While many of the core mining group have turned to the Corsair side, much of the townsfolk may not know of the plan or have misgivings, and still count on the mine for their small town’s income. The atmosphere will be confused and upset.
Conflict: The Vindess community doesn’t have much, but they do have the mine and the consistent profit it brings in. The operation is going to change their lives and they must be convinced that it will be for the better or they may turn on the Corsairs.
Sign-Ups: Renne, Shu, Link, Thomas
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read VINDESS PROPOGANDA
Region: Vindess

Vindess Escape: Once the message is broadcast, the team will need to escape. They will also need to evacuate any of their co-conspirators who are still in the town. A hidden airship with two armors (players may choose 2 from the list) loaded into the hull is available, but by the time the broadcast is finished more guard will be mobilized and they can expect heavier soldier activity, more armors, and airships.
Conflict: While the guard is much weaker and more provincial, they are likely going to attempt to go after civilians for colluding with the Corsairs. The Corsairs will need to quickly evacuate civilians, both co-conspirators and those caught in the crossfire, before they can leave.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read VINDESS ESCAPE
Region: Vindess


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VILLAIN PLOT - TERRA

[esperbuthuman]

Even with the shock troopers, the operation seemed to be going fairly well. But as the Corsairs broadcast to the city, slow, steady footsteps echo through the mostly deserted streets. A young woman holding a slim, curved sword in her right hand and wearing a red dress, her green hair streaming behind her strides purposefully toward the hideout where the Corsairs are tapping the communications. Her face is completely expressionless, and a crown rests lightly atop her head, it's gem gleaming with an eerie blue light. As she approaches, she raises her hand.

"Firaga."

A streaking ball of flame, like a meteor, launches itself at the Corsair's position.

[purplexing]

Things have been going accordingly from what he could make of the ENC chatter. Donnie's been on standby, perched up on a rooftop to keep an eye on approaching forces and such. He blinks as he sees someone below- not shock troopers as he'd caught a glimpse of, but the way the woman walks is with purpose, and her lack of expression is more than a bit disturbing.

"Guys, I've got eyes on someone heading towards- wait, wha-"

No incantation, just a word, like he's seen Rezo pull off, but the sheer size of the fiery ball is startling. There's no time to think of anything more complex, glowing lines of purple flaring into being, attempting to form a haphazard wall between the fireball and the building his fellow Corsairs are operating from. Donnie flinches as the blast obliterates his attempted shield, barely half its size, but maybe it's enough to take at least some of the edge off of the full force of it.

[lightnovelexperiences]

Fire. Fire near the munitions factory. Not good.

Deedee leaps into action, using her control of the winds to pull away air, starve the remaining flames of oxygen, then turns to see her foe.

And immediately recognizes her.

"Wear her out! Disable the slave crown! Repeat, disable the slave crown!" Deedee barks, switching up to the highly defensive Onyx Tortoise Stance to parry spells, and buy time.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia was, very reasonably, on a roof running overwatch, and listening to the ENC chatter. She's keeping an eye out for high value targets and keeping her eyes, mostly, on the factory rather than their communications hub.

Stupid. Stupid stupid. It was neither their center of gravity, nor the Empire's, and she only realizes her mistake when Donnie's voice comes over her ENC, when she hears the bombardment start.

She's in Imperial armor, but she's added a face plate painted in bright blues and golds.

The voice of her old trainer echoed in her mind. Cadet Koutolika. Gather your energies!

Breathe in. Faster! Breathe out. Feel the inner lotus stretch and blossom from where she kept it safe. No one with magic had detected when she'd opened it yet. Maybe that would hold true here.

Natalia hated playing hope chess. Safe bets were more her style.

But with numeric superiority and a fire mission incoming?

It was up to them to make a strategy happen, and she knew it.

So she got to the part of the roof with vantage, and lined Terra up in her sights--

"Wear her out! Disable the slave crown! Repeat, disable the slave crown!" Deedee barks,

Natalia mouths the words 'slave crown' to herself, and she realizes the implications.

That woman is not a volunteer. She is being used as a weapon.

For a flash, she is apopleptic with fury.

And then, there is ice.

And the mission. Disable the Slave Crown.

She pulls the shot just wide-- enough to get Terra's attention-- and then books it along her pre-planned escape route, moving faster than any human had a right to, thinking faster.

If it was a crown to control the body, it had to use Ether, like the suppression collars.

And months ago, unhealthier, she had disabled her own collar partially, by way of absorbing its local ether reserve.

Which meant... She was out of position. Sniping was contraindicated.

"Confirmed. Enroute for melee engagement."

[freearcadia]

He already set the last of the bombs and was already climbing out when the hair stood up on the back of his neck, springing away behind some metal drums before he even realized what he was responding to. The smell of smoke confirmed what his instincts warned him of - Fire.

The gleam of a shattered shield, and the sudden uptake of wind - magic. As he unholsters the pistol - he heard Deedee's cry - slave crown? The pirate has his suspicion of what that meant, his expression darkens. The man darts from the crates, moving quietly as he attempts to move closer to Terra while her attention was drawn on Deedee and the factory, and the rapport of gunfire - plenty of things for someone to focus on.

He might be punching way above his weight, but there's least something he can do - get close enough to remove the crown, or restrain her to allow for for someone to magically break it.

[esperbuthuman]

The fire spell explodes, crashing through the shield and slamming into the building. What threatens to be an enormous conflagration is stifled by DeeDee's wind magic, but it is not fully suppressed and continues to burn - it will be a problem eventually but it isn't one now.

The gunfire whizzes by Terra as her eyes dart over to the shooter. Arcane Ley Lines appear under her feet as she raises her arm.

"Thundaga."

A huge bolt of lightning descends from the heavens, aimed right at Natalia.

[purplexing]

That... was a lot more force than he was expecting, leaving him slightly pale as he watched the building still be struck and subsequently catch fire. Donnie blinks as Deedee jumps in, eyes widening as he looks back towards the green-haired magic user in a new light.

He drops down from the rooftop, sprinting towards Terra as her attention is drawn, extracting his titanium staff from its holster and extending it with a flick of his wrist. The sheer power that she summons down from the skies is terrifying, but Donnie can't do anything for a spell that's already been unleashed. But maybe he can help distract her from casting anything further.

He twirls his staff and swings it towards Terra once he closes in, ready to respond if she brings her sword into play.

[lightnovelexperiences]

Like most mages Deedee is used to fighting, Terra is horrifying at range - able to call forth blasts of raw elemental power and maintain distance. And there's nothing Deedee can do to mitigate lightning thrown at an ally.

But Deedee is a mendicant monk of Sylphan. Her ranged attacks are meant to draw the enemy in so she can beat them with her glaive or her bare hands. Hopefully to exhaustion, not death.

She would deprive the Empire of a mindless weapon and in the process restore a young woman's freedom.

And - knowing He likely isn't here as she knows what He truly is, she nonetheless prays to Sylphan as she fights.

"Sylphan! You Tyrant-Mocker, You Friend of Fools, You Laughing Wind, You Trickster-Fox, hear my vow!" Deedee chants, as she tries to close to arms length with Terra and - trip her, make her block, force her to draw blade, slow her down. "A servant of the Unspeakable Queen in deed has shackled this one's mind, and I would break her chains! Help me take the crown that binds her from her head and make mockery of all slavers! Do this for me, and I shall erect a shrine in your honor!"

Her spear describes a low, whistling arc - a Nine Tail Lash - as it cuts through the wind and where Terra's feet were when Deedee started.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia feels the energy gathering before it hits. She doesn't know what's coming until her hairs start to stand on end, but she is running, full tilt. Her initial plan was the stairs down.

Now, a slight push, and she's aimed for the several antennae designed to receive radio broadcast.

She skids, slides, hopes--

The lightning strikes her helmet the moment her helmet strikes one of the receivers.

Her metal helmet.

The heat is enough to fuse helm to receiver, probably ruining several poor citizens' day as their radios are blown out-- if they were here, at least.

As for her--

Electrocution, thankfully, was removed as a possibility when electrical contact was made.

Lightning has more than this however.

Natalia's eyes are dazzled by the arc flash even through closed eyes, the sheer sonic blast making the air solid and flinging her away from her ruined helm, the paint still burning gaily as she tumbles, intentionally, bleeding off momentum to save her armor and bones. Cadet Koutolika! When you have a killing blow, you TAKE it! Do not SPARE them because they are in the same program!

She skids to a halt, prone, temporarily blinded, but alive. Keep moving!

And so long as she lives... There's a chance.

Her hand reaches, closes on her rifle. On second reflex, she affixes bayonet.

She gets up on one knee and fumbles for a handhold. Cadet! Now!

She finds the door to the stairs, and begins her descent as her eyes recover.

[freearcadia]

A flash of light, the smell of ozone, lightning - of course, the elements seem to be tools for the mages... wizards? of this world, he exhales - pushing himself on, moving from cover to cover, and knowing any aid the newcomer might need would have to come once the girl was freed.

The pirate didn't even give pause to the notion of failure - the sheer determination in Deedee's prayer seems enough to push that odd into nil. He's not one for gods, but faith he can respect. As makes the last dash between an alley to an overturned cart, Harlock steps out as he unsheathes the rapier, lightning arcing from the blade due to the lingering effects of Thundaga seeming to coax the enhancement of the sword to come out and play.

Lunging for her would be wise, but spotting Donnie's movement from the distance, and his own sense of fair play - strange as it may seem for a pirate to have one - won out over sense as he deliberately walks quickly, closing the gap.

"Can you use that blade?" He called out as he held his rapier out in an obvious challenge - wanting to give her time to acknowledge him - and again drawing attention away from the others before lunging into a charge, moving to send her off-balance.

[esperbuthuman]

As Terra raises her blade to meet Donnie, Deedee's whip wraps around her leg. She stands stock still for a moment, her blank expression showing ripples of consternation as her hand begins to hesitantly raise, subtle but clear signs of resistance. Tears stream down her face as it returns to a neutral, emotionless state.

"Meltdown."

Terra, and everyone around her, are suddenly wreathed in a wave of intense magical flame. Natalia may take cold comfort in the fact that she is outside of the effect, but for those within, the pain is unbearable. Terra cries out once in pain, before returning to neutral silence, the gem on the slave crown glowing with an eerie brightness. As the fire clears away as suddenly as it had come, small beads of flame begin gathering in Terra's hands, her own body burned but still moving with a puppet-like stiffness.

[purplexing]

As soon as metal meets metal, Donnie's already shifting his weight, angling his staff to let Terra's blade slide past so he can try to move in upon an opening. He's almost startled to see tears, confused even further by the change in her expression before-

The turtlekin gasps, his own yell in pain choked off just by how terribly it hurts, an altogether different sensation from being cut off from the extremes of being ether-suppressed and having more pumped into his system than manageable. The world goes white and red, his staff clanging to the ground as his hands had released it once it started to sear them. He drops to his knees as the flames vanish, gasping for breath, thoroughly shaken as he tries to fight through the shock.

[lightnovelexperiences]

Deedee saw the hesitation a moment before her nerves are set on fire.

It's bad, but maybe not as bad as it was for Donnie, with her strength of spirit shielding her. Deedee grits her teeth and tries to fight through it.

"Spirit buffs don't fail me now," she snarls through grit teeth, bent but unbroken.

"Catch," she croaks, before blowing healing magic to Donnie, a puff of Second Wind. And then she raises her glaive again, trying to keep Terra pinned.

[theriflespiral]

"YOU! NAME AND UNIT!"

Crush them. Now. The old trainer's voice still echoed in her head, and crush the pair of shock troops who had happened upon her, she did. One shot. Two.

Bile rose in her stomach. She didn't have time for this. She skidded out into the lobby, metal greaves slipping on the beautiful marble floor, just in time to catch the aftermath of Meltdown.

She Felt the horror of it.

And she remembered her own voice, back then, as now. "No."

She shoulder-charged through the glass door, shattering it into dozens of pieces, and tossed aside her weapon, barrelling behind Terra at least as fast as a Schwert, maybe faster.

Her face stung with the shards of glass, but she no longer cared.

She refused to let it happen again.

Categorically.

She had to grasp the crown, and soon.

There, in that moment of clarity, she heard-- Say it. She thought it was an exhortation from her (busted, natch) ENC.

[freearcadia]

Harlock yelps as he's suddenly brought to his knees, the sword clattering as every nerve was screaming in agony - he can't even recall anything this bad.

The gem's glow catches his attention even through the flash of red and darkness and the phantom visages of his lost eye rising up. "The... Gem!" He shouted. "Break... the-!" As suddenly as it was, it was gone, and he was cut off by his own attempts to fill his lungs with the air that was forcibly expelled by agony.

It took longer than he wanted to find the feeling in his hands, the tactile feeling to make them curl, to push himself up.

[esperbuthuman]

Terra's emotionless eyes register Deedee and the relatively unharmed Natalia. Without a change in expression, she mutters just one word.

"Flare."

The small beads of flame in her hand glow white hot as they go flying to intercept the two, the beads vibrating with explosive intensity and ready to unleash hellish power on contact.

[purplexing]

Some of the pain ebbs away, but healing spells can't remove everything. Donnie tries to catch his breath, tries to calm his pounding heartbeat. His fingertips drag against the paving stones beneath him as he clenches his hands into shaky fists. Things still hurt, but not doing anything isn't an option. Sitting here could mean death.

The emotionless delivery of another spell may as well be an intonation of a death sentence, the young turtlekin bracing for another bombardment of pain that doesn't come. Not him, not this time, but that doesn't make it all right. Get up! Get up!

He shoves himself to his feet, trying to wrack his brains over technical configurations but he can't think of anything that will work, nothing that isn't meant to be a tool or designed for pure firepower, not if they want to take Terra alive.

The crown...can they just remove it? Destroying the gem would take precision, and be extremely dangerous while on the woman's head. He suspects his staff is still too hot to grab, so he forgoes the weapon, dashing in low in hopes of tackling Terra down before she can trigger off another spell.

[lightnovelexperiences]

Terra is casting a spell directly at her?

Deedee’s ear twitches and…

She smiles. Fangs. Nastily.

The first secret a Sylphanite martial artist learns is how to parry spells.

She rushes into it, her arms and hands forming a mudra of protection and an outside block that will with luck and faith sweep the firebolt aside, and with her other hand, forms a gesture of Negation.

She doesn’t need to physically crush the gem - all she needs to do is touch it, and trust Sylphan to snatch the enchantment away once thus invited to.

[theriflespiral]

There were-- There were too many to dodge, not all at once. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Was she-- about to die here--? Well if I'm going to die, I'll say it!

The motion is epiphanic, automatic, a Dancer's turn with a cry whose nature is obscured by the sound of glass and ice swirling, then the sound of explosions.

But she knows what she screamed, in that moment, as the ice exploded into steam: "I swear: No one makes weapons of the helpless!"

Her left arm is near-useless, now, encased in ice that is cracked and crazed from where the pressure waves proved harmful to her lack of control. Blood, somehow not frozen, creeps like honey through the thin cracks. Her right, however, is still good, and while her advance is slower, she's still coming.

Her left arm swings to arrest Terra's arms. Her right hand reaches for the gem. "Take this glove then, you damned cold, but take this gem with it!"

And what better way to absorb ether and do damage, than ice, who sucks the heat and power from everything, and makes the Earth brittle, and the Air dry?

She knows it will hurt her to absorb it.

But she'll do it anyway.

It's worth it.

((if I need an Ether Training for this, that's what I saved that 200 notoriety for.))

[freearcadia]

Harlock was up on his feet, as Donnie and Natalia went for the gem, and Deedee... he thinks is countering the young woman's spell, he pounces at her, grabbing at her arms to pin them back in an attempt to both disrupt her spell and to give the other two a better chance of getting rid of the damn crown.

"Hold still." He hisses sharply.

[esperbuthuman]

Deedee and Natalia's assault is brave, but foolhardy. The beads explode with immense force, sending both flying across the field, their defensive measures allowing them to avoid immediate death and maiming but only just. They land several yards from Terra's position, and will likely not survive without immediate medical attention, much less be able to continue to fight.

Donnie and Harlock's attacks do fare better as they were not immediate targets. Harlock grasps Terra's arms as she's knocked from her feet by Donnie's charge. She starts struggling, her slender arms surprisingly powerful - likely a side-effect of the drug. However, with her injuries, she's unable to immediately break the hold.

"Drain."

She fixes Donnie with an icy stare and he begins to feel his life-force draining from his body as she starts absorbing it. If they're going to do anything about that crown, better do it fast.

[purplexing]

Great!! She's down! -Now what?

Donnie still can't help but glance worriedly in the direction Deedee and Natalia have been flung, but with Terra struggling as she is, his attention comes right back.

Is it so simple a thing to just remove that crown?

His eyes lock with her's, a gasp catching in his throat. Wh-what..??

He can feel himself getting weaker, his focus slipping beneath the pull of Terra's spell and the building terror of what's happening.

Down and out

[lightnovelexperiences]

It turns out you could roll a Flare spell across your wards and back and not have it detonate on you. The problem, Deedee realized too late, is that this does nothing to mitigate the heat.

Her last conscious act is to stop, drop and roll to put out her robes, tail, hair that’s on fire. The pain of the burning is almost too much.

The last thing she sees before falling unconscious is Harlock grabbing Terra.

Bring her home, she thinks, then passes out.

Re: Down and out

[theriflespiral]

As the steam explosion sends her flying, she calculates where she will land almost immediately, turns to deflect the blow.

And yet. Whatever it was that had wakened in her since joining the Corsairs... it... it had listened. It had tried to... save her?

She still ends up shredding her backplate to pieces with the speed of it and completely eats shit.

And she knows nothing more, her body temperature dropping to a point that wrings every second of life remaining it can and knocking her very unconscious.

But before she goes... she's smiling. They've got this.

Re: Down and out

[freearcadia]

He lets out a quiet but sharp oath in Japanese as the women were taken out by the flare - and Donnie becoming stricken right before his eyes - at least Terra's chanting gave him an idea of what the hell was going on.

He squeeze, tightening his grip - she's off-balanced and wounded, but this surge of strength was not to be trivialized.

"This... will be over. soon." The pirate spat as he grips the crown, pulling it off with a great force, flinging it right into the fire.

Once off, he still has his hold on her, ready to move from pinning to supporting once she ceases struggling.