Event #06: ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE MISSION LOG

[vivalamods]

EVENT #06: ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE MISSION LOG

With wind at their backs, the Corsairs fully expect the Imperial resistance. Knowing that they’ve made even the Emperor himself take notice has been heartening, they are well-prepared to go to war. And war finds them soon, with Imperial Strike Forces dispatched to scatter their resistance. With Flotsam under heavy attack, the great fleet has split, hiding in coves around the Eternal Ocean.

As the Corsairs fend off the Imperial Attack, they also look forward to the future. Keeping up their information warfare against the Empire is, of course, vital, as is finding new space to settle refugees and new recruits for the cause. February may prove to be a deadly month for the Corsairs, but if they play their hand well it can be a month of great strides.

These missions are occurring over the course of the month, there are no limitations on the characters who can take part, the size of the logs, or how many logs a character participates in.

MISSIONS

Imperial Warfare: Flights of airships and armors have been dispatched to sink as many Corsair ships as possible. The Corsairs have already split their fleet, but are hoping to catch these roving attack squadrons and quickly overwhelm them, protecting their fleet and, if possible, capturing airships and armors for their own forces.
Conflict: Strike forces will typically consist of two airships holding 4 armors each. These ships can be boarded and disabled, or fought directly depending on the preference of the combatant.
Role: Combatant
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read IMPERIAL WARFARE
Extra: You may specify the type of combat as well, such as BOARDING for more on-foot or ARMOR or SHIP for battles in mechs or from the decks of ships.

Investigate Targets: The Larendt labor camps have a lot of low-class and servant labor. With their presence in the Eternal Ocean and their involvement in some of the more menial but sometimes necessary manufacturing, gaining a foothold in these camps could be a huge boon for the Corsairs.
Conflict: These camps are heavily guarded, and while the inhabitants are extremely oppressed, inspiring them to revolt en masse will be a tough sell. Infiltrators will need to sneak in with either stealth or guile and determine who in the camps can be trusted and start into a major subversion effort to bring them to the Corsair side.
Role: Infiltrator, Supplier or Negotiator optional
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read INVESTIGATE TARGETS
Extra: You may specify the approach for your infiltration, such as STEALTH or DISGUISE

INFORMATION WARFARE: The Corsairs must keep up the pressure by creating a counternarrative to fight the Emperor’s messaging. This can be done a number of ways, such as hacking radio networks to broadcast messages, distributing subversive literature, or giving flash speeches.
Conflict: Guards are on high alert and will heavily crack down on people seen pushing banned messages or materials. Chances are high they will try to arrest or even kill on sight.
Role: Negotiator, Infiltrator or Combatant optional
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read INFORMATION WARFARE
Extra: You may specify the approach for your infiltration, such as HACKING or PAMPHLET DISTRIBUTION

Scout Settlements: The Corsairs need to establish a new settlement in order to house the growing number of refugees. An old ruined city has been identified as a potential site, an underground dwelling with some concealed farmland could easily be built in the area which has remained relatively untouched since the continent fell. Suppliers need to go in and set up a basecamp to begin construction.
Conflict: The ruins themselves will require a great dea of effort to get in order, with repairs to the infrastructure concealed within the ruins. The aqueducts still appear to be mostly capable of function and could be a great boon to the Corsairs if they can find a way to make them work. The ruins themselves have become quite dangerous in the intervening time, there are subterranean monsters such as bullettes and ankhegs that have taken up residence and can be quite dangerous when confronted. Additionally, it seems some Imperial deserters and n’er do wells have taken to using the place as a getaway after making it to Elysium, they will need to be dealt with, or perhaps even recruited if that can be managed.
Role: Supplier, Combatant or Negotiator optional
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read SCOUT SETTLEMENT
Extra: You may specify the approach for your infiltration, such as REBUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE or CONVINCING DESERTERS

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Comments

[heaven_rooted]

...wow, but that's a strange shift to see. Tau snorts lightly. "You're frightening," he says, in jest if anything's to be read from the faintest smirk that tugs at the corner of his lips.

He nods over towards what seems to be a mess hall, checking around before moving in closer, tucking in beside a couple of rain barrels.

"Seems as good a place as any to start, if you're up for it. Get a feel for the local climate, so to speak. I'll keep with the general observations out here."

[theriflespiral]

She nodded, and then made sure to actually husband her power, folding it down tighter than usual, even as she picked up something heavy to be hauled to the back of the mess.

As was typical, they were told to sort out their own food problems; the rations were scarce and the quality very much depended on the skill of the cooks. This one, it seemed, was decent, and decent at running the entire mess line...

A fact which swiftly made things complicated when he looked at Natalia, nodded, and said, "You! Get in here and help me serve."

She nodded, washed her hands, rolled up her sleeves, and set to.

And who notices another servant?

Well. The other servants. "New meat, huh?"

She nodded.

[heaven_rooted]

"More hands and still they expect us to stretch the same amount of supplies," another grumbles, setting down a stack of plates. They're so old and worn that it's difficult to tell if they're actually clean.

"S'pposed to be a shipment at least. Don't tell me that's all that came in," someone else said as they moved to see what all Natalia had brought in. "There's more, right? They don't even bother telling us half the time," he muttered, moving to head outside, probably to see about getting what he could of whatever had come in before most of it was 'divided' for the soldiers and security.

[theriflespiral]

"The lion's share is meant for the mules, I think." Well, of course. Replacing a mule costs money.

"But I can keep hauling in until the soldiers hit me."

[heaven_rooted]

"Figures." The one with the dishes rolls their eyes.

"Because no matter how on schedule we are, they always think we're slacking somehow, right?"

"Good thing you brought in what you did," the man who had stepped out says once he returns, a sack slung over his shoulder and one half dragged beside him. "This'll get us through a couple of weeks at least. I'm stashing one of these in case they claim the next shipment's late again. They're already saying they had less to distribute, but that's nothing new."

[theriflespiral]

As usual, the temperature is a low simmer; but there are likely factions developing.
They lack weapons and supplies. With Penguin, I can deliver both-- and information.

She very carefully doesn't look while they hide the food. She can't tell what she doesn't know, after all, and she refuses to be the weak link in such a chain. "Right? My family misses quota, and now they're Divine knows where, and I'm here. Never mind we did our damnedest to get flax out of bare rock."

Set inner lotus power curve to maximum efficiency.
Set output to 30%.
Ready impact brace.

[heaven_rooted]

She's being watched, that's for sure. New face, trustworthiness, uncertain, but at least it seems she's committed to her own task. Not that there are many places to hide things, but the others are shuffling around back to their normal tasks soon enough, the deed done.

"Just waiting for the day they start sending us out towards the cursed woods," someone snorts.

"Curse isn't real, 's just 'em trying to scare us."

"Yeah? Don't say that around them or you'll be headed there for sure."

"Better here than out there. And if they do ship you out..." A shrug. "Well, never hear from anyone so who's to say where they've ended up? No one tells us anything that's not related to the expectations of our output."

[theriflespiral]

And isn't that becoming a more common ailment? Unless she misses her guess, if they aren't cursed yet, they will be soon. "Seems cursed enough to me, then."

Gallows humor tended to go over well with others on the gallows with you; this was likely no exception.

Sending people to die, or worse...

Could other weapons like her have come from a place like this?

She carefully sets the finished prep aside, and cleans her station for the next.

[heaven_rooted]

Dry, half-hearted chuckles are as much an agreement as anything then.

"Don't matter if you're out or in, in any case. We're here because there's a job needs doing, and if we're not useful..."

"Then we're out. One way or another. End's all the same so long as we're here."

[theriflespiral]

So long as they-- we-- are like this, yes. She nods, glumly, along with them. Rebelling would definitely be a tough sell. She'd have to do something drastic, if she were acting on her own. No dramatically unveiling the weapons necessary. They needed not just a breaking of chains, but a lifeline.

In short, exactly the reason I came up with Penguin. I just didn't expect it to come up so soon. But that's just the mess workers' assessment. There was still the meal line to consider. "The Hell are we working on, anyway? I barely got a look at the camp, coming in. Surely it's not just making small rocks out of big rocks?"

[heaven_rooted]

"Rocks!" That gets a guffaw. "Don't know what you were watching. Maybe that's for the new kiln. Mostly wood processing here, along with charcoal but the old kiln wasn't built right, so now the heat's not holding up."

"Another thing they're hanging over our heads!"

"What aren't they?"

"Not our fault they give us crap tools and materials and expect us to fill in with the rest somehow."

"You telling me you can't make charcoal with your bare hands?!"

Another round of laughter.

[theriflespiral]

She laughed along with them. She almost, almost, felt something other than a sickening knot in her stomach. It was so very much like Russia. The willingness to face every day like it could be your last. To make basic, surface connections.

Because tomorrow, you might not be here to laugh with them.

And then there was ice. And an odd thought: What if they could? Unfurling the inner lotus means they could fight...

She narrowed her eyes. No. No joy, there. It would take too long. "Where do you want these?"

[heaven_rooted]

"Just set it over on that table," comes the reply, a nod indicating a worn side space.

So the work and chatter went, cautious but still as free as anything they're able to get away with, knowing at least the soldiers don't care to come into certain areas but also trusting to some extent that the workers know better than to start anything that would jeopardize their precious food resources.

[theriflespiral]

While Natalia is taking the temperature with the mess (as expected, a low simmer of misery that could only be brought to a boil with food and weaponry), she can't help but worry about her mission partner's attempts to stay unseen. He's a decent enough medic, but between people coming and going, and the guards, what's he going to do?

Or, perhaps, he is already doing, and therefore, gone?

[heaven_rooted]

He might be touched if he knew of Natalia's concern. It's understandable that people see him as a medic first before...anything else. If there even is an anything else they've identified him with.

Distracted as Tau's been, he's excellent at being unseen. His steps make no sound for the times he decides to slip between places, tucking up under the rough eaves of a storage building. Listening to the talk of the guards has set his temperament to a simmer, but as much as he'd love to bury some faces into the dirt, he knows that's not their purpose here.

...but no one said anything about spooking people, and maybe with all the uneasiness about the woods, a bit of natural incentive might not hurt.

He slips by the mess hall he'd left Natalia, if only to check if she's still there and doing all right. His fingers brush some of the weeds sprouting up by the wall, and he watches them thicken.

[theriflespiral]

"... Hey, wasn't it your turn to do brush clearing? Boss is gonna be mad."

The one soldier looked at the other like he was mad. "The hell are you talking about? I did it before patrol this morning."

"Are you sure about that? I'm seeing an entire damn wall-half you left alone."

"I could've sworn..." The soldier shakes his head and gets out a chopper. "No rest for the righteous, I suppose..."

Meanwhile, Natalia's busy serving up the meals, with as warm a countenance as she can manage (not especially). Each motion is carefully measured, no one is played the favorite, no one is willing to jeopardize the mess, and yet there's a certain excited frisson in the air-- or as excited as a half-starved labor camp can get.

[heaven_rooted]

That's a more positive response than he'd expected. He murmurs apologies to the weeds, but at least he knows they are resilient, and for many of the plants here, he finds it quite easy to coax them to stimulate growth.

Tau makes a few passes around some of the main establishments, particularly where the Imperials tend to make use of the most.

The efforts aren't without some consequence, and he can feel the slight drain. Still, he can smirk, and he retreats to one of the few trees that have been left alone in the area, because even soldiers figure they need shade of some sort.

[theriflespiral]

Change-blindness is a bastard, you know?

Only the soldiers are allowed near the walls that prevent escape. There's a very clearly marked line in the ground, with a small iron chain, painted blood red, and the area kept explicitly clear. Those walls cover only three sides-- the way into the 'cursed forest' is wide open. If it's just a tale by the soldiers, the builders certainly seemed to think that escape that way was so difficult as to be implausible for half-starved, overworked prisoners.

There's an armory, but it is VERY carefully controlled and has only one door, and is embedded in the walls. Similarly, there's the main gate, where supplies come in and freshly burnt coal comes out. There's a magazine, stood off from the walls by enough to make sure that an ammunition explosion won't blow a hole in it.

The soldiers mess and sleep in their own barracks, near the armory for easy mustering.

Of course, there's observation towers at several points along the walls, allowing for ease of view and fire on the camp itself.

Lovely place, really. Scenic.

[heaven_rooted]

Tau makes his observations while he takes a breather, eyes once again drifting towards the open path towards the woods.

He knows the actual location of the part of the woods they murmur about, much deeper, where the unwelcome find themselves turned around and somehow back where they started, and the unlucky find themselves running for their life or overtaken by the blight that plagued those forbidden grounds. His fingers tighten over his arms, and he closes his eyes as he forcibly pulls his thoughts away from there, looking back to the cleared space around him, studying the structures.

Not yet. The woods and the curse seem to stave off intrusion for now. He has work to do. Taking a deep breath, he drops down lightly from the branches, moving swiftly towards the buildings. A hand slips into a belt pouch, extracting a few seeds, and when he's by the armory and then the barracks he eases them, already starting to sprout, into a few cracks before moving off again. They won't cause any instantaneous damage, but with some time they'd weave their way into whatever cracks between the masonry they could.