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

back to navigation
code credit

Comments

[singlemilletgrain]

Somewhat pleased to see that he has a mind for taking care of his comrades in addition to his bravadi, Shu nonetheless cannot devote too much attention to them, for the queen is redirecting her efforts onto the closest combatants. The bulbous creature strikes with scythe-like claw after claw at each of the puny little ape-ish combatants scattered around her. Rocks fly, steel clashes, and more resounding screeches fill the chamber. A few Corsairs go flying, some are sliced through a limb, others hold their ground and push back. Through it all, Shu concentrates on her little buds, pumping out more energy and sustaining force to each of her comrades.

It is enough time for Raphael to help pull the acid-burned Corsair back to the rear.

"Raphael... I think you have the best offense of any of us." Her spinning rod counters a slashing maneuver as she calls out behind her back. "We'll create an opening for you to strike. Can you summon up your strongest... whatever it is you are doing?"

[supersmashbrother]

The exoskeleton dissolves once he's done the job, and the turtle takes a breath. He almost draws a blank when he looks back out at the scene, the noise chaotic and almost familiar in the way it plays out.

Fortunately, Shu snaps him out of it - her train of thought catches up with his, brow furrowing with a curt nod. "Yeah! Raph can go a few more rounds," he tells her with renewed confidence, rolling his shoulder as he starts his run. "Keep her busy!"

His plan is straightforward from there: while the Corsairs do the majority of the distracting, he goes in quick, pounding his knuckles together with a "POWER SMASH JUTSU!" Why he needs to shout his attacks is a question for another time, but the red returns to the form of armored turtle hand-like gauntlets, leaving a faint trail of light behind as he kicks up the speed. Wherever the queen ankheg isn't looking, he'll dive in, driving his fists into her carapace before dodging and weaving his way around to rinse and repeat.

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu will do her level best. Leaping up with surprising agility, she jabs with several quick strikes at the base of the creature's body before falling back. Few have dared to approach its torso thus far, and the queen quickly locks onto her target. With another shriek of displeasure, it rears back and lunges, its mandibles snapping and slashing as it strikes towards Shu. The timing of her dive is somewhat off - the creature catches Shu on the shoulder, leaving a nasty gash as she tumbles and bounces away.

But it is wholly and fully distracted.

"Now, Raphael!"

Her cry is echoed by the manifestation of the Power Smash Jutsu as he leaps in for an undefended strike right at the center of the queen's bulky form. One, two, duck and weave, one, two. Blow after blow lands successfully as the queen has overextended her body and cannot keep up with the smaller target. The enemy tires -- and with a final driving punch, there is a great CRACK! as the carapace splinters.

"All together -- Corsairs, finishing strike!"

And following her own summons, Shu takes her rod in her uninjured hand and sends it flying straight towards the queen's eyes.

[supersmashbrother]

"All together -- Corsairs, finishing strike!"

Shu's words resonate with Raph seconds after the loud crack splits the air around him, time slowing slightly as he drifts backward. It catches up with him again in the next as his feet find purchase in the shape of a firm landing on a chunk of rock or what used to be another foundational column, catching a glimpse of Shu's rod whizzing through the air at the ankheg before joining the others for a round of final blows.

"Striking," he shouts, "like a BOSS!"

Adrenaline pumps through his veins as he drives a barrage of punches at the same weak point he's broken through on the queen, punching, punching, punching away.

Surely it's gotten more squishy and gross at this point, but it doesn't seem to bother him - not when he knows they got this.

[singlemilletgrain]

Some fling lances like javelins or cast offensive spells; others pile forth with hammer, axe, and sword. An intrepid young fellow tosses a molotov cocktail and barely avoids setting half his companions on fire. But it is Raphael's enhanced punch that once more strikes the finishing blow and he can feel its innards disintegrate on contact with a terrible splurch.

The Corsairs on the rear end of the queen do not appreciate being showered in ankheg guts and... are those pulsating egg sacs?

"Ew!" is the resounding cry of victory today.

There comes a brief pause as all combatants take stock of what has just happened. The queen's body slowly collapses to the ground, the remaining ankhegs flee, and the Corsairs... slowly pick up a cheer.

"We made it."
"That was a close one!"
"Did you see -- "
" -- can't believe there was something like -- "

And through the hubbub, Shu gets to her feet, examines her clothes for any unsightly damage briefly, then slowly picks her way towards Raphael.

"Excellent work. Are you injured?"

[supersmashbrother]

If ever Raph learns about the poor Corsairs who had front row seats to the insect monster explosion, he'll need to apologize for that. For now, that is the farthest thing from his mind as he takes a moment to wind down, breathing out a deep sigh of relief and adds a victory whoop of his own into the mix.

Despite the celebrating, he's noticed how gunky the landscape has become; the pulsating egg sac closest to him reminds him of the Krang organic matter twitching in a similar manner, wet and nasty all the same. He shudders, immediately turning away to look somewhere else. Shu happens to be there just in time, giving him a little more distraction with her greeting.

"Ah, thanks! Not so bad yourself," he perks, replying with a lopsided grin as he scratches the back of his head. He then pauses, noticing how bloody her shoulder looks. "Raph'll be fine, but that doesn't look so good!"

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu observes the egg sac with a pained expression before she clasps her hands together and gives the slightest of bows in its direction.

...Then she stomps it into mush.

The problem was better dealt with now than later.

"Don't fret on my behalf. I am primarily a defender and medic in combat. It will take more than wounds like these to cause me serious damage." It still doesn't look very good. But Shu gingerly clasps a hand over the wound and small tendrils of greenery begin to creep out from beneath her fingers, stitching it gently closed. "But if you are alright..."

There is a somber expression on her face.

"Then I believe you have some explaining to do."

Somehow, this single sentence is almost as scary as the ankheg grub queen. A chilly wind blows by -- or perhaps that is just the imagination.

"You are Donatello's brother, no?"

[supersmashbrother]

Raph cringes, making a face when she crushes the sac. Ideally, that's probably the best way to go about it.

But at least he doesn't have to worry too much about Shu's well-being. "We need to check on everyone else, then," he says thoughtfully, brow knitting as he watches her wound heal in a heartbeat. "Although I gotta hand it to 'em, everyone held their own out there— "

Things shift, and the giant turtle freezes.

Is he in trouble? Because that's a tone that makes it sound like he's done something wrong. And why does it feel like the temperature dropped several degrees?

"Whatever it is, Raph didn't do it," is an instantaneous response.

—Oh, it's a completely different question. A safer question.

His previous stink changes from uncertainty to utter surprise. "Yeah, I am!" he blurts out. "Where is he? I've been looking for him! All of my brothers, actually!" A beat. "Wait, how do you know Donnie? More importantly, how do you know Raph's legal name?" He folds his arms, pondering aloud. "Unless Donnie mentioned it to you...?"

Questions for a question. Maybe too many at once.

[singlemilletgrain]

She shakes her head to stem the flow of the questions. Her voice, when she speaks, maintains a steady composure, despite that her mind is racing to slot the various pieces of the puzzle in place. One has the sense that she strives first and foremost to maintain her presence of mind.

"Donnie has been with us for the last six or seven months. He has been invaluable on many of our missions, providing technical know-how and knowledge of ammunitions and ether technology. I am sure he is deployed elsewhere at the moment, as I cannot get him to slow his pace no matter how much I urge."

She pauses. None of this should be discordant with anything Raph might know.

"...Donnie is also a native of Esthere. He was raised by a fighting master alongside his three brothers here: Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo. Raphael is the oldest and strongest. Leo is his age and talks too much. And Mikey is the youngest and is far too energetic. They grew up outside of Elysium. Donnie was separated from his siblings some time ago and has been putting off returning to see them, for he fears that they have gone for good.

"I presume this does not mesh with your understanding of the situation."

[supersmashbrother]

Raph shuts up as the line of his mouth seals around the one pointed tooth that always protrudes, trying to be as patient as he can while Shu comes up with her responses. Nothing could have prepared him for what she gives, however; the duration of time alone makes his brow crease, and most of what she says matches what he knows to be true.

"...That sounds like Donnie," he says carefully, still mulling over the first half of her information. "His work's appreciated, but he can get pretty annoying when he wants to. But he's always been like that — taking things apart an' putting 'em back together in the same way or something else entirely new is what he does."

Although that part about 'ether' attached to 'technology' feels off to him. And as the other figurative shoe drops, the crevice in his brow deepens.



"Waitaminute— 'native'??"

He falls silent as she continues, frowning as yes, everything about himself and his brothers sounds correct. It is correct.

Except...it isn't?

"No, it doesn't," he answers, meeting Shu's gaze. Her tone gives him reason to trust her, gives him some leeway in telling her what he knows. "Not all of it. As far as I know, we lived in New York all of our lives. Never been anywhere else other than an underground city beneath the city. An' Tahiti." He can explain that later. "Until this happened. But there's just no way we'd ever be separated from each other."

Some agitation arises within that last sentence, but he reins it in with a grunt. "...How did he get separated from us in the first place?" Because trying to keep a different version of his brothers in mind gets confusing, and he really doesn't want to get too far into overthinking it.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Nu...york."

This is not a work that has ever come out of Donnie's mouth. Nor has he mentioned dwelling in some sort of basement sewer city. Shu, although not well-versed in science fiction by any means, is fairly well-read simply by dint of having approximately 100x as long to read as most other people. Still, the solution that presents itself short of some sort of elaborate hoax is not compelling.

"It appears you are from a world - or dimension - that grossly parallels Donnie's lived experiences. It is pointless to deny the existence of other dimensions, given that we all stepped out of a dimensional portal. Thus, I suppose the idea of a 'parallel universe' must be given credence as well. But the likelihood of something like this happening is..."

Simply absurdly low.

"The Donnie here was kidnapped by the Empire and forced to work as a mechanic for some time."

[supersmashbrother]

Thanks to being around his three brothers for forever and a dad whose parenting style could be described as mostly hands-off, Raph knew how pranks worked. If he was aware of this conundrum being one, he would definitely be in on trying to play it out as far as he could until it couldn't hold water anymore.

Instead, he looks slightly uncomfortable, shifting his weight with the explanation Shu shares with him. Unfortunately, with what he's learned so far back in his world, talk of parallel dimensions don't sound like too big a stretch to disbelieve.

"Kidnapped?" Worry continues to etch lines around his eyes. Anger simmers in the background, but he keeps his head, snorting at this. "How can they do that to him? Talk about the Empire throwin' their weight around..."

really sorry for the delay! this week has been a bit hellish!

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu coughs politely.

"...I suspect the kidnap of a single individual ranks fairly low on the list of Empire atrocities."

Though she understands that it is, of course, more meaningful when that person happened to be your brother. ...Er. Your alternate dimensional brother who probably didn't know you existed. Shu shakes her head slightly in continued disbelief as she backs up a few steps. Taking a few vials from her pocket, she bends over the carcass of the ankheg queen and begins to take a few samples of its biological... debris as well as some of the egg membrane, if only to occupy her hands with other matters.

"You have no objections to my suggestion? I confess a part of me desired your disbelief... if only so that we could hammer out a more solid theory in our conversation."

All good! No worries, take all of the breaks you can

[supersmashbrother]

Raphael is too busy to notice, squinting in thought while being mostly caught up in talking to himself.

"Right. There are worst things an Empire can do. One turtle alone can't take 'em all out if we're talkin' numbers, but even then, Donnie's no slouch when it comes to combat." He glances upward, eyes widening again with a new worry. "They better not have roughed him up!" The spark of anger fizzles, leaving him with another horrible realization. "...Where were the others? Why weren't they with him...?"

It's here he looks to Shu, his outer monologue left open-ended. Fortunately, his silence doesn't last too long.

"To be honest, Miss Shu...Raph don't have time for complicated. But that don't mean we can't discuss it further," he says with a slight frown. "Even if he ain't my brother, he's still my brother."

thank you! sorry again!

[singlemilletgrain]

Sensing the possibility of losing the thread, she does not respond to the suggestion of 'roughing him up.' If Donnie wishes to share any such details when they meet, it is his information to disseminate. Shu examines some of the peculiar, gelatinous material of the egg sac and rubs it briefly between her gloved fingers. If this land was going to be arable, they would need to do some significant clean-up.

"Donnie is not the exact same person you know. Not that he is a slouch in combat. But he certainly does not possess any of those abilities you just showed. As for his brothers... you need not fear. They were separated, and he was on his own when he was taken. I have encouraged him to go home and search for his family, but he is not wholly keen on doing so.

"You have an open-minded attitude. I think -- I believe Donnie would feel similarly, after any... shock. I feel I can see some of him in you."

^.^ <3

[supersmashbrother]

Although they've already established it, something about hearing Donnie isn't the exact same person he knows doesn't sit right with him. He'll have to take her word for it, though, feeling a little less heated about the alternate dimension brothers not being where they should have been.

Donnie doesn't want to go home? The 'why' he holds back will have to wait.

Raph sighs, chuckling a bit. "Well. We do take after our pops..." The small smile he manages to pull wavers as he settles on his next move. "Do you know where can I find Donnie?"

[singlemilletgrain]

She pauses.

"...Would you mind waiting on that thought?"

Knowing Donnie, she can't imagine that he would be overwhelmed with positive emotion at suddenly meeting an alternate dimension version of his brother. Overwhelmed with something, definitely.

"I understand you are eager to meet, but I believe it would be easier if he were to approach you, rather than the other way around. Donnie lives close to me in the Vault, but I imagine he is currently deployed on a mission, as we are. I'll let him know everything that has transpired when we are in a lull between work."

[supersmashbrother]

Raph's expression clearly doesn't hide his disappointment well, but he seems to understand Shu's intent. If this Donnie is different from the Donnie he's familiar with, then there is a chance an in-person meeting may not go so smoothly. Adding more emotional stress isn't ideal.

"...Yeah, okay. I'll wait," he replies after a few beats. "We don't hafta rush."

He can be patient. He's trained long enough to have it. And he trusts Shu to relay these things.

His interpretation of the length of time set for waiting may be completely different from hers, however.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Thank you. I appreciate your patience."

And Shu bows in acknowledgment of the restraint it takes to defer to her wishes.

"And now..." She tightens the caps on her flasks and straightens up. "You must tell me everything about yourself. I am terribly curious about what your family is like from your perspective. We can chat while we clear this all up."

And indeed, the other Corsairs are beginning to drag the corpses of the insects. It wouldn't do to have a settlement filled with rotting monster bugs.

((Happy to continue on this line or happy to fade to black if you feel like we're a good stopping place!))

[supersmashbrother]

"Sure! We can do that!" There's still plenty of work to do, so filling in the gaps with talk will help move things along faster. The way that Raph agrees so readily to the 'telling more about himself' part feels unexpected, but he's had that vibe for a time now.

Still, it takes a second or two to comprehend what Shu is interested in discussing. Being caught off guard, Raph's eyes almost cross. "Huwhat now?"

(It's fine, though; he'll still share most of what he knows.)


((We can fade here!))