MISSION #01: SAND AND IRON - EXECUTION LOG

[vivalamods]

MISSION#01: SAND AND IRON EXECUTION LOG

With carefully laid plans firmly in place, the Crimson Corsairs mobilize to carry out the operation. While those skilled in diplomacy and entertainment gather in Elysium to put on a show to remember, a small fleet breaks off from Flotsam, setting course for the fallen continent of Hesaeth.

In Elysium, the night begins early, with a lavish dinner at sunset followed by entertainments that will not end until the sun once again rises in the sky. For the battle-hardened Corsairs, their night starts far later. The ships approach the shore quietly and landing boats are deployed to bring the strikeforce to the beach. It is nearly 2 AM when the order to attack is made.

Be it in the chaos of revelry or the chaos of battle, all Corsairs have a part to play. After tonight, old gods willing, this mine and all the treasures that lay within it shall be ours.

The following missions have been registered for completion. For a character to count as having participated, they must have a minimum of 3 comments in the mission thread. Characters may participate in a single mission in a single region.

NEGOTIATORS

Entertainment: While the attack is taking place, Negotiators must keep the officers occupied. This can be done any number of ways, from strong drink to performance to conversation. Above all else, the officers must be kept happy and unaware at all cost.
Conflicts: The officers of the Empire are difficult customers. They are demanding, they don’t like to be told no, and they expect their every whim, no matter how outlandish, to be catered to with absolute perfection. When mixed with strong drink, many will forget they never demanded something and still expect it to be done.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read ENTERTAINMENT. At least 4 characters will need to participate in this mission among all mission threads to make this a success.
Region: Elysium

Service: While not as prominent, servers in Elysium are also necessary to keep things running smoothly. Service staff will be the ones serving the food and drink, waiting on the visiting officers, and cleaning up any messes, spills or suspicious fluids that may be found during the party.
Conflicts: While Entertainers can occasionally command some modicum of respect due to their talents, Service workers are seen as truly the lowest of the low by the Imperial officers. Servers must be talented and hearty, as they will often suffer great abuse at the hands of the officers, possibly even escalating to physical violence.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read SERVICE. At least 2 characters will need to participate in this mission among all mission threads to make this a success.
Region: Elysium

COMBATANTS

Prisoner Liberation: Combatants will need to reach and free the prisoners. This includes subduing any guards in the area and ensuring their protection.
Conflict: Even with the officers out, patrols are generally still occurring and the prisoners remain under heavy guard. Not only that, the guards will not hesitate to slaughter the prisoners if they feel they are in danger of being liberated. Guards are individually weak but carry rifles and sabers.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read PRISONER LIBERATION. At least 2 characters will need to participate in either of these missions to make this a success.
Region: Hesaeth

Subdue Guards: The core combat team will need to sweep the camp and clear out as many soldiers as possible. This will be where a majority of the fighting will take place.
Conflict: Even with the officers gone, the camp is still heavily guarded. Most notably, there are 2 active Armors, one Schwertz and one Lanze in addition to their standard soldiers, who all carry rifles and sabers.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read either SUBDUE GUARDS. At least 4 characters will need to participate in either of these missions to make this a success.
Region: Hesaeth

Escape Route: Some combatants will need to guard the fleet and keep the route open so the prisoners can be evacuated.
Conflict: Guards will attempt to rush the ships and scuttle them with their remaining Schwert armor, as well as a number of standard guards wielding rifles and sabers.
Requirements: To participate in this mission, your thread header should read ESCAPE ROUTE. At least 2 characters will need to participate in either of these missions to make this a success.
Region: Hesaeth

Players will generally have free reign to narrate the event’s occurrences as they wish. For the Execution phase, please refer to the Conflict descriptor to get an idea of the kind of narrative difficulties you will encounter and feel free to make use of them as much or as little as you like to make the thread interesting.

Characters are free to use single large threads or multiple smaller threads to meet the character threshold at the player’s discretion.

If you wish to deploy a Gambit during your mission, in the subject line of the reply you’re using the Gambit in type GAMBIT: [NAME OF GAMBIT]. Using Gambits isn’t required for the success of a thread, but doing so will be taken into account when we factor out the successes and failures of the mission.

Available Gambits:
Hamper Reinforcements: The Crimson Corsairs recovered communications from the prison camp, and can use the knowledge to cut the flow of reinforcements.

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Comments

QUESTIONS

[vivalamods]

Story mod is going to be out of town for the next week and a half so please be patient! We will get to these as soon as we can!

[knowhyoucry]

Hey mods, really excited about this!

There's a trend in the Terminator films of the machines in question breaking into, hotwiring, and otherwise stealing cars for their missions. Along those lines, would it be possible to do this with one of the Armours guarding the camp?

Re: QUESTIONS

[fray]

Hey, mods!

I see individual characters are limited to a single thread, but these limits weren't clear to me back when the initial plotting post went up and I'd plotted with a variety of players for the event.

Are we allowed to play out interactions set in the context of this event in some way outside of the one thread? I've not seen this kind of system before, and I'd feel badly not following through with plans I had with people, so I wanted to look into what is and isn't allowed... Or if I'm even reading correctly.

[achelord]

You mentioned "Gambits" in the description but I can't find a description of what those are.

[relentless_sentinel]

Because I find it funny, Neph's part in Elysium will be helping with Service stuff before the prison break. So question about servers: what sort of outfits are they stuck in?

[newmemorywhodis]

So it suddenly occurs to me way too late in this that I have no idea what the Armours look like! Is there any kind of reference for these? Are they like normal armor with magical abilities, or more of a mecha type situation? If the latter, how big are they?

FORMING PARTIES

[vivalamods]

You may use this thread for finalizing parties.

Subduing Guards

[knowhyoucry]

Offering the T-800 for this one! With a caveat I will be going on vacation from the 20th to the 27th of this month in a place with terrible to non-existent internet.

The T-800 has a gun and targeting systems, so it will be kneecapping a lot of guards in accordance with its "don't kill people" directive from John. I also kind of love the idea of it hijacking one of the Armours, possibly by hotwiring it, or some kind of equivalent, so we'll see if that is something can be done too.

Donnie

[purplexing]

All up for Subduing Guards or Escape Route! I reckon the Hamper Reinforcements Gambit will come in handy for either!

Donnie's quick and good with melee but a glass cannon because he's still squishy and doesn't have a battle shell yet. I'm treating this as his first big combat-involved mission too so he'll try to do his best.

Ziel for Prisoner Liberation

[achelord]

Ziel is, in theory, one of the single most powerful assets the Crimson Corsairs have.

In practice, Ziel is in terrible shape and can't use his full power for very long before collapsing in agony. So he's been put on breaching duty. Ziel is pretty confident he can blast down the front gates of the mining complex. What he needs is people to watch his back while he's doing it, and probably to drag him out of danger after he runs out of stamina. He'll be explosively powerful for a short period after which he'll run himself dry and be largely helpless.

[redprayer]

Both Laios and Rezo will be participating in the Combatants side of things. Rezo has strong magic abilities, particularly healing focused, but his blindness gives him some difficulty in getting around unfamiliar areas- I think he'd be best suited for guarding the Escape Route.

Laios is a solid physical fighter but he doesn't own a gun yet so he can't do ranged attacks. He'll probably be participating in Subduing Guards.

Subduing Guards

[fray]

Id's the one-man army type, but he's had his time working as part of a team. He'll be knocking out and detaining guards as his standard approach.

Also, as it's familiar technology to him, he'll be attempting to go after one of those Armors.

[minorinasskicking]

Looking for either Subduing Guards or Escape Route for Gohan! He'll be trying to avoid killing soldiers whenever he can, but will also prioritize allies' and prisoners' lives over enemy lives. He'd also be very willing to step up to take on an Armor, and will probably use his Super Saiyan power to do so.

Nephenee

[relentless_sentinel]

Nephenee here's technically for anything as a combatant, and the Sentinel class functions in canon as an all-arounder physical class and an off-tank, more or less (mostly Dodging but some blocking). Without proper armor, she is a bit more squishy, but she's still plenty sturdy. At least she has a polearm and her shield! She's an expert with those, and has great strength and speed. Currently she doesn't have any other weapons, but uh if they find a bow she can use that? It's just not her forte...she's better off yeeting a spear or something.

So far, it looks like she'll be helping with one of Donnie's, but she can slot into any combatant thing well enough. I feel she'd be best in the Subdue Guards or Escape Route scenarios, but if we need another for Prisoner Liberation, hit me up, and she can do that instead. (She just may not like it, given she's been a prisoner herself in canon.)

She's currently absolutely useless as a Negotiator, so no help there! She's also helping with the Service scenario, because we need someone helping with it and it's funny.

[curebootleg]

Nobody else is on it, so Preme is gonna be on Service. She can serve drinks to wretched creatures while keeping her seething contempt to herself.

Entertainment

[sapphirecontess]

I'll be out of town but should have some tagging time! Musse, being a noble, will help with the entertainment and try to use her status to protect the Corsairs as much as she can.

SERVICE

[tisfinished]

Senshi will be one of the chefs d'cusine this evening. I presume the dress code involves chef's whites and a toque.

Eagerly awaiting his losing his patience with some upper class twit who sends back the zuppa del dia for a cheeseburger with no vegetables.

Deedee, ESCAPE ROUTE

[lightnovelexperiences]

Deedee will specifically be healing prisoners and allies and sending them back to the fight or forward to escaping, as needed. If anyone needs post-fight healing or some muscle for backup, let her know.

Fingerguns at Ziel.

SUBDUE GUARDS - Id, Kainé

[newmemorywhodis]

The walls of the camp are imposing, and tall - but not so tall that Link can't climb them.

Silently, he crawls up the side of the wall, one handhold at a time. Pauses, just before the top - where the guard stalking across can't see him. He waits, until the guard moves past. Only then does he hop up onto the wall, still crouched low - and promptly pushes the guard off the side.

Watch out Id, there's a rather surprised Imperial Guard who's about to land at your feet.

[fray]

Id doesn't expect Link to just casually scale a wall the same way he had a tree, but maybe he should have. The guy moves swiftly regardless of the terrain he's faced with, and this is clearly no exception. The thought flits though Id's mind, chased off when a guard comes tumbling down.

The guard and Id exchange a stare of equal yet contrasting bewilderment, after which Id clocks him upside the head to knock him unconscious. It'll land the guard with one hell of a headache when he comes to, but in the meantime, he obligingly ragdolls against the ground.

"You made that look too easy," Id mutters with a shake of his head, the comment doubtless lost to Link, but he can't go giving away their position now. There's nothing for it but to follow Link's lead, so that's precisely what he does.

ESCAPE ROUTE

[purplexing]

((OOC: Setting up multiple options here for whoever wants to jump in or if it looks like it might be too much to keep a track of- but of course anyone's still open to setting their own threads!))


I. Melee Ahoy!
It's a vastly different atmosphere from earlier observational missions. While the officers may have been slacking in keeping all their records straight, it's not records and missives that the Corsairs are dealing with here. The guards employed may not have seen much action at such an assignment but it's amazing what a surprise attack will do to people. Time to show their mettle. Or they might just be happy to finally do something other than tediously repetitive patrols.

Waiting is always the hardest part, but they surely can't have everyone running off as part of the offense. At least Donnie's used to waiting. He's just not normally expected to be a main line of defense. He stands there, straining to see any approaching movement from the camp, fingers curling and uncurling from around the length of his staff as he holds it at the ready. Seconds seem like minutes and minutes seem like... Well, you probably get the idea. Of course it hasn't been that long since the first volleys of the active armor units within have sounded, as much a signal as any that the raiding party has struck.

Eventually they come; ragged and desperate, panicked but resilient are the prisoners that begin to stream towards the awaiting ships. "They're coming!" he calls out to the others as he starts moving in to cover them.


II. The Big Guns
The streams of former prisoners has been lessening and Donnie only hopes that it means they're nearing the last of those who've been liberated. Which would be good news because fending off guards is tiring! It's hard to really keep a track of everything though, especially when you're kind of busy trying not to get killed, even when you're not trying to really kill anyone. He probably won't cry about it if he'd accidentally brained anyone too hard but then with luck he'd never have to see any of these guys again.

"Are we almost ready to-" he starts to ask, the rest of the words dying on his tongue as the shape of something large separates itself from the inky sky and then lands with a brief ground-shaking thump before them.

The turtlekin's no stranger to armor, not when he does their maintenance on a pretty normal basis, but this is the first time he's seeing a battle-active one up close and in person- and ready to mow them all down. He's stuck staring- in awe or shock, perhaps a bit of both. The logical part of his mind is trying desperately to get the rest of him working to move.

Melee!

[freearcadia]

Harlock couldn't avoid being part of the operation, not after doing his part to try to ready the prisoners for their liberation. The pirate simply nodded as he can see Donnie tensing, reflecting the same kind of almost overwound, eager anticipation that he's feeling himself.

Once he sees the outlines of movement coming out of the prison bunks, he moves, unsheathing the rapier in one motion.

"Hurry! Freedom lies that way!" He shouted to the crowd, directing them to the ships before joining the Turtlekin.

SERVICE

[curebootleg]

Whoever it was assigning uniforms apparently decided Preme would look best as a butler rather than a maid. They were not necessarily wrong.

Preme understood the parameters of the mission just fine. Do whatever the Imperials ask, serve food and drink, and be available to cover up evidence of the more active infiltrators. Aside from that, all he had to do was be unremarkable. The plan: Say as little as possible. Treat the Imperials like animals that need to be fed, but that otherwise serve no purpose.

Unfortunately, Preme's appearance was anything but unremarkable, so they couldn't help but get noticed. Fortunately, they were new enough to the Corsairs that there was nothing to connect them back to the organization, but when you're surrounded by drunken imperial officers, just standing out based on your appearance is enough to draw strange, arbitrary hostility.

After one incident, Preme returns to the employee break room, contemplating murder. She grabs a towel, trying to soak up the drink that was poured over her head. She doesn't raise her voice in anger, but her eyes burn with the desire to break something.

Are there any non-Corsairs in here? No? Good.

"I'd like nothing more than to burn this idiotic place to the ground."

Re: SERVICE

[lyorning]

Aerich had been on the entertainment side of the venue, assisting those Corsairs who still had covers as nobility as something between a personal servant and bodyguard. Which did shield him from some mistreatment as he was perceived to 'belong' to someone -- he was aware that he would fail to conduct himself as one of the servants of the venue -- it also meant he could do little to shield those that were not his 'master' from insult.

The remark got a nod. "This place does inspire a certain revolutionary sentiment," he observed. Even he was feeling his own beliefs in a stable status quo tested, though he would maintain that it was because these people were doing empire incorrectly, and that was what happened.

Prisoner Liberation

[achelord]

Through a clever combination of disguises and stolen passwords, Ziel and his little team were able to drive a cart right up to the front gate of the prisoner area. They didn't have a key, but that wasn't a problem he was concerned about. Ziel sized the gate up, then reached under the tarp on their cart and pulled out his hammer.

The actual guards looked up as this exhausted looking man in an imperial uniform pulled out an enormous warhammer and held it up, looking ready to strike. Ziel ignored them and forged an oathsign, a ring of green glowing magic runes, around the head of his weapon.

The guards started shouting at him but he ignored them. This took ALL his concentration. Channeling ether in his current state felt like dragging barbed wire through his veins. His body was fighting him ever step of the way, but he forged a second oathsign.

Three would be enough for a gate like this, Ziel figured, but it was taking all his concentration to maintain this. He needed someone else to hold off the guards for just a few seconds...

Re: Prisoner Liberation

[lightnovelexperiences]

Fortunately, playing keep-away is something Deedee’s clerical order is very good at.

She first gathers up a swirling ball of energy in her palms, hurls it at the greatest concentration of guards while shouting an incantation in a language other than Imperial, and making sure the resulting wind tunnel blasted them up, away, and flat.

Then, for good measure, she tosses a Second Wind at Ziel. It won’t be enough on it’s own, but the burst of healing energy can’t hurt.

Service

[tisfinished]

The kitchens are buzzing with activity, and Senshi is busy as hell. For all that he did in advance to get his proverbial merde en place, demanding Imperial officers have a way of… complicating… orders.

“You, get to the ice-room and find the green sea berry sorbet for the good Captain - be careful not to taste it yourself. You there, to the larder for more cheese. You, take the heads and shells off these shrimps for who I hope to every lost God is a ten year old. And what do you mean this was sent back because it had pickles? We don’t serve mince patties with pickles!”

If there are “special orders” or “secret ingredients” intended for high-ranking guards, who’ll let Senshi know? And who’s cooking with him?

[relentless_sentinel]

"A-Ah dunno!" Nephenee had run in to get that order switched out, and between the tiny maid outfit they'd stuck her in that showed a ton of leg, abs, and cleavage, no hat to cover her face (which is incredibly red right now), and these nobles being so darn demanding and childish, she's a bit flustered. "H-How'd pickles get on it?"

She doesn't think a noble has a jar of pickles just sitting around they might use to screw with the waitstaff, but you never know...

ESCAPE ROUTE

[redprayer]

How long has it been since Rezo's properly fought in any battles? Far too long, and he's far weaker than he should be. Rezo would never admit it to anyone, but he's afraid that even after several weeks of recovery he'll be a burden out here. But when the chaos finally properly spills out onto the escape route they're guarding, he rapidly becomes too busy for wallowing.

Injured prisoners and violent guards mean he's got plenty to do even without taking on an offensive role. There isn't much time to do more than basic wound closing as needed, but every now and then his sharp hearing catches a group in need...

"{Air Valm.}"

...And a wall of wind, too strong for even steel or bullets to easily pierce through, forms between their enemy and whoever they're targeting. But he can usually only hold that wall up for a few moments before he has to drop it.

And whenever he hears a cry of pain, or catches the scent of blood, Rezo hurries to its origin to ask "Do you need healing?"

[minorinasskicking]

There's also someone else on offense as Rezo helps defend other Corsairs or civilians. Every time he raises a wall of wind, Gohan launches himself at the attacking enemy. Typically one of the soldiers opening fire will turn and shoot at him; a futile effort, as Gohan easily catches every bullet they shoot at him.

When Gohan crashes into the enemy formation, he starts putting soldiers down for the count faster than they can react. While in action, he more resembles a blur of color than a person, as fists, feet, and occasionally even his head find their marks in enemy soldiers' stomachs, heads and necks. He's deliberately holding back enough of his strength to avoid killing anyone, since fortunately they haven't been able to do too much to him aside from a scratch here or there or the occasional tear in his clothing. When he's done, he turns to Rezo and the others.

"I've cleared this group out! Keep going!"

ENTERTAINMENT

[lyorning]

It is probably best that Aerich was positioned as a bodyguard for one of the 'nobles' -- those Corsairs who still had some prior identity as Imperial citizens. He was still drawing some attention as a few of the officers had decided that the 'entertainment' would be to distract the man into indulging. Which was working as distraction, but not as he had intended.

It doesn't help that Aerich is not good at concealing his own distaste for the displays of excess -- he offered to fill out the position as they needed people, but it was not using his skills well unless things did get hostile.

"Sir, you understand I have a duty to my charge, that I cannot fulfill if I am drunk. I mean no offense." That last was a lie, and not a good one. The officer is starting to get a bit belligerent, at the urging of his friends, and Aerich starts looking around for a Corsair to assist before he has to start a physical altercation.

Or you could tell him to 'suck it up' and do what he needs to do to calm them down.

Re: ENTERTAINMENT

[sapphirecontess]

Aerich will feel a gentle arm on his hand as Musse steps forward, her hair worn long and her dress a deep dark blue.

"Indeed. I need him sharp, after all, I'm sure you all would hate for me to lose my life in some senseless rebel violence."

Her tone is sweet but with a hidden edge, she knows well that many of these people would happily see her dead.