Mission Log #4

[modaccount]

How It Works

Welcome to the fourth mission log in Annexed!

How Mission Logs Work: There will generally be two main missions per month, with different focuses tailored to different skillsets (usually stealth vs. fighting, though other skillsets will be tapped on). Each mission will be posted in phases, with a prompt for the start of each phase. The plotting post will give you a rundown of what the missions are, how they might go, and what might be discovered. Characters may partake in whichever pat of the operation they choose, whether it's a large prominent part or a more supporting role. Characters may participate in both missions, and as many phases as they wish.

Mod Guidance: Players may request occasional scene-setting when they hit a point where they're unsure what might happen next in a log or what their characters might encounter. There will be a "Mod Guidance" comment that players can reply to in order to request this kind of scene-setting.

Completion of Missions: There will be a submissions comment for anyone who's threaded out a portion of the mission. Once a thread has been completed at least halfway, please submit your character's progress and plans for the thread to the submissions thread. These submissions are the main way that the mod will decide how the mission went in the next month's wrap-up post, so they are very important!

Plotting Post: Here!

The Invasion

Several months ago, there was a mission to deliver supplies to an endangered outpost of the Witches Camp. This outpost is called the Northeastern Front, and is in a particularly highly disputed piece of territory. There are constant raids and espionage by the Sylphid, who are trying to claim the area for settlement and to provide a much smoother route of invasion for the Witches Camp itself.

Just this morning, a scout from the Northeastern Front stumbled into the Witches Camp, dehydrated and starving, on foot, to report that the outpost has been completely taken over by the Sylphid, who hit with a surprise attack in the middle of the night. The scout reports that the outpost's inhabitants have been shut into locked cages and are being held without food or water, and that the Sylphid are occupying the camp completely.

The Witch is proposing a mission to retake the Northeastern Front. If this outpost remains taken by the Sylphid, a full on invasion of the Witches Camp can't be far behind, not with such a pivotal location taken over.

The Witch will be calling a general meeting at the Command Center where she will explain the situation and the proposed missions to stop it.

Mission A: Scouting the Scene

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: recon, stealth

This mission will focus on recon and stealth. Characters will travel on hover-ATVs to the Northeastern Front, where they will park in the jungle outside of the range of scouting by the Sylphid, and approach on foot. They will approach and learn the rounds of the Sylphid guards as well as release prisoners from the cages and take them out of the outpost to be rehydrated and fed.

PHASE I: RECON
The first phase of the mission involves the trip to the Northeastern Front, which is a trial unto itself, and working out the rounds of the Sylphid guards that are patrolling around the edges of the city. The biggest challenge of this phase will be getting to the Northeastern Front and parking at the rendezvous location outside the outpost, considering the terrain of the jungle and its inhabitants.

The Northeastern Front is to the northeast of the Witches Camp, nestled in the jungle just at the edge of The Troop. The outpost has been the subject of constant Sylphid attack and espionage since it was founded, but is very necessary for keeping track of Sylphid movements in the area, which is a highly disputed piece of territory. There have been several battles in the area previously, and it is only barely held by the Witches at this time. The trip to the outpost is hazardous, a rough-hewn barely-cleared path that winds through the jungle, and which must be navigated with great care. There are several hazards along the path.

⇝ Jungle Terrain: The path is mostly overgrown and very twisting, which is done on purpose to camouflage the path in the jungle. Only those who have been instructed on how to follow the path can follow it with any kind of confidence or ease. There are shrubs, tree roots, and other natural barriers that threaten anyone who travels the path too carelessly.

⇝ Wild Animals: There are a great deal of wild animals, many of them oversized, that will be both familiar and unfamiliar to people from Earth. There are large sabretooth cats, snakes and insects that have grown to the size of small buildings, wild boars, oversize deer that can take out a hover-ATV with their antlers and hooves, slime monsters, venomous and carnivorous plants, and many others. Be creative and come up with whatever monsters you like!

⇝ Sylphid Agents: The area is also swarming with Sylphid agents - scouts and hunting parties searching out the path itself and threatening the rendezvous point. Avoid these parties, or take them on, either is completely acceptable.

⇝ Magical and Mechanical Traps: Some of the Sylphid scouting parties have found portions of the path from the Witches Camp to the Northeastern Front, though they haven't yet found the rendezvous point yet. These scouting parties have set up various traps of both magical and mechanical types. Some of these traps can be deadly - pits with spikes at the bottom, flying logs, magical tripwires that disintegrate parts of the people caught in them. Again, be creative and feel free to come up with traps of your own.

Once the group has made its way to the rendezvous point, they will sneak up to the Northeastern Front and take their places in the jungle surrounding it, well-camouflaged with gear they've carried on their hover-ATVs such as ghillie suits, and watch the rounds of the guards to get a good idea of the best points of entry. These should be marked on a map of the area that will be provided for download on their personal devices.

PHASE II: INFILTRATION
Once they have divined the pattern of rounds that are run by the Sylphid guards, the recon and infiltration crew will be tasked with sneaking around the camp and mapping it out, as the Sylphid have rearranged it after taking it over. This includes the movements of the people inside and the location of the cages that the previous residents of the outpost are being held in and the movements of the guards that are keeping watch over them.

There are some notable locations within the camp:

⇝ Mess Hall: Where the Sylphid are being fed and where they congregate when not on duty. The mess hall serves meals but also functions as a sort of bar and communal hanging out location with a few pub-style games like darts and a pool table. Here is where you'll find a large amount of the Sylphid at any given time. Best mapped but otherwise avoided.

⇝ Armory: Where the Sylphid go to collect body armor and weapons. The best place to get armed in the outpost. There's less of a congregation of Sylphid here, but the ones that are seem to be quite ready for a scrap. Another place mapped but otherwise avoided, unless you want to try to steal their weapons out from under them - a dangerous idea.

⇝ Tents: The bulk of the outpost is made up of tents that each house four Sylphid. These were taken wholesale from the previous occupants of the camp and redistributed to Sylphid, without being moved. In the area of the camp that's just tents for housing Sylphid, the maps as they are still apply.

⇝ Cages: Brought in by the Sylphid and with rebels packed into them like sardines, the cages are kept at the 'back' of the camp, in a relatively dark area that's close to the jungle. There are consistently 6 guards on duty, all of which will need to be subdued before any liberation of the rebels within can occur. Each cage holds about 8 rebels, and there are 12 cages in total. The cages are each solid metal and under the influence of an anti-magic spell, one per cage, intended to keep the inhabitants of the cage from doing magic and rendering any spells to unlock the cages useless. The cages will have to be opened using lockpicks or brute force, with saws that will make quick work of the locks having been provided by the rebels for this mission.

PHASE III: LIBERATION
The final phase of the first mission will focus on liberating the rebel residents of the Northeastern Front from the cages they've been imprisoned in. This sounds simpler than it is, considering this phase of the mission is meant to be as stealthy as the previous phases, hopefully retaining the element of surprise for the takeover battle that is to follow.

Characters who have been watching the camp will have found that the guards watch the prisoners for a shift of 6 hours before being relieved by a new wave of guards, and that other than these guards, there isn't much attention paid to the cages. The Sylphid are quite confident that the inhabitants are too hungry, thirsty, and magic-blocked to get out of the cages, and that the guards watching them will catch any dangerous business before it happens.

The best bet would be to silence and take out all the guards as quickly as possible after they start a new shift, preferably at night. Under the cover of darkness, these infiltrators can then open the locks as quietly as possible and free the prisoners, taking them back to the rendezvous location. The prisoners will be quite sick from dehydration, hunger, and abuse, but will recover quickly once given rations and water, and be ready to aid in the battle to retake their home. The people of the Northeastern Front are very hardy people, who take pride in maintaining their independence and their hold on this dangerous and highly-contested piece of land - they do not take kindly to being taken over, overpowered, and locked up. They'll have a lot to prove to themselves and, in their minds, to The Witch, once freed.

Try to make the liberation quick, though, because once the prisoners are released, there is only the remainder of that guard group's shift before the next shift arrives and discovers that the prisoners are missing!

Mission B: The Battle

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: open battle

This mission will focus on open battle to take back the Northeastern Front. Once the prisoners have been removed and taken to safety, a force will approach the outpost on hover-ATV and suit up in body armor and arm themselves with weapons to retake the outpost. This will be a knock-down drag-out battle, straight up, with characters routing and taking down Sylphid, capturing prisoners for interrogation, and trying not to destroy the infrastructure of the camp.

PHASE I: ASSEMBLY
Before the final battle to retake the Northeastern Front, the troops must gather at the rendezvous point for briefing, to help with reviving the prisoners who've been freed from the cages, and to generally get on the same page for a plan of attack. The Witch herself will be at the rendezvous point, ready to give an empowering speech and to personally participate in the battle, wielding powerful magic and carrying a magitech sword that she's very skilled at using.

Characters who are attending for battle will face the same dangers coming to the rendezvous point that the first crew faced, with the jungle terrain, animals, Sylphid scouts, and other dangers applying just as much as it did for the stealth group. Once they reach the rendezvous point, they will find that it's set up almost like a mini-camp, complete with patrolling guards and a tent where they can pick up a bowl of mushroom and rabbit stew to fortify themselves before battle. While they eat, they can look at a map that's been set up in the tent with a cohesive and well-scouted layout of the camp. It's recommended that people coming in to participate in the battle familiarize themselves with the map and know where everything is located within the Northeastern Front.

The battle will be beginning anywhere from 5 hours or less after the liberation of the prisoners, and this time can be spent helping revive prisoners, memorizing the map, making plans with fellow rebels, and coordinating with The Witch and her people. There will also be a round table discussion of the battle's plan of action, so if you have a good plan, this will be the time to speak up and make yourself heard.

PHASE II - INVASION
Before the opportunity arises for the Sylphid to raise an alarm, the group ready to carry out the attack on the Northeastern Front will sneak their way through the jungle to the clearing and descend upon the enemy all at once, from all sides.

This is to be a relatively straightforward attack, and between the new extrauniversal arrivals and the NPC rebels, there should be enough people to be on an equal playing field with the Sylphid in the area. This will be a knock-down drag-out fight, with both sides going hard and fast, sword against sword, magic against magic, and skill against skill. Both sides will be heavily armed and wearing body armor and will be pretty evenly matched.

About halfway through the battle, however, anyone may find the Sylphid commander in the mess hall tent with the radio, asking for backup. Before anyone has a chance to stop her, unfortunately, there will be a call sent out for backup from Zephyr. But realistically, how could they get here with any semblance of time to spare, right? Right?

PHASE III - SURVIVAL & SUCCESS
Just as the tide of battle is starting to turn in favor of the rebels, the backup from Zephyr arrives in the form of three powerful mages with their equally powerful familiars, arriving via a teleportation spell.

These mages are the most powerful the Sylphid have in their arsenal and won't be easy to win against. The mages and their familiars are as follows:

⇝ Silhara and Dragon: Silhara is the name of the first mage to arrive. She is possessed of powerful fire magic, including fireballs, flmespouts, and the ability to manipulate fire, and has a dragon as a familiar. The dragon has stone skin, almost impossible to penetrate and powerful fire breath, as well as vicious fangs and claws. The dragon stands approximately 12 feet tall and is about 20 feet long from the tip of the tail to the snout. The dragon does have one weak spot - a place at the base of the throat where the plates of the stone skin overlay each other, which must be hit with a precise cutting blow while the dragon is inhaling in preparation to unleash its fire breath.

⇝ Dark'ness and Hydra: Dark'ness is the name of the second mage to arrive. They are possessed of powerful shadow magic, including the ability to take control of a person via controlling their shadow, the creation of complete darkness, and they have a hydra as a familiar. The hydra has 4 heads and with each head that is cut off, two more will grow from the neck, with each head bearing vicious poison-dripping fangs. The hydra stands at approximately 10 feet tall and is about 25 feet long from the tip of the longest snout to the end of the tail. The hydra does have a weak spot - the heart, which must be pierced in order to kill the thing, or all of the heads being beheaded at once so no heads remain.

⇝ Dendrite and Chimera: Dendrite is the name of the third mage to arrive. He is possessed of a type of magic that hits people in their nervous systems, allowing him to cause immeasurable pain without touching someone or to completely immobilize someone with a timed strike of his fists against sensitive parts of the person, and he has a chimera as familiar. The chimera has the heads of both a lion and a goat protruding from the large catlike body, and a snake for a tail. It has powerful headbutting abilities with the goat's head and vicious fangs in the lion's head, along with powerful claws and a venomous bite from the tail. The chimera stands at about 8 feet tall and is about 14 feet long from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail. The chimera does have a weak spot - it is exceptionally weak to beheading, and will lose control and go berserk if either head is removed, completely losing control and refusing to obey its master's commands, though a berserk chimera is a very powerful thing. Best to remove both heads at once if possible.

Once these three mages have been defeated, the tide of battle will turn, and the remaining Sylphid will flee the camp, leaving it to be taken over by the rebels and returned to normal.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[maskedtyrant]

I. Mission A | Phase II (Armory) | OTA

Infiltration and recon, at this point in Codi's tenure with the Witches, is basically wrote tactics for her. Not to say that she finds the process tedious or boring at all - every mission provides its own challenges that she can't underestimate, and every month her own ability to counter those challenges grows in new and interesting ways.

For example, the previous excursions into heavy Sylphid territory combined with her propaganda efforts basically plastering her grinning, ginger-haired head on every screen in Zephyr, have basically destroyed her future attempts to walk in the front door of any Sylphid compound. Or so one would think. But Codi anticipated this, and has put some time into branching out her magical knowledge to compensate. A set of worn-in Sylphid military fatigues, combined with a swift cast of Disguise Self just outside the camp perimeter to scramble her features and dye her hair, was more than enough to get her and her similarly-dressed companions through the front gates. As new recruits fresh from Zephyr, it would be very helpful if they could spare a soldier to show them around. A small tour couldn't hurt operations much, right?

After about fifty minutes of wandering around the outpost, led by someone who probably actually was a fresh-faced Sylphid recruit, Codi starts to feel her concentration waver. Her spell needs to be refreshed. She passes a glance to her teammate, arcs her eyebrows in a silent attempt to grab their attention, then taps the shoulder of their guide.

"So all the gear is--eh?" They turn abruptly at the interruption. Codi provides a sheepish wave.

"Sorry," she says, giving a strand of her artificially brown hair a bashful twirl. "Mind if we have a quick look around? My friend's kind of a weapons expert, and I think it'd be really nice if we had a chance to, y'know, see what's on offer?"

II. Mission A | Phase III | OTA

Evening turns to night. Codi has long since split up with her initial group of infiltrators, having decided to stay back and maintain her disguise for the long haul. There's a lot to be gained by living the life of the enemy, after all, especially when you're the kind of person that doesn't have any moral scruples about being a turncoat. Codi happily participates in drills, socializes with the soldiers, even signs herself up for a few rounds of watches - especially those around the Armory and prison cages. No one wants the graveyard shift for either of those, after all. All the while, it isn't too difficult to find excuses to dip away on her own once every hour to renew her disguise. She even forgoes it entirely once it gets too dark for anyone to see her features that well.

Unfortunately, it might not have been effectively communicated with HQ that she's elected to stay behind, and not everyone coming in to free prisoners may recognize her as she stoically stands guard in front of the Armory or in front of a cell of miserable prisoners. She's being monitored too much to send messages over her phone to warn anyone of her location, too. So really, there's only one good way to make sure that she isn't taken out along with the enemy: To make herself available to take out the other guards.

IIa. Codi is only stationed with one guard in front of the Armory, and she has discovered quickly that the man is a complainer. Only a few minutes of casual small-talk in and she's got him thoroughly riled up about how inefficient the local command structure is, how his experience should qualify him above guard duty, and ironically, how understaffed such a sensitive forward installation this is. Codi nods along, the perfect picture of sympathy, while she periodically glances out of the corner of her eye for movement.

IIb. Having five other guards to deal with outside of the prisoner cages is a bit more challenging. She could theoretically get all of them distracted at the same time, but any display like that would also draw too much attention to them as a whole, and that would be counterproductive. Picking them off one at a time until she's the only one left is also out of the question. Options are slim. Honestly, she needs help to pull this off, and she knows it.

Just when it's looking like she'll have to call her shift a failure (or a success from the Sylphid's perspective), Codi hears a noise from the edge of the jungle. Just a slight rustle of leaves. It could be an animal, but it could also be her teammates.

She has to gamble. "Hey, did you hear that?" Codi whispers harshly to the other guard stationed at this particular cage. When they turn to look at her, she points over their other shoulder - the opposite direction from where she actually heard the noise. "Over there, I think?"

Diligently they follow her instructions, and Codi can only hope that her deliberate misdirection singles her out as a friend rather than foe.

Mission B | Phase II | OTA

The fight comes to Codi while she's asleep. Not in the mass of tents, of course; after her stunts with the other guards, it would be highly suspicious if she left her post and didn't say anything about where the others went or tried to find relief for her own position. Instead, she simply made her way back to the Armory, slipped into one of the side dressing areas for suiting up, marked it as occupied, then shut her eyes to try and recoup some of her used mana from the previous day's espionage.

Sounds of not-so-distant shouts of alarm and gunfire are more than enough to wake her up. She jolts up, sobering quickly. This had been the plan all along, yet Codi still finds her heart hammering in her chest, adrenaline mixing excitement with animal fear of being caught. It only takes a few moments before she hears the door to the armory burst open as soldiers rush in to arm themselves.

She only has one chance at this. Breathe in, breathe out. The mana flows through her chest, then with a sweep of her hands, up through her arms and pools at her fingertips, lingering and buzzing in her palms like a couple handfuls of bees. The sensation is oddly familiar, and yet so much different from her abilities - controlled, in a way that she had resigned herself she would never reach.

But here she is, defiant of all expectations. A wicked grin splits her face. Then she shoulders open the door and aims her outstretched arms across the room, towards the rack of weapons that she knows includes a bandolier of grenades.

"Arc!"

The choice of words is superfluous, but it does its job to complete the cast. Lightning Bolt releases from her palms, channels through a satisfyingly large clump of soldiers between her and the other side of the room with several loud pops of exploding bullets, then instantly ignites several of the grenades at the end. The explosion is massive, taking off the entire back wall of the armory in one clean shockwave that rocks Codi off her feet and backwards into the changing room she just came from. Her head hits a wall and she slumps, dazed, while around her, chaos ensues.

Mission B | Phase III (Dendrite/Chimera) | OTA

Inevitably Codi makes it into the main fight. There's no escaping her dramatic destruction of the Armory cleanly, not only because it's a central location far from any easy routes of escape, but also because word of the explosion and its source has turned a lot of heads. Namely, Dendrite's.

The man and his chimera have her surrounded presently, Dendrite in front and his familiar circling around back. Codi stands proud, in spite of the fact that she was just moments earlier trying to use Pass Without Trace to scuttle her way through the tangle of fights before being cut off. Obviously Dendrite's battlefield perception is more focused than the typical Sylphid goon's.

"Here to dance, big guy?" she taunts, arms out at her sides, toothy grin lopsided. "Not very sportsman-like to bring a partner to a one-on--"

Dendrite, apparently not keen on being distracted by Codi's grandstanding, launches himself forward to strike.

((I'll match styles, if you don't want to do prose!))

B-II

[tech_nically]

The explosion is certainly enough to draw attention from outside. Tech jerks his head towards the armory that now streams smoke and dust, hurrying his way over. While he has no doubt the cause had to be from one of their number, with the resulting he's not sure if they've managed to get clear.

Blue-ringed light eerily lights up the hazy air as he fires at some of the Sylphid who run to investigate the scene. The clone pulls his visor down to help him better navigate the area as he closes in, stepping into the smoking husk of the armory. He keeps his guns at the ready but most of the people that had been inside look either knocked out or worse, flung like ragdolls from the explosion.

His HUD picks up another form in the back and he moves towards the changing rooms.

"...Codi?"

He shoves one of his pistols into a holster to free up a hand as he touches her shoulder, checking her over for injuries.

CW: blood, head injury

[maskedtyrant]

Codi's been in worse shape, but she's also definitely not at her best after that stunt. Tech's shake of her shoulder rouses her just enough to elicit a groan of protest. She's barely conscious, eyes unfocused, the back of her head sticky with blood and Sylphid fatigues littered with tears and underlying cuts from shrapnel

"Nnn...No, don't," Codi murmurs, raising a hand to half-heartedly push at his arm. "Might...shock...?"

Clarity floods back into her eyes. She's not back home. She doesn't have her powers. Who is this? "...Tech?" Codi mirrors, squinting into his visor. That's the voice she thought she heard, modulated though it was.

[tech_nically]

Brown eyes narrow slightly behind his goggles, but he assumes her confusing words are to be expected after a head injury. "Correct," he says, tipping his HUD back up. Right, not many have seen him with his helmet outside of a mission. "Don't move, you may be suffering from a concussion. Do you know what happened?"

He listens for any signs of approach from beyond before holstering his other blaster so he has hands free to pull out what he has by way of medical assistance.

[maskedtyrant]

The area is, for the moment, relatively safe; anyone left alive in the Armory is either unconscious or is in the process of dragging themselves away from the surrounding melee, apparently too injured to be concerned with the pair of rebels in their midst. Codi's outfit and the fine mist of dust powdering her hair might even be working to hide her as one.

"I did," she laughs weakly. In spite of Tech's warnings otherwise, Codi slowly pulls a knee up to her chest, wincing. "Maybe...mm. Bad angle. Should have aimed from outside."

[tech_nically]

"It is usually advisable to be well out of range when setting off an explosion," Tech notes. He might sound like he's being sarcastic but Codi's spoken with him enough to know he's not.

"Do you think you can stand, or is there anything else immediately bothering you?" She'd been able to move a little, but he's not sure whether she was wincing from general soreness or if she'd pulled something she shouldn't.

[maskedtyrant]

"I'll take that under advisement," Codi breathes, shooting Tech a wry but unavoidably pained smile. "I think...I think I can fix this. Hold on."

It's hard to concentrate with how bad her head is pounding and her thoughts are swimming, like she's had a dozen drinks and skipped the fun, tipsy bit and gone straight to the hangover, but she's cast Healing Word enough times by now that she should be able to pull it off in this poor a state. Right? Codi squeezes her eyes shut, trying to focus on collecting her mana in her lungs so she can cast. It is, predictably, extremely difficult.

A few tense moments pass of absolutely nothing happening. Meanwhile, the battle is starting to catch up to the Armory - it's only a matter of time before the pair of Witches are spotted.

B-III hope this works

[purplexing]

"It's like they all popped out of a book just to annoy me with their proof of existence!"

A familiar green figure bats away soldiers with expert spins and thrusts of his staff, finding it easy to look irritated at the appearance of the Sylphid reinforcements rather than the welling fear he feels given that the mages came along with mythical creatures! Never mind that this is an alien world of magic and technology and that he's actively fought little dragonish pests the month prior, how dare..!

He kicks away another Sylphid, blinking as he sees one of the mages taking interest in a target. Most likely his chimera isn't far behind. Donatello pulls down his goggles down, zooming in after the lunging Dendrite and all the more glad he's worked on tweaking the mystic readouts. Oh, isn't that what's her face?

It must be a hero thing. Raph's got it trained into them. He'll file a formal complaint later. If there's a later.

It's a side thought even as he careens towards Codi and the mage, his battle shell's flight rotors unfolding and sending him zooming in, backlit by a fuchsia blaze. That same glow envelopes his bo and lights up the rectangular markings on his skin as the head of an articulate mechanized mallet traces into place over the staff when he swings it to the battle cry of "Fibonacci!"

ye!!

[maskedtyrant]

Codi's had a lot of combat training since she arrived on the Broken World - more than she'd ever had back home, in spite of her chosen public image. Still, she knows it isn't enough. A front-line combatant she is not; that punch is going to hit, and it is going to hurt.

Thankfully, raw physical prowess and a set of extremely temperamental abilities are no longer the limits of Codi's skillset. Now she has other, more potent ways to make her allies do that kind of work for her. Here's one of them coming in now!

"Your left!" she barks. Dendrite turns, midair, to look - not because he's fallen for the oldest bluff in existence, but because the Silvery Barbs spell infusing Codi's words has forced him to do it. His own punch goes wide and his face is now directly in the path of Donatello's staff. It connects with the mage's nose with a mighty crack.

"Hah!" Codi laughs, having barely moved. She does duck to avoid the chimera sailing over her head, however. "Perfect timing, Donatello!"

[purplexing]

"Strriiike!" One would think this boy would have gotten a handle on sports terms by now.

Donatello touches down by Codi, spinning his bo as the rotors of his battle shell fold in. "Completely unplanned, I assure you, but I will concur, my timing is perfect," he quips with a smug grin. He glances towards where the mage and his pet went, knowing this is probably far from over.

"He went right for you, didn't he? What did you even do?"

[maskedtyrant]

Close enough. Codi pops back to her feet and jogs over to the turtle in several long strides, feeling reasonably confident in Donatello's ability to keep her hide safe if she sticks near him.

"Might've blown up a building," she admits brightly. Her own attention turns back to Dendrite; in spite of how the impact knocked him back several dozen feet, the mage is upright with hands raised, not bothering to nurse his bloodied nose. The stance is distinctly martial. Specialized combat caster, perhaps?

Either way, he's no longer the immediate threat - his pet is. The chimera superimposes itself between them and gallops in for a charge, horned head lowered at the one that struck its master. Suddenly Codi doesn't feel so safe being near Donatello anymore. "Split!" she cries out, changing course and ducking to the side.

[purplexing]

"Oh, very nice! And kind of funny considering that these guys are the ones that invaded first, that they're the ones getting mad?" That's an interesting stance the mage takes though. Hand-to-hand? At least he's better dealing with a melee combatant than someone just firing off shots with a gun!

Donatello's grin wavers as the chimera takes its position. It's...a lot bigger now that he's closer.

"Aah!" he yelps, throwing himself to the other side as the thing comes charging.

[maskedtyrant]

Both of them narrowly dodge out of the way of the chimera's charge. Codi can feel the wind whistle past her back as it passes, even. Way too close. She rolls off the ground, catching a quick look at Dendrite pointing at her and muttering something under his breath. Codi points back at him for Donatello's benefit.

"Can you--!" Whatever spell the mage was casting activates. There's no warning - just pain, white-hot, spearing through the center of her chest like an arrow piercing her clean through the sternum. Codi shrieks in agony and staggers backwards, barely able to stand upright, let alone keep her thoughts in order.

AII

[newmemorywhodis]

Link has no disguise spells, no magic that can change his appearance. But he has dutifully put on the uniform of a Sylphid soldier, along with a helmet that keeps his distinctive pointy ears and long sandy-blonde hair hidden. Coupled with the fact that Link didn't feature in nearly so much propaganda as Codi, no one bats an eye at his presence.

He looks at Codi, as she raises her eyebrows at him. What that is supposed to mean, Link has no idea. Maybe she's sick of hearing their guide ramble? Link kind of is. He looks back at their guide.

"Weapons, please." Oddly enough, his blank-faced denouements helps sell the story - making Link come across as an ultra-serious soldier, utterly dedicated to his task and nothing else.

[maskedtyrant]

Their guide might have been starting to raise an eyebrow at Codi's claim that her young, fresh-faced companion was supposed to be some kind of weapons expert, but his tone does wonders to quash those suspicions. "--Sure, I guess," stammers the guard, moving to hold open the Armory door. "Just don't take too long or I'll be late for patrol."

"I'll keep a leash on him," Codi chuckles, passing their guide a wink as she slips through the door. She waves for Link to follow. "We'll only be a few minutes."

While she waits for Link, Codi takes a few moments to glance over the Armory's interior. It's one of the larger rooms, with even a few smaller rooms attached - dressing areas for getting suited up, presumably. What wall space is left is dominated by lockers, improvised weapon and gear racks, and minor decorations that the rebels left behind that no one has bothered to take down yet. About a dozen Sylphid are making use of the room already, either adjusting their armor or cleaning guns. A pair of them are rolling dice across a bench near the back.

All of them perk up and stare directly at the pair of unfamiliar faces that walk in.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link stares back. His impassive, blank face does not change at all, not even with the increased attention. Then, turning from their audience and ignoring them entirely, Link focuses on the wall of weapons.

The guns, of course, he dismisses - he still really know how to use them at all. The other weapons, though. They look much more interesting.

Without waiting for their guide's permission, he steps forward to look at the first one that strikes his attention - a giant two-headed axe. The edge of the axe's blades burn a bright red, one that that reminds Link of a flame blade.

Way in the back, one of their observers snorts. "Seriously? That thing's bigger than him-"

Still paying them no mind, Link picks up the axe. It is, indeed, taller than he is. But from the way he lazily swings it through a few forms, that doesn't matter much to Link.

[maskedtyrant]

Most of the time in these sort of tense, socially-charged situations, Codi would revel at being the center of attention, using her intuitive understanding of the people around her to play them while she does what she wants. In this case, the grin that splits her face is for an entirely different reason.

Schadenfreude. Watching a whole room of people fall for the same things she fell for while trying to figure Link out herself is absolutely delightful to behold. Silence persists, but now it's all confusion and disbelief rather than hostility, and where eyes were locked on both of them, they're now firmly fixed on Link.

Perfect. Codi slips around the edge of the room like she's briefly glancing over the assorted weapons racks, noting that no gazes are following her movements, while she's actually making her way to one of those changing rooms. Those seem like safe places to recast her Disguise Self spell.

[newmemorywhodis]

The distraction certainly holds, because as the soldiers watch Link go through the motions first with the burning axe, and then an electrified spear - they are quick to realise that Codi's assertion that he's a weapons expert was entirely true.

Link may have memory issues. He may be poor at communication and at dealing with people in general. But weapons? Link knows weapons, right down to his bones.

Soon, the soldiers are all crowding around - trying to give suggestions, trying to point Link towards their favoured weapons. Link continues to say little - but he listens to them all carefully, and puts all the weapons they press into his hands through their paces.

With all this distraction, Codi should have more than enough time to cast her spell.

[maskedtyrant]

Codi allows herself a self-satisfied grin at the back of Link's head, one last little gloat, before she slips into one of the changing rooms and closes the door to a crack behind her. Casting Disguise Self is a quick affair, but it involves some gestures and muttering under her breath that would be difficult to mask out in the open, especially if any of these other goons are Tians. A couple seconds later and she pops back out, concentration refreshed.

Now that her primary objective has been taken care of, she has a bit more time to properly look around. Codi continues her circuit of the room at a sedate pace. Idly she notes that Link has narrowed in on the side of the wall with more traditional enchanted weaponry, while the other racks of modern guns and even more advanced magitech ballistics are currently being ignored. Codi stops in front of one of them and starts sifting through the guns, weighing each in her hands, while the show behind her grows louder and more enthusiastic.

Probably best not to overstay their welcome, though. "See anything you like?" Codi calls over her shoulder.

BIII, shock of shocks

[morganknight]

"Uh, Codi--"

A moment ago, Morgan had been all cockiness and delight, martialing his strength to take on a foe he'd recognized from the first as -- if not precisely a martial artist, at least someone who uses principles and skills Morgan thoroughly understands. He so rarely, rarely gets to have a proper fight with martial arts...

...aaaaand now here's the guy going for Codi, while the chimera has decided Morgan looks like a tasty smack.

This has gone all wrong from the start.

[maskedtyrant]

Whoops.

Morgan's interjection comes far too late for Codi to do anything about it, while at the same time surprising her enough that she can't think of a way to stop from getting punched in the gut. Her response is, therefore, instinctive; she raises her arms up in part to block, and she does, albeit quite painfully, but then her hands swivel around to grab his fist and forearm in a flash.

"Surprise!" Codi barks. Her words once again act as the trigger for her magic, and electricity leaps through her palms, Shocking Grasp arcing into her target. Dendrite shouts involuntarily and spasms on the spot, which gives Codi plenty of time to dash away from him. She had intended to find an opening for a getaway from the battle entirely, but, well. Plans change.

She runs towards Morgan instead, to see how he's faring against that big goat thing that used to be behind her.

[morganknight]

In the moments since he'd called out, Morgan has somehow managed to stuff the snake tail's head in the lion's head, which is the sort of thing you can do when you're specialized in styles that focus on redirecting attacks, and are also a Mage. It isn't as impressive as it sounds, because the goat head is butting the holy hell out of his ribs, but hey, of the three he'll gladly take this one.

Dendrite, meanwhile, is honked off something fierce, and rather than try to chase after Codi he just flings a crippling gut-punch of pain her way.

[maskedtyrant]

Codi is mid-stride, thinking about how she's going to get that chimera off of Morgan's chest, when Dendrite's spell hits her like the literal punch to the gut that it is. Except the pain doesn't go away. She gasps and stumbles to her knees, clutching the front of her fatigues with one hand and trying to force herself to stand with the other. One step, two steps, and down she goes again with an agonized yelp as her legs buckle underneath her.

This clearly isn't going to work. Panting, Codi manages to roll herself onto one side so she can get a look at Dendrite and be properly infuriated by the smug, stupid grin on his face, and ponder the best wipe it off of him.

"Your magic...fucking...sucks!" she spits - hardly the pithy one-liner she was hoping for, but the magic infusing her words generally makes anyone take her Vicious Mockery more seriously.

[morganknight]

Dendrite looks briefly hurt. Come on, man, he just incapacitated you with withering pain, the least you could do is respect that. But, perhaps contary to Codi's intent, he stalks forward with every plan to completely paralyze her with one solid nerve-strike. That'll stop her mockery.

Morgan, determinedly ignoring the repeated bashing -- he would be SO black-and-blue tomorrow if he weren't both able to heal himself and vain -- grabs the air and twists. Poor Codi's body gets to be the battlefield of magic, as his own grabs the knot of grotesquely misaligned and mischanneled chi in her gut and straightens it right back out.

[maskedtyrant]

Codi has only a second or two to be confused about how her spell apparently hasn't affected this mage as much as she's used to (spell saves, go figure) before he's in front of her. She thinks to move out of the way of his hand hovering over her back, but her muscles, tense from pain, refuse to cooperate, leaving her shuddering in place. This is going to suck.

Then, suddenly, the pain lifts. Codi doesn't pause to wonder why this is - she simply moves, rolling to the side. Not quite fast enough, though. Dendrite's hand whips forward and still manages to catch her elbow. There's another shock of pain, promptly followed by her forearm going limp.

Codi tumbles clumsily onto her feet, clutching her painfully tingly arm as it bounces at her side. Her magic reserves are getting low...fuck, new plan. She whips out her sidearm - a pistol salvaged earlier from the destroyed Armory - and fires three quick shots at the offending mage.