Annexed Mod Team (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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annexedlogs2023-02-05 06:19 pm
modaccount) wrote in annexedlogs2023-02-05 06:19 pm
Mission Log #4
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
CW: blood, head injury
"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.
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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.
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"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."
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"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.
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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.
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The sounds beyond are what draw his attention, not that he's forgotten what's happening outside, but he imagines it'll be inevitable before someone comes to investigate the armory, to see if there's anything salvageable to use now that the fight has picked up. He stands, unholstering both his blasters again as he turns towards the main opening.
Tech doesn't say his intentions directly, not wanting to interrupt Codi's concentration, but he's ready to defend this position and her until she's recovered enough to move.
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"Heal," she sighs. Mana flows out through her lips, suffuses the air around her, then plunges back into her wounds, sealing them up within seconds. The fog in her brain lifts an instant later. Codi drags a hand down her face, blinking and letting her eyes refocus as she reorients herself, before she hauls herself to her feet.
"--Okay, I'm good," she says briskly, pleased to note that her worries about Tech abandoning her were apparently unfounded. "Status?"
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Here there really isn't a commanding officer, so all calls are left to his own judgment. Thankfully the decisions have thus far been standard ones to make.
When he hears Codi, he glances back at her with his own quick assessment, but he can see she's clearly in a better state than he'd found her in. He nods, turning his head back towards the sounds outside. "The battle is quickly picking up. I'm clocking several moving in this direction and anticipate they may be looking for what armaments might have weathered the explosion. Start heading for the rear opening, that side is clearer. I'll be right behind you."
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She casts a quick glance around the room as she turns for the planned exit, searching for a weapon of her own. Unfortunately, very little is where she remembers it being - her destruction of the Armory was fairly complete. Codi nearly trips over the solution to this problem: A downed Sylphid sprawled in their path, a pistol underneath their slacked hand. She lets out a little noise of delight and stoops down to grab it.
As soon as her fingers brush those of the Sylphid, however, they shudder and let out a groan. Codi's response is immediate; she snatches up the gun, presses it behind their ear, and fires once.
"I've been here overnight," Codi explains, casually stepping over the now stiff body of the Sylphid as she continues towards the rear. "What extra planning was done since yesterday? Anything important?"
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This outpost is a position neither seems willing to give up, and it's the first he's seen of such a response from the rebels. "We are effectively in a battlefield now, Codi. Be careful."
He stops as he registers movement from the front of the armory, not wasting time to fire once shouts ring out as at least one soldier spots them.
"Go!"
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Speaking of which.
Tech's shout gets Codi to visibly jump, but she's not startled for long. "Follow close!" she barks back at him. "And try not to draw too much attention to yourself!"
Cryptic instructions are followed by an equally baffling gesture: Sweeping a hand, palm open down, over the floor, followed by an uttered "quiet" and a powerful flash of mana through her whole body. Pass Without Trace activates without fanfare on both herself and Tech; obviously the people actively shouting at them already know where they are, but this is more to cover their escape when they get into the thick of melee rather than to make them instantly disappear.
Then she vaults over what's left of the wall, trusting Tech to follow.
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Ah, a spell. He may not know exactly what she means to cast, but by now Tech can figure when someone's casting. He keeps an eye on things around them while she sets to work, looking back at her once she begins to move, and he's quick to follow suit.
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Pass Without Trace, though? It's like the perfect distraction, so cleanly executed that they don't even remember that she was there. Case in point: Once Codi and Tech leap away from the building, the soldiers tailing them don't even follow them to the edge. Experience tells Codi that the easiest way to lose people with this spell is to hide in a crowd, so she (perhaps counterintuitively) heads for the thickest mass of fighters, right where the two sides are starting to clash heaviest. Bullets fly and laser rounds shriek past her head, but none of them are aimed at her and Tech, and no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that they've joined.
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He does have to question Codi's decision to head right into the thick of things. Just because they aren't noticed doesn't mean they're safe from harm. It's here that he moves a little closer to her, figuring that at least between the two of them he's at least got armor.
"At this point I think being pursued is the least of our concerns," he has to note, loud enough for her to hear although with the noise of battle around them he doubts anyone would be able to overhear them otherwise.
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She flashes Tech a wry smile as he levels beside her. "Fair," Codi says with a shrug, though her nonchalant attitude is briefly tested as she has to duck to avoid the wild swing from some kind of magitech mace. The combatant, whoever it is, repositions a moment later to try and keep up with their actual target, and Codi sidesteps to get out of their way. "The world is your oyster, Tech. Where do you want to be?"
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"I'm inclined to circle around the enemy reinforcements," he says, gesturing with a pistol. "They won't expect to be flanked from here, and the confusion will also work to the advantage of the rebels."
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"You would assume correctly," she nods. "Alright - I like this plan."
Mostly because it sounds like it will take her close to the forest's edge, which means she'll have an easy escape mechanism if she feels overwhelmed by the time they get there. Codi keeps that contingency to herself.
"Lead the way," she continues, although her attention noticeably narrows on a break in the line of fighters to her left. It won't last long, but it might just be enough. "Just don't get too far ahead of me. The spell won't work if you get out of my range."
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He gives her another nod at her advise, moving in front of her as he follows her glance towards the slight clearing on the field. "Let's go," he says, starting onwards, not at a run, but at a quick pace as he continues to keep an eye on things in their vicinity.
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"Oof!" The sound isn't from Codi, but from the man that backs into her while she was trying to avoid someone else. A rebel, from the looks of it - makeshift body armor rather than standard-issue Sylphid fatigues, holding a weapon that she doesn't recognize seeing in the Armory. Their eyes meet for a moment.
Then his head is unceremoniously batted out of the way by a baton. The definitely-Sylphid on the other end seems just as shocked to see Codi standing there as the rebel was, but he definitely sees her, and that's a problem.
"Spell's broken!" Codi shouts in alarm. This is technically untrue; Codi can still feel Pass Without Trace's hold on her mana, indicating that the spell is active, but obviously enough attention has been drawn to them at this point to overcome its passive effects. Several sets of heads and eyes swivel to look at her at once. "New plan!"
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It's easy to see that they're presence has been registered even without Cody saying as much, and Tech wastes no time in bringing a gun up to dispatch of the stunned Sylphid. He doesn't stop there as he looks around at the nearest problems whose attention's been drawn, firing without hesitation. If there'd been any doubts about his soldier-capabilities if they'd been overshadowed by his technical prowess, he leaves little room for that doubt now.
"Go, I'll cover you," he says as he continues to fire. There's no hiding his position now that he's firing, and while this isn't quite where he'd wanted to be, he figures it would have become a similar situation at some point either way.
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Tech's order also isn't questioned. He wants to cover her escape while taking the heat for himself? Absolutely no problems with that. Codi flashes him a quick thumbs-up, holds her gun to her side and bolts through the clearing of people made by Tech's handiwork. With him acting as a distraction, her Pass Without Trace spell is able to take full effect again - but only on herself. The lingering shadows and magical stillness of the grass under Tech's feet will suddenly disappear if he allows Codi to move too far away.
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The lingering effect of Codi's spell at least makes it difficult for them to pinpoint his position right away, but it becomes clear enough to him when he's out of range. Tech takes full advantage while it lasts in order to thin out as many of the soldiers as he can. Time to join the fight.