Mission Log #1

[modaccount]

How It Works

Welcome to the first 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 Cure For Immunity

The Witches have received intel through their spies in Zephyr that a lab located just outside the outskirts of the city is engaged in experiments on sentient beings to create a serum that will change those people who are incompatible with Sylphid reproduction. This serum would allow the Sylphid to take over the bodies of people who would usually be fatal to them.

The serum is said to function at a 45% success rate already.

Obviously this would be a major blow to all life on the Broken World, as 70% of the population is immune to being taken over by Sylphid. This serum would allow them to increase their population numbers exponentially and turn a powerful takeover into a nigh-unstoppable one.

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: Into the Lab

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: Stealth and recon.

This mission will focus on stealth and recon, with operatives conducting surveillance on the lab to work out the rounds of the guards and other staff so they can infiltrate and take the information on the Sylphid serum in order to reverse engineer it and hopefully make a serum to make everyone immune to Sylphid takeover. The Witch passionately states in her opening speech that this would be an immense blow against the Sylphid and is a very important mission.

PHASE I
Nestled in the jungle a few blocks outside city limits is a low cement building with a high barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence around it. The lab is built like a fortress with thick walls, very few windows, and a thick roof made of cement and tile, almost bomb-proof. All in all, the Sylphid aren't exactly subtle, the place might as well scream 'secret lab to create top-secret serums.' There's also a regular round of security guards accompanied by guard dogs that make their way around the perimeter, and security cameras at every entrance and exit.

There is plenty of cover around the building for operatives to watch the rounds of the guards, the way the cameras swivel, and get a feeling for what kind of people enter and exit the building. Surveillance can be conducted the old-fashioned way, by just watching the building from many different angles and sharing observations by camera. They can also be done in a variety of other ways, depending on individual powers and abilities - want to pretend to be making a delivery so you can scope out the front desk? take photos or videos of rounds or entrances and exits to study? draw a rough map of the grounds to show everybody? Go for it!

There are a variety of ways to get into the building, but surveillance will boil down to four main routes of entry:

⇝ The first is a direct frontal entry, where characters may bluff their way inside the building in a variety of ways including pretending to make a delivery, taking down a single guard and stealing their uniform, or otherwise working out a ruse to get inside.
⇝ The second is a through a single bulletproof glass skylight in the roof of the building, directly above the mess hall, which should be empty just after lunch time. There is a strong lock on the skylight, but it can be picked and there are no traps.
⇝ The third is through the back entrance, near where the guards' staff room is, in a secondary building. This route will require taking out several guards as silently as possible and entering disguised as guards.
⇝ The fourth is through a ventilation system that can be accessed by a panel high up on the wall at the one side of the building that is facing the jungle. This one will require some acrobatic skill and flexibility and might be best for a small character.

PHASE II
There are four major routes of entry into the lab, and characters who try any route of entry should keep in contact with people outside via radio or network to relay information found out during the infiltration phase. The rebels are trying to get as much information about the internal layout of the lab as possible in case the Sylphid opt to reuse it for another purpose in the future. They would ideally like to be able to map the entire internal structure of the facility. In all cases, photos, videos, and sketches of the inside of the lab would be welcome to the rebels.

⇝ Frontal Entry: Characters who opt to enter through the front via some kind of ruse and who gain entry will find themselves faced with a maze of corridors and rooms. This may be difficult because anyone who is allowed entry into the building generally knows their way around. Success of this particular route of entry will depend on confidence and being able to keep the ruse alive as the characters run into various different people - scientists, guards, deliverypersons, janitorial staff, and other staff. Keep the ruse up for as long as possible and make sure you get as many details of the inside of the building as possible to relay to your colleagues outside as possible.

⇝ Skylight Entry: Characters who opt to enter through the skylight will find themselves faced with a heavy lock as their first obstacle. The lock is able to be picked or hacked, depending on the characters' skillset. Once the skylight is open they will have to lower themselves into the room underneath, a mess hall for the staff in the lab, and subdue the cafeteria workers. From this point, they will need to keep themselves hidden from passers-by in the hallways, and rely on stealth and silence as much as possible while mapping out the inside of the lab, and keep in radio or network contact with those on the outside.

⇝ Back Entry: This is the method of entry that requires the most fighting. Characters will enter the back area of the building where there is a smaller outbuilding that is used by the guards for a sort of staff room while they are taking breaks, and subdue several guards to take their uniforms. After the uniforms and keycards for the building are secured, they can enter through the back door and maintain the ruse of being guards that are patrolling the building. This is where knowledge of the guard rounds comes in handy, and all that surveillance will certainly help. These characters will have to be careful to avoid the real guards as they will be able to clock that they aren't their coworkers and the "I'm new" story will only work so many times! Characters in guard uniforms will have an easier time communicating out loud on radios and the network as they're expected to be communicating by radio, and will also be able to give spare walkie-talkies to those on the outside.

⇝ Ventilation Entry: This is the most physically challenging method of entry, but a very valuable one. After accessing the ventilation system, characters will be able to crawl through the duct work in a virtually undetectable way and take photos, videos, or sketches of the rooms they can view through vents. The duct work goes everywhere throughout the building and mostly poses obstacles in the form of the mazelike system of them, occasional fans and other blockages in the ductwork, and dust and debris in the ducts including possibly rats and spiders. Some of the spiders are poisonous, as jungle spiders tend to be, and anyone bitten by the spiders will experience pain and hallucinations that may hinder them. As with all other entry methods, the people in the ventilation system should be communicating with those on the outside by radio or network.

PHASE III
Phase III is more straightforward than the other phases of this mission - once the infiltrators have mapped out the inside of the lab, they should locate the central computer banks and anyone with the technical expertise should make a copy of the databanks. This will require some hacking and all characters doing infiltration will be provided with a device that will allow them to hack through any passcodes required by the computer to access the information inside. Copying the database will take at least a half hour, so characters may have to create diversions, talk themselves out of hot water when people come to stop by the computer room, and otherwise distract the true staff of the building from entering the room and catching them in the act.

Once the computer banks have been copied, characters should use another device they will be given before infiltration to plant a virus in the computer banks that will corrupt everything in them. The virus will take about 10 minutes to get to the point of critical mass, a guaranteed disruption of the whole system. This phase of the mission will take at least 40 minutes total, during which characters are going to have to keep any of the real staff of the lab out of the computer room through whatever means possible, making it the point in the mission most likely to go off the rails.

After the computer system has been disrupted by the virus, characters will have to escape the building without being caught by the Sylphid staff, and may leave through any exit available so they can melt into the forest and make a clean escape.

ADDITIONAL MISSION
Characters infiltrating the lab will discover several rooms where sentient test subjects are located. Some of them will be in very ill health due to side effects of the treatments they've been enduring, and all will be very willing and eager to be rescued. While some characters stay with the computer banks to copy and sabotage them, other characters may go find these rooms full of test subjects, about 45 in total, and smuggle them out of the building. Once the rebel force has been alerted to the presence of test subjects, they will send a truck to wait near the back entrance, and operatives will simply have to cut the chain link fence to make space for the subjects to get into the truck to be transported back to the Witches Camp. This mission will likely involve having to subdue several guards as the back entrance is near the guards' room.

Mission B: Disrupt The Supply Chain

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: Recon and open battle.

This mission will focus on open battle and guerilla tactics, with operatives locating and disrupting the supply chain to the lab. It will focus on identifying shipments of equipment, food, and other supplies to the lab and interrupting them, destroying the vehicles, subduing the enemy, and taking whatever supplies they can back to the Witches Camp.

PHASE I
The highway leading past the lab is a seldom-used four-lane highway that snakes its way through the jungle in a mostly uninhabited area. While there are a few scattered farms and other occupied areas, most of the highway is bordered on by wild jungle, which provides a lot of cover for surveillance of the delivery vehicles that approach the lab to drop off supplies. Most of the trucks will contain food, equipment, and other sundries for the function of the lab. The trucks can be wheeled or hover, and will have various brand names emblazoned on them. Characters tasked with surveillance in these areas will settle at safe and well-hidden spots in the jungle to watch the roads and keep detailed notes on which trucks with which brand names enter the lab to deliver supplies. They will also need to keep in close contact with home base to relay this information, with notes on the times the deliveries happen and what sort of supplies may be being delivered, based on the logos on the trucks.

Characters will discover that there are actually several routes delivery trucks are taking to get to the lab, contrary to previous intel-gathering, which pointed to the quickest and most obvious route being the one the trucks used. Some trucks are taking side streets through a nearby occupied area, at the center of which is a rather skeezy truck stop where drivers stop for food before completing their deliveries. Characters will need to spread out to cover these additional routes in order to make sure they don't miss any delivery trucks.

Additionally, the truck stop may become a good source of intel, with staff being amenable through convincing, coercion, or bribing to give information on the drivers that stop in on a regular basis, what they haul, and what their timetables are like. Players are more than welcome to NPC some of the staff at the truck stop for mild interrogation, including waitresses, cashiers, station attendants, and janitorial staff.

PHASE II
As Mission A moves into its final phase, and much more likely to be discovered, phase II of Mission B will go into full effect. Operatives will have discovered four routes that trucks are taking into the lab, and will need to cover all of them for both surveillance and to blockade them or sabotage them and stop the trucks.

⇝ Route 1: The main and quickest route that trucks are taking to the lab, which is directly down the highway and off of it into the lab driveway. This will be the toughest one to blockade due to the size of the highway - four lanes, though seldom used, is quite a distance to cover.

⇝ Route 2: A winding side road that goes over a small creek and then beside it, only two lanes across and through a mostly uninhabited area. Because it's uninhabited and a smaller road with less traffic, it will be easier to blockade and is also the second most used route by the trucks.

⇝ Route 3: A relatively direct route from the truck stop through some back streets that straightforwardly traverse farmland. There is more traffic on this road that is civilian because of its proximity to farmland, and will require a bit more effort due to this civilian traffic.

⇝ Route 4: Another straightforward route, though this time through a civilian-occupied area, and close to a school for the small community surrounding the truck stop. This will be the most difficult to blockade without doing too much collateral damage to the civilian area around it and the school.

Characters will have been given bombs that they may use to destroy the roads themselves as well as access to heavy machinery they can use to move cement blocks into the roadways to block traffic from getting through. Once the roads are blocked or destroyed, characters will have to subdue the Sylphid staff on the trucks through force, which might be a significant fight, as all Sylphid, even down to truck drivers, are well-trained in combat. These drivers are also well-armed, considering the mission they're on to supply the lab, which is one of the top priorities for the Sylphid as of now.

PHASE III
Phase III is relatively straightforward compared to the rest of the missions - unload the trucks and carry the supplies back to the Witches Camp via truck or hover-ATV, then destroy the trucks. This will mostly be through demolitions or by setting the trucks on fire, leaving them as a signal to the Sylphid that they can't go about their research without being challenged.

Characters may disable the trucks in whatever fashion they wish, so long as it leaves a good, lasting message to the Sylphid. The Sylphid drivers that aren't killed should be captured and bound and loaded into a truck to be taken back to the Witches Camp to be interrogated or used as bargaining chips for the more diplomatic side of the rebellion.

Damage to civilian property or injury of civilians, especially children who may be playing at the playground by the school would be seriously looked down on and a huge blow to the rebellion's reputation, so characters are encouraged to keep destruction to a minimum on Route 4 in particular. In fact, the rebellion would prefer if operatives could load the trucks onto heavy machinery and take them to the Witches Camp for demolition instead of leaving them on Route 4.

Additionally, operatives along the routes will find that some of the trucks contain caged and restrained test subjects. Once these are discovered, they should be taken by truck back to the Witches Camp. Unfortunately, these test subjects can't be returned to their families in Zephyr because their chips would immediately mark them for death - the Sylphid would, without thinking twice, kill people that were marked as test subjects who escaped, especially after being rescued by the rebellion, in case they were corrupted by the rebellion. These test subjects will have to be comforted and brought back to the Camp to either join the rebellion or be civilians in the Camp.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[noisecomplaint]

"I can keep going." There's an almost petulant edge to his voice, mentally fighting Tech as he simultaneously submits to his touch. Going down to the ground easily. There is a reason Rokuro has avoided making himself comfortable, and it's because he's afraid he won't get back up again with so little effort.

He tucks his legs beneath himself, resting his back against the tree. Arms folded protectively over his narrow chest. The rain presents them with an extreme tactical advantage. There is no chance the Sylphid will find them, and very little chance they'll notice one of their number missing before it's far too late.

On a more personal level? It's cold, slippery, and even more difficult to navigate the jungle themselves.

"Once I catch my breath, I can stop it." And expel even more energy, but it seems logical at the time, given how wet and uncomfortable Tech looks.

[tech_nically]

"We can't go anywhere at the moment, or we'll be just as lost," he reasons. "Risk of injury due to falling is greater under the current circumstances, more so with your balance impaired."

Perhaps surprisingly, Tech settles down beside him. It would be pointless to stand on guard when even he can't see anything, and although this isn't the sort of respite he'd prefer, he also knows sometimes you just need to take what you can get. He sighs, finally allowing himself to lean back against the tree. Uncomfortable as it is, there's something soothing to the pouring rain. It reminds him of Kamino and its near-incessant storms. There's an ache there too, from more recent memories. He frowns to himself, reaching up to swipe ineffectually at the water gathering at the base of his goggle lenses.

"You'll do no such thing. We can wait it out." To call up a storm can surely be no simple doing, and compounded with Rokuro's earlier use of his powers, Tech can only guess how much of a strain the man's put himself through. One did not push their squad to its limits without reason, and Tech faults himself for not understanding the range and consequences of Rokuro's abilities enough to keep him from overstretching himself.

"I didn't have enough information..." he says, his words almost swallowed by the sound of the falling rain.

[scathes]

It's his turn to bristle slightly when she shoots back that 'after all' in response — but he laughs. Sincere or otherwise, there is something about it that still feels ever-so-slightly mocking.

So, she takes as good as she gets.

He may have disappeared, but Leaks's voice is still close to her when he answers:

"I know you will."

It's a small journey along the path to the other group, and Leaks's feline agility carries his booted feet over the bracken in near-silence. It's evident on arrival that the other group have done their best to keep to the schedule and make good time, despite less than ideal conditions; little work remains, but the evidence of fatigue is already there. They've had to prepare for much longer than the second team, after all, and the murky, humid environment isn't making their labour easy.

A small incantation, that piercing dark song, and a number of trees break and fall at their base, collapsing into the concrete-laden path and finalising the impenetrable cradle for anything that comes through. It also requires more than a handful of the current team to move very swiftly out of the way — and while he's not utterly feckless about it, there's more than a little confusion and complaint about it. (Sorry Sarah.)

He makes his way back to Alder's team. There, the group has started to quiet and everything has become quite still, with even the wild birds' cries growing distant. Leaks responds by keeping his own steps light as he walks up to Alder, his black tail twitching behind him in anticipation.

He doesn't say anything. His return makes the message clear by itself: that they're ready.

Just as well. The time is growing near.

[maskedtyrant]

At least he's made an effort to apologize. The appearance of politeness combined with compliance carries a lot of weight with Codi, enough to quickly soothe her bristling temper and distract her from how her back stings under the mud. Must've scraped some rocks or something. Whatever, probably fine.

She's lucky to find the truck's keys still in the ignition - or what Codi figures is the futuristic alien approximation of a key-and-ignition combo. It's a small bit of shaped metal inserted into a button near the steering wheel. Close enough. Codi puzzles around this and other such minor differences for a few seconds while Rokuro joins her on the passenger side.

"Hardly a luxury car, that's for sure," she murmurs, experimentally twisting the key and pressing on a pedal that she thinks is a clutch. It's what she remembers Marcus doing when he drove her to the start of this route, anyway. The truck sputters for some moments before whirring to life with an alarming lurch. "--Ah! Got it. Good girl."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link is cool? She thinks he's...cold?

There's no time to ponder this confusing assertion however, because now she's wounded and Link is darting in to stand before her, getting right up in front of the Sylphid. He strikes forth with his spear; once, twice, five times in rapid succession. Each strike lands right in the Sylphid's chest, giving him no time to react.

And along with the earlier head wound, the Sylphid is now out for the count, clumping to the ground and going still. Now that the immediate threat is taken care of, Link looks back - is Harley okay?

[newmemorywhodis]

"We had the old legends and prophecies. I don't know how they told them. I don't know if anyone does anymore."

Maybe everyone who could tell the future died in the Calamity. Maybe people used to ask them about when to marry or what to plan, but don't anymore because there's no one left to ask.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs. The Slate does lots of things, and Link doesn't particularly feel the need to explain it all to everybody.

"You didn't ask," he says, waiting a few more seconds before summoning another bomb.

[newmemorywhodis]

Very good news, particularly since Link hadn't actually stopped to consider questions like, 'what happens if my ally accidentally shoots me?'

With the windows now shattered, it's now all too easy for him to reach in and slash at the driver's throat. A few short, swift strikes, and the driver isn't going to be getting up again.

The other guard in the passenger seat is a bit harder for Link to reach, at least from where he is by the door. But it turns out Link doesn't really need to get to them, because several of Elma's stray bullets have struck them square on.

One truck down, then. Link moves back behind the truck's carriage, using it for cover as he inches around to get a look at what's going on with the other truck.

Sunstreaker | Mission B, the latest ever but

[solartrauma]

Phase II
[He wasn't someone scouting out the truck stop, but as soon as they got the information they needed about the routes the trucks were taking, Sunstreaker was in route to set up one of the blockades. Shifting into one of the ATVs he takes off for the team working on Route 3. It's supposed to be the harder due to traffic. As if that's going to be a problem for him. He can swerve in and out of the traffic like it's nothing if need be.

Shifting into one of the Sylphid trucks and acting like they've "broken down" and in need of help seemed to be one of the easier ways to get their attention after someone had gotten some uniforms at the truck stop. He didn't bother asking how it was done and didn't care as long as the ruse worked.

He just wanted them to hurry up so he didn't to look so hideous for much longer, but the others on his team were the look outs.]

Any sign of them yet?


Phase III
[It was living cargo. Civilians who had been kidnapped and dragged off for who knows what experiments. And maybe that thought had been enough to justify what happened to those truck drivers and then some. But they were getting rid of the truck to leave a message and that meant Sunstreaker had the dubious honor of being the transport for all of the liberated test subjects back to Camp. And they needed to make it look normal, so once again he had to have someone sitting in the driver's seat. Not that he had to like it.]

You can touch the steering wheel, but remember who's driving here.

[noisecomplaint]

"Enough information for what?" Rokuro's eye is only half-open. Voice soft and drowsy. The soft pitter-patter of rain hitting the jungle canopy above their heads is soothing. If it weren't so cold and dark, and they weren't in the middle of a mission that has already claimed multiple lives, siting beneath a tree like this with Tech might be pleasant.

His tired eye flicks up to Tech's face, intrigued by the time, effort, and care he puts into maintaining his goggles.

"Why do you wear those? Is your vision poor?"

[consider8]

((with apologies, I did not intend to leave this hanging ;w; ))

[It was indeed! It stand for Mollusk Era, and unbeknownst to 8, but knownst to us, the Mollusk Era doesn't start until 10,000 years after the end of humanity. Ah to know what her people know not.]

I suppose this is why we're taught to supress our individuality and focus on performance. Er... [That was a little vague.] My people, I mean.

We have our mission, and we are expected a certain level of proficiency to succeed. To fail in that expectation would mean everyone was lacking. Can we count on each other to perform our duties?

I suppose this is the first mission for us to find out.

[Though she would admit that exceeding expectations was valuable as well.]

[consider8]

( the words fall a bit strong, and Eight finds her a little unsettled. Another memory. A black-haired Octarian with kelp in her hair scoffing at her efforts. An elite. Someone she told to emulate and aspire to. )

( She shook her head, following along in silence. As they passed over a grating, Eight was alerted by the sound of movement. A pair of feet -- patrols? -- were walking nearby. )

Tsst! ( She whispered, hoping to catch B'elanna's attention)

[tech_nically]

Everything, he thinks. As much as it is a large part of their mission to obtain such information, there's still other things he could have surely prepared for. But they're still small in comparison to the most obvious that strikes him right now.

"For whom I was working with, what I should be keeping an eye for so as not to put them at risk." Tech sighs. "I'm not used to being the one looked to for the decisions regarding missions. That is no excuse, I know. I will try to be more aware of these things from now on."

He raises his head, brow lifting. "These? Ah..." He'd take them off, but getting water in them would be even more of a pain to deal with than just having to wipe them off on the outside. "My vision is not optimal, no. But these would also serve in compliment to my helmet, if I had it." It's also the only piece of equipment he's at least been allowed to keep.

Don't mind us just squeaking in~

[heeroized]

[Getting out of the compound after getting in proved to be the easier part. Which was not how it usually worked for Heero, but eh he'll take what he can get. Meeting up with a new team, meant more teamwork. Not his favorite, but it's necessary.

But nothing could have prepared him for this. He'd apparently missed out on a lot more than the initial rescue of a bunch of civilians.]

Who.

[He doesn't react too much physically, no craning or outward reaction as his mind raced. His eyes however, were scanning everything furiously trying to understand. What the hell was going on?]

[forceguided]

Eh, that's true technically. Luke can absolutely respect that logic.

"Fair enough." But now he's not actually sure what there is for him to do if Link's apparently capable of doing this part by himself. So he trots a distance away to keep watch. This road wasn't as used as some of the other's supposedly, but it couldn't hurt to take precautions.

"I'm beginning to think you're basically a one person army, you know that?"

[tarisian_cathar]

She looks carefully at it. "Five letters," she repeats, thinking.

"E?" she ventures. She's still not sure how languages are translating, but it works.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link stops to consider this statement a moment. He's the only surviving Champion. He's also one of the few Hylian warriors around, period. There are strong guards and fighters among the Gerudo and the Zora, but when it comes to warriors who actually journey out across Hyrule and deal with the various monsters...it's really just Link.

"Pretty much, yeah," he agrees, before exploding the next bomb.

[forceguided]

Oh well, too late to move on to a new site, plus he'd be needed for the later parts of the mission anyway. Or would he, it's not like Link would need help carrying things or.. whatever was in the truck that'd come through, but.. no, you know what? Link's just going to have to put up with his help regardless.

"Maybe if we get you some ear plugs, we can work on your shooting some more." He considers, since it's not like there's much else for him to do at the moment.

"Think we could drop a tree on the road too?"

[solartrauma]

[He can tell by the reaction someone forgot to update this guy on exactly who the transport was. Great.]

Me. I said what I said. I can drive myself. I don't need you driving us off the road.

[heeroized]

[Yup, there hadn't been any time. Whatever. He can roll with this even though it's highly unusual.]

I've never driven off road unless it was on purpose.

[Completely missing the point.]

I will not interfere with your work.

[If only he was the sort to ask a million questions. As it is, he might allow himself to make a few. Though touching the steering wheel does bring with it questions he's not going to ask right now. Like does he feel it?]

[newmemorywhodis]

Link wrinkles his nose a little. Even if he did have something to help with the noise, that didn't change the fact that guns were still weapons he just...didn't know how to use. After being able to pick up practically anything else and just knowing how to use it, and use it well, it was frustrating.

"I don't want a gun. I want a bow," he says. Maybe if he explored around more, he'd find one hidden in a chest somewhere.

At Luke's suggestion, he looks off to the side of the road - where there's a nice row of trees, all sitting pretty and waiting to become a blockade.

"Yes," he says.

[scarabwings]

While he sorts out the prisoners, Layla checks in briefly with the team running comms.

"Patrol just passed junction A about five minutes ago," she relays quietly. "Gives us a bit of a window."

The odds of running into no guards may be against them, but if they can avoid the ones they know about, that's a good start.

[scarabwings]

Layla nods thoughtfully. "That'll be handy for hit-and-run tactics," she says, with an easy confidence that suggests that while she might not be accustomed to having powers, she's certainly accustomed to working alongside them.

"We should split the team three ways. Send a couple people who are good at flashy to play bait, lure as many guards as we can in, separate them, slow them down with snares, then come in fast and hard from behind to disable them. That should leave our scavengers clear to pick over the trucks with a light guard to handle anyone who stays behind."

[scarabwings]

[She creeps up towards the grate, keeping her motions as steady and smooth as possible to keep from knocking against anything. Her reaction to the twisting form below is immediate, a sharp, indrawn hiss of breath. Something on the motion puts her in mind of fever, which is bad enough if left inadequately treated - which is all too clearly the case.]

We'll need to radio ahead, let them know we might need medical at the extraction point.

[Leaving anyone too sick or injured to move might be easier. They're nowhere near desperate enough for her to suggest it.]

[scarabwings]

"Last count I heard was around twenty, but they're not all being held together." She grimaces a little - it's not hard to think of why groups of prisoners might be sectioned off in different parts of the lab. It's hard to stop thinking about it once she's started.

"There are probably more our people haven't found yet."