Annexed Mod Team (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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annexedlogs2022-08-14 08:50 pm
modaccount) wrote in annexedlogs2022-08-14 08:50 pm
Mission Log #1
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
no subject
I think we can take this group to an empty truck together, we've managed to talk everyone around. I saw a group starting to pack another truck down this way just before I opened this one.
[She points in a different direction to where Harley had had to take the first group, where there does indeed seem to be a few people headed with supply boxes. The remaining portion of the group is probably close to two thirds of the people in the truck, so they're going to need a bit more space than the first group did.]
no subject
[She follows the direction of Mikumo's pointing finger with her gaze, nodding as she spots the place they're taking some supplies to and figures that's where the people should be going too.
They start moving over there, as a group, and Harley flutters around the edges of the group to keep watch, make sure there's no stragglers, and as she's rounding out the side of the group she spots another truck coming.]
Oh no.
[A tiny pause, and then she's suddenly whipping a rocket launcher out of seemingly nowhere, looking over at Mikumo.]
Hate to break it to ya, sister, but there's another truck comin' an' I gotta do what I gotta do, ya know? Keep them eyes closed, and I mean it!
no subject
Keep moving forward! [The usual mildness and amusement dropped from her tone, it becomes commanding and resounding. They're completely out in the open where they are now, and a moving target at least makes it harder for the truck to try and come at them. After what happened last time, a couple of people within the group grab hold of the few children and cover their eyes, making a break for the truck they need to reach while Harley does what she needs to. A few of the rebellion members moving supplies drop what they've got and reach for weapons as well to help intercept the truck, and Mikumo notes a case of water thudding to the road nearby as a result of the response.
Just in case.]
no subject
This is gonna be loud!
[She yells that, and then takes aim at the truck and shoots the rocket launcher off, exploding the whole front of the truck while the back flips over forward from momentum and impact. Harley puts away the rocket launcher and pulls out another gun, just a handgun this time, and runs over to the truck. There are a couple Sylphid there, burning but blessedly unconscious, and she puts bullets in their heads before they can wake up and scream.]
no subject
With the truck handled, the couple of rebellion members who'd grabbed for weapons split up, two coming to check the truck and the rest helping Mikumo flank the group and get them to the half-packed truck. She takes the opportunity to listen out for any further interruptions - and catches the faint sound of what might be an ATV. It could be one of the ones being taken to carry supplies, but it sounds like it's getting nearer awfully quickly, and is coming from a direction conveniently hidden by the way the trucks in the area are parked or have been abandoned.]
Tighten the group, and get to the truck! [She splits off, half-turning back to where that case of water had fallen and making a pulling motion with her hands. The bottles shake, then rupture under the pressure of the water in them trying to escape, coming forward in a wave that lifts Mikumo up high enough to see over the trucks. There's a half-packed ATV that an opportunistic Sylphid has grabbed back to try and mow through some people, and before they can break through the line of trucks, Mikumo reshapes the water into a large hand and simply snatches the driver out of his seat, throwing him forcefully into a wrecked truck before turning the ATV back, letting it burn out its remaining momentum and stop.]
no subject
Instead, Mikumo is focused on the group, which Harley can't really blame her for. Still a bummer that she didn't get to see Harley being badass, part of her wants to show off for the other woman still. She hears the ATV coming about the same time Mikumo does, though she's at a better vantage point to be able to tell that it's being driven by Sylphid and not one of their teammates.
It seems Mikumo realizes the same thing just a moment after she does, because the other woman is yelling for people to tighten the group and get to the truck. Harley's putting the handgun away and pulling out a semi-automatic and it's only then that she realizes that Mikumo is riding a wave of water and making it into a massive hand that just straight picks the guy up and flings him against a truck. There's a sickening crack when he hits home, but Harley takes her gun over there and unloads a few bullets in his head just in case before jogging back over to Mikumo.]
That. Was so. COOL!
[Her entire face is lit up, her brows raised, a huge grin on her face.]
no subject
In the time it takes for all that to unfold, the second group has reached the truck and are being organised by the rebellion members who were accompanying them, so Mikumo lets out a bit of a relieved breath though her teeth before Harley reaches her.]
I'm just glad it worked, considering the first time I did anything with that ability was in the facility earlier. [She'd known, in theory, she had to have a Heba ability, she just hadn't actually worked out what it was until mid-mission.]
I feel like I'll have to start carrying a water bottle. [Destroying the plumbing of some building they're infiltrating to access water might be a little harder to do than popping some water bottles.]
no subject
So she looks utterly unbothered as she trots back over to Mikumo and tells her how cool she looked using her power.]
Ohhh, is that your Heba thingy? Mine is weapons. I can just pull 'em out of nowhere, they're just...there. Y'know?
[How would she know, Harley?]
Water bottle's a good idea. You could get one'a those canteens you stick on your belt or somethin'!
no subject
[Going between planes is usually used for transport in Mikumo's world, but she can see the comparison as far as things not being there one second and being there the next. It's definitely not the kind of thing that can typically be done without high-tech machinery where she comes from, though some alien species innately have the ability, so it's not unheard of.]
Possibly. I'd need something reasonably large and easily opened, so I suppose I'll have to look at my options later. It's not something I've particularly needed before.
[She tends to not need that much to eat and drink, one of those things that in hindsight, was likely an intentional design choice by those who made her.]
no subject
Sorta like that, yeah, I guess.
[It makes sense. The way she says it, it probably sounds like she doesn't actually understand, but she really does.]
Except I don't gotta fill it up or nothin', it's just there.
[As far as she's concerned, it would look pretty cool on Mikumo's gear, this little unobtrusive canteen filled with water that she can kick huge amounts of ass with.]
Yeah? You didn't have any water thingy before?
no subject
I don't need much to sustain me, and most of my missions back home tended to be short-term. If it was something long enough to need rations, we'd get a kit anyway, so just not something I ever got into the habit of carrying.
[If she doesn't need it, it's just extra weight and something that might fall at an inopportune time. If she's going to need to carry a water container on her for the duration now, she supposes she'll just have to make sure it's a secure one.]
no subject
[A shrug, because it's the kind of limit she can live with. Not that it encourages her to learn new weapons or anything, not when she has a reliable source of ones she's comfortable with.
When Mikumo replies, she doesn't get it at first, then realizes how unclear she was when she mentioned a 'water thingy' and laughs, abruptly.]
Oh, I meant the water power, not the canteen thing.
[She's still smiling, because it's the sort of common misunderstanding that comes with her slightly weird circular way of speaking, and she's used to it.]
You never had the water power thing at home?
no subject
[Which is Mikumo's first thought - imagine pulling something you had no idea how to operate at a time it was absolutely vital. She assumes there's a degree of intent and selection there, but depending on one's reaction time it might not be as specific in some cases than others.
And while Mikumo is used to somewhat crass language from pilots she works with, they're usually fairly specific given how poorly things can go with bad communication in their line of work, so she gives an amused sort of hum at the misinterpretation.]
Oh, that. No. [She hasn't even been mentioning that she could breathe underwater previously, because that opens up further questions and more half-truths or lies she has to make about what she is.] I always did find myself somewhat drawn to the water, though, so perhaps that's part of why it ended up being what I could control here.
no subject
[All in all, it's a pretty instinctive power to use, because all it is is that she thinks of the weapon she wants and it appears in her hand when she reaches for it. Very user-friendly, if you ask her.]
It seems like these powers come based on who we are kinda, doesn't it? Like, mine is weapons because I was always lookin' for a weapon when I needed one, you were drawn to water and lived on a water planet. Wonder if it's like that for everyone?
no subject
[So hopefully there'd be a gun option or a blunt force option that most people would know how to use among those that Harley has access to. They do have people from wildly different time periods here, so drawing from this place's tech would probably be the best way to split the difference.]
It does, yes. I'm somewhat surprised mine isn't related to singing, but perhaps I already had enough going on where that was concerned. I haven't been told many of the other abilities people have, though, so I don't have much more of a guess at that question than you.
no subject
[She agrees that everyone should know how to use a gun by now, just from the merit of being in this place. Guns seems to be what the rebels use the most. And who can't use a blunt instrument? Whack, whack, easy as pie.]
Maybe it's somethin' we could do research on. Ask if the ability people got has to do with their hobbies or interests or is like the powers they had back home if they had 'em.
no subject
[She hadn't even thought of swords, because they're so vanishingly rare in her time - some particularly thematic variable fighters might use something similar, like the Aerial Knights, but the last time she saw a sword (as opposed to a machete, which she has plenty of mileage with getting through rough terrain) was when she was using one as a prop for a concert outfit. Or possibly in Windermere's royal palace, but her memories of there get spotty quickly.]
I get the impression a large number of people here would be hesitant to share that information. In my case it's not particularly personal, but many of the people I've met here seem quite reserved.