Annexed Mod Team (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
modaccount) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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
The shield holds. He barely even hears the request for a cue over the deafening sound of the gunfire, but soon enough the opportunity presents itself.
"Now!"
no subject
He knows it will kill him, and made peace with that fact long ago. All that matters now is surviving long enough to die in the right time and place. To fall any sooner than his master allows would be shameful.
Teeth gritted, he drops the shield with one hand and yanks the bandages from over his right eye with the other. All at once there is light, blue and dazzling, like sun dancing upon the ocean floor. Rokuro says nothing. Words aren't required for this particular power, only sight.
With his chalcedony eye he sees inside of the Sylphid, both of them, past their skin and into their muscles/organs/bone, because he is the master of water, and humans are also water. Born of the sea and eventually returned to it.
"Please, die." Barely a whisper, and in the next second the Sylphid are dropping their too-large weapons and crumbling to their knees, both clutching their chests. Gasping, writhing, and eventually going still.
A moment later, and Rokuro also crumbles to his knees, for related but vastly different reasons. Bleeding from his glowing chalcedony eye and nose. Out cold.
no subject
He's still staring in curious wonder at the bodies of the Sylphid when he sees Rokuro fall out of the corner of his eye. Inwardly cursing, he kneels down next to the other man, glad to note that he's still breathing but much less so that he seems to be very unconscious. Kylo reaches out a hand to lightly shake him in an attempt to rouse him enough to at least move to somewhere less exposed. He had taken care of all the Sylphid that were nearby, but that doesn't mean more won't find them.
no subject
Which means he is alive, but won't be conscious quick enough to be of use for the next wave of Sylphid. Not immediately. He stirs slightly when nudged, but other than a fresh trickle of blood dripping down from his nose over his lips, Kylo receives no other physical response.
I went and made an icon in like five minutes just for this, you're welcome
It's not that far to a patch of trees they could disappear into. Rokuro is significantly smaller than him as well, which thankfully makes it not too difficult to scoop him up and carry him that short distance. Moving someone's limp body into the woods was not how he had been planning to spend his time today, but it seems he doesn't have much of a choice.
swoon~
Without his heirloom weapons, master, and sworn comrades, to protect and guide him, Rokuro is over-relying on his most easily accessible and damaging powers rather than fighting in a more conservative, intelligent way. This new enemy is terrifying, and the unfamiliar world surrounding him even more-so.
Unconscious, Rokuro is granted a brief reprieve from the chaos. While he would never admit as much aloud (and thankfully doesn't have to), there is a certain comfort in being carried and held close that his body responds to, and his eye slivers open a moment before closing again. Straddling the line of consciousness.
"Moon." Low and breathy, vaguely lifting a hand towards the night sky. Attempting to make his 'preference' known. Kylo likely won't understand the context, but if he sets Rokuro down (or holds him) anywhere bathed in moonlight, he will recover more easily-- though not effortlessly or immediately. Kylo will have to be momentarily patient.
no subject
There is a bit of moonlight, though, filtering through the trees in the small clearing he sets Rokuro down in. It's not far from the road, but at least far enough that they won't be obviously visible to anyone else who shows up.
That done, Kylo sits nearby, leaning his back against one of the trees. He won't try to patch Rokuro up any further--he doesn't have supplies for that, anyway--but he'll sit there as long as it takes for him to wake up again.
no subject
There's no patching up what's wrong with Rokuro. Not unless he has the ability to heal another person from the inside out, and even if Kylo managed to stop the internal bleeding, the soul is what truly keeps a person alive... and a piece of Rokuro's dies every time he pushes himself past mortal capacity.
The moon helps. Or maybe it's the space and quiet. Either way, Rokuro will wake eventually, and with no concept of how long he has been out.
"M-my apologies." Low and hoarse, before rolling onto his side to retch into the dirt.
no subject
All he knows for sure is that Rokuro unleashed a very unexpected power at the end there, and apparently knocked himself out with it.
no subject
Rokuro wipes the blood away from his nose with the back of his hand, and begins the careful process of rebinding his right chalcedony eye. Without the glow of power, it is simply an ornately carved blue gemstone set into his eye-socket.
"It has been a long battle, and I... felt it necessary to push myself, in order to confirm I am no longer stripped of my abilities." An exhaled breath, neatly tying the gauze off before shifting into a composed kneel. Shaking hands stilled by folding them primly upon his lap. Poised in spite of his pain.
no subject
"That was quite an ability you showed." It's spoken as a simple observation, but he is honestly impressed, and curious. "How does it work?" It clearly has something to do with the eye that Rokuro seems to prefer keeping hidden, but he can't even guess at very much beyond that.
no subject
Break him. From the inside out.
There's no point in lying to Kylo when he saw Rokuro fall with his own eyes. That said, Rokuro isn't about to go into details surrounding his blessed 'eye', not after a trusted ally attempted to steal the original, and he was forced to destroy it rather than allow his power to fall into enemy hands. The blue chalcedony is useless to anyone other than the Unno heir, but people obsessed with power rarely let such details stop them.
He tilts his head away from Kylo, blue-black hair slipping from behind his ear to conceal the right side of his face. More out of compulsion than any real fear of perception. Rokuro has spent a lifetime hiding this part of himself from others. His position as the Brave of Water is no longer a secret, but old habits die hard.
"Ordinarily, I am better at pacing myself. I shall do better next time. You will not have to carry me again." An apologetic half-bow to his temporary superior, to whom he is now at least partially indebted. It's a good thing Rokuro is far from his ancestors, as they would be turning in their graves.
no subject
For now, he's too busy sorting through the implications of that answer. He notes that Rokuro is someone he certainly would never want as an enemy. For all his own abilities, once he has them back, manipulation of blood is something he wouldn't know how to defend against. That's a terrifying thought, but also intriguing.
The part about the shield is another thing to note. It might have been nice to know that earlier--though they really hadn't had much choice in the moment, even if he had known what toll it might take.
"I won't ask you to shield a barrage of bullets again." That's not an apology, but it is a promise. Not least because he intends to be able to defend himself on his own far better in the near future.
no subject
On one hand, the Unno priests are the most powerful line of sorcerers his Japan has ever seen, and on the other... Well, Rokuro is only sitting up by sheer force of will. If Kylo wanted to push him over, hold him down, or choke him in this weakened state, there is very little he could do to stop him.
Yes, Rokuro is powerful, but in many ways he is equally fragile. Behind the barrier and the blessings of gods, he is simply a slender young man of below average height and weight. If Kylo hadn't removed him from the battlefield after he fell, Rokuro would have been killed or captured without struggle.
Which is why Kylo's insistence that he won't use (or abuse) Rokuro's power and leave him in such a state again is so strangely touching. Entirely consumed with his own inability to both utilize his power and remain self-sufficient, he simply hadn't considered not being put in a position to fail.
The surprise is somewhat evident on his tired face. For a moment it looks like he may argue, because his self-identity has always been tied into his ability to self-sacrifice, but then... he simply nods with a quiet sigh.
"I am not afraid to die, however... it is too soon. I should like to be useful a while longer. I do not need to meet my end upon every hill I battle upon. Thank you for reminding me."
no subject
Snoke wouldn't have made that same promise, Kylo is sure, but even he wouldn't have wasted someone with skills like Rokuro has. He had put Kylo through plenty of dangerous experiences early on, in training, but especially given that response, it's clear that Rokuro doesn't need to learn the lessons of knowing his own limits and not expecting a safety net.
"Death would be a waste of your abilities." Had his prior commanders not realised that? Or were his powers so common wherever he came from that it simply didn't matter?
no subject
Here, on his own, Rokuro must make every decision by himself, for himself. And it seems he isn't half as precious with his own life as his master was. Aside from the desire to return home and fulfill his destiny, Rokuro has no real reason to live. Not without him.
Head throbbing and heart pounding, Rokuro is suddenly very aware of exactly how alone he is, and it is terrifying. For a moment he is silent, staring straight ahead, as the weight of realization truly begins to sink in.
"I am alone." Holding himself rigidly upright, slender fingers white-knuckled in their grip of his knees, Rokuro fights the urge to collapse again.
no subject
But he can relate, a little bit. He had killed his own master, and it's not a decision he's ever regretted, but he truly hadn't been prepared for just how strange it had been to live with a voice in his head throughout his life and to suddenly have silence in its place. At the time, he had imagined that his connection with Rey would take its place. Now, with some time to become more accustomed to that silence, he's not so anxious to fill it as he had been back then.
His voice carries a hint of the bitterness of personal experience when he replies, "Sometimes it's better that way."
CW: Seppuku
"How?" Spoken almost too softly to be heard. If Kylo thinks Rokuro looks more shell-shocked by his current predicament than when faced with a gatling gun, Kylo would be correct. He is staring straight ahead with a thousand-yard stare, and the voice leaving his mouth feels strange and unfamiliar.
How is Rokuro supposed to know what to do with himself when he is alone, when he doesn't know who he is when he's alone? For all his reading of classical literature, philosophy, and self-reflective poetry, this is a question he has never been asked to answer-- or even think about.
The only time Rokuro anticipated leaving his master's side, he was not half so afraid, as he had already written his death poem and planned to die by ritual suicide that same night. Returning honour to his family whilst selfishly avoiding a life of uncertainty with one deep cut.
Of course, Rokuro's master had rejected his resignation, and here he is. More uncertain than ever.
"I do not feel better. I feel ill. I feel... weak."
no subject
"That's not surprising after what you just did." He's aware that Rokuro likely doesn't mean that in a purely physical sense, but anything beyond that is easier to simply ignore for now.
no subject
But Rokuro isn't allowed to break. Not here, not now. However badly he falls apart, he must pull himself back together again. Whatever it takes. To die of a broken spirit (or is it a broken heart?) and waste the sacred gifts entrusted to him would be the greatest betrayal of all.
He sinks forward, prostrating himself, forehead touching the cool grass, silently praying for the gods, spirits, and energies of this world to give him strength before pulling himself upright. Yes, a tear streaks down his cheek, perhaps more than one, but he is conscious and he is present.
The expression with which Rokuro turns to Kylo, his temporary leader in this assault, is at once painfully fragile and wholly resolved. "What must we do to end this?"