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
So instead he just cocks his head to one side, and looks in the direction Rokuro mentioned. "Four people with a really big cylinder?" he says.
Unfortunately, Link is also utterly unfamiliar with what a rocket launcher looks like. He hefts up his trash can lid, wary and unsure of exactly what's coming at them.
no subject
Rokuro is expecting the rocket to hit hard, given his experience with black-powder canons, but nothing could prepare him for the raw power of a modern-day explosive. The rocket strikes the outer barrier and pierces the water veil, shattering the bubble, and continues onwards towards them in the blink of an eye. Too fast for Rokuro, who is staggered by the blow to his magic, to recast.
With only the smaller bubbles to protect them against the rocket's slowed projectory, the best Rokuro can manage is to throw up his arms, cover his face, and hope Link's pot lid is stronger than it looks.
no subject
He holds the trash can lid up high. A faint transparent red sphere appears around him. Rokuro is too far; Daruk can only protect Link. He has to time this just right...
Just as the rocket is about to hit Link, he parries. There's a flash, and the rocket is propelled back towards the Slyphid soldiers. At the same time the ghostly visage of a large Gerudo appears before Link, blocking the force and heat that would have otherwise still struck him, parry or no.
The Slyphid soldiers in turn only have seconds to realise just how horribly the tables have just been turned on them, before the missile hits and explodes.
There's not much left of them after that.
no subject
"What..." Either way, Rokuro is alive-- though barely conscious, and after a split second of wavering on his feet behind Link, his legs go weak and he topples over onto the grass. Out cold. His body's self-defense mechanism against the toll his abilities take on him.
It happens. More than Rokuro would ever admit.
no subject
Well. At least he knows that works, now. And there’s definitely no more enemies to worry about.
Then he turns around, and realises Rokuro is lying on the ground. He comes over, and pokes gently at the man with one foot. Is he injured?
no subject
"Mmph." A quiet exhale of pain, sitting up slowly. He isn't bloody or battered on the outside, it's his head that's throbbing. As if the rocket had pierced his skull at the same time as the barriers. The world is spinning and his ears are ringing, but Rokuro's still here thanks to this small, violent blonde man and his pot-lid.
"I am fine." After what is intended to be an affirmative nod, which turns out to be an incredibly bad idea while nursing a splitting head-ache, he turns to one side and throws up onto the grass.
no subject
He ends up giving Rokuro a few stiff pats on the back, before opening up his Slate to see what he had. He didn't have any proper meals, but he'd managed to store away a couple of pieces of fruit.
"Apple?" he says, pulling one out and holding it out to Rokuro. Sure, the man had just thrown up, and probably didn't actually want to eat right now. But apples were still good for you, right? Maybe it would be better than nothing?
no subject
"Thank you." A glance from their position to the carnage wrought on the road. The Sylphid are scattered, some attempting to put out fires with extinguishers as others tend to fallen comrades. The security guards who busted out the rocket launcher have to be full of regret right now.
"I'm sorry. I was not prepared for such firepower." Assuming the Sylphid wouldn't have weapons more powerful than anything he has yet to experience was both foolish and arrogant. He could have put more energy into a singular shield instead of failing to hold multiple. At least Link was able to save them both, so Rokuro is the only one left paying the price.
He wipes the blood trickling from his nose with the back of his sleeve. More irritated at himself than shaken. After a moment's consideration he takes a bite of the apple. A little sugar might be helpful in bringing his energy back up.
"How did you do that?"
no subject
Someone else is dealing with it. Link can flop down on the grass next to Rokuro.
"If you parry your shield at the right time, you can deflect back at them," he says. It's a simple enough concept, really. It's just that the execution isn't quite so simple. He hasn't always gotten it right; especially early on, when he was still re-learning everything.
no subject
"The cooks of your world must be fearful indeed." Rokuro is only half joking. As one of Sanada's ten braves he has seen some fairly insane things in his twenty-something years, and yet every day since his arrival to this strange world, he continues to find himself surprised.
As Link doesn't appear to be adhering to any standard protocol, Rokuro finishes what is left of the apple in small, neat bites and lays back against the grass beside him to stare up at the unfamiliar stars.
"We have both been fighting for some time. A moment of rest would not be amiss." Especially as the Sylphid are being swept up like trash by rebel reinforcements right in front of them.
no subject
The concept of 'rubbish' was a new one to Link. As were things like 'plastics' and 'garbage collection.' He'd just seen a bit shiny metal container, with a lid big enough to use as a shield, and promptly taken possession of it. The purpose of the mysterious metal container hadn't been pondered any further than that.
Somewhere out there, there was an annoyed resident missing the lid to their bin.
no subject
"I hope you washed it first." Because that should be a primary concern as trucks burn and people scream as they're taken prisoner in the background. Cleanliness. Never mind the fact Rokuro has no idea what kind of run-off was in that creek water, but that's a thought for tomorrow Rokuro who doesn't have a migraine.
"I also struggled to find adequate weaponry. People here are obsessed with firearms. I do not understand the allure. Few people make adequate marksmen." Rokuro is into whips himself. So is his twin brother. Take that as you will.
no subject
If it bothered Rokuro that much, he could always go dunk it in that creek. If there was any water left, now that Rokuro had flung it around everywhere.
"Firearms?" Link says, head tilted to one side at the unfamiliar term. "Like bokoblin skeletal arms? But on fire?" That can't be what Rokuro was talking about, can it? He hasn't seen anyone talking about a weapon like that.
no subject
"Weapons in which gunpowder is used to fire a projectile. I had only ever seen cannons and matchlock rifles before arriving here. To think they have created a weapon more powerful than a dozen canons, and at half the size, is a terrifying thought."
The explosion is still ringing in his ears. Rokuro won't soon forget that sound, or the feeling of his barriers being obliterated as if they were made of decorative paper. His body still hurts, inside and out. Closing his eyes does not alleviate the pain behind his eye, but it does stop it from watering. It will take more than one battle by Link's side for Rokuro to dare shed a tear in his presence.
"You are the first person I have met who is as unfamiliar with this land and its technology as I am. While I would not wish such a thing on anyone, it is... good to know that I am not the only one."
no subject
"We do have Ancient Sheikah technology, in Hyrule," Link says, holding how the Sheikah Slate to show Rokuro. "But it was all buried and lost, until just before the Calamity. I don't know how it works."
no subject
"Perhaps we can discuss the intricacies and gunpowder and explosives later, when we have more time and space to do so." That said, he will roll onto his side to look at the Sheikah Slate, the pain is worth satisfying his curiousity. After discovering the wonder that is the 'modern tablet', Rokuro has taken a new interest in foreign technology.
"The closest we have to such things where I am from are scrying mirrors. They do not tell the time or weather. It is a much less... accurate form of divination."
no subject
"Divination? Like prophecy?" Link asks, still holding up the Slate for Rokuro to look at.
no subject
He nods, carefully, so he doesn't disturb his already aching head further.
"On occasion. What common people wish to know is often more trifling. Such as an auspicious day to marry, and which will crops yield the most that season."
no subject
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.
no subject
A little ironic, considering Rokuro's destiny as one of Sanada's ten braves. Unfortunately, the prophecy that foretells his death, as well as the death of his comrades, is all too real.
no subject
By then there was never any question that the prophecy was real.
At this point though, Link's starting to get antsy. He doesn't particularly feel like explaining his role in Hyrule's prophecies. And he's had enough now of just sitting in the grass.
"I'm going to go look in the trucks." Or at least, what's left of the trucks. After magnesis, the water wall, and one rocket launcher, they are decidedly looking worse for wear. "Bye."
And then Link just...gets up, and walks right off.