Mission Log #2

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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 Magic of Sensors

After last month's failed attempt at setting up sensor networks in the jungle outside the city, the Sylphid are taking a new tack. Still intent on expanding their territory and disrupting the magical spell that keeps the Witches hidden from their sensors despite being chipped, the Sylphid are trying to use magic to create a new type of sensor network.

For many years, the Witches have relied on an area-of-effect magic spell that disrupts the chips and feeds false information back to the Sylphid sensor network about where Chipped rebels are and their biodata. Over the past week or two, the Sylphid have been sketching out the leylines in the jungle and through the communities outside the city limits to set up a new magical sensor network that will disrupt the spell protecting chipped Witches from detection.

This means that, if the network is successful, the new sensors will be able to pick up and identify chipped rebels, both old and new. This could be very, very bad for missions and a massive blow against the Witches, allowing the Sylphid to locate and capture chipped Witches.

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: Disrupting the Leylines

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: Recon, battle.

This mission will focus on recon and battle with the Sylphid. The leylines outside the city have been sketched out with a magic-focusing paint that amplifies their magical output. Operatives will be armed with cannisters of spray paint that have been treated with samples collected from the Troop, and taught disruptive and magic-dampening runes that they can then graffiti the leylines with to cause a disruption to their magic. They will also be outfitted with a sort of hoverboard for faster and more agile movement.

PHASE I: LOCATION
Last month, the Sylphid made some attempts at setting up sensor towers in the jungle outside the outskirts of Zephyr, and were thwarted by the rebels, with a lot of help from the new extrauniversal arrivals. While there has been some celebration of the new arrivals for their considerable help in stopping this particular mission, the job is not over. The Sylphid are determined to set up a sensor network outside the city to expand their territory and their hold over the people who don't live in Zephyr.

One of the major sticking points the Sylphid have with the rebels is their magical ability to disrupt the feed of the chips they've implanted into all non-Sylphid citizens of the Broken World, and the ability of this same magic spell to feed back false information on the biodata and location of chipped rebels. In order to combat this, the Sylphid have been experimenting with a magical solution - new magic-oriented sensor towers that will operate throughout the jungle and settled areas outside Zephyr and which will, more importantly, disrupt the magic spell that hides chipped rebels. This would result in the Sylphid knowing the exact location and identity of every chipped rebel, and the only response the rebels would have would be to remove the chips from every one of their number, seriously hampering their ability to operate inside Zephyr and other Sylphid-claimed areas...such as the new area claimed by this sensor network.

The Sylphid have been hard at work clearing the jungle around the leylines in the area outside of the city of Zephyr. In these cleared areas, they have been marking the leylines themselves with a type of glowing blue paint that enhances the power of the leylines, which they are using to power and maintain their new magical sensor system.

Phase one of the mission involves finding these leylines, avoiding Sylphid detection, and mapping them out on a leyline map to be provided by the rebels. They will also need to destroy or deactivate electric fences, especially in inhabited areas.

⇝ Uninhabited Areas: Many of the leylines are specifically chosen to be in less populated areas of jungle, to avoid disrupting the lives of civilians in the area too much. These areas will have been cleared of foliage all along the length of the leyline and the area will have been painted with wide swatches of glowing blue paint. Wherever this paint is applied, the leyline will glow along the ground, letting out quite a bit of light. In these areas, characters will encounter a variety of dangers, including wildlife that will not hesitate to attack them, and aggressive sometimes carnivorous plants, besides the Sylphid guards that are constantly patrolling the leylines with their golem automaton dogs, which are programmed only to hunt strange scents, including the scent of magic, and attack intruders. Occasionally, in high wildlife areas, the Sylphid have erected electric fences that must be disabled or destroyed for Phase II to succeed.

⇝ Inhabited Areas: In the more inhabited areas around the leylines, the disruption to everyday life in the area is severe. Roads have been closed down where they coincide with leylines, and the Sylphid have forcibly bought out several family homes, which have been demolished to accommodate the leyline painting. This is definitely an important mission as far as the Sylphid are concerned, and they are obviously willing to do whatever is necessary to complete it, including displace their own citizens. There are a large number of guards with canine automatons in these areas, patrolling along electric fences that have been erected to keep out passers-by and which must be deactivated or destroyed in order for Phase II to succeed.

PHASE II: DISRUPTION
Once the leylines have been scouted and mapped, and the electric fences have been taken care of, a somewhat chaotic and decentralized phase of the mission will begin. Characters will be given weapons, a hoverboard, as well as several cannisters of spray paint that has been treated with spore matter from the Troop, which was cloned in the Witches' labs from samples provided by kind volunteers from last month. These cannisters, when used to spray paint runes that will be taught to every rebel involved in this mission, will be able to disrupt the boost in power that the Sylphid have given to the leylines. This will decrease the energy that the leylines put out and degrade their magical power to the usual, which will be insufficient for the demands of the Sylphid sensor system.

There will be an opportunity, before heading out, to customize hoverboards with regular spray paint and stickers. This is really for no reason other than morale and hyping characters up for the fast-paced mission, but will give characters a chance to quickly interact, make last-minute plans, and get hyped. Coffee, energy drinks, and sugary treats will be available for a quick fuel-up! Characters will be told at this particular meet-up that there is a specific troupe of Witches who fight and do recon on hoverboards called the Skyclad, who have an almost roller-derby style culture, and trade badges based on cool tricks they pull off on hoverboards, or other hoverbattle maneuvers. Characters with an aptitude for hoverboarding and who pull off cool tricks or other maneuvers may be gifted with badges and may eventually ask to join the Skyclad.

Characters will be asked to use the hoverboards to fly along the mapped leylines as quickly as possible and graffiti runes every 20 feet or so, in order to fully disrupt their amped-up power. At first, they will be mostly undetected, and will be able to move quickly and easily.

Or, at least, in theory they should be able to move quickly and easily. There are still some serious dangers in both areas. In uninhabited areas, this will include the leftover rubble from the clearing of the areas such as giant brush piles, stumps, and still-living remnants of carnivorous plants, all of which will pose a serious obstacle course even for the most proficient hoverboarder. That's not even counting wildlife and encroaching living plants that are already trying to reclaim cleared areas, with predators hunting in the much easier terrain presented by cleared areas, and carnivorous plants putting out feelers for new soil that isn't shaded by the much taller trees of the jungle. In inhabited areas, there will be more guards with their canine automaton companions that could alert the Sylphid to the mission very quickly, as well as piles of rubble from demolished houses providing obstacles to their hoverboard paths, not even counting bystanders who might be trying to get items from their ruined houses.

Be quick and move light, fair rebels, because this mission is a rough one, still stealthy or not!

PHASE III: BATTLE
Unfortunately, some missions that start off as stealth missions are simply doomed to become battles. Such is the case with this one. About a third of the way through graffitiing the leylines, the Sylphid will catch on to what the Witches, led by the Skyclad, are doing, and send out reinforcements for the existing guards. These reinforcements will come bearing drones armed with magic-seeking missiles that will target the cannisters carried by rebels as they hoverboard along the leylines. These drones are extremely agile and well-armed, and will transform the previously stealth mission into something far more like an aerial dogfight with the hoverboarders.

The hoverboards are capable of reaching a maximum height equivalent to a 30-story building, and the drones have a similar height limit, so there's a lot of room for people to do in-air fighting. Taking these drones out is particularly crucial because this phase of the mission will be taking place around the same time as phase I of the second mission, and the drones will be capable of locating and attacking vulnerable Tians casting location spells in areas around the leylines, searching for sensor towers. At this point, while still working on graffitiing the leylines, the hoverboard fighters will also be providing a distraction for the drones and guards that are flooding the cleared areas of the leylines.

The drones aren't the only dangers of this battle, though. The hoverboarders will be pursued by Sylphid on fast-moving hover-ATVs armed heavily with guns that shoot both bullets and bursts of energy. They will also be armed with EMP-type weapons that can cause the hoverboards to completely malfunction. And along with the hover-ATVs will be the magic-sensing canine automatons that might just catch anyone who gets too close to the ground - as they might when trying to continue their graffiti attack on the leylines.

Mission B: Sensing the Sensors

Mission Appropriateness: Chipped or Stripped
Mission Focus: Stealth, recon, some battle.

This mission will focus on stealth, recon, and possible battle with the Sylphid if discovered. Tian characters will be taught a simplified location spell and a spell to shut down the magical sensors that have been set up and accompanied by one or two Heba companions for protection while they locate and shut down the magical sensor towers. They will be pursued by canine-like golem automatons that run on magitech and must be taken down with magic and weapons, along with their handlers. These automatons can be stalled out with magic, but with the appropriate tech knowledge can be reprogrammed into domesticated pets.

PHASE I: LOCATION
While there were advance lessons for any adventurous Tians who wish to participate in both missions, the bulk of the training in location and disruption spells for Tians participating in the second mission will be conducted while the first mission is being done, so it's fresh in everyone's minds. They will be trained in the use of a simplified location spell - generally, a location spell is beyond the level of most newly-arrived Tians, but the Witches have created a lower level version that will be well within the grasp of anyone willing to study it. This spell will only be able to locate the traces of magic done by Sylphid, which has a slightly different signature than regular Tian magic, and Tians will be told that the sensor towers will be giving off very powerful magical traces, which they can then follow to find the sensor towers.

Once the training is complete, Tians will be able to either choose a Heba protector or be randomly assigned a Heba protector and sent out into the jungle fully armed with their weapons of choice along with plastic explosive, and with camouflage gear and either hoverboards or hover-ATVs to cover more ground. Stealth will be an incredibly important part of this mission, as the spells that the Tians were taught require a great deal of concentration and quite a large amount of time - up to five minutes per cast - leaving Tians extremely vulnerable while casting unless they interrupt their spells. Interrupting spells can leave the Tians with a pounding headache and full-body shakiness.

Tians will be able to locate several large clusters of sensor towers, located on different leyline webs, placed approximately a 20 minute walk apart. Each cluster has a circular sensor range with a radius of about 50 miles, with each tower within the cluster channeling magical energy from its leyline and contributing to the cluster's combined power and range. It is a somewhat delicate balance and a truly impressive bit of magic, with each cluster consisting of about 10 towers arranged in the general shape of a pentagram, and the range of the cluster decreasing by 5 miles with every tower destroyed.

Once the clusters are located and identified, characters will be tasked with adding these locations to a shared digital map that will be accessible via every character's device. Adding these locations aids the hoverboard mission to continue to distract enemies away from the clusters, allowing Tians more opportunity to destroy the towers without interruption.

⇝ Cluster A: The first cluster is located the furthest away from the Witches Camp, along the northeastern border of the city of Zephyr. It is situated in deep jungle, dense enough that the cleared areas around the leylines are the only method of access to the towers, and require a hard, fast 2 hour long ride on the hover-ATVs or hoverboards provided. Dangers in this area are primarily from the jungle itself, with rough terrain, wildlife, and predatory plants abundant.

⇝ Cluster B: The second cluster is located about 50 miles south along the eastern border of Zephyr, situated in a jungle area, though less dense than the area around Cluster A. There are various directions of approach to this cluster, with the jungle being penetrable enough to approach from angles other than the cleared leylines. The dangers in this area are also primarily from the jungle itself, though there are guards with canine automatons in this area as well.

⇝ Cluster C: The third cluster is located about 50 miles away from Cluster B, at the south border of Zephyr, and is situated in an area that is partially settled. Most of the settlement in this area is farmland that's been cleared out of the jungle and is generally quite rural, so there aren't a lot of civilians to run into. However, there have been several farmhouses that were forcibly bought out and occupied in this area, which means that teams may run into angry civilians as well as guards with canine automatons.

⇝ Cluster D: The fourth cluster is located about 50 miles away from Cluster C, at the southwest border of Zephyr, and is situated in an almost suburban settled area. In this area, many houses have been forcibly bought out and demolished to make room for the towers. These towers are not difficult to locate, but are heavily guarded by well-armed Sylphid with canine automatons and in this area in particular, the guards have started to rebuild the electric fences, which will need to be deactivated and moved before teams can truly pinpoint the tower locations.

PHASE II - DISRUPTION
Once the towers are located, teams will be asked to, on a command, start to deactivate the towers, preferably with one Tian on each tower in every cluster casting a spell to deactivate it at the same time. The spell that the Tians must cast is very complicated, bordering on slightly too complicated for the level of magic that the new arrivals are capable of and will require at least 15 minutes of full concentration, and leaves them very vulnerable to attack from wildlife, Sylphid guards, drones, and other dangers in the area. They will be relying heavily on their Heba teammates to protect them during this vulnerable time.

As the Tians are casting their spells, they will be inundated with several types of dangers. Not only will there be wildlife and predatory plants in the areas around most of the clusters of towers, there will also be Sylphid guards with their canine automatons and their drones armed with magic-seeking missiles, or on hover-ATVs, heavily armed. Heba protectors will have to go into overtime protecting their vulnerable Tian counterparts as they cast spells to deactivate the towers.

Beyond this, Tians will be dealing with a mental onslaught - as the Sylphid built the towers, they built in a magical defense system that will flood the minds of Tians with visions of their worst fears and memories. These spellcasters will have to fight to keep their concentration as they are bombarded with terrifying and anxiety-inducing images, visions, sensations, scents, and sounds. Any interruption of the spell will result in a pounding headache, nosebleed, dizziness, and full-body shakes; completing the spell will leave the Tians quite exhausted.

PHASE III: DESTRUCTION & SABOTAGE
Relatively more straightforward than most of the other phases of this mission, the final phase will still be difficult. After the towers are deactivated, they will be tasked with destroying the structures, which are 50-foot-tall metal towers with a glowing ball situated at the top. The glowing ball will cease glowing after the tower is deactivated, but will still need to be destroyed, or else the Sylphid will be able to quite easily reactivate them.

This is where the plastic explosive comes in. Every team was well-stocked with a large amount of plastic explosive, enough to destroy two towers completely. This will need to be set up while the team is still being beset with all the dangers already described - jungle dangers, guards, canine automatons, and drones. The automatons and drones are both able to scent out magic, so exhausted Tians will still need to be on guard even as they try to recover from the difficulty of casting the deactivation spells.

Thankfully, the hoverboard team from the first mission should still be on duty, providing they aren't engaged elsewhere with distraction or have left the first mission to participate in the second mission. The Skyclad and anyone else still on hoverboards will gladly swoop in to help protect vulnerable teams from the remaining dangers in the area.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[twelfthsong]

I'll be better than Clara was. [ It's in his nature to crack a poor joke despite Clara not being able to defend herself. And circumstances aside, he liked to think that Tech would agree that Clara's driving had been more than a little bumpy. But again, it wasn't the time or place.

After ensuring Clara was strapped in as securely as she could be, he nods at Tech before starting the ATV and heading back into the dense jungle.

The explosives detonate minutes later sending a reverberation through the trees and he barely spares a thought to the man they had dragged a ways off. It would have been foolish to think that the Sylphid would just let any of what they did go without coming to investigate. But they weren't the only ones that were detonating towers. With any luck, they'd be spread thin or distracted and their escape would go unnoticed. The thought of needing to get Clara back to base camp drives him, going as fast as he can on the ATV without jostling her too much. He needs to keep his eyes on the path ahead of them so he's relying on Tech to be his eyes. ]

Any sign of incoming Sylphid?

[tech_nically]

[Not that Tech had necessarily seen too much of a problem with Clara's driving, but he takes the joke for what it is. Once they set off it's just a matter of having his hoverboard keep pace with the ATV.

At least now that he has his helmet back, it makes it much easier to keep track of things without having to consult a tablet all the time, especially under the current circumstances.]

Not the Sylphid... [Not exactly, though he doesn't doubt they originate from them.] These readings are smaller- and coming in fast.

Wait-

[The first of them comes within visual range, and Tech doesn't hesitate to fire once he registers what they are.] Incoming! [One explosion heralds the sound of multiple shots as others come zooming into range, sizzling against trees as the ATV passes.]

Some kind of attack drones! [Tech calls out over the helmet comms, continuing to concentrate his fire on them.]

[twelfthsong]

[ Tech, please. The Doctor thought they were getting along.

He hears Tech's warning first which is shortly followed by high pitched whining. The conclusion he comes to is only a beat after Tech shouts his warning and shots are being fired overhead. The Doctor lets out a grunt, turning the handles at a sharp angle so he can try and dive into the tree cover, a set of missiles that come whistling through the air, narrowly missing them. The vines and trees take the brunt of it, leaving singe marks in their wake. ]

Why couldn't it just be the canine automaton we kept hearing so much about?

[tech_nically]

I'll try and lead some of them off.

[Tech breaks away from them, veering his hoverboard around as the ATV plunges into the trees opposite him. His shots take out a couple more, but he's quick to realize something.]

What- Doctor, they're still after you!

[But why? His readouts indicate the drones haven't lost track of them at all. Tech pushes the board forth again, breaking past the canopy, skimming the treetops as he continues from above. At least up here he doesn't have to worry about running into things, but at best all it's good for is to catch up. He drops back down into the trees, literally on top of one of the drones, shoving it downwards with another explosion.]

[twelfthsong]

Am I just a larger target?

[ With everything he had seen of Sylphid magitech the Doctor doubted that the drones were following the ATV simply because of its size. He casts the briefest of glances towards Clara who’s still unconscious and a hypothesis forms in his mind almost in time with another explosion sounding off behind them. ]

Do you think it’s Clara? Is it her magic?

[ The only way he can test it is to keep weaving and bobbing through the jungle. The twisted roots of the jungle already show signs of trying to claim back the space they had been cleared from and he sees a rather gnarly one up ahead that he knows he can’t avoid. With a silent apology to Clara he braces himself. The ATV hits the root, angling the ATV upwards and its wheels leave the ground for a brief moment before coming crashing back down - hard - against the jungle floor before he’s speeding off again. ]

Do you think there’s any way to turn their missiles on themselves?

[tech_nically]

[Tech resorts to other tactics, attempting to shut the drones down in the same manner as he had the enemy ATVs. His eyes narrow behind his goggles as the drones continue stolidly on their path.]

That may be the case. I'm beginning to think these drones employ magitech, as I can't simply force them to power down. If they're tuned in somehow to Clara or her magic, I'm not sure how else to draw them off- not unless you have some way to confuse them.

I'll try to thin them out as best I can.

[He winces as he watches the ATV fly ahead with that jump, taking another shot at a drone as it cuts to the side to avoid the tree. Without being able to hack into them the best he can do is the old-fashioned method of destroying them. An ion grenade sure would come in handy right about now.]

-don't look now, but I think something else is coming up on your left.

[makemeasong]

[ Clara feels herself hit the seat and groans loudly, looking up and seeing sky. Trying to push herself up, she still feels the pain in her side and groans again. ]

Now who the hell's driving?

[ She sees the gray and she grunts. ] Yeah, that makes sense.

[twelfthsong]

[ He's momentarily distracted from answering Tech when Clara pipes up. ]

Oh great, lovely to see you too, Doctor. Thanks for lugging my body back to the ATV so that I could get back to camp safe. Mind your head - !

[ He cuts a sharp turn to the right to avoid the missiles and low hanging branches. Somewhere underneath the snark he's relieved to see that Clara has come to. It's a sign that her body is mending - but that also means he and Tech have an extra set of hands to help deflect the onslaught of missiles. ]

If you're well enough to comment on my driving, you're well enough to take the sonic to try and distort the air around us to disrupt the missiles. [ They burst into a clearing which is bad news for them since there's no tree cover. ] We have a theory that they're tracing your magic.

[tech_nically]

[Despite the timing it's still a relief seeing Clara stir. Tech might've smiled if he'd heard the commentary, but they've still got problems to deal with.

The remaining drones launch another barrage of missiles after the ATV, prompting Tech to veer off to the side as he tries to get alongside them to shoot them down. While a few of his shots find their marks, he can't take them all out, and just before the clearing he's forced to break off to avoid hitting any trees.

Several missiles continue on their path, whizzing out through the trees after the Doctor and Clara.]

[makemeasong]

[ Clara struggles to sit up, not because she's hurting but because each limb feels like it weighs a ton. Her eyes, especially, just want to close again.

A tree explodes as they whizz by and it makes her move into action as fast as she can. Taking the Doctor's sonic, she also finds hers in her pocket and uses them both. She's barely sitting up, but she can point and press buttons, pulling it together enough to be useful.

When she points at a missile, it's as if the inside shuts down at once, left with nothing to propel it and sending it crashing - inert - to the ground. That's what she keeps doing, even as she has to keep forcing her eyes back open. There's only so far adrenaline is getting her now. ]

[twelfthsong]

[ The Doctor feels the sonic slip from his pocket, but he knows it’s in good hands. He continues to urge the ATV on, artfully trying to dodge the gnarled roots and moving plants that are coming alive with chaos being wrecked in their domain. When the sound of the explosions seems to quiet, the Doctor dares to ask Tech — ]

Tech, everything okay up there? Any more signs of the drones? We shouldn’t be too far off from camp but I suspect they donn’t want us leading them back there.

[tech_nically]

[It's anti-climactic but Tech will breathe a sigh of relief as no further explosions follow. The drones that have still been on Clara and the Doctor's tail soon go the same way as the missiles with Clara's continual Sonic'ing.

He taps the side of his helmet, lowering his visor again as he has a quick glance around.]

Looks clear to me. I'm not picking up anything else in the immediate area, but I'll do a quick circle around just to be sure.

[makemeasong]

[ Clara drops back against the seat again and has just enough awareness to tuck both sonics back into his pocket. That's the last of her energy spent, though, and she passes out again.

She'll live; she's pale and a little clammy, but her life isn't in danger anymore and mostly, she needs to sleep it off. ]

[twelfthsong]

Got it. See you at the camp entrance.

[ The Doctor turns to address Clara but sees her eyelids have fluttered close again. He swallows the guilt that suddenly bubbles up and pushes forward knowing that they aren't quite out of the fire until they're safely in the rebel gates.

The Doctor is tense as he drives through the jungle but eventually the telltale signs that they're nearing friendly territory emerge. Before they crest over the ridge he casts a glance upwards, slowing his speed to wait for a glimpse of Tech. ]

Tech, are you okay? Can we head in?

[tech_nically]

[It's a tense few seconds of silence, but soon enough the Doctor will hear from Tech before he finally sees the clone coming in from ground level than aerial. Less of a chance of getting spotted by anything from above.]

Affirmative. We're all clear.

[twelfthsong]

[ Another ripple of relief spreads across his chest hearing Tech's voice crackle over the communicator.

He leads the way through the gates, brusquely brushing off any attempts for anyone else reaching for Clara. After lifting her from the ATV he makes a bee line for Tech. ]

Do you need to go to the med bay? If not I can bring her there and meet up with you and Rokuro.

[tech_nically]

[Tech hops off the board, pulling off his helmet.]

I'm fine. [He nods at the Doctor, brows knitting in concern as he looks at Clara.]

You get her taken care of. I'll see you at the next site.

[twelfthsong]

[ There's another nod from him before he quickly departs without another word. He breezes by the medical staff and volunteers claiming that he can take care of Clara himself for now and that she'd be in better hands with him because he's the Doctor - not that that means anything to anyone there.

He makes a general menace of himself, fussing in his own way about ensuring that she's put in one of the comfiest beds available. When she's finally tucked in he reaches for her hand almost without thinking. Slowly, a golden light similar to the one by the tower emerges from his hand, extending towards Clara's and spiraling up her arm. Even though Clara was stable, the pallor of her skin upset him more than he'd like to admit. It's only when the lines between her brow smooth and there's more of a pink to her cheeks that he leaves.

On his way out he not-so-subtly demands that the staff look after her claiming she's ultimately under his duty of care before huffing off to grab his hoverboard and sync up with Tech and Rokuro for whatever else was to come. ]