MINRATHOUS PLOTTING POST

[faderifting]

MINRATHOUS PLOTTING POST

This post is here to help you all plot your Escape From Minrathous, and to provide some info about a new possibility: Not Escaping From Minrathous!

ESCAPE PLOTTING

We've made a quick form you can use to tell others what you're planning for your characters and what RP wishes you have, but don't feel limited by the form! We also encourage you to post any other ideas and plans you have, and especially to tag around.

CHARACTER:
EVASION PLAN: How is your character going to avoid capture on their way through the city? Do you have disguise plans in mind? Clever ruses? Crawling through sewers?
ESCAPE ROUTE: Which of the three means of escape off the island (catacombs, deep roads, or stowing away) will your character be taking? If you haven’t decided you can say so! Maybe someone will help you decide.
HOPES & DREAMS: Anything you want to plan for? Heroics or narrow escapes?

<b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>EVASION PLAN:</b> How is your character going to avoid capture on their way through the city? Do you have disguise plans in mind? Clever ruses? Crawling through sewers? <b>ESCAPE ROUTE:</b> Which of the three means of escape off the island (catacombs, deep roads, or stowing away) will your character be taking? If you haven’t decided you can say so! Maybe someone will help you decide. <b>HOPES & DREAMS:</b> Anything you want to plan for? Heroics or narrow escapes?

CLARIFICATION: The three escape routes in the log—by ship, through the Deep Roads, or through the catacombs—are mutually exclusive, not three parts of one escape plan. Characters can't be involved in more than one of those logs, and once everyone is out, they will be in three different groups making their way back to the Gallows by three different routes. As only 20-30 Inquisition members were in Minrathous, this will mean approximately 5-10 people in each group, depending on which of the three options are the most popular and how many characters don't make it out at all.

CAPTIVES & FUGITIVES

Some of you have expressed interest in being captured during the attempt to flee Minrathous and after some consideration we've decided sure! Why not.

This option will be open to a max of six people. This can include a mix of (A) people caught by the Venatori and imprisoned and (B) up to two people who are nearly captured but saved and hidden by Tevinter citizens resistant to the Venatori.

Those imprisoned will obviously have no access to sending crystals—to keep concerns about Venatori listening in from locking down the network comm entirely, everyone captured would need to do the right, smart thing and destroy theirs. If we have people being harbored by sympathizers, they may be able to have access to a crystal for at least part of the time, but would have to use it secretly and carefully, and we will give you enough information to RP sitting in cells next to other Inquisition members’ cells and so on. We'll be giving priority to players who want to use this as an RP opportunity rather than as a hiatus, but there may be room for hiatusing also depending how many people sign up. Participating in this plot will not be an exemption from AC.

Captured characters may be tortured for information or handled gently in attempts to turn their sympathies; those with anchors would likely be subject to some experimentation, with potential negative effects varying. Based on who’s included and the preferences indicated in the sign-up form below, we’ll give everyone who participates a write-up for their specific character’s treatment and experience.

Getting everyone back would be a high priority, especially if any of them have anchors, so ideally a mission to recover them could occur during the last week of August. We will also handle a lot of the OOC organization for this ourselves to make sure things keep moving, but given the vagaries of RP and RL (and the fact that we're just making this up as we go right now because you asked for it), we can't currently give you a specific deadline by which PCs will definitely be back in Kirkwall. Signing up means accepting that uncertainty for now.

RESCUE PLOTTING

We're glad everyone's enjoying the Escape From Minrathous plot so far, and we know lots of you are eager to get in on the fun and help rescue the characters currently fleeing the city! There are all sorts of plans flying around IC and OOC right now, and we want to make sure that these get coordinated so that people who want to participate know what's going on and have a chance to dive in.

So far, the only rescue efforts that have been mod-approved are Beleth's plans to send out three teams: a ship to meet the ship full of escaping agents somewhere outside of Tevinter (because honestly does anyone who went to Minrathous even know how to sail), a Warden-led team into the Deep Roads to meet the agents fleeing by that route, and a team to meet those traveling through the catacombs. To help organize this, we've added a new sign-up option below.

Anything outside of that needs to be run by us first. You can do that either by asking a question about it on this post, or by submitting a plot request or contacting us on the Mod Contact. It's very important that we be kept in the loop ahead of time about things characters want to attempt so that we can review them, let you know if they're possible, provide any other info we might have that might be useful, and keep track of what's happening so the results can be incorporated into the overall plot as it develops.

AND ON THAT NOTE

Please try not to extrapolate too far outside the bounds of the log we've posted without checking with us first! If you need information about how the invaders are treating civilians, whether there are any significant casualties, what the state of the harbor is, or if there's any news from other parts of the Imperium, etc., please don't guess—ask! In this kind of chaotic emergency situation it's natural that some characters would have different experiences and perspectives on what's happening than others, but we do need to keep everyone on the same page to some degree OOC, and we're happy to fill in gaps to make that possible.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[faderifting]

ask em here

[rathercommon]

HEY is the Inquisition organizing trips to go and meet the folks who are escaping? Like, can we do threads of going and bringing food/horses/etc. to the escapees.

Re: QUESTIONS

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

just talking, not actually DOING any plans, that's ok, right? No need to get approval for conversations?

Re: QUESTIONS

[sclavus]

HEYO, QUESTION! This is regarding the crew on the pirate ship going to meet with the Inquisition evacuees and their hijacked merchant ship.

Vane has been talking to Araceli about how to get more ships for the Inquisition Navy and the main suggestion he had was "let pirates be pirates and steal some enemy ships because it's not bad if you're at war and they're evil". They talked about it again with this rescue mission, to which Araceli said something along the lines of as long as the Inquisition people get back safe no one's going to give a crap about the ships idk idk that's what Vane took it as : D

ANYWHO I was wanting to ask, would it be possible for the Walrus to run into a Venatori ship to engage with, board and take over? Like maybe the escaping hijacked ship could have a Venatori ship trying to chase them down, so when they run into the Walrus, Flint and Vane can just be like y'all keep going, we need to confiscate your tail? : D Pretty please?

CAPTIVE & FUGITIVE SIGN UP

[faderifting]

Since we need to turn this around quickly, please sign up by 11:59 PM (U.S. Eastern) on August 5 if you want to participate. If we have more than six people we may need to RNG.

<b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER:</b> Let us know if you want your character to be captured by the Venatori or harbored by friendly Vints. <b>RP or HIATUS:</b> Are you interested in RPing during the character’s confinement, or in taking a hiatus for that period? If we have more interest than slots, we’ll prioritize people who plan to RP it, and if there’s room for people who would rather hiatus, we’ll make arrangements for them to be separated from everyone else to explain the absence. <b>ANCHOR?:</b> Has your character got one. <b>RESISTANCE LEVEL:</b> Would this character put up a physical fight whenever a captor got near them? Mouth off? Feign cooperation in an attempt to lower guards or glean information? Actually consider cooperation? Decide immediately they were going to die and it was hopeless and become a nonresponsive lump? Etc. If you’re only interested in the harbored fugitive option, you can skip this. <b>LIMITS ON MISTREATMENT:</b> What are your OOC limits (if any) on what you want the character to go through? We won’t be giving Max Torture Super Angst!!! to everyone even if everyone wants it, but we will make sure we take upper comfort limits into account. If you’re only interested in the harbored fugitive option, you can skip this. <b>NOTES:</b> Anything else.

[thunderproof]

CHARACTER: Adalia
CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER: Captive
RP or HIATUS: RP.
ANCHOR?: Ye
RESISTANCE LEVEL: Adalia would fight up until Charis the dragon was threatened, at which point she would immediately comply with any orders given. ETA: The cooperation would extend to peacefully following wherever she was directed to go, she would not give up information on the Inquisition without some torture being involved.
LIMITS ON MISTREATMENT: Fuck her up, I trust you not to make it unplayably terrible. Playably terrible is fine.
NOTES: While captive, I would like for Charis to go back to the Fade before anything too terrible can happen to him.

[in_death_sacrifice]

CHARACTER: Kain
CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER: Captive
RP or HIATUS: RP for sure!!
ANCHOR?: Yep!
RESISTANCE LEVEL: Kain will put up a really good fight and have a great deal of defiance in him, especially at first. But there will likely come a point where preservation of life becomes more important, so he'd switch to being defiant in a seething/quiet/subtly uncooperative way, while seeming to more or less comply.
LIMITS ON MISTREATMENT: No limits, GO ALL OUT! I'm all for inflicting some good old trauma. They are welcome to experiment on the shard and everything.
NOTES: Nope!

[ebeje]

CHARACTER: Max
CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER: Either would be fine, with a preference for captivity.
RP or HIATUS: My hiatus plans are Aug 19 through Sept 22, so I'll be RPing in August but I would almost definitely be hiatus'd during the rescue portion, and would probably handwave whatever's left of my hiatus as recuperation time.
ANCHOR?: Nah.
RESISTANCE LEVEL: Max would feign cooperation in the hopes of gaining trust or finding a means to escape, and feign ignorance about the things she doesn't want to share, but if pressed she'd be extremely stubborn about giving away information that would directly endanger the Inquisition or Nascere's pirates.
LIMITS ON MISTREATMENT: Obvs I would like to avoid sexual violence, but would also prefer to veer away from limb loss or serious skin damage, e.g. burns or skinning etc., I'm more interested in psychological torture tbh.
NOTES: Thank you mods for whipping this together so fast, you guys are the best.

[foundmyselfagain]

CHARACTER: Gareth
CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER: Captive
RP or HIATUS: RP
ANCHOR?: Yes
RESISTANCE LEVEL: Gareth would be initially very resistant, particularly right when he was fighting capture, and possibly even busting out the blood magic to try to fight them? If that wouldn't end horribly, at least. I discussed with Nat the possibility of them using Adalia (and/or other captives) to make him stop fighting: surrender or they get it, etc etc, which I think would work well. Afterwards, he'd start getting more and more withdrawn and as things progressed, be more willing to follow along. Though it'll probably be clear that he's not actually super into it, but kind of having some Trauma Issues and just trying to not get killed or anything.
LIMITS ON MISTREATMENT: Hard pass on all the super hard treatments, as has been mentioned elsewhere, he's a mage with an anchor, so it'd make sense for them to go easy on him to try to ensure his cooperation, and he'll be trying to avoid getting punished, SO BASICALLY: I'm fine with him being knocked around, especially during the initial capture, but nothing super gung-ho horrible.
NOTES: Makes a mark on my venatori agent bingo card.

[circleprodigy]

CHARACTER: Inessa Serra
CAPTIVE, HARBORED, or EITHER: Harbored
RP or HIATUS: Hiatus.
ANCHOR?: Nope.
NOTES: Inessa would not want to flee the country upon being separated from Kain, but this is my preferred excuse for her not being active while I'm on hiatus for the month.

Thor and Loki

[thorndergod]

CHARACTER: Thor and Loki
EVASION PLAN: They're going into the catacombs after fighting at the market, trying to filter people unfamiliar with their city down. Their mom will be with them. It won't be that subtle, but it will be powerful.
ESCAPE ROUTE: Catacombs!
HOPES & DREAMS: Their mom is dying during this, come be a part of the fun! But more seriously, if you want the Brothers Asgard to help back up your character or get them out of confusion or whatever, we're gonna have an open thing on the post.

+1 Orlesian lady and maid

[coquettish_trees]

*writing review of taxi service*

Hailed cab for ride, received heartbreak instead. Five stars, would ride again (driver, not cab service.)

[limier]

CHARACTER: Coupe
EVASION PLAN: Playing this by ear
ESCAPE ROUTE: Catacombs
HOPES & DREAMS: Let's burn this food :))) RIGHT GUYS LET'S BURN IT

[eruit]

CHARACTER: Hanzo Shimada
EVASION PLAN: Hanzo looks like your Traditional Tevinter, so he probbaly won't look like a typical Inquisition agent. He's going to use that to his advantage as best he can.
ESCAPE ROUTE: Deep Roads!
HOPES & DREAMS: who waNTS TO SEE SOME SPIRIT DRAGONS

[mousquetaire]

I do! Given that these two probably know each other a little given their mutual association with Benedict on this trip, do you mind if d'Artagnan sticks with him?

RESCUER SIGN UP

[faderifting]

If your character wants to get involved in the current rescue efforts, please reply below, using this quick form, by 11:59 PM (U.S. Eastern) on August 8. Depending on how many people are interested, it may become necessary to RNG to keep the teams to a manageable size, but we promise there will be plenty more opportunities to come to get involved with what's going on in Tevinter.

<B>CHARACTER:</B> <B>LOCATION:</b> Is your character currently in Kirkwall, in some other part of Tevinter outside Minrathous, or elsewhere in Thedas? <b>MEMBER?:</b> Is your character a member of the Inquisition? <b>INTERESTS:</b> Which rescue effort are you interested in your character being part of, the pirates going to meet the hijacked ship, team meeting the people in the catacombs, or the team going into the Deep Roads? Note that you can express interest in more than one, but be clear about your preferences because you cannot be on more than one team. Also, if you have another character fleeing Minrathous, please don't sign up for the escape route they're using. <b>SKILLS:</b> What skills and experience does your character have that would make them useful on this mission?

[byblow]

CHARACTER: Alistair
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: He's a Warden, so not exactly
INTERESTS: Deep Roads!
SKILLS: Super good at navigating the Deep Roads, dealing with darkspawn, and not dying of corruption.

[elegiaque]

CHARACTER: Gwenaëlle Baudin
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: Y
INTERESTS: PIRATE SHIP.
SKILLS: Gwen signed up for Pirate Lessons to support efforts for the Kirkwall outpost to be less shit at boats, and has been increasingly getting out of the Gallows and into the middle of chaos. She's got experience using her anchor-shard abilities (shield/blasts) in combat now, and is athletic and a strong swimmer, so she's picking up the Pirate Life, would be generally useful for the long sail north. Definitely give her and Flint time to extensively discuss politics.

[somethingwild]

CHARACTER: Newt Scamander
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: Yes, Research Division, and Rifts and the Veil project.
INTERESTS: I am interested in the Deep Roads expedition primarily, though if that fills up and Newt is shuffled into one of the other rescue missions, I'm fine with that too. But Deep Roads is my first choice.
SKILLS: Newt has been to the Deep Roads on two previous missions, one of which involved surving and escaping from a cave in. He has magic, which can be used to provide light, move rocks, help fight any obstacles they come across, to heal, etc. He is a Rifter with an anchor shard in his hand. He has also been training with a sword, so he knows how basic self-defense outside of his magic as well. He's also someone used to tough and difficult terrains from his years of experience in tracking and caring for dangerous, magical creatures, and he has experience with being in and getting out of tough situations. He's a hard worker who wants to help however he can, and this particular expedition would be the best use of his skills and abilities, he feels.

[pinprick]

CHARACTER: Nathaniel Howe
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: Nope he's a Warden
INTERESTS: Deep Roads
SKILLS: Besides being a Warden, he is sneaky and good at arrows

[wythersake]

CHARACTER: Isaac
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: Yep
INTERESTS: Pirates or Deep Roads (No preference)
SKILLS: Emergency healer with some Darkspawn experience, can keep his screams mostly internal. Leave him out of any RNG if everything has enough people.

[esquive]

CHARACTER: Marcoulf
LOCATION: Kirkwall
MEMBER?: Yup
INTERESTS: Catacombs or Deep Roads. Feel free to leave him out if things fill up.
SKILLS: Good at sword.

Re: RESCUER SIGN UP

[whiskeyandbrimstone]

CHARACTER: Jang "Jane" Zhensen
LOCATION: the Gallows
MEMBER?: Yes?
INTERESTS: Catacombs, as she's been talking to Thor.
SKILLS: Fighting in the Civil war, sneaking around, offensive and healing magic, and a gun.

Myr & Simon

[faithlikeaseed]

CHARACTERS: mutt & jeff larj templar & small mage
EVASION PLAN: ditching their identifiable gear (and weapons) & throwing on their rattiest clothes by way of disguise, added bonus of Myr ditching his blindfold on the grounds of that'll make people look a lot less closely at him
ESCAPE ROUTE: BOAT bc Simon has some affinity for sailing. nautical-themed Pashmina afghans optional
HOPES & DREAMS: they're probably gonna have to fight dudes off unarmed because Simon ain't exactly inconspicuous at his size

Brónach

[earthbones]

CHARACTER: Brónach
EVASION PLAN: Generally relying on Skyrim being 900% dungeon diving and being a sneak-thief assassin creeping in the shadows
ESCAPE ROUTE: Catacombs
HOPES & DREAMS: A lot of hissing, an alarming amount of hissing, if you want to witness things she's kept under wraps thus far in her stay lmk