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faderiftooc2018-08-15 09:13 pm
faderifting) wrote in faderiftooc2018-08-15 09:13 pm
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MOD POST ↠ AUGUST UPDATES, AGAIN
AUGUST UPDATES, AGAIN
RIFTER APPLICATION CYCLE CHANGE
We're going to be making a major change to Rifter apps: instead of waiting until October for the next Rifter round as usual, we'll instead be having an app round in September. After September, we will be skipping the next couple of rounds and there will be no rifter apps until 2019.
We're doing this for plot reasons that will be revealed later, as well as to finagle the rifter app schedule to better fit with the new plot cycle and to focus on making sure plot needs are met and the OOC logistical changes we're making are implemented as smoothly as possible. We'll announce in the new year precisely when rifter apps will resume.
FAQ & RIFTER ARRIVAL CHANGES
For the new players who are joining us and any recent arrivals who still have some questions, we've updated the FAQ with more information about rifters' arrival, their relationship with the Inquisition, and answers to some other questions that rifter players indicated would be helpful.
We're also adding another mod-posted log in addition to the arrival post to try to provide a more structured introduction to the game. It will include prompts for arriving in Kirkwall and the Quarantine period in the Gallows with some information about what that experience involves, and it will be open to all--we encourage established characters who want to help 'teach' new Rifters about Thedas to make top-levels, and everyone to go tag in and welcome the new arrivals. We hope this will help clarify what the first few days/weeks in Thedas are like and make it easier for new rifters to RP getting their bearings without the pressure of having to immediately make open posts on arriving in the game. It'll also allow players whose characters aren't able to travel to the rifter arrival to still easily find and interact with the new kids and help with their integration.
We'll be making other changes in the future as well, but these seemed like the most important and immediately useful ones!
TEVINTER PLOT UPDATES
Thanks everyone for your patience as we've tried to get plans and timelines here straightened out a little bit. We appreciate the enthusiasm! and apologize for the initial confusion and subsequent holding pattern.
While we aren't going to stick hard dates on any of these things because it would probably only confuse things more at this point, we do want to clarify the order of plot-related events for everyone so people can keep their ducks in a row.
The following are all occuring on the same day, in this order:
After that, characters who were escaping Minrathous will have spent several days on their own, while those planning to go meet/rescue them will have had a few days to make preparations for that. More information about what people will encounter during those adventures is below, but a rough overview/timeline:
The Archon
Archon Radonis was meeting with the Inquisition's diplomatic delegation at an undisclosed location in Minrathous at the time Corypheus attacked. While the details of what happened there are currently known only to Herian, Thranduil, and Romain, the end result was that those three arrived at the Inquisition meeting point at the docks with the Archon in tow—disguised, and delirious from the effects of a poisoned stab-wound. Radonis was sneaked onto the ship along with the escaping members of the Inquisition, and will remain below-decks for the entirety of the voyage, unconscious and feverish, suffering from the effects of a magic-resistant poison.
Invasion Status
Information about the situation in Tevinter will be slow to emerge, but after a few weeks, everyone will have fairly reliable information saying that Corypheus has established himself in the palace for the time being, but not taken the title of Archon, which instead has gone to a magister who was previously of minimal importance and esteem—Ilrian Amladaris. Perhaps surprisingly, while the change in leadership has been met with some consternation among the upper classes, there is surprising enthusiasm from those lower and particularly slaves. Reportedly the name on their lips is not Amladaris, but Calpernia.
Minrathous is locked down, and as for the rest of the country beyond it, the Venatori are said to've taken several other cities in the region--Val Dorma, definitely--and to perhaps be moving on more, either openly threatening attack or seizing power via coup. There's a great deal of rumor and confusion and fear at the moment, which makes it difficult to tell precisely how wide-spread the threat really is.
Rescue Teams
The Inquisition is sending three teams to meet the agents escaping Minrathous. We will not be posting logs for these adventures, but those involved are entirely welcome to do so on their own.
THE DEEP ROADS:
OOC plotting post here
Those who escaped through the Ambassadoria into the Deep Roads will find exits up to the surface blocked by heavy dwarven fortifactions. They will have to remain underground, following the map provided to travel roughly southwards. They will hit occasional small pockets of darkspawn, all heading in the opposite direction, along with the inevitable deepstalkers and spiders, which they can choose to fight or detour to avoid, if they want to risk straying into smaller tunnels that are not as well charted.
They will meet the Inquisition team coming to find them roughly halfway to Kirkwall, somewhere beneath the area around Nessum near the Tevinter border. The combined team will then travel south, remaining underground to avoid having to skirt what is now a warzone between the Blasted Hills and the Minanter, and finally emerging around Arlesans. They'll walk south to the river and catch a ride with the many riverboats ferrying supplies back and forth to the front. It's a slightly winding trip down to Val Chevin and then a short sail back to Kirkwall.
The Deep Roads rescue team will be led by Alistair, accompanied by Nate, Isaac, Jester, Marcoulf, Newt, and Rey. They'll travel to Arlesans to enter the Deep Roads, and make their way up toward the meeting point near Nessum. Along the way they'll run into a few darkspawn, but not many. The main obstacle they'll encounter is a herd of wild cave-brontos, blind albino versions that are very angry and territorial. On the way back they can detour around the brontos' domain, but doing so will require crossing a narrow-enough-to-be-terrifying rock bridge over a chasm.
THE CATACOMBS:
(OOC plotting post here)
Those who escaped through the catacombs will follow them into a natural cave system that connects to the mainland. Finding an exit will be difficult, and they'll have to keep working their way roughly southwards before emerging in the foothills of the High Reaches south of Minrathous. If they head back to the Imperial Highway, they will find that it seems normal at first, business as usual, right up until the point where they encounter a roadblock some ways north of the turn-off to Asariel, clearly searching for escaping foes (both Inquisition and native dissenters). If the team chooses to fight their way through the Ander and Venatori forces manning the checkpoint, they can do so, but will be pursued by the enemy throughout the rest of their journey. Their best bet of continuing south safely (whether they choose to engage the checkpoint or slip away ahead of it) is to head back toward the mountains, and to travel south along the High Reaches. The higher up they go in the mountains, the safer they'll be.
As the range peters out, they'll again have to brave the countryside. The area around Weisshaupt and Val Dorma is crawling with enemy, with the Imperial Highway heavily trafficked by enemy forces. There are patrols all over, checkpoints and roadblocks on every road, and the only safe way to proceed is to head through the country, seeking shelter in barns and the like before heading into the forest between Weisshaupt and Val Dorma. The deeper they stay in the forest the safer they'll be. An Inquisition team will come meet them near the southern edge of the woods northeast of Nessum. From there, they'll make a quick stop at a village to collect a new assortment of rifters.
A team organized by Kitty, consisting of Iorveth, Jang, Kylo, Resa, Silas, Six, and Yseult will head to meet this group of escapees. Those still in Kirkwall will ride like the wind to the edge of the Silent Plains east of Caiman Brea, at which point the party will slow down disguise themselves as traveling missionaries (of the Chantry Chantry not the Tevinter Chantry), complete with leaflets, robes, and a wagon that opens and unfolds into a (Chantry) Chantry shrine, in case it's necessary to transport wounded or hide more-conspicuous party members. They'll travel through small country roads to reach the meeting point, but even so will have to talk their way through a couple enemy patrols or else travel off-road through the more arduous desert parts of the region to avoid them.
THE SHIP:
(OOC plotting post here)
The stowaways will manage to surprise the Antivan crew aboard the Galicia, who will kind of freak out when they discover they've been secretly boarded by a bunch of mages. They will surrender very quickly, and then be relieved at the discovery that their hijackers are not, in fact, Vints, and will agree to continue sailing the ship without trying to pitch their new passengers overboard. The relief will linger among the men for the first couple days, and once the situation is understood they won't really mind the guests so long as they stay out of the way. The captain will shift with impressive rapidity to concern about being made to miss their scheduled drop-off in Antiva, and whether they will be appropriately compensated for providing passage, the risk of doing so, and for any potential delay.
The shipping lanes through the straits they're traveling are narrow and busy, so it will take a couple days before they realize they are being chased by a Tevinter warship. The captain will be extremely displeased at this news, and it will require either serious threats of magical violence or very convincing promises that (i) they will not be caught and captured, and (ii) any damage his ship, crew, cargo, or person should suffer in the effort to evade will be handsomely repaid. The warship is much larger than the merchant vessel and can't maneuver as nimbly through the coastal waters, but once past Seheron and out into the open sea it gains steadily each day, and it becomes clear that it will be a race to meet up with the Walrus, sent by the Inquisition, before the Venatori ship can catch them.
The three ships will meet near the Northern Passage between Par Vollen and the tip of Rivain. The Tevinter ship, which is indeed manned by Venatori, will signal a desire to parlay once in range, and will demand that the Archon be turned over to them, promising that they will allow the merchant ship to depart in peace afterwards. By this point, the Inquisition agents aboard the Galicia will be aware that the Walrus is within striking distance, and can decide whether to ask it to come show itself and threaten attack, or to ask it to remain just out of sight around the point while they turn over the Archon. As soon as the Walrus is seen by the Venatori, battle will be the only option.
The Walrus can defeat the Venatori ship, but it will be a hard-fought battle complicated by the presence of the Galicia in the middle, which will need to be gotten out of the crossfire. The Venatori would clearly prefer to board the merchant vessel, but will try to sink it instead when they sense that they are losing. How this situation is handled and resolved--whether the Antivan ship is sunk, if/when/how some or all of its occupants are rescued, what is done with the Archon, etc.--we leave up to the players involved, but please make sure to make a clear decision OOCly among yourselves upfront and let us know, since these are key events that will have a major impact going forward.
Once this is resolved, whatever remains of the party will sail back to Kirkwall without further incident.
The Walrus will be sent to meet those fleeing Minrathous by sea. It will be captained by Flint, but the Inquisition will have put Araceli in ultimate command of the mission. Accompanying them are Arohaerd, Darras, Evie, Gwen, Silver, Tessa, and Vane. Their voyage to meet the other ship will be a quiet one, because the one big battle + Archon is enough complications for one mission.
Captive Rescue Planning
In addition to the general rescue-ish missions describe above, there are also the five captives in Minrathous who will need to be rescued. (We assume you guys want them back, anyway.) Getting them out will be a difficult and dangerous mission that will require careful planning and execution, which we're going to split into two parts.
First, there will be a small team of characters chosen based on their skills in stealthy infiltration and combat, who will be tasked with breaking in and back out of the city with the captives. How exactly they do that will be up to them to figure out, with some information we will help provide (based on reports from Max during her brief period of freedom and other informants in the city).
Second, there will be a larger team that will be sent to create the diversion that will make this assault possible. More information about that will also be provided later, but it will likely involve staging a loud attack on the outskirts of the city or nearby in order to draw attention and forces elsewhere.
If your character would be interested in volunteering for either part of this mission, please fill out the sign-up form below. For Team #1 we'll be choosing a maximum of 6 characters based on applicable skills and IC suitability, and for Team #2 we'll take another 8-10 characters, who will also have to meet a basic threshold of suitability—the Inquisition isn't going to send anyone who's obviously incapable of discretion or combat—but beyond that will be chosen by RNG if necessary.
You can sign your character up for Team 1, Team 2, or indicate you'd be happy with either, but if you do that make sure to tell us which you'd prefer. Only one character per player will be allowed to participate. If you're unsure which of your characters is better-suited, you can sign up more than one, just make sure to indicate which is your first preference there also, in case we decide they'd both work.
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- Saving people from sinking ships means people might drown, Vane was doing swimming lessons and there are only so many lifeboats after all...
- would argue for saving the Archon; people are going to spin the outcome either way but Inquisition saves Archon can probably be played a bit better than with his corpse especially when he's being saved from Venatori/Corypheus. But she's tired of arguing.
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Myr still can’t swim
js
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