MOD POST ↠ SEPTEMBER ASSIGNMENTS

[faderifting]

SEPTEMBER ASSIGNMENTS

Assignment teams and details will be posted and linked as they're determined.

↠ Follow That Baron - Overture: Athessa, Isaac, Leander, Mhav, Romain
↠ 21 Jump Street: Kaz, Derrica, Laura, Tavin
↠ Tis I, a Humble Capitalist: Ilias, Darras, Mhavos, Silver
↠ Burning Bridges: Lino, Yngvi, Kostos, Nell
↠ Amaranthine Jones & the 100 Pillars: Eshal, Freddie, Wysteria
↠ Lend Me Some Sugar: Athessa, Bastien, Coupe, Fitcher
↠ Not in My Crossroads: Barrow, Anders, Matthias, Derrica
↠ There's Something About Larry: Alistair, Flint, Yseult, Lino
↠ Dragon Rage Origins: Aziraphale, Julius, Val, Mhavos
↠ Test Flight: Teren, Nikos, Marcoulf

If you didn't sign up for assignments and wish you had, we'll have more next round (or sooner)! And if you did sign up for assignments and wish you hadn't, hahaha sucker.

Jk, just let us and your teammates know if you need to back out for any reason.

RULES

OOC, the only two rules regarding these assignments are: (1) they must be RPed in some way, not entirely handwaved, and (2) you have to file a report by the deadline. Otherwise, you can handle them basically however you want. For example,

— Format: You can write a log addressing the main action/meat of the assignment, handwave that and do a log or crystal post that’s instead focused on deciding what to do about the problem or discussing how it went after the fact, or whatever else, as long as you RP about the assignment’s substance in some way.

— Personnel: You can limit the assignment to only the assigned team, if you prefer, or you can take other people along, whether that means involving just one other specific character to go for some specific reason or turning the assignment into an open log/discussion that the whole game can participate in. Just make sure everyone on the team is on board with whatever you decide, and check with the relevant project leaders or division heads if you want to include someone whose suitability for something is in question, since they might not be willing to OK their inclusion.

— Content: If you want to add obstacles, problems, pit stops, etc. to your assignment, you can, as long as they’re reasonable given the scope and spirit of the assignment. For example, if your characters are tasked with finding a lost child in the woods, it’s fine for them to accidentally wander into a bear’s den or to get caught in a storm that causes a flash flood in a ravine, because those are hazards that make sense given the assignment and its setting, whereas finding a zany artifact that causes bodyswaps or assassinating Corypheus would be outside the scope.

Comments

[coquettish_trees]

TEAM: Athessa, Bastien, Coupe, Fitcher
DEADLINE: October 31, 2019

ASSIGNMENT: A team is being sent to take possession of a hunting lodge in the Hunterhorns that the Inquisition was gifted use of during the Grand Tourney. Ostensibly, they are there to take inventory of the fortress, scout the surrounding lands, and return with a report upon its importance as a support to the front lines. But they will also be tasked with discreetly surveilling a neighboring estate, which is suspected of being a base for Orlesian collaborators. This mission will be best suited to those skilled in stealthy surveillance and reconnaissance, traveling through wilderness areas without detection, and handling the logistical needs of setting up a forward operating base. Whether there is some combat may be up to the PCs.

DETAILS:

Following the War of the Lions, during which his only heir was killed, Duke Armel de Ezoire retired from court to his ancestral castle in the Hunterhorn Mountains, citing grief. He began to send correspondence to his estate in Val Royeaux with new instructions as to its running, but has never returned. Illness, is what is said, although many believe it is fear of reprisal: it is widely rumored his son died under the flag of Gaspard de Chalons.

I have reason to believe it is neither illness nor shame, and that His Grace has been supplanted, or is dead. That his son is, in fact, not dead, and continues to plot against Her Radiance with the support of the Venatori.

As luck would have it, we were granted last year the use of the nearby fortress of one Guieffroy Loupe. We have not yet taken full advantage of the hospitality dear Guieffroy offered us; perhaps that ought to change.

Ostensibly, you shall be there to take inventory of the fortress, scout the surrounding lands, and return with a report upon its importance as a support to the front lines.

Truly, you are there to learn as much as you might about the status of Duke Armel and his household without attracting attention to yourselves, and without approaching the castle itself. It is of paramount importance that you go unmarked by whosoever sits in the high seat at Falaise.

The fortress itself is well kept—not falling down at all, no leaks, nicely, if simply, furnished, in a decent defensive position on the land—but if Riftwatch actually wanted to use it as a support base, it would need some significant rearranging to hold a garrison.

There is a minimal staff: a groundskeeper, a chatelaine, a huntmaster, and a few general servants who help them out.

• The groundskeeper knows the locals because he hires from the surrounding farms and villages when he needs help and will be able to point you to A Good Pub and tell you who the biggest mouths in the area are. He'll talk about the property and the fortress itself and its history but is notably less concerned with affairs off the immediate grounds.
  
• The chatelaine is a frustrated gossip; she will happily tell you—in the utmost confidence of course—some extravagant tales about exciting and dramatic things that go on around here that you can be reasonably sure she’s embroidered. (You may of course realize very quickly that she’s also like to start spreading exciting rumors about you all if she’s not fed something better to tell.)
  
• The huntmaster will tell you about the trails on the larger property, some tidbits about the mountains themselves, about the animals. He’s old and crabby, but can be befriended (either by another old sword or someone particularly good at making friends), and if he is he’ll spill that he’s irritated about some poaching that’s been going on, and by the travelling of the trails, he thinks it’s coming from Ezoire’s lands. He used to be able to visit with Duke Armel’s huntsman and work together with him, one time they even spoke with the Duke, but his equivalent at Falaise died in a rockfall a few years back and no-one will see him there now. He won’t say anything outright, but it’s fairly obvious he thinks the Duke’s not taking care of business like he used to.

A Good Pub: Everyone here knows each other, if you engage with them you’re absolutely going to stand out and get talked about later, better decide what it is you want to be going around. Lots of good information here though.

That Castle Though: The first rule of Castle Falaise is Alexandrie specifically told you not to go to Castle Falaise. But she’s not your mom so you can let me know if you want to be direct and go anyway!

There will be a roll to find out whether or not you hear this noise with some modifiers based on which riskier sources of information you decide you want to plumb (Chatelaine/Pub/Castle) and how you’re planning on mitigating the spread of info about your good selves. I’ll throw the info you learn back at you when you let me know which avenues you’re pursuing!

QUESTIONS? If you have questions specific to your assignment, reply to this and we'll answer them. If you have general questions applicable to every assignment instead of just yours, ask here.

[cozen]

Dear You,

The team will pretend to be a hunting party that is in pursuit of a mythic Fade-touched beast that would be useful to Riftwatch somehow, rather than twig anyone onto the fact that they’re thinking of using the lodge for other strategic reasons.

They’ll visit the pub for some rumor gathering, and in the meantime they’ll tell their own tales about their quarry (while pretending it’s a secret no one should spread, shhh) to encourage people to talk about their fake hunt for the fake animal instead of what else they might be up to. They’re going to have a fake bestiary page and a song about the fake animal to sell it as totally real actually. They’ll plant some fake tracks and stuff in the woods and near the village, too, just as a gift to themselves/the world.

Then they will absolutely be terrible and go to the castle. They’ll approach by continuing to pretend to be hunting, and having someone fake (or actually acquire) an injury that warrants going there to ask for help or shelter. Maybe in a thunderstorm or something.

Tell us how bad it is.

Thank you!

[coquettish_trees]

bad level: "Castles don't have phones, asshole!"

Okay, so.

First off: the huntmaster is going to be really interested and wants to know everything about this beast. (In his youth he fancied he'd hunt Dragons one day and then gave up on that for the security of this place) How you found out about it, about the difference between Fade-touched and normal beasts, how you tracked it/linked it to this area, he's heard no rumors of such a thing, etc etc. Not in a suspicious way, in an excited way. He'll want to hunt with you for it; he knows every inch of these woods!!

He'll be deep hype about the tracks and stuff, provided you fake them well enough to trick a career tracker and woodsman. Since you've got some brilliant liars who can sell even a bad job and he Wants To Believe and we now have to deal with Castle Panic, he'll be out of your hair combing the woods again with a sincere promise to report if he sees more tracks or comes across the beast itself, plus you've made a very strong proponent of your beautiful lie.

The Pub: Here you can learn all sorts of things (make up whatever you like), including:

All this one farmer wants to do is kvetch about his three missing sheep and the lazy missing shepherdess who probably ran off with them.

'The Duke is super dead', 'the Duke is super alive', and then 'the Duke is super an immortal mummy', courtesy of the shepherd who got the missing shepherdess's job and swears up and down he peeped a group of Mortalitasi going into the castle. If questioned further, okay he doesn't really know they were Mortalitasi exactly but they had staffs and were dressed in black and everyone knows the Duke was super sick so it definitely follows.

The Castle: Unfortunately for you this place is full of at least a medium sized merc company, a pet Bard or two, and possibly some Venatori spies, never mind Actual Cannibal Rolant de Ezoire, so



of which there are many-several, the first being do y'all prefer a discord chat, a plurk, or conversation here?