Congratulations, you've been selected for an impossible mission! Your partner is Aleksei.
The archives in the Imperium's military headquarters in Minrathous are all but impregnable, but Riftwatch has identified an outpost at the junction of the Imperial Highway just north of the Silent Plains where mail, pay, and supply distribution for the forces to the south are believed to be coordinated. Aleksei and Cosima will need to sneak inside and look through their paperwork to try to identify any individuals or locations that might be related to Gates research (though not a priority, if they happen on any other useful intel in the process—valuable supply shipments or pay wagon routes, for example—they're encouraged to record that as well).
The outpost is located in Photios, a medium-sized town that grew up around the crossroads trading post and caravan stop connecting Perivantium and Nevarra with western Tevinter. As a trading town, strangers passing through won't be unusual, but the permanent community is relatively small and very connected to the military base, so they'll still need to be careful not to raise any suspicions.
The fort itself isn't very large, mostly stockade and a collection of offices, storehouses, barracks and stables. It was a sleepy backwater posting until the invasions to the south made it suddenly relevant and prompted some hasty and somewhat haphazard-looking expansions to its facilities to accommodate the increase in traffic. Because it's well inside Tevinter territory and in a fairly isolated location on the edge of the desert, security is focused on protecting coin and supplies against theft and less concerned with keeping its paperwork locked up. But there are still plenty of difficulties: walls and gates are all manned by armed soldiers, the desert on two sides makes approaching unseen difficult, offices are small making wandering the halls unnoticed difficult, and any location where goods or coin are stored will be locked and more closely guarded.
How they approach getting access to the records is up to them/you: they could try to sneak in, or try to finesse their way in somehow. Either way, it's important to Riftwatch that nothing they do be traceable back to the organization and that they avoid tipping off the enemy to their presence and their interests, since the Venatori don't currently know that Riftwatch knows about the Gates (as far as we know), and any intel they might gain about routes or shipments will be worthless if Tevinter knows they've learned it and can change things.
This means they'll probably need to rifle through and read things on the premises to try to spot info of interest rather than just steal the whole cabinet for later perusal. And on either side of this mission is a journey through the Silent Plains by some means or another, so they'll want to keep that in mind when planning an exit.
Please respond to this comment after conferring among yourselves about how Aleksei and Cosima will approach this task, or with further questions you may have to inform your decisions. We will respond with further information, at which point we can decide what parts of this you wish to RP.
no subject
The archives in the Imperium's military headquarters in Minrathous are all but impregnable, but Riftwatch has identified an outpost at the junction of the Imperial Highway just north of the Silent Plains where mail, pay, and supply distribution for the forces to the south are believed to be coordinated. Aleksei and Cosima will need to sneak inside and look through their paperwork to try to identify any individuals or locations that might be related to Gates research (though not a priority, if they happen on any other useful intel in the process—valuable supply shipments or pay wagon routes, for example—they're encouraged to record that as well).
The outpost is located in Photios, a medium-sized town that grew up around the crossroads trading post and caravan stop connecting Perivantium and Nevarra with western Tevinter. As a trading town, strangers passing through won't be unusual, but the permanent community is relatively small and very connected to the military base, so they'll still need to be careful not to raise any suspicions.
The fort itself isn't very large, mostly stockade and a collection of offices, storehouses, barracks and stables. It was a sleepy backwater posting until the invasions to the south made it suddenly relevant and prompted some hasty and somewhat haphazard-looking expansions to its facilities to accommodate the increase in traffic. Because it's well inside Tevinter territory and in a fairly isolated location on the edge of the desert, security is focused on protecting coin and supplies against theft and less concerned with keeping its paperwork locked up. But there are still plenty of difficulties: walls and gates are all manned by armed soldiers, the desert on two sides makes approaching unseen difficult, offices are small making wandering the halls unnoticed difficult, and any location where goods or coin are stored will be locked and more closely guarded.
How they approach getting access to the records is up to them/you: they could try to sneak in, or try to finesse their way in somehow. Either way, it's important to Riftwatch that nothing they do be traceable back to the organization and that they avoid tipping off the enemy to their presence and their interests, since the Venatori don't currently know that Riftwatch knows about the Gates (as far as we know), and any intel they might gain about routes or shipments will be worthless if Tevinter knows they've learned it and can change things.
This means they'll probably need to rifle through and read things on the premises to try to spot info of interest rather than just steal the whole cabinet for later perusal. And on either side of this mission is a journey through the Silent Plains by some means or another, so they'll want to keep that in mind when planning an exit.
Please respond to this comment after conferring among yourselves about how Aleksei and Cosima will approach this task, or with further questions you may have to inform your decisions. We will respond with further information, at which point we can decide what parts of this you wish to RP.