war table scouting/research misson: operation WARSHIP.

[propulsion]

Operation WARSHIP is a joint effort by the Research and Scouting divisions to identify scholars who are assisting the Venatori in their pursuit of the Seven Gates, so that Riftwatch can watch them, figure out what they're doing, and ultimately get ahead of them.

Stage One of this mission involves building out the list of scholars whose work might be relevant.

We'll be doing this by searching information about personnel from sources like Circles, the dwarven Ambassadoria, or university archives—particularly those in the Tevinter Imperium. These will be infiltration missions conducted by small teams with maximum secrecy to make sure that the enemy doesn't become aware that Riftwatch is doing this. Because these missions require both spy skills to get into these places and nerd skills to find the right information without tearing the place apart, we'll be pairing up members of Scouting with members of Research. (Members of other Divisions with relevant skills are welcome to sign up, but we will be prioritizing Research and Scouting. Characters who have not actually joined Riftwatch and are not members of any division will not be permitted on these missions.)

OOCly, our plan is to tailor these assignments somewhat to fit the skill-sets and interests of those of you who sign up. We'll provide each team with a location and its unique risks and challenges; it will then be up to you two to tell us how you want to approach it and we'll let you know the likely outcomes (and, depending on how things shake out, possibly offer a little GMing/NPCing). You can then go forth and RP whatever parts of it are fun for you.

Sign-ups will close end of day Thursday, 9/9. We'll be getting the initial write-ups out by the weekend, with the goal that you can be ready to start RPing by mid-month. Reports will be due no later than the end of October (but the earlier the better!).

These assignments are designed to lead into a Stage Two, which will have separate sign-ups but build on the work your characters do here. The overall aim is for Riftwatch to eventually get a grip on a major part of the mod plot by acquiring new sources of information about the Gates and what the Venatori are up to so that they can start working directly to stop them. Because this is key to on-going plot and meant to be built on, we're going to be pretty strict with report deadlines and keeping things moving, and will do what we can on our side as well to support you!

Sign ups can be found in the comments below. And you'll have to ask Tony personally what WARSHIP stands for.

Comments

[notathreat]

Awesome!

Ellie and Allumin will confer and talk about what they can both bring to the table, and after some discussion, they'll decide on the following approach:

Ellie will use the climbing gear she got from Tony to try to parkour/scale the walls of the auction house (or where the items are being held) and break in during the night (if possible) through an upper window. She'll use her invisibility to get past choke points, or if she sees a guard showing a little too much interest. At some point her gloves will fail, and she'll have to deal with that, and try not to get caught while she's trying to bang the damn things back on.

Once she's up, she'll either search for a door to unlock for Allumin, or if that proves too difficult, she'll throw down a rope and use the ascenders to help him up, too. Ellie can make someone else invisible if they're touching her while she's using that power, so they are basically just going to need to be really quick and really quiet.

If they can find the place the items are being kept, Allumin will take a quick look over things first while Ellie keeps a lookout on the doors. He'll make note of things and what seems most relevant, and point out things that it would help for Ellie to sketch. Then he'll keep lookout while Ellie does that, and they'll switch. The more time they have, the more details of the items and books they'll be able to get.

Allumin plans to use a spell to travel as mist at some point, which will conceal him and let him escape easily undetected, but he won't be able to interact with physical objects or speak at all. If possible, they'll save it for if they're near to being discovered and have to hit the road.

[propulsion]

Thank you for your follow up, and we apologise for the delay! September ceased to exist, apparently.

Their initial scouting the place in preparation for breaking in will show that the Spannagel has failed to fully keep up with the times in terms of its security measures and cuts corners to save money. They'll discover that it's hardly a fortress and many of the security measures are more focused on looking secure than actually being it—for instance, most guards will be in areas visible to patrons (at night this means perimeters, roof, and doors), rather than back of house.

Between them and the tools and magics they have available, and the security lapses of the auction house, they will be able to make their way to a locked storeroom. Among the various items up for auction, Ellie and Allumin can spot a book that should raise the most red flags: a Glory Age copy of an earlier scholarly work on what the author claims are the ten largest blood rituals ever undertaken in the Imperium and hypotheses regarding their potential use in the fight against the Blight. The text is hard to read (and even harder to follow) so it's difficult to tell at a glance whether there's anything actually useful in it, but mention of the Blight, Tevinter and blood rituals seems like a good bet as to the kind of interest it will attract.

Of course, that information can only be gleaned by attending the auction the next day and mark down all who bid upon the item itself. Of course, it won't be as easy as it should be.

Depending on which elements of this you feel like RPing, we can provide as much or as little hands-on support as you need. My thought is that both the break in and the auction could have some light directional GMing to help steer your characters around and towards obstacles, or you are welcome to run the break in yourselves, and I can kick off the auction. I am good with either option, or whatever else you might prefer.

Let me know what you think, and we'll figure out the IC timing of it so no one gets plot-locked.

[notathreat]

It sure did, no worries!

I checked with Oscar and we'd both love to do the break in with the GM'ing, (they've got toys and spells to use) and we're interested in playing the auction, too- Allumin's gonna see if he can disguise himself but it'll depend on the environment/if it's locked-doors etc. They'll look for a lot number on that book and try to make sure they get in on the auction schedule/note who bids on it.

[notathreat]

Got the plot log up right here!

Just to make sure we don't stumble over your toes or anything and assume stuff, will the GM'ing look like NPC tags into the log itself, or should we confer with you OOC?

[propulsion]

Dope!

They will be like NPC tags, yes, but I expect you won't need me every time. For now to avoid confusion, let's just do normal tag order, but I want to try something that may help with efficiency as we get moving so will touch base about it.

For now, onwards. I'll dip in after Allumin. (Also, as a note, I will be delayed until American Saturday due to life things, then back to a normal rhythm.)

[notathreat]

Perf. Thank you!