War Table Assignment (Jeshavis)

[cozen]

WHO: Two or three people with some degree of stealth skill! If there are more signups than slots, I’ll RNG. If it comes to RNG, you’ll get preference if you sign up for the project.

WHAT: Working in conjunction with Orlesian intelligence, Riftwatch agents will go foil an assassination attempt on a military leader who’s advocating for sending Orlesian soldiers to the Free Marches.

Then they’ll have to decide what to do with the assassin—a bard who will claim it’s a set-up, that she’s a nobleman’s daughter, and she was hired by the same agent of the Empress who Riftwatch is working with and it must be a scheme to get rid of her, etc.

HOW: (1) You’ll write a log about foiling the assassination. (2) You’ll decide whether your characters believe the bard or not and what they do about it. (3) I’ll roll dice to see whether they’re right or not (which no one will know until afterwards, back in the Gallows). (4) You’ll get a bonus on that roll based on how action-movie cool the assassination foiling was. If you want a better chance at being correct, somebody better do a backflip.

WHEN: Sign up by 11/26, I’ll give you the info by 11/27, report due by 1/1/2022(!)

Comments

[notathreat]

CHARACTER: Ellie
DIVISION: Scouting
PROJECT MEMBER? No
RELEVANT SKILLS: Stealth, some magic, some parkour, very good at marksmanship and killing things. Extremely willing to throw down at a moment's notice.
RELEVANT WEAKNESSES: Terrible at questioning and negotiations unless she's backed up by somebody with more restraint. Not super great at lockpicking. If it comes down to a fight it's going to be loud. Physically more vulnerable.
ANYTHING ELSE:

[cozen]

Hiya! Hope you're ready for way too much information.

Ellie, Yseult, and Tsenka are our crack team. Their Orlesian contact, Sedaina, is an elven bard in the Empress' employ. She'll meet them in Halamshiral (where most of the court has relocated for the winter) to explain the situation, which is:

A tip indicates that a bard who goes by the name Jade has been contracted to assassinate Marshall Sigolène Castex, a popular officer in the Orlesian military who's been quietly in favor of redirecting Orlais' troops toward the Free Marches as quickly as possible. Sedaina's information suggests BARD has been hired by Tevinter to take Castex out before that quiet advocacy gets louder, now that the threat to Orlais is diminished. (Footnote: for fiddly timeline reasons this is occuring post-mod plot.)

According to Sedaina, Orlais would like Riftwatch's help because Jade has worked with Orlesian intelligence in the past and might recognize one of them, and because the Empress doesn't trust most of her own people not to agree Castex should die to avoid future problems. Sedaina specifically is disqualified from getting too close to the problem because Jade will recognize her.

What they'll be told about her goin in is that she's about Ellie's height, and last Sedaina saw her she was lithe and blonde, though winter fashion is likely to hide her hair entirely and she might color it besides. She's known to employ poison, darts, and arrows, alone or in combination; she loves a damsel in distress scenario; and she has blue eyes.

Two possible scenarios where Jade might strike include a public one—Marshall Castex is planning to attend the unveiling of Lady Nicoline de Deauvin's new elaborate indoor conservatory, heated to allow the importation of tropical plants from Rivain and Seheron and said to simulate a dense, humid summer garden even as it's begun to snow outside—as well as a more private opportunity of her own devising, eyebrow wiggle, et cetera.

Which of those tactics she ultimately employs is up to y'all—she can do whichever suits your dreams, or some third thing if you have a different dream. (I recommend making a Cool Moves wishlist and trying to incorporate them.)

However they go about it, they get to succeed!

However, once Jade has been captured, through whatever means required, she'll insist she was hired by the Empress' own agents, that her real name is Clara d'Archambon and she's the younger daughter of a Marquis, that this must be a set-up to eliminate her for some reason, and that Riftwatch must have been brought in so the Empire could blame them for her demise if necessary. If they don't seem to believe her and make process toward handing her over to Sedaina, she'll get a little frantic and weepy about it.

Whether they turn her over, let her slip free, or some other option is up to y'all. (Yseult, as scoutmaster, gets to make the ultimate official decision, but I trust you to collaborate on it OOC.) Some potential consequences other than feeling fine or less fine about what happens to Jade include the Empire thinking Riftwatch is unreliable, Jade's potentially-real noble family blaming Riftwatch for her death, etc.

All that said, here's what y'all need to do:

1. Write a log where your characters stop the assassin. The only real requirement is that she be kept alive long enough to deliver her post-capture explanation. Otherwise go wild.

2. Someone reply to me here by December 31 with (a) a link to your log and (b) what your characters ultimately did with Jade and why, if it isn't covered in the log.

From there, I'll roll for whether or not Jade was being honest. This will be based on whether or not her honesty would result in a more just outcome, in light of what your characters did with her. If they kill her or hand her over to Sedaina, a good roll will mean she was lying and knowingly working for the enemy; if they let her slip, a good roll will mean she was telling the truth and was semi-innocent. And vice versa for the bad rolls.

I don't want to box you into an A or B choice too much, so if you get more creative about how your characters handle her than just handing her over vs letting her get away, that's fine! I'll try my best to adapt to whatever you do.

You'll get a bonus on the roll based on how cool your characters are during the log. This will be a per-person bonus—so each character can get up to 5 points for being rad, with potential a total of +15, and I'll roll out of 60 where a 30 or more is the good end, giving you up to a 75% chance of being right rather than a 50% if you max out the cool bonus.

What counts as cool is entirely subjective, I'm sorry, but ftr I'm easily impressed.

The bonus will be based only on what's in the log, not what you've planned OOC, but it will still count if you allude to cool things your characters did in the other room or prior to the actual scene. So you can say someone picked someone's pocket in a neat way and have them produce what they stole in the scene without having to write out the pocket-picking separately.

I think that covers it. And covers it and covers it. But if you have any questions, let me know!

[cozen]

Hello! Just swinging through to give you all a preemptive extension to January 31 to do this & the report before anyone has to ask. My timing was foolish.