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faderiftooc2021-11-29 12:59 pm
faderifting) wrote in faderiftooc2021-11-29 12:59 pm
Entry tags:
All Souls Who Take Up The Sword
ALL SOULS WHO TAKE UP THE SWORD
OVERVIEW
This cycle's mod plot is focused on Riftwatch's involvement in the allied effort to retake Val Chevin, the Orlesian port city that has been held by Tevinter forces for several years now and has recently been the source of increasing problems and disruption in the western end of the Waking Sea. Val Chevin is a walled city, which is why Tevinter has been able to maintain its foothold there for so long despite the retreat of the rest of its forces from the Fields of Ghislain a year ago. The difficulty of taking a well-defended, entrenched position has made Orlesian and Chantry forces reluctant to take on a full-out assault, but given the recent launch of new ships from the Val Chevin shipyards to harass shipping and threaten Val Royeaux, it's been decided that the situation is no longer tenable.
The Orlesian and Chantry armies will bear the burden of forcing a way into the city and capturing it. Riftwatch will assist with this effort in several ways, and has also been asked to undertake two crucial missions in the lead-up to the battle that will help make a successful assault possible. To allow some pre-plotting before the log goes up, we're going to give an overview below of what PCs will be doing. We've also got some sign-ups, preview of a new mechanic, and return of an old favorite.
ASSIGNMENTS
IC: PCs will be informed of the upcoming attack and involved in preparations for Riftwatch's involvement in the battle. Each member of Riftwatch or non-member volunteer will be given assignments appropriate to their division and their skills. The two specific missions Riftwatch is working on (the ones with sign-ups) will not be announced to the general company. Instead, Division Heads will seek volunteers for unspecified dangerous missions that require certain skills. Only those volunteers who are selected for these missions will be told the details of what they'll be doing, and due to recent security issues (Gideon), they'll be instructed to keep them secret until afterwards.
OOC: You can choose where your characters are involved to begin with from the duties described below, we just ask that you be sensible about it as usual and don't make leaders look like idiots by claiming your bruiser was assigned to a desk job or your healer was handed a sword. There will be some ability to move between places and different types of work throughout the course of the battle, to provide some flexibility to RP, and there will be chances for even non-combatants to deal with perilous situations. Everyone will have something to do. If you aren't going to RP a character in the event, you can handwave that they did something along these lines or that they were left in the Gallows specifically to be on guard duty in everyone else's absence, but there is no total, "ignore this and go about business as usual"-type opt-out for members of Riftwatch.
What Are We Doing
More detailed info will be provided in the log post, but here's a broad-strokes overview of what's going to happen and the role Riftwatch is playing for plotting purposes:
On the ground: The combined forces of Orlais, the Exalted March (including the Inquisition), and whatever fighters Riftwatch can muster will be attacking the walls of Val Chevin from the north in an attempt to overwhelm them, get the main gate open, and get into the city. Orlais is trying as much as reasonably possible to avoid damaging the city's defenses and endangering the tens of thousands of civilians inside, so the attack will be focused on getting people over the walls and through the gate without bombardment by siege engines. So think fighting over walls, defending a battering ram, some fighting in the streets once they're inside, etc. There will also be healing tents just outside the walls where healers will be assigned.
Characters who are known to have a reasonable degree of melee-fighting ability will be assigned to this, especially if members of the Forces division. Characters who have some melee ability will be permitted to volunteer, provided that they wouldn't be more useful elsewhere, i.e. a healer would probably be assigned to heal even if they're also a decent fighter, though mages who can do both are more likely to be sent into the battle and asked to heal in the field.
In the air: Characters who can ride griffons will be assigned to help out from the air with a number of duties, including reporting on enemy troop movements and the progress of the battle from the air, providing air support to those fighting on the ground, evacuating seriously wounded back to the healing tents behind the front lines, and things of that nature. They may be assigned to do any or all of the above depending on relevant skills. Any character who is a griffon rider may be assigned to this, though it's not OOCly required if you'd prefer to put them elsewhere. As a reminder, becoming a griffon rider costs only 10 AC points.
At sea: Despite being a port city the battle here will be primarily on land. The Orlesian navy will be focused on protecting Val Royeaux and chasing Tevinter ships around to make sure they don't interfere or counter-attack. Riftwatch will be using a ship as a staging area and base of operations just off the coast, at a safe but convenient distance. Characters based here will be helping coordinate information and assignments, doing things like tracking the troop movement info provided by griffon riders and conveying it to allies, arranging for one group to go support another in trouble inside the city, directing griffons to where to pick up wounded, and things like that. A few characters may also be stationed here to provide emergency healing and to help guard the ship. While this is ICly designed to be a relatively safe place for non-combatants to assist, we can OOCly promise there will still be an opportunity for those aboard to deal with danger when the ship runs into difficulties.
Moving between places: Characters will be assigned to just one of the above duties, but over the court of the day will be able to move between the battle, the ship, and griffon-back, so it's possible to participate in more than one. It won't be so easy that they'll be able to bounce back and forth at a whim, but for example, it would be possible for a character to start on a griffon, end up on the ground trying to help someone and get temporarily sucked into the battle, then later reunite with their griffon and head to the ship to get healed, or a character assigned to the ship could be asked to hop on a griffon to go confirm some information or deliver a message or help with an emergency situation. We're not going to police how people move around, just please be reasonable about it.
Closed Missions
In addition to the efforts above, some volunteers will participate in two specific missions. Those assigned to these missions will be instructed not to speak to their colleagues about the plan until after the battle, to ensure there aren't any leaks or security issues.
To facilitate everyone being able to RP beyond this plot and know the status of Val Chevin sometime before January, these missions will succeed at their basic objectives by default. However, extra good super success will require the log for each mission to reach at least 20 tags by January 1. (That's total, not per participant.)
Team Dreadnought: Riftwatch members equipped for close-range combat and large-scale damage will board the Qunari dreadnought--which Riftwatch has been holding onto for a special occasion--and crash it into the harbor of Val Chevin to damage the ships there as much as possible. Once they've made landfall, they'll disembark to wreak as much havoc as they can: taking out enemy personnel, lighting fire to ships and supplies, smashing whatever they can smash. Then they'll get out of there and join the Orlesian assault to retake the city or divert to assist with any of the support work Riftwatch is doing, as described above.
Team Shield: Riftwatch members equipped for subterfuge and/or handling magical artifacts will also enter the city via the dreadnought, but while the others are causing a lot of distracting havoc, will sneak into the city to locate a magical artifact, relying in part on information provided by their recent defector. The artifact is a powerful object that is magically fortifying the walls and physical structures of the city, which will make the assault difficult to impossible unless it's disabled prior to the attack.
To participate in either of these missions, sign up in the comments below by End of day EST Thursday 12/2. Each mission is capped at 5 participants and will be RNGed if necessary.
Aftermath
As we did with the big Battle of Ghislain however long ago, we're going to set this battle up to allow RP to focus on the aftermath as well by providing some info about how the broad strokes of it will work out, allowing everyone to RP about recuperating afterwards, dealing with CR fallout, and assisting with the needs of Val Chevin in the days immediately following the battle.
RANDOM INJURY GENERATOR
We're bringing back random injury generation! Like in the Battle of Ghislain a while back, for those who were around then, we'll use your preferences and a random list of wounds and body parts to assign battle wounds to your character. The purpose for this is threefold: first to help establish the severity and difficulty of the fight, second to give people who are shy about having their characters dramatically wounded a push toward doing it anyway, and third to give everyone a little creative-writing exercise by giving you the basic injury but letting you decide how it happens.
This time things aren't quite so dire, so it will be opt-in rather than something we do for every single character whether you like it or not--but we do encourage opting in!
To receive an assigned injury, sign up in the comments below by End of day EST Thursday 12/2.
QUESTIONS
CLOSED MISSION SIGN-UPS
Availability: How available do you expect to be for RP over the next few weeks?
Character:
Division:
Relevant Key Skills: Smashing, sneaking, magic untangling, etc.
Willingness: Please confirm that your character would be willing to volunteer for an unspecified dangerous mission, and that if they're chosen they'll at least appear to be willing to maintain the necessary secrecy. (Whether they actually do keep it secret or not is up to you, but if they don't seem willing when told of that requirement then they'd be disqualified.)
Notes:
no subject
Availability: 100% present, I won't ever know sleep again
Character: Astarion
Division: Scouting
Relevant Key Skills: stealth, charm, distraction, poisons, archery/(knife type) assassination, lockpicking, theft, perfect hair*
(*extremely relevant)
Willingness: would volunteer and also promise to behave (he loves being needed, dangerous requests make that all the more valid iho), making the universal gesture of cross his heart hope to die, etc. it's all good fun to pretend not to care, but when it comes to Tevinter, he does his job.
Notes: Orlais tho
no subject
Going in, the team will know where the artifact is being held. Unfortunately, it's in the central fortress, and the most feasible way for them to reach it and access the shield without being detected—particularly as three rifters with varying distinctive features—is through a series of underground sewage tunnels connected to the harbor. (They will not at any point have to actually walk through sewage. There are walkways on the side. It will, however, smell horrible, and they may need to spend a few minutes airing themselves out before they risk getting close to anyone whose attention they hope not to draw.) To reach those tunnels, they'll be ferried into the harbor on the dreadnought, which will be a bumpy ride, and as soon as it's crashed into the wharf they'll have to slip away while their colleagues are providing a distraction as cover and run to the tunnel entrance before the Tevinters know what's hit them.
Before they’ve reached the tunnel and gone inside, the dreadnought team’s assault on the harbor will begin and the alarm will sound. Shortly afterwards, a rush of magic will go past them, physically, enough to blow their hair back and everything. They'll shortly learn via crystal that a glowing magical barrier has formed. large enough to encompass the entire city—and notably green, not blue. This will be news. They’ll know they’re looking for Dirthamin's Wisdom and that it magically improves the fortifications of the city and its walls, potentially making the gates impossible to breach, but no one will have said anything about city-sized barrier spells.
Conveniently, the source and center will be the underground chambers of the fortress they're already headed for. The necessary door will be guarded by two young guards—neither mages, but only one of whom can possibly be drawn away from the door or persuaded that he's urgently needed elsewhere. The other will need to be dealt with directly. And inside, they'll find a mage (or two, if you'd prefer a bigger fight) who's overseeing the spell they've arrived to stop. The generally-recognized best way to deal with mages is to kill them so fast they can't cast anything, but do it however you want.
It will be immediately apparent that this spell has three components. The first is the artifact: a shield, spinning in mid-air in the center of the room. The second is a rift. It's a very small rift, compared to those that deliver rifters and demons into the world, but a rift nonetheless. The means of its creation are the half-dozen sacrificed people lying in a semi-circle around it to fuel the mage's blood magic. The glyph will pulsate and send threads of visible magical energy toward the ground beneath the shield, where the third component—a glyph, outlined in stone but currently filled with blood, that's drawing power from the rift and amplifying the shield about it.
Due to complicated magic-science reasons that we refuse to make up terminology for (but feel free to do so yourselves) that boil down to the shield's preservational enchantments now preserving the rift as well, creating a loop, the glyph connecting the shield and the rift will need to be carefully unravelled before either the shield or the rift can be affected. Wysteria in particular should be able to figure this out, but due to the complicated nature of the glyph—the magical equivalent of needing to cut three wires at once to prevent a bomb from going off—it will take all three of them to actually manage it, in two stages. After the first stage, the shield will begin trying to protect itself, sending pulses of pulverising energy out of itself as it spins in its circle. It's a slow circle, but they'll need to rush in and out of cover to remove the second series of lines from the glyph without being hit. Once they've successfully done so, Astarion and Emet-Selch will be able to close the rift with their anchors, and the shields will come down.
The potential consequences of failure include a power spike that causes the shield's protective, building-preserving energy to turn inward on the city instead, potentially leaving its buildings standing but crushing its inhabitants where they stand with sheer force. So failure is not an option. It's also literally not an option, OOC—they're gonna pull it off!
However, they do have a chance of one of two different outcomes. One: the shield might be destroyed when the glyph is, ending the spell but leaving them without a trophy. Two: the shield might be preserved, and they get to bring it back to Kirkwall for potential future use in the war effort. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: in the smile of every baby, in the song of every bird
Character: Barrow
Division: Forces
Relevant Key Skills: smashing, looking scary, dispelling magic when needed
Willingness: Yes to both mission and secrecy, the Templars taught him well despite his best efforts.
Notes: Age and injury have slowed him down over the years, but he's still extremely useful in brute force situations as long as there's support.
no subject
The dreadnought carries the two teams of Riftwatchers and, down in the hold, Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers manning the oars. The trip from Kirkwall is short enough to escape notice, and with the harbor entrance cleared of mines there's nothing to slow them down as they careen into port at first light. They crash out of the remains of a pre-dawn fog and through a pier, plowing smaller boats ahead of them, and beach up onto the wharf with the bow thrust through the stone wall of the customs house. The soldiers manning the oars are armed as well and several bands of them (and the other Riftwatch team) slip out and head into the city on missions unknown. The last dozen or two remain to help Riftwatch here.
The mission is to cause as much damage and chaos as possible and draw the enemy's focus here on the harbor, to cover for the others now sneaking deeper into the city and the armies quietly readying outside the gates to strike once forces have shifted this way. They won't have much time before they are badly outnumbered, but must keep it up as long as possible before slipping away into the city or back out if they can manage it to rejoin the rest of the army.
There are ships that could be burned--merchant ships, fishing boats, even some smaller warships--at anchor along the two big piers, along with the usual collection of warehouses full of goods, and other ramshackle dockside businesses: ropemakers, sailmakers, taverns, all still quiet at this hour. There is a barracks nearby as well, a squat two story warehouse that's been repurposed by the invaders, out of which Tevinters and the occasional Ander are now spilling, sleepy, surprised, but quickly ready for action. From the stable alongside, dracolisks stamp and whine. Mages and more soldiers man the walls and the defenses, four large ballistas arranged around the harbor. They're aimed outward at ship traffic but will, if given time, be turned inward on the threat now inside the city.
The chief threat on the ground will arrive after a time in the form of a pair of viciously effective battlemages. Twins by the look of it, they work in tandem, the woman armed with a flail-ended staff, the short spiked cylinder at the end of the chain crackling with lightning. Her brother's staff is an even more unusual design, embedded within a silverite kite shield, a knight enchanter's spirit-blade in his other hand. Together they lead in a company of soldiers (some mages, some not) better organized than the confused, muddled troops they first faced.
At some point, as fires spread, some or all of those from Riftwatch will find themselves trapped in a dead end created by the partial collapse of a burning warehouse and the advance of these foes. Their options for escape are limited: ahead through the blaze, to navigate the burning contents of the crumbling warehouse before it collapses the rest of the way, or left into the water, an odd sort of pen constructed out of nets between the now-burning piers, a dock that hasn't yet caught light beyond. It may seem an obvious choice, until a curious tentacle breaks the surface, stretching a yard out of the water and then two, and glistening with red crystals.
The tentacles belong to an octopus. A very big and unfortunately very malignant octopus, though whether that's due to its apparently lengthy exposure to red lyrium or just a naturally unpleasant personality is impossible to say. With the strong likelihood that the monster will escape and wreak untold havoc in the Waking Sea if its enclosure is destroyed before it is, their mission will shift from escape the enemy to fend off the enemy long enough to also kill a half-submerged sea monster.
Ultimately, the team will succeed at causing its distraction, allowing the shield team to reach the tunnels and drawing attention and firepower away from the Orlesian army amassing for an assault on the gates. However, they do have a chance of one of two different successful outcomes. One: they succeed at those two things, but in a bare-minimum way, leaving more enemy ships, attention, and firepower available to make the ensuing battle more difficult than it necessarily had to be. Two: they cause so much havoc and successfully wreck so much shit that Orlesian casualties are significantly reduced from what they might have been, while many Tevinter sailors who might have otherwise gone down with their ships in the harbor will be stranded on shore and potentially taken alive. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: Pretty available, except for the last week of December. But I can prioritize special mission things over my other thread if necessary.
Character: Wysteria
Division: Research
Relevant Key Skills: Spellbreaking (Wysteria's the equivalent of a magic lock pick and I'm going to say she's put in enough Thedas arcane studies work to be semi-effective in that role), a lot of academic enthusiasm for magic and enchantments.
Willingness: Put her in, coach. She solemnly swears to keep a secret and might??? even manage to???
Notes: Can't do combat, isn't above average stealthy. Missing a hand, BUT DOES have some spell detection powder that I keep meaning to use and forgetting so I'm really making a note of it here for my own posterity.
no subject
Going in, the team will know where the artifact is being held. Unfortunately, it's in the central fortress, and the most feasible way for them to reach it and access the shield without being detected—particularly as three rifters with varying distinctive features—is through a series of underground sewage tunnels connected to the harbor. (They will not at any point have to actually walk through sewage. There are walkways on the side. It will, however, smell horrible, and they may need to spend a few minutes airing themselves out before they risk getting close to anyone whose attention they hope not to draw.) To reach those tunnels, they'll be ferried into the harbor on the dreadnought, which will be a bumpy ride, and as soon as it's crashed into the wharf they'll have to slip away while their colleagues are providing a distraction as cover and run to the tunnel entrance before the Tevinters know what's hit them.
Before they’ve reached the tunnel and gone inside, the dreadnought team’s assault on the harbor will begin and the alarm will sound. Shortly afterwards, a rush of magic will go past them, physically, enough to blow their hair back and everything. They'll shortly learn via crystal that a glowing magical barrier has formed. large enough to encompass the entire city—and notably green, not blue. This will be news. They’ll know they’re looking for Dirthamin's Wisdom and that it magically improves the fortifications of the city and its walls, potentially making the gates impossible to breach, but no one will have said anything about city-sized barrier spells.
Conveniently, the source and center will be the underground chambers of the fortress they're already headed for. The necessary door will be guarded by two young guards—neither mages, but only one of whom can possibly be drawn away from the door or persuaded that he's urgently needed elsewhere. The other will need to be dealt with directly. And inside, they'll find a mage (or two, if you'd prefer a bigger fight) who's overseeing the spell they've arrived to stop. The generally-recognized best way to deal with mages is to kill them so fast they can't cast anything, but do it however you want.
It will be immediately apparent that this spell has three components. The first is the artifact: a shield, spinning in mid-air in the center of the room. The second is a rift. It's a very small rift, compared to those that deliver rifters and demons into the world, but a rift nonetheless. The means of its creation are the half-dozen sacrificed people lying in a semi-circle around it to fuel the mage's blood magic. The glyph will pulsate and send threads of visible magical energy toward the ground beneath the shield, where the third component—a glyph, outlined in stone but currently filled with blood, that's drawing power from the rift and amplifying the shield about it.
Due to complicated magic-science reasons that we refuse to make up terminology for (but feel free to do so yourselves) that boil down to the shield's preservational enchantments now preserving the rift as well, creating a loop, the glyph connecting the shield and the rift will need to be carefully unravelled before either the shield or the rift can be affected. Wysteria in particular should be able to figure this out, but due to the complicated nature of the glyph—the magical equivalent of needing to cut three wires at once to prevent a bomb from going off—it will take all three of them to actually manage it, in two stages. After the first stage, the shield will begin trying to protect itself, sending pulses of pulverising energy out of itself as it spins in its circle. It's a slow circle, but they'll need to rush in and out of cover to remove the second series of lines from the glyph without being hit. Once they've successfully done so, Astarion and Emet-Selch will be able to close the rift with their anchors, and the shields will come down.
The potential consequences of failure include a power spike that causes the shield's protective, building-preserving energy to turn inward on the city instead, potentially leaving its buildings standing but crushing its inhabitants where they stand with sheer force. So failure is not an option. It's also literally not an option, OOC—they're gonna pull it off!
However, they do have a chance of one of two different outcomes. One: the shield might be destroyed when the glyph is, ending the spell but leaving them without a trophy. Two: the shield might be preserved, and they get to bring it back to Kirkwall for potential future use in the war effort. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: Should be very available at least in the evenings! I can be a daily tagger at minimum if timezones are wonky & coordinate for knocking tags out on a thread.
Character: Emet-Selch
Division: Research
Relevant Key Skills: Magic detection, using magic on things and other general Sorcery Capability, can be sneaky when needed, willing to put research skills to work to preplan as much as possible. Also can fight when it comes to it.
Willingness: Look how willing he is to help out, he is here to do his job and perfectly down for secrecy, model citizen here. He didn't even lock himself in his room like he totally could have during the undead attack, he'll be useful. Let him out.
Notes: obviously I understand if he ends up making for a bad IC pick! It's all chill if that's a disqualifier.
no subject
Going in, the team will know where the artifact is being held. Unfortunately, it's in the central fortress, and the most feasible way for them to reach it and access the shield without being detected—particularly as three rifters with varying distinctive features—is through a series of underground sewage tunnels connected to the harbor. (They will not at any point have to actually walk through sewage. There are walkways on the side. It will, however, smell horrible, and they may need to spend a few minutes airing themselves out before they risk getting close to anyone whose attention they hope not to draw.) To reach those tunnels, they'll be ferried into the harbor on the dreadnought, which will be a bumpy ride, and as soon as it's crashed into the wharf they'll have to slip away while their colleagues are providing a distraction as cover and run to the tunnel entrance before the Tevinters know what's hit them.
Before they’ve reached the tunnel and gone inside, the dreadnought team’s assault on the harbor will begin and the alarm will sound. Shortly afterwards, a rush of magic will go past them, physically, enough to blow their hair back and everything. They'll shortly learn via crystal that a glowing magical barrier has formed. large enough to encompass the entire city—and notably green, not blue. This will be news. They’ll know they’re looking for Dirthamin's Wisdom and that it magically improves the fortifications of the city and its walls, potentially making the gates impossible to breach, but no one will have said anything about city-sized barrier spells.
Conveniently, the source and center will be the underground chambers of the fortress they're already headed for. The necessary door will be guarded by two young guards—neither mages, but only one of whom can possibly be drawn away from the door or persuaded that he's urgently needed elsewhere. The other will need to be dealt with directly. And inside, they'll find a mage (or two, if you'd prefer a bigger fight) who's overseeing the spell they've arrived to stop. The generally-recognized best way to deal with mages is to kill them so fast they can't cast anything, but do it however you want.
It will be immediately apparent that this spell has three components. The first is the artifact: a shield, spinning in mid-air in the center of the room. The second is a rift. It's a very small rift, compared to those that deliver rifters and demons into the world, but a rift nonetheless. The means of its creation are the half-dozen sacrificed people lying in a semi-circle around it to fuel the mage's blood magic. The glyph will pulsate and send threads of visible magical energy toward the ground beneath the shield, where the third component—a glyph, outlined in stone but currently filled with blood, that's drawing power from the rift and amplifying the shield about it.
Due to complicated magic-science reasons that we refuse to make up terminology for (but feel free to do so yourselves) that boil down to the shield's preservational enchantments now preserving the rift as well, creating a loop, the glyph connecting the shield and the rift will need to be carefully unravelled before either the shield or the rift can be affected. Wysteria in particular should be able to figure this out, but due to the complicated nature of the glyph—the magical equivalent of needing to cut three wires at once to prevent a bomb from going off—it will take all three of them to actually manage it, in two stages. After the first stage, the shield will begin trying to protect itself, sending pulses of pulverising energy out of itself as it spins in its circle. It's a slow circle, but they'll need to rush in and out of cover to remove the second series of lines from the glyph without being hit. Once they've successfully done so, Astarion and Emet-Selch will be able to close the rift with their anchors, and the shields will come down.
The potential consequences of failure include a power spike that causes the shield's protective, building-preserving energy to turn inward on the city instead, potentially leaving its buildings standing but crushing its inhabitants where they stand with sheer force. So failure is not an option. It's also literally not an option, OOC—they're gonna pull it off!
However, they do have a chance of one of two different outcomes. One: the shield might be destroyed when the glyph is, ending the spell but leaving them without a trophy. Two: the shield might be preserved, and they get to bring it back to Kirkwall for potential future use in the war effort. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: weeknights i can be available after 6:00pm est, weekends i am hugely flexible. 12/4 i have a Work Commitment that'll eat up my afternoon into the evening, but otherwise nothing on the books that can't be shuffled around to accommodate threading.
Character: Derrica
Division: Forces
Relevant Key Skills: Smashing, godly barriers, even godlier healing. Boat experience, strong swimmer, also a general Can Do attitude.
Willingness: 100% enthusiastic about volunteering, extremely willing to maintain secrecy if asked. She's very much Here To Help.
Notes: pick me pick me
no subject
The dreadnought carries the two teams of Riftwatchers and, down in the hold, Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers manning the oars. The trip from Kirkwall is short enough to escape notice, and with the harbor entrance cleared of mines there's nothing to slow them down as they careen into port at first light. They crash out of the remains of a pre-dawn fog and through a pier, plowing smaller boats ahead of them, and beach up onto the wharf with the bow thrust through the stone wall of the customs house. The soldiers manning the oars are armed as well and several bands of them (and the other Riftwatch team) slip out and head into the city on missions unknown. The last dozen or two remain to help Riftwatch here.
The mission is to cause as much damage and chaos as possible and draw the enemy's focus here on the harbor, to cover for the others now sneaking deeper into the city and the armies quietly readying outside the gates to strike once forces have shifted this way. They won't have much time before they are badly outnumbered, but must keep it up as long as possible before slipping away into the city or back out if they can manage it to rejoin the rest of the army.
There are ships that could be burned--merchant ships, fishing boats, even some smaller warships--at anchor along the two big piers, along with the usual collection of warehouses full of goods, and other ramshackle dockside businesses: ropemakers, sailmakers, taverns, all still quiet at this hour. There is a barracks nearby as well, a squat two story warehouse that's been repurposed by the invaders, out of which Tevinters and the occasional Ander are now spilling, sleepy, surprised, but quickly ready for action. From the stable alongside, dracolisks stamp and whine. Mages and more soldiers man the walls and the defenses, four large ballistas arranged around the harbor. They're aimed outward at ship traffic but will, if given time, be turned inward on the threat now inside the city.
The chief threat on the ground will arrive after a time in the form of a pair of viciously effective battlemages. Twins by the look of it, they work in tandem, the woman armed with a flail-ended staff, the short spiked cylinder at the end of the chain crackling with lightning. Her brother's staff is an even more unusual design, embedded within a silverite kite shield, a knight enchanter's spirit-blade in his other hand. Together they lead in a company of soldiers (some mages, some not) better organized than the confused, muddled troops they first faced.
At some point, as fires spread, some or all of those from Riftwatch will find themselves trapped in a dead end created by the partial collapse of a burning warehouse and the advance of these foes. Their options for escape are limited: ahead through the blaze, to navigate the burning contents of the crumbling warehouse before it collapses the rest of the way, or left into the water, an odd sort of pen constructed out of nets between the now-burning piers, a dock that hasn't yet caught light beyond. It may seem an obvious choice, until a curious tentacle breaks the surface, stretching a yard out of the water and then two, and glistening with red crystals.
The tentacles belong to an octopus. A very big and unfortunately very malignant octopus, though whether that's due to its apparently lengthy exposure to red lyrium or just a naturally unpleasant personality is impossible to say. With the strong likelihood that the monster will escape and wreak untold havoc in the Waking Sea if its enclosure is destroyed before it is, their mission will shift from escape the enemy to fend off the enemy long enough to also kill a half-submerged sea monster.
Ultimately, the team will succeed at causing its distraction, allowing the shield team to reach the tunnels and drawing attention and firepower away from the Orlesian army amassing for an assault on the gates. However, they do have a chance of one of two different successful outcomes. One: they succeed at those two things, but in a bare-minimum way, leaving more enemy ships, attention, and firepower available to make the ensuing battle more difficult than it necessarily had to be. Two: they cause so much havoc and successfully wreck so much shit that Orlesian casualties are significantly reduced from what they might have been, while many Tevinter sailors who might have otherwise gone down with their ships in the harbor will be stranded on shore and potentially taken alive. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: This current week is gunna be a real doozy and then things calm down for me for awhile. I will be completely off work for a week in mid december and will be quite hungry for rp then! In general when I'm working though I tend to pick a little bit during the week and do a lot on the weekend
Character: Edgard
Division: Forces
Relevant Key Skills: great marksman, excellent at smashing, can intimidate if he tries hard enough, a need to help
Willingness: very!
no subject
The dreadnought carries the two teams of Riftwatchers and, down in the hold, Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers manning the oars. The trip from Kirkwall is short enough to escape notice, and with the harbor entrance cleared of mines there's nothing to slow them down as they careen into port at first light. They crash out of the remains of a pre-dawn fog and through a pier, plowing smaller boats ahead of them, and beach up onto the wharf with the bow thrust through the stone wall of the customs house. The soldiers manning the oars are armed as well and several bands of them (and the other Riftwatch team) slip out and head into the city on missions unknown. The last dozen or two remain to help Riftwatch here.
The mission is to cause as much damage and chaos as possible and draw the enemy's focus here on the harbor, to cover for the others now sneaking deeper into the city and the armies quietly readying outside the gates to strike once forces have shifted this way. They won't have much time before they are badly outnumbered, but must keep it up as long as possible before slipping away into the city or back out if they can manage it to rejoin the rest of the army.
There are ships that could be burned--merchant ships, fishing boats, even some smaller warships--at anchor along the two big piers, along with the usual collection of warehouses full of goods, and other ramshackle dockside businesses: ropemakers, sailmakers, taverns, all still quiet at this hour. There is a barracks nearby as well, a squat two story warehouse that's been repurposed by the invaders, out of which Tevinters and the occasional Ander are now spilling, sleepy, surprised, but quickly ready for action. From the stable alongside, dracolisks stamp and whine. Mages and more soldiers man the walls and the defenses, four large ballistas arranged around the harbor. They're aimed outward at ship traffic but will, if given time, be turned inward on the threat now inside the city.
The chief threat on the ground will arrive after a time in the form of a pair of viciously effective battlemages. Twins by the look of it, they work in tandem, the woman armed with a flail-ended staff, the short spiked cylinder at the end of the chain crackling with lightning. Her brother's staff is an even more unusual design, embedded within a silverite kite shield, a knight enchanter's spirit-blade in his other hand. Together they lead in a company of soldiers (some mages, some not) better organized than the confused, muddled troops they first faced.
At some point, as fires spread, some or all of those from Riftwatch will find themselves trapped in a dead end created by the partial collapse of a burning warehouse and the advance of these foes. Their options for escape are limited: ahead through the blaze, to navigate the burning contents of the crumbling warehouse before it collapses the rest of the way, or left into the water, an odd sort of pen constructed out of nets between the now-burning piers, a dock that hasn't yet caught light beyond. It may seem an obvious choice, until a curious tentacle breaks the surface, stretching a yard out of the water and then two, and glistening with red crystals.
The tentacles belong to an octopus. A very big and unfortunately very malignant octopus, though whether that's due to its apparently lengthy exposure to red lyrium or just a naturally unpleasant personality is impossible to say. With the strong likelihood that the monster will escape and wreak untold havoc in the Waking Sea if its enclosure is destroyed before it is, their mission will shift from escape the enemy to fend off the enemy long enough to also kill a half-submerged sea monster.
Ultimately, the team will succeed at causing its distraction, allowing the shield team to reach the tunnels and drawing attention and firepower away from the Orlesian army amassing for an assault on the gates. However, they do have a chance of one of two different successful outcomes. One: they succeed at those two things, but in a bare-minimum way, leaving more enemy ships, attention, and firepower available to make the ensuing battle more difficult than it necessarily had to be. Two: they cause so much havoc and successfully wreck so much shit that Orlesian casualties are significantly reduced from what they might have been, while many Tevinter sailors who might have otherwise gone down with their ships in the harbor will be stranded on shore and potentially taken alive. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
no subject
Availability: Pretty available up until xmas week, then slightly less so but still around.
Character: Vincent
Division: Forces
Relevant Key Skills: Tanking, smashing, templar powers, versatile enough to be stealthy if ordered to be
Willingness: Yea lookin for that good will THANKS GIDEON
Notes: Combat, can mother duck/supervise other picks that might otherwise be dicey
no subject
The dreadnought carries the two teams of Riftwatchers and, down in the hold, Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers manning the oars. The trip from Kirkwall is short enough to escape notice, and with the harbor entrance cleared of mines there's nothing to slow them down as they careen into port at first light. They crash out of the remains of a pre-dawn fog and through a pier, plowing smaller boats ahead of them, and beach up onto the wharf with the bow thrust through the stone wall of the customs house. The soldiers manning the oars are armed as well and several bands of them (and the other Riftwatch team) slip out and head into the city on missions unknown. The last dozen or two remain to help Riftwatch here.
The mission is to cause as much damage and chaos as possible and draw the enemy's focus here on the harbor, to cover for the others now sneaking deeper into the city and the armies quietly readying outside the gates to strike once forces have shifted this way. They won't have much time before they are badly outnumbered, but must keep it up as long as possible before slipping away into the city or back out if they can manage it to rejoin the rest of the army.
There are ships that could be burned--merchant ships, fishing boats, even some smaller warships--at anchor along the two big piers, along with the usual collection of warehouses full of goods, and other ramshackle dockside businesses: ropemakers, sailmakers, taverns, all still quiet at this hour. There is a barracks nearby as well, a squat two story warehouse that's been repurposed by the invaders, out of which Tevinters and the occasional Ander are now spilling, sleepy, surprised, but quickly ready for action. From the stable alongside, dracolisks stamp and whine. Mages and more soldiers man the walls and the defenses, four large ballistas arranged around the harbor. They're aimed outward at ship traffic but will, if given time, be turned inward on the threat now inside the city.
The chief threat on the ground will arrive after a time in the form of a pair of viciously effective battlemages. Twins by the look of it, they work in tandem, the woman armed with a flail-ended staff, the short spiked cylinder at the end of the chain crackling with lightning. Her brother's staff is an even more unusual design, embedded within a silverite kite shield, a knight enchanter's spirit-blade in his other hand. Together they lead in a company of soldiers (some mages, some not) better organized than the confused, muddled troops they first faced.
At some point, as fires spread, some or all of those from Riftwatch will find themselves trapped in a dead end created by the partial collapse of a burning warehouse and the advance of these foes. Their options for escape are limited: ahead through the blaze, to navigate the burning contents of the crumbling warehouse before it collapses the rest of the way, or left into the water, an odd sort of pen constructed out of nets between the now-burning piers, a dock that hasn't yet caught light beyond. It may seem an obvious choice, until a curious tentacle breaks the surface, stretching a yard out of the water and then two, and glistening with red crystals.
The tentacles belong to an octopus. A very big and unfortunately very malignant octopus, though whether that's due to its apparently lengthy exposure to red lyrium or just a naturally unpleasant personality is impossible to say. With the strong likelihood that the monster will escape and wreak untold havoc in the Waking Sea if its enclosure is destroyed before it is, their mission will shift from escape the enemy to fend off the enemy long enough to also kill a half-submerged sea monster.
Ultimately, the team will succeed at causing its distraction, allowing the shield team to reach the tunnels and drawing attention and firepower away from the Orlesian army amassing for an assault on the gates. However, they do have a chance of one of two different successful outcomes. One: they succeed at those two things, but in a bare-minimum way, leaving more enemy ships, attention, and firepower available to make the ensuing battle more difficult than it necessarily had to be. Two: they cause so much havoc and successfully wreck so much shit that Orlesian casualties are significantly reduced from what they might have been, while many Tevinter sailors who might have otherwise gone down with their ships in the harbor will be stranded on shore and potentially taken alive. To achieve the second, better outcome, your thread needs to reach at least 20 tags by January 1, 2022.
INJURY GENERATOR SIGN-UPS
Division:
Maximum Severity: Choose the maximum severity you're interested in RPing. This is only the max; if the max you're interested in is 3, your character might receive an injury that rates 1 through 3, but won't receive a 4.
1 - An injury that could slow them down but won't stop them.
2 - An injury that may stop them temporarily while they receive medical attention in the field, but won't take them out of the fight.
3 - An injury that will take them out of the fight and may require a recovery period afterwards.
4 - Prompt medical intervention in the field required to avoid death, will require a recovery period afterwards.
No Thank Yous: If there's something specific you definitely don't want to happen to your character, for whatever reason--no eye stuff because it grosses you out, for example, or nothing that could cause facial scars because your icons--let us know!
If you need me to resubmit these seperately lmk
Division: Diplomacy (volunteering for on the ground)
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: I'd prefer he not permanently lose the use of either hand.
Character: Vanya
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 4
No Thank Yous: No permanent effects on his mobility.
Character: Ket
Division: Scouting (will be at sea)
Maximum Severity: 2
No Thank Yous: Nothing that would permanently affect her ability to be anonymous (e.g. no dashing facial scarring, unfortunately).
no subject
Division: Scouting (Griffon Rider)
Maximum Severity: 2
No Thank Yous: Nothing that'd cause a permanent handicap. Gross scars are fine, though for the sake of her icons let's keep them off face territory. :3
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 4
No Thank Yous: NA
Character: Astarion
Division: Scouting
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: rolling the bones to make things more interesting log-wise but would prefer nothing facially disfiguring, because much like a shaved cat, he'd be filled with grief. potential scars elsewhere are fine, he's already got those in spades.
no subject
Division: Diplomacy
Maximum Severity: 2
No Thank Yous: Face scars, just because it’s already hard enough to remember to write in that my other character with a non-iconned facial scar has one. (Also he’ll only be on the safe boat, so only injuries that are plausible for that situation.)
Character: Alistair
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: Face scars, see above.
no subject
Division: Research
Maximum Severity: up to 4
No Thank Yous: No eye injuries please! Otherwise we're good.
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: Nothing that would require extensive real-world physical therapy for recovery, he's had enough of those for a while methinks
Character: Mado
Division: Scouting
Maximum Severity: 4
No Thank Yous: Facial disfiguration, limb amputation (digits are ok if necessary)
Character: Benedict
Division: Diplomacy
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: Disfiguration/amputation/we'll have a dalmatian plantation
no subject
Division: research
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: Eye stuff, permanent handicap, face scars, losing limbs or anything.
no subject
Division: forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: No dashing facial scars on account of her icons. Otherwise, no eye stuff, permanent handicap, or losing limbs. Sticky wounds ok.
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 4, why not lol
No Thank Yous: no facial stuff because I am terrible at icons
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: facial disfiguration, eye stuff, limb amputations (but losing like a finger is ok), permanent handicaps.
Character: Darras Rivain
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: facial disfiguration, eye stuff, limb amputations (but losing like a finger is ok), permanent handicaps.
Character: Doki
Division: Diplomacy
Maximum Severity: 4
No Thank Yous: facial disfiguration, limb amputations (but losing like a finger is ok), permanent handicaps.
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 2
Character: Yseult
Division: Scouting
Maximum Severity: 2
Character: Maud
Division: Diplomacy unless I go put her in Research finally (boat)
Maximum Severity: 2
Character: Hugo
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: Literally nobody has time for serious face scars.
no subject
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: No facial scarring plus I don't want anything to happen to her hair. that sounds stupid i know but the braid is important
no subject
Division: diplomacy
Maximum Severity: 3
No Thank Yous: look he already lost one limb, let's keep it to that.
i have a permit
Division: Research
Maximum Severity: 2
No Thank Yous: Not the face.
Character: Flint
Division: Forces
Maximum Severity: 4
No Thank Yous: Prefer no loss of limb/permanent debilitation. Not the face because I'll forget to describe it and no one has time to edit 300000 icons.
Character: Fitcher
Division: Scouting
Maximum Severity: 2
No Thank Yous: Not the face.