WAR TABLE ASSIGNMENT: FALSE FLAGS & SABOTAGE

[katabasis]

WAR TABLE ASSIGNMENT(s): FALSE FLAGS & SABOTAGE

WHAT: A series of (mostly Forces-oriented, but there's some room for everyone) assignments focused on sewing discord and damaging support from Tevinter in Antiva, and challenging the enemy's hold on the Minanter River. See comments for specific mission details and sign-ups.

These are a mix and match of 1) group mingle logs, 2) odd jobs that can either be done with a partner or even alone (as long as you RP something in relation to it), and 3) more typical war table assignments designed for a small group. I've indicated which in each comment, but let me know if you have any questions.

HOW: You'll be provided with a brief overview of the goals/stakes/potential complications of each mission, but will otherwise be expected to set up their logs/conduct the missions as you see fit.

Each mission has different requirements to succeed ranging from 'You Can Just Say You Did the Thing' to 'You Must Have This Many Comments by X Date', so please make sure to review the requirements and sign up for something whose criteria you can meet if success is important to you.

WHO: Forces Division + Everyone Else

WHEN: OOCly, sign-ups for this close at midnight on Saturday, 3/19. Assignments will be rng'd and additional details distributed in the following 48ish hours.

ICly, the timeline for when these assignments occur is flexible for any time in fantasy!March/April, so if mod plot comes out and it makes sense for you/your group to push things around then feel free to do so. The only exception is that the events for 'We Stole A Zoo' must occur in chronological order.

Reports for each assignment should be filed no later than April 30th.

Comments

WE STOLE A ZOO (Forces + Scouting + Diplomacy)

[katabasis]

WHAT: Benat Berroeta, nephew of the staunchly neutral Merchant Prince Andreuola Accottanto and a hobbyist zoologist, has amassed a significant collection of Fade Touched animals. As members of Riftwatch, your mission will be to either:

• HEELS (3-4): Disguised as Venatori, break into the Berroeta estate and steal as many animals from the mangerie as you're able to get away with. While there, plant further evidence that the "Venatori" have made off with Berroeta's collection for nefarious war-related and/or fade-touched testing purposes.
  
• HEROES (3-4): After a brief mourning period, return the stolen animals to Berroeta having "heroically foiled" the "Venatori plot".

FLAVOR: While you're more than welcome to thread this in whatever fashion your group decides is fun, the information you will be provided with is designed with either an action-adventure-y heist complicated by animal-related hijinks (Heels), or for a group mingle log where you get to hang out with those self-same ridiculous animals (Heroes) in mind.

SUCCESS CRITERIA: None; this automatically succeeds as long as a report is filed by 4/30. The report should cover the work of both teams, but can either be written by one character or by representatives from both teams.

WHO: Two teams of 3-4. Slots will be rng'd with a preference for members of Forces and Scouting (Heels) or Forces and Diplomacy (Heroes). The only requirement is that you can't sign up for both with the same character lest the ruse be foiled.

SIGN UP by filling out this form and replying to this comment.
<b>PLAYER:</b> <b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>CHARACTER'S DIVISION:</b> (Forces and Scouting preferred for team Heel, Forces and Diplomacy preferred for Team Hero) <b>HEEL OR HERO?:</b> <b>MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?:</b>

[hornswoggle]

PLAYER: eppy
CHARACTER: John Silver
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Diplomacy
HEEL OR HERO?: Hero
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main squeeze

[katabasis]

Welcome to TEAM HERO, which consists of Silver, Adrasteia, and Tiffanny.

A few days after the theft, Team Hero will rendezvous with Team Heel in a quiet corner of the Ansburg countryside (not too close to the actual contested front lines, please). There they will take possession of Berroeta's stolen Fade-Touched animals and be charged with returning them to the very estate from which they were originally "liberated." Please make the return to the estate as uneventful or as chaotic as you feel compelled to. Try not to lose too many animals; if one or two slips away, make sure you come up with a good cover story for how they escaped or were tragically slain by the Tevinter soldiers they were recaptured from.

Ultimately, Team Hero will be responsible for spinning a believable but incredibly lurid tale about how they successfully faced down with and defeated the nefarious Venatori who stole the animals in the first place. To back up their claims, Team Hero will be provided with one (1) suspiciously freshly severed hand wearing a Tevinter-styled ring to present to Berroeta as evidence. Don't ask where Flint got it, and sorry in advance if it gets a little smelly before you can hand it off.

Berroeta will be effusively grateful to have his collection of animals returned and Team Hero will find themselves enjoying many, many hours of being educated on a variety of animal facts. Berroeta is apparently attempting to compile a vast Fade-Touched bestiary, and would greatly appreciate if Riftwatch would give him the opportunity to purchase any interesting specimens that they might come across in the future.

As a group, you may either ask Berroeta for up to two favors now, or file away the good will to cash in on later in a time of need. Keep in mind that while his family is fabulously wealthy and Berroeta himself is being groomed as a potential heir to his aunt's regime, that he may not be able to grant certain wishes outright and/or there may be some serious strings attached if it seems especially politically fraught. Anything that falls outside of Berroeta's direct power to grant will become "suggestions" that he pushes to Auntie Accottanto herself.

If you want ideas for Fade-Touched Animals, a optional Animal Generator is available for your use HERE. (With thanks to cass and mj for the coding which I definitely stole).

As a reminder, please file your report on the rookery comm no later than April 30th. If you need feedback from me for your group-picked favors, please hit me up with your ideas no later than April 25th.

[katabasis]

Hi pals! This is your reminder that a joint report for Heels and Heroes is due for this on April 30th. Let me know if you need any additional info from me to do so.

Thanks!

[illithidnapped]

PLAYER: cobalt
CHARACTER: Astarion
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Scouting
HEEL OR HERO?: h e e l ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main character!

[katabasis]

Welcome to TEAM HEEL, which consists of Astarion, Edgard, and Abby.

Team Heel will find themselves traveling into the Weyrs of Antiva where the estate of Benat Berroeta is located. Nephew to the staunchly neutral Merchant Prince Andreuola Accottanto and a passionate (armchair) zoologist, Berroeta has amassed an impressive collection of Fade-Touched animals which currently reside in an elegant menagerie on the property. The menagerie, a vast hall of pale stone and fabulously tall stained glass windows which depict a wide array of flora and fauna, sits directly across the equally elaborate gardens from the estate's main house. Presumably this is so that Borroeta can fondly gaze out at it whenever he wants to.

Disguised as Tevinter soldiers, Team Heel will discover that armed guards are trawling throughout the property and that there are two guards within the menagerie itself. It's highly recommended that Team Heel arrange for a few witnesses to provide testimony that the theft was definitely the work of the Venatori. Any evidence that can be planted to emphasize this assessment is encouraged, and Flint has instructed the group to kill at least one of the animals in an effort to incite the sort of grief and/or rage in Berroeta that primes a man to jump to easy conclusions.

The animals themselves are housed in a series of (large-ish, albeit not terribly humane from a modern perspective) cages which have been, if necessary, warded with various enchantments to keep its inhabitant locked in. Luckily, these wards are clearly designed to be disabled from the outside and should cause only a temporary slow down to those looking to bust out the menagerie's occupants.

Beyond these points, the exact security pitfalls and challenges are up to you to decide on as a group. Berroeta has a virtually bottomless supply of money at his disposal, so feel free to go ham. If you want to say he has a self-propelling magic monorail that you can load all the animals on to escape to the edge of the estate, then go for it. If you want to have to pretend to be hay delivery drivers to take a bunch of wagons in and then load cages directly into the wagons, that's fine too. The big points are: steal Berroeta's animal friends (try not to lose any), make him think the Venatori did it, and absolutely do not get caught.

If you want ideas for Fade-Touched Animals, a optional Animal Generator is available for your use HERE. (With thanks to cass and mj for the coding which I definitely stole). But if you really have your heart set on something specific, feel free to make up your own Lisa Frank creation.

As a reminder, please make sure to file your report on the rookery comm by no later than April 30th.

[katabasis]

Looks directly at you irl as I copy paste this

Hi pals! This is your reminder that a joint report for Heels and Heroes is due for this on April 30th. Let me know if you need any additional info from me to do so.

Thanks!

[kantikoy]

PLAYER: Era
CHARACTER: Adrasteia
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Forces
HEEL OR HERO?: Hero
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main

[katabasis]

Welcome to TEAM HERO, which consists of Silver, Adrasteia, and Tiffanny.

A few days after the theft, Team Hero will rendezvous with Team Heel in a quiet corner of the Ansburg countryside (not too close to the actual contested front lines, please). There they will take possession of Berroeta's stolen Fade-Touched animals and be charged with returning them to the very estate from which they were originally "liberated." Please make the return to the estate as uneventful or as chaotic as you feel compelled to. Try not to lose too many animals; if one or two slips away, make sure you come up with a good cover story for how they escaped or were tragically slain by the Tevinter soldiers they were recaptured from.

Ultimately, Team Hero will be responsible for spinning a believable but incredibly lurid tale about how they successfully faced down with and defeated the nefarious Venatori who stole the animals in the first place. To back up their claims, Team Hero will be provided with one (1) suspiciously freshly severed hand wearing a Tevinter-styled ring to present to Berroeta as evidence. Don't ask where Flint got it, and sorry in advance if it gets a little smelly before you can hand it off.

Berroeta will be effusively grateful to have his collection of animals returned and Team Hero will find themselves enjoying many, many hours of being educated on a variety of animal facts. Berroeta is apparently attempting to compile a vast Fade-Touched bestiary, and would greatly appreciate if Riftwatch would give him the opportunity to purchase any interesting specimens that they might come across in the future.

As a group, you may either ask Berroeta for up to two favors now, or file away the good will to cash in on later in a time of need. Keep in mind that while his family is fabulously wealthy and Berroeta himself is being groomed as a potential heir to his aunt's regime, that he may not be able to grant certain wishes outright and/or there may be some serious strings attached if it seems especially politically fraught. Anything that falls outside of Berroeta's direct power to grant will become "suggestions" that he pushes to Auntie Accottanto herself.

If you want ideas for Fade-Touched Animals, a optional Animal Generator is available for your use HERE. (With thanks to cass and mj for the coding which I definitely stole).

As a reminder, please file your report on the rookery comm no later than April 30th. If you need feedback from me for your group-picked favors, please hit me up with your ideas no later than April 25th.

[muckspout]

PLAYER: Lana
CHARACTER: Edgard
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Forces
HEEL OR HERO?: Heel, but if there's an uneven amount i'm good for either
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main

[armd]

PLAYER: cadence
CHARACTER: Abs
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Forces
HEEL OR HERO?: Leaning heel, but fine w either
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main!

[staysail]

PLAYER: cee!
CHARACTER: Tiffany Hart
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Diplomacy
HEEL OR HERO?: **~*~~hero~*~**
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main

FRIENDLY FIRE (Forces Only)

[katabasis]

WHAT: While disguised as Tevinter/Ander soldiers, Riftwatch sabotages Antivan infrastructure, attacks merchant caravans, and generally causes havoc within the regions of Antivan inside or near the territory currently being contested by Corpheus's forces. The aim is to inconvenience day to day life enough to degrade the quality of support that the Tevinter army may be receiving, and to make showing that support openly more unpopular among the general Antivan population.

FLAVOR: Bespoke mini-mission assignments designed with your character's strength and weaknesses in mind. You'll receive a brief (3-5 sentences) description of the goal your character is meant to achieve; what you do with it from there is up to you. Please indicate in your sign up form if you want to be paired up with someone, or if you would prefer to pick your own thread partner(s).

SUCCESS CRITERIA: A thread of at least five (5) comments of any kind (from you) is required to accomplish your assigned goal (although you're also welcome to play failing outright or to complicate the resolution in some way if you think that would be more fun for your rp). This thread can be anything—action spam of the mission itself, your character complaining about the assignment in an inbox thread, a call for help on the crystal after things go terribly wrong or bragging when they go terribly right, and so on and so forth.

A single joint-report (either collected and written by a heroic single volunteer, or a collection of everyone's mini-reports) is due by 4/30.

WHO: Members of Forces. If you opt to select your own thread partners, you can choose characters from any division to support yours. If you opt to be paired by me, you'll get another member of Forces who has signed up for this and has also requested to be paired up (if we're uneven, your character will be stuck with Flint. :^)).

SIGN UP by filling out this form and replying to this comment.
<b>PLAYER:</b> <b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?:</b> <b>DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?:</b> <b>STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN:</b> This section is optional since I can always spy on info pages, but if there's something specific you want to mention or if you're hankering for a particular flavor of adventure then feel free to touch on it here.

[heorte]

PLAYER: eppy
CHARACTER: ellis
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main squeeze
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: yes
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN: Knocking over merchant caravans + doing some light murder would be ideal.

[doggish]

PLAYER: Kit
CHARACTER: Fenris
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: I absolutely would
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN: Murder is always fun, playing on his lyrium-based abilities is a treat (he can rip hearts out of people's chests! he can presumably steal shit out of a locked safe! the possibilities are endless when you can go transparent), he has a solid grasp on Tevene so you know he can drop in those key curses . . . weaknesses include being a brat about mages

can I sign up for more than one? I'm signing up for more than one

[muckspout]

PLAYER: Lana
CHARACTER: Edgard
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: yes
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN: I would love an opportunity for Edgard to be a loud nuisance on purpose. He needs some validation.

[wearyallalone]

PLAYER: Ammmy
CHARACTER: Vanya
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: side
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: yes (Obviously he's a side guy, so if you get an odd number of sign ups, I can also solo it if necessary)
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN: Vanya is very competent at combat and tactics, and very incompetent at making small talk with his fellow Riftwatch agents. Either or both could be fun! The disguise element could also lead to some hijinks; he's got a fairly pronounced Nevarran accent and attempts at other accents, or subterfuge generally, will be ill-fated.

i'm also signing up for more than one

[armd]

PLAYER: cadence
CHARACTER: Abz
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main baby
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: Yes please
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN: Forced stealth would be funny because she's godawful at it + a bit of murder, as a treat?

[rebellionyell]

PLAYER: Citrine
CHARACTER: Dante
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main
DO YOU WANT TO BE PAIRED UP BY ME?: Absolutely.
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES/THINGS YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN:
Strengths - Dante is intuitively battle savvy, so slapping things and being generally chaotic is something he excels at.
Weaknesses - The four horsemen of the apocalypse: flippant, cocky, reckless, and a little bit arrogant.
BYOB - Dante has been hiding his demonic little secret from the world at large. The cat has been suffocating in that bag, it might need to breathe.

TRADE RELATIONS(HIP STATUS: IT'S COMPLICATED) (Forces + Anyone Else)

[katabasis]

WHAT: With Tevinter's forces controlling trade on the Minanter and Starkhaven blockaded from receiving shipments, Riftwatch will undertake a series of strike missions against three key targets on and along the river—a tributary vital to supplying the force around Starkhaven, a blockade intercepting the flow of supplies to Starkhaven, and a riverside encampment which has been levying fees and confiscating cargo from passing shipping.

FLAVOR: While you're welcome to thread out anything you like in relation to the assignment (it doesn't have to be action; for example, conversations while preparing to leave the Gallows or aftermath threads would be equally valid), the details you receive will be geared toward action-adventure and sneaky sabotage.

SUCCESS CRITERIA: Each scenario must have at least one thread reaching at least ten (10) comments (total, not 10 tags from each character) to successfully achieve the target goal. A single joint-report (either written by a heroic single volunteer, or a collection of everyone's mini-reports) for all three scenarios is due by 4/30.

WHO: Three teams of 2-4, rng'd with preference for Forces. Combat skills are encouraged, but not necessarily required. Each scenario has been designed with enough flexibility to give one non-combatant a job to do if necessary.

SIGN UP by filling out this form and replying to this comment.
<b>PLAYER:</b> <b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>CHARACTER'S DIVISION:</b> <b>MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?:</b>

[tender]

PLAYER: eppy
CHARACTER: derrica
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: forces
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: main squeeze

[icasm]

PLAYER: Era
CHARACTER: Loki
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Diplomacy (but the boy can fight)
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main

[staysail]

PLAYER: cee!
CHARACTER: Darras Rivain
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Forces
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main

if I'm too late it is SUPER fine

[cozen]

PLAYER: MJ
CHARACTER: Bastien
CHARACTER'S DIVISION: Diplomacy + knives
MAIN OR SIDE CHARACTER?: Main

QUESTIONS?

[katabasis]

You got questions? I can make up answers!