faderiftooc | MOD PLOT ↠ HOME FOR RIFTMAS

I'LL BE HOME FOR RIFTMAS

The log for the mod plot is available here! This plot is forward-dated to the beginning of Wintermarch (January) so it can be RPed at your leisure, and it shouldn't interfere with any Thedas-based plots anyone wants to run in the meantime.

Riftwatch will visit each of the worlds in the order listed in the log, without overlap. This means your character can visit as many of the worlds as you choose, and visiting one doesn't mean they'll miss out on another. But once your character is in a world, they're in it for the duration—there's no way out, so characters are stuck in it until the artifact is found and the world dissolves.

You are allowed to have more than one character in any given world, but because they'll necessarily be there at the same time, please be particularly careful to avoid awkward or meta-game-y overlaps and don't have more than one character in any given thread (including mission threads).

MECHANICS NOTES

Time & Space

Arrival locations and circumstances for the primary arrival site(s) are included in the world information. Everyone will show up with what they're carrying and wearing at the time.
Characters who arrive on the scene in the Crossroads late, for whatever reason, will arrive separately and may arrive in a different location if the world info specifies a second arrival option. It is entirely reasonable to enter a world separately on purpose–for example, someone deciding it's been too long and everyone already "inside" might need help.
There are no geographical limits. Characters can journey wherever they want within the world, as long as they find the means to get there, up to and including outer space.
Regardless of how far they travel, as soon as someone has their hands on the artifact, the world will dissolve and everyone will be in the same small area of the Crossroads they started in.
Characters may be in these worlds for what seems like weeks or possibly months, depending on how long it takes to find and grab the artifact. But when they return, only a short period of time—less than an hour—will have passed in the "real" world. After the first world, they'll be aware of this and won't need to worry about Thedas falling apart during their seemingly prolonged absences.

Abilities, Technology, and Media

Characters "native" to the world will have their full powers restored, no nerfing, while within that world. Whether other characters have their usual abilities or are depowered or have gained some new powers will vary; check the world info for each world for specifics!
Rifter characters who were Thedosianized on arrival in Thedas will become their original race in their own homeworlds. Other characters may change appearance to the extent necessary to fit them into the world they're visiting (a reverse Thedosianizing). So for some examples: everyone will be a human in a world that only has humans; humans will remain humans in any world that has humans; elves may remain elves if the world has elves but will look a bit more like that world's version of elves; and no one who doesn't already have horns will become a tiefling.
Thedas magical devices, including sending crystals and magic books, will be converted on arrival into in-world equivalents (if any exist; if they don't, they'll just be bricked). Crystals and magic books (and their equivalents) will work for contacting people within a world, but will not send or receive messages with those outside of it.
In-world technology will be fully functional and accurate. Even if your character doesn't personally know how a computer works or what is supposed to be inside one, the world will get it right.
Media (music, movies, television, the Internet, etc.) will be complete. Like, oddly complete! Even if the originating character doesn't know the words to a particular song or never got to the end of a book, they'll exist in complete and accurate forms here. (But we don't allow fourth walling, so that media can't include books/games/movies of anyone else's canon.)

Injuries and Healing

Injuries acquired in these worlds will be carried back out of them, but without any magical or Thedas-impossible properties. Example: someone who is bitten by a werewolf might turn into a werewolf while they're in Werewolf Land, but when the world dissolves they'll only have a bite scar and no longer be a werewolf.
Conversely, any healing or medical care–whether magical or technological–will work within the world, but it will stop providing any continuing health benefits once the world deconstructs, leaving half-healed injuries or ongoing health problems as they are. Stitches, metal plates, etc., acquired for medical reasons will disappear, so ideally no one's continued survival will rely on those.
If you die in the Matrix you die in real life.

NPCs

The worlds will appear fully populated, with "native" NPCs who behave more or less normally as long as the artifact isn't mentioned. If it is, they'll be unhelpful, cagey, weird, aggressive, or otherwise try to thwart attempts to find or reach it.
Players can use NPCs in their own threads and for their own purposes. Just use common sense courtesy; e.g., don't go rogue with NPCs who are particularly close to player characters, like their family members.
Canon-appropriate hazards of all sorts can pop up however you'd like. If aliens or assassins might appear in the canon version of the world, then they can be here, too, and will act as they normally would, the same way that other, less-hostile NPCs can be present and operating as normal. Spirits trying to keep PCs away from the artifact can also take on these antagonist forms.
Venatori & Friends can also appear, trying to grab the same artifact and cause problems. This is an option, not required. They'll be operating under the same rules as PCs.

ARTIFACT MISSIONS

In each world, it will take some work to retrieve the artifacts. World owners, you can reply here with more information about these missions, including: whether you intend to post a starter for the log or want people to go wild on their own, links to your logs/placeholder comments where applicable, sign-ups (with a deadline) if you're taking those, and any other parameters or notes you want to provide.

In Tony & Stephen's world (#1), Riftwatch will be suited up and equipped to break into a HYDRA facility to retrieve the artifact from hostile forces.
In Jude's world (#2), reaching the artifact where it's been stashed in a difficult-to-access place within the Lewis and Clark caverns will require a lot of teamwork and parkour.
In Loxley & Silas-Richard's world (#3), consulting with various entities about the object's whereabouts will lead to an airship journey and a dungeon crawl to reclaim it.
In Petrana's world (#4), Riftwatch will have to sneak inside the Holy City Cathedral, currently boarded up and largely deserted, to comb through its facilities in search of the artifact.
In Wysteria's world (#5), Riftwatch will need to slip into a party hosted at First College and devise a way to slip into the more restricted areas of the grounds to recover the artifact.
In Astarion's world (#6), acquiring the artifact will require trading for information and favors throughout the city and then venturing into the catacombs to beat warring factions to finding it.
In Cosima's world (#7), there will be a heist (closed) to retrieve the artifact from the Dyad Institute, with an open segment for anyone assisting in creating a distraction by wandering around the facility.
In Abby & Ellie's world (#8), there will be a mission (closed) to recover the artifact from a hospital in the post-apocalyptic wreckage of Seattle.

We'll add links to this list as people post comments!

Now everyone go get into trouble.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

THE MISSION:
Once Ellie and Abby recognize that the Fade-manifested version of Seattle they are in takes place in a specific time period, they'll realize what the goober probably has to be, and it's not going to be pretty. It's a medical kit located inside an infected called the (cw: body horror) Rat King, which is the result of loads of infected people being locked up together in the bowels of a thoroughly infested Seattle hospital. So if fighting a horrifying nightmare by flashlight in a spore-infested underground sounds like your bag, let's go.

This mission will be combat-heavy and led by Abby, supported by Ellie. If your character is good with mundane weaponry (swords, knives, gun skills, bombs) then they will be a natural choice. ICly, the local survivors will want to prioritize people who have experience in fighting monsters.

And, uh. Hopefully don't have a fear of heights. Because the only way to get to the hospital that won't take forever is to use the (cw: heights) sky bridge. It's exactly as terrifying as it looks.

Everyone will be equipped with a gas mask to be worn inside the building, to avoid breathing in the spore-heavy air, and as many guns as they want to carry. They'll be raiding a WLF encampment that's currently looting the upper floors of the hospital, so feel free to say your character has pistols, rifles, shotguns, flamethrowers, and even a few pipe bombs if you're nasty. Ellie and Abby are in their element (and new game+) so they'll trick your character out to your heart's content.

The Rat King is a damage-sink that can take unreal amounts of punishment and keep going, so they'll have to do as much damage as they can as fast as they can until it starts literally falling apart. If it grabs you, chances are high that you're not getting away. Once the team does enough damage, it'll start splitting off into individual pieces (stalkers, clickers) that will keep fighting. We don't know which piece has the goober. Remember to doubletap.

(cw: body horror, violence: but if you want to see the actual in-game fight here you go.)

OOC LOGISTICS:
- If you want in, sign up here.

- The big fight will be a free-for-all chaos with no tag order. Just get in there and start blasting. We'll post a starter and alert you when it's up. Keep going until it's over.

- The sky bridge and getting into the hospital will be handwaved officially, but if you want to play with either of those mechanics, feel free to throw in your own open or closed threads!

- If you want your character injured or killed during this mission, feel free to roll for that with any parameters you want.

Edited 2022-12-01 20:25 (UTC)