faderiftooc | MOD PLOT ↠ HOME FOR RIFTMAS

Entry tags:

! mod post

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

If you have questions about the mechanics of the plot, ask us here! (If you have questions about the lore or specific plan for a specific world, ask the relevant player!)

World owners, post comments here if you want/need to provide additional information about your mission plans, sign-ups for said missions, or additional details about the world and what is going on there.

THE MISSION:
While the conference's presence in Somerset has encouraged visitors from all over and spawned all manner of parties and associated intrigues, the heart of the actual exhibition halls have been strictly off limits to the public. Until now! In honor of some important date or maybe to celebrate someone somewhere signing some vital agreement or another, select portions of the exhibition are being opened to the general public.

The expansive grounds of First College—a renowned academic institution historically devoted to the education of properly credentialed Kalvadan magicians, and the jewel of the city—, open in the evening for what is clearly one of many absurdly ostentatious parties that have occurred in the last few weeks. This one just happens to be funded by the Kalvadan Crown(s) and is letting in the respectable looking poors.

Nominally, the party is divided up to allow various government officials, the aristocracy and their respected guests to enjoy their ruthless politicking and gossiping separate from the common folk. That said, there's just enough happening—think running the gamut from high society party down to carnival midway—that it wouldn't be impossible to sneak between the various social strata zones if one is very motivated.

Members of Riftwatch will need to slip into the party, and either manufacture a distraction or find some alternative means so that they can sneak away from the open portions of the exhibition grounds and deeper in the College where the good stuff—namely the artifact they're after—can be found.

WHO'S GOING: Open to everyone. I will not be posting a starter, so please feel free to use the setting and mission parameters to do whatever you please. If someone wants to claim being the one to successfully reach the artifact or scheme up a heist strategy then feel free to do so in the replies to this thread, but I personally don't plan to sweat the details.

Everyone attending the party WILL need at least 'setting-appropriate-if-you-squint' outfits, and better if they plan to pass themselves off as proper magicians or respectable members of the visiting foreign elite. Wysteria might be able to dress a few of you off her credit, but probably won't be dressing everyone so plan to get creative.

MISC ADDITIONAL FLAVOR & SETTING INFO:

Imagine a mish mash of the regency period and the industrial revolution, powered by strictly regimented fairy tale type magic and the remnants of Arthurian-flavored legends.
Kalvad has a weird religion that believes in predeterminism. On a surface level, the belief is that if you're living a successful or lucky life, then you're probably going to heaven. If you have poor character or have had a lot of misfortune fall on you, then you're probably going to hell. Hence: Reputation and accomplishments are everything.
Magic books are bricked; crystals have been transformed into small pocket mirrors and will function almost normally, except there will be notable delay in the receipt of messages that worsens the farther the crystals in question are apart from one another. That said, whatever native equivalent they are must be extremely rare. Using them in the presence of a native Kalvadan will either earn weird stares (check out this crazy guy talking to his pocket mirror) or, if the native in question is very educated magician and/or a collector or rare artifacts, risk drawing unwanted attention or theft.
idk man do whatever. In general if you feel like it makes sense or would be fun, then go for it.
THAT SAID, if you really want additional flavor or extra info then feel free to hit me up here. I'm happy to provide you with the hot goss.

THE MISSION: After some extensive research (both magical and scientific) for a few weeks, including unsuccessfully petitioning Dr. Strange’s fellow sorcerers for assistance and some rounds with Google, the gang locates the object in a HYDRA facility somewhere remote. Participants will be equipped and suited up and flown out to break in the door and get what they need, fighting off some gun-wielding henchmen as well as some more supernatural entities.

OOC LOGISTICS:

World top-level for arrival chaos (& eventual Sanctum thread) will be here; feel free to post your own top-levels beneath it once it’s ready.

Stephen Strange will start one CLOSED group log set at the Sanctum a while into their stay, where they ask his colleagues to help scry for the artifact, only for the sorcerers and the building itself to turn against the visitors. Expect magic hijinks, an extremely haunted mansion, reality distortions and moving stairwells and weird tentacle beasts coming out of the kitchen, before the group finally gets away. Sign up here by December 8; I’ll take Strange + 3 participants to keep it sane.

The HYDRA mission will be OPEN and there will be no specific group log; the scale is big enough that anyone can include mention of mission action & derring-do & punching bad guys in their personal top-levels. Team up with each other, make up henchmen or evil sorcerers or flying imps; go wild!

Magic books will become texting-capable generic smartphones, with Riftwatch contacts pre-loaded. Enjoy.

THE MISSION:
After some recon, the team discovers the artifact is disguised as a tech-looking goober in the Dyad Institute, which is a big biotech research affair. Cosima can get the two teams in the building, but once inside, team one is going to need to pull an actual heist in a closed log to get to where the artifact is kept. Good thing Cosima is so great at posing as other clones, potentially including the one who is a senior Dyad employee! (She is not great at it at all.)

Team two will involve an optional open log add-on for anyone not in the closed log who wants to be "making a distraction" by wandering the Dyad building. While a few security guards may have guns, the idea of both teams is more stealth and/or bluffing-based than combat-oriented. Though if team two wants to get into a dustup, live your best life! Cosima's not there to frown at you.

OOC LOGISTICS:

TEAM ONE I'm looking for 2-4 participants besides Cosima; as mentioned above, this will play to the strengths of people good at sneaking, lying or both. That said, if you want to fish out of water someone (within reason) let's do it! Please sign up if you're interested no later than noon EST on Sat., Dec. 3. I'll RNG if there are more signups than slots. We can then touch base about when is best to actually run this thing.

TEAM TWO doesn't need signups, and the group doesn't all need to stay together if you'd rather peel off into pairs or threes. I'll put up a starter about the same time I'm writing the team one starter, but Cosima won't be there so feel free to go wild with NPCs/setups whatever. If you want to hit me OOCly for world information, though, feel free to ping me here or on plurk/discord.

Before either team, I'll throw an arrival top-level in, but also feel free to start your own life in 2014 Toronto hijinks. It will take them what feels like at least a few weeks to get to the heist.

Questions, desires, comments: hit me up! Reply here or grab me one-on-one if you prefer.

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)

Signing up for Team 1

team one thank

hello hi yes i'll take one fucked up reality twisting mansion thanks

THE MISSION:
The internet is a wealth of information. It'll take a few weeks for the news of the goober to start popping up online, during which characters can relax, explore, and enjoy the hospitality of Jude's pack and their territory.

Once it does, Jude will tap anyone who wants to come on their satellite phones, so even if they travel they won't be out of the loop.

OOC LOGISTICS:
This one will be extremely relaxed. No sign-ups and no starters, they're just jumping/flapping/spelunking around in a cave with no enemies in sight, so get as lighthearted and dire as you want in the caverns. It's basically a sightseeing trip with fur and feathers.

Feel free to say that your character was the one who found/recovered the goober, just let me know here for posterity. If nobody does, we can assume that Jude eventually got to it.

MISC ADDITIONAL FLAVOR & SETTING INFO

- Jude will provide everyone with a satellite phone connected to the pack network and GPS/maps. Actual computers and tablets connected to the internet are at the den and free to use.
- Everyone is nerfed/human, but has now gained a single shifter form. This can be as simple as them suddenly being able to shapeshift and heal, or you can pick and choose whatever shifter mechanics/abilities you'd like to incorporate.
- Shifters have a human brain and an animal brain counterpart that lives inside of them. These might be in perfect harmony, they might not. Feel free to agree with your inner wolf or struggle with differing opinions and instincts. Chase it. Chase the ball.
- Shifters have a pack, and it transcends species. Enjoy your newfound awareness of those you're emotionally close to. You'll always have a sense of whether your pack is all right, or if they're in mortal peril.
- Are you a leader or a follower? Well, now it's literal. Try not to be an asshole and compel others with your dominance, or expect to be checked.
- If you want to speak with any of Jude's family members (his moms are around, while his dad is out of state) or any of the higher-ranked shifters, tap me for a thread. They're a wealth of information about their culture and history and will be curious about the outsiders.
- Have fun with the NPC's, feel free to make some up, and take your time getting used to your fangs and claws and wings.

Edited 2022-12-02 00:48 (UTC)

signing up to kill punch the rat king

let me here

dibs on the flame thrower

hey alexa play volcano man

Sure, team one me.

THE MISSION:

Investigation of the university crime scene will reveal boot prints and wide, serpentine drag marks pressed into the soot around traces of a chalk-etched teleportation circle. The Yuan-ti, Richard will explain, are snake people colluding with an unknown evil to end the world. They live in and around ancient temples far to the east, deep in the coastal jungles of Sylvica.

Once everyone is supplied and armed, the fastest way to get there is by airship. The Queen of Gales is a sizeable vessel that will fit the party comfortably. It is captained by Loxley, and is crewed by a variety of colourful characters, including a half-orc bosun and an ostentatious elvish quartermaster. It appears to be powered by magical crystals and steered by an array fanning sails. It is armed with several ballista and mangonels.

But the skies are being watched and a single airship traveling alone is an easy target. After fending off an attack on the ship, the party will have to hoof the last few days of travel along the coastline on foot.

The mission’s last leg will entail infiltrating a temple’s innermost sanctum and tearing the artifact from the Yuan-ti’s grasp mid-ritual. The serpentine abomination they worship is an aspiring god who has grown massive on a steady diet of human sacrifice and prayer. She will swallow the artifact to protect it.

Logistics/Notes:
There will be an official free-for-all Final Boss Fight thread starter without sign-ups or enforced tag order.
Mundane armor, weapons, and supplies will be bankrolled by Richard and Loxley. Go nuts.
Here there be monsters -- displacer beasts, giant rocs, carnivorous plants, and dinosaurs are just some of the beasts stalking the jungles of Sylvica.
The Yuan-ti consist of serpentine hybrids of every shape and body-plan: cobra-headed malisons, guards with pythons for arms, and more numerous “purebloods” who might pass for human if you don’t look too closely. They are self-serving, largely evil, and do not feel emotion.
There are demonic emissaries in the temple with a vested interest in the ritual’s success -- notable for their brimstone stench and their individual departures from the snake theme the Yuan-ti have gone all in on.
If you have questions about anything else post ‘em here.

Edited 2022-12-13 09:57 (UTC)

There are also available NPC's to strike up a conversation with:
Adrianna: Jude's alpha. His mother's generation. Friendly, thoughtful, goofy with the kids, will wreck your shit personally. A fierce advocate for submissive wolves, and the strongest wolf alpha in the USA.
Efia: Jude's mother. Very assertive human, very submissive wolf. Kind but sharp. A lawyer, and it shows.
Danielle (Dani): Jude's bonus mom. Dominant wolf, very chill human, loves sweets. Is absolutely ripped. A firefighter.
Lyle: Former special ops. Short, soft-spoken but firm. Beta wolf, submissive. Watching you. Would like to know more about your fighting style.
Finch: Local hawk teenager. So fucking curious about all y'all. Somewhat skittish, will absolutely take you flying if you ask.
Reilly: 11 years old, extremely sweet, shy, tiny bit sassy grizzly bear shifter. He's visiting from Canada so he can go to the local STEM school. Loves star wars and engineering. Are there really dragons where you're from?

Edited 2022-12-23 17:23 (UTC)

THE MISSION:

Baldur's Gate is huge. Huge. Finding what the relic is and were the it rests is going to inevitably require some D&D style adventuring (running along some relatively broad rails) over the course of many, many (time distorted) weeks/months:

▲ step 1: Search the city for news of anything that might be a lyrium-sporting relic (do this however you want!) but as a bottom line: trying to find the artifact is going to be a time and a half because anything even remotely pretty will sell in a flash for an equally pretty coin to the noble classes. Conversely, you have nothing to trade with by default that'd match even its remote value, and— oh, right, that 'people have a tendency to become cagey or downright hostile if it's mentioned directly' thing.

Snooping around can go well or horribly in the early stages (it’s D&D y’all, feel free to have all kinds of failed trades or well-earned hints go down via sidequests or random tidbits or just dumb luck). Assume everything done here contributes to step two:

▲ step 2: Combined investigative efforts will lead to learning that a rare crystal rose glowing an even rarer shade of distinctive blue was rumored to be going for auction in the Upper City.

That’ll be a problem for a group of non-nobles with no cash and no connections, but not too much of one. Characters can either do their damndest to rub elbows with nobility in the hopes of spotting that crystal rose, or actually lean into the opposite and associate with the riffraff of the Lower City in order to just use keen, thieving, favor-for-a-favor type eyes to scope out the artifact.

Or, you know, do what you want, leading to:

▲ step 3: Locate the object and bring it home. Because the noble who acquires it before the group can inevitably come close just so happens to be a vampire (not yours truly, either). Who, in the midst of an Under City turf war, has lost it to a Butcher, who’s lost it to a pack of cultists— leaving it scattered somewhere in dangerously occupied darkness.

And all three forces will have lackeys combing through the unsettlingly fetid catacombs in search of it, too.

KEY NOTES: make this mission as simple or complex as you want. Use all kinds of crazy powers, make NPC connections on or live storied lives for (relative) months and months. Vampires will absolutely turn you into one of their enslaved vampiric thralls if they get the chance (and if you want to make it extra angsty, come tug on my sleeve and I’ll gladly make that happen); Butchers that deal in humanoid trade love anyone willing to sell out others or their own, and could easily be swayed into helping out team Thedas; cultists love mind control and snappy, persuasive pitches. Pit the factions against each other or make friends or skip it all and just fight them to get the artifact, I’m only adding all this in for fun, and there’s 0 need to be beholden to anything.

OOC LOGISTICS:

There are no signups required, consider everything a free for all, or your choice if you'd like to make your own space for things. I'll be making one open toplevel for the world itself + arrival + ending hunt, with each one being a threadjackey, go at your own pace kind of deal, so don't feel beholden to sticking to any kind of order, or like those spots are the only places you can thread things out.

I'm just here to facilitate D&D time, okay.

MISC ADDITIONAL FLAVOR & SETTING INFO:

▲ night in any of the Lower or Outer City portions of Baldur's Gate means most people generally (aside from bars or taverns) close up and lock their doors to avoid roaming danger in the form of cultists, brutes, pirates, mercenaries and (rarely) monsters a la vampires. It's not safe, but it's not the worst if you're used to Kirkwall, either

▲ going outside Baldur's Gate into the Big Wild World (if that's what you want) is 100000% A-OK, but Astarion won't be venturing out to help and I trust you guys to not write that the world is infested with hippos and made of cheese; there's a bunch of source books and adventuring maps that'll tell you what Faerun looks like, so just use one of those (as a loose/general rule at least) and be free

▲ In case you're itching to do fun stuff but need help deciding: here are some basic classes and some basic races that you can pick from, or feel free to use something else that's more involved or extravagant! Be an angel person if you want, get some wings, run with a rare class, it's all good.

Edited 2022-12-19 06:04 (UTC)