faderiftooc | MOD PLOT: All Mortals Shall Know

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! mod post

MOD PLOT: All Mortals Shall Know

The mod plot for this month is up! Right now there are two parts. The first is a crystal post from a team in Minrathous, who are reporting on some significant events there. Other people are welcome to weigh in with questions, opinions, or strategizing about how to respond. Before anyone can actually mount a response, however, Kirkwall will be attacked, and Riftwatch will have to focus all its efforts on defense and mitigation of the damage.

WHAT TO DO: Characters in Kirkwall (within the Gallows or not) will have to respond to the attack. You can create your own adventures for this; you can have your character injured by debris, do some aerial dogfighting on griffonback with the dracolisk-mounted enemy, fight on the ground against someone who's been downed, help evacuate civilians or rescue survivors, or whatever else. This is the kind of plot where everyone should feel encouraged to beat their characters up a bit, not guilty about it, to help with the overall narrative sense that This Was Bad.

DISARMING THE MAGIC BOMBS: There are two magical devices Riftwatch will be working to disarm, one successfully and one less so. Working on this should require a combination of derring-do—they're stuck to the sides of the towers, so reaching them requires climbing or hanging off the walls many floors above the ground—and magic-science nerdery, which can be done from inside the nearest window or by sending crystal as necessary. Meanwhile, people on the rooftops or on griffonback will have to fend off enemy efforts to detonate the weapons or kill the people trying to defuse them. We put up blank top-levels in the plot log to help consolidate these two things, but anyone can tag into them.

We've provided a general description of the devices in the log, and this is as much detail as we intend to give. Everyone is welcome to be creative with this (within reason) and make up things that sound cool for tags. If you want to get very creative, on the level of making up something that would have applications outside this specific plot/situation, you can run it by us in the Questions section below. But magi-tech babble on the level of "you need to remove Rune X without disturbing Rune Y" is all good. Our only requirements are that the mechanisms be difficult to decipher and disarm, and that nobody immediately figures out how to handle them easy peasy.

POSSESSIONS & PETS: Our intention with the various levels of destruction of the towers is not to destroy any cherished belongings or harm any animals! Feel free to make whatever excuse necessary for pets or essential belongings to not be in the towers during the attack, however improbable. Is it necessarily realistic for every loose cat in the Gallows to have been corralled into the baths for flea dips at the time of the attack? No, but we love cats (as long as no one is trying to RP them), so it's fine. Likewise, if it would make you sad for your character's entire wardrobe to be flung into the harbor, maybe it was laundry day. Nobody's entire bedroom is going to drop out of the tower wholly intact, but no one is obligated to destroy or lose specific belongings that wouldn't be fun for you OOC to destroy or lose.

GALLOWS DESTRUCTION: We've provided some details in the log post, but if there are any particular areas/buildings in the Gallows that you're unsure the status of, please ask below before making up that this or that communal area was destroyed (or not). That way we can make sure everybody knows what's what.

LONGER TERM AFTERMATH: Clearing debris in both the city and the Gallows, assisting with repairs, and otherwise dealing with the immediate fallout of this plot will be an ongoing task in the background for at least a few months, so you're welcome to incorporate it into your other RP after the modplot. For at least the rest of the month of April, characters will also have to endure makeshift living arrangements. After that, we'll begin moving everyone into the surviving residential tower, which will ultimately require more roommate situations and closer quarters than everyone has grown accustomed to. >:) We'll provide updates on progress and improvements as they happen.

REBUILDING THE GALLOWS: The destruction in the Gallows will also present Riftwatch with the chance to make some choices about how and what to rebuild (and in what style). If you have any suggestions your character would make about that, feel free to bring them up IC or propose them to us OOC. Keep in mind that Riftwatch is on a limited budget of its own, and whatever Kirkwall contributes to—as actual owner of the property—will need to seem practical to them as a long-term improvement to the fortress, which they plan to use for their own purposes after Riftwatch leaves someday.

ANNOUNCEMENT SIGN-UPS: Since we didn't have many folks planning to have characters outside Kirkwall who could deliver information about events in other parts of Thedas, that information is going to arrive after the fact instead. We can divy it up among up to three volunteers to announce to the rest of the game in the days following the events of the open log. If you're interested, sign up here by April 7. If we have more than three volunteers we'll RNG!

REWARDS

Rewards are earned by writing tags in the mod plot. Generally, unless we specify otherwise due to some particular plot mechanic, five log tags (from you, not total) per thread will earn a reward. Rewards are organized into tiers; you unlock a tier by completing the requisite number of threads within a single mod plot. So if you do one thread that has at least five log tags from you, you unlock Tier 1. If you have two, you unlock Tier 2, etc.

There are three tiers, and everyone is limited to three rewards total (per player, not per character). You can downgrade your rewards from the second or third tiers to lower tiers if the higher tier items don’t appeal to you (for example, if you've unlocked Tier 3 but you'd rather have two things from Tier 2 instead). If this is confusing, here is a little chart where the Xs are rewards you can claim. You can only ever have three rewards total per mod plot.

Rewards unique to this mod plot are starred.

For this plot, threads in both the Minrathous announcement/semi-log post and the Kirkwall log post will count. The deadline to write the requisite number of logs and claim any rewards for this plot is May 31, 2024. To claim a reward, reply here.

Tier 1

Runes. You can acquire any one canonical runestone to add to your character's weapon or armor so their sword has fire or their armor is imbued with some magical protection.
Rift items, gag/simple variety. Your character can find an item that came through a rift from another world, their own or not. Snack foods, posters of pop idols, underpants with elastic, etc. Things that are fun or sentimental but don't have much in the way of moving parts and won't generally be useful on missions.
Weird pets. Bring home a monkey or a wolf. The pet must be something that can semi-realistically be either permanently contained (sharks in tanks, small rodents, etc.) or trained/tamed out of being dangerous to the general populace. No dragons, nothing rideable (see mounts under Tier 2).
First anchor ability. If your character currently has a vanilla anchor, the anchor can develop either an offensive (shooting small rift-energy projectiles) or defensive (generating a small rift-energy protective barrier, similar in size to a personal shield) capability.
★ Hot hands. Tevinter-make gloves enchanted to keep hands warm without impeding dexterity may be recovered from the bodies of downed attackers, who were wearing them to keep their magic fingers mobile at high-flying altitudes in the unfamiliar cold. (Unlimited.)
★ Compass stones. Enchanted runestones that exert a northward pull. Left loose, they will in fact begin to very slowly creep north until they hit something that stops them. But kept in a pocket or otherwise attached to one's person, they can instead provide a subtle, constant sense of true north. (Unlimited.)
★ Veilfire arrows. A bundle of ten arrows that, when their enchanted glass heads break, release a long-lasting torch-sized amount of veilfire. The fire will adhere to whatever surface it's been created on for several hours. It doesn't do any damage, but can be used to light up dark areas or mark targets/locations at night. (Unlimited.)
★ Super glue. A glass vial of the same sticky, impossible-to-remove substance used to adhere the bombs to the sides of the towers, which sticks immediately to anything even slightly porous and has no known method of removal. Use with caution. (Unlimited.)

Tier 2

Fade-touched materials. Your character can acquire materials that have been touched by the Fade and have them made into a weapon, armor, or other item that has special abilities. There's a list here.
Half of a specialization. To reflect the time and effort it requires to actually learn a new specialization, acquiring a new one requires two rewards spread across two mod plots. You can use one of the canon specializations or create your own. If you create your own, put it in mod contact for us to review and approve.
Mabari. A mabari can imprint on your character. How your character acquires the mabari—getting unwillingly adopted by an old one without a master, intentionally buying a puppy, etc.—is up to you.
Weird mounts. A hart (or equivalent), dracolisk, or nuggalope.
Second anchor ability. If your character has a first anchor ability (see Tier 1), they can now have the second one, too.
★ Enchanted tents. A cache of enchanted tent cloth and stakes discovered in the Gallows during reconstruction, with different properties (one per tent) that can be activated or deactivated with the press of a rune on the center pole: (1) two-way soundproofing, (2) temperature control, or (3) a faint internal glow, invisible from outside, that's sufficiently bright to read by. (Unlimited.)
★ Veilfire rune map. A detailed map of Thedas (geography only, no cities or political boundaries) encoded into a Veilfire rune on a flat, palm-sized stone, allowing those who focus on it to mentally explore the map in depth. (Limit 5.)
★ Night vision goggles. Enchanted goggles that allow the wearer to see through darkness on par with elves and dwarves. Elves and dwarves wearing them will experience very limited additional benefits, to the point it probably isn't worth it. (Unlimited.)

Tier 3

Enchanted or legendary items. You can use named items from canon, invent your own named item from made-up Thedasosian history, or have an enchanted item of your own invention or discovery that doesn't have a name and/or former owner. These can be items that are useful in combat, like weapons and armor, but they don't have to be. E.g., a self-filling tea pot.
Rift items (magical/useful/complex). Your character can come across an item from another world. This tier is for things more serious and useful than snacks and underwear. As a rule, advanced technology (if it is allowed at all) will be converted into something enchanted.
Griffon tamer. Now that the griffons are breeding freely in the mountains around Kirkwall (and the existing griffons are reaching middle age), your character can befriend, tame, and ride a wild griffon that you invent and name yourself.
Anchor upgrade. This reward is only available to characters who have had their anchors for more than nine months. With this upgrade anchor can grow to the size of the Herald’s anchor, allowing them to close rifts alone. They'll also exhibit more powerful versions of the anchor abilities (if they have them).
★ Pet spirit wisp. Found in the ruins of the Gallows, a spirit wisp in an unbreakable glass and metal jar. It has approximately the intelligence of a baby just learning to talk and communicates in curious brrr sounds and variations in its lumosity. It can't go anywhere or do much, unless you eventually find a way to free it from the jar, but it will appreciate being shown new things, can keep you pleasant company, and doubles as a lantern. (Limit 2, 1 remaining.)
★ Thousand-Cut Blades. Recovered from downed Venatori. A gauntlet that can hold a pair of throwing knives, all enchanted. After losing momentum from a throw, whether by hitting something or not, the knives will reverse course and return to the gauntlet—with approximately the same force, so be ready. (Limit 2, negative 1 remaining.)
★ Winged dracolisk. One of the winged dracolisks used in the attack may be downed or captured and persuaded (with meat) to switch sides. They breathe either fire or acid, buyers' choice. (Limit 2, 1 remaining.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just raise your hand.

interested!

Please complete the form separately for each reward you claim. Unless you're skipping a tier (e.g. doing two logs to get to Tier 2 without wanting anything from Tier 1) you only need to include one link per comment, and we'll keep up with your previously-reached tiers ourselves.

The deadline is May 31, 2024.

Player: Cami
Character: Barrow
Link(s): toplevel
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: super glue
Notes/Specifications: fuck yeah

Approved, with trepidation.

(Also your link is to the whole mod plot but I see the one with Barrow & Astrid that is long enough so that's the one we're counting for this!)

i'm so good at this

Player: Libby
Character: Gwenaëlle Baudin
Link(s): five tags, five tags, five tags.
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Winged dracolisk
Notes/Specifications: gwen leave the griffon riders alone and do sick jumps with her own mount challenge. FIRE BREATHING PLEASE.

Character: Gwenaëlle Baudin
Link(s): See above.
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Night vision goggles.

Character: Gwenaëlle Baudin
Link(s): See above.
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Enchanted tent
Notes/Specifications: Temperature controlled.

Everything is good here except you can't have two Tier 2 items if you're also doing Tier 3. You could if you were skipping Tier 3 and wanted to downgrade, or you could downgrade your Tier 2 reward to get multiple Tier 1... Clearly we need to find a better way to explain this. To the laboratory.

THAT MAKES SENSE NOW, I didn't realise it was One From Each Unlocked Tier initially.

I will swap the tent for a cleansing rune so her knives can complement one another, please and ty.

Excellent. All approved!

Player: Julie
Character: Astrid Runasdotten
Link(s): 1, 2, 3
Tier Reached: 3

Reward: Compass stone (Tier 1)

Reward: Enchanted tent (Tier 2)
Notes/Specifications: Temperature control

Reward: Thousand-Cut Blades (Tier 3)

HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT

Almost right!! It's three total per player, not per character, so you'll have to choose which of your characters is your favorite at each tier. >:) We'll add something to the info to make that clearer!

HAHA it did feel absurdly generous tbh

ok adjusts this to:
- Strange: Hot hands (Tier 1)
- Astrid: Enchanted tent (Tier 2), temperature control
- Astrid: Thousand-Cut Blades (Tier 3)

Almost like these rewards are made up and don't cost any real money or labor—

But no this is all approved then. Thank you and sorry it wasn't clear!

Player: k2
Link(s):

Isaac & Gwen

Isaac & Marcus (4 + TL)

Isaac & Strange (4 + TL)

Tier Reached: 3

Character: Cedric
Reward: T1 Anchor
Notes/Specifications: Shield

Character: Lazar
Reward: Rune
Notes/Specifications: Fire. He will be responsible with this.

Character: Isaac
Reward: Enchanted Item
Notes/Specifications: Pet walking teapot, about as smart as a dull lizard. Makes a horrible ceramic grinding noise when it moves, and spills its contents on people if angered. Territorial. Makes a different horrible grinding noise when stroked. Doesn't seem to realize that it can't climb walls.

Edited (i misunderstand words) 2024-04-14 22:22 (UTC)

Approved with even more trepidation than Barrow's.

Player: Brooklyn
Tier Reached: 3

Link(s):

Loxley + Gwen
Marcus + Isaac + Julius
Marcus + Gwen

Character: Marcus
Reward: Tier 1: Hot Hands

Character: Marcus
Reward: Tier 2: Mabari

Character: Loxley
Reward: Tier 3: Pet spirit wisp

Edited 2024-04-16 02:35 (UTC)

All approved!

Player: Mini
Character: Jayce Talis
Link(s): 1, 2, 3
Tier Reached: 3
Reward:
- Tier 1: Rune: fire
- Tier 2: Second half of a specialization: rune enchantment (first half here)
- Tier 3: Anchor upgrade
Notes/Specifications: RE: specialization: Didn't want to explicitly commit IC until two specialization rewards were achieved. Thinking he's been apprenticing on the down low under either TK's dwarf NPC Hedda or other dwarf since the first reward (around December or January). LMK if that needs to be adjusted!

That's perfectly fine! All approved!

Player: a ghost
Character: Viktor
Link(s): one, two
Tier Reached: 2
Reward:
1: super glue
2: half specialization
Notes/Specifications: runic enchantment spec will at last be cracked through a combo of collaboration with Jayce and Hedda Ferredin, and ongoing (obsessive) study of Research division's project notes and equipment.

Approved! Belatedly! Sorry!

Player: Lor
Character: Clarisse
Link(s): One, Two, & Three

Tier Reached: 1
Reward: First anchor ability (offensive)

Tier Reached: 2
Reward: Enchanted tent (temp control)

Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Thousand-Cut Blades

Let me know if I screwed uuup

Approved!

Player: Cass
Character: Yseult
Link(s): Yseult + Flint
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: Hot hands

Character: Yseult
Link(s): Yseult + Lazar (+Xio)
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: Enchanted tent
Notes/Specifications: Soundproof

Character: Yseult
Link(s): Nell + Isaac
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Thousand-Cut Blade

Approved, with a third thousand-cut blade magically appearing because the universe (MJ) can't abide Yseult not having one.

Player: MJ

Character: Xiomara
Link(s): link
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: Compass Stone

Character: Kostos
Link(s): link
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: Veilfire Map

Edited 2024-06-05 03:19 (UTC)

Approved!

Player: Ammmy
Link(s): link 1 link 2
Tier Reached: 2

Character: Vanya Orlov
Reward: hot hands

Character: Julius
Reward: night vision goggles

Approved, and sorry for the monstrous delay!

Player: Cadence
Link(s): One, two, three
Tier Reached: 3

Character: Vega
Reward: Tier 1: Veilfire arrows

Character: Gela
Reward: Tier 2: Fade-touched silk brocade

Character: Abby
Reward: Tier 3: Anchor upgrade

Notes/Specifications: Can I use the fade-touched silk brocade to make a cloak that does the fade cloak spell thing. Say yes

Approved, and sorry for the monstrous delay! You can use the fade-touched silk brocade for that, yes.

Thanks!!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MOD PLOT: All Mortals Shall Know

QUESTIONS

ANNOUNCEMENT SIGN-UPS

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REWARD CLAIMS

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i got distracted yesterday please let me here anyway

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Wow, thanks for the extension, my mind fully erased this

Re: Wow, thanks for the extension, my mind fully erased this

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