Mission #12 - How The Eighth Was Won

[lucetimods]

Who: Peggy Carter and Amelia McFly (experts); Jane Maxwell, Adell, Richard Sharpe, Phil Coulson, Lupin III, Ororo Munroe, Clove, Remy LeBeau, Bucky Barnes, Ivan Vorpatril, Rudy Roughknight, Clint Barton, Sokka, Michael Blanc, Nathan Spencer, and Astrid (combatants); Mia and Trafalgar Law (healers); Pinky Pie, Aang, Panda, and Fenimore (quartermasters)
What: Mission #12: How the Eighth Was Won
When: November 18th - 20th
Where: Depot 8 and surrounding environs.
Summary: Luceti volunteers are defending Depot 8 from an FTSA-led attack. Or possibly participating in the attack themselves.
Rating: W for Wild Wild West (except gun-violence and strong language)


For the past few months, an FTSA militant known as Hoi Hidekan has been causing scenes around Depot 8 and the small town that shares its name. Although he began by merely handing out pamphlets and sermonizing outside the saloon, things soon escalated into outright threats against the depot, its personnel, and the town as a whole. The local administrator for the area, Sheriff Lyca Williams, contacted the Malnosso Organization in search of reinforcements. Fearing a full-scale attack against the depot which is integral in keeping two whole enclosures -- O’Connell and Pagoda -- supplied, she insisted that they send someone to support the town’s already committed inhabitants. With the MSF already stretched thin due to increasing FTSA action in all regions, the Organization looked to Luceti to balance out the numbers.

November 18th: Volunteers will arrive in the small town in the early evening and will be advised to set up a temporary camp on its western limits. Ideally, the remainder of the day should be spent by settling in and arming up. Sheriff Williams will open up the town’s outdated but not necessarily meagre armoury to the volunteers, at which point she will also be available for conversation and questions. Additionally, Foreman Hidekan will be visiting the Lucetian camp in the late evening to try and recruit for his cause. Curious volunteers may want to take this opportunity to have a strictly verbal interaction with the FTSA representative. Both NPCs will have threads at the top of the mission log.

November 19th: This is the day to use in preparation for the battle. Depending on which side your character chooses to support, they will divide up and spent the day in the company of the Depot 8 personnel or the FTSA activists. Once a side is chosen, it’s inadvisable (but certainly not impossible) that characters should run back and forth between the FTSA encampment and the town. Learn your way around your gun, do some target practice, or else search your soul in the desert heat to decide which side will earn your confidence. This will also be an excellent time for volunteers to talk among themselves and debate over which side has the most merit. However, once everyone is settled, it’s up to you folks plotting below to how either side will approach the oncoming battle. Will you set up traps? Will you assign positions?

November 20th: On the twentieth, at high noon with the sun beating down on them, tumbleweeds rolling in the distance, the battle begins. Foreman Hidekan and his posse of FTSA activists ride into the town to begin the battle. Their goal will be to plant dynamite at the heart of Depot 8’s power generator, which will cause a chain reaction that will take down the entire facility. The job of the Sheriff and her crew iis to defend the town at any cost or to die trying. Gunshots will fire and a shootout will begin. FTSA gunners will take cover and try to take the town by force. The battle itself may seem brief, likely taking place over the course of thirty minutes, but it will be a fierce battle.

NOTES:

This mission is being POSTED EARLY, although it still does not ICly begin until the 18th, in order to allow characters ample time to thread with the mission NPCs as well as amongst themselves on the first and second days. This should help them make their choice between Depot 8 and the FTSA.

HOWEVER, the thread for the third day (the 20th) will not go up until after at least one mod has set up shop in the aim chat (lucetiplot) to roll a die in order to determine the battle’s outcome based on how many volunteers are on each side. This chat will take place at midnight (EST) on the 19th. Once the outcome has been determined, mods will put up a thread for the third day that will essentially set the stage for this outcome.

For more information, please refer to the original plotting post and don’t forget to sign your characters up for a side!

Comments

Foreman Hoi Hidekan; Day One

[redjacketthief]

[Lupin had heard the rumors that hung around the dark corners of the town and listened to them carefully because even the smallest of voices spoke a grain of truth. Everything was the normal bullshit, as expected, but he wanted to hear more about their enemies. He trusted no one, but that was nothing new.

He entered the tent but kept his distance, both out of respect and out of his own habits.]

If you've got a minute, I've got a few questions.

[malnosso]

[Hoi greeted him with a half grin. The sort used to greet people you hoped to make friends of. However, he noticed Lupin was keeping is distance.]

Ask away. But feel free to sit. I'm not planning on attacking you.

[redjacketthief]

All right.

[It was a force of habit, but he saw this game. It was easy to play along. He took a seat and made himself comfortable.]

Actually, I was wondering about what it is that you hope to accomplish here?

[malnosso]

[Hoi followed suit and took a seat. He leaned back in his seat, casually, and watched Lupin with a careful gaze.]

Well that depends, doesn't it? I'm sure the Sheriff and the suits have already told you what they think I intend to accomplish. So how about you tell me what you think I hope to accomplish.

[redjacketthief]

[All Hoi would find is a friendly smile.]

I'm thinking that you're a guy who's seen a few things that you don't like and that you're planning on making a few changes...am I right?

[malnosso]

[He chuckled.]

That's a nicer way of putting it. You're right. I want things changed. You know, there was a time when there wasn't enclosures. When people arrived in this world, they were welcomed and protected. The company-- no, they weren't a company back then, the organization did their best to help them adjust. The world wasn't great. It never has been. But they were equals. Comrades in arms.

[redjacketthief]

This would all be a much nicer outfit if that were still the case. Do you know what changed it?

[malnosso]

The thing about power is that it doesn't change hands. Oh, sure, we get a new CEO every now and then. But they only wield the power. They don't own it. People live and die here. But they don't stay dead. Me? I've never known it any other way. But even I know that people shouldn't live forever. Once you live long enough, it gets easy to do things you never would have before.

[redjacketthief]

Oh, do I know that...

[After June, he was almost surprised by how willing he was to take more insane risks.]

So ones who were there first are now just moving pieces on a game board for their own ends. Is that why you left?

[malnosso]

There's war out there. I'm sure you've already seen it. Right now, I should be fighting in it. I've got a lot of reasons why I left. But the reason is that we're losing. I could give my life to the Malnosso a hundred times over and nothing would change. But this.

[His hand hovers over the map.]

This could change everything.

[redjacketthief]

[He had seen it. And he had seen it's effects. While he had never been drafted himself, he had friends who were during the three that had passed over him. The battles were brutal, and the effects never fully went away.

...many of the conscripted 'soldiers' were people who should never have been exposed to combat.]

How? Out of all of your targets, why this little place?

[malnosso]

[Hoi fell back into his seat again and looked away. In truth, it was because he was trying to not communicate the shame in his eyes.]

Because we can. It's a desert and one of the few places the cultists don't bother. We're not an army now. Aside from a few people like me, they've every day people who don't know what a real battle is like. We have to start somewhere. We've only ever had one shot at this. This is where we have our best chance of succeeding.

[redjacketthief]

[...Lupin resisted the urge to dig out a cigarette.]

...and what if you're wrong? What if they don't move the residents just to turn the tables and give you bad publicity? There's no other option?

[malnosso]

It's possible. But ask yourself this. You met Sheriff Williams, right? Can you imagine any world where she'd let those people starve?

[redjacketthief]

...she wouldn't.

[He had no question about that. Sketchy information aside, she was a good woman.]

But it might not be her choice. There are no other methods? This option is a huge gamble. Not many are willing to take such a risk.

[malnosso]

There are never easy wins. Not in this world. The FTSA has been trying other methods for decades. We know we're taking a big risk. None of us are happy about that. But this is it. This right here is all we've got. The cause lives or dies here.

[redjacketthief]

[Lupin sighed heavily.]

...I see. Your dedication is admirable. But, I have to ask, what's in it for those of us who are going to be sent back when this is over?

[malnosso]

For now? Maybe nothing. The Malnosso won't reward you, that's for sure. Hell, they might even punish you. But we won't forget what you did. We're out here. In the world. If you want allies, real allies, then we're the best you can get.

[redjacketthief]

[He had seen enough people go punished by the Malnosso, and he wasn't in a position where he was willing to take that risk himself. This was his first stab at the game after four long months of inactivity that was part of his reward for protecting Luceti's interests. He didn't want to be thrown off so quickly.]

And if things don't go as planned out here, there'll be no hard feelings...right?

[malnosso]

If things don't go as planned, I'll never again be in a position where my feelings much matter.

[Bluntly. Hoi was no fool. You lose a fight like this, you don't see the sun again. That was a fact of life.]

[redjacketthief]

[Curious...]

What do you mean? We both know that death doesn't mean much here.

[malnosso]

Don't be naive. There's other things besides dying. You ever wondered how many life sentences a man can serve in prison?

[redjacketthief]

Life sentences in prison...

[That was why he would choose death first if there ever came a day when he couldn't escape from a jail cell. He was sentenced to that or death should he ever be captured in his world--but he hadn't been in a position where he had to think about it in this one, and death wasn't an option here.]

Hidekan. If you can get me more info about what this world is like outside of the bubbles, I can try to help you find another option. There's always one, and sometimes you just need a fresh set of eyes to find it.

[malnosso]

[Hoi has a hollow sort of laugh as he leans back, shaking his head.]

Lots of eyes have seen this plan. Fresh and not so fresh. I know you don't like it. Hell, I don't like it either. But the die has already been cast. We're all in.

[redjacketthief]

...I see that.

[But he still wanted to find an alternative method...]

Tell you what. I'll go over there and see what I can do. [Though it might not necessarily be entirely useful to Hidekan's cause. He wanted to gather what intel that he could, see what kind of people they were dealing with. His allegiance was with himself--and Luceti-- before anything else.]

Hope you have room for someone who is more of a thinker...and who some think of as 'crazy.'