lucetimods: (Default)
Luceti Mods ([personal profile] lucetimods) wrote in [community profile] lucetilogs2012-08-17 11:40 am

Mission # 9 - Festival at Rataneran Keep

Who: Jack Sparrow, Pao-Lin Huang, Remy LeBeau, Buffy Summers, Maron Kusakabe, Raine Sage, Albert Silverberg, Trafalgar Law, Neferteri Vivi, Rogue, Pepper Potts, Cloche Leythal Pastalia, Temperance Brennan, Norma Beatty, Raven, Grune, Sokka, Kiba Inuzuka, Eusine, Peeta Mellark, Yamanaka Ino, Jiro Kusano, Rainbow Dash, Steve Rogers, Booth, Joshua Bright, Leonhardt, Syre Atries
What: MISSION # 9 - Festival at Rataneran Keep
When: August 17th to 18th
Where: Rataneran Keep
Summary: Volunteers have been summoned to Rataneran Keep to put on a festival for the time-honored “Founder’s Day Festival”. However, three assassins have been assigned to put an end to a certain Count.


Upon being deployed from Luceti, the group of volunteers were transported by private jet for three hours. Due to containment requirements, the windows were blacked out, preventing them from seeing outside. These few hours went by rather quietly, as they were given food and other necessities by a staff of worker droids. When they landed, they were greeted by a businessman in a brown suit, attended by several aides and a security detail. He looked frustrated, overworked, and unhappy to be there. But when the group had all arrived, he spoke to the lot of them.

“Welcome adventurers, heroes, and whoever else the rest of you might be. I’m CJ- that’s short for Cave Johnson. I’m the RP Manager for the Malnosso Assignment and Reward Service. That’s right, Service. Starts with an S. Makes the MARS acronym work that much better. Now, today you’re not here to save any lives or fight cultists or anything in the pursuit of science. No, tomorrow you’re going to put on stupid costumes, face paint, and put on a damn good show. Big wigs from the organization are going to be at this festival, just like every year. Now you might be thinking to yourself this is your big chance to get to know the Commandant. Or that you have a shot at rubbing elbows with the head of the science department. Well time to get that thought out of your head. You’re here for one reason. Information. Information about things that have nothing to do with those people.”

Deep breath and Cave Johnson stopped to continue, but his cell phone rang. Shushing the volunteers, he turned away and started talking. Those with especially keen hearing overheard something like, “No, Janice. I said no- okay, fine. Fine, yes. If those damn Segretarians want to keep escaping, then we’ll stop working with them. Alright. Alright. I heard you. Okay. Bye.”

Entirely unapologetic, he turned back to the group. “I’ll lay this out simple for you folks on how this is going to work. The lot of you? You’re not from Luceti. Or any other enclosure. You’re a traveling circus known as the Feathered Phenomenals. A real popular group that’s been paid to not show up. You people will be filling in for them. That means taking over their caravan, their costumes, their animals, and all the hard work that comes with it. You’ll be sleeping outside of Rataneran Keep for your first night, so if you don’t like sleeping on the ground, then you should have thought of that before signing up.”

“So what are you keeping your ears out for?” He asked. “Well here’s your spoilers, kids. Count Zompano is the one running this gig. You know him already. He’s the son of a bitch running the enclosures now. That puts him in charge of experiments, the authorization of abductions and arrivals, and whether I keep my job and the MARS project keeps going on. So you bunch need to find any dirt you can on him. Talk to the servants and guards, but don’t give yourselves away. If we can blackmail the bastard, we’ll put him out of a job and we all go home happy. Now, if you’ll talk to my aides, they’ve all got identities and roles set up for you to fill. Don’t go complaining if you don’t like what you get. Any questions?”

Cave Johnson stuck around a little longer to answer any questions in his stubborn, blunt way. But eventually his cell phone rang again and he was summoned away. This left the volunteers to get their badges that would reveal what roles they would be playing in the troupe. They were strictly forbidden from trading or to use their real names. They were also given see-through adhesives to put over their barcodes, for those with short enough hair to be exposed. These effectively made the barcodes vanish and be imperceptible.

While that lot was busy, the security quietly picked out Joshua Bright, Leonhardt, and Syre Atries at different times, separately and done to ensure no one noticed anything awry. Each were taken to a private black van where Specialist Davis was waiting for them. Each one received a private primer on what they would be doing. Perform as unimportant members of the troupe. While the show was running, they would assess the security, make preparations to corner Count Zompano, and at last knock him out and abduct him. They would then meet with Davis again, at night time of the second day, to deliver the Count for delivery to the cultists. If the assassins succeeded, they would receive an extra reward.

However, each assassin was not made aware of the other two, leaving them under the impression they would be working alone and without competition. They were sternly warned not to reveal their role to ANYONE. Should they do so, Cave Johnson had already arranged specific punishments for such an occasion.

Day 1:

The first day of the mission, besides transportation and being informed of the situation, will be spent allowing the volunteers to get into the roles designated for them. All of them will be expected to do their part in setting up the stage, high wires, cages, and other parts needed to put on the show. Some of the work by the castle’s staff will already be completed, but most of the first day will be spent doing the finishing touches and, of course, rehearsing. They will not be permitted to wander around the castle at this time. At night, they will set up tents outside the walls of the Keep.

For a ten mile radius around the castle (which extends far beyond the castle walls), a Shift preventing the use of any special powers has been erected. This will prevent anyone in the group from using special abilities that cannot be performed by an ordinary, mundane human being. Along with having no weapons, this puts the group at a severe disadvantage should they try to pick a fight. The castle is itself host to a large and efficient security detail. Although they are not members of the Malnosso Security Force, they are armed with the same sorts of weapons and use radios to relay information. Notably there are no droids being used among the castle staff. Every task is performed by a multitude of underpaid servants.

During this time they will have ample opportunities to talk to the servants, some of which will be more forthcoming than others. The security will be less talkative, but that’s nothing that they can’t handle if they’re willing to flirt a little, invite them to a drink, and lull them into a false sense of security. Examples of snippets they will provide in the comments below.

Day 2:

The majority of the Founder’s Day festivities will be taking place in Rataneran Keep’s grand hall. Although normally kept austere and severely underdecorated, a large battalion of underpaid Malnosso underlings have truly outdone themselves. There are tapestries on the walls depicting famous scenes from the Organization’s history, hanging chandeliers filled with smoky, wax-dipping candles, and great wooden tables piled high with delicacies culled from a variety of the world’s most profitable enclosures. But don’t even think about snagging a pastry or cut of meat for yourself! The help has been strongly discouraged from sharing in the master’s feast -- such pilfering will come with stern reprimands and, in severe cases, lost digits.

Squat, raked seating fills both ends of the hall and servants scurry back and forth between the food and the guests, serving them with gusto. The count and his more esteemed guests sit in a box-like seating area, flush against the long east wall. Security is also present. However, the center of the room is empty and so houses the real entertainment; it is in this space the volunteers would have set up as their stage on the previous day. Before the Feathered Phenomenals perform, there comes a choir that seemed to be made up of captured cultists. Their otherwise majestic, long wings are clipped and bound together. Most of the festival’s guests seem mildly troubled by the display; the count, meanwhile, guffaws and applauds the loudest. The man appears heartless. Why -- one servant whispers wide-eyed to the gathered Lucetian troupe before they went on -- apparently just the night before, the count had ordered the execution of an entire company of painters, one of which had displeased him by painting his nose just a little too big. It didn’t matter that his nose was big to begin with, she clarifies. Just that the count had been insulted, and that he’d felt a week of being dead would lend the painters some additional perspective. And so, she warns, the circus performers had better do their utmost best unless the count should also choose to put these mice through their paces.

Count Zompano himself will not be difficult to spot. A man with a gaudy sense of fashion, he dresses in foofy clothes and wears a pompadour wig. What makes him particularly distinctive are his pink-ish skin, yellow eyes, and large pink wings, which he decorates with glitter. With a foppish attitude and a tendency to refer to anyone he does not consider his equal as ‘little mice’, he is a man who makes himself the center of attention wherever he goes. Typically surrounded by a security detail, there are few times when he is ever alone and not basking in attention. He is extremely brutal to those who interrupt him, displease him, or otherwise annoy him. Guards who fail in their duties to him are swiftly executed and servants are often sent below the castle to be ‘re-educated’ of their role.

In the evening, before the final act, is when the Count will be successfully abducted. This final act will be the play about Founder’s Day. As the four actors put on their show, the rest of the troupe will be packing up to leave. At its conclusion, the group will be ready to leave. With the help of the Security Forces, they will be allowed to depart without incident, despite the castle security doing a sweep to find their employer. The remaining assassin will rendezvous with them later after delivering the Count to Specialist Davis.

---

OoC Information:

-You can make up fake names and identities that your characters will assume. They’re just locked into the professions revealed before. Feel free to come up with your own costume and makeup ideas too!
-Any attempts to escape or fight their way free will result in them being detained by security. Specialist Davis will arrange for them to spend the rest of the mission in MSF custody.
-For the assassins: Leonhardt is the designated assassin to succeed in capturing Count Zompano, Joshua Bright will fail but be otherwise undetected, and Syre Atries will be killed after being discovered by security. For these three assassins, we will set up threads for you to interact with the [personal profile] malnosso account so we can react to your character’s actions and set up the scenario, leading to their conclusions.
- All volunteers can talk to CJ before the mission for any additional questions they have. He will be unavailable to speak with after that point. What they do at that point is all on them, since he’ll be watching in the audience.

NOTE: Details for the play are still in the work. We’ll have a separate thread dedicated to it to be appended to the log later, which should have all the details you need. We hope to have this ready sometime tonight.



That’s all! For any plotting or questions, please use this post
herotypical: [ neutral ; sad ] (✝ i am displaced)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-24 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
And now, she worried, was she supposed to get to the point where his thousand whims were all she wanted to achieve? She'd never been one for granting whims. Not her own and rarely others'. In fact, Jack had really been her first ever concerted effort in the whim department.

"Do your tying."
all7seas: (I want my jar of dirt)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-24 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Oblivious to her paranoia about his whims, Sparrow swiftly bound the man hand and foot and then hand again. Arms at the elbows. Wrapped him tight.

"Need a gag."
herotypical: [ snarky ; angry ; hands ] (✝ you're all cold)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-24 02:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"You'll please notice that I'm not exactly wearing much more. Unless you want me to--"

She stopped with a shrug. "I've never done this without duct tape before," Buffy admitted. "Can't you use your tie?"

It was distinctively patterned; it was a risk.
all7seas: (would north be true)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-26 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"No. Too obviously mine. I think we're meant to preserve our anonymity, mistress."

Instead, Jack shredded some of the unconscious man's clothing and used that to tie up his mouth. After checking his bonds one last time, the pirate closed the closet door quietly and made sure it was firmly latched.
herotypical: [ sad ; angry ] (✝ mistaking lust for love)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-26 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"...If he gets found?"

She swallowed, leaning her shoulder against the door. Her question wasn't exactly leading; there was no chance in any hell that either of them would be ending this man's life over this mission. Or so she hoped. Or so she wanted to believe. But after what she'd learned...

"It's not just you or me on the line. It's--"

Everyone.
Edited 2012-08-26 23:19 (UTC)
all7seas: (not where I left you)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-26 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Jack leaned against the door, finally confronted with the choice he didn't want to make.


"......You don't have to watch. My soul's not...


You don't have to see it."
herotypical: [ sad ; angry ] (✝ and we're trying to be faithful)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-26 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Jack.

She mouthed it; she didn't say it. The performance was impossible, now, with this choice on the table. Her chin lifted and her mouth twisted into a frown.

Buffy shook her head.

"N-no. That's not..."

She couldn't chastise him for past sins and then let him commit new ones.
all7seas: (last of anything)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-26 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not just you an' me.


I can be very very fast. I can be very fast."
herotypical: (✝ always enjoy the taste)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-26 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Once again, she reached for his tie; however, her fingers now twisted up in the fabric with nerves and anxiety in every twitch. No sexual energy, this time. No desire. Just desperation.

"...No. Not after everything else. Not now. Not--" Maybe once, she could have signed off on a necessary evil. But there was a reason why Giles had once had to go behind her and murder an innocent man just to bring down a god. Buffy could never have allowed it -- not with her own hands and not with his.

"Sometimes you gotta look the right thing squarely in the face and..."

Run away. Or send him away.

"They'll be needing you. Soon."
all7seas: (hurry boy it's waiting there for you)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-26 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"They'll....


Go," Jack insisted, trying to gently unknot her fingers from his tie. So gentle.



"I'll catch up."
herotypical: [ angry ; sad ] (✝ dance till your dead)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-26 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"No. The only way you'll get me gone is if you..."

It was easy enough to fight his gently unknotting, but she now understood that she didn't have her usual power behind her words.
Edited 2012-08-26 23:48 (UTC)
all7seas: (have I threatened you before?)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-26 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's no other way," he breathed, releasing her grip from him. "Unless we somehow make him forget."
herotypical: [ sad ; crying ] (✝ i broke down and wrote you back)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-26 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Please."

There was no magic. There were no quick fixes. The innate helplessness of the situation drove her close to an edge she didn't like. Not one bit. "Not again. Not something else. Not now."

Changed. Right now, more than ever, she realized that she needed him to be changed. Rocks and hard places didn't matter. She required those principles to remain intact.
Edited 2012-08-26 23:56 (UTC)
all7seas: (fate has taken a tumble)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
The pirate bowed his head and rested it on her shoulder. Just for a short moment, he promised himself. They needed him up in the ring. The crowd was laughing -- he could hear it now. Cheering. Time was almost up.

"You might not love me anymore," he whispered, hoarse. "But I can't risk you. Can't risk Jilly. Archie. Elizabeth. James. And it's my fault. Mine."
herotypical: [ sad ; tired ; doorway ] (✝ she got a new apartment)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
"...I'll look after it," she promised. "Pretty sure my credit's better."

In reality, even if she did by some miracle convince Jack to leave it to her -- hah -- she had no intention of following through.
all7seas: (reshuffling one's priorities)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
"The very reason you shouldn't," he said gently. "Because you are my angel. An angel. I love you." He tried to turn her toward the exit and urge her forward. Away.
Edited 2012-08-27 00:10 (UTC)
herotypical: [ sad ; angry ] (✝ preparing for apocalypse)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
She resisted. Again and again. Though this whole fiasco, she hadn't shed a single tear. Before now.

"Turn around. Walk away. Take me with you. I don't care. But I am not leaving you here."

She reached again for that damned stupid tie.
all7seas: (considering/sad)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
No. No. He'd made her



No.


Fingernails bit angrily into the raised x scar.


NO.


Sometimes it was better to walk away, maybe. She wanted him to run this time. Buffy Summers wanted him to run. Buffy Anne Summers wanted it.


.....When the time came, he would stand between them and whatever it was he'd stirred up. Jack vowed it. Jack promised. Souls to save. Souls to save.

He didn't speak. He just let her lead him.
herotypical: [ social ; intimacy ; angel ] (✝ he offers me protection)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
She couldn't be more distant from who Orensa was supposed to be. Was she proud, in this moment? No. She wasn't even righteous. But she had him as intact as he'd started the night -- wasn't that a win? Could she forgive him, now? Now that she'd been a roadblock?

Buffy gripped his hand and drew him away from the door. Her breathing shivered.

"It's gonna turn out okay. It has to. It's gotta."
all7seas: (...one of you succeeded)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
He'd consigned himself to death for others before. Deaths he'd earned. Owed. He owed this one now and it weighed heavy on him. As heavy as 1,000 souls.

"I promise."
herotypical: [ neutral ; sad ] (✝ he kindly stopped for me)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
She kissed his knuckles while tears still rolled oh-so-slowly down her cheeks. Buffy couldn't shake his list -- the one he'd numbered off to her on the same night he'd gone drinking with Richard Sharpe.

"Guard or not," she whispered, "he wouldn't have deserved it."
all7seas: (...just because they missed me?)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
"No. Wouldn't have."


Maybe it would be like Archie's death this time: maybe no one would notice. Maybe it wouldn't have to hurt her.
herotypical: [ sad ; neutral ] (✝ gave them hope)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
"In the end," she tried to convince herself, "it would've been the easy way out. If you think about it."
all7seas: (resolved)

[personal profile] all7seas 2012-08-27 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Much easier," he agreed, thinking of a cook who had died by the Greek Fire. That should have been his. That death.


Suddenly, Jack felt very, very alone.
herotypical: [ sad ; neutral ] (✝ back into the end of harmony)

[personal profile] herotypical 2012-08-27 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
He was slipping away. But not so far, she thought, as he would be should she have allowed it to happen.

"Kiss me? Just a little? Before we're back to being not-us?"

(no subject)

[personal profile] all7seas - 2012-08-27 01:06 (UTC) - Expand