Field Mission 4: Etude in Blue, call to arms

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Sophocles long ago heard it on the Ægean, and it brought into his mind the turbid ebb and flow of human misery; we find also in the sound a thought, hearing it by this distant northern sea. NAVIGATION 1. A STORY OF TWO SOULS Ferryn wasn't always the dread pirate king that raided the coastal towns of the Sea of Fallen Stars. In fact, our story begins... not terribly long ago, as a matter of fact. It's a story of love, of sacrifice, of going as far as you can to save the person who matters the most to you. And how one fateful storm changed the Ferryn's course of action for the rest of his life. You see, when a person claims the relic as their own, the will of that item is enough to corrupt someone down to the core. To bend their will into a twisted knot. The relics crave to be craved. They insist on their own usage. The Soul Blade whispered into Ferryn's ear, promising him the power to protect the ones he cared about most. But before any of that happened, you have to understand how it came to pass. A MERMAN AND A COURT OFFICIAL While out on a routine mission to keep the pirates of the Pirate Isles at bay, Ferryn's ship had encountered a storm unlike any other. Its violent thrust had tossed the bow forward, causing water to begin to flood up and into the main hull. Thunderous and tumultuous storms raging on ahead, he tried to save the crew by piloting the ship to a nearby island that was mapped out on his navigational charts. The crew worked fast to drain as much water as they could; this wasn't the first time or the last time they had been breached upon by a maelstrom out in the Sea of Fallen Stars. They had made it to the barrier island, quick to throw down the anchor, but upon their arrival at the marked location, they realized a grim mistake. There was nothing there. Matters continued to compile as a stray bolt hit deep on the starboard side. Quickly, a fire had erupted, worsened only by the elemental affinity of the Sea Quartz powering the ship. In the midst of the storm, Ferryn shouted out his orders, but it was too late. The gunpowder beneath the deck had begun to ignite. The Sea Quartz absorbed the energy. The ship quickly met its demise. And so did the crew. But that was not the case for Ferryn. As heavy handed as fate could get, it also proved to be rather serendipitous. Just as his body had begun to drown, a merman who had left the underwater town of Lyrabar had been out gathering supplies from beyond the veil. A prince by his own right, Fabio had been searching for the cause behind the great hall of records' vast coral, the supply of energy for the Jellyfish, had been dying. He saved Ferryn that night, forcing an herb into his mouth that would allow him to breathe underwater. Fabio brought him back to the underwater capital and tended to his wounds. For a whole ten-day, he remained unconscious, and by much of the ire to the mermaid civilization around them, Fabio was ridiculed for this behavior. Bringing an outsider? A land-dweller? Into the holy city? The one that had remained only because of the knowledge that the current monarchy of Lyrabar above had endeavored to keep it a secret. Things did not look good. But he recovered, as determined humans do. Irene announced that Ferryn had perished in the storm with the rest of his crew, but as he learned to swim again, to make use of his limbs, Fabio was with him every step- or, rather, fin- of the way. Ferryn was a charismatic man, one who knew how to make almost anyone smile around him. His sense of duty was strong, and as he grew stronger, he began to help the mermaids of Lyrabar with whatever they needed. No job, big or small, would be left undone. Their plights became his plights. Ferryn learned about the severed world of Lyrabar. How a disease in the water centuries ago begat the pro-generation of legged Lyrabarians. How Irene's family, eons ago, had eventually become mermaids and mermen of the land rather than the sea. None of that really phased him. He always knew that Irene was special, and not just because of her sharp wit. He would've walked to the ends of the earth if she asked. But while he became the champion of the underwater city, his heart began to spin, for the first time in his life. And he fell in love with Fabio. Now, you're probably thinking that the love between a merman and a man shouldn't come to pass. But in their devotion to breaking the traditions of both their cultures, their love bloomed stronger and more devout than anything this sea had ever seen. They traveled together, were bonded by their deep affection in a way that couldn't be explained by the other merpeople. Without being a Paladin and without any sort of magic, they had naturally developed an unwavering oath. And it grew, and grew, and grew. As Lyrabar, the underwater sister city, began to die and wither. A SOUL BLADE Watching as the merfolk of the city continued to decline, Ferryn couldn't stand idle any longer. It was known now that the Sea Quartz was the cause of the pollution encroaching upon their domain, and as more of the townspeople began to die off from an unknown illness, he had to do something. Fabio urged him not to put his life in danger, but when you love someone as much as Ferryn loved Fabio, nothing was really out of reach. Ferryn set out for the Sea Quartz mines, deep below the seabed of the region. What he found there, however, deep within the subterranean undermountain, called out to him. He had aimed to destroy the entire thing if he needed to, and lucky for him, the Grand Relic would help him do just that. Retrieving the sword was no small task, cutting down legions of merchant slavers who kept this dark trade a secret from the rest of Lyrabar- including Irene- but he had eventually come to the source of whispering in his head. Encased in the largest vein of Sea Quartz was a sword. "He is becoming ill, Ferryn. You know this. I don't need to tell you." The seed of doubt and fear was already there. Fabio had looked worse for wear, although both of them were too stubborn to admit its existence. "Take me. Take me, Ferryn, and we shall cut down everything that threatens him. Become the villain you need to be to protect him. Destroy what she has built. Do not look back upon your life and give in to stasis. The only way forward is stained in blood. Approach. I will be the blade that breaks all blades. You will become the King of Pirates and break away the chain of your cursed fate. Decline, and he will die." You know what happens next. 2. WHAT THE BUREAU OF BALANCE DID Holy cow, y'all did a lot. So much death. So much lost ramen. So many pirate encounters and making names for yourselves. If you want to catch up on everything, you can do so right here. There is one thing we want to talk about, however. THE STORIES YOU'VE SHARED At some point during the Bureau's visit to the underwater Lyrabar, aka Wunderbar, the city's largely homebound leader emerges. There's something steadfast and proud in his stature, but the poisonous dust seeping into their home has clearly taken its toll. Hunched over and frail, he glides into the fields and settles himself down among the jellyfish, sharply waving away anyone who might suggest he return to his residence. The magic here has been recording your stories, after all. The lives you've been leading before you came here. And Fabio wants to see them all. The jellyfish play your memories back to him in vivid colors, brighter than even the coral that surround this tiny, by comparison, little city. He watches poems scroll by, written in Common, or recited, interspersed with an absolutely ludicrous amount of sea puns that probably weren't part of the original material. He hears music quite literally out of this world, the sort they've got no shot at recreating down here in Wunderbar. He watches a hoverbike creep across an alien planet. "Your Highness, perhaps breaking to rest for a little while would —" Fabio waves his hand silently, engrossed in stories about other sea dwellers, somewhere very far away. Some of them are as curious about the rest of the world as they are. Others are trying to save their own home from a creeping poison. He has no idea what the two four-legged animals he watches are, but he gets the sense that Ferryn probably loves them. Humans seem awfully protective of them, and vice versa — they'd have to be to stand watch over a shrine and go to the lengths to save one another that they do. He watches a home fractured, a city by the coast, and the drive to rebuild. He learns more about how land dwellers perceive hope, and how a ridiculous number of you are ready to throw yourself into the shark den to save a total stranger. By this point, a day has passed, and a crowd has gathered around their prince, watching stories replay themselves through the jellyfish. Nobody in the crowd has any idea what apple juice is, but it's clearly highly important on land. A tired and frail Fabio is growing emotional, aching in the same way some of you are missing loved ones so badly, hearing the way you talk about someone you love for an almost obnoxiously long time. He meets cat families and spider queens and every friend any of you have ever mentioned. You all, quite frankly, are a bunch of weirdos. But he senses the same energy and passion in this bunch of weirdos that he first saw in Ferryn. Humans are pretty remarkable, aren't they? Even the ones who see themselves as pretty normal, even as they talk about traveling to another world. When he thinks he's seen everything, he's made his decision. To Lucretia, he says: "All right, you've convinced me. Whatever exactly it is you're trying to do ... I feel that we're drifting in the same currents. You have my warriors, and my trust." "Please, help me get him back." 3. WHAT KARSUS, LUCAS, AND IRENE ARE DOING How does the saying go? While the cat's away, the mice will play? Leaving Lyrabarian's regent to solve the crisis confronting the city, there's an opportune moment to strike. Only a few days, that's all it takes for the armada to start closing in on the city. With spies in every corner of the merchant's paradise, word got to Ferryn awfully quick that the city remained without its ruler to defend and give orders. He's surprised; but not too much. He knows that she's up to something, but without the royal guard to defend his previous homeland, Lyrabar is ripe for the final hit. Over the past months, he's been amassing an army large enough to squash the capital. That's the only way to stop the merchants from continuing to mine and make use of the Sea Quartz. Lyrabar must be destroyed. When the Reclaimers resurface from their wetlands excursion, they'll notice that the port has been eclipsed with myriad ships of pirate origins along the docks. Those of you who stayed within the city saw the takeover happen over the course of a few hours. There was nothing you could feasibly do- taking down an entire city already turned to the dread pirate's side along with the added threat of the invasion from ships... it happens so quick, so relentlessly, that even Lucretia is caught off guard by how it goes down. And the SS Codfather calls back every single Reclaimer. It's time to Reclaim Lyrabar. KARSUS True in his wish to repent for the sins that he's committed, and kept mum on the circumstance of how he wound up holed in a tower, Karsus is trying to figure out how the elemental sways of the Sea Quartz can uncleanly emit such vile, environmentally unsafe waste. He's quite well studied in the application of the arcane, but even then, his scope of knowledge about the circumstance around this particular problem is not entirely fully grasped. He'll need the help of a local sorcerer boy, Diego, who understands the water ecology and climate of the Sea. He sets off to Lyrabar on his own to reclaim the kid. Those of who you wanted to keep an eye on him should probably do that. LUCAS Lucas doesn't really care much for the water, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Instead, he's been working in his lab aboard the SS Codfather, studying how the effect of the Soul Blade reaches and corrupts a person. He has a specimen to examine, although his currently feral state makes him a little hard to know what to expect. He enlists the help of another Reclaimer who knows this captive quite well. He just needs to figure out how the Soul Blade works so that he can invent a remedy to pull that sway away from a person. Although his study of the school of enchantment magic doesn't seem to help here much, he does know a whole lot about frequency. Studying Captain Dave Strider down in the decks, he composes a hand radio device, a boombox... if you will, that emits a sound able to block out the control it has over him. For the first time in weeks, Dave is able to think as himself again, completely unswayed by the Grand Relic. The farther Lucas goes away from him, however, the weaker the signal gets. That's going to be a problem. But it's time to make a few radios. He doesn't have much time. One for Dave to keep with him at all times, and... two more. That's about all he has time for before Lyrabar is completely sacked. IRENE She's pissed. And she wants her throne back. Drawing a rapier, her eye turns toward Lyrabar. 4. CALL TO ARMS: DISARM We hope you're ready for this mission's conclusion! Here are the rules: ○ Utilize this post as a discussion board if you're interested in teaming up! It might help to hit upon your character's path actions, strengths, magic items and abilities. This way you have an idea of what's available to you as a team when the assignments go live. ○ As requested in the SotG, we're going to RNG team rosters if there's overflow. Each of the CTA missions below have the required archetype in the header, along with a maximum group size allowed to undertake the mission. Each group needs at least one character with the required archetype, so keep that in mind when signing up. If one group gets more than the maximum allowed signups, we'll RNG a final group roster for you. ○ Sign ups for the threads will close on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST. If you've signed up for a CTA in the last mission, please be considerate and allow others to sign up this go-around! If we receive threads without at least two signups by Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST, we will then reopen the thread and allow everyone to throw their name in the hat. If this happens, we will subsequently close CTA signups on Saturday, July 6th at 6PM EST. ○ CTA plans are due on Tuesday, July 9th at 6PM EST. Results will be rolled and posted. ○ The CTA log will go live on Wednesday, July 10th at 6PM EST. Remember, if you signed up and submitted plans for a CTA, you must thread it out or you will be considered ineligible for the following mission's CTA plot. ○ Happy hunting! A visual reference of the timeline can be granted by viewing the game calendar. ○ MISSION SUCCESS will be contingent on at least 3 of the 5 CTA's coming back with positive results. blurb code by photosynthesis

Comments

OPERATION CLEANUP (WISE - MAX OF 2 GROUPS OF 2)

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While the fighting in the city continues to spiral out of control, something needs to be done with the Sea Quartz. Karsus and Diego are studying the current stock in Lyrabar to understand how it emits energy and discover that there's no clean way to burn it into fuel.

Worse, they notice a peculiar issue with the current supply. As the fighting continues to rage, the Sea Quartz begin to glow brighter and more powerful than ever before.

Which means... we have a toxic, magical bomb of wares ready to blow. There won't be any sea life left if this continues on.

○ One group will get Diego as an NPC to use, and one will get Karsus. They're both highly skilled (although, questionable) and can be piloted by your teams to achieve your goals- so feel free to use them in the plan writeup as such

○ The Auction House might have some interesting supplies that will help you along the way

○ You've discovered that a cleric's divine magic has a powerful effect on the energy emissions of the supply

○ There's an underwater mine about 100 miles due west of town. That's the source of the Sea Quartz. The Mother Load.

DISCUSSION

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SIGNUPS

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This thread will close on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

(frozen comment) YOUR TEAM IS...

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This DLC is unlocked on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

PLAN SUBMISSIONS

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Plans are due by Tuesday, July 9th at 6PM EST.

REINSTALL IRENE (STRONG - MAX OF 3)

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With the city in chaos and the throne, er. Overthrone. by former members of the guard, there is no clear leader not under the control of the Soul Blade, no one with Lyrabar's future, and its safety, in mind.

You're going to have to fix that.

○ Irene will be joining this group, and will help you fight your way through the guards surrounding her castle, blocking her from assuming her rightful place on the throne. She is a decently skilled fighter, armed with a rapier, basic healing magic and as much righteous fury as she's capable of. She also has a violin — if you ask her, she'll say that it's her Arcane Focus.

○ Think of this as a gauntlet battle. You will storm the halls of the castle, tearing aside anybody who tries to stand in your way of placing Irene at the head of Lyrabar once again. You will encounter fighters, magic users and healers — plan accordingly!

○ These guards are some of the best Lyrabar had to offer, and it shows in the way that they battle. They are heavily armored and heavy-handed with their swords. But more dangerous still is that unlike other enemies you may have encountered, they can't be reasoned with. You will need to defeat them, or find a way to disarm them.

○ To that end, Irene does not necessarily view her guards taken by the Soul Blade as traitors — simply victims of a magic nobody's been able to truly comprehend before. How you choose to approach this CTA will, assuming you are able to bring Irene back to power, affect how strong or how fragile her control over the city ultimately is.

DISCUSSION

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SIGNUPS

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This thread will close on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

(frozen comment) YOUR TEAM IS...

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This DLC is unlocked on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

PLAN SUBMISSIONS

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Plans are due by Tuesday, July 9th at 6PM EST.

EXPEL THE PIRATES FROM LYRABAR (SMART - MAX OF 3)

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Restoring peace and order is a priority to a city that serves as a large artery to Faerun's economy. Failure to get the merchant ships sailing again could have worldwide consequences.

To do that, you'll need to drive the pirates out of Lyrabar.

○ There are about 20 city guards, conscripted by Will, who can join you in this operation. Use them accordingly.

○ You have two radios, built by Lucas, that emit a frequency that can block the Soul Blade's effects. However, each have only about a 30-foot radius — anybody who steps out of that area will fall back under the relic's effects.

○ It's not like everyone in Lyrabar has been soul snatched. Though it still won't be easy, the people who remain in Lyrabar are desperate: convince enough of them to join you, and you may just have an uprising.

DISCUSSION

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SIGNUPS

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This thread will close on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

(frozen comment) YOUR TEAM IS...

[balancemod]

This DLC is unlocked on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

PLAN SUBMISSIONS

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Plans are due by Tuesday, July 9th at 6PM EST.

CONFRONT FERRYN (CHARISMATIC - MAX OF 4)

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This may be your most difficult confrontation with someone using a Grand Relic yet. Ferryn is a man fully corrupted by the Soul Blade, and judging by the number of pirates roaming the seas, has no qualms with using it.

You do have a way to get through to him, though. It's the reason he's out here in the first place.

○ That would be Fabio, prince of the mermaids who has agreed to help the Bureau retrieve the Soul Blade and most importantly, someone he loves. This is a pretty big deal! Having him in your party will give you leverage in trying to reason with Ferryn.

○ To that end, Fabio's best warriors are available for your use — about 15 of them. They can cover for you from the sea while you confront Ferryn.

○ Ferryn is violent and not afraid to use the Soul Blade. You are at risk of falling under the effects of the blade if you try to confront him directly, which could be the difference between success and total disaster.

○ Be prepared to fight the crew Ferryn has assembled around him — in fact, you may have to do that first, if he isn't immediately calmed by Fabio's presence.

DISCUSSION

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(frozen comment) SIGNUPS

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This thread will close on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

(frozen comment) YOUR TEAM IS...

[balancemod]

This DLC is unlocked on Friday, July 5th at 6PM EST.

PLAN SUBMISSIONS

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Plans are due by Tuesday, July 9th at 6PM EST.

(frozen comment) WIN OVER THE MERMAIDS (MAX OF... OH, WAIT?)

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You've all done your part in earning the trust of the mermaids of Lyrabar. They will actively help you out during this CTA. That's one guaranteed success out of five!

QUESTIONS

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Re: QUESTIONS

[unrecovered]

So this is utterly bonkers, but if the solution is a frequency, is it possible for Wash to isolate that frequency and use his armor's external speakers to copy/emit it?

Can he be a walking radio, is what I'm asking.

[bakucchan]

I actually don't think I'll be around as much as I should be for the CTA this month-- things happened after I had signed up and I'm really drained and not in the right headspace for it I think.

So I was wondering if I could give up my spot to Deku? He's done a lot in regards to the mermaid folk in the beginning so I just think it'd be cool if he could resolve that by helping them with Ferryn too.

[oculusriffs]

what kind of fun supplies might we be able to snatch from the auction house? frogs, sea quartz cannons, etc — or can we improvise within reason?