GROUP 3: SO I OPEN MY DOOR TO MY ENEMIES—

[dipolar]

WHO? group three, see below links.
WHAT? hrhr: retreat missions.
WHEN? february 9th, you're here forever.
ANYTHING ELSE? planning and submissions.

CHARACTERS WILL ENCOUNTER THESE OBSTACLES:

—Locating the base and arriving without interference by the Turks or the Regency.
—Getting at least one person past the soldiers and into the base.
—Scouting the base and locating Atatürk without causing an incident.
—Handling soldiers who might interfere with attempts to reach Atatürk.
—Combating any Regency soldiers assigned undercover to the Turkish side.
—If anyone is captured by Turkish or Regency soldiers, you'll have to stage a rescue.
—Successfully gaining an audience with Atatürk and acquiring amnesty.
—Returning to Lone Pine in one piece.

RAISING THE DEAD AND SCOUTING, 18/30
yoshitsugu otani, dorian pavus, jon snow, jeyne westerling, sebastian michaelis, ashitaka, hei, noctis lucis caelum, chiron

"Raising the dead and scouting goes well, if not smoothly. You have to dodge enemy combatants the whole way, and it's a little hard to get the intel and supplies you need when you're also trying not to get shot. Somehow, you manage it! Probably through the power of positive thinking. And murder."

—chiron and hei do an initial scout to map out the turkish base and find entry points
—hei stresses that everyone stays with at least one other person so as to not get separated/held hostage
—yoshitsugu uses his spell to raise the dead for an hour to gather information about the turkish base/plans
—yoshitsugu experiences convulsions as a result of using the spell and dorian will use his revival spell on him to help him recover
—entire group stops to plan out specific teams and what they’ll been doing, team a and b are born
—sebastian recounts the letters he found in the tunnels verbatim to the group, mostly sharing the atatürk part
—entire group decides that non-lethal action is to be taken, so they can easily discuss terms with atatürk without killing his men
—noctis and jeyne act as contacts between their separate teams to keep information fresh and to relay important updates
—jon provides the bottom halves of turkish uniforms so their disguises can be put together; they steal the top halves from the dead soldiers yoshitsugu has raised because we're here to demean literally everybody

COMBAT WITH THE REGENCY, 13/30
hei, noctis lucis caelum, chiron, sebastian michaelis, ashitaka

"Combat is where things get difficult. While nobody dies, a few characters are seriously injured. You can decide who and how. Likewise, if you have anybody due for a kidnapping, now would be a good time. But, essentially, this is a close call. You lose ground to the enemy, some ANZAC soldiers might get caught in the crossfire, some precious resources may be lost! Your choice, but something goes to shit."

—chiron using magical detection to weed out the regency agents and the entirety of team b engages the three regency soldiers in combat
—hei uses his ability to shock memory out of the people who may have spotted them using their powers, with the exception of regency soldiers
—noctis will be using warp-strike takedowns to reduce their chances of detection, as they're near-silent and an instantaneous skill
—ashitaka gets kidnapped by the first of the undercover regency agents somewhere in the middle of this because he's literally and figuratively cursed, leaving them down a group member
—sebastian leaves team b and joins team a to fill ashitaka’s empty diplomat position, because he can do anything and likes to show off
—yoshitsugu avoids his kidnapping somewhere in the middle of this, with chiron on rescue duty to facedown the second undercover regency agent
—dorian will use blood magic in a desperate attempt to save himself from capture from the third undercover regency agent

ACTUAL DIPLOMACY, 16/30
yoshitsugu otani, dorian pavus, jon snow, jeyne westerling, sebastian michaelis

"Actual diplomacy is terse, if only because it feels difficult to get a foothold. Atatürk gives little away, and is very quiet and cautious in his delegations. He doesn't fill you with confidence. But in the end, he does come around, admitting to seeing your point. He'll do what he can to call a cease fire."

—team b attempts to come to an agreement and work things out with atatürk
—yoshitsugu attempts to talk atatürk down from a strategical point of view, "there's no sense in attacking when your enemy is already retreating"
—jeyne uses the locket to take the stance of women missing their husbands and lovers, as well as their children having no fathers; she's especially good at calming people when tempers run hot, as well as appealing on more personal levels
—jon speaks with atatürk on a personal level: "no more men have to die - i know you've watched your countrymen fall, i know everyone values bravery, we do too, but these deaths mean less and less when no one is fighting anymore”
—dorian has a gift for politics and has sat in on war counsels and engaged in political debates, making him approach this from a political angle
—if things start going badly, yoshitsugu will use his guilt spell to sway atatürk to their side of the discussion

Comments

[fessus]

[ Back in the tunnels Noctis had felt like he was running on fumes and what a difference it is now, fueled by the same disgusting food and plagued with the same lack of sleep but now there's the powerful addition of combat adrenaline. The muscle memory associated with fighting with an end goal in mind offers him renewed energy.

Even still, hearing that? Well, Noctis is overly confident in his own skills possibly to a fault but he's also critically aware of not only their most recent briefing, but also of his limitations and the magic dampening they'd encountered before. ]

No other way out of this but to fight? Fine with me if we have to, just wanna' exhaust the other options first...

[dipolar]

(hei shakes the cold out of his hands and offers a tactiturn nod. violence is, of course, a very large part of their mission. gentle takedowns or not, people are bound to die — but that's what they're here for as soldiers in a war. they're here to incapacitate or kill. he can manage both and the group's decided on a no-kill run. so that's how he'll operate.)

Non-lethal only. (and the bayonet he stripped from a dead soldier's gun joins the one he's held onto for this long month, preserving his bullets for later.) If any of us makes Regency contact, we let the team know and coordinate. Understood?

(it's crucial they stick together. for reasons beyond his team's knowledge, which makes the paranoia claw at the back of his neck.)

[cutlery]

Of course. By what we have heard, I would imagine the Regency would very much like for our progress to be hindered, if not stopped all together.

[ So it's little surprise to him that they're present and wishing to block the way forward. Technically, he's surprised that there aren't more, but that's at least something to their benefit. Relatively speaking, at least. Though it would be much easier to be more deadly, in his opinion. It's more difficult to hold back, especially when it's sometimes hard to judge just how fragile humans can be. At least in that respect, it serves as a reminder to temper his own enthusiasm. ]

Recommendations for how to approach? It would be wise to use whatever surprise we have left, and personally, I can move in rather quickly. [ A pause, and after a moment's thought on how practical it would be to be more honest, he decides to add: ] It cannot guarantee it, as I have not faced them myself, but they may find it more difficult to seriously injure me. Conventionally, human weapons cannot harm me.

[fessus]

[ Noctis narrows his eyes at the soldier in the distance, trying to ascertain how long they have before they're spotted. He can only hope the slow turn of his head towards Sebastian gets at least one tacit point across, however -- aren't they more likely to get noticed if they spend more time talking than they need to?

Wait. "Human" weapons? ]

Ah-- [ No, no, that needs to wait. ] Contacting the team now if we're about to engage. [ Since it seems unavoidable and that Regency soldier is holding his ground. ]

I can warp in close too.

[dipolar]

(hei notices the "human" distinction, but there's no sense in worrying about that. fighting so closely with so many monsters for so long and you get used to it. he's inhuman as well, after all.

a sharp motion with his hand.) If you can move quickly, fine. Take point, provide a distraction, and Noctis can warp in while they're preoccupied. I will make sure they can't run.

(there's absolutely no honour in this, but the three of them... well, they aren't liable to give a fuck.)

Fine? If so, we'll leave on Sebastian's mark.