[ february i ooc info post/signups ]

[barrayarmods]

THIS WAS MEANT TO GO ON THE OOC COMM WHOOPS

Quick links: Barrayar ⚔  Cetaganda ⚔  Missions

UPDATE: SIGNUPS ARE NOW CLOSED

welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to in the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling. A steep mountain range towers just ahead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.

And you're not alone. There are a few other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive.

Hey gang! It is time for MORE PLOT, I hope you are ready. Following up with last month's events, the Barrayarans will be investigating the traitor issue and interrogating some prisoners, and the Cetagandans will also be dealing with prisoners of their own as well as continuing their research and being very Cetagandanly cagey as fuck. And now a few latecomers to the party have unexpectedly arrived, adding a few to the outsiders' and exotics' numbers.

General Count Piotr is starting to feel more favorably toward the outsiders after their help last month, especially those involved in the riskiest missions, and Countess Olivia is already forging alliances of her own among the outsiders. Ghem-General Zefyst, despite the chaotic skirmish on the night of the 28th and some exotics' assault on Cetagandan soldiers, is being pretty generously forgiving of it all, willing to chalk it up to understandable confusion and disorientation in such a situation. Lady Diya remains more or less impassive.

But before we get into the details of what's going on with each side, let's look at the forecast for the month. If you haven't yet read this month's Game Update yet, please do so, because this month…is not a good month for weather.

Spoilers: it's really fucking cold.


barrayar
This month is not a good one for the guerrillas.

On the 1st, a few people from Riverfall Village come to the camp bringing extra supplies, such as clothing, heavy wool blankets and bedrolls, as well as firewood to help fend off the incoming cold front. The new outsiders are accommodated as best they can -- they're all provided bedrolls and any extra clothing they (probably) need -- but the Barrayarans don't have an extra tent to spare, so that means all twelve of you are crammed into a tent that ordinarily sleeps ten. But the plus side: at least you'll probably be relatively warm.

A young boy comes in tow; according to the villagers, he turned up a week ago and insisted on following them to the camp. He's clearly Barrayaran, and looks as though he might have been living on his own for a while. He doesn't speak much, and when asked his name, will only give it as Negri -- first or last, no one's sure, but the boy doesn't seem easily fazed. Piotr tells the villagers that he has no room in his camp for lost children, but Negri somehow seems to manage to stick around anyway. He's curious, but quiet and unobtrusive, wherever he is in camp. He's a very good listener…even when you might not want him to be.

On the 3rd, the Barrayarans and outsiders awake to discover that the part of the cave where they keep the majority of their food supply to have collapsed, either blocking their access to the cache or destroying it entirely. It's impossible to tell. The villagers can't spare much more than they already have been -- certainly not enough to feed the hundred and fifty-odd soldiers in the camp -- so while they try to figure out a way to recoup their food supply, they have no choice but to slaughter a few of their horses for food. Food will be heavily rationed, but fairly -- the outsiders will receive no less than the rest. The prisoners, on the other hand, won't be getting anything.

There probably isn't enough wild game in the area to sustain the camp, but Piotr will be sending out hunting parties anyway. By some grace, Barrayaran intelligence gets wind of the Cetagandans' supply drop in a couple of days -- and knowing that some of those supplies are intended for delivery to occupied cities, the Barrayarans begin to organize a raid on the Cetagandan supply lines.

With temperatures well below freezing, no food, and excruciatingly little in the way of advantage against the Cetagandans after their last infiltration attempt, Piotr isn't in an excellent mood, and morale in the rest of the camp is not at an all-time high. And with the traitor still at large, identity unknown, it's time for some interrogations.

The Barrayarans have two prisoners taken last month: Doctor Captain Levi ghem-Miko from the Cetagandan field science team, and Duv Galeni, one of the outsiders who'd been on the Cetagandan side. But Piotr cares less about the fact that Duv is an outsider and much, much more that they've identified him as a Komarran -- someone from the planet that sold the Barrayarans out to the Cetagandans, and the reason this invasion was allowed to happen in the first place. Piotr takes any outsiders' participation in the war effort as a sign of confidence, so he's willing to allow a few them to assist in interrogation.


cetaganda
The Cetagandans all live in climate-controlled buildings and have proper and modern cold weather gear, so while it kind of sucks to be outside right now, they're just fine.

New arrivals will be processed as the first were -- once everyone has been whisked out of the extreme cold, everyone is subject to a thorough physical, including a number of scans that may or may not seem totally arcane to you. Other than a blood sample, nothing they're doing is at all invasive. Lady Diya d'Zefyst, while not a physician, is present at all physicals. She is easily notable not only for her striking, almost ethereal beauty as is typical of the haut, but, as the only haut on base, she is easily distinguishable by her lack of facepaint. Anyone in need of clothing will be provided with a set of insignia-less fatigues. The new arrivals are interviewed sporadically, but entirely civilly -- they seem more interested in where you came from rather than you yourself, but they won't push or press you hard if you respond with silence. Nor will they refuse any requests to leave -- but they won't let you leave

With Duv taken captive by the Barrayarans, the exotics make an even twelve, which means the exotics' room is at capacity. Despite the war going on and the undeniable weirdness of the situation, the Cetagandans are nothing less than civil. They understand that you had no choice in being here, no more than they could predcit your arrival. Exotics are free to roam the base as they please -- barring any military access restricted areas, of course. They are encouraged to take advantage of the non-restricted facilities -- exercise rooms, art rooms, the lush gardens in the Grow Labs -- and will satisfy any reasonable curiosities.

On the 2nd, the Cetagandans will announce to the exotics that their research into what brought them here has yielded some sparse information so far. They have concluded that some kind of spontaneous, anomalous wormhole activity is the reason behind their appearance, but that's about it.

On the 5th, a shuttle bringing loads of supplies touches down outside the base. No one here is wanting for food, water, or anything else. And on the 7th, as groups of soldiers begin marching supplies to Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the district's capital, the Cetagandans decide to try and make their obviously uneasy guests feel more at home by doing what they do best: throwing an elaborate function and sharing their culture with the exotics. That's right, bitches, it's party time. Cetagandan style.

Which mostly means it's full of art, of all sorts. They might as well be throwing a function for visiting diplomats, with the way things are laid out. Extravagant is too strong a word, but Cetagandan standards are a little different than other galactics'. The function is hosted in an annex to the Grow Labs apparently meant for this express purpose, as it faces the most beautiful of the Grow Labs' specimens, and acts as a living garden in and of itself, and quite vibrantly beautiful. Functions like this are always an opportunity for Cetagandans to try and socially one-up one another, so everyone is in their most fashionable dress, or at least their dress uniform, wearing scents and facepaint they might not otherwise on the job. For the artistically inclined ghem (read: a lot of them), this is the chance to show off their artistic endeavors, as well.

The party will also feature a particular kind of art installation called a discernment garden. Some of the ghem might (a bit wryly) confess to you that this is actually more of an educational tool used for Cetagandan children, to help refine their senses, but this is a gesture of good will toward the exotics -- to show that they are just as willing to share with the exotics as they are asking. The discernment garden is a series of five stages to test one's acuity with each sense, and then at the end, one is presented with a final art piece meant to test all five senses. This isn't unlike a varietal wine tasting, for the level of sensory refinement it encourages.

Of course, the Cetagandans have their own less than pleasant business to attend to. They, too, have prisoners -- Lieutenant Boris Vortala, one of the squad leaders from the Barrayarans' infiltration attempt, and Lakshmi Bai, one of the exotics from the Barrayaran side. Of course, the Cetagands don't use torture for interrogation, but the much more humane and galactic standard fast-penta. As another sign of good will -- as well as a hope for insight -- the ghem-General will permit some of the exotics to attend the interrogations.

missions
Each individual mission/plot opportunity is determined by signups and RNG, and most of them will net you some LP. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the post explaining the RNG system I use for the game. (Don't worry, all the dice-rolling is my work, you guys only need to sign up!) Scene-setting starters will be put up on the event log for each mission, and unless it's specifically an NPC-based thread, we'll only toss NPC tags into mission threads on request.

Mission signups are in the comments below. Signing up for any of these missions (or any missions ever) is OPTIONAL. You can have your character hang back at the camp if you don't feel like participating in a plot mission, so don't feel obligated. Signups close January 31st at midnight PST (read: until I wake up in the morning on the 1st), assuming they don't fill up before then, so that I have a day to write up the results. However, if you guys get those in early I will start rolling IMMEDIATELY.

MISSIONS: BARRAYAR
Piotr is forced to set aside his plans for disrupting the Cetagandan base's power supply for more urgent needs: recouping the camp's food supply. He'll need hunting parties, but he knows they'll have better luck raiding the Cetagandan supply lines. Identifying the traitor is also crucial, because until then there's no telling what might leak back to the Cetagandans, so he'll be getting on those interrogations as well. And then, of course, there's the matter of the young boy wandering around camp…

0) Negri
This is not a mission so much as it is a permissions opt-out. Negri will be hanging around camp, eavesdropping on people's conversations; there will be a new "is it OK for Negri to overhear this conversation" field on the log forms, but if you would like to blanket opt-out of Negri eavesdropping on your character for whatever reason, there'll be a signup for that below.

1) Hunting party +1 LP
SKILLS: HUNTING
There's some wild game around, and they'll take whatever they can get -- horse meat really is a last resort. If you've got any skill, Piotr will take it. Signups aren't limited, but if you're really terrible at hunting then you maybe shouldn't try to help.
(Note: this won't have an event top-level unless the participants want one; threading this is optional but contributing to the camp will still net you LP. Your results will still be rolled to see how well you did -- and how much food you added to the pile. We totally encourage you to thread this out for CR opportunities, though, PC or NPC.)

1. Byerly Vorrutyer
2. William
3. Duv Galeni
4. Elsa Mars

2) Raiding party +2 LP
SKILLS: STEALTH
On the 7th, Cetagandan soldiers will be escorting loads of supplies -- including food -- and a few Barrayaran raiding parties are going to hit them at their most vulnerable. This is an even riskier op, because they'll be directly attacking Cetagandan soldiers to get to the goods.

The teams will disembark a little before dusk to try and catch the Cetagandans near sundown. They will take up to six outsiders with them.

1. Miles Vorkosigan
2. William
3. Agent Carolina
4. Ratchet (engineeugh)
5. Lavernius Tucker
6. Pearl

3) Interrogations +2 LP
SKILLS: PERSUASION, INTIMIDATION, PHYSICAL
Outing the traitor to the camp is just as vital as getting food, because until he's caught, none of them are safe. He's got both Dr. Captain ghem-Miko and Duv Galeni to interrogate, and he's willing to let up to a total of four outsiders assist him. You need at least 1 LP to sign up for interrogations.

NOTE: The Barrayarans' idea of interrogation is torture, and they don't hold back. There will be potentially graphic material in these threads, so if you'd be uncomfortable writing, reading, or having your character personally witness it, this is not the mission for you. We would prefer characters who will not immediately violently object to torture and disrupt the interrogation (we need the interrogations to actually proceed for Plot Reasons), but we recognize that even the most hardened and soldierly types have their limits, so if there's a certain threshold at which your character would object, please specify so we can take it into account.

1. Agent Maine
2. Byerly Vorrutyer
3.
4.

4) MYSTERY PLOT +3 LP
SKILLS: COMBAT, PHYSICAL
This is an RNG-based grab-bag mission -- you don't know exactly what it'll be or how it will wind up affecting your character, but it will be exciting and plot-important! Plus, it'll be exciting. Up to three characters can participate, but we'll need you to sign this waiver surrendering your fate to the RNG gods.

1. Beth Greene
2. Byerly Vorrutyer
3. Agent Maine


MISSIONS: CETAGANDA
The Cetagandans are keeping exotics occupied with the function as well as any work they've signed up for, such as in the labs, but they're as cryptic and cagey with answers as ever. So enjoy the party -- after all, at least you're not out in the cold -- but if you'd like to really know something, you've got better odds taking your own initiative.

1) Discernment garden +1 LP
SKILLS: SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, SMELL, TASTE*
This is totally optional, but if you want me to roll d6s for each of your character's senses to see how well they fare just for funsies, I totally will.
The Cetagandans have set up this fancy art installation -- care to test your senses and look at some really pretty, if perhaps perplexing, art? It might even be fun, and the Cetagandans are pretty encouraging, even if some of the ghem ladies might have a laugh or two at the expense of anyone really bad at it. Signups unlimited.
(Note: This will have an event top-level, but you're not obligated to thread it out even if you sign up. Teaming up with other folks going through the discernment garden might make for fun CR, though!)

1. Lapis Lazuli
2. Deanna Troi
3. Sans
4. Natasha Romanoff
5. Jasper
6. Kaidan Alenko
7. Symmetra
8. Darkstalker

2) Eavesdropping +2 LP
SKILLS: STEALTH, TECH
However forthcoming the Cetagandans might be with entertainment, you probably suspect they're holding back in the information department. In fact, you probably know it. So what time is it? EAVESDROPPING TIME.

Past excursions have taught the exotics something about night patrols and Cetagandan access. You might even be able to get farther into, say, the science/medical complex than you thought possible before. After all, there's something they must not be telling you about the wormhole business. And what's up with a military base having such a big medical complex, anyway? There's room for six exotics in eavesdropping.

1. Deanna Troi
2. Natasha Romanoff
3. Sans
4. Kaidan Alenko
5. Symmetra
6.

2) Interrogations +2 LP
SKILLS: PERSUASION
The Cetagandans may have the upper hand in the war, but there's a reason it's not over yet. They'll need every ounce of intelligence they can get on Barrayaran forces and movement, and they've got two prisoners: Lieutenant Boris Vortala and the outsider Lakshmi Bai. As a sign of good will, the ghem-General will allow up to four exotics to assist him. You need at least 1 LP to sign up for interrogations.

NOTE: Cetagandans use fast-penta for interrogation, a galactic standard that is not only more humane than torture, but is generally considered to yield more reliable information as well. Fast-penta doesn't cause pain or have any lingering effecfts, but it's not the most dignified thing to have happen to you, either. Fast-penta interrogations are guided by a skilled interrogator to yield only relevant information, as fast-penta subjects will ramble on in free association unless otherwise directed. We would prefer characters who will not immediately strenuously object to fast-penta and disrupt the interrogation (we need the interrogations to actually proceed for Plot Reasons), but if there is a threshold at which your character would object, please specify so we can take it into account.

1. Agent Washington
2. Darkstalker
3. Ratchet (asafepairofhands)
4. Agent York

3) MYSTERY PLOT +3 LP
SKILLS: STEALTH, MEDICAL, TECH
This is an RNG-based grab-bag mission -- you don't know exactly what it'll be or how it will wind up affecting your character, but it will be exciting and plot-important! Plus, it'll be exciting. Up to three characters can participate, but we'll need you to sign this waiver surrendering your fate to the RNG gods.

1. Agent York
2. Daryl Dixon
3. Jasper

If you should have any questions about the event or the way this stuff works, feel free to ask!

Comments

QUESTIONS

[barrayarmods]

PUT 'EM HERE.

RE: HUNTING/DISCERNMENT GARDEN SIGNUPS

[barrayarmods]

Since it's been asked a couple of times outside of this post, to clarify: yes, you totally can sign up for one of the unlimited signups options (hunting or discernment garden) in addition to another mission.

[omniavincit]

Willlll members of the hunting parties be supplied with weapons, and if so what kind?

[barrayarmods]

They absolutely will! Mostly bows and knives.

[komarran]

Just to make sure -- as a current captive there's nothing I should/can sign Duv up for this part of the month? And slightly related, should I hold off on picking LPs until I know which side he's ending up/how that goes down?

[barrayarmods]

I would hold off on picking up perks until you know what you're doing with Duv side-wise. As far signups -- we can talk more in depth about what will happen with Duv's interrogation and afterward and see what we can do (something we oughta talk about anyway). Obviously being taken prisoner puts a damper on the kinds of things Duv can do, but I don't want you to be totally excluded from other events. No one is signed up for Barrayaran interrogations right now, so unless that changes, that thread will just be Duv and Piotr. Hit me with a private plurk or something at some point today and we'll hash out some deets, we're definitely due to figure some of that out.

PERMISSIONS: NEGRI (BARRAYAR ONLY)

[barrayarmods]

If you would like to blanket opt-out of your character being eavesdropped on by Negri, please let me know here. Otherwise, you can decide on a thread-by-thread basis what he's allowed to overhear.

MISSIONS: BARRAYAR

[barrayarmods]

HUNTING PARTY +1 LP

[barrayarmods]

Signups are unlimited. Please rate your character's proficiency in HUNTING from 1-4.

[vorrutyer]

Signing By up for comedy purposes
His proficiency is ABSOLUTELY a 1

[omniavincit]

William at a 2.

Everyone is going to starve.

Re: HUNTING PARTY +1 LP

[komarran]

IF DUV IS ABLE TO LATER ON/there's time for it after interrogations, he should absolutely do this. He can't use a bow and wildlife on Komarr are non-existent so his hunting is at a 1. What end do you point the arrow at

Re: HUNTING PARTY +1 LP

[starsneverpay]

Signing up Elsa.

Hunting.. as in tracking and such is definitely 1. But bring a horse on her sight and put a knife in her hand she gets the job done. She's a bit rusty but in her youth she was the "master of wheel" in knife throwing.. So idk, that part would be 3?

RAIDING PARTY +2 LP

[barrayarmods]

There is room for up to six outsiders. Please rate your character's proficiency in STEALTH from 1-4.

[dendarii]

Signing up Miles here! Stealth is 3.

[omniavincit]

Sign William up, please! Stealth 2.

[startpoint]

You knew this was coming. Stealth 3

[engineeeugh]

Signing Ratchet up with a very fly stealth of 1.

INTERROGATIONS +2 LP (requires at least 1 LP)

[barrayarmods]

There is room for up to four outsiders. Please rate your character's proficiency in PERSUASION or INTIMIDATION, whichever is higher, as well as PHYSICAL, from 1-4.

Please make sure you've read the torture caveat listed in the mission description.

MYSTERY PLOT! +3 LP

[barrayarmods]

There is room for up to three outsiders. Please rate your character's proficiency in COMBAT or PHYSICAL, whichever is higher, from 1-4.

MISSIONS: CETAGANDA

[barrayarmods]

DISCERNMENT GARDEN +1 LP

[barrayarmods]

Signups unlimited. Totally optional, but if you'd like me to roll d6s for your character just for funsies to see how they fare in each sense, rate your character's proficiency in SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, SMELL and TASTE from 1-4.

EAVESDROPPING +2 LP

[barrayarmods]

Up to six exotics can participate. Please rate your character's proficiency in STEALTH or TECH, whichever is higher, from 1-4.

INTERROGATIONS +2 LP (requires at least 1 LP)

[barrayarmods]

Up to four exotics can participate. Please rate your character's proficiency in PERSUASION.

Please make sure you've read the interrogation caveat in the mission description.

MYSTERY PLOT! +3 LP

[barrayarmods]

Up to three exotics can participate. Please rate your character's proficiency in STEALTH, TECH, or MEDICAL, whichever is higher, from 1-4.