CLOSED | Minrathous Rescue Operation

[faderifting]

WHO: Team 1 (Coupe, Benedict, Colin, Malcolm, Nikos, Six, Yseult), Team 2 (Anders, Arohaerd, Marcoulf, Myr) and Captives (Adalia, Gareth, Inessa, Kain, Max)
WHAT: Rescuing the captives
WHEN: Nowish
WHERE: Minrathous, Tevinter
NOTES: Probably violence? It is what it says on the tin idk

Below is an OOC overview of the entire plan as a whole, including both the parts that Team 1 planned in their discussion, and an explanation of a couple unexpected obstacles the teams will encounter along the way. We're providing this rundown to help make sure everyone's on the same page OOC about what the plan is, who's been assigned to do what, what order things are happening in, and the big picture of how it goes, while hopefully still leaving plenty of room for people to decide in RP the details of how specific tasks are accomplished. We have again provided a question comment at the top for any OOC questions related to this post.



Preliminary orders from Coupe:

• Team 1 is led by Coupe, Team 2 is led by Anders
  
• To minimize the risk of crystals falling into enemy hands, only a few will be brought. On Team 1, Wren will have one, along with Nikos and Malcolm. They can be passed between characters IC if needed. Team 2 will have a single crystal. Everyone will have strict orders to destroy the crystals if there seems to be a chance it might be captured.
  
• All members of Team 1 would be issued a vial with a very small amount of the Archon's blood, to be used to enter and exit the secret passages. Because the amount is very limited, they each must be careful to limit their comings and goings, and may have to share vials if someone runs out.
  
• Malcolm, Nikos, and Yseult would have received orders from Coupe to kill the Inquisition captives if they cannot be extracted. The others would not be informed of this.
  
• In general, the teams will have been reminded that the one and only goal of this mission is to get the captives out. They're not here to carve a path of wholesale slaughter but they're also not here to worry about the lives of those who get in the way of that mission. Do what needs to be done, no more and no less.

Members of both Team 1 and Team 2 will be smuggled into Tevinter by sea, and dropped off on the peninsula north of Minrathous. They'll have to sneakily hike to the catacomb entrance in the High Reaches and then travel underground into the city. This will require clearing an intentionally blocked passage between the natural caves and the city catacombs, and being very careful once beneath the city to identify and avoid magical alarm spells.

Once beneath the palace, the teams will split up. Team 2 will continue on to the point beneath the tower they intend to collapse, and will remain underground making preparations to blow the underground supports beneath the tower as soon as word comes. Their job will involve waiting a while and hiding from the occasional patrol, the last of which will arrive at an unfortunate moment and need to be taken captive or killed. They'll also be spied upon by a couple young catacomb-dwelling urchins, who seem too shifty to be trusted to keep their mouths shut even if paid. They'll likewise need to be captured or killed.

Team 1 will sneak up into the palace, emerging in a rarely-used back storeroom. Some will be disguised as servants, others as party goers, but they will discover on arrival (via overhearing a convenient conversation between passing kitchen staff) that the new Archon has issued an eccentric last-minute decree: all guests at his event will wear his two favorite colors: orange and green. This will require the team to get their hands on new disguises ASAP, most likely by bribing servants to steal their masters' clothing for them or to give up their own, or by choosing soft targets among those in attendance who can be quickly lured away from the group and robbed of their clothes.

Once the team is properly (if unflatteringly) outfitted, they'll join the party. Malcolm and Yseult will identify and target the two Head Guards, with Malcolm handling the one with the lyrium tattooed hand (who proves to be a mage), and Yseult acquiring the enchanted key. Colin, Benedict, and Wren will mingle among those in attendance in their roles either as servers or guests and gather information while keeping an eye out for unexpected threats. Six and Nikos will test whether the archon's blood can open the secret passage doors. It can, and Nikos will head into the passages to pursue his secret assassination mission.

Once the key and the dude with the hand have been obtained, Malcolm, Yseult, Six, and Colin will head down into the dungeons, handle the guards there, and open the door to the Special Prisoners section. Because of earlier delays in the catacombs, the passage out of the dungeon will by now be starting to fill with seawater. They'll find the Inquisition prisoners (Inessa and Max held separately from the rest) along with a handful of other prisoners. They'll get their own people free and decide whether to free the others or not. Benedict and Wren will either join them or remain at the party as lookouts.

Nikos, in his exploration, will have discovered two things: first, that the secret passages are not unused as Radonis had expected, which he'll discover when he encounters someone exiting the new Archon's bedroom into the passages. Second, the archon's bedroom is roomy and now empty and likely to remain that way since the Archon is off giving a speech, so it provides a good spot for the team to regroup and prepare for the escape.

The dungeon team and the rescued captives will be forced to swim through the last two chambers on their way out of the dungeon, with the final chamber entirely filled by the time they get to it, and extremely dark. Anyone who can't swim well will have to be ferried through by those who can. The nearest exit from the submerged room is the gate into the secret passages, which will need to be unlocked with both the Archon's blood and a normal key or lockpick before anyone can get out.

Once they've all made their soggy way into the passages, everyone will meet in the Archon's apartment, where they'll have to regroup and figure out how to either look less soaking wet or explain why they are + disguise the prisoners. Everyone will then head back into the secret passages and exit at various points throughout the palace in twos and threes to avoid drawing attention by traveling as a big group. At this point, Team 2 will be ordered via crystal to trigger the explosion.

When the ground shakes and the tower suddenly begins to collapse, the party crowd will, as predicted, freak the hell out and run for the exits, forcing their way past the confused guard. The team will blend in with the fleeing guests and slip out, hijack a noble's big fancy gondola, and make their escape.

Team 2 will have to book it through the catacombs as that section collapses, and make their way to a cliffside exit along the coast identified by the Archon, where the gondola will pick them up. They'll then all sail this boat further across open water and carrying a much heavier load than it's really built for to the smuggler's cove where they were dropped off, where they'll scuttle the gondola, get picked up, and sail back to Kirkwall. Mission accomplished, good job team, etc.

Comments

[circleprodigy]

[That voice -so weak- is barely familiar, and if she hadn't been so intent on listening for him, she might not have heard it. But she has, and it's enough to reignite the hope that lay dormant for so long. Her large eyes widen upon taking in his state, worse than her own, and she clings to the bars, a heartbroken noise escaping her throat.]

No....

[She pauses to clear her throat, trying desperately to focus for his sake.]

...no, it's not. They caught me, but we're leaving now. Kain, come here. Let me heal what I can, and I'll get someone to pick the lock.

[in_death_sacrifice]

[Kain instinctively curls up a bit, pulling inward as he's been doing for much of this time. All he's wanted is to see her, to hear her voice, and now that she's here, he's doubting his senses completely. His heart aches, at the same time. If she is really here, then all this time, she was going through the same thing? The whispers, the eerie moments of missing time related to leaving the cell, all of it? He could talk some of the other captives, but they'd been especially terrible in ensuring he never found out about Inessa. Did she constantly wonder if they'd ever get out as well?]

[If it is really her. He's not in the most rational state of mind, currently.]

You're sure it's you? [He sounds... troubled, and looks it, staring at her through bloodshot eyes.] If I had some better proof...

[circleprodigy]

[Seeing his hesitant reaction makes her heart ache, knowing how isolation and desperation can play tricks on the mind. She lets out a choked noise that might have been amusement in any other circumstance, and shakes her head.]

I think you could have come up with a better image of me than this, Kain. [Thin, worn, with dark circles and pinched cheeks. It's not at her best. She waves over the woman with the lockpicks, not hesitating to rush in after the cell door is open and wrap her arms around him in the tightest hug she can manage.]

[in_death_sacrifice]

[Being a Warden hasn't done him any favors in here, since it makes him vulnerable to Corypheus' potential influence. He doesn't think he's been used like a puppet in any way, but he can't know for sure. He can't know what's happened in the weird time lapses he'd been experiencing. He knows he's taken out of the cells, elsewhere, but not what happens at that point. Then there are the nightmares, the inability to sleep that's come with that...]

[He blinks slowly, staring at her, willing his thoughts to catch up with what he's seeing. Everything feels so distant, though, his mind covered by fog.]

I... I guess they wouldn't... It would be a rather bad trick. No... No offense.

[That fact is proven to him once and for all as she rushes in and embraces him. It's her, it's really her, no one could ever fully replicate her like this. He'd know her anywhere. As for Kain, he's also much more worn and thin than normal. He'll have a lot of work ahead to get back into his usual fighting shape: he'd tried doing what exercise he could manage in the early days, but over time hope had failed, the whispers had won out, and he'd been broken down. For now, he's glad just to hold her close.]

I thought... I really thought I'd never...

[Never see you again, but he chokes on the last of those words, not quite getting them out.]

[circleprodigy]

Nor did I....

[The thinness is noted, and Inessa internally frets upon feeling the difference for herself. He obviously hasn't kept up his routine, but given what they must have put him through, she can't place any blame. In any case, she doesn't let go as long as the sounds of others being freed can be heard.]

We'll have to move soon, but...just another minute. It's been too long.

[in_death_sacrifice]

[Kain wishes he could do more, at the moment, hating how extremely weak he feels right now. It feels like he hasn't had a good night's sleep in ages, he can't even remember the last time that ever happened. He can't remember the last time he felt comfortable or at peace. He nods slowly, still unsure if this is reality or some half-waking dream. It very well could be the last, given his mental state.]

[He's not eager to let go, still keeping his arms around her. He'd definitely be warm to the touch, and he finds her refreshingly cool by comparison.]

Much too long. Long enough that... well... I figured they wouldn't return for us. The risk...

[He's definitely surprised, knowing that it had to take considerable planning and effort to make this happen. And grateful, for that matter. He may not think himself worth such a risk, but the others, the group as a whole... he understands that.]

[circleprodigy]

[Summoning her magic, Inessa's fingertips grow colder as frost forms on them and she presses them against Kain's cheek. Short of actual medicine and rest, it will have to do. She's no spirit healer, and what little healing magic she does know only eases the pain of battle wounds and such, not long-term deprivation and torture.]

Likewise. I thought I was going to be captured that first time, so I destroyed my crystal. I was left in the dark, after all. And then they found me anyway.

[Her eyes darken, thinking of the poor man who had only tried to help her only to meet his end. Another victim of Tevinter's endless plotting.]

[in_death_sacrifice]

Thank you.

[He continues to hold her close, nodding silently as she explains what she'd experienced. He remembers the chaos of when they'd ended up separated, and then the fear that had gripped him all the while after that. The not knowing. That had been the worst. He'd had no idea what had become of her... and thought he never would. Of course, in those countless nightmares and hours spend in the darkness, his imagination would often come up with the worst possible fates.]

I... I'm sorry. I wish I'd stayed at your side. We might have had a better chance, with both of us, rather than trying to forge on alone...

[circleprodigy]

What happened, happened. We can't go back, only forward.

[That's not to say she has no regrets, but...this isn't the time or place. She gives him a squeeze, then looks up.]

Are you ready? Can you walk further?

[in_death_sacrifice]

[Kain nods, slowly. He's more than eager to leave this place, though he can't imagine what's yet ahead for them to get through. He's still trying to wrap his head around how they'd managed to make it here at all.]

I'm... Yes. I'm fine. Physically, I'm... It's all right. No wounds, no broken bones. I can walk as far as I need to. Defend myself, if I must.

[He doesn't really know if he could lift his own sword at this point, and he's unsettled by how weak he feels overall... but none of those things matter. Getting out is all he must focus on right now. He'll do what it takes to survive. Though it's... kind of tricky, shifting back to that survival mode, after days of thinking about how he might have to achieve the exact opposite.]