BEYOND THE SHADOW YOU SETTLE FOR ❅ PART 2

[nightmods]

BEYOND THE SHADOW YOU SETTLE FOR

Alarms blare and red alert lights flash and illuminate hallways. The intruders have either escaped the traps or avoided them altogether and are invading.

It still won't be easy for the Guardians. There are armed checkpoints to overcome and giant security doors to figure out how to unlock or break through.

Once they're past the initial security checkpoints, the place is a maze of hallways that contain cells with captured myths that need to be freed (some friendly and some unfriendly), offices with computers and tablets that can be hacked or stolen, science labs with myths being experimented on and technomagical devices of unknown purpose, archival rooms with useful (and potentially cursed) tomes and artifacts, and storage rooms with the plundered belongings of many myths captured over time.

Some of the magical artifacts and Prometheus devices can be used against their forces and used to help the captured myths.

For those that would like to be extra helpful and let others know where security forces are congregating (or to cause a little chaos) several redundant security rooms have screens showing video from closed circuit monitoring. Provided they knock out the guards in each room, they can potentially maneuver them to consoles for the fingerprint panels and retinal scanners that would allow them to unlock cell doors on many of the cell blocks.

Given that the the master unlock for all cells requires the base's Director's security bypass, it'll be useful if several groups do this if they want to mass unlock all the cell blocks.

Some captured myths will also have to be comforted. Others may need to be chased as they escape their cells, rush past, and go on a rampage.

And of course the myths will have to figure out what to do with the escaping staff that isn't security, all of them running for exit stairways and elevators to the outside world or to escape magical portals, whatever's closest and ensures the best chance of survival. Some of these staff members are simple office drones, handling the minutiae and bureaucracy of a large organization like this. Others are even lower on the organizational ladder, like the janitorial staff. But some like the base leadership, scientists, and guards, have a much more active hand in the treatment of the captured myths.

The more aggressive escaped myths will make a beeline for the base staff, to go after them in revenge. The Guardians will have to figure out what they want to do in response.

In any case, there are myths to be freed, artifacts to be pilfered, intel to be gathered, and decisions to be made.

This base of Project Prometheus is going down.

OOC DETAILS

OOC PLOTTING POST

❅ Format: Use prose or actionspam as desired.

❅ Environment: Please feel free to use the plot as an open and flexible environment, and simply ask for anything the requires specifics or might affect the full facility so the mod can provide accurate intel and keep track of the evolving situation during the plot. Players should feel free to largely do what they want. If they want to access and manipulate certain aspects of security, question Prometheus npcs, information gather from captured myth PCs, etc, they can request to do so.

❅ NPCing: This part of the plot will have limited mod npcing, for moments people decide to do in the plot, like getting info from Prometheus npcs or breaking into and messing with security. There will be a thread to request either npcing or information to use in self-npcing from the mod. The mod will decide whether to npc or if players can just self-npc with provided info. The mod will automatically comment in after each round of PC tags unless asked to pause for more PC tags. The mod will use prose for npcing but players don't have to match.

❅ Powers: Now that they've escaped the trap rooms, everyone's powers will work as normal and all their devices and artifacts like the globes will work.

❅ Myths: You can assume rescued myths match their RL myth counterparts. If I need to use a myth later on and make them different from what's been established, we can handwave there are just variations within the same type of myths sometimes. The only thing I'd like to limit is two things:

1) Using some of the big individual myths in mythology in case they need to be used later or I have plans for them. Specific gods and named folk figures, etc. But myths that are just general, like general nymphs, brownies, fae, etc, you can kinda go ham with.

2) Try to be respectful and avoid using myths that still feature heavily into IRL belief systems and cultures like wendigo. Please be thoughtful and maybe do a quick google about whether something would be offensive. There are plenty of other myths from ancient societies to use with less baggage, like creatures from Greek mythology.

❅ Collars: Rescued myths will have power blocking collars that need to be broken or the rune design on them must be scratched when they're freed, to give their powers back.

❅ Resources: Elle will be their man in the chair acting as a coordinator for the mission on the games. Players can handwave that important information was conveyed to or from Elle.

Mini-globes: Mini snow globes the size of marbles will have been given to everyone to use to transport myths out as well as emergency transport to the Pole. For those who don't carry storage with their normal outfits, they'll have been given fanny packs to carry them.

Devices: Courtesy of Miguel, there are mini bombs; spy bots that can fly and scout ahead, transmitting video to their comms; and elemental handheld devices can use to cause localized effects of extreme freeze or extreme heat. The latter is hot enough to melt the door looks to the thick cell doors.

Magic crystals: These can float over the hand to guide the Guardians towards other myths, as well as provide the location of their home habitats so Guardians can tell the snowglobes to right location to transport them home.

Comments

[arthropoda]

[One of the myths step forward. It seems to be a forest spirit. Skitter hesitantly reaches with a hand, like with that act it's going to get the myth to rely on the help and accept it. The spirit doesn't reach back, leaving Skitter to curl her hand and retract it]

Right.

[She tries not to take it personal because she gets it, they're wary, but it stings nonetheless. She looks at Aziraphale]

I'll handle the snowglobe.

[And roots in her supplies to look for it]

[oldbookshop]

[ Blast. He supposes it rarely ever is that easy. Least of all after an extended stay in captivity.

Trust is a tricky old thing at the best of times. Aziraphale will just have to ensure she gets the kindness she deserves from him, if nothing else. ]

Thank you, my dear. I'm not very familiar with working them yet. [ He invented being a passenger princess. Can he use a snowglobe effectively? Of course. Does he see much point in doing it when most of the time, other people are ready to volunteer? No.

All the more freedom to gently beckon the forest spirit towards him. ]

If you could tell me about where you're from, we'll have you sorted in two ticks.

[ He relays whatever information he's able to get. She's a bit of a quiet sort. ]

[arthropoda]

[There are tales of a lush place, with a canopy rising high in the air. Life everyhwere, protected by spirits, and an air that makes you feel invigorated by being in its presence. It's a vague description, really, more poetic than anything else, but Skitter seems to have gotten enough to figure out how to use the snowglobe to open the way there.

Once that spirit is gone, Skitter sighs]

How can I make myself less intimidating?

[Usually people warm up to her when she rescues, but that's after a while. The first encounter never goes well. At least this here was just because she looks sinister, not because of her reputation]

I don't even know why I bother to keep the mask, it's not like anyone from Prometheus is going to know who I am.

[She's not a person from this world, after all!]

[oldbookshop]

I assumed you were keeping it because you like it.

[ A fun costume... everyone has their little quirks, don't they?

Not in this specific case, apparently. Aziraphale feels the pull of sympathy. ]

Judging a book by its cover is always in poor taste. I happen to think you've been nothing but lovely.

[arthropoda]

[She takes off the mask]

It's force of habit. I'm a supervillain, a good costume is important.

[That and also secret identities are such an important part of the cape life there are unwritten rules among heroes and villains that involve never trying to find out an opponent's secret identity, much less attack one's civilian life and families. Anyone who doesn't comply with that gets targeted by both heroes and villains.

So even here, in a world far from her own, she was trying to separate her villain self and her civilian self, even though it's pretty much pointless.

Getting called lovely gets an amused eyebrows raise from Taylor]

We have barely talked. Isn't it too soon to think so highly of me?

[She really appreciates it, though]

[oldbookshop]

[ Hmm. Popular culture isn't Aziraphale's forte, but he understands the objective concept of super and villain. Personally he doesn't see how that tracks, because he's him, so he largely looks confused. ]

You're here doing something very kind. I could hardly think lowly of you for it.

[ It would be a terrible baseline. ]