Payback Time

[thewatchers]

PAYBACK TIME
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The daemon base was large, a massive obsidian skull carved from the base of a black, foreboding mountain within the Outlands and surrounded by a forest of dead trees. This was inevitable, as accompanying faculty could explain. As much as it could influence the human world, the Outland was heavily influenced and shaped by human thought and culture. Weaker daemons, such as those within the base, would find their personality, forms, and even desires inexorably shaped by the thoughts of humanity and what was perceived humans would expect and fear.

The focus of the two main assault groups would be the clearing of the main hall and the lower dungeons. The groups will be divided as follows:

Main Hall:
Ky
Mav
Kanata
Tyzias
Gunvolt
Bumblebee

Main Hall Support:
Toki
Kano

Dungeon:
Valvatorez
Goro Akechi
Ren
Minako
Naoki
Keith

Dungeon Support:
Ekkehardt
James

Control Room Supervisor:
Yang

To get through to the fortress proper, the students will have to make their way through the forest. This is an open log, even for those who didn’t sign up and will consist of clearing a path and fighting off living trees and mimics in the form of any number of objects that would otherwise be expected in forests such as rocks, brambles, bushes, and other foliage..

The Main Hall is lined with massive rooms full of daemons such as the banquet hall, treasure vault, and throne room where the daemon lord resides. The Daemon Lord is the target here, and he’ll be well-guarded. Beware! Many of the rooms are trapped with mimics taking the form of treasure chests, braziers, boxes, barrels, and just about any other item.

The Dungeons are where captured humans are kept and tortured. The objective is to free the humans and defeat the Jailer, a powerful Daemon who runs the chambers. Students should beware, doppelgangers are said to be commonly slipped in amongst prisoners to ferret out rebellion and will be hidden in with those who are to be rescued.

The Control Room is located in the Citadel, with a massive monitor visualizing the area with floor plans and video feeds. All students and faculty will be wearing small cameras that will record live footage, and will be wired with a communication earpiece that will let those in the Control Room communicate freely. Students working in the Control Room will be able to relay data and information, and use the powerful supercomputers to analyze items on the ground in near real-time.

code bases by tricklet

Comments

[ohgoodgrief]

[Yang walks up behind Kano. He takes a second to look it all over, eyes taking in each monitor in turn. He's also engaged in some nervous behavior: he's spinning his uniform's hat on his finger, over and over. His brow furrows.

Then, he offers some advice, instead of a greeting:]

Try to focus on one monitor at a time. If you try to take each one in, they're going to blur together.

I usually look at one for fifteen seconds, then the next, and then the next. You make a sort of cycle, until you get a feel for what the different groups need.

[suddenlybees]

[ It's good advice, and at least it isn't the very first mission that Kano's ever been on, so while he's slow to start, he's quick to pick things up, one monitor at a time like Yang suggests, trying to match the various screens around him to that of the mental map kept stored in his head, positioning troops and enemies in his mind and trying to predict where they'll all be and where, using the monitors to double-check and learn the enemy's tactics.

It's unbelievably hard, and Kano takes the time to close his eyes and groan and by the time he opens his eyes again, all the screens are different and he's got to start all over. ]

What they need is fifteen eyes, haha... Professor, what do you think? [ He points to the group at the main hall, currently deciding amongst themselves whether to split into two teams of three. ]

One team to occupy the opposing forces and draw their attention, another team to sneak on by. Or would staying together as a larger force be better? Slower, but stronger. Safer. ...Man, we should've gotten those cannons built, they would've helped.

[ohgoodgrief]

Fortunately, we have them--you're not alone here. Er, but hopefully we have sixteen. Or fourteen. Or... an even number. Uhm. Anyways--

[Yang sighs.

But then he sounds more certain, because Kano is talking strategy and tactics. It's what he knows best and loves least. Yang leans forward, frowning -- not with displeasure, but thoughtfulness.]

Keeping everyone together is usually safer, but thinking in an orthodox way all the time makes you predictable. Your idea is solid, to occupy the opposing forces. But, I think... there's a value in tricking the enemy. If you confuse them, and slip some people behind their lines, it will do a lot of damage to the enemy's forces and morale.

Do you think they would be capable of handling something if it went wrong, and they're all separated, though?

[suddenlybees]

[ He was going for "keeping an eye on things" allowing for an even or odd number, but that makes him laugh anyways, because, yeah.

He sits up a little straighter when Yang comes to look over his monitors with him, watching the people on some screens and matching them up with the mazes and the pinging on others. Sitting here like this, acting as the "commander" moving around his troops in drawing out the enemy in a convolution chess match of a battle, he thinks he would be very good at it. Trickery, unpredictability, he is very good at that.

But he can never be a commander, because he isn't willing to lose even a single one of his pieces, and although he's being watched over by a seasoned veteran, it doesn't feel right to him to practice on his friends, whose lives are in his hands, who wouldn't listen to him anyways because he doesn't hold the respect or power to merit that- so there's no way he can be a good commander who does what it takes to get things done. ]

...Ky is strong, and Bee's defenses are impenetrable, or something close to it. GV, he's young, but I've watched him fight, and he'll be fine too. Tyzias... I'm not at all worried about her, actually? It's those two— [ He points a finger at Maverick and Kanata ] that I'm worried about, since I don't think they've fought much. More than that, they're something like friends, so...

[ So he's worried about those two dumbasses. ]

If it were up to me, I'd split the group up like this: Bee, Maverick, Kanata, and GV as the well-rounded assault team staying back to draw attention, and Ky and Tyzias as the hard-hitting infiltration team to cut through enemy lines. If it's like that, they'll be okay.

[ Instead........ it's Bee, GV, and Tyzias in one group, and Ky, Maverick, and Kanata in the other and it's more balanced like this, but Kano's not exactly sure balance is always the best. ]

[ohgoodgrief]

Bee's defenses haven't been penetrated yet. That's an important distinction. He could get careless, and we're here to help make sure -- if he does -- that we can give him the best chance possible of survival. But...

I think you're right. Taylor and Kanata have the least experience of everyone here. Now... the way they've divided things up, that makes a lot of sense. Bee, GV, and Tyzias in one group, because they need less help. Kiske with the two newcomers, to watch after them.

[He frowns.]

Your idea's good, though. I think the change I'd make is switch Kiske and Bee. Kiske's stronger, and more experienced, and he can keep an eye on Kanata and Taylor. But... we can't really ask them to change it.

[He leans forward, and then peers back down at Kano, and smiles.] What would you tell them to do, now that they've done this? What do you think the best way forward is?

not here

[deuteranope]

[somewhere in a daemon hideout, unaware, Maverick feels the dissatisfaction of a sneeze that won't come out. something terribly wrong must be happening...]

[suddenlybees]

[ Bee's an RA, he won't get careless, is what Kano want to believe— he can't get careless, because then what will happen to everybody else? They need him. ]

Hm, hmm~ [ He wants to say something like "HEY FUCKASSES, DON'T DIE!!!" but that wouldn't be productive. ] I'd make them assign either me or Toki to a group, right? That way, we can each keep an eye on a smaller group, and then I only have to look at half as many screens.

[ohgoodgrief]

That...

[Yang pauses.

He opens his mouth, then closes it.]

...Is a great idea, we're doing that.

[suddenlybees]

—eh? Is it really? I thought you'd say something about needing to know the entire battlefield regardless of how small and concentrated the force?

[ He absolutely thought he'd be chewed out for what was just blatant laziness... Maybe he's secretly a tactical genius, he'll take that. ]

[ohgoodgrief]

It’d be nice, but so would my plan to retire before my thirtieth birthday. I didn’t, you can’t see everything—no offense meant!—and here we are.

[He rubs his chin.]

It’s my job to know the entire battlefield, anyways. I’m the operation commander.

[suddenlybees]

Haha, if you want to retire before thirty, do your best to train somebody up~

[ It won't be Kano, but at least Yang would have practice teaching somebody like him. ]

Hey, how old are you, Professor? There's good news or bad news depending on the number!

[ohgoodgrief]

I'm afraid it doesn't quite work that way.

[His sigh is one for the ages.]

I turned 30 back in April. [31 in a few weeks.]

[suddenlybees]

Oh. So your dream was doomed to begin with.

[ He had good news, potentially, but not anymore, so he just leans over and pats Yang on the arm. ]

I'm sorry you're old.

[ohgoodgrief]

Good grief, don't call me old. I'll survive, somehow.

[He points at the screen, though, because... fun as banter is, they gotta keep their eyes on the mission.]

Do you want to split the groups between you and Toki?

[suddenlybees]

A young whippersnapper, then~ [ which I typoed as hippersnapper and that would have been such a good old person pun, alas. ]

If it's between me and Toki... Do I get you on my team? You're going to help me out, right?

[ Because Kano will monopolize all of Yang's time, chatty as he is, and with how high-strung Toki looks like he is, the same might be true for him too. ]

[ohgoodgrief]

I guess that's better... [He's not actually so sure about that though.]

I'm afraid I'm on both of your teams. And everyone else's.

[The demands of being the person in charge. Sigh.]