pythianjudgment: ([g] and another thing)
Terezi Pyrope ([personal profile] pythianjudgment) wrote in [community profile] thegamesooc2015-09-25 07:00 pm

Important Plot Things!

Hey guys! So Terezi has very publicly suggested to District 13 that they should rescue the TYP kids. I'm interested in making this a game-wide plot, and I have been informed that there is a possibility that we can save some of the kids. However, for this plot to be approved, the mods want to see a solid plan drawn up by the playerbase (the whole playerbase, not just D13 people), so I need some help from you guys!

Limitations to the plan:
It must take place on the 4th week of the arena.
It must allow the arena to continue as a whole to its end.
It must not provoke war into starting immediately.

Therefore, the mission must get into the arena to extract the children and back out again without forcing the Capitol to acknowledge that D13 was responsible, thus forcing them to declare war. Even better would be to avoid the Capitol knowing that D13 did anything at all.

Suggestions that have come up so far:
Terezi has suggested a quick in-and-out stealth mission, but is lacking any concrete details on how to prevent the Capitol from knowing.
Albert has suggested the use of an EMP to knock out any Capitol footage of the arena, and the possibility that they could use an insider's help.

Use the comments below to brainstorm!

Update: I neglected to mention, but since this is so close to the arena, D13 will not have the ability to contact anyone that is going into the arena in order to coordinate plans with them. The majority of the plan needs to focus on the actions of people who will be outside the arena. However, people inside the arena should be able to conspire/make use of the surveillance downtime once the mission is underway. I should have noted that up in limitations from the start. My apologies!
carnagecarnival: (Default)

[personal profile] carnagecarnival 2015-09-25 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
We mods will be mostly staying out of the way for the mean time, but as a note, if there are any scientists in arena and the Capitol's attention is properly diverted, it would be an excellent time to take a body apart and try and learn as much as possible about the translation chips in the brain and trackers in the bloodstream!
decommission: (012)

[personal profile] decommission 2015-09-25 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
This won't help much for IC preplanning - but there will be those masks in the City that give back powers temporarily that might be able to help for distractions/possibly EMP stuff if anyone has relevant abilities :O

Other than that, I've got this character here who would be willing to help from inside the Arena if extra bodies are needed, though he doesn't have any D13 ties!
ka_sera_sera: (Default)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2015-09-25 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
This suggestion may not really help, but there may be ways to take the kids when certain types of things happen that might make it look like they're dead - for instance, if one's caught in the desert cyclones where visibility will be poor even if cameras are around. Looking over the arena info again nothing else specific strikes me, but maybe if some kids end up in situations where the capitol could at least let the audience assume they died, d13 people could snatch them.

I also know that if Roland saw anyone he knows is in d13, he'd be inclined to help them without asking too many questions, if he thought he could do it without getting in trouble.
futilecycle: (Default)

[personal profile] futilecycle 2015-09-26 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
Sigma would be willing to spill the layout of the Arena to an informant. Tabris is one possibility since he is currently meeting with her [under the pretense of bidding], though they will soon be cutting things off, as Sigma's daughter and friend are now on the chopping block and he's getting nervous. I'm willing to play out alternate things with new CR, too! Just hit me up.
futilecycle: (Default)

[personal profile] futilecycle 2015-09-26 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Just chiming in to say I'm on board! He'll sneak a comprehensive blueprint/code to someone, possibly Albert at this point. Then D13 can use the plans to sever surveillance and use the broadcast system or whatever you choose to do. Luna might be able to help with the "from the inside" part! The rest is up to you fine rebel people o7
futilecycle: (Default)

Update!

[personal profile] futilecycle 2015-09-29 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
Just gonna say that the mods okayed Sigma passing on the Arena plans, so that is set! Don't worry, 13, it's in the bag! You'll get them soon, somehow ;)
sizeofyourbaggage: (Default)

[personal profile] sizeofyourbaggage 2015-09-26 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
The only way I can think of to make it so the Capitol doesn't know 13 was involved is either find someone else to blame, or figure out a way to make it so the Capitol doesn't expect to find any bodies that aren't there - like the idea mentioned already with taking the kids when it looked like they were dead.

Or possibly making it seem like the kids were collateral damage in a failed attempt to completely stop the arena or break out of/into it or something. Basically making it seem as though they were planning something else and it failed and the kids were killed in the process? I don't know how viable that is ICly though.

sizeofyourbaggage: (Default)

[personal profile] sizeofyourbaggage 2015-09-26 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, if all of the kids just happened to die around the same time, the Capitol might get suspicious. But it might end up too complicated to make it seem like they were collateral damage for something else, so hmmm.

They probably won't have a long enough window to stagger the "deaths" enough to make them at least marginally less supicious?
didnothing: (Default)

[personal profile] didnothing 2015-09-26 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
Luna will be a Tribute in the Arena and right now she doesn't really know anything about District 13, but she has medical training and technical knowledge so she can maybe help with investigating/dealing with the trackers or something...if it's possible to do any of that without special equipment, anyway, and without endangering the kids or anyone else involved. Otherwise she values the kids' lives over her own, so she'd do anything to get them out if she knew there was an opportunity.
theflyingone: this pleases me (smile face)

[personal profile] theflyingone 2015-09-29 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
Trackers could be dug out with just a knife in canon, as long as one knew where they were in the arm. Medical training would definitely help anyway, since we wouldn't want to hit an artery lmao.
didnothing: (seek a way out)

[personal profile] didnothing 2015-10-01 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Luna should be able to help with that part! If she's around in week 4 anyway, which is always a caveat.
impaledqueen: (She's a rusty dagger)

[personal profile] impaledqueen 2015-09-26 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Peggy's a spy, so she'd suggest heavy use of espionage and sabotage. Once she's convinced that they can do this without letting the Capitol know they did it, then she will suggest that they get a few of the offworld Tributes into the loop so they can put as many of the District kids in a given place at a given time as possible. They could probably do this by pretending to be using the kids to bait other Tributes and tie them up in one place.

Then they can rig a piece of the arena to fall apart when some pre-planned event happens inside, like maybe an earthquake. (And if there's no pre-planned event, then maybe someone on the inside can make it one.) Local blackout happens because the circuit broke, people can quickly get in, grab kids, and get out, and they can plant body doubles that look like they were crushed by falling stones or something so the Capitol won't look too closely. The body doubles could be animals, but they could also be corpses of avoxes stolen before they were cremated by the Capitol or something depending on how dark we want to get.

As far as the Capitol would know, technical difficulties stole their show and the kids died in the event.
sizeofyourbaggage: (Default)

[personal profile] sizeofyourbaggage 2015-09-26 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, Sam is going to suggest more or less what I rambled about up above, kind of the same general idea without any specifics, maybe Peggy could come in with her specifics?
impaledqueen: (Hurt once hurt twice.)

[personal profile] impaledqueen 2015-09-26 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
According to Michi's edits, they won't be able to contact anyone before the arena, so then Peggy will focus more on sabotaging the outside of the arena in a way that makes it look like mechanical defects and maybe asking people who work with the arena to arrange for an in-arena event that would herd as many kids as possible into one place (assuming, of course, they have people there). Then they can go with the body doubles and the switching idea.

But I like the idea of Sam rambling and Peggy adding in some specifics. Let's do that.
silberfuchs: (falling star)

[personal profile] silberfuchs 2015-09-29 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
I think you have a good basis here, especially the trying to get the kids in one place thing, but there's a few problems.

First of all, she'll never get anyone to agree to use Avoxes in any sort of way that desecrates them. It's just not going to happen with 4 PCs having been Avoxes/currently Avoxes in 13, plus innumerable NPC members of the District having connections with friends and loved ones who have been as well. Even then, there's really no need for body doubles. Here's why:

- The chips. Every Tribute has one, which is how they locate the bodies so quickly. Doubles are obviously not going to have the right chips, if any at all, and the rescuers won't have time to rip them all out of every kid AND place them into whatever mangled double the rebels brought for each individual.

- Resources/time. District 13 doesn't have the time or the manpower to spare on breaking into a secure Avox facility to nab bodies. Animal corpses aren't exactly plentiful in the District either when it's rationing food; you need all that meat to eat, not toss into an Arena as a distraction.

- Lack of necessity. There aren't always bodies to find in the Arena, depending on manner of death. If there is some kind of huge explosion or rock slide or like event that causes a wide area of destruction, there's really no reason for them to plant bodies. So long as the chips are deactivated, there's not a way to trace it back to 13 if they're quick, and the Capitol can be dumb at times but they are careful. They're not going to launch an attack on 13 because the kids went missing, even if they think 13's responsible. They don't have the resources for that either and it's why the stalemate has been going on for so long.

That said, technical difficulties are definitely the way to keep this framed and I had an idea the other day that I wasn't able to get up here in a timely manner.

Essentially, if the rebels can get Gamemaker codes from an inside contact (ie: Sigma) via some means (hacker post, dream tech, whathaveyou) they can send a virus into the system that can play merry havoc with the weather controls. Based on Catching Fire, where a specific strike of lightning hit a tree every day at the same time, plus in the Games where we had the Gamemakers able to target lightning strikes on specific Tributes who used their powers in the Dark Ages Arena, we can safely assume that the Gamemakers have full control of the weather. If the Rebels are able to get into that system and cause a continued buildup of lightning power on a single point, it could conceivably short out the dome over the Arena, cracking it and allowing for a small craft of District 13's to make it in, grab the kids, and leave.

This also mirrors what Starkiller and Thor have done in separate Arenas in the past, also setting precedent for the cameras to short out entirely, both for broadcast and in-Arena security (as Carlos was rescued during Thor's breach of the space Arena and wasn't stopped.)

Mostly what I hadn't worked out was how to get the kids all in one place for rescue, but I love the plan of using them as hostage bait! I'm just not sure how to get that word around to the Capitol side Tributes. Maybe through Sponsor letters?
impaledqueen: (Until there's nothing left.)

[personal profile] impaledqueen 2015-09-29 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
I was thinking that the doubles were less about fooling the Capitol government - they're not going to be fooled either way, because they don't have time to either switch trackers or get doubles that could actually pass under scrutiny. I was thinking that it's more about giving the public enough reason to doubt that there was rebellion involvement, since bodies are really, really hard to destroy entirely and I don't think the Districts would buy that a bunch of their children suddenly died and there are no bodies to find during a blackout. What Peggy is aiming for is not having the Districts break out into violence before District 13 is in a position to give them any kind of support. If the Districts are fooled for now, then District 13 can whip the kids out later as propaganda tools but they don't have to worry about the violence in the Districts getting out of hand.

Although the difficulty of finding bodies is a good point. They don't need a lot in the way of remains, since even if it's hard to get rid of a body, it's not hard to blow it to pieces. That would make animal remains more plausible. Get a small low-power charge filled with bones and blood and blow it where the kids were and suddenly you have a nice scene with lots of blood and bone fragments. It still wouldn't hold water once someone had a chance to actually examine it, but it could easily pass as 'these children were crushed/blown up' to anyone who's watching, and it's not as resource-intensive as dragging entire carcasses over.

Sponsor letters sounds like a good idea for getting Tributes in on this. We could also go with the idea of using those weather controls to create some kind of in-arena event that forces all the kids they can get into one small space. Peggy would be hesitant about shorting out the entire Arena because she would be afraid that the Districts would be incited to riot because it's hard to explain away the halt of a whole arena as anything other rebel activity, but she could be talked into it if there's some other way they can put doubt in their minds that will stay their hands. What she's more afraid of is that the Districts will think the rebellion is more powerful than it really is and try to rise up before D13 has the necessary framework to support them, and that will lead to more unnecessary casualties.
silberfuchs: (hmm?)

[personal profile] silberfuchs 2015-09-29 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
The Districts already know the Capitol is trying to kill their kids; that's what the Games are. The bodies are simply irrelevant, especially since media is tightly controlled. If there's a blackout during the rescue, you can bet your bonnet there's no way the Capitol is going to show any footage of the crack in the dome after the fact and admit to 13 having grabbed the kiddies instead of them being dead. Leave the problem of fake bodies to the Capitol, they're good at weaving lies anyway.

I had meant the weather controls to blow the dome and the power simultaneously, as the force field around the Arena holds a lot of energy and shorting that would cause a huge surge. It would cut the cameras, meaning no one would see anything for at least an hour, if not longer. Your idea about the weather herding the kids into one space is a great one too; it would take some time for the lightning to overload enough to cause a surge, so it makes perfect sense to use it as a tool and make sure the kids are in the general vicinity when the dome blows. Hopefully no kids get squashed...

I don't think it would be hard to explain the gap in broadcast as something other than rebel activity either. The Districts as entities have absolutely no idea that District 13 even still exists. Any riots they'd incite would be on their own, since so far the Capitol has been effective at keeping them cut off from each other, not knowing what anyone else is doing. It's a huge deterrent when you think you're entirely alone against a seemingly all-powerful, insurmountable dictatorship. It's also why the Capitol would be very careful to make sure any information about 13's involvement not get out; they don't want to embolden the Districts.
theflyingone: find waldo (Default)

[personal profile] theflyingone 2015-09-29 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
I do like the blueprints idea via a mole/spy in the Capitol. If the surveillance distraction is going to be something in the sky, we definitely need to override Gamemaker controls with hacking. If it's a land-based distraction, supplies and instructions need to be smuggled in for Tributes to implement before surveillance is cut. Materials for small bombs have been sent in before. The Capitol might just expect them to use these to kill each other instead of planting them strategically to bring down part of the mountains.

Another possibility for making the kids appear dead before surveillance is cut is to smuggle instructions and sleeping darts that will temporarily stop their vitals. Trusted Tributes can then use them on the kids after herding them to the right spot.

We must remember to give instructions to dig out the trackers, if anyone other than d13 people are going to help directly with the kids. Also, some way to "accidentally" destroy or make trackers inaccessible later. Bombs planted by Tributes after the fact would erase the most evidence.

Altair has the ability to see invisible ink, so if we go the sponsor letter route, he'd be able to receive what would just look like nonsense or a copy of Celebrus to anyone else, as long as there's a small clue to let him know to look with his other eyes. He can also use his Eagle Vision to track people down, see enemies in hiding, or identify d13 people as allies. He would work with them more readily with less explanation needed. He could help find the kids by stealth, incapacitating them if necessary. If so many kids suddenly cooperate with strangers, it could raise suspicions.