MISSION [ bad company ] + plotting post

[ximilian]

OVERVIEW • OBJECTIVE • ARRIVAL • LOCATIONS • PERSONS OF INTEREST • OOC NOTES

OVERVIEW

Scorpion’s Bend is a town among many scattered on the planet of Badrock, where the landscape is devoid of plants and greenery, and harsh sand and high, bare mountains rule the scenery. The entrance to Scorpion’s Bend is protected by the valley of Sandgorge and the slopes of Guncross Mountain, which has given rise to one of the town’s main sources of income: mining. Many riders come to the town to seek a fortune, or to start a new life far from wherever they were… in Scorpion’s Bend, no one asks too many questions about where you come from, as long as you do your part.

TOP

OBJECTIVE

The team’s objective is to locate and retrieve the orb. Viveca has traced the orb’s signal to the town, but where there it is and who has it — that is what the team must find out.

TOP

ARRIVAL

To make the team’s arrival to a relatively small town less conspicuous, the team will be teleported to the city in three batches — all to different times. This means that while everyone is teleported from the station in the same instance as usual, their arrivals will be at different points in time. The last group will be the newest arrivals, while group 2 will arrive two weeks prior to that, and group 1 will be the first one to arrive, a month before group 3. So timeline will be as follows:

GROUP 1 will have been in the town for one month by the OOC start of the mission:

Billy Butcher, Ziggy Berman, Itachi Uchiha, Katsuki Bakugo, The Doctor (12), Drift, Andromache, Erik Stevens, River Song, Marta Cabrera, Sabriel, R0-GR, Alina Starkov, L3-37, Shang-Chi, Gamora, Peter Parker, Cobb Vanth, Portgas D. Ace, Leonard McCoy, Takeshi Kovacs

GROUP 2 will have been in the town for two weeks by the OOC start of the mission:

Yelena Belova, Athrun Zala, Percy de Rolo, Lan Xichen, Finn, Raleigh Becket, Shinjiro Aragaki, Luke Skywalker, Megatron of Tarn, Sebastian Michaelis, Daisy Johnson, Zari Tarazi, Harley Quinn, Ken Kaneki, Kaidan Alenko, Edward Elric, Rosinante Donquixote, Rhysand, Peter Quill, Newton Geiszler, James T. Kirk

GROUP 3 will arrive at the OOC mission start:

Cagalli Yula Athha, Clarke Griffin, Shikamaru Nara, Jiang Yanli, Soldier Blue, James Barnes, Gwen Stacy, Goro Majima, Deuce Spade, Clara Oswald, Zhao Tianyou, The Doctor (11), Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Aleksander Morozova, Dean Winchester, Ratchet, Hermann Gottlieb, Yzak Jule, Yamato

All groups must make backstories for themselves to explain why they are coming to the town. In addition to that, groups 1 and 2 will have to live in the town for the number of weeks they have before the entire team has arrived and the mission can fully start.

TOP

LOCATIONS

The town is situated on a wide expanse of dirt and dust, with modest rows of establishments lining the main street. Like something straight out of a Spaghetti Western, the main street is where all of the action happens, a central hub for its inhabitants. Signs in big, black text are posted above each humble business: the SB Trading Post, the Crow’s Tooth Saloon, the Scorpion’s Bend General Store, among several other smaller fronts for shops with more wares than one might expect of a humble mining town. Orbers can find lodging at Crow's Tooth Saloon, Thornbush Inn, or other accommodating establishments and locals.

Past the more respectable businesses, behind Crow’s Tooth, is Sindown, a pleasure house for the rowdy and the sleepless. Not far are the stables for the town’s horses and wagons. At the opposite end of the street is the church and schoolhouse, and adjacent to that is the Sheriff’s office and holding cells.

The closest mines to the town are right at the edge of it, opening deep into the ground. While these are not quite so full of precious ore and minerals as the mines built inside the Guncross mountain, they are accessible to everyone in town — whereas the mountain requires a miner of experience, and no novices are taken along.

At the border of the town is a range of wire fencing to delineate where the land starts and the outer territories begins. A thick wooden post indicates the name of the town and its sheriff; old remnants of advertisements and wanted signs remain stapled into the aged wood from a time when the town was just beginning to prosper. Outside the town is endless dry dust and a mountain range that lines the horizon as far as the eye can see. Scattered across the deserts are cactus trees and dry grass and no signs of path or roadways.

NOTE: Characters will be unable to access areas outside of the town and the mines adjacent to it. The reason for this will become apparent in the log.

TOP

PERSONS OF INTEREST

THE SHERIFF
The one in charge of keeping law in town is Wilson Brewer, also known as One-Eyed Wilson. He lost his eye long ago in a duel and has since defended the town from bandits, bounty hunters and other small-time criminals. He was wounded in a bandit attack a year prior, but made a miraculous recovery… and swears his reflexes aren’t any slower after, dammit!

●

THE DEPUTY
Levi “Bushwacker” Duke is the young and enthusiastic deputy of the town. He earned his nickname already as a boy, as he tended to sneak up and ambush wrongdoers — and he’s followed his calling to become the town’s youngest deputy to date.

●

THE MAYOR
The town responds to the rule of Madam Alva Reilly, whose amiable exterior hides a steely interior and an organised mind. She runs the town like clockwork, making sure the people are fed, the workers are paid, and that no one in the town wastes their talents.

TOP

OOC NOTES

The mission spans the months of January and February, and characters will return to the station in mid-February.

The team’s main objective is to find the orb and retrieve it. To do that, they have to find out where exactly it is in the town and who is in possession of it.

A new thing about this mission is that the characters will be arriving to the town in three separate groups at different points in time: group 1 a month before the official start of the mission, group 2 two weeks before it, and group 3 right as the mission starts. Essentially, Viveca will be teleporting all three groups into different points in time to the planet, but everyone will have left the station at the same time. They will have been instructed to create backstories for themselves to make their presence and purpose in the town less conspicuous.

The focus of this mission is blending in and information gathering: in the first log, characters will have to act as if they are native citizens to the planet and live in the town while gathering clues about where the orb might be. To do this, every character will have one search request to use to speak to NPCs or try and search areas mentioned in the log. There will also be one (1) NPC thread slot.

This mission has one time-sensitive NPC thread. If you want to sign your character up for a thread with the NPC, please respond HERE by January 14, 6PM GMT. Note that unlike before, the sign-up period will overlap with the log, and the thread will go up on January 15. From there, the chosen character will be expected to wrap up the thread by January 29.

Characters are encouraged to share information through the network, and a mod-provided plotting post will be posted later in January that can be used to plot for February’s log.

The personal goals have been assigned and can be found here. If you have any questions about your task, please ask us here! In the same comment, there are instructions for what to do if you are unhappy with the task your character has received.

Please use this post to plot for the mission and make your own plotting comments. You can use the form below. If you need help thinking up a job for your character, feel free to ask us or your fellow Orbers!

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Personal task:</b> what ideas do you have for your personal task? would you be needing any help? <b>Group:</b> to which group does your character belong aka how long have they been in Scorpion's Bend? <b>Backstory:</b> what backstory will your character create for the mission? some things to consider: why have they come to Scorpion's Bend? what was their previous life like? what job will they have there? <b>General plans for the mission:</b> what it says on the tin <b>ETC:</b> does your character have any powers that could help with the mission? and anything else you can think of may go here!

TOP

▶ NAV

Comments

MISSION QUESTIONS.

[ximilian]

Direct any questions you may have about the mission so far here. There will be another question thread in the log for log-specific questions.

[anthropophagite]

Weird and gross question: is there a cemetery in Scorpion’s Bend and are the bodies human?

aka will kaneki have snacc

[ximilian]

There is indeed a cemetery behind the town church! However while some bodies may be humanoid in form, they aren't technically human, nor will they be very fulfilling for Kaneki's needs.

However, due to the particular nature of his diet, Viveca will be sending him off with a supply of rations — it's up to him to make them last, though.

local history qs!

[blackfire]

Hi mods! This looks fantastic and I am very excited.

For those of us who play idiots who would Do Homework:

  Have there been any local wars/conflicts/skirmishes within the last <10 years?
  Would there be a need/demand for smuggling of weapons/medicine/potentially illegal substances?
  are there enough cowboy hats to go around. This is a very serious question for very serious reasons and should be!! taken!! very seriously indeed.


wait, no, additional q:


  how is the ore transported from the town/to processing plants/etc? are there trains or is this a strictly wagons only area?

[ximilian]

1. Unfortunately this information will not be made available until the log, though you're free to make inferences based on the little information given in the Sheriff's info box.
2. Mayor Reilly runs a tight ship on a fairly small town so there is no inherent or apparent need for smuggling of any kind, but that is not to say the town is void of its consumable vices. This too will be elaborated on more in the log!
3. Viveca will be providing the crew some choice attire to help them fully blend into the town, so you get a hat and you get a hat and you get a hat!
4. Just wagons.

[cruelyethuman]

Do they already have the proper clothes when they get there, or do they arrive in whatever was clean from the clothes pile on the station?

[ximilian]

Viveca, in her unending benevolence, has seen fit to provide the crew with at least one starter outfit for the mission. Anything else brought along will be up to the crew via supply drops or the local town's shops.

Re: MISSION QUESTIONS.

[flickerandfade]

Is there a train station?

Can Megatron hide his robot body by pretending to be a locomotive?

[ximilian]

Alas there are no train stations in town! All major travel to and from come in the form of wagons, so Megatron is more than free to conceal his robot body with one of those.

Re: MISSION QUESTIONS.

[droide]

How common are non-humans on this planet? Will the inorganic Orbers have trouble blending in?

[ximilian]

While a good number of locals are humanoid and humanoid-adjacent, there are a variety of other alien locale that can range in numerous forms and sizes. As far as inorganics, the locals will just assume they are another type of alien race than assume they're actually mechanical.

[callada]

To help with Rosi's backstory he'd be doing a fair amount of lurking and listening so he can add believable details when he has to explain himself. A few things he'd be listening for:

How far from here and in which direction is the next nearest town, and what's it like? Are towns typically around the size of Scorpion's Bend or is there a "big city" somewhere that people refer to and occasionally visit?

Do people often come and go from Scorpion's Bend? Are there any recent arrivals other than the Ximilia crew?

Is there any particular thing in town people often complain about? Like, is the water terrible, do they never get shipments from other places in time, do they frequently suffer attacks from bandits or wild animals?

And if all this needs to wait for the actual log let me know, haha, just trying to cover some things that might have been relevant before that starts!

[groupiedrifter]

Just wondering, esp for Ziggy - any discrimination or anything like that? Species, gender/sex, lack of wealth, etc?

Or is this a pretty even place where ♪ WE'RE ALL IN THIS TO-GEEETHER ♪ ?

[bindsthedead]

Are magic and the supernatural open, accepted things, or something characters will need to be subtle about?

[homeostatic]

What's the level of technology like in the area?

[bindsthedead]

Another question! I see there's a church, so what's the state of religion in town?

[kovach]

for kovacs' regret change, his deal has him losing a memory every month. since he's going to be on the mission a month in advance, is he losing an extra memory? c':

Re: MISSION QUESTIONS.

[scarcastically]

1. is it possible for erik to sign up as a deputy as well? or like trainee deputy?
2. What's the firearm/weaponry situation like? Easily acquirable? Since it's like space western, are there a mix in the types of guns there?

[chrysology]

So. Couple of questions, I guess. One being how people here in this mission might react to Ed's auto-mail or if it might be best he generally keeps it covered (he usually does anyway but. Just to be sure). I see we have like an alien and someone has lost an eye so prob not that unusual with prosthetics but the auto-mail would possibly seem quite advanced in comparison to what might be available in this sort of setting otherwise so? Just checking.

Also if he uses his alchemy (esp if he goes for his personal goal this time?) how everyone might respond to that? I know the mayor wants to make use of everyone's talents and such.

[essenceofdeadlybeasts]

I hate to ask this and it's more of a thing for later but... just to get a feel for if it's possible to work with this idea or not, here's a question:

Since Zhao's personal goal is to steal from a person of authority in town (and not get caught) could I incorporate that into a search request when the time comes? Say, like, getting into the Sheriff's office and snooping around? Stealing something from there on his way out?

I feel like this is a big ask or something for later but I just wanna know if I can maybe sort of plan for it to be incorporated or really not at all whatsoever. :3

[oiorpata]

are there any other domesticated animals besides horses around? mostly re: the stables but anywhere in town. cows? for the cowboys?? just wondering about the wildlife situation!

[starer]

Heya. Just moving this over here cause it's probably best to keep event stuff in one place.

As mentioned, Bucky's going to need to be triggered to get him to leave the station this mission. Is there anything specific that needs to happen with that? Would he respond to the orbs as his handlers, or could it be random other orbers? And can knocking him out be used as a way to get him back to normal again so he has to deal with actually being on the mission? Or would the new orb (once the mission gets that far) have control over him too? (I'm open to anything. I just wanted to check in before I start plotting with people.)

[firstroar]

Are we ok to fiddle with townsfolk's interactions/reactions if it's for a non-mission related thread? Like starting fights in the bar or cheating someone out of money in cards or [insert other western action film trope] for the sake of cr building?

[construing]

Venom’s entire nutrition derives from whatever Gwen eats, and in light of the food-related discoveries being made, Gwen either isn’t consuming nutrients or is consuming a profoundly restricted amount. Which means Venom will be taking a turn for the parasitic and start eating her. To prevent the likely death of host and symbiote both, I’m assuming that Viveca, in her infinite generosity, packed a few nutritional supplements for Gwen & Venom after taking one look at Gwen’s corn dog diet and realizing they need all the help they can get (correct me if I’m wrong!)

And my actual question: would she also not show physical signs of malnutrition despite the reduced caloric intake? She arrived with the last group so it’s only been a few days ICly; but she also eats for two and would feel the effects much quicker than someone not bonded to a parasitic alien lab experiment. Basically, I’m trying to figure out what January is going to look like for her and how badly it’s going to suck 🥲

[homeostatic]

totally random, and I wasn't sure whether to ask here or on the log, but what say someones wanted to get hitched? what are the marriage rites of the Sect of the Eight Divines, and is Father Alois amenable to couples who wish to move the date up?