Operation: Mario

[initiates]

HERE IS THE UPDATED PLOT POST, save yourself some time and read that first! The information on this page is now secondary and optional reading material.

Dear Exsilium, we hope you’ve had a good vacation from pain and suffering, because Catsovi and the United Earth are teaming up to bring us back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

To kick things off, beginning today on August 30th, Catsovi will be selling out to the UE friends, acquaintances, and people he’s never even met before, like the charming fellow he is. That means that this is most definitely a chance to sign up for that plot, but first, details!

After Nightcap’s death on August 3rd, using his mind control ability to gain +1 spiffy metal bodyguard, Catsovi took off with Vanadi-the-cyborg for UE territory. Vanadi returned on the 19th, freshly hacked and controlled by the UE, and Catsovi resurfaced in Exsilium on the 21st. Since then, Vanadi has been looking for people with unusual powers. If he's talked to your character about powers, or seen them in action, consider your character noticed! That does not mean you have to participate in this part of the plot, though; it's entirely possible your character fell through the cracks. It also isn't necessary for Vanadi to have ever spoken with your character before to make them eligible! Unless your character's powers are their deepest secret, there's a great variety of ways that Vanadi or Catsovi could have learned of their potential use to the UE. Additionally, if you play a powered character and would rather opt out of this part entirely, that's fine too.

Catsovi (with some help from Vanadi) will be covertly controlling and sending away people with unusual powers from August 30th to September 12th. Under his control, they’ll be walking themselves out of the city and to the coast, where smugglers have been paid to pick them up and deliver them into the waiting hands of UE border patrol across the water. From there they’ll be whisked away into laboratories unknown.

Prior to their self-delivery to the UE, Catsovi is also more than happy to take those who have fallen under his control and make them turn against or strain/ruin their CR.

Catsovi’s mind-control can manifest in your character in one of two ways:

1) Your character believes they remain in control, noticing nothing wrong about themselves, and carries out the tasks Catsovi wants them to as if they themselves decided to do those things -- think Inception!

But what if Catsovi wants your militantly pacifistic character to gut their roommates? There is probably no way that your character would ever consciously do that, regardless of how much external sneaky psychic prodding they receive. In that case, there’s option 2:

2) Your character is straight-up hypnotized to carry out Catsovi’s will, with the character’s actual conscious self knocked-out and unawares. This option is used when Catsovi requires your character to do something so wildly OOC for them that subtlety of option 1 would never work.

Note: Those chosen for being mind controlled, causing havoc, and shipping themselves off will be chosen by a random lotto, and sign ups will be screened. If you’d like to enter your character, we suggest clearing it with their close CR first, or at least warning them!

If you're interested in having your (powered) character fall under Catsovi’s control and mysteriously disappear between August 30th-September 12th, this post here is where you can sign up! However, once they leave Exsilium, they will be gone and entirely out of communication until at least mid-September, so be prepared to have them out of commission for a bit. (It won't exempt them from AC though, sorry!)

This all comes to a head during the party that Vanadi mentioned, on September 15th. Catsovi will be using his mind control powers to cause general mayhem and chaos, and then send off the last batch of signed-up powered people to the UE all in a final wave. Additionally, the strange giant wheel that showed up in Exsilium with him and has been rolling around in the Outlands will arrive to crash the party, nulling all powers in the area (except for Catsovi's, of course), and generally running people over while crying corrosive acid blood. (See this open log for more details on its powers; note that at the party, instead of just power dampening, it will unleash a full power null that affects anyone within a mile radius.) It's going to be a party to remember!

(Note, this will all take place after 10 PM, so if you'd like your character to show up, have a lovely time, and not be traumatized, just make sure they head home before then and you've officially opted out of this part of the pain-and-suffering plot.)

Now, what does this mean for non-powered people? Well, someone is going to have to mount a rescue for the friends and comrades lost in the UE. Badass normals and regularass normals, strap on your batgear. The hunt for Catsovi will end in his death on the 17th (the final confrontation is claimed by Adrasteius, but anyone else can have a swing up until then) while the Initiative scrambles to fix all this, and then comes the search and rescue mission in UE territory, along with quick last-minute missions in time to make things a little easier against insurmountable odds of UE security.

The missions via Transporter will be hitting up the holding facilities at various points in time in small groups (mod-arranged, unless you have requests), and completing various objectives to result in the holding cells and security being weakened enough to be broken into in the present day. Those on the mission closest to the present day will also discover that the UE has already developed a security system to block power usage, meaning that powered people cannot join the present-day rescue mission without setting off all sorts of alarms. However, powered people will be needed to create a diversion! The present-day mission will be split into loud, noisy, powered people drawing UE attention, and non-powered people sneaking in to jailbreak those caught up.


The sign-ups that we're looking for:
BEING CONTROLLED & SENT AWAY: Aug 30th - Sept 12th, with the final wave on Sept 15th.
Sign-ups for this can be found on this page.

MISSIONS IN TIME: Missions to weaken the UE's holding cells for the rescue in the present.
Use this form to sign up:
<b>Character name:</b> <b>Journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>Character skillset:</b>

MISSION TO THE UE: Big damn heroes, busting into the UE for the final rescue.
Use this form to sign up:
<b>Character name:</b> <b>Journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>Character skillset:</b> <b>Is your character playing diversion, or on the (no powers) sneaking rescue team?</b>

Last minute edition!
KIDNAPPED BUT NOT MIND-CONTROLLED: For anyone that would like their powered characters to be taken to the UE without mind control, the mods will find a kidnap-buddy for you.
Sign up in this thread right here.

Note: Characters may participate in both missions, just remember to sign up for both! Those signing up to be captured will be very thoroughly detained until after the rescue on the 19th, though. Additionally, it is possible to have your character remain uncontrolled, but forcibly kidnapped by a controlled character, if you'd still like them to end up in a lab.



The tl;dr version:
Catsovi is capturing powered people and marching them off to play Princess Peach in the UE, to be rescued by a collection of sexy Marios.

Aug 30 - Sept 12: Signed-up people get controlled and sent off by Catsovi.
Sept 15: Vanadi’s catastrophic party, and the rest of the sign-ups are controlled/captured.
Sept 15-17: Encounters with Catsovi, and a series of missions in time to help the UE rescue.
Sept 19: The UE rescue mission, and everyone is returned to Exsilium.


As always, feel free to use this post for plotting!

Comments

SIGN UP: MISSION IN TIME

[initiates]

[fishnetted]

Character name: Dinah Lance
Journal: fishnetted
Character skillset: Canary Cry, super badass martial arts.

[clario]

Character name: Sweet Pea
Journal: clario
Character skillset: Lotsa guns. And a sword. And a punch/kick that can break through metal. She's a one-woman army okay.

[allucinator]

Character name: Jack Kelly
Journal: allucinator
Character skillset: Shooting a gun! Loudly shouting! Fighting hand-to-hand!

[candystar]

Character name: Alixandra Demter
Journal: candystar
Character skillset: Hacking things with her brain, looking cute and innocent, sneaking into places she shouldn't be, shooting things.

[gunsling]

Character name: Jake English
Journal: gunsling
Character skillset: He can shoot guns. Sometimes his bullets hit things too!

[mentalisolate]

Character name: Charles Xavier
Journal: mentalisolate
Character skillset: Really strong telepathy! He'll want to try and fight back. Can't do much physical infiltration

Re: SIGN UP: MISSION IN TIME

[devotedtothecore]

Character name: Chrysos Kineas
Journal: devotedtothecore
Character skillset: Gearhead mechanic hacks, badass parkour, novice pistolry o>

[strategic_guile]

Character name: Blaine Thorps
Journal: strategic_guile
Character skillset: Badass normal Assassin/Sniper, hand-to-hand, lots of guns, knives if he's desperate, running faster than everyone else 8D;;

[lazyinlove]

Character name:Stanley Lucerne
Journal: lazyinlove
Character skillset:He's a bad choice if they're going for specialization, because he's just a normal teenager. And he's probably high. So no hard feelings if he doesn't fit this part of the mission. He'd basically need someone to tell him what to do!

[peeta_bread]

Character name: Peeta Mellark
Journal: peeta_bread
Character skillset: Great strength, throwing knives, hand-to-hand combat

[ringwizard]

Character name: Haruto Souma
Journal: ringwizard
Character skillset: He blows stuff up. Nah but to sum up: he's a monster-hunting monster-killing superhero with a talent for demolition.

Re: SIGN UP: MISSION IN TIME

[have_hat_will_travel]

Character name: Pidonus Marasia
Journal: have_hat_will_travel
Character skillset: High-level Succubus Bard (with Prestige Class abilities and Munchkin building shenanigans). Will definitely work with a team, as she is intentionally optimized as a high-power Support unit rather than a direct combatant - though she can hold her own, especially with her array of mind-affecting abilities.

[controlledvariable]

Character name: Stephanie Brown
Journal: controlledvariable
Character skillset: Batgirl. Misandry.

[boughtabookstore]

Character name: Roslyn Small
Journal: boughtabookstore
Character skillset: Combat training, martial arts, marksmanship.

[curatesecrets]

Character name: Artie Nielsen
Journal: curatesecrets
Character skillset: Lockpicking, codebreaking, etc... years of being a Warehouse agent has made him VERY good at breaking into and just generally breaking things.

He also has an inkwell that basically works like an Acme Portable Hole in his inventory from arrival. :D

[keep_smiling]

Character name: Elmer C. Albatross
Journal: keep_smiling
Character skillset: Elmer is very good at not staying dead, talking people's ears off, and being far more observant than people ever seem to notice.

[deadlybanker]

Character name: Giovanni Auditore
Journal: deadlybanker
Character skillset: Giovanni is a trained assassin. He knows how to sneak up on target without being seen and kill them quickly. He is also fairly decent at code breaking.

[followupquestion]

Character name: Renee Montoya
Journal: followupquestion
Character skillset: Expert investigator, martial arts experience, firearms

[hejhej]

Character name: Lisbeth Salander
Journal: hejhej
Character skillset: Hacking and coding ability, shooting ability (handgun), kicking motherfuckers in the face

[onblackwings]

Character name: Khisanth
Journal: onblackwings
Character skillset: Shape changing, general magic, being a giant dragon. Basically she is the muscle/spying eyes of any group.

[hiddendepth]

Character name: Seles Wilder
Journal: hiddendepth
Character skillset: Magic (mainly ice, also some melee-type spells), use of sword, surprisingly good physical strength for a little girl (plus her purse holds like infinite items okok)

Re: SIGN UP: MISSION IN TIME

[enduringwinter]

Character name: Richter Abend
Journal: enduringwinter
Character skillset: He comes with magic (mostly water, darkness and some single ally heals), a sword and ax, and a History major. 8|b

[highfrequency]

Character name: Raiden
Journal: highfrequency
Character skillset: Battlefield awareness, stealth, being a cyborg.

This is assuming it is okay to go on both missions (I feel like I saw somewhere that it was but can't find it now). If it isn't, disregard this! He'll keep to the rescue in the present.

[ladyspitfire]

Character name: Elissa Cousland
Journal: ladyspitfire
Character skillset: Assassin work, swordplay, sneaking, silver-tongue.