bravenewworld | The Battle for Caldera

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The Battle for Caldera

The time for action is at hand, and the players have been set in place. Those who choose to make an attempt at diplomacy head off at the appointed time to meet with Valeria, the clerk and representative of the general who leads the Gigas army. Those who wish to take more direct action against Gigas leave with General Ironbrand to put their plans into motion. In the meantime, the refugees continue to stream into Union, while supplies are gathered and flow the other way.

The outcome of this war may very well depend on the combined results of these four efforts…

((This log will be a catch-all for all four efforts of the attempt to save Caldera. There will be four different parts of this post: Diplomacy, Aggression, Refugees, and Supplies. The first two should be well established, but the Refugees portion will encompass bringing those in Caldera who require help to Union and giving them medical aid and care, while the Supplies portion will encompass people in Union setting up shelters and gathering resources to send back to Caldera, as well as other miscellaneous tasks that may be of help. Gathering resources may entail leaving Union to explore out in other areas. You all signed up for groups, so please try to maintain these groups when posting, particularly to the Diplomacy and Aggression sections. The other two may be more free-form.

Mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the logs moving.

EDIT 5/31: Please try to group up if possible! We'll generally try to wait for threads to have 2-3 people before we jump in. Threads with 3+ may attract the attention of something a little more... interesting.))

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[ Haruka nods: her attention is focused on the men "guarding" the shed and their immediate enviroment, attempting to determine if there's anything there that can be used to sound an alarm. If so, she's going to target the soldier nearest it. ] You throw a better party.

[ Let's do this thing. Surety is their best bet right now, so she jumps down from their perch in an attempt to Aerial Ace her chosen target: once she's close, if that doesn't knock him out, a well-placed foot or fist to the head ought to. ~~They can grandstand once the supplies are theirs to guard.~~

Michiru, the other's all yours. ]

[hah. Focusing her mind, she gathers Psychic energy to herself and jumps down after Haruka, eyes slightly aglow. As soon as her feet touch the ground, she unleashes the mental barrage on the other guard.

She doesn't wait to see if it works, but immediately closes in, gathering energy to herself again just in case.]

[Nothing immediately visible will stand out to Haruka. The door to the shed is barred, and the guards are gathered in front of a fire emitting smoke lazily drifting upwards.

The two will dive in for the attack!

Aerial Ace, of course, strikes its target with perfect precision, and the following blow to the head is enough to knock him down without a sound. The other has more time to react.]

Calderans!

[It's not entirely clear who he's talking to, but even as the psychic attack strikes, he's struggling to grab something from his pocket.]

[and she's there. Michiru slams the heel of her hand into the other guard's nose, the force of it amplified by the Psychic power she had been gathering. And if that didn't effectively scramble his brains, Michiru is not above kicking a man while he's down.

...she's nothing if not thorough, alright?]

[ Hah. Has she told you lately that you're awesome, Michiru?

You get a rain check on that. Haruka bends down. ] Some army. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[ What's in this guy's pocket that he was so eager to get hold of? Haruka will try to take a peek, but she won't draw the item out unless it doesn't look like she'll accidentally set off a distress signal or a trap by handling it.

Besides, they're on the clock. They also have a caravan to disrupt. ]

[Michiru's attack strikes true. They won't have to look for what's in the pocket, though, as his hand flies back when struck by the force of the attack. A handful of glimmering dust showers through the air...

Nothing particularly interesting will happen should they chance to breathe it, but some of it will fall in the fire. And as it does, the smoke begins to deepen to a crimson hue...]

[she doesn't notice it at first, since she's more concerned about making sure nobody else is going to jump out at them, but. That is a very eye-catching color of red. Wonderful.

Calling water to her palm, Michiru extinguishes the fire and spares the climbing tower of red a glance.]

Haruka. [disperse it? It may be too late, but best not attract everybody's attention. And at least the lack of smoke is less conspicuous than red smoke, if anybody was paying attention to that.

She'll scrutinize their surroundings first, before trying to see if she can make out what the caravan is doing.]

A signal? [ Great. One Gust, coming right up, to disperse that cloud - hopefully before anyone can think it was more than a trick on the horizon, but they can't be too cautious.

They can't bank on remaining a full surprise attack now, though. Haruka looks around. No telling when these guys might wake up, so they should probably tie them up real quick or something. ] Maybe we should cut them off before they get here. Spare the supplies if we can.

[ And, y'know. Give them less time to prepare. ]

[They have about 10 minutes before the caravan arrives. Whether or not they've been alerted that something is wrong is uncertain.

The men on the ground seem to be out, for now, but they could very well stir at any time. Michiru's target's nose seems badly broken from her attack; he gurgles somewhat in his unconscious stupor.]

We better hurry, then.

[producing some rope, she hands a length of it to Haruka before proceeding to ~~expertly~~ tie up her guard, using a piece of the guard's own clothes as a gag. While she's at it, she'll pocket any keys or papers she comes across.]

[ Haruka does the same for hers, her face remaining expressionless. It can't be helped, folks. You got in the way.

When she's done, she assesses the area between them and the caravan. Is it just open desert, or is there a good place to ~~say something witty while striking a pose while silhouetted against the sun~~ hide and ambush their target between the supplies and the outpost? If so, let's head there.

If not, flank them on Pokéback? ]

[There's a brief flash and a woman teleports into their midst. Setsuna may be late but she's always fashionable.

Terrible introduction jokes aside, Setsuna looks worn from the teleport and notices that she's arrived in the middle of some action...or the end of some action.]

Sorry. It seems I missed somethings.

[Michiru will find a keyring filled with keys, one of which ostensibly is for the locked shed. She'll also find a bag filled with black powder, some wrinkled up letters - all from his family in Gigas, unfortunately, a coin purse, and seven Pokeballs.

Probably don't want to touch the Pokeballs.

Unfortunately, there's not really a good place to ambush the caravan potentially besides the small cliff they were just on.]

[nothing official looking enough for her. She'll pocket those keys, but leave the rest alone.

Standing back up, Michiru smiles at Setsuna.] Not by much.

[considering the lay of the land...] Shall we set up the reception here?

[...might as well drag these guards off to the side, hide them somewhere.]

[ Haruka looks back up at that cliff. It's the best vantage point, yeah. And World Shaking isn't known for his stealth. ] We're just getting to the good part anyway.

[ Three is also better than two for what's coming up. She checks the caravan again quickly, then jerks her head at the cliff. ] Curtain's in five. Let's make sure there won't be an encore.

[ And with that, she'll head back over to prep for the ambush. Between her jumping prowess, her strength, and her speed, scaling a cliff is nothing. ]

[Setsuna follows Haruka's gaze and spots the caravan. It would seem her timing wasn't so bad after all. Setsuna then looks up at the cliff and watches the other woman get ready. So there going to fight some more? An ambush is really right up her alley between a Feint Attack or Teleport.]

Very well. I'll assist where I can.

[it's not quite as easy as Haruka makes it look, but Michiru will follow her up that cliff. Once there, she'll crouch, keeping an eye on the caravan and the surroundings while presenting as small a silhouette as possible. Time to clear her mind and. Well. Status boosting moves sure are handy that way.]

[...The caravan proceeds forward smoothly.

When it is about 1000 feet from the shed, though...

It stops.

............Maybe the guards were meant to identify themselves or something whoops.]

[ .....well. It's....not a moving target now?

Better not give them any more time to think about this than necessary. Warp Band at the ready, Haruka stands up to serve as bait. ] Looking for someone?

[ Ambush is go. ]

[Leave it to the actors to know how to improvise. Setsuna isn't sure what to do when the caravan stops so far out, but Haruka is ready and Setsuna looks to Michiru for some kind of signal. If they're going to still ambush then they need to use Haruka's act of distraction to their advantage.

Concentrating, Setsuna fades out of sight and, using the shadows, performs a Feint Attack to sneak up on the unsuspecting caravan.]

[Setsuna got a nod at the far side of the caravan and a slight smirk, before Michiru herself darted away towards the other side.

Once in place, Michiru concentrates and that's a ~~Deep Submerge~~ tidal wave crashing towards the caravan.

A glimmer of her Warp Band, and her Gardevoir is at her side, serious and Psychically linked.]

[The caravan is eerily silent. Whoever's inside doesn't react at all to Haruka's appearance, either having already understood that an attack was underway or perhaps being remarkably unconcerned about this entire situation.

It's only when the water begins to surge in that something happens.

With a flare of light, a brilliant blue shield suddenly appears around the Caravan; a second flare and six strange Pokemon are suddenly floating around the caravan.]

Squad 309 - On defense!

[There is a strange undulation in the air - the entire group will suddenly feel a sensation of unbalance. As if they're trying to move underwater. It may be possible that they've experienced the effects of Trick Room well enough to recognize it.

In the meantime, three heavily armored soldiers leap out, their own movements somehow much swifter than would be expected. The waters are heavily mitigated by the Light Screen that's up. They can probably expect that there's a Reflect in place as well.]

You think we travel without protection? I thought Calderans were supposed to be good at strategizing.

[ Oh. Oh, defenses are one thing, but that weird distortion to the environment hits Haruka hard. Smart of them to plan for something that takes out speedy assaults. She staggers but raises her Warp Band. ] We're more improvisational.

[ Attacking feels impossible right now, but she does summon her Rhyhorn and her Murkrow. World Shaking the Rhyhorn almost immediately tosses his head in frustration. He feels heavy! What's going on?!

That's what Haruka would like to know. Be her shield for a moment, World Shaking, while she gathers her thoughts to regroup. For some reason, her speed's just...gone.

She's glaring daggers at the man who's been calling the orders, though. That's the one. That's the one she has to take out. No matter what. ]

((Ahh no I linked the wrong thing, I apologize! Trick Room is the right link. It makes slow Pokemon fast and fast Pokemon slow. Rhyhorn would be quite happy in it, just as a heads-up.))

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actsmagnificent - 2014-06-02 05:06 (UTC) - Expand

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bravenewmods - 2014-06-03 00:03 (UTC) - Expand

[Perhaps not immediate strategy, but they DO have an analyst on their team. Setsuna is hindered by the Light Screen from attacking, but that isn't blocking her from taking in each and every Pokemon's abilities, strengths, and powers.

She raises her hand and summons two Pokemon with her Warp Band: Lethe and Cerberus. If their speeds have been reversed then Slowpoke isn't going to be so slow any more.

And her ability to use Disable is not going to be stopped by projections like a Light Screen or Reflect. Setsuna sends the mental command through the Warp Band and Lethe responds in kind by using Disable.]