⇨ POLARIS 3.0

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 115
Where: Polaris
What: On the morning of day 115, a couple hours before the technicians would come to pick up the test subjects, the escape plan will officially come into effect. If your character has been left out of the loop up till this point, feel free that someone hastily explains the plan during the initial phase! The meat of everything else will be played out via megathreads and any private toplevels people want to make.
Warnings: Probably violence.

PEER REVIEW↴ The plan starts with getting everyone out of their cells. Childermass is going to be using his Gilded Mark to enhance his shadow movement abilities, unabling him to teleport himself and other people out of containment. If your character has other ways of escaping they are free to pursue that, but on a base level, it can be assumed that everyone gets out thanks to Childermass. (Thanks Childermass!) Once everyone has been removed from their cells by some means or another, they will be forced to split into teams as swiftly as possible, as the moment people start breaking out, negative attention from the staff will start building. The area is poorly guarded at first, but as people become aware of the breakout, more will arrive. Gild, speaking on behalf of her inside plant, will say that those that 1) want to get their stuff back, 2) want to find Ignatius, should get the assistance of their allied Deltas to access sector A5. From there, they will have to access Polaris's storage in A3, a neighbouring sector, and find access to C2, the station where Ignatius is being held. They should expect to be met with armed resistance, but with any luck allies will be there to assist them. In general, characters will be most effective if they back one of these major objectives: ► TEAM LOOT: This team is trying to get back the items and pets that were confiscated when the group was brought into Polaris. Their objective, according to their allies on the inside, is to get to A5, and then make their way to A3. The important thing is being able to locate their stuff among a sea of other items, and to make it through security in order to reclaim it. Gild's plant has said that they will assist with this. After getting these items, Team Loot may wish to merge with Team Rescue. ► TEAM RESCUE: This team's primary focus is to get to A5 and then make their way to C2. If desired, they may wait for or join with Team Loot, or they may strike out ahead in order to take advantage of the element of surprise. The key factors are obtaining a way to access C2, as well as being prepared for armed conflict with the technicians guarding it, as well as possibly the Mother of Invention herself. Though, the ideal is that Gild will be distracting here at that time. ► TEAM DISTRACTION: This team can do their thing wherever they please, as their main intent is to sew general discord and distract the staff from the teams doing more important things. They should be prepared for armed resistance, but what tactics they pursue beyond that point are highly variable. ► TEAM FORTRESS: This team is attempting to set up a protective base of operations in the original sector in order to survive the conflict and protect their noncombatant comrades. How they accomplish this is also highly variable. Other objectives may exist, of course, and can be made with their own separate top levels. Chunks of these megathreads will have to be played out in summary form, so when characters are simply trying to get from place to place and specifics aren't necessary, feel free to stick to that format. Assume that everyone is already out of their cells for the purpose of the megathreads. Here is a shitty map of how the sectors connect, from a side view of the central Polaris hub.

Comments

[atouts]

Poorly executed still relayed heavily on the Ringmaster turning up and eating someone at the end. This, this time is different, but Childermass will do what he can. He burns his Mark, shoving her offered favor into powering his shadow teleportation. He could squeeze his shadows through it before, little, lifeless, and now--

Well, and now he's appearing in Syrlya's cell without any warning, though he should be expecting him regardless. He won't say much, just offer him his hand.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya perks up. The lights in the cell haven't quite come on, but he hears his movement and catches the way the shadows move differently. Knowing who it is, Syrlya smiles to himself and reaches for Childermass' hand as he starts to stand up.

"There's a set of armor in leather and chainmail, and a sword in the pocket dimension..." he lets the implication hang clear: he needs them.

[atouts]

"In a moment."

Once Childermass has Syrlya's hand, he's yanking them back through the shadows. It isn't a smooth transition by any account, more like a sudden stumble through a yawning void of black and then they're out again, staggering to keep from tumbling over. He can use it again, sure, but it isn't all smooth sailing.

He exhales once he sees they haven't fallen on their faces and lets go of Syrlya to open the dimension.

"What does the sword look like? People have all sorts of weapons in here."

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya stumbles with, bracing his hand against the wall to keep steady. He looks around quickly, making sure there's no one immediately coming to intercept them... and when there's not, he turns back to Childermass.

"Silver blade, black hilt, adorned with a golden, winged figure..." He gestures vaguely. "My sword was confiscated with the rest of our things, but I remember such a blade being in there before."

He can apologize for taking it later, but he figures Childermass can agree just plain arming up is a bigger priority.

[atouts]

Childermass just listens, nods, and goes to search the dimension as quickly as he can. He'll only get what Syrlya's asked for, lacking the pockets to tuck away anything extra that he might recognize. Silver sword with a winged figure, leather and chainmail armor, and then he's back out with those in hand.

"Here." He holds them out. "Get those settled. I have one more thing to give to you but I need to get it from my shadow."

[chronosynthesis]

"Thank you." Syrlya gathers them quickly, sparing another glance around before he... sets them down on the ground, leaning the sword against the wall. He can't really change with his arms full.

He gives Childermass a nod to let him know he's good to go, and then once Childermass disappears into his shadow, Syrlya takes a breath and closes his eyes and focuses.

He manages to push himself a foot forward, distancing his form from the body suit so that he teleports right out of it. It crumbles behind him, and a satisfied smirk crosses his face at his success.

Getting dressed in armor isn't quite so quick, though, so Childermass will probably return in the middle of him pulling it on. Being bare under the suit, it means he gets a full view of the damage of the Blue Rose--not just the changes to his face. The discoloration goes down his whole body, and his left arm and half his chest have been overtaken and melded together with a similar crystalline material.

[atouts]

Childermass doesn't have to go anywhere, actually, part from kneeling down on one knee to reach straight into his own shadow and rummage around. It'll give Syrlya a moment of privacy but, ultimately, a very short one. When he pulls his arm back out of the shadow, he'll have a belt gripped tightly in his hand.

When he looks up again, he does have to pause and stare for a second or two, only to give his head a shake and get back to his feet.

"That doesn't look too good," he states the obvious before moving on. "You'll need to be able to keep this somewhere on yourself where it won't touch you. They sheath into the belt's buckle but if I give you the belt, I won't be able to put it back."

[chronosynthesis]

At least Syrlya isn't concerned about nudity here. He pauses, just for a second. "It's stopped spreading."

So it's not good, but not getting worse at least. Onc ed he has the pants and coat on, he stops and turns to Childermass to regard the offered knife.

Ah. His eyes widen a little. "It's iron." There's a slight frown on his face as he reaches for the hilt, slowly, judging how safe it is to touch there. Probably should be if it's not sheathed too.

[atouts]

The hilt is, thankfully, safe to the touch. These were clearly built with changelings in mind, as the burn of the iron doesn't reach through the where it's been covered up.

"It is," Childermass confirms. "The Ringmaster gave these to me some time ago. I do not use them often but I've found them handy for dealing with enchantments and unruly faerie artifacts on occasion. You may need something like that when you find Ignatius."

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya takes the knife, turning it over in the faint light before he glances down to himself. He wedges it carefully between the under armor and outer armor at his waist, on the side opposite of his crystal arm. That's potentially dangerous, but it keeps it well out of sight and close until he needs it. Without a sheathe, he's just going to have to deal.

Then he swoops to start pulling on the rest of the armor. "I will use it wisely. Thank you... ah, security hasn't responded to the breach yet, have they?"

[atouts]

Well, that question gets a puzzled look.

"I don't hear alarms so I would say not yet," is the only answer Childermass can come up with. "I'm not sure how I'd know otherwise. I don't have eyes all over the station."