February 13th: Bonebreaker and Jailbreak

Fierneceal (Bellanai) wrote:Fierneceal blinks and steps in. "Yes to intercepting the transport. No to explosives. There's too much risk of collateral damage involved in explosives, especially if they're going to have multiple transport points. I can create a diversion if necessary, if someone else can find the route."

Glancing her way for a moment, Rory asks, "How?"

Fierneceal turns to Rory, gives him a long, calculating look, and winks. "I have my ways, darling. Just have a little faith in me."

"Wha..." He blinks and looks away, mumbling absently.

"Without knowing the real route or the amount of convoys I think our chances are slim. Perhaps if we split into teams to take out each individual convoy... I wouldn't mind knocking a few guards out."

"Then we still have the issue of finding the route. A lot hinges on that and ensuring that the forgery can hold up and put them on a specific route. If it doesn't work, this will get incredibly hard since they'll be extremely careful to hide their route if they discover the forgery.

One thing that will be invaluable is communication. We'll need to let people know exactly when and where the escort moves out so we can prepare. It's not guaranteed that we can know where the caravan moves out unless we can plug up some of the possible routes out of the district to allow us to cover all possible routes. I don't know what it would take to completely shut down traffic through that route that wouldn't alert them something was happening, although if someone has any ideas thrown them out.

As it stands now, we're hoping that they'll be emerging through one of the watched areas. Once that happens, we'll need whoever is scouting that location to pass the message on. We do know approximately where they'll be going, so we could have our ambushers stationed half-way and still have a good chance of interception if we move fast and the message gets there quickly.

Although I'd much prefer to be there if a fight breaks out, I can move quickly to pass messages on the movements and already know my way somewhat around that district from earlier scouting. Other members of our group can move quick, although I'm not sure about your lot, Bonebreaker.

I don't think that we'll draw any guards off, but a distraction would be incredibly helpful since they'll be looking for strange happenings during the escort; possible rescue attempts and the like.

We still need to figure out how exactly we'll be getting him out of there and disable the guards. Some sort of sleeping effect, smoke screen, or any type of quick knock-out would be nice. If it comes down to a straight-up fight we'll just need to run - we won't win that for more than a handful of seconds.

The Stealth rings would be useful in actually getting Zeiss out of there. It would be wise to put one on him after we've gotten a hold of him. So, let's keep those in the plan. Going in to grab him would also use those ... how many of those do we have?"

"Something we need to remember is that we don't know how the transport is going to work. We don't know if there are going to be decoys, or if there's an official route, or if there's a specific transport schedule for each prisoner or if they're grouped together. We. Don't. Know. All this talk about multiple convoys may be utterly useless, and to scatter us to the winds may be extremely detrimental."

Bonebreaker makes a sour face. "Stealth Rings are a bit harder and pricier to make then they sound, we only have one at our disposal. As for quick movement, I only have a few people who are light on their feet and used to playing messenger left. Most were out of city folk, back when things ran smoothly."

"We need to be aware of all Veil exit and enter points, it could be extremely useful for moving quickly across the city and hiding Zeiss after the commotion."

"The alternative is? If we find that we have no way of actually getting him out or we don't discover where he is, then we'll retreat and plan again without trying anything. It's not ideal, but we don't have a lot of time right now to find everything out without someone already on the inside. We don't have time to be discussing this right now in fact."

Fierneceal taps her lips for a moment, thinking. "I... believe I can locate Zeiss' location without having to split up or spread out, once the wagons emerge from the prison. The question now is, what do we do when we locate him? I can create a diversion, but it may only work to confuse guards, not necessarily scatter them."

"Well ... that's a nice trick to have. Do you believe or do you know you can locate him? Not trying to question or be rude, but that's important to know."

"I am relatively certain. Nothing is ever one hundred percent. But, I am confident I can."

"Well if you can tell us where he is, we can move in on that position and scout things up, then we can decide on the course of action. Like Snarg said if it's too risky, we back off."

"Okay, okay, that makes things easier. Bonebreaker, we'll need that one ring then, but it looks like we may not fully depend on scouting the entrances. As for getting Zeiss out ... what do you know about the escorts, Bonebreaker? Do you have any info on what their normal complement is? How they secure the prisoners? Even if you don't know or it varies, which it probably will in this case, at least knowing the guards' normal protections and equipment would be helpful. It'll be important for knowing what exactly will be effective on them."

Spoiler:

The troll looked to Tabran. "Before we leave, would you mind scanning this? Bob gave it to me." Gives him the chest.

Bonebreaker lapses into thought. "Normal escorts from the military prison are done with a large contingent of troops, there not only as a morale booster for the city but because usually such prisoners are highly dangerous. But as you probably don't know, there's a lot of divided public opinion about this Zeiss thing; they shot themselves in the foot when they released all the information publicly. Some people, of course, were enthused but many others felt it criminal of the nation to imprison someone on supposed charges under such security and circumstance. Given that," he leans forward, "if I were them I'd do a quiet escort for the real one, assuming they even do decoys. Nothing big or fancy, nothing to draw attention. If we do the forgery we should keep that in mind and make it a planned small escort accordingly. As for the troops? We're talking troops who have earned Elite status so Steel armor, done in uniform style, with Magma weaponry I would imagine. Possibly something less obvious if they go the clandestine route."

Archengeia wrote:Bonebreaker lapses into thought. "Normal escorts from the military prison are done with a large contingent of troops, there not only as a morale booster for the city but because usually such prisoners are highly dangerous. But as you probably don't know, there's a lot of divided public opinion about this Zeiss thing; they shot themselves in the foot when they released all the information publicly. Some people, of course, were enthused but many others felt it criminal of the nation to imprison someone on supposed charges under such security and circumstance. Given that," he leans forward, "if I were them I'd do a quiet escort for the real one, assuming they even do decoys. Nothing big or fancy, nothing to draw attention. If we do the forgery we should keep that in mind and make it a planned small escort accordingly. As for the troops? We're talking troops who have earned Elite status so Steel armor, done in uniform style, with Magma weaponry I would imagine. Possibly something less obvious if they go the clandestine route."

An idea sparks in Rory's head. "We could start a mob."

"As soon as we find out where the real convoy is, we could get the people nearby riled up. Sure, the confusion and tension might turn things sour, but we can use it to our advantage.

"Uh, that was a bit of a backup plan I wasn't really wanting to mention, but I'd much rather rely on a different distraction. That's quite likely to turn ugly if it gets to the level that we'll need. We might end up with dead bodies on our hands."

"So, we know what to look for, what we'll likely be up against, and we're hoping that they think the same as you, Bonebreaker, and send a small force to escort him. I agree we should make the forgery to reflect that.

Sounds like we could get some sleeping spells off on them or use some smoke. From what you've told me, they won't have anything extraordinary.

By the way, what was your profession before you started doing this gig? Just ... curious."

"It's unlikely we'll end up with dead bodies. Arrests, possibly, but not dead bodies. It's not very probable that word will spread far enough, fast enough to amount to more than an unpleasant distraction.

"I can also likely unlock whatever locks would be containing him, all I'd need is enough time to touch the wagon. And hopefully not get arrested for it."

"Damn. You're full of tricks, aren't you. I still don't like the idea of causing a riot, but I'll go along with it. It's going to cause quite a ruckus since they'll immediately know that someone knows they're transporting Zeiss that way.

I still think we should have some smoke and mages at the ready. Once we make our move, the gig is up no matter what. They're going to notice a missing prisoner very, very quickly, no matter how sneaky we are."

"Well I suppose the question then is" he pauses as he looks around the table at the group "Who's the person to start a riot?"

"I can re-lock the door, if that helps. And I may be able to hide him for a short time. After that, well... I'm afraid I cannot do everything, heeh."

"I could help start the riot, except I won't become an Elf until tomorrow. Couldn't I just pass myself off as another Human, like a sailor?"

"If it doesn't take any extra time to re-lock it, sure, that might buy us a little bit of time. Hiding him is where the stealth ring comes in. Some smoke as a last resort will help if they catch on to you immediately. That will bring some confusion and you can high-tail it out of there.

We need to get him to Kolson, along with anyone who actually participates in grabbing him, and get out of the area immediately. Worst case, that group uses the Escape materia to transport away and regroup at a meeting point.

We could set up a few hideouts in the area and stash him there for a bit. Disguise him up, get a new ID for him real quick, and get him out of here before the watch comes knocking at the door. If there's some good routes for doing that, it'd be good to know, Bonebreaker."