Event - Appalachia: Confabulation (NETWORK)

[apocalypsehowmods]

Who: Rae Hargrave
What: An IC discussion for sharing information and making plans
Username: ambulatory
Warnings: Please add appropriate warnings in subject headings!

On June 5, everyone with an ADI-issued device will be added to a group channel by Pam Ruan, who immediately transfers control of the channel to an account with the username ambulatory and an ID picture of a world-weary caucasian woman. Within minutes of the notification that they’ve been added, characters will receive the following message:

un: ambulatory
This is Rae Hargrave with a mission status update for all ADI personnel currently stationed in Wolf Pen.

First, I apparently need to remind you that it is of the utmost importance that you do not inform the locals of the true purpose behind our visit. Not only does exposing ordinary bystanders to the supernatural place their lives in danger, but you also run the risk of handing information about yourself and about our operation to an avatar, either directly or via an unwitting informant. If you are questioned directly about your reasons for being in town or asking the questions you’re asking, deflect, deflect, deflect. It’s better to look like an idiot than to feed our enemies. If I catch wind of any more of these incidents, I will literally sit on you. If you think a local has already been exposed to one of the Entities and that it would do more good than harm to bring them into the fold, bring that to the higher levels before you act.


Second, and to the main purpose, this channel has been established for the purpose of sharing intel gathered since our arrival. Learned something? Tell the group. We’ve got a deadline looming in less than two weeks, and that’s assuming our assessments are correct and the Rumble Down Under is the intended ritual. You don’t need to have things all figured out to be of help here. We’re all putting this puzzle together, together and the piece you bring to the table could click with another person’s intel that you never would have thought was connected.

I'd like to see reports on the following, along with anything else you've picked up in your time here:

• Layout and any suspicious activity in and around the Bluestone Mine: what's the situation with the concert space and where are our entrances and exits? What have you been able to get out of the museum staff?
• Ditto for the Keppler Mine: who have you talked to and what have you seen? We may be running short on opportunities for additional recon here as reports indicate that the OSHA cover story is wearing thin. If you return to the Keppler, have a contingency plan for getting back out.
• Locations and movements of Avatars in the area, confirmed or suspected. Katie Dunn and Deepthi Anand are almost certainly in the area, and we have reason to believe the Desolation Avatar known as Pyre may also be involved. There may be additional Avatars we have not yet identified. While previous experience has taught us that Avatars of different Entities don't usually play well together, there's a first time for everything.
• Supernatural sightings in and around Wolf Pen: we have not yet ruled out the possibility that reported phenomena in the woods and the dump could be related to the ritual attempt.
• Public attitudes and interactions with town leaders: who seems to be allied with whom, and what are their connections to FYRE and the mines? Additionally, have you met anyone you believe may pose a security risk to the mission?

Third, action plans. Our aim is disruption, prevention, and ultimately complete nullification of the ritual attempt and its principal actors. We can expect that regardless of the specifics of the ritual, they will plan to inflict mass casualties, and I hope I don't need to clarify that we don't want that. While disrupting the ritual once it is already in progress is a tried and true method of forcing the dissipation of gathered Entity power and thereby preventing a rebound attempt, incapacitating the Avatars before they can enact the ritual also works as long as they stay incapacitated.

Brainstorm, spitball, whatever you want to call it. Try to be constructive, but be smart and speak up if you spot a potentially fatal flaw in someone else's plan. No idea is too weird or stupid to bring to the table, but some may be too weird or stupid to stay there. Whether we concentrate our forces in one place or plan a multi-pronged attack, we will identify the best plans brought forward and implement them to make sure the ritual doesn't get off the ground.


Fourth and last, Sheriff Ron Porter is currently under evaluation for recruitment to ADI and can be considered a resource with no need to withhold darker truths about the supernatural. However, as we are still performing a background check, we ask that you not share specific information about ADI's home base and regular operations with him as of yet. Again, no other locals are to be informed of supernatural threats without going through the proper channels within ADI.

To those of you who have spoken to Cindy Parsons, the newscaster, we'll be talking later. They are not an appropriate resource and should be treated as an innocent civilian. We do not want to pull them into any further danger than they already have been. Do not speak to them or to Wolf News.

Comments

[thedoctorsmate]

So you want to just murder everyone?
Mr. Let's Blow Up the Coal-filled Mine?

[the_archivist]

The world and everyone in it, or the group of people who are trying to end it.

Your choice.

[thedoctorsmate]

[She doesn't respond immediately. Mainly because... well. She's made that choice before, hasn't she? Doomed thousands of innocent people, people who had no idea what was coming, what was going to happen to them. And with what had happened with George and the vines, all of that is top of mind.]

Our choice.
Whatever we choose, this is on all of us.

[the_archivist]

I've chosen.

And it wouldn't be the biggest thing on my conscience.

[thedoctorsmate]

That doesn't mean yours is the best way.
Why do we even have to destroy the mine if we just take out the people who want to do this?
We do one of the things people said could delay the attack, then get the baddies.
We don't have to go crazy here.
I've seen what can happen when you explode a mountain.

[the_archivist]

Because the plan is already in motion, and they may have others waiting to carry out the plan if they don't. Better to destroy the option altogether.

And I've seen worse than a mountain exploding.

[thedoctorsmate]

And destroy people's lives, too?
These mines are the only things keeping this town alive right now.
Save them and just kill them slowly?
There has to be a better way.
I won't help with this plan.
I'm with George's.

[the_archivist]

A ritual beginning would probably destroy the mines anyway. An apocalypse would doubtless destroy their lives in a far more horrific way.

Think about what happened on the train, and multiply that by billions of people.

[thedoctorsmate]

And you think about the fact that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
If we stop this ritual, it's the people here who have to live with the fallout, not us.
I get that the apocalypse is bad, but I can't tell if you really are being that short-sighted because you're scared of what's going to happen.
Or if you're just as hungry for destruction as one of the people we're fighting.

[the_archivist]

You want to truth? Fine.

Yes, I'm scared. I'm terrified of seeing the world plunged into an apocalyptic hellscape where the population of the world is tortured for eternity. I'm terrified of what they could create, because it is so much worse than you are imagining.

This ritual even getting started could destroy the town and kill everyone here. These other suggestions just delay it. And give them time to change their plans.

For a mine that will probably close within a decade as coal fired power plants close and become uninsurable.

[thedoctorsmate]

Honestly, it sounds like you don't have a lot of faith in us.
Reckon that's another reason I'm not keen on your plan.
No offense because being scared is understandable, but people don't make good decisions from a place of fear.
And your plan sounds more desperate than clever.

[the_archivist]

When you're dealing with entities that are fear, there's not a lot of other ways to be. If you aren't afraid, then you're either an avatar of one of them, or you don't know enough about what we're facing.

[thedoctorsmate]

You can be afraid and not be making plans based on that fear.
I'm not saying don't be afraid.
That's silly.
I'm saying we need to make a choice that's not just whatever the lizardbrain that wants it all to stop forever and right now says.

[the_archivist]

Sometimes the 'lizard brain' is correct. It keeps you alive.

And my choice is based on knowledge and research. And not wanting to see everyone tortured for near eternity.

[thedoctorsmate]

And sometimes, you have to believe in people.
Dunno what world you came from, but there's hope in mine.
We'll sort this without ruining everyone's lives in the process.

[the_archivist]

Well, there isn't hope in mine. Just fear. And no good deed goes unpunished.

[thedoctorsmate]

Yeah, all right, Elphaba.

[the_archivist]

What?

[thedoctorsmate]

Not a musical fan?

[the_archivist]

No.

[thedoctorsmate]

Then nevermind.
You wouldn't get the reference.

[the_archivist]

Probably not. I haven't had much free time recently.