OOC PLANNING FOR HARROGATE 2.0 SHOWDOWN

[powersthatbe]

ALL RIGHT, GHOSTS AND LIVING. IT'S TIME TO PLAN FOR A CONFRONTATION.

So. We now know that Bernkastel--or rather, the thing that is now possessing Bernkastel--has set herself up inside the poltergeist shield in the dry lakebed and is huffing ghosts. Both Malik and Armin have had confrontations with her, one after the other. Malik had the element of surprise and got away, in the process losing both his legs to the knee. Armin did not have the element of surprise and Bad Stuff happened. He's now Double Dead and existing as a disembodied mind on the text Network until the end of Jaunt. On the other hand, he was able to identify who Bern's possessor is in the process and he'll be making a psychic log to talk about it pretty soon now.

Part of the planning will no doubt be done ICly and I believe people will be getting together at Dr. Durante's cottage for that, but in the interest of streamlining things, we also have this post for people to volunteer OOCly. Without spoiling too much, we are going to need:

1) A ghost with Teleportation who will either (a) let Armin take over their body to do some ritual stuff or (b) get taught by Armin which ritual stuff to do, according to preference.
2) Living and dead people to distract "Bernkastel" long enough so said ghost can do their thing. Teleportation is definitely a plus although not all of them need it as long as some of them do.

If you think your characters can help with that, please comment here!

Comments

[itsananimalthing]

Obviously throwing Riddick at this. He has teleportation I, eldritch defense, ritual magic, a personal demon-friend, and the adamant dagger, if that'll do anything against a ghost :P He will happily distract Bern and/or protect the ghost doing the ritual stuff, since I've already been told he can do that for ghosts to some extent if he stays close.

[happyhalloween]

Maria is a ghost with Teleport II! She would rather be taught what to do than have Armin possess her, but if no one else wants to be the one to engage "Bernkastel" she can do the thing! Otherwise, she can help be a distraction.

Thorne will provide her overlay's cottage for the IC meeting and helping construct the things that some of the living people will need to bring/carry.

Delaunay (who is half-infiltrating now thanks to Alcuin) can use his overlay's credentials as an MI-6 agent to help get people past the cordon.

[comebewe]

Matthew would also get involved in this (although after what happened to Malik and especially after he hears about Armin he is basically going to insist that they all need Multiple Escape Plans for this).

In terms of useful skills, he has: Teleportation III, Summon Traveller, a gazillion other portal skills, Eldritch Defence, and Bando Summoning / No Distinction. Not sure if fire elementalism would be useful considering that the poltergeists didn't react to it before, but on the off chance that it does, he has that too.

[acapriciousthing]

Death has Teleport II.

Also she's Death and she's kinda pissed off about this whole thing. See that up there? THat's her angry face. She's making the angry face.

She can potentially do something about Bern's ghostly backup.

[biiowiired]

Depending on how the mods answer the question of Ψiioniic possessing ridiculously powerful telekinesis, flight, and optic blasts, but no eldritch defense or knowledge, he may be able to at least punch a hole through the poltergeists. Whether annoying Bern will kill Psii is up in the air, but he'll totally do it. See: his prophetic visions of inevitable death.

[thornsofmalkav]

If he does punch a hole in the poltergeist wall that might help allow people without teleports get closer to Bern.

[theflyingone]

ETA: If you would like Psii to have a precognitive vision, however jumbled and incomplete, of your character's inevitable death, let me know.

[theflyingone]

This is against Father Brown's better judgment. Bear in mind that his exorcist stuff works best against demons, which we have yet to see, and only make evil spirits uncomfortable. His abilities only minimally help against eldritch. Handy for distracting poltergeists, not so much for "Bernkastel"...

BUT his plot skill allows him to take no trauma or corruption from active eldritch research so long as he doesn't believe in eldritch forces. Which, amazingly, he still doesn't. There's some eldritch books (he thinks are hogwash) sitting in his library. St. Bruno's has been open to those seeking shelter since last mingle, if you need an in.

[willyousee]

Alcuin has no teleportation or quick exit abilities, and he's going to be a bit of a mess after Malik and Armin's confrontations gone wrong. But he will want to contribute. Anyone willing to nap and let his dreamcatcher soak up nightmare material would be greatly appreciated. He will also offer his Siren Song and his Calm Emotions and Song of Discord spells for the poltergeist wrangling.

The more Sirens join in with Alcuin's Siren Song, the more geists they can affect and he can teach anyone such Songs as: Enchantment, Calming, Navigation, Sleep, Repelling, Aggravation, Weakness,
Clumsiness, Suffocation, Summoning Spirits (that will require a chorus but could allow them to summon mermaid spirits like warriors and other Sirens who could join the chorus or attack other ghosts), Mirage, Euphoria, and Melancholy. It is mind-affecting magic, so it should affect the geists just fine.

....He also has Immortal Ichor and stellar medicine, as well as a song of Healing and a song of Anesthetic, so uh. He can be working as a healer on the outskirts as well if people tell him to Sit The Hell Down.

[thornsofmalkav]

Thorne will be healing on the sidelines too if people are willing to lend her dreamcatchers. And depending on things, Maria could also be part of a chorus.

[acapriciousthing]

Death can potentially multitask being in the chorus. Which may make the whole thing go a little Musical Theatre here.

Bernkastel. At last. We see each other plain.
Posessing spirit you wear a diferent faaaaaaaace.

[biiowiired]

Psii is nocturnal, so he could nap while everyone's awake. His violent species has nightmares so extreme that their children, at the very least, lie in soporific goo to get a decent day's sleep. He'd get a kick out of his nightmares being weaponized.

[bite_the_hand]

So after more than half a year (how has it already been that long since the Haunted Isle) guess who's finally going to give in to the urge to re-learn to Sing and ask Alcuin to teach him?

[brokers]

Liara has powerful telekinesis (...ish, Mass Effect is special), including both crowd control and shielding applications. While her relative lack of magical capability means she's probably not a good pick for the front lines, she'd advocate vocally for establishing at least one safe fallback position near enough to the ghost lines that people can be evaced to it if they get overwhelmed/injured/driven half crazy, and she'd be pretty capable of holding that point if given a helper with/crash course in eldritch whatsits.

Also, the field medicine experience and maxed psychic healing might come in handy.

Anyone else want to join team medic?

[forcechanic]

Jaina has psychic healing and Eldritch defense and telekinesis and has had enough trouble in the theatre that she can probably be persuaded to not do the rash thing and join Team Medic instead.

This also conveniently keeps her away from where Death is. :p

[capital_asset]

Raidou is a ghost, but he lacks teleportation skills. What he does have is Eldritch Defense, knowledge of every known Siren Song, Ritual Magic, a time-stop ability (with the caveat that you have to be touching him to not be affected by it), and a pogemon form and pogmentation with a holy/light spell, along with a full complement of spirits/demons, some of which have healing abilities and two of which have a spell that temporarily blocks mental damage. So there's that.

(I would at least like the pogmentation to come into play at some point.)

[neverfeltthatway]

How does his time stop ability work? If he sticks close to whatever ghost Armin is possessing, that could be very useful in finishing the rituals faster

[awitchdidit]

Ghost Beato can offer teleportation and some psychic protection, so she might make good proxy for Armin. Also Liminal Bridge, wh8ch obviously wouldn't save her, but might uave some tactical use. Her Illusions and Yellow Magic (specifically Calm Emotions) might work as distractions as well.

She also thinks she's got insight on both Bernkastel and her puppeteer; we'll see if she still thinks that (or anything at all) after encountering her downtown.

Regardless, assuming she's around and sane, she's going to suggest trying to disrupt Bernkastel's ghostly form (moving her on somehow) as a first recourse rather than binding. She's worried about accidentally anchoring something nasty to some point in this reality.

[all_onis_are_true]

All right, I don't know how feasible this is, but...

If they need some sort of "fortified place" to launch attacks from, would Thistle House be of any help? I mean, they could also use the theater I suppose, but I don't know if it would be more convenient - or, potentially, more of a target. But it has been getting increasingly reinforced throughout the plot, and it might be a good place for people to launch attacks while minimizing attack from other spirits.

[awitchdidit]

Thistle House and the Theater are good fallback points for corporeal folks. I think Thorne's cottage might be getting used for planning because ghostvestigators and living investigators can speak across the veil to each other without much effort in a less-warded area.

[repeatitinred]

Battler can provide information on Bern, and he does have psychic protection of his own. He also has a stubbornness and arrogance that can be used as a buffer for other people. He's used to pissing off great evils with his wit and charm.

[awitchdidit]

If Beatrice orders him to keep away from the actual fight can I assume he'd then charge in like an idiot?

[helborn]

Casper does not have teleportation but he's managed to work out Portals if anyone needs a quick exit.

... Casper will probably have to be dragged through the portal in order to make a quick exit himself.

Other useful skills Casper has:

- Magic detection!
- Ability to sense death and entropy and track by scent/small traces
- Cure Minor Wounds for others, can regenerate damage on himself
- Eldritch Defense
- He can punch ghosts. Or rather, he can grapple them, and he can inflict damage on them (Lethal level, for those of you who White Wolf. For those of you who don't, it just hurts a lot)
- Spirit Summoning, though he's unclear on how it works atm
- He can grow wings and fly to gtfo - alternatively he can just run real fast
- He starts hitting harder the worse he's damaged

He could also buff others but that comes with side effects he's not willing to inflict on people so yeah no.

Casper will want to be part of the main strike team, though if Zed is around in the fight he can be convinced to keep Zed busy. :| They have Issues.

[loyalrebel]

Malik will be involved in information pooling and telling people not to run in headlong without an escape plan.

He can open a portal wherever he is to get someone in/out of Liminal but will otherwise be sidelined.

[whydoyoushine]

Zed/The Emperor would be willing to help with a distraction provided it's framed as helping him "deal with the usurper" or somesuch. Work with his weird logic and terrible ego, and he's good to go.

[comebewe]

The only trouble with Zed is that it might be hard to get other characters on board with him helping (Matthew, for instance, would definitely think that Zed being involved was not a good idea and would argue vehemently against it, I'm afraid)

[ninjayeehaw]

If Delaney/Delaunay can get Kris and/or Skye past the barrier, they're absolutely going to film everything. 8D Very useful.

And they can probably make wards and shit to keep lesser ghosts from escaping and terrorising everyone else.

[youandyoualone]

HE IS NOT TAKING THEM PAST THE POLTERGEIST BARRIER.

Past the cordon, yes, in order to hold talismans outside it, but not only does he not have the ability to get through it himself, but even if he did he wouldn't put these annoying idiots where they could get other people killed.

[bite_the_hand]

Eren will definitely be helping with the Lifeside Distraction Team. He unfortunately doesn't have too much to offer with support skills - at least not that would effect ghosts - but he is going to ask Alcuin to teach him to Sing before he heads into this, so he'll have something. And if they run into anything physical he should be pretty effective at taking care of it.

[starshaper]

Mikasa has Eldritch defense, portals, psychic protection (level one, I should pick II for her one day orz) and ... idek if any of her other skills help with lifeside distraction team but she is gonna be there and try to stay as near Eren as possible.

Usagi is going to here as Sailor Moon and she is kind of new with no helpful skills to this from Syn yet ...but she can fly! And her silver crystal has healing powers though it can also be used to attack ....things.

[thornsofmalkav]

She'd be a really good distraction for Bern, since she can probably fly over the polterwall?

SHOWDOWN GROUPS

[comebewe]

Since I think the current plan is for everyone to split up into smaller groups so that they can distract Bern on multiple fronts and to keep threads more manageable. So, maybe we could organise groups here? Post if you're looking for others to be in a group with, or something like that? That way we can organise who's threading with who.

We could have some groups for medics/support, one for helping Armin, and others running distractions. (With perhaps at least one person who can teleport in each distraction group?)

[comebewe]

Matthew I'd like to stick in one of the distracting groups - he's got Teleportation III, so he can be the resident teleporter if need be. Anyone want to share a group with him?