[X] Action Plan: Assimilation my a-
Playing politics was fun for a while, but it's time to change the game before we lose.
We won't be subverting ninjaville any time soon, and killing everyone will make Akane sad (probably Jiraiya too, if/when he finds out) so I suggest we remember what we really came here for - the Summoning Scroll. With that said...
Goals:
- Survive.
- Get out and away from here, and return to our Fort.
- Try to do it without killing random people in the village, though anyone who follows us beyond it is fair game.
- Come back once we're stronger and the hustle dies down a bit, probably in a couple of months or so, we'll see how it goes.
Methods:
- Wait patiently for the meeting to conclude. Don't rock the boat. Once it's over, all of us return to our camp.
- Once back at the camp, Mari shares what she learned earlier with us.
- Convince the group that it's time to leave:
- In private, tell Mari about our conversation with Keiko, voice concern over Keiko's attitude to both the team and life and Takahashi's influence on her.
- Point out to Noburi that Kannagi lied about canceling the betrothal, that 13 is too young to choose a partner for life and that there are plenty of pretty girls out there who don't act like they might murder people for disagreeing with them.
- Remind everyone of the times we were attacked, of people spreading vile rumours about us, that our so-called allies make us sit on seals, lie to us and seek to use us, instead of trying to make mutually beneficient arrangements. That elders make plans to keep us here by any means, and are prepared to kill us to prevent our leaving.
- For Keiko: getting out now and stealing the scroll later is even in line with Takahashi's plan. After all, he claims that he wants the scroll out of the village. Well, we can do that. On our terms. As for summoning, we will find her a better teacher than a guy who can't even use it himself. Maybe trade favors with Jiraiya. If she even needs a special teacher for that and Takahashi wasn't messing with her, and the rest of us.
- Does she really believe we're safer here, relying on these people, than when we were alone? That they have our best interests in mind? What does her bloodline tell her?
- Kagome should be fine with leaving the stinkers and going back to properly defended place.
- Akane's dreams are bigger than this trap. She deserves better.
- We all deserve better than being stuck in this mud hole at the mercy of elders, and that's where things seem to be heading.
- Have Kagome gather seals that can be recovered without compromising the perimeter, rig the rest to self-destruct once we leave (the goal is to deny knowledge rather than kill, arrange self-destruction accordingly)
- Pack up whatever's left and leave. (Did we ever make that escape tunnel?)
- Have Mari head out first and see if she can take out the watchmen stealthily, preferably with genjutsu.
- Be on the lookout for Seals
- Sneak out (stealth? genjutsu? maybe Noburi has some airborne sleeping powder or something for the situation?) just run if detected, (set off a smoke bomb to conceal our exit?) disable immediate threats non-lethally if possible.
- E&E time: employ anti-tracking maneuvers. Tree-hopping, kawarimi, water-walking, clone tricks...
- Occasionally leave behind proximity-activated explosive tag to discourage pursuit, though not so many that they make a trail. Leave fewer of those the farther we get from ninja village.
- Head west towards the coast and acquire (steal) a boat
- Make a short sea trip to cut our trail and then head back to the fort.
- Return to our Fort.
- Plan ends here, further actions to be specified once we arrive.
Contingencies:
- On the run we stick together, at least till we reach the relative safety of our fort. (yes, that means potty-break buddies till we make it. Get over it)
- If village ninja do come after us, withhold nothing at any point once combat begins. We'll be fighting for our lives. Always use lethal methods. Take no prisoners.
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If this looks familiar, well, it should. Dropped the Fort content, it can go into next plan if running wins.
I want Takahashi dead but
not sure how to work it into plan without upsetting Kei.
it presents challenges of it's own. Silencing him is good, and a dead elder should shake the village up and, hopefully, distract from us, at least a little. On the other hand assassinations are risky, Takahashi knows Mari's spec, and he might've shared the info he gained already. Also if the village does plan to stay isolated that information is of limited harm to us.
I also want us to sit pretty for the next few days after the meeting, maybe up to Kagome's birthday, so the village is less suspicious. However if we decide to run away I don't know how Kei will keep it secret. Keeping her out of the loop doesn't appeal to me, either.
Nah, not leaving more time for things to go wrong. We exfiltrate asap. Not leaving time for Yuno's info on our camp to be used, either.
Re: Yuno, our best bet is to try to lose her. She might come after us, with elders' blessing or without, we'll hopefully deal with it then. Trying to break things off or hint that we might disappear soon, will end in a disaster, or her coming with us (which sounds like another, less immediate disaster to me)
Otherwise this is us pretty much going "screw it" and running for the hills.
- Hopefully without killing everyone in our way. I wanna make the initial break-off as painless as possible, as last effort to keep our peace. Not at the cost of our lives/limbs tho.
- Unless they insist on going after us after we leave. At that point, anything goes.
Once there we bunker up and settle down. Plenty of stuff for one update methinks, we can decide what do/train/whatever next vote, once we know what we're dealing with (open pursuit? siege? complete lack of retaliation?)
Once we're sufficiently buffed up (yes hello sealing and stuff) we can skip the village stage, go for the Sanctuary (or whatever that place was called) and get the Scroll. Once we have it we can figure out the summoning thing on our own time and terms, including cashing in favors from Jiraiya (once we earn them)
We'll get our cake yet.
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Tag me for improvements, or take the bits you like.
Good reading though, will try to respond later.