Conquest of the Horde

We all make choices in our lives. Important choices, insignificant choices and choices that sometimes turn our entire lives around in a split second. We're faced with these choices more often than some of us might be willing to admit, and I made one such choice only recently. Not that I'd known I'd be getting myself in on something like this. This is way beyond even my wildest imaginations.

I'm stranded. It wasn't like that a couple of days ago. We came here, a whole bunch of us, on the orders of a generous employer. I'd been told it was a fantastic idea and the opportunity of a lifetime; who am I to say no to something like that? I've never been well off in life and one could say I've been a bit down on my luck. That didn't seem to change anytime soon, and now I'm even more convinced it never will. I thought it would at the time, though, else I would've never gotten aboard that accursed boat. I regret it now. I regret it in the furthest depths of my heart.

It went smoothly at first. We didn't suspect a thing. Suddenly, a fire broke loose and not all of us were able to get away. We fled, tail between our legs as our companions fell behind and were consumed by smoke and flame alike. All that went through our minds were to keep running and we might save our hides, but we couldn't run from the screams. No matter how far away we ran, the screams wouldn't go away. They haunt me now and I can barely think straight. The fires consumed everything. Everything but me.

So help me, what divine forces reside in this world. Forgive a coward and put me out of a misery. For whoever reads this; run. Run as far as you can. When you hit the water, don't stop. Keep running or you'll never escape. Even death's better than this.

---

Kidnapped is a series of events that have run on CotH a total of four times prior to this one. It's been a learning experience for me as a DM as it was the first big event I ever hosted back in the days of me still being a young sporeling on the team. The event itself is geared towards encouraging character development by pitching your character into an unusual situation; picking characters from all walks of life and bundling them together in a pressured environment and let them have at it to their hearts' content! I've previously tried to incorporate an element of horror in the events, with very mixed degrees of success. Hopefully I'll be able to take my past lessons in mind and make something new and exciting for everyone as I will attempt to turn this into a much more thrilling event than ever before (thank you Rigley for being a fount of inspiration on that front; Northwind is flippin' amazing). I make no promises, but I'll do my utmost to make this event better than the previous ones by trying a few new ideas of mine. I hope it'll be interesting for everyone!

Every good event has a strict set of rules. Kidnapped is no exception. Amongst the things that will change this time around, I'll be introducing a few new rules for the sake of smoothness once the event gets up and running. I hope this won't be the cause of any inconveniences or that it'll discourage anyone. The rules have been set for the sake of the participants, after all. Below, the rules will be listed and it's an absolute pre-requisite to have read them before signing up for the event.

1. Godmoding/Metagaming. These two are against the rules as it is, but I'd like to put some emphasis on them. This event builds a lot on intrigues, social play and knowing your place at the right time. Information will be a delicate thing, and everything will hang on the balance at all times. Therefore, it's very important that people have respect for these two rules and don't abuse OOC information or strong-arm themselves through unlikely situations. There'll be some leniency for unintentional slip-ups, but it'll otherwise be swiftly reprimanded if it's discovered (or happens "unintentionally" very often).
   
2. Avoid leaving the area. Once the event starts, do not leave the event area. This is to avoid inconsistencies and complications for yourself and your fellow players. If you need to take care of other business, it is best to simply switch characters if possible.
   
3. Submit your character. For the duration of the event, if I see you slipping out to RP in other areas, I will likely remove you from the event altogether. If you wish to remove your character from the event to be elsewhere, make sure you contact me (Loxmardin) first by dropping me a forum PM or by speaking to me directly if I'm online so that I'm aware of your withdrawn participation.
   
4. Respect personal boundaries. Not everyone's going to be comfortable with everything. While the players have been warned about the possibilities of this event, everyone needs to respect a "no". If you attempt to bring upon unprovoked violence on someone without their consent, you will be reprimanded and may be removed from the event depending on the severity of the offense. Accidental events of this kind will be retconned if victimised parties are not comfortable with the results. NO ONE WILL EVER BE FORCED INTO PARTICIPATION.
   
5. Outrageous behaviour. If your character acts outrageously In Character, there will be repercussions for it. This is the only time when you will be excempt from the rule of consent above. If your character steps out of their way to do harm upon someone else or break rules, they will be punished for it as deemed necessary (be it by physical punishment, removal of privileges, or maiming of some relevant kind).
   
6. Give and take (Character Warnings). If you give a Character Warning to another character, you automatically submit yourself to a Character Warning of equal (and sometimes worse) severity.
   
7. The Server Rules. Yes, they all apply. All of them. Here's a link. And here's another one.
   
8. Trouble-making. I reserve the right to remove trouble-makers from the event if the situation requires it or deems it appropriate, as well as enforce repercussions against bad behaviour and the creation of drama (intentional, careless). Do not bring drama into the event, unless it is strictly In Character.
   
9. Letting things slide. In order to let things flow smoothly during the event, please refrain from remarking on questionable behaviours in places like Raid or Party chat. Let it slide unless it's something truly outrageous, as discussions whether something's plausible or not tend to completely halt the flow of the roleplay and break all immersion of the moment. If you've an issue with something that someone is doing, whisper the DMs online and let them handle the situation discreetly. If you absolutely need to say your piece, do it in private and when there's a pause in the roleplay.
   
10. Feeding the drama-llama. When you sense that something pretty dramatic is about to go on in the OOC channels--don't get yourself involved. Kindly suggest that it be moved to private or notify the DMs if they aren't already aware of what's going on. The drama's not going to quiet itself down if more people jump headfirst into it. This rule is also meant to discourage people from getting into dramatic situations or arguments in the first place; if you really need to vent something, do so in private or don't do it at all.
    
11. The Custom Patch. I'll be requiring all participants of this event to download the custom patch we introduced some time ago, as I've spawned objects in the area that require the patch to view and utilize. You can download the patch from this link: here, or the mirror link.

The last few times, Kidnapped has been divided into two or three different factions that you could apply to and thus decide the role of your own character. This is going to change this time around.

For this Kidnapped, you won't be able to decide who you align with, which is really something I would've wished to do from the start as it makes much more sense from the perspective of those responsible for the entire event on an OOC and IC level. So, basically, this time around... You'll be applying for the event with information about your character, and then the DMs and me will look over all the applications and sort y'all based on the information we've been given and for the factions to balance out. Along with this, we'll be writing up a nice piece of information for you, basically detailing why your character wound up where he/she did.

Another new feature this time around is pre-made characters. In order to further involve the players of this event in the storyline behind the scenes. Thus, I'll make a limited amount of pre-made characters available for application, considerably tailored after the applicant's play-style so to make the roleplaying easier and more enjoyable. The special thing about these characters is that they will have some sort of involvement with the organization behind the Kidnapped event chain. Just how many of these I'm willing to make is still up in the air, and depends on displayed interest.

Another thing that changed, as you may've noticed, is the length of the event. This is to make it less intense, more spread out, and able to follow a better schedule for mini-events.

Signing up for Kidnapped is as easy as simply dropping me a PM using the provided application format. My advice to you is to fill it out thoroughly and with as much relevant information as possible to enable me and the rest of the DMs to make the event as enjoyable as possible for y'all. I would also greatly prefer if you titled the PM "Kidnapped" or something of the sort. It makes it so much easier for me to see which PM is which. When you've signed up, we'll be writing your character down and putting it in a preliminary, unsorted roster in it's own separate post just so everyone can keep track of who's in the event on which character (or if they're getting pre-mades). You can sign up for Kidnapped until the start of the event, but we'll be finishing the Roster and sending out our information a week before. If you sign up later than that, we'll just stick you in the Roster where you'll fit and there's ample space for more participants.

Just like the previous times, there will be a couple of factions available. These are the two factions you'll be sorted into, depending on your application:

• CAPTIVES - The captives are the misfortuned individuals who managed to catch the attention of a particularly malefic entity, ending with his abduction and locking up in a remote location far away from civilization. His fate is unknown to him and his options are limited; survival, however, has to come first. It's a desperate situation he's been thrust into and it's every man for himself.
  
  Note: All Captives will be robbed of their weapons and belongings come their abduction and will, for the duration of the event, be wearing a special collar (see the last section of this post).
  
  GUARDS - While maybe not quite as unfortunate as their counterparts, the Guards were all picked up from various locations in the world with different methods of "persuasion" (depending on the person). You were hired, blackmailed or forced into the service of an unnamed master and placed in charge of watching over their houseguests while waiting for further instructions from up above. Your task is to keep the captives safe and sound all the while watching their own backs. The situation is by no means safe for them, even if they're on the right side of the bars.
  
  Note: All Guards will be able to keep their armour, weapons and other belongings on them (with individual exceptions that will be brought to those it concerns).

Normal application:
Pre-Made application:


Unlike most other Kidnapped events, magic will not be entirely banned during this one. Casting will be difficult, however, and it takes twice the effort to channel magical energy of any sort. Teleportation magic is entirely null, as is magic that allows you to levitate above the ground or walk across water (with the exception of a Death Knight's waterwalking ability). A more complete list of forbidden or restricted magic is included below;

• Levitation is forbidden, as is anything that allows you to walk across water (except the Death Knight spell).
  
• Teleportation/Blinking is forbidden and not possible under the special circumstances in the area that hosts the event.
  
• Druid shapeshifting can only happen once per day (counting the shift to animal form and back again). The process is excruciating and draining and will always, without exception, bring the Druid to the brink of passing out from the effort. Trying to shapeshift again in the course of a single day will simply not be possible. (Flight Form is also forbidden.)
  
• Shadowform falls under the same ruling as the Druid's shapeshifting, as does-
  
• ...-Spectral Wolf Form for Shamans.

Last Kidnapped made use of explosive collars. I'm not making that mistake again. This time, I'm bringing back the old, traditional electric shock collars. These collars won't react to remote controls, but will rather respond to spoken commands. Exciting, right? Any collar within range once you speak the secret word will immediately activate and give it's wearer a five-second shock (inspiration). This shock isn't really lethal or harmful in any significant way, but will be an annoyance to whomever is subjected to it and call for some very hilarious and incapacitating spasms. (No, of course I'm not going to reveal the "secret word" in public. What a party pooper, am I right?)

Here's where I submit a wee bit of good-to-know about the area we're going to be using. First of all, a few things that are important to remember about it come the beginning of the event;

• The area is cold. Going outside for long periods of time in loose and light clothing is ill advised. You'll see snow covering certain parts of the island along with rising towers of ice. This should be hint enough to the temperature in the area.
  
• The surrounding waters are freezing cold. You cannot swim in them and survive. There are also predatory fishies surrounding the island if you look closely, so venturing off-shore is likely a death-sentence even for Death Knights.
  
• The shores of the island are shrouded in thick fog (it cannot be represented in-game, however, as this would cause immense amounts of lag). It seems most magical in nature and will swiftly swim right back into place at any attempts at dissolving it through magic or otherwise.
  
• I'll be placing tangible NPCs around the island to signify the representation of a different crowd than just the Player Characters. Keep them in mind, and remember that they'll always jump in to stop a problematic situation if it happens near one of them. Be strategic if you intend to cause IC trouble.

Now that those are out of the way, I've a few pictures to show you. See the spoilers below;

• The shore-line on the northern side. ICly, you will not be able to see the shore of the island right over, and it also won't exist ICly. Kindly pretend it's not there.
  Spoiler:

  
  There's also a ship that circles around the island on occasion and the eastern coastline. Ignore this, too, because that's definitely not IC. Not the guys on it, either.
  Spoiler:

  
  Like with the first picture, ignore the fact that you can see land off the eastern coast of the island. Pretend it's not there, or too veiled by the fogs to be seen. (The ship also makes a sneaky appearence in the corner.)
  Spoiler:

  

During the event, I've wanted to make use of an amazing addon for WoW. TRP2, namely. TRP2 has a feature that allows you to make and share quests which respond to commands such as speaking to certain NPCs, searching (by looking or listening, as well) certain marked areas for information... It has a lot of really nifty features, and I was planning on making use of these for the duration of the event in order to make things a wee bit more interesting and give it a little bit of a... spin, to take it down the "investigation roleplay" road as well. I know a lot of people enjoy it. I know I do! So, regardless of how many will show interest in this, I will likely go ahead with these questlines and have them finished and playable by the start of the event so I can get people started on them. Hopefully, it will contribute something valuable to the event itself and your personal experience. Of course, though, you'll be required to download and install TRP2. The version that is available for download on the CoTH website, compatible with WotLK. (I'll likely be available for troubleshooting before the event starts so we can see that everything works as it should.)

Do you have any suggestions for the event? Please submit them to me at your earliest convenience, dropping them by my beautiful PM inbox! It's hungry for more ideas.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0[/youtube]

Urgh. Every Kidnapped always winds up being somehow inaccessable for me. 5:00 EST on weekdays doesn't work at all for me.

Someday, CotH, I will participate in this event.

You had to put the event when school starts. You had to!

Another reason it's so long! To allow for more RP in it for those who aren't online early in the day. xD

(09-14-2012, 02:58 PM)Loxmardin Wrote: [ -> ]Another reason it's so long! To allow for more RP in it for those who aren't online early in the day. xD

So... The time is just a "this is when the event starts" thing and not a specific indication of when stuff will happen throughout the event?
Perhaps I can do this, then!

And I'm honestly really interested in seeing how this "Premade character" business goes!

...I don't quite understand the pre-made characters. Is it saying that every other character we stick in here has to be an alt we just rolled, and there are only certain spaces for already-built and developed characters?

Me Gusta.

@Dae: Indeed. The time just indicates when the kickoff/ending are scheduled for now. Otherwise, the event goes on 24/7 for the duration.

@c0rzilla: Nay. You can make the choice to apply for your own character, or you can take the gamble of letting me make a character for you if you want to have more involvement off the bat in the storyline that goes on in the background of the event.

* vigorous pelvic thrust * Now I see why you couldn't RP with me this morning. You are loved and forgiven. Cuz I had a sad.

* resumes pelvic thrust *

Why do I have to miss the beginning of all the Kidnapped events :c October is full of Saturday competitions and stuff for marching band :C

I CAN TRY. I WILL TRY. LOXXYBOXXY MAKE GOOD EVENT.

I did a little happy dance.

Oh this looks like fun!

*Didn't post any sort of application here. No sirre*

@KageAcuma: In a PM! :>