SUBJECT: When My Time Comes Around
PARTICIPANTS: Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Wysteria de Foncé, Viktor (colloquially: the imagineers); Gela Baynrac, Benedict Artemaeus, Mobius (time travelers); with fetch quests by Ellie, Derrica, Erik, Peter, Yseult, Bastien, and Matthias.

CLASSIFICATION: Public, with the magi-science appendices for leadership & imagineers’ eyes only.
DATE FILED: Kingsway 9:49
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: Riftwatch was lured into an ambush by Tevinter at Granitefell and 16 members perished. 3 weeks later, rifter magi-science invented a time machine powered by dragon blood to go back and warn them, which they did successfully, and the two timelines synced back up as if the bad end never happened.

REPORT:
OOC: To read the footnotes, either a hover or a click will both work!

( As dictated by Stephen Strange to Viktor for transcription and some editing. )

In Solace 9:49, Riftwatch was ambushed at Granitefell by Venatori forces incl. a dragon and dracolisk cavalry. Casualties comprised a full third of our number.

After careful evaluation, Research div. undertook a mission to innovate temporal magic, citing Mme. de Foncé’s expertise in adapting Rifter magic to native techniques, Prov. Stark and Dr. Strange’s practical and theoretical knowledge of temporal magic, Viktor’s experience with spacetime jump gates, and their collective knowledge of arcane engineering.¹

The following Riftwatch members were dispatched to retrieve necessary ingredients²: Ellie, Derrica, Erik Stevens, Peter Parker, Yseult, Bastien, and Matthias.

Using a certain piece of equipment³ to both amplify and focus the magical energies, we were able to send Baynrac, Artemaeus, and Mobius three weeks into the past, although their arrival was slightly mis-timed.⁴ These agents contacted Riftwatch (past ver.) and warned them to retreat, thus successfully avoiding the ambush, and a scout was sent to Granitefell to advise evacuation. De Foncé and Strange remained at the portal to hold it open for the travelers.⁵

The experience of the sync was curious: it was like suddenly waking up here, remembering both timelines at once, until memories of the abandoned timeline slowly faded and became less immediate — and now we live in a world where Granitefell never happened.

We’re unable to reproduce the time travel without first replenishing our supply of ingredients. For the actual technicalities & components used, see the attached appendix.

It’s a powerful tool in our arsenal, but in my professional opinion, one best not trifled with; we don’t know that subsequent uses would work out quite so well as this one did.

Signed, Doctor Stephen Strange, with addenda by Viktor.


I would like to emphasize that this project’s success demanded many hours of physical and mental strain, including great risk to personal safety. Without the contributions of everyone noted above, plus those who provided extra support, this would not have worked. Thank you.
– V.

—————

¹ See also prior Inquisition notes on Magister Alexius and the Redcliffe incident. ( While adjusting the order of cited imagineer experience, Viktor says, “This will make her day.” )

² See appendix. ( The additional appendix for leadership includes schematics of the Magrallen and its repairs, mentions the necessity of dragon blood, contains a list of other exotic ingredients used in casting the spell, and reproduces some of their experimental runes. )

³ Surely you didn’t think we would make it so easy. You’ll find this in the appendix. Good luck finding the appendix.

⁴ Through no particular fault of any particular time sorcerer.

⁵ Poss. future improvement: a way for the time traveler(s) to trigger their own return without someone being stationed at the portal. Amulets?

NEXT STEPS: Refine magical technique to not require actively holding open the portal. Stay alert for future great dragon sightings, in order to replenish blood supply if possible. No plans to actively pursue further time travel, but keeping the technique in their back pocket.

NOTES & LINKS:

• Wiki link
  
• Original OOC post
  
• Log 1: Granite fell, everyone died
  
• Announcement 1: Oh no
  
• Log 2: Sad times at Gallows high
  
• Log 2.5: Weird science
  
• Announcement 2: Weird science goes public
  
• Log 3: Fetch quests
  
• Log 4: Time warp
  
• Announcement 3: Nothing to see here
  
• Log 5: Life, it never die
  
• OOC Wrap-Up

Rough couple of weeks, huh?

[ If there is a simmering manic energy to Tony's tone, it doesn't translate as cheerful or irreverent, not really, not even in a jokey way. Splitting hairs, but there's a tension at the core of it, despite the fact he's broken out of the more sober, understated manner he's more or less publicly comported himself with being

mainly by virtue of being tired, despite getting plenty of sleep. Not anymore, though!!! ]

I don't think there's any overemphasising exactly how rough, so let's be real: they done did it, folks. They hurt us bad. Bad enough that trying to continue to do our jobs like nothing ever happened is becoming–I want to say silly? In a depressing way, like, sad clown silly. Point is, what we should probably be doing right now is discussing the future of Riftwatch and how we don't have one.

But that sucks and I'd rather talk about the past. Specifically, changing it.

[ A drawn in breath, here goes nothing– ]

We're currently working on a means of sending people back in time to before the incident at Granitefell. These people will be able to warn us–as in, past-us, warn past-us ahead of time of the attack, and we'll do things differently, like not get attacked. On this end, we'll be manipulating the timeline to ensure that the present–the future-present–will be affected by whatever changes occur in the past.

And, yeah, that's what's happening. We're going to save everyone from being massacred by making sure that never happened. Also rescuing civilians from being bait and whatever.

The Commander and Scoutmaster will have assignments for you in the coming days. We need stuff that's not easy to get, so, be ready. And otherwise–

Well, we'll need some intrepid heroes who can convey vital information with conviction and urgency. Specifically, we're looking for at least one mage and at least one dude with magic-nullifying ability, and any willing normies otherwise. Don't break down our doors or anything, just keep your calendars free.

And can someone figure out pancakes? It's like, flour, milk, egg. And sugar. And baking powder, I think, or the other one. It's not time science. Thanks.

SUBJECT: Tales from the Rifts
PARTICIPANTS: Bastien, Cosima, Ellie, Jude, Wysteria, Tony (ish), Gwenaëlle, Abby
CLASSIFICATION: Public
DATE FILED: Cloudreach 9:49
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: Bastien compiled some stories and legends from rifters' homeworlds (on his own time and dime, but relevant to Riftwatch) and politely bullied his way into having them published.( Read more... )

I'm dreadfully bored. Let's all have an argument. How about this - You respond with a statement you think will make someone else in Riftwatch absolutely blow their top, and we'll see how many people shout back at you.

Here, I'll start - the Maker is real, Andraste was His chosen, and those who do not sing the Chant are culpable for all our current miseries.

Or how about this one: Diplomacy is the best division, and the only reason some people haven't joined it is because they're worried they're not good-looking enough.

[Someone's bored tonight. And it's been over a year since the last time he felt restlessness stirring him into needling action— particularly when he's noticed a couple of blurted-out confessions running high and harsh in the air. He could sleuth around. Sniff about for any signs of volatile tampering (or ask if this is just the next phase of whatever sleepless affliction's still nipping at everyone's collective heels)....

But this is so much more fun.

Anyway— ahem, and all that:]

Name one thing you like about someone else in Riftwatch. Anything. Anything at all.

Bonus points if you feel like getting weird with it.

[And don't think he's generous enough to actually start this game himself: that, you're all going to have to do on your own.

Or maybe just ask nicely.]

SUBJECT: What’s this about?
PARTICIPANTS: Gwenaëlle Baudin, Wysteria de Fonce, Enchanter Julius
CLASSIFICATION: Submitted directly to Provost Stark
DATE FILED: ...recently
STATUS: Complete, maybe?
SUMMARY: Wysteria and Gwenaëlle enlisted Julius to undertake experiments regarding how phylacteries interact with anchor-shards.

REPORT:

PHYLACTERY EXPERIMENTS RE: ANCHOR-SHARDS

Query: can phylacteries be successfully produced for non-mage natives possessing anchor-shards and rifted individuals no longer in possession?

Subject A: rifter, anchor-shard recently removed, no remaining traces.
● Phylactery was produced successfully with no issues.
● Subject admitted after pressing to possessing rifted magical abilities unrelated to anchor-shard. Would have been extraordinarily useful to know this ahead of time.
● Should not have relied on subject to volunteer essential information relevant to experiment.
● Inconclusive. Subject may simply be subject to same rules of reality as native mages, irrespective of anchor-shard. Conclusive results would require a rifter with no inherent magical ability to remove their anchor-shard and submit to phylactery test.

Subject B: native anchor-shard bearer, no magic.
● First two tries explosive. Minor injuries.
● Third attempt total failure. Difference in location of blood drawn; further away from site of anchor-shard.
● Proceeded with caution to clarify theory, fourth and fifth attempts drawing blood specifically close to the anchor-shard itself more stable with tweaking to methodology. (Attached.)
● No successful phylactery created, but our belief that a determined innovator could do it provided time and effort.
● A successful phylactery bound to a native with no magic would rely on the presence of the anchor-shard for its effectiveness, and could be rendered pointless in the obvious fashion.

Further reading: Julius's anonymized notes on his methodology.

NEXT STEPS: Hey if someone who doesn't do magic cuts off their arm can Gwenaëlle have some of their blood.

NOTES & LINKS: hey girl I have a terrible idea, do you know a guy or what, if we do minor crimes is that cool, hey do you want to do a crime a little bit, Tony said it was cool, it's chill if Silver knows about this, probably.