Oh man, long time, right?

First off, I am SO sorry about the ridiculously large delay. Life and health got in my way, but that's no real excuse.

Now, I would like to try to regroup and move forward with the Underground, but we have a few things that need to be hashed out. First off, I think a time skip is needed to get the plot moving again. My main reason for this being that we've lost several members since we last were RPing, chief among those our main antagonist Salak, Shuai (who was also playing Michiko), Jen-jiao, and Karanbir had to move Tatsuya to another storyline. We've lost others, as well, like Suki's second-in-command, Toru. Without some ridiculous amount of godmodding these characters, I can't see how to resolve the prison riot.

So, my suggestion is to time skip, but we discuss how the prison break out/riot was resolved here a little bit first just so everyone is on the same page. After we do that, we can take stock of who is still interested in RPing with the Underground and move on the story from there.

There's still a lot for the Underground to do, and I will not let it go just because of my lameness.

I vote in favor of the Timeskip. I say we advance to the point wherein everyone is at the safe-house and we all have a wonderful round of introductions and the typical mixer that these factions tend to have. As for those who are no longer with us, I say we just keep them in the background, in case, said members ever come back.

Of course your health is an excuse, Ai Lin. What are you talking about. xD *bops*

But it's good to see you're back! (and... sort of? feeling better?) I'm for a timeskip as well. The original plan was for them to escape via thrilling ride on the monorails, right? Shall we say they escaped that way, only not so thrilling? Yulan and Mahone both made it to the trains okay, and I'm assuming all (protagonist) characters that were in combat mode with someone else won and reached the trains, too.

So that's just about everyone, at least those who have decided to cast a vote. So it would seem that we are going to skip to the introductions, after our prison escape. I sincerely hope that that is the plan and that I am not just pushing my agenda on the whole group.

Not to be too pushy, but if no one else is willing to make the introductory post then I will, but with the condition that I be allowed to do some minor gmodding. I won't control anyone directly, but I would like to set up a little thing to further propel Long Feng's influence.

Okay, so timeskip is a go, and the plan is for it to be a regroup at the Underground's HQ. Members that are no longer with us will be NPCs in the background, who will generally just take care of the HQ in case they ever come back. The purpose of the meeting will be to introduce the "new" members of the Underground and discuss the next mission.

Come to think of it, I don't really know what the next mission to free Ba Sing Se should be. Maybe we ought to discuss here first too?

Oh, and perhaps get some more antagonists... :\

Well, what I was going to introduce is considered a spoiler by my account so:


That was what I was hoping to do, to just give our cause some more romantic qualities. As for a mission, maybe we could probably find out how the Fire Nation's forces are dispersed in the city. Basic surveying things, and then we could work on actually making the underground into a fighting force, and not the small group of misfits that it currently is.

No offense Joychi, but that sounds like something we would do near the end, when taking back the city seems reasonable. I mean, we are a small collection of "Freedom Fighters." Although it sounds boring, the only really plausible step would still be to expand, and to improve our fighting force, that being said, it still doesn't sound very exciting.

Well, it definitely seems that we need more antagonists especially since right now it's only Ai Lin and Zarah and they don't get on so well. So yes, looking for new antagonists would be good, and perhaps a few more protagonists given there have been several people that left. I wouldn't rely on the trains full of freed prisoners, though. It'd be too much NPCing for my liking. We might get 1/4 of them as members of the Underground, but to take back a city they still wouldn't nearly be enough.

Talking to Long Feng about the structure of Ba Sing Se's government before the take over might be helpful. Installations that were important then might be considered important under the new government.

We could consider trying to systematically dismantle the Dai Li, considering Long Feng's prior knowledge of them. They're considered traitors to the Earth Kingdom, and are among the most dangerous opponents.

Just throwing out some ideas here.

Shio, would that be a democratic order or a... "democratic" order? (Don't look at me like that. It is Long Feng we're talking about here.) Or is that also a spoiler? xD

Counterintelligence against the Dai Li is an epic idea. Who is in charge of them in TARP's continuity? Azula? The only thing I'm wondering about is... An organization like the Dai Li is kind of like a hydra head. Cut off the head, it'll grow another and still be just as lethal as before. Take out the leader, they could just elect a new one. Short of blowing up their hideout under Lake Laogai, how do you dismantle the legendary Dai Li?

More antagonists... I could throw Mahone up for a defect/betrayal/double agent sideplot? I am iffy about this idea, but Ai Lin is right, we need more antagonist PCs and I'm not sure I'm up for making another char, personally. This would not be an immediate development though; right now Mahone is just a little fond of the Underground and she doesn't trust the Fire Nation.

You'll find out, Yulan.

As for the Dai Li, technically Azula is in charge; she stole them from Long Feng. However, since Joo Dee is her appointed "ruler" I'd imagine that all remaining Dai Li would obey her, until it was no longer fit. As for dismantling the Dai Li, they would certainly need to be taken out. That being said, I was sort of planning on having the Dai Li symbolize the past of Ba Sing Se. By that I mean, that The Underground would grow at the cost of the Dai Li diminishing. That way, when the Dai Li are gone, it's sort of a new page for Ba Sing Se. Certainly, taking them out would require destroying the Lake Laogai base, another fun little activity we can have; at my RP'ing expense.

As for the villains, we do have a bit of a problem there. I suggest we just play the story as goes, hopefully, someone will be inspired and make something up.

Oo, I am so excited, but seriously, you all ignored my last bit; if no one else wants to start us off I would gladly do it.

Edit: Didn't realize it, but 2500 Whoo!!!

Whoohoo, Shio!

Considering that Lake Laogai is kind of the Dai Li's most used base, why don't we try going after that (after some recruiting)? Long Feng's knowledge of it would prove incredibly useful and having it gone puts the Dai Li at a disadvantage.

I'll definitely be opening the Underground for new membership. Anyone who is interested, especially those with characters loyal to the Fire Nation, can join in. It's best we can do it now so that the transition to the "new guard" is as seamless as we can make it.

Oh, Joychi. I hadn't realized that your question remained unanswered. Anyone, don't worry about it. I have an idea as to how it will all play out. I plan to remove the moon as a factor- er um, wrong place.

But seriously, don't worry about it, it'll ruin the surprise. In the meantime, how will we go about shifting to the next day so as to get this started?

Yep, as Joychi said, I think we just need a short timeskip and an angst-ridden acid trip dream sequence to move us to the next day.