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The Dragonriders were ready – the preparations made, the way scouted and the patterns discerned. Espionage was a new thing in the world of Pern and with such tension as there was now, no one was quite certain the counter maneuvers would be successful. The volunteers were thus gathered for their basic training – intensive span of education involving stealth, simple self-defense, and briefings for the missions.

Word came of stirrings in the Wherholders’ camp and the training was accelerated, going from intensive to grueling for the volunteers.


Instructions and Structure
This is an ORP in which those who have signed up their Dragonriders for the spies event to mingle, get to know their comrades, and complete their basic training. The schedule is as follows:
May 07 – 08 2013 : Stealth Training – Disguise, Sneaking, and Tools’ Handling.
May 09 – 10 2013 : Combat Training – Hand-to-Hand Combat, Human-to-Creature Combat, Group Combat.
May 11 – 12 2013 : Dialogue Training – Lying, Bluffing, and Mingling.

In each of the Training Days, each character you’ve signed up may roll 3d100s. The values rolled are the ‘grades’ associated with each of the subgenres of the Training and you can assign them as you choose – this is an indicator of how well your character did (it may or may not incur bonuses in the missions themselves). Descriptions of the training for each day will be available in each Day’s ORP – keep things brief and concise as this is for flavor. Each Mission, once they begin, will last roughly 1 week IRL.

Day 01: Stealth Training
For disguise training, individuals are taught the components of uniform and body language that are expected when mingling among the Wherholders. The general gist is confidence but feel free to play with that - your character is learning to act as another character. Obscuring identifying marks like scars, marks, jewelry or tattoos is also featured here using thick cosmetics.

For Sneaking training, individuals are taught how to move silently via an obstacle course full of things that when disturbed cause noise. Learning to walk quiet on gravel, through woody terrain, and in echoing area is also featured.

For Tools’ Handling, individuals learn the use and rudimentary concepts behind explosives, knots, poisons, and blades. The training is BASIC – no experts will result from this training as it is quick and dirty.

C'rci

She was trying. Really she was and doing not a half bad job for someone who'd never done this sort of thing before. She was a fighter after all, not some sneak. The hardest part though was trying to keep makeup from getting smudge all over the steely blue nose that was constantly prodding her.

Mine? What are you doing? You smell funny? Why are you trying to change your hide? He asked cocking his head slighty to the side and sneezing which left C'rci's hair even more of an unkept mess.

"I wanted to see what it was like to be a different color." She explained, not quite lying since she knew all too well any mention of whers would send her dragon into fits of panic and protectiveness. While the rebel was now a distant fuzzy memory his fear of whers was still very fresh.

Disguise: 27

"No."

"Really, you stand out too much with all of it..."

"No."

Z'fer's arms were crossed as he leveled his gaze at the shorter 'expert'. The man held a knife in one hand, and the other twitched towards the Wingleader's braid where it lay tauntingly over his shoulder... just within reach. To his own credit, he dared not touch the dark lock. He had the sinking feeling that if he even so much as breathed on it, all of his skills at disguise would be pointless as his face would be unrecognizable.

Z'fer was not cutting his braid off. He didn't give the flyingest of whershits about sneaking around and playing dress up. Or putting cosmetics on for that matter. So what if he stood out and looked like himself? He wanted those shaffing wherholders to know who was taking his revenge when he shoved his blade into their ribs.

He wanted them to pay.
.....................
Z'fer - Day One. Stealth Training

Disguise: 24
Stealth: 30
Tools: 88

Perhaps C'ross should have sat this one out. He had offered himself up for the mission prior to the Hatching, fully expecting not to have a new-hatched dragon companion at his side. But now that he'd given his word, Nimith was hardly going to let him go back on it just because he had a young dragon to worry about. They had to think of the greater good of the Weyr.

For such a large young man, C'ross was surprisingly lightfooted; his bulk was primarily muscle, and he'd trained for agility as much as for brute strength back when he'd been a guard. As a result, he found the stealth training to be relatively easy. Sure, he snapped a few twigs during the wooded section of the training course, but overall he performed quite well when it came to moving swiftly and silently.

The tools, he was... passable at, but they weren't his style. C'ross liked a solid weapon in his hands, something you could rely on, not these flashy little gadgets and gimmicks. Explosives were a one-shot deal, poisons could just as easily be turned on the wielder with a careless or unlucky strike... He was decent at the knots, and he spent a good while patiently tying and retying while others played with the spy gadgets. But at the end of the day, if an explosive was all that stood between you and an angry wher, you were already a dead man. Tomorrow was supposed to be the hand-to-hand combat training; doubtless that would be more to his liking.

As for disguise... Well, the less said about that the better. C'ross understood the principles of body language, how to present himself with confidence, and how to move like he belonged somewhere and thus shouldn't be questioned. That was the most important part. But he didn't even know enough about how dragonriders worked yet to fully understand what the teachers were explaining about the differences between Weyr and Wherhold society, and all this rubbish with cosmetics and changing your face was just... silly.

---

C'ross - Day One, Stealth

Disguise: 26
Stealth: 81
Tools: 46

S'kiro took to the masking his scar like it was nothing. He was fine with the scar but understood that if he was to do this right, he would have to change. The blue rider chuckled as he heard A'in's frustrated responses. Sighing, S'kiro kept practicing how to make his steps look longer, the building of confidence so they wouldn't know he didn't belong. You are doing wonderful, S'kiromine. The boost of pride from Neptanth filled him up even more.

Disguise: 50
Stealth: 59
Tools: 96

Niyx

Niyx liked being herself. She really did. So it made it that much harder for her to be. . .well someone else. The best her disguise got was a few badly splotched bits of paint and a knocked over pot of hair dye which left her pants half and half in color.

Stealth was better. . .but then again anything by contrast had to be better then her last task and slowly with still damp painted breaches she managed to wade herself through the obstacle course flinching at each sound she made.

Tool's however proved to be a welcome and thrilling change. Niyx had read about explosives, she'd even thought of trying her hand at them once or twice and now she got to do it in the name of the Weyr! Suddenly the whole lesson was beginning to brighten up as she showed off her skill with knots, knife, and settled in to her delight to tinker with the explosives.

Disguise: 14
Stealth: 68
Tools: 98

C'rci

Stealth proved to be much easier without Bolth constantly looming over her. No the blue had chosen to keep a safe distance from the course and look on cheering his rider forward. Perhaps not as good as others C'rci still felt a swell of pride when she finished the course without bungling it too horribly.

Tools proved to be more to her taste and her skills with knots and knives helped her a good deal. Sighing with satisfaction she stared down at her work content that she hadn't made too much of an utter disgrace of herself.

Disguise: 29
Stealth: 58
Tools: 79

S'lin: Day 1

S'lin had been wanting to get back at the Revolutionists for all the pain and destruction they'd caused. So when the went out call for volunteers for a series of missions to strike back at them, she readily volunteered. She was eager to jump right in, but soon was glad that they'd decided to send all the volunteers to a quick training course, since she soon found there was much she didn't know.

The first of the lessons involved learning to disguise oneself to blend in with the Revolutionists. The thing they stressed most was confidence; if you act like you're supposed to be wherever you are, people will be less likely to question whether you actually should be. That was easy enough to say, but harder to do. While she tried to practice acting like she had every right to be wherever she was, she couldn't get the knack of it. Was Dranith's anxiety at the venture bleeding into her? She tried to set aside her dragon's feelings and focus on the lesson.

She had little in the way of distinguishing marks to hide, so she didn't need to learn that particular skill. However, she was instructed in general cosmetics in order to change one's appearance; where to apply powders and creams to change the shape of one's eyes, make the lips look fuller, make the cheekbones more prominent, or any number of other tricks to make someone look like who they were not. This she had somewhat more success with, and by the time those lessons were done she could obscure her features at least a little bit.

Next they moved on to lessons in stealth. She listened carefully as they were told how to move quietly through a variety of terrains and settings, determined to do better at this. Yet when she tried out what she'd been told, she was hardly quieter than if she'd been walking normally. Despite repeated coaching and determined effort, she could not seem to make much progress in the task. She gritted he teeth and tried harder, aiming to make her steps more gentle, her breathing quieter, to move her limbs slowly and steadily, but it was to no avail. She was just not used to such precise gross motor skills. When that lesson was over for the day, she tried to put a good face on it and jokes that her dragon would be able to move more quietly than she, but the lack of progress rankled on her.

Last for the day came to use of tools, which she found she had more aptitude for. She had experience at the precise use of blades already, since she was a healer. Her knowledge of medicines also gave her some insight into poisons, and her practice at fine manipulation of medical tools served her well. She was hardly the best in the class at these lessons, but by the time they were released for lessons for the day she was reasonably satisfied with her work.

Disguise: 35
Stealth: 23
Tools: 41