“This was the history of the world. Recovery and collapse, despair and relief. The dialectic of clean and dirty. Every time is worse than the time before.      The bad thing comes, days and nights and days and nights get so unbelievably fucked up, unbelievably fast, but in the end — if there is an end — everybody’s best self just slogs forward, one stagger, one fall, one day, one What the fuck just happened? moment of oblivion and soul-broken joy at a time.      All we have to do is not die.”

— HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY!

This weekend, in the New Bellagio Hotel, the Government is hosting the biggest ball of the year; extravagant, elegant, expensive… and absolutely not to miss. The hotel’s ballroom will be packed with Government officials and benefactors, celebrities held in high esteem by all. Make sure to dress formally, and bring your invitation along for admittance.

It’s been some time since the auction massacre in the Steel District, and the gangs and the resistance have been brewing their retaliation ever since. Word has it, the Lost Boys came upon the blueprints of the luxurious hotel where the ball is being held, and went forth to share it with their allies both in and out of the city. It’s not often that the gangs and the resistance come together like this, but an operation of this size requires planning, and planned they have.

Invitations and fake identities have been forged and distributed, ball gowns and tuxedoes have been bought and sewn and stolen, weapons have been stashed in caches in the ball’s venue, waiting for Saturday night. The Battery City Government is certainly in for an evening they will remember – just perhaps not in the way they’d imagined.

Practical notes: As we’ve had a bit of a dwindle in activity lately, and our members have been busy, we have decided not to make this a Chatzy event; instead spreading it out over the weekend on the dash.

To make sure that everyone follows the same general plot line, the unfolding of events will be as follows:

8 PM: Doors open for the ball. Gangs/Resistance arrive undercover, blending in with the guests, dancing, watching, talking.

10 PM: A team made up of various gang and resistance members dressed in black will come into place to watch the perimeter of the building, making sure everything is clear.

12 PM: A fireworks show is scheduled for midnight. This is when the attack will begin. The outside team will neutralize security guards and seal public exits, taking care of any stragglers or high-ranking officials attempting to escape. The rebels inside will have retrieved their weapons and identified their targets, and will now open fire.

1 AM: The ball will have come to a chaotic end. (Means of escape for the rebels participating will need to be planned individually, either between characters, or in the individual gang plot chats).

We would prefer for most of the action to be contained within the weekend, but we will allow an extended deadline to wrap paras and the like.