So, my plan is based on the most basic tenet of all magic: misdirection. What better way to put helya off her guard than to make her believe the Magic Accomplish button is safe by having someone try to cleverly steal it and
fail?
I can't think of a better ringleader than
crackie, who is up for all the shenanigans and chaos anyone can handle. Once she got the idea into her head to take the button, she grabbed the first 9 people she saw and said "Bring me that button! No, no, I don't know how, that's your problem!" (Because of course, you get better chaos when you don't start with a plan.) When, however, it was discovered that hardly anyone of this hastily assembled crew could understand each other and Google Translate wasn't prepared to handle the varied and esoteric languages in use,
I was pulled from my nice warm library to translate. (Ever tried to translate Old Phoenician on the fly? What a rush!) Once everyone could understand each other, we got along much faster and a real plan was formed.
Ronan the Builder is tasked with getting the blueprints for HQ, an easy job, since he's a member of the Guild of Architects.
SoggyShorts agrees to be our hacker because he figures he can do some side coding once he's in the system and fix some issues that have been bothering him. He hacks the security cameras so that we can see what the Magic Accomplish button looks like. Armed with this knowledge,
Zaphiel goes to work on creating an imitation so good that it cannot be distinguished from the real one (except that pressing it doesn't do anything). Crackie also creates a button out of papier mache and string. No one is quite sure why. With this groundwork having been done, we move to...
Phase One: Throw helya a party! This is perfectly believable, because who wouldn't want to throw helya a party for being such a wonderful CM? I send out the invitations in my prettiest calligraphy (which is overly elaborate to hide the fact from crackie that I've also written them in Ancient Woodelvish because I was bored). Amazingly, everyone figures out when and where to come anyway, and the party (which we are conveniently throwing in HQ) gets into full swing when the
Storm Phoenix shows up to get the beats pounding and the lights strobing.
Sir Squirrel is dominating the dance floor with his best moves, and appears to be wearing crackie's faux button as a hat, while the
Blossom Mage is chatting at the punch table. At a prearranged time, Blossom starts covertly using her Blossom Winds to provoke sneezing fits in whomever is nearest to Sir Squirrel at the time. After one complaint too many,
Astram is summoned and insists that Sir Squirrel will have to leave.
Barchanni offers to accompany him and they are unceremoniously hurried out into the hallway. Helya is starting to suspect that this party is a little odd, because Astram isn't usually that stern, and everyone is acting weird anyway. Instead of leaving, however, Barchanni leads Sir Squirrel to the nearest ventilation duct, gives him a boost, and remains in the hallway as a lookout. Sir Squirrel, armed with Ronan's blueprints, navigates the ventilation system to the Control Room and climbs down to where the shiny button is waiting. Removing his hat, he waits for the signal from Storm to replace the real button. Back at the party, Storm waits until a suitable crescendo in the music and trips the fuse box by electrifying all the lights at once. As HQ goes dark for just a few seconds before the backup generator comes on, helya knows instinctively that something is wrong and hurries to the Control Room, nearly colliding with Barchanni in the hallway, who gives a half-hearted meow in the direction of the ventilation system which doubles her suspicions. She arrives just in time to see Sir Squirrel finish replacing the button with his hat and preparing to reenter the ventilation system. Dun dun dun DUN!
Phase Two: All the conspirators who attended the party (with the exception of Astram) have been rounded up, thanks to everyone acting suspiciously, and helya is giving everyone a stern talking to, hampered somewhat by the fact that crackie will only answer in limericks. The real button has been replaced, Sir Squirrel is being sent to live with the Woodelves for a while, who promise to faithfully guard him, and helya decides that although her clever instincts foiled the plot this time, a little more security at HQ wouldn't hurt. She accordingly tasks Astram with finding a suitable guard and then goes to check on her snack stash, with the sneaking suspicion that something else may be afoot. Astram promptly goes out and hires Bud Sorceress, who, using her spell of Leaden Arms, avoids the usual patdown at security and sneaks the real counterfeit button into HQ on her first shift. With Soggy remotely controlling the cameras, it's an easy task for her to replace the button unseen and throw the real one into the trash in the breakroom. Trash doesn't go through any sort of security, so when it's thrown out by the janitor the next morning, it's an easy task for crackie to stroll to the rear of the building, retrieve it, and walk away whistling.
Phase Three: Astram has to keep a close watch on bug reports, complaints, and helya-signals at HQ, and intercept anything that might require the use of the Magic Accomplish button and reroute it to crackie, who can use the button to preserve our cover from the safety of her new lair (which happens to be my house, since it's so far out in the country. Never should have given her my address; it's so hard to study in peace with all the shenanigans that happen here now!). After all, if helya never needs to press the button again, she'll never know it's been replaced, and she won't go looking for something she doesn't know is missing in the first place! ...at least that's what we hope.
Ringleader -
@crackie, who else!
Hacker -
@SoggyShorts
Counterfeiter - Grand Sorcerer Zaphiel, who can duplicate the MA button with a variation of his spell for golems
Philologist- I guess that's me! Pretty sure I wasn't a part of the original plan, until crackie realised that most of the team members couldn't communicate with each other. I mean, do Phoenixes and squirrels speak the same language? Highly unlikely.
Lookout - Barchanni, obviously. Born for the role.
Architect - Ronan the Builder
Gymnast -
@Sir Squirrel, sorry buddy, you're gonna have to take the fall for this one. The only one small enough to fit into the ventilation, and agile enough to crawl around the probable booby traps in the Control Room.
Electrician - Storm Phoenix, ready to disrupt the power at a moment's notice with his lightning, also doubles as a rockin' DJ for the party
Inside Man - Astram, can get people where they need to be and intercept calls for help before helya sees them
Distraction at party - Blossom Mage, with her allergic winds
Muscle - Bud Sorceress, hired by helya to guard button
ETA: got this in with an hour and ten minutes to spare before the deadline by my clock.