Set six years after season 6, Occupied Equestria presents an alternative history where the Changelings have conquered half of Equestria, while a former Equestrian colony - soured to Princess Twilight's notion of harmony with all creatures because of their encounters with griffins - Invaded and took the other half. In Baltimare and the Equestrian Southeast, the magic of friendship has weakened, as Communists, Changeling infiltrators, Fascists, gangs, and corrupt creepy politicians threaten the city. This role play is based in large part upon the Equestria at War mod for Hearts of Iron 4, and uses D&d 3.5e mechanics
Shimmering Spark, Onyx Steel, and Brie Achtungsex now make the perilous crossing into the Changeling Lands. In Baltimare, Dark Star prepares for his next big assignement, while Silver concludes his mentoring of traumatized foals. Much further away, Iron stands under jeweled nighttime skies, preparing his next move
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>>106381
I understand that frustration. I've dealt with it plenty of times, and it can get very aggravating when you feel like you're stuck someplace with your wheels spinning. I would say to just have Dark Star leave to go do some more planning on his upcoming mission so he doesn't hold everything up, but I don't know if Dark Star is going to be gone for only a couple days or a couple weeks. Fingers crossed he shows up this weekend, at least.
>After a character says “you should leave here. It’s literally a gateway to Hell and I expect the God of Death to be coming out very soon,” he literally “casually,” yes, “casually” goes to try to spend ten fucking minutes staring in front of the gate of hell to encumber himself to make it hard to run away as the apocalypse is happening in the middle of nowhere
I guess we know what his priorities are, at least? I'd probably just GTFO in that situation, but it would be hard leaving behind THAT much potential money. Which I suppose is why he's taking it.
>>106382I’m going to be out both this weekend and next weekend, then court starts back up again that next week
>>106384Damn, that sucks to hear.
>>106379>>106382Sorry about the whole not being up until GM goes to sleep. I haven't been sleeping properly. Yesterday I think I only slept like 2 or 3 hours.>mfw when my actions communicate I am not actually scared of the thing.Iron is indeed encumbering himself because he is stubborn and won't leave behind what he won and want to use for Cauldron.
He knows it's a huge risk, but he has to try. Also yes, I am indeed scared.Although the creature literally charging towards Iron and Cauldron is going to be quite tougher to deal with now. Thankfully it's a jungle,
so there should be obstacles to halt its advance.>>106374Iron, seeing the Wirraway in front of him, has an idea.
With Cauldron in hoof and pots on him, he bolts to it, being sure to swerve behind any sort of trees in order to weaken the charge the creature is doing by having the crash against them instead of him and Cauldron.
"Cauldron! I can see the Wirraway! Do you think you can manage to use the weapon back there?!"
>>106387Cauldron yells at Iron, clearly exasperated
“RUN FASTER, DAMN IT!”
She nimbly darts over bushes and fallen trees, while Iron has much more difficulty dealing with the undergrowth. The deep rain forests, thankfully, are clearer than the bush or smaller canopied forests. The dense canopies 30 meters up block out the sunlight, killing smaller plants that would normally constitute undergrowth, and impede any movement. Half the time, Iron traverses in sheer darkness that makes it impossible to see the trees in front of him. Half the time, all glows in blue light from lightning that manages to shine through the canopy. Sometimes, the lightning pierced through the canopy itself, hitting trees, and sending them crashing down.
Cauldron answer Iron's question with another question
“Against what?”
Iron walls over more than one great, colorful dead bird. Their hollow-boned skeletons have been smashed to pieces when the wind blew them into trees.
>>106387I’m sensing a definite failure to communicate
>>106391You just wanted to prove his point?
>>106394I hope nothing's wrong with me,
cuz hotdamn I have made a lot of mistakes today.>>106388"I am trying!"
Iron, clearly troubled by all the terrain issues and even more sudden dead bodies of the fauna, starts to think this is not something bullets are going to solve.
"NEVERMIND! We keep moving towards the River! Maybe if we follow it, we can get out of this god's range!"
With that, he changes course towards it.
(Maybe the Wirraway will fend it off? I hope so.)
>>106395Through an opening to web in the canopy by a falling tree, Iron sees the other hill, and the lake, which has frozen over in the cold. The lake is in the way of the transit to the opposing hill
>>106396I assume the hill is where I should be going in terms of running to civilization.Praying the balance checks help me. Also possibly luck depending on Iron, desperate to get away from this, tries to go to the other hill without much hesitation crossing through the lake.
(I cannot stop, for it may catch me!)
>>106397As Iron nears the lake, he looses sight of it through the canopy. The trees steadily become smaller, and so the undergrowth becomes thicker, making travel more difficult. Cauldron goes ahead of Iron and tries to quickly slash vines and bushes out of the way. As the trees become smaller the roar of the winds becomes greater, and the bushes shake.
Iron comes to the lake side. There is some snow build up on the lake surface, though most of what falls down is swept away immediately by the winds. It’s getting hard to see the other side. The sky remains a realm of electric blue fire, while a number of lightning strikes are sent down into the forest canopies
>>106398Iron, seeing how the animals' eyes bled out for standing still, prays to whatever god controls the water and starts walking on the ice to cross the other side faster.
(I do not want to imagine what happened to those poor creatures.)
>>106399Cauldron lopes on out ahead of Iron as they both run towards the center of the small lake. Over towards their right, and on the other side, the Wirraway sits submerged as a silent guardian.
Iron is now exposed, and he feels the full, cold wind against him. The ruined town is up there, on the hill. And again, Iron feels as if he is inside of a planet-sized Tesla coil orb, played with by supernatural forces the same way a child in science class would. Blizzard snow makes his vision appear as if in static.
>>106400Does that include having a fuzzy coat and mane?As the fuzziness of Iron's coat both from the cold and the static, Iron's worry levels increases as his
own sight acquires a static effect.
(Wirraway give us strength!) he thinks to himself as he bolts towards it.
>>106401There is no static in the air that is not related to the constant aggressive lightning strikes, and if Iron’s cost really is rising from a sudden surge of static electricity,
then Iron should be fucking terrified.
>>106402Big native not smart.
Iron may see his hair as more pointy than usual for how scared he is.
Still, the Wirraway calls him in a vain hope that it will help him.
>>106404Nice to see you back, GM.
Okay, does anypony want to proceed?
>>106409What about Dark Star? We just going to say they went their separate ways for the moment?
Is Iron kill?
>>106411I guess? But I can say that it doesn’t look like Dark Star will show and who knows how long that could be
>>106412In that case, it would be a good idea.
I will ill miss this dank place when we depart. Silver makes his way back out to his cart, still full of supplies he bought earlier. "Really thought I would use all of this today. Suppose I have all of this for rainy day."
Still though, it's in the way of his work. He drops his supplies off in the farm's basement while he takes the cart back into the catacombs.
So, I suppose he can take his time to put as many books as he can into cart, since there's no more undead...I think. >>106414Then that is exactly what he does.
>>106415Silver wiggles and forces his cart through the narrow turns of the catacomb tunnels, into the subterranean structure
>>106416I am very glad I bought this cart. The catacombs (likely) seem quiet now, with the lack of undead menace. Silver is very glad for it.
He stops at the library, and begins to remove books from their shelves and onto his cart.
Surely it can not take more than couple more trips to finish this. >>106417In fairness, they were quiet before. A bit damp, and fairly cool
There are not many books left
>>106418Silver continues, until either his cart can't take any more, or until the shelves are empty.
>>106407>>106412Darn. At least I didn't miss the post now.
>>106419Right when the cart is over flowing, the shelf is empty
>>106421I suppose I will have to be careful while proceeding forward. I might be able to keep it in cart with magic, I do not know. He'll have to come back for what books he can salvage from the burnt library, but for now he heads back on the way to the Grand Baltimare Hotel.
>>106423He does so, treading on for some time until he arrives back
>>106420Do you think you can continue tonight, or wait?
>>106424"Phew! That was workout!" Silver unhitches himself from his cart to bring some books inside.
>>106425He does so, as a couple guards stare on
>>106424I commit to continuing.
I feel like I need to redeem myself for my morning self.
Last response was
>>106403 >>106426"Nothing like hard day's work!" He heads for Blue's office, figuring that would be the best place to drop the books off.
>>106427>>106401Iron gallops with all that he can for how heavy he is, and he
is very heavy. The ruins are in sight over the top of the hill, and the Wirraway is much closer. Cauldron lopes over the ice, jumping though snow, ahead of Iron. They are a little more than half way over the lake when it happens. It’s hard to hear over the drumbeat if thunder, but there is a distinct
crack under Cauldron, who jumps up away, and Iron cones after her. The ice breaks under Iron’s right hoof first, causing him to break through to the water underneath, and loose balance, the left one breaks through, then his whole body slides forward towards the water. Into the water
>>106428He arrives to find Blue Skies in her office working on writing something out
>>106430"May I come in, Miss Skies?"
>>106431“Hmmm? Oh. Yes. You can come inside”
>>106432If Silver was a more immature pony, he might have commented on the phrasing of that sentence. "Got another cartload of books for you. Outside of hooffull of books I have yet to recover from burned library, this is it."
>>106429Uh oh.
Iron's current sliding towards the water was, admittedly, very obviously going to happen due to how heavy he is.
Can he roll jump to try and get off the path of inminent water splashing time?