1421 replies and 54 files omitted.
Alright Poners, are you ready to kick some griffin ass?
The ponies have determined that there is a mass group of griffins who belong to the organization inside of a central meeting area in the dormitory square.
>>121010Dark Star was scouting for exits with Blue Shekels
[1d20+5 = 15]>>121011Dark Star looks for a exit
spot
>>121012Down the hallway, it looks like one is visible over to the right. It's recessed into the wall, so he can't see the actual door itself, but he can deduce that it is there.
The greater trouble comes from the fact that across from it on the other side is an entrance into the central area where the griffins are gathering
>>121013Dark Star points this out to Blue
"Looks like one over there."
>>121014She nods, and looks back to him
"Well, that's one. There may be more past it"
[1d20+5 = 6]>>121015"I Don't like this one its too close to the entrance. Lets try to find a better one."
He moves quietly past it
>>121016Dark Star walks past the entrance, carefully, delicately, on his hooves until..... A griffin collides directly with him, knocking him to the ground, and making quite a sound
>>121017He has a look of shock on his face
"Sheeit. sorry griff."
He Reaches down to help him up
>>121018The griffin is a young to middle aged looking griff of grey feathers and a brownish coat who is wearing an off-white colored robe. He looks to Dark Star/Zekker strangely, not immediately taking the hoof
>>121019He shakes his hoof slightly
"Lemme help ya up."
>>121022He pulls on Dark Star, evidently to pull himself up
"I saw you. You and that Unicorn. You came into the temple and sat down for the lessen. I did not see you come back here..."
>>121023"Yea we come here,heard there was fun. we come straight here after temple."
>>121024"How.... who let you in here? You should be with the rest of the group in the other building"
>>121025"My Zigga with a turban."
>>121026He sighs, almost with disgust
"Well, that would explain where
he has been... But the event is upstairs.... If that is where you want to go"
>>121027"Dat Sounds good my griff. Which way do i go?"
>>121028With a foreclaw, and a look of mild irritation, he points behind him, and through the entrance that he just came from
"Through there. Up the stairs you can find on your left. To the top floor, the third one. At the end of the hall, you will find them."
With a pause, then he says
"Did the Minister approve you?"
>>121029"Yea he did do dat. hey wheres da bafroom?"
>>121030"Behind you. Around the corner. On your left. I would not go up there unless the Minister or the Landlord has invited you first"
>>121031"Thanks muh griff."
He walks towards the bathroom, he walks loud enough so blue can hear his hoof steps.
>>121032The Griffin looks back to him with a somewhat uncomfortable look. At least two more griffins from within the central look over to Dark Star as he walks, but say nothing and do not move. As soon as he moves out of the doorway, they pass out of line of sight. Blue Shekels stands further away, and out of line of sight from any intruding griffin. As he approaches, she says to him
"Well that was unsettling"
>>121033"Very. the one i ran into suspects something."
>>121034"Well.... It looks like we have limited time. Let's hope we don't run into any more."
>>121035"Lets hurry."
Dark Star continues moving towards the bathroom
>>121036It becomes quickly apparent that the bathroom the griffin sent him to was the one that the party is using as a staging area
[1d20+5 = 20]>>121037Dark Star spots to try and see if any griffins followed them
>>121036Um.... is Dark Star going into the bathroom and talking to ponies, or waiting, or.... what is he doing?
>>121038None have followed him to the bathroom
>>121040>>121039He's trying to make them think that he's going to the bathroom,so they go back to doing whatever they were doing. before he goes back and continues searching for exits.
[1d3 = 1]>>121041Alright. Dark Star goes into the other hallway, and waits an appropriate amount of time before, presumably, going back the way he was going
>>121043Hello poner! Silver floof is (presumably) in the bathroom. He may plan, prepare, or otherwise act for the mission at hoof
[1d20+2 = 18]>>121045Alright, how does edge pone cross the same entrance?
>>121047As he walks forward, stealthily, a different griffin moves forward. Into him. Directly into him. Dark Star collides with a griffin and falls to the ground. Again.
>>121048Dark Star Continues walking the way he was going
>>121050“Hey!”
He hears a yelling from behind
[1d20+5 = 10]>>121051He ignores it and looks for a place to hide.
>>121052He does not find one. The other griffin quickly gets up and angrily follows him
“What are you doing? Say you are sorry”
>>121053The Griffin thinks he can smell some alcohol on the zebra
"Sorry, griff. i didnt see you there."
>>121054“By Maar you didn’t! Knocked us both right down!”
He moves closer to Dark Star
>>121056He looks at him, and stands before him
“You ran into that other griffin before, didn’t you, stripes? Where did you come from?”
>>121058He is silent for a moment. Then he nods.
“I take it the town group must have shown interest in you. I do not think they will take so kindly to your showing up under the influence of intoxicating spirits... unless they had other plans. Where are you going?”
>>121059"I is looking for some creature."
>>121061"Some zigga named zebron."
>>121062He is silent for a moment
“I don’t think he’s here. This is a private residence. You should not be here at all”
>>121064After still another pause
"... By who?"
>>121065"None udda den maakie himself."
>>121066His eyes grow wide
"Maakie....? What did he invite you for?"
>>121067"He wuz impress by me."
Dark Star tries his best to look smug
>>121068He stands there for another moment, opening and closing his beak as if in a smack
“If that’s the kind of help he’s hiring... no matter. We’ll leave him to his business, while we pursue ours.”
>>121069"Here an apology from me. i really is sorry."
He hoofs the griffion bits.
>>121070He takes the bits, inspects them, then pockets them, before nodding to Dark Star
“Carry on”
>>121071He tries to see if blue is watching if so,He continues down the hallway.
>>121072Blue Skies is indeed watching. Dark Star can also travel to the end of the hallway
>>121074The griffin does not hang around, but goes back the way he can’t from, back into the central area. Blue sheckeks, peaking around, comes through too, to end of the hall. On the sides it rolls more or less symmetrical, with just a couple rooms on the walls. Dark Star has reached the corner
>>121075He peeks around the corner
>>121076No creature visible at the moment, and the hallway stretches down to an end
>>121077Dark Star listens at the doors he's near
>>121078Seems to be silent, though hard to tell with sounds from inside the central area, and from pipes in the walls
>>121079Dark Star slowly opens one
Silver looks to Mala. "Do you have rough idea of how many entrances there are to common room?"
[1d3 = 2]>>121081“.... I think... I think there is the one from the central building, one to the street.... maybe another to the north or to the sea? Those should be closed I think. And the stairs”
>>121080The room is dark, and no signs of any creature in it
>>121083He shuts it. and continues scouting for an exit.
>>121084Looking further down, three things are visible. To the right, halfway down, a recess in the wall. It looks like an exit. To the left, an opening in the hallway, evidently to the central area, right across from the exit. Also the right, just further down, what seems to be a door to a stairwell
>>121085"Buck. this exit looks like the same one. maybe if we go down the stairwell we can find an exit?"
>>121086“That one probably connects to outside. I’m not sure what is through the stairs”
>>121087"This exit might work."
He puts his hoof to his chin in thought
>>121088“.... What are you trying to do, exactly?”
She asks
>>121089"Let's relay the location of this exit to silver."
>>121090“Alright... what’s next?”
>>121092"Did those fire bombs ever get finished?"
>>121094"Prehaps we should scout the main area?"
>>121096"Yep. i want to see if maakie's ugly beak is in there."
>>121097“Alright.... but don’t get their attention”
>>121098He Chuckles slighlty
"I've been very good at that tonight."
>>121099She smiles back, and shakes her head with an "Oh you"
>>121100Dark Star enters the main hall inconspicuously.
>>121101Gonna need a check on that.... not entirely sure what, but I'm going to need a check
>>121103REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>>121103>>121104A couple creatures look towards him
>>121106No. This is a room full of similar looking griffins, unlike the more diverse crowd in the church earlier that night
>>121107"Dis aint da bafroom. sorry."
He turns around and walks out.
>>121109He Walks over back to blue
"Lets just go back to the others. im not very agile tonight."
>>121110Before Dark Star leaves the room, he is able to gleam the following information:
The room itself is square. However, the second floor on the east and west sides "hangs over" the lower floor, making the raised ceiling a few stories above a rectangular shape. On each of the long ends is a railing to a hallway. Some of the rooms on the hanging sections have windows that look into the open area in the center.
The griffins are all dressed in robes, which include brown, white, and red. Some wear hats. Many seem completely relaxed and are clearly socializing in a normal way, while a couple read from books, and a few loiter and stand anxiously, or expectantly.
There is one familiar face - aside from the griffins he ran into, literally - the speaker at the church from earlier, who at the moment is talking to some griffins with a sort of urgency
>>121111>CheckedDark Star Takes in the Sights and gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He trots over to blue and says"Something is wrong."
He then moves back to the bathroom.
>>121112She nods, and scurries back
>>121113if he is at the bathroom he enters it
>>121114Behind him, he can tell he has two guests
>>121115He stay calm and walks over to one of the toilets.
>>121116The two creatures follow him from the hallway
>>121118Yes
The only question is whether Dark Star makes it inside first
>>121119He walks inside. towards the toilet.
>>121118He walks inside
>>121120They follow him, and speak
"And where did you come from?"
>>121121"Who wants to know?"
He hasnt turned around yet.
>>121122Insisting, angry:
"What are you doing here"
>>121121Silver tries to hide somewhere in the bathroom while the griffons are distracted.
>>121123"What i'm doing here? in the bafroom? what you think?"
[1d2 = 1]>>121125"You should not be in the building"
>>121126>1"Are you sure about dat?"
[1d20+4 = 13]>>121127At this point, the first griffin reaches to put his claws on Dark Star
[1d20+4 = 12]>>121129Well, what he's doing is reaching to grab Dark Star. Assuming Dark Star is not flat footed - which is actually not a solid assumption if Dark Star is turned to them, and initiative has not been rolled yet - Darl Star's AC should be 13, which is exactly the number required for it to land
Of course, Dark Star has an attack of opportunity.
Either way, the other tries to grab him as well, next
>>121130Only if you want
>>121131Silver is not going to leave his friend to be taken. He rushes out of the bathroom, sword in his telekinetic grip.
[1d20 = 14]>>121131"Hey git yer dirty griffin claws off of me."
He says loud enough so his friends can hear.
Dark star bites at one
>>121132You damned, dirty griffin!Dark Star manages to move his muzzle over and bite down on a shocked griffin's claw, as his eyes raise in shock
>>121132The other one, just freshly missing Dark Star, looks up in shock at the Unicorn waving a sword
>>121138>>121137These griffins are begining to question their decision to enter the bathroom
Dark Star, then Silver
[1d20+8 = 28]>>121139Dark Star takes a five foot step and draws his bow, then fires at the one that touched him
Bab is +5 dex is +3
>>121142>>121140Dark Star takes a step back, pulls his bow and a single arrow, draws the string, and lets it fly almost point blank, right into the griffin's forehead, dead center between the eyes. A pink electric shock goes over his skull and shines in the eyes, as the energy pushes him backwards before he collapses to the ground on his ass, and then falls over to his side
Khoi and Jubilosa peak out from behind a shower curtain to watch the scene, as Blue Shekels stares
[1d20+8 = 19]>>121144I forget what the penalty is for a nonlethal strike, so just take it off of the roll.Silver aims a nonlethal pommel strike at the remaining griffon's head.
>>121146Hit
Silver swings his sword down, and strikes the second griffin with the broadside
>>121145>>121146The last griffin, having been hit on the shoulder and wobbling because of a pain that runs down through the shoulder and into the right foreleg, turns and tries to run for the door to escape
"HELP!"
>>121148And he's hurt
[1d20+8 = 20]>>121149Dark Star
assuming its my turn shoots another arrow at the retreating griffin
>>121152>>121150>>121148Already in pain from the sword strike that came down upon his shoulder (and may even have broken something), the griffin turns around and seeks to flee the room.... but not before being shot in the back around the base of the wing by an arrow from Dark Star, which, with a burst of pink energy, stops the griffin, lets him shiver once, then collapse to the ground
>>121152>>121148Jubilosa and Khoi come out from behind their shower curtin, and Mala from behind Silver, as Blue Shekels comes closer into the center of the room from near the doorway
>>121153>>121153Dark Star drags him back into the bathroom
>>121154>>121155Silver drags the other griffon inside as well.
>>121155>>121156And so the griffins are pulled inside, tied up by the females, and thrown into the pile of the other griffins inside the showers. There are about five of them now
>>121157>>121155"So...find anything useful out?"
>>121158Dark Star gives him the description of the room from
>>121111"We Found 2 Entrances to the main hall."
>>121158Blue shekels:
“At least two entrances, plus the stairwells. There’s a railing overlooking the main hall.”
>>121160>>121159"Hmm...should we split into groups to cover them?"
>>121161"perhaps. its gonna be hard to get into the main hall without being noticed though."
Hello ponies! Who is here?
>>121167>>121166>>121165Hello little ponies. The ponies are about ready to attack, once they have an approach to the area.
As far as is known, at the center of the building is a large square where many of the members of the organization are congregating, including the minister, but not including Maakie. A set of hallways form a square around the inner square, with four connections to it. These lead to an exit to the central building, one to a Hoebuck street, maybe one to the sea, and a pair of stair cases. The square is over looked by windowed rooms on the second and higher floors, and railings on the second floor on two sides
>>121167>>121168>>121165"well that was quite something" he says motioning to the dead griffins they just killed
>>121169Blue shekels looks down at the griffins as they are dragged off by Khoi
“I think your bow just stubs them... They must have suspected you shouldn’t be here. They seem to know everyone who is here and anyone who isn’t one of them stands out.”
She looks back to him
“The communists were expecting visitors and new faces. Maybe the creatures at the church were. They are not.”
>>121170I think he would be with the others in the bathroom
>>121172"i convinced one earlier that i worked for maakie."
>>121174“ Well, then at least there are some creatures they don’t know that they don’t want to mess with”
>>121172Fair.Iron listens to the conversation for now.
>>121175"Its going to difficult getting into the main hall without being a griffin. its packed full of the flappy merchants in there."
>>121174>>121176>>121173“Well ponies... What is the plan?”
>>121177“Do you want Jubilosa and I to go? Or should we not go inside the main hall at all?”
>>121178"well you said the fire bombs were unethical right?"
Dark Star puts his hoof to his chin in thought.
>>121177>>121178Silver turns to Dark Star for guidance.
>>121178"All we know is that we need to surround them and do not let anypony escape from the room," Iron comments.
>>121179“Well, here’s the thing. Every creature inside of Baltimare territory is protected by the laws of Baltimare, even if they are illegal aliens, and even if they are criminals guilty of acts so heinous even the SDP would hang them. So you can’t just sneak up on them, light them on fire, and kill them. That would be murder. You can kill them if they fight you with potentially deadly force. You can kill them if they imminently threaten someone else’s life. You can kill them if they are felons fleeing capture. But you cannot ambush them and kill them. I know we did exactly that over at Blackwood Pier. But that was a mission from the SSA itself, and the SSA considered itself at war with foreign elements and fifth columnists who themselves would not fight by the rules of law. So we treated it as war. But here, as of now.... even though these criminals are
worse than the communists ever were.... we have a few more restrictions.”
\r
>>121183""the law didnt care about me when i got kicked out of my home."
>>121184>>121183Blue Shekels reaches over and tries to pet Dark Star with a claw
"Dark Star.... The law needs to care about the zeebs and the griffins. If it doesn't, they will become as disenchanted as you are. And if they do, they will rebel. And I assure you the Party cannot afford that, not at all."
>>121182"We split up into teams. Each team covers one of ground exits. When we are in position, we give griffons order to surrender, and alerting them to status of their comrades we have already captured or killed. Those who do will be taken peacefully. After that, we will converge on those griffons who did not and dispatch them, capturing them alive if we can, killing them if it is not option."
>>121185>>121183"I would rather let them feel shame from being beaten up, frankly," Iron comments.
>>121186"Alright... who is in which team, and will the exits just be the ones that can get out of this building, or get out of the square?"
>>121188Iron raises a hoof, waving it excitedly.
"Oh! Me! I can be obnoxiously loud and threatening to make others surrender!"
>>121189She nods
"Alright, very good. Now which area will you cover and with who?"
>>121185Dark Star frowns and then sighs.
>>121186"that sounds like a good way for none of us to see dawn ever again."
>>121189Dark Star chuckles at iron's response.
>>121191"So you'd rather not split up?"
>>121188>>121189>>121190"We will cover exits to square. We have eight battle-ready ponies, so we will split in teams of two to cover four exits. Teams will be me and Mala, Dark Star and Blue Skies, Iron and Khoi Lua, and Midnight and Jubilosa. Loputu will stay with me, and Meadows will stay with Midnight. For their safey, they should avoid battle as much as possible."
>>121191"I understand your concerns, here, but if we do not split up, we will end up bottlenecked, and they will be able to retreat out of other exits."
>>121193Blue Skies:
"Uh... Well, we could do that, but both Dark Star and I are really... well, we're not entirely effective in melee. We are both more of the ranged type"
>>121194"We could also explore the possibility of blocking off exits"
>>121193Iron glances around the room, thinking a pony is being left out of the plan.
>>121192>>121193"This is likely to get at least one of us killed, if not Everypony."
>>121196With slightly narrowed eyes, White Sands stands rather close to Iron, listening to Silver Sword
>>121198Iron nudges Sands on the shoulder, offering her a small smile. "You keep my flank safe in case some griffon tries to sneak up on us."
>>121199With malign glee, she responds
"Don't you worry.
No one is taking you away from me"
>>121195"So, you and I, and Dark Star and Mala?"
He rubs his chin for a second in thought before realizing how stupid he is. "Sorry, Sands. Where do you think you would be most effective?"
>>121195"That could work, but what would we block them with?"
>>121197"All plans we could come up with have that chance. I will do my best to make sure you all get out of here safely."
>>121201>>121200Iron throws out a guess.
"Considering she uses the tube thing that fires metal bits, she most likely will be guarding the rear."
>>121201"Oh, I'm staying with him"
She places a leg over Iron as Khoi Lua gives her a glare
>>121201"Well, we could rope things off, find some metal objects, furniture, traps.... Fire"
>>121203Iron can't help but blush slightly over the leg placing on him.
>>121195"that could be bad if one gets too close."
>>121201"how about Skies and Mala, and You and i?"