Along the shores of Baltimare Harbor, in the halls of old 33 Hoebuck, our heroes have discovered a dark secret. What started as a mundane mission to stop illegal immigrant smuggling has uncovered something far more horrific - a cult from Griffonia. The party has successfully challenged and defeated many of the cultists and hired criminals, but in the process, has nearly died themselves. Now, low on health, they must both recover and put an end to the evils in 33 Hoebuck once and for all - before it puts an end to them first.
Way up north, in the Iron Range of Whinnysota, the ponies their inquire into exact who or what is damaging so many machines. Investigating and following leads, they may unveil the faults and problems of the Haysabi Iron Mine, and gain favor with Changeling authorities.
Damn it, I missed 123,000
1710 replies and 23 files omitted.
>>123492Silver looks at Johann and his reaction.
"You act as though merely touching the book would corrupt you...does Maar truly have that effect on Griffons?"
>>123493He blinks
"No... Maar comes into the soul like a grub, or a termite, eating through wood. He never goes for where the soul is strong, and hard. Only where there are weaknesses. Cracks. Rot in the soul, finding his way through weak parts, his tendrils feeling about, eating and working their way in to eat it from the inside. Hollowing it out. Even those who seem to be strong of soul are sometimes corrupted. Maar takes particular pleasure in that. But he may do so only because, and only where, there are weaknesses to exploit.
In that way he is a vulture. Having not the strength of beak to pull apart the toughest flesh, but waiting for it to rot and soften.
But it is not fear of corruption that makes me revile those covers. It is what they are made of..."
>>123494The pony look down at the books, reexaminating them.
"...oh..."
>>123495The covers are certainly hide, though at least partly tanned and may qualify as leather. They are light brown or tan color, often lighter towards the center. Silver cannot tell what animal or creature they are made from
>>123497>>123496>>123495Blue Skies reacts:
"What is wrong with these... creatures"
She seems to stumble over words for a moment, and looks to Johann
"It's like Hellsword all over again"
Johann narrows his eyebrows and looks over to Blue Skies for a moment, but stops just as quickly, and looks back to Silver
Johann:
"I can't say for sure... But it is a good bet"
>>123498Anywhere else to be explored?
>>123499A single room in the back. But openning the door shows it to be another room of tile floor and half tile walls. A clean environment, like the surgery room. But whatever was in it has been replaced by a table with a device to cut leather, another to sew it, and a couple bindings on the table.
>>123500"Well, this is where they were bound..."
>>123501There's thread - it looks like normal thread - for sewing, and a Springer sewing machine. Johann again looks judgmental at the seen, and Skies even more visibly disgusted. Mala slowly walks around, sad and solemn
>>123502Silver pets the sad gnoll behind the ears.
>>123503The ears go back, then his mouth moves up to a kind of smile. But it goes back down, and he looks over to Silver.
"We haven't run into all of the Society's security yet... I think they must be upstairs. The Society at least. I don't know where their security is"
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>>123504"This Society, it is where Maakie would be?"
>>123505"Maakie..." he looks away for a moment
"I think I know who that is. No. He was never a full member. Or didn't quite act like it at least. He did work for them. He would be with their security"
>>123506"Then he will still be in same area. Perhaps we might confront members of this Society at same time."
>>123507"I don't know if the Society wants that. Their leader wants to stay out of fighting if he can, or at least that's how it was in skirmishes with the gangs. I am not sure I would want to face all of them at the same time. They are strong. Very strong. Especially when together at the same time. All of us together were very strong when the soldiers came in. There were many of them. Not street gangsters, not police. Soldiers by the dozen. And we beat them back. Of course there were more of us back then. Now they only have the townies, and what is left of their 'security'."
>>123508"In all honestly, I could not care less about what society wants. They have not earned that privilege. What do you know, or think you know, about what they have at their disposal to fight with?"
>>123509"Well.... there is the head of the hired help himself, Maakie. He was in the military, or something. Or maybe he was a pirate. But he can fight and he still has a couple of his own employees. You killed most of them already I think, or disabled them. He hires zebras and gnolls. I was one of his. I was not a part of the society.
Then there is the society. We... well we... handled? Handled the heartlanders. They are not a problem now. It's only the townies. The townies will not be as willing to fight. The heartlanders fought so hard because they could be deported. No one wants to be deported. Especially not the heartlanders. So it was better for them to fight, and they did, and many of them died. But I don't want to talk about that...
Oh, right. The townies. The townies will probably be more cowardly. They may fight, I don't know. I would not be surprised if some of them have guns. They will surely be willing to use them if they know we handled the heartlanders. It's really their leader that is the most dangerous. The leader of the society, I think he is the founder. He is a townie. He has magical powers. And he has friends who have magic, or who are dangerous. I think there is a heartlander there who was something like a knight. There is another Kaftar I have seen in the townie group. They may be good fighters. The lesser members, I think, will have less reason to fight. But the leadership, they have their backs against the wall"
>>123510"Hmm...this will be difficult fight, indeed. We will need to prepare ourselves.
>>123511Mala silently nods, his brown eyes reflecting perhaps more than normal
"Those creatures you have out in the hallway. The hippogriff, the horse, the pony colt. What are they going to do?"
>>123512"I do not entirely know. I am...not very used to leading others in situations like this."
>>123513Mala twists his head left and looks at Silver, causing his left ear to fall down.
"But you lead us so far"
>>123514He smiles at him.
"It is first time in very long time."
>>123515He turns his head up and looks up at floof pone. Or he does so slightly, as his shoulders are about equal to Silver's, and only because his head hangs lower is Silver's head higher. But as he looks up to Silver, he says,
"I will follow you"
I hear rumors of playing tomorrow.
>>123522Are you free to begin today?
>>123529Yes. What does Spark do next? I don't recall if he went with Brie or not, but either way, the lieutenant is with the prisoner
>>123530I didn't see Brie yet. Can he be seen from outside?
>>123531Coming back? He would be at some point, for the reason that Spark at this point is not far from the ramp between the pit and the mill
>>123532I suppose if I can see him, I would head his way and listen in to his conversation. Can I glean anything from what I overhear?
>>123533A bizarrely sanguine tone of voice from Brie, Zu Lang saying something, and varied tones from Zu Lang ranging from taking offense to sounding defensive to serious talk. A couple words that can be heard are "explosives" from Brie and "insurgents" from Zu Lang
>>123534Spark is definitely worried to hear them talking about explosives. But he politely waits for their discussion to end before interrupting. He also looks around to see if they are heading to something that obviously might house said explosives.
>>123535It takes them a little time before they leave from that spot in the pit, but they eventually go up the ramp, and out of the pit, on the route that goes back towards the town
>>123536Spark decides that he better make explosives work with the light show. He looks for a spot to better servey the area, to plan the logistics of the unpredictable bat of destruction and his bomb surprise.
>>123537To the left (west) of the pit there is an area a few hundred meters wide with a paved road, a railway track, a clearing, and a little bit further north is processing facility. To the west of that is forest - pine and fir trees 70 feet or higher.
>>123538Spark decides he better check out the forest everypony is so concerned about this days. Perhaps Spark can use it to his advantage when the chaos breaks out.
>>123539Walking up the big stone ramp, Spark finds his way on a small dirt path that quickly merges with a small and somewhat damaged asphalt roadway partly covered in mud. Beyond that a few feet is a railway. Spark may be concerned by the train, with attached black steam locomotive and a few dozen open cars. But it's stationary for the moment, after moving backwards some feet. Beyond this Is an area of stumps, grass, and a few seedlings.
Further beyond this, the pine sea. Some of the trees seem to have damage to bark, or knocked down limbs. Most do not. Looking through the tree line the space between trees is mostly clear enough of brush and vine to allow movement below the trees. It's dark under the canopy. Not so much by the edges where the light bleeds through, but deeper into the trees. It's almost like twilight at midday in some areas.
>>123540Spark didn't expect a train. He carefully investigates.
>>123542Well, to begin with, where the train is. Is this a loading station? Just track? Why did it stop here?
>>123543The train goes along the track to an industrial facility. The facility itself has metal sheets on the exterior, at least one visible conveyor belt on the outside, and is fairly loud, making clanking noises. It's hardly a large factory or anything like that, but is still the largest building Spark has seen in the area. The track - it's a single track, goes underneath an over hanging part of the building covered in grey paint. The train backed up a little, but is now stationary, letting out some steam that turns a thick white in the cold air
>>123544Spark looks for anypony tending to the train.
>>123545Looking down both sides, it's hard to see any pony. But upon closer inspection, there are actually at least two. One is on the right side by the facility, looking forward towards the train. The other is hanging out of the locomotive itself
>>123546Spark observes them for a few moments. Perhaps they are loading the train.
>>123547As the train lines up, there is a wait of at least a couple minutes. But before too long, a stream of small rocks starts to fill into one of the black-painted steel hopper cars
>>123548>>123547The pony on the right seems to make signals, then goes closer to one of the cars. After a minute or so he moves over to the side, and watches the car slowly fill. The pony on the left gets out and looks at a car, then gets back into the locomotive. There is shouting, either from one to the other or to persons unseen
>>123549Though hijacking the train and leading the ponies out in a large escape might be the first thing that pops into my head, it is probably best I continue checking out the rest of the place. While the ponies are distracted, Spark crosses the track and continues to look around the forest, wondering why changelings fear it so much.
>>123550It isn't
too difficult to evade observation by the workers, given they are distracted or disinterested at the moment. Peering back into the woods, again, there is only so much grass and bushes on the forest floor. Most of it is covered in brown and decaying needles, pine cones, and in some instances bare brown earth, occasionally depressed by hoof prints, or with knocked down limbs. The first thing about the forest that is noticeable is also a contributing explanation to why it is so scary. Most of the space under the trees is non-distinctive from any other, and though you may see a hundred or more feet out, visibility beyond maybe a tenth of a mile, or even less, is non-existent in the dense woods. There are few landmarks, and it would be easy to get lost.
>>123551He doesn't go far, keeping the tracks within eyesight so he can head back, but he makes note that he can make this work to his advantage later. After some exploring, he walks back to the tracks.
>>123552Spark walks away from the trees, which sway with the north wind, and back towards the pit. Off in the distance a power shovel picks up rock and ore, and places it into the bed of a waiting truck. More processed ore falls into a now-different hopper
>>123553He walks along the track away from the train and workers, seeing where it may lead.
>>123554The track goes two ways. Towards the ore processing mill, and in the direction of town, though it splits and goes around town to the west, as Blackwood is up on the hill, and the tracks go around it. It always stays by the forest, though with a clearing separating them. In this section it is on the other side of the road which follows alongside the pit
>>123555Checked.
I suppose next I will see about the town, and how far it is from the tracks. Perhaps this will come in handy.
>>123556Past where the tracks and road seperate, the track becomes a double track, goes on for a quarter mile or so, and there is a small train station, or at least a small building with an elevated wooden platform and a red tile roof next to the track. This is at the bottom of the hill Blackwood is partly built overtop of.
>>123557He sneaks to the building. Are there ponies in view?
>>123558Through a window in another room is one stallion, he looks like a railway attendant, who is not paying attention
>>123559Hmm....
Anything around the building of note?
>>123560In the train station? Not particularly. An inside section has a room with an attendant - aforementioned stallion - and a waiting room with some chairs. There are posters on the wall. One is a poster of a pony couple eating cotton candy on a Ferris Wheel, with the words in big red letters overtop - "Whinnyapolis State Fair - August 28 - September 8". This Poster is faded, and Partly covered over by a new, blacker themed poster of the close up of a Changeling Queen's Muzzle merging to look out over many Changelings, in uniform and not, standing at attention, who are placed above many ponies standing and dressed in varieties of mundane clothing. At the very top is "Chrysalis, Queen Mother Over All".
On the other side of the room is a poster of a streamlined Diesel Train travelling over a rocky bank, through wheat fields to the left, a lake over to the right, with a forest and a lone wolf visible over in the background. The text is "Ponytown Northern Railway - Serving Whinnysota"
>>123561He shrugs and goes for some conversation with the pony.
“Hi there.”
>>123562He pops up, like he's startled
"Oh"
He looks back to Spark. He's an elder unicorn of an approximately brownish color with an orange tinge
"Hi there. Didn't see you walking in. You looking to buy a ticket?"
>>123563“How much?”
I got no clue how many bits I have left.
>>123564"Where you lookin' to go? It's 10 bits into Whinnyapolis. 30 bits into Crystal City."
>>123566Brie has just collected a very large set of explosives from the mine after talking to Zu Lang. Spark should be there to meet up with
>>123567Alright then. Brie returns to the cart with,... lots of explosives, and I would emote a spring in his step to boot.
>>123568Brie finds himself followed in light step by another drone, also wearing what appears to be an officer's hat, with a black and white coat.
Opening the door to the cart, some miner ponies stop their work to watch him as he loads it in. So too do Seb and Fun seem impressed, or perhaps concerned, by the quantity of explosives
>>123569Brie busies himself rigging up the 3 charges (2 at 2/9 capacity and 1 at 5/9 capacity). "There! This should leave a hole." he says with a bit of satisfaction. He then looks for Sparks, as he's the only party member Brie hasn't checked in with. And the Lings, but they're not gonna want anything to do with this mission (not that Sparks is likely to either, but we'll see).
>>123570Seb and Fun have been following Brie, and watch him rigging up the explosives. Kerr and Wesley are with Onyx, presumably close by
>>123571So like,... the bombs will only go off if they're lit right? They're not made with nitro-glycerine, are they? Does Brie know? I don't wanna be that guy from Lost.
>>123572Don't worry, the nitroglycerin in the dynamite is mixed with dolomite. It can still "sweat" and cause headaches if you hold it, but only fire, high temperatures, and adequate electric shocks will cause it to go off
>>123565“I’ll take one for Whinnyapolis.”
>>123575I’m finishing this scene, then I will
>>123576"Alright." He looks down
"Ten bits" He looks back up
"Now you have to have an official Hegemony passport to travel on the rail"
>>123577“Ah. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Mine has expired and I need to get it renewed. Where is the best place to get that done?”
>>123578"Go to the office of Changeling police in town. The old police station, right across from the mining office, which is the biggest building up on the hill. Go down the road leading back in town and take a left. You can't miss it."
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>>123579“Thanks.”
Spark heads out, but back to the pit.
>>123580Spark soon enough stumbles upon Brie packing....
something into a cart
>>123570 >>123568 >>123581"Ah Spark, how are you? Lovely day isn't it? The perfect sort of weather to blow things up with don't you think?"
>>123581Oh no.
>>123568“Umm.. hey there Brie. What are you up to?”
>>123583"Well, it seems that a number of these insurgents are hiding somewhere in the forest, and a protracted campaign of pressing them and vying for position sounds far too troublesome. I figured," and as he says this he presents the finished bombs "We could just strategically bomb the shit out of them!" ^_^
>>123584“Hmmm.....”
Spark ponders for a moment.
“Not bad. I would love to hear more of this plan.”
>>123585"Well there's not much to it at the moment. It involves me and either Seb or Fun flying in to gather recon, and then where we go from there depends on what we find. We might bomb them from the air, we might infiltrate a bit and make a more tactical strike,... it really depends."
>>123588“I interrogated a prisoner and might have an idea of what to do next. Not a great one, but an idea.”
>>123588"Technically, the plan could work with me flying in solo, but one never knows what one will find." He sighs. "This would have been so much easier if they had foal-napped somepony like I had hoped."
>>123589"Oh? Oh! There's a prisoner! That's marvelous! What did he say? Is he still alive? Has he been tortured? CAN he be tortured?"
>>123591“He has been tortured, but gave me all I need to know just by asking. However...”
Spark looks around.
“I might need more privacy to tell you the details.”
>>123592"I like the sound of this!" Brie looks around to find a secluded spot to converse.
>>123593>>123592>>123591There does indeed seem to be somecreature not far behind in probable listening range. It's the middle officer - the one Spark met before. He stands still and silent, though with an occasionally wobbly right foreleg. He stands there as the ponies go around to the other side of the cart, or perhaps deeper into the pit mine to talk in relative privacy
>>123594Looking at the officer, Brie the looks at Spark with a deadpan expression. "I'm gathering we should do this in the cart."
:3>>123592 >>123594>>123595“Well, I found out the answer to the trouble, though not as satisfying as I had hoped. Turns out all of the issues that have been going on have been accidents due to parties or drunkenness. So even if we executed suspects, the problems will only manifest again. The lost ponies died swimming while intoxicated. The wounds the changelings had were celebratory gunfire gone wrong. The damaged equipment, just fooling around while out of their senses. Apparently both changelings and ponies in this area get wasted and party hard, which is allowed because the changelings think this will help morale.”
“So... we have a bit of a problem. There is no target we can hit that would stop this from happening. And even if we could crack down on it, which the commanders don’t believe is the truth, hence the torture while he was saying it, then productivity will grind down anyway. That said, I do have a plan...”
>>123596"Alright, I'm listening," Brie says, trying to not be disappointed at the idea that doesn't need to be explosions.
>>123597“I’ll need you to blow up the bombs rather close by in the forest to get everyone’s attention. Then, I’ll make an illusion of a monster, make him appear to smash something with a little more explosive, then make him vanish in the forest again. That will make them all believe that operations must cease here and they will move in actual troops to hunt through the forest.”
>>123598"So, you want to trick the lot of them into thinking there is a threat that requires full military support, so that the cause of the lack of productivity is revealed without us having to be the bearers of bad news?" Brie thinks for a moment. "You're sure this pony was sufficiently and thoroughly tortured?"
>>123599“Well, he might have been able to take a bit more if you did it right, but he seemed pretty drained of much of his will to live.”
>>123600"Under what circumstances were this pone captured?"