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>>152765"I am sorry in advance," the native sincerely whispers for the single pup before once again putting a fully powered buck against the canine's face.
[1d20+5 = (15+5) = 20]<Fully Powered Non-Lethat Unarmed Strike
>>152768"Yelp!" The diamond dog cries out in pain, and attempts to swing back, but is disoriented, and turns to run away.
"Diego? Diego?"
>>152769Iron, feeling it may be better to risk being attacked by the third canine rather than alert the whole compound of their presence, soon runs after it to knock this supposed Diego out for good before word spreads too far.
>>152770The Diamond Dog is limping and clearly fairly stunned. But he isn't out yet. Iron can outrun him, at least if he charges.
>>152771Thus, the native charges the diamond dog to deliver a finishing blow!
[1d20+10 = (3+10) = 13]<Slightly powered (2 points) non-lethal unarmed strike
>>152772The Diamond Dog tries to maneuver to avoid being hit. He fails.
Hit. >>152774Iron punches the Diamond Dog, and he falls forward, flat on his face. He does not move.
>>152775With that done, Iron quickly drags the unconscious one back inside and hides it with the other dog.
>>152776Iron drags it in. There are many places to hide them.
Black Cauldron speaks to Iron:
"Wow..." She says, looking down at the unconscious Diamond Dog.
She looks back up to Iron
"Not the nicest locals."
>>152777Iron opts to hide them in one of the smaller rooms, preferably one that has a door still. "Nicer than what I was expecting," he softly admitted with a small exhale.
>>152778There are no doors, and there are even holes in the riverside wall where a chute and a shaft once were. There is, however, a nice small area out of the way to place the two Diamond Dogs.
"What were you expecting?" Black Cauldron asks
>>152779"Kill on sight," Iron muses softly with the mineral to extract in mind as he softly plants the two Diamond Dogs in the secluded area.
He'd take this opportunity to look at them a little closer and see if they have anything to offer to the two hooved creatures standing.
>>152780"No. They can't ransom the dead." She answers.
In their pockets are a couple knives, lint, a few coins, a can of beans, a ticket for entry to the Temple of the Sun, and a folded crayon colored paper of a family of diamond dogs holding paws.
>>152781"That is true," Iron agreed with a stern nod.
His interest was piqued at both ticket and crayon drawing, inspecting them more closely to see if he could wring out some context.
>>152782The ticket seems to be an admissions ticket to some sort of attraction. The ticket is for one adult, for daytime admission, is in the city of Tenochtitlan, and is dated October 13th of last year.
The drawing is of four diamond dog puppies(?), a female, and a male. The diamond dog from whom the image originated seems to be be the adult male "father" depicted in the image, judging by him sharing the same rust-red coat, although the family in the image being that of a brother who shares the same coat color can't be discounted, nor can wilder possibilities like the depicted family being fake.
>>152783"Think we will stir too much trouble if we take the ticket?" Iron proposes to Cauldron
>>152784She shrugs
“It looks used or expired to me. And either way, he can’t exactly complain right now.”
>>152785Iron shakes his head, deciding to leave things be: They will wake up eventually and he does not want it to happen when they travel back with the goods.
That was, until he remembered he needed to obtain all of the moneys for Sands later, to which inspired looking into the bag of coins just to see if they were legitimate. If so, he'll just take it.
>>152786These are indeed real currency. Most of the coins are the older, pre-war Equestrian mintage, while a few are post-war Occupation Bits. It's only a few bits worth in total, though.
>>152786>>152787And one more thing. One of the Diamond Dogs has an earing that looks golden.
>>152788>>152787Iron will just take the coin pouch. Jewelry can have a lot more emotional meaning than just money. Something that could bring unwanted heat to them on the way back.
With that established, he soon looks to Cauldron with a nod. "I think we are done here," he concludes.
>>152789Iron takes the bits, but leaves everything else. Black Cauldron says, "I agree." The two (presumably) leave the building.
>>152790Indeed they do, towards the now clear path to continue towards the stash they are looking for.
>>152791As they exit, right above the mine entrance on the upper part of the hill, is a familiar looking creature.
White Sands lays down, with her forelegs hanging over the edge. She stares at the two:
"Are you two done fooling around?"
>>152792Iron chuckles softly, happy to see Sands in a non-depressing mood. "We are," he gladly confirms with a nod.
With that said, however, it was time to get back to the mission at hoof, meaning Cauldron is back on the steering wheel.
>>152793Black Cauldron turns to him,
"I thought she was with you?"
She turns her head away,
"Well, we can proceed by the river or above it."
>>152794"In a sense, she was," Iron jokingly answered before quickly turning serious when talking about the job. "We should go from above."
>>152795Black Cauldron nods.
They have to walk past the mine entrance to find a part of the hillside that lets them climb up it. White Sands lays down and watches this:
"No no. Take your time. If we don't get out of here before the last train leaves, then we can just stay the night, and it's been a such a lovely experience so far, why
not just make it last a little longer?"
>>152553>>152554Silver asks one of the present nuns a question.
"So, say I wanted to adopt. What do I need to do to do so?"
>>152800Both blink, and the greyish mare answers:
"I don't really know. I think there was a requirement to show a marriage certificate, and a recommendation from a church, and proof of income, and no criminal convictions, and proof of residency... But that was years ago, and we've had several new princesses and mayors and presidents since then. It's hard to keep up with. Ask Marery. She is the one who handles these."
>>152801"Do either of you know about becoming Foster parent?"
>>152802The grey mare answers,
“Well, I’m more of a tailor. I help with clothing.”
Then the green mare answers,
“And I’m a literature teacher here. I think you may want to ask Sister Marery, as she’s in charge of administration.”
>>152803"Ah. Okay then."
Silver looks at the play.
"How did you set all this up?"
>>152806The green earth pony and the brown earth pony try to speak some lines.
The grey nun answers:
"I helped with some props"
Then the green nun,
"I helped with the script."
The grey nun continues,
"There was this really nice pony, Dark Star, who suggested it earlier in the week. We thought it would be a nice way to cheer up the foals, and, well, celebrate the return of many of them. So we looked for some volunteers, made some props, and well, this is what we have so far."
>>152807"It does sound like great idea. White Orchid's costume must have taken while to make."
>>152808The grey mare opens her mouth in something like a smile.
“Heh. Yeah. I had to stitch together a number of pieces of fabric, and quite a lot of stuffing. It took many hours. It’s all built on top of a black nylon shirt, with red and yellow fabric stitched onto it. We had several foals make fins, tendrils, and the head out of paper machete, and then paint it.”
>>152809Silver smiles.
"It is good you got other foals to help. Are there many helping to set up play and work behind curtain?"
>>152810“Well, no. At least not yet. Not in the current set up. We only have a few actors, and a few props. But it means we may be able to get the foals to perform quickly.”
>>152811"I think it would be good idea to get more involved once things are figured out. It would be good for them to focus their energy towards something like this, considering their life situations."
>>152812“Yes, I think it’s a pretty good idea, at least for many of them. It’s something to do, and something to be proud of. It’s something to distract them from their past situations, and to teach them of the values of our traditions.”
>>152813"What gave you idea to choose this story for play?"
>>152814The green nun turns a little more towards Silver, and it is she who speaks.
“Well, I can answer that. It’s well known that foals are impressionable, and can learn truths about the world through story. This is true of adults too, but it is especially true of the young. That is why we wanted a story with an important moral lesson to teach our foals. More than that, we want to tell a story that teaches them where we came from. We, as a people, as a society, and as an institution, and how these moral truths relate to our purpose as both individuals and as a group. So of course we want to tell them a story from our history.
My first choice was the story of how the Elements came together and held back Nightmare Moon. That… was rejected. It’s too controversial, It’s also a little ambitious, with so many central characters, and so many scenes. So I decided to tell another story from our history. One that’s less controversial, and has fewer characters and fewer scenes.”
And then the grey nun states,
“I actually suggested this one from a list. We had already started working on the sea serpent costume for the story of the Elements. Of course I didn’t want it to go unused, especially since we already had foals make the head and fins, so we decided on a story that also featured a mare befriending a serpent in the river.”
The green mare:
“Yes, that too”
>>152815Silver looks confused.
"What is so controversial about the story of Twilight and her friends finding Elements of Harmony?"
>>152816The two mares look at each other, and then after a period of silence, it’s the green mare who speaks:
“Because Twilight is the former princess.”
>>152818“And there is an active resistance to restore her to the throne. So anything that portrays her and her friends - who were also parts of the former regime - in a positive light might not be looked upon so kindly by either the uh, well, either the Baltimare or the new
foreign regime. Best to tell a story not involving her. And Colopa is considered a kind of local hero, so I think that will be more palatable to… to both of our new overlords.”