1024 replies and 24 files omitted.
>>163163It’s… not his best work. Blood still seeps out.
>>163164Silver lets out a groan of frustration.
It has been very hard to work around my schedule. But I am confident that things will clear up soon to allow me to play again.
>>163167hopes>>163165Spec drives around and into a gated entrance. A grey colored pony peaks its head and ear tufts over the edge of the window in the security booth.
>>163169Silver, the armed and bloody pony, looks at the apparently cowering security pony.
"Excuse me, mind taking test to see if you are changeling?"
>>163170The creature raises its head further, and Silver can see slit, brown eyes.
"How do I know that
you are not a changeling?" The frightened stallion says
>>163171"You have flashlight, yes?"
>>163172"Uh." He looks down
"I think there's one here..."
>>163173If Spec has stopped, Silver gets out. If he hasn't, he asks him to stop, then he gets out. He approaches the security booth.
"Here, shine it in my eyes. If they shine back like they would normally, I am pony. If you see flat color underneath, I am changeling."
>>163174The pony looks up. Silver can see that the stallion is a bat pony, and he is in a uniform. The uniform's blue coloring implies a general worker's uniform, rather than a security guard.
He is tentative, but takes a light, and shines it towards Silver's eyes.
>>163175Silver shine and reflect as a pony's eyes should, even though the light makes him squint a little.
>>163103The light moves, and the stallion winces.
"Uh, what am I looking for?"
His lips are pulled back, showing teeth and fangs.
"I'll just... I think that's good..."
>>163181Silver nods, and holds his hoof out for the flashlight.
"Alright, now you."
Everyone above and below this post are cute ponies
>>163183hopes>>163184no u>>163182He hoofs over the flashlight
He presses his lips together, and opens his eyes
>>163187Silver now procedes to shine the flashlight in the pony's eyes.
>>163188He flinches. The pupils close, narrowing to vertical slits, and the brown irises reflect back a somewhat yellowy gold.
[1d20+3 = (18+3) = 21]>>163189Sense Motive: It seems legit...but is it really?
>>163190He seems to generally have no idea what the hell is going on.
>>163191Fair enough. Silver turns off the flashlight and gives it back to him.
"You are good. We are members of Homeguard coming to reinforce soldiers pinned down here at plant. Can you point us where they might be?"
>>163192He points a hoof behind him and to his right
"Over there. I think there's..... three of them? I'm not sure. They have guns though. They are where the pipes connect from the first collecting tank off of the terminal to the first distillation tower. I think their goal is to create a backlog of gas in the system to create a pressure build up and an explosion. That tank is connected to the port terminal, so it will definitely take the entire refinery offline. Maybe not for long, but if a fire spreads it could do a lot of damage."
>>163193Silver's eyes widen. He thinks he made a good choice in coming here first.
"That would...not be good. Is there anypony left here who can operate system once we stop changelings, if they start process?"
>>163194"Uh, well, barely, but yes. Half of the operators have already left when the sirens started. We were keeping a crew to shut most of the systems off and flare off the excess gas, but they are intimidated by the gunshots. I think some may be hiding. And either the changelings have an operator or two hostage, or they were among the operators, because they have shut down the flares."
>>163195"Alright. We will see if we can find or rescue some of them. Thank you for all your help."
Silver gets back in the car.
"Let us not dilly dally. Time to stomp some bugs."
>>163196Silver returns to Spec, who is watching Silver as he approaches
"Don't have to tell me twice" He says, and starts driving forward into the plant at a high rate of speed. Some of the road is paved, but most is gravel, and much of the ground is covered in dirt or gravel, with more than a few patches stained with remnants of tar. Most of the ground, however, is covered in densely packed blocks of large industrial equipment. Shiny, silver steel, cylindrical towers ten feet thick and a hundred and fifty feet tall, ringed with walkways and ladders, large storage tanks, cooling towers on top of twenty foot tall condensation units, large white tanks, and myriad labyrinths of pipes going every which way, sometimes crossing over the roadways
Spec:
"So it's the terminal? Towards the harbor, I presume?"
>>163197"He said they were going cut off first collecting tank off of terminal to first distillation tower. If they do, pressure will build in tank until it explodes."
>>163198"Seems like the hard way to do it if you ask me. Anyways, let's go find this thing. It's got to be near the harbor..."
And the two hear gunshots
>>163199"That is where they are. Follow that noise!"
>>163200Silver and Spec continue down the road to where they see a large square probably at least fifty feet wide, and with at least two half-cylinders with hemispherical ends sticking out of it, with pipes coming off of the top. At the bottom is an enclosed set of grates ten feet tall that hiss with the sound of burning gas, and a narrow smoke stack extends high above this structure, with largely invisible fumes spewing out the top. Large round pipes come out of this structure, and move forward and up only just allowing a pony to walk underneath them. They go to a cylindrical tower, which is only just the first in a row of cylindrical towers that extends off several hundred feet to the left, perpendicular to the car. Off to the left, Silver can see a few pill-shaped tanks, and pipes leading to a very tall, very straight cylinder or smoke stack.
In front of Silver, above the square block, and to the left of the row of towers, Silver can see the end of a line of pipes that extends and disappears to blue skies with a few scattered clouds and the orange tint of the rising Sun, slightly distorted by the heat of rising gas fumes. Silver must surely be by the sea.
There are two sets of gun shots. One is a singular popping of what is probably a lower power civilian gun coming from outside of line of sight at the far end of the row of towers. But the other is the crackling sound of automatic gun fire, probably from a submachine gun. It comes from behind the left side of the square unit, and blocked from line of site by the pipes that connect the square to the row of towers.
>>163201Silver looks at Spec.
"Think our ponies are ones using civilian weapons? Those changelings we fought earlier used submachine guns."
>>163202"Our ponies are the ones who called for help. I'm pretty sure of that much."
>>163203"Use radio, maybe they can tell us which ones they are."
>>163204Spec calls on the radio
"This is Homeguard calling Celestial Oil Refinery. We are in the plant. We have two contacts. Gunshots. One automatic, one not."
A voice answers. And.... Silver can already tell it's that same bat pony from earlier.
"I don't know, I think they had pretty big guns. I'm not sure where they got them from."
>>163205Silver looks to his son.
"Well...your call, Spec."
>>163207"I could try investigating one of groups, see which is which perhaps."
>>163208"That seems pretty dangerous" Spec says
"You go up to them and ask 'hey, are you a changeling'. Sounds like that can go wrong quickly."
>>163209"Maybe. Or we could just pick one and fire upon them. I think it is ones with submachine guns, from how they are positioned and that we know they are using such weapons. And who is more likely to be pinned down, group using submachine guns or basic rifles?"
>>163210"A submachine gun is a short ranged weapon. Best for getting up close and clearing an area. A rifle is longer range, and if it isn't semi-auto it's probably not great for short range."
>>163211"So you think it is ones with rifles that are changelings?"
>>163212"No, just that if you're pinned down, a submachine gun isn't at its best use."
>>163213"Well, we have to do something. What would you do? One of these groups is pony and other is changeling. Do we rush in and join battle against one of them hoping it is right choice? Do we hang back and scout them hoping that something will give away which is which?"
>>163214He blinks, and starts to breath heavily, and sweat.
"They did this before to us. They did this quite a lot. We tried to have special codes, special words or questions. Of course they tried to learn the answers... Here's the thing, neither of them know where we are, so if we go around them, they won't know where we are."
>>163215"Let us scout them out from distance, then. If one of them are bleeding ichor, they are changelinga."
>>163216Spec nods, and turns the car engine off. He holds up his Jenny.
The Jenny Battle Rifle, while not having quite the range or penetration of the old bolt action rifles, still has enough range and penetration as can be desired, and the optic gives the gun the feel of a battle rifle. Though the recoil may make it impractical for use as a full auto at range, it still holds value in the short range and for those who can control short bursts.
>>163217Silver holds his own Jenny up, gently yet firmly caressing her sleak and sturdy frame. He peers through the rifle's scope to look in the direction of the machine gun wielding combatants.
>>163218To do so, Silver must find line of sight. By going through the underpass under the pipes, Silver will be off to the side of the machine gun wielders, and the riflemare both. He might be visible, especially to the latter, but he will be in line of sight. Silver can alternatively go around the large, square block, trying to get behind the machine gun wielders.