In the far-off, northern island of Mended Horn, the party there has learned that they face an enemy they have dubbed "The Traveller." They have decided to go to an old, abandoned village there in hopes of rescuing some communist sailors.
In Baltimare, Dark Star tries to get things in order, while Virgin Flame looks for her old friend.
1127 replies and 63 files omitted.
>>186895"That was the Commissar's idea, yes."
>>186896screeches>>186895>3e only skillSee
[YouTube] You are a pirate
[Embed] >>186893Every addition pair of hooves will help, and we'll need all the help we can get. The Commissar is also the most knowledgeable pony on the island both about the Kostroma and the communist forces. As for the order, the Airponies are by far the most distant of the three targets prior to the Kostroma. They should be last if we want to avoid wasting valuable daylight backtracking across the island.
>>186895Silver: "I would prefer not blowing up the Kostroma if it can be helped. It will make escaping island with everyone far more difficult."
>>186894Kira: "How heavy are they exactly? I'm a pretty strong creature, I've found..."
Silver: "Does Kostroma have long-range radio?"
[Read more] >>186895"It is not the sort of creature that would die in a fire or freezing water. Destroying the ship would certainly make it easier to deal with its thralls though." Posey says, nonchalantly
"It is still risky though. There are better ways. If I could get into mid range without losing concentration and summon a flock of bats, I may be able to make most of the crew due of bleed damage, assuming they lack any evokers."
>>186898No. The airponies should be first. They are the entire purpose of this mission. Everything else is an afterthought.
>>186898To the Nope Noodle:
"About a tonne, I think."
To Silver:
"Yes, if you can get past everything guarding it."
>>186899The GRU and the Traveler are distracted right now, but I don't know if we'll have the time to do all of that backtracking. It's also far more likely that the Airponies will stay where they are at while the Commissar is more likely to move if we don't get to him quickly.
Silver: "Uh...let us try to avoid causing all of Kostroma crew to die of blood loss."
>>186901Kira's ears fold backwards. "Oh...that's heavy..."
Silver: "That is good to know. I do not think it will be factor before Traveler is dealt with, but good to know for later."
>>186903"Well... it's the six of us here, but there are more elsewhere. We were going to meet up with rescue forces from the mainland but... the fluffy one is skeptical of that."
>>186904Silver: "Do you know where other survivors are?"
>>186902"It crash landed from beyond the upper atmosphere, and has therefore demonstrated extreme resistance to heat and physical trauma. Mortal weaponry will likely be useless against such a creature. I hypothesize that it is likely immune to nonsupernatural attacks. I know of many similar creatures."
>>186903>The GRU and the Traveler are distracted right nowYou don't know how long that will last.
>It's also far more likely that the Airponies will stay where they are You don't know that either. What if they are being attacked right now?
>Silver: "Uh...let us try to avoid causing all of Kostroma crew to die of blood loss."Posey blinks quizzically
"Why?"
>>186906"You think it's vulnerable to magic?"
She smiles, as if she heard Posey say she believed in the tooth fairy, or some other such nonsense that adults should not believe in.
>>186905"Some were in the village by the bay... I am not sure."
>>186906Silver: "Because they are not our enemy; they are possessed, they have no choice in matter. They also will not come back to life if Traveler is killed, but those who are alive will be freed from its influence."
>>186907Silver: "Which village is this? There are several spread across island."
>>186910"By the bay. The uh... south bay."
>>186907>"You think it's vulnerable to magic?""Most likely." She says
She produces a flower from her spell components pouch, which begins to wither and rot in the glow of her magic until it crumbles away
"From the intel I have gathered, it is immobile. So long as it is a living thing, I should be able to rot it from the inside out, so long as I can touch it. That is my plan, anyway."
>she believed in the tooth fairy, or some other such nonsense that adults should not believe in.Literal unicorns exist in this world though.
>>186909"We cannot assume that the powers at our disposal are enough to fell it, but this is the most reliable plan I can think of."
>>186910"If minimizing casualties at the expense of risking personal harm were part of the job description, I would have charged extra. Nonlethal tactics are no my specialty. I will take your suggestions into consideration though."
[Read more] >>186911Is the Whaling Village in the south bay, or is the south bay somewhere else on the island?
>>186912>If minimizing casualties at the expense of risking personal harm were part of the job description, I would have charged extra. Nonlethal tactics are no my specialty. I will take your suggestions into consideration thoughBrie forgets himself and nods involuntarily in agreeement
"I should remind you that we have a priority mission here. We can deal with these matters after we get to the downed airship."
>>186912"Black Weave. Useful on living things. But this does not live. It looks like an animal, if an animal could survive space, but..." She stops speaking
>Literal unicorns exist in this world though.Which has fuck all to do with the question of whether the entity has more or less resistance to magic
>>186913The whaling village is in the west
>>186916Hmmmmmm...potentially more hooves that could help us with this fight against the Traveler. So, in comparison to the Commissar, the leviathan whale skeleton, and the Airponies, how distant would this village in the south bay be?
She trailed off, Brie would hear what she stopped hersrlf from saying
>>186918Is Brie approaching the gunshots or not? He can't be in two places at once.
>>186920No, hes listening intently
>>186918She winces, and looks away
"it isn't. It's some kind of shape changing magical or energy thing."
>>186917Not terribly far from the medieval village. In between the Medieval village and the Kostroma
>>186916>But this does not live."Are you saying it is undead? I have other ways of dealing with that." She says
>if an animal could survive space"You would be surprised. There are countless living creatures dwelling beyond the void who are able to survive in the absence of atmosphere, only a few of which have been properly documented. That is a topic for another day though." She says, looking wistfully at the night sky
She pauses
"Really, the one class of creatures I do not have a reliable spell for is golems... Constructs are so difficult to destroy, and are not nearly as easy to control as the undead. I have not seen very many golems lately though."
>>186923Hmm...sounds like it's the closest target to the Kostroma. We should go there last before going to the Kostroma.
Silver smiles apologetically at the mare. "Does it have mouth, or other orifice? We could detonate grenade from inside of it."
>>186924Kira perks up a bit at the topic of discussion. "Oh, what about using a spell to dispel magic in order to kill a golem! Aren't they animated using magic? If you dispelled the magic keeping them together, wouldn't they just fall apart?"
>>186923"An Energon, perhaps? I have heard of aberrations being seeded from corrupted positive energy. If so, that might make it even more vulnerable to my blackweave...."
"But rather nasty to deal with myself..." she thinks to herself, silently >>186925>dispelYeah, I would really like to do that, but Posey is only lvl 4, and I don't get nice things at this level.
>>186925Brie tries to hide his embarrassment that Silver is trying to glean battle strategies from a civillian
>>186922Glad that is cleared up.
>>186923>>186924"Nopony really knows what it is. I would rule it out being a machine. We are no closer to finding out what weakness it has, unfortunately.">>186925"Those could be our first and second options. I would prefer more explosives than a single grenade, and getting close is alone a hazard according to the documents." He retrieves the documents he collected from the dead doctor and gives them to Miss Pipette.
"Any useful information you can glean from these?" >>186925Posey does not respond to the dispelling quest, not willing to discuss that she still can't cast lvl 4 spells (like Animate Dead).
>>186929"We have some grenades at our disposal. We could bundle them together to combine their explosive power. Unfortunately our ability to gather resources is limited, otherwise we could make some homemade explosive devices like nail bombs. Hmmm..."
>>186923Looking at the torpedo in the plane, Silver wonders to himself: how difficult would it be to dismantle the heavy torpedo in order to acquire its warhead?
>>186930Kira merely tilts her head at the necromantic mare, and flicks her tongue.
>>186927>>186924She just shakes her head
>>186925"It does. Yes."
>>186929"We know that it falling out the sky hurt it. As did it overexerting itself."
>>186931Easier than taking the entire thing, to be certain.
>>186932Is he trying to disarm it?
[Read more] >>186933No, hes using that skill to see if he has the capability to even repurpose it as an explosive or whatever else.
>>186933What does this mare know of magic and monsters?
Anyway, I think this calls for some Arcana checks, to determine that it's NOT a construct
[1d20+11 = (10+11) = 21]And religion, to check if it's undead
[1d20+11 = (8+11) = 19] >>186932>>186933>>186934Hopefully no. Silver explains his thoughts to Brie. "Could you remove torpedo warhead, and then using radio within this plane make remote detonator to attach to it? We could force it inside Traveler, detonate it remotely, and it would kill Traveler while his body would absorb force of explosion, preventing Kostroma from being destroyed as well."
>>186934With adequate time and tools, the warhead could be removed, yes.
>>186935And what does
this mare know of a thing she's never before seen or touched, but the bolshevik mare has?
It is not a construct
It is not undead
As best as Posey can tell, anyways
>>186938Thus, can we stop asking stupid questions from the obviously ill informed mare?
>>186937>>186938Silver: "It may be worth spending time to make it. Should we stick together until it is finished, or should we move on to gather more allies while you stay and work, and then meet up at agreed-upon location later?"
>>186933"If it can be hurt, it can be killed. We just need more energy.">>186932"Careful," Cavaliere warns quietly.
"If there's a misstep none of us would be around long enough to know it.">>186940"It might be wise to move most of our group away from here for the time being, if we're disassembling the torpedo."How heavy are the explosive charges we already have?
>>186942I meant Pipette, she aint gonna know creature types and whther we can blow it up from the inside
>>186938Well, if it's not undead, and it's not a construct, all the other available creature types (outsider, aberration, magical beast, dragon, elemental, etc; with the exception of Deathless which is basically just "good undead") should count as living things for the sake of spells (except for anti life shell, which is weird) and effects. I'm just checking for the sake of tactics and planning how to destroy it.
Posey pauses to consider her plan
"If it is either undead or a construct, I should know when I see it. Until then, I remain confident in my entropy-based attacks."
>>186944She is the only creature alive and present who has seen and studied it firsthand.
>>186945"That might injure or incapacitate it. We can't be sure whether it will kill it. Having as many contingencies as we can afford is our best option." >>186944Bold of you to assume.
No, it's because of how Posey is asking the questions. Posey asks questions, but then asserts knowing more than the one she's asking. It's like you know something is X, and then person asks "Is it Y?" and you say "No," then they say "You're wrong. It's Y, and not X." Like what are you supposed to do with that? You just say "k" and let them think what they think
>>186943"Quite a bit more energy. I... we fear it's been around for significantly longer than just roaming around the Lunar Sphere. We are not the first to try to kill it, if you will. If that is so, that means it is harder to kill than may be appreciated. But that does mean it may placed in a state of tupor where it is more or less harmless."
>>186943Only a few pounds.
[Read more] >>186943>carefulBrie makes a mental note to hire someone expendable who he can shoot for having the foolishness to think that they are performing a service by 'reminding' him to be careful around the deadly explosives.
Brie glances at Garv and smiles briefly
>>186947Silver: "It perhaps also just means that those who tried before us were not creative enough. I do not know what realm it came from was like, but in this realm, everything can and eventually must die. While here, it has to abide by laws of
this universe. And no matter how thick its hide is, I have yet to meet creature whose insides are as hard as their outsides."
>>186949"That is our latest hypothesis. That is being subject to limitations and constraints that it is unfamiliar with."
>>186951Brie is really trying to be nice, and is not saying some adversarial things
>>186951"Even a ship may be harder to kill than you think. And I think that thing may be killing right now."
>>186950Silver: "I could believe it. Hearing it speak through possessed ponies, it clearly lacks knowledge on basic laws of this universe. It has much knowledge about this world, but what knowledge it lacks is weakness we could exploit."
>>186946"Even eternal archons are still subject to the rot of the blackweave. I see your point though. I just cannot fathom a more reliable way to kill a creature that survived impact from the upper atmosphere."
>>186947"I cannot confidently say that it will stay dead after it is killed, I know from experience that some things refuse to stay buried, but so long as I rot its entire body into oblivion it should stay quiet for long enough to become someone else's problem."
>>186950"Entropy and decay are ironclad laws of this realm. Beachgoers from beyond the void are not always aware of the limitations of mortality and the forward arrow of time when they cross over to our world, and thus the majority of them perish, with their alien physiology not suitable this cruel existence. It is the only reason why they have not completely taken over this plane already."
>>186954"Indeed. It seemed uncertain what death even is. Intend to professionally give it a first hoof experience, as a welcome to this plane." she says
She puffs out her chest
"Death is my arcane thesis afterall."
>>186953"Good point. Time to go." Posey says, turning to leave
>>186954"Lead the way to the airship, Kira."
>>186958We're going to the Commissar and the leviathan whale skeleton on the way, though. Since they're on the way, we'll lose no time going to them.
Also, we need to hear from Brie where he'd like to meet up with the party again after he's finished with the torpedo warhead.
>>186959"I strongly disagree. The airponies are our priority. They could be under attack as we speak, or enthralled by the Traveller. The fight with the Traveller is an act of charity; we should not delay our actual mission for it."
>>186960Uhm, Silver needs to explain why they need the warhead first
>>186962He already explained his idea: the party is going to pair it with a remote detonator and detonate it from inside the Traveler.
>>186941Silver: "It is far better safe than sorry to have it. Besides, I thought you liked explosives."
>>186961Silver: "It will still take us time to travel to airponies regardless. Best we tackle these objectives in most efficient way possible to cover as much ground in as little time as we can."
Oh ffs.
>>186960Youre not allowed to do the talking anymore, you suck ass at posting quickly
>>186961I should not be agreeing eith you as much as I do
>>186959Can we please? With the going?
>>186965Dude, it's 11 P.M., I'm not going to be right on the money with every post at this time.
>>186965Yes, let's go but leave Pipette, the captives, and the griffons here.
>>186967Silver: "Gameplay? Anyways, look, it would be of tremendous help to us, especially if we end up having to use explosive charges we have before we face off against Traveler. If we need it, then good, if it turns out we do not, then you get to keep warhead for yourself."
>>186970Silver: "By that point we will already be close to going to Kostroma."
>>186968That means we would have to come back to collect them.
>>186971We would have to come back for Brie and the explosive regardless. The airship is the one confidential aspect of our mission and letting a Stalliongrad scientist near it is inadvisable.
>>186971How do you want to do this? Do you want me to explain why "no" in character or out? Cuz right now, Silver is nominating himself for idiot of the year, in Brie's mind.
>Uatchit
The cow mutters, her pin spinging to life again. She nonchalantly remounts, and speeds off
>>186971Let me put this into perspective.
I get that you/Silver thinks that repurposing the torpedo is a good idea. Brie DOESNT.
Brie holds out his hooves in a shrug gesture, as though to indicate that there is no vompelling argument for him to fuck off from everything to playbwith this torpedo, under the assumption that if a compelling case WERR made he could ALWAYS go back, and assume that we're ready to go toward the maines
>>186979Okay then, you're now the plan maker and party leader.
>>186977I agree with this plan, but that means we have to take everypony with us.
>>186980Brie shrugs, but wastes not a moment.
"Garv, flank out, shoot anything that moves. Silver, you're on Ms Kubana, she has marines to locate. Rosie? Uh... I trust you to do the magic thing. Dust... keep an eye on her, but conserve your energy; we're likely to gather more injured before this is over," he takes a moment to reload the 3 shots from earlier.
"Any questions?"
Brie snaps his hoof to indicate this isnt an idle question
>>186982Fine, let's do it. Survival roll to watch out for enemies and to track the marines.
[1d20+11 = (12+11) = 23]
"Ill be the eyes in the sky. If I call out, its cuz surprise or stealth is no longer the priority."
If theres no further questions, Brie will resume his arial vantage, spot checking as he do
>>186989"That would be an unnecessary risk for her, whether the threat comes from the Fellow Traveler or the GRU," he insists.
Also Pipette is right there.
>>186990Brie will attempt a little eye-play with Garv. What he will attempt to communicate through facial gesture and body language is that in that the Traveler likes dominating a geoup, it might behoove to have a group on hand to maybe distract it with.
Finally, Brie will take a long, deep breathe before turning to Silver.
"I really don't line the idea of spending any time on this thing, but you may be correct, and it may be the thing that gives us an edge. Fuck me," Brie paces nervously. You've never seen him do that. "Fine. I dont like it, but I'd rather have a hugeton explosive and not need it, than need a hugeton explosive and not have it," Brie says, returning command to Silver
>>186994"Go, I'll follow the gunshots," and Brie begins to take a 20 on the torpedo
yes, Im sidelining Brie u fucks >_<
This better be good
theres an l16 cow otw if I need retribution
"Fucksake move, Soldier!" Brie barks, not moving his eyes from the prize
>>186991>>186993Cavaliere narrows his eyes with a side glance.
He turns back to the mare.
"Miss, you might be partly responsible for this situation, but that's not our concern at the moment. Even if it threatens our chances of getting off this island alive, we will do our best to keep you and the prisoners safe, because that is our duty."The griffon gives the mare his derringer and ten rounds of ammunition. He discreetly points to her, points to his eyes, and points at Brie.
Staring at the torpedo, Brie has a moment of reflection. He thinks about where he ginds himself, the situation he's in what with the Traveler and all this madness. He thinks about these ponies and griffon he is cavorting with. So much of this seems off to him. But he banishes such thoughts from his mind, pulls off his mask so he can breathe better, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.
"Centipede," he mutters, before he starts going to town. His last interactive moment will be for him to not even bother to address anypony, but simply to call out: "I trust I dont need to emphasize how important it is that I'm not disturbed?"