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"For the record, I,... we don't WANT to kill them, but there have been many we haven't WANTED to kill," even beneath the mask, his eyebrows widen at 'wanted', "but business is business isn't it now? And so to business, on the table is your cooperation and the lives of YOURSELF and your comrades? You lot do like the term Comrades don't you? But yes, your life is being threatened, be quick about it." I THINK he's done?
[1d20 = 10]
Not sure what skill check this might apply to so unmodified, but I sense there might need to be a skill check in there
Apparently, he ISN'T finished. He continues placatingly, "Oh yes, I know you're all gruff and hearty ponyfolk, forged in the crucible of hard work and determination, but killing is our business, and here uncharacteristically, we are offering to keep you not only alive but in possession of all your goods and resources. Believe me when I say," he chuckles "This is HIGHLY unanticipated AND unprecedented. By the way, I lied about using the gun, I just wanted you to visualize it. No, I will use the blade. It will be a pity."
>>188610And just for artistic effect, he removes his mask, so there's no ambiguity to his face.
"You may have ascertained that I'm the quarter-master, and you are keeping our (cuz you're either hostages or temporary allies, he interjects mutteringly, to be heard but to imply that this is the salient point) Captain waiting."
>>188637>>188640>>188641>>188642>>188643>>188644>>188651>>188652>>188653>9 consecutive postsThe GM is obviously not ready to run yet. Spamming and/or announcing additional antagonistic actions only delays GM's readiness and willingness to continue.
Can you please just freaking wait until the results of my charisma check are resolved BEFORE you decide to go around attacking or threatening NPCs? We already agreed on a plan for negotiation.
[Read more] >>188654>antagonismYou insist on reframing my actions as malevolent.
>can you waitI'm trying to assist your convoluted charisma check, in such as I can. There was no discussion, there was just you asserting out-of-character that you had it sorted; and then you phoned it in cuz (no bully) health concerns. And yes, I DO think I know better than ALL of you, and will assert so since no one is fucking posting.
*clears throat*
Any other questions?
>>188655No one is posting because we're waiting for a response from GM pone, who has been busy and is a bit disheartened about the current state of the game.
>>188656Why would he be disheartened? If anything, there's been a multifold interest in it, and thats just amongst the players. And reminder, he can shut me down with the quickness. IDK what you're on about. I think you as players need to trust more in GM, if I'm being honest
The green stallion looks over towards Kira and speaks
Что это? Это одно из творений черного бога?
Orange:
Нет, это то, что называется «ламия». Это существо из зебрики.
Green:
Но голова и грудь у него как у кобылы, как у своеобразной химеры.
Orange:
Вот только так они выглядят.
Green:
Почему это мило?
But Blackheel looks over towards the party members as they make their various approaches.
He moves back and tries to shield himself from Kira's power's of Hypnosis with a guarded expression.
To Posey, he nods along, and smiles, sometimes showing his pristine white teeth, and generally looking as if he wished to gain her affection.
To Brie, he gives a partly open mouthed, partly squinted eye expression that is most comparable to the look Tucker Carlson gives to most of his guests.
To Cavaliere, he nods but maintains a serious expression.
To Silver, he closes his mouth and gives a concerned, if somewhat warm expression
And when they are done, he answers
"Very well... I can see your point... Your goal here. I will go along with you, if you can help me try to save my crew, and salvage what I can of this- this mission. Everything has clearly gone awry... It must be resolved. And that... That evil creature, that rat bastard must be stopped. And the Entity too, if we can."
[Read more] >>188667To the orange and green pony, Kira simply tilts her head and bleps out her tongue with a confused expression on her face. Silver responds to them, "Знаешь, ты можешь спросить ее сам. Она, честно говоря, самое доброе, самое милое, самое невинное существо, которое ты, вероятно, когда-либо встречал. И да, она также очаровательна. Она не говорит на нашем языке, так что тебе придется говорить с ней на эквестрийском."
To Black Heel, Silver lets out a sigh of relief, and returns his warm smile back to him. "Good, I am glad to have you. I know you do not trust us fully as of yet, but we will show you that we can be. We will end this horror, save your crew, and get off this goddesses-forsaken island."
>>188674>>188667To further prove her friendliness to the commies, Kira takes the end of her tail in her hooves, and bends it into a heart shape as an "offering".
>>188674>>188675The green stallion's eyes go wide, and his mouth hangs partly open. He takes a quick breath. Green pony:
"Что он делает? Почему он это делает?"
The grey stallion speaks,
"Посмотрите на эту гигантскую шишку в его животе. Он что-то съел. Съел ли он пони?"
The green stallion makes an "ep" and falls over onto his side. The orange, grey, and green stallions all look over at him. Blackheel, however, looks over towards Posey, to whom he is smiling.
The orange stallion looks over to the grey stallion and says,
"Ну а если она съела, то и сейчас не вредна"
Then the orange stallion looks over towards Kira and tries to smile
"Hi."
Blackheel turns to Silver and speaks
"That is better. So what is this plan? Kill it with explosives?"
[Read more] >>188676Kira smiles brightly back at the orange stallion, and waves at him. "Hello! What's your name? Mine's Kira."
Silver nods at Black Heel. "That is basic gist of plan. Our resident bat is our explosives expert, he converted explosive warhead of torpedo into improvised explosive device, and turned crashed plane's radio into remote detonator. We will use magic to weaken Traveler, then force explosive inside him and detonate it remotely. For dealing with monsters he summons, we took machine gun from crashed plane's turret. It fires too fast to be used while standing or moving, but when prone and crew-served it will prove very effective in tearing any monsters or demons to little bits."
>>188675Don't get shot
>>188676They aren't outside of getting shot yet, and this little 'gesture' only confirms that they're coming with, Brie will remain ready to kill them until they're bound like the chain gang, or unarmed.
>>188677Blackheel places his hoof to his chin
"Well, it sounds like you have some idea. I am skeptical if that will be enough, and more to the point, if it will let us get close enough. If this thing wakes up..." He shudders and shakes his head. "We must try."
The orange stallion's ears go back briefly, and he pulls his lips back to show his teeth.
"Uh, my name is Starfire"
>>188682Silver: "Exactly. We must try."
Kira claps her hooves together excitedly. "Ooooo! I love that name! Do your friends speak Ponish, too, or is it just you and Black Heel?"
>>188667>>188676> I will go along with you, if you can help me try to save my crew, and salvage what I can of this- this mission. Everything has clearly gone awry... It must be resolved.>Blackheel, however, looks over towards Posey, to whom he is smiling."Good choice. With your help, we should be able to minimize casualties when we board the ship. Let us make haste; we want to board it before the GRU does. You can fill us in on the layout of the ship and the crew's forces as we travel." Posey says
>>188678>Don't get shotDon't be stupid.
>>188682"Getting close is one thing, getting close without killing off the enthralled sailors is another. I suspect that the Traveller will be spurred out of torpor once we get close though: it will not simply surrender to being destroyed once it begins to be damaged by magic."
[Read more] >>188684>>188682Silver: "But first, there are still some potential allies to be recruited. Pipette mentioned another group of soldiers holed up in some ruins towards Kostroma. There are also airponies at crashed airship that could provide extra ponypower."
Also we need to get down to the whale skeleton, still >>188683Starfire:
"No, uh, I am with the University of Lemongrad, and the uh, the science team here. On the expedition. I learned Ponish in school. Blackhoof learned it at the Harmony school. Rustling Pine over here is in the Merchant Marine. He does not know Equestrian Common, nor does Steppe Eagle, who is a marine."
>>188684"Yes" Blackheel says with a nod.
"It will not want us to get close, and that is sure."
>>188685Blackheel
"Yes, my sailors had to make a run for it. Rescuing them should be a top priority."
[Read more] >>188686Kira: "Woooooow! Wait, is the Harmony school the same one that Princess Twilight founded? The one that taught creatures from around the world all about the magic of friendship and Harmony?"
Silver: "Rescue them we will, but there are couple of stops we will make along away between us and them."
Starfire:
"Well, we've seen it go through a state of torpor more than once. It was inactive after hitting the ground, became more active, and was in torpor, or it seemed to be anyways. Something caused it to go dormant again... I think it had something to do with what happened with the village."
Then Blackheel speaks,
"Those things peasants call 'gods,' they always want faith, belief, sacrifices. Have you ever wondered what an alleged god needs with a chicken? Or why it would care if anyone had 'faith' in it or not? The usual explaination is that this is peasants rationalizing the payments and fealty they must give to their feudal lords and the like, but I've heard another reason given. These 'gods' are emotional-magical parasites, like a changeling, or a siren, or a windigo. They
feed off of your fealty.
I don't know what in Tartarus this thing is. I had thought it was a beached carcass. But this 'Fellow Traveller,' 'Seraph,' 'Chernobog'... I think it may work in that way. Feed off of the belief or minds of those who follow it. In any case, I have no desire for it to have any followers at all."
>>188687"It did not like me rejecting it. Telling it 'no,' that it was wrong. That, it certainly didn't like."
>>188691To Kira:
"No. That 'school' was part of an attempt to conspire with other autocracies in a global effort to permanently freeze-out and stop any revolution. It makes sense in a sort of way, as a revolution anywhere inspires more elsewhere."
To Silver:
"Like where? We are limited on time."
[Read more] >>188698Silver: "As I said, it is all on way to your soldiers. No detours, just brief stops. We are not yet in position to take on eldritch deity, but after these stops we will be. Or, at least as close to be as we could hope for."
Kira: "Awwww. I kinda wish she sought out some lamias to join it, though. Hardly anyone over on his continent knows who we are, and the majority who meet me at first just think I'm some kind of mindless monster..." Hearing Black Heel's apparent view on the peasant beliefs about gods, Kira tilts her head at him. "Um...well, to be honest we don't even know if gods are real. Well, this one seems to be real, or maybe he's just some kind of demon or something. Demons are real, right? Anyways, all of the stories say they're real, and I'd like to think they're real. But maybe even if they aren't, there's still good in believing in them? Like, this world can be pretty sad sometimes, and it can drag you down, and it can even be pretty lonely at times too, but maybe believing in something greater than yourself, and following the teachings related to them...maybe it helps people feel like they belong to a community? And it helps keep their spirits up even during bad times?" Kira finishes up her shpeal by tapping her hooves together and looking bashfully towards the ground. "...or something like that, maybe...I don't know..."
[Read more] >>188701In that his mask is off, Brie's disdain for the idea that "we're not ready to take on an Eldritch deity" is apparent by his very obviously raised eyebrow, suggesting only that he has contempt for the idea that anypone could operate from a position of inability.
No, this goes back to his training and experience, pertaining to the Row family and lineage. Would you like to hear it? I could spaghetti-dump it now like a pile of angel-hair pasta
You don't know, but thats gonna be a thing, even tho I'll fucking do it even though it hurts my soulAs I was saying, Oddly enough, the Row family - which the present heiress "picked" Brie to be "hers" (with complications) - has lineage history with "a" monstrocity (whether it "was" the traveler or not, I leave that to GM, but it pertains to Brie's interest in having a
Brief! conversation with the aforementioned) but AN monstrocity (one assumes you'll foregive/forego the use of "an" before monstrocity, it was just to provide emphasis).
Anyhoo, the whole point of this diatribe is to indicate that Brie ISN'T just being impatient (though there is that) when he swiftly pulls his revolver from it's sling/frame, points it in the air (yes, regrettably away from anyone) and fires off a shot.
"Splendid! Can we go now? I trust any necessary discussion can occur in transit."
>>188698Posey speaks up
"The topic of religion and extraplanar contact is a motif in my former field. Time and time again unicorns have contacted nameless horrors from beyond the void, for glory, pleasure or power, and through it brought rot and ruin. Exorcising unwelcome guests and cleaning up the messes that follow was my line of work... It was a bit of a thankless job."
She continues
"That being said, the kind of predatory entity that arrives with intent feed on the minds of the living may be the easiest to deal with, and perhaps the most predictable since its base intentions are already clear. It can give us confidence that its powers are limited, which means that it can be destroyed."
>Have you ever wondered what an alleged god needs with a chicken?"The sacrifice of a chicken is generally symbolic: proof of the devotion of the celebrant. It is not the value of the sacrifice that draws the attention of the entity, but the advent that the sacrifice was made. Perhaps the entity is being called up on to fulfill an age-old pact, or perhaps they are inspired by the faith of the celebrant, or perhaps even... most dreadfully, they might be curious..." she lingers at the last one
"The most dreadful entities that interact with mortals are not the ones who come to feed on our souls or bring us ruin, but the ones with nothing to gain. In the vastness of the cosmos, there lurk entities who are so vast and incalculable that they are simply curious that a being as small as a pony is able to successfully contact them at all. To put it in perspective, you would not normally pay any mind to troup of ants as you were walking by, but surely it would catch your attention if the mindless ants were able to successfully spell out your name? To the most powerful beings, the feat of mortals simply being able to comprehend them enough to make an offering once in a millennium is sometimes all it takes to draw their attention, to the doom of the celebrants who would foolishly contact such a being."
[Read more] >>188712>Incapacitating enough of its followers might physically weaken it to the point it'll be vulnerable,"That was my original plan, BUT I do not believe Commissar Blackheel would appreciate it, and I would rather keep our working relationship for the time being."
>Even large creatures are easy prey for the legendary bullet antsPosey chuckles
"Perhaps ants my feel confident in attacking being far beyond their comprehension, but the its easier not to draw their attention at all, lest the owner of the crawlspace come back with a can of DEET."
>>188712>>188714Silver: "It must be said, 'incapacitate', does not necessarily mean 'kill'."
>>188699"O... kay"
>>188701Blackheel raises an eyebrow to Silver. Then he shakes his head to Kira, and answers
"Belief in the immaterial distracts from the very real, very material demons that hurt us and lord over us here, and from the very real community and paradise we may build here on Earth."
>>188709Blackheel smiles
"They have quite the fairy tales over in... Where are you from again? Anyways, I don't know what it wants or what, if anything at all it feeds on. What I do know is that it has quite the impact on the minds of ponies, and I'm not going to let it spread."
>>188712>>188714"I do think that being out of sight and out of mind is the better move now, but... It knows me."
>>188712 [Read more] >>188717Apologies for directing
>>188705 at the floof, yes, I'm serious this time.
>>188717This causes Kira to tilt her head the other way. "There are demons that lord over ponies?"
>>188719He nods
"Distracting may be beneficial, yes. It does not notice everything, and it cares for some facts... some
ponies, more than others."
>>188720"Not literally, no. The danger is of an altogether worse kind. There are creatures who would seek to enjoy the fruits of another's labor, and to that end, they will deceive and instill fear."
>>188723Kira: "But not actual demons...I'm not sure I know why that's worse than real demons like the ones we've fought." She smiles at Black Heel. "Is this one of those communism things? I'm sorry if I don't get many of those, we don't really have communism back home. Or really any ideologies or political parties, to be honest."
>>188724He simply stares at her, and blinks.
>>188734Kira: "...um...Mr. Heel? Are you okay?"
>>188734>>188718Can I PLEASE recklessly discharge the firearm now? They already said they would fight with us. We can be friendly after getting some good will through combat.
>>188735"If you're missing his meaning, he's referring to Capitalists as being the 'demons' that would seek to enjoy the fruits, and deceive and instill fear, dear."
>>188736Kira continues to look confused. "Capitalists? What are those?"
>>188737Brie unironically facehoofs at that
>>188738Kira scrunches. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
>>188739He raises his hoof in a placating gesture.
"It's far too difficult to adequately discuss here. The short version is that we - as pirates he emphasizes that as though to remind Kira,... wait does Kira even know what a pirate is? are a form of "Capitalist". We acquire goods through less scrupulous - but inherently more honest - methods than conventional capitalists. But to simply answer your question, WE are capitalists."
>>188740Kira nods along, then makes a face as to suggest she understands. "
Ohhhhhhhhhhh. So, capitalists are scrupulous, dishonest pirates." She closes one eye, and adopts a very stereotypical pirate accent. "Aye gotcha capt'n! Yarhar!"
But what Brie DOES believe in:
"The ideal scenario of course is an operant authority entity, designed to increase the opportunities to it's participants. It resembles the Changeling philosophy, but without the compromise of personal autonomy. Let those who would establish themselves as 'primary movers' pave the way for the mass to enjoy the full fruit of the endeavor. It's a form of Socialism, but it's Nationalistic in it's focus," he says with a slightly knowing twitch
>>188717>Where are you from again?"I came from Farbrook, and I speak from experience. Anyways, you are right that this problem needs to be dealt with quickly. I've made contact with its mind before, and managed to resist it for now thanks to the results of my training, but given the reach if its ability it is only a matter of time before it enthralls every mind on the island."
>>188720"Yes." Posey replies
"There are many such cases, but all of them are rather obscure."
>>188723>There are creatures who would seek to enjoy the fruits of another's labor, and to that end, they will deceive and instill fearPic related
>>188734"She is from an uncontacted tribe, but she is still helpful. Please be patient with her."
[Read more] >>188741"Yes, yes, yes... Dishonest pirates, unlike us..." Posey says, rolling her eyes a little
"Kira, be a dear and help Pipette pack up whatever she needs to move out." Posey says, changing the the subject