734 replies and 42 files omitted.
>>187511Hmm...how much time?
Kira, with Pipette in her grasp, gives the mare some headpats, hoping it will calm her down.
>>187515"Kira, let the poor mare go. We need her on her hooves to lead us to the Commissar."
>>187511This is why Cavaliere was hesitant about grabbing the gun. He simply cannot carry that much weight. Does anypony volunteer to carry either the gun or the ammunition, and does anypony object to waiting for the gun to be dismounted?
"Miss Pipette, none of us intend to hurt you. Lack of sleep has made you jumpy, but please get a hold of yourself. We need your help," he says gently.
>>187517I don't care either way.
I have space on my floating disk.
>>187518You have four caster levels, correct? That's 400 pounds we can carry in the air.
Let’s say that the warhead of the torpedo has 255 pounds of Amatol explosive
>>187511Brie has zero interest in the torpedo. I envisioned something smaller, like standard missile size, except for air-water
>>187521That is a lot of potential god-killing power there. Hopefully.
>>187519We should have asked Captain Waters for a Talisman of The Disk. It's only 500 gp for at-will Floating Disk.
I think I'll buy one after this adventure.
>>187525Let's find the commissar and the Marines first.
>>187528No, I mean it would be a huge help to smooth over Brie's IC concerns about the plan if Posey explained (again, in character) in a bit more detail about the scroll. She's explained she would need the leviathan whale skeleton, but not what she would need it for or what it would do.
>inb4 "Posey wouldn't so willingly divulge this kind of information"The party is in a life or death situation against a god with the ability to summon monsters seemingly without limit and control an unknown number of creatures at any given time. For Posey it's especially a case of life or death because she has 0 Constitution, so if she goes down that's it, no bleedout period or anything like that where the rest of the party can save her. Information isn't at a premium here, we need to communicate with each other if we wish to survive and succeed.
"I'm certainly not going to be able to.convince the science mare, even when bartering or engaged in diplomacy, there's an aire of intimidation to it. Still, she does seem to require some degree of convincing, and since I'm quite certain thar several.of you will be very cross if I try to force her at gunpoint. So! I'm going to whipnup a fresh batch of tea, and maybe we can get her a bit more settled hmm?"
Brie first reloads his revolver from the 3 potshots, before making a full pot of tea.
>>187530This. Ill be happy to have Brie do whatever, but it has to make sense
>>187531Kira: "Is there an aire of intimidation to headpats," the noodle asks, as she continues to give the scared science mare comforting headpats. "I like giving pets and headpats to friend-shaped creatures."
>>187535Brie does for a moment contemplate giving 'special headpats'to the science mare, but is pretty sure that would not be approved.
I don’t believe Kira ever actually ran Pipette down, lunged at her, and constricted her. I mean… caught up to her, whumped, and hugged her.
>>187538Did Pipette run? Cuz Kira's hunter insticts would have kicked in.
Can we pretend that the ladt few hours of dialogue isnt wasted on a tiny bit of oversight? :3
>>187539Yes.
Running from a massive predator whose normal prey is medium sized ungulates, like ponies,
may have been a mistake.
>>187538Well, that was the intention. The friend-shaped creature must not be allowed to run off on her own, she must be given friendly snek hugs.
>>187534>>187535Kira: "Awwwwwww..."
>>187530>it would be a huge help to smooth over Brie's IC concerns about the planI missed the part where that's my problem.
>She's explained she would need the leviathan whale skeleton, but not what she would need it for or what it would do.The nature of the magic in the scroll is purview to her master's practices: it is as much of a military secret as the sensitive systems that Captain Waters is having us destroy. Adhering to the privacy of her masters is part of her code of conduct, which is why she cannot reveal it to outsiders so easily, even at the expense of her own safety. Until her apprenticeship/enslavement is over (level requirement), death is preferable to slighting the masters.
>if we wish to survive and succeedYou say that, but Posey also have my secrets to keep.
She did request to break off and perform the magic in privacy. I guess it wouldn't hurt to witness the results of the spell if you didn't witness its casting.
I'll consider it. Let's talk about it again after we find the Marines and Commissar.
>>187541"Stop chasing her. This is counterproductive."
[Read more] >>187544>>187543Kira: "Okay..." Kira loosens her grip on the science mare.
>>187541As Brie approaches, Kira first, he pauses.
"Ms. Kubana, our guest will need to be able to move to be able to sip her tea. If she runs, she won't get far," And Brie deli erately makes eye contact with Pipette, "but for now let's just take a moment." His head tilts as a thought occurrs. But he finishes his motion, holding out a small cup of calming tea to the frightened science mare.
>>187540Pipette is less grappled and being offered tea by a crazy bat in a camo murdersuit that yes, has blood on it.
"Go on Miss, youve been through alot. It isnt poison, and we're not here to hurt you. I brought biscuits as well.:
"
>>187493RUDE
>>187543So Brie is taking the time to boil water?
>>187544>I missed the part where that's my problem.Also rude
>>187545>>187544>>187541Sure, we’ll assume that Kira, despite never rolling for it an only stating the action as kind of post hoc fait accompli, has grappled and coiled Pipette after she tripped.
When Kira loosens her grip, Pipette jumps out of Kira’s coils. She fails to clear Kira’s body and trips over it, falling on her belly with an “yumph!” squeal, eyes closed forelegs spread in a y shape forward, and chin against the ground. Her tin-hat slumps down, though the horn stops it from covering her eyes, and she looks upwards towards whomever approaches, presumably Brie
[Read more] >>187544Silver: "We have time at moment because of distraction to be able to go to Commissar, whale skeleton, and airponies without worrying about GRU or Traveler. I highly doubt, however, that distraction will hold long enough for us to backtrack all way across island multiple times to go to airponies, come back for skeleton, come back for torpedo, then go to Kostroma. Whatever secrets your masters have bid you to hold, they would surely understand that needs and circumstances of current moment outweigh need for secrecy. I also doubt any of our original party members will divulge any secrets we discover."
>>187551Did you want a roll for it? I didn't know if you did or not.
>>187551Posey approaches her
"If you would be so kind as to lead of to this commissar you spoke of, that would be very much appreciated." she says
Without waiting for a response, Brie simply shrugs and starts laying out teacups and biscuits. First to Pipette, then Kira, Silver, Dust (hes the lankier), and finally Garv. Somehow, Brie intuits that Rosey would decline tea and biscuits. All the same, he only has a dozen and with those six he can only offer 2 per pony without breaking them.
"Ms. Pipette, please be at ease. In spite of our colorful and outlandish nature and appearance, we are here to be of service to you. And not just to you, but the good locals of stalliongrad, and whoever else has been caught up in this messy little scenario," he's quite upbeat at this point, wriggling his nose and shaking his head a bit at 'messy little scenario'. "Its quite absurd, and not what the lot of us were expecing when we took this mission. You're a mare of science, I assumed you would benefit from a more detailed and HONEST level of disclosure," he smiles, finally bringing his own tea to his lips. "The tea it's self.is wonderful, but consider dipping the biscuits in for a moment, not too long or they'll crumble. Anyhow, where I was going with that is to say that we are a privately contracted, paramilitary group tasked with recovering Equestrian personnel and either sabotaging or running off with military vehicles.
However, as you are no doubt aware," he gestures to the bags under her eyes, "There is more going on here than a simple territory dispute between rival militaries." His voice grows deeper and more deliberate. "Something foul is going on here, and it is not implausible to say that the few here, offering you tea,... may be the kast kine of defense that Equestria has." His voice jumps back up in pitch. "Life is so erratic and unpredictable isn't it?
So, while appreciate what given the circumstance a slight disinclination to trust us, it would behoove our survival if you would help aid us in locating the commissar."
[Read more] >>187551If we can dialogue without your adjudication, and if the dialogue takes far longer than boiling water for tea, yes Brie made tea
>>187557Idk what check that counts as
[1d20-1 = (18-1) = 17]Bluff and intimidate are a +5, but this is sorta more diplomacy? Total newb
>>187552>>187553>>187554>>187555Pipette lies collapsed on the ground on her belly. Her hind legs are propped up against Kira’s body, slightly raising her hindquarters, even as her chin presses against the grass. Her wine-red eyes look up at the creatures around her. She moves her hooves closer to herself and tries to push herself upwards. She manages to pull herself off of Kira, and is only just able to stand up, still trembling and dirt on her white coat jacket.
She looks over to the biscuits (I’m unsure if the biscuits are actual biscuits or if these are cookies), and sniffs one. Then she uses her magic to take it, and starts eating it. She eats it rather quickly and not exactly in the manner befitting what is presumably a professional. She takes the tea with an aura of red purple magic, sips it, then drinks it quickly, with the only limit being an aversion to having her mouth burned by hot liquid.
>>187559"....Take your time to recover, but we are in a hurry, so be ready to leave soon." Posey says, coldly
>>187555Cavaliere takes a cup of tea, but stares at Brie as he gives away information that is not his to give.
Or maybe I should retcon this, as if we're taking the machine guns he will be taking precious time to dismount them?
>>187559Kira gives Pipette a friendly smile. "Sorry about all of that..."
Silver likewise smiles at the mare. "I know they are weird bunch, but they are good creatures."
>>187562Brie acknowledges Garv's glance, and tips his head to suggest he has a plan, but acknowledges we cant discuss it now, wat matters is getting this cunt to.gove us the next waypoint
Pipette speaks:
“I can take you to him.”
Tentatively, I don’t think a character can both try to take a machine gun or disassemble the torpedo, and go to find the commissar, unless some other measure is taken.
>>187565Agreed, and without the aid of a sufficient load-besring device, it simply isnt feasible. If only it were someone else's problem. But anyway, since Pipette is gratefully obliging
"Splendid. You'll be in fine care. Lead from the middle, let us protect you.:
>>187565Then let us nix the machine gun retrieval. Unless if we seriously split the party, losing time in the process, Cavaliere cannot have it moved which makes the whole effort worthless. If Brie is going to stay behind and work on the torpedo, the party will have to come back for them anyway which would make the machine gun worth it. It's dependent on Brie's decision.
>>187568Brie is not going to stay behind, because as said he would be unable to move the extracted explosives and no option for moving them is forthcoming
>>187570Oh how Ive waited,....
But now would be a good time for Rosey to maybe say something vague like "If I can come up with a load-bearing,... device, can these weapons be utilized?"
Just a suggestion
>>187565"Excellent. Lead the way, Miss."
>>187571Nevermind, allon zee as they say