The rear portions of the SSRS Kostroma have been cleared. The Boiler room draws near. Still that sound persists. Calling them.
706 replies and 59 files omitted.
The amount of oil on the floor now amounts to multiple barrels. Certainly it is more oil than diesel that spilled in the cargo hold and on the torpedo boat combined
>>195380He picks up the pipe and jams it through the valve wheel, pushing it to turn.
>>195375Posey tries to assess the source of this puppeteering
Arcana
[1d20+11 = (6+11) = 17]In case this is an undead haunt, she takes a full-round action Religion check (DC 20) to force the Haunt to reveal itself
[1d20+13 = (9+13) = 22]"Reveal yourself!"
>>195382The broken end of the pipe goes through. He's got the leverage
>>195383Consistent more so with what she's observed of the Intruder than of any ponies she knows
The oil starts to become more concentrated. Taller, and covering a smaller area
>>195384>>195383>>195382Kira goes to help Garv with trying to turn the valve shut, while Silver pulls out his greatsword to face this new adversary.
Posey knocks an arrow and readies an action to release it as soon as any creature appears.
The bunker oil starts to rise, forming four columns, starting to rise six, ten, fifteen feet, taking up much of the free space in the boiler room. By this time, the ponies with the party are fleeing or trying to hide in corners.
The corners come together, to create a form vaguely resembling a quadruped.
>>195387Is it still pouring from the panels?
>>195387"Oh, buck this!"
Posey looses her arrow.
Making a shot against its flat-footed AC
Bone bow
[1d20+6 = (14+6) = 20][1d10+3 = (10+3) = 13]Iajutsu Focus
[1d20+8 = (16+8) = 24]Free Action Demoralize
Opposed Intimidate
[1d20+15 = (12+15) = 27]This triggers her Dreadful Wrath, requiring another Will save
>>195390Cavaliere doesn't abandon his job but helps Posey.
[1d20 = 5] Rolling Initiative
[1d20+10 = (14+10) = 24]
>>195395Guess I should do the same. GM, let us know when we should roll initiative!
[1d20+3 = (7+3) = 10] >>195391>>195395>>195393An arrow sticks into its side. The shaft and empennage remains visible, clearly moving upwards and twisting upright as the oil shifts into a more recognizable form.
There is now a giant quadrupedal form made of oil in the engine room that goes up to the railing of the second level catwalk. Its liquid body simply moves around any inconvenient metal. You could say it looks like a giant pony, but really, the shape of the eye-less, mouthless head could just as easily belong to a cow, or a wolf, or a majority of other mammals.
But then its head splits open, forming a black "mouth" made of oil.
It vomits out a great stream of oil directly onto Posey, and then moves its head to Cavaliere
Roll Reflex save >>195397Was it affected by my Frightful Presence or my Demoralize check? I need to know which of my spells are working.
Can I discern it's creature type?
Rolling Arcana
[1d20+12 = (4+12) = 16]Reflex
[1d20+5 = (10+5) = 15] Is it my turn again? Who goes next in initiative?
I want to get another shot in while it's still flat-footed.
Now you can roll initiative
>>195398Cavaliere dodges the vomit of oil
>>195399Posey moves, but not fast enough, as the oil covers her mane, her coat, her bone armor, and every strand of hair in her tail. But more importantly, it goes down to her hooves, which she finds do not move so easily. She finds herself effectively entangled
>>195399Closest category is Construct, although it's impossible to rule out that it has the ability to repair itself so long as the oil flows.
"Stay here, they said. It is dangerous to leave now, they said." Posey groans
"Nowhere on this ship is safe so long as that thing can constantly summon new monsters underneath our hooves."
>>195401>ConstructWell, absolutely none of my attacks work against those... I might just sit this one out.
Rolling Arcana to identify what specific kind of construct this is:
[1d20+12 = (6+12) = 18]What action do I need to take to unentangle myself?
>>195403It's a petroleum construct. More specifically, bunker oil. Probably Bunker... B? It's not as bad as Bunker C. Closest analogue is animated object, if perhaps imperfectly. Strength or Escape Artist check
>>195404>animated object Okay, still dangerous, but I was afraid it was something much nastier. How big is it?
Escape check
[1d20+4 = (17+4) = 21] >>195405After escaping, Posey uses her remaining movement to move as far away from the oil as possible.
"Why is this thing even here? It did not appear when we were fixing the boiler for the past hour. What could its motive be?"
>>195405That's pretty fair. That's too weak. Since Silver's player isn't here...
poof>>195406Blackheel: "
Did you think it liked you?"
>>195407Cavaliere tries again to shut the valve.
[1d20 = 1] >>195407Posey just grimaces, not enjoying the oil in her mane
>poofWhat kind of poof?
>>195408Posey has her Unseen Servant assist him.
Oh, are we on pause for Silver's player. Okay then.
Goodnight.
Here's a pic of a corrupted high level astral Construct made of oily black ectoplasm siphoned from the nightmares of a mad shaper, from the old web archive subpsionics article. This fight kind of reminded me of it.
>>195410Yes, I want to be told "hey here's this spoopier thing." Why do I bother? What am I doing here?
Why make a monster of oil? Why not just light all of the oil on fire? That would honestly be scarier than a monster made of oil. It would be more dangerous than a monster made of oil. Maybe it's more inventive than a monster made of oil. Maybe that's what I should be doing instead. I had this idea planned since back in November. Why am I committed to an idea I made half a year ago when there is an obvious, better opportunity here?
I need to rethink things. I should redo this encounter
>>195414Actually I'm kind of liking this idea. I think it might be better than the other two ideas I had for how to end this
>>195415This is way cooler than a petroleum monster. You've seen corrupted astral constructs and high level clerics than can summon outsiders before. That's boring. That's lame. You've also seen teleportation into dimensions that resemble the real world and so forth and whatever else I thought of before. What you haven't seen yet is being trapped on a small, very flammable boat that is both on fire and sinking simultaneously. That's exciting and new. That's something you'll remember.
>>195401Okay, sorry about that. The dangers of working a morning shift when you're usually an evening shift person is that sometimes you just fall asleep because of lack of sleep.
Silver's Initiative:
[1d20+4 = (6+4) = 10]Strength: Kira stays out of the fight in the meantime, trying her best to close the valve that's causing the flow of oil. "COME ON! MOVE!"
[1d20+3 = (9+3) = 12] >>195414>Yes, I want to be told "hey here's this spoopier thing."I was just afraid it would be one of those golems with DR 20/Adamantine immunity to spells. As I heard of a semi-solid construct my first fear was a modified clay golem, and I didn't believe our party would be able to defeat that and that we would have to abandon the boiler to flee while it destroyed it.
The Astral Construct is actual CR 1 (or more depending on the power of creator). The art piece just reminded me of this encounter.
>>195434
I run into this problem all of the time GMing. It just happens, especially with PbP games.
>Surprise
Imo, the only thing I really would have done differently is that I would have made the monster appear as soon as we entered the room, instead of as we were getting ready to leave. Posey made those bluff checks because she was trying to draw out any monsters she believed were damaging the boiler, but nothing appeared. Just my opinion though.
>>195436Bluffs don't work against mindless creatures which is what we've been fighting against. They're all just puppets. This situation is still tense and I don't see the need to change anything, Posey's attempts at analysis notwithstanding.
>>195438>Bluffs don't work against mindless creaturesBluff is not Mind-Affecting. You can trick or bait zombies, giant bugs and golems the same way you would trick or bait animals or any other creatures that do not understand speech.
>which is what we've been fighting againstMind-controlled is not mindless. The fact that enthralled sailors have been capable of using feats like Precise Shot is proof that they are not mindless.
They do seem to be immune to fear and charm effects though.
>This situation is still tense and I don't see the need to change anythingYeah, let's just fight the monster. I was only rolling to confirm that it could at least be damaged by our attacks, because constructs can be borderline invincible if you're not prepared.
>>195440>You when>You whenYou are comparing out of character commentary with in-character dialogue. That's apples to oranges.
Posey was speculating, because she was trying to discern the enemy's motivations. She's still speculating:
>>195406>"Why is this thing even here? It did not appear when we were fixing the boiler for the past hour. What could its motive be?"She's speculating because she is trying to discover a method to the madness, because she is trying to figure out how to defeat it. This is a normal way to approach a monster that she is trying to defeat. She's also talking down to it because she wants to believe that she is smarter than it because of her own pride; that may be unfounded, but it is who she is.
She's speculating. Why does that even matter?
But all that aside, do we fight a monster now, or do we change scenes? What is happening?
>>195213He leans slightly forward, raises his left eyebrow, places his right hoof on the table and his left leg up on it. His mouth forms a slight smile
"
Maybe a waitress?"
Mustard Trim eats a vegetable off of his plate, as only the vegetables remain.
>>195457Amber leans back and nervously smiles at the colt.
"I mean, I asked if they wanted me to help with serving tables too. I reckon I've been added to the roster." >>195458He moves his head in a weak, half nod
"So they have."
Mustard swallows, and also leans back. He moves a hoof over and touches Amber's back, evident about to wrap a leg around her back. Evidently he decides against it, and the hoof moves away.
Mustard Trim
"Yeah, she's learning quite a bit. She'll be ready to join me on the wait staff soon."
The filly on the other side of Mustard speaks
"Oh, back off of her Storm. We've heard enough of your work at the shop, anyways."
>>195459Mustard can feel Amber's back shudder at the touch. She glances at him briefly, then looks back at the tableside ponies as if nothing happened.
To the filly's annoyance perhaps, she asks Storm,
"You wouldn't happen to take the same shop classes Mustard attends, would you?" >>195460He makes a brief exhalation
"No" Half a statement, half a question
>>195461She shrugs noncommittally, before turning to the filly on Mustard's other side.
"What about you? Do you have a job around here?" >>195462The deep purple filly, now more visible with Mustard Trim leaning back, says
"Oh, no. I do look after my sisters, though."
>>195463Amber smiles warmly and flicks her ears with interest.
"How many sisters do you have?" she asks.
>>195464"Three" she says. "All younger."
She blinks.
"So did you move out here with your family?"
"Nuh uh," she replies with a shake of her head. "I'm on my lonesome out here 'cause my family has to look after the farm, but the harvest wasn't too good. Here I can earn a little bit of money to help them get by.
>>195466"Oh, so you really are a country girl. Sort of like Trimmy here. You say you just got here?"
>>195467She blinks her purple eyes at the unexpected nickname for Mustard.
"Uh, just last week. Yeah, I guess we have something in common," she says with an awkward smile towards her coltfriend.
"He's more of a small-town colt I'd say. I'm what some ponies would call a hillfilly, though it ain't a polite term." >>195468"Heh heh, wow. There are many new faces here. So, you are starting school this week?"
>>195469Amber isn't quite sure whether to admit her freeloading, or how she came to know the place, but feels reluctant to outright lie about attendance. She settles on an in-between answer.
"I'm getting a feel for it, y'know. It's late to apply, but I hope they let me in."Bluff:
[1d20+3 = (16+3) = 19] >>195470The filly continues looking at Amber
Storm speaks
"So you
don't go here?"
Mustard Trim speaks
"She said she just moved here. So of course she's still getting paperwork toegther"
Bluff
[1d20+1 = (7+1) = 8] >>195471She purses her lips, concerned at Mustard's less-than-stellar delivery.
"Not yet. But that ain't a problem, is it?" She looks between the purple filly and Storm, quickly thinking of a way to redirect the conversation.
"New students don't have to sit at a different table, do we? I heard nothin' about that." >>195472The purple filly:
"No?"
Storm:
"So long as they are students."
Mustard:
"Just missing a bit of paperwork is all"
Bluff
[1d20+1 = (7+1) = 8] >>195473Amber elbows Mustard in the side, hopefully sending a clear signal to him.
"I hate technicalities," she mutters.
"My ma already has to do so much, and the post is so slow nowadays...." She sighs and stares at the plate in front of her, genuine frustration evident on her snout.
>>195474"Ow!"
All the same, Mustard places a hoof on the back of her head, and pats her
Mustard speaks
"She's adjusting pretty well to the city so far, I think. You heard how she's taking more responsibilities at work. She even has her own apartment."
Filly:
"I want my own apartment..."
Storm:
"How do you know that?"
Filly, staring at Storm:
"Probably because he listens"
>>195476Mustard,
"Oh no, it's-" He stops
The unicorn now speaks
"Other creatures?"
Storm:
"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to go to the school that's closest to you."
>>195477"Oh, is that how it works? Nobody ever told me," she replies with innocent blinks. She turns to the unicorn and replies more thoughtfully.
"I haven't been here long, and much of Baltimare is so very strange, but I can't believe how many creatures who aren't ponies live in the east part of town. I'm not sure where they're from, and certainly many have to be very nice, but a bunch are so rude. This school feels almost like a reprieve from being over that way. It's more...comfortable." >>195478The unicorn replies
"They are new commers to this land just like you. More so, actually. They may not know the language and customs."
The filly asks
"How long have you known Trimmy?"
Storm
"I'm pretty sure this is the filly he was talking about last week. You know, if you were listening."
Mustard
"No, I'm pretty sure this is her- her school"
Bluff
[1d20+1 = (6+1) = 7] >>195479Another elbow hits Mustard's side.
She elects to ignore talk about herself as much as possible.
"I'd hardly say I'm a newcomer to the land. To the city, yes, but my family has lived in the general area between here and New Horseleans for generations. I'm sure many of my neighbors aren't even from Equus at all. Do you go to the East Side often?" She directs this last question to the unicorn, and it seems to come from a place of curiosity.
>>195480yelpThe unicorn:
"Well no. But again, they don't have it easy. They are here for the same reason as you. So just... have a little perspective."
Filly:
"Still better than bats. Those things creep me out. With their snake eyes, and the squeaking."
>>195481"I very much doubt my Wingbardian landlord sailed over because of a famine," she replies skeptically.
To the filly, she nods with sympathy.
>>195482"Did you even ask him? Or talk to him about his homeland? He can't have loved to leave it."
Mustard nods in sympathy as well
"He could go back though."
The Unicorn replies
"Could he?"
>>195485Amber rolls her eyes. Then, a sly smile spreads across her face.
"We could swap domiciles for a week. You would get the chance to ask him and my neighbors all the questions you want. After all, you don't go there very often, so it would be a nice chance to learn 'bout things. I don't know where you live either, and it'd be new for me too." >>195486"Really? I'd love to live alone, if you want to bunk with my brother."
Storm
"I'd do that."
Mustard:
"I'd do that"
Filly:
"I'd like it, but I'd miss my little sisters."
>>195487The yellow filly's grin grows wider.
"Do you want to shake on it? We can switch places in a day or two," she replies, her hoof outstretched. Her smile suddenly disappears as she recalls something.
"But I never got your name." >>195488The Unicorn looks down at the hoof with growing apprehension, his eyes darting between the hoof and Amber's eyes
Unicorn
"Uh, well no, I don't really know you... Is there some kind of catch?"
Storm:
"Is she a changeling?
Mustard:
"No."
Storm
"How do you know?"
Mustard
"I checked"
Storm
"How do you check that?"
Mustard
"Well, she didn't zap me"
Storm
"
Would she have zapped you if she were?"
Mustard
"I'd have zapped me"
>>195489Amber facehooves.
"I'm not a changeling. Why would a changeling ever go to a high school, anyway? That makes no sense. And my apartment isn't really that unsafe...at least I don't think so. I've been suspicious of changelings too...." She giggles, a blush suddenly tinging her cheeks before she composes herself again.
"....But it really is better to think things through, instead of being too paranoid all the time." >>195490Everypony stares at Amber
Mustard:
'Well for our happiness and our love and stuff"
Filly:
"Well Princess Twilight said there was that one time that a demon attacked a high school, so uh, I think makes sense that a changeling would infliltrate."
Storm:
"Well obviously because you, I mean they, wouldn't want to catch us off guard so we can't really fight back"
Unicorn:
"You're really jumping to conclusions"
Filly:
"How long have you known her?"
Mustard:
"Last Tuesday."
Filly
"So one week?"
Mustard
"Yeah."
Filly:
"And you're sure she's not a changeling?"
Mustard:
"...."
Unicorn
"You... you weren't trying to get into my home, right?"
Mustard:
"Colts, she's not a changeling, okay? Let's move on."
>>195491Amber is visibly a little annoyed now. She responds to the unicorn,
"I don't know who you are, where you live, or anything about you. Nor do you know anythin' about me except what I told you. Yet, you were so quick to talk about what I should think about my neighbors, even though you don't venture out to where I live. If you don't want to step outside your comfort zone, just admit it, but quit talking about how I should 'talk to them about their homelands' when you're too afraid to ask them yourself. Or, stick to your principles and be as adventurous as I was movin' all the way out here." >>195492Amber feels a hoof patting her head
Unicorn
"Well, I'm skeptical that you know much more about your neighbors than you do about me."
Storm
"Vittle, if this is because of that zebra mare you were crushing on at that-"
Unicorn
"That is
not what happened"
Filly:
"You sure were bragging about how far you got"
Unicorn:
"No."
Mustard giggles
>>195493pat patAmber smirks.
"Well, I have zebra neighbors...if I remember right. Griffons too, and plenty of other species. It might sound like a dream. Well, more like campin', but in a city, and with lots of other creatures around...." She narrows her eyes as she thinks.
"Scratch that, not like campin' at all, but it's still an adventure. Pokes head out
Who is here if we continue the main quest?
>>195495Can we continue Vir's story?
it seems that people are not as available as I had thought...
Maybe tomorrow?
>>195498Soon. I think
Roll Call check for continuing the main quest tonight
>>195502Here!
>>195498You gotta keep bugging him and talk about what you want to do.
Okay, so we have Black Gryphon, Fluffernoodle, and even a Vir (yesterday, anyways)
Do we have a Posey?
There's a dummmm sound, a low volume, high pitched hum. A repeated zap sound, and one light, then another comes online, illuminating the whole, grey mass of the boiler and engine room in first a red, then orange, and then finally almost yellow glow. A sucking sound from an opening in the boiler from which redlight shines. And then most loudly of all, a tug, then a tug, and then a repeated chugging sound from the second floor, beyond the railing, from a machine that Zara Zama earlier so lovingly identified as the auxiliary engine responsible for electricity generation. The room is loud once more, even as the actual engine - a set of pistons standing taller than one story, sit idle in the middle of the room. The great machine has once again come alive, a machine of steel, steam, electricity, and petroleum.
And yet, it isn't the only thing that has come alive. It must be fiften feet tall, that.... creature? Thing? That something, made of petroleum oil there between the boiler and the engine. Looking at it, the power of suggestion readily compares it to a pony, with a barrel, four legs, a big head, neck and ears. But it may just as surely be a fox, a cow, or any other creature of similar shape. In many ways it is like what the party has seen before in the constructs created by Our Fellow Traveler, which so often took either equine or avian shape, and which had black, oil-like skin that did not reflect light in the night. But this skin is not oily by metaphor alone. The surface is uneven, almost like an especially nasty icing placed on a cake. It is occasionally dirty. And in every instance it looks sticky, like you would not want to touch it.
As I understand, Kira is trying to stop the flow of still more oil from the bunker, and Posey is facing it, having just freed herself from being stuck to the floor.
>>195508>>195509Cavaliere has just jammed a rod in a valve and is trying to move it. Should he make another strength check?
>>195508So, did the previous scene still happen? Are we still in initiative?
>>195513The previous scene happened, but we may as well reroll initiative because of the time passage and the main combat not really having started
I'm hoping we actually have floof>>195417>>195512Cavaliere, with the help of Kira, is able to force one of the valves closed.
Petroleum Monster
[1d20 = 10]
>>195517If initiative is being rerolled, does that mean the monster is flat-footed again?