[FO:E] Southern Wasteland of Equestria 3

[BladeofObliviom]

((This thread covers all locations south of Canterlot. Map!))

War.

War never changes.

Except when the war involves pastel colored magical talking tiny horses.

In which case war changes quite a bit. But only in so far as it looks a little cuter. Otherwise the horror of war is all too familiar.

Two hundred years ago war raged between Equestria and the Zebra Empire. A war ended decisively with megaspell strikes on each nation, devastating the land and poisoning it with necromantic radiation. The Pegasus sealed up the sky with an omnipresent curtain of clouds, shrouding the surface in perpetual gloom. Survivors retreated into the Stables, massive fallout shelters to protect them from the radiation storm above. Some offered salvation. Others became nightmarish death-traps. But the Stables opened and descendants populated the blasted, blighted wastes.

Some Stables remain closed, forgotten by the world.

The Princesses are dead.

Fell things watch from the Stars.

Unity seeks to consume all.

A new order rises on the backs of slaves.

Harmony is shattered and forgotten.

Discord warps fragile virtue.

And Friendship is dying in the hearts of ponies.

Can light be returned to the Equestrian Wasteland?

Or is suffering and hate its only future?

This can only be answered in the course of time.

This is Fallout Equestria.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Honestly, I'd prefer if you did it. But I can do it if you'd like.

Lightning nods and jumps into the air, his wings catching him before he falls. He'll loop around so he approaches the ghoul and rock lobster from behind, drawing his pistol and firing at the ghoul. He's focussing on speed over stealth for a large part of the journey, but he'll slow down as he gets nearer. He'll also shoot as many times as necessary; he's got a fair bit of ammunition at the moment, and is only a fair shot.

He'll also examine the rock lobster, see if he can spot anything that might come in useful later- like the positions of the joints in the carapace, or if the position of the joints in its legs/claws look capable of reaching its back. Stuff that might help should he fight another and not have an opportunity to look for weak points.

Bringing this to the new thread.

[BladeofObliviom]

(Oh right, it's my turn to post. *Facepalm*)

[Dead Buffalo Campground - Rock Lobster! Ooowah...]

The Rock Lobster doesn't spot Lightning!

However, he can definitely spot it. The Monster is huge, at about the size of four ponies, and most of its body is covered by a carapace that looks like, well, a rock. Said rock looks much like any boulder that one would find wandering the wasteland, though a pair of stalk-like eyes snake out of the front and spindly, tough-looking legs can be seen slipping out from under the sides. A pair of pincer-claws extends from the front, and they're much longer than they look, as they too can snake out to surprising lengths in the creature's attempts to grab the ghoul. Even so, it's a slow creature, and the ghoul is able to escape its grasp.

The Rock Lobster looks like it could retract everything and disguise itself as a rock, though. That might even be how it protects itself.

Anyway, the was stuff happening. The ghoul gets a lucky dodge on the first shot, as it plows into the sand next to it. The second bullet buries itself in one of its hindlegs, which quickly is reduced to limping by the wound. The third shot strikes the back of the ghoul's skull, and it topples over, unconscious if not dead.

The lobster, for the moment, doesn't take note of the silenced gunshots going off above it, and quickly nabs the ghoul from almost three meters away, its claw extending a previously unseen distance to close in. Assuming no further interference from Lightning, the monster drags the body underneath itself, before quickly retracting all of its body parts.

Now, it looks like any other rock that sits upon the desert sand.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground- Rock Lobster

Well, that's just creepy (in the coolest possible way!) and paranoia-inducing.

Lightning will swoop back towards camp, where the first thing he does is reload his pistol. The second thing he does is investigate any nearby large rocks, looking for signs they've recently moved. He shall fail in this task, as he has no idea what he's looking for. Unless one of the rocks is kind enough to have a pony sticking out from underneath it, anyway; that's always a dead give away.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Hey, I may have just made up the monster on a whim a few pages ago, but that doesn't mean that I can't make it interesting!

Reloading a gun is easy enough, I suppose, given basic knowledge of firearms. Identifying potential Rock Lobsters is harder, especially without getting close enough to be attacked suddenly. There don't seem to be any large rocks with pony remains under them, though. And thankfully, all of the nearby large rocks but one are safely outside the mines.

There is one inside the ring, but it's relatively small and happens to have some graffiti scribbled on it. In fact, said graffiti consists of the words "Wild Buffalo Campground" written in yellowish ink. Which suggests that it's been here for some time, or at least probably isn't secretly a monster. Something tells me the artist wouldn't have survived long if it were.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

That depends on how easy they are to wake up when they're asleep.

Reloading the pistol he's been using for over two hundred years is something Lightning is familiar with, though he has mostly tried not using it.

Lightning Shadow goes back to watch, looking out at the wastes for anything that is moving, glowing or both. Given it's an overcast desert at night, something glowing should be far easier to spot than simple movement.

He'd alter the sign, but he doesn't have any paint.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

There's nothing glowing but the fire outside, which still smolders outside even after a few hours, when Bauhaus finally turns in with a nod of acknowledgement and little else. Sandy sleeps fairly soundly in the trailer with her bag, though Bauhaus just lies down on the cold metal.

Off in the distance, about half an hour after Bauhaus goes to bed, Lightning might spot something moving slightly. That Rock Lobster from earlier? It moves just a bit, lifting itself off of the ground. Obviously he can't see it from here, but there's a pulverized pony skeleton lying under it now, all meat and usable bits cleanly devoured.

But a large beast has to eat quite a lot, especially when working in a pack. It's coming toward the camp, though not at an urgent pace.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Personally, I can't think eating a ghoul is very healthy. Unless you're immune to/healed by radiation, at least.

Fortunately, Lightning keeps a close eye on that particular rock as he knows it isn't just a rock. When it's close enough that he knows it's headed here, he'll approach the others and try to wake them to let them know. This will be startling, as he's taken his goggles off so he doesn't have to deal with the tint they provide. At least now Sandy (and maybe Bauhaus; I can't remember) knows what to expect. He could do with some night-vision goggles, really.

[BladeofObliviom]

You know, the really funny part is that, at least in Fallout 3, Feral Ghouls sometimes drop Human Flesh. Which you, the player, can eat. Cannibalizing a body gives you negative karma, but stripping the flesh off of a ghoul and chewing it like beef jerky? Nope, that's perfectly fine.

Dead Buffalo Campground

Bauhaus sleeps like a rock. Good luck waking him up. He doesn't need to sleep much, but when he does, he sleeps hard. Nothing short of gunfire, explosions, or smacking him with a baseball bat is going to do the trick.

Sandy, on the other hand, is easy to rouse, especially since she's fairly sensitive to vibration.

"Ugh, hey there Lightning. What's up?"

[Earl of Purple]

I always thought, since it was 'human' flesh, and not dropped by every ghoul, the ghoul was carrying it around for later in its... I dunno, the same place it kept the three caps, prewar money or teddy bear it was also carrying. And since the player hadn't actually removed the flesh, it's just scavenging.

Dead Buffalo Campground

"A rock lobster ate a feral ghoul earlier, and now it's headed this way. It was chasing the ghoul this way, till I shot it. Eventually." Lightning has a thing for three bullets, it seems; he fired three times at that unicorn in the ravine, too. Only, that time, he hit with every shot.

[BladeofObliviom]

Maybe. It's still a bit weird that you can eat it though.

Dead Buffalo Campground

That's mostly a side effect of handing the action over to Blade for drama. Thanks to the rule of three, it's usually more dramatic that way.

Sandy looks over to the window, and predictably sees nothing.

"Are you serious? Are the mines still up?"

She's not panicking. Rock Lobsters are definitely dangerous, but it's just one. Right?

[Earl of Purple]

I think there's a perk like cannibalism in New Vegas that lets you eat ghouls and supermutants. But if so, I've never taken it.

Dead Buffalo Campground

"Yes, I'm sure. It's not in that direction. The mines are still up, but if it walks between mines, and we're awake now, I won't have to wake you before it starts nibbling your hooves." Which is always a worry. He'll point it out, too.

Of course, by now it's changed direction or stopped.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Sandy chuckles.

"I don't think they'd be able to fit in the trailer. Might try to drag me out, though."

Her expression changes to one of horror as she looks out and sees the thing, though.

"Horseapples, you're serious. Alright, I've got an idea. We can stay behind the line of mines, but we'll want to watch it carefully. If you get stuck close to it, attack the arms. The armor on them is weaker than on the rest of the thing. Stone Kin managed to take one off with a knife, so a good buck would probably have a similar effect.

Stay in the air and it'll have a harder time tracking you, too. If you can slip a mine under it, all the better."

The creature is approaching quickly, though a healthy pony could outrun it easily enough. It'll reach the mines in a post or two.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm wearing padded horseshoes. I do have a knife, though." They're a lot like boxing gloves, only intended to make his footsteps quieter. The flying advice he can take, though. And as Stone Kin was a unicorn, he probably didn't have to get as close as Lightning would.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

"Alright, use that if you-"

She doesn't get to finish that thought as the sound of a mine exploding occurs outside.

"Oh."

And then a screeching roar of pain echoes through the night. Bauhaus grumbles and rolls over.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

"Well, it's hurt at least. You know these things; how long do they take to die?" Lightning hasn't encountered one before, so he has no idea.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

"You could say that." responds Sandy, peeking out the window. "It's also lost a leg and bleeding, but the shrapnel missed its vitals. Horseapples."

The creature's strange, clicking roar is still audible, but then the mare suddenly tenses. Then, Sandy suddenly ducks and the beast's claw crashes through the window! Now's your chance to stab it, Lightning!

On the off chance he cares to look out the window, he will see that there is indeed a wounded Rock Lobster outside, though two of its legs have been blown off and cyan blood is leaking out in several places.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Lightning screams like an undead filly when the claw smashes through the window. Not least because I thought the rock lobster was slow and there was a distance between the mines and the trailer. Also because last I checked, Bauhaus was still asleep outside the trailer.

He'd stab it, but his knife is on his foreleg; his pistol's closer to his mouth, in its shoulder-holster, so he draws that and fires two wild shots in the lobster's direction before he calms down enough to aim for its injuries and fire off two more shots.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Dead Buffalo Campground]

Bauhaus is actually inside the trailer, thankfully. Things would be a little bit awkward otherwise. As for the Rock Lobster, it is fairly slow, due to the fact that it's carrying its own prodigious weight. The claws, on the other hand, are on prehensile limbs that are comparable to tentacles, which are attached to (fully rotating) helical organs under its shell that can "store" the arms when not in use.

It's slow in terms of actual motion, but it's got a heck of a reach and its claws are fairly fast. It's basically an endurance hunter. It'll chase a creature until it's cornered or grows tired with relative impunity, then it'll grab them, kill them quickly, and hide on top of the prey while eating it. When it's low on energy, it'll use its natural camouflage and tremorsense to act as an ambush predator instead, where those fast claws serve it well. Of course, I'm not a biology major, so it's entirely possible I have no idea what I'm talking about.

As for the bullets, whether through dumb luck or some hidden talent of Lightning's, all four shots manage to strike the thinly-armored arms of the beast, piercing its shell and burying themselves in the meaty interior. The claw is retracted out the window quite quickly.

Sandy just looks at him a moment from her spot on the floor.

"...Nice shot."

The beast is still making noises and roaring from the outside, though now it seems to be keeping its arms more guarded. It's rather seriously wounded, though it could probably survive if it were to cut its losses and run. Of course, it doesn't do that because it's a feral beast in a bloodlust-fueled rage. So it decides to limp forward on its remaining legs, intent on bashing itself into the trailer.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Lightning re-holsters his pistol, lifting his left wing and grabbing a grenade from its pocket. He then puts it down and tries rolling it towards Sandy, who has practice bouncing grenades beneath its carapace, and may be unarmed.

Then he'll grab his pistol again and fire again.

Also, what you've written up about Rock Lobsters sounds pretty good to me. I'm not a biology major either, but I've always been interested in animals and I had a subject on comparative anatomy during my Animal Conservation & Biodiversity university course. Um, given I'm British and have very little knowledge of how the American higher and further education system works, that might translate to a major in biology.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

At least in the US, one's "major" usually refers to the intended degree that one is working towards in a University setting. On the other hand, I'm not exactly familiar with the British education system in turn and they may well mean the exact same thing.

I have heard that the British interpretation of the phrase "High School" generally refers to a college or university, whereas in the US the same term refers to Grades 9 through 12. I know the latter is true, though I'm unsure about the former. If so, though, it does a good job demonstrating how even people speaking the same language can confuse the heck out of each other.


Anyway, Sandy catches a grenade! She nods and slips out of the trailer; she's not about to risk screwing up and turning the place into a killbox. As for Lightning's bullets, unfortunately, firing upon the shell with a .22 pistol has basically no effect. He might as well be shooting solid rock.

The monster, meanwhile, managed to lumber into the side of the trailer. It's not moving quickly, but it's pushing and has enough weight to nearly tip the thing over. Bauhaus, still on the ground, tumbles over and hits his head on the wall, causing his fleshy eye to shoot open, bloodshot.

"Rrrgh!"

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

I don't know what the Grades are- in the UK, there's Year R (or Reception) when one starts school at five (or thereabouts; I may be a year off, since it's been about 17 years since I was in Year R), then there's Year 1 and it works all the way up to Year 6 in Primary School, with Year 7 and above being Secondary School, except for Years 12 and 13, which make up Sixth Form. Sixth Form is not compulsory; instead, one can go to college, like I did. As to the British interpretation of High School, I have no idea- I can't think of an educational facility that calls itself a High School.

Lightning will also attempt to leave the trailer, trying to catch the lobster's attention as he goes. He's confident that he's faster than the rock lobster, and also has more endurance, since he doesn't need to sleep (though he does need to rest occasionally, especially if he's moving at high speeds). So he's going to try and lure it away from his companions, or distract it temporarily.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Ah. Year R sounds a lot like Kindergarten in the American system, while years 1-6 would correspond to Grades 1-6, which occur in an Elementary School (or, colloquially, "Grammar School"). Years/Grades 7 and 8 take place in a "Junior High School", and compulsory education technically ceases at Grade 8, though only in the worst areas does more than a trivial fraction of the population actually stop there. Years/Grades 9-12 are in a "High School", which is of course simultaneously glorified and demonized to a truly insane degree in popular fiction.

From there, some students drop out before graduating, while a majority graduate and either move on to college or enter the workforce. Or in some cases, both.

The More you Know...

Conversations about relatively minor legal and cultural differences can be very interesting sometimes!


Anyway, Lightning's at a bit of a disadvantage in catching the beast's attention, due to his hooves being padded and thus less obvious to tremorsense. Of course, not making effort to sneak helps. Further, Sandy's decent enough at muffling her hoofsteps, as she creeps up behind the lobster...

Bauhaus, on the other hand, is quickly recovering from his rude awakening, and he doesn't look happy as he charges out of the trailer, batting one of the Lobster Claws away as it tries to grab him and practically frothing at the mouth as he leaps toward the thing. If Lightning isn't making enough distraction, Bauhaus definitely is.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

And here's another- in the UK, a 'Grammar School' is a type of Secondary School, differentiated from a 'Comprehensive School'- that is, one which isn't a Grammar School- by accepting only those people who pass their 11+, a semi-compulsory test taken in Year 6. In most of the UK, the 11+ isn't worth taking as there aren't many Grammar Schools around, and because they are a bit controversial, we can't build any more (the controversy is that, by isolating the very best students from the rest, the rest might be worse; however, the best are better than if they'd been in a comprehensive because they're amongst their intellectual peers). There's several Grammar Schools in Kent, and my sister attended one. I did not.

Well, that certainly also works. Lightning will jump up and down, just to make it even more obvious that he's there and also starts yelling. "Hey-hey! Look at me, rockface! Gravel-breath! Salt-headed architect's refuse! I'd insult you more, but it's like insulting a rock! Oh, wait, it is insulting a rock!" He'd shoot the ground, but he's got ten bullets left before he has to reload, and would prefer not to waste them.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

That is interesting! There's actually a similar controversy applied to a few "special" High Schools in the US, which are basically smaller subsidiary schools attached to another High School. These subsidiaries draw from the same student pool as the main school, except that they are populated with the highest GPA students in the district while everyone else goes to the main body. Since these schools are seperately chartered from the main school, this results in an artificially inflated average academic performance, and since apparently the American education system distributes funding based on success for some reason, this ensures greater funding for the district as a whole. Of course, the justification used is similar in that supposedly keeping the most productive students together and in competition keeps them from getting too complacent.

(And on a completely different note, those taunts are hilarious. It's too bad the lobsters don't understand Equestrian.)

The monster's eyes turn over to Lightning, as if to say "what the heck?", only for Bauhaus to grab one of said stalk-eyes and give it at good tug. Needless to say, this is agonizingly painful to the monster, which proceeds to quickly retract the stalk, twisting it out of Bauhaus' grip.

The dog reaches into his labcoat for his pistol...

...only to realize that he just woke up and didn't wear the labcoat to bed.

"Buck."

The Rock Lobster bucks suddenly, throwing Bauhaus over its back. He's not much of a meal anyway: Too much iron for a healthy diet. Sandy looks up to see the momentarily flying dog and sidesteps him just in time. Luckily for her, Lightning's antics prevent the lobster from noticing her. She's right on its tail now, and she starts to pull out the pin...

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Earlier this year, several grammar schools opened subsidiary locations to get around the 'no more grammar schools' law; because they're owned and operated by an existing one, they don't count.

(And thank you; I enjoyed coming up with them.)

Lightning is currently trying to blow a raspberry, but is failing horrendously due to not having enough lip left. He's also running away, exaggeratedly stomping to ensure it can feel his footsteps.

If the grenade doesn't work, he'll try leading it over the next row of mines. If he can remember where he put them, anyway.

[BladeofObliviom]

Dead Buffalo Campground

Huh. Well I suppose rules circumvention works everywhere, doesn't it?

Anyway, Sandy gets the pin out and tosses the grenade right under the creature before quickly running off! Bauhaus, meanwhile, shakes the dust off and gets back up. He's pretty damned tough.

Perhaps luckily for Lightning's safety and risk of passing right over proximity mines, the grenade explodes without a hitch, and a horrifying amount of meat and blood falls out from under the thing. The beast itself collapses, crushing its own legs to the ground as it finally falls.

Wow, that was a tough monster! Sandy blew her chance for a one-liner, though.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

But the reason why they circumvented the rules was because people want more grammar school places, because they've got a good reputation as good schools.

That's OK; it means Lightning got the wittiest banter for the fight with his rock lobster insults.

"Is Bauhaus OK?" The pegasus ghoul will fly over to check on the cyberdog. Well, sort of; he's not got any formal medical training, and usually heals himself by visiting somewhere nice and radioactive.

[BladeofObliviom]

"Looks like you're... ...bakin' in the sun. OOWAH!"

Dead Buffalo Campground

Bauhaus doesn't stop Lightning from giving him a quick lookover. He seems more or less okay, thanks to the fact that his bones are essentially unbreakable. There's an unpleasant-looking abrasion on his back where he scraped against the rocky ground, but it seems to be causing no more than minor distress.

"Ugh. Tough one. Wandering Alpha Male. Pony all right?"

Meanwhile, Sandy's off in the corner taking deep breaths.

[Earl of Purple]

Dead Buffalo Campground

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think Sandy's OK, too. I didn't see her get hit, anyway." I'm not sure if Bauhaus got a good look when Lightning took his goggles off back in the cave, but at the moment they're in his saddlebags, revealing the empty sockets with the eerie green sparks that mark his pupils.

Unbreakable bones isn't always a good thing. Replacing a bone with metal, or metal-plating it, makes them harder to fix when the metal encounters a force great enough to bend it. Unless diamond-hard bones are an inherently Diamond Dog ability.