[FWM] OOC 5: Egocentric Changeling Hive

[PurityIcekiller]

Don't think anyone's got any complaints. I can always add some narration to cover what my characters do more thoroughly.

Say, Amish, how's Fleety coming along?

[Grif]

Cool. I'm just slowly plugging away at the next part. God, my writing is so rusty these days.

[TheAmishPirate]

Don't think anyone's got any complaints. I can always add some narration to cover what my characters do more thoroughly.

Say, Amish, how's Fleety coming along?

Not well, unfortunately. Life decided that, in lieu of the usual bombshell, it'd rather just go with the carpet-bombing approach. Much more efficient that way.

To put it more plainly, I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now that I need to deal with, and it's left me with not a lot of energy to spare. I don't think I can handle another character at this time.

[PurityIcekiller]

Sorry to hear that. I guess I'll have to make do with the others for now.

[Grif]

Not well, unfortunately. Life decided that, in lieu of the usual bombshell, it'd rather just go with the carpet-bombing approach. Much more efficient that way.

To put it more plainly, I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now that I need to deal with, and it's left me with not a lot of energy to spare. I don't think I can handle another character at this time.

Oldie but goodie:

Spoiler

Show

I hope life treats you better soon.

[Grif]

Canterlot Radio

Spoiler: Transcript

Show

Interview transcript with Emerald, Assistant Mayor
A: Miss Emerald, what’s your comment on the recent events that had transpired? Specifically, the one the newspapers are now dubbing the Battle of Bridle Shores.

E: We got off lucky, all things told. The nasty fire that had broken out all across town was contained relatively quickly, thanks to the brave efforts of our local guard.

A: I hear there was quite the battle.

E: Quite. Fortunately it was short and only lasted half a day, but that’s half a day too long for me.

A: What about the casualties?

E: All in all, the captain estimated that as many as fifty guardspony were injured. Few outright fatalities, fortunately. Casualties amongst the townsfolk were regrettable higher, as many as four hundred were injured, though again, few deaths.

A: I’m sorry to hear that.

E: We’re all are. These villains should be brought to justice.

A: How’s the town coping, in general?

E: Those who have passed will be sorely missed, may they be forever blessed by Princess Luna. But we’ll move on. We’ll survive. We’ll rebuild and grow stronger. We won’t be brought low by these scum.

A: A commendable sentiment, Miss Emerald. Perhaps you could tell us what do you plan to do after this?

E: We intend to rebuild, of course. The Public Works Guild has already started work on repairing the West Gate and its walls. The guardhouse will relocate to a temporary building near the market square, and continue its usual activities. As for the hospital, I am informed we have started transferring out critical patients to Canterlot where they’ll be better cared for in a safer environment. The director is insistent that the facility run at a diminished capacity until the hospital can be repaired to an acceptable standard. In short, we’ll only have the equivalent of a field hospital for the interim.

A: What about safety concerns?

E: For the moment, travellers would be discouraged to come down to Bridle Shore. I must stress this in no uncertain terms: the town is in a state of emergency. We have reliable information that this was only a small part of a larger rogue warlord army that had seized control of a nearby town. We have also appealed to Canterlot for military assistance, but thus far, we have had no positive response. The captain have also introduced new security measures for any future visitors to the town, in light of recent events.

A: Rogue warlord army? That sounds very worrisome. Could you tell us more?

E: I cannot, unfortunately. That’ll be more of the purview of the captain. What I have told you, is what he deems is safe enough to share with me. More than that, I cannot say.

A: I see. Let’s hope the Lunar Republic will be able to deal with this crisis in good time.

E: They better! It’s about time somepony from the capital city does something about this, rather than leaving it to us honest folks to deal with this.

A: I hear reports of vamponies that have infested this town. Can you confirm this rumour?

E: Ah, the vamponies. Yes, this matter has been brought to my attention. Most happened to be the former townsfolk who had been forcibly converted against their will. We're currently arranging for suitable accommodation for them, as well as extra measures to help them adapt to their new life. Hopefully, they can regain some semblance of their normal life, but their need for blood is proving to be a difficult obstacle to overcome.

A: That's quite generous of you. Unfortunately, I think we’ve run out of time. I wish you all the best.

E: I think we need all the luck we can get now.

Trying something different again. Not sure how well it turned out.

[TheAmishPirate]

Let's talk about the Game of Ponies thread.

In the last months, I've been dropping the ball on it. I should've been moving the scene along, instead of waiting for an acknowledgement post first. However, leading up to that point, I've usually had to poke and prod multiple times to get things moving. And in the end, we still only have the one adventure going on in there. Grif and I have been chatting, and we're wondering what to even do with this beastie. So, given that we all have an equal stake in the fun here, I'd like to get some of your guys' thoughts about what to do with it:

A) Can it. No sense in continuing a section of a game that nobody's really interested in. We can keep political stuff in the background, and bring it up when it directly influences the town.

B) Keep it running as a slow adventure. We remember to post more, and the poking stick sees liberal use if a week/a bit less than a week goes by without a post.

C) Keep it running as a faster adventure. We pledge to post more, and will keep moving onward if folks delay too long on their turns.

D) Keep it running, but add another plotline for folks to interact with/advance.

E) Keep it running, but replace the current plotline.

F) Some other thing?

What are your thoughts? What do you want to see for that thread? What do you want to get out of it?

[Kelvin360]

There is so much lore in Canterlot we haven't even touched yet that we could get a secondary main thread at least out of this thing if we put even a tenth as many resources into it as Bridle Shores prime. D, vehemently. I do think we should have separate 'DMs' if we decide to go that far, however. Just so that one person isn't so bombarded by the responsibility of managing multiple threads' plotlines (this very issue, on smaller and larger scales, appears responsible for about 99 of our problems, although a switch ain't one). We've got Grif, Amish, and possibly Merellis in official capacities - maybe the former could draw straws?

[Grif]

There is so much lore in Canterlot we haven't even touched yet that we could get a secondary main thread at least out of this thing if we put even a tenth as many resources into it as Bridle Shores prime. D, vehemently. I do think we should have separate 'DMs' if we decide to go that far, however. Just so that one person isn't so bombarded by the responsibility of managing multiple threads' plotlines (this very issue, on smaller and larger scales, appears responsible for about 99 of our problems, although a switch ain't one). We've got Grif, Amish, and possibly Merellis in official capacities - maybe the former could draw straws?

Dae, you gonna need to PM me those delicious plotlines if you want to kick off another one.

[Grif]

Last one I had planned to do. Now only to finish up the timeskip post and we should get going.

Spoiler: Excerpt

Show

The following are the minutes of the daily Situation Brief on <redacted>, convened to discuss the prevailing strategic situation.

Present in the meeting are the Captain, Lieutenant Stormcloak, […]

[…] and myself, Lemongrass.

The meeting started off with a longwinded recap by the Captain about the grave situation and calling for all present to dedicate their resources to ending the menace to the town. (little heart doodles in the side) Private Beayn was notably already nodding off; the first casualty of this meeting.

Lt Stormcloak then raised the issue of the shortage of manpower in the town, as most of the Moon Motes have been recalled and the town is vulnerable. To which one of the Moon Motes suggests conscription. The idea was shot down immediately by the Captain, who insisted that it further spread unrest amongst the town populace to the agreement of the other senior guards. Cpl. Snowflake appears to have succumbed to the allures of sleep.

(more heart doodles) Lt Stormcloak then moved on to the issue of intelligence, which aside from the paladin known as Luka and the rescued pegasus merchant, we had none. The Captain proposes a scouting party to ascertain the intentions of the enemy.

Dawnstrider, acting as a true paladin, immediately offers himself to join the party. To which the Captain simply grunts in acknowledgement. The enigma Purple Prose also volunteers. Lt Stormcloak suggests that the Captain seeks the services of one Staccata and Night Jewel, both known shady figures who might be of interest. Three more guards dozes off. The Captain replies he’ll consider all of them.

Blueshield suggests that the town patrols be spread further to provide more advanced warning of any future invasion. The idea was accepted with some reluctance by Lt Stormcloak, who voiced the concern of spreading the existing pegasus squad too thin. Blueshields offers to lead some of the missions herself, much to the chagrin of some of the still-awake guards. (badly drawn picture of Blueshield screaming at what presumably is ponies)

[...]

[PurityIcekiller]

I must admit I'm mostly responsible for what happened to Game of Ponies. I didn't really know what I could do aside from follow along with my one character who's actually involved in a plotline, and kind of dropped off. Perhaps it would help if it were a little more open.

[TheAmishPirate]

I must admit I'm mostly responsible for what happened to Game of Ponies. I didn't really know what I could do aside from follow along with my one character who's actually involved in a plotline, and kind of dropped off. Perhaps it would help if it were a little more open.

Thing is, I should've recognized there wasn't much for you to do, and moved things along. It should be more open once we're at the proper investigation stage.

[Grif]

Okay, those of you who have military inclined ponies in Bridle Shores. (IIRC, Lycan, Kelvin, Purity, MCerberus) I should have asked this days ago, but it kept slipping my mind.

Kelvin, might I have a list of which ponies you have still available say, ten days after the incident? All of them please. I took some liberties in my last excerpt, but it pays to be sure.

At the same time, I also alluded to a scouting mission into Rusty Falls itself. I have assumed that four ponies will be in it, and they'll be Dawnstrider, Prose, Staccata and Night Jewel. Will this be alright, or would they be unavailable/unwilling for some reason?

[Lycan 01]

Scouting and espionage is pretty much a major part of the Shadowbolt job description, so Prose would be perfect for the job. He'd agree, out of a sense of duty and responsibility to Equestria and its citizens. The promise of coffee wouldn't hurt, though.

[Kelvin360]

Kelvin, might I have a list of which ponies you have still available say, ten days after the incident? All of them please. I took some liberties in my last excerpt, but it pays to be sure.

Ten days...hm. Starbeam will have left around the same time as the Motes to gather information elsewhere. Moonlight wants to makes 100% sure the vampire situation isn't in any danger of boiling over before he leaves. Taylor's going to stick around until his skillset isn't as direly needed. Coconut and Joyous are still recovering from their injuries and due to their nature, couldn't be moved with the Motes proper, and Eclipse will have put Striker in charge of his force and stayed behind with his special somepony.

In short, most of them are going to be leaving soon, I swear, and I'm placing Coconut's recovery as the maximum duration (because that'll take longest).

But! Not exactly what you asked.

Spoiler: Locales, My Dear Watson

Show

Dr. Sunshine is located in the medical facilities, either tending to the injured or quietly passed out in a back room for the exertion. The exception, of course, being a singular afternoon spent in a charming tea shop.

Sir Moonlight will be inside the Cirrus or around it, unless the crew asked him not to be when he came calling again, which he will accept with no objections, it being a matter of their property's security.

Snowstorm will yell in the Head Weatherpony's ear (and possibly the Captain's) until she's placed on direct aerial rotation, wherein she'll spend time keeping eyes and ears on the surrounds and start putting up weather traps and advanced warning systems so that nothing like the invisible snipers happens again. If she gets approached by someone wanting to know how she does it, she'll go out of her way to make sure that she isn't the only one who knows the basics.

Lieutenant Coconut is incapacitated and in medical treatment. A broken spine'll do that to you.

Commander Eclipse will make Coconut's ward his unofficial headquarters - any questions or orders for him or the Motes go there.

PFC Joyous Boon was cleared by Sunshine almost immediately after his surgery. He spends his hours finding a quiet spot to let his thoughts go dark, or else performing mild groundside exercises to build up endurance with his one remaining lung, though obviously a broken hind leg and amputated wings increase the difficulty substantially. If asked, he'd be willing to give spear lessons to the guard.

Dawnstrider has finally been removing his armor when visiting the medical ward to help his father, after an incident in which he was mistaken for a member of the dark army. He can't Lay on Hooves without the boots, but he is experienced with field medicine, even if the circumstances under which he practiced were substantially more dire. Otherwise, he'll be walking and talking or sometimes sitting and talking to Night Jewel.

Arvadraa, as a part of the Public Works Guild, will have made a beeline for the town to assess the damage. After bringing up her concerns with Blades, she'll go visit the Captain and ask if assistance from the forestlands would be acceptable. Assuming he says yes, she'll spend her time moving between Bridle Shores and the forests, bringing back herbs for the doctors and animals to help with the rebuilding process.

Stellar refuses point-blank to magically repair anything, and states if confronted that she answers to Blades, not the township. Despite this, however, she's more than happy to begin designing schematics for sturdier defenses and fallback points, trying her darndest to account for everything the attack did catastrophic damage to.

I expect everyone on that list save the last three to be gone inside of a week or so, game-time.

At the same time, I also alluded to a scouting mission into Rusty Falls itself. I have assumed that four ponies will be in it, and they'll be Dawnstrider, Prose, Staccata and Night Jewel. Will this be alright, or would they be unavailable/unwilling for some reason?

Dawn would have raised a ruckus about Night Jewel being put in danger almost immediately. That said, it's not exactly an epic-level challenge for her to convince him to let her go, especially since he'll physically be there to make sure nothing goes 100% awry.

[Grif]

Scouting and espionage is pretty much a major part of the Shadowbolt job description, so Prose would be perfect for the job. He'd agree, out of a sense of duty and responsibility to Equestria and its citizens. The promise of coffee wouldn't hurt, though.

Cool. I'm sure coffee can be negotiated.

Ten days...hm. Starbeam will have left around the same time as the Motes to gather information elsewhere. Moonlight wants to makes 100% sure the vampire situation isn't in any danger of boiling over before he leaves. Taylor's going to stick around until his skillset isn't as direly needed. Coconut and Joyous are still recovering from their injuries and due to their nature, couldn't be moved with the Motes proper, and Eclipse will have put Striker in charge of his force and stayed behind with his special somepony.

In short, most of them are going to be leaving soon, I swear, and I'm placing Coconut's recovery as the maximum duration (because that'll take longest).

But! Not exactly what you asked.

Spoiler: Locales, My Dear Watson

Show

Dr. Sunshine is located in the medical facilities, either tending to the injured or quietly passed out in a back room for the exertion. The exception, of course, being a singular afternoon spent in a charming tea shop.

Sir Moonlight will be inside the Cirrus or around it, unless the crew asked him not to be when he came calling again, which he will accept with no objections, it being a matter of their property's security.

Snowstorm will yell in the Head Weatherpony's ear (and possibly the Captain's) until she's placed on direct aerial rotation, wherein she'll spend time keeping eyes and ears on the surrounds and start putting up weather traps and advanced warning systems so that nothing like the invisible snipers happens again. If she gets approached by someone wanting to know how she does it, she'll go out of her way to make sure that she isn't the only one who knows the basics.

Lieutenant Coconut is incapacitated and in medical treatment. A broken spine'll do that to you.

Commander Eclipse will make Coconut's ward his unofficial headquarters - any questions or orders for him or the Motes go there.

PFC Joyous Boon was cleared by Sunshine almost immediately after his surgery. He spends his hours finding a quiet spot to let his thoughts go dark, or else performing mild groundside exercises to build up endurance with his one remaining lung, though obviously a broken hind leg and amputated wings increase the difficulty substantially. If asked, he'd be willing to give spear lessons to the guard.

Dawnstrider has finally been removing his armor when visiting the medical ward to help his father, after an incident in which he was mistaken for a member of the dark army. He can't Lay on Hooves without the boots, but he is experienced with field medicine, even if the circumstances under which he practiced were substantially more dire. Otherwise, he'll be walking and talking or sometimes sitting and talking to Night Jewel.

Arvadraa, as a part of the Public Works Guild, will have made a beeline for the town to assess the damage. After bringing up her concerns with Blades, she'll go visit the Captain and ask if assistance from the forestlands would be acceptable. Assuming he says yes, she'll spend her time moving between Bridle Shores and the forests, bringing back herbs for the doctors and animals to help with the rebuilding process.

Stellar refuses point-blank to magically repair anything, and states if confronted that she answers to Blades, not the township. Despite this, however, she's more than happy to begin designing schematics for sturdier defenses and fallback points, trying her darndest to account for everything the attack did catastrophic damage to.

I expect everyone on that list save the last three to be gone inside of a week or so, game-time.

Mmmkay. I'm more making sure who might be attending a strategic meeting with the senior officers in the local guard. I'd assume most of the higher ranked Motes would be around, in that case.

Dawn would have raised a ruckus about Night Jewel being put in danger almost immediately. That said, it's not exactly an epic-level challenge for her to convince him to let her go, especially since he'll physically be there to make sure nothing goes 100% awry.

This'll be up to Purity to make the call, I think.

[Benson]

Mmmm, any ponies available in the CUT thread for interacting with Ember and Aubade? They are on their way to downtown/mainstreet. It is cool if there is not, I could probably just solo scene them for a bit.

[HalfTangible]

Mmmm, any ponies available in the CUT thread for interacting with Ember and Aubade? They are on their way to downtown/mainstreet. It is cool if there is not, I could probably just solo scene them for a bit.

Hay Bale's not doing anything.

[PurityIcekiller]

At the same time, I also alluded to a scouting mission into Rusty Falls itself. I have assumed that four ponies will be in it, and they'll be Dawnstrider, Prose, Staccata and Night Jewel. Will this be alright, or would they be unavailable/unwilling for some reason?

Night Jewel would definitely be involved. It's her area of expertise, and she's not missing a chance to screw the Rusty Falls villains over.

Dawn would have raised a ruckus about Night Jewel being put in danger almost immediately. That said, it's not exactly an epic-level challenge for her to convince him to let her go, especially since he'll physically be there to make sure nothing goes 100% awry.

"Hey, it's more sneaking than fighting. If you can pull it off, I certainly can."

Mmmm, any ponies available in the CUT thread for interacting with Ember and Aubade? They are on their way to downtown/mainstreet. It is cool if there is not, I could probably just solo scene them for a bit.

They could meet either of the Heavy Metal groups, I s'pose.

[Benson]

errr, who are the Heavy Metal groups again?

[Grif]

errr, who are the Heavy Metal groups again?

I believe it's those in Blades' shop atm.

[TheAmishPirate]

There is so much lore in Canterlot we haven't even touched yet that we could get a secondary main thread at least out of this thing if we put even a tenth as many resources into it as Bridle Shores prime. D, vehemently. I do think we should have separate 'DMs' if we decide to go that far, however. Just so that one person isn't so bombarded by the responsibility of managing multiple threads' plotlines (this very issue, on smaller and larger scales, appears responsible for about 99 of our problems, although a switch ain't one). We've got Grif, Amish, and possibly Merellis in official capacities - maybe the former could draw straws?

I do like this idea. While it may not be a huge additional responsibility, managing both Bridle Shores proper and the Game of Ponies adventure can get to be a little much. Plus, spreading the responsibility around means that no one DM carries the full weight of things. If something goes wrong, it's relatively easy for one of the other folks to pick up the slack in the meanwhile.

[PurityIcekiller]

errr, who are the Heavy Metal groups again?

There's Blades+Stellar+Starbeam and Arvadraa+Blades in that thread.

[TheAmishPirate]

Also, apologies for the delays on my end. The last few days have been jam-packed, and I haven't gotten a chance to get a bunch of posts together. They'll be going up in the next couple of days, across pretty much all three threads.

[Grif]

Speaking of. There's one more issue to take care of before we officially relaunch FWM after the time skip. The vamponies themselves.

How do you think the town should handle them, and as a side note, would anypony be interested in RP-ing them?

EDIT: Also @TheAmishPirate Did we ever describe the engine of the Cirrus in great detail?

[HalfTangible]

Speaking of. There's one more issue to take care of before we officially relaunch FWM after the time skip. The vamponies themselves.

How do you think the town should handle them, and as a side note, would anypony be interested in RP-ing them?

As in, the vamponies as a whole, or individual vamponies?

Because I'm interested in the latter =/ I haven't paid enough attention to do well with the former.

[Grif]

As in, the vamponies as a whole, or individual vamponies?

Because I'm interested in the latter =/ I haven't paid enough attention to do well with the former.

Both as a whole and individually. There's basically two groups at this point. One who had been Spectre's minion, and the others who had been citizens of Bridle Shores and been forcibly turned against their will. (Likely still considering themselves to be normal townsfolk, if that was possible.) It's okay if you don't follow enough to comment on the first, but if you're interested in playing one, then well... do you have a concept in mind?

[TheAmishPirate]

EDIT: Also @TheAmishPirate Did we ever describe the engine of the Cirrus in great detail?

Basically? Safety hazards everywhere. Cogs and steam and furnaces and gears and explosions and smoke and danger. Sandy works it because his dumb luck makes him able to survive regular contact with the room.

[Grif]

Basically? Safety hazards everywhere. Cogs and steam and furnaces and gears and explosions and smoke and danger. Sandy works it because his dumb luck makes him able to survive regular contact with the room.

Ummmm, I should rephrase. So, is it some sort of big large jet engine that's mounted on the rear of the ship? (For science. You know.)

[HalfTangible]

Both as a whole and individually. There's basically two groups at this point. One who had been Spectre's minion, and the others who had been citizens of Bridle Shores and been forcibly turned against their will. (Likely still considering themselves to be normal townsfolk, if that was possible.) It's okay if you don't follow enough to comment on the first, but if you're interested in playing one, then well... do you have a concept in mind?

Disgraced bastard daughter of a noblepony with a cowgirl aesthetic. Cold, ruthless and efficient. Beyond that, not really. I'm planning on writing a story about the last vampire and werewolf in the world, and i wanted to get some practice in on one of the characters. LS and HB are fun to write for, but they're also extremely easy to write for. Wanna push myself a bit.