Celestia's Finest: Old World Blues

[userpay]

"Aw come on, just for my fireworks?" Brazen responds cheekily before the group heads down the stairs.

In the chamber the earth pony looks about. "Hmmm... Why bother leaving the door intact when they did this to the interior?"

Spoiler: Perception

Show

(3d6)[9] vs 12/15 with hyperspectral

[DigoDragon]

"Hmmm... Why bother leaving the door intact when they did this to the interior?"

"Good question," Rose comments. "Set a trap maybe?"

[Miltonian]

Rose sight of the mage sees no magic in the room, but quite a few failing wards on the door and in the walls, roof, and ceiling. A close inspection by Sniper shows no other parts of this floor. The vault is the only thing this far down and it has been looted, torched, and trashed.

Brazen sees nothing special, but in answer to his question, Star pipes up. "Well, they had a lot of fragile artifacts behind the door when they were opening it. After they looted it, nothing was worth keeping I guess."

Love's search confirms this. Nothing but ash and dust here.

The zebras slowly approach and look in. It doesn't have as great an impact on them as one might imagine. They'd never seen this room before it was trashed, so they had nothing to compare it to.

[Elbeyon]

Love agrees with Star, "That would be a good reason not to blow down the door."

She will keep clearing/looking around.

[DigoDragon]

On comm so that Star can also hear. "Okay, so this vault is empty, the other secret basement appeared to be empty... where else haven't we looked? We still have a hostile that can phase through walls and if she keeps her word we got... about 47 minutes before she comes after us. We need to find her first. Every 5-10 minutes that pass is recharging her own batteries."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Hmm... I wonder." Sniper muses. "Hazelnut Mint set up the door chime, presumably, as a warning device. Was it loud enough for her to hear it all the way down here? Otherwise, she'd need to be within earshot of the door for it to do any good. Alternatively, maybe there's another cave underneath us that she's using. Thus far, Hazelnut Mint hasn't moved from she she appears. I wonder if she can only manifest at certain spots... Any pony know if any magic like that?"

He's on silent comm. unless otherwise noted.

"Cover me a moment. I'm going to crunch some data."

Sniper takes a moment to compile their information and make a report for the team.

Spoiler: OoC Roll

Show

Intelligence Analysis
(3d6)[6][2][6](14) VS 14 (11 Skill + 2 Software +1 Extra Time)

[DigoDragon]

Rose thinks about the points the party met the exile and attempted to map it in her head. Any kind of magic limitation with this?

Thaumatology: (3d6)[10] v. 13

[Elbeyon]

"We've looked everywhere we know," she says to Rose.

Love will guard the two as they lose themselves in thought.

[Miltonian]

Love searches and searches, but finds nothing but ash. They did not leave even a scrap of paper behind when they looted this place. Either someone really hated it or they wanted to make sure nothing fell into anypony's hooves.

Sniper crunches the data. It's an odd scenario. However, he does note that Harrier Squad is never Hazel's target. The zebras are. They squad is merely an annoyance to be overcome and a hindrance to her true objective. Which means that the zebras are in constant danger for as long as they remain around here.

As for Rose, she figures that what Hazel is doing breaks at least three laws of magic. Something screwy is going on here.

[DigoDragon]

Hmm... on the radio comm, "Okay, so what the exile is doing isn't technically possible with any magic *I'M* aware of. She is cheating somehow. ...or something else is going on."

[Miltonian]

Confused and sure they're missing something, the team explores around a bit more. And lo and behold, Sniper finds a hidden door on the second level. It is cleverly made to blend in with the surrounding wall, so cleverly, in fact, that it looks as though even the CPI overlooked it.

The question is, who wants to open it?

[DigoDragon]

The question is, who wants to open it?

Rose uses her subvocal comm, "Well, this looks new. What do you all think? Have Brazen open it?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"I'm assuming that this is one of those jobs that calls for 'magic resistant armor'." Sniper replies.

He looks at Love and Brazen. Batter up?

[Elbeyon]

Love shakes her head to Brazen opening the door. "I'll give another spin at the wheel. I wonder if I'll get to taste another color." Love had her doubts that she'd simply get a quirky result since this door's runes very well could be intact.

Unless someone is going to stop her, Love will search the immediate area around the door then try to it.

[DigoDragon]

Rose stands guard to protect the party's interests.

i.e. their lives.

[Elbeyon]

Love will tell everyone about the runes. She suggest they back up.

She will grab some cover to put between herself and the 'bomb' door.

She will disintegrate a spell stone in her hoof to throw a dispel at it.

If nothing happens, she will try shooting the runes to disable the arcane writing.

If that doesn't make a scratch, she will push her cover across the floor and try to open the door.

Spoiler: Gear

Show

I'm not sure we play this gritty / rule wise. Love can move most of her gear to a guardian before any traps.

[Miltonian]

Love's dispel magic has no obvious effect. Cautious, she shoots the door and, again, there is no obvious effect save for a new pockmark in the otherwise beautiful surface. Then, she goes to open it and the whole thing bursts open. A horrible, wilting sensation overcomes her body for a second, but a familiar feeling that reminds her of light and friendship shields her from the spell.

The room inside is an odd circular one. There, floating above a pedestal in a meditative posture, is Hazel.

[D.KnightSpider]

"I'm of the opinion that we try negotiating after we subdue Hazelnut Mint." Sniper says via subvocal comm.

While the others do their thing, Sniper looks over the area and tries to develop a plan of action. The suspicious part of his mind said that Hazelnut Mint wouldn't leave herself this exposed without some form of protection, right?

… That... was a very poorly worded thought.

Spoiler: OoC Roll

Show

Perception:
[rollv[3d6[/rollv] VS 16 (13 Skill + 3 Hyperspectral)

Tactics:
(3d6)[5][3][5](13) VS 15 (13 SKill + 2 Software)

[DigoDragon]

On subvocal comm, "Oh, I whole-heartedly will subdue her with my hoof."

Rose aims her weapon at the exile and holds position. She assumes the possibility that Hazel warded her body with a spell against bullets, but how solid is the ward? Well, Rose has an idea that doesn't involve shooting or exploding anything.

She takes out one of the coins in a pocket and rolls it edge-wise into the room toward the enemy.
Roll: (3d6)[11]

[Elbeyon]

Love reflexively tries to move out of the door's way.

A familiar feeling indeed. Love will treasure it.

Love announces over the comms, "I'll start subduing."

Somepony needs to poke Mint's defenses, and Love already signed up for the job.

She will fire off a grenade close to Mint.

Love says out loud, "Let's talk this out! We have some great bread to break."

Spoiler: Roll

Show

Sleep 40mm
(3d6)[12] vs 12 (Grenade) + 4 (Targetting systems) +4 (Ground Shot) +/- (Other(s))

[Miltonian]

The grenade goes off to no effect. Rose's coin rolls on by without encountering anything. And once again, the Hyperspectral Visors reveal no heat signature. She is only visible in the normal spectrum.

However, Sniper spots the glint of a crystal ball stowed a few feet behind where she is currently floating. The base is decorated with bones and carved runes. It's a grisly artifact, but blends in well among the other decorations along the back wall.

"Oh of course," Hazel says sarcastically, "Let's be friends after I toss a grenade at you. An excellent opening argument. Allow me to give you my counter!"

Her body begins to glow.

[D.KnightSpider]

In the end, it always came down to the same answer. When the situation was studied, and the variables weighed, was he willing to risk every pony else's life for that of an enemy? The answer was always 'no'.

So Sniper brought up his rifle and shot the Crystal Ball in the face.

"Artifacts in the back." Sniper says over the silent comm.

Spoiler: OoC Roll

Show

Attack —5 shots
(3d6)[4][2][2](8) VS 20 (14 Skill +5 Rifle Accessories +1 All Out Attack)

Damage
(6d6)[6][1][6][4][1][2](20)
(6d6)[3][4][5][2][6][3](23)
(6d6)[3][5][6][6][1][6](27)
(6d6)[1][6][2][1][4][6](20)
(6d6)[3][1][5][6][4][6](25)

Recoil: 1

[DigoDragon]

Rose backs away out of line-of-sight and pulls out her gas mask because naps are for the dead.

[Elbeyon]

Love grabs a dispel spell stone.

She says out loud, "That grenade was non-lethal. I don't want to hurt you. I don't even know your name. I want to hear your side of the story. Let's talk."

[Miltonian]

Hazel scoffs at Love. "Ha! Talking is for fools and weakl--"

Sniper's shots tear through the room and blast apart the orb into a thousand pieces. With a look of surprise and alarm, Hazel suddenly pops out of existence.

"Well," Star says, "That's that."

[DigoDragon]

"Too easy," Rose counters on radio. She dons her air mask and enters the room.

[Miltonian]

The room is, well, not much changed. There is a shattered glass orb on the floor, but that's the only new addition. It's still a circular room with plenty of carvings and reliefs for viewing pleasure, but, at the moment, nothing else.

[Elbeyon]

Love jumps over her cover and rushes into the room. She sprints to the shattered crystal. Her hoof carefully gathers the shards into her hoof's sole. She hurries and as fast as she can crushes a spell stone to analyze magic on the defunct orb.

Spoiler: Roll

Show

(3d6)[9]

[D.KnightSpider]

"I think you'll find that Hazelnut Mint was never really there." Sniper says. "My guess is she was projecting herself from the Crystal Ball."

He walks over to the cloud of gas and attempts to gather it up and dispel it.

Meteorology
(3d6)[6][6][5](17) VS 13 (12 Skill +2 Software +1 Extra Time)

[DigoDragon]

"Whad do ya mean prodecting herself from it?" Rose asks. Since Love is already studying the glass, Rose turns to the carvings to make sense of them.

PER (3d6)[10] v. 13

She flinches when Sniper attempts to gather the cloud.