Celestia's Finest: Comrades in Arms

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot feels the world shudder and sees Brazen go down. There's no time to help to help the stallion... the mission had to come first.

The rifle leaps into his hoof, synapses change the weapon settings. Wings carry him after Iron Beak and toward the exit.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack-- Rapid Fire: Three Tangle Grenades at Iron Beak
(3d6)[5][1][3](9) VS 19

HT to survive / avoid damage
(3d6)[4][3][6](13) VS 10

[Elbeyon]

(I already declared/rolled actions for this turn last night.)

Love is working out her master plan and watching the room when the device explodes. She was about to call out for Brazen to help Love and Rose, but instead she sees her rock struct dead on the spot. There is no saving him as she watches his life signs flat line.

Mint might have died? Love can't confirm.

A few dispel launchers go into the magical explosion to try to aid the team's escape. The effect seems insignificant. Her gun pointed backwards, she flees the room alongside Longshot. She stays close to her partner.

She has some robots prepare tape.

[Miltonian]

Rose survives to try and teleport. Brazen's body is just within reach. She will have to leave his gear and armor behind, but she could teleport out with only him.

The grenades explode around Iron Beak, trapping him right outside the 'door' to the chamber. He is caught off-guard and his first attempt to break free fails. Longshot and Love swoop past him. Their HUDs trace the path they came in through, guiding them out. However, little bolts of green magic shoot out from the walls and strike them both, sapping some of their strength.

They pass the first corner, zooming down the hall to the chamber where the prisoners had been kept and passing the corpse of the one survivor on their way. If they go full speed, it will take only a few seconds for them to get out: one to reach the prisoner chamber, two to get through the 'hallway' they entered from, and one more to get clear of the skull as it falls.

--------

"It is for you," the Pale Horse says softly, "The fight will go on, but your time in it is over, Brazen Hoof. You are dead now."

She still holds out her hoof. "Will you stay here? Will you wait in the vain hopes that someone can bring you back? If you do, you will wander this world, invisible and unknown to all. You will watch, but be unable to effect anything, until an exorcist sends your torn spirit back to the afterlife in tatters." She sighs. "It is...better if you just come with me."

[DigoDragon]

Rose will pull Brazen out of his armor then (she's seen these things fold away or something, maybe that'll work?) and holds on to his body as she attempts a teleport out of the skull to a safer spot.

Teleport (3d6)[15]

[D.KnightSpider]

A grunt escapes him as a feeling of decay annihilates his bowels. Longshot resists the urge to react; instead he looks 'down' and 'backward' to bring his weapon to bear against Iron Hoof. The ammunition cycles through his grenade launcher. His internal cybernetics and mental programming clash with the sudden unsteadiness of his limbs.

Three more grenades eject at the griffin. Dumb bird didn't have the decency to get trapped in the kill zone.

EDF Comm: "Rose, tell me you got out. Star... you still there?"

He looks up and flies for all he's worth toward the exit.

Spoiler

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Attack: Three Anti-Magic Grenades at Iron Beak
(3d6)[2][1][6](9) VS 15 - RCL: 1

(3d6)[6][2][5](13)
(3d6)[2][4][2](8)
(3d6)[5][6][6](17)


HT
(3d6)[4][6][5](15) VS 10

[Elbeyon]

Love grimaces more at their sole survivor being dead than the magic bolts striking through her armor and coat.

Their auto-map will show them the fastest way out of the skull.

Love's bugbots push out a couple remote Anti-Tangler grenades onto the floor near Iron Beak. A few more begin to put tape on Love's armor.

Love will take a Stop Bleed.

Scomm (EDF), "Star, the snake is exploding! Longshot and I are coming out. Rose teleported away."

She looks over to Longshot to check on him. He is with her. She will continue to fly out superpony style.

Spoiler: Roll

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3rd Health Check
(3d6)[6] vs 11

[Miltonian]

Rose moves to teleport 'somewhere safe', no time to form some other thought at the moment. All she needs is for Brazen's armor to be open. Merely touching him is enough. However, there is no place nearby safe enough. Images of home, her family, Red Tape, Celestia, Equestria's fields and forests, and her old bunk on that ill-fated airship all compete in her mind, all too far away. The spell misfires, but does save her life and preserve Brazen's body.

The spell gathers around her and she finds herself standing in an open field, overlooking a wrecked and ruined city. The serpent stands frozen on the edge of it, ringed by a ragged, broken line of Vedinian forces. As she stands there, it begins to crumble. The neck breaks off and collapses, though the head remains floating in mid-air. Rose's actions have stopped it for good.

----

Love and Longshot zip through the skull, passing through the chamber where the prisoners were kept, the one that Brazen blew their way into not too many minutes ago. How quickly things can change. Another green bolt lashes out and strikes Longshot, sapping more of his strength. He feels his life force beginning to ebb, but he can still go yet a little farther.

Iron Beak's fate is unknown. He is lost to their view as the green light of the core swallows him up.

"Still here," Star says, voice full of concern and almost-panic, "Rose's beacon has moved. No life signs from Brazen. I'm swinging by the exit you made. If you can get close, I'll pull you out myself."

[DigoDragon]

Rose spends the first second just... existing. She pulls her air mask off and promptly vomits on the ground as the last bit of whatever spell hit her earlier gives up her lunch to the gods of decay.

One quick hoofwipe and she now plus open her crash bag. Rose connects diodes and pads to Brazen. The little machine powers on and charges up. Rose makes the attempt to jumpstart Brazen's heart.

First Aid (3d6)[11]

She hears her name on the comm. Rose replies in the comm 'am outside. with Brazen. Getting the rest of him back.' her voice is raspy sounding.

She continues to work to get her patient 'restarted'.

First Aid (3d6)[11]

[D.KnightSpider]

'I tried Brazen... I tried to get him for you..." That was the best he could do at the moment.

Another bit of his innard being dissolves. Blast. He was using that spleen.

EDF Comm: "Copy, Rose. Star, we're... on our way. Do not enter."

He quaffs a potion to try and keep his strength up.

Almost there.

Spoiler

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HT
(3d6)[6][3][4](13) VS 10

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler: OoC

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I believe italicized is thoughts? If Longshot says he tried out loud, Love would say, "Longshot..."

Love's armor seems to be holding strong and acting as a nonmagnetic force to all the necromancy magic zapping through the air. Thank Twilight.

Scomm (EDF), "We might be coming out hot. Last sighting on Iron Beak still had him supercharged." She needs to capture him.

Spoiler: Roll

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4th Health Check
(3d6)[9] vs 11

[Miltonian]

Rose is doing her best, but the spell rotted away a good portion of Brazen's innards. He might have a chance to return, though. At this point, all Rose can do is hope and pray that his spirit can hear her and come back to his failing body.

====

Love and Longshot are in the outer tunnel now. The exit is in sight. But, yet another lance of green magic siphons off yet more of Longshot's energy. He knows that, with a bit more effort, he can reach the exit. His only salvation, however, will be if he can get clear of the skull and away from the lances of energy that shoot out of it.

Spoiler

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Another turn down. This turn and the next to go.

"Copy," Star says grimly, "I am not picking up any additional lifesigns at the moment, but the magical vortex is interfering with my sensors."

[DigoDragon]

Rose is doing her best, but the spell rotted away a good portion of Brazen's innards. He might have a chance to return, though. At this point, all Rose can do is hope and pray that his spirit can hear her and come back to his failing body.

Rose will not take No for an answer from death. She attempts a Greater Healing spell in defiance to the mortality of the world.

Greater Heal: (3d6)[9] vs. 15 (4 FP for +8 HP)

Physician attempt: (3d6)[8] vs. 19

[userpay]

Brazen goes quiet. So he was dead. So many harrowing escapes, firefights, free falls... All lead to this. He was here now not in the living world... Yet there felt like something pricking or pulling at his back. Something... Or someone.

"I'm sorry miss." Brazen stands up trying to focus on that odd feeling. "Were it another time ah might go with ah lovely lass like you, or mayhaps ah'm just ah stubborn earth pony, but ah ain't one to let loose ends stay loose. If ah give up now then it might lead to more folks comin here earlier than they should... And ah just can't rest easy havin that weighin on my mind. Much less not bein able to say goodbye to folks back home."

Will (3d6)[14] vs 12

[D.KnightSpider]

EDF Comm.: "If I don't make it, do not stop. Keep going." Longshot puts steel in his voice-- the sort that says his decision is not up for debate. "That's an order."

He wouldn't have two dead ponies on his conscience.

He keeps moving for the exit and drains another potion.

Spoiler

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HT
(3d6)[3][1][5](9) VS 10

[Elbeyon]

Scomm (EDF), "Copy, Star. I've lost visuals on him. He still looked ready to punch through a steel door." Love will push an image of his powered up self so Star can see the magical energy radiating off him.

Love keeps flying superpony style with Longshot toward the light.

Scomm (Longshot), "Don't you dare pass out! You've got a growing family waiting for you back home. I'll be waiting for you at our home. Can't I save one person on this deathtrap snake!?" Everyone died. The sailors. Seasoarer. The prisoners. The corvid. The city. Mint. Brazen. Love didn't save anyone. "If you pass out I'll kick your boxing flank so hard you'll fly into the clear."

Spoiler

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5th Health Check
(3d6)[13] VS 11

[Miltonian]

Love and Longshot shoot out of the entrance, neck and neck. The 'Bird hangs there, hovering nearby, rear hatch down and waiting. "I see you!" Star calls, "I'm the safe distance! Hurry! Get inside!"

The rest of the serpent is crumbling around them. The skull is laced with lines of green magic, threatening to burst at any moment. And as they dive towards the ship and safety, it explodes. Chunks of bone, transformed into meteors of necromantic energy, rain down on the land below. A medium-sized green cloud, vaguely in the shape of a mushroom, begins to form behind them.

======

Rose works and works for as long as she can. As the final drama plays out above, she tries her best to save Brazen's life. However, even stitching his body back together with magic, even with all her skill, she feels him slipping away. She knows there is not much more she can do.

======

The Pale Horse withdraws her hoof and sighs. "I see," she says, "And this is why battlefields are almost always haunted. So many soldiers that couldn't accept their fate." She gestures towards the forest. "Go, then, and find your way, if you can."

And Brazen goes, following the sensation tugging at him, hanging onto it like a drowning pony hangs onto a lifeline. And yet, he feels it fading, slipping away from his grasp, until it fades away entirely.

As if opening his eyes, he becomes aware of the world around him. He stands inside the wrecked ruin of the Control Room, now open to the sky and tilted to the left from its landing. Dust and necromantic energy swirl around him, but he feels a new tug, as if something is drawing him in. And then, he sees it. His armor, sitting empty, calling him to come and take possession of it once more.

[DigoDragon]

Rose lets out a sigh. "You big oaf," she mutters. "How is it with all that armor you die and I survive naked as a newborn babe?"

She stands up and takes a step back. How DID Rose survive this? By all logic she should have vaporised like Hazel did. What the bucking bronco?

"Fight me, Death!!" Rose angrily kicks her backpack after screaming into the sky.

[D.KnightSpider]

EDF Comm (Love): "... Affirmative..."

He falters, but rights himself, and resumes course for the Thunderbird. The adrenaline is starting to give ground to the rot and decay of whatever that spell was. Petrification had nothing on this.

EDF Comm: "We're inbound, Star."

Figures. He just completed a five-month stint in the hospital and one mission later he was probably going to need five more...

[Elbeyon]

She keeps an eye on Longshot, ready for if he faints.

Love flies for the bird. She needs to get on the sensor and find Iron Beak. The serpent exploding like that did not instill her with a good feeling.

Scomm (EDF), "We're on our way." She will check them over with Mage Sight (when she gets the chance) to make sure the magical energies on them are safe for Star.

Love uses the last Stop Bleed in her armor. She will leave a few BugBots along the way even if they're probably going to be destroyed.

Spoiler: Roll

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6th Health Check? I'm not sure if we are rolling this turn?
(3d6)[11] VS 11

[Miltonian]

The voice that answers Rose is quiet, but it is the sort of quietness which spills out and makes the whole world silent by comparison. Like a stone block striking a granite floor, Death speaks, "I have been ordered not to. You are beyond my reach, for the moment." Rose cannot catch sight of her, but she cannot escape that dread voice. "Yet he should have known, for every action there is a consequence. Even he cannot wholly deny me in the discharge of my office."

----

Longshot and Love nearly crash-land aboard the ship, safe for now. Love's self-evaluation assures her that it is safe for her to be around Star at the moment. The magic does not seem to be sticking to them well.

"And we're out of here!" Star declares, revving up the engines. The ramp begins to close. "Grab a seat and we'll leave this place behind."

A streaking comet of green energy shoots towards the ship on Love's Bugbot view. Star has just enough time to begin shouting, "Proximity Al--" before a bloody, rusted cybernetic claw grips the bottom of the ramp and Iron Beak hauls himself up and into the doorway. His skin is mostly gone and only a few, tattered feathers still hang from his body. Blood seeps from countless wounds and he breathes like an asthmatic about to have an attack. His body seems wasted, strength spent, yet his bloodshot eyes burn with fury.

"I," he hisses out, "Am going to kill you now."

[DigoDragon]

"I was the one who dared you! You will no--"

Rose stops mid rant, her hoof in the air. It stops shaking. She stands there, stunned at the revelation bestowed upon her like the sword Excalibur to the rightful king. She puts her hoof down. Frowns. Rose didn't understand.

Who ordered death to avoid Rose? How long? What for? WHY?

Rose tears off her helmet and throws it straight up into the air. "Well buck you too!!" She tears off her right foreleg at the junction bolt and throws it strait up into the air.

Her helmet lands with a soft thud on the ground several feet away. Her leg lands with a soft thud on the ground several feet away.

Rose falls over and rolls onto her back.

She gives up. -_-

[Elbeyon]

Love sets down on the ship and trots towards the cockpit. She begins turning before Star has time to start her call.

She shouts towards the invader, "You better not die after all this! Iron Beak, you are under arrest! Surrender and receive medical treatment! You will live."

Love rushes at him and attempts to grab him around the torso.

Spoiler: Roll

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All-Out Attack
(3d6)[6] vs 13 (Judo) + 4 (All-out Attack)

[Miltonian]

"Order and Chaos, both messing with Fate. Messing with me," Death snarls, "That's how all this began. And I can't put it back to rights. Not without overstepping my office."

"When you see Order again, tell him that I will no longer tolerate his interference. If the lawmaker ignores his own rules, then he should be prepared for everyone else to do the same."

She pauses. "Perhaps it will give you some comfort to know that Brazen did not come with me. He foolishly sought his own way back here, to you. I see that he did not arrive. I suppose I shan't wait up for him, then."

-----

Iron Beak's talon lashes out and backhands Love, parrying her blow knocking her against the wall of the dropship with his still-great strength, yet she grabs ahold of his arm and hangs on for dear life. He laughs. "Live?! Of course I'll live! Don't you see? I can't die!"

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks left. >.>
Then right. <.<

She is a little confused.

"Uh, do you want help? Should I go look for Order and shoot them in the face or...? " Rose asked only because this was the first time she held an actual conversation with Death. At least she thinks it's death. Maybe.

Brazen didn't go with Death? Well... Okay so where did that chucklehoof go?

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot activates his synaptic controls. Every available bugbot in the area is ordered to emerge from hiding/storage and swarm Iron Beak. Their purpose is simple: find a way into Iron Beak's cybernetic limbs and start tearing them apart.

His rifle comes up and fires at Iron Beak.

Spoiler

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Fast Draw
(3d6)[1][2][6](9) VS 17

Attack: Targeting Iron Beak's Eyes
(3d6)[6][2][5](13) VS 26

Damage
(6d6)[4][2][2][2][5][4](19)
(6d6)[5][6][5][4][3][2](25)
(6d6)[3][6][4][4][1][4](22)
(6d6)[6][5][2][4][3][3](23)
(6d6)[2][3][5][2][2][6](20)
(6d6)[6][6][2][2][1][6](23)
(6d6)[6][6][6][5][4][2](29)
(6d6)[6][6][1][3][3][2](21)
(6d6)[6][2][6][2][6][2](24)
(6d6)[4][1][5][3][2][1](16)

[Miltonian]

"No need to look for him," Death says, "You already know him, do you not? Polaris, the Lord of Stars?"

====

Iron Beak tries to twist aside, but he cannot avoid all of Longshot's fire. The EDF's sniper hits him in the eyes. And in that moment, it is over. There is no scream. There is nothing. Iron Claw's body goes limp. He would fall out of the back, but Love still has an iron grip on his arm.

The General is dead.

[Elbeyon]

Love stops the BugBots.

She starts dragging Iron Beak's corpse inside the ship.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot takes a step forward. A hoof grabs Iron Beak's corspe. None too gently, he hauls it inside.

He performs a SCAN to ensure that Iron Beak is really, genuinely dead.

(1d6)[3](3) /2

[Elbeyon]

Once the corpse is inside. Love sits down next to it and just stares at it.

[DigoDragon]

"No need to look for him," Death says, "You already know him, do you not? Polaris, the Lord of Stars?"

"Oh. Him. Yeah okay. I'll do him in for free."