Celestia's Finest: Comrades in Arms

[Elbeyon]

Love takes a deep internal breath nearby Rose. She remembers wearing a blindfold, and her zebra friends putting strange objects under her nose. Love trusts the odious air. The burnt smell of gathered feathers, plantlife, and strange liquids is hard to miss and harder to recognize in the mixture. Though, trust is hardly needed since the ingredients are as bad as any prank that could be put under he nose. A common prank might even smell better. She names ingredients. The rare sip of a valuable potion dotting the experience. The concoction rarely tastes good. She remembers this one! The taste has subtle differences, but this one didn't taste that bad out of all of them!

Scomm, "They pulled out potions to turn themselves into air. They might have a way to activate the package remotely." Love pushes an image of the Captain and Secretary arming themselves with magic resistant flasks. The aura of magic glowing out of the top as the rest of the bottle doesn't so much as light up under Mage Sight.

Love simultaneously orders her BugBot near Rose's ear, she whispers, "The Captain and Secretary drew potions to turn themselves into air. They might have a way to activate the package remotely." Any magic might require sight/seeing the bomb.

She whispers similarly to Brazen that he may want to get moving.

-------

Love stands up. "I need to go get my friends. They've been gone too long." She hurries off. "How strong are your lungs?," she asks.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot gets Love's report at the same time he finalizes his assessment of the three Vedinians. There was only one conclusion.

"Shut them down!" Longshot relays his message over subvocal comm and the bugbot relay. "Protect the Admiral!"

He recalls his armor and preps for extreme counter-measures.

Spoiler: Perception

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(3d6)[3][3][2](8) VS 16 (13 Base +3 Hyper Spectral)

[DigoDragon]

1. Shut them down.
2. Protect the Admiral.

Objectives obtained.


Rose spins to the left and attempts to kick the flask out of the captain's hand.

Attack (Brawling): (3d6)[11] vs 13 (+4 All-out attack [Determined] -4 called shot [held object])

[Miltonian]

The marine stands up with her. "Pretty good," he asks, curious, "Why do you ask, comrade?"

--

The Longshot has entered the game.

---

Rose's hoof lashes out and knocks the bottle flying. However, the secretary takes this opportunity to chug hers and her body immediately turns to vapor.

The Captain's face turns pale, but he raises his voice. "Treachery! The Equestrians are--" And that's as far as he gets in the space of a second. Meanwhile, his claw goes for his sidearm.

The admiral looks aghast. "What in the name of the Wise Lady is going on?" he demands.

[DigoDragon]

1. Shut them down.
2. Protect the Admiral.

"Your package is from the captain," Rose says to the Admiral. She steps between the captain and admiral at this point to protect the charge. Rose then goes... and she doesn't have her guns. Well then. Guess she'll have to bring a horn to this gun fight.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Got the griffon."

Longshot springs forward, shoulder lowering, at Stormwind. Upon impact, he'll put the power armor's new abilities to use by activating the shock plating.

Spoiler: Come On And Slam!

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To Hit
(3d6)[2][6][2](10) VS 17 (13 DX +4 All Out Attack)

Impact Damage
(13 HP x 9? Yards Moved) / 100 = 1.17 die
(1d6)[6](6)

Stun Damage
(2d6)[3][6](9)

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Like usual, Love is watching the air waves. If they try to get a signal out, Love will skip her turn to jam.

She answers, "Follow me to the Bridge." Which normally wouldn't be that hard...

A fragment of electricity flickers at Love's ear then her body. Her horn coalesces into existence, glowing solid orange with magic. She takes a step, and moves twelve hoofs across the mess hall. Her horn disappears in much the same way it appeared after the spell is cast.

She RTS commander positions her BugBots to watch the ship for any escaping secretaries. Her eyes on the airy mare, but the mage may try to escape.

She sends an order to her bag to prepare a dispel grenade and her gun.

Scomm/Rose's ear, "I'm on my way. I'll see if I can do something about the mare when I get there."

Spoiler: Spell

Show

Magic item, go!

"A very fast Flight spell. The subject has a Move of 40 (80 mph) without encumbrance; encumbrance reduces Move normally. The subject can move and fight normally, and has a combat advantage if above his foes (p. B402)."

Love uses a step to fly 4 hexes/12 hoofs.

[Miltonian]

Longshot peels in from the foredeck, slamming into the surprised and off-guard captain. There are some distinct advantages to moving quickly. The gun goes flying from his claw. He's stunned from the impact and probably has a few broken ribs. Best of all, his monologue's been cut short.

That leaves just the secretary, who drifts back and upwards into the air. A look of hatred crosses her face. Magic begins to crackle around her misty horn.

"Death to Boreas!" she shouts, voice like a harsh gust. Her spell completes and the package glows in the Admiral's claws. As for the ranking officer himself, the idea that he's in danger is slowly penetrating his mind. He takes one look at the now-beeping package in his claws and pitches it over the side as hard as he can.

A moment later, the ocean heaves as the bomb explodes directly off the port side.

Ensign Seaworthy is nowhere to be seen. Love knows he hasn't tried to jump off the side or anything.

----

The marine dashes behind Love, though can't match her speed. The ship rocks slightly and a look of great alarm crosses his face. He redoubles his efforts.

[D.KnightSpider]

Subvocal Comm./Bugbot: "Belay that, Love. We need you finding Seaworthy. Hack the whole boat if you have to but find him."

Longshot grabs his rifle and readies it for use. He plants a hoof on the griffon and sends another jolt of Stun into Stormwind while he's at it.

Heh. Captain on deck.

Spoiler: Bzzzzt

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(2d6)[2][5](7)

[DigoDragon]

"Death to Boreas!"

"Shut up." Rose's horn flashes with a spell to destroy the air around the vapor entity.

Spellcasting (3d6)[12] v. 15
(Casting destroy air around the target)

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler

Show

Same deal with the jamming

Love grimaces at the bomb exploding in the cold water. A griffon doesn't become an admiral by being helpless. He quite literally saved himself.

Love says to her tag along, "The admiral is on the bridge. Watch out for Seaworthy! I'll be on the bridge in a Fili-Second!"

The ensign is an earth pony? He couldn't have gotten that far.

Scomm, "Roger, Longshot, I'm going to borrow your spare ScoutBot." She orders it out of his saddlebag and into a search.

She orders the ScoutBots in her bag to drop hauling duties to BugBots. She orders two ScoutBots out of her bag as she runs through the ship.

Love keeps an eye out for any magic auras. A nose open as she tries to follow his scent with the local BugBots. She access a few BugBot memories to see if she can get a clue on his heading.

Love zips through the ship leaving a blue blur as she 'runs' super speed in the ensign's direction (or last know direction).

Spoiler: Roll

Show

Perception
(3d6)[7] vs 13 (perception) +2/3/4 (Infravision (BugBots) or Hyper vision (ScoutBots) or Discriminatory Smell (BugBots)

[Miltonian]

Stormwind goes down for the count. He won't be getting up anytime soon.

Rose's spell causes pain, but does not disable her target. The secretary, exposed for what she is, casts a glare of hatred at them and then weaves a spell around herself. She zips away, over and off the side of the ship, which is still steaming at Ahead Full. She will rapidly disappear if something is not done about her.

However, Rose feels something cold and metal press into the back of her neck. The admiral, it seems, has drawn his ceremonial sword. "Right then," he says, "Don't move. I want a thorough and immediate explanation for all this. Why in Eyr's name did you hand me a bomb?"

Love dashes through the ship, her new and improved senses picking up strong magic coming from the engine room. Seaworthy definitely could have reached it if he'd moved quickly. It's not unicorn magic, but closer to...Chaos magic?

[DigoDragon]

"Right then," he says, "Don't move. I want a thorough and immediate explanation for all this. Why in Eyr's name did you hand me a bomb?"

"The captain had told us that you may be a spy working with the corvids. He asked us to deliver to you a package and that your response to it would determine your loyalties. Well we were rather curious why we'd be given such a task considering we only recently joined this outfit. We looked inside the package and found the bomb. Our explosives expert disabled the timer and we set out to deliver it with the plan to catch the captain in the act, which seems to have worked. We didn't know they had a second trigger on the bomb though."

[D.KnightSpider]

With a single thought, Hawk Flight potion takes effect. Longshot pushes off from the railing and rockets after the fleeing secretary.

Time to see if all that training had accomplished anything. He comes within firing range, brings his rifle/grenade launcher monstrosity up and takes a snapshot. He tries to angle the shot so as to avoid catching himself in the radius.

Spoiler: No, you don't get to run!

Show

Attack
(3d6)[5][2][5](12) VS 12 (15 Base, +4 Weapon Mods, -2 Move and Attack, - 5 Distance)

Dispel Effect Roll?
(3d6)[3][5][4](12) VS 15

[Elbeyon]

Magic in the engine room? Love kicks off a wall to ease into a corridor around and runs towards the strong magic. Chaos magic? She somehow didn't see that that coming. She really should have seen that unpredictable thread. Chaos magic makes too much sense to not be woven into the mission.

Scomm, "Seaworthy might be using chaos magic in the engine room. I'm heading there." Gulp. A chaos magic user. That's big. A strong one at that. They say a wise pony should always bring a mage to a mage fight. Love is short one horn of a unicorn.

She directs Longshot's ScoutBot to follow him. She directs her two ScoutBots to head to the bridge and engine. The BugBots can look pretty! They've been pulling some ant loads (and love as them spaced out how she liked when setting up a net for the air elemental anyway). She does order some in her bag to be ready to leave their container.

Assuming Love reaches the engine room and she sees Seaworthy, she says, "Seaworthy!" Her hoofs touch the floor as she 'lands.' "Let's talk. I enjoy talking, and we haven't talked much!" Love reads the magic auras in the room. "You know some awesome magic."

[Miltonian]

"Me? A spy?" the admiral exclaims. He glances down at the captain, who can't say anything in his defense. "If it weren't for his secretary popping off like that, I'd say it was a lie and order you thrown in the brig. But now I am curious. But I'll need more than that if I'm going to believe my own brother tried to kill me."

---

*POP*

And just like that, the secretary's spell vanishes. Her eyes go wide and she screams as she falls right into the ocean.

---

Love dashes into the engine room to find a pony and a griffon dead on the ground, small bullet holes in the back of their heads, and Seaworthy chanting over their bodies. Magic swirls around both corpses, foul, sickly magic. Not the kind of chaos Discord uses. Seaworthy turns and regards Love with an impassive look.

"You're too late," he says, "Admiral Stormwind dies, one way or another."

[DigoDragon]

"Me? A spy?" the admiral exclaims. He glances down at the captain, who can't say anything in his defense. "If it weren't for his secretary popping off like that, I'd say it was a lie and order you thrown in the brig. But now I am curious. But I'll need more than that if I'm going to believe my own brother tried to kill me."

Meh, couldn't be any worse than the last brig she spent a night in.

"We have our encounter with the captain recorded. Our tech specialist is currently on her way and she can provide you further evidence."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot banks and drops altitude. He follows after the secretary and attempts to secure a hold on her.

"I advise you to surrender and cooperate."

Spoiler: Fishing for Unicorns

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Aerobatics
(3d6)[6][1][1](8) VS 16 (14 Skill +2 Three-D Spatial Sense)

Grapple
(3d6)[6][5][1](12) VS 17 (13 DX +4 All Out Attack)

ST
(3d6)[5][3][1](9) VS 28 (13 Base +15 Power Armor)

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Seaworthy is in the engine using necromancy on two corpses." Love pushes an image towards the hud.

------

Love doesn't find herself as chatty or complementing his magical skills after she sees the bodies and the magic around them. He is right about one thing. Love is too late, but there are other people depending on her too. People like the Admiral.

"Is this your Rule of Flesh?" She points with her head towards the bodies. "Is this your Will? What you want?"

Love has to stop him before he kills again. Her saddlebag flips open and stays open. Her long rifle floats out of her saddlebag like it's a rabbit being pulled out of a hat. She snatches it and snap fires at Seaworthy. She lifts her hoof and rubber bands nearer to the engine to protect it.

Spoiler

Show

Fire! (I don't know if he has armor (or is wearing clothes), but if it's questionable Love will shoot him in a limb to avoid DR.)
(3d6)[12] vs 14 (Beam) +5 (Targeting) + 2 (Rapid Fire) -2? (Limb) +/- (Other(s))

Stun Damage (3)
(6d6)[18]
(6d6)[26]
(6d6)[24]
(6d6)[26]
(6d6)[17]
(6d6)[19]
(6d6)[19]
(6d6)[24]
(6d6)[28]
(6d6)[18]

Spoiler: Edit

Show

The hoof step was a step. Love is moving closer (did move closer to avoid attack penalties)

[Miltonian]

The admiral lets out a huff. "Then," he says, taking a seat but keeping his blade near Rose, "We're going to sit here and wait for her."

-----

Longshot reaches down and grabs the secretary by the back of her uniform, hauling her up as she splutters and kicks. However, something tugs back. Something beneath the water has a hold of her and doesn't want to let go. It resists his attempts to pull her free. An inky darkness spreads out beneath her, rising quickly towards the surface.

Spoiler

Show

Make another ST check.

-----

With a laugh, Seaworthy dives behind part of the engine and avoids Love's fire. Out from under his jacket, he pulls a leatherbond book and begins flicking through it. Words in a guttural, ancient tongue fill the room and, though the ship is above water, Love's lungs feel like they've suddenly filled with seawater.

Spoiler

Show

Make an HT roll, if you please.

The dead pony and griffon stand up, leaking black ichor in place of blood. They slowly turn towards Love.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Copy, Love. I'm offship trying to apprehend the secretary. Cannot assist. Star, please tell me you're listening to comms."

Longshot grunts as he resecures a grip on the unicorn. He hauls back in an effort to win this living tug-of-war battle.

"Little Li, mind telling me what we're looking at?"

Spoiler: My unicorn! Get your own!

Show

(3d6)[3][5][6](14) VS 28

Scan
(1d6)[3](3)

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Copy. No assistance required here. Updating only." Communication is key.

Battles are measured in seconds. If Love loses this fight, she'll likely be dead long before any pony is able to reach her. Star is at least minutes away.

------

Seaworthy doesn't seem to have any spells on him. The book might be empowering him? That wasn't a bad shot from Love. Is he that quick?

That language. She can hear the power in the words. Love's breath catches and her chest tightens as her lungs fill with burning seawater. She fights her automatic breath response and stops herself from panicking. Her body and charm fight the magic inside her body, and the feeling seems to lose power. Love coughs out whatever water is in her lungs while clinching her rifle in her hoof. As she chokes and gasps, her voice emanates from her body, BugBots, "That's an old looking book."

Threat assessment: Seaworthy is more dangerous than zombies.

Her hoofs lift off the ground as she begins ascending into the air in humanoid form. The BugBots that retrieved her rifle scatter across the room to cut down on blindspots. She zips upward and over the black ichor corpses and behind Seaworthy's cover. She floats as high as she can, takes aim such that she'll minimize setting off any defense spells, and shoots two grenades near him. Then, to complete her spring attack, she flies back away from the mage. Magic is often a short range affair, not that it seemed to help Love's lungs. She wetly coughs.

Spoiler

Show

Fire! 40mm Shock Grenade x2!
(3d6)[9] vs 16 = 14 (GL) +4 (Targeting) + 4 (Floor) -4 (Bulk) -~2 (Distance) +/- (Other(s))

Stun Damage
(8d6)[26]
(8d6)[23]

[DigoDragon]

Rose sits down on the floor and waits.

[Miltonian]

Longshot's armor gives him the boost he needs to pull the Secretary free. However, her hips and hind legs are red and covered in blisters. The fur is almost gone and her bones seem to be...missing. Her legs flop and move freely, elongating before Longshot's eyes. She grins and shows off a mouth and throat suddenly full of teeth. Her pupils are slitted and she hisses through gills that open on her neck.

------

Seaworthy's forehoof lashes out and grabs one of Love's grenades out of the air. It goes off in his grip. The other strikes him in the chest. Between the two of him, he slumps over, uniform smoking and blackened.

The two zombies turn slowly towards Love. Their bodies begin to swell and mutate, becoming thicker, harder, and taller. The pony takes a step forward and the metal plates bend from the impact.

------

The Admiral looks down at the Captain and sighs. "So what's your story?" he asks Rose, "Why are you here?"

[DigoDragon]

"My team was called here to help you fight Ironbeak," Rose says. "We're pretty good at breaking our enemies."

[Elbeyon]

Love's eyes go all wide when Seaworthy catches the grenade. That is very impressive and highly improbable. She sighs a relief as he gets knocked out. He should be out until they revive him. She says to him, "Seaworthy, you are being detained!" Her coat stands up on end, and that's not entirely caused by the shock grenades. A few pieces of gel are in her coat and electrified her fur.

Love orders the closet BugBots near Seaworthy to grab his leather book and remove it from his possession.
Love orders a BugBot out of her bag to put a Suspend Animation bracelet on Seaworthy.

She looks at the two bodies with a frown. She says to them, "I'm sorry."

But. "You two aren't the only ones that can get bigger!" Love breaths and says her activation code, "70RCH." The air surges around Love as her power armor materializes on her body. A mighty puffing in her chest before she disappears underneath layers of protection.

Love takes a step in the air and tries to leverage herself some space to dodge any charges or attacks while keeping her distance. Love turns her shock armor on. Electricity dances through the air around her.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Activate Armor & Step!

[D.KnightSpider]

"Well..." Longshot blinks. "that's unexpected."

Then he rockets skyward taking the monster secretary along for the ride. His shock armor activates for all the good it will do.

After climbing as high as he dared, Longshot puts his armor to the test. Forelegs flex as he hurls the creature higher into the air.

Spoiler: Nevermind! Do Not Want!

Show

Full move skyward.

Shock Armor Damage
(2d6)[3][1](4)

ST for the throw.
(3d6)[4][5][3](12) VS 28

[userpay]

Zombies on board? Brazen summons his armor and begins rushing towards Love's position. "On my way to engine room, keep mobile Love."

[Miltonian]

"Team?" the Admiral says, suspicious, "And who do you work for? Internal Security?"

---

The former griffon crouches down and launches itself into the air, swinging at Love with the wrench held in its claws! It whiffs, passing right by her head. The wrench slams into an overhead pipe instead and shatters in its grip. The pipe is dented and begins to lead steam.

The second one turns and knocks the door aside. It hangs brokenly on a single hinge. The former pony begins to walk out.

---

The mare's entire lower body splits apart, forming into a mass of writhing tentacles, more than Longshot can count. The electricity makes her scream in pain, though caught in the middle of it, Longshot hears three words. "Please! Help me!"

But there is no helping her. The tentacles on her lower body attempt to wrap around Longshot and, unless he can dodge, will grab hold right before she flies off into the distance.

---

Brazen runs down the stairs, headed for the engine room. But as he goes, he hears a whisper coming from down below. Far, far below, beneath the ship. It has a question for him. He can't make it out, but it requires an answer.

He will need to make a Will Save.

[DigoDragon]

"Team?" the Admiral says, suspicious, "And who do you work for? Internal Security?"

"No, the Equestrian Defense Force. Were you not told we would be coming to assist?" Rose asks. "Please don't tell me the captain brought us here just to deliver a freakin' bomb and no one knows we are here to help you fight Iron beak."