Fallout Equestria: Pie and Predation

[Dalinale]

"Is Shade not a friend of yours? Are you just going to give up and let the minotaur bully you around?" Doc questioned Lien. He gestured to Bullion. "I'm going inside with her to try and save Shade. I don't know her as well as you probably do, but I know that the zebra culture hated Nightmare Moon and they'll probably not do anything kind to her if they get their way. You should join us."

Speech [roll0]

The smile Lien replied with was tinged with sadness, and he slowly turned towards the steel-framed door, his stance tense. The little ripper-chainsaw attached his his spear began to slowly rev up. Bullion, similarly made her way towards he door, either considerably more at ease or just more emotionally detached from recent events.

Doc pat's Mirror's hoof gently. "Will you come with us too? You could test that new sword of yours."

Mirror glanced over towards the unconscious griffon guard who was wedged into the scenery a few yards away.

"Should we take his guns?" she asked, waving nervously towards the incapacitated guard, "I do not think he can use them. Big guns might be better than swords right now."

Neither of the bank ponies seemed to think what Mirror asked was something to comment on.

"The room's soundproof, you can't attract much more attention than what we already got." Lien muttered, sort of pointing at the door with his spear like the minotaur could break it down at any moment.

[Forum Explorer]

Hey, I'm going to follow from a distance. Make sure she isn't going to try anything...blatant. Moonshadow called to Abbas, before slipping away into the crowd. She put on her monocle as she went.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Sneak: (1d100)[97] vs 96
Perception: (1d10)[9] vs 9

[DigoDragon]

Mirror glanced over towards the unconscious griffon guard who was wedged into the scenery a few yards away.
"Should we take his guns?" she asked, waving nervously towards the incapacitated guard, "I do not think he can use them. Big guns might be better than swords right now."

Neither of the bank ponies seemed to think what Mirror asked was something to comment on.
"The room's soundproof, you can't attract much more attention than what we already got." Lien muttered, sort of pointing at the door with his spear like the minotaur could break it down at any moment.

"Perhaps, but she's got a pretty good idea. I'll take the guns with us just in case anyone here decides they want to attack from a distance." Doc will pick up the griffon's guns and then follow Lien and Bullion. He has his own revolver ready.

[Dalinale]

Hey, I'm going to follow from a distance. Make sure she isn't going to try anything...blatant. Moonshadow called to Abbas, before slipping away into the crowd. She put on her monocle as she went.

Spoiler: Rolls

Show

Sneak: [roll0] vs 96
Perception: [roll1] vs 9

Moonshadow found herself at the edge of the rooftop tent-town; while it was easy to say the path was scarce, that wasn't really the case. A brief glance through a open 'door' showed that behind a cloth veil was a small network of rooms and passages, as stable and inhabited as the warrens below that were carved from the sheer bulk of the place. One thing could be said about this place; there was likely a few thousand equines living in a space suitable for about a third of that number, and she hadn't seen so much of a sign of rats, except on the end of a stick.

As far as the crowd went, most seemed to busy themselves in getting food, although the general store selling canisters of gasoline was doing brisk business. The ratio to vegetables to meat was roughly even, although the vegetables consisted mostly of yellowish carrots and wilted spinach; there was a surprising amount of rice being bought up, although most seemed to be sourced from the store fully stocked with canned pre-war goods. Meanwhile, a lot of what was available in terms of meat seemed only suitable to be shoved on a stick and deep fried to make sure everything was dead; the most appetizing thing being advertised was the 'U-Pic Iguana!' stall that had a solid line forming, while others were selling fried beetles and grubs and other things that could charitably called 'exotic' at best. The worst assault to the senses was the shop lined with filthy tanks of bubbling water that hid their contents quite well, but Moonshadow could see the faint outlines of worm-like creatures unpleasantly slithering in the grimy water.

Avenida was trotting past all that, though, apparently keen to make it towards Abbas quickly enough. This would've been fine, except for the three stallions in cheap-looking combat armor that was staring at Moonshadow after their attentions waned off of the dumb horse chasing after other dumb horses. They were armored and armed. One was already turning away from her and seemed to be following Avenida's path and was motioning to his nearest buddy.

"Perhaps, but she's got a pretty good idea. I'll take the guns with us just in case anyone here decides they want to attack from a distance." Doc will pick up the griffon's guns and then follow Lien and Bullion.

The griffon guard was stone dead; his back was broken and no sign of breath. He didn't carry much of anything on him except for his guns, and that included ammo; his sawed-off shotgun was standard issue and bore signs of wear and tear and the grenade rifle was cheap, but that's what probably allowed him to stand around in a crowded market with a shotgun and a grenade rifle.

[Doc gets one Caravan Shotgun with two Shotgun Shells already loaded inside it and one Anti-Pony Grenade Rifle with three 25mm Grenades loaded in it]

He has his own revolver ready.

The two bank ponies went inside the interior of their claimed section of the ruins while Doc was fiddling with the dead griffon's mounted weapons. It was clear that someone had turned off the lights, given that the two of them stopped just a few feet inside the store and were currently muttering to themselves. Unfortunately, they also took up Doc's field of vision, so he'd need to actually step around them to see what was happening inside.

Meanwhile, Mirror was pointedly ignoring the bank ponies, as if them living or dying in the next few seconds didn't factor into her plans for self-defense. She seemed to be interested in the grenade rifle in particular, although that might've been because it was shaped funny.

[DigoDragon]

Doc decided to hold on to the grenade rifle carefully because firing it inside the bank could hurt all the wrong folks, to say nothing about the anger from the survivors.

He changed his cybereye vision to thermal and quietly stepped around the two bank ponies to look, though he stayed close to them (perception (1d10)[8]).

Doc whispered to the ponies, "He's big. Shouldn't be hard to find, no?"

[Hazuki]

River looked a little nervous, and fiddled her hooves a little before giving Viridia a nod and a frown.

"Okay, I thought this place ran a pretty tight ship, I expected the tunnels and stuff to be a little rough but I didn't think I'd hear the richest stallion in the city talking about inviting slavers here and his marefriend or whoever talking about getting them in, alright? It just got to me, gutting one like a lamprey shouldn't be something we'd need to debate." she said, sounding like she was trying to come off as apologetic.

"You mean, like, whether or not we should?" Viridia asked. "I guess the idea is just that, well, you kill slavers to help people, so you might as well do something that helps more people. But, yeah, it's kind of complex and I don't one hundred percent know what I'm meant to be doing about it? Philosophy isn't something I learned...ever."

[Forum Explorer]

Well if they spotted me, I'm not going to be able to sneak up on anyone, Moonshadow sighed. She took to the air, flying back to the group and at least getting a pegasus' eye view of the area.

[Dalinale]

Doc decided to hold on to the grenade rifle carefully because firing it inside the bank could hurt all the wrong folks, to say nothing about the anger from the survivors.

He changed his cybereye vision to thermal and quietly stepped around the two bank ponies to look, though he stayed close to them (perception [roll0]).

Doc whispered to the ponies, "He's big. Shouldn't be hard to find, no?"

The minotaur was standing at the far end of the room, no more than eighty feet away or so, and was hunched over in front of the door that Doc knew to probably be Lein's office. The minotaur was lightly jostling the doorhandle with one of his weird hands and didn't seem to budge even after he turned his head slightly towards the open door. Doc could actually see the look on the creature's face; he looked aggravated but wasn't making any sudden movements, but he wasn't saying anything either, and he was also clearly looking at Doc and seemed agitated. Lien appeared to be more on guard than Bullion, who just looked more prepared to stand guard then to rush inside.

Meanwhile, Mirror was a few steps behind from everyone else and was holding the shotgun almost exactly as if it was the first time she'd ever held one.

"You mean, like, whether or not we should?" Viridia asked. "I guess the idea is just that, well, you kill slavers to help people, so you might as well do something that helps more people. But, yeah, it's kind of complex and I don't one hundred percent know what I'm meant to be doing about it? Philosophy isn't something I learned...ever."

"I'v never read anything like that either." River replied, looking up at the increasingly gloomy sky, "But if you get worried about getting bogged down about trying to solve something, everything is a chain reaction, right? If I sell a gun to a pony, I can't tell how that'd be used, but anyone selling food or water could be hurting a lot of people if they're selling to a bad person, or someone who knows bad people. Everything we do has consequences, but after some point a person has to stop thinking about how far back a action goes, even killing someone who's done very bad things. I mean, you could say that this whole city was built by ponies who didn't get paid enough or whatever, so living here is bad and we're all bad people because all of our stuff was made by bad people and we don't think about it because we have our own problems; that's really dumb and I don't think anyone thinks like that, but I guess if you someone really wanted to hate everything, you could think about it like that."

River paused, and glanced around the environs a bit. Passing by innumerable tent dwellings, she looks like she considers peaking inside one or two, but better judgement seemed to win out.

"But slavers are different, because if you get rid of them, the world's better no matter what." she eventually continued, sounding confident, "Right? I mean, there's literally no good reason for them to exist or to become one unless you're evil."

Well if they spotted me, I'm not going to be able to sneak up on anyone, Moonshadow sighed. She took to the air, flying back to the group and at least getting a pegasus' eye view of the area.

Moonshadow saw that Stellar had stopped in a spot in midair and was trying to wave Moonshadow over; it seems like her attention had switched from the ground to the large ruins of the skyscraper in front of them. Whatever it was, it didn't seem like she was concerned for the two horses below.

[DigoDragon]

Doc whispered to Lein, "Alright, how should we play this out? We need the mimics to think he's a threat so they attack him, yes?"

He looked at how Mirror was holding the shotgun and stepped over to help her with how to keep it steady. It's probably easier for her since she could levitate it and not need her hooves?

[Dalinale]

Doc whispered to Lein, "Alright, how should we play this out? We need the mimics to think he's a threat so they attack him, yes?"

"Yes." the older stallion quietly hissed, "But he must attack first, otherwise they will get distracted and go for everything they don't recognize. That goes for you too. Now, what's going on in there?"

He looked at how Mirror was holding the shotgun and stepped over to help her with how to keep it steady. It's probably easier for her since she could levitate it and not need her hooves?

Mirror wasn't doing a bad job at keeping the shotgun steady; after all, it was hovering a foot in front of her and she was technically doing a fine job at balancing it in the air. The bad part was that she had a shotgun hovering about a foot in front of her, closer to her knees than her head, and that pretty much threw the chance that she could aim it properly in any way that'd be based on sight, and let it swivel a bit in the air.

Mirror looked somewhat embarrassed at noticing that she was doing a bad job at keeping the metal boomstick from, say, possibly shooting Doc in the knee, and let him fiddle around with it until it was closer to eye-level but not so close that any unexpected recoil would end with Mirror needed a eyepatch.

[DigoDragon]

"Yes." the older stallion quietly hissed, "But he must attack first, otherwise they will get distracted and go for everything they don't recognize. That goes for you too. Now, what's going on in there?"

Mirror wasn't doing a bad job at keeping the shotgun steady; after all, it was hovering a foot in front of her and she was technically doing a fine job at balancing it in the air. The bad part was that she had a shotgun hovering about a foot in front of her, closer to her knees than her head, and that pretty much threw the chance that she could aim it properly in any way that'd be based on sight, and let it swivel a bit in the air.

Mirror looked somewhat embarrassed at noticing that she was doing a bad job at keeping the metal boomstick from, say, possibly shooting Doc in the knee, and let him fiddle around with it until it was closer to eye-level but not so close that any unexpected recoil would end with Mirror needed a eyepatch.

Once the shotgun was in a good position, Doc nodded at Mirror with a pat on the shoulder. "Good, now don't shoot yet. The minotaur needs to attack first so the mimics target him," he whispers to her.

Doc turns to Lien to whisper, "He's trying to get into your office right now, but having trouble with the door. I think he noticed me though."

[Forum Explorer]

Moonshadow swooped down and rejoined the group. What's up? she asked Stellar.

[Dalinale]

Once the shotgun was in a good position, Doc nodded at Mirror with a pat on the shoulder. "Good, now don't shoot yet. The minotaur needs to attack first so the mimics target him," he whispers to her.

Mirror gave Doc a determined nod in response.

Doc turns to Lien to whisper, "He's trying to get into your office right now, but having trouble with the door. I think he noticed me though."

Lien gave Doc a quick glance with his single watery eye and stared into Doc's own for a few seconds before he shook his head and propped up his weapon a little more.

"I'd question how you know that, but we can talk about things like that after this is over." the stallion grumbled, before his ears perked up at the sound of distant movement.

Indeed, the minotaur was pulling itself from the probably delicate task of opening the door without breaking it and was turning towards the group fully. Doc could see that it wasn't looking away from them; the creature wasn't looking for exits and there was a furious light in it's eyes, and it was moving it's hands like it wanted to take something apart with them. Soon, however, it made a quick fist with it's right hand before pointing straight at Doc, even in the pitch darkness.

With it's left hand, the creature pulled something out from it's jacket; Doc and Doc alone saw a tangle of smoke grenades, perhaps three or four. The look on the creature's face was deadly serious.

"Send the weaklings out and shut the door behind you." the minotaur said, "We should speak in the dark, if they are not involved with you, doctor. Don't make me regret considering you civilized."

Lien sniffed in almost instinctual disapproval; Bullion seemed impassive.

[Encounter theme]

Moonshadow swooped down and rejoined the group. What's up? she asked Stellar.

Stellar was pointing over towards the skyscraper in front of them even as Moonshadow approached. There was a rough gouge on it's side right, perhaps big enough to fly the airbus through if they were being brave, near the middle of the building; it was visible from the ground, but all the damage was only visible from a certain angle in midair. There wasn't any signs of activity or attempts at repair, so might have well truly been abandoned ruins.

"Hey, I'm thinking we should send someone ahead, and you'd rather go on ahead, right? I don't think we need three sets of eyes watching Abbas and his date stop and smell flowers when we'd rather be in a place where we could do something more fun, like getting shot at." Stellar said with a wink, "I mean, normally I'd go on ahead, but you have a Pipbuck and that's about the most useful piece of reconnaissance technology I can think of. Besides, I don't trust this place enough that we all should be going in through the front door, honestly."

[DigoDragon]

Lien gave Doc a quick glance with his single watery eye and stared into Doc's own for a few seconds before he shook his head and propped up his weapon a little more.
"I'd question how you know that, but we can talk about things like that after this is over." the stallion grumbled, before his ears perked up at the sound of distant movement.

Indeed, the minotaur was pulling itself from the probably delicate task of opening the door without breaking it and was turning towards the group fully. Doc could see that it wasn't looking away from them; the creature wasn't looking for exits and there was a furious light in it's eyes, and it was moving it's hands like it wanted to take something apart with them. Soon, however, it made a quick fist with it's right hand before pointing straight at Doc, even in the pitch darkness.

With it's left hand, the creature pulled something out from it's jacket; Doc and Doc alone saw a tangle of smoke grenades, perhaps three or four. The look on the creature's face was deadly serious.
"Send the weaklings out and shut the door behind you." the minotaur said, "We should speak in the dark, if they are not involved with you, doctor. Don't make me regret considering you civilized."

Lien sniffed in almost instinctual disapproval; Bullion seemed impassive.

"He's got smoke grenades," Doc whispered to his group before he addressed the minotaur.

"They are not weak and I will not send them out," Doc states firmly. "You came to their house. You made threats on their lives to coerce me into helping you. And now you think I'm just going to do as you say? As if I trust being alone in a room with you. It seems the weak one here is you, bullying others to do what you want."

[Forum Explorer]

Stellar was pointing over towards the skyscraper in front of them even as Moonshadow approached. There was a rough gouge on it's side right, perhaps big enough to fly the airbus through if they were being brave, near the middle of the building; it was visible from the ground, but all the damage was only visible from a certain angle in midair. There wasn't any signs of activity or attempts at repair, so might have well truly been abandoned ruins.

"Hey, I'm thinking we should send someone ahead, and you'd rather go on ahead, right? I don't think we need three sets of eyes watching Abbas and his date stop and smell flowers when we'd rather be in a place where we could do something more fun, like getting shot at." Stellar said with a wink, "I mean, normally I'd go on ahead, but you have a Pipbuck and that's about the most useful piece of reconnaissance technology I can think of. Besides, I don't trust this place enough that we all should be going in through the front door, honestly."

Sounds like fun to me, Moonshadow said, flashing a quick grin before taking off once again.

Spoiler: OOC

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Do you want some more rolls?

[Dalinale]

"He's got smoke grenades," Doc whispered to his group before he addressed the minotaur.

Lien looked distinctly wary, while Bullion seemed more concerned with readying her weapon. Mirror quickly gave Doc a quick nod and briefly pointed at her glowing horn.

"They are not weak and I will not send them out," Doc states firmly. "You came to their house. You made threats on their lives to coerce me into helping you. And now you think I'm just going to do as you say? As if I trust being alone in a room with you. It seems the weak one here is you, bullying others to do what you want."

The minotaur snorted and shook his head; that seemed to make him angry. Sparks flew when it gave a little irritated kick at the concrete floor.

"You defend a priestess of darkness!" the minotaur boomed, pointing at Doc accusingly with his free hand, "And I assumed a pony who had saved lives of bystanders could be trusted! This is a execution that is long overdue, the rites of hospitality of ludicrous cults has no bearing to the actions of the Legion and neither should it to you."

Sounds like fun to me, Moonshadow said, flashing a quick grin before taking off once again.

Spoiler: OOC

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Do you want some more rolls?

The great gash in the building exposed a ruin of cracked glass and crumbling concrete; to be frank, the exterior of the building wasn't particularly pretty anyhow, with most of the windows in the upper floors shattered and the exterior looking shoddy and weather-beaten even by post-apocalyptic surfacer standards; frankly, the light just made it look more unpleasant to look at, like a semi-dried dead slug baking in the sun. Straight down below, however, was what appeared to be a small fortified area that wasn't clear from the ground; it looked like the entrance that visitors were meant to use was a set of stairs that presumably led into the skyscraper itself. Four ponies surrounded the makeshift entrance; none seemed to be looking up.

[Suggestion a Easy Stealth roll for if she chooses to go through the upper floors, or a Easy Speech roll if she wants to introduce herself to the guards below and get off to the right foot (sneaking through the main entrance would be a Hard Stealth roll).]

[DigoDragon]

The minotaur snorted and shook his head; that seemed to make him angry. Sparks flew when it gave a little irritated kick at the concrete floor.

"You defend a priestess of darkness!" the minotaur boomed, pointing at Doc accusingly with his free hand, "And I assumed a pony who had saved lives of bystanders could be trusted! This is a execution that is long overdue, the rites of hospitality of ludicrous cults has no bearing to the actions of the Legion and neither should it to you."

"Yes, I have saved the lives of bystanders, and after I'm rid of you, I'll have saved several more," Doc countered. "Unless you're planning on killing the priestess by yammering on, because wow you are long-winded."

[Forum Explorer]

Moonshadow headed up for the upper gash.

Spoiler: Roll

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Easy Stealth (1d100)[67] vs 100+