The Drought of Stableton

Earlier...

Mayor Silver Hoof:

“Ah...good, you’re here. You see...we have a problem. A big one. The Wellworks have been sabotaged - somepony broke into the purification chamber and stole the access panel for the talisman that powers the system. We only have the one talisman and the one access panel, and the technology is too complicated for a go-around system. Simply put...we’re running out of drinking water. Fast. Now, it turns out that the bastards are holding it for ransom, but we can’t pay their price. If we can’t pay, we don’t get the port back. If we don’t get the port back, we run out of water. If we run out of water...we die. We need your help. We’re forming a posse in the town center, out by the large fountain. We need you to replace the missing part, either by taking back the original from the thieves, or by some miracle of Luna, find a new one. Will you help us?"

Mayor Silver Hoof:

"Excellent! Like I said, meet up with the leader of our little effort down by the fountain. When you exit my office, just turn and take the street down the left. Fountain's right there, you can't miss it. Make sure you have all your things before you go, time is of the essence, and the posse isn't going to wait."

-----

(To clarify: Get to the Fountain with your things. We'll take it from there.)

Whisper arrives at the fountain, hoping not to see many others, as she only came to help, not make friends. she walks around a bit, getting bored of waiting, she also begins softly humming a luliby that her parents sung to her as a filly. She wonders who she will meet, what she will see, and if she will need to kill anypony, she is hoping that she wont, as she does not think she can go through with it, she thinks of this while waiting impaitently,

Ember walked throw the town towards the fountain he had been told to go to, he was nervous, he didn't know anypony there and didn't want to get himself into any trouble... And so by the same thought process he avoidedbuying anything, just kept his eyes forward. Ember was visibly shaking, he was terrified somepony was going to jump out and attack him at any moment, but then he saw the fountain, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Ember approched the fountain, and saw another pony waiting there too. As he got closer Ember noticed that she was humming something, and so he stood the a while before he built up the courage to interrupt her. "Uhm... Hi... Sorry... I don't m-mean to interrupt you... But... erm... Are... Are you h-helping the mayor with the water p-problem too? Oh... I'm Ember Hooves." Ember then let his fear get the better of him and backed off a bit "Erm... Sorry... I... I shouldn't h-have interrupted you... I'm sorry."

Just before Whisper's and Ember's arrival

"...you think anyone'll show up, Sketch?" inquired Pendant. She stood with her front hooves on the edge of the fountain, looking at the ever-dwindling water level in the community "well". It was slightly murky, as the purification chip, missing, couldn't do its work. She messed with the pendant around her neck, her namesake, as she looked at her reflection. The necklace was a tiny thing, a small red gem encircled by gold (she didn't know if it was real, to be honest).

She stood down from the edge and looked over to her companion, Sketch. She raised her voice just a tad, wondering if he couldn't hear her.

"...hey."

She got a mumbled reply from the stallion.

"What?"

"Ah said ah dunno." he replied, much clearer this time. "Folks 'round here are...well, not that type. The ahdventurin' type, ah mean."

"Of course...right." she said, looking behind her at the empty street behind her.

"...don't worry, someone'll show up." she heard Sketch say.

-----

Presently

Pendant's ear flicked as she heard somepony start talking, in a nervous, stuttering voice. Something about the well. Hey...a volunteer!

She trotted around to the other side of the fountain, looking for the source of the voice. A tad surprised, she got two for one.

"You two volunteers?" she asked quickly. Her voice was not gentle, or warm. It was down-to-earth and serious, but fairly polite.

Just before Whisper's and Ember's arrival

"...hey."

"Ah dunno." mumbled Sketch from where he was resting, his cap pushed down over his face to protect it from the sun while he was relaxing. He reclined against the fountain, hooves crossed, waiting patiently for the supposed volunteers to show up. He wasn't sure if there would be any - some had promised, he heard.

"What?"

"Ah said ah dunno." he said a bit louder, pushing the lip of his cap up over his face. He glanced at the mare curiously. This was her as usual...anxious to get down to business. It was a breath of fresh air from his own way of going about things...he preferred to ramble along as he pleased, not caring all that much about things otherwise. Not to say he was lazy or procrastinating, but he knew when to slow down.

"Of course...right."

"Don't worry. Someone'll show up." he said casually, nudging his cap back down over his face as he rested. It was a nice day in Stableton. Perfect for a nap.

-----

Presently

Pendant trotted past him at the sound of the strange voice. He slowly got up, dusted himself off, and followed the mare. He looked disinterestedly at the two others. That one seemed awfully nervous...

Whisper looks at the two nervously "Oh, I am one of the volunteers, I am here to help in any way I can" she begins looking around to get a good idea of her surroundings if their happened to be any raiders or other hostiles. After taking a couple seconds of looking around she notices a third, one who seemed to already be at the fountain. She looks towards him, and prepairs as if he were a raider, but thinks that if he were already there that he would have attacked.

Whisper says nervously "Oh, hi, my name is Whisper Chime, but you can call me Whisper or Whispy, or Chime, or anything you want." Whisper sticks out a hoof and accidentaly is still softly humming

Ember was about to respond to Whisper when he was startled by somepony asking if they were volunteers, the sudden seriousness in her voice cause him to jump in shock as he turned, and promptly end up on the floor... Ember scrambled back onto his hooves and sheepishly looked in the direction the voice had come from.

"Erm... Y-yes... Is.. Is that ok? Do you still need help? If not then I can g-go... Sorry if I wasted your t-time." Ember looked nervously at the other two ponies, hoping he hadn't annoyed them... Ember then remembered that Whisper had said something to him, and looked back to see she had held out her hoof. He hesitantly shook it before responding. "S-sorry for ignoring you..." He stepped back a little bit with a worried look on his face "I... I hope I didn't offend you... Because I didn't mean to! I'm s-sorry, i'll make it up to you I p-promise!"

Rad Boom had got back into the air as soon as the mayor had told him where to go. "Fountain... I saw that on the way in!" He flew to the fountain in time to see a mare asking about volunteers, and so he assumed that was who he needed to speak to. She seemed to have spoken to another two ponies, one of which seemd terrified of everything around him, there was also another pony next to her, who didn't seem to be speaking much.

Rad Boom flew over and dropped to the ground infront of Pendant. "Rad Boom at your service!!" He gave a mock salute as he spoke. "Qualified solver of problems and kicker of butts. I heard ya had some kind of trouble with some thieves, so i'm here to help!"

Pendant gave the first to to arrive an odd look, a mixture of confusion and annoyance at the pair of nervous ponies. The first seemed awfully jumpy and the other was just plain...wussy. Tripping and apologizing and stuttering...she placed bets that, if they ran into much trouble, this one was going to get hurt. Bad. She shook the offered hoof.

"Yes, this is where you're supposed to be, and yes, we still need able hooves. You, the flame-headed one, quit stuttering. Suck it up, puff out your chest, I want to see some CONFIDENCE." she said sternly, narrowing her eyes just enough to come off as serious.

"And you," she said, turning her head to look at the pegasus whom had just arrived, "is that confidence, or bravado? Confidence I can use. Bravado gets you killed."

Heartbeat nodded to the mayor.
"To the fountain then."
He trotted out of the mayor's office, glancing over his shoulder before languidly taking to the air.
"I wonder if she gave that same speech to everyone... Did she rehearse all that?"

He hovered to a stop before dropping to the ground just moments after Rad Boom, in time to catch his introduction. He quirked an eyebrow and tiled an ear back.
"Well, someone's...eager?"
He nodded towards Pendant.
"I suppose your the one in charge of this walking hospital visit. Name's Heartbeat. Medic, demolitions expert."

Rad gave Pendant a rather blank look, then smirked. "Confidence of course! Now, If I may say so, I think you need to lighten up a lil bit, I know theres a drought an all, but we can still enjoy ourselves right?" Rad then leaned in close to Pendant and spoke quietly "And jus between you an me, I think your scarin the firepony over there"

Rad then heard something land behind him and spun around to see another pony. "Medic AND Demo expert? So what? Ya blow em up then put em back together? Or do ya put em back together an leave a lil suprise in em for there friends? Heheheh!"

Rad jumped up and hovered a few feet from the ground, "Either way it's nice to meet ya doc Heartbeat, and the rest of ya too!" He then drifted over and dropped himself inbetween Ember and Whisper, putting a foreleg around each of their shoulders. "But I don't believe I've properly met you two yet, names Rad Boom, case ya didn't hear over there, who might you two be? I like to know who i'm workin with."

Heartbeat dropped his other ear at Rad Boom's joke, then both ears shot up and he began rummaging through his saddlebags, cursing under his breath.
"Pony-Goddess damned-feathers," he grumbled, his scowl deepening, "I must have dropped my last pack somewhere... If I dont find a new one this is gonna be a LOOOONG trip."
He eyed Rad in irritation. Even WITH cigarettes this might be a long trip.
"Hey kid, leave those two be would ya? Their nervous enough as is without bein pestered by a hyperactive little buck barely into his cuteymark."
He turned from the scene disinterestedly and caught sight of a pony with a cap that everyone seemed to be ignoring. Already in a foul mood thanks to losing his precious smokes, he simply gave a curt nod.

...and now he and Pendant had all these eager volunteers on their hooves. Fantastic. He didn't say much, just smiled...and nodded...and tried to ignore how green this last one was.

"...sure, sure...don't think your no expert, though." he chuckled. He cleared his throat, and tapped Pendant on the shoulder politely.

"Penny ah don't believe we've been kind enough as to introduce ourselves to these fine folk..."

He looked at the four.

"Name's Sketch. Welcome to Stableton."

(Que Doc Mitchell )

A purple pegasi was trying to find her way to the fountain. Her last pair of glasses broken when she triped over a rock trying to hurry over, and she needed a new pair for the posible adventur ahead. Scrap Box had her wings stuck out a bit from her body to make sure as not to bump into anypony. "Can any pony help me? I was to go to the fountain but I cracked my glasses." She was walking about twenty or so feet from the fountain, heading the wrong way.

Pendant refused to loosen up, even at Rad's persistence. She gave the lot a "Do I look like I give a fuck" look, and narrowed her eyes a bit. At Sketch's introduction, she too gave her name.

"Pendant Charm. A pleasure to meet you all. Now. Can it for a moment, will you. I need to fill you in here."

"First up is, as you would guess, Stableton ain't going to just let you do this for free. No sir. There's a reward offered for all of this, provided you come back with the chip...or a chip, as long as it works. Two-hundred and fifty caps, plus anything you pick up that's useful along the way. It's yours. Sorry, two-hundred fifty caps EACH. Town couldn't pay much more out of hoof for your services."

"Now...make sure you have everything. I'm not going to turn anyone down on this...expedition...but I'm not going to come back for your one-of-a-kind Prism Rifle or fancy .45 or some such, okay? Once you've got everything, come back here. There's a store just over there, sells some things you lot could buy."

She nodded her head towards a shop on the other side of the fountain.

"Or you could just stay here and wait for the others to catch up."

Sketch didn't say much, preferring to let Pendant handle the briefing on their little trip. He spent the few moments looking around, admiring the townscape...watching the clouds...mulling about.

He did however notice the purple mare walking around, talking about having had lost her glasses or something to that effect. He excused himself and went over to her, tapping her on the shoulder and stopping her.

"Heard something about needing glasses, miss. Here - these should do for now. Found 'em off a trader a while back, was practically giving the eyewear away. Here, take 'em."

He passed the spectacles to her. He was planning on selling these for a profit but...perhaps it would be better for him, and for her, that he just let her have them. She seemed to need them more than he needed caps, that was for sure.

"So. You're one of the volunteers, ah'd assume?

Heartbeat trotted over to the weapon stall, walking up to the counter and looking the shopkeep dead in the eye.
"I need a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a bottle of whiskey, medical supplies and grenades. As much as I can get for three hundred caps."
He turned and looked around the store for a moment.
"Oh," he added, looking back over his shoulder, "And dynamite if you have any. If not just gunpowder, fuses and some empty bottles will do just fine."


(EDIT: Weapon Stall, Barter skill of 25)

Sliding the caps over the counter, Featherfall plucked the glasses he'd recently purchased. Thirteen caps; I can usually do better than that on a trade... The gryphon shrugged as he left, perching the glasses on his beak as he glanced about. Ah, well. The caps from this gig oughta make 'em back easy.

Feather made his way over to the previously-mentioned fountain, unsurprised to find a number of ponies already there. "This is for that job down in the Valley, right?"

Scrap Box smiled warmly at the nice buck, taking the new glasses and putting them on. They were close enough to the right persception that they would work.

"Thank you so much, I will gladly pay you for them later. Oh, and yes, I'm one of the volunteers. My name is Scrap Box, and I'm just a plain old scavenger pony, nice to meet you."

She pulled out a clipboard with paper and a pencil from her sadle bag and scrippled something down. "Your name was Sketch, correct?"

A little late to the party, but arriving in time to comfirm that she was in the right place, a brown unicorn trotted up to the fountain, a small smile on her face. "Sorry ah'm late, everypony. This here's t' thingy bout the water problem, right? If so, ah wanna help ya'll out. Oh, hey Ember! Fancy seein' you here, you helpin' too?" Cuppa asked with a smile before she paused, looking at the rest of the group.

"So ya'll know, ma name's Cuppa Beans, pleasure t' meet ya'll." As Cuppa spoke, she gave a polite bow to the entire group. "Ah'm as set as ah can be fer this, gots me some bandages and such." She didn't catch onto the fact that there was already a medical pony on the team, mainly because he'd trotted off to the shop that Pendant had nodded towards. "Who's everypony else then? Ah didn't catch any names when ah got here."

They were going to have a small army by the time she stopped getting volunteers. Pendant swore on it. She began to take note of who came up to her. She'd have to look after this bunch...it was going to be a long week.

"Alright, listen up. Listen! Good. I've got your attention. Now, I'm going to need, one at a time mind you, to say your name so I can get a good head count and keep track of you, mmk?"

She nudged them back a bit.

"Step forward, state your name, and move to the side. Do this and we'll be organized and running before the hour's out."

Feather took the opportunity to step forward early. "Name's Featherfall," he stated with a small flourish. He made his way to the side with a small smirk. This job is gonna be easy. Shoot some guns, scare off a couple of thieves, grab some salvo along the way, and I can move along from this town easy.

Simply nodding at Pendant's intructions, Cuppa was the first to step forwards, smiling slightly, seeming slightly proud of herself as she went first for making an example of what to do. Before she could though, Griffin cut hr off by talking first, but a moment after he shared his name, Featherfall, Cuppa spoke up. "Mah name's Cuppa Beans. Call me what ya'll like so long as ah know yer talkin t' me." Finishing her statement, Cuppa gave another polite bow and stood to the side, still seeming proud for some reason.

(Omigosh, a level up :D)

Sketch gave Scrap Box a quick smile as the mare thanked him for his generosity.

"That it is. Was born 'Rough' Sketch but ah changed it a few turns back. And miss Box, 's been a pleasure. No need to pay me for the glasses. Quality notebook you've got there, by the by."

He took his place again, next to Pendant, as the mare attempted to organize the rest of the volunteers, keeping that loose attitude of his.

Ember had slowly pulled himself out from under the hoof of Rad, other ponies had turned up now, and a Griffon who, at the sight of, Ember was immiediately intimidated. Ember nervously stepped forwards. "I... I'm E-Ember Hooves." He then turned and walked over to Cuppa "Hi Cuppa... I g-guess you want to help out too? Though... I don't th-think Pendant likes me very much... M-maybe I should go."