Of Hatchets and Zombies [CLOSED]

As the group entered Stableton’s shopping center, they found the prices today to be fair and reasonable ... Unfortunately, apparently a lot of other ponies noticed this and hit the stores before you, so most of their inventory was cleared out, leaving mostly the stuff nopony wanted to buy.

Guns

.357 Revolver x2 (121)
Varmint Rifle x1 (93)

Energy Weapons

Prism Rifle x2 (880)

Melee Weapons

Shovel x3 (9)
Switch Blade x2 (38)

Unarmed Weapons

Iron Shoe x1 (132)
Bladed Claws x1 (110)

Armor

Armored Stable Barding x3 (143)
Mercenary Outfit x2 (165)

Stable Security Barding x2 (440)*

Medicine & Chems

Weak Health Potion x10 (82)
Medium Health Potion x5 (165)

*Requires Level 5 before use

Crackle examined the wares on display. There wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. There were a few hidden gems. His gaze lingered in the prisim rifle for a moment, but it seemed kind of... delicate. Not exactly his style. he preferred the bulker but more powerful plasma weapons like his pistol. The griffin cast an eye over the bladed claws as well, but decided to pass up on them as well. his knife would do for now. There was some nice armour in there too. That stuff would definatley be a step up from the mercenary outfit he was currently wearing. Unfortunatley, it was almost certainly out of his price range.

unless...

He rummaged through his gear, and placed his Advanced radiation suit and a pair of 9mm pistols on the counter.

"How much can you give me for those?" He asked, hoping it would be enough to allow him to buy the stable security barding. Even though the armour was made for a pony and would take some time to adapt to griffin use, it would be a good investment. Idealy, there would be enough left over for a healing potion too.

Collateral stepped up to the counter, and set his eye on his favorite things. Guns. Among the few things there, he set his eye on a small rifle, a Varmint Rifle. It sucked, but it'd have to do. It wasn't like feral ghouls would be wearing any armor anyway, and their weak, rotten flesh didn't really stand up to even the wimpiest of bullets. He didn't have anything to trade, and it wasn't like anything here was really worth trading for, so he thought he'd just go for that.

"Excuse me sir, can I get that varmint rifle up there?" He took out the necessary pile of caps and set them on the counter.

Jasmine trotted into the the shop, her wide eyes scanning all the items. She kept a straight face despite it appearing that most of the items were picked over. Besides, keeping a positive outlook will be imperative for the mission. Her eyes gazed over to the healing potions, recalling what happened to Rodeo back at Arlingtrot. She glanced over at her team mates momentarily and thought to herself. This time I'm going to protect my team better. Jasmine raised her hoof politely to the shop keep.

"Excuthe me thir! I wath planning on going out on a little excurthion- and couldn't help but notithe your health potionth! I'll take one medium, and one weak health potion pleathe!"

After a brief round of haggling, The shopkeeper begrudgingly forked over 51 caps and a trio of weak healing potions to Crackle. The griffin was dissapointed he couldn't afford the new armour, but at least he had some medical supplies now. He then turned to Collateral, counted the caps with a speed that was astonishing, and passed the rifle over the counter to the colt. Perhaps in a time long-past weapons would not have been sold to one so young, but this was the wasteland. You live here, and you'll be fighting as soon as you're old enough to hold a weapon. Finally, he turned to Jasmine. After a few repetitions, the shopkeeper managed to figure out what she wanted and passed her the desired potions.

Regrouping on the outskirts of town, the rag-tag team set out into the wasteland. The first several hours of their semi-aimless trek were thoroughly uneventful. The sun crept higher and higher into the sky and was shining brightly above the cloud layer before the first interesting event happened. Crackle, soaring lazily above the ground-bound members of the party, caught sight of a quartet of feral ghouls clustered around a bloodied mound, feasting on the fresh kill. He dove down, and alerted the party to the impending danger. From the ground, the ghouls were obsured by a slight rise in the terrain. The group of bounty hunters had the element of suprise, and as a result got to attack first.

[OOC note: anybody unfamiliar with the combat system should review:] http://www.falloutequestria.net/t659-60-system-revised-now-with-more-ap

Combat order:
Crackle => Jasmine => Collateral => Sanctity => Deus

Taking flight once more, Crackle soared up over the small rocky hill and took aim with his plasma pistol. He fired a trio of shots at the undead abominations, hoping for a lucky hit in the head. Although he had never fought Ferals before, he knew that the easiest way to put them down was to destroy the brain. Shooting the body was not as effective due to the undead nature of the ghouls preserving their organs.

(taking flight [4 AP] and firing plasma pistol 3 times [27 AP, energy weapons 59] at the nearest ghoul)

Collateral flew in pursuit of Crackle, and prepared for enemy contact. Luckily for him, he was a pegasus, and didn't need to venture in the range of the enemy, although he would have to help out his land locked comrades at some point. Aiming for the closest targets, he drew his 9mm and fired twice. One at one ghoul, one at another.

(Taking flight [4 AP], drew 9mm [4 AP], fired 9mm twice [20 AP, guns, 52.] Nearest ghouls.)

Sanctity froze for a second as he heard shots ring out above his head. The eyes in the sky had contacts and had opened up. Time to get serious.

He broke left, hunkering close to the ground as he went, trying to move away from the group and closer to where the shots were being fired towards without being spotted (Sneak 50 [AP 5]). Peeking over the ridge, he spotted the ferals feasting on a corpse. He prayed silently that they hadn't spotted him as he drew his silenced .22 from his saddle bags [4 AP] and fired four shots at the closest ghoul, aiming for the head (Guns 62 (Base Guns: 52, +5 for Merc outfit, +5 for Trigger Discipline) [20 AP])

[11 AP Remaining - 1 Dodge]

Deus was following behind the rest of the group, watching, so she didn't actually see the ghouls, but she saw the others start to arm themselves. She quickly slipped into the shadows, right where she belonged, and started trying to flank the undead. Darting from cover to cover, she quietly got to the other side of the ghouls and readied her horn for a Chaos Blast. Do we FINALLY get to kill things???

(Sneaking [?], and casting Arcanic Blast (Chaos) [12 AP])

Jas looked down onto the crowd of ghouls surrounding a kill. She shivered as she watched them feast on their kill, hardly able to believe at one point that red mess was a living creature. Jas withdrew her service rifle as she rounded the small group of feral ghouls. She hoped that she would be able to head off any strays if they decided to make a quick dash.

She took aim with the rifle and fired, trying to aim for the heads of any ghouls she saw. If she hit, that would be one ghoul that wouldn't be able to hurt anypony ever again.

[circles to other side of ghouls 5AP, withdraws service rifle, 5 AP, fires service rifle 6X (30 AP)

[OOC note: because I can't find anything relating to sneaking in terms of AP and combat, I'm going to say that sneaking movement doubles the AP cost, and attacks auto-crit if undetected. Attacking with any weapon that isn't silent or will give away your position (i.e. magic) will reveal your position, making all successive attacks regular attacks. When using silent weapons, there is still a chance of detection.]

Cresting the small rise, the party beheld a trio of wagons scattered amid some rubble. It appeared that Lightnings fears had come true, and the pack had finally taken down a caravan. There were several dead ghouls and half-eaten corpses strewn about. Crackle and Collateral initiated combat with a volley of lead and plasma. The head of the ghoul they were targeting practically disintegrated, dropping the creature where it stood. Sanctity was the next to engage, firing through the dry twigs of a long-dead shrub. His pistol coughed out a quartet of shots. The first missed, but the other three added some nice ventilation to the second Ferals skull. Deus, however, was not so lucky. The magical attack she spat from her horn struck a glancing blow across another zombies flank, and the creature immediatley shifted Its focus to her. Spotting her among the debris, it charged the one-eyed unicorn. Simultaneously, Jasmine Beat opened up with her service rifle. Five of the shots she fired struck home in the ghouls body, the final one hitting something vital and finally shutting down the undead pony.

Right as Jasmines final shot rang out, a clattering and shifting could be heard from the wagons. Seven more ghouls poured out of the rubble, drawn by the sounds of combat.


COMBAT SUMMARY: 3 dead ghouls, 7 new arrivals. No injuries to the party.


[OOC note #2: when declaring an action, please include all relevant information at the end of your post, and please include any relevant skill levels. Do not break down your skill into base + bonuses, just use the total. See Crackle's post for an example]

Deus let loose the wild cacophony of light that had been gathering around her horn, letting it loose on the wasteland. Dozens of thin arcs and beams of energy crackled through the air, most of them leaving only harmless scorch marks or dissipating in the air, and only one ghoul took any noticeable damage, when several beams managed to overlap on its body.

She looks like a jagged rainbow in the bright flash before the energy dies down again, and she's smiling wide. As soon as the light fades, stands tall and shouts at the ghouls "Alright ya little rot-sponges, time to FUCK OFF!!" She gets out her knife and charges them.

A satisfied grin appeared on Sanctity's face as the ghoul he'd been aiming at's head exploded in a shower of rotting gore, before he clamped down on it. These were ponies. Crazed, rotting, zombie ponies that were after his flesh, but ponies none the less. He should not be enjoying this.

Seeing the new arrivals, Sancity's eyes widned for the briefest of moments, before narrowing and looking down the sights of his handgun, as he fired as many shots as he could at the approaching horde (Firing 6 shots, Guns 62, 30 AP)

[11 AP Remaining, 1 Dodge]

Jasmine watched in horror as more feral ghouls seemed to spring out of the downed caravan. Jas turned to Crackle and shouted as she struggled to react to the new enemies. "CRACKLE WE HAVE MORE GHOULTH! I'll try to dithtract them, try to make thure that they don't overwhelm our ground thupport!"

Jasmine dived lower to the ground, hovering about fifteen feet about the ground hoping to attract the attention of any feral zombies. She trailed off slowly in one direction hoping to herd them to become easy targets for the others. As she flew she fired off a few shots across any heads she could manage to aim for.

[Lowers altitude and tries luring the Ghouls 10 AP. Fires six shots with service rifle (30 AP) Guns: 45.]

Crackle saw the ghouls at the same time as Jasmine. After an initial flyby, he slowed to a hover. Maintaining his altitude, the griffin took stock of the situation. Of the seven ghouls who emerged, five veered to follow Jasmine, drawn by her yell. However, after a few futile jumps, one of the creatures that was not quite as dim-witted as the rest realized that it could't reach her and turned back to the ground-bound party members. Crackle took aim at it, and squeezed the trigger on his plasma pistol 3 times.

(firing plasma pistol 3 times [27 AP, energy weapons 59] at the ghoul turning away from Jasmine)

The young pegasus didn't even flinch as the the ghoul's head he had been aiming for became nothing more than a sickly red mist. He watched as the seven additional zombies arose from the caravan.
This is getting interesting.
Collateral maintained his position and saw Crackle go for the ghouls near Jasmine, so he targeted the ferals charging Deus. He turned his view to the endangered white unicorn and took aim with his pistol again. His gun spat out several 9x19mm rounds at the ghouls after her.

(Shot 9mm three times [30 AP], Guns 52, at the two ghouls closest to Deus.)

Having lost the element of surprise, the second attacks by the party were not nearly as effective. Deus charged the ghouls, knife glinting as the light struck it. However, the blade was quite ineffective in actually killing the creatures. She managed to wound the survivor from the original group, slashing through a muscle in its foreleg, but did no severe damage to the one that emerged from the rubble and wagons to challenge her. If it were not for Jasmine luring away more than half of the new arrivals, the white unicorn would have probably been overrun. Fortunately, Collateral managed to put a bullet through the skull of the crippled one, leaving her to deal with just one immediate threat. However, because Deus was in his line of fire, he missed the second one entirely. It ignored Deus' blade and dove at the mare, tackling her and sending the pair of them tumbling. The ghoul wound up atop her, and it lunged for the unicorns exposed throat. It was more by luck than anything, but Deus managed to get a foreleg between the ferals gnashing, decayed teeth and her neck. The undead pony bit into that instead, blood spurting from the wound.

Sanctity, still hiding in the long-dead bush, also managed to pick off one of the charging zombies. However, the second one spotted him and altered course, galloping at the no-longer-hidden pony. Sanctity rolled to the side as the ghoul leaped at where he had just been, crushing the dry twigs he had been hiding behind[Dodge success]. Crackle and Jasmine were also successful in dispatching their targets. The superheated plasma that Crackles pistol spat out impacted on the back and neck of the ghoul below him. It was not the headshot he had been hoping for, but the plasma burned and melted through the dead flesh over the zombies spine and into the vital nerves inside. The Feral fell on its side and twitched a few times, then lay still. Before it had hit the ground, a pair of ghouls already were sprawled on the dirt below Jasmine.

In the silence after her last shot, Jasmine heard a clattering to her side. Turning, she saw a ghoul standing on the roof of a nearby wagon. Their eyes met, and the yellow pegasus found herself staring into the face of death. The ghouls eyes were cold, but not lifeless as one would expect. Instead, Jasmine found a burning, all-consuming hunger in the undead ponies eyes. She found herself momentarily frozen, locked in place by the ferals gaze. The spell was broken as the zombie charged, galloping down the wagon like a runway. It leaped once it hit the end, and soared almost gracefully through the air, skeletal wings unfurling on its back. Time seemed to slow for Jasmine as the ravenous pegasus drew near. She tried to dodge, banking to the side. The ghoul kept coming. Closer... Closer... Its mouth opened, the gaping maw seeming to fill her vision. Jasmine knew she was turning too slowly. The undead pegasus' jaws kept coming, nearing her throat and the tender flesh it would yield. Jasmine banked as hard as she could, spinning in the air with the rotted teeth only inches away. Seconds were measured in eternities as the zombie's jaw scraped along the neck of the sun-toned pegasus. Somehow, they did not penetrate, passing a hairsbreadth from spilling Jasmines lifeblood across the wasteland.

Time sped up again as the ghoul latched on to Jasmine's wing instead. Its teeth sank into the muscle at the base of her wing, right above the shoulder joint. The sun-toned mare screamed as she felt teeth grinding against her bone, shredding the tender muscle[CRIT]. Blood poured from around the zombies teeth, staining Jasmine's coat crimson as the pair of pegasi crashed into the ground. The impact knocked the ghoul off, sending it tumbling in the opposite direction. Even though the fall did more damage to Jasmine than the ghoul, It probably saved her life. Had the undead pegasus not been sent bouncing along the wasteland dirt, it would likely be tearing out her throat right now. Unfortunately, it wouldn't matter unless she got some help quickly.

Jasmine lay sprawled across the dirt, stunned and unmoving with her wing bent at an unnatural angle and blood flowing freely from the savage tear. To make matters worse, the two surviving ghouls she had been luring away were bearing down on the grounded pegasus, galloping out of the rubble. It is a matter of seconds before they are upon her, and she is in no state to defend herself. Fortunately, Some of her companions have reflexes fast enough to react to the new threat and attempt to save her from a grisly fate.

[anyone with 8 AJI or above may make an attempt to shoot the ghouls charging Jasmine. If you do so, use only 1/2 of your normal AP total, rounded down. Next round, you will be limited to the other half. If you choose not to help, post and say so. You will take your next turn normally]

COMBAT SUMMARY:
Kills:
-Ghoul closest to Deus
-One of the new ghouls charging the party
-3 of the ghouls being lured away by Jasmine

New Arrivals:
-1 pegasus ghoul

Surviving Enemies:
-2 ghouls near Jasmine
-1 ghoul pinning Deus
-1 ghoul attacking Sanctity
-1 pegasus ghoul near Jasmine

Party Injuries & status changes:
-Sanctity is no longer hidden
-Deus was attacked by a ghoul, taking 37 damage, and is currently pinned under it
-Jasmine was attacked by a pegasus ghoul and crashed, taking 108 damage total between the ghoul and the crash. She is now stunned, and unable to act next turn. Her wing is also crippled, and she is bleeding out. Unless the bleeding is stopped, she will take damage every turn and lose consciousness.

[OOC note #4: I'm abandoning the readiness rolls because they will slow down the thread. Post whenever you are able.]

Searing hot pain caused her vision to go white. Jas had grown accustomed to crashing growing up in the stable from her clumbsy streak. She found herself flinching in response to the throbbing, almost instinctively she tried scooting away from the pain as if a needle was poking. However as the pain was a part of her, her struggles were not only ineffective but maid the pain worse. Never had she experienced such agony before. The dust was abrasive against her coat as she groaned and stirred in the dirt. She clenched her eyes shut as she tried to process what happened, all the while her throat choked up as tears soaked her cheeks. Not my wing was all she could find her self trying to say, as fear of both the ghouls mixed with the possability of never being able to fly again ran through her head.

She looked to see the undead pegasus a short distance away along with a few more ghouls approaching her. Her body trembled as her eyes widened in fear. Jasmine only managed to weakly scream for the moment, to weak to efficiently raise her head from the crash.

Sanctity snarled at the ghoul, almost as ferally as it had when attacking him. Nopony tried to hit him and lived. He circled around the pony, keeping his handgun leveled at it as it turned around to look at him again with it's white, crazed eyes.

"Come on, I ain't got all day" He muttered quietly as he waited for the ghoul to close in.

[Skipping half turn]

Collateral snapped his attention to the direction of the scream almost instantly. Jasmine was down, and in immediate danger. She needed help. Now. Sanctity had his hooves full, Deus was pinned and Crackle was too far away. It was up to him now. The pegasus whipped around and fired a single shot from his 9mm at the leading ghoul charging at Jasmine. It was a one-in-a-million shot, but Collateral was acting on pure instinct, there was no time to think.

[Half tun, half AP, fired one shot, [10 AP, Guns, 52, Luck, 3] at the leading ghoul charging Jasmine]

The universe seemed to hold it's breath as Collateral's pistol swung around. The lead slug in the chamber held the fate of Jasmine in its metaphorical hands. Collateral squeezed the trigger, and once again time ground to a halt. The hammer fell excruciatingly slowly before contacting with a click, and then... Nothing. The universe sighed. Collateral had just enough time to took cross-eyed in confusion at the pistol in his mouth before the slide and barrel fell of with an almost comical 'clack-thunk'[BOTCH]. Jasmine could merely look on in terror at her impending doom. She braced for the rending fangs, but they never came…

A mysterious cloaked figure skulked through the debris strewn across the roadway, unseen by pony, griffin, and ghoul alike. It froze when Jasmine's anguished scream rent the air, and then rose to It's considerable full height, standing significantly taller than any pony or griffin ever could. Launching into a loping, bipedal gait, the shrouded figure covered the intervening distance between It and the downed mare at a considerable pace. An animalistic growl emanated from beneath the concealing hood pulled low over the entities face.

A pair of hatchets appeared from within the cloak, each clutched in a three-fingered, bandage-wrapped hand. Striding up a pile of rubble, the Cloaked Figure leapt into the air, cloak billowing behind him. The mysterious being landed and tucked into a roll, conserving It's momentum. It was a race against time as the ghouls closed on the wounded mare, and it looked like the unknown entity was losing. The figure noticed this however, and swept the hatchets across each other, creating a shower of sparks. It snarled at the ghouls, and they, seeing a new challenger, diverted course from the downed pegasus. The ghouls raced side-by side towards the towering figure, and It maintained the steady ground-eating pace it has set earlier. As the ghouls drew within a few feet of the shrouded entity, It dropped to It's knees and slid along the ground, Hatchets flashing as they lashed out to either side.

The Cloaked Figure was back on It's feet and running towards the dying pegasus before the bodies of the ghouls had hit the ground, their heads landing a few feet away. Sliding to a halt beside Jasmine, the figure paused and dropped to one knee, quickly looking her over. Finally, the creature spoke.

"This is going to hurt, young one..." The voice that emanated from beneath the hood was deep, rough, and yet somehow melodious. "...But it must be done." For some strange reason, Jasmine found the voice oddly reassuring. Standing once more, the figure removed It's cloak, revealing a tall, furry form. The creature stood on two triple-jointed legs capped with sturdy paws, much like those on a griffin. A tail dangled between its legs, also akin to that of a griffin. However, that was where the similarities ended. The creature stood several feet taller than any pony, and was covered in shaggy brown fur. Upon closer inspection, numerous scars and bald patches could be seen through its coat. A pair of bandaged-wrapped arms ending in three-fingered paws were attached to the upper portion of the things torso. However, the entity was still wearing a jacket of some sort with a hood pulled up over Its face. The garmet was sleeveless, but very long, ending more than halfway down the creatures legs. The heavy-looking black coat was open on the front, revealing a torso crossed with even more dirty, tattered bandages and a small dark blue amulet hanging on the middle of the creatures upper torso, just below the level of its shoulders. The coat had a slit in the back that the beings tail protruded from, and a pair of pointed triangular ears poked out from slits in the hood, one of which was quite tattered. Although the hood concealed specific features, a dog-like muzzle protruded out of the shadows.

Rapidly folding the cloak into a long strip and kneeling again, the creature placed one paw on Jasmines side, right below the wounded wing. The pegasus whimpered. Grasping her wing near the joint midway along it, he wrenched on the appendage. Jasmine shrieked again, and her wing made a sickening "POP' as it snapped back into the socket. Remaining silent, the hooded figure proceeded to wrap the torn flesh with his cloak, using it as an improvised bandage as the mare wept.

Deus had been grinning ear to ear the whole time she was charging, showing her teeth almost as disgusting as those of the ghouls, even until one of them had bit into her arm. She struggled there with it for a moment shouting taunts at the top of her lungs and laughing maniacally a few times, then stopped, her expression becoming blank again. She stares at the ghoul, then her horn explodes with energy three times in what seems like an instant, bombarding it with pure magical chaos.

(Arcanic Blast: Chaos [12 AP] X 3 [60 magic])

The ghoul eventually came at him a second time, it's rotten maw opened wide as it tried to take a chunk out of him. He stared it down, not even attempting to dodge as he kept the pistol level and fired three shots at it's head as it advanced (Guns 62, 15 AP), a little smirk appearing on his face as it kept coming. He didn't know if it was still alive or if it's body hadn't gotten the message it was dead yet. Didn't matter either way to him as he swung at the charging pony with his pistol, trying to bash it's brains out without wasting any more bullets. (Melee 23, 4 AP)

The immediate threat dealt with, he retreated back into the brush. He started to calm his breathing, concentrating on his heartbeat as he reloaded the .22 (4AP).

Thump. Whoosh. Thump. Woosh. thump. woosh

He looked around for a moment, as the adrenaline began to wear off, noting that the others were fighting too, with some of the attackers sun bleached bodies blending so seemlessy into the background of dust and mud that they were almost camoflauged.

thump. woosh. thump. woosh. thump. woosh.

He could sort that out.

thump. woosh. thump. woosh.

His horn began to glow, as did his chest as he concentrated on his heartbeat fully, his eyes closing tightly as he strained to expand the magical field as far as he could. (Casting Detection: Heartbeats, Magic 40, 15 AP)

When Jasmines scream rent the air, rising above the gunshots, Crackle was facing the other direction. By the time he had spun around, the ghoul was already digging it's teeth into the sun-tinted pegasus, tearing muscle down to the bone. Collateral had already pulled the trigger on his gun before Crackle even realized what was going on. He sighted in on the pair of ghouls ,hoping against hope that he could save the pegasus from becoming lunch. Before he could fire and either resuce or avenge Jasmine, a towering bipedal figure decapitated both of them. The griffin almost took the shot anyway as the cloaked figure came to a halt above the downed pegasus, but hesitated as the creature began to bandage her.

Swooping down, the griffin landed in front of what was now revealed to be a heavily bandaged Daimond Dog. Keeping his pistol at the ready, Crackle took a moment to assess the new arrival. It was clearly a diamond dog, although it's body was porportioned differently than any other dog the griffin had ever seen. It had sorter and more limber arms, and much longer legs than normal. The creature did not appear to be as strong as its conventional conterparts, but was certainly more agile, and most likely faster and more dextrous too. In addition, Crackle had never seen a diamond dog with a muzzle as large or prominent as the one protruding from the creatures hood.

"You saver her life, so I'm not going to shoot you right away." The griffin kept his weapon pointed in the things general direction as he spoke."But once these ghouls are dead, You and I are going to have a talk." With that, he swiveled and opened fire at the ghoul menacing Sanctity at the same time as the unicorn.

[landng (5AP) and firing plasma pistol 3 times at the ghoul by Sanc (27 AP, Energy weapons 59)]