Slaving Away (Group A) [Closed] [Finished]

Marcus stepped away from the approaching flames and made his way after Viktor, deciding that he was not interested in staying in a burning building longer than necessary. As he passed the others, he said, "We must leave quickly, wasafiri! The fire speads without control!"

They seemed to be gathered around a door, though he wasn't too interested in the why. What mattered to him was leaving that buiding as quickly as possible.

Ale was on the verge of facehoofing, "Seriously their going to argue, i'm trying to help for celestia's sake." Ale shook the thoughts out of his head and addressed the slaves. "We're going to try and get as many of you to safety, this tunnel will get away without..." the buck was interrupted when a shot rang out and a crimson flower of blood exploded from the shoulder of one of the slave mares. "WITHOUT THAT HAPPENING!" ale yelled as he used his magic to simultaneously draw his rifle and push the wounded mare out of the line of fire. "everypony in the hole!" he commanded as he scanned the building, looking for the pony who fired the shot. He spotted the silhouette of a pony on the roof and the glint of a scope. "oh luna fill your urethra with moon rocks." ale hissed as he took a defensive stance between the shooter and the slaves, aiming his own scoped rifle at the attacker.

(Guns-60: fire one shot at slaver on roof with hunting rifle -16 AP. Leaving 20 AP to dodge, preferably into the tunnel once the slave are out of the line of fire.)

Mek took the helmet off of Grace. It was heavy and well made, revealing the almost peaceful face of the minotaur beneath. It seemed to fit him with ease, and even better, seemed to have a bit of padding within to absorb any fierce blows from rattling the wearer’s head. Only problem was the large, circular hole in each side.

Viktor removed the minotaur’s head swiftly, an ooze of blood spreading out upon the ground. His efforts to cauterise the neck were mixed, heating the blade for only a few moments as the flames continued to consume the building, meant that the neck was perhaps singed, rather than cauterised.

Sanctity set off in the direction of the barracks. Presumably, if there were medical supplies to be found, that was the next best location, and going upstairs in an active conflagration didn’t seem like a good idea. He slipped past the mustard buck and those dealing with him, then pushed open a door, but he was not prepared for what he saw. There were five ponies cowering at the far end of the room, including a terrified filly clenching her eyes shut and huddling against one of the others. They all seemed clean and well kept, though unarmoured.

“Don’t shoot!” one of them squeaked. “We’re unarmed; we just work here!”




Mek made his way over and lunged towards the Mustard buck. (Mek unarmed: 26+27 = 53, 5+27 = 32 – botch!) The buck swung his shotgun out of the way, then jinked backwards. “No, no, no! Get away, back off!”

After chugging a potion and receiving some healing mojo from Sanura, Xeshir was starting to feel considerably less like she was about to fall in half. When yelled at the buck, (Xeshir speech: 50+32 = 82) he gave a nervous whinny back and lowered his gun slightly. “And how do I know you won’t just try and kill me?”




Outside with the slaves, They were beginning to make their way towards the hole, until suddenly a shot rang out and one of them went down with a startled shriek and a spray of blood. Immediately, a wave of panic spread through the fleeing slaves, (Ginger charisma: 31+30 = 61) and despite Ginger’s efforts to direct them to safety, they scattered. Just as Marcus made it to the door to offer his assistance, he watched as the slaves began running in every direction. Perhaps by chance, some even dove into the tunnel, but many more only ran farther from it.

He fired off a quick shot, (Ginger guns: 43+30 = 73) and the slaver on the roof ducked away out of sight. It didn’t look to Ginger like a kill shot, but his target didn’t raise his head again.

Loot:
1 Metal Helmet (with holes in the sides)

Xeshir: 195/214

Sanctity looked over the group, his gun still levelled before him. He froze for a moment, his mind slowly ticking over as he contemplated it. They couldn't keep letting these slavers get away with what they'd done. They might have families, but everyone had families, everyone had loved ones, people who depended on them. Why did realising they were ponies exempt them from retribution? He'd seen, he knew what these ponies did, even if only indirectly. He'd let ponies die at the hands of slavers before, he needed to make up for that. The safety of his rifle clicked off.

He looked at them. He looked at their cowering, shivering, terrified forms. He felt something twinge inside him, something very familiar. His eyes widened and he recoiled from where his thoughts were going. He clicked the safety back on and nodded at them silently as he lowered the gun.

"Fine. Stay close to me, I won't hurt you." he peeked open the door and looked out. The others were still confronting the mustard buck that they were here to save. If he brought them out there now, the buck might panic. Damn. He looked back at them and sighed. Best he probably explain the situation.

"Right, here's the deal. Place is burning down, your boss put the torch to it when we came in. Were getting out, but you've got to listen to me if you want'ah stay safe."

Once again, somepony had eluded his grasp. He didn't know what was with him today, but when he made it back to his shack, he was going to take a nice, long radiation bath. Maybe he'd even take the time to clean the dirt out of the holes in his flesh and wash the blood off of himself. Maybe. But for now, Mustard over here was still a threat. Reasserting his footing on the ground, he spread his arms wide and lunged forward. "If ya keep avoidin' me like dat, slaver, ah'z gonna break both yer hind legs and force ya to walk!" he snarled, still kind of edgy from his rabid episode, but otherwise placated.

---intimidating Mustard Buck (i'm sure his name was mentioned but i'm too lazy to go looking for it :P). If the intimidate fails, then i'll just focus all of my AP into breaking his left hind leg to incapacitate him, preferably with my own leg.

"Shit shit shit. Ale chanted in his mind. "this is not helpful, not in the least." Once the roof slaver was out of sight ale turned to viktor and marcus. "A little help here." ale asked as he back towards the tunnel his eyes on the roof before he slid down to tend to the wounded mare, hoping that he didn't hurt her by shoving her to safety. "Sorry about that." ale apologized as he fished a healing potion out from his saddle bags. "Drink this." he commanded as he levitated the potion over to her and picked up his rifle. "I've got to take care of shooty mcgee." and with that ale poked his head up out of the tunnel and set his sights on the roof, waiting for the sniper to show himself again. Hopefully his companions would be better at calming the slaves then he had, or at least successively herd them into the tunnel.

(Taking cover in the tunnel - 5 AP. Giving healing potion to wounded mare. Aiming at roof and waiting for target to appear: PER-7. Fire on slaver if he pokes his head out again: Guns-60 -16 AP. Leaving 15 AP to dodge.)

Xeshir gulped nerviously as the fire continued to spread. She shook her fears away and focused on the situation at hand again, frowning at the threat from Mek. If he tried anything, she wasn´t going to let him.

She was about to retort to the buck when she realized two things: One, Sanctity was missing and two, she heard the familiar sound of a gunshot from outside. "Sanura!" She yelled. "Go outside and help Ginger!" She then turned to the zebra, having lost sight of the diamond dog. "You go find Sanctity! Check...Wherever you can!" Once they were on their way she turned to the buck again. "You either surrender now or we´re leaving you here with the little wildfire your boss started! Drop your weapon!" She said, beggining to run out of patience.

(Attempting to shove Mek aside if he attacks the Mustard Buck. 62 Unarmed. Trying to convince buck once again. 65 Speech.)

Marcus was unsure of how he could help Ginger against a ranged target, especially one that was on the roof. That would require going back through the building that was currently on fire. As for the slaves themselves, they appeared to be scattering and moving farther away by the minute. Marcus knew that, if there was one thing that nopony was supposed to do, it was run unarmed into the Wasteland. He stepped out to help Ginger with the freed slaves, but stopped as Xeshir yelled for him to find Sanctity instead. Now he was faced with a difficult decision. Help find Sanctity, or help get the freed slaves calmed down and moving towards safety. Potentially save the life of a friend, or save the lives of those who had been recently subjected to slavery.

Unsure of what to do, Marcus found himself uncertainly staring back and forth between Xeshir and Ginger. He was now only mildly aware of the spreading flames as his mind found itself in a stalemate of what to do.

The slavers huddled before Sanctity. They collectively looked terrified; his show of putting the safety on didn’t seem to calm them much.

(Sanctity speech: 15+9 = 24) “Listen to you? You’re not going to kill us, are you?” They all moaned in greater distress before a loud voice lanced through the tense atmosphere.

“Bell! Bell Crank!”

Suddenly, a brown stallion pushed past Sanctity. “Bell!” Ignoring Sanctity and his gun, he reached out with his hooves to accept and embrace a filly who raced towards him. “Oh thank Celestia, you’re okay,” he said, hugging her tightly. “I’m so sorry, Bell. I should never have brought you here.” He finally turned his head to look at the other slavers, and then Sanctity. “We need to get out of here, or we’ll die from the fire.”



(Mek speech: 20+6 = 26) The mustard buck cringed and stepped back, likely unwilling to let a monstrous dog grab him in exchange for supposedly not breaking his legs. He swallowed noisily and turned to run as Mek lunged at him. Xeshir tried to shove him aside, (Xeshir strength: 68+25 = 93 vs. Mek strength: 41+60 = 101) but the diamond dog was much too strong for her, and simply shrugged off her attempt.

(Mek unarmed: 89+27 = 116) Mek managed to catch the buck by the hind leg as the buck tried to get away. Tightening his grip, he pulled the buck towards him. “No, no! Let me go!” the buck cried out and dropped his weapon. “I surrender! I surrender!” Mek could carry out his leg-breaking threat now, if he wished.



The slave mare that Ginger passed the healing potion to sucked desperately at the bottle. She was crying, lying in a pool of blood from the wound in her shoulder. She finished every last drop, then very slowly and shakily got back to her hooves.

After taking cover in the tunnel, and pushing a couple of slaves out of the way, Ginger propped himself against the wall, waiting for the slaver to reappear on the roof. For now, however, no figure appeared.



Marcus stood there, indecision eating at him. The flames he was only mildly aware of had spread and consumed most of the stairwell, and begun to eat at the interior walls of the building.

Sanctity was about to respond with his normal level of tact and sympathy and say something along the lines of 'fine, burn.", when another stallion burst into the room and embraced the sole filly of the group. Perfect. Somepony who knew what was going on that -more importantly- they trusted. He looked over at the stallion and nodded at him.

"Right, follow me and you'll get out of this safely." he said, addressing the small group as a whole, before turning to the brown stallion "Can you bring up the rear? I don't want anypony lagging behind, 'specially not Bell. It'd be a death sentence with this place like it is." he said, attempting to play on his obvious love of the filly. (Speech 18, CHA 4) Without waiting for a response, he pushed open the door and began to plot a way out from the building (Survival 45). He didn't get very far before spotting Mad his the hind legs of the mustard coloured buck they were here to rescue in his paws.

He slipped the safety back off, the movement almost unnoticeable. "Mad, for the love of Celestia, let him go. We need to get the hell out of here NOW" he said angrily.

Mek smiled as his hand clasped around Mustard's leg, and his mouth stretched into a grin. He barely noted Xeshir's attempt to stop him, and he lifted Mustard off the ground until he was being held upside down. He heard the click of a safety switch, and heard Sanctity's voice. Was Sanctity threatening him? He hoped that for Sanctity's sake, this was just a temporary lapse of judgement. Otherwise, they'd be returning to Stableton short one unicorn.

"Oh, ah ain't gonna let dis git go. 'E's gonna bolt da second his 'ooves touch da dirt. Ah dunno why you lot want to take dis one back to Stabletin, an' ah don' really care, but 'e's stayin' in my grip da entire way." He said, giving an almost amused look at Sanctity's rifle. He moved the grip on Mustard's leg so that he had both of his hind legs clutched just below the knees, they way a hunter would hold a dead rabbit. "Let's clear outta 'ere" he said, making for the front door of the building. As he passed grace's corpse, he picked up the flamer as well, setting the barrel on his shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to leave such a beautiful weapon in the flames.

---keeping Mustard restrained by holding as described. Also taking the flamethrower.

Xeshir grunted as she hit Mek´s side, but was unable to move him away from the buck. Fortunately, the buck had decided to NOT struggle against the diamond dog, a smart choice seeing how Mek seemed to be...For a lack of better world, rabid.

The zebra spotted Sanctity on the corner of her eye aiming a rifle at Mek and shook her head. The last thing they needed to do right now was fight while the building was consumed by flames. "Everyone just go out NOW!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she galloped outside.

(Note: I believe the fire STARTED on the stairs, so the flamethrower would be unobtainable since the area around it would be consumed in flames.)

@ Xeshir (OOC)

(Are you sure? The latest GW post says the fire spread on the stairwell and onto the inner walls of the area, which means the wall directly behind the stairwell and is spreading to the walls, not the floor. After all that, the distance Grace (and the flamethrower) fell away from the stairs has to be considered as well.)

Marcus snapped out of his stupor as Xeshir shouted for the group to clear out. He mentally kicked himself for losing his sense like that but couldn't dwell on it for long.

Marcus eyed the tunnel entrance and ran to it as fast as he could. He had no intention of staying in the open longer than necessary.

"Looks like shooty mcgee is keeping his head down." Ale thought when the sniper failed to reappear. He kept his rifle trained on the roof as he looked around at the slaves that scattered and noticed marcus making a mad sprint for the tunnel. "Everypony fallow the zebra. He'll get you all to safety!" Ale called out before returning his attention to the roof. If the sniper showed up then ale was ready to cover the striped equine's retreat.

(same stats as last time, only now with enough leftover AP for 2 dodges.)

The other slavers seemed significantly more inclined to act now that Spark Plug had turned up. (Sanctity speech: 70+9 = 79) He nodded at Sanctity and reached down to swing Bell onto his back. “Right, you heard him, everypony: follow him out.” He began ushering the others to get moving, and after some gesturing, they fell in behind Sanctity, and followed him like a scared shadow.

The mustard buck cried out in terror. “Don’t eat me! Let me go!” He began squirming, trying to escape the ghoul's clutches.

As Grace had fallen from the stairs and onto the ground, leaving the flames somewhat above where he was currently lying, it would be possible for Mek to reclaim the flamer. However, the fuel tank was strapped to the minotaur, and with only one paw free, it would be too difficult for Mek to get the flamethrower without first letting the struggling mustard buck go.

Xeshir dashed past Sanctity and his following group of concerned slavers, quickly scooting out the door and into the cleaner and less smoky air outside, where she found slaves mostly running any which way. She noticed Marcus dive into the tunnel. At least somepony was apparently listening to her.

Ginger kept an eye on the roof. It was possible, at this point, that the shooter had seen the smoke from the fire below and decided to get out while he had a chance. (Ginger speech: 79+15 = 94) Those slaves that were close enough to Ginger to hear his instruction actually seemed to listen, and started ducking into the tunnel behind Marcus.

As soon as Mek tried to take the flamer, he felt something tug against it. his eyes shifted from the Mustard Buck, to the hose connecting the tank on Grace, then to the valve on the back of the flamer connected to the hose, and then back to Mustard. His eyes squinted in a suspicious glare. He set the buck down, growling "Don' make me regret this. Try and run off or kill anyone in dis group, an' Ah'll shove dis 'ere flamer nozzle down yer throat an' pull da trigga" before releasing the grasp on his leg. He crouched down, unstrapped the tank, strapped it onto himself, and holstered the flamer nozzle onto his back. The expression on his face was the face a colt would make when he got a new toy to play with.

---Letting Mustard go. *Ahem* taking the flamer properly this time.

(Another question for the GW. Is the flamer like the classic fallout design (bigass tank on your back with a hose going to the nozzle) or is it a different look?)

Marcus looked behind him as Ginger called for the freed slaves to follow him. He nodded, knowing that they would be able to save at least some of them. He waved back at them so they would be able to see him.

"Yes, huru wale (freed ones)! You will find safety this way!"

With that said, he turned back and began moving through the tunnel, only stumbling slightly as it grew darker and harder to see.

Sanctity nodded appreciatively as Mad dropped the buck, lowering his rifle again. He then looked at the ghoul, his face a little softer. "Make sure you get your ass out of here before it burns down, right?" he said, moving off before hearing any response. His job right now was to get himself and the rest of these ponies out of the danger zone and into the tunnels and to safety. everything else was secondary.

He moved cautiously, but as fast as he could, as he felt the fire building in intensity around him, looking behind him every now and again to make sure everypony was still following him.

"Looks like old shooty has, gone up in smoke.(YAHHHHH)" Ale thought aloud. He moved the rifle to his side and glanced around. Most of the slaves where in the tunnel now and he could just now see sanctity leaving the building and he seemed to be leading more slaves out. "C'mon everypony, train is leaving the station!" The buck called out intending to cover the others until they where safely in the tunnel and be the last one in.

PER-7, guns-60: covering the others retreat. Once everyone else is in the tunnel then drop down.

Xeshir let out a long breath as she escaped the burning building, coughing for a few seconds as her panic subsided. This was new, but the whole begin set on fire thing...That would have to wait. She repressed those thoughts and turned to the situation at hand.

The zebra rushed to Gingers side and said. "SitRep!" as her military training once again took over, before she blinked and said. "I mean, what´s the situation?" as she looked at the slaves going through the tunnel...And at a familiar mustard buck begin freed from the Diamond Dog´s grasp.

(Tackling mustard buck if he tries to escape. Unarmed 62. Using all AP to dodge if sniper attacks.)

Ale turned to xeshire, his ears perking up at her use of military speak. The buck was familiar with such language thanks to his sort "vacation" in stalliongrad. "Shooter on the roof caused the POW's to scatter." ale started as he pointed to the roof of the burning building. "Haven't seen him in a while, he might have quit the field." Ale turned and laid against the wall of the tunnel and looked down at the slaves that they saved. "Thing we gathered up most of them but a few might still be out there." He wiped some sweat that had begun to accumulate on his brow off. "Think We might have to leave them, save the ones we can, after all we got paid to kill the slavers not free their captives."

The flames grew brighter and more vicious as they continued to spread. Despite the infernal glow, it was hard to see through all the smoke in the air – not too mention a little uncomfortable to breathe.

The mustard buck gave a slow nod as the ghoul made his threat. Once he was upon the ground and Mek’s attention was on the flamer, he was off like a shot towards the door, (Xeshir unarmed: 86+31 = 117) where he was tackled roughly by the vigilant Xeshir.

He howled in misery, and turned his head to look at Xeshir. “You’re fucking crazy! This building’s on fire!”

Meanwhile, it took Mek a few moments to remove the flamer and the backpack tank of fuel from the corpse of Grace. The smoke didn’t bother him in the slightest, but the heat was getting uncomfortably intense – and the idea of strapping a tank of flamer fuel to his back in the midst of a ravenous conflagration was seeming less sensible by the moment.




The slavers followed Sanctity, the smoke corralling them into a tighter group as they looked about the building, trying to source the origin of the hidden conflagration. As they reached the main room and began heading towards the door, a sense of urgency washed through the group, and they collectively picked up their pace.

Finally, almost as a surge they burst through the door and into safety as behind them there was a crumpling sound as a piece of ceiling collapsed.

They rested for a moment in the porch area. All trying to catch their breath back, before a soft voice piped up from the back.

“So what happens to us now?”




The slaves with Ginger and Marcus didn’t seem particularly pleased about heading into what appeared to be a hastily and crudely dug tunnel. Even if Marcus did lead the way in an attempt to assure them of its safety. Still, progress was being made, and the lead ponies in the tunnel (as well as Marcus) could soon see the light of salvation at the far end.

Ginger watched the group’s rear. (Ginger perception: 3+35 = 38) He didn’t see any threats, so he headed into the tunnel and joined the back of the group.

The weight of the Flamer against his back was comforting to Mek. He gave his back a good jerk to adjust the straps, and relished in the sound the unstable napalm inside made as it sloshed around like freshly drank milk in somepony's stomach. He gave Grace one final look, and stepped outside. The sunlight blinded him for a split second, and he viewed the slaves going down the tunnel he had dug. He caught sight of Mustard in Xeshir's clutches, and couldn't help but smile in anticipation. "Strike one..." He muttered to himself, and turned on the safety on the nozzle. An accidental discharge in a tunnel would be more than disastrous."Come on then, you lot! Down da rabbit hole we go!" Mek called out as he, stepped down into the tunnel, his eyes quickly adapting to see in the darkness. The rhythmic hissing of his leg combined with the sloshing noise coming from the tank on his back echoed down the tunnel, making it sound like there was a leaky boiler on treads advancing down the cramped passage. He ran his paw along the roof of the tunnel as he went, his paw scanning for vibrations like a periscope.

---getting away from the fire and traveling down the tunnel, keeping an eye out for anything unusual, like surface vibrations.

Marcus saw the coming light and grinned to himself. Turning to the freed slaves, he said, "There it is! We are almost to the end!"

If he were to come to the end of the tunnel, he would motion for the slaves to stay in the tunnel. After that, he would poke his head out to survey the surrounding area for danger.

Searching surrounding area for danger. PER 5