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

I’m going to give this another day, so some of the others can respond, seeing as we only have about half of the group. Christmas break plays havoc with us all.

Xeshir looked back at Hopscotch with eyes of steel. "How was I supposed to know all your history with Marigold and her troubles, hopes or past by just looking at you two? Because all I remember seeing is two slavers dragging a slaves, and if I recall correctly, laughing while they were doing it." Her expression softened. "But NOW, that you have told us that we may be facing against good ponies in the wrong place and wrong time I want to do it different, but if you don't help us...Those good ponies will have a chance to die in the firefight, and neither of us wants that." She really didn't want Hopscotch to bail out, they did need him...But she was getting this job completed, one way or the other.

She caught on the corner of her eye Mek asking if they were all ready. Was he planning to breach the door and rush inside? "Don't. Move." She said, hissing.

(Attempting to re-convince Hopscotch if possible. Same stats as on previous post.)

Mad Mek took one look at Xeshir, and replied by moving as much as he could without making a sound. "It was a fuckin' Slaver, Xeshir. Are all o' ya gonna hate me for killin' a Slaver? a SLAVER? Sumtimes, Ah fink Ginger and Sanura are da only wuns who undastand me. dese Slaver's ain't innocent, an' Ah'v neva seen a good Slaver, only cowardly Slavers."

He turned his head towards Hopscotch as he whispered the last sentence. In his head he believed that a snake like Hopscotch was only good as a meat shield. Or as meat. he turned back to the door, fully prepared for the next batch of verbal shots that will be fired at him.

---Doing what I was doing last post (Inspecting door and using tremor sense, Per 7 for both)

Sanctity glared at the group as he clambered out of tunnel. What in Celestia's name did they think they were doing? They were supposed to be being silent, or at the very least sneaky, yet here they were, nearly shouting at each other! Over the same argument they must've had a hundred times now. He huffed slightly, but decided against saying anything. They probably wouldn't listen to him anyway. Well, they'd probably pretend to listen to him, but argue again later. He turned his attention back to the door, deciding to stand next to it, repeater at the ready. If somepony burst through the door and had a bunch of friends close behind, he could force them to take cover at the very least.

[Preparing 3 Cowpony Repeater shots (27 AP, Guns 65) for if a group arrives. One dodge available]

Sanura came up out of the tunnel into yet another argument, not that she disagreed necessarily with Xeshir but again this was a different situation where things could very easily and very quickly turn sour and quite fatal for the party but obviously getting agitated like this going back and forth with each other was not a good idea. She was still worried about how everypony would react when they returned as well, so far they were doing almost the opposite of what they had been supposed to do.

"Can everypony just calm down?" she said, looking between them all. "Just get in and let's get this done okay? Remember there's a lot more of them than us and we're one good scream away from drawing a lot of attention." she said quietly, hoping that everyone would calm down and work more fluidly with each other rather than the hostile attitudes she'd found on arriving.

The door seemed to be of fairly solid construction. It would take a fair bit of shoulder effort to break down. (Mek perception: 1+35 = 36) The movement of ponies outside and next to him made it too difficult to determine what anypony inside the building might be doing.

Marcus stilled himself. (Marcus perception: 37+25 = 62) There were definitely noises from within the building. They seemed hushed, but there wasn’t much he could determine with doors, walls and windows between him and whoever was inside.

Hopscotch looked at Xeshir, then scowled at Mek. (Xeshir speech: 98+32 = 130) He turned back to Xeshir, his defiant expression turning downcast as she finished talking. “You’re right. I’m an idiot. Just... please keep that dog on a leash, okay? And please, please, please try to not kill anypony else.”

Suddenly, the door opened a crack, and a small metal apple rolled out. The door slammed shut as a grenade slowly rolled towards the group!

Diesel cursed silently as he saw the grenade roll outside. Turning around he tried to leap out of the way, grabbing Sanura on his way away he prayed he was fast enough to get out of the blast zone or at least protect Sanu.

(Leaping out of the way with Sanu, protecting from blast; Agi 7)

Marcus looked down as the metal apple as it rolled out and panicked immediately! Survival instincts kicked into overdrive as he began kicking away from the door to put as much distance between himself and the grenade as possible. As he did this, he screamed, "NA NYOTA, KUKIMBIA (by the stars, run)!"

He had no other thoughts in his head than to run as fast and far away from the grenade as possible.

(Running away from the grenade, AGI 5. 5 AP used. 25 AP remains)

Taking a single look at the grenade, Mek instantly forgot about everything that ever existed. Seeing the explosive gave him one of those pre-war flashbacks of those posters telling fillies and colts that hiding under a desk would save them from Balefire. "DUCK AN' COVA!" he yelled as be whirled around on his feet, turning his leg back on with a good stomp, He dived off the porch of the building and into the tunnel he had built. He made sure to drag Xeshir along with him as he flew into the hole, and to get as low as possible once inside.

---Taking Xeshir away from the grenade, and taking cover inside the tunnel. (Agi 4, STR 12)

Xeshir smiled slightly at Hopscotch as he was once again with the group, then her smile faded when she saw the apple grenade. Before Mek could even grab her she was galloping out of the way, much more agile than the cybernetic diamond ghoul, but if she tripped at least he would be able to grab her.

(Galloping out of the way and rolling after two seconds. AGI 8.)

Sanura was ever so glad somepony pulled her out of the way cause the first thing her less than agile self did was stumble backward and almost fall on her tail. "Gr-g-gren-OHF!" as she was yanked off her feet, that horn of hers flaring to life in a pale pink glow as she tried to fling the grenade in the general direction of up and away from the party, where everyone was diving too, in hopes that anyone caught in the blast would be closer to the edge of the radius of shrapnel.

[being hauled by the dog, trying to fling the grenade away for minimize damage with telekinesis]

Sanctity looked curiously at the small, metal object for a second, before the dull realisation hit home for him and everyone around him. The world exploded into a flurry of noise and shouts and he jumped back down the hole Mek had dug and flattened himself against the ground. Any element of surprise they might've had was out the window now, when that thing went off, the hole town'd be on top of them. He hovered his gun above his head and pointed it at the door, firing two shots at it in the hope one bullet might make it through and hit whatever pony was hurling explosives.

[Hiding from the explosion in the tunnel, AGI 10, Firing 2 shots from the Cowpony Repeater, Guns 65]

Ale was lucky to be on the hill a good distance away from the others. As he looked through his scope he saw the door open a crack and something roll out. "Ah shit." ale muttered as the others scattered to escape the grenade. "Welp there goes the element of surprise." The rest of his party was too preoccupied in getting out of the way to prepare for a fallow up attack, Luckily ale didn't have to worry about that. He kept his rifle trained on the door, knowing that a slaver would have to poke his head out to inspect the damage, and when they did ale would take it off. "Screw non-lethal, these fuckers attacked first."

(Guns 60, sneak 49, Firing on next slaver to show themselves.)

Mek went for the tunnel, (Mek agility: 79+20 = 99) trying to grab Xeshir to bring her with him, but the zebra had already raced away. (Xeshir agility: 81+40 = 121)

Marcus similarly tried to get away, choosing to simply dash out of its explosive reach in the same direction as Xeshir. (Marcus agility: 95+25 = 120)

Viktor leapt away from the grenade with Sanura under one arm. (Viktor agility: 92+35 = 127) He dove into the tunnel, almost clearing the sides as he did. As Sanura was being carried to safety, she reached out with her magic, (Sanura magic: 55+22 = 77) and flung the grenade into the wall just above the door.

The grenade exploded. Razor sharp pieces of shrapnel flew about, tearing into the earth, and ricocheting off the building. Fortunately, nopony was close enough to be hurt.

Ginger was focusing on the door, (Ginger perception: 41+35 = 76) but it was the window next to the door that caught his attention. A silhouette of a pony appeared, looking out towards the group that had sought cover from the grenade. Through the blur of the glass, it looked as though the silhouette was saying something to somepony else inside.

The door remained shut for now.

Mad Mek took one look at Viktor and gave him a toothy grin. taking his pistol out if its holster, he placed a rotted paw on Viktor's shoulder. "Ya ready ta breach da door?" He asked as he checked his pistol for any damage. He could've sworn a piece of shrapnel bounced off of it, but maybe that was just his imagination. He remembered that time was of the essence, so he stood up out of the tunnel and ran towards the door, ready to shoot at the first window that opened.

---running towards the door (Agi 4) and shooting 4 shots w/ 9mm at any windows that open (Per 7 Guns 31)

Sanura was gasping softly, partly because of the shock of seeing a grenade just casually roll out toward them and partially from being yanked off her hooves, and finally from the simple sudden THUNK of the blast itself. She swallowed though, squirming out of Viktor's grip, "T-thanks." she said, dipping her head to him as she went to poke her head out of the hole. "You know what's going to make it so much easier to do this the nice way? The fact that we've all shown off that we're here." she said and cast a half glare back at the rest of the group, so ridiculous that this had happened so that they could argue and hiss and grapple with each other right outside the entrance of this place.

In any case, Mek was going in it seemed and likely the rest of the party after him with any luck before they got pinned inside that tunnel and forced to retreat. She got herself to her hooves and dashed after him, ready to play support for him and anyone that needed it.

[Just moving and prepping to cast heal on the first person that gets hit by anything]

Diesel let out a low growl as he felt the vibrations of the grenade going off. As he laid low in the hole he nodded at Mek when he mentioned breaking the door, there may have been a time for peaceful but that left with the grenade. Jumping out of the hole Diesel leaned his shoulder forward and started sprinting to the door at top speed. Who ever was on the other side was about to have a jarring experience with that door.

(charging door to batter it down; Agi 7, Str 11, Unarmed 60)

"Looks like these slavers are smart." Ale thought to himself, none of them had stepped out but they definitely knew about what was about to come down on them. He shifted his position and pulled the scope back so he could see the entire front of the building through his scope, waiting for one of the windows to open. A thought came to ale. "I really hope somepony remembers to shootout them windows." he was only barely able to see the silhouette earlier through the grim covered glass and did not want to risk any friendly fire shooting at shadows.

(same stats. Shoot at slaver that opens window, if no target appears then fire at any silhouettes on the second floor.)

Xeshir looked towards the house after the grenade exploded. There went the plan and any chance of doing this without killing a significant amount of slavers. She turned to Hopscotch with a sad look and sighted, not knowing what to say. She quickly rushed to cover next to the door and readied her 9mm SMG, switching the safety off with a flick of her tongue. She ducked down and Viktor rushed to the door, thinking how many bullets he was about to eat. IF he broke through it Xeshie would fire her SMG, trying to suppress the slavers rather than kill them. She silently wished the mustard buck stayed out of this.

(Guns 65. Fire four shots with 9mm SMG to pin down slavers. Distribute shots equally.)

Marcus turned back to the door after the detonation, clear anger in his eyes. The Slavers chose to hide behind doors as they threw grenades rather than face the group outside. That showed exactly how cowardly they were. He snorted and followed suit after Viktor,who appeared to be charging to the building with the purpose of knocking it down.

If Viktor were to successfully knock it down, Marcus would enter the building behind him and help him taking down who was on the other side.

(Running after Viktor, 5 AP. Using all available AP for follow up attacks once inside the building, 24 AP. 1 AP remains)

Viktor charged at the door and threw his body at it. (Viktor strength: 87+55 = 142) The door shuddered, the lock failed, and the diamond dog fell into the room beyond. He was lucky that his entrance wasn’t met with any gunfire.

(Mek perception: 11+35 = 46) Mek held his fire – none of the windows opened, nor did any faces appear – and took up a position next to the door, ready to fire inside. Sanura ran up behind him, peering around him to see what was inside.

Marcus and Xeshir chased after Viktor, Marcus jumping over the diamond dog and landing in a combat pose, Xeshir taking cover behind the door frame and firing to suppress anything within. They were standing in a massive room, with a large doorway to the left, another to the right and a stairwell leading up. There were some chairs strewn about, a collection of lockers under the stairs, and a few clumps of rubble and refuse littered about.

The room seemed eerily empty. There was quite a bit of subdued noise from either wing, though.

Ginger scanned across the building with his scope. None of the windows were open, so he moved his scope to the second floor. (Ginger perception: 5+35 = 40) Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any targets up there, either.

Seeing that blind fire wasn't helping in the slightest, Sanctity started to move forwards slowly, approaching the position he'd stood in earlier. He nodded at Xeshir in brief acknowledgement before taking cover behind the doorframe as he concentrated on the machine gun fire that was masquerading as the beat of his heart, leaning the gun against the wall as he took deep breaths to steady his rapid heartbeat to a more manageable pace. Then, after a few seconds of nothing, his horn began to glow with grey magic as he tried to cast the spell.

[Casting Detect: Heartbeat, Magic 40]

Mad Mek held his free hand up and holstered his pistol, a symbol for everyone to shut up. He entered the room after everyone had gone barreling in, slipped on his gauntlets, and made for the right door. He couldn't help but feel disappointed that Viktor wasn' t writhing on the ground, trying to count how many shots had been put into him. He saw the lockers and immediately wondered if there were more grenades in there. His face widened into a devilish grin as he turned away from the door and went to the lockers. If there was anything in there, he was sure he could find it. "Cova me. I'z gonna check da lockers fer anyfing we can use." He said as he took his pistol back out of it's holster.

---checking lockers for any loot or booby traps (Per 7). If they're locked, then attempting to break open the lockers. If they're booby trapped, then I'll leave them alone. Preparing 3 shots with a 9mm pistol in case any slavers show their heads (Guns 31 Agility 4)

Ale watched as the others entered the building, the sever lack of gunfire was off putting. A little pony in his head was being optimistic, "Maybe the slavers surrender?" Yeah not likely. Still not knowing was killing ale, he wanted to abandon his post and join up with the others, but if the slaves got out they would need somepony to watch out for them. "This is going to be really boring isn't it?" he asked himself. Ale levitated out his flask and took a swig before refocusing on the building for targets. Right now he wished he had one of those funky communication Chrystal that vik was drooling over back at camp, at least then he could coordinated with the party inside.

(Same stats, looking for targets, fire if any appear.)

Diesel let out a grunt as he slammed into the door, smiling when it gave way he looked around to find the room empty. Letting out a sigh of disappointment he stood up and unsheathed his machete, looking around he remembered Ginger was the one watching over them and frowned. Last thing he wanted was to be shot in the back by that cowardly pony, saying it was cause of the windows. Walking over to the windows he smashed them open with the pommel of his machete. Grunting that he left Ginger no excuse to shoot him he would make sure no windows would be intact by the end of this. At least any window he went near.

(Smashing out windows to give Ginger clear sight; Str 11)