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

Mek didn't flinch when Sanctity spoke up, but the words didn't exactly bounce off of him either. He had to admit that maybe he had gotten a bit carried away, and he had to constantly remind himself that he was in the company of ponies and zebras that apparently thought it was a less than favorable thing to shoot slavers. He sighed, and turned to face Sanctity, a fire ignited in his eyes. He removed his arms from their crossed position and they came to rest at his sides, clenched into fists. He took a threatening step towards Sanctity, teeth bared.

"An' Ah suppose you'z got a perfect fuckin' track record? Don' forget that you'z da one dat put three holes in Marigold! Or did dat neva 'appen?" He spat out, taking the cigarette out of his mouth, crushing it in his hands, and throwing the smoldering remains onto the ground. He turned suddenly to Xeshir, and pointed at her. "An' don' you dare say a fing. You sent Hopscotch, da very slaver you'z was tryin' ta protect, straight ta his fuckin' death. An' don' ya lie ta me either, Xeshir. Ah do me math right, and ta snap a gun in two, ya woulda 'ave to 'ave been runnin' 157 miles per hour, an' Ah highly doubt you can do dat. Besides, if you'z got nothin' ta hide, then lemme see yer gun."

Ale applied the goo to the gash on bell's back. "You know you really shouldn't lie about your own health." The unicorn said in an tone a teacher would use. "I'm here to help, don't be afraid to ask for it." Then ale heard the argument coming from the others. Ale sighed before quickly trotting up to them and interjecting himself into the conversation. "Do you'll really think now is the time to be fighting?" The white pony said in a tone low enough that the slaves wouldn't be able to hear. "In case you haven't noticed, we have ponies in our care and you being at each others throats is not doing any wonders for moral."

He turned to xeshire, "Xesh I understand wanting to help those ponies but lying is just going to make matters worse." He then turned to the diamond dog. "And mek, It is not a bad thing to give those slavers a second chance to be better, it's called showing mercy. Hell if we hadn't shown mercy to scotch then we'd probably still be wandering about the waste trying to find the compound. Now could you all please just drop it. What's done is done and arguing isn't going to fix it." Ale turned around and called out to marcus. "IS HE READY TO MOVE YET? I"D LIKE TO GET BACK TO STABLETON ASAP!"

Marcus finished applying the salve and sat back to think on what he was asked. He sighed, shook his head, and took off his hat before looking the Slaver in the eyes.

"Your repayment will come when you forge a life for yourself that does not depend on the misery of others. Find another way to live so your binti (daughter) can grow to be a better pony. As for right now..."

Marcus glanced behind him to see the group seeming to argue with each other again and the slaves waiting impatiently nearby. He sighed and turned his attention back to the Slaver.

"You can come with us. I do not think the former slaves will want to travel with you... they may even attack again. But there are those in our group that would be willing to protect you and your binti long enough to receive medical aid in our town. Or you can leave us and possibly die out in the wastes with your injuries. We can take your binti, but she will grow without a baba (father)."

Marcus stood up and put his hat back on, looking back at Ginger as he shouted back to him before focusing on the Slaver once more. "The choice is yours to make."

Xeshir raised an eyebrow at Mek's response. "Putting aside the fact that you MADE an equation on the top of your head in like...Six seconds without knowing almost anything, that gun was pure RUST Mek. Tripping and slamming it into a rock was the last straw for it. And I DON'T have the gun, remember? I said I dropped the remains of it trying to chase the slavers. Not much there is left to do with a broken gun." Said the zebra as she trotted away from the ghoul Diamond Dog.

When Ginger spoke to Xeshir she turned to him. "I'm not lying Ginger. The slavers are going to be death in a day or two soon due to the wasteland. That's a fact." Said the zebra, loud enough for the slaves to hear. Once the zebra was close enough to ginger she gave him the tiniest wink, one only he could see. She hoped that she would catch the message.

Once the zebra saw that everyone was in a, mostly, fit condition she moved ahead of the group. "Can you move?" She asked the crippled slaver with a reassuring tone. If the answer was positive then Xeshir would lead the march back to Stableton. It was about time they got back.

The group was indeed ready and slowly began to file off back to Stableton, leaving Marcus and the injured stallion a short distance behind. The father sighed, shaking his cloudy head, even as the swelling from his beatings reduced. He looked towards the group of slaves, and then to the group from Stableton, his eyes briefly pausing on Mek.

“What should I do, zebra? If I come with you, do you think I’ll be safe?” He paused and took a breath. “What’s the best way to keep my daughter safe? Should I take her with me, and take my chances with the wasteland? Go with you? Should I leave and–” His voice cracked a little – “let Bell go with you, so I don’t upset the slaves?”

He looked back at the departing group. He looked tired, resigned.

Marcus regarded the beaten stallion before him. Marcus had a very clear dislike for Slavers, placing them below the status of "Pony" in his mind. Truth be told, he would have gladly left this one to die from his wounds if he hadn't witnessed the stallion trying so hard to protect the filly. That right there showed Marcus that some shred of decency survived within this stallion.

But that left him at a crossroads. If he let him die out in the wastes, Marcus would get his reward but doom a filly to life without her baba. If he took the Slaver into Stableton, there was a good chance that they would not help him and also make Marcus a very unwelcome resident within the town. He would also not get his reward.

Marcus let out a sigh. Sometimes, one had to make difficult decisions. Stableton had the resources necessary to help the stallion and prevent the filly from growing without a baba.

With his mind made, Marcus walked over to the stallion and leaned up against him.

"Walk with me. I will make sure you get the help you need. I only ask for two things. One, to give up your life of Slavery. And two, I ask for your name."

Marcus took a deep breath and continued. "My name... my name is Marcus."

He looked over at Xeshir as she walked over to them and nodded his head at her question. "He will move. I will make sure of that."

Mek's suspicious glare remained on Xeshir, but he eventually sighed and the subject fell out of his mind. He didn't feel like yelling at anyone anymore, and he just wanted to leave. He huffed in a slightly annoyed manner, and tried not to say anything when he saw Marcus assisting the slaver. If that slaver wasn't protecting a filly, Mek would have reacted a bit more strongly. He felt the need to point out to Xeshir that he was in fact an engineer before the bombs dropped, and therefore it was his job to do complex equations on the spot, but he decided to lay off of her. He had entered that tired post-fight stage, and he visibly hunched over, almost as if he could drop to sleep at any moment. He regarded the group with a grunt, tired of arguing. "Let'z get outta 'ere, dere might be patrols comin' back." He said, motioning towards the road ahead. His eyes shifted from the slaves to the lone slaver, ready to break up any sudden hostilities, with force if necessary.

---defending slaver's filly if the slaves decide to get violent with 4 unarmed attacks (no gauntlets), spread out as evenly as possible.

(PS: where'd Vik and Sanu go?)

Ale turned and started trotting off in the direction of stableton with the others. He was tired, so very tired but he couldn't stop now. Mek was right, there might be patrols and he diden't want to risk bell or any of the others with discovery. Ale unslung his rifle and hovered it just in front of himself as he walked, keeping an eye out for danger both from the waste and within the group. "Hey bell." Ale said as he looked over his shoulder to the young filly in his saddlebag. "Do you want to do me a favor and be my look out?" He asked as he levitated a pair of binoculars out of his gear bag and over to her.

(PER-7 staying wary of threats. If threats are external then fire one hunting rifle shot at it - 15 AP Guns-60.
If Threat is internal then fire non-lethal "Warning" shot at it. All remaining Ap for Dodges.)

“Name’s Spark Plug. And I think my slaving days are well past,” he said with a weary chuckle. He stood with a pained groan, leaning on Marcus’ side as he got to his hooves. His legs were shaky, but he could walk.

“Thanks, Marcus. I owe you my life.”


Ginger got no answer from Bell. When he turned around to check on her, he saw that she’d fallen asleep in his saddlebag.


The going was slow. The slaves seemed to lack a certain focus and drive to keep moving towards Stableton; most were simply happy that they were no longer slaves. Spark Plug also found the going tough, as his injuries, though better, still impaired his movement. With such a pace, the day turned to afternoon, which soon gave way to evening; it was clear that they’d need to make camp and save the rest of the walking for tomorrow.


(Not sure about Sanu, but Vik has left the board)

Ale smiled a bit as he looked upon the sleeping form of bell. " Good, she needs some rest after everything she's just been through." He took a little extra effort to walk smoothly with the others, he didn't want to wake her with the sudden moments that came with traversing more rough terrain.

Sadly as the sun began to sink into the horizon it became more and more clear that they would need to stop for the night. "Alright everypony, that's about as far as where going to get tonight." Ale stated as he turned to the slaves. "We'll make camp and finish the trip to stableton first thing in the morning." Then ale turned to his companions and started assigning jobs. "Xeshire can you start hoofing out some food, i'm sure these ponies are hungry. Mek you want to build us a camp fire." Then ale turned to the other unicorn in the group. "Sanc, can you keep an eye on bell for me? I'm goign to try and figure out exactly where we are." He asked as he pointed to a hill that would give him some elevation, and therefore a good view of the road ahead.

Xeshir looked at Ginger and nodded. "I am no expert in hunting...But I will give it a shot." The zebra took out her cowpony repeater and checked his ammo before she realized Marcus hadn`t been called out by Ginger. Perhaps he could help her. "Hey Marcus." She asked as she trotted towards him. "Mind to lend me a hoof getting some food?" She said, hoping that he would agree before the slaves complained about the lack of a meal.

(Scanning around for animals to hunt or edible food. Survial 17. Add Marcus skill in Survial if he agrees?)

(BTW, where is the Mustard Buck?)

Mek nodded and ducked down to dig a fire pit. He made it ten feet long by ten feet wide, and the pit itself was at two feet deep. He figured a pit would keep the fire out of sight on the ground level, and protected from wind. He now was faced with the challenge of finding enough kindling for the fire, but he reckoned he could gather up enough by tearing the floorboards out of nearby buildings and breaking apart any furniture he found. He made sure not to stray too far from the site, as he was still ready to spring to action if he heard a filly scream.

---taking anything wooden that I can tear apart or just take to burn, floorboards if possible. Keeping a feel out for any possibly hostile vibrations as i search the buildings surrounding the campsite.

Marcus looked over at Xeshir as she addressed him and furrowed his brow in thought. He wasn't really willing to leave Spark alone, seeing as he now considered the stallion's life in his hooves. However, food was essentail, possibly even more so for the slaves that had just been freed. He nodded his head to her.

"Yes, I will be willing to help. Let me speak with Spark, first."

He turned his attention to Spark, noticing that Ginger was giving Bell over to Sanctity, and said. "Go over to the dark unicorn with your daughter. He will keep the two of you safe. This, I promise."

He then turned his attention back to Xeshir and said, "We move whenever you are ready."

(Aiding Xeshir in gathering of food, Survival: 52. If there is time, he will also gather more ingredients for alchemy, Green Hoof / Alchemy: 65)

Sanctity nodded and moved closer to the foal. He felt a little out of his depth though, as he sat there beside her, half guarding her, half checking to make sure she was okay. It wasn't something he really did, look after children. Hell, he'd never even met a 'normal' child, and he was pretty sure the girl had a better parent than to allow her to do the sort of things he had done. Then again, as he looked around, he realized that he was the least physically imposing of all the people there. Considering what she'd just been through, that was probably for the best.

He sighed and tried to settle down a little, shuffling slightly, before looking over at the other buck, who was moving towards them. He smiled softly and moved a little, to indicate he could sit down. He didn't say anything though. He wasn't sure what you could say to a man who'd watched the people he knew be murdered, barely escaping with his life.

It was a brisk trot to a satisfactory vantage point for Ginger, so it would take him a few minutes to get there.

In the dim light of evening, it wasn’t easy for Xeshir and Marcus to find food. (Xeshir+Marcus survival: 75+8+26 = 109) Their search was somewhat fruitful; they found a few small lizards that, once roasted enough, would probably be sufficiently palatable, as well as a few tufts of chewy but filling scrub. It wouldn’t be a gourmet spread, but it would do.

Marcus also kept an eye out for ingredients he could use for more curatives. (Marcus survival+alchemy: 51+58 = 109) He found some lichen that was a good alternative item in preparing a couple of doses of healing salve.

As Xeshir was out foraging, she remembered seeing the mustard buck fleeing when the former slaves got violent. She didn’t know if he was still alive, but she hadn’t seen him since.

Mek found no buildings nearby. After minutes of searching, he eventually found a dessicated skeleton of a tree, from which he started tearing off brittle limbs. He’d wandered quite far from camp just to find this meagre source of timber, so it’d be a little while before he got back.

Bell stared up at Sanctity with wide eyes, unsure of his intent. She only seemed to relax when her father tiredly limped over and slumped onto the ground, exhausted. She happily hobbled over to him – apparently still a little woozy from a combination of fatigue and alchemical painkillers – and hugged him tightly.

Sanctity was distracted from the touching scene by the sound of violent commotion. A couple of slaves had started fighting, one repeatedly and somewhat gleefully yelling out, “It’s later now! You’ve had it coming long enough!”

Bell yelped in fright, and her father hugged her more closely, looking at the fight with distant shock, but he didn’t look in any shape to do anything, anyway. Sanctity was the only one of the group near enough to do anything about the fight.

Sanctity looked at Bell and then at the brawl quickly. He really didn't want to bring her near the fighting ponies, especially given what they'd tried to do earlier, but leaving her alone wouldn't be the best of decisions either. He looked torn for a second, weighing up the options in tthe split second he had.

"Stay here with your father, I'm going to go sort them out." he said, before getting to his hooves and moving towards the slaves. His gun was by his side, but he hadn't brought it out of its holster. Hopefully he could just talk them down, rather than having to issue wasteland justice.

He glared at the two as he approached, though seeing as he had to look up to scowl at them, he didn't look as threatening as he could have. "Simmer down ponies" he said, his tone authoritative as he borrowed the words from what had once passed as his groups leader. "I know you all have your problems, but for the love of Celestia, would it kill you to keep them to yourselves until we got back to civillisation? Or would you rather we just let you guess your way home?"

Mek frowned at the pile of crappy little twigs he held in his open hand. He wished he had an axe. He resolved to buy one as soon as he got back. He had some time to himself at last, and on the walk back he procured the picture of Rarity out from his coat, and he almost forced a dry tear when he saw that one of the corners had been singed, and no amount of wiping made it come off. He nodded sadly and put it back in its armored pocket. He lumbered on back to camp, eyes peeled for anything burnable. He had that internal feeling of dread that something had gone wrong, but maybe that slightly off scent was always in the air around these parts.

Ale slowly climbed up the hill, producing his rifle once he'd reached the top and scanned the horizon. He could just barley make out tin roofs and metal walls of stableton in the distance. "Good were on the right track. If we move out at first light then we should reach civilization by lunchtime tomorrow." The buck thought to himself. Ale sat down and watched celestia's sun as it started to dip down behind the landscape. Thinking to himself just how many ponies had died today. How many that didn't need to die.

And then of all things he began to think of bell. That poor filly had been through so much in such a short amount of time. Her father was not in the best of shapes. Sure marcus had done the best he could and ale didn't doubt the zebra's abilities. But He'd seen how bad those wounds were. There was still the very real possibility that he might die on the road. And even if he did survive then Stableton security might just shoot for what he was a part of. Where would that leave bell? Ale had promised to keep her safe but How could he do that. The wasteland didn't exactly have an orphanage, Well maybe friendship city but that would be a particularly dangerous trip. "I...I guess I could take care of her." The unicorn thought to himself. His home in new loosa did have a spare room after Darkstar disappeared. And loosa wasn't blinded by morals like stableton. But he'd have to give up the caravan bus-

Thankfully for ale before he could begin to loose his mind with internal debate. His attention was grabed by the sound of fighting back in the direction of the camp. He raised his scope and saw that the two slaves from earlier where back at it. "Oh for fucks sake." He said as he began to gallop back down and to the others. This needed to be dealt with once and for all.

As Xeshir put the food Marcus and her had managed to hunt or find in her saddlebags she turned to him, her face reflection she was in deep thought. "Marcus..." She said slowly. "Would you be okay with the slavers we found living? Giving them a second chance? Because I believe I found a way to make the slaves think we killed them, then use them as witness to prove we killed all the slavers...What do you think?" She asked as she trotted along him back to the camp.

Marcus drew in a deep breath as he thought out how to answer Xeshir. He wasn't honestly sure on how to answer... but he was sure of what he felt of the situation. Perhaps that would help him decide.

"Ma'am Xeshir... This group has been very easy on the Slavers since the beginning, despite what we originally set out to do. We have spared their lives and offered them safety, against our original goals. Even I have taken to caring for one of these Slavers, as well as his binti." Ha gave his saddlebags a little shake, as if to bring attention the ingredients inside.

He sighed before starting again. "At this point... whatever you decide to do is entirely up to you. I have my goal and that is to make sure those two get treated by a doctor. I no longer have any stake in what this quest started out to be."

When Sanctity got over to the brawl, he noticed an olive buck pinning a navy unicorn and beating him violently. A few of the slaves seemed to be watching with eager eyes, but most seemed to be trying to simply ignore the pair.

With a hefty stomp, the olive buck looked up at Sanctity. “When we were back in the compound, I was told to finish this later. This is later.” He turned back to Navy, who was sporting some rather awful bruises by this point, and cowering with his hooves over his head. “Innit?” He thwacked navy in the back of the head and chuckled.

Just as Sanctity realised stern words were unlikely to get him far, he heard a few shouts from behind him, and a couple of breaths later, a sharper, shriller scream.

He turned and saw Spark Plug lying on the ground, blood pouring freely from a savage wound in his neck. His forelegs were wrapped around the struggling hind leg of a thin, wiry unicorn levitating a blood-soaked shiv. He was trying to get to a cowering filly only a scant few steps away.


(Ginger and Mek return to camp at this point. Xeshir and Marcus return a couple of minutes later.)

Xeshir only nodded to Marcus's words. He had a good goal. Maybe she could make it work with her plan, but it was delicate, and if one of the slaves noticed...

When she did finally return to the camp her eyes would go wide at the scene in front of her. In an eye blink she had removed her Cowpony Repeater and aimed it at the sky, emptying it of all the shots it held, hoping to make the ponies stop fighting amongst themselves.

Mek was frozen in place, the assortment of twigs and branches in his hand clattered to the ground. All he saw was a unicorn with a knife, and the filly standing close to it. He let out a roar worthy of a hellhound and barreled towards the thin unicorn, eyes glistening with murder. He was going to make sure this unicorn never hurt anypony else. A shiv wouldn't be able to save this unicorn

---It's clobberin' time! Shoulder tackling the Thin Unicorn to the ground, pinning him down with one hand, and going for the head smash with a gauntlet attack. (Strength 12, Unarmed 55)

Ale reached the group just in time to see the unicorn go for bell with the shiv. "No, no, no Celestia no!" This ends now. Ale raised his rifle and placed the cross hairs over the wiry unicorn, intending to knock him to the ground with a .308. And then ale saw the blood soaked slaver pony, bell's father, with a bleeding throat wound. Something in the ginger maned unicorn snapped, and he readjusted his aim to the assailants head. She's just a filly!" He shouted as he pulled the trigger.

(Guns-60 Fireing one shot at the shiv unicorn, shoot to kill.)

Marcus sucked in a deep breath of air when he walked into camp and took in the scene in front of him. Ginger and Mek were both attacking one of the Slaves, which would have set Marcus off, if not for the fact that Spark was laying on the ground with a terrible knife wound on his neck. This is where the entirety of his focus was and he charged forward to the buck, barely noticing as Xeshir fired her rounds into the air.

He didn't know how long the stallion had been there with the knife wound, or if he could even be saved at this point. At this point, he was trying to fulfill his goal and self-appointed duty to keep the filly from losing her baba.

Upon reaching the stallion, Marcus would reach into his saddlebags to pull out whatever useful was left before realizing that all he had was ingredients to make a healing salve. Nothing to actually heal with. With nothing else to use, Marcus took off his hat and placed it against the wound, holding it in place so that no more of the blood would come out.

"I need help here!"

(Pretty sure this is a lost cause, but points for trying, right?)