A dangerous game of save the Rad (invite only)

Rad lay there on the floor after his head was slammed into the ground, his muzzle bloody... With his own blood this time. He looked up at Helik defiantly before being punched back to the floor. Even as the zebra muzzled him, there was still total defiance in Rad's eyes. He was determined to make life as difficult as possible for this zebra. He may be a little pegasus, but he sure as hell intended to be a big problem.

Rad watched in anger as Wiges was hit again. And the look Rad gave Helik after told him all he needed to know, that if the little grey pegasus ever got free, that Helik would see death as an escape from the wrath he would bring upon him.

Rad helped Wiges back up and they continued on their way, and upon reaching the compound he looked around to try get an idea of how many ponies were there, but wasn't able to get a good number. But there seemed to be a lot.

Mar looked with fear at the guns pointed at his face. He thought this might be the reaction he would get from ponies if they knew he was a slaver. He let out a sigh as at least one person defended him, then Fea stood up and called them all out then when she called him out his expression grew seldom "I was beaten, bruised, and close to death when they offered me the job. I saw her and broke. I knew the only way to get her out alive was to work for them as a slaver to get their reward money." He got up with his rage installed again and looked at them all "They are right, we should get moving as fast as we can." He wished for the rest of the group were as defending as Octane and Fea but knew that hope was lost on him months ago. He walked out towards teh gate "We have to go south of Loosa to pick up the trail."

"I'd die before I enslaved anypony," Zubi said, trotting in front of the griffon, knowing exactly how to get to Old Appleoosa by heart already. "Let's move." And with that, he started trotting out into the wasteland with Rad's carbine in tow.

Octane nodded his head thoughtfully as he looked at Mar while he explained. After he finished he took a deep breath before patting him on the shoulder, "I may not agree with what you did to try and free her but I will blow up many slavers for her to be free. My only condition is that after this you never slave again, if you do that dynamite is going in your beak. Do we have a deal?" After that he did one last check on his gear and followed out behind him. Not even looking around at the rest of the group he fell in next to the griffon to help find anything that might be of use.

Spirit followed last, watching the orange griffon pat the slaver on the shoulder, and finished his sentence with a threat. If the slaver was telling the truth, then he would not need to have slaves after the mission was over. There would be no reason to have them. He looked up, wondering what exactly was in store for them. If it were a trick and they were ambushed he thought they would be okay since there were plenty of them who cared for this pegasus in the group. He thought to himself of how they could save him, but an official plan would have to wait till they were closer to their destination.

Ale's ears perked up at the mention of his town. "old apple. Great maybe we can swing by my house and grab some more supplies for the trip." he commented as he took to walking with the zebra at the head of the group. The supplies he was referring to was his stash of whiskey, after all the buck had his priorities. As he trotted he kept his rifle out and scanned the waste for any signs of life. He wasn't really expecting an ambush like he predicted earlier but sometimes wasteland critters got bold or hungry enough to attack a group traveling through it.

(PER-7: keeping an eye out for any threats, if something attacks then fire one shot using hunting rifle, guns-60 -16 AP. Leaving 20 AP for dodging if necessary.)

Whitefeather rolled her eyes as she looked over the members she would be attending to, a gaggle of griffins, a zebra,and a couple of unicorns things were getting more 'fun' by the moment. She held for a few seconds before moving further. Although the idea of just turning paw and leaving this group to the beasts she couldn't turn her back on saving slaves whom were out of a well guarded compound. Her direct and strong stride brought her to the front of the group "The sooner we save them the better!" Her voice was loud ranging to reach every ear , she left out the part of how she'd be away from there filthy hides rather letting them think it was for the complete sake of saving this pegasus before he got more firepower to hinder them.

Helik took the two pegasi deep into his compound, past the barracks, the armory, and the vault. The two didn’t get a good look at this place because everytime they tried each of them received a rather hard smack with the blade of a machete.
He took them to his special area for breaking in slaves. He pointed to a cage made out of old rusted metal with bent bars, blood spots, and even the hair of some ponies in it. “This is where all the fun happens my pets.” He tossed his mane towards the door and a griffin rather roughly grabbed both Rad and Wiges by mane and tail and threw them inside onto the floor.
Suddenly there was a crack of a whip and a mark appeared on Wiges’s face that started to bleed. There was another crack and Rad’s side was hit. The owner of the whip walked forward and kept slashing it across them five more times before stopping and hugging Helik “Hello dear.” The zebra mare said after taking the whip out of her mouth and handing it to a griffin. Helik smiled widely and turned to his tow prisoners “This is my wife Hella. I can tell she will enjoy you two.”
Helik set his wife on his back and left the room with a final word “All yours.” The three griffins smiled descending on the two injured ponies and tying them down to the bars of the cage before raping them.

The group took two days to reach area south of Old Loosa encountering the stray gecko which ended up being lunch or something. The entire trip True just walked behind everyone staying silent. After they arrived at the site the trail was a bit cold.

Rad had ended up a little dazed with the amount of times he'd been hit with a machete, the pegasus just wouldn't stop trying to look, mostly out of spite, a little out of curiosity. The muzzle on his face was just uncomfortable, and every five minutes he was whining about it, usually getting more smacks in return.

Upon being shown the cages, and being informed that it was where they had fun. There was only response Rad could give, a smirk on his bloodied face. "So... A game of checkers then?" Another smack, and he looked at Wiges. "I don't think they like checkers ya know..." The pegasus laughed a little, but another smack soon put a stop to that. After that the pair were grabbed and thrown uncerimoniously into the cage. "Hey, HEY! Watch the m-Oof! Ugh... Could've just asked ya know? Would'a said no, but ya COULD have asked..." He glared at the offending griffon, earning yet another smack.

Things only got better at the zebra's wife made her arrival. Rad was unable to resist letting out a chuckle as she hit Helik with the whip, glad to finally see the zebra hurt, even if it wasn't badly. Though his laughter was soon silenced as the whip was turned on him and Wiges, though really by that point, the amount of times he'd been hit by the griffons had dulled his senses enough that it didn't hurt much. He looked over to Wiges after Hella was done with her 'introduction.' "Are you tired? I'm suddenly very... Tired, bin a long day eh?"

He looked up at the two zebras as they left the room. "Bin lovely to meet ya Helik, and Hella. Always good to meet psychopaths out in the wasteland!! I'm sure our stay will be top notch, and I look forward to tearin' ya limb from limb when we get outta here! Bye now! Have fun!" He waved at them with a big grin on his face as the left. "No... Think i'll get some sleep for tomorrow..." Though apparently the griffons had other plans, and he had barely got to lay on the floor before he had been tied down.

Ale took a swig from his flask, washing down the last of his gecko kebab. The unicorn was a bullet less then when the trip started but the critter he shot was a fat one and provided enough meat to feed him and two others during the hike. He also was able to use the gecko's hide to make a stock sleeve for the shot glass. "Welp i'm guessing this is the place, too early to be setting up camp." Ale started to inspect the terrain around the groups location, occasionally glancing off in the direction of old loosa. They where pretty close to the slave town and ale was paranoid about ambushes.

(PER-7: inspecting trail for clues, keeping an eye out for slavers. if something attacks then return fire with Shot glass -15 AP. Leaving 21 AP to dodge.)

Mar felt his body was destroying itself as he kept walking past his limits making the round trip back to Old Loosa. The geckos didn’t help him much neither did a rather loud fight with the orange griffin over what was better to cook the geckos, dynamite or a fire. The griffin finally left the group easing Mar’s minds some as he basically was looking like a ghoul with all its flesh still on its bone. He tried keeping tot eh back of the group looking around for signs of any of his old ‘friends’ thinking the group was his slaves. He was lucky and so were they all that since Loosa was running on a low point of slaves so most of the slavers were out in the wastes far from the town.
When they finally arrived at the spot Mar looked straight at Loosa with disgust and spat in the direction before turning to look at the group seeing them in multiples, “Camp.” He could only manage that before collapsing onto the ground from all the stress and exhaustion in his life up to that point.

(OOC note, Wiges will now be RPed in the Mar posts making it easier on me and a bit easier for reading)

Wiges was only hit a few times as she tried to look around seeing all the scrap metal used to make the compound. She heard the screams of some poor ponies in the barracks thinking that the poor mare was getting it handed roughly. She kept her head down as they entered the room and cringed at the sight of the metal bars covered in rust with blood spots all over the floor and ceiling. When she was thrown into the cage she started to cry landing on the body of a dead radroach.

She turned around to look out at Helik crying heavily before getting hit with the whip and felt her sides burn from it. “MONSTERS!!” She yelled at the two zebras as they left before being roughly shoved against the bars of the cage by one of the griffins and screamed the entire episode. After it was all over she sat there shivering, rocking back and forth with tears coming down her face. She looked over to Rad and crawled over “Rad?”

Spirit looked in the direction of where the griffon had spat. It was Loosa, a place he needed to be cautious in. Spirit looked down at Mar-vale, so was laying on the floor. "Resting so soon?" he asked. Reaching underneath Mar-vale he pulled him up to sitting position, and patted him on the back. "At least rest against something." Spirit looked to his left seeing a good size rock for Mar-vale to lean against. Putting a arm around him he helped Mar-vale to the rock and leaned him up against it. "Stay there for now..." he said before turning around and setting his things down to make camp.

Zuberi stopped; still holding Rad's carbine at his side, he turned back to face Mar and the group at hearing the word. He looked up at the setting sun, then back to the slaver camp, then back to the group. They looked exhausted. His years on the road had made long walks easy, but his group would be little use against a band of slavers if they were too tired to lift their guns.

"Good idea. But not here, they will see us out here." He looked around some, and spotted an area at the bottom of a hill around some dead trees. The low spot would block the light and the noises easily from the slaver camp, then they'd only have to worry about somepony stumbling onto them. The ground was a little rocky, but it would do. Sleeping with a stone jabbing in your back wasn't near as bad as sleeping with some slaver spying on you with his scope.

"Over there, we'll set up camp over there. The last thing we need is the slavers spotting a fire or hearing us. As a big group in the day time they probably won't attack, but if they see we're all asleep they may try. We will have to take shifts staying up and watching the camp."

Nothing happened, that's what Rad would tell himself, of course things had happened, but if he told himself it hadn't happened, it was just a nightmare, a bad dream, nothing more. The griffons hadn't done anything, nothing! He was perfectly fine really, just locked in a cage at some raider camp, some deranged zebra was going to torture him, no big deal.

"Rad?"

The pegasus jumped with shock at the sound of his name, before remembering that Wiges was there with him too, he turned to look at the mare, she was shaking and crying. He could tell it wasn't exactly something she'd be able to shut away like he could. He gave her a weak smile and hugged her tightly. "It'll be ok, we'll get outta here, those griffons will wish they had never messed with us. And Helik... He'll wish he'd never been born when i'm done with him." He looked her in they eyes. "You'll get out Wiges. Even if I don't you will, I promise. I WILL get you out."

Mar looked up at the blue griffin with a sleepy look and gave a small smile at him thinking that at least someone in the wastes had a heart for someone in need. He laid his back against the rock and let out a tired sigh looking at the zebra who still had that darn carbine out and pointing around. Mar rolled his eyes looking over at Loosa then back at Zuberi sneering "Idiot, slavers camp right on this spot all the time. This is the regular camp spot for them bringing in new arrivals." He sat up more and looked around the group using his talons to slightly groom some feathers. "I would suggest that we use some of my friends in Loosa to sleep in a bar but most of you will reject the idea. So we shall have to sleep here for the night."

Mar took out the two skulls he kept in his bag and set them down to stare back up at him. He pulled out his pistol and knife and set one down in front of a seperate skull and smiled before looking up "I will take first watch after we all eat."



Wiges was trembling in fear as Rad hugged her and tried to squirm away out of a new instinct she had gained from that rather nasty experience and pushed away from him some as she kept crying. When she looked him in the eyes she felt safe at his comments and knew that if she had the chance she would let Rad live while she died for him. SHe didn't voice these thoughts but just leaned in close cried onto his shoulder. After a few minutes of that she was calmed down and sitting there staring at the dead radroach corpse. She felt like that was the only witness she would ever wanted to know what had happened to them.

Ale stood back up. "Nothing." he thought "nothing but some twigs and dirt." He didn't find what he was looking for but he still gathered up the dead wood, it would make good kindling. Ale's ears perked up when the slaver suggested taking first watch. "Yeah not that I don't trust you buuuuuut I don't trust you." He set down the firewood and fished a flint and steel out of his saddlebags, striking it against the dead bark as he spoke. "I'll take the first watch with you. Then stripes and blue bird can take the second." The unicorn said motioning towards zuberi ans spirit. "Last thing I want is to wake up in chains with you leading us to loosa." The wood cought and ale nursed the emberes untill it was a small cooking fire, hopefully small enough to go unnoticed by the slavers in old apple. "Alright." Ale said as he took out the last of the gecko meat and a few containers of pre-war food. "Who's hungry?"

Spirit agreed with Ale, in some sort of way or another. He would gladly watch second shift, he didnt mind whatsoever. "Sounds good."
Unsure about what or where the ground wanted to set up camp, he watched as Ale began a fire. The smell of the smoke reminded him of food, making his stomach ache. As he heard Ale call out to whoever was hungry, he said nothing, for he had brought his own rations. Looking into his bag he brought out some dry food for himself and sat close to the fire, watching the flames dance around. The fire was hot, and one of his favorite things to look at. The colors were entrancing, and it was beautiful yet dangerous.

Octane shook his head as he came to a stop with the group, he hadn't noticed how long they had been walking for but it seemed like a decent amount of time. Looking at the group he sat down and shook his forelegs a bit, this was going to be a long trip. As the fire was lit he scooted over to it and sat down warming up next to it, watching the fire dance his mind jumped back to when he had first escaped his captors. For most of his life his only companion had been the dancing flames of his camp fires, smirking to himself he let his mind dance with the fire.

Movement. From True? No way... Indeed there was, her ears flicked as they decided to stop for camp and she frowned ever so slightly, watching as the others went to set up camp around the place and discussed watches, wandered off and offered out food as she simple stalked away from the party, retreating out of the light of the fire that they'd build to start her nightly ritual of staring up at the clouds that still held the subtle glow of fading light, just barely tohugh so they could see her if they really felt that they must. She sat down with a box of sugar bombs withdrawn from one of her slim saddle bags and ripped open with the faded green aura of her magic as she quietly began to eat and continued to stare at the clouds as if she was waiting for something. Or perhaps longing.

Regardless, True Cause intended to do little more than stare and even less than that when it came to engaging with the others, either they would ask her to hold watch at some point or she would hold her own watch whenever she felt she needed to... sort of like she was doing now.

Helik and Helga left the two Pegasus alone for a few hours while they had some fun. The screams of the poor earth pony used as their torture doll could be heard down the hall and made all the griffins smile as they stood by the entrance to the room. The last one left an un eerie echo hang in the air as it faded into silence, but it seemed to last forever to the two inside the cage. They they heard the sound of hooves coming down the hall and the griffins stood away to let the zebra couple inside. Helga had a new black fur coat on that was covered in blood and marked all over. Helik was sporting a brand new set of hoof socks, that looked like some poor pony’s guts. They were smiling like a set of foals that just got to eat an entire birthday cake themselves. Each was covered in blood, with tuffs of hair that wasn’t theirs on them.

The griffins bowed in respect to their masters and opened to door to the cage for a new set of fun to start. Helik immediately smacked Rad, before landing several punches to his stomach and sides. Helga walked over to Wiges and wrapped the new coat around her smiling “Like it dear?” Rad didn’t get a new gift, except the bruises and new blood spots on his body. After a few minutes of beating Rad, Helik calmed down and got behind the beaten Pegasus “Now that I’m warmed up the real fun can start.” Helik kept beating Rad as he had his fun and Helga forced Wiges to watch acting like they were close friend by snuggling covering the white mare in blood.

The group didn’t have an eventful night except hearing a small bar fight sound drift over to them during Mar and Ginger’s watch, but other than that the night was uneventful with just a few little geckos crawling around on the ground and getting killed for later. Finally during True’s watch at the end of the night it was morning and the others slowly woke up.

Zuberi had stayed up most of the night along with True. He watched the sun rise, often a substantially graceful and inspiring thing to witness. Though most ponies sleep through it, he often got to watch it, and enjoyed to. Though this time, he was slightly concerned, wishing he had been able to get more sleep. That was just the cost he had to pay.

The morning set in and the warmth of the blinded sun behind the sheet of thick clouds above set in and began to drive the fog away. A loud click-klack! was heard as Zuberi loaded the magazine into Ol' Reliable and pulled the charge handle back, loading a round into the chamber.

"Wake up, the sun's out," he called, trotting over to the fire which was not but embers now. "Slaver, which way did they go?" he demanded, turning and looking to the griffon.

Rad had thought about trying to get some sleep, but the previous events, combined with the screams from the other ponies soon put a stop to that idea, he had sat there while Wiges cried into his shoulder, she picked his damaged one too, but he didn't tell her as much, a little discomfort was nothing in comparison to what was happening really. He sat there, staring that the dead Radroach with Wiges for a while, before picking it up, utting it up against the side of the cage, and positioning it's arms and legs so it looked like it was dancing. "Heh... Our own li'l dancin' Radroach..."

Rad turned his attention to the hallway as he heard hoofsteps approaching, before the two zebras entered the room again, heading straight for the two pegasi. Rad looked at Wiges as they entered. "Don't worry, we'll be ok, we'll get-" His words were cut off as he was smacked, falling to the ground as the zebra started beating him, more than a few of the blows landing on old wounds, only making it hurt more. Though as soon as Rad got the chance he punched Helik in the face hard, giving him a bloody muzzle. Though this only got Rad more punches before Helik started to have his 'fun.'

For a few moments Rad kicked at Helik's sides, trying to get the zebra off, but soon enough the pegasi's lack of sleep, and pain from the beating he had recieved caught up to him, and he just fell to the floor in defeat, leaving the mad zebra with one last comment while his fun continued. "Prob'ly should'a done this before ya let the griffons in... Makes ya feel kinda... Small." Rad let out a pained laugh at his final act of defiance, which ended with him coughing up some blood.

Ale grumbled when the heretical light of the sun declared war on the peace of his sleep. He lazily stood up and started his morning routine. He stretched and popped his joints, packed up the gecko tarp he used to sleep on, took a swig from his flask, and checked his weapons before holstering them and placing his saddlebags on his back. With a yawn he turned to blackwing and asked. "Any idea how long it will take to find them? I feel like we're wasting precious time."

Mar woke up with a skull in each talon and was staring right into the embers of the fire as the sun rose from the horizon and smiled throwing off his new old life turning away from Loosa. He let out a sigh looking around the group then grew a little angry at the zebra for the comment of slaver. "Two things, one I am no longer a slaver. Two, we have to head east form here. This is when we might have to face a few raider patrols sent out by Helik. The compound is about three days walk."

Wiges kept shivering as she heard the screams of the poor pony "Unlucky soul, may Luna take him away." When Rad tried his little bit of humor she actually laughed and smiled some at him "So cute." When she heard the final scream she shivered and started to cry again. When she heard the hoofbeats she wiggled into the far corner of the cell. She heard Rad's words and smiled "Thank you." She looked in horror as Helik started beating Rad. Then when Helga sat down and wrapped her in that skin she went stiff and looked on with tears falling from her eyes. She simply watched and gave Helga no reaction as she felt the zebra mare nuzzle up against her and even dare to lick the tears away with a smile. Wiges found it all to much and fainted from the fear and horrible feeling. She laid there with the skin as a blanket and the mare snuggled up watching happily as her husband tormented Rad.

Spirit let out a slight yawn as he woke from the sound of others. He curved his neck and stretched his limbs, grunting from the satisfying feeling. He rose from the ground and began to pack his things into his bag, when he heard a zebra speak to the griffon, calling him a slaver. The griffon seemed irritated, which was certainly not a good feeling to wake up to. He sat straight, watching the red griffon talk back. Looking to his left he saw Ale who made a point. They were wasting time. And the sound of raiders coming after them would only slow them down from reaching their destination. "Three days..." Mumbled Spirit, who was worried they wouldnt make it in time to save the ponies they were looking for. He then spoke out loud, "well then we better move it."