The P-Files

XandZero2 wrote:

As CC grabs you and Lock uses ponykinesis to strip you of your bag, Captain Force's eyes go a little wider in what seems to be honest interest and slight surprise. "The CA Dinosaurs, huh? I'm impressed. My brothers played for the New Orreigns' Buckaneers." Force rubs her chin in thought, "You might have even played against them a couple times - Blitz Krieg and Body Count?"

Coffee rubs his chin for a moment.

"Huh. That was a few years back. I don't think I ever met them personally, but I remember Blitz Krieg being really fast. And I think Body Count kept being penalized. Or am I thinking of, Unnecessary Roughness?

Off to the side, you're aware of CC rummaging unceremoniously through your belongings, pulling things out, glancing at them, then tossing them onto the pavement. Finally she finds what she's looking for.

"Hey, Captain!" She mumbles between a mouth full of ID card. She tosses it to the Captain, and Lock stops it mid-air with his red-energy ponykinesis. It hovers before Force's eyes as she reads, "Coffee Mug... Hm, says here you've got a Ph.D in Astronomy and Arcane Theory..." She pushes the card away with her hoof and focuses her attention back on you, raising an eyebrow as she does so, "You here to teach at the university, Mr. Mug?"

"Yeah, I accepted a teaching position at the University of New Orreigns. I'm supposed to start in a few days."

Cardbo wrote:

XandZero2 wrote:

As CC grabs you and Lock uses ponykinesis to strip you of your bag, Captain Force's eyes go a little wider in what seems to be honest interest and slight surprise. "The CA Dinosaurs, huh? I'm impressed. My brothers played for the New Orreigns' Buckaneers." Force rubs her chin in thought, "You might have even played against them a couple times - Blitz Krieg and Body Count?"

Coffee rubs his chin for a moment.

"Huh. That was a few years back. I don't think I ever met them personally, but I remember Blitz Krieg being really fast. And I think Body Count kept being penalized. Or am I thinking of, Unnecessary Roughness?

"Nah, that was my brother alright," Force nodded proudly, "Body Count always did pride himself on getting ejected from every game he played in. If he didn't get ejected, he wasn't having fun. Blitz Krieg was in it to win it, but BC was always more interested in the joy of the game."

Cardbo wrote:

"Coffee Mug... Hm, says here you've got a Ph.D in Astronomy and Arcane Theory..." She pushes the card away with her hoof and focuses her attention back on you, raising an eyebrow as she does so, "You here to teach at the university, Mr. Mug?"

"Yeah, I accepted a teaching position at the University of New Orreigns. I'm supposed to start in a few days."

"I see. So you're not intending to leave the city again anytime soon..." The captain of the NOPPD pauses, nodding slowly. She looks you up and down again. "Well Mr. Mug, I guess that's not so unfortunate," she says finally, "And you know, if you like looking at the stars, I imagine you must have pretty late nights. As it is, I'm a bit of a night owl myself." She winks at you. "Maybe we could get together some time for some coffee?"

She reaches a hoof up to your glasses, then thinks better of it and pauses, "Mind if I...?"

((For clarification's sake, she's wondering if she could remove Coffee's glasses...

@Dr Blight:
Glad you liked the rap session. I'm honestly not a rapper (and I can only imagine how badly my rapping seemed) but I like to rhyme, so I had some fun at that part. Everypony else seemed like they didn't want to do it for too long though, so cutting it short was fine.

-And to everypony else, I'm going to wait for Yawnmon to post first, but then I'll get you to Whisper's place.))

XandZero2 wrote:

"I see. So you're not intending to leave the city again anytime soon..." The captain of the NOPPD pauses, nodding slowly. She looks you up and down again. "Well Mr. Mug, I guess that's not so unfortunate," she says finally, "And you know, if you like looking at the stars, I imagine you must have pretty late nights. As it is, I'm a bit of a night owl myself." She winks at you. "Maybe we could get together some time for some coffee?"

"You may have guessed from my name, but I do like my coffee. I'd love to."

She reaches a hoof up to your glasses, then thinks better of it and pauses, "Mind if I...?"

((For clarification's sake, she's wondering if she could remove Coffee's glasses...

"Be my guest."

EDIt:OOC: Coffee has green eyes BTW.

Captain Force reaches up to your glasses and gently slips them off.

She looks deep into your eyes for a moment - then turns on Lock and frowns, "TURN THAT LIGHT DOWN FOR A SECOND, WILL YA? IT MAKES EVERYTHING LOOK RED!"

"Oh! Uh-Sorry Captain." Lock's light dies down, everypony else disappears, and turning back to you in the near darkness, you can just see Captain Force, her smile returning.

"Much better," she says, looking intently into your eyes, getting very close as she does so. "Green, like emeralds," she mutters quietly, "You should leave these off more often. You look even more handsome without 'em."

She slips your glasses back on and takes a step back. Lock's red light grows brighter again and you can see the others once more.

"Well, I suppose we'll be on our way then," Force adds finally. "Wouldn't want to hold you up any longer than we had too. After all, you seem like a very important pony - and you were at the station too, so you must be weary from your trip..."

The Captain turns to leave, but then Crowd Control chimes in, "But - but are we just going to leave him Captain? Weren't we going ta... you know..."

Force turns back around and glares at CC - but then she brightens up again. "Oh, right!"

She focuses on you again, still smiling brightly, actually looking pretty cute in the rose-red light, "I almost forgot!"

She whips out her notepad and another pen from her uniform, scribbles something down, then rips off a page and hands it to you. "Here's my address. Come see me sometime."

As she puts up her pen and pad, she adds, "-And just one other little thing. You know Whisper, right? I was wondering if you could deliver a message for me?"

As the vodun left Blade stood there for a moment, completely surprised that that ended without a fight breaking out, although he definitely wasn't upset about it. He let the rest of the group walk a bit away from him before he stretched out his wings and jumped into the air. He still felt he was being a bit rude leaving his friends on the ground, but he had a lot of tension in his body from that experience that he needed to get rid of, and one sure fire way of doing this for him has always been flying. He quickly did a loop, followed by a triple barrel roll, and a free fall nose dive towards the ground with a quick upturn, before landing back on the ground next to the rest of the group, feeling much more refreshed and limber than before. "That could've gone a lot worse," he stated briefly while beginning to trot along with the group, not bothering to explain the reason for his seemingly random aerial stunts.

((I'm sure it doesn't matter but Stunts check for that was: 18(roll) +13 (stunts) = 31))

((Edit: Forgot to add my +5 to Flying from "Freaky Knowledge", so it would've been 36 instead, not that it makes a difference))

"ooh." Whisper clapped (clopped?) her hooves in enjoyment of the brief show.

XandZero2 wrote:
She focuses on you again, still smiling brightly, actually looking pretty cute in the rose-red light, "I almost forgot!"

She whips out her notepad and another pen from her uniform, scribbles something down, then rips off a page and hands it to you. "Here's my address. Come see me sometime."

Coffee says teasingly. "I'm pretty sure you'd arrest me if I didn't."

As she puts up her pen and pad, she adds, "-And just one other little thing. You know Whisper, right? I was wondering if you could deliver a message for me?"

"Sure."

((Oh, you walked right into this one...))

Captain Force's smile widens and her eyes narrow. "Tell her that next time she gets in my way, I'll do this to her."

Before you have enough time to ask what this could be, Force adds in a flat tone, "-Break his legs."

As the red glow from Lock's horn grows brighter and Crowd Control closes in, Force raises a hoof, "WAIT!" She looks at you hard for a moment, "Okay, I changed my mind. -Just break one leg. Make it the left one. He seems to favor his right."

((BTW - If you hadn't schmoozed Captain Force, she would have just ordered them to break your whole body))

Coffee Mug felt a magical force press down on his back, driving him onto his knees. Crowd Control maneuvered to his rear left leg as Captain Force stood and watched. Coffee felt a strong pressure on his leg and he grit his teeth, preparing for the inevitable crunch...

"Nothing personal, handsome," Force assured Coffee, tossing back her long, pink mane, "but you got a bad taste in friends. I hope this doesn't change anything between us though. I really do like you-"

Suddenly, something - or somepony - landed on the pavement in front of Coffee with a hard thud.

Coffee got a good look at the back of a trenchcoat, then the coat's owner spun round on his hoof and Coffee caught sight of a mask and fedora, as well as a gun - right before something shot out of it and whizzed over Coffee's head, leaving a trail of rope unraveling behind.

There was an "OOF!" from Crowd Control, and then the pressure on Coffee's leg was gone.

The newcomer in the trenchcoat threw down his gun and charged Lock & Key, spinning around and bucking him in the face, knocking the brown unicorn off his hooves and onto the street, his horn still flashing red with energy. As Coffee's savior leapt back and away, he landed right beside him.

"Get up," he muttered, his voice gruff and short-tempered.

-Coffee Mug realized he could stand up again, and he did just that ((or he could stay down if you want?)).

Meanwhile, Captain Force had been watching the whole show without saying so much as a word, but now she stomped her hoof down.

"Oh," she said, "this is too good. First I have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mug here," she nods at Coffee, "Studs like him don't come around every night you know," then her gaze locks on the newcomer, "and now I run into you of all ponies - the illusive masked vigilante at the top of everypony's hit list - Theorycraft. How've the dumpsters been treating you, Theory?"

Theorycraft ignored the Captain completely, kneeling down, picking up his grappling gun with one hoof, pressing a button. The rope reeled back in - along with a large grappling hook. It locked back into place as Theorycraft looked around. Both Crowd Control and Lock & Key were rising back to their feet.

Theorycraft looked at Coffee Mug, a face of strange black patterns shifting across white fabric, "They want me. Get out of here while you still can."

((Yeah, I was really debating whether to have TC jump in before or after you got your leg broken, but I thought before would make more of a lasting impression.

Also, Cardbo, to answer your question about the "Want It, Need It" spell - I'd say just about anything's possible if you can roll high enough on your Arcana check. I'd count that spell as a pretty hard DC though.))

XandZero2 wrote:

"Nothing personal, handsome," Force assured Coffee, tossing back her long, pink mane, "but you got a bad taste in friends. I hope this doesn't change anything between us though. I really do like you-"

"This is going to be one of those -difficult- relationships, isn't it."

Theorycraft looked at Coffee Mug, a face of strange black patterns shifting across white fabric, "They want me. Get out of here while you still can."

((Yeah, I was really debating whether to have TC jump in before or after you got your leg broken, but I thought before would make more of a lasting impression.

"Sorry, no can do. I believe the Captain and I have issues to resolve."

OOC: Roll Initiative
Roll(1d20)+0:
7,+0
Total:7


[+3] Piercing Moonbeam(Draw Blood)
Target creature suffers 1 ongoing damage (save ends)

[+1] Mini Meteor (Fireball)
Deal 1d8 damage to target creature and each creature adjacent to the target.

[+1] Stellar Energy(Gather Energy)
On your next turn, you may take 2 standard actions. You cannot use this talent two turns in a row.

[-3] Eclipse (Despair)
Deal 2d12 to all enemies with save-ends effects.

[-3] Billyuns of Stars!(Confusion)
Target creature suffers confusion (save ends). A creature suffering confusion flips a coin when it attacks. If it loses the flip the attack targets a random enemy instead.

Cardbo wrote:
"Sorry, no can do. I believe the Captain and I have issues to resolve."

"Suit yourself," Theorycraft muttered, crouching low, ready to pounce on whoever was brave enough to strike him first.

"If this is about the whole leg-breaking thing," Captain Force said, crouching into a combat stance of her own, "it's called tough love, baby. -YOU TWO," she glanced at Lock & Key and Crowd Control, forming up on either side of her, "Make sure Theorycraft doesn't escape." She tossed back her pink mane and smiled at Coffee, "The unicorn's mine."

((TC got an 8 on Initiative and Force and Friends got a 9.

Initiative Order:
Force and Friends
Theorycraft
Coffee Mug

TC's taking:
Single-Minded Determination (Perfect Focus), Against the Odds, Dark as It Gets (Furious Rage), Come and Get Me (Defender), Martial Arts (Knife in the Dark), ...When You Are (Meditate) ))

Crowd Control leaps into the air - and before you've had a chance to realize what’s happening, a bolt of lightning splits the night sky - striking Crowd Control herself. She grits her teeth, bares it (taking only 1 damage), and as the lightning dissipates her body is bathed in arcing electricity that sparks and shimmers across her coat. A stray spark spikes out and hits Theorycraft for 4 damage.

Lock & Key's horn glows a dark crimson, and an iron mask materializes around Theorycraft's head - clamping shut and locking with a resounding click (TC's blinded).

As the other officers engage Theorycraft, Captain Force charges straight at you, smashing into Coffee Mug for 4 damage. As you stagger back, she winks at you, "Think of that as a love tap."

Meanwhile Theorycraft holsters his grappling gun, takes a deep breath (Perfect Focus), and smashes his hoof against the side of the iron mask encasing his skull. The mask splits in two straight down the center, falling to the pavement in two pieces (he broke out of the blind effect).

((TC - HP: 26, PiPs: 6, Damage Resist: 3

It's Coffee Mug's turn. Remember to note your current HP and PiPs at the end of each post.

Also, I'm going to get to everypony else too, just bare with me guys.))

Meanwhile, across town...

After being lead through a few more twists and turns (by a certain sock-white pony), you finally arrive at your destination...

((Drum-roll please!))

WHISPER'S PLACE!

As you approach the building in the darkness, the moon breaks through the clouds, it's soft yellow light reflecting on the water of a canal that runs past Whisper's place on the opposite side of your approach. By the light of the moon you can also make out vague details of the building itself - what looks to be an old, three story shop with a view of the main street across the canal. You can see other shops of similar make spread up and down this side of the canal, and you can imagine (or know - in Whisper's case) that at one time this used to be a relatively popular and vibrant shopping district.

-Now however, it's little more than a ghost town.

Even in the semi-dark, you can see boards covering windows, condemned signs hung over doors. Graffiti covers many of the buildings, and those windows that aren't boarded up are broken - their glass scattered about an extended sidewalk covered in rusty benches, trash, and overgrown gardens.

As you get closer to Whisper's place, you see it fits right in with it's surroundings. The three-story building has the same broken windows, the same graffiti coating, and to top it off, an old sign hanging from the second floor reading, Kung-Pow-

-The third part of the sign, which used to make the name, Kung-Pow-Wow! has collapsed onto the concrete next to the front door, where it now rests in relative disgrace.

((I'll leave you to make opening remarks/first impressions before you enter Whisper's pad proper...

BTW - I mentioned how I don't like giving things for free before, right?))

XandZero2 wrote:
"If this is about the whole leg-breaking thing," Captain Force said, crouching into a combat stance of her own, "[i]it's called tough love, "

"Oh well, then I guess you'll be on cloud 9 after the tough love I'm about to dish out.

As the other officers engage Theorycraft, Captain Force charges straight at you, smashing into Coffee Mug for 4 damage. As you stagger back, she winks at you, "Think of that as a love tap."

Coffee wipes a bit of blood of his face.

"Feels about right for a massage."

OOC:Everyone starts at 4 pips right?

[-3] Billyuns of Stars!(Confusion)
Target creature suffers confusion (save ends). A creature suffering confusion flips a coin when it attacks. If it loses the flip the attack targets a random enemy instead.

Coffee stares directly in Captain Force's eyes. An illusion of a star field crosses her field of vision. When it passes, she see no longer one Coffee Mug, but three.

OOC:Coffee, HP 26, 1 Pip

"Looks... lovely." Clue Seeker said as he kicked at a pile of dirt and rubble. "How long did you say you were gone, Miss Whisper?"

Clue Seeker turned his head to take in more of the scenery. He wasn't a stranger to unusual sights but the thought that a young mare like Whisper lived in a place like this seemed a bit foreign to him. Something in the corned of his eye drew his attention: it was a broken piece of wood with the word Wow! on it. Trailing his gaze up, he soon saw the other half of said broken sign.

'Kung-Pow-Wow?'

---

I'd like to roll History to see what I can recall of said Kung-Pow-Wow! shop, if that's alright.
[19 + 11 History = 30]
Am I glad I switched training to History ^^

Whisper gives a sad little "Ohh." when she sees the state of the place.

Replying to Clue Seeker she says, clearly somewhat saddened, "A few years. I didn't know it had got this bad. I....I guess we should try and clean the place up real quick and just lay our heads down. We own the top two floors. Not that I guess it matters."

Cardbo wrote:

XandZero2 wrote:
As the other officers engage Theorycraft, Captain Force charges straight at you, smashing into Coffee Mug for 4 damage. As you stagger back, she winks at you, "Think of that as a love tap."

Coffee wipes a bit of blood off his face.

"Feels about right for a massage."

OOC:Everyone starts at 4 pips right?

[-3] Billyuns of Stars!(Confusion)
Target creature suffers confusion (save ends). A creature suffering confusion flips a coin when it attacks. If it loses the flip the attack targets a random enemy instead.

Coffee stares directly in Captain Force's eyes. An illusion of a star field crosses her field of vision. When it passes, she see no longer one Coffee Mug, but three.

OOC:Coffee, HP 26, 1 Pip

"Wow," Captain Force exclaims, suddenly feeling a little light-headed. She staggers back and forth on her hooves like a punch drunk boxer, visions of Coffee Mug spinning around in her eyes. "It must be my lucky night..." She raises a hoof, "Don't worry fellas. Plenty enough Force to go around."

Force tries to steady herself, slips, catches herself, then shakes herself, kicks up some dust - and swings out wildly with a front hoof, smacking herself in the face (8 damage).

"You pack quite a punches, handsomes," she mutters, continuing to stagger about aimlessly (still confused).

Meanwhile, Crowd Control calls another lightning bolt down on herself, gritting her teeth and baring the pain (6 damage to CC) while lightning sparks out to shock Theorycraft as well (5 damage to TC, counting Resist 3).

Lock & Key's horn glows dark red again, and another iron mask slams shut around Theorycraft's head (TC is Blinded again).

"Give up, vigilante!" Crowd Control yells, her coat sparking with the electricity coarsing through it, "You can't beat us! I'm almost at full charge!"

Theorycraft shifts his stance and nods towards CC, "Then come and get me..." (Theorycraft's using Meditate).

The iron mask remains securely fastened to his head (Still Blinded).

((TC is currently at HP: 21, PiP: 5

Coffee's turn.))

Coffee horn glows and a small meteor focused on Force falls on her.

OOC:
[+1] Mini Meteor (Fireball)
Deal 1d8 damage to target creature and each creature adjacent to the target.

Roll(1d8)+0:
2,+0
Total:2
All enemies take 2 damage.

OOC:Coffee, HP 26, 2 Pip

Ramsus wrote:Replying to Clue Seeker she says, clearly somewhat saddened, "A few years. I didn't know it had got this bad. I....I guess we should try and clean the place up real quick and just lay our heads down. We own the top two floors. Not that I guess it matters."

"Wow, um ... sorry," Blade says to Whisper with a apologetic look. "Well lets take a look inside. This might take a while," he says with a sigh, somewhat wishing he'd taken the option of making a cloud bed instead, but not wanting to mention it now. He trots closer to the building and stops beside Clue Seeker, not because he's interested in the sign, but because he can't think of any comforting words to say to Whisper.

((Happy birthday Ramsus))

Ramsus wrote:Whisper gives a sad little "Ohh." when she sees the state of the place.

Replying to Clue Seeker she says, clearly somewhat saddened, "A few years. I didn't know it had got this bad. I....I guess we should try and clean the place up real quick and just lay our heads down. We own the top two floors. Not that I guess it matters."

After recovering from the initial shock, Whisper walks up to the front door of the shop and draws her key.

She slips it into the doorknob...

- And the whole door collapses inward. It hits the ground with a loud thud, sending up thick plumes of dust ((EVERYPONY MAKE AN ENDURANCE CHECK!)).

As you sputter and cough, you can only assume the door wasn't very secure on it's hinges... or perhaps Whisper doesn't know her own strength?

In either case, it's completely dark past the threshold.

((And I need to PM Dr Blight...

Yes, Nightvision will be very handy in this quest (and my campaign) if you haven't guessed already. After all, all the interesting stuff happens at night.

-And it's Ramsus' birthday today?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

You unlocked a new song in the soundroom...

Spoiler:

^If you take offense, I apologize in advance ))

Getting to Whisper's apartment is a quest?
And crap, Clue Seeker's endurance is far on the low side.
[15 + 5 Endurance = 20]
Well, that could have gone a lot worse. Probably still am going to get covered in/inhale some dust, I suppose.

Oh god, tell me there aren't any, like, pony junkies using this place as a crackhouse, right?

Yes, Nightvision will be very handy in this quest (and my campaign) if you haven't guessed already. After all, all the interesting stuff happens at night.

I'm so going to buy myself a headlamp first thing in the morning.

It could give away our position whenever you'd use it

Because we're the kind of ponies that will ninja into the night?

Demonu wrote:Oh god, tell me there aren't any, like, pony junkies using this place as a crackhouse, right?.

((Nonono, the crack-house in next door. This is the squat spot. Also might wanna re-think that headlamp idea. It could give away our position whenever you'd use it. Also-)) Endurance check: 2 (Roll) + 15 (Endurance) = 17... well at least I didn't roll a 1!

((Endurance: 5+9= 14. Also not a 1 but, still lower than you....

lol, that song amused me. Because it was funny. Because it was true. Which is why it's funny. *cries/laughs/ruins Xand's slice of the cake*

I'm on board with the headlamp plan. It will probably improve Whisper's stealth skills.))

*cough cough* "Well, I knew we'd have to dust a bit but, this is ridiculous. Blade Blocker, you're a pegasus right? (why is she actually asking that?) You think you could....do something about the worst of this? I don't think we have to worry about you knocking over the potted plants."

((3(roll)+8(endurance)=11. Yup, Chitin's catching rare dusty lycanthropy or whatever we're attempting to endure. But at least she'll be able to see you all in the dark when it happens XD))

---

Chitin was quiet at she stared at the beat down looking house for a moment. "I didn't know places like this actually existed outside of old nightmare night specials." She blinked surprised when the door came down and tried to cover her snout with a hoof, coughing as she tried to peer into the darkness.

---

((14(roll)+11(perception)=25 because I assume we'll have to.))

Whisper and Chitin are overwhelmed by a horrible fit of coughing, as the dust hits them square in the face ((take 2 damage each)). Blade Blocker and Clue Seeker are able to keep their composure though, waving a hoof in front of their faces to fan the stuff away.

((I'm going to wait for you guys to decide on some plan of stumbling around in the dark. I also want to give Dr. Blight some time to mention what Chitin's seeing past the hacking and coughing. Then we'll continue.))

"Now that we got that out of the way." Clue Seeker said as he dusted some dirt of his jacket, "I suggest we get moving."

He looked around. "Second and third floor you said, Miss Whisper? Should be a staircase around here somewhere."

Peering into the darkness,* Clue Seeker still deemed it a bit too dark to venture into blindly. Better safe than sorry, he thought as he turned to Dawn Trek.

"Miss Dawn Trek, I hate to ask but you do seem to have a better sight during the night. Could you kindly take a look inside and tell us what you see?"

---

*Rolling to see if I can spot a staircase or the like [6 + 15 Perception = 21] but with the darkness penalty, I'll probably see nothing. If not, I'll edit my comment.