Changeling Investigations OOC (needs no more players)

...Is anybody else going to post?

I've got nothing...

Ember's busy cowering in the corner 'cause she doesn't have the confidence to enter into a shouting match.

Already mentioned Ruby's afraid of embarassing herself, so I avoided a post at this juncture. I think that's everypony.

May I trade out one of my combat talents? Right now I really wanta trade out my Friendly Encouragement for Gather Energy... But if I gotta wait for a level up I'll be fine with that.

Bronymous wrote:Roll: 15+5(just knowledge?)= 20
We should find a way to extricate ourselves from this situation before a certain group member gets exposed for what they really are.

It depends whether it is true, how violent the reaction is if it is true and how many ponies are concious to remember it if the react is fairly violent.

Well it's not like if it is true, THAT'S going to be the thing that keys everyone in. It's not like you not wearing any iron is something conspicuous.

And while we're making this roll, can we add general metals to the list of things known? Steel, lead, etc.

It occurs to me that Masterweaver never described the EARS soldiers. I'm assuming some sort of armour, a belt for their grenades, and a face mask to avoid the gas they use for the purposes of my taunt. Armour is never worn directly against the skin, even on horses they use leather-and-mail in proper medieval times to avoid it ripping open chunks of their skin while marching.

They were using skin tight suits, night-vision breath masks, and belts of flashbangs. The general impression is that they were playing soldier and not actually being soldiers.

So solidly nothing touching metal. Good.

Territorial bickering brought on by hormones between two female Pegasi? And only one suitable male Pegasus nearby...

I think we should explore this further. If nothing else, getting to watch a girl fight is always positive gain.

Don't suppose you ever read Xenophilia? It's HiE fanfic, and it does have clop, but it has a remarkable (what, 100k odd word) story to it about the societal structures of ponies with reference both to real horse ecology (that the alpha is a mare, not a stallion), and with respect to the pronounced gender disparity in the series.

In short, you should never put two dominant of the same animal in the same room. Try putting two pretty beta fish in the same tank... If you want PETA to kill you. You notice Fluttershy, while assertive, switches to complete submissive when RD is nearby...

EDIT: But there isn't just one suitable mate. Tribalism is so last century. Besides, RD is stuck up. Oh, she's also asexual by her own admittance in this universe.

Perhaps, but sexual preference means nothing to hormones. At that level, any tension can be sexual tension, and sexual tension is fueled by the inherent need to reproduce. Hormones are all about jumpstarting the body into being ready and willing to do so. So even if she's unwilling to act on anything like that- or if she's even aware of those urges- if it's hormonal AND territorial, then she, at the most subliminal level of her subconscious, is doing it to present a strong candidacy for reproduction with another strong candidate. And if we are suggesting the idea of females being alphas, then she's showing her strength and declaring herself the alpha, so as to be the ideal mate with any of the herd that she chooses.

Subconsciously. Gentically.

Probably.

And if I'm wrong, hey, throw a punch. Girl fight.

You're right, the herd alpha would be a display of sexual dominance in non-sapient beings, but with intelligent life, well, it's more of a "my clique" (which is pronounced cleek, not "click") thing. If you look at any decent-sized group of friends, you can often see an Alpha among them: The one deciding they should go out that night, where they go, if buddy system is required... The domineering one. Others contribute, but one will do so far more than the rest. It is really subtle, but fascinating to see. It's nothing sexual anymore, its just a group with one person who always seems to know where they should check out that new place, or go see a movie. In fact, it can almost be an anti-sexual position, with conspicuous generosity theory thrown in the mix (The alpha doesn't try to pick up guys/girls while they're at a bar, instead letting the group all have a shot at it while they make sure no one goes with anyone sketchy while they're inebriated.)

In our case, indeed, RD is making a play at being Alpha by implying we don't know what to do (even if we actually don't), she is asserting her superiority. Unrelated to that, she is being territorial about "her" skies. Two separate things at once.

As for throwing a punch, not a chance. Ruby is still self-conscious, and RD has implied her rank superiority, even if they don't want to use ranks, RD still pulled rank on us anyway, and Ruby will acknowledge that: RD is the dominant here. Not through charisma or skill, just longevity, but dominant nonetheless.

Ahh, psychology in a game about a show about technicolour ponies.

She can pull rank all she wants, but if no one else in the group is willing to take that into account, then there's no reason I should (barring characterization). As for where Flashpoint stands on all of this, he's just trying to wrap his head around her flimsy, waffly accusations and blame shifting to him. Not something that one of Higher rank should be doing- at least not down the chain. She can whine about it to her superiors all she wants. I failed to do my job which simultaneously wasn't my job to be doing, and that she was blatantly interfering with- especially when she had no idea what my job was to begin with. Then she claims it was actually her job, and that I interfered with her doing it, even though if we were both doing it there should have been no interference. I like to give the DM the benefit of the doubt, but I can't help but wonder if making RD sound completely stupid and out of depth was intentional, or he really didn't have a good answer to my plan.

But, benefit of the doubt. SO Flashpoint now considers Rainbow dash to be incredibly dense. And she's dreaming if she thinks I'm going to pay that fine.

I'm worried regarding the orphanage, just in general though I think there may be a subplot or even an entire storyline related to it.
...Egads I sound wierd.

Doc pseudopolis wrote:I'm worried regarding the orphanage.

Considering our track record, we should burn it to the ground before investigating just to be 100% sure. I'll go get my lantern oil.

Our record currently stands at having annoyed some foals and beaten up (well killing one) some rabble-rousers who attacked a peacful gathering.
I don't see why we should burn down an orphanage before investigating it.

Because if we go near it while it's still standing we'll be accused being changelings and or told we're doing something wrong when we aren't again. If we burn it down instead, we can circumvent that by just being a bunch of horrible arsonist assholes.

And I get to use my sparker horseshoes to light it. Can we tie Rainbow Dash to the side of it?

Quick, throw Ember at it!

I think two people didn't post yet...

I've been meaning to ask, because Pinkie's Brew has been made pointless... May I trade that out for the followin talent?

new utility talent:

Similarly may I trade in dillettante fir something?
Detect thoughts or telepathy most likely. So I have an incharacter reason for looking at ponies brains.

Detect Thoughts:

Telepathy:

Bam. That JUST happened. We are now investigating the possibility that Twilight Sparkle is a Changeling. Damn I'm good at this.

...Maybe if you've managed to convince the GM to use that as a story hook. I'll figure out how to stop Scootaloo being accused of being a changeling first though.