Who You Gonna Call?

Rhinestone briefly glared at Hallows, but found she didn't have it in her to have any true vitriol. "Guh. Whatever, I'd sleep on a pile of rocks at this point, just give me a flat surface."

"Yes..." Hallows lightly pushes Gallows off of her, and he leans onto Rhinestone to continue sleeping. "Sounds like a good idea..." She then walks over to the slot machines and begins toying with over of them, seeing how it works, and how it can be made to not work.

---

Perception, looking out for authorities, and looking at details of the machine: 11+10=21
Mechanics, basically trying to jury rig a jackpot, and otherwise get money out of it: 19+7=26
Stealth, if need be: 9+7=16 (hopefully not)

Sweet Puff sighs and pulls out a hooffull of brownish candies. "Here, each of these candies has three cups of coffee worth of caffeine in it. Take one so we can get done and get out of here!" Sweet Puff then downs the other half of her drink. "My teeth don't rot becuase I actually brush them five times a day, like my Dentist tells me to."

Bronymous wrote:"Yes..." Hallows lightly pushes Gallows off of her, and he leans onto Rhinestone to continue sleeping. "Sounds like a good idea..." She then walks over to the slot machines and begins toying with over of them, seeing how it works, and how it can be made to not work.

The station doesn't seem that heavily guarded, because nothing bad EVER happens at train stations, right guys?

Anyway, the slot machines are simple enough in design - put in money, pull the one arm, and it causes three wheels to spin. The wheels stop shortly thereafter showing a picture and if three pictures in a row line up, you get money. But everypony/jackal knows this, and by looking at the various images on each wheel, Hallows can see that this particular slot machine is rigged so as to hit a winning combination less often than a machine in one of the casinos in Las Pegasus proper. She's not able to jury rig a jackpot and get all the money in the machine, but she does get three BARs in a row and earns 500 bits. In messing around with the slot machine, though, she finds a small beeping device that beeps faster as she messes with the (rather basic) wiring.

The beepong device holds Hallows' attention, right up until the winning combination spins into place. She then sits there dumbfounded at all the money that begins pouring at her paws. In all honesty, it was more money than she's ever seen in her life- but she wasn't about to tell anyone else that. "Uh... Not bad for a first time." She says slowly, and begins raking the bits in, unsure of what to actually do with them. "Uh, hmm. Does anyone have a bag I can borrow?" She blushes at the question, obviously embarrassed of what it might imply.

Gallows just peacefully snores into Rhinestone's side.

---

Why can't I hold all these limes bits?

A bleary-eyed White Whisper grabs one of the candies Sweet Puff offered - oh yeah, no sleep necessary for him, but don't get enough sleep and see what happens, right. Fair. Entirely fair -and pops it in his mouth. "Thanks," he murmurs, then drops his voice lower as a devilish ring sounds its edges. "Now who wants to see our jackal friend get arrested for rigging a slot machine?"

Maverick watched with fascination. "I don't. She's not even doing it as efficiently as it could be. Let's go; I think we want the Samara. That way," he says, pointing into the city as he starts walking towards it.

Streetsmarts:

Bronymous wrote: "Uh... Not bad for a first time." She says slowly, and begins raking the bits in, unsure of what to actually do with them.

As she does, she catches a glimpse of two dusty-brown ponies wearing smoking jackets and sunglasses, one with glasses, a mustache, and brown hair combed down to the sides of his head, the other with a black, greased-down mane. The two of them seem to be looking in her direction, briefly look back at each other, then back at Hallows.

Crystalite wrote:Maverick watched with fascination. "I don't. She's not even doing it as efficiently as it could be. Let's go; I think we want the Samara. That way," he says, pointing into the city as he starts walking towards it.

Finding the Samara isn't hard. Las Pegasus is home to all sorts of big and flashy buildings, after all. Surprisingly, though, even at this early hour Las Pegasus is full of a bunch of pushy tourists, so the actual walk there is slow going.

Hallows, still unsure of the whole situation, shakes Gallows awake. "Shumin.. Tastycakes! Huh?" "Help me with this!" She demands in a hushed tone, despite being in a crowded area in broad daylight. "Whoa, where'd you get-" Hallows is cut off by the sudden intrusion of his sisters paw in his mouth. "Quiet, just help me and let's go!" He nods, and the two of them begin scooping up the bits, in their front legs, on their backs, in their mouths, any which way they can be carried.

---

Teamwork works better with a team, just saying.
What roll do I need here?

Maverick rolled his eyes in disgust. "You're going to drop those. And you're making a scene! I'd rather we not get mugged today either, thank you. Here," He said in an annoyed voice as he shuffled around in his bags. He ended up removing a stack of Munchkin cards, a box of ring shaped magnets, several notebooks, and a hoof full of peculiar looking dice and putting them here and there in order to toss the jackals an empty cloth satchel. He telekineticly scooped the bits into the satchel and shoved it at them. "Can we go now?"

As the party heads through the streets of Las Pegasus, they remain unmolested by muggers and, surprisingly, security guards. It could just be the early hours, though. After about twenty minutes (it would have been ten but for the crowded streets) of walking the party arrives in the front lobby of the Samara. It's big, stretching at least a hundred yards across and three stories up, and decorated to look like a somewhat fancier version of the surrounding desert. Strung along the ceiling are three large banners, reading "CRAZY HASSAN AT THE OASIS STORE - 15th-21st", "CLOCK WATCHERS CONFERENCE - BALLROOM A @3" and "CASINO ->". In the middle of the front lobby is a large palm tree surrounded by water, which is in turn roped off and guarded by a sign that reads "DO NOT CROSS!" Six ponies are running the front desk, two of which look like the two earth ponies from the station, sunglasses and all.

A message comes in from Dr. Spengler.

Message:

---

Rates per room are 70 bits per night. So if you want you can go straight to your rooms after paying and sleep, or you could INVESTIGATE! OOOOOH!

Hallows walks up to the front desk, bag of bits in her teeth. Noticing that the ponies at the desk look like the ones at the station, she hesitates. Setting the bag down between her paws, she then asks, "Uh... room for two please?"

Gallows, meanwhile, goes over to look at the palm tree, but is distracted glancing back at his sister and the rest of the group every so often.

---

Perception on the crime scene palm tree:
4+10=14

And yes, not-a-clever-jackal is talking to the ones from the station, and not the other ones.

Maverick arched an eyebrow before sending his first impression:

Message wrote:what are we supposed to do?

Bronymous wrote:Hallows walks up to the front desk, bag of bits in her teeth. Noticing that the ponies at the desk look like the ones at the station, she hesitates. Setting the bag down between her paws, she then asks, "Uh... room for two please?"

Gallows, meanwhile, goes over to look at the palm tree, but is distracted glancing back at his sister and the rest of the group every so often.

The two ponies speak quickly, one right after the other.

"Absolutely." We can get you a room." "We can get you the best room." "The most luxurious of suites." "But still reasonable." "For a luxury suite." "More expensive than a usual room but worth it." "Only 500 bits." "You wouldn't happen to have those bits now, would you?"

Gallows, meanwhile, can deduce that this is a palm tree. He doesn't find anything unusual about it.

Crystalite wrote:

Message wrote:what are we supposed to do?

A minute or so later another message comes in.

Message wrote:find out who wrote it and get information from them

"Oh brother," Maverick muttered at Spengler's response. His ears started to burn at "luxury suite" and "500 bits".

"It's not luxurious enough, I'm afraid; unless it can luxuriously accommodate six at the price you just mentioned," he pointed out, half expecting to get charged 3,000 bits for the idea...

Hallows shrinks back a bit looks at the bag, then back at the ponies, bag, ponies. She looks away and says quietly "Uh, oh, that's... not..." Clearly uncomfortable with the situation, everyones else she says is mumbled so low that is impossible to understand.

"A room is only 70 Bits a night? I can pay for all of us for a week! "This is when inflation is a good thing, I guess! Unless everypony is going to be paying for themselves?" Sweet Puff says, looking around at the group.

Bronymous wrote:Hallows shrinks back a bit looks at the bag, then back at the ponies, bag, ponies. She looks away and says quietly "Uh, oh, that's... not..." Clearly uncomfortable with the situation, everyones else she says is mumbled so low that is impossible to understand.

Crystalite wrote:"It's not luxurious enough, I'm afraid; unless it can luxuriously accommodate six at the price you just mentioned," he pointed out, half expecting to get charged 3,000 bits for the idea...

The two ponies look at each other, then back to Maverick.

"We can get a suite like that." "A suite to accommodate six." "We understand the need for company." "It is, after all, Las Pegasus." "Of course, that would be a more expensive suite." "Far more expensive." "3,000 bits."

Copper Rose wrote:"A room is only 70 Bits a night? I can pay for all of us for a week! "This is when inflation is a good thing, I guess! Unless everypony is going to be paying for themselves?" Sweet Puff says, looking around at the group.

Maverick may or may not hear Sweet Puff offer this up...

"I thought as much," Maverick sighed, rubbing a spot just below the base of his horn. "At that rate we ought to be getting personal attendants to feed us grapes while we lay on couches. I think not..." His ears burned again at Sweet Puff's comment. 70 times 6 is 420. The two jackals would undoubtedly want to share a room; that brought it down to 350. "I think we'll just take the normal, 70 bit rooms, if you please. Five of them." He turned to Hallows and Gallows. "You two get to share. I seriously suspect you might explode or something if you were in separate rooms... unless, of course, the hotel ponies would reconsider their original offer of a room for six at 500. If not, I suppose we could check Sombra's Palace," he reverted back to the clerks as he said this, and ever so slight smile playing onto his lips. He knew that they couldn't book that room regularly; they were likely making a desperate bid to book to somepony. Maybe he could play that and get a nice place at a fraction of the cost a more successful hotel might. Such as Sombra's Palace...

Persuasion:

White Whisper applied a hoof to his forehead, but gently. Very gently. No need to insult the guy's haggling skills overtly.

...but come on, you can't just say what all your options are out loud like that, that makes it obvious-

Alright, alright, alright, alright. Calm down. 3000 bits. That sounded like too much. Were they really telling the truth, these ponies? Sex and violence aside, Las Pegasus was primarily a city of lies after all. White Whisper carefully swept a single opened eye over the two in front of him, hoping that these two might turn out as transparent as the ghosts he'd soon be fighting.

Spoiler:

Hallows just shrinks away with her bag, unable or unwilling to contribute any further. Gallows eventually makes his way up to her, and they both sit passively and wait for the others to work out the deal.

---

Dont have anything to help with a nat 1, and a nat 20 defeats the purpose of ALLLLLL of my assist abilities- which are ALLLLL of my abilities.

I do have Grandeur though, so everyone remember to tack on a +1 to all your rolls.

Crystalite wrote:"You two get to share. I seriously suspect you might explode or something if you were in separate rooms... unless, of course, the hotel ponies would reconsider their original offer of a room for six at 500. If not, I suppose we could check Sombra's Palace," he reverted back to the clerks as he said this, and ever so slight smile playing onto his lips. He knew that they couldn't book that room regularly; they were likely making a desperate bid to book to somepony. Maybe he could play that and get a nice place at a fraction of the cost a more successful hotel might. Such as Sombra's Palace...

The ponies smirk, one of them yanking on Maverick's coat.

"Oh, come on." "Do you take us for fools?" "A pony like you, wearing such a FANCY coat?" "And still trying to haggle down the price?" "To such an absurd level?" "It's almost like you can't afford our rates." "Almost like you're nothing more than a common thief."

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Alright, alright, alright, alright. Calm down. 3000 bits. That sounded like too much. Were they really telling the truth, these ponies? Sex and violence aside, Las Pegasus was primarily a city of lies after all. White Whisper carefully swept a single opened eye over the two in front of him, hoping that these two might turn out as transparent as the ghosts he'd soon be fighting.

Spoiler:

White Whisper notices several things. One, the other four ponies at the checkout counter are wearing ID badges. These ponies are not. Two, they are clearly the same ponies from the train station, and not just look-alikes, and Whisper remembers those ponies being very interested in the dropped bits. Three, they each have a concealed holster for something - likely a weapon. This indicates that these two are most certainly not workers at the Samara and are may be dangerous.

Whisper sighed deeply, a sound that reminded one of lovelorn poets and dropped milkshakes. "Right. None of us have time for this. Look, how about you both keep yer traps shut about any theoretical thieving that may or may not be going on here, and in the interest of open and free communication..."

A couple holsters, surreptitiously opened a split-second beforehand, gave way to two entire guns of moderately good craftsmanship and, apparently, strange powers involving levitation and gentle green glows. "We won't tell the constabulary, the cops, or the local police about your half-baked attempt to swindle us out of our hard earned bits, and perhaps not even hotel security if you're extra good. Also, we won't peep about your concealed weapons, which - here I do believe I'm stepping out on the shortest limb on the assumption tree- I'm going to say you do not have a license to carry."

Spoiler:

Maverick was nothing if not creative. He knew the limits of his Telekinesis; and he knew the conceal-carry laws. Particularly regarding knives; it doesn't qualify as a weapon knife unless it was at least three inches long. And there was little limit to how many his coat could carry. He stepped back as White Whisper pulled a gun out, and shifted slightly as he readied his Knife Storm spell in the event that trouble started...

Meta:

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:A couple holsters, surreptitiously opened a split-second beforehand, gave way to two entire guns of moderately good craftsmanship and, apparently, strange powers involving levitation and gentle green glows. "We won't tell the constabulary, the cops, or the local police about your half-baked attempt to swindle us out of our hard earned bits, and perhaps not even hotel security if you're extra good. Also, we won't peep about your concealed weapons, which - here I do believe I'm stepping out on the shortest limb on the assumption tree- I'm going to say you do not have a license to carry."

The ponies' jackets get ripped as their guns don't question how something without opposable digits can use firearms are yanked from the holsters, making a decent amount of noise. Silence falls across the lobby, and White Whisper can feel the gaze of several ponies on him. The two ponies tilt their sunglasses down, looking back and forth briefly, before smirking.

"In the interest of open and free communication..." "We DO have concealed carry licenses." "And I will join you on your assumption tree." "Because I assume you don't know that holding guns out in the open..." "Looks a whole lot worse than having them securely on hand." "But we're feeling quite generous." "So we'll make you a deal." "Give us back our service weapons." "And we'll let this blow over." "Give us back the ill-gotten bits." "We'll let everything else blow over." "So long as you keep your heads down." "We can't guarantee your safety if you don't, after all."

---

Since two players have expressed something close to disappointment, there's still a chance for a fight in the middle of town...

---

Crystalite wrote:Prepping Element Master (Metal). I forget how long that is...

Also, maybe I just didn't catch the sarcasm, but Maverick's coat is hardly fancy (Appearance wise.)

(Five seconds, and it's sarcasm.)