Dragon's Feud

Chassis tried to collect her thoughts into a coherent thought. Say she'll be fine. Decline the decaf. Perhaps resolve to cut back on her Mountain Dew intake while she's with Pumpkin.

With her thoughts in focus, she tries to speak.

"Rats cannot throw up. The pony that invented the theory of radioactivity also invented the treatment of radioactivity and dying of radioactivity. According to legend, the thunder god Thor's chariot was pulled across the sky by two goats. The value of Pi is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space."

On second thought, maybe decaf isn't a bad idea.

"She been to school, yes?" Peony looks down at the twitchy engineer. Helmaroc nods sagely. ~See what pony education does to you? Aren't you glad I taught you how to survive in the Forest instead?~

MP roll: 8 = no magic point....

"An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain."

Mossburg turns his head, until he can rotate a eye backward at Pumpkin.

"Information. Chassis has been known to consume caffinated beverages in significant quantities as well. She consumed two servings of the beverage known as Mountain Dew and one of another known as Rawberry prior to meeting you at Sweet Apple Acres."

Cherry, for her part, opened her eyes, looked grumpily at the cup of coffee presented to her, and then closed her eyes again, burying her head under the blankets.

[d20 = 17. No magic point today.]

Violet somewhat dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of a eagle carrying a violet Breezie, basically going into autopilot for a bit, smiling and nodding her head at the most appropriate and the most inappropriate spots in the conversation. She finally manages to snap back to reality when Coffee hands her a cup of coffee, "Well this group just got a lot more interesting."


Roll(1d20)+0:
10,+0
Total:10
no dice.

"... two cans and a Rawberry... huh, Pumpkin Spice echoes thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her hoof. "Hey, Mossberg? Could you keep track of her caffeine intake for me? It's like she has some kind of weird, and really sudden limit before she starts doing... whatever that is," she says, tilting her head towards the jittering, chattering mare. "I could totally do my thesis on this!"

She hovers over to the mound of blanket, full of grumpy pony. "You know, coffee helps me sleep. You should try it! You're really hyper for a while, and then the crash knocks you right out," she says as she hoofs a cup over to Violet as well as the mare zones back in.

"You look like you could use a pick me up," she says to Violet, giving her a playful nudge.

"...and two cups of espresso, another can of Rawberry, and fifteen cans of Mountain Dew prior to that."

"And I'm deliberately playing up the useless trivia thing," Chassis says. "I'm twitchy, and it's burning energy. Studies have shown that it takes a cat eight floors to realize it's falling, relax, and right itself. Ergo, a cat falling from the seventh floor of a building has 30% worse odds of survival than a cat falling from the twentieth floor."

The conversation serves to pass the time heading up the road- approximately 15 minutes, which at Mossberg's quick yet steady pace, puts the town nearly out of sight. As the big robot lumbers along, his hoof suddenly cracks the ground. Everyone can feel the earth suddenly shift, and give way, the wagon plummeting into a large, deep pit trap that looks like it was specifically designed to trap a wagon.

---

Everyone with wings (Helmaroc and Pumpkin Spice *and apparently Chassis*) can roll Acrobatics to react and fly out of harm's way.

Pumpkin Spice is sipping at her fifth cup of coffee of the day when suddenly there's a moment of weightless confusion as her insides lurch when the ground abruptly drops out from under her. The cup goes flying in a random direction, spilling its precious contents. With a yelp, the pegasus makes a grab for the nearest pony - Violet - and begins flapping her wings hard, trying to keep them both from falling and propel them away from the falling mass of the wagon.

Rolls:

As the wagon suddenly plunges downward, Chassis instinctively turns on her Arcane Utility Repulsor Array. She jumps before the AURA's effect takes hold, and starts to compensate too soon for the expected change in physics it hasn't imparted, yet. Chassis's magic aura converts into a self-levitation field around her in mid-tumble, and the adrenaline and caffeine in her system slow her perception of time enough to right herself and get clear before she can faceplant.

When the dust clears, her robot's voice echoes from the pit.

"Damage assessment. I have sustained no perceivable damage. I am distressed in my current location, and require immediate extraction."

Rolls:

~Oh~ Helmaroc caws. ~This is unexpected~

"WHAT!" Peony squeaks, thrown around in the bottle as Helmaroc adjusts her flight patterns to climb to a safe height. "WHAT GO ON?!"

~I'm not sure, Peo, but I'm certain we'll find out~

Acrobatics: 17 - 5 (Flight penalty) + 5 (Acrobatics) + 5 (FK:Flying) + 1 (Grandeur) + 1 (Coffee Break) + 1 (Trade) = 25

Instant Party:

Lucky took the coffee cup offered to him by Pumpkin Spice. He looked a couple of seconds at the dark brownish brew, even sniffing the scent, before he tentatively placed it back on the wagon. 'Thanks but I'm not a fan of coffee.' He explained. 'On the one hoof, the amount of caffeine I need to get going, I can't get from a single cup and it needs to be kickstarted anyway by sugar. On the other hoof,' He glanced at Pumpkin Spice as he tried to gauge her reaction to what he was about to say. Probably best to just go with the truth. 'I simply don't like the taste of it.' There was a bit more to that but he decided to reveal it slowly with the coffee enthousiast, lest she'd take offense to it.

He turned his attention back to the road. He was content with just following the rest of the group. Lucky had never felt the need to step up for leadership. Best let others deal with it: less responsibilities for him and less people to be angry at him in case things went south. Speaking of south, Lucky felt the ground give away beneath him when he put his left front hoof down. 'Uh oh.' Was all Lucky could mutter before he plummeted down into the hole in the road alongside the others.
Guess I walked right into that one.

As he was falling, Lucky looked up. It was a small comfort to him that at least not everyone has fallen in alongside him. The partymembers with wings seemed to be doing alright, what was more than could be said of the rest of them.
Help us, team Fagioloni, you are our only hope.

Violet feels the sudden transitions from normal motion to falling and then flight all in sequence before she can react. As she realizes that grabbed her she in return clings to the Pegasus. "Oh, Pumpkin my hero."

Helmaroc manages to flap clear of the wagon as it falls, alighting with Peony safely on the road. Pumpkin grabs Violet, who has just enough time to thank her before Pumpkin's grip slips, and Violet falls into the trap anyway, landing on top of the wagon while Pumpkin remains airborne. Chassis' flight rig barely manages to keep her from slamming into the ground, which it accomplishes mostly by slamming her into the wall, instead. She lands next to her discomforted robot, along with the rest who landed in the hole. The hole itself is rectangular in shape, and quite deep- roughly 35 feet or so into the ground. The walls also seem to be slanted inward, so that the bottom of the hole is a bit larger in area than the surface, and more importantly so that climbing would be quite difficult.

Outside the hole, there don't seem to be any dogs nearby, despite the trap going off...

---

Everyone can roll perception for where they are (in the hole, or outside the hole, respectively).
Everyone except Pumpkin and Peony (i.e. those who fell in the hole) roll Endurance.

Well, at least Chassis managed to right herself.

"Oww," she moans, rubbing her muzzle. "Need stabilizers."

She pulls her hoof away to check for blood, then takes in her surroundings.

Oh, good. She's in the pit with Mossburg. His face is as expressionless as ever, but the large robot's fidgeting betrays his anxiety immediately.

"Extraction required," Mossburg repeats. "Distress. Extraction required.".

Seeing the danger, Chassis calls out, "Everypony down here, get in the wagon!"

Instead of entering the wagon herself, Chassis levitates to the top of it with her horn alight.

Rolls:

"Yeah, I know. I'm pretty aweso- Aaack!"

THUMP!

Pumpkin Spice finds herself hovering alone, awkwardly. "Oh, Celestia send me to the moon. I'm sorry, Violet! Is everypony alright down there?" she calls, already flying down to the wagon in case any ponies are injured.

Rolls:

"Stupid dogs," Peony grumbles, peering down into the trap. "PONIES ALRIGHT?"

Helmaroc funnels her wings to magnify Peony's call a little so it reaches the party, but still keeps a sharp eye out for trouble, as is her job as a guardian eagle. ~If the dogs made the trap, they may be nearby. Be careful.~

Helmaroc's Perception: 14 + 6 + 1 +1 = 22 (+5 for FK: Spotting?)
Peony's Perception: 12 + 13 +1 + 1 = 27

Cherry received quite a rude awakening as she was dropped into the pit. Time seemed to slow for her as her Earth Pony senses rebelled against the feeling of free-fall. Fortunately, the bed beneath her cushioned her fall somewhat.

"Ugh," She said, shaking her head. "It's like the hotel scene in Recursion all over again."  She stood up, and immediately set about recovering her scattered equipment.

Perception Check: 8 (roll) + 1 (Granduer) + 1 (COFFEE) + 9 (skill) = 19

Endurance Check: 18 (roll) + 1 (Grandeur) + 1 (Okay, she didn't actually drink it but it's the thought that counts, right?) + 7 (skill) = 27.

"...Where'd the ground go?" Atlas mutters to himself, before pitching forward into the pit. Oh right - traps.

Twisting his body mid-fall, he adjusts for the distance, and curls himself into a ball - managing to come out of the fall with a perfect roll that absorbs the impact, standing upright quickly, already alert for trouble. "How are we doing? Anyone injured?"

Endurance: 8/20 (Long Runner roll) + 13 (Skill) + 1 (Grandeur) + 1 (Coffee Break) = 35!

Perception: 17 (Roll) + 10 (Skill) + 1 (Grandeur) + 2 (Coffee Break) = 29

Time slowed to a crawl as Lucky Shot tumbled into the hole, his entire body in free fall. His eyes shifted and focused on different things at different times. Pumpkin Spice had grabbed Violet and flew them both into the open air, though the latter seemed to start slipping from the orange coloured pony's hooves. Their latest eagle and breezy addition to the team managed to stay clear of the trap, as one would expect. The robot and its owner weren't so fortunate. Being the largest and heaviest, the robot fell on the ground with a resounding dull *thud* sound as Lucky watched Chassis slam into an earthen wall. The wagon, with Cherry in it Lucky remembered, slammed onto the ground after the robot, adding some metallic clangs to the ongoing chaos as its cargo got rattled into all directions. Atlas, on the other hoof, seemed to curl up into a ball, no doubt performing some kind of acrobatic feat to cushion his fall. That just left...

Me. Lucky thought as the ground edged ever dangerously closer. He had no wings nor the skills to do what his teammates were doing, let alone having the constitution to just take the hit and walk it off like he had seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash do a couple of times. Why, the last time he fell, having slipped on the stairs, he had sprained his ankle pretty badly. Yes, out of all the things that could have happened at this point, slamming face first into the dirt at the bottom of a pit seemed about the worst. If I'm lucky, perhaps I just need some days of bedrest at the hospital. Lucky ran down the possible consequences of swandiving into the earth. Would be a shame though, squandering my chance of being a hero by falling literally into the oldest trick in the book. And our little group just started to feel like friends. Lucky closed his eyes as doubt started to drift into his heart. Maybe I shouldn't have come in the first place...

Lucky had accepted his situation and was fully prepared to impersonate a meteor impact when, from a deep and dark corner of his mind, a familiar voice echoed itself into existance with a loud roar.
MAYBES ARE FOR BABIES!

Lucky's eyes shot open, a steely gaze permeating the darkness. As his resolve grew stronger, his body followed suit. A slight grin even crept up onto his face and for a fleeting moment, Lucky looked not like the pony he was but the pony he could be (you know, if he worked out regularly, ate healthy food and educated himself a bit more rather than lounging around on the couch most of the time)
Lucky bent both of his right legs and stretched out both of his left legs. He readied himself for impact. At the moment that his person hit the ground, he pointed his left front hoof behind him as he landed in a triangle formation with his right front hoof braced against the ground to support his legs. A perfect superhero landing if he had ever seen one.
Nailed it.

Lucky Shot got up, dusted himself off and looked around. 'Is everyone alright?' He shouted loud enough so that the ones not in the pit could hear him as well.
---------------------------------------
Perception roll: 12 + 13 + 1 = 26
Endurance roll: 3 (Derp = nat1) --> This Is Whining! skill tree (all nat1 = nat20) --> 20 + 8 + 1 = 29

Violet's face morphs into a mask of terror as she slips from the grip of Pumpkin's hooves. By the time she realizes that she is once again falling it is already too late for her to brace herself for impact or to attempt any acrobatics to lessen the fall. She slams into the pit barrel first and lies still for a moment before shakily pushing herself back onto her hooves. "Rule number six of being a hero, when performing a rescue handle with care ." She calls out up to Pumpkin through gritted teeth. She winces slightly as she turns her head to look about the pit. "So, anyone see anything?"

Dice rolls:

Damage:

---

As Chassis attends to Mossberg, Atlas, Violet and Lucky all get a good look at the trap from various angles. The high walls are neatly formed, but tumbling dirt shows they are not perfectly hardpacked. There is no sign of any tunnels from the pit, and there are numerous shattered sticks and rocks on the floor of the pit, presumably what was holding up the surface.

Cherry, inside the wagon, manages to find all of her scattered equipment, even among the disarray of loose items and bedding that now litter the floor. As she collects her belongings, though, she feels the floor beneath her lurch, and a disconcerting, metallic creaking noise echoes up from beneath it. The room also appears to be slightly off balance.

Outside of the hole, Pumpkin is too focused on her teammates to take in the surroundings, but the Breezie and Eagle catch sight of movement. They spot a pair of dogs slowly approaching the trap from the hill to the right of the road, with another in sight, but not approaching.

Atlas lands just fine. It's impressive, but not too surprising for a large, strong minotaur like him. It's Lucky doing the same that makes Pumpkin stare. She did not expect him, of all ponies, to stick the landing so clean it'd make a Wonderbolt proud. Her attention is soon torn away by much more pressing matters.

"Sweet Celestia, I so sorry, Violet! I just don't know what went wrong! I thought I had you! Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

She flies down to the others, looking from one pony to the next. Quite a few of them looked a bit banged up. To her chagrin, Violet looks to be one of the worst off. Her ears pin back guiltily.

"Don't worry about it, I didn't see anything out there. Hold still, let me take a look at you," she says.

Actions:

"It's alright, I'm alright, just don't do it next time." Violet answers flashing a smile nevertheless she dutifully holds still as Pumpkin examines her. As she stands her eyes drift between the walls of the pit and the opening up top. "Unless someone here is one fifth dog and can dig a tunnel or can tape together a ladder out of sticks and stones, I don't see a way out... "

Try as she might, Chassis could not will the parts and gears she needs into existence. So she switches tactics and maneuvers around in front of Mossburg. Perhaps she can buy time to build a way out...

"Mossburg. Enter sleep..."

Her voice trails off. Mossburg is no longer pacing in place or speaking. His glowing red eyes seem focused on something thousands of miles away. He does not respond to his creator addressing him at all, not even to acknowledge her presence.

The chill of dread runs through Chassis's spine. Oh, fetlocks...

"EVERYPONY CLEAR!!"

Chassis' cry of warning is all but drowned out by the bellowing roar that blasted the inside of the pit. She drops to the ground and makes a break for the back of the pit at a full gallop.

Mossburg's roar stays constant as he rears up, and then slams both front hooves into the wall in front of him. The trace cables connecting him to the wagon thrash wildly behind him as he continues his attack, paying no heed to anyone or anything around him.

Rolls: