MLPFEMTORPG: Pieces of Eight Edition

Do you have your papers?

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>>29376585
http://pastebin.com/BRhUtuss

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>>29376578
http://pastebin.com/epkjADA4

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>>29376585
http://pastebin.com/3PRQ7Ei2

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>>29376585
http://pastebin.com/7PWjnmHR

Blue Screen 5(5)/5(5)
Xavier 5(5)/5(5)
Elaine 6(6)/6(6)
Jack 5(5)/3(5)

This is the health I have on my thing. I feel like it's not right. But, it's what I'm going with!

>>29376602
>>29376610

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQMcPxUsg3Q

Last time, Blue Screen and Professor Xavier decided to go with Spike and Coppa to get Agent Curie some much needed medical attention for her brain hemorrhaging. However, on the way there, they had a run-in with AO-420, also known as Red Water.

Working in reverse of regular water, the cloud of Red Water is currently a constantly growing ice cold gas. Coming into contact with it would surely be a swift and painful death. The four of them managed to run to the relative safety of an ARC Security team, all equipped with long-ranged flamethrowers.

They begin to blast their fire at the growing cloud. As soon as the flames reach the red gas cloud, it condenses into ice. However, the gas continues to attempt to expand.

"Push it back," the apparent head of the team shouts to his crew. Pegasi fly overhead to keep the cloud from reaching any higher.

The security chief looks over at the four of you. "If you want to help, we have extra flamethrowers," but he then looks to Spike carrying Curie. "It looks like you might have other priorities, though. There's a medical tent set up at the base of The Tower. Can't guarantee your safety on the way there as long as we're dealing with this cloud, though."

*****************

>>29376627
>>29376613

Meanwhile, AO-666 raids Elaine's head like a kid in a toy store. The burning sensation makes Elaine's head feel like it's going to melt away.

"If you can work through the pain, we can keep going," Proto says to Elaine. "But, I don't know if you'll be able to last."

"I also don't like the idea of that demon becoming a super-geni- as smart as a pretty intelligent pony," Trigger adds. "Might be better to exorcise it now for the long run."

>>29376838

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2307ts8Nzw

Music for the second half.

>>29376838
"Dealing with the mirror means everyone can contain everything else more effectively. That should come first, besides Curie."

Blue says, looking warily at the flamethrower's smoke on the Red Water raising into the sky. She then looks to the chief and smirks,

"Besides, can you guarantee our safety anywhere right now?"

>>29376838
"I think I'll be able to cover us long enough with my magic. I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that this is vulnerable to nature based spells."

He looks over the flamethrowers for just a moment, then adds:

"And when we get a spare moment, I'd like to see what Ms. Rocketry could do to one of those."

Xavier proceeds towards the tent, sticking towards the party and ready to blast away any AO-420

>>29376613
>"I thought this thing was under control, how is it doing this? Elaine, can you hear me? Tell me that's still you."
>>29376838
"Are you really doing this right now?" Elaine barks as Trigger starts mocking her Science and intelligence.

She turns up to Jack, both eyes reddened with possession.

"Listen to me. She's trying to figure out how to pilot my ship. We need to get to the ship, get my keys out of the ignition, and destroy the engine before she-"

She grabs her head again and grits her teeth.

"Aaaaaagh! Freaking freaking freaking." she stomps her hoof and groans.

"Before she finishes. She's not going anywhere as long as the Neural Regulator's still hooked up. We need to trash the ship, and find the mirror, and we need to do it now."

She says, wasting no time in heading back to her ship with the others.

>>29376913
>>29376838
Jack looks at the possessed Elaine with concern, narrowing his gaze as she explains the need to wreck her car. He sighs, turning to face Trigger,

"It won't be: if we exorcise her now, it'll just cause trouble somewhere else on the station. Put more lives at risk. If Rocketry says she can handle it, then fine." He turns to Proto, "Let's do as she says. Destroy the ride, and then it won't have any way off this rock even with her knowledge." He begins running after Elaine towards the ship.

"Your thing use combustible fuel? A well-placed shot at the tank could take it out in a second. Otherwise, just point me towards the engine."

>>29376898

"We could guarantee it a lot better if we were actually with you," the chief says, clearly a little insulted. "But, you do what you gotta do."

>>29376908

"The faster the better," Spike nods in agreement as he waddles after you.

Your trip to the tower for a time remains relatively uneventful. However, as you pass through a garage full of cars, that changes when one of the cars suddenly flies straight up into the air.

Coppa stares at it as it begins to fall back down toward you all. "...What?" he mutters to himself.

Roll to dodge the falling car.

*******************

>>29376913

"Gotta lighten up the mood somehow," Trigger shrugs.

Proto and Trigger follow close behind you. Your ship is just through an alleyway. You find it right where you left it, the interior still covered in gore, blood, and an unidentified black substance.

"Do what you want," The Beast cackles in the voice that scratches at everyone's brain. "I'll be able to build my OWN soon enough!"

[1d10]

Feel free to roll to try to slow him down, but the focus it requires would prevent you from being able to do anything else.

Also, the pain causes Elaine to take a hit of damage.

>>29376935

You follow, close to Elaine.

"Combustible fuel," Trigger chuckles at the notion.

>>29377025
Dodge [1d10]

>>29377025
Blue jumps up into the air backwards, moving out of the way.

"Close, but no sick car!"

she shouts to the unknown assailant.

>>29377058
>(Bounce)

>>29376935
"The power source is Unicron battery, I didn't put in anything exotic, the actual propulsion uses magnetism."
>>29377025
Elaine walks around to the back of the ship and pops the back, revealing the engine, a hunk of electromagnets and other high-tech gizmos with wiring going out in every direction. She draws her ray-gun, hesitates for a moment, then fires several beams through the machine.

>Mech Minion abandoned/disfunctional
>Technically mechanically it wouldn't have flown without me anyway, but now its useless fluffwise too.

She opens the car itself next, popping the glass dome.

"Aagh! That is horrible." she comments on the smell.

"Trigger, grab my keys out of the ignition."

>>29376935
>"Combustible fuel," Trigger chuckles at the notion.
Jack groans, "Hey, couldn't hurt to ask. Sure would make blowing it to Tartarus a bit easier.

>>29377070
>>29377025
"Right. Well, I'll just bust it up the old fashioned way, then."

As they arrive at the ship, Jack groans as the Beast continues scratching at their minds. "Do you have an off switch?" he asks aloud before looking at the interior of the car-dome, retching as his sensitive nose picks up the scent, "Ugh... what in Celestia's name happened in here?" He asks before he allows Trigger to grab the keys safely out of the ignition, and then after he's clear draws his weapon on the vehicle's high-tech engine. "Almost seems a shame to do this."

[1d10] 6-Round Revolver on the machine, Great/Ranged

>>29377070

You do a perfectly fine job of knocking it out of commission.

"Got it," Trigger says as he heads toward the driver side of the vehicle. However, as he approaches the vehicle, he simply stops moving. He stands in place, swaying slightly.

"Trigger?" Proto says, waving his hoof in front of Trigger. Trigger does not say anything or move at all. "Alright," Proto says with a shrug, turning toward the vehicle before he stops moving as well.

[1d10]

>>29377112

"Yes," AO-666 answers. "It's called being reasonable and compromising with me."

Your shots do not do as much as a ray gun, but they also don't need to. The machine is adequately unusable.

*****************
>>29377046

You narrowly avoid being crushed, but the ensuing rain of shards of metal and glass cut you up. You lose 1 hit.

>>29377058

You fly out of the way with no problem. However, several more cars begin to fly into the air in random directions.

There is a building nearby which has a wall blown open. You could easily get inside to take shelter from the rain of cars. Or, you could just run.

Spike dodges as best he can. [1d10-1]
Coppa dodges. [1d10]

>>29377127

Spike suffers a fate similar to Xavier. He manages to keep Curie safe.

Coppa has the car land on his leg. It makes a sickening crunch. He yells out in pain. He pulls at his leg, but he is unable to get it out from under the car.

"Help!" he shouts.

If you roll to help him, -2 to your roll to not have a car land on you this turn. Rolling to dodge is instant.

Also, if you plan to go somewhere instead, regardless of where you plan to go, you must roll to see how far you get (a separate roll).

>>29377112
"Its a complete shame, this was a obscene quantity of work putting together. I had to weld most of this myself." she says irritated.
>>29377127
"The real irony here is that I actually was debating letting you go once we reached the ground with the mirror. I wasn't going to let you take the mirror obviously, but you would have been free."

"Instead, you try and kill me, and now you're trapped. Newton's Third Law*. Inescapable." she says, before noticing Trigger and Proto are frozen.

"Jack get the keys and come on."

Elaine waits for Jack to grab her keys, and presuming he has no difficulties, they proceed back to the helicopter crash site.

>*=Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

>>29377160
Now focused more on what's causing this than survivability, Xavier rushes over to the nearby building and then throws a Return to Earth at the next car he sees move.

[1d10] Running

[1d10] Not getting in a vertical car accident

[1d10] Return to Earth

>>29377160

"C'mon now Coppa. Let's get you out of there."

Blue says darting quickly to the scene, trying to budge the car enough to get Coppa's leg out.

[1d10] halp
[1d10-1] dodge (Pegasus Flight: Pegasi can fly, and get a +1 bonus to actively evade and dodge midair.)

>>29377208
"Don't suppose your insurance covers this?" Jack chides.

>>29377127
"You aren't giving us much 'compromise' from where I stand." Jack says plainly before he notices that Trigger and Proto are both frozen in their tracks mid-stride. "What the... of course. This damn mirror can't get shattered soon enough." Jack says as he shakes his head.

He makes for the keys in the ignition, grabbing them out from their spot as he looks on at Trigger and Proto, following on back to the helicopter crash sight to find more signs of the mirror's whereabouts. "Trigger, Proto, if either of you can hear me, meet us there!" He orders on the way back to the crash.

>>29377227

You get inside the building. You don't have to roll to dodge anymore. But, as you get inside, more shards of glass fly into your side. Lose another hit.

The inside of the building looks like another holding facility for another AO. Though, whatever WAS inside clearly blasted its way out. The rubble from the blasted all seems to have landed OUTSIDE the building.

From inside, you cast your spell, and the cars stop flying. You don't see anything that would have caused them to act in such a manner, however.

>>29377234

Some flying shards of metal fly by you and cut your side. Lose 1 hit.

You try to knock the car off of Coppa. It doesn't budge. It's very heavy.

"Here," Spike says as he momentarily puts Curie down. "I'll help." He puts his claws under the side of the car and begins to life... [1d10+2]

The cars have calmed down for now.

*********************

>>29377237

Trigger and Proto don't respond.

When you look inside the "UFO", the keys are not in the ignition.

"Remember when all I did was talk, and you all pointed your weapons at me," 666 reminds you of your original meeting. "It's not my fault that force is the only way to deal with force."

>>29377208

Difficulties with keys were had.

"I've never tried to kill you," 666 objects. "I've said that all along. Even now, I'm not TRYING to kill you. I'm just digging through your head. Yes, it hurts, but that's just a side-effect."

I forgot to mention the 1 damage taken last turn. And, there's another damage taken this turn.

[1d10]

>>29377346
*begins to lift

However, Spike doesn't even lift... He accidentally tips the car over. It begin to creak and fall over onto Coppa.

Coppa merely screams and panics as it falls. Spike tries in vain to help. Someone must do something quickly. Xavier is too far away to help physically.

>>29377360
"Shit fuck shit shit fuck"

Blue attempts to help again, groaning at the weight of the car.

[1d10] primal stress strength lift eXtreme xX

>>29377346
"Stopped that, but not..."

He trots over to the blasted hole and looks out to see this AO.

"...that."

Observing the outside of the building where this AO might be.

"I'm beginning to suspect your only real power is rationalizing." Elaine answers the beast, before looking inside the UFO.

>>29377413
>>29377346
"That's a funny way or remembering it. What I remember is you hijacking some poor mare's body without her permission and then tried hijacking a vehicle. Maybe if you hadn't lead with that, we'd had been more courteous. "

Jack looks thoroughly at the ignition, "What in the... damnit, what'd you do with them?" HE asks the Beast, giving the ruined, disgusting car once more over with his acute perception.
[1d10+1] search the car

>>29377400

There's nothing but you, the darkness of the inside of the building, and the cars around you.

>>29377388

You manage to barely stop the car before it can pick up too much momentum. Thankfully, the tipping over frees Coppa's leg. He quickly crawls out and away from the car.

"Th-thank you," he says, looking a little emasculated.

Spike quickly gets under the car with you, and with his help, you're able to push it over and tip it safely the other way.

"We should get moving before things get worse again," Spike says as he picks Curie back up.

"What even just happened?" Coppa asks angrily. He groans in pain as he stands. He puts most of his weight on his good leg, and uses his paws to walk on all fours and reduce stress even more.

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore," Spike says with the tone of a person who is clearly mentally defeated. "There's a lot of things that could have done that."

*******************

>>29377478

"Heh. I believe that's known as projection," 666 responds, suddenly sounding more clever than before.

You take another hit of damage from pain.

[1d10]

When you look at the ignition, you see that your keys are still in, right where you left them.

When you grab the keys, Trigger and Proto both begin moving again. Trigger looks around with confusion. "How did you two..." he mutters, trailing off.

>>29377489

"Hijacked?" The Beast laughs, scratching at your brain. "ARC GAVE me that body a long time ago. I'm sad to have had to have gotten rid of it..."

"I didn't touch the keys," The Beast says defensively. "I didn't even know how an ignition worked back then," he says as if the event took place years ago.

All you see and smell is a disgusting mess inside the UFO.

>>29377515
Elaine grabs the keys quickly as Jack searches the vehicle, dangling them near his face like he's an idiot [which he may or may not see], before marching off towards the helicopter crash site.

"He's referring to me." Elaine says when the Beast comments on Jack's comment on body-snatching.

>>29377515
"We lost the Xavier, guys. We need to keep moving and deal with the mirror. If our heads are clear, maybe we can actually figure some of this stuff out."

Blue says, beginning to pace forward as long as Coppa can follow behind w/o hurting himself too much.

>>29377547
>>29377515
Jack groans as he struggles to see the keys throughout the guts-filled vehicle, reminded of his common searches through similarly grotesque homicides back in Manehattan. "Don't bull-shit me, Beast, they're not in the..."

He freezes as Elaine dangles the keys in front of him, but snorts out his nostrils as she begins to turn away, "What the hay are you doing? I thought you wanted to find your damn keys." He asks before following along to the crash site.

As Trigger and Proto move again, he answers, "Don't know for sure, presumably the mirror froze you two when you got close to the car. Didn't stop me or Rocketry though. C'mon, I guess she doesn't need her keys after all. Let's get to that site and look for the mirror."

>>29377515
"Maybe I am starting to need glasses."

Xavier rejoins the group and leads the way to our original destination.

>>29377547

You lead the way to the helicopter crash site which is right outside the building you left everyone else. The helicopter is still just as smoldering and destroyed as before. There still seems to be no mirror in sight.

"Almost finished in here, just so you know," The Beast announces happily, going back to speaking through Elaine's mouth instead of directly in people's heads. However, the pain still causes Elaine to lose another hit.

[1d10]

>>29377580

"So..." Trigger says, speaking up suddenly as you arrive with him at the crash site. "I hate to be THAT GUY, but what is the plan here?"

****************

>>29377586
>>29377555

"Don't worry about me," Coppa says in an annoyed tone when he sees Elaine clearly worrying about him.

As you all leave the parking lot through another alley between buildings, you hear more crashes starting back up. Whatever was throwing cars around is doing it again. Good thing you left when you did.

You all continue walking for a short time, around some more buildings until you come out on an open area, covered with tents. On the other side of the tents is the base of the massive tower. You're up close enough now that the tower covers most of your view of the horizon.

"Hold it," a griffon shouts at you as she approaches you. She points a gun at Xavier. It's a similar model to what Trigger uses. "You two aren't ARC staff," she says suspiciously.

"They're test subjects," Coppa says weakly.

The griffon eyes you both suspiciously. "Just let us in," Spike demands. "Can't you see we have a pony who needs help!?"

"Spike!?" the griffon says, clearly surprised by his being here. "I- Of course," she says, gesturing for you all to pass. "Sorry for the confusion. Free medical tents are the ones furthest out. So... right next to us."

>>29377677
"We look for clues. Some hint of where Proto may have taken the mirror." Elaine says, gritting her teeth again and holding her head as she looks around the site for any hint whatsoever of where the mirror may have been moved to.

[1d10] Investigate!
>>29377580
She pulls out the keys again.

"You don't see these?" she says, shaking them again.

>>29377750
As she pulls out the keys, Jack stairs at her empty hoof. Putting the pieces together in his head, he growls. ".....you're holding the keys right in front of me, aren't you?"

He chews on his cigarette. "Then no. I can't. Guess the mirror is affecting me too."

>>29377677
"This was the last known location Proto had the mirror. No trail is perfect: he must have left something behind for us to pick up on. We just gotta find it." Jack puts his acute donkey senses to work and starts looking inside the wreck and out for anything that was missed earlier

[1d10+1]

>>29377677
"What do you mean test subjects? I think this has evolved much beyond a test and a lot more into the field of facility wide crisis."

>>29377802

"You're still test subjects," Coppa says firmly.

"Sorry," Spike says, interrupting Coppa. "But, you ARE on the Arc in the first place as test subjects."

>>29377763
>>29377750

"Right..." Proto says, nose bleeding again. "So... Assuming that you're right and I did bring the mirror here - and I'm willing to accept that at this point - how do we find a trail? At the very least, neither Trigger nor I can possibly see a trail if we can't even remember things correctly. And, even if you do find one, you can't be sure that what you've found is real."

You find what looks like scrape marks on the ground leading from the helicopter out to the west, into an alleyway. It looks like someone dragged something in that direction.

>>29377750

For whatever reason, when you were last here, you didn't notice all the blood. There's blood on the controls in the cockpit. There also seems to be a trail of bloody hoofprints leading from the helicopter into the building.

Just going to preemptively say that neither of you see what the other sees.

>>29377864
>>29377750

Though Elaine feels pain, pain alone would not cause a person physical harm. So, she does not go down or lose any health.

[1d10]

>>29377763
"At any rate I think I am." she says, pocketing the bloody keys.
>>29377864
Elaine looks at the bloody path, speaking to Proto.

"I don't know. Jack's senses are the most reliable, so we'll probably have the best luck following him. I see a trail of blood leading into the building, what do you see?" she turns, asking Jack.

>Saving the DM trouble, we're following the scrape marks. Just assume we go that way when you post. This is just the IC deliberation to reach that conclusion.

>>29377941
Jack snorts. "Right. For all we know you really COULD be holding nothing there right now." He groans. "This thing's giving me a headache."

>>29377941
>>29377941
As Elaine brings up all of the blood markings, Jack lowers his ear. "Nothing like that." he comments, turning towards the alley way. "I see a long trail of scrape-marks that leading on towards the alley. Like something heavy was being dragged along the ground. Could the mirror have been in a storage unit?"

Jack grumbles, "Let's follow mine for now. Proto doesn't seem wounded so he wouldn't leave a trail of blood if he was taking the mirror away. Best a shot we have now as any," Jack says as he leads the way towards the alley, following the scrape marks.

[1d10+1] Keeping an eye out for more signs

>>29377961
"I don't see anything like that. This mirror is driving me insane. If you can't examine things empirically, you can't study them. Everything just becomes disjointed phenomena with no lines of causality to link them together."

"Dash-2 was arguably more dangerous, but far easier to deal with because we actually could see and respond to what it was doing. With 814, we're reduced to stumbling around hoping we find something useful."

Elaine says following, somewhat reluctantly.