//------------------------------// // 4: Spike's Campaign- Friendship's not magic, bullets are // Story: Forge World: The Full Metal Fantasy Role Playing Game // by shenadri //------------------------------//         Forge World: The Full Metal Fantasy Role Playing Game By: Zelkova48 Edited by the talented Detectivepingle Chapter 4: Spike's Campaign- Friendship's not magic, bullets are * * *  “About two weeks ago a group of Thanites living around a rural area in Rubinelle sent out a distress call to the authorities. As you can imagine, no one wanted to help them given their involvement with black magic. Not even the local government would help them” Boss said as he tapped away the ashes forming at the end of his cigar “That’s where you six come in” he pointed to everyone else in the room. “Your job is to escort them all safely to their covent in the Obsidian flats. Simple as that” he then puffed on his cigar a few times before turning back to his employees “Now the pay ain’t great but it’s more than average around here. Rescue these innocent folks and you’ll all be proper mercenaries from here on out. Sound good?” he asked as he lounged back into his massive chair. None of the girls objected to the boss, as they were all in desperate need of cash, so they just went on and ran through the documents a few times. According to the designated plan of action given to them by Boss Hoss, they were to go and rescue any surviving Thanites and help get them all to the Obsidian Flats. Preferably all in one piece and unharmed, for the most part. Apparently the location of the temple where all the Thanites were living in was only a few dozen miles to the west from their current location. This was good considering that if they continued on westward they would make it to Starboard Port. When they reach the port they could try to take a boat to Black Pearl Cove. From there, they would have to board another ship so that they could finally reach the flats without fear of the authorities interfering with their mission. “Question, Boss. Why do we have to take two ships to the flats, especially one through Black Pearl Cove?” Asked Twilight “The Obsidian flats are about the same distance from Rubinelle as it is from the cove. Couldn’t we just take one ship there?” Boss just blew some smoke rings from his cigar before he turned back to Twilight. “Because, the flats are considered as an OLZ by every other sensible nation in Metallos. OLZ meaning that it’s an off limit zone.” he replied “No country, not Rubinelle, not Silverus, not Bronza, not even Lapis Lazulia would dare set foot onto a land where the roads are paved with the corpses of foolish adventurers and would be treasure hunters” he put his cigar out on his ash tray before stowing away what was left of it into a wooden case. “Black Pearl Cove and The Iron Republic are the only two nations in western Metallos that have to guts to travel to and even establish trade routes with such a place” Boss gruffly explained. “Now I don’t care how you six can acquire a boat in both of those places but you can figure that out once you get those Thanites to safety, understood?” everyone nodded in acknowledgement “Okay, any more questions? If you do, spit it out already. The longer you six stay here the closer those Thanites are to dying, got that?” “How much is the pay?” Rainbow Blast asked. “About 200 gold pieces for each of you. Subtract contracting cost and all sorts of other cost for this company and that’ll leaves you with around 140 all to yourselves” he replied as he pulled out a tiny chart representing all the deductions for their pay. Rainbow, however was a little displeased with the number. “Hmm, that’s a little low...” she thought to herself, and  began wondering about how she could make the number go up a little higher. * * * “So what can I do Spike? How can I ask for more money?” Rainbow Dash asked Spike, the little dragon began scratching his chin with a raised eyebrow. “I could ask you to make an intelligence roll since your character doesn’t exactly have any ability that might help you haggle with him” said Spike “Roll your d20 and add it your current intelligence, and I’ll see if Boss Hoss reacts or not. Go on, try it” Rainbow Dash went on and picked up her prismatically painted set of die and gave them a few good shakes in her hooves. With a quick toss onto the table the die clicked and clattered across the surface before landing with a one and a two. Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work out but she simply shrugged her shoulders. She went and added all the numbers together until she got her answer. “Okay, so that’s 6 total. What happens?” She asked. Before Spike said anything, he struggled to stifle a giggle that was trying to escape his mouth. After he collected himself he chuckled a few times before turning back to his booklet and replying. “Okay everypony, Rainbow Dash just rolled a 6. Let’s see what happens...” * * * “Uh... Boss, I think you got some of these numbers wrong here. You forgot to carry the two” Rainbow Blast said with a smug look on her face. Boss Hoss just raised an eyebrow before looking over his tiny chart and staring at Rainbow with the kind of look you would give a crazy person. He gave her a toothy grin afterwards and chuckled softly. “Hmm, thanks for catching that, kid” he replied which gave Rainbow Blast a tremendous ego boost “According to your pea sized brain, it says here that I only owe you and everyone else here 1 gold piece each” he showed everyone his chart which showed Rainbow’s flawed mathematical logic scrawled onto it “It’s good to know someone around here can count, right?” he then erupted into a fit of jovial laughter as he rolled around in his massive chair. As the boss continued to laugh everyone else just glared at Rainbow Blast and her intelligence that was comparable to a little foal. A foal that enjoyed to gum on everything she saw. * * * As Spike continued to laugh everyone else just glared at Rainbow dash and her terrible luck that was comparable to walking under a ladder. A ladder that was surrounded with cute and cuddly black cats with fragile mirrors all around them. * * * “Ah, I’m just yanking your chain kid. You’ll still get paid the average amount. If you finish the mission, that is” Boss said as he put away his tiny chart “Although if you’re looking to make some more cash, I’m sure that there isn’t an empty street corner around here with a few desperate ponies or dogs who’re into that kind of stuff” he broke out into a laughing fit again as Rainbow’s face turned red like a tomato. Boss eventually calmed down and settled himself into his chair again. “Okay, last chance for questions and then you set off, capisce?” said Boss. Everyone began to think about what they would ask him, it seemed like all the necessary questions had been asked. The job, the pay, what else was there... * * * “Alright girls, make me a perception roll. Let’s see how sharp you are” Spike said as everyone else rolled their die. More dices clicked and clattered on the table before stopping to reveal their enigmatic numbers. “M’kay, Ah rolled it. Now which one do we add it too again?” Applejack asked, looking particularly perplexed. “Add it to the one that one that says PER, that’s your perception” said Spike as he looked over his booklet “If you pass the target number that I set you girls all get to know a little secret” the little dragon tempted. Everyone started counting and most of the results were... less than desirable “Wow, all below 10... wait, Twilight got a 16. That’s good” “What’s good about it, Spike?” Twilight asked. “Well, your character managed to spot something that would’ve been otherwise unnoticeable...” * * * While the rest of the group demonstrated that they had glass knobs for eyeballs and wooden cups for ears, Twilight’s keen sense of observation allowed her see the unseeable. It was very subtle, most people wouldn’t even noticed it but Twilight could tell that Boss sad. The little shifts in his eyebrow and his low hanging jowls whenever he mentioned the Thanites made it evident that he was concerned. But concerned for what? “Say. Boss. You look at little down there, is something the matter?” Twilight asked, sounding calm to sympathize with the saddened boss. “How could you tell? It was my nonexistent whimpers, wasn’t it?” Boss said as his usual smile sank to a low frown “If you want to know, I’m related to one of the Thanites that sent out the distress call” Boss pulled out a old photo that showed him standing next to a much larger more shaggier diamond dog “His name’s Tiny. He’s a diamond dog runt and my little brother” the rest of the group just stared at the picture with a dumbfounded look. “That’s your little brother? He’s big!” Captain Pinkie exclaimed “Wait, did you just say he’s a runt?” “Yes” Boss nonchalantly replied. The others were going to go and try to question the wrongness that was a brute sized runt of a diamond dog when they realized that there was a runt sized brute of a diamond dog sitting right in front of them. “He joined the Thanite order several years ago to better himself. I rarely talk to him anymore since he left, and I’m worried” he reached into his desk and pulled out a small rusty and misshapen pewter spoon “If... If he’s still alive, can you give this to him? If you do I’ll increase your pay. If he isn’t... just tell me, I can handle it...” “We will” said Twilight as she took the spoon, as she twirled it around it her magic she couldn’t help but ask what was so special about it ”Say, Boss. What’s the story behind this spoon?” “It’s not a spoon, it a shovel” Boss said “I made it for Tiny out of a chunk of pewter for his first birthday. He loved it so much he’d carry that thing around wherever we went. It’s too bad he left it behind though when he joined up the the Thanite order...” Boss promptly held back some tears when memories of a time long since passed threaten to overwhelm his senses. Almost by instinct, he whipped out his cigar case and immediately huffed on another cigar “Maybe it would be best if you all took off already” Boss suggested “Remember, the more time you spend here, the more those Thanites have a greater chance of dying, got it?” without missing a beat all six of the mercenaries grabbed what they needed and headed straight out the door. Boss just stayed behind and stared at the old picture while his cigar illuminated the dim room, a single tear flowing from his eye. * * *             Twilight and the rest of their rag tag gang quickly went back to their own quarters and gathered all their personal possessions as well as some supplies for the trip. Twilight gave her engine one last tune up before setting off. Captain Pinkie went and sharpened her cutlass, loaded her handcannon and brought along a bottle of emergency grog just in case. Rainbow Blast polished her armor and checked all of her explosive pikes heads to make sure that they were all intact. L’ Orange loaded her cannon shield while Elusive made sure that her concealed springblades and pistol were in working order. Necrolyte Butterfly softly whispered a prayer to her dark goddess for a safe trip and recited a few lines from the Thanite codex. Once all was said and done, they all went to the nearest train station and headed west towards their destination. The rest of the train ride was mostly uneventful. Although, Captain Pinkie did find some spare gold in the train’s seat cushions, other than that nothing special really happened. A few more hours of waiting on the train and they finally the other station. Once they all got off they had to go the rest of the distance on hoof. The Thanite temple was just a mile from where they were so they wasted no time in sprinting to their location. Eventually, after running for a while, they could all see the temple off in the distance of the high plains. What had them worried as they slowed down their pace was the large tower of black smoke emanating from the building. They brushed the thought aside though when they dismissed it as smoke from a chimney. As they drew closer and closer to their goal the group could all hear loud noises. Noises that sounded like several guns going off at once...           The moment they finally got into view of the temple they were all shocked at what they saw. The temple was set ablaze and some sort of fight was going on. To avoid being spotted by any aggressors the gang decided to lay low and observe from a safe distance. Perfectly hidden behind the tree line, they quietly surveyed the grim scenery before them. All the Thanites of the temple had been caught and tied up against a set of wooden post where they were being slowly executed one by one. Their executioners all wore white hooded infantry armor and were armed to the teeth. There wasn’t a single one of them that didn’t have a unique set of pistols or rifles and a smile on their face as they openly shot at the helpless Thanites with prejudice. One of the executioners, a stallion, walked up to the homemade shooting range and looked down his sight. He started to calibrate his rifle for the first few seconds, fidgeting around with his sights before loading his gun and taking aim at his target, a young mare. The group couldn’t see her face from behind her dark hood but they could tell that she was crying, the bruises on her legs and the blood around her body made it evident that she was brutally beaten before being tied up to the post. With a wicked smile on his face and a loaded gun, he pulled the trigger and silenced the mare for good. The rest of his company cheered and applauded him for his action while all the girls hid back from afar with a look of anger and disgust on their faces. “Oh, my word... how appalling...” Elusive whispered. Her stomach felt like it was being twisted into a knot as she continued to witness the horrendous crimes before her. “We have to do something! If this keeps they’ll all die and we won’t get paid” Rainbow Blast said as she prepared herself to charge into the fray but she was pulled back by Butterfly when she yanked Rainbow back by the tail. “Rainbow Blast, please stop!, why don’t we try to settle this non violently?” Butterfly suggested. “Are you being serious?” L’ Orange exclaimed “You saw what zey did to zose people! Thanites or not zey don’t deserve zis kind of treatment” “Hear me out okay, I’m going to try and talk them out of killing them” said Butterfly “I could lie to them and tell them that I was sent from the government to stop them or maybe I’ll tell them their superior called them back” she brought her staff along with her and covered her face with her hood and looked back at her team. “You all might want to get yourself all set up just in case anything goes wrong though” without missing a beat she immediately headed off towards the temple with hopes of settling things without bloodshed. As Butterfly made her way towards the captured Thanites, Twilight and the rest gave all their weapons one last check before setting up. Twilight activated her rune plate to let out Twilight Sentinel while L’ Orange planted her cannon shield onto the ground and set her sights on the aggressors just in case they tried anything funny. Captain Pinkie and Elusive stealthily trailed Butterfly from cover of the shadows while Rainbow Blast patrolled the skies. It was risky business but once the first shot goes off they’ll be more than prepared for a scrap. * * * Butterfly slowly made her way towards the aggressors and the captured Thanites, making sure to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. She hid away her necklace and shifted her hood to cover most of her upper face. After reciting some more lines form the codex she entered the courtyard of the temple and approached the aggressors. One of the gunners, a gryphon, took notice of her and decided to check her out. “Halt, you will go no further” the griffon said with a raised talon “This area’s off limits, you can come back once we finished the job” he stated rather coldly. Butterfly straightened herself up before the griffon, as it made her look much more assertive, like a figure of authority. “I’m here tell you to go back. The job’s done” Butterfly sternly stated “I’ll handle the rest, we have no need for your services anymore” the griffon laid his rifle down and stared at Butterfly. He scratched his chin as he raised his eyebrow at her. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before round here” said the griffon “Who sent you, the government? The boss?” he demanded. “That doesn’t concern you. I’m just the messenger” Butterfly quickly replied “I won’t repeat myself again, the job is done. Leave” she said through gritted teeth. The griffon just stared at her before breaking out into laughter. The griffon eventually settled down and glared at Butterfly. “Listen here little missy, the job ain’t done yet. We’re members of the Broken Wands Guild” the griffon said as he showed him his necklace. The necklace was similar as Butterfly’s only the sword was facing down and there was a white alicorn instead of a black alicorn “As a mage hunter and a dedicated Vitan, it is my solemn duty to purge Metallos of these Thanite scum, you hear me? We’ll leave once these four remaining Thanite each have a bullet or two in their head” he said no more as he picked up his rifle and walked over to the Thanites where he loaded his weapon and took aim at one of the Thanite... * * * “This character doesn’t seem to be listening to me, I can’t change his mind” said Fluttershy. “Yeah, members of the Broken Wands can be really hard headed when it comes to their overzealous obligations” Spike said with a chuckle “Maybe you could sway his mind by threatening him? Thanites do have the intimidation skill” Spike suggested. “Threaten somepony else? I don’t think I can do...” Fluttershy said as her head wilted down a little. “You’re not really threatening anyone Fluttershy, Butterfly is” Pinkie said. “Oh! You’re right. Okay then, Butterfly will... threaten the griffon” Fluttershy said almost hesitantly, but she reminded herself that it was just a game set in a fantasy world with another version of her self. Although it still kind of bothered her knowing that another version of herself is threatening someone else. “Okay then, roll for intimidation” Spike said. Fluttershy threw her die against the table until they stopped to reveal something impressive “Well, would you look at that. Add that up with your intimidation skill and you’ve got... 17” “Oh my, how wonderful! But what happens next?” Fluttershy asked. “Well, Necrolyte Butterfly will now show just how scary she really is...” * * * The griffon was preparing to line up his shot when his view was obscured by Butterfly standing in front of him. She quickly grabbed the griffon by the throat and stared directly into his very soul as she held her sacrificial dagger close to his throat. She let out a sinister cackle while her eyes portrayed a maddening thirst for blood. “Listen, and listen well bird brain...” Butterfly said as she pressed the jagged knife closer to his throat “These are orders straight from the top, and if you like to disobey orders... then you’ll find yourself losing your head over such trivial matters” she cracked a wicked grin that was only further accentuated by her black mane and bleached bone skin. “Okay, okay! We’ll leave, just let me keep my head!” the griffon pleaded as he shrank beneath the gaze of Butterfly. “Good, now run along before someone ends up decapitated around here” said Butterfly before she released the terrified griffon. He then went and picked up his rifle before scuttling back towards his group to give them the bad news. Most of the group complied with their teammate but one of them wasn’t so sure. Another one of the member of the Broken Wands guild, a stallion, walked up to Butterfly with a skeptical look on his face. “So we have to back out eh? Who told you that?” the stallion questioned her. “I will tell you the same thing I told your associate, it is not of your concern” She said but the stallion refused to back down. “Oh I think it is our business” the stallion said as he narrowed his eyes on Butterfly “You think a complete stranger like you can just waltz in here and tell us to stop doing this world a favor by killing these freaks, then you got another thing coming” he stated as he tugged onto his twin handcannon with a raised eyebrow “I don’t think you’re who you say you are...” * * * “So I rolled a few times to see if any of the guild members would believe your lie Fluttershy. Most of them believed that they had to leave... except for one” Spike said from behind his board “Now I’m going to do a perception roll and see if he can spot anything that’s off about your character” Spike rolled his die and grimaced at the result “Uh oh, I got 15. That’s not good” “So you got a 15. Pfft, what’s the worst that could happen?” said Rainbow Dash which automatically set Murphy’s law into motion. “That guild member saw something that wouldn’t normally be seen by the naked eye, Rainbow Dash. Which means...” * * *    The stallion stared at Butterfly for a good few seconds, she looked like the authoritative type but that was it. There was just one thing that was off about her, one tiny little detail that was threw away all credibility about her persona. The stallion quickly reached around her neck and and yanked onto her necklace revealing the incriminating evidence. “She’s a Thanite!” the stallion yelled as he pressed his dual barrel pistol against her shoulder. The pistol’s engraved rune that it had on the barrel began to glow and shine an ethereal light. The runes later lifted off the pistol and formed a circle before the barrel of the pistol. “Rune Shot, velocity! Death to all Thanite scum!” he shouted as he pulled the trigger. Two consecutive shots erupted out from the pistol, blasting past Butterfly’s armored shoulder. The two bullets went past the metal plating, past the robe and directly through all the flesh and bone leaving quite the exit wound. However, the magically amplified bullet didn’t stop. It continued to go through two of the lower stone walls as if they were paper until it got stuck into a nearby tree, splintering it upon impact. The force of the point blank impact was so strong it sent Butterfly flying back and knocking her down onto the ground leaving a large gaping wound in her shoulder. She screamed in pain as she gripped onto her shoulder hoping to stop the bleeding. All the other guild members quickly reacted and prepared their own weapons as well. They quickly surrounded Butterfly with all their guns pointed at her. Each with a look of pure amusement upon their faces. “Did you really think you could trick us you dead raising scumbag?” The stallion asked as he reloaded his pistol. As injured as Butterfly was, she cracked a sly grin as she hacked up gob of blood. “Well I did scare that chicken over there. Heh heh” Butterfly joked before getting kicked right in the face by a very angry diamond dog. She resisted the hit and just gave all the guild member a blood filled grin “Ha, my grandma kicks harder than you, poodle” her joke was abruptly ended when the dog pressed his pistol onto her cheek. “I don’t find that funny, not one bit” the dog sneered “Any last words before I blow your head wide open?” “Just one, do you find yourself losing your head over such trivial matters?” she innocently asked. The dog gave her a perplexed stare, one action that would also be his last when his head suddenly exploded like a watermelon that had twenty firecrackers stuffed into it. Somewhere off in the distance, a specific orange pony with a french accent smirked at the dog’s corpse “Boom, headshot” she whispered beneath her breath. The rest of the guild member were stunned when there friend who was well and alive just seconds earlier brutally died in perhaps the goriest way possible. They couldn’t move as their friends remains showered down on them in spatters of life fluid and skull fragments. Butterfly took grasp of this opportunity and used her staff to trip up the guild members and fleeing behind the courtyards stone wall. The rest of the guild members eventually made their way up and frantically looked around for their elusive adversary. “Grr... if you think this is over, you’re sorely mistaken, you freak!” * * * “Congratulations Fluttershy. Your character just went and kicked the hornet’s nest” said Applejack with chuckle. “W-what? Why would she do that?” Fluttershy squeaked. “Uh... I don’t think that was phrase to use, Applejack” Twilight said “Besides. Her character wasn’t the one that, quote and unquote from Spike, caused a diamond dogs head to suddenly exploded like a watermelon with twenty firecrackers stuffed into it” Applejack just cracked a grin at the violently explicit details. “Heh, not my fault my character’s a crack shot” Applejack replied as she noticed Spike running towards his room “Hey Spike, where’re ya going?” “Just getting my game mat and some models. You girls just got yourself into one heck of a fight!” Spike said as he came back with a large sheet of paper and a bunch of little expertly painted models “Just give me a few minutes to set up. In the meantime, why don’t you all take a break for a bit? Get yourself something to eat” he suggested as he eyed the large cinnamon roll just sitting on the table that Pinkie brought “Maybe I should eat something too...” To Be Continued in Chapter 5: Spike's Campaign- Kicking Butt and Taking Names