Forge World: The Full Metal Fantasy Role Playing Game

by shenadri

8: Spike's Campaign- Planning Under Pressure

The sound of gunfire and screaming locals could be heard from a mile away as our faithful, and slightly shakened, heroes were currently under siege by a group of vengeful guild members.

Everyone believed that the first encounter with the Broken Wands guild would be their last, considering the fact that they brutally decimated the kill squad that was sent to murder their employers. Apparently, it was not so. The dog that L’ Orange plugged was right all along, they were going to be relentless pursued until they were all pushing up daisies in a field somewhere in the protectorate.
        
        And now, they were currently being chewed out by some more guild members and their large gatling gun that was probably illegally obtained through shady means. If it weren’t for Twilight, Rainbow, and L’ Orange quick thinking, they would’ve been ground meat by now.

Right before the gatling gun began to unleash a lead storm, Twilight swiftly kicked down their tables to provide some much needed protection, while both L’ Orange and Rainbow reinforced their makeshift cover with their massive tower shields. It worked, as the bullets noisily clanged against the tables and shields with little success of harming anyone behind it.

Bullets continually whizzed overhead the mane six as they covered their ears to drown out the sound of metal clashing against metal that ringed through their heads like a horrible migraine. Bullet after bullet struck the cover for what felt like hours. By then, both shields were slowly being worn down. Inward dents, splinters of wood from the ravaged tables and heated metal was all that remained when the shooting finally stopped.

After a few minutes, everything in the shipyard district became deathly quiet. The screaming was gone, the shooting had ceased, and everyone was in the clear, for now.

“Phew, I thought zey would never stop shooting” L’ Orange quietly whispered as she pulled away from her own tower shield to cool off her scalded hoof “Do you think they ran out of ammo? The must’ve wasted an entire crate full just to try and kill us”

“I highly doubt it. I heard those things are capable of holding more than a couple hundred rounds, and given how it’s mounted on a war carriage, I think they’re going to try and weed us out now” Tiny replied before before his heighten sense of hearing caused his ears to wiggle back and forth “Shh... everyone stay quiet” he whispered “They talking about something”

Everyone zipped their mouths shut and listened attentively to try and catch the faraway conversation. It was slightly muffled considering how their ears must have been ringing from all of the shooting, but they could still make out whole sentences nonetheless. The guild members were arguing about something. One voice in particular was loud and gruff, and he was yelling at someone, while the other merely mumbled in response to his superior.

“You moron!” the gruff voice shouted followed by a slapping sound “What in the name of Vita do you think you asshats are doing firing the gun off like that!?”

“Our job” another voice mumbled back “I saw our chance to get rid of those Thanites and I took it. You should be thanking me for getting the job done”

“The only thing that I should be thanking you for is for finally having a damn reason to have you castrated for acting out of line!” the gruff voice retorted “We’re not like those dirty dead raising Thanites! We’re members of the Broken Wand, we use precision, not automatic gunfire! Do you have any idea of the damage you’ve done for firing an incredibly destructive prototype weapon in a highly populated area!?”

“Pfft, what are you getting so worked up about?” the mumbling voice replied coolly “The government can’t touch us, and neither can the local authority if they know what’s good for them. We’re practically immune to anything the law might throw at us”

“Well are you immune to bullets, eh, rookie?” the gruff voice asked as a metallic clicking sound caused the mumbling voice to gulp in fear “Well if you aren’t afraid” a shot rang out into the air, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground “Then I want all of you to get over there and check to see if our target are dead or not! IS THAT CLEAR!”

“Yes, sir!” a collection of eager and fearful voices chimed in.

“Uh oh, it looks like they aren't through with us just yet” said Twilight “What are we going to do?”

        “So, what’s the plan?” Spike asked with a tap on his chin “Come on, girls. Brainstorm a bit, this is you chance to do more than just roleplay a character”
 
“Can’t we just fight them?” Rainbow Dash suggested “I mean, we kicked their butts last time, so I’m pretty sure we can do it again” she crossed her forelegs together and wore a confident smile on her face.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Rainbow Dash” Fluttershy replied “They know what happened last time, they’re prepared now if we were to fight them”

“Fluttershy’s right” said Pinkie “These big meanie pants have a brand new toy too, and I think they’ll be more than happy to share it with us. I don’t know about you girls, but this is one present that I don’t want”

“She has a point” Rarity chimed in “The opposition is far too tough to handle directly. If we go in blindly, we might end up like swiss cheese”

“Heh, cheese. Yeah, rushing in like that wouldn’t be such a... gouda idea” Pinkie piped in with a giggle. Everyone else also shared a good chuckle from that joke, no matter how... cheesy it was.

“Well, what do you suggest then?” Rainbow asked.

“First, we need to get the Thanites to safety” said Applejack “ Ah say that some of us should to escort them to the ship, while a few of us stay back to distract these trigger happy idiots”

“You’re the one with the bundle of dynamite, do something about it!” Rainbow retorted.

“Alright, alright. I guess I’ll be the one who’ll distract them, but we need more volunteers” said Applejack.

“I’ll stay, I’m the one with the robot” said Twilight with a smile “I want to bust T. Sentinel out again”

“Oh, oh, oh! Let me join you girls! I still have lots of these bombs to use!” Pinkie piped in “Come on! I promise I’ll be more careful this time”

“Well, the fire last time wasn’t really your fault, Pinkie” said Fluttershy “It just got a little out of control”

“A little?” Rarity asked with the raise of her eyebrow “You set the entire field ablaze” she stated as a matter o’ factly

“But, her alchemical bombs would come in handy when we’re handling the guild members. A little fire here and there shouldn’t really matter to a portside city” said Twilight “Alright, I think we’re good to go!”

“Hey! What about me?” Rainbow asked with a frown “I want to get in on this fight too!”

“Your weapons and armor would help, but what you possess is far more valuable than your fighting skills” said Rarity.

“And what’s better than a blasting pike to the face? Without me you won’t be dealing as much damage”

“You seem to forget about your character’s magical abilities” Rarity replied “You can manipulate the weather to our advantage”

“Hey, that’s right! Yer a stormcrafter too, aren’t ya?” Applejack asked “Use that fancy magic of yers to create some kind of distraction so that you, Fluttershy, and Rarity can sneak away with the Thanites”

“Huh, I’ve been meaning to get around to using my magic, although, I keep forgetting that I have two careers instead of one” said Rainbow “Eh, alright. I’ll follow along with the plan. Hey, Spike” she called out “How do we perform magic?”

“It’s real simple. You just have to pass the roll to see if the spell doesn’t botch in your hooves, then continue to roll each turn to maintain the spell. If you want to keep it up, just keep rolling to upkeep your spell” said Spike “Although it will continue to get harder and harder the longer you try to keep your magic up and running”

“Um... I think I got all of that, kinda” said Rainbow with a scratch of her head “Okay then, I think we have our plan now. But there’s only one thing that I’m still not sure about, how many of these goons are there?”

“Well, let’s see then” said Spike as he peered through his booklet “Rainbow Blast carefully lifts her head over the table to try and catch a glimpse of their pursuers...”

        Her rainbow colored mane and armored head just barely past the barrier before an arrow grazed her on the side of her cheek. She swallowed a lump in throat when she took notice to the volley of arrows flying in her general direction. Before she could even register anything else happening, she quickly yanked her arnet helmet down and dove back behind cover before various arrows collided with the tables.

        “Well, how many are there?” Captain Pinkie asked nonchalantly.

        “Uh... I counted at least eight goons, mostly stallions and gryphons, no dogs, but that was before they shot at me” said Rainbow as she pulled her helmet back up again “I’m starting to think that we’re in over our head with this plan of ours”

        “You just get ze Thanites to safety. Me, gearhead and drunky over there will handle the rest. We’ll meet you by the ship soon” L’ Orange replied “But before we can do that, give our friends here some cover”

        “Okay then, here goes nothing” Rainbow said before raising her hooves together and concentrating all of her inner energy outwards. Within seconds, runic circles similar to Twilight’s rune inscription glowed around the tip of her hooves and electricity began to crackle and spark around them. Before long, a small gray cloud around the size of a grapefruit was conjured in her hooves, and an eerie mist was produced from it.

“Wow, that’s pretty neat” said Heart Stopper “But what are you going to do with it?” she asked.

“I’m going to try to create a fog using this cloud so that we can sneak out of here” Rainbow replied as beads of sweat began to form around the side of her head. Her confident smile and abrasive attitude was gone, replaced with a look of sheer terror and nervousness.

“Uh, are ya feeling alright, hon?” Elusive asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just...” Rainbow trailed off.

“Just what?” everyone asked, their voices filled with concern.

“This is actually the first time that I’m trying to tap into my stormcrafting powers since I enlisted for the U.S.S.R. military. I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded, heh heh...” Rainbow cracked a weak grin while everyone else’s jaw fell to the floor.

“Please tell me that there isn’t going to be any trouble if you screw up” Twilight pleaded.

“Um... my mentor have always told me that messing up stormcrafting usually resulted in... shocking results” just as she mentioned it, the wispy cloud around Rainbow’s hooves began to violently discharge small bolts of electricity onto the ground and nearly every conductible surface around them “... is this a bad time to mention that I have never practiced how to conjure up a fog?”

“No, it’s not bad. It’s horrible!” Twilight shouted “Quick, do something to control it, we can let our ticket out of here end up electrocuting us!”

“Okay, okay! I’m going to try and stabilize it. Everyone stand back!” Rainbow scrunched her face tightly as she used all of her willpower to stabilize her little cloud. A thunderous boom rang out from the small cloud as lightning jolted out in all directions “Grr... I can’t control it!”

“Come on, Rainbow. You can it, just concentrate!” Butterfly cried out as a blur bolt struck the ground next to her “Eep!”

“Grr... I- I can’t!” Rainbow shouted as the cloud began to overload itself. Should that occur, all of the condensed lightning and water would end up exploding, harming anyone around it. Rainbow’s heart sank as she felt herself losing control over the cloud. All hope seemed lost for her, but right before the cloud could spell doom, a single pulse from within her chest rippled throughout her mind “W-wait! I can feel something, hang on! I got one shot at this!”

“Come on, Dash. Roll big or else everyone is going to get hit by a lightning bomb” said Spike “You got to pass a fifteen to stabilize the cloud”

 “Alright, here goes nothing!” Rainbow Dash announced as she rapidly shook the D20 in her hooves. She looked just like a bartender with a boston shaker before finally sending the polychromatic dice rocketing throughout the room like a ricocheting rainbow bullet. It bounced and hopped all over the place before it beaned Applejack’s hat off and landed on the table with fanfare.

"Dah! Ouch!" Applejack cried out as she glared daggers at Rainbow. But Dash paid no mind, she was only interested in the number that she received.

“Ha! Eighteen!”

“Huh, looks like there is hope for you girls after all” said Spike "So, Rainbow Blast actually manage to control a small thundercloud without having it blow up in all your faces, quite a feat for a first try if I should say so myself" he cleared his throat "Anyhow, on with the adventure..."

“Here we go, it’s the moment of truth!” everyone quickly dove towards the ground to avoid all of the loose bolts escaping the cloud. After one last ear rupturing boom, the cloud itself became stable, and a steady stream od mist flooded the area past their cover with a dense white fog, enveloping their pursuers with as well. It was so dense in fact that the goons had trouble seeing the person that was standing directly next to them.

“Phew, thought I was a goner back there. Alright, let’s get the heck out of here before these goons figure out where they’re walking” said Rainbow Blast as she, Butterfly, and Elusive began to lead the group of Thanites out towards the docks through the cover of the fog “Come on, hurry up. This fog isn't going to last long”

“Just get going, we’ll handle the rest of the grunts... somehow” said Twilight as her shoulder pad began to glow. Pinkie pulled out her alchemical grenades and fiddled with the pin, almost as if she had the unbearable urge to chuck the thing at some poor unsuspecting fool. L' Orange pulled out her rifle and reloaded it, a spent cartridge ejected itself from the breach and a brand new bullet was put in its place. The sound of her her heavy rifle being reloaded brought forth a smug smile on her flawless face.