Fight. 56%
“So you’re saying you… opened it,” Rainbow finished, her eyebrows practically vanished into her face. “You found a mysterious machine, had no idea what it did, and you opened it.”
“Yes,” Twilight said.
“And it attacked you. And you think it’s coming for us.”
“Yes,” Twilight tensed. “Rainbow, I know it was stupid. Right now… it’s just lucky I met you first. I trust your experience when dealing with this thing. I think its magic was similar to King Sombra, so anything that would work against him should probably work here.”
“Well buck,” Rainbow turned, spreading her wings. “You two get back to camp as quick as you can, and don’t stop to bring anything stupid. Straight to the armory!” She took off, and was gone in a blur of blue feathers and scattering dust behind her.
“Between you and me, I think she was waiting for something like this,” Fluttershy whispered. “I just hope nopony gets hurt so she can have her way.”
“Me too.” Twilight took one last glance back towards the Memorial, then followed Fluttershy into the air. The two of them together wouldn’t be able to keep up with Rainbow Dash, not the smaller yellow pegasus to slow her down.
Rainbow Dash plans the defense of camp. Critical success.
By the time they reached camp, Rainbow Dash had already dressed in full combat armor. Pinkie was wearing it too, and Spike. “Fluttershy, good!” Rainbow pointed towards the medical building. “Get Sunset moved onto the Prospector with Applejack. She rolled herself there on her own. You can stay there, and be ready to… escape, if things get bad. Captain, it’s your call whether you want to be on reserve with the prospector or deployed with the rest of us.”
“Rarity is on shields?”
“Will be, daring,” Rarity’s voice answered from over the radio. I’m deploying the stationary guns. I believe Apple Bloom volunteered to operate them.”
The mechanical ponies had no armor, though both of them had weapons now. Well… not the weapons Twilight was used to. The modular rifles had swapped most of their structure for a huge battery and an array of wires on the front.
“I’m staying,” Twilight said. “This thing is my fault. I’m not going to hind behind the rest of you and wait for you to save me.”
Rainbow nodded, then tossed her a rifle. She caught it in her magic, feeling the strain just to hold the barrel up. “If that feels like a lot, it gets worse. Those buckin’ massive capacitors on the back? Each one is one shot.”
“You mean this gun weighs half as much as I do, and it only gets…”
“Three shots,” Apple Bloom said. “But we won’t need all three if we kill it in one, right? Can we kill it?”
“I don’t know if it’s alive,” Twilight said. “But maybe we can scare it off. Make it seem like we’re… not worth targeting. Predators don’t want to work too hard for their meals, right? We’ll make this one hard.”
“If that’s how you want to think about it,” Rainbow said. “Valuable targets on base are the Prospector, Warehouse, and Workshop N. We can expect it to sabotage as much of our machinery as it can to draw our attention. Our goal is to always remain in sight of each other at all times.”
Iron Horse had remained quiet for this makeshift briefing, resting his own rifle against the ground. The mechanical body he and Node used looked like it could barely lift the gun. “You said this creature will be like… Sombra. Is it true he could control the minds of ponies?”
“Yes,” Rainbow said, before Twilight could interrupt her. But there was no sense getting picky about confidential information now. “But taking over a pony’s will require his full attention for ten seconds or so. During that time, he’ll be vulnerable. Assuming this is similar… look for the darkness and try to flash it. And don’t think these things won’t hurt ponies. Within their affective range, a direct hit on center mass will stop your heart. Expect third-degree burns if they touched exposed skin anywhere else. Any questions?”
There were none. “Then may Luna guide our souls.” There were mutters of agreement, and they spread to their stations. Twilight had just enough time to secure a radio headset on her ear before she heard something on the horizon.
The stationary gun used the same magnetic accelerators they used for launching probes, with much more sophisticated firing mechanisms. The gun itself was silent, but she could hear the roar of each pointed ferrous shell as it left the barrel.
“Contact!” Spike yelled. “Tracking large target at five hundred meters…” the ground rumbled. “Its approach is near gun seven!”
Do physical attacks have any effect on the creature? Yes.
“Converge on seven!” Rainbow shouted over the line. “That’s the north-west, near Node’s lab! We should only have one target. Reserve, you can stay behind.”
“Planned on it, dear.”
Twilight was on the other end of the camp. She took off, arcing straight over the buildings in a wide parabola. That would make her a target if their enemy had guns, but she wasn’t terribly worried about that. She wanted to see what was happening.
On the far end of camp, a mounted gun the size of a minecart flashed every half-second, sending another iron slug forward at a gradually growing blur of smoke. It had been pony sized before, but now it was the size of a small transport.
The gun wasn’t killing it, but it did seem to be forcing it to stay diffuse somehow. Twilight tucked her wings as she came back for her dive, clutching the rifle close with her magic as air whipped her mane about in front of her.
“It’s on me!” Rainbow squealed in pain over the radio, and down below an armored figure dropped to the ground.
Twilight took aim from the air and fired into the darkness. There was no worry about air resistance or gravity here, not when her target was so close, and her projectiles traveled the speed of light.
Twilight attempts to hit the creature? Success.
Twilight felt more than heard the impact, a flash of heat from just in front of her that momentarily blinded her. Then it was gone, and something rumbled from the ground below. Like an earthquake echoing across the world, shaking her tight through to her guts.
Can Rainbow resist the attack? Yes. Rainbow takes two points of lethal psychic damage, then it releases her.
“That’s it!” Rainbow called, sounding only a little winded. “It’s running! Looks like…” Twilight followed it in the searchlight, hovering in the air.
“Towards the city,” she finished. “Out of the Memorial’s reach.”
“Well…” Rainbow said. “Do we—”
1. Chase it down. Celestia only knows what it might find in the city. We can’t let it escape to attack later.
2. Keep a guard while we make a dignified retreat, packing everything and taking as many trips as required to harvest everything.
3. Send only Rainbow and Twilight after the creature. We’re the strongest. This thing isn’t so tough.
4. Send only Iron Horse and Apple Bloom after the creature. Their minds should be immune. It’s probably half dead already!
(Certainty 240 required)
In for a penny, in for a pound. We should press home our advantage.
Stop acting reckless! Retreat for now. Node or Sunset might know something about it and we still need AJ
This is a tough call. On the one hand, I want to chase it down and kill it - we can't leave this thing running loose, which also leaves option 2 out.
It's true Rainbow and Twilight are the strongest - and good on Rainbow getting to flex her skills! - but she just took 2 points of lethal psychic.
I vote send Applebloom and Iron Horse. Former teammates, and robots immune to the HUNGER.
YAAAAAAAAAS SUCCESSFUL FIRST ATTACK!!!! Oh MAN I was so worried someone was gonna die, but this worked out FANTASTICALLY, all things considered! We didn't even have Pinkie doing anything weird, I worried she would with that mysterious redacted thing she is vulnerable to in case it had to do with the shadow creature.
I'm trying to decide between 1 or 2. 1 is dangerous, but might allow them to maintain their base. Two is safest. Three is not a good idea since Rainbow suffered damage already. Four is right out. Never trust something overconfident like "It's PROBABLY half-dead already!" and we don't really know our robo-ponies' strengths yet. (Esp. since poor Iron Horse got the shaft with a Node body that can't even comfortably lift the gun.)
To day we are the preditors. Send the pondroids.
So. Do we chase it or not?
I don't think we can let it run loose, but for all we know, this might be a trap.
If we chase it, we should go all-in.
Trying to fight anything in a city for an attacker is a nightmare, no matter the foe. Retreat, we were prepared and that thing is surely preparing for us in the city.
Per Ardua ad astra! No turning back now! Option One.
No going back, no compromises. That HUGERS, and it MUST go down!
It's hurt... after getting waylaid by critically well-placed stationary defenses. And we don't know how hurt. And even the Signalers only contained it, possibly because they couldn't destroy it. The fortifications will keep it at bay. Let's get out of Dodge while the getting's good.
As risky as it is to keep chasing it, it's even riskier to let it flee. It could come back even stronger. So I'm going with option 1.
Glad we don't have to vote for this question. Seems the obvious choice anyway.
Unsure what to pick for this chapter's poll. Will think on it.
Personally, I'm a bit torn.
While goining after to stop a potential threat might seem like a good idea. There's that bit about the ground shaking that has me thinking this might have been a feint. With the creature underground by the Crystal heart, it sounds about right for the earthquakes, but not this smaller monster they're fighting. So the retreat might be a way to get them away from the base while the thing underground pulls a worm of Dune on the base.
There's also the bit about the previous choices that Twilight thought of it being a singular enemy and not the hunger. While that could be simply Twilight suggesting it's an incredibly small part of the Hunger. I've been pondering if this Sombra thing is something else. What if we're seeing two forms of weapon the Signaliars had devised to try to combat the Hunger?
Actually, I base my decision on one answered question. Starscribe? Does the flee option include taking the Crystal Heart as a valuable?
We had good rolls, but let's not push our luck. Now is the perfect time to retreat to safety
Hmm... sound tactics would advise a tactical retreat in my opinion. Evacuate those who can't fight, and send the prospector back down. Fortify, let those topside recover and support. the base on the surface is needed to advance, but why risk all of your eggs in one basket? Use the base as an "Outpost" now that the ship can be used as a 'safe' (for a given definition of the word safe) haven. Besides, now that things have calmed down, now's a good chance to check for any more ship side shenanigans from our resident saboteur.
Nice victory. Camping and turtling usually works wonders for the defending forces. Slight problem: now the enemy has that advantage. I say we book it.
This is no time for half measures. A predator like this will only be more subtle from here on out. This thing needs to be taken out.
Well that went better than expected. Don't think we should chase it though, who knows what's in the city. Plus that thing probably knows the area better, could well be setting up an ambush, or getting backup.
Better to engage on your own terms, within range of the stationary guns and with an easy escape via the Prospector if things get bad.
Let it go... Send a scout to keep an eye on it.
set a trap.
keep home base advantage
Yes!
Also yes!
More yes!
Thanks be to the benevolent dice once again.
1, I suppose. They can't leave that thing out there and ponies are stronger in a group.
Didn't Rainbow, Spike and somepony else (Node I think) leave in the Prospector for one of the other planets?
9543142 Wouldn't they? The whole point of the cyber-virus seems to be to give immunity to the HUNGER. This seems right up their ally.
9543399
I suppose another thing to consider is that if this Cyber-virus is so good, why haven't they overthrown the Hunger and rebuilt all that it has consumed?
The only answer I can figure is that it makes the successful converted unpalatable to the Hunger. But with the low success rate and conversion not giving them as much as a boon compared with what they could face, it probably diminished their chances of fighting it. (Remember, whether this thing is a piece of the Hunger or some monstrous entity to fight it, it put considerable strain on Twilight's shield. I'd hate to learn the hard way things like this can crush Cyberconverts like empty soda cans if they get their shadowy mitts on them.) Not to mention this process might end a species ability to propagate themselves.
9543142
"Lethal" is a damage type. We've previously also seen "aggravated", and IIRC "bashing" as well. These are coming from an RPG system, and while I'm not familiar with the system in question, the bashing/lethal/aggravated sequence is standard in several other systems. Bashing is the kind of damage you'd normally take from blunt trauma, lethal from open wounds inflicted by things like slashing weapons, and aggravated tends to be injuries that are particularly difficult to recover from (depending on the system this can be anything from fire to magic).
In other words, "lethal" doesn't mean Rainbow is in danger of dying; dying or not is based on how much damage a character takes more than the type of damage. (Though often if you reach 0 health with bashing damage you're just knocked out instead of dead.) "Lethal" is just a description of how long/difficult it will be to heal the wound.
This was campaign-breakingly good rolls. We cannot count on that continuing. RD is hurt, and I get the sense the ponydroids are important sources of information still untapped, not to mention it makes ZERO sense to risk both for what is an insane risk.
So, there are 2 options: Gamble EVERYTHING and chase it into unknown territory where it WILL have the advantage, and possible FRIENDS, or strategically retreat having gained some combat knowledge about the thing and letting everyone (hopefully) recover. Since it didn't just GM Handwave into the center of camp past the shields, I'm going to bet it cannot without being invited in via failed hunger saves. So cutting and running may not be the worst option.
9543194
Yep
Hmm tough call. On one hand chasing it could end up with this being a trap for it to ambush or otherwise attack them from a more advantageous position. They kept it in a less dangerous gaseous form so far but that might change if they chase it. Just sending two individuals rather than the whole group could lead to an ambush on the other hand, retreating back to camp and setting up a defensive perimeter while they pack their things might give it time to grab dangerious weapons and friends. Hmm I'd say go back to camp where the stationary guns are, those seemed to give it some trouble with forming up or attacking even if they didn't do much to hurt it. Pull everything into a tight defensive perimeter but don't retreat from planet. Rather, fight a tough defensive fight. Unless it comes back with some kind of OP artillery guns or overwelming numbers, odds will be in the defender's favor
9543399 They don't have to be the powerhouses. They just have to be invulnerable to Smokey's psychic powers.
Can we please play this one smart and safe? If we engage it, there WILL be several roles related to if someone dies, and the fewer of those we have the better. Obviously we can’t play safe all the time, but this is the perfect opportunity to cut our losses. They can get all their stuff gathered up and move on to the next thing in the system, maybe interrogate Apple Bloom more, along with Sunset, and than make a decision on where to go next. Hell, twilight can now interrogate Cozy Glow and know what she’s thinking at any given time Hanks to her mind reading powers, meaning she can tell if Cozy is lying or leaving out some details about anything. This isn’t an opportunity to be wasted.
I'd be in favor of chasing it as long as it was out in the open, but I doubt Starscribe's going to let the crew catch it before it reaches the city (since Dash is the one we LEAST want running ahead to solo intercept). Once it reaches cover, it makes more sense to break off the pursuit, and that's not among the options.
Therefore, I say we take the win as it stands, even if it means we might not come back for a long time.
Just FYI, you guys arguing for pursuit: before Dashie critted on defense, the discord campaign chapter was named Day of Blood.
[edit: expanded spoiler to max censorship setting.]
9543747
Oh, the interrogating Cozy Glow is an interesting idea.
But playing safe might make this thing deadlier. It was locked in a room for all this time without food, air and water. If it runs on creatures based off of a shadow element, then going into space might possibly make this creature more deadlier. I've never really considered how a space would effect a creature made of shadows before. On one hand, space has all those stars. But on the other hand, there's all that empty space between the stars.
Does a shadow monster get a buff in space? Or does it get a debuff? How different is those factors both in system and out of a solar system?
It might be safer to deal with it now. Rather then in an environment that tries to kill life for any slight technical problem a space ship could have in it. But at the same time, I'm still a bit concerned about those earthquakes that came from below. It might still be closer then they realize.
9543823
Reminder that we aren’t supposed to bring any of the roll spoilers into this. We can still vote and discuss options, but I’m almost positive there was something somewhere saying not to bring up anything either from the spoilers channel or the equinox rolls channel. Not that what you said is anything major, but I would play it safe
"Never pursue the enemy without intel." That's textbook tactics.
It is very dangerous to pursue an unknown enemy into unexplored terrain that you have no intelligence on. We aren't even sure if the enemy is retreating because he is actually hurt, or if he is simply drawing you out of your fortified place of strength into neutral or favorable ground for him. Even worse, he might have friends or an ambush ready and is trying to bring you there. It's not worth it.
There is also very little reason left to continue holding this piece of ground. There are no more loose ends, and everything we need has been extracted. We have enough food and rest, gotten all the plot McGuffins and rescued everyone. The base is now a net cost, rather than a net benefit. We should leave it and explore a richer opportunity like Proximus C or the ring.
If we really have to kill this creature, we should do it at leisure from orbit (by repairing Equinox's weapons or just dropping heavy objects), or by taking off and coming back from an unexpected direction on the ground. There is no reason to fight it on its own terms when we can dictate the time, place and kind of battle.
I've decided.
I'm going to go with the retreat option.
9543823 9543747 9543566 Made some interesting points. But at the same time, the earthquakes have me a little concerned that defeating it might actually get the base destroyed. Perhaps it isn't wise killing something that might be keeping something potentially worst in check.
I'm a little ticked at whoever's consistently downvoting anyone suggesting fight, but whatever.
I can definitely see the appeal in pursuing. We already have it on the run. If it's headed towards the city, it could be getting reinforcements, or something that'll make it even more powerful than it already is. We have zero reason to believe it won't attack again, nor do we have any reason to believe it's stuck on the planet.
Any retreat is temporary, and it'll come back with its wounds healed, maybe stronger, possibly with friends. What would retreat grant us that's worth that risk?
9543849 Textbook tactics never had to deal with a psychic smoke cloud avatar/fragment/servant of cosmic HUNGER. I gurantee 100% that if we let it get away, it'll come back later at a terrible time, such as when the ponies are trapped in the vacuum of space.
9543884
Of course their isn't an explanation where it got all that extra mass and why the ground shook when it got hit, as of yet.
Seems kind of weird that the only creature that could be making the ground shake seems to be reacting to this other creature being shot. I'm seriously wondering if Twilight Shadow simply used the crystal heart to make a summon to distract the crew as it powers itself up to finish the colony in one stroke of the ruins monsters plant like tentacle.
This “yes” was an insane dice roll in the Discord. You would not believe it. An “ask 1 (question)” is a guarunteed yes, and an “ask 10 (question)” is a guarunteed no. Starscribe rolled a “9”.
I understand the reasons behind "not pursuing"... but this thing started out pony sized, chased Twilight here, and reached small transport size on the way. That means this thing recovers FAST, and that it's extremely weak right now. That combination means anything OTHER than "fire everything" is extremely dangerous, while "fire everything" is only regular dangerous. Option 1.
So many people here would be on their 5th or 6th character reroll already jfc. You don't always roll the nat 20s, you have to expect some rolls to fail. We've hardly failed a single important check so far, and have had INSANELY lucky saves.
At least consider: If we're risking anyone, risk the unknown assets first before you risk the literal god tier mage and the military trained combatant. And Rule 1 is "keep the healer safe". Bringing Fluttershy CLOSER to whatever that is? I do not want to think about what would happen if she Stared into THE VOID.
"hind behind" is a typo for "hide behind".
"will require" should be "will required", since Sombra was in the past.
"affective range" is probably meant to be "effective range"... but it could be correct, if you're talking about the disturbance in mood.
Some of you are being re-dang-diculous about this.
1) It's expansion of size is very implied to be because it is diffused from a condensed state, forced to be a larger, less stable, vapor. It's not suddenly way stronger.
2) I don't know why anyone thinks leaving this alive is an option. Either it comes back to bite the crew at some point OR it's a death trap extra left to anyone else who comes here. Since when do we ONLY care about ourselves (the crew, whatever)? It's weakened at the least, finish it off. We don't have the luxury of letting it recover in hope of a more favorable plan or ignoring it.
3) Why does anyone seem to think this thing has friends? Or can use weapons? It was stuck alone in a room for probably ages. And is very likely purely gaseous. It didn't nearly crack Twilight's shield with pure force as far as I could reason, but by overwhelming her and being acrid- it's existence being harmful, not exerting force.
4) Almost positive that the creature was not the source of the earthquake LIKE phenomena itself. It could have purely been the powerful shot itself, OR, possibly, much more dangerously, the mechanical worm reacting to a HUGE SOURCE OF HEAT.
You don't want to be where that thing will be. On the other hand that would also mean it's likely coming to where you want to retreat from (at a leisurely pace I might add)- and if you go after the shadow creature and fire again it'll come right to you. If the worm is involved it'd actually probably be the best option to split up, so that someone could be ready to pilot the prospector and get everyone up in the air... though I'm not sure this eliminates option 1, as all it says is chase it down, not that the non combatants or even the backup team are coming as well.
Even if you don't think the worm is coming due to that the very fact that it's out there and anything else could also be out there does make the choice pretty dangerous. But doing nothing is more dangerous... especially IF the worm DID track that.
We've gotten lucky so far. If we keep pushing, somepony might die. Rainbow is already hurt, same with Twi from her previous encounters. Going into the city will be an advantage for *it.* We need to retreat to somewhere else in the system and consolidate our resources.
I voted personally for option 1, but I have to play devil's advocate. It very well could be possible that it only retreated to draw the party away from the base and is not actually weakened.
9544527 Maybe it did retreat to lay a trap, but there's really no other option. Smoke monsters like Smokey are almost always able to fly. Trying to retreat into orbit, into the vacuum of space, while Smokey's running free, is suicidal.
9544238
On the assumption that the earthquake was the machine worm responding to heat; I voted to send the robo-pones. They are likely capable of resisting psychic damage, and should lack the significant body heat of the organics thus hiding from the hypothetically heat-seeking worm. The diffused creature can't be allowed to retreat and regroup (literally!).
9544913
Smokey going to space, a vacuum, in a gaseous state, would honestly probably be the worst idea ever. Whatever force he needs to keep himself together is assisted by the gas-pressure of the planet. Go to space, and, well... Good luck holding himself together for long.
In her defense: She literally didn't have much of a choice...
9546141 It is a magical HUNGER smoke creature. I do not think principles of air pressure matter.
9544238
Oh sure this thing is made of the same darkness that several civilizations failed to stop whose only final option was to run from it as fast as possible or be eradicated by it but leaving it alive isn't an option.
Killing it might not be an option either. It's rolled that it can be effected by physical attacks but not that it can be killed by them. It was hit by this rifle
A rifle heavy enough to make Twilight strain to lift it with her magic, hot enough to, as you said, probably alert the mechanical death worm when even the prospector taking off didn't. It shot the smoke monster dead on and it survived to run away. So now we either Chase after that, risking still being here when the death worm shows up, all while it's already been mentioned there is a wave of darkness on it's way to this solar system putting the mission on a time crunch or we leave.
What exactly on this planet is worth staying for? The only thing I know of that hasn't been dealt with is the crystal heart. They fought it off enough that they can pack up their supplies and leave at this point. I'd say it's time to leave.