Fallout: The New Arrivals

Wild Card had said what he had hoped would keep him from being handed over to the Casino Lords, but the fact both mares were still aiming their weaponry at him was unnerving - the description of what would happen to him didn't help with this fact at all. However, seeing Razor aiming at his knees trumped the previous feelings of fear he had bottled up inside of him, and he braced himself for a world of pain...

Which didn't arrive, except audibly perhaps, as the pegasus heard the thestral mare swear, in a manner that caused even Cheshire to consider that it was a bit vulgar, and two consecutive shotgun blasts, the dirt being kicked up hitting Wild in the legs. "I... do believe we're on the same page." "Yeah, the page involving still having our kneecaps. I like that page, I hope it's a recurring theme throughout the book." He said, sounding very relieved and rightly so in his mind.

"I think, Jäger, that we will be heading to Las Pegasus, or at least close to it, with these two mares and helping them with a problem of theirs." Wild responded to the large humanoid with a smile, a smile that was soon becoming Wild's go to "act confident" smile. "Now then, Wyvorn, it's safe. They're not gonna shoot you. If anything they'll shoot me... I think." "Now if we're gonna help you, I think some armaments are in order. Not much use without bullets or guns, eh?" "It is true that we are low on the ammunition front, and there are those of us that are devoid of any firearms." He stated, looking around at the group as he pocketed the stone with the engraving on it.

Viridian meets the wild fierceness in Razor's eyes with a calm smile that doesn't reach her peridot-green eyes. Her eyes are full of the same predatory focus and wildness as Razor's, although there may be a very slight deepening of the smile and intensifying of the focus as she recognizes in the mercenary a fierceness that is familiar to her. "I think you're assuming that we won't beat you down there," she says to Razor, in response to the thestral threatening to break out of Tartarus and hunt them down if they bail on her.
"Well, I plan to live till I don't wanna anymore, so you do what you have to." Verde responds with a grin in the direction of Razor.
"Verde..."
"What? If she had full-body shiny leather on, you'd pay for her to beat on you."
Viridian blushes. "VERDE!"
"Just saying." Verde nods to Wild. "I'm on his page." She thinks. "Well, I'm on the page of the three of him that just opined on this situation. They seem to have the right idea about what to do here: get heavily armed, and kick plot 'till there's no more plot to kick."
Viridian looks askance at her. "You know better than to think tt's that simple."
"True," Verde agrees. "We then haul plot, preferably by picking it up and running away with it. Bonus is if it's really great plot."
Viridian sighs and hangs her head. "Young people these days..."

The stallion on the ground continued moaning as if he had suffered the pain of a thousand bloat fly stings. He took several moments to react to their words and questions; it was only when he heard Dust offering help that he forced his hands away from his face. The way he moved suggested he had to convince himself to do it, and it was immediately apparent why...

A horrific, putrid burn was covering most of the stallion's face, coat and flesh burned away in equal measure to expose raw muscle and melted flesh, one eye seemed to have been melted away completely while his other eye, blodshot and horrified, span in it's socket to all of them and to other random places in the cave as if it could see figures they couldn't.

"Please... please...." He begged through partially melted lips. It was only when his hands were fully removed that the ominous shape of the burn became apparent; much as they might not want to admit it, the damage to his face was carved almost like a brand into what was unmistakably a handprint covering most of his face, as if someone had clasped a hand of pure fire over his face and held it there.

"Hey, pretty boy, who ya talkin to?" The voice was almost as horrible to their ears as the poor stallion was to their eyes; it was a dead, hollow sort of voice and yet even though it croaked so deeply most emotion was hard to read it was undeniably filled with a sadistic amusement at the stallion's predicament. Footsteps followed soon after, along with a sickly green glow coming from one of the three tunnels ahead of them.


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

"If you're gonna help us I think not being a cocky little prick is in order too, but that's not likely now is it?" Razor retorted to Wild with a slightly worrying grin but she didn't make any aggressive moves toward the stallion as she climbed into the carriage, immediately moving to sit with the driver (who looked rather petrified when she took the passenger seat) rather than sit with the rest of the group.

Bronze shook her head and tried to look apologetic as they slid into the carriage, though she still looked quite amused at her friend as best as she tried to hide it. "I'm sorry about her; would you believe me if I told you she's really not that bad?" She asked with a sheepish look.

With things settled down for now Bronze held the door open for the rest of them. With the chaos over it was the first time they could get a clear look at her to see that yes indeed her entire left arm was mechanical, seemingly built out of scraps of various odd bits of power armor; still she had a more friendly demeanor than Razor Back as she held the door open.

"We won't be taking the carriage right into Freeside." She told them once they had all entered. "Too easy, The Grateful Dead and the Casino Lords would both have spies in there, they'd see us coming and cart off our bargaining chip before we can say "fancy a game of poker", obviously not what we want." She said, jerking her head at Wild Card when she said bargaining chip. "If anyone ELSE has a bounty on their head, now would be the time to know." she said simply; her eyes had been lingering on Viridian and Verde with a look that was equal parts suspicion and curiosity, while Jaeger and Wyvorn had both garnered looks of interest, most likely she didn't see many non-ponies around here.

"Hy shoud beh fine," Jäger said after climbing into the carriage and taking his seat, in an almost comical manner to trying to make his monstrous visage a bit smaller so it'd be less crowded. "Sho if ve harn't koink to freeshide, den vhere hare ve koink?" he then asked even though he was already in the carriage and showed no signs of trying to get out of it even if the answer proved to be unfavorable. His eyes however did linger on Bronze's mechanical arm for a while before they swiveled down to look at his own clunky and damaged prosthetic. The scrap it was pieced together with paled in comparison, and it's condition wasn't faring much better. Then he looked over his shoulder to the prosthetic wings that were in the same boat. Whatever he'd been doing back in the facility, it certainly wasn't maintaining his limbs to an even remotely acceptable degree and he was a bit surprised they were still even working as well as they were.

"Hoy, hyu vouldn't be deh von who made dat, vould hyu?" Jäger asked Bronze with a point to her fake arm. "Und hyu tink rehpairsh could beh done?" he asked as a follow-up question while lifting his prosthetic to show.

Wyvorn would actually hesitate for a few moments when Wild told him that it's safe to stand up, but eventually did it, dusting any sand off his chest and legs, still looking rather cautious. Even though Razor put her shotgun away, he was still anticipating suddenly being aimed at or even worse, shot. "Well, if you say so..." He said before boarding the cart. He would sit himself next to Wild, one of his hands constantly next to his newly acquired weapon, every now and then even opening it to make sure the few bullets were still there before putting it away again. He looked very nervous at the time. The griffon sighed as Bronze began apologizing and slightly shook his head. "You're gonna have to earn this griffon's trust..." He mumbled at Bronze and looked down at the cart's floor. "And no, luckily nobody even knows I exist apart from you guys."

"Trust me when I say I'm not little, though the cocky part could be true." Wild Card replied in a lighthearted manner, before groaning at his own rude joke. "You should learn when not to make jokes..." "Oh lighten up, a good laugh is the only thing stopping us from going insane. Then again, he does laugh quite a lot... Ah well, a joke's a joke." The pegasus said to himself as he took a seat in the back of the carriage, opposite Bronze while taking note of the mare's metal arm.

"Honestly I want to believe you there about her not being bad all the time... But hey, sometimes first impressions aren't too great." Wild said in response to Bronze's statement about Razor. "Though calling me the "bargaining chip" all the time isn't nice, y'know. I have a name, it should have been on the wanted poster, but in case you want to hear it pronounced, it's Wild Card." He said in a slightly irritated tone of voice, getting out the battered deck of cards from his pocket and shuffling them in his hands to pass the time. "So like Jäger asked, where exactly are we headed to then?"

((GM Notice: This is the final warning for those who haven't posted to either do so or give an indication they wish to be skipped this round))

((Stuff to do, can't post at the moment, but I will.))

"Be quiet," Dust murmured to the stallion before taking a few steps back and raising her weapon. Prepared for an ambush, she gestured to the voice's direction then to her gun, indicating for them to do thesame.

((GM post at request to give a player something substantial to do))

Bronze Gasket turned to Viridian and Verde with a curious look, tilting her head at them while her eyes, bronze as her name, seemed to be trying to stare right through them. 

"I think we can do with less plot kicking; if all goes well the plan is to hand your friend over, get our friend, then Razor uses her stealth-boy to break him out of the prison cells in the casino before they know what hit them." She said, a surprisingly subtle approach considering the violence of the other mare so far. "Alright, I need to know; do I know you two? It's nagging at me like gnats in my mane but I can't place you two at all." She said, looking visibly annoyed at herself for not recalling them properly.

((Last warning to those who have not posted; this thread will update on Monday, you have until then))

"So we skip the kicking plot and go straight to the hauling plot," Verde nods. "It has the advantage of simplicity, at least. Ten to one we'll end up shooting our way out with a lot of mooks bumbling in our general direction while we exercise maximum suave for ultimate victory."
Viridian sighs a little at Verde before looking at Bronze. "If you know us, I can't say we know you," she says. "Never forget eyes and I'd certainly never forget someone who works with..."
"...a hot piece of mare tail..."
Viridian colors and coughs. "...um, someone so violent and passionate as your companion. My best guess for how you'd know us is that you might have come across rumors of us or maybe even our names in connection with gun-running. Viridian Rain, and my daughter Verde Tin, by the way."
Verde slips deftly between her mother and Bronze and takes a seat in the carriage right next to Wild Card, and she turns to watch him shuffling the cards, looking interested.
Viridian smiles a little tiredly at Bronze as she joins her daughter. "That's an incredible mechanical achievement, by the way," she says, gesturing to the arm. "Even with the CNC machine we recovered in one of our long-range ruin delves, we'd be hard-pressed to manufacture something sophisticated enough to be used as a prosthetic. Is it your creation, then, or do you just happen to know a colleague with an unusual mechanical skill?"

The tunnel gave off an odd glow as a figure appeared at the top of the corridor. His appearance was an utter, living contrast; the suit he wore was impeccable, it even looked like it had been tailored to fit him which had to be costly and hard to come by these days. Sadly the handsome suit could only do so much to distract from the utter horror that was the stallion's face, a melted, sickly green head of melted, congealed flesh, his coat long since gone; his muscle, exposed in some places, seemed to pulse with radiation and whatever color his eyes may once have been they had long since been replaced with blank green pinpricks of light.

The stallion seemed to be alone until two more ponies stepped out of the shadows dressed in yellow hazmat suits; one of them had a stain that looked worryingly like blood down his front and both of them carried assault rifles.

The stallion who had been maimed managed to cling to Dust to drag himself into the cover of darkness with them, barely a second before the horrific ghoul walked to the spot where he had laid. For one horrible moment his eyes seemed to halt on where Dust and Strawberry were crouched in shadows but after a few moments he seemed to decide he had seen nothing.

"Go find the dirt shoveller." The ghoul rasped; his voice was awful, like a death rattle that continued in every syllable. "And if you two don't want me to make your faces match his, you make sure he's dead this time." He snarled to the two hazmat ponies, who seemed to be shivering in terror as he passed them and back into the corridor they had come from.

The hazmat ponies tentatively started forwards, poking their rifles down the corridors; even though they were well armed, the tunnel was dark and their hazmat suits were probably obscuring their vision even more.


*******


"That's the idea." Bronze confirmed with a nod to Viridian and Verde. "If all goes well Mr Card won't even see the inside of the cell long enough to get himself comfortable." Bronze assured them. "Speaking of that... in case anything does go wrong, Mr Card." She turned to Wild Card and ruffled her sleeve so that a small, black object fell into her palm. "In case anything does go wrong." She explained, flicking a tiny clasp to bring out the blade of the switchblade.

Razor leaned her head back in from the front to answer Jaeger; the driver looked rather relieved.

"We're going to be stopping at an old watering hole a friend of mine owns since the last owner turned up dead." She said casually. "He'll put us up with room and board, and any of you lot looking for less..."

"Stupidly dangerous and doomed to fail work?" Bronze suggested.

"Yeah that. Well, he's always got a few bounties to collect, a few debts to-" Bronze was interrupted by Jaeger, tilting her head and twitching her ears before Razor mimed what he meant for her. "Oh, yes, this is of my own design." She confirmed when Viridian and Verde also inquired about it, flexing her skeletal, metallic arm for them to look at. "Hmm... I admit yours seems a very drastic design change to mine, Jaeger wasn't it? But if you want to sit yourself down over here, I could see about taking a look at it?" She offered, producing a screwdriver and a wrench from her belt.

"I wouldn't complain about that big guy." Razor said to the griffon noting that he wasn't known. "Besides, you want your own wanted poster you're bound to end up with one somewhere; rule of the wasteland, if there's no one out there who wants you dead it's because someone else already killed you." Razor said with a nonchalance that was concerning.

Jäger nodded to the explanation of their destination and then again to the explanation that Bronze had in fact made that arm, looking abnormally contemplative for a monster of his stature. Then came the invitation to sit next to her for the examination. "Iv deh vragmensh of memoreh hy've got ish anehtink to ko by, den ish notink sho fansay az vhat hyu've got," Jäger said as he stood up a bit awkwardly in the limited space and shifted himself over to the other seat, only to plop down with a heavy thud. "Hyu musht beh von of dem shmatesh," he added while hefting the crude prosthetic up for Bronze to examine.

True to form, the limb was exceptionally crude and running off a very simplistic design and mechanism. There was a brief moment when it could have actually been mistook for something somewhat advanced, but even a basic inspection revealed that all of the extra pieces that made it look advanced was just crudely welded on bits of scrap metal an parts to generally make the limb more bulky and intimidating. There was however one part that actually proved to be advanced, and that was the connection port to the rest of Jäger's body. Placed on the torso right at the shoulder, the material was a decent to even good quality metal that'd been spared the nightmarish treatment that the rest of the limb, and the overall job of connecting this to the remaining biological parts of Jäger's body was expertly done. The port itself would also seem to be multi-unit compatible, meaning that should a better limb or the opportunity to make a better limb should arrive, it could rather easily be attached and hooked up.

"Sho, vhat's the diaknoshtik?"

Wild Card continued shuffling the cards in his hands deftly, but when Bronze mentioned the plan involving him, the shuffling of the cards slowed down vastly. He looked at the tall thestral in disbelief and continued listening to the conversation, only stopping his shuffling to take the switchblade. "If all goes wrong, yeah, a knife will do oh-so well against those armed with rifles and shotguns..." He mumbles, his voice sounding hollow. "You mean to tell me that you're just going to hand us over to be thrown into those bloody prisons? You may be right about not having enough time to get comfortable, because I bet you that I'll be dragged out of there and publicly executed for being a 'cheater'."

Wild sighed and shook his head. "Going lose my gun as well, I liked that gun, I took it from a locker and I've only had it for less than a day but it made me feel safe." "We'll get it back, I'm sure of it. Or we'll get a better gun." "If we survive..." The pegasus mumbled to himself before hearing Razor talk about wanted posters, something which gave him a small chuckle. "I bet my posters are everywhere, right? Hell, they were in your town, and I don't know how far that is from Las Pegasus." He said with morbid amusement, cutting into his shirt sleeve to hide the switchblade before shuffling the cards once more.

A shiver ran down Strawberry’s back as she saw the glowing abomination of nature before her. Though while the radioactive ghoul was a problem, his lackeys with the actual guns were a far more pressing threat. She had to either retreat or attack. Frosty and Tune might make quick work of them if they kept the element of surprise.

She looked at the gun in her hand. Would they be able to kill the ponies with the rifles quickly enough? Or would more drastic measures have to be taken? She did have a grenade too. That would work wonders, but risk them taking shrapnel or even cave-ins. Well, it was either that or bullet wounds.

Strawberry decided to use the grenade. She motioned for everyone to back up a bit before pulling the pin of the grenade. She then tossed it towards the hazmat ponies, immediately raising her pistol to deal with the survivors.

Tune saw the ghoulish creature in the business suit coming and quickly hid in the shadows, hoping that his belt of grenades didn't clink loud enough to attract the attention of the tuxedo horror's cronies. Once the ghoul was gone, however...
"What in the name of absolute Celestia-fondling-her-sister's-metaphorical-bollocks was that!?" He thought while having a face of utter bewilderment, horror and disgust mixed into a coctail which has been shaken, stirred and thrown around before reaching a point of it being as volatile as nitroglycerine.

So basically he felt like he was going to throw up.
Nonetheless, he backed off and laid low to minimize any chance of some shrapnel hitting him.

The white griffon sighed and then chuckled. "I suppose whoever wanted me dead got me into that cell in that vault already. I am not sure about his next plan if there even is one.. Hell, I don't even know if anyone wanted me gone in the first place. Either way, I suppose I should be happy as long as my own posters don't start appearing everywhere. I do not want to be a star yet." He said and released another chuckle before he took his combat knife out and started playing with it with visible skill while he silently listened to Bronze and Razor's plans. Wyvorn was still unsure if he would even be any help with this plan. Sure, he was a decent lockpick, but he was in no way familiar with the electric locks that his prison had.

"Hopefully, there aren't that many people that want you dead," Viridian says dryly to Razor. "Getting into, and out of, and into more trouble is just part of how life is in the Wasteland, but I'm not especially eager to have all the trouble coming in my general direction just because I'm in the same general area as you."
"I think she's all the trouble you could ever ask for, Mum," Verde says with a grin as she continues to watch Wild shuffle cards and have a conversation with some of his various selves. "All concentrated into one warm and firm and probably gloriously kinked package."
Viridian lightly smacks her, blushing profusely. "Verde stop that," she hisses at her daughter. "Ms Back is already wound tight and poking her with sexual innuendo isn't helping the situation. All we need is for members of this little scheme to lose focus and get ourselves or an exceptionally rich source of helpful perspective," she nods in the direction of Wild, "killed."
"I'm sure following the logical trail that sexual innuendo begins would help a bunch with the 'wound tight' part," Verde grins in a very unchastened way, occasioning a sigh from Viridian. She then scoots close enough to covertly pat Wild on the shoulder. "And you, whichever one of you is worrying about giving up that piece and mourning that it helped you feel safe... I'm sure that if you slipped it off to one of us, we could make sure it got confiscated to a place where we could get it back to you right quick. Stallion was not meant to live on blade alone, but by every bullet that proceedeth out of the muzzle of a gun."
"Oh, for crying out loud," Viridians groans. "I still can't believe I let you engrave that slogan onto our products..."
"It's outstanding, and you know it." Verde beams.

Viridian shakes her head and looks to Bronze as the engineer pony answers her about the arm. "Then it's an amazing technical achievement," she says. "Can't imagine how you keep the motion fluid and the parts lubricated, and certainly how you slaved it to your muscle centers, but you clearly have an abundance of talent in mechanical things. I'm surprised that none of the large gunrunning operations kidnapped your flank to work for them. Them, or some of the more organized raiders, or one of the two trigger-happy armies around here, or organized crime, or pretty much every group in the Wasteland that needs somepony to build, maintain, and design their stuff to give them an edge over the competition."
"Might be why her friend is so twitchy, Mum," Verde offers. "Bet lotsa unsavory sorts have tried, although not only for the mechanical skills."
Viridian's eyebrows table. "And now you're starting in on the one that isn't inclined to just shoot us..."
"Just calling it like I see it, Mom." Verde shrugs. "Always good to take note of little things like a mechanical arm, or exceptional looks. Might need to recognize things like that later, and in the space of a second. And our partners here could turn heads, and do it well, and that's just part of the package I pick up on while I'm running my mouth."

"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!" Dust cried as they lobbed a grenade into a likely two-hundred-year-old tunnel that was at risk of cave-in. She didn't just move out of range of the explosion, she pre-emptively took off running down the tunnel.