Session 9

(2:55:37 PM) AC[GM]: The trio awakens in the firehouse where they lay down to sleep the night before.  Well, most of them wake up.  A very tired 'unicorn' makes excuses about having the last watch before laying down for an extra bit of napping.  Arcadia and Nessa have woken up to a chilly, but not freezing room,
(3:01:33 PM) ***Arcadia ruffles her wings and shivers. "I've stated how much I dislike being cold, right?"
(3:04:59 PM) AC[GM]: == Session #9 Start ==
(3:10:02 PM) AC[GM]: Everyone is indeed piled together in one, rather small, tent.
(3:12:12 PM) AC[GM]: Since Arcadia came in the night before ahead of the storm, no one has seen the weather conditions outside the firehouse.
(3:19:21 PM) ***Nessa stretches and climbs out of the pile of bodies she's spent the night in.
(3:20:54 PM) ***Arcadia groans, slipping her way out of the comically small tent after Nessa. "My legs are stiff..."
(3:21:14 PM) Nessa: "Walk around," Nessa says.
(3:21:33 PM) Nessa: "I'm going to go check outside real quick."
(3:23:14 PM) Arcadia: "Ugh... You do that..."
(3:25:32 PM) ***Nessa takes her laspistol with her as she squeezes past their makeshift barricade.
(3:27:15 PM) ***Arcadia does her best to stagger around the little area, groaning and grumbling in irritation
(3:28:09 PM) AC[GM]: Everything in the main part of the building seems to be as they left it, as far as Nessa can tell.
(3:29:08 PM) AC[GM]: ....except colder.
(3:30:54 PM) ***Nessa grumbles and shivers as she goes to check the back door they used as their point of ingress.
(3:32:39 PM) AC[GM]: Arcadia can feel a gust of cool wind through the door as Nessa leaves; maybe the residual heat of their bunk room isn't so bad!
(3:33:02 PM) AC[GM]: Nessa finds it still there, closed, like they left it.  In the early morning light the fire engines on the apparatus floor are dimly visible.
(3:33:42 PM) ***Nessa fiddles with the handle so she can peek outside.
(3:34:01 PM) ***Arcadia whimpers as the thought of leaving the relatively warmer room crosses her mind, making her hunker down in the warmest available spot
(3:34:58 PM) AC[GM]: The door opens easily enough for Nessa.  Arcadia finds that Shimmer is probably the warmest thing in the room.
(3:37:13 PM) ***Nessa peeeeeeeeks.
(3:37:15 PM) AC[GM]: The garage is icy cold; cold enough that it feels like a painful slap to any exposed skin Nessa might have; it's a pretty good bet that the room is outside temperature.  Through the glass in the doors she can see gray sky and a thickly falling curtain of white flakes, adding to the carpet of white covering the dead ground outside the base.
(3:37:43 PM) ***Nessa hmmms.
(3:38:32 PM) ***Nessa is -- thankfully -- not some unfortunate short-haired pone, /and/ she's got thermal clothing on.
(3:42:16 PM) ***Arcadia does a rather good impression of an ooze, wrapping herself completely around Shimmer to leech as much heat as possible from the smaller mare
(3:44:51 PM) AC[GM]: Nessa doesn't feel toasty, but she's not frozen as the cold leaches into her coat.  It looks pretty snowy out there.
(3:46:38 PM) AC[GM]: ....Nessa is unable to see much out of the window she's chosen.  It has a heavy layer of frost over cloudy plexiglass, rendering it basically impossible to see out of.
(3:47:09 PM) ***Nessa grunts in annoyance and looks for another portal.
(3:54:32 PM) AC[GM]: Nessa can see that the street outside seems to be full of equine tracks; hundreds and hundreds of hoof prints tramp down the snow in the road and around either side of the building in a semi-circle as far as she can see.  New snow has yet to fill or cover them, however.
(3:54:52 PM) ***Nessa finds that disturbing
(3:55:28 PM) ***Nessa sighs like she just dodged a bullet and walks back towards the barracks room.
(3:59:12 PM) Nessa: "Arcadia. Lemme in," Nessa says at the door.
(4:00:18 PM) ***Arcadia grumbles a little, her magic shifting and tugging the way clear. "Don't bring in any cold, it's freezing in here already..."
(4:00:58 PM) Nessa: "Physically impossible for me to grant that request," Nessa quickly responds, shuffling back inside.
(4:01:30 PM) Nessa: "So, there was a giant herd of something that passed over us," Nessa reports.
(4:02:03 PM) Nessa: "Probably those ponies you saw last night. Tracks are still fresh, it seems like."
(4:03:22 PM) ***Arcadia pokes her head out of the tent. "Ahah! I told you I saw a heard!"
(4:04:42 PM) Nessa: "I didn't doubt," Nessa says.
(4:05:00 PM) Nessa: "But why head all the way through here in the middle of a storm..."
(4:07:38 PM) ***Arcadia hums. "Don't take me for crazy, but maybe they made the storm? "
(4:09:34 PM) Nessa: "A frightening thought."
(4:10:09 PM) Nessa: "But I can't think of a way to determine if that's the case. At least not with anything we have on hoof..."
(4:10:49 PM) Nessa: "So, since we got passed-over by that horde of whoevers, what should we do now?" Nessa asks.
(4:14:26 PM) Arcadia: "I vote for finding more warmth. "
(4:15:46 PM) Nessa: "Well, that's unlikely," Nessa says.
(4:16:39 PM) Nessa: "Considering how much area that storm probably covered..."
(4:17:26 PM) ***Arcadia mutters. "Fuck me with the sun..."
(4:17:53 PM) Nessa: "Looking for weapons might be a good use of our time. Shimmer's clearly down for the count--" Nessa motions to the 'unicorn'.
(4:18:26 PM) Nessa: "... and I think it'd be kinda' rude to just leave her here."
(4:18:35 PM) Nessa: to just pack-up and leave her here."*
(4:22:44 PM) Arcadia: "Well, yeah... I could use something that isn't my magic."
(4:23:16 PM) AC[GM]: The party /did/ come here to loot the old army base.
(4:24:08 PM) ***Nessa thinks about where they'd be most likely to find some ammo and weapons.
(4:25:52 PM) ***Arcadia slips free of the tent once more. "So... Should we go find an armory of some kind?"
(4:27:37 PM) Nessa: "We should definitely start poking around. But we should probably be careful in case any members of that... massive herd stayed behind."
(4:30:31 PM) Nessa: "Hmh."
(4:31:03 PM) Nessa: "Meet you at the door," Nessa says, briefly tidying and collecting some of her things before leaving their room/camp.
(4:38:02 PM) AC[GM]: Outside in the snow is the camp.  Ahead is the HQ building, its lawn and hedges covered in shelves of snow.  To the left, towards the center of the camp, lays the barracks blocks.  The closer buildings are either collapsed or collapsing, the ones further in seem to be more intact.  Behind the firehouse is a baseball field and beyond that some sort of small utility building complex.
(4:39:14 PM) Nessa: "I vote HQ building," Nessa says. "And you?" She looks to Arcadia.
(4:45:49 PM) ***Arcadia nods and looks around, pulling her wings in closer. "I don't really know. The HQ might at least have info to help us find the armory..."
(4:47:31 PM) Nessa: "Let's hit it then," Nessa says.
(4:48:04 PM) ***Arcadia nods once more. "Sounds like a plan. Lead the way?"
(4:49:10 PM) ***Nessa does so, pulse pistol ready for trouble.
(4:52:20 PM) AC[GM]: It's quiet outside in the snow, silencing their hoofsteps and freezing their legs the second they step out into the cold.  It's a short jog across the yards to the HQ building.
(4:55:59 PM) AC[GM]: They can see none of the hoofprints near the door; they make a wide berth of the building.
(4:58:41 PM) ***Arcadia hums, horn flickering with magic. "Does this seem odd to you?"
(5:00:21 PM) Nessa: ",,. yep." Nessa sighs.
(5:00:50 PM) Nessa: "Then again, they could've simply been passing it over 'cause they were busy," Nessa says. "Like with our building."
(5:01:22 PM) Arcadia: "Maybe... But I don't like it..."
(5:01:26 PM) AC[GM]: The doors are ahead of them, glass and somehow unbroken after all these years.
(5:03:33 PM) ***Nessa looks for a lock to pick, or a door handle to turn.
(5:04:03 PM) AC[GM]: The doors have handles!  There's also a lock on the middle of the door set.
(5:04:07 PM) ***Arcadia gathers a bit more magic, ready to lash out if something went wrong
(5:05:15 PM) ***Nessa fiddles with the lock.
(5:07:13 PM) AC[GM]: The door opens with a pop after she barely even touches it!
(5:07:32 PM) Nessa: "Got it," Nessa says.
(5:09:21 PM) AC[GM]: She's greeted by the stale scent of closed, musty building.
(5:11:11 PM) ***Arcadia wrinkles her nose. "Blech..."
(5:11:45 PM) ***Nessa coughs.
(5:12:04 PM) Nessa: "Wonder if there'll be any skeletons," Nessa mutters.
(5:12:18 PM) ***Nessa heads in,, motioning for Arcadia to follow.
(5:17:46 PM) ***Arcadia slips inside after her, frowning as she ducks beneath the frame. "Hopefully they're at least immobile if there is. "
(5:18:36 PM) AC[GM]: The building is quiet, the walls covered in dusty paintings and faded posters.
(5:18:57 PM) Nessa: "I doubt there'd be skeletons up and about. There hasn't been a bonafide Necromancer in Equestria since the Age of Myth," Nessa mutters under her breath.
(5:19:24 PM) Arcadia: "Age of what now?"
(5:20:05 PM) Nessa: "A long, long time ago. Before the Princesses united Equestria into a nation."
(5:21:46 PM) AC[GM]: There's a front desk and reception area with floor mounted rows of chairs.  An equestrian flag hangs behind the desk, complete with terminal.
(5:22:20 PM) ***Arcadia nods slowly. "I see..." She mumbles, stepping towards the terminal. "I wonder..."
(5:22:28 PM) ***Nessa carefully checks behind the desk.
(5:23:57 PM) Arcadia: "Are you any good with computers? I'm... Woefully inadequate."
(5:24:19 PM) Nessa: "I am very good with electronic security measures," Nessa says.
(5:24:37 PM) AC[GM]: The computer seems to be on!
(5:24:41 PM) Nessa: "Hence the robot," Nessa adds.
(5:25:00 PM) Arcadia: "... Good point."
(5:25:30 PM) ***Nessa left Red Alert as she was: guarding the garage.
(5:26:04 PM) AC[GM]: It seemed unaffected by the cold, but a bit frosty.
(5:26:36 PM) ***Nessa checks the terminal for booby-traps before prompting it.
(5:27:10 PM) AC[GM]: There doesn't appear to be any.
(5:27:16 PM) AC[GM]: It also isn't locked.
(5:27:36 PM) ***Nessa sees what it can offer her.
(5:35:36 PM) AC[GM]: Several things!  It appears that MERCY, BENIGN, PVT was logged in 9999 days ago.  Most of what Nessa can access seems to be daily message traffic sent and received by the clerk organized by date.  The titles are all displayed.  There also appears to be a complete listing of the base commander's General Orders, and an 'Inductee Tour'
(5:36:48 PM) Nessa: "Hmm. This is a lot of reading," Nessa says.
(5:37:13 PM) ***Nessa rapidly skims for any potentially useful information.
(5:41:01 PM) AC[GM]: Most of its about daily business two hundred years past; the Tour features a map of the entire base.
(5:42:11 PM) Nessa: "Hm. Got a map, Arcadia."
(5:44:01 PM) AC[GM]: There's also a voluminous personal corespondence that includes notes informing her that in the future, she's to draw her weapon and ammunition from the HQ armory.
(5:44:23 PM) ***Arcadia perks up. "Eh?" She says, muffled around a very old plastic bag.
(5:44:39 PM) Nessa: "... and it seems like we're in the right place to get weapons. The Headquarters has an armory," Nessa says.
(5:46:33 PM) AC[GM]: The map also shows a main armory with a grainy black and white picture that shows rooms full of laser rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers.
(5:48:03 PM) Nessa: "There's also the main armory, but that's a bit of an obvious first place to look for equipment..."
(5:48:27 PM) Nessa: "If anyone's been through here before, it's probably empty."
(5:49:07 PM) AC[GM]: The map also shows an aircraft pad, and a sample barracks floor plan showing rooms for soldiers, a watch room, gun racks, and other gear.
(5:50:15 PM) Arcadia: "Okay, well... Let's go then. At least there's something that might be untouched."
(5:51:35 PM) Nessa: "You'd think this place would be more... scavenged," Nessa mutters.
(5:52:08 PM) Nessa: "Should I get Red Alert?" she asks Arcadia. "Might come in handy."
(5:53:15 PM) AC[GM]: There's also a post hospital!
(5:54:44 PM) Arcadia: "And much louder. I think we'll be fine."
(5:56:44 PM) Nessa: "Mm. We're not very quiet anyway," Nessa says.
(5:58:54 PM) Nessa: "But I'm loath to leave Shimmer unguarded."
(5:59:03 PM) Nessa: "So, let's press on."
(5:59:28 PM) AC[GM]: The complex as a whole isn't supremely large.
(6:07:07 PM) ***Nessa looks for a map of the Headquarters! Or at least some arrows.
(6:09:13 PM) AC[GM]: There's no map of the HQ building in the files.  There are arrows in the hall pointing to things like 'CO's Office' and 'Orderly Room'
(6:09:39 PM) ***Nessa guesses her PipBuck automapping will have to do.
(6:09:50 PM) ***Nessa gets to exploring!
(6:10:03 PM) Nessa: "Oh, almost forgot."
(6:11:55 PM) ***Nessa -- now that she has access to a terminal -- sees if she can backdoor her way onto the facility automated security whitelist... if such a thing exists.
(6:22:50 PM) AC[GM]: There isn't, but there are several reminders for personnel to wear their ID badges or dog tags at all times.
(6:23:43 PM) ***Nessa informs Arcadia of this.
(6:24:22 PM) Nessa: "Might be seeing some automated base security in here," Nessa says.
(6:28:15 PM) AC[GM]: It seems like the map shows the secured areas with red dot perimeters and a helpful reminder for civilian guests to avoid them without a pass badge.
(6:37:57 PM) ***Nessa wonders if her jury-rigged dogtags will fool the base sensors...
(6:43:50 PM) Godna is now known as Shimmer
(7:07:18 PM) AC[GM]: When Shimmer wakes up, she finds her companions gone and a note taped to Nessa's robot saying they've gone to explore the compound.
(7:11:34 PM) AC[GM]: Nessa can assume that her tag will work well enough to get her appropriate access to whatever grade she manipulates it to, unless there's a chip reader in which case it may not.
(7:12:36 PM) ***Nessa hmmmms.
(7:13:01 PM) ***Nessa currently has it set to "Colonel".
(7:15:50 PM) ***Shimmer sets about tracking them down after breaking down the tents and stuff.
(7:17:19 PM) ***Arcadia was mostly just messing around with any open drawers and various tag cans, looking to see if there was anything interesting or worthwhile
(7:17:33 PM) AC[GM]: There are a lot of tracks outside!  Only two sets, though, continue on the other side of the road towards the command building they passed earlier.  One is definitely Arcadia sized.
(7:18:25 PM) ***Shimmer shivers and whines about the cold as she makes her way. She was thankful for her boots
(7:21:19 PM) AC[GM]: Acadia is getting quite the accumulation of junk!  She finds a bunch of pens, pencils, Official 32nd Infantry Division stationary, a few pamphlets, some old training manuals stamped 'obsolete'
(7:23:02 PM) ***Arcadia stuffs it all into her bags with a happy bounce to her hooves
(7:26:56 PM) AC[GM]: Shimmer feels very cold where her coat doesn't cover.
(7:28:13 PM) AC[GM]: Her boots keep it from being painful, but not by much.
(7:28:33 PM) ***Shimmer probably feels the newly cold metal of her armor pressing up against her body. She mutters miserabley. Stupid...cloak...suppsoed to keep me warm...she of course knew the reason why it didn't...cant' exactly reflect warmth when ti's being absorbed by the metal barrel of armor around her
(7:32:36 PM) AC[GM]: Ness and Arcadia are still visible in the lobby of the HQ building.
(7:34:16 PM) ***Nessa is behind the front desk, looking thoughtfully at her PipBuck.
(7:46:15 PM) ***Shimmer spots them and hurries through the snow! There was warmth in being near her friends!
(7:50:08 PM) AC[GM]: Nessa and Arcadia have found the HQ to be moderately warm!
(7:50:24 PM) Shimmer: "Hey all...you know you could have woken me up..." she whines a bit
(7:50:46 PM) Nessa: "Tried," Nessa says. "Made a lot of racket moving the barricade, too."
(7:51:00 PM) Nessa: "But nope. So--" Nessa shrugs.
(7:51:04 PM) Nessa: "You had a guard-bot."
(7:51:24 PM) Shimmer: "and...believe me I appreciated that."
(7:56:30 PM) Nessa: "So, we think there's a fully stocked armory in here," Nessa says to Shimmer.
(7:56:43 PM) Nessa: "But there's also a security system."
(7:56:49 PM) Shimmer: "oh?" She asks. "fully stocked?...oh..."
(7:56:59 PM) Shimmer: "that explains that..umm what kind of security are we looking at here?"
(7:57:25 PM) Nessa: "Whatever a military base's headquarters has installed."
(7:57:56 PM) Nessa: "I mean, this ain't no Stable-Tec Headquarters, but--" Nessa shrugs.
(7:57:59 PM) ***Shimmer hesitates a bit. "okay...so like one card keys and passwords...or bio whatsits?"
(7:58:04 PM) Shimmer: (refering to biometrics :D)
(7:58:13 PM) Nessa: "Tags. We don't have them."
(7:58:18 PM) Nessa: "Except for me, of course."
(7:58:35 PM) Nessa: "But even I might not be able to fool ID readers."
(7:59:09 PM) Shimmer: "Oh!...well that shouldn't be too hard...just need to find a terminal and take an educated guess maybe redo your tags to make it work?" She suggests. It's probably pretty clear she's got no idea what she is talking about
(7:59:20 PM) Nessa: "Already tried all that."
(7:59:45 PM) Nessa: "They were very careful with their security."
(7:59:53 PM) Shimmer: "oh..."
(7:59:59 PM) Nessa: "We'd have to go deeper into the facility to add our signatures to the whitelist."
(8:00:15 PM) Nessa: "Can't do it from here with this particular hardpoint."
(8:00:19 PM) Shimmer: "Well..we're basically snowed in anyway...so may as well." She smiles.
(8:04:08 PM) AC[GM]: == End Session #9 ==