Fallout: Beyond Equestria 216: ...To Roam (Part 18)

[2017-03-08 13:39:44] <Mare-Do-Well> Previously...
[2017-03-08 13:40:10] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"The ghouls of Equestria are being sustained by irradiated water that is hauled into the country from foreign lands by caravans.  But the trips are long and dangerous... and grow moreso every day.  Many good ponies have been lost trying to bring dirty water from the zebra lands.  Soon, it may become too dangerous to continue..."
[2017-03-08 13:40:17] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Effigy frowns, "Or the water may become too expensive for many ghouls to afford."
[2017-03-08 13:40:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Kid grumbles. "Look, is there a point t' this? What 'r we deliverin'? Some sorta balefire talisman or whatsit?"
[2017-03-08 13:40:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Effigy nods. "Equestria would benefit greatly from having an irradiated zone within our borders. One which provided life-giving irradiated water for the ghouls... and irradiated material we could use to fuel Red Eye's old radiation engines. But thanks to the Gardens of Equestria, no such place exists here.  To create a new one, we would need a balefire bomb."
[2017-03-08 13:40:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:40:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The /Shadowbolt/ begins to move, picking up speed.  Below, a creature that is mostly a dragon lumbers out of the entrance.  Amethyst scales and ruby-spined, the dragon is covered in black vines that thread in and out of its body, covering him like veins, with bulges of oily pustules and black flowers.  The creature stares up at the ship and roars.
[2017-03-08 13:40:59] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mitzi gasps and slips Hunter behind her. "Wut eez dat?!"
[2017-03-08 13:41:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Stripeless react with horror to the sight below.  The translator turns to Shatara, speaking in griffin.  "It is the Black Plague of the Anulus Mortis!"
[2017-03-08 13:41:05] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:41:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"Excuse me, gentleponies and griffins," the goldenrod-colored stallion finally says, nudging a button on his medical chair to make it roll forward.  "Allow me to interject, if only to welcome our guests aboard.  The /Golden Ursa/ is *my ship* after all."
[2017-03-08 13:41:17] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:41:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Cottonseed presents Noble_Heart with a metal box containing several jars of green goop.
[2017-03-08 13:41:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"According to the zebra shamans, this stuff will 'show what shadows hide within you'," Cottonseed states.  "I don't know how literal you should take that, considering what the Enclave city just faced.  But what we do know is that when smeared on a pony, it will reveal if they are a changeling in disguise."
[2017-03-08 13:41:36] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"Given that even changelings can't seem to recognize other changelings who are disguised, that speaks pretty highly of the shamans.  And I've seen the stuff work, so I can vouch for it."  Cottonseed adds, "When you head into Roam, this should at least help protect you from getting replaced.
[2017-03-08 13:41:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart looks down at the green goop. "We are fairly certain We have also seen it used. Though for different purposes." She paused briefly and frowned. "Or perhaps the same purposes. Merely very long ago." She carefully levitated it into her bags and nodded her head. "We shall keep a close eye on it."
[2017-03-08 13:41:47] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:41:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3I think," Mwana translates, "You have two objectives once you get to Roam.  The first is the catacombs.  That's where they throw all their prisoners.  That will be where you rescue your ghoul friend, as well as the diplomats from the N.C.R. and their changeling queen."
[2017-03-08 13:42:15] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Citrine Glow taps hooves together, then states sadly, "Dragon Lord Ember suspects that the changeling Caesar may be attempting to use a Dragon-made artifact, and the behavior of the shadows is a side-effect."
[2017-03-08 13:42:20] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mitzi looks to Citrine Glow. "Wut artfact?"
[2017-03-08 13:42:25] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"The Obsidian Scepter," Citrine Glow says.  "Garble's Scepter."
[2017-03-08 13:42:31] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream looks around as if that were meant to mean something heavy. "... What's that do?" She asked bluntly.
[2017-03-08 13:42:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Citrine Glow sighs.  "Remember, there was a schism.  Ember took over the position of Dragon Lord from Garble.  Garble and His loyalists fled back to Roam."
[2017-03-08 13:42:40] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"The Dragon Lord has a magical artifact called the Bloodstone Scepter, a symbol of rulership.  With it, the Dragon Lord can summon dragons to His or Her beck and call."
[2017-03-08 13:42:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Citrine Glow notes, "Of course, after the schism, Garble had His own version of the scepter made."  She says, "The magic of the scepter is only supposed to work for the Dragon Lord, but a changeling transformed to pretend /might/ be able to fool it."
[2017-03-08 13:42:53] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"But the Caesar isn't a real dragon, no matter what form she takes.  If she is trying to use the scepter to summon loyal allies, or coalesce her people around her, who knows what weird things might happen instead... and many of the shadow-things /were/ zebras loyal to Caesar in life."
[2017-03-08 13:42:59] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Bookwright feels the color drain from his face. "You're saying if we don't hurry we could face an army of shadows?"
[2017-03-08 13:43:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart scowls in concern. "No. She is saying if we do not hurry we may face an army of -seraphs-."
[2017-03-08 13:43:05] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:43:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"Emptiness," Pan tells Noble_Heart.  Then, at the look the spirit gets, the little draconequus explains, "Not Spirits of Whispers.  Those spirits enforce silence and horde secrets.  The spirits that fill the catacombs are Spirits of Emptiness."  Then, with a sigh.  "Anti-magic.  Also, anti-harmony, anti-friendship..."
[2017-03-08 13:43:51] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Spirits of Emptiness are an odd sort.  They don't like putting themselves into living things like trees, or precious things like gemstones.  But there is an old,dark stone that they do favor," Pan tells those below him.  "The catacombs are studded with them."
[2017-03-08 13:43:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"Now changelings, they feed on love.  And they are never, ever satiated.  Their hunger knows no end," Pan insists.  "Starvation is the core of their being.  Their magic resonates with it.  So much so that it is the one type of magic that the Spirits of Emptiness don't simply devour."
[2017-03-08 13:44:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana frowns.  "You mean the changelings can use their magic in the catacombs even when no one else can?"
[2017-03-08 13:44:18] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Pan points towards Noble_Heart.  "Ask her."
[2017-03-08 13:44:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Pan notes, "Hell, I've heard of a changeling queen who made her throne out of the stuff.  Kept the hive safe from noble rescuer outsider magic."  He pauses, staring at an invisible fourth wall.
[2017-03-08 13:45:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Pan adds temptingly, "Now if the ponies going into the catacombs were to take some of those stones out with them..."
[2017-03-08 13:45:22] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Citrine Glow perks.  She points out, "That could shut down the Obsidian Scepter!"
[2017-03-08 13:45:23] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:45:47] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Moving back the blanket even just a little, Get_Lost spots what looks like black veins that crawl up the zebra's side.  A closer look reveals they are dark vines that have taken root just below the skin and coat.  There are black pustules on his abdomen and down his left flank.  His left hindleg is a mess of black vines, many of which pierce the surface.
[2017-03-08 13:46:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost frowns "not good. not good at all. really, really not good.  he's being taken by the vine. i could try to remove it surgically, but this is magic, i don't know if it will work. What do we know about this?"
[2017-03-08 13:46:28] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara urks at the sight. "Isn't this killer plant stuff Noble's area of expertise?"
[2017-03-08 13:46:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost starts looking around "he probably made some sort of antidote, but he needs more. help me looking for a used or half used concotion, a recipe or something like that... also, goldie is more expert than me at this, can you call her too?"
[2017-03-08 13:46:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...
[2017-03-08 13:46:59] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara's investigation of the cauldron does reveal an herbal residue that the griffin has seen before back during his time in Nexus.  Phantasmal flowers..
[2017-03-08 13:47:08] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost opens a crypted channel to bookie's armor, explaining the situation
[2017-03-08 13:47:21] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara hmms. "Something familiar..like...funky phantom flowers...it's rather distinctive..." He checks the alchemist's storage for something similiar-smelling.
[2017-03-08 13:47:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost once she's done, goes back to the search "i'm no expert, do you think it's the only ingredient we need?"
[2017-03-08 13:47:40] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Bookwright listens. "Okay, so it sounds like the alchemist is /very/ ill. He's infected with... well, it looks like the black blossom. Apparently the alchemist was keeping the infection at bay with some kind of concoction, but he's so sick now he's unconscious. Get thinks she can help him if we get more of the concoction into the zebra to slow down the infect
[2017-03-08 13:48:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3...slow down the infection, but we're not sure what the ingredients are."
[2017-03-08 13:48:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3---
[2017-03-08 13:48:52] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fallout: Beyond Equestria, Session Two Hundred and Sixteen: ...To Roam (Part 18) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PPtEHWDca8&list=PL6lMYzCrh4VGBe86gFxsx3pNx06v5W78e
[2017-03-08 13:48:59] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- Session Begins ---
[2017-03-08 13:53:24] * Get_Lost "so... maybe we can find the mug he used to drink the thing and see if we can get some more informations?"
[2017-03-08 13:54:06] * Get_Lost "or i can hybernate him and transfer his mind into a maneframe... do we have some liquid nitrogen and a maneframe?"
[2017-03-08 14:22:13] * Shatara has been trying to find a match for the one ingreedient he has a lead on.
[2017-03-08 14:24:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Shatara has identified one ingredient.  Finding more phantasmal flowers in the alchemist's apothecary is easy enough.  The flowers glow blue, and keep some of that residual phosphorescence even when powdered.
[2017-03-08 14:28:10] * Get_Lost frowns "maybe the filly unicorn knows something?"
[2017-03-08 14:31:47] * Shatara chrips softly upon finding a glowy blue jar, pulling it down. "Okay, there's one thing..." He glances around a bit for any other helpful-looking things, before asking Jugeote to ask the filly if she could help at all...
[2017-03-08 14:34:08] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana nods and turns to the filly, asking her as best he can.  After she answers, Mwana turns back to Get_Lost.  "Three ingredients.  She doesn't know the full recipe, but she does claims that a small amount of the black vines, crushed in a mortar, is used in the antidote."  He frowns.  "Does that make any sense, Get_Lost?  Using the thing that infected you?"
[2017-03-08 14:34:35] * Bookwright thinks for a bit, then transmits back to Shatara: "I have several spells that could get the identity of the ingredients directly out of the alchemist's mind, but I need to be there in person to do it, and getting myself down there without being seen might be hard. I suppose I could teleport... Do you have any suggestions?"
[2017-03-08 14:36:14] * Get_Lost thinks for a bit "well, depends. if you are fighting serpent poison you need the serum from the same serpent to neutralize it... maybe if mixed with something the effect ill create a reagent that fills the activators in the plant roots slowing them down?"
[2017-03-08 14:40:28] * Shatara ponders, looking around. "Okay, so the flowers and the roots, that's two...any luck finding his mug?"
[2017-03-08 14:40:57] * Get_Lost switches to magical view "let's see, it could have some residual magic in it?"
[2017-03-08 14:42:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Quite a few of the ingredients in the apothecary have at least trace amounts of magic, some considerably more than others.
[2017-03-08 14:53:13] <Mare-Do-Well> 3While not an alchemist, Get_Lost can narrow down the likely suspects with her medical knowledge.  Amongst the stranger ingredients, she finds an herb that she recognizes as one they grow around ground zero of the first megaspell outside of Stalliongrad.  The herb is vital to the creation of healing potions.
[2017-03-08 14:53:36] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Another likely ingredient is dried mushrooms that look like some of the ones the Angels use to manufacture Buck.
[2017-03-08 14:54:46] * Get_Lost "ooookay... here we have a 50/50 chance... say, shatara.... you know a bit more than me about this... what would you use in this?"
[2017-03-08 15:00:07] * Shatara nervously glances between the ingredientes. "Er...I...I dunno, they both look handy to me..."
[2017-03-08 15:03:45] * Get_Lost thinks about it "well, the fact is: if the flower is what neutralizes the root, then the healing potion will kill it completely and make it fail completely. if the flower doesn't, the mushroom will make the root grow even faster... or at least that's what i think.... soooo..."
[2017-03-08 15:04:02] * Get_Lost "using the healing thingie seems less risky?"
[2017-03-08 15:05:27] * Shatara hmms. "sounds reasonable enough...Perhaps run that by the others before we try anything rash, though..."
[2017-03-08 15:05:47] * Get_Lost relays the info to the home team waiting for their opinion
[2017-03-08 15:15:44] * Golden_Dream harumphs and starts playing with the radio to try to hail Get_Lost. "Hey, what's th' hold up? Ya'll need me t' start headin' down there?"
[2017-03-08 15:17:34] * Get_Lost "that would help, but if you can help from there it will be the same, so you won't have to take out the armor and sneak here." explains the situation to goldie, then tell her about the possible ingredients and all that she can to help, but avoiding personal theories to not influence her decisions
[2017-03-08 15:30:43] * Get_Lost while the alchemy group is at work, she goes looking for something different
[2017-03-08 15:33:29] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart and Golden_Dream both concur that the mushroom is the desired ingredient -- it is the active ingredient in Buck that stimulates the user's endurance.
[2017-03-08 15:34:08] * Golden_Dream thinks about it. "Well, it sounds either like green herb or xanthous root. Noble oughta know more about that one than I do, since she probably knows active ingredients. But I /can/ tell y' that mushroom's a steroid. Maybe th' end result's some sort of muscle treatment?"
[2017-03-08 15:34:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Get_Lost meanwhile hunts up some northern frostroot.
[2017-03-08 15:35:07] * Golden_Dream thinks a bit more. "Or maybe it's something t' combat muscular distrophy, whatever that is."
[2017-03-08 15:37:37] * Shatara does his best to help prepare something, hoping he doesn't manage to screw it up
[2017-03-08 15:56:07] * Golden_Dream rolls her eyes. "Sit tight, I'll be in shortly t' whip up a batch a' th' good stuff." And it wasn't long before Goldy herself was down there. "Right then; Shatara, get me a batch a' mountain moss. If we're makin' this stuff, we're makin' it Golden Dream style."
[2017-03-08 15:57:35] * Golden_Dream adds, "Oh, an a ton a' sugar, maybe some lemongrass too, 'cause this stuff is gonna be like tasting the end of a battery if I understand the recipe right."
[2017-03-08 15:57:41] * Get_Lost "wait, goldie! bring me a couple of things!" asks for som specific scraps in her room and other things that she eidetically remembers in the very position they are. yeah, she sorts and cares for scraps
[2017-03-08 15:58:47] * Golden_Dream rolls her eyes, then grabs her pack. "I jus' brought everything that sounded medic-y. That work?"
[2017-03-08 15:59:30] * Shatara gets tofinding the requested ingreedients.
[2017-03-08 15:59:56] * Get_Lost "ah... i have the medical supplies, i need those scraps. for the new leg. if, you know, if he survives"
[2017-03-08 16:01:20] * Golden_Dream blinks. Oh. Oh, alright. She gets back on the horn, "Noble, could y' bring some scrap metal and electronics from Get_Lost's lil' corner of the ship? Our alchemist looks like she's gonna be out a few legs, and she seems t' want t' build them a set."
[2017-03-08 16:01:38] * Golden_Dream , in the mean time, gets to making a health potion. Tonic. Thing.
[2017-03-08 16:05:27] * Shatara frowns. "Are we sure alchemy and cybernetics play nice? It thought I read they don't play nice..."
[2017-03-08 16:07:43] * Get_Lost "I have no idea. i'll make a detachable one so he can take it off if he doesn't want it. but be positive: maybe he won't need it, maybe he'll die."
[2017-03-08 16:18:43] * Golden_Dream is stirring the ingredients in a cauldron, this black iron deal on a roaring flame, then looks at the steaming, murky depths of the potion. And at the last minute, she tapped into some primal, potent force that lay deep within her. Something that she has been holding back for many years now.
[2017-03-08 16:20:02] <Golden_Dream> "Fuck it." She concluded, reaching into her bag and dumping a quarter of a bottle of some bright green glowing booze into the batch before giving it a few more stirs and putting the mix into one of the house's bowls. "Soups on!"
[2017-03-08 16:21:51] * Get_Lost "okay let's try it."
[2017-03-08 16:22:05] * Shatara chews on his talons, hoping that we're not about to murder the nice alchemist dude.
[2017-03-08 16:22:06] * Bookwright is listening in on the open channel, and observes wryly, "Judging from Goldie's expletives, she just added alcohol. Well, it probably won't hurt."
[2017-03-08 16:25:11] * Get_Lost as soon as the medicine starts takingeffect, the doctor starts working with the scalpel
[2017-03-08 16:28:07] * Get_Lost at first she starts cutting and eliminating the larger roots, then her visor changes color and she starts working on smaller parts, trying to delimitate the infection to the worse area. when she is done somewhere, she then cauterizes with extreme cold, trying to kill even the smaller parts of the roots. that will leave a HUUUUGE scar.
[2017-03-08 16:28:58] * Get_Lost as soon as the peripheral parts are done, she sighs and mutters "it is going to get very, very messy. please take the filly away. i'm going to amputate"
[2017-03-08 16:31:01] * Get_Lost the operation is long and slow, th mare has to be very careful to ensure that nothing of the roots remains deep into the muscle and checks several times. in the end the zebra becomes a tricicle. at that point she covers the poor shaman and goes on another table "okay, now i need to work on the accessories. let him rest, but keep hin next to me, understood?"
[2017-03-08 16:33:39] * Bookwright "Sounds like cybernetic surgery over there. Makes me wonder how the poor alchemist is gonna feel about becoming partially prosthetic."
[2017-03-08 16:34:03] * Get_Lost trying to keep phisical contact with the zebra, the mare works on something very rough. th leg is just metal and joints, with an external battery and a bunch of cables, but in the end it works. she applies a metal plate to the missing leg joint, then the metal leg to it. it is a long thing, very tiring. in the end the mare is completely depleted
[2017-03-08 16:34:25] <Mare-Do-Well> 3With her augmented vision, Get_Lost is able to remove the vines even when they try to burrow to get away from her.
[2017-03-08 16:35:00] <Mare-Do-Well> 3But the surgery does ultimately require the amputation of one of the alchemist's legs.
[2017-03-08 16:36:42] * Golden_Dream takes a tiny nip of the potion. Whoof. You know, it's not something she'd drink every day, but it's not terrible tastewise.
[2017-03-08 16:44:19] * Shatara does his best to keep the filly entertained and away from the gruesome work. He, uh...shows her his cool collection of Enclave figurines?
[2017-03-08 17:00:01] * Get_Lost obviously, there's a solaris logo on the back of the artificial hoof
[2017-03-08 17:04:18] * Golden_Dream raises her eyebrow and kneels down. "... That one there a Raptor A series?"
[2017-03-08 17:05:42] * Shatara noddles proudly. He totally found these laying around in the Crystal empire, but they're super cool!
[2017-03-08 17:08:04] * Get_Lost is cleaning herself and still keeping contacy with the patient. he will probably live. this is good, mostly because she was pretty sure that with an infection like that, he wouldn't. but hey, for once it worked
[2017-03-08 17:08:16] * Get_Lost for once she wasn't told to get lost
[2017-03-08 17:09:42] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- End of Session ---
[2017-03-08 17:09:47] * Get_Lost even if she still had eyes she wouldn't be crying. not at all. nope. so she simply keeps sitting by th patient, smiling a little and pretending not to cry