New Pegas, A Fallout: New Vegas inspired RP (1x1 with Props Valroa)

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

OOC: https://mlpforums.com/topic/200519-new-pegas-a-fallout-new-vegas-inspired-rp/page/4/

@Props Valroa

(Intro again)

When the first reports of war came in, scrying spells indicated that total destruction was inevitable. Empress Cadenza, little more than a puppet ruler under Equestria's control, went against her Equestrian orders and moved to save her citizens. She froze the whole city under a thick layer of enchanted ice in the hopes of preserving everyone until the war ended. Unfortunately, the antimagical weapons, while they failed to destroy the city, caused the enchantment to weaken and fail. Large patches of the ice shifted, killing those trapped within, including the Empress.

Hundreds of years later, a research expedition from a floating city called the Æther started to thaw out sections of the city in the hopes of recovering artifacts and technology lost to time. They found Carnelian adequately preserved by a small amount of the remaining enchantment, and were able to revive her. They were not in the business of taking on refugees though, so once it became clear that she had nothing to offer them in terms of information they took her with them as far as New Pegas, and gave her an objective as well as a small amount of supplies.

While traveling with the Æther she had learned a bit about what had happened to the world while she was frozen, though she did not wholly believe everything she had been told, especially that it had been hundreds of years. Carnelian rejected the objective they gave her after landing, pursuing her own interests. After failing to fight a group of ruffians she encountered an abandoned Academic research site, and recovered a suit capable of protecting her from the effects of thaumatological radiation, as well as part of a plan for a powerful weapon. She decided to seek out other research sites to see what power and information they may yet hold.

In her efforts, she encountered a town covered in a cloud of antimagic dust, and filled with the spawn of Tartarus. She also encountered a group of soldiers from the New Lunar Republic who offered her money and a place to rest in exchange for her help recovering supplies lost in the town.

And so, with her protective suit properly worn, she approaches the cloudy town.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Adorned with her protective suit, Carnelian would opt to enter into the clouded town with an alert mind set. As she headed onward into the town with her weapon drawn, she would proceed to think about the circumstances that drew her here. With little more than her own ambition in an unfamiliar world - of which she hates everyone involved. The Empire were Equestrians, who would not respect the idea of an independent Crystal Empire - not that there was much left of it anyway. The New Lunar Republic were Republicans, who naively believed that they could live without a strong powerful Monarchy, but for now, she would bury her reservations and work for them, aiming to gain supplies so that she may eventually go off on her own. Alternatively, Carnelian could gain some information out of the New Lunar Republic's dealings that may be useful for her to sell out to the highest bidder she could find.

Though as of right now, she wasn't anywhere near a point to where she had anything valuable for anyone. So, with that, Carnelian went into the town to search for anything useful that could be recovered.

[GeneralDirection 997]

@Illiad Easle@Props Valroa

(Moved this and the other Fallout 1x1 to 1x1 RP section)

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

As she entered the cloud surrounding the city, Carnelian felt... odd... cut off... it was like she was underwater, or barely treading water, but the cloud itself didn't hinder her motion in the slightest, though it did make it harder for her to see. Luckily she was well equipped for this.

She could hear movement, shambling hoofsteps in the cloud, before she saw one of the silhouettes, it looked like a pony, and moved like one, albeit a very tired one. From the noise she was sure there were more than just this one though.

Making her way through the buildings, she found that the center of town was wholly annihilated by whatever explosive had created the cloud, the center covered in some sickly glowing purple ooze. The buildings further away from the center were less damaged.

She could look through the rubble to try and find something there, or she could investigate the buildings closer to the edge of town where there were more of the shambling creatures.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian pressed onward into the center of the town, seeing the extreme damage to the center of the town - she did not go anywhere near the ooze. It seemed as though her suit had been protecting her from the effects of the cloud, which was good. To start with, she would start by examining the rubble as quietly as possible. Hopefully she could find something in this manner, before having to take a large risk and move towards the edge of the town where there were more creatures roaming about the place. It was a weird place to be and she didn't like it at all. This made her wonder what the rest of the world was like, was it only those factions fighting? Were there others out there? Were there any normally habitable places left in the world, still? 

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

In the rubble most of the complex equipment she could find was damaged beyond recognition or repair, but she did manage to find a stack of mostly intact rations under one of the piles.

She didn't seem to attract any attention as she did.

Moving back towards the edge of the town though, one of the spawn seemed to be heading her way. It wasn't clear if it had spotted her, but it seemed to be looking for something.

There was a bit of distance, she could try to shoot at it, there was a building to either side of her she could duck into to try and hide, an alleyway to her right, or she could head back towards the center to try and get around it, or try a different route to the edge.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian would retrieve the intact rations and add them to her inventory, and moved out of the way from the spawn, aiming to duck and hide. Carnelian knew she had limited ammo and preferred to save what she had rather than start shooting and attract attention to herself when she didn't need to. Carnelian opted to see how hiding and waiting it out would do for her - and if she was successful, she would continue along after the spawn had passed.

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

Despite her mediocre agility and average stealth skill, Carnelian was able to avoid detection from the spawn heading her way. It was unclear whether that was due to her efforts, or if the cloud combined with what seemed like a rather unperceptive spawn worked in her favor.

She was able to examine the spawn a bit closer as it passed, an earth pony stallion that looked rather emaciated, its mark blurred beyond all recognition. Its body was covered in scars of all kinds, indicating that it would not have been an easy opponent to fight.

 

Once the spawn passed she could hear others moving in the distance, but they were further off than this one had been. Around her there were four buildings that looked mostly intact. A single story general store, a two story shop with an apartment above, a two story house, and a one story guard outpost. 

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian saw the spawn and thought it was a vile hideous creature that didn't have a right to exist in this world. If she had it her way, the spawn would be eradicated first before anything else. This was not her world though, and she realized that she was going to have to scrounge her way to the top eventually. Taking the chance to move - she would move towards the guard outpost quickly and as quietly as possible. There should be something useful there, like weaponry from the guards that once dwelled there. 

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

(The change)

The city had been destroyed when the Legion detonated a Thaumatological bomb in the center of town, the wild magic destroying everything in the center and coating much of the rest of the city in thaumatological residue, similar to what she had encountered at the research outpost.

The spawn in the city appeared to avoid direct contact with the residue, and her suit would protect her from the effects so long as it remained undamaged.

 

(Continuing)

Entering the guard outpost, she saw that the lower floor appeared untouched, some weapons and armor hanging up on the wall, though the weapons that used magic cells appeared to have caught fire.

She heard movement above her, and it didn't have the cadence of a quadruped, it sounded more like something with two legs dragging something.

There might be more than one creature up there too, but they didn't seem to have noticed her presence yet.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian had decided to take some of the weapons and armor if it was possible to remove them without making much noise. If it was possible - she would proceed to sneak towards the apartment house with her gear in tow. Realizing the spawn seemed to avoid the thaumatological residue, she would also keep that in mind when considering her path of walking about the ruined town.

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

Carnelian was able to find three sets of NLR armor, as well as a pair of rifles that seemed to match her own, plus one that was a bit heavier, as well as a pair of Trojan pistols that seemed to be in the same style as her rifle, but were much lighter and easier to wield than the rifle.

Due to her low strength, she wasn't able to carry all of the items here without overburdening herself. She could take all of it, and risk not being able to get away if she was spotted, or take only what she could carry and possibly come back for the rest.

If she didn't want to overburden herself, she could carry one of the sets of armor along with the weapons, or two of the sets of armor.

 

In either case, she wouldn't have much room to spare if she wanted to search other places before leaving. Plus, something told her it wouldn't be a good idea to search a new place while overburdened.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian opts to carry one set of armor and the weapons. She didn't want to overburden herself with excess material incase she needed to get away quickly. With that in mind, she opted to head back to the NLR encampment to return the equipment for payment. Carnelian was done here for the time being - this place was giving her the creeps. Perhaps when she gets back to the encampment she would be able to find out more about the situations in the world by mingling with the other members. 

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

Loading up the items she had found took some doing to make sure they didn't damage the protective suit she was wearing, and she could see that some of them did have bits of glowing residue on them, but that could likely get cleaned off before use.

Once she was loaded up, and starting to head out of the building, she heard something approaching from behind, coming slowly down from the upper floor, on the street as well she could see a pair of spawn headed towards the building she was in, though they were still a bit of a ways off

She could try to run for it, heading straight for the camp, she could try to evade the spawn in the street, maybe hide somewhere in the building and hope the thing coming down hadn't already detected her, or she could try fighting with the new weapons she had acquired.

In any case, she would need to decide fast.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian would quickly decide that she doesn't have the endurance or agility to run towards the camp - so using her quick perceptive mind she would aim to find somewhere to hide as quickly as possible. If she had to set down what she gathered in some location where she could grab them later in order to hide - she would do so. If the spawn found her location of hiding - at least in her mind she would have a straight clean shot at them in close quarters to deal out punishment towards them. 

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

There was enough rubble in the building to give her plenty of hiding spots without much difficulty, and it was enough to avoid detection from the Spawn, who seemed to have been spotted by whatever was coming down the stairs from above.

If she risked looking she would see that it looked like a pony who had been hit by some wild magic, their rear legs fused into some sort of plant-like structure that they dragged behind them. She could also see the remnants of an NLR uniform on them.

This creature started attacking the pair of Spawn in the doorway, and seemed to be fairly strong despite the mutation. It didn't seem to notice where she was hiding, but now the fight was blocking the doorway.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian would have risked looking to see what it was - finding it to be a hideous creature to say the least. For now, Carnelian would allow the creature to fight against the two spawn. It was her hope that the fighting of them would weaken them or drive them away. Carnelian would opt to wait and allow the two of them to fight. It didn't particularly matter to her which ones came out on top, just as long as there were less of them. If it was possible for her to wait it out for the fight to move elsewhere, or for whichever survived to move elsewhere - she would. However if at any point they were close enough to find her - she would defend herself by firing upon them with her weapon.

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

The mutated pony seemed about evenly matched against the spawn, despite the handicap, which spoke to how strong the mutation could have made the pony.

One of the spawn fell after a bit of fighting, then the mutated pony and the remaining spawn seemed evenly matched due to their injuries. Neither seemed to have a concept of fear or an idea of fleeing the fight despite each having had the opportunity to escape on a few occasions.

She could wait until one or both of them dropped dead, or she could push the odds a bit. At this point neither of them looked like they had much left in them.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian opted to observe them until both of them or one of them dropped dead - and once that happened she would have charged out and shot whichever one was still alive with her weapon before getting her materials, and wanting to depart the ruined city to head back to the camp as soon as possible. She had too much to add on anything else to carry anyway.

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

The mutated pony held out longer than the spawn, but only took two shots from her gun to bring down, clearing the way for her to get out.

She would be able to evade any more notice getting out of the town.

When she returned to the camp there was only one guard present, she could see the others patrolling around the city if she looked.

The guard would take the items that Carnelian had retrieved from the town, and pay her with a collection of cotton/paper sheets with various numbers and faces on them, all covered with intricate designs. The numbers on the bills she had been given totaled up to 500. "If you find that acceptable, there's more where that came from if you're willing to keep looking."

 

She could go back into the town, try and get the rest of what she had seen, or perhaps look in more buildings for more loot, or she could move on. It looked to be about mid day at this point.

She could see the glowing tower in the distance, and had been told that the town of Nova and Nipton were nearby.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian was glad that she managed to get out of the city. Even if she thought it was somewhat interesting, it was not where her main priority lied. At the forefront of her mind was her goal to seize power. Somewhere, someway. The Crystal Empire was dead and she may as well be the last Crystal Pony. Perhaps a new goal worth serving was worth finding but she had to start somewhere in order to find it.

Once she returned to the camp she would take the payment and leave with only a passing thank you. Deciding between the two towns nearby to the glowing tower she opted to head towards the town of Nova. Perhaps what she got here was enough to bargain for something more permanent. Going back in that ruined town was something she saw as rather full of scum and risks - it made her feel like a menial worker. She was not that. Carnelian was great.

Only that Carnelian needed to prove to this abysmal world that she was great. 

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

Her route took her to the canyon heading north, passing by a farmstead that looked like it had been raided and burned within the past few days. There was nothing of note to collect there.

As she neared the mouth of the canyon, her perception helped her to see that there was a group sitting out of sight of the road behind an old billboard.

There was a bit of distance between where the group was sat and the canyon itself. So she would have some time to react if she were spotted, or she could think of another solution. The canyon itself was not narrow, about 10 lengths wide, but the sides were high. It didn't look like anyone was perched atop it though.

If she had to guess, it looked like there were three ponies in the hidden group.

Inside the canyon, heading towards her but still a ways off, was a pair of patrolling NLR guards.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian walked past the burned farmstead - finding it to be of no use to her. As she walked out into the distance she felt a sense of loneliness. There were no Crystal Ponies besides her. Carnelian hated the Equestrians, sure - part of her didn't miss the Alicorns but at least they were familiar to contend with. None of this was familiar to contend with either. Perhaps there would be luck in surviving populations far beyond Equestria, but that was so out of her realm of capacity to even have any plans for at the moment.

Once again her thoughts were disrupted by immediate situations and so she took note of the group and the canyon. Those ponies could be potential raiders and bandits. Whoever they were, Carnelian would be safe to assume that they had more firepower and ability than her due to their numbers - and so she opted to try to go around the canyon if it was possible wanting to stay out of sight of those that were present.

[Illiad Easle 3,099]

@Props Valroa

She remembered there having been another road out of Searchlight, it would be a bit longer than the route she was on, but it should still get her to her destination.

After traveling for a bit she found the road, now there was just the mesa on her left and a clear view on her right.

She saw a few cave entrances as well as a makeshift camp site that looked recently occupied. Maybe these could be worth a closer look?

If she continued on she'd find that the road turned, in the distance she could see a large statue of a dragon, about two stories high, with a bunch of buildings behind it. Likely that was Nova.

Between her and the town though, to her left where the road turned she say another camp, populated by less than savory types, they seemed to be keeping an eye on the road. To the right, if she wanted to avoid the camp, there was some sort of open air facility with large cylindrical vats. Her eyepiece indicated that it was tainted with a low level of Thaum, similar to Searchlight. There seemed to be some strange creatures milling about the structures.

[Carnelian Clout]

@Illiad Easle

Carnelian would opt to head into the makeshift camp site within the cave to see if there would be anything there worth taking. Carnelian wasn't lugging around a lot of stuff anymore so maybe there would be something worthy for her to take.  Anything else worthy of taking she would likely end up taking depending on what she saw here. Carnelian knew that she was going to have to interact with other ponies eventually - but avoiding the less than savory types was something she obviously preferred.