Celestia's Finest: Comrades in Arms

[D.KnightSpider]

"I've got them."

Longshot adjusts the bearing of his rifle. With a soft whumpf the under-barrel grenade launcher does its thing.

Spoiler: No, seriously, there's the door.

Show

Grenade Launcher
(3d6)[4][6][1](11) VS 17 (17 Skill +9 Gunslinger -9 Distance)

Damage
(8d6)[3][2][5][3][2][4][2][4](25)

[Miltonian]

Shot in the wing, driven to the ground, and unable to move out of the effective radius, there is no hope for the corvids. With an earth-shattering KABOOM, the last of the assault team goes up in smoke, which sets off the explosives they were carrying. Which sets off all the explosives the others were carrying. It's quite the show for all of seven seconds. When it's over, there is only a scorched hole where the corvids once were.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Second wave eliminated." Longshot reports.

This was the expected outcome of the encounter, so much so that it had been planned. Which was... one of the reasons why the endgame of his plan had never been shared with the rest of the team.

He checks TacNet to get a sense of the rest of the battle.

[DigoDragon]

Rose grabs a grease pencil, doodles a wing on the side of her carbine, then adds three ticks under it.

[Elbeyon]

Love stays still.

She keeps talking to the civilians inside the cave. She keeps monitoring the town and comms.

[Miltonian]

The soldiers slowly lower their rifles. One of the veterans mutters a curse under his breath, saying very nasty things about the corvids' mothers. However, for the moment, the assault is over.

However, over the sea, the storm that was brewing has reached its height, a swirling nimbus of power, both natural and magical. As they take a moment to look around, the clouds descend in a funnel, like a massive tornado several miles wide, and strike the ocean.

[DigoDragon]

Rose continues to rest.

[D.KnightSpider]

Great. This just kept getting better and better.

"Every creature below ground! Get in the caves!" Longshot shouts to the others.

He begins ushering the crowd in the direction of safety.

EDF Comm: "EDF to Admiral Stormwind, the second wave of Corvid are no more. They've been obliterated."

An answer is not expected under these circumstances.

[Elbeyon]

Love remains still.

She dives deeper into what she is doing.

[Miltonian]

Everything in the cave is, fortunately, fine. They are, for the moment, safe.

Longshot does get a response. However, it is a mere, "Copy." And he gets nothing else. The ponies and griffons retreat to the caves at his order, taking cover.

Far out, in the midst of the storm, they see a dark shape begin to rise from the waves, illuminated by flashes of lightning. A long, serpentine shape, bigger than even the biggest ship. Its head rises slowly and it lets out a roar, though the distance prevents them from hearing it immediately. Ten seconds later, the echoing sound of its voice washes over the island, a horrible, screeching sound.

Jormundgandr has risen.

[D.KnightSpider]

Bucking knew it.

Longshot hooves work mechanically as he ejects the Anti-Magic grenades from his launcher and begin replacing them with Tangler V2.

"Any pony feel like killing a zombie titan of the sea?"

Dry as he sounded, this was still a daunting task. He couldn't outwardly show just how daunting.

[DigoDragon]

"Any pony feel like killing a zombie titan of the sea?"

"Damn, you read my bucket list, haven't you?" Rose replied with full sarcasm undertones on velvet canvas.

She scratched at her nose. "Guess I should just eat a couple batteries then."

Spoiler: No sleep till Hoofington.

Show

Power Drain spell on a battery: (3d6)[13] vs. 15

[Elbeyon]

The HoloLoves are entertaining the ponies inside the cave and keeping morale up. She won't be incongruous to the mood, but she does what she can with a smile, joke, game, or quiet tune here or there. Like she did earlier, she tries give assistance to any parents.

[Miltonian]

The situation in the cave is under control, thanks to Love's steady hoof. Several fillies and colts think that she is a ghost though, now. The concept of 'hologram' is hard for them to grasp. All they know is that they can see and step through her.

The dead sea serpent continues to rise to the surface, coil after coil of mile-long skeleton coming to light as its wraps itself up tightly and begins to gather itself. The storm, however, begins to slacken off and, with it, goes the interference between them and the mainland. Abruptly, their comms light up. "-ser calling Harrier Squad! Star Chaser calling Harrier Squad! Sun and moon, ponies! If you can hear me, pick up!"

[D.KnightSpider]

"Damn, you read my bucket list, haven't you?" Rose replied.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Longshot drawls. "By this point, fighting world-ending entities is expected."

He changes his mind and switches back to the Anti-Magic rounds. They might be more reliable at shutting down sections of Jorge than Tangler.

The dead sea serpent continues to rise to the surface, coil after coil of mile-long skeleton coming to light as its wraps itself up tightly and begins to gather itself. The storm, however, begins to slacken off and, with it, goes the interference between them and the mainland. Abruptly, their comms light up. "-ser calling Harrier Squad! Star Chaser calling Harrier Squad! Sun and moon, ponies! If you can hear me, pick up!"

"Longshot copies." He says through the EDF Comm: "We read you, now, Star. The interference appears to be lifting. We're alright for the moment: no injuries. At present we're dealing with a Corvid invasion and a group of nutjob cultists who resurrected Jorgemond about ten seconds ago."

Sigh.

"How are you?"

Spoiler: Yeah, this is gonna hurt.

Show

Tactics:
(3d6)[3][3][3](9) VS 17

[DigoDragon]

With a little more battery in her battery, Rose pauses in her meal to take a look at this summoned monster.

Thaumatology: (3d6)[9] vs. 15

[Elbeyon]

Love moves her head towards Star's direction. Scomm (EDF), "Star! Sunshine, I'm so glad to hear you!"

Love steps over to Rose's armor and pulls out a magical dose. She touches the armor and teleports it away.

She gathers four packs (40 total) of injectors and hoofs them to her ScoutBot. A bugbot glob start to gather with the medicine and Love sends it on its away to start stablizing dying people.

She notices Jorgemond for the first time. Scomm (EDF), "Is that Jorgemond!? They are huge!"

She starts prepping to leave.

[Miltonian]

Relief floods into Star's voice. "Oh thank Celestia," she says, "Now, uh, if you hadn't noticed, we have a bit of a...snake problem. Kinda slithered up on us here. The Vedinians are deploying their main fleet. They kinda figured out what was going on a few minutes before it happened. You all need a ride?"

If they are going to take this thing out, Longshot is sure that a boat is not the right way to go. This thing belongs in the water. It's its natural habitat, as much as it can be said to have one. A plane would have better luck. From this standpoint, that's the best he can do.

Rose, however, is sure that there cannot be enough necromantic energy in the world to animate that entire skeleton all at once. Usually, a necromancer imbues a corpse with a field of energy that entirely suffuses it. That means it must be using a system of 'nerves', for lack of a better word. The nerves wouldn't be terribly vulnerable, but they would have to feed into a central location: a brain.

In other words...aim for the head.

[D.KnightSpider]

Yeah. He'd noticed.

EDF Comm.: "Affirmative, Star, head our way. I'll drop off the line and get clearance from our point of contact." The urge to add a snarky comment about Love and Star's shenanigans dies. He wasn't that far gone. Yet.

He toggles his Comm.: "EDF to Admiral Stormwind: requesting permission to leave the defense of the cave to the Veridian forces and engage Jorgemonde. Our strike carrier can be here shortly and we can attack from the air. Over."

[DigoDragon]

Silent Comm (EDF+Star=Win): "If we're going to fight that... thing, I think aiming for the head is our best bet. There's a lot of necro energy being spent to keep it going, so... yeah. Headshots might work best."

[Elbeyon]

Love will keep focusing on stopping people from bleeding out.

Love will reload her spent sleep shot.

Love will research what she can about the serpent. The thing sure does seem to be distracting and grabbing everyone's focus.

Scomm (EDF), "Never were suppose to grab a snake by its tail."

[Miltonian]

Love saves who she can, though not as many as she might have liked, and then turns her focus to research. It seems that the sea serpent is, according to legend, strong enough to crush the earth and wide enough to encircle it. However, actual measurements put it at a mere seven miles long, very large but much shorter than the earth's circumference.

"On my way," Star says, "Just tell me where to pick you up."

The Admiral doesn't reply immediately. At last, he says, "Copy that, Harrier Squad. If you think you have a chance, go for it."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Affirmative, sir. We'll report back after the engagement. Best of luck." LS replies to the Admiral.

How much of a chance they possessed wasn't immediately known. He only knew they had to try something.

[DigoDragon]

EDF comm to OnStar: 'Can you follow my iff beacon? You can pick us up at the cave entrance before another wave tries us.'

[Miltonian]

"Roger dodger," Star replies, "See you in a jiffy. Well, give me fifteen minutes. Not sure if that's still a jiffy. Bit of a long jiffy."

The corvid assault is rapidly loosing steam. With the loss of two whole flights, the bombardment of the town cannot continue like it has been. This allows the Vedinians to start taking more potshots, which add up over time. Soon, the call for a retreat comes down from their command and they begin to climb for the clouds.

The 'Bird appears on the horizon, coming in quick and low. "On approach," Star says, "Stand clear." In a few more moments, she's touched down and the back ramp descends, allowing them entrance to the ship.

[Elbeyon]

Is 40 injectors not enough? This is a fairly large battle. Love should have packed more supplies.

Scomm (EDF), "Brazen, may I have your twenty healing injectors and bugbots if you aren't using them?" There are more people to save!

Love keeps her eye on the town.

She pockets Rose's flying potion.

Scomm (EDF), "Copy. We hear you, Star."

Fifteen minutes? That's a looong time. Love sees if she can make herself useful to the Admiral and town.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot parts ways with the soldiers and volunteers. He boards the 'bird and secures himself for a turbulent flight. He's also rigged two Limpet Mines for quick use.

"I'm going to admit that I don't have much of a plan yet. So I'm open to ideas beyond 'shoot the head and try not to die'."

[DigoDragon]

Rose climbs on board the Thunderbird.

"Not sure if that creature has any abilities not tied to water. If we still have any explosives I'd say lead with that."

[Elbeyon]

Longshot has a good idea. Love will ready her and Rose's mines on her webgear.

Love scomms (EDF) at Star's approaching. "Copy. Reading you. Over"

[Miltonian]

In fifteen minutes, Love manages to accomplish a lot. With the Admiral's permission, she scampers into town, gunning down low-swooping corvids and saving civilians left and right. She rushes to Mother Girdle's home, where she finds the old mare standing over two unconscious corvids and muttering under her breath about the loss of a very good teapot. Whisking her and the other civilians she's saved away, she returns to the cave.

Star nods to them. "Yeah...I could try shooting it with the guns we have onboard, but if guns are the answer, then the Vedinians have much bigger ones on their ships."