Chapter 69: The Siege
Twilight Sparkle attempts a group-wide healing spell. (3) The spell manages to work on the
Kingston S.W.A.T. Team, but doesn't help out
Dagoth Ur due to the severity of his wounds. The air around Twilight shifts as she teleports into the house. (5) Twilight appears in front of the steel door in the house. The
Head Guard turns around,
"Mah' gawd', itsa' purple horse." (1 vs. 6) He pulls out a pistol and fires it at her, only to have it blow up in his hands. He curses and drops the weapon. (4 vs. 5-1) Twilight responds by getting with the deadly magic technique of
"Now your hat has disappeared."The Overwatch scans the front of the plantation as all goes to hell. He swings his rifle around, trying to find an actual enemy to shoot. Meanwhile, a hidden
Simo Hayha is doing the same, but he is a superior sniper. (3 vs. 1-1) The Overwatch falls onto his back as a bullet rips through his right arm, his Scoped Hunting Rifle clattering to the ground. When the guard hits the ground, he backs away from the windows, in awe that another sniper had managed to shoot him first.
After stabbing a Confederate with Spaghetti,
The Pastamancer runs into the bathroom. The bathroom was really nice as one would have expected from a plantation of this stature. The floor had a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. An oval mirror hung over the sink, enshrouded in fancy gold design. The sink itself is jade marble, with ivory sink handles. The toilet is of fine foreign porcelain. The pasta chef pulls out
The Boss's Cell Phone and gives
The Kingston S.W.A.T. Team a call.
"Get in the house now guys, they have a really nice bathroom!" After closing the phone, the Pastamancer sets up the
Automated Turret outside an Eastern window of the plantation.
Applejack hears the alarms going off.
"Oh well, back to shootin' and explosions ah suppose!" She charges out of the fields to the house, pulling
A Boss's Fragmentation Grenade out of her saddlebag. As she darts across the fields, the two guards on the porch jump to their feet and point their rifles at her.
"Come and get some, boys!" (6 vs. 3-1) A single grenade rolls onto the deck of the porch. Seconds later, a burst of energy and shrapnel spreads out unto the porch, filling the guards with many nasty metal splinters, as well as flinging them aside. The orange mare kicks down the door and runs into the house.
Al Capone looks at the Stablehand.
"Well, that took care of him, huh?" The gang leader chuckles to himself as he walks back outside, hearing the alarm blaring.
"Shit, not the Feds again." Capone runs for the house, right behind
Applejack, and manages to pull the pin and toss a Pineapple Bomb up into the large window on the front of the house. (1 vs. 3-1) The Overwatch sees the bomb fly into his room. He instinctively grabs it at the last moment with his good hand and he chucks it back out the window. (4-1 vs. 1) It explodes a few feet above Capone, and he's thrown forward by the blast, but fortunately not hit by much shrapnel other than some deep scrapes along his back.
"That hurt, you silly n'wah! And my mask! You've dented it!" Dagoth Ur screamed on the ground beneath his torn hammock. Well, this wasn't his idea of where he was supposed to be; he was destined for a tropical amusement park resort paradise that would have beaten Disneyworld in sales, not bleeding out on the yard of a plantation in South Carolina. He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.
"If only this could be like the old days way back..." (Perseverance Roll: 6) Suddenly, Dagoth jumps to his fight with his eyes open.
"YES, I SEE IT! IT CAN NOT END HERE!" He jumps up to his feet, seemingly brushing off all his wounds.
"MY PEOPLE STILL NEED ME! I STILL HAVE MY DREAM! A DREAM WHERE ONE DAY THE SONS OF SLAVES AND SLAVE-OWNERS CAN COME TOGETHER TO BOW BEFORE HOUSE DAGOTH! WOOOO~!" He runs into the house.
Big Macintosh bring his hoof to cover his face, sighing deeply. It was all going so well up to this point. Well, here he was again faced with the familiar task of defending a barn from marauding bandits. He checks his saddle-bag for his Apple and Apple Explosive Accessories (2) only to realize he's left them all back home. Regardless, Mac gets inside the plantation house.
Twilight Sparkle stands off against the
Head Guard in the upstairs hallway. After failing to fire his pistol, the guard reaches for his sword.
"NOT SO FAST! SVENSK RO DAH!" (4 vs. 2)
Swedish Chef appears out of nowhere to deliver a burst of manly Swedish language that rips through the hallway like a vortex, catching the
Head Guard and tossing him backwards. The flying Guard ends up hitting the locked door to the Master Study room with enough force that the door shatters.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Tom and Mr. Fox do their things. Tom pulls out dynamite. (2) Damn, it looks like he traded all his Dynamite for a Carlos Mencia DVD. Mr. Fox has garrote. (4 vs. 5-1) Mr. Fox runs after Sweeper #2 but does not garrote him on account of him running away screaming.
Sweeper #2 runs for the house while getting chased, only to find that just about everyone else guarding the place is incapacitated or dead. He runs into
Big Macintosh. (3-1 vs. 5) The muzzle flash lights up the room, but it goes too high up and only manages to damage a chandelier. (2 vs. 3-1) Big Mac turns around only for the Sweeper to flee into the safety of the front yard again.
Overwatch stands up and holds himself on a wall with his left arm. Seeing how his rifle would be of no use to him without both arms, he grabs his Oil Lamp off a crate. He leaves the Storage room, only to find a unicorn and a large man fighting off the
Head Guard. Going for the element of surprise, the Overwatch throws the lamp at
Twilight Sparkle. (2-1 vs. 6) Just somehow, the lamp ends up breaking on his face. With his whole head ignited, the screaming, burning overwatching sniper runs back into the Storage room, desperately looking for something to extinguish the flames. In the pandemonium, he ends up charging through one of the windows and falling over 30 feet onto the yard.
*Thump*Sentry #1 runs disrupts his patrol route to see what the hell is going on. Running into the hallway, he finds a dying guard spread over the floor. "Shit!" The sentry runs into the bathroom, to find the
Pastamancer hunched over the toilet. Sentry #1 pulls out his Pistol (2-1 vs. 5) and puts a bullet into the wallpaper. (5 vs. 1-1) A second later, the Sentry ends up with a Spaghetti Spear in his throat. He backs out of the bathroom, holding his neck, before collapsing on the pinewood floor.
Sentry #2 runs up from the cellar up the stairs that lead into the Parlor Room. Drawing his Revolver, he sneaks up through the house to the front, where he finds that the
H.O.E.S. have invaded the house. Crouching behind a wall, he edges out and tries to shoot
Al Capone. (3-1 vs. 2) He shoots off Capone's hat, and then books it out back, running out the rear door of the house before the invasion force realizes what's going on.
Elite Kingston S.W.A.T. Team charges into the house, some going through the door, others through the windows. They rush inside to observe the bathroom that
The Pastamancer is in. There is a general consensus among them that it is a very nice bathroom.
The Head Guard stands up from the pile of rubble wood where the door to the Study once stood. This time, he manages to pull his Sword out. Without a second thought, he charges
The Swedish Chef,
"TASTE THE REBEL STEEL!" (2 vs. 3) The Guard slices at the chef, who manages to lean back just far enough so the blade only gives him a superficial shaving cut. (1 vs. 3) The Swede pulls out his knife, but by then the Guard has retreated into the Upstairs Bathroom down the hall, shutting the door.
Having cleared the way for now,
The Swedish Chef and
Twilight Sparkle destroy the metal door locking the hostages in the Master Bedroom. Inside the refurbished room are dozens of people crowded into little spaces, recognizably U.S.'ian Military Generals and Politicians, along with their families. And then, there's the V.I.P.
"OH YEEEEEEEAAAAAA!~ SNAP INTO A SLIM-JIM!Twilight Sparkle calls HQ, while ducking down underneath the barrage of very loud rendition of
Pomp & Circumstance.
"Is this guy really the V.I.P.?" She quickly gets a response, which is transmitted to the entire group via telepathy.
"Believe or not, Mr. Randy Savage is one of the best combatants in our struggle for the U.S.A. We'd want all the hostages alive of course, but if Macho Man dies here, this mission is a failure. We're getting signals that an entire Confederate Army is converging on your location. The Lunar forces have been sent out, but all of you are going to have to protect the V.I.P. and the Hostages for <8 Turns>. You're not alone, we'll be provided aerial support and airdropping reinforcements to your position. Good luck! Glory to the Lunar Republic!"As the message ends, the sounds of a nation's footsteps, hoofsteps and wheels surround the cannon. Grey-shirts on all sides.
Macho Man screaming.
"The fort must be held!"
-Some military guy from someplace said this probably I guess.
In this new battle mode, there is no Boss and defined amount of enemies to killed, this time around, the H.O.E.S. are the targets and must hold the enemy off. For 8 Turns, an endless stream of Confederates will be converging on the Plantation House from the North, West, East, and South directions towards the houses. Initially, these forces, separated into either units or individuals as usual, will eliminate any forces that stand in their way to the house. If all forces between them and the house are gone, they'll spend the turn Marching into the house. Once in the House, they'll repeat the process until they either die or are able to March upstairs. Once upstairs, they will be focused on killing the hostages and V.I.P. If the V.I.P. is killed, the Mission is a failure. This has no immediate effect, but it will alter the course of the story.
Note that the Confederates will bring in weaponry that has the potential to damage and alter the structure of the house.
The V.I.P. and Hostages can be Protected in the same way H.O.E.S. can, which means any attack directed towards them will instead target their protector.
Also, a new action is Fortify: Instead of performing a combat action, a H.O.E. can choose to fortify the house against outside invaders in one of the directions. The strength of the fortification will be based on a roll. At a (4), the fortification will stop a Confederate unit from Marching into the house, and instead they'll spend a turn removing the fortification. A character with Handiwork/Craftsmanship/etc. will get a bonus when Fortifying. Each part of the house can only be Fortified once, until the current fortification is destroyed.
I tried making a map for context, but when it comes to room-by-room drawing I fuck up my paint. On each side of the Plantation House:
North: Entrance Room, Stairwell. Confederate forces will be coming through the Front Door.
West: Parlor Room, Living Room. Confederate forces coming in through windows, or through a trapdoor headed to the Cellar.
East: Hallway, Bathroom. Confederate forces coming in through windows.
South: Kitchen. Confederate forces coming through Back Door.
Upstairs: Guest Room, Armory Room, Master Bedroom, Study Room. Confederate Forces will be coming up the stairs.Enemy Positions:-North-Confederate Company No. 1
Items: Rifles
Health:
150/150Sweeper No. 2
Items: Shotgun With Flashlight
Untrained: -1 to combat rolls.Health:
Fine-West-Confederate Calvary No. 1
Items: Sabers
Health:
80/80Confederate Cannon
Items: Cannon, Cannonballs
Health:
5/5-East-Confederate Calvary No. 2
Items: Sabers
Health:
80/80Confederate Gatling Guns
Items: 3 Gatling Guns
Health:
12/12-SouthConfederate Company No. 2
Items: Rifles
150/150Sentry #2
Items: Revolver
Untrained: -1 to combat rolls.Health:
Fine
Twilight Sparkle
Items: The General's Oversized Machete Blade, Socially Acceptable Club Behavior (Part of the Official "How to: For Equestrians" Book Series)
Health: Fine
Pastamancer
Items: ASCII T-Shirt (Torn), Skiing Pants, Glass Balls, Merasmus's Bombinomicon & Staff of Wood-ness, Cortez's Chrome, Cyan Garamonde's Samurai/Light U.S. Armor, Sherlock Holmes's Hat, The Boss's Cell Phone, Mobile Turret Parts, "Bikini Inspector" T-Shirt, Pieces of Gurren Lagann,.
Health: Health: Fine
Applejack
Items: Lasso, Theodore Roosevelt's Chromes, The Boss's Fragmentation Grenades, Hacha Axe, Turkish Saber, Heavy Machine Gat
Health: Fine
Dagoth Ur
Items: Golden Mask, Loincloth, Ash Statue
Abilities: Summon Ash Cloud (3 Turns: 1 Turn Cooldown), Call Upon Minions (Once Per Battle: Used), A Present From House Dagoth, Telepathic Power Nap, Decorative "Mickey Mouse" Ears, The Holy Bible
Health: fine
Al Capone
Items: Tommy Gat, Revolver, Pineapple Bombs, Molotov Cocktails, Brass Knuckles, Baseball Bat, AK47, Cursed Machete, Martini Glass with Tiny Umbrella
Health: Health: Back Scratched Up by Shrapnel
Big Macintosh
Items: Pony Gauntlets, Pony Armor, Armored Greaves, Bandana, Overpriced Souvenir, Straw Hat
Abilities: Apple Family Reunion (3 Turns: Ready!)
Health: Fine
The Swedish Chef
Items: Knife, Viking Chestplate, Viking Helmet, Armored Boots, Spoon, Several Bowie Knives, TNT Sticks, Beer, Roland Deschain's Father's Guns, Dallas Cowboys Hat, Firebombs, Mayo (5 Jars),
Abilities: Summon Mr. Fox or Tom (Mr. Fox Available), Taking Too Much Time! (1 Turn: Ready!) Swedish FUS RO DAH (2 Turns: 2 Turns), Mayo Rush (Passive), Mayo Addiction (2 Turns: 1 Turns to Eat)
Health: Fine
Simo Hayha
Items: Suomi 9mm SMG, Mosin Nagant Rifle, White Sniper Camouflage
Health: Fine
Elite Kingston S.W.A.T. Team
Items: MPSK Sub-machine Gats, Tactical Shotguns, Riot Shields, Tasers, Flashbangs, Smoke Grenades, 5 Pounds of Kush Herb
Health: Health: Fine
Automated Turret
Items: Gatling Gat, Legs
Health: Fine
Mr. Tom
Items: Carlos Mencia DVD
Health: Fine
Mr. Fox
Items:
Health: Fine