Fallout: Beyond Equestria 118: Origin Story (Part 32)

[2015-01-14 13:09:49] <Mare-Do-Well> 3When last we left our party...
[2015-01-14 13:11:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The five remaining gargoyles break and attack, swooping around and flying directly at the party.
[2015-01-14 13:11:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream starts firing off shell after shell. This was extremely wasteful, and she knew it. But it was the only measure she had to push them away from Noble.
[2015-01-14 13:11:39] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Two of the gargoyles fly at Noble_Heart and Golden_Dream, only to get faces and wings full of buckshot.  The spray of pellets does nothing substantial to them, chipping and scratching at the surface of the living stones.
[2015-01-14 13:11:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3But one of the gargoyles is knocked back by the blast hard enough to disorient it.  A critical miscalculation in its effort to regain control of its flight sends it crashing into the jungle canopy.  It disappears into the jungle below.
[2015-01-14 13:11:55] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The four remaining gargoyles swiftly prove to be more capable combatants than initially surmised, drawing up their spears in their tails and striking with them while simultaneously attacking with their heavy stone hooves.
[2015-01-14 13:12:02] <Mare-Do-Well> 3One of those attacking Bookwright attempts to tackle him off of the firewagon.
[2015-01-14 13:12:08] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream 's eyes fall as the one gargoyle meets dirt, at least. "Who else wants t' meet th' ground?" She knew she didn't have anything here, these buckshot shells weren't supposed to breach reinforced concrete, they were supposed to deal with fleshy targets. But, you know. To all that can't fight, clear the way for those who can.
[2015-01-14 13:12:15] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Bookwright 's eyes widen as the gargoyles swoop at him. He abandons the controls of the weapon momentarily and ducks, managing to avoid being tackled off the firewagon... but mere thin air is not enough to shield him from the heavy stone hooves of the other.
[2015-01-14 13:12:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The gargoyles throw their blows, none of them striking true with each, but only the attempted tackler missing entirely.  Now, however, they are in pegasus fighting with the ponies, able to match them in speed and maneuverability.  Their tactic seems clear: by closing to hoof's length with their attackers, they can make it difficult to bring firearms to bear.
[2015-01-14 13:12:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3And they are experts at close-quarters fighting, showing terrifying rote memory of their elite guard training.
[2015-01-14 13:12:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3CopyCat shrieks as heavy stone hooves strike her Shatara-made crystal armour. This close they'd be hard to fight. Especially while towing the wagon. But there was one means of quickly gaining some distance...
[2015-01-14 13:13:29] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fallout: Beyond Equestria, Session One Hundred and Eighteen: Origin Story (Part Thirty-Two) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSUQxGjZZ4
[2015-01-14 13:13:42] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- Session Begins ---
[2015-01-14 13:36:07] * CopyCat calls out to her purple sister. "Noble, we need distance! Drop together!"
[2015-01-14 13:36:51] * Fridge starts to unpack the 40mm, slinging the shotgun back to her side. "Dive! Dive! Dive! We want some distance when I start firing this thing instead!"
[2015-01-14 14:06:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The gargoyle attempting to tackle Bookwright is shattered a second latter by Shatara's well-placed shots.
[2015-01-14 14:06:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3((PC's turn!))
[2015-01-14 14:20:12] * Bookwright "Stupid rocks! Eat soundwaves!" Bookwright blasts the gargoyle that attacked him twice with the Jukebox gun.
[2015-01-14 14:20:55] * Golden_Dream waits for a moment. "C'mon! Gimme some distance, y'all!"
[2015-01-14 14:43:05] * Noble_Heart nods her head, her horn crackling with power to blast the gargoyle that had dared to stab at her. "Hold on tight. We are going down!" SHe beat her wings and dove downwards, away from the gargoyles and their very, very pointy spears.
[2015-01-14 14:44:39] * CopyCat dives as well, linked, as ever, with her sister. She was also very keen to get some distance...
[2015-01-14 14:50:05] * Golden_Dream levels out the Ferghana Lake and levels three grenades at each of the visible gargoyles. It just now occured to her that this was a pump-action grenade launcher. She figures that she simply had a proclivity towards things like shotguns.
[2015-01-14 14:52:29] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The air fills with explosions.  The gargoyles badly harmed by Bookwright's and Noble_Heart's attacks shatter.  Only one flying stone opponent remains, and it looks considerably worse for wear, with deep cracks running through her.
[2015-01-14 14:53:38] * Shatara 's rifle jams as the gargoyles close. He curses, slinging the rifle and charging one of the gargoyles acosting the alicorns with an uncharacteristic roar.
[2015-01-14 14:58:09] * Shatara gives the uncooperative stone equine a solid zap before diving down after the others.
[2015-01-14 15:11:05] * CopyCat smiles, hearing Shatara come to her defence and seeing the shattered stone left by Goldie's grenades fall from the sky.
[2015-01-14 15:11:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The gargoyle dives in pursuit, it's focus now on the grenadier.  As it catches up, it lashes out with a flurry of attacks, striking Golden_Dream twice with powerful stone hooves.  The strike with its spear gets only air and a few sliced strands of the mare's mane.
[2015-01-14 15:15:56] * Golden_Dream gacks! That hurt! That hurt really, /really/ bad!
[2015-01-14 15:23:54] * Bookwright "That thing I said about rocks earlier, I didn't actually mean it! You stupid zebras are still stupid though!" More teeth rattling sonic blasts roll out and smash over the remaining gargoyle.
[2015-01-14 15:28:45] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Bookwright's sonic blasts shatter the final gargoyle.
[2015-01-14 15:28:50] * Golden_Dream clenches at her mouth. She was bleeding heavily from her nose and teeth.
[2015-01-14 15:29:41] * CopyCat calls out in alarm. "Golden_Dream, are you okay?"
[2015-01-14 15:30:16] * Noble_Heart breathes a sigh of relief as the last gargoyle tumbles from the sky as rubble. "Now... How are we to find the tagged item among the rubble?"
[2015-01-14 15:30:42] * Shatara checks around for any other threats, before clearing his malfunction and loading standard ammo, hoping they don't run into more of them too soon...
[2015-01-14 15:30:46] * Golden_Dream holds her nose dear. "Rrff". Oh celestia there's more blood coming out.
[2015-01-14 15:33:19] * CopyCat doesn't just hear Golden_Dream's pain, she feels it. Her horn glows as she tries to ease her friend's suffering a little.
[2015-01-14 15:36:07] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Unfortunately, it seems that the gargoyle what was carrying the tagged object was one of the two who fell from the sky early in the battle -- one of the gargoyles who may have survived.
[2015-01-14 15:36:21] * Bookwright makes sure to reload the weapons before doing anything else.
[2015-01-14 15:37:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fortunately, you can track that one's location with the tag.
[2015-01-14 15:38:56] * Golden_Dream spits, a long stream of red coming out of her mouth. She wasn't feeling what, but something didn't feel right. Her nose and mouth were just saturated in red, the copper-salt taste of it fresh and flowing on her lips. It made it hard to breathe.
[2015-01-14 15:39:30] * Bookwright "Okay... Ow. OW. Damn that thing kicked me hard. Ooof. I think I'm gonna be breathing soft for the rest of the day."
[2015-01-14 15:41:47] * Golden_Dream grits her teeth. "We gotta geddit. Did w' geddit?" She managed to gurgle out.
[2015-01-14 15:44:54] * Noble_Heart frowns. "We shall have to descend it seems if we are to find our prize." She looks to CopyCat and begins to descend.
[2015-01-14 15:47:26] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fortunately, the gargoyle carrying the tag is the one that Noble_Heart paralyzed earlier.  It's not in good shape, and has suffered a crippled wing.  So instead charging to attack when the group draws near, it merely glares at them stonishly.
[2015-01-14 15:48:21] * CopyCat follows suit, descending alongside Noble_Heart. "Goldie is in a bad way," she says, casting another spell to reknit some of the young mare's heavily bruised flesh. "We should get her looked at by Get Lost as soon as possible."
[2015-01-14 15:52:04] * Golden_Dream spat. The blood seemed to congeal quick with the magic. She wasn't going to talk right still, but she wasn't going to be slick with her own blood going down to the Jungle. "Keeperr eyes open." She tried to act stoic, if only to avoid the whole "If we hadn't have decided to pick a fight" conversation.
[2015-01-14 15:54:06] * Bookwright "So, uh, can it talk? Can you talk, mister crazy rock zombie?"
[2015-01-14 15:54:57] * Shatara scratches his head. "If it can, it'd probably speak zebra..."
[2015-01-14 15:56:10] * Golden_Dream looks at the gargoyle, and then at it's rear. "Geddis saddlepag."
[2015-01-14 15:58:18] * CopyCat tilts her head. "Would we need ot speak zebra rock? Does anypony have a guitar?" She mutters something that sounded a little like: 'Where's Ziggy when you need him?'.
[2015-01-14 16:00:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The stone creature stares impassively.
[2015-01-14 16:01:30] * Golden_Dream stares back. "For what it's wort, sorry friend."
[2015-01-14 16:02:17] * Noble_Heart frowns and reaches out with her magic to try and remove the saddle bags from the crashed gargoyle. "It is doubtful that these creatures have the mental faculties remaining to speak. Or to conceptualize anything beyond 'attack enemies'."
[2015-01-14 16:05:30] * Golden_Dream looks at Shatara. "Shatara. You're th' only one here what's got a gun that'll kill it and not th' whole jungle around us. It ain't right t' leave it sufferin'. End it."
[2015-01-14 16:06:25] * Bookwright looks away. "Ugh. I can't kill a helpless enemy."
[2015-01-14 16:09:42] * Shatara frowns. "Err...these things soak bullets pretty well..."
[2015-01-14 16:10:04] * Golden_Dream slowly blinks. "... It's gonna be you or Bookie."
[2015-01-14 16:10:38] * Golden_Dream pinches her nose and looks at Bookie. "It been dead for a long, long time now."
[2015-01-14 16:11:18] * Bookwright "Can't we just take what we're after and leave it?"
[2015-01-14 16:12:12] * Noble_Heart frowns. Her horn crackles with lightning briefly before she strikes the gargoyle with the power of the sky. Despite what one might expect, magical lightning does indeed strike twice.
[2015-01-14 16:13:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart acquires the creature's saddlebags.  The tagged item is easy to determine.  It is a booklet titled "A Pony’s Guide to the Spirits of the Zebra Lands".
[2015-01-14 16:13:52] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Inside the cover, someone has sketched a crude map of the ruins of the Fortress of Talikon... which you can tell because it has "Fortress of Talikon" written above the scribbles and an arrow saying "enter here".
[2015-01-14 16:14:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Noble_Heart's lightning fells the damaged gargoyle.
[2015-01-14 16:15:16] * Bookwright "Well, gosh. I don't think I could have figured out that the /big frigging entrance/ is the place to /enter the frigging palace/ without this book. Good thing we found this book though!"
[2015-01-14 16:16:30] * CopyCat pats Noble_Heart gently with a wing.
[2015-01-14 16:17:41] * Noble_Heart examines the book and frowns. "Yes. However it is likely that this particular place has many traps. Most likely, these are Daring Do's notes about its layout and the traps which were within. Likely taken when she was captured. We should check there next for more of her relics."
[2015-01-14 16:17:50] * Bookwright "Still, the guidebook looks interesting."
[2015-01-14 16:19:43] * Bookwright begins reading the guidebook. "Maybe the noodly spirit is in here?"
[2015-01-14 16:21:35] * Golden_Dream shakes her head to get some sweat-mopped hair out of her face. "We'll ask th' pirates when we get back. An' Bookie, is it crueler t' kill somethin', or leave it crippled with no friends and in th' middle of th' jungle?"
[2015-01-14 16:24:33] * CopyCat takes a moment to look at Golden_Dream more closely. She winces at the damage. "They really did a number on you didn't they?" Her horn glows again.
[2015-01-14 16:25:08] * Golden_Dream waves her hand. "I'll be fine from here 'till we hit up Get."
[2015-01-14 16:25:15] <Golden_Dream> (Hoof, even!)
[2015-01-14 16:25:56] * Golden_Dream gets back on the wagon. "Now hurry up. We gotta get back." She was sounding a little better!
[2015-01-14 16:26:33] * Bookwright waves distractedly at Golden_Dream. "Shhh, 'm reading."
[2015-01-14 16:26:49] * Get_Lost is having tea with pirates and making jokes about tea varieties
[2015-01-14 16:26:55] * Noble_Heart nods her head and spreads her wings. "Read while we fly. It is safer above than below." She moved to take off towards the skyship once everyone was aboard.
[2015-01-14 16:27:24] * Golden_Dream eventually plucks her hoof from her nose. The bleeding stopped with further healing.
[2015-01-14 16:29:37] * CopyCat straps back in with Noble_Heart and takes off as she does. "Read to us while we fly, Bookwright. In your deep ready-voice!"
[2015-01-14 16:31:52] <CopyCat> *"read-y-voice!"
[2015-01-14 16:38:56] * Bookwright reads. "Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote the droughte of March hath perced to the roote, and bathed every veyne in swich licour of which vertu engendred is the flour..."
[2015-01-14 16:41:47] * Bookwright "...Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth inspired hath in every holt and heeth the tenre croppse, and the younge sonne hath in the Ram his half cours yronne..."
[2015-01-14 16:43:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The guidebook is full of valuable information about the various types of spirits one might encounter in the zebra lands.  They're all laid out, catagorized, and they have pretty pictures.
[2015-01-14 16:43:36] * Golden_Dream looks uncharacteristically unwilling to put up with silliness. "That really what it says, or are y'all jus' bein' silly again?"
[2015-01-14 16:44:29] * Bookwright looks up and grins. "Aw, y'caught me. I was just reciting 'Canterbury Tales'. The book isn't written in middle Equestrian."
[2015-01-14 16:44:55] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The booklet does read as if written for adolescents.  Either that, or the writer didn't have the highest opinion of a pony's ability to grasp the subject matter.
[2015-01-14 16:47:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The party returns to the /Cutlass/ which has sailed out of the canyon and into the wide-open sky.  The ship has turned towards the south, preparing to make for The Silos.
[2015-01-14 16:48:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3From here, the ruins of the Fortress of Talikon are easily distinguished.
[2015-01-14 16:48:45] * Get_Lost wavewaves at her friends. is fixing a sewing machine
[2015-01-14 16:50:36] * Noble_Heart looks downwards towards the ruins. "We should visit those ruins before we depart this valley."
[2015-01-14 16:50:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The massive pile of rubble bears no resemblance to a fortress anymore.  The collapse was devastatingly total.  Unlike Bookwright's assertion, there is no longer any huge,clear entrance.  It might take explorers days of picking through the rubble before they find an access to what remains intact of the subterranean levels of the war fort.
[2015-01-14 16:53:23] * Golden_Dream spits a little before heading back onto the Cutlass. "I need Get_Lost here, and Mwana here, in that order."
[2015-01-14 16:53:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The rubble is more noteworthy for its size, and for the large number of decayed Legion vehicles and fortifications that surround it.  Two large missile turrets aim into the sky; they look locked into position by centuries of rust and neglect.  A dozen turrets form a network around the perimeter.
[2015-01-14 16:55:53] * Golden_Dream starts listening to the sound of screaming zebras. She's guessing that's where she'll find the mad scientist gone mad dentist.
[2015-01-14 16:56:06] <Golden_Dream> (listening for, rather)
[2015-01-14 16:56:47] * CopyCat nods at Noble_Heart as they drift lazily beside the airship, wagon in tow.
[2015-01-14 16:57:23] * Get_Lost arrives as soon as her friends arrive on the cutlass and meets kid mid-way "oh, hey..." frowns for a momeny, while the light on her visor changes a couple of times. red and then lavender "ah... is everypony alive?"
[2015-01-14 16:57:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Within, supply and troop transports lean precariously on broken axles and deteriorated wheels.  Metal crates lie open, looted by pirates and scattered by wildlife.  The barest traces of a road lead up to a vine-covered barricade.  A single-zebra walker, vaguely spider-like, stands over the entrance.  Inside the cockpit, a zebra is turned to stone.
[2015-01-14 16:58:51] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Many more statues wearing legionnaire armor litter the ruins, some toppled over.  Some even eroded or broken.
[2015-01-14 17:00:52] * Noble_Heart brings the wagon around to land upon the deck of the skyship. She looks down in the direction of the ruins. "We wonder if perhaps these gargoyles were a side-effect of Celestia One. It seems a strange prospect as a side effect for such a megaspell. But We have never heard anything about ponies utilizing mass-petrification as a weapon."
[2015-01-14 17:00:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli trots towards the group, giving them a friendly wave.  He approaches Golden_Dream, cringing, as he sees the shape she s in.
[2015-01-14 17:01:36] * Get_Lost doesn't really wait for a reply and starts giving kid some immediate help. "stand still... mh, i see somepony already helped here... okay, i can fix the rest..."
[2015-01-14 17:02:01] * Mare-Do-Well 3floats next to Noble_Heart.  "I did.  It was supposed to be a 'kind' weapon."
[2015-01-14 17:02:41] * Golden_Dream relaxes a little. "... Mwana, what do you know about th' Fortress of Talikon?"
[2015-01-14 17:02:48] * Bookwright "Magical radiation causes ghoulification. But the kind of ghoulification depends on the radiation. Bet if you folks new that when you were building the things you would have just gone with incineration instead of petrification."
[2015-01-14 17:03:19] * Mare-Do-Well 3explains, "Turn them all to stone.  No one dies.  You go in, secure the city, then reverse what the megaspell did one-by-one."
[2015-01-14 17:03:57] * Shatara frowns. "Only there was no victorious army to do so..."
[2015-01-14 17:04:08] * Mare-Do-Well 3nods glumly.
[2015-01-14 17:04:19] * Noble_Heart blinks and frowns. "That makes tactical sense. Though it seems quite dangerous." She begins unstrapping herself from the wagon. "We would hope at least that the petrification leaves those effected comatose."
[2015-01-14 17:05:42] * Mare-Do-Well 3droops.  "That's what we expected..."   She looks over to CopyCat, remembering the alicorn's peek into the mind of one of the petrified.  "Turns out, not so much."
[2015-01-14 17:06:11] * CopyCat grimaces and nods sadly.
[2015-01-14 17:06:50] <Mare-Do-Well> 3They've been trapped in stone, going insane for over two hundred years.  The ones that became gargoyles -- the ones that could at least move -- were the lucky ones.
[2015-01-14 17:07:28] * Get_Lost "i'd not say lucky... probably, the dead ones were the lucky... kid, are you ok now?"
[2015-01-14 17:08:23] * Bookwright sighs. "Thus, the folly of the ponies is brought to light. You never realized you were fighting an enemy that had nothing to lose, did you?"
[2015-01-14 17:09:40] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli frowns.  "We believe: none of those statues are dead.  But, at least, the ones in that fortress do not move.  Unlike the ones in Mwanzo Mpya."
[2015-01-14 17:09:48] <Golden_Dream> 
ACTION coughs a little, getting dried blood out of her teeth. She seemed a little bit tired and blunter than usual, but she seemed well again. "Better than ever. Thanks, Get. Thanks Copycat." The treatment put feeling back into her face. She quietly made her way to him. "... Mwana, I'm prolly not really a sight," She then remembered that she still probably smelled of blood and cordite. She backed off a little bit. "... Or smell for t
[2015-01-14 17:10:34] * Bookwright "We met the ones in mwahn-zoh Mmpeea. They were even scarier than these ones..."
[2015-01-14 17:10:55] <Golden_Dream> "... Or smell for that matter. But I been sorta, maybe, hopin' t' see you when I got back."
[2015-01-14 17:11:10] * Get_Lost "yeah, i remember those: ruined a perfect romanctic moment..."
[2015-01-14 17:11:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli says, "We believe the fortress was the target of the megaspell.  The pirates of The Silos looted this place long ago.  Although occasionally some will search it again, hoping to find more.  There are rumors of underground rooms that have never been touched."
[2015-01-14 17:12:51] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli trots close to Golden_Dream.  "'Are you okay?' seems like a stupid question."
[2015-01-14 17:13:12] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli asks, "Did you try to kill them with your face?"
[2015-01-14 17:13:35] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana Wameli gives a smile.
[2015-01-14 17:13:46] * Golden_Dream smiles a little. "One of them tried t' kill me in th' face, if that's what yer' askin." There's a smile.
[2015-01-14 17:14:22] * Shatara ponders overclocking his cattle prod. And fitting it for his bayonet mount.
[2015-01-14 17:14:43] * Get_Lost whisper in the ear of kid "bloody kisses are best kisses, i heard..."
[2015-01-14 17:14:57] * CopyCat giggles.
[2015-01-14 17:15:27] * Shatara pomfs at the association of a certain taste with a certain activity...
[2015-01-14 17:15:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana's smile broadens.  "Well, I hope your face broke its hooves."
[2015-01-14 17:16:17] * Noble_Heart tilts her head to the side. "We are fairly certain that this should be somewhere we should explore. It seems likely that it is one of the places Daring Do traveled in her time in this valley."
[2015-01-14 17:16:43] * Get_Lost smiles at the zebra. some bad taste and embarassement is much needed here "don't worry: her other side is a lot softer!"
[2015-01-14 17:17:05] * Get_Lost then explains "i have pictures of it to prove my words"
[2015-01-14 17:17:52] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The first mate strides over to Noble_Heart.  Parlay follows behind her.  As she speaks in zebra, the little floating robot translates.  "The captain says we are sailing for The Silos.  We could do a fly over those ruins if you would like."
[2015-01-14 17:19:35] * Bookwright looks up from the guidebook. "That sounds like it would be fun, and possibly useful."
[2015-01-14 17:19:40] * Noble_Heart nods her head. "We would like that, yes. It seems like a place that could be worth visiting." She smiles to the zebra. "Thank you."
[2015-01-14 17:20:38] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The first mate trots away. Moments later, the engines bluster to life and the airship begins to move.
[2015-01-14 17:20:54] * Golden_Dream giggles a little bit. Wait, hold up, giggling? Am I giggling? Why am I giggling, all he said was that he hoped that your face broke it's hooves that doesn't even make sense why- WAIT WAS THIS- NO NONONO. OH THIS IS A CRUSH. Okay, stay calm. You got this. Be cool. "Err. Yeah! I sure, erm. Did!" Smooth.
[2015-01-14 17:21:26] * Get_Lost "ah, bookie, while i helped here, i did a thing!" offers a scribbled paper to the dtallion
[2015-01-14 17:21:35] <Get_Lost> *stallion
[2015-01-14 17:21:57] * Bookwright "Erm, okay... What is it?"
[2015-01-14 17:22:15] * Golden_Dream sloooowly starts panning her head towards Get. "... Run, Get. Fer fixin' m' face, I'mma give y' a head start. I ain't tellin' how much've one."
[2015-01-14 17:22:35] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana pulls out a spyglass and offers it to Golden_Dream.
[2015-01-14 17:23:12] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The ship charts a course over the jungle canopy that takes it almost directly above the ruins of the Fortress of Talikon.  There is no movement below.  Not from the statues.  Not from the vines.  Not from the turrets or missile batteries... which, when looked at through binoculars or a spyglass, have clearly been opened and their innards raided.
[2015-01-14 17:24:19] * Golden_Dream takes the Spyglass and hurriedly develops a taste for pre-modern Zebrican architecture. "... Wait, what? It looks opened up!"
[2015-01-14 17:24:52] * Shatara joins in examining stuff with his own optics.
[2015-01-14 17:25:07] * Noble_Heart looks down at the ruins. "Those of The Silos likely dismantled them for raw materials long ago. But there are likely tunnels and passages beneath the temple. Places which the megaspell did not reach."
[2015-01-14 17:25:58] * Get_Lost "i liked the freezing thing we did with the spiderwebs and it could probably become useful later if we weaponize it properly... this was mostly my idea of how to optimize that"
[2015-01-14 17:26:30] * Get_Lost "sometimes, freezing is as good as burning, and not having free flames around is a lot better"
[2015-01-14 17:28:15] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Those with E.F.S. see a string of gibberish flash across their vision.  The burst of data momentarily disrupts Get_Lost's vision.  The gibberish disappears and is replaced by a new notification:  >> DDA Report IX found.  Download complete. <<
[2015-01-14 17:28:44] * CopyCat subtley hums a tune behind Golden_Dream and Mwana Wameli: http://youtu.be/axZ6mG__ZqU?t=1m1s
[2015-01-14 17:28:50] * Bookwright "Hmm, interesting. I wonder if we could get Shatara to build it for us?"
[2015-01-14 17:31:13] <Mare-Do-Well> 3As the notification fades, a second appears.  Fortress of Talikon location discovered.
[2015-01-14 17:31:40] * Golden_Dream blinks. "Oh, hey. Story time." She laid down, and hooved Mwana's spyglass back, totally not wanting a distraction from herself. "So, um. What do, um. What do you like t' eat there, Mwana?" She said while pulling up the logs. "Hey, Bookie, mind pullin' out th' map?"
[2015-01-14 17:32:51] * Bookwright bookmarks his place and flips back to the map of the fortress. "Here it is. Not sure how much good it is what with the fortress all, uh, splatterfied."
[2015-01-14 17:35:38] * CopyCat peers over Bookwright's shoulder and tilts her head. "We could try and get the gollem to dig to that location."
[2015-01-14 17:36:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mwana says, "Well, there's this brown fruit covered in spikes. It smells terrible, but when cooked right, it's divine."  He licks his lips.
[2015-01-14 17:40:22] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Golden_Dream pulls up the logs...
[2015-01-14 17:41:05] <Mare-Do-Well> 3====================
[2015-01-14 17:41:16] * CopyCat giggles at Mwana's words and casually remarks to Noble. "That sounds a little like a pony we know..."
[2015-01-14 17:41:19] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Ninth mission report:
[2015-01-14 17:41:31] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Legion has set up their based camp at Fortress of Talikon… or what’s left of it.  It’s the last place I ever expected to return to, but the chains forged the past just won’t let me go.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think irony was conspiring against me.
[2015-01-14 17:41:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Of course, I do know better.  They’re here because somewhere in the chambers beneath this fortress is the focal point of the Radiant Shield of Rasdon – a massive, basin-spanning artifact ignited through the Amulet of Atonement.  To the best of the Legionnaire’s knowledge, that’s what they are here for.
[2015-01-14 17:41:50] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Jua didn’t tell them about her mad plans to open Tartarus and usher a spiritual renaissance… or whatever she thought she was going to do.
[2015-01-14 17:41:58] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The last time I was here, Rainbow Dash and I brought this fortress to the ground.  That was the day I finally broke free of the my self-imposed solitude.  That first lesson – the rule that I could trust no one else with my responsibilities – was the hardest to unlearn.  I can only guess what it cost me all those years in between.
[2015-01-14 17:42:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Jua was never shackled by that lesson.  She didn’t work alone.
[2015-01-14 17:42:16] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The destruction of the ledge drew attention.  It took less than a minute for Jua’s elite guards to swoop into the Kutengwa Abyss – zebras with talismans that caused wings to burst from their backs.
[2015-01-14 17:42:28] <Mare-Do-Well> 3(Jua owned such a talisman too.  That’s what was behind her “be up there in a moment” boast.  But growing wings through those talismans is neither instant nor painless, and Jua’s had only begun to tear out of her body when the explosion was triggered.)
[2015-01-14 17:42:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Jua’s elite guards swept the abyss for her, but there was no zebra, living or dead, to recover.  Jua is gone.
[2015-01-14 17:42:45] <Mare-Do-Well> 3It took them only a few minutes more to find me.  They had to pull me out of my jacket; it is still glued to the underside of the bridge across the Kutengwa Abyss.
[2015-01-14 17:42:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Some of them wanted to slay me then and there, but their tribuni decided I was too valuable to waste so quickly.  Whether as a source of information or an example, I can’t tell.  Either way, as the poison has left me too weak to escape or resist, and I will never betray anything I know, I suspect a quick trial and public execution are in my near future.
[2015-01-14 17:42:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Still, I’ve gotten out of worse.
[2015-01-14 17:43:08] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Only one thing’s certain.  I’m going to Roam.
[2015-01-14 17:43:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Open Ninth Pad y/n?
[2015-01-14 17:43:33] <Mare-Do-Well> 3====================
[2015-01-14 17:48:19] * Golden_Dream facehooves. "... Oh, fuckin' Daring Do..."
[2015-01-14 17:48:52] * Golden_Dream sighs shoulders slumping, then clicks the "y" button.
[2015-01-14 17:49:00] <Mare-Do-Well> 3====================
[2015-01-14 17:49:35] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Taking in evidence from the breadth of my travels, I have come to the conclusion that the practice of trade, the foundation of mercantilism as we know it, was first developed by the zebras.  I believe that the zebras were taught the power of barter by the spirits of their land.
[2015-01-14 17:49:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3In their assuredness of the distinction of Equestrian culture, those professors of my youth, Underhill and his lot, would have considered these notions scandalous.
[2015-01-14 17:49:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3To claim that zebras “do not think as we do” is to invite prejudice into your heart.  Such statements suggest a difference in faculties; the gifts of thought, perception and imagination are shared by all intelligent creatures equally.
[2015-01-14 17:50:03] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Yet it is true that those who live within a culture have values and conceptions that are molded by that culture, and the culture of the zebra lands places distinctive emphasis on duty, obligation, responsibility and ownership in ways that our own does not.
[2015-01-14 17:50:15] <Mare-Do-Well> 3For a pony to purchase, say, a rifle from Ironshod Firearms, that pony is merely purchasing an item, and the company is merely selling one.  There is no inherent morality involved in the sale.  The burdon of responsible use of the item is upon the one who uses it.
[2015-01-14 17:50:22] <Mare-Do-Well> 3But to the zebra, the transaction has a deeper layer: the seller is transferring responsibility, and buyer is taking upon herself accountability for the weapon’s use.
[2015-01-14 17:50:36] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Similarly, a Canterlot doctor who saves a life is not seen in our society as taking upon herself responsibility for the actions of her patient.  Nor has the saved forfeitted their freedom.  Amongst the zebra, being released from a healer’s care is an implicit contract, absolving the caregiver of both liability and authority, and returning those to the healed.
[2015-01-14 17:50:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3While the end results may appear the same, the philosophical undercurrents of these interactions are starkly different, and must be understood in order for an outside to truly fathom the harmony of the daily activities around them, or to grasp the most esoteric elements one may find within the zebra lands.
[2015-01-14 17:51:25] <Mare-Do-Well> 3To ponies, the term “atonement” means “doing what is necessary to make reparation for a crime, misdeed or injuring act you have committed”.  Atonement, in our cultural perception, is /individual/.  And, as such, it is difficult for us to imagine what power an artifact such as the Amulet of Atonement might possess.
[2015-01-14 17:51:31] <Mare-Do-Well> 3How, we ask ourselves, does this magical thing aid us in fixing our mistakes?
[2015-01-14 17:51:52] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Nay.  But to the zebra, atonement is /substitutive/.  Atonement is an act performed by one on another’s behalf to commute or satisfy a moral debt.  An act of atonement is the paying of another’s ransom, to give of oneself for another’s release.
[2015-01-14 17:52:00] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Within the courts of Roam, atonement is the means of securing the release of another, often a loved one, who has been sentenced for a crime – a practice that reflects the tradition of bartering with spirits to fulfill a shaman’s promise or debt.  But in dealing with spirits, how does one offer atonement if one isn’t a shaman herself?  A bridge is needed.
[2015-01-14 17:52:06] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Once this is understood, nature and power of the Amulet of Atonement becomes clear.
[2015-01-14 17:52:14] <Mare-Do-Well> 3~-------~ oOo ~-------~
[2015-01-14 17:52:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 3(( pause for roleplay ))
[2015-01-14 17:53:51] <Shatara> "A bridge is needed? She was totally glued to a bridge..."
[2015-01-14 17:55:54] * Bookwright "The Amulet of Atonement allows communication with spirits...? Intriguing."
[2015-01-14 17:57:27] * CopyCat frowns. "Perhaps more than communication. The making of promises, the fufilling of debts without needing to be a shaman... And the Spirit of Whispers wants it."
[2015-01-14 17:58:32] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Despite the pain, Daring Do’s swift wings carried her to the temple.  She could hear the rhythm of beaten drums rolling from the top of it like building thunder.  Low chants.  Haunting music as if from an etherial pan flute.  The ritual was was already under way.
[2015-01-14 17:58:38] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring barely reached the amphitheatre that crowned the Temple of the Quetzalcóatl Empress when the whole world seemed to shift sideways.
[2015-01-14 17:58:53] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Dozens of zebra cultists lined the steps that fanned upwards from the center stage.  Upon it, a raised dias overlooked a black well.  Obsidian stones ringed a hole that plunged down through the heart of the temple and the world.  What loomed at the bottom of that hole was a passage into Tartarus; the zebras called it the Orcus Pit.
[2015-01-14 17:58:59] <Mare-Do-Well> 3A hot wind heaved and sighed up from it, like breathing.
[2015-01-14 17:59:11] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The cover stone for the well lay not far from it, tangled in ropes.  The eight zebras who had pulled it from its place were still breathing heavily from the effort.  On the dias above the well, the Quetzalcóatl Priestess stood, adorned in robes of serpent scale and a headdress of brilliant feathers.
[2015-01-14 17:59:18] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do was just in time to see the pony with the red hat pass the Amulet of Atonement to her, smiling with smug satisfaction.
[2015-01-14 17:59:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“Stop!” Daring Do tried to shout over the beating of the drums.  But in that moment, as the Quetzalcóatl Priestess accepted the Amulet, the chants and drums fell silent.  Daring Do’s shout was the only sound, and it tore through the assemblage like a crack of lightning.
[2015-01-14 17:59:35] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Everyone turned to face her.  Daring Do suddenly felt terrifyingly outnumbered.  She searched for something fearless to say.
[2015-01-14 17:59:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Quetzalcóatl Priestess lifted the Amulet of Atonement over her neck.  “Upatanisho.  Mimi wito roho.  /Reditus/ /in gratiam!”
[2015-01-14 18:00:13] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The star sapphire in the center of the Amulet burst with light – a silvery blue light that washed out over the amphitheatre, enveloping the crown of the temple.  Within the light, /things/ moved.  Shapes and creatures of strange substance and intent.
[2015-01-14 18:00:25] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Quetzalcóatl Priestess was surrounded with a nimbus of light the color of tears, the Amulet of Atonement’s stone glowing only with a faint spark now.  All the other cultists seemed to fade in the light, the people and things of Daring Do’s world seeming less substantial in the waking dream that had swallowed them.
[2015-01-14 18:00:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Only the Quetzalcóatl Priestess seemed truly there... and the pony with the red hat.  He shared the same aura, if much fainter.  And from the way he was staring at Daring Do, she didn’t have to look at her hooves to realize she was glowing too.  Within the last hour, all three of them had held the Amulet of Atonement.
[2015-01-14 18:00:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The black well was also very real.  The darkness within it had grown more vibrant, a void pulsing in the light.  The wind from the pit had grown into a roar.
[2015-01-14 18:01:04] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The pony in the red hat jumped from the dias, hitting the center stage at a gallop.  Before Daring Do could react, the /things/ in the light lunged for the pony.  They took the shape of zebras... but with bodies made not of flesh but of brambles, knives and razor wire.  They fell on the pony with the red hat and he screamed and screamed.
[2015-01-14 18:01:10] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The screaming stopped.  As did the roar of the wind and every other sound.  A shadow swam over Daring Do.  She turned to see the Faceless.
[2015-01-14 18:01:27] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do’s grip on the world around her slid away as a barrage of memories flooded her mind.  A cacophany of voices from her past fought for dominance like a raging tempest in her head.
[2015-01-14 18:01:30] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Then the tempest quieted, the world stilled, and she was staring at the face of A.K. Yearling.  They were together, laying on the grass beneath the ambassador’s willow tree as they had that one afternoon, dreaming up the great novels they were going to write and the discoveries they were going to make.
[2015-01-14 18:01:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“It... is... the... bridge...” A.K. Yearling said softly.  The words were oddly stilted.  In the back of her mind, Daring Do knew it was not A.K. speaking to her at all, but the Faceless.  “It... facilitates... the... trade...”  The spirit of whispers was putting her words together like a jigsaw puzzle.
[2015-01-14 18:01:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“One... for... another...”  Drawing not from all the words A.K. Yearling had ever spoken, not just those from Daring’s memories of her.  “Atonement.”  The Faceless could speak with all the things she said that were forgotten.    “Back... into... favor.”
[2015-01-14 18:02:27] <Mare-Do-Well> 3'Why are you telling me this?' Daring Do asked silently.  But even as her mouth formed the soundless words, she understood.  With A.K. Yearling’s words came a blossoming of knowledge, the revelation of secrets.  A.K. Yearling’s life, the memories of her, had been bartered to this spirit for secrets, and it was here to fulfill its part of the bargain.
[2015-01-14 18:02:49] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do knew, quite suddenly and completely, the power and purpose of the Amulet of Atonement.
[2015-01-14 18:02:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Nor was she the only one.  By the provisions of the trade, the Faceless was sharing the secret of the Amulet with several chosen parties – somewhere Goldentongue, Mhalifu and Mhudumu were all learning the same, possibly others -- but not everyone learning this secret would be close enough to act on it.
[2015-01-14 18:03:25] <Mare-Do-Well> 3'It’s a trade!' Daring Do spoke without sound.  'The priestess is going to set the Quetzalcóatl Empress free by taking Her place in Tartarus!'
[2015-01-14 18:03:44] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“Atonement...” the memory of Mhudumu said.
[2015-01-14 18:03:46] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“Atonement...” the memory of the pony in the red hat repeated.
[2015-01-14 18:03:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“Atonement.” the memory of A.K. Yearling echoed.
[2015-01-14 18:04:21] <Mare-Do-Well> 3"/Reditus/ /in/ /gratiam/; /redire/ /in/ /gratiam/.”
[2015-01-14 18:04:37] <Mare-Do-Well> 3(( pause for roleplay ))
[2015-01-14 18:06:23] <Bookwright> "Wow. Um. Wow. I, uh... this is pretty wild."
[2015-01-14 18:08:27] * Golden_Dream looks around. "Wuzzat mean?"
[2015-01-14 18:08:53] <Shatara> "Something about exchange, I guess?"
[2015-01-14 18:09:34] * CopyCat grips Golden_Dream's shoulders tightly. The mare was on tenterhooks! "What happens next, what happens next!"
[2015-01-14 18:13:21] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Sound crashed back in on Daring Do.  The air was filled with shouts and screams.  Not the screams of the pony with the red hat; he was now nothing but a red stain.  The spirits had collected on the debt of his transgressions through agony to the point of death.  Instead, the cries were coming from everywhere around her.  The cries of battle.
[2015-01-14 18:13:34] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do looked up through the silvery blue light.  Two airships hung above the temple’s crown.  One was the Uasi.  The other was a Legion dirigable.  Small cannons from the dirigable tore apart the clusters of cultists, carefully aiming clear of the center stage and its well, while armed and armored legionarre zebras decended on ropes.
[2015-01-14 18:13:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 3On the bowsprit, Jua barked orders, a legion spear held aloft in her tail.  Next to her, a familiar young pegasus watched, scanning the mileu.
[2015-01-14 18:13:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Fleetwing had gone for help.  And he had brought back the army
[2015-01-14 18:14:09] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do spun and charged through the air towards the Quetzalcóatl Priestess.  The priestess was nearly finished with her invocation to the spirits.  Her words filled the light-swalllowed amphitheatre.  “*Reditus* *in* *gratiam*...”
[2015-01-14 18:14:18] <Mare-Do-Well> 3An irrational but insistant thought burned through Daring Do’s mind.  She was going to stop this ritual, rip the Amulet of Atonement from the priestess, and use it herself.  She was going to trade places with A.K. Yearling!  She would be forgotten and A.K. would be remembered.
[2015-01-14 18:14:24] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Quetzalcóatl Priestess  to speak when Daring Do slammed into the zebra, knocking the wind from her and hurling her from the dias.  The Amulet of Atonement soared out of her grasp.
[2015-01-14 18:14:29] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do rose up over the priestess, looking about for the Amulet.  With a gasp, she dove to the side as cultist archers filled the air where she had been with arrows.  Daring dove for the cover of the dias.
[2015-01-14 18:14:38] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The dias began to fill with arrows.
[2015-01-14 18:14:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Quetzalcóatl Priestess groaned.  Her headdress was askew, her mane sticking out in tuffs on one side.  She cried out in alarm and rage as she looked at her hooves and found the Amulet was not there.
[2015-01-14 18:14:57] <Mare-Do-Well> 3From her cover, Daring Do looked about frantically for the Amulet of Atonement.  The priestess pulled herself to her hooves and began looking too.  Like a dream, the battle raged all about them.  Arrows few and swords clashed.  Bodies were falling and blood was spilling.
[2015-01-14 18:15:03] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Cannons tore into the temple steps, scattering enemies whenever they attempted to regroup.
[2015-01-14 18:15:10] <Mare-Do-Well> 3The Quetzalcóatl Priestess seemed to spot the Amulet first.  She broke into a mad gallop towards the well’s cover stone and its tangled ropes.  But several zebra landed upon it, drawing cutlasses and nets.  Crew from the Uasi.  They swiftly engaged her in battle, and those who remained of the eight stone-movers dove to her aid with hoof-bows and blades.
[2015-01-14 18:15:20] <Mare-Do-Well> 3With one canon blast, the flurries of arrows pinning Daring Do behind the dias stopped.
[2015-01-14 18:15:22] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do vaulted from cover, skirting the edge of the melee, trying to spot what the priestess had seen through the fighting mass.
[2015-01-14 18:15:41] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“...*Redire* *in* *gratiam!*” cried out a familiar voice, cutting through the sounds of battle.
[2015-01-14 18:15:54] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Daring Do turned, her eyes going wide.  Upon the dias, with the Amulet of Atonement in her hoof, stood Mhalifu, the captain of the /Uasi/.
[2015-01-14 18:16:11] <Mare-Do-Well> 3“The trade is made,” she cried out above the din of battle.  “Ahuizotl!  /My place for yours!/”
[2015-01-14 18:16:23] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Mhalifu dove into the Orcus Pit.
[2015-01-14 18:16:43] <Mare-Do-Well> 3---
[2015-01-14 18:16:50] <Mare-Do-Well> 3Ninth Pad Ends.
[2015-01-14 18:16:56] <Mare-Do-Well> 3====================
[2015-01-14 18:18:16] * Shatara blinks. "Oooh..."
[2015-01-14 18:18:42] * Bookwright "Ah. So that's where he came from."
[2015-01-14 18:20:15] * Golden_Dream just stares at her pipbuck. There was a great nothing for a moment while her mind processed this. The whole idea of the Daring Do books. The biggest villain. It was all there in Noble's pack. She always felt an undercurrent of the thought that she had gone far beyond her ability to reasonably act upon all that she had gotten herself into. It wasn't until now that she understood just how much gravity was on her shoulders.
[2015-01-14 18:24:03] <Mare-Do-Well> 3--- End of Session ---
[2015-01-14 18:25:48] <Mare-Do-Well> 3(4000 XP)