Anon Quest: 4.3 A Savory Battle at Hollow Peak.

Mission #4.3 A Savory Battle at Hollow Peak.

>Your chimera’s growing impatient.
>A few minutes ago, Anon and his party were ambushed by a set of five Crystallized Aracrustations; nasty, dark violet, crab like creatures with jagged upper plating so tough, small gem like formations develop over time, becoming especially large on their tops.
>They team has taken them down to three, as your chimera watches from atop a large pillar.
>As Aracrus C crushes Applejack in his massive claws, Rarity’s “Mind Shatter” has finally reached its boiling point on Aracrus F. After a lengthy 3 move lock,  F has gone from 10 points of fixed damage, to 20, and with Rarity’s eyes glowing blue, and Aracrus F foaming bubbles at the mouth, 40, causing him to collapse after a good head-butt from Rainbow Dash happens.
>Aracrus B almost takes down Fluttershy after a good blow from her claw, but Anon pierced her soft underbelly with his blade, and vitrified the poor thing as her claw pushed down on Fluttershy.
>Dense green blood comes pouring from the wound, staining Red Anon’s helmet, chest plate and clothing.
>The spectacle gives a small grin to your chimera, as his snake tail tells his goat head, “Thesse creaturess have potential.”
>“I remain skeptical,” the goat head responds.
>Both of their eyes widen slightly, as C is put into submission, by a barrage of colorful explosives and confetti from Pinkie’s peppermint striped turret.
>C is then finished by Applejack, who frees herself from his claws and jumps in for a hammer kick straight to the gem clad top of his skull, shattering it like glass under the back of her iron clad hoof.
>Just like that, he’s down. All five are down; littering the mountain as victims of a unique fate. Mental collapse, evisceration, blunt skull trauma, magic induced hypothermia, and mass internal bleeding.
>With the party now safe, Anon walks as fast as he can to Fluttershy’s aid, gently shaking her awake in her little claw shaped crater.
Fluttershy? Fluttershy, you okay?
>She gives a soft groan, as her eyes slowly begin to open.
>“Anon?...”
>She suddenly hits a state of shock, popping up with her hooves on Anon’s shoulders.
>“Please tell me that isn’t your blood Anon!”
>With a sympathetic smirk, he tells her,
My blood is red, Fluttershy. You already know this.
>“A-are you sure none of that-”
>Rainbow flies in between the two, interrupting.
>“I can’t believe you just cut it open like that! That was totally radical!”
>Anon’s hip pops out a little as he gives a sassy snapping point to Dash.
Couldn’t have done it if you didn’t steal its defense!
>He slaps his palm to her hoof, with what technically isn’t a high five.
Oh, uh, Fluttershy? You should heal yourself while you’ve got the chance.
>“Of course.”
Anon calls for Spike, since he’s the item holder, but he’s busy bandaging Twilight’s right hind leg, as she drinks away the teams red potion, restoring +20 HP.
>With clear concern, Spike tells Twilight, “I’ll be back to finish it. Just don’t move.” and sprints off to Anon as Twilight finishes it herself with magic.
>“Yes, oh glorious leader?”
Could you please give Fluttershy that golden apple we were saving?
>“Sure thing.”
>He rummages his little rucksack eventually finding it, and announces, “Think fast Fluttershy!” before tossing it to her.
>Startled, she gives a small “eep” and covers her face with her wings. Dash intercepts however, catching it in her teeth before it bruises on the ground.
Good job!
>As Fluttershy pulls the apple out with the tip of her wings, your chimera leaps from the air, landing next to Anon.
>“Are we quite ready to continue?” the two heads ask.
Of course. Lead the way.
>It turns away, and begins walking ahead, with Anon and the others following behind.
>As they continue, farther and farther upward, the chimera speaks to the others in a tone less hostile than their first interaction.
>“You horses do realize the severity of your situation, correct?” he says. “Dozens have been eaten by this creature already.”
Sir, we are one of the finest parties this side of Equestria, comprised of Celestia’s most trusted...and Spike.
>“Hey!” he yells from atop Twilight.
Well...you were sort of a tag along. I’m not going to lie to protect your feelings.
>A slight chuckle comes from the chimera. He’s genuinely warming up to these guys pretty quickly.
>“A most colorful group you all create.”
>Eventually, after a very lengthy amount of steep walking and excessive climbing. The party see a large cave down their path, with an opening the size of a small home.
>“The beast you search for lies in this, his dwellings.”

The party praises the chimera for his help, thanking him for taking the time to guide them, and for not eating them as planned. He smiles, just a little bit, as he tells them, “You are welcome”, before walking away...little did they know, that the cave was FULL OF CHIMERAS!
>“Big Bro, I will smack your face!”
“I’d like to see you try!” you say swirling your soda in its can.
...Okay seriously though;

>A slight whistle of wind echoes throughout the cave as they enter inside, causing Fluttershy’s hairs to rise on the back of her neck.
Spike, I want you to wait by the entrance of the cave. This could get ugly.
>“Yes, sir!” he says with a solute before hopping off Twilight.
>“A-A-A-A-Anon? Are you sure I should tag along? Maybe I should watch after Spike in case something tries to get him,” says Fluttershy.
>Anon stops walking, causing his entire team to stop behind him.
>His eyes close for a moment, and he takes a deep breath before responding to her question.
Fluttershy...you can leave if you want.
>The party gasps in shock, and Twilight tells Anon, “Fluttershy can’t leave! We need a healer, or we’re toast!”
If she’s not up for the task, she’s going to do nothing but way us down. Besides, if she’s really this afraid of dying, I’m not going to force her to face that.
>He turns to Fluttershy, and brings his hand to the top of her mane. With a slight smile, he concludes,
Thank you for your help. You can go now.
>Her eyes shift to the left, tearing a little as his hand continues to caress her mane.
>“Idunweny…”
What was that?
>“I could...I couldmaybestayimanunna…”
Fluttershy, I need you to-
>Rarity shushes them.
>”I hear something,” she says as her ears twitch and shift to the left.
>The red light on Pinkie’s turret then begins to beep, as it changes from its dormant pillar state, expanding into its tower form, and extending its gun barrel to the direction Rarity is looking.
>Quickly, their enemy comes into view.
>Floating across the air, a large serpent, at least 60 feet in length, with sharp black claws, Alice blue scales, wild orange hair and deep silver eyes scouts the area for the source of the foreign sound.

>You announce to the team at the table,
Meet the Glutton of Devastation; Gastra.

>Finding the source of the noise, he stops to curiously observe Anon’s party.
>Twilight asks Anon for the team, “Any idea about this thing?”
>Anon doesn’t respond however, as he stands silently; eyes widened at the creature before him.
>“Anon?” says Twilight.
I remember this dragon.
>Confused, Dash asks Anon, “What are you talking about?”
>It suddenly all piles back into his mind. His former team, the adventures they’ve had, THEIR quest to battle THIS monster.
>He’s been through this before!
>He died doing this quest, and is retrying the whole thing in the shoes of another character. All of them are!
>Pinkie breaks Anon’s lack of focus as she finds something in the background.
>“Oooh a balalaika! I’ve always wanted to learn how to play one of these.”
“We’ve already been killed by this before,” he says with his eyes still focused on Gastra.
>Rarity tells him, “That’s nonsense, darling. We’ve never even seen, let alone fought this creature before.”
>Pinkie nonchalantly tells her, “Yeah we have,” as she gives a plucks the balalaika’s A string.
>The string gives an unnaturally loud vibration, that rings through your dragon’s ears, reminding him of the familiar pink horse that clobbered his skull with that a week before this day.
>Angered by the memories, he roars at the party, with a force so great, that it pushes the team back a couple of inches across the ground, and knocks Anon out of his delusional state.
“Okay team. This is it!” he says in a slightly fearful tone.
>Sensing Anon’s not as confident as usual, Fluttershy yells aloud, “I’m not going to leave you guys behind!” in an effort to reassure him.
>It helps to an extent as he looks back and responds,
Really? Sweet!
>Gastra begins circling the team; a sign that it’s going to attack someone.
DASH, DEFENSE! RARITY, AFTER IMAGE!
>How cute, he’s actually trying to lead his team because he doesn’t want to die. Looks like it’s time to get serious then.

>At the table, you reach into your shirt’s front pocket, and pull out a pair of black dice.
>Pinkie asks innocently, “Why are you pulling /those/ out Anon?”
These are my lucky dice. Much better than the green ones I usually use.
>Twilight smugly tells you with her eyes closed, “Luck isn’t a real factor in a game like this. The only thing you can worry about is mathematical probability.”
>Dash tells you, “I’m going to roll now. I guess I’ll use “Pilferage” like Red Anon said.
>She slams the table with her hoof, causing the team’s red dice to roll.
>“Ha! Seventy-three!”
Whatever.
>You roll looking Twilight dead in the eyes with a blank expression, before the dice stop their dance across the table.
Ninety-eight with a +15 defensive buff...try not to lose the same quest twice you guys.

>Dash flies in like a bullet of color, to try and plant her left hoof on Gastra’s head, and steal away his defense with “Pilferage”, but Gastra erratically moves out of the way, and darts for Rarity, as she tries to cast her After Image spell.
>You use “Enrage”, and Gastra gives a concentrated roar that cancels her move, and begins crushing Rarity under its sound waves.
>It’s a move that only does half damage, meaning the 23 damage you rolled for is now 12, but its effects are more than worth it, because for the next two phases, Rarity can’t use her abilities.
>Rarity’s eyes go from the blue of her magic, to a sharp red, and her ears begin to bleed slightly, as she breaks the force of his roar, by basically screaming back at him with just as much intensity.
>Pinkie jumps in using her “Advancing Ammunition” to blast him with three rounds of her destructive firecrackers.
>He avoids the first round, but takes the second two full force for 40 points of damage, as he descends from the air, landing on his claws for support.
>Rarity then charges in, still screaming, and drives her hooves right into his nose.
>She rolled a 99, even without offensive buffs!
>Thankfully you rolled a 63 with your +15 defense, so the damage is mild at best.
>Gastra contorts backwards, flying away as she begins firing a series of mystical blast that don’t really do any additional damage.
Fluttershy, give yourself a defensive buff. I’m taking on Gastra.
>Fluttershy casts protect, boosting her +15 defense by another 10 for the next three phases, as Gastra swipes his claws into Dash, who tried to fly back at him for another chance to steal.
>Dash will be the smartest target to focus on, as thieves have no buffs, and have to steal their buffs from others.
>She takes an impressive 32/120 damage and her left wing is torn from the claws, and she is sent falling in the opposite direction before crashing into the stony ground.
>Anon makes a great leap during Gastra’s attack, and cuts deep near his neck using “Hero’s Strength” for a +20 boost in his attack.
>Gastra roars ferociously in pain, flying across the top of the cave out of his range, as Applejack uses “Athleticism” to beef up her attack by +10 for the next three turns, giving her a +20 stat boost in attack.
>Twilight wraps up this phase, firing a white beam from her ice spell, “Touch of Chione.”
>It’s a +10 attack that only produces mild damage, but it manages to freeze a good sum of your creature’s scales, slowing him down, and lowering his defense by 15 for the next attack he takes.
>With the second phase started, you use the ability “Toxic Fog”, producing a dense, poison from your mouth into the air, that will slowly corrode the health of Anon’s party by 5 for the next five turns, while raising your evasiveness by +10 the entire time.
>It brings Anon and his party into a short fit of coughing as their lungs fill with this fog, but Spike motivates them from the guidelines, yelling,” Hang in there guys! You can take him!”
>Holding her breath the best she can, Dash tries to produce a small tornado and blow the fog away, but due to the claw wounds across her left wing, she’s unable to perform the task, and only takes in more poison from depriving her body of air as a result. She does the best she can at that point, by flying in and using “Offense Leech” to try and steal 15 of Gastra’s +20 attack.
>The fog stops her however; as the evasive raise gives you a defense of 81 versus her 78 attack, not only wasting her attack, but the effects of Twilight’s spell as well.
>What other abilities does Dash have now…"Mimic” would require too much mana...She has no buffs to give in a “Toss Off”, and “EXP Steal” is pointless...you’re pretty sure you just rendered Dash useless for the rest of this fight.
>Anon charges Gastra only for Gastra to evade in a quick, slippery motion, but AJ manages to land a really good head-butt to Gastra’s jaw, cracking one of his many, many teeth with 37 points of damage.
>Gastra roars in pain, and opens his jaw wide to swoop down and swallow Applejack, but that’s just not the smart move.
>As it flies down towards Applejack, you will it to make a sudden right angle turn towards Rainbow Dash.
>Dash manages to fly out of the way as his teeth chomp down, only to be stricken by his powerful tail, and sent crashing face first into a pillar, collapsing it, and burying her under stone.
>Rainbow Dash is down from a critical hit.
>The fog begins to dissolve, making it clear to the party what just happened.
>It brings them to a state of silent shock, but Twilight quickly comes to action, teleporting to Dash’s aid, and throwing the stones away with her telekinetic magic.
>“Hang in there Dash,” she quietly says to herself.
>She eventually frees Dash, revealing her limp, and bleeding body.
>She then yells for Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, you need to “Revive” Dash!” as Gastra’s mouth fills with flames, ready to shoot a massive fireball at them.
>Before he can fire however, Gastra is struck by a massive blue explosion of hard candy, firecrackers, confetti, and flaming gunpowder.
>The top of Pinkie turret popped open, and she fired a +20 “Max Missile” from some kind of hammer-space that spaciously doesn’t make sense.
>He wails in pain, as Pinkie tells him, “You’ll pay for what you did to Dashy, you stupid dragon!”
>Spike silently takes that comment in the background, as he watches behind a pillar.
>With an opening, Fluttershy envelops Dash in an angelic holy light, and her body begins to rise from the ground.
>Her bones slowly reset, her wing repairs itself, and her eyes eventually open, as her health is brought back to 60/120. Just like you had hoped, and all according to plan.

>At the table, you can’t help but smile, as things fall into place.
“Ya know...Red Anon was hoping that you’d let Dash stay dead,” you say to Fluttershy as she nuzzles Dash’s neck.
>Red Anon defensively tells you, “That’s not true! Teams do what they can to stay together. Dash is an important member of our team.”
“Don’t give me that bleeding heart garbage, Anon. Dash exhausted her move pool and has no buffs to help her. She won’t be of any use, and you’ve played long enough to know that. You didn’t say anything though, because you cared about,” and you add heavy finger quotations around this part, “feelings.”
>Anon’s gives you a slightly agitated look, but he knows you're right. You can read him like a book.
>You take another sip of Fanta.
With the option to revive out the window, I’m pretty sure Fluttershy only has enough mana for a “Recovery” spell. The +50 HP will be good for a while, but then she’ll be useless and I’ll focus my attention on everyone else, except her...Let me run you guys through the next-
>Dah cuts you off.
>“You don’t need to run us through anything, Jerk!” she angrily says pointing at you.
>You just roll your eyes and tell her,
Shoot yourself. I’m just trying to help...Daaashie.

>Things go pretty much as expected from this point.
>During the next phase, you use the third of your four available attacks, “Focus Fire” to send a +20 black ball of fire towards Anon, engulfing him in a destructive explosion of fire that also inflicts a delicious burn for +5 damage over the next 5 turns.
>With his HP at 47/130, Fluttershy uses her Recovery on Anon, effectively removing her usefulness along with Dash.
>By the end of the phase, you’ve taken some heavy damage, dipping into 345/500 HP.
>Next phase.
>A good blow brings Rarity to her breaking point at only 34/110 HP. The Enrage move that you used on her however, finally ended, and she decided to use Mind Shatter, to try and weaken you down over the next few phases. Unsurprisingly, she doubts she’ll outlast her spell, so it’s a good move you can respect. The others go for conventional attacks, with Applejack landing a pretty good blow for 38 damage, Twilight using Sterope’s Kiss for a disappointing 17 points of damage, and Anon and Dash missing their attacks, but Fluttershy surprisingly managing to land a nervous little kick on the back for 2 damage.
>Fourth phase.
>This, Now THIS is what you’ve been waiting for.
>AJ’s Athleticism and Fluttershy’s Protect both fade at the same time, meaning they’re going to be a lot less trouble than they’ve been so far, especially Fluttershy.
>Now’s the time to use your final ability.

>Applejack leaps through the air, with amazing height, and attempts to hook Gastra in the jaw, but her move fails, as he quickly moves out of the way.
>In retaliation, Applejack uses her ability “Satisfaction”, allowing her to immediately attack twice with a +15 attack, causing her to leap back into another hook, cracking Gastra’s mouth with a +33 punch.
>You’re down to 241/500 HP, but this next move will hopefully be game changer.
>Gastra’s mouth unhinges slightly, as black flames begin to crackle from the back of his throat.
>Anon’s eyes widen at the sight, as he remembers this move clearly.
>This was the move that practically destroyed his last party.
>This was the reason his team failed their mission last time.
>This is why he’s living a new life.
Everypony, watch out!
>Gastra uses “Valley of Flame”, a +15 attack that can target four characters in one move.
>This combined with your already existing +15 buff can be a very destructive force if successfully implemented.

Let’s see; I think I’ll take Anon, AJ, Pinkie, and...Twilight.
>You blow on your dice and shake up a storm before rolling, and the results pay off.
Ninety One! Oh! OH! WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT LUCK, TWILIGHT?! TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID! TELL ME!

>Gastra releases a flurry of small dense blast, that fire at incredible speed towards the four ponies, exploding in massive swirls of searing flames that engulf each one of them.
>AJ takes the blow especially hard rolling a pitiful +5 total of 23 defense as her body is engulfed in fire, “knocking her out” as you kindly put it.
>Pinkie rolls a +5 total of 67, allowing her to hang at 47/140 HP as she leaps out of the way, having her backside horribly seared from the heat.
>Twilight comes out finest with a +10 total of 98, but her HP’s at 34/110, so she doesn’t have much to brag about.
>Lastly comes Anon.
>With a +5 roll of 86, the deafening explosion sends Anon’s HP to 58/130, and his body flying backwards through the air, landing into the hooves of Fluttershy, as she breaks his momentum, and the both crash into a wall.
>His armor shatters from impact, but it does save his spine from taking serious damage.
>The shock of impact is almost enough to send Anon out of consciousness, but through the high pitched ringing that goes through his ears, he can hear Fluttershy, right behind him, painfully begging for him to stay awake.
>“Please don’t die Anon. Please!”
>Her hooves tighten slightly around his neck, as the now limping Pinkie and Twilight fire at the beast while trying not to collapse themselves.
Fluttershy.
>He pauses, hacking some blood into his lap.
You have to get out of here. You can fly away with Spike.
>Anon rolls to attack, but with a disappointing 14, he only comes to a desperately slow walk, that ends in him collapsing on one knee, using his blade as support.
>Gastra crushes Twilight under his tail, effectively removing her from combat.
>Fluttershy backs further into the wall in a terrified shock, but Dash is quick to act in vengeful rage, as she flies to Gastra in a blur of color, blinding his left eye with a powerful kick of +23 damage.
>He shrieks in pain, forcing Dash back with his booming voice while Rarity fires several mystic blasts from her horn that barely faze his scaly body.
>As Fluttershy weighs whether or not to simply run away, she sees the fire of Gastra’s moth begin to gather for an attack on Rarity, and its then, that something just sort of clicks in her mind.
>Like a whole different horse, she suddenly flies into Gastra, punching his neck with an attack roll of 83 versus your 64 defense.
>The fire scatters apart in a gasping cough, and Fluttershy begins punching at his scaly body, with significantly weaker force.
>“Leave my friends alone, you big meany!”
>With the start of another phase, Rarity’s Mind Shatter finally subsides removing a good 40 points of health from Gastra as he quickly circles behind Fluttershy, and opens his mouth, ready to swallow her whole.
>He swoops in only for Dash to push Fluttershy out of the way, and take the attack head on.
>She’s swallowed whole, and is once again removed from combat.
>Immediately, Gastra’s shot across his face by Pinkie, who at this point, is crying with tears of pure anger and frustration.
>She used all of her good ammo during the beginning of this fight, and is now unloading everything she possibly can to ground this thing.
>Unfortunately, her ammunition does mild damage at best, and the blast that Rarity fires to assist are doing absolutely nothing.
>Someone who is doing well however, is Fluttershy, as she begins strangling Gastra’s incredibly thick neck with her hooves.
>Suffocation has always been Fluttershy’s go to method of offense, and even with a neck as thick as a tree, she manages to pull 25 points of damage with a 67 attack roll.
>Pinkie is hit in a sweep of Gastra’s tail, as he flails gasping for air, but she hangs on with 29/140 HP.
>Anon then suddenly stabs Gastra’s tail with his blade, finally having made it close enough to attack.
>Next phase.
>Fluttershy’s grip finally lets loose, and she’s thrown off of Gastra’s body, as he sends a fiery blast at Pinkie, who’s too injured to effectively dodge.
>She dies in an explosion of flame, but...there’s a surprising amount of acceptance that she gives to it.
>You’re the DM, you can see the misery, and fear of everyone, and everything in this game, but Pinkie go out without a whimper, happy to have died fighting evil as opposed to something boring like a heart attack, or the plague.
>She’s very upset about dying of course, but this at least seems to be a death on her terms.
>Rarity continues her ineffective magic, but she and Anon both know she’s not even making a dent in Gastra’s remaining 114 HP.
>She’s tempted to run, but unable to leave her team behind she sinks with the friend-ship, being crushed under a sweep from Gastra’s tail, after a kind of okay 21 damage strike from Anon.
>It’s just Anon and Fluttershy now, as Fluttershy tries to land a swing only to get slammed to the ground by a claw in the new phase.
>Anon then gives a slash to his side, distracting Gastra with the pain. before getting knocked away with a sweep of the tail.
>Ready to end him, fire gathers in Gastra’s mouth, with the only thing even remotely slowing him, being the weak push of a yellow healer trying to compose herself.
>With the next phase, Anon yells as loud as he can,
Fluttershy! You need to get out of here.
>before dying in a blaze of fire.
>And then there was one.

>You pick up your lucky black dice, and swirl them around in your palm as you speak to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy...I like you, a lot actually, and I don’t want to have to destroy your character if I don’t have to. I can end this whole thing right now. All you have to do is forfeit.
>Anon secretly agrees with my offer.
>“You’re at 84 versus his 74, but if you want to stop, I understand,” he says depressingly.
So, what’s it going to be Fluttershy?
>You can see small tears forming in her eyes, as she tries to make a decision.
>“I…I’m…”
>You expect a sudden burst of sobbing, or something of an equally pitiful nature, but her sadness soon turns into anger, as she slams a hoof to the floor.
>“I refuse to quit! We joined this game together, and we’re going to um…go…together.”
>You give a slight sigh, hiding the pride you have in her choice.
Okay then. I guess that chimera would’ve killed you anyways if you left. Roll for attack.
>Looking you dead in the eyes, she rolls a 99, sending you back slightly in shock, as the others go nuts in the background.
You are an interesting horse.
>You and Fluttershy continue rolling for several phases. She’s tenacious, somehow managing to get consecutive high rolls in defense and offense as she lowers your health piece by piece.
>Luck only takes her so far however, as Fluttershy’s character is crushed in the claws of Gastra on the 12th phase, before being violently devoured.
>Your remaining HP totaled 11/500.
>Fluttershy’s head comes to the table in depression, desperately trying to hold back her tears as the others attempt to comfort her.
>This is usually the part where you would smugly rub your victory in the face of your little brother, but you’re just not feeling up to it right now.
You did pretty good Fluttershy, but this will go down as another win in my book. Maybe you’ll have better luck next time.
>She sniffles a little, and looks up to you weakly.
>“Th-thank you,” she says trying to calm down.
Well, it’s time for a post quest epilogue.
>You take a deep breath as you put your thoughts together, and begin speaking.
With this week’s mission a complete failure, Hollow Shades remained victim to Gastra’s horrible wrath for several more weeks, until it had basically collapsed. Crops were destroyed, houses were demolished in fights that villagers would start upon Gastra’s arrival, ponies were leaving left and right, and there was no one around that could do anything about it...well, not in Hollow Shades at least. This was definitely a task that only professionals could handle, and immediately became a concern of Princess Celestia of Equestria. She would need to send a team of heroes that she could trust in order to defeat this creature, or else there would basically be no hope for anyone. The villagers can only pray that whoever she sends has what it takes. Oh, and Spike was left stranded at the peak of the mountain, but Gastra was kind enough to keep a fellow dragon under his non-existent wing. He will make a fine glutton with some time and molding. Quest concluded.
>Twilight asks you, “Wait. If Celestia’s going to send a new team does that mean we’re doing this mission next week?”
What? Heck no. I’m not narrating the same story more than twice. You guys just have to accept your failures, and get better for next time. Who wants to play Scrabble?