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Post by Selenia on Mar 12, 2012 13:19:28 GMT -5
Selenia scrunched her nose as the gust of air washed over her and the team. It smelled musty, dusty, and almost too old. The fact that there even was a disruption in airflow meant that the commander's quarters had been sealed airtight, and all of the inorganic items had been perfectly preserved. The largest of which, and perhaps the only 'artifact' in the room, was the suit of armor. Fit for a horse. "I've never seen a pony that large before. Only have I read about them in stories and legends." Selenia tapped a hoof to her chin. "That matches parallels with the theory of the Equestrian government sweeping this stuff under the rug, no official record whatsoever." It was a shame they couldn't take the armor with them, it looked like it weighed a ton, perhaps more. Too heavy and cumbersome to carry by hoof, which meant it would be too strenuous for a unicorn to attempt to levitate the pieces, even section by section. "Well. This was fun. On to the Griffin Kingdom, I suppo-" She stopped mid-sentence as she was walking out of the quarters and back into the hall. She heard the loud sound, almost like the falling of heavy iron plates and grinding metal. Her ears perked up, listening intently for any continuation of the sound. It could have just been one of those decrepit suits of armor hundreds of meters away falling to the floor, and the sound reverberating through the corridors. She looked around and came to a grave realization at Horizon's noting. "This... Is quite the conundrum..." Selenia said, her words dry and laden with nervousness. "Unless this place has some still-functioning machinery that pulls the suits of armor into the floor for spring cleaning, I don't think we are alone in here." She faced the darkened corridor and levitated her procured spear, head pointing towards the darkness. "I pray to Luna that this won't end up how you think, Tunnel. We'd be fighting an uphill battle, literally, with only one objective: reaching the surface. All they would have to do, and I once again emphasize my express hope that 'they' are not really present, is to mass along our exit route and prevent our passage. If they have superior numbers, which seems they do, judging by the sheer number of full suits of armor along our descent, it will only be a matter of time." Selenia widened her stance and furrowed her brow in determination. She didn't even face Hind Sight to present him with her grave two cents on the situation, "We are in a tactically unsound position, Hind Sight. It would be in our best interests to leave. Now." ((OOC: During this whole quest so far, I have just been hearing the music in Moria from Lord of the Rings. For this specific post, I hear the build up where Pippin drops the skeleton/bucket down the well and the orcs hear and scramble in the darkness towards Balin's tomb, their shreiks and howls echoing through the halls. As well as where the Fellowship barricades the doors to the tomb. youtu.be/z-tTBrmCEi0 ))
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Post by Mortar Retort on Mar 15, 2012 3:24:37 GMT -5
The peculiarness of the sudden pressure change struck Retort as alarmingly odd, however he thought nothing more of it when another case of mild disappointment in the interesting things department for Retort when the door to the commander’s office was opened to reveal little, another suit of large horse armor and little else. He circled around the tiny room, looking for anything interesting, but finding none, he returned back to the main hall. There, still however was the reanimation room to explore where he hoped he find something little more useful then set-pieces for display in his shop. These Equiterian were magical enough race of ponies, where were the magical goods they must have had? He pondered this quietly to himself while the others begun to leave, snapping him out of his state when alarming commotion erupted from the group. So this might explain the strange sensation.
Retort galloped over to the others, and poked his head out from the large portal leading to the hall. First thing he noticed was the surprising lack of armor. ”Well look at that,”He mentioned matter-of-factly, ”Suppose this validates my earlier concerns. Hah!” Somehow the gravity of impending doom was absent for the pony. He slipped back into the main-hall, rummaged through his saddlebags and brought forth several vials filled with strange liquids and one of his small rudimentary explosives, all wrapped within the glow of telekinesis. He slipped back in with the group, the various bottles of unknown liquids floating precariously above the group. ”If I have to use these,” Refering to the bottles floating above, “try not to get any of the splash on you. That would be bad.”
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Post by Red Charge on Mar 15, 2012 15:58:20 GMT -5
"They won't attack us here." Hind Sight said, not even hesitating before proceeding down the corridor. "This is where I was stupid. War golems, of course. Oh don't worry," He said back to the rest, "They're all going to where they were ordered to go. The bottleneck." At that he took the sketch of the entrance hall from Stardust, and showed them, "It works both ways. Can't get in, can't get out." The room was indeed diamond shaped, so that the corridors joined into one before reaching the entrance hall. "And right now they're organizing there, all of them, every single suit of armor we've seen and all those we haven't." He said angrily, "We can't go out that way." Unfortunately for them, what windows did exist in the outpost were meant to shoot arrows out of, and were not big enough to climb out. "No sense in trying to explode our way out either. These walls were made to withstand heavy artillery." He stopped at the turn leading to the double corridor. "They'll not chase us, they'll wait for us to starve."
Horizon's mouth fell agape, "What? And you remember that now?" He called out, alarmed, "How are we going to beat... how many were there, a dozen? Two? All at once?"
Hind Sight dismissed him with a hoof, "There IS a way..." He said grimly, "But it involves us going to the reanimation room... and from there, well, to the catacombs. Where they held all of the dead and undead bodies."
"But it shouldn't be a problem right? You said the skeletons would be harmless?" Horizon asked hopefully.
"Up here, yes, but the catacombs... I don't know, if they were reanimated and never put down... they'd still be down there, and consider any of us as an intruder. Who knows how many undead soldiers they had in here." He started the sentence talking to Horizon, but finished it more as though he was thinking aloud.
"Time to make a decision." The unicorn continued, "We stay and hope help comes, or we break out through the catacombs. There should be a corpse chute there, where the dead bodies were dumped. And if you're wondering why it isn't a strategic weakness, well, let's just say that jumping down one at a time into a horde of undead warriors is not a sound plan."
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Post by stardust on Mar 17, 2012 12:05:39 GMT -5
The room certainly was disappointment. As she peered into the room after seeing Hind Sight leaving she saw why. Nothing in here really lived up to what everyone expected, save for the armor that could very well fit a horse many times her size. Uninterested in the room, she joined the others in retreating back into the war room and through to the corridor. All of their excitement of uncovering hidden secrets and important clues to the Equitarian outpost had vanished into dust, and any thoughts of relating what they could find here at that moment were gone as well. At least they had a lead to where the next clues to this discovery would lead. The Griffon Kingdom.
Looking up she noticed everyone had paused. A confused expression on her face it changed to surprise edged with slight fear as she jumped from a loud, audible clank down the hall. Then she noticed what everypony else had: the statues of armor were missing. Glancing around she saw a couple of the group pose for battle, and was ready to unsheathe her old dagger from her saddlebags when she heard Hind Sight speaking about their options.
It was either go through the horde of suits of armor at the neck of the post, which wasn't very smart, or through the reanimation room and ultimately through what could hold a still moving army of undead soldiers. That didn't sound inviting either. It was a very tough choice to make for anypony, seeing as odds were against them other than that small ray of hope that included climbing up the chute where bodies had been dumped. Stepping forward Star cleared her throat.
"If we decide to go through the catacombs, Hind Sight... I'd volunteer to scout ahead if it will help everyone else to prepare to fight whatever's coming." She had noticed a while ago she was one of the only Pegasus of the group along with Horizon, and figured being able to fly would be an advantage over the undead that couldn't fly. The ones that could worried her, but she had her dagger and speed. Plus, it felt like she had done nothing this entire time but take notes and get hurt, so she felt she owed something to the others.
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Post by clouddreamer on Mar 17, 2012 14:18:15 GMT -5
Cloudy tried to look and see the suits of armor, but she couldn't even with the light. When Hind Sight mentioned that they were at the entrance the unicorn figured out why she couldn't. She stopped using her illusions and the light faded.
When Hind Sight mentioned that the mission was to starve them Cloudy's mouth fell open. "I don't think the two apples I brought will keep us for long..." she murmured. This suddenly seemed like a stupid idea to come. Cloudy knew that if she brought the cult to the ruins and the same thing took place, she'd get punished.
The blue pony's mind raced as Hind Sight told of the escape but also the chance of dead soldiers. The undead usually made an appearance in Cloudy's horror stories, and the room where undead had been might be cool and give her ideas for more stories, but fighting undead? She would be a goner for sure.
"Well, I can send out a rescue signal," Cloudy offered. "If somepony flies me up to the ceiling I can make it higher in the sky. I know a few ways to grab attention quickly." Illusions were the unicorn's first thought. It was true that if she got to the point of almost touching the ceiling it would be quite easy to put an illusion high into the sky, or at least high enough and big enough that somepony would see it. This could also be accompanied by a siren like sound, that would probably catch somepony who was in Froggy Bottom Bog at least.
"Can anypony in here teleport?" It was Cloudy's plan to try and find a way to have help come, in one way or another. She didn't want it coming to fighting off undead. After all, the dead probably wouldn't see her illusions. I mean, they're dead and the whole point of them was to trick the brain and the undead didn't really have the same brain. Cloudy would be useless in a fight like that.
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Post by Selenia on Mar 17, 2012 18:13:42 GMT -5
Selenia's spear clattered to the ground as she released her concentration on the telekinetic connection. "I vote we go for the corpse chute. As decrepit and vile as it may be, it's our best bet for getting out of this alive. Unless anyone really does want to take those suits head on to get some sweet loot. Even though that would be really dumb." She threw the statement up for grabs.
Selenia raised her hoof when she heard Cloudy's request. " I can teleport!" A somewhat awkward silence trailed her exclamation, before she blurted out, " Sorta..." she shifted awkwardly, feeling it necessary to further explain herself. "I taught myself from seeing it in old books on magic and magic theory. I'm not an adept at it, but I can complete short jumps."
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Post by tunnelnexus on Mar 17, 2012 18:34:29 GMT -5
Nexus relaxed her stance as Hind Sight explained the golems' strategy.
"A waiting game, eh?" said the spelunker to herself. "Well, we'll just have to find a way around that."
Hind Sight continued on, the part about the chute sparking her interest. She'd been excited at the prospect of fighting something, finally, and as foolish as it may be, Tunnel still wanted to make use of her new combat training.
Cloudy mentioned her plan to signal for help, and Nexus frowned in thought. On the one hoof, she kinda wanted to get her adrenaline going... but her rational half wanted to avoid getting killed by zombie pony golems. Besides, Tunnel could tell that Cloudy really didn't want to go near any of the undead golems. What could it hurt to try?
"Alright, Cloudy, I guess it's worth a shot. If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know. If it doesn't work, well... I'll volunteer to go down the chute first."
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Post by Mortar Retort on Mar 23, 2012 2:13:49 GMT -5
Trapped, doomed to either starve – possibly leading to pony cannibalism to stave off impending doom or try their hoof at the gaggle of armored giants assembled between them and their exit to salvation. Though the odds weren’t good, Retort was conflicted by the prospect. On one hoof, he really wanted to test the concoctions floating above his head against the armor suits, perhaps even try a few of the explosives out as well. Then, on the other hoof, he was already hungry and his mind begun curiously flirting with what pony might taste like – could ponies even digest meat? What were the moral and ethical implications of such actions and would eating other ponies imbue the eater with the power of those consumed? If that were the case, could this new ‘meta-pony’ then be able to take on the armored giants? All those questions and more were quickly drowned out by four words spoken by Hind Sight, ‘Reanimation room’ and ‘Corpse chute’.
”Oh! I vote for the reanimation room and the corpse-chute!” He stated morbidly cheerful at the prospect. Finally, things were getting interesting from Retort’s perspective. ”How bad could a bunch of unarmored undead ponies be? I also still have some of these.” Twirling one of the bombs trapped in his kinetic field, ”If it can blow a pony apart, it should blow many undead ponies apart. If this place is as structurally reinforced as you say, can light a few of these bad colts, roll’em or teleport them down corpse-chute – that’s so much fun to say, ‘corpse-chute’ - and BAM! nothing but dead undead pony bones scattered about!”
Cloud’s and a few of the other’s discussion about signaling for help seemed perplexing to Retort and his face showed his puzzlement plainly. ”And who are we to signal all the way out here? A hydra? Those crazy ponies in Ponyville? I believe we’re on our own out here, so, let’s check out the corpse chute.”
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Post by Red Charge on Mar 27, 2012 0:56:12 GMT -5
"Whoa hold on with those exploding vials, the walls here might be reinforced, but not in the catacombs. Just stop trying to blow everything up!" Hind Sight scolded impatiently, seriously considering not bringing this explosion happy pony along for the next expedition. Horizon picked up on this and signaled behind Retort's back that he's watching him.
Hind Sight was slightly relieved and began leading them all towards the other side of the outpost. As they passed the turn to the bottle neck they could hear nothing, but they could see how well organized the suits of armors were. They were not giving chase either, they were just going to wait them out. Unfortunately, the other corridor was not lit at all. Even with his light spell, he could barely see past his own hooves. He didn't like it.
"Uh, maybe we should stop by the barracks and try to find a torch or something." Horizon said, uncomfortable without being able to see in front of him. He had collided with Stardust, who was walking in front of him over three times already, excusing himself each and feeling lucky she couldn't see how red his cheeks were.
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Post by clouddreamer on Mar 27, 2012 18:01:49 GMT -5
Cloudy shook her head after Selenia's comment. "No, that won't really help... thanks for mentioning though," she replied. The blue unicorn appreciated that somepony had tried to work with herself on the issue of getting help.
She was even more pleased when Tunnel offered to help with her plan. "Thank you Tunnel! If you're good enough at levitating to get me to the ceiling it would be great, but that'd probably be hard. I'd probably need to get flown to the ceiling." Cloudy hoped that one of the pegasi would be willing, it was worth a shot afterall.
The other blue unicorn's comment however were not as helpful. "Excuse me, but the ponies of Ponyville are not crazy." It was that particular comment that offended her. After all, she was from Ponyville. "Much less so than somepony whose plan for everything is 'blow it up'." Though this was a rather snide comment, the mare largely disapproved of how this pony seemed to think that the ruins was some giant test lab for bombs.
However, when Hind Sight began to walk away Cloudy frowned. What was up with him paying no attention to her? Reluctantly she followed. At least Tunnel was nice.
Once they got into the dark corridor the blue unicorn started her illusion magic again, this time making six small lights around each of her eyes, so it illuminated whatever she looked at. Though this only made her see what was a few trots in front of her it worked. She wouldn't bump into anything.
When Horizon wanted to stop and get a torch Cloudy felt guilty. She knew very well that she could make lights that floated above them and illuminated the area greatly. However, she didn't feel like she wanted to. If they hadn't tried to cooperate with her, why should she with them?
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Post by stardust on Mar 29, 2012 7:44:44 GMT -5
She quieted down as her suggestion was ignored, pulling a slight pout as she continued on after Hind Sight. She rolled her eyes at Retort's explosive suggestion and would have offered to help the blue unicorn Cloudy with her plan if only she was strong enough to do so. But still she stayed quiet, fearing that her social akwardness was going to take over again.
The corridor they had traveled into was dark, and a few times she felt the pegasus pony Horizon bump into her. Stardust couldn't blame him though, it was so dark that she could barely see her hooves in front of her. Well, she was a it glad of that so she could get her mind off of how dirty she probably looked then.
Looking around, the statues made her coat stand on end. The pegasus was used to strange and scary stories, but she felt a chill from those waiting suits of armor. Or it could have been just her. Taking a deep sigh she raised her head a bit higher and put on a braver front than what she had been showing, ready for what might come and hoping that it wouldn't.
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Post by Mortar Retort on Apr 8, 2012 1:55:37 GMT -5
Retort was taken back, outright insulted by Cloud Dreamer's accusation that he merely wished to 'blow everything up'. Only somepony from Ponyville would assume such nonsense - or so he figured, truthfully he only knew stories about the antics of the denizens of Ponyville and thus wasn't an expert on whether they truly were crazy or not, this however didn't prevent him from making assumptions. Though Hind Sight did bring up a valid point.
"Hey!" He snorted, "I don't want to blow everything up! It was a plausible solution to our problem that doesn't rely on the prospect that some other pony is going to come to our rescue and perhaps their own untimely demise." He explained with that air of Canterlot pony smug that is inescapable. Though he did return them back to his saddlebag. "Also, I'm not entirely sure how stable they are and would rather get some use out of them before they decide to get 'irritable'." That was the last he spoke on the subject while following the other ponies.
Retort met the dark hallway without concern. He had just the ticket for this and retrieved it from his saddle bag. A simple vial filled with an orange liquid. A Cats-Eye, or so he called it, a potion of cave mushroom, Ursa Saliva, and diamond dust - with purred carrots for flavor! Only side effects were a slight eye tingling and a minor chance of bleeding from the tear ducts. Harmless but unsettling. He popped its stopper and took a swig. Immediately his vision turned to a washy, slightly uneasy monotone but he could see a fair way down the hall as if it were torch lit - and grey washed.
Outwardly, his eyes would emit an unsettling low glow - they were also starting to water. "Anyone want a swig?" He offered, holding the vial out in front of him with his magic. He then noticed the wetness running down from his eyes and wiped it away with a fore-hoof. Little streak of blood stained his fur and hoof, he sighed. "Eh... on second thought, this one needs a little more work."
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Post by Red Charge on May 12, 2012 3:26:27 GMT -5
Hind Sight shook his head in the darkness, "No time for stopping, we have to get clear of here until we can come back with reinforcements." He turned to Horizon, who again collided with Stardust and pulled him to the front, "Alright soldier pony, you're up here with me." Not a moment after he had done so, a movement caught both Hind Sight's and Horizon's eyes. The unicorn quickly launched an orb of light forwards. Two golems were blocking the door up ahead, the one leading to the Raising Chamber. Horizon didn't draw his sword, poison wouldn't work on metal. But he didn't waste any time in hopping right past them, causing them to give chase.
"Get everyone inside the chamber, I'll be right there!" The Pegasus called. Hind Sight didn't need to be told twice, he quickly ushered the rest of them inside the chamber and Horizon, outmaneuvering the golems with his superior speed came in after, shutting and bolting the door.
As Hind Sight lit up the room, it was obvious why he was reluctant to enter, the room had a very pronounced copper smell and various painful looking instruments lined every shelf around them. There were several stone slabs along the walls and a large ritualistic circle drawn on the floor. The room had a very sinister feeling to it, which Horizon speculated had nothing to do with the low amount of light currently shining in it.
In the far edge of the room was a large door metal door with a heavy bolt, the entrance to the catacombs. Horizon thought the golems seemed like quite the treat compared to that now. Though he knew he could hardly outmaneuver a whole company of them, especially not in a bottleneck.
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