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Post by Red Charge on Jun 17, 2013 11:20:53 GMT -5
And finally they did, they found what appeared to be a small stone structure, nothing fancy, just walls and a heavy stone door, no markings or anything. In fact, if Gilda hadn't been a griffon and had a griffon's attention to detail, they might have mistaken it for a natural rock outcropping.
When she pointed it out to Bowie, the Diamond Dog rubbed his paws together, grasped the stone door and was about to pull. Just from looking at the door it was obvious it was extremely heavy, it would need at least three or four people to actually move. Maybe even five ... or just him...
Bowie single handedly pulled the door open with ease. He may have been a pushover, but the dog had remarkable strength. The door was even thicker and heavier than Gilda thought, that lame pacifist dog just gave her a display of strength that she doubted a roc could surpass.
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
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Post by Gilda on Jun 17, 2013 14:15:23 GMT -5
"Lay off the roids, dude. Sheesh. What do they feed you back at those mutt camps anyway?" She expressed in shock at the surprising strength of the Diamond Dog. It was quite remarkable but so out of place for Bowie's body mass. She never even detected a hint at that kind of power when they were practicing. Whatever, she thought, least the door was open. Worry about it later.
Gilda peered inside first, so far so good she thought. No horrible spider or death demon seemed to be on the other side. So far, so good. Since Bowie was more likely to run screaming at the first sign of trouble, Gilda took it upon herself to enter across the threshold first. "Looks clear, I guess. Seems as good as any place in this lame hole to rest for the night. And by the way -" She shot the Diamond Dog a very deadpan glance, "Thanks for ripping our protection off its hinges, before you come inside, maybe put it back for us. That would be great, thanks." She sighed and stepped further inside the old stone structure.
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Post by Red Charge on Jun 20, 2013 23:40:12 GMT -5
But as gilda tried to step inside she found her talons with no floor beneath them, instead her body leaned forwards into thin air and she tumbled down a set of stone stairs unpleasantly.
The Diamond Dog, noticing what had happened called out, "You alright down there?" And hurried after her into the darkness, messing about with one of the gems on his vest until it began to give out a bright glow, illuminating the area they were in. Gilda immediately recognized the unicorn busts around her, she remembered there was one in Twilight Sparkle's library, of course she hopped by one time to case it, but she found that dorky unicorn had books and nothing of worth.
The unicorn busts were lined on both sides of a hallway, all belonging to the same unicorn. The end of the corridor was not visible in the dark, even with Bowie's gem glowing as it did. Bowie offered her a paw to help her get up. He didn't snicker or say anything about her fall, nor did it look like he was planning to, he seemed more concerned as to where they were right now.
"What is this place?" He asked, "It's creepy as all Tartarus." He lit up few other gems on his vest to provide more light around them, the walls were covered with well preserved tapestry showing a unicorn casting various spells. In one image he was casting a spell, next to him stood a sillouette of an unclear pony, in another one he appeared to be in some sort of magic duel, then in armor on a judge's podium, there were more up ahead, but they could not see them from where they were.
"I think this is some kind of grave..." Bowie speculated, seeming visibly uncomfortable by the notion.
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
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Post by Gilda on Jul 2, 2013 17:30:16 GMT -5
The moment Gilda stepped through and found her talons meeting with nothing but empty air, she realized her folly but was too committed to the step to back out of it now. Her attempt to catch herself failed and her unexpected trip came in the form of a tumbling fall down cold, stone steps. "Wha- NO!" She yelped as she begun her tumble down the stairs in a cartwheel of fur and feathers. Painful chirps, squawks, and curses echoed up the stairwell, mixed with the clanks of armor scraping against stone till it all came to a crashing end at the bottom landing accompanied with one long, "LAAAMMMEEE!", groan.
Gilda shook senses back into alignment just as Bowie descended down the stairs with light in paw - something he could have mentioned earlier before the gnarly fall. She seemed fine, nothing broken but her pride and a number of bruises and welts that are sure to make their endearing presence known in a few miserable hours. She took the Diamond Dog's offer for assistance, cautiously paying attention to her body for anything broken she may have missed while on a pile on the floor.
In her unexpected adventure, Gilda hadn't had the opportunity to adore her surroundings until Bowie pointed them out. Gilda glanced down to Bowie's vest as he lit up more gems, clearly annoyed at his failure to mention he could do that in the first place. She wanted to say something but little good it would do her now.
"Not going to chicken out on me now, are you? It's a tomb, means everything should be dead." Gilda teased as she looked around at the busts and elaborate tapestry. "Yeah place seems pretty gnarly, bet there's some cool stuff in here." She elbowed Bowie, "Wanna do a bit of grave robbing, could use somethings to pawn after this disaster. Well, go on, you're the one with the light." She flicked her talon towards the crypt's corridor.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 4, 2013 10:29:14 GMT -5
Bowie was extremely reluctant to do as Gilda suggested, he shivered slightly at the prospect of raiding a tomb... but what choice did he have? In Diamond Dog society, grave robbing was a venture mostly ending in death or serious injury. Diamond Dogs buried themselves in catacombs, if one would attempt to rob a catacomb more likely than not it would collapse on them. Even if they survived it the scorn they would face from other Diamond Dogs would make sure they would regret it. But this was a pony tomb, he knew next to nothing about pony tombs... but who was this pony? He followed Gilda to the tapestries, realizing they were spreading all the way back to the stairwell. As Gilda approached the first tapestry, her eye began to sting again, painfully, then suddenly it erupted in light Gilda was blinded, then she could finally see again, where there was previously a tapestry there was now a valley stretching before her, almost a canyon. Next to her she saw a young unicorn, wearing Equiterian Armor, yes Gilda being the keen griffon she was could easily recognize the build, he was tall and handsome, even for a lame pony. Gilda's keen eye took his features in quickly, a bright baby blue coat with a silvery white mane and vibrant eyes quite reminding Gilda of her special eye in color. The unicorn bore a serious face, he was not about to play around. Bowie was no longer with her, so she was alone with the unicorn, looking fit and cackling with magical energies, she realized he was staring at her.
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
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Post by Gilda on Jul 4, 2013 14:10:09 GMT -5
Gilda's talon palmed over her new eye as it was wrought with a new, stinging pain. She cursed out some sort of guttural slur at her misfortune for being afflicted with such a seemingly wonky eye. Though she didn't have much time to reflect on her constant state of misfortune as a blinding white light overtook her in a flashing assault against her senses which realized into another new world before her. No longer encased in the chilly, dank path of the pony tomb with moldy tapestries lining the wall, she now found herself before a far reaching valley the stretched on far beyond the horizon.
The sudden appearance of the majestic unicorn, cackling with magical wonder beside the captivated griffon elicited a sudden spooked recoil out of her. She skirted away defensively, but slowly and carefully relaxed as she looked him over. A ghost? She wondered, he did appear to be wearing old though nice armor; then looked around for Bowie to see if he was seeing what she was. Of course, Bowie was nowhere to be found. Probably ran away like a scared little dweeb, Gilda wasn't scared though, some phantom wasn't going to get her to dart out of here - no way. Besides, he looked pretty gnarly - the cool kind of gnarly.
Gilda returned the spook's gaze with a deadpan, though expecting expression of both curiosity and annoyance. "Yes?" She asked expectantly, "It's pretty, I get it-" Nonchalantly gesturing to the canyon before her. "This your tomb? 'Cause if so, I was totally kidding about that looting thing - but, ya'know since you're dead and all that..." Gilda was nearly overcome with the urge to reach out and touch the aberration, illusion or ghost, either way she didn't want to get any weird ecto-gunk on her talons and that might very well be considered quite rude.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 4, 2013 15:04:07 GMT -5
The stallion did not answer, after several moments however he stepped forth - straight through Gilda. As she turned around to see where he went he realized what he was looking at. She recognized the valley below her, it was stone valley. The one major difference she could tell from the Stone Valley she knew was the fact that this one was completely covered by what appeared to be armored Dragonfly Changelings.
Of course, those were only children books today, the one hive they had left in the Griffon Kingdom was destroyed by aerial bombardment, leaving no survivors. The Griffon Armada did not take kindly to the parasitic species. The creatures had mighty bodies, poisonous scorpion tails and large wings that allowed them to fly through the most powerful gust. They were much like griffons in appearance, half of their bodies was that of a dragonfly, but with the powerful rear of a scorpion. Now this lone stallion was facing an army of them far larger than Gilda has ever heard of.
The stallion continued to stare intently at them,going through the ranks, taking in every detail. A lot of the changelings were airborne as well, it seemed that soon the entire swarm would attack him. If Gilda thought the changelings she encountered in Everfree were bad, these guys made them look like jokes. She realized pretty soon that this was not the main Changeling force, but rather just an attack swarm... she couldn't help but shudder at it. For the first time she realized that the griffons probably had very good reason to wipe these creatures off their lands.
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
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Post by Gilda on Jul 4, 2013 15:34:22 GMT -5
Gilda watched the whole strange affair unfold before her eyes like some sort of show projected with such depth and clarity that it felt almost real, as if she was there, watching this lone stallion face a monstrous horde the likes of which sent a shiver down Gilda's spine. Was this some sort of trapped she triggered, a strange magic perhaps? Might explain the pain she felt moments before. Without taking her eyes off the all too familiar valley, she softly called for Bowie - he had to see this, the coward.
With almost morbid fascination, her gaze turned from the pony to the changelings. To Gilda, they were unsettling griffon like in one respect but horribly alien in another - they made her stomach uneasy, bringing back memories to the hive. Though, those overgrown bugs were lice compared to what these were. They were both amazing and horrifying wrapped in a package of 'eww'. She wondered as she watch, this ghostly stallion, did he really take these things on by himself? Who was this that were so imbued with strength they could face on a wave of stinging blackness, chittering with hunger and malcontent, and not even break into a fear induced sweat. Whoever this pony was, he was amazing - or a fool about to meet a horrifying end, which might explain the tomb Bowie and her stumbled into.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 4, 2013 15:56:33 GMT -5
The Stallion nodded towards several directions both in the air and on the ground, he was preparing for something. Then he began to light up with magical energy, not just his horn but his entire body. Gilda's never seen a unicorn glow like that, the closest thing she ever saw was maybe that Eclipse thing... MAYBE.
But yet this one was almost engulfed in magical energy and from his horn erupted a ball of magical energy, which then exploded in the air into ten more balls, each exploded into another ten and so on and so forth until there were thousands of magical bolts of energy hurling themselves towards the changelings, showering them both in the air and on the ground. Magic missiles were common enough among battle mages, at least so she was told by Starling, but so many at once? It was quite a feat!
However, as though it was not enough, as soon as the changeling hordes began to move, the bolts began targeting them, slipping between ranks to find the most vulnerable spot and then...
A series of massive explosions just took place in front of Gilda's eyes, one after the other, like watching suns erupt before her eyes. It can't have been, those magic missiles after splitting up so many times can't have held that much magical energy, yet Gilda was still watching what appeared like a fireworks display made by Entropy and Harmony themselves... she could feel the energy pounding through her own body, it was painful yet inspiring... beyond words, only experiencing the sensation with her own senses could Gilda understand what it was. Then, as suddenly as the explosions began, they disappeared, along with the changeling force.
The mage's energy wore off quickly and he was huffing, in fact, he suddenly seemed not only drained of energy, but of life. His cheek bones hollowed, his body trembled, his eye sockets drooped. The spell had a price, but it took out the entire swarm of changelings. Another series of louod noises alerted Gilda, looking to her sides she noticed more swarms and more magic missiles exploding within them all around her... more ponies were casting the same spell, each of them taking down zounds of changelings as they did. Gilda's eyes went wide with the realization as the thought crossed her mind.
This pony wasn't a general... it was just an Equiterian battle mage... a regular one at that...
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
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Post by Gilda on Jul 6, 2013 11:43:00 GMT -5
Gilda sat back in watched in awe as the lone unicorn mage unleashed a maelstrom of death and destruction against the changeling swarm, shredding their numbers to bits against his wall of missiles and magic. She was tickled pink by the raw display of power, smiling thinking about what it must be like to be able to do that much bug-butt kicking. It was inspiring, too bad griffons weren't gifted with magic.
Her captivation was quickly interrupted by the unexpected onslaught to her eyes, as if someone had just flashed a bright light right into her eyes in a darkened room. It was terrible and disorientating which she cursed - the blasts power even seemed to penetrate from the phantasmagoric display and wrap her like the concussive firing of cannons. And as the spectacular display waned, Gilda was left with the harrowing display of the toll such power inflicted, not only upon the mass of changelings that were now decimated, but the pony himself. "Bogus... WHOA!"
Instinctively, Gilda clutched her crest-feathers and ducked as a new barrage fired over and around her. She realized then that the unicorn she thought this tomb belonged too, like some ancient general, was nothing more than a soldier - one of dozens more. Who were these ponies, with seemingly the ability to harness the power of the princesses?
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 6, 2013 12:35:28 GMT -5
And then the vision was gone, Gilda was once again in the dark tomb, staring at the tapestry of a line of unicorns on a cliffside, firing off what Gilda knew were magical bolts at crude depictions of changelings. Before she could even realize what was happening she felt reality rushing back into her. She felt her eye was guiding her now, she was being led to another tapestry, before she could see what was on it, she was blinded once more.
Now she was on a floating island, beneath her were...
There were no words to describe what she was seeing. She recognized this place, it was not in the Griffon Kingdom but in the Northern Barrens, she saw it in picture books as a young griffon. She was in front of a tall mountain ridge in the Barrens, this area, in turn will one day surround the Northern Crater, but before so it was a kingdom of a powerful civilization of ponies.
Beneath Gilda was spread the Terra Force, the Equiterian Empire's golem army. These were not the same hollowed out armor suits commonly found in Equiterian ruins, no these were golems fashioned of stone and metal, of gems and minerals. They ranged in size from the regular sized diamond dog like golems with the horse head, to the gigantic, building-tall monstrosities. The lines before them were those of the undead army of the Equiterians, usually they were higher in number, it appeared this legion preferred golems for war. The amount before her was tremendous, spreading everywhere she could see. If that alone was not enough, flanking her floating island were dozens of others.
Again she noticed the baby blue pony, this time wearing a different armor, a legion commander's armor. It struck her then, this was just one legion of Equiterian might, golems at the rear, undead at the front, Equiterians above... She looked expectantly towards the horizon, only to see a floating island before her, on it were several of the vicious Northern Ponies, led by Rosenrot herself. These savage ponies were massive in size, covered in long hair and long braided manes and bears. They excelled at warfare and harnessed the powers of nature itself in their magics. Using it to imbue their weapons and armor and fight without pause.
Rosenrot was a large, beautiful mare, with a vibrant rose-red coat to contrast the baby blue Equiterian's, powerful green eyes and a bright satin blond color. She carried a massive sword etched with runes and made of strange metal, it glowed in neon light even lying still. Apparently she and the Equiterian had been exchanging words prior to the battle. Gilda didn't know Equiterian, but she realized that the Equiterian was offering her a chance to surrender, which she refused. She did recognize what he said next though, that she had no chance and was outnumbered. At which point she smiled.
Immediately out of the mountains behind her burst out several massive forms, taller than a building, as tall as the mountains themselves - Obelisk Giants. These were the most ancient of Earth Elementals, powerful creatures with swords that could take down castles and magics of earth and lava. They were so large that every movement they made seemed in slow motion to Gilda. If they alone were not enough, elder elementals of all kinds gathered in front of the Northern Ponies' blood thirsty berserkers, cackling with magical energies and power.
To the side, Gilda caught sight of the Redtalon and Whitefeather Clan's banner. Not the one of the Griffon Kingdom, but the old one, of her old clan. The griffons fought alongside the Equiterians? As mercenaries or as slaved? Probably a bit of both. She thought she could see Gareth Whitefeather leading his griffons into formation, but she couldn't be sure if it was the right time period.
The floating isles retreated from each other, Rosenrot's heading to the ground to join her forces fearlessly. The Equiterian's back to the line with the other floating isles. Immediately the forces moved towards one another, the Equiterians erupting in their carefully coordinated barrages while the Obelisk Giants fired off their own unpredictable magic at their forces. Gilda's eyes caught Rosenrot's sword hacking her way through the golem army already, while the berserkers were still dealing with the undead. She had jumped behind enemy lines to get the first taste of the real forces.
The Equiterian legate's eyes burned brightly as the magical exploding bolts erupted around him, Gilda was sure she knew what he was going to cast... Meteor shower the spell of which bards sang for centuries and was not seen since...
And just like that Gilda was back in the tomb once more, Bowie now afraid to go near her due to her strange behavior. She noticed her artificial eye was completely blind, but slowly fading back into vision.
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Gilda
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Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
Posts: 213
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Post by Gilda on Jul 6, 2013 17:22:19 GMT -5
As Gilda snapped to - she shook her head and tried to rationalize what just had happened, what she just had seen. Was it her eye the whole time, the annoying little thing? She massaged it with her talons and blinked hard a few times as her sight was slowly restored to her. She looked around - back in the tomb with no spectral movie broadcasting from any other tapestry. Also Bowie was there and Gilda looked none-to-pleased to see him, believing he ran away from her.
"Dude, not cool!" She berated as she approached, stumbling a little from her lack of fully restored sight. "Where did you run off to? That was awesome! Crazy battles, amazing ponies and they were all like pow, zap-", explaining with both her words and talons, even lightly slugging the Dog in the shoulder to drive home her point. "Dunno what this place is, but it has a killer show. Wonder if it's some sort of magical records vault or something. We totally have to explore here. Hey, I even saw the Whitefeathers, so that's kinda like finding one, right? Come on, lets see what else is in here!"
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 6, 2013 22:24:13 GMT -5
"Great, I'm atuck in a horrifying tomb with an insane griffon." Bowie said, rubbing his shoulder where Gilda had hit him. "Oh Bowie what trouble won't you get into next." He had to watch while Gilda was frozen staring at these old tapestries, she just stood there for a few moments, beak wide open then snapped out of it. She was a coo coo, a complete nut job! Now she was yelling about battles and ponies and what not? Something about Whitefeathers?
Bowie nodded reluctantly as she suggested to find what else was in the room. Her off colored eye looked strange to Bowie, almost as though it was pale... blind... but when he chanced another glance several moments later it seemed fine.
Gilda's eye was stinging still, as though it was numb, it also gave her a throbbing headache, but with the adrenaline rush she got from those visions it seemed minor. She was keen to explore the rest of the tomb. They moved forwards, passing other more mundane tapestries depicting unicorns and equiterians. If only Gilda's eye wasn't so beat maybe she'd be sucked into another amazing memory. When they finally reached the end of the tapestry corridor there was a door taking up the entire hallway and blocking the way to the next part. It was a mechanism door, some sort of puzzle with various images and characters on it.
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Gilda
Griffons
Acolyte Griffon
I'm half-eagle, half-lion and all awesome!
Posts: 213
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Post by Gilda on Jul 8, 2013 17:25:54 GMT -5
Gilda was giddy as they passed more tapestries, hoping for another odd, but fascinating vision. Yet, with her eye still stinging and exhausted, there came no such spectral visions. Only were they plain and ordinary woven murals, amazing in their own right but lacking for Gilda's taste after a sampling of that enthralling magic. She never spoke much to Bowie as they went deeper into the tomb, fixed on the tapestries and grumbling when nothing happened to enrapture her attention. Then, sadly, they came to their end and a door blocking their path.
Gilda approached first, inspecting it. Locked, of course, with a strange lock. Some sort of puzzle? She looked over each image and character, one by one. Was it tied to the tapestries? "Any idea, Bowster?" She inquired, looking to the Diamond Dog expectantly.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 9, 2013 13:48:40 GMT -5
"You alright?" Bowie asked worriedly, he did not want to be stuck with an insane griffon chick alone in a dark tomb, that much he knew.
"From colt to stallion from sword to hilt / many dragons and giants has he slain / his love a rose will never wilt/ a hero he will forever remain." Bowie said squinting at the strange symbols and hieroglyphs, "Seems like an epitaph of sorts... no solution to opening this door... hang on there's more... 'kin may mourn, friend may see / his life ended / he is now free.' It sounds better in Equiterian, keep in mind I'm translating it in rhyme so I gotta change some of the words. I don't get what they're trying to say here... it makes no sense... red rose?" He looked around, "I didn't see any flowers in these tapestries. I got a feeling they'll hold the answer though..."
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