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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 8:39:55 GMT -5
"Aww, so you DO care!" Watermark said, working up a tear. As they stepped down the stony slope towards the Golem Maker's underground lair, it was still pitch black, but the dim light from outside gave them enough illumination to see they were in a massive but straight corridor leading to another set of doors. They could only see a sliver of the path however.
"I suggest not going off what you can see, who knows what's in this corridor." Watermark said, "Dimensional portals, shark infested aquariums, tubs of acid, pony-eating lizards." He began to lead the group down, they couldn't even walk in pairs along the thin sliver of stone they could see, so they were forced to walk single file across what was a much longer corridor than it seemed. As they progressed, the sounds of slow metallic creaking seemed to come from all around them, but nothing revealed itself. As they finally reached the other edge of the hall they realized what they heard was the door to the outside, which closed entirely, leaving them in pitch blackness for several moments.
After several moments of being in pitch darkness a series of torch sconces came to life on all sides of the corridor, illuminating it entirely and showing the mage and four militia ponies exactly what was around them before. Rows and rows of what appeared to be suits of armor, set in place like some sort of army of guards waiting to spring forwards and attack, all looking directly at them through empty eye sockets.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 8:50:50 GMT -5
Phalanx and Hoplite didn't say a word as they walked down the maddeningly dark corridor, Phalanx pondering to herself why the unicorns didn't just summon up a light source of some kind to light the path. When the door closed shut behind them, Phalanx almost chuckled, figuring something similar would've happened by now. The dark atmosphere of this place would've unnerved her, but now she was entirely confident that Watermark was essentially running a tour of the place. He would easily know where to go, what to do, and soon she'd be instructed to do something or other, they'd all get out fine.
Or Watermark would 'die' again and say how funny it was that his prank worked a second time. She snickered at the thought of him trying that prank again, even if it wasn't here, at least now she knew to watch out for that sort of thing. She wouldn't catch her off-guard again, at least not like that. Soon enough, torches began to light up the corridor and, sure enough, the walls were littered in what could easily be some of the golems they had been looking for. Phalanx didn't bother speaking up, waiting instead for either Watermark to lead down the hallway, or bark out an order.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 8:55:24 GMT -5
"Those are of no use to us." Watermark said, "They're too small. We need the big ones, bipedal, big enough to lift a boulder and throw it over a wall. A couple of those would be more than enough." Watermark whispered to the group. "You don't have to worry about them anyway, they won't try to stop us from coming in. They're here for when we try to get out. They'll likely form a... pfft... phalanx and make it impossible to get by them." Watermark said and true to his word, the golems did nothing other than stare at them.
"It seems like this door has a smaller hatch." Fillydelphia said, looking at the doors still and not taking note of the army of golems behind them. She was right, one of the doors had a smaller hatch, much like that of a ship with a turning wheel. "Seems openable, but we'll need a strong pony. Hoplite, can you turn the wheel?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 9:00:27 GMT -5
Phalanx snickered softly as Watermark directed Hoplite to open a hatch. Couldn't he just turn the wheel with his magic? Come to think of it, so far Phalanx didn't exactly see why Watermark didn't just come here on his own beyond just wanting company.
Hoplite, after a bit of a delay, stepped forward and wordlessly attempted to open the hatch.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 9:37:47 GMT -5
Hoplite had to invest some effort, several times to get the hatch wheel to turn, but once he did it became much easier for him to open the door. The five stepped through the door to face the first truly stopping sight of their expedition. In front of them was a fork leading to several different directions, massive hallways each like before twisting and turning beyond view. The torches on the wall were already burning in this area but Sapphire Bomber had almost wished it wasn't the case, as they were illuminating an inpony amount of blood smeared on the stone floor, the walls and even the ceiling.
Watermark himself was stopped by this visage and he thought for a few moments before attempting to pick a path. "I think we should go this wa..." He started, before the stone he was standing on flipped. One moment he was there, the other he was gone, falling into some sort of shaft with the stone slab closing on top of him.
"Funny trick Watermark, but you're not getting us again!" Sapphire Bomber said confidently. Waiting.... waiting... waiting some more... "Watermark? It's not funny anymore, come out." She said, her confidence now slightly faltering. After a few more moments, her voice was but a whimper, "Watermark? Please?" She pleaded.
"I think it's real this time. Watch out for traps. Did any of you hear any noise? I didn't hear anything that implies the trap he fell into killed him. Did any of you?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 9:58:56 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked as they stepped through the door, the sight of the grisly amount of blood burning itself into her eyes. This was going to be one of *those* adventures, wasn't it? A huge maze of hallways that they could potentially be lost in for months with only one exit and probably loads of traps.
Watermark took the lead again, and after taking a few steps...he was gone. Phalanx rolled her eyes, knowing that he'll indeed be back, probably laughing like a maniac about how they were worried he was gone. Even Sapphire seemed to know that, as she called out his prank.
It wasn't a prank. That, or Watermark was *very* sick and twisted by waiting until they reacted. Whatever the case, the fact remained that there was at least a slim chance Watermark was gone.
He'll figure a way out, of course, Phalanx thought to herself, If what Fillydelphia is implying is the case, he didn't die from the trap. Which means he's conscious, likely able to move and cast magic, and probably already formulating a plan of action. He'll get out.
Hoplite, on the other hoof, seemed to think that Watermark was in some way helpless, as he started talking to the group. "Okay, yeah, you're probably right Fillydelphia. We didn't hear any sign of him dying, which *may* mean he's trapped. Chances are we can't bust him out of the trap either, since trying would just trigger it again and trap two ponies," Hoplite began.
Phalanx scoffed, "I don't know what you're going on about, Watermark's already figuring a way out on his own. We can just go home and wait for him, he knows how to teleport there essentially from anywhere unless he's in the Everfree, and even then he just said doing something like that was only 'hard', not 'impossible'. If he had enough time, and he would trapped on the wrong side of a wall, he could have enough time to figure a way out even if it meant using those tattoos of his to erode the walls around him."
Hoplite turned to Phalanx, "Yeah, sure, and until then we have to act like the only way for him to survive is for us to do something. I don't care if it might be pointless, there's still that very, *very* slim chance Watermark legitimately has no way out without our help."
"And even if he does need our help, what's there to do? He fell into a trap and he's gone, the end. What's going through this maze of traps going to solve besides a morbid curiousity? What're the chances they'd leave a switch lying around to open up all the traps that captured ponies somewhere in here, and what are the odds we'll find it in one piece if they did?" Phalanx retorted.
"Again, a slim chance. Just as I asked, do you *want* to go through the maze of grisly death to try and 'save' Watermark, or just go home?" Hoplite replied.
Phalanx adjusted her spear a bit, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Lead the way, Hoppy."
Hoplite looked to the several potential pathways for a moment before picking one and walking down it, eyes open to any hint of traps he could find along the way. Phalanx, with a groan, followed closely behind him.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 21, 2014 6:12:03 GMT -5
Hoplite looked at the potential pathways, seeing the one Watermark tried to go down and fell down the trap chute, it seemed the cleanest of them all, at least from blood. There was some garbage and scrap metal scattered about, but it had the least amount of blood. Which is probably why Watermark went towards it. The other paths were bloody and looked very similar. With splatters of blood spread everywhere and no real signs to look at, Hoplite picked a route at random. The route Hoplite picked had its share of blood and scrap, but seemed the safest one to follow.
Not soon after they began walking down it, did they reach a door in the hallway. The door had a sign on it, but unfortunately it was written in an ancient language, probably Equiterian. The door itself was heavy and metallic and seemed large enough to fit a medium to large golem through. All the doors seemed to be at the very least this size if not bigger. Whether or not they entered, the rest of the corridor opened up into a larger room with even more scrap and blood in it. It seemed to once hold bookshelves, but of those only wooden debris and torn pages were left. There were two more paths from that room, leading to the left or the right.
The decision was whether to go into the room or continue on one of the two paths. Of course they could try to get some information out of the old, torn pages but it was doubtful.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 7:59:48 GMT -5
Phalanx looked through the doorway into the room, seeing the dilapidated bookshelves and debris-covered floors. She frowned and shook her head, "Let's just pass through here. If that sign is any hint, we aren't figured out jack from the pages around here," she offered, stepping into the room.
Hoplite shrugged, "Yeah, or...we could grab these pages and find a translator," the earth pony responded.
"Or we might get murdered on the way out for stealing stuff from the room," Phalanx snickered, stepping further into the room, "If you want to, that's fine, but I'm not getting fried for a few pieces of paper."
Hoplite started wandering around the room, picking up pages and looking them over for any hint of importance. He figured these things probably wouldn't tell him much, but if it at least *looked* like it was something worth reading, it might be enough for him to consider taking them.
Meanwhile Phalanx checked both of the paths out of the room, seeing if there was any signs of what might be the wiser path to take. "If nothing else, at least we have a sort of landmark in the maze," she muttered to herself.
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Post by Red Charge on Mar 2, 2014 17:01:49 GMT -5
The pages scattered around were all in Equiterian, a language which Hoplite could not understand. Far as he was concerned, these might have even been just cookbooks. The paths out of the room were both identical, but one was far shorter than the other, at least, one's end was visible while the other's was not. The ground beneath them rumbled uncertainly.
"Golly, I can't help but wonder if that was just one of them huge golems walking around." Sapphire Bomber said.
"I feel we've yet to see the worst this place has to offer." Fillydelphia added, "I would not like to, we should simply find Watermark, get the golem he wants and leave. Fillydelphia picked the shorter path and approached the door to it, opening it up and looking inside looking rather unhappy.
"Well," She said, "I think this will be slightly more complicated than we thought." The room she was peering into was massive, so much so that they could barely see its edges, much less its ceiling. Golems were strewn about, broken, some as small as a pony but others towering high enough to reach the top of the Ponyville village hall. The massive hall was also decorated with blood, but it also did not seem to end in either direction. The area was all a maze of corridors without doors, great. They were probably in some sort of Golem assembly area and were about to get stomped to death.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 22:58:18 GMT -5
Hoplite scowled, tossing the most recent page he had inspected to the side. "Can't tell a thing from these," he sighed before running over to Phalanx's side.
Phalanx chuckled, "I would say 'I told you so', but I can't tell anything from the looks of these paths either," she commented as she looked to the two identical exits. Fillydelphia seemed to pick for them, though, as she opened the door at the end of the shorter path. Seeing how Fillydelphia wasn't exactly happy about what she saw on the other side of the door, Phalanx ran over to the doorway to see what was in the room, followed shortly by her brother.
"Oh good. Leave one maze only to enter another, bigger maze," Phalanx sarcastically remarked. "Oh well, visible progress I guess. What do you two figure?" she asked Fillydelphia and Sapphire Bomber. She knew Hoplite would want to go through there, but she might as well get a 'group vote' instead of just following her crazy brother.
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Post by Red Charge on Mar 22, 2014 18:38:36 GMT -5
"That place looks big, if Watermark got out at another part of this place and wanted to keep looking for his golems, that's where he'd be. Although all the doors here are big I guess. How big do golems even get?" Sapphire asked.
"I've heard some Equiterian golems were as large as a building." Fillydelphia contributed, "Either way, we either go there or another route, it makes no difference, our mission is to acquire a golem, if we can rescue Watermark on the way, all the better."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 6:55:38 GMT -5
Phalanx rolled her eyes as the two militia ponies commented, "Well, good. We have 'Let's dive in there!', 'Let's go home', 'I can go either way', and 'That place is big and has big doors.' Can't even say for sure what the majority vote is," she sneered.
Hoplite looked back at Phalanx, the two sharing a wordless exchange before Hoplite turned to the militia ponies. "You two check around the other paths, Phalanx and I will search through here. Holler if you need help, meet back here if we can't find anything after an hour." Hoplite started.
Look at you, Hoplite. Watermark's been gone for all of five minutes and here you are pretending to be the leader, Phalanx thought to herself. "We can split off two-by-two, sure, sounds like a semi-decent idea. Just don't split up any further than that," Phalanx added, "You girls get the tiny halls while we head in there and probably get trampled by a golem. Sound like fun?"
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Post by Red Charge on Mar 29, 2014 17:44:56 GMT -5
"Do we look like we have watches?" Asked Fillydelphia, "How are we supposed to know when an hour has passed?" She asked, "What if we get lost? What if YOU get lost? What if you find him, or we find him?" She seemed frustrated, "We need a way to communicate somehow, at least a way to mark our path... but judging from the walls here, they'll hardly chafe or get scratched..."
"What if we... I dunno, uhh... leave feathers behind in every crossroad? I bet that dried blood would hold them like glue." Sapphire suggested, looking rather sheepish, she wasn't really the 'idea' kind of mare.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2014 18:23:39 GMT -5
Phalanx groaned, there were getting nowhere fast. Hoplite wasn't thinking straight, Fillydelphia was arguing over the small problems in Hoplite's plan, and Sapphire didn't seem to have much of an idea on what to do.
Sure, she could try to argue a new plan of action, and in a few minutes they probably would've had one they could settle on. Yet Phalanx wasn't much in the mood to try and argue for those few minutes, no matter how much Hoplite seemed to. She sighed audibly, adjusted her spear, and walked into the massive room.
She heard Hoplite behind her, "Fal? Where you going?" he asked with a hint of concern.
"Into the giant room filled with golems who'll probably step on me," she remarked, turning around to face the group just short of entering the maze. "Well, you girls coming?"
Hoplite groaned before running up beside her. She could tell he wanted to say something, but a simple glance told her he was saving that talk for later.
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Post by Red Charge on Apr 1, 2014 4:56:52 GMT -5
Sapphire groaned and moved t ofollow Phalanx, "I should never have agreed to come here..." Fillydelphia turned after the two. She didn't seem happy at all about the situation though less because of the threat of giant killer golems and more because she felt going in blind and with no plan of action.
"How are we going to kill a golem anyway?" Asked Sapphire, "I mean aren't they big and made of metal? No offense Filly but I doubt you can take a big one on your own.
"That is why we had Watermark along, he's a battlemage isn't he?"
The four spilled into a large hall they could feel vibrations of movements ahead though they could not see too far away to know what they were. The sounds of clashing metal appeared and got louder fast as they moved along. Whatever was going on, they were headed right towards it.
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