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>>122025He squints his eyes, opens his mouth, moves his head forward, and quickly shakes his head
"
What?"
>>122027Jubilosa pokes the griffin, who shakes slightly, and coughs blood
>>122026"Ugh.... They say I sabotaged a machine or something. They say I am working with the PLF"
>>122028"Ok. So what really happened?"
>>122028Iron huffs slightly.
"Tell me why you were tied up like a berry on a branch and I will unbind you," he offers to the griffon. "Now do you feel like talking?"
>>122028Midnight does not respond to this, but instead walks away, settling to check on Meadows again.
>>122030"Did I not before?"
He asks, with clear annoyance
"I am with ze Imperial Inquisitorial Service! Zat is why ze tied me up!"
>>122031She stands back, head turned down, but eyes up to meet her. Her right forehoof move forward one
>>122029"My shovel was damaged. So was a dump truck. They need to blame some one. Someone who talked to other ponies, who seemed like a plausible terrorist. So they blamed me."
>>122032"It is okay Meadows, it is just me."
Midnight slowly steps forward, careful not to startle her friend.
>>122032With a nod, he turns to Shekels to confirm his words make any sense to her.
>>122033Her head pulls back, then her muzzle moves forward, towards the smaller pony. She blinks
"You look.... better than before. But you are still hurt."
>>122035"Yes, I am. I have used the limits of Luna's blessings for today. Let us hope I need not more."
>>122034She shrugs
"They didn't tell me the Imperial Inquisition would be working here. Then again, I'm not sure they would either."
>>122036She sighs in a slight whinny, closes her eyes for a moment, and lowers her head
"I am afraid you may need more still"
>>122037Midnight moves forward to rest her forhead against one of Meadows' shoulders.
"Do not worry, I will be more careful. I still have to take you to Canterlot after all."
She smiles a bit, hoping to slightly lighten the mood.
>>122037With another nod, the native bites off bird claw and lion leg binding, finally setting the griffon free as he gets off him.
"I assume you went to investigate the activities down here?" he asks
>>122038The great big horse is rested against. Her muscles under short fur are firm
"He"
She lets out a slight giggle
"I hope all will be well... But I can tell something terrible has happened there. I can smell burning oil... and worse."
>>122039He immediately gets up, and walks away from Iron, over towards the left side, by the wall
"Ya."
He moves his claw along the surface of something like a dresser or a tool box
"Not just any activities"
He finds a pair of glasses, and moves to put them on
"Maarist Cultists"
>>122042"Maarist Cultists?" Iron asks ignorantly?
>>122043He places the glasses on his face, blinks, and then nods his head
"Ya. Worshipers of Maar who do his bidding"
He moves his claw along the top still more, then opens a drawer, and another drawer, finding a handerchief and some kind of card. He keeps looking
>>122044Iron nods.
"I assume this Maar is all about sacrifice of the flesh?"
>>122045"Bah!" He shakes his head
"Not of self, anyways. Arcturious asks for restraint of passions, and sacrifice of the self for the common good. Boreas asks for Austerity, and working today for the betterment of tomorrow. But Maar... claims to give anything, or everything, to those who would worship him. Instead he replaces their will for his own."
Then he nods
"Maar does indeed ask for sacrifice. The sacrifice and the suffering of others. One more reason these cultists are dangerous"
After looking through the bottom drawer, he stops
>>122046He nods, scratching his chin.
"Interesting indeed."
Turning to Shekels, he opens his mouth.
"Think this can be added to the list of charges, too?"
>>122047She moves her head in in disbelief
"
Charges?! I think we are well beyond 'charges.' Then again, we likely were a long time ago...."
>>122048Iron shrugs.
"To ensure we can give local authorities more pressure if it tries to prop up again, at the least."
He turns back to the griffin.
"Have you found anything of interest?"
>>122049"This whole building is a nest of them. I was inspecting in the area when they found me. They are rather bold here, walking in public, and gathering en mass in relatively open buildings. They don't expect to be harassed by anyone except perhaps criminals, and even those they expect to repel. Evidently, I was too bold as well. They found near the church, suspicious either of my snooping or perhaps after I asked the wrong question to the wrong local"
Iron nods.
"Are you feeling well to travel? This is about to become a danger zone after the strike back at the main hall, so I either suggest you evacuate or fight if you wish to."
>>122051He nods
“That, I can do.”
He looks around, and pulls off a relatively heavy tan colored jacket
“I had a weapon, but they took it from me”
>>122052Iron shrugs.
"No idea where that could be," he responds, looking to Sands' weapon.
Silver smiles at Mala as he ends his pets. "Do you think you can help gather and count deceased, Mala? I am going to try to keep those who are bleeding out from dying. I get feeling Government is going to want as many live specimens as we can acquire."
>>122056"Live?"
Mala tilts his head to the side
"I can crush their skulls if you want me to"
Without actually waiting for an answer from Silver, he moves his head back up
"Okay"
And walks off
And after inspection, Silver and Mala may discern the final tally:
3 dead griffins near Silver, 3 dead by the south, 2 dead in the center of the room, 1 dead by Midnight. 2 reasonably dead Zebras. Eleven dead in all. One griffin in critical condition by Silver, two by Midnight, and one in the South, for four critical in all. Five alive and conscious but often burned griffins, five beaten unconscious (and often hit with a hammer, and four stunned, though most of these latter have crossbow bolts in them. 14 Alive in all, mostly with injuries. Two Griffins are missing.
\r
>>122057Silver figures he'd better get to work trying to stabilize the critical condition griffons.
>>122058Healing roll time!
Mala licks up blood, often directly off the floor... until he comes across oil, broken glass, or something else unsavory, which leaves him licking his tongue out of his mouth constantly for several minutes to try to clean it off
>>122060Hmmm.... Well that's certainly a successful stabilization. But there are four Griffins, maybe three more rolls would be appropriate
>>122062>>122060Silver is able to, through the application of bandages and other means, stop three of the Griffins from dying of immediate shock or blood loss. The fourth one.... Not so much
>>122068He.... he didn’t make it. But Silver has done well to stabilize three of the downed griffins, particularly under the circumstances
>>122069Silver lowers his head in respect, and closes the griffon's eyes.
He gets up and looks around for who in the party still remains nearby.
>>122070The griffin in question had actually been one downed by Silver earlier, in fact, and was breathing, if unsteadily, when Silver got to him. It turned out that the wound was deeper than expected, and he bled out inside and in his lungs. His heart rate was very high, before becoming faint, and with blood out the mouth... though it didn't seem so much. Whatever fate will become of those griffins who are captured, he evaded it. Whatever fate befalls those who die here... he found it. Neither fate could be particularly pleasant, and Silver will likely never know the full extent of either.
But Silver did save three more griffins. Or rather, he stopped them from bleeding out onto the floor and going into shock, and gave a small antibiotic to the wound as well. A griffin near the south entrance has not one, but two crossbow wounds, but was saved, as was a doubly stabbed griffin near the East entrance. A female griffin - stabbed twice, partly burned, and with her wavy dagger never pulled from its sheath - was the final griffin to be stabilized, with her robe ripped off, a bandage over a burn, and a bandage around her chest extra tight to stop the bleeding
>>122070Midnight would be the only Party member still nearby. Dark Star was formerly on the second floor hall railing, and Iron has gone upstairs.
Though they are not party members, Jubilosa and Mala are downstairs, Loputu and Meadows are in the back around the bathroom, White Sands hasn't been seen, Blue Skies was upstairs, and Khoi went upstairs
>>122072Silver limps over to Jubilosa. "Are you doing alright?"
>>122073Jubilosa has been left by Midnight to guard over the griffins on the floor. Though a skilled ethnographer could possibly distiguish Jubilosa from the captured griffins by her straighter and slightly shorter beak, shorter overall body, and slightly rounder wings when folded, she looks basically the same as any other random griffin - save that she is wearing a brown leather jacket with a big cut in the left side, and she is standing, while the prisoners are not.
She turns to him, with an expression of something near surprise
"Oh... I'm unharmed" she says, though her breathing is heavy and she is anxious
>>122074He smiles at her for a brief second before resuming his concerned look. "That is good to hear, but there is more to one's health than just physical."
>>122075“It’s a bit... taxing”
Her mouth, upturned to a nigh-smile when addressing Silver, returns to a tense pulled back and down turned position, as her eyes are wider than normal - an expression like shock or horror. Her voice cackles. Then she turns her head to the ground
“I didn’t want
any of this.”
>>122076Jubilosa feels as Silver puts a hoof on her should, then slowly brings her into a hug.
"I know."
>>122077As Silver has probably already learned tonight from Griffin Skies, griffins are not as fun to hug as ponies. Part of them is feathery, and the portion that is fur is short haired. The bones are closer to the skin.
Jubilosa remains tense, as if resisting Silver’s touch. This tension lasts all of a second, as the muscles can be felt relaxing under Silver.
She starts crying
>>122078Silver keeps hugging her, letting her cry away the pain. He occasionally pats her back or gently rubs it in small circles with a hoof to help support her.
>>122080She places up her right claw, to try to put it over Silver’s shoulder... which may or may not be wounded. She cries more, into Silver. The other griffins in the hall, still conscious, give judge mental looks at the two emotive creatures together.
Jubilosa eventually calms down to a whimper
>>122081He takes the intense pain in his shoulder like a champ all the way to end. When her tears finally taper off, he pulls back to look at her, still holding her by the sides. "Better?"
>>122082She speaks into his chest fluff
“A little. Not enough. Not nearly enough. But they are doing something at midnight. So I will keep it together.”
>>122084He smiles at that. "You are very strong person. I respect that."
>>122085Her eyes glimmering from reflective tears, she smiles at Silver
“Thank you... Not by choice though... Not by choice”
>>122086He pats her on the shoulder. "If you need some time to recover and rest, go ahead and do so. And if you need shoulder to cry on, all you need to do is ask."
>>122087“But... we’re not done here”
>>122088He looks at her curiously. "Hmm? With what?"
>>122089“With this whole place and... these people. And their schemes!”
>>122093Sorry, but work has been killing me. I’ll have to try for tomorrow.
>>122090"Oh, right. Well, still, if you need shoulder to cry on, all you need to do is ask."
>>122097She seems to press her beak tighter together, and looks into Silver's eyes with her own bright gold ones
"Okay. I'll do that"
>>122098Silver smiles at her. "Do you think you could help me with something?"
>>122099A pause for a moment
"S-sure. Yes I can help. What is it?"
>>122100"I could really use some help tying up these captives. You do not have to if you do not want to, however."
>>122101"Yes... I've been trying to tie some up since Midnight left the room. I can do so. I am smaller than some of them, but most of them are wounded. Maybe they will be more compliant to a griffin."
>>122102Silver nods. "I have some rope, if you would like it."
>>122103"Yes. That would be very helpful, or some sorts of ties"
Mala walks up, and sits down, further away from Silver than Jubilosa
>>122104Silver pulls out his rope, and measures some out. "How much, do you think?"
>>122105"Let's not be stingy. They could be dangerous if they get up and free"
One of the captured griffins on the ground speaks out towards Silver an Jubilosa in a foreign language
>>122106Silver just gives her the rope then, while looking at the griffon that just spoke. "What was that?"
>>122107He speaks again.
Jubilosa: "I don't know, I cannot understand him"
>>122108Silver shrugs it off. "Maybe he does not know Ponish."
>>122109"I don't think we have anything we want to say to him and anything they want to hear. Let's shut him up before he alerts the rest of the building or he does some kind of magic with words."
>>122110He looks at Jubilosa for a second before nodding. "They did just prove they could use magic..."
>>122111She takes a piece of rope, places it in her beak, stretches out a section with her right claw, then places it in her claw
"Well we better tie up his mouth, and the rest of them as well"
She looks back over to Silver, then to Mala
"Could you get your... whatever that is, to watch over and stare down the prisoners? He scares them... he scares me. Most of the griffins are wounded and unconscious, but I don't want them to try anything."
slight whining sound >>122112He looks a little upset at that. "He has name."
>>122113She blinks, and looks away
“Let’s just get these tied up...”
>>122114Silver nods, and trots over to Mala.
>>122115Mala looks up at Silver - or rather basically directly at Silver, since the two are similar height. His big, triangular left ear twitches
>>122116Silver pets behind his left ear. "Could you do me big favor, friend, and watch over captives?"
>>122117His eyes close into upturned half-circles, and he moves his head up into the pet. When his head comes down, he says
“Watch over captives? That’s something I can do!”
He stands up, and smiles
“If they misbehave, do you want me to bite them, or just scare them?”
He still has blood on him
>>122118Silver smiles at the good boy. "Scare them, but if one gets loose, bite."
>>122119He smiles, and opens his mouth, then runs over near Jubilosa. She is already leaning over to tie a tie around a Griffin’s foreclaws, then his beak. Mala takes position standing some feet over the captives in the area between the north and East - the captives who were still conscious when gathered. He stands near a corner, with a view over all of them, and makes a singular growl. Jubilosa stops momentarily to look over her shoulder at the grueling gnoll, then continues her work. She has quite a bit of rope beside her, and one of the wavy daggers besides her to cut it with.
>>122120Silver looks around, noticing the absence of a few members of the party. He trots over to Mala and Jubilosa. "Have either of you seen where Iron went?"
>>122121Mala, standing
“Well, he could have gone upstairs to check on Dark Star or the two griffins that flew upstairs
Jubilosa:
“I bet he went to find that unicorn”
>>122122Silver nods. "That makes sense. I am going to make sure he did not get into too much trouble."
With that, he bids the two ado, and goes upstairs to look for Iron.
>>122123Over in the back by the bathroom are a Midnight, Meadows and Loputu. They report he is not downstairs. So Silver goes up the second level to find Blue Skies isn’t there, but maybe Dark Star is. Iron isn’t there either, nor are the missing two griffins, though two stunned griffins are there.
>>122124Silver looks at the tied up griffons, then at Dark Star.
Silver: "Nice work."
Dark Star: "Thanks. Hey, have you seen Blue anywhere?"
Silver: "No, but I am looking. Want to join?"
Dark Star: "Sure!"
Together, the two continue going up.
>>122125The third level is much like the second, with rooms off to both sides, or rather, a long room on the inside of the building on each of the East and West sides. Going left, there is no pony, and indeed, no creature in the hallways. But to the right, just around the corner, a griffin lies on the ground with a bolt in its back, evidently dead
No pony in either direction
>>122126Dark Star: "Looks like my mare's work."
Up they go.
>>122127Going through the door, the differences are noticeable immediately. Whereas the stairs between first, second and fourth levels were painted metal and concrete, Silver and Dark Star find the top level to be more like the bottom floors. An unpainted wooden staircase, 10 inches of unpainted cinderblock on the walls before the older, decaying paint of an era even the archaic and and uninviting main floors have left behind. The door to the top level is a thick, unpainted steel door that is not ony unlocked but cracked open. Entering the top hallway they find no windows, no open railings to the atrium, walls of dulled, dirtied, and flaking ancient white paint, and only three doors visible. Two to the left, one to the right. The one on the right is actually open.
>>122132Would let Britannia wear eight ties and tell people she's an elder god
>>122133Well then she’ll start doing it in public
What does Midnight do?
>>122134Well, what's going on around her?
>>122135Midnight is anxious, but is soothed a bit by the hug. Loputu, previously in the bathroom, ventures out. He’s not frightened quite like before, but he’s anxious. Silver cane by, asking where Iron went, and left to go upstairs when no answer could be given.
In the main hall, several critically wounded griffins have been given some basic care to stop the bleeding. Jubilosa is tying down griffins to try to keep them from running or flying off, while Mala stands guard over all, occasionally growling.
The fires still burn, and the smell of burning oil grows stronger
>>122136Midnight looks for Silver or Blue Shekels to figure out what the group is doing next.
>>122137Silver said he went upstairs. Blue Shekels is not where she was previously on the second floor
>>122138Then I guess Midnight heads upstairs to find Silver
>>122139Second level shows nopony, but a seemingly dead griffin with a bolt in its back in the hallway to the right