/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal


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Inching Closer
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.175000
175042 175084 175098
The next big quest with everypony in it is coming soon (TM)
1627 replies and 47 files omitted.
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176797
176852 176860
>>176779
Amber tracks him as he goes with her heavily insulated head. What could they be saying that wouldn't be for a filly's ears? Too interested now, Amber sneaks behind the pile of logs to overhear their conversation.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176798
176800 176801
>>176795
Poor Kira... Hopefully she can disguise herself well enough in broad daylight.

When Kira opens the door, she can see that Neela is eating corn directly out of a carton with many little nibbles.

nibble nibble nibble

>>176796
"Heh heh... sure" She says, with an awkward smile
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176799
176802
>>176794
>They appear to be undead, likely a permutation of ghast, albeit certainly a different variety from what Posey has seen before
"An aberrant ghast... Maybe an abyssal ghoul...?! No, such a monster couldn't possibly be trapped this easily." Posey says to herself
Posey suspects that this is a ghast that has gone completely feral (and thus nonverbal) as a result of going to long without feeding. She sees this as a potential asset
Posey gives a shrug
"Not feeling so talkative, I see. I guess it would be professional to force you to kill yourself right here and now, but.. your presence does lower the value of this property, so until next time, cagie." Posey says, walking away from the well.
She searches the remains of the alchemist lab for anything of value still here. If she finds nothing worth taking, she leaves and sets off in the other direction down the hall.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176800
176802
>>176798
Silver resumes the search! There are still a couple of places to explore like the room underneath the well up top or the other side of this floor of the catacombs. It's also possible they overlooked something in the downstairs section.

"Have you figured out what all of this was built for in first place? It seems so...expansive, to be dug out by Curwhinny."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176801
176803
>>176798
Kira giggles some more at the sight. "Wow, I guess you were hungry. How's the corn?"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176802
176804 176806
>>176800
"Storage of some kind for sure. Possibly it was for hiding items from Customs. Maybe it was for gunpowder, or aging wine... although the shape of the rooms isn't quite ideal for that. Curwhinny was a business magnate whose ships went to the far side of the earth. You should see his mansion on the waterfront in old town."

Roll Search

>>176799
The jars and flasks contain the aforementioned pyrite, mercury, and unidentified salts.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176803
176805
>>176801
"Ih- goo" munch munch munch
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176804
176807
>>176802
"I can not imagine how much money he must have made to maintain all of this research. How much does it even cost to import entire living mummy and its sarcophagus?"

[1d20 = 3]
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176805
176807
>>176803
Kira giggles some more, and puts the tea set in the kitchen.

"Well, I'm fairly certain she's asleep. Makes sense, she's definitely on the older side. Well, she looked like it, I don't know how long ponies live for. But regardless of species old age always comes with a propensity for sleeping. I'll try again in the morning."
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176806
176807
>>176802
>unidentified salts
Posey looks closer at this, but if it's not anything special, she leaves down the hallway.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176807
176808 176809 176814
>>176804
"When you already own a ship that's going to Maregypt, not all that much. Well, I mean, many mummies have been brought into Equestria and Griffonia."

Silver does not find the sarcophagus

"But yeah... point taken. His hobby must have been very expensive..."

Roll Listen

>>176805
"Yeah, they live to be... uh... well pretty old." She moves her muzzle out of the box and looks over towards Kira. "What are our neighbors like, anyways?"

>>176806
It may very well be. Hard to say.

Roll listen
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176808
176810
>>176807
"Well I've only met the one so far. She seems nice! Though, I'm curious what she has against...'bats', she said? I mean, I don't think I look like a bat..."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176809
176810 176811
>>176807
"Well yes, but those are brought in for museums and like. This was living, animated mummy that he just kept in his laboratory. How much would it cost to slip that past customs?"

[1d20+3 = (18+3) = 21]
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176810
176812 176813
>>176808
"Ugh! Bats! One more menace to look out for at night."

She looks over
"You sort of do, just a little. You have snake-eyes. Bats have snake-eyes. You've also got fangs, well uh, sometimes you've got fangs. You have fangs right? No no, I don't want to see. Just asking. I just thought I saw fangs. But you've got fangs, you've got snake-eyes, and you've got those tufts on your ears. You kind of look like a bat if all you see is your uh, upper half."

>>176809
"I don't know. He'd have the ship's crew on his payroll... very possibly the custom's agents, too. Paying customs at this time wasn't exactly popular. There was an established smuggling trade."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176811
176813
>>176809
Silver hears a mare talking down the hall.
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176812
176815
>>176810
"But what's wrong about the...bat ponies? That's what they're called, right? Aren't they still ponies?"
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176813
176815
>>176811
>>176810
Silver stops Pear physically with a hoof while shushing her.

"Hold up...I heard mare. There is not another member of your team I have not met yet, right?"
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176814
176815 176817
>>176807
>Roll listen
Rolling to Listen to the salt
[1d20+3 = (12+3) = 15]
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176815
176816 176818 176820
>>176812
"They stay up at night. They may rob you or burgle you, and just generally, they are more aware in the night than you are. They and they kind of do their own thing, apart from the other ponies."

>>176814
A sound almost like a conch in the ocean, with a sort of sucking, and possibly... moaning? Whispers? Oh wait. Posey can hear a mare and a stallion talking to each other.

>>176813
"I think you might have met them all. Maybe Mr. Loans is down here." Her eyes go wide, and her ears twitch. "But I think that's a mare..."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176816
176817
>>176815
Move Silently: Silver whispers to Pear, "Stay behind me," as he attempts to move quietly towards the source of the voice.

[1d20+4 = (1+4) = 5]
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176817
176819
>>176816
Silver proceeds forward and Umph! Silver trips over a cobble stone in the floor that's at a bit of an odd angle. Her falls to the floor.

>>176814
Posey hears something fall to the floor.
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176818
176823
>>176815
"Okay, I can get the being aware in the night. But why do they do their own thing? It's disappointing to hear that ponies don't really apply the principles of Harmony towards other creatures, but...not even their own kind?"
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176819
176823
>>176817
Silver swears under his breath, hoping nopony heard that as he stands back up and resumes making his way towards the voice.
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176820
176823
>>176815
>sucking, and possibly... moaning? Whispers?
If this is actually what Posey hears, she would take the salt with her.
>Posey can hear a mare and a stallion talking to each other.
Posey freezes, not expecting to be disturbed here.
She makes a silent gesture that Gloomy, well trained, understands is meant to tell him to be silent and stay close. She uses her Floating Disk SLA and puts Gloomy on it, because I just remembered I had that.
She moves down the hall, slowly and silently, towards the sound of the speaking, the faint glow of her horn on the sheathe of her sword. Her hooves glide across the floor with supernatural grace.
Move Silently:
[1d20+9 = (7+9) = 16]
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176821
176822 176823
With move silently, listen, etc. sort of checks, generally the DM does a secret roll (actually two or more, including the target being fooled or hidden from) so the player doesn't know the result before its consequences. I like that air of mystery but it doesn't seem possible strictly on the board only, since everything is open. Still, if we ever have a situation for a disguise check, it would be nice to have secret rolls.
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176822
>>176821
I agree, but it's not really going to matter very soon. I just like a dramatic entrance.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176823
176824 176825 176826
>>176819
>>176818
"To them it's not their own kind. Most of it is the usual. It's about who gets jobs, housing, who can get in line for a doctor. The kind of reasons ponies always give for why they don't like us here. The ponies don't see the bats as their own kind, apparently."

>>176819
Just move along

>>176820
Posey moves into the hall.

>>176821
You underestimate my power

>>176819
Roll Dexterity

>>176820
Roll Dexterity
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176824
176827
>>176823
[1d20+5 = (14+5) = 19]
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176825
176830
>>176823
[1d20+4 = (10+4) = 14]
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176826
176827
>>176823
"Wow...I kinda feel bad for the bats...how did that all start?"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176827
176828 176829
>>176824
Inside the hallway, Posey sees a bright light coming from an electric torch. Behind it is a mare in a jacket vest. In front of her is a large stallion with a grey coat. He wears what Posey should be able to recognize as a flak jacket.

>>176826
Neela shrugs
"I don't know. It was like that when I got here."
She places more corn in her mouth, and starts munching.
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176828
176830
>>176827
"Hmm...I guess I'll have to ask some ponies about it next time I get a chance." Kira coils up in the nearby living room, and rests her pony half on top. "So, we have bat ponies, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies...are there any other kinds of ponies out there? Besides lamias, I'd never heard of so many different varieties of a single species existing."
Anonymous
f953940
?
No.176829
176830
>>176827
Is the Dexterity check telling me that I move first, or that I see them first?
Posey is suspicious, but doesn't show it with her usual stoic pokerface, continuing to glide closer until she's certain that she is seen.
She does duck to the side at the light though, pulling her hood up over her head as her eyes adjust to the glare.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176830
176832 176833 176863
>>176829
It's basically an initiative roll. It means you react first.

And... Posey is blinded by the flashlight as it moves to her. At least the hood provides some protection

>>176825
Silver sees a figure in full chain mail with a longsword on a belt, a bag, and a black hood. It seems to be a mare with a white coat.

>>176828
"Yeah, they uh, that's it. Wait no. There's also crystal ponies, I think, which are kind of the same with sparkly... or something. And then there's uh, the zebra kind of look like ponies to me. Or the ponies look like zebras."
Anonymous
ed6fc6d
?
No.176832
176833 176834 176836
>>176830
>full chain mail
*Chain shirt barding
>Posey is blinded
Posey is dazzled by light, but that won't stop her from doing this:
Her eyes flash with golden light as she attempts to charm the first pony that makes eye contact.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176833
176835 176837
>>176830
>>176832
The grey unicorn, takes a ready stance, feeling like he's been transported back two centuries at least. What kind of crazy undead knight did he miss on his first passthrough of this place?

"О, Тартар, I missed one! Get back!"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176834
>>176832
>charm
It's an unusual lighting situation in the dungeon. It may work with the flashlight not quite shining on her face, but if it's too bright or too dim... not so much
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176835
>>176833
Pear does not need to be told twice. She moves back, unfortunately losing her train of the flashlight on the undead Knight.
Anonymous
ed6fc6d
?
No.176836
176838 176840
>>176832
The creature approaches with a stern glare, it's golden eyes shining with an ominous glow. An overwhelming feeling overtakes you.
DC 19 Will save please

It draws its sword
"Oh, just my luck..." it mutters, in a soft tone
"What's going on, momma?"
"Patience, sweetpea. Momma is working."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176837
176838 176840
>>176833
I should mention that the creature is also levitating a giant floating magical disk thing that has a foal on it.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176838
176839 176840 176841
>>176836
>>176837
If this thing speaking is enough to catch the grey unicorn off guard, the second voice is absolutely enough to completely confuse him, making him pause and not even quite recognize that the first creature has drawn a sword. The sight of the foal on a floating disk is definitely just the tip of the iceberg.

[1d20+5 = (16+5) = 21]
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176839
176840 176842
>>176838
Pear moves the flashlight to the foal on the disk, and then to the undead knight.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176840
176843 176844
>>176838
>>176837
>>176836
>>176839
Overpowering is perhaps a bit of an overstatement...as it is, the grey unicorn just blinks and winces as a small headache flares up. Still though, he responds.

"Wait...what are you doing with foal? Who...what are you?"
Anonymous
ed6fc6d
?
No.176841
176844
>>176838
I did not expect +5 Will
Oh well. You pass.

The unicorn points her sword at you.
"State your business."
Anonymous
ed6fc6d
?
No.176842
>>176839
*dazzling intensifies*
"REEEEEE! Watch where you're pointing that!"
Anonymous
ed6fc6d
?
No.176843
176844 176845
>>176840
>what are you doing with foal?
"This is my son, and he's here for his training."
>Who...what are you?
The mare puffs out her chest
"I am Rosey Ring, Blackweave Warmagus and licenced Necrologist. I am here on orders to examine these grounds for dark magic contamination." She states, boldly

The mare's voice is gentle and eloquent, with a vaguely-slavic accent. She speaks the local language well, although it appears to be a slightly different dialect.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176844
176845 176846
>>176841
>>176840
>>176843
Now the grey unicorn notices that this strange creature--a sort-of regular mare, it seems--is brandishing a weapon at him. He makes sure to stand in between Rosey and the mare behind him.

"'State my...' Ma'am, you scared us half to death! We thought there was another undead knight Curwhinny had kept here. Can you put please your weapon away so we can talk like normal adults?" He looks over the the colt who is floating on a magic disk. "Hello there, little one."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176845
>>176843
>>176844
It should be noted that the stallion's voice is rough and grizzled, not helped by a heavy Severyanan accent.
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176846
176848
>>176844
>undead knight
"Undead Knight? Where? In this dungeon?" Rosey Ring replies, seemingly interested
>Can you put please your weapon away so we can talk like normal adults
"You don't look like an archaeologist. What are you here for?"
>Hello there, little one."
The white mare steps in front of the colt, glaring defensively
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176848
176849
>>176846
The grey unicorn gives an understand look towards the defensive gesture, seemingly knowing where it comes from.

"It was undead, now it is just regular dead. Torn to shreads by Roc after it was lured outside with bait. Look, I am Silver Sword, this mare behind me is Pear Faucet. She is archaeologist, I am pony who cleared this place of undead. Okay, introductions have been made...can you please just sheathe your weapon, for sake of those around us?"
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176849
176850 176851
>>176848
The mare sheaves her sword
"I thought I was the only pony tasked with cleansing this dungeon. Do you work for Glass Horizons?"
>She is archaeologist
She squints at her, but says nothing
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176850
176853
>>176849
Silver relaxes, now that the threat has been dealt with.

"I was employed by him, yes. I did not think he would send...you said 'necrologist'? I did not think he would send one in after me. Did he send you here or were you sent by somepony else? How did you find out about this place?"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176851
176854 176856
>>176849
The small yellow mare moves back.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176852
176860 176864
>>176797
Stallion: "We need to do something about Vaeltaja."

Father: "Yes, I can't stand him spreading nonsense around here. I keep my family away from him."

Stallion: "No. I mean he's dangerous."

Father: "Nonsense is dangerous."

Stallion: "Heh. So much more than you know."

Father: "We should address this at coun-"

Stallion: "Kultainen brought Makea to me. She was completely out of it. Muttering to herself. And she was frost bitten. She had it bad on her ears and lips. Even her eyes... it's like she hadn't blinked. She was out of it."

Father: "What was wrong with her?"

Stallion: "I don't know. Dehydration, just the cold... maybe some kind of illness? I don't know what's going on."

Father: "Will she be alright?"

Stallion: "I don't know. I gave her water and heated her up, but she was still muttering to herself."

Father: "Well what has any of that got to do with Vaeltaja?"

Stallion: "What she was muttering. She was talking about the coming sun. And spirits. When she wasn't just speaking gibberish. She's one of those ponies who follow him."

Father: "Do you think Vaeltaja gave her mushrooms? Some other kind of poison?"

Stallion: "Maybe. I don't know. She may have just wondered off into the forest looking for spirits, got lost and then dehydrated. I don't think she would have lasted that much longer either way. She wasn't wearing enough heavy clothing."

Father: "Poor Makae Amuu... She's been sad since her mother died. I think that's why she follows him. He promises the spirits will come back and so she hopes to see him. That's why religious delusions can be so dangerous. They prey on our fears and vulnerabilities."

Stallion: "You're missing the point. I know that. We need to do something about it."

Father: "Yes, we need to bring it up at the council."

Stallion: "The council?! Just- ugh! Do you understand? The Inspector is coming here this week. He is supposed to be hear tomorrow."

Father: "Heh, you know that means he won't be here and earlier than Saturday. We can address this with the council on Friday. Or even ask the Inspector for help."

Stallion: "No! You just - ugh! You don't get it. What do you think the Inspector will think when he sees these ponies spouting that religious horse shit?"

Father: "Well he will be very upset, obviously. It's against the Path Forward."

Stallion: "Exactly! So what is he going to think about the council who runs the village where this happens."

Father: "He should want to help us. To help us put down this new religion."

Stallion: "Don't you think he's going to want to know how it got this bad?"

Father: "....."

Stallion: "He's going to blame us. He's going to tell the Central Council that we either couldn't stop it, or didn't want to."

Father: "The villagers could be silent. They have been silent about their religious practices every other time the inspector has come."

Stallion: "No. They have not. We have a write up. And this is a hell of a lot worse than that old mare with her public prayers. These followers of Vaeltaja won't shut up about convergence and seraphs and the sun and whatever. I mean for Akka's sake one of them was so crazed she went outside without enough clothes and forgot to drink water."

Father: "Do you think maybe there is some kind of pathogen at the blast? I believe Vaeltaja has been taking ponies there. We should ask the Inspector to look into the blast and see if maybe the melted permafrost awoke some kind of, some kind of old bacteria."

Stallion: "You are missing the point! The Inspector can't find out!"

Father: "No, that's exactly my point. We can ask the inspector for help. Maybe intercept him at Kaukainen Piste and tell him we need help. That will make it look like we are trying to solve the problem."

Stallion: "Really? Really? You don't think his first question when he hears that a start-up prophet is taking ponies into the woods and giving them drugs or whatever is going to be anything other than 'how long has this been going on?' Do you really think he's going to believe this hasn't been going on for weeks now? Don't you think he'll ask 'when did you first notice?' Is there any answer you can possibly give that won't sound like a blatant lie or make you look horrifically incompetent?"

Father: "I had no idea it was so bad. We saw Kulho Linssejä moving listlessly. He was out of his mind too, but not frostbitten. He was talking about going to be with his dead wife."

Stallion: "Yeah, it's... I know. I didn't know either. I didn't know it would get this bad. You know, when Metsän Vaeltaja started his preaching I actually kind of liked it. He was talking about Akka and the spirits of the ancestors. I was pleased to hear someone talk about the old gods and the old ways. Such a refreshing change from that horrible silence that's been placed over all of us. It was like a pillar of the old world returning. Resisting. Then she started talking about the seraph and the sun coming early and convergence all of this other pure horse shit, and I realized it was something else entirely. Something new. Ugh! But I thought they could keep quite. But they can't!"

Father: "Well, if we explain the situation to the inspector he might-"

Stallion: "No. You don't get it. There is no explanation we could possibly give to the Inspector that will suffice, with mares and stallions walking maddly around on the streets like that. There is no way around it. The Inspector will conclude that we were willfully Non-compliant. And if you tell him we didn't have the power to do anything he'll just ask why we didn't ask for help earlier, and what's the point of us anyways."

Father: "...."

Stallion: "We need to do something."

Father: "Call an emergency meeting of the town council. Gather every pony, explain the situation. Make a show of it."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176853
176854 176855
>>176850
"I was sent here from the university to sweep it for dark magic contamination, and was tasked by Horizons to report on the state of the property and eliminate liabilities. From the looks of it, I still have some work to do."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176854
176855 176856
>>176853
>>176851
Silver looks back to the small yellow mare named Pear Faucet.

"University? Do you know her from yours?"

Returning his attention to Rosey, he resumes talking. "Well, contaminated is right, it was used by supposed lich in experiments to try to bring back his dead family. Ponies here really did good job cleaning this place up, that quarry outside was absolutely littered with remains of his experiments. What do you mean by 'liabilities', though?"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176855
176858 176861
>>176853
>>176854
Pear shakes her head

"Uhn uh."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176856
176857 176858
>>176854
>Do you know her from yours?
>>176851
Do I know her?
>Ponies here really did good job cleaning this place up
"Only on the surface." She replies
"There are still corporeal monsters lurking about."
"Haunting presences. Monsters. Curses. Cursed items. Mana poisoning. Corrupted Earth Nodes. Planar manifest zones. Portals to Tartarus. Jars full of nameless plagues. Malign energies that could attract a whole host of monsters to the area. The list goes on."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176857
>>176856
No That was the dice roll Posey failed
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176858
176859
>>176856
>>176855
"Hmmm..." The look on Silver's face suggests he's not fully convinced. "I am not sure about all of that, but...you say you were sent here to sweep for contamination? I presume that means you have means of detecting dark magic?"
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176859
176861
>>176858
>I presume that means you have means of detecting dark magic?
"Pfft, I wouldn't be very much of a Necrologist if I couldn't." The mare replies
"I have a sharp eye for the dark arts, and an even sharper horn."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176860
176864
>>176852
>>176797
Stallion: "What are we going to propose? Ban Vaeltaja? Accuse him of Non-Compliance? Many of the village ponies will be against it. Even on the council, Kaukainen Ukkonen will veto it. You know he believes that junk. He follows Vaeltaja. And what's far worse is that Vaeltaja will have a chance to speak."

Father: "It doesn't matter if we fail. What matters is that there will be witnesses to our attempt to shut it down. It will show the Inspector we tried."

Stallion: "No. No it won't. He'll wonder how we got outvoted in our own village."

Father: "So we'll look incompetent, they'll just remove us off of the council and bring in someone from the City. We'll lose some privileges. Be fined..."

Stallion: "You think all they will do is to kick your colt out of school and take you off the council? You are as delusional as Makea..."

Father: "Well it's our best shot."

Stallion: "You already know what they will think. Incompetence is Treason. Except they will never believe it is incompetence. They will think that we have been deliberately allowing Vaeltaja spout his nonsense, in defiance of the ban on religion. They will believe we are intentionally subverting their rules."

Father: "Well... Maybe."

Stallion: "Not 'maybe,' they will. Do you know why they will think that? Do you?"

Father: "Because..."

Stallion: "Because it's true."

Father: "We let this happen. I just thought that so long as it wasn't my family-."

Stallion: "Well it's going to be your family. Do you know what will happen when the Inspector judges we are not in compliance?"

Father: "I didn't think it would get this bad..."

Stallion: "I didn't either. We need to fix this problem."

Father: "Maybe go to Vaeltaja and tell him why he needs to make everyone stay silent?"

Stallion: "Vaeltaja thinks the world is coming to an end in a few weeks. And if he keeps it up, it will. For him and for us. He's not going to feel threatened by the central council."

Father: "Maybe talk to everypony individually?"

Stallion: "All seventy of them? They are too drugged up even to think coherently. No. There is only one thing we can possibly do. One thing and one thing only. Cut the head off of this problem, and hope that we can get everypony under some semblance of compliance by the time the Inspector arrives at the end of the week."

Father: "You can't mean-"

Stallion: "I absolutely do. And we have to act now. It's the only way."

Father: "It can't be..."

Stallion: "Oh yes it can. What do you think is going to happen to you if we don't, when the Inspector gets here and sees all of this. What do you think will happen to your family."

Father: "But it's not right."

Stallion: "Doesn't Tähtien Alla live in the city."

Father: "sigh.... Do you have a plan?"

Stallion: "Kind of. We go out wood cutting. I will need another pony and you've got the most to lose of any sane pony besides me. That's why you're in on this."

Father: "Very well.. Let me take Kultainen home."

Stallion: "Meet at my house."

Father starts to walk away from the stallion, looking solemn.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176861
176862 176865
>>176859
"Heh, if they are even half as sharp as that sword should be, then you are doing well. Give us just one moment to discuss something, do not go anywhere."

>>176855
Silver pulls Pear off to the side, not too far away as to loss track of Rosey but still far enough that they can whisper without being overheard.

"So, hear me out. I know it is oddly convenient that this mare comes out of nowhere, dressing like she just walked out of 4th Century with knowledge about undead creatures, but...if she has ability to detect traces of dark magic, then maybe she can find where our missing sarcophagus is."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176862
176866
>>176861
"I think that she could. Do you trust her with the sarcophagus?"
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176863
176867
>>176830
Kira definitely wasn't forgotten about in the heat of the moment, absolutely not.

"And Bright Dye...maybe I'm being silly, but did he look like a cross between a pony and a zebra to you? Can ponies and zebras reproduce together?"
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176864
176867
>>176852
>>176860
Amber freezes in place, eyes wide, when she hears that they intend to "cut the head off of this problem." After her father says he will take her home, she sneaks back into the store to avoid him finding her.
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176865
176866
>>176861
>Give us just one moment to discuss something, do not go anywhere
"I'm not one to take orders from strangers..." The mare replies with a suspicious glare
Despite her words, she does not appear to flee, her golden eyes following silver as he retreats down the hallway
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176866
176868 176873
>>176862
"Not particularly...but as long as we keep at least one set of eyes on her or on sarcophagus, there is not much she could do about it. She is necrologist, not magician."

>>176865
Silver returns to the armored mare.

"Okay then, we could use your help with something, but you must swear to not tell another soul about it."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176867
176869 176871
>>176863
"Oh, he might be. Hard to tell. I think the stripes will sometimes occur on ponies, but, yes, zebras and ponies can reproduce with each other. He could be part zebra."

>>176864
little pony hides

"Kultainen? Kultainen Hämärä?" He calls, looking for her.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176868
176870
>>176866
"I didn't know that there were... more of you out there. I suppose but... honestly I kind of feel like maybe we should let the dead lie on this one. It's not the mare, it's... what if he is a lich? What will we do?"
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176869
176872
>>176867
Kira is silent for a moment, before tapping her hooves together. "Do...do you think...ponies and lamias could...maybe..."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176870
176872
>>176868
Silver whispers back to her quickly.

"We will handle it, like I know only we could. I promise."
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176871
176872
>>176867
"Yes, Papa?" she calls back. Her voice sounds squeaky and trembling. "You were taking a while. Is something wrong? You don't look too pleased…."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176872
176874 176876 176877
>>176870
"Uh... okay... I'll trust you on this... I will admit, I am curious

>>176869
"Probably not, but..." She shows her teeth in a strange smile. "Well, deer and ponies cannot. So I don't think ponies and nagas can."

>>176871
He breathes out. He definitely does not look pleased

"Yes. We are out of firewood" He says. "I need to go get some."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176873
176876
>>176866
>"Okay then, we could use your help with something, but you must swear to not tell another soul about it."
"I do have a report to write about this site.. but, all on-scene research is confidential." The mare replies
"What is it?"
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176874
176875
>>176872
"I made sure to bring plenty on the sled," Amber insists, lowering her head slightly. "I don't think we have ever run out so fast before."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176875
176878
>>176874
"Oh." He says. His ears move back, then back up. "Well, you know, we share firewood with other ponies so... I have to help them. We work together for the good of the herd, you know."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176876
176879
>>176873
>>176872
"We are missing sarcophagus. Specifically, we are missing Curwhinny's sarcophagus. You say you were sent here by university, so I will assume you know who he was and why it is so worrisome that his sarcophagus is missing. We think one of other archaeologists moved it somewhere else in catacombs for later retrieval. We need your help in locating where it was stashed."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176877
176880
>>176872
"Well, maybe, but...Bright Dye did make a good point. I do look a lot like a pony, at least from this end. Maybe it would be enough of a similarity to allow...you know..." She taps her hooves together some more, before taking the end of her tail and rubbing it between them. "You know?"
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176878
176880
>>176875
She looks back up at him, her eyes wide and pleading. "Shouldn't I come with you then? We could carry more firewood and I know the best spots to find it."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176879
176881
>>176876
"Hmmm, the Sarcophagus of Curwhinny himself? Well, if Curwhinny really is buried here, he was likely buried with all of his favorite items, as Necromancers do get possessive that way, possibly waiting for resurrection. He was a clever mage, so it's likely that he would have had his minions carry him into a secret chamber in his final hours, sealed away to watch over him until his final hours. Such a chamber should be behind a secret door, or possibly magically sealed up with conjured stone and only accessible breaking down the wall, or through a Passwall. It would likely be deep within the dungeon, with something guarding the area to fight off whoever might disturb him... Where did you say you fought an undead knight?"

I have to sleep soon.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176880
176882 176884
>>176878
He looks down at the little pony, kneels to her, and places a hoof on her head, patting her mane.

"Little pony... I need to go out into the forest. I am going with Pakkasen Alla. To get it. It's not really work for a filly like you. Didn't you say you saw a moose in the forest earlier? Yes, I should not have let you go out alone earlier. Moose can be dangerous. And you saw how Makea almost froze... Ugh! No place for a filly."

>>176877
"No? I don't know." She tilts her head. "You want to... get pregnant by a pony? Or have... eggs, or whatever lamias do? Why would you even want that?"
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176881
176889
>>176879
Alright duly noted.

Silver has a face that's difficult to place in the darkness of the catacombs. It suggests he's not exceptionally pleased with the answer given.

"Perhaps in other cases, yes, but not here. He was not buried willingly, but sealed by force in stone sarcophagus, costing many lives in process as invading force of militia ponies raided catacombs many years back. After I left, these archaeologists came in, and I discovered that it had been swapped out with one made of iron."
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176882
176883
>>176880
"If I hadn't gone out with Jakala, Makea would have froze. If I kept all of us safe alone, shouldn't I be safe with you and Pakkasen Alla?" she insists. "You aren't going to attack the moose, are you?"
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176883
176886
>>176882
He ruffles her mane, and Amber is soon blinded by her golden mane moving in front of her eyes.

"You did well, little pony. Don't worry. We've got this."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176884
176885
>>176880
"I dunno, if I found a nice pony like Free Rover and I wanted to give mom some grandchildren and he was okay with it..."

Kira continues to play with the end of her tail.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176885
176888
>>176884
She scrunches

"You really have the hots for that Customs buck, don't you?"
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176886
176887
>>176883
pony is ruffled

"I go out into the forest more often than you do. Surely I can help? What if you lose your way?" she pleads as she struggles to reorder her mane.
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176887
176890
>>176886
He scrunches

"Why don't you go play with your little friend, Jakala? I'll take you out cutting firewood once the weather improves."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176888
176892
>>176885
"...maybe..." Then, in an even quieter voice, "...he was nice..."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176889
176891
>>176881
>After I left, these archaeologists came in, and I discovered that it had been swapped out with one made of iron."
"Then what makes you think that it's still here in this dungeon?"
"Anyhow, if the Sarcophagus was created to seal him, it must be a magical item. If I come within range of it, I could detect it with my horn. A sarcophagus is big: there's only so many places they could have hidden it." She continues
"Or, we could just go aboveground and interrogate the archaeologists up there. It shouldn't take long."
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176890
176892
>>176887
"The weather isn't too bad. I can carry some firewood and it'll mean what we have will last longer. You know I wouldn't get in the way!" Again, Amber's voice is that high-pitched pleading, muffled by her mask, and she looks vaguely distraught as she looks up at him.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176891
176893
>>176889
"That is exactly why we think it is still here in catacombs. It is big, it is heavy, and it would not be easy to move out of here without somepony noticing, especially as there is only one way out of here that could even be used for it. Both of other exits have stairs, and would you want to carry heavy stone sarcophagus up flight of stairs?

"We are hoping we can find it without confronting others, first. It would be too easy to deny accusations, then move sarcophagus out while nopony is looking. We are hoping we can avoid spooking them."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176892
176895 176911
>>176888
"Nice?!" She scrunches and her ears go down

"You know... you said it pretty accurately a while ago, when you said there are predators and there are prey. That pony buck, and all of those with him, are predators. And they see us as prey, to be exploited as they please. That buck wasn't even afraid of you! Like... he wasn't even intimidated by you... Okay, I can see why you would want to have sex with him, but he's not nice!"

>>176890
Still kneeling and petting her

"Tell me, little Kultainen, why do you want to go?"
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176893
176896
>>176891
"Well, we could search through every room and open every door. Once we do that, I could use my magic detection while strolling down the hallway."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176894
Sleeping now
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176895
>>176892
Kira gives her a sad, but understanding look.

"I know, I know, it's just...I dunno, I got what you could just call a feeling from him. I don't know why he wasn't afraid of me, though, not even at first. You know his first reaction upon seeing me was to just go, 'It's just a little snake', and attempt to pick me up?"
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176896
176898 176900
>>176893
"That is possible. It is not so massive that it can not be done. Though, uh..." Silver looks behind Rosey at the colt still on the floating magic disk. "...will that...thing...make detecting magic more difficult? I assume it is magic and that is why it is flying."
Anonymous
058ba7b
?
No.176898
176904
>>176896
Under her breath,

"Of course he'd pick you up." Then normally, "That feeling is attraction. You've come upon maybe the first male that wasn't afraid of you, so your body responds by submitting to him. But that's all that feeling is. Attraction. That doesn't make him 'nice'. Being fearless isn't a sign of niceness. Quite the opposite, actually."
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176900
176903
>>176896
>"...will that...thing...make detecting magic more difficult? I assume it is magic and that is why it is flying."
"I can easily distinguish between the magic of others and my own. Besides, if your story is true, this sarcophagus should be sealed with magic so powerful that it would easily eclipse any other auras."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176903
176905 176918
>>176900
"Alright. Lead way, Rosey Ring."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176904
176915
>>176898
"...maybe I just need to get to know him better first..."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176905
176906
>>176903
"First I'll need to see every room in this dungeon. Once we've opened all of the doors, I can douse the hallways in a systemic fashion. Since you've been here before, you can show me."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176906
>>176905
(Posey's Detect Magic spell functions as a 60 ft cone shaped emanation. Same goes for her Detect Undead spell. It should be able to douse an entire hallway.)
Anonymous
c4046a7
?
No.176907
176908 176909 176912
IMG_8022.jpeg
Has to contemplate if it’s too meta-games to explain why this course of action is extremely inadvisable
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176908
176924
>>176907
Hmmmmmmm...well, there shouldn't be all that much left of the catacombs to search through manually.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176909
176913 176914
>>176907
See, this is kind of why I wanted a map, it makes it a lot easier to understand how to search a dungeon, and avoid obvious limitations such as thick stone walls blocking lines of effect.
In any case, Posey wants to start by checking every (known) room in the dungeon, then she'll decide when and how to use her detection spells.
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176911
176914
>>176892
The filly looks down. Dare she tell him what she knows? She's just a little filly and probably can't convince him, but he's her father! He's a good pony, but even a good pony will do anything if he's desperate….

Amber shivers in front of him as she stares into his eyes. "I know what you're going to do," she squeaks out, trying not to whimper. "Papa, I know what you're planning to do and you can't do it. You understand how wrong it all is. Killing him won't help your fears, and it won't keep us safe. You need to think of something else or we'll all be guilty because of it."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176912
>>176907
>Has to contemplate if it’s too meta-games to explain why this course of action is extremely inadvisable
Is it the part about searching all of the rooms, or using a spell to detect magic?
The search comes first.
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176913
176916
>>176909
See >>176763

Read that. Also note the presence of a well-like structure in the central room, and a stone platform in the chamber. Ask about a specific room for a more detailed description.
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176914
176916 176919 176954
>>176909
I didn’t even think about how the stone and dirt walls would limit the effectiveness of Posey’s Detect Magic spell by 90%

>>176911
His face goes entirely pale and contorts in never-before-seen ways.

” Kultainen Hämärä.”

Taking his hoof, he wraps around Amber’s barrel, licking her up, or more likely, dragging her across the ground. He drags her away from the store, and towards a location he must think is private. This certainly scares the hell out of her.

He turns to her, and in a voice that is an attempt at a quiet shout says,

”Do you have any IDEA what is going to happen? There’s an inspector from the Central Council making the rounds to see if the villages are in compliance. He’s supposed to be here tomorrow. He’ll probably be here in five days, seven days tops. When he sees these sick ponies walking around, he’ll call in for medical doctors from Everfrost. And there will be an investigation. And he’ll hear all of these ponies talking about suns and seraphs and spirits and whatever. And do you have even the slightest idea how much trouble we are going to be in?!” He’s beyond exasperated. “No. You don’t get it. Kultainen. We’re not supposed to have those nice dresses, or talk about spirits. We’re not supposed to do anything like that. And Pakkasen, and Ukkonen, and I are in charge of the village, so far as the Central Council is concerned. It’s our job to keep the village in compliance. And when the Inspector sees this, and he hears this, it’s… You have no idea. I am in danger. You might be. Your brother might be. You definitely won’t be going to school, and he might be kicked out.”
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176915
176917
>>176904
It’s probably possible for Neela to get scrunchier, but it isn’t clear how. She puffs up her cheeks.

“He told you to eat me!”
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176916
176921
>>176914
>>176913
Well then.
Which rooms have we not seen so far?
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176917
176942
>>176915
Kira sinks down further into her coils. "...I told them I wasn't going to. You know I'm not going to eat you, right?"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
6ada74f
?
No.176918
176919 176921 176923
>>176903
"What floor did you say you found the false iron sarcophagus on? An iron sarcophagus is even heavier than a stone one: there are limited paths through which they could have carried it. It's likely that they carried the stone one on a nearby path, or carried it to another room on that floor. If they've taken interest in it enough for them to tamper with it, it's likely that they're interested in performing ongoing tests and examinations on the actual piece, which means it needs to be stowed in a location accessible to the archaeologists, somewhere they can travel in and out of to access the sarcophagus without drawing attention to themselves."

Posey pauses
"Tampering with the grave of a lich is serious business, as it could have wide-reaching consequences on the city. This for all intents and purposes counts as egregious mismanagement of dark magic, and the false sarcophagus is evidence by itself (a sarcophagus is, by definition, made of limestone). It's possible that I could convince Mr. Horizons to order a halt on all archaeological activities on the property and order the return of the sarcophagus to its proper location for security concerns: I don't expect them to comply, but if they try to make a break for it and smuggle out the sarcophagus we could set up an ambush for them as they come to retrieve it. Of course, that plan would make a scene that I might rather avoid..."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176919
176920
>>176918
>>176914
Silver points out the location of Curwhinny's final stand to Posey (which I imagine our gracious GM pone has more of a description of its location than I, the player, currently do.)
Anonymous
6ada74f
?
No.176920
>>176919
First order of business would be to check for skid marks, and then the surrounding/lower floor.
Anonymous
8740b0d
?
No.176921
176922 176924
IMG_4301.gif
>>176918
>I bet these grad students did want to carry that heavy ass stone up or down stairs. They probably kept it on the same level.
You finally understand me!

>>176916
Posey has explored one of the laboratories, the big room downstairs, and presumably, the storage rooms on the side downstairs and the downstairs hallways. They are currently in the central room that cuts across between hallways.
Anonymous
25cff16
?
No.176922
>>176921
Posey checks every room on the way to the place that Silver says the original sarcophagus once was.
Anonymous
8740b0d
?
No.176923
176926 176927
>>176918
The small, yellow mare, previous identified as Dr. Faucet, speaks:

“Let me clarify what is going on here. There is a room behind the… well, I suppose it’s a bedroom - there’s a room behind that that was opened and contained a casket on a stone table. There’s this large inscription, I think it’s oin chalk but I haven’t examined it in detail - that claims the casket contains a lich and do not open it. Our leader, Peer Review, does not believe lichs exist - or to be a little more accurate, doesn’t think a mage calling themselves a lich can exist for two hundred and forty years without, well, food or a replenishing magic source. So he ordered it opened, probably to prove the point. But he tasked a grad student whom I’m pretty sure is only here to avoid the draft. So apparently he defied that order and switched out the caskets, hiding the original one. I think he thinks he’s not paid enough to open a casket marked ‘contains a lich’ to find out if it contains a lich or not. The compartment is on this floor. It’s behind the bedroom. We’ve already searched that room, the bedroom in front of it, the library, the smaller library, and the laboratories on the other side from where you came.”
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176924
176925
>>176921
>grad students
Not only grad students, but commies too: they'll do as little manual labor as possible.

"The sarcophagus probably didn't move far. I would assume the archaeologists hid it somewhere near, perhaps in a closet, underneath a tarp or rug, or buried under some loose bricks and rubble. Keep an eye out for anything that could hide an object of that size. Once we hedge out possible locations on the floor, I can use my dousing to find any traces of magic related to the sarcophagus..."
She then pauses
>>176908
"... Say, what exactly did you intend to do with the sarcophagus when you found it?"
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176925
176928
>>176924
"For starters? Making sure it has not been opened. Part of me is curious about couple of things, if he really did make final transition to becoming lich, or even if he was if I have managed to destroy him and put him to rest. I thought I found his phylactery and had it destroyed with help of Father Maren here in city, but there is chance that did not work or it was not actually his phylactery. Knowing for certain would put any worries to rest, but...would you want to open sarcophagus that had pony's possible final message of 'do not open, lich inside'?"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176926
mlp__fim_vector___twilight_sparkle__laughing___1_by_twilirity_dd2euhq-fullview.png
>>176923
>Our leader, Peer Review, does not believe lichs exist - or to be a little more accurate, doesn’t think a mage calling themselves a lich can exist for two hundred and forty years without, well, food or a replenishing magic source. So he ordered it opened, probably to prove the point.
Posey bursts out laughing at this.

I think this is the first time Posey has laughed. It's such a peculiar laugh, in her usual soft and beautiful singsong voice, but something about it is... ominously dreadful, malevolent, and borderline supernatural. It booms and reverberates far further than should be proper for a mare of her size, echoing over itself until it fades out all too slowly, like howling ghost in the distance backed by a chorus of kerning spirits. It lasts only a few seconds, but it lingers, refusing to die...

Even Gloomy, the sickly little Colt on the disk, seems spooked by this development, his eyes widening in surprise. It seems his mother doesn't laugh often.

Posey finishes her outburst with a cute gigglesnort.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176927
176929
>>176923
>So apparently he defied that order and switched out the caskets, hiding the original one.
>We’ve already searched that room, the bedroom in front of it, the library, the smaller library, and the laboratories on the other side from where you came.
After her outburst, Posey lets the mare finish and addresses her description.
"Did you find any traces as to how he transported the real or the fake? Any skid marks or scratches on the floor?"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176928
176929 176930
>>176925
>I thought I found his phylactery and had it destroyed with help of Father Maren here in city, but there is chance that did not work or it was not actually his phylactery.
Rosey Ring's eye twitches somewhat
"You... Destroyed what you thought was his phylactery.. BEFORE you knew he was destroyed?"
It appears to be a rhetorical question, as the mare seems more exasperated than disbelieving
"The first impulse of those fighting liches. Destroying a Lich's phylactery doesn't destroy the lich, it just prevents them from resurrecting after being killed through other means. If what you destroyed was a phylactery and Curwhinny was indeed a lich, then he should still animate somewhere, but very, very, VERY angry."
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176929
176930 176931 176932
>>176927
“You laugh, but there’s a logic to it to him. He thinks that whatever energy a mage has is finite. They will need more from somewhere, and it’ll run out after almost a quarter millennium.. I tried to respond that if the mage went into a kind of stasis, or tupor, then a limited supply could well last a quarter millennium. But you must understand, Joseph Curwhinny is not an unknown figure to us. We know him as that business stallion who got rich off of carrying shipments of slaves for Zebrican traders and importing tobacco, then became a kind of weird recluse in his old age, eventually being murdered in what was basically a labor dispute. There’s not much room in that conception for him to have been a lich. To them, he’s the archetypal capitalist: the Stallion who built Baltimare. To call him a lich is an understandable exaggeration of his villainy, but ultimately unnecessary and a distraction from the real point.

I think the casket - and the term used was ‘casket’, and not sarcophagus - may have been light enough to be carried by two stallions if they were strong though for short distances. But they may have dropped it, put it down, or pushed it at some point. I didn’t see any scuff marks, but I wasn’t looking for them.”

>>176928
Concerned pony noises

“Lichs aren’t real, right? They can’t actually hurt us… right?”
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176930
176933 176954
>>176928
Silver's only physical reaction is to shrug.

"Liches have not been around in Equestria for many, many, many years. Curwhinny may have even been last 'living' lich to exist within this country. All of rest are over in Dread League, so those of us who would fight them do not get much chance to learn. And we do not get chance to research how to fight them either when we come to what we think is simple job clearing out quarry of few skeletons and zombies only to find out it is filled with literal army of ghasts. Still though, I am not so sure he will be so angry. What I saw of his journal, he had made peace with living normal life after his experiments failed. Well, before militia ponies showed up, that is."

>>176929
"I mean, there is entire country of them..."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176931
176934
>>176929
>He thinks that whatever energy a mage has is finite.
"He knows little of magic then... The power of a mage is unlimited, the only question is how much power a horn can channel on any given day from the ambient magic so abundant in the universe, or the antithesis of such." Posey says, with a bit of a huff
>I think the casket - and the term used was ‘casket’, and not sarcophagus
"Oh, that's actually quite the difference, as it would affect what state his body is in."
>“Lichs aren’t real, right? They can’t actually hurt us… right?”
Posey does not laugh (her laughs are scarce), despite the hilarity of this question. Her paralyzed, professional face remains dead serious as she answers.
"Yes, they are, and they can."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176932
176934
>>176929
>I didn’t see any scuff marks, but I wasn’t looking for them.”
"Then let's go look for them." Posey says, proceeding towards said room.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176933
176935
>>176930
"What did you do with the remains of the broken phylactery? I could examine it."
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176934
176936
>>176931
“How- How so? What doses it change?”

>>176932
“Why would we want to go looking for it at all? If there’s a living, or well, animated lich in there, I think Feather Duster has the right idea.”
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176935
176937
>>176933
Silver fishes around in his bags, taking a bit longer to do so than normal being in the dark and lacking night vision. After a few moments, he comes out with a hooffull of pieces that, judging from the small damaged picture among the remains, could have once been a locket. It looks like it was smashed apart with an edged weapon.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176936
>>176934
>What doses it change?
"A sarcophagus, literally meaning 'corpse eater', gets itself name from how the limestone slowly consumes the flesh of the body. If he were in a sarcophagus for centuries without proper dressings, he would be nothing but bones or even dust by now. It's why vampires prefer wooden caskets." She explains.
>Why would we want to go looking for it at all?
"Because that's my job." Posey says, flatly
"Besides, these grounds have been disturbed, and magic casket or not, some things refuse to stay buried. If we just let the casket stay misplaced, we will regret it later, inevitably." She continues
"Besides, Glass Horizons will want to know about it before his insurance finds out."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176937
176938
>>176935
What's inside the locket?
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176938
176939 176940
>>176937
The interior is painted with what seems to be a mare and three foals.
Anonymous
25cff16
?
No.176939
176942
>>176938
"A memory of something precious... It's not easy to tell now that any magic it would have had has now vanished, but it's plausible." Rosey Ring replies, squinting at the locket
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176940
176941
>>176938
"May I take this? I may be able to confirm it after some research."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176941
>>176940
With a bit of trepidation due to the nature of the item in question, Silver nods. Realizing that it may be difficult to tell in the dark, he vocally confirms this.

"You may. Maybe it is real, or maybe it turns out Maren got his magic sword out for nothing after all, who knows."
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176942
176943 176945
>>176939
It appears to have been made of silver, and it has most certainly been cut by a sword.

>>176917
Neela stares at Kira silently. She has returned to laying on the couch upright with her hooves and forelegs hanging off.

In Free Rover’s defense, she looks and smells delectable
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176943
176944
>>176942
"...yeah, you know I wouldn't. Anyways...enough about me, I'm a pretty boring subject. But you..." Kira rights herself in her coils. "So...have you had any crushes on males?"
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176944
176946
>>176943
She looks down.
“That buck earlier was cute. The mover one. Bright Due was too…”
Anonymous
25cff16
?
No.176945
176947 176950
>>176942
Posey would like to search the room where the casket was, to look for signs of any pony activity.
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176946
176958
>>176944
"Hehe, I could tell. You wanted to sit in one's lap and the other you tried hitting on even though he's married. He seemed into the attention, though, so I think you had a chance. Have, since I think we succeeded in not scaring him off!" Kira beams a bright smile at Neela.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176947
176948
>>176945
(Maybe GM pone would accept a Search roll?)
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176948
176949
>>176947
It's coming no matter what I'm this situation. Watch me roll a 1.
[1d20+5 = (6+5) = 11]
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176949
>>176948
Gonna roll for Gloomy
[1d20 = 11]
Anonymous
fdfb36e
?
No.176950
176951 176952 176957
IMG_9006.jpeg
>>176945
>No one wants to look in the only place in the entire structure that hasn’t already been checked - the only place that’s like a traditional catacomb with bodies in the walls.
I had to look up if “search” is trained check to see if maybe that’s the reason why you haven’t done it thirty posts after being told to do it.

I really am going to have to describe every single place the casket isn’t before being able to finally describe where it is, aren’t I?
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176951
>>176950
Maybe. I've forgotten where that is.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176952
>>176950
>the only place that’s like a traditional catacomb with bodies in the walls
Pardon, I just haven't been able to fully absorb the description of the dungeon.

Now that you point it out, it sounds like an obvious location to search.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
25cff16
?
No.176953
176957 176958
"Say, are there any catacombs in this dungeon? A place where various inanimate bodies or caskets may be stored?"
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176954
176956 176958
>>176914
Amber shrinks beneath the scolding of her father the would-be murderer. She looks aside with teary eyes before forcing herself to look back at him. Her lips are stretched back to the point her molars are showing, and her voice is tremulous.

"But…ponies would be talking about what happened to Vaeltaja. Maybe even more than they are now, whether they know the truth or not. They'll be hanging onto his words, thinking about what was done to him. I'm scared too, Papa, but doing this will only make things worse before the inspector comes, and we'll have to bear the guilt of knowing what you did."

She sniffs. The filly is leaned back low enough to make an indent in the snow. "There has to be another way. You could, you could…send him away from the village so nopony talks to him. And there must be something we don't know about, since ponies don't act this way just from words. Something else is doing that."

>>176930
Would Silver know what the Dread League is? I thought it was basically unknown to most.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176956
>>176954
It doesn't come up in conversation often, but he's mentioned knowing they exist before.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176957
176958 176961
>>176953
>>176950
If Silver's found it, he could show the way. As it is, his player has forgotten.
Anonymous
2305eee
?
No.176958
176959 176960 176961 176964 176965
>>176946
She smiles, tilts her head, and briefly wags her puffy tail. “You think so?”

>>176953
Pear Faucet:
“Yes, the set of hallways past the entry door have recessed burial chambers. It was probably the first place we catalogued.”

>>176957
Silver perhaps recalls a skeleton becoming animated and pulling itself out of the walls in the hallway not far past the entry door where they found and fought The Corporal.

>>176954
“Little pony… You just… We have to do something to stop him. To stop this. We can’t banish him. He’s too popular. We’d have to bring it up in council, and Ukkonen would defend him. He would defend himself. It wouldn’t work. It would put us in danger, if anything. We can’t reason with him. He thinks the apocalypse is coming and will not fear the Central Council. He is beyond reason. The most obvious thing to do would be to go get the inspector, probably at Kaukainen Piste, and tell him we have a compliance and probably a medical emergency that we cannot contain. But he’ll think it only got this bad by our deliberate indifference. You must understand. I was in the War. Our Council has already been written up for much, much less egregious violations of the ban on public displays of religion. We will be suspected. Not just Vaeltaja.

I think there is something else happening. A virus, or maybe a bacteria. Probably locked in the soil, and unleashed when that meteor melted and scattered the frost. Distemper, or something else. We’re seeing it more amongst Vaeltaja’s followers because he takes them out to The Blast.

But maybe it is just religious fervor. When the role of Shaman was abolished, it created a desire for a new priest. The Pathway Forward is not popular out here as the Old Gods, even the Central Council understands that. There is a reason why Pakkasen wanted to let Vaeltaja preach when he first started. There is a reason Ukkonen follows him even now. Vaeltaja preaches of a world where we see our loved ones again - of a world that isn’t so dark and so cold. Little Kultainen, you need to understand. This is all nonsense. The pathway forward to a better world and a better life - this one and only world, and our one and only life - will be long, hard, and require great sacrifice, but it is very much worth it. And if you want us to see each other after this week, Varltaja must be taken care of.”
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176959
176966
>>176958
Silver shivers when remembering The Corporal. That was a fight that nearly did them all in.
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176960
176966
>>176958
Kira nods enthusiastically.

"Well yeah! If he wasn't into it you'd think he would have stated, 'ma'am, I'm married' or something like that towards your advances. But he didn't, so...I think you have a chance!"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
e0cb42b
?
No.176961
176965 176966
>>176957
Catacombs are something that Posey would be interested in examining even if she had no quest, just for recreation.
>>176958
>“Yes, the set of hallways past the entry door have recessed burial chambers. It was probably the first place we catalogued.”
"That sounds like the ideal place to hide a casket. Let's go check there."
Amber Sunset
3754071
?
No.176964
176966
>>176958
Tears run down Amber's cheeks as she listens to the horrible dilemma. "If you can kill him, you can drive him away. Just get him away from here without hurting him. Please don't do anything so terrible!"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
9ecac92
?
No.176965
176966
3fe.jpg
>>176961
>>176958
Posey's pace increases as she hears that there are catacombs to explore.
Anonymous
ba04f1b
?
No.176966
176968 176969 176978 176984
>>176960
Stilling wagging her small, tuft of a tail,
"Hey yeah, that's right. He seemed a bit receptive. You think we'll see him more, right? Maybe he'll be even more receptive in the future. It's a shame we couldn't get either of those movers to stay... Maybe if we had some alcohol. That's what we really need is some alcohol.

>>176964
He breaks eye contact and looks away. He appears to be crying to.

"We don't - we don't have much of a choice, Kultainen..."

>>176959
>>176961
>>176965
Moving away from the central area and along the hallway, past the laboratories, the hallway extends for some feet before turning at a 90 degree angle. There, it continues, coming to a busted down wooden door on the right, and then eventually ending in a mirrored 90 degree turn to the left, which comes back to the central room.

Along the walls of the hallway are recessed burial chambers like in a traditional catacomb or crypt. These are two high, each one offset from the one above or below, and with rounded ends on the top, but flat on the bottom. Some of these are sealed with brick and mortar. Some of them are completely open, and completely vacant. Where this occurs, Posey can see that these are carved into the clay, and supported by stone. A few have clear evidence of being broken open, with bricks on the ground, or with bricks partially covering them. One at least contains a complete equine skeleton.

Periodically, along the floor, there are little markings, sometimes with a small flag with a flat base to stand upright, sometimes with yarn, and most often with chalk, of locations along the floor.

But what may be most interesting is one of the burial chambers on the lower level. Barely squeezed in between the rounded portions on the top, and filling essentially the entire space, is a large stone rectangle. There are signs of chipping and scratches along the edges of the recess, and a few on the stone itself.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176968
176970
>>176966
>But what may be most interesting is one of the burial chambers on the lower level. Barely squeezed in between the rounded portions on the top, and filling essentially the entire space, is a large stone rectangle.
That sounds like what we're looking for. Posey examines this first.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176969
176970
>>176966
>Some of these are sealed with brick and mortar. Some of them are completely open, and completely vacant. Where this occurs, Posey can see that these are carved into the clay, and supported by stone. A few have clear evidence of being broken open, with bricks on the ground, or with bricks partially covering them.
Does the brick and mortar appear to be more than 1 foot?
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176970
176971 176978
>>176968
It is not decorated in any way, and fits within half of an inch of the top of the recess, and is snug with the edges, clearly having hit and slightly damaged the edges of the recess as it was placed. Best guess to the substance it is made of is a cheaper or perhaps spoiliated white marble. The lid as well as parts of the container itself show obvious signs of serious cracking and damage, very unlikely to have been caused during transport, based on the positioning of the damage on the top. There are presumably slots for iron spikes to keep the top in place, though the marble near these is cracked.

>>176969
About 7 and three quarters inches in thickness, which is to say, standard brick width.

Go ahead. You won’t desperately wish you had those spells slots later, to accomplish what could have waited a day, or have been accomplished with a hammer.
Anonymous
3c70351
?
No.176971
176972
>>176970
>Go ahead. You won’t desperately wish you had those spells slots later
Well, my detect magic is a 1/day SLA, so I use it or lose it.
>>176970
>It is not decorated in any way, and fits within half of an inch of the top of the recess
Does it match the description of the false iron casket?
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176972
176973
>>176971
“That’s about the sane dimensions, more or less” she says. “Maybe very slightly larger, but I don’t have a measuring tape on me.”

>if you detect magic on the burial chamber you won’t be able to detect magic on anything later
Actually, that makes things more fun
Anonymous
3c70351
?
No.176973
176974
>>176972
>“That’s about the same dimensions, more or less” she says. “Maybe very slightly larger, but I don’t have a measuring tape on me.”
"Have you actually seen the original?"
>you won’t be able to detect magic on anything later
I can still cast it out of my lvl 1 slots, but I would rather avoid that because I need those, and Dread Necromancers don't get any lvl 0 slots for some reason.
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176974
176975
>>176973
>I can still cast it out of my lvl 1 slots, but I would rather avoid that because I need those
Correct. You do.

“Uh, well… briefly… I can confirm there were no markings and I do think it was marble. But I can’t say I did much more than a quick examination.”
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176975
176976
>>176974
"I could cast a spell to detect Undead, with the same range as my magic detection. It would at least tell us if there's any monsters nearby or in this casket."
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176976
176977
>>176975
Pear:
“Any monsters, in that casket or otherwise, are sealed away. They are only dangerous if we disturb them.”
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176977
176979 176980
>>176976
"That I know, but it's also my job to catalog the presence of monsters in this catacomb."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176978
176979
>>176966
>>176970
Silver got more than just a brief look at the original casket. Can he tell if it's the original?
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176979
176980 176981
>>176977
Her ears go down
“This whole place has been gone through by raiding parties twice now. We’ve been in here working for days. There can’t be monsters in here we didn’t know about.” She speaks without confidence.

>>176978
If it isn’t, it’s most certainly of the same make.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176980
>>176979
>>176977
"It would not look good for my track record if I missed undead creatures here when I had already received payment. Anyways, this casket looks like it is correct one."

(OOC, there is one issue with using detect spells I've figured out: if you use Detect Magic, you won't find any other magic items left to be found here in the catacombs, and Detect Undead is the same way for undead if Rosey was, somehow, an evil dread necromancer looking for undead minions for her new lair.)
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176981
176982 176983
>>176979
>She speaks without confidence
"You can't even be sure if Curwhinny was a lich or not. And if this-" she brandishes the locket "really was a phylactery, then that means that Curwhinny is a lich just waiting to be released. It's my responsibility to identify the problem before it acutely gets worse." She replies
"A landslide, an earthquake, a flood, an astrological event, a change in local politics, a war. There's no shortage of factors that could change the behavior of undead and rouse them from their slumber. Knowing is half the battle. Besides, I owe it to Mr. Horizons to report any potential liabilities on the property to him." Posey says
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176982
176983
>>176981
She visibly cowers down towards the floor.

“okay…”
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176983
176985 176988
>>176982
Silver gently pets the scared mare's mane.

"It is okay. Personal experience has taught me that undead are notoriously weak to bombs and guns."

>>176981
"It sounds as if you mean to open casket. Are you?"
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176984
176993
>>176966
"I definitely think we'll see more of him! It's not just that he's a source of food for me, I really do think he came to like us and see us as friends, seeing well beyond our forms and origins to see that we're genuinely great creatures! And now that he sees that, I'm certain your charms will be even more effective on him!" Kira flicks her tongue as she smiles. "Some alcohol would be nice to have for occasions. I like a good glass of wine every now and then. How about you? Any beer, wine, or spirits you're a fan of?"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176985
176986 176988
>>176983
>"It sounds as if you mean to open casket. Are you?"
"Before I decide that, I'm going to check if anything in it will leap out at us."

Posey casts Detect Undead.

>weak to bombs and gun
The white unicorn snickers.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176986
176987 176988
>>176985
Silver sees that little unicorn snicker.

"What? How do you think I ended up dealing with army of undead that was holed up in these catacombs? I took potion to hide me from them, lured them out into quarry using smelly bait and gunshots, drew them over to unexploded bomb lodged in quarry wall, and blew it up from distance using rifle. Most were obliterated instantly, those that survived were missing such significant portions of their bodies that they were unable to move, making them easy targets to snipe. Only two that survived intact were undead knight and mummy as both were outside blast radius, and passing Roc that was lured by that same sticky bait I used tore both of them to shreds fighting over it."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
aef10b1
?
No.176987
176989
>>176986
"If you think that's enough to destroy a lich, you might be disappointed."
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176988
176989 176990 176992
>>176983
She is pet. She moves her hooves a little closer together to stand upright, and then moves back and by Silver’s side.

She raises her hoof
“Excuse me, I am weak to bombs and guns.”

>>176985
Nothing. Nothing in the casket. The walls next to Posey, however….

>>176986
“Passing Roc?”
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176989
176993
>>176987
Silver seems a little unconvinced that a lich could survive being blown to literal pieces, or would even want to survive.

>>176988
Have we mentioned that Pear is a silly pony? Still, probably a smart decision to stand next to the strong and seemingly confident Silver.

"Yes, passing Roc. Those giant birds that hunt dragons? Came out of seemingly nowhere and started fighting mummy and undead knight for bait. It is why those two were in such terrible condition."
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176990
176991 176992 176993
>>176988
>Nothing in the casket.
"No undead in this casket."
>The walls next to Posey, however….
Posey cautiously moves in that direction, concentrating on the spell to read the strength of the aura.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176991
>>176990
And by move, I mean just aim the cone in that direction.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=giF3A1d2ox0
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176992
176993
>>176990
>>176988
Hmm...it could be they were smart enough to shuffle the caskets around, in case someone came snooping. Can Silver recall any other details about the casket that mark it as unique?
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.176993
176994 176995 176996
>>176984
“He’s a source of foo- oh, you mean the farm. I definitely want to see him again. Hopefully with alcohol. Yes, I like all alcohols. Well, most. Vodka is the best because it works the quickest, but I’ll take a cheap wine or beer. You have wine back in… where your from?

>>176989
No ur a silly pony

>>176992
Not… that I can recall

>>176990
It’s two, one on each side besides the casket. One is on the higher level (on the left) and one is on the lower level (on the right). Both are not especially strong, but probably muffled by the brick and stone.
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176994
>>176993
is silly
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176995
176997
>>176993
>Both are not especially strong, but probably muffled by the brick and stone.
If it's less than a foot of stone, Posey should be able to determine the aura strength.
A lich, by definition, has 11 or more HD, so it's aura strength would be overwhelming.

Posey squints as she aims her cone of detection up and down the catacombs.
"...I can't sense any auras that match that of a lich..."
Kubana "Nope Noodle" Kirafiki
3952934
?
No.176996
>>176993
"Well yeah, did you think I meant I was going to eat him? Anyways, yeah, we've got wine, it's probably the most common option for alcohol we've got. There's beer, too, but I definitely prefer wine. I've never heard of vodka before."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.176997
177000
>>176995
"Hmm...it could be they were wrong, and he was not in fact lich. It seems weird they would use their dying moments to write that warning for nothing, however. In that case he would likely be little more than skeleton. It is also possible he could be masking his aura, somehow, such as if he is in kind of stasis. Can you detect any kind of life signs?"
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.176998
Posey takes out her notebook and begins writing something.
Rosey "Posey" Ring
3c70351
?
No.177000
177001 177007 177032
>>176997
>Can you detect any kind of life signs?
"I can detect magic, and I can detect undead. Anything else is outside my sphere of expertise."
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.177001
177032
>>177000
"Why not? Can you not just...reverse polarity of spell matrix?"
Anonymous
c59d419
?
No.177002
177004 177005 177032
God fucking damn it
Rosey "Posey" Ring
e998f94
?
No.177004
177007
>>177002
Are you okay?
Anonymous
db47b75
?
No.177005
177007
>>177002
yeah, whats up?
Anonymous
db47b75
?
No.177006
oh, lol
Silver "The Floof" Sword
3952934
?
No.177007
177013
>>177004
>>177005
He's upset because he started a new thread and didn't get to use >>177000 to start it.
Anonymous
db47b75
?
No.177013
>>177007
>the chain is broken
<Be at peace, I've got this
Anonymous
db47b75
?
No.177032
>>177000
>>177001
>>177002
<Let me just knot these three
<Thats NOT what I meant
<Try to be more careful where/when you step in the future. GM, the seals remain intact; Digit-priori remains in effect