/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>175550
"Well, first time we came through here to try to clear undead, we brought entire group. There were mostly ponies with us, but there was also one kirin. Kirin nun, to be exact. Me and one other pony went down to this exit to try to seal it with dynamite we found on body of unfortunate quarry worker who had decided to explore this ruin while it was still occupied. We figured we did not need any other unfortunate souls to try to explore from this direction, and we did not want any undead wandering outside into city. While we did that, rest of group came upon library, and when kirin saw books she immediately thought 'evil books' and went full nirik. By time fuse had been lit and we had returned to group, most of library was up in flames and it was too late to try to stop fuse on dynamite, so we ran back way we came as fast as we could. When dynamite went off, it sealed catacombs and that fire immediately ate most of oxygen inside. We barely made it out.

"I suppose benefit of that is that fire was snuffed out before it could claim everything. It ate through all of oxygen too fast. As for this exit...well, our original plan did us no good. When it was just me I had idea to lure undead out here to kill them with unexploded bomb, and ended up having to reclear all of debris our dynamite made."

>>175550
Oof...this is the hardest part of the transaction...it's always so hard, seeing the farmer get ready to part with their livestock for the final time, especially when they've spent time raising and caring for it. She knows she needs to eat, but still...

>>175550
>>175552
He continues petting the kid, which has calmed down significantly
“We call him ‘Nippy’ because he likes to nip at your fetlocks.” He says. He does not move closer to Kira. It’s not easy to carry the kid and walk, and he certainly can’t pet it. He continues sitting down.

Kira is likely going to need to come to him. Don’t move too fast, or he’ll run away.

>>175551
“Ugh….” She shakes her head “So much lost. Maybe I should expect that from a kirin… so many don’t appreciate old knowledge and faiths. They just dismiss it as ‘evil,’ not willing to recognize that the spirit is above good and evil.” She says, clearly holding back a much longer rant.

>>175553
D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. But also...aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhh why did they have to name him? And why did he have to tell her? That just makes it ten times worse...

"...nnnnngh...Aaauuugh..." Kira looks down, defeated. "...I can't do it. I can't eat something that cute, not him."

>>175553
While Silver does have other tasks for the day...it's not as if he needs to get to them right that minute, if she wants to share more with him.

>>175554
“Yes. You can.” Neela says. But she doesn’t want to come up to pet Kira.

The stallion continues petting Nippy, who, true to his name, tries to nip at the stallion’s hoof on one pass by his mouth.

>>175555
She blinks.
“I just… it’s a longer story but… ‘good and evil’ apply to ponies and are terms for behaviors that are good and bad within society. But outside if civilization those terms don’t have much meaning. Nature and spirit aren’t really good or evil. Hurricanes aren’t really evil, nor is fire. They kind of just are. I think burning the books of magic and lore just because the ponies who made them did not have good intentions is a bit short sited, and it shows a deep lack of trust for your fellow pony who would receive that knowledge.”

>>175556
"To be honest, it seems as though most of those books were not even really made with bad intentions. Sure, most had to do with occult or legends and myths from other societies, but none actually seemed to have been 'evil' by our sense."

>>175556
"I can't, he's just too cute, plus he's been given a name..." Her ears fold down, and she looks up at the stallion. "May I pet him?"

>>175557
I hope this is obvious, but a particular NPC’s opinion an event is not the same thing as an objective and correct assessment of an event

“Exactly!” She says with exasperation, breathing outward and looking down.

“Just… why would you burn this? There’s so much history. So much… esoteric knowledge of magic, and spiritual creatures…”

>>175558
He holds out the kid with both forelegs extended. It bahs.

“Pet him? You can take him. He’s yours.”

He then adds.
“Don’t put too much stock in the names. We just give them that to tell which is which. He was being raised to be eaten anyways.”

>>175559
"Aww, but he's just so...so...argh, come on, Kira..." She shakes her head, still being conflicted on what to do. "Ponies really just make everything around them so much cuter. I never had this much trouble back in Zebrica..."

>>175560
The stallion smiles, and continues holding out the kid with both hooves.

“If you’d like to buy another one, or maybe a lamb…”

Neela scrunches, and both ears are back.

>>175559
Unless it's Best Pony

"Well we did delve into lair of long-gone necromancer or lich. It is just...very unfortunate she immediately took assumption that it was all evil."

>>175561
"Maybe, maybe..." Since he keeps holding the kid out, Kira slowly slithers up to him, and begins to pet the kid between his ears. "Maybe I'll take one of the bigger ones instead, after all. I'll be sluggish for a time, but...maybe it will be easier to actually get over any cuteness."

>>175562
“Neigh”
She looks away and whips her tail.

“Very much so…” she shakes her head “Of course the fire was started by a Kirin…”

>>175563
He continues holding the kid up. Nippy bahs, and squirms when Kira touches him, but he’s held in place. The head is kind of soft, and the fur kind of stands up from his head.

So soft. So… Juicy…

>>175564
Such helpless prey, too...gosh, if only he didn't have a name...she continues petting him, though.

"Is the big one still on offer?"

>>175564
"It probably did not help she was nun, as well." He chuckles. "Again, it could have been much worse. Had that fire been allowed to continue, not even these pages would have been left. All would have turned to ash. At least something can be salvaged and saved."

>>175565
“Oh yeah, that’s Hopper. He’s a two and a half year old buck. We thought he would be a good breeding buck but… No, didn’t quite make the cut. Sure, I can go get him for you. 175 bits. Be very careful with him though. We have to keep him on a rope. He will jump the fence.”

Nippy’s helplessness is actually a good thing. Kira can simply hold him like burger. A goat like Hopper, however, will need to be constricted, have his throat slit, or drugged.

>>175566
“Yeah” she nods, and looks down at the pages.
“It’s something. But something that hints at something more substantial.”

>>175567
"And what is that something more substantial?"

>>175567
Constricting is something she can do, though she does have one more question.

"I already gave you 50 for this little guy." She pets the little burger. "If you keep him, do I still have to pay another 175 for Hopper, or just 125?"

>>175569
He scrunches.
“Okay, 125.”

>>175570
"Trust me, I'd like to keep this lil cutie as a pet, but I just don't have the space to take good enough care of him."

Kira smiles, and pays the stallion the 125 Bits she still owes for Hopper.

"I only have one request, if possible. Is there a place where Hopper would have trouble escaping?"

>>175571
He looks up and around. Then he takes the money.

“I think so. There’s a pen just a little back that has wooden walls that are high, a wooden roof and chicken wire in between.”

>>175572
"Okay, that sounds like it will work. Thank you. Just put him in there, and I can do the rest."

>>175573
“Okay.” Holding Hopper in his foreleg, he turns around, carefully opens the door, moves away the new born with his hoof, then closes it. He sets Nippy on the ground, and Nippy immediately runs off and away.

“You know, I’ve had ponies buy goats for a manticore before. Can’t say I saw what it was they did with them. But I can imagine.”

Hopper is across the pen, tied up on a long set of twine to the fence. The goat is white and as big as the stallion, more or less. As the stallion approaches, Hopper moves towards him, leaning his head in toward’s the stallion’s hoof.

In a kind of baby voice, he says
“No, I don’t have any food for you. There’s no food for you. Now come along. He unties the twine, and pulls on it, pulling the goat along. The buck tries to jump, but the stallion pulls taught.

“I’m sorry, Hopper.” He pets the goat. “Time’s up.”

He goes a little further, through a door and into an enclosed pen that must be the one in question. He ties the goat in there, and leaves him. He comes back to Kira.
“You can enter through this pen or go around the long way through another door. He’s in there for you.”

>>175568
Pear starts to talk… and talk, and generally ramble. She does not maintain eye contact, and moves her hooves about as if the motions of her hooves somehow aid in communicating what she’s talking about.

“Well, looking here, you can see a work religious poetry that references a condition after the universe consolidated into an orderly form. You see, in some traditions, the universe was at first without form and chaotic, then order is placed upon it and it becomes something more familiar to us. Still in an ancient age of gods and heroes, but there are things like, for example, time and three dimensional space, which didn’t necessarily exist in the primordial chaos. So. There’s a fight between the god of chaos and god of order or what have you, order wins, chaos is banished, the primordial essence is ordered. Thats not what this is about. This is about creatures - I guess ‘creature’ is the closest word I can find because they behave like living things - creatures that live in the proposal chaos, or maybe are created as the darkness withdraws. These things are not primary gods, so almost no source ever names them. Well, except Erebus, god of primordial chaos, who is referenced here. Anyways, this document references those… things…”

“Now here’s why this document is so interesting, and why you should care. This document is about the religion of the Crystal Ponies. The Crystal ponies don’t have a story of creation. They don’t have a story of the implementing of order. They don’t have a beginning. To the Crystal ponies, the universe has always existed and always has. It’s like Celestialism in that way. These ‘primordial entities’ are ideas in some of the oldest pony religions. They are in the changeling and the First Nation religion like the wolves, though not the buffalo…” Even Pear can sense this is a tangent, and she pulls herself back. “But basically this document describes things in an honestly kind of purple prose, that have no business being there. Now, we know that the Crystal Ponies have similar concepts. Like the Umbrum, demons and shadows and darkness long locked away in deep caverns and vaults beneath the earth. But it doesn’t have a beginning of the universe.”

“So.” She manages to look at Silver again “what caused this discrepancy? Now, the easiest answer is that the interpreter, who was a modern equestrian, added or misinterpreted material in the original text that’s being transliterated here, so that an idea that’s not from the crustal ponies is being misattributed ti the crustal ponies. I would never say that ‘Erebus’ and ‘the Ubrum’ are the same entity. But I don’t know, others disagree. Maybe this interpreter decided to refer to the Umbrum as Erebus? It’s a poem after all. That’s the most boring answer. But a more interesting answer would be that what we are seeing here is an older strain of the Crystal religion before it was influenced by the Equestrian religion. What if earlier versions of the religion did have a beginning if the universe? Or what if this is a lost strain? Or what if this is actually an older religion, now lost? I think a lot of these questions could be answered if we had the whole book. But we’re not going to know, because we are not going to find it.”

She places her hooves over her face, and seems sad.

>>175574
"I don't know what a manticore is, but I doubt they eat like lamias do."

She watches and waits patiently as he ties up Hopper and returns to Kira. Even with an older goat, the pony still makes him cute, and there does exist some hesitation within the young lamia seeing him interact with his goat he's spent so long caring for. She needs to eat, though, and deep within a primal part of her lends her the resolve to not back down. In this world, there are predators and prey, and it is the natural order of things for the predator to consume, and the prey to be consumed. She nods to the farm stallion as he returns.

"Do you need any more time with him before? It will be quick, when it happens, I promise you."

>>175575
Silver reaches over with his hooves and wraps up the adorkable mare in a hug. He gives her a friendly squeeze to try to console her.

>>175577
squeaky
“Umph!”
The little mare is squeezed

With Pear sitting and Silver standing, this means he leans over her. Her hat is tilted, nearly coming off. She is smaller and thin, fairly lacking in muscles. Her construct is closer to a unicorn or Pegasus than an earth pony. Her coat and mane are both soft and well groomed.

>>175576
The stallion looks at Hopper - almost straight in the eyes because they are almost the same height - and gives him a scritch on the top of his head between his ears.
“No.” He answers. He looks at the goat a little longer, then turns back to Kira.

“Do you need his horns removed?”
The buck has horns of moderate length several inches long that are curved back and recurve at the end. These will not get stuck in her throat, now would they tear her if the goat moved its head back and forth in Kira’s stomach. But they would make regurgitation very difficult if, for whatever reason, Kira needed to. She’s almost never needed to. Kira also needs to know that while yes, this goat will go down easily enough, and yes, he’ll digest easily enough, he is definitely going to immobilize Kira for some time, he is definitely big enough that his presence in Kira’s gut could inspire unwanted speculation as to her diet, and even getting back home from the farm may not be easy. But if she does choose this goat, this will be the last time for at least 10 days, maybe longer, she’ll need to do this. It isn’t too late to choose the kid, or maybe some third animal instead.

>>175578
He keeps her locked in a hug for a few seconds longer, enjoying the warmth and softness of the mare while he cane before he lets her go. He looks back down at the pages.

"Hmm...does your university have spellcasting unicorns? I am certain there are spells for this specific circumstance, to restore damaged book pages or even completely reverse damages and reconstruct entire books."

>>175578
No, Kira has waffled about for too long already. If she doesn't go along with it now, she might not be able to at all. She looks at the tied up goat, destined for her dinner.

"Does it hurt the goat at all?"

>>175580
“Bah!”
Hopper moves back, as if sending something wrong, so the stallion pets him more.

“It does, yes. The horns are a part of the skull bone and partly alive.”

>>175579
squeaky
The little mare is hugged. She almost falls over when Silver releases her, until she catches herself with her forehooves.

“There is restoration magic, yes, but the problem is that entire pages and parts of the book are missing.” She answers

>>175581
Kira shakes her head.

"Better not, then. I'm not here to make the poor thing hurt and suffer." She sighs. "Alright. When you've spent enough time with him, you can go. I'm not sure you'd want to be around for this." Looking back at Neela, Kira continues, "I know you said you can serve as a witness so that ponies don't think I actually ate, well, a pony, but you don't have to physically watch, either."

>>175581
Silver does try to help steady her, when he notices how off-balance she is.

"Perhaps there are spells for that, too, to find missing parts of same object. Or, at least I would think so. Magic has never really been my specialty."

>>175582
“Hokey dokey” the stallion says, wrapping the twine around a hoof and walking backwards. Hopper complies, and trots along. The stallion takes the goat to the pen, not that many feet away.

Neela waits until the stallion is away, and moves to the edge of the imaginary ring around Kira. She looks at Kira with both ears up to address her directly.

“Why wouldn’t I want to watch?” She asks in a venomous, mocking tone. “You’re just a normal pony, right? Like any Equestrian pony, right? You come up to restaurants and eat your stuffed peppers, you buy your spice at the market. What is there to hide? What is unusual? You’re not a monster, right?” She tilts her head and has a smile that suggestive of anger.

“This morning, I was sold for a bribe to a monster with the suggestion that I be eaten as food by the masters of this land. Oh they were joking, sure, but I know that they were also dead serious. This is all just a game to them. A game of which stallion can prove they are the bravest and who can handle reptiles. They could have just sent you back. That’s probably what they would have done if their supervisors were looking over their shoulder. But instead they let you go because they thought you’d be a great pet, or a mascot maybe, while those of us without paperwork are set to become slaves.”

She tilts her head with a maddened smile.
“And then, for the first time in my life fortune smiles upon me, because someone - someone - thought I was cuter than a goat. Not as cute as a baby goat, no, but cuter than an adult. So I get to live instead of being eaten by the master’s mascot.”

She leans in, lifts a fore hoof and narrows her eyes at Kira, not in anger but a sort of gleeful examination.
“But those customs ponies were right. The old Nagini, the monster of the stories of my youth, requires a sacrifice. And so long as you live, some creature must die.” She tilts her head the opposite direction, ears flopping in the process. “That’s not going to be me.” Turning her body to the side, as if to follow Kira. “Let’s see what a Nagini really is. How you really live.”

Neela breathes out, evidently done.

>>175583
squeak
“Well, yeah but… it’s been burnt.” She says, presumably no longer cradled by Silver.

>>175584
"Okay, but...what if you used both of those spells?"

She is not current being cradled, but if that's what she wants...

>>175506
Posey will spend part the next day selling her equipment in the city.

>>175506
He closes his eyes, tilts his head to the left in a shrug, and momentarily takes his right hoof off of the steering wheel.
“Suit yourself.”

>>175586
Which equipment? You’ve mentioned the jewelry, but what else? The jewelry is maybe 90 bits, being on the lower end.

>>175584
Kira blinks, not fully able to unpack everything of what Neela said and meant in her rant. Even though it hadn't been invented yet, it is as if she had been flashbanged by words, unable to really form much of a response, not even so much as a rebuttal, to what Neela has said as it still processes through her mind. Only one thought manages to make its way through the mess of thoughts to the surface to be spoken by Kira:

"Who said you weren't cuter than a baby goat?"

But the rest of her thoughts will have to wait. In Neela's own words, the sacrifice is ready, and her hunger needs to be sated. She waits for the stallion to finish his work, to tie up the goat inside the pen, and leave before she slithers forward into the pen with the goat, taking the opposite side of him. She looks at Hopper with sad eyes, knowing what is about to happen, what must happen.

>>175585
The little pony remains uncraddled. Hard to say what she wants.

“Well…” she tilts her head, and ear flopping down. “I don’t really know. I can’t say magic is my specialty…”

>>175588
Neela scrunches, and flops her ears down.

But the goat is ready. Kira must either slither around the pen, or through it.

>>175587
>The jewelry is maybe 90 bits
Oh.
>Which equipment?
The Healer's Kits. The armor she looted. The silver holy symbol. Some of her scrolls.
Mostly just the things I know the market value of, but probably won't use.

>>175590
>>175587
Since the jewelry isn't worth that much, Posey will only sell the rings, since she can wear the rest.

>>175589
Around the pen, I suppose.

>>175589
Well, nothing for it other than to cradle her and see how she reacts. As Silver resumes the cradling of the small mare, he continues chatting with her.

"What about old, ancient magics?"

>>175590
Actually, I'm going to keep the holy symbol. It could be useful for impersonation in the future.

>>175593
“Eep!”
The little pony is cradled. She looks up at Silver with an awkward, toothy smile, and a blush.

“Eh heh, yeah…” she looks away, and then uses her hoof to move her mane, and her hat, out of her eyes. “What I study is all religious in nature.” Moving her eyes up and around and using her hoof to gesture, “rituals, prayers, things like that.” Still smiling awkwardly. “Not really… practical magic. Unless asking a spirit to bring rain or put a hex on your neighbor is your idea of ‘practical’.

>>175591
The rings were the only thing counted in that.

>>175592
Kira slithers the wrong way around, to come to a door on the enclosed pen. The stallion opens it and walks through it.

“Uh, lift the latch to get in or out. You can untie the goat, if you want.” He has a toothy smile, nods at Kira, and moves past her. He isn’t sticking around. Neela follows Kira

>>175594
Do it.

>>175595
>The rings were the only thing counted in that
Posey still has a necklace, bangle, and bracelet from her adventures, but she likes gold jewelry so she'll wear it unless she needs to sell it.
Selling the armor would put a divine scroll of Imbue With Spell Ability within Posey's budget... but thinking in character, she would just trust the hyena to come up with whatever spells he wants to expend to buff her for the ritual himself.
She does sell her scroll of Hide From Undead, because it's worthless to her (she can already cast the spell with a higher DC) and idk why I put it in my starting equipment.
Posey meditates for her spellcasting during the day, so after her shopping she spends 8 hours relaxing in the manor with Gloomy.

I guess that would be all that Posey is able to do within this day.

After doing her daily preparations, Posey will make sure that her offering is still alive.
"Good evening, Sasha." Posey declares, as she enters the room
"I have decided what I will do with you. You will be doing some charity work at the local kaftar church."
"I owe a favor to the Kaftars, and you won't stand out too much in their neighborhood, at least not at a glance. Do your job well, and the Kaftars will see to it that you're released peacefully."
Bluff check
[1d20+14 = (16+14) = 30]
>inb4 1

>>175597
I really hope I didn't waste that RNG 16 that I would have needed for the ritual...

>>175437
>>175436
>>175432
acute!

The sounds of angry pony, occasional shouting, Mustard Trim talking, and howls of laughter

>>175597
>>175598
The skin, in those few places where it shows through the fur, like the nose and the edges of the eyes, is black. She looks oddly stiff, with yellowing eyes, pupils that "bleed" black into her irises. Her eyes are open, and there is a small smile on her face. She does not shiver nor shake, but her chest rises and falls almost normally.

"Okay." Is her only reply

>>175598
You did.

>>175596
>8 hours relaxing in the manor with Gloomy.
lol no

The colt pleads with Posey
"Weren't you going to take me into town? You said there was chocolate sprinkles and pretzels?!"
Pic very much related

>>175606
Okay, Amber has to see this. Can she peer around a corner?