Darkest Hour CYOA 8

You decided to learn about Puzzled Path, so you trotted towards the stag and asked him: "I was just wondering - how did you end uo in the situation like this?"
Path gave you a tired look and replied: "I had left from my home village, because of a 'call to adventure'. During my escape I had 'borrowed' some notes from our elder and decided that the Harbinger of Destruction would be worth getting my hooves on. Unfortunately for me I was detained by the guards who had reported to their superiors about my notes" - Talk to the deer ask him about himself - "And they decided to 'borrow' the idea of obtaining the Harbinger from me."
"And do you have any idea what this Harbinger is?"
"Apart from the fact that it is a powerful magical artifact - none."
"A shame." - you sighed.

Is there anything else you want to ask him?

>>29278379
Things may not have turned out as you hoped but are you still excited to see it?

>>29278379
How proficient is he in the art of fucking someone's shit up? Will we have to defend him all the time or is he able to take care of himself good enough to not be a burden?

>>29278390
>>29278392

"Well, things may not have turned out as you hoped, but are you still excited to see it?"
"I would be only excited if Lord Phoenix would not decide to test the Harbinger's powers on me." - he replied - "But until that doubtlessly exciting - for him, of course - moment, I'm afraid it would be your job to protect my hide. I was unambiguously warned that if I try to use magic then my head will have no time to say farewells to the rest of my body."

Your reply?

>>29278407
So yeah, this is going to be our average defend someone's ass mission. I don't have any more questions, let's be on our way.

>>29278407
A shame. Don't worry I will keep an eye on you, you are the second most valuable creature here and also I like you so I will make sure to keep you alive.

>>29278412
>>29278419

"I will keep an eye on you" - you smiled - "You are the second most valuable po- eh, person here, and I should mention that I quite like you."
"I would rather say third most valuable." - he raised his eyebrow and looked at the Lunar Generals, completely missing your compliment - "Makes me wonder where your loyalties lay."
"That's irrelevant." - you bluntly replied and trotted back to your companions.

After about an hour you had found a hill with a tonnel leading deep beneath the ground and Grim Phoenix eagerly trotted inside.
"We had tried to get the Harbinger before." - he explained, as you were walking through the ancient tonnel - "So there should be nothing dangerous for an hour or so."
"Don't worry about the traps. We have plenty ways to deal with them. By the way, how long would it take to reach that Harbinger?" - inquired Perturbation, ignorant to the weird architecture of the tomb.
"We spent about three hours walking through that star-damned labyrinth, though we had spent most of the time solving their damned riddles and avoiding the traps. Path claims that we were only halfway to the prize." - Phoenix replied, disappearing around the corner. After you turned around it, you were greeted by an elaborate gate leading inside the tomb. Gate was open and you could see that both gate and walls of the tomb were made of some strange material. Your first thought was that it was made out of bone, but you quickly disregarded it as stupid, besides even you could feel that the material, whatever it was, was permeated with magic.
Your journey through the tomb was long, yet relatively peaceful, since Perturbation and her captains managed to disarm more traditional traps with ease, while Path helped you to avoid the magic-based ones using his notes.
1/2

>>29278457
2/2

Finally you emerged into a long and wide corridor, with life-sized statues of deer warriors, made seemingly of the very same material that the tomb itself, in the niches on both sides of the hallway. You counted ten statues total, five on each side.
You walked undisturbed to the other end of the corridor where your path was blocked by a massive door with a bright red gem in the middle of it.
"One must touch that gem and say a password. If the password is wrong, guardians will strike the speaker down." - ammounced Path, throwing a worried glance at statues.
"So these are not just statues." - mused Phoenix - "And do you know the password?"
"I have a clue in my notes, a riddle of sorts." - deer replied - "'Their ungrateful, misbegotten kin had forged the likes of Harbinger to shape themselves in the image of their gods. Their avatars were supposed to embody the greatest virtues of their brethern, but fell prey to their own power.' The password is the name of these gods, though I have no idea whom the writer meant - deerkind had waged wars with many different creatures, many of them with their own gods."
"So we have completely no idea of what or who these 'gods' could be." - muttered Phoenix - "And we were so damn close..."
"What would you do if we hadn't brought some explosives with us?" - grinned Perturbation - "Stonewrought, do me a favour."
"If you are going to use brute force, guardians will surely wake up." - Puzzled Path warned her, as earth pony stallion trotted towards the gates.
"We'd still better set explosives right now, just in case." - sighed Phoenix - "And what can our venerable Lunar Mage say on that matter?"
"That I can't remember any race, which members were known to acquire power that could be described as divine, my lord." - Arcane replied.

Your actions?

>>29278465
If you cannot recognise the race it might be one we know little about, dragons prehapes.

>>29278465
>>29278470
Or alicorns, or dragonequuses like Discord, demigod of some sort. How many explosives do we have? Can we put some of them near the statues to blow them up just in case

>>29278470
>>29278473

"It might be dragons." - you suggested - "Or alicorns, or even dragonequuses."
"The first one is unlikely." - replied Arcane - "Dragons are not known to be religious kind. With their size and power they simply have no need in gods. The other two are... strange. I don't think there were alicorns before Celestial Siblings or dragonequi before Discord."
"Anyway, can't we just break the statues before trying to guess the right password?"
"Only one explosive, so no way." - Perturbation replied - "And I think that if we come close to them they will wake up and try to kill us, right?"
"Pretty much yes." - nodded Path.
"So we have only one try..." - you muttered.
"Not really. See, the guardians will wake up after the first wrong try, but it doesn't mean that the passage will be blocked. You're free to guess the password until you will be slain." - said deer.
"I think we can deal with them." - smirked Perturbation - "We'd still have to use the explosives if both our current options fail."

Your actions?

>>29278502
I have nothing. Unless anybody has any better ideas let's just try a diamond dog god.

>>29278502
Plant explosives near the door to make sure it will be open anyway, but maybe, just maybe we should look for answers among the things we know?

>>29278511
Auctualy I almost wonder if maybe one of the sisters is the god, more likely celestia as if it was nightmare we would probably know.

>>29278543
Maybe star entities?

>>29278511
>>29278535
>>29278543
>>29278552

"Maybe it was a god of diamond dogs? Or some star entity?"
"No." - Path vigorously shook his head - "Definetely no. No sane deer would call them gods."
"Explosives are planted, ma'am." - reported Stonewrought - "You want me to try and open this door with less damaging way?"
"Wait a minute." - Perturbation replied - "My best bet is either dragonequus or alicorn, though I see no way how either of them would fit."
"At least it's something we had already met." - agreed Phoenix - "Maybe flip a coin?"

Your actions?

>>29278599
Since we can try more than once, try Minotaur, Gryphon, Draconequus and Alicorn. I think the rarest should be first in order.

>>29278599
Alicorn first.

>>29278609
>>29278625

"Let's start with Alicorns." - you said.
"Works for me." - shrugged Perturbation - "Stonewrought, please."
Earth pony stallion extended his forehoof and touched the gem. As everyone present held their breath, he quietly pronounced:
"Alicorn."
Without a sound door began to open.
"Now that raises a ton of questions." - muttered Arcane.
"Oh, I couldn't care less!" - exclaimed Phoenix, darting inside the room, soon followed by everypony else.

The next room was pretty spacious, with a pedestal in the middle of it and two rows of pillars near the side walls. Near the far wall stood an elaborate archway adorned with gems.
Beside the pedestal stood a thing which you could only describe as a control panel of sorts and Path instantly trotted towards it.
"What is that arc for?" - asked Arcane, carefully walking towards it.
"A mere element in an over-complicated scheme to protect the harbinger from being taken by outsiders." - replied deer, doing something with control panel - "Now step aside and don't touch anything."
Gems on the arc lighted up and you could swear that the air inside the arc began to vibrate. Then in a blink of an eye the something appeared on the top of the podium and Phoenix instantly darted to that object and grabbed it with his forehoof.
"Finally..." - he whispered - "You are mine."
Then he burst out laughing.
"My lord? Are you all right?" - carefully inquired Eternal Lux.
"Not yet." - Lunar General turned towards her and smiled, extending his forehoof and showing her the object, which turned out to be some kind of amulet.
"Look at it." - he whispered - "So tiny, yet so powerful."
"Phoenix." - ominously said Perturbation - "Whatever that thing is, I don't like it. Drop it."
"Why should I?" - he asked, while sounding genuinely surprised - "Don't you understand? When I will put the Harbinger on, I will become the perfect weapon, I will become destruction incarnate!"

Your actions?

>>29278802
Kill the Boromir at fucking once before it is too late.

>>29278802
Fuck he went mad with power
Magic path away from him and wait to see what Perturbation does, be ready to attack pheonix if she does. Open combat with a floor freeze.

>>29278828
>>29278836

You glanced at Path, who had providently hid behind the control panel, out of mad general's sight, and after you became sure that he is relatively safe you looked at Perturbation, who already had unhooked her hammer.
"Blood of mountains, Phoenix." - she growled - "Lady Nightmare herself will decide who will wear this amulet."
Eternal Lux and Mare Charmer darted to their general and unsheathed their weapons. Hoofsou and Stonewrought instantly followed their example.
Nopony had tried to start the fighting though, so you decided against breaking the fragile equilibrium.
"If she will order me to remove it, I will comply." - Phoenix smirked. The he closed his eyes and began putting the amulet on and Perturbation charged towards him, followed by her captains.
Arcane instantly launched some magic projectiles at Phoenix, while you began freezing the floor beneath him and his captains.

As amulet's chain touched his skin, pegasus began to change. His size increased and he became as big as Lady Nightmare herself. Furthermore a horn had appeared on his head, similar to one of the unicorn.
"Do you feel it, Turbo?" - he roared, opening his eyes and lighting up his horn. In an instant he was surrounded by a red magical dome which blocked Arcane's attacks. Then the dome began to expand with incredible speed. Then it threw everypony present on the ground, except the three Scions, Path who hid behind the panel and Last Word who had jumped behind the pillar since the beginning of the confrontation.
"Do you feel my power?" - Phoenix screamed in glee, taking up in the air and soaring to the fallen general.
"You are insane, Grim." - she whispered in reply.
"Insane?" - he laughed - "No. My mind is perfectly clear. It is you who are blind. With such power we can begin the assault of castle right now, yet you dare to deny me the right to use it!"
1/2

>>29279472
2/2

You were the first pony who managed to get back on her hooves. Transformed Phoenix hung over the Perturbation. Eternal Lux and Mare Charmer were standing near the pedestal, unsure of what to do next.
Your actions?

That's it for today, sorry for the delays - I had a local Great Flood in my flat.
Hope to see you tomorrow!

>>29279477
We have as big chance against him as against lady Nightmare herself.

Do not gather any attention too soon. Pretend to be as unimportant as we can. Strike Phoenix and/or amulet when he least expects it.

>>29279477
We need to act fast
Grab word and run at him as quickly as you can.

I liked the puzzle it was fun.

Pre-work bump.

>>29280678
Some might say the lack of clues was a problem but I disagree I liked that we did not auctualy have the information we needed it made it feel more real.

>>29279493
>>29279844

Taking advantage of the confusion, you darted to Last Word's hiding spot. Unfortunately, the pillars were pretty sparse, so there would be no way you could sneak close to the generals while avoiding the eyes of Phoenix and his captains.
Awaiting for the convenient moment to strike, you decided to listen to conversation between the generals.

"You had changed Phoenix." - whispered Perturbation, slowly raising back on her hooves - "Tell me, where is your sword?"
"What are you talking about?" - he replied, sounding genuinely surprised - "Had you gone blind?"
Then he unsheathed an exquisitely curved, single-edged blade and pointed it at Perturbation, but the defiant general only laughed:
"I was talking about the sword that Lady Nightmare forged for you, Grim. I remember you calling it 'perfect' and claiming that you would never part with it."
"Does it really matter now?" - Phoenix raised his eyebrow, still pointing the blade at earth pony mare.
"The fact that you had forsaken our lady? Damn yes, it matters."
"Forsaken? Please." - he pressed his free forehoof to his heart - "If I wished to betray Lady Nightmare you would already be dead. As much as I wish to kill you for your insolence, you are still a valuable asset."

You could try to charge at distracted Phoenix, but he would probably be alerted by his captains, not to mention that Eternal Lux has pretty good chances to intercept you.
Your actions?

>>29285233
Lets wait and see what happens for now.
Be ready to freeze the ground below him if things turn ugly.

>>29285253
To what end will freezing the ground serve? A flying alicorn isn't going to ignore our actions, land, and happen to slip up.

"Had you forgotten the text in Path's notes? About falling prey to it's power? Grim, for your own good, just take that thing off." - pleaded Perturbation.
"The ramblings of a deer who I bet was afraid even of his own shadow." - replied Phoenix dismissively. - "I'm going to take my leave, if you don't mind."
"Not so fast." - you heard a feminine voice coming from the arch.
You turned your attention to the archway and noticed slender figures emerging from it, while the air inside it was now visibly shaking.
Due to lack of horns on their heads, you assumed that they all were female deer. Their armor resembled one that you had seen on some statues in the hallway. All eight of them had hoofclaws and additionally four of them carried long curved blades, while another four had some whip-like weapons.

"A mere minute had passed and you are almost ready to kill each other." - smirked doe, whom you assumed to be the leader of this group - "You equines are truly pathetic. Again and again you prove that you can't be trusted even with a smallest fraction of power you currently posess."
"So you think I must give the Harbinger to you? Don't you think you are a little overconfident?" - Phoenix tilted his head.
"Not a bit." - she replied, reaching forto her saddlebags. A moment later, she got a bright red gem out of it and pointed it at the Lunar General.
The beam of crimson light struck the amulet and it's magic instantly dissipated. Grim Phoenix fell to the ground, losing his newly acquired horn and returning to his normal size. His captains instantly darted towards him.
"Now give me the amulet and I promise that your deaths will be swift." - doe grinned, slowly walking to the Phoenix, who clutched the amulet in his forehooves and dumbfoundedly looked at it.
"This amulet belongs to Lady Nightmare." - hissed Perturbation, moving past the fallen pegasus and his retinue.
"So we are going to do it the hard way." - grinned the doe and charged at the remaining general.

Your actions?

>>29285421
Fire a bolt of ice at the lead desr

>>29285421
Protect general Perturbation.
>>29285751
how heavily covering is the deers armor?

>>29285421
>>29285777
Probably much more than you'd expect, and I bet it's made of mithril or some other shit like that. They're Eldars so don't engage in cqc too soon. Distance attacks first. So bolts, I guess.

>>29285421
>>29285751
I wonder what this gap in responses was caused by I fell asleep for an hour but there was one other player. We also seem to be back up to 3 players which is nice.

fucking bump

>>29287237
Pondering bump.

Warlock where did you go?

>>29291104
The anon who makes most of the combat suggestions got to the session late so after 1 1/2 hours without any update he must have left to do something else.

>>29291141
Well, I'd make some combat suggestions too, but I'm afraid I'll fuck up, like with the ice explosion.

>>29291151
Eh that was just a breakdown of communication.

>>29291189
Blame me and alcohol. At leas we Frosty didn't die, same goes for Gust or whatever that bitchy pegasus' name was.

>>29285751
>>29285777
>>29286362

You quickly conjured three iciles and launched them at the charging doe.
It turned out that you had underestimated both her speed and durability of her armor. You had expected to hit her in the head, or at least forebody, but only one of your icicles managed to hit the plate covering her hindquarters, and of course it shattered against the armor, not even leaving a visible scratch. The doe completely ignored your attempts to harm her and bounced off the ground, aiming topounce at the Lunar General.
Perturbation swung her heavy warhammer trying to sweep the doe her asdversary away, but her asdversary made a somersault in the midair, avoiding earth pony's attack with ease. Perturbation managed to step back and the deer gracefully landed where she was standing a second ago. Then she quickly slashed her hoofclaws against Perturabtion's armor, but to her surprise she was unable to pierce it. With a gleeful roar earth pony mare swung her hammer once again, but the doe proved to be too agile for general's attacks and jumped away from her.
"We need to destroy that damned portal by any means." - hissed Perturbation. You got a feeling that she was talking to you, despite the fact that she didn't look away from the leading doe.
"Oh, I wouldn't bother about reinforcements." - she grinned - "We are perfectly capable of dealing with your lot alone."

"You!" - suddenly yelled Phoenix, for a brief moment drawing attention of everyone in the room - "You invited them! You had denied me the perfection! Die, traitor!"
Gurgling sounds escaped Path's troat as the stag suddenly clutched the collar constricting his neck, but other deer paid no attention to their suffering compatriot. Two of them followed their leader, engaging Perturbation and her captains, another three charged at Phoenix, who had risen back on his hooves, and his retinue, while the remaining two - one armed with whip and another with sword - ran towards Gust and Arcane.

Your actions?

>>29291450
We need a deer to fight a deer.
Rush to save path and get that colar off him, charge at phoenix slash down on his hoof with the glaive.

>>29291450
Save Path, he may prove useful, then focus on destroying the Warp entrance, then fight.

>>29291531
this

>>29291486
>>29291531
>>29291541

You decided that saving Path is your priority now.
"Just sit here and try to be as inconspicuous as possible." - you whispered to Last Word and ran to aid the suffocating deer.
Fortunately, no one on the room had paid attention to your movements, so you reached the control panel unharmed.
Puzzling Path was lying on the ground, as the metal collar adorned with gems tightened around his neck.

How exactly are you going to try to save him?

>>29291592
smash the gems
I misread the previous post and thought phoenix was chocking path

>>29291592
>>29291598
No, this is what the gems are alarmed for. They will choke him. What colours are the gems? Are they in any specific order we could recognize? Like moon or something?

>>29291598
>>29291605
Take a quick look at the gems, if they are identical first try just pulling the collar off.
Don't smash the gems unless it looks like he is about to die and we have run out of time to try other things (if we are already out of time to try things still try pulling it off before we smash it)

>>29291598
>>29291605
>>29291629

You carefully examined the gems - they were all purple. Your intuition told you that
The collar did not succumb to your magic, but you continued your attempts, until you felt that Path's consciousness was slowly slipping away.
You closed your eyes and directed your magic at gems. To your relief and surprise the collar broke into two parts and fell on the ground.
Stag's eyes opened wide and he took a deep breath, trying to make up for the recent lack of air in his lungs.
"Uh...thanks, I guess..." - he muttered after a few moments, rubbing his neck.

Your actions?

>>29291689
Now fucking save us you deer shit.
Proceed to hide him and ourselves before the rest of his kin can spot us. After this, try to shoot icicles at them, but relocate after every single shot in chaotic manner.

>>29291689
Tell path to help Perturbation
whisper that you don't much care if he places a low priority on keeping phoenix alive hopefully that will encourage him to help us.

>>29291714
also
>>29291705
don't call him a shit we want him to like us

>>29291714
this, Phoenix a shit

>>29291689
The enemy armor is to tough to pierce with our icycles switch to our ice blades and try to cut the gaps in there armor. But first freeze the floor around the deer fighting perturbation even if it does not trip him up it might force him to take a moment to adjust his footing so perturbation can get a swing in.

>>29291705
>>29291714
>>29291721
>>29291722

"So can you help us? I get that your relations with that shitlord Phoenix were pretty strained, but Perturbation is pretty nice, so she will not let him harm you."
Stag looked at you with incredible confusion for a couple of seconds and then grinned:
"Well, I can't promise that I'll help your comrades. But as a token of gratitude I'm going to help you."
Then his horns flashed and your body below neck had gone numb. You fell on the ground, losing control over your limbs.
"I will tell them that I killed you, so try to pretend you're dead." - you heard Path's voice behind you - "The spell will last for about ten minutes - it would enough for us to deal with others and return to Impossible City."

Your actions?

>>29291769
Help Perturbation, Gust and Arcane too. If it is not too much, get Harbinger, but if it is, let it go. We will be grateful for every of our close guys he saves. Remember his looks.

>>29291786
I want to clarify a thing for you, and probably for everyone else.
Your body below neck is paralyzed.
>You fell on the ground, losing control over your limbs

>>29291769
fuck this did not go according to plan

play along for now but the moment he faces away from us cut at him with blades of ice (or stab him in the back of the neck if there is a gap in his armor)

if we find we are unable to cast spells call out to arcane but not until he is about 10 meters away from us

>>29291786
anon we are paralyzed

>>29291794
>>29291808

But we can speak can we?

>>29291813
Yes. And you also can use magic. You are paralyzed below the neck after all.

>>29291853
And I wrote what we could say. All is well.

>>29291884
where did you do that? was it this
>>29291786
he said he was going to help the other deer anon

>>29291895
We have to cut our losses bruh.

>>29291923
oh i see what you mean yeah
>>29291786
beg him to help gust and arcane as well don't ask about harbinger though

So if I got you correctly there is one vote for asking him to knockout more of our companions and one vote for trying to kill him, right?

>>29291938
well with my post here >>29291936 it is 2 for asking him to knock out more but i would clarify it to if he does not agree kill him

>>29291938
Don't try to kill him just to try our closest comrades.

>>29291884
>>29291955

"Oh, thanks, I guess. And, well, I'll be grateful if you'll manage to save more of my comrades."
"I doubt I will manage. But I will try." - he grinned and ran in the heat of battle.

First to fall was Gust. After she got hit by a whip of one of the deer, she fell on the ground and began to scream as if she was being flayed alive.
Since she was incapacitated, two does concentrated their efforts on Arcane, who was forced to fight defensively. When Path arrived, his magic was enough to break unicorn's defense and allow the does to quickly overwhelm the Lunar Mage. Soon he too was screaming like a madpony and thrashing in agony.
After a brief conversation Path run towards the deer fighting with generals. The two does then did something - you coudln't clearly see - with your fallen companions and they stopped screaming. Then does put them on their backs and trotted towards the portal, seemingly unburdened with their weight.

Soon they will move out of your sight, but you can try to attack them.
Your actions?

>>29292104
Wait

>>29292104
fuck are they taking them
call for last word

>>29292104
Crap they look to be taking them with them
Freeze the ground behind the deer fighting the general so if she pushes them back they will have to walk on the slippery ice. Call out for word.

>>29292130
>>29292149

You decided to try and help the generals, so you froze the floor near deer fighting Perturbation. While the leading doe certainly did not expect the ice to appear behind her, nevertheless she managed to stay on her hooves.
It looked like the generals and their retinues were holding their ground - you could see at least two deer corpses, though there still were chances that they had reinforcements inbound.
You took a deep breath and yelled:
"Word, come here!"

Maybe the filly heard you, maybe not - you didn't know yet.
The one thing you knew for sure is that the two does dumped the bodies of your comrades and ran towards you, no doubt attracted by the sound.

Your actions?

>>29292181
Have we fucked the warp? I hope that deer Path knew what he was doing. I am torn between feigning unconsciousness or making them slide on the conjured ice.

>>29292181
is there any sort of gap between there helmets and body armor
if there is conjure a blade of ice behind the approaching deer where they cannot see it and slice into the back of there necks
if there is no gap do the same but make it a chunk of ice and slam it into the back of there head.

if they keep coming levitate your glaive in front of the legs of one of them at the last second to hopefully trip him up (the shaft that is so we can hit both limbs easily dont bother trying to cut the legs)

>>29292200
I think fight but
>>29292215
if we are going to do the glaive thing best not to do the ice it has a lower chance of success but will alert them to watch there feet ruining the glaive trip.

>>29292200
>>29292215
>>29292228

When two does trotted close enough, you hastily levitated your glaive from the ground in hopes of making them trip.
While one of them sprawled on the floor, the second one was probably more attentive - perhaps she noticed the glaive itself, or the glow surrounding your horn.
Either way, while you struggled to free the glaive under the tripped doe, her compatriot pounced at you.
You felt as something thin and sharp punctured the skin on your neck and almost instantly your consciousness began to drift away...

-----

You woke up in a big prison cell. Gust was sleeping on the floor on your left, near the bars, while Arcane sat on your right, looking at the ceiling and leaning against the wall.
You were surprised to notice that your captors took only your weapons, but left all your armor and possesions.
In the other end of the cell you noticed about a dozen of ponies, looking at you with a mix of anger and fear.

Your actions?

>>29292356
scream
god dammit why did i trust that fucking deer
break down in tears over your fuckup

>>29292372
Do the scream but just insult ourselves over it rather then breaking down.

>>29292372
>>29292462

"Moon damn it, why did I trust that fucking deer?" - you threw back your head and screamt to the ceiling.
"Never trust a deer." - Arcane ruefully smirked - "What happened with Path by the way? I was under the impression that he was going to die from suffocation and then he suddenly knocks you out."
"Uh, you see, since Perturbation said that we need to close the portal, I thought that probably Path could help, so I kinda saved him..."
Arcane slowly turned his head towards you and silently stared at you, processing the information.
"What." - was his only reply after about half a minute.
"Well, I thought he was a valuable asset a-and I couldn't just let him die! And don't stare at me like that, I know that I acted like a moron!"
"So it was not obvious for you that he was the one who activated the portal and invited these bitches?" - he asked, his voice shaking a bit.

Your actions?

>>29292612
I don't have the magic sense you do.
he seemed so nice to. oh god why am i such a trusting idiot.

And that's it for today.

Since there is some stuff I need to take care of tomorrow, I will start (and end) the next session a couple of hours earlier, if you guys are okay with it, of course.

>>29292657
thats fine

>>29292657
Good luck with your personal shit

Bumpity

Fucking deer I swear. Even worse race than unicorns, and that's an achievement.

>>29255833
Welp you chose a hell of a session to miss anon
>>29292612
After we have finished with our other moping and self loathing say that on top of all that we forgot to arange for words dress to be picked up if we were delayed.

>>29292637
>>29297886

"You know, I'm not really a skilled sorcerer!"
"Even an earth pony could notice that, for example, gems at the archway lit up or the air inside it vibrated. And even if you are myopic you could have thought, that maybe, just maybe, messing with control panel and activation of the portal are connected? That if Path was not involved in opening the portal, then these bitches could have taken that damned amulet eons ago?"
"Look, I don't need you reminding me of how much of a moron I am."
"Self-flagellation will definetely not help you there, but I really don't know what could possibly help, aside from medical intervention, of course. I can't help but wonder why are you still alive with the level of cretinism you had displayed. And I am perfectly aware that my rants are going to fix nothing besides my mood, so please shut up and listen. I think this is the least I deserved."
"Uh, well, so what were you going to say?"
Arcane paused for a moment and scratched his chin:
"Actually, I had already said everything I wanted. Apart from the fact that we are pretty much fucked."
"And in addition I forgot to arange for Word's dress to be picked up if we were delayed. Just awesome."
"You know, the dress is the least of our problems there." - Arcande defeatedly sighed - "Something tells me that we are not even in Equestria anymore."
"And the other ponies here?" - you glanced at the ponies in the other end of the cell, silently watching at your conversation - "They should probably know something."
"I don't think they know much more than we, and even if they do they won't tell us." - unicorn smirked - "I would even bet they would've killed us if I was not awake."
"What? Why?"
"Theological differences, I believe. Apparently we are 'accursed heretics', 'lost souls', 'damned traitors'... well, you got my point. Fortunately they still have at least a modicum of respect for superior magical skills, so they decided not to bother us anymore."

Your actions?

>>29298112
Ask him if he knows how long it has been since our capture, somebody is sure to come looking for the 2 missing generals and they may be able to activate the portal into here. If we time an escape attempt right we may be able to split the enemy forces into dealing with attacks from 2 directions at once.

Go inspect the bars or door or whatever the entrance to the cell is.

>>29298112
We should look around our cell see what sort of prison we are stuck in.

>>29298156
>>29298189

"So how much time had passed since we were captued?"
"I have completely no idea. I woke up about fifteen minutes before, while they were carrying us to the cells."
"And was there anypony except us they captured?"
"Nah. I suppose the others had managed to escape - from what I could see deer weapons are not really suited to kill."
"Oh, so we need just wait until they try save us!"
"At first they probably won't. We are not really a valuable assets, and definetely not worth breaking in the unknown place and fighting an unknown number of a members of an ancient race with sufficiently advanced magic. And if they even try, they would need to open the portal first, which might take weeks."

Instead of replying, you moved closer to the bars, careful not to wake up Gust. Straining your eyes you noticed a faint glimmer between the bars, perhaps a magical shield of sorts.
As far as you could see, though it was not much, there were more cells, which looked similar to yours, albeit they were empty. The corridor between them was pretty wide. Both walls, floor and ceiling seemed to be made of some kind of stone, while bars itself were metal.
"The shield will not let us use any kind of magic beyond the limits of the cell." - said Arcane - "I doubt we have enough power to break it."

Your actions?

>>29298189
Also look at the room outside our cell.

>>29298218
Do you know any spells that would allow us to build up magic in an object over time we could charge up my whetstone and break down the barrier maybe.

Is it just magic that the barrier stops my ice is not magical once it is made although I suppose it would be no good killing any guards if we could not then steal the keys.

>>29298218
Our hangover potion is it by any chance highly explosive?

>>29298240
More specificly could it be made to explode violently?

>>29298232
>>29298240
>>29298243

"Do you by any chance know some spell that can build up magic inside an object over time, so we could use it to break the barrier? Oh, and maybe that anti-hangover potion is explosive?"
"Two words. Collateral damage. And no, it is not explosive, I am just underlining the obvious downsides of your plan. And about charging anything up - to make it more effective than just unleashing our magc at the barrier we would need to charge it for a really long time. We would need to completely exhaust ourselves for a couple of times and something tells me that we will not stay in this cell for long."

Thinking about his words you conjured an icile and tried to levitate it between the bars.
It turned out that that barrier acted as a magical shield too, preventing physical objects from passing through it.
Your actions?

>>29298262
Look at the crowd of other ponys any we recognise.

>>29298262
If the barrier is between the bars rather then in front of them maybe breaking one of the bars will create a gap in the barrier.

>>29298276
>>29298284

You glanced at Celestia's worshippers, though you recognized none of them.
Then you got an insight.
"Hey. Since the barrier is between bars... maybe the bars itself are not protected?"
Arcane silently raised on his hooves and walked towards the bars.
"That's is... rather ingenious." - unicorn muttered after an examination and then looked at you - "I don't want to understate your rare moment of clarity, but what are we going to do next? I have yet to hear about a successeful prison break that coomenced without a detailed plan."

Your actions?

>>29298304
Let's wake gust up first in case she has any ideas. Have you seen any guard patrols go past while i was asleep we should probably move in the same direction as them so we do not run headfirst into any guards.
As for the auctual getting out of the cell i got nothing.

>>29298304
Try it on a corner bit of bar so it is unlikely to be noticed by a passing guard, maybe the shield will break easily if magic hits it from the other side.

>>29298304
Ask if arcane can ward us against the paralysis spell.

>>29298318
>>29298341
>>29298352

"We'll improvise, of course! It's all better than just sitting there. By the way, could you ward us against paralyzation spells?"
"If it was a spell used by a unicorn, then I would say that given enough time I might be able to dispel it. I have no idea how exactly deer spells work, or even if they are any different from the ones we, unicorns, use."
"Well, it was worth a try. Wake up Gust please, while I try to break these bars."
"You know, they are still made of metal. I'd rather have me breaking the bars."
"Makes sense." - you shrugged - "Try to break the corner ones first - so the guards will probably not notice it."
"I hadn't seen any patrols while I was awake, but I'm pretty sure that there are a couple near the gates to other sections of the prison, or whatever is the building we are currently in." - said unicorn and lit up his horn.

You turned towards ascended pegasus and nudged her shoulder:
"Hey, wake up. You'll miss the prison break."
"Prison break? So we lost and were captured? Great. Just fucking awesome." - muttered Gust, rubbing her eyes and then looked at ponies in the far corner of cell - "And who are these guys?"
"Celestia's worshippers." - abruptly replied Arcane, immersed in his work.
"Then I don't want to have themwith us. We need... I dunno really what to do, killing them would be too extreme, right? They are only civvies after all."

Your actions?

>>29298379
I say we just leave them for now i am not even sure why they are here.

Of course if they rush out as soon as we make an opening i would not be against staying behind them to allow them to soak up the inital attacks we would recive. (Whisper that last bit of course dont want them hearing)

>>29298393
This
Dont kill your celmates but keep a better them then us attituse

>>29298393
>>29298423

"Come on, Gust, as you said they are just civvies." - you began to whisper - "If anything else, they can dar attention of the guards and soak quite a bit of damage."
"As you say." - she replied - "So any ideas where exactly is this prison?"
"Not a clue." - said Arcane, breaking the first bar and throwing it to pegasus - "You'd better arm yourself, at least me and Rime have horns."
"Oooh, that's a good beating stick." - Grinned Gust, catching the long metal pole - "Though too heavy for my liking."
"Then you'd better get used to it, because I don't think we're going to get actual weapons unless we beat the crap out of some deer."

After a couple of minutes Arcane had finally managed to tear away enough bars to be able to leave the cell.
Your team hastily emerged to the long corridor. On it's each end were located portals, similar to one in the tomb, though a bit smaller.
Near the left one, which seemed active stood two does armed with swords. As soon as they had noticed you, they instantly charged towards your group.

Your actions?

File: 97872a4a-aac2-4d97-9441-7629143f0e841142003255.jpg (1MB, 2560x1920px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2560x1920px

That's it for today, have a deer without the helmet.
(The ones you are fighting with actually have helmets.)

>>29298611
If we weren't able to defeat them when fully armed and with generals on our side, I have no idea how are we going to do this now. Let Gust fly around to check if they have the whips or just swords this time. If the latter, we could try kill them from a distance.

>>29298619
Smug motherfucker.

10

>>29298619
ciao

>>29298611
Attack with an ice blade
>>29298619
Ah perfect go for the gap in the armor on the rear legs

>>29298762
I think they were helped quite a bit by us releasing path

>>29298619
Guess that one anon was right eldeer

Pre film bump

I'm about to start fnm so I better bump while i have the chance.

While deer were closing in, you began conjuring an ice blade and Gust took up in the air.
Arcane stood immobile until it were only a couple of meters between him and approaching enemy. Then unicorn's horn flashed and does tensed up, preparing to avoid whatever spells Arcane was going to throw at them, though not slowing down.
Such choise proved fatal, as they both slammed into the magical shields which appeared a mere centimeters in front of their faces.
While your enemies were shaken by the impact, you finished the ice blade and directed it at the unarmored part of rear leg of one of the does.
Her scream of pain was accompanied by Gust's battle cry, as pegasus darted towards her and swung her improvised quarterstaff at distracted deer's neck, thus throwing her to the ground.
Noticing her companion incapacitated, and probably even dead, second doe decided against continuing her charge and instead jumped back, seemingly unsure of how to engage you.

Your actions?

>>29304450
How wide is the corridor? Gust should continue her aerial assault, while we distract the standing doe with random ice bolts, not draining our energy too much. She's bond to fall to either of the distractions, be it Gust, us, or Arcane who can use some formidable spells. Make it rather quick before they'll raise an alarm.

>>29304450
Keep up the ice blade go for the gap in the front legs this time

>>29304465
>>29304513

You quickly conjured some iciles and launched them towards the doe, thus forcing her to perform evasive maneouvers and giving Gust chance to fly behind her and cut the path towards the exit.
Noticing that she was surrounded, doe muttered some curses, turned around and charged at Gust. She pushed off the ground and swung her blade at Gust, who was hanging in the midair, but fortunately pegasus was able to parry her attack.
"Not the wisest decision." - grinned Arcane, grabbing her hindlegs with telekinesis and smashing her against the floor.
With a victorious roar, Gust landed on her spine, An audible crack symbolised
"That... was not really necessary." - muttered Arcane, looking away from the slain deer.
"What? We clearly don't have time on interrogation!" - pegasus replied.
"You could finish her with a more civilised way, you know?" - unicorn sighed and shook his head - "But you are right, we need to move. Who knows when the next shift is going to arrive."
Catching your breath you looked around the corridor. There were plenty of cells, though the ones you could look into were empty.

Your actions?

>>29304634
Would it take long to open the portal at the other end if not take that they would not expect that otherwise quickly check the other cells and if you find nothing grab the downed soldiors weapons and head through the open one.

>>29304634
Check the cells very fast on our way out - by the way, let's try the portal on the right - and free ponies inside. Get deer weapons, we should be able to wield them with our hooves, even if they are crafted differently a bit. They're still better than a metal bar.

Gust is becoming so violent, I wonder if it is because of the war, or her ascension.

>>29304647
>>29304652

"Arcane, can you try to open the right portal?"
"What? Ah, sure. But I don't think I'll manage though, if it requires some meddling with control panels." - he replied and ran towards the right portal.
After he left you levitated one of the swords from fallen does.
"Be careful with that thing." - warned you Gust - "Their weapons are either damn good enchanted or coated in poison. There is no damn way a little slash could be so painful otherwise."
"Thanks." - you muttered, inspecting the curved weapon. After a brief contemplation you decided to carry it using your telekinesis and trotted to the left portal.
Gust lingered for a while near the bodies, but then quickly caught up with you, holding a key ring in one of her forehooves.
Every cell on your way was empty. You had almost lost hope of finding anypony else, when finally you noticed that there were about a dozen ponies inside.
The terror was evident in their eyes, so you smiled and waved your forehoof: "Hey, there's nothing to fear now-"
Then you had noticed that some of ponies had an armor on them. And it was not one of the Night Guard.

"Guess whom did I find in one of those cells?" - Arcane yelled from another end of the corridor.
"Let me guess." - shouted Gust in reply - "A bunch of Solars?"
"Since when have you been practicing telepathy?" - unicorn smirked - "Anyway - what are we going to do with them?"

Your actions?

>>29304701
Tell arcane to cast some sort of time delay spell that will break down the bars in half an hour by then we should be far enough away not to get attacked by them but still close enough to benifit from the chaos of there escape.

If he cannot do that just leave them.

>>29304718
Oops forgot my apostrophe that's hard to read
*in half an hour, by then we should

>>29304718
Seconding this

>>29304718
>>29304799


"Can you make, I dunno, a delayed explosion that would free them?" - you asked.
"At first such things can't be solved with something brutal as 'explosion'." - replied Arcane, walking to the control panel of the right portal - "And the art of 'delayed casting' is beyond my grasp. If it was so easy, then unicorns would have taken over the world eons ago just storing some spells every day."
"Then try to activate that damned portal and then we're leaving." - you sighed.

"So you are going to just let us here, huh?" - suddenly asked one of the solar guards, a pegasus stallion.
"Oh, so you would like it more if we just killed you all?" - smirked Gust - "Sorry, we have no time for that."
"Look, I get that you're not keen on letting us out, but can you at least take civilians with you?"
"So you could try to escape while we are letting them out? No chance, buddy."
"If you'd like we can wait in the corner while they are leaving and then you can close the cell again and leave us here." - suggested solar pegasus - "But for Celestia's sake, these ponies are innocent! They don't deserve to be left there!"
"I honestly don't understand what are you even afraid of." - came a voice from a cell near Arcane - "I thought that this mage of yours could unleash a pack of demons on us, if he felt like it."

Your actions?

>>29304971
Very well we shall take the civilians but if they act out of line we will not hesitate to kill them.

You know you are the only solar i have ever met who was not a horrible pony.

>>29304992
Agreed commend him on being less of an arsehole then most of his peers.

>>29304971
Ask how they all even ended up here

>>29304992
>>29305010
>>29305020

"All right." - you sighed - "We'll take them with us. I hope they understand that they'll need to obey our orders to the word if they want to survive."
"Thanks for that much." - he smiled.
"I'll take care about this cell." - promised Arcane - "Also I have no idea what are these controls supposed to do. And something tells me if I'll continue to mess with them, I'll definetely raise the alarm."
"Got it." - you replied and turned to the pegasus - "You're pretty nice for a Solar. Actually the first one I've met who is not a complete asshole. By the way, how did you all end up here?"
"Oh, I can say pretty much the same about you." - pegasus replied - "Concerning this stick-legged faggots... we were sent to investigate missing ponies in the Hayshores - it's a small village in the southern swamps, in the part you still haven't under your hoof." - he grinned - "So we thought it was some stray Discord's beast, but almost instantly after we arrived in the village these bastards attacked.
We tried to resist, but well, you had probably seen how they fight. So they rounded up everypony there and led us in the depth of forest. Then we descended in some cave there and, well, there was one of their portals. So they led us through - and now we are here, wherever this 'here' is. It's been about a day, I think. And what's your story?"

Your actions?

>>29305151
Attacked retrieving weapons. Dont tell him any more then that.

We will have to mention the deer at hayshores to command if we get out alive (dont mention this to him)

>>29305202
Don't let him know we are witholding information just say you were picking up weapons near cloudsdale.

>>29305260
This

>>29305202
>>29305260
>>29305310

"We were attacked while retrieveing weapons. Deer just popped out of nowhere and, well, the rest is history."
"I see. I hate to say it, but good luck there. We all are ponies after all."
"Yeah, thanks. Good luck you too, hope you'll manage to escape too."
After briefly saying farewells to the villagers, solar guards moved to the far corner of the cell and you opened the door. Nine ponies quickly walked out of the cell, trying not to look at you or Gust.
Soon Arcane had joined you, leading his group of escapees. You noted that ponies from your own cell decided to join you in the escape attempt.
You looked at your escape party. Three guards and about thirty civilians. Well, it could be worse, right?
Shaking your head to drive away the anxiety, you stepped in the portal.

1/2

>>29305902
2/2

You had expected the travel be almost instant, but instead you spent about a dozen of seconds in the complete darkness, until you were literally thrown back to the reality and fell on the ...sand?
You quickly rose on your hooves and looked around. Your eyes widened, as your mind struggled to explain why you and your group found ended up in the enourmous, dome-like arena. As far as your eyes could reach behind the shimmering magical barrier sat stags and does, their eyes fixated on your desperate group.
Furthermore, you were not alone. Three manticores stood in front of you, near the opposite portal. As they noticed their new prey, they emitted a savage roar, and despite the fact that there were a good dozen meters between you, you could feel their foul breath.
"And here is the second party!" - the loud voice echoed over the arena - "The overconfident equines, who dared to think they could escape the Last Hatred arena! Look at their faces, at this wonderful mixture of fear and confusion! They were sure that the freedom was within their grasp, but now they will pay for their folly! Now, let the onslaught commence!"
The crowd erupted into the bloodthirsty cheers and manticores took off in the sky.

Your actions?

That's it for today. Hope to see you guys tomorrow!

>>29305911
Finally an unarmored enemy, ask arcane how tough there skin is.

Arcane try and keep as many civilians alive as possible without sacrificing combat usefulness, gust be careful of the tails, civilians if you see the chance to throw sand in there eyes take it.

Open with an icycle at the largest point on there body to test there reaction speed

>>29306683
this
keep firing bolts for now we will switch spells if that does not work.

>>29306683
Kinda this.
pocket sand

>>29306683
>>29309838
>>29309849

You took a deep breath and began issuing orders:
"Arcane - keep as many civilians alive, but try to take care of at least one manticore. Gust - engage the second one and try not to get stung. I will fight the third one. And concerning you all..." - you turned to the civilians. About a dozen had already flew or run away from the main group. Some of them repeteadly passed through the archway, though to no avail - it looked like the portal worked only in one way.
Most of the remaining ponies were still frozen in shock, though there were some who had managed to maintain their composure.
"Stick close to the mage and, well, try to throw sand in their eyes if you'll get a chance." - you finished and began conjuring icicles.

"I find the fact that these euines decided to escape just before we were going to drive them to the arena extremely amusing." - broadcasted the arena anouncer - "But I guess the honourable deer of Shaa-Dom will not object to an early start of our spectacle?"
Approving cries from the spectators were a sure sign that his fears were unfounded.
Manticores flew towards you, judging by their manes they all were females. One of them separated from the pride, or pack, you were nor sure how to call it, and raised to the arena's ceiling, following the panicking pegasi. Remaining two decided that your group was a more worthy target and slowly closed in.
You launched the iciles at one of the manticores. The beast shrugged of your attacks, conjured projectiles leaving only superficial cuts on its hide. The offended manticore roared and darted towards you, swinging its tail menacingly. Second manticore accelerated too, not willing to concede all this tasty pony meat to her comrade.

"I'll take care of the one at the ceiling, if you don't have any better ideas of course." - suggested Gust, spreading her wings.
Your actions?

>>29310438
Head up but if they prove to much to take on alone come back down so we can gang up on them. try to keep the fight close enough that we can call to each other.

looks like we will have to use our ice to supplement our sword for this fight try to run around the range of its front claws and come in from the side to stab it in the wing.

>>29310462
This. Also if we do hit the wings still jump right away after the stab would rather not give him the chance to swipe at us it's gonna have to be constant attack and withdrawal as we wound it.

>>29310462
>>29310513

"Sure, but try to keep her relatively low, so we'll be able to help if things go awry."
Ascended pegasus saluted and darted to the ceiling.

The manticore you scratched before scharged straight towards you, while her comrade decide to try her luck with panicking civilians.
"Hope you know what you're doing, Rime." - muttered Arcane, running to intercept the second manticore and leaving you alone to face the raging beast.
"Come on, kitty." - you whispered, levitating the looted sword.
The beast fell on the arena's sand, intending to tackle you, but you proved to be a little bit more agile, rolling away from the place where its forelegs landed a moments after and slashing at one of its wings.
Manticore howled in pain and began flapping its wings erratically so you hastily jumped away from it and pulled the sword closer towards yourself. Then it turned towards you and leaned to the ground, extending its tail.

Your actions?

>>29310679
Paray the tail.

>>29310782
*parry

>>29310782
>>29310788
Seconding this

>>29310782
>>29310874

You prepared to parry the manticore's tail with your sword. As the beast leapt towards you, extending its absurdly long tail, you pushed the deer blade against it, while trying to jump away from the enraged monster.
Sword clashed with the chitinous tail, unable to pierce manticore's natural armor. Because of the force of impact you lost control over your weapon, and the curved blade was thrown on the sand. At least you managed to evade manticore's sting, right?
A body of pegasus, or rather its front section, fell on the ground marking Gust's lack of success in drawing beast's attention to herself. You noticed some ponies trying to hide behind the inactive portals - foolish idea, since manticores possessed quite good sense of smell. You wondered for a brief moment how could they tolerate that horrible smell that accompanied their breath.
The beast Arcane was fighting with proved to be quite smart - or cowardly. Instead of attacking the armored mage, it rushed around the arena, trying to catch the running ponies. Again and again magical shields flashed between manticore and its prey, yet this tactic hindered Arcane's attempts to deal the mortal blow.
"I honestly did not expect any resistance from the equines." - you heard the announcer - "But doesn't it make the slaughter even more interesting?"
Manticore landed too close to your position for your liking. You backed away if only not to be swept away by the ruthless, yet predictable attack and lit up your horn to pull the sword back. With a strange feelind of aloofness you understood that you'll not be able to strike the beast before it leaps at you again.

Your actions?

Sorry for delays. Also I'll not be able to run tomorrow, so don't let the thread die please.

And thanks for participating!

>>29311469

>>29311534
Send a blast of shards of ice at his face like a shotgun blast hopefully some will get in his eye. Then hit the deck.

In hindsight we should have tried to take the guards alive so arcane could summon a starbeast to assist us in battle (I think warlock may have actualy been hinting at that possibility)

Path chose the wrong side.

10

>>29313437
This Anon is right. Blast to the face, and then avoid the manticore jumping sideways or ducking.

>>29318847
Also holy shit, that would've been brilliant. Shame we're too dumb for such glorious actions.

>>29318865
I do wonder just how much an ursa would tear them apart.

bump for gladiatorial combat

>>29313437
>>29318847
>>29318865

You hastily conjured a bunch of ice shards and then launched it at manticore's face.
Beast instinctively raised his paw to protect its eyes thus halting its advance. As manticore roared in pain when numerous ice shards cut its skin, you had finally managed to pull the sword close to you. Then you leaned to the ground and pointed it at the manticore. As furious beast again leaped towards you, poisoned blade sunk deep into its flesh. Due to manticore's enourmous weight you lost control over the blade again and with a sigh you jumped back not to be crushed by beast's bulk. Monster fell on the ground, emmitting an agonizing roar, and bloodthirsty spectators echoed it.
As your opponent was writhing in convulsions, you heard an excited voice of announcer:
"This battle turns out to be quite interesting in itself. Can you believe that these pathetic equines are capable of such martial fits? Neither can I, but yet they are still breathing and fighting! I think we should thank lady Jagged Dagger for such wonderful catch!"

Since your opponent was at least incapacitated, you decided to catch a breath and look around. Most civilians were alive, Gust has finally managed to draw attention of one of the remaining manticores and Arcane...
Arcane was caught in quite a grim situation. Foul beast managed to tackle him to the ground and was trying to rend his armor open, while unicorn struggled to push it back with his telekinesis. Crimson and blue auras flared around his armor, yet you felt that manticore was going to overcome Arcane's magic defenses.

Your actions?

>>29323796
How hard would it be to retrieve the blade?

If we can quickly grab it do so and charge at the manticore on top of arcane, stab it right in the neck.
If you cannot retrieve the blade summon 2 blades of ice a normal sized one and a small one swing the normal sized blade at the manticores feet trying to get him off arcane and try to magic the smaller blade down its throat while it is distracted.

>>29323810
Move towards the manticore while doing this but not so fast we are unable to concentrate on controling our blades.

>>29323810
>>29323834

You tried to pull the sword out of agonizing manticore, but it prooved to be impracticable - at least in such small time span you had.
Then you moved towards the beast preparing to tear Arcane apart, conjuring two swords out of ice - or rather a sword and a dagger. Fortunately, both manticore and unicorn were too involved in their own confrontation, so you managed to slash monster's foreleg unnoticed.
It yelped out of surprise, abruptly shook its wounded paw and instinctively launched its tail in your general direction. You ducked, directing the dagger to the manticore's mouth, but unfortunately manticore shut its mouth, braking your ice dagger in half. Then it spat blade's remains at you and once again you were forced to duck. Still, the distraction you provided proved to be enough for Arcane to push the remaining foreleg away from his body and roll away from beast's swing radius.

The monster yelped again when it noticed that it's being surrounded and took off into the sky.
Your actions?

>>29323978
slash at its wing with your ice blade.

>>29323978
Attack the wing we need to bring it down to earth.

>>29323994
>>29324057

You directed the remaining sword at manticore's wings while Arcane tried to hold its wings with telekinesis, thus making it almost impossible to miss. After a series of quick slashes, manticore began thrasing in the air. Arcane let it go and the beast headfirst plummeted to the ground, as it wings were unable to support its weight anymore. After colliding with arena sand manticore fell silent.
Arcane slowly walked to the fallen monster to confirm its demise or deal the mortal blow, when suddenly it sprung back into action and stabbed the unicorn with its tail. While stinger did not pierce Arcane's battered armor, the force of impact threw the mage back on the ground.
Menacingly swinging its tail, manticore turned towards you, preparing to charge.

Your actions?

>>29324283
Move around to stab it in the side make sure to move along the side with the wounded paw so he can less effectively swing at us

>>29324370
wait I forgot we are without sword now

dodge to the side while swinging our blade at his unwounded paw make sure to dodge in the direction of the wounded paw so he can less effectively swing at us

>>29324283
Dodge.

>>29324283
Take evasive action.

Guess warlock got called away before the final post of the night.

>>29325047
Shit, and I got back from work like half an hour ago.

>>29324396
>>29324648
>>29324823

You darted from the manticore, trying to force it to attack with the wounded limb. Your plan worked, though you still barely evaded its attacks. Since manticore was fully invested into trying to rip your body apart, you directed your remaining ice blade at its unwounded paw. Manticore proved to be surprisingly agile as after a couple of slashes it managed to catch the blade in the midair, effectively shattering it.
But despite the fact that your attacks did not really harm the monster, they did a good job of distracting it.

Blue aura appeared around manticore's tail and began and pushing it towards the beast's back. Manticore whimpered and bent its head trying to intercept its own stinger.
"You can't run from yourself." - grinned Arcane and the poisoned appendage had pierced the skin of its host. Beast's legs buckled and with a quiet whine it fell on the ground.
"We can finish it later." - said unicorn, after catching his breath - "Their poison only paralyzes prey for a short time. So that leaves only one of them..."
"Now that is what I call 'coup de grâce'!" - exclaimed announcer as a corpse of manticore fell from the sky, prison bar that Gust took with her sticking out of its eyehole. Ascended pegasus proudly landed on top of it, then she pulled the improvised quarterstaff out of beast's head and raised it in the air triumphantly, basking in the bloodthirsty adoration of crowd.
"You okay there? What are the casualities?" - she asked after a couple of moments, jumping from the manticore's carcass and trotting towards you and Arcane.

Your actions?

>>29325093
If it's paralyzed, can we summon a star entity or the deer will tear us the fuck apart before we even say first words of necessary spells?

Arcane seems to be alright, and we're not wounded as well. Nice job, folks. We really showed these pricks.

>>29325093
Count casualtys

hump

>>29325093
Stick close to each other and prepare for an attack.

>>29325093
Take the tip of the tail of the first manticore we killed as a trophy.

>>29327745
Sounds neat, but maybe after we'll be certain we win?

>>29327745
Wait it occurs to me that if we somehow make it out of here alive a manticore part may be worth a lot of money maybe even enough to pay off our debts.

However I do still want to take a trophy (if you do not like the idea of a trophy you could also think of it as a memento) so ask gust and arcane if they intend to take there own trophys arcane will probably not be interested although considering how little we know of his intrests I would not be suprised if he did take one and if we are lucky despite how proud gust clearly is if her accomplishment the glory will be enough for her. If they do not want a trophy take the stingers from there kill to sell later (on the unlikely chance we ever make it out of here anyway)

If arcane says he does not deserve a trophy because he had help with the kill when we did not tell him he could have easily taken it out if he had let it barrel into the civilans keeping so many of them alive is just as worthy an accomplishment hell even one on one he probably could have done it the civilans were a handicap.

>>29329394
*how proud gust clearly is of her accomplishment
I am embarrassed by how long it took me to notice that typo.

>>29325195
>>29325420
>>29327745
>>29329394

"More than ever." - you cracked a smile - "Nice job by the way."
"Yeah, it ate only two pegasi before I stuck that pole in her head." - Gust proudly replied.
"No casualties on the ground, except my armor." - muttered Arcane.
"Well, that's great. By the way, do you think you can summon some nasty star entity using that manticore?" - you asked.
"Manticore? They are not sentient." - he thoughtfully replied.
"So that means no?"
"Well, if I wished to summon some relatively sentient entity, or at least one capable of communicating with me, then I would require a soul of a sentient being, though I had never tried it before. Anyway - I doubt we would have enough time."
"You mean the deer will try to stop us?"
"Not really. There hardly are enforcers waiting near the portals. They would rather just throw some beasts at us again, though they'll probably do it regardless of us trying to escape. And if you remember the summoning process requires plenty of time."
"Then we'll kill them too." - smirked Gust - "You will get all the time you need."
"I see." - you replied - "Also, I think that killing manticore is a pretty good achievement, so maybe we could take their stingers as trophies?"
"And where exactly we'll put them when we'll back?" - asked Gust - "Carry them on our armor like these Lightning Pack barbarians?"
"Well, I think we could probably sell them? Alchemists might be pretty interested in the posion sacks or whatever are these things called."
"So imagine that you are an alchemist and a somepony is trying to sell you some pretty valuable and dangerous stuff. You would probably think that it was stolen or acquired by illegal means so you would ask local guard to investigate." - explained Arcane - "And let's not forget that if we'll manage to survive this 'spectacle', then we'll probably be rounded up and thrown back into the cells. The 'trophies' would obviously be confiscated."

Your actions?

>>29330570
noone? Hold on.

>>29330570
>>29331745
Only thing that comes to my mind is summoning something to increase our chances of survival. We could defend Arcane for the time necessary to do so. Sorry, had to bump before typing just in case. I really hope others are just busy.

bump before bed

>>29331763
>I really hope others are just busy
Dont worry I am still here I just had to miss a session.

>>29330570
Lets just wait and see what happens guard the civilians

>>29331763
I would rather not sacrifce any civilans unless things get really really bad.

beb

>>29337314
Nice copypasta

"All right, all right, just do something!" - you replied - "We'll take care of whatever comes next."
"I wish I was as confident." - muttered unicorn and trotted to the paralyzed manticore.
"Now just look at these equines! One of them is digging in the manticore's entrails, no doubt wishing to devour its heart or do something similary savage!" - smirked announcer, as Arcane cut the beast with his magic and began plotting summoning circle with manticore's blood.
You looked around the arena. There were numerous portals near the walls, some pony, or rather deer-sized, while another were just enormous. Then suddenly one of the big portals flickered to live.
"But nevertheless, let's greet a new participant! Of course, we were thinking that it would fight with manticores, but life is full of the wonders, don't you think?" - announcer exclaimed as three-headed hydra emerged from the portal.
"Try to distract it from me." - said Arcane, unswerved by the size of your new adversary - "I'm starting the ritual."

Your actions?

>>29337530
Grab your sword.
Ask arcane if it has a blind spot on its body that it cannot reach we might be able to climb on its back and stab it to death.

If not tell gust to try and attack its tail while we try to stab it in the neck with bolts of ice remind gust not to cut the heads off she seems the type to forget in the heat of battle.

>>29337530
Ooooh shit. Things just keep getting better and better. What's next, Arimaspi? Anyway, let's get to distracting. This time civilians can't do shit really, except maybe make us try to get hydra as far away from them as from Arcane. >>29337545's right, get your sword and ask for the weak spots.

>>29337545
>>29337551

"Don't worry." - you tried to reassure him - "Do you know if it has any blind or weak spots?"
"It has three heads so in case one can't see something on its neck, others will surely spot it. As for the weak - just go for the eyes. Seriously, it's almost always the best solution."
"Well, it was worth a shot." - you shrugged and turned to Gust - "While I'm pulling that sword from manticore try to distract that hydra and then go for the tail."
"And how I'm supposed to cut things with goddamn pole?" - she replied taking off in the sky.
"Uh, yeah, my bad." - you muttered and ran to the fallen manticore.
After a considerable struggle you had finally managed to pull the poisoned blade out of manticore's carcass and turned to face your new opponent.
The hydra proved to be much less agile than manticores - Gust evaded its heads with ease, though she was unable to land even a single hit without compromising herself.

Your actions?

>>29337673
do the thing we tried with the manticore blast of shards to the face.

>>29337673
Try to stick the sword in an eye. If we can do this fast enough we could score more than one time, thus getting it's attention. Then Gust could poke another one out. We could try to kind of "juggle" the hydra between us.

>>29337688
>>29337692

You ran closer to the hydra and directed your sword at her eyes from the relatively safe distance. All its three heads were trying to catch Gust, so you had an element of surprise. Unfortunately, since hydra was not looking at you you found it pretty hard to stab it precisely in the eye, so you reluctantly ran into her field of view.
As soon as eyes of one of the hydra's heads focused at you, your pushed your sword inside one of them. The wounded head roared in pain and the hydra began walking towards you. Half-blind head turned its attention back on Gust, preventing her from trying to harm the beast, while the healthy one focused on you. Hydra's heads shook in the air, making it almost impossible to take aim on its eyes.
Since the beast followed you, you began slowly move further from Arcane, launching a bunch of ice shards at the head which was focused on you. The shards that had found its mark harmlessly bounced from beast's scales.
*Thirsty...* - suddenly echoed in your head - *So thirsty...*

Your actions?

>>29337892
look at arcane to see if that came from a summoned creature or not if not it seems we may be able to bring the hydra round to our side. I am tempted to let it suffer considering what happened last time we were trusting but considering how truly screwed the situation is it may be our only hope.
pour out our hangover potion and melt some ice into it, leave the glass of water on the floor.

either way keep fighting the creature go for the neck and eyes

>>29337950
This but make a bowl it could drink from instead of using our potion bottle.

>>29337950
Since when can we understand the monsters? Why do you assume it is the hydra?

>>29337950
>>29338026

Huh? A voice out of nowhere?
You were not sure if hydras had any telepathic abilities, but maybe this was a special one?
You glanced at Arcane - unicorn was completely fully immersed in the ritual, eldritch chants coming from his mouth. Air around him wavered and you could swear that you noticed some cracks, as if reality itself was falling apart.
You decided to test if it was hydra or not by conjuring a bowl made of ice and filling it with a water, or rather molten ice.
During all this process voices continued their complaints and when you levitated the bowl on the ground near hydra's legs you could discern that there were much more than three of them.
Hydra completely ignored your offering and continued moving towards you, two of her heads still trying to catch Gust.

Your actions?

>>29338317
Oops i missed an update
Welp that failed keep going for rhe eyes

>>29338317
So we hear the star entities. This may have something to do with that knife we killed. By the way, slash at one of hydra's legs, preferably cutting the tendon.

I wonder what it is thirsty for

>>29341767
souls

>>29342718
>>29341767
If we will manage to get one here, he'll get plenty of deer souls, if they have these.

>>29339152
>>29339217

Ignoring the voices prooved to be pretty straining on your concentration, but fortunately due to hydra's relatively slow locomotion you still managed to stay out of her reach.
You levitated the sword towards her legs and one of the heads darted to intercept your blade. You manage to perform a couple of blind slashes at the place where you supposed its tendons were, but you either missed or just didn't pierce hydra's scales. If only you could get closer, your strikes would be much more precise, but you did not dare to endanger yourself, at least for now.
With current hydra's spped you were sure you could outmaneuver it, but you suspected that if enraged it could be much, much faster. Gust still lacked any success in harming the two remaining heads, but at least she looked unharmed.

The voices grew stronger and stronger. You hadn't seen many rituals, but it was the first time you heard star entities before they appeared. The thought was disturbing to say the least.
You couldn't help but glance at them - they crowded about dozen meters from Arcane, looking at the commencing ritual with horror.
"D-do you hear the voices too?!" - terrified shriek came from the group of civilians and ponies literally jumped away from their compatriot. Though they were silent judging by the fact that they were trembling in fear, civilians heard them too.
The cracks in the realspace were now perfectly visible and starlight was leaking out of them.

Your actions?

>>29344021
Oh shit nigger, Arcane stop summoning! These may not be star entities at all! It's a deer arena, we may have accidentally connected to their part of the astral plane or whatever this is where star entities come from. Warp.

>>29344055

Whatever Arcane was doing, he obviously was doing it wrong. Praying that Gust will be able to distract the beast for a little bit longer, you rushed to the unicorn, screaming for him to stop.
"Now that's some weird magic he is doing with that manticore." - you heard announcer's voice - "I wonder what is that equine trying to do?"
Arcane was completely ignoring your pleas to stop, if anything else his chanting became more rapid and abrupt. As you moved closer to the unicorn, voices in your head grew louder and louder, to the point when they - well, and Arcane's chanting - were the only thing you could hear.
*Thirsty...* - they boomed - *We're coming...*
The cracks in reality grew wider and wider with each passing second, some of them had reached the size of a pony, while starlight poured out of them with a neverending stream.

Your actions?

>>29344310
Knock Arcane out.

Here's a bump from 10.

Where the hell are other players? Come the fuck on. Warlock, don't be sad, maybe the time is not right currently.

>>29346558
I have had to miss a few sessions sadly.

>>29344310
Shout for the civilians to get away.

>>29346926
I think it might be better to outright usher them out of the way as worried as I am about what is going to happen I fear what will happen if we interrupt arcane more.

>>29349444
So you think shit's gonna hit the fan if we knock Arcane out? Why so?

>>29350331
Arcane is not an idiot that's our job I figure if we are in danger he would have realised that so either we are perfectly safe or he is working to keep the danger contained.

>>29350351
So yeah, it's good Warlock didn't follow my suggestion. Let's get the civvies out and preferably not knock Arcane out. Shit's crazy, yo.

>>29349444
Thirding this.

>>29349444
>>29350353
>>29350392

You were preparing to knock Arcane out, but then a revelation struck you - sure, everything was definetely going wrong, but if you try to interrupt whatever unicorn was doing the ritual will surely spiral out of control.
With such thoughts you ran to the civilians, yelling them to move away from the ritual. Using your peripheral vision you noticed that despite - or maybe beacuse - Arcane's best efforts cracks in reality began to spread in all directions from the dead manticore.
The voices in your head grew louder too, but since your were relatively far from the ritual circle you could still ignore them, albeit with considerable effort.
"Don't panic, I repeat, don't panic!" - the announcer was on the verge of tears - "Everything is under control, our enforcers are on the way! We'll not let another Disjunction to happen!"
The sight of you was enough for civilians to ran or fly away from the ritual with all their strength. After you reached the distance you deemed relatively safe, dared to look back at Arcane, who was now completely hidden behind the starlight.

And then they came.
With a blood-freezing shriek creatures composed of pure the starlight emerged in the reality. They looked like does, but had dragon-esque wings and tails, their eyes were like ones of a fly. On their heads they had numerous tentacle-like appendages and their forelegs ended with pincers instead of hooves.
Demons took off in the air, completely ignoring your group, slamming into the shield separating spectators from the arena instead.

Your actions?

>>29350843
Lets focus back on that hydra for now but be ready to act the moment that shield comes down.

>>29350843
>>29350866
As soon as it will come down, get the fucking fuck outta here as far as we possibly can. We have made a huge mistake and we'll have to be sure that hell we accidentally unleashed won't engulf us as well. Hydra is the least of our worries.

>>29350843
The moment the shield comes down duck underneath the hydra to avoid the inevitable barrage of arrows. If it seems safe stay under for a few moments to give the stadium time to clear out.

>>29350866
>>29350883
>>29350909

You were sure that shield would eventualy come down - they question was only when. The problem was that you were still trapped on the arena and its walls were a good dozen meters high. You looked at the group of civilians - there were only six pegasi left out of more than twenty ponies, and you doubted that all of them would be able to carry their comrades to the spectators' sector.
You were still unable to see Arcane, as the ritual site was engulfed in the starlight. With a sigh you moved towards the hydra, who was still fighting with Gust. Cracks in realspace continued to grow, some of them almost reaching the shield, while numerous demons continued to pour out of them. Most of them looked like the ones that appeared first, but some of them were a much more grotesque combinations of various creatures.
Then suddenly portals throughout the whole arena came to live and ranks of armored deer emerged from them, moving towards the ritual site. As the star entities felt the presence of deer right in the arena they turned their attention from the shield and with horrifying screams charged at deer enforcers, who in return unleashed streams of magical energy at them.

Your actions?

>>29351013
Despite all what is horrid, we need to check on Arcane. I hope his soul is still where it's supposed to be.

>>29351013
check on the spectators how many have run away.
freeze the ground around the deer enforcers.

>>29351044
Oh wait there are multiple groups. Freeze the ground around the enforcers closest to the hydra that area of the arena is already a mess best not let it get to complicated.

>>29351013
Check on arcane if it does not seem dangerous to get close, if he is still spellcasting leave him alone though.

>>29351023
>>29351103

You prayed that demons will continue to ignore you and your group and then rushed back to Arcane. The cloud of starlight grew much bigger for the time you spent fooling around.
As you were moving closer to the ritual site, voices were becoming more and more loud and numerous, up to the point when they merged into an illegible noise flooding both your mind and ears.
Moving through the starlight proved to be somewhat difficult because you couldn't see further than a few dozen of centimeters. Finally, after what had seemed ike eternity you could discern an armored figure of your comrade, standing in the middle of the storm.
Arcane stood completely immobile and due to screams of star entities you couldn't understand if the unicorn was still spellcasting.

Your actions?

>>29351215
Approach him to determine what he is doing before we act.

>>29351215
Try and get his attention but don't touch him.

>>29351215
Get up and take a closer look >>29351235 as anon says though do not touch him.

>>29351225
>>29351235
>>29351294

You carefully walked around the unicorn and finally faced him. Arcane tilted his head, as if he noticed you, but the words he may have said were lost in the endless screams of star entities.
After a lack of verbal responce from you unicorn shook his head and an aura of starlight surrounded his helmet. Then he quickly extended his forehoof and touched your muzzle before you had any chance to react.
*What are you doing here?* - his strained and irritated voice appeared in your head, overshadowing screaming demons.

Your actions?

>>29351631
We came here to ask the very same question

>>29351631
Let's try communicating back the same way keep the physical contact (unless he stops touching us of course) and say we are checking on him.

>>29351647
>>29351660

*I am here to ask you the damn same question!* - you concentrated on this thought. Surprisingly it worked and Arcane's voice appeared in your head once again:
*I'm trying to contain the breach. Sorry for failing the ritual by the way. Judging by the fact that you're here, I think you had dealt with whatever thing emerged?*
*Arcane. You're clearly underestimating the chaos you caused.* - you mentally replied. Then you took a deep breath to calm down and tried to describe the situation - *There're dozens of them and many more are coming. The gates or something like that are appearing throughout the whole arena.*
*W-wha?!* - unicorn twitched and the mental conncetion interrupted for a moment - *You can't be serious! There is no way I could summon even two demons! The amount of power required to perform something like what you describe is tremendous! I-I just couldn't damage the fabric between planes so much!*

Your actions?

>>29352100
Guess the fabric between the planes here was already weak. Maybe it's because this has happened before? Ask if he knows what a "Disjunction" is.

>>29352141

*Guess the fabric between the planes here was already weak then.* - you mentally shrugged.
*Then why did deer build their city there, where they could be overwhelmed by denizens of star realm at any moment? It even makes less sense - if it's really that weak, then they would've need to invest an enourmous amount of energy to maintain its integrity
. Sure, a race as advanced in magical arts as deer can afford it - but why?*
*Don't ask me, I've even less idea of what's happenning right now. The deer here were screaming about something called 'Disjunction'. Any idea what could it be?*
*It's even more suspicious. The event that I caused - if your description is correct - should be called conjunction, because, simply put, two planes merge.*
For a several seconds only thing that filled your mind were excited screams of star entities thirsting for deer souls. Then Arcane's voice appeared in your head once again: *So I think there's no sense in trying to contain the breach now?*

Your actions?

>>29352229
Since it's going after the deer, gather everyone and get out of the place? If there's a way out.

>>29352229
Then lets run like hell
I dont like the idea of going through any of those portals can you make a magical staircase up the sides of the arena.
If not gather the civilans and go through whichever portal seems the least sorounded by star beasts call to gust to help round up the civilians.

>>29352319
>>29352690

*They're hunting the deer right now, so we'd better run.*
*Just give me a moment.* - replied Arcane and removed his hoof from your muzzle.
You nodded and darted back from the cloud of starlight. To your horror it grew much, much bigger during your brief conversation. The space above the arena was filled with various demons trying to break through the shield. Judging by the relity rifts crawling towards it, it wouldn't last for long.
As far as you could see deer tried to escape the arena, but you were pretty sure that many will fall prey to the thirsty hunters from another dimension. The hydra howled in rage and tried to catch some of the flying entities, but it, as well as ponies below, was completely ignored by them. In your absence Gust abandoned her attempts to harm the beast and was currently trying to keep civilians in line.
Arcane followed you after a half a minute, and as soon as you moved far enough from the summoning site you spoke:
"So, any plan for getting out of here?" - you asked, turning towards the armored unicorn.
"Let's see." - he muttered - "Since portals work only one way we'll just follow the escaping deer. If they'll ask questions we can say that we were slaves and our master died in the stampede."
"And how are we going to get over that wall? Maybe you could, I don't know, conjure a magical staircase?"
"Telekinesis would be much more easy." - he shook his head - "And I'm not in the condition to levitate twenty or thirty ponies. I suppose Gust can carry us to the spectators, one pony at a time."
"And what about civilians? Making her carry all of them would be too draining."
"I said nothing about them. Honestly, their chances of survival are tending to zero now. But if you're not afraid that some star entity will decide to have our souls as a snack, or that we'll be left alone in the isolated district filled with guests from another dimension - I suppose we can force pegasi to carry their compatriots."

Your actions?

>>29352886
Lets try break down the walls maybe there is a room behind them.

>>29353476
Can you please explain how the hell are you going to break the wall on arena where fuckhuge beasts like hydras are fighting eachother?
I can try to tolerate suggestions like 'Don'try to cut hydra's heads with a fucking metal pole'
But it is a completely new level of idiocy for MC.
You did not even had a decency to provide me with means to do it, e.g. ask civilians if some of them can do it.
No, you just posted a fucking 'break it'.

Sorry, but I just can't stand the attempts to turn Rime into a clinical idiot, so please try to use your brain next time.

>>29353795
Oh sorry I forgot the second half of that post.
If we are unable to break the walls down we are going to have to abanon the civilians get gust to carry you over the wall and get away.

>>29353897
Of what goddamn post?
The post where the hydra appeared?
I honestly can't understand what was the reason behind this suggestion.


You know fucking what?I think you too deserve a little bit of feedback. I swear to god, I just can't hold back anymore. You were the guy that suggested to tell Gust not to cut hydra's head when she had a metal pole. Wondering how I deduced it? Because out of my 2.5 players you're the only one who doesn't have decency to capitalize I's and first letters in the names of characters. And you know what? IT IS NOT FUCKING HARD! EVEN A GODDAMN SLAV LIKE ME CAN DO IT!
You do not pay attention to surroundings, easily forget things and do not think about your suggestions.
Your constant speaking about my quest in /cyoag/ only makes things worse. Is the only thing you can say about it that I made a mistake in the first thread? It seems like the answer is yes.
I recognize that you're my most faithful player and this fact alone makes me want to drop DH sometimes. Sure, without you the quest would die, but in all honesty it may be to the better.

So, please, in the name of everything good on this god-forsaken planet, I beg you, please, try to change. Start with at least capitalizing I's and first letters in names.
Warlock out.

>>29352886
We should tell the civilians the plan to escape, make sure they know what to do, and get all pegasi and unicorns civilians to help carry everyone up.
Hopefully, they'll understand what's at stake and will work together to make sure everyone survives.

>>29353897
This is an honest question, do you play hail? Were you the one that suggested that Far should forget about Roam? I'm just curious.

>>29354720
I do play hail but I was very much against dating Rose unless things did not work out with Roam.

What happened there was I said I was against ditching Roam but presented a basic letter to send if we decided to do so both for if anybody wanted to expand on the letter and because I felt it was best to keep it concise. Then later in the thread when the time came to send a letter somebody who did want to ditch Roam resubmitted the letter I suggested.

2 things really confused me about that whole exchange though when I first submitted the draft letter we were leaning towards dating Rose but then when it came time to actualy send it everybody got cold feet. Then despite the incredibly negative reaction to the anon who resubmitted my letter when the exact same thing was said but more eloquently there were literally no objections.

>>29355293
I'm up and running, being one of these 2,5 players mentioned before I beg you, do as you were suggested so many times, now even by your QM.

Bemp

>>29278363
Is that Nyx in the OP?

>>29362400
It's Nightmare Moon.

Warlock come back.

>>29354720
Seconding this but do not wait around for them to long.

"Luna's buttocks, Arcane!" - roared Gust when she noticed you two coming - "What had you done?!"
"Hey, I already said I have no idea!" - unicorn apologetically raised his forehooves - "It was not even supposed to happen!"
"The only thing that matters right now is that we have a chance to escape from that arena." - you said, trying to prevent an argument - "So now we all should concentrate on saving each others hides. Pegasi need to carry unicorns and earth ponies over the wall as soon as demons break the barrier."
"Carry all of them?" - she contemptuously glanced at civilians - "If you haven't noticed we don't need any cannon fodder anymore!"
"If you haven't noticed, we have Tartarus broke loose on our heads." - you sternly replied - "So could you refrain from discussing my orders?"
"Whatever you say, ma'am." - she saluted, rolling her eyes - "Climb on my back then."
"Good." - you contentedly smiled and looked at the civilians for confirmation. They silently yet eagerly nodded, so you were assured that they'll cooperate.

The breach in realily had finally reached the shield. Magical barrier blinked and went out in a couple of moments. Dozens and dozens of bloodthirsty demons charged at the escaping spectators, tearing their bodies aparts and probably devouring their souls.
After most of the demons had left the arena you yelled 'Now!' and pegasi, carrying ponies on their backs took off in the air.
When all civilians were carried over the wall, most of spectators had managed to escape. The more unfortunate ones were cut off from the arena exits and were currently being slaughtered by various demons.
The guests from another dimension still paid no attention to your group and you managed to escape the arena without any physical injuries. Concerning psychological ones... well, you were subconsciously sure that death cries of deer would haunt your dreams for at least a couple of months, but for now your mind had yet to process all the horrors you had witnessed.
1/2

>>29364777
2/2


"I just can't understand one thing." - muttered Gust - "If they hunger for souls then why they did not attack us?"
"Well, imagine that you're really hungry and there's an apple just at hoof. An old apple, maybe even rotting. But you would still eat it because you're hungry, right?" - unicorn asked.
"Go on." - Gust nodded with unusual seriousness in her voice.
"But now imagine there's a fresh, sweet, delicious apple in a couple of meters from you, maybe behind a wall. You'll never go for a rotten one when you can get a fresh with a relative ease."
"Wait. So you basically mean that we have second-rate souls?"
"That's only my guess. And I would ponder on this question rather when we are back at Cloudsdale, or at least not in the Shaa-Dom, or how is this city called."
"Okay, okay." - Gust replied conciliatory and with a sigh flew down the wall to carry another pony.

You could see numerous deer running down the streets in more or less organized formation, perhaps lead by local military. In the opposite direction, right behind the arena, stood an especially huge tower that could rival some castles in size, perhaps the local administrative center.

Your actions?

>>29364781
Get Gust to fly up and see if she can find the way out but not to high we don't want her cut down by any spells that might sling from the tower.

>>29364804
This but also duck into a nearby building for safety (assuming they are large enough to fit all the civilians).

>>29364804
>>29364836

"Everypony - listen up! Step one - Gust, try to scout the area and find the way out."
Ascended pegasus silently saluted and darted in the air. While you were waiting for her to return you took a closer look at the deer city engulfed with panic, or at least the part you could see now. It could be only described as a conglomeration of various houses on top of each other - it seemed that whomever designed the city was working with severe lack of space. Many towers and spires of various heights emerged from the ground and the higher they were, the wider they grew, forming literal forests or hives and almost obscuring the weird golden sky. The arena you escaped, for example, was placed in the shadow of the giant tower nearby. Some star entities were flying to more distant parts of the city, though most concentrated in slaughtering general populace that was at hoof. In the distance you could spot two more enourmous towers, similar to one near the arena.
1/2

>>29364976
2/2

After a couple of minutes, when you had lmost began to worry if something bad happened, pegasus had finally returned:
"The whole city is covered by some weird golden-ish magical shield. I didn't manage to reach it, but I'm pretty sure that we can't pass through." - Gust reported.
"The deer seemingly often use portals." - suggested Arcane - "Perhaps they are leading the citizens to some kind of portal center?"
"We can think about it a bit later. Step two - we need to find some house to hide from both deer and demons if things go awry."
"They don't only rely on the basic senses like vision or hearing." - said Arcane - "Star entities are able to feel magical energy, so they will quickly find us when they will run out of better prey. And concerning deer - they too have means to find us."
"It'll give us at least a temporal shelter to think for a better plan." - you replied.
"Sounds legit." - Arcane shrugged and your group hastily moved down the streets.
Soon you've found a relatively big house, which seemed to be some kind of bar before. Some drinks were left on the tables, as well as a dismembered deer. He probably fell asleep before demonic incursion and other patrons were too concerned with saving their own souls to care about their comrade.

Your actions?

>>29364979
>dismembered
Fucking brutal. I think we should try to look for a portal to gtfo, not necessarily the one most deer use. They are bond to have escape portals we could use and not get deeper into thus shut,

>>29364979
Way I see it we have 2 options either we follow along behind the fleeing deer and try to get through one of the escape portals before they close or we head to one of those towers to try and find a way out there. I am leaning towards following the escaping deer but if anybody including any of you civilians have any arguments in favor of going to the tower I am all ears.

>>29364979
Ask if anyone has any ideas. If not try and find a portal out.

>>29364996
>>29365006
>>29365020

"All right, any ideas?" - you adressed the group, though mostly Gust and Arcane.
"We shall follow escaping deer. We'll have a good chance to sneak out in the chaos." - suggested pegasus.
"Yeah, let's just not forget that we were the ones that caused all of it and we are pretty recognizable even without armor." - Arcane meaningfully glanced at Gust's wings.
"Tower is even more pointless option. It's just fucking enourmous and obviously filled with guard! And even without them what do you think we can do if the portals are at the top floor? How are we going to get there?"
"I bet they have short range portals there to travel between the floors."
"And we still have no idea how to use them. Or do you think the first deer we'll take alive will have full access to their hypothetical portal network?"
"You... have a point." - sighed Arcane - "But tower at least gives us chance to survive. If we will be recognized - and we will be recognized, we'll be slaughtered."

Your actions?

>>29365065
Arcane if there were deer in the towers strong enough to fight off one of these things do you think they would avoid that area after the first defeat or come back in larger numbers. If they are likely to leave the stronger mages alone in the towers we should try and escape with the rest of the city but if they are likely to swarm them the towers are probably empty and we should go there.

>>29365099
If we end up trying to escape with the others we should attempt to stay behind the main line of demons until we seem to be nearing the citys edge, if we go with the tower just rush there as fast as we can.

"Hm, Arcane, do you think deer would try to swarm the demons, or would they just send there a bunch of really strong mages and deal with them?"
"Look, why do you ask me about them? I have no idea how deer fight - stags and does should have completely different fighting styles because the latter lack horns. I have no idea if they have substantial number of practicioners of star magic to contain the breach. There can be cowards who could have already escaped, there can be heroes who are already slain. They might decide that this is the perfect time to settle their internal disputes and try to backstab eachother or they might unite to stand against demons. So to sum it up I have completely no fucking idea how they will react!" - at the end of his tirade Arcane was practically screaming.
"Wow, dude, calm down!" - Gust put a hoof on his shoulder.
"Calm down? If you hadn't noticed we are in the middle of the demonic incursion and it is the only fact we know about this place! Probably in an hour, or even less, we will be dead and our sould would be devoured! But yeah, maybe it is easy to remain calm for someone whose brain weights less than a feather!"

Your actions?

>>29365373
Lets go with the tower.

>>29365373
I think tower.

>>29365373
Holy shit Arcane it's not our fault. Let's go to the tower.

>>29365709
I don't think we should say this it kind of is our fault.

>>29365384
>>29365414
>>29365709

"Hey, guys, stop! We're not going to get anywhere if you start fighting each other now!" - you yelled, trying to draw their attention - "Seriously, Arcane, stop being such a crybaby!"
"You..." - Arcane took a deep breath - "You're right. Sorry for that outburst. I - there was just too much shit happening recently and, well..."
"That's no big deal. But you really need to show yourself to psychologist." - noted Gust.
"We all should probably pay him a visit or two. Besides, you need to understand that none of this shit was your fault - well, direct fault anyway. And concerning our next course of action - we'll go to the tower. There's no way we can blend into the crowd." - you concluded.
"Yeah, acknowledged." - he sighed.
"As you command." - shrugged Gust and turned to civilians - "You heard the commander, now come on!"

Tower's needlessly gates were recently broken and you could hear eerie howls echoing upstairs. With a gulp you slowly entered the badly-lit building.
Soon you emerged into a large round room. There were numerous portals near the walls, though only one of them seemed active.
There were many deer corpses on the ground. Two deer-like demons, the kind with wings and pincers, were... feasting on their entrails? It seemed that they had not noticed you yet, though you probably will not be able to move to the portal unnoticed.

Your actions?

That's it for today. Thanks for sticking around no matter what!

Also I'm in the mood to draw something, so if you have any requests - go for it. (I remember that somebody asked for the solar lieutenant we beat up in the beginning of the story, I have almost finished it.)

>>29365968
Is there a staircase in the room maybe we can find a less dangerous exit upstairs?
If no staircase how high is the ceiling does Gust think she could draw them upwards while we rush through the portal and then dash back down herself or are they to fast?

Otherwise just throw our whetstone away from us and the portal as a distraction either they fall for it and we can dash to the portal or we will have a fight on our hands but any failed plan here would mean a fight.

>>29366000
Maybe Words new dress or the collar that Path was wearing.

>>29366000
Draw daemon.

That was a good session although I am pretty sure >>29365099 was talking about the behavior of the demons not the deer (probably does not matter I suppose I assume the answer would have been the same but with less anger).

This is the power hour.

Time for a bump from page 10.

>>29366145
Yeah I was talking about the demons but I can see where Warlock got confused I should be more clear about that sort of thing in future. Oh well does not matter to much I suppose like you said the answer would have likely been similar and I was operating on the incorrect assumption the demons would rush from one kill to the next.

>>29366027

You looked around the room, but there were no other exits besides the portal and the one you used to enter. The ceiling was pretty high, so both Gust and demons would have enough room for maneuvers.
"Hey, Gust." - you whispered - "Any chance you can draw them to the ceiling while we sneak in the portal? And when we are wherever that portal'll lead us you can dash back to it too?"
"There're what, thirty of us? I can't even imagine what can distract them from our group!" - Gust hissed - "And did you forget what Arcane said about their magic sense?"
"Also your plan has one fatal drawback." - added Arcane - "Nothing permits star entities from passing through portals, and I believe that they are clever enough to follow us through it."
"Oh well." - you sighed and levitated a whetstone ot of your saddlebags. Then you launched as far away from working portal as you could. Demons reacted instantly - they raised their heads from the corpses and looked around the room.
When their eyes focused on you they took off in the air, clicking their pincers. As they screamt in anticipation of slaughter, their mouths opened
unnaturally wide, exposing rows of dangerously sharp teeth and serpentine tongues.
And then they charged towards you with astounding speed.

Your actions?

>>29372489
Everybody focus on the one beast. Gust go for the legs, Arcane push the other one away if you can.
Dodge out of the way as we slash at the nearest ones neck.

>>29372540
Seconding ganging up on one demon but still be careful of the other one.

>>29372540
>>29372552

You barely managed to roll out of the demon's way and it flew straight into the crowd of civilians who were much less agile than you, thanks to the military training. One of the creature's pincers pierced the chest of an unlucky pony. Civilians who were not yet frozen in fear panicked and ran back from the tower.
"Gust, go for its legs! Arcane, push amother away and help us!" - you yelled, directing your looted blade at beast's neck. The creature raised its free forehoof and blade impotently clattered against the pincer. Then demon freed his second forelimb from slain pony's chest and took off in the air again, just in time to evade Gust's metal pole. Then creature lashed its long tailat pegasus, while she was preparing for another swing. Gust yelped from pain as thin scar appeared on her cheek.
Meanwhile Arcane tried to fend off the second demon, but the star entity gracefully evaded every last unicorn's attack. Before your eyes he conjured a force field and pushed it towards the beast to smash it against the wall, but the demon, demonstrating unparalleled acrobatic skills flipped over it and ended up face to face with the shocked unicorn.

Your actions?

>>29372617
Shit. Can we try to mock demon? Like, mark a cut and then attack entirely somewhere else? Like, aim for the legs then hit torso?

File: 471d769d-27dc-44b4-89d6-025b3c1722301384063773.jpg (1MB, 2560x1920px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2560x1920px

>>29372708
Key word is try.
Also, here is a pic for reference.

>>29372716
Jesus what the fuck. Yeah, let's try getting rid of this massive mistake.

>>29372617
Charge at the demon about to attack Arcane and attempt to stab it.

>>29372708
>>29373202

"Come here, you bastard!" - you yelled, running to the second demon in hopes that Gust would be able to delay with the first one by herself. The monstrosity turned towards you and tilted its head, a confused expression appearing on its face.
Arcane decided that it was a perfect opportunity to act and lit his horn, but was quickly proven wrong when demon bucked him with a surprising force and armored unicorn fell on the ground losing his concentration. Star entity didn't move even an inch after that, awaiting your strike, only its tail waving menacingly. You gulped witnessing such display of brute force, but you could not stop now.
You stopped a couple of meters from her, not willing to get in range of her pincers and lowered the blade a bit, as if intending to strike at her forehooves. The demon seemed assured that you'll not be able to pierce its natural armor, but in the last second you raised the blade, intending to hit its chest. Demon jerked as the poisoned blade left a deep cut in its ethereal flesh. Then star entity moaned with some insane mix of pain and delight and tried to catch the blade with its pincer. You were forced to pull blade closer to yourself, not willing to lose control over it. When demon found itself in no immediate danger it grined widely and took off in the air, probably preparing to charge at you.

Your actions?

>>29373721
Arcane shield.
Arcane may still be to dazed to put the shield up so dodge as we do this and make a line of ice in a horseshoe shape in front of the demon pulling it backwards to try and trip it.

>>29373838
Wait disregard that it is in the air. I will come up with something else.

>>29373721
>>29373844
Arcane shield.
Arcane may still be to dazed to put a shield up so dodge as we do this and try to get a bar of ice in front of its wing where it meets the body to try throw it off course. Take a moment to glance at Gust if we succeed.

>>29373721
Were the dead dear in this room armed in particular if there is a shield somewhere quickly magic it over to us.

>>29372716
That's a nice picture.

Pre work bumpq

>>29376172
Breaktime bump

>>29373721
>it's female
I have the weirdest boner.

File: Emote-commissar.gif (2KB, 64x24px) Image search: [Google]

2KB, 64x24px

>>29378118
*BLAM*

>>29373868
>>29373927
I like both of these ideas but if we only have time for one do the shield (assuming there is a shield to take of course). Also if there is no shield is there anything we could grab to act as a makeshift shield?

>>29378573
We need to install Fuklaw memes in this thread.

>>29373868
>>29373927
>>29378976

You glanced at the pile of deer corpses in the room - as far as you could see there was only one armored body. Beside it laid a staff with a bright red gem at its pommel. You tried to jump away from the demon, levitating the staff towards the beast at the same time. You tried to slow the monstrosity down striking its wings with your staff, but it gained altitude to avoid your attack, though delaying its own charge.
Well, you still had achieved your goal, right?
"Arcane, make a shield or something!" - you yelled, pulling the staff closer to yourself. Demon roared and charged at you. The magical shield began appearing between you two, but the beast was too fast and broke through the shield before it reached its full power. Then it tried to snap your staff with pincer, but the deer weapon proved to be surprisingly durable. With a frustrated moan demon launched a series of pincer-thrusts, but you managed to avoid or parry then with your weapons. Seeing the futility of its attacks, demon took a step back, keeping both you and Arcane in its field of view.
You inspected the staff and besides the big gem at staff's pommel you noticed four more gems encrusted in the staff closer to its another end - three relatively small and white - round, square and triangle-shaped and a bigger one, which was located a bit away from the other three. It was round shaped too, but its color was dim red.
Suddenly Gust emitted a furious
shriek. You quickly turned to the pegasus to see her lying on her back. Demon was hovering in the air about a meter from her, giggling inanely.
"I-it... It kissed me!" - Gust screamt, raising on her hooves, stuttering from rage and confusion - "It could tear me apart but it just fucking KISSED me!"

Your actions?

>>29379242
Can we try to shoot this gem staff? I have a feeling it may fire energy beams or something if we do it right. Try pressing the smaller gems.

>>29379242
Don't let it distract you get over here, Arcane cover her rear.
Try pointing the staff at the demon and pressing on the big gem if that does not do anything pass it to Gust I doubt arcane can figure out how it works in the heat of battle.
send an ice blade at the back of the demons leg trying to hit the groove where the leg is thin, focus on parrying with your sword but if you get the chance stab into its neck or up through its head.

>>29379264
>>29379282
So is there any specific order in which you want to try these gems?

>>29379340
Do not touch the big red one. Are remaining ones differently coloured?

>>29379344
>three relatively small and white
Seriously, is the problem in my writing style?

>>29379358
I'm sorry I ommited it okay. Try to press them starting from the middle one. Middle, most forward, most backward.

>>29379363
It's just not a first time I notice people are asking about the things that were answered a post or two before, so I want to know if my post design makes it hard to find information.

>>29379375
It's called selective reading. Sometimes I read only sentences I deem most important, and then after a time re-read post for the flavour text. Also I'm kinda tipsy right now.

You pointed the staff at deer and pressed the square-shaped button and a stream of magical energy flew from the staff, searing demon's flesh. It yelped in shock and darted sideaways.
You chuckled contentedly and pressed the round gem. A single ball of energy escaped the staff, but demon evaded it with ease, rising over it and preparing to attack you from above.
As the demon was clsoing in, you raised the staff and pressed the triangular gem. Conic stream of magical flame bursted out of the staff and engulfed the surprised demon. It yelled in agony as its wings were being incinerated and fell on the ground a mere steps from you.
You victoriously grinned as demon writhed in agony, its body burned beyond recognition, though its pincers looked relatively undamaged.

Your actions?

>>29379504
Repeatedly press the square gem until the demon is dead and we're sure about it. Fucking Eld... deer weaponry. I bet they have souls in there.

>>29379504
Where did you go?

>>29379515

You pressed the square gem and a beam of magical energy pierced demon's head. It jerked its pincer in vain attempt to protect its face, but you just levitated the staff a bit higher and now unobstructed stream of magic continued burning life away from the monstrosity. Then beast's limbs fell limp and soon its whole body began to dissolve in the air.
Assured in its death you sighed and looked at the staff again. The big red gem grew even more darker.
An angry shriek came from your side and you instinctively ducked to the ground. The second demon dashed over you, its pincer clicking where your head was a moment ago. Realising that it missed, demon hastily turned in the midair around and prepared to attack you again.
Arcane launched several magic projectiles towards it, but demon quickly repositioned itself, so you stto between it and the unicorn. You glanced at Gust's side - pegasus was lying on the ground, holding one of her wings.

Your actions?

>>29380390
Launch the new fucking awesome weapon we have at the demon.

>>29380390
Our weapon still has charges, might wanna use the circle gem to get close enough where we can effectively utilize the triangle gem.

Fuck I missed a session.

>>29379344
Anon the post said what color they were.

>>29379344
Not really important now (god I need to catch up on my sleep I keep falling asleep after submitting a comand for the first post of the session) but what was your thinking behind trying the white ones first I made >>29379282 on the (obviously incorrect) theory that the white gems would select a firing mode and the red gems fire.

>>29379378
Are you the same anon who failed to notice path had paralyzed us.

>>29379375
Nah dont worry the post was fine the only real problem with your writing style is it does not convey distance very well.

>>29379515
We probably should have attacked the other demon and and let arcane finish this one off.

>>29380390
Curse yourself for giving the killing blow when you should have been disabling the other demon.

>>29381422
Oops submitted that to early meant to add

Fire the staff.

Shame Gust was injured I was hoping to be cute and kiss her cut cheek better but that would not feel right now.

>>29380390
>Then beast's limbs fell limp and soon its whole body began to dissolve in the air.
Guess we still aren't going to be able to take a trophy.

>>29381377
No.

>>29380541
>>29380781
>>29381422

"Shit!" - you cursed, pointing the staff at demon and pressing the circle gem several times. Demon rushed towards you, abruptly jumping sideways to evade the balls of magical energy.
"Damn, Rime, move away, I can't get a lock on it!" - you heard Arcane's voice from behind.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" - you grinned, approaching the demon and continuously pressing the circle gem preventing it from leaping at you.
"Take that!" - you bellowed when there were only a couple meters between you and demon and pressed the triangle gem. The cone of magical flame grew only half as large as before and then completely dissapeared, lightly scorching the demon though still stalling its advance. The big gem went completely black.

Your actions?

>>29385894
It is still a nice heavy stick bring it down on the beast from above while you bring your sword in from below.
Step aside as you do this so Arcane can aim at it.

>>29385894
Give Arcane room to take it out.

>>29385911
>>29385938

"All right, I don't know now." - you muttered stepping aside and slamming the staff on demon's head. You honestly expected the staff to be more heavy than it turned out though since demon only hissed when staff collided with its head, but fortunately you had a backup plan.
You reached for your trusty looted blade and tried to push it through demon's belly, but it managed to intercept the blade with its pincer. Then it took off in the air, probably planning to carry the sword away from your telekinetic grasp, but then it was hit by Arcane's magic straight in the head. With desperate squeal demon spiraled to the ground, dropping your sword. You catched the blade in the midair and then swung it at beast's neck. As its head was separated from the rest of its body the second demon dissolved in the air too.
Then you rushed to the Gust, who had managed to raise back on her hovves by this time.
"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine." - she cracked a smile and reached for her saddlebags. After a couple of moments she got a health potion out of it and emptied the vial with one gulp.
"Think I can still fly." - pegasus winced, spreading her wounded wing - a hole was torn in it by demon's pincer - "But it'll hurt like hell. By the way, what's with civvies?"
Only about a dozen of them were in the room, still shocked and dazed. A couple of them curled up and were quietly crying. The others had probably ran away in panic. It will probably take a considerable time to find them in that labyrinth of a city.

Your actions?

>>29386033
I would rather not hang around here to long do a quick search around the outside of the tower and anybody who went to far away will have to be left behind.

Ask Arcane if he can charge the staff back up if he can give it to Gust she is wounded so she will need the extra power more then we do if he cannot just hook it to our armor or something.

Make sure when you go through the portal you do so looking confident if there are deer on the other side we may need to intimidate them. the 3 soldiers should go through first it's not like the civilians have anywhere to escape to in the city.

>>29386068
This but dont just check the outside of the tower we can probably afford to take the time to check the adjacent buildings as well. Don't be afraid to call out a little I doubt there is anything that close that it will hear us.

>>29386068
>>29386085

"Oh. Good you are fine. Concerning other ponies... I think we can spare some time to look around. Though if they ran too far away I'm afraid we have to leave them."
"Not a big loss." - Gust shrugged.
"Yeah, anyway, Arcane, do you think you can recharge this staff?" - you turned to the armored unicorn who silently levitated the weapon in question closer to himself.
"I... don't think so, at least not right now." - he said after a brief inspection - "It would require to disassemble the staff to figure out how magical energy is transmitted to properly charge it. Charging the gem with magic is much harder than just 'pouring magic inside'. Well, of course on some level it is basically 'pouring it'... I digress, sorry." - he shook his head and continued - "I suppose its previous owner had some spare ones, so I can search for them while you're looking for our unfortunate runaways."
"Deal." - you smiled and walked out of the tower.

You could see no living creatures, except demons. They were emerging from the arena and spreading throughout the city. Some of them were flying to the tower, but thankfully their course led to its upper floors. You noticed that small cracks appeared on the walls of arena - the speed of the breach in realspace growth was terrifying.
A pair of demons was fighting over some corpse near one of the buildings. As you looked closer you noticed that the corpse belonged to a pegasus.
Probably there were no deer around, so they decided to turn their attention towards the ponies instead. Some civilians could be still alive and hiding in one of the houses, but you were sure that a great number of hunters was lurking nearby.

Your actions?

>>29386297
They aren't worth the risk if there are demons about don't tell the survivors you gave up though. Head back to the tower.

>>29386297
We will have to leave them behind I am not going near any more of those things

>>29386315
>>29386392

You decided that continuing the search was too risky and returned to the tower.
"All of that deer's gems were depleted." - greeted you Arcane - "I'll try to figure out how this staff works later. Maybe I'll find a way to recharge it, no guarantees however."
"Good enough. So are we clear to go?"
"Sure." - replied Gust and turned towards the civilians, who were now grouped near the portal - "You heard the commander, now get moving!"
"Wait. We'll go there first." - you interrupted the pegasus.
"Huh?" - Gust raised her eyebrow and then sighed and saluted - "Whatever you want, ma'am."
You silently nodded and trotted towards the portal, putting on the most confident look. When you were passing the civilians you were suddenly halted by an elderly earth pony mare:
"My son!" - she suddenly yelled, reaching towards you with her forehoof - "Where is my son?"

Your actions?