http://pastebin.com/mWrxJJPr
>>25629235
Post those dang sheets.
>Recap:
https://desustorage.org/mlp/thread/25468896/#25469062
>H/W unchanged since last time
https://desustorage.org/mlp/thread/25468896/#25471370
Last time on HolyQuest...
Pryce tracked Volkama to a kitchen in the Hypnagogium, kneeling before some 80 frozen ponies, trapped in the cramped kitchen, most frozen while clawing at the walls and windows for escape. Volkama's appearance had mutated, puffs sticking out beneath the skin, and an extra joint on all limbs, his neck now over two meters in length.
Pryce took the stolen boxes of JOY antidote and flew back to where Splitz and his crew waited, against Volkama's warning.
Flow, Amy, Dania, and Flaming witnessed Renee's unsightly transformation from puddle of silver static, back to a pony, with her right arm and neck twisting skyward like a creeping vine, coated in shifting eyes. Nightseed ran off after her own arm was forcibly severed and turned to normal, but the question of where her phylactery was remained. They returned to the Hypnaogium, just as Pryce left.
Shei spent time with 'Auntie Vizsla', bartering unsuccessfully for the lives of the captive JOY addicts. He learned that Vizsla had little to do with Wishful being fed on the fourth floor or the removal of organs from the addicts. All she did was give Wishful a phylactery to guarantee a kind of immortality. He also learned that Vizlsa had contact with Ba'drel recently, and that Buiwong was in some kind of trouble.
Observer journeyed through cramped tunnels with the two Ecclesians and demon behind him through twisting moldy tunnels that seemed to shrink with each step...
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/rQQW5kFT
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/p1dtY3qj
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/RaZG8KLM
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/R0AXr1UU
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/YJFusUgn
>>25629422
Volkama's voice recedes as you bolt in the direction of Splitz's landripper. You notice a bundle of clouds between the Sashayan Wall and the eastern horizon; your headache diminishes with the blood moon no longer visible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C79tsFhqiu8
Splitz reclines on a throne in the middle of the deck, while his many subordinates sit around, playing cards and rolling dice. As you land, he sits up.
"Now we're talking! A whopping three boxes. Wow. What a deal. Okay! A trade. Two vials a body, eh? Good enough conversion rate."
>15 vials total
>>25629367
>>25629392
>>25629422
>>25629481
Volkama slams his hoof against the wall in frustration as he watches Pryce fly toward Splitz's landripper. His form has mutated since you last saw. His body is coated in odd puffs of muscle and skin, limbs all double-jointed, his neck two meters in length, coiling around itself.
His head jitters and twitches, cognizance returning as clouds obscure the moon. "You fiends not safe. Leave, coated whoever-you-ares, leave, merciful ones! Witch's presence grows beneath this sky..."
The Ecclesians nod and murmur agreement. "Just look at Phase!" one shouts, pointing at Phase's frozen stump of a hind leg. "This search-and-recover has carried on long enough, we've got all we can carry!"
Renee, twitchy as she is, seems to have calmed down a little. Volkama shakes his head at her. "And this one, get locked in a dome of glass, submerge in a bath. No moon for her, lest she climb deadly upside-down everywhere, permanent."
>>25629510
http://pastebin.com/6dTx6i08
>>25629510
Pryce lands on the ship, still carrying the boxes in his magic as he feel's lightening as stress fades along with the headache.
As Splitz stands, Pryce waves him off, looking for the sick.
"I'm treating them first. We can talk after I save all these ponies."
Pryce says as goes to head down into the ship where the slaves are held.
>>25629357
http://pastebin.com/5VUcBRQx
>>25629530
The tunnel gradually contracts as you press onward, and the liquid filling your lungs grows denser and heavier. You couldn't breathe if you tried as a heaviness clenches your gut. Twisting and turning, part of the tunnel wall above you becomes translucent.
https://youtu.be/Ptkm0F57RK8
Through the translucent wall you see the very front of a bust of Novelus' head, the rest obscured by darkness. Icy ticks languidy rest on the surface of the mold-coated bust. The griffon demon's tongue rolls out as he makes sharp, strained pants. "Food... soul..."
At the end of the tunnel rests a flat gray surface. It is slightly transparent but you see nothing distinct on the other end.
>>25629574
Novelus becomes increasingly aware of a pressure quivering in a vein between his throat and chest. His heart hangs cold.
>see below: Volkama slams...
>>25629510
>>25629510
Shorthorns stares up at the grotesque Volkama, stomping her hoof angrily at him, "BE QUIET! We'll leave when we're ready to leave, we've not finished here yet."
She turns to the Ecclesians, "I... I think I feel fine. I do not know for certain, but I do not think I am in any way compromised. Take the wounded and retreat, but I'm not leaving without Renee's head."
She glowers, "You are free to stay here and die."
>>25629481
>>25629574
She turns towards Shei and Novelus, "You have been here all this time, yes?! Where is the witch, we need to destroy Nightbreed for good and then leave!"
>>25629588
"What is the demon talking about?" Observer asks the Ecclesians. He begins to inspect the surface more, continuing the use of his new eye that has replaced his horn.
>Fourth Eye
[1d10]
>>25629588
>>25629510
>>25629663
"I... I just need to stick with Shortyhorns," Amy admits painfully. "I can't think straight right now. I just need to focus on something like protecting you."
>>25629688
She looks at the constantly morphing state of Amy, frowning as she watches her friend struggle for control. "Thank you, Amy... I'm not entirely confident I could do it alone. How are you holding up?"
>>25629702
"I'm better inside," Amy says with a thankful nod for the concern. "But, there's just so much on my mind right now, even without the blood moon. I just... can't think right now."
>>25629510
Shei-sher strains mentally, with his hooves and staff stretched out toward the sky. That dreadful Blood moon is obscured. As it's light grows more dim the kid's blood pressure calms. He relaxes himself "That should grant us more time."
Shei ambles back into the hypnagogium kitchen. Entering the strange scene he feels distressed having taken in his surroundings. It's obvious there is much work to do.
"Go on! If you must retreat so be it. I will be here with that red spidery appendaged loon trying to sort out this mad house." Shei blurts out to the Ecclesians.
Shei-sher approaches Volkama, tired of his necessant ramblings he raises his Staff up high and strikes his nogen. To hopefully knock some sense into him.
>[1d10] SPELLBREAKER: recharge 2, spell, ranged; nullify a spell or magic effect
>>25629510
Novelus glares at the rambling Volkama before turning to the Ecclesians
"Gentlemen, you are free to do as you please. If you do not wish to follow our orders anymore then so be it." he speaks loud and clear, not even bothering to disguise himself or his voice
"However, I would be very grateful if you stayed with us, and bravely continued fight at our side for a bit longer... Please" he humbly lowers his head after his plead, trying his best to maintain a good posture, even with all the strange feelings on his body
>>25629663
"The Witch... Viszla... Yes, sh
she is in here... Although she did not seemed all too terrible, Flaming. When I was alone with her, instead of attacking me... She comforted me, and helped me bear with a terrible weight in my mind I had for a good while now..."
He sighs
"She was a tad sinister though... I honestly don't know what should we do..."
>>25629510
The trio of goos all converge around Phase and try their best to comfort her.
Flow also tries to take Renee's core. For safekeeping.
[1d10]
>>25629731
She sighs, "That is good. Just, don't worry about thinking, it'll make things worse. Focus on me, I'll help you sort things out, okay?"
>>25629768
She growls as he hits Volkama. "Not hard enough. You should strike him harder."
>>25629809
She shakes her head, "It must have been a front, it had to be. No matter if she's good or bad, that doesn't matter. What does is that she must know where Nightseed's phylactery is located, so no matter what, you must take us to her!"
>>25629663
You disturb shei amidst his machinations. He looks confused but answers you. Pointing up the staircase "If you need to visit Auntie Viszla shes upstairs, to the left pass the paintings of kings, right staircase, right sprawling hallway if you feel a slight tinge of horror along with whispers questioning your sanity you've gone too far. Backtrack to the teeth piano, take the hallway adjacent, past the bathroom door, by the way do not open the bathroom, turn left at the end of the hall and you'll find her."
Shei instructs with many patterns drawn in the air with his hooves.
"Also, I wouldn't fight her if I were you. She's very powerful and probably would not take you seriously if you tried."
>>25629563
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Hold." Splitz says. Two minotaur raiders block your path, hiding behind their shields. "Take a load off, friend. Colts! Show!" Splitz shouts at a grating in the deck.
The minotaurs advance, and a skinny unicorn mare with a whip comes out behind them, carrying three stretchers with TK. On them rest about 25 emaciated, pale ponies. Among them, four are children, the rest of teen and adult age, a few elderly. Sores have begun to sprout around their necks.
The mare lays the stretchers on deck. "I also take checks and blood-signed IOUs." Splitz jokes.
>>25629670
Through the foggy surface you see Flaming, Amy, and the other Ecclesians, standing in the front hall of the Hypnagogium with Volkama.
"You honestly think any of us know what gets a demon hot and heavy?" Ecc. D stammers, beginning to hyperventilate but choking midway through.
"Calm y'self." Ecc. B says. "I hear talk of fightin' demons wearin' on the soul. Hunters need some r-and-r now and again to keep the soul and mind clean, else nasty things happen."
>>25629821
The Ecclesians are reluctant to let you through, but Phase pushes them away, letting you approach. She hands over her pistol and spear in her semi-consciousness.
Flow also takes on the second core, hanging like an iron lump in his chest.
>>25629809
>>25629663
>>25629688
>>25629821
Ecc. A, E, and F start whispering to one another, casting glances back at the two of you. You catch talk of explosives and Ichimonji's plan of attack as they discuss the best route to escape through.
Volkama picks up the frozen robe-wearing mare he referred to as 'Deriva', leans her on his back, and turns away. "My lab, my study, study study, Lord Matura dream-king--"
>>25629768
Until Shei clonks him on the head, and he drops like a sack of potatoes. He remains there, completely incoherent, tongue lolling out at least two feet.
>>25629855
"Nooo..? I think that is enough. I don't wish to crack my staff. It's new."
>>25629864
This post is also direct at you for technical reasons i guess. >>25629861
>>25629864
"I have heard that word quite a many times... But it still confuses me to this day. What is a 'Soul'?" He asks, looking around for a way out or possibly around the wall. He places his hoof on the wall and begins to search more.
>Fourth Eye
[1d10]
>>25629855
>>25629864
Amy's lip quivers as a smile and a thankful tear form on her face. "Thank you," she says shakily to Flaming.
"Let's go find a head!" Amy says in a more determined tone before laughing at what she just said.
>>25629864
Pryce sets the crates down beside the stretchers as they're brought out. He stares to levitate vials out, but stops as he looks over the number.
[There's too many... I can't— No, I have to save them all, I have to try.]
Pryce shakes his head from the thought, taking vials to the children first, treating them before the others.
>>25629861
"Whispers questioning my... ooooookay, I think I will make sure to stop if I hear anything like that..." she says, very apprehensively, gulping as she does so. "I'm starting to dislike this place more and more."
She shakes her head, "I... will keep that in mind but if she makes me angry no promises."
>>25629864
>>25629876
>>25629913
As Volkama drops unconcious, Shorty smiles widely, walking over to bump Shei lightly on the noggin. "Thank you!"
She turns to the Ecclessians, "You are soldiers aren't you? Have courage! Look around and see if you can unfreeze these poor souls before we come back with Renee's head, we'll be back shortly."
She smiles up at Amy, clonking her noggin lightly as well. "It is my honor. Now let's do just that, follow me!"
Shorthorns shouts as she runs up the stairs, taking Shei's directions to the letter.
>>25629864
Flow looks down at Renee's core and sighs.
"Jeez...second time I've had a life on my hands...I think."
Trapper takes her gun and Vice takes her spear. Vice turns to speak to the other Ecclesians.
>"Tell me you will take care of her."
>>25629855
He stares at Flaming with an odd look. As if he was judging her for a brief moment
He sighs "Of course... But Flaming..."
He puts a hoof on the Buffalo's shoulder
"Remember what I said. She might be a witch, but she is not perverse. No pony is purely evil or purely good... If she did something bad, she must have had her own reasons, which in her eyes, were good... If she made a phylactery for Nightseed, she'll tell us..."
He takes his hoof off her shoulder "if we could, I'd rather we left her alone after we had our answers. Who knows who else might stumble here needing a moment of comfort and a friendly presence like I did?" he smiles
>>25629864
He sighs, giving the Ecclesians a look of disappointment, but walks up to them "I understand... You all must have someone waiting for you at home who you don't want to disappoint... Family, friends... Love..."
"Thank you for your bravery today then. All of you. Gentlemen, I am proud of you all. Good luck" with a nod, he heads off with the others
>>25629864
Shei-sher stands there agog after watching Volkama slack down onto the floor. "AAAA-a-A-a-A-a-A-a-AHHH!" He suddenly screams "That wasn't suppose to happen.
Shei kneels and holds Volkama up by his collar. He Violently shakes him "no No NO! Wake up! I need your help! The ecclessians are leaving! The blood moon is approaching its zenith! AND I'VE YET TO RETRIEVE MY TROVE OF STOLEN ORGANS!! By Matura's Crown who made you an archmage! You bloody excuse for a thaumaturge! I strike you once and you feint! Incredible!"
Shei-sher has progressed from violent shaking to stressfully slapping Volkama across the face "Wake up! Wake up! Wake u-U-u-U-u-U-up!"
[1d10] Wake up
>>25629962
Amy quickly puts a hoof up in a panic to block the clonk.
"Don't!" she says in a panicked snarl through bared jagged teeth before calming herself. "...do that..."
She sighs. "I'm sorry... just don't touch me right now."
>>25629973
Shorthorns glowers, looking at the ground, "I know, I know. I just don't really think I can believe that right now after what Nightseed did, after all that's happened here! She caused this blizzard, didn't she? And even if she is justified as you said, she has Renee's head. We can't leave her alone."
>>25630017
Shorthorns freezes in place, looking entirely apprehensive as she skids to a stop, frowning. "Oh... I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."
>>25629973
"Does that mean when a pony does something good that they did it for reasons that were bad in her eyes?" Amy asks, cocking her head like a curious dog.
>>25630039
"No, please don't be sorry!" Amy apologizes profusely. "It was my fault!"
>>25630039
"I'm sure she'll have a good explanation to that... And... Well now..." he lifts her chin with a hoof, giving her a warm smile "Don't look so blue, Flaming. We'll need your hot blood attitude to inspire us in battle" he chuckles
>>25630040
"No no no... Amy, no pony sees themselves as the villain. Splitz, Nightseed, Volkama... Just like us they believe what they do is good, in some way. But if you were to ask anyone of them if they think what they're doing is wrong, do you think they would admit it?"
>>25629908
"S'complicated question. Makes us what we are. All the livin' got one. N'when we die, if we live a straight-n-narrow life, it turns 'nto an angel or sum'n. Don't think much on it, myself." Ecc. B answers.
Like a sticky mass of spiderweb, the gray membrane starts to move under your hoof. The tunnel lightly shakes. You feel like you could get out through here.
>>25629937
The raiders watch your hesitance with some confusion. You drip a small dose into each of the foals' mouths. No immediate change is visible. You recall River and her Assistant saying prolonged treatment was necessary in Fantasia.
Splitz hums idly as he waits.
>>25629962
>>25629913
>>25629971
>>25629973
The Ecclesians' bickering continues, many of them now audibly wishing that they'd signed up for the Laity rather than the Congregation. After a while, Ecc. E (goat) picks up Phase on his back and shakes hooves with each of the other members. He hobbles out through the front door. Ecc. A and F remain, pushing up their glasses and priming their guns with resolve. Renee silently follows along.
You head up the staircase, following the directions that Shei provides. You open the door that should lead to the library.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBEwtNUu1f8
You enter the library, but Novelus notices that it's a mirror image of the library he entered earlier. Flipped completely around. Not only that but it looks completely tidy and fixed, not trashed like it was earlier. There are no JOY addicts around, but Novelus recalls a trio of them being here. Ecc. G is nowhere to be seen. The paintings on the walls have all got something wrong with them. Unaligned jaws, misshapen eyes, faces and sections of skin coated in grotesquely realistic sores and cancers.
(1/2)
The staircase leading up is nowhere to be seen. Where Novelus recalls it being, there is now a minotaur-shaped lump sticking out of a flat wall.
>>25630075
Shorthorns freezes, looking confused. "Oh. Uuuuhhh... okay, then I'm not sorry? Isn't that rude to say?"
>>25630095
She growls, "Oh, there's plenty of it. Do not worry about my blood and its boiling point. But, regardless of her explanation, I am NOT leaving her alone until we have Renee's head back."
>>25630000
Volkama bolts upright in an instant, eyes wide open. His wings and front hooves extend to their full length, but the second joint hangs limp like a dead animal. "Hmm? Who called me? Ah?"
He looks back at his wings in confusion. "What in Pho... what are these? Since when do I have a set--" his eyes flit up to his horn. "Mother of the Kiyo-- someone explain this! Why have I got a horn now?" his voice is sturdy and projected, unlike the slimy jitteriness of before.
>>25630130
"That is what I wanted to hear" he bonks heads with Flaming
>>25630128
Novelus looks around, slightly disturbed, as well as very worried
"Vi... Auntie Viszla?" he called out
>>25630095
"But then aren't ponies who do good things truly good since they think they're good and they're doing good?" Amy asks genuinely.
>>25630130
"Iunno," Amy says with a shrug.
>>25630128
Amy looks at the paintings with a combination of disgust, fear, and confusion. "I'm sorry, it's hard for me to see right right now... Are those paintings as messed up as I think they are?"
>>25630128
"Seems like this may be our only way through..." He mumbles, turning to look back at the Ecclesian that spoke to him. "So demons and angels are connected to these souls? Can the soul be manipulated to become other things?" He asks, making his way through the membrane.
>>25630128
Pryce let's out a breath after tending the foals. There may be nothing yet, but at least the start will keep them from dying soon.
"...This is going to take time, to treat them when they're this bad."
Pryce looks over the remaining ponies.
[Only 11 vials... I can do this.]
He tries to see how far along each of the ponies are, if there are some that look like they can afford a little more time to wait. And he checks for any signs of relation of the remaining ponies to the foals.
>>25630143
"Shush Volkama, Volkama, calm yourself. I do not know. I don't think anypony knows. I found you here flapping your lips and limbs like a deranged mackeral. Fortunately I've returned you to sanity. Now listen Volkama we've reached a critical juncture in our quest. The Blood Moon rises, and we are amidst a city of Demons. I assume its unnecessary to elaborate the danger. I've awakened you mostly for protection but if you wish to help you can search the pantries for charcoal. We need to unfreeze these ponies."
Shei-Sher leaves Volkama's side to search for charcoal [1d10+1]
He also checks if the stoves in the kitchen work.
>>25630206
She smiles as her head is bonked, chuckling, "Then we are agreed."
>>25630221
"Oh... well, I don't know either so, I do not want to be rude so I will simply dictate that it is not. So, yes, I am not sorry." She nods her head in confirmation.
>>25630128
>>25630128
Entering the library, Shortyhorns turns and gazes into the disfigured depictions on the wall, her eyes opening wide with fear as she steps through the room.
"Oh spirits help me... this place reeks of evil."
She looks around for the staircase only to see it is missing, turning around nervously as she yells out scared, "H-HELLO!? WITCH! Come out here, I would speak with you now." She gulps, "Uh, please."
>>25630221
>>25630206
She gulps as she looks around, "You're better off not looking, Amy. Trust me."
The buffalo turns to Novelus, "I-Is she here?"
>>25630290
>>25630143
"Also I recommend you not go outside if you value your health."
>>25630221
"Good is something hard to label Flaming... There are things most will agree that is good, but might be bad for others. If you do good and believe it is good, and others around tell you that what you do is good, but it is bad for some... Then is it truly good?"
>>25630293
He glares at one of the paintings
"She should be..."
>>25630324
"Iunno," Amy says sincerely. "That's why I'm asking you."
>>25630293
>>25630324
"Why are these paintings so weird?" Amy asks, growing more disturbed.
>>25630224
"Messing with the soul would constitute a serious offense against the gods and the Union religion, don't even--"
As you start to press against the membrane, the griffon-demon snarls and tries to claw at the translucent wall to get at the bust of Novelus. Ecc. B and D grab onto him and start to pull.
>>25630206
>>25630224
As Novelus speaks, he feels a pounding and continuous quaking on his organs. Soon he feels like someone is pulling bone out of his ribcage. Observer, Ecc. B and D, and the griffon-demon tumble to the ground before him, coated in wool and a molasses-like substance.
>>25630231
An itchiness starts to eat at your skin as you survey the dying. The worst off are the young adult ponies, 13 out of the 25. Their limbs twitch involuntarily. They whisper cheerful-sounding nonsense.
>>25630221
"You get used to it." you (and only you) hear. After a minute of cloudy-mindedness, you're not sure if that even happened. All the pictures have now exchanged a body part.
>>25630293
You and only you see the lump on the wall start to change. It grows a face the color of raw flesh, shaped like someone took a face and folded it in half. It has one eye in the very center. "We'll always find you. Looking for some stairs, go through?"
>>25630303
>>25630290
"Good lords, I am a crystal pony-- unfreeze? Damn it! No-- they went upstairs, didn't they? I warned them plenty."
You find some charcoal in one of the wood stoves in the kitchen. It should still work with something to burn. "Check the stov-- right! There you are. Heaven above, I hope I still..."
Volkama rummages in his pocket and pulls out a small book, and begins flipping through it in thought.
>>25630396
Observer remains there for a moment, coughing out at the sudden shift in his ability to now breathe again and even spitting out said molasses-like substance. "That was... Unsatisfactory." He says, standing back up once more before looking around to the others. "Where am I now?"
>>25630376
"unfortunately this is a question I can't answer, Amy" he pats her head to comfort her "And remain calm about those paintings my dear, I and Flaming won't let anything happen to y-"
>>25630442
>>25630396
"urk... Ghh.... GAH!"he shouts and gurgles as he holds his body before seeing Observer and the others bursting out of him
"... What"
He looks down at his hooves
"...What"
>>25630324
She snaps, "Well she isn't!"
>>25630376
Shorthorns shutters, "Someone has really poor taste in culture, I suppose. Probably a demon."
>>25630396
She hops and screams in the air as the figure appears, her horns poised at the figure as it turns its solitary eye towards her.
"EEEEEEEK! S-tay right there, I mean it!"
She growls at the figure, slowly approaching it, "We're looking for the Witch. Do you know where the stairs that lead to her are? Answer me!" She says with shaking hooves.
>>25630396
The goo trio all chill in front of a painting, and stare at it in wonder.
Flow tries communicating with Renee's core.
>>25630396
"Who said that!?" Amy shouts, jumping straight into the air like a frightened cat, landing in the bowed ready position.
She looks around in every direction quickly before picking on at random and running that way.
[1d10] to find something!
>>25630396
[No no no, come on. There has to be something! Anything!]
Stress returns to his head as he scans of the ponies. The youngest are the worst and need it, but he can't just condemn the elders to pass for that. Why didn't they bring more cure?
Pryce holds his head, trying to think of some way to fix this.
After a moment, he pulls off his bracelet. Focusing on the cure he tries to reach out for more. Pulling some from Fantasia, from the assistant they sent of to Zha Arlakane, even trying to conjure some more himself with magic. He shakes his bracelet in desperation, as if trying to drain the liquid from the metal itself so half these ponies won't need to die.
>Hat Magic [JOY Antidote] [1d10]
>>25630499
Observer's third eye twists and warps back into his normal unicorn horn. He's waiting for his answer.
>>25630396
The little goat scurries about emptying every cupboard. He is delighted to find some charcoal underneath the obvious location of the stove. He goes ahead and piles a surplus charcoal on the wooden stoves and works the igniter to burn the charcoal.
The goal is to create noxious carbon fumes to fill the kitchen.
[1d10+1]
During his work Shei-sher can't help but raise a brow at Volkama's comments, not sure if he still requires another whack to the head. "Excuse me but do you usually sound like you are losing your mind Volkama?"
>>25630568
Novelus keeps staring at the voidling with an odd expression, he was too hoping for an aswer
>>25630600
"What is with this odd stare you are giving me?" He asks, not even blinking as he's dripping with gak.
>>25630499
As your hooves fly to your chest, you notice that you are completely unharmed, not even missing any wool, no injuries in sight.
>>25630442
>>25630600
"Well don't look at us." Ecc. B and D say as they try to restrain the griffon demon.
>>25630503
The paintings shift each time you blink, but just as quickly, you forget that they were ever different to begin with. From Renee's core comes a string of sounds, like Renee saying 'a' over and over again very quickly.
>>25630502
>>25630523
>>25630627
>>25630600
>>25630503
The figure in the wall that Flaming speaks to stiffens up and strains angrily, its eye erratically twitching as though under intense pressure. As Amy jumps and skitters around the room, she knocks over a coat rack.
Off the coat rack falls an Ecclesian jacket and a set of glasses. The glasses and jacket stretch like they're filled out by a pole. They rush around the room, the jacket's arms moving like a running gorilla. The jacket latches onto the figure in the wall, then rips itself open with the sound of torn flesh. Behind the jacket is a stairway leading up. The walls are a solid blue, flat and featureless. The ceiling is watery in texture, but the color is indescribable. It's like black, but emptier. It hurts to look at more than even a second.
>>25630570
You begin to fill the room with heady fumes. "Thinking silently is overrated. Ideas develop when worked through aloud!" Volkama retorts as he examines his body and a few of the frozen ponies. You recall Crow-ley saying words similar to that on his more eccentric days.
Volkama radiates an unfamiliar energy. Similar, but wholly distinct from that which comes from Pupil, or from the others when they invoke the Aspects.
>>25630549
Some carnival music plays as you reach across space and retrieve two vials of JOY antidote. "Well! Well well well well. Haven't you got quite the surplus. Gonna put me out of business?" Splitz taunts.
>>25630627
"WHAT WERE YOU DOING INSIDE ME OBSERVER?!" he shouts, losing all his previous composure
>>25630690
Observer ignores the Ecclesians.
>>25630695
"I could ask you the same thing. Although I had assumed you would enjoy what females enjoy; having a male inside of you."
>>25630690
He shakes his head as the events unfold around him, closing his eyes and holding his head in his hooves for a bit "I'm... I'm sorry but I need a moment...I need chocolate... A sweet slab of nougat covered in caramel and chocolate..."
>>25630753
His eye twitches at the response, cheeks flushed and pupils small as dots. He glares at Observer and slaps him right in the eye with his hoof" Why How DARE YOU!? "
>>25630690
"Ea-a-a-auuugh.." Volkama's retort unwelcomingly throwsback shei's thoughts to more convoluted times. He's so greatful things are much simpler now. "You sound like Master Crow-ley."
Amidst the foreground of carbon fumes Shei can see a weird energy radiate from Volkama. He makes a note to examine it later.
Shei-Sher turns off the stove and grabs one of Volkama's hooves -or hands, whatever he has he grabs the least gnarly one and urges him to follow up the stairs. "Come! You don't want be standing in the eye of the storm."
Shei-sher covers his mouth with his cloak collar and with his other hoof grabs a match from his pocket. He lights, and before flicking the lit match in the smog he prays nothing goes horrible wrong.
>[1d10+1] Thawing ponies
>>25630791
Observer recoils from the smack, still acting more on instinct when he's attacked. "I take it the way I had said it was impolite?"
>>25630690
Flaming stares at the wandering jacket with both fear an intrigue as it makes its way to the figure on the wall, tearing it open with the terrifying, grating sounds of torn skin that gives Shorthorns pause.
"........th-thank you.... I guess." She lowers her head as she looks up at the ceiling, feeling as though her soul is going to be rent if she stares into it for too long. She focuses on the stairs and the stairs alone, leading up.
"This place shouldn't even exist. I can hardly wait for the Ecclesians to start bombing it."
She turns around, "No one look up! I've a feeling it's not good at all."
>>25630690
Amy stares in confusion at what just happened. But, quickly shakes her head.
"Thanks, Mr. Coat," she says to the jacket cheerfully as she starts to head up the stairs. Because, why the fuck not?
>>25630849
"I'm going to... " he purses his lips, almost about to strangle Observer. But stops himself
" I don't... Let's not talk about this. Ever again, yes, this did not happen. You didn't burst out from inside me, nope! You just arrived through the window, all of you!" he nods
>>25630690
The two clones shake their heads and rub their eyes.
>>"D-dude...did the picture change?"
>"I don't remember...I feel like it did, but it didn't."
Flow sighs and hums around Renee's core as he goes up the stairs, his clones following.
>>25630876
"I do not like Mr. Coat. Mr. Coat terrifies me. This whole place is just bad." She whispers, still staring only at the stairs.
>>25630690
"Be quiet so I can focus!"
Pryce tries one last time to reach for more cure, pouring all is magic into his bracelet. There has to be more out there, Fantasia had to make plenty to treat everypony back there.
"And give me that vial I gave you earlier, when you asked to see some. I need everything I can get right now."
>Hat Magic [JOY Antidote] [1d10]
With whatever vials he acquires, Pryce starts to treat the ponies. With the 13 he has, however many he pulls in his last conjure, and the extra is Splitz hands it back, he treats 9 of the young adults and uses the rest of the remaining adults and elders.
>>25630902
"You are a very strange lamb." He says, shaking the gak off his body and onto Novelus.
>>25630913
"Mr. Coat is so nice and helpful, though!" Amy calls back as she trots up the stairs.
>>25630959
"Did you HEAR the sounds he made?! It just... guh...." she shudders, "I-It isn't right. None of this is right."
>>25630950
"MNGAAAH, DON'T GET IT ON MY WOOL YOU UNHOLY BASTARD!" he shouts as he shakes the gak off
>>25630824
"Who? Wait, I've heard that name bef-- whoa!" Volkama lets himself get dragged along. When he sees the match, he squints, but his face falls in horror as he puts it together. "Wait wait wait, no...!"
The gases ignite in a burst, blowing out the windows in an instant. Fire lunges into the curtains, tables, and other flammable things.
Fire rages, uncontrolled.
"No! Wait, stop! Stop! I said, STOP!" Volkama shouts.
An unseen force picks up each flame and gathers them into the mouth of the furnace. You see the ponies now beginning to thaw from the concentration of fire.
>>25630917
Two vials begin to fall from the bracelet, but a hazmat-suit glove snatches one and tries to pull away. It gets stuck in your bracelet. Splitz saunters over and hands you the vial, half-empty. "I just wanted to see, is all. It went to a good cause, I promise."
>14.5 vials, can get 1 more if you take from the hoof.
The motions and mumbling gradually cease in the worst cases as you administer the healing vials. The remaining are 4 young adults, 1 elder, and 2 older adults.
>>25630908
>>25630876
>>25630867
>>25630849
>>25630902
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-CV0GOmiPg
Renee's vocalization goes from 'a' to 'b' as you ascend the staircase. Ecc. B and D have restrained the griffon demon thoroughly, though he doesn't resist much, merely laying inert and unconscious.
As you ascend the staircase, time begins to slip. Hairs begin to form on Novelus' chin, and on Ecc. B's chin. The brightness of the walls grates at your focus.
Eventually, the hallway ends; you don't come to an exit, it just stops existing around you.
You find yourselves in a jungle. The trees look to be made out of nerve endings. Everything is coated in mold and leaves. Around you, you see the trappings of an observatory. Furniture, tools, technology, desks, notes, etc. They're all there, completely intact, in this forest made out of nerves. The foliage is too dense where you are to see much around oyu.
>>25631084
"Oooooh," Amy shouts excitedly as she sees the telescope. "A real telescope! I've never used one before!"
She runs up to it and looks into the eyepiece. She starts aiming it all over in the sky to see what she can see.
[1d10] for seeing things because fuck you!
>>25631084
Pryce grabs hold of the vial as it gets stuck, a sting of guilt running through him as he sees the glove trying to pull it back.
"...I'm sorry, but we don't have enough here."
He says somberly, unsure if the pony could hear him or not as he yanks to vial from the hoof and pushes it back through the bracelet.
After treating those he can, Pryce steps over to the last 7, heart heavy at seeing them and powerless to help after the travel they went through.
"At least this should help your pain."
He says, horn glowing white as he tries to soothe their suffering as he combines the healing magics the ember bestowed upon him.
>Mantra of Purity [1d10]
>Prayer for Deliverance [1d10]
"Did you take it for yourself? Or do you have other plans for it."
He speaks slowly to Splitz, but not turning to face him.
>>25631084
As the time slippage takes effect, she gasps at the sudden growing hairs on B and Novelus' chins. "Th-this place is aging us! Hurry, ascend faster!"
She scampers up the stairs as quickly as her long legs will carry her, gasping for breath as she reaches the top, looking around with confusion as she sees that stairway has given way to the jungle.
As her fur brushes up against a few of the leaves, she tries to feel more at ease in a dense woodly area, but only feels a growing dread as she watches the nerve ending trees.
She scatters around the tools and notes and desks, looking for any sign of the witch. "Th-this place is dangerous. Help me find the witch, please. WITCH! Come out! I need to talk to you, please!"
[1d10] Searching
>+1 to Gaia?
>>25631163
"Who cares about a st-stupid telescope, Amy? This place is creepy! And weird! And weird-creepy!"
>>25631084
Observer looks around for a moment before using his Fourth Eye once more to inspect how they ended up here by climbing stairs.
>Fourth Eye
[1d10]
>>25631084
The ephemeral blast was spectacular, a wrapping vortex of fire that caught the eye. And against all pyro entropy it had ended
"Woooow.." Shei looks like he just finished watching a fireworks show "Fantastic! I did not expect that to go so smoothly. 9 times out of 10 that would of ended in disaster. I merely resorted to such because we are a tad limited on time."
In Shei's excitement he slides down the stair railing while giggling childish hyucks. "Who was the Demon in Maxwell's equation! Huzzah! It was thy impetus kid Shei-Sher!"
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon for everyone who won't understand the reference.
Shei lands on the flooring, not minding any lingering flames about. He approaches the most thawed of Ponies and asks "Pardon? Y-you, are alive? ..hopefully? I am looking for stolen organs could you help?"
>>25631084
As he starts feeling the effects of aging, he taps his chin, touching his growing stubble
He groans "I pray for the crown that this is temporary..." he says as he looks around "Auntie Viszla?! Come out, we want to talk!" he shouts loudly
>>25631220
"Sacrifices for telescopes!" Amy says happily as she continues to play with it.
>>25631084
Flow doesn't feel the effects of his aging, he just gets a tad bit softer as they continue on.
Flow starts looking around the nerve forest.
>>25631257
>against all pyro entropy it had ended
Er, I mean against all pyro entropy it had ended smoothly.
>>25631202
There seems to be no effect.
"Like I said, I didn't waste any of the product." Splitz repeats. "Now... now now now. Well, ordinarily we don't like window-shoppers snooping too long, but I think you've spruced up enough around here that you can haaave your pick. How many you think you can carry, bud?"
>>25631257
The last of the frost on the stallion's lower jaw thaws completely. Rather than blink or move, the stallion lets out a strange sound stuck halfway between two sounds, like a glitching VCR tape. His body begins to move, but is similarly stuck, jittering between two frames.
"So... is it time or space undone here?" Volkama thinks aloud. "They're going to run into a lot of trouble above if this is the depth to which she has afflicted these."
>>25631264
>>25631232
>>25631220
>>25631316
There seems to be no response. As you step among the foliage, it recoils, shriveling at your presence. The longer you remain in the room, the more you are aware of many figures watching you. A face skitters at the corners of your vision, but whenever you turn to look, it is gone. The sensations and half-seen faces remain at your peripherals, growing very slowly in number.
>>25631163
At first they appear to be stars. But as you look more, the dots you see through the telescope become little misshapen holes, thousands of thousands, caking the walls like an insect hive. You realize you cannot see the forest of nerves through the telescope, but past them, seeing only an observatory's walls, coated in these holes. You cannot see the top of the walls, nor where they end, for they stretch on too far to determine size. As you pan upwards, you see the sky is a mass of purple and gold with no set pattern or size, and an angry red knuckle staining the colors. The longer you stare at the sky, the bigger it seems, the bigger the room, the smaller you are, until you are but a speck of dust in a god's eye.
You remain unaware of anything the others may be feeling.
>>25631412
>>25631397
>audio example for sound because I'm bad at descriptions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAVWISje8_A&feature=youtu.be&t=1m34s
>>25631412
"This witch has some real artistic talent," Amy comments as she continues to look around with the telescope. "I'm kinda jealous."
She starts aiming it in more directions, including further down toward the ground. "Oh, miss wiiiitch," she calls out as she looks around, swinging the telescope everywhere. "Your place is so pretty! Please come out and tell me how you did it!"
[1d10] to find the witch!
>>25631412
"I'm not worried about wasting it. I'm concerned about the usage."
Pryce says, now turning to face him.
"I'm taking as many as I can carry, which will be everypony I can take. Those that I treated need prolonged care to make sure they can recover successfully from the addiction. The vials will have to stay with the ponies I gave them, and... I'm sure we can come to some agreement or other form of payment for the half that those wouldn't cover."
Pryce says, the latter through strained teeth as he has to keep taking about them like commodity.
>>25631296
She grumbles to herself, sniffing about, "What's so fun about a dumb looking glass anyhow..."
>>25631412
"We're surrounded..."
She shutters and looks around in many random directions as she tries to catch the faces in her vision before they fade. The constant sensation of something watching her drives her bonkers, her eyes shrinking and her back shriveling up in fear as the proud buffalo warrior she claims to be shows to be more of the scared calf she hides.
"D-damn it, stop that! Come out here! STOP HIDING DAMNIT!"
[1d10+3] All or Nothing
She leaps up at the nearest nerve tree, slamming her skull into it to try and hit one of her spectres.
>>25631412
Observer begins to prepares for anything to possibly happen. He starts by trying to summon up some homing magic bolts.
>Homing Magic
[1d10]
>>25631412
You know that stark eery feeling you get when you're browsing at the middle of the night with all the lights off and your comp crashes with a glitched noise stuttering on infinite. Well thats exactly how Shei-sher felt.
Space? Shei-sher ponders at Volkama's mention. He remembers vividly the data Pupil supplied him "Viszlaaa......" The word lingers in his breathe like a groaning hiss.
"Volkama!" Shei-sher turns to the hulking wizard "We need to find Vizla and undo this.. She is powerful and I am just... I am just a child acolyte. But you! You are old, seasoned, you possess rungs more in magic than trees have rings! I'm not asking we put our hooves up for a fight but there must some spell in your repertoire that can reverse this. Or something we could adapt at the very least!"
>>25631412
The many faces and images that appear at the corners of Flow's eyes frustrate him to no end, and he hoists Schlangenschwert on his shoulder, and carries the wakisazhi in his other hoof as he continues to wander, sticking close to the others.
Vice and Trapper do the same, each clutching their weapons tightly as they too, try and catch the images in their peripheral vision
>>25631539
"Because everything is sooooo pretty!" Amy says as if it should be obvious.
>>25631489
"You're a really, really nice guy, don't you know that?" Splitz remarks. "Hah. You really want them, don't you. That's okay. Hmm. Well... let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Whaddya got for me, hmm?"
>>25631564
You conjure five magic bolts as the faces trade indistinct words. You feel a murmured reply bubbling beneath your skin, against your will, moving around like steaming water.
>>25631539
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tYkNZz0b6k
You feel like someone takes your right side and adjusts it by 90 degrees. Your faculties remain functional, but all your perceptions are adjusted 90 degrees, with sound and sight touched most of all. You feel a murmured reply to the many faces' voices bubbling beneath your skin like steaming water.
Flaming???/??0
>>25631637
Eventually, Renee's voice gets into a loop of many repetitions of l, then o, then v, then e, in a singsong tone.
>>25631471
Your swiveling reveals the others with you, walking very very slowly. Flaming herself appears to be running, at once upright and adjusted 90 degrees counterclockwise. Eventually you pinpoint a spot far up ahead in the infinitely long room where a great source of energy, coated in a blue aura, sits. Space is distorted further ahead, things appearing microscopically small in comparison to the sky. Yet you can still somehow see them just fine, while still knowing of their smallness.
But how to get there at a normal walking speed?
(1/2)
>>25631632
Volkama sinks into a dining room chair and buries his face in his hooves. "I was already on that line of thought, but my solution sounds more and more idiotic with each time I think over it. What is needed is a dimensional stabilizer, an anchor of balancing-reality that can provide a haven of stability to undo the absurdity-rending which Vizsla made. My thoughts turned to the trump-card of so many years ago, a creature that was used to fight off nightmares, called the Phomesa, the kingdom's banner. It's not quite what is needed, as it was tuned to fight nightmares. A 2,000 year old wind-up doll! Hah!"
"The archmages and I made a cozy little study in the west tower of the castle out of Matura Diamente's base of operations against the nightmares. Deriva and I made it very cozy indee-- er, forget I said that, kid."
>>25631800
"Whatever may be nearby it may be magical..." He says, letting out a test pulse with his horn.
>Spellbreaker
[1d10]
>>25631800
Amy looks around as things just completely cease to make sense. She looks back into the telescope at the point nearly infinitely far away. And yet, she can see it so close and so well through the telescope.
Suddenly, the answer becomes obvious! With all of her might, Amy runs straight into the telescope! [1d10]
If the telescope can get her vision there, it can get here there!
>>25631800
"I have only what you see, having brought nothing of value aside the antidote itself. At this point, I can only offer services or favors, but I will not join your crew or submit myself to slavery under any circumstances."
>>25631800
Flow looks down at Renee's core in slight confusion. He's thrown off not only by the sudden change in letters she says, but by how her tone shifts as well.
"Well isn't that unusual..." he muses
The three continue to look around the foliage of nerves, mold, and leaves.
>"Unsettling, isn't it?"
>>"Of course it's unsettling mate! This place gives me the creeps and then some!"
Flow looks around for anything that really sticks out, his swords still at the ready.
>>25631945
>roll for looking
[1d10]
>>25631800
As her head makes contact, she backs off, the sights and sounds that assail her mind driving her to pain as she screams, trying to draw out the many voices she hears with her own wail. She bucks and swings her head randomly, the multiple images of her dancing around as she tries and makes her head straight
"Get out! Get out of here! Leave me alone, I just wanna go home! GRRRRRR.... STOOOOP!"
She screams, trying to focus and adjust her sense of reality
[1d10]
>>25631814
Shei-sher sits crossed ways on the floor. His cast down, deep in though. He rubs his chin where thin pubescent goatee hairs live.
"I can find the Phomesa. I've read much about it and I am an acolyte of Sabuul. She weaves the dreams that shroud my soul, my intellect a fine scapel to dissect reality. Whether it be beyond this realm or not if you could take me to the Phomesa I may be able to awaken it. And for a Dimensional Stabilizer... If nothing else my body won't be doing anything. If I need to part into the astral, you can use my brain as the vessel for your magic to destabilize the dimensions." Shei knocks on his cranium with his hoof. "Within holds a vast dreamscape, without my soul it'll be an empty canvas, it can contain the information needed to patch local reality together. At least for as long as it takes to free everyone. I don't want to return to a fired brain."
>you really threw me for a loop with this dilemma, heres my best rp answer
>>25631929
Splitz tosses himself back onto his throne with a yawn. "Boy, you're aesthetic. Ascetic. Aesthetic? Frugal! You don't carry more than what you can take on your back, huh? Well, that's okay. 'Cause we can all carry a lot in our heads, can't we?"
"So, you can start by telling me about a place around here. You're a huntin' type, aren't you? So you've probably heard of it, this great wooly refuge. Zha Arlakane. Why don't you just start right there. And while you're at it-- if you know of him, then tell me what you know about the, shall we say, JOYful little king."
>>25631855
Some relief and quiet come to your head as you restore your faculties with the spell.
>>25631995
You trip and become tangled in the foliage of the nerve-ending jungle, landing on a cluster of leaves, each with the texture and thickness of a desiccated tongue.
>>25631890
You bonk your head against the telescope, and that kind of hurts. But, as your singular will to travel through the telescope to that point becomes manifest, you feel yourself moving. The borders of your senses tear, break apart, and rearrange yourselves as you hurtle through to your destination...
>>25631945
>>25631855
>>25631995
Your attention is drawn to Amy (above). A force coming from Amy draws your attention to her- you feel her will to travel through the telescope force itself upon reality. She becomes very small as she passes through the looking-lens, and you feel her will move from here to very far away in the direction that the telescope points.
>>25632056
"That's... a spirited answer. I'm pretty sure most of those were words. It's a long shot. But the kingdom has hardly had any need to even look into something as specific as this for long as can be remembered. We were far more suited to dealing with the giants from the Land of Other than reality-undoing. Come, the study will have what you need. It'll be the safest for keeping our bodies whilst trying to recover that ancient information-weapon."
>Paused
