http://pastebin.com/mWrxJJPr
>>25855524
Take this fluffy cow. Post sheets in return.
>>25855578
http://pastebin.com/5VUcBRQx
>>25855578
I'll take your fluffy cow and raise you the ballsiest friendliest buffalo
http://pastebin.com/p1dtY3qj
>>25855524
http://pastebin.com/6dTx6i08
>>25855578
http://pastebin.com/FnVUQbFF
>>25855578
http://pastebin.com/RaZG8KLM
>>25855524
Ready for Goatquest
>>25855956
er.. now REady
>>25855632
>>25855635
>>25855776
>>25855830
>>25855838
>>25855969
Last time on HolyQuest!
Amy Thest – F. Crystal Pony Druid – 4/4 (7/6)
Flaming Shorthorns – F. Buffalo Wildguard – 8/6 (8/6)
Shei-Sher – M. Goat Spellwright – 5/4 (5/7)
>Pheo – F. Phoenix – 4/4
>Gigginox -- 4/4
Sir Pryce Etac – M. Unicorn Battlemage – 9/5 (9/5)
Prince Novelus -- M. Sheep Trickster -- 6/6 (6/6)
Observer -- M. Voidling Spellwright -- 4/6 (7/6)
>Golem -- 5/5 (5/5)
Things had begun getting stranger and stranger still as the night wears on and the bloodmoon rose. Novelus led Flaming, Observer, and Amy upstairs to deal with the witch Vizsla, and to find the phylactery of the witch Nightseed. Doing this would help them defeat Nightseed in proper battle, and undo whatever curse she had put upon Renee, who had been transformed into some gray thing with an upper body like a climbing vine, covered in eyes. Ecc. B and D followed them while the rest made preparations for their flight from the city.
Meanwhile, Pryce made negotiations with Banana Splitz for the treatment and release of some of the addled JOY addicts. He split 14.5 vials of antidote between 18 of the 25 afflicted ponies that Splitz had. Splitz asked Pryce to share what he knew about King Lininas of Zha Arlakane, who he hinted had some form of connection to JOY.
(1/?)
>>25855838
As Splitz asks his question, you to feel a wiggling force in your stomach. Then, you feel a layer of dirt seep up from the deck of the ship and sink just beneath the surface of your skin until it wraps you, hoof to horn. The smell of mold rests in your nose. The clouds to the east, which covered the bloodmoon, are frozen in the sky. They dim in color, getting darker, then dark red, until they fade entirely. The bloodmoon is now completely visible, peeking over the horizon.
The unicorns of Splitz's crew shuffle about uncomfortably, some clutching stomachs, others tugging at contorting mouths. Splitz's smile contorts into a teeth-baring grimace, mixed partway between a smile and a growl.
"Well then. Perhaps it's time to cash out after all. Enough fucking around. Make it quick, alicorn, and we'll give you some if you tell me something valuable."
>>25855776
>>25855830
>>25855632
>>25855635
In the dense nerve-ending jungle which hampers all movements to a crawl, you saw Amy approach a telescope among the observatory furniture. She then grew smaller and smaller, and vanished into the telescope, which was pointed ahead of you, parallel to the ground.
Flow, Vice, Trapper, and Ecc. B pause, frozen in their movements. They dim in color, getting darker, then dark red, until they fade away entirely. Ecc. D backs away with a gasp, and looks down to see his own front legs gradually turning dark red.
(2/3)
>>25855969
As talks turned to how to undo the bizarre happenings in the city, such as the ponies in the kitchen frozen between two frames of time, and Renee's ailment, Shei and Volkama reached a solution: use Shei's connection with Sabuul's dream-mysticism to retrieve the Phomesa, a weapon tuned to defeat nightmares designed by King Matura Diamente well over a millennium ago. This would help re-stabilize local spacetime and hopefully also provide defense against the demons before they can go into a rage from the bloodmoon.
"Come, we'll have to go around the side to reach the stuuuurhgh..." Volkama twitches and pauses in place. "Just... on the side of the... bloody murder ACCI... give me a minut-- these poor wounded PLACES turned stitched-up propaganda of the dream-king-- hurp!"
He stumbles and throws his hoof to his mouth.
>>25855838
forgot music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--D89gXxI-w&feature=youtu.be
>>25855830
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49wD2-i-enw
Each fiber of your being becomes an infinitely long dot, both infinite and microscopic at once. You are unaware of how much time passes as these dots stretch and rearrange themselves across the stretch of telescope, the colors around you becoming a long soup of unrecognizable forms.
You come to in a black plane, with soft, damp, squishy ground beneath you, untextured and formless. The dotty sky from before greets you above now. Strange fixtures of light, shaped like flowery translucent lamps, dot the landscape around you.
Some of these lamps bloom in midair, forming the outline of a staircase. They bloom in clumps at a time, stretching upward for indeterminate length.
>>25856108
Observer makes his way over to the telescope. "Interesting... a trap... or a teleporter?" He says, before inspecting the device to figure out what it does or if it may have a spell on it.
>Engineering
[1d10+2]
>>25856108
Novelus jumps to get a hold of Ecclesian D, pulling him towards himself ''Oh no you will not!''
>>25856176
Amy looks around for a moment in a daze until she realizes she is where she was looking.
"YES!" she shouts as she jumps into the air, landing with a damp squish. "Who's the smartest pony? Amy i-"
She interrupts herself when she notices the squishy sound. She sniffs the lack of ground with her now half-doggy nose. She then jumps up and down several more times with a giggle at the silly sound.
She starts to look around as she hops up and down giggling. She stops when she notices the lights. She bounces over to them and sniffs it.
They look like flowers. Naturally, they must taste good. She gingerly bites one.
[1d10] for tasties!
>>25856108
Flaming tries to re-orient herself, the worst of her experience after ramming into the nerve-ended 'tree' nearest her losing the worst of its grating sounds. She finds it hard to focus, her vision still split between the directly forward and the directly up that the split images fading in and out around her convey.
"My head... owwwwww... have they stopped?" She blinks her head, trying hard to focus despite the disorientation. "I don't understand what this place is. It's evil... it's not right, w-we have to find the witch and GET OUT of this place!"
She looks at Novelus grabbing on to D as the others fade away, her eyes opening wide with fear.
"N-no! No, don't worry, I won't let it take you. Grab on, Novelus..."
She scurries on over to Ecc. D to try and pull on him, as if it would do something to help. She also turns her head, gasping aloud as Amy disappears.
"A-Amy's gone too! We're next, we're next, we're next..."
[1d10] Pulling him hard, keeping him tethered
>>25856108
Pryce is about to respond to the question, but only gets out a muted groan as his stomach convulses. He marks it off to just all the rushing to aid these ponies, but as his body tenses at the crawling skin, wings clasping tight to his sides, he can't use that reasoning again. Especially as his eyes gaze upwards at the crimson orb overhead.
"I don't know much. I was only in Zha Arlakane for only a few hours passing through, and I was too preoccupied with other things to pay attention to the city there."
Pryce says as he rubs his snout with his hoof, trying to shake away the moldy smell.
>>25856176
Shei-sher fidgets uneased by Volkamas blurts. He puts an arm on his hunch (or if he's too tall at his side) and his other by Volkama's shoulder "Repel the urge to revert. Volkama." Shei-sher reaches into his bag a fashions a seal onto some papyrus paper. The seal's focal symbol is Gabby's trademark claw sign.
"Now Volkama I don't mean to offend you but this is for both of our safety. I will place this seal on your back so We May Be Linked" He draws out that last part incase Volkama has trouble understanding during his lunacy. "If you happen to lose control, I can send you suggestions."
Shei-sher moves to place the sign
>GABBY's SEAL: Turns a living enemy into an walking corpse. For all intents and purposes this target now counts as Undead and a corpse. This effect ends if someone removes the seal from their body.
[1d10+1]
>yeah also I renamed the ability to Gabby's seal, thought it was fitting.
>>25856242
The taste is unlike anything you have felt before. At first tasteless, it soon evokes a nostalgic feeling, like a vaguely pleasant memory that is too far gone to recall.
>>25856213
>>25856283
>My mistake, it's Ecc. D who disappears, you grabbed B
Ecc. B begins to lightly gasp and struggle as you pull him off. His arms remain completely still. Their color solidifies at a dark red, hard to focus your eyes on. "They're stuck, they're stuck..." he mumbles in shock.
"An empty hole in the Dark was here. Heavier than it looks. It's gone now." Renee says calmly.
>>25856187
It seems its property changed from Amy's use of it. Her desire to use it as a teleporter to move ahead seems to have made it into a teleporter. No other use has been assigned to it, so it remains a teleporter.
>>25856338
Volkama's body convulses as you put on the paper, knocking it to the ground. He bites his hoof and moves to the wall of the front hallway, near the door. "Put it quick, idea's practically useful for doing." he snarls with a shake of his head.
>>25856310
Some of the mist on the eastern horizon undergoes the same red-shifting that happened to the cloud before. You feel a quiet patience from the moon, then an aura of impatience from Splitz, and inklings of fear from the raiders on deck, almost like you can hear their thoughts.
"Little obedient sheep hasn't made his move yet, eh? You'd have heard if the king was going to croak. hmm..." Splitz's grimace convulses. "Alright, enough talk. Gerrof, you get whatever you can carry." he gestures at the JOY addicts.
>>25856283
''Calm yourself Flaming! Don't let the witch's strange...Magic..Get the best of you! Just remember to focus!''
>>25856414
He keeps a strong grip on him ''Stuck where? Stuck WHERE?!''
[1d10+2] inspire
>>25856414
Amy nibbles on the taste quizzically for a while, her tail slowly, lightly wagging. She nods. "I should compliment the chef," she says happily. "Who made you, little flowers?" she asks the plants.
She looks up at the spiral of them. She takes it as an answer to her question and begins to walk up the spiral they form. Regardless of whether there ARE stairs there.
[1d10] to walk on stairs if there actually aren't any there
>>25856414
Observer puts his eye up to the telescope to see through it. Testing to see if it does what he thinks it may do, his desire to find ultimate knowledge.
>>25856414
"I'm.. trying.." Shei-sher is seen with eyes closed, face stoic. His hooves pressing the paper onto Volkama's back
"It's.. Hard to focus.. At the center. Your soul is not like regular souls I hope you realize. I'd say it's the psychopath of souls."
>Focus Seal [1d10+1]
>>25856450
She lets the tears form in her eyes, shaking her head, "I-I'm trying, I'm trying but... this place is just wrong. It's not supposed to be like this, it's wrong!"
>>25856414
B safe, Shorthorns finally takes a breath, still trying to sort herself out as she looks at his hooves.
"Th-they are..." she taps on the red part with her hooves, trying to see if it's some kind of external shell but strains to focus on it.
She looks to Renee, stuttering, "Renee, you're not making any sense! How can the dark have holes in it?! D-do you know where Trapper and the other one went?"
She staggers away, trying her best to drag B along. "Can you walk on your hind hooves alone? Th-there's no going back now."
>>25856566
[1d10]
>>25856600
He turns to her, putting both hooves on her shoulders and holding her firmly
''Flaming.''He says her name with firmness in his voice
''you have to compose yourself. This place is wrong and twisted, and every minute I spend here I can feel myself growing closer and closer to vomiting. But that is what the Vizsla wants. Don't let her beat you already okay?'' His glare softens up
''You're strong. Strong enough to get past this twisted place with no trouble. You are a buffalo! the bravest of your kind! Now are you going to try it or are you going to DO it?''
[1d10+2] inspire
>>25856695
Flaming still stutters, trying to calm her nerves as she looks around at all the uncomfortable surroundings and unexplained circumstances. She takes a deep breath as Novelus' words console her, striving her to push on.
She steadies herself, but keeps her eyes closed as she bows her head down. "I-I'm going to do it... I promise." she says as confidently as she can muster, which isn't much at the moment.
>>25856450
"Do I really look like I know?" Ecc. B mumbles in worry.
"It's emaciated to trade us with." Renee says.
>>25856600
The hooves feel ordinary. Ecc. B stumbles backwards, taking wobbly, uncertain steps on his back hooves. "If I fall, don't put your neck on the chopping block to save me." he says. "S-someone take my gun."
"We're due for another cell. A loop of information and knowhow into another World." Renee says. "What did the miraculous angel call?"
>>25856500
Where your hoof lands, you feel a solidity. As you ascend, the stairs are exactly where you expect them to be. If your steps come at irregular intervals, then so do the stairs, and if they come at regular intervals, then so do the stairs. More flowers appear before you, both unexpected, and at the same time, completely expected.
The sky above you appears to grow in size, more circular too instead of a typically "flat" looking sky, curving around you until you can almost see it around the sides and back of your head. In the center of this, you see a white crescent of moon. A low cry feels like it comes from the moon, at once very far away and very close. It feels both relieved and angry at your presence.
>>25856566
Your vision momentarily eclipses over as you look through the telescope. You become aware of information about an external plane, a World that is not your own nor this one, flowing into this region. You feel the presence of Flow, Trapper, Ecc. D and Vice, not anywhere near here, but in a plane so far removed from this one that it is impossible to pinpoint them. You feel Amy's presence, at once miles away, and just a few feet ahead of you, and how to get to her. Your head and eye begin to twinge from the strain.
(1/2)
>>25856572
You apply the seal for real. "You're telling me, jhouzenken deadly brilliance-- it wasn't always like that, I underts-- let us be on our way before another hit." he snarls.
Volkama leads you out of the front spire and towards the one to the north, taking a path which leads through a decaying garden. "Deadly poor flowers we watered, first light..." he mumbles, stumbling.
He takes a set of stairs up to a shorter spire, built on a terraced plateau. He stops just a few steps short of the brass circular door, and retrieves a set of keys from his coat pocket. He then drops them as his hoof convulses for a few moments. "Damn it all! Get them as I am irrevocably indisposed for this temporary matter. Grugh-- mph. Worst-case, please undo me afore a demon gets to my brilliant body. Burn me and detonate me, I'd rather be rigged well with a silver nail bomb before I am demonfood."
>>25856756
''I know you will...'' He gently bashes his head against hers and lets her go
>>25856786
''Hmmn...'' He takes a few seconds to try to make some sense of Renne's nonsense
''Another world...''
>>25856608
He quickly turns to the voidling ''Observer! what have you discovered about the telescope?''
>>25856786
"Mr. Moon?" Amy shouts up at it cordially. "Sorry to bother you. Did you make these flowers? They're very delicious. I just thought you should know."
[1d10] to talk to the moon?
>>25856786
Observer pulls his head away from the telescope, looking to the others nearby. "I have found a way to find Amy, but not quite the others."
>>25856852
"The telescope can transport us to other dimensions or possibly another world in this reality. One that Amy is on.
>>25856852
She smiles and sniffs her nostrils as her head is bashed against his, slight confidence returning. "Thank you, Novelus. I-I won't fail anyone again."
>>25856786
"Your gun? B-but I don't know how to use it." She reaches towards it, awkwardly fumbling the rifle. "Novelus, you should take this..."
As Renee mentions the 'other world' and the angel, she gasps,
"Wait... we're in some kind of Anomololomoly?! Th-that's bad, we may not get home if it's closed, we have to get out."
She looks towards the telescope that Amy observed earlier, looking through the looking glass. "Amy was playing with this earlier, then ran towards it before she vanished, where did she go..."
She dares not move it, instead only looking towards it with a gulp. "Maybe if it worked once... Renee, soldier, can you follow me? I don't know if this will make things better or worse."
>>25856801
"Its a disgrace. I've done my rings in alchemy but I very much detest the sight of decay. Especially for gardens.." Shei remarks without noticing Volkama's sanity slip.
The goat occasionally brushes his hooves by limp petals as he passes by the flora.
"You, in honest breathe believe I would dispose of you after ensnaring such brilliance? Such a waste. Should you lose yourself, I will keep you for service." He states cooly without a hint of ethic.
Shei-sher grabs the key and fits it to open the metal door.
>>25856887
''Ah, very good job my alien friend...Now...Do you know how to operate it?''
>>25856915
''You never failed me. But don't be scared of failing...Mistakes are also lessons...''
>>25856976
She shakes her head, "I-I have to be afraid of failing. Failing... the world isn't like what it used to be, failing is FATAL now. Warriors that make mistakes wind up dead, a-and their friends wind up dead, and their mother and fathers and clans and homes wind up dead as well."
>>25856976
"Yes." He states, bringing Novelus over to instruct him on how to use it so we can find amy.I have no idea how it works. I'm assuming I can still share the knowledge.
>>25857070
''hmn...Very well...I will go first after her..Let's pray I remain in one piece...''
He activates the telescope!...With Observer's instructions
>>25856414
Pryce gives a few sniffles, feeling he rubbed away the smell enough.
"What move? Are you planning to do something there?"
Pryce says, a little more accusatory than he thinks as he stands and checks over the addicts one last time to make sure they're alright to be moved the long distance back ot the ship.
>>25856884
There is an incoherent, muffled yawn for a reply. You get the feeling that whoever made that first cry is near-incoherent, like a restless sleeper. The flowers continue to sprout before you, the only source of light besides the dots in the curved sky.
>>25856887
>>25856852
>>25856915
"A colorous cusp of two Worlds, a hoofshake between Old Chaos, old minds swapping definitions in greet...ing..."
Renee begins to shiver and jitter in worry. "Has one of them taken my loves?"
>>25856966
"Only Deriva got to share my mind! Heh! Useful still if extracted, chopper-chop. Heheheh."
As you open the door, you enter the ground floor of a three-level tower, the second and third level slightly visible through the translucent crystalline material that makes up the ceiling of the first level / floor of the second level.
The room is a mess of papers and strange markings and displays on the walls, similar to those in the throne room. "Don't breathe too heavily and tell me if your vision turns purple. Made a mess Deriva never bothered cleaning up." Volkama says as he takes the stairs. "Now, tell me your experience with dream-mysticism and any questions you may have. Best to get them out of the way before the horrible side effects take place." he says as he grabs a heavy book off a table and heads up the stairs.
>>25857070
>>25857096
>>25857050
>>25856884
Observer taps into the properties which Amy's will assigned to the telescope in the first place. Observer, Dania, and Flaming feel their beings stretched into many infinitely long dots, launched across a thin membrane and rearranged. Soon, they find themselves in single-file behind Amy. Above them is a brilliant night sky, with tiny white dots in the sky instead of stars, and a crescent moon. They stand on an invisible staircase, solid but textureless, and invisible. The only indication that there is a staircase is the presence of small white lamp-like flowers at their sides, tracing the path of a staircase.
(1/2)
>>25857182
>>25857120
"Pal, we're planning on leaving this city, checking into a nicer little camp to wait out this night. I suggest you do the same. And soon." Splitz says, hopping off his throne and approaching you, standing just a few inches above you in height. He clearly wants you gone.
The afflicted look well enough to move. In fact, the ones who you didn't give antidote to have begun to sit up straight, while those that got the antidote lie still. The sitting ones smile the largest, their eyes still shut.
>>25857182
>>25856884
''Oh Amy there you are! And thank goodness you're okay!'' Novelus walks up to her, carefully traversing the invisible stairway ''Do you have...ANY idea of where we are?''
>>25857210
"I don't plan to stay here any longer than I want to either."
Pryce retorts, staring up at Splitz as he approaches.
Pryce turns, horn glowing as he attempts to hold all the treated ponies in gentle telekinesis so he can carry them with minimal disturbance.
>Telekinesis [1d10]
As the untreated start to stir, Pryce steps over to the closest one with curiosity and confusion.
"They're... they're moving? How? The withdrawal should have them bedridden at this point..."
>>25857182
"The night sky still reminds me of the void." He mumbles to himself, looking up at the sky as he follows Amy.
>>25857273
He then turns his attention to Amy and Novelus. "This place is seperate from our worlds, I would assume she would know just as much about this world as I knew about yours when I first stumbled upon it."
>>25857182
Shei marvels at the architecture and studies strewn about. Too bad theres no time to examine it all.
Shei walks up the stairs with Volkama, seeming to become more tense as they ascend.
"Volkama if you lose yourself -and are to never return.. I needed to inquire yo-o-u.." Shei's words are uneasy. His face blushes with boyish spunk "W-what are girls like??"
"Like when they're your girl.." He specifies nervously, foregoing a more practical question.
>>25857182
Shorthorns lowers her ears, "Renee.. you're getting worse. We HAVE to get you your head back soon, y-you're not making any sense,"
>>25857070
>>25857096
>>25857182
As the telescope is activated, Shorthorns gasps in shock as all of her very many molecules are stretched out, re-arranged, and set back together in the span of a moment.
Shorthorns stays frozen on the stairs, her eyes closed shut, scared for her life as she ducks down in a crouched position.
"....d-did it work? Spirits, look after us, I-I think we're still in one piece." She looks around, flabbergasted at the vast display of lights and moon. She looks down, gaining an overwhelming sense of vertigo as she nearly hops off the stairs in fright looking down at them below at the long drop through it into nothing.
"AH! Ah... ah..." Shorthorns calms down as she finds her hooves have solid footing under them, pressing down on the invisible steps to assure she's safe before turning and looking up the stairs. "Now where are we? Did we pass through the anomolonoly?"
>>25856884
At the sight of Amy, Shorthorns cries out in relief, "AMY! There you are!" She pushes up past Novelus to get close enough to make sure she's really there." We-we lost some of the others, Trapper and some of the soldiers, t-this place made them vanish! I don't want to vanish, Amy, w-we need to find Renee's head and leave!"
>>25857273
"We're here, obviously," Amy answers quickly but distractedly.
>>25857182
Amy stares at the moon with a cocked head. She's unsure whether this is the thing she wants to talk to. But, the flowers keep appearing. They must have something to say.
"Little flowers," Amy says to them as they keep appearing. "Take me to your master!" she says dramatically.
[1d10] to tell glowing flowers what to do!
>>25857307
"That's weird," Amy says dismissively. "They must not have wanted to be here, either."
>>25857289
The sheep refluffs his wool ''Ah yes...I suppose you are right...Well this world is much more bizzare than ours...at least from my point of view...''
>>25857317
''yes yes but have you found anything usef-...Why are you talking to the flowers?...''
>>25857335
"Because they taste like memories," Amy responds simply.
>>25857326
She reaches forwards, great fear in her eyes, "A-Amy, it's more than just weird! It's wrong, it's ALL wrong, th-they could have been swallowed up by nothingness or... I-I don't want to disappear, Amy, I don't."
>>25857354
''huh...Well it's admirable that you are not as phased by this as we all are...lemme see about that...'' He walks up to one of the flowes, examining it for a bit before eating it slowly
>>25857362
"Then don't," Amy shrugs.
>>25857376
Flaming, frustrated, throws up her hooves in a fuss, "I don't get to make that choice, Amy! Whatever this place is does that, I-I know the others didn't WANT to vanish. This place is making me insane."
>>25857407
"This place makes more sense than any place I've ever been to," Amy responds as she sniffs in the air for something. "Everything just happens because someone says so. I guess someone told them to vanish. They shouldn't have listened. You'll be fine. You're strong."
>>25857451
"Makes more... how can this place make ANY sense?" she looks down, then up, "This place doesn't have any stairs but we're obviously ON stairs and there are things that hurt to look at or even think about..."
She shakes her head, "A-and that's what has me more worried than anything. I think this place is doing something, I-I don't feel as strong as I should."
>>25857300
"Soft. Very soft. And pretty nasty. Expect to hear that which no stallion should hear if they congregate together. And you can forget about having a sanitary workstation. And never look in their bathrooms, deadly mercy me." Volkama flips through the book.
The second floor is mostly a mass of coiling wires wrapped around foreign, primitive-looking magitech generators. Upon the third floor is several overturned bookshelves. A comfortable-looking fort, it has several couches and beds strewn in one corner, a pile of books adjacent. In the center of the room are some primitive-looking terminals, and an egg-like chair with a headset in the center.
"Welcome, welcome welcome. With permission I was granted by King Doppler, I secluded the contents of Diamente's research here. Terminals for storing, most of them. Will take some reconfiguring for a proper use, haven't tried it in a while-- get comfortable, you're going to be in there for a while. Think nice thoughts, eh?"
He sets the book down on a desk and takes some potions out of a drawer, beginning to mix them.
>>25857273
>>25857289
>>25857307
>>25857317
The lamp-like flowers begin to emit a faintly warm, but odorless smell, evoking comfortable nostalgia. They continue to lead upward, appearing in various stages of blooming as they get higher and higher. The sky curves more as you ascend, until you can see star-dots nearly entirely behind you. As you approach the crescent moon, your vision glosses black for a moment.
When your vision fades back in an instant later, you find yourselves in a small cavern. Observer is reminded of his time in Dania's brain- the cavern is poorly light, covered in mold and flowers. Some of the flowers have fully-bloomed, and float about in the air like jellyfish. Three tunnels split off from the cavern you're in. One leads forward, the others to the right and left. The right and left tunnels are much smaller and cramped, while the middle tunnel is larger.
(1/2)
>>25857281
You start to roll up the blanket but get the feeling that it's going to be extremely heavy to do so. The sitting ponies laugh lightly, the lesions on their necks having grown slightly. You're becoming increasingly aware of a hissing sound from the direction of the bathhouse.
>>25857486
"Why do you need stairs to walk up stairs?" Amy responds whimsically as if she's being wise.
>>25857509
Amy stops at the three tunnels. She stairs at them for a second as if she's thinking about something deep and meaningful. Suddenly, her face lights up.
"ECHO!" she shouts at the tunnels.
[1d10] for shouting!
>>25857509
''Should we split up then?...'' He asks the group
or would you all rather go through together?
>>25857538
Flaming lowers her ears and eyebrows. "Buffalos do. Buffalos need stairs to walk up stairs. I don't know why ponies work different..."
>>25857509
Shorthorns finds herself slightly more at ease as the lamp flowers give off their smell, reminded of more peaceful times in the plains. "Hmm... where does this go, anyway?" She looks up the stairs, steadily taking one step at a time on her way through the blooming flowers. Many of them look quite tasty but her fear of this place keeps her appetite in check as she moves through the pin-point lights, looking back in awe as they fall behind them.
"Wow... do you all see that?! We're beyond the stars! That... that's so weird." She comments at last, but in the back of her mind feels wonder taking hold against the sea of unease.
As her vision glosses and they find themselves in the cavern, she looks about the many flying flowers, lighting reaching up to touch one with her nose to poke it out of the way and adjust flight path.
[1d10] poke
>>25857552
>>25857509
Flaming shoots low to the ground, stomping her hooves, "NO! No, I-I don't think that's a good idea, to split up. If I'm going to disappear someone should at least see me do it..."
>>25857594
''Flaming you are NOT going to disappear...WE havent dissapeared until now, why do you think we would still do so? Calm yourself you silly Buffalo''
>>25857594
Amy smiles a smile that, in the current state of her teeth, probably looks more like a vicious snarl. She grabs Flaming with a gigglesnort and squeezes her in a hug. "You're so adorable!" she says happily.
However, as she hugs her, she notices her own black fuzzy "hoof" and quickly lets go. She then coughs awkwardly.
>>25857509
>>25857538
>>25857613
>>25857594
"I have seen this once... I believe it was when I was trapped within Novelus' mind."
Observer then attempts to test a theory by seeing if this place may share properties to when he was inside Novelus' brain.
>Fourth Eye
[1d10]
>>25857516
"Is this an affect of the withdrawal?"
Pryce mumbles out loud, not to anyone in particular as he eyes the lesions.
Pryce grits his teeth as he tries to focus more on carrying all his treated ponies.
"Ngh, come on. I can do this..."
>Telekinesis [1d10]
"Can you move this boat closer to the wall? Somewhere more quiet?"
>>25857644
''Uh...yes but please you could refrain from metioning that...please...''
>>25857509
Shei's ears wilt a crestfallen expression. "That.. is not the response I wanted to hear. Nor expected..
Shei-sher might of gone peeping an eye at every article in the room, but he currently lacks the passion for some reason. Volkama's statements increase his anxiety. Shei-sher looks at the Chair now apprehensively.
Shei-sher climbs onto the chair. He makes a mental not to think of girls. He looks quite forlorn.
"Begin when r-ready."
Shei's pheonix had been flying about the Tower, she flaps down to nest at Shei's lap. He pets her but retrieve his hoof in a quick motion after being burnt. In his vacant lull he forgot his leather cloak keeps that from happening.
>>25857644
"So we're in someone's head?" Amy asks. "Is that why everything makes so much sense? Obviously, things should make the most sense in someone's brain!"
>>25857613
Flaming turns to Novelus, "But that's just it, Trapper and the soldiers didn't disappear until THEY disappeared and we didn't suspect that, what if what Renee said happens to us again?! I-I can't do anything about disappearing, I don't know how!"
>>25857637
The smile Amy displays at first sets Shorthorns on edge, the edged snarl of her mouth reminding her of a hungry predators for a moment as she almost backs off, but the recesses of her mind remind her of Amy's true nature and makes her stand her ground.
As she's grabbed and hugged, she coughs in surprise as she's squeezed tight, wiggling her legs. "Gah! I-I'm not trying to be, I-I'm trying to be fearless and I'm not even getting THAT right..."
>>25857644
"Y-you have? But, wait... how can we possibly be in Novelus' brain if Novelus is right here? That makes no sense either..." she grimaces, "Though that's pretty much all I've gotten here so far."
She looks up with hope, "Do you know the way out then?"
>>25857682
"But, you ARE!" Amy insists, getting over her previous awkwardness. "The only thing you're scared of is being scared. And that's like..." Amy screws up her face, trying to think of the right words.
"Really cool," she says with a satisfied nod.
>>25857663
"I will make no promises."
>>25857674
"It may appear that way."
>>25857682
"No, we are not inside Novelus' brain. His mind is a bit more disturbed than this one. At least so far it seems that way."
Observer looks on at the tunnels, as if he's trying to figure out the last question.
>>25857682
He sighs ''Flaming, I know you're afraid...but if you keep putting your mind too much on this, you won't be able to focus...Just..think about something else...What about...Where do you want to visit after we return to Zha?''
>>25857717
''Hey!'' He huffs,offended
>>25857538
All that comes back is a vague whisper of your voice. Your ears pick up the sounds of dripping and rippling water.
>>25857594
As your hoof makes contact with the jellyfish-like creature, you feel your secondary senses, all the information coming in as though you were adjusted by 90 degrees, shift slightly. Now, they are more in line with the normal way of feeling, slightly more aligned (80 degrees, give or take).
>>25857644
As you step forward, you feel the ground becoming squishy and damp, biological-smelling, just as it did in Novelus' brain. The others are surely unaware of this. You become aware of overflowing sources of life coming from the right and left tunnels, while the middle is largely devoid of such things. Gotesque soul energy comes from the right and left as well, while the middle feels like a vacuum, but not one that you are accustomed to. Bizarre, foreign. Dangerous. It is like Novelus' brain, and yet not quite. You feel as though you are at the border of a threshhold that nobody has crossed or seen the other side of.
>>25857649
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZFrGz6dCAc
Splitz ignores you as he and his crew start to head to the other side of the boat to keep an eye on the direction of the Ayakashi Salon, whispering to themselves in worry. Splitz begins issuing various orders to the crewmembers, but you can't hear them so clearly. Blood drains from your ears and extremities, and congregates in your gut. The wriggling that was in your stomach splits in two, one of them moving into your heart.
You begin to feel warm, pleasantly warm, soft, and tingly all over, the dirt that was under your skin now feeling bigger and stronger. It's such a lovely day out, and the moon gets so much brighter. Weak magic leaks from your horn.
(1/2)
>>25857671
The headset descends over your head as Volkama comes over with a flask and dumps it into a port on the side of the headset. The sensation of icewater drips down your spine as you see Volkama beginning to trace shapes from the book into the ground...
With a snap, your vision cuts to black and senses leave you. Soon, you come back to reality. An immense theater curtain stands before you. It is too high and too wide to see the ends of. The ground at your hooves is rocky and jagged, but textureless. You're reminded of stories of Old Kvestwic, a sacred ground which no non-griffon has ever been allowed to set foot upon.
>>25857798
"The right and left passages... I can sense an incredible amount of both life and soul energy. Yet the middle passage... Avoid it, do not approach it. It seems either left or right we will arrive at something."
>>25857763
Flaming takes in a deep breath, shuttering, "I know, a warrior should feel no fear, but... this place just makes my whole brain and my whole body shake."
She pauses, "After we return to Zha... you mean, if we got rid of all the demons?"
>>25857798
>>25857798
Flaming's senses flare up after breaking contact with the jelly-fish, but after she shakes her head from the shock she feels like the disorientation's improved somehow.
"My head... th-that made it better?" Curious, she leans up with her muzzle again, trying to touch the creature...
[1d10]
>>25857860
''Sure..What would you want to do? I could take you anywhere to do anything you'd want there in Zha!'' He smiles
[1d10+2] forgot my inspire SWAG
>>25857857
A part of Observer can't shake away the curiosity of what may be deeper in the vacuum.
>Fourth Eye: See beyond the vacuum.
[1d10]
>>25857900
"....." Flaming looks down at the ground, "I'd just want to go home. If it's even still there."
>>25857966
''Then we'll have a nice celebration then, alright? think about all the fun times that will be had there, hmmn?''
>>25857811
Vision returns and Shei-sher immediately recognizes the scenary for a dream. His experience lucid dreaming makes it apparent. He takes a hoof off the chair and to the ground but instictively stops, remembering where he's stepping. He then shoos away the superstition, its just a dream.
He looks ahead toward the curtains. And he looks at them like he is looking past them, with a thousand mile stare.
>PHASE AURA: Your body sheds light in a small radius of 5 meters, in a color you choose when you learn this skill. All creatures in this range cannot turn invisible or become hidden, creatures already hidden or invisible are made clear, and incorporeal beings and lingering magical effects and wards manifest a visible shape. Effect persists roll minus five turns (six lasts one, seven lasts two, etc.)
[1d10+1] The intense starry white color of his aura is concentrated into his pupils.
>>25857974
Flaming sighs, scratching at the cavern floor with her hoof.
"I guess... if my family's still there too." She looks down at the ground, eye's sullen. "They could be on the other side of the world for all I know now. Or care..."
>>25858027
''Whenever they are...They still love you and must worry about you every single day and night...And when they hear that you were there to save the world, they will be the proudest buffaloes that ever lived, and they will pass on tales of your greatness and your adventures from generation to generation!''
>>25857798
Amy's ears perks up. She points her head in the direction of the sound like a dog. Or at least, she hopes and assumes she's looking in the right direction. She starts following the sound.
[1d10] to follow the sound of water
>>25857798
Pryce sways as the edges of his body dull and hearing clogs, giving his head a shake as he lifts a hoof to his chest.
"Whoa, think I'm getting a little ahead of myself..."
Pryce steps over to the edge of the ship, holding onto the railing. He looks up at the moon smiling, the increasing warm tingles easing up the urgent stress he had in rushing to this point.
"I got them treated, they're safe now. I can... take a second to breathe."
He thinks out loud, taking a deep breath as he takes in the nice scenery of the moon-rise.
>>25858050
Shorthorns turns up her muzzle, growling. "Well if they loved me that much then they should have come with me then to take back our home instead of running away... they could have shared in the glory but no, I had to do it all by myself."
>>25857860
You reach out to touch it again, but the jellyfish scampers away from you in apparent fear. The tip of your hoof realigns itself slightly from your point of view (78 degrees).
>>25857900
Reminding others of the exterior world beyond this bizarre landscape is comforting and inspiring.
>>25857955
Beyond the middle tunnel, you feel a resisting force pushing back against whatever's beyond the vacuum. Whatever is beyond the vacuum is heavy and dense, pressing with incalculable force towards the barrier, both far and close. You sense countless tons of water, and a disfigured being both living and dying, with the intent of pushing past the barrier.
>>25857976
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMX3aVbNdvo
The curtains easily part just enough for you, enabling you to walk through them.
Light snow begins to fall on you as you enter a craggy ruined city, elegant stonework on the buildings, with rich, moth-eaten cloth rotting away on the ground. You've heard tell of stories of Old Kvestwic, the pride of griffondom, superior to all non-griffons, even on the ground. The ground is angular and unforgiving all around, forcing you to stand at awkward angles which hurt your ankles. The jagged ground is littered with eggshells, pieces of statues and monuments, and shattered weapons. Half-broken hippogriff statues gaze down at you in disapproval.
Around the town are dozens of impossibly steep mountains, screaming up from the ground at near-90 degree angles, the tops of which are obscured by far-off clouds. At the center of the sky is a crack, running down the middle. Most of the griffons tear at the crack to try to open it further, while others try to repair the crack. The two groups occasionally get into fights with one another. Though they are miles away, you feel them glaring down at you with repulsed disappointment, clearly expecting you to fix the crack, though there is no way to get up there.
(1/2)
>>25858103
Down the middle tunnel you go. It constricts as you get further, until you just barely get through. At the end is a circular, featureless circular wall with a small crack running down the middle, through which rotten-smelling saltwater drips. On the left side of the wall is a large crescent indentation. On the right side is a circular indentation, with some kind of faded square drawing above it.
>>25858131
Boy oh boy do you feel good. It just keeps getting warmer and brighter. You feel like you could run a mile right now, carrying all these guys, all that rush of energy feels spectacular. You become aware of the untreated JOY addicts starting to get up, but yellow tint starts to overtake your vision. You hear the fear of the Splitz raiders starting to come to a fever pitch as the JOY addicts move toward them...
>Paused
