/q/ - Quest

>>765353
"Bah- Fuck Tartarus. I'm talking about the Vestal itself." Shei exasperates "Presumably it is a being on par with Y'dryth. That's an entire universe of actual life we are doing who knows what to, by putting it to sleep."

>>765352
The Witch looks over the cards. "Hmm… these are… decently competitive. Could use a little draw power."

"That's what I said," Supper adds.

>>765353
>>765352
"Chaos, perhaps, but not through any doing of ours," Rooster says to Shorthorned. It's not a tone you've heard him use before… somber, consoling. "They choose the way of violence, and they're only held back by the threat of an even greater violence that they can't hope to match. Most people are down here for a reason, after all. Can't get too concerned about blood that's not on your own hooves. All we can do is get what we came for, and move on."

After some quiet reflection, the others add their silent assent.

"Have some tea before you go," the Witch says. "You'll want the energy for what's to come."

>timeskip available

>>765356
>>765355
Shorthorns breathes a sigh of relief, "For that most part, I'm sure that's true, people are here in Tartarus for a reason. But what about people like the Princess, or her family? This place is in Limbo and if we didn't just give them a way out, they'd be at the mercy of whatever warlord or bully set sight on this place the moment the Vestal isn't around to stop them anymore. Still, it's like I said… we can't turn back. I only pray what we'll accomplish in the end will be worth any damage in the end."

As the Witch offers them tea, Shorthorns nods in agreement. "Thanks, I'm suddenly finding myself REALLY thirsty, especially after so much talk of tea. Have anything spicy like cinnamon?"

>Ready to time-skip

>>765356
Shei stands with a bemused expression "I would like you all to know, the more critics I discover who have something clever to say about my deck. The more my chagrin mounts for ever thinking I was first to make trading cards."

Shei lets out a tired sigh and directs his humiliation at the Witch "Seriously now how old are you? They had cards when the Gloom Empress still had an empire?"

>ready to time skip

>>765361
>>765358
"If there's anything people like more than clubbing each other on the head with sticks, it's playing with cards and figures," the Witch says cryptically.

After you've had your tea and given the standoffish Witch your regards, you make for the edge of the Abyss. You leave behind a people given a newfound hope… and take with you an ingredient that may very well spark war within Limbo, returning chaos to this false, so-called 'Heaven.'

>Paused

Ischyros launches up from his chair, shocking Sister Root as she dabs at Mabin's injuries with a wet cloth. "That incorrigible… she's been interfering with the Agatecastle Investigation from the very first, and now she assails my right-hand dog. I'll have her–"

"Arrested? Tried? Jailed?" Mabin scoffs. "Sire, please save yourself the time, trouble and personnel. Now that my conversation with her is complete, I have no doubt she could elude us at every step if she were so inclinded – she may even have done so under a different name, a different body, perhaps even under a different Royal Family."

Ischyros blinks in shock. "You mean to say – she may even be from a different Castle?"

"We've other matters to discuss first, sire," Mabin says. "It is for the best that she captured and interrogated me, actually. I believe she was on the hunt for high-ranking members of the Lux Deorum, in order to obtain the Reports of the Agatecastle Investigation. I know now that I am one of the very few who could have survived such an encounter. Had she needed to capture others, they in their loyalty would not have submitted to her interrogation – and we would have lost countless valuable agents. But I am arrogant, prideful and reckless, and so I told her what she wished to know. In the end, I am certain I surrendered nothing that she would not have been able to learn through other, bloodier means. And for my collaboration, I managed to obtain information I sought as well."

"An Iron Hero as ever, High Director," Ischyros sighs. "Now: What is her obsession with the Agatecastle Investigation?"

"Her interest was less about Agatecastle," Mabin says. "And more about her very flesh and blood… her magnum opus."

"Her estranged daughter, Lost Hope?" Ischyros asks.

Mabin is silent, and does not answer for a time. "…I shall begin with a review of her interference in the Investigation.

"Lost Hope, as you know, was not on the initial list of personnel we selected when planning the Investigation. We only discovered that she had been surreptitiously added to the list of vetted and approved personnel mere hours before they were scheduled to be sworn to secrecy, debriefed and deployed. With my staff otherwise occupied, and under a time crunch, I opted to verify her files myself. This was my error, no doubt deliberately engineered by Lady Path. When Lost's files, by my hasty review, appeared to be clean of red flags, I convinced myself that I had simply missed her vetting while juggling my countless other duties and stressors in the months leading up to the Investigation. Therefore, I did not cancel her deployment.

"But I could not shake the feeling that I was missing something. Thus, I passed along her files for a more thorough verification by the Lux Deorum's typical vetting procedures. The Lady is crafty beyond peer… but even she could not hide from the Light of the Gods forever. They discovered that Lost Hope's records, down to her very birth certificate, were a truly convincing forgery. Near-perfect pastiches, down to the very chemical composition of the ink and paper upon which they were printed… I considered having Lady Path arrested and questioned, but I was not confident such an attempt would succeed. Besides, she wounded my pride. I did not want to retaliate with brute force where she had succeeded with guile. Truly, sire, she would make a better High Director than I–"

"Cease that kowtowing," Ischyros snaps. "What happened next?"

"…Right. I deployed my very best agent, my personal bodyguard, on a covert mission into the Manor Titanite. If any trace whatsoever were left – an indentation on a rug, a fallen hair, even discarded skin cells – I feared we would be found out… but the mission was flawless. My agent discovered that not even Lady Path was without a heart. They captured a snapshot of a pair of genuine documents, worn down by years of reading and rereading… two certificates of death, both issued on the same date.

"The first, for a filly, who had almost reached the age of two. The second, for a colt, who had just turned four. Their names, respectively, were Charity and Hope."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34o_qruv1lw

For a moment, none can speak. Mabin drags on his cigarette, and continues.

"We used the notarization on these genuine certificates to continue our investigation… As you know, the blessed internment of the dead is a matter of the utmost severity in Ironcastle. No death certificate exists that is not linked to a corresponding certificate of cremation… or so we believed. When we found the cremation certificates linked to the deaths of those foals… we found that, like Lost's records, they were forgeries."

"The bodies were never cremated?" Ischyros asks.

"Correct," Mabin answers.

"Then, the bodies…"

"The search continued even deeper into the criminal underworld of Ironcastle. I specially appointed another of my personal retinue to spearhead this search. The Lux Deorum rank-and-file are less suited for negotiating criminal activities than we would like to admit. The Lux Deorum thrives on numbers, data, patterns, statistics. The criminal underworld operates on personality, suggestion, unspoken words… this required a personal touch.

"The investigation slowed nearly to a crawl… until we uncovered a lead, from an old soul at the heart of a smuggler's network. An old soul who had seen, and done, far too much in the Outlands. My agent could threaten him with nothing that could shake him. He laughed in their face, and volunteered the lead freely.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

"A rumor of a surgeon. They possessed incredible influence and wealth – most likely a Noble – and commissioned the smuggling of a very specific species of Dreaded One into Ironcastle. The most unthinkable of crimes, the only crime punishable by the Nonagintimation: The execution of the criminal and a random ninety percent of all living Souls who have any relation, blood or personal, to the criminal, regardless of stratum, occupation, or age. It is the most grotesque of all punishments conceivable, more deterrent than threat… and yet, this surgeon was rumored to have defied it.

"It wasn't much to go on, but we would not be called the Light of the Gods if that were enough to halt us. Following that rumor and related ones to their sources, my agents grafted together a loose narrative of whispers.

"Of a surgeon Noble, who paid an unthinkable sum commissioning an unthinkable smuggling…
"Of a clandestine hospital, deep in the unmapped expanses of the Noblesse, whose staff consisted of a single surgeon…
"Of a congenital disease, once believed incurable, and one hundred percent fatal…
"Of an impossible event, wrought not by a miracle, but unspeakable, blasphemous science…
"Of the true reversal of death itself."

Ischyros sits there, pale-faced, his pupils small and dark. "Then…"

"This was the heart of my conversation with Lady Offbeaten Path," Mabin says. "The symbiotic lifeform codenamed 'Dhampir,' begotten of the fusion of Hope's corpse with that of a Dreaded One. Iron Soul Lost Hope inherited her life, power, and name from Dhampir – twice over. First, when Lady Path surgically implanted Dhampir into Charity's central nervous system, reviving the filly anew under the name 'Lost Hope,' nearly seventeen years ago. And again, when Dhampir sacrificed his life to restore Lost Hope's, in order that she could save their allies from the falling of the false Moon.

"I confirmed that Lady Path cured her other two children, Good Intentions and Lazy Days, of their congenital diseases using Dhampir's cells. They also owe their health and lives to him… to the original Hope."

"…I've a question," Sister Root says. "In order for flesh to live, it requires a soul. The soul remains in the body for three Cycles after death, before it returns to the Light Undefiled… if it is not first consumed by a Dreaded. All arcane knowledge on the soul attests to this. Only necromancy's most forbidden rituals can detain a soul from this departure, but they must be done immediately after death to be efficacious. How then, did Lady Path forge a living consciousness from… well, to be blunt, from two corpses and a soulless abomination?"

"That, I do not know, for she did not confess," Mabin says. "And at this point, I do not know if any speculation I can dream of is too wild for Lady Path's capabilities… However, she named her youngest daughter 'Lazy Days,' a most unusual expression. The term 'Day' is the supposed name of the country of the mythical 'King of the Sun.' Why then would there be 'Days,' as in more than one? How can a country be 'Lazy?' It may be that Lady Path has an inkling of the true secret of the Castles, just as Mogao and Mendicant Rudolph did."

Ischyros leans upon the table, face obscured by his interlocked fingers, and is silent for much time, while Sister Root continues to clean Mabin's injuries.

"…I would have her summoned here," Ischyros finally says.

"As I have warned before, an attempt at arrest would probably backfire," Mabin says.

"I do not want her arrested," Ischyros says. "I want her recruited into the Thorns."

Mabin lets the cigarette droop, his eyebrows arched so high they might leave his forehead. Eventually he sighs, extinguishes what remains of the butt, then stands and bows. "I shall extend thy inviation, sire."

"Thank you," Ischyros says. "And then you are to take two weeks' vacation, to be punished by two more weeks, if you are caught doing so much as checking your e-mails. You too, Sister Root."
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>753969
LukeWarm flies into more hysterics as he points and shouts at every Luke around him "Yeah great fucking accomplishment. Me. MEEEE. Is that what it's all about. You manufactured the biggest loser in the world. How am I supposed to live knowing I'll never hold a son of my own! How am I supposed to look at Lavender and tell her I cum alcohol! I'm supposed to live my life for you. Well tell me how to unfuck it first!"

>>753970
Business Luke flicks his cigarette away and pokes at LukeWarm's chest "Thats for you to figure out. We've had all the time to figure out our hang ups. And if you don't like it well guess what Mister Hero, that's what you get for always being such a shoddy person when you could be the world's last hope. It's not the end of the world Luke. But it will be if we don't take you now." Business Luke snaps his fingers and The Lukes begin assembling a portable station for time travel.

>>753971
It's without much fanfare that the Lukes round together and drag LukeWarm toward the portable station.

The First Luke greets LukeWarm. He grabs LukeWarm's chin raising it so he can look him in the eyes "We are all counting on you Luke. We can't do this without you. You're all our hopes and dreams now."

The First Luke steps back "AAAAALT-MEN!"
And every Luke responds in unison "RISE UP!"

They step forward now to the final battle that awaits them.

[End Session]

flushing out rolls for mlpg

[1d10]

[1d10]

[1d10]

[1d10]

[1d10]

[1d10]

[1d10]
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

[18d10+2]

Roll #1 7, 1, 5, 10, 3, 7, 4, 9, 4, 2, 5, 2, 10, 5, 6, 1, 4, 3 + 2 = 90

>>765306
She briefly turns away from her papers and says, "Thanks, Professor Zamrud," with a smirk before turning back to all the funny looking E's in her homework.

>>765300
>Perception
[1d10]

Roll #1 7 = 7

[1d10] Perception
>>765307

Roll #1 4 = 4

>>765307
"That's… my goodness." Zamrud says in bewilderment. "Well, a shared dream is something I actually have a bit of experience with, it's not totally incredulous. Still, you mean to tell me you've had no idea the other existed until now?" Zamrud taps his chin, very intrigued with this mystery. "I hate to pry, but how could you have not met before? Were you raised away from home? If that's not too personal question, of course, Good is just a good student of mine… a friend, rather."

>>765306
Truth nods. "I'll keep my little studio cleaner so I won't have to stall for time in the future."

>>765302
>>765303
>>765309
"Ahhhh, right. So, what this question is asking…"

Truth begins to pop off about math. You quickly lose track of just how many different languages and concepts she ends up going through as she breaks down the problem. Somehow, it remains decently digestible.

As she goes on and on, you see the corner of a notebook sticking out of one of Truth's desk drawers. The notebook looks quite familiar…

>>765305
As you reach where the silhouette student lays, sprawled and dissolving on the gym floor, they reach a hand upwards… only for their evaporation to conclude, and for them to disappear into the aether.

Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>765079
There were even more red flags going up in Cerulean's predator brain, enough that it made her start swimming up towards the surface with exceptional speed.
>Earthly Affinity

When Cerulean eventually reaches the surface, she launches herself out as she breaches.
"DEMON!" She yells out before splashing back down into the water.

>>765079
Alder receives a rather unsettling feeling himself- whether it's the result of his aura or something else entirely, he scrabbles up from the shore and pulls Splendid back- or tries to, at least. "Ah! Something is in the water- something powerful, I think."

>>765082
"C-Cerulean, wait! The rest of us cannot be so quick to follow!"

>>765079
Is it cruel to talk to animals? Cutlass retorts.

Cutlass gives the leader a nod of recognition. "My apologies," she says quietly and calmly. She then proceeds to slowly and gently place the lobsters with in arm's reach of the big simian.

>Whisper in Your Ear
>[1d10+2]

Roll #1 3 + 2 = 5

>>765085
Make-Believe stares up at you with his blank, colorless eyes. Then, he goes back to hanging out with his octopus friend. The octopus looks incredibly annoyed with your attitude.

>>765085
The big guy takes a lobster and appraises it. He doesn't seem super impressed with the size of each one, but the number you've brought in gives him pause. You sense that if you hadn't done so well, you'd have been chased off by now. So, there's a start.

>>765080
>>765081
>>765082
>>765083
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IseIMORZJNM

As Cerulean tries to dive back down below the surface, a powerful current flings her back into the shallows! Monkeys scatter for dry land as a great wave crashes onto the sand! A great crab, bigger than some small ships, emerges from the water! Those of you with keen spiritual senses can tell this is no ordinary organism– despite its corporeal appearance, it is of significant spiritual power; some kind of magical beast, or perhaps even a demon, or god.

Yet… you haven't spilled the blood of a hero into the water – the key to drawing out the legendary Fish Who Devoured the Sky. Could Alder's mishap earlier have fulfilled that part of the legend? However, Alder didn't lose any blood earlier. Who knows what this giant crab might be?
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>764650
"It's like a part of myself is gone, and I'll never get it back." she said quietly as she began to grow a bit more distant once more.

She squeezed her tightly

>>764651
Deadweight nods, still hugging her. "I'm so sorry," she says again, this time in a trembling whisper, "If you need me to do anything, just say the word."

>>764652
"Just… stay with me for a while please." she said softly, so softly Deadweight could barely hear it.

>>764653
Deadweight nods again and continues holding her paradoxically firmly and gently, comforting her the best she can.

>>764654
Lost leaned in, and gently pecked her on the lips before just relaxing into her hold until they had to go to the meeting.

>>765357
"Hopefully Sir Estuary finds out some of what they're planning on his scouting."

Pryce looks over the horn.
"Couldn't hurt I suppose, though we should go to the outskirts of the village just to be safe."

>>765359
River conjures a dark corridor. "Let's be quick then. Vortigern mentioned it was borscht night."

"Every night's been borscht night," Zjetya says.

"You complain like you haven't been at the front of the line for every one."

"Yeah, and I wanna be at the front of the line for this one!"

The Dark Corridor puts you near the trailhead you took some time ago, when you hiked to the waterfall.

>>765360
Pryce chuckles. "Alright, just a quick music practice then."

After they corridor to a more distant location, Pryce peers around, wondering where to blow the horn. He turns to face the waterfall, figuring the water would be good to see the sound. He holds up the horn like the commander did, and blows.

>>765362
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pXP3Wld4OI

A discordant cacophony blasts from the mouth of the horn, every phoneme, from the mouth of a female vocalist. Screaming, chanting, begging, crooning, wailing, humming, raging. Notes and chords plucked by the handful from the very sheet music, and flung into the air, clashing like glass, stone and metal tossed about by battle. Yet, in the very next instant after the initial attack, a serenity and clarity of purpose settles upon your mind. You feel full, your strength revitalized, and yet, distant, outside your own body. At times the feeling is too much, a cup running over, needing to be discharged– in battle.

Just before you reach to conjure a weapon at the impelling of this feeling, you regain control and tear the horn from your mouth. River stands nearby, her ears flattened, her hooves pacing and stamping at the ground. She unscrews her eyes, and looks at you– then her eyes dart back to the one standing before her.

Zjetya stands in a state of shock, her eyes cast upward toward the great mountain, at the top of which perches Yongning-si. Her face is blank with horror– and recognition.

>>765364
Pryce looks down at the horn, breathing heavily as to correct himself from the urge to fight. He almost drops the horn out of instinct, to distance that feeling further, but stops against it out of fear something worse would come out if it broke. He sees River, having a similarly harsh reaction from it. His look follows hers as she turns to Zjetya.
Seeing her face, struck blank like that, he steps forward, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
"Zjetya?"

>>764123
Gabriele seems somewhat dejected but mostly annoyed by the utter lukewarm response. "Well, don't everyone stand up at once…" she mutters under her breath

As Volkama calls her over, her expression lights up, fluttering over to him graciously. "Yes, hello Volkama! I take it you might be interested? You see, I was hoping to have some posters made were it not too much trouble."

>>764123
As the cheerleader mentions that Amy doesn't come until it's about to begin, Flaming grumbles under her breath. "Agh, darn it… I'm kind of in a hurry, I need to find her and then go to another club BEFORE wrestling starts! Can you at least tell her when she comes by to stop by the Occult Club after practice is over?"

As the other mare calls her out, Flaming winces as the loud call causes her headache to act up again. "OUCH! Not so loud, I can hear you just fine!" She says looking at the mare, "I was just looking for Amy, but don't worry, I'm going!"

>>764123
Pryce assists Summer along with the minor details, working as a good assistant.
"You're a real pro at this, don't think I've seen anypony move so quick through a kitchen," He says impressed.

He looks over as another of the members enters. As Solar comments on him, he nods.
"Mhm, though I can't stay too long on baseball or drama practice days. Aside from those I'll be helping around the kitchen."

>>764124
"Ladie Gab you are too loud, gab, gab, gab that is what you do, quiet down would you." Volkama waves his hoof at you as if shirking off your enthusiasm. He drinks from his thermos filled with chai tea and coca cola. It smells delicious

Mocha wears a pursed lip, she refrains from saying anything but you can tell she agrees with Volkama. Not the best way to approach a group of introverts.

"One step at a time Gabriele. Why don't I rouse my student's attention for you. Then you may tell them what it is you came here for. How does that sound?"

>>764125
"Sure! I'll make sure to do just that" Dania gives you a warm smile befitting someone you can trust.

Princess Laciela says "Thaank yoou." But it doesn't sound all that grateful.

>>764126
"OOoooooooh" Solar Wind coos illustriously "A real man is helping you out in the kitchen. Aren't you so lucky."

Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>764127
[PAUSED]

>>762741
>>762740
"It isn't my name," the Witch says. "But it was once a paladin order to which I belonged. We played at being successors to the Sons of God, after the disappearance of their Founder, and the order's subsequent dissolution. But, just as the Sons did, our order fell apart as well, and our membership scattered in disgrace. I am one of a few who, unwilling to remain on the surface world, struck out – for Tartarus."

She shrugs. "Of course, I only made it as far as Limbo, the First Layer. I couldn't hold a candle to Wineberry or to Vinland. So, I screw around up here."

>>762744
"Are we supposing there's a little teapot somewhere in this valley we gotta find?" Hurricanrana says, tilting his head. "Is it perhaps short and stout?"

"No more singing, please," Desert sighs.

"Actually…" Mudi says. "In Tartarus, the will is supreme… It's even true at an Anchor. You saw how people suffered when they used techniques to move great distances without being seen, like the Ecclesian flash step. Oh! And we all had to agree on what we saw before we could even enter the anchor!"

"Oh no…" Desert groans.

Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>762745
"Oooh" Shei is disappointed "You were just the off shoot, of the sons of God. I really was going to ask for an autography."

"Did you meet the Arm of God?" Shei asks "He's surprisingly polite for being one of the limbs of God.. and -uh when he made you a bargain -did you take it?"

>>762741
Shorthorn's eyes light up with surprise, and she turns to face Shei. "D-does that mean… is she…?"

>>762745
As she clarifies she was only successors to the Sons of God, Shorthorns deflates visibly, though still very much intrigued.

"I see. I'm sorry for your order, it sounded like a noble one. We're trying to follow in the Sons of Gods' footsteps too, in our own way. And, I can't express how exciting it is to find someone else from the mortal world down here! I wasn't sure if we'd be alone or not."

Trying to get back on topic, Shorthorns asks, "So, you *are* the witch who cursed the princess here, right?"

>>762745
Leather takes a middle position, ready to either defend or provide support fire depending on what the journey ahead leads to.

>>762746
"Take it from someone who has spent more time down here than you–" the Witch says. "Anything you hear claim to belong to or be from 'God' is not to be believed. Best not to overuse that word. An Anchor may be safe enough, but in the Abyss – tantamount to suicide. What you encountered was most likely an Umbral who became overmuch obsessed with that thing, and began to hallucinate a theosis."

>>762749
As a unit, with paces in sync despite the disparities in height and length, the Ecclesians move out, following behind the Paper Trail.

>>762748
>>762746
"Cursed?" the Witch repeats. "Is that what they're saying?"

She scoffs, then full-on laughs, like it's the only funny thing she's heard all day. She shakes a ratchet at you. "My Craft is in the mechanical arts. I put no curse on any one of them.

https://youtu.be/C9ESv2NzKkw

"People like them… don't need any curse from anyone. They are curses unto themselves. Curses unto one another… you get me?"
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.