"EQ game Quest- The Church and The Amulet of Flames"
By klimino (https://pastebin.com/u/klimino)

URL: https://pastebin.com/2fGn00L8
Created on: Saturday 22nd of July 2017 02:20:28 AM CDT
Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 03:44:52 AM UTC


Bassos: Inventory : Starter kit, Saddlebags, Canteen, Hoofblades (2) 
Bit Inventory: Saddlebag Crystal Spear Cloud walking ring Baton of Strife, Crock armor 
Ruins Inventory: The Sword of Heirs, Crystal warhammer, hungry Hornblade, starter kit, canteen w/water. 
Bayous Inventory: Chainmail, Cleaver, Book of Notes/Journal, Translation Guide, Unicorn Amulet, starter kit, bag of candied nuts, a ripe pear 
Gwens Inventory: Axe, Spear, harness, starter kit, two jungle fruit 

<><><><><><><><><><><>
It was a brooding, cloudy day, the future rain clear as the gray, heavy clouds loomed above the town and jungle, the certainty of the coming downpour ominous, as those who had heard, one way or another, would approach the southern gate of Outer Hayven.

Upon coming near, they would spot of course two ponies under a large, black sign reading “CDGV Expeditioniers meet here.” in big white ink.

The two ponies would of course be Gold Toe, the old leader of the Church, his Dark yellow fur murky under the low light of the cloudy day, his bears whisping a bit in the wind as he leaned on the Wall of the town, hat lowered over his eyes as he rested. Those observant might notice the stark contrast with his companion, naely the lack of any equipment on him.

The second of course was Timber Burn, the Winged mare sitting idly right under the sign, staring up at the sky. The pink of her fur and dark purple of her mane, which was now tied up into a pretzel bun, were beginning to show through quite well now, implying the bleak, grey dye job she gave to both was in need of a redo. 

Thy would notice her in oddly Gothic punkish, but seemingly still highly effective, leather armor, black saddlebags loaded and ready, shoulder hoisting some scale steel, and some thin,metal contraptions on her wings, folded inward due to them being folded.

As the first of the group came near, almost with disturbing precision in her timing, she would look down, a thin, barely visible smile upon her otherwise emotionless face. “hello, and thank you for offering her help.” she would say in her oddly monotone voice, seemingly already knowing what they were here to do, as she nudged Gold, who yawned, kicking his cowboy hat up and giving a firm nod as he got up off the wall.

[[[Please post your inventories in Commentary. Always remember I give 3 re-roll tokens per Quest]]]


Ruin walks up to the ponies with the sign. He saw the word 'Expedition' and just kind of rolled up. "Yeah, happy to help! Er- what am I helping with?" 

Bit walks up ready to party.

Bayou shakes adjusts his armor a bit, along with his saddlebags. He was carrying more than his usual load, but it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. Something about being on four legs distributed things pretty evenly. He flashes a smile at Timber and Gold. It was obvious in his eyes he was happy to see them. "Hello to you two as well! Glad to help."


Gwen traveled light, and today was no different, the big blue gryphoness honestly had decided to show up more to see what kind of ponies would call themselves the Church of the Dark Gods of the Void more than anything else, but, if the town really was in danger, she might as well lend a talon.

Basso was told walking with these contraptions on his feet would be easy, as if they weren't there. And while they didn't impede his progress, they still felt odd, causing him to give a slight flick of his hoof after a few steps. Approaching the group he gave a friendly nod to the adventurers already present. A quick job here, helping to escort some ponies, and he could get payed again. "Hey everyone."

"Yo Bass! Nice new gear ya got there." Ruin states, eyeing the hoofblades, "How much those cost you?"

 "Thanks, haven't had much of a chance to try them out yet, but its better then a simple knife. Didn't cost to much either, locally made, just three gold bits." He replied, lifting his right hoof to show it off. "How have you been? Still rocking that hammer I see." 

Bit walks over "Hey Ruin" 

"Damn right I am! Different tools for different problems!" Ruin turns to Bit "Heya Bit, how's life?" 


As the group gathered, Gold nodded with a smile to Bayou, and turned to the others. “Hello all and thank you for coming. My names Gold Toe, this young lass is Timber Burn, she'll be in charge out there, so listen and obey, we dont need any unnecessary bickering about who in charge.” He flickers his hat fully out of the way, his beard still kicking in the wind as he met all five of the volunteers with a stern look in the eyes.

“Now, this isnt going to be a walk in the park, so if any arent prepared, id suggest packing up and heading off.” he nods. “as for me, ive got things to take care of for the church, so ill leave you in the capable hooves of Timber.” as he passes by Bayou though, he gives a warm smile and a nod, before he was off.

Timber looked over the group, her blank, emotionless face digging into them one by one, before she talked.
“As the note said, we are going to be looking for an old temple, that we have reason to believe is buried somewhere here.” she said, unfolding a wing and revealing a map. Those looking would note, that those contraptions on her wings are apparently folding wingblades, the blades nearly as long as her wing itself, though still folded inward. 

“it may take some time to find, so please do not rush yourselves, as navigating the ruins may be tricky, and we do not know what to expect inside. Any questions?”


"Better, mostly. Trying to cut back on my drinking lately, was getting out of hand-er hoof." Ruin turns to the monotone mare "So, uh, Timber? What exactly are we looking for?" 

Bayou nods softly at Gold, then turns his head, looking at the others. He was rather happy to see Ruin. He stops himself from engaging, though, as he is hit with Timber's gaze and then hears her speak. He hears her ask if there were any questions and then raises his hoof softly. "Erm, Timber. Do we have any digging tools? Picks or shovels, perhaps? Or should the way already be open to the temple through the ruins?" 

Gwen looks over the map, a fair bit familiar with the terrain, but not used to seeing it on paper, if it actually was buried in the denseness of the forest, she could easily have missed it. Wingblades though, that was pretty cool, maybe she could get some of those... nah. "And what kinda dangers are we talking about when we get there?" 

"Seconding the Gryphon there, what should we be expecting?" Basso asked before inspecting the map.


“we are looking for the Amulet of Flames, though it was not always called that...” she seems, just for a moment, to get a sad, pained expression across her face, before it returns to its usual emotionless stare.

Timber looked to Bayou, shaking her head. “no, the entrance we believe should be just at the surface, so no digging should be required.” then the turned to Bassos and Gwendolin.

“we dont know for sure, but we expect the temple to have many traps and tricks. We also expect the Light Gods to have left surprises aswell, most likely just some underlings though.” she clears her throat.

“the Device itself, if active, will be...tricky to deal with. If we are correct in its activation, then it will require two minds to connect to it,and navigate inside of it to deactivate it. I have no idea what that might entail though,  only that my pact with Mi'noti prevents me from doing it myself....”

Bayou nods softly and then quirks a brow at the thought of navigating and deactivating the artifact. It certainly sounded dangerous. He takes a deep breath and then nods again.. "Well, if it's gotta be done, I'll volunteer to be at least one of those folks. I mean, as a member of the Church, I am a bit obligated." He listened to the others afterwards, the unicorn having a more determined look in his eyes than previously.

Basso looked down and started running his hoof blade through the dirt, lost in thought. "Light gods... your church. What are we doing here? Stealing some trinket from another religion? Some kind of god hot potato?" 

Ruin recognizes the voice coming from under the armor, and does a double take "Oh hey, long time no see Doc! I got the sword from Grimmar!" he pulls the gold hilted blade from it's harness to show it off. "This is a church? And you're a member? Wow, I thought CDGV was some new guild or something!" 

Bayou grins cheerfully at Ruin. "Congratulations! I was worried about you for a while. Heard you were hurt pretty bad. I'm glad you were able to pull through, though. Takes quite the will to do something like that." He chuckles a bit at the guild mention. "Nah, it's an actual church. Real entities, real rituals, all that. I've been looking over their books a bit here and there. They're certainly interesting, and quite welcoming too!"




Gwen rubs the back of her neck and winces. What in God's name was she getting herself into? "Alright... seems like a bit much..." The ladybirb sighs and tightens her harness, keeping her pointy spear close, "But I'm in, I've flown over enough ruins, time to see what's actually there."


Timber looks at Bassos, and actually give him a small, reassuring smile. “The artifact was actually invented by a neutral party who was...tired of some things going on. There was supposed to be a component you could switch out, to have it be able to drive off either pantheon.” she frowns a bit.

“the light gods destroyed the component that could threaten them, and fused an altered component made to hurt the Void Gods into it, making the thing a terrible threat to everyone. Last time it was fire off, is why the temple is in such a state. We hope to not repeat that.”

she nods, back to her emotionless stare. “The device is ah, odd thing. It grows and changes itself to fit the threat around it, sending pulses to negate magic and powers of all sorts, but due to the modifications is now unstable, and once it vents all its excess energy....it wont be pretty.”


"Big boom?" Ruin inquires.


Timber shrugs. “possibly, or it might tear a hole in reality. Hard to say, but it wont be fun.”


Bayou takes another deep breath and then stretches himself in his armor. The doctor was ready to see what was going to happen, and was eager to get going. "Lets just hope we get there before something sets off."

"Yeah, doesn't sound like we got time to waste on this one. I second that." Ruin chimes in. 

"So at this point its a rogue weapon that if we don't stop could cause a catastrophe..." Stretching his legs Basso turned back toward the jungle "We should probably get going then. I don't know anything about your gods, but I do like reality, its where I live after all." 

Gwen nods, wholeheartedly in agreement, "Real deal threats to everything everyone holds dear. Lots of variables... Man, what're we waiting for?" The tall gryphoness stretches out her legs and wing, and readies herself for the trudge through the jungle.


Timber nods, but suddenly holds up a hoof.
“wait......” she smiles warmly, looking up at the sky.

...and suddenly it starts raining decently hard. “just on time....” she chuckles, then clears her throat into her hoof, returning to her oddly neutral tone,and turns and heads out the gate. “right, come, ill take point.”

"Refreshing." Ruin notes as he begins to follow, "Autobots, ROLL OUT!"

Bayou looks up and laughs softly. Timber was a strange mare, but it was welcome. Everything was strange here, after all. Really that makes it normal. He starts off beside Ruin, humming to himself as he makes his way out of the gate. 

Gwen blinks up at the tropical rain and scrunchies, "Yaaaaaay, soaked feathers. Not to mention ominous timing." She moves along with the ponies, setting pace behind Timber and keeping an eye trained to the forest around them.

Bit looks at the rain suddenly picking up and sighs. She likes the rain but hates the humidity, and it will make the walk much worse 

"Yeah, the rain will make this much easier." Basso said sarcastically, the rain soaking his mane down in front of his eyes. With a flick of his hoof Basso threw it back and began his search. 


It would take a few hours to make their way through the thick of the jungle, the heavy rain pouring down turning the ground muddy, not at all helping, as Timber leads them forward, using her long, slender  wingblades to help slash a path through the underbrush as she lead them along.

As the rain picked up though, the ground finally starts to become less even, indicating they had reached the hilllands they were searching for. 

Timber stops, folding in her blades and nodding to the group. “start looking for an entrance, it'll look more then just a cave, but it could just be a hole, or part of the place sticking up like an entrance to a dungeon or something.”
[d20+perception fellas]
Ruin, 10
Gwen, 11
Bit, 3
Bassos, 10
Bayou, 4

Bayou continually kept blinking rain out of his eyes as he started to look around, using his TK to brush water off of his glasses every so often. Eventually he just gives up and lets out a chuckle. "Welp, it all looks wet to me. Anyone else have better luck?"

Gwen fwips her head feathers out of her face, not quite feeling eagle-eyed, but not letting the rain get to her too much. 

Bit can't seem to keep her wet hair out of her face "No luck here" 


As the group gets searching, the heavy rain and thick jungle makes the task difficult. Bayou and Bit simply cannot see anything, the rain limiting vision for sure as their manes get wet and in their eyes.

Ruin ends up kicking hi peg leg against something hard, and while the angle and shape makes it clear its not natural, with Timbers help kicking at the dirt its clear its just a covenr, no entrance to be found.

Bassos also finds similar, both making it clear the temple is under them, but the entrance still eluding them it seemed.

And then Gwen mis-steps, and nearly sending herself straight downward as her foot pushes down past loose dirt, making a large square opening appear to her, the stone entrance lined by writing and faded hieroglyphs. 

Inside was dark, but thankfully it seemed to only be about ten feet down, landing them in some sorta hallway...


"Good thing I lost that leg, or I'd have a stubbed hoof about now." Ruin mutters "Y'all find anything?"

Bayou shakes a bit of his mane out of his eyes. Rain was nice, but it was always troublesome when you were looking for something. "Well, I see hair, water, and lots of blurryness beyond that. Nope!"

"Haven't found anything, but we're definitely in the right place, this isn't part of the jungle." 

Gwen squawks as her foot sinks through the ground, giving her a little start as she hits the ground! Fearful that she would collapse more, she pushes up with her wings, giving a huge as she shakes the dirt from her chest. Curious now, she peeks down into the hole and blinks, cracking a beaky grin, "Found it! Or, I think. It's buried right under us so watch where you step. I've got and entrance under this loose dirt though." 

"Good going, Eagle-eye!"
Ruin trots over to look at the hole.

"Nice work." Basso said, trotting up to Gwendolin "Yeah, it wouldn't be fun to find yourself tumbling down there." Peering over the hole he strained to make out anything in the darkness. "So, who wants to go first?"



Timber approaches Gwen and the hole, nodding as she looks down. “good work....lady.” she says, considering none of them had really introduced themselves.

And then Timber jumped down, gliding to the floor and landing graciously, looking up at the others. 

“come, ive got torches.” she says, and steps out of the way as she ruffles in her saddlebags for them.


bit follows timber

Ruin begins to focus on the destination, preparing to teleport down. 

Bayou looks between them all and then takes a hop into the hole, bracing himself as he lands. He shakes some of the rain off as he gets his bearings. "Oof! Bit of a drop, that." He sighs as he stretches his legs a bit afterwards. 


[Ruin, d12+Teleport]
Ruin,3

"I guess that answers my question." Basso muttered as he watched the others make their way down. ok Basso, you've practiced this, just an easy glide right down Spreading his wings he prepared to jump. 

Gwen chuckles at the 'lady' part and glides down after the mare, landing and taking a good look around, "Mm, by the way it's Gwendolin, nice to meetcha and all that." *She gives a playful smile to the leader of this marry band of misfits and looks back to see how the others fare in getting down 

Bit's tail ring glows as she comes close to the ground and she slows to a soft landing 


as Ruin started up his magic, he felt...odd, like something was not right, not with him, but the area. Suddenly popping out of existence, Ruin is...floating in nothingness for a moment....and then two bight, blinding eyes that seem bigger then anything he could imagine open before him.

And then he was back in reality....having only teleported three feet...backwards.
[-1 to perception for the rest of the quest from eye pains]

"Well, that was ominous and somewhat painful." Ruin says, wincing as he phases back into reality. He then jumps down, like all of his friends did. "At least it's not a bridge."



Bassos lands a bit awkwardly, but manages to do well enough.

Timber nods, “glad to meet you Gwendolin.” she gives a small smile, but only for a moment, before the lights up three torches in a bright, blue flame.

“now, who wants to hold our light?” she asks as the group forms around her. 

Looking in both directions, the group would see the hallways curves to the left in both directions, both seemingly the same distance away.


Ruin puts a hoof to his nose "Not it!" 

bit looks at Ruin and shakes her head "I got it" 

Bayou chuckles at Ruin's gesture and then takes one of the torches in his TK, holding it above him, the blue light mingling with the amber of his magic. "Sure. gotta have some torchbearers, right?"

Gwen looks back at all the others and smiles softly, they managed not to break anything jumping down at least... "I'll carry one, if need be." She looks about as the pones take the torches left and right, "Though that may not be necessary."

"I don't know whats down here, would rather keep my hooves free" 

Ruin's horn shines dimly as he lifts his sword with unicron magics! "Besides, I can do this!" 


Timber nods, and hands the last two to Bit and Gwen. “Thanks.” she tells them, then gets up, looking in both directions. “hmm....right, right? Right.” she says, and starts leading them right.

As the come around the bend, they are presented with three options. One opening to the left leads to a large room, one opening exactly across from it leads to another hall, and forwards an even ways leads to a bend to the left. “hmm...suggestions?” she asks simply.

Bayou looks between the choices and then gestures the blue flame gently towards the hall across from the room. "How about that way?" 

"Search the chamber, if it's got nothing we mark the entryway so we know we've been inside." Ruin suggests. 

"Let's split up gang!" Basso said jokingly, "Nah, I think we should just check these chambers, then move on if we don't we just go forward.

Bayou looks at the others and then gestures his flame towards the chamber with a chuckle. "Majority says chamber, eh? Lets take a peek and see what there is. Sound good, Timber?" He nods towards the mare. 


Gwen stands upright, looking about the options before them and poking her torch one way or another to get a better idea of the contents of the rooms. "If we're gonna go through this place room for room, then be careful, if these old temples are as stereotypical as they seem, then they're probably riddled with traps. Though I agree that we can't just stick to the hallways, chances are they wouldn't put the big, important artefact out in the open, on complete display."

"And hallways are more likely to be boobytrapped." Ruin adds. 

"Yeah, let's go left" Basso starts walking into the chamber before stopping just inside, at the edge of the light, "I think its fair if we switch off each chamber on who goes first, that way nopony is stuck risking traps." 

Bit stops as she hears Ruin "That's a really good point." Contunies walking but keeps an eye out for traps 

"I volunteer as tribute!" Ruin declares as he steps into the chamber, his path guided by the dim hornlight. 


Timber nods to the group. “chamber sounds fine.” she leads the way to the left opening, and steps aside to let the torch bearers bring in the light.

Inside was a large, rectangular room, with the entire outside lines with a water pit of at least eight feet across, a bridge over it before them, and on the other side.

Lining the edges of the long room, were statues, some of what looked like heroic ponies, others of odd, strange creatures they couldn't recognize...all faded, chipped, some fully having collapsed.

In the center of the rectangle was...a stone table with a small little carry chest on it.

"Woah guys, obvious booby trapped bridge ahoy!" Ruin assumes "maybe a flyer can try first? I'd guess the trigger is on the ground."

"Anyone have a pebble or something we can toss across that bridge? Seems like a good place for a trap afterall." He said, walking up to the edge of it and inspecting the path 

Bit carefully walks forward to the table looking for tripwires or pressure plates.

Bayou looks at the bridge curiously, then towards the statues and finally at the chest. He lets out a small "hrm" as he thinks. "Feels a bit like indiana jones, really." He then thinks on what he's carrying. "I...don't think a pear would be heavy enough to trigger any sort of trap mechanism. But if the situation somehow require the need for it, I certainly have a pear." 

Gwen peers over the edge of the water pit, frowning at her blue lighted reflection, "Something tells me this isn't just a bit of flooding." The bluebird sighs as Bit moves forward, holding her torch high up to try and light the way. 


Bits firm, straight forward decision was quick, decisive.

And of course ultimately, setting things off. No wires, no pressure plates, this place had its own method and madness to activate, as a statue of a valiant mare right next to Bit suddenly has glowing red eyes, and fires out a beam of lasers at the mare!

Meanwhile, something is happening in the water, the water starting to thrash in waves like something stirred....

[Bit, d20+dex, 7+ pass, 11+ success, 3- crit fail]
[if anyone would like, d20-5+perception for checking the water, or you may perform another action, or none at all of course]
Bit, 18, success
Ruin, 13
Bassos, 11
Bayou, 9

Gwen, who was standing closest to Bit, makes way for the pone to leap back if she does so, the griffon then without getting too close, leans in to inspect the eyes of the statue. Maybe she could figure out what set it off specifically? 


Bit successfully jumps backwards, and back to the bridge everyone else was now on.

Timber quickly flaps her wings at the group, yelling “Get back!” as more statues are starting to awake and aim at them!

Meanwhile, as Ruin and Bassos look into the water, they make out large, slender shapes swimming in the...wow, that water was deep apparently, and with how those things were swimming, under the rectangle was hollow!

Bayou notices the trashing of the waves breaks off towards the middle, and a...something he cant make out, like a limb, is on the edge of the large rectangle platform, maybe something pulling itself out of the water, but the sudden laser fire, distance, statues, and darkness makes it hard to tell!

Gwen sees it clear as day, some sorta rubies or something are in all the statues eyes.

[as per usual, ill wait for reactions from everyone, then give rolls]


Bit readies her spear to attack the statues if they rush her.


"When you said traps I thought trip wires, some arrows, not this!" Basso screamed, moving away from the edge of platform "Hey, Timber, you're the expert on whoever built this place, any ideas here?”


Ruin points his sword at the pond and tries to will lightning out! "Whatever's down there, it ain't good."

Bayou squints, trying to place what he just saw in the water. A stray laser shot distracts him and he takes a step back. "ACK! Cripes!" He then looks to towards the chest and then to Timber. "Timber, this doesn't look good. If you think what we're looking for could be in that chest, tell us and we can try to make a go for it. If not, lets start backing out of here before we get ourselves roughed up."

Gwen's feathers poof up as she realizes what's going on. They needed to take cover, because at this place they'll be stuck between a rock, a hard place, and a pit full of water monsters. "Guys?! Maybe have a discussion back in the hallway! We're in the wide open here if they decide to blast us!" She readies her spear, aiming to jab the point into the nearest statues stupid, valuable eyes if the ponies behind her don't move their plots.


The statues dont move, remaining firmly in their bases, though their heads can turn to aim.

Timber nods. “Back, BACK! I told you, we didnt know what to expect!” she steps forward, ,dodging under laser fire and grabs Ruin, pulling him back as his sword does nothing, apparently sensing no evil or at least nothing strong enough to warrant use.

Timber, Gwen, Bayou, and the dragged Ruin make it into the hallway safely, but Bit and Bassos hesitation makes it more difficult for them!

[Bit, Bassos, d20-3+Dex, 7+ pass, 11+ success, 3- crit fail]
Bit,13, success
Bassos,reroll, 15, success

luckily regardless, Bit and Bassos still make it to safety, and as the group makes huffs and puffs, the lasers stop and they can hear the splashing of water calm down.
Timber frowns, standing back up straight. “well, that was unexpected...” she looks over at the doorframe. “.....but it wasn't worth it, the artifact would be much too big to fit In a box that small by now.”

Ruin tries to pass back into the room "A DIFFERENT TOOL, FOR EVERY PROBLEM!" he yells, telekinetically swinging the hammer at a statue!

Aand as Ruin rushes back in, the laser fire and water starts back up again.... 
[Ruin, d20-3+Dex!] 
Ruin, 13


"Hey yeah bud, you have fun, I'll be over here cheering you on" Basso said smugly from the safety of the hall. 

Bayou tries to snag Ruin back with his magic, keeping himself in the hallway as he does so. "Hey now, easy, easy! Lets not get ourselves killed over something we aren't even here to get!" 


Ruin was gone too quick to be stopped by Bayou.

Ruin dodges some lasers, but then gets pinned down next to a destroyed statue near the edge of the water...and something big under it is starting to swim up at him!

"Oh Christ on a fucking cracker." Gwen gives a 'just peachy' huff as she joins Bayou in hauling Ruin out by the collar... only to see, for lack of a better phrase, things go absolutely FUBAR. "Shit." 

Ruin tries to scoot under the protection of the statue! "NOPENOPENOPE" 

"RUIN YOU DIP, TELEPORT OUT!" Basso yells to cowering unicorn. 

Bayou looks at Gwendolin, giving her a small nod of thanks. "Well, we tried." He then calls out towards the room. "Ruin, you still got a chance to dash the hell out of there before whatever insane trap is waiting goes into full motion! Take it!" 

"Grab the box then teleport out!" 

Gwen looks to Bit like the little pony stepped on her tail. 

"Good plan, Bit!" Ruin books it for... the chest! "Victory or deeeeath!" 


Timber curses loudly, unfolding her wings and diving into the room., her face livid. “WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO DEAL WITH CRAZY IDIOTS?!” it seems Ruins actions have hit a nerve!
[Ruin, d20-3+Dex to get to box!]
Ruin, 18

Sadly the lasers are too numerous, and Timber doesn't get any nearer to Ruin, only swerving and dodging in the air, though it is some impressive flying it doesn't help the situation.


"Holy shit, the idiot got the box" Basso muttered "Quick teleport out of there!" 

Ruin gets to the box and grabs it, slipping under the table as its slowly melted away by laser fire!

Suddenly though, everyone sees a large creature break the surface! Like a dragon sorta, but long, slender, made for swimming, and with cloven feet and spikes along its spine, it hiss as it starts climbing out of the water, its large frame at least seven times bigger then Ruin as it blocks his path to the others! The lasers also oddly avoid shooting at it too!

Timber curses, her wingblades unfolding as she dives at the creature! With a low swoop, she cuts a nasty gash into its side, making it turn and hiss at her. “IDIOT, GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!” Timber demands, flying around the creature to distract it!


"Quick Magician vanishing act!" Ruin yells out as envisions the hallway as a destination! 

[Ruin, d12+teleport]
Ruin, 11

Basso leans toward the Gryphon, as the two watch the spectacle "1 gold bit he beefs it"

Gwen pulls her spear and rolls her eyes at the other ponies, about to jump in and assist Timber if things get hairy with one less target for the lasers. 


With a pop and sparkle Ruin is gone...and re appears right next to Gwendolin.

Seeing Ruin gone, Timber quickly swoops away and rejoins the other, wings and blades folding in as the rolls into the hallway, expertly skidding to a halt on her hooves. “better leave, quickly!” she says, rushing down the hallways opposite of the opening to the chamber!


Bayou can't help but shake his head, drawing his cleaver just in case they had to rush in. "I can't believe that we got derailed one room in. One room." He gets ready to join with Gwen, giving her a nod. 

"Shit." Basso whispers, "I mean yay, he made it." Digging into saddle bag he flicks a gold bit to Bit. Turning he ran after Timber to the next chamber 


Bit stashes the gold bit and follows Basso


"See? Cake." Ruin states, strutting after Timber. 

Bayou jumps as Ruin appears, then starts down the hallway, keeping both the torch and cleaver out as he gallops down the hall after Timber

The bluebird steps aside to let the pegasususus by as she peels out into hall, and is quickly after her as the move out, "Might be important to get a move on, but don't get lazy looking for traps guys, maybe that was the worst, but I'm not betting money on that." 

"Good call." Ruin says, totally not looking for traps as he tries to open the wee chest 


The Hallway comes to an even split, as the noises behind them die down, one left, one right path, both looking the same, though bending away into bleak blackness quickly.

Timber huffs a bit, then marches over to Ruin and Smacks him across the face with a hoof. “Think things through better!” she says, giving him a stare like venom.


"Calm down timber"  Bit says.


"Now that that's over with, Ruin, open the chest, I want to see what was so worth you risking your ass." Basso demanded "And costing me a gold bit." He added quietly. 

Bayou grimaces and then looks between them both. "I...have to agree, Ruin. Even though you pulled through okay, we can't have you almost killing yourself in every obvious trap that we find. I mean, it's awesome that you made it! Don't get me wrong, it was a feat of daring and quite thrilling. But lets not have to haul out a body, okay?" He attempts a smile after he finishes speaking.

"Ow." Ruin rubs a cheek. "You raise a fair point, but curiosity didn't kill the cat this time, so no harm no foul, right?" Ruin asks as he opens the box 

Gwen blinks as she watches the exchange, giving a little shrug. "That was foolhardy. Coulda possibly gotten yourself killed, and probably made into dragon food if Timber hadn't dived in to save your ass. Just... if you test your luck too much, eventually you'll find it's breaking point, so be more careful."


Timber blinks. “wait, no, we-” and then the box was open, and suddenly dark blue powder puffs out, forming a cloud around the group!
[everyone, d20-4+Dex or Will!]
Bassos, 6
Bit,reroll, 7
Gwen, reroll, 15
Bayou,reroll, 13
Ruin,reroll, 14

Ruin, Bayou, and Gwen are able to quickly cover their mouths and jump back and out of the cloud!

Bit and Bassos however cough, sucking in a bit of the blue gas as it spreads.

Timber however was wholly unprepared and is coughing and sputtering.

[Bit, Bassos, d12-1+End]
Bit, 14
Bassos,11


Bit and Bassos both fight back, and end up vomiting, but thankfully this saves them from the gas, as  the blue, now sparkly goop, leaves their system.

Timber buckles, falling to her knees, but thankfully despite it her body rejects it too, and clears itself, before she collapses sideways, panting heavily, nearly passing out. 


Gwen, tries to keep her mouth covered with the crook of her arm as she attempts to move everyone to fresher air, the gryphoness hauling the thankfully smaller ponies away from the poisonous gas, unless the stuff had somehow dispersed already. 

Basso heaved on the ground, catching his breath. After a few moments he detached his hoof blades and stomped toward Ruin "I'm gonna beat some sense into you you stupid son of a bitch!" 

Bayou coughs loudly even as he covers his mouth, getting hauled away. As they stop, he pulls out his canteen, ignoring Basso and Ruin for the moment to get over to Timber and offer it. "Timber. Timber, you alright? Need a drink or something?" 


the gas had dispersed, though a bit of it was now sparkly blue dust on the ground.
the dust id dark blue, with sparkles like glitter in it. who the hell could guess what would've happened if their bodies didnt expunge it... 


"You told me to open it you shit rooster!" Ruin readies his hooves for fisticuffs! 

Timber coughs, and weakly rolls back onto her hooves, giving Bassos an small smile and accepts a sip of the water. She sits down, huffing and coughing a bit still.

"The fuck did you call me horn boy?! I didn't tell you to stupidly dash for a box in the middle of a trapped room! You're impulsiveness almost got Timber killed, almost got ME killed!" 

"Well, I doubt it has any more of that powder in it, should I check inside again?"

Gwen walks over and huffs, moving to hoist the two ponies away from each other, in the air for possibly the most cartoonish effect. "Tear each other a new one AFTER we stop the explosion of the century. No more sidetracking, no more detours, we need to be precise, because one room coulda killed us." 

Timber, shakily, gets to her hooves. “Gwen is right...we are on a time limit.....” she looks down both the paths. “...left or right....left or right....”

Bit scoops the powder into a pile and places it in a small pouch in her bag 

Basso crosses his hooves and huffs "Fine, let's get this over with. We'll just go into the next room, the once across from the trapped one." He says wriggling free of Gwendolin's grip and heading back to put his hoof blades on. 




Bayou sighs and nods as he puts away his canteen. "I'm calling left." He picks up his torch and puts away his cleaver, giving the group a small smile. "Lets just try to keep ourselves stable while we get through this, okay guys? We're not here to pick fights, we're here to pick up an artifact." He then gestures his torch towards the left corridor.

Ruin hangs toward the back of the group. Once he's out of everyone's way, he points the chest toward the empty hall and opens it facing away from the group, just in case.

Gwen sets Basso down and looks over to Ruin before letting him free as well, "We're better than this guys. Look, just think about it the way the designers would have. I doubt they'd have put the valuable artifacts on their porch." 


With no other suggestions, Timber nods, and slowly starts leading them down the left path. 

Around the corner was a long hallways, and, barely, they could see that there were three opening on the left evenly spaced out, an that the hallway curved to the right again a bit ahead.

Bit follows Timber keeping her eyes peeled 

"Lets check one of the opening on the left, if it is trapped, we move on" Basso remarked, trotting along with the group.

Bayou looks towards the three openings, keeping his torch held high over the group so that they can get a good light radius. He perked his ears slightly and shrugged. "If Timber is alright with it, sure. She should know roundabout how big the artifact is and what it might look like. Although I agree, first sign of traps and we back out to regroup and discuss."

Ruin gently shakes the box, trying to hear if there's anything else inside as he follows along. 

the box is open and empty, save for a bit of dust left inside. 

Bit trots next to Ruin "That was fucking risky dude, Glad you made it back." 

"I swear to whatever god is listening Ruin, if you don't stop messing with that box I'll smash it."

"Thanks Bit. Someone had to try, right? Could have been anything in this box, and the security they had on it made it seem important, anyway." Ruin smiles. 

Gwen brings up the vanguard along with Bayou, using the torch to check the walls, ceilings, floors, taking the steps as quickly as possible while maintaining caution. She sees the three openings and cocks her head slowly, "You know, if that's a trap, we're lucky if it's just spikes or darts, whoever made this place doesn't quite seem the type for an old fashioned pitfall trap." 

"I'm going to try and study the powder. See if I can learn anything, might be a good non-lethal deterrent." 





[d20+perception, Ruin as a -1~]
Ruin,2
Gwen, 11
Bayou,12
Bassos, 16
Bit,4

As the group slowly moves forward, Bassos suddenly notices something on the ceiling right above one of the door frames....some sorta symbol, which starts glowing purple as they approach!

Gwen and Bayou manage to peek inside the first room at an angle, and see...a coffin?

Timber marches forward, almost under the symbol, perhaps not noticing both from the fact the purple was hard to see, and her own tiredness from the earlier ordeals...


Instinctively Basso dives forward to knock Timber away from the spooky symbol above the door frames "WAIT!" 

Ruins ears perk up "Wait for what?" 

Bayou was squinting as he was glancing at the coffin thing. "Is...is that a coffin? Are we in a cry-AHHH!" He flails his hooves and looks at Basso, having been very suddenly brought from his inspection of the surroundings by the noise and movement.

Gwen cocks her head and huhs at the burial chamber, "Bet there's mummies in there. But I-" The ladygrif squawks and jolts slightly as Basso fuggin tackles Timber. That poor little pegasus was taking a hell of a beating today... 

[Bassos, d20+Dex!]
Bassos, 10

Bit stops at Basso's alert "What is it?" 


Bassos is able to tackle Timber out of the way, but both hit the ground hard, as the purple glow intensifies, and flashes brightly for a moment, before suddenly going out....

Timber ooofs as she lands, but after seeing the flash, gives Bassos a nod as she pushes him off of her. “thanks...”

"Y-yeah, don't worry about it, without you we won't stand a chance." He said standing back up. 

[d20+perception folks!]
Ruin, 8
Gwen, 18
Bassos, 8
Bayou, 7
Bit, 13



Suddenly, Gwen sees it clear as Day. A large, rotting looking pale ghost of a horse, eyes blank and vacant, floats out f the coffin, gnashing its teeth at them ,before floating into the ceiling...and for just a moment, she saw a similar glow to that one from the rooms ahead....

Bit saw the one close by, but not the further glows, while the rest were too distracted by the purple flash...


"A purple flash trap? What are the odds of a grave robber being epileptic?" Ruin asks

"You all saw the ghost thing right? I'm not just tripping on the powder?" Bit asks

Bayou rubs his eyes a bit from the flash. "Well, that was uncalled for." He looks over to Bassos and Timber, smiling slightly. It's good to see that they were safe for the time being. He turns his head to call out to the others. "Everyone okay?" He then looks at Bit. "Ghost thing? There's a ghost thing?" 

"Oh. Oh shit. Guys?" *She looks back at them slowly, trying to see if anything was... coming out of the ceilings or walls, "So... I think we just woke up the old owners... all of them." 

"Yeah" 

"Aint no such things as ghosts, lets keep moving" Basso declares confidently as he starts to continue down the hall. 

"What? We're in a world full of magic and ponies and ghosts are where you draw the line?"bit says being a cunt who wont just say their fucking name in third person like was asked.

"About that, Basso..." Ruin interjects, "I can confirm from experience that there are ghosts in this world. And they can hit you, or chop your leg off." "We should probably keep moving though." 

Gwen notes the missing leg, and notes that playing with fire is a bad thing. "Alright, so we are either running through or hightailing it in the opposite direction and hoping that the other path is less spooky..." 


Timber freezes and looks around nervously. “ghosts?! Guys, get the torches ready, now!” 
She backs up, and quickly pulls out a small, blue flint and steel, looking around. “You folks wouldn't have anything flammable, do you?”

as Bassos goes forward, Timber curses, and grabs him, pulling him back just as a big, rotting horse ghosts comes out of the wall and snaps its teeth at him, then flies into the floor!

Suddenly they all hear the clacking of teeth from the walls around them....and two more lung out, one for Ruin from the ceiling, one for Bayou from the wall behind him!

"Chew on this!" Ruin points the magic sword at the hungry spook!

"I know how it looks, b-but I'm sure there is a p-perfectly fine explanation that doesn't involve g-g-ghosts." Basso stutters out, backing up into Gwendolin.



Bayou keeps the torch gripped tightly in his magic, shuddering at the clacking of teeth and trying to look around himself for spooks. Seeing one coming at him from behind, he holds up the torch as a shield, shaking it to ward off the (presumably) hungry spirit. "Torches, right! Stay back, we're just passing through!" 

Gwen really wishes her spear was flammable right now, because having something a little bit further away from the incorporial nightmares would be nice. She jabs the torch at an offending mostly skeletal face poking out of the wall, growling and looking back for a moment, "We cant stay here! Walls are too tight, let's get somewhere open!"

Bit is ready to torch bop any ghost that comes near her. "Keep pushing forward?" 


The spirit quickly swerves and clacks at Bayou, flying away from the licking blue flames!

Ruin isnt so lucky, and the sword does nothing, and the spirit passes right into him!

Thankfully Gwen keeps the third at bay, as Timber waves a wing. “forward, quickly!”
[Ruin, d12-3+End]
Ruin, 5

Ruin blinks as the ghost passes though him...and suddenly his chest has a bit of ice on it, aswell as part of his back, and blood drips from his mouth. He nearly collapses, but isnt down for the count yet, but he feels extremely cold.

"I need a blanket and some hot cocoa..." Ruin grunts, as he spits a bit of blood. He tries making his way toward someone with a torch.

Bayou grits his teeth as he starts to move forward with the group, turning his head to try and spot anyone else in need. Seeing Ruin getting into his own spot of nasty trouble, he pushes forward, trying to use the torch as a ward for both of them and get the spirit away from him, noting the blood dripping from his mouth. "Ruin! We gotta keep moving!" 

Staying near the light of Timber's torch, Basso moves down the hallway. "We can't stay here, if it was a trap, maybe they won't follow!" 

"Good plan Doc. Can we burn these cold bastards while we go? Feels like the time I fell asleep in a snow bank." 

"Run! Everyone with torches, keep the ghosts away from everyone else!" *She swings her torch to fend off some ceiling hooves, her heart pounding in her ears as she keeps up with the bulk of the group. They couldn't afford to have too many people konked out... 

Bit stays close to Ruin "We have to warm you up" 


As the group slowly makes their way down the hallway, the ghosts keep pushing, prying for an opening to attack through the three bearers torches....
[Bit, Gwen, Bayou, d20+Dex or Perception, 8+ pass, 12+ success, 3- crit fail]


Bit, reroll, pass
Bayou, reroll, pass
Gwen, 12, success

Bit and Bayou barely are able to keep up with the prodding ghost, and helping Run along was not helping, slowing the group down heavily.

Gwendolin does an excellent job, keeping pace with the ghosts, but is forced to slow down to not break formation, allowing the ghosts to go for a second set of pokes and prods!

[same roll]
Bit, 21, success
Bayou, reroll, 13, success
Gwen, 21, success

"We need more fire." Ruin slams the chest against the ground with a telekinetic swing.

With ample success, they keep them at Bay, Gwen and Bit even getting a jab in, causing two ghost to light ablaze like dry wood and scream, flying down the hallway behind them.

As they pass the last opening, theres another purple flash, and the last ghost blinks, and flies back to its coffin....

Timber takes a moment to collect her breath. “Good...work...” she nods, and looks at the group. “not fun, ghosts. Tend to slowly free and shatter your insides....” she looked ahead.

The path ahead was two options around the bend, eith a path leading to another bend seemingly to another hallway back the way they came, or an opening into another large chamber...


Bayou grimaces as he lowers his torch from a defensive position. He felt lucky to have just pulled that off, letting out a heavy sigh as he glances to Ruin. "Ruin? You okay? You looked a little pale back there after that thing went through you. Plus the blood and such. Do you need someone to lean on for a bit?" 

"So far, not a fan of these light gods, or whatever the hell you call them." Basso turns toward the two choices in front of them, noticing one seemingly doubles back. "I say the chamber, as far as we know that other path takes us towards those chambers again."

Ruin takes a sip from his canteen, and swishes then spits the blood from his mouth. "I've had worse." 

Gwendolin very much likes this blue fire, pretty, but effective. The birb chuckles and looks around at the group, taking a little breather as they consider their next move. "Maybe the one on the right leads further down, but we may as well take a look, from the sounds of it, we'll know if the Amulet is in the room here."



Bayou nods softly and then looks up. "I guess we can test the chamber, but if things look even remotely weird, we should probably back out and try the other path. For all we know the tunnels in here magically lead to other spots when you go down them." 

"More important shit at stake Bay, no need to slow down." Ruin steps tentatively to peek in the opening to the left.

"Alright, let's take a peek." Cautiously Basso approached the chamber, making sure to check the ceiling for another symbol or trap. 



As those willing look inside the left opening, they are met with a large, square room, a single large pillar in every corner holding the room up or something. 

The floor down the middle was of a different stone, marble, red, smooth, though time had faded it, leading to stairs up to a raising, where a large, odd contraption was sputtering on.

 “the Amulet of Fire....” Timber says, a determined look on her face. The thing was huge, at least three times as big as any of them, and looks like a twisting, menacing ball of gears and metal, random and varied colored lights shining out of it at intervals as it click and clacked and twisted randomly, floating a few inches from the pillow under it...and suddenly it made some whirring sounds and grew an inch or two in diameter... 

the rest of the room was seemingly empty, though there was a smaller opening to with side of the room, but they couldn't see what was behind the raising with the 'Amulet' from this angle.


"Looks more like an Orb than an amulet to me." 

"We should move in together, one big group, that way we all stay in the light, just in case something happens."

Bayou blinks as he looks over it. "Yeesh. That looks rough...we're gonna have to take care of it fast. It already looks like it's on the verge of eruption." He looks over at Timber, waiting for some instructions from the mare.

"Gods blood..." Gwen peers around the room, but her eyes are fixed on the mighty thing before them. How long had it been growing? Had it been smol and actually wearable once? "Alright Timber, you know how this stuff works, we'll be your... reality bomb defusing squad, just tell us what we need to do."

wonders what kind of stone red and smooth were, seeing as those tend to be properties not actual stone 


Timber nods. “first we have to reach it, then two will have to...connect to it, there should be two places to do so.....i think...” he squints at it. “yeah should be. Those two will have to work together to do whatever is necessary within it, mentally of course. The rest will watch and make sure nothing else goes wrong.” she nods, and starts carefully walking forward. 

“Not gonna lie, I have no envy for those who go in that thing....”


"I volunteer." Ruin states

"Seems simple enough, lets get going. I'll grab one side" Basso says, heading toward the artifact. 

Bayou takes a few steps forward behind Timber, giving a small nod. "Well, I said I'd give it a shot already." He looks over at the rest of the group and chuckles slightly. "You all seem pretty enthusiastic." 

"Someone has to do it, and I don't think any of us are ready to watch the world go up in smoke. But, before we decide who's jumping into the crystal, we're gonna need to get there first." *Gwen looks around again and squints, "We can just hope it's not trapped."

 Ruin follows Basso up "Gotta be useful somehow" he smiles, a little blood glistening on his teeth 



Timber carefully steps, and steps, and steps...and then the floor rumbles and changes colors into a checkered pattern, only a few feet into the room....

She frowns. “this cant be good.”


Bit gets ready to help ruin just in case his pride gets him into trouble 

"Yeah nah, fuck that. I'm flying it." Basso spreads his wings and prepares to fly up to the artifact. 

Bayou looks down at the floor change and stops, standing perfectly still as he looks over it. "Oh boy...this is gonna be weird. Don't tell me we're gonna be playing human chess. Are we gonna be playing human chess?" 

Gwen raises her torch high and blinks up at Basso, did all of these horses have deathwishes?! "We don't know what the trap is gonna do! Hold up!" 


When Bassos tries to fly, suddenly one of the tiles flies up from the ground and right at him!


Ruin looks at the now checkerboard floor, then peers around for more clues. "Maybe high school chess club will pay off here." 

Dropping to the ground Basso tries to dodge the flying floor tile. "No flying then!"


the tiles misses Bassos and smashes into the wall behind him, it was a white one. 

Bassos landed on another white one and...it starts giving way under him!


noticing a trend, Ruin hops to the nearest black tile!

Gwen watches Bassos carefully and listens to all of the chess comments. And she checks the tile shes standing on. 

Basso kicks himself forward onto the next black tile, hoping the puzzle is as simple as it seems. 

Bayou glances down to see how his tile is going, then tries to observe the rest of the tiles and see where he's placed at. 


Ruin would land, and while it doesn't give way, the tile feels like its balancing on a ball join or something, and is hard to balance on.

Bayou, Gwen, Bit, and Timber are just at the beginning, not yet on the checkered board.

Gwen looks to the others, that are not on the tiles and gives a gesture for 'one moment' quickly counting the tiles from one corner to the other, then testing a random black tile in the first row with her talon. 

[Ruin, Bassos, d20+dex!]
Ruin, 8
Bassos,15

Ruin manages to stay on, but not up, knocking a white tile loose, and sees himself peering down into what looks like a lake of boiling oil!

Bassos hops onto a black tile, and also manages to keep his balance on the wobbly thing, looking back and seeing the same great expanse of boiling oil below them.


Gwen counts them. The board is 25 tiles wide, twelves tiles forward, and checking the first black, it would rock wobbly like all the others.


"It's the black tiles, you can stand on them, but be careful, they aren't steady." [check the room to see if anything else is odd]

Bassos sees nothing really out of place. Probably because its really kinda just a big room, maybe once it had banners or something, but is now empty of them, most likely from age.

"Gotta wonder how they keep it boiling after so many years." Ruin quips as he comes up with a plan. He holds the nearest black tile between him and the orb/amulet in place with his telekinesis, as he tries to slide his way onto it. "Easy does it folks, these things are less balanced than the Manson family." 

Gwen gulps, and takes a step onto one of the many black tiles, wobbling as is expected and testing the difficulty in reaching the next one. 

Basso takes another step forward, over the white tile and onto another black one 

Bayou looks over all the tiles and then nods softly, moving forward onto one of the black tiles himself. "Easy does it..." 

[everyone, d20+Dex, +1 extra for Ruin]
Ruin, 14
Gwen,14
Bit,18
Bayou,13
Bassos,11

Timber slowly join the group, making her way to the Amulet quickly, hopping from tile to tile, and is quickly over half way there. Bit too makes great head way, making it about halfways with surprising ease.

The rest all lag a bit, none fall but Bassos has another close call, and they still have a good way to go...

[same roll]
Ruin, 14
Gwen,14
Bit,2
Bayou,5
Bassos,13

Ruin, Gwen, and Bassos make good headway, almost to the end, and Timber herself already made it.

But then Bit and Bassos, though they made progress, slip.

Timber has only a moment to act, yelling “Gwen, fly!” as Bit completely falls off and into the pit, and Bayou hangs on by only a hoof to a black tile, slipping...

Timber was able to get Bit and get him back onto a black tile, but nearly gets knocked out of the air, forcing her to land a ways back and unable to reach Bayou herself!

"Thank you timber"

Gwen, while being a big stubborn birb who is fed up with pony shenanigans today, is still airborne before the words are completely out of Timber's mouth. She leaps after Bayou tucking her wings to speed up to catch the slipping hoers. 

Bayou focuses his Tk as he starts to try and give a bit more time for Gwen, trying to lift himself up onto the tile with his own strength and his magic. "J-just try to get me when ya can, Gwen!" 

With one last jump Basso attempts to reach the platform with Timber. "so close!" 


[Gwen, d20-1+Flight]
Gwen, reroll, 15

Gwen gets Bayou up and onto his platform, and quickly lands herself, but is now a bit ways back herself!

Thankfully, as Bassos reaches the platform first, the tiles disappear, and the floor returns to normal!

The Amulet makes noises, its grown at least two inches now since they last saw it grow...


Ruin books it for the platform! 

Bayou grimaces and shakes himself, then looks to Gwen witha smile. "Heh, we seem to be working rather well together. Much appreciated for saving my life. I don't think I'd do well in the role of deep fried horse." The doctor lets out a laugh and then starts towards the platform, washed over with relief at this point.

Looking across the restored floor Basso turns back to Timber "Why didn't this happen when you got here? And how come you made it across so easily?" 

Gwen sighs, a small grin on her face as she quietly pants, feeling like she'd given a fair bit of exertion there, but, they had done it. Her grin grows a little as she nods back to Bayou, then continues with the rest of the party up to the... essentially throne at this point.


Timber flaps her wings and lands next to the device, frowning, but then walks a circle around it, before pointing at the side. 
“this,” she says, pointing to a small little orb floating like a single centimeter from the thing, “must be the connector, only part not moving with the rest of it...” anyone who looked would see a similar little orb, less then an inch big, on the other side.

She turns to Bassos, and looks at him. He had landed on the second sitar on the staircase...she had only made it to the first. “its picky?” she shrugged, but then..smirked slightly. “and I just happen to be better at this, not my first adventure.”

her face changes to one of a serious tone, looking at the Amulet. It was moving faster, the lights more intense. “....we dont have much time left...”


"Okay, so, what now? Ruin asks.

Bayou looks between the rest of the group and then to Timber. "Alright then. Who do you want to go in there, Timber? You're the one leading his expedition. Pick the two you think should go for it and the rest of us will try and wait it out. Whatever happens, anyway."

"uh huh..." Basso muttered suspiciously. "so, we just turn this thing off?" He asked, grabbing one of the orbs and inspecting it. "Need a unicorn for it? We have two here." 


Timber shakes her head. “I think you just put those robs to your head, and go inside the thing.” She frowns to Bayou. “hrm....then You, and....” she frowns. “i want to say Ruin as hes injured but the task is wholly mental but....” she gives Ruin an annoyed stare. “....hrm.....Bassos then.” she nods.


Ruin rolls his eyes "Just because I'm reckless doesn't make me an idiot, you know." Ruin mutters. 


Bayou nods and offers Timber his torch before moving to tap one of the orbs with his horn, then moving to press the orb to his head fully. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he made sure to take a deep breath, as if he was diving into deep water before he took the plunge into artifact wonderland.

"Welp Mr. Bayou, I hope you have a good head on your shoulders, I guess we're going." Basso said, closing his eyes and placing the orb on his head. 

"Have fun in there guys, we'll watch your backs out here." Ruin says.


Gwen nods at Timber's choices, turning back to face the hall, and giving a shaky sigh, "Well... looks like it's guard duty for us now." She holds her blue fire torch up to the ceiling and cracks a subtle smirk, "Wish we could help with the Amulet..."

"We could draw things on their faces when they go into trance or whatever..."
Ruin chuckles "I'm kidding! Just kidding!"


just as Basso and Bayou touch their orbs to their head, they hear a voice “ho ho~ well looks like we have some void dogs to deal with~”

and then their world went black. Waking up, they would find both be standing next to each-other, two paths before them. One bright like a rising sun, the other dim, like the night sky....

meanwhile, everyone outside would hear said voice, and see from each of the side rooms, two being would step out.

The one from the left was in the shape of a pony, but made of red, flaming gem, its eyes hunks of red hot stone. Its size was at least four times as big as any of them. 

The other from the right was a floating being, its tail end like cartoony ghost, its front a big grinning mouth with two clawed hands infront of it, the thing looked white hot to the touch.

“well~” the gem pony said, “Guess its time to add a few more ticks to our count~” 

Timber frowned, and quickly drops her saddlebags. “I expected we would run into Light Knights....” she taps her bag with a back leg, looking over her shoulder to Gwen. “ive got a few glass orbs full of somethin that should put these guys down, but I aint good at tossing. “ she looks back forward. “ill distract them, one of you throw....”


"I can try throwing. I'm half way decent." Bit said.

"Yeah, you do that, I can't aim for shit." Ruin readies the magic sword. "Who the fuck are you guys?" 



Gwen looks over at Bit and chuckles, shaking her head. The big lady grif takes a seat on the stairs but perks up and blinks at the sight of the 'Light Knights'. Quickly reaching into the saddlebag, she grips a glass orb in her claw, feeling the weight of it. Gwen likes~ "Let's see how they like my fastball." 


Bayou takes a deep breath and then looks around. This place made him feel a bit calm, actually. He looks between the paths and then to Basso. "Well...we're working for the dark gods. Maybe we should go towards the night sky?" 

"What a trip." Basso groaned, shaking his head "Your church, you know more then I do, but didn't Timber mention this thing was created by a neutral party, whoever that was, why require two to turn it off?”

Bayou taps a hoof on his chin and nods. "You got a point there. You want to walk on the sunny side, then? I'll give a shot at the night portion. We'll see where we go." 

"Let's do it. Oh, and bayou, pray to your church man, I think we are going to need all the help we can get." With that Basso turns to head down the bright path, hoping they were making the right choice. 

The doctor nods and starts off towards his path, thinking to himself. "Huh...I don't know how to get a hold of you all, really..." He then looks up and just starts to speak. "Dark Gods of the Void...? If you all are there and can hear me, I'd just like to say thanks. For the opportunity to do this, I mean. I feel like I'm making a difference." The Unicorn scratches behind his head and then continues walking. "I know you all tend to choose whenever you want to listen or help, but if you all could give any guidance, just so I can try and save the church and maybe the rest of our fellows, I'd appreciate it. I'm...not good at this prayer thing. But I believe in you all, at least. You all exist, and that's more than I can say for most religions I've read about." 


Gwen would feel about five baseball sized robs, at least in this half of the saddlebags. Two enemies, five shots....

The floating Light Knight laughed. “hoho~ I am Nish, this is my partner, Fish Hook~. He used to be a Pony, but he made the right choice, and chose to help the Gods of Light defend all worlds that dwell among the light~!”

Meanwhile, as Bayou wanders down his path, it slowly feels like its getting bigger, until he cannot see where he came from, only the vast expanse of stars about him...for some reason, a nagging question entered into his mind, forcefully, like when a song is stuck there. 

The question was 'Does the night hide the shadows, or does it drive off those that create them?'

As Bassos entered into his , he would slowly come to find himself in a open, hilly meadow, the warmth of the rising sun hitting him as he could no longer see the path behind him.

A question would enter his mind, nagging, un relenting.

'Does the day reveal the world, or does it blind us to its reality?'



"Oh, so you want to defend the world too? Well, trying to do that myself here, what with this doodad about to blow up this town and all." Ruin quips, not lowering his blade "Maybe we don't have to fight here." 


Gwen stands, and cracks her neck, with a small smile, her face still displaying her focus, "Yeah? And we're the humans of Outer Hayven, we don't give a damn about your gods of light and dark, we're just gonna make it through today, and we'll go through you if you think it's right to let this thing tear a hole in reality." She palms the glass orb, prepared to throw a pitch like... well, because their lives might depend on it. 

Bayou blinks as he looks around at the stars. It was beautiful to him. His mouth hangs open slightly as he hears the question ringing in his head a bit. He ponders the question, watching the stars and then sitting down on his haunches. "I...don't know. It can do both, y'know? I think it comes down to those that can embrace the night. Those that can find comfort it in it. The people that can accept the night for what it is can hide in it's shadow and feel safe. But people who fight against it will of course be driven back by it. You just have to embrace the night to really belong there." The doctor realized he was talking to thin air. He wondered for a moment if that was the right course of action, then just pushed the thought away. "That's my answer. It can do both. The night isn't inherently good or bad. It simply is, and it is up to those who approach it to accept or deny it."

"Beautiful" Basso remarks, looking around the field. For a moment he he searched for where the voice he was hearing came from, only to realize it was himself, no voice, just a thought. "Shit, a riddle." A riddle from some old religion he knew nothing about from some long dead designer who didn't care for any of them. Screw it, screw the beliefs, he didn't care what answer it wanted, only what he knew. "The day reveals the world as we know it, yes, but it can't reveal all. It's our job to figure out the rest." 


Infront of both Basso and Bayou, a door opens, though they wouldn't know it, Bassos was much smaller then Bayous.

If they walk through, both would be presented with a blank room. Bassos white with a orange, glowing orb about the size of him in the middle, Bayous a black room with a dark blue or glowing in the middle of his....

Outside, the two knights share a look, then chuckle. “the device must be tested, if we are to use it~. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, your town is just one, out of many on this planet, in this plane of existence~.”

Timber jumps down between the tow, her wings extending, one blade pointed at either. “not. Going. to. Happen.” she hisses out.

“then you die here~.” and the knights jump at her!


"Give me an orb, I'll toss it!" Bit said. Gwen gave her an orb so she tosses it at the knights! 



"Well so much for diplomacy." Ruin applies the hornblade, and jumps into the fray "Fire the cannons, and for the love of god make sound effects!" 

Gwen gives a quick shrug, cocking her throwing arm back, taking aim, and counting her lucky stars that all that time in her backyard, keening these new limbs to throwing her knife would pay off after all. 


Bayou glances at the door and tilts his head. "Oh...well that's interesting." He then stands off his haunches and starts towards it, walking through the doorway slowly and looking around the room. "Wow..." he then looks towards the orb, approaching it and stopping in front of it, admiring it. "Am I supposed to take this?" he asks the room, speaking once again to the open air and nothingness that seems to be guiding him along. 

Slowly, Basso ducked through the door and approached the orb, his hooves clacking on the white floor. "What... what is this?" He asked, half expecting an answer from the void. His thoughts went to Bayou, wondering how the unicorn was doing. As he stood in front of the orb he leaned in, trying to inspect it, looking for anything that might reveal what it is, or what it does.


The orb seemed connected to the ground, and was as big as Bayou anyhow so probably couldn't be lifted. The room doesn't echo...and the door closes behind him as he enters. Just him, and the orb....

Bassos door also closes behind him, leaving no trace like with Bayous room. The orb was similar aswell, but of course differently colored. 

Both would inspect and see....points, one on each side, where it looks like they could put their respective limbs on.


Timber quickly spins, up and into the air, the two Knights missing her and eachother, before the floating one dashes up at her!

The golem like one sees Ruin, and charges!

[Gwen, Bit, d20+ranged, 7+ pass, 13+ success, 1- crit fail]
[Ruin, d20+melee, 8+ pass, 12+ success, 3- crit fail]
Gwen,21, success
Bit,6, fail
Ruin,18, success 

Bayou nods gently as he looks at the orb. "Heh, no response. That's fine then." He then takes a deep breath and moves forward, placing two hooves on the orb as he whispers to himself. "Embrace the night and hide within it's shadow...let it comfort you. Accept it." He was speaking to himself now as he touched the orb, hoping for a reaction. 



Staring at the orb Basso could feel the anxiety building up in him. Two points, obviously meant for his hooves. What if this was a trap of some kind, stick his hooves in, they clamp shut. doesn't matter he thought, only one way forward now, and with what was on the line, he couldn't simply back out. "Okay orb, show me what you've got" He yelled sticking his hooves into the corresponding spots.


Bassos would feel a sudden warmth flow through him, and see the glow from the orb whisp wasp its way up his arms and to him, ending with touching his heart. And then he rocked back, light shooting from his eyes and mouth.

Suddenly, he was...somewhere else. It was warm, loving, energizing, he was floating. A male voice spoke up, kind, but determined. “You wish to stop the machine? Hmm, well, it IS my lifes work you know, if it shuts off, it wont survive, wont be able to be activated again, and the two power sources cannot exist outside of here. You would be giving yours, everyones, chance to fend off the worse of both pantheons...can you live with that?”


Bayou would touch his, and feel a calming, soothing coolness work its way through him, as the blue glowing light worked its way up his arms, and into his heart. And suddenly he leaned back, blue light shooting from his mouth and eyes.

And then ,he was somewhere else. Calm, cool, comforting, he was floating. A friendly, curious female voice spoke to him. “oh? Why hello there little one. My what a way you have come....and you wish to shut off my husbands machine I see, haha! Well, you don know why it was made, yes? To defend from the pantheons, to protect this world from their silly little bickering. Sure, it was edited, but it still has done its goal, more then less, and It could be repaired,once its vented. The two power sources, this machine....they wont last if it powers down again...you would be sacrificing a great barrier keeping many things at bay....can you live with that?”


Meanwhile, outside, Bit tosses wide, wasting an orb, but watches as the white glass shatters and a bunch of black, starry liquid spatters everywhere and seems to form tiny little black holes based off the splatters size, but only for a moment and is gone!

Ruin is able to stop the golem in its tracks, but is being pushed back. “little pony, I encourage you t flee~” the golem says, and his eyes start glowing brighter!

Gwen gets a good direct hit on the floating knight as it chases Timber, the Knight yelping and quickly heating up, burning off some of the goop, but suddenly screams as a good third of him is sucked into the black hole formed, though being made of fire hes just a smaller version of himself now. 

YOU BTICH!” he yells and dives after Gwendolin, Timber giving chase!


"Why bother fleeing? I die if I run anyway, might as well fight!" with his piece said, he holds his blade in place with telekinesis as his mouth reaches for his hammer! "Ghoofin' duhn swuhngig!" He mumbles around the grip of his hammer as it swings outward! 




Gwen had braced her spear up at the charging Knight, like a couched lance, and quickly snags another orb, sure, black holes were pretty bad, but she could get this thing if she tried! "Come here little ember! Totally ignore my other friends!" She knew better than to throw directly at something that could see the trajectory, so... she hazards a guess, and raises her trusty bluefire torch directly to where its rapidly approaching face is! 

Bit throws an orb.


Bayou feels the soothing coolness, relaxing a bit before the blue light shone through him. He gasped as he felt himself shivering, then began to calm down suddenly. It was...nice here. Like a cool stream. Comforting. Dark. If the situation wasn't so dire, he'd take a nap right about now. He hears the voice, however, and thinks on it hard. It was meant to save everyone. He then shakes his head slowly after thinking on her words. "I understand why you made it. I can understand the want to protect us from all that the pantheons have to offer, and the possibility of their fighting could be catastrophic. But...well, I believe in us. I believe in all of us being able to do something. To come together and stop this. Maybe I'm naive, and maybe I'm just too hopeful, but we can come to terms. We can cooperate. We can try and save ourselves, without threat of destruction." The large unicorn sighs gently and nods. "I could live with that, if it meant giving us a real chance to do the right thing on our terms, rather than under duress. I hope you'll be willing to give us that chance." 

The warmth Basso felt was intoxicating, it reminded him of his previous life, lounging out on the grass, soaking in the warmth, all his previous problems melting away. However as the voice spoke, he felt a great disgust well up into him. Not at the creator of this machine, but at the machine itself, its purpose. "This whole thing was created to keep two sets of bickering gods from wreaking havoc on Equestria's residents?! What you created is magnificent, the fact that it even has to exist is disgusting." Basso took a breath to calm himself, "I've met a few ponies from the dark god's church, one of them is here as well, helping, while the other, I'm sure, is fighting to defend us, and I'm sure the other church thinks they are hte heroes of their own story. However I've seen the type of damage belief like that can do. Yes, I want this machine powered down, gone. If both sides can see how childish their gods act then they can work together to do what is right, like you tried to do." 



[Ruin, d20+TK, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Gwen, D20+melee, 7+ pass, 13+ success, 2- crit fail]
[Bit, d20+ranged, 7+ pass, 13+ success, 2- crit fail]
Ruin, 22, success
Gwen, 3, fail
Bit, 6, fail


Bayou is left floating for a moment, before he hear laughter, kind, simple laughter. “Well well, you certainly have a lot of faith in your fellow ponies my my....well, I suppose then, ill turn my side off for you. I will give you your chance to fight on your own terms, in your own way....”

and suddenly the world was black for Bayou. [in limbo til Bassos finishes up]



Basso would be left floating, until the voice returns. “hrm. You're wrong. Last time their faith did not falter, they did not change their ways. I built the machine, because no one else was willing to do anything. All cowards, or all picking a side. Why should I power down the machine, so that history may repeat?”


meanwhile, Gwendolins torch does nothing, and with only one hand on the spear, doesn't have the force she needs to not get bowled over, rolling back on the ground, her shoulder smoldering a bit from the creatures natural heat. 

Thankfully, Timber swoops in, getting a good swipe at the creature, though it does no damage it make it start chasing her again as she flies away!

Bit tosses another orb, but watches it again fall short of her target.


Ruin however has more luck, and bringing his hammer down, causes a crack on the golems head, making his back up, wobbling like hes off balance!



Bit goes and pokes it with her spear 

"Crmmrn ahn srram! Wrcrm trr thr jham!" Ruin backswings with the hammer, aiming the spike for the crack in the golem's head! 

Gwen grits her teeth and grins, finally things were interesting! Despite the look of the smoldering, she smiles as she quickly rights herself and with the spirit-esk Knight now a little distracted with his minor victory, she throws a close range fastball!

"Because if you don't the machine you created to save ponies is going to unleash a catastrophic disaster in Equestria. Maybe you're right, maybe they will keep bickering amongst themselves, but that's their choice. If you don't shut this down it will burn off the energy it has built up, killing innocents, possibly doing more damage then you wanted to prevent. Even assuming it doesn't, you know its been tampered with, your tool of peace is now a weapon, one that could tip the balance here completely." Basso sighed "Please, I'm asking you to not play a god yourself, I'm asking you to give us a chance." 


[Bit, d20+melee, 7+ pass, 14+ success, 2- crit fail]
[Ruin, d20+TK, 6+ pass, 12+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Gwen, d20+ranged, 6+ pass, 14+ success, 1- crit fail]
Bit,13, pass
Ruin, 18, success
Gwen, 14, success

Bit manages to poke the Golem, helping off balance it, before Ruin comes in with his hammer, knocking him over and sending a small chunk of his forehead flying!

Meanwhile Timber pulls right over Gwendolin, giving her a great shot smack onto the center of the flying flame!

It screams, and twists in the air, now visibly less bright, only a low orange, and is about the size of Gwens head!

And then the room shakes.


Bassos is left floating once again, for what seems like ages, before the voice comes back, sounding annoyed. “Well then, try and help people and they spit in your face.  No no, I get it. Ill turn it off. Good luck, you're gonna need it.”

and the the world went black for Bassos.


A moment later, both Bassos and Bayou would disconnect from the Amulet, falling backwards onto the ground, Bayou a bit dizzy, Bassos with a massive migraine. The room was shaking, and looking over, the Amulet was going into a frenzy, until  it started to implode, cracking, creaking.

And then to was about the size of a fist, it no longer looked to be mechanical, but was a circle, kinda like the yin-yang, but with blue and orange, and the sun and moon. And then the color faded from it, and it clattered to the ground, cracking and rolling to a stop next to Bassos.

The room stopped shaking. The two knights shared a look. “...thats not good.....well, were, uhhh, done here!” and they bolted for the door!

Timber, having landed at the base of the stairs, looked from the now defunct Amulet to the fleeing knights, then to the others and shrugged. “probably not worth chasing after.” she said in her usual emotionless state, before continuing, concern clear in her voice. “is everyone alright? No ones too injured?”


Bayou blinks a few times, holding his hooves on the floor to get his bearings. Boy howdy was he dizzy! He grins and then stands, stumbling forward a bit before stopping and shaking his head. C'mon, get it together. You're better than this. He straightens up and then sighs, his vision clearing up slowly. "Riiiiight as rain! That was an experience, I'll tell you that much." He then looks around at everyone. "Erm...did we win?" 

"That's right run, If I see you again I'll toss another orb in your general vicinity" 

Gwen pats out her still slightly glowing chest feathers and chuckles, "No worse for wear. You guy's didn't have to rush, we nearly had 'em out here." She jokes with a glance over at Bayou and Basso. In fact reaching into her pack and getting out a jungle fruit she had picked while scouting the other day, "That's it then. Time to head out?" She looks over at Timber with a soft smile, peeling the skin from the fruit with a sharp talon.

"YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, PISS OFF! YOU CAN'T HANDLE THIS!" Ruin taunts the fleeing golem and lil fire-guy as he lets his weapons fall to the ground. He then rears up on his hind legs and beats on his barrel with his front hooves like a gorilla! "WOOOOO!"




"Dick..." Basso muttered, his head feeling like it was split open, probably a going away gift from that disembodied egotistical asshole he had been speaking with. Looking up he could see the aftermath of the fight, and thankfully Bayou as well. "I guess we did it. What the hell happened here?" As he stood up, his hoof bumped something, the amulet? Basso picked it up and inspected it, it really seemed dead, hopefully nothing more then a paper weight. 


Timber nodded, giving Gwen a smile. “sure.” she walked over to Basso, and held out a hoof to him. “ill take that if you dont mind, hopefully its defunct, but wwe have methods to keep it under control if any juice is left in it...”

"Yeah all good timber, how are you holding up?"bit asked.


Basso looked at Timber suspiciously "I do mind actually. As much of a stubborn jerk that guy I talked to was, he showed me a lot, like how your gods are petty enough to put the world in harm's way just so they can win their little fight." He said, takign a step back, "And honestly, I don't know if we can trust you not to try and do the same thing the other guys did."

Bayou stretches and lets out a sigh, feeling happy that the pressure was off for now. However, just as he began to relax a bit, he heard Basso's comment and cocked his head to the side. "Erm...Basso? Are you alright?" He took a few steps foward towards him and Timber. "You do remember that we came all this way to make sure this thing was rendered harmless and contained, right?"

Ruin turns to Timber "Do we still get paid if he keeps the widget?" 

Gwen sits on the stairs and munches on her fruit, looking over at the hubub, and cocking her head at Basso, "What are you gonna do with it? Wear a possible bomb around your neck? It's broken right? Or did you guys just shut it down?" She tosses the fruit away, having had her fill. Turns out it wasn't very tasty, "Do you trust him?" *She points to Bayou."


Timbers complexion remained emotionless, as she slowly lowers her hoof to the ground. She stared into Bassos like a knife into butter. 

“well then. Its your problem then.” She reaches into her saddlebags, and pulls out an odd little case and key, and tosses it onto the ground infront of Bassos. “heres the containment unit, enjoy.” she says with no hint of any change to her flat expression.

she turns around, and nods to the rest. “everyone else, you still did a good job, and have earned your reward, but come, we can talk about that on the way to town.”


Gwen quietly giggles at Timber's reaction, moving to stand. "Hope that fire guy decided to stick around, wouldn't mind tossing another black hole into his smug little face." She starts after Timbers, feeling pretty accomplished after all they'd managed to get through today.

"I wouldn't doubt us running into him again, but I doubt he'd only bring one backup fighter next time." Ruin muses 

Basso stared at Timber as she turned her back, a look of shock on his face. He didn't expect her to drop the fight so easily. Turning to Gwendolin he gave her a nod "Give it to the Embassy, have it sent back to the Princesses. They aren't on either side, and have the resources to keep this under control, because I sure as hell don't want it either." Kneeling down he opened the case and placed it inside, locking it closed. "Do you think those traps were disarmed as well?" 

"God I hope so, I've had shit luck all day"

Bayou gave a look of concern towards Basso. But after hearing his suggestion, he lets out a sigh of relief. He was worried that he would just try and keep the magical artifact! He looks to the others and grins broadly. "I'm just happy we got something done. Nothing like disarming magical nukes to get a stomach growling, though." He levitates out his pear and starts to chomp into it as he walks with the group. 

"Oh fuck, I forgot about the ghosts!" Ruin smacks himself on the head, and then grabs all of his weapons. "How many did y'all burn again?"

Gwen eyes Bayou with a little envy for a moment. Being a griffon was rough, not having as much of a fruit appetite anymore... 


thankfully, the traps were deactivated, and it was easy enough to find their old hole and climb out, though it was only raining harder then before. 

as they wandered out into the jungle, and home, Timber speaks up. "so, the rewards gonna be 175 Bits per head, though ive got an extra 175 now so....guess you four get a bit extra, at 218 a piece. " she nods as she leads them through the rain, "oh, and i ow each of you an item, though i wont hand out an extra, sorry. lemme see....well, i suppose, what would each of you be interested in?" she asks. 


Ruin looks at Timber's fancy leather armor "Got anymore spiffy jackets like that?" 

Gwen blinks, almost thinking she misheard, but no, everything calculated right... "Well um... what's within reason to ask for? I don't feel like asking for something you guys don't have." She scrunchies her beak in thought, "If I had a Christmas list though... I'd ask for some better weaponry. This little axe is good for cutting wood, and the spear... well, it's kinda makeshift. So something like a bow, or some kind of melee weapon I guess!"

"four huh, fancy that, I don't count four leaving the pit, I didn't count four going in, and I sure as hell didn't count four stopping a doomsday machine from wiping your little butt off the map." Basso said, walking up next to Timber.

"Ummmm do you have a fancy bow by any chance?"  Bit asked.




Bayou looked a bit shocked at the offer, then chuckled. Well, money was certainly nice. As for an item, it was a hard decision. What did he really want at this point? He mumbles to himself slightly, the rain obscuring his vision once again with a wet mane and wetter glasses. In the midst of his thinking, he looks over to Basso. "Admittedly, the job was to retrieve the amulet for the church. You kept it instead of just giving it to Timber."



Timber actually chuckled a bit, looking back at Ruin. “ well never expected to be asked for part of my wardrobe as a reward, arent we a sly one~?”  she nods though “but yes, I can get you a jacket like this.”

she turned to Bit and Gwendolin. “oh, yeah, I can get you bows, or a better spear if you would prefer Gwendolin.” 

Timber nods to Bayou, and looks at Bassos then, a stern undertone to her usual voice. “You chose your reward already, simple as that.” she looks forward. “you should enjoy it, those cases arent the cheapest, a whole twenty gold ya know?”

she chuckles again “no lightsabers, sorry sir.”


"damn so close, magical shotgun that doesn't run out of ammo?" bit asks

Basso just shakes his head "Good to know the church is as childish as the god's they worship. I can always make more gold, the village isn't hurting for work. Maybe those light gods could use a hand." 

"Sweet! You have no idea how much I missed pockets, or clothes in general! Also, it looks badass!" Ruin is pretty hype to have a leather jacket. 

Oh god no. Spear or bow? Indecision nearly forces Gwen down to her knees, like a massive weight dropped from a great height. What, possibly, could she do? How was one to choose in such an event?! 

Bayou thinks a bit longer and then smiles. "Well...if I wanted to shoot for the moon, I'd say something like a canteen that never runs out or something of that nature. If that's asking too much, maybe just a fancy set of glasses? It's nice to always have another pair, after all." The unicorn chuckles softly before looking over at Basso and then sighing. He just shook his head for now.

"Ooh, new spear... or bow... mmmm." The bluebird has a moment, realizing that her current spear was honestly never meant to last this long. It was time for it to retire, and another day would come to get her talons on a bow. "Have to go with the spear. This was actually pretty exciting, barring all the brushes with death, I think we worked pretty well as a team."

Bayou nods eagerly. "I certainly agree! I owe you for that save back there, Gwen." 


"You kidding? The brushes with death were the most exciting parts!" Ruin counters



Timber whacks Bit over the head lightly and harmless with a wing, smirking at him. “please, you know you're asking for silly things mam.” 

She smiles at Ruin. “well, glad you like Gothic, not many share such a fashion sense.” 

she looks to Bayou, “hmm, no canteen like that, sorry, but I can get you a pair unlikely to break, that sound good?”

“good choice Gwen, ill find you a good one.” Timber says with a nod

she then stops, and with the most genuine, biggest, smug grin anyone had seen her pull out, she turns to Bassos, blocking his path. “ohohoho! My my, im sorry? Did I upset the child of the group? Aww, im sorry, but in the real world, you fufill your end of a bargain, or you dont get paid. Maybe one day, you'll understand that.” she said, raising her eyebrows up and down at him. 

“oooor maybe not~.” she says, turning and giving his a little whisp of her tail as she skipped back on ahead.


"Black goes with everything!" Ruin agrees 

Gwen giggles and gives a cheery smile to the mare, which breaks into a curious expression as she stops suddenly, the birb giving a little warble as the little pony trots over and back, giving an awkward shrug and continuing to follow along the path, despite the downpour.

Bayou looks between Basso and Timber. He shakes his head again. The prospect of new glasses was nice, at least. But this seemed to be more bitterness than anything else. A bit of a damper on the mood, for him. 

"Day is saved and nobody got seriously injured. I'd say you're right, we did work well." Basso chimed in before suddenly being stopped suddenly by the mare. He listened to her comments. "Maybe, but atleast I got you to break that stone-faced facade you wear." Basso replied back cheerfully, "You're cute when you show a little emotion." 

Gwen looks over to Bayou and, despite the fluctuating mood of the group, gives him a sincere smile, "Ah, don't mention it though. There was no way any of us would sit around while you were tumbling into crispy doom. I'm just quick!" *She winks with a giggle." 


Timber laughs a bit. 
“Ruin has a better shot at me boy, and he poisoned me.” she smirks.

With that, Timber leads the group home. Those who were getting paid got their dues, and after much digging in their large tents back rooms, Timber and Gold present the items to their guests.

Gwendolin is handed a Large, well kept and quality Steel Spear, the diamond point having fince shallow etching into it and the wood well treated.


Ruin receives a set of armor like Timber Burns, who gives him a small smile as she hands it over.

Bayou is handed a leather case, and inside is a set of slightly dark colored lenses, somehow in his vision spectrum. They act as sunglasses too, and are much harder to break.

Bit receives a sturdy long bow of a blackish wood, an twenty arrows of standard points.

With that, the Church sends the mercs on their way, letting Bassos do what he pleases with the Amulet and case, which is now his reward....


[well thats it on my end. Ill post your rewards in commentary soon. Hope you all enjoyed it, cheers!]