"EQ game Quest- The Mission of Mirrors"
By klimino (https://pastebin.com/u/klimino)

URL: https://pastebin.com/ug5c5rEs
Created on: Sunday 3rd of September 2017 08:05:40 PM CDT
Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 03:44:36 AM UTC


```“Deep into southern jungles, in the hills below the Volcano line,  as the Sun set below the horizon, a few perceptive eyes saw what looked like a part of the great ball of flame break off, curving down, down, and as the true light of the world disappeared, for a moment, even back at town, the world seemed to become day again, before night came back upon the world.

At first, it seemed to be nothing, but over the next few days a few Scouts would give in reports seeing 'small suns' floating in or above the great Jungles down in the southern ends where little to none have yet gone.

However as night falls on another night, another bright flash is seen, and when a guard is found missing, aswell as a notice by the CDGV asking for recruits to go looking for a missing member of their order, it becomes clear the problem might be becoming more then can be ignored.”```

[WARNING, THIS WILL BE A DANGEROUS QUEST. DO NOT GO ON IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT RISK OF DEATH OR PERMENANT(possibly good too) CHANGES TO YOUR CHARACTER.]
[Come prepared]
[For those interested in the CDGV stuff, this is the beginning of that line getting more...serious]
[The Quest will Start on Thursday morning at 8-9am, though it is not guaranteed to finish the same day.]
[PM me if you are interested, there will be a max of 6 players participating.]


<><><><><><>

Ruin-
Starter kit, Crystal Warhammer, Hungry Hornblade, Dragonglass glasses, Canteen of water, bottle of vodka, half full bottle of liquid magic, 10 granola bars (picking up in intro post), black leather-scale armored jacket, Robot leg, cowboy hat, boots 
Nightlight-
Starter Kit, Rope 25m, Round Metal Shield, Armored Coat, Tanto, 2 Poppyseed Muffins, Canteen Full of water
Basso-
Starter kit, hoof blades (x2), all weather jacket, canteen of water, sadslebags, bundle of Zeebra healing herbs (x3) 
Ruby-
Saddlebags, blank notebook x3, journal, Ruby's spellbook, writing utensils, 2 empty vials, 1 vial of leywater, 1 canteen filles with water, 2 days travel rations 
SilverRush-
Homily-
Saddlebags, Guard helmet, "Heavy" leather armor, Enchanted lens (Auto-pass a perception check once per adventure, or whatever GM thinks it should do), Magic spear, Knife, Dragon amulet, 30 meters of rope, Canteen, Miracle orb, Crucifix 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Rumors. Rumors have an odd way of spreading, likes a small flame on tissues, they can quickly burn passionately and brightly, until every corner has seen the licking of the fire of its words.

Words within these rumors had been spreading for a few nights now, that strange lights and fires had been see deep, deep into the south, and while usually outside the jurisdiction of the Town or Scouts, the consistent sightings and spreading of them had a small expedition sent out. Nothing was found, but something was lost.

With a missing Scout now in play, the Embassy was on its toes, but when the local Tent and home of one Gold Toe and his Church was found ransacked and burned, the stallion himself being rushed away for treatment while the other two residents both missing, it seemed odd timing, and too coincidental. Sightings of similar lights inside the town around when it happened, did not help matters.

As another night starts to fall, the Scouts and Guards growing weary, a Strange, unknown Earth Stallion in a fine suit has been seen putting up notices, apparently on orders from Gold Toe and the Church of the Dark Gods of the Void, before the old Stallion was taken out of town, Asking for volunteers willing to solve the issue now presenting itself to the south, and into town.

For those willing, the suave, mysterious Stallion of Navy coat, and Hair like thin strands of Peach, with eyes covered in Green tinted black goggles even at this hour of night, may be found at the southern gate, his pocket watch in hoof, tick, tick, ticking away....

Some might find this too odd, dangerous, unknown.....but a promise of reward and favors can make many a job seem worthwhile....


being a baker night tended to hear things and the stories and rumors of the mysterious lights in the south peaked his interest he headed to the south gate prepped for an adventure and saw a stallion waiting at the gate.

Ruby is always enticed by her curiosities, hearing of the mysterious amd dangerous going on south of town licked at the edge of her imagination, a serious desure to learn more about what was causing them. The harm to the town was the catalyst that allows her freedom to leave and take a personal look at what is causing the problem. She follows along to the gate and notices the contact, padding along towards him 

sticking to the shadows, the silver coated Pegasus ambles nonchalantly towards the southern gate, he freezes as he turns the corner and runs into a pony with a pocket watch ".....uhh Morning guvna...." 

Basso knew the job was from that dark god church, he knew he didn't have the best relationship with them after a previous job, but luckily he didn't hold grudges, and he liked money. As he approached the stallion at the gate, he could only hope they didn't either, or atleast didn't care. He knew about the light show, and the other mysterious events that had gone down in town, and the curiosity got the better of him. He arrived and the gate and gave a friendly nod to the town ponies before turning his attention to the stranger in the coat. "Hello there." 

"Hey everyone" Night says to the group assembling "and hello Sir" Night says to the yet unidentified stallion 

Having read a notices posted in town, Ruin comes prepared for a long trip. He even brought fresh granola bars, freshly bought anyway! "Oh... I was hoping Timber would be here." Ruin says, kind of disappointingly upon noting the goggled mystery stallion. 






Homily hears a lot of rumors on the farm. Most of them just the imaginings of a single person, whether they're slightly crazed or just trying to spread some mischief by lying. So when he'd first heard of the fires from the south, the preacher had thought nothing of it. But then he kept hearing about them, and after the same general story from so many different people, he figured something was up. Once the scout went missing, and someones house went up in flames, he knew there must be truth to what he'd heard. Homily didn't normally associate with the Church of the Dark Gods, in fact he tried to avoid them, but he was putting that aside for what he felt was a matter of safety for the town. After grabbing his gear, he heads to the south gate to see who else he might be traveling with. He greets the group, all of which he either knows or remembers talking to that one time, with, "Hello, how is everyone?" 


Oddly, as Silver came around the bend the strange Stallion seemed to perfectly time himself to stepping out of Silvers way, before turning to look as others started approaching, though his goggles hid his eyes and his face remained stone, as he clicked the watch shut and put his hoof down, letting it fall to the ground.

“Ah, hello to you too young one. And everyone else of course.” he says with a slight nod, pushing some of his unruly, kinda curly hair out of his face. “now, I can only assume you are all here because of the notice, the lights, or both. Regardless, I am here on behalf of Gold To and the Church of the Dark Gods of the Void. Sadly, Gold is in critical condition, and Misty Archs whereabouts are unknown. However, we have reason to believe, while missing as well, that Timber Burn, the last of the three core members of the church, was heading south on her own to investigate these mysterious lights.”

He waits a moment, letting everyone take in the information for a moment. “now, for a good sum of money, Gold has asked me to ask you, to go and find out what happened to her. We believe we have some...suspicious about what is going on, but I am not at liberty to tell unless asked, and every question comes with a pay cut, as my time is valuable, and questions cost it in droves.”


"I hope asking about Timber didn't cost me..." Ruin mutters. This guy seems like he means buisness. "Doing good, preacherman, and you?" Ruin responds. 

Ruby is a bit surprised when she sees Homily approaching, remembering the stallion well from their interactions in the cery early days of the budding new town. About to catch up, her musimgs are cut short when the stallion pipes up, and her snout scrunches "you're going to charge us to tell us what you think is going on? Well thats a bit woeful I believe... but rules are rules... I guess" 

"Sounds like a plan, let's get started then" Night says not wanting to ask the several questions that he had 

Homily isn't one to take gold over going in unprepared. "And what suspicions might those be, then?" With his question asked, he turns to Nightlight to say, "I'm well, just hoping I stay well." 

"dark gods of th----what the hell? I MEAN---YES OF COURSE, RIGHTO OLD CHAP. dark gods of the void and all that, praise sithis" 
"well, I don't want a paycut, so we head south to find out what's going on, and find the bundle of joy that is Timber." Basso said, adjusting his jacket, "Sure, lets get going, maybe she's just off on a nice summer walk" 

walks over next to Homily. Their safety is more important than some gold pieces, so if they can buy a little awareness... she wouldn't be mad 

"Hey Basso good to see you" Night says eager to get started 

Homily gives Ruby a nod as she trots to him. 


The Odd stallion shrugs at Ruby. “I was hired for this, nothing more, nothing less. Im here on a job, but I have other things to attend to. Things that take up time.”

He turns to Silver as he yells, the stallions ears giving a little twitch. “please sir, do be respectful, just because you find something silly does not mean another does not find help and peace from it.”

he turns to Homily, and nods. “right, well, tick tock and all that. We believe an ancient Guardian of the Light Pantheon, perhaps, was drawn to this world. Or maybe he escaped to here. Regardless, he seems to be looking mighty hard for something, and I doubt it will be good if he finds it. For who though, I suppose that is the question. Your job however, is not to solve that crisis, though feel free to do as you will. Your job is to find, Timber, and bring back proof you did. Preferably, her still breathing, but sometimes that's not possible with these things.” he shrugs.


"Nice to see you too Nightlight." Basso said, giving a small wave, "and Mr. whoever you are, we can do that. Timber can't be that hard to find. We'll just head toward that guardian and find her on the way. I don't know why she would be stupid enough to go alone though." 

"Count me in, Oddjob!" Ruin states, "Timber seems like a nice dame, definitely worth saving."

Homily didn't know much of the Church's beliefs, and has no idea what an "Ancient Guardian of the Light Pantheon" is. Hopefully someone else in the group does, because he doesn't want someone to yell at him for spending money on something they knew. "Well, that's all I had to ask."

"Bring her back alive if possible? Works for me" Night says simply as he walks to homily "How are you doing?"

Ruby purses her lips and blinks slowly... it didnt take him any dang time at all to tell them about all that! She turns to face the others "you have a description of Timber then? Lets get a move on gang, out to find em"

"oh well theres no animosity for a rescue mission, should be interesting....right where are we going?"

"South, we go south" Basso said confidently, starting to walk through the gate.

"alright, south it is then. I always liked going south..." he hops a few feet in the air and beings resting his hooves, floating along outside the gate "still not sure exactly what direction there, old bean"


“The Name is Vanha yksi tälle tasolle ,but just call me VoidWind. Now, unless you need anything else, I suggest you head on your way. The Night will only be so young for so long, and you will need it to spot those..things, out there.” then, without even looking at it, VoidWind stomps onto the pocket watch he had dropped, grinding it into the ground a bit, before he pulls back, the thing now a borken mess of bronze gears, golden case, and glass.

he then simply starts to walk away. 


"Uhh okay" night says as he watches the guy crush the watch 

"Description of Timber is a cute, gothy lookin' Pegasus mare, Ruby." Ruin begins to make his way out the gate, "And that dude definitely seems like more of an Oddjob than a Void Qind." 

Rush steals the watch 

Ruby watches him walk away, then looks down to the broken watch and then back up to the others. She quickly checks her body, to make sure she wasn't cut up by any of that edge, before turning towards the others "alright that was something I guess? He seems a few cans short of a party, know what I'm sayin?" she remarks with a soft smile and heading through the south gate 

night looks to ruin "you seem awfully fond of this mare" 

"aw yiss..." he cheers internally before stuffing the smashed watch into his saddlebags 

"What? She pays well, and gave me this jacket!"

"Oh yeah, she pays SO well Ruin."  Basso said sarcastically.

"Im just giving ya a hard time" night says with a laugh

"She didn't pay you 'cause you broke terms." Ruin adds, "For a good reason, but still did."
"So uh, anyone actually see the lights?"


Night. Night was the time of the shadows and the prowling,hungry wolf. Of sounds you cant make out and dangers you cant see.

The time of day at least, not sure about the pony. 

As the group made their way into the thick, heavy jungles, they knew it would be a long journey before they came across the area where the activity had been spotted, longer to reach the bulk of it. Clip clop, went their hooves, as they hacked and pushed their way through the sickly hot jungle, the night offering or relief from the noise or humidity it seemed, much less the bugs!

As the next and next hour passed, the moon being the only natural source of light, trying and failing to properly penetrate the thick canopy above, the group was slowly submerged and swallowed by the entanglement of the jungle, as they traveled deeper and deeper into parts untraveled, unexplored.

And suddenly, just like that, off in the distance for just a single moment, a light was seen far ahead...and then another to the right, and another far off, but a bit behind them to the left. It seemed they had finally gotten deep enough to start seeing things for themselves...


Ruin squints at the lights, trying to see what he can from a distance.

"I think we're here. Keep a close eye out now. No idea what those lights are, but in this darkness we could walk right past Timber." Basso said, slowly hovering higher and higher with his wings, trying to get a better look through the dense jungle.

"....firefly? swamp gas pocket? or is that what we're looking for?"

Ruby makes a little clicking noise with her tongue and turns on the ole horn light as they are submerged into the thick and heavy darkness. She peers towards the flashes of light and scrunches just a bit "its almost like lightning?"

night looks at the light apprehensively "uh that definitely isnt natural." 

[d12+perception, fliers gain an additional +1]
Ruin, 6
Basso, 11
Silver, 15
Ruby,7
Night, 6
Homily, 6


While most of the group sees nothing besides more lights, and noticing they seem to be like little balls of red-orange light, it is Basso and Silver who see truly the truth in the details.

As the group wanders forward a bit more, the two hawk eyed among you notice the Lights seem to have a pattern, each light seeming to 'blink' off for a minute, before reappearing as if having intentionally moved around. It also is oddly consistent.

Front, left, Right, Right, left, Front, Right, Left, Repeat. While it might not mean anything, it does point out the lights, to some degree, and in sync with each other. Its Silver though, that notices one to the left is making its way slowly towards them...

"will o wisps? and fuck you theres no THE in there" he grumbles the second part to nobody that asked "wait....that lights getting closer"
"do I stab it? uh...the lights were supposed to be friendly right? Im gonna stab it if nobody says anything"



"Dont stab the light yet" night says as he takes his shield and puts it on his right foreleg(edited)

"These lights, maybe some kind of warning system?  They have a pattern, or ma-"  Basso muses quietly to the group "Wait, coming closer?  Shit, don't stab it yet, let's hide and see what it is."  He said, landing in one of the branches of a nearby tree

"i dont know i think im comitted now...." he deadpans, raising his spear

"It's getting closer? Maybe we should try avoiding it, just to be safe..." Ruin whispers

Ruby blinks slowly "its just a bit of light... can you even stab light? Its just energy? Maybr we should hide from it though?" 

"We don't even know what it is, or if it even can be stabbed, you might just piss it off." Basso whispered from his hiding spot. 

night hides from the light 

Ruin also tries to hide. 

"yeah but what if CAN be stabbed? these are the questions that can only be solved by stabbing it"

"No stabbing the light." 

"wheres our guy from the dark brotherhood? he got any input?"
silver follows after the other ponies, zipping into a canopy to avoid being touched by the light

Homily comes out of NPC mode just in time to join everyone in the canopy. "So, do you guys really think this light is dangerous? 


While those that hide seem to have no trouble doing so, Silver ends up keeping himself, Ruby, and Homily busy enough to not get a chance, and Nightlights constant conversation probably gave his position away.

As the Light comes near, they realize it is kinda tear drop shaped, about the size of a pony. It seems to have an outer layer that looks kinda like glass, and an inner layer that seems to have a gas or something  within that's blinking on and off as the light. The thing seems alive, wiggling its 'tail' end of the teardrop body, and has a silly looking, simple face on the front as it approaches Silver and the others that are exposed.


night stays hidden and makes bush noises to fully sell the hiding spot 

Ruin simply watches from the bushes he's hiding in, readying his hammer quietly. 


Homily keeps himself at a distance from the light, backing up when necessary. "Does anyone seen anything like whatever this is?" He asks. 

"Oh damn, i was being too sarcastic and now it snuck up on us. Well if we die, I dserver it." he crouches down, tail wagging behind him as he stare at the....teardrop "WHAT IS IT, BOY, TROUBLE AT THE MILL" 

loud bush noises that sound similar to "its kinda cute" 

Basso crouches lower in the branch, ready to pounce out with his hoofblades if required. He didn't know what this thing was, but considering the cirumstances, he wasn't taking any chances. He was curious though, if its body was glass, and they broke it, was the gas inside poisonous? 

As the group watched, the thing gets a big closer to Silver, smiling at him. It bobs up and down in front of him a bit, then opens its mouth, but instead of words little fiery looking plasma bubbles float out and into the sky, where they pop into some foray fiery vapor that disappears after a moment. 

Suddenly though, little stubs push from the inner layer and against the out, and the little stub seems to wave at Silver, as more bubbles are released.


night picks up the bush and moves closer his legs clearly visible 

"Is it... friendly?" Homily dares to ask, after seeing it's behavior. Those bubble looked awfully dangerous though, maybe the fire and missing scout were an accident, he wonders. 

Ruin pops his head up a bit over the bush to get a better look. 

".....ahhh..." he finds a bit of cloth bandage and tosses it over the bubble thing "present?" 

Watching the bubbles pop in the sky Basso realized they were made, anything in the woods would know where they were now. He was about to dash down, impale it on his blade, kill it before it could continue to warn any others. He abandoned the idea when he realized that stuff was flammable, killing it would probably cause an explosion. "It's a fucking alarm system" He hissed out, "The others are probably on their way here." 

"no I think its just a baby fire...thing" 

Basso's warning puts Homily on alert. He checks to see if the other lights are heading towards them now too, as he starts to trot backwards. 

Hearing what Basso had to say, Ruin picks up his bush and begins scooting his bush southward. He inches along in a natural bush manner. 


As Silvers tossed bandage connects with its face it....does nothing, it doesn't even seem to notice. Pulling its arms back in, it just sorta...floats past them and continues on its way.

Homily notices another approaching, but from the looks of it, only one, and it seems to not be aggressive of going fast just...happening to be heading in their direction perhaps.

night also moves his bush away and hides making more bush noises

"alright so theyre completely harmless?"
"well....uh...maybe we should follow it"

Homily stops backing way. If it really was an alarm system, surely more would be coming? "There's another one headed this way. Only one though, and it doesn't seem violent?" He ends off in a questioning tone, not knowing what "violent" for these things would be. "I'm not opposed to following it, long as we're careful." He says to Silver.

"Yeah, alright, let's follow it." Basso said, flying out of his treetop hiding spot, "But remember why we're here, we need to find Timber" 

Ruin sighs and gets out from behind the bush. "Imma try talking to it.' Ruin makes his way toward the teardrop of glowy gasses "Excuse me, but we're looking for someone. Have you by chance seen a mare that wears black, scowls a lot, talks in monotone, and is adorable?" 

night drops the bush and comes out "I'm ready to follow the thing" 

"Well, maybe Timber followed one?" Homily suggests the possibility to Basso, then watches to see what Ruin's attempts at communication would bring. 


At Ruin talking to it, at first it doesn't react at all ,but after a moment, it stops, and turns to look at him. Its cheeks puff up a bit, and it breaths a bit of orange gas onto Ruins face, though the cloud dissipates quickly and doesn't seem to be harmful, though it does smell like sulfur and rotting tomatoes.

It then releases more bubbles and just kinda floats there.
[D12+Perception folks]
Ruin,4
Homily,10
Basso,9
Nights,3
Silver,6

[Basso, Homily, D12+Dex]
Basso,8
Homily,9

Both Homily and Basso see it. The light inside of the creature infront of Ruin building up, slowly, and Both, together, Grab Ruin and pull him back, right before the thing explodes, fire going out in random chunks, lighting a few tree nearby on fire!

In its place, now stands quite the creature.

A tall, lean Fox-wolf, a shy bit taller then anyone there, and a tail longer and fluffier then usual. Its coat was like a mirror hammered out of fire, smooth, reflective, mesmerizing and dangerous looking, kinda yellow-orange in color and seemed to give off light. Its eyes were like polished bronze, and one could see themselves perfectly in them, unlike the broken up reflection one saw in its coat. 

The strange beast hovered in the air a moment, before landing gracefully in the now charred and cleared spot below where the teardrop thing had been, and sniffs the air as it looks at the three ponies caught out in the open before it.

“Hrm, you two DO smell as if you have been around *those Ponies*, but do not bear the Taint of the Void.” he says in a snarky, 'mightier then thou' kinda voice, sounding female too, as it looks at where the others are. “And you might aswell come out, your scent is like that of fresh meat, I could've picked you up from a good distance.”

The creature snorts, looking around a bit. “bah, to be called forth over such...such puny looking creatures, hah, I knew those drones were too *idiotic* for this task....” she sits down and simply sniffs at the air as she seems to outright try to not look at the group.


"Uh what just happened did i miss somethin?" Night says startled by the fox-wolf 

"Wow, that's the first time I've been talked down to by a furry." "So uh, the hell are you scouting here for?" 

The flash of action has Homily confused and on edge, and he almost prepares to attack the large fox in front of him before it speaks. "'Those ponies?'" He echoes. "Are you referring to the Church of the Dark Gods?" 

Ruby rubs the side of her face, reality returning to her slowly as she blinks her heavy eyes. She looks at the fox fire spirit with a bit of wonder, an empty notebook lifting out of her bags to take down some notes about it and the little wisp drones 

Night looks at the fox thing curiously "Uh Hello? My name is Nightlight and who ming you be?"

After dropping Ruin off, Basso approached the the new Fox-wolf, listening carefully to it's words. "I assume you mean those dark god ponies, no, we aren't members of the church, though we are looking for one." He said, eyeing the thing up, "I assume you're with the other ones, the light gods. Why are you here? And where is Timber?" 

"oh hey, it was an alarm system! an adorable sperm shaped alarm system to summon....well Im not sure who you are, yes hello uh...mister. Yes we're looking for a pony of ours...happened to see them run by here?" 

The Fox-Wolf seems to almost ignore the group, licking its paw a bit before it gets up and sniffs at one of the burn marks on the tree, but then finally looks at the group. “Oh? Hrm, yes the Tainted Ponies. Danger to the mission see? Had to get rid of them, well, try to. Good enough for now, even got one to use as bait, should work well enough.” she says calmly, like admitting to all that was the same as saying what you had fro breakfast.


"Im guessing thats ruins gal" Night says to the group 

"Well, not sure who you're trying to bait out, but you might need more than a lackey to get their attention." Ruin bluffs. 

"Would you happen to know the name of the one you kept as bait?" Homily asks the hybrid. Though, he's not too sure if conitnuing the mission is worth it past knowing whether Timber was alive or dead. As much as he didn't like the implied killing of those with dark gods, if this thing was working for those light gods, then maybe it was his ally more than the CotDG was? Especially since it didn't seem to want to mess with town, only that cult. 

Basso just shook his head, whoever she was, this Fox-Wolf thing was not taking them seriously at all. He figured he would just get to the point "So the bait, where is she?" 

Ruin rubs his chin. "Now what would really get them out to play would be casting out a baited line. We could 'free' her, and then she would run along back to her dark masters, telling them that there's a big powerful light god out to get them. They would likely rally their forces for assault, but for someone as powerful as you? That would just make it easier to get them all at once." 


“oh....Lumber Fire or something like that.” she says plainly, looking up at the trees or something, tail swishing on the ground behind her, “and why, now, would I *ever* tell you where she is?” she asks with a bit of a huff, like Basso had just insulted her, as she looks down to meet his eyes.

As she Talks, Bassos sees himself perfectly reflected in her bronze eyes, until he feels like hes being....drawn into them.....

Meanwhile, as this happens, she answers Ruins second question. “Yes, well, I *am* pretty amazing, but I know how to play these things out, im patient, she should be enough, considering she had such a strong connection to them.”
[Basso, d12+Will]
Basso, 4

Basso Blinks and the feeling is suddenly gone, but he cant help but have some sorta nagging feeling at the back of his mind...


"hold on, what if we traded for her? I have a unique one of a kind magic pocket watch FROM those evil bastards that you hate. whatever their name was."this will totally work

"But you are clever enough to see what I mean, aren't you? What good is bait when you keep it in the boat, you gotta cast it out to reel in the big fish." 

night looks to the fox "ruin does bring up a good point" 

Basso shook his head, confused for a moment at what just happened "We- we're just here to get her, whatever your plan is, it can't possibly require you to harm her. Let us get her and we'll be out of your hair." 
Homily looks at the members of the group trying to convine the fox/wolf thing to give Timber over, and frowns in thought. Somehow, he doesn't think this fox/wolf is going to give her back, and the preacher isn't sure if he should try and get her back. Might be best to just let these light and dark groups fight it out amongst themselves. Still, they were offered a lot of compensation to bring evidence of her back, but evidence didn't necessarily mean Timber herself. Basso's last word gives him an idea. "You're right, light-fox, it would be best if you held onto her. If she's been around you, she might tell the dark people anything she may have learned in captivity. If you don't feel like waiting longer though, we could take a locke of her hair back to speed things up. They'll know she got captured and want to come save her, and you won't be out of your bait." He suggests. 


suddenly, the Fox-Wold grins a wide, toothy grin, as she still stares at Basso. “oh, its ***far*** too late to not harm her.” she says, laughing a bit, paw over her mouth for pure smugness. 

She turns, looking at Ruin,wide grin still on her face as Ruin stares into her unblinking, bronze eyes, and feels and odd, deep, disturbing pull at his mind. “Now, you, perhaps you should stop while you are ahead. It wont work, and you know it.”

as Homily speaks up though, she turns to him, and seems to be intrigued by him, Ruin feeling the odd sensation suddenly snap away as she does.

The Fox-Wolf rubs her chin a bit as she looks Homily up and down, before getting up and walking around him in a few circles, keeping eye contact with him, as he feels like hes sinking into the mirrors of her eyes. “hmm....just a lock of her hair. A bit scandalous, but I suppose...hmm.....”
[Homily, d12+Will real quick, everyone hold off a moment otherwise]
14

Regardless, Homily mentally steels himself and, in a metaphorical sense, pulls himself out of her eyes and gaze, blinking the feeling away. This, though, gets her attention, as she stops in front of him, her grin shrinking to a smirk. “Well now, interesting indeed. Tell me, is her hair really all you are interested in? You seem much more reasonable,and dont have any smell of *them* on you...hmm...maybe you could be of use to me, in exchange for me being of use to you, hm, if you prove yourself, that is.”

suddenly, all around them, big, oval shaped discs of bronze metal, polished to a perfect shine, erupt into place. Three in all.

She reaches into the one next to her, and a moment later, pulls her paw back out, holding a bit of Dark Purple hair, which she holds out to Homily, before the mirror melts away up into the sky. 

“Here, some locks of her hair. Shes still quite alive, I assure you, so they wont smell bad, if you're worried about that sorta thing. Otherwise, I offer everyone two options.” She says, turning lazily to address the whole group. “If you wish to continue this charade of chivalry, enter the left mirror, and you will have a chance to rescue her. Or, If you feel like making the better choice, “she smiles, looking back to Homily, “i suggest the Right mirror, where you might prove yourself to me, and to the Light Pantheon I serve. We treat those who join us well, I might add, if they prove worth the time.”

she shrugs. “or you can walk away, now, and go home.” she yawns. “but if you do, id suggest not changing your mind and trying to come back, I do so hate indecisiveness...”


Ruin ponders the forked path. "And just who are you, anyway? Who would I be proving myself to?" 

night looks directly at the fox "I don't know much about either of your groups. Maybe you could enlighten me about what your group is and the reason I should join you" 

Yeah, another church hell bent on winning their petty little war. We came for a specific job boys, let's just get Timber and go. I have a feeling if they don't find you worth their time anyway you won't like the result." Basso says, inspecting the left mirror. 

"well what are the perks of joining your cult? I thought there was a pony lost in teh swamp, i certainly didnt expect to be joining a religious movement" "im not sure these darkness fellows are even that bad, look he already gave me a watch" he dangles the delapitated pocket watch 

Hiking all the way down here, Homily hadn't intended to try and prove himself to another group, fighting another void. As much as he disliked the CotDG, he wasn't sure joining the other side would be best. Even with the rumors he'd heard of seances and rituals to summon things. He decides to get some light shed on everything before making a decision. "What does joining your pantheon entail? And what constitutes proving myself?" He questions, as he stores the locke of hair in his saddlebags. 

Ruby shift uncomfortably at all the going ons with the fox. She puts her notebook away and claps her saddlebags shut before heading over closer towards Homily and the weird fire spirit. Her gaze drifts to the twin discs and then back up towards the spirit. The mare isn't much a servant type and she rubs the back of her neck slowly "this is an awful lot to take in. Has your side been the one causing small fires around town?" 


She grins, not even looking at Ruin. “Kettu. Though, only one part of nine at the moment.”

She chuckles, looking Homily up and down again with a bemused expression. “ Well, besides the benefit of our blessing upon you, you will have access to our resources, though on this planet its a bit more limited due to...treaties, we will say, with others here.” 

she shrugs a bit, before continuing, “If you prove yourself, you would simply be our eyes and ears upon this planet, a pretty simple job, unless something comes up we heed you to deal with. Of course, something usually does ill admit, but still, this is a pretty backwaters part of the galaxy, shouldn't be anything major.” she stands, and calmly touches Homily. 

Suddenly, he feels....calm, energized, like his whole body was beyond peak health and performance, and his coat changes from a red to a more orangish-red, and kinda is semi-similar to the mirror like coat of the Foxes, and his pupils go Bronze, his hair floating upwards, glistening as if made of flames, and he glows like fire.

And then she pulls back, and he returns to normal. “Well, of course, only in times of great need would you be able to call upon all your power, but never the less, it would be there to help....if you pass. Which, would entail, passing three challenges. You might not survive them, both mentally and physically, but dangers must be traversed, in order for your potential to be achieved, no?”

She turns to Ruby, and simply nods. “well, only of the tent. It should make sense no? They are our enemy, and rightly so. So, we, and you if you pass, would be expected to try and get rid of them when possible. Like one would any other rat or cockroach.” 


Ruby looks at the display from the fire spirit and then towards Homily and the others. Her eyes drift over to the two discs, but her mind is already well and made up. One of these organizations is starting fires and attacking townsfolk, even if the townsfolk are misguided or weird! She has a job to do and, almost defiantly, stands by the left mirror. Light or Dark does not define good or evil, right or wrong. Her mind made up, she waits to see who will join her at the left mirror 

"I came here for Timber, I have no interest in joining your side of the war." Basso said, walking to the left mirror. "I don't care what the rest of you do, go and join them if you like, just make sure you know what you're getting into." 

"Thanks for the introduction, Kettu." Ruin walks forward, in front of the fox-wolf thing "I think I've made up my mind. You see, last time I ran into one of your cohorts they were trying to blow up the goddamn planet. Now, that could just be bad sample bias, and I didn't want to take a side based on the actions of one overzelous fire ghost and his mindless servitor." "But then I met you." Ruin walks toward the door with the others. "So, two for two. Maybe it's still a bad sample bias, but two for two zealots with holier than thou attitudes and little regard for life really makes me think that y'all calling yourselves light gods feels like a real fuckin' misnomer. Hell, I would call myself a dark god if it meant being the opposite of you kill happy, degenerate, arrogant, vain, and downright evil fucks. Kindly find the biggest bag of dicks you can, and gorge yourself on them. I'm gonna go keep my word." With that out of his system Ruin jumps through the mirror, really wishing he still had fingers 

"So I would just be watching things in town, and keeping you informed of what the void church is doing?" He thinks on it for a moment, and finally starts to agree, "Yes, I could do that for you, just as long as-" But he stops and looks at Ruin as he speaks up about a light god attempting to destroy the planet. Now that was the opposite of what Homily wants to be associated with. "W-what? They tried to destroy the planet?" He then turns to Kettu and asks, "Is that true?" 


With Ruin, Basso, and Ruby all next to the Left Mirror, Kettu looks over Homily, Silver Rush, and Nightlight sternly.

At the mention of 'blowing up the planet', she scoffs, rolling her glistening, bronze eyes. 
Oooohhhhhh *please*, at worst, your town would've felt an earthquake, that device would've at worse made a mile big crater.” she says, looking to Homily “no. we didn't try to destroy the planet. As for what you would be doing, for the most part yes, but on hopefully rare occasions you may be asked to act, such as driving Void believers out of town if they become to....uppity, as the word might be. On such regards, how you do so we would leave up to you, though, making sure they wont be a problem again is always the easiest option.”

She looks over at the three standing next to the Left mirror, giving them a look like they were lesser then dirt, before looking back at the three still undecided. “Now, you have a choice to make.”

"called upon? Sounds like a pretty obligatory cult mandate to me. I tend to like my soul where it is right now. Though if it were something more like a volunteer militia fire department or weekend golf club..." 

"What? Why would you need to blow up that large an area? And about 'making sure they won't be a problem again'," He says the quote with distaste. "I don't want to kill anyone, especially when I have no idea what they've done to deserve it other than you not liking them and rumors. Could you explain everything, perhaps? I know next to nothing about either side here, except that you're blowing up the jungle and the void church is holding seances and who knows what else in town." 

"I gotta agree with homily on this one. I have little to no idea what is going on, on either side of the conflict but i want to understand better." night looks distrustfully at the two portals "homily im gonna follow your lead on this one, so wherever you go ill follow" he laughs and adds "someone has to bring you back to pheno in one piece after all" 


Kettu seemed more then just a little miffed at the constant questioning. “Weapons are needed in war. All types. And death and killing is only the expected in such situations. Note, those on the other side would not hesitate to do the same, given the right reasons. As for an explanation, id prefer not to drizzle on for an eternity. You couldn't understand 'everything' anyways.” she says with a bit of distaste.

“Our two Pantheons are old. Vastly so. Long and grinding has been our war,” a big grin came to her face, “But there is no doubt *we* are winning. But I suppose you wish to know why we fight. Simple as why time happens. It is how things must be. They came fist, but were inferior. Their way of allowing things to progress would not have allowed the Galaxy as you see it now to exist. They would not allow for Light to take the place of Darkness, so we made sure what we were born, what we were created to do, could happen.”

She shrugged. “Both sides wished the other gone from the beginning, its not our fault if we are better at it.”


"Kettu's full of shit. That little fire-ghost friend friend of hers specifically mentioned purging this world." Ruin states quietly and angrily, "I wouldn't trust her as far as I can throw her, and for all I know gods have infinite mass. I saw that champion the other dude had, and he kept coming after a warhammer straight to the dome. It was like a golem or a zombie or some shit." "Most importantly to me though, she has given us zero cause to trust her. You are lighting fires and killing people because you are fighting the void gods, and fighting the void gods because that's 'just the way things have always been?' Nah, fuck that. You're in our house here, follow our rules. We don't just up and light folks on fire for the 'heinous' act of thoughtcrime. I don't give a fuck how long your two sides have been fighting, I don't want you shitting in our sandbox. Those void god folks and their worshippers have actually stood up and defended us, what the fuck have you done?" Ruin takes a step toward Kettu, "On the topic of their worshippers, why the hell is it that they send folks to talk and help, while you just waltz in here to start killing and generally fuck shit up? Why did you not bother to send your own missionaries? You could have been selling us on your values you know, trying to actually prove something to us. Instead, you make yourselves look like kill happy supremacists. Why? Do you have no redeeming qualities to get us looking toward the light?"(edited)
Ruin takes another step toward the foxy bitch-god, staring her down through his dragonglass glasses, "Oh wait, I got a guess why you haven't bothered with a civil approach here. We are but lowly mortals, not worth the effort. We probably wouldn't even comprehend it all anyway!" Ruin spits out, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Soooo sorry, mighty Kettu, slayer of minor pests and stomper of cockroaches, for being such a burden with our queztioning. But if we are so lowly, why is that door even open? Why would you even want our help?"

"Homily, Night, do what you like. One thing to keep in mind though, you are throwing your lot into a galactic war that has apparently lasted millenia. Are you really prepared to pick a side in a war like that?"
Night thinks long and hard about what to say "I may severely disagree with the ideals of the light gods. But if homily is going to follow them I don't want him going there alone." he says this calmly, like someone who had weighed his options and felt this was the best way

Ruby is pretty dead set on her choice, but the fox spirit's attitude of disrespect just reinforces that she has made the correct one



Kettu smirks a bit, turning to look at Ruin "well, someone clearly has self worth issues. im terribly sorry when confronted with someone even possibly more experienced then you, you must use any lie or emotional attack you can muster to try and pretend you still feel you have worth." he giggled a bit. "but thats not my problem. those i work for have....deals, allowing us some jurisdiction here, and thats all you need to know." she smiles.

"if your smart, im sure you can fill in those details anyways. Trust me or dont, but know the only ones attacked have been those of the Void, or those aiding them. we are at war, hired mercenaries or willing warriors, you help our enemies, you are our enemies. simple as that."

she swishes her tail a bit, pointing one paw at each mirror. " This world is the 'sandbox' of those who naturally inhabit it. you...are not of here. you have no say, and they themselves brought aspects of this war, by their own choice, here long ago. you may bend the words of my associates to fit your needs all you want. you may mock me all you want. it wont change that it is simply your biased opinion compared to my own biased opinion. you see this as your town, and by standing next to the left mirror, it is clear who you wish to side with in this war. but it is not yours. it belongs to everyone in it, and by title a country miles above, who by all rights can bulldoze it down and forget about it at a moments notice if they please. your view of things is limited, small, and one of anger, who refuses to see the others side simply because you wish to feel better about yourself."

she lowered her left paw, now only pointing at the right mirror. "You choose either mirror, you join a side of the war. simple as that. it is a war, see? you dont send missionaries in times of war, or to a planet already in favor of your side by their very morals and way of living, unless the enemy gives you a reason, and then you send the soldiers. you walk away, or you pick a side, now, and forever."

she yawned, and looked back to Homily. "note, if we did not go to war with them, you would not exist. i do not expect you to feel a need to repay us, but it is simple fact. Their very version of life and reality they were designed to help build and protect was different. colder. darker. we decided that our version, your world, others, was better." she shrugs. "choose them, choose neither, choose us. in the end, both sides are here, it is too late for us not to be. i offer you strength, passion, fire. a purpose, a job, more if worthy. what do they offer you, but the same challenges for nothing but gold found elsewhere for less pain?”


"No say my ass. I don't bow to you or anyone." Ruin asserts, "I wanted to give you a chance and hear you out, but all you've done is condescend and talk about us and our fellows as though we're insignificant. Somehow though, you find the gall to try recruiting us. Is it any wonder half of us were so quick to jump in the 'fuck you' line? I'm almost tempted to take your tests just to turn down your offer after proving myself worthy."

The preacher listens carefully to what Kettu and his companions say. So far, it sounds like these two sides are just fighting to fight, and that's not something Homily feels he needs to be a part of. After all the talk, he finally comes to a decision. "I'm just going to head back with the hair. I don't want to take any part in your war, as long as none of the neutral townsfolk are getting hurt." He says to Kettu, then addresses the other ponies in the rescue group with, "Good luck in getting that lady back, but I don't want to help either side here. I'll let that guy that hired us back in town know you might still come back with Timber and give him the hair in the meantime."

"Homily do you need me to tag along?" night saws not wanting to let him walk alone but also wanting to help the others with the rescue

Ruby taps her hoof on the ground. The fire spirit continues to dig its own grave with its attitude, and she agrees with Homily on the 'fighting just to fight' part. But she wasn't hired to fight anything. She was hired to ensure the safe return of Timber, and thats what she intends to do

Basso just watched as ruin yelled at the fox wolf thing, the thing apparently indifferently explaining the situation, and Homily simply deciding to leave. "Yeah, ok, I'm getting Timber now, that's my job, not fighting a war." He said, jumping through the mirror. His motivation was mostly about getting paid, but he had to admit, part of him wanted to save her just to rub her nose in it, especially after what happened last time. 

Homily shakes his head at the pegasus. "I should be fine Nightlight. We didn't run into anything on the way down, and I doubt wildlife would have moved into the trail while we were sitting here. You do what you think you should do." 











Kettu seems actually disappointed by Homilys answer, but nods, motioning with a hoof towards the jungle. “Well then. Best to leave. I will respect your choice, even if I do not agree with it.” she turns, motioning to the others standing next to the left brown disc of a mirror.

“Well, I suppose I did offer you a chance to get to your target alive, and if nothing else, I keep my promises.” she smiled. “id offer luck, but it would do you no good.” and while Basso had already jumped through, the mirror suddenly uplifts from the ground and in a moment, has swooped through the air forcing all the others through it as Kettu watches with a big, wide grin.

```Impact. As the individuals entered into the mirror, they felt alone, at least for the moment, as it felt like they seeped into and through a pool of warm, thick syrup, the world around them bronzed blurs as they felt their lungs tighten, their hooves kicking uselessly against the tick puddle all around them.

The gooey world around them giving off a smell and taste like old oil and burnt sugar, before unceremoniously they were finally freed, dumped all together in a pile of sticky, gasping ponies. Thankfully, the gooey stuff seemed to evaporate off of them, though it left behind a smell on all of them only worse then before as they traveled. 

As the group would collect their bearings, they would look around, to find themselves n a world of golds, coppers, and bronze, semi futuristic Grecian type architecture all around on floating little islands, some staying still, others whipping around and going this was and that for who knows what reason. Their own island was bobbing up and down, non to pleasing a motion considering how they had gotten here. All around them, above, below, behind, forward, all of it seemed to go on for eternity in a long, endless expanse of smokey coppery-bronze horizon. 

The only way forward, unless they really wished to try and jump onto a passing island perhaps, was a stair case made of individual, floating rectangles of gold, leading a bit downward to a coppery-gold water fountain spewing forth bronzed liquid, which in turn was before a moderately sized temple, though in comparison to things off in the distance and around them, it was totally small.

With the groups mouth and nose full of oily burnt sugar, and their eyes assaulted by the three metallic colors all around, it was far from an non disorienting situation, not even mentioning the whirling and zipping landscape and architecture. 

With no instructions it seemed, it was up to the group to decide their course of action....```

Meanwhile, Homily started the trek back to town, so would get his deal solved later on, as it would have little impact at the moment. It rained pretty hard on the way back though, but luckily a cute little guard offered him a towel when he got back.

Ruin lands on the pone pile with an "oof!" He gets to his hooves rather quick, taking in the view of the strange new realm. "Ugh, I hate these orangey colour filters in movies." He complains, "It's so overdone, and almost as bad as lens flare."
He starts ascending the stairs while grumbling.

Night simply grumbles about the smell "Holy fuck we need to invent deodorant here" 




Ruby scrunchies her snooter and rubs her muzzle when they are uncerimoniously dropped into a pony pile in the strange other dimention. This wasn't her first time dealing with weird or pugnent pocket dimensions though, so getting her bearings doesn't take terribly long. She looks around, taking in the landscape and trying to figure out the rules of this place, if gravity were normal and lighting her horn up to check her magical flow

Going first was a mistake, a terrible mistake. Basso was deposited into the new world first, but before he could recover from the trip, the pony pile came through, and he found himself at the bottom. "I really don't like magic" He grumbled, pulling himself free from the pile, "Anyone have an idea where we are?" 

"Not Kansas" 


```Ruby would find that Gravity was pretty solid, but sometimes when another moving island got too close, she would feel almost a slight tug from it. If there are any bound rules to this, she would need actual time to study the place, but Ruins gung ho attitude leaves that up to a decision she would have to make. 

As Ruin would march ahead of the group, he would find the stairs to give a few inches downward under his weight, perfectly making each of them line up with the one below it, til he reached the bottom and the fountain, which was giving off the smell of oiled bronze, probably from the thick liquid within it. 

Basso and Nightlight would find themselves kinda caught in the middle of the other twos decisions at the moment, looking around at the ever moving landscape of golds and dull browns and yellows.```

Meanwhile, Silver it seemed had been left to go with Homily back to town, a long, wet journey, just the two of them.


Watching Ruin walk up the steps in front of him, Basso decided to follow in his own way. Spreading his wings he carefully tried flying down to the fountain, unsure of what flying in a dimension like this would mean. 

Ruby shrugs and follows down the stairs herself, seeing that the stairs themselves aren't up to any shenanigans

"Oil fountains? Are we at the house of a Saudi prince?" Ruin derides Kettu's taste in decor, as he examines the fountain area 

night hops up and looks around to get his bearings before heading to the fountain and examining it with ruin
"Seen anything interesting yet ruin?"








[Basso, d20-3+Flight]
[Ruin, d20+Perception]
Ruin, 20
Basso,14

```As Basso Flies, another island passes by and almost drags him away with its own gravity! Luckily, he manages to flap himself free and land with the others, but it was a lesson one should keep to heart.

As Ruin Examines the Fountain and the Temple Entrance, there is only so much to say. The Fountain seems like solid, pure Gold and copper, the liquid inside of a solid color, goopy, but he really has no idea what it could be. 

The Temple itself, however, is quite impressive. Pillars, five on each side of the entrance to the long, rectangular building the middle on each side of Gold, then two of Copper on either side, with bronze ones on the outer and inner edges. Only about four times taller then them, a small height compared to many from earth, and tiny compared to a few they see in other islands, it is still quite big, and shiny. Thank goodness this place just seemed to have natural, ambient light, so nothing was actually reflecting off all these mirror like surfaces....huh, not even their own reflections, how odd. 

However through the big, rectangular opening up the stairs and past the pillars, was in the inside of the temple. Much darker, though still bright enough to see, it seemed to be a line of pillars leading to two off branch paths off to the other end, or another opening to who knows where on the other side, meaning the Temple inside was T shaped, despite the fact it seemed perfectly rectangular on the outside.```

"It's bigger on the inside..." Ruin muses, looking at the temple ahead. "Who here is ready to charge the space-bending temple of a snooty and probably hostile goddess?" Ruin asks the crew as he makes his way up the temple steps. 

"Don't get too cocky Ruin, she dropped us here for a reason. If she was really so eager to do so, she must have something up her sleeve." Basso stated, landing next to the unicorn 

night looks to ruin "basso is definitely right we don't know what's going on here so we should be careful." 

"Oh please, that's the way she's expecting us to think!" Ruin rationalizes "She throws us into her home turf, so it would make sense if we stay cautious, right? Well the best way to foil any plan is do something the planner wouldn't anticipate." Ruin is joking, but he says it with such a neutral disposition that it would be hard to tell if you didn't know him.

Ruby looks around towards the entrance of the temple, taking some steps up to follow Ruin up and get a better look "just stay on your guard for now fellas"

"If we assume this is their home turf, what's with the decor? The floating islands, the horrible portal to get here? In fact, where are the other gods?" Walking into the entrance of the temple, Basso couldn't shake his unease, and the smell that still stuck to him didn't help. 

"You're not my real mom, Ruby." Ruin quips at the library mare. "No idea Basso, and let's hope we don't have to find out." 


```As the group slowly starts to ascend the stairs, they get a better look inside. The path between the pillars seemed to be made out of solid, pure ruby, clear and perfect, with the pillars on either side being a pattern of gold, bronze, copper for all 20 leading down the path. All the other, less important bits were copper.

It was just about when Ruin steps upon the top of the stairs when all of them suddenly hear a loud, mechanical-ish screech! Looking up, they see a shadow pass overhead, and then a shape about a seventy feet in length not including tail, swoops around and towards them! It appeared to be a massive, bronze and copper mechanical dragon. 

As if that was not a bad enough sign, the stairs everyone else was on, start turning liquid and smoothing themselves out into a flat, angled surface, which makes it pretty slippery considering its all metallic!```

"You've got to be shitting me" Basso muttered, watching the mechancial monsterosity flying through the air. "It's a robot dragon." As the adrenaline pumped through his body, and Basso's focus remained on the the dragon, he didn't notice the floor change. As he swoop in he turned to run, only then noticing the slippery floor. Luckily for him, he still had his wings, and he used their power to propel himself off the floor and to the side. 

"Just as I was saying! Go fast, fuck caution!" Ruin says, "Another mechanical dragon? Jesus..." he mumbles to himself.
He keeps heading towards the temple, "Try to keep up."

"Fuck. Guess you were right." night looks at the dragon and grumbles 

Ruby looks up and spies the mechanical dragon swooshing above, then feels the stairs start to turn into a slide like a scooby doo cartoon "woah... again!?" she exclaims in surprise, hurrying up the ramp to the entrance of the temple if its small enough to prevent the dragon entry 

```The Entrance was plenty big enough for them, but was clear cut too small for anything but the dragons head to get in...if they could make it inside that is!```

[Everyone, D20-2+ Dex or Flight]
Ruby, 13
Ruin, 15
Basso, 13
Nightlight, 15

```Despite the panic and slippery, slopey stairs, the four ponies manage to get up and into the entrance of the temple. The Clockwork Dragon was hot on their trail, but the strong temple stands up, the dragons shoulders getting stuck, only his head inside, and thankfully he cannot reach them even with his pretty long neck.

As the big old bastard bites and thrashes at them, they suddenly hear....what seems like something powering up? And see some red energy building up in its mouth!```





"We need to move. NOW!!" night says quickly as he shoves his comrades out of harms way

"Split!" Ruin shouts to the others, running to the left. "We can loop around the other pillars and get it from both sides!*

"Of course it breathes fire! Stupid sun gods." Ducking to the right Basso keeps running, hoping that it just flies away and they won't have to fight it

Ruby isn't sure splitting upnis smart. If they're safe in the temple than they don't need to fight the dragon amyways. Sge ducks to the left path because left always left 


```After another moment, the mechanical monster opens its mouth, and a beam thicker then a pony in diameter fires out, though it cant get an angle to aim at anyone they feel the heat from the beam as it builds and gets trapped in the metallic building, watching as it melts a hole pretty quickly into the farthest wall, and hitting who knows what out in the world beyond.

With a grunt, it pulls back so its not so stuck, but is now staring into the temple with its head right at the entrance,and puts its claws on either side of the entrance and.....suddenly the building is shaking, as indents start being made into the metal walls as it tries to force the building apart if it needs to to get at them!```

```Ruby, the only one to go forward, would get the best and closest view of the thing melting into the wall to the right of the further entrance. But from her new location, she could get a glimpse of their three options.

To the Left, where she was closest, a line of ruby stairs lead down to a wide exit, where as the smell of flowers and plants wafted up.

To the right, she didn't see much, but it seemed to slope down with its own pair of ruby stairs.

The forward exit was a direct path and had been the biggest, meaning she had had perfect sight as she passed it. Outside, it lead down a set of gold and copper stairs, that ended in what had looked like a open court yard, with five hovering bronze oval mirrors below, and otherwise nothing but a drop into the abyss around them. Where those mirrors might lead, if anywhere, was anyone's guess.```

Ruin decides that now would be a good time to buy his comrades some time to escape with a daring (read: crazy) plan, and attempts to teleport onto the Mecha-dragon's head! He puts on his hornblade, and focuses on the flat top between the robot's spikes. 

Ruby blinks and watches the beam whiz by, feeling the heat from its attack "this must be one of their soldiers in this rancid war" she says, looking towards the left path, before looking back to the others "hurry, this way gang!"

night looks at ruby and dashes over, using his wings to give him just a tad bit more speed, before stopping himself at the top of the stairs "plants and flowers? This must lead to outside somehow" 

Basso could taste the heat as the beam split the air. As he inspected the damage it did his attention was pulled away by Ruby, "On my way", he yelled, running over to her position. 

[Ruin, d20-2+Disc of Origin, 8+ pass, 13+success, 3- crit fail]
12,Pass

```Ruin manages to teleport onto the Dragons head, but the mechanical monstrosity isnt too happy, and flails a bit, forcing Ruin to duck and garb hold to keep himself from getting thrown hard, but this does manage to make it back off from trying to force itself into the temple.```

```Meanwhile Ruby, Basso, and Nightlight make their way down the ruby stairs and out into a wonderful Garden full of red,orange, and yellow flowers of all kinds and sizes.

Nightlight was technically right, as it is outside the temple, but its still very much within this odd realm of reality they are in. looking around, the well kept, but thickly grown garden seems to only have one path, leading forward an around a corner and....is that whistling up ahead?```

Ruby looks over to see if the dragon could reach them here in the garden. The scene is awfully calming compared to the action of having beams fired at you and she relaxes just a bit while staying alert "wait... guys where did Ruin go?" 

"WOOOO!" Ruin yells as he clings to the behemoth for dear life. He starts to levitate his hammer, ans swing it at the side of the automaton's head, hoping he can hit the eye! 

The garden was peaceful compared to what their adventure had gone through so far. Basso decided to just keep moving forward, his curiosity piqued by the whistling.

night looks around at the garden and notices the whistling "did we just leave ruin up there alone? I cant do that to him" night says as he turns to go back up the stairs 

[Ruin, d20-3+Disc of Origin, 9+ pass, 13+ success, 3- crit fail]
10,pass

```It seems pretty obvious that the dragon could reach them,considering its out in the open and the same place....but then again, from the outside there was no indication this place existed, so such things were up in the air.

As the group moves forward, going along a winding path of amber bricks set into the ground, surrounded by flowers of all kind, swaying in the breeze and giving off an image of fire, they eventually come across an opening with a fountain, but this one full of actual water, and made of copper.

The whistling, it seems, was coming from on old Earth Stallion, coat geryish brown with a golden mane turning white, small little spectacles on his eyes as he watered quite the unusual flower. About the size on ones head, the rose like flower seemed to be made out of clear, smooth, petals of red and gold. He does not seem to have noticed the group enter his little round area, where the only other way to go was on the other side of the Fountain.```

```As Ruin holds on as the Dragon shakes, he manages to get a good smack into the side of its head, but is far from the eye. Suddenly though, its wings flap hard, once, and its a good few feet off the air, before it starts flapping more, slowly climbing, the ground starting to get further and further away...```


Ruin keeps swinging his hammer, seemingly intent on blinding the big guy.
"Do you feel in control?!"

night refuses to let ruin fight the beast alone, it's simply against his morals, he looks to the present group and and speaks "I've gotta go help Ruin you guys go on ahead" and with that night turns around and dashes back to the area where the dragon first attacked them 

Basso hid himself behind some plants and watched the old stallion. The earth pony seemed harmless enough, just watering some plants, maybe he was the gardener? Maybe he could help point them in the right direction. From what they've seen in this world so far it would be easy to get lost. Hearing Nightlight go back to help Ruin, Basso decided the best course of action would be to talk to him, maybe he would even know something about the mechanical beast. "Hello there friend, could you give us some help, we seem to be a bit lost." Basso said with a wave and a warm smile. 

Ruby scrunchies her muzzle as half of the team goes back to fight a dragon that towers over them in size "don't fight it just escape from it you two" she says with a noticeably irritated tone. She turns to check out the gardener, but it looks like Basso has it covered. She walks to the path beyond the fountain, mindful to give the gardener and the funky flower a wide berth.


``` Ruin looks down. Hes getting pretty high up, like...hes nearer to some other islands now then their original one far...

and as Nightlight arrives, he sees the dragon twist upside down and dump off Ruin before he can attack again!```

```As Ruby looks down the other path, it seems to just twist off to the side and leads to one of those bronze oval mirrors.

Meanwhile, as Basso talks to the old Stallion, he stops whistling,but his warm, friendly smile sticking though, as he sets down the watering can and looks over the flower, before frowning a bit, and motioning Basso over. “dear sir, could you hold this part up? There seems to be a bad petal here, and I need to remove it.” he says casually.```

"Oh, you want arial combat?" Ruin states, lighting up his horn to attempt self-levitation, "That's cool too! Let's Top Gun this shit!" 

Night dashes to the air in hopes to catch ruin while mentally singing Danger Zone "Ruin!" 

"Uhh, sure." Basso replied, walking toward the plant, "By the way, do you live here? We're a bit lost, looking for a friend." He said, grabbing the plant part and lifting it up for the stallion. 

Ruby walks over and quirks her head "this must be one of the exits? Lets head back and check another path" she exclaims to... apparently nobody. She returns to the fountain to see Basso touching the weird plant. She sucks air through her teeth anxiously 


[Ruin, d20-4+Disc of Origin, 9+ pass, 15+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Nightlight, d20+-5+Flight, 8+pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
Ruin,11,pass
Night, 9, pass


```Ruin manages to keep himself afloat but struggles as hes pulled aside by a passing island. Thankfully, this makes the dragon miss him with a sweep of its claws, which still come awfully close!

Nightlight manages to take off and after Ruin, but struggles against the current of both gravity and wind, barely able to stay on course as he gets near Ruin, but seems no less at the whims of the environment. 

The Dragons powerful wings keep it free, and it stands before them and starts charging up another blast!```

```As Basso touches the flower...nothing happens, it seems to just be a very big and pretty flower, for now at least. As Ruby watches, Basso lifts up some surprisingly heavy petals, as the old man starts working on removing one that is cracked and broken.

“Hmmm? Oh, well, I live a few Mirrors away, but yes, I am the gardener of these temples. Its a passion of mine, you see?” he chuckles. “well, id think so, considering why you young troublemakers are here. Oooh yes, I was warned about you coming here.  Twas told not to help you find your way out. Sorry chap, but thats just the rules of those I serve.” he shrugs, finishing his work and nodding to basso that he can let go.”```

Ruby walks over and smiles softly "not here to cause any trpuble good sir. I hope they haven't forebidden you from telling us the name of one who takes such good care of a garden as magnificent as this?" she says. Seeing no danger shw sits next to Basso "I didnt expect to see any other Equestrian folk here actually. How long have you lived amongst these mirrors?"

"It's readying it's charge attack!" Ruin warns Night of the obvious as he prepares for another teleport onto the Mecha-dragon's head, "Good time to get into a better position!" With that said, he poofs to the head again!

Carefully setting the petals down Basso let out a sigh of frusteration. it's never that easy he thought, walking over to the fountain. In a place like this they could be searching forever. "Tell me, is this the home of your gods? This world?"(edited)

night goes for the head as well and looks for a weak spot while he's at it

[Ruin, d20-3+Disc of Origin, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Night, d20-5+Flight, 10+ pass, 16+ success, 4- crit fail]
Ruin, 13, pass
Night, 13, pass








```Ruin manages to teleport onto the Dragons head, but barely stays on as it fires, the blast not hitting Nightlight but knocking him off balance, still nearer to the dragons head then not, but hardly giving him time to check for weak points, before the things pushed itself backwards and swiped at him!```

```”Hmm? Ah, I am Sir Double Edge, retired pastor and knight of the Temple of Light.” he says, bowing to Ruby a bit, before he chuckles shaking his head at Basso. “this is just the realm of a single of the Light Gods, made from a drip of their mind. It is a home to some, like me, a storage area in other ways, a way to travel for others.”

He Turns to Ruby, shrugging. “id say...ten years here, but I have served the Light for nigh on 50 years.”```

Ruby returns the slight curtsy with a polite nod "my name is Ruby Swirl, a visitor to both this world and the world of ponykind. I hope our visit finds you well" she says, settling down on her flanks "you can't tell us the way out, but perhaps you could point us towards our friend? We only wish to find her and return safely" 

After inspecting the fountain Basso wandered back to Ruby and the earth pony. Sitting down next to them he nodded at Ruby's comment. "We aren't here to cause any trouble or harm, but people back home are worried, she seems to have been taken here." he said, hoping this knight might have some compassion, "Maybe you can also tell us about that mechanical dragon roaming this place." 

While holding on to the dragon with all he's got, Ruin casts an energy lance aimed at the beast's left wing! "You are grounded, mister!" 

night pants as he barely escapes the dragon once again "alright I've had enough of this shit" night says before pulling his knife and taking a dash toward the beasts midsection.

[Ruin, d20-4+Disc of Sun, 10+ pass, 16+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Night, d20-5+Flight, 10+ pass, 15+ success, 4- crit fail]
Ruin,second reroll, 9, fail
Night, reroll, 8, fail

```As the mechanical monster thrashes and twists, Ruins aim is thrown off, his beam shooting off into the great unknown as he is sent flopping off its head once again. Ruin looks down and boy, hes not over the island anymore, but the great bronze nothing below, and it does not look inviting.

Night fares no better, barely dodging a full on smack by the dragons claws, but still feels his legs get hit, sending him off balance and suddenly he feels himself getting jerked sideways, quickly and strongly, as he gets too close to a passing island, to which it suddenly seems like hes 'falling' towards it in a sense!```

```Edge sighs, picking up his watering can and going over to some flowers to water them. “your 'friend' is still in your world, but she was in a place you probably would not have found, lest you use this place to access it through the mirrors.” he says, tipping his can over to start watering.

“as for the Dragon? Simply a guard dog, probably released along with some other surprises just for you and your friends.” he chuckled a bit “you must've pissed off the wrong person I guess.”```



While falling, Ruin digs frantically through his saddlebag for the hornblade, and jams it on his head. "Oh, now ya got me breakin' out the big guns!" Once the blade is applied, Ruin once again attempts self levitation, as he straightens his body and throws himself hornfirst at the vulnerable skin of the dragon's wing like a poiny unicorn missle. 

"Yeah... we tend to do that. I'm sure the nice choice of words from one of our comrades didn't help." Basso replied, mentally cursing Ruin. "Please, if you could point out where that mirror we need is, we'll gladly get out of your hair." Basso said pleadingly. 

Ruby looks at Basso and then back to the aged stallion. She frowns at his words, and then slowly twists her lips back to a smile "you know a great deal about our current struggle it seems, for a retired gardener. Is that the direction towards your home?* "she asks, pointing towards the disc across from where they came* 

"Fuck" night adjusts himself tothe new gravity 

[Ruby passed a Disc of Moon check for surface thoughts]

```Ruby focuses and seems to pick up that the stallion feel sorry for them, hoping the Guardians of this realm will at least allow him to properly bury Ruby and her friends when they die here. It seems he is worried all this ruckus will cause damage to his gardens or interrupt his care of them. He seems to question whether all the info given to him on Her and her friends is accurate, but seems not to really care much if it is.```

[Ruin, d20-5+Disc of Origin, 10+ pass, 16+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Night, d20-5+Flight, 11+ pass, 16+ success, 5- crit fail]
Ruin, reroll,5, crit fail
Night,reroll, 7,  fail

```Edge smiles a bit “Well, im sure you are all just misinformed, but it happens.” He says with a shrug to Bassos, before turning to Ruby. “Yes, my home is a few mirrors down through that one, but I still have much work to do today.”

He taps his chin a bit, tilting his head with a smirk. “oh? Well, I do like to keep well informed on what goes on in this war, as best one can, given its scope. Tends to mean im at least told of things happening in my immediate area my dear.”```

``` As Ruin tries to throw himself up and through its wings, the gravity and winds wreak havoc on this plan ,and next thing he knows hes getting pulled sideways, before the dragons tail slams into him, making him catapult into a small island hard.```

[Ruin, d12-2+End]
10

```Night tries his best to fight the currents, but only manages to correct and slow his decent into a larger island housing what seems like natural spring spas of coppery colored water, though as he slams into the ground he doesn't have time to think on this too much```

[Night, d12+End]
12


```While Ruin feels the breath get knocked out of him hard, and certainly this was gonna bruise, he seemed to have landed in some particularly soft dirt, as he crawls out of the indent he just made.```

```Nights abilities and some new found luck manages to allow him to roll out as he lands, transferring a lot of energy away from splattering himself, but he still feels the ache of such a fast, hard landing, but manages to come to a stop without too much injury.```

Ruin brushes some dust from his coat and tries to get his bearings. He stays low, following his trail through the dirt to figure out which way he came from. He peeks over the side of the island, trying to get a line of sight to either Night or the island with the oil fountain. 

"Well fuck im lost" night looks around to find the temple 

"Mirror? If we go through that mirror, where will we end up?" Basso asked, following the old pony as he waters his garden 

Ruby can't help herself as his thoughts bleed into her mind's eye. She puts a hoof over her lips and laughs, the first honest laugh she has let loose in what felt like months, the laugh of a mare whose madness has been stuffed behind her fake smile and polite wave for far too long. The idea that the stallion was already plotting out her grave was exhilerating! That one mistep, and some giant metal dragon would blow everything she had ever amounted to, to a smear on the floor. She closes her eyes and lets it sink into her body, shivering softly before regaining her composure. She looms towards the stallion, a genuine smirk still on her face "Misinformation seems to be par for the course around these parts. You nice folk seem too kind to be drawing us innocent folk into a war that we want no part of... but i guess that doesn't seem too inportant right now to your friends up above" she looks back to where her allies had last been seen "it doesn't seem to weigh to heavily on your heart if our lives would be stripped from us. Could you point me in the direction of Timber please? So we might spend less time in this dangerous world of worlds?" 


[Ruin, Night, d12-1+Perception]
Ruin,9
Night, 4

```Nightlight doesn't see shit captain, as he looks over the edge his island seems to be moving decently fast, the world around it a blur. Oddly, he doesn't feel any of the harsh effect of it moving so quickly, meaning it must be enchanted to prevent this or something.```

```Ruin is able to spot the temple far off, but his island is moving away from it, though he does see two islands he might be able to use to hip hop his way back, but every second that makes that look like less of an option, as his drifts away to who knows where.```

```Edge looks to Ruby as she talks and giggles, eyebrow raised. “well, im not sure I wish death on any, but war is war. Its not fought for the common mans benefit, im old enough to know that.” he shrugs, looking to Basso. “itll take you to another Temple, from there, more options, but its a step closer to getting out of here, if that is your goal....”he looks back to Ruby, smiling, “and that is very much your goal, as I cannot tell you where your friend is of course, but if you just happen to end up near her when you leave, well, such is how things work.”```



Ruin realizes he doesn't have much time to make a decision, but he hesitates. He has to keep looking for Nightlight! Night came back for him, so there's no way Ruin will leave without him! 
It is at that moment Ruin has a thought; these islands are seemingly free-floating in this coppery sky, how hard could it be to change their drift into something a little more intentional? He lights up his horn, trying to use his telekinesis to push the island higher up. Maybe the higher vantage point could make finding Nightlight a little easier. 

night thinks about his situation more and tries not to worry. He whistles loudly in hopes that ruin could hear him 

Basso cracked a smile at the old knight's comments. It was nice to see that even someone living in a place like this, who had devoted his life to these gods, wasn't completely blinded by the suffering of his fellow ponies. "Thank you for the nice talk Sir Double Edge, your garden is beautiful." Though now his mind wandered to the two friends fighting a dragon somewhere out in the sky. He and Ruby couldn't simply leave them behind. 

Ruby agrees with Basso's belief that they couldn't simply leave the other two behind. She taps her hoof on the ground "we can't just leave the other two behind here to face their judgement, even if they are trying to throw themselves at a wall..."(edited)
She looks back towards the other temple with a frown, wondering if there was any way for them to meet back up, but OOCly not seeing any possible option


[Ruin, d20-5+Disc of Origin, 11+ pass, 18+success, 7- crit fail]
[Ruin aswell, D12-3+Perception]
Ruin1, 4, crit fail
Ruin2, 4


```Nights whistle goes unheard, lost in the distance and chaos of the area.

Ruin though, attempted to move a moving island that floating in the air. What he didn't take into account is, they have not seen a single island collide with another, meaning to some degree, there is a system in place here.

As he actually nudges his island a bit, it causes a cascade effect, and suddenly his island is smashing into another, both starting to crack and shatter apart!

Nightlight hears this, and looking up to the right, sees two islands crashing into each other, though he has no indication as to why it happened. He does see the dragons heading far, far off in another direction, implying it either doesn't care or thinks them dead...for now...'''


```Edge nods, looking off towards the temple. “well I cant help you with all that. At best, there are areas like this where the dragon wont attack, but they would just send someone or something else after you, if they think you wont leave.” he shrugs, but then all three of them hear a loud crunching booming over their ears, and looking up and to the right, can see two islands have crashed into each other. 

Double edge frowns deeply. “that is not supposed to happen.” he says very sternly.```



"What the actual fuck. This is bad this is really really bad." night says as his fight or flight instincts kick in and he tries to fly back to the temple 

"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" Ruin runs away from the part of the island colliding. He hastilydigs through his saddlebag for his hornblade, losing 11 copper from his saddlebagwith all of the rumbling and his confusion before remembering it is on his head. He focuses on the island with the fountain, aiming to teleport onto any clear spot he can see. 

Basso runs up through the garden, stopping next to the fountain. He stared at the destruction above them, worried about the two ponies up there, and about the consequences of destroying part of this world. "Jesus, what did they do?" He asked to noone in particular. "Ruby? We have to do something. Any ideas?" 

Ruby looks over at the two islands crashing together and scrunchies her muzzle. She looks over towards Edge "do ypu mind if I shine a beacon here so they can find their way back? This is your garden and I won't intrude if you say no" if he doesn't tell her that she cannot do it, she will light her horn up and cast a big light spell so that Ruin and Nightlight remember where to go! 


```”I don't see why not.” Edge says, simply looking at the islands shattering and spreading out in the odd gravity of the place, now pieces starting to get dragged into other islands.```
[Night, d12+perception, will gain a bonus if Ruby passes]
[Ruby, d20+Disc of Sun]
[Ruin, d20-4+Disc of Origin, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 5- crit fail]
Night, 14
Ruby, 6
Ruin, 6, fail

```Ruby, for one reason or another, is not as focused as she could be, and her beacon is only a bit bright, but mostly gets drowned out by the golds and bronze of the background...

...except its more then enough, considering Nights eyes dart this way and that looking for the Temple, and the ever so slight gleaming helps draw him back to the correct island, though from above he knows this not to be their original island, but never the less he sees the garden and his friends below!```

```Ruins luck seems to have run out, a rock smacking into him as he tries to imagine the temple, completely knocking off his concentration, but not his magic!

He poof away, but for a moment, feels like hes lost, but where? Its dark, shadowy, and not at all comforting, and something knows he is here....

but then the moment passes, and he reappears, but he has no idea where, as he lands HARD, hitting the ground of another, seemingly random Temple somewhere else in the odd pocket dimension. ```







"I really hope this works Ruby" Basso says, keeping an eye out for either of the two missing ponies. Thankfully he doesn't see the dragon. He doesn't know if that's a good thing or not. Maybe it means they beat it, or maybe it beat them. As the chunks of rock slam into each other, and fall into other islands, Basso looks over to the gardener, he didn't care much for the gods, but this pony seemed friendly enough, and obviously didn't mean them any ill will. "Sorry about... all this." 

Night looks around for ruin as he heads toward the flash of light that he saw, saying a silent prayer to God and Celestia that Ruin would be okay 

Ruby scrunches her snooter as her magic doesnt come much into focus. It takes a lot out of her to bleed one's thoughts into her mind, and she still hadn't really mastered the art. Nonetheless she glows a little bit, and spots NightLight coming in for a landing. She waves for him! 

Ruin lays on the ground for a moment, not paying attention to his surroundings yet. He keeps his eyes closed, trying to process what he just went through. Where the hell did he go before? What the hell was that thing, was it one of those void gods that he may have unknowingly found himself siding with? What the fuck did he stubbornly and stupidly throw himself into this time? While processing the many questions he finds racing through his mind, a distantly familiar feeling worms it's way into his mind. A feeling he'd pushed back for months with stupid jokes and bravado. He feels fear. "I fucked up." he says to the empty room as he opens his eyes and tries to get a feel for wherever the hell he's landed this time. 


```Nightlight cant see hair nor wind of Ruin, but as he lands, he sees an unfamiliar old Stallion with Ruby and Basso, who looks over at him from staring at the destruction. If they were to look, they would see an assortment of smaller shapes heading towards the destruction, probably to stop the chain reaction nit started as best they could.

“Id suggest you three make yourself sparse. Id not be able to protect you, even if I wanted to.” he said, smirking a bit and nodding in the direction of the oval mirror.”```

```Meanwhile, somewhere else, Ruin would look around and find he was at the entrance of a massive temple of solid red stone, inlayed with bronze doors that probably weigh more then his house. The image upon them were of two lizardy tigers, one male on the right, one female on the left, seemingly pacing around each other in combat. 

Next to him on either side were pillars of pure ruby thicker then him, but still he could see through them fairly well.

Off in the other direction was nothing but a small courtyard, and one of those bronze oval mirrors at the edge of the island.```

"Okay... ominous door, or possible portal of no return?" Ruin weighs the pros and cons of either option, before deciding to try taking a peek at whatever is behind the massive door first. He focuses on the left door with his magic, and tries to open it just enough to peek through. 

Ruby looks over towards the small shapes off in tge distance and then looks over towards the mirror "he must have gotten wrapped up in one of these oval mirrors. If thats the case we have to plunge in and find him" she lies a bit to herself, a large part of her believing Ruin was dragon food, but if he wasn't then this is how they would find him. She heads over and into the disc 

"I don't wanna leave Ruin behind" night is torn between following and heading forward, he thinks it over for a while and finally decides that it would be best to move forth with the task at hand

"Let's be realistic, assuming he even survived that, it wouldn't be smart for us to go searching. We'll see if we can find gim on the way." Basso said to Night before following Ruby into the mirror 

night hangs his head and enters the mirror 


```As Ruby, Nightlight, and Bassos enter into the mirror, one after another, they feeling a tingling sensation as they do, before they encounter the same sensation of walking through warm honey goop, the taste and smell of old oil and all that returning, but this time, they can move semi-freely on their own, walking easily through the goop, they find three paths within to take, though they cannot tell which one will lead where as of yet.```

```Ruin is able to open the door with surprise ease and peeking inside the dark place, find a long hall with pillars of ruby and large fires between them, that leads to a center circular area that splits into three directions from there. 

There appears to be someone meditating in the middle of the circular part, but its too dark and far away to get any proper details.```

Ruby points towards the leftmost path and then heads towards it through the goop

night looks at the three and follows ruby not wanting to split up again

Basso briefly contemplates spitting up, before deciding to follow the other two down the left path, cursing the goop slowing them down 

Ruin, as slowly and as quietly as he can, makes his way down the hall. He does his best not to disturb the figure getting their zen on, as he hates it when folks do that to him. Golden rule and all that. He takes in the sights as he makes his way down the hall, because seriously the craftsmanship in these buildings is phenomenal and he didn't really get a chance to appreciate it when he was distracted by the dragon battle.

```As Ruin gets nearer to the meditation pony, he sees it is a red Pegasus mare with fair like fire, streaks of red, yellow, and orange up in a small ponytail, as she breaths in and out, little flames coming out of her mouth. 

Otherwise, looking around, the hallways all look the same. Large, empty, but impressively built. It seems the forward one, judging by the light, leads back outside, but the two paths in either direction are darker, implying more areas of the Temple.```

[Ruin, d12+Dex for Stealth] Ruin, 5

```As Ruby and her gang, considering they seem to be letting her lead, exit out and into another place, that tingling happening again as they leave the mirror, they find themselves on a much large island that seems to house...a hedge maze? 

Though, these hedges were made of some sorta pretty, shiny yellow vines, with orange flowers, that made a sorta canopy roof over the whole of the maze, probably to prevent fliers from cheating on it.```

"Oh well, this is ni-" Basso states before noticing the roof, "Dicks, they thought of everything. Anyone have breadcrumbs or anything? Leave a trail? Or maybe just cut off some of these flowers as we go" 

Ruby looks at the hedge maze and then back to the others "I have a bad feeling about this one. We could snip off some hair if we really needed to I guess" 

"If i remember all we have to do is follow the right wall and we should be able to get back to the middle. At least im pretty sure its the left" night suggests.

"Why don't we just cut through the hedge, I mean cmon, we have weapons, they're just vines" Basso said smugly, slashing at the hedge in front of him with his hoofblade. 


```as Ruined tried to remain quite, the mare suddenly spoke up. “I know you're there, idiot.” he says, though doesn't move at the moment. “Give me a moment, im finishing up a conversation, then ill kick your ass.” she says casually, as if this was something she just did to people she just met.```

```As Basso tries to cut through the maze, he finds its nearly impossible, at first its just the vines being much stronger and springier then he thought, but after a moment when a good hit gets him into the wall a bit, suddenly the vines start trying to wrap around his hoof, and he nearly gets stuck!```

"No rush, dude." Ruin quickly adjusts his mane with a hoof, hoping to look good for his first impression. "Didn't mean to interrupt nothin'." Ruin sits on his flanks and starts to meditate as well. 

night looks to the wall to his right and brings his wing back to his side not wanting to be sucked into a wall 

"alright so we're not cutting through." Basso sad, yanking his hoof free. "I guess we'll just follow Night's plan, lead the way my blue friend." 

night keeps close to the wall on his right but makes sure not to touch it 

Ruby watches Basso almost get stuck in the wall and has to stifle a giggle "yea, had a feeling that would be a bad idea dude" follows the others, even if their strategy is totally flipped! Don't they know left, always left!? 

```As Ruin casually waits on the person apparently wanting to beat the shit out of him, after a few more minutes the Red Pegasus mare gets up, clopping her hoof on the ground as she turns to him. “right, Ready?” she asks casually, cricking her neck a bit.```

```As Night leads Ruby and Bassos forward, they come to a split, which catches their attention as a sign hung there, saying 'Left is bad, right is worse, but has a cool prize!'

whatever this might mean, they have been given a choice.```

"Can't honestly say I want to hit a girl, but if you're insisting..." Ruin states, "Any ground rules you want to lay? No magic, non-lethal only, 1v1 fox only on final destination with no items four-stock, that sort of thing?" 

"I'd prefer not to fight you at all, to be honest. For all of my bravado I'm more of a lover than a fighter. I just came over here to ask directions for the restroom. Had a bit of a run in with a big bag of bolts and I'm pretty happy I didn't end up a browncoat." Ruin shrugs at the stranger, "Never caught your name by the way, miss..." 

"Well I feel like both are lying. You guys ever see the movie labyrinth?" night says as he looks at the signs 

"Yeah, but the right has a cool prize. I could go for a prize"Basso replied, peeking down the path 

Ruby scrunchies her muzzle and looks at the sign, then tries to peek down the two pathways "well I made the last choice I guess, what do yall want to do?" 

"What do you think Night? I mean really, how much worse could the right path be? You already fought a mechanical dragon." 

Ruby taps her hoof "though we aren't here for a cool prize, we're here to rescue Timber. Maybe its a temptation that we should resist! 

"Let's flip a bit. Heads we go left. Tails we go right" night says pulling a bit from his saddlebags 

"yeah sure, flip it buddy, let's let chance decide" 

night watches the coin turn in the air and checks it after it lands "Right it is then." 

```The mare narrows her eyes as Ruin tries to lay 'ground rules' “are you mocking me? I think you're mocking me.” he says, poking his chest. “Names Burn Bolt, best damn fighter this side the galaxy, and dont you damn forget that.” she says, wings flared out and head held high. “ And please, I know who you are. Everyone was warned that the damn Void idiots had hired some goons, and like hell am I gonna just let you walk around our homes and territory like you own the place.” 

She jumps back, wings suddenly alight with fires, he eyes too, as she gets low for a pounce. “C'mon then, ive been itching to beat some retards skull in for weeks now, and you fit the bill!”```

``` as Ruby, Night, and Basso Look down both paths, there's not much to see, as they just curve away in one direction or the other, just more shrubbery. But upon going down the Right path, they come around the corner and see the path ahead is a long, long straight path, ending in what looks like a larger square area.```

[Ruby, Basso, Night, d12-1+Perception or Survival]
Ruby, 3
Basso, 9
Night, 11

"Goon? Look I'll be honest and admit that I've done some mercenary work, but I got roped into this thinking it was a search and rescue operation after all of those fires we had in town. I'm just trying to do the good thing here, so calling me a goon is a low blow, Bernie." Ruin says, "Look, if I was some scummy 'goon', would I have waited for you to finish up?"
Ruin readies his hammer in case she makes this ugly "You really don't have to do this."




```Burn Bolt rolls her eyes. “yeah, like im gonna listen to a Void Whore.” she says, spitting off to the side. “and please, beating you into the ground will be the funnest thing ive done in weeks.”```

``` As Ruby and the others start walking forward, at the last moment, Night sees something happening and grabs Ruby, pulling her back just as a spike of thorn wood launches out of the side of the maze wall and impales into the ground right where Ruby was just standing!

Basso also just barely managed to duck under a blades popping out of a different part of the wall and swinging at him, though he gets a slight mane cut from it!```

Ruby blinks as she is pulled away from a big sharp thorn spike "w-woah!" She exclaims, as the long hallway is full of traps. She blinks and looks at the ground, to see if they triggered anything themselves or if its automatic "Lets get through here, quick" She says, not wanting to spend any more time here than they need to. Her horn lights up, ready to cast a barrier around her and the others in case of emergency 

"Careful Ruby. This place is littered with traps and we gotta watch out for eachother" 

"Wow, you must lead such a boring life if beating up someone who doesn't want to fight is your idea. Did you come from an abusive home or something? Have you been cooped up in here since a failed mission? Maybe you have some kind of brain trauma that resulted in violent tendancies?" Ruin put on a serious face, "At least I can say I tried to talk it out first. Violence is the first resort of a limited mind, unless your fighting something real cool like a dragon, god, or death goo that wants to destroy all life." Ruin takes a defensive stance. "Ladies first." 

"Well... that was close" Basso muttered, watching strands of hair fall to the ground. Nervously he inched closer to Ruby, he might not like magic, but he liked being impaled even less 


```With no more hesitation, Burn Bolt lurches forwards, flaming hoof aimed at Ruins chest!```

[Ruby, d20+Disc of Love]
Ruby, 5

Ruin attempts to dodge to the right "Oh, silent now? Put a dent in the helmet of someone like that." 

[Ruin, d20-3+Dex, 8+ pass, 13+ success, 3- crit fail]
Ruin,9, pass

```As Ruby and the group slowly go on, another trap is sprung, seemingly just from their presence, meaning probably magically activated. As Basso and nightlight cower behind Ruby, she tries to bring up a Barrier, and does so, but it shatters from the impact, sending all three of them to the ground as Rubys knocked back atop the two stallions, but thats better then getting impaled!```

```Ruin manages to dodge the brunt of the punch, but gets a bit of a sear as he sidesteps, before the mare does a sweeping kick at his legs!```

Ruin tries to throw off her kick with a sideswing of his hammer. He seems disappointed with the mare's lack of battle banter. "Seriously, unarmed without armor? I really don't want to hurt you but by Lars you aren't making it easy." 

night exhales sharply as he is knocked back and smothered in mare "my spleen" 

"I'm ok!" Basso calls out from the ground, thankful that he didn't have any additional holes poked through him. "Totally ok, though my back hurts a bit from the exploding shield thing. Also I believe a pony is on top of me." 

Ruby flops backwards as her flimsy barrier is torn apart, but at least it throws them backwards rather than them being crunched by a trap "we need to go quicker I think, just stay alert..." she says reassuringly, climbing off of NightLight and Basso quickly 

"Thanks ruby. You really saved our asses there" night says as he picks himself up and looks to the crew "ruby do you think we could fly across?" 

Ruby blinks slowly, continuing down the path at a slow, careful pace, ready to dodge "uhhh maybe, it might be dangerous up in the air too though" 

"The most we can do is a low hover, I don't think it would help much." Basso said, slowly creeping his way along the maze. "I'd say just keep your eyes peeled and hope your quick enough to move." He could feel his muscles tensing up, the next step could be the one to trigger the trap. "Waiting for it to trigger is the worst part. Well, except for the part where it stabs you, that would be the worst, BESIDES that part, waiting is the worst." 

Ruby shakes her head "lets just skip the part where we get stabbed"

"I like that plan ruby." 

[Ruin]
[d20-3+Disc of Origin, 9+ pass, 13+ success, 4- crit fail]
[or]
[d20-3+Dex, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
Ruin, 15, success

[Ruby, Basso, Nightlight]
[d20-2+perception or survival, 8+ pass, 15+ success, 2- crit fail]
[or]
[d20-3+Dex, 10+ pass, 13+success, 3- crit fail]
Rubes, dex, 20, success
Basso, per, 14, pass
Night, per, 20, success


```As the mare sweeps at Ruin, he manages to knock the attack away, but she quickly rolls back onto her feet, giving a little yell that literally makes flames shoot off of her, before she suddenly firs off a fireball at Run from her mouth!```

```As the triple group march forward, they manage to dodge some spikes popping up from the ground, a few more fired spikes and cutting blades, and one bit where the roof tried to slam down on them.

This was not a fun hallway, but they manage to finally, after more time then they would like to think about, get to the end. Only for the hallways that was behind them to close off a they enter the enclosed, seemingly dead end square area. They appear to be trapped now.

The squared is somewhat spacious, about 15 feet high and twenty feet squared, maybe a bit more, but little light is being let in, and they see nothing but the plant walls and ceiling.```

"Oh, you call that spitting fire? You should hear my album!" Ruin bants as he jumps to the left! 

Ruby blinks slowly, flipping tiredly when she squirms past the traps and into the large open square. She lights her horn up to light it up as she looks around to see whats around.

"This is a boss room" night says quietly 

"Well, I guess we don't have to go down the trap filled hallway again." Basso remarked with a forced grin. Flying up a bit he tried to examine more of the space they were in, "Maybe Night, or maybe this is where we get our cool prize, cmon stay positive." 


[Ruin, d20-3+dex, 9+ pass, 13+ success, 3- crit fail]
Ruin, 6, fail

[Ruby, Basso, d20+Perception]
Ruby,14
Basso,14

```As Ruin tries to dodge, he simply is not fast enough, taking a near direct hit to his backside and going spinning, a nasty burn across his flank, though he manages to wobbly stay on his feet.

“hah, next time, your face!” Bolt says triumphantly, taking to the air and then shooting downward as a flaming missile towards Ruin.```

```As Ruby and Basso look around, they see little of use, before they both swear thorough what little  space they can, they see something moving on the other side of the far wall....

Getting closer confirms this, but the shape quickly moves away, and a new path opens, leading down and towards more natural light, or at least, as natural as can be expected in this place.```

"So, not to freak anyone out, but uh, something is out there." Basso said, motioning toward the wall of vines. "But don't wory, I'm sure we'll see it soon" He added, watching the path open up. Giving a shurg he slowly made his way down the new path. 

Ruby look around, craning her head until she sees something shuffling on the other side. She pokes her snout againts the bushy wall for an instant before pulling away quickly, looking towards the new path "hey are you the guardian of this place?" she calls out toawrds it, heading for the newly opened path 

Night is concerned by the revelation that they werent alone but plays it off. He continues along silently keeping a watchful eye out for anything 




"Gasp! It speaks!!" Ruin exclaims in mock surprise. "That silent treatment you were giving me burns my ass more than any fireball could. I'd say seeing you smile was worth it, but I'm pretty butthurt over that burning rejection." Ruin readies his hammer as she dives toward him. If she wants to throw a lob like this at him, he'll swing for the fences. He doesn't look happy about it, but she has no intention of taking him alive. Time to play hardball. 

[Ruin, d20-2+Disc of Origin, 11+ pass, 16+ success,19+ perfect, 6- crit fail]
Ruin, 16, success

```Ruby receives no answer, as she, Basso, and Night head down into the new path. It seems no traps are sprung, but it does feel awfully disturbing to be corralled into a long, singular hallways towards a light.

Upon exiting the light, they find themselves on a cliff edge overlooking a large drop off and see the oddest thing ever. Below them, at the bottom of the drop appears to be....a small village? Little homes made out of various materials from red stone to pure ruby, or bronze and copper, with one center building a bit bigger made of gold, where a firey looking Unicorn seemed to be giving orders to a bustle of creatures and ponies who seemed to be preparing for something...

...and if the ponies looked up, they would see what! As the island they were on was in the path of the large cascade of rock debris caused by the collision!```

```Having a literally flaming ball of pony flying down at  you like a meteor is pretty damn dangerous. But Ruin was too.

With precision he aims his hammer, bringing it around hard and fast to slam into the incoming shape. And he beat her to the punch quickly and decisively. As the hammer connects, thers a loud CRACK and Ruin nearly gets blown back as all that magical fire energy gets released instantly.

Bolt Burn goes flying backward, slamming hard into a pillar and flops to the ground. She twitches, and gets up, falling over instantly, before pushing herself back up, clearly front leg is shattered, and both her wings look useless, but she gets low, growling at Ruin as she readies herself for a pounce, despite the fact she looks like she can barely stand. The closed eyes and blood dripping down it doesn't bear well either.

“You think this looks bad, wait til I finish you off!” she spits out, but is clearly hesitant to actually attack back.```

"Look, I told you we don't have to do this. Just point me to the bathroom and its all good." Ruin sighs in exasperation. "I had my fill of violence with that robo-dragon earlier." He's rummaging through his bag now, trying to see if he has any bandages left in the starter kit. He also moves a wrapped granola bar out onto the floor. "How about a snack break? You can prove you're the very best like no one every was after we set that leg and have a quick bite to eat. Sound good?" 

Ruby gasps in surprise as she sees the cascade of rocks coming from the collision and down to the innocent village. She scrunchies her muzzle and closes her eyes "alright, alright focus. Gotta put it all on this one"
her horn lights up and her stance widens, her muzzle scrunching as she tries to cast a big barrier over the whole little village!

After seeing the commotion below, and the danger above, Basso threw himself off the cliff and flew straight toward the unicorn below, Hoping to help however he could. "Hey! What can I do?" 

night looks to Ruby as basso jumps off the ledge "how can I help you?" 


[Ruby, Disc of sun for bonus gain, d10, 6+ success]
Ruby, 10, success

[Ruby, d20+8(all bonuses accounted for already) for Town Barrier]
Ruby, reroll, 26


``` “fuck you, you think im gonna listen to a murderer? To a genocidal maniac!?” Bolt spits, blood it looks like. “I was told what you and your ilk did, throwing off the islands. Kettu shouldn't of let you have a shot at finding that bitch, considering you were just gonna try and slaughter families and friends instead.” she hisses out, and bites down on something. If you have seen movies, the cracking would sound like a fake tooth being broken.

Suddenly, she screams, and he eyes and mouth spew out huge swaths of flames, before her body seems to transform a bit. Until she is totally in cased in fire, and becomes some sort flame entity.  She stares at Ruin, now, for the moment at least, seemingly healed. “i am going to kill you.” she says, and starts walking towards him.```

```Ruby has no time to Basso and Nightlight ask how to act, as time was short and action needed taking. Using her innate Energy magic, Ruby charges herself up, her horn glowing bright neon blue down to the base, similar light filling her eyes, before she floats off the ground a bit, and lurches backwards, a beam firing off of her horn and forming a thick, powerful Barrier around them and the Town, the people below seemingly confused.

As the Island starts going under the raining hailstorm of boulders and rocks, Ruby twitches where she floats, feeling the vibrations of each impact as they go under the monsoon of stone, but she holds the barrier strong.

To perhaps everyone surprise, as a few minutes pass, the Townsfolk and Rubies friends watching in awe, they get out the other end, not even a single crack in the Barrier, before Ruby can finally drop it, and flops to the ground, blacking out for a moment, but is quickly awake again, though still lying on the ground.

A moment later, after a long silence, Basso and Nightlight see a shape floating up towards them...```
http://imgur.com/a/vhF58

"Welp, I tried." Ruin bemoans as he digs through his saddlebag for the half full bottle of leywater. He uncorks it with his teeth and takes a mouthful, quickly stashing it back away as he prepares an energy lance spell aimed for Burn.
"Damn shame too, I have a thing for strong mares."

"Holy shit Ruby. You're a fucking badass." night looks to the figure "guys we got company" 

"That was... incredible Ruby." Basso said, mouth agape. "Are you ok though?" 





Ruby feels the awesome power of mana flowing through her, threatening to burn her body up as its fuel source as she channels her bright energy. She holds the barrier strong, surprising even herself as the flow of power keeps the innocent town safe from the collapsing rocks and boulders. With a whine she flops over, her eyes dimming for just a moment as some blue sparks fly off of her horn harmlessly. She blinks slowly and raises her head, feeling weak and a bit shocked in the literal sense "I uhh... I think I'm okay? Is the village okay?" 


[oof, Ruin, D20+5+Disc of Sun, 9+ pass, 15+ success, 19+ perfect, 5- crit fail]
[Ruin aswell, d20-5+End, gonna need a high roll]
Ruin1, 26
Ruin2, 16

```Ruin feels the insane power of the leywater chock at him, as the buffed up Bolt Burn charges forward in an instant. But Ruin was quicker, especially with the untapped magic of the leywater. With eyes glowing and horn burning with an overload of magic, ruin fires off a Lance of energy so bright the room goes white for a moment. 

In the next instant, Ruin nearly collapses, coughing up a bit of blood, as he looks up. Bolt is crumpled on the ground, back to normal, smoke coming off her. He coat seems darker, and on closer inspection there is a fist sized hole burned perfectly through her chest and out the other side. No doubt, she is dead, unceremoniously so.  The room smells of static, copper, and burnt pony. It is dark, all the fires having been blown out.

Ruin stands alone, his insides feeling a bit mixed up, but no worse for wear, a lucky happenstance considering what the laywater was capable of when just touched, much less ingested, though the taste of coppery blood still lingers in his mouth.```

```The floating, burning unicorn looks down at ruby with an attitude of judgment and pride...but then her face softens greatly, as she lands next to Ruby, putting a hoof softly on her shoulder as she sits down next to her, a look of great concern in her eyes. “Are you well? Such a spell must've taken quite a lot out of one so young, I thank you greatly for your assistance, I am not sure we would've still  been around if you had not done that.” she says, her hoof warm and welcoming on Ruby as its heat seems to go through and sooth her body a bit. 

“I am Passion Fruit, I presume you three to be part of ***that*** group, but no soul so kind could be working for the void.” she says, offering ruby a kind, gentle smile.”```

Ruby is appreciative of the gesture from the proud unicorn, pushing against the ground to stand back up with a huff. She returns the smile "my name is Ruby Swirl. I don't believe that anyone on either side of this conflict needs to be hurt like that" she says, a humerous choice of words considering Ruin's actions. She settles back down on her plot, facing passion "is everyone down there okay?" 

Night looks to the mare and nods "I was asked to come help somepony and got thrust into a war. I'm not sure what is going on honestly and I wouldn't want any pony to suffer like Ruby said." he then adds "The name is Nightlight, and it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Passion Fruit" 

Basso let off a small snicker as the unicorn mentioned her name, and tried to play it off as excitement. "We also don't really work for the dark gods. Well I mean they are paying us, but we aren't really on their side." 


Ruin sees Burn Bolt laying there. "( wheeze ) You cooled down yet? (cough) Ready to try talking?" He walks up to the downed pony, ready to once more offer her a friendly hand up. But as he gets a little closer, he notices some little things: For one, he hasn't seen her blink yet. Two, her chest isn't rising. Three, there is a hole burnt straight through her. His hoof hangs in the air momentarily, his jaw agape. He's a murderer now. He is silent. No jokes, not even looking over the body for loot. He lets out a sigh as he closes her unblinking eyes with a hoof. "I guess you were right about me." He takes off his jacket, and drapes it over the mare. With a sigh, he turns down the left-leading path. Hopefully her gods could look out for her, even if they didn't when she needed it. 

```Passion seems to get a bit upset as they admit she was wrong and they were indeed the group working for the Dark Gods, but quickly lets Ruby up, giving her another smile “ah, yes, thanks to you, no one got hurt at all.” her smile stays, but that spark of sadness wells up in her eyes. “well, I suppose you are just proof even the best of ponies can be tricked into working for the worst of people.” she says with a sigh.

“Well, nice to meet you Ruby, and Nightlight hm? And...you too.” she says, giving Basso a awkward grin, before turning back to Ruby. “Now, I believe you deserve a reward for your efforts, and considering what you have told me, I think I know the perfect one!” she says, happiness returning to her voice.

“Just give me your word, and Im sure I can clear up this dreadful situation for you, and get you back home and out of that nasty contract with those Void lunatics in no time, I might even be able to get you some compensation, im sure my friends in town would be willing to donate a bit, if nothing else!” she says, nodding as she floated back off the ground a bit, seeming liking that more then walking. “What do you say, hm? No need for honest ponies like you to help those lowlifes and put yourself in so much danger for them.”```

```As Ruin sulks down the left pass, he comes to a room that is still lit by a few large fires, and it seems to be a room with statues honoring different heroes, or maybe gods. It was kinda hard to tell at times, given the variety both could come in shape wise.

There are five statues, each on a raised column of Ruby and with an offering bowl infront of them, that seemed to house a bit of lava in the bowl.

The left most is of a proud Stallion Pegasus in regal armor pointing a hoof forward as he yells orders it seems, the plaque saying ' Lord Fan Fury , Defender of Burnsguardia.'

the next one was of some sorta Chinese dragon creature, curled up as if breathed literal flames from the statue, the gas cost to keep that running must be expensive. Its plaque read 'Gardon, Fury of the Fire Worlds, One of the Seven Lords of Burning.'

the center most one was of some sorta satyr like creature, but the top half more lizard like. He was yelling, holding an axe up high, and his plaque read 'Voarn the Slaughterer, Conquerer of the Ice Fortress.'

the next one, second from the right, was of a Pony earth mare in a regal looking dress, staring down with all the nobility and pride of a goddess, her hair upwards as if flowing fire. Hers read 'Queen Fire Frost, Guardian of the Eternal Flame.'

The last one was of some sorta mouse like creature, still big but short still then the rest, smiling happily as he leaned on a sword, his armor looking well worn and used. 'Sir Diro, Guardian of the Warped Lands.'

Otherwise, the room seemed empty, a dead end.```

Ruin takes in the sights of the room, stopping in front of the statue of Fire Frost. "Well, it's worth a shot." He drops a couple gold coins in the lava offering bowl. "I don't even know if you can help her, but maybe you know someone who can. Burn Bolt didn't deserve to die like that." Hoping for, but not really expecting, anything to happen, he turns and leaves the room to check the path to the right. 

Night flaps his wings slightly and hovers in the air to get a bit of weight off his hooves "So Ms Fruit I wanted to ask you. You serve the light correct?" 

"Basso, the name's Basso ma'am, and I appreciate the offer, but when you say we need to give you our word, what exactly do you mean?" Basso said, watching her hover in place. He wasn't really bothered by her comments about the dark church or their patrons, but with that attitude he doubted she would be very eager to help them. 

Ruby offers her a sad smile "well truth be told, these void characters have been well... law abiding citizens. I haven't heard much from them myself personally... there seems to be some real hatred going on that I don't want to step inbetween" Ruby's attitude deflates and she looks towards the ground with a frown "I would love to work with you. Yall seem like nice people, but so do they! I mean.... I feel caught here, stuck in some battle that I honestly want little part of..." Ruby rubs the back of her neck "I think Hayven and the rest of the humans would do best with the void church gone. I'm not one to push people away for their beliefs, but they've become a sort of target for dangers and mayhem. That being said, I don't want to see a family separated from one of their own! By conflict or..." she stops and waves a hoof towards the falling debris from before "Timber must be so scared anout a decision she may not have fully understand and that hurts my heart" 

```As Ruin throws in the bits...nothing happens. Guess the gods cant or wont help here. As he enters into the Right room, he finds what looks like someones room, though its pretty plain, with just a bed, a dresser, and a chest pushed under a table, with a chair set aside.```

``` “hmm? Ah, silly Question Night, yes, of course I do!” Passion says, giggling a bit. Turning to Basso, she smiles and rolls her hoof in the air. “well, you know, that youll give up your search for this  Voidling and stop associating with them and...” she says, turning and listening to Ruby, a sad, knowing smile on her face. 

“...and yes, make sure that if you see them, you do not associate with them. “ she floats closer to Ruby, her smile smaller. “yes, im sure it must be hard, but it is the way of things. The war must be fought, and we small flames in the light of eternity hardly could do much to stop it anyways.”

She sighs, kicking backwards and floating off a ways again “You must understand, this puts me in a very awkward position! I have duties, laws and rules I have agreed to abide by! I mean no disrespect, but so long as you look for 'Timber' or aid the Void, you are enemies, dangers to this place and those I have sworn to protect. “ she shakes her head, a deep look of sadness washing over her. “Its not  so simple as just turning a blind eye.”```

Realizing there is nothing more to see here, and no way to right his wrong, Ruin heads to the third path that leads outside. 


Ruby rubs the side of her muzzle, disagreeing with some of the floating unicorn's sentiment "if we leave this search be, we'll go back and admit that we couldn't find Timber. Then we can be done with the church and this war. No more... burning down tents or townsfolk. We can keep an eye on the void church to make sure they aren't hurting anyone or anything but my involvement against them or with them goes no further. I'd rather any war come to an end, rather than fanning any flames" 

Looking at Night and Ruby, Basso could feel the awkwardness of the conversation, "Yeah, I don't think I can do that." He said, rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. "We aren't dangers to any of your people, I think Ruby here just proved that. However, we were paid to do a job. Personally, I don't care much about that church either." He said, "nor do I care for yours" he added under his breath. "They can do their own thing in town as long as they don't bug anyone, so can all of you, but the whole kidnapping thing and lighting buildings on fire... that doesn't look good." "If it helps, I would do the same thing for your church as well if you paid me." He added, a tone of optimism in his voice. 

"Well i wanted to ask you what your church is about. Its all very curious and id like to know more" Night says with a smile.


```As Ruin exists through the forward path and out into the light, he finds himself in a small courtyard, one of those bronze mirrors floating in the center. Seems this was a pretty limited path, though he can always go back to the one at the other end of the Temple.```

```Passion Fruit shakes nods slowly as she listens to ruby, but merely sighs. “Im afraid this is a war we will perhaps never see end. So long as there is Void, the Whole will fight is. So long as there is Cold, the Fire will burn it away. They are our enemy, and us theirs. It is our duty and job to root eachother out, wherever we may find eachother.”

she floats forward, a much more serious look on her face. “My own decisions aside, I give you this warning. So long as either side sits among your people, the other side will show up to try and get rid of them. It is simply how things work.”

Fruit, that stern, sorta motherly look still on her face, turns to Basso, and then slowly points a hoof up at the crumbling islands now disappearing behind them. “No, you ***are*** a danger, regardless of what you think. I see now maybe you wished us no harm, meant us no harm, but it does not take a genius to realize that you being here while such a catastrophe we have never seen happen, are related. “

At the mention of the job, a bit of anger comes up in her voice, as she floats closer to him, and actually give him a slight poke in the chest. “a mercenary is just a whore with more pride. We do not require the services of those who fight for the most petty of reasons known as greed.” she says, looking him in the eyes, but as she listens to Night, she pulls back, sighing and , floats over to him, smiling with a bit of gusto again.

“Ah well, the best way to explain a churches stance, is to say its prayer, no?” she says, a bit of giddiness coming out of her voice, before she clears it and holds herself high, pride actually literally emanating from her as she glows brighter.```



```“”Let all who seek a path of truth, be lead down ours with passion and flames. Dark is impure, Light will clean, fire brings life and the cold kills all it sees. No one path is truly the best, none the worst, but let light and passion guide your steps, so your heart may find its truth, and your mind flowing and free.

 Let you come home to roost in the light, in a path you seek, hopeful, and earned.””```


Ruin looks like he's about to step through the portal, but he stops. "Oh what the fuck am I doing? I didn't even know that bitch." He walks back into the temple, and takes back his jacket. He thn goes back into the little bedroom and checks that chest. 

Night listens with interest as she talks and when she says the prayer he seems to grow more and more intrigued "So you guys use fire and light to cleanse the darkness?" 

Basso wanted to yell at her, tell her to take her gods and shove them up her ass, but he couldn't. While yes he thought her opinion of him taking this job for pay was wrong, she did have a point about the destruction of the island. After a few moments of glaring at her, he finally spoke up, "I'm sorry about the islands, that wasn't our intention, but you're right that just because we didn't mean to do it, it doesn't change the fact that we did, and put people in harm's way." He said with a sigh, "But please, try to look at it from my point of view. you hate these void ponies, but in town they haven't done anything to bother me, even hired me to help out on a little trip." He purposefully left out the details of that trip, figuring it wouldn't help the situation, "Besides a disagreement on pay, thay've been pretty cordial to me. So when the town is attacked, one is kidnapped, and they ask for help, I came. I came to this world only because some fox-wolf thing told me this was the way to go."

Ruby closes her eyes and rubs her snout. No matter what they did, these sun guys were going to involve them and their town in the war unless they kicked the void people out. These light guys sounded a lot more like the bad guys than the void folk did and she didn't like their attitude. Regardless, she opens her eyes and sighs heavily "I don't get involved with churches and religions honestly. I would like to work with you, but not in a religious sense... and it wouldn't hurt if yall were a little less forceful about it" 


``` Looking to night, she smiled a bit, nodding. “Very much so, both literally and figuratively.” Passion shrugged, turnign to Ruby and Basso “I understand, but you must understand aswell, from our side, we have seen the Void commit to wholesale slaughter time and time again. Perhaps we do no better, but war is war, the enemy is the enemy. You cannot help or protect members of one side and expect the other to not see it as taking sides, see?” she says, clapping her hooves together as she floated backwards a bit. 

“You may all make your choices, but in the end I have my word and my honor I have given and agreed to uphold. I offer you a way out, but if you feel you must stick down this path, it may already be too late to avoid what is to come.” she sighs, a genuine look of regret in her eyes. “You seem like good people, and I will do what I can, but if you continue to help and defend the Void, ones I could not hope to stop will do what they must, and by my honor I will have to help them.”

She shakes her head, turning to Basso. “Kettu is not supposed to engage in combat herself if it can be avoided, so she instead sent you to a place to be taken care of in another way, though she did not lie about this being your only way to find who you seek.”

She turns back to Ruby, floating forward a bit again, hooves dangling sadly. “your hesitation and skepticism is understood, but you must know none were forced to serve the Light. I imagine none were forced to serve the Void either. Both sides chose their path knowing there were consequences,and the ones for your current course have been layed out plainly. I would love for us to be able to see your town in a better frame, but you are not making it easy for us either.”```

```As Ruin makes a one eighty internally, he goes back. The Chest is locked, but mostly wood, so far from impossible to smash open if he so pleases.```

Ruin frustratedly bucks the box with his robot leg. 

```The Box snaps open. It was only so strong after all. Inside he finds a few things. Some Hoof blades with Rubies embedded in each of them, some more of those wrappings the mare had worn, but being close he now sees the inside had some kinda ointment on them, probably alchemical.

He finds a round container with a few teeth in it, probably more fake ones of whatever she had taken. Theres also some red, ceremonial robes. Lastly, he finds a Picture book, full of pictures of Bolt burn with her family and friends. Huh, the Light Pantheon had a college for its members, who knew?``` 

"Well, I guess she doesn't need these anymore." Ruin sticks the jar of teeth and the hoofblades that she probably had left to someone in her will into his saddlebag. He then tries to fit into the ceremonial robes and slide the rest of the chest under the bed. With that done, he goes back to the prtal in the courtyard and jumps into it. 
He walks back into the hall, looking at the corpse for a moment. That was once a mare. She had hopes, dreams, friends, family, goals, beliefs, and teeth full of fire I guess. But she isn't any of that anymore, she's fly food. Nice work, dipshit. "Well, guess I'm the best fighter on this side of the galaxy now, Bernie." Ruin hollowly states. He then drags her body to the room with the shrines and gets to work. First thing's first: decapitating the body with his hornblade. With what blood he gathers from the neckstump, he writes on the base of the statue of Fire Frost: 'Are gods willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then they are weak. Are they able, but not willing? Then they are malevolent. Are they both able and willing? Then why is there evil? Are they neither able nor willing? Then why call them Gods?' He then lays the headless body at the statue's base, and puts the head in the offering bowl. 

Ruby rubs the side of her cheek and stands back up "I don't want to fight anyone for anything here. Its not a battle that I think we're interested in. If I had my way then you could stick around, but so could they. A sort of peaceful area of non-aggression. I don't think you have any interest in that and maybe neither do they...." 

"When you say do what you can, does that include pointing us in the direction of Timber?" Basso asked, "The void probably has done some messed up stuff, trust me, I'm no friend to their church, but I doubt she has done it herself." 

Night faces an internal conflict. On the one hand he feels like this Light is the side he should follow, but on the other he wants to finish what he started and rescue Timber. This struggle can clearly be seen on his face and he walks a few steps off to think it over. After thinking for a few minutes he has an idea, walking back to the group he addresses Passion Fruit directly "You have caught my attention with this Light. I would like to know more and possibly join. However i gave my word that i would help Timber, and my morals do not permit me to back out once i say i will do something. For what is a man if he cannot keep his word, he is nothing but a liar and a cheat" Night says with a flair and then makes a single request "Permit me to help the others find Timber, then I shall join with you"

```Ruin would find the robes were too small for him. Makes sense, Bolt Burn had been smaller then him by a little bit. 

When he desecrates Bolts body and tosses her head into the lava, it sizzles and melts quickly, gagging him with the smell of burning flesh. For a moment, nothing happens, until the bloody worlds light up red and burn away, and the lava in the bowl starts boiling and bubbling, splashing around, forcing Ruin to back off, as the stuff was literally lava. 

The bowl quickly overflows, and the body gets drowned in the lava, before it stops, hardening as it cools. A moment later, it all crumbles and dissolves, and in its place is repaired, but still dead, body of Bolt Burn, a rolled up note tucked snuggling into her hooves, as she is curled up on the ground as if sleeping.```

```Passion Fruit grumbles in frustration, rubbing at her head, eyes clenched shut tight. “You do not understand. It not so simple. I have been ordered, all of us have, to not help you find her. She is more then just the enemy, she is a pact holder, and bait to catch much more important prey. If she was just herself, and there was no bigger picture, I could perhaps bend the rules.”

she opens her eyes, fire burning in them brightly for a moment, as she looks down at them sternly, hooves lowering. “But in this instance, I cannot. If you proceed here, you will be labeled enemies and allies of the Void. It is simply not my decision to make.” she says, her look softening, looking at Ruby and Night. 

“I am sorry...” she say, her voice only above a whisper. “Go home. I understand your pain, your predicament to not wish to break your oaths, but here, the line was drawn by those I could not convince to move it. At best, I can convince them that your town wishes no part in this, but that will not stop any of the Void from being targeted if you allow them to stay within your lands.”

She shuts her eyes, and lands infront of them, before holding her head high, that look of power back in them. “If not, I will have to do what I must. As long as you continue this mission, I must see you as a threat, and I cannot allow any threat into my town, and will have to ask you to go back the way you came. This all is the best I can offer, im sorry....”```

Ruin approaches the now repaired body of Burn Bolt, and notices the note. "Oh look, they give more of a shit about their ego-stroking statues than they do about the folks that die for them." Ruin observes as he unrolls the note 

Ruby sits down on her plot and pulls out her notebook and pen. She writes something down and then offers it to Passion Fruit. Her name and the address to the library "I would love it, if you came by some time to the town so we could talk further. But for now can you help the others and me get home? I want no mpre part of this intrusion" 

Basso watched Ruby passing the note over to the unicorn and shook his head. "I'm not ready to leave yet, in addition to Timber, we're still missing Ruin." he said, turning to Passion Fruit, "He came here with us but got seperated, we need to make sure he's ok." 



"Passion. I understand the reasoning behind your words. I wish to join your cause, but i am worried about Ruin our friend. Will you allow my friends to find him and leave in peace? I would like to join them and once i can confirm he is okay i will return to you" night looks to passion with a fire of determination in his eyes


```Ruin unfurls the note, and sees this message written down upon the paper in glistening orange ink in intricate hoof-writing he can barely read its so fancy.

'To the Hobbler of a Unicorn, no, to the Monster, the gutter rat who dared not only kill such a young and innocent child of the light in cold blood, to chop up her corpse and use her to solve your own petty egotistic needs, know now that I will ensure the light does not shine down upon you. Your days, if I  had the power, would be numbered to s little as possible, but my hooves are tied and my resources stretched limited.

Despite this, if the others do not  think to act, I will find a way. I may not be able to bring the dead back to life, but I can ensure those who would take such pleasure in it as to decapitate the corpses of their victims live a much shorter life.

I can only ask that you leave her body alone this time so it may be treated properly upon being found, but from such a creature as low as you I can only assume you will use it to satisfy all your baser instincts. So for that, I suppose think of it as a gift then, one I will make sure you pay for in your blood.

-As if you deserve to know who I am, but I shall tell you anyways. I am Burning Steam, daughter of Fire Frost. Feel blessed to know this much.'

The note also has a hoofprint stamped onto it, probably in place of a signature of authenticity.```

```Passion fruit taps her hoof a bit, but then nods, giving the group a smile. “Well, id be lying if I said I knew where we was, but if I did not permit you to find him and leave together, he would simply be a problem left unsolved, no?” she giggles a bit. “It only makes sense if your agreeing to leave and go home, that I help you here.”

wish a wave of her fist, there is a rumble, and suddenly a staircase forms on the cliff edge, heading down to the town below. “Come, come! Im sure there are a few in town who might have heard something, and I am positive they will wish to tank you Ruby for your aid!” she says happily, motioning for them to follow as she starts slowly floating down the path towards town.```

Ruin grumpily storms back to Burn's room to try finding writing implements 

```After much looking, Ruin finds a quill and ink, but the only thing he can find is what looks like a very personal notebook and a few scraps of paper.```







Ruin quickly scrawls on the reverse side of the note: 'glad that got your attention thanks for patching the hole now I can try to save her tried harder to save her than you did and still am i tried talking talking god did i try talking it out but she wouldnt stop and you didnt care why do you not care fuck you i hate you your petty war means nothing if you rule over a graveyard at its end if you can't even bring back the recently deceased how do you get off calling yourself a god' Ruin then rushes back to the statue room. He throws the note back in the lava and tries to remember his cpr training from home. "Okay uh okay, thirty compressions, two breaths, defiblirater, repeat." He starts with the chest compressions on her chest, thirty quick chest compressions, two breaths with her nose plugged, quick energy spell to defiblirate, repeat. 

Night looks to the bridge before hopping back into the air and following Passion Fruit down to the town 

Ruby has to take the stairwell since she is the only one that can't float, but she heads on down anyways to the town below

"Sure." Basso states, happy that some progress is being made that doesn't involve hostility with the church. Following the group, he decides he would rather walk the bridge instead of fly. 


```Ruin does not receive any note in return, and try as he might, his efforts seem to be in van, Bolts body remaining dead.```

```As Ruby, Basso, and Nightlight follow Passion Fruit down the seep cliffs stairs and into the town, they notice how clean cut and well maintained everything is. They get plenty of stairs, seeing many whisper and others nods and thank them, though mostly to Ruby.

From ponies to wolf people to odd, insectoid creatures, the towns population, though small, was pretty diverse, a testament to how far reaching this war was in the grand scheme of things. 

As Passion Fruit get them to the center building, it seemed word had spread quickly of who they were, as some gave them frowns, but others seemed to react quite positively to them, one little filly even running up and giving Ruby a little bow that seemed to be woven from threads of ruby string, thanking her for saving them before giving her leg a hug and running off back into the crowd.

though having had to stop to talk to one person or another a few times, Passion finally ushers them inside the central building, telling the townfolk they may talk and discuss things later. 

“Well, sorry about that,” she says with a smile, as she lads them past the main waiting room and into her office in the back, it all seeming like a pretty standard mayoral town, aside from the materials used to build it.  “oof, you know how people are, now, anyways, please, sit, some of my contacts should be here shortly with any word on your friend.”

she says, and sits down on the other side of a large desk made out of red stone. “now though, before then, any other questions? Need a snack, drink? This all must've been a lot to take in, though im glad in the end you seem willing to  back down on this issue and head home.”```

"COME ON! QUIT BEING SO STUBBORN AND LIVE ALREADY YOU ASSHOLE!" Ruin keeps doing CPR and defiblerating with short zappy spells. 


At least the residence of the place are pretty friendly Basso thought, following Passion Fruit through town. In fact, he noted that the old stallion from the garden was nice too, he hadn't met and unfriendly face yet. Plenty of suspicious faces, but no hostility. Basso almost wished that wasn't the case though. Life was easier when things were black and white, Passion Fruit seemed determined to not let them complete their mission, and he didn't want to hurt her or any of these nice people. 

Ruby quickly puts the Ruby bow in her Ruby mane and follows through the small town, returning the smiles and smiling back at the frowns too! Take that pessimism. She heads into the building and has a sit "uhhh some water would be lovely" 

"Yes some water would be wonderful" night hopes ruin is having as easy of a time as he is. He also has noticed that besides Kettu at the beginning these Light people have been very kind 


```Ruin tries and tries again but Bolt is clearly dead and gone. As he continues, he suddenly hears noises coming from behind him. It seems to be young and female, though a bit raspy.

“Bolt Burn? Bolt! Get your butt out here! Helllloooooo? I swear if you damn well fell asleep meditating again....” it calls out, seemingly from the main hallway.```

```With a nod Passion flicks a little bell on her table, and a moment later a little dog sized spider of an orange color with red spots, in a top hat and with a little blue bowtie, comes down from the ceiling between Ruby and Night, and puts a cup on water on the table for them, before giving a little bow and disappearing back through a trapdoor In the ceiling.

Passion giggles a bit. “isnt he just the cutest little assistant you have EVER seen?!~” she says, before blushing and clearing her throat, as a pony earth stallion enters.

The dude was a deep, dark green, covered in scars and looked to be dressed like a 1920s paperboy, though the cigarette in his mouth and scruffle on his annoyed looking face showed him to be of course much older.

“Ah, here is Leaf Duster, I assume you have found their friend then?” Passion asks the grumpy man with a smile.

He just shrugs. “Someone heard some commotion at the Warriors Temple, sent Niif tah check up on it, if were lucky, it aint him, cause last ah heard Bolt Burn was meditation there, and we know how she gets over these things.” he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Passions face instantly becomes a frown. “Oh dear...this may be a very bad thing....” she says, and clearing her throat, she turns to Ruby, Basso, and Night. “You see, when you arrived, we were all given warning and some even orders to try and stop you. Bolt is....very enthusiastic, about her service, and there is a reason she spends so much time in the Warrior Temple....shes a good lass, but not the most level headed, and would probably jump at a chance to...solve the problem, you present.”```

"Oh god help! She's not breathing!" Ruin yells out. His compressions have slowed and he is dripping with sweat. 

night looks at the spider "Im personally not a huge fan of spiders, but i can agree he is cute" night smiles and then frowns "Oh i hope it isnt ruin there. He doesnt need to lose another limb" 


Ruby quirks her head "warriors temple? That uhhh..." she imagines the cripple Ruin getting into a scuffle with an enthusiastic fire devout and frowns. But then is reminded that he isn't dragon food and it puts her in a better mood. She takes the water, thinking the spider is adorable but is more concerned with getting everything settled and leaving at the moment "Ruin is pretty hard headed, I don't think its a good thing that he would be the one to run into her..." 

"Oh no" Basso moaned, "This won't end well for anyone involved. Ruin doesn't always make the...best choices; and your Bolt friend there sounds like quite the aggressive pony." 

```As Ruin continues to flail about suddenly he hears a yelp behind him “who ar-GET OFF OF HER!” suddenly a sorta crab-spider insectoid centaur thing is trying to pull him off of Bolt Burn, its clawed hands digging into his chest. “get off of her you freak! What the hell did you do to my friend!?” she hisses in that raspy voice.```

```Passion rubs her chin, then quickly gets up. “well, follow me then, and you come along too now Duster.” she says as she leads them back out quickly, Duster grumbling as he motions for the three Hayvenites to get a move on.

They hardly have time to notice the towns folk or their emotions, as they rush to the back of the town and through a mirror, to which they end up at the back courtyard of the Warrior Temple, no time given to worry about the coppery taste and smell the mirrors gave, as they hear sounds echoing loudly from the Temple infront of them...```

"Oh god, not another mirror" Basso calls out as he jumps through. Coming out the other end he doesn't have time to complain though, as he heard the commotion from the temple. Assuming it was a fight, and hoping to break it up before anyone gets hurt, Basso sprints toward the entrance. 

Night goes through the mirror after basso and waits on the other side for the rest of the group 

Ruby quickly finishes her water, feeling much better after the earlier strain with some rest. She hurries along to keep up with the others, hopping through the mirror and into the courtyard "this place is something else! Is this the warrior temple then?" 

"Gah! What the- you know what? I've seen some crazy shit I'll just roll with it." Ruin is briefly freaked out by the... thing "What I'm doing is trying to save her life! It's called CPR you... I have no idea what you are. Uless you have some kind of deus ex machina artifact or a fistful of magic rocks I'm the best shot she's got right now!" Ruin keeps compressions going, though he is visibly tired and hindered by Scuttles the spidercrab.

[Ruin, d20-3+Strength]
Ruin, 0, wow

```Ruin had had a long day, and with long days, comes exhaustion, both mentally and physically. With ease, the crabtaur throws him aside and into a wall, and quickly goes over to Bolt Burn.

“oh....oh my....gods of light bless us...she...shes...you” she, that being the crab pseron thing, turns to look at Ruin, her four beady eyes streaming tears as she look as him and hisses. “YOU KILLED HER!”

It was at 'you killed her' that Ruby, Bass,Night, Passion, and Duster all come around the corner and see the scene before them, Niif, the crabtaur, looking like she was about to pounce and teat Ruin to shreds.

“oh..oh what is....Niif! Wait!” Fruit says in confusion, trying ot get Niifs attention before a fight can ensure. “Look, im sure we can figure this all out, just...dont attack the man, not matter what he may of done...” she says, slowly floating forward as Duster rushes up, pushing on Niif to get her to back off.

As they near the scene, Passion looks at Ruin, but when she turns and sees the slumped form of Bolt, she gasps, tears coming to her face as she quickly lands and rushes over to the dead pony. To test her vitals. When its clear the mare is dead, she slumps to the ground, head resting on Bolts body as she shakes a bit, but then takes a deep breath, standing up, and still looking down simply asks.

“What. Happened.” she says, a bit of fire coming from her mouth with each word.```

Staring at the scene in front of him, Basso didn't know what to say. He was smart enough to put the pieces together, Ruin would have killed the mare in some kind of fight, but he hoped Ruin would not have been the one to start it. Turning to Night and Ruby he slowly shook his head, things didn't look good. 

Night looks around and hopes that the group will still be able to leave in peace. He paces quickly and looks around worriedly 

Ruin is exausted, but he gasps out "I tried asking her where the bathroom was. She turned into fire.""What the fuck is going on?"  

Ruby gasps in surprise when the come onto the scene. She looks over at the weird creature, then the unicorn, then Ruin, then the... the... dead... pegasus...
Ruby turns to Ruin and waves a hoof at him "what the hell did you do!?"
"After that shitshow with the dragon thing I tried to teleport out, but got conked in the head by a bunch of debris. I have no idea where I went at first but it was dark and angry. Somehow I poofed out of there and ended up outside of here. I was pretty shaken up so I came in here hoping to find help. So much for that. She was meditating in that middle room and asked me to wait while she finished up, so I did. She then started to call me a void whore and told me that beating my skull in would be the most fun she had in weeks, and I tried to talk her out of it. She really didn't like that." Ruin lifts his jacket, showing the nasty burns on his backside. "I kept blocking and dodging, all the while trying to talk her down. She just kept throwing blows. I hit her with a lucky counter, and broke her leg. I thought she was done so I started do dig through my bag for some bandages, when I heard a weird crack. Next thing I knew she was some kind of fire monster." "I really didn't want to die, but I had no idea what I was up against anymore. So I did something really stupid: I chugged a shitload of leywater and fired at the freaky fire monster coming at me. After that I blacked out, next thing I remember is being in this room in front of her somehow intact body." 

```Passion, Niif, and Duster seem to all listen intently to Ruin, though Niif still looks ready to kill him and Duster looks like the bottom of a bottle is where he would rather be.

Passion though, is still looking down, eyes closed tightly, before she turns to look at him. “Well, you are an invader. You and your friends nearly got our village destroyed with that stunt you pulled with the islands.” she frowns, wiping the tears from her eyes and floating up a bit, so she can look down on Ruin properly. 

“I thus say you are under arrest for the murder of our acolyte Bolt Burn, and for your other crimes upon our people. Duster, take his bags, lets see if he even has bandages on him in the first place.” she says, her voice stern, blank, though the rage she was inwardly feeling was coming out as fumes from her mouth. It was clear despite what she might be trying to make it look like, that her emotions were guiding her.

With a nod, Duster gives Niif a pat and starts walking over to Ruin. “c'mon now, lets make this easy fer everyone son.”```

"Now hang on a sec" Basso said, trying to defuse the situation, "This was obviously an act of self-defense. We didn't invade your world, Kettu invited us here, then a dragon was sent to attack us. Ruin was just trying to not die, you can't blame a man for defending himself." he explained, "If anything, Kettu should be arrested for being so irresponsible." 

Ruby looks horrified at Ruin, stepping away from him slowly as they come over to detain him. She don wan no trabble. She hangs her head, shaking it slowly. Even if it was an accident, he killed her outright

"I still killed someone, Basso. None of it matters, not the self defense, not the state of mind, the prior circumstances, or that I was trying everything I could to get her back on her feet." Ruin hangs his head, and levitates over his bag. "Her blades and those fake teeth are in there. I didn't want her to start attacking again when she got back up."

Night looks to everyone slowly before letting out a long sigh "Ruin i know it wasnt your intent to kill her, but i would say the best thing for you to do is to go with them for now" Night then turns to Passion Fruit "The act was in self defense, but it does not change the action. I've done what I wanted. I sae that everyone is safe." Night says before pausing and adding slowly "If you'll still accept me here, I would like to join you" 

```As Duster takes the bag, he grimaces, looking at Ruin like he was a scum. “really, ya fukkin took her things?” he frowned, and pointed. “Start walkin. Niif, ya take right, ahll take his left.” he said, and started leading Ruin away as Passion gingerly picked up Bolts body, before turning to Basso.

“No, Kettu let you come in so you may be slaughtered. You have no rights here, you are invaders as far as we are concerned, enemies. May I remind you, it is by my good graces and word you are not all attacked and killed.” she narrows her eyes. “Id suggest you stop trying to push blame onto our guardians, and instead learn to take your own, Merc.” 

she sighs, sniffling a bit as she runs a hoof over Bolts cheek. “You, Ruby, Basso, and Night, as free to go. I will make sure you are acquitted of any involvement. IF you wish, we will invite you to your friends execution in a few days.” she says casually, before looking over to Night, nodding. “I will send word for you once everything is back to normal here then, Nightlight.”```

Night nods at her words until she says execution "Executed? Miss Fruit with all due respect, is there some way that we would be able to use a spell to somehow see what actually happened to validate his claim of self defense?" Night asks almost pleadingly "I highly doubt that ruin killed her in cold blood"

"Well, with how willing she was to talk I didn't want her to start trying to kill me again after I got her back up." Ruin sighs, "All of this shit because I wanted to rescue a nice girl." 

"Whoa whoa whoa, did you listen to what you just fucking said." Basso said, approaching Passion Fruit, "Your guardian sent us here to be slaughtered!? As if suddenly that puts Ruin in the wrong? We never had any intention of hurting you or your people, but your dumbass guardian sent us on a one way trip, and when Ruin dared to defend himself, he's suddenly some kind of murderer, not even fit for a trial. Need I remind you YOUR guardian attacked OUR village." Basso seethed, "The gall of you people. Ms. Fruit, I am sorry your friend died, honestly I am, but executing Ruin isn't some from of justice, it's revenge. Is that how your religion works?" 

"Wouldn't doubt it, that temple has a statue for a guy called Voarn the Slaughterer." Ruin says in a low voice, "Doesn't exactly sound like a forgiving kind of guy." 

Ruby waves her hooves and backs away from the others "w-wait ahh..." she says with a frown. She sees little way out of this jam... but Ruby is nothing if not a crafty mare. If they would offer her and the others a few days to right this wrong, then she would do her best to figure something out "I want to stay here! Please... if just for a few days so Ruin doesn't have to be alone before his judgement is passed... yall are really nice people on the inside, I can see it. Please let me stay here for just thpse few days" 


```Passion, for many reasons, was having none of Bassos talk. “You, merc, are the last to be listened to. “ she says, leaning down to look at him. “You are the only one here given me no reason to respect you, and you continue to do so. You were, may still be, enemies, enemies who almost destroyed our village. Justice could say all your heads roll. I am willing to forgive, as Ruby proved her intentions are pure. Night too. You and Ruin, have done much the opposite.”

She pokes his chest, and the fires of her rage makes it sizzle a bit. “You do not tell me what is justice or vengeance as one I think of as a daughter lies dead in my arms.”

She pulls back, turning to see ruin and his escort have already lead him away. “we could, and perhaps will, rip the truth from his mind. It is the best we can do.”

She blinks slowly, turning to Ruby.”...you may stay if you wish then, but you will be watched and your place of residence chosen with caution. Your friend has committed murder and your actions nearly killed hundreds. Accident or not, trust only goes so far.” shes says, and looks down at Bolt.```

"You guys should just go home, really." Ruin keeps his head down, face hidden by his hat. "Don't let my constant shitshow drag you down." 

Night looks to bolts body "I am terribly sorry for your loss, I await your letter and will see you soon" Night looks to Ruby "Are you going to be alright here?" 

Ruby nods slowly and reaches into her saddlebaggies. She pulls out a notebook amd writes a few things in it, befpre ganding it off to Nightlight "I'll stay, I understand you may have me set up how you wish but I won't leave Ruin alone here, even if what he did is unforgiveable" 

"Shut up Ruin" Basso said, "I'm not your enemy, I have done nothing to you or your people here. We have been very friendly. I even helped your gardener fellow... damn what was his name? Double Edge! Yeah, the knight. We made no hostile action, helped him with his plants. This pony here maybe be a bit crazy, but I can't leave him behind." 

"If you say so Ruby" Night looks to Passion "I'm gonna be going now Passion" 


```”I cannot allow that. He is a prisoner, a criminal. If you wish to be with him, you will spend it in jail alongside him.” Passion says sternly, but seems a bit conflicted, clearly not wanting to do that to Ruby.

She turns to Basso, scoffing a bit. “You leave him behind or you die along side him. Your choices are simple, mercenary.” she says. “Now, if you wish to leave with Nightlight, I can arrange an escort, otherwise, im currently carrying a body of a dear friend and pupil I need to take care of, hm?”```

```Ruin is lead along, Niif to his right, looking ready, hoping, he tries something, Duster on his left, Runs saddlebags over his back as the gruff stallion stares ahead. “hope your own gods know mercy, ours wont show you any over this.” he says, and pushes Ruin through the oval mirror as they arrive. 

Once at the town, he is escorted ot a jailhouse and shoved in a cell, where duster takes up a seat behind a desk to watch him, with Diamond Dog and odd Wolf creature on either side to guard him.

There is a buzz in Ruins head, his horn feeling funny, probably magical blockers inside the cell if he was to guess.```

"So how are you gonna execute me then? Hanging? Draw and quarter? Burn me at the stake? Toss me in a volcano to appease your bloodthirsty gods?" Ruin asks as he idly paces in the cell, looking for little details. These people had no idea what CPR was, and he doubts their security would be that advanced with the take-no-prisoners kind of attitude he's mostly seen from this faction. "Oh! How about trial by combat! You could throw your best fighter at me- oh wait, we already did that one." Ruin says, examining the bars in his peripheral vision. 

Ruby didnt mean literally in the cell with Ruin "I mean not literally together with him but uhhh you know so he can have a visitor a few times before... before what happens, happens" she says, hanging her head low "and so I can maybe get to know your people better, in a friendlier light" 

Basso was running out of options, he was desperate. "1v1 me." He said, "If I win, we get Timber and Ruin, if you win, I will personally escort you and your Light god friends to town where you can wipe out the void church there. No guards to get in your way or anything, hell, I'll draw them out for you if you want, no need to use timber as bait, you get what you want" 

"An escort would be very much appreciated Passion. But i would also be content with getting directions to how to get home" Night says as he sits and waits 

[Ruin, d12+perception]
Ruin, 9











``` Ruin doesn't really see anything. But a small cot in the corner, a toilet, and the bars. Seems to be a pretty solid room of red stone.  At best, the diamond dog guard was standing close enough to probably grab, though the guard had no keys on him.

Leaf Duster does look up from what looks like paper work. “ probably just stab ya through the gut a few times, then toss the corpse away.” he says with a shrug, but looks up at his second statement. “You are a fucking psychopath.” he adds, shaking his head and looking back down.```

```Passion sighs, giving Ruby a smaller smile. “ah...sure...ill make sure you are quite at home hear my dear. I promise you that.”  she nods to Night. “no, I wouldn't want any who haven't heard what you did to stop you. Go back to the village, and tell them I sent you home, and they will make sure you get out of here.”

at Bassos words though, she frowns, head whipping towards him. “we already have them. Even if you had something I wished for, you have no bargaining chip. Worse, you would give your life for a murderer, or perhaps worse, nothing but coin.” she float up to him, nearly bumping her head against his as she stared into his eyes with fire. “If you need your greed satisfied, I can arrange for you to get your fair sum. But I would expect to ***never*** see your face again. Understood?”```

"Oh, I'm the psychopath? That little red spitfire was practically salivating at the prospect of beating me to death, but I'm evil for putting that rabid bitch down?" Ruin snorts derisively "I fucking tried to resolve shit peacefully, and all I've seen from your side is violence. Trying to blow up our town, setting fires, killing non-combatants, thowing my friends and I into this fucking deathtrap dimension and siccing a goddamn dragon on us? No, you revere and follow goddamn psychopaths that treat you all like pawns. You literally have a temple up there where you can worship at the statues of a bunch of killers. That is fucking psychotic." Ruin laughs, "You keep living by the sword, you'll find a blade stuck in you one day." 

Ruby settles down, wiping a hoof across her muzzle tiredly "thank you, miss Passion" she says, looking toward Basso without much expression. She doublechecks to make sure NightLight got her note to take back home, mostly for Eve before she looks back to the others 

Night nods and walks back towards the village

"I..." As the fiery unicorn stares at him, rage in her eyes, Basso couldn't meet her gaze. He simply falls back on his rump and looks down to the ground. "I don't want coin, I don't care about the bits anymore, really it never was about them. At first I just wanted to save Timber, show her up because of her attitude the last time we met. Show her I wasn't just some schmuck. Now though, you have my friend and are gonna kill him." He could almost feel the hate flowing from Passion Fruit, "Sure he's an idiot who makes bad decisions. He's reckless, and at one point nearly poisoned me, but he did save my life as well. I can't imagine the pain you must be going through over her death, but please, you're asking me to simply leave him here to die." 

```Passion Fruit doesn't move. “yes, I am.” she says simply, and pulls away, “Ruby, come along then. I have a body to get to a morgue.” she says, and starts leaving.```

```When Nightlight come to town, he is met by a Guard Wolf who after a small conversation, agrees to lead him out and back to the forest. Before he laves, he receives a few gifts from the townsfolk for his attitude towards them and aid he is thought to have given Ruby, in the form of a few odd Coins that seem to be smoothed Ruby with a gold insert in the middle, a Scarf of that red, spun ruby material, which both he and ruby would've noted feels like silk, and a Harmonica from an older stallion. he is then escorted through a few portals, and ends up back outside where they entered, though he notes Kettu is not around. He seems to be free to head home then.```

```Duster slams his hoof down. “dammit son I aint against having these folks put a bolt through you. 'he tried to break out, I had no choice, what could be done about it.' Easy as that, no one would bat an eye.” he says, staring daggers at Ruin.

“you and your friends are working for the enemy, an enemy whos butchers took my wife, and who knows how many others loved ones. Your actions caused this very town to almost be destroyed by debris from those islands ya'll made crash, and considerin you only have two unicorns and Ruby doesnt seem the type ot fuck up like that, im guessin that was you.” he gets up and walks over to the bars, though is smart enough not ot get within reaching distance.

“we follow our gods because they help us, gave us a purpose. I was a homeless alcoholic fore they found me. Many others were given better lives by them, and helping them fights almost always a request, never forced, unless the wars already on the doorsteps of where they find you. Even then, they dont force none to pick a side. Bolt Burn knew you for what you were. An enemy whos actions had put hundreds in danger, and who was trespassing on holy ground. You deserved whatever she tried to do to you.” ```

Ruby blinks and then nods, following after Passion quietly for the time being 

Night looks at the gifts he was given before stowing them in his saddlebags and heading back to town 

Basso pulled himself back up and followed Ruby and Passion back through the portal, head still hung low. There was nothing he could do, he couldn't fight them all himself, Nightlight is gone, and Ruby seems to have just accepted the situation. He failed, he had a job to do, and failed.

"WORKING FOR YOUR ENEMY, FUCK THAT! I CAME HERE TO RESCUE A GIRL WHO PUT HER LIFE ON THE LINE FOR ME WHEN I WAS IN DANGER! I WASN'T ABOUT TO LET SOME OVERZEALOUS MISINFORMED CUNT PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I COULD SAVE HER!" Ruin breathes heavily, catching his breath after that outburst "Those islands that shattered (huff) , I never meant for that to happen. I was just trying to save a friend there too. Nightlight, you met him. He came back for me while I was distracting that dragon for the others, but we got separated in the chaos of the fight. I thought that if I had a higher vantage point to look from, I could find him. Of course I fucked that up spectacularly too, what else is new?" Ruin sinks into the cot in the corner. "So, yeah, my bad. Just put that fucking bolt through me and you'll probably be doing them all a favour." 













```With a bit of sullenness, Passion leads Ruby and Basso back to town, and getting tow guards, one a unicorn mare, one some sorta six legged bear dude, she leads them to quite the cozy little home, small and sparsely decorated, but not bad at all. “well then Ruby, here we are. Feel free to explore, so long as your escorts accompany you. As for you, Basso, if you wish to return home, a Escort can be setup, otherwise you and ruby may fight over the bed, or another can be brought in.” she turns, without another word she leaves, Bolt still clutched tightly to her chest.```

```Leaf Duster scowls a bit. “Probably, but then others wouldn't git their satisfaction. You'll git whats coming, dont you worry.” with that, he leaves Ruin to stew. *“Damn fucking monster...”* Ruin hears from the desk a few moments later.```

"Right, your satisfaction. Sorry, I forgot that you lot seem to take pleasure in the deaths of others." Ruin snorts, "At least when I killed her it was self defence. You just want blood." "Who is really the monster here?" 

As the group entered the small home, Basso felt completely powerless he was leaving Ruin behind to rot in a cell and be executed by these people, and he couldn't do a thing about it. Head held low, he was ready to leave, until he heard Passion speak. His head popped up, eyes wide. "Thank you" he said softly, watching her leave. Looking back to Ruby he stared at her for a moment, unsure what to say, "Ruby, I uhh... good job saving the village." 

Ruby rubs the back of her neck "thanks I suppose. You should head back with NightLight though. No offense but I think he could use your help right now with getting everything smoothed out" she says, tapping his chest "if you're picking up what I'm putting down" 

"You can still save her..." Ruin whispers to himself on the cot.

"Yeah, yeah." Basso said, "I'll head back, be safe Ruby." Basso turned back to the guards and nodded to them, "I'm going to head back home, I'll need an escort." 

Ruby gives Basso a one armed hug and then settles into the house "be safe and swift" 

```Ruin is ignored, though he notices the diamond dog guard seems restless, and keeps looking between him and the odd but clearly ranged weapon in his hands. But before anything could happen, the guards are rotated out, and the new ones seem much calmer, though still very clearly do not like him.```

```With a nod, an escort is gotten for Basso. On his way out, a young little wolf pup thing comes up to him. “You dont seem to bad to me sir!” he says, and hands Basso a little Ruby statue in the shape of some wolf god, before running off to play with some other kids.

After a few portals, he ends up back in the jungle where they last were, and the two oval mirror portals behind him disappear.  But on his way home, he swears he hears Timber scream then her voice get cut out suddenly, but it might of just been a trick of his ears. The leaves on the wind as it were.```

```Upon returning, Basso, Nightlight, Silver rush, and Homily would each have met the odd stallion who hired them, who said he was disappointed, but a deal was a deal and would hand them their reward before sending them on their way.```



```As the artificial sunlight within this world was starting to set, Ruby would receive a knock on her door, and be met with an unknown creature, some sorta firey wolf female.

“Hello. Ruby was it? You have been invited partake in Bolt Burns Funeral, if you would feel up for honoring us with your presence there.” she asks kindly, even giving a small bow to Ruby. ```

Ruin lays on his cot, staring up at the ceiling "Hey Lars, if you're listening, try and make everything work out for the others, please? It's what we made you for, after all." 

Ruby perks up and then frowns softly "oh... oh uhh yes of course. It would be my honor to come with you" she says, stepping out to be next to the wolf 

``with a nod, Ruby is lead out and into town. As she followed the wolf, her two guards following behind, she gets a good look at the town. It was peaceful, well kept, a place clearly meant for families and friends to come together and live. 

However the mood above it, as she slowly melded into the forming crowd heading out to the open field to its left, was sullen, sad, and in a lot of ways, resentful.

As she took her place near the left middle edge, she was a large, massive mound of wood up ahead, set inside a large ceramic looking ceremonial plate thing, raised up, Bolt Burns body in what looked to be a dress of woven gold on a mound or Rubies ontop of it. From the raised platform above this, a few moment later once the crowd of mourning townsfolk had settled in, she saw Passion Fruit walk up the stairs and onto the platform along with what seemed to be a wolf made entirely out of energy.

One stood on either side of the stand, Passion to the left nearer to Ruby, the energy Wolf to the right, as they looked over the crowd, before both their eyes fell to Bolt Burn.

“Friends, Family. Today....Is not a good day.” the Wolf started out, his voice strong, deep, pained. “Today, a promising, bright pupil has been taken from us, a beloved friend and protector of our ways, at the young age of seventeen.”

Bowing his head a bit, Passion started to speak, her voice weak, tears in her eyes. “Bolt Burn died doing what she thought was right, fighting an enemy who would show no mercy, and petting the fires of passion and hope lead her to what she knew must be done....”

she bowed her head too, and then both spoke up, and the crowd did too, a chorus of voices speaking in unison. “though her flame, her spark is gone, it only serves to join with the light of the universe, to help protect and make all our lives brighter. We shall let her memory burn brightly within each of us, so she may never truly wither out....”```

Ruby was admittedly never one for formal occasions, and she is surprised that they came together so quickly to put one like this together. When she finds out the mare was just seventeen... not even an adult, the same age as Daybreak! She hung her head. She seriously hoped the gems would work, as its something that she had never actually seen before herself, and it was a longshit gamble






```After a long moment of silence,  Passion Fruit and the unknown Energy wolf creature look back up at Bolt Burn. In unison, they speak once again.“As is tradition, as is right, he body shall not be allowed to cool. For cold is a sign of being forgotten, of being forgotten. And she has not. we shall now let her body feel true warmth, fire burning, as we let it not sit with no spark, but let its ashes flow free in the winds.”

with that, Passions horn starts to glow brightly, and the energy making up the wolfs muzzle starts to glow too, as the aim down at the wood and Bolt Burns body.

“From fire we are born, to fire we shall return. May light shine on us all, in life, and death.”```

Ruby sees their magic start lighting up and gasps soflty, quickly covering her muzzle with her hoof. She frowns heavily and looks away as plan A literally burns down in front of her 

```With a bolt of fire from each of them, the body and rubies are struck, the magic stored in them causing them to burst, a chain reaction quickly setting the entire mound aflame, big and bright, as all the townsfolk watched in silence, only the cackling of fire to fill the void, both of noise, and of heart.

It would only be a bit longer, before the magic inside the massive bowl activated, lava filling it, the mound and all upon it slowly sinking, down down into the bright expanse, the air filled with heat and smoke.

In less then an our, it was over, the mound, Bolt Burn, gone, the lava slowly dissipating, and as both night and silence fell, the towns people slowly sulked away back home for the night, though Passion and the wolf stayed where they stood, staring down at the empty bowl, not even ashes left to sit.

“let us know when you are ready, missus Ruby.” the wolf speaks up. “Do not feel the need to wait on our leaders, I do not think they will be going home tonight...”```

Ruby is broken out of her silent meditation by the firey wolf and blinks, turning to face her "who is that?" she asks, pointing towards the wolf next to Passion. Without waiting for an answer though, she gets up. Despite everything happening, at least this was the only funeral today, perhaps due to their timely arrival and her lucky spell, and she would do her best to keep from seeing Ruin go the same way.

```”Carn, son of our species god, Vol. I am Marina, by the way.” she adds in, as she leads Ruby home.

“Well, thank you for your aid and willingness to listen to reason Ruby, I hope starting tomorrow....we may all start on better terms.....” she says, ears low as she leaves ruby to rest.

It had been a long day for everyone, but it was coming to an end. What would come next, though, was an execution in two days time. The clock ticked. It tocked. Somewhere, a mysterious stallion looked down at his pocket watch. He knew anothers time was coming to an end, another watch to be smashed soon. 

Tick tock.

And so a journey came to an end, for now, at least.```