"EQ game Quest- The Problem in the Mountains."
By klimino (https://pastebin.com/u/klimino)

URL: https://pastebin.com/TANbxKAQ
Created on: Saturday 1st of July 2017 05:09:57 AM CDT
Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 03:45:09 AM UTC


Daybreak 0/3
Homily Sermon 0/3
Gary Oak 0/3

Gary: Scale mail armor, cleaver, starter kit, shadow goggles that give limited nightvision with a purple tint, retractable telescope, and pocket watch.
Homily's inventory: Equestrian guard helmet Those special goggles Ornate spear Knife 30' of rope Two bandages Flint and steel Canteen full of water Crucifix.
Days Inventory: Starter Kit shit, 2 blue flame flint, 2 candles, 2 sandwhiches, a cleaver, 2 golden horshoes (1 makes you weigh half less, the other casts a light. not wearing but are in bag)


It was a cloudy but thus not unpleastant day in Outer Hayven, when the western gate would meet with an unusual visitor. A buffalo named 'He of Rocks' showed up, causing a bit of commotion when he started blaming the townsfolk for an parent madman who had been causing quite alot of trouble for his people towards the mountains. 

apparently "some lunatic with an enchanted cloak that keeps even the slightest part of his body always covered, save that long bread of his, is carving some sorta magic graffiti into things, that we cannot look at without our minds being assaulted." He also apparently asked to speak to 'one named The Ruin' but none knew who he was talking about, so he left, saying if the town would not help then they could expect no help from them if the need arose. 

Many townsfolk would hear about this, and from familiar odd details or just pure curiosity, they would find themselves drawn to the western gate.... 


Gary had heard about the buffalo that showed up to the western gate rather quickly. Guards tend to hear about these things quickly. He flew himself over to the gate and was already in his armor and had decided to use his cleaver today. When he landed, he saw that no one was there though "Well, heard there was a buffalo but sure don't see shit..." He said, looking around.
Gary would see a note hammered into the gate.
“Buffalo Nomads asking for assistance, Information spotty. Possibly just prankster. Any heading in that direction, please check it out and see if assistance may be given, thank you.”
-the Guards.

Homily had overheard talk of the buffalo that came to town from others while he wandered through town. It's the description of the runes and whoever was writing them had uneased Homily. This sounded too familiar to be a coincidence, and he needed to check things out for himself. After gathering some equipment from his house, he headed straight to the western gate, where he saw Gary already there. He greets the griffon as he approaches. "Hello Gary. You hear about what happened too?" 






Daybreak was out doing her routinely jog with several things on her mind thanks to last night's events. whatever they may be but her attention was called to the large buffalo who spoke of crazy rune carvings was being uttered about town. She had never seen one before, and it sure did sound interesting, so the mare would make her way to the meeting spot where they were supposed to gather at the western gate. A certain griffon was there as well as the preacher she would buy her marbles from. Seeing Gary caused a light flush on her cheeks but she would play it off by calling him a loser and shoving him out the way to read the note hammered on the gate. " A prankster, huh? Please, they can't be any better than me. " she smirked then looked to the stallion and griffon. 

Gary refused to make eye contact with Daybreak, coughing and bit. Thankfully his feathers were there to cover the blush this time "I, Uh... Yeah, heard about the little commotion that the buffalo made. The guards tend to hear about it when some crazy buffalo comes in and starts ranting about some things. Hopefully these runes aren't like the ones from the ruins though" He said, addressing Homily.

Homily replies to Gary, "I have a bad feeling they might be. Brought my goggles just in case." As Daybreak arrives, Homily looks between her and Gary tensely, but doesn't say anything on the matter.

She hears mention of other runes and raises an eyebrow, " Like the ones before? Is there something I should know about? " she sees Homily looking between him and gives him a light punch in the stallion's shoulder, " Tch, whatever, let's go take care of this. " 

Gary shook his head and sighed "The last time I saw those runes, there was that spirit. When she saved you, Homily... What if that thing that consumed her can come from any of these runes? Do we really want to face whatever the hell that thing was?" He asked concernedly, also making sure Day knew this wasn't a walk in the park.

Homily gives Daybreak a look for the punch, then turns to Gary. "That should have been an isolated case, but... I guess it's best not to rule out all possibilities. We should be careful."

" Spirits huh? Well, well...sounds spooky. " she started to smirk, but then recalled the last time she delt with spirits. Annoying flaming skulls that needed to be smashed was what they were to her. " Yea, I'm totally ready to do more than giggle at these ghosties. Bring it. " she said looking slightly angered. 

Homily looks back to Daybreak again. "You have experience with spirits as well?" 

Gary rolled his eyes and laughed. This was convenient then, everybody being experienced in dealing with the dead "Alright then, I guess we can go ahead and at least see what this is all about then. Hopefully that thing is confined to the ruins" Gary said, knowing they were probably going to be doing this no matter what.






" Just once when were were clearing out an area to make more room for the town. Flamming skulls that knocked me in near boiling hot water. Assholes. " she was still butthurt by the incident, " Heard they turned that place into a hot spring so who knows what happened to them. " she thinks to herself for a moment, "Don't know if it counts as a spirit or a demon but ran into some kind of succubus like creature too. Stay away from any goo like material. It takes your soul to a fake dream world. " she kind of chuckled a bit at that last part even though it was a sad moment for Southstone, the stallion who's perfect dream life she had to ruin to bring him out of it. " Yea, let's do it. " 

Gary quirked an eye at her, what she was saying actually getting him to look at her without being flustered "There are demons around here? Have they been purged? They've been purged from this place, right?"

Homily makes a mental note to stay away from the hot springs, and 'goo like material', whatever that meant. "Oh, alright then." Is all he says on the matter, as Gary has already asked the only question he would have.

" Er..." her ears lowered, " ...Not exactly. We were able to shoo off the one nearby town but..." she ran a hoof through her mane, " It turns out it's an entity that exists all over this world and has several if not hundreds of traps contained with others within as we speak. " she shivered at the thought, thinking about other lost souls trapped and forgotten right now as she spoke, " It's way too powerful for us to actually killed her. But enough about that, let's get going already!" she started bouncing in place and made a circle looking back at them, her hooves tapping at the dirt. 

Gary thought darkly on that. This demon needed to be killed, permanently. Maybe his patron could help...
"We'll deal with this... Demon" He spat the word "Later. Let's start to get a move on and see what this buffalo was on about"

Homily doesn't doesn't really know what to think of this demon. Sounds like for now all he can do is heed the warning. He gives a nod to Gary and says, "Right. Sitting here won't accomplish anything."


With the group formed and the conclusion to investigate made, they headed out, the jungle enveloping them as they went west towards the mountains and plains. 

It would take a few hours of trekking through the jungle before it broke way into the vast, open hilly plains, the mountains looming above them, separating their little jungle from the badlands on the other side.
[D20+ perception]
Homily, 8
Gary, 16
Day,19

While Homily was too distracted by the glory that was the vastly different terrain, the mountains quite majestic above them, Day and Gary are able to spot some brown shapes disappearing around a hill off to the left, the path towards them trampled a bit, as if a large number of big creatures had traveled that way together.

Day also thinks she sees something glint up in the mountains, but only for a moment.


Gary saw some brown shapes move quickly behind some of the hills to the group's left and saw the ground was kicked up "Guess those were the buffalo we're looking for" Gary gestured that way.

Homily tears his attention away from the mountains to look at Gary. "Hmm? You saw the buffalo?" 

She looked down at the tracks by them, making a mental note to herself before seeing something catch her attention up top, " Something's up there too. " she pointed to the mountains, " It glinted so take what you will of that. Could be an artifact....or a blade, heh. "

Gary shook his head and shrugged "They were brown shapes and from the looks of the ground, I'd say it was buffalo" Gary then turned to the mountain and squinted at it, trying to see anything, but couldn't, but he'd trust Daybreak's judgment on that "Well, we have two options then. Go after something shiny or follow the buffalo"

"You sure it isn't just water catching the sun, or something, Daybreak?" Homily asks. "Either way, I don't feel like mountain climbing when we don't have to. I vote go after the buffalo." 

" No, there was totally something up there! " she growled at Homily then suppressed herself. There's no need to be upset over little things, she was starting to learn, " Yea, let's check out the buffalo first. We can probably come back to it afterward. " she'd start moving ahead following the tracks. 

Gary nodded, "Right then, we'll go for the buffalo now and come back to it later, now let's get going" He said, starting to walk towards the hill.

"Alright, no need to be hostile, you know." Homily responds to Daybreak, before following after Gary. 

As they all go to follow the Buffalo tracks though, they eventually see signs of more disorganization, before the path seems to give signs of running, and then as they get to the top of a large hill, they find two tiger wolves dead by the path, and signs of other things fleeing from the path, and down below a little ways, a herd of maybe 30-45 buffalo are setting up Tents in a flatter part of the plains.

As they're walking, she glances back at the two of them for a moment. She wanted to say something but held it for later. Now wouldn't be the time. But that moment was enough for her to be surprised by the bodies, stopping suddenly. She sees the buffalo and starts to trot over to them, " There they are, Oi! Excuse me! " she'd call out to them.

Homily scans the area, eyes resting on the dead animals. "Hopefully those things didn't do too much damage to the buffalo." 

Gary squinted at the corpses, wondering if the buffalo took them down. If so, then they needed to be careful here, which is why Daybreak suddenly breaking off to say hi was a bit concerning "Day, remember the zebras! Be careful when dealing with tribals!"





As Day approaches the camp, two VERY large and angry looking buffalo step in front of her, heads and horns down blocking her path, noses huffing hot air into her face.

“What business do you have here that you would so pridefully waltz into our camp without permission, little filly?” they say sternly, looking at her like one might a child.


" But...they're the ones that needed our help right? " he was right, but she still wanted to pursue, " Stay here then and I'll talk to them in that case. If anything happens, you can high tail it out of her-" she cowers back at the voice not expecting it, " Oh! Yo! Er...ahem..." she bowed her head. That's what your supposed to do, right, " We heard you were having trouble with runes being scribbled everywhere so we came to help out. If you want help that is. One of your kind came to town asking.....sir. “

Gary facepalmed and sighed. This is why you be careful around tribals. He walked over to Day's side, as non-threateningly as possible "Right, there was a buffalo in our town not too long ago saying something about runes. We have some experience with runes, but we're hoping it's not the ones we know of" Gary offered

Homily was prepared to push his way to the front and wrestle the conversation from Daybreak when she said something stupidly aggressive, but surprisingly it seemed like she was being respectful, so he stayed back. 

The two Buffalo listen intently, and a long, disturbing pause follows, before one lifts his head, and slooowly leans towards Day, sniffing her a bit, before snorting in her face. “Wait here.” he says, looking all three of them in the eye for a moment, before turning and walking into the camp, the other one lifting his head and takes a big step to block off the path in with just himself.

Her ears perked up at the invasive sniffing and she had to resist the urge of just smacking the guy in the face. Instead, she let it happen with a bit of a scowl on her face and sighed in relief when he backed off. 

Gary's eyes were wide at how well Day managed to handle that "Wow, good thing you used your head for once, huh?" He elbowed her teasingly.

Homily looks back between Gary and Daybreak again. "Did something happen between you two? Every previous time I saw the two of you near each other, you were trying to tear each other's throats out."

She rolled her eyes and elbowed back at him although harder and less friendly, " Good thing you used your head for once. "she said in a lower pitched mocking tone, " Pssh, I bet I coulda taken him on..." she mumbled. Very quietly. She glares at Homily turning pink, " NO. NOTHING. " she stomped then cleared her throat, " Who says I won't? I still want that griffon rug... " she turns her back away from them after saying this, staring out at the buffalo.

Gary's face was flushed just a bit "She uh, she... Got her ass beat by me in a sparring match she challenged me to and we called it even" It wasn't a total lie... 
" I demand a rematch! " she says, still not looking at them, and grumbling things about this and that. 

Gary snickered and poked at her with his wing "You'd just pounded into the dirt again!" He egged her on.


The Buffalo was smirking at Day and Gary a bit, eyebrow raised. But then his companion came back ,so he stepped aside, revealing the one from earlier, and two strangers, one a bit smaller then the brutes currently there, and one a bit bigger, the beads and headress making him look important.

“I am Chief Break Necks, this is my son He of Rocks, you come because of his plead for assistance I hear?” the Chief says, looking the group over.


" That's what you think bucko..." she whispered then spoke to the buffalo who just approached them, " Yea, that's right. Nice name. " she glanced at the smaller one as well, "...Both of you. " she lied about the second part but didn't want to offend the younger one.

Gary gulped at the Chief's name. He probably got that name for a good reason "Uh, yeah, we heard that you guys may need some sort of assistance?" He offered sheepishly. This was a big buffalo that could trample him...


Homily sits queitly in the back, letting the others do the speaking. 


The Chief nods, patting the one still somewhat blocking the path on the back, who instantly moves off to the side, the other guard buffalo taking the opposite.

“Why thank you young one, we earn our names based on our greatest deeds to date. Come though, we can talk more in camp.” He says, taking a step aside a bit and motioning with his hoof towards the center, where already other buffalo were setting up what looked like a meeting area, including lunch!

Inside the camp would be impressively large, the tents much more advanced then simple T-huts, and they would note theres all sorta of specialized Tents, from Leatherworking and cooking, to, surprisingly, what looked like a mini portable gold smithy.

It was clear they had been nomads for quite a few generations.

“Come, eat, one cannot discuss business on empty stomachs.” The Chief says, leading them to the center area.

Gary nodded and followed along, eager at the prospect at food "I assume those beasts outside of camp are your tribe's doing? Do you guys get attacked by those things often out here?" 



Her tail wagged as she practically skipped at the idea of getting to eat. She wondered what kind of food they had, would it be exotic? Homestyle? Or more salads. She glanced at the shops nearby as well, wondering if she'd have time to snoop around those tents. " Yea, food sounds great! "

Homily follows the group, and takes a seat at the center area with the food. He spots a pile of cornbread amongst the feast, and selects one to eat. He takes a moment to take a bite of the cornbread and swallow, before saying, "Thank you for the food Chief Break Necks, it tastes excellent." 


Day stuffed her face with veggies. She didn't mind them, especially now developing more of a taste for them as a horse, but meat was still a thing she missed. But free food was free food and beggars can't be choosers. 

The center was full of food, Varieties of corn, and some other vegetables, Grilled and boiled, and a Stew with potatoes, carrots, and CORN.  Corn bread varieties, from normal to stuffed with all sorts of stuff. And....wait, that was not water....wine?

The Chief and his some sit opposite of them, watching with a warm smile, waving at the food. “Come, sit, enjoy.” he says, nodding.

The Chief nods to Gary. "Yes, the beasts of the plains will hunt any and all, but we manage to fight them off." 
[d20+perception]
Homily, 7
Gary, 10
Day, 13

As they dug in, Homily and Gary would be oblivious, though Gary did feel a bit offput by something.

Day though, would notice something odd....The Chief and his son, aswell as the others sitting down, were not eating, though their smiles weren't ungenuine looking or creepy, it did seem odd...

Gary just sat there and looked over the food, he had an uneasy feeling but he just chalked it up to there being no meat he guessed. None of the food really interested him since his new body was a mix of predators. But they were buffalo, so whatever.

Day's face was stuffed with food when she noticed and her chewing started to slow down. She gulped and put what she had in her hooves down suspiciously. " Well, I'm stuffed! Thanks for the meal. " 

Homily looks for something to wash the bread down with, but it seems they only had wine to drink. No matter, he brought a canteen for a reason. He retrieves the canteen from his bag, and takes a sip from the water within. 


The Chief nods at Day. “It is our pleasure. And now that the deal is struck, we may ask our payment for the food of you.” He gets much more serious. “I am not sure all you have heard, so I shall repeat the tale. There is a pony, or we think him to be a pony. Old, wise, but utterly insane, his cloak like moss, always covering every inch of him save his beard, no matter how he moves. He has been carving some strange, mind numbing symbols into scared places. At first, we did not react, thinking him a shaman, the symbols holy.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “But then he spoke, and our scout reports the words were like daggers into his mind. The next moment, an ancient statue carved from an even older boulder was gone. Vanished. We knew then, whatever he was, he must be dealt with. He had hoped the Town might better know what to do, us having never met such magic or creatures.”

He nods, standing up tall and proudly, looking down at the three. “As payment for the food eaten and pact made, we would ask you to deal with him, however you can, or see fit.”

Gary turned and glared at the buffalo, his feathers and hackles raising "Oh, that's just fucking rotten and you know it, tricking us into eating food to do some dangerous shit for you!" Gary angrily pointed at the Chief.


MANY large buffalo take a step towards Gary, but the Chief raises a hoof and they stop.
“Do you dare to imply, you come to my lands, to my village, and not only do not know our culture, but insult it too? We have traded with Equestria and many other nations for generations, our culture is not hidden from any.”


Well shit. is what the mare would think wiping her mouth. She'd smirk however, applauding them for their cleverness. Of course nothing was free, she of all people should know that. she patted her foreleg on Gary's shoulder, " Down boy, our fault for not being on guard. " with that, she goes ahead and takes another bite of food, glad it wasn't psychedelic poison, " So you want us to deal with him, huh? Alright we got this. "

Gary continued to glare at the buffalo, calming down just a tad at Daybreak's words "Maybe you've heard of the transients? People ripped from another world and stuck here in new bodies? We know nothing of your culture" He spat at him "But I suppose there's no way to get out of this without bloodshed, and I'm not going to try my chances here..." *He said reluctantly.

Whoop, there it is. Homily gives Gary a glare, as he quickly puts a hoof over his claw and tries to lower it. "I'm sorry Chief, my friends and I are not Equestrians, nor from anywhere near these lands originally. He had no way of knowing of your customs. However, we came here with the intent to help originally..." Homily looks back to Gary again as he says the last sentence with extra stress. "And would be happy to continue with that plan"

The Chief stares Gary down, but at Homilys words, turns, his face softening. “Never the less, the pact is made.” He nods to his son, who steps forward, simply all business. 

“The creature is currently Down south a good ways, at the bottom of the mountains....we do not know what he is doing...last our scouts said he was....setting up some sorta booth?” he shrugs, clearly not sure what else to say.


" Oh, one thing. While on our way up, there was something glinting up higher in the mountains. Any idea on what that could be? " 

He of Rocks shrugs, giving Day a small, friendly smirk. “Who knows? All sorts of things end up in the mountains, and all sorts of people. Maybe later, if you want, I can help you look if your interested and need a guide?”

Homily pulls his hoof back from Gary's arm. "Do you have any other information on the creature?" 

Gary glared at the buffalo and hissed. There may be no way out but his could be as angry and displeased as possible at the bastards, and when the chief's son said that he glared at the bastard and had a low growl coming from his throat "I'll see you two outside of camp where we came in!" He spat, and walked off, glaring at He of Rocks the whole time until he lifted off and flew off, actually wanting to get a look at the corpses of the beasts.

She leans over the table with a grin and offers a hoof-bump, " Deal, in turn, I owe you a favor. " she glanced back as the griffon stormed off and huffed. She'd go after him after she confirmed the deal with He of Rocks.

He of Rocks hoof bumps her, and raises an eyebrow at Gary. “Well, someone is upset.” he says, looking at Homily as Day runs off.”sadly we know little else. You should go, I think your friends having a...ah, temper problem?”

The camp wasn't that large and Gary quickly managed to fly over to the corpses. He landed and looked them over, but his anger was getting the better of him and he needed something to hit, and well... Suffice to say, the corpses were a tad more mangled when Gary was done with them, using them as an outlet for all the anger, his veins glowing ever so slightly.

The dead Tiger Wolves are now worthless, anything useful was smashed by Gary.

Homily nods. "That may be for the best. I apologize for his rudeness, and hope you will not think less of us for it."

She'd catch up with him and pause to watch him go at the bodies. The mare leaned against a rock behind, waiting until he was finished. When he was done, she trots up beside him, " Hey, y'alright? "

Gary turned and hissed at whoever was bothering him, but stopped when he saw it was Daybreak, but kept his glare "Oh yes, perfectly fine" He said, sarcastically. His claws and lower arms were now covered in a bit of blood, but nothing too bad, "Now where the hell is Homily? Let's get this bullshit deal over with"

Rocks chuckles, nodding to Homily.
“Oh, no issue.” he says, waving Homily off respectfully.

" Wait...before we go. " she reached into her saddlebag and took out the golden horseshoe from the zebra tribe. It was the light-up one. " Here. Take that."
" I meant to give it to you before but...I forgot. Stuff and things and whatever and just shuddup and take it. "

Homily gets to his hooves, and says, "Well, then I should be off. I will return when the creature has been taken care of." Before trotting off towards the others.

Gary stared at it, but after a second shook his head, now smiling Day at how flustered she got "I've got goggles that provide some night vision and I don't need to feel lighter, unlike you~" He teased her.

Homily arrives back at the site of the battle, where Gary and Daybreak are. "Alright, I think I smoothed things over pretty well. Are we ready to head out?" 

She growled, " Do I look like I care about that?! " she shoves it to him and it would drop if he didn't take it, " They match so I have one an--" she saw Homily coming and stepped away from the griffon nonchalantly. " Yea! Let's go. We have a hooded figure to take care of. "

Gary took the horseshoe, smirking "Aw, thanks Day!" He turned to Homily, lightly tapping her with his tail "Let's get this crap over with! I assume we're headed to the same mountain we saw on our way over?" Gary recovered quickly.

"Yes, the hooded figure is supposedly at the foot of the mountain." Homily replies. "And... try to be a little diplomatic when you meet him? I might know this guy, so I'd like to try talking things through first." He adds. 

Gary rolled his eyes "No promises" He said simply, starting to head off.

She starts to head down the mountain, again go ahead of the others so they couldn't see her face. " Yea, yea, diplomacy, whatever! " 


The Group then heads further south, the path only mildly laid out for them, the plains hills twisting and long, the mountains shadow long before them.

however after a good hour though, oddly, they would see a shape near the bottom of the mountain at a wooden booth, waving at them, though his cloak refused to reveal his hoof from under it even with the motion. 

Homily, for better or worse, would recognize this shape...

"It is him..." Homily mutters. He had almost forgotten about the hooded pony before the ordeal with the buffalo, and he still had no idea whether he was friendly or not. At least he didn't seem to want Homily dead, last time they'd met. He continues walking to the figure.

She sees Homily going ahead and lets him. He apparently knew this guy so he would probably be better suited to talk to him. 

Gary walked with them down to meet the pony, but since he's Gary he judged books by their cover, and kept at the ready 



As Homily got closer to the booth, he would see the sign above it says 'Life Advice, five blades of grass.' on it. As the hooded figure tapped his hooves on the booth, still like before only ever his beard showing.

Oooooh, he ho hee! I remember that face! The pastor of Earth, har har har!” he says, bobbing up and down.

His hooded visage turned to the other two. “And Gary the Miffed and Day the criminal I see! Odd companions, har!”

Gary stared at the madpony and rolled his eyes "A madman, woohoo..." He said dryly, but looked to his sign. He smirked and picked five blades of grass, putting them on the booth's counter "What mad riddle of wisdom will you be giving me?" 

Homily greets Cap'n Crunch. "Hello there. What are you doing around these parts? The buffalo don't really like the runes you've been setting up."

She squinted. This guy seemed vaugly, vaugley familar. Was he the weird dude from the totem incident? " Hi there...? " she said in question to herself as well.


The odd figure, in the blink of an eye, too quick to see, is suddenly around the booth, arm around Garys shoulder as he waves at the sky with the other, still none part of him being revealed.

“HAR! IF you wish to have love, stop being a 'faggot' as I have learned you humans love to say!” and then in another moment, he was back behind the stand, bobbing a bit before laughing as he turned to Day.

“Oh, I do think maybe you were there last time perhaps maybe so yes no so the game goes, har!” he jumps up on the stand dancing in a little circle as he then gets his hooded face real close to Homily.

“Yes, well, I dont care, HAR!” he says, jumping back behind the stand.

Gary glared at this nigga. Like, really glared. But his face soon cracked a smile and he started laughing lightly "You... I will kill you last. I was not expecting that from a pony" He said when he recovered.

Homily jumps back as the madman suddenly gets in his face. "Well, what do you care about? Why are you writing these runes here, of all places?"

She tries to keep up with his erratic movement and her cheeks puffed up. Yes, she remembered chasing after this fool with intent to beat his ass but ended up becoming tired out. She blinked. She's changed alot since then hasn't she? Her lashing out with bloodlust has calmed down over the time she was here. The mare sighed. I'm getting weak.

The figure Har Hars some more, and is suddenly on the other side again, patting Homily on the head, ruffing up his mane a bit. “Take a guess, Har! Or advice! Or you can look around, har!” He is suddenly next to the cliff edge next to his stand, and slamming a hoof into it, another stand falls down, this one with a sign says 'Tours, One emotion lost for eternity, or punch someones nose instead.'

Gary glared at Day. She'd probably be one to punch him for a tour, but he let Homily deal with the mad man.

Day already had her hoof raised looking at Gary.

Gary kept glaring at her and began to lightly shake his head, telling her not to.

She pouted and stomped her hoof down. 

"Alright, I'll take your advice, then." Homily uses his mouth to carefully pluck the five blades of grass, and lays the grass on the booth. 

Gary closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her but stopped when Homily made the deal, looking over and wondering what great advice he'd get.

The strange figure is suddenly next to Homily, arm around him as he waves at the mountain. 
“Many treasures you seek lie in and beyond that which you always see. But what you look for today, will never be answered if you think inside the box you put yourself into.”

Gary rolled his eyes "Oh, he gets a riddle and I just get called a faggot" He mumbled.

The figure is suddenly next to Gary, and pats his shoulder. “Its ok Gary, you'll learn to accept what you are and overcome it eventually.”

She giggled then trotted over to pick up ten blades of grass, ready to offer it to the crazy guy. 

Gary didn't move and thought he was probably talking about something else other than being a faggot. They usually weren't talking about obvious things.

Homily flinches at Cap'n Crunch being beside him once again, but at least he's getting used to the sudden appearances. He pauses to think on the riddle, but eventually decides it's just the rambling of a madman. "Huh. And what does the tour entail?"

She sets the ten blades of grass on the counter but would wait until he answered Homily. 

The figures suddenly behind the second stand, tapping on the top of it. 
“Ill show you round the mountain a bit! Theres a cave, a old stone building, a few statues, and a pack of hungry mountain goat-ish sorta things!”

he clears his throat “norefundsfoodforthegoatssoldseperatlynotliableforanyinjuriesdeathsorthosewhogetlost.”

He then zooms behind the advice counter, looking Day up and down. “Har! Ten and a pretty little youngling? Advice in full then!”

He is suddenly beside her, but actually lifts her off the ground a bit as he squeezes his arm around her, waving at the sky.

“Dont do drugs, your parents would be disappointed in who you have become, things like tomato paste work wonders in balloon projectiles, dickbutt is over rated, love is near you if you want it, you must be careful as you might be prone to selling your destiny to the highest bidder, the statues im getting rid of aren't statues be careful, poppy seeds make good drugs and grow naturally in these plains, and if you fear death dont travel to the volcanoes to the south.”

He then drops her, pats her head, and goes back behind the signs.

Gary had a look of pure confusion when the pony talked "Uhh, right. Everybody remember the little bits about the statues not being statues and some volcanoes to the south" He said, but had a small blush when he went through the info dump and the love thing.

Homily doesn't really listen to all the advice spouted at Daybreak, instead thinking on the awkward question of who was going to get punched for the tour.

She squeaked being picked up and shaken. The overflow of information along with being tossled mostly went over her head but she caught a few things before plopping to the ground. Were those stars and birdies she saw? She head her head, " Don't do dickbutt and parents dissapointed in balloons...Statues are in the volcanos and tomatos are my destiny....got it. "

“Har har har, well, if you little mortals are done, I have more ancient important cultural things to get rid of, Har!”

and with a slam of his fists, the stands disappeared and he was gone, though the plants rustling made it clear he went up the mountain.

Suddenly though, everyone would notice that on the wall next to the stands was a rune, forcing them to look away, though they would note it was slowly glowing.

Homily grabs the goggles from his saddlebags, and straps them on so he can decipher the rune. 

Gary looked away from the damn thing and didn't look back "Alrighty Homily, you have fun looking at it!" 

After recovering from the slight dizziness she looks and sees the weird guy is gone. She stood up and shook the dirt from her body. She got a glance at the rune but had to look away. 

The rune says “Hello! And if this is read with goggles on, explode into confetti”
The rune then explodes, it and a part of the cliff turning into confetti.

Hearing the pop of the explosion, she turns back around to see falling confetti. She didn't know what happened so assumed Homily somehow made it explode. She bounded over to him, " Dude! How'd you do that?! Can you do that with all the runes? " she poked at the goggles on his face.



Homily has a split second to stare confusedly at the rune before it bursts into confetti. When it does, Homily jumps back in surprise. He puts the goggles down around his neck, and turns to Gary and Daybreak. "It uh, it said hello, and that it would turn to confetti if read through goggles."

Gary jumped in shock when the rune exploded and had his cleaver out right away, but calmed himself down when he saw it was only confetti and shook off the confetti that landed on him and spat some out that got into his mouth "This is turning really stupid..."

"No, the rune did that on it's own, Daybreak." Homily clarifies.

" No exploding confetti goggles? Laaame! " she then looked to the both of them, " Sooo, we gotta find something about the statues. That werid guy said he was getting rid of them. You think if we do, he'll stop with the rune carvings? "

"Possibly? He also mentioned using the poppy seeds here to make drugs though, so I wouldn't take anything he says at face value."

" Well got any better ideas of where to start? There's a cave, a stone building and...something about hungry mountain goats."

Gary mulled it over in head head, trying to decide what would be easiest "Maybe try the cave first? We need to find these places first..."

" To the cave then! " she starts to gallop away then comes to screeching stop, " Err...which way again? " 

"Maybe we ought to just head up the mountain, and see what we encounter first?" Homily suggests. 

"I can fly higher up and maybe spot something" Gary offered 

Homily shrugs. "Sounds good to me." 

Gary set his bags and unstrapped his cleaver, wanting to be as light as possible but not wanting to deal with getting his armor off "Alright, see you guys in a minute then!" Gary then lifted off, gaining altitude as quickly as he could and looking over the mountain, hoping to spot something 

Gary flies up high, and while the Mountain is sparser of vegetation, it is a rocky, winding area, with only so much visible from one angle....
[d20+Perception+2 for flying]
Gary, 7

Homily gives Gary a wave as he takes off.

Gary is able to spot a clear enough path up the mountain, whether naturally formed or made from use he wouldn't know how to tell. Up further it seems to split, going towards a more flat area full of trees, while the right path seems to head off and upwards towards a sharp bend.

Day plops down and watches him go up. She looks over at Homily, " ....So...how's that church you're building?"

"Well uh, I broke a hundred gold bits recently!" Homily says excitedly. "Not sure how much I need in total for materials, but that's gotta be a milestone of some sort, right?"

" I guess so. Just keep selling those things and I'm sure you'll make it in no time. " She would give him a thumbs up if she could. But alas, hooves.

"Yep. Still got a bunch of gems, just looking for something to sell alongside them. Get some variety."

Gary tries to look around some more, hoping to see anything else up there in the mountain, possibly even the shiny object from earlier?


Gary sees little else, both path viable, though the right one seems more dangero-
-wait, did he see something move over there? He cant tell for sure.....

Gary's head snaps in the direction of whatever moved and he immediately flies in to get a better look. He wanted no surprises for when they came up here later.

She scoots over a bit more, " Hey, you're a preacher. Why not sell holy water? There's been some crazy evil things around here I'm sure that's bound to work on something. " 

"Holy water?" Homily echoes. "I guess I could. Never thought about that. You really think people would pay for holy water?" 

" Or maybe blessed items? Like...I dunno...a stick? Or a blade! " she stands up, " Like a sword or armor. " she gets up on her hindlegs and imitates a knight, " Paladins of the church and all that stuff! And if it doesn't work..." she gets back down on all fours again and whispers, " You can always say that their faith wasn't strong enough. " she snickers. Of course she would try to scame people, but if such a thing did work it could be very profitable for the stallion. 


Gary realizes the path is still a bit away and up the mountain, but from what he can tell a bit from getting closer so far is it looks like it splits a bit again around the bend, one continuing up, and another slowly going down, but he cant yet see to where....

Gary shakes his head. Best not to go further and get this on with. He tucks his wings and starts to dive back towards the group, opening them again at a safe distance and gliding down towards the group, landing "Looks like there's a path that leads us up there and splits. We go right at the split, we hit a sort of clearing full of trees, we take a left, we go around a sharp bend on the mountains, but I couldn't see where it went."

Homily snorts at her imitation. "Yeah, I'll think about it." When Gary comes back down, Homily turns to face him. "Alright. We gonna go left or right when we get there?"

" If you can't decide, flip a coin. " 

"Well, we did say we'd go for the cave first and I can only see the cave being in that clearing instead of the ruins, so let's get going," He started to move out but turned to say one more thing "And be careful up there, I thought saw something moving but don't know what"

She trots up beside him to follow, " It's probably just that crazy guy again. Or maybe those goats. " 

Homily nods. "Sounds like a plan. I'll make sure to look out while I'm up there." 


The group starts their climb up the rocky mountain, coming to a bend, they go left towards the clearing and trees, a sudden change from the sparse vegetation of the rest of the mountain, and near treeless plains.

As they enter into the little clove of trees and grass, they make a good ways into the oddly peaceful little place, until they come around a bend in the cliffside and come across what looks to have once been a large watchtower and little garrison village, now all crumbling and decaying, time having sent the top half of the tower downwards into itself, the four stone building roofs having long since caved.

They see what was the remnants of a stone path leading off around another bend on the open drop the Tower is next to, but could ignore the little side area to stay closer to the mountain and keep going along their current path.

Gary glared at the ruins "Well, fuck me, guess I was wrong"

"Stone buildings got mentioned anyways, we're still on the right path. If there is a right path. Shall we check out the buildings?" Homily asks, scanning the village. 

She takes an interest in the old homes around the area, stepping up to one of them and tries to get a look inside from either a doorway or a window without actually going in, " I wonder who lived here before. And where they are now. "

Gary got a feeling of unease at the place "Come on, let's not linger here. From what I've seen those runes usually have spirits around..." 

From what Day can see, it seems the homes were made for Minotaurs, though the collapsed roof inside, aswell as other things decayed by time, leaves little to see...at least in the first house.

Her ears twitch up and down at the little things she notices, " Okaay..." she calls out in response to Gary but keeps her attention on the houses hopping over to another one, " But think about it. There was a whole society here that's now...not. It's kinda cool. " she checks out another house, " You think we can come back and try to restore it? I mean I probably won't but..."

 [d20+perception Day]
Day,12

"There aren't runes here that we've seen. If you think we ought to move on though, I don't mind." 

Gary sighed and shook his head "I suppose we could take a bit to see what's in these houses...If there's no runes, then maybe yeah, there might be no spirits" 

Day doesn't spot much, until she does. In the far, cutoff corner of the last house, is what looks like a chest carved of stone with an iron lock! Though part of the roof is now on top of it....

The greedy mare skipped over into house, " Hey! There's a chest in here! " once inside, she'd look up at the caving roof and careful not to jump around too hard or too much. When she got to the chest, she'd get a better look at it to see if it was possible to lift the part of the roof off of it. After that, she'd see if there was a key anywhere or within the house. 


Most of the roof has already collapsed, making moving around inside difficult, and they would be lucky if all three together could lift the roof off of it, though not impossible...

From what little she can explore, she finds no key.

Gary walked over to the house and peered in "You guys want to try and clear it for the chest?"

Homily trots into the house Daybreak called from, and spots the chest. Along with the section of roof on top of the chest. "Think we could even get it open? That looks pretty heavy."

She nods then looks to Homily, " We can try, but we'll have to do it together. " 

Gary rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue "Friendship is magic, isn't it?" He said in a sarcastic and high pitched voice, moving over to help lift the debris "Don't worry, Homily, I'm sure with how old it is we can knock the lock off" 

"Okay, let's do this." Homily joins Gary by the debris, ready to help lift. 

She pouts at his little comment and just grumbled, taking her place to help lift.

[everyone, d10-2+strength, rolls will be added together]
[need at least a 17+]
Homily,re-roll,4
1/3
Day,6
Gary,7
Total= 17, success

With much strain and grunts, the group, barely, gets the roof out of the way, or well, moves it enough for gravity to do the rest, sending up a lot of dust and nearly hitting Homily with debris.

The chest is now accessible however! The lock on it sadly is that strange black metal, which shows no signs of aging.

Homily coughs a few times as the smoke clears, and waves a hoof in front of his face. Once it's settled a bit, Homily asks, "So, I assume we don't have the key?"

" Whew! We got it out but..." she leans down looking at the lock. " Anyone have anything small to pick this with? Unless it's a magical lock then that would suck. " she sits on her haunches and raises both of her forelegs up, " Open sesame!”

Gary waves the dust away, coughing a bit and moving over to the chest to look at the lock "Does even look aged, but maybe..." Gary pulls out his cleaver "Maybe this could cut through it?" Gary offered and chuckled when Day tried to do that though "Or we could just say magic words at it?" 

The chest remains still at Days words. If it was alive, it would not be amused.

"I brought a knife, if that helps. Don't own anything else that could work in such a way. Or if a knife even would." Homily replies to Daybreak. "Actually, do you even know how to pick a lock?" He adds.

She tilts her head back and looks up at the griffon, " Yea, you can try that. If that doesn't work, we can leave it here for now after checking out the tower and everything else, we can come back. " she looks to Homily as she gets up and out the way, " Used to back on earth. Had to break in a few place, bike locks, lockers and such. Wasn't the best at it, that was Lockhart's specialty but I dabbled. As a horse though...with my mouth would be the best way to try like this..."

Gary got into a ready position, hefting up his cleaver and chopping at the lock

[Gary, d20-5+strength]
Gary, 6

Homily sends Daybreak a disapproving look. "You weren't stealing from those lockers, were you?" 

Gary makes little to no progress, his arms feeling the vibrations hard. Even the stone is still only chipping, the lock itself showing little to no actual damage.

She smiles, " Sometimes we took something, sometimes we'd leave something. " 

Gary glared at the lock and then at the chest. Should he smash it open then? Sure!
Well, better ask them first "Should I just smash it open?"

The look turns into a glare. "Well, you better not be doing that in town."
Homily looks away from Daybreak, to answer Gary's question. "If you think that would work, I have nothing against it."

" Of course not! " she bats her eyes at Homily, trying to look as innocent as possible. She holds a hoof up to Gary, " Hold it. Don't waste your energy, we can come back for it later. "

"Ugh, fine. Let's move on to the ruins then" Gary said, giving one last glare at the chest.



As the group approaches the Tower ruins, the come across a minor problem.
The bottom section had no windows, and the door was up a bit, the stairs once leading up to it long rotted away... But still looks accessible, if they found something to stand on perhaps...

Homily eyes the door a bit, before asking, "Hey Gary, think you could open that while flying?" 

Gary was all too happy to agree and flew up to open the door, grinning at being so useful on this quest.

Gary feels the door basically rot away under his grip, forcing him to accidentally brutally destroy it to look inside.

Its a pretty big mess inside.....

Day spots a whole lot of nothing thats helpful.
[Gary, d20+perception]
Gary, re-roll, 6
1/3

Gary spots a crate or two smashed below, rusted something or the others sticking up, but not much else. Looks dangerous as fuck to be in though.

That is, until hes looking away, but spots a old, aged bone of a hand under a beam off to the side...

Gary is shocked to see the bone and moves over to investigate but quickly stops himself and calls out to the others "Hey, there's something up here I'm gonna take a look at real quick!" He calls out and continues.

"Alright, be careful up there!" Homily shouts back to Gary. 

[Gary, d20+flight or Dex, 12+ success, 4- Crit fail]
Gary, 9 fail

As Gary goes in though, he accidentally brushes an older beam, and the entire building creaks, and something sound like its cracking slightly, though the noise stops after a moment.

Hes still a good bit from the bone.

"Shit!" Gary says in panic at hearing the creaking. Gotta be way more careful in here... "That damn hand probably has something important" He mutters and continues on

Daybreak stares up at the tower and shouts out, " You didn't die did you? "
Gary calls back out "Something just creaked in here but I'm fine!" He called back to the muffled voice.

[same roll]
Gary, re-roll, 7
2/3

Homily sits down on his haunches. Hopefully Gary won't be too much longer... 
Gary gets deeper in, but the tight are is just not for his forte, and he hits something again.

THIS TIME though something gives a bit, the entire thing dropping a good few inches and sending up a lot of dust and noise....but after a moment it calms down again. Sadly this still makes the place just that much harder to navigate into.....or out of....

Homily starts at the sudden noise. "You good up there?" He call to the tower.

Gary starts coughing violently at the sudden dust in his lungs and really starts to get worried at the things dropping and sudden tightness. Not worth it "Yeah, I'm coming out!" He hollers and starts making his way out.

"What did you see up there?" Homily asks as Gary leaves the tower. 

She sees him coming down stands back up, " So what's up? You okay there? " 

Gary makes his way out, covered in dust.

Gary is still coughing slightly from the dust "There was a skeletal hand up there that I tried to get to. Space is really tight and I accidentally bumped into some old supports and it sent some stuff down. Too tight for me to get anywhere" Gary says and shakes off as much dust as he can.

She tries to pat some of the dust off of him, " Skeleton? Like a minotaur? Pony? " she looks up at the tower, " You think you can fly us up in there? " 

"Ah, a shame. We wanna head elsewhere, then?" Homily casts a quick glance to Daybreak as she speaks up. "Or that, I guess."

Gary smiled and floofed up his wings at the patting to get some more dust out, but frowned at the suggestion "It's really dangerous up there and if you hit any of the supports, the whole place could come down. Do you really wanna risk it?" He looked at her, concerned.

he continued looking up, " ....Well, I want to at least try. No guts no glory they say, right? " she grins. 

Gary clicked his beak and mulled it over, reluctance on his face before deciding on a compromise "I can fly you up, but I'll stay nearby to get you out of there if shit goes south, I guess" Gary nodded.

" Deal. " she goes through her bag and puts on the horseshoes. Something that hopefully should be easy to do, idfk if people want to go realistic with wearing horse shoes or cartoon mode should make her easier to carry, knocking off half her weight. 

Gary knelt down to give her better access to his back "Alright, hop up" 

She climbs on and wraps her forelegs around his neck. " Ready, take me up! " she looks back to Homily, " Brb! "

Homily wishes Daybreak a quick, "Good luck." Before she enters the tower. 

Gary flies them up slowly because it feels awkward as fuck having her on his back and try to flap his wings at the same time, but gets them in the door and a bit further in, stopping before the debris gets too tight "Alright, it's just over there," He points towards the skeletal hand "Just be extremely careful. Fuck up and I'll be right here to try and pull you out"


As Day enters, dropping down to the floor a bit under the doorframe now, she spots the crushed crates below, aswell as the old hand under the pillar. It really has collapsed into a cramped, shakey area.

[D20+dex, 12+ success, 5- crit fail]
Day, re-roll, 14, success
1/3

She carefully steps off of him and gets in. " Got it. " seeing the prized hand, she makes her way to it, doing her best to try and not fuck this up. 

Gary watches intently, a horrible tightness in his chest as he watches her go in "Please stay safe..." He whispered to himself, idly shifting on his legs out of nervousness. He shouldn't have done this! 

Day stretches and tip hooves her way over to the bone hand like a boneless cat, and looking it over, finds a journal off to the side, but out of sight from further way, one of the hands fingers resting atop it....

She calls out the window, " I'm here! There's a journal! Hand looks like it belongs to a cat creature! " she goes for the journal.

Gary calls out to Day "Grab it and get back here quickly!" He yells.

" I am! I am! Hold your horses! " she grabs it and the boney hand if possible. If not she would leave it and head back to where Gary was.

Day skillfully gets back to the entrance, Journal and bond hand in hoof.

Gary quickly wraps in her in a bone crushing hug for a second and lets go "Alright, just hop up and we'll get out!" 

She would blush, but instead lets out a strained grunt from being held so tightly. She was able to breathe again when he let go and got back on his back. 

Gary quickly jumped out the door and glided his way down to the ground to rejoin Homily.

Homily gets back to his hooves as the two leave the tower. "So, you got a journal?" 

" Yea, here! " she hoofs it over to Homily then hops off of Gary, but not before giving him a ruffle of his feathers on his head and a grin. 

Homily grabs the journal and pops it open to the first page, eager to see if anything of interest was contained within.

Homily finds its in another language, thankfully not the first, though his mind somehow connects this is an evolution of it.

Homily frowns. Of course it wouldn't be in english, that would be too easy. "It's written in a different language. Can't read a word of it."

She couldn't help but giggle then leaned over Homily's shoulder to see what's in it. " That's....not english. Of course it's not english....any pictures on the pages? "

"Oh! Good thinking, Daybreak." Homily flips through the pages, looking for any pictures. 

actually, there were! While faded, it was clear they had quite the artists, though all the pictures seem to be of plants and animals....and their organs and anatomy....it appears to be someones research journal.

"Huh, Bayou might appreciate this." Homily looks up from the book to Daybreak and Gary. "Either of you two want to hold onto it, or should I carry it?"

" Ohh, that's neat...you think this belonged to a doctor? "

Gary finished glaring at Day for embarrassing him and turned to Homily, shaking his head "You hold onto it"

" Yea, you're the nerd of this group, you take it. "

"Possibly. Could just be someone who was interested in this stuff."
Homily mutters, "I'm not a nerd..." Under his breath, and drops the journal into his saddlebags.

"Alrighty then, where to now? Take the path leading out of the town or head back to the main path and try the other way?" He questioned

"We're all the way out here, I say we might as well continue on." Homily replies.

" Sounds good to me. I'll go where ever you guys end up. " she takes the bone hand and uses it to point in the direction they would be heading, " Onward men! "

Gary facepalmed "I can already see you're going to be using that hand for some stupid shit..." 

Homily blanches as he just now notices the hand. "Did... did you really take that?"

She only smiled at both of them as a response and then started marching goose step style, down the path in a rythm. After a bit she'd start chanting as they went, " A yellow bird. With a yellow bill. " march. march. march. " Sat upon. My window sill. "
" I lured him in. With a crust of bread. And then I smashed his..." she jumps and skips in her little march, "Fucking head!" she chuckled.

Homily sighs. Daybreak needed to learn some respect for the dead. Regardless, he follows along behind her. 

Gary widened his eyes in response, sputtering "That's a Marine Corps cadence from back on Earth! How do you know it?!" 


As they follow the over grown stone path around the bend, they walk along a path leading up and into the mountain a bit, before after a bit coming to a raised section Three carved statures on a circle of rounded stones about the size of a head.

 They are very stylized and clearly not meant to be realistic, though one can tell the one to the left is of a Minotaur, sitting and holding onto his knees, the one to the right is of a Buffalo sitting down and singing, and the one in the middle is of an Arabian mare sitting and simply smiling at those who climb up. There was no other path, only cliffs surrounding the circle here, oddly with some signs of this being intentionally made to be so.

"The statues are not statues..." Homily remembers aloud.

" Hm? My dad taught it to me and my brother, is that where that's from? Makes sense..." once they got to the statues she slowed down, agreeing with Homily, " Yea...I remember that part..." 

Gary smiled and was singing the old cadence in his mind but stopped when he saw the statues. He looked closely at the statue of the mare "Hey, Homily, ain't that the mare from the ruins?" He asked.

"I don't think so, probably just a generic statue." Homily continues walking forward, though much more cautiously. 

" This some kinda ritual casting thingie? " she'd say walking over to the statue of the mare in particular. 

Gary flew up and stared at the face of the Minotaur's statue. They aren't really statues...? He went up and knocked on it's forehead. Probably wouldn't do anything...


As the group enters into the circle though, they hear a familiar voice behind them.

“Whoops, har! Too late now, thought id get ere first har! good luck getting out then!” Before they can even turn though, they catch the blur of the hooded figure leaving.

At first, they have no idea what that means...then all the rocks making the circle glow for a second, aswell as the statues eyes...but only for a moment.

Her ears lowered as she steps back away from the mare statue some, " Uhm...you guys saw that right? " 

Gary skwaked in surprise, jumping back and quickly rejoining the others on the ground "What in the hell happened?!" 

" What did he mean by good luck getting out? " she'd try to walk over the rocks and out of the circle. 

When she does, she would ram snout first into what appears to be a force field, the area she touches vibrating blue waves for a second...and the statues eyes glowing for a moment...

Homily's eyes widen. "Time to go!" He yells, and turns around to take off back the way they came. 

" Ow! Fug! " she reels back and rubs her snout, " HOMILY WAIT! "

Homily would run full speed into this force too.

She winces when he runs into it. 

Gary looks at them in concern "You both alright?" 

Homily lets out a yelp and falls backwards. He frantically scrambles back up to his hooves and looks to see if the statues are doing anything. "I'm fine, but we're trapped!" Homily call to Gary without looking at him. 

" Yea, fine. Crap. " she looks to the statues, " Everyone, to a statue each. Try to see if you can find anything on them that may give a hint. Ingraving, a button, something! " she goes back to the statue of the mare to look it over. 

Gary nods and flies back over to the head of the minotaur. He saw it's eyes light up, so maybe that had something to do with it... 

Homily carefully trots up to the final statue, drawing his spear as he appraoched. He realized it probably wouldn't do anything to the statue, but it felt reassuring to hold. 

[d20+perception+knowledge]
Homily,3
Gary,5
Day,4

Like blind chickens the panicking party looks over the statues, but hardly find anything, Homily accidentally bumps the force field for a prolonged time, and his statues eyes glow bright, and its head begins to turn, before they all hear a voice from it.

“None may leave without facing three, or giving offerings to three.” before it returns to its original location as he steps away from the field.

Gary jumps at the voice and quickly rejoins the other two, drawing his cleaver "Who the hell is there?!" 

Homily jumps back from the statue. "Offerings? What kind of offerings?" 

" Facing three....or giving offering...." she goes through her saddlebag, trying to find something, anything of use. 

Homily and Gary get no answer. 

"....I have two sandwiches! " she calls out to them, " Would that work or..." 

at the mention of the sandwiches though, the mare statues eyes glow, and it looks at Day. “For three, not for two.” Before returning to normal.

" Well shit. You guys got anything? " 

"They... want food?" Homily asks, confusion tingeing his voice. 
Homily turns to Daybreak. "No, I don't bring food with me on trips like this." 

Gary scrunched up his face "It wants fucking sandwiches?" He looked through his bags for anything he could use. He had brought his starter kit... "Do you guys want some rope too perhaps?"

" I think they just want an offering of some kind Homily. Hmm....What about facing three? What does that consist of? " 

At the mention of Facing three, all three statues eyes light up fully, becoming blue flames after a moment.

“Facing three has been acknowledge. The Fight begins.” all three statues are suddenly very fluidly animated, as they start closing in on the three...

Gary starts to panic "Day, WHY?!"

" Uuuhh! That's not what I meant! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! "
" Uhm! ACCESS DENIED. RETECT. UHM. OFFERING OF THREE PLEASE! " 

And just as he had calmed down a bit, too. Homily's eyes spring back wide again, and the spear goes from his hoof to his mouth.
 The statues only look angry at Days words. “You did not have for three, and asked to face three! You shall not mock us as three!” and like that, one goes after each of them!

The Minotaur swings a fist at Gary, The mare tries to squish Day, and the Buffalo charges at Homily!

" Mistakes were made...." she gulps and rushes out of the way from being crushed. 

Homily tries to jump out of the statues way. 

Gary raises his cleaver, but still shies away, deciding to jump instead.

[Day, d20+Dex, 7+ pass, 11+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Homily, d20+Dex, 6+ pass, 11+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Gary, d20+Dex, 7+ pass, 11+ success, 3- crit fail]
Day, 13, success
Homily,re-roll, 15, success
Gary, 17, success
1/3
2/3
2/3

All three easily dodge their incoming attack, but its Homily who sees something interesting. As the Buffalo hits the field, the rocks making it pop up a bit, the blue waves not showing up under them!

However the three have no time to rest, their opponents going at them again. Garys tries to splat him on the ground, Days tries to whip her with its mane, and Homilys pokes at him with its horn!

Gary attempts to take off and dodge again "Come on, we dindu nuffin!" 

Day tries hoping up over the stone mane coming toward her, and if successful, would try to jump onto it!

Homily moves to dodge again, but this time also brings his spear to bear. After the dodge, he would try to poke back. 

[Gary, d20+flight, 7+ pass, 12+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Day, d20+Dex, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Homily, d20+Dex, 6+ pass, 13+ success, 4- crit fail]
Gary, re-roll, 19, success
3/3
Day, 11, pass
1/3
Homily,20, success
2/3





Gary dodged the incoming splatter attempt, easily getting into the air and away from the thing, though he had little room to fly upwards.

Meanwhile Homily expertly sidesteps the horn jabs, before lunging into it with his spear point, hitting inside its eye, making the thing jump back, bits of rock falling back and the flame in it going a bit dimmer. He also sees one of the three Gems on his weapon light up, glowing softly.

Day is able to Jump over the incoming mane, but misjudges its speed, unable to grab hold of it as it goes by!


" Can we even cause damage to these things? " she pants, after landing back down on the ground with a skid. 

Homily eyes drift to the gem on his weapon momentarily, but he has no time to think about it now! He presses the attack, thrusting forward with the spear. 

Gary flew side to side, taunting the statue "Come on, ya slow bastard!" Gary laughed and then noticed the others. They were holding their own for now and getting their own hits in. They would be fine for now, he was sure. Gary narrowed his eyes at the Minotaur, going for it's own eyes

Homily hears Daybreak's question, but is unable to respond due to the spear in his mouth.

Day would try and jump up on the statue when it lowered herself again

[Homily, d20+melee, 8+ pass, 13+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Gary,  d20+melee or Flight, 8+ pass, 15+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Day, d20+Dex, 7+ pass, 13+ success, 4- crit fail]
Homily,re-roll,14, success
3/3
Day,19, success
1/3
Gary, 11, pass

Homily is able to keep up the pace of the incoming horns, getting another hit into its eye socket, causing it to dim a bit more, however this makes it mad and it lowers its head, charging at him point blank!

Meanwhile Day hip hops like a frog over an incoming headbutt, the ground vibrating with the force of the statue hitting it, but Day lands on its head with grace, as the thing looks around, confused on where she is!

Gary is able to swoop in, slashing at the Minotaur, but only gets a light cut into its stoney head, which leaves a mark but doesn't dim its eyes.


Oh dear, Homily tries to dodge again! 

Gary cheers at his small victory, shouting "Come on then, fat ass!" But then he notices the statue going after Homily and quickly tries to fly over to buffalo statue and get it's attention.

" Whoa! Slow down! This is probably my best mount yet! " she tries to use the stone mane as areas to climb on before resting herself on the snout of the mare. " My grandma, what pretty eyes you have! " she'd take out her cleaver and slash at the eye. 

[Gary, d20+ Cha, 9+ pass, 14+ success]
[Homily, only roll if Gary gets below a success, add +2 though if he gets a pass]
[Homily, d20+Dex, 9+ pass, 15+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Day, d20+strength, 10+ pass, 15+ success, 5- crit fail]
Gary, 13, pass
Homily,11, pass
Day,re-roll, 19, success
2/3

Gary is able to yell enough for the thing to turn its head up at him, but not to stop its charge. This is enough for Homily to get an advantage in rolling away, but as the thing slams into the force field, knocking the rocks up again like last time, and the shock wave knocks Homily off his feet a bit.

Meanwhile Day is able to cling on and climb her way ot the front, the thing jumping in surprise, before it gets a cleaver across its eyes!

It shakes like mad, both eyes dimming heavily, but not out!

Meanwhile the Buffalo and Minotaur are working together now ot tr and force Homily and Gary in between them!

Gary flies up again, heavily panting and his heart beating like drums, trying to lead them away and strike at the buffalo again to get it's attention, aiming to bring them away from Homily.

Daybreak would grin and hold on as the mare shakes. yes. yes. This was fun. This was what she needed to do. She grins and goes for another swing, this time at the other eye. 

Homily tries to ragain his balance, and put the spear back to that buffalo while it's not charging. 

[Gary, d20+flight or melee, 8+ pass, 15+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Homily, d20-1+melee, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Day, d20+strength, 8+ pass, 16+ success, 4- crit fail]
Gary,5, fail
Homily,13, pass
Day,re-roll failed, 2, crit fail.


Homily is able to get to his feet and jab with the spear, but only scratches the Buffalos cheek and keeps it at bay!

Meanwhile Gary frowns as neither enemy goes for him, the Minotaur using the distraction of the buffalo to charge at Homily, fist going in for a blow to his back!

Day tries to hold on to the statue mare, but her shaking is too much, and she does flying, hitting the force field and sliding down it, the breath getting knocked out of her hard, as the Arabian statue charges at her!


She can't get her grip and before she knows it, there was a slap of pain hitting her back. As she slid down she tried to remember how to breath again, coughing and sputtering some. Her vision is fuzy for a moment, but something was coming toward her, she had to act fact and do a dodge roll out the way!

Gary didn't even look back, already intending to go for the mare now, but when he saw it fling Day and her hit the force field, sliding down it and the mare statue getting ready to charge her, Gary's eyes widened and his chest tightened. No. No! He quickly grew angry and charged the mare's eye, hoping to strike the bitch hard.

Homily has a second to register that all three gems are lit. Huh. And then he registers a fist coming down at him. With not a lot of time to do much else, he twists his head sideways in the hopes the poke from the spear will ward the fist away before it comes down on him completely.

[Gary, d20+flight, 8+ pass, 16+ success, 2- crit fail]
[Day, only roll if Gary gets below a success, but +2 on pass]
[Day, d20-2+Dex, 10+ pass, 16+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Homily, d20-1+melee, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
Gary, 20, success
Day,12, didn't need to roll though lol.
Homily,6, fail

Gary swoops in like a feathered missile, slashing hard against the statues eyes, one going fully out, the other nearly extinguished, as its path curves and slams it into the force field next to it, so hard he sees the stones MOVE back towards the edge of the cliff, only inches from it now...

Day still in panic mode, rolls a good few feet away, before noticing she had no reason to.

Homily, though, is having a bad time. Misjudging where the fist was, he misses with his spear, the fist slamming into him, sending him flopping across the ground, though he manages to cling to his spear!

Thankfully, the Buffalo was not prepared to jump on the opening, thought both are approaching fast!

[Homily, d12+End]
Homily, 4

Homily grimaces, feeling blood drip from his nose, and his chest feels heavy with pain, something clearly not fully right, though nothing he cant power through, hopefully.

Gary let out a maniacal laugh at seeing the pain he caused the mare statue. Nobody was going to harm his friends! Speaking of... He turned to see Homily get pounded into the dirt. Oh, Gary was so very tired. So much hacking, slashing, dodging, flying! But seeing this only grew his anger and made his eyes narrow like that of a China man! Only in death does duty end! He quickly turned and shot himself at the Buffalo. May his strike be true!

Homily winces as he tries to get back up. He uses the spear to aid in his rising, and as he rights himself he can feel blood flowing down his muzzle. Once he's up, he brings the spear to bear, ready to defend as best he can. 

Day starts to snap out of it. She sees Gary take on the mare and shouts a cheer at him from behind. That was...pretty cool. She then notices Homily and rushes toward the stallion, stepping in front of him to guard and taking her own cleaver again, " You're not fit to fight right now, let me fend em off, stay back for now! "

Homily sees Daybreak jump in front of him, and then hears a jumble of words fall from her mouth. He's too dazed to understand each individual word, but he's pretty sure he gets the meaning and takes this moment to start backing away.


[Gary, d20+flight, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Day, d20+melee, 9+ pass, 13+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Homily. D20, 6+ pass, 10+ success, 5- crit fail]
Homily, 1, crit fail
Gary, 8, pass
Day, 7, fail

Gary swoops in, getting a good hit on the back of the Minotaurs head and throwing him off a bit, but not enough to stop him.

This is bad, as Day barely gets there in time to even try and really brace herself, and Homily is still dazed as fuck, stepping on his tail as he gets up, slowing him down, before suddenly the Minotaur fist comes in, knocking Day aside, and then the Buffalo slams into Homily, sending him backwards yet again, this time his spear going off and landing into the dirt point first, the gems still glowing...

[Day, d12+2+End]
[Homily, d12-1+End]
Day,13
Homily,7

Homily feels a rib crack, and as he hits the force field, his vision blurs a bit as slides down it.

Day Feel blood come out of her nose, but rolls into the landing, able to avoid much more then some scrapes and dizziness.

Gary would notice the arabian mare one slowly approaching the fighting, still in this a bit.

Gary saw his two friends get their shit kicked in and something in his mind snapped. He went absolutely fucking livid, seeing nothing but red blurs, losing control of himself. He let out an avian screech of fury, aiming to assault the buffalo again and this time he would not let up when he got a hit! Rip and tear! RIP AND TEAR!
Gary saw the mare stumbling towards them, but gave no mind to her. He was on the war path and his target was in front of him 

Homily hisses pain out through his teeth as he tries to get back to his hooves for the second time, and scrambles to reach his spear. 

When she rolls out the way, she doesn't have time to wipe the blood from her face and instead start going for the closet stone figure she could. She wasn't able to tell which one it was but would get ready to jump up on it again to get near. "Homily! If you see the stones rise up again try your damn hardest to roll underneath em and get out of here! " 

Homily can at least understand Daybreak's words this time, but doesn't waste precious seconds responding. 

[Gary, d20+strength, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Homily, d20+Dex, 10+ pass, 16+ success, 4- crit fail]
[Day, d20+strength, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
Gary, 9, pass
Homily,18, success
Day, 18, success

Gary is able to latch on to the buffalo, confusing it into a panic as he slams into it, chipping away at it though not yet hitting anything actually important.

Homily is successful in rolling to his spear, tactfully grabbing it as he goes by, ready for whatever comes, which seems to be the now sluggish arabian from his right!

Day meanwhile is able to get lucky, gripping firmly onto the Minotaurs arm as it swing as her, sticking like a tick.


Homily backs away, trying to stay as far as possible from any of the statues. He wasn't in any shape to fight anymore. 

In his blind anger, Gary held on to the buffalo, just hacking away at it. Wanting it to suffer for daring to attack them! "Die. Die! DIE!" 

After she's on, she rushes up to the shoulder of the minotaur, hold onto his ear and aim to smash his eye with her cleaver. " Over here! " she grinned trying to keep the minotaur's attention on her, " Toro! Toro! "

[Gary, d20+strength, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 5- crit fail]
[Day,  d20+strength, 8+ pass, 15+ success, 4- crit fail]
Gary, 2, crit fail
Day, 16, success

Homily backs up, but sees the Arabian is still following, biding its time to back him into the sorta corner.

Homily checks to see if there's a rock near him, and if there is, he will attempt to push it out of position before the statue mare reaches him. 

Day expertly climbs the Minotaur, gripping his ear and giving him a good chopping to the eyes! As both lights go dim, he drops to his knees, and stops moving...

Gary goes wild, but the buffalo calms itself, and suddenly Gary feels himself get hit hard and thrown off.

[Gary, d12+End]
Gary, 9

Gary feels some hard bruising, but is able to roll right, avoiding heavy damage.

Gary tucks into a roll and avoids the brunt of damage. Ahh, the pain! The pain just made him more angry! He laughed sadistically and charged right back into the thick of it! "Rip and tear! Ahahahahaha!" He cackled.

She feels her stomach rise up into her chest as she went down with the stne. It was like a roller coaster ride that shook when it dropped. This was scary but exciting. She'd look over where Homily was to make sure he was okay before galloping off toward the mare. In passing she would hear Gary's screeching and flailing, " Pfft, what a dork..." and try to leap up onto the mare whenever she would strike as well. 

[Homily, d12+Strength, 7+ pass, 9+ success]
[Day, d20+Dex, 8+ pass, 13+ success, 2- crit fail]
[Gary, d20+strength, 9+ pass, 14+ success, 4- crit fail]
Homily,10, success
Day,20, success
Gary, 16, success

Day easily climbs onto and up the Mare, already almost dead she was able to finish it off, the statue going silent.

Gary meanwhile charges the buffalo as it comes at him, getting a sold hit into an eye, the thing going out, but the beast still standing.

Homily, with much strain, is able to push one stone towards the edge, before getting it over the cliff edge. As it goes down, the does the force field, until it snaps, not going off but leaving a hole in it!

Gary laughed when he saw the light go out "Oh, this is so much fun! I really wanted to kick some buffalo ass earlier and now I get to!" He madly swung for the other eye. Time to put down this beast! 

Homily quickly ducks through the whole in the field. Once safe on the other side, he drops the spear from his mouth and calls out, "I got us an exit!" 

When the mare came down, all that was left was the buffalo and Gary. She'd bound over to it as quickly as she could, nose still bloody, " You STILL haven't taken this on out? Is that really the best you can do? " she shouted to the griffon, ready to jump up on the stone beast again. 

[Gary, d20+strength, 8+ pass, 13+ success, 3- crit fail]
[Day, d20+Dex, 8+ pass, 14+ success, 3- crit fail]
Gary,17, success
Day,10, pass

Before Day can really react, Gary lashes out, hitting the buffalos last eye. IT goes out, stops, and the force field falters and dies.

The fight was over, the statues back to being inanimate, as they should be.

Gary doesn't notice the fight is over, having gone manic and continues to smash at it's head with his cleaver, laughing.

Meanwhile, outside the forcefield, Homily layed on his belly, resting from the fight. The adrenaline was starting to leave his system, and pain his chest flared at him.

She stood on the buffalo, was about to attack but it was already over. " Shit, we did it! Homily! You alright! We..." she turns around and hears smashing continuing, looking back to see the griffon still going. She trotted up to where he was panting, " You can stop now, it's over! Come on, we gotta get Homily fixed up, he's really hurt. " 

"I'm alive, how are you two faring?" Homily croaks out. 

Gary was about to smash the head again but heard Daybreak call out to him. He turned to her, smiling with a crazed look in his eyes, but when he saw the state she was in, he stopped. He saw she was bloody and bruised, a thin stream of blood coming from her nose. He wordlessly lifted up his claw, wiping the blood away and scraping it off in the dirt. He shook his head and the adrenaline was already clearing up. The smile faded when he heard Homily "Y-yeah... Yo're right. Homily needs our help..." He said, his voice straining, his own pain and stress of battle catching up to him. He started walking over to Homily "You alright?" He called



Suddenly, Homily hears a familiar voice.
“Har, well, guess you guys took care of those ones for me! Though, may I suggest, that only the little kid of the group doesn't suck at this, har!”

The Hooded figure reaches and out ruffles Homilys mane.

Gary's anger started coming back and he jumped at the mad pony when he saw him, cleaver raised to deliver a strike! "Get away from him!"

Homily opens his mouth to answer Gary, but stops at the appearence of Cap'n Crunch. Instead, Homily's words turn into a sigh.

The hooded figure looks up at Gary, and then is suddenly infront of him, booping his break, and back over by Homily before the cleaver can hit the ground.

“HAR! Maybe if you folks would listen to an old man, you would know to avoid things he warns of, har!”

Homily is too tired to deal with the antics of this madman. He rests his head over his hooves, waiting for the others to finish this conversation.

Day was in a bit of a daze after that. That crazed look in his eyes seemed dangerous. A red flag would immediately go off in her head but when he wiped away her blood ever so gently, the rose tinted glasses were back on. Afterall, with those on, red flags just look like flags all the same. She flushed a bit before turning her attention to the crazy horse and sighed. Gary was going off again. Is this how people felt about her? " Easy, eaaasy..."

Gary growled at the mad man, but settled down. He was obviously not going to be able to his the bastard "Then speak and do not touch either of them!" He spat


Patting Homilys shoulder, the hooded figure laughs, ignoring Gary. 
“Har! If you could tell me what to do, you mad Griffon you, then you would be something extraordinary.”

He turns to look at Gary, and just for a moment, maybe, Day and Gary see a unnaturally big an toothy grin under the hood. “But instead, your just some angry person, har!”

He looked back down at Homily, bobbing up and down a bit. 
“You tell the Buffies ive finished removing all those silly old not statues, so ill be leaving, for now at least! Ha, har!” He turned back to the other two and suddenly was standing right infront of them.

“You two need to work on your lives, wont be much good helping homily and the others with this as the scum of the earth, har! But ill be nice, and tell you twice! Theres things for you folks, in these mountains, har!”

and then he was gone.

Homily perks up at the madman saying he was leaving. "I think... I think it's time to go back." 

Gary snorted. What did some mad man know? He turned back to Homily "Yeah, let's get going. You need to be in a hospital bed! We can come back for whatever the hell is up here later" He said and started trying to pick Homily up, letting him lean heavily into him.

Homily gets up with a grimace, though still appreciative of Gary's help. "Thanks. Someone going to stop and tell the buffalo along the way?"

Day would help him as well, kneeling down and taking another leg of his for her side, " We should get him back to the buffalo camp first. They may have some medical people there, then we can take him to town. " 



Homily gets up with a grimace, though still appreciative of Gary and Daybreak's help. "Thanks. Someone going to stop and tell the buffalo along the way?"

Gary gave Homily a look "We're headed to the Buffalo, Homily. They're much closer and can get you something to tide you over, now let's get going" 

"Oh, okay then." Is all Homily has to say on the matter. 

She'd smile and start heading toward the group, giving a glance back at the stone remains.



The group slowly makes their way back down the mountain and to the Buffalo, who quickly patch Homily up as best they can, before offering them all a ride home.

“We thank you for your service,the pact is complete. Though it is a shame what you had to do, regardless we cannot fault your for defending yourselves against a threat.” 

He nods, and each of them is given a sack.

Inside would be ten gold Bits, a small, strange glass sphere with a gold rob glowing faintly inside, and a finely Crafted flute.

“Do not break open the orb unless you are sure your mind is calm, your heart light and ready, or all hope is lost, and you having nothing else left to hope for but a miracle.” He says sternly, before He of Rocks speaks.

“The Flute is made of Dimble RootWood, rare stuff, supposedly if played right it can summon aid anywhere.” He says, giving a Day a simile, before nodding to two big Buffalo, who pull up a sleigh thing and help Homily onto it.

Gary was still incredibly angry at the buffalo for sending them into that situation in the first place where his friends could be hurt. He gave the chief and his son a glare before hopping into the sleigh without a word.

"Thank you, Chief, He of Rocks. I appreciate these gifts." Homily said, before laying down in the sled.

" Ah, thanks dudes. That was some hella trial out there but...we managed it. Somehow..." she offer a hoof bump to He of Rocks and smirk, " I might be back to go exploring with you up the mountain, alright? " she winks and hops up on the sleigh with the other two.

Rocks returns it “I look forward to it, maybe you'll set off some other ancient trial,eh?”

" Oh yea! I can totally--...." she looks back at Homily and thinks back to all that just happened, " Er...we'll see. " she'd laugh a bit. 

With that, the group is taken home, though little knowledge was uncovered, they had gained experience and allies in the plains....well, two of them anyways.