The Rise of the Windigo King

Dr. D lets out a sigh of relief.

Hooh... that seemed to go over well... Good to know she's not a masked loon like Theorycraft...

-And in response to the GL's question, he shrugs, "Usually I just go in the nearest alley."

Dr. Death Ray grins at the bouncer, "Uh... Sorry... We had a big... a big lunch, yes... Sorry about blocking the... entrance... We'll be leaving now..." But we'll be back in a sec... He thinks, as he leaves the Midnight Serenade behind and starts helping the GL look for a safe place to change.

Spoiler:

My philosophy: when in doubt, roll for it. XD

Halynn follows Dr. D, her eyes open for places to change. "The alley there does seem to be our best bet," Halynn agrees under her breath, pointing to a nearby alley that leads to a more wide-open space. "This looks like it leads somewhere safe. We should be able to change there, come out a different way, and loop back to the club without the bouncer piecing it together."

Yes, she's really paranoid about this.

Woah... Dr. Death Ray thought to himself, This girl takes her secret identity very seriously...

Yes sir, Dr. Death Ray sir, GREGG piped up in the middle of the Doctor's thoughts, She seems to value standards just like you sir.

You... uh... you got a point there GREGG.

Dr. D turned back to Halynn and nodded quickly, "Sounds like a... a plan... Yeah."

Spoiler:

Glancing around to make sure nopony's looking, Dr. Death Ray then follows Halynn into the alley, GREGG hovering along like an angel on his shoulder - that is, if angels were floating orbs... and had gold plating...

Once within the safety of the shadows, the Doctor draws his Death Ray Wardrobe Quick-Change Controller from his labcoat, takes one last moment to look over his glorious costume, then flips the switch and lets his tech do the rest - instantly phasing out his red lab coat, black goggles and boots while simultaneously phasing in his grey hoodie.

When the transformation's complete, the Doctor stands ready for dinner, completely anonymous and relatively inconspicuous - even his borrowed wings folded neatly into his pullover.

Spoiler:

"Greeeeaaat," Mosstone sighed sarcastically, seeing that most of the lights were on. "Of course everyone's up! Which means they're going to be awful sentimental towards to unicorns wandering about at 3 AM. Well, nothing for it, I guess..." he resigned himself to frustration as he walked up and into the nearest one...

Once Halynn is in the alley, she says, "Anneau, habillés en civil s'il vous plaît." And with that, green light rolls across her body, her uniform and mask vanishing to make place for a dark green dress. Nothing very formal, but it looked good on her. Her hair remained in a ponytail, however, making for a slightly odd contrast.

"I'm impressed." Halynn grins at Dr. D as he undergoes his own change. "I would have expected more difficulty in concealing the wings, but you pulled it off with aplomb! Most impressive."

"Oh, yeah..." Death Ray grinned at the complement, running a nervous hoof through his spiky blond mane all the while, "It was nothing really... I kind of got the hang of the wings pretty fast so... you know... It wasn't too hard to find a way to conceal them..."

He paused for a moment as he took a good look at Halynn in her green dress, his one thought being - Wow.

Spoiler:

"Um..." Dr. D turned away, clearing his throat. "You look... uh..." He lowered his gaze, rubbing the back of his neck, then finally added, "Nice."

He looked down at his grey hoodie, and suddenly felt just a tad bit under-dressed.

"Uh..." He turned back to Halynn and put a hoof to his pullover, "Maybe I should... um... change into something... something a little more... formal?"

Meanwhile, at a much more practical but no less romantic scene...

'My poor boat.'

Land Lobber carefully collects the pieces of flotsam, setting them above the grass level to not get washed back out to sea. Seeing movement just in the waves offshore, he rushes towards it and snatches the object from the water. Turns up to be a large square strip of fabric, waterlogged, alternating black and teal stripes three times each: It was a simple flag, but it was certainly his. The ocean gave it back to him, a portent of the true path. The shipwreck leftovers were painful to look at, but they were destined to be the start of a new ship. His old one was too small for this much crew anyways, without it crashing, this opportunity would not arise. With the leftover ropes and bits and pieces, a slapdash attempt could be made immediately to make some dinghy. However, with some magical reinforcement, some extra wood...

They were only limited in size by the hull, at that point. Though it was torn, there was still a decent sail, and combined with his loincloth sail, it should be strong enough to carry them all. Perhaps not fully pirate frigate material, but it could make a decent showing. 'One more sail could make it from a sloop to a cutter, might be a good idea, being a cursed destination and all. Catch the wind a bit better. I could purchase it on the morrow.' Even were a cutter not enough power, some good old fashioned press-gang power would work. The vision was already forming. Oars too, from many ships, just like the many backgrounds of this crew. The coast guard one could be made into a rudder, perhaps. Ruddy bunch they were, it was appropriate. The minotaur laughs until he coughs a bit, something caught in his throat, and slowly piles his findings.

Halynn smiles, almost shyly, at the compliment. This wasn't by any means the first time she had been complimented on her beauty, but this was definitely the first time in a long while that she took it seriously. The other compliments were very often people wanting something of her; ironic, then, that she gets one of the few genuine compliments from a supervillain of all people.

"No, don't change if you don't want to," Halynn reassures the Doctor. "I'm not trying to be formal, I just like being in a dress when I change out of the uniform. It's a bit uncomfortable to go from tight clothes to none, compte tenu de la modification de l'exposition aux intempéries, so I make a transition from tight clothes to looser clothes. You just wear whatever you consider most comfortable."

Prench Translation:

"Whatever I consider most comfortable... Hmm..."

Dr. Death Ray contemplated this for a moment.

You know sir, my internal databanks assure me that it's proper protocol to "dress to impress" when on a date - especially a first date sir.

Well... uh... The Doctor felt his face growing red, This... uh... isn't... technically... uh...

You want to impress Ms. Halynn sir?

Uh... Well... yeah... yeah... I think so...

Then don't you think...

Yeah... yeah... I see where you're going with this...

Dr. D cleared his throat again - he felt like he'd been doing a lot of that lately.

"Actually... uh..." The Doctor's eyes darted all around the alley, trying to find something else to look at or pretend to study, though they kept going back to Halynn. "Heh heh... I... uh..." Pausing for a moment, Death Ray stroked his chin, "How to say this...? Um... I think I'd feel most comfortable... if, uh... If it looked like we... we... be-longed to-ge-ther...?" He stated each syllable carefully, as if he thought the slightest slip-up might cause a doomsday weapon to explode in his face.

The Doctor bit his lip - then quickly turned to GREGG, "Heeeeeeeey - buddy! How 'bout you do the honors?"

"Yes sir, Dr. Death Ray sir! Shall it be black on red, or red on black?"

"Let's go with the black on red. BTW - red and green are complementary colors, or so I hear."

"Yes sir!"

GREGG's red eye flashes bright, then discharges a beam of energy that envelopes the Doctor in crimson light. As the beam dissipates, Dr. Death Ray's left wearing a red overcoat, white undershirt, and black tie - nothing too fancy, but something that's much closer to matching Halynn's dress for formal wear - oh, and of course the Doctor's still sporting his spiky blond mane.

Spoiler:

Looking himself over and adjusting his tie, Dr. D grins. "Gotta love technology."

He turns back to Halynn and gives her a slight bow, "Ready to... uh... go... mademoiselle?"

Grey Pen wrote:"Greeeeaaat," Mosstone sighed sarcastically, seeing that most of the lights were on. "Of course everyone's up! Which means they're going to be awful sentimental towards to unicorns wandering about at 3 AM. Well, nothing for it, I guess..." he resigned himself to frustration as he walked up and into the nearest one...

Healing Torch turned to see Mosstone walking away, and hurried after him, calling out. "H-hey, wait up!"

Verana tilted her head slightly thinking. “Well there were a lot of rooms that had beds in the upper floors. The ones that were being used had all kinds of tubes and lines and boxes that went ‘blip’ while ponies in white robes talked about things I didn’t understand.” She went quiet for a moment trying to think of anything more to add. Not noticing when Torch starts to run after Moss, she gets yanked backwards through the air like a kite once she reaches the edge of the Necklace’s reach. “Wah!”

As you get closer to the building you notice the figures going in appear to be workers, dressed in medical scrubs of varying colors and occasionally lab coats. Most of them have mugs of coffee as they head in to work at an unusual hour, attempting to fight back yawns as they pass through the glass double doors.

Inside, you find yourself in a room made almost entirely in shades of green. The walls are painted a very pale pastel green, while the floors are made of white tile with green streaks and the occasional dark green tile breaking up the design. To one side, away from the doors the tile turns to a deep pine green carpet where several chairs sit arranged for ponies to wait in, magazines stacked high on small tables scattered throughout.

Across from the entrance and against the wall there’s a counter, The same pale green as the walls along the base but with a bright wood countertop. Sitting on the other side are three figures in pink scrubs, a donkey and two earth ponies, typing away on terminals with deft hooves.

---

The minotaur waves awkwardly at Ragnarok’s greeting, having to use both hands as he seems to have gotten himself further caught in the puzzle he’s been toying with. “Glad to see you’re alright, I heard you got into a fight with a dragon! Impressive! They can be wonderfully vicious beasts!” he laughed jovially before noticing Adelinde. “erm... present company excluded of course!” Adelinde responds with a snort as she shifts from gliding to walking in one fluid movement. She begins to pace around, making gestures with her hand to punctuate her statements as if she were giving a lecture before a group of students as she unconsciously slips into teaching mode. “This was a fine mess wasn’t it? The museum was deemed too chaotic so the academy had any findings we’d made moved over to its own premises for the night. They’ve stuffed the rooms we were supposed to be using so full there’s no actual room for us, so I was helpfully informed by letter at this insane hour of night while waiting to see about your condition that we’d be fending for ourselves as far as lodgings go. On top of that, it seems that some unsavory sorts decided to use the chaos to snatch a few valuables from out finds, plucking the very eyes from statues if they were shiny enough! Now I’ll have to spend the next few days cataloguing everything we found!” She shook her head distastefully before sighing. “But that’s for me to worry about, focusing on the here and now. We’ve successfully confirmed that you are alive and intact. Excellent! Now we must do something about lodging!” She reached over without even looking and with a simple little push, easily pops the puzzles off the minotaur’s meaty hands and stuffs it in her shirt pocket.

"Two green unicorns, with green cloaks, in a green room," Mosstone sighed. "Can you say 'color scheme'?" he muttered to himself, trotting up to the counter.

"Excuse me," he started, "I hate to be troublesome, but...." And at that moment, his vision became rather blurry as his headache came back to haunt him... "Nnrrg! Stop that!" he said to himself, a little too loudly. "Where'd you three come from? Why'doyaneedsisponiesupheeeerrree...." his voice trailed off as he realised what was going on, and went to sit down and let Torch handle this...

Translation:

Healing Torch heard a yelp from behind as he ran, and remembered the Necklace's limits. "Sorry, Verana!" He looked around the lobby as they entered, and thought to himself, Wow, can you scream generic any louder? He then watched Mosstone try to introduce himself.

Grey Pen wrote:"Two green unicorns, with green cloaks, in a green room," Mosstone sighed. "Can you say 'color scheme'?" he muttered to himself, trotting up to the counter.

"Excuse me," he started, "I hate to be troublesome, but...." And at that moment, his vision became rather blurry as his headache came back to haunt him... "Nnrrg! Stop that!" he said to himself, a little too loudly. "Where'd you three come from? Why'doyaneedsisponiesupheeeerrree...." his voice trailed off as he realised what was going on, and went to sit down and let Torch handle this...

Translation:

Torch trotted up to the receptionist Moss had been talking to, and smiled sheepishly. "Er, sorry about my friend ma'am, he's... actually, I'm not sure what's wrong with him, can you excuse me a moment?" He turned away and trotted up to Mosstone. "Hey Mosstone, are you alright? You need an aspirin? Please try not to pass out again, my hoof still hurts." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

The three behind the counter look to each other as Moss walks up to the counter and begins babbling followed by Torch speaking to no one. After a few moments the three huddle together and talk amongst themselves before nodding in unison and breaking, one of the earth ponies running off as the two left return to typing.

"...it's alright Sir Torch." notes Verana as she flies over towards both of you. She floats nearby for a moment before beginning to drift around the waiting area, eventually finding a magazine already open and trying to puzzle out the contents.

Subjectz wrote:"Hey Mosstone, are you alright? You need an aspirin? Please try not to pass out again, my hoof still hurts." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Shhh! Not so loud! They might HEAR us, and then our perfect camouflage will be useless!" Mosstone admonished, holding his overly exerted head between his forehooves. "Did we find any trees yet? Keep an eye out for pines, those are the good ones!"

Healing Torch was confused. "T-they? Who are you talking about?" I think he's gone a little too long without sleep.

Subjectz wrote:"T-they? Who are you talking about?"

"THEM!" he suddenly shouted, suddenly coming nose-to-nose with Torch without giving any indicator as to who "they" were.

"Aaaawkwaaard..." he said, after a moment's pause, glancing up at the two horns rubbing together before backing off, looking very embarrassed...

Dr Blight wrote:[color=olive] waves awkwardly at Ragnarok’s greeting, having to use both hands as he seems to have gotten himself further caught in the puzzle he’s been toying with. “Glad to see you’re alright, I heard you got into a fight with a dragon! Impressive! They can be wonderfully vicious beasts!” he laughed jovially before noticing Adelinde. “erm... present company excluded of course!” Adelinde responds with a snort as she shifts from gliding to walking in one fluid movement. She begins to pace around, making gestures with her hand to punctuate her statements as if she were giving a lecture before a group of students as she unconsciously slips into teaching mode. “This was a fine mess wasn’t it? The museum was deemed too chaotic so the academy had any findings we’d made moved over to its own premises for the night. They’ve stuffed the rooms we were supposed to be using so full there’s no actual room for us, so I was helpfully informed by letter at this insane hour of night while waiting to see about your condition that we’d be fending for ourselves as far as lodgings go. On top of that, it seems that some unsavory sorts decided to use the chaos to snatch a few valuables from out finds, plucking the very eyes from statues if they were shiny enough! Now I’ll have to spend the next few days cataloguing everything we found!” She shook her head distastefully before sighing. “But that’s for me to worry about, focusing on the here and now. We’ve successfully confirmed that you are alive and intact. Excellent! Now we must do something about lodging!” She reached over without even looking and with a simple little push, easily pops the puzzles off the minotaur’s meaty hands and stuffs it in her shirt pocket.

"Why do I not find it odd that this situation would present itself immediately after I consider the various temprary arrangements available? Adelinde while normally I would offer to help you are my superior in terms of skill with paper work also it appears I am going to increase it by quite a sum. Worry not I am simply heading to a ship's graveyard." Ragnarok then begins to walk in the direction of the Ocean's View.

ooc:

Healing Torch lurched backwards, yelling "AAAAA! WHO THE BUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Them!" Mosstone repeated, remembering to whisper. "For Luna's sake, boy! Ack!" he exclaimed, suddenly shifting colors again from some unseen vision.

Stealth Check:

Healing Torch was stunned. Yep. I'm knocking him out as soon as we find a bed. In the meantime I need to dispel his camouflage. Torch pointed his horn in the general area he had last seen Mosstone, and tried to use a general magic dispelling... spell.

Arcana Check:

While Mosstone continues to act like a loony, Torch notices the earth pony who'd run off earlier come back and sit down with the other two. Getting a feeling as if somepony is watching him, he turns his head in time to see three large diamond dogs in matching pink medical scrubs crouching down and ready to pounce. Two of them holding straight jackets while the last holds a pair of muzzles in their paws. Their ears perk up realizing Torch has seen them and they pounce!

((Since Torch actually saw them coming, he gets to attempt to dodge with an Athletics or Acrobatics check DC20. Mosstone missed it by a whopping 1 point however so no dodge for him.))

---

"You really are psychic!" Professor Force calls out with a laugh as Adelinde simply nods towards Ragnarok, pinching the bridge of her snout considering all the paperwork she'll have to do. She blinks looking up after a while and repeats confused "ship's graveyard?" but by then Ragnarok's long gone.

After a relatively short trip through the empty streets, Ragnarok finds herself in front of the Ocean View hotel. At 5 floors it's one of the taller buildings on the island, and being built right at the end of the lowest tier of the city gives it a wonderful view of the boardwalk and the sandy beach stretching out just a few feet below. The sea sparkling in the moonlight beyond, silhouetting the pier. The hotel itself is rather simple looking, made of the same white stone as most buildings on the island. However along the outside walls are small ledges filled with shallow pools of water, soft lights built in under the water casting a soft glow with rippling shadows along the face of the building.

"HOLY BUCK! MOSSY, WATCH OUT!" Torch attempts to leap back out of their reach.

Acrobatics Check:

The diamond dogs fall atop both of you with a heavy thud. Wrapping you up in the straight jackets with deft paws and quick motions learned from tackling insane patients many a time before. In short order belts are secured and muzzles are in place, allowing you to talk but not bite as they carry you away. One diamond dog holding each of you in their paws while the last helpfully carries your possessions behind you. Moments later you're both deposited on beds in a recovery room as the diamond dogs strap you into the beds and sit in the corner, watching you, their bright yellow eyes easily visible in the otherwise dark room.

((well, congratulations! You ...successfully? -got the hospital to let you spend the night! Now you just have to figure out how to get them to let you go in the morning...! In all seriousness though you're both still awake unless you choose to go to sleep, what do you do now?))

Healing Torch screamed as the diamond dogs tackled him, the weight of three overgrown canines bending his back in ways he assumed backs couldn't bend. As the Dogs carried him and Moss into the room, he thought, I swear to Celestia I'm getting this geezer some aspirin as soon as we get out of here As they laid in there beds, Torch began to panic. I don't like this, I don't like being cooped up, when you get cooped up, you get ambushed. I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! He decided to speak with the Diamond Dogs. "Um, sirs, I think this is all a big misunderstanding. My name is Healing Torch, and my friend here is Mosstone. What are your names?" Familiarity builds trust. Trust means us getting out of here.