Re: The P-Files

XandZero2 Sun Jan 20, 2013 3:59 pm

Spoiler:

Theorycraft’s Journal
January 23rd, 2013

Tonight the city wept.

It wept for those whoove gone missing, those whoove been lost, it wept for the corruption that lies just below its coat, and the poison that runs thick through its veins. This city is sick, bloated, like a party balloon ready to burst – full of sugar and spice, but nothing nice – not after weeks and months of accumulated filth, party after party spent downing cakes, pies, sugary drinks – and nothing else. The bacteria’s fed, the flu’s spread – and when this city’s balloon finally bursts…

Celestia help us all.

Two storms, one day - both unforecast, both rising up from the Surefire.

Coincidence?

Neigh.

What mysteries does that swamp hold in its black maw, and how are they connected to the recent disappearances? There’s no question that ancient forces are at work in the shadows of that primordial swamp. The cries of the birds are like a siren song prophesizing the end of neighs, the buzz of mosquitoes the sound of discord and chaos raining supreme. Soon, I will have no choice but to face that black pit of unnatural nature, and if these others prove to be unwilling or unworthy, too foalish to see the truth?

Then I’ll face it alone.

But now the mist rises.

It howls into the city, blown in on the wind, driven out by the Surefire. More unwelcome weather. It mirrors the times, one of disillusionment, desperation, and lies.

They come.

Like vengeful shades they come, just as the Ponynomicon foretells.

Riding out on the mist, their eyes ablaze with fire and brimstone - pale horses of black and white, ready to take back what is theirs.

They come on the mist.

And with them, comes the beginning...

The beginning of the end.

Spoiler:

XandZero2 Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:15 am

2 a.m. Equestrian Standard Time...

All across New Orreigns, you sleep - but you do not sleep soundly.

At the Whicker Apartment Complex, with Coffee Mug laying in his bed and Blade Blocker laying on the foldout sofa, both toss and turn restlessly, their dreams invaded by dark visions of yellow graffiti, missing posters, and shadowy equine figures with glowing red eyes. Coffee sees the runes in his office, glowing a sickly shade of neon as a mare with a wild mane and crazy eyes mutters to herself, scribbling more symbols on the walls. Meanwhile, in his own dreams Blade stares down a storm giant, sparking with electricity and roaring like the wind as it grips Black Beauty in one massive stone hand. As the monster's grip tightens around its prey, Blade stands rooted to the spot, powerless but to watch as Beauty cries out in pain and agony.

Across the city at the Grand Taurus Hotel, Chitin and Whisper fare no better, their sleep also fitful, full of dark shapes and shadows. Chitin sees her hive, her squad, her queen - hunting her relentlessly, tracking her down, catching her, removing her vocal cords and trapping her in a cocoon of green goo where she can't even hear herself scream. Meanwhile, Whisper sees the imposing and familiar figure of Big Mike, laughing maniacally from the boarding ramp of his flying saucer, feeder tentacles dangling from his chin as all around, his alien armada blasts apart the city with death rays and disintegration beams.

And as the others dream of crazed destruction...

-Gleeda's sleep is relatively sound.

Having gone to bed exhausted after a long and eventful night of sparring - and other stuff - the Griffon princess rests peaceful and dreamlessly in the king-sized bed of her penthouse sweet, her head laying in the crook of Buck's arm, her limbs locked with his in an embrace, their wings spread out and draped over one another like blankets of feathery down.

The tranquility of that moment seems almost perfect...

-Until it's shattered with a resounding crash that wakes the Griffon in an instant.

Down on Floor 13, Whisper and Chitin are also rudely awoken with similar crash as matching bricks fly through the screen doors leading to their balconies - and across the city, another brick smashes through the window of Coffee Mug's apartment, landing at Blade's hooves as both he and Coffee wake with a start.

Spoiler:

Cardbo Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:31 am

Coffee awakes with a start. He fumbles around sleepily, but decides to just light his horn to see whats going on. Once he does, and sees he douses it to a very mild light. He sends to Blade telepathically.

'Brick through the window. Don't know any more than that. If you need to talk, just whisper.'

OOC:Arcane check on the brick itself. Is there anything special about the brick itself?
Roll(1d20)+17:
7,+17
Total:24

He sends again. 'Check the window. See if there's anypony outside, but be careful.'

OOC:Do I get back my uses of "I make my own fate"

Yawnmon Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:08 am

Blade nods in response, but stays silent. He hops off the couch-bed and quietly flutters over to the window to avoid making any sound with his hooves, which he trusts less than his wings before peeking outside.

Stealth: 20 (roll) + 8 (stat) + 5 (Flying Ace) + ~~5 (FK: Flying)~~ = 33 + 5 if HoC applies... not that I need it.
Perception: 18 (roll) + 8 (stat) = 26 + 5 if HoC applies.

Ramsus Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:10 am

Whisper goes to see who threw the brick and then afterwards checks out the brick itself.

Perception: 9 + 6 = 15

Perception: 9 + 3 = Derp. I'm thinking Whisper accidentally hit herself with the brick.

Dr Blight Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:42 am

Chitin wakes up with a start, sitting up in her bed and the knife under her pillow drawn and floating in front of her, ready. She looks around for a moment, down first at the brick, then following the trail of broken glass to the window. "... That's some throw to reach this floor..." She sets the knife down at her hooves before levitating the brick into the air, rotating and shaking it a few times to make sure there isn't anything dangerous on it before drawing it over to her and examining it for anything of interest.

((17+11=28 on perception.))

Xel Unknown Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:45 pm

"WHAT THE BUCK??? SIS NOT NOW!!!" Gleeda yells on refelx in response to her sleep being ended by a such a loud noise...

Persuasion check:

assuming the first check didn't wake Buck:

if either skill check was somehow enough to wake Buck and allow Gleeda to get up and look over the brick:

XandZero2 Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:59 pm

Spoiler:

Up in Gleeda's penthouse, as she yells Buck gives no response whatsoever, but continues sleeping on like a lump.

When Gleeda then attempts to shake him awake, Buck hugs her tighter. "Shhhhhhhzzzz... I'll prote't ya princezzzzzz..." he mutters in his sleep, still lying there like a lump - a great, big, minotaur-sized lump.

-But as Gleeda cranes her neck over Buck's sizeable bulk, she examines the brick, and can make out a note tied to it. The note reads simply...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

00713 Equinade Str.

And below it,

No time.

Bring others.

Be ready.

Don't trust your eyes,
-TC

In her own room, Chitin reads over the note again, having determined already that it posed no threat on its own. Then she thinks to flip the note over, and on the back are two words,

Look outside.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across town at Coffee's Apartment, as Blade peers out into the night, he can see nothing - nothing but a thick, black fog. As far as he can tell, it rises for miles up into the sky - blotting out the moon and stars, as well as the street and surrounding buildings. The fog is so thick, it looks almost as if the world itself has vanished, and the whole apartment building now rests at the center of a great ebon stormcloud. Blade can't see more than a few feet in front of his face, though as he glances back towards Coffee Mug, he realizes the fog has already begun to seep into the apartment through every crack and crevice - but so far, it seems safe to breath...

As Coffee examines the brick with his magic, he can sense nothing special about the brick itself - though there is a note attached to it by a piece of string...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Whisper's room, as she (slips on her sunglasses I take it and-) looks outside, she sees the same thing as Blade Blocker sees across town - a thick, black fog that rises up even past the 13th floor of Grand Taurus and seeps into the four corners of her room.

But as she goes to examine the brick... Whisper is struck by the idea that this brick is not a brick at all - but a sentient flying space rock. It obviously hitched a ride on Big Mike's mothership when he first made contact, and afterwards, it flew to her room in order to escape the scary fog outside...

...

You have a sudden urge to adopt it as a pet, naming it Tom Jr and giving it a pair of sunglasses...

Xel Unknown Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:10 pm

Gleeda, just inwardly dawws at this reacion by Buck and for now just does what she could to return to hug and cuddles him for a few moments... Before she realized she'd best get up. That note might have more on the back or something. As much as she really wanted to right now just stay in bed and go back to sleep. It seemed it'd be better if she were to exit the bed asap.

Acrobatics check:

Cardbo Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:18 pm

XandZero2 wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across town at Coffee's Apartment, as Blade peers out into the night, he can see nothing - nothing but a thick, black fog. As far as he can tell, it rises for miles up into the sky - blotting out the moon and stars, as well as the street and surrounding buildings. The fog is so thick, it looks almost as if the world itself has vanished, and the whole apartment building now rests at the center of a great ebon stormcloud. Blade can't see more than a few feet in front of his face, though as he glances back towards Coffee Mug, he realizes the fog has already begun to seep into the apartment through every crack and crevice - but so far, it seems safe to breath...

As Coffee examines the brick with his magic, he can sense nothing special about the brick itself - though there is a note attached to it by a piece of string...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coffee examines the note on the brick.

'There's a note on the brick. It says..wait, is that fog coming in' sending to Blade Blocker.

OOC:Coffee examines the fog via the arcane.
Roll(1d20)+17:
1,+17
Total:18
Oops!
Substitution! Using a 9 here from 'I make my own fate.' New result is 26.

Ramsus Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:58 pm

Whisper, not having a spare set of shades, finds a pen and doodles some onto Tom Jr Senior then places him atop the black box thingy so the soothing white noise will rock him to sleep. Then she returns to bed and falls back asleep.

Yawnmon Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:22 pm

"What does the note say?" Blade whispers to Coffee Mug as he starts trying to shove the fog back outside.

Weather-Crafting: 9 (roll) + 13 (stunts) + 5 (The Sky’s The Limit) = 27

Spoiler:

Dr Blight Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:20 am

Chitin was silent looking at the brick, she looked to the window and the darkness outside and picked up the sunglasses from the nightstand, putting them on as she hopped off the bed. She picked her pack up from the floor and shrugged it on on her way to the window. The knife continued to float in the air beside her as she looked out the window. She was silent for a moment noticing the black fog swirling around outside and what appeared to be a pony in a trench coat. "Theorycraft I presume..." She said more to herself. She blinked noticing for the first time that the fog was apparently seeping into the room. "Well that's probably not good..." Chitin started moving around the room, inspecting some of her things as she sent a telepathic message to Gleeda and Whisper that said: "WAKE UP! The sky is apparently falling... and evil."

Ramsus Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:51 am

Whisper sprang bolt upright in bed and replied mentally, "What? Evil is falling?"

Cardbo Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:25 am

'There's a magic behind this fog, and though I can't determine its nature, its not good.'

XandZero2 Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:37 am

As Gleeda hears Chitin's voice in her head, she continues struggling in vain to break free of Buck's gentle but firm sleeper hold, the black and red Griffon muttering something about, "We'll zzzpar 'gain tom'row..."

And across town (with a 37 total on his weather-crafting check), Blade manages to whip up a miniature cyclone in ten second flat, sucking up all the fog like a vacuum and hurling it back out into the night.

-But something's not right here.

Blade can sense a stiff resistance coming from the fog, and as soon as his cyclone disperses, the black mists begin to slowly creep back into the room, tendrils reaching out hungrily to devour the fresh air.

You realize you may have slown the fog down, but it'll take even more to put a stop to it...

Dr Blight Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:10 am

"Yup, It's red, black, and evil all over out there so get up and get moving before we get attacked by zomponies or whatever." She replied to Whisper, broadcasting it out to Gleeda as well.

Ramsus Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:35 am

Whisper yawns and gets back up out of bed, quickly gets dressed (still in Chitin's jacket), and exits her room to meet Chitin.

Yawnmon Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:26 am

Yawnmon wrote:"What does the note say?"

Cardbo wrote:'There's a magic behind this fog, and though I can't determine its nature, its not good.'

"So it's probably evil... great. Is that what the note says?" Blade says not minding his tone anymore, seeing how the cyclone he just made probably made a decent amount of noise anyways.

Dr Blight Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:10 am

Chitin put a hoof on the combat knife and the bag of caltrops each. Both of them seem to sink into her and disappear as a separate tattoo of a snake appears on each of her front legs and coils its way up to her shoulders. A short green burst of flames and they're hidden behind an imitation of the same jacket she lent Whisper. Making sure here bag is on securely, she steps out of her room and locks the door behind her before looking at Whisper. "Lets go get Gleeda then and get moving." She said, before turning towards the elevator. Looking around carefully for any sign of something out of the ordinary compared to last night as she does.

Perception:

Cardbo Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:51 am

'Right, right. Lets see here...And I think you might be able to reply back mentally. Haven't had much chance to use telepathy.'

OOC:Perception check on the brick's note. There's a small amount of light coming from Coffee's horn, so he should be able to see.
Roll(1d20)+5:
1,+5
Total:6
Wow. Must be the sleep deprivation.
Coffee substitutes a 10, making the new total 15.

Ramsus Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:02 pm

As they waited for the elevator, Whisper took off Chitin's jacket and handed it back over to her and said, "Thanks for lending me your jacket."

Xel Unknown Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:03 pm

"If you can hear me... I'm awake and should be out of bed shortly..." Gleeda thought to Chiltin, unsure if it'd work... Part of her hoping it wouldn't... Next Gleeda takes some drastic meastures, grabs her lightning bow and fired a shot, in such a way that it bounced back at the Griffon, shocking her and Buck... Hopefully this wouldn't do any major damage to Buck.

XandZero2 Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:38 pm

Up in the penthouse, as Gleeda's bolt ricochets off the ceiling and shoots back down, zapping both her and Buck. Due to her royal bloodline, Gleeda doesn't feel much of anything - Buck, however, is hit hard. The sparks of lightning light up his insides - revealing his skeleton in black cartoon contrast as the room flickers and flashes, and when the yellow and black lightningshow finally dissipates, the lightning's done no real damage to the princess, but both Gleeda and Buck are left singed and blackened (even more blackened, in Buck's case) in the king-size bed.

Opening her eyes, Gleeda blinks a few times.

She realizes first off (and to her relief) that Buck's still breathing, and secondly (and with less relief) that Buck is still dead asleep - and holding onto her tight.

-Then the bed catches fire.

-And the overhead sprinkler system kicks in.

When the sprinklers shut off, Gleeda's left soaking wet, laying in a soggy bed, with a soggy Minotaur-sized Griffon, who's still asleep, and got her trapped his arms - but on the bright side, at least the sprinklers gave her blackened feathers a good washing...

Gleeda feels a sudden urge to scream - but before she can do anything else - Buck lets go of her.

He scratches his chest, stretches his wings, yawns - then rolls over in bed - and goes right back to sleep.

Spoiler:

***

Down on the thirteenth floor, Chitin keeps an eye out for anything strange in the hotel hallway. The power's still on however, and besides the black fog which even now continues to seep deeper and deeper into the building, there's nothing that sets off any red flags.

With a ding, the elevator reaches your floor and the doors slide open. A quick scan insures that it, too, seems safe.

***

Across town, as Coffee Mug's horn flickers with a dim light, he's able to make out the following...

YOU'RE DOOM SHALL COME ON SWIFT HOOVES! HAVOC SHALL REIGN SUPREME! LOOK ON AND BEHOLD THE END OF NEIGHS! THE DEVOURER OF DREAMS, THE ENDER OF WORLDS - THE OLD ONE STIRS IN HIS SLUMBER! IA IA CTHULHU-THAGN!

EAT. AT. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOES!!!!

Then Coffee Mug rubs his eyes - that can't be right - and upon further inspection, he finds that his assumption is correct. The note actually reads:

No time.

Bring others.

Be ready.

Don't trust your eyes,
-TC

It also has an address scribbled across the top ((same as the notes the others received)).

Cardbo Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:57 pm

XandZero2 wrote:

***

Across town, as Coffee Mug's horn flickers with a dim light, he's able to make out the following...

YOU'RE DOOM SHALL COME ON SWIFT HOOVES! HAVOC SHALL REIGN SUPREME! LOOK ON AND BEHOLD THE END OF NEIGHS! THE DEVOURER OF DREAMS, THE ENDER OF WORLDS - THE OLD ONE STIRS IN HIS SLUMBER! IA IA CTHULHU-THAGN!

EAT. AT. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOES!!!!

Then Coffee Mug rubs his eyes - that can't be right - and upon further inspection, he finds that his assumption is correct. The note actually reads:

No time.

Bring others.

Be ready.

Don't trust your eyes,
-TC

It also has an address scribbled across the top ((same as the notes the others received)).

'Its from Theorycraft. Well, probably. Its signed TC. He says that there's no time, and to come to a certain address, 00713 Equinade Str.' He also says not to trust our eyes.'

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