Luna's Command: The Wibbly-Wobbly Saga

Lunar just blindly heads in, annoyed with only talking and not talking and walking...

Lunar doesn't get more than about ten feet into the cave before his beak strikes something solid. He bounces off of it at approximately the same speed he was going when he hit it, stumbling back a step.

"There's some type of barrier here..." Lunar calls out.

Frowning, Wandering Eye heads over to the cave, eyes peering into the darkness, trying to see what was there, if anything...

Spoiler:

There is a short hallway of sorts down the cave - one gets the feeling it wouldn't be a hallway at all, but someone has constructed a metal wall with a differently metal door inset at the end of the now-existent hallway. You can only barely see this by craning your neck, however - the cave slopes downwards pretty steeply after a certain point.

Lunar is nowhere near the end of the tunnel's length - in fact, you cannot see anything that might possibly be blocking him, except for a few naturally-formed stalagmites and stalactites, but he'd have to be hugging the edge pretty tightly to run into any of those. And yet there he is, blocked by an apparent barrier of some sort or another, less than fifteen feet inwards.

Wandering Eye let out a soft growl of sorts of frustration. "There's some kind of invisible barrier blocking the way... nothing that I can see. Unless somepony has an idea to do something about it with magic, we're not getting in this way." He looked back towards the unconscious guards. "Maybe one of them has a key? Perhaps when we hide them we can hide ourselves as well, and see who comes along and how." He looked up at the spot he'd seen before, where Shimmer had previously made a hole with her magic. "That spot up there looks like our best bet. I can boost my kinesis briefly if need be, but I can't do all the work."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Plug smiles. he continues after having slipped into something a bit more comfortable: a Trottingham accent. "Give 'em 'ere, I won't bite."

Grizzle nods, then turns to Brilliant Shimmer. "Warmage," he commands, as if he had any real authority over her, "I want you to get in that cave and see what might be done about whatever is blocking our way. And do so with the utmost haste."

Wandering Eye concentrated hard, calling upon the powers of the beyond to augment his magic. It was a slow process, however, and it would take time he wasn't sure he had.

"Scorch, Lunar... Iggy... how well do you think you could help me move the bodies up there? Also... Lunar, don't Timberwolves normally reassemble or something like that? What's with them?"

Spoiler:

Lunar at hearing his name and the talk of timberwolves being harmed as such... He quickly goes to their side and looks them over trying to figure out what's wrong with them.

Perception check:

Scorch begins carrying as many bodies as he can up into the hole...

(Athletics Check: 17 (roll) + 13 (skill) = 30)
(Also, Xel, you forgot to add Scorch's bonuses to your Perception. With Grandeur and Instant-Party, you get +2...)

Dusk Raven wrote:Wandering Eye concentrated hard, calling upon the powers of the beyond to augment his magic. It was a slow process, however, and it would take time he wasn't sure he had.

"Scorch, Lunar... Iggy... how well do you think you could help me move the bodies up there? Also... Lunar, don't Timberwolves normally reassemble or something like that? What's with them?"

Spoiler:

You begin lifting one of the guards up into the hole with as much speed as can be allowed. It will take a bit of time, but no more than twenty seconds or so.

Xel Unknown wrote:Lunar at hearing his name and the talk of timberwolves being harmed as such... He quickly goes to their side and looks them over trying to figure out what's wrong with them.

Perception check:

The timberwolves sure are taking their sweet time getting put together again, but they seem to be managing - the faint green glow of their magic is slowly traversing its way, faintly perceptible, over their bodies and into the cracks in their wooden forms. They may be taking longer than is normal, but they should be fine. Probably.

Paper Shadow wrote:Scorch begins carrying as many bodies as he can up into the hole...

(Athletics Check: 17 (roll) + 13 (skill) = 30)
(Also, Xel, you forgot to add Scorch's bonuses to your Perception. With Grandeur and Instant-Party, you get +2...)

Scorch picks up two more of the guards and begins carrying them upwards. Within ten seconds he has reached the top of the hole and put them down. Scorch is now on the way back for more...somewhat unnecessarily, as Plug and Grizzle are each carrying up one of their own.

The "Echo guards" are now resting comfortably (as can be) on top of the overhang, peacefully sleeping in the moonlight.

Iggy tired of waiting tried to make his own way inside the cave.

He also hits the invisible blockade, though due to his sense of touch being sensitive he does note even as he stumbles back that the barrier in questions seems to be several invisible bars, not a singular blockade. Like a jail cell's door.

Spoiler:

"This barrier feels....like several bars its not just one solid entity. Hmmm."
Iggy thought for brief moment when an idea popped in his head.
"Does anypony still have those collars from before or maybe some sort of tag on one of these guards? I think I have an idea."

"The guards weren't wearing any tags," Grizzle responded, landing softly. Plug followed soon behind him, landing even softer. "And of course those collars our musician had fashioned were fake."

"Though these are plenty real," Plug noted the four collars sitting where four tibmerwolves once were and, hopefully, soon would be again.

Spoiler:

"Good hoof me one of those real ones this may be our way inside this cave."

Plug tosses the collar over to Iggy's outstretched hoof.

It falls a little short.

Plug sulks a bit.

"Right, barrier! Invisible force, non-singular mass... I should be able to do something about this".

Knowing it wasn't a single, solid barrier made things simpler. She didn't have to smash the whole thing down, just slice away enough of the magic to sever the bars. She gathers-up the formless countermagic forces and focuses them into a beam from her horn, aimed at breaking the spell's anchoring points.

Spoiler:

With a blitz of magic and and an instant wherein the bars are actually visible (a dim purple color), the bars pass from being...there.

Plug comes over and swipes a hoof through the space where they were a few times for confirmaiton. "Nice job, Brilli!" he says enthusiastically, stepping back a bit. "Alright, everypony, let's go, mind your step!"

"Hey who was supposed to give me one of the real collars, I'm still waiting?" Iggy said with his hoof still outstretched.

"Excellent," Wandering Eye said, "I was worried that would prove to be a more difficult barrier. Let's just hope nopony noticed that..."

He glanced at the collar Plug had thrown to Iggy. For a moment he thought about warning Iggy of the possible dangers of putting that collar on. If it were any other pony, he would have...

"It's... on the ground. In front of you."

"Before we head in, does anypony need to be healed?" Grizzle asks. "Once we're inside, I should still be able to heal minor injuries, but in that cave's crowded atmosphere, my weather powers will be..." he clearly dislikes the taste of the next few words on his tongue. "Somewhat limited. Major injuries will be beyond me."