Luna's Command: The Wibbly-Wobbly Saga

"What kind of idiot..." Iggy trailed off as he picked up the collar. Since the barrier was already taken cared of, Iggy decided to hold onto the collar."This thing might be useful later on. So let's go ahead a head inside it's about time we see what these ponies are doing in there."

Paper Shadow wrote:"So no touching glowing rocks?"

"Precisely," Grizzle smiles, stepping into the cave.

Lunar nods on relfex his mind still thinking of those timberwolves... Hoping still that they'd recover and be theirself again...

Scorch thinks for a bit. "You guys go ahead," speaks the dragon. "I'll keep watch. No point me even attempting to sneak in." He then thinks for a bit more. "Wait, perhaps somepony should check if those masks or collars have any magic in them. Just in case anypony puts them on and falls under something bad."

"I can do that," Plug says, stepping outside once more. "Bringing up the rear is kinda my job at this point anyway."

The dragon looks at the bat pony. Then he turns to the rest of the group. "Well, I still think we should check these collars and masks for magic."

"Good point. Allow me!" Brilliant focuses on the objects for a moment, probing them for latent enchantments.

Spoiler:

There is a singular latent enchantment on the collar that will allow it to reattach itself to a timberwolf reforming nearby. Other than that, you do not believe there are any latent enchantments.

Brilliant shakes her head. "I don't think there's anything dangerous on them. The collars will reattach to incapacitated timberwolves, though, so we should probably destroy or move them. I suppose that means we could knock-out the timberwolves, remove their collars, and wait for them to reform without them".

"Well, we've completed the first step," Grizzle says, walking over and picking up one of the collars. He taps his hoof against it twice. "Hmm, sturdy. Now all that's left is the removal of these others."

"If these collars are made to reattach themselves to timberwolves, then you'll look odd wearing them," replies Scorch as he flies up back into the hole and removes one of the masks and sunglasses from one of the unconscious Echo Guards and takes it down to the party, hoping that his idea is correct. He speaks as he flies back down. "The masks will make for better disguises, but you'll need to check for magic again. Stuff like mind control or whatever. Might as well check the sunglasses as well."

(Mechanics Roll: 15 (Roll) + 5 (Skill) = 20)

Luthier raised one of his hooves to his face and rubbed his eyes. "Shame we didn't know more before, so I could have made some masks instead, instead of those useless collars. Then again, extra masks might not be useful, unless the originals are dangerous- there were only four guards, if more than four ponies with masks scout ahead, we might give ourselves away if this is a small organization or otherwise keeps good track of its members- we should try to use as similar-looking ponies as possible to the original guard team.

I do wonder what will happen when the timberwolves reform- there must be some purpose to the collars, and a reason why these timberwolves are working with these ponies."

"Timberwolves from before said they were mind-controlled or something, right?" Plug asked Lunar.

Hey, can I have one of these?
Cobbled plucked one of the masks out of Scorchs hand before he could answer anyway, and raised it up close to his face. He turned them around, looking for anything, some sort of mechanical feature that he could find. When he decided that he had seen all he could see with the mask, he decided to gently place it inside his Saddle bags, but not before he could get a good look at the odd sunglasses in front of him.

Roll(s):

The mask doesn't have anything seemingly special attached to it, but you do notice that when you hold the glasses in front of your face, the area before your sight within the frame of those glasses becomes as bright as day, though with a much greener tint. Further inspection reveals a small device at the backs of the glasses, with a small wire running out of them and into the handles.

Spoiler:

"That would explain why they were blinded by the lights," comments Scorch as he waits for Brilliant to check the masks for magic...

"Give me a minute alone with one and I'll make them as blind as me but regardless we have their gear we have the element of surprise let's just go in and take care of these fuddy duddies."

"Indeed," Grizzle says, trekking further into the cave. "I am certain time is short at this point. We do not have time to squabble over our enemy's trinkets."

"You sure?" Plug asks, staying behind. "I like squabbling!"

The trip down the slope is entirely uneventful, without even a slipping of the feet to punctuate the twenty-five seconds of careful boredom as the party traveled down it. The metal wall and metal door at the end, though imposing, turn out to be quite the simple thing to overcome - no lock on the door.

Opening it, the party is confronted with a cavernous system tall and wide enough to put two Canterlot-sized houses in, at the very least. Upon and within the walls and various stalactites, stalagmites, lay thousands of purple crystals, each glimmering as if lit by brightest day. Well, they appear to, anyway. They wouldn't emit their own natural light, of course. But then that begs the question of how one may see them in the first place.

Or how one may see the large group of ponies gathering crystals in their carts down below. That and the giant pit with the spiraling staircase along its sides.

"By Celestia's Fetlocks..." Grizzle curses in whisper.

Spoiler:

Wandering Eye was quite impressed with the sight - he wasn't sure what he expected to find, but it wasn't this. Either this was the most mysterious secret mining operation in Equestria, or... something more was at work here. He scrutinized the crystals, trying to analyze their properties from afar.

Roll:

Though there is magic within the crystals, it seems to be flowing into them rather than being produced by them. You would guess some type of locator spell to be at work, if you had to, but considering how obviously visible these things are maybe that isn't the truth.

"This is... odd," Wandering Eye said. "These crystals... well, power is flowing into them, and I'm not sure what kind of spell is being used on them. I want to say a locator spell, but I'm really not sure.


He looked about, looking at the ponies below, trying to see if their actions would provide some clue as to the place's purpose.


No sign of what I expected to find... maybe that's a good thing...

Perception Roll:

The ponies below are dressed similarly to those outside. However, these ponies (and a few scattered other sapients) carry no weapon, wear no mask (their black catsuit covering their muzzles instead [how do they breathe through that?]), and are wearing hard hats. They are shuffling many mine carts about, mostly full of the crystals, with perhaps some regular rock and soil intruding - or possibly purposefully picked up - every now and again.

There are also several ponies - and, judging by the proportions on that last one, a zebra - who look more like the ones outside, and are carrying guns. They do not seem to be threatening the workers below. Rather, they are hanging about the various doors that the walkways of stone and steel lead to in groups of three or so. Another group of two and a singular more stocky one (unicorn) are hanging about one the floor itself, keeping careful eye out for intruders. Though, evidently, not careful enough.

The minecarts' rails seem to lead to the pit with the spiraling staircase in the center, where their contents are unceremoniously dumped in. There is some kind of device above you and to the left; a camera you would guess, if it weren't for the fact it's so small. It is not currently aimed at you or any of the group, but is slowly moving in that direction.

cobbled sneaks near the edge of the raised platform, just near enough to see what was going  on in the cave below

perception:

Cobbled sees much the same thing, minus the three guards below and the nearby camera, which is now somewhat closer to pointing directly at you guys.