Hope's Refraction

Scales simmered, almost kneeling on the floor. She'd already decided that she was the alpha mare; she didn't really peg any of the other ponies as fighters, except for the cow pony who had already backed down. The mood that Discord had put her in actually meant she was rearing for a fight, and crushing statues beneath her hooves?

That sounded perfect... other than the ceiling descending to block the passageway. Getting separated probably was a bad idea.

"You two," she growled! glancing at Diamond and Zakiya. "Get through the door already! And you blockheads..."

She looked back at the statues.
"Buck off!"
Scales roared, something that sounded less like a pony trying to sound tough... and more like a dragon.

[spoiler]Using audiomancy to make a dragon-like roar.[/ spoiler]

With seconds to spare the last of you manage to make your way into the next room, the voices of the gargoyles echoing into the room "you have passed the test of courage" and then they are gone sealed behind a thick layer of rock, though one infuriating fact is hard to miss, both of the doors seem to have led into this room...

In the centre of the room there lies a pedestal with the word courage inscribed upon its surface, while a key made of orange crystal hovers just above it, the bow being the same shape as the one one carved into the gargoyles foreheads, that of a sun.


The rest of the room is much like the one you just left, in that it is surrounded on all sides by thick rocky walls, though there is no visible exit this time.

Arcana 13+:

occ:

"That... WAS A HORRIBLE TEST FOR COURAGE!" Diamond said as she drops her 5 or so feet of spidersilk-rope. "This just makes no sense. You give us a stupid version of Knights & Knaves puzzle... Then a countdown... Then call it a Courage test? That wasn't courage... True courage is facing fear... Knowing fear... AND STILL MOVING FORWARD! Nothing of that was shown in that last room... The building of this tests is dumb on so many levels."

"Are you done whining? Because it's really grating. I've known la-...Little fillies that would take this better. For the rest of our little band of performers..." Shadow paused, collecting her thoughts regarding the enchantments. "Looks...Like a fairly standard personal lock, keyed to a specific individual. Alright, though. Sadly, I don't have anything to subvert the magics, so we'll have to figure out who it's for or just take the trial-and-error approach to taking this, especially since our other option is 'stay here and starve.'" She decided to leave out how she knew about magical locks. Still, courage? Did someone have courage stitched on their plush? In retrospect, she should have checked the others before they arrived.

"Hey, we're all seemingly stuck in some unknown old unknown trap build by who the buck knows... For reasons that was poorly explained... By somebody who might've been Discord all along, who also seemed to know everything & nothing about myself at the same time... And this whole scenario is just driving me bucking insane to the point part of me is starting to think that nothing we heard before we started this by that Golden guy turning into discord was anyway true and it's all really just Golden laughing his flank off watching us dance in this puzzle laden deathtrap of poorly conceived ideas." Diamond explains not giving a buck right now as she picks up her "rope" and wraps it around her body. "Also...Personally think Mr. Door opener should be the first to try this magical lock thing... Makes the most logical sense to me that he should try it first in my mind. Because he's the one that forced us into heading into this room so yeah... He get's first trying at the next trial? He seemed to solve the first even when I thought he had us autofail..."

Scales slid in under the door before the ceiling collapsed. She glanced around the room, her already foul mood darkening when she noticed the two doors leading in, and none leading out.

Then she heard Diamond's comment about the 'auto fail'.

The yellow Pegasus leapt forward, floating in the air in front of the cow pony.

"Hey! First off, 'Mr Door Opener' has a name, cow pony." She pushed a hoof forward, tipping Diamonds hat off her head and onto the floor. "An' second, at least he did something. The rest of you were just sitting around arguing and playing with your hooves. So don't you dare blame my brother for anything when I didn't hear you coming up with any better ideas!"

"That's enough. They provided the rope, we can tie their mouth shut later." Shadow shrugged, taking a moment to think. All this shouting was giving her a bit of a headache, and it didn't help that she hadn't fed in a while. Still, as Storm grabbed the key, she blinked in surprise. "Well, that's that mystery solved. Now, most keys fit a lock. Anypony see a way out of here?"

A quick examination of the room reviles a keyhole on top of the pedestal itself, though Milky Way does manage to spot another one......on the huge slab of rock that blocks you path backwards.
Though you don’t get much time to ponder this situation as there is a load clicking sound as the pedestal begins to rotate in place, holes opening up on all sides.
Molten lava begins to quickly pore from these holes, making the room now incredibly deadly...well to most of you at least. The only good thing about this situation is that the roof of the room, some five stories high has opened up; giving those of you that can fly an exit, the rest of you not so much.

"Err... Not to sound ungrateful. But I think I can climb up those walls fast they you can fly me up to the exit... So could you instead throw me at the wall? Please do so I'm likely to going to try and jump out of your claws..." Diamond said, trying honestly her very best to not insult the Dragon's aid, but likely still failing at that regardless.

((OOC: Becuase the fact that flight check +passsgare leads to harder DCs to pass... Figure you might do better not flying me with a 22 total. Would feel less like trying to jump out if you had gotten a 25 though Fury.))

"L-Lava!?" Shadow shied away, mind racing for possible solutions. She could fly up, but that would expose her...If it was that or die, she could live with being outed to this group, at least long enough to slip into the shadows and escape...But perhaps the dragon and dragon-pegasus could get them out...? That would be preferable, if it could be done. She let them take the path they deemed fit, hanging on for now, as it were. Fire and flight were their specialties, after all!

Spoiler:

"I got her," Scales yelled, swooping towards the remaining pony; the black and grey blotched one, with the blue mane. And already, the difference between Scales and Storms flight was obvious; the yellow Pegasus wasn't awkward, but she didn't have the same grace or ease one might have expected from a pony of Cloudsdale.

As she approached Shadow, she stretched out her hooves, grabbing the pony. Her wings snapped shut for a second, before springing open, harsh and sharply, like a dragons rather than a Pegasus. She caught an updraft of warm air from below, letting it run through her feathers and pushing herself higher up.

Well, maybe she was a little awkward. She grunted, flapping her wings and heaving after her brother.
"Blotch pony? Try to hol' on tight, 'Kay?"

Spoiler:

Zakiya looks at the dragon picking her up with a thankful light in her eyes. In the meanwhile she takes out her sketch book and a bone and hair brush. With great speed she paints out the room around her with a single change, a raging storm of ice and rain hanging only a short distance above the floor. As she finishes the image actuality changes to conform with her drawing.

Talent:

The cloud of ice and rain the Zakiya’s summons does have a noticeable effect upon the room and its occupants......just not in the way the zebra was hoping for.

As reality alters to fit Zakiya’s desire, the moisture in the room rushes to a specific point just above the bed of lava, providing a small buffet from the overwhelming heat below you, unfortunately this has some side effects, the first is that the updraft of warm air that was helping scales and storm ascend was cut off. Now while for scales this mealy made her job harder, it became near impossible for storm who could now only hover inches away from death.

Secondly was that ALL the available moisture in the room had been pulled to its new destination, leaving the air around you incredibly dry, as both your skin and mouths can now attest to.

However this is not enough to stop the steadily rising lava far from it and strangely it is that fact that saves you.
As the lava start to consume the clouds, the magic holding them together quickly dissipated, leaving their entire contents to be rapidly dumped out all at once. A hiss of steam was the only thing any of you had time to hear before you where rapidly propelled upward by a cloud of hot water, ash and steam.

By the time any of you are able to realise what is going on you have been torn apart and are now violently hurtling towards what looks to be the ceiling, the problem being that while crashing into the ceiling might hurt, it would also mean that you would probably also fall back down into the lava as well.
And to add insult to injury you are now experiencing the strange sensation of being soaked while your skin inches from extreme dryness and your mouth is likewise despite for moisture.

TheCavalry:

OCC:

Hot...HOT! That was Shadow's first thought, followed by how they felt like something left to dry in the sun too long, followed by the odd sensation of apparently falling...up!? Not good, and she didn't have time to change back, not now! Still, the basic concepts of aerodynamics should help, at least a bit, and she moved her body, angling and trying to 'push' herself towards the hole, keeping an eye on the nearby shadows...If things got bad, she had a backup plan!

Acrobatics for airborn control without wings:

Maybe it was some vestigial pegasi instinct, or maybe it was dumb luck; whichever, as Scales tumbled mane over hoof in mid-air, she somehow twisted, righting herself and racing for the hole in the ceiling.

Spoiler:

Milky Way desperately clings to Storm, fear silencing any scream she may have at this point.

Zakiyya almost halfheartedly clings to Storm as she silently berates herself for her failure...

"BUCK IT ZEBRA!!!" Diamond yells in anger blaming her for the huge updraft she was now caught up in...

While you are all understandably dizzy from you impromptu trip, the only one to suffer any real damage from this is Storm, who as predicted is forced to land on his back, sending a sharp flash of pain lacing up his spine that seems to get worse every time he moves his wings.

Taking a look at your surroundings reveal that you are in a room much like the last, only this one is dotted with pools of lava and glowing orange flowers. The centrepiece of the room however is the door in front of you; it is over two stories high and intricately carved with the image of discords face.

If any of you take the time to look back, you will notice the lava in the pit is slowly rising upward, though at the rate is rising you have plenty of time before it reaches you.

Shadow stood uncertainly, shaking her head to try and regain her footing, looking around. "Okay, that could have been worse. At least we made it. Everyone still got everything where it's supposed to be?" She looked around for a moment before looking at Scales in particular, nodding. "Thanks. I owe you one." She took a moment before approaching and looking over one of the flowers, curious if it was just for decoration, or something else entirely? Maybe they could get something to drink out of it...

Perception: Oooh, pretty flower!:

"I think I lost my..." Diamond starts to say but then her hat falls on top of her head. "Err... Nevermind." Then she relaxed a bit... But a bit too much relaxing to the point that she removed her Pony Form without thinking... If she can do that now that is...

((OOC: Unsure if I'm still form-locked or not... I assume I'm not anymore and it was over the instant we walked inside the doorway...))

Milky Way steps away from Storm for a moment, before moving around to behind him to make sure he wasn't too badly injured, and to see if she could help.

Heal check: