Token Evil IC

Recon pauses a moment to take inventory of her senses. And settle herself back into her cover identity.

"Check, check." Recon gives a satisfied smirk at hearing herself speak Equestrian again.

"Everything feels like it's in working order. Shame you couldn't do anything to improve it, but I guess that's why they were designing a Mark II, huh?"

Then she realizes her disguise is turned off. A quick blink, and she resumes her Little Walker appearance.

"Thanks anyway," she says. Then she grimaces. "Now I have to go make sure the villains I was working undercover with didn't get themselves killed or destroy something too important. It looked like they were heading into the higher-security areas of the Magus Wing to look for dragon eggs, but I didn't see where they went beyond that. Any chance you could help me get through security so I can catch up with them?"

Broken's ear twitched a little as he turned to look at the imp in question. For a moment, he just stared in thought before a malicious smile slowly started to grow on his features. "I think you're absolutely right." was all he said before his horn lit up, intending to promptly seize the horrid little imp in his magic and hurl the rodent towards the bat creature. They had taken the time to drag the little pest all the way here, it might as well be useful.

Dice rolls:

As soon as Broken acts, Iota drops the unicorn, while focusing on dispelling the telekinesis the unicorn deployed on the imp.

"That's... mine." The armor rasps. It might be angry, but it's hard to tell through its monotone voice. "Would unicorn like to be fed to bat instead?"

Arcana:

The twins squirm uncomfortably in the armor's grasp, not keen on having such close proximity to the developing feud. "Too bad we don't already have our wish... this wouldn't be a problem..."

"Someone feed it something flammable already!" orders Krix, "And find me some scraps of meat or something." He scans around him, looking at his kobold tribe and trying to spot one of the ones that has angered him recently. Maybe one who argued the kobolds should abandon Krix to serve the Matriarch (which he normally would be all for, but he wanted that wish even more)...

(Preparing Mook)

"All I have on me is my armor... Oh!" An idea happens to come across Brightheart's mind, and he quickly rips the tabard over his armor off, balling the cloth up and tossing it into the efreet's jaws. His armor is now plain and exposed, and the wear and tear of many years of service on it is now clear to be seen.

Brightheart then looks towards Iota. "Now now, my friend Armor. I'm sure our comrade meant no harm."

"Dragon eggs," The Archmage taps his chin thoughtfully. "The Zoo, then? Alright."

His horn glows, and Recon appears in the volcanic hellscape that is the Volcano biome, landing in a pile near the villains.

Iota manages to save the Imp from a fiery death, and Broken finds himself deposited on the hot floor in an unseemly heap.

The Firebat snaps up the bundle of cloth, chewing on it even as it's reduced to ash within its maw. It then burps out a small fireball, then looks expectantly at the party for more.

At this point, Krix manages to snag one kobold that's been avoiding eye contact for a while, one that's consistently showed reluctance at following Krix's orders in the past.

Recon blinks in confusion at the sudden change of scenery. A second later, the heavy thud of a nameless colt cripple hitting the ground shakes Recon out of her daze.

Fiery giant bat. Iota glaring at the colt on the ground. The sun paladin feeding the bat some bit of cloth. The kobold yanking one of his kobold associates from the shadows.

As she quietly lets things play out, Recon secret laments that had she still been her old self, she could've brought one of those disgustingly-cute love kitties to snack on while she watched.

Broken made a fleshly thump as he landed on the ground, groaning in pain from the fall and the effort that standing back up again in the heat required of him.

Shaking his head a little as he forced himself back to his hooves, he darkly grumbled under his breath before answering "Well sorry, I wasn't aware that you had decided to make it your pet."

"Now now, don't be scared, it only eats flammable materials and coal and stuff. Here," Kobold throws some cloth he grabbed from one of his kobold wardens trying to grab someone he didn't like. "Take this, walk up close to the fire bat, and feed it this cloth. Make sure it all goes in its mouth. You'll be fine, we both know kobolds can escape from anything."

The twins look at each other in mild disapproval of the sacrifice, but remain silent and look away.

The kobold nervously steps forward, unable to back out now that he's in the spotlight, and steps up to the efreet, gingerly offering up the bundle of rags. The elemental bat eyes the kobold curiously, tilting its head, before it suddenly lurches forward and snaps the kobold up in a single bite, chewing then swallowing. It burps sparks, and in almost comedic manner, a single scorched femur pops out with the burp, landing a few paces away from the party.

The imp clings to Iota's shoulder, glad he's been spared the fate of the kobold.

Meanwhile the efreet yawns hugely, and spreads its wings wide, lifting off and perching on a crag higher up on the lava-fall. This reveals that the elemental has been sitting on an island in the middle of the pool of lava, embedded in which is what looks like a trap-door the whole time, with stenciled text on top saying "Service Tunnel".

Recon changes back to her changeling-queen appearance.

"Appears I wasn't too fashionably late to the show," she says as she steps forward. "At the very least, I managed to catch a good part..."

As she speaks, she runs a hoof over her changeling mane...only to freeze when her hoof bounces off something solid. A glance over her shoulder confirms the presence of changeling wings on her back.

Recon's eyes glimmer with triumph as a grin stretches over her face.

"Oh, yesss," she hisses. "Wings and horn. Oh, this is more like it!"

No time for preening, though. Recon flutters over to the trap door to inspect and open it. Though not without indulging in a small chuckle at her newfound freedom.

"There it is, my friends!" Brightheart says, entirely unconcerned by the passing of the kobold. He wades into the lava, completely unhindered by the heat, and steps up to the trapdoor as well.

"Where have you been?" snaps Krix toward Recon. "How did you catch up to us? How did you know we were here? How did you get here so dirty, and can we go back that way?"

Iota strides into the lava, making sure to keep all of its passengers comfortably away from the magma as it goes to meet with the others. It doesn't take Broken with it.

"I was busy," comes the first of Recon's answers. "Diverting the changelings proved a touch more difficult than I anticipated. I needed to finagle a repair job from the archmage before I could rejoin you. Poofing me here was his way of 'helping me past security'."

She flashes a smirk to the kobold, then to the nameless cripple on the ground. "It truly is amazing how far asking politely for things will get you. Especially when everyone around you is conditioned from birth to respond favorably to it."

Grumbling under his breath, Broken started walking under his own power around the pool of lava. The heat sucked, but at least they were making progress... even if it took them all a while.

Past the trapdoor, the temperature drops considerably - it's still warm, but no longer blisteringly hot like in the surface. A series of steps drops down into a long rounded tunnel, gently sloping down before it takes a bend out of sight. There's a series of tubes set into the top of the tunnel that glow faintly red, dimly illuminating the passageway. A constant skittering sound, like something hard tapping against metal, can be heard all around the party as they descend into the tunnel.

Recon lets the rest of the group go down ahead of her, and then brings up the rear.

Once they are all in the tunnel and underway, she finally speaks.

"I noticed we're not already in our hideout with the jewels Discord sent us here to steal. Is someone going to fill me in on what happened in the vault while I was dealing with the changelings?"

Iota ignores Recon, and after setting down all of its previous passengers, begins to scan its surroundings for potential dangers. It's not much of a talker anyway.

Perception:

"We're looking for Dragon Eggs so the Dragon in the vault will let us have the gems." Hallows explains concisely, as the Twins begin to walk again, sniffing about and listening intently to the skittering noise.

---

Perception Assist: 2+17=19. I don't think Derp counts on Assist checks...?

"What's that chittering sound, I wonder?" Brightheart mutters.

Perception assist:

His ear flicking as he let others explain why they were currently after dragon eggs, Broken peered into the darkness as if it was just a normal room while he attempted to locate the source of the skittering noise.

Perception Assist:

So that was a dragon back there.

As for the skittering, Recon also strains to make it out.

Actions: