Pony's Bizarre Adventure - On Set

"He didn't say anything except that he wanted to see my Stand, and I didn't get a great look at him. I can say with some certainty it wasn't anyone in this room, though." Splendor shrugs.

A1C Bronymous wrote:"He didn't say anything except that he wanted to see my Stand, and I didn't get a great look at him. I can say with some certainty it wasn't anyone in this room, though." Splendor shrugs.

Rapid River does not respond as he processes your answer, his eyes closed and head nodding once...

AleneShazam wrote:"So, wait... is this, uhm, arrow thing normal? You sound like you've heard of it before..." Violet asks hesitantly.

"No, it's not. In fact, there should only be one left. So if somepony is going around giving other ponies stands, this could be bad." He sighs. "Listen, all of you. I don't know how many ponies are going to gain Stands, but there are going to be those who will their Stands for nefarious reasons. And I believe that Stand Users are drawn to each other. Our fates are entwined; I bought teas from Violet while we didn't know the other was a Stand User, and you two unicorns were friends before Splendor gained his Stand. You should assume that our fates are now entwined with others as wells. I will help you learn how to control your Stands, and how to protect yourself, but you have to promise me something. Promise me you won't use your Stands to hurt innocent ponies. Can you do that for me?"

"Well Space Cowboy can't actually hurt anypomny, innocent or otherwise. At least, not in any way I've tried." He shoots a sideways glance at Optic. "And I don't think I have any reason to, so sure, I'll promise."

Violet nods. "Stands can be very dangerous..." She says quietly. "I promise to be careful with Mint."

A1C Bronymous wrote:"Well Space Cowboy can't actually hurt anypomny, innocent or otherwise. At least, not in any way I've tried." He shoots a sideways glance at Optic. "And I don't think I have any reason to, so sure, I'll promise."

"My stand can't cause harm either," adds Optic. The sides of Splendor's skull gives a tiny tingling sensation at the lie. "Hardly any harm, at least. I agree to your terms."

River shakes his head as he retorts "Don't be so quick to dismiss the power of you stands, with a little creativity even seamlessly harmless stands can become very dangerous. But seeing that you've all promised, I'll help you lot out. Let me just go over the basics."

River spends a good chunk of time talking about Stands, covering the basics of how they work. From what he says, there's a couple of points that stick out:

• Stands usually fall in one of three categories: Close-Range Stands which are strong but lack range (like Mint), Long-Distance Stands which have long range but less power, and Automatic Stands, which can be both powerful and work long distances, but can only achieve simple objectives and can be clumsy due to the lack of control. There are also Stands which fit outside outside those archetypes, referring to The Scientist as a Bound Stand (a Stand bound to a physical object that can be seen by non-Stand Users), and Space Cowboy as a Tool Stand (Stands that take the form of a non-physical object). Stands are generally more powerful the closest it is to the Stand, even longer range stands.
  
• Stands can only be directly damaged by other stands, and any damage that the Stand takes is reflected to the user, so a cut on a Stand's face will result on a cut on the Stand User's face in the same place. This is why Clear Optic froze when Mint froze the glasses that The Scientist was possessing. River comments that there are exceptions to this, and believes that Space Cowboy might be one of them due to its form.
  
• If the Stand is defeated, the user is either knocked out or killed, depending on the severity of the injury. If the Stand User is knocked out or killed, the Stand and its effects usually disappears. Usually.
  

"The trick to fighting a Stand is to find out what they do, how they work, and what are their weaknesses, while trying to keep that information about your Stand from your enemy, and as a golden rule, if you can't beat the Stand, go after the Stand User." Rapid River takes a moment to shiver, rubbing his hooves on his legs, and then going for a sip of tea. "It's cold in here, huh? Makes you wish the warmer spring weather would come already, ha. But, I don't suppose you have any questions, do you?"

"You, uhm, still haven't told us what your stand is..." Violet points out quietly. "Not that, um, that's a big problem or anything, but..."
She trails off, not sure how to complete the sentence.

AleneShazam wrote:"You, uhm, still haven't told us what your stand is..." Violet points out quietly. "Not that, um, that's a big problem or anything, but..."

"I know the answer," interrupts Clear Optic. "It heals ponies, correct? I searched you out in my youth because the word was that you could heal injuries, I planned to use The Scientist to learn how."

A small laugh is the response. "'In his youth'" he whispers to Violet, "Are Canterlot Unicorns always like this, heh?" Rapid River picks up a sugar cube before speaking the group as a whole again, "It does not 'heal', it causes things to regrow. It's not a magical spell or healing potion, its a lot more painful." As he says this, something appears at his shoulder. Looking like some sort of cross between a pony and a gecko, it floats in the air, but rests its front feet on River while its lizard tail curls around the sitting pony. It's onyx body is interrupted only by its glassy eyes and blue polka dots. "It does other stuff too." He drops the sugar cube into the tea. It disturbs the water for a bit, but when it settles, the sugar cube floats on the tea...

"Your stand... uhm, stops sugar from dissolving?" Violet frowns - that can't be all. "Something to do with it being organic?" She guesses, not sounding too sure.

"Or it stops, or reverses decay? Maybe?" Splendor takes his cue from Violet's guess, focusing on the sugar cube as well.

Optic inspects the sugar cube and tea closer. Splendor notices him instinctively moving his hoof up towards his glasses, but halfway dropping them, realizing his regular trick won't work here...

"Not so easy, huh?" River chuckles, "It's like figuring out what happened a crime scene just by looking at photographs. There could be many possible explanations, but there's only going to be one right one, and as soon as you know what it is, you know what to expect."

"...Ok, but are you going to tell us or not?" Splendor clucks impatiently.

"..." Violet looks hesitantly at River, slightly ashamed that she couldn't figure it out on her own.

A1C Bronymous wrote:"...Ok, but are you going to tell us or not?" Splendor clucks impatiently.

"Maybe, if you tell me what Space Cowboy can do, hehehe," answers River. He shivers again, before getting up, glancing at the empty fireplace. "Heh, maybe I'll tell you once I put a fire on. It still feels like it's winter outside."

AleneShazam wrote:"..." Violet looks hesitantly at River, slightly ashamed that she couldn't figure it out on her own.

"Don't feel bad Violet, it's not easy. My favourite way of figuring it out is to get the Stand User to gloat about their Stand, so that tells you how good I was at it, ha ha ha." He goes over to the door and seems to struggle with opening it...

Feeling like she should take the initiative on revealing some powers, Violet holds up a hoof, and with a small wave of voodoo, the door opens itself with a creak.

AleneShazam wrote:Feeling like she should take the initiative on revealing some powers, Violet holds up a hoof, and with a small wave of voodoo, the door opens itself with a creak.

To your surprise, the door does not open itself with a creak. It seems to be stuck or something...

Violet quirks an eyebrow, and goes over to the door to take a look.

((Perception? Mechanics? Anyway the roll is a 12, so 22 perception or 17 mechanics))

Looking at the wooden door itself doesn't seem to reveal the cause, but looking at the gap between the door and the frame reveals something there holding the door in place. It's translucent, and it seems to be slowly expanding through the gap...

Alarm bells sound in Violet's mind, and she immediately shrinks back instinctively, calling up Mint and ordering her to freeze whatever the translucent 'thing' is. "There's something blocking the door. And trying to get through...!"

"Calm down, it's just whatever his stand is." Splendor frowns, and Space Cowboy appears above the other stallion's head again, dropping around his neck. With a tug, gravity shifts, and River finds himself slowly sliding towards the wall. "Stop that."

A1C Bronymous wrote:"Calm down, it's just whatever his stand is." Splendor frowns, and Space Cowboy appears above the other stallion's head again, dropping around his neck. With a tug, gravity shifts, and River finds himself slowly sliding towards the wall. "Stop that."

River quickly grabs a hold on the door's handle as he feels himself get pulled in an unnatural direction. "Wait, this isn't the work of my stand!" he protests...

AleneShazam wrote:Alarm bells sound in Violet's mind, and she immediately shrinks back instinctively, calling up Mint and ordering her to freeze whatever the translucent 'thing' is.

Mint attempts to freeze whatever this thing is with quick punches, but it persists. As it gets in the room, it spreads and begins covering the door, frame, and floor. At this point Violet recognises what this thing is: It's ice. Ice that is both clear enough to see the other side of the ice, but also very reflective. Also, cold. Very cold. It seems uninterested in just being a thin sheet of ice, as it builds up in thickness at the same time that it expands outwards to new horizons...

Seeing this as well, River lets go of the door handle and accepts his fate of sliding slowly towards the wall...

"Eeep!" Violet rears back as the ice expands towards the group, moving away from the ice towards the back wall. "We should, uhm, probably go!"

She looks around wildly to check if the ice has taken hold over any of the other walls, while experimentally lighting up a ball of witchfire and lobbing it at the ice and the area around it to try and slow its advance. Mint, meanwhile, takes to punching the ice with just brute force to break it up, though if it proves too much to handle she will retreat to await further instructions from Violet.

"Can, um, any of you do anything about this?" she asks, addressed at all three other stand users in the room.

((Fire affinity, probably not going to do anything but worth a try))

Splendor clucks and calls off his stand, letting River return to normal gravity. "Well that's strange." He retreats as well, his horn shimmering, and a thin magical aura settling over his coat to protect him from the cold.

AleneShazam wrote:She looks around wildly to check if the ice has taken hold over any of the other walls, while experimentally lighting up a ball of witchfire and lobbing it at the ice and the area around it to try and slow its advance. Mint, meanwhile, takes to punching the ice with just brute force to break it up, though if it proves too much to handle she will retreat to await further instructions from Violet.

The witchfire slows down the ice a bit, but the ice is spreading too wide and too fast to be stopped by the fire without setting things on fire. Mint is able to punch down the chunks of ice, but can not attack the thin sheets without damaging or destroying the object it is on (and assuming its in range, which it isn't from the back of the room). Checking the other walls, the back wall you move towards looks fine, as does the wall to your right, which has a small open archway into the kitchen. The wall to the left has a small circular window, and ice has now started to seep into the room through that too...

With his gravitational pull no longer betraying him, Rapid River sends out his stand, which presses it front feet to the remaining unfrozen section for a moment, before pulling it away as the thin sheet begins to cover it. "I don't think there's anything I can do to stop this ice," he states with a frown...

"Only stands can directly damage other stands, so, um, the ice isn't a stand in itself. It might just be magic, since my voodoo can melt it..." Violet looks over to the others, "But either way, if it's a stand, we probably need to take care of the user, and if it's magic, we need to stop the caster..."

She looks specifically at Rapid River when she says, "The doors are probably blocked already... Um, do you mind if I have Mint make an exit for us...?"

She gestures at the yet-unaffected wall behind them.

"Sooner, rather than later..." Splendor retreats from the oncoming ice, keeping his eyes front, but making sure to stay clear of the back wall in case of demolition.

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Sorry for the long delay. I'm still around, holidays are busy though.