Re: The Sunless Realms (Pony Souls IC Thread)

[A1C Bronymous]

Haskur doesn't visibly react to the changeling's intrusion, stoically turning back to the clearing. "Wood is weak. Any axe or flame might destroy a pack." he moves back to the fallen tree and grabs the abomination, lifting and righting it with one hand. "We come for a beast, not for what it left behind. Keep searching."

[Dusk Raven]

"As you can see, it's not terribly hard to destroy a bunch of wood..." Hope rose to her... hooves? Claws? Whatever, she was all four lower limbs. She followed along, not saying much - though she had multiple personalities, all of them would have been embarrassed at what just happened...

[Faege]

Ghreham frowns at the trail left in the canopy. Whatever it is they're tracking, it's huge, enough to disturb the tree-tops of the trees. Fluttering down to the toppled tree, Ghreham gestures in the direction of the trail he identified. "Our bird friend went that-a-way. It's tall enough to disturb the canopy, but the trail ends around a riverbank a distance that way."

[Espresso]

"Well, there's not much else that can be done here..." Gaunt glances at the fallen tree intersecting the forest clearing before continuing. "We follow the trail that Ghreham found, then."

He trudges off into the undergrowth, following the trampled path taken by the mysterious beast.

Throughout the whole trail, signs of destruction are clear. The trees are scored by deep scrape marks, the bark completely stripped off the wood, oozing blood-like sap. At numerous points trees are snapped in half, struck by some immense impact. The familiar bird-toed claw-prints stalk across the muddy floor, clearly marking out the route the creature took.

The forest clears out eventually into a rocky riverbank, with a wide river cutting across the forest. Strange arched stone formations dominate the river, almost like coils, or humps, arranged in strange serpentine shapes. "This is Stone Serpent's Creek," Gaunt explains, stepping up to the coils and using them like a sort of bridge to cross the river. "The water's always clean here - something to do with these here stone formations - so animals stop to drink here often."

He stops, suddenly, and frowns. "Wait, something's off... It's too quiet..."

Eclipse immediately draws her sword, looking around cautiously.

(more obligatory stealth checks, and perception/whatever you do when things get spooky)

[Faege]

Keeping his trio of swords in the air, Ghreham makes for the treeline, keeping out of sight as he readies himself for danger.

Rolls:

Soul Counter:

[A1C Bronymous]

"Do ponies fear silence?" Haskur trods along, less concerned with stealth this time around. "Perhaps we should make some noise to ease your troubles, and to draw the beast from hiding."

---

Perception: 17+7=24

[Senshuken]

Kabra'za couldn't help but narrow his eyes a little at Haskur's lack of concern about drawing attention to himself. The zebra instead decided to attempt to stay out of sight... if for no other reason then to avoid being the first target of anything that might attack their group. He also attempt to keep his senses as open as possible, caution driven largely by the fact that unlike a number of his companions, death would actually be the end of him rather then just a mild inconvenience.

Maybe that worry played on his mind a little more then it should have...

Actions and Dice Rolls:

[AleneShazam]

"Put me down, dear."

The Hollow glances at Umber for a moment. Umber nods, and the Hollow slowly sets the mare down. As she touches the ground, she almost melts into the darkness in the brush, vanishing from sight.

Stealth Mode:

The Hollow then takes up a stance next to Haskur, unsheathing his great blade and flipping it out, allowing it to fall and crash into the ground, casting up dust to conceal Umber's location.

Umber's Rolls:

The Hollow's Rolls:

[Dusk Raven]

Hope Nexus squirmed a bit, actually struggling to stay quiet. Still she followed along, as softly as her claws would allow, and keeping her senses keen for whatever threats there might be.

Rolls:

[Espresso]

The silence is unnerving. Ghreham settles in to a tree with good cover, but unfortunately poor visibility. Umber vanishes from sight, while Haskur and the Hollow stand tall on the riverbank. Hope tries her best to keep to the brush, but it's hard to keep her large frame out of sight. Kabra'za and Gaunt Quiver seem to have a similar idea, and duck into the denser forest where they're better hidden.

Seconds pass, the only sound being the faint rattle of armor and breathing. Then -

Grrr----

The trees part suddenly as a massive form staggers onto the opposite river bank. A huge timberwolf, taller than Haskur and twice as long, breaks through the treeline and crashes into the rocky river's edge, visibly wounded, its limbs badly scarred and a part of its torso torn to shreds. Its glowing green eyes seem unfocused for a moment, before it homes in on the group, and struggles to stand again, its body shuddering and threatening to break away at the seams.

It growls at the group, but when it tries to put a foot into the flowing river, the leg starts to break apart, and it quickly backs off, eying the group warily.

The rest are a little too distracted to notice, but Haskur, Umber and Hope notice that patches of the timberwolf's skin seems to be ashen and brittle, crumbling into an almost stone-like grain.

[A1C Bronymous]

Haskur regards the beast with confident apathy. "It decays. This is not our beast- it will drown itself to soothe its burns." However, aware that the real threat must be close, he brings his shields to the ready...

---

Preemptive initiative in case something comes at us: 15

[AleneShazam]

Umber gazes at the battered timberwolf, and bows her head, uttering a quiet incantation. "May these eyes which have seen deep into immortal depths peer now into the pulsing darkness of this listless soul... may it bear its colors with clarity like a cloudless night, may its thoughts be as pages of a tome to these eyes..." When she opens her eyes again, she peers into the soul of the wolf itself, reading it as one might read a book.

Magic: Read Thoughts:

Meanwhile, the Hollow lifts its sword again, holding it up defensively, but not rushing ahead into battle. The creature seems unable to cross... for now.

[Espresso]

Umber gazes at the battered timberwolf, and bows her head, uttering a quiet incantation. "May these eyes which have seen deep into immortal depths peer now into the pulsing darkness of this listless soul... may it bear its colors with clarity like a cloudless night, may its thoughts be as pages of a tome to these eyes..." When she opens her eyes again, she peers into the soul of the wolf itself, reading it as one might read a book.

Magic:

The creature's thoughts aren't as coherent as the thoughts of a more intelligent being, such as ponies, but there's still a steady stream of thoughts coming through to Umber.

Danger. Danger. Must return to pack. Stone creature. Ponies? Small creatures. Big centaur. Big bug. Threats? Not threats. Must return to pack, must protect from stone creature.

It backs away from the river bank with a pronounced limp.

Leg hurt. Not wound, though. Leg hard? Can't move. Stone? Confused. Must return to pack.

[AleneShazam]

"Poor creature..." Umber murmurs, bowing her head. "It is not aggressive towards us, my friends. It is confused, and wishes to return to its pack, which is under attack by some manner of 'stone creature'."

"Pick me up," She says to the Hollow. The Undead warrior shrugs and lifts her up again, placing her back on his back. Turning to the rest of the group, she continues, "It is crippled, its leg hardened like stone. I suspect this to be the work of the stone creature. If we follow the timberwolf, perhaps we will find our culprit."

[Senshuken]

Working with wounded animals was always dangerous; They tended to bite down hardest on the helping hoof in their pain and when said bite could easily take a leg off, Kabra'za could have been forgiven for showing caution when it came to the idea of attempting to help a wild, dangerous giant wolf.

However, his natural survival instincts were tempered by thoughtful considerations. Having a better understanding of what had happened to the wolf would give him a better idea of what they were actually up against, as well as what to expect when they caught up to said 'stone creature' that was quickly presenting itself as a prime suspect in what they were hunting for and possibly come up with methods to counter some of its abilities; Turning flesh to stone was a strange method of hunting and discovering how it did so and possibly why before they encountered it themselves could prove a vital difference between victory and painful death.

Of course, this would first require getting close to an injured animal that was easily able to rip a pony apart of it so desired and have it not do that. Easier said then done, but the zebra was up for a challenge... and the fact that it would be an amazing story to tell (that might impress a pretty mare to boot!) did make the task somewhat less terrifying. Reaching up to fiddle with his bow tie for a second, it glowed briefly before setting back down to its normal color before Kabra'za decided to step out of the shadows and approach the injured wolf with caution, stopping a fair distance away as he called out in a tongue that the beast would understand "Seems you could use a little help there my friend. Mind letting my have a crack at fixing you up a bit if you tell me what happened?"

Actions and abilities:

[Espresso]

The wolf stops, turning to glance at Kabra'za. "Small creature... can fix leg? Can fix stone wound?"

It turns its great body, padding back up to water's edge. "Pack was hunting. Far from normal territory. Hunting was good... until..."

Instead of a simple thought, Umber now receives the visualization of a memory belonging to the wolf. She receives the vision of a towering stone-skinned creature, raptor-like in build, with deformed rock-like cancerous growths all over its beaked face covering its eyes, and wings made from an array of razor sharp flints. The creature easily rips its way through the pack, until the Alpha challenges the creature, managing to scratch its face. Then the recollection grows hazy. There's a brief flash of a slitted eye, and then... stone? Umber can't clearly receive what happens - it seems the Wolf doesn't quite understand what happened as well. When the clarity returns, the Alpha is on the run, with one of its legs crippled and crumbling.

The recollection ends there.

"Stone creature attacked. The pack... no match. I fight, but leg crumbles. I run with pack. Stone creature chases. I must return to pack now." The wolf puts its leg out. "Small creature, fix leg. Must go now."

[Senshuken]

Kabra'za frowned a little as he listened to the Alpha's tale while looking over his injuries; There were a few things in the world that could cause petrifaction, but considering the general location and the fact that they seemed to be chasing after a large bird like creature, one cause stood out as more likely then the rest. A cockatrice... and from the look and sound of it, a rather big nasty one as well. No matter, now that he had a general idea of what he was going up against he could attempt to develop countermeasures to its petrifying nature.

But first, a deal was a deal... as well as a chance to field test a method of protecting himself and his allies from being turned into statues. "Alright, I'll try to make this quick. I advice against moving till I'm done."

Stepping closer in order to reach out and directly touch the large wolf, Kabra'za closed his eyes before starting to chant in a tongue that few on the face of the planet would ever understand, his black stripes growing as dark as the void while his white starts started to glow as all consuming white as the heat at the center of a star. "Hulm alsihata, tharwat althuru. Tusbih alhusn 'iilaa alhajr, ghyr maeruf rasmia! " The healing charm he was casting would be more then enough to heal the wolf's wounds, but his intent with it was also to try and make the Alpha as resistant to being turned back to stone as possible, if not outright immune to such a thing.

After all, the longer it was flesh and blood and fighting, the more damage it could possible do and the better position they would be in to take advantage of the situation later.

Dice rolls and actions:

[Faege]

Seeing his companions take the matter of the giant death wolf into their hands, Ghreham cautiously descends from the tree, though he keeps his three swords in a protective orbit around him.

Soul Counter:

[A1C Bronymous]

Haskur stands like a statue across the river from the wolf, waiting either for a fight to break out, or to be led to the next great beast.

[Espresso]

The great wolf growls in mild pain, but slowly the petrification begins to subside, flaking off and revealing unharmed wood beneath. Once it has fully recovered, it quickly turns around and lopes back into the forest, leaving a trail of crushed forestry and bushes that's easy to follow.

Before they can do so, however, they must first cross the mostly shallow, but fast-flowing, river. Those confident in their weight and strength can attempt to wade across, while those more inclined towards agility can make use of the serpentine stone formations that span the river.

Gaunt Quiver cautiously flies across, hovering at the water's edge. Eclipse, meanwhile, excitedly splashes across, completely unfazed by the rapid currents coming up to her knees.

(Endurance or Athletics to wade, Acrobatics to parkour)

[A1C Bronymous]

Haskur takes a step down the bank of the water, judging the river's depth and current. After a moment, he decides it's safe enough- he had long since stopped fearing the weight of his armor in water, for a number of reasons. He wades in, and trudges across, slowly but surely crossing to follow the wolf and its impromptu healer into the woods.

---

Endurance, rolling twice with Longrunner: 17+21=38

[AleneShazam]

The Hollow stares at the retreating wolf. Umber bows her head, the Hollow nods, wading into the river.

Athletics/Endurance (the bonus is the same):

[Faege]

Ghreham flies over the river as well, keeping an eye out for danger.

"That's a big beast." He notes, as the wolf ploughs through the woods. "Meeting something even scarier than that big bastard... That's a treat."

[Senshuken]

Satisfied with a job well done, Kabra'za allowed himself a small smile as he reached up to fix up his top hat by returning it to its proper place. This moment of personal pride was short lived however as the party started to move to follow the wolf; Wiping the smile from his face, he decided to take the breath less traveled over the river by taking advantage of the stones that were present in order to cross.

Dice rolls:

[Dusk Raven]

Hope frowns slightly at the river, but continues after only a slight delay. Though her pointed limbs aren't well-suited to walking through mud or loose stones, the water doesn't even reach her body, and she trusts in her strength and weight to carry her across the river. Once her limbs stab into the riverbed, they are as immovable as trees until she pulls them loose, and she crosses relatively easily.

Roll:

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