The Wizard's Request

A sudden, startled wave of calm crashed over him.

"I have no choice... You are in prophecy."

Cross flinched back in shock. "A prophecy? Please, I beg of you, what does it say?"

"Prophecies?" she scoffed... quietly, mind you, so that neither Calcipher nor Red could hear. "Useless superstitious claptrap, that's all prophecies are."

"You will burn... now... Or.. many more..."

His eyes fell to his desk drawer, beginning to pull something out.

Then his eyes saw whatever it was he was taking... And they lit with new conviction.

[New initiative rolled as you can see his sudden return of hostility, though you keep the same pips and effects as you had going in. You got a +5 bonus to getting the drop on him, due to your wary guard watching for new hostility, thanks to VC's Magic Point. Now the order is...

Warrior of Many Faces
Videocrazy
Calcifer Sunspark]

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:"You will burn... now... Or.. many more..."

His eyes fell to his desk drawer, beginning to pull something out.

Then his eyes saw whatever it was he was taking... And they lit with new conviction.

[New initiative rolled as you can see his sudden return of hostility, though you keep the same pips and effects as you had going in. You got a +5 bonus to getting the drop on him, due to your wary guard watching for new hostility, thanks to VC's Magic Point. Now the order is...

Warrior of Many Faces
Videocrazy
Calcifer Sunspark]

Banana was the first to react, eyes glowing green. Calcipher's eyes, too, flashed green, as Anarchy took him once again. "I'd rather not burn, thank you very much."

[Used Confusion Anarchy on Calcipher; also, I successfully saved against Vulnerability with a 12. ]

Edit to fix edit overwrite boo-boo:

Cross neglected to look for the burn ointment while Calcifer was talking, and paid the price [-10 HP from Ongoing Damage 10]. Realizing that the pain was getting near his limit, and that he'd likely go down even if he wasn't attacked, Cross summoned another Guardian, and swiftly retrieved and applied the ointment [12 on saving throw, Ongoing Damage 10 ends].

Meanwhile, the Guardian's aura surrounded Cross once again, and he felt his pain somewhat lessened; though it was not as effective as the first time [3 healed on 1d8 for Warden's Grace].

Calcifer lashed out with a searing flame... But the flame twisted strangely, in a manner he hadn't intended, charring his coat instead.

A whinny of pain ripped out of him. [8 damage to himself, failed saving throw - he's still confused].

Banana smirked. "Good. You remain in the grip of anarchy. Now feel the true power of chaos!" Two bursts of energy, one black with orange stripes and the other a festive green with red spots here and there, spurted from Banana, both of them flying at Calcipher.

[Used Wild Lightning Chaos Burst; 3 damage from the first bolt and 3 from the second.]

Taking a scalpel from a set he had accidentally taken the day before, Cross threw it at Calcifer. Unfortunately, while it did hit its target, the lingering pain meant Calcifer was only nicked by it, causing him to bleed a little [Draw Blood, inflict Ongoing Damage 1]. Meanwhile, the Guardian's aura surged with energy, giving a particularly strong surge of recovery to Cross [Warden's Boon, 7 HP healed on 1d8].

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:Banana smirked. "Good. You remain in the grip of anarchy. Now feel the true power of chaos!" Two bursts of energy, one black with orange stripes and the other a festive green with red spots here and there, spurted from Banana, both of them flying at Calcipher.

[Used Wild Lightning Chaos Burst; 3 damage from the first bolt and 3 from the second.]

[The second strike fizzles, as there is not another random enemy for it to strike]

Videocrazy wrote:Taking a scalpel from a set he had accidentally taken the day before, Cross threw it at Calcifer. Unfortunately, while it did hit its target, the lingering pain meant Calcifer was only nicked by it, causing him to bleed a little [Draw Blood, inflict Ongoing Damage 1]. Meanwhile, the Guardian's aura surged with energy, giving a particularly strong surge of recovery to Cross [Warden's Boon, 7 HP healed on 1d8].

“Confound this!” He shouted, clapping his hoof down on a white crystal beside his desk – shattering it. Restorative energy ripped through him – clarifying his mind and healing his body.

“Fall now!”

An explosion of flame blasted the wilder of the two, the Banana one, crushing him in chains of fire.

[Take 26 damage and ongoing 7 (Save ends)]

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:Banana smirked. "Good. You remain in the grip of anarchy. Now feel the true power of chaos!" Two bursts of energy, one black with orange stripes and the other a festive green with red spots here and there, spurted from Banana, both of them flying at Calcipher.

[Used Wild Lightning Chaos Burst; 3 damage from the first bolt and 3 from the second.]

[The second strike fizzles, as there is not another random enemy for it to strike]

Videocrazy wrote:Taking a scalpel from a set he had accidentally taken the day before, Cross threw it at Calcifer. Unfortunately, while it did hit its target, the lingering pain meant Calcifer was only nicked by it, causing him to bleed a little [Draw Blood, inflict Ongoing Damage 1]. Meanwhile, the Guardian's aura surged with energy, giving a particularly strong surge of recovery to Cross [Warden's Boon, 7 HP healed on 1d8].

“Confound this!” He shouted, clapping his hoof down on a white crystal beside his desk – shattering it. Restorative energy ripped through him – clarifying his mind and healing his body.

“Fall now!”

An explosion of flame blasted the wilder of the two, the Banana one, crushing him in chains of fire.

[Take 26 damage and ongoing 7 (Save ends)]

(Oh. Didn't realize that about Wild Lightning. Oops. Also, oh crap. Also, Banana's female.)

Banana dropped, unconscious [-6 HP]. However, as her chaotic power boost from Discord wore off, chaotic energy wove around the chains of fire, extinguishing them. [Rolled a 13 on my save]

((OOC: This takes place between Calcifer's and Banana's turns))

Seeing Banana fall unconscious, Cross yelled, "Oh no! Just hang on, I'll be right there!" He ran directly over to her, whipping out some smelling salts. He waved them around, bringing Banana back from unconsciousness. Oddly enough, this action seemed to invigorate her more than simple smelling salts would, giving Banana a feeling of contentment and allowing her the strength to continue [Healed 28 HP, a 7, 4, 12, and 5 on a 4d12]. Seeing that he was able to help, he brought out more of the ointment and swiftly applied it to Banana, nullifying the pain from the burns. Seeing that Banana was all patched up, Cross became more motivated as well [Healer's Grace 12: Banana recovers 2 HP, ongoing damage 7 is auto-saved against. Cross recovers 6 HP.]

The Guardian, as always, helped by healing Cross; unfortunately it wasn't very effective, most likely due to positive energy already flowing through him [Cross recovers 3 HP, 1d8 on Warden's Boon].

"Urgh," groaned Banana as she awoke. "Ouch. Thanks for the revive," she said grudgingly. "Now, to show Calcipher the power of chaos!"

Multicolored energy swirled, not around her, but everywhere else, giving the whole room a look befitting those of surrealist paintings.

[Activating Element of Laughter]

[Made the rolls. This is... Wow.]

"W-what?!"

Calcifer's words were cut off as a sudden blast of baloons shot at him with the force of speeding Bison. They crashed into him, bursting on impact; hurling him into the stacks behind him.

The shelves above tipped...

Then it toppled, crashing down on Calcifer. A crunching scream ripped out of the mage as the artifacts shattered from its shelves, its books burried him... And finally the screams were snapped off.

Silence.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:[Made the rolls. This is... Wow.]

"W-what?!"

Calcifer's words were cut off as a sudden blast of baloons shot at him with the force of speeding Bison. They crashed into him, bursting on impact; hurling him into the stacks behind him.

The shelves above tipped...

Then it toppled, crashing down on Calcifer. A crunching scream ripped out of the mage as the artifacts shattered from its shelves, its books burried him... And finally the screams were snapped off.

Silence.

"Thank Discord," Banana sighed with relief. "Much longer and he might have succeeded in killing us both. ...we should probably make sure he's actually unconscious." Without waiting for her companion, Banana went to see if lifting the shelf that had fallen on Calcipher was possible.

(...what. Nat 20 on a Stunts check. Adds up to 26.)

Banana was able to heave the crumpled shelves off of Calcifer's body. The pony was broken, blood searing the carpets in a halo around his head. His eyes sparked, desperate, clinging to life.

"Can't... You... Must... Need to... Stop... Kill... You... Must... Die..."

The light drained from his eyes.

The pony was dead.

"Oh... Celestia. This is not good," Cross muttered, before speaking up and declaring, "We should probably find out what that prophecy is, and what was so interesting about what's in his desk. One will probably answer the other, I wager." With that, Cross dug through the debris that landed on the desk, and went to open the drawer that Calcifer kept eying.

A scroll written in arcane runes lay there. The runes were stained into the paper, written in what looked like the red-brown smear of blood.

A picture of each of them was scratched at the bottom of the scroll, in fresh black ink.

Cross looks over the sheet and attempts to decipher it, drawing on what he knows about the arcane... which unfortunately, is not very much [14 total, 6 on 1d20, +7 for natural skill in Arcana and +1 for Applejack of All Trades].

((OOC: Double-posting due to information given to me regarding the paper. Incidentally, the check to read it can be either History or Arcana))

Looking over to the other pony in the room, Cross asked "Hey, Banana? I can't make heads or tails out of this. I might if we had time, but we're sadly lacking in that. Could you take a crack at it?" After putting down the paper on the desk, Cross took a look at the red crystals that caught his eye earlier. Hoping to make use of the red crystals, he took a close look at them; he knew what he saw seemed familiar [Arcana check on the red crystals, 28, natural 20 on a 1d20, plus 8 in Arcana]!

"I suppose I can take a look," Banana said, pretending an air of disinterest. "After all, I do have some experience with the arcane." She began to pore over the scroll, looking for anything familiar.

[26 on Arcana (17 roll + 9 Arcana ranks). +5 if it has to do with Discord or chaos magic, although I doubt it.]

A few runes of the scroll seemed to reveal their meaning, a few symbols recognized.

The smoldering red crystals burned bright to Red Cross’ magical sight. At first glance they seemed to be dormant fire-gems – crystals that held within them the power of flame. Very rare, prized by dragons, they could lend power to firecraftings and were immensely valuable.

However, Red Cross’ eyes could catch a slight flicker within them – a building volcano of energy hidden beneath the calm exterior… Like a mountain about to erupt into an explosion of flame.

The mage’s death had cut the spells constraining the gems.

A breath later the fire-crystals exploded in massive gouts of flame.

[Your critical gives you both a chance to react before the explosion of searing fire, perhaps diving down behind the desk for cover against the deadly blasts. Stunts or Acrobatics checks work for this. If you possess It's Witchcraft, you might instead attempt Arcana to help muffle the flames slightly or turn them a little aside]

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:A few runes of the scroll seemed to reveal their meaning, a few symbols recognized.

The smoldering red crystals burned bright to Red Cross’ magical sight. At first glance they seemed to be dormant fire-gems – crystals that held within them the power of flame. Very rare, prized by dragons, they could lend power to firecraftings and were immensely valuable.

However, Red Cross’ eyes could catch a slight flicker within them – a building volcano of energy hidden beneath the calm exterior… Like a mountain about to erupt into an explosion of flame.

The mage’s death had cut the spells constraining the gems.

A breath later the fire-crystals exploded in massive gouts of flame.

[Your critical gives you both a chance to react before the explosion of searing fire, perhaps diving down behind the desk for cover against the deadly blasts. Stunts or Acrobatics checks work for this. If you possess It's Witchcraft, you might instead attempt Arcana to help muffle the flames slightly or turn them a little aside]

In the moment of peril, Banana thought only of herself, weaving a magical ward around herself instinctively. [27 on Arcana; rolled an 18, +9 from Arcana]

With the advance warning and an excellent reaction time, Cross sprung out of the way, towards Banana Nut Sundae. [23 on Acrobatics (15 roll + 7 Acrobatics +1 AoAT)

The roaring collumns of flame scorched their manes, the worst of them mercifully avoided by the two ponies. Banana’s shield turned some of the fire away, its flames merely singing her, while the not-quite-fast-enough Red Cross had her mane briefly lit on fire before rolling it out.

[6 Damage to Banana, 9 to Red Cross]

The explosions of fire set the room ablaze, the exotic carpet puffing into flame as the tower itself began to shake. Books and trinkets tumbled from the shelves, crashing down to the study’s floor.

It seemed the fire gems weren’t the only thing the Mage’s magic had been supporting.