Midnight Dove moved forward, her body starting to glow with pure white light.
"Vile creatures! Return to ashes!"
Seeing his party in danger, Zophio rhymes a challenge against, and launches a spear at the third skeleton.
Shubshi moves into action and unleashes a flurry of claw and unerring beak, his whole body a trained weapon that would leave gouges of flesh ripped apart were his targets live ponies.
for
Moonstar fires a quick jet of purplish flame from her horn at one of the skeletons.
Skeleton will saves , ,
The skeleton nearest the door flails at Virtuous Heart as she enters, slashing with its wing-claws, snapping its sharp, bare teeth...
, ,
...but only one of the wingtips connects, dealing the pegasus a nasty slash...
...before Virtue glows with a divine light that sends that the skeletal pegasi, and one of his companions, cowers from. Zophio flips his spear through the space, but the hafted weapon merely clatters between the emboldened skeleton's bones, though the blow would've fatally skewered any mortal pony. Then Shubshi leaps overhead, raining beak and blows upon the skeletal pegasi, reducing its fragile bones shards and dust, leaving a broken pair of forehooves and a gold ring bouncing away into the rubble. A dart of purplish light shoots from Moonstar's horn, striking the...
...seemingly unaffected skeleton, outlining its bones in eldrich light, drawing a wail from whatever energies animate the foul thing.
Neither look to be in good shape... but both hiss, and attack ferociously. At last, they are called to the battle they've been awaiting these long years...
...one - a fellow pegasi - strikes out wing and hooves against Shubshi, and you notice a gold band clattering around its feminine hooves as it does so...
, ,
...the ring itself smashing powerfully against Shubshi's cheek.
...whilst the other, clearly an earthpony, charges against Virtuous Heart, kicking and biting.
,
...sinking its pale, sharp teeth into her... before rearing back, preparing to smash her once again
[OOC]Virtuous Heart total damage 8, Shubshi total damage 5, door pegasi-skeleton destroyed, female-pegasi-skeleton severely damaged, earthpony skeleton severely damaged.
Shubshi retaliates at the female pegasi skeleton with his beak, though his claws flail wildly from the disorientation he received from her blow.
Midnight Dove attacked the skeleton earthpony with her moonstar.
But she missed.
I did make a mistake though... the attack against Virtuous Heart 'as she enters' should've been against Midnight Dove... I'm terribly sorry. The roll hits either of your AC, I think, so please swap the damage around.
In point of fact, Zophio missed the skelly's AC, but it does have DR5 vulnerable to bludgeoning, and all kinds of magic damage.
The only remaining skeleton is threatened, and we are now in the second round, so everyone can act again.
Shubshi's beak seizes the female pegasi by her neck, and in a motion both terrible and familiar, shakes the pony hard enough to fracture bone. Whatsoever magic animate her remains flees, and they crumple into dust...
Midnight Dove misses her strike, and the robust earthpony skeleton she's fighting flails back with his hooves, dealing only the most glancing of blows; snapping and biting, though his teeth close on nothing, even as the mass of the party and second-death of his comrades drives him back against the wall of the tower.
Attack , Attack , Damage
Clenching her jaw, Midnight Dove struck again.
Moonstar, the pony, lets loose another spurt of purple flames.
In truth Moonstars are one of the favoured weapon of lunar clerics, whilst a Morningsun is one of the favoured weapon of solar clerics. They're functionally identical to Morningstars, and each other.
The earthpony's fleshless skull crumples beneath Midnight's crushing blow, bringing the swift, brutal battle to its conclusion.
Variously secreted amongst the skeletons' long-decayed clothing, and scattered from the remains of their cardtable, you find a total of 21 golden pieces, and 29 silver pieces. The coins are crude by modern standards, and you don't immediately recognise the Brand of Destiny they bear - a blade entwined by thorns, grasping for the sky.
Nobility or History DC15
Much of the archers' ammunition has decayed, but three solitary arrows have survived the years... an unsurprising enough fact, once you realise they bear a minor enchantment to aid them finding their mark, and the added durability such a unicorn-working brings.
Further cautious searching reveals little more of interest in this chamber.
Zophio is glad his comrades are good fighters, as it seems he isn't having his best day combatively. He leads the search through the fallen castle.
Moonstar carefully examines the coins, since they have markings likely dating the period.
"Well, this I recognize. What do you think Mac? Thorn the Tireless?" She tossed a coin to Mac who looked it over before bagging it. He replied, "That was before Gerrick, right?"
"This place is old enough," Shubshi says dryly. He carefully presses a talon on his cheek where a large cut bleeds, wincing when it stretches the injury. He doesn't want to think about what infections he could catch from a filth-ridden old ring. "I'm going to need some healing if we meet anything else."
Vi gives a small nod of thanks to each of the other ponies (and griffons) for their assistance.
Glad to give these poor unquiet souls their final peace
Considering the coins she shrugs
I'm sorry I don't recall seeing any with this brand before, but given the age of this place, they are only from a couple of generations ago
Once she's sure everypony is ready, Vi moves back in to the main room
Right, time to try that other door then
She steps through, sword ready...
There are two further doors leading from the tower-room, one leading northwest, the other, southwest. Both are fairly robust, albeit aged, wooden doors.
Midnight Dove channeled positive energy once again.
But this time, it wasn't very efficient. She grumbled, and casted her spell once again.
"Finally!... We should be careful next time: I can't do this very often."
You hear a squeak from behind you. Snuffling atop the pit-trap, staring at you with its beady red eyes, stands a young dire rat, no larger than a sizeable dog. Seeing five battle-hardened ponies, neither fresh carrion nor vulnerably sleeping, it turns tail and runs. Within moments, its disappeared outside the door, and is lost in the rubble-field beyond...
Feeling better immediately, Vi smiles at Midnight
Thank you, that feels wonderful
As they move through the next room, Vi's eyes follow the rat as it flees.
And stay out! she calls after the retreating rodent.
Let's hope he hasn't gone off to tell all his friends there's fresh food been delivered to their doorstep!
It's a warrior's trick to talk of death when in the thick of it. She quickly moves on.
North door to start with then if there's nothing to tell between them.
She shoves hard with her shoulder against the door, sword ready.
The door groans, as you force it, but it moves well enough. Clearly, its been used regularly, though not maintained. The corridor beyond leads west, and its wide enough to walk two-abreast, at a pinch, though its ruined and littered with debris, and a single narrow path-of-least-resistance picked out through it.
Its about forty feet long, and by your light three doors can be dimly seen towards the far end, one each leading ahead (west), left (south) and right (north). At this distance, little can be seen of the doors besides the shadows cast from the rubble by your light, but it seem the southern door might bear some design the others, mere plain wood, do not...
Well again with little else to reference, perhaps we should try the more ostentatious of portals if no-one else cares to venture an alternative?
Vi will trot towards the southern door and try pushing it open with a hoof.
You make it harmlessly down the corridor, and, on closer inspection, the door is revealed to bear the graven image of a fish - a surprisingly dragonesque fish - swimming through a forest of kelp-strands.
The door itself, you discover, is locked - and from the condition of the keyhole, the gaping mouth of a second fish, cunningly hidden amidst some rocks, hasn't been opened for many decades.
Pick the lock... disable device DC 21
Force the door... athletics DC 26, and noisier than lockpicking
Batter down the door... will take some time, noisier than forcing the door
Zophio searches through the dust and rubble to try and determine their charges' path.
"I've got this,"Shubshi says, taking out his lockpicking tools.
Zophio's able to determine that ponies recently passed this way, amongst others, and went through the door at the end of the hall. The fish-decorated door has not been opened in decades.
After some squeaking and fiddling, Shubshi manages to unlock the fish-decorated door...
Nicely done, I see that those we are trailing did not come this way, but curiosity is winning out over what might be behind such a locked ornate door!
Vi noses it open, prepared for the unexpected..
Shubshi stands alert nearby.
"We can check the neat door later. I too am very curious, but our duty is to our goal. Further, the lovebirds, who we do not want dead, are in a very dangerous place, and I'd rather not find them dead because we spent more time satisfying our own desires. You don't agree, just look at every noble ever called a tyrant. Most of them acted out of their own selfishness, ignoring their duties. Is that how you want to be remembered?... Come for now. We will return later."
Moonstar opens the door the three ponies we are after went through.
Vi hangs her head in shame
You are right Moonstar, how selfish of me
her cheeks color slightly
Let me go with you, it's the least I can do...
she moves up the corridor and enters the other door with Moonstar
Crudely-executed symbols and glyphs cover the walls of this irregularly-shaped, crumbling chamber. Amongst them you can make out a pigeon form of the draconic script, reading simply 'here be dragons'.
A large pit in the chamber shows evidence of a recent bonfire. A metallic cage stands in the center of the southern wall, but it stands twisted and bent out of shape, bearing a gaping hole and stands empty.
A small wooden bench draped with red cloth guards the cage from the door you've just entered, and upon it sit several small objects, a pot with green stains trailing down its sides, a paintbrush, and a small statue of a dragon. A bedroll lies nearby, from which the sound of whimpering can clearly be heard...
Zophio investigates the sound of whimpering, without giving away his position in case it's a trap.
Midnight Dove grabbed her weapon. Staying on her guard, in case the bedroll was a trap, she approached the pot covered with green strains, sniffing it very carefully.
"Hm. Apple juice. I could recognize it anywhere."
What's hiding in the bedroll, after some increasing bold investigation draws not a hint of response, proves to be a whimpering, terrified kopold... a small creature commonly found in the menial service of dragons, though semi-feral clans of them are far from unknown.
"Meep!" It squeaks. "Meep! Po! Po, Meep! Meee~ Meep. Po!"
Vi cocks her head to the side, considering the strange creature.
Do...you...speak...Pony...? she asks in painstakingly slow and loud single words.
"Little," the kopold squeaks back. "Little pony. Me little pony."
Knowledge nobility, history or geography DC5...
Moonstar steps forward, [draconic] "Hello, I am Moonstar Eclipse. What is your name?"
A tiny, tear-streaked kopold face, practically slashed in two by the scar-tissue of an old claw-wound, peers worriedly out of the bedroll. "Meepo," he mutters, in rough, broken draconic. "I'm Meepo."
Vi stares blankly between Meepo and Moonstar
What is it saying?! she whispers in a very loud voice
Apparently intimidated by Vi's volume, Meepo begins to weep openly, pawing helplessly at his scaly cheeks with his sharp little claws, quite unable to stem the flow of tears...
At the sight of the kopold's tears, Midnight Dove felt sympathy for him. She got closer to Moonstar Eclipse:
"I cannot understand what he is saying, but can you please tell him that nobody is going to hurt him? We could explain him that we are searching three ponies -one with a shining armor- and ask him if he knows something about them."
Shubshi coughs and mutters about that not being a little pony but stays away and lets the others handle it. He does add, "Could ya also ask if there's a dragon about or if he's part of a semi-feral clan?"
Moonstar speaks trying to sound more gentle, but not her forte, so she still sounds somewhat commanding, though not harsh. [draconic]"None here will harm you. Are there others around? Or are you alone?" She waits patiently for an answer, or at least until he calms down a bit if he doesn't answer quickly.
Zophio helps Moonstar quell the situation.
"Her Highness is right, little one, there's no reason to fret.
Tell us, are you alone? Or are there some we've not yet met?"
Draconic "Yesss... Meepo is alone," he says, head poking out of his bedroll. "Nokopold cares about Meepo. All the tribe hate Meepo, since we lost Cally. Meepo cared for Cally, loved Cally, Meepo like mother-of-Cally... but others didn't protect Meepo and Cally, and now Meepo has lost Cally. Nokopold cares about Meepo anymore without Cally," Meepo sniffs, "and if nokopold cares about Meepo, nokopold will help Meepo rescue Cally." Meepo buries his face in his hands, one tiny claw tracing the long-healed scar torn across his face. "Now this and these," he waves blindly in the direction of the makeshift altar-bench, "are all Meepo has left to remember Cally by." He sniffs, tears dripping off his chin. "I'll never see her again~" He wails...
It is evidently upset about something, can we help it?
wonders Vi, head turning this way and that between all those speaking Draconic.
Zophio translates Meepo's speech as best he can whilst rhyming. He then turns back to him, and continues his conversation in Draconic.
"Who is Cally? Another kopold, as it were?
If she means that much, I'm sure we can help find her."
Vi scrunches up her nose then smiles
Well if you're sure this Meepo is no threat to us and just wants to find his friend, then he should come along with us, as we're just finding our friends too! she exclaims excitedly, evidently eager to help.
Draconic: "Oh noes," Meepo half-laughs, suddenly seeming much happier...
Sense Motive DC 10
..."Cally not kopold! Kopold clan is Cally's clan and Cally is kopold clan's dragon-mistress. Clan saved Calcryx," the kopold coughs, as his through struggles with the twisted, unexpected sound it'd never been meant to utter, "saved her egg from her wicked stepsister Immydorothy, who vilely slew all their father Arkynasty's other children,"[/b] he sighs, whimpering a little, "and all their little kopolds, too." He seems to brighten. "But in all the years the clan has hidden here, whilst ponies pay no tribute, nokopold was ever able to coax Cally from her shell," he straightens, and the bedroll falls.
"Until Meepo!" He beams. "Meepo is Cally's best friend and loves her very much, and she hatched for him! Cally would never hurt Meepo!"[b] He rubs his scar, a wound he was doubtless lucky to survive and will mar his face for the rest of his days. [b]"Only scratches sometimes," he smiles. "Cally will surely share her tribute with Meepo and take care of Meepo and the clan once she's big enough for ponies to pay her tribute." He smiles, scampering forward. "Come, I will take you to Yusdrayl, headkopold of the clan! He will be delighted to help you help us!"
Knowledge History or Nobility DC7
Arkynaster: The fabled Red Dragon of Canterlot is so old that none bar the King’s emissaries have seen him in this lifetime. Its lair is filled with winged kobolds that flutter nervously like bats and collect the treasure delivered to the dragon’s doorstep.
Immoldroth: The offspring of Arkynaster slaughtered her siblings and claimed their hoards as her own, but she lacks the strength and will to challenge her father. She lairs in an abandoned pony fastness dating back to the Endless Winter - perhaps the family seat of Princess Platinum herself, near where the Riddle Peaks meet the Sunset Mountains.
Midnight Dove looked at the group with hesitation.
"I can't understand a single word of what he's saying, but he seems to expect our help. Where does he want to lead us?"