||'''This is not the official campaign log'''<
> It is on the wiki on an experimental basis.|| ||NOTE: Session division may be approximate due to threads being out of synch when the session changes or due to lack of detail in the log entries.|| == 24 Grasses 1833, 1403 Celestia - Day 1. == Day: * [2012-11-14 1º Session] Spark Gap visited Pebble. Wiggles designed uniforms. * [2012-11-19 2º Session] Rosie hired by Firebug. * [2012-12-05 3º Session] * [2012-12-12 4º Session] Night: * [2012-12-19 5º Session] Jay, Rosie, Firebug and Epona harass Crunchy. * [2012-12-26 6º Session] == 25 Grasses 1833 - Day 2. == Morning: * [2013-01-02 7º Session] Eccentric to run plant while Firebug is gone. Wiggles is sick and has gone home to rest * [2013-01-09 8º Session] Firebug announces camping trip. Jay talks himself into being retroactively hired yesterday, which Wiggles will surely love Afternoon: * [2013-01-16 9º Session] Epona meets with Pen Nib for lunch * [2013-01-23 10º Session] Rosie and Epona have another conversation, this time about where foals don’t come from. Epona and Jay buy supplies at the hardware store. Firebug and Rosie go to the library. (Rosie wastes all our good die rolls on improving her love life.) * [2013-01-30 11º Session] Wiggles is admitted to the Pebble Clinic with mysterious and rapidly worsening symptoms. Firebug and Rosie go to the bookstore and buy books. (The RNG again “demonstrates an apparent preference for lesbian horses.”) Epona and Jay returned to the plant, put down the supplies and talked. * [2013-02-06 12º Session] Firebug and Rosie returned to the plant. Epona suddenly kissed Jay, then Rosie did it. Epona, then Jay, spoke to Firebug. Jay went to find Epona to make arrangements for the trip and to check on Wiggles later. Rosie is stoking. * [2013-02-13 13º Session] Epona and Jay negotiated the purchase and repair of a pegasus cart. * [2013-02-20 14º Session] Firebug read about toilet snakes from a plumbing manual, called to check on Wiggles. Rosie hung some posters, fixed the cart. * [2013-02-27 15º Session] Epona and Jay visited the Pebble clinic. Shortly thereafter, the pony formerly known as Wiggles regained consciousness, explaining that she was Wiggles “sister” Valkyrie. Epona, Jay and Valkyrie went to the pub. Evening: * Firebug read some more, went home, took a bath and went to bed. Rosie, on her way home from fixing the cart, was met by Pen Nib. Rosie went home with Pen Nib and slept with her, in a turn of events that is difficult to describe objectively. * [~2013-03-06 16º Session] Epona, Jay, and Valkyrie get drunk; Epona drags an unconscious Valkyrie home and then goes home herself, and Jay goes to sleep in a fruitcart behind the pub after sneaking out of the stallion’s room window === 26 Grasses 1833 - Day 3. === Morning: * Jay collects the cart and gets the heating plant charged for damaged fruit * [2013-03-13 17º Session] Epona finds out that Rosie is a unicorn who slept with Pen Nib * [2013-03-20 18º Session] The camping gear is loaded onto the cart Noonish: * Departure for “teambuilding exercise” Afternoon: * [2013-03-27 19º Session] Traveling, randomness, a pigeon, and Rosie becomes a flaming sacrifice to Firebug Evening: * Arrival at forest shortly after sundown, when the sky is still light. Camp is made, campfire is started. Rosie attacks Epona and very quickly loses * [2013-04-10 20º Session] Firebug tries to teach Rosie some magic, and Valkyrie switches back to Wiggles Epona hogties Wiggles. Jay finishes washing the dishes. Epona and Wiggles have a conversation in their tent. Rosie and Firebug return; Rosie joins the continuing Epona/Wiggles discussion. The party retires for the night === 27 Grasses 1833 - Day 4. === Morning: * [2013-04-17 21º Session] Rosie wakes up to find a mysterious gray unicorn mare tangled with her. Adventures in pigeon-fancying, pyromania, and the vagaries of the RNG. Breakfast and shouting. Unicorn!Falafel ate like a horse. More shouting. Firebug tries to figure out what sort of magic runs Falafel’s transformations and manages to determine some things that it isn’t * [2013-04-24 22º Session] The party prepares to set out, awaiting the return of Epona and Wiggles from the woods Afternoon: * The party arrives at their second campsite early in the afternoon. There is debate whether or not Falafel ought to be kissed and by whom. Camp is set up. Epona teaches the others, minus Wiggles and Falafel, some unarmed combat (with not very much success) Epona and Jay chat; Jay claims to be interested in Epona and just shy. Firebug and Rosie go swimming and are not attacked by monsters; Rosie works on her magic a bit more * [2013-05-01 23º Session] Evening: * The party drinks together around the campfire. Firebug rolls a third 99 watching Falafel transform, then goes on a walk in the woods with her. Jay and Rosie go to bed (both drunk) but not to sleep (and not in the gutter with your mind, either :)) while Valkyrie (Wiggles having flipped while drunk) and Epona have a drunken conversation at the fire. Falafel and Firebug return and introduce pony!Falafel to Valkyrie. Rosie writes a love letter to Pen Nib (and rolls a 69 for the quality of the poetry...) The party goes to bed (Falafel still in pony form) === 28 Grasses 1833 -Day 5. === * [2013-05-08 24º Session] Morning: * The party wakes up Firebug makes breakfast and detonates some cider * Epona and Valkyrie drink * The camp is packed up * The party fights a kelpie; they win, but Rosie gets her left rear ankle badly bitten * Firebug takes advantage of Rosie having been previously fireproofed to sterilize (but not cauterize) the wound * [2013-05-15 25º Session] Epona determines that Bog Weed is still alive, but Valkyrie shifts very briefly back to Wiggles while thinking that she killed him * Falafel tries to treat Rosie’s injury with leeches * The party leaves Bog Weed by the water, untied, and takes off; Valkyrie flips back to Wiggles, and Falafel is turned briefly back into a pigeon (then returns herself to pony form) * Wiggles flips back to Valkyrie * The party meets Daring Fondue (though doesn’t learn her name) in the Grimgrove; this meeting spooks Epona and starts her advocating aborting the mission * The party moves to Neighswango to try and get Rosie treated; they encounter a sleeping hydra and sensibly start planning how to kill it * [2013-05-22 26º Session] The party executes Plan A and very kills the hydra (nat hundred!) * The Steel Diadem is found and fought over (and continues to extend its discord-causing powers through the fourth wall) Afternoon: * [2013-05-29 27º Session] Epona gets the diadem, but Firebug grabs it with telekinesis and goes pony fishing with it before being flashbanged by Epona. * Valkyrie puts on the diadem while being held by Epona and turns invisible. Falafel menaces her and is shot by Epona; contrary to her notably pessimistic expectations, she does not die horribly, nor is she blinded or otherwise maimed. * Valkyrie finds that the diadem is stuck on her head and she can’t remove it herself, but Firebug removes it with telekinesis. * Falafel causes a distraction and Rosie steals the diadem from Firebug, and takes off across the moorland. * Rosie wears the diadem and turns invisible; Firebug and Epona track her down and capture her, but find that the diadem is no longer present. * [2013-06-05 28º Session] The party continues to argue, though they return to the top of the tor * The door into the tor is discovered * Arguing continues, and Epona shoots Falafel again; Epona then kisses the unconscious Falafel, transforming her * Jay flies up to the top of the tower, then brings up Firebug; they begin exploring * Epona talks Valkyrie into letting Epona remove the Diadem; Valkyrie immediately regrets this, but Epona holds her away and continues to try to comfort her * Valkyrie flips * Wiggles appears to go briefly comatose * Rosie swipes the Diadem and puts it in her bags * Falafel starts to leave the party but is stopped by Epona * Rosie studies the Diadem but only learns that she doesn’t know much about it * Jay and Firebug enter the tower from above. * [2013-06-12 29º Session] The party deals with the aftermath of the Valkles lock state * Firebug and Jay make it through the tower to open the ground door from the inside * The party moves the wagon into the tower’s entry corridor; in the process, Epona spots Duncan approaching * Epona and Jay launch an intercept of Duncan * The party shelters in the tower basement... then discovers that they left the firewood outside; Firebug and Jay use Firebug’s TK umbrella to go get it; Firebug chastises Falafel for using part of the cart to make a torch * Duncan kisses Falafel, who starts unsuccessfully looking for a way out * Epona, Wiggles, and Duncan talk in one of the bedrooms while Firebug pins Rosie to the common area ceiling to try and get the Diadem * The Diadem is found, taken from Rosie, and welded into a metal box, which is then given back to Rosie * Firebug finds the lights and charges some of them up Evening: * Rosie begins searching the bedrooms, claims one, and begins reading books she found there * Jay and Firebug cook * [2013-06-19 30º Session] Wiggles, followed by Epona and Duncan, emerges from the bedroom, demanding the Diadem back * Falafel and Duncan open the door for Falafel, but the storm is still raging * Epona and Valkles begin a romantic relationship and Wiggles swears off the Diadem * Firebug begins looting looking through the bedrooms and Epona and Wiggles claim one * Falafel makes a nest in front of the stove and gets Jay to kiss her * [2013-06-26 31º Session] Firebug loads takes [REDACTED]’s seven listed books, Analytical Metamagic with her and the rest into the cart * Firebug finds and takes a kiln entry suit * The party goes to bed Midnightish: * Valkyrie wakes up from a nightmare, wearing the Diadem * Valkyrie reads a diary entry that Wiggles stayed up late writing * Valkyrie fails to remove the Diadem and Epona removes the Diadem quite easily * Valkyrie tells Epona about the nightmare * Epona calls Firebug on the communicator * The three discuss the problem, and Firebug takes the Diadem back to her room * Epona and Valkyrie go back to bed * Firebug, in the interests of “science”, puts on the Diadem and ends up actually learning quite a bit * Firebug successfully manages to remove the Diadem from her head by cracking part of the very enchantment meant to prevent that * Firebug puts the Diadem under her pillow and goes to bed === 29 Grasses 1833 -Day 6. === Morning: * [2013-07-03 32º Session] Rosie wakes up, tries to wake Jay, who she believes to be sleeping in what is actually Firebug's room, and sets off Firebug's alarm; this, of course, wakes everypony else up * The party discovers that Duncan has vanished * Firebug and Epona unbar and open the door to check the weather and find it very foggy * Epona and Firebug conduct a search of the basement for traps but find none * Firebug rolls a nat hundred and discovers the amplification effects of the Iron Tower * Rosie, with Firebug’s assistance, heads up to the top of the tower to practice magic; she and Firebug then have a talk, Firebug at the bottom of the tower with the door closed * Epona and Valkyrie bond in their bedroom... and Falafel barges in * Epona shoos Falafel out and goes back to what she was doing * The Firebug/Rosie talk ends, and Rosie goes to get breakfast * Falafel barges into Firebug’s room, desperate for a kiss, and gets one from Firebug... only to discover that all the exterior doors are closed again * Falafel becomes enraged, flees, completely ignores the door into the tower, and magically hammers uselessly against the main entrance * Falafel convinces Rosie and Jay to open the main entrance for her * Firebug, Rosie, Jay, and Falafel talk, and then Jay kisses Falafel to turn her back into a pigeon * Falafel takes off for the sky * [2013-07-10 33º Session] Epona and Valkyrie join Firebug, Rosie, and Jay in the entry passage, and conversation commences * Firebug and Jay head out to forage for food * Epona works on Rosie’s leg, which has gotten a minor infection * Firebug and Jay explore the blockhouse ruins, and the Diadem returns to Valkyrie’s head from which Epona plucks it * Rosie takes a walk around the tower courtyard * Epona and Valkyrie retire to their room to try and get Valkyrie to recall the details of the dream * Rosie sits in the courtyard to read one of the books she looted * Firebug decides not to enter the blockhouse and has Jay loot the laboratory level * On their way back, Firebug falls into the old well but is swiftly saved by Jay * Epona and Valkyrie succeed in inducing a Valkles state, though Valkyrie retains control of the body * Firebug burns the vegetation and gas in the old well * Firebug and Jay land back in the courtyard, where they’re met by Rosie; Firebug goes off to clean herself Afternoon: * Firebug finishes cleaning herself, scans for the Diadem, and heads to the room of Epona and Valkyrie; Epona meets her at the door and hoof the Diadem back * Body control shifts to Wiggles, who speaks the poem from the dream; it’s heard by Epona and Firebug, and Epona writes it down in the back of the Valkles’s diary * Firebug returns to her room * Rosie and Jay finish their conversation and go to see Firebug * Firebug and Rosie agree to put the Diadem on Rosie and do some experiments * Rosie makes the diadem appear less pretty to them * With Jay gone, Firebug briefly wears the diadem and has Rosie remove it, but doesn’t find where the part that allows non-self removal is located. * [2013-07-24 34º Session] Epona and Wiggles go to see how Firebug is doing with the Diadem * The three proceed to experiment (with the Diadem) * When Epona puts on the Diadem, Wiggles experiences great difficulty fighting off panic and switches to Valkyrie * The experiment concludes with a failure to detect the connection between the Diadem and Valkles * Firebug discovers that removing the Diadem for the first time results in damage to the soul after Epona has a bad reaction to it * Wiggles and Valkyrie switch while comforting Epona * Jay, finished with the mushrooms in the kitchen, joins the group * Epona and Wiggles return to their room * Firebug, Jay, and Rosie decide to head out into the swamp to look for something hot or acidic enough to temporarily discharge the Diadem * The begin by heading towards the fallen furnace * Out in the fog on the other side of the wall, Jay hears a noise from the direction of the furnace; Firebug calls off the expedition * Once Rosie is back over the wall, Firebug sets everything outside the wall in a ten-meter radius on fire... which attracts the attention of the nearby hydra * The hydra roars at the wall as the trio runs back inside and bars the door * [2013-07-31 35º Session] Epona and Wiggles emerge and meet the others, Epona in full kit * The party goes deeper into the tor * Wiggles is taken over by Valkyrie to stop the former’s panicking * Epona heads up to the tower top to use her fog-penetrating NVD for scouting * The party decides to have Firebug and Epona distract the hydra while the others evacuate * Before the plan can be executed, though, the hydra walks away, heading for the river * Valkyrie begins experiencing head pain and then passes out as Rosie and Jay get the door open, the party still planning to depart * Upon this being radioed up, Firebug decides to call off the departure... an order which Jay disregards * [2013-08-04 36º Session] Epona abducts Rosie from the cart in midair and argues with the escaping trio * Epona drops Rosie on the tower balcony, then returns to arguing and convinces Jay to take up a closer circle around the tower * Jay is then convinced to land by the tower basement door, but, due to the fog and despite Epona’s help, lands a bit badly, getting some scrapes and bruises on his legs and breaking the cart’s port skid * Wiggles awakens, unable to hear Valkyrie * Jay and Epona drag the cart inside, then close and bar the door (once Wiggles is with them, of course) * The trio, Epona carrying Wiggles, ascent to the top of the tower to meet with the duo; more argument ensues, and Rosie takes the blame for the joint decision to run Evening: * The argument escalates with Epona bucking Rosie’s side on the tower balcony * The argument and violence continue * [2013-08-07 37º Session] After Epona kicks Rosie to the ground again, Jay tackles her off the tower balcony (fortunately, neither forgets that they have wings, so splattery is avoided) * Epona and Jay struggle a bit more in the air (while Firebug and Rosie argue on the tower), which ends with Jay being flung into the tree in the courtyard * As Firebug accuses Rosie of being an agent provocateur, Epona snuggles with Wiggles, picks her up, and carries her back to their bedroom to snuggle more and talk * Jay returns to the top of the tower, possibly just in time, given how the Firebug/Rosie discussion had been escalating * Firebug lowers Rosie back into the basement so that she can work on the cart while Firebug and Jay talk * Rosie spends some time trying to eavesdrop, but, meeting with little success, she eventually just goes to fix the cart * Firebug and Jay ratchet the romantic tension between themselves up even further and physically do nought more than snuggling, cuddling, and watching the sun set over the fog * [2013-08-14 38º Session] Firebug and Jay finish their discussion and cuddling and head down to see the cart and talk to Rosie; Rosie, meanwhile, has finished repairing the cart and moved on to making dinner * Epona joins the others for dinner, Wiggles having fallen asleep * Firebug returns to her room to continue studying the Diadem * Epona, Jay, and Rosie chat in the kitchen * Firebug, meeting with limited success in trying to disconnect the Diadem’s power, goes to the kitchen to talk to the others and put the Diadem in the fire as an experiment * The Diadem completely resists the kitchen fire, leading Firebug to look for more power leads to unplug; she finds them, and the Diadem vanishes upon the last one being disconnected * Epona retrieves the Diadem from Wiggles and returns it to Firebug * [2013-08-21 39º Session] Firebug goes to her room to make some notes * Wiggles awakens and joins the others in the kitchen * Firebug examines the depowered Diadem * Firebug makes some good progress, discovering more or less how it’s connected to Valkles, but she decides to work on it more later and go to bed now; the others have already gone === 30 Grasses 1833 -Day 7. === Morning: * Wiggles wakes up from another nightmare, the Diadem back on her head; Epona immediately takes the Diadem off for her * Meanwhile, Rosie gets up, checks the food supply, and goes to make breakfast * Jay is woken by the breakfast-making, and Firebug gets up and finds the Diadem gone; Epona is still comforting Wiggles in their room * Firebug finds the Diadem with Wiggles, who asks Firebug to sever it (using what Firebug found last night) no matter the danger * Firebug successfully severs the connection with Wiggles * After some conversation, during which it becomes clear that the Diadem is now bound to Firebug, Wiggles flips * In the kitchen, Jay inspects Rosie’s leg wounds * Jay flies up the tower and discovers that the fog has mostly cleared, then returns to the kitchen to finish rebandaging Rosie [2013-08-28 40º Session] * Rosie returns to her room, Jay goes to make the weather report, and Rosie sets off the alarm on the connecting door while trying to eavesdrop on the weather report * The weather report is made (and overheard by Rosie, despite Firebug’s efforts), and Jay is sent to fetch Epona to speak with Firebug; Valkyrie accompanies Epona * Firebug speaks with Epona alone, with the others outside, though Valkyrie and Rosie are listening at their respective doors… and Firebug and Epona start discussing the snake plan… * Epona discovers both eavesdroppers, and it is “revealed” that Eccentric Butterfly has a veterinarian niece for whom a snake was to be a present; Valkyrie doesn’t believe it but is shushed by Epona * Epona and Firebug head up the tower and talk at the top * Valkyrie and Rosie talk * Things get interesting :D * Jay, after a bit, moves over to talk to Valkyrie and Rosie, reasoning that Firebug and Epona can take care of themselves * Jay tries to make space between Rosie and Valkyrie, but unfortunately Valkyrie interprets this as more secret-keeping; as the tension rises further, Valkyrie flips * Wiggles flips back * Epona and Firebug conclude their discussion, and Epona flies Firebug down * Valkyrie flips again, and Wiggles flips back… and Valkyrie flips back… and flip… and flip... * Firebug heads out the main door, professing a desire to be alone for a bit, and builds stair up onto the tor; Epona follows * Firebug collects Shear Steel’s bones, takes them back into the tor, and lays them out respectfully on Rosie’s bed, which is in no way creepy * Valkles finally stabilizes, temporarily, as Valkyrie, though the argument intensifies * Firebug then begins talking to the skeleton and dumps Rosie’s stuff outside the room, the welds the connecting door shut * Valkyrie flips again, and Wiggles flips back, etc. * Epona takes Wiggles up the tower to talk with her * Firebug engraves an epitaph for Shear Steel in the wall by the bed, turning the room into a tomb * Firebug enchants the tomb door and engraves it “Shear Steel” * Firebug then packs her things into the cart and goes looking for Jay, Rosie shadowing her * Firebug requests that Jay fly her over to the dead hydra, as she needs its teeth; Jay agrees to do it, and the mission proceeds without incident (unless one counts the entire thing as an incident) * Firebug and Jay pack Epona’s, Wiggles’s, and Valkyrie’s things * Rosie comes back down from the tor, where she’d gone when Firebug and Jay flew over the wall, and does her own packing * Firebug, Jay, and Rosie talk [2013-09-04 41º Session] * Valkles continues to oscillate * And in the course of the conversation with Epona, Wiggles figures out (and Valkyrie finds out immediately from her) that Firebug was(?) planning to kill the mayor * Firebug invites Jay to sleep in her spare room * Epona and Valkles reconcile, but Valkles is adamant that her and Epona talk with Firebug about the whole murder thing * Firebug spots Epona and Valkles (now stabilized as Wiggles, though with Valkyrie running in the background) on the tower balcony and calls them inside * Wiggles calls down that she wants explanation from Firebug, which Firebug decides that she will do now; Epona flies Wiggles down to the tor, and the discussion commences * Valkyrie takes over for a bit, concluding this tenure with a shouted remark which Jay, conversing with Rosie in the entry passage (Rosie trying to persuade him that Firebug is dangerous), hears * Jay and Rosie head up onto the tor to join the others; when they arrive, Firebug is still refusing to confess to Valkles, but Wiggles threatens to not leave if she’s not told * Firebug ignores the continued attempts, goes down, levitates the cart (which Rosie has now boarded) into the courtyard, shuts the door, and engraves "IT ONLY SEEMS LIKE A GOOD IDEA." on it; she also puts her pointy hat back on * Wiggles, Epona, and Jay remain on the tor * Firebug welds the tower basement door shut, then heads up to the tor and eyes the tower balcony * Jay heads down to talk to Rosie, who is pondering aloud whether to critically damage her injured leg in hopes of convincing the others to get her out of Neighswango; Jay tries to talk her out of it * The trio argues on the tor, Epona taking Valkles’s side * Firebug leaves Epona and Wiggles, heading down from the tor to board the cart; Epona tries to herd Wiggles in the same direction * Firebug, hearing Wiggles’s resistance, climbs back onto the tor to resume the argument * Firebug attempts to levitate Wiggles and is stopped by Epona; Jay puts dangerous objects out of Rosie reach, he hopes, and heads up * Jay offers to tell Wiggles the plan… which is odd, since he doesn’t know the plan; he tries to arrange things so that he can speak it only to Wiggles, then, when she insists, only to Wiggles and Firebug * Firebug goes to the other side of the tor and actually cries (after forming the impression that the others think of her mainly as a piece of dangerous industrial equipment.) * Rosie, hammering her leg with one of the hydra teeth, succeeds in breaking it… again * Firebug pulls a sleep bolt from Epona and hits Wiggles with it; she is knocked out * Firebug loads the unconscious Wiggles into the cart; Epona reluctantly goes along * The party takes off, leaving Neighswango [2013-09-11 42º Session] * Wiggles wakes up and says that she has nothing to say to Firebug; Wiggles then flips and Valkyrie says it more loudly, along with some other things; Valkyrie then flips as Wiggles reins her in and declares her intention to quit the plant upon returning to Pebble; Valkyrie returns briefly for some more shouting, and then it’s back to Wiggles * Firebug states that her offer to explain herself back in Pebble is still open, which causes Wiggles to flip and Valkyrie to question Firebug’s trustworthiness * Firebug declares that she is tired and wishes to sleep, but Valkyrie demands some proof that Firebug will hold up her end of the deal; Valkyrie then flips, then Wiggles flips back, then flip… * Valkyrie and Wiggles get in an argument, whether to trust Firebug at all, whether collateral would work, and Wiggles perceiving that Valkyrie was using her employment as a bargaining chip * Valkyrie says that she wants ownership of a de-eviled Diadem, which promptly causes Wiggles to resurface and call her crazy * Firebug tries to sleep while waiting for Wiggles and Valkyrie to come to an agreement * Valkyrie internally tells Wiggles that the Diadem thing was just a ploy to buy time and mess with Firebug’s head * Valkyrie asks the trying-to-get-comfortable Firebug to untie her; Firebug does so, and Valkyrie steals Firebug’s eyepatch as “collateral” * Firebug burns herself a new eyepatch out of spare cloth * Firebug tries to sleep again * Epona fashions a second makeshift eyepatch and gives it to Firebug to use as a sleeping mask Late afternoon: * The party reaches Pebble and lands outside the clinic * Epona and Jay take Rosie into the clinic, where she’s taken in for treatment; Dr. Frog doesn’t appear to buy Epona’s story of a really rough party and Rosie being stupid, though * Meanwhile, Valkyrie confronts Firebug again, pointing out that they’re back in Pebble now [2013-09-18 43º Session] * Firebug fends off Valkyrie’s continued attempts at getting answers, and Valkyrie flips * The party heads back to the plant, Wiggles briefly flipping several times en route as she argues a bit with Valkyrie over the latter’s violent comments about Rosie * The party discovers the sign in front of the heating plant * Firebug sends Epona for treats for the chimney-sweeping foals and gives Jay her (Firebug’s) address; meanwhile, Wiggles and Valkyrie argue with each other about paperwork filing * Firebug then heads up to her office to await the meeting with, currently, Valkyrie, and Jay parks the cart in the plant’s loading area * Epona returns with donuts and interrupts the discussion just before it gets going; Valkyrie invites her to join, though, since she already knows; Epona chooses to go visit her parents instead, but Valkyrie invites Epona over to Valkyrie’s house later Evening: * Firebug admits to Valkyrie that the teambuilding exercise was a cover for retrieving a snake to put in the mayor’s toilet… though she claims that it was a joke and that no specific species was desired; Valkyrie does not buy it, claiming that Firebug already picked a species * Firebug continues to deny it (making use of exact words), and Valkyrie asks to bring Epona in to corroborate the story; Firebug resists but eventually agrees * Firebug and Valkyrie basically demand that Epona choose between the two of them through explaining or not explaining; Epona desperately tries to avoid this and get the two to resolve things on their own * Epona, after some thought, claims that the snake sought was a Violet Subtracter, a nonvenomous filter feeder that looks like a toilet snake * Through flips, Valkyrie briefly argues with herself again, and then Wiggles explodes at Firebug at the suggestion that she take paid leave instead of catching up on paperwork * Valkyrie and Wiggles seem to have bought the story, Wiggles promising not only to not quit, but to be in ten minutes early tomorrow * Firebug, Epona, and Wiggles head home; Jay is waiting at Firebug’s and Epona and Wiggles are heading to Wiggles’s house * Firebug and Jay kind of nervously avoid outright mentioning the fact that they’re in the house, and they intend to take separate baths before Jay bunks in Sal’s room; Jay showers first, and Firebug takes a nap * Wiggles expresses great distress at the state in which Valkyrie left their house, and then Wiggles, Valkyrie, and Epona proceed to talk * Jay finishes his shower and goes to bed but, having misunderstood Firebug, does not wake her * Valkyrie and Epona go to bed together but do no more than cuddling, kissing, and sleeping === 1 Seeds 1833 - Day 8. === [2013-09-25 44º Session] Morning: * Firebug wakes up and takes a shower, singing about... divine millipedes? * Valkyrie and Epona wake up, and Valkyrie becomes perturbed that she, as she incorrectly believes due to Epona reading the clock wrong, overslept * Valkyrie and Epona shower (separately), Valkyrie now worrying that she doesn’t know how to do Wiggles’s paperwork * Valkyrie and Epona shower again (not separately) * Firebug has breakfast as Jay wakes up, and Jay then has his breakfast as she finishes * The two pairs converse * Firebug asks Jay out to dinner this night and asks him to pick up some books at the library for her * Firebug, Epona, and Valkyrie leave for work * Firebug checks in with Eccentric, gives her the bowling ball, and makes a chair from wood and the hydra teeth; meanwhile, Epona and Valkyrie try to tackle the paperwork * Rosie is released from the clinic and heads to Tumbler Tailoring * Wiggles reveals that she’s been running in the background the entire time, but she says that she’s going to stay there and force Valkyrie to learn to do Wiggles’s job * Firebug calls Pen Nib to arrange the meeting, settling on lunch in Firebug’s office; Firebug then places the sandwich orders for said lunch * Rosie buys a classy black nightgown (an approximation of one she found on the centrefold of Horny Mares…) and some white socks * Jay heads out to the library, finds it, and gets a card * The library turns out to have both of the books that Firebug wanted, and Jay checks them out * Jay, wandering around town, spots Rosie wandering around town and swoops down to talk * The talk becomes a bit intense * The two part somewhat unhappily [2013-10-02 45º Session] Noonish: * Rosie meets Pen Nib, on her way to meet with Firebug over lunch, outside the town hall, and the two go flying on the way to the heating plant; they’re followed by Epona once they enter the plant’s airspace * Epona then meets the pair at the plant’s security checkpoint and radios Firebug that Pen Nib has arrived * Epona sends the pair in, then follows them * Pen Nib heads into Firebug’s office, after which Firebug shuts the door * Epona checks Rosie over and then moves to her office * Epona heads back to Wiggles’s office, and Rosie joins her * Epona and Valkyrie throw (literally) Rosie out of Wiggles’s office; Rosie goes to meet with Eccentric to get some fuel cost paperwork, unsuccessfully; all Eccentric can tell her is that it’s in Wiggles’s office * Rosie, returning to the second floor landing, finds that Pen Nib has just exited Firebug’s office * Pen Nib leaves, returning to the town hall with a hydra tooth that Firebug is giving the mayor * Rosie meets with Firebug, still seeking paperwork but also to apologize… and to express concern that Firebug’s past might hurt Jay * Rosie leaves Firebug’s office [2013-10-09 46º Session] * Rosie interrupts a Wiggles-Epona makeout session to ask for budget paperwork * Wiggles discovers that Epona stamped Valkles’s posterior; Valkyrie finds this hilarious * Wiggles discovers that she is behind schedule on paperwork * Epona stamps “VaLKYrlE” name on the office door * Epona then stamps “nib’s knob” on Rosie’s flank * Firebug requests quiet with a powerpoint, and Rosie heads downstairs to the locker room to change hats for work (asking about wood purchases, not stoking, since her leg is still injured) * Rosie meets a pair of foals in the locker room, one a young teenager, and finds out about the orphanage plan * Jay finally drops by the plant to give Firebug the library books, which Firebug reads, looking for information on the Diadem’s soul-damaging Late afternoon/evening: * After work, Rosie picks up her finished purchase from the tailor * Firebug and Jay meet at Chez Mare; they go in and begin their date * Rosie meets Pen Nib just arriving at Pen Nib’s apartment and gives her the gift * Pen Nib informs Rosie that she needs to go to Chez Mare tonight and invites Rosie to make it a date; Rosie accepts, and the two go inside the apartment to prepare (and wash off the “nib’s knob” stamp) * Pen Nib and Rosie arrive at the restaurant * The couples eat and talk * Jay pays, and Jay and Firebug leave; they then go for a flight and end up back at Firebug’s house, ending up going to bed (for more than sleeping) * Rosie and Pen Nib likewise leave, heading back to Pen Nib’s apartment, ending up going to bed (also for more than sleeping) * Epona and Valkles returned to Wiggles’s house at some point to go to bed (whether they did more than sleeping is unknown) === 2 Seeds 1833 - Day 9. === [2013-10-16 47º Session] Morning: * The pairs (and the pair/trio that is Epona and Wiggles/Valkyrie) awaken and chat * Firebug and Jay make plans to take a hike later in the day * Firebug gets kissed goodbye and leaves for the plant * Wiggles and Epona discover that Wiggles’s cutie mark now seems to be a “smudgy” merging of hers and Valkyrie’s * Rosie arrives at work * Rosie tells Firebug that she plans on seeing the woodcutters later in the day about renegotiating fuel prices * Rosie and Firebug talk, and Rosie reprimands Firebug for not telling Jay about Firebug’s past * Firebug is not very responsive to Rosie’s concerns, and Rosie heads down to do some stoking until the rain stops and she can head out to the lumberjacks [2013-10-23 48º Session] * Wiggles and Valkyrie express some distaste for any concern about their new cutie mark * In conversation with Epona and each other, Wiggles and Valkyrie accidentally put themselves into a state where each of them has control over half the body * The trio talks some more, ending in a hug… and then Wiggles noticing and subsequently shouting that they’re late for work * Valkles and Epona arrive at the plant, Epona helping Valkles walk, and meet Firebug, who reassures Wiggles that she needn’t dock her own pay * Firebug asks Valkles to keep an eye on Rosie during the negotiation with the lumberjack, and Epona asks to go along, having been made a bit fearful for Valkles’s welfare by the events of the morning * The trio meets with Rosie and arranges the trip Noonish: * Rosie goes to meet Pen Nib for lunch, planning to make the lumberjack visit afterwards, but conversation causes Pen Nib to be going along * The two return to the heating plant to join with Valkles and Epona, and the five head off to the lumberjack camp * Rosie negotiates a fifteen percent cut in the heating plant’s wood prices * Epona and Valkles start heading back to Pebble, and Rosie and Pen Nib decide to have a picnic lunch * The Helix arrives; Epona and Valkles crash at the edge of the destruction caused by its arrival [2013-10-30 49º Session] * Rosie and Pen Nib emerge from their hiding place in a pile of debris and set off for Pebble, Pen Nib cloaking the two * Epona and Valkles wake up to find themselves being carried through the wasteland by a party of strange draconic creatures * Rosie and Pen Nib encounter the party and decide to follow * The scales take their prisoners into the Helix and place them in an alcove in their mezzanine fortifications * One of the scale soldiers scrawls a message to Epona and Valkles which Wiggles is able to make out… though, since Wiggles was forcefully repressed by Valkyrie to keep her from panicking, she’s a bit out of it * Back in Pebble, Jay and Firebug meet in Firebug’s office and decide to go look for survivors * After following various sets of tracks, Jay and Firebug find themselves heading towards the Helix * Firebug and Jay hid behind a tree corpse near the Helix’s main gate, trying to think of a way in [2013-11-06 50º Session] * Using a smoke cloud for cover, Firebug and Jay make their way to a maintenance access door on the Helix’s roof next to the big skylight, across from a twin door that the scales are using to access their elevator * The fungal fruiting body atop the Helix bursts, triggering containment fields; fortunately, Firebug and Jay managed to get inside in time * Safe behind the forcefield, Jay is rather perturbed to observe the scales from the elevator platform efficiently laying out their equipment and then just as efficiently suiciding en masse * Firebug attempts to create a distraction, so that Jay can sneak out of the door at the bottom of the stairwell, by setting some scrap wood alight, but unfortunately the scales go on alert and don’t all look at it * Firebug’s second attempt, making the wood fire flash brightly, is more successful; Jay is able to get off the mezzanine before the scales bring up fresh eyes * Firebug carries out a scan for ponies; the passive doesn’t get anything, but the active finds Rosie and Pen Nib hiding behind a statue * The four of them regroup, and Firebug, Jay, and Rosie start trying to figure out how to get Epona and Valkles free [2013-11-13 51º Session] * Meanwhile, Epona is trying to communicate with the scales, having become interested in a map she noticed them studying * Epona, while witnessing a variety of events from last session from the other side, actually establishes a pretty good pictorial dialog with the scales * The scales eventually decide to send Epona and Valkles up the chain of command; Epona agrees, and the party sets out * Firebug, Jay, Rosie, and Pen Nib hear the sounds of the party departing [2013-11-20 52º Session] * Firebug, Jay, Rosie, and Pen Nib start stealthily following * The slime ambush happens; the slimes wipe out the scale escort * The reunited party move off with the surviving slimes * The party, slimes included, realises what a hazard the spores could be to the surrounding area; they head for the old security control center and a PA * Firebug broadcasts an announcement, inside and hopefully outside the Helix, that the spores are dangerous; she then broadcasts “Ahem. We've got survivors in here from the blast and some from an RRC expedition.” Afternoon: * The party arrives at and enters the museum tower [2013-12-04 53º Session] * The party follows Air Foil up the museum tower, towards the general * The party meets with General Full Plate * Sagittarius fires The Dread Dimensions - Time Uncertain [2013-12-11 54º Session] * The party awakens * The party begins discussing (and arguing about) their options; Epona also tries to convince General Full Plate to pursue peace with the scales * General Full Plate confers with his staff as the party confer separately amongst themselves * The party leaves Epona and Valkles to comfort each other and heads down to the ground floor to talk with Air Foil * Rosie takes Pen Nib to bonk in the closet [2013-12-18 55º Session] * Wiggles and Valkyrie, having made great progress and being under great stress, merge * Firebug, followed by Rosie and Pen Nib, heads upstairs to see if the meeting is over yet; it isn’t * Firebug observes and examines some giant-bat-like creatures swooping around in the spore cloud outside * The party gathers by the window * Epona and Valkles become engaged * Firebug gets her personal meeting with General Full Plate, and Rosie and Jay talk in an office-being-used-for-storage [2013-12-30 56º Session] * Epona and Valkles sit by the window doing nothing for a while, and Epona falls asleep on Valkles’s shoulder * Rosie and Jay emerge from their conversation in the storeroom and start talking to Valkles and Pen Nib * Firebug emerges from her meeting with the general, who’s waiting for his soldiers to report back * Valkles goes to snuggle with the sleeping Epona * Firebug, Jay, Rosie, and Pen Nib go looking for the museum part of the Museum and instead find an indoor farm; they commence talking to a slime tending it * The present party learns some more about the DD and Rosie makes and improvement to the simes’ farming * The slime, who the party learns is named Dandelion Juice, takes them further up the Museum to see glowtatoes and converse further; it’s also brought up that Firebug may be able to get water hot enough to kill the spores and that a water trade agreement might be worked out with the scales * Dandelion Juice tells the party some about the region of the DD around the Helix * The party bids farewell to Dandelion Juice and starts heading further up the Museum [2014-01-08 57º Session] * The party is halted by a messenger slime who leads them back down to meet with the general; on the way, Epona and Valkles are collected * The meeting proceeds; among other things, the party is introduced to Firey Wand Curious Volume and told that they and Air Foil are the slimepony volunteers for the mission * The meeting ends and the party+volunteers splits into two groups ({Rosie, Pen Nib, Air Foil, Epona, Valkles}, {Firebug, Jay, FWCV}) to prepare for the mission * The first group heads down to speak with the quartermaster and gather supplies * Rosie asks Air Foil to give her combat training, and Pen Nib requests that she be trained as well; meanwhile, Kettle Boot, Valkles, and Epona work on repairing armor * Rosie decides to fight with horseshoes and Pen Nib barehoofed; Air Foil finds and cleans some horseshoes for Rosie, and Valkles and Epona decide to leave the repairs to Kettle Boot * Valkles also requests horseshoes and training * Pen Nib shoes Rosie and Epona Valkles * Meanwhile, Firebug receives a brief education in combat magic from Firey Wand Curious Volume in one of the Museum’s training rooms (well, a room repurposed as a training room); Firebug learns how to form a simple shield with TK * Firey Wand Curious Volume then attempts, without success at this time, to teach Firebug a silencing spell in the hope that it might be useful against the shadhavar [2014-01-15 58º Session] * Jay narrowly misses impregnating Firebug and Rosie is told that FWCV can't much help her with her magic * In the “morning”, the party departs the Museum, deciding to head to the mezzanine fort to talk to the scales there * The party arrives at the mezzanine fort without incident, and a scale worker is sent out with a sandbox to try and communicate * The party manages to procure a scale guide and emissary to the hive * Epona attempts to instead negotiate immediate slime/scale talks, but in this she does not meet with success; she decides to head to the hive * The party reaches the Helix proper without incident and begins ascending * The party makes it up the lower defensive wall of the scale hive [2014-01-22 59º Session] * The party is lead inside and meets sSs!sh; the negotiations commence * The negotiations go well, sSs!sh leaves to confer with the All-Mother, and the party is escorted to a storage room to wait; they unfortunately discover that the provided food is inedible to them [2014-01-29 60º Session] * sSs!sh returns with good news, and the party heads out to collect Air Foil and Firey Wand Curious Volume * The slimes are brought into the hive * The party exits the hive through the upper lock [At this point did Bryce, by common consent and desire, assume the duties of primary GM of the game.] * The ponies enter the hall between the Prancer the Long Memorial Spiritual Archive and the Conservation Department * They then enter and begin exploring the conservation department, partly using the time-honored tradition of “Oh, a mysterious magical piece of headgear! Let’s put it on and see what happens!” with some opera glasses * They seen what is apparently an image of Shear Steel riding Firebug, and through experimentation determine it follows the diadem; they mostly think it is a ghost. * They see some kind of odd, momentary aura around Pen Nib, who might be ill * They head over to Spiritual Containment, which at first seems quiet… and then Firebug shines a light at some odd shadows [2014-02-05 61º Session] * The party commences fighting/negotiating with Amukan of the Great Savanna, a spectral elephant-creature * A second and… benevolent? entity joins the conversation after battle is averted * The two entities appear to depart * The party members talk to each other, and Firebug attempts to rid herself of some of the eldritch elephant’s slime * Rosie asks for and receives information on Firey Wand Curious Volume’s condition [2014-02-12 62º Session] * The party decides to move out… when suddenly, a mysterious magenta energy beam cuts through the room, and indeed the Helix, at least in this area, across the curving axis; the party is trapped above the cut until the containment fields go down, assuming that they can’t find a way into the central core * The party manages to unblock the remaining door available to them and finds some offices; proceeding to the second floor of offices, they find a chaos-magic-infused tea party… on the ceiling * Air Foil takes a vacuole of the tea, and Rosie takes some of the cakes and, at Pen Nib’s urging, gives them to Firey Wand Curious Volume * The party proceeds into another library, this one with green goo dripping from the ceiling; Rosie loots some books * The goo brings down the ceiling, and the party narrowly escapes * Rosie finds something called “The Tome of Primordial Chaos” and proceeds to meddle with it with merry abandon [2014-02-19 63º Session] * Rosie finds a scroll bearing a spell to summon apples; she successfully casts it * The party moves on… to the door; it turns out that the anti-theft enchantment on a candelabra they’d picked up was rather violent, and Rosie is injured; Epona heals her but jokes around about it, much to Pen Nib’s displeasure * The party finds a locked private residence and a dead crafty crapaud; after Rosie accidentally punches a hole in the door, FWCV is able to send an eyestalk through and unlock it; the party enters * The residence turns out to be that of an astronomer, and Rosie does more reading * Epona <...I’m not really sure how to describe it> a life-sized plush Princess Luna in the bedroom * Noises are heard on the other side of the bedroom wall [2014-02-23 64º Session] * The… stuff with the stuffed Luna continues; Valkles and Epona argue about it * Much talking of cuddling is done * Firebug, feeling ill, claims the bed; Epona places the plush Luna to stand guard with Air Foil * The others, save Jay, leave the bedroom * Epona claims one of the parlor’s two couches for herself and Valkles and begins rendering it defensible (ie, making a pillow fort) * Rosie and Pen Nib go to bed on the other couch * Valkles goes to bed fort with Epona, who rearranges the fort into a doorless bunker * The next “morning”, the party slowly awakens * Firebug discovers that she has lost the ability to detect and use magic * There is some disagreement about whether Firebug ought to continue with the rest of the party or stay in the residence for now; Firebug eventually decides to go with the rest * Epona loans Firebug her NVGs, and FWCV offers to be armor for Firebug; Firebug accepts both * The party heads out, bickering all the way * They come to a barricade and begin trying to dismantle it, only seeing a nearby door after they’d already caused a partial collapse * Behind the door is a stairway up; this turns out to lead to another apartment, this one mostly empty * The party flies from the apartment’s balcony to an adjacent and higher one; it belongs to an office, apparently of the janitorial staff * Valkles takes a poster… which prompts Epona to fly back and get the Luna plushie, which causes Valkles to begin arguing * Meanwhile, Rosie and Pen Nib find the results of a very tidy suicide in Lord High Janitor Tidy Towers’s office; Rosie finds a book in the skeleton’s hoof, “The Way of the Janitor”, and flips through it; only the index page is in a language she can read * Rosie, with Pen Nib’s help, wraps the skeleton in the tarp she used * Lacking aught to do with the body, the party leaves it and proceeds; the only unblocked door they find leads to the “Arcane Helix Janitorial Recruit Training Course” * The party fails the first room [2014-02-26 65º Session] * The party, after breaking the first room even more, finally hacks it and gets through * The party eventually passes the second chamber * The party easily and somewhat accidentally very quickly passes the third chamber * The party uses the Diadem’s invisibility magic to pass the fourth chamber * In the fifth chamber, they encounter a burnt-out lamp on the ceiling and a word wheel puzzle connected to a locked door * They solve the word wheel puzzle rather quickly, and the lamp is replaced; however, rather than causing the door out to open, this summons a garbage golem [2014-03-02 66º Session] * Epona shoots the golem with an explosive bolt, which causes the trial to fail; the party decides that they’ll try fighting it, when they respawn it, with mops * The party exits the room and then heads back in, hoping that that will reset the trial * It does, combat commences, a Pen-Nib-mounted Rosie powerdives through the golem, and Valkles hits the golem with a well-thrown letter opener… and unfortunately thereby ends the trial again; the party heads back out to reset it again * Combat begins again * The party wins, though not without some injuries; in particular, Air Foil is dispersed and has to be gathered up * The party discovers that the next room is in fact a garden lit by a miniature sun * Valkles decides to rename herself Wiggles Valkyrie Troubleclef Moonbeam [2014-03-12 67º Session] * Firebug attacks Rosie for a perceived insult and is quickly joined by Epona; Rosie retaliates, Jay stays neutral, and Wiggles tries to stop the fight… by blindly flailing, hitting, Firebug, and Rosie (though not doing damage) * Pen Nib knocks out Epona, and Air Foil, a distance away and confused, runs over to see what’s going on * FWCV manages to lock Firebug but not, in the face of her struggles, withdraw her from the combat entirely; Jay, however, manages to pull her out, and Rosie also withdraws; both Firebug and Rosie are continuing the verbal brawl, however * Wiggles, shouting pleadingly for calm, gets between the two sides; Air Foil joins her, though with shouting less pleading and more angry and confused * After the argument dies down to a simmer, the unconscious Epona is loaded onto Wiggles, and the party moves out * The party comes across some hunting shadhavar in the process of suffocating a crafty crapaud; Wiggles, taking pity on the crapaud, frees it, which leads leads to a minor confrontation before communication is established * It turns out that one of the shadhavar is the one who visited the slimeponies years ago * As the conversation progresses, the crapaud begins to stir and the other shadhavar prepares to slay it with a dagger; Wiggles, “a creature of gentle heart and sweet disposition”, asks that it be spared; the shadhavar kill it and begin butchering it anyway * Conversation and culture clash continues, and eventually the party sets off with the shadhavar to their settlement * The party while travelling continues to converse with True Song and in so doing learns more about a variety of things, chiefly the Shadhavar and the Arcane Helix [2014-03-19 68º Session] * The party passes through an area of magical darkness that shows them visions in an attempt to frighten or lure them from the path * True Song calls for a flying carpet to take the party the rest of the way to the Shadhavar settlement * The party arrives at the settlement * Rosie and Pen Nib study some murals while the party waits for True Song to drop the crapaud meat off in a kitchen * True Song returns and begins leading the party to the settlement’s elders * Epona attempts to buy some spices in the shadhavar market and successfully convinces the merchant to take modern Equestrian Bits… at a rather nasty exchange rate; Epona, however, then begins attempting to barter martial training; while the merchant is uninterested, they say that perhaps another shadhavar would pay Epona; while Epona may do this later, she for the moment just purchases some spices (7 grams of life pepper and 7 grams of death pepper) at the high exchange rate; she tastes them and finds them both pleasant and not immediately poisonous * The party continues and reaches the elders; the meeting begins * Rosie convinces the elders to let the party continue further up, but help from the shadhavar is expected to be confined to, if anything, volunteers * Firebug asks to see a shadhavar healer about her magic blindness; Heart Beat herself, one of the elders, agrees to look at Firebug * Rosie asks the elder Melody Line about metamagic * Rosie and Wiggles ask about having hornstars grafted to them to improve their magic; the elders debate and eventually decide on a musical test; Wiggles passes, but Rosie does not (to the relief of Pen Nib, who had been trying to dissuade her from such dangerous experimentation) * Melody Line decides to begin the grafting at once, and Wiggles agrees * Rosie challenges Wiggles to a duel over the hornstar grafting; the fight commences, and Epona shoots Rosie with a stun bolt and then proceeds to try and defend her interference to the shadhavar elders * Epona is successful, and Wiggles, and Melody Line head off to the Chamber of Silence for the grafting; Epona tries to follow at first, but Wiggles and Melody Line convince her to stay with the rest of the party; Epona does, however, ask Shady to escort Wiggles, and Jay agrees * Firebug departs with Heart Beat while Pen Nib and a now-awake Rosie have an argument up near the ceiling * The argument is tearfully made up * FWCV, having been asked to separate from Firebug for the medical matters, returns to the rest of the group * The party remaining in the room along with Death Note get in an argument about the fairness of shadhavar duelling in general and the recent aborted duel in particular * Key Notes, the first shadhavar the party met, appears and publicly accuses Epona of declining a duel challenge; this leads to further discussion, but no combat comes of it at this time * Rosie learns from Death Note of one Prince Wind Wail, a shadhavar who lives in a castle on the border of the Wailing Wastes and has made a study of unicorn magic * Rosie, Pen Nib, FWCV, Epona, and Air Foil, escorted by True Song go to consult the shadhavar priestess Cut Time, who once fought in the lands of the Undying One; on the way, they pass Jay outside the Chamber of Silence, waiting for Wiggles’s procedure to be finished * The party arrives at the temple at meets with Cut Time, though Cut Time leaves abruptly partway through the discussion [2014-03-23 69º Session] * Wiggles, Jay, and Melody Line return, the procedure having been a success (though the “grafting” turned out to be Wiggles keeping the hornstar in a box), and Melody Line departs again to procure supplies * Cut Time returns and asks to speak to Rosie alone; Pen Nib, in the meantime, goes to speak to Wiggles * Rosie comes back happy about something, and Melody Line returns with shadhavar-style clothing for Wiggles (in case Wiggles develops an anqi) * Another shadhavar comes to summon True Song to a meeting with Heart Beat * Wiggles is able to summon some water, and Rosie is able to catch it with telekinesis * Cut Time returns * The party leaves the temple in search of Firebug * The party gets lost, and Rosie/Pen Nib and the others split into two groups and get even more lost * The non-Rosie/Pen Nib groups finds Firebug and discovers that she has become a priestess of the shadhavar fire deity and thus regained her magic * Rosie trades all her bits and her beret for a fine shadhavar dress complete with a headdress with spikes and a horn protector * Rosie demonstrates impressive scrying powers * Firebug scrys for and finds Rosie and Pen Nib * Firebug fireproofs the party with her, and they set out to meet Rosie and Pen Nib * The two groups rejoin * It is discovered that Rosie’s special talent isn’t working, and she and Pen Nib go to see Cut Time about it * It turns out that, based on the wording of what En-Netsusep told Cut Time to say, Rosie’s old talent has been replaced by the “coordination of the movement of the sun and of the turning of the moon” [2014-03-26 70º Session] * The party gets back together and settles down for the “night” * Before bed, Rosie goes to talk to Jay privately while Firebug is busy in the temple to her new goddess * Rosie patches things up with Jay and then goes to see Epona and Wiggles * Rosie fails to patch things up with Epona and Wiggles, and the party goes to bed * Wiggles overnight pretty much mastered shadhavar telekinesis songs * The party is collected by True Song and taken to the courtyard where they earlier met with the shadhavar elders * Religious blessings are invoked for the party, and a shadhavar stallion, Dark Dirge, volunteers to go with them * The party is given a small escort to transport them directly to the Spire, bypassing most of the Undying One’s territory * The departure ceremony is held, and a shadhavar choir forces the party’s carpets through the containment field and wraps bubbles of it around them; the carpets then set off * Something uncertain goes wrong with the flight, and the party and escort find themselves crashing inside somewhere; Firebug and one of the carpet pilots are knocked out in the crash, but the others are not significantly damaged * After a disembodied voice says something, paper golems drop from the ceiling [2014-04-02 71º Session] * The party begins launching attacks on the golems, and the golems reply in kind * The party defeats the golems, after which the party is scanned and a long cylinder descends from the ceiling; a door in the cylinder opens, on the other side of which is an elevator containing an ambulant shadhavar skeleton; the skeleton utters some words in the shadhavar language which cause the shadhavar in the party to cover their ears, and then Rosie bucks it against the elevator wall; it rises, and combat is joined * The skeleton begins combat by emitting a sound that stuns all the shadhavar in the party and Wiggles * The skeleton takes a beating, and it is finally felled by FWCV flowing a pseudopod into its horn and exploding it from the inside; FWCV then gives the hornstar to Dark Dirge * The shadhavar besides Dark Dirge summon magic and leave on their carpets through a hole in the wall (one built there, not blasted) * The party discovers that the elevator control system, unfortunately, was damaged in the battle… which is rather easy to discover, because some large and important-looking bits of it are now lying on the floor * The party juryrigs a repair, which works, and they set off for the Loremaster’s Private Residence… only for the elevator to stop and descend back to the bottom of the shaft * The party tries to try again with the doors open, but the doors close automatically and then reopen without the lift having moved; study of the mechanism resumes * The party discovers how to stop the car in the shaft and open the doors, but their first attempt faces a blank wall * The second attempt is nearly right; the doors are visible but misaligned * FWCV finally works out how to build (presumably reconstructing) a comparator out of the various scattered parts and thus renders the elevator functional again… though the floor codes still have to be entered manually * The party rides up, successfully this time, to the Loremaster’s Private Residence [2014-04-09 72º Session] * The party, after being rather surprised to discover that Eldritch Lore was apparently sharing quarters with a pastry chef (as indicated by a sign on the vestibule door), cautiously enters and begins exploring * The apartment seems to still be in good shape, and the amenities are working * The party finds a journal written in a gryphon writing system; Wiggles can read it, however, and it appears to have belonged to Eldritch Lore * It turns out that Eldritch Lore was using divination magic to try and control the future, with some success, but saw something she really didn’t like and began to despair * The party is rather surprised to discover a shadhavar, Dissonant Combination, casually reading in the bedroom; several things, though, seem off about him besides his location * Wiggles, followed by Air Foil, looks at Dissonant Combination through the opera glasses and sees that he is definitely not a normal shadhavar * Rosie gives Dissonant Combination some of the cake, with no obvious effect * FWCV looks through the opera glasses as well * Dissonant Combination, after some more conversation, runs out of the room and out of sight, ostensibly to get cake for the others * A shadhavar in a “butler suit” appears in the bedroom doorway, announces that dinner is served, and heads to the dining room where Dissonant Combination waits at the head of the table, which is now piled high with cake, as another shadhavar finishes laying out silverware; the butler and the waiter then leave * The party is somewhat hesitant, but they sit down to eat * Dissonant Combination quite casually reveals that he’s a draconequus, was imprisoned in stone prior to the founding of Equestria, and was released, apparently, in the transition of the Helix to Equestria and back again; the conversation continues to be friendly * After a bit, Dissonant Combination leaves, pleading a job interview * Dissonant Combination returns in a poof of illogic, wearing a business suit, and proclaims that he got the job, has a few more things to set up, and then has a “simply marvelous surprise” for the party… and then he disappears again * Firebug declares that she has had too much cake, then lies on the floor * Rosie claims the bed, and Pen Nib follows (though they end up just doing some talking, kissing, and looting for later due to concerns about suddenly-appearing draconequi with scorecards); Firebug and Jay shut themselves in the servants’ breakroom [2014-04-16 73º Session] * Parts of the party wake up separately and find that they’re playing a game with Dissonant Combination: capture the flag against a small army of monsters. * [A Thread] * lots of stuff happened in the thread I (Owen) was in, and probably at least as much happened in the other thread… and, in any case, it looks like the logs will be sealed until the end of the game * [Okay, Bryce has asked me to make a time log from the redacted version of the A thread, and he’ll be doing the same for the B thread later. * The A party, hereafter within the brackets referred to simply as “the party” or Red Team, decides on a purely offensive approach to attempt to overwhelm any defenders at the enemy base; if the enemy flag carrier gets the party’s flag, they can be fought in mid * While the party is en route, Pen Nib, flying to scout, spots one of the enemy making off with the Red flag; she flies to intercept, fighting and injuring two of the enemy but ultimately being unable to prevent them from escaping * Meanwhile, the rest of the party has reached the enemy base and found it defended; though it is apparently unoccupied, Air Foil is killed by a trap * The party avoids any further traps, but they discover that the defenders were just in hiding; battle begins * Pen Nib joins the others and defends Rosie, but eventually an enemy attack gets past and kills Rosie; Pen Nib kills one of the enemy casters * The enemy flag carriers return, but not before Curious Volume is able to get away with the enemy flag; it turns out that the rule require both flags in the same base for a victory * Further combat takes place; Firey Wand is able to injure the enemy flag carrier and make off with the Red flag, and Pen Nib runs interference for him * As the enemy lick their wounds and seem resigned to their loss, Pen Nib starts flying back to the Red base; however, it turns out that there was one enemy who hadn’t directly shown themselves yet and who had teleported to the Red base, trapping and then killing Curious Volume; Firey Wand is able to hide * Pen Nib arrives and attacks the new enemy just as, it turns out, the enemy was teleporting; the enemy is telefragged and Pen Nib ends up back at the enemy base * Pen Nib escapes the assault as Firey Wand plants both flags in the Red base, winning the game * Or the first round, at least, as Dissonant Combination reappears, “resurrects” the “dead”, and announces that there is one more challenge before the party can claim their prize * A giant chaos-breathing silver dragon rises from the ground in a shower of molten rock; combat ensues * The party manages to prevail, and Dissonant Combination grants them some wishes] * [End A Thread] * [B Thread] * The B team, including Shear Steel who has her own body, learns that they are to play capture the flag with a group of monsters * Epona and Shady go to capture the enemy flag; Firebug, Wiggles and Shear Steel defend the base. Shear Steel sets magical traps. * Epona picks up the flag * A horrid, nasty bee monster attacks Epona, but Shady takes the metaphorical bullet for her and is injured * The bee apparently kills itself by smashing into the wall trying to hit Epona, and Shady and Epona escapes with the red flag * Red team attacks the blue base, a cloud monster is killed by Shear Steel’s trap, battle ensues * Wiggles is mortally wounded * Blue flag carriers return, but Red team takes the blue flag and recovers their own, despite taking losses * Shear Steel winks out to go to the enemy base, but when she returns, she has experienced a horrible winking accident and merged with the awful horrid bee creature * The party tries to kill the AHBC but fails, though it is apparently driven off * The party loses the game and are teleported to a box where they find themselves alive and healthy, and enjoy their consolation prize of 1 WORD. * The party is returned to Eldritch Lore’s quarters * [End B Thread] * The party wakes up back in Eldritch Lore’s apartment; Firey Wand and Curious Volume are now separate unicorns, Air Foil is a pegasus, and Rosie is visibly pregnant with her and Pen Nib’s foal (that is, the pregnancy is visible; Rosie doesn’t have its gene sequence printed on her stomach or anything); though the rest of the party lost their test, they were apparently given infinite cupcakes as a consolation prize * Rosie takes some of Eldritch Lore’s larger-sized clothes [2014-04-23 74º Session] * Rosie offers Air Foil her armor and horseshoes, and FW and CV assist with the removal and reapplication of the latter; Jay finally dons the stealthy pegasus stallion armor, which turns out to be magical and have the ability to teleport * Firebug finds out from Dark Dirge that apparently the elevator car has left (with the doors into the shaft still open) and that the call button isn’t working * The party heads down the stairs in the study to Eldritch Lore’s library, planning to search it and to use the space for the ex-slimepony mages to teach Rosie shield magic; unfortunately, the library seems to be in a fair bit of disrepair and has possibly also already been looted * The party begins searching the library anyway * The party is making some respectable progress in both tasks when Jay notices a pair of dead shadhavar in a corner… which then turn out to have “un”s in their descriptions * Jay’s armor reveals that it can apparently teleport away weapons that strike it… and enemies that the wearer tackles * The fight ends when Curious Volume is able to take control of the zombies; Firebug asks to be taught the magic * The party begins arguing about the ethics of necromancy * The argument is resolved in favor of Firebug being taught, over some objections, and the magic training and library searching resume * FW tries to teach Rosie some arcane projectile magic, but this is much less successful than the shield magic lesson * The book search finishes, with Rosie stashing the Astronomicon of Queen Stargazer and Sidereal Fragments in her saddlebags * Rosie then pulls out and looks through the Tome of Primordial Chaos, which has retitled itself “Everything you wanted to know about anything, but were afraid to ask”; meanwhile, Curious Volume attempts to dissuade some other party members from breaking down a sealed door * The party returns to Eldritch Lore’s quarters and begins trying to figure out how to reach the Spire’s panopticon room; fortunately, the lift door into the panopticon room’s antechamber is open, and the party can, and does, just fly up the shaft * The party opens the door from the antechamber into the panopticon room, which seems to bear signs of battle * Curious Volume dissuades Jay from randomly trying the controls around the periphery of the room and is then called over to investigate the skeleton in the center, which Rosie thinks is odd; Curious Volume scans the skeleton... [2014-04-30 75º Session] * ...Detects strong necromantic magic, and offers a combination of a polite greeting and a shield and slow retreat; the skeleton then comes to “life” and begins speaking * Conversation commences, it is revealed that the skeleton is Dusty Tomes, former Archmage of Canterlot and now a lich soulbound to the throne, and CV is persuaded by FW to drop her shield; Rosie expresses continued suspicion, however * Various party members attempt to simply move the throne to which Dusty is bound, but it’s firmly magically fixed * Firey Wand breaks the binding curse * Some book golems arrive from the now-open stairs to the control room * Dusty Tomes starts asking about the relative levels of magicalness of the party’s unicorns and is understandably surprised to be told Curious Volume’s name * Firey Wand frees Dusty Tomes, who then pardons Curious Volume and gives her his hat, cloak, and signet ring; meanwhile, Epona attacks Rosie and is in turn knocked out by Pen Nib * Curious Volume then begins acting a bit oddly… and it turns out that she’s been unwillingly possessed by Dusty Tomes; the attempt to exorcise him fails, and battle is joined against him, in Curious Volume’s body, and the book golems * A bolt renders Curious Volume’s body temporarily magic blind (Dusty Tomes not having encountered antiunicorn flashbang bolts before and not knowing how to defend himself), and Dusty Tomes leaves and reclaims his skeleton, taking his equipment with him; he then creates a bubble shield around himself * Battle continues * The party seems to be winning, but then Dusty casts a great barrage of lighting that injures and stuns most of the party [2014-05-02 76º Session] * The battle continues; the party begins to rally, but Epona is dissolved into slime and Rosie and Pen Nib are still missing after the lightning barrage * Dusty grabs the still magic-blind Curious Volume and tries to flee, sprouting fungal wings, but proves unable to break the containment fields * Epona, having become a slime and apparently quickly regained consciousness and her identity, slams one of the golems into the wall, destroying it * Firebug frees Curious Volume from Dusty’s telekinesis, and Firey Wand, having overloaded Dusty’s shield in a previous turn, blows the lich into four sections with a fireball, destroying the fungal wings in the process… and this appears to be enough to kill him * Epona, still a blob, crushes the bones, then takes slimepony form * Rosie and Pen Nib emerge from the stairs down to the control room * Dusty Tomes’s hat falls apart as Firebug picks it up * Epona tries out various tricks with her new sliminess * Dark Dirge calls a bubble full of carpet-riding shadhavar, which appears outside the window Dusty broke * Epona gives Wiggles her armor and crossbow * The party, before leaving, sends the fliers down to retrieve the books they looked at earlier * Epona tries to turn into a powered exoskeleton for Wiggles; this seems to work, but at the cost of embarrassing Wiggles, as Epona, flush with victory (or just being Epona) is in a playful mood * Epona flows off Wiggles * The party boards the carpets, and the group departs the Spire, Wiggles trying to stamp Epona’s slimy flank as the flight begins * The carpets land at the platform near the shadhavar village from which they had departed, where a largish crowd of shadhavar is waiting [2014-05-05 77º Session] * After True Song recasts the translation spell and the elders invite the party to a feast, Epona goes to see if the shadhavar healer can do anything for slimeification (without much hope of success); Dark Dirge, badly injured, is taken with her, and Firebug and Jay visit the temple of En-Bequ’avar; the rest of the party chats * Firebug and Jay return * Epona, not looking like a pony (because why not enjoy her sliminess as long as she has it?) returns; the healer was indeed unable to help her but mentioned that she might be able to get a miracle from one of the shadhavar deities * While Firebug discusses plans for the future, involving Neighswango, Epona turns into a trampoline for Wiggles * Epona decides to look into the miracle option and heads off to the temple of En-Ravanetsep with Wiggles * Rosie and the RRC ex-slimeponies get into a debate on the Princesses, Rosie finally having said something that made the ex-slimeponies realize Rosie’s views of the Princesses * The debate ends with the FW and AF being rather troubled, and Rosie and Pen Nib discuss plans to scavenge the Helix for foal supplies * Rosie and Pen Nib set off in search of a midwife for advice and possibly direct aid, depending on how things turn out; the midwife they find gives them advice and tells them where they could get supplies, but it seems likely that all the foal supplies in the Helix have been looted or ruined already; supplies would have to be bought… or possibly received as gifts, given the party’s fame; the pair set off in search of the appropriate vendor(s) * Epona (still slimed) and Wiggles return to the main body of the group, not impressed with En-Ravanetsep; Firebug attempts to get them to consider En-Bequ’avar * Rosie and Pen Nib returns, having indeed received foal supplies as gifts * The party is summoned to an audience with the elders; it turns out that apparently _Dark Dirge_ beat the Undying One, but the elders are still willing to help the party get home; apparently there is a powerful shadhavar mage named Bone Borer in the castle of Wind Wail in the Wailing Wastes who can probably help; the shadhavar also promise to help the slimeponies retake their territory from the scales if the slimeponies move out early and Bone Borer isn’t able to help after all * The feast begins * Rosie gives birth to a blue unicorn colt who she and Pen Nib then name Red Ink * Firebug, Rosie, and Pen Nib discuss godparenting a bit, and then Pen Nib, Rosie, and Red Ink head off to find a place to sleep (All following this marker is in the future.) [2014-05-14 78º Session] === 6 Seeds 1833 - Day 13. === * Rosie’s journal issue will arrive at Leaves and Leaves === 26 Seeds 1833 - Day 32. === * The first set of library books are due back === 2 Heat 1833 - Day 38 === * The second set of library books are due back === 30 Heat 1833 - Day 66 === * Holiday: Summer Sun Celebration.