Adventures in Equestria IC.

[Benson]

"Ha ha ha hilarious...." Gearstride made a face like she was eating something sour. "So anyways like I was saying we just need to have ourselves a little pow wow...talk this out, all that jazz."

[Mystic Muse]

The mare again just gives a funny look.

She legitimately doesn't seem to know what tea is.

"...I will do my best to come to a peaceful solution, but I make no promises this will not end in violence."

Though, given what's happened already, a peaceful solution seems unlikely at best.

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn gives a rather dour frown... before shrugging, and turning his head to Gear. "Be all means. I shall let you take lead. Delicate diplomacy is not my best subject." He hovers back a bit, intending to seem less threatening and confrontational, though still close to Gear in case he needs to jump in and help her.

[Deme]

"...I wonder..."

She stared up at the ceiling during these proceedings, trying to think of a good question, or a good answer, or whether or not one could define either questions or answers as meaningfully 'good,' or what goodness would mean. Do questions have teleological ethics?

Hearing the diplomacy pushed on Gear, she approached the adventurous mare and said to her in a low tone,

"...She might not understand what you're saying some of the time, so try not to be too much with her, OK? She...definitely isn't alive, so it's not her fault if she misses things. There's not as much you can understand when you're dead or fake or a fake dead thing, brought back to non-life. Like a puppet. A puppet of a ghost."

She explained, worried that Gear might get frustrated dealing with the ghost, or fake, whatever she was.

[Benson]

Gearstride puffed her cheeks in a pouting manner and then deeply sighed. "I don't really know how to talk to folks like that then....I mean....I only have so much patience.." She wrinkled her muzzle and glanced off to the side, her eyes slowly shifting to look at possible ghost mare.

"Why is this ground holy? Or rather...what can you tell us?"

[Mystic Muse]

"Why is this ground holy? Or rather...what can you tell us?"[/COLOR]

"This is the holy temple of the Goddess of Death, of course. She visited it herself and blessed it by her coming. She will come again one day to purge the false gods of their godhood and usher in paradise!" She says rather more enthusiastically than she probably should. Knowledge: Religion checks are allowed by those who wish to know more about the Goddess of Death and her religion (Which isn't NEARLY as dark as it sounds, I assure you).

"And, since she came here once, she probably will again! So, I had to make sure all the heretics who were just here to gaze at the old castle left. So, of course, I decided to make up some mock Timberwolves. Didn't think anypony would care about an old castle that had been taken over by Timberwolves unless they were a sister or brother in the faith. Apparently though, that didn't work." She says, giving Godwyn a bit of an annoyed glare.

[Deme]

Foxglove considered this. She'd sent a prayer the way of that chill goddess before -- nothing formal, but Foxglove hadn't prayed formally since she was a small filly. But sincerely. Her prayers were prayers for little hummingbirds, found on the ground, tiny and finally, ultimately, still -- their little thin feet curled, their eyes shut. She believed the goddess as a goddess who heard that sort of prayer.

Boy, there sure are a lot of dead hummingbirds. And insects. Gosh. There are probably mountains of dead insects, being cleared away by other insects who die and make more mountains of dead insects all the time, Foxglove thought.

"...Gosh, I wonder if she'd ever show up. I mean, she's so busy. You'd think the last thing she'd want is to have to deal with a bunch of whiny dead former gods. They'd be dead forever. She'd never be rid of them."

[Mystic Muse]

Foxglove considered this. She'd sent a prayer the way of that chill goddess before -- nothing formal, but Foxglove hadn't prayed formally since she was a small filly. But sincerely. Her prayers were prayers for little hummingbirds, found on the ground, tiny and finally, ultimately, still -- their little thin feet curled, their eyes shut. She believed the goddess as a goddess who heard that sort of prayer.

Boy, there sure are a lot of dead hummingbirds. And insects. Gosh. There are probably mountains of dead insects, being cleared away by other insects who die and make more mountains of dead insects all the time, Foxglove thought.

"...Gosh, I wonder if she'd ever show up. I mean, she's so busy. You'd think the last thing she'd want is to have to deal with a bunch of whiny dead former gods. They'd be dead forever. She'd never be rid of them."

The mare seems to comprehend she's been presented with a bit of a logical conundrum.

"Well...if she didn't like them, she could always just stick them down in hell. They're heretics, they probably deserve it anyway."

"And besides, she wouldn't have to kill them, just make them not be gods any more!" She says.

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn just kinda... hovers a step back, and smiles politely. "Gearstride? Foxglove? It may be best if you two lovely ladies handle this. Perhaps I should step aside entirely, so the three of you can have 'mare talk' without my... interloping?" The two mares are much better at social situations than him, and it's clear that this individual is not happy with his presence.

[Deme]

"But that's the same as killing them."

Foxglove pointed out. That this conversation was starting to slide away from the sane and rational, but somehow into the civil, might have escaped her.

"In the parlor. With Old Age. That's the hard part about being a death goddess, I bet... Everything dies." Foxglove sighed and shook her head. "Think of all the festering mounds of chitin, getting cleared by fastidious fungi. And they die, and more fungi. And they die, and so..."

This was delivered with only logistical concern, as Foxglove tries to imagine a point where the cycle of fungi devouring dead fungi or insects or whatever could possibly stop escalating.

"I don't see why she'd want more work; I can't think there's time for a side project, what with the entire world ending up smothered in dead fung, crushed by their own weight. Eventually. So it dies. Everything dies."

[Mystic Muse]

"But that's the same as killing them."

Foxglove pointed out. That this conversation was starting to slide away from the sane and rational, but somehow into the civil, might have escaped her.

"In the parlor. With Old Age. That's the hard part about being a death goddess, I bet... Everything dies." Foxglove sighed and shook her head. "Think of all the festering mounds of chitin, getting cleared by fastidious fungi. And they die, and more fungi. And they die, and so..."

This was delivered with only logistical concern, as Foxglove tries to imagine a point where the cycle of fungi devouring dead fungi or insects or whatever could possibly stop escalating.

"I don't see why she'd want more work; I can't think there's time for a side project, what with the entire world ending up smothered in dead fung, crushed by their own weight. Eventually. So it dies. Everything dies."

"Oh, joy! Somebody who actually comprehends what the goddess of death has to do!" The mare says with elation. "You aren't a death priestess, are you? It'd be such a relief to see one after all these annoying tourists plaguing the halls....Though...if you're right..." She seems to be thinking. "If...if she's not coming back here to do that..." She looks kinda worried now.

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn's eyes glow faintly, a subtle blue shine glinting in his irises. He tilts his head a bit, studying the strange mare as she talks to Foxglove.

Spoiler

Show

Detecting Alignment.

Also, Wisdom check at DM's call: (1d20)[8]

[Benson]

Gearstride tapped her chin and pursed her pony lips in thought. "Well that's interestin'..." At the mention of of the ghosty mare's question about Foxglove, Gearstride sidled over to Foxglove and gently nudged. "Are ya? Are ya secretly a death priestess? That sounds pretty cool actually."

[Deme]

"Oh, no...Robes make me itch."

Foxglove shook her head, sorry to disappoint everyone. She appeared to mentally wander off into some sort of list of all the reasons she was not a priestess, of death or otherwise. Eventually, she surfaced again, after running through a few points, and out of a point, and onto a tangent...

"...Do you think temples just spill juice and things on the windows? They'd have to collect a lot..."

[Mystic Muse]

"Oh, no...Robes make me itch."

Foxglove shook her head, sorry to disappoint everyone. She appeared to mentally wander off into some sort of list of all the reasons she was not a priestess, of death or otherwise. Eventually, she surfaced again, after running through a few points, and out of a point, and onto a tangent...

"...Do you think temples just spill juice and things on the windows? They'd have to collect a lot..."

"Ummm...I'm sorry...what." is really all the mare can respond with.

[Benson]

The ghost mare would find her words echoed by Gearstride as she stared at Foxglove herself with her brow raised.

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn opens and closes his mouth a few times, gawking back and forth between the mare and Foxglove. He then closes his beak, gives a small shake of his head, and just resolves to keep standing back and staying silent on this one.

[Deme]

Foxglove looked at everyone's expressions.
"...I'm sorry." She said softly. But then, not entirely crushed by their confusion, she continued. "For the stained glass. I always stained things...by spilling juice on them. When I had things to stain."

She tilted her head and thought about the castle. It was pretty old and disrepaired, and it wasn't originally a temple.

"...Does this place not have any? ...Only, it's sort of like a temple, right? Because a place a goddess may return to, where you wait for her like a lover waiting for her mate, is a temple -- because a temple is a house of god. And temples all have stained glass windows."

She asked, with a worried expression. It was difficult to say if her grasp of religion there was incredibly sound, or incredibly, incredibly shallow, given the topic at hand.

[Mystic Muse]

"...Does this place not have any? ...Only, it's sort of like a temple, right? Because a place a goddess may return to, where you wait for her like a lover waiting for her mate, is a temple -- because a temple is a house of god. And temples all have stained glass windows."

She asked, with a worried expression. It was difficult to say if her grasp of religion there was incredibly sound, or incredibly, incredibly shallow, given the topic at hand.

"Well...no, it doesn't have any stained glass windows...it's more of a castle than a cathedral...Do you think if there were stained glass windows it might encourage the goddess to come back? Or...or maybe other stuff?"

She asks the group. Well, one can certainly say she's genuinely concerned about appeasing her goddess.

[Benson]

"Yea....I mean uh well stain glass windows do have an inviting appeal to them....oooh....that would be a swanky craft project....definitely something that requires a musical number," Gearstride happily grinned.

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn smiles wryly, and nods. "I certainly don't see the harm in it. I would be happy to help."

[Mystic Muse]

Well then, the party does their best to help in various ways.

Foxglove and Gearstride can repair a bit of the walls and other things by putting the stone back a little where it used to be, and repeatedly using mending to meld the stone back together (For our purposes, a cantrip like mending is simple enough Foxglove can cast it pretty much at-will if directed to.)

Godwyn, meanwhile, works on the interior of the castle for a while, using his claws to slash off Ivy in the most intact room, that will end up being the 'sanctuary'. It's a nice big room, that's relatively empty, except for a mural of angels on the wall where a fireplace or something would normally be.

After this, which takes a few hours, Godwyn and Gearstride go to town to get materials. Godwyn gets some bread from a baker that Godwy had made specifically for this purpose, and got some local hoof-crafted Apple Cider.

Gearstride, Meanwhile, searches out a place for stained glass windows. Where would one find a-oh. Apparently, there's a Stained Glass Window and gift card shop...odd sort of thing for there to be, since it's a bit hard to believe there are a large number of ponies requiring both stained glass windows and gift cards. She cuts a deal with the owner, who is a unicorn, to install the windows in the castle.

Amaranth, meanwhile, uses a spinning wheel made for an Earth pony to hoof-craft a table-cloth and tries to make small talk with Foxglove. I'm sure this goes wonderfully! (It probably doesn't.)

All told, since they aren't trying to make the castle good as new, and are just fixing it up a bit, it takes the better part of a day to finish. There are a few new stained glass windows in various places, depicting angels, various symbols of the religion, and even the goddess herself in the main sanctuary.

So, now that the group has all the ingredients for the Christening ritual, they go about setting it up, and a strange fog rolls in. The cloth is placed on a table, the food on top, and a short prayer is recited by Amaranth. SHe then gives each of the party a hug and a heartfelt "Thank You."

After which, the fog gets thicker, obscuring most of the castle, and even obscuring everything below about a foot in height in the sanctuary as well.

[Lycan 01]

The deed is done! Godwyn smiles... and then looks around uncertainly at the thickening fog, which seems almost unnatural in its sudden encroachment. "Er... I believe that's... good? That is good, yes? Is it supposed to happen?"

[Mystic Muse]

The deed is done! Godwyn smiles... and then looks around uncertainly at the thickening fog, which seems almost unnatural in its sudden encroachment. "Er... I believe that's... good? That is good, yes? to happen?"

"Umm...not that I know of..." Amaranth responds, just as befuddled as everyone else.

Meanwhile, the wall with the angel mural on it begins retracting into the floor, revealing what can basically be described as a private study. There's a few comfortable looking chaors, some very old books, a private diary, and some rather...odd portraits and pictures.

Those who wish to examine things further must brave the horror of the cozy room!

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn narrows his eyes, before glancing over at Amaranth. "Shall I head in and check it out, to make sure it's safe? Or would you prefer me not intrude upon the sanctity of it, in case it's reserved for the faithful of the death goddess?"

If she has no issues with it, the griffon Paladin will head on in to check it out...

[Mystic Muse]

"Uuuuh, you better go in and check it out." she says. It's pretty obvious she isn't trying to trick him, she just genuinely doesn't know what's in there at this time.

[Benson]

"Whoof...montages can be tiring..." Gearstride tiredly sighed and then patted both her cheeks with her hooves. And then the mist happened and other shenanigans happened. "Well that ain't ominous, nope not at all." At the mention of checking out that mysterious room Gearstride found herself quite excited.

"Well...clearly this is something I need to check out!" Gearstride then cantered happily to the private study that appeared.

[Deme]

"...I see... So that's the sort of place this is..."

Foxglove muttered, heading down. She seemed to be on good terms with Amaranth now, their strange attempts at conversation aside, so she nodded, nervously, before following after the other two.

[Mystic Muse]

And...there's no traps at all. How boring!

Anyway, the room is set up sort of like your average living room. Pictures of friends are scattered all over, on shelves, on tables, on the walls, ETC. Really, that's not the weird part. The weird part is who is INSIDE the pictures.

Broken Scale, Anacra, Discord, a pegasus stallion none of you recognize, and a griffin only Godwyn would recognize. Sometimes you can just sort of tell when people in pictures aren't having a good time, but everyone here looks genuinely happy. There are no pictures with both Discord and Broken Scale, or Broken Scale and the Griffin. There are plenty with Discord and the Griffin, with Anacra and/or the Pegasus occasionally being in as well.

The one thing that's clear is, this room doesn't/didn't belong to anyone in the pictures, since someone had to, you know, take them.

For those interested in the books, there are several religious books concerning the goddess of death, several ancient history books, several concerning kings and queens it's unlikely anybody here has ever heard of, one concerning somebody called "Aurora", and one each concerning Anacra, Discord, and Icarus.

Naturally, there's still the diary next to the chair.

(And everyone levels up, for finishing up this little plot point.)

[Lycan 01]

Godwyn, naturally, looks very confused. Very, very confused. "Well, I am lost," he says, stating the obvious. He looks around the room for a moment, feather brow arched in deep uncertainty. He finally picks up a book, and begins to leaf through it. The Icarus one, of course.