My Little Pony: Slice of Life is Magic III (IC)

[Humble Master]

Nychid furrows her brow in thought "I think it would be fine for Spark to cut away a small enough portion of the root to get by it and reach the door. That probably wouldn't hurt the tree too much."

Spoiler: Gear

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The door looks to just be a normal push open door without any kind of lock on it.

[Emperor Ing]

Well then, who's the smallest of us that can squeeze through? Although Adepha doesn't expect to get by, she wants to at least give it a shot to see just how much room she'll need to just squeeze through.

Flexibility skill
(2d6)[1][4](5) +5 = 10

[Rater202]

Gear tries to Squeeze past the root to push open the door.

Flexibility(2d6)[3][2](5)+1

[DigoDragon]

Well then, who's the smallest of us that can squeeze through?

Sabina remains quiet and just glances at the door. "..."

[Humble Master]

Nychid shakes her head. "I believe I misspoke. I think it would be ok to cut enough of the root away for you all to fit in, but no more. I don't think it would be safe for only one of you to go exploring." "Besides, I think we all want to see the rest of the lab." Subtle was almost jumping up and down in anticipation for uncovering more Changeling secrets. "Alright then." Spark said as he prepared his blowtorch like finger of fire. "Stand back while I work." The dragon then carefully and expertly wields the small flame to melt away portions of the growing root. He doesn't even need to bring the flame into direct contact with the crystalline roots for them to begin to melt, reverting to a gel state Adepha would recognize as similar to uncharged emotion gel. Soon, Spark has made a big enough hole in the mass of roots to allow them to squeeze through. Proud of his work, the dragon blew out his finger to extinguish the flame and held out a hand. "Shall we proceed?"

[Emperor Ing]

Adepha smiles. Let's go! However she is concerned they accidentally inflicted some serious damage on the tree. Hopefully these roots might eventually regrow like a normal plant.

[DigoDragon]

"I think the tree will be okay. It's been here much longer than any of us. Assuming the decaboxagon thing is right."

[Rater202]

Gear opens the door.

[Humble Master]

The door opens smoothly, revealing another section of the alien lab. This room has the usual cabinets, shelves and tables though it also has to very large stone vats on one wall from which comes an extremely acrid smell. Notes written on Changeling paper litter the tables and sometimes the floor. There are more vials of the conversion fluid set on the tables as well as various examples of converted emotion crystals. Some of the crystals have been ground up into dust, placed in bowl of water and put through a number of other tests. On the eastern wall is a door similar to the one you just came through (though unobstructed by roots) and on the southern wall is a complex looking iron door with an ornate frame.

[Emperor Ing]

Whoa. Adepha says. How big do you think this lab is?

[DigoDragon]

"Bigger than Tenn's mouth, I'd wager." She manages to squeeze into the room with some trouble, nearly tripping up past the door. Inside this new lab, Sabina looks around to see if there's anything here that might help explain how to open the decaboxagon.

Investigation~ 15

Spoiler

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(3d6)[6][1][5](12) +4

[Rater202]

Gear begins preforming his own investigation

(2d6)[5][4](9)+4 13

[Emperor Ing]

Adepha begins looking around, particularly up in the air. Since changlings can near-universally fly it stands to reason there might be a passage in the ceiling.

Observation
(2d6)[6][6](12) 14, Super-Crit!

[Humble Master]

Spark immediately begins reading the notes scattered around the room, trying to see what he could learn.
"Tenn isn't that bad." Subtle says feeling sorry for their friend. She moved around the room, examining the various experiments with the emotion crystals and messing with the eastern stone door. "This one's open."

Spoiler: Sabina and Gear

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There doesn't appear to be anything directly related to the opening of the box.

Spoiler: Adepha

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There isn't anything hidden on the ceiling but from your vantage point you see something at the bottom of one of the empty stone vats!

[DigoDragon]

"I know Tenn's alright," Sabina said. "I'm just joshing him. All in good fun."

[Emperor Ing]

Oooh, Oh! Hey! What's this? Adepha's horn lights up as she attenpts to pull out the thingamajig from the vat with her telekinesis

Spoiler: Using Changling's Telekinesis

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Taking 6 Willpower damage
Spellcasting
(2d6+3)[1][3](4) 7

[DigoDragon]

"I forgot you could do that."

[Rater202]

What is that?

[Emperor Ing]

I'm a Pegasus in a Changling's body. Adepha jokes. It's easy to forget I can use magic.

[DigoDragon]

"Is that why you wear wings when you disguise yourself as me? ...anyway, what Gear said. What did you find?"

[Humble Master]

The object Adepha had pulled out of the empty vat was another sheet of Changeling paper. However, it was covered in chemical burns and stains and the writing was only barely readable. On the bottom was what looked like a royal seal stamped in hardened Changeling saliva. Spark walked over "I read the notes. They said... Hey, what's that?" the dragon politely took the burned document from Adepha and read aloud. " URGENT Things are deteriorating faster than expected. The Alchemist Cadre is required to bring their part of the project to the Incubation Shaft immediately by order of Queen Nadara. There is no time to completely finish it. Use the mine entrance, we do not want to alarm the populace. Destroy this message after receiving. ~Administration Cadre~" "Huh" Subtle said, contemplating the note. "Not a lot of context. Like, what was deteriorating and what was the project?"

[Rater202]

Okay, I'm scared now.

Wait, what if the puzzle box was made to contain whatever was deteriorating. It could be Dangerous.

[Emperor Ing]

Well, yeah, I guess, but I was looking to disguise as any filly and you were the first one that popped into my head. It was either that or Alicorn Subtle. On the bright side, you now got to see what you looked like and we can put this issue to rest once and for all: Sabina, don't you think you're cute? Adepha teases. Clearly now Sabina can say whether or not she thought she was indeed absolutely adorable. When she fishes up the tablet, the gears in Adepha's head start turning.

'Incubation shaft? Sounds like...um, where Hive Darlok may have put their eggs to hatch, like from the box. Sounds like something was going wrong with the eggs and they needed the...um, conversion gel or E-Crystals to fix it. It also sounds like if we want to find where the eggs are we'll have to find this "mining tunnel."

[DigoDragon]

"Whoa... never thought the prize was dangerous," Sabina said, trying hard to ignore Adepha's question about being cute or not. The slight pink in her cheeks was giving her away. "So... Gear has a good point. Maybe we should check all four places first before trying to open this thing. I don't want to be grounded for playing with something that could hurt someone."

[Humble Master]

"Me as an Alicorn? That's an odd thought. What would I be, the Princess of Petty Theft?" Subtle joked, knowing her friends were some of the few ponies she could trust with her secrets. "Well, the note Spark read said things are deteriorating which could just mean like the state of affairs for the Hive. And why would they make this really elaborate and beautiful puzzle box to hide something dangerous? We should be cautious though. Maybe open the box with Queen Arlia? Regardless, it gave us a clue as to where the "Incubation Shaft" is so I guess that is good." "If we could deal with Smokey, Blaize and Flaire I'm sure we can deal with whatever fits inside that tetradhedron." Spark put in. "Oh! I almost forgot. These notes I read were really interesting. Apparently the alchemists found that if you melt the emotion crystals, mix them with a special solution and then re-solidify them the amount of emotion they can store increases! Pretty incredible huh?"

[Emperor Ing]

Oh stop it Subtle. You'd be like...the Princess of Redemption or something really cool. Besides, you should stop wearing skirts, you have an awesome ninja cutie-mark.

[Rater202]

I thought we decided it was a super hero Cutie Mark?

Spoiler: OOC

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Nananananana Subtle! Nananananana Subtle!
Suntle, Subtle, Subtle!

[Emperor Ing]

Who said superheroes can't be ninjas?

[DigoDragon]

"Or pirates," Sabina added happily. She went over to the next door in the room and tried to see if it'll open for her.

[Humble Master]

"Princess of Redemption, certainly sounds cool." Subtle mused, she then looked at the skirt she wore prompted by Adepha's comment. "I... I'd just rather not take the risk. It would just be better if random ponies didn't know." The stone door on the eastern wall was unlocked and could easily be opened. The iron door on the south however appeared to require a key and had a complex mechanism involving gears and cogs on the front of it.