Ponaria: Symphony of the Neigh [IC I]

[Fable Wright]

Early Afternoon (?)

Spirit, finished at the alchemy shop, has returned to hear Trace flatly refusing to go out looking for the monster. After he was filled in on the scenario, he considered for a moment.

"Accosting the creature tonight means free muffins in the morning."

[Bard1cKnowledge]

"I ain't a coward, I just like the preservation of my life." His face turns into a serious one. "The only thing I can respects knights for is how they take care of their tools. Other than that, I got nothing. Speaking of which, there's a small tear in your bag, I can fix that up. Easily."

[Jurai]

Crossguard grumbles and works with the bag, trying to patch the hole quickly. "Then why did you seek to escape your escort?"

[One Tin Soldier]

"Thank you, sir." Beryl then heads back to the group to relay what she just learned.

"So, the Western Waystone IS to the east, about a mile out, it's easy to spot, because it's round and has a carving of a croc-" Beryl pauses for a moment as she realizes what she's saying "-odile... on it. Am I the only one finding that a little... odd?"

"It is a little spot-on, isn't it?" Midnight says. He'd only arrived a minute or two earlier, hanging back and listening to the others share what they had learned. "How about I fly over there and check it out? Scout it out a bit before the rest of you get there."

[McNum]

"...yeah. Unless it's a 'Beware of crocodiles!' warning, but that would be a horrible place to go on a date, let alone have a 'usual spot' for dates at."

Beryl looks like she's thinking hard for a moment.

"I dunno if you should fly ahead. But I don't know when the rest of us are going either." She raises her voice to address the entire room "Are we planning to catch it by surprise, or on getting attacked by it? Because the clock is ticking on the first!"

[Beacon of Chaos]

"Given the choice, I'd rather be the hunter, rather than the huntee. Hunted. Whatever, you know what I mean."

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Crossguard grumbles and works with the bag, trying to patch the hole quickly. "Then why did you seek to escape your escort?"

"If you had to spend every minute stopping to help every kid with a scraped knee, or find some young colts lost toy, it would get old. Lawful Order probably has better things to do than worry about some orphaned pony who makes way through life stealing sweets."

[McNum]

Beryl sighs a little, she's seen this argument before back home and it never ends well. She takes a deep breath, puts her face in that same serious expression she used as a bouncer back home and...

"HEY!"

Not waiting to see if she gets everypony's attention, she continues.

"Listen! Out there is a pony-snatching monster, and WE are the only six ponies standing between it and another midnight snack. This is not some lost toy or pet, this is the real deal! Ponies vanish. Maybe even die! And that needs to stop!"

"Now, I don't care much why you're going to help, be it for justice, for the bounty, or just because you don't have anything else to do, but I'm going after it for Rita and everypony else who lost a special somepony to this monster. Find your own reason and get ready! Everypony who's coming, meet me outside. Because we're going on a hunt!"

Beryl flings her pack onto her back and begins moving towards the exit. Her stern expression melts a little into a smile as she adds "And when we return in victory, I'll bake the best dang cookies you've ever had, on the house."

(So unless anypony does something to stop her, Beryl will be leaving for outside.)

[Jurai]

Crossguard follows Beryl.

[Fable Wright]

Spirit rubs his ear with his hoof while following Beryl outside. "You didn't have to yell, you know."

[McNum]

As Beryl exits the tavern, she turns to Spirit. "...sorry. But I had to stop that argument, it never, ever ends well. Was a bouncer back home, I've seen this one way too often. Only cure I know is shouting and cookies, in that order. And I can shout real good."

She turns a little sheepish. "Um, could somepony help me with my pack? I kind of just threw it on there, and it's all crooked and off balance..."

[Fable Wright]

Spirit adjusted her straps and continued. "The discussion might not end well, but moving with haste can cause errors. For example, I did not get a chance to mention that I can perform a ritual to detect the disease that might cause such a creature, and that a list of suspects might help far more than rushing off to face the beast. In numbers that might scare it off. When we know very little about what we're dealing with. When the thief may well renege on his offer to be the bait. Ten minutes of consideration can save a day or week of struggle. Do not break through that time in haste."

[Bard1cKnowledge]

"Don't call me bait. I don't do being bait. But if someone were to pay me in confectioneries, I think i can kite the thing for a bit." Trace is still kinda mad, but at least he seems to be willing to help.

[McNum]

"Oh, my bad. I just... I want to get out there and see if there's any trace of it or Chase before it's too dark to look for clues. I'm not even sure we'll find the beast today, and I'd prefer to be back in town by nightfall. The night is when it hunts. We should hunt it by day, no? Or do we need to lure it out at night?"

Beryl slowly realizes she stormed out without a plan...

She turns to Trace. "I promised cookies when we get this thing, and I'll keep that promise."

[Fable Wright]

Spirit sighed. "The plan tonight—if possible—was to get our thief to lie at the bottom of a pit out by the marker. Crocothrope comes, goes in the pit, and we spring a trap from hiding. Batpony flies out, grasping vines trap the monster, and we force it to stay in the pit and throw fire and silver at it until it's knocked out or dead. Preferably knocked out. We need the thief for bait because he can fly, his armor is quiet, and because he's the slipperiest. And also because no one would miss him. The plan for the day is to find out more information—to know if we can ambush it in its home, or if the ambush will fail for some reason." The 'no one would miss him' part was muttered under the zebra's breath, to make it difficult for Trace to hear that remark.

[Requesting a DC 12-15 Perception check to overhear the small text portion, though obviously it's within your rights to refuse that.]

[One Tin Soldier]

Beryl sighs a little, she's seen this argument before back home and it never ends well. She takes a deep breath, puts her face in that same serious expression she used as a bouncer back home and...

"HEY!"

Not waiting to see if she gets everypony's attention, she continues.

"Listen! Out there is a pony-snatching monster, and WE are the only six ponies standing between it and another midnight snack. This is not some lost toy or pet, this is the real deal! Ponies vanish. Maybe even die! And that needs to stop!"

"Now, I don't care much why you're going to help, be it for justice, for the bounty, or just because you don't have anything else to do, but I'm going after it for Rita and everypony else who lost a special somepony to this monster. Find your own reason and get ready! Everypony who's coming, meet me outside. Because we're going on a hunt!"

Beryl flings her pack onto her back and begins moving towards the exit. Her stern expression melts a little into a smile as she adds "And when we return in victory, I'll bake the best dang cookies you've ever had, on the house."

(So unless anypony does something to stop her, Beryl will be leaving for outside.)

"That's what I was trying to do," Midnight mutters as he walks out the door, though he doesn't seem honestly upset. He double checks his packs and gear, making sure that his rapier and shield are in easy reach.

"Like I said, I'll fly on up ahead a bit. I won't get too far ahead of you, just get an idea of what the terrain looks like. Stretch out the wings." He takes off into the air, heading eastward. "Besides, this way I don't have to deal with any more roads."

[McNum]

Spirit sighed. "The plan tonight—if possible—was to get our thief to lie at the bottom of a pit out by the marker. Crocothrope comes, goes in the pit, and we spring a trap from hiding. Batpony flies out, grasping vines trap the monster, and we force it to stay in the pit and throw fire and silver at it until it's knocked out or dead. Preferably knocked out. We need the thief for bait because he can fly, his armor is quiet, and because he's the slipperiest. And also because no one would miss him. The plan for the day is to find out more information—to know if we can ambush it in its home, or if the ambush will fail for some reason." The 'no one would miss him' part was muttered under the zebra's breath, to make it difficult for Trace to hear that remark.

[Requesting a DC 12-15 Perception check to overhear the small text portion, though obviously it's within your rights to refuse that.]

"Right, so we go look at where it was last... actually no pony has seen it, have they? But we go to the Western Waystone and see if that tells us anything. And prepare to trap it. The beast that is. Not the stone."

[DigoDragon]

Midnight flies ahead of the pack toward the West Waystone. For those walking, the muddy ground spluts softly under your hooves as you head east toward your destination. Some of the town residents stop and watch you go, curious to know where the group is heading and why. However, none of them stop to ask you. They remain content to their own ideas. The guards don't seem curious at all, patrolling their beat and caring only about their charge-- the town.


Midnight arrives first to the waystone. It is a large stone, perhaps tree feet high, with a partial stone crocodile carved on top. The stone is fairly old and much of the croc's detail has worn away with the elements. From up here Midnight can see small dark splatters on the stone, but is too far to get detail on what it is.

Off the road to the south there is high grass and standing swamp water. And what seem to be scattered rectangular stones, barely noticeable in the high grass. Likely you wouldn't easily see these from the ground.

[Fable Wright]

As the party travels, and conversation with Beryl ceased, Spirit begins chanting the ritual to detect poison and disease. It's a 10 minute chant, and the effects are 10 minutes, as well. If the spell wears off while he walks, he will begin casting it again. While active, he can sense poisons or diseases in those he passes—even if they're not displaying symptoms or are just carriers. If an ill townsmember passes within 30ft of him, he comment and let them know what illness they suffer from. At the very least, though, he can tell if Rita was ill or poisoned from the small vial of her blood on himself, and he has the distance of any spiders, centipedes, fire ants, disease-causing mosquitoes or similar around him; how many insects are out and about?

Upon arriving at the area, he makes sure to get the proper feel of the swamp. What snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, or diseased mosquitoes are up and about (or asleep in little critter-beds)? How toxic would it be to enter the waters?

Nodding at the understanding he's gained, he will once again begin chanting a spell—one to communicate with the creepy crawlies, and their less venemous kinfolk, ready to begin asking about what really happened around here.

[Jurai]

Crossguard keeps an eye on the surroundings.

(1d20)[20] (THAT WAS A TWENTY, PARASPRITES ATE THE ROLL!)

Spoiler: Perception check

Show

Crossguard's making a Perception check.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Trace is just leisurely floating on a cloud, guiding it to the Waystone. He's still ground level, he just likes putting the maximum amount of effort into putting the least amount of work, like walking.

[McNum]

Beryl is also alert, while she trusts Spirit is better at the nature thing, another set of eyes is always nice.

Spoiler: Perception

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Looking for movement off to the sides
(1d20)[7]

But Beryl is a bit distracted, and can't quite think straight.

If we arrive without incident, Beryl will examine the waystone, and take a deep breath, just "feeling" he world around her there. [Divine Sense]

Spoiler: Divine Sense for reference

Show

Beryl can feel if any Celestials, Fiends, or Fey are within 60 ft of her, as well as if the lands are consecrated or desecrated (like with the Hallow spell, or otherwise)

[One Tin Soldier]

Midnight circles lower towards the rectangular stones, curious about what they are.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Frost walks up to the waystone, curious about it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Investigation roll to examine the way stone for clues: (1d20+1)[16]
Arcana roll to see if I can recall any lore about this stone or cragodiles in general (shoulda rolled this earlier, oh well) (1d20+3)[9]

[DigoDragon]

It is nearing noon, and the muddy east road is beginning to dry out to a dusty trail. You can hear the sounds of birds chirping at one-another and you are all set upon by the occasional mosquito. The road is well traveled, but at the moment there does not appear to be anyone but your group in this area. The scattered clouds above partly block the sun, giving some shade, but it likely won't rain today.

As the party travels, and conversation with Beryl ceased, Spirit begins chanting the ritual to detect poison and disease.

Upon arriving at the area, he makes sure to get the proper feel of the swamp. What snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, or diseased mosquitoes are up and about (or asleep in little critter-beds)? How toxic would it be to enter the waters?

Spirit pings an occasional pony with a cold, but nothing serious. S few mosquitoes are carriers of course, but this is normal for a small town, especially nested on the edge of a swamp. Rita's blood doesn't register with the spell, so she seems to be clean.

As the party reaches the waystone, Spirit recognizes a poisonous copperhead snake camouflaged at the side of the road. It does not stir when the group passes. Spirit knows that leaving it be is the best course to avoid getting bit. He doesn't see/sense any other poisonous animals in the immediate area, so the only dangers at present is the snake and mosquitoes. There are spiders, frogs, and other tiny big crawlies, but none are dangerous to a pony. The water is murky and not potable without filtering out the sand in it. Otherwise stepping into it wouldn't be toxic.

Nodding at the understanding he's gained, he will once again begin chanting a spell—one to communicate with the creepy crawlies, and their less venemous kinfolk, ready to begin asking about what really happened around here.

The information Spirit receives is crude, and most don't recall anything odd as they sleep at night. Two frogs do confirm that there was an unusual smelling creature a few moons ago. Huge and dangerous, but it smelled more like Spirit and his friends do than like them. There was also the smell of blood, which frightened them to leave the area.

Crossguard keeps an eye on the surroundings.
[20] (THAT WAS A TWENTY, PARASPRITES ATE THE ROLL!)

Crossguard finds something shiny in the muddy road. When she picks it up, it turns out to be a red metal stud, used in the joints of leather armor.

If we arrive without incident, Beryl will examine the waystone, and take a deep breath, just "feeling" he world around her there. [Divine Sense]

Spoiler: Divine Sense for reference

Show

Beryl can feel if any Celestials, Fiends, or Fey are within 60 ft of her, as well as if the lands are consecrated or desecrated (like with the Hallow spell, or otherwise)

Beryl's divine sense tingles, and she gets a weak sense of something desecrated in the tall grass off the road on the right, past the waystone. The swampy land itself seems to be tainted with evil.

Midnight circles lower towards the rectangular stones, curious about what they are.

Frost walks up to the waystone, curious about it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Investigation roll to examine the way stone for clues: [16]
Arcana roll to see if I can recall any lore about this stone or cragodiles in general (shoulda rolled this earlier, oh well) [roll1]

Midnight looks at the stone and it seems to be a map marker for travelers. It has a crude map of the path between the two towns on this road. Useful for long distances. He does notice there appears to be some old blood splatter on this stone.

Frost can't think of anything particularly noteworthy on cragodiles at the moment, but looking at this old waystone, he can tell there was blood splatter. It is days old and would seem to confirm Rita's story that her coltfriend was murdered here. There are also large claw marks from a large predator on the stone's base. Couldn't be more than 3-4 days old, matching up to the night of the murder.

[Jurai]

Crossguard looks it over. "I found a stud, typically used in armor." She says. "Anything else unusual around here?"

[McNum]

As Beryl takes in the surroundings she feels something. Something wrong. Something to the... right?

"Uh, guys...? There's something... wrong here."

Beryl moves slowly off the side of the road to the right, moving towards the "wrong", while making sure her shield is at the ready.

"...I felt something... over here."

Spoiler: Perception

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In the direction of the "wrong".
(1d20)[4]

[Beacon of Chaos]

Frostbite looks in the direction that Beryl pointed. He slowly follows behind her, ready to cast a spell if need be. "Can you be more specific about 'wrong'?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception (1d20+1)[17]

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Trace turns his head and looks at the wrong feeling area.

Spoiler: Perception

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(1d20+6)[17]

[Jurai]

Crossguard follows after Beryl, her gaze as hard as freshly-tempered steel.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Also using Divine Sense, to further focus on the vileness.