Morals (90)
Morals
=Gilda=
"So. Here we are. Clay Pallor. They've got those ballistas too, and we know there's a captive dragon... Okay... just like Grif said... think objectively. What is the goal? We need to take the warren down, but keep them alive so we can send them to Marble Pillars.... Which means we only really need to kill the alpha, and anyone who guards him. To do that, we need to either get us in, or him out. Options..... Assault the fortress... they'll just lock themselves in till we leave. Sneak in, it'll be guarded, and they probably have the door locked at all times unless someone is going in or out. Trick him into leaving? Not likely, since we won't be able to get close. They know who we are...... grr.. How can we get to him? Wait..... Something Grif said.... I remember.... with the princesses. Taunt them into doing something uncharacteristic...... Could we somehow goad him into coming out?............ No wonder Grif is always talking to himself, thinking out loud. All this thinking makes my head hurt, and now I'm doing it too. Let's see what else his journal has."
Reading through a couple chapters where I didn't learn too much, just recounting how we trained, united the tribes, how the 'Forma Versus' spell worked on the hidden cats, all the way up to when we got to Port Redstone. There wasn't much in there, other than one entry that caught my eye.
Entry Twenty Two
Not much more I can figure out about magic without more reference material. As far as I can tell, each word has multiple meanings, and each meaning has multiple sub meanings, which mean different uses. The protect spell can be used as a harden skin, as more of a low energy endurance against light attacks, like a needle storm or light flames, which will last indefinitely till it takes damage, a medium power block which drains energy constantly, like picking up a shield. It constantly uses stamina, and then a little more when it takes a hit. Then, the third type, which is an impenetrable barrier, which takes a massive amount of magic to maintain, but won't degrade with minor hits, only over time, or if an attack is strong enough to shatter it. I haven't found any use for this type of shield, as frankly, it's much too costly on the magic reserves to set up and maintain, so unless someone points a dozen or so cannons at me, I won't be using it. Finally, there's what I like to call 'cushion' spells, that rather than blocking an attack, merely lessen the effects. I equate it to being a massive wall of pillows. Not so good for attacks, wonderful for falls. I'll classify them as 'Guardian' for the first, 'Shield' for the second, 'Barrier' for the third, and 'Sponge' for the fourth. There is no difference in the pronunciation, but the magic required varies per spell, with 'Sponge' actually costing the least, as it doesn't protect entirely, only dampening blows. That's pretty much it. Visualize your skin hardening, or a shield appearing in front of you, or a barrier around you, or a mass of soft things, and that will decide what the outcome is when you say the incantation.
Also, where you visualize it seems to have an effect as well. Thinking of a shield in front of your body will protect your entire body, while thinking about it at your head, rather than protecting the head, guards the mind. There's also an invisibility spell I've been hoping to try out. Obscuro, meaning 'To obscure'. It seems to give a chameleon effect, you're only visible if you move, or the light shines right through you giving a hazy air effect like in the movie 'Predator'. Takes a lot of magic though, better to use a shadow spell in most cases. As for other references, I've been studying Trixie's explosion shield. I wonder if she could put a barrier in someone's head and expand it?
"Well... that's nice to know, but it doesn't really help us... grr..... okay, time for some advice." I walked to the PA system. "Cable, can you get the main crew, as well as Wisp and Dusty down to the medical bay? We need to have a meeting."
"Ja." Soon enough, the announcement came over the speaker, and I met several others on the way down to Grif's bed.
"So. We're here, and you're telling me you can't find a way in, or to get them out?"
"Pretty much. Goading them to come out, full frontal assault, trickery, sneaking in, they all seem to come up as dead ends."
"I can see why Marble Pillars would have so much trouble with them. They have an unbeatable defense. So, they live in an iron fortress, buried until baked clay. Steel inside of brick. Only one opening, so they can concentrate all their forces at one point. Because of that, large reserves, so they can't be starved out. They're going to be paranoid, so the 'Trojan Horse' maneuver won't work either, and they won't be willing to negotiate. They aren't civilized, but they are by no means stupid. If they were, they wouldn't have lasted this long...... Teleporting inside?"
"Can't. Need to know where we're going."
"Intangibility?"
"Only short term. Remember, we can't touch ANYTHING, which means so long as we're intangible, we can't even breath. Who knows how long we'd have to stay like that before we could get inside? We'd suffocate."
"Can't just bash the door down either. This much trouble just getting in, let alone the armed forces. At least once we're in, intangibility would give us an escape route..... Couldn't you just make the door intangible instead?"
"Too big."
"Ergh..... give me a couple days to think of something. In the mean time, get Starlight to go down there and scout the place out."
Two days had passed, and Starlight had been down to the entrance several times, nearly a dozen guards outside the gate, a mere slit in the solid door for the eyes of the guard inside to look out, but the good news, no artillery inside the constructed cave. Just outside. The entire thing was built on intelligent cowardice. In the event of an attack, they just seal the door and leave the forces outside to their fate. All in all, a completely solid defense. The only way to open the door was to have someone on the inside open it. Given this information and another day to think, Grif finally came to a conclusion.
"Fuck. I got nothing..... looks like I gotta reach into my bag of tricks."
"Bag o' tricks?" Steelhorn looked at him incredulously.
"It's my name for some things I've developed that are secret. So secret that I didn't even put them in my journal, because I intend to take them to my grave. Things that, if they were misused, or the secret got out, it would certainly do more harm than good, and could possibly rain destruction over the entire world. Everyone but Trixie and Gilda, please leave." They did as he asked, and once they were gone, he set an 'umbra' spell over the door, so that nobody else could hear. Of course, there were still a couple other patients, but I felt like he had a plan for them too.
"Grif..... is this that whole 'nuclear' thing you avoided before?"
"No, although that fits into the same category. I can't make A-bombs myself, but if that knowledge got into the hands of someone who could figure it out.... but, that's besides the point. You know what we stand for, don't you?" He said questioningly.
"Freedom, right to life, happiness." Trixie recited as if it was from a school book.
"Right. We fight slavery, save the lives of the innocent, and try to improve the world. These fundamental goals, these... tenets, are everything we stand for in the world. In order to conquer into Clay Pallor, we're going to break them. What I'm about to teach you goes against everything we believe in, and you must both swear to never ever use this knowledge again, unless all three of us agree upon it, and never share this knowledge with anyone unless we agree upon that as well." His look, even though he was in the hospital, it was so stern, so fierce, I don't doubt that if I made this vow and broke it, he'd climb right out of his bed and strangle me to death, regardless of injury.
"Grif...... what kind of thing are you talking about here? What could be so terrible....." He cut me off.
"Mind control."
"What?"
"What I'm talking about, is using magic to enter a contest of wills. Your will against the will of the spell target. This spell basically pits the caster and their target's determination against one another, as you try to break each other's spirit in a kind of mind-scape. The victor... they gain control of the loser's body. Permanently. The loser has their will broken, and for the rest of their life, they take the backseat in their own body. They sit there and have to watch as someone else controls their every action. They feel everything, but control nothing. As for the caster, they have a body that will do whatever they will it to, within it's capability. Which includes pushing it beyond it's physical limits to the point of damaging itself. And the entire time, you can hear and feel the mind of the one you took control of in the back of your mind, screaming or crying, begging to be let go. That's the problem. No matter how much you want to, you can't let them go. At least, I haven't found a way to do it. What's more, if you lose the contest of wills, the opposite effect of what you wanted to happen occurs. It's dangerous. This is one of the darkest magics I have ever discovered, and I wish that I hadn't." His eyes were still stern, but they had a look of sadness as well.
"Grif....."
"This spell..... it violates the right to freedom. It takes away a person's choice, freedom, their entire life. And, for the rest of it, you have a puppet you have to take care of. Look at my bedside table. See that ant?" I turned to look, and there it was. An ant. A simple ant. Just, standing there. Not moving at all.
"Don't tell me you..."
"I found it the other day, and I tested on it. Watch it closely." We both leaned down so we could see it clearly. It turned to look at us, then with it's mandibles.... ripped off it's own leg. Then another, and another, and another. finally, it grabbed it's abdomen, ripped it off, then it laid down and died.
"Did you just?"
"It isn't sentient. It doesn't have a mind, but it CAN feel pain. Just now, it was screaming in the back of my head in pain and fear. And then it died. This spell makes a connection with the target, an unbreakable psychic connection, and then crushes the will of the loser, allowing the winner to take over the body. This spell.... should never be used on anything with a mind. And it's exactly what I'm proposing we do. Given the moral implications of this, I won't order either of you to do it, and, since I'm not actually captain right now, I don't have the authority to do it either. That falls to you, Gilda. As captain, you can tell me to take this idea and shove it..... or you can order me to tell you how to do it, then use it to command the gate guards to let us in. The thing is, when you take someone's mind, all their memories are in there too. You can access them as you wish. They're put in a cage in your mind and are completely helpless. And again, a warning to you. If you lose the battle of wills. That's it. Unless the one who beat you dies, you're done. Either way, if you use it, you'll never be the same. The decision falls to you." He looked at me sincerely. He was really going to make me make this kind of decision.... but wait. there's something that doesn't explain.
"Then why am I here?" Trixie vocalized my thoughts perfectly.
"Simple. Because if Gilda decides we're doing this. She isn't going to be the one learning the spell. You are."
"What?"
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Among our group, we are the three with the strongest wills. Gilda's and mine are stronger than yours Trixie, no offense, so if you go bonkers with the power to enslave the mind, not saying it'll happen, but there's no guarantee it WON'T, we'd be the only ones able to stop you. If it's Gilda, she might be able to overpower me."
"I... understand."
"Grif.... you're honestly telling me to order Trixie to risk her very mind?"
"No. You're the captain. It's your call."
"I CAN do it. After all, who has the biggest ego in all of Equestria? The Grrrrreat and Powerrrrful Trrrrixie!" she mocked herself.
"Trix, this is serious. If what he says is true, you could wind up a mind slave. For the REST OF YOUR LIFE. I don't really care if we use it on the dogs, since we're killin em anyways, but it's dangerous for US to be using it... I don't know if I can put you at risk like that."
"Well, we have plenty of time. We're not going anywhere. So, think about it."
'Okay, so, mind control the dog, make him open the door, then kill him. I mean, we're gonna kill em anyways, and it's better than being a mind slave. But, from what Grif said, hearing them screaming bloody murder inside your head, and having all their memories to access too, you might not WANT to kill them. They have family too.... would any of us be able to live with the guilt? Killing someone after seeing their entire life? I suppose we could just stay out of the memories, but still. It's binding someone to yourself, them offing them. As for Trixie.... no. I trust her. She wouldn't turn on us, unless she went crazy from having someone else in her head. As for being able to crush their will... she seems confident, but can she really do it? She's so different from the weak pony she once was..... and it's not an alpha. It's just a guard. They're weak willed by definition. It's why they let the alpha rule them with an iron fist. No.... it will work.... I've made my decision.
The next day, I called Trixie back down to the medical ward, Grif was laying there expectantly.
"Captain."
"Let's fucking do it. Griffin, as captain of this ship I order you to teach Trixie the mind control spell. Upon learning it, Trixie, you will use it to make the guards of Clay Pallor your mind slaves so we can break in and kill the alpha, after which we will kill the mind slaves as well and put them out of their misery. We're doing this ONLY to get in. Nobody, not even slavers, deserve to live like that."
"Aye aye captain. To prepare adequately.... Give us a day. Forma versus." He changed back to a human. As for why, probably so he could move around more easily.
"Let's go to the training room. Clear it out, and order that we are not disturbed for the next twelve hours. There's much more to this spell than just knowing the words." He placed his hand on Trixie's back so she could guide him there.
'I hope Grif and Trixie know what they're getting into.....'
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Just ten to go for an even hundred!~
A mind control spell they can't undo? Hmm, a rather imperfect version of the Imperious Curse!
They need to be trained by Harry Potter.
... I really hope any of the others who discover it are capable of maintaining the sort of paranoid secrecy that I've only really seen in Grif and Missy so far. Thankfully, you would need a large group of people to use it to full effect, since you have to micromanage everyone you dominate until you kill them.
Let the mindfuckery commence
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Just the title is getting me excited. Griff really needs to make up his mind about his good/evil standing
Aaand finished reading. I'm starting to think Griff's crew's moral codes are a bit too malleable. Honestly, if I were aware of the Mind Control spell, I'd probably quit right there. Or failing that, go AWOL.
my God that is even more scary than having a small armament of nukes.
Wow....Have you ever read the eragon series. This reminds me of the mind battles the magic users would have and this is very similar to it...but more sinister...or is it similar. Nevermind, I like the tricks Griffin has in mind and I can definatly see this backfring...i think i just foresaw a terrible event that might occur in the future. Anyway sorry for ranting. Yuki Harima out!
Blackwing if your purpose was for me to hate Griffin, you succeeded , you finally won. I hate him simply for having and being a person willing to use this knowledge. He talks so anti-pious all the time but I know he has a heart for now. stuff like this makes me fear that he will make a mistake that he won't be able to come back from let alone fix. He'll release some info he shouldn't have or inadvertently harm someone that was completely innocent and violate his morals that he is now forsaking simply to win. He's a pirate but when you fight to forge something as great as he is, you can't become the monster you fight just because it's the easiest way. Don't they have the main laser cannon on the ship that can cut through metal plating in seconds? Keep firing that and eventually they'll break through. Simple my thoughts on the situation, good work for provoking this much thought.
-Sturrn
BLOOD BENDING YEAH!!!!
i don't give shit about the ''dark'' magic beening evil... if its there you should use it (i may seem nice, but my mind is dark as...)
1309734 $20? Who is Trixie, Slendermane? (the joke is he'll leave you alone if you give him 20 bucks)
1309675 Yup. HATE him. and, it WILL backfire. You should be able to guess how, given what I wrote in here.
... I really want them to decide on a different tactic, even if Trixie and Gilda learn how to permanently mind-rape people before it occurs to them. After all, a quick earth spell can remove the earth/brick from the steel plating, and Grif already knows how easy it is to make thermite. Or, use a superpowered earth spell, cast by a Diamond Dog, and just tunnel straight through everything. Or, use fire/lightning and blast the ever-loving shit out of the emplacements. Or, use an earth spell to excavate about a meter or two of dirt out from underneath the main gates/the entire fortress. Or, lighting to do some quick electrolysis of the water in the air, then stop running the current through the air - since the lightning will still be there, no additional spark will be required to pull a Mustang on them. Or, have Grif drink a little blood, and then slice a door into the wall, anime-swordsman-style. Or, use those nice lasers and just begin a siege, possibly implementing some other tactics to make it go faster. Or, (dick move) set up large bonfires/magical fires, and choke them with smoke/carbon-monoxide. Or, gas grenades - chlorine, stink bomb, whatever. If you're planning on mind-raping them if the plan doesn't pan out, killing them with mustard gas might actually be a mercy.
I hope I've proved that they have options besides permanent mind domination, which will likely break some of the crew's morale.
Especially since almost all of my ideas would work in creating a new door rather than trying to bust the existing one down.
1309774, have them make a dragon-scale golem. With no regular method of control. Intangibility, "sponge" and speed... the perfect assassin.
... (speechless)
piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man piano man
, it will back fire, he will have to kill trixi!!!!!.
and now that i think of it... isn't trixy the most skilled whit illusions and mind rape already?, now she will become an scary force to reckon whit!!
and so i conclude it would be more appropriated to just blow the whole fortress up!, slaves included, mind control is just one of the biggest tabu of fiction.... Anyways i am exited
Yeah as people have pointed out here, Griffin really is missing the almost painfully obvious ease with which an "impenetrable" fortress becomes highly penetrable. So much for being a great tactician
1309846 i think he just wants to kill trixi somewhere along this chapters..... kill trixy kill her
!!! then the whole crew, then make him sucide!!! buck i am excited!
1309523quite litterally as well
I wonder if he thought of something as simple as a Spell Array. It would be easy to make a few with all the gems they have. Geez, I wouldn't use that spell unless I had a way to reverse it, and even then it would be under the "Blackest Magicks" section of my "Only use incase of total destruction". That kind of knowledge is best lost to time. . . and is an antithesis to everything Humanity as a whole stands for. At least. I believe that we all desire freedom. Meh. I suppose I mean this is the complete opposite of freedom. ~With regards, the Current Student of the Second True Magic.
1304695 I too love spiders. June bugs are assholes who always try and bash my face with their exoskeleton.
Intelligent Cowardice huh? Now that's something I can run behind!
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She didn't think of infiltration?
Going in while Trixie disguises them as the guards making patrols or killing a slaving party and taking the guise of them and simply walking in!
It makes sense doesn't it?
Gunhaver, implement Jedi Mind trick
Should have fired some knockout gas into the place, blast the doors open, then clear out any resistance. Dont like this mind control stuff, same reasons as Grif really...
1311522 .... They're only doing it to like, one guy, just to open the door. They're gonna off him any ways.
Mind Control...
Now that is just plain evil...
Possesing is less evil, and my friend only does it in emergencies, but...
Its evil and dark...
I can't belive you would even think of mind control...
Its just too dark for me, being the force of light...
I think I may have to stop reading this for a while...
Grif...
Be careful with this mind control stuff, however, an army of billions upon billions of ants could work? Ants have weak minds regardless, and all you have to do is gt the queens, the. The trillions are yours to control... Though small, they can be a powerful force.
Or he can take control of multiple trillions of bugs and (when he heals of course) flies amongst them life the horseman of the apocalypse, Pestilence.
good chapter
fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/022/6/4/mind_crush_by_florinu123-d37ry76.jpg did somebody say mind crush? Could have sworn i heard something like that. But in all seriousness i approve of your tactic even though it does go against your morale, which you even pointed out and said to be used in only extreme cases, there's still one fact people forget about: this is a war, a battle for freedom and what not. And that there is no such thing as underhanded tactics or unmoral ways of fighting. As long a you don't become the very thing you set out to destroy then what does it matter if you mind controll someone once or twice.
And I thought compulsion was horrific to use on someone...
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Could you theoretically do the mind-slave spell on this big fellow?
Didn't Griffin make Thermite? Couldn't they just use that to melt the door down to sludge and then go in?
ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!!! GRIFFIN STYLE!!! Indoctrination ftw!
1312795 Okay, for everyone saying 'just break in, lasers, thermite, etc. It's six feet of reinforced steel, under a hill of bakes clay, aka, seamless brick. It would either take a bunker buster, fuel air bomb, nuke, or rail gun to get in there, and the first three would kill everyone, which is not what they're going for. And for those of you saying gas them, how do you propose they get the gas in? They may have air vents somewhere, which open out elsewhere, but there's no way in hell they're gonna find em. And, if they do gas them, lethal gas defeats the purpose, as they're supposed to have them ALIVE go to Marble Pillars, and sleeping gas doesn't work either because then who'd open the door? I suppose Starlight could hold her breath and get past the door, and she could go tangible after that because they'd all be asleep, but then she'd just pass out from the sleeping gas too and they'd be no better off. And for you 'cut the door down' people, Grif is still in the hospital, and Hades is broken. Remember?
1310713
It be Rincewind!
1312795 Do you realize the unholy amounts of thermite that would take?
.....DO IT!!!
1314077 Just load up the cannons with thermite or something and blast their way in, or maybe some kind of acid, melt the door in a matter of minutes.
1314203 Multiple tons of solid steel dont melt that easily, so the volume of corrosive material needed would be, in a word, spectacular.
Well, this story just got a fuckton darker.
And goddammit, Grif, there has to be another way!
1313308
If they have arrow slits big enough for ballistae, they can be gassed. Also, if they're forced away from the doors/all dead, it makes using thermite much easier. Also also - see my previous comment, there are ways to get them away from the front doors/defense slits without actually killing them - the smoke them out one seems particularly useful in this case.
And didn't he get a new blade from Ember? ... Can he physically lift the blade in his human form? If so, he doesn't need to see the door to slice it open.
Oh my god! This story is so epic
, keep it up. 
1313308
Bahh you ruin all the fun choices........... nah its good as it is but honestly I would aproach with somekind of tremor attack to get them out of their tunnels and then bomb it to wait.............darn I always end up getting everything killed just do your magic.
One day I'm looking through Fim Fiction and I come across this.
"What's this, a story about a Griffin named Griffin? Let's try it."
*Opens thing and sees chapters.*
"What the hell? At least 90 chapters? Who could make something so long! Is it even possible to finish reading it???"
...
"Challenge accepted."
Currently on chapter 18 and still rolling, this is awesome! :D
BRO HOOF! /)
oh dear i do not like where this is going...
I would have opted for the matter distorter
and unraveled all the atoms in that accursed door,
or just plain blow a hole in it withthe railgun :D
1314682 The balistae are on the OUTSIDE of the iron fortress, on the hill. They literally have an airtight door fort, although they must have air vents somewhere, they can't find them because the entire thing is under a hill of BAKED CLAY
1315898 I already said he doesn't have a rail gun. And matter distorter? Who do you think he is, Missy?
You have commited one of the highest sins of magic, second only to creating sentient life. May you be damned to the blackest pits of hell.1315994
1315994
Griffin has no excuse for not owning a rail-gun
no excuse...
Baked clay, steel, and one door... Mind control our way in is the big plan. Well, that seems massively prone to backfiring.(I really hope it does)
I was hoping for a more fun tactic to breach the base as well, but oh well.
At least we aren't stuck with a "Trojan Horse," that is just too cliche.