A Day Of Peace 3/3
I was organizing several ingredients within my cellar when more messages came. I held them off however until I finished with the familiar chore that I knew the importance of.
Not only were these regents an important part of my lifestyle, they were also my burden, I carried more ingredients sorely for making potions than I do food, they are also my secret, as many don't have a place in anywhere but a dark cave or dangerous forest. And in many ways, they were my prize as I found each one, some were difficult to procure and so felt all the more rewarding to be in my possession.
I remembered my initial revulsion when it came to parts of living animals that needed to be harvested for some. I held out surprisingly longer than most, but it became obvious that a number of the potions in the grimoire needed some form of animal within it. Sure it was a book made by herbivore ponies, but we knew a lot of horrors of the world, in comparison, ending one life is hardly a bad thing if in exchange for ones survival.
And indeed, the potions I made have helped not only my own, but many other ponies survival.
With that final thought, I finished placing everything in it's correct place and made my way outside the cellar, shutting it firmly. After that I turned my attention to the further messages given.
Well since everyone else seems to be offering their services in one way or another i suppose i shall as well.
It sounds like the lot of you are treated this like a competition.
I am a bit of a collector of knowledge and artifacts and as such should you come across anything of interest i am willing to offer something in return. For example nightmare moons helmet would an interesting object to obtain and I would be more then willing to trade one of my own artifacts for it. An example of what I would trade for it is an amulet that provides increased healing and protection from magic at night (its effectiveness does wax and wane with the phases of the moon though).
Hmm, very well then, on one side I have ingredients, on another artifacts? I am sure to find a number of such things around the ruins, after all if it held the elements, it's likely it holds more items of power. A similar theme should also be present I imagine, since the examples you give her moon related.
If you obtain these items just give me an idea of what you would wish in return and a courier should appear on your doorstep within 48 hours to make the trade assuming the inter-dimensional courier is prompt. Oh and don't worry as couriers will appear as normal denizens of your world to anyone else but the clients.
... I am rather worried that the book describes only that you comment and view the world, yet it's become increasingly obvious you have much influence into it's workings. I suppose if I have no personal use for them, I will be sure to pass them over for something better. Also, you say that these couriers are... different? How would you go about describing how 'different' they are, just to brace myself if what visits my door is certainly one of your own.
With Hope
Professor Killjoy
... Unique name.
P.S. I will say that I do currently have a particular interest in books pertaining to Primals and am willing to part with some very...extensive books on potions and/or magic for them.
Primals? I am unfamiliar with the topic, I would appreciate a description of this thing, group? Creatures? Before I seek out any information about the them. It isn't as easy to get books without them being missed as well, Twilight has a library, but I doubt she wouldn't notice one missing here and them. I am confident she has some form of OCD of a sort, and very detail orientated at the very least.
Either way, I wish for no more suspicion on me, stealing books won't make me any better of a model citizen than I am already.
I am happy that such a number of different roads are opening up, it's a wonder none of this was mentioned when the first brew was made. Certainly I would think so many different possibilities of priceless items to be traded would find it's place in my book.
I settled back in my bed, the only comfortable space to sit at, maybe I should try to find some furniture later in the week, maybe a comfortable chair at the very least. Of course the bed is good enough, but I might consider it.
I was flicking through the pages of the grimoire, and it stopped on a particular page.
The Inverse Curse brew, it was the opposite of the Essence Enhancer Elixir, it takes the greatest quality of whatever it is used on, and reverses it completely. I took a second to remember Pinkie... a quiet Pinkie... a calm Pinkie...
No Scry, bad, don't think like that.
... Okay, it's impossible not to think about.
I was interrupted from my thoughts when another message appeared before me, I turned my attention from my book and read it.
Once again my dear Miss Fortune you have provided the correct answer to my riddle and thus have earned another favor from yours truly.
Good, I actually wish to use one of the favors now, at the moment I need one lead, I expect to go to the ruins in the Everfree forest soon, and so that I am not wandering aimlessly, I wish for help on the matter. If there is any place inside the castle that has artifacts in it, I wish to know where they are inside.
If you cannot tell me all of them, one will suffice.
I unfortunately have no flying familiars at the moment instead I will be sending my familiar called Smokey, he is a chameleon who can travel through shadows, so as long as there is a shadow, he will be able to find you.
Hmm... very well then, if that is what you can spare then I will accept it.
Also he is excellent at hiding, so when you want him near but not seen just tell him to hide and he will do so. He needs about 1 kilogram of food mostly insects or small animals. He also needs about 2 litres of water for both drinking and bathing. When you want to send some of the ingredients from the list to me, just ask him to take the packages and he will deliver them to me. Please attach a letter with the name of the one item that you require as payment from the same tier as the item sent. It will take him about one day for him to complete the delivery.
I will assume that the lizard will come with said scroll then, I will look forward to it.
While you wait for him here is another riddle.
Very well.
A pony walks into a party and pours some punch and ice into a cup. He was really thirsty and drank it really fast. Then he left the party. Later he hears that everyone at the party died. There was poison in the punch. How did the pony not die if he drank the same punch?
Your Sincerely Prophet
P.S I have added a fourth tier to the list
Hmm, a fourth tire? I will worry about it when your familiar gets here.
Now... the riddle, I took out a piece of paper and thought on it for a second.
I decided to answer it like I did the first riddle, thinking with a different mindset.
Now, examining the words closely... perhaps the ice cube is a anti-poison, and thus countered the spiked punch, or maybe it watered it down enough to make it less lethal.
So that made #1: The ice cubes counteracted it
Another possibility... maybe a humorous approach, maybe because he drank it fast it didn't work, because it was a 'Slow acting poison', maybe, it's worth it as a guess I suppose. #2: It was a slow-acting poison, he drank it too quickly.
And the third... I looked over the text a few more times, and noted the use of 'pony' as the central figure, and 'everyone' yo imply the other party goers. Maybe, the poison was only lethal to the 'ones' at the part, but not to ponies themselves, the party could have been filled with griffins or other species who were affected by it. #3: Ponies are not affected by particular type of poison.
I walked back and forth from the fireplace, after saying my answers and burning the note, I found myself back at my bed, patiently awaiting further messages as I read from my book.
Well looks like you have things in hand so I will not speak up as much as I have unless I see something the others missed. Before I leave, 3 gifts to I give my mouse, the first can be found where you fix meals, seek out the drawer that has been marked. Second, I made a modification to your travel bags so they well hold a bit more then they normally could. Third, if you ever find yourself lost or unsure of the path to take, stop, sit and look around for a feline, he or she will lead you to the right path. Oh and I wrote down the limits for the first gift on the note that is under it.
The Cheshire Cat.
... I took a second to read the message again, and looked inside the kitchen.
Nothing looked different what-so-ever, from the naked eye it wasn't clear if any of the drawers here were marked, however...
I shifted my sight higher up the spectral plane, and one of the kitchen drawers immediately lot up colorfully, now sporting a number of cold colored stripes, purple, blue and green in succession.
I opened it immediately, inside was the bag transcribed, it was smaller than I expected, a darker brown and a buckle which kept the lid of it closed, I took out the note from under it and read the following message.
Dear Mouse
To use the pouch all you needed to do is picture the item you want then pull it out.
The limits are as follows.
1. You must know the name and seen the item in person. (sorry drawings and pictures don't count)
2. Nothing Living (plants and such)
3. The item can only be as wide as your hoof.
4. Only Tools (flint and steel, scrolls,ink, est.)
5 Nothing more magically powerful then a light emitting gem.
6. Nothing can be put into the pouch, if you do put anything inside it, it will vanish forever.
7. You and only you can pull items from the pouch.
Hmm... fair enough, it would be too much of a gift if it were not so heavily restricted.
If the pouch is ever lost, stolen, given away you can find it again in the marked drawer. Oh and no you can pull any Bits out of it silly Mouse can't have you running around with unlimited Bits.
Fair enough, I would have exploited that feature if it were possible.
I took out the small bag and tested to test it, my hoof dug deep into the inside of it, and I pictured something I remembered... and pulled out.
It was a ladle... a very old one, chipped and old.
I smiled slightly, placing it next to the sink, I put the bag's strap around my neck, leaving it hang in front of my barrel.
Thank you Cheshire, this is a valuable gift.
I paused, and look towards the corner of my room, something that looks like a dark stain pulses on the wall, slowly a shape emerges and lands on the ground. I looked up with it's small beady eyes, a shine of intellect was clear in it's eyes. It's body was slightly smoking, likely where it got it's name, it's body was actually hard to make out, the scales of it was blending into the background easily.
I could make out three horns perched upon it's head, it was surprisingly long from head to tail, as well as a decent height from the ground, it moved forward and scampered up the bed to sit across from me. On it's back was an old scroll with a red wax stamp sealing it shut. On the wax was an insignia, a star of some sort.
"Well... looks like we will be associates for a while, keep in mind, any unnecessary trouble won't be tolerated her." It tasted the air with it's forked tongue, regarding me silently.
I reached forward and took the scroll from it's back, it didn't so much as flinch as I pulled it away and unrolled the old and tattered parchment
Requested Items Items for Trade
Tier 1 Tier 1
The seeds from 12 Poison Jokes 1 vial of Trolls blood
1 barrel of Sweet Apple Acres cider 1 bottle of spirit wine
1 jar of liquid rainbow 10 Magic Mushrooms
1 bottle of ghost saliva
1 sun stone
Tier 2 Tier 2
I bottle of Timbre Wolf blood/sap 1 vial of Frost Giant blood
A lock of Pinkie Pie’s hair when naturally straight 1 bottled Banshee scream
The eyes of a Cockatrice 1 bottled Sirens song
1 Basilisk tooth
1 vial of Murloc sperm
Tier 3 Tier 3
1 vial Manticore venom 1 vial of elder fire drake’s blood
4 primary teeth of a Cragadile 1 bottled nightmare
1 bottle of water from the Mirror Pool 1 dried lust demon phallus
1 Beholder's central eye
1 celestial feather
Tier 4 Tier 4
The Alicorn Amulet The Corner Stone of Reality
I few were familiar from my end, I would be able to gather them with a little effort, but some I never heard of before. Mirror Pool? Poison Joke?
And some were rather... confusing, and strange, such as Pinkie's hair when naturally straight? Sweet Apple Cider?
What was given in exchange was a number of ingredients I had not had the pleasure in knowing, I knew of the basilisk and drakes, but other than that there were new and wondrous ingredients ready to try and use. I smiled lightly, my mind already set in retrieving the exchanges for them.
It was a peaceful day to be sure... but it was certainly exciting, full with new potential for the future. I look forward to the next week coming.
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(Insert the screaming rage of some horrible thing lost to the void, raging for being denied his voice)
5876837
(Sorry, you posted the comment after I posted the chapter)
(Next one will have you questions, don't worry)
5876848 (Thank you kindly, though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes difference, curse you and your convenient daily updates.)
5876850
(Heh, I thought it would make up for the long wait I had between a couple of chapters, this goes for everybody, if you ask a question or something you really want to know, you needn't worry, I'll make sure to include them in a later chapter)
Crown of Zudulameir? What exactly is that?
Dear Scry Fortune
The couriers looks tend to vary due to them being recruited across multiple dimensions and as such can appear rather mundane or incredibly bizarre*.
As for Primal's... they are essentially a manifested aspect of the world. When a being with an extraordinary amount of power come into contact with an energy that matches their affinity they can...evolve for lack of a better term.
The most common types of Primal's are ones that represent land, sea and sky but others have been known to appear. Primal's are what they represent and have a connection to their aspect that is similar to you and your foreleg and can feel and/or manipulate it as such. It should be noted that Primal's are singular existences in that there is only one per aspect per dimension and once they become a Primal there is no going back or finding replacements till the end of that dimension.
I suppose a pony that became the Primal of the land's appearance might change to where their mane/tail becomes molten stone and have magma running through their veins. While it does sound like they would be grotesque in appearance judging from the one i met briefly many years ago their appearance changes to the point where it looks natural to have magma instead of blood flowing through their body.
Due to the rarity of such beings it is unlikely you will find any such books at your local library so no need to worry about a rabid Twilight chasing after you for missing books hehe.
With Hope
Professor Killjoy
P.S. As a side note the Primal's from the information i have gathered so far retain most of their personalities from before their evolution and can regain a more mortal appearance if they suppress their energies.
P.S.S. Celestia and Luna are not Primal's although they would be considered among those beings of extraordinary power mentioned earlier.
* this is to give the author a bit of creative freedom
5876855 A thing that came out of my brain. Specifically during a stereotypical DnD thing. Basically, it's the headpiece of the armor of an ancient warrior king named, surprise surprise, Zudulamier, who in his Twilight years after successfully ruling a country once torn by civil war for most of his life, decided he wanted to go on an adventure, this adventure takes him far below even the deepest of the dwarven mines, where he and his retinue find a great demon that isn't a balrog, rather it was a beast of fleshy tendrils and numerous fang filled maws that hid in the darkness and struck from a distance. Long story short, Kingy loses his head, his men kill the beasty in a collective fit of rage, then turn the battleground, monster guts included, inside out in their search for the head and helmet. It was never found, but it was traced through the magical properties held in the enchanted metals to another realm beyond the reach of mortal men. Bet you can't guess which realm that is.
5877100
Hell? I don't know.
Well she certainly certainly hasn't heard of that place I'm sure.
5877108 She hasn't heard of hell? Also, try Equis, maybe not her Equis, but one of them. Unless you want to add an enchanted hat from another dimension with unknown magical properties to her shopping list?
5877114
Huh... alright, fair point, different dimension, different things happening.
And I meant she hasn't heard of your hat things before, you know, the crown.
5877120 Ah, yes, the helmet with a crown set into it that's worth about the country it came from, to the country it came from. Yes. Well, I suspect it's either been hiding in some inconspicuous place since it arrived, or one of the alicorn sisters found it and it's currently locked away in one of the castles. Either way...
5877129
It is likely a very powerful, and important artifact, hmm... well, I would say that if such a powerful thing existed, then Celestia would have taken it with her to Caterlot castle, but considering the number of other important things she left there, i don't think it's likely.
5877133 So... random stumbling upon the most valuable artifact ever conceived from another plane of existence in a dilapidated old castle filled with booby traps on a hunt for rare herbs?
5877141
Most likely.
But question, what power did this helmet grant really?
The stories tell of the helm of king Zudulamier. They say that it allows it's wearer to both see into the future and the past as one wishes, to stop the flow of time with but a thought, and to control the minds of men weaker than yourself like one would control a marionette. That's all a bag of yogurt. What the glorified metal hat really does is protect your noggin from most anything short of a death inducer, neck not included, and give your brain function enough of a boost that were you to concentrate hard enough you could make time seem to stop while you think on what to do next. Extremely useful in the middle of the more chaotic battles, with arrows and friendly fire going all over the place.
5877144 See above comment that I forgot to add the reply tag to.
5877162
Hmm, sounds useful, so, basically gives you a superhuman condition body, as well as bullet time perception, awesome.
5877209 Not quite, The helmet's super protection only applies to the head. And while it does give you this 'bullet time perception' it doesn't give you the strength or speed to react to anything you see while you're mind's going a mile a second. Like say, Scry got shot at with a crossbow, hypothetically. She could 'stop' time and see it was coming, but not do anything about it until she restarted her perception of time, granted she'd probably be able to put her hyper protected head in the way of the bolt, but I don't think that same trick would work with a bullet or a magic bolt, specifically a magic bolt with an area of effect.
5877230
Hmm, fair enough I suppose, something like that would be better to trade with.
I see, I was a bit skeptical at first as to weather or not we would even be capable of transferring physical items across the realms. It would appear that the powers that be are fairly lenient in this regard. I am glad for you that the others did not mindlessly make offers that were impossible to keep.
As a side note, I would avoid perusing anything called a Cornerstone of reality. If it's name is anything to go by, it could have disastrous effects in anypony's hooves. Especially the pink one's. She's out of touch with the laws of physics in her natural state, and you saw firsthoof what happens if her awareness of things beyond your plane expands any further. Furthermore, acquiring the Alicorn amulet needed for the trade would place you under very high scrutiny by Twilight and her friends.
Machina.
5878431 Unless, of course, the shopkeeper 'misplaced' it before Trixie had a chance to have it 'misplaced' and the others don't need to know every detail of Scry's life now do they? 'misplaced' amulet that grants near unlimited magical power or not.
5878475
Because limitless magical power at the cost of insanity is not a toy.
5878679 Oh, and I suppose next you'll tell me that Pandora's box is too dangerous to carry my lunch in yeah?
5878873
Actually, aside from Elpis, that box is empty. I'm sure it would make a wonderful lunch box if you were willing to share it with her.
As you wish my dear I can provide you with the location of most of artifacts that lie within Castes of the Two Sisters.
Hmmm. From what I can tell there are a couple of small magical artifact in the treasury, two in the bedroom formally occupied by the solar princess and one in the lunar princess's old room.
I also can detect three artifacts that are of greater value
The first is in the library of the castle; pull on a small brown book with no name on it to open the passage to it. However be warned this item is not benign in nature.
The second will show itself when the arms of the pedestal which held the Elements of Harmony point to the rising sun.
The last can be found in the kitchen cellar; though an old giant ale barrel and into the abandon lair of The Pony of Shadows.
Now the next order of business is your answers to my new riddle, you were very close to the right answer. The answer is that the poison was in the ice cubes and since the pony drank the punch quickly the ice cubes did not get a chance to melt and release the poison into the punch. So unfortunately you were incorrect this time.
I will give you another riddle next time I send you a message.
Yours sincerely Prophet
P.s You might want to go to the library first and read Princess Celestia’s dairy first it has some useful information about getting around the castle. But I ask you to not take it out of the library as another will need that book in the future.
Heh. What do we have here. A story in the making.
Fascinating. Fascinating miss Fortune. I will see how it goes.
Who I am? I am Voidwalker. Why I am here? Your...story interested me.
I will only watch and not interfering much aside from the matter of death.
I am...as you can say a Necromancer...Not those idiots who are hell bend on destroy the world with undead or silly things like that...
I'm telling you this because I have an offer that you may or may not need. It will work at all time as soon as you accept.
I can bring you back from the death. You will be at top condition and all the negative effects will disappear. You will be dropped at random location away from the spot you died in the radius of 1 miles. And no, this will only work if the cause(s) is/are considered unatural (or in other word: caused by any entities be it mortal or immortal and from inside the universe or outside the universe through passive means or active means. You have caught quite a bit of attention in the Void and not all of them want to see how a mortal life plays out due to your...communication with those who are outside and they might heavily influent those that are within to do generic bad thing only on a much more nightmarish scale. While about 80% of them just want to kill you for whatever stupid reason. I have been holding them back for a while but better safe then sorry).
The price will be...What? Oh yeah, I will take them out and make them plead mercy while I rip them apart for the sins they have commited, don't worry...Sorry, ahem! Personal bussiness...
Right. The price will be a dozen poison joke flowers, 1000 bits, 1 small bottle of liquid rainbow and a small lock of your...hair (About as big as a marble). You can give them to me by wrap them up and say "Cold as the Void Eternal" and they will simply pop out of your little world. It equal 1 life each time you offer them and you can have 5 at any given momment.
Other than that...I will remain silient and keep a watch on both you and those...interested.
Here is some music for your ear...