//------------------------------// // Muddy Waters // Story: Pathfinder Ponies // by terrycloth //------------------------------// The party rushed into the mine at full speed, ignoring the rooms near the entrance, and the occasional side-passage deeper in the mine, in favor of following the obvious single path to the portal, marked by the rails. A few times they heard signs of enemies ahead of them, but none of them were prepared to face the party – they ran off as soon as they heard them coming, leaving their passage unopposed. However, the mine was very deep, and after five minutes of trotting they still hadn’t reached the furthest depths. Instead, they came to a place where the mine started to flood – a few inches at first, but progressively deeper as they continued to advance. The water was opaque, and tinted blue like the mud that the diamond gnolls dredged from the mine. “Nopony step in that,” Twilight said, looking at the water suspiciously. “We’re all still flying, right?” “For another five minutes, anyway,” Pinkie Pie said. “After that we’ll have to ride. Or I could spend a couple of minutes mixing up some spares?” “Any sign of anyone on our tails?” she asked, looking to the rest of the party. The adventurers stood still and listened carefully, but heard no sign of pursuit. Just the quiet lapping of the contaminated water against the slime-coated walls of the mine. As everyone shook their heads, Twilight turned back to Pinkie Pie. “Do it.” Two minutes later, backup Fly infusions in hoof, the party continued on their way, soon coming to a wooden dock set at the intersection of two passageways, at right angles to each other. All three were filled with deep water – the tracks ran up to the end of the dock and ended, an empty cart sitting there, waiting for a boat of some sort to arrive with another load of mud. “Exploratory tunnels,” Twilight said, looking at them. “The mithril seam must have ended here, so they started digging in every direction to find it again.” “So that means we’re close?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I hope we’re close, because it means there’s no way to tell which of these tunnels ran into the portal,” Twilight said with a scowl. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Pinkie Pie said, closing her eyes and spinning around in midair. “Eenie Meenie Miney Moe, catch a tiger by the – this one!” She opened her eyes, pointing back at the party. “Er, I mean, this one,” she said, pointing straight ahead instead. Applejack gave her a look, then rolled her eyes. “Guess it don’t matter much which one we check first.” “She’s not guessing,” Fluttershy said quietly, as the party followed Pinkie Pie’s hoof. “She saw the scratch marks where they were pushing off against the walls with their poles.” “Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie whined. “You never let me have any fun!” They found the raft, abandoned, a few hundred feet on, and started to see flickers of light from up ahead. Before much longer they found themselves at what must be the portal – a sluggish vortex of blue mud spiraling lethargically in the center of a large cavern, lit by decorative lanterns and torches hung from the wooden buildings around the perimeter and the railing of the boardwalk connecting them. Dozens of gnolls lined the boardwalk, one of them dressed in a fancy ceremonial breastplate of blue metal, wielding a decorative staff, with other similar jewelry and adornment – obviously, some sort of high priest. He sat perched on the back of a large black dragon, with blue metal barding, wallowing in the mud near the far end of the cavern. “Who dares to disturb Lord Smooze?” the priest shouted, as the party arrived at the cavern entrance. Not wanting to be the first to rush into the cavern, and not having a real ranged attack that could reach to the far side, Applejack whipped out her wand of faerie fire and sent a burst of flame at the dragon and its rider. The rider was outlined in flickering flames, but they failed to stick to the dragon’s magic-resistant scales. “Fluttershy, go!” Twilight said, standing with her shield ready to defend Fluttershy as she took out the scroll of Earthquake. The spidery syllables of the magic spell seemed to resound throughout the cavern, louder and louder until it was less of a noise, and more of raw vibration. With a deafening series of cracks, the ceiling started to collapse, large chunks of stone falling onto the hapless gnolls, who were already struggling in vain to keep their footing on the shaking wooden boardwalk as it shook itself to pieces. Some were crushed by rocks, and the rest fell into the mud which quivered from its slow spiral into a thin pool of quicksand, sucking them underneath. The dragon struggled and tried to spread its wings, but it was too slow and was sucked underneath as well, along with the priest on its back. Everypony was briefly blinded by the spatter of gravel and clouds of stone dust, and when it settled, nothing was left of the cavern but a wall of shattered rocks. “And that’s that,” Rarity said, with a laugh. “Black dragons can’t burrow, and I doubt anything else survived that collapse.” “Oh for pony’s sake!” Rainbow Dash complained. “We finally find a dragon and you just bury it in rocks before I can fight it? What’s wrong with you!” “I, for one, appreciate the ruthless efficiency,” came a voice behind them, and they turned to see a leatherwing pony hovering over the water, behind them. Or, rather, a succubus – Dreamy, in fact. “I’ve come to give you a warning, and an apology, and an invitation.” “Dreamy? What are you doing – no, wait, you already answered that,” Pinkie Pie said. “Did daddy send you to watch out for me?” “I’m afraid I’ve been sent by a higher power,” the demon replied, with a chuckle. “The warning is this – you will be attacked by demons before you can leave this place. Our assistance was formally requested, we cannot refuse. We apologize for the inconvenience.” “Why would you tell us this?” Twilight asked, gripping her hammer tightly in her magic. “So that you know that it’s nothing personal,” the succubus replied. “As for the invitation: once you’ve escaped from this trap, come to the Starry Night Casino in the Entertainment District, and my master – my true master – will have a proposition for you. One that I think will be to your liking.” She licked her lips. “Until then, stay safe.” With that, the succubus vanished, teleporting away in an instant. She was replaced almost immediately by a pair of pony-sized rancid blobs, one of which splashed into the water while the other clung to the wall like a huge blob of snot. They stood between the party and Rarity’s skeletons, which had originally been taking up the rear. Behind the party, the wall of collapsed rocks rippled and shifted like liquid, and the front half the dragon emerged from it, the priest still on its back. The priest chanted a spell, and a thick wall of stone appeared, blocking the party off from any assistance from Sparky and the others – and from any escape. The dragon inhaled, and breathed a line of acid down half the tunnel. The acidic breath washed over Twilight, Pinkie, and Macintosh, burning them badly, but Applejack managed to flutter up near the ceiling and dodge, and then in a flash blinked through the air to land on the dragon’s back, right next to the priest, and attacked her with a whirlwind of rapier and claws – to little effect, only one swing even scratching the stony coating protecting her. Twilight swung her hammer at the dragon’s head, but between the metal barding and the thick dragon scales, her swings rebounded harmlessly, even with the distraction of a rogue clinging to the dragon’s back. “I call on the light of the blazing sun… let us strike back at these unnatural creatures!” Fluttershy chanted, and the party’s weapons started to glow. “Rainbow, it won’t help you – focus on the dragon!” Thus blessed, Macintosh splashed into the water to get underneath Pinkie and Rarity, and lunged at the snot demon clinging to the wall, impaling it with his lance and burning away parts of its essence. Pinkie backed away from the demons, and narrowed her eyes at the priest, holding a fire bomb in her hoof, while Rarity, beside her, cast a spell to protect the party from acid. And it was just in time to save Macintosh, as the pair of demons assaulted him, slapping at him with pseudopods dripping with acid. There was force behind them as well, although not enough to get through the Stoneskin. Unfortunately, one of them managed to latch onto the large pony’s face, clogging his mouth and nose with slime, and using that foothold to slide itself around him, clinging to his face and neck. Rainbow Dash punched the dragon in the face, stunning it – and then followed up with a flurry of blows, slamming its head against one wall and then the other, as it struggled to regain its senses. Applejack took advantage of the distraction to stab the dragon in the back of the neck – but its armor and scales were tough to crack, and she managed only a single bleeding wound up the side of its neck with one of her claws. The priest on its back started to cast a spell, only to have Pinkie Pie’s readied bomb land directly in her mouth, the explosion of fire completely ruining whatever she was trying to cast, some of it spilling out to burn the dragon, as well. Twilight backed away from the distracted dragon, and hovered over Macintosh to help him with the demons, a wide swing of her hammer slamming into both of them. Fluttershy’s blessing let it have its full impact – but the demons were tough, and seemed little the worse for wear. Macintosh, for his part, could do little but struggle to break free from the demon clinging to him, and wasn’t able to pry it loose. “Stop hurting him! You monster!” Fluttershy said to the demon clinging to her companion’s face, and it screamed and starting pounding at its own substance, leaving it unable to keep its hold on Macintosh… but the other demon latched on in its place, a pair of pseudopods glomming onto the hapless pony. Rarity scowled. The dragon had spell resistance, judging by the ineffectiveness of Applejack’s Faerie Fire, and the demons would too. She cast a spell to hasten the party instead. Rainbow Dash used it to unleash an even faster flurry of blows on the dragon – but she missed with her stun, and with its wits about it the dragon was a harder target, catching every blow on the metal plates of its helmet. “My turn,” the dragon said, and snapped at the pesky griffon. Dash managed to dodge the teeth, but was surprised by the claws and tail that emerged from the wall like it was mist. Fortunately for her, most of the impact was caught by the Stoneskin. The diamond gnoll, her face horrifically burned by Pinkie’s bomb, attempted to heal herself, only to be interrupted by another bomb to the face… which removed most of her head. Her flaming corpse slumped in her saddle. Suddenly, the dragon was no longer gliding through the collapsed rocks as if they were water. Instead, it found its back half pinned underneath a hundred tons of suddenly solid rubble. It screamed in agony – and Applejack buried her rapier in the base of its skull, while her claws dug bloody furrows down the sides of its neck. Its eyes closed as it collapsed into the water. “You stole my kill!” Rainbow Dash complained. “It might have been your kill, if you were able to hit the broad side of a barn,” Applejack snapped back at the angry griffon. Twilight smacked the demons again with her hammer, while Macintosh stuggled ineffectually to free himself. Fluttershy touched him on the rump, careful not to get too close to the demon, and healed most of his wounds. Rarity mentally catalogued her remaining spells, and her eyes glowed black as she cast a minor fear spell at the demon clinging to Macintosh. As expected, it had no effect, and the demon continued to flow around the large red pony, slowly crushing the life out of him. Rainbow dashed past Rarity to try to stun the demon with a punch, but didn’t manage to connect. Pinkie pegged it with a force bomb, that did some damage but failed to knock it loose. Applejack managed to duck out of sight behind the dead dragon’s wing and fling a dagger at one of the ooze-like demons from an angle it didn’t expect, but there were no vital points on the creature to hit, so it had little effect, despite its blessing. “Just die already!” Twilight cried, swinging her hammer once more. The remorseful demon, still busy fighting itself, took a solid hit, and screamed in agony as it tore itself apart, the putrid remains dissolving into the water. “You should not have done that,” the other demon hissed. “My master may wish you to live through this day, but the time will come when I will avenge the death of my brother.” With that, it vanished, teleporting away. Macintosh coughed and choked, but managed to catch his breath. “Gonna taste that for a while,” he groaned, spitting. Fluttershy flew over to the wall of stone, and shaped a hole in it for the party to make their escape. The diamond gnoll priest had some useful treasure on her body – a minor cloak and ring to sell, a magical shield slightly better than the one Twilight was already using, which she’d be able to modify for pony use with a few hours work at a forge, and about a thousand gold worth of diamond dust for Stoneskin spells. If the dragon had any possessions besides its armor, they were buried beneath the rocks. Pinkie Pie extracted its eyes and teeth as possible spell components, or at least as trophies. Setting the explosive charges took long enough that the Fly spells wore off, along with a few of the other short-duration spells, including the communal spells like Resist Energy and Stoneskin. When they reached the exit, they found Rarity’s wall broken to pieces, and the barricade the gnoll barbarians had hidden behind to await the party repaired and turned around to face them as they emerged – but there was no sign of any enemy forces. The mine was deserted and abandoned, and momentarily – as the loud explosion echoed from the shaft behind them – collapsed. “I guess they knew what would happen if they tried to stand up to us,” Twilight said. “Their best warriors failed, even with the aid of the demons.” “But they were going to fight us,” Pinkie Pie said, landing on the barricade. “Then something changed their mind. Do you think that maybe we closed the portal? Cut them off from Lord Smooze for good?” Twilight shook her head. “I doubt we’d be that lucky.”