Chapter 34: Let It Go
At the Inn of the Prancing Pony
Chapter 34: Let It Go
Hope Springs stood in the immense cavern, trying to stare down its other inhabitant.
“...so under the circumstances, I don’t see any reason why we should do anything for them.”
“Under normal circumstances, I’d completely agree,” said Hope Springs in reply. “But these are far from normal circumstances. You see...could you hold on for a moment?”
“For what? The two of us are completely alone here!”
The question was not immediately answered, as Celestia found herself once again in the Astral Plane. “So, is it that time already?” she asked Midnight Sparkle brightly.
“It is. How are you doing, Celestia?” The purple pony asked in return, sitting down and taking up an air of peaceful relaxation.
“Oh, the usual sorts of things for a goddess,” Celestia said with a casual flick of one hoof. “Scheming and plotting behind everypony’s backs. For good, of course. I trust that the caverns are not treating your group too harshly?”
“We haven’t had too much trouble, avoided a lot of pain. Well, except for...you know what, you probably don’t want to hear this. Um...it’s going okay! No injuries worth reporting—”
“If you were hurt, Midnight, I would heal you,” Celestia said, with genuine warmth in her voice. “Your well-being is very important to me.”
“Well...I wouldn’t want you to use up your resources for a few scratches,” Sparkle said nervously.
“It is nothing to me, in my current state.” She rested her hoof briefly upon Midnight Sparkle’s brow below her horn. “You may feel nothing now, but you should be fully healed upon returning to your body.”
She bowed a bit, before standing again. “And now I’d like to ask you a few questions before we continue. Firstly, What do you know of the goddess that brought the breezies to this world? Eggswife?”
“A pony of extraordinary powers, but no goddess. That is what I am supposed to say, yes?” There was quite a mischievous glint in her eye as she said that last bit.
Midnight chuckled, looking in “Cutbelt’s” direction. “I think you are quite on script,” she said. “Do you know anything about the creatures or dangers we will be facing ahead?”
“I know about all of them,” Celestia said confidently. “So let’s speak in generalities. Eggswife recruited most of the creatures guarding her treasures from Tartarus. Very much against their wills. The two instruments of her control were the mind-control circlets, and the shape-changing bands. By one means or the other, she has forced most every creature there to do her bidding, even now long after her death. Of course, some of them have deluded themselves into thinking that they are snacking on wandering adventurers out of choice, as a poor salve to their egos.”
“That’s...a sad existence,” Midnight admitted somberly. “Is there...a way to get past them without killing them? Or even return them to where they should be?”
“Well, I would like to hope that you are capable of that. I know that my ponies are capable of that. The center of the lower level is closed to me...the result of extremely powerful magics and trans-dimensional warping. It’s also where the most powerful of the adventurers went into, never to return. Logically, a portal back to Tartarus must be within. Opening such a portal is extremely taxing, so for those ponies mad enough to want one, the standard procedure is to open the one, then close and re-open it as needed. In this case, I know no other location from which Eggswife could have brought such creatures to Equestria. If you tell them this, perhaps they will be willing to accompany rather than fight you.”
“Your ponies?” Midnight asked, raising an eyebrow. “Which ponies are your ponies?”
Celestia shrugged. “Sorry, force of habit. When I was a princess, they were all my ponies. And now you are my little adventurer.”
She chuckled. “Well. That’s good. So, we need to get around them to find the portal. I know that I normally wouldn’t have very strong spells, but...could you give me more powerful spells? Like...invisibility?”
Celestia nodded. “Assuming the rules allow it, that one would be permissible.”
“Good,” Midnight said after the necessary spells had been bestowed. “That should be enough to get around some of them. Maybe not all. I want to thank you for helping us so much, Celestia. I think I have to get back to our adventure though, so the last thing would be our instructions. Where do we go from here?”
“Alright, let’s see…” Celestia gestured downwards, at large maps of both the upper and lower levels that had appeared before them.
Far in the distance, one could just make out the sound of a palm hitting a forehead.
“Here is the river path you should take,” Celestia said, pointing out the route on the upper level map. “Stop here and get off, follow this path, turning west at the junction. Here is where the three-headed monster waits: lion, dragon and gorgon. After you defeat it, take either of the eastern paths to a stairway blocked by debris.” She then turned to the map of the lower level, pointing at a large blank space in the middle. “This is the part that I can’t see. The bottom of the stairs from the upper level exits just a short distance from its edge. Right here, lying in wait, is a tribe of reptile creatures. Not...like the ones in the Everfree.” One could write a novel based on what went across her face just then. “These are much more foul-tempered. Also, they smell. As in, a stench so foul as to cause fainting in the unprepared. They have a champion. He smells the worst, and the others get their courage from him. If you can knock him out, the others will flee. I can do no more to help you once you enter this hexagonal area. In fact, you may not even be able to call me once you go in, so be sure you are ready before you proceed.”
Midnight looked over the pair of maps before sighing. “That sounds like a really bad thing. But we will do our best. Do you have any requests for me to carry out?”
Celestia looked her intently in the eyes. “Live,” she said. “And do not worry overmuch. I am currently arranging for help to come your way. Assuming that she can see past her recent indignities…” The last part was not entirely meant for Midnight’s ears.
“That is wonderful news. In reply, I would like to ask something of you. I want to know if Hope is safe. Also, if she has been able to accomplish her goal.”
“Hope is the safest one of you right now,” Celestia replied. “And who else do you think is busy negotiating that help I promised? You know I can’t walk freely on the face of Equestria. Only my name is free at present.”
“I hope you are truly free, soon. Goodbye, Celestia.”
Celestia looked at the spot where Midnight was a moment before. “I think not,” she said to herself. “Freeing me will end your precious game.”
# # #
Hope sighed as she returned to herself and looked up into the pair of large reptilian eyes. “I’d tell you what just happened, but without proof, there’s no way you could possibly believe me.”
Midnight returned to her own body. Around her, the other members of her party were all asleep, except for Burnished Lore.
“Goddess or no goddess,” he said when he saw that she was awake. “I’m still going to keep watch!”
“I don’t blame you. Has there been anything unusual while I was gone?”
“Nope, just the sound of the water making you want to use the facilities every half hour,” cracked the pegasus sorcerer.
“How long was I out? Those meditation sessions are so unreliable.” Midnight walked a slow and quiet circle around the group, whispering a heartfelt prayer to Celestia to keep them safe and healthy in the journey ahead.
“They’ve been instantaneous,” Burnished growled. “Every one of them, which is distinctly against the rules when spells above First Level are being granted.”
Actually, Second Edition allows some flexibility about that. The voice was Carry On’s...technically. And of course in-game they didn’t actually hear that.
“Well, how would you know about such things? The spells that she gives me are a direct communication. Buuut, yes I now have invisibility as my twice-a-day, that could definitely help.”
“You replaced the spells you cast today, didn’t you? Those certainly included Second Level spells. But never mind about that.” He kicked at Carry On’s knapsack. “Hey, Thief! Looks like you’ve got a short-term apprentice. Anything you’d like a periodically invisible pony to do for you?”
Carry smirked, opening an eye and looking to the other two. “I can do everything that I need without a spell. But how about you give me a bit of invisibility so that I can stab a few things viciously and fatally in the back? Although...your peace-loving goddess might not be okay with that.”
“You’re right!” Midnight turned to frown at the thief, who had sat up. “She’s caring. She, and I, would rather neutralize these creatures, since they are being forced to do this against their will.”
Carry waved a hoof dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. Fine. Then give me the spell and I can speed past them. You’d be surprised how fast I can go with the proper motivation.”
“Against their will…” Burnished said, rubbing his chin with one hoof.
In the Hoofington Catacombs, a pool of lava had almost completely surrounded Griffon's Party of Invincible Adventurers.
“This is all your fault, Griffon!” growled Vaya Con Dios.
“Aw, this isn’t so bad,” the black-and-white griffon said, easily flying to safety.
That’s when the fire elemental’s hand emerged from the lava to grab him.
“Now that’s not fair!”
The party of six young adventurers, and the friends they picked up along the way, camped out on the corpse of the gigantic snapping turtle that had been sleeping at the bottom of the underground lake, a hand-drawn map spread out between then. All of them were sitting cross-legged—which means something rather different for ponies than for humans.
“So,” Chestnut asked the others. “Where now?”
“Oh! You know what we could do, is harvest the organs of this creature to use in spells! Spell components for draconic transformations...”
A hoof was shoved into Ameri’s mouth, and the dragon-obsessed mage was forced to go along with the rest of the group.
The next morning, Midnight found Burnished carefully examining the sail which had been discovered the night before. “Well, it’s not any kind of animal,” he muttered to himself, tracing the shape of one of the runes with a hoof. He looked up at the ceiling. “OK, how about a folklore check? Anything familiar from that? No?”
“No religion check...what about...could any of you do an arcane check?” Midnight looked around. Carry just shrugged.
“What, you mean Celestia didn’t tell you already?” Torn Deck asked sarcastically.
“No, she’s helpful and kind, like a goddess should be!” Midnight stopped and took a step back. “Heh...sorry a bit too enthusiastic there.”
“Super into-character, huh?” Carry asked rhetorically. “Let’s see...what if it’s not a check at all, but rather a magic item. I have a decent check for using those, I try to use it as a generic magic item, like a ring?”
“Alright, everypony in the boat!” Burnished ordered.
“Hey!” Torn Deck protested. “Since when are you in charge?”
“When it comes to magic, I’m always in charge,” Burnished Lore replied coolly. “OK, I’m going to put the mast into position. Hold on!”
Nothing happened.
He raised the sail. A distant nautical tune could be heard for a moment, a toothless laugh, then...nothing.
“Enough of that!” Burnished chided the boat. “You get moving now. Go!”
The boat suddenly sped forward, everypony holding on for dear life.
“Stop!” commanded Burnished.
The boat came to a dead halt.
“Oh that’s just too easy!” Torn Deck whined.
“Hey, I’m not complaining. We need every break we can get. Now then—the little waterfall over there, right?” He reached back to grab the oar that was being used for steering. “Go!”
“Haha! This is good, this is all good,” Sparkle said happily, settling in for the ride.
# # #
The boat steadily approached a stone ledge that separated the pool from the stream.
“Everypony hold on!” cried Torn Deck, who was perched at the stern of the boat.
Midnight Sparkle grabbed hold of the back of the boat, while Carry On held the side, her wings prepared to steady herself. The others braced themselves similarly.
The boat then fell the width of three hooves. Thanks to the bracing, it didn’t tip over. After that, the current pulled it around a sharp angle, so it was now going in a northwesterly direction.
“That wasn’t so bad!” Carry said happily, as Sparkle tried not to fall over with the normal rocking action of the boat.
The walls around them were noticeably smoother than they had been in earlier parts of their passage. They were also going roughly twice as fast as before. A distant roaring began to gain in volume.
“I’m going to go find that bridge,” said Bumble. “You better be ready with that stop business.”
The boat stopped, the current flowing rapidly around it.
“Don’t say that word!” Burnished scolded.
Bumble laughed and flew off into the gloom.
“Go!” Burnished ordered in an annoyed voice, getting the boat moving again with a jerk.
Carry giggled, and put a hoof around Sparkle. “Don’t throw up! We don’t want to waste a use of Summon Food just because you can’t keep it down!”
Bumble came back a few minutes later. “Oh, this will be easy,” he told them. “Just get a pegasus down there with a rope loop.” He then looked down at this transformation band. “Heh. Never mind. I’ll take off when we’re close enough. A little room!” He landed next to Sparkle and twisted the silver band around his leg, changing form with a flash. He then quickly picked up the loose end of the rope, wrapped it around his midsection several times, and fashioned the end...into…into...
“Blast! How can you do anything with rope with these ginormous hooves?” he asked, holding the end up rather helplessly.
“Here, let me,” said Burnished, who took up the rope end and fashioned a lasso using only his wingfeathers.
“I’ve got to learn how to do that!” Bumble-pegasus said in awe, before picking up the lasso in his mouth and launching into the air.
The boat rocked dangerously below him.
“Sowwy!” he apologized around a mouthful of rope. “Non’t know ma own stength.”
“Well go along then,” Torn Deck said nervously, the sound of the approaching falls growing ever closer. “Hurry up and get that tied!”
Bumble rolled his eyes and flew off.
“Oh, crap!” Burnished yelled. “Somepony tie the other end of that rope!”
Sparkle grabbed hold of the end with her magic just long enough for Carry to land on it and tie it to the boat.
“Got it!”
The boat was allowed to drift for less than a minute, before their destination came into view. The ornately carved and sculptured bridge arched to about four pony-heights above the center of the river. Many strange forms and shapes could be made out on the side of the bridge in bold relief: carved gargoyle-like monsters, leering down at you. The one with its tongue sticking out looked to have a good reason for his expression—namely, the noose that was tied tight around his neck. Meanwhile, a thundering rumble, a loud, low-throated roar, filled everypony’s ears.
Burnished used his steering oar to direct the boat towards the northern shore of the river. “Stop!” he commanded, when the boat was right under the bridge. “Alright, everypony out,” he said. “And please, no saying that other word until we are out of earshot!”
Bumble was waiting for them at the top of the bridge, still in pegasus form, and waving wildly. “Welcome to dry land at last!” he cried.
Torn Deck was the first to jump ashore, scrambling up the slope to reach the northern end of the bridge. “A little help would be appreciated!” he said, his eyes fixed on the transformed breezie.
“Oh, right!” Bumble cried out, flying over. “I forgot that I’m weight-bearing now. Grab hold!”
With the help of the four pegasi, the whole group was soon standing on a path leading north and south.
Burnished looked fondly down at the boat. “I sure wish we could bring it with us,” he said. “What if there’s another river system on the lower level?”
“I don’t have the ability to shrink it,” Sparkle sighed, looking down.
“And I don’t want to risk anypony getting hurt trying to pull it up.”
“And if there were a river down there, that journal page would have said something,” said Torn Deck. “Let it go, Bernie. Let it—”
“STOP! STOP!” Burnished Lore quickly cried twice in quick succession, before the boat had snapped the rope and jumped the falls. He looked over at Torn Deck, who was failing mightily at stifling a belly laugh. “I’m not talking to you anymore,” he said, his nose in the air.
Carry On snickered and passed the two arguing ponies. “Are you sure you don’t want to let it...” and then she hopped away and down the passageway.
“NOPONY HAS ANY RESPECT FOR MAGIC ANYMORE!”
# # #
The path northwards immediately met a four-way junction, with paths going north, west, east, and back south.
“OK, which way, M’Lady?” Torn Deck asked Sparkle.
Sparkle looked around, before closing her eyes and thinking of the sun.
Hey Celestia? I forgot. Which way do I go now? She thought to herself.
There was the sound of a sweet mountain wind wending its way through her thoughts, which did not in any way resemble the sound of a frustrated goddess sighing her frustration with the inferior nature of her instrument.
Sorry…
“Falls. Northwest to bridge. North. West. Monster-rah! Stairs under rocks.”
Wait, northwest to bridge, then northwest?
“North to cross the bridge, as in not south. Then west at the junction to enter the lair of the three-headed beast.”
Oh excellent! Thank you, my most supreme light.
Sparkle opened her eyes and grinned.
“Okay! We are good to go...West!” She said firmly.
“Aw,” said a disappointed Facet. “The northern passage smells much better.”
Torn Deck walked over to fetch Facet, rolling his eyes along the way. Then he took a whiff. “Hmm! Orange blossoms. Smells like a trap. Let’s go.”
“Aww.”
The western passage soon turned north, and approached the entrance of a large cavern.
“Okay. In this cavern should be the creature Celestia told me about. It can turn us to stone with its breath, and is very powerful.”
Carry sighed. “So, just say it’s a gorgon. That’s what it is, after all.”
“A three-headed gorgon,” added Midnight helpfully.
Burnished raised a hoof, signaling them to stop speaking. He leaned his head and swiveled his ears. “You sure about that three-headed part?” he whispered.
Midnight nodded slowly, as Carry backed away silently.
“No snoring, and no talking,” whispered Burnished. “Something’s not right. Chimera heads always talk to each other. Assuming he isn’t just waiting on the other side of this wall to petrify/eat us.” The old pegasus turned, and started quietly going through his possessions.
Bumble took this opportunity to turn back into his breezie form.
Midnight Sparkle looked back to Carry, and cast a spell. Oddly to most of those watching, the spell didn’t have any light or sound attached, but Carry On vanished from sight, and the slightest breeze drifted over the adventurers’ backs as the pegasus silently flew over them and into the cavern, nearly at the ceiling.
This turned out to be quite a bit of work, as the cavern’s ceiling was unusually high. Thanks to mineral deposits, a rainbow of colors shimmered from walls and floor. Even the many stalactites above hung like colored icicles. More minerals had seeped into frozen curtains, cascades and numerous humps and stalagmites of varied hue and strange form. In the center of the chamber was a heap of coins and metal bars. Resting behind the pile, in a position where the average greed-filled adventurer would not think of looking before it was too late, was a creature resembling a chimera, but with the parts of a lion, a red dragon and a gorgon instead of the usual trio. The creature was standing absolutely still, the eyes of all three heads fixated upon the southern entrance—there were exits to the northeast and southeast, but no attention was spared for those. Atop each of the three heads was a thin golden circlet.
Back at the gaming table, Ellen had a clear recollection from nearly a year earlier of seeing a photograph of a cave that looked exactly like what Jojo had just described. She remembered that her sister had snatched the photo away, and had refused to answer any questions about where she had taken it, or why. Something had been crudely drawn onto the photograph with a black Sharpie—obviously, the monster their group was now facing.
Carry On circled slowly back in an even glide, before landing next to the group with a soft quartet of taps on the stone.
“It’s behind the treasure pile, mind controlled, circlets. Three circlets, I doubt I can get them all off,” she whispered so the group could hear. “If I take one off, it will likely fight itself to death.”
Midnight’s expression become one of horror, while the others seriously considered having Carry do so.
Burnished shook his head, producing a silver-colored circlet from his saddlebags. “I figured it was mind control from the lack of talking. If we can get one circlet off, and land this on one of the other heads, then our side might be able to win that battle, and the creature lives. So, which two heads should we aim for?” He looked over at Carry On.
“Dragon and Lion,” the empty spot in the air said. “Dragon with the silver circlet, lion with none.”
“...And hope the gorgon doesn’t turn us to stone before it’s defeated,” Torn Deck said, deadpan.
“I’m dropping these invisibly,” She reminded Torn, taking the circlet, and chuckling as it vanished from view. “And taking an item doesn’t cancel an invisibility spell unless that item is being wielded, according to the new rules.”
“Thank Celestia for rules lawyers,” Midnight said with a smirk.
“OK, good luck,” said Burnished. “Yell or something if you need us.”
“Otherwise, the experience’s all yours,” Torn grumbled.
“Oh, once you hear them make noise, start in. I might need help.”
Carry Took off with another small puff of air, and started off across the cavern in an arc to avoid the most alert head.
The beast continued staring dumbly at the entrance. The dragon head was elevated the most, so that was the one Carry On avoided.
The circlets on close examination didn’t look welded on the beasts, just resting on or around each head. For the gorgon head, there was the complication of the animal’s horns, which would have made it quite the chore to get the band off: slide it to one side, pull it up one horn, and then the other. Carry On had definitely made the right choice in not bothering with that head.
The red dragon head was flat on top, triangular when seen from above. There were a couple of spines, but they actually served to lift up the circlet a bit, which also rested against a couple of eye ridges. It made for a good target.
Finally, the lion head was fluffy from a full mane. The circlet wrapped inside the lion’s ears, which were both lifted into the air. The circlet rested atop the fluff.
Ever so carefully, Carry descended, until she hovered just over the dragon’s head, reaching out to slip the circlet up, and replace it gently with the silver one, before turning to head full speed for the lion, in the hopes that she could tear that one off before the dragon started reacting.
The dragon’s eyes started darting around suspiciously when the golden circlet was removed. Gaining the silver circlet caused the torso of the creature, the part derived from a dragon, to buck wildly. “Betrayed!” the head screamed out in draconic, a language that Carry On, Bumble, and Itty Bitty all knew. Burnished of course knew it—he knew all languages, after all—it was sort of his special talent. “Eggswife has betrayed me!”
The chaos caused by those wildly flapping wings made it impossible for Carry On to get in close.
Meanwhile, the other two heads were attempting to attack the dragon head. Of course, the gorgon head knew better than to try to petrify itself, and apparently its mind control had not included programming to “self-destruct” if something like this happened to it. The dragon head also possessed one significant advantage: unlike a lion or stone bull, a dragon actually had a neck. It used this to elevate itself, and to make swooping attacks on the rings on the other two heads.
Carry had to resist the urge to use this chance to do some damage, but rather waited for an opening to take the Lion’s circlet off, but it turned out she didn’t have to wait long, as the dragon succeeded in striking the lion head on the first blow, sending the golden band flying. This caused that particular head to stop fighting. However, it did nothing to assist the dragon head in fighting the gorgon head.
The gorgon head then tried to bite the dragon head, and missed, because dragon necks are just that awesome.
Carry, knowing an even fight when she saw one, turned and flew back toward the group, willing the magic to fall away so she could wave her companions down before they got to the creature. “Gorgon’s left! Dragon’s good! Plan first!” She barked out in quick gasps as she neared them and landed.
Burnished looked at Bumble. “I heard a mind-control circlet hit the ground. If you can get it for me, I can cast the spell to reverse its function, and then somepony gets to try and drop it on the gorgon’s head. Does that sound alright?”
Bumble winced. “They’re fighting each other, right? And the band’s far away, right?”
“Need invisibility? I’ve only got it once more. And we don’t need to get the one that dropped,” Midnight said, looking to Bumble as she took the circlet that Carry had grabbed and hoofed it off to Burnished. “That way we can get all three.”
Burnished immediately cast his custom spell upon the circlet he had been hoofed, causing it to slowly turn in color from gold to silver. “Carry, do you think you can come up with any rule as to the difference in behavior between no circlet and wearing an anti-MC circlet?”
A guttural cry was heard from the cave.
“Obey,” said Facet. “That was ‘obey’ in Hill Giant.”
“I...the lion without the band hasn’t bothered to attack. It might be...I hope that wasn’t it...” Carry groaned.
“Is Hill Giant the same language that Gorgons speak?” Midnight asked frantically.
“Gorgons are normally too stupid to speak,” said Burnished as he finished the spell. “But they are known to be owned as pets by hill giants. Perhaps the chimeric variety are smarter than average. So, no circlet means no action? Still better than attacking. I’m hoping that having both circlets on at the same time is the same as having no circlet, because I tried to work through the logistics, and I have no idea how to easily take a circlet off of a gorgon head.”
“I’ll go back in,” Carry said, standing again from where she had slumped. “I’ll put it on the gorgon. If the dragon is smart, and I sure hope it is, it might even figure out what I’m trying and help.”
“Thank you, Carry. Let’s do this.”
Sparkle cast the invisibility spell upon the thief, and then started walking slowly off toward the battle with the others as the pegasus flew ahead, silver band in hoof.
Inside the cave, the internecine battle had not ceased, and both the dragon and gorgon heads looked pretty battered. The lion head seemed to have a blank expression upon it.
The gorgon head was preparing for another attack, when its eyes locked on the slight shimmer of Carry On’s invisibility. The hind legs of the creature scrabbled against the stone, pushing the monster forward against the unresponding lion forequarters. The gorgon head opened its mouth, and a green gas enveloped the panicking pegasus.
Midnight screamed, hoof held out as she watched the invisible pegasus appear, patch by stony patch from the fog.
“NO!”
Midnight’s horn lit up like a purple beacon in the gloomy cave, the crystal ceiling and walls refracting it into a million hues of dusk as she grabbed the stone pegasus. Her invisibility flickered out, revealing the intense strain upon her face. Under the support of her magic, the falling pony slowed, but did not stop. A second later, Facet blindly poured her magic into Midnight—she couldn’t see well enough under the circumstances to take up the weight individually, so this was all she could do. With this contribution, the light got even brighter, like a star being born into the cave. Carry On came to rest on the stone floor, and Midnight crumpled forward into an unconscious heap, every bit of power spent, horn smoking with curling wisps of black char. Facet, coming into the spell late, was merely winded, but there was a good chance that she had just saved Midnight’s horn from shattering under the magical pressure.
Bumble raced forward, his eyes fixed on only one thing: the silver ring clutched in Carry On’s hock. He tugged on it gingerly, and was relieved to see it come free into his hooves, without causing any significant damage to the statue. He flew straight over the creature and hovered in place.
The dragon’s left wing settled over the gorgon’s head, preventing it from seeing to make another breath attack.
The others arrived in the room, but there was little that they could do to affect the battle at this point.
Bumble looked down desperately from his spot above the bucking creature. With the wing over the gorgon’s head, he had no chance...unless… “Break mind control!” Bumble screamed in draconic, as he dropped the ring onto the dragon head, leaving it with two.
The gorgon head snapped at the dragon wing within reach, forcing the dragon to withdraw it. The pointed tip of the wing then bent delicately back, and lifted the top anti-mind control ring into its sight. The ring was then slammed down onto the lion’s head.
With a roar, the lion parts of the monster came back to life.
“Help me!” the dragon head pleaded in Equine to his fellow head.
With a nod, the lion head joined the dragon one in staring at the gorgon head.
The gorgon bellowed in rage, attempting to attack both heads in turn. But its attacks quickly faded under the unrelenting stares of the other two. And then the dragon’s wing lifted the other anti-mind control ring from its head, and planted it upon the gorgon’s head.
The creature reeled for a moment, and then a trio of voices bellowed out in victorious Equine: “We are free!”
“Not all of us,” Bumble muttered as he fluttered down to the ground beside the stone pegasus and unconscious unicorn.
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Wow, just....
Just wow.
NOOO! Carry On!
This is Firebelle all over again... hopefully this time someone can do something! Maybe even the chimera if it is greatful!
Does anyone have the Improved Counterspell feat and a Transmutation school spell? If we have that we should presumably be able to counter the Flesh to Stone spell-like ability.
5269532 Not high enough level for that, Midnight had to ask for an exception to get Invisibility. I'm not going to say what level the group is at unless the author feels that it is worth revealing, but it's not high.
5270810 What level of spell is Flesh to Stone? So long as someone has the Improved Counterspell Feat which is available at Level 1 to anyone, even non-casters, and a Transmutation school spell at least one level higher than F2S they should be able to counter-spell it.
Improved Counterspell (Tome of Feats page 23)
Benefit: When counterspelling, instead of using the exact spell you are trying to counter, you may use a spell of the same school that is one or more levels higher than the target spell.
5271294 I am so sorry! I was rushing through things and somehow confused that feat with "greater dispel magic" a very silly mistake for me to make. We have already written the next few chapters, so you will have to wait to see how Midnight and the crew handle it!
5271294
What is this sorcery? I'm running this campaign strictly by 1st Edition rules, circa 1984. If it wasn't around when this old geezer was playing D&D, it doesn't play.
5272185 Ah, it's a 3.5 thing. Flesh to Stone's probably not a spell any of the PCs could even cast yet let alone have a higher level spell of the same school anyways.
So.. the interdimensional nexus thingy has a cavern that also exists in the human world? Wow, there are so many ways that could turn out badly.
More powerful spells and free complete heals every time Midnight communes with Celestia. Sooooo much cheating.
Hahaha, and even more.
Well, definitely a dragon (or something with "large reptilian eyes"). I suppose it might not be Firebelle, but that's definitely who I'm hoping for.
[with thing withquote]“Against their will…” Burnished said, rubbing his chin with one hoof.There we go, that was an important piece of information for the party.
I'm conflicted about Max's party. On one hand it's assuming to see it going badly for them, but they're still riding around in ponies that would probably like to not die given the choice.
Turns out that the boat really was pretty great.
Hmn. Not a bad plan with the circlets and the invisibility...
Crap. But hey, at least they caught Carry before she shattered on the ground.
5273003 Oooo, good catch.
5277142
Note for those reading "Max's party" in this comment and getting confused--I changed it to "Griffon's party" after deciding that that would be funnier.
Ha!