Pathfinder Ponies

by terrycloth

Smuggler's Run

After Twilight’s dramatic rescue, the party fled the scene and regrouped back at Pie Manor. Although the enemy was already on high alert, when they’d planned for having a little more time before the kidnapping was noticed, the mission was more or less a success. They had the leader of the Residential District as a prisoner, in a sealed bucket.

They did not have the druid Wildfire. He hadn’t survived the rescue by Air Elemental, and the ooze that had spawned from his corpse had immediately fled for the sewers.

“It’s been a while since he moved,” Rainbow Dash said, poking at the bucket. “You did remember to leave air holes, right?”

“If there were air holes, he’d escape through them,” Twilight said, while Fluttershy worked on healing her fire and acid burns. “So no, no air holes.”

“This is obviously an attack from the plane of elemental mud,” Rarity said. “Just like what’s happening in Rally is an attack from the plane of elemental smoke. No doubt the Drow’s problems are another para-elemental incursion.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her askance. “Uh… what?”

“Elementals don’t breathe,” Rarity explained. “Really, darling, everypony knows that.”

The griffon rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but what about oozes? Do they breathe?”

“They aren’t really oozes, they’re mud elementals. Or a sort of mud elemental,” Twilight said. “At least, that’s Rarity’s theory. If we open the bucket and the ooze inside has kicked it, we’ll know she was wrong.”

“So what’s the plan?” Applejack asked. “We let it out into a bathtub, and threaten to whoop its butt some more unless it spills the beans?”

“I was thinking of something more traditional,” Rarity said. “We trap it in a magic circle, and bind it like any other extraplanar creature. If it came through one of Rendrax’s portals – and since the smoke creatures in Rally were using them, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to guess that the mud creatures here might be – then placing it inside an inward-facing circle should trap it as if it was called. Then, we negotiate.” She smiled.

“You’ve got some mighty leaps o’ logic goin’ on there,” Applejack said.

“I agree,” Twilight said. “So we need to be ready to keep it from escaping in case the circle is ineffective. The oozes can squeeze through small openings, but they can’t fly – a deep, watertight pit should be sufficient to hold one.”

“I also need to learn the Magic Circle spell,” Rarity added. “I don’t dare do it here in the city – I’ll need hours in a magical library to scribe it into my book, and the risk of discovery is too great. I’m afraid that we’ll need to visit,” she gave a dramatic sigh, “Kazakh Thul.”

“Who?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The necromancer,” Rarity replied. “I was hoping to avoid seeing him, since I still need to pay him back for Sparky. We had an… arrangement, but perhaps he’ll take gold instead, considering the current situation.”

“You mean, being a rotting corpse?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know, you know what they say – you can’t spell ‘Necromancy’ without ‘Romance’.”

“No, Rainbow Dash, that is not what I meant, and that was not our arrangement,” Rarity hissed.

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Maybe you should just say what the darnfool arrangement was, instead of dancing all around it and encouraging her?”

“Well…” Rarity said, hesitating, then began, “he was lonely…”

Rainbow Dash sniggered.

“I promised to spend some time with him after we investigated the mine, to keep him company. We would study magic together, and I would help him defend the Gorge.”

“You indentured yourself,” Twilight said.

“Nothing so formal,” Rarity replied.

Twilight was quiet for a bit. “We could try to recruit his help against the cult. They’re anti-undead, so he’ll be on their hit-list sooner or later. Or,” she said, “we could buy a scroll for you to scribe from, right here in the city. Wasting a few hundred gold might be worth it just to avoid the hassle.”

“I kinda like the idea of being out of the city,” Applejack said. “Taking one of their leaders? That’s a sorta big deal. They might not stop sniffin’ around until they get wind of us.”

“If we keep running away every time the guards are after us, we’re going to run out of cities,” Pinkie Pie said.

“We’ll be back,” Applejack said. “I’m not givin’ up on Bright Valley or nothing, I just think maybe it’s time to lie low.”

“We’re already lying low,” Twilight said.

“We are? Because we just attacked the cult’s headquarters in broad daylight,” Pinkie Pie pointed out. “Maybe we’re doing it wrong.”

After the brutal attack on the Hall of Records that left more than 20 innocent civil servants dead, the city of Bright Valley was on lock-down until the anarchists responsible could be found. That meant a curfew, of course, and that the gate was closed to outgoing traffic.

Applejack knew of a secret-ish way out of the city – a smuggling tunnel that she’d used before. It was large enough for the cart, and far enough from anything important that the guards wouldn’t be able to reinforce it quickly, if it turned out to be guarded.

“Still, we should put up our spells and stuff before we go in. Maybe let out the dragons, too,” Applejack said. “Depends on where they set up the guards if we’ll have a chance, though.”

“Maybe we can just, I don’t know, steal a boat?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “This seems like it’s only a little bit better than attacking the gate.”

“Maybe, but I never did much with the water-smuggler-types,” Applejack said.

“Well, I used to work the docks,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Do you think you could find us a boat? That we could sail off with without anypony noticing?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, and closed it, then grinned. “Yeah, suuuure. It’ll be easy.”

Twilight stared at her.

Rainbow Dash started to twitch a bit. “You just need to, um, go to the dock… thing… and find the –“

“She’s lying,” Fluttershy said. “And she’s not very good at it.”

“Hey, I’m a great liar!” Rainbow said. “I mean, normally. Let me try again!”

“So. Smuggling tunnel,” Twilight said, turning back to Applejack.

“Just follow along close,” Applejack said. “There’s one not far from here.”

“I really could find us a boat,” Rainbow Dash said. “I know some guys who did it a few times, and they used to tell stories. Really detailed stories.”

“That’s a bit better,” Fluttershy said, smiling at her. “If you keep practicing, I’m sure you’ll manage it someday.”

The smuggling tunnel Applejack led them to was inside the Mansion district, which meant they didn’t need to pass any guard checkpoints to get to it, and that there weren’t many passersby to notice them sneaking into a small alcove seemingly created by accident between the city wall and the wall of one of the estates. As promised, it was just barely large enough to fit a wagon, and after passing through an illusionary wall, and heading down a spiraling ramp, they found themselves in a wide underground tunnel that seemed to have begun life as a natural cavern.

That would have been a good place to cast defensive spells, if anypony in the party had any left. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were completely out, aside from an extract of Beast Shape for Rainbow Dash. Rarity did unpack her dragons to give them a bit more muscle, so to speak. Fluttershy had a single Barkskin left to cast – although she could have sacrificed more powerful spells to cast a few more – and she gave it to Twilight.

Fluttershy also spent a few minutes talking to some rats. Aside from the occasional fey or humanoid using the tunnel, they’d also seen some large oozes moving through the area, and had hidden to avoid being devoured.

Fluttershy glanced around at the many dark corners and crevices of the walls, shadowed from the party’s faint light sources. “I think that means that giant oozes are going to come out of the walls and try to eat us,” she said.

“It seems likely,” Twilight said. “But we’ve beaten them before. Let’s go.”

They hadn’t gotten far before, just as expected, a pair of huge blue ooze monsters emerged from the walls. Somehow, it still came as a surprise to everypony but Surprise, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The rogues flung ranged attacks at the creatures, but didn’t score any solid hits. Rainbow Dash set her feet and roared, sound and lightning crackling from her beak to wash over the pair.

In return, the monstrous creatures splashed oozy tentacles of blue mud at Twilight and Rainbow Dash, battering both and trying to stick them to the ground. Both were able to pull themselves free before the mud hardened, but it was no easy task.

Rainbow Dash hopped a little closer, and roared at them again, spreading her wings in an intimidating display of noise and lightning. It seemed to have some effect on the creatures, although their fluid bodies made doing physical damage a daunting task.

While Macintosh unhooked himself from the cart, Fluttershy glowered angrily at one of the oozes, which staggered back a bit from the impact. Applejack sprung forwards, trying to poke it in a vulnerable place, only to find that it didn’t actually have any vulnerable places. “Oh, for pony’s sake.” She fluttered back towards Pinkie Pie. “I’m gonna need some fire.”

Pinkie Pie tossed a bomb, which showered flaming liquid over the attacking creatures, then opened a flap on her bandolier and passed a vial of alchemist’s fire. “It’s gonna take a lot of fire to bring down something that big. But that’s okay, I’ve got lots of fire!”

The oozes rolled towards Twilight and Rainbow Dash, slamming at them with multiple tentacles. Twilight managed to dodge one, and splash the other to the side with her shield, but Rainbow Dash was hit, although again she managed to pull herself loose, somewhat worse for wear.

Rarity’s eyes flashed black as she glowered at the less wounded ooze, and it writhed as the black energy engulfed it. She cackled as she continued to hold her gaze. “Yes, be cursed, fool!”

Meanwhile, her dragons flowed forwards to attack, positioning themselves above the oozes. Garble was swatted out of the sky and glued to a wall, out of reach of the ooze, and started to chew itself free. The others moved in and attacked, mostly ineffectually, their skeletal teeth slipping uselessly through the oozy material.

Twilight didn’t fare much better, unable to find a spot firm enough to hit with her hammer.

Rainbow Dash screeched loudly, figuring out how to deal with the creatures’ liquid form. She dove right at the one she’d been advancing on, twisting around in midair into a confusing spiral. The ooze dodged her claws, but each of her wings swept through the mud, scooping out large chunks of its substance and splattering them against the ground. The creature did not seem amused.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie showered the other ooze with flames, while Fluttershy gave it another concussive stare, and it slumped to the ground, unmoving. Rainbow’s ooze slipped on the greasy residue the bomb left on the ground underneath it, but managed to re-stabilize itself enough to fling a tentacle her way, although it was easily dodged.

Rarity’s dragons focused on the remaining conscious ooze, following Rainbow’s example and flinging away pieces of its substance, and Twilight managed to get a solid hit with her hammer, grinning as the creature reeled. The fight hadn’t quite gone out of it, but it was getting close.

Then a black-furred purrsian emerged from the shadows, and planted a dagger in Pinkie Pie’s spine. Pinkie’s eyes went wide in shock, as her heart momentarily stopped – then she twisted away from the strike to face her attacker, still clinging to life.

“A shame,” the assassin said, flicking her tongue out to lick up a bit of the blood on her blade. “That should have killed you.”

While Rainbow Dash finished off the second ooze, Fluttershy and Macintosh turned to face them. “Stop!” Fluttershy ordered her, and the assassin’s eyes widened as she found herself momentarily unable to move, as Macintosh’s lance shattered her shoulder and left a wide gash down her ribcage. Applejack tried to take advantage of her lapse as well, but the assassin cat wasn’t helpless, and twisted just right to keep her from hitting anything vital.

Pinkie Pie took a bomb in her teeth, and smashed it over the assassin’s head. “No. Bad kitty!” she said, as the purrsian’s fur started to burn, while she just stood there. With the oozes down, Rarity ordered her dragons to join in as well, and Sparky II bit down on one of the assassin’s wings, lifting her up off the ground just in time for Twilight to smash her hammer into her belly, hard enough to burst through her abdomen and shatter her spine.

The bottom half of the would-be assassin slumped to the ground in a messy pile of organs, while the top half twitched for a few seconds, before going still, at which point the skeletal dragon dropped it back onto the heap.

“Assassins are so stupid,” Surprise said. “If she hadn’t spent so long trying to get one kill, she could have been picking away at us the whole time.”

“Wouldn’t’a made any difference,” Applejack said. “Where was she gonna stand to flank, in the middle of the whole party? Gettin’ one hit in and turning tail was the right choice, ‘though she really needed to do it before her oozy friends went down.”

The party started healing up with wands, while Applejack and Rarity liberated the assassin of her equipment, when Pinkie Pie asked, “Shouldn’t she be getting up by now?”

“Huh,” Applejack said. “You’re right, she should be. But look at this armor – it’s real mithril, not that blue metal. Maybe she wasn’t one of them?”

“Mm,” Rarity said. “She’s wearing one of their amulets.”

“But not transforming,” Twilight said. “This is good. It must take more exposure than just one of their mass-produced amulets to actually transform their victim.”

“Or she’s just a really new recruit,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Or that,” Twilight said. “At any rate, it gives us hope for the rest of the city. Giving a Remove Disease to everypony would take years.”

The two giant mud creatures, and their assassin, appeared to be the only guards on the smuggler’s tunnel, and the party was able to return to the surface in a small copse of trees a half mile from the city walls. The sun was setting, and there were still many miles to go to get to Crossroads.

“We need to move on,” Twilight said. “Harmony has to know where this tunnel lets out.”

“Push on all night?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head, tiredly. “No, just until we can find someplace secluded for Fluttershy to set up a grove. There’s little bits of forest all over the place, and I doubt they’ll search them all.”

“Right,” Pinkie Pie said. “They only have a few hundred guards, maybe a thousand or two, and we only kidnapped one of the ten most important people in the city. We’ve got nothing to worry about!”

“Fine!” Twilight said. “We can push on until Macintosh passes out.”

“It’s not that bad. We spent most of the day sitting around,” Rarity said. “Not that bad for you living creatures, I mean. The undead are tireless, of course.”

“I’ll manage,” Twilight growled.

“It’s still not too late to join us,” Rarity said, trotting along cheerfully. “It’s never too late to join us. Sooner or later, everypony will join us. Why fight so hard to put off the inevitable?”

“Because you’ve become an insane, malicious creature, who only just barely manages to keep control of herself enough not to feast on our entrails,” Twilight replied. “Because knowing that giving in to corruption and filth would make me enjoy being corrupted and filthy does not stop me from being horrified at the thought of losing myself that way. Because I want to live through this, and go back to a world that isn’t sinking into darkness, where death means being embraced by your goddess, perhaps to one day live again.”

Rarity laughed. “In other words, darling, you’re afraid of change.”

“She’s afraid of changing into a monster,” Fluttershy said. “You should be afraid of that, too.”

“Mmm, sorry, dear,” Rarity said. “Fear isn’t part of my repertoire anymore.”

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, they certainly managed to do it in under twelve parsecs.

Mud elementals, huh? That's even more interesting than oozes. It's not just some kind of gestalt consciousness, the individual blobs are intelligent as well.
... Okay, yes, that was fairly evident when the things started retreating.

As for that assassin... well, maybe it might have been a good idea to try to interrogate her? Eh, it only seemed that way after the fact, and the party was in a hurry. They already have one prisoner; that's pretty much the maximum PCs can be trusted with. And this one comes with a convenient carrying case!

[albedoequals1]

Rainbow’s ooze slipped on the greasy residue the bomb left on the ground underneath it

How can an ooze slip? Do they even have a right way up?

[terrycloth]

5801293 They can't interrogate her because Fluttershy still doesn't know speak with dead?

5801992 Neither oozes nor elementals that look like oozes are immune to the floor being greased, as far as I can tell. It looks like oozes *are* immune to being tripped, but for some reason they put that note under 'making a trip attack' and not under 'things oozes are immune to'.