Emerald snickered. "In plain sight? Wouldn't it be funny if there were signs leading to it? Like Come one, Come all, Come to the Blackwash Family Crypt! Find chills and spills and some nifty treasure! Are you brave enough? ARE YOU?!" As she trotted toward the door, she said, "But it's probably not like that at all... Is there a cemetary in town?"
The bartender, who had been quite quiet thus far, spoke up in a prominent manner as soon as Emerald's question came out. "The Western side of town. Just inside of the central city's walls. Just be cautious... guards have been a bit jumpy lately..."
Perfect Melody continued to chuckle. "I guess its your time to shine, Zephyrus, after all you have shown us you can sneak around. I have a plan. If nopony else has one I'll share it though..." She got worried. Her plan was an all or nothing plan. Nothing being failure.
Throw kept his comments to himself about the unicorn. Admittedly, he was a little tired himself, not being used to the terrain. "If we're to stop, we need a good spot to make a camp." He said bluntly. "I don't know where we could find any clearing in this Celestia-forsaken place, so we'd best do with a grove of trees. Although I may be wrong. If anypony else has any ideas, feel free to share them."
"I'll admit, I don't know much about survival and such," said Silver, catching his breath. "But perhaps we could find a cave? If there is one in this area, we could stay the night there, although we should be very careful and check it for dangerous monsters first. And if we can't easily find a cave, then...hmm..." He paused to think. "Perhaps we could just set up camp wherever. Anyhow, one thing I do know is that we need to have a guard shift throughout the night. If a pack of timber wolves or something equally dangerous finds us, we'll be hard pressed to survive even if we are awake, so we definitely need to do that. I'll take any time of the night you guys don't want," he said, yawning even as he volunteered.
Zephyr smiled sheepishly at Perfect Melody and scratched his head in humility. "Erm, hehe, it may not seem like it, but I'm not the best at sneaking haha." he chuckled nervously as he looked over toward the western part of town in hopes of seeing his goal. "Though I'm the best suited for the job or I wouldn't be here, right? I'll give it a shot, at the very least I can provide a suitable distraction, but enough about that for now..." he clapped his hooves together "What's this plan of yours?"
Arc wonders past Throw, looking around. He still seemed relatively full of energy as he saunters past. "A cave sounds reasonable but couldn't you put up a spell or something like a good boy-scout should? The guard duty is cute but magic would be better, right?" Arc trots on the spot, before dashing towards a nearby tree. His hooves scrape him up the side of it for a short while before he kicks of backwards onto a low branch. He catches it in his forlegs, swinging from it before lifting a leg up to clamber on top. From there, he hops up to another branch, out of sight behind the leaves. His head pops out of the canopy, scouting out for potential resting spots.
Silver's eye twitched slightly at the "Boy Scout" remark and the condescending attitude, but he let it pass. "Hmmm...well, I guess I could cast shields around us... I don't know if they would last through the night, but I could try." His eyes became slightly unfocused, a strange quirk of his that, although it looked strange (he'd been told so enough times, anyways), meant he was concentrating hard. He cast the spell for a Frost Shield around Arc. (and now Eight Star does his dice roll thingy. Right? :derpe: I don't know.)
Spoiler: Arc Gust Search Check Roll = 88 + Perception (8) = 96 Arc Gust spots a separation in the growth around the side of a cliff face that reveals the tell-tale signs of a cavern opening. Spoiler: Silver's Frost Shield Cast -4 MP Roll = 49 + 18 (Magic) = 67, Target 60 (Success) Silver Shield succeeds in casting, as his horn lights up with a mix of white and cyan, and suddenly Arc feels a shell of ice around his body. It's strangely not as cold as he thought it would be.
Throw scoffed at the cold shield around their new cave. "A cave is cold enough, shouldn't we have a normal shield?" He said. Sighing. He wandered into the cave and saw that it went pretty far back. "We should really check of anything's living here before we use it. I've had some pretty bad experiences with not double checking stuff. If anypony has a light source, now is the time to use it. If we got nothing, we can use that horn of yours, Silver."
(Close enough...) Spoiler: Checking for Trouble Roll 24+8=32 Throw Down doesn't see any signs of immediate danger. Nor does he notice any light sources.
(Can I use my horn for a light source? It seems to be a basic unicorn skill along with levitating...)
(Trying to keep OOC and answers in the Discussion thread.) Meanwhile... Group 3 Masquerade, while elusive, wouldn't have been able to slip by society as often as he has in his quest for vengence if it weren't for Eight Star. The money earned, and the payments sent to his "behind the scenes" employer have been fully worth it to get away with some of the things he's been known to pull off. However, now and then... a letter would arrive. A request, as one may have it. This time, the letter was hanging by a tree, sealed in an envelope with the order's emblem; an eight-pointed star; depicted right on the front. "Agent Masquerade, The day has come when I have need of your services again. In Trottenheim there is a manor that I require. The new occupants of the residence have no idea what they're sitting on top of! Your mission is to go there, and work with another agent named LoveStar, who should recognize you by the mask, and together find a way to obtain the deed of rights. Persuasion is the preferred method, but since the Order's coffers are low, we can't offer them any more than a measly 1,000 bits. If you must use other methods... then I look forward to your report. The manor is the largest and oldest building in Trottenheim, situated not far West from an old and well-guarded cavern entrance. It has eight bedrooms in it, and can be much more valuable than gold. Once you obtain it, stay there. Do not venture to the basement. My agent Marshmallow Cream shall bring you both further orders. ~Eight Star LoveStar is a relatively newer agent. However, since she's joined, she has been sent back to PonyVille, mostly to scout. However, the ponies that remembered her were only meeting her qith riticule. She was close to returning when Agent Doo delivered a letter for her. "Good Afternoon LoveStar, I hope your day is going well so far. While I would love to come out and talk to you personally, this urgent matter requires immediate attention, and I am still occupied. So, I have a request for you. Please travel to Trottenheim, a not too far away town in the mountains. You should be able to get directions there. In Trottenheim, wait for a pegasus agent of mine to show up. He will be wearing a strange mask. Introduce yourself, and then work with him to obtain the Trottenheim Manor Deed of Rights to the property. I'm not incredibly concerned with the methods used, but please be careful. The acquisition of the manor is incredibly important, but I stress that I do still want you to survive through getting it. Do not get caught, and do not mention the order to anyone outside of the order. After the two of you acquire the manor, feel free to stay there and await the arrival of Agent Marshmallow Cream. She will take a verbal report from both of you, and then give you further orders. Looking forward to your success, Eight Star -------- Trottenheim The village of Trottenheim is not much more than a few farms and houses. There is one standing cavern entrance in the face of the mountainside with a rather disgruntled-looking Equestrian Guard in front of it, and one house that stands out from the rest as the largest. Dispite its small size, children are out and playing, and the market area is fairly active for mid-day. It's not long after arrival that LoveStar is able to spot Masquerade on his way in. After all... he is the only pony in a mask.
(Sorry about that, will do) Silver watched his shield form around Arc with a twinge of pride. However, he had doubts about whether it would be efficient to shield them all at this point, and he voiced those doubts. "Should I shield everypony here? If we have a cave, we only have to guard it from one direction if it's empty...wouldn't that be better?"
The frost covers the leaves and most of Arc's slicked back mane. He shakes the crystals free before ducking back into the canopy, the vapour of his breath following him down like chimney smoke. Arc leaps from one of the lower branches towards the group. He lands just before them, tucking his head in for the landing as he impacts the ground. He rolls on his back before catching his movement by standing straight up onto his hooves and cantering to a stop. He follows the others into the cave, looking around the shady stone crack in the ground. "I guess the ice thing'll keep out most of the animals from the outside. We've been pretty lucky to find a cave that looks to be empty too. I think your pullin' your weight just fine, boy-scout." Arc said, shooting Shield an approving smirk as he walks around, inspecting the walls. "Now, I think all we need now is a fire. Wood and a little magic and we'll be set for the night, right?" Arc wonders outside, looking around the forest for dry timbre. "It's pretty lucky we haven't been attacked by anything in here. Ponies don't come in this place for a reason, you know."
Silver once again ignored Arc's nicname for him. He told himself he would get used to it eventually. "Careful," he said. "Speak of Nightmare, and she doth appear." He began gathering small twigs and leaves from the surrounding area to start the fire with.
Group 2 Not far into the cavern was a nice opening which could make for a good resting spot, only slightly cramped for three stallions, a mare, and a place for a fire near the entrance. There is, however, a foreboding darkness beyond the room deeper in that the minor light of the moon and stars doesn't illuminate at all. Even after visual adjustment, it's rather hard to see further than this entrance area.
Silver was feeling a little nervous; he'd heard (well...actually read) stories about ponies entering caves that looked empty, but the cave went back further than they could see, and there really was a dangerous creature living in it.. There still might be something further back in this cave, too. "Uhm...perhaps we should explore the rest of this cave before we make the decision to reside here for the remainder of the night?"
"Ok... Heres my Plan... I will distract the guards, meanwhile zephyr you find the other agents a way into the Crypt. Once you have I will ask you to then sneak out and meet my around the corner. If my distraction only angers the guards I shall flee and meet you inside there later... How does it sound?" She sighed. As if she had'nt had to run from those angry before.
Masquerade saw LoveStar coming by, and smiled. ''Hi. You must be the other agent. Name's Masquerade'', he said, with a small reverance.
