Throw wandered into the pitch-black tunnel with interest. "Actually, I think this will work just fine." He took a big breath and yelled "AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!" into the tunnel to see if he would get a reaction. After the terrible shriek died down, not a single sound was heard. He turned back towards the other ponies. "Eeyup, it's fine. Let's start making camp now. Besides, if there were more viable places in this hole, they would be much too far in to be effective."
Shield's ears stopped ringing. Eventually. "You know," he whined, rubbing his ears, "You could have warned me you were going to do that!" He looked down into the darkened depths of the cave worriedly, to make sure nothing was coming.
"Hey I'm LoveStar nice to meet you. And yep I'm the other agent." Lovestar said with a little friendly laugh at the end.
"Nice to meet you, M'Lady. I had information concerning a manor, so, should we try to find it first, or would you prefer to find some hotel for the night, in case we couldn't stay at the manor for the night?"
Spoiler: Perception Checks (Down the Tunnel) Silver Shield = 38 Throw Down = 37 Arc Gust = 94 Firebolt = 20 Arc Gust, of all ponies, hears a faint bubbling sound in the distance of the tunnel, (once the shouting died down.) Almost like an alchemical solvant over a flame. It's faint, so it's not close, and it's not getting nearer, but the sound itself is strange for an old cavern.
Not seeing anything dangerous, Silver calmed down a little. "Well," he said, yawning, "I am really tired. I don't know about all of you, but I'm going to sleep..." Silver made himself as comfortable as he could on the hard rock floor of the cave, and fell asleep, his exhaustion overcoming him.
Arc's ear perk up, eyes flickering down into the darkness of the cave. He waves a hoof at Shield. "Shhh...Sleep isn't a good idea right now..." He takes his eyes off the black to poke Shield. "Hey! Boy-scout! You got all night for that. Do you hear that?" Arc moves lightly towards the dark, passing ever deeper into the vale of the cave's bowel. He could hear the soft bubbling increase. He could only imagine it to be...well, actually...What would be underground and simmering away to itself? Stray cooks? "Anyone got a light?"
-Group 1- Emerald stopped and turned toward Perfect Melody. "Alright. Sounds good. Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Silver groaned. "Uuuhhhnnnnh...too late... I'm already asleep..." Poke. Poke. Poke. PO-- "OKAY!! Fine! I'll get up!" He got to his feet, grumbling, and cast a light spell.
Spoiler: Casting Check 38+18=56 (Success) Silver Shield's spell illuminates the area around his horn. A dim light is cast upon the walls of the room, and a low light glows to reveal a curving cavern tunnel.
Silver, still grumbling and complaining, trotted briskly into the depths of the cave. "Let's get this over with, then..."
"Am I sure? I'm sorry but have we met?!" She chuckled to hide her insecurity. "Of course. Funny story... I'll tell you it after the mission is done..." She nodded. "Whenever everypony is ready I shall distract the guard, by singing. As soon as I begin to sing you guys sneak in. Then Zephyr will help me in." She nodded.
"Hmm, I guess finding a hotel would be nice because being prepared is good." Lovestar said after thinking about it
Masquerade smiled. ''That's what i tought. Infortunatly, i've never came here before... I guess the hotel should be on the main street?''
Group One Although rusty, the gears inside of Zephyr's mind began to move, and as they began to move, they picked up momentum. 'Creating a distraction wouldn't be a good idea, no of course not, they'd be on alert almost immediately after. Killing off a few guards is out of the question as well as it would only yield a similar effect, unless one were to provoke you, then it'd be crazy not to slap him around. How could we go about this? Hmm...' His mind began to move a mile a minute as his eyes followed suit; darting quickly left and right as he envisioned different scenarios and outcomes. '...We could try the front door, though we'd have to go in at -just- the right time; not a second too soon, not a second too late. No, wait, that's ridiculous, that would never work. Such timing can only be done by a professional and as far as I know there's nobody here that fits that description, the front door is out of the question.' He continued to plot out every advance, every advantage, every angle, every possibility. His instinct as a rogue began to kick in and suddenly, the idea perfect idea came to him. "Wait, stop." He piped up. "I have a better idea."
"Thanks Boy-Scout, real appreciated." Arc said over his shoulder as he canters towards the noise. "Good to make sure the caves empty, right?"
"Yeah, I guess it would be best to be absolutely certain about the cave's lack of inhabitants," Silver admitted. After a while, Silver heard the noise too. It really was a bizarre noise to be coming from the inside of a cave; Shield tried to remember if he had heard a sound like this before.
As Throw followed the others down the tunnel, he began hearing the noise too. 'How did I miss that?' he thought to himself. "Be careful," he warned them. "If there's something hostile in there, you may want to keep your guards up."
Emerald fluttered her wings, somewhat impatiently. She really hoped that the majority of th emisson wouldn't be like this, bickering about whose ideas were better. I could be hunting for the Ghost Tulip right now... "Okay, Zeph. Let's hear yours," she replied, doing her level best to hide any irritation.
Zephyr brought a hoof to his chin and stuck his tongue out as he finalized the plan in his mind. "Well, what I was thinking was instead of creating a distraction of any sort which might attract unwanted attention to ourselves, we should move any sort of aggro among the guards. This wouldn't be hard either, really. All I'd have to do is sneak in, swipe something valuable looking, and plant it on somebody else and our distraction should create itself. Hell, even if I get caught, I have plenty of experience outrunning those sort of situations. That way there'd be a distraction either way!"
