(Lol, thanks Zeph, yeah I'm a -insert multiple things here- Nazi, so...if he hadn't gotten after you Snow, I probably would have. xD) Winter lights up the area with his magic, casting an eerie glow over the scene. However, the forest is fairly thick, as you are only in a small clearing (small as in three meters in diameter), the forest outside the clearing is only dim (-1 perception) instead of dark (-2 perception). The glow reveals the pony to everypony in the correct line of sight (i.e. everypony currently in the forest), and the blood can now be clearly seen by everyone except for Cloud Kicker, who has only just begun to examine the figure. The pony, whose facial features are still hidden by the cloak, pauses at Illudo's words. He then said, "Oh, oh thank Celestia. I thought you were one of those...ponies." He didn't bother to elaborate, as he seemed to be catching his breath. He looked behind him, but did not apparently see anything. He turned his head back to the group. "You're a bit...late to save anypony but me. They've already...killed most of them. But you can still...still save Ponyville." He continued to breathe heavily.
"Killed? You meant here are ponies in there murdering the missing citizens?" He walks over to the escapee and places a hoof on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. Having a panicked pony would only degrade the situation. He began to speak in a soft tone. "I realize you've just been through a lot, but would you mind starting from the beginning? If we're to do our job we need to find the source." Illudo looked back at the group. "Does anybody know first aid?"
(Oops, the Nazi has been Nazi-ed, lol) The pony looked at Illudo. "Yes, well, um, I don't really know all that much. I'm a botanist, you see, and I was collecting some Hellebore at the edge lf the forest when I was knocked out from behind. When I came to, I was tied up and lying on the ground at the edge of a clearing. There were several ponies in cloaks, just like this one, chanting around a big stone block with a pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony tied to it. They...ugh..." He stopped talking for a minute, holding his hooves to his mouth. After a few seconds, he removed his hood, revealing a horn. He recovered, and continued. "They were......killed. With a knife, and I felt this horrible energy...that's the only way to describe it. I used my horn to cut through the ropes, since nopony was watching me, and tried to escape. I ran into another of the ponies somewhere or another...it's all kind of a blur. I don't know if I killed him...but I cut him up pretty bad." He looked at the confused faces around him, and explained: "No, I literally ran into him. With my horn." He gestured to the tear in the cloak. "That's where this came from. I took his cloak, thinking that maybe it would help me escape easier, and I was right. I didn't run into anypony else...well, until I met you guys." In response to Illudo's call for first aid, he shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm not hurt." "I did see several more stones like the other one, and there were a LOT of freaks in sheets." He held up his cloak as an example of this. "Are you guys sure you wanna go in there?"
"Most certainly. Do you happen to know where it is, or at the very least a vague clue of it?" Illudo paused and thought for a moment. "Do you need that cloak, it may serve us well in the future."
(( Sorry about being late I just got this game and I really wanted to play it )) Ore was looking at the pony and the conversion going on still he could do nothing to help all he did was walk closer to the pony but he was still behind the group. If they were to fight in the Forrest it would be pretty bad for him and it was way to dark to see anything to even fight he sighed and co tinned to watch.
Fireheart walking towards illudo catched a glimpse at a non-pony looking beast "did you see that I just saw another outline... It looked unpony"
(That's fine, the RP has shot forward to 5 pages in one day. I couldn't reasonably expect anyone to be able to keep up with that. Um, Cobra...first, the pony said he wasn't wounded, and second, um, could you give me a chance to test your stats to determine whether you see anything, and if you do, exactly what you see? Thanks, I would like to maintain some level of control over the story here...)
Hunt put his rifle back on his belts and straps, and approached the botanist. "There's something wrong about that story. It ain't that i don't trust you, but what about my version: You're one of those ponies, and you're trying to fool us? Maybe you've been attacked by an escaped prisonner, and you've healed yourself with plants and herbs, since you're a botanist?"
Illudo shook his head. "That's nearly impossible. In order for that to transpire the group would need to be informed of our presence, and we weren't even aware of our task until an hour ago. Judging by what he's said, and what we already know, the group we're after wouldn't need to resort to such gambits to catch their prey. Hell, it probably wouldn't work either. Just think back a few moments ago, you were about to shoot him and you had no clue who he was. It's rather difficult to catch a target when you've got a bullet in you. The smile he used to reassure the Botanist faded from his face and he glared at Hunt. "We're here to do a job and none of us wants to be here, but while we're here we may as well do a quality job so we're not pulled back by our leashes. I won't have you trying to start a fight whenever possible and end up screwing everything up, a little finesse will do you a little good. Now if you can get that through your thick head, we may be able to accomplish our tasks with minimal collateral. Got it?"
The botanist tossed the cloak at Illudo's hooves. "Take it. I don't want anything to do with those sick ponies, and certainly not anything covered in somepony else's blood. I don't see how you could use it unless only one of you went in, but I don't need it." He gave a nervous smile as Illudo began to verbally hack away at Hunt. He didn't know much when it came to stuff like this, but he knew you didn't needle the guy with a gun. "Um, I hate to leave you guys...maybe I can give you some Hellebore root? Apparently those nuts weren't interested in my saddlebag, they just wanted to kill me outright, so I've still got what I collected earlier..." He gave his saddlebag to Illudo, then began edging towards the safety of the village. "If you take it, it calms you down. Oh, and if you really want to go find them, they were...uhhh...that way, I think." He pointed deeper into the forest. "Just so you know." He waved his hoof and wished them luck, then disappeared through the thick foliage, headed to Ponyville. Spoiler: Illudo Aquires: Hellebore Root "It'll calm you down." None of the party is enough of an expert to know if it'll actually do that, though.
Grey Mane crept out of the shadows towards her team. "Lead the way..." She didn't care who did. She would just follow behind, on guard, in the shadows.
Spoiler: Situation Your options are: Go north, which seems to have the least foliage and is also the direction in which the main path into the forest lies. Go south, down to the river that flows through ponyville and into the everfree forest, and follow that. Go west, the direction in which the botanist pointed you. There is no specific path visible. Lucky Clover is still at the edge of the forest.
"Alright, we know where to go, let's get moving." Firebreeze said looking in the direction of where the previously hooded pony pointed.
Hunt sighed. ''You're right, Illudo. Now that i think about it, he was too scared to be one of them. Theses monster ponies must be pityless and cruel to kidnapp innocent ponies. The only question is, what are they doing to them? Do they simply kill them? Anyways, let's go deeper. The answer must be out there. I hope we could save some victims. Does somepony know healing spells?''
(Sorry about falling so far behind. My state's largest scifi convention is happening this weekend, and George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame is the main Guest of Honor. So it's going to be a pretty hectic weekend and I'll post when I can, but I'll be able to start posting most frequently starting Tuesday. Just so everypony knows.) Hearing some of the group talking deeper in the forest, he attempted to make out what was going on. Moments later, as the excitement died down and a new pony emerges from the forest line, does he realize he's been left alone. He nods to the new pony, assuming the group ran into him, and comments, "I hope the others didn't give you too much trouble. May you find safety here in Ponyville. Hopefully we'll be able to work more cohesively along our journey of taking care of the murderous creatures in the Everfree." (I can cut most of this if you aren't having the pony make it the rest of the way to Ponyville). He quickly trots up to the rest of the group, hoping for a plan of action. He quickly surveys the surroundings around them before chipping in his advice. With a cough to get the others attention, he remarks, "If we go to the north, it looks like it follows a similar route as the main path into the forest. The advantages I can see is that if anything tries to attack us, there is less foliage for them to stake an ambush. If we follow along the river, it's likely we will run into some form of life or other lost ponies, and won't have to worry about water if the journey ahead of us is longer than we expect. If we just bush whack our way through the Everfree, that could either give us better cover or make us more vulnerable depending on how well the creatures we're after know the forest. My inclination would be to follow the river."
( just joined and im kinda a rookie rp'er so here goes) Nioxen jumped out of a bush to the left of Hunt and said "Hey guys sorry I'm late i brought some supply's there right here..." (can you roll to see if i forgot it? Int 1)
(We don't really need to roll for that, it's kinda menial. Let's just say...this. xD) Nioxen pulled several muffins out of his saddlebag.
