White Out

So Dippy had gone and gotten herself lost in the Everfree. It wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, so the mare wasn't all too worried this time around. The forest was typically pretty dark, but like the last few times she'd ventured in, Serendipity's Compulsive Hoarding paid off yet again, and she procured a flashlight from her much-too-heavily-stuffed saddlebags. Like all earth ponies, the only thing she had to properly hold the tool was her teeth, unfortunately.

As for finding the gem itself...well, Dippy didn't have a plan. Or more accurately, she did, but the 'plan' was to wander around until she stumbled across it, or some clue of where it might be. Eight years she'd been running a lost-and-found business with that plan, and her cutie mark hadn't let her down yet.

I figured. It'd be a shame if the RP died off so early; there are two applications that have yet to post in the first place, and Midnight_Aurora seems to have disappeared now as well.

"You got it, sir!" Dippy feigned a mock-salute to the stallion as he trotted away, only managing to hold her stature for a few seconds before devolving into what could only be described as a maniacal cross between an evil laugh and a giggle. Once the bit-coin symbols faded from her eyes, Serendipity carefully folded the contract(s) away before positively skipping down the street. Assuming she could actually find this thing (and she put some heavy confidence in her skills as a thing-finder), this sale alone might very well save the business! Or at the very least let her live comfortably for another few months.

With no time like the present (and a tendency to leave the house with a saddlebag full of supplies anyway), Dippy took advantage of the good mood to start her search Everfree Forest-wards, taking a merry jaunt towards the woods with the promise of a heck-load of bits in the near future.

"-fantastic!" Dippy interrupted the red stallion before he left, inexplicably conjuring a very wordy piece of paper from her bag and a quill as she skirted in front of his walking path once more.

"I'll just need you to sign-...here! And here. And initial there," she goaded merrily, holding the contract inches from his face, "Oh, and if this is a group expedition you'll need to sign here too!"

This was not actually the first time Serendipity had been to the Everfree to find something lost, though it was much better for business if the rest of the town didn't know that. The wordy contract held a couple clauses, mostly just potential extra fees for injury or damages, but the kicker was that it had a vaguely-defined 'emotional damages' fee, which mostly meant that Dippy could kick up the price depending on how much danger she or the rest of the group ended up in. And of course, the cost of finding the item herself.

She pushed the paper and quill to the stallion with pleading eyes, knowing that this was one of her only big shots at saving the business.

Cha-Ching.

Serendipity tried to hide the small money signs in her eyes as she was suddenly approached with exactly what she had been hoping for, walking right out of Crystalwing's shop itself. The mare pretended her smile was one of empathy, but oh boy, this stallion done goofed big-time , and Dippy was already first in line to make a quick chunk of bits from it. She cleared her throat and feigned disinterest for a moment.

"Well...I am an expert on finding lost items, but...unfortunately," she put on a disheartened face, pretending to look disappointed, "Sorry mister, but I only find stuff in Ponyville. I can't go out to a dangerous place like that!"

She let the words hang in the air, and made the motion to sadly walk away for a moment before 'suddenly' coming up with an idea.

"...unless..." she added in a faked hopeful tone, "...well, I could make an exception...if it's that important to you. Business hasn't been so good lately, and...well, I guess I could find one of grand-dad's old contracts for a commissioned treasure hunt."

She bit her lip, pretending to be nervous and apologetic about the whole ordeal.

"It's a little pricey, but if your gem is that important to you...I guarantee I'd be able to get it back to you. That's a company promise!"

Dippy let out a hiss of disappointment as the crowd dispersed, a sudden glum mood overcoming the area as a cloud decided to rudely take up its position in the sky. With the crowd gone, it was easy to see that there wasn't a single other lost piece of 'treasure' in the area, and Serendipity was forced to move on to greener pastures. But where to go? Maybe a bar or two? Drunken ponies tended to drop stuff a whole lot in her experience, but it wasn't late enough for the usual clumsy crowd to start in those yet. The park might be a good place to check, but she'd already combed through that place yesterday, so there wasn't much of a chance she'd find something new this quickly.

Business had been dry recently; not a whole lot of big finds, besides maybe the scroll she'd just procured. Ponies were getting smart about keeping their stuff under a close eye, and while that was good for the security of the townsponies' wealth, it wasn't so good for the business. Eventual bankruptcy loomed on the far horizon, but it wasn't close enough to spark a panic yet. It'd be nice for somepony to stupidly lose, like, a priceless artifact or something right now, though. Is one really stupid, really expensive mistake on somepony else's part really too much to ask for?

Nah, that'd never happen. Dippy decided she would pay the local shops a visit; she hadn't talked with any of the girls recently anyway. Maybe Crystalwing lost something pricey recently; that pegasus would lose her head if it wasn't screwed onto her shoulders.

(Hasbro owns the rights to Wizards of the Coast, so technically the bestiary is canon in MLP. Go for it.)

Serendipity tromped along, not quite able to figure out where the crowd was going but certainly capable of her usual scavenging habits. She scanned the ground, looking for any signs of a glimmer of jewelry, when suddenly-

"...oh?" the mare inquired, almost stepping on what she originally assumed was a rolled-up piece of newspaper. She lifted a hoof and the scroll with it, yawned as the surrounding crowd passed her by, and squinted inquisitively at the outsides. Looked like trash, old and slightly torn and yellowing with age, but something wasn't quite right here...she wasn't nearly awake enough to think straight to figure it out immediately, unfortunately. Dippy ran her best appraisal on the item post-haste, trying to shake off the afternoon tiredness.

Old...maybe old enough to have value? Could be a magic scroll some unicorn lost; those are pricey. The ribbon sure is fancy, so it's gotta be worth something to somepony.

The nagging curiosity to see what was inside bit at the back of the mare's mind, but she was more professional than that; Dowser's Dowsings had a very strict guarantee on not opening lost messages, and she wasn't about to compromise her own company's promises just to see what the inside of a dirty old scroll was.

Shrugging away the last of the niggling curiosity, Dippy opened a flap and carefully placed the rolled-up parchment inside of her saddlebag. Somepony would probably be happy to find it at her shop, at the very least. She'd appraise a good fee later. For now, Dippy continued her search; the day was off to a good start, and she didn't want to lose her momentum yet.

[inventory Added: 1x Unusual Scroll]

I know your rules stated that we're not supposed to post right after each other and instead wait for your own posts to book-end ours, but since our characters are performing unrelated actions (for now), is it alright that I posted right after Midnight's?

(Leave it to me to forget that there was a link to the actual RP board, and sit around wondering when and where we were supposed to start. My bad entirely.)

Serendipity yawned and pushed a mop of mane out of her face once the door was open; mornings were never her strong suit. Mind you, it was the middle of the afternoon, but Dippy referred to 'mornings' as any time she woke up. Rearranging paperclips kept her up longer than she intended.

The crowd outside was certainly bustling, which was odd for taking place right outside of her house. Dippy didn't see ponies, however-- she saw potential customers.

Cha-ching.

She threw on her saddlebags and haphazardly flopped her hair into something semi-respectable before leaving the house, making sure to lock the door behind her and flip the sign hanging off the knob to 'The Manager Is Out'. Seeing that the crowd seemed to be following a stampeding route, the earth pony yawned heartily again and turned her attention to the direction they were heading. Maybe somepony would drop a wedding band or a nice earring in the commotion; it never hurt to dream.

(Also, Equestria's fine, and Ponyville is something we're all familiar enough with so you don't have to describe every road in detail. It's not the most original setting, but it's certainly one we're all on the same page about.)

I'll give it a go.

Name: Serendipity "Dippy" Dowser Doo

Description: Dippy is a well-to-do business manager and (in her mind, at least) treasure hunter, though 'treasure' is usually miscellaneous knick-knacks she tends to find laying around. Dippy keeps a large, old and durable pair of saddlebags, which she is rarely seen without and are rarely emptied of the items she comes across. She shares the color palette of a treasure map, with a tanned yellow coat, charcoal mane and a red 'X' as her cutie mark.

Race: Earth Pony

Cutie Mark/Talent: A red 'X', as if on a treasure map. Dippy has a talent for finding things, though she tends to hoard more knick-knacks than she would ever need.

Background: Dippy runs a small family business called "Dowser's Dowsings", named after her grandfather who was the original founder. Dowser's Dowsings is a lost-and-found shop located on the first floor of Dippy's house, where she will put up items that she has scavenged around town and return them to their original owners for a small fee. A loss in family has led to Dippy now managing the house and business on her own, which can get dull at times, but she has shown to be responsible enough to survive alone.

Weakness, Flaw, or Phobia: Dippy has a fear of heights, and prefers to keep her hooves on the ground if she can help it.

Heya, it's me! The one with Lamp Wick, here to steal all y'all's chances of being in this particular RP.

This sounds quite exciting, actually! I haven't touched this forum account in months, but it brings a smile to actually see another group of people who love to play the more "traditional" RPGs. I'd love to join, but if my schedule doesn't match up with the rest of the group's (my most available time is all throughout Sunday), I'll probably need to back out. With some luck and happy thoughts, though, I'd love to take another go at throwing some dice around! Now just to fill out this resume...

Prior experience: I've been playing a scattering of tabletop systems for the last three years or so, my favorite systems being Pathfinder, Final Fantasy D6, Pokemon: Tabletop Adventures, and as of late there's this nice My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic (second edition) game that one of my friends has been running, and we've had a ton of fun!
System: I'm much more familiar with the d20 system so I would probably throw my vote in for that, but I'm not afraid to try out something new for a change.

MLP-centric: If things came out in my favor, I'd prefer an MLP-themed campaign, but I wouldn't scoff at a more traditional setting.

Availability: My most available time is all throughout Sunday, as I'm afraid the rest of my weekend is taken up either with schoolwork or other campaigns. My timezone is Pacific Time.

Position: I've tried my hand at GMing once or twice, and it has worked out...less than what I'd hoped. Crashed and burned, unfortunately. I would much prefer a player position.

Hahaha, nice one XD

 

I am in a state of panic at the moment. This was not supposed to happen. My OTP is being threatened?!? I feel like I'm just gonna keel over at any moment from worry!!!

Your OTP? Heavens me, it does seem that the Midnight♠Scorpiok pairing is losing its caliginous touch recently. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, I'm afraid, which is a terrible state for the beautiful blooming kismesissitude between the black pegasus and his unicorn frenemy. I suggest putting the two in the same group once again to let them unsettle their differences. I can assure you, once blood has been drawn we can safely say that a proper state of healthy black romance will have been achieved once more!

Putting aside the silliness, however, the RP seems to be slowly grinding to a halt. The groups have split even further, some characters haven't responded for than a week, and there seems to be glaringly little to do without, and excuse my D&D references, "GM Intervention".

As none of us (besides Thunder Knight, as you've said) know what what is supposed to happen, we are all relying on you as the thread creator to take charge of the rest of the world, regardless of what your character is doing. By creating this Roleplaying thread you've stepped into the shoes of a GM, and without a proper GM, there is no storyline to follow. Our dear friend Galvin Starlight has resorted to self-dialogue to keep his character posts interesting, and while I applaud that, it is simply not enough to keep the entire thread afloat by itself. Characters are becoming passive and unresponsive, and while Libra and Scorpio are off on their own adventure, the other 'half' of the group have already run out of novel stimuli to respond to.

I apologize for coming off as aggressive, but I assure you my spiel is simply my best attempt at being forthright: Something needs to happen, or the thread is going to die. Since our only point of leverage is through our characters, it is up to you to take charge of what that 'something' is, and it is imperative that you are able to choreograph both sides of the encounter regardless of what your personal OC is doing. While this might require breaking the 'two post wait' rule that King_Sombrero proposed, I believe that it is necessary for the GM of a campaign to be able to respond to all actions without restriction.

In the small amount of time since Sagittarius had discovered the magic blank tome of un-knowledge, the stupid black pegasus 'leader' had decided to take a route that only a winged pony was able to take, effectively leaving the rest of the party alone, the new unicorn (was White Flower her name?) had wandered off to another room as well, and Pisces...was talking to a wall.

What about Arannia? Was she still sane? Please let Arianna be sane.

Arianna was sitting on a pile of books, it seemed. Sagittarius supposed that was sane enough. He at least had that anchor to the rational world, though that was like tying a rock to a string in the middle of an ocean and calling it a proper mooring. Sure, it fit the technical definition, but if you were planning on using it to actually dock yourself to anything safe, good luck hahaha!

But seriously, this group was bucking crazy.

Sagittarius decided to stick close to the most logical of the group, and shifted his location to Arianna and the pile of books underneath. Pisces was beyond help in his opinion; when ponies started talking to walls, the hope for recovery had already passed. Maybe Midnight would return with some semblance of hope. Or news about zomponies or something. With his luck, it was probably the latter.

The thing is that i dont know the name and i dont think anyone else have had it before me so... dead end there

Hm? An undocumented, unprecedented medical condition? And yet, you know that you have it? My trite optimism in the subject is beginning to lose its edge, rolle, as your capricious claims have yet to hold any ground on anything remotely resembling conclusive footing. Usually I would simply let this go, but I feel as if I have been personally lied to. Do not take this to heart, however; I understand that you most probably have your own feelings to protect as well, so if any of this is particularly hurtful, remember that this is from a non-judgmental standpoint and you are still entitled to your own opinions.

rolle, there is no such thing as a 'brain plane'; our understanding of the human mind is not so two-dimensional (excuse the pun), and our understanding so far is much too crude to form any sort of theory on what shape it might take if it were realized. For all of our knowledge on the subject, it might be a tesseract. Hell, it might be a pentaract for all we know. There is no 'brain plane', and there most certainly is not a method for using more than one.

Brains do not generate electricity, rolle. At least, not in the conventional sense. It is a common misconception: the 'Electrical Activity' we hear of in TV shows or comic books is really just changes in the ion concentration on the outside and insides of neurons, and the difference between the inside and out can be measured in voltage. I could go into the specifics of potassium, chloride, and sodium ions and how they specifically play a roll in this, but I'll spare you as well as anyone else reading. To put it simply: The brain does not generate electricity. If it generated any sort of measurable voltage all willy-nilly, it would not cause a 'headache', as you put it; the person would die as their autonomic nervous system went haywire indefinitely, since the human body is conductive almost to a hilariously macabre point.

I understand and respect that you feel that you are special, rolle, but please, for the sake of our sanity, this is neither the time nor place for playing pretend.

That's what the RP thread is for.

Well since my brain produces alot of electricity throughout my body it need to use all that on thinking which cause headache... But its better than feeling thunder in your stomach i guess. (BTW this is just my life...)

That's quite intriguing interesting, rolle. I can't say that I've heard of anything like it. Would you care to reveal the title name of the condition you've been afflicted with? The technical medical name, I mean. At least so I can enact a bit a of research on my own part. Such rare bits of information certainly do turn my attention, and I would enjoy love to learn more about the technicalities of it.

Fan...bucking...tastic. There was a new one. Just what they needed.

Sagittarius was, of course, being sarcastic. Strength in numbers, and she seemed like another one of the scarce logical ones. It almost seemed fitting, as if their eleven ponies were simply supposed to be twelve, and her addition was the last piece of the puzzle.

He would introduce himself as well, but she seemed too interested in the newest of Douchebag McFlipOut Schizoid the Third's ammunition to pay him any mind. No matter; Sagittarius had more important things to do as well. Like...read. They were in a library, after all. In his usual silent manner, the ex-student flipped the nearest floor-book open and scanned its immediate contents.

'-three and a half cups of milk to-' 

It seemed like he had found the cookbook again. The very same one. Sagittarius was getting pretty tired of cookbooks by this point, but flipped a few pages ahead to humor himself.

The page was blank. Huh. A misprint? What kind of idiot chef printed a cookbook half-way and left the other half blank? Sagittarius flipped back a couple pages, wondering at exactly what page number the book had decided that being blank was the newest fashion trend.

Two pages back. Three. Four. The pages turned with their usual muted flicking sound. Still blank. Huh. The colt flipped a larger section backwards; twenty pages or so. Still blank. Sagittarius was sure he'd already passed the page he'd read the stupid cake recipe on, but the pages remained clean. This was the slightest bit worrying, if only for the lack of explanation. He flipped to the inside of the front cover, where he'd originally read the title 'Food for Thought'.

It was blank.

Okay. That wasn't creepy in the slightest. No sirree. Sagittarius cautiously flipped over the front cover itself, closing the book with a 'wumph'. The title was missing. Not even an author's name. Sagittarius shook his head, closed his eyes, and reopened them, putting his last hope on some newfound blindness.

No such luck; still blank.

Silently, the colt picked up the terrifying little book, and slid it into his previously empty saddlebag. He wasn't sure why.

I really should stop forgetting the stupid rule XD its annoying that i need to think on three brain planes at the seme time :l

Oh my, that is certainly new. Interesting too. I enjoy like to consider myself one of the more learned types, and I can't say that I've ever seen heard of anything like your case. It's quite intriguing. Would you perhaps care to elaborate on the matter subject? I'm honestly interested in your unique condition, and would love to hear more about it.

before you ask, midnights REAL mother had been a half vamp, midnight never inherited the vampire gene, but he still has an astitue sense of smell, (which is kinda void when outside, since most of the city smells of swamp. and good eyesight, no fangs, no invincibility, just the accute sense of smell and sight.

Not to be mean rude, Midnight_Moon, but I don't believe anyone was going to ask. That's quite a specific piece of information for someone to inquire about out of nowhere the blue. Character development is perfectly fine, of course; I'm simply saying indicating that your means of addressing it are rather odd.

Eeyup. Even Arianna was joining in the synchronized crazy. That was a bit saddening, because Sagittarius was relying on her for being the last ounce of sense in the group, but that ounce was drained quite rapidly as she joined into the one-sided conversation. Everypony as obviously insane, so why not just don the sombreros and vuvuzelas and make it official? It wasn't like talking to imaginary ponies was weird or anything.

Then again, nothing that had happened so far could be called 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination. Quite the opposite, really. Even then, Sagittarius was finding it hard to believe that there was somepony actually talking to these three, as he had yet to hear anything besides the unbelievable amount of stupid flowing from the two stallions' mouths, and now the last (he had hoped) sane mare had joined in as well. This stopped being a river of stupid; Neighgra Falls had nothing on the sheer amount of torrential absurdity these three were putting out now. Not that Sagittarius was any better; he'd followed them, after all. The colt bent down to one of the (increasing number of) books Pisces had haphazardly thrown to his hooves, and nudged the front cover open with a hoof.

It was upside down. Sagittarius fixed that.

'Food for Thought'. Huh. He flipped the front page over, and seeing how the next page was blank (as most second pages tended to be, for some odd reason), he flopped half of the book over, perhaps hoping to find someth-

Ow. Facebook was apparently Douchebag McFlipOut Schizoid the Third's new favorite game. Sagittarius was going to therapize the shit out of that pony as soon as he was done here. Until then, back to reading.

'-add one cup of celery to the mix and-' Celestia bucking dammit this was a bucking cookbook. The blue colt immediately shoved the tome of 'knowledge' aside, and took a few steps back from the hail of education Pisces was conjuring from the shelves.

Aaaaand everypony was officially crazy. The fact that they were crazy was an immutable fact Sagittarius was stating for the record; it did not mean ridicule was what was taking place there. Either this town was seriously beginning to rend at the minds of everypony within, or some invisible pony just walked in and started speaking and he was the only one out of the loop.

Midnight was talking to the air, which was weird to say the least. Something about hurting somepony? He was flipping his head around like there was somepony hiding under the floorboards or something, so he must have heard something, even if it was just in his head.

And Douchebag McFlipOut now had 'Schizoid the Third' added to his growing title. The pink pony was just talking to the air like psych wards weren't even a thing, and laughing to himself. It was odd, because he seemed to be responding to the same question as the pegasus was. Sagittarius was moderately sure a question was never posed by him nor the pony with the Aries symbol, so it was beginning to occur to him that he might simply have poorer hearing than he believed. The colt turned his own head towards the opening of the library, expecting to see a familiar face that had followed them inside. Instead there was an open door. Huh.

Was the Aries mare (was Arianna her name?) hearing something too, or were these two just experiencing some new form of synchronized crazy?

Sagittarius was hoping it was just synchronized crazy. Synchronized crazy could be cured by sending his hoof face-ward, but he wasn't about to start trusting random invisible ponies that everypony but him could hear. That was a less-than-opportune position to be in, in his opinion.

So, back to the plot storyline. One group is searching the library, and another is doing searching the Town Hall. That much is obvious, but who exactly is going where? From what I can understand, Scorpio(k) and Libra are heading towards the Town Hall, while Midnight, Arianna, Pisces, Tlalli (I'm assuming) and some other pony are heading to the library. That's six seven ponies, leaving four others still undecided, and White Rose entirely cut off from the rest of the party. Since the groups are now moving, it might be a good idea for anyone still undecided to pick a side, at least to keep confusion to a minimum when the time rolls along.

As for the tarot power concept, BlackShardNixium, it has been duly noted. Sagittarius is the ninth zodiac, and the ninth tarot card is The Hermit, marked by introspection, silence, solitude and being pissed off reflection. Fitting, if you ask me.

Sagittarius walked in. Though 'walking in' wouldn't be a very accurate description for the action. More specifically, he dragged his hooves after the three, and held in an unhealthy amount of disbelief as two of the five in their group had already begun tearing apart the place. It wasn't like any of this stuff was old and valuable and potentially useful or anything crazy like that. Because what kind of pony genuinely believed books could have something useful inside? Not Pisces, obviously. He was too wrapped up in whatever hare-brained epiphany that had slapped him upside the head like Sagittarius was on the verge of doing again to care about stuff like surviving.

With a practiced silent mantra of 'This Is Stupid', Sagittarius tried his best to observe the library in a means that didn't involve destroying it. You know, with his bucking eyes.

If Sagittarius didn't know better, he'd take a guess that the library was actually completely composed of piles of dust, lovingly gathered and shaped into the form of shelves, books, and a globe or two by a filly that genuinely believed that she was at a lovely tropical beach instead of hell. What a silly pony that was.

Speaking of silly (read: suicidal) ponies, the black pegasus leading their group apparently wanted to ignore all of these books (which Sagittarius was moderately sure was the entire reason they came here in the first place) in favor of going to the basement. The dark, foreboding, cliche murder-mystery-crime-scene basement. He wondered if Stabby was faring any better on the Intelligence Quotient Continuum.

Nah.

Oh my ever-loving goddess bucking pony jeegus this was not happening. No. Just, no. Sagittarius was putting his hoof down on this one: Nopony was allowed to be this stupid. Not only were both that black pegasus pansy and his caliginous hate-date trying to split up everypony else, but they were on the bucking verge of convincing Sagittarius that maybe, perhaps, the principle's newest goal was to raise the average IQ of Equestria by putting them here. He could see it play out now: Stabby walks off in a huff, and the other side of his stupid kismesissitude walks in the other direction, and the trailer for 'The Trotting Dead' ends with everypony soberly digging a grave for the holiday-colored bastard.

He had no words for this. Words could not describe his distaste for the present moment, as one pegasus know-it-all trotted off in one direction while his secret hate-crush stomped off in the other. They were really doing this. They were seriously making this happen.

Did anypony else notice how familiar this situation seemed? Was he really the only one genre-savvy enough to notice that they had been practically dumped onto the front cover of a horror novel?

And then came the question of which holder of the Idiot Ball to follow. Staying here was obvious suicide, while going with one of the other two allowed for strength in numbers, which meant less of a chance of dying. He weighed his options. Suicide...or stupidity? The choice was obviously heavily skewed in one direction, but then again...he did happen to like living.

In lack of logic, sense, and most of his better judgement, Sagittarius began his walk. It was a slow, trudging walk, like a cat that had tape on its paws and looked like it has had tape on its paws for a very, very long time. But it was progress. Progress towards the pegasus's group. At least he stood the least risk of getting stabbed in this one, he supposed. And hey, maybe the sensible ones in the party would gravitate towards the growing mass of common sense. He was hoping for Tlalli, at the very least. And Libra, but she had already taken her side with Stabby the red-coat maim-deer, so there was no hope there.

...that about summed up his list of sensible ponies in the group, actually. Douchebag McFlipOut had his sensibility license revoked the moment Sagittarius had to slap him, so he had yet to earn his place back.

The prospect of splitting up was probably the most idiotic idea Sagittarius had ever heard. To put into perspective: Imagine a group of ponies in a B-rated horror flic. They all wake up in the middle of a mysterious town, which may or may not want to see them all dead. One pony, in a spark of genius, decides that the gang should split up to cover more ground.

...what do you think was going to happen to one of those groups? What pony honestly believes this story could end well? Because by the looks of it, that was exactly what Midnight was doing. If this was a written story, Sagittarius would be putting his bits on Midnight as being the first to 'disappear'.

But of course, Sagittarius was not a pony particularly prone to pronouncing his position.

Instead, the blue colt walked alongside the rest of the group, turning his head every so often to note where he was. The buildings all looked similar, which worried him. Everything looked crippled. Wounded, even, as if the town itself was a living creature on its last throes. He would have pitied it, save for the fact that the odds seemed to indicate this place being his grave as well.

Don't you know? You never split the party

Clerics in the back to keep those fighters hale and hearty

The wizard in the middle, where he can shed some light

And you never let that damn thief out of sight...

It would have been more humorous if he wasn't going to die soon.