Catpone Cerberus

"That's the problem... 'something', doesn't cut it." Jenna stated "I need something that's...bigger than you." "No amount.... of small animals... will help, as you....can't catch them...enough at a time." "My legs carry me...that's good enough for me...to hunt myself."

"I don't know if it's good or bad either, but it's not just the smell, the air is stale." "It's like the entire planet is a stuffy room." "Probably not helped by the mold everywhere." "It could be that this place is slowly but surely running out of oxygen, considering the lack of living green plants."

@Blitz Boom ”I have already gathered everything there is to get from the body, what I need is more just someone to bounce my thoughts off of, as my bias and experiences make me unable to see the whole picture.” Solar explained as they left ”I have the victim, means, and the perpetrator, but I cannot figure out the motive.” ”And while it isn’t necessarily your expertise, I’d like to hear your unbiased opinion." Solar was heading to the edge of the city, to the sea, as the body had been found in the water, and thus, he wanted to see if there was anything else to find that the others may have overlooked. After they had left the cafe, he explained ”A little backstory, where I come from, we ponies enslaved a species known as kobolds, it lasted for some time, but as technology got better, while never fully abolished, slavery fell out of favor as machines don’t need to eat or sleep.” ”That is where our victim comes in, you no doubt saw him, since you came from the morgue.” ”Some individuals, mainly rich elites of the capitals, kept their kobolds, as the services they provided were such that them being living creatures was part of it.” ”This often goes for generations, and in current date, or at least the time I was pulled away from my world, there were generations of kobolds to whom the life of the servant was the only thing they knew.” ”As a result, they are basically part of the family, and while one can argue about morals, the fact is that be it manipulation or genuine connection, these kobolds do not wish to leave their master, even when given plenty of chances in some cases.” as far he knew, it was something to do with their natural loyality, if they believed, misguided or not, that someone was part of them, they were deadly loyal to them. ”Yet, this case breaks all of that.” ”The body was that of a such elite, I don’t recognize him, so he wasn’t from our side, but that isn’t really relevant.” ”He was ripped apart, however, it was not done by wild animal, but rather, a group of kobolds, more specifically, servants.” ”Those like him have camera imbeded into them for security, which allowed me to see what happened.” ”And it wasn’t just a wild attack of kobold gone mad, the attack was calculated, yet sudden, happening seemingly out of nowhere.” ”Everything was seemingly normal, until one of the servants came in, whispered something to another, and all of them surrounded their owner and attacked.” ”This is where you come in, do you have any ideas?” ”Because based on all the facts I know, something like this should be impossible, generations of mental manipulation doesn’t go away just like that.” ”What would drive someone, genuinely loyal to someone, suddenly turn against them so suddenly and so violently?” He had managed to pick some details from the short video that he didn’t mention, like the city’s alarm blaring on the background, but those didn’t seem to him to relate to the motive. -------------------------------------- Ruby couldn’t necessarily tell that there was a door just by sensing the antlers, however, she found it by accident, as after circling the room to grow bit more distance between her and the slow pursuer, she was going to ask Leviathan if she could maybe blast the wall as there was seemingly another room behind it; she didn’t expect it to stay broken, but she figured that they could get a glance inside before the magic of the place fixed it; however, when she put her hoof on it to point at it, she noticed it moved, and thus instead of what she was going to say, she stated ”I think there’s a door here.” She however didn’t get the chance to try to open it yet, as she needed to start moving to avoid the deer once again, but if Leviathan didn’t do so during another circle around the room, she would return to the assumed door to try and open it, though if it was especially heavy, she’d struggle, as she was still exhausted, and the whole curse business didn’t exactly help with that. ”The main corpse said something about Dragon’s might, and how that ’could’ force it back, any idea what that could be?” ”Fire?” ------------------------------------- ”I’m a healer yes, my brother isn’t; though in our culture and language there’s no difference between a doctor and a healer.” she had done things that many doctors didn’t know how to do, like attaching new limbs to her brother ”Not that I’d be trying to get to work in the hospital anyway, not my style” she wanted to have a personal connection to those she cared for, and that didn’t really happen in a place which was basically a mass-production equivalent for healthcare. ”And while help is of course welcome, it’s not necessarily that we specifically want to be locals, we just need a roof over our heads like everyone else.” ”In fact, we’ll probably look for something outside the already existing settlement, so that we have room to expand when needed, and so that we can live by our own way of life.” there was slight emphasis on ’our own’; the two kobolds were being perfectly nice and friendly, but something about their way of speech signaled that they felt the need to stress the fact that they weren’t ponies. ”We can wait for you, we have something we need to do here anyway, oh, and thanks.” if there was nothing else, they would leave the room, after which they would go ask and see if they could see Onache, or if she had any visitors they could talk to.

"I know my limits." Jenna stated "Besides, I need to hunt... before I can lay down... the healing process needs... me to be well fed, and...the rations we have aren't... even close to enough." the last rays of the sun started to fade, bringing darkness and a drop in temperature "And with all due respect... I doubt you can help much...with that." she didn't want to sound like she was underestimating Oliver, but as far as she knew, he was just some dude, who played games and stuff before their meeting, he had been doing surprisingly well up to this point yes, but she had no reason to believe that he had any clue how to hunt animals big enough for her to eat.

Jenna used her ability to try and see if there was anything nearby interacting with the air, but she couldn't sense anything either "The air is still disturbingly still, it makes me uncomfortable to interact with it." "I could make it move to make things feel slightly alive, but I feel like that would be waste of energy?" she didn't sound sure about it, she was tempted, just to make things less still, but it could risk luring something to them.

@Blitz Boom Solar was quick with his second coffee too, getting his part of the bits out too, he had now gotten used to it, but the use of physical coins was also something that had taken some learning from him, because while his world did have physical currency too, it was more a....lower class civilian thing, for him and those he interacted with, money, like many other things, was entirely a wireless, non-physical experience. "I do not grief what has been lost; while I miss some conveniences, it is a net good for that pit of suffering to end." his life had been decent, but he wasn't blind to the state of his world, it was doomed regardless; if not through end of the world, then through the system collapsing under its own weight, suffering couldn't go forever, something would break, no empire lasted forever. "You are free to join me as I go see a place relevant for my duties, if you're not scared of water." he stated as he rose from the table "As the commanding officer and the main authority on the case, I can state that the situation I'm here to look at is not classified." "I am interested in hearing more of what you know, and am willing to in turn share what I can." he thought for a moment "I would also like an outside perspective on something, if possible." -------------------------------------------------------- Ruby's ears perked at the loud sound, but she didn't react to it in other ways, as she was kinda busy with the situation, however, she did make a mental note of it, as it was different from the usual sound of movement of stone. She didn't do much during the first part of the 'conversation' as combination of everything going on with her made it hard to focus on one thing, and she was also now annoyed at the mummy that had left, not just for the curse, but the fact that it had left the more important question of the two unanswered; she was all for sadistic predicaments, but, 'figure something out or die' was bit tasteless for even her. "I'm fine." She stated, in what was probably the least convincing manner she had ever done up to this point, her cold shell was starting to crack under the pressure, though it was not fear that was coming through, she was not scared of anything here, it was more....anxiety? Pain? it was hard to tell. "The good news is that Charir has made it out ." It actually took the eyes narrowing for Ruby to realize that the deer was interested in her specifically, as he following her wasn't anything new to her, since he had followed her here, but the lack of action from him earlier had given a reason to think it was nothing more than regular curiosity. She of course avoided him, not wanting him to touch her, as she had enough stuff going on as it was without some potential death touch from yet another undead "I believe the first thing would be to find the basement, one would think it holds some kind of answers." he was hoping the deer's interest would last so that he would just follow them down anyway, but she didn't want to say it out loud in case the deer had some intelligence left in it. If it wasn't already clear that she indeed was not 'fine' as she said, it would be more apparent as the curse's effects got reaction out of her too, as she staggered not unlike Leviathan, but took a moment longer to recover, and seemed to have at least some amount of shortness of breath; she hoped that the deer would stay at his slow walking pace, and wouldn't pull any tricks out of its non-existent sleeves, as she was already at this point actively fighting to keep her composure enough to not change forms, because if she were to change forms here, they would not be getting in the basement due to the simple fact of her being too big. ------------------------------------- Sheska didn't really mind the difference in shade, in fact, she barely noticed it; being originally subterranean species, adapted to constantly dark forest, their branch of kobolds had slightly weaker color-vision than surface dwelling species, it was not a big difference, but a change of one or two shades didn't make any real difference to them. To her the prosthetic was less about appearance anyway, and more a convenience thing, since she mainly wanted it so that she didn't have one huge health hazard to worry about constantly. She thanked the doctor, nothing here really was such that she couldn't have done it herself eventually, but it was nice to have someone taking care of her once in a while, and it was lot more convenient to have this done by someone already familiar with this world's medicine. Trox was the one to answer the question, as Sheska was 'busy' moving her tail around to get used to the change in weight "We are currently staying in the tavern courtesy of a fellow kobold." "We need to find a more permanent place somewhere fit for us, and possibly a way to get a source of income." Sheska then joined in "Actually that reminds me, if I may ask, where would be a good place to find up to date information on medicine, illnesses, and other medical knowledge?"

@Blitz Boom "My arrival was accidental, and I'm not the only one." "The world I come from has been suffering from ever increasing dimensional anomalies for last millennia, the leading theory is that it's a symptom of a dying realm." Solar explained in analyzing manner "What comes to science, as a member of the military, I only know what is relevant for war." "So when it comes to biochemistry, my knowledge goes only as far as things like chemical weapons and super-soldiers go." "Militarily speaking though, both Equestrian empires have put more focus behind biomechanical research and weapons research, over things like biological modification." "Latter however seemed to be the choice of our enemies outside Equestria, and having seen the results myself, they seemed rather successful, with the main point of trouble seemingly being control, as sapient creatures don't like being tools." "In general terms, I do believe that when using this world as a reference point, the advancement is true for everything, everything I've seen up to this point here, is by all means, horribly outdated compared to my world of origin." "Our boost of technological advancement was not from a positive source however, as while it brought good things like advancements in medical care, it was fueled by war, anything good is only byproduct." "If you are interested in more detailed examples, I can provide them, however, a public cafe is not the right place for that discussion." ----------------------------- Ruby did instinctively try to dodge the first time, but being aware that there was probably no real chance of avoiding it, she didn't waste her already limited energy any further, and when it came to feeling the curse caused, it was just more fuel to her already uncomfortable state, and she couldn't really even be sure if it was caused by the symbol that had appeared, or if it was continuation to what she was already feeling; good thing her kind was physically unable to cry, as she would no doubt be tearing up from the discomfort alone at this point if it would have been part of her normal physique, though, it did cause her usual stoicism to falter a bit in her voice, not enough to be obvious, but enough for anyone who knew her to maybe notice. She didn't break the 'eye' contact however, even when Leviathan spoke, as she once more addressed the mummy, assuming she wasn't stopped from speaking somehow "Doesn't sound like we have much of a choice." "So what is 'it'? and what exactly are we supposed to do?" "Or are you one of those who only speak in riddles?" was that they way to talk someone who had just branded you with some kind of probably lethal curse? probably not, but Ruby wasn't going to grovel in front of this thing. She also realized that this could be a situation where there was no winning, at least that was the case if the choice of words was considered; she assumed 'it' was the same thing in both context, and the mummy said 'it' could be forced back by dragon's might, 'could', not 'can', so it could be they were given a task that they can't even do. ---------------- The trio spend some time more downstairs, but after a while, Sheska made her way back upstairs, and soon after Chega and Sear headed to their room too, in the morning, the latter duo came down again, having breakfast and such, and Chega once again entertained whoever was there with songs of various topics. Sheska and Trox meanwhile, stayed in their room for a while, even after waking up, as they had a conversation that had needed to happen since they first woke up in the prison, and after finally pouring over that can of worms, they planned their next moves; what direction they would take their lives now that they were given another future, and what things they would need to deal with first. After that they went downstairs, and got something to eat, while also talking with Chega, they spoke in their language, but it wasn't anything secret, and rather was them asking her about any individuals she may have met that would be useful in for example keeping Trox's cybernetics running or having Sheska learn the medical plants of this world, and asking about any other kobolds around she may know of. So when the letter came, they weren't busy, and thus made their way to the hospital. The greeted the doctor, as Sheska would go in first with Trox right behind her, they were close, so there was no reason why both wouldn't have been there, not that this was especially private matter anyway, it was just a piece of tail. Sheska took off the makeshift cover, it had had its own charm, but with how quickly it got dirty and in general its makeshift nature made it so that it was nice to be rid of it, no fault of the nurse who made it, just the nature of that type of stuff. She positioned the tail in a way so that the doctor had a good view of it, it was clean and all that stuff, since Sheska new how to take care of injuries like that, but she still did as the doctor told, because she knew well how things worked. Both she and Trox also looked at it though, mainly because the bone being visible like that wasn't a pretty sight, even if you were as jaded as they were, and while the nerve damage was such that there was no feeling there, just seeing it did give Sheska, and even Trox, a small sting of ghost pain, as they were reminded of what happened.

I kinda guessed, partly because there has clearly been confusion in the RP about the difference between Chega and Sheska, as you have sometimes addressed the wrong kobold in the text Though even with the Dragon and the bard, it's less retirement and more push to background, as they will be around as long as the siblings live in the tavern. I don't really have any specific idea, and it doesn't necessarily need to be 100% calm and nice, but maybe it would be good to have a small pause on things sending creatures in the hospital the poor staff is probably running out of hooves In general I like anything that gives potential for character moments over things that are for example just action for sake of action, you know? One thing is that adventure probably isn't the right direction at least yet, mainly because as I said before so until something forces them to leave, these will have to happen first. For who would interact with them, again, I don't have preference, but it does need to make sense for both sides to want to stick together, so something like draconequus (assuming they are as...annoying, as anomaly can be) wouldn't necessarily work since they aren't really on the mood to deal with that What comes to Sheska and Trox themselves, their current goal is still to get settled into this world, to leave their past and forge a new future, so if you don't have any ideas, that can work as a base for things, they'll need a place to live that isn't tied to their friend's wallet, maybe even find a job? Something like the meditation temple is also something they could possibly give a try to in trying to deal with problems relating to their past. And of course there can be difficulties of different kinds, but maybe someone doesn't try to kill them for day or two I have one OOC question though, with the whole Oni thing, did you actually plan it or did you just make it up in middle of things? Because I, like my characters, am still scratching my head on how the first attack on the elderly couple served the Oni in any way?

"So the answer is no then?" Jenna asked "You don't know... how to make a shelter?" that had been the question that had started the conversation in the first place. "Separation is not an option." she stated "And shelter is not for hiding...but protection." she walked to a tree a bit further away, and brought it down, she then cleaned the branches off, putting them into a pile, and finally she rolled some big rocks from nearby. "Watch...and learn." she then, using these materials, and few standing trees, made a small shelter for Oliver, just big enough to fit him comfortably while also having room for their stuff. "If you need it....to be softer, I can help you...dry some plants for bedding."

"We shouldn't let our guard down." Jenna stated "But we also should avoid getting too paranoid, this darkness and silence are perfect conditions for one to start seeing and hearing things." "We need to do our best to keep ourselves, and each other, sane."

@Blitz Boom I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but you forgot the kobolds. However, this could be a good time to have a tiny timejump for them, to next morning or something, since there's obviously nothing big going on at the moment, and the current day has been going on for quite a while, I have stopped saying specific time for when they appeared because I can't really even remember how long it has been. I'd like to say few days, but I don't remember if there has actually been any nights during this time (in fact, what even is the current time of day for them?) It would also serve as a soft reset if you have hard time coming up with anything for them, since with a timeskip, I can write them to be pretty much anywhere.

@Blitz Boom Solar hadn't heard of Center Zero, but he made a mental note about it, he'd need to make a respectful but strongly worded inquiry on why he hasn't been informed of such place existing, considering how critical something like that could be for his duties specifically. The attack itself wasn't necessarily his concern, as there was no real reason to think that it was done by non-local to this world, however, if it ended up being a obstacle for him to get what he needed, he'd get involved as far as he needed to get what he wanted. "Don't worry, I am more that familiar with the joys of military bureaucracy, I don't expect it to be entertaining to listen to." he said with tone of humor in his voice, the legal tape wasn't really a concern for him; he had other leads to look into, so he could wait, and with having a direct line to the princesses, and technically being relatively high rank himself, he would probably be able to speed things up a bit if it seemed like it went nowhere, especially since the information he needed was specific documents rather than more general information about the facility itself, there was really no real reason why the specific information he wanted would be highly classified. When the waiter came, he ordered another regular coffee for himself; it wasn't that he preferred it over anything else, it was more a force of habit, in fact, due to how effective his artificial body was in keeping toxins out, caffeine was filtered out and thus didn't even do anything for him. "It's bit more complicated than that." Solar said regarding the question "Because I am, in fact, from Equestria, just not this Equestria." it wasn't really a secret, or, rather, nobody had told him it should be kept a secret, and to him, it was just better to tell the truth to avoid misinformation about other places on the planet. "In the Equestria I come from, technology is far beyond anything I've yet seen in this place." ----------------------------------------- Ruby felt the unease on instinctual level, but it got no reaction from her, after all, her ignoring her instincts was the reason why they were in this mess in the first place, so there was no reason she'd listen to them now. She was bit surprised that she was just let past the deer, but at the same time, having seen its seeming curiosity, she wondered if it had a certain level of commonality with her; more specifically, if it, like her, was the type to let things happen because the end result could be interesting. Either that or it wasn't really there to guard in the first place, and rather was more a walking pair of eyes to inform the leader about things happening. Ruby glanced at the priestess and Leviathan, but then turned her eyes towards the main deer, looking it into its eyes, or where the eyes would be if they had rotted away, seemingly unaffected by Leviathan's situation. She entered the room fully, and didn't break the eye contact with the deer even when the door closed behind her, she was now fully serious, so the act had been dropped entirely, sure she was still in pony form, but she was fully herself otherwise. "I cannot tell you something I don't know." "It doesn't matter what you do to her, or me, or the young dragon, it doesn't change the reality that I have no idea what you are talking about." she said in cold manner "In fact, if you have any brain left in that body of yours, think about it just a moment, why would a mare, who was here before with another pony, bringing dead to life, then come back later with two entirely unrelated dragons and without the other pony?" "I know equines aren't the smartest bunch, but even the most foolish pony wouldn't be stupid enough to return to a place after doing something like that."

Jenna rolled her eyes, got on her feet, and brought down some trees, moving them to lean to each other in a way that it formed a structure over the pool of water she had laid in "There, I have shelter, now...take care of yourself." she again brought her head on Oliver's level "I understand that you are...worried about me, but...I'm not like you." "We dragons aren't made...bedridden, just from... breaking few bones....and few wounds." "If you stubbornly insist...on me, without taking care...of yourself, you will in long run...cause problems for me." "Sometimes the most selfless...thing to do...is to be selfish."

"Very few things are simple." Jenna mentioned "But this has for now been easier than I expected, I expected us to meet some kind of resistance when we got here, yet, there has been nothing on this side." "It's either a good sign, or a very worrying sign."

"You don't get it..." Jenna said, again shaking her head "My, Our, ideal place of comfort....is a damp, cold, dark cave." "I'm not trying to be tough...I mean it when I say that...I physically don't need shelter." "I'm probably going to sleep...in the water anyway." "You in other hand...can get sick, or even die...if you get too cold, or wet, or even hot."

"I think it's bit too late for that." Jenna stated in somber manner "Even if we did go back, I don't think this can be just forgotten about." "Really, even if we manage to put stop to this somehow, this won't be forgotten for a long while."

@Blitz Boom "No need to worry, my schedule is notably more flexible than an average guard." Solar stated in friendly manner "Besides, It's nice to have a little break, haven't had many of those lately." granted, he was technically still working since he analyzed the video while waiting, but it was closest thing to not working he knew. He noted the temperature once again, but he wasn't overly curious about it, as to him at least, in a place like this, someone called Magma being bit warmer only made sense, the main reason he made mental notes of it, was to pull connection between her and the marks at the station. "And please, no need to be so official, we are all equals here." He took a sip of his coffee. He waited patiently for her to write, drinking his coffee, as he didn't want to break her thoughts, but when she seemed to be closing to ready, he spoke once more "I know you haven't questioned me about it, but I feel you should know why we are here." "My interest to this is not only because of the obvious..." he was referring to his metallic appearance "...but also because of my limited knowledge on the local technology." "My modifications are...unique, and cannot be recreated at the current time, so I'm looking into alternatives." ------------- And so the trio went, where would they go? would they be back? only they knew. -------------- Ruby didn't change directions after hearing the leader's voice, after all, she was purposely seeking out the room they most likely were in, though seeing the halls otherwise empty was bit worrisome, as silence was rarely a good thing. Any weird noises she didn't worry about too much, as she assumed it was just the temple moving like it had seemingly done earlier, not a good thing sure, but also nothing she could do anything about. She also wasn't on the most thoughtful mood at the moment, she was tired and frustrated, and she was feeling quite unwell in ways she didn't understand, so her patience was thin, and she just wanted to hurry things along, be it death or freedom that waited in the end. This impatience also showed when she found the deer standing in her way, as after halting for a moment, she walked towards it, looking into its eyes as she did, she wasn't scared, and she was too tired to hold to any kind of act with these things "Whatever you're planning changes nothing, what I said is the truth." "If your corpse-master wants to not be bothered, there's a very simple solution to that." "So can we get this over with" she didn't stop, attempting to just walk past the deer, she didn't actually think it would work, but she didn't really care, she couldn't fight them, she couldn't leave, though even if she could have, she wasn't going to without Leviathan, and she had no patience to just wait, so she would do her best to at least annoy them if they didn't hurry things along. She also didn't really care what happened to her, her own life didn't hold that much worth to her, sure she had the survival instinct, but life in general was worthless to her, her or anyone else's, though maybe even more than that, she didn't want to survive this if she would be the only survivor, she may have still been unsure if she actually cared about the two others, but she recognized that losing them would once again push her back to the bottom, and frankly, her tolerance for that was running out, if her potential happiness would yet again be taken away from her, she'd probably stop trying. And honestly, in her current mental state, she rather go through whatever torture these things were planning, than be trapped in an empty room with only her own thoughts. ------------ There was nothing else for Bubble, as Chega thanked the pony and proceeded to pour some water to one of the cups, then physically taking Sheska's hand and moving it on the cup, telling her to drink, in kobold language of course. Sheska may have been the medical expert, But Chega wasn't entirely helpless either, especially not when it was someone she had, kinda, known for her whole life, this Sheska may have a different past, but she shared the things with her Sheska that made Sheska Sheska, so Chega knew what to do when her friend needed some emotional support. Sear just watched the situation unfold, she wasn't that good with the emotional stuff, so she didn't know what to do or say here, and instead she watched her partner take care of the other kobold, the caring nature of Chega was part of what she loved in her, under the cheerful and humorous layer of the bard, there was almost motherly figure who worried for her friends and loved ones.

Jenna shook her head "I'm practically immune...to the elements." "I can lay in dirty, ice cold water...and barely feel it in...extra sensitive burn wounds." she pointed at Oliver "You however... with your squishy thin skin...and ineffective body heat, are very sensitive to temperature." she brought her head closer as she looked him in the eyes "If your clothes get wet, you'll die." this was maybe bit direct, but as much as she tried to not seem bossy, in some things she needed to be bit more direct. She brought her head back up "I appreciate your worry...but you need to take care...of yourself too." "If you don't worry about yourself...you won't be in the shape to help me."

"Exactly my point" Jenna stated "They clearly wanted us to know that something will happen, but at the same time they didn't tell what would happen, or what they wanted us to do about it." "They sent this same incomplete information to, as far as we know, all people with powers, yet didn't specify anything." "Someone clearly knew what was coming, since the military knew to prepare, even if their preparations weren't enough." "So why to see the effort to send letters to thousands of people all around the globe, if you are going to make them vague enough to seem like a scam?"

@Blitz Boom Solar agreed, and would also of course introduce himself, though he didn't mention his unit or such this time, as this was less official introduction and more personal one, and his introduction was more along the lines of 'A royal guard and a painter.' though Magma probably could tell that he wasn't just a average guard, not only because of the more obvious parts, but also because his armor didn't match any other guard armor exactly. He noted things like the higher than usual body temperature, making a mental note about it among information Magma mentioned. As he was done with his duties, which had taken bit less than half an hour, Solar headed towards the mentioned cafe, he hadn't been there before, nor had he really studied the cities yet, but he followed the directions given to him. When he arrived, he'd scan the place for Magma in case she had overestimated the time she'd take, and if not there, he'd then order a normal coffee for himself and get to a easy to spot table to wait for Magma, while going through the elite's recording again in his head, trying to get any sense of what triggered the events he saw. ------- "Your observations are not inaccurate." Myrkr stated "She is not the most patient of us three, yet, she is probably the most justified in her anger." Myrkr got up "None of us are heroes, just different flavors of monsters, we fight not for better tomorrow, but for tomorrow without us." "We are monsters, created by our past, our crimes will never be undone, but we can make sure that those who created us will never rise here." As he started walking towards his companions, he waved his hand as goodbye "I wish you a happy life young one, may your hunt for knowledge bring great harvest, may darkness never reach your soul." "We may meet again, or may not, but let's hope it's in good circumstances." "Take care" he walked relatively slow, so there was still a chance to say or ask something, but if not, he'd eventually make it to the two others, and there was no words exchanged, no gestures shown, the two others just started walking, and so the three walked away. ------ As to be expected, Charir had no real reaction to Spicy's words, and there wasn't much room for his usual curiosity to take over, so he stayed in place while Spicy did her thing. He had no interest in going back in, and while he was indeed worried about the others, it really only made things worse, as he blamed himself for it, his uselessness, how come it was him who made it out? he had only ever needed help, he hadn't been able to defend his own territory, he had fled his home only to be rescued from drowning by Ruby, and now Ruby and Leviathan were fighting while he fled like the coward he was. What a poor excuse for a dragon. Ruby would pace around for several minutes, few tens of minutes at least, she tried to clear her head to think, but for no avail, she kept making noises of frustration, she didn't know whatever she was feeling, only that it felt like she needed more air, and that she wanted it to stop. Before she had assumed it was caused by the limitations of the pony form, but she didn't think it was the case anymore, as she didn't feel the need to transform as strongly anymore, she did still want to shed this form of course, but the discomfort was stronger than that feeling. If nothing happened during these tens of minutes, she'd finally decide to get out of the cage, but not by using the hinges, as she wasn't on observant enough mindset to really even consider it at the moment, rather she was going for more magical solution. She cast a sealing spell on the lock of the cage, now that may seem counterproductive at first, but like Ruby had warned Marley and Spicy when she had done the spell on her treasure in Spicy's vault, they can be unstable, and this time, she made the spell purposely unstable. So assuming the lack of active anti-magical features around, she cast a spell, and then kicked the door, which caused the spell to lose its stability and explode in magical blast strong enough to shatter the lock. If this worked, she'd head towards the room where the main mummy had risen, since it had an altar and the mummy had mentioned preparing it; she wasn't going to leave leviathan behind like a coward. Any spears she ignored, not because she thought about the potential danger touching it, but more because she had no clue how she could use them properly in this form, and they would be more a hindrance for her than anything, besides, what exactly would she do with them, stab a skeleton? If it didn't work. she'd stay in the cage, getting even more restless and uncomfortable, as she failed to notice the situation with the hinges. ------ "I didn't think you implied anything." Sheska stated "I just answered the question honestly." her tone wasn't exactly friendly, but she wasn't hostile either, she was just in a bad mood and didn't bother hiding it "Lot has happened in my relatively short life, yet seeing my brother break is what has finally done it." "The easy escape has never felt more appealing." Sheska didn't ask for anything, but Chega did quietly speak "Could you bring her some cold water."

"Then why tell us?" Jenna asked "That's why it bothers me so much, they told us that something was coming, so they wanted us to see it, but they did not tell anything about what it would be, or how to stop any of it." "They kinda just assumed that curiosity would take over, as it did, not only for us, but others like us too."