GoldieS

@Lektra Bolt @Denim&Venom Eh, airships might be the better option here. They still need to haul supplies and have a place to sleep during the expedition. Clinging to the backs of a few giant golems would be dangerous and uncomfortable. Plus, airships provide a more stable platform for command and control. Oh I do so love talking fantasy military!! XP Candor votes airships! Cus he's terrified of flying on the back of a golem.

@Denim&Venom @Lektra Bolt Airships. Agreed. However, the weather is rather frightful in this new world, not always the safest option... but the quickest. Candor would prefer more heavies than scouts or magic. He's a ground infantry kinda guy. Guess we're ditching the golems though.

@Lektra Bolt the captain has literally a thousand troops just thrown into his command for this. You think he can look up everyone's record in the span of a few hours? Plus, they aren't going to describe all attitudes and dispositions, just qualifications and commendations. Even so, it doesn't matter what the records say she's like, she's still acting in a way that's inappropriate. But... you don't speak so informally to your superior, especially in front of their superiors. Plus, you never EVER tell your superior your bored... It's like saying "Hey, you're not giving me enough to do, so you're doing something wrong here." That's why he ordered her to bring her company to formation in front of him. So he could give them something to do... and punish her for being rude. No second chances, no warnings. A soldier, especially one in a leadership position, should already know what's acceptable and what's not. This is discipline. Lastly, I'm trying to figure stuff out to keep things interesting in this RP while we wait around in the city... he doesn't give a damn what kinda score he's gonna get cus he doesn't know she's even there.

@Lektra Bolt Hey, that's now how it seemed from where I was sitting. Blurting out like that in front of a superior officer is NOT okay. Plus, we never said they knew each other. I was just filling in the blanks. All he's doing is delivering some collective punishment for her being disrespectful. This is a professional military after all. Plus, try to remember most of these are assumptions in the captain's head. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the case...

@Lektra Bolt @woodchunks66 @Denim&Venom Candor dawned a furious scowl as he slowly turned to address the lieutenant. He didn't mind it if his subordinates spoke informally with him, but there were just some things that weren't wise to mention to your superiors under any circumstances. Especially when standing a spitting distance from the Director and the Grand Marshal. "You're what?" He snapped at the Lt. The captain paused, looking around to examine the large highway they currently stood on. The convoy started at the gate, and trailed quite a distance down a few blocks. There were a thousand troops standing around. Everyone was formed up on one side of the highway, while the other was completely empty, save for the small command staff discussing things among themselves and the three higher ups beside them. "Assemble your company." The captain ordered, anger in his voice. "Form up in front of me. Tell them to leave their ruck sacks where they are, just bring combat gear. GO!" He snapped the last bit, waiting for the Lt. to get to it before he turned back to AJ. "That's the attitude of a greenhorn with a fresh commission out of the academy. She's never even been out in the field before, I guarantee it. 75% of being a soldier is waiting. Out of the 24 hours in a day, maybe 30 minutes of that is spent in combat, if it even happens at all. The rest is waiting for battle and remaining vigilant. I don't have a need for someone who doesn't have the patience to wait for orders." Candor chuckled a little bit. "Plus, with her attitude, giving her remedial training won't change her attitude. She doesn't care what happens to herself, that's most good soldiers. But, she might care about what happens to her soldiers. So, we punish her soldiers for her actions. If she doesn't care, then she's not the kind of leader I want in the field with me, and I'll send her back to rear detachment to work in an office while we're out on our expedition." "Normally I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble to weed out good troops to take with me, but they kind of just threw all this at me last minute." He added.

Zephyr only gave a cursory glare at Chrysalis. He tried not to even look at her, or Will for that matter. The praetorian was thoroughly displeased by the current turn of events, and the impromptu continual changes in plans. This was not at all how he planned things to go... not that he had a specific itinerary, but he expected quite a bit less strife and excitement. He got enough of that out in the wildlands. "Very well. Let us proceed." He responded to Lektra as they walked into the building. He looked around curiously, even at the main hall as they entered, getting glimpses of some of the students rushing through the halls. Most classes were in session at the time, but there were always a few going to various rooms for different reasons. His changeling retinue trailed in behind him, two by two with the two fireflies directly behind Zephyr. He paused when Lektra posed the question about grades. The changeling tried to consider what she was referring too... did she mean intelligence levels? House Pisces didn't really have schools in the typical sense... a pod of twelve to twenty grubs were assigned a single caretaker. That caretaker remained with them until the grubs were old enough to be assigned responsibilities and sent off for specialized training. Until then that single caretaker was responsible for teaching them basic concepts, and provide additional teaching to those under their care that shows aptitude or interest in various areas. That meant there was no such thing as school breaks or 'days off', as the process was a daily affair. Colts and fillies, and other young creatures were generally mixed in with the grubs. Zephyr blushed a little, looking back at Lektra with a little bit of embarrassed confusion. "You mean intelligence phases or... age? I suppose I'd like to start at one of the newer uhm, grades." Zephyr reached over, partially using his magic, to pull Will beside him. He lowered his head to whisper to the other changeling. "What does she mean by grade?" he asked with his whisper.

@Lektra Bolt @WiiGuy2014 same here. Also, got my motivation back! So, hopefully you'll see that 20+ page lore document I keep promising, and some better posts from me XP

The sphinx only got angrier at the assessment of her combat skills... or lack thereof. She growled for a moment, before looking at where Maple was pointing. She squinted, assuming the bat was referring to some kind of bug or something, before shaking her head in dismissal and growling once again. "Shut up!" She snapped. "Enough wasting my time, you're mine!" Meanwhile, the short creature looked at the sphinx, before looking at the ground in front of him and directly in between Maple and the cat. He took two steps back, stepped to the side, then looked back up at the sphinx. "You won't attack me? Then I'll start us off again!" She shouted, charging forward swinging her sword overhead. The undead creature held his stick out in front of him. Of course, the sphinx still didn't see it... she tumbled forward, sword flying off to the side in a spinning motion. She dove headfirst into the dirt. The little creature put his pointed hand up to his skeletal snout as if stifling a silent laugh, before casually waddling back over to Maple and climbing back onto her back. The sphinx looked up in shock and horror, cheeks red with embarrassment as her tumble drew the laughter of those still in the fighting pit. The group of fighters surrounding Woody among the crowd of warriors battling to the death, despite missing with every blow, fought ferociously as they could. One of them, an earth pony witch hunter in brown leathers and black straps slashed with two rapiers in dancing motions. The rabbit had a short-sword he used like a claymore, spinning and slicing with the best of them. A red and white banner knight tried bashing Woody with his shield. Finally, the mage trying to stay with them used a series of magical swords to dance around Woody in an attempt to keep him contained, but clearly failing in his efforts. Some the witch hunter and banner knight both weren't able to keep their footing. Still, the rabbit and mage maintained the attack on woody. They were desperate, but they weren't going to stop until they were dead or dying. The battle around them was just as one sided. While there weren't many warriors from the Wolf hanging around, especially after the order not to actually kill anyone, the place was flooded by the flashy war dancers of the Serpent, wearing scandalous and skimpy armors with black, pink, and purple colors. They were far more delighted by the prospect of the challenge, slicing off limbs and delivering horrific but survivable wounds. Just like grim, they had a sort of sadistic delight slicing apart their foes. There was no fear on their part, this was what they lived for. Nothing but an insane rage and lustful glee while they carved a path through the crowded streets of militia and state troops. Further up the street, the road rose up a hill towards the cathedral. More troops streamed down into the fray, but among them a row of cannons rolled into position.

Zephyr glared at Will. "I've already released you, traitor. Keep pressing your luck and I'll apprehend you again." He huffed a few times, considering 'Chrisie's' request. He didn't like the idea of helping the former traitor queen though, the very same that helped to destroy her own hive. There was no telling what others might think of him if he assisted both a traitor and the cause for all of those phase zero reformed changelings. Then again... he didn't have to 'help' her. Instead, he could 'clip her wings', figuratively speaking, effectively destroying her more powerful dark magical abilities. Such an act would surely be seen as beneficial, to destroy this new Chrysalis and leave her a shell of her former self by removing the miasma within her. She leaves happily, New Everfree is thankful, and he's removed a dangerous threat from the world. Sounds like a win all around, but he wasn't going to let it be just the one victory. Zephyr sighed. "Fine. I agree to help you... Queen." he said the word begrudgingly, she was still a queen after all. Should he tell her about the other exiles? "Let us continue on our tour. We now have a great deal more to discuss." He closed his shell and relaxed, along with his followers. "Proceed." The praetorian gave a polite tilt of the head in acknowledgement to Lektra.

@Lektra Bolt Oh, I don't mean tyrant in the literal sense... that's why he said earlier he doesn't want to get in trouble. Just tyrant in the sense he can't do anything unless they say so. Like a boss, more or less.

@Lektra Bolt So... tell the people he thinks are the tyrants, that they are tyrants (in the figurative sense of the word), and have both his loyalty and job called into question? Not a chance...

@Lektra Bolt Hey now, hold on! He didn't say anything like that out loud!

@woodchunks66 He he, it's just like a real government, always waiting for someone above you to make a decision XP

@Lektra Bolt @Denim&Venom @woodchunks66 The captain rubbed his forehead in dismay. At this point, there was really nothing he could do. Him and his troops were at the whims of three arguing mares, none of which he could try to reason with or offer any suggestions to. As far as they were concerned, he was just some random nameless soldier that just so happened to be standing around. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one. Candor stepped back, pulling AJ and the lieutenant both away from the tyrant trio. "Ma'am, it might be bet if we stay out of this." Candor stated to AJ. "All we can do is wait for them to finish arguing. Not much point in trying to give our two cents. They've already decided in their heads what they want to do." And that was that. Of course now he needed to worry about wasting resources and whatnot, just sitting around waiting for them to make a decision. That's how coin got wasted in the army, just sitting around waiting for superiors to make a blasted decision. Every minute off schedule is another drop of coin in the bucket.

@Denim&Venom @Lektra Bolt @woodchunks66 Just don't go too overboard on predictions and whatnot. We already have plans for what's going on with the area. So either those images aren't up to date, or they're flat out a lie... probably a lie! Robot's probably trying to do something seedy... you know how evil robots are! Can't trust em'... or... golems... whatever we're calling Luster.

The creature merely stared back at her with its empty eye sockets and natural grin of a bony mouth. It didn't respond to her question, perhaps it couldn't. Or rather, it just didn't want to. Not that anyone else would know. The sphinx looked a little confused, tilting her head slightly as she sidestepped to try and stay in Maple's line of sight as she tried to look at the creature on her back. The cat clearly didn't see it. "What, it's not obvious?!" The sphinx snapped back at Maple, thinking the bat was addressing her. "Rematch, now! I wasn't ready last time!" She unholstered her claymore from her back, swinging it and leveling it towards Maple. At the same time, the undead robed tiny creature on Maple's back changed looked over to the sphinx, staring at her for a good while. Casually, he slid off of Maple's back and took a few steps forward. "I won't give you another chance to ready yourself bat!" The sphinx shouted. His followers gasped. The lord looked ashamed at his utter failure, something he should have expected. It was a foolish mistake, one he wouldn't have accepted form any of his comrades. Yet there he was, bloody with a sword in his back. "CHARGE!!" The rabbit creature shouted, firing her rifle at woody. The entire front line of soldiers fired their musekts into Woody and Grim, along with the chaos warriors behind them. After the first line fired, they crouched to reload while the second row fired. Once their weapons were discharged, a crowd of soldiers with pikes and spears leaped and charged between the gunners and rushed forward, swarming the street and shouting battle cries. They poured from the front, and the many side alleys and side streets. On the rooftops, the rangers, militia, and flyers began raining down fire as well, some jumping down into the fray. In an instant it was complete madness, the city defenders completely surrounding pockets of chaos warriors. Even grim seemed to be having some trouble fighting off the long spears and pikes being jabbed at him from all sides. The group of heroes who had accompanied the Lord charged for Woody and Woody alone, the rabbit creature riding atop one of the heavy troopers with his ornate sword. The mage cast a shield as they charged, trying to smash it into Woody. Other nameless warriors tried to surround Woody, though nervously, leveling their spears and swords as they moved in to attack.

"Yes of course your grace!" Quartz bowed respectfully in response. The canine was finally put at ease around the Queen Empress. For whatever reason, most were still a little timid and afraid around her. Not that her mother was a tyrant, or she herself. It was the position of power, the authority both held, if nothing else the pure magnitude of their title. It didn't help that most of the Imperial Guard were a bit more stern than the rest of the legion. They were quite thorough when screening those who would see and speak with her. "I'll have a 24 hour heavy guard on the current entrance and we'll find the second, if there is one. I mean... if we look for it here in the city... I imagine it would be much easier to spot it from the overworld. If it wasn't contaminated of course!" She chuckled nervously. "I mean, I'm sure our Evo commandos could handle it, but why take unnecessary risks." She looked up at Flurry hopefully. It was an exciting prospect after all... to see the outside. Few could actually grasp what it was like out there, since most alive nowadays had never seen anything outside of the giant city cavern and the adjoining underways. Though, she wasn't going to say so directly of course... "Yes of course your grace!" Quartz bowed respectfully in response. The canine was finally put at ease around the Queen Empress. For whatever reason, most were still a little timid and afraid around her. Not that her mother was a tyrant, or she herself. It was the position of power, the authority both held, if nothing else the pure magnitude of their title. It didn't help that most of the Imperial Guard were a bit more stern than the rest of the legion. They were quite thorough when screening those who would see and speak with her. "I'll have a 24 hour heavy guard on the current entrance and we'll find the second, if there is one. I mean... if we look for it here in the city... I imagine it would be much easier to spot it from the overworld. If it wasn't contaminated of course!" She chuckled nervously. "I mean, I'm sure our Evo commandos could handle it, but why take unnecessary risks." She looked up at Flurry hopefully. It was an exciting prospect after all... to see the outside. Few could actually grasp what it was like out there, since most alive nowadays had never seen anything outside of the giant city cavern and the adjoining underways. Though, she wasn't going to say so directly of course... "Yes of course your grace!" Quartz bowed respectfully in response. The canine was finally put at ease around the Queen Empress. For whatever reason, most were still a little timid and afraid around her. Not that her mother was a tyrant, or she herself. It was the position of power, the authority both held, if nothing else the pure magnitude of their title. It didn't help that most of the Imperial Guard were a bit more stern than the rest of the legion. They were quite thorough when screening those who would see and speak with her. "I'll have a 24 hour heavy guard on the current entrance and we'll find the second, if there is one. I mean... if we look for it here in the city... I imagine it would be much easier to spot it from the overworld. If it wasn't contaminated of course!" She chuckled nervously. "I mean, I'm sure our Evo commandos could handle it, but why take unnecessary risks." She looked up at Flurry hopefully. It was an exciting prospect after all... to see the outside. Few could actually grasp what it was like out there, since most alive nowadays had never seen anything outside of the giant city cavern and the adjoining underways. Though, she wasn't going to say so directly of course...

The creature clung to Maple's back, though with some clear difficulty. He almost flung off on several occasions, but the little creature had certainly done something like that before. It was utterly silent though, and it oddly enough, barely weighed anything at all. In fact, if she had not seen him or felt his tiny little pointed hands, she might not have even noticed him. Some of the warriors gave her some odd looks. A few others tried to avoid looking, as if her actions were unusually cringe worthy. The little creature waited for Maple to calm down, clinging tightly with legs straddled around her back and arm wrapped halfway around her neck (neither were really long). "Hey!" Someone snapped. "Rematch!" It was the sphinx from before, the one she had just slayed. Despite just dying, she didn't look all that worse for ware, claymore slung across her back as she stood with a clearly aggressive stance staring at Maple from behind. The cat snarled, nose scrunched up and like the others, not even seeming to notice the little creature on Maple's back. The lord was just as surprised when Woody let him go as when he had picked him up. At first he was confused, looking between the blade and Woody with uncertainty, then suspicion. Still, he slowly and hesitantly picked up the sword. The rabbit creature from before, sporting a powder rifle reached out to stop him, along with protests from several more of his companions. He pushed them aside and stepped forward towards Woody, weapon at the ready. Grim watched with clear delight and interest. At the same instant, many of the chaos warriors began filling in behind him and Woody on the wide street. A few more city defenders showed up, filling in the gaps between the more elite looking groups. These were a ragged collection of civilians armed with whatever they could find, those that hadn't fled for their lives. Suddenly, but perhaps predictably, the lord charged Woody.

"Psch..." Storm scoffed, waving his claws indifferently. "Fine... whatever... well, I'm gonna go find some moles and groundhogs holes. Oh! Can you go grab some cheese and stuff to go with them? Maybe some red cider too..." "Yah, we didn't get to fight like you..." Quartz replied with a smirk. "Why don't you go back to the village and grab some stuff and we'll meet you out in the fields?" The two started walking down a path leading away from the small fighting pit and up the surrounding hill. A small, strange creature passed by them, but they didn't seem to notice it, or care at least. It didn't really give them any attention either, the little beast walking on to black toothpick legs. It was completely at odds with all the other creatures beating each other senseless around it. For that matter, it didn't fit in with the Wolf's followers at all. It wore a watery blue robe, kept together with stitches and patchwork repairs. In one of it's toothpick black arms it carried a stick with a lantern, blue flame swirling inside. Sticking out of the cowl of its robe was the dirty skull of some snouted creature for its head. Two ears poked out from the top of the cowl, both covered by more patchwork cloth. The tiny undead creature continued on its path, completely invisible to the warriors around it. Without hesitation, it stopped beside Maple, climbing up onto her back without so much as a word. The lord struggled as he began to rise in the air, panicking but trying to keep his demeanor. "H- he let you in here for one reason and one reason only!" The pony shouted. Many of his followers from earlier were present, standing behind (now below) him with weapons at the ready. Even the rabbit from before was sporting a rather large rifle, the ragtag group of Imperial adventurers in red and white colors ready for whatever came next. "SO THAT WE COULD KILL YOU!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. More fighters popped over the edges of the rooftops. They weren't the average soldiers. One group sporting various bows were deer rangers, the same kind one might find in the Everfree, draped in cloaks of grass and leaves with wooden armor. There was a blue dragon in gold armor, and more yet assorted adventurers and mercenaries. Grim merely gave a chuckle. "We'd rather die than let you hurt a single innocent creature in this city!" Shouted the lord, quite unable to really back up his bravado himself.

Oh come on, didn't we just have this conversation @Lektra Bolt >.> Also, he saw the dark magic with his own eyes. It's more to the point he's not sure if he wants to help the ACTUAL Chrysalis, and as far as he's concerned, that's her. Build the trust, discuss it during the process of the RP in character.

I think most 'scanner' results she provides Zephyr will disregard. He doesn't know the technology any more than Lektra knows the changeling's biology. No trust. But, I won't tell you how to proceed. Good luck on that! XD

Well, there are apparently a lot of ways to get eternal youth in this universe... it's not much of a stretch to believe she might be the original considering Lektra and will are standing right next to him.

Zephyr was caught off guard by her sudden response, not quite expecting her to grab onto his head and essentially hold him down. The two fireflies moved to respond, but some signal sent by their commander put them at ease. Well, somewhat at ease, they remained uncomfortably close to Lektra, snarling in preparation to do the deed if need be. Of course, they held themselves at bay for the time being. Zephyr channeled his magic, both pincers on either side of his head glowing purples and pinks. Just as Lektra let go and tried to step back, the changeling shoved her back even further. Fortunately, as annoyed as he looked, he wasn't all that perturbed by her entirely physical response. The others were though... "Is that so?" He rose a brow, finally looking towards Chrysalis and Will. "So the traitor queen, the one that abandoned her hive when they needed her most, one that appears interested in hiding behind whatever facade she's created and unwilling to accept responsibility for her actions?" He huffed. It was clear he didn't fully grasp, or perhaps not even believe what Chrysalis or 'Chryssy' was saying. Likely the latter... her tale was a cautionary one told to his kind, a reminder of how thinking oneself superior to those around them could result in utter destruction. What made all this worse, was that both the traitors were in the same place, hitting it off relatively well all things considered. Perhaps his emotions really did obscure his judgement this time, letting will go that is. It didn't matter to him if she was 'reformed' or phase zero as his kind called it, more the point her person was there. "Help?" Zephyr replied incredulously as he stared at Chrysalis, before giving a suspicious look to Lektra. "Not only have I convinced my superiors to suspend any possibilities of hostilities between our two nations before even meeting you, I've also released a known traitor into your custody as a sign of good will. Now you and that... thing... are asking for my help? Doing what exactly, removing the miasma from her being? And what incentive do I have for doing such a thing?" "I would have much rather not been brought here under false pretenses..." He growled to Lektra. Zephyr then shifted his focus back to Chrysalis. "Even if I did want to help it, I would need additional Praetorians, and perhaps even a hexapod to amplify my abilities. I am very hesitant to bring a weapon of such magnitude and value anywhere near your city at present... current events notwithstanding."

@Lektra Bolt hehe, wait a minute, did she actually sit on him? Just to make sure I'm reading it right.

@Lektra Bolt okay, how about this: you gotta stop worrying about the consequences out of character. Just go with the flow! take risks! I don't want my character or your character just following some rigid formula... I want it to feel natural. The only time it will fall apart is if we have some sort of dispute in OOC, and I think we're past that now. Now, we deal with our characters. I mean... do you really think I would just leave? After all the work we've put into all this? C'mon...