Joat

Malchoir sighs. Once Ryan is out of earshot, he quotes: “Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.” He continues speaking. “I am not convinced his ‘tactics’ would have ended well, especially when compared to the idea of not taking all of the enemy forces on at once. He may only learn patience the hard way.”

“Ryan…” Malchoir sighs. “You are not a god. Even if you were, we are not gods. You didn’t just endanger your own life out there by jumping into things in far less than ideal conditions, you endangered ours as well. I have seen this situation before, where someone overestimates themselves, jumps in too soon, and ends up getting their teacher or best friend killed. I have seen people rush in without regard without realizing their own limitations only to be killed like a fly. There are far more ideal conditions to fight an enemy in than in their own base with their full forces intact. Even if you are powerful, poor tactics will get you killed. Even if you are indisputably stronger than what you are attacking, poor tactics will get you killed. Or your closest friends.”

“Ryan,” Malchoir says, not changing back into normal form but not leaving slime on Ryan’s mouth (so he can talk clearly again). “We need to talk. As comrades and as friends. Now.”

--POST DELETED--

Malchoir sighs. He internally assesses the chances Ryan will survive this. Bolt Chaser does not seem like the quick and efficient villain. No, this baddie seems like just the type to want to toy with their prey rather than go for the kill. After all, why would Bolt want to break his favorite toys? Malchoir thus determines that Ryan will no doubt be injured, but will ultimately be spared. Still, he would rather not take the risk of death or serious injury. “I know you aren’t going to listen, but remember that talk we had about patience? Y’know, the one where you didn’t listen that time, either.” The cards reappear around Malchoir at his mental command. One of the cards slices itself in half and disappears. Malchoir transforms into a green version of himself made of slime, 6’ tall instead of the normal 3’. He tries placing a paw on Ryan’s mouth. The slime is sticky, so Ryan might find it difficult to open his mouth. “Patience is a virtue for a reason.”

“Leeroooy Jenkins,” Malchoir mutters, facepawing.

“Good lord,” Malchoir thinks, looking at the new medals, “I hope you got all the badges right, ‘cause the HRO’s bound to know what is and isn’t a proper badge.”

*OOC: Something retroactive since I did not get the chance while it was going on. You guys kinda went off without me again, at least to a minor degree. Please refrain from doing that, for I cannot be on 24-7. It is not only unfair, but it causes me to make mistakes as it forces me to speed-read and make a post to catch up without having time to think much about it.* Malchoir, now an earth pony colored dusty brown with darker brown hair, looks at his cutie mark. “It appears that my cutie mark is a shovel. Not exactly sure what that’s supposed to…” He looks at his sword and notices that it has instead become a shovel. “Oh. Well, I would say, then, that my talent got the most direct conversion. At least on face value.” *OOC: Presently…* Malchoir follows silently, carrying the shovel in his teeth. The less he says, the less people will pay him any mind. After all, he does not yet have any reason to draw attention to himself.

Starshift sends a Ghost Flare at the presumably-sorrowsworn. The presumably-sorrowsworn can apparently quite easily render physical attacks harmless, but that seems to be an active defense. Even if this thing can also block magical attacks, Starshift feels that they still have a chance.

“Stun spells, teleportation, and physical attacks. Those sound useful to me. Though, like Breech said, teleporting may be too risky, unfortunately.” Starshift looks deeper in the cave. “Of course, we’re not exactly erring on the side of caution as it is, are we?”

“Yes,” Starshift says, walking toward the new pony, “but please be quiet. There may be hostile beings in this cave.”

“Well, chances are they aren’t doing the exact same stuff at all hours of the day. Could be a scheduled activity. Still worth looking into, though.”

“Make objects and presumably people disappear to an unknown location, it has been recently established. Yeah, not all of them can do that, but still.”

“I don’t like the idea of splitting up the group, but alright.”

“Windy Hooves?” Malchoir suggests, shrugging.

“I have a spell called Ghost Flare that weakens enemies from afar. At least if it hits. That’s usually my strategy. It’s a good subdual tactic, but if I need a more permanent solution to the problem, I can always use my horn once the enemy too weakened to move.” She notices the bones, cobwebs, et cetera. “I cannot say for certain, but this looks a lot like sorrowsworn live here. I don’t know a great deal about them, but I know that they’re not from this dimension and they hunt by pulse. That said, except for my Antiflow spell, which stops my heart beating for a short while, stealth may not be an option.”

The fox yawns and stretches. He looks around. Things have been quiet for a while, but it seems now to be about time for the adventure to continue. The first challenge was a dragon. What lies in store for them next?

“Given the nature of names here, Dusty Mane might work.”

“I thought that would be the answer. Anyway, if we’re going with my plan, we need to think of how to find the ideal pawn.”

Malchoir wakes up quite quickly. Being an adventurer, he has learned to be a morning person, whenever the ‘morning’ may happen to be. “Do we have a specific location in mind? Also, do we have time for breakfast or do we need to skip it?”

“Thanks. That would help,” Starshift says. It is certainly a lot better than the Stardust spell she thought she would need to use, which has the potential for sensory overload.

In a strange feat of sleeping acrobatics usually attributed to only the most masterful of cats, Malchoir somehow manages to start heading to sleep while on the hilt of his sword.

“I can too, depending on the card. Anyway, so we’re sleeping nearby?”

“And I thought my ability to turn living enemies into dead enemies was an impressive transformation ability. Kind of a one-trick pony in that way. Er, no pun intended.”

“Also, maybe we could disguise the sword as a large axe.”