private The Æther Project

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

It wouldn't take long to replace the cable, the whole craft had been designed with easy repairs in mind, just like most Trojan technology. Crank would be able to find that a few of the gears had lost teeth, causing the chain that ran one of the propellers to start skipping, which is why it was running out of sync with the others. It would take him about as long to replace the faulty gears as it would take Merlot to replace the cable, then Merlot would be able to help Crank stress test the remaining gears and cables to make sure none of them were on the brink of failure, which revealed another gear and cable to be replaced.

That done their craft was officially airworthy, and not a moment too soon as they were approached by Lt. General Prop, a pegasus mare who was one of the few survivors of the Pericles after it had been downed in Cervidas during the Summer War, She nodded at the both of them, "Pilot, Engine, is your craft airworthy?"

Crank nodded, "Just ran the checks."

Prop nodded, "Good. Suit up, they've just confirmed that the AA defenses are disabled, we need you to establish some areal reconnaissance."

Crank nodded, "We'll take off immediately."

Prop turned to leave, unless Merlot had concerns, it seemed like a standard recon mission, they typically sent out most of the crafts upon arrival each cycle anyway, they had just been delayed this time due to the sudden stop. It would essentially involve them flying around the area, marking off spots where resources or survivors might be picked up, as well as areas to potentially avoid.

Crank seemed excited, "Good thing we ran those checks, we can get right out there, isn't it great? What do you think we'll see out there?"

 

@Blitz Boom

The tutor sighed as Briar prodded deeper, "I'm not hurt, not physically at least, but this whole experience has me shaken. We've been safe, secure, for a few years now, but things like this remind you that we're one big mistake from everything falling apart. We're lucky that HE wasn't what stopped us, or we'd all likely be dead now. Still though, while I may be shaken, scared to my core, it won't help anyone to spread that to the foals. So I have to be strong, to keep them feeling safe."

She paused as she turned away, "Still, thank you for your concern." With that she'd head out, on to the next child that needed reassurance that everything would be okay.

 

@-Solstice- @Kujamih @Blitz Boom

(Notice, while I said what would happen if anyone else peaked, I didn't say what would happen if Spiral did. You could call it a trap, but that's what you get for having your characters act on information they did not have.)

On 2022-07-02 at 10:21 AM, Spiral Spell said:

and would quickly look to see the marble golem patrolling the place.

As soon as Spiral stuck her head out she was spotted by the golem, which started making noise akin to speech. While Spiral knew how to read Unique, she had never heard it spoken as it had died with the birth of Equestria, and thus would be unable to understand the golem. Still though, she was grasped by the same multicolor light that held the Project still, and was lifted in the air to be carried off behind the golem as it turned around, taking Spiral deeper into the palace.

In lieu of receiving Spiral's report, the Jester would appear where she had been grabbed from, assuming the others didn't immediately go after her, "I tried to warn you, and now she's being taken to join the other unicorns in their captivity. Unless you save her. You'll have to be clever clever though. These were designed to stop even the most powerful of unicorns from resisting."

The Golem was now facing away from the group as it headed East down a wider hall, it seemed to big to fit through the narrow hallways, though it had demonstrated it could still attack them down narrow ones if it saw them. Spiral was carried in a magic bubble on the Golem's back. The bubble would only get stronger the more magic Spiral tried to use to escape.

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@Illiad Easle @-Solstice- @Blitz Boom

Knowing Last Stand, she would immediately take action. 

Light would hold everyone off and avoid the rest of the group getting captured or seen.

He would put his hoof at his mouth, a sign to stay quiet.

" Please everyone don't panic... It seems the golem, is quite powerful. I believe it  won't harm her... If the jester speaks the truth, it would be wise to follow them cautiously to where they'll take her."

 

"We won't abandon her." He made sure to say to Last Stand.

He would cast his ability to make themselves light as a feather to avoid heavy foot steps. And avoid what spiral did.

" We should be really careful, we have no idea how the golem could easily detect Spiral." 

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

Merlot continued with her work until the cable was fixed. When Crank needed help replacing the gears inside of the engine, she would gladly provide it. When they had finally finished that, as far as they could tell they had fixed everything that needed to be fixed. She didn't know about anyone else, but she could only focus on her immediate situation and hope for the best. At the very least that situation was resolved. Onto the next.

Merlot didn't object to Prop's instructions. Honestly, she did sort of like the mare one way or another. The mare was a survivor, and was strong willed and well thought out in the way she presents herself. At the very least that is what Merlot thought about her. With a smile she would nod. "Right on, will do." she said, and would board the craft in preparations to leave.

When she was in the craft with Crank she'd smile. "Why don't we find out and see for ourselves?" she winked slightly, and then they would progress through their flight checks and inevitably fly off, Merlot piloting the craft through the air. First she wanted to get a look at exactly where they were in order to ascertain their environment before making further decisions. 

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @Kujamih

(Hah, well played. I think this is funny to be honest.)

Spiral knew better than to try to attack the magic bubble, since she knew well enough about Golems to not attempt to try to escape with her magic. She was very frustrated by this encounter but there was no going back. She didn't have any tools to escape out of with, but she knew that once the bubble was gone she could potentially try using her shadow magic to escape. But that will have to wait and be seen, it was up to the others to rescue her now. She knew that Last Stand could do it. As well as White Light, no matter how much White Light annoyed her, he did have very useful abilities. 

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Illiad Easle

Before she left, there were a few words that Briar would say. And yes, remarkably enough, this time, it actually were just a few words.

"A conviction, and reasoning, I can relate to. Take care."

He understood, as he did much the same with Brittle. Even on his worst days, he needed to keep himself looking, like everything were okay, and that he were in control. If he didn't, she'd just get rattled, and even more concerned than normally, and he were well aware of it. She had even a few times, brazenly said, that she only felt safe, when he were there, because she knew he wouldn't let others hurt her

The circus he had saved her from, were years past now, yet she still couldn't forget it. Nor how he had broken her out, when he came across it, and witnessed the vile treatment, she went through.

*sigh* He hoped someday, she would gain some confidence, and be able to brave into things, on her own accord, but with how things had gone in recent years, he feared this were yet far off.

He'd think of things such as this, as he ate the rest of his meal, and if nothing happened, the two of them, would rest up. Either until they were awakened, due to something happening, or later, after a long, long sleep.

======================================================================

 

@Illiad Easle @Kujamih @-Solstice-

On 2022-07-09 at 8:01 AM, Illiad Easle said:

In lieu of receiving Spiral's report, the Jester would appear where she had been grabbed from, assuming the others didn't immediately go after her, "I tried to warn you, and now she's being taken to join the other unicorns in their captivity. Unless you save her. You'll have to be clever clever though. These were designed to stop even the most powerful of unicorns from resisting."

The Golem was now facing away from the group as it headed East down a wider hall, it seemed to big to fit through the narrow hallways, though it had demonstrated it could still attack them down narrow ones if it saw them. Spiral was carried in a magic bubble on the Golem's back. The bubble would only get stronger the more magic Spiral tried to use to escape.

Last turned, and looked at the jester, with thunderous rage, roaring in her eye. She'd then say something... Not meant for a younger audience to him. Something in a few, yet incredibly rude words, before she took a step forward, ready to go in, and do something, rather than letting the golem leave with Spiral this easily.

On 2022-07-09 at 1:51 PM, Kujamih said:

" Please everyone don't panic... It seems the golem, is quite powerful. I believe it  won't harm her... If the jester speaks the truth, it would be wise to follow them cautiously to where they'll take her."

 

"We won't abandon her." He made sure to say to Last Stand.

He would cast his ability to make themselves light as a feather to avoid heavy foot steps. And avoid what spiral did.

" We should be really careful, we have no idea how the golem could easily detect Spiral." 

"If we don't get her, before they get too far in, we will already have abandoned her."

She were used to something simple: If one were taken prisoner, it meant they were being dragged off to be tortured. And even if that wasn't it, but instead Spiral would be made to just be imprisoned somewhere, there were still the fact, that the further in she got, the more into uncharted territory they'd go. Territory, which might include locked doors, or barriers they couldn't pass. Either being bad, and more so, since Spiral had the bloody keys they had gathered, and were their lockpicker! They need her free, and the more they waited, the worse this would be.

So she'd step out, and raise her voice, new sword on the back, and the sword from The Æther, ready to strike, with the hilt sat firmly in her mouth.

"Hey, ugly!"

She weren't one for witty retorts, so this were all she'd go with, before dashing on, and keeping her eye closely on the golem. She'd see how fast it moved, and if there were obvious weak spots she could aim for, such as joints. If there weren't, her aim would be the bubble that Spiral were in, rather than the golem itself, at first. And it being rock, weren't something that'd bother her. Metal were another thing, but rock? She'd crushed rock before with her blade, and she'd do so again, if she got the chance.

As one raised on a battlefield, and having survived the ordeal, Last were quick in her step, and reacted quickly to motions. And when it came to striking, it would depend again, on what her target would be. The bauble, would be best struck at, in an upwards swing, to avoid hitting Spiral. Maybe a sideways, if she positioned herself in a crouching position, leaving more room up top. If it were the golem though, some hard hits had to be taken into consideration. Maybe even involving one of her favorite moves.

Or well, harder hitting ones, at any rate. Simplistic in nature, it were speed, giving momentum, then jump up, swinging with the blade in a downward curve, and then striking down hard. Either the golem would get hurt, or the blade would shatter. That were the only outcomes she were used to, with a top to bottom strike like this. Though if the joints were smarter choices, it would depend on the movement, and would primarily involve her avoiding a hit, to then strike at an exposed joint. Depending on the weight of the golem, she'd also be able to intercept strikes, with her blade, parrying it. She had done so with heavy hitters before, but she had never fought a golem. If it were too weighty, from the movements, she wouldn't even try. Her neck, and the blade, would snap then.

Times like this, she really wished she had her sisters weapons, from before the crisis. Extendable leg blades, helping to cause every movement of her limbs, to be able to work as a sword, in a given situation. She kept meaning to try and get hold of something like that herself, but there just hadn't been time and reason for it yet.

In regards to the golem, if it were shooting ice spikes at her, she'd either avoid them as she moved on, or if need be, slice them. Ice were nothing special, if you had a nice, sharp blade, and knew how to handle the force being but against the blade, when the two impacted one another.

That said, this could well be all tossed out of the window, if this thing just used magic, to lift her up, and stop her from moving. Which were bloody cheating, mind you. Hopefully Light would make himself useful here, and put his weight into the situation. Literally. That stunt might actually be helpful now.

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

The two of them would get into their winter flight suits given the temperature outside while members of the flight crew filled their wings with clouds to offset the reduced reaction times caused by the bulky suits. Then they'd each get strapped in before their craft was towed over to the elevator, where it was lifted up to the flight deck then towed out to the runway. Merlot got the signal to go, which she would relay to Crank, who would start peddling the engine, spinning up the propellers to get them moving, and soon enough they were off the project and flying about in the still cold air.

From Merlot's perspective flying the craft was very similar to gliding under her own power, tilting her wings and moving her tail would adjust the external flaps to adjust the trajectory of the craft just like she would if she were gliding. She had been trained not to flap, as that would trigger the eject, she had levers she could use to indicate to Crank in the engine whether to increase or decrease power, as well as a set of gauges that told her how fast they were going, how high they were above sea level, and what direction they were headed. Merlot also had a small desk that she could pull forward to take notes and mark points of interest. The crew on the Project had already detailed the topography they could see from the observation platforms, Merlot's job was to take a closer look and see if there were anything of interest or danger that had not been spotted from above.

They were presently near the top of a mountain, the statue that held the Project sitting on a large outcropping apart from the valley where the ground teams had landed to investigate the city and palace built into the mountain. The statue and the palace were likely part of the same large structure, connected inside the mountain. They could also see evidence of the city extending down the mountain in each direction, it was no doubt larger than Canterlot or Troy had been in their prime.

 

@Blitz Boom

(There won't be much happening on the ship until the Palace crew get further along, so we'll come back to this branch later.)

 

@-Solstice- @Kujamih @Blitz Boom

As Last Stand had ignored Light's suggestion, by charging ahead and drawing attention to herself, the Golem stopped advancing down the hallway and started turning in place. While the golem was large and heavily armed, it was not fast moving nor quick to turn. It became obvious that the weapons it had were not independently aimed, meaning that the whole golem had to turn to aim each weapon. Effective at long range but less so if they moved quickly or got close enough.

The golem made another series of sounds in Unique, unintelligible to those gathered, then started firing magic spikes of ice toward whoever came around the corner.

It would exclusively focus on whoever was closest, so if one of them wanted to draw it's fire while the other attacked from range, it would be helpless to the latter's attacks.

That said, the golem itself was very robust, magic deflector shields appearing to block Last's attacks and keep her from getting too close, though repeated attacks and dodges would cause the golem to retreat backwards down the hall.

Last would not be able to dodge forever though, if they didn't come up with something soon she'd no doubt get hit by a spike.

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

Merlot flew the craft through the air with ease, having long since gotten used to this she had no instinct in her to flap her wings. For a few minutes she went quiet as she took in the surroundings. Crank noticed this was a trait of hers, whenever they'd leave the project for the first few minutes she'd find herself just scanning and looking at the surroundings. When they came over the mountain and looked down, she looked down at the ground teams down below with passing interest. What truly interested her was how large this city seemed to be. That was when she spoke.

"Amazing how large this city is. Much larger than Troy or Canterlot seem to be. Imagine how much is also underneath that ice. Perhaps down there someone will find clues for why this city got locked under the ice. I hope they can find something of note. Perhaps there can be technology or working things of value that can prove of use to the Project." she commented, her eyes not leaving the instruments or the surroundings. Depending on what they saw below, she would mark various things down of interest or of possible hazards others had not spotted before. Her gaze and actions were calm, and controlled. She had long since learned to control her emotions.

"Looking at the statue there, if we didn't have anyone down on the ground I would suggest we blast that statue to bits, maybe that's where the source of our woes lies. There's definitely gotta be someone, or something down there with intelligent character. I refuse to believe it's a mere fluke or long standing system that was put into place." she added.

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @Kujamih

Spiral couldn't do much else within the bubble currently and just awaited the actions of the others. With her keys, she kept them hidden so that the golem didn't see them. She hoped the best for her rescue, but looked through her materials to see if there was anything physical she could use to break out of the Golem's bubble. 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@-Solstice- @Blitz Boom @Illiad Easle

"DAMN FOOL!!" Light shouted out of frustration. He would also instantly join in as well to assist Last Stand.

Luckily Light has already applied some support magic to the whole team making them very light, hence them nimble and they won't easily get tired.

Light would now focus on the offence.

To further assist Last Stand he would make fake images of himself and Last Stand by distorting the light, but this will only work if the golem detects through vision though. 

" Zero Gravity!" 

Then he would cast one of his spells to the golem, if not applicable to the target, he would target the ground where it steps instead.

The golem will experience weightlessness. Making a simple vibration or touch to course it to lose it's footing or have no proper force to apply to its swing since it won't end up pushing it's initial target but push itself instead. 

Further more whenever Last Stand would deal a strike he would multiply the weapons weight making her strike more powerful if not able to cut the golem if Last Stand's swing is fast enough.... Which surely would. ( Mostly would be applied to a downward strike to avoid harming Last Stand.)

If an opening would then present itself he would strike one of the joints. Making that specific body part extremely Light that he could easily destroy the joints if he returns back the golems gravity, getting crushed by it own weight, or either be pulled off.

Or by applying more weight on his Black sharded Fist.

( Note:His black shards can absorb none changeling magic)

" Spiral! Hang in there! It gonna be a bumpy ride for you..."  

Edited July 11, 2022 by Kujamih

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Illiad Easle @Kujamih @-Solstice-

On 2022-07-11 at 10:50 PM, Illiad Easle said:

The golem made another series of sounds in Unique, unintelligible to those gathered, then started firing magic spikes of ice toward whoever came around the corner.

It would exclusively focus on whoever was closest, so if one of them wanted to draw it's fire while the other attacked from range, it would be helpless to the latter's attacks.

That said, the golem itself was very robust, magic deflector shields appearing to block Last's attacks and keep her from getting too close, though repeated attacks and dodges would cause the golem to retreat backwards down the hall.

Last would not be able to dodge forever though, if they didn't come up with something soon she'd no doubt get hit by a spike.

So, the overgrown rat wanted to fight dirty, huh? Well then, it could bring it on!

Last dodged a few spikes, then the third that came her way, she'd swing her sword against, cleaving it, though getting pushed back a little from the pressure. She'd move forward from there, avoiding what she could, and if the spikes got jabbed into the ground, potentially even using them as cover a few times, but her progress were slow. Slow as the golem were, its attacks had a hard range, and it fired rapidly. She were a melee combatant. What some might call a grunt, meant to take attacks on with the ones up close, whilst the ranged attackers would fire off the artillery, for the troublemakers out of reach.

Much as she'd dodge, cut, jump, and parry here, and do it admirably, even she knew that if she didn't get some backup soon, she'd be on her flank eventually. And annoyingly, the one time she did get close enough to strik, with a hit that's normally at least crack rock, it seemed the cheater were using magic shields. Cause of course, nothing could just be bloody easy! And she had to jump back a fair bit after that, to avoid some attacks, so she were not making a lot of progress.

"Light! Come make yourself useful!"

Granted, she felt his interference some, a little prior to this. The hit she had made, felt like it were hitting with a heavier swing than she had anticipating, with the position she had been in at the time, which would fit his odd magic. But it weren't gonna be enough.

She were NOT a fan of him messing with her own weight though. That nearly made her get hit, and caused a spike to leave a small cut on her right shoulder, due to her instincts reacting confused for a moment. She'd need to have a word with him. She had one in mind even. It started with an I, and had to be said at high volumes.

On 2022-07-11 at 11:50 PM, Kujamih said:

Then he would cast one of his spells to the golem, if not applicable to the target, he would target the ground where it steps instead.

The golem will experience weightlessness. Making a simple vibration or touch to course it to lose it's footing or have no proper force to apply to its swing since it won't end up pushing it's initial target but push itself instead. 

Further more whenever Last Stand would deal a strike he would multiply the weapons weight making her strike more powerful if not able to cut the golem if Last Stand's swing is fast enough.... Which surely would. ( Mostly would be applied to a downward strike to avoid harming Last Stand.)

If an opening would then present itself he would strike one of the joints. Making that specific body part extremely Light that he could easily destroy the joints if he returns back the golems gravity, getting crushed by it own weight, or either be pulled off.

Or by applying more weight on his Black sharded Fist.

( Note:His black shards can absorb none changeling magic)

" Spiral! Hang in there! It gonna be a bumpy ride for you..."  

If she were the decoy in this, she'd continue to keep the attention, and just do her best, to not get impaled. Though if the onslaught got worse, she'd need to retreat. She didn't like that one bit, but she couldn't help Spiral, if she were dead.

If Light were the decoy, she'd push on relentlessly, slashing away, until either her sword would break, or the bloody thing ran out of battery to power that thing! Even if it went on retreat, that didn't means he'd stop. This thing moved slowly. Surely it couldn't run away from her that easily.

Then again, it could teleport perhaps... Oh, it better freaking not.

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

On 2022-07-11 at 3:35 PM, Spiral Spell said:

Perhaps down there someone will find clues for why this city got locked under the ice. I hope they can find something of note. Perhaps there can be technology or working things of value that can prove of use to the Project."

Given the configuration of the craft they couldn't see each other, and Crank had a very limited view outside the craft, "Well, at the very least the statue is working, and until recently the anti-air defences were working. Maybe they could recover whatever's powering everything? That would certainly help the Project, as would automated defenses."

 

On 2022-07-11 at 3:35 PM, Spiral Spell said:

"Looking at the statue there, if we didn't have anyone down on the ground I would suggest we blast that statue to bits, maybe that's where the source of our woes lies. There's definitely gotta be someone, or something down there with intelligent character. I refuse to believe it's a mere fluke or long standing system that was put into place." she added.

"If you're right, I wonder how they survived so long? And further, why haven't they done anything more than just stop the Project? Are they curious? Lonely? Anyway, we don't know if breaking the statue will even help, it could mess with the magic and seriously damage the Project if it goes wrong."

 

Flying a bit further out they could see a path that seemed darker than the others heading down the mountain to what looked like a frozen port, the top of the sails of a ship sticking out of the ice, the front half of the ship also sticking out, which revealed another interesting point, the ice suddenly stopped at a certain distance from the shoreline. They couldn't fly close enough to confirm, but it looked like the frozen portion of the ship, and the whole port, were full of ponies trapped in the ice.

 

@-Solstice- @Kujamih @Blitz Boom

From inside the bubble Spiral could see the trails of intricately carved runes that ran all over the Golem, powering and controlling it's every action. She could also see the tattered remnants of some parchment that had been affixed to the Golem, it was written in Unique as well, and it said something to the effect that all citizens were to report to the throne room, and would be brought by force. There was more to it, but the rest of the document was tattered beyond legibility. Clearly she wasn't the first to have been captured by this golem.

 

The magic shields on the Golem would only be strengthened by Light's attempt to cast magic through them, and reducing the weight of the ground didn't have much effect as the entire hallway was smoothly carved out of the mountain itself. However, increasing the weight of Last's strikes would allow her to have greater effect against the shields.

Ultimately though, Light's changelings spikes would prove the most effective, passing through the shields without issue and disabling the runes they came in contact with. They would start to be overwhelmed by the amount of power they were absorbing, then the Golem suddenly went stiff, as if it had been suddenly cut off from whatever was powering it, dropping Spiral unceremoniously to the floor.

Once things were quiet again, Ficus came trotting up behind them, "Is... is it safe?" She sighed, "The next, possibly last, item is close, likely just on the other side of this wall." She pointed North, "But we should be careful, there could be more of these things patrolling."

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@Illiad Easle @-Solstice- @Blitz Boom

Light would go near the bubble and pierce it with his shard, if it's made of magic it'll easily pop or get absorbed, but if not, they'd have to peal it off.

As they had time for themselves, Light would approach Last Stand and have a word with her.

" Hey... That was careless of you... I know Spiral is in danger but you should look at the situation and analyze it first... Spiral ain't as weak as she looks, and the golem was taking her somewhere where there might be survivors, as the jester somewhat implied. Ficus, can you detect any survivors by any chance? If not then there goes our chance of rescuing.... But then again I could be wrong.... Never the less you charging in.... I'd never expected that clumsiness from you..." Light was a bit serious from this topic since he was a bit alarmed and worried that his team would get killed... Again.

" And Spiral, I'm sorry if you thought I'd abandoned you from my decision to hold your rescue... This'll be a lesson for us to be more careful... Especially for me...." Light would then give a sigh of relief.

" What's done is done and I'm just happy we're all safe... Now what's the plan?" 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by Kujamih

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

Merlot agrees with Crank's assessment of the situation. "It would be more useful to discover what is powering the statue there. If it's that powerful to stop the project midair, then imagine what other uses such a thing could provide for us. We would be able to perform feats that we could not yet perform with the project." she said in agreement before marking down the frozen ship down below. "I see a ship down below there, frozen in the ice. There was clearly a shoreline here at some point. There is also a whole port here too." Merlot said in fascination.

"This just goes to show you that all of this ice here is not natural. In the past it was temperate, this area seems to have frozen all at once. Likely because of Windigoes. This is no ice age or anything like that. I see bodies frozen in the ice. We should get a team out here to check this out." she spoke, and marked this site of greater importance on her notes. 

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @Kujamih

Spiral fell to the floor and appeared more than glad to be free from the Golem's grasp. The way the thing was powered was something to be studied. She would be sure to remember all of the details of what she can for when they inevitably return back to the project and inform the others about this. She'd allow the others to talk and appeared rather quiet for a while before she grinned wildly. "Thanks. I don't know where that thing could have taken me. There are probably others in here that have been taken. We should perhaps find them, this Golem is a fascinating thing really. If only we could replicate it's technology aboard the project." Spiral spoke and then looked to White Light.

"I didn't think anything of the sort. Let's make a move on, we can't simply stand around here and talk. We have a job to do." she spoke, wanting to move onto their next objective and would proceed to do so if the others agreed. 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

4 hours ago, Spiral Spell said:

didn't think anything of the sort. Let's make a move on, we can't simply stand around here and talk. We have a job to do." she spoke,

" I see. Thank you for your understanding. " Light gave a gentle bow towards Spiral.

4 hours ago, Spiral Spell said:

Thanks. I don't know where that thing could have taken me. There are probably others in here that have been taken. We should perhaps find them, this Golem is a fascinating thing really. If only we could replicate it's technology aboard the project." Spiral spoke

Light would ponder and look around the golem.

"Why not Spiral? I think that's a good idea... You think we can fix this golem and control it? I believe with our collective knowledge we might be able to. Then maybe we can get easy access to other areas, get carried by it, and also fight along side us. What do you think? "

( @-Solstice- @Illiad Easle )

 

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Illiad Easle @Kujamih @-Solstice-

On 2022-07-15 at 8:30 AM, Kujamih said:

As they had time for themselves, Light would approach Last Stand and have a word with her.

" Hey... That was careless of you... I know Spiral is in danger but you should look at the situation and analyze it first... Spiral ain't as weak as she looks, and the golem was taking her somewhere where there might be survivors, as the jester somewhat implied. Ficus, can you detect any survivors by any chance? If not then there goes our chance of rescuing.... But then again I could be wrong.... Never the less you charging in.... I'd never expected that clumsiness from you..." Light was a bit serious from this topic since he was a bit alarmed and worried that his team would get killed... Again.

" And Spiral, I'm sorry if you thought I'd abandoned you from my decision to hold your rescue... This'll be a lesson for us to be more careful... Especially for me...." Light would then give a sigh of relief.

" What's done is done and I'm just happy we're all safe... Now what's the plan?" 

"I see a monster dragging her off, I ain't expecting her to be seen alive again. And we wouldn't know where it'd take her. Could be a warded place, could be yeeting her off of a cliff, or they'd go into an inaccessible area. Heck, we could've been led into am ambush. Sure made enough sound earlier, to warn anything here, to be on the lookout for us.

Was it careless? Yeah, perhaps. And it might've made it harder to go find survivors. But there's no guarantee there is any, whereas Spiral's real. So I stand by my actions, to save one of our own unit. Reckless as it might've been."

Her gaze did not waver, nor did she take his words with more than usual anger. She just coldly said her part, and let that stand as her explanation. Might not be his cup of tea, but she were not going to use Spiral as bait, for them to potentially find someone else alive, in this frozen stain. Not under those circumstances.

"And if there's survivors, who says we couldn't find them? We don't need this thing to get us there, and dictate the battlefield. We're here to examine the place, so we will. And now, we know how best to deal with these things, so we won't be at a disadvantage, if we run into more. We can handle those quickly.

Hmpm. And good job on dismantling it too. I'll give you that."

Credit where credit were due. His kill, his glory, and she'd acknowledge it. Whatever he felt about her somewhat praise, after what she had said before though? Didn't matter.

He might start to realize now, part of why she did not really have any friends, aboard The Æther, despite her having been there for months.

On 2022-07-15 at 7:24 PM, Spiral Spell said:

Spiral fell to the floor and appeared more than glad to be free from the Golem's grasp. The way the thing was powered was something to be studied. She would be sure to remember all of the details of what she can for when they inevitably return back to the project and inform the others about this. She'd allow the others to talk and appeared rather quiet for a while before she grinned wildly. "Thanks. I don't know where that thing could have taken me. There are probably others in here that have been taken. We should perhaps find them, this Golem is a fascinating thing really. If only we could replicate it's technology aboard the project." Spiral spoke and then looked to White Light.

 

On 2022-07-15 at 11:59 PM, Kujamih said:

"Why not Spiral? I think that's a good idea... You think we can fix this golem and control it? I believe with our collective knowledge we might be able to. Then maybe we can get easy access to other areas, get carried by it, and also fight along side us. What do you think? "

"Could be an asset, if it could work. I'll lead that work to you. Technology and I don't get along."

She hadn't grown up around it, so she didn't understand most of those things. Nor magical study. She were an earth pony, wielding a sword. At what point would she appear to have any sort of knowledge about this? She'd leave that for the thinkers, while she'd focus on the other thing, set before them instead. Though she'd be interested if they could make it function. Could be useful, and they could do with any tool they'd get their hooves on, seeing how they still knew very little of what were going on here.

Also, her way of dealing with tech not working, were hitting it until it did, or broke beyond repair. It were best to keep devices away from her.

On 2022-07-15 at 6:57 AM, Illiad Easle said:

Once things were quiet again, Ficus came trotting up behind them, "Is... is it safe?" She sighed, "The next, possibly last, item is close, likely just on the other side of this wall." She pointed North, "But we should be careful, there could be more of these things patrolling."

"Least we know how to deal with them now, if they do. We should stick close though, and keep our eyes open for hidden paths. I'm still not ruling out an ambush."

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

Crank responded, "That is interesting. You see any signs of Wendigos out there now? From what I've read, they look like a billow of snow, or something like that. I guess a better question is if you see anything moving down there."

Merlot would not see any signs of movement as she flew, everything was quiet and still. For the rest of their flight they wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary, and they'd return to the Project before Crank ran out of energy to get them back. The Lt. General was waiting for them after they landed and approached as they were in the process of extracting themselves from the craft, "A good flight I hope, anything to report?"

 

@Kujamih @-Solstice- @Blitz Boom

In regards to their talk of trying to get the golem working for them, the Jester appeared again, actually laughing, "The ones who built them could not stop them, much less control them, when the time came. The two of you have no chance. Besides, you didn't defeat it, you just got it cut off from the Nexus. Even if you could get it working, what do you plan to power it with, friendship?" He laughed again, then faded from view.

Sure enough, they'd be in way over their heads trying to figure out how the golem worked, the runes weren't all on the outside, many of them wrapping into the many joints, and they'd also lack a way to power it, attempting to power it by themselves would barely produce the energy necessary to get it to move even slowly.

Ficus also voiced her descent, "We should leave it for others to worry about, it could just as easily turn on us as help us."

If they tried hard enough though, they'd be able to take and use pieces of it at least, like the shield runes or one of the ice spike launchers.

 

If/when they continued on their journey, rounding the corner to the North revealed a hallway nearly as long as the one they had entered in, about halfway down was another golem heading the opposite way. If they moved quietly they'd be able to get to the door to the West leading in to some sort of library, the walls covered in piles and piles of books, all of which were written in Unique. Ficus would lead them to the South, where a door was buried beneath a pile of books. The door itself was nothing special, though if any member of the group strayed too far from Light and his magic-draining aura they would find the books less inanimate than they first appeared. The books flapping as if birds and swooping at them like hawks. Some of them even started casting spells against them.

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

When they returned, Merlot would disembark from the craft with her notes. She'd briefly greet the Lt. General and would explain everything that she had seen, most specifically the frozen dock and how everything appeared to have been frozen all at once. She'd show her the notes and also explain about the Frozen Ship they saw, as well as anything else of importance. Merlot was as detailed as can be in her explanation and she advised caution. If Windigoes were behind the affairs here which she believed they were, then it was best to not awaken them yet again or else they may end up sharing a similar fate as the ones on the surface.

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @Kujamih

Spiral Spell's stance on the Golem was strengthened by the Jester's appearance and his following words. "I don't think we should control something we don't understand. Could easily turn on us or end up being another hassle. Perhaps when we get out of here and solve the mystery, we could consider doing something of that nature. I'd rather we focus on what we need to do first in order to see to it our safe exit from the confines of these ancient walls." she said calmly to the group. However, Spiral would try to pry off the ice spike launchers and the shield runes. Perhaps they could make use of it. Providing if Last helped out, she would give her the Ice Spike launchers and kept the shield runes to herself before aiming for them to proceed onward throughout the ancient halls.

Provided that the others had agreed to continue along, Spiral would follow them throughout the library. She'd attempt to read the books, but couldn't due to the language they were written in. When they started coming at them she smirked somewhat. "Someone wanna tame these birds?" she joked.
 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@Blitz Boom @-Solstice- @Illiad Easle

"Hrmmm..." Light was a bit curious on the machine but the group would like to move on so he let it be, anyway he did manage to absorb a lot of energy from the golem.

as they continued their exploration, they where greeted with flying spell casting books.

"Got a minute, Last stand?"

he would go near her and touch her sword.

" You're a mage slayer now..."

Light actually tried to absorb the materials from the door and materials that absorbs magic from the storage before, but couldn't. So he just merged it with Last stands sword with a bit of his changeling crystal.

the sword gained some weight but probably wouldn't bother Last Stand, since now she can easily block magic with it and insta kill magic oriented creatures.

But it would still seem to be impractical to kill the books and waste the groups energy.

" We should really leave now, before the books starts to cast complicated spells.

We should head for that door! "

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Illiad Easle @-Solstice- @Kujamih

On 2022-07-19 at 5:22 AM, Illiad Easle said:

In regards to their talk of trying to get the golem working for them, the Jester appeared again, actually laughing, "The ones who built them could not stop them, much less control them, when the time came. The two of you have no chance. Besides, you didn't defeat it, you just got it cut off from the Nexus. Even if you could get it working, what do you plan to power it with, friendship?" He laughed again, then faded from view.

Last looked annoyed, towards the jester during his mad ramblings, and scowled at the spot he had been in, after he left. What an annoying little...

"When we eventually beat him, I'm gonna make him eat his own mask. If there ain't a mouth behind it, I'm sure I can find some other way to get it lodged in there."

Normally she'd threaten to have his teeth kicked in, but thus far, all they saw were the mask. Might be there weren't teeth. Though he better hope he had some. Cause the alternative to making him eat the mask, were gonna be far more unpleasant.

She wouldn't go and harvest any of the parts, unless the others told her how it worked, and made it clear it would be a benefit for her. She weren't used to these magic things, and thus, would rather leave it, than poke at it needlessly. Plus, she assumed all the magic had been taken out of it. Although... She were tempted to ask about if something could be taken from this, and used with that gem in her new blade

Only magical sword she knew of, were belonging to her ancestor, but it had been lost for generations. There were still depictions and stories though, and thus  she knew it were possible. She just had zero idea how it worked. Maybe one of the egg heads did.

Couldn't hurt to ask, right? Some other time though. They had work to do.

On 2022-07-19 at 6:03 AM, Spiral Spell said:

However, Spiral would try to pry off the ice spike launchers and the shield runes. Perhaps they could make use of it. Providing if Last helped out, she would give her the Ice Spike launchers and kept the shield runes to herself before aiming for them to proceed onward throughout the ancient halls.

Seemed like Spiral had ideas though, so Last would halt, and go help her pry these things off. Some muscle should handle that, and she had plenty to work with. If they didn't believe her, she gladly challenge them later, to if nothing else, some hoofwrestling. Not Light though. She assumed he'd cheat.

As she were granted the spike launcher, Last would look at it, eyebrow raised.

"And this works how?"

Depending on the answer, she'd go and give it a try, and judge the weight too. Away from where the others were, of course. If it were too cumbersome, or hard to make work, she'd offer it to one of the egg heads, that had covered earlier. Might be it'd suit them more, to be able to do some cover fire. Then again, they might shoot her in the back, so she'd prefer if it were useful, that she kept it. Who knew? Maybe, even if it were cumbersome, she could have them work on it when they got back to The Æther. Make it fit her leg, and give her some range options perhaps?

...She were keeping this. The options were tempting.

On 2022-07-19 at 11:57 PM, Kujamih said:

"Got a minute, Last stand?"

he would go near her and touch her sword.

" You're a mage slayer now..."

Light actually tried to absorb the materials from the door and materials that absorbs magic from the storage before, but couldn't. So he just merged it with Last stands sword with a bit of his changeling crystal.

the sword gained some weight but probably wouldn't bother Last Stand, since now she can easily block magic with it and insta kill magic oriented creatures.

"Interesting... Will have to test that, but it's appreciated."

Cutting down mages, weren't all that hard. Like most other creatures, they stopped working, once they were decapitated. But if this could now do like she saw Light do before, and cut through magic... Now that would be interesting. She'd need to test it though, of course. Abd get used to the extra weight, but the latter at least, wasn't so bad. Might mess with her precision for a few strikes, in quick paced combat, but she'd adapt, and overcome.

As for the former... Well then  they had a fair bit of books tossing magic at them. Seemed like usable test subjects.

On 2022-07-19 at 6:03 AM, Spiral Spell said:

"Someone wanna tame these birds?" she joked.

 

On 2022-07-19 at 11:57 PM, Kujamih said:

" We should really leave now, before the books starts to cast complicated spells.

We should head for that door! "

"Let me try something here. This is supposed to cut through magic now, yeah?"

She'd take a few steps away from Light, and wait until one of them cast a spell. For the swoopers, she'd try to swat them off. Annoying little pests weren't gonna leave her dying from papercuts. She'd never be able to face her ancestors, if that's what did her in.

When the spell would be cast towards her, she'd do the only semi-logical thing, and swing at it. After jumping to the left, just to not stand in things like an utter flank. If this worked like she assumed, this should cut through the spell, and making it dissipate. If she were wrong, Light would've probably corrected her before she tried, and thus, she would've just stuck with them, and not done this. Just seemed like some books casting spells, would be less bad to test against, than say, another one of the golems.

And if he hadn't warned her, and it didn't work, her blade might get melted by the magic. Good she had a spare with her now then.

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

55 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

@Illiad Easle @-Solstice- @Kujamih

Last looked annoyed, towards the jester during his mad ramblings, and scowled at the spot he had been in, after he left. What an annoying little...

"When we eventually beat him, I'm gonna make him eat his own mask. If there ain't a mouth behind it, I'm sure I can find some other way to get it lodged in there."

Normally she'd threaten to have his teeth kicked in, but thus far, all they saw were the mask. Might be there weren't teeth. Though he better hope he had some. Cause the alternative to making him eat the mask, were gonna be far more unpleasant.

She wouldn't go and harvest any of the parts, unless the others told her how it worked, and made it clear it would be a benefit for her. She weren't used to these magic things, and thus, would rather leave it, than poke at it needlessly. Plus, she assumed all the magic had been taken out of it. Although... She were tempted to ask about if something could be taken from this, and used with that gem in her new blade

Only magical sword she knew of, were belonging to her ancestor, but it had been lost for generations. There were still depictions and stories though, and thus  she knew it were possible. She just had zero idea how it worked. Maybe one of the egg heads did.

Couldn't hurt to ask, right? Some other time though. They had work to do.

Seemed like Spiral had ideas though, so Last would halt, and go help her pry these things off. Some muscle should handle that, and she had plenty to work with. If they didn't believe her, she gladly challenge them later, to if nothing else, some hoofwrestling. Not Light though. She assumed he'd cheat.

As she were granted the spike launcher, Last would look at it, eyebrow raised.

"And this works how?"

Depending on the answer, she'd go and give it a try, and judge the weight too. Away from where the others were, of course. If it were too cumbersome, or hard to make work, she'd offer it to one of the egg heads, that had covered earlier. Might be it'd suit them more, to be able to do some cover fire. Then again, they might shoot her in the back, so she'd prefer if it were useful, that she kept it. Who knew? Maybe, even if it were cumbersome, she could have them work on it when they got back to The Æther. Make it fit her leg, and give her some range options perhaps?

...She were keeping this. The options were tempting.

"Interesting... Will have to test that, but it's appreciated."

Cutting down mages, weren't all that hard. Like most other creatures, they stopped working, once they were decapitated. But if this could now do like she saw Light do before, and cut through magic... Now that would be interesting. She'd need to test it though, of course. Abd get used to the extra weight, but the latter at least, wasn't so bad. Might mess with her precision for a few strikes, in quick paced combat, but she'd adapt, and overcome.

As for the former... Well then  they had a fair bit of books tossing magic at them. Seemed like usable test subjects.

 

"Let me try something here. This is supposed to cut through magic now, yeah?"

She'd take a few steps away from Light, and wait until one of them cast a spell. For the swoopers, she'd try to swat them off. Annoying little pests weren't gonna leave her dying from papercuts. She'd never be able to face her ancestors, if that's what did her in.

When the spell would be cast towards her, she'd do the only semi-logical thing, and swing at it. After jumping to the left, just to not stand in things like an utter flank. If this worked like she assumed, this should cut through the spell, and making it dissipate. If she were wrong, Light would've probably corrected her before she tried, and thus, she would've just stuck with them, and not done this. Just seemed like some books casting spells, would be less bad to test against, than say, another one of the golems.

And if he hadn't warned her, and it didn't work, her blade might get melted by the magic. Good she had a spare with her now then.

Light wouldn't say much as he was confident that the shards would absorb the magic and surely wouldn't be stored at the sword and end up overloading it.

( Up to @Illiad Easle if he has something to add)

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

The Lt. General shivered at Merlot's report, "Let's hope we don't end up sharing the same fate. Still, good work you two. We're still waiting on the team inside the structure to report back but we'll send you two around again in a few hours to see if anything's changed. Rest up in the mean time, I'm sure you can use it after all that flying."

(Merlot is free to do as she likes, but if you'd rather skip ahead to the next flight we'll just circle back once enough has happened in the central thread.)

 

@-Solstice- @Kujamih @Blitz Boom

Given Last did not have much in the way of casting potential, she would not have much use with the spike launchers given she had no way to power it herself. At least, she couldn't supply enough power fast enough to work it, even if she knew how to channel her earth pony magic into runic contraptions.

Nonetheless, her upgraded sword would make short work of the books, and eventually enough of the books would be cleared for them to get the door open. The room inside looked like a study, a number of notes and books lying about as well as complicated diagrams with Unique notations. (As a reminder Spiral has previously been able to reed Unique as she read the notes in the armory, so there's no reason why she wouldn't be able to read it now.) It looked like some vast magical contraption similar to an Arcane Nexus, a device multiple unicorns would use together to pool their magic into a single spell more powerful than any of the casters could perform individually.

Beside that, of course, was a large lump of an amber like substance that appeared to have a pony trapped within. Ficus spoke up, "The item is, um, in there I think."

Opening the amber would reveal a dead, yet perfectly preserved, unicorn stallion garbed as an ancient arch mage would be. He had the final key around his neck as the previous two had.

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

Merlot nods in agreement and didn't say much else. She left and would proceed to walk about the project a bit. She didn't have much else to do, so if anyone wanted to talk to her they could. If not, she'd head to her room and take a shower before taking a quick nap.

(If you want anyone else to interact with her you can have someone come about if you'd like.)

@Kujamih @Blitz Boom @Illiad Easle

Spiral looked to last and nodded. "You and me both, that creature must spill its secrets or I'll be more than pleased to spill whatever contents within myself." she commented casually, and was more than pleased that they managed to make quick work of the books that were attacking them. Once they got inside of the study she would look at the various notes strewn about the place. "Hmm, very fascinating. Revolves around something similar to an Arcane Nexus, where many unicorns put their magic in a device to cast much larger spells with their combined magic. Perhaps that is a key to what happened here." she remarked, and when they approached the stallion in Amber, she would use her shadow magic to create blades and cut it out, grabbing the key for the group. 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@-Solstice- @Blitz Boom @Illiad Easle

Light would be cautious at the mage's corpse. He is a proof that extremely magical creatures don't just die that easily.

" On your guard everyone- EYY!"Light was interrupted as Spiral proceeds to cast a blade of shadows, presumably gonna cut the corpse.

" I'm supposed to be the careless one here Spiral. And you just got cought by a golem and woke a bunch of books remember? Last Stand, she listens to you right?"

Light would just talk and not physically stop Spiral on what she wishes to do. 

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Illiad Easle @Kujamih @-Solstice-

""

On 2022-07-22 at 8:23 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Given Last did not have much in the way of casting potential, she would not have much use with the spike launchers given she had no way to power it herself. At least, she couldn't supply enough power fast enough to work it, even if she knew how to channel her earth pony magic into runic contraptions.

Being told this, it would also mean that she probably couldn't make use of it later on, as a ranged weapon of sorts. As such, she scrapped it, unless she were told, that there were some external way, that they might be able to work something, on the ship. Magical crystals, electronics, or something like it. She'd bring it along, but hide it in a convenient spot, for extraction when they'd go back.  Or let one of the egg heads take it, if they wanted it.

On 2022-07-22 at 8:23 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Nonetheless, her upgraded sword would make short work of the books, and eventually enough of the books would be cleared for them to get the door open. The room inside looked like a study, a number of notes and books lying about as well as complicated diagrams with Unique notations. (As a reminder Spiral has previously been able to reed Unique as she read the notes in the armory, so there's no reason why she wouldn't be able to read it now.) It looked like some vast magical contraption similar to an Arcane Nexus, a device multiple unicorns would use together to pool their magic into a single spell more powerful than any of the casters could perform individually.

Seemed like the sword worked. She cut through spells, and they dissipated around her blade. That could be mighty useful, actually. Like, getting fire tossed at her, wouldn't do a lot. But magical fire? She could cleave that out of existence. A very nice upgrade indeed. Maybe Light wasn't so bad after all. Better than her wound at least, which had started to itch as she were cutting the books apart. Wasn't any blood spilling out, so probably just some healing pains. Or an infection, but she could deal with that later. This wasn't the time for her to go back up there, for a checkup. Y'know, if she could. They were still trapped here, after all.

On 2022-07-22 at 8:23 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Beside that, of course, was a large lump of an amber like substance that appeared to have a pony trapped within. Ficus spoke up, "The item is, um, in there I think."

Opening the amber would reveal a dead, yet perfectly preserved, unicorn stallion garbed as an ancient arch mage would be. He had the final key around his neck as the previous two had.

"...Reminds me of what happened to Grace Cutter..."

The less she remembered about what the Manetids had done in that situation, the better. Had been a short-lived, yet nasty thing they did towards some of the captured Shrine Maidens, before tossing them down to cause more harm from up high. She wasn't sure why they had stopped with it, but she were for one, perfectly happy with that. Being cut down were one thing. Trapped alive in amber, and knowing that after you'd suffocate from it, you'd be used to harm your friends, and family... That was something else.

On 2022-07-22 at 10:40 PM, Spiral Spell said:

"Hmm, very fascinating. Revolves around something similar to an Arcane Nexus, where many unicorns put their magic in a device to cast much larger spells with their combined magic. Perhaps that is a key to what happened here." she remarked, and when they approached the stallion in Amber, she would use her shadow magic to create blades and cut it out, grabbing the key for the group. 

 

On 2022-07-22 at 11:37 PM, Kujamih said:

" On your guard everyone- EYY!"Light was interrupted as Spiral proceeds to cast a blade of shadows, presumably gonna cut the corpse.

" I'm supposed to be the careless one here Spiral. And you just got cought by a golem and woke a bunch of books remember? Last Stand, she listens to you right?"

Light would just talk and not physically stop Spiral on what she wishes to do. 

"We haven't been set on fire yet, though I wonder what this here's all about. Some jester mocking us, keys, a big magic ritual... I've spend most of my life, guarding something that wasn't meant to be let out, and this here's starting to reek of familiarity. Something just ain't right about all of this.

Like how'd did dingus get trapped in amber? I ain't seen a tree anywhere. Where did it come from?

Hmph. And I don't think she'd listen to me on this. I don't know anymore about this, than she does."

She had some paranoid theories, but that wasn't the same,. as having answers. Those she didn't have, currently. Though something told her, that something were about to happen. Because this room just looked like the epicenter of something, and then disturbing things, might well cause some sorta reaction.

[Illiad Easle 3,143]

@-Solstice-

(Unless you've got something you really want to do, I'd like to focus on the central story for now, it was hard enough to get you all in the same place, I want to enjoy it while it lasts.)

 

@-Solstice- @Kujamih @Blitz Boom

There was no doubt that they'd be able to do something with it back on the Project, so it was likely in Last's best interest to stow it away somewhere until they were headed back out.

Nothing happened to the group as a result of cutting the key free of the stallion trapped in the amber.

Ficus pointed towards the North West, "Both the sources of power are that way, one further away than the other."

She led the way forward, trudging North through the remains of the slain books, they had to fight off some more books in the next room, then they entered a hallway, where Ficus went West. Narrowly they escaped the attention of a large golem passing the other end of the hallway to the East, and soon they came across a door, amde of the same magic nullifying material as the second door, but with three key holes, presumably for the three keys they had gathered.

"There is something powerful on the other side of this door, maybe we should get ready before we enter?"

(Take a moment to prepare yourselves)

When they decided to open the door, the keys slid in easily, and the locks moved as if expertly crafted and maintained, the key holes sliding along the door by the inner workings until the handles clicked together in the middle of the door, allowing them to retrieve now one key with three heads.

The key would now fit a keyhole that looks like this:

Spoiler

The key retrieved, the door would slide open, revealing a large dark room. They got the feeling that something was waiting inside for them.

[Spiral Spell]

@Illiad Easle

(I didn't have anything in mind. We can let Merlot be until she is needed. If you have ideas come about, you can tell me. We can just focus on Spiral for now.)

As Spiral would follow the others, she would begin preparing a magical spell. Nothing in particular, she was just charging up for when they had to deal with whatever would lay ahead. She wanted to buy them time, so if she needed to perform any magical spells to defend themselves with she wouldn't have to cast them on the spot and waste time within a heated moment which would be rather illogical to do. When they approached the door, Spiral got the three keys they had collected and looked to them in agreement. "We definitely should be preparing. Prepare yourselves, I'll give you the time." she spoke somewhat quietly, and allowed them time to do so. She would take time to charge up more magic within her horn, and build up her focus.

When they all agreed that they were prepared, Spiral would slide all of the keys into the door and open up the door. She'd remark on how well maintained the thing felt, before opening it up and she'd look inside the place, expecting some all powerful monster or figure within the room they would have to fight.

 

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @-Solstice-

Light would still maintain the support magic he has casted upon the team.

" Ready as I'll ever be." Light would crack some joints to loosen himself up then casually tap Last Stands shoulder.

" You alright?"

He said as he distracts last stand, so she wouldn't notice that Light is absorbing her injuries. 

" If so let's do this!" He said while a bit of blood drips at the side of his mouth.