<In which ponies and dogs heat things up.To catch up, the previous sessions are located here:https://dl.dropbox.com/u/28501521/GeneralArchive/RenneQuest/RenneArchive.html >
You pull the torch away as fast as you can, wincing as the black marks spreading over your body sizzle and steam, burning you everywhere from your face to your chest and along your back. You apologize profusely, saying that you were just trying to be a good scientist and poke it with something."It's... it's okay, Renne. The feeling is gone already..."
You tell Saffron that you would like to check the lower levels, to see if anything has changed. She nods, rubbing her corruption marks while staying glued to your side. As you descend, the chorus of voices lessens, then disappears. The further down you go, the more dead and hollow everything seems. It gets colder, and even the pulse and movement of the temple is lessened by what you assume is the water outside of the temple. You find yourselves on the bottom floor, the emptiness of the temple practically making you feel hollow as well.
>>6515990We were going to check and see if the lava chamber had emptied right? Might be something new there.
>>6515990Light those torches, unless they're just empty holders and have a look around then head towards the lava chamber.
>>6516206>>6516233You intend to check the room that contained the "mouth," but light the torches before you proceed. It does nothing to help with the dead and empty feeling of the room.
>>6516433well, at least now there's some light...let's check out that lava chamber
>>6516496This
>>6516496>>6516543We should check out the gear chamber too.Maybe get some insight on how the hell chance got himself into a golem.
What are we actually trying to do right now anyway?Do we have a real goal beyond "stop DP"?
>>6516674Well this is all really just tangential to the main plan, which from the very beginning has always been shopping for scarves.
>>6516674>Stop the temple.>Stop DP.>Escape.>Buy scarves.I thought those were our agendas.
>>6516700Seems vague.We should also crack that new tumblr's password at some point.
>>6516700i don't know how we're going to get past the first two to be honestthe temple is heading west when we were heading east beforehandthat means DP's "friend" is either IN Equestria or past iteither way, ponies are going to get stomped on
>>6516740this thing isn't exactly a bullet-trainI think we have some time before it reaches the mainland
Also, a fairly important announcement.With tumblr being down all day, I was unable to complete some things that needed to be done for the Xjuntnxa tumblr and you would be unable to view it anyway if I had. So for all intents and purposes, you can ignore it. I'll find another way around things, but I didn't want you guys to tear your hair out over something that you can't see. If I get a chance to finish it, I'll let you guys know when it's relevant again. Sorry about that.And no, this isn't a trick. I really would have liked to be able to use it.
>>6516794well, so much for deciphering that password
>>6516496>>6516543You head west cautiously, Saffron glued to your side. The more time you spend here, the colder you feel. A shiver creeps down your spine as you walk into the former lava chamber, finding it cold and dark.
>>6517007We gotta light this up
>>6517007SpookyWhats at the bottom?
>>6517174Yep
Peering over the edge, you see nothing but a black abyss below. The sound of rushing water and the grinding of stone echoes up from the darkness. You can hear something else accompanying it, but you aren't sure what. You can feel Saffron trembling beside you, glued to your hip.
>>6517289>glued to you hipIf it weren't for the impending doom that would be adorableLight up the night
>>6517289Let's throw some light on this
>>6517406>throw some light>Renne tosses down the torchyeah noare we using a light spell or levitating the torch down?
>>6517439>light spell in our conditionYou just want Renne to die don't you? Have her either throw the torch down and grab one of the others on the wall or levitate the current one down
>>6517289Any loose rocks we can use to test for depth? Maybe the golem's hand in the previous room if we have no other need of it.
>>6517664>golem's handYes, this
>>6517664>>6517963IT'S A TRAP
>>6518033>The golem's hand springs alive like the thing.>There's some of chance's giblets in it.
>>6518033>>6518145we can take ittoss the hand down
>>6516794Stupid tumblr. Of all the days...
I just thought of somethingWhat if DP was 'posting' anonymously in the quest, deliberately pointing us in the wrong direction. That'd be crazy, right?
>>6518278Get out DP
>>6517664>>6517963>>6518197You tell Saffron that you'd like to test the depth of the pit. You both travel to the previous rooms, and after some checking inside of the severed golem's hand, Saffron picks it up. With a grunt, she tosses it into the abyss.
>>6518514Do this.
>>6518514>Standing on the edge of an abyssMan, I really hope Chronicle is stuck up in the Mind.
Annotated map, tentacles edition(This time the right version)
Basic map, free of corruption
>>6518572You watch the hand plummet, and keep an ear open. Several seconds pass, which turns into half a minute. There is no sound other than those you have heard before.
I was thinking we could go and take charcoal rubbings of a couple of things, though I worry I'm just putting things off. If we did, I'd want to get>Four of stone, both red and b---to double check that is what we think it isand>Metal and stone control cha-Because seriously, that one couldn't have been "Chance".Anything else/anyone think this is a bad idea?
>>6518922Whelp. That's that. I guess.Head back?
>>6518922I'm...not really sure what to deduce from that. Was expecting a splash indicating the bottom of this temple. Anyway, unless someone's got a clear idea of where to go I'm going to keep spelunking.Next idea is to stay on this floor and head east into where the pillar was. We dumped four bodies and a golem in that lava pit; while they may have all melted, I'd still like to see where it goes.
>>6519183We did fill it up with stone when we shattered the tower, but perhaps it's emptied out like the western lava chamber.I vote we gather up all the torches we find as we go along. Maybe make sure Renne and Saff both have one each, too. Don't know how much more we'll be wanting to explore this place, and having more loot to Macguyver with is always handy.
>>6518922toss a torch down
>>6519267Huh, totally forgot the pillar smacked down into it. Just trying to think of any loose ends or potential directions.
>>6519296This.For some reason this pit worries me. Saffron being shakey is probably cause for alarm.
>>6519418Maybe it's the vertigo.
>>6519130Also>Eight of metal to ???
>>6519130This sounds like a decent idea.
>>6515954 (OP)Why the hell are there two of theses threads.
>Go down a floor, collecting all the torches on the way>Get Saffron to lift us up while we take a charcoal rub of the bottom right corner of the wall of text>Head over to the body of DP's previous host and see what's up>Head back up and toss a lit torchSounds efficiently planlike?
>>6519622>Go down a floorwe're on the bottom already
>>6519607Someone's transcribing one of these threads from ages ago so it can be archived properly. All the posts in the other one are copypasted from a previous thread.
>>6519607Was just explained in the other thread.I was wondering the same thing.>>6519543
>>6519651Whoops, thought we were tossing things in from the upper platform of the lava room for some reason. My mistake, you're right.So>Head east, take charcoal rub>Head east, loot torches>Head east check corpse>Head westx3 toss a torchBetter?
Tumblr isn't ded anymore
>>6519761
What's a Renne Quest
>>6519815Weird, it works fine for me.
>>6519761My statement before still stands. Things might be in place tomorrow, but for tonight don't worry about the second tumblr.
>>6519829Quest thread. LK's written up a scenario and is drawing pictures, and the people in the thread decide what actions the player character (Usually a pretty mare named Renne) takes.Story starts off with an archeologist mare named Renne on a boat out to a new dig site.The boat sinks, trapping her and her diamond dog friend inside until it breaks open on the bottom of the ocean.They swim over to a strange temple that happens to be nearby to avoid dieing to water pressure, and then have to try to escape while various horrible things happen.You can read the story so far over herehttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/28501521/GeneralArchive/RenneQuest/RenneArchive.html
>>6519743no objections from meanyone else?
>>6520009Wow that's pretty cool. I've always seen these threads around but just never bothered asking till now. Was expecting "Lurk moar"
>>6520061My vote goes to it.
>>6519743>>6520061works for me
>>6519743>>6520061You head east, to the wall with writing on it. You pull out a piece of paper to get a charcoal rub of some of the writing, but find a good portion of it to be unintelligible. The wall is covered with old cracks, scuffs, and gouges. Looking at the floor beneath the writing, you can see rubble and dust from the wall.
>>6520752Did we translate this one already? Anyone have the DD language image?
>>6520752Gorram it. Well that's still a tiny bit more detail than we'd seen before.>Four of stone both red and bla?Maybe it's red and black, not blue?>Eight of metal toSame as before.
>>6520901this'n?
>>6520901Yeah, we did. It's the big old wall of text on the bottom floor; it's summarised down on the bottom of the annotated map.>>6518765
>>6520752Is there some other text we can get a rubbing of, or is this it?In that case I don't think there's much more we can do here. I honestly have no clue where to look next.
>>6521073that's the text that anon wanted to see up here >>6519130i don't know if charcoal rubs will get much
>>6521073Yeah, this wall's too damaged from the temple's activation for that to work now, I think. There's still that "Metal and stone control cha" line above to door to the devil's hand to check, later.Current plan was to go check out the eastern lava room and see what's changed there, snagging some torches on the way.I wonder if the lava-filled tubes are his legs. Also where all the lava has gone.
So, next on the list? Go east while picking up torches from rooms we likely won't revisit?
>>6521192Yup.
You pilfer the torches in the room with the stairs as you head eastward, two for Saffron and one for yourself. You enter the base of what used to be the spire. No matter what you do, you cannot shake the cold, dead feeling permeating your very being and making your extremities numb.
>>6521757Might as well stare into the abyss.
>>6521757Check the hole. See if it's the same bottomless pit.
>>6521757>cold dead feelingDamn, it's like a game of hot and cold, except the rules don't make any damn senseWhere else have we encountered that strongly?I remember it used to get worse the further down we went. I'd figured that was because DP was down here, but now I don't know.It was also strong in Baldwin's room-all those DD ghosts he was keeping there, maybe?>Also had cold and numbness last time we went spirit for too longThe other theory I barely even want to think about is this feeling is a result of the corruption taking hold. Renne's corruption has clearly overtaken Saffron's by a good bit now.Odd that Saffron felt the burning first when we poked the tentacle though, now that I think about it.Perhaps Renne's corruption's greater, but Saffron's more directly linked since she's got two of the armour pieces?
>>6521757So, at the top of the temple we've got a million tormented and most likely malicious souls waiting just beyond the veil of the spirit world and bombarding us with their voices, and at the bottom we have a black hole of nothingness that's leeching at us just by being near it.Rock and a hard place, eh? I won't be surprised if this pit is seemingly bottomless as well, but I suppose it's worth a look.
I suppose we might as well toss a lit torch here and save the trek back to the other room.
>>6522019i think we're dying ;_;
>>6521989>>6521999You peek over the edge and it seems to be the same as the previous, the sounds of stone and muffled water echoing up. The other sound is louder, however, but you still cannot place it. Saffron is shaking, again."R-renne... I'm g-getting really cold down here... I don't like it."
>>6522362>Tentacles...Maybe we should get going.
>>6522362Let's listen to Saffron. Let's get out of here.
>>6522362This is the best lead I can think of, so, fuck it, investigate.Illuminate the hole.
>>6522362This hole reminds me of something... didn't my brother...http://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html
>>6522559Last thing we want t do is burn some more tentacles, though. If we must, let's be really careful.
>>6522559Gonna have to agree with this anon>We shine our torch into the hole>The sight of what's down there is so shocking we accidentally drop the torch down into the pit>We burn to death
>>6522362I think Saffron's and our own intuition should tell us something...
Just in case anyone's not following the general, episode's leaked.http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1305530163001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAFR9Ptpk~,qrsh31CHJoHe1-V578Qlul5O7epkvas5&bctid=2031454090001
With Saffron kneeling beside you and holding her torches steady, you lower your torch down.
The light flickers as her paws shake. Now that it is illuminated, you can hear the sound much more clearly. A slow, wet crawling noise invades your ears. You do your best to stay calm, despite the situation."R-Renne... Please..."
>tumblr updateANONSTOP MAKING DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
>>6523035jesus christ, are those eyes?we need to get the hell out of here
>>6523118Agreed...
<New pone is probably gonna slow this down significantly. Think we should keep going?>
Ok episode watched, back to questing.>>6523035Renne is a very calm pony. I kinda want to get a better look at this mess, but I'm worried about Saffron freaking out.
>>6523470Na just a little break, I'm good to go now
>>6523470I already finished the episode, and we can focus on more than one thing at once. Keep going unless suggestions stop coming in.
>>6523497>I kinda want to get a better look at this messare you sure that's a good idea?
The eyes look like Chronicle's did when he took off his bandage.We should leave, if only for Saffron's sake.
I'm a little disturbed that being able to see this thing better somehow results in us being able to hear it better, too. Like what we're hearing isn't actually a sound or something.
>What the hell is that thing?!>Odd, how you cannot recognize a part of yourself.
>>6523792Should we examine the corruption on our bodies?
>>6523792WE'RE DYING ;_:
>>6523824If Saffron starts growing eyes on her back I don't know how the hell I'm gonna deal.
>>6523824...That's a good idea. Have a look to see if we're reacting in any way, then let's get on out of here and make sure Saffron's holding it together.Let's have a look at what's going on in the gear chasm on the way up, too.
>>6523792>black goop is DP>only reason Saffron's arm reattached is because he wanted it>only reason we're still alive is because he needs us
>>6523824>we have little monsters growing on our bodies.
>>6523907How do we know it's DP?It could be another entity entirely.
>Rate limit exceeded.pls Tumblr. pls.
You look at your forehooves, one after the other. Nothing seems to have changed, and there is nothing currently happening to it. You still feel unbelievably cold, with your extremities numbing.
>>6524228Get out of here before we freeze to death.
>>6524292what if we're not actually cold and it's taking over?
>>6524228Get out of there and hug Saffron's butt for warmth
>>6524327What I'm most frightened of is getting too close to it and having it absorb us or start pulling us into it.
>temple activated>lava drained>shit starts coming upIf this thing had to be held back by a lich and a sea of lava I'm thinking we should get the fuck away pronto
If the temple has been chilled due to being elevated to the freezing water.. and the black goop is infesting the temple complex... and the black goop is an extension of ourselves..Logically the reason we're cold is because the chill of the temple is getting to the black goop.We're feeling what the temple feels.
>>6524543...Huh. That's a neat idea. Good thinking, Anon.Better toss a torch in there to warm up, then!
so are we still fleeing?I'm worried about Saffron
>>6524626Yeah, head up and away from this mess and make sure Saffron's holding it together.Maybe ask her what she felt while we were examining it.
>>6524595ANON PLS
You pull your torch up slowly, trying your best to stay calm. Saffron is trembling, breathing heavily as you hurry to the west. You're not sure how her torches haven't gone out with how bad she's shaking. You open your mouth to reassure her, but she cuts you off."No. I don't want to know. Please. Don't tell me what you saw..."
>>6525107H-hugs?;_;
>>6525107Saffron...Damnit. And there's worse to come when we find Chronicle, too.
>>6525107It's not looking like such a good idea to check the western pit now, but...still...
>>6525107It's time to be brave for our friend!Where's Oklahoma Crux when you need her?
Hey guysWhat if we end up being able to manipulate the goop?
>>6525203I wonder if it's any different in the spirit plane thing
>>6525174I don't even want to bother, honestly. It'll be more of the same down there:>The sound of rushing water and the grinding of stone echoes up from the darkness. You can hear something else accompanying it, but you aren't sure what.That's just going to be the slow wet sound of the tentacles that we couldn't hear until we illuminated them, I'm sure.>>6525203I had been wondering that myself>Get to top floor>Doorway blocked up by goop>Have to get it to schlorp out of the wayAlso, I like how Anon's Ghostbusters 2 plan has pretty much become a reality, except with evil black goop rather than dancetune powered ectoplasm.
>>6525285Ooohoohohoo, good slime, good slimehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjskzUlJOfc
Where should we go now? Some people were saying the gear chasm. I don't know what would be there except POSSIBLY some clues as to how Chance's guts got hauled out of it.Only place I can think of that we haven't explored yet after DP's betrayal is the Mind. There's also the voices in the upper levels, and checking out the goop with spirit mode on, but we've abused that power a lot and I don't think we should use it much more. Can we get a check on how Renne's feeling in general, maybe? Also, does that cold feeling subside as we leave this place? We might only be getting sensory feedback from black stuff if we're near it.Also I don't know if we ever checked for spirit reverberations near that altar with the fresh blood on it.
>>6525425I was the one calling for the gear chasm.I just wanted to see if there was much action in there, whether those gears are linked in with the golem's movement or not. We're going past them anyway on the way up.
>>6525425>Also I don't know if we ever checked for spirit reverberations near that altar with the fresh blood on it.There were reverbs, I thought, but Renne was dead on her feet at the time and we wanted to conserve her energy. Now I'm almost too worried about the effects of going spiritmode any more to want to do it.
>>6525553>tfw we squandered our spirit-walking abilities
We're sorry Saffron. We're trying to piece together as much of this place's insanity as we can, hopefully so we can help Chronicle and ourselves, but it's hard and everything is horrible.Thankyou for protecting us all this time.
>>6525128>>6525162>>6525194You hush your friend and tell her not to worry. You say that no matter what's here, the both of you have been brave enough to handle it every time before. You tell her that she's been brave for you more times than you can count, and that you will always return the favor. You thank her for protecting you, and promise to protect her."...Thank you, Renne."
>>6525490Worth a look, then.
>>6525490>>6526250You lead Saffron up the stairs, telling her that you want to see if the gears play any part in the temple moving. You pass a massive bloodstain on the ground, coagulated blood and giblets covering the rubble where the decapitated golem once lay. You shake it off and walk east. The blood trail leads right to the chasm of gears. It is not as active as you had imagined it would be, but you can still hear noises from deep within. The grinding of metal gears screeches and echoes up from far and away, making you shudder at the thought of how deep the chasm goes.
So what's our opinion on checking out the spirit at the altar on this level?
Perhaps we're done for the day?We usually begin to ded about this time anyhow.
>>6526753<True, but I'll give it a little more time.>
>>6526607I still wanted to get a reading on how exhausted we're feeling. Physically we might be able to stand another dive or two but I don't know about mentally.How long were we knocked out in Baldwin's chamber?
>>6526781>How long were we knocked out in Baldwin's chamber?No more than an hour.
>>6526843Okay...Unless anyone has any objections, I'd propose heading back up toward the Mind.ded
Wasn't there a place to put the daggers?
>>6527041Looks like the only option. I say we do it.
>>6527103If there was, I don't remember it.
>>6527041The only other thing I can think of to do before getting into the headspace is to see if we can get anything more out of a charcoal rub of the cryptic "-l -nd stone united -ntrol cha-" line. I can't even imagine what that could have been.
>>6527128a couple weeks back an anon pointed out a wall mural where we could potentially stick the daggers. Had two slots. Everyone thought it was a good idea but then his suggestion got forgotten in the midst of shit happening.
>>6527103One was set into the top of the chair with a forcefield around it, and there was a slot in the back of the chair. We put the one that was in Baldwin's skull into the slot, and unlocked the forcefield so we could take the second. There have been no other places for them that I remember.
>>6527162Whoa what, I apparently missed this entirely. Where are you thinking? That mural of the templeborg?
>>6526781You sit down for a moment to catch your breath. It only takes you a few seconds to realize just how terrible you feel. You've been feeling progressively more out of touch with things, the coughing getting worse every time you travel to the spirit world. You feel absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally, not quite sure how you've managed to stay on your hooves as long as you have.
>>6527162I'm skimming through the archives but if you could link a post or something that would be helpful. I don't see anything.
>>6527255Fuck I can't find it either. I'm positive something to that effect happened. Maybe in a non-archived dud thread.Do we have every mural saved in a single image somewhere?
>>6527349I remember someone saying something like that last week or something but they never elaborated either. I'm pretty sure I'd remember something like that but I'm going back just to be sure.I'm even more angry at Baldwin now reading through the archives. What a stubborn prick. He could have avoided this...
>>6527349>Every muralListing the ones I remember.>>6527189>That octagon that Chance scrawled a gauntlet onto>The big ol' wall of text (image)>The thing that had the Bridge set into it
>>6527460>(image)And then I forget to attatch it.
Maybe we should... sleep? It seems counter intuitive given that we're now running on borrowed time but our body and mind are really pushed to their limits.This is something I really regret not suggesting before.
>>6527460Y'know what, let's just post them all. Gauntlet.
>>6527460Bridge.
>>6527527At this point we probably don't even need to sleep.
>>6527527>given that we're now running on borrowed timeor borrowed blood
>>6527567I was thinking more about the time before the golem gets to wherever it's going, but that too.
Oh, and another bit of what I assume is Chance's handiwork in the goatroom.And that's all the wall designs I remember, apart from all that insanity in the Mind.
Where can we even go?
>>6527654>Insanity in the MindOh! Wait, you weren't talking about this, were you?
I can't remember anything about another slot for the daggers either, so I'm just gonna say that our plan should be to move towards the mind. The rest of the temple is dead, if we can do something somewhere, it's over there.
>>6527664upor out and down and smushed
>>6527668I mean, that Baldwin cutie mark look-alike symbol there wasn't the thing in the mural related to the daggers you were thinking of, was it?
What would happen if we stuck a dagger in a corpse?Like a severed head?
Where's Celestia in all of this quest?
sowe go to the Mind?
>>6527772In Equestria. We're still outside the borders for now, I think.
>>6527758I was wondering that too...>>6527654Seriously what is the deal with that goat. We never got any answers to that shit. The closest thing I can manage is that his blood was spilled to trigger the spires that took down the ships, but if so, then who killed him? Why was the blood more fresh, and splattered about in the room below this one? Who put that stone in his mouth?
>>6527830>goatNever againI can complete the quest and live my life without knowing what the deal is with the goat
>>6527758Further thought on this, a talking skull companion IS pretty much a requisite for a good adventure game...Anyway it's good to remember that experimentation with the daggers is still an option open to us.
so what are we doing?going up or going to stab some shit?
>>6527993But what heads are there that we can use for a companion? There's the goat, but that's not going to do us a lot of good if we can't understand him. We crushed or lava'd everyone else's heads, except for Gaston who's head we never found....I just had a mental image of Renne with a Chronicle head hanging from her hip à la Lollipop Chainsaw.
>>6528078Well, if we stuck a dagger in him, maybe it would be Baldwin's soul that took over the body, not the goat.Which might be dangerous, but I don't think goats can do magic anyway...?Who wants to play Dr. Frankenstein?
You tell Saffron that it's finally time you investigate the upper floor. As you ascend, the voices begin to come back, like the trickling of a stream. Before long, it is an ocean of cries and screams. You muster up your wits and press on. The cold feeling from before begins to leave your body, but not the numbness. You stand before what once was the skull door, Saffron wrapping a paw around your shoulder. The entrance of the doorway seems to shift and move, pulsing with the beat of the temple that pounds in your head.https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21938484/_RQ/_audio/30/audio01.mp3
>>6528419
>>6528428>>6528419Fucking moot. That shock was deflated.
Boop.
Also, sorry about going to the door if you guys wanted to go elsewhere, but that was the plan when I started. You can always change your Mind.
>>6528473Ahaha. We'll have time to think it over before tomorrow.
>>6528473Boo, that was a terrible pun. Thanks for the session!Are we on for tommorrow as well?
>>6528521Yes, things will resume as planned tomorrow, we had a much better turnout today, I'm really happy. Thanks, everyone, so much.
>>6528539Sorry I wasn't a show last week, IRL stuff came up, which of course comes first.Thanks for going to the effort of running the thing. See you tommorrow, then!