Truly Evil?

It started in September, with simple crimes that were reserved for the police within the small towns but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Soon, the acts began to escalate in complexity and severity. Before long wanted posters began to appear, and by the end of the year, the unicorn known as Sin Ester (sinister) was a regular in the newspapers who proclaimed him to be a menace, a monster, and a criminal mastermind. Six months later, Sin Ester is still at large and wanted for everything from releasing a massive swarm of parasprites into the princess's personal chambers to robbing the second largest bank in Canterlot.

With several of Sin's schemes still wreaking havoc, the majority of the police force as well as a decent chunk of available military are busy trying to maintain order and as such the princesses have offered a chance to any volunteers who want to put a stop to Sin's antics. You who have answered the call now stand before a secluded manor on a hill far from everything except the Everfree forest that surrounds it. From what limited information has been left at crime scenes, it's been concluded that this, along with a few similar dwelling that are spread far across the nation, have been used by Sin as a hideout.

The mission, simple enough, is to infiltrate the manor and find any information you can on Sin Ester or any of his plans. On the chance that an encounter Sin Ester occurs, he is to be apprehended and brought in for questioning. Yet, that does little to diminish the foreboding sense emanating from the seemingly decrepit structure with it's dark and broken windows, imposing double doors, and overall creepy visage. Now all there is to do is open the doors and step inside.

Rules:
1) As stated in the sign up, there is a hope that this will be semi-turn based, but isn't a strict requirement
2) No auto-hitting, and try to be a good sport
3) If anyone wishes to join in, please go to the sign up first or send me a PM so there's no 'bumb' about character integration
4) Don't control the NPC's, you have your character and that's it unless otherwise stated.

That's all I got, so let's see how this goes

If somepony said Dusk wasn't afraid of anything, he'd list off a number of times when he was afraid, and this was one of them. From what he heard, Sin Ester wasn't a killer or anything, but that didn't mean he wouldn't start at some point.

He didn't bring much since he didn't expect a fight, but he did have his sword with him. Though the job was to bring him in alive, he figured it would be okay if he was damaged a bit. He didn't have a flashlight since he could just light up his horn. He hoped it the place wasn't as foreboding on the inside. Well, at least I'm not going in alone, he thought.

Ician looked up at the foreboding manor. He was armoured in his entire Royal Guard ensemble; gold helmet, gold armour, and finely sharpened shortsword. He had hidden a knife in his armour too, just in case.

Ician glanced at his poorly prepared companion. He suspected that Dusk didn't expect there to be a fight; neither did he, to be honest. But his penchant for going in completely and crazy prepared and expecting everything lent itself well to his position and his paranoia.

He looks back at the manor. "No time like the present. We should go in."

Proceeding into the manor revealed the interior to be in considerably better shape than the buildings exterior. The entry hall was eerily beautiful with it's abundance of deep reds, vibrant purples, and unsettling blacks used in the color schemes of the wall paint, carpeting, and borders. The shadowy dancing light from several candles creating an eerie scene despite it being still fairly early in the evening with the sun still well in the sky.

The hallway itself went on for a short ways before turning to the right. On the opposite side of this turn sat a staircase leading to a second floor landing. Before the staircase, a pair of closed doors leading off to other rooms could clearly be seen, along with another closed door under the staircase. Up the stairs, the hall seemed to split at a T junction, the walkways going off to the sides and disappearing behind walls.

An echoing and distant chuckle sounds out as you both enter the building, but is too faint and distorted to determine it's origins.

Ician had no doubt in his mind. The chuckle, ominous as it was, had little if any bearing on his decision. He was a soldier; he was practical, logical, and above all, confident.

"We much search all the rooms." He determined, moving up to the first of the pair of closed doors and pushing it open. He extricates his sword from its scabbard and waits for anything in there to attack him.

As Ician opened the first pair of doors (assuming he went with the ones on the left), the revealed room appeared to be something of a lounge. A delicate pattern covered the walls in deep blues and burgundies, emphasizing the white marble fireplace that sat cold on the far side of the room. A couple of high backed chairs sat in the room with their backs to the door along with a couple small stands, but other than that, there didn't appear to be anything else lying in the area.

On the right wall, a second door to the room stands closed as well, marking the the second of 3 breaks in the patterns that cover the walls of the room.

Ician memorised the layout, committing it to memory as he entered the room cautiously. He approached the two high-backed chairs with his sword raised, and once he got within range he directed a powerful kick at them.

Dusk followed Ician in with his sword drawn. As he was rather aggressively checking the high back chairs, Dusk kept his eyes on the doors to make sure nopony surprised them.

The high backed chairs, though uncharacteristically heavy, took the brunt of the kick. As they teetered and fell, the apparently stone chairs sat in their new positions offering no form of counter attack past them being stone and possibly hurting the kicker.

The fireplace however did react, igniting and basking the room in a orange glow that brightly lit the nearby area, but cast the walls and beyond it in almost solid shadows. Gradually, the flames in the fireplace began to grow in heat, intensity and strength yet without creating any additional light. Very soon, the room would become uncomfortable, then unbearable, before becoming outright hazardous.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Ician backed away from the chairs. "Stone?! What could possibly possess anypony to make chairs out of-"

He noticed the fireplace. "Oh dear. Magic of some kind. Back out!" Ician snapped at Dusk. Then an idea came to him.

He moved over to the second door on the other side of the room and threw it open, scanning for what lies beyond with his sword raised.

"I'm right behind you," Dusk said, following him to the second room. Under normal circumstances DUsk would be the pony on point, but Ician was better prepared for that role than him. He wouldn't complain unless Ician proved to be incompetent, which he doubted he would be.

The minute they were in the next room, the door slammed shut behind the two, sealing them in total darkness. Surprisingly enough, no heat seemed to pass through what was likely a rather thin barrier. Moments later, a small orb of light began to glow near what could be assumed as the center of the space, but the glow from this orb barely made enough light to illuminate itself let alone any of the room.

Dusk lit his horn up so both he and Ician could get a better idea of what was in the room.

With the additional light from Dusk's horn, the room appeared to be rather bleak. Just a cylinder shaped room with no distinguishing features to be seen. Yet the far side of the room still remained shroud in darkness and the orb itself failed to move or react in the slightest.

Ician squinted into the darkness, trying to make out what was at the far end of the room. He signalled Dusk forward as he himself advances, sword raised.

"I... don't trust my plans anymore." He shook his head. "All this magic... anything could be anything. If I was well-versed in anything other than telekinesis I might stand a better chance, but... well." He turns to Dusk. "I don't suppose you know anything about advanced magic like this manor has?"

"Not a clue, other than the basics I know some combat magic, teleportation, and some healing magic. This stuff's beyond my understanding," Dusk said as he moved forward. He also had his sword raised, and was beginning to wish he had brought his armor.

As you two get closer to the orb, it suddenly erupts, filling the room and beyond with light. The floor, roof, and walls seem to simply fall away as a cosmic scene fills the area. Stars, asteroids, and various other celestial entities flood the space creating a sense of the two simply floating in space, but nothing of the room remains to be seen.

Then the scene seems to ripple, and a series of door, 8 including the door you both entered through, form a rough circle around the two ponies.

As the cosmic scene appeared, Ician stumbled backwards slightly, looking up at it in awe. Then he noticed the doors. "Oh come on. This is just ridiculous." He sighed heavily and glanced at Dusk. "So, any preferences? Or do you just want to pick one at random?"

I don't see anything that would tell us which one's good or which one's bad. Let's do a random one," Dusk said.

((Going to bed. Good night.))

"Random one. Right." Ician selected the door in front of him - he was still facing exactly opposite from the door he had entered from - and pushed it open keeping his sword at the ready.

((Good night.))

Past the threshold was a swirling vortex of colors that would mesmerized and disorient any who stared into it's depths for too long.

((G'night))

"Yeah... no, not that one." Ician closed it and opened the one to its right instead. "Okay, what's in here?"

Past that door was a rather normal looking hallway with a row of windows on one side which the evening rays of the sun pierced through. On the other side were 4 doors before the hallway ended with a final door.

Ician wandered into the room, still wary, and cast a curious gaze out of the windows, observing what lay beyond them.

Beyond lay the Everfree forest, coated in the oranges of the evening sunlight. The almost jungle like forest in some ways seeming almost as foreboding as the manor itself, though it seemed to possess a hostility rather than the evil the manor possessed.