In The Balance

Equestria has been ravaged. Not by a tangible threat, not by some overlord that Celestia can placate or eliminate, not by some physically identifiable force that the Element Bearers can simply repel with the powers of Harmony; chaos, madness and volatile magic has laid siege to Equestria for weeks as the royals scrambled for a solution.

Much to the dismay of all, the Lord of Chaos himself held no answers; Discord denies involvement in the bursts of chaos magic bombarding the land and even admitted that his own powers had no effect in attempting to reverse the damage done to the land. Many questioned, few could even attempt answers.

Eventually Princess Luna arranged for a select few to make a journey that she believed may hold the answer. Hiring ponies who were willing to undertake a journey at sea, hazardous at the best of times, positively death seeking with the chaos magic spreading rapidly. The details of this voyage are unknown, the only information you have been afforded is the coordinates for where you are to go.

After six days at open sea, the answer will finally reveal itself.


The seas they were in had to be uncharted, surely. They had passed Zebrica two days ago and that nation itself was on the very edge of known territory. They were in the unknown now, the boat cutting a path through the harsh environment; glaciers and icebergs surrounded on all sides, a veritable landmass of ice and snow which had a single path cut through it, just large enough for a ship.

The railing were frosted and their breath visible to the air as the crew of the vessel continued on their way through, the crewmen grabbing whatever spare blankets or cloaks they could to wrap around themselves against the freezing temperatures. The team assembled by Luna were just as cold and exposed, they had not been told to prepare for an arctic environment like this.


RULES:

1) This is an adventure thread. Feel free to bring equipment with you as starting, but be warned that you can very easily lose equipment and items in this game.

2) Please be sure to detail EVERYTHING your character has with them when you start

3) While death is a possibility in this game it will be extremely rare for it to happen; this is more a thread to have fun than worry about dying constantly.

4) Please don't make up parts of the story yourself. The explanation to what is going on is what you're here to find out, not to magically know.

5) As always, character sheets are required. A description of your character in anthro form including clothes and gear would be nice. You are allowed to start with weapons and equipment, as previously stated.

6) Have fun!

Faerie Fire shivers in the cold. She had attempted to create some form of warming spell when the temperature began dropping, but her results had been mixed. It might of worked normally, but she wasn't prepared for the temperature to drop to arctic levels. "A bit of warning might'a been nice." she mutters for what must of been the millionth time this voyage. She wrapped her rain cloak around her, trying to conserve what little warmth there was, trying to keep her fingers from going completely numb. She gives a chilly sign, before heading back over to the small space she had claimed as her own. Ever since they had entered this ocean of ice and frost, she had been trying to make a spell despite her brain muddled by the intense cold. Now, she would try again.

Stands beside Faerie and shivers wildly in tandem with her, his spear having ice cycles on the end of the shaft, wind, snow and water easily penetrating his vest and shirt. He takes out a bottle of whiskey from his belt and takes a drink. Guzzling down have the bottle to keep him from feeling too cold, glad for his mane and tail helping to keep his head and legs warm. "D-d-d-d-dammit! Why didn't anyone say it would arctic! We just passed Zebrica which is freaking dry and warm... damn I wish I learned map reading in the army...." His teeth clattering as he tried to start a conversation. "H-hello miss, I'm Gentle Breeze II of Feather Hill and you are?"

Not far away from Gentle Breeze and Faerie Fire in a corner, there was a sabertooth-like tiger with bright blue, almost white coat and it looked like it had lots of fur. The tiger was curled up, trying to keep the body heat while watching Faerie and Breeze. "So, I guess I'm not the only one trying not to freeze here..." he jokingly said in a partially growling voice towards the two. "So how's the day for you two been so far?" he asked before curling up tighter, glad that his sabretooth tiger form had such thick fur.

Scarlet Knife stands at the railing of the ship looking out over the iceberg-dotted water. The stocky but tall red-coated mare is dressed up like the prototypical Arctic explorer: long fur-lined coat with tallow waterproofing, a deep fur-lined hood that had been sewn on with a heavy-gauge needle, goggles propped above her head with a flip-down slitted covering, a woolven face mask, heavy gloves and snow boots, and all sorts of other ice-related equipment hanging off her large backpack. The most prominent items are the pair of long-blade ice axes that have been sharpened beyond what's necessary for their use as tools, strongly hinting that they're also meant to serve as weapons. She snorted a little and turned back from the railing, tromping back under the deck to where her companions are curled up and shivering. She reaches up and pulls the face mask away from her muzzle, revealing a frown. "The funny thing about all this getup is, I was on the point of throttling my older sister for making me bring it," she comments to them before reaching in under her coat and undoing the straps of the backpack, putting it down on the deck and opening the top flap. "I mean, what sane person prepares for tropical conditions and arctic ones with the same annoyingly overpacked backpack? Just goes to show you, Viridian isn't sane. Coulda told you that just from her marefriend, who's bouncing-off-the-walls crazy, but the entire pack-for-subzero thing just tops it off."

She paws around in the pack for a minute before tossing a thick felt blanket towards the shivering Faerie Fire and a light but still fairly well-insulated coat at Gentle Breeze. "I know, it's not going to help a whole lot but I hope it'll help a little." She quirks an eyebrow at Gentle. "Thought I've gotta know something: how is a pony whose entire race goes wandering around snow, sleet, hail, and rain clouds as their entire reason for existing shivering? I mean, doncha lot got some sorta thing to help you avoid freezing your plots off when you're managing the weather, other than raingear and what not?"

Divinus Lancea was sitting towards the back of the ship. The titan of a pegasus was sitting down, his armor's chestplate, his undershirt, and his cloak sitting next to him. He still had the bottom half of his armor plus the underclothing on, his talisman around his neck. Across his chest He was wearing the belt that held his lance and his new longsword, which was large enough to count as a bastard sword for most ponies, in their sheathes, they sat parallel on his back. His wings were somewhat folded out, their wingspan at that state would dwarf that of a normal pegesai. None of his things were collecting snow or freezing, he felt as if it were a sunny day, of course, that was because of his ability to generate energy through breathing alone. He stood up, to his full 7' 1" and walked over to Gentle Breeze, giving him a pat on the back. "Well then, wherefore art thou cold? Did nay one teach thou to breathe meet? 'r art thou not fit to carry a spear? Yea if thou didn't, a meet knight would hast come prepar'd." He chuckled, his voice full of heartiness and cheer.

Gentle looks at the big blue sabretooth with a smile. "I am Gentle Breeze, pleased to meet you Griff." After which he gets a blanket thrown to him by the tall, red mare. Putting it around him tightly he jumps up and shakes her hoof. "Thank you so much miss, I really needed that." As he heard her question he began feeling himself warming up. "Well I can take cold, but there's a point where it gets ridiculous unless you're prepared in some way or just extremely tolerant." He then began drinking a bit more of his whiskey, offering the other some booze if they wanted it.

A few moments later he was padded by a truly huge pegasus. Hearing his comment he was about to say something rude, but was stopped by the laughter which convinced him it was a joke. Gentle turned to face the titan and looked the six or so inches up to him. "I am not a knight Sir Lancea. I am not even a soldier anymore, but I was in the Hoplite elite unit and my skills with this spear in part earned me Cadenza." He said proudly as he pointed at his vest with both of his thumbs. "It was given to me by two of the hottest and most powerful ponies alive. Maybe when we get on dry land somewhere, we could have a sparring match, but until then, would you like some whiskey, brandy, mead or Aqua Vitae ingebed wæpenbora?" He said as he padded Divinus on the shoulder. "Besides I wasn't anywhere near this cold during my service, living on my estate or in my cloud mansion. So I'm not accustomed to it."

In a different corner of the room, there was a small pile of blankets about two blankets thick. A curled up shape was underneath the blanket, not seeming to move at all. Then a yawn could be heard as legs poked out from under the blankets, armored with typical lunar guard armor. Arms also stick out from the other side of the blanket, equally just as armored like the legs.

The legs and arms then went limp again for a few moments. Then the figure underneath the blanket sat up, revealing a thestral stallion about five feet and five inches. His coat was a gray color and his mane was black. The armor he wore was that of a lunar guard's, minus a helmet. He sore sunglasses and a short sword lay on the floor next to him. "Well that was a nice sleep...Besides the obvious fact that my fingers might have frozen off." He muttered to himself as he snuggled back into the blankets while looking at the others as they talked and did their stuff. He had to admit, the accent that giant pony had interest him more than it should have...It reminded him of his foalhood.

Lancea let out a hearty laugh. Then his expression turned serious. "Whiskey, brandy, mead and Aqua Vitae ingebed wæpenbora? Doth not touch me with thy filthy hands!" He said, smacking Gentle's hand away, walking a few feet away, then turning around. A scowl on his face.


"Those art the drought of the unciviliz'd, the cruel, and the drunkard. A knight hath nay lay-to f'r alcohol. A soldier worth their rations needs nay alcohol either. When wast soldiers ev'r allow'd to englut such a garish and unbecoming drink? Is this portance because of a lack of discipline in the soldiers? Stallions who drink such filth art scum. 'Tis simple as that. One cannot be chariest if one puts filth into their corse. It dost nothing but make the spirit poorer and worse f'r wear. Alcohol is a poison to the spirit and the corse. Thou hast already ruin'd thy image in mine eyes. Thou make me want to heave the gorge." He said as he drew his lance as fast as lightning and stabbed the bottle of whiskey. The lance was five feet and eight inches long, looking large and maybe even unwieldy, but the massive pegasus wielded it with the precision and speed of a trained fencer. With a flick of his wrist, the bottle flew overboard. "Doth not let me catch thou drinking the taint again. I will amerce thou as if thou wast one of mine soldiers. It will not be enjoyable f'r thou." He sheathed his lance, then walked over to his gear, which just so happened to be next to a moving pile of blankets. 


He undid his weapon belt and set it to one side as he put his shirt and armor on. He saw the thestral sit up. "I see that ye are not dead. Good. We ne'd as many able bodies as possible." He said as he placed his wings through the slot in the back of his armor, then folded them as he put his weapon belt back on and threw his cloak on.

Griff slightly groaned as he stood up, still in his sabretooth tiger form, and stretched his front legs. He walked over to the railing and looked into the distance. "I doubt this icey land will end anytime soon.." he said and slightly pouted before listening to what the pegasus with a lance and an odd accent had to say. 'Geez, I barely understand what he says...' Griff thought as he continued listening. 'Alcohol being a poison, huh? More like the only fun thing my insides get to experience at all...' he added to his thought and chuckled to himself before sighing and looking at the pile of moving blankets. "This frost will end us all if we stay for a few days longer. Not many of us came prepared for this.." he said to nobody in particular, his almost-white bright-blue fur slightly waving in the breeze.

The captain of the ship, wrapped head to hoof in as many cloaks as he could pile on himself, walked around the group with an amber bottle, filling a shot glass for each of them. "I'd take a quick shot now laddies, our navigator says there isn't any sign o' this blasted weather improving on the horizon and we ain't about to set out own boat on fire, the whiskey will give your body a bit of fire until we can get out of this." He said as he passed the glasses around.

"I agree to that." The captain nodded to Griff. "We didn't exactly got weeks of prep time and a doorstopper dossier on this job; we basically got told to pack our things and go." As the captain spoke a slight rumble came from across the icey plains though it was hard to say if they had imagined it or not considering how often the glaciers around them cracked and shifted.

"We might have a lot of natural protection Ms Knife." The captain answered Scarlet. "But it only goes so far; earth ponies can move more earth with one hand than I could with two but you wouldn't expect them to take being buried alive particularly well would ya?"

This time the rumble was louder, and the ominous crack that followed sounded like a roar of thunder it was so close; several of the crew whipped around in alarm. "What in Equestria was that?" One of the crew high in the rigging shouted down.

Star raised an eyebrow as Lancea ranted about alcohol. He then tiled his head in confusion when the pegasus stabbed a bottle and threw it overboard. It seemed a bit much to him, it was only a drink after all. Well....That and he's never actually had alcohol before, something about him being young or something about no drinking when on guard duty. He just shrugged and snuggled deeper into his blankets.

"...Now that was an insult. Oh course I'm not dead. Me being dead in the equivalent to what I felt when guarding out in the snow in the dead of night." He said, somewhat jokingly. He then turned towards the captain as he passed out shot glasses and filled them up with whiskey. He looked down at the glass, an eyebrow raised. He took a sip of the whiskey. He was going to take another sip when he heard the rumble. "Thunder...That...Can't be good." He muttered to himself, putting the shot glass down.

Griff transformed back to his normal form, now being covered in a rugged and partially torn dark-green cloak, it covering most of his body. He smiled at the captain as he brought him a shot glass of alcoholic drink. "Thanks, just about what I needed." he said, then giving a 'you don't rule me' kind of look at Lancea and a grin towards Gentle before downing the glass. He exhaled in relief before mentioning "Just the kind of drink I needed." and setting the shot glass on the railing. The thunder slightly scared him, making him slightly jump. "What the heck..?!" he said before looking up.

Faerie accepts the drink and cloak gratefully, nodding to the captain and Knife. "I've been attempting to rig some sort of warmth from magic, but it's hard to think in this accursed cold." She grumbles. Faerie looks up at the first rumble of thunder. Perhaps it could've been an iceberg, but it seemed... off, somehow. Perhaps it was nothing. At the second rumble however, she whips her head around, heading with purpose towards the front of the ship. "What in Titania's name..?"

Lancea finished putting his armor on. He turned around to be offered a shotglass of whiskey. "Captain, you will need it more than I will. They all need it. It seems the sunlight arts are forgotten. 'Tis a shame." He took off his cloak and draped it around Star Sentinel. "It isn't much more than you have, but it will help." The thunder threw him off. It most certainly couldn't have been natural thunder. He spoke his next words in a very calm voice, though it was most definitely heard by everyone there. "Prepare yourselves f'r conflict. I would prefer not to take chances."

Gentle felt his stomach churn as the paladin berated him for his drinking and visibly flinched a few time, then his eyes bulged out to a massive degree when his whiskey was smacked overboard.

He feel to his knees, looking out over the water, small tears streaming down his face. "M-my booze... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" He screamed, completely forgetting the berating from the now armour clad warrior as he sluggishly stood up again, being offered a new source of whiskey. "Thanks man, but I think I've had my share for now at least."

At the rumble of the thunder he jumped, turning towards the sound, spear already in hand. "What in Tartarus was that!?"

The thunderous rumbles continued, with several loud booms and horrible cracking noises as the ice and glaciers exploded into shards at two points twenty foot on each side of the ship; the path they had been following hardened and crackled before freezing over entirely, sending a sharp lurch through the ship which sent several of the crew to the floor, one unlucky crew stallion even fell from the rigging entirely, saved only by quick reactions with his horn to snag a rope around his foot.

"Someone want to tell me what in Tartarus that was?" The captain demanded, as confused as the rest; his eyes widened and he fell silent however as from the two huge holes in the ice erupted two ornate stone pillars, shooting up until they each towered at least fifty feet high; a beautiful statue was entwined around each pillar, carved from ruby on the left pillar was an enormous serpent baring it's fangs, while on the right pillar was coiled a sapphire statue of what was unmistakably Discord.

"...someone better have a Luna damned explanation for this..." the captain mumbled, looking weak at the knees as a low hum sounded from the pillars, constant enough to induce headaches.

Star mumbled a thanks to Lancea when he draped his cloak over him. He then winced when he heard Gentle screaming. He put his hands over his ears muffle out the screaming. "Be quiet!" He yelled, muttering a curse or two about ponies not giving a care in the world for thestral hearing. He put his hands down and sighed.

He then jumped a little when the ship lurched. He silently thanked Luna that he was sitting on the ground and not standing. He stared up at the two pillars for a moment before throwing his hands back over his ears because of the low hum. He cursed his luck sometimes as he rubbed his head with one hand, having a headache already. "Dear Luna someone make that humming stop..." He muttered, shaking his head a little.

Griff was taken at surprise and got thrown on the ground. "What in the heck...?" he thought out loud as he looked at the two pillars on each side of the ship. He carefully stood up again, taking a good grip at the ship's fence before getting a better look at the pillars. He noticed the beautiful statues on them, one representing... Discord? and the other represented something Griff had never seen before. "Captain..?" Griff spoke before turning towards the others. "Where the buck are we...?" he continued his previous sentence while still looking at everyone, hoping at least one from the crew will have a slight clue.

Faerie can only look up in shock at the massive statue, before a though hits her.  "Hey! Didn't he say he had nothing to do with this?!"  Before she could say anything else, the abominable humming  starts.
She tries to stuff some of the furs in her ears, hoping to drown out the noise. Her magic, 'thawed out' so to speak, begins working on a sound barrier to stop the humming.
'I can anchor it to the furs, hopefully it will have better luck than the heating charm.' She thinks, partially berating herself for the failure to aid the crew when the ice first began. It was a sore point in general for her, since that type of magic was supposed to be her specialty.

Golden rolled over with a very audible groan from his cozy corner in the hull of the ship. Uncurling his wings and stretching out, as the annoying hum reverberated through the ship. "Alright alright...I'm up..." looking around he realizes he's the only one still below deck, 'Shit I must have slept in' quickly strapping up his crossbow and his bag before throwing on his cloak for the cold that would await him as he headed toward the top deck.

Emerging from stairs to see 2 giant pillars looming overhead and an overall sense of confusion, moving toward the group with a puzzled expression on his face of them keeping quiet to try and understand whats happening, his wings moving to his ears to block the even louder humming.

Plenilunium sat one deck down from the top but he was meditating. His weapon resting against his shoulder when the sounds and cries of exclaim came to his ears. He aptly opened his eyes and his hand went straight for his staff. The familiar wood feeling made his fur shiver in delight while the crescent blade gleamed with a sliver light. He rose to his hooves, his blue armor protecting his muscled form on top. He rushed out from the dark decks straight onto the open deck. His sight caught the two pillars in front of them, causing him to hold his breath for a moment “By Luna…” was all that he muttered while the others simply went about their business

Plenilunium was far from the loving care of Luna and he knew it. That frightened him more than anything else but he would press onward for the princess of the moon. His will and command.

Lancea scowled at Gentle's reaction. "Fie. How dost one desire 'r rely on poison to function? Nev'r mind. I shall not ask." He then took one good look at the statue, then looked at the rest of the crew, then back at the statue. "Who is this? And who is the one responsible for such craft work? It rivals those of the artistic ponies of the north." He was completely out of his pool of reference at this point.

Gentle flinched slightly at the ongoing berating from Lancea, before looking in awe at the pillars, noticing Lancea's lack of knowledge on the matter and caught himself having a smug smirk as he passed by the huge pegasus. "That monstrosity, my friend, is Discord. Spirit of Chaos, entropy personified, the destroyer of logic and order... and possibly funniest pony I've seen in action since my team mates held an old school orgy and we decided to prank the commanding officer." He said as he recited a phrase from one of his books.

After feeling he has had his fun, he looked to the captain, making a quick swirling of his spear before bumping the blunt end into the deck. "I have no idea what it is Sir... but I get the feeling Discord may have lied about his involvement... and maybe have had a relative or nemesis since the snake and he seems to have a connection in some way... Awaiting your orders Captain." He said as he stood at the ready, a noticeable change in his demeanor as he suddenly took on a very serious scowl.

Scarlet chuckles at the captain as she accepts the glass of mysterious amber from him, gives it a good sniff, and then tosses it back without hesitation. "Umph... yeah!" she exclaims, giving her head a shake. "Good stuff, that, kicks like a pissed-off mule and believe you me, I've gotten kicked by a pissed-off mule. Oddly enough, we got to be kinda almost friends after I got my ribs wrapped properly..." When the captain's offer of quality booze is succeeded immediately by the sounds of cracking around them, Scarlet heads back out of the cabin and returns to standing on the deck to see what's happening. "What's happening" turns out to be two pillars shooting out of the ice bearing statues, one of the misshappen Discord, one of a monstrous serpent. Even the highly stable Scarlet is forced to snatch at the railing when the two statues burst forth and so braced, she outright gapes at the statues. The speculation from Gentle Breeze goes entirely by her, as do the reactions of the others hired on for this purpose, and she gives her head another shake, a slower one than before. "I think, Captain, that the sound you just heard was the plot, thickening."