Trilobite

The tower fell silent. The group head reached a landing just outside the doors to the great feast hall. Within, an enormous stone table laden with food waited. At its head, flanked by a pair of Iceguard, sat the Queen. All eyes turned toward her. "The truth, do you speak?" Her voice was rusty with age, but still loud and firm. The Iceguard helped her rise from her chair, and she walked slowly toward the delegation. Despite the fraility of her limbs, she carried herself erect, and her eyes blazed as if with cold fire. Griffons backed out her way, bowing low. Even Princess Gale dipped her head, moving away from the ponies. "Your words consider, Ember Spark of the Polar Star. A subject for jests, this is not."

Parhelion, seeing his new friend a-twitter, laughed. "I know, right? I was totally caught by surprise. Flumgasted. Blabberfounded! This has really been a day for...well! I mean, what a day!" The pegasus stopped for a moment and craned his neck to see the source of the crying. "Hope that foal's okay...oh, and don't worry., Star Storm. Apple Jack'll give you a kiss. Earth ponies are very dependable. Honest."

Hello! Thought I'd drop by and see how the application is moving along.

"Here's to that! I'm...well, I guess I'm all out of sorts today, between buying apples and the kiss the pretty farm mare thing, and..." he made vague, spinny motions with his hooves. "Um. Parhelion. Late of Stalliongrad, Cloudsdale born and raised. A pleasure to meet you, Master Mustang! Wait. Students...master...hey! Are you...an artist?"

Picture=supercute. Birds=mega-awesome. Megawsome? Most of the griffons have a snowy-owl look to them, but some of them have the softer tones and even slight browns of the other birds mentioned. And yeah, I actually giggled at some of the interplay and characterization in those last posts. Me! Giggling!

A shallow, winding staricase led toward the top of the tower. From here, numerous side passages and ledges were visible, and griffons flew busily back and forth, many of them carrying food and other supplies. Others were peering out from huge doorways or down from high perches, and an excited murmuring filled the air, quieting only briefly as the Princess passed and the nearest griffons bowed. The way was lit by great lamps, open flame burning in bowls surrounded by elaborate brass cages. The stairs themselves were lined with images of earth ponies, unicorns, and small, deer-like creatures with dimunitive wings marching happily along. The designs were worn, as were the steps, as though thousands upon thousands of hooves had passed this way over many, many years. "Stormfast is quite impressive, Princess Gale," Cleverboots said, taking in the sights. "Pleased I am that this you think," the griffon replied. "Our fortress it is, and our home. Built in the time of legends it was, before even the rise of your Sun Princess and her lost sister. In the depths of the mountain our homes, our forges, and farms lie, and from its peak Queen Katabat the land observes. From here the Iceguard flies, the animals to aid, the plants to tend, the storms to guide and harvest." Behind, Emerath and Ember Spark found themselves with a pair of tenders, two armored griffons who kept a few paces back and moved at the ponies' pace. They somehow gave the impression of being blind and deaf to the ponies' presence, taking polite discretion to a completely new level.

With the princess passed, Parhelion finally managed to recover a bit. He listened as Master Mustang and Star Storm talked, nodding here and there. "Pardon me for intruding, but I just wanted to say I agree with Star Storm here. Equestria needs more ponies like you. And while I'm not sure magic or anything like that, we do have earthy pony and unicorn visitors in Cloudsdale fairly often. In fact, I wonder if you'd like to come to a gathering...feast...thing? My family's having one, and there'll be way more food than anyone can eat, plus loads of different pegasi and other ponies from Cloudsdale and all over. Star Storm is coming, and you'd be more than welcome!"

Cleverboots refers to 'officers' in the most recent post--that's you lot, just so you know. I've given the gist of the first environment you see. Feel free to create a scene moving through there-you can also embelish the environment--I trust you have the tone of the place. If you want to interact with one another, Cleverboots, or the griffons as you're moving, that totally works too.

Princess Gale laughed, and the two guards with her smile approvingly. "Oh-ho! Glib and humble you are, though mighty the deed of reaching this place from your distant lands is. And courteous, though great too the tribulations of your journey must have been. True, the legends of the ponyfolk must be!" She laid a talon gently on Pocket Changer's shoulder, then on that of Emeber Spark and the Captain as Cleverboots arrived. "Welcome you are, scions of the Sun Princess, and guests of Stormfast you shall be!" She called up to one of the higher griffons, her voice carrying despite the storm. "The feasting hall prepare and my mother, the Queen, inform. Guests once more Stormfast has!" A great section of the tower, looking like no more than another of the vast, weathered decorations, split with a rumble and a cascade of dust. It opened wider and wider, revealing a deep, broad hall with great pillars and an arched ceiling. Griffons bustled to and fro within, lighting huge braziers whose flames whipped and whickered in the icy wind. Finally the doors were open, level with the deck of the ship and the projections to which she was tied. Flickering gold-orange light and palapable heat poured out, and griffons stood to either side, resplendent in jeweled breatplates and winged helms, holding their polearms aloft. Cleverboots bowed deeply. "I am Cleverboots, captain of this vessel. On behalf of my crew, I thank you, Princess Gale, and Queen Katabat, for the hospitality of Stormfast." She turned. "Officers, with me. Salt Spray, you have command of the Star until I return. See to it that the crew are in their finest and bring over every pony we can spare. Organize a detail to bring appropriate gifts to thank our hosts." With a salute the blue earth pony was off. He passed Emerath on the way. "That was brilliant, that was!" He slapped Emerath on the shoulder. "Amazing work, Emerath, I mean amazing. Even the griffons were impressed. They're gonna let us tide over at their port. Cap'n wants you to join the shore party."

Oops! Emerath, you're totally right! 14. Thanky. And Ginger, just post when the spirit moves ya.

"She totally did." Whispered Parhelion, rising now to watch the Princess pass. He stared, wide-eyed as a foal, a dopey grin on his face. Princess Luna! Here!

Parhelion, a bit overwhelmed, remains bowed until the princess has passed.

Those seem fine to me--we've seen Twilight Sparkle do the teleportation, and basic telekinesis seems to be a common unicorn trait.

Woot!

“9...10!” The Polar Star slid across the icy clouds as though dancing on them, moving gracefully with the currents of the storm. “9...10!” The ship turned, drifting to the tower, her port side coming to rest gently on the stone just as the wind shifted, bringing her to a perfect halt. Above and around the ship the griffons circled, looking at one another in surprise as this strange craft sailed so effortlessly across the storm-tossed clouds. A trio of them, larger than the rest, seperated themselves and swooped down to the deck. Ponies scrambled everywhere, tossing and tying off lines under Ember Spark's direction, securing the vessel to the great spire of living rock. Several griffons landed on large projections and, catching the lines, began to assist. The three larger griffons landed before Pocket Change. Two of them wore beautifully wrought breastplates of strange design, clearly ancient but lovingly maintained. They carried long polearms with curling, hooked blades. The third, larger than her companions, was unadorned save for circlet of intertwining silver and gold around her head. She spread her huge, snowy wings against the wind and gazed down haughtily at Pocket Change with eyes the blue of ice. “Gale I am, commander of the Iceguard, daughter of Katabat, who Queen of Stormfast is. Why do you to Stormfast come, ponyfolk?”

Taco, looks good to me! Now, to pull out some dice for Emerath's piloting...2D6 +1 (Cleverboots helping) +1 (Ember Spark's awesome idea and its very nicely described utilization). Target number is seven. Ooh! A 6 and a 5! Total is 13. Not only is it done, but done in style! Ginger Mint, thanks for the warning--post when ya can. You set your character up nicely to be 'absent' for a post or to, too. Everyone, I am really digging the eloquence and imagination y'all are putting into this! I'll have my own post up after I deal with all this BBQ chicken...

Siblingosis! Nice concept for how that go started, and it comes across as very appropriate for the atmosphere of the show and Mane RP. I might suggest taking what you've written directly as the backstory, with whatever minor adjustments you might want or think of along the way.

Hey there, just thought I'd check in to see how the application is going.

Hey Ginger Mint: no problem whatsoever. Think of it more as a chance to add something to the story if you want to rather than a commandment that you must. I guess the GM has to do some work, after all. And speaking of work, Taco, I'll in fact be playing NPCs and others we encounter--though if you create a crewpony (as mentioned in our discusions before the establishment of this thread) you can freely describe their actions anytime. As for the tower, sure, go ahead and put what you're thinking here first. It's a good idea, at least until we all learn more about each other's roleplaying styles.

Congratulations to our Iron Ponies--well won, all!

I liked your post. It totally says a lot about Pocket Change in addition to establishing his role on the ship. Me gusta! And very nicely done to you all--those first posts really give me a feeling as to what your characters are like and what they typically do aboard the ship. Nice! In answer to Taco's question: sort of turn-based. Try to let everyone go before posting, and I'll do the same. I don't think we have to worry about a particular order or anything. Sometimes exceptions will arise, and we'll get a feeling for that as we go on. Oh! Here's where we get to start assigning some numbers to the characters to help with rolls if and when we need them. You have 10 points. Divide these points between: Your job on the ship Your background profession Your special talent Your species (this will be a general purpose role for 'the kinds of things a pegasus/earth pony/unicorn) can do' that aren't covered by other scores). Something else of your choice that helps round out or further define your character. Ratings should be between 1 and 3. 1 is competent, you can do most stuff pretty well, but might make some small mistakes and need to be careful or get help with complicated or difficult things. 2 Is really good: the level of skill where ponies start asking "is that your special talent?" or "have you ever thought of doing that for a living?" 3 is exceptional, typically the result of experience, extensive training, or a great deal of natural talent. When we roll dice, it will be 2d6 plus the most appropriate trait. Typical difficulty for a fairly challenging task will be 7. I'll only call for rolls when there's an opportunity for interesting or meaningful failure. You want to jump across that bottomless chasm? You totally make it with style. Or maybe you barely make it, hanging on for dear life, before one of the crew hauls you up. It's up to you--no roll is needed, because would it be interesting if you plummetted to your doom? Totally not! But suppose instead of a bottomless chasm, it's a crevasse that leads to a network of ice caves. Then I'll ask for a roll. Why? Because a band of explorers searching the ice caves for their lost companion is cool, and who knows what could be found down there? Extra help can come from the friendship bucket. Dice are added to the friendship bucket when I think a character, or characters, really does something that reflects the spirit of cooperation so important to ponies. Any character can take dice from the pool at any time before a roll. These extra dice are then added to the roll. You can take dice to add to another character's roll, no problem. I'll track the friendship bucket on the first page of this here OOC thread. When you have your 'character sheet', post it under your character description at the top of this thread. Thanks! --- Okay, Ember Spark: Tell me if you know anything about this type of griffon (they're big, and have sort of snowy-owl colors as mentioned). In fact, feel free to make up facts, stories, or whatever else you might know! Unless it's something way out there, I'll accept it as gospel and it will be true in our story. Pocket Change: Ditto for you on the tower. Feel free to describe the decorations and inscriptions, along with what you, as an archaeologist, may know, think, or have heard about the decor, or architecture, or even the tower itself! If I feel it's way outside the general mood, I'll ask for or create something else, but otherwise I'll be more than happy to have what you come up with be true. Emerath: Once you have your helmspony score assigned, I'll make a roll for the maneuver you described. You'll get a +1 for your descriptions of getting the crew to help and from Cleverboot's assistance. That's +1 total, just to be clear. Everyone: Y'all are owning your characters and running with this in a way I love. Keep it up!

Cleverboots trotted in, letting in a howling blast of ice before shutting and dogging the hatch behind her. The orange-eyed earth pony surveyed the situation on the control deck, then accepted telescope from one of the crew. "No, Ember Spark, it's not a metaphor. That's a real tower. And very real griffons." Their images swam in the spyglass, blurred and fast-moving; huge, dappled and banded in whites, grays, and blacks. "Very real griffons who are coming this way. Let's hope they're friendly..." She handed the spyglass to Ember Spark. "You grew up in Breakbeak--have you ever seen griffons like these?" Coming to the wheel, Cleverboots dismissed the pony assisting Emerath and took hoof of it herself, helping the unicorn steer the on the tenous ice clouds. "Excellent work, Helmspony. We'll come alongside and ask for shelter from this storm. First Mate!" She shouted toward Pocket Change. "We may be having visitors. Get out on the foredeck to greet them. Treat them with all due deference--remember we are the visitors here, and strange ones at that. Don't be afraid to offer the trade goods we brought as a gesture of goodwill. While you're out there get a look at the inscriptions on the tower, see what you can determine." "These winds are so deucedly erratic! I can help with the wheel, but I must commend the ship to your capable hooves, Emerath."

"Please move ahead of me as well, Your Highness. And...and may I say we are bleased...really happy to have you back." Parhelion stammered, his voice rising to a squeak as he cast about for words. Bleased? What the hay? (Luna cut)

Oh! Sorry if I wasn't clear. We're starting during the expedition, about three weeks after the Polar Star set off.

Thanks for putting the link up there. As for locations--wherever you think your character ought to be is fine--make it someplace or some activity that tells us something about the character.