Cainiam

"Master Putter, are you certain that this game is in Maxwell public park?" Four Iron asked in his usual boring baritone.

"That is what the invite has stated, Iron. Bring the limo in closer," a voice called from behind a tinted glass partition.

Four Iron shrugged despite Putter's inability to see him, and brought the limousine around. An explosion from above got his attention and he saw the words "Golfers Here!" emblazoned in the sky briefly. "Nevermind, sir, I think we're here."

"Very good, Iron. Park us and fetch my stuff."

"Of course, sir."

The limousine pulled into a parking space and the stout grey earth pony clambered out of the front and rushed round the back, before returning with a set of clubs on his back. He then pulled open the door in the middle and out strode an elegant silver unicorn with pale blue eyes and a diamond smile. Although all of that was overshadowed by the ridiculous tartan flat cap with its massive red bauble in the middle, and the matching kilt he wore around his abdomen.

"Come, Iron. Let's see what fools dare to challenge me."

The two ponies trotted over to the spot marked by the fireworks.

Did I neglect to mention his massive ego and unwillingness to back down? He'll go into this thinking its traditional, but if it means winning then he's willing to throw all caution to the wind.

Decanter hurried through the Bazaar of Stalliongrad in no particular direction. He knew that he needed something fast, yet he didn't have a clue of where he'd get a hold of it. As such he rushed from stall to stall quickly glancing through their wares before rushing onward, occasionally stopping at ask a hurried question that was always the same. "Does that contain platinum?" which was always met with a curt "No." The short orange earth pony got more than his fare share of odd looks thanks to the jeweller's loupe that still sat on his head pre-magnified for when he gazed at the items. Without platinum his experiment was bound to spoil, and he had anywhere between five minutes and five days to sort that out. The young alchemist was temporarily drawn away by a strong Stalliongrad drawl.

"For on this day, I have to show you a creature unlike anything you have everyseen."

His interest was suddenly piqued and he allowed himself a very short break to see what was under the cloth before he continued his mad dash. "Yes! Yes! Get on with it please! Some of us are very busy," he said quickly as he joined the small crowd and pushed to the front.

This sounds very appealing. Silver Putter, a traditionalist golfer with an impressive record of wins throughout the Equestria Circuit, would be very interested in this. Silver Putter the Third is a stunning silver unicorn who typically wears a gaudy tartan golfing outfit, and never leaves home without a set of clubs. He comes from a long lineage of talented golfers, and is usually seen with his ponyservant and caddy, Four Iron, who comes from an equally long lineage of caddies who all swear service to the Silver family. Does that sound okay with you?

Awesome. Even if we don't get more, a close knit group can be equally as fun.

I'm okay with that. Watcher'll love the attention, although Clear might get a tad jealous.

Grayson noticed the group had agreed on the Snowflake Factory. Grayson had always been meaning to visit, and had read up extensively on the weather production facilities here. He nodded along as the group approached the factory. "I don't know what secrets you could possibly hope to find in that factory, but I have been meaning to see the production for myself. If this is the place you want to check out, then I'm willing to accompany you."

Right. So I vanish for a few days, and suddenly we have another side rp? Cool! Watcher will totally hate this. The patriotic stallion has terrible memories of this place. Although he is mellower as this is the future. Clear Skies will have heard both Watchers shock stories and Gumbo/Mojo's tales of their culture. He loves adventure, but has never been on one, so this is perfect for him. Yeah, I'm up for this. Can I post in the rp now?

(OOC: I'm okay with that, although Grayson's a little peeved.)

Grayson grimaced a little as he had expected something a little more... historical. Nevertheless he never missed an opportunity to gather some more knowledge, so he rose from his chair and followed the others at a brisk pace.

Name: Grimm

Race: Griffon

Colour: Dark muddy brown feathers cover his entire body. He lacks the usual two coloured tone of most griffons, but he sees that as a selective advantage. Piercing yellow eyes.

Personality: Completely opposed to his name he is actually quite outwardly friendly although he is Quick to anger, but equally quick to forgive. Likes to take charge despite his distinct lack of tactics. Relies a lot on his Griffon strength to solve problems, but also has very sharp vision. A strong flyer and he thoroughly enjoys flying. Hates getting his feathers wet and a very poor swimmer. Bit of a jack-of-all trades. Has spent years surviving by himself in the wasteland and is a born survivor. However there is a reason that some of his friends call him "Bird Brain". His intelligence is a little sub-par, but he doesn't let that get in the way of things. As far as he's concerned egg heads can do their thing, and he'll do his.

History: Born into a small tribal crag, his parents and their tribe were considered a real threat across a wide area of the wasteland as they preyed on ponies and wildlife indiscriminately. The NER put the tribe to flame when they entered the area, but Grimm escaped. Grimm was only a young fledgeling at the time, but Griffon's are born survivors. After five years of scavenging things here and there he grew accustomed to eating plant matter as a necessity. Eventually he plucked up the courage to enter the town of Ponyville. Ponies naturally fear and distrust Griffons due to their predatory nature, but a lot of parties value their kind for their innate strength, size and speed. He was quickly snapped up by a merchant company where he served as a caravan guard for a few years. He grew to be friends with the fellow members of his caravan and developed his boisterous, if hotheaded personality there. He took several jobs on the side in the towns he stayed at along the caravan routes. From bounty hunting to building where he has amassed an impressive skill set. His caravan company recently disbanded and he's been around looking for caps. Without his friends to support him though, he once again has to try and deal with ponies distrust, and finds it hard to get honest work. Spotting an open application, he jumped at the chance and signed his name onto the roster for the trip of a lifetime.

Gear: Has a custom suit of leather armour he had to ramshackle together himself due to the lack of Griffon sized armour in the Equestrian Wasteland. He has reinforced it as best he can with whatever he could find, giving it a somewhat scrappy appearance. It only covers his abdomen though. He also wears a backpack also made out of leather in which he keeps his basic tools, medical supplies, ammunition and other important survival equipment.

Weapons:

Primary: A worn bet well maintained scoped hunting rifle.

Secondary: 40mm grenade launcher recently acquired for the mission.

Melee: Just uses his talons. He can cut almost as deep and viciously as any blade.

Grayson turned expectantly to the three ponies that had shown up. "Oh, it is great to finally meet other ponies as interested in Cloudsdale as me!" he shouted excitedly. "So group, do you also intend to search for some manner of ancient mystery? Perhaps the treasure of Commander Hurricane? Or the mystical Temple of Wind!" He shouted as he clutched a claw to his chest. "Of course, other more mundane secrets are obviously on the table like the rumoured Rainbow Factory," he said more casually as he lounged back in his chair.

Grayson walked on in and took a seat on an arm chair, although he was a bit too big for the pony furniture and ended up looking a bit silly. Nevertheless he leant forwards expectantly and listened in. "By all means go ahead," he said politely from his position on the chair.

(OOC: Umm, Grayson is a griffon)

"Ah! A fellow intellectual right? You're here to delve into the secrets of Cloudsdale too right? The Name's Grayson, Apprentice Librarian," he said as he held out a talon to shake.

Grayson was taking his usual morning walk to the library. He'd been reading a lot on Cloudsdale history lately to expand his horizons. Apparently half of his griffon education was useless in Equestria, and he spent a lot of his time at the library catching up on what he had missed. He arrived at the library and happened to catch a glimpse of a poster up on the front. "Interested about Cloudsdale" he read aloud as a smile crossed his beak. Finally a chance to meet ponies that actually cared about half of the stuff he had just learnt. Plus an amazing chance to maybe learn more. "190 Cloudsdale." Grayson had to check this out. He flew to the clubhouse and landed outside. He rapped on the door politely and waited.

This sounds interesting. I like a good action rp. Could I take an OC slot? With Clarity? She's a young unicorn mare fresh out of college and new to the CMC. She has a white coat, and piercing blue eyes with a short, neat cut mane and tail that are a soft red. She excels in problem solving, and thoroughly enjoys the investigative process. Not a talented hand-to-hand fighter, but knows how to handle a pistol or bow if she can find one.

For Cutier marks, Sweetie's a given, but I typically see Scootaloo with a stunt-style cutie mark, and Apple Bloom with an engineering or carpentry kind of cutie mark, as she helped rebuild the clubhouse and stuff.

Double Take looked left and right before leaping up and fluttering to just below the top floor of the building. He hovered just below the window, so he was as close as possible while still being out of sight. If he closed his eyes and strained his ears, he could just make out speech.

"

[colour=#0000CD]Hey! What are you doing back so soon Earth Writer? I just sent you out of here not even an hour ago to learn the world and you're back here? Either you've had a revelation about the pony condition and social affairs, or we have ourselves a failure to communicate![/colour]

So he did work for EQD? Double Take was getting frustrated and confused by this constant bounce between working for and not. He hoped that hanging here for a little longer would give him some real proof.

[colour=#0000cd]Listen New blood,[/colour]

New Blood? That had to be proof. The guy's new. A brand new hot-shot journalist. Double Take sighed. He may have to take care of things after all. Now if only the darn pony would go home, then Hammer could take care of this... or at least throw a rookie at him.

Mind's Eye once again barely avoided a scoff. He'd been in enough ancient ruins and forbidden forests to know to always keep one eye on the floor. He had been a mercenary for twenty years, longer than Hauberk, and not all of it had been savoury. He had moderately looser morals than his stalwart friend, but time spent with the upstanding stallion had uplifted him somewhat. "I thank you for the advice, Captain, but I was fishing for anything a bit more... specific."

Hauberk smiled as he saw Raven having fun. A few last laughs before the coming storm. He pulled out his knife and inspected the blade. Hauberk normally wielded a spear, but once he had heard that he was being assigned to an island, he had quickly traded his spear for this thing from one of the guards. A simple steel machete. With it he could easily cut through the thick vegetation, and if need be, fight off enemies in confined corridors. He sheathed it again and turned towards Sailstorm. "Cap'n! Are we ready to deploy the boats?"

Wind Runner wa shaving a great time speeding around, so much so that she didn't notice Duri splitting off and diving into the the thick foliage. She flew up to the temple when she suddenly heard chanting. A convenient lone cloud hung nearby, so she dashed towards it and concealed herself within. (OOC: Tribal Cultists, or Magic Cultists... you know robes and stuff. Illuminati style.)

Ooh! Ooh! Secrets of Cloudsdale sounds fun. Voting for that.

Minds Eye fought back the urge to scoff loudly. His ship is in so much danger here near a dangerous island that nopony ever travels too. Last time he had insulted the captain of a ship though, he had been marooned on a desert island for four days. It wasn't his fault that the pony didn't like being called out on his inferiority complex. "He did though..." he mumbled aloud as he untied the knots. Instead he opted to push for information. "You're a well travelled pony, correct? Can I assume that you've met somepony whose set foot on these islands? Any information that we don't know could prove invaluable to the team."

Hauberk watched as Wind Runner vanished from view. "Stay safe, Winds," he said softly to the air. He then turned his attention to the two girls. "I propose that Mind's Eye and I trot at the front until Wind Runner gets back. When that happens, Mind's can move to the back to join Allivia, and Winds can take his place at the front. Everypony'll need to stay diligent. Allivia, our priority is Raven; if we all get hit then get her to safety first. Raven, apparently you can commune with wildlife. Can you question animals we find for any extra information?" Hauberk ordered in his royal guard commander tone.

Wind Runner meanwhile was having a blast. Loop-de-looping and corkscrewing about was fun. She had been allowed to fly on the ship, but not too far for fear of getting lost. Duri cawed excitedly beside her. "Yeah, Duri! This is so much fun! Whoosh!" She shouted as she pushed an extra spurt from her wings. The pair then found themselves above the island in question. Overgrown jungle covered half of the island so thickly that Wind couldn't see beneath the thick canopy of trees. The island's only bay was on the complete opposite side of the island from the cliff where the Temple sat. The imposing structure was very Meso-Equestria. Well, that's how they described it in the Daring Doo novels. Wind Runner whistled appreciatively. "Hey, Duri! Let's skip these boring woods and go straight to the scary temple!" Without waiting for a reply she sped up in the direction of the ancient structure.

(OOC: Looks like bowing out then may have saved Sketch's life. Well I think now's a good time to come back.)

This frantic fight did not go unnoticed. Sketch returned after a successful lunch to find his house surrounded by a crowd of ponies. "What the Discord is going on over here?" he said irately to a guardspony stood in the crowd.

"Some kind of robot ponies are fighting against a giant minotaur! See for yourself!" The guard pushed gently against the pony next to him who then moved to the side in response. Sketch stepped forward and gasped. "Spectacular fight, right? I had my money on the minotaur, but then that oldy looking one suddenly powered up and now the real fights happening."

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Sketch cried exasperatedly.

"Nope. Guards don't stand a chance. I say let them fight it out, and we'll just run clean up."

"But... but that's my house! And they're destroying it!"

The guardspony shrugged in response. "Like I said, I ain't risking mine or the lads' lives on this. You want to break them up, you do it yourself."

Sketch gulped and took a few shaking steps forward when suddenly missiles flew in every direction. Most of the crowd screamed and ran leaving just the guardspony and Sketch.

"Whoa! See what I mean. Now that is power!"

"Please, you have to help me! I can't do it by myself!" Sketch cried fearfully.

"Trust me, mate, we ain't gonna make much of a difference."

Sketch was speechless at the guardspony's brutal honesty.

"Look, if you want to charge in there, then here take my sword. Good luck to you," the guardspony replied as he held out his sabre.

Sketch took the sword and charged into the fight only to see the minotaur disappear in a burst of smoke. Sketch looked around confusedly for a few seconds then sighed with relief. "What in Celestia's name happened here?!" Sketch shouted at the assembled robots. "Who was that minotaur? Why were you fighting? What did you do to my house?!" Sketch cried.

"Very good. Best of luck out there, then. Celestia knows we'll need it," Minds stated plainly and trotted over to assist Sailstorm. He deactivated his horn device and set about enveloping the areas that Sailstorm pointed out with his magic and helping out. "If you don't mind me asking, captain, why don't you come with us? I'm sure your combat experience will prove invaluable on the ground," Wind asked as he fiddled with the sails.

Hauberk dropped the anchor exactly as asked. The chain whirred as the anchor fell into the ocean with a splash and vanished beneath its briny depths. Eventually the chain pulled fast and stopped. Hauberk locked it into place and bellowed back, "Anchor deployed, Cap'n!"

Wind Runner flitted about excitedly as Duri flew into the air to join her. "Buck Yeah, Duri! Let's do this, give me some wing!" She shouted as she brought one of her wings around and softly touched it to Duri's. "We'll be back before you know it, Raven! Let's see what makes this island so scary!"

Nah, I was just messing with you. If Celestia can pardon Chrysalis, then so can the rest of ponykind. It's just that all of this pardoning and stuff isn't canon, so we're bound to be less accepting. If you want this to happen then I don't mind. Blueblood, I mean Bluemage is right. Expect the majority of the condo to be hostile until you can prove yourself redeemed.

There's nothing wrong with dating the Queen of the Changelings who recently tried to usurp Celestia and bring about a new age of darkness as ponies everywhere where replaced with demonic spawn that feed off of love.

"Ooh! Ooh! I volunteer for a fly-by! I can fly to the shore and find us a good place to land the boats. Then I can fly further in and try and find this temple, and while I'm doing that I can search for friendly ponies. It'll be an adventure in itself! Ooh! And Duri can come 'cos he's got wings too. It'll be fun!" Wind Runner shouted excitedly at the news that the others would be going by boat.

Hauberk grimaced at the news that they'd have to row the rest of the way. Even this salty old dog was afraid of an island like this. He knew that his team were in over their heads already, but if he hadn't then this would have been the final nail in the coffin. "I'll prepare the anchor," he said curtly and paced off towards the other side of the ship. Sailstorm had told stories that made his stomach churn, but even he knew to stay away from here. He mouthed a silent prayer to whatever gods were left out there as he prepared the chain. "Waiting on your call, Captain!" he bellowed over to the other side of the ship.

Mind's Eye already knew he was going to die. The whole team were going to fail. He'd heard of this island, and its treasure. He had always pursued anything to get him the magical edge over another pony, but even he knew to avoid this spellbook. Even so, he prepared a few charms and wards and placed them over himself. It was all well and good making sure that Raven made it through alive, but if he was going to lose his life here, he'd prefer to at least see the legendary treasure before his death. If it was as powerful as it was claimed, it may even help him avoid death. He hadn't considered that before. He turned to Allivia, "So, if we're to go into this foray together, I need to know that I can count on you to cover my back. You already know that the Crimson Hooves never leave anypony under their care without protection, but I've never heard of you, Allivia."

(OOC: Sorry, I figured TwinkiePie should go first. Also * denotes thought if that wasn't obvious.)

Curse smirked as the mare quietened and took a few steps backwards. She couldn't resist a spell like that, and Curse had plenty more in his arsenal. He turned around to see the earth pony was heading straight for him and not for Lovestone. *Celestia damn it! There's no way he could possibly know that I'm not a security guard! Yet look at him! That's obvious aggression if I've ever seen it.* "Hey, cool your jets, mister," Curse said defensively as he backed away slightly. "This mare has broken into an off limits wing and destroyed priceless art. It is your civic duty to help me take her away from these pieces." *I've gone too far to lose it now. I have to maintain this facade.*

When the colt was in position, Curse changed the spell on Lovestone. Instead of the voices talking, they began to shout angrily. The constant deafening shouting was a spell that Curse had tweaked himself. These thoughts normally led to physical violence as the afflicted felt the need to lash out to try and quell the voices. String Heart was now stood directly in front of Lovestone as the frenzy spell began to work its magic.