d20 Pony

Borg

So far we've been a pretty good judge of character, and we're certainly not going to get any further on this quest by keeping the Philosopher's Stone to ourselves. I trust Solar Flare enough to give him the Stone.

Seeing no better way to honour your promise to Queen Maelstrom, you decide to entrust the Philosopher's Stone to Solar Flare.

You give Philosopher's Stone to Solar Flare. A feeling of purity washes over your mind.

Solar Flare: "Magnificent! I will not rest until the Darkness has been purged from this stone, of that you have my word. Of course, my word is little reward for all that you have done for me!

Here, take this. Whenever you have need of me, whether in guidance or in battle, place my sigil upon sunlit ground, and I will appear by your side!"

Solar Flare reaches under his cape, then places a medallion into your hooves, the golden symbol of the Paladins of Dawn glowing brightly upon it.

You get Solar Flare's Sigil!

Justice: "We'd best leave you to it, then. As for us, we should check on how the others are doing. Say, how long is purifying this stone going to take?"

Solar Flare: "Without my paladins twelve to empower the spell, what should have taken a few minutes may well become hours. Ah, but do not keep yours waiting on my behalf. Once I am done, I will find my own way out of here."

You nod, and figure that you can always come back to the Yggdrasil tree later to get a seed for Moonflower. For now, however, you agree to return to your friends on the shores of Midgard, and bid farewell to Solar Flare.

A cold blanket of grey clouds continues to spiral in the sky over Midgard. Soon after emerging from the northern side of the Mists and returning to the beachside camp, you are welcomed by a panicked Apple Basket.

Apple Basket: "Thank Celestia you're all safe, we were startin' to get worried! Uh, afraid we got into a heap o' trouble, ourselves."

As Apple Basket's words leave his mouth, your eyes drift to a pair of knights of the Order of Dawn lying unconscious a few dozen hooves behind him.

Justice: "What happened here?"

Novelty: "Justice, took you long enough. Needless to say, you're not going to like this. Just a few minutes ago, these two guards came upon us, and made it sound like the Order has been busy searching for me all over.

The moment they saw me, they branded the whole lot of us heretics, and said that they were taking us into custody. Then, the lizard thought it was a good idea to knock both of them out cold, and here we are."

Smoke: "What? They asked for it!"

Bright Logic: "Oooh... I dew I should hab stayed hobe."

Justice: "Horseapples. This is a fine mess, but what's done is done. (sigh) Alright. First, we need to figure out what to do with the guards before they wake up. Or before the Order notices that they're missing, whichever comes first."

Rocket Rush: "I say we leave them here and hightail it back to the Undercity. What are the chances they even remember what hit 'em?"

Novelty: "Well, if they do remember, then it's not just me they'll be after, is it. No, we'd better play it safe and capture them instead. Beat them at their own game."

Justice: "I hate to admit it, but I have to agree with Novelty on this one. We need to know where their orders are coming from. If the Crown wants her that badly, then it's only a matter of time before they come knocking on the Undercity's doors anyway.

Trailblazer, by the looks of it, you and your friends won't be safe in Midgard for much longer. If you want to leave, now's your chance."

	The Mortal Paper Fist:
	Not a command: The problem with overthrowing Empyrius is that he seems to have the support of the population and that we don’t have any proves of his wrongdoings. So it’s our word against his. He’s the “benevolent” king. We are a bunch of outlanders (suspicious), ponies from the Undercity (untrustworthy), a dragon (dangerous beast) and the stallion he successfully painted as villain over 500 years ago (EVILLLL!) . I don’t think that our words alone will manage to convince anypony. Maybe we could get close to Empyrius and call Solar Flare for help, hoping that we will be able to overpower him. But that just makes us look like usurpers and most likly results in the Order and the population fighting against the enemies of the "rightful ruler". We need something to show the ponies of Midgard that Empyrius lied to them and manipulated them. If we could prove, for example, that he’s behind the monsters lurking the countryside we may be able to gain enough support for our cause.
	#19727 Oct 2020

	nopony:► The Mortal Paper Fist (#1972)
	Maybe the purified Philosopher's Stone can help us somehow...
	#19737 Oct 2020

	Hariman:
	There's a Yggdrasil seed waiting for Moonflower, a purified Philosopher's Stone to retrieve, and possibly a beleaguered kingdom to liberate. Leaving to go back for the Philosopher's Stone and the Seed? Option B or C. Option A? I say let's greet the guards with some truth about what's going on, and call Solar Flare with his Sigil if they don't believe.
	#19717 Oct 2020

	Yoshimon1:
	Justice seems to forget they're our friends, too. No way we're just leaving them now! We should have some time before the Order misses those knights, so no need to rush things now. Let's tie them up first with some of the rope on the boat. (And give Smoke a hoofbump.) Then we can interrogate them and explain the situation. We know there are good ponies in the Order, maybe they'll believe us if we show them Solar Flare's Sigil.
	#19705 Oct 2020

	Borg:
	Run away from the adventure? Never! We said we'd help to overthrow the corrupt administration and we still owe Moonflower a Yggdrasil seed, so we're not going anywhere. So how can we help, Justice?
	#19695 Oct 2020

	The Mortal Paper Fist:
	We’re not leaving! They helped us reach Midgard and getrid of the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s only fair that we now help them, too. However, we should at least try to defuse the situation. Disarmed the guards and remove their armors, then wake them up and give them a chance to explain themselves. Maybe there’s still a small chance that we can resolve this peacefully. Taking them hostage should only be the last resort, because it give the Order of the Dawn the perfect justification for an attack.
	#19685 Oct 2020

	nopony:
	Use the boat to transport everypony (and dragon) to the Yggdrasil area. We should be safe there. Let Solar Flare take care of the knights, perhaps he can convince them to join our cause. While he does that (and purifies the Philosopher's Stone), we can try to figure out how to get a seed.
	#19675 Oct 2020

	maddjak:
	Nah, we're staying to help out. Besides, we still need that seed before we can go home.
	#19664 Oct 2020