Dungeon Trotter: Tunnels and Triapses (PRIVATE)

The skeletal remains collapsed and crumbled under the brunt of the attack, gradually losing strength until it was just a pile of trembling bonestuffs on the ground. A black blot of something leapt from the skeletal remains and firmly entrenched itself on Scint's face, as it began gnawing on the skin and tissue next to his jaw.

Scintillance yelled in pain, and, well, punched himself where the ingling was, and started spinning his Martyr at dangerous speeds, acting as a giant Frisbee of bread making +1, readying it to attack any more inglings that try that tactic, and ran off, not entirely certain of where he was going anymore, but making sure he didn't lose the mare in his panic; some things he had to stay sane about.

The ingling died as Scint cracked it with his hoof. The room was empty besides Scint, the mare, two locked doors and a whirling death blade. The sounds of his screams reverberated off the confined walls of the room.

It would be funny if it didn't look so sad.

The room looked something like this-

Scintillance slowly slowed his whirling deathness to a stop, and the same went for his screaming. "I was expecting something... weirder. but I guess that's just me."

Scintillance made his way towards the unknown, singing "benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches WRHIRLING DEATH SCIN-TIII benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches benches WRHIRLING DEATH SCIN-TIII"

Scint entered opened the doorway, leaving the relative safety of the Save Room without saving first. He entered a fleshy hallway that veered to the left. The floor was dank and smelled like rust, and the walls were covered in a thick leathery substance that had a pulse. As scint approached the wall, the pulse increased and it seemed to push towards Scint, as if it were reaching out to him. The hallway stretched on into darkness for what looked like miles.

Scintillance was... definately disturbed, and glad as heck he kept those fatponi boots on; he really didn't want to touch this fleshy stuff. it's absolutely disgusting. also, distrubing. "Eugh... nopony's going to believe any of the stuff I'm going through..." so, he, kinda, just kept going. and complained. and gagged.

The door automatically closed as Scint journeyed into the darkness, only his Aegis and his inventory to protect him. It hissed as it's bolts locked into place, sealing the hallway hermetically. The hallway was absolutely quiet, allowing the sound of the wall's pulse to become gradually more distinct.

In the distance, the something made the sound of chains, clinking along over metal. A small red light was visible just at the end of the hallway.

Lances' Martyr was held between him, and whatever the red-light thing in the distance was, so as to bring the light closer to it, and also to activate WHIRLING DEATH SCINT mode when need be. He called out to the red light as he slowly made is advance, "if you understand Equestrian, step into the light or call back, I'm really losing my temper, and freaking me out's not helping!" his voice was still shaky, and betrayed the fear he didn't bother to hide, but Lances' words were true to what he meant; his increasing need to rest was making him more and more agitated.

Lances' Martyr was held between him, and whatever the red-light thing in the distance was, so as to bring the light closer to it, and also to activate  WHIRLING DEATH SCINT mode when need be. He called out to the red light as he slowly made is advance, "if you understand Equestrian, step into the light or call back, I'm really losing my temper, and freaking me out's not helping!" his voice was still shaky, and betrayed the fear he didn't bother to hide, but Lances' words were true to what he meant; his increasing need to rest was making him more and more agitated.

The further that Scint walked down the hall, the further the red light seemed to be. It always drifted, bobbing and swaying in the distance. The chains stopped making their sounds in front of Scint. Now the sound of chains came from behind Scintillance- and it was approaching him.

A ghastly, throaty wail roared at Scintillance, about fifty feet back in the darkness.

Scintillance gave no second thoughts as soon as he heard the roar; he just ran. as fast and far away from whatever the roar was as he could, screaming all the way. meanwhile, his martyr was all "whirling death scint" style in front of him, acting like a very large dismembered lawn mower for anything he might run into. he didn't really care for what gets in his way anymore, something's after him, and he was too scared to look behind him and find out.

Scintillance ran for some time, and the roaring didn't repeat itself. The red light was still a great distance off, still swaying. The walls suddenly began closing in on scint- the fleshy membranes gave way, revealing skeletal hooves reaching out for Scintillance.

Scintillance's eyes widened, and time seemed to slow down. he could see everything; each skeletal hoof reaching out to him, each stomp by the hoof, each heartbeat, by beat, by beat, every swivel of the Martyr... this was his nightmare. He's seen this all before. In a horrifying dream, definately. in another world, maybe. in this one, it's happening right now. and if it was he very nightmare he remembered... he was royally screwed. ..."no... NO. NO! NO NO NO NO NO!" with each no (specifically the ones under capslock), Lance set a wild, and yet accurate swing at the hooves in the wall, and kept running.

Scint finally reached the red light. It was an old "Exit" sign, that had been dangling by a loose bit of wire from the ceiling. It harked back to the sprawling handiwork Scint had seen back in the safe-room. The pony had written "NO EXI-" before succumbing to his wounds.

A small opening lead out to what appeared to be a gray stone hallway.

The arms and limbs reached out to scint, but they failed to grab him- too short, and the walls weren't narrow enough here.

Scintillance kept running, not even noticing that the red light was an exit sign, after all; he was too busy freaking out, slashing at skele-hooves whether they could reach him or not) and staying the faff away from whatever was behind him. so, pretty much just kept running into the gray stone hallway.

Scintillance exited the mouth of the beast, but entered the frying pan, rhetorically speaking. The Ingling queen was propped up on a large slab of broken and crushed bricks, an absent face pointed in Scintillance's direction. A clutch of eggs was being carried into the hive-walls behind Scintillance.

The queen was not like the rest of the inglings. She was propped up inside of the skeleton of a massive cow, and the eyes of the queen leered out at Scint from the insides of the skeleton's mouth, in glowing ruby orbs. The skeletal legs of the cow shuddered to life, with tiny strings of black hair stretched over their white-bleached forms. The cow skeleton rose like a marionette, and the ingling inside continued to watch Scintillance.

Ingling or not, Lances' judgement was clouded by fear like a good number of alcoholic shots; as far as he was concerned, that was a Celestia-danged giant zombie cow skeleton thing. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand he was inside of it. he just stared at the thing rise, and yelled out "I WAS INSIDE YOUUU!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! This has been very, very scarring on poor Scinti's lil' pony head. He was a spoiled Kid from Canterlot, not some Chisled Stallion with a chainsaw for a hoof "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and a very good screamer/yeller apparently. he was quite certian he was out of options, and it looked like a fight without flight. doesn't mean Scintillance didn't keep pacing around and looking for a possible way out while preparing for the monster to strike a blow.

The monster waved its tiny little nubby arms at Scintillance. It was ineffective.

getting no response from the GM Lance assumed that there was no way out, and took evasive manouvers, not realizing the giant cowzombie couldn't actually reach him. so he just kinda kept screaming and hopping all over the place. clouded judgement via fear is clouded.

well, if he kept doing that this would've been a pointless post, so Scint finally stopped screaming, started crying a little bit, and finally snapped. he was just standing there, pretty certainly out of the giant ingling's reach, with his eyes closed. and like with the snake before, his horn's glow started radiating again. "I'm tired." the glow around his horn slowly seeped over his skin, practically changing his brown coat into an orangy-color. "I am gosh darn TIRED of this. ALL of it." despite his raising his voice, Scintillance gently slid the mare off his back, and placed her on the ground. his glow was getting brighter. some mad god's been putting me through fights with flesh eating bugs, a giant snake, UNDEAD HOOVES FROM SOME HORROR MOVIE, AND NOW PUTS ME UP TO FIGHT A GIANT, UNDEAD, ZOMBIE SKELETION COW.
Lance started a slow trot towards the giant ingling thing, still not realizing that it was a giant ingling thing. "YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY? I SAY NO. and Now Lance was bright enough to leave a good deal of sunspot for most things that stare too long. "BECAUSE I AM SCINTILLANCE DICANTERLOT CHARMER." He moved his Martyr to levitate to his right side. "I AM A LUMINOUS CONJURER." Lance didn't care what effects he'll be left with when he was done; the adrenaline forced him to conjure a second object on his left. "AND I... AM A CHAMPION OF LIGHT!" In a burst of light, Lance was now armed with both the Martyr,and the Aegis; his two easiest Conjurations, and yet, his first time conjuring two at once. it was insane. even through his rush, he could feel the strain on on what little energy he has left. whatever happened next, he was going to pass out. and he knew that he may as well make the best out of it.

He whispered, "So whatever mad god's put you up to this... start praying. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Fears ignored, Lance charged at the monster with his Aegis before him and his Martyr to his side, both ready to be used when needed. his plan was simple; charge at the thing, and take advantage of its actions and reactions as they come, because this post is too long for him to do anything else.

The cow-ingling waved its nubbly little arms at Scintillance, and its head got chopped off. The head rolled on past Scintillance, uttering a ghastly, ghostly "Moooooo-oooooo" as the air left its lungs.

The tunnel of flesh that constituted its body shuddered and shook, and ripped apart as masses of Ingling terrors flooded from the gory walls. Griffon-Inglings and Pony-Inglings, Dragon-Inglings. Snake-Inglings and Inglings from beyond Tartarus- the Inglings did not discriminate, so the army assembled in the fleshy halls, bearing down on the source of their mother's agony. Some of the Inglings formed hybrids,using bits and pieces from different creatures to approximate something else entirely. It was how you'd see Griffon's with the heads of Zebras, and giant millipede like Inglings that were composed of nothing but legs and wings.

A sound filled the room, but it wasn't from the Inglings. It was from the shaking- the building shaking from the force of the Ingling horde now bearing on Scint. They surged forwards in attack.

It was intense. it was so intense Lance didn't even realize half the blows he dealt, including cutting the giant cow's head off. He was cutting here, slashing there, blocking blows and bashing bones, Tossing the Aegis "captain Equestria" style, slice and dicing "whirling death scint" style, and eventually even did a bit of kick-boxing "gangnam style."

The horde was whittled away, but continuously replenished itself from the endless stock of Inglings at hand. Inglings from above, below, the sides, everywhere there was an Ingling, especially in places one wouldn't expect Inglings to come from.

The mare blinked to wakefullness with an atrociously loud yawn, and looked about herself. Scintillance was going full Dragon Ball super saiyan, exchanging blows at half the speed of sound and shooting light from his spikey hair.

"What is this? WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!"

Lance heard the mare, and called out, "Closer to the exit, that's about all I can say for sure! somehow, not focusing on the fight for two seconds had completely broke Lances concentration, and when he was about to throw his Martyr, he realised it just... wasn't there anymore. completely missing from his grip. he couldn't re-conjure it; This was way to much strain on his reserves. but he still had his Aegis shield, and continued to defend himself with it... 'xcept with minimal energy left to keep it strong, it shattered after a few blows, and Lance found himself unarmed; even his radiant glow was gone. as if finishing the sentence he started, he whispered, "and only a few steps away from Tartarus... I'm sorry you had to be awake for this..."

The mare 'd at the sight of more inglings. She put up a small force-field that covered the two. It wavered and shook, but stood steady. Although the inglings were all over it, they didn't bring much force to bare onto it, making it only slightly difficult to mantain in her weary state.

"The exit huh. I've been looking for that for weeks. Where is it?"

Scintillance was incredibly glad this mare was apparently capable of making force fields. very convenient. He was about to answer her question, but then realized he actually didn't have the slightest clue. "Actually I don't have the slightest clue. Well, right now, we came out of that giant cow's mouth... Lance pointed at the headless cowzombiething. " don't ask how I got us in there, I'm still getting the jibbers about it. so, I think we'd keep going... some other direction. or, double back if we don't find anything in here. but honestly I REALLY don't want to double back."

Lance suddenly felt really tired, and aching all over his body. ever had a burst of adrenaline and did something you'd never do otherwise? every felt knew what it felt like when your body suddenly started to feel pain and exhaustion again? well, imagine that, but after beheading a giant cow, and pwning a bunch of its' underlings. with over-locked abilities that you feel in a sort of sixth sense. That regular humans don't feel. fun times.

The mare noticed Scint's discomfort, and moved closer to prop him up. She looked around, trying to get an idea of the the room despite the inglings swarming all over her shield. "We should try going that way. See if there's anything over there," she said, gesturing with her hoof.

She began to lead Scintillance forward...

Having the more move closer like that kinda left Scint a little less comfortable; he recalled this was the same mare that wanted to spend her last days having... let's lose the details and call it having "funtimes" with him. but he didn't object. he barely could. For the most part, all he could do is let the mare lead him as she did.

The mare opened a metal door labelled "EXIT" in very large, prominent letters. They entered a room with a view; the ceiling had collapsed at some point, and you could look clear upwards and into the night sky. The inglings too noticed this, and before you knew it, they were swarming upwards into the sky, completely ignoring the two unicorns behind the shield. "It looks like they're preparing to spawn tonight," she said, in reference to the flood of Inglings. They jet up out of the hole, soon leaving a pile of skeletal remains sorrounding Scint and the mare from their prior homes.

Scintillance pretty much facehoofed at the sight of the exit door, and only wondered how he couldd have possibly missed that. following through, he thanked Celestia and Luna and Cadence and Twilight and any other princesses that weren't canonically announced yet at the sight of light, albeit of the moon. Lance couldn't help but revel over the alluring sight of the inglings carrying off in a swarming wave of... ingling.

Lance repeated the mare's words, practically phrasing them as a a question, "preparing to... spawn?" the mare's had one, maybe two weeks trapped here with the inglings, but he finds it hard to believe she'd have learned so much about them already. the he was interested in what she meant about the Inglings birthing ceremonies, e was also curious as to how the mare came to acquire this knowledge... not just this, but her apparent expertise in the field. "and how exactly did you come to know that? if you don't mind me asking, that is..."

The mare looked to Scintillance with a wide eyed smile not unlike mania. "Well, I'm what you call an entomologist- and I study insects, especially mystical magical insects; Inglings are of the genus Necrophigia, species Incubatum."

Her eyes pondered upon the beauty of their dispersal. It was like a million glimmering specks all flocking towards the moon. "They will fly as high as they can, chasing the moon into the horizon, until they collapse from exhaustion. And when that happens, a lucky few will find nests, far, far away from their original spawning location. This nest will be abandoned, and Manehattans sewers will no longer have an Ingling infestation. Sound good, no?"

She helped pull Scintillance away from the swarms path- it was never fun to be smacked along the face by something like in Ingling- and watched as they flew up and away for just a little longer, before snapping back to the problem at hand. "Now, lets find... a way out of here. Do you have any more of that light spell? I can't see a thing..."

slightly more discomforted by the mare's maniacal smile, Lance listened intently still to what she had to say. and when she finished, he added "sounds great, actually. the undermarket would be terrible tripped over if those inglings felt adventurous... still gotta worry for wherever else they... "nest" though."

After questioned for his light spell, Lance tried to pull even a simple glimmer from his horn, and it sparked a bit, but then fizzled. "...nope. actually I'm surprised I even got a spark outta there, the last time I've practiced twin-conjurations was... about twelve nevers ago. lesson learned, I'm unbearably shiny as is. "

Scintillance was about to suggest that they kept walking before rebounding a hoof off his forehead, "Oh hold up, we have an exit right above us, can't we just get out through there? definately better than probably just roaming around these caves until another giant snake tries to kill us."

The mare pursed her lips and scrutinized the hole in the ceiling. She had no way up, but reckoned they could try to climb up some furniture or something. The mare grinned and came up with a cunning solution. She handed Scintillance some rope from her pack and scurried underneath him.

She concentrated briefly and *pomfed* a small shield, bouncing Scint up and onto the overhanging ledge. "Throw down the rope for me!"

Scint grabbed the rope without question, and started swinging it, wondering if he could actually toss one end that high, before his face switched to tomato-mode as the mare got a bit too close (again) to where she shouldn't be, forcing a short complaint from scint before her magic shield launched him sky-high, and he'd run out of air before he finished screaming "AAAAAAAAAAA." being already pretty tired does that to you. also, he was flying... backwards.

as scint got closer to the ledge, his back was the first thing to hit it, and scint had a few moments-view of the world above while a sharp, stinging pain starting at his spine and curcuiting through his bones like a frozen jolt of lightning had just struck him. A gasp escaped escaped, but it too froze to stop, as sudden as it started, and as scint finally started to fall down, the air he pulled in slowly exhaled through his mouth until he finally landed hard on the ground... no growt nor yelp of pain was sounded. Though he was far from dead, his own vision blurred from the terrible blows, and he felt as if he was too tired, or had not intention of getting back up. he simply stared blankly into the space before him, almost holding his breathe. He croaked, "next time... warn me. or... ask for permission...

"I warned you after the fact. Now throw me the rope so I can get out of here!"

Scint didn't give much of a response, other than tying one end of the rope to the closest stable rock he could find, and then double tying onto his right hoof in case something went horribly, and then tossing the rope over the edge to the mare. his back still kinda hurt, so he wasn't quite in the mood to talk to the offender.

The mare gripped the rope in her mouth and locked her jaw to the sinewy strings like a rotweiler. "NOOOAWR PUUUHR!"

Scint flickered his horn in an attempt to conjure possibly a pulley of sorts, but to no avail; he was both too strained from his recent outburst of magic and in too much pain to focus a spell well enough. he gave a dissapointed sighh, and started pull the rope a bit, and realized just how  weak he felt, but tried to fight through it, slowly pulling the mare up, quietly speaking the words, "C'mon, Shint... she's underfed and already pretty light for a unicorn... shouldn't be that hard to... pull..."

The little mare plopped over the edge, stumbling a bit and falling, maybe a little too conveniently, and landing on Scint, who'd, with that last tug, also stumbled over. "Oh dear- I appear to have landed on you hon, though I must say, the seating isn't entirely uncomfortable."

Scint's face changed to a crimson blush... he was never any good getting so... close, to mares... a few moments were spent staring blankly, and Scint could barely move a muscle; in part because he still fell exhausted, and other part because he's just a tad but stunned by the moment. he gulped, "I guess it... is... um... can you... please get off now..?"

The mare grinned. "Is that a question, or a request? Because sitting up here, I'm really liking the view down below. You really must clarify hon."

'Gather your thoughts, Liightbulb...' Scint thought to himself, closed his eyes, calmed himself down and suddenly took a more assertive look when his eyes opened, "That's a request... please get off?"