“Rule number one: Nopony says anything about me ever being here got it?” The white coated mare with violet mane stated immediately after entering the room.
Another mare trailed in right after her. This mare also had a white coat, but this mare had cobalt blue and cyan stripes in her mane and a tail to match.
“Oh, I don't know Rarity, I think it would be hilarious to tell your friends about this. I mean come on, Rarity of all ponies playing Dungeons & Dragons? That's unheard of!”
“Vinyl you wouldn't! I have an image to uphold. I can't have all of Canterlot knowing I'm doing this. I'll be ruined.” The mare put on her best puppy-dog face she could muster. “Please Vinyl, nopony can know”
“Oh alright, but only because you said please.” Vinyl gave a slight smirk and was enjoying every bit of it. It wasn't every day a disc jockey had power over a high class pony like Rarity. “Now come on, you can thank me later, but right now I have a campaign to run.”
The two mares made their way over to a tabled packed full of ponies, dice, books, and assorted snacks. The ponies were hard at work writing up each of their characters.
First, we have Soarin, the Dexterity Fighter. Made to run at the enemy with cat like reflexes and quick fighting styles. Soarin seems to have modeled his character after himself. The Pegasus pony has a pale blue coat and a dark blue mane. No doubt he was snacking on one of Granny Smith's sweet apple pies. It was obvious since there was a stain on his character sheet. “Seriously Soarin? You had to be eating pies while you wrote this?” Vinyl stated while holding up the messy piece of paper. The paper had a dark red stain on the side, definitely apple pie.
“Hey, it's not my fault these pies are so good!” Soarin says with his mouth full of apple pie. Some of the pie spits out of his mouth has he speaks.
Next, we have Maud Pie. She has a gray coat with a grayish blue violet mane and tail to match, no surprise there. Also modeled after herself... She is playing a Cleric however. Definitely important in any party. She can heal and buff her own party or even deal damage to her foes. She specializes in a certain god. She has chosen to be a Cleric of Pelor. This is god is true good. He is the most commonly worshiped deity among ponies. His main domains are good, healing, strength, and sun. Pelor is the god of the sun and his title is The Shining One.
After Maud is Cheerilee. She chose to be an... Orc barbarian? “Wait. What?” Vinyl cut in with shock in her tone. Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks after reading that. “Uh. Cheerilee? Why are you an Orc Barbarian? They have to be one of the most destructive, rampaging monster in the game. Not to mention probably the least intelligent. Why would you play something like this? You want to look like a large green earth pony with tusks? Seriously?”
“Well you see Vinyl.” Cheerilee spoke up shyly. “I do deal with children on a daily basis and as much as I love them and my job... Well, it stresses me out and sometimes I just want to rip the head off the next thing I see! Do you ever get that feeling Vinyl?” Cheerilee spit out quickly with of touch of anger in her voice.
“Uhh... No, I can't say I do. Well let's move on shall we? He-he...yea...”
Rarity has decided to play something exotic...Of course. The only issue is that it takes forever to write up and nopony really knows what her skills are and what she can actually do. It's always the same thing. Sure it's an exotic character, but they are always played the same. It's like a different pony with the same personality.
Vinyl speaks up. “So what are you exactly Rares?”
“Why I'm a Shadow Caster of course!”
The DJ gives a sideways glance to the mare. “And what does that do?”
“I can control the shadows to do my bidding. It's practically in the title.”
“So you can have your shadow do your chores and make dresses for you while you lay back and relax?” The DJ couldn't stifle a small giggle through her teeth as she spoke. “Maybe even give you a pedicure and even massage your back for you. Ha ha. I can't even. Why did you pick something so crazy, so outlandish, so...”
“Amazing!” Rarity cut in. “Sure it is something different, but it'll be fun. At least I'm not playing something dirty, like a disgusting Barbarian.” She gave a puke face towards Cheerilee.
“Alright Rarity, whatever you want. You are our... special guest.” The DJ jokingly gave a mocking face to Rarity, acting all high and mighty.
Lastly, we have the new guy. His name is Thunderbolt Sentinel. This Pegasus Stallion has a solid dark yellow coat with matching mane and tail, but has black stripes to accent the yellow. He is new in town, but quickly became good friends with the other mares and gentle colts. His character is a Druid. He decided to play this solely because the Fighter class is covered and the party needed a druid. He also has healing powers, similar to the Clerics, but has a different fighting style. He specializes in nature magic and wild shape. He takes on all forms of nature to defeat his foes.
“Well, now that everypony is done with their characters, I believe we can start.” Vinyl said with a hint of energy and glee. “To make things simple, the party has been traveling together for awhile now. They have become close friends and they trust each other with their lives. They are in the land of El-Quest-Tria.”
“Wow. So original. Where did you get that name from?” Sentinel says mockingly with a sly grin on his face.
Vinyl clears her throat and replies, “I made it up on the spot. Isn't it great? I'm so good at making up names.” Vinyl brushes her shoulder off to add flair to her statement.
“Yeah.. Your just about as good as I am with making up names on the spot.” Sentinel responded. “And I'm bad at making up names.”
“Anyway, They were in the western capital of Alfiem. The group has recently come across some mercenary work. The request is posted on the wanted board. A group of thieves and bandits have set up camp just south of here. The armed forces are currently busy with other matters and don't have time to deal with small time criminals. The poster does state the authorities want one man alive. He is the leader of the band of thieves. His name is John Hitchcock.”
All except Maud broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Rarity was trying to keep a strait face, but to no avail. Cheerilee just put her head to the table and laughed into her hooves. Sentinel immediately started rolling around on the floor. Soarin was holding onto his stomach because he was laughing so hard. And of course the DJ couldn't keep a straight face, as she was the one who planted the little joke. Maud was the only one who sat straight faced. Her face looked as hard as stone.(Ha, get it? Stone? Maud?No? Tough crowd. Sorry, no more author interruptions.)
“Alright. He he. Okay, that was funny, but come on we have some serious business.” Vinyl forced out between laughs. “It's time to start our first encounter. Unknown group of adventurers vs. a bandit camp. Who will win? I really hope its the adventurers, because I can't handle waiting for people to write up characters. Oh wait. I have the power to decide! Get ready! Get set! Let's fight!
Author's Note
Thanks for reading! And remember do not just down vote because you didn't like it. Please tell me why you didn't like it so I can fix it in the future. I'm only trying to get better at writing, because I know I'm no where near perfect. Thank You!
"Uh, Vinyl, I think we have to get there first." Cheerilee interrupting Vinyl's escapade. " Now as much as I would love to get into the action, we kind of need to be there."
"Actually," Rarity cut in. "We didn't even decide to take the job yet."
Vinyl took a deep breath then exhaled. "You guys just love to make things difficult or at least nit pick at small details."
"That's what friends are for Vinyl." Rarity said while patting Vinyl's shoulder.
"Yeah, Yeah whatever. Well then do you guys accept the job?"
"Of course we do! Why wouldn't we?" Rarity had a sly grin plastered on her face while she spoke.
"I swear to Celestia... Anyway, So you guys start your journey towards the location of the camp. As you approach, you see a plethora of of scattered tents and easily 20 plus enemies."
Maud was surprisingly the first to actually speak up. "Do you think we could talk to them?"
"Or, we could just sneak around and kill them off slowly." Soarin put in.
Before any more discussion about tactics could be made Cheerilee said, "I'm running in there and attacking the closest enemy."
"I like your style Cheerilee." Vinyl had a gleam in her eye. "Now we can get to the action. Well you charge in with you great axe raised high. You catch one of them off guard. Make your attack Cheerilee."
Cheerilee rolls her die and her attack lands with immense power. The axe imbedded itself into the bandit's chest and cuts clean threw bone and muscle. Blood spits out at an alarming rate. The Orc Barbarian rips the axe out of the poor man's sagging chest and bellows with rage. The man crumples to the ground in a dead heap. The barbarian moves onto her next victim.
The other bandits regain their composure and start their counterattack. The other party members join in the assault and it quickly turns into complete pandemonium. Rarity, the Shadow caster engulfs four guys in a black fire. Which in fact is cold to the touch. They quickly writhe in agony and die a painful death. She takes control of the fire and sweeps it through their ranks. You can hear a faint chuckle escape her lips...
Soarin, the Dex Fighter approaches quickly towards the next pair of unlucky souls. The bandits are ready this time, however. One brandishes his long sword, the other wielding a bastard sword. The latter swings high at Soarin, but he ducks just in time. The first makes and attempt to stab Soarin as he ducks, but Soarin comes away with a scratch on is side. Blood starts to slowly make its way out of the wound, but it's nothing serious. This pair of enemies seem to actually have team work. Surprising coming from a band of thieves and cut throats. Soarin gets ready for the next sprawl and flurry of attacks. He readies his two scimitars. The two bandits crisscross each other in their charge and attack at the same time. Soarin, however, has speed over them. He can quickly dodge or parry their onslaught of blows. Finally one of them makes a mistake, after all he was fatigued at this point. Soarin reacted quickly and swiftly stepped beside the one holding a bastard sword and slipped his sword right into his body. The sword goes straight through and comes out the other side. Before Soarin could pull the sword out, the other bandit attacks. A long sword versus a scimitar. Even battle to say the least. Both are quick and very deadly. The bastard sword wielding bandit falls to the ground coughing up blood. With only one enemy to face, Soarin beats the other bandit quickly. The speed he has far surpasses these low life bandits. Soarin retrieves his other scimitar and moves on.
Sentinel, the party's Druid, calls down lightning from the sky and strikes four unsuspecting enemies. They do not die however, though they look terribly wounded and winded. Sentinel, then uses Wild Shape and transforms into a Black Bear. He roars and charges in to dispatch the already critically wounded enemies. Sentinel claws one bandit across the face and he goes limp. One bandit tried to swing at the bear, but was back handed by the other paw. Sentinel quickly capitalizes on the bandit's stumbling and bites down hard on his back. The bear lifts him up with him clenched in his jaw. The bandit screams and flails with pain. His misery is quickly ended, because Sentinel throws him against a nearby tree. You could hear the audible crack of the bandit's bones as it makes contact with the sturdy tree. The last two bandits get a couple shots in before being utterly destroyed by the vicious bear.
The Cleric, played as Maud, spent her time healing her party. She also gave the Orc bull strength, which made the Orc's attacks even more powerful. The other party members kept the enemies off of her, so she was open to heal and buff her party.
After a few minutes of fighting, it seems as though all that is left is the command tent. The whole party stalks up to the tent. Each member looks worn out and each brandishes a few cuts and scrapes. Surprisingly, Maud jumped in on the fighting and also took a few shots, sadly she had to use up all of her spells, which means no healing.
The tattered and beat up party reaches the tent and all seem to pause. The Orc is the first to take a step closer. She reluctantly opens the flap to the tent, albeit rather slowly, almost afraid of what lies ahead. She first sees a Earth Pony leaning back in a chair. His hind legs are pushing against the desk. His nonchalant attitude is almost suspicious. Something was off, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. The stallion raised his hooves into the air.
“Hey, hey you got me.” His voice seemed to demand your attention, like in a crowded room you would hear his voice above all others. “Now I know when I'm out numbered and when I've lost.”
This was John Hitchcock. No doubt about it. This stallion had a dark green coat with a light brown mane and tail. He had one blue eye, his left eye was covered by an eye patch. I know right we have a bad ass up in here. But for some reason, it doesn't look like it's for show...
The Orc wasted no time on introductions or small talk. She ran forward and swiped the table out from under the stallion's legs. He, being unbalanced from leaning back, fell over and crashed hard. She then stepped on his throat with her large front hoof. She began to slowly add more pressure until his face turned purple. She was about to end his miserable life, it would be so easy, but fate had another idea. Sentinel shoved her off of the poor stallion, who in turn started to cough and gag as soon as the pressure was released.
“Come on Cheerilee! Let him go. Didn't you hear he was giving up?” Sentinel rushed out in a frantic tone as he tried to hold back the Orc.
“He is just a coward.” Cheerilee spoke. “He deserves to die!”
“What if we turned him in for bits?” Sentinel was desperately trying to calm the beast. “If we kill him, we won't get the full reward of capturing a bandit leader.”
The Orc seemed to calm down at the thought of bits. “Yes, yes bits.” The Orc pondered the idea for a bit. “Fine, tie him up and I'll carry him. I may have a use for him later.”
“Uh, okay then.”
John was too busy gasping for air to really understand what was going on, but the next thing he knew he was tied up and being carried by an Orc... What a day.
The party quickly took the apprehended John Hitchcock to Alfiem. The group was paid handsomely. And by that they got paid 1000 bits and had to split it evenly throughout the party. Which is 200 bits per pony. Not bad, but considering the risk factor... It's not something to be crazy over.
“Hey guys.” Cheerilee spoke up. “I think we could use this John Hitchcock.”
“We can't, he's in jail remember?” Rarity chimed in.
“Well then, I guess we'll have to break him out.”
Sentinel joined in, “Weren't you the one who wanted him dead? You kinda choked him half to death.”
“Ah, details. I wanted him dead then, but now I see some value in him.”
“We don't really have a rogue or someone who can sneak in there and get him out”
Soarin jumped in on this crazy conversation, “Woe, Woe there, why are we even considering this? We put him in jail and now you guys are all for breaking him out? What if he just runs away or what if he just kills us in our sleep or something?”
“Come on Soarin have some fun and enjoy the game.” Maud was the one who spoke out.
The DJ spoke up next. “Jeez Soarin, you know it's bad when Maud tells you to have fun. Oh and Maud, if you want to speak outside of the game, make sure you clarify that.”
“Alright”
“Yeah, we don't want you breaking the fourth wall or something”
The group of ponies swear they heard Pinkie laughing off in the distance, but no pony spoke up... All thought it was just their imagination, well not all. Maud knew the truth...
Author's Note
Hey thanks for reading! If there are any mistakes please let me know or if you just want to drop in a friendly comment, go right ahead. Have wonderful day.
