Quest for Harmony

The girls were more than a bit relieved to reach Tadoba Village, especially as they saw much kinder-looking guards outside the ramshackle village walls, but the fact that they appeared to be on high alert didn’t exactly fill them with confidence. “Halt!” one of the guards ordered, raising a hand to stop the group. Concerned, the group stopped as the guard approached them. “Dismount and enter the guardhouse.” He pointed to the small house built seemingly within the wall itself.

“Why; what’s going on?” Rainbow asked seriously.

“Inspection, by order of the town magistrate.” the guard answered. “Anyone who wishes to enter Tadoba for any reason must submit to be inspected for injuries.”

“Failure to comply will be met with force.” the other guard insisted firmly as he gripped his spear.

(Sunset Shimmer Insight roll Dirty 20) Sunset looked the guards over and knew just from reading their expressions that there was no way around this. “Alright.” she shrugged and jumped out of the wagon. “C’mon, girls.” The others were surprised by Sunset’s willingness to go along with this, but they didn’t bother arguing – they just followed her lead and disembarked from their vehicles, which were guided past the walls by the guards as they entered the guardhouse.

Once inside, they were welcomed by several more guards, one of whom; a half-elf judging by his ears – (Rainbow Dash Insight roll 9) and the captain of these guards by Rainbow’s guess – looked very dangerous as he looked the group over. “Is this your entire group?” he asked.

“Yeah, this is it.” Sunset nodded.

“Very well. Disrobe.” the captain ordered.

The girls all immediately blushed at this command. “I beg your pardon?!” Rarity asked sternly.

“What do you think my men meant by ‘inspection’? No one is allowed within Tadoba without being searched for injuries.” the captain ordered. “Disrobe. Now.”

Sunset was embarrassed – especially since this brought back some particularly unsightly memories of her last meeting with Glasya – but knew it was their best option. Still, she had scruples. “Can your men promise to be professional about this?” she asked.

“Always.” the captain nodded.

With this, Sunset took a breath and slowly started to disrobe. Her friends were shocked by this display but complied as well – soon enough, they were all standing naked in a large room filled with men in armor. A few of them approached and started looking the girls over, making Fluttershy shiver in embarrassed fear under their gaze. Finally, the guards stepped back. “They’re clear.” one of them reported.

“Very well. Redress and be on your way.” the captain ordered, pointing to the door at the back of the building.

Fluttershy and Rarity couldn’t get their clothes back on fast enough, and while the others weren’t quite as fast, there was still some urgency behind their actions. Once they were dressed, they emerged out the back door of the guardhouse into the village itself. And what they saw… was actually pretty depressing.

There were clear signs of disrepair all over the village and even as they went about their business, the townsfolk all looked scared as if they were going to be attacked at any moment. As they looked, the guard captain came out of the guardhouse with a sympathetic look on his face. “My apologies for the high security; we can’t be too careful.”

“Perhaps an introduction and an explanation would help amend things.” Rarity suggested as she brushed some dirt from her hat.

“Only if you promise to return the courtesy.” the captain added with a grin.

“After you, I insist.” Rarity said firmly (Rarity Persuasion roll 18).

The captain chuckled at this and nodded, his chain shirt rattling a bit. “Very well. I’m Thervan Siannodel, captain of the Tadoba town watch. And you are?”

“The Warriors of Harmony; Protectors of the Realm, as instated by King Evendur of Bagnon.” Sunset introduced simply.

Rarity suddenly perked at this as she saw the group’s wagon parked near the gate. “Which reminds me; I’ve finally finished my project for us.” With that in mind, she quickly zipped over to the wagon and retrieved several small bundles of folded blue cloth, one of which she handed to each of her friends before unfurling her own and pinning it over her shoulders, revealing it to be a cape in the same vibrant blue as the spirit-wear she designed for CHS with the group’s new insignia emblazoned on the back in bright metallic fabrics.

“He-hey, nice.” Rainbow smiled as she and the others quickly donned these capes.

“Rarity, you have outdone yourself again.” Applejack grinned.

“I certainly try, darlings.” Rarity smiled before returning her gaze to Thervan. “Now, onto the explanations…”

“Of course.” Thervan nodded. “We’ve been having trouble with werewolves recently.”

“Werewolves?” Sunset asked in surprise.

“Mm.” the captain nodded. “A small pack’s taken up refuge in the hills off that way.” He pointed beyond the walls to the hills to the west. “One of them attacked a family in town and dragged ‘em off a while back; no one’s seen them since. We’ve had to bolster our defenses in response.”

“So you were checkin’ us fer bites.” Applejack surmised.

“Exactly. We don’t know how big the pack up there is, or where they are.” Thervan nodded. “And as one can plainly see, we don’t exactly have the resources to go and find out.”

(Twilight Sparkle Wisdom roll 19) Twilight looked around with a discerning eye. “You don’t seem to have the resources to handle a siege from a werewolf pack either,” she noted. “If they attack, I respectfully doubt you’ll be able to fend them off.”

“Many of my men have had the same concerns.” Thervan nodded. “So we are reduced to searching passers-by for bitemarks to ensure they haven’t fallen afoul of our foes themselves. My apologies if it was at all uncomfortable, but it had to be done.”

“It’s alright, we understand.” Sunset nodded, glancing at her friends who nodded in agreement… though it was clearly somewhat more begrudging on Rarity and Fluttershy’s part.

“Excellent. Now then, I believe it’s your turn for an explanation.” Thervan pointed out. “We’ve not had guests come up the road from Vaemore in quite some time.”

“And we know why.” Rainbow pointed out as she stepped forward. “The town’s been taken over by a cult of Asmodeus.”

“Shh!” Thervan immediately hissed at Rainbow to quiet her down before looking around (Thervan Siannodel Perception roll 13), not seeing anyone listening to their conversation, so he started whispering. “Don’t say that name so brazenly; all under the shadow of Olncarut know well to fear the archdevils, and him especially.”

“A wise decision, given what we’ve found.” Rarity nodded. “The cult is amassing arms and preparing to move against the city itself in a holy war.” Sunset produced the scroll taken from the cult guard as proof, which Thervan immediately took and examined. “And I have a strong feeling they won’t be particularly kind to any who stand in their way.”

Thervan sighed as he looked at the orders, now with Sunset’s translations written in the margins. “As if we didn’t have enough to worry about. First werewolves and now devil-worshipers; we have only the strength to barely stand against one or the other, not both,” he said, handing the note back to Sunset.

(Rainbow Dash Insight roll 14) Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this reaction. “And let me guess; there’s a full moon tonight?”

“Just our luck.” Thervan nodded solemnly. “Truly the people of Tadoba village are naught but playthings of Sehanine.”

Sunset had been rather quiet during this conversation and only joined in now as she’d gotten an idea. “Do you have an idea of where their den is?” she asked.

The captain appeared surprised by this question but shrugged. “Not particularly. All we know is that it’s up in the hills; perhaps in a cave or abandoned farm or something. Why?”

“Because if we can find their den tonight before they attack, we might be able to wipe them out.” Twilight realized. “Good call, Sunset.”

“I try.” Sunset grinned. “I just hope we can handle it.”

“All due respect, but I doubt you will,” Thervan noted.

“Beg pardon?” Applejack asked.

“Not with those weapons anyway.” the captain noted as he looked at the group’s weapons.

(Twilight Sparkle Arcana roll 13) Twilight couldn’t help but facepalm as she realized what he was talking about. “Oh, of course. Werewolves can only be hurt with silvered weapons or magic,” she remarked. “I can’t believe I forgot about that.”

“I don’t think I have to worry about that.” Rainbow smiled, knowing she could use her Smiting power in her swords.

“Naw, but the rest of us sure do,” Applejack noted as she looked at her hammer and the group’s various other weapons. “Don’t s’pose there’s a smithy in town who could silver our gear for us.”

“Absolutely. Ever since the werewolves first attacked, the town guard has had a standing arrangement with Dolff to silver every weapon we have available.” Thervan nodded. “But it may take too long for him to do all your weapons. You should probably just take some he’s already done – come; I’ll show you to the arsenal.”

The girls weren’t about to turn down new weapons, so they gladly followed the captain to a simple building not far from the guardhouse. Inside, the girls found an impressive array of weapons with blades and bludgeons glimmering with silver. “Take your pick.” Thervan smiled.

The girls couldn’t help but marvel at the stores as they looked around, trying to choose. After a bit of hemming and hawing (especially taking into consideration their proficiencies and personal tastes), they all made their choices – Applejack took a small battleaxe, Fluttershy chose a simple spear, Rarity traded one of her daggers for one with a silvered blade as well as a quiver of silvered arrows, and Pinkie picked up a massive Morningstar mace. “Yeah, these oughtta do us nicely.” Applejack grinned as she looked at the axe.

“Well, there’s quite a few hours before nightfall.” Thervan shrugged. “You’re free to do as you wish.”

“In that case…” Twilight smiled as she retrieved her Geode from her pocket. “Is there a jeweler in town?”

“Indeed. Richart is a few buildings down; does fine work.” Thervan nodded, pointing the way.

“I think we’ve all got some stuff to do with the daylight too.” Sunset smiled as she looked at her friends. “Meet up outside the gate at sundown?” Everyone agreed and after splitting their money evenly, they went their separate ways for the evening.

Applejack led Pinkie and Fluttershy to a quiet courtyard to practice with their new weapons, while Rarity made her way to the town tavern where she learned a few things from an admittedly rather shady character. Meanwhile, Twilight asked the jeweler – a rather charming old dwarf – to craft a simple bracelet for her Geode, and for a quite reasonable price (-7GP), he obliged and set to work – work which would take a good three hours, so Twilight went to the town library to browse for magical knowledge. Sunset and Rainbow meanwhile journeyed to the town’s Church of Pelor to – quite simply – pray for luck in their coming quest; Sunset especially prayed to the angel who had offered her a pact.

As daylight waned, the group indeed rallied outside the town gates, silvered weapons at the ready. “Alright, looks like it’s time for a hunt.” Sunset shrugged as she swung her staff in her hands, prepared to let her magic fly.

“And a quite enjoyable one it will be, I am sure.” Rarity smiled as they strode toward the hills.

As they walked, Twilight couldn’t help but admire the new bracer she wore her Geode in, fixed to her left wrist as Spike skittered on her shoulders. “Lookin’ good, Twilight.” the pseudodragon grinned.

“Yeah, I like it too.” Twilight smiled before she glanced over at Applejack. “By the way Applejack, I picked this up from the town library; thought you might be interested if you want to multiclass.” Applejack accepted the scroll Twilight handed her and read it over in curiosity – the scroll appeared to be details about practices at a temple in the mountains of the Far East.

“What, ya think Ah oughtta multiclass into Monk?” Applejack asked as she read it over.

“Why not?” Twilight shrugged. “It’d benefit your brute force fighting style, and you won’t need to focus on weapons all the time.”

“Mm, I s’pose.” Applejack shrugged as she rolled the scroll and slipped it into her pack before drawing her new silver axe. “Still, think I’m better off usin’ this bad boy on this job.”

“I can’t but agree with that.” Rarity nodded as she retrieved one of her silvered arrows, admiring her reflection a bit in the glimmering metal of the tip. “Speaking of, where are we to find our quarry?”

“Yeah, Thervan could’ve at least done more than just point us in a certain direction,” Rainbow remarked as she looked at her swords.

“Think you can track them, Fluttershy?” Sunset asked.

“Oh, um… maybe.” Fluttershy shrugged as she knelt to examine the ground. (Fluttershy Survival roll 18) It was a bit difficult at first, but she was eventually able to locate a faint trail of what looked like blood along with some stamped-down grass. “Here. One of them must have been wounded in their last attack.”

“We’d better hurry.” Rainbow insisted. “The priest at the church said tonight was going to be the last full moon this month; it’s our only chance to find them for a good long while.”

“Then we’d better get moving. Lead the way, Fluttershy.” Sunset nodded, following the druid along the trail of the werewolves.

It was a bit of a hike up the hill as the sun fell further and further toward the horizon. That was when the trouble started. “Oh dear,” Fluttershy said in worry. “I’ve lost the trail.” Sure enough, the blood trail was gone and the grass wasn’t as trodden.

“And we’re almost out of sunlight,” Rainbow noted as she watched the sun retreat over the horizon. “We’d better hurry.”

(Spike Passive Perception 13) Spike suddenly started sniffing and skittered up on top of Twilight’s head. “I smell smoke. We must be getting close to something,” he remarked.

“That’s our lead. Follow the smoke.” Twilight instructed, prompting Spike to flit from her shoulder in the direction of the smoke. It wasn’t long before they came upon what looked like a ruined farmhouse… with a narrow column of smoke coming from the broken chimney, and dim light flickering from the fireplace through broken windows.

“Oh boy…” Twilight grimaced at the sight of the place.

“What is it?” Sunset asked.

“I know how Shining Armor writes his campaigns; this is exactly how he’d set up a punch-in-the-gut plot twist,” Twilight said nervously. “I just hope I’m wrong.”

“Only one way to find out.” Rainbow shrugged as she led the group in a careful approach to the farmhouse.

Once close enough, she lifted her gauntleted fist and gently knocked on the door… only to be met by the sound of feared gasps and whimpering from inside. “Go away. We want no trouble from you.” a panicked male voice called from inside.

Twilight could already feel her heart bleeding as Sunset stepped forward. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We just want to talk.” she insisted.

“No. You’ve come from Tadoba Village. You’ve come to kill us.” the man panicked, and the girls could hear what sounded like the whimpering of children inside.

“Ah heck, I can’t do this. Not with young’ns.” Applejack insisted and threw down her silvered axe. “We ain’t gonna do anything. We’re leavin’ our silver here; let’s talk about this like adults.” The others took the signal and dropped their silvered weapons in the dirt outside the house.

The door creaked slowly open to reveal a young man with scraggly stubble and a broken spear in his hands, and behind him in the ramshackle hut was a woman around his age clutching two little girls close to her, all wearing tattered clothing and looks of terrified despair. Twilight could almost literally feel her heart tearing in half at the sight as she figured out exactly what was going on here, (??? Passive Perception 14) but the man’s eyes suddenly went wide as he saw Rainbow’s amulet. “You… you’re of the Church of Pelor, aren’t you?” he asked hopefully.

“Uh… yeah?” Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, I haven’t been officially ordained or anything, but-” She stopped when she saw the man’s face fall. “Eh- Uh, but I’m sure my friends and I can figure out some way to help you guys,” she assured quickly.

“Oh. O-Of course. Please, come in.” the man nodded, allowing the guests into the destroyed house. “My name is Ander Lackman.” He gestured to the woman and young girls nearby. “My wife Marta, and our daughters Tana and Miri.”

“A pleasure, circumstances aside.” Rarity nodded as the Warriors sat across from the family.

“Speaking of which, what circumstances are these exactly?” Twilight asked. “I mean, what are you doing up here?”

Marta sighed sadly as she moved to the cauldron of soup in the fireplace, ladling out a few bowls. “We’ve had no choice but to flee up here,” she answered. “Ever since the curse took hold on my husband.”

Ander nodded with a sigh. “It started two months ago. I still don’t even know how it happened. I was just playing with the girls in our garden when the full moon rose and…” He clenched his fist at the memory, clearly not wanting to go through that again as his daughters shivered in worry.

Marta stepped in here. “None of us knew what to make of it, and by the time I could think clearly enough to try and do something, it was too late – we were all infected.” She lifted her ragged sleeve a bit to reveal a particularly nasty bite scar, with similar scars on Tana and Miri’s legs. “We knew the town watch would kill us if they found out, and I didn’t want that for my little girls. So we ran away from town and ended up here. We’ve been trying to live our lives up here and trying to fight off our curse, but it’s been… Oh, there’s no way around it; it’s been hell.” She started tearing up now. “We can’t keep living like this.”

“Honestly, I’m impressed you’ve lasted this long,” Rainbow remarked. “Two months in this dump and dealing with being werewolves? Takes guts.”

(Twilight Sparkle Arcana roll 23) “I’d hardly call this ‘dealing with it’, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight pointed out. “Resisting lycanthropy is asking for trouble – it’s suppressing animal instinct. And that’s never a good idea.” Fluttershy could only give a shallow nod in agreement with that as Twilight continued, looking over at Ander. “So it sounds from your story that you definitely weren’t born a werewolf; you were just given the curse recently. The question is by whom?”

“I don’t know.” Ander sighed, giving a mirthless chuckle. “Believe me; I feel like I’d know if I crossed some dark mage enough to lay such a curse upon me. And to have it spread to the rest of my family.”

“Well, they couldn’t have done it at a worse time,” Pinkie remarked. “No offense, but you guys are just one problem Tadoba has to deal with right now: there’s also this crazy cult down in Vaemore getting ready to march on the city. Talk about coincidence.”

(Sunset Shimmer Insight roll 17) That was enough to set off a synapse in Sunset’s head like a firework. “Pinkie, you genius,” she remarked, confusing the group. “This isn’t a coincidence – one of the mages from that cult cursed Ander as a distraction. The town watch is so busy worrying about werewolves that they’ll be too ill-equipped to deal with the cultists when they march through.”

“You’re saying that the agony my family has gone through the last two months has been nothing more than a distraction?” Ander asked angrily. “Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

(Twilight Sparkle Arcana roll 13) “On the plus side, this does make it easier to fix,” Twilight said studiously. “All we have to do is find a skilled mage who knows how to safely break curses like this.”

“We haven’t the time.” Marta countered hopelessly, trying to keep her daughters from crying. “The full moon will rise shortly, and the only mages with that skill are in Olncarut, and that’s miles away.”

“She’s right.” Rainbow nodded as she looked at the map and the evening sky. “They’d never make it in time.”

Spike suddenly perked and skittered on Twilight’s shoulder, whispering to her which made her eyes go wide. “Oh, that’s brilliant.” she nodded, quickly standing up. “Girls, outside. Spike’s got an idea.” The girls quickly followed Twilight out of the house, getting a good look at the evening sky.

“Okay, what’s this idea?” Sunset asked.

“We can take them with us. And we move fast.” Spike answered quickly.

Rainbow wasn’t sure what he meant by that at first (Rainbow Dash Wisdom roll 15), but after rolling it around in her head for a minute, she smiled. “Oh, I get it. I run back to town and grab our rides, then bring ‘em up the hill and we load the Lackmans into the wagon and ride like there’s no tomorrow.”

“But the watch is expectin’ us to tell ‘em they’re dealt with.” Applejack pointed out. “I don’t feel right lyin’, even about something like this.”

“‘Dealt with’ could have a lot of meanings; it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘dead’.” Rarity pointed out. “I believe the bigger problem will come when they transform.”

“Rarity’s right; the moon’s almost up.” Sunset nodded as she watched the horizon for the moon’s silver light. “What are we supposed to do; tie ‘em up?”

“Well, as much as I hate to say it…” Spike shrugged. “We do have the rope.”

“I’ll go get our rides.” Rainbow nodded as she grasped her medal (Rainbow Dash activates Geode of Loyalty) and raced down the hill back to town.

Sunset sighed, casting a sideline glance back at the shack. “Guessing you heard most of that,” she remarked.

“The important stuff.” Ander nodded as he shambled out of his house, his family behind him. “And we believe it’s worth the risk. If you must tie us down to keep us under control until we reach the city, then it must be done.”

“Well, if that’s the case – as gross as it is to say this – then we’d better start tying you up now.” Sunset shrugged. With that in mind, she, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy reached into their packs and started tying up the family.

Down the hill in the village, Rainbow screeched to a stop outside the gates, where she found Thervan already waiting with the group’s rides. Thervan himself appeared surprised at how quickly Rainbow had arrived. “Well… I wasn’t expecting such an entrance. Has all gone well?”

“We’ve finished dealing with the werewolves,” Rainbow answered vaguely as she grabbed her medal again (Rainbow Dash deactivates Geode of Loyalty). “There was only a handful of them up there.”

“Excellent.” Thervan smiled. “I’ve spoken with the mayor; we’ve agreed a bounty of 150 gold pieces should suffice.” He handed forth a coin purse with the bounty within.

Rainbow was surprised but accepted the payment anyway (+150GP). “Thanks,” she said as she accepted the money and quickly tied her horse behind the wagon, jumping to the vehicle's reins and snapping them to send it thundering up the slope.

“Wait, where are you going?” Thervan asked.

“My friends are hurt; no time to explain,” Rainbow said quickly as she rode the wagon up the slope.

When she arrived, she found the others waiting with the entire family tied up like prisoners. “We ready to do this?” she asked quickly.

“Yeah, let’s just make it quick.” Sunset insisted. “The moon’s almost up, and I for one feel really dirty for doing this.”

“Get ‘em in and let’s go,” Rainbow ordered as she jumped off the wagon and untied her horse from the back. Applejack quickly jumped to the wagon’s reins as the others carefully lifted the Lackman family into the wagon itself.

Once Pinkie bounced aboard, Sunset looked to the front. “We’re in; go!” she ordered.

“Hang on tight back there. Hyah!” Applejack yelled and snapped the reins, sending the horses into a firm gallop as Rainbow rode alongside him.

As they rode through the hills and back onto the road on the far side of the walls around Tadoba, Ander and his family seized and started screaming in pain, thrashing against the ropes that bound them. Sunset chanced a glance out of the wagon and could clearly see why; the full moon had finally risen. “Applejack, switch with me – get back here and hold them down. This is gonna get ugly,” she ordered.

“Got it.” Applejack nodded and carefully climbed back into the wagon as Sunset grabbed the reins. Ander and his family had dropped onto the floor of the wagon and were groaning in agony as fur started sprouting all over her body so quickly, Applejack – her eyes going red (Applejack uses Rage) – jumped on top of the family and grabbed some floor slats (Applejack Strength roll Dirty 20 or Nat 20), holding the family down hard as they shifted rather swiftly into vicious werewolves. “Whatever we do, we can’t stop until mornin’.”

“Agreed.” Sunset nodded as they kept riding up the road, hearts all around breaking a little at the family suffering on the floor of the wagon.