Adventures in Gaming: Pathfinderby Fluorescent SandstormChaptersThe Adventurers meetAmorphous blobsOutside the TavernThe ManhuntTaking PointThe Adventurers meetIt was a glorious day outside in Ponyville. Fantastic, dazzling, enchanting, resplendent- Twilight’s mind was practically full to the bursting of the various terms, their synonyms, and even their antonyms for what to call the way Mother Nature was showcasing her beauty today. This proved a mildly distracting mental exercise as she went about the inanely tedious task of sorting through the Golden Oaks Library’s basement. Yes, it needed to be done. Yes today was the day she set aside for it, scheduled for it. Yes, there were still unpacked boxes from when she had moved here three years ago. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have much, much preferred to have joined Spike on his trip to Canterlot for the weekend, or gone to see how Rainbow’s new trick was going, see if AJ needed help on the Orchard, what Fluttershy or Rarity were doing… anything else really. She chuckled at herself, horn glowing as she opened a box and began to sort through the contents. Before coming to Ponyville, she would have found the idea working on an orchard or giving (unwelcome) flying pointers to a Wonderbolt hopeful both pointless and absurd. What use would her studies of gotten from doing things like that? She wouldn’t have found time for such nonsense, for such… such… She blinked, staring at the contents at the bottom of the box, momentarily forgetting the two sorted piles of assorted junk behind her along with her thought process. It was… those books. The ones that had accosted her mind for that dark period in her fillyhood, and her eyes went blank as her memories went zooming backwards in time. Twilight’s love of books began young. Very young. Like well before most foals had gained the concept of what a book even was young. Books could be anything; A fountain of knowledge of subjects she’d never of even been aware existed otherwise, a mystic portal to far of lands of strange and wondrous creatures and people, fantastic stories of ponies those in real life could only dream of aspiring to be. She spent whole days cooped up in the royal library, if such a term could be used to describe spending time in that tremendous building. Often times she purposefully went in without a subject in mind, simply wandering till something caught her eye. And it was on such a trip that she came across…. These. The art on the cover caught her glance first. A huge beast of a dragon, coiled over the ruins of a fallen building roared out, terrible red fire coming from the gaping maw of red-scaled death. And standing to face the flames, dauntless at the danger, were four ponies, armed with blade and magic, standing tall against the terrible foe, a force of heroism made greater by their companionship! Mesmerized, she had levitated it off the shelf and began leafing through. To her surprise, it was not a story, but a game of sorts. One where one pony designed a story and a world with a framework the game’s books help provide, and others played the daring heroes of the story. Twilight had read many an adventure of course, but to create and guide one? Or even to simply be one of the brave ponies starring in one? The very thought caused her to release a silent, happy squeak of excitement, the little filly sliding off the seat and levitating all the necessary books the game’s series had off the shelf, and checked them out post haste. She rushed home, and did what she most certainly did best; studied. For days, she skipped her library trips, opting instead to learn the ins and outs of what this strange game needed, the rules, the wonderful math it required of its players, and the more esoteric points of good world building and storytelling. Then, for weeks, she worked. Bought her own copies of the books (…ok, her parents bought them for her), planned out a journey, created a world all her own, and filled it with daunting trials and vicious beasts for the heroes to work through. It was wonderful, it was freeing! It was… completely pointless if she had no one to play through it. Such was the realization that hit her right as she finished the villain’s final monologue. All that work… The reason she had the free time all those weeks as she created her masterpiece, was that even at such a young age, her bookish, quiet nature had done little to win over the respect and friendship of her classmates. And making friends outside of class, well, how would one even go about it? But… all that work… no, she would not let it go for naught! And so, the next day, a simple, humble and handwritten flyer had ended up on the wall in the back of the classroom, recruiting players to ‘An exciting night of monster fighting and dice rolls’. The foals, after someone noticed and pointed it out spent a few minutes pondering its meaning before class, a few even expressing mild interest in at very least what it would involve, causing the little filly sitting patiently (as always) in the front of the class to silently grin in excited joy. It was happening! Maybe this, this strange little game would… would finally help her make some friends! Twilight’s eye twitched, her mind ricocheting back into reality as it refused to wander any farther down that terrible memory’s streets. Whatever had happened, while it had not been the first nail, or the last, it had certainly been one of the biggest in any chance at a happy social life in Canterlot she had before moving here to Ponyville. The sequence breaking, the cruel, terrible laughter, still ringing in her ears like it was still right beside her. She sighed and began levitating the books towards the ‘toss/donate’ pile she had going, yet the little giggles still kept piercing her ears, as if they were still- “TEEHEEEHAA-snort-HEEHAHAAA!” The next instant found Twilight in the box she was sorting, warily peering outside of it to see a still giggling pink mare staring at the box, bouncing up and down with her own laughter like some sort of living jack-in-the-box. “…Pinkie. What are you doing in here?” The mare finally started to calm down, dropping to an only slightly uncontrolled giggle as she replied. “S-sorry Twilight, but no one’s seen you all day and so I figured ‘I should go make sure she’s ok!’ and so I came here and the basement door was open so I came down and you were down here and you had the silliest look on your face and didn’t even noticed when I waved a hoof in front of you and then when you did you were like a cat you were so fast and I didn’t even think that box was big enough to hold you you really need to be careful where you flashback its gotten me in trouble too- hey what are these!” Twilight blinked as her mind went through the process of interpreting that wave of words. Ok, for one, she was almost positive the front and back doors were locked when she went down here. Two, she would flashback where she very well pleased, especially in her own home! And finally, Pinkie was looking at her Pathfinder books. Wait, what?! “P-Pinkie, what are you-“ “So it’s a game?” The pink ball of happiness interrupted, glancing up with her default excited grin. Twilight gulped nervously “…Well, yes, but not one that-“ “Ooh, I love games! I’ve told you that before right, I mean I thought I’ve played every game ever but I haven’t seen this one before ooh we should play now then because then I’d of played it! You like to teach right so could you teach me how?!” she cut off, grin somehow gaining a measure of excitement as she stood up from where she had knelt down to the books. “I-I’m not sure that’s a good idea, I mean, I’ve never really gotten a chance to even fully play it myself, and it’s kind of… silly…” She muttered, rubbing a foreleg with the other and glancing at the ground. “What’s wrong with silly? And it doesn’t look silly, it looks exciting! And how can you not of played your own game? That’s like not walking with your own feet! C’mon, pleeeaaase?” Pinkie asked, eyes growing wider and smile wavering eeeever so slightly. Twilight’s willpower and shame were strong however, and only cracked instead of shattered under the might of Pinkie’s puppy dog eyes. “…I don’t know…” Pinkie finally frowned. Something was up here, because twilight was not down with playing her own game, and that wasn’t right, or even left. “Weeeeellll… could I at least borrow the books?” she asked, turning the full force of her adorable on once more. Twilight’s eye twitched again, before she face hoofed and sighed. “I… guess so. Just be careful with-“ She blinked, a slightly pink shaped cloud of hair floating down from the air in front of her “...them”. She finished flatly, before sighing and going back to her sorting, opening the next box down the line. She had a bad feeling about this… A few days passed, all of them relatively normal for Ponyville and its denizens. Granted normal had always been a relative term in the town, more so these last few years, and was such that Applejack found herself with a rake in mouth, carefully pulling globs of taffy out of one of her apple trees, muttering under her breath as she worked. “Con’sarnit weather ponies, goofin around with dern tornadoes. ‘Course today had tah be the day Flim n’ Flam came back with their dern spiffy tiffy taffy maffy maker… thing, an-“ She glanced up from her grumbling musings, catching a flash of pink in her peripheral vision. By the time she managed to turn around, Pinkie was right up next to her, a look of pure glee on her face as she looked up at the tree. “ooooh. Hey Applejack! You want some help with that?” The Farmpony chuckled and shook her head glancing up at the tree with a sigh “That’s might kind of yah Pinkie, bu-“ She blinked. She was /damn/ sure that tree had been full of taffy before she shook her head. And that Pinkie was on her left side. But now neither of those things was true, and the party pony was licking her lips in delight “Mmmh, strawberry flavored!” “How did… never mind” Applejack finished with an eye roll. She learned long ago not to question how anything Pinkie Pie did worked. “Well, what brings yah all the way out here sugarcube?” “Oh, right, how could I forget!? Applejack, are you busy tomorrow night?” “Well… no, no ah ain’t. Somethin goin on tahmorrow?” she asked, the pair now walking towards the orchard’s barn. “Yeppers! I found a super neat game I wanna try where we fight monsters and do hero-y things and go crazy cool places!” “…dun we already do that sugarcube?” AJ asked with a small grin as she put the rake away in a shed “…Huh. Well, I guess we do, but this is a game instead of real and it’s all spiffy looking and I really wanna try it! The farmpony shrugged “Well, if you’re that keen on it, any game miss Pinkie Pie wants tah play usually turns out pretty fun, so Ah’ll be sure tah show up… well, where?” “Oh, that’s easy, the library!” Pinkie said with an enthusiastic bounce. Seeing how it was at her place, Twilight was probably involved, and that put a few nagging fears at the back of AJ’s mind about how real the ‘monsters’ Pinkie mentioned might have been to rest. Could never be too careful when it came to Pinkie. “Then Ah’ll be sure tah be there.” She agreed with a nod. “Super! I have a few more people to ask then some final stuff to get ready, so I’ll see you then AJ!” she said, giving a happy wave before bouncing down the road back to Ponyville. AJ shook her head, still wearing her small grin as she went back inside the Apple home. “I’m reeeeeeaaally sorry 'Shy. You’d think I’d remember you need me to knock before coming in, eh heh heh…” Pinkie rubbed the back of her mane sheepishly, staring up at where the pegasus Fluttershy was slowly spinning along with the ceiling fan she was hanging on for dear life to. “…I-its ok Pinkie, just… try to remember next time” she requested quietly for what felt like the fifth time that month. “So… why are you here? Oh, not that I mind a visit” she correctly quickly “Just I’m not usually you’re first choi- I mean, err…” Pinkie stared, getting a little dizzy watching the spinning inverted pegasus before she giggled “It’s ok ‘Shy, I know what you meant. Anyway, Me and AJ and Twilight and maybe Rarity and Dashie are gonna be playing a game tomorrow night, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to play!” she asked with a bounce “Oh… well, what kind of game?” “It’s this awesometacular looking game where one of us guides the rest of us through a hopefully super cool adventure full of monsters and magic and stuff!” Pinkie replied excitedly “…Wait… is it… called Pathfinder?” the Pegasus asked with a blink as she rotated. “Wow you are /awesome/ at guessing ‘Shy, how’d you know?!” Pinkie queried in wide eyed wonder. “Well… I’ve kinda sorta might have actually played before. When I was littler.” Came the slightly embarrassed reply. Pinkie finally stopped bouncing, eyes getting even wider. “YOU HAVE!? THAT’S GREAT!!!” She said, now flying up to eye level with Fluttershy on each hop. “Then you can help Twilight teach the others so we can get started super quickly and help everyone through the first run! You’ll be all important and stuff!” “Umm… yay?” “So is that a yes?” Asked Pinkie, pausing mid jump to keep eye contact with Fluttershy. “…I guess so.” “WEE!” Pinkie landed with a backflip, before bouncing towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at Twilight’s then ok? Ok!” She said before bounding out the doo- nope. She sat up after bounding into and bouncing off of the door. “…it’s still locked.” “Oh. Teehee, that makes sense, I’ll just go out the way I came!” Pinkie giggled out, before going… up the chimney. Fluttershy stared blankly as she spun around at the ashes kicked all over the carpet. “…I guess I’ll go get my broom.” Rainbow Dash was many things. She was strong, brash, colorful, brave, fast, cool… and lazy. The last one on that list was the winning force of personality at that moment on that day, and such was why she was snoozing lazily on a cloud, on arm carelessly tossed over as she snored lightly in the afternoon sun. She stirred slightly as something touched her hand. Then again as something tickled her nose, reaching over to scratch it- then bolting upright as she got a face full of creamy sugar. “BWAH!” she bounced to her feet, glaring around “Alright, who’s the wise ass who-“ she looked flatly at the giggling pink pony floating next to her, held aloft by a by a trio of balloons and wielding a lethal bottle of whip cream. “…Really? The sleeping whip cream gag?” “Well, you like cool things, and this joke is so old its gone past uncool into retro, and retro’s totally cool!” Pinkie replied with an assured nod. Rainbow continued to stare flatly for a moment… before finally losing it and breaking into a giggle herself, Pinkie happy to join in. “Alright alright, that’s fair, but a lotta work for a prank you could of done on someone you know, on the ground.” “Oh, well, that was just for fun, but I’m really up here to ask you a question! Are you busy tomorrow night?” “Eh, not really no. What’s up?” She asked, scratching her head with another yawn. “We’re gonna get together to play a game, where we play heroes and fight monsters and go on adventures!” Pinkie replied with an excited clap “Oh. Sounds cool, what’s it called?” “It’s called Pathfind- “No.” “No, really, it is, it says so right on the cove-“ “No, I mean, no I’m not playing” Rainbow said coolly, all trace of tired out of her voice as she shot Pinkie a neutral stare. “I wouldn’t be caught dead playing that kind of game. So uncool.” “But it’s just with frie-“ “No” “I’m gonna have snack-“ “No” “I was really hoping we could al-“ “NO!” Rainbow yelled, giving a big flap of her wings to call up a gust of wind that made Pinkie let out a small eep as her balloons wafted back towards town. “Oh, well… okay, I guess I’ll just save you a seat in case you change your mind!” “Don’t bother, I won’t!” “Better safe than sorry!” “SERIOUSLY, I WON’T!” “SERIOUSLY, THAT’S OK BUT I’LL SAVE IT ANYWAYS!” Pinkie called with a happy wave goodbye before she disappeared behind a rooftop. Rainbow stared dryly in the direction she disappeared for a bit, before grumbling and doing her best to reclaim her interrupted nap. “Oh darling, this sounds like a delightful, if quaint, round of fun!” Rarity said with a giggle, Pinkie giving a sigh of relief from across the table. “Ok, neat, then we still have enough to play. To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t play but Dashie would, but you guys got it all backwarzulled.” Pinkie said with a thoughtful frown as she scooped yet another spoonful of sugar into her tea, this marking her eighth, before finally taking a sip. “Mmm.” “Oh, foo on her darling” Rarity scoffed “It sounds like quite good entertainment. We spend all day every day being us, so it certainly couldn’t hurt to spend a bit pretending to be someone else, and play a little game at the same time!” “Exactly!” Pinkie agreed with a nod, before slurring down the rest of her tea. “Well, thanks lots Rarity, I’ll see you tomorrow then!” she replied with a grin goodbye before skipping out the doors. Rarity smiled and waved before putting a hoof to her chin in thought. Perhaps she could assist herself into getting into character… “INSPIRATION!” She suddenly exclaimed with glee, before dashing off into her workroom. The night and the next day rolled by with naught worth speaking of. Within the library’s basement, Twilight put the last tablecloth in the ‘donate’ box, giving a sigh of relief and closing it, glancing around with an air of satisfaction at the much, much tidier room. “You did good Sparkle” she said with a giggle. Now, she could finally relax, she thought with a contented sigh as she started up the stairs. Maybe make a cup of cocoa, light the fireplace, pick up where she left off on her new copy of ‘Psychology of house pets’. A perfect night of relaxa- *knock knock knock*. She blinked, before making her way towards the door as she crested the basement stairs. Warily opening the door, she let out a small sigh of relief as she saw it was just Applejack. And Rarity. And Fluttershy. Relief quickly became confusion. “Umm… Hello?” “Heya Twi.” Applejack said with a friendly nod as she let herself in, walking towards the kitchen “Ah assume we’re playin at the big table?” “Playing…?” “I brought my own books, so we can get through character making quicker” Fluttershy said with a quiet smile as she followed the farmpony, though it wilted slightly under Twilight’s baffled eyes “Um, if that’s ok” “Sure. I mean no. I mean what?” “Twilight, you seem a little off dear. Is everything alright?” Rarity looked her over with mild concern as she stepped in. Decked out in an outlandish (though stylishly so) wizard’s robe complemented by the pointed hat that covered her horn, bedazzled with jeweled stars and moons. “… I seem a little off?” “Hiya Twilight! Ready to play?” Pinkie bounded in as well, having just caught up with the rest, a mat and markers protruding out of her saddlebags along with… Twilight’s books. “….wait… you…. Oh.” Twilight stared flatly at the slightly maniacally grinning mare as her brain pieced together what excactly was going on. “… I don’t really have a choice at this point do I?” “Of course you do silly, but all your friends are super excited to play with you! Don’t you want to finally play your own game?” she asked with a nudge. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, though a small smile was cracking through the feigned frown she wore “Like I said, not much of a choice. But… thanks Pinkie.” The party pony winked “No problem! Now c’mon, you all gotta roll of your characters!” She said as she bounced off towards the table “Alright alright” Twilight said with a chuckle as she started towards her kitchen. Before coming to a dead stop and going slightly wide-eyed. ….Pinkie was the Game master? …. Oh Celestia. Author's Note Well, that was actually a lot more fun to write than I expected! Now that we have our players, next chapter we'll shall delve into the art of character creation, how differnet people decide what to play. and the wonders and dangers of random die rolls for stats. And for Rainbow dash fans, don't worry, she'll show up eventually, but she has her reasons for her denial. On a completely different note, as this is my first time doing internet style writing, please, by all means feel free to tell me what I've done terribly wrong, what I by some miracle may have gotten right, or whatever other criticism you wish to give. In any case, whether it was from watching a crash and burn or from actual enjoyment, hopefully this story brought a grin to your face! Amorphous blobsChapter 2 Once everyone was in the kitchen, a few minutes of jokes, snack grabbing, and quill searching passed, before everyone settled in. Pinkie stood at the head of the table and gave a small jump as she exclaimed “Right! to the game!” before handing everyone a character sheet. Twilight and Fluttershy barely spared the thing a glance for now, while AJ and Rarity stared blankly at the mess of boxes, letters, numbers, and lines before them “…Uh. Ah thought we were gonna play a game Pinkie. Not file our taxes” AJ commented flatly “Oh come now AJ, at worst you have to do some basic algebra.” “Twi, you think calculatin pie to the thirtieth decimal is basic” “Did somepony say pie? Is it cherry?” “Let us forget the pie before we lose our chief game leader” Rarity interrupted with an eye roll, while Fluttershy smiled and patted AJ’s shoulder “Don’t worry AJ, it’s a little daunting at first but we can guide you through it, and before you know it it’ll be easy. Or at least a little less algebra” The farm pony sighed and shrugged before gesturing to Pinkie to continue, the party pony nodding with a grin before reaching to a bag beneath the table and pulling a small clear box full of six sided dice out. “Ok! First we need to roll your stats! Yay dice rolling!” she said with a small clap before passing out four of the dice to each “Oh… I’ve never done rolls for stats before…” Fluttershy said with a slightly nervous gulp “Its more fun this way, trust me!” Pinkie scoffed “Lets make it all super dramatic and let each pony roll one at a time, k? Twilight, you go first. Just roll your dice and then add up the three highest and rinse and repeat five more times!” Twilight nodded, before she picked up the dice and…. Held them. For a few seconds. Then a few more. And a few more. The other four stared patiently for a bit, before Pinkie waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s closed eyes. “…Uhh….Twilight?” “Shhhh. I’m concentrating.” “On what?” AJ asked with a blink “My roll of course.” “Concentrating on what about it exactly dear? I thought you of all people would appreciate a good random number engine” Rarity replied dryly. “I… just don’t want to screw up.” “How exactly does one ‘screw up’ rolling dice?” the other unicorn replied back with a giggle “I… I just don’t want to ok?” Twilight shot back, smacking her hoof on the table, blinking as the dice came loose and rolled… and added up to a sixteen. “…Hrmm. Two points below the maximum and well above the mean. Excellent. Rarity, mock me again, I want to see if there’s a correlation.” _______________________________________________________ Twilight’s rolls averaged out from there, Fluttershy’s peeking a bit above averge as well which she was very happy to accept. AJ was on her last roll, and grinned slyly as the dice came to a rest “Hoo-ee, another seventeen! This set’s prettier than a princess on a train tah fancy-ville, and Ah dun even know what I’m doin with these numbers yet.” “Mmm. Yes, well, mildly impressive, but let us see if I can best it, shall we?” Rarity replied with a grin of her own as her turn finally came around. She picked up her dice, blew gently on them as they sat in her hoof, and rolled… and let out a squeal of delight as three sixes came up, marking the first eighteen of the night. “Ahaha! THAT is how a lady rolls dice my girls, they appreciate a gentle hand.” She picked them up, repeated the ritual, rolled… and stared along with four other sets of eyes as the dice came to a stop. With two pairs of snake eyes staring dully back at all of them. “…Wow. That’s… stastically impressive at least” Offered Twilight. “Oh my…” was all Fluttershy added. As for AJ, she was on the floor laughing her flank off. “Bahahahahaaaa! Geez sugarcube, you sure as hell rolled em like a lady alright. Let em lead yah on then drop yah cold!” Rarity finally managed to pick her jaw up off the table, giving a Pinkie a terrified look “Is that… does that count? Can you even get that?” “Yeeeep” Pinkie replied, doing her best to hide a giggle of her own. Rarity’s mouth contorted a few times as she tried to respond, to argue against it, before she sighed and regained her composure. “Fine then. I shall simply make up for it with my other rolls. Like so” she almost growled as she rolled again. “…This is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” Rarity whined as she stared forlornly at the result “Technically your three was much worse, though I agree that an eight is suboptimal” Twilight corrected helpfully, as both Pinkie and AJ lost it once more. _______________________________________________________ Rarity’s peaked at a twelve after that, though thankfully no more below ten. She sat glumly staring at her sheet as Twilight patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry Rarity, you can still make a functional character off of this. Did you want help making your character?” she asked, whizzing through her own sheet with ease, somewhat surprised at how well she’d retained her knowledge of the game. Only somewhat though. Studying was studying even if it was for fun. Which the majority of studying was anyways “I suppose so. I want to do something exciting. Something flashy. Magic most likely. They say three is a magic number yes?” Rarity replied with a defeated chuckle. Twilight nodded replying in all seriousness. “In over twenty different cultures yes, though unfortunately not in this game. In any case, there’s a few types of magic users, though the most prominent would be the wizard and sorcerers. Wizards learn magic from books, kind of like me, whereas sorcerers are born with it and fuel their powers by force of personality. "Magic powered by… personality?” Rarity asked with a small gleam in her eyes. “That sounds enchanting darling why, if that was how it works in real life, I daresay I could stand in line with you. Tell me more of these ‘sorcerers’” Twilight gave her a flat look that dissolved into a giggle. “Ok, well, you choose your bloodline…” On the other side of the table, Fluttershy was similarly guiding Applejack. “So, um, do you have any idea what you wanna do AJ?” “Honestly, not a clue. Ah was just gonna glance through n’ pick whatever caught my…fancy… first.” She stared at the picture that had landed before her as she was leafing through the pages, a powerful looking mare decked out in heavy armor yet with a look of peaceful conviction on her face, a soft glow almost visible around her. “… Hey Shy, what’s a paladin?” _______________________________________________________ “Ok, is everypony ready?” Pinkie queried a dozen or so minutes later, grinning at the four nods she received in response. “Super! Alright, then we’re almost ready to play, let me just tell you a bit about the world and stuff and let you all introduce your characters and then we can go on an ADVENUTURE!” she yelped with a bounce, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a rolled poster of sort. A really really big poster, to the point that Twilight started a “That shouldn’t even physically fit in ther-“ before AJ stuck a hoof in her mouth and just shook her head no. Pinkie rolled the poster out on to the table, and four small gasps could be heard as the others gazed upon it. It was a map of sorts, showing a continent none of them had seen before drawn in beautiful colors and detail. “Oh my…” “Darn Pinkie, that’s mighty impressive.” “Oh the colors, the designs, its gorgeous! “ “Pinkie, where did you get this? You didn’t even know this game existed until you borrowed a few days ago!” “Oh, I just drew it last night” She replied offhand, sorting through the rest of her bag. “You just… in one night... but… its…” Twilight tried to formulate some sort of response, before AJ’s hoof was once more in her mouth, giving her another shake of the head. Pinkie missed or ignored the exchange, looking over a notepad before nodding. “So! This whole continent is a far of land called Dorescia! It’s a place with its own countries, races, and adventures! Important for you all, at least right now, is here” she said, jabbing a hoof onto a dark splotch on the map almost as big as some of the countries “This is the city of Tharantonia, home of the arch mage council and free from the reign of any king. It has existed for millennia as a bastion of freedom and magical study and stuff, and has like a bajillion districts and neighborhoods bigger than most cities. You all have come from everywhere across the land to Tharantonia, each seemingly of your own accord, and at the beginning of the campaign you’re all in the lower class and kinda slummy dock districts, where you watch your coinpurse like a Gilda if you don’t want to lose it!” she said as she finished that cheery description. “So, take a bit and try to figure out why your character would be there, and then we can introduce your creations to the others!” They all blinked before going into thought. A few minutes later they had all pretty much settled on an answer for themselves and around the table they went. “Ok Twilight, tell us your pony’s name, class, and a little bit about them!” “Ok… well, my character’s a fighter pony named Dauntless Trooper. Her dad was a mercenary and taught her ever since she was little, but a year ago vanished after taking a job from a mysterious wizard. Dauntless has devoted herself to finding out what happened, but her only clue is that the wizard lived in this city. Is that ok?” “Yep!” Pinkie said with a nod, scribbling in her notepad before turning to Applejack. “You’re next!” “A’ight. Ah’m playing a paladin of the goddess Sarenrae, goddess of the sun n’ honesty, named Resplendent. She was born in the city and in a not so nice part a town either. She grew up lean n’ mean, till one day she stole from a wanderin priest who was visitin town. She nigh got scared to death when he showed up at ‘er shack the next morning politely askin for his stuff back, but when he didn’ get mad at her fer doin it she followed ‘im when he left, an he taught her all ‘bout Sarenrae an tenants. That was a few years ago an now she’s back tah see if she can help make the city a lil’ better than she ‘members it bein.” “Neato! Ok Rarity, how ‘bout you?” Pinkie asked, scribbling furiously now. “Hrrmph. Well, being a powerful sorcerer, the half faun Fabulous had always dreamed of moving to Tharantonia, and the docks was the only place she could find an apartment. She is doing her best to move up from there. Is that enough?” “Probably yea.” Pinkie said with a nod, writing only a few words before glancing to Fluttershy “And you Shy?” “Ok, well, um, I’m playing a half destrier rogue named Rusted Razor. He was a hitter and lockbuster for one of the local thieves guilds, but got kicked out after refusing a nasty job and is lying low now trying to decide what to do with himself and um why is everypony staring at me like that?” she finished timidly as she slowly ducked lower behind the table, even Pinkie Pie with a raised eyebrow as all four looked at her with varying degrees of surprise. “Oh, well, it’s just, you making that kind of character simply came a bit left of field darling.” Rarity finally replied. “You’re playin a colt?” AJ asked blankly “W-well, I figured you all were playing mares, and I just figured I’d help balance it out some…” “She’s right!” Twilight suddenly interjected. “Any good fantasy epic keeps its characters diverse in both gender and social position, to help intersperse different viewpoints in the story.” “And it’ll be fun to see her play him!” Pinkie added with a nod, before she grinned a slightly more excited than usual grin. “So does that mean everybody’s ready?” Four various forms of affirmative rolled out in response and with a slightly villainous cackle Pinkie ducked under the table. When she came back up, she wore a black cloak, the shadows only showing her bright blue eyes in their darkness, as her voice growled out from within. “It was a dreary, rainy day on the streets of… Fluttershy?” She stared at where the pegasus had been a few moments ago, before a voice squeaked out from under the table. “u-umm… could you GM without the hood p-please?” “Aww. Ok!” Author's Note Once more amusing, though came across the problem of trying to decide how far to go into the logistics of character creation. On one hand, I want to give people who hadn't played the game at least a vague idea what all the terms I was throwing about meant. On the other hand, its logistics. Hopefully I found some sort of balance. Oh, also of note is this is the first time the fact that Pathfinder's modded somewhat to fit Equestria shows up, in the mention of the races. Destriers are similar to orcs, fauns to elves. Once more, hope you enjoyed, next chapter's where the real fun begins! Outside the TavernIt was a damp, dreary day in the Archcity Tharantonia. The clouds had rolled in that morning, and it had been coming down steady ever since. The streets, normally bustling at this hour, were only a trickle of the busy or careless going about their business. Our story begins at a tavern called the Drunken Morloch, where four strangers had by chance of destiny found their way to that day. A white mare in a brown cloak stood at a table near the door, quietly enjoying a simple meal of leaves and daisies, though to those with keen eyes the bumps under her cloak implied she was not always so quiet. At the bar, a hulking black half destrier was in a low muttering conversation with a bartender, one neither party seemed to be enjoying. A half-faun at another table was staring dully at the window, obviously waiting for the rain to let up so she could leave this dreadful establishment. And finally, a purple mare dressed in dull but well cleaned armor strode in through the doors. She glanced around at the patrons thoughtfully. The two at the bar spared her a glance before going back to their conversation, the half faun didn’t even spare that, but the hooded pony gave her a brief smile of welcome before returning to her meal. The purple warrior began to move towards the other. “Hello. My name is Dauntless Tr-“ “THEIVES, THEIVES HE- what? “ “…girls? What?” “Your voice darling… it… well never mind, just continue.” Rarity said with a shrug that mirrored itself on the others, impressions far from the strangest talent Pinkie had. “Right, then, so as I was saying…” “Thieves, help- gah!” A loud crash echoed outside, the words preceded them cut off with a painful yelp. All within bar glanced up warily, before Dauntless galloped outside, the three other patrons following in kind. The scene on the streets left little to the imagination. Broken glass was strewn across the ground, an aging pony amidst them struggling to stand after getting tossed through his own window. Dark chuckles sounded from the three ponies surrounded him, all armed and none looking too concerned about pointing their weapons at the elderly shopkeeper, as a huge destrier covered in tattoos of chains started to step through the shattered window. Dauntless growled, scuffed the ground with her hoof in preparation to charge, and called out “HALT, OR I WILL HIT YOU IN THE FACE WITH BLADED OBJECTS REPEATEDLY!” “…” And the world dissolved into laughter “What? Girls, what?!” Twilight asked as her friends all completely failed at containing their laughs, even Fluttershy covering up a small smile. “Seriously, what’s so funny?!” Applejack did her best to reply between snorts and chuckles “S-seriously is that you can’t be serious Twilight. T-that was the worst dang battle cry ah have ever heard!” “What? It conveyed my intent juxtaposed with threatening imagery! That’s exactly what a battle cry’s supposed to be according to ‘Calls to War throughout the Ages’.” “Maybe if you worded it better, but… as it is… teehee.” Fluttershy tried to add helpfully. “… Oh never mind, I’ll just use one of the generic ones the book listed.” … to charge, and called out “HALT VILLAIN!” before dashing into the fray “Ok everypony, roll initiative!” five twenty siders hit the table. “Con’sarnit. Three.” Grumbled AJ “Not the quickest draw in the west there I see miss Paladin.” Rarity commented with a giggle “eleven for me” “Twenty two” Fluttershy continued quietly. “And seventeen for me” Twilight finished. “Ok and the baddies got a fifteen, so you’re first Fluttershy! Yay!” “Ok, well… I delay until after the thugs go.” “Oh, alright then, that means you’re up Twilight! Or should I say, Dauntless!” “Right well then I…” The thieves were taken off guard as the fighter pony crashed into one of them, one of her battlespurs smashing into the closest one’s side and tearing a wound through his simple armor. The huge Destrier in the window blinked before disappearing back into the shop. The four outside all growled and charged the insolent fighter, but she dodged most of their clumsy strikes with the trained ease of a warrior, those that she didn’t dodge bounding off her armor. So focused were they on Dauntless, that it took a moment to realize that soon after they struck, their numbers had gone from four to three, The half destrier from the bar spat a mouthful of blood out from the vicious bite-mark his tusks had taken out of the neck of a thug, glaring daggers at the group as he stepped over the groaning pony. Things were not going their way, and it suddenly got much, much worse as a plume of fire exploded in the mist of all of them- “Fireball?! Rarity, that’s a third level spell, how the heck would you be casting it at first level?!” Twilight sputtered with a blink. “But… well at the front of the book it said something about bonus spells, and I had a high enough charisma score…” “Oh dear... Twilight, you didn’t explain that to her?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. “…no. I kind of told her to read it but…” “Ah… well, Rarity, those are just bonus spells you get once you’re a high enough level sorcerer to casts spells of that level in the first place. Sorry…” “Ah. I see.” Rarity said with a frown before she glanced down at her sheet. “Well then, what does that leave me… Very well, taste the awesome might of my undodgeable magic missile attack! Heeyah!” she yelped, rolling a four-sided which cheerily landed on a one. “…Two damage." “Right, he’s not down” Pinkie giggled. “Next up is resplendent Resplendent.” “Alright, ah charge at the one miss magic over here poked, and head-butt ‘im with mah rammin helm.” She rolled her twenty sided. “So, ah add mah… what now?” “Strength and base attack bonus” Twilight answered quickly. “Alright. Thirty.” “Umm. I don’t think you can get that high at level one” Pinkie snickered. “What? Ah got a seventeen strength and a base bonus thing of one, and ah rolled a twelve.” “No, no, strength bonus silly, not score. How is that not obvious?” Twilight reprimanded, earning her a soon to be patented AJ-flat-stare “Ah dunno, maybe because ah haven’t played before, or owned the books fer ten years? Anyway, fifteen then.” “Neato, you still hit, roll your damage!” The hood came off of the white pony as she charged the thieves as well, her bright yellow and gold armor shining slightly even in the dull gray afternoon as she smashed into the side of the bandit the half faun had struck with her spell, sending the poor bastard flying to the ground in a crumpled heap. Dauntless smashed a battlespur and then another into her foe, sending him to the ground as well. The final thug gulped, looked around… and dashed down the streak, jumping over Dauntless’s leg as she tried to slash him with a spur and ducking under the white pony as she tried to cut him off. The half destrier calmly reached into his armor with his tail and pulled a rusty dagger out, spinning around and launching it at the thug, the blade landing in his back with a wet thud. He stumbled, tried to keep moving, but suddenly went sprawled to the ground as a missile of pure force smacked into the back of his head. “Haha! Such is the might of the magical Fabulous!” the half faun said with a demure giggle. The white pony rolled her eyes before moving to help the old shopkeeper to his feet. “Hello sir I…“ “…What? If Pinkie can do a voice, ah can too” AJ said, shrugging uncomfortably as Rarity gawked from across the table “That’s fine of course but… since when do you of all people have such an eloquent Manehatten accent under you hat?” Rarity asked with a blink. “Since forever ah’ll have you know. Ah had to use one when ah was a filly back with aunt ‘n uncle orange. Silly thing, but ah check on it every once in a while tah make sure ah can still do it, not one tah waste a skill if ah dun have to, and it fits Resplendent more than mah southern drawl. Now can we play?” “Yes, yes of course, by all means continue. Showing up has been worth it simply to here you sound so un… uncouth” “…uh huh. Right. Anyway, as ah was sayin….” “I am Resplendent, servant of the goddess Sarenrae. Are you alright?” The old pony accepted the help gratefully, stumbling to his feet. “I be fine I be fine, but me shop! They were in me shop!” He whined as he stumbled towards the door. “I make looks for half the bloody district. Who knows what the- Ah no, but why?!” The pony fell to his knees as he which case was broken, staring forlornly at an empty cushion. “Was that an important key sir?” as Dauntless as she strode in the shop. The half faun and half destrier followed, the former casting the old man a sympathetic glance and the latter… pocketing one of the keys, grinning slightly as no one noticed despite the half faun standing right beside her… “Wow heehee. Nice roll ‘Shy. And you all need to add some points to perception it looks like. You get the key just fine.” “Again, statistically impressive Rarity. You actually got a negative.” Twilight commented with a snicker “Where’d you put that there three again Rares?” AJ asked with a grin. “…wisdom.” “All looks ‘n no common sense huh? Guess Fabulous don’t fall far from the tree-“ “Oh shut up. Continue if you would Pinkie” Rarity said with a glower, the rest of the group giggling before they continued. “Important?! Buck what I said before missy, it was the only important one, to me at least. It’s been in me family for generations! I was gonna give it to me grandson for his birthday this year… Please, all of ye, ye have tah help me. I’ll pay ye for it, just help me get that key back!” “How much?” asked the rogue at the same time Resplendent said “I would be happy to help even without the reward.” “Then I’ll take her share.” The rogue quickly amended, staring flatly at the shopkeeper “So again, how much?" “Ahm, well…” he rubbed his hooves together fretfully, desperate but a bit put off by the half destrier’s frankness. “… a hundred gold a share? I can make that up in a month most likely…” “Fine. C’mon folks” the rogue growled with a grin “Shouldn’t be too hard to find a full destrier covered in tattoos, even in this city.” The other three glanced at each other before Resplendent called after him “And why, pray tell, should we follow you?” “Because unlike you prissy pants, I know this city’s underworld, that’s more gold then I’ve seen in a month, and that punk pulled this stunt on my turf. And no one does that without getting a new scar or two. Names Rusted Razor, now stop gawking and let’s go get my paycheck.” “Wow, that was actually kind of badass Fluttershy” Pinkie said with a giggle. The pegasus smiled shyly at the comment as Pinkie continued. “So, how you guys want to go about trying to find Mr. Meanie pants in-*groooowwllmble*” She stopped dead as the telltale signs of an empty stomach sounded from within her, glancing around at the others in the stillness that followed before they all burst out into laughter. Eventually she calmed down enough to say “O-okay, how ‘bout first we do dinner things and then you guys can find Mr. Meanie pants.” “Okay. If I could suggest, there’s a new place down the street a bit that sells pizza. I think I have a menu somewhere...” Twilight said, searching a drawer and finding it with the relative ease of one whose silverware was organized alphabetically. “Ooh, pizza. It’s quite big in Canterlot now you know ever since the Prancien ambassador served some to the princesses last month. I wasn’t aware the trend had already reached Ponyville. Well, what shall we put on it? And no Applejack, I am not eating apples on my pizza.” AJ’s mouth shut itself before making a noise, before she tried again. “Alright, how ‘bout peaches then?” “I’d like to avoid fruit, umm, if that’s alright. I like onions though.” Fluttershy said with an apologetic smile” “Sorry, no onions, it would throw off my roots to leaf based vegetables ratio this week” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “How about… GUMDROPS!?” “No Pinkie” the other four all said simultaneously. ---------------------Ten minutes later---------------------------- Applejack had a notepad out at this point. “Ok. So. We need one large stuff crust with one quarter onions chopped horizontally an’ three quarters tomatoes and apples skinned and then bananas on the northeastern third, an’ a medium flatbread with peppers an’ bananas drizzled with caramel. Is that… right?” she asked glancing up at the other four. They all looked at each other, trying to figure out where exactly they went wrong. “…I could always just make us rose and daisy sandwiches” Twilight offered warily. The others all breathed a sigh of relief save for Pinkie, who sighed in dismay on a missed chance at a tasteventure. She brightened after Twilight put her finished sandwich in front of her and she took her first bite “Mmm, frosting and pickles! thanks for remembering Twilight!” Author's Note Thats why my local group just does subs instead of pizza. Pinkie's eclectic taste probably doesn't help here Anyways, figured it might be fun to sort of split the veiwpoints to both a tabletop view and a in-game world view. Good idea or bad idea? The ManhuntAfter everyone had gotten a minute or so to get situated with whatever sandwich Twilight had supplied them, Pinkie belched loudly, grinning as everyone blinked at her “Ok, good, attention regained! So, how do you all go about trying to find Mr. Meanie?” All four broke into thoughtful poses for a moment, AJ’s chin resting on her hoof before she raised an eyebrow and shrugged, giving Pinkie a sly glance. This was Pinkie Game mastering…. “Ah call out Marco an’ wait for ‘im to call Polo.” “Oooh, good plan, good plan, but, lemme tell you a little secret” she said, leaning over to AJ, closer, closer, personal space quickly becoming a non element, nose to cheek. “…He doesn’t like games.” “…Ah. Ah see.” “I know, so evil right?!” Pinkie said as she slid back to her side of the table with a snort. “Any other ideas?” “…umm, well, since Razor, um, ‘works’ in this area, maybe he could ask some ponies he knows?” Fluttershy offered with a slightly raised hoof. “Hrrm. Ok, umm, give me a… well, are you asking these ponies nice like or scary like.” “…I don’t think Razor knows how to ask nice, so, um, scary I guess. If that’s ok.” “Sure it is! Yooou just have to show me what kind of scary face you give them!” Pinkie replied with a slightly growing grin. Six eyes rose at the party pony before they turned to look at Fluttershy, a mixture of curiosity at, amusement, and concern on the various faces at how the pegasus would react. “Oh… u-um, maybe we should try something else then…” “C’mon, it’s a good plan Fluttershy, and you’ve done fairly excellent in portraying Razor so far” encouraged Twilight.” “Yep, an’ it's all in good fun remember” added AJ with a winning smile. Rarity for her part looked a tad more concerned, but it wasn’t necessarily for Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked around as if to ensure no one had snuck into the kitchen to observe how silly she was about to make herself look. “Well… ok” She took a deep breath, hid her face behind her hooves to compose herself, before pulling them away to reveal her best, most ferocious snarl. “…grr. T-tell me” “…” If Fluttershy had done it to a little bunny, it probably would of given her a comforting hug and told it to practice some more rather than run in terror. (Well, actually her bunny would have smacked her with a carrot and gone back to whatever he was doing, but that’s beside the point.) Her friends were doing all in their power to keep themselves composed, and for all but one it was merely strained smile and silent, covered snickers. Pinkie was never one for composure however, and was failing miserably at covering up her giggles, eyes closed in her laughing fit “O-ok, um, sorry ‘Shy but no plusses, so go ahead and ro-“ The sound of hooves landing on the table snapped pinkie’s eyes open, and the sight before her cut the laughter off almost instantly. Those gaping blue pits weren’t eyes. They were portals into the ninth circle of hell itself, its power being called upon once more to contain the wicked and tame the cruel, as Fluttershy spoke in utter, deadpan calm as she stared down Pinkie from point blank range. “Tell me.” “…Roll” “HEY YOU MADE IT!” Pinkie exclaimed before the dice stopped even moving. “…” Everyone burst out laughing as Fluttershy fluttered back to her seat looking quite pleased with herself, if somewhat abashed. “Sorry Pinkie, but you said my best scary face.” AJ doing her best to keep her pounding on the table to a minimum “Gosh darn Ah wish yah coulda seen yer own face there Pinkie, was priceless!” “Indeed. I thought you of all ponies would of thought better than to ask that of Iron Will’s star pupil” Rarity said with her own dainty giggle, Fluttershy having the grace to look slightly embarrassed at that little debacle being mentioned. “Yep. Totally my bad there guys!” Pinkie said as she laughed herself, obviously no lasting harm done. “Ok, so, umm, leeeeeemme check” She said as she flipped through a notebook she had. “Ok, one of the ponies you scar for life says he saw somepony like Mr. Meanie pants go into a bar about ten minutes or so ago!” “Excellent! We go there then!” Twilight declared The four heroes found themselves outside another tavern. Ableit one that looked slightly less reputable than the one they had started at. “The Frontside Grass Muncher. How refined sounding.” Fabulous commented dryly as they looked up at the sign. Razor shrugged as he started walking forwards. “Wrong side of town for fancy girly. Now c’mon, we got money to make.” The other two follow, and after a moment the half faun sighed and followed in as well. The inside of the tavern lived up to all the class and wealth its name implied, which was none at all. Chairs and tables were scattered about with no regards to each other, and the whole, admittedly cramped affair was lit by a single lantern that swung in a dull circle as the quartet entered. It was empty save for a single, grotesquely overweight pony who leaned on the counter staring dully at a fly as it buzzed in front of him. Dauntless could of swore the stallion mouth was slowly opening as if to snap at the fly in hopes of a winged snack, and the warrior quickly coughed. The bartender blinked and shot up from the counter “Oh, err, welcome, welcome to, uh, my bar. Yep. What can I do for you mares?” “….Pinkie, how does your voice even get that low-“ “Twilight” AJ interrupted in a warning tone. The unicorn, shot her a glare, sighed, and motioned for the game to continue. Dauntless strode up to the bar and nodded. “Greeting sir. I was hoping you might have some information for us.” The bartender gave her a dull look, looked her over a bit… Pinkie leaned over and looked and looked at all their character sheets quickly…. … and looked back up with the same dull look. “For you? Nah. But for her?” He said, shooting the half faun a look as he grinned and winked, revealing the utter lack of teeth the right side of his mouth had. “Well I reckon I may remember something.” The half faun blinked and stared bewildered a moment. “… ew.” Razor rolled his eyes and whispered to her. “Look, you don’t need to marry the creep Girly. Just ask him the question and we bounce outta he-“ He was interrupted by the sound of the Resplendent’s hooves smashing into the bar, the bartender letting out a yelp as the paladin narrowed her eyes at him. “Sir, are you attempting to put my compatriot in a compromising situation?” “uh, I, uh-“ “We are in pursuit of a criminal sir” Resplendent cut off, eyes narrowing even further. “One who will continue to be a scourge upon this city each second he is free. And we have been told you know where he may be. And for every second you play your games here, is another one of those seconds he’s free. Do you wish that on your conscience sir?” She asked with a growl. “Well, no, but, I-“ “Good. He’s a destrier, with black chains across his body. Now…” She leaned in across the bar. “…where is he?” “… northern quarter, Quickins street, little apartment on the corner.” “Thank you sir. Sarenrae’s sun guide you” Resplendent said with a nod as she turned to leave without another glance. The other three looked at each other, before Razor snorted and followed. “Or we could do that.” The half faun and pony shrugged, before following as well. Fabulous trotted to catch up to Resplendent, the paladin giving her a questioning look as she did so. “Yes?” “I, just, well, thank you. That had the potential to be… uncomfortable.” The paladin shrugged. “It was nothing. Besides, as a paladin of Sarenrae, it is my duty to stand up for the weak.” The last part was said with an almost un-paladin like smirk. The half faun gaped slightly before turning away with a “hmph. We will see how weak you find Fabulous once you see the might of her magic!” “Ok, so you girls and guy reach the address. The building’s seen better days, and the windows are boarded up. What do you do?” “I go up the door an-“ Twilight started to say before Fluttershy stuck up a hoof and shook her head. “Let me do it. I go up to the door and make sure it isn’t trapped Pinkie.” “Ok, lemme roll real quick…. Darn, you see it! I thought for sure this was gonna surprise somepony, but you find a tripwire near the door, connected to some alchemist above the door!” Fluttershy nodded and rolled to disable, smiling slightly “Ok, so twenty four.” “Aww. No fireworks then, you do it right!” Pinkie said with a shrug and grin. Fluttershy nodded and motioned for Twilight to go. “Right, nice catch Fluttershy. Ok, so, I tell everypony to wait for the count of three, and then once everypony’s ready I count to three and bust the door do-“ “Except when you hit two, the door busts out on you!” Pinkie Pie cut off with an evil cackle. AJ grimaced.“Ah, con’sarnit, he-“ “-was prepared for us!” Yelled Resplendent as he broke off into a run, the Destrier from the locksmith’s having just blown threw the door and Dauntless in a hail of splinters. All four heroes quickly turned and galloped, and the chase was on! The four followed through the twists and turns of the streets, ponies and fauns getting knocked aside by pursuer and criminal alike. Razor growled and broke off from the group, yelling “I’ll cut him off!” before disappearing down an alleyway. The other three kept going, before gasping in surprise as the Destrier slowed for a moment and kicked a barrel of bananas over in their path. Fabulous scampered over them, Dauntless jumped over the pile with a mighty leap, and Resplendent yelped as she went sliding into a pole “And that’s why I’m not in heavy armor” Twilight commented a bit smugly as AJ rubbed her hoof down her face. The paladin pulled herself up in a daze, while the other two heroes dashed after the destier. As they ran, however, Dauntless slowly started to fall behind… “And that s why I am not wearing armor.” Rarity replied with a giggle as Twilight stared forlornly at her failed endurance check It wasn't long before it was only half faun and destrier sprinting through the streets, the mage barely capable of keeping up with the fiend, almost there, and when she caught him she would… well… um… Perhaps she should of thought this out better before outrunning all of her allies. Unfortunately for her, the destrier seemed to have that thought a the same moment, suddenly coming to a stop, grabbing her, and whipping her down to the other end of the alleyway they were at. She stood shakily up to her feet and gulped, stepping back a step as the beast snorted in anger and started walking slowly forward. “Ah, well, see, I’ve caught you, so you should very well surrender... Please?” she asked with a shaky smile The destrier grinned and shook his head, grumbling simply in a voice that sounded like more like a bear from the abyss than any kind of pony. “You’re screwed Girly.” “Hey, I got dibs on that nickname.” The destrier, blinked, started to turn around, and howled in pain as Rusted Razor tore into his back. He staggered backwards, before roaring in anger and pouncing towards Razor. Fabulous gasped, raised a hoof and said the words for a ray of enfeeblement…. “Oh, oh my. A twenty is a ‘critical’ yes?” Rarity asked with a blink at her roll. “Not quite, you need to roll to hit again first. I think. Not sure with magic, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight, leaning under the table to where the pegasus was still hiding after hearing Pinkie's destrier voice. "Y-yes. go ahead and roll Rarity" Rarity rolled “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-” … and a green beam shot out of it and flew right into the back of the destrier’s head. The thug fell face first into the ground, skidding a bit. If he had any strength left to move his mouth, he would of said “ow”. Razor stared blankly for a bit, before looking up at Fabulous. “Where the buck did that come from Girly?” A few minutes later Dauntless and Resplendent caught up, huffing slightly as they caught their breath. They were greeted by the sight of Razor carefully checking the ropes tied to a struggling destrier, Fabulous sitting quite smug nearby and smiling at the two as they appeared. The two warriors looked at each other, before looking at Razor. “Did you-“ “Nope” He cut off with a smirk, jerking a hoof towards Fabulous. The sorceress simply smiled slyly and raised an eyebrow at Resplendent. “ Oh, it was nothing. Even for somepony as weak as me” Author's Note The longest part of writing this part was figuring out what was in the stupid barrel. I don't even think they keep bananas in barrels. Anyway, after this the chapters get a little longer, but also probably only weekly updates. Taking PointA few minutes later, a groaning destrier rolled his head to the side as he came back from bleary, painful sleep. “Whuzzah, who, wha… WHY AM I TIED UP!? I’M GONNA RIP ALL YER HEADS RIGHT THE BUCK OFF-“ “You’re going to what, darling?” The Destrier’s howl’s trailed off as he glanced up at Fabulous, who smiled demurely back down at him as she lounged atop a crate, her horn nubs glowing ever so slightly. “Go on, don’t be shy sir, what eloquent words of surrender were you going to present to us, which of course is where that sentence was going, wasn’t it?” The Destrier stared at the glow on her horns for a moment, glowering silently before spitting and grumbling. “Fine, crazy ass magic cheatin bitch. I surrender. Whaddaya want?” “Wow. That wasn’t even a challenge for you huh Rarity?” Pinkie said with a headscratch The white unicorn shrugged and smiled. “Well, intimidate goes off of charisma, so it simply falls within Fabulous’ wheelhouse as it were.” “Well that dun make a lick a sense. Why dun intimidate go offa’ strength?” Applejack interjected with a frown. “Ah mean, no offense, but with them stats Fabulous don’ exactly cut an imposing figure.” “Oh Applejack Darling, you’d be amazed how intimidating simple force of /personality/can be.” Rarity said with a dismissive wave. “Well, be that as it is, strength should still count right?” Applejack replied stubbornly. “It does if you take the feat intimidating prowess!” Twilight interjected. AJ gave her a flat look, before suddenly slamming down a hoof on the table in front of her. The unicorn jumped up in surprise, AJ giving a satisfied smirk. “Well see there, didn’ that intimidate yah?” “Yep! Which means whoever’s playing an Applejack should take the feat!” Twilight replied with a happy nod. “…” “In any case!” Rarity cut in… “Well sir, your name would be a good start” Fabulous replied with a shrug “Scab Wound.” “….Ew.” “Shut it. Now what the buck do you want?” “I think you already know that sir” Resplendent cut in “We were the ones who cut your robbery of the locksmith short if you recall.” “Oh. Right. That… No idea what you’re talking abou-GRAGHL!” “Holy crap Fluttershy!” “S-sorry, but I mean, he said he was going to when they first went to find him…” “Oh dear, that was… well, quite straightforward” Applejack didn’t even manage to form words, and even Pinkie had a bit of a blink before she continued “Shut up with the stupid.” Razor growled as he pulled his throwing knife back out of Scab and tossed it in his pack. “That’s for hitting a building in my turf. Now answer the question-” Razor blinked as something shoved him from behind into the nearby wall, Resplendent’s hoof slamming into the wall next to him as she growled. “Hold Razor. I will not allow you to use violence to interrogate a pony, no matter how evil he may be!” The half destrier just shrugged and grinned. “Why do you think I didn’t ask? Now are we gonna help the poor old man find his precious heirloom or are you gonna sit her and complain Prissy?” The paladin narrowed her eyes, the two keeping gazes locked, before Dauntless stepped between them. “Please, can we save this till later? We need this info now.” Resplendent growled but broke off, walking back down the alleyway “Fine. But try that again and I will return your knife point first ser.” Razor rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure you will. Anyway, so, buddy, key, where?” The Destrier glared daggers up at the half blood, before spitting. “I work for the Satyrs. Thieves guild trying to establish turf in the wharf quarter. Apparently this jobbed paid good.” Razor leaned in and growled back. “Where?” “Not much to look at, is it?” Fabulous asked with a sniff “You’ve said that to every building we’ve been to.” Dauntless replied dryly. “Well pardon me for keeping a higher standard of living than filthy squalor” the sorceress shot back. In her defense, the building really wasn’t much to look at. It was a warehouse well within the maze of streets and alleys that made up the inner wharf district, with three stories of dirt smudged brick walls and boarded up windows. A small ramp led up to a heavy, wooden door with iron chains through the door handle. Resplendent started up the ramp. “Well, let us get on with it t-“ “Whoa whoa there prissy. Why don’t you let me go first?” Razor cut in. The paladin rolled her eyes and continued forward. “A little late for gallant acts rogue. I can handle myse- ack!” she yelped as her hooves disappeared out from under her, just barely finding purchase on the pit’s opening as the ramp’s top swung down into a spike trap. “...whew” AJ wiped her forehead at the eighteen she rolled on her reflex save. Fluttershy gulped and tried speaking up once more “T-that’s what… um.. yea… I go help Resplendent up…” A hoof roughly grabbed her mane, yanking her back out of the pit and on the side with the door, its owner giving her a flat look as he helped the other two across. “I… take it you meant you were better qualified to scout ahead for such dangers.” “Yep.” “… My apologies.” “Uh huh. Just keep your mouth shut and hit the badguys and you’ll make it through this just fine.” “…” Resplendent was left fuming (And Fabulous snickering) as Razor went to work on the lock of the door. While he worked, Dauntless thought aloud. “Alright. So, they probably don’t know that we’re coming, so we have the element of surprise on our side. With that in mind, we should try to avoid as much contact as possible, and keep quiet when we do. Agreed?” The other two nodded and the clank of chains hitting the ground signaled the end of Razor’s work. “Well, mares first, so one of you get the honors” he said while stepping back. Fabulous quickly stepped back as well, while Dauntless and Resplendent both started forward before looking at each other. “I believe you’ve shown your prowess for dealing with doors to be suboptimal. Let me go first” Dauntless said dryly. The paladin narrowed her eyes and countered “I assure you that was a fluke. I shall take the lead.” “No, seriously, let me go first.” Dauntless urged “I insist elsewise” “well I insist the opposite…" “C’mon Applejack, I mean, I have a higher dex than you. My reflex is better and my initiative will make me less likely to be flat footed.” Twilight maintained “I will not leave Resplendent with such a silly legacy of door fai-*cough cough* Sorreh, got stuck in character. Ah ain’t leavin Resplendent defeated by a dern door. Let me go.” AJ stubbornly replied as she crossed her front legs. “Well maybe plan ahead and let the rogue do her- err, his job.” Twilight debated flatly. “Look, that was mah bad, but that’s why I should go first, to unbad mah bad. If somethin’s nasty on the other side I should-“ “-be the one to brave it as a warrior of Sarenrae. I would not feel comfortable letting another do so.” “I’m not a foal, miss Resplendent. I can handle myself.” Dauntless continued, now snout to snout with Resplendent as the rogue and sorceress stared blankly at the argument. “… You know, if it gets us through the damn thing faster I’ll just go first-“ Razor began, before both mares turned on him and yelled “NO!” “…” Pinkie glanced at Fluttershy hiding under the table after getting doubly snapped at by Twilight and AJ, then to Rarity boredly drumming her hoof on the table, then finally to the bickering pair “…THEY’RE DOUBLE DOORS!” She suddenly yelled. AJ and Twilight blinked before turning to their GM “Wait, what?” “Whuzzat?” “Yep! Double doors. You can both go first.” Pinkie affirmed with a nod “I’m pretty sure you said it was a single door the first time you described it” Twilight replied, one eyebrow skeptically raised. “Hrmm… nope, pretty sure I didn’t!” Pinkie returned with a giggle “… yes, you totally did.” Twilight continued “Did I?” “Yes” Pinkie shrugged and grinned a little bigger. “Prove it” Twilight opened her mouth to reply, closed it, opened it again, raised a hoof, lowered it, scowled as her brain worked a bit more, before she huffed. “… I can’t.” “Neato! So they’re double doors.” “Fine, then we both go first” Dauntless sighed with a shrug. Resplendent thought it over before nodding, taking position in front of one door while Dauntless to her place in front of the other. “Right then, on the count of three, one, two, three!” Dauntless whispered, and the two quietly opened the doors and stepped inside. Right into the line of fire of ten crossbow wielding thieves surrounding the door. “… You know maybe having that argument outside was a bad idea.” Dauntless said objectively. “Indeed.” “FIRE!” yelled the lead thief pony, and all hell broke loose. “Ok, so five shots on Resplendent and five on Dauntless. First Dauntless…” Five dice hit the table. “Whats your AC Twi?” “eighteen.” Twilight said with a gulp. “Phoeey, only two hits. Alright, what’s yours AJ?” she asked as she rolled again. “Twenty” She said with a small grin at Twilight. “Ooh, nice. Means I only got four hits on you annnnnnnd-“ She rolled one of the dice again “-one of them just misses being a crit.” AJ looked flatly at the dice, giving them an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture before sighing. “Alright, do yer damage then” Resplendent grimaced as a quartet of crossbow bolts found the holes in her armor, Dauntless fairing a bit better as she ducked a pair of shots before two caught her in the side. The two warriors gave battle-cries before charging into the thieves, all of them dropping their crossbows and joining the erupting melee. Fabulous stepped into the door and unleashed a magic missile on one unfortunate enough to be closest to her, the bolt of force cracking across the thief's forehead as it sent him sprawling to the ground in a daze. Razor bounded over the sorceress and into the room, catching another thief in the back with a throwing knife as he closed the distance. The thieves tried to rally and strike at the weakened warriors, but it seemed Dauntless weaved through the blows with ease and Resplendent only took a graze from one blade before she roared and gave one thief a buck that put him through a nearby window and into the street outside. After that, it wasn't much longer till the thieves were all collapsed across the floor, none looking like they were getting up any time soon. Resplendent and Dauntless looked around, both breathing heavy before looking at the other and giving a grudging nod. “I suppose you may take point miss Dauntless” Author's Note Oh man. I am so sorry this took so long for this chapter. Life decided it was going to do all the things at once and this just kind of got put on the backburner T^T . I'll try to be a little quicker with the next update, but after what happened this time I won't make an ass of myself and promise it'll be quick. As always though, hope you enjoy
The Adventurers meetIt was a glorious day outside in Ponyville. Fantastic, dazzling, enchanting, resplendent- Twilight’s mind was practically full to the bursting of the various terms, their synonyms, and even their antonyms for what to call the way Mother Nature was showcasing her beauty today. This proved a mildly distracting mental exercise as she went about the inanely tedious task of sorting through the Golden Oaks Library’s basement. Yes, it needed to be done. Yes today was the day she set aside for it, scheduled for it. Yes, there were still unpacked boxes from when she had moved here three years ago. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have much, much preferred to have joined Spike on his trip to Canterlot for the weekend, or gone to see how Rainbow’s new trick was going, see if AJ needed help on the Orchard, what Fluttershy or Rarity were doing… anything else really. She chuckled at herself, horn glowing as she opened a box and began to sort through the contents. Before coming to Ponyville, she would have found the idea working on an orchard or giving (unwelcome) flying pointers to a Wonderbolt hopeful both pointless and absurd. What use would her studies of gotten from doing things like that? She wouldn’t have found time for such nonsense, for such… such… She blinked, staring at the contents at the bottom of the box, momentarily forgetting the two sorted piles of assorted junk behind her along with her thought process. It was… those books. The ones that had accosted her mind for that dark period in her fillyhood, and her eyes went blank as her memories went zooming backwards in time. Twilight’s love of books began young. Very young. Like well before most foals had gained the concept of what a book even was young. Books could be anything; A fountain of knowledge of subjects she’d never of even been aware existed otherwise, a mystic portal to far of lands of strange and wondrous creatures and people, fantastic stories of ponies those in real life could only dream of aspiring to be. She spent whole days cooped up in the royal library, if such a term could be used to describe spending time in that tremendous building. Often times she purposefully went in without a subject in mind, simply wandering till something caught her eye. And it was on such a trip that she came across…. These. The art on the cover caught her glance first. A huge beast of a dragon, coiled over the ruins of a fallen building roared out, terrible red fire coming from the gaping maw of red-scaled death. And standing to face the flames, dauntless at the danger, were four ponies, armed with blade and magic, standing tall against the terrible foe, a force of heroism made greater by their companionship! Mesmerized, she had levitated it off the shelf and began leafing through. To her surprise, it was not a story, but a game of sorts. One where one pony designed a story and a world with a framework the game’s books help provide, and others played the daring heroes of the story. Twilight had read many an adventure of course, but to create and guide one? Or even to simply be one of the brave ponies starring in one? The very thought caused her to release a silent, happy squeak of excitement, the little filly sliding off the seat and levitating all the necessary books the game’s series had off the shelf, and checked them out post haste. She rushed home, and did what she most certainly did best; studied. For days, she skipped her library trips, opting instead to learn the ins and outs of what this strange game needed, the rules, the wonderful math it required of its players, and the more esoteric points of good world building and storytelling. Then, for weeks, she worked. Bought her own copies of the books (…ok, her parents bought them for her), planned out a journey, created a world all her own, and filled it with daunting trials and vicious beasts for the heroes to work through. It was wonderful, it was freeing! It was… completely pointless if she had no one to play through it. Such was the realization that hit her right as she finished the villain’s final monologue. All that work… The reason she had the free time all those weeks as she created her masterpiece, was that even at such a young age, her bookish, quiet nature had done little to win over the respect and friendship of her classmates. And making friends outside of class, well, how would one even go about it? But… all that work… no, she would not let it go for naught! And so, the next day, a simple, humble and handwritten flyer had ended up on the wall in the back of the classroom, recruiting players to ‘An exciting night of monster fighting and dice rolls’. The foals, after someone noticed and pointed it out spent a few minutes pondering its meaning before class, a few even expressing mild interest in at very least what it would involve, causing the little filly sitting patiently (as always) in the front of the class to silently grin in excited joy. It was happening! Maybe this, this strange little game would… would finally help her make some friends! Twilight’s eye twitched, her mind ricocheting back into reality as it refused to wander any farther down that terrible memory’s streets. Whatever had happened, while it had not been the first nail, or the last, it had certainly been one of the biggest in any chance at a happy social life in Canterlot she had before moving here to Ponyville. The sequence breaking, the cruel, terrible laughter, still ringing in her ears like it was still right beside her. She sighed and began levitating the books towards the ‘toss/donate’ pile she had going, yet the little giggles still kept piercing her ears, as if they were still- “TEEHEEEHAA-snort-HEEHAHAAA!” The next instant found Twilight in the box she was sorting, warily peering outside of it to see a still giggling pink mare staring at the box, bouncing up and down with her own laughter like some sort of living jack-in-the-box. “…Pinkie. What are you doing in here?” The mare finally started to calm down, dropping to an only slightly uncontrolled giggle as she replied. “S-sorry Twilight, but no one’s seen you all day and so I figured ‘I should go make sure she’s ok!’ and so I came here and the basement door was open so I came down and you were down here and you had the silliest look on your face and didn’t even noticed when I waved a hoof in front of you and then when you did you were like a cat you were so fast and I didn’t even think that box was big enough to hold you you really need to be careful where you flashback its gotten me in trouble too- hey what are these!” Twilight blinked as her mind went through the process of interpreting that wave of words. Ok, for one, she was almost positive the front and back doors were locked when she went down here. Two, she would flashback where she very well pleased, especially in her own home! And finally, Pinkie was looking at her Pathfinder books. Wait, what?! “P-Pinkie, what are you-“ “So it’s a game?” The pink ball of happiness interrupted, glancing up with her default excited grin. Twilight gulped nervously “…Well, yes, but not one that-“ “Ooh, I love games! I’ve told you that before right, I mean I thought I’ve played every game ever but I haven’t seen this one before ooh we should play now then because then I’d of played it! You like to teach right so could you teach me how?!” she cut off, grin somehow gaining a measure of excitement as she stood up from where she had knelt down to the books. “I-I’m not sure that’s a good idea, I mean, I’ve never really gotten a chance to even fully play it myself, and it’s kind of… silly…” She muttered, rubbing a foreleg with the other and glancing at the ground. “What’s wrong with silly? And it doesn’t look silly, it looks exciting! And how can you not of played your own game? That’s like not walking with your own feet! C’mon, pleeeaaase?” Pinkie asked, eyes growing wider and smile wavering eeeever so slightly. Twilight’s willpower and shame were strong however, and only cracked instead of shattered under the might of Pinkie’s puppy dog eyes. “…I don’t know…” Pinkie finally frowned. Something was up here, because twilight was not down with playing her own game, and that wasn’t right, or even left. “Weeeeellll… could I at least borrow the books?” she asked, turning the full force of her adorable on once more. Twilight’s eye twitched again, before she face hoofed and sighed. “I… guess so. Just be careful with-“ She blinked, a slightly pink shaped cloud of hair floating down from the air in front of her “...them”. She finished flatly, before sighing and going back to her sorting, opening the next box down the line. She had a bad feeling about this… A few days passed, all of them relatively normal for Ponyville and its denizens. Granted normal had always been a relative term in the town, more so these last few years, and was such that Applejack found herself with a rake in mouth, carefully pulling globs of taffy out of one of her apple trees, muttering under her breath as she worked. “Con’sarnit weather ponies, goofin around with dern tornadoes. ‘Course today had tah be the day Flim n’ Flam came back with their dern spiffy tiffy taffy maffy maker… thing, an-“ She glanced up from her grumbling musings, catching a flash of pink in her peripheral vision. By the time she managed to turn around, Pinkie was right up next to her, a look of pure glee on her face as she looked up at the tree. “ooooh. Hey Applejack! You want some help with that?” The Farmpony chuckled and shook her head glancing up at the tree with a sigh “That’s might kind of yah Pinkie, bu-“ She blinked. She was /damn/ sure that tree had been full of taffy before she shook her head. And that Pinkie was on her left side. But now neither of those things was true, and the party pony was licking her lips in delight “Mmmh, strawberry flavored!” “How did… never mind” Applejack finished with an eye roll. She learned long ago not to question how anything Pinkie Pie did worked. “Well, what brings yah all the way out here sugarcube?” “Oh, right, how could I forget!? Applejack, are you busy tomorrow night?” “Well… no, no ah ain’t. Somethin goin on tahmorrow?” she asked, the pair now walking towards the orchard’s barn. “Yeppers! I found a super neat game I wanna try where we fight monsters and do hero-y things and go crazy cool places!” “…dun we already do that sugarcube?” AJ asked with a small grin as she put the rake away in a shed “…Huh. Well, I guess we do, but this is a game instead of real and it’s all spiffy looking and I really wanna try it! The farmpony shrugged “Well, if you’re that keen on it, any game miss Pinkie Pie wants tah play usually turns out pretty fun, so Ah’ll be sure tah show up… well, where?” “Oh, that’s easy, the library!” Pinkie said with an enthusiastic bounce. Seeing how it was at her place, Twilight was probably involved, and that put a few nagging fears at the back of AJ’s mind about how real the ‘monsters’ Pinkie mentioned might have been to rest. Could never be too careful when it came to Pinkie. “Then Ah’ll be sure tah be there.” She agreed with a nod. “Super! I have a few more people to ask then some final stuff to get ready, so I’ll see you then AJ!” she said, giving a happy wave before bouncing down the road back to Ponyville. AJ shook her head, still wearing her small grin as she went back inside the Apple home. “I’m reeeeeeaaally sorry 'Shy. You’d think I’d remember you need me to knock before coming in, eh heh heh…” Pinkie rubbed the back of her mane sheepishly, staring up at where the pegasus Fluttershy was slowly spinning along with the ceiling fan she was hanging on for dear life to. “…I-its ok Pinkie, just… try to remember next time” she requested quietly for what felt like the fifth time that month. “So… why are you here? Oh, not that I mind a visit” she correctly quickly “Just I’m not usually you’re first choi- I mean, err…” Pinkie stared, getting a little dizzy watching the spinning inverted pegasus before she giggled “It’s ok ‘Shy, I know what you meant. Anyway, Me and AJ and Twilight and maybe Rarity and Dashie are gonna be playing a game tomorrow night, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to play!” she asked with a bounce “Oh… well, what kind of game?” “It’s this awesometacular looking game where one of us guides the rest of us through a hopefully super cool adventure full of monsters and magic and stuff!” Pinkie replied excitedly “…Wait… is it… called Pathfinder?” the Pegasus asked with a blink as she rotated. “Wow you are /awesome/ at guessing ‘Shy, how’d you know?!” Pinkie queried in wide eyed wonder. “Well… I’ve kinda sorta might have actually played before. When I was littler.” Came the slightly embarrassed reply. Pinkie finally stopped bouncing, eyes getting even wider. “YOU HAVE!? THAT’S GREAT!!!” She said, now flying up to eye level with Fluttershy on each hop. “Then you can help Twilight teach the others so we can get started super quickly and help everyone through the first run! You’ll be all important and stuff!” “Umm… yay?” “So is that a yes?” Asked Pinkie, pausing mid jump to keep eye contact with Fluttershy. “…I guess so.” “WEE!” Pinkie landed with a backflip, before bouncing towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at Twilight’s then ok? Ok!” She said before bounding out the doo- nope. She sat up after bounding into and bouncing off of the door. “…it’s still locked.” “Oh. Teehee, that makes sense, I’ll just go out the way I came!” Pinkie giggled out, before going… up the chimney. Fluttershy stared blankly as she spun around at the ashes kicked all over the carpet. “…I guess I’ll go get my broom.” Rainbow Dash was many things. She was strong, brash, colorful, brave, fast, cool… and lazy. The last one on that list was the winning force of personality at that moment on that day, and such was why she was snoozing lazily on a cloud, on arm carelessly tossed over as she snored lightly in the afternoon sun. She stirred slightly as something touched her hand. Then again as something tickled her nose, reaching over to scratch it- then bolting upright as she got a face full of creamy sugar. “BWAH!” she bounced to her feet, glaring around “Alright, who’s the wise ass who-“ she looked flatly at the giggling pink pony floating next to her, held aloft by a by a trio of balloons and wielding a lethal bottle of whip cream. “…Really? The sleeping whip cream gag?” “Well, you like cool things, and this joke is so old its gone past uncool into retro, and retro’s totally cool!” Pinkie replied with an assured nod. Rainbow continued to stare flatly for a moment… before finally losing it and breaking into a giggle herself, Pinkie happy to join in. “Alright alright, that’s fair, but a lotta work for a prank you could of done on someone you know, on the ground.” “Oh, well, that was just for fun, but I’m really up here to ask you a question! Are you busy tomorrow night?” “Eh, not really no. What’s up?” She asked, scratching her head with another yawn. “We’re gonna get together to play a game, where we play heroes and fight monsters and go on adventures!” Pinkie replied with an excited clap “Oh. Sounds cool, what’s it called?” “It’s called Pathfind- “No.” “No, really, it is, it says so right on the cove-“ “No, I mean, no I’m not playing” Rainbow said coolly, all trace of tired out of her voice as she shot Pinkie a neutral stare. “I wouldn’t be caught dead playing that kind of game. So uncool.” “But it’s just with frie-“ “No” “I’m gonna have snack-“ “No” “I was really hoping we could al-“ “NO!” Rainbow yelled, giving a big flap of her wings to call up a gust of wind that made Pinkie let out a small eep as her balloons wafted back towards town. “Oh, well… okay, I guess I’ll just save you a seat in case you change your mind!” “Don’t bother, I won’t!” “Better safe than sorry!” “SERIOUSLY, I WON’T!” “SERIOUSLY, THAT’S OK BUT I’LL SAVE IT ANYWAYS!” Pinkie called with a happy wave goodbye before she disappeared behind a rooftop. Rainbow stared dryly in the direction she disappeared for a bit, before grumbling and doing her best to reclaim her interrupted nap. “Oh darling, this sounds like a delightful, if quaint, round of fun!” Rarity said with a giggle, Pinkie giving a sigh of relief from across the table. “Ok, neat, then we still have enough to play. To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t play but Dashie would, but you guys got it all backwarzulled.” Pinkie said with a thoughtful frown as she scooped yet another spoonful of sugar into her tea, this marking her eighth, before finally taking a sip. “Mmm.” “Oh, foo on her darling” Rarity scoffed “It sounds like quite good entertainment. We spend all day every day being us, so it certainly couldn’t hurt to spend a bit pretending to be someone else, and play a little game at the same time!” “Exactly!” Pinkie agreed with a nod, before slurring down the rest of her tea. “Well, thanks lots Rarity, I’ll see you tomorrow then!” she replied with a grin goodbye before skipping out the doors. Rarity smiled and waved before putting a hoof to her chin in thought. Perhaps she could assist herself into getting into character… “INSPIRATION!” She suddenly exclaimed with glee, before dashing off into her workroom. The night and the next day rolled by with naught worth speaking of. Within the library’s basement, Twilight put the last tablecloth in the ‘donate’ box, giving a sigh of relief and closing it, glancing around with an air of satisfaction at the much, much tidier room. “You did good Sparkle” she said with a giggle. Now, she could finally relax, she thought with a contented sigh as she started up the stairs. Maybe make a cup of cocoa, light the fireplace, pick up where she left off on her new copy of ‘Psychology of house pets’. A perfect night of relaxa- *knock knock knock*. She blinked, before making her way towards the door as she crested the basement stairs. Warily opening the door, she let out a small sigh of relief as she saw it was just Applejack. And Rarity. And Fluttershy. Relief quickly became confusion. “Umm… Hello?” “Heya Twi.” Applejack said with a friendly nod as she let herself in, walking towards the kitchen “Ah assume we’re playin at the big table?” “Playing…?” “I brought my own books, so we can get through character making quicker” Fluttershy said with a quiet smile as she followed the farmpony, though it wilted slightly under Twilight’s baffled eyes “Um, if that’s ok” “Sure. I mean no. I mean what?” “Twilight, you seem a little off dear. Is everything alright?” Rarity looked her over with mild concern as she stepped in. Decked out in an outlandish (though stylishly so) wizard’s robe complemented by the pointed hat that covered her horn, bedazzled with jeweled stars and moons. “… I seem a little off?” “Hiya Twilight! Ready to play?” Pinkie bounded in as well, having just caught up with the rest, a mat and markers protruding out of her saddlebags along with… Twilight’s books. “….wait… you…. Oh.” Twilight stared flatly at the slightly maniacally grinning mare as her brain pieced together what excactly was going on. “… I don’t really have a choice at this point do I?” “Of course you do silly, but all your friends are super excited to play with you! Don’t you want to finally play your own game?” she asked with a nudge. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, though a small smile was cracking through the feigned frown she wore “Like I said, not much of a choice. But… thanks Pinkie.” The party pony winked “No problem! Now c’mon, you all gotta roll of your characters!” She said as she bounced off towards the table “Alright alright” Twilight said with a chuckle as she started towards her kitchen. Before coming to a dead stop and going slightly wide-eyed. ….Pinkie was the Game master? …. Oh Celestia. Author's Note Well, that was actually a lot more fun to write than I expected! Now that we have our players, next chapter we'll shall delve into the art of character creation, how differnet people decide what to play. and the wonders and dangers of random die rolls for stats. And for Rainbow dash fans, don't worry, she'll show up eventually, but she has her reasons for her denial. On a completely different note, as this is my first time doing internet style writing, please, by all means feel free to tell me what I've done terribly wrong, what I by some miracle may have gotten right, or whatever other criticism you wish to give. In any case, whether it was from watching a crash and burn or from actual enjoyment, hopefully this story brought a grin to your face!
Amorphous blobsChapter 2 Once everyone was in the kitchen, a few minutes of jokes, snack grabbing, and quill searching passed, before everyone settled in. Pinkie stood at the head of the table and gave a small jump as she exclaimed “Right! to the game!” before handing everyone a character sheet. Twilight and Fluttershy barely spared the thing a glance for now, while AJ and Rarity stared blankly at the mess of boxes, letters, numbers, and lines before them “…Uh. Ah thought we were gonna play a game Pinkie. Not file our taxes” AJ commented flatly “Oh come now AJ, at worst you have to do some basic algebra.” “Twi, you think calculatin pie to the thirtieth decimal is basic” “Did somepony say pie? Is it cherry?” “Let us forget the pie before we lose our chief game leader” Rarity interrupted with an eye roll, while Fluttershy smiled and patted AJ’s shoulder “Don’t worry AJ, it’s a little daunting at first but we can guide you through it, and before you know it it’ll be easy. Or at least a little less algebra” The farm pony sighed and shrugged before gesturing to Pinkie to continue, the party pony nodding with a grin before reaching to a bag beneath the table and pulling a small clear box full of six sided dice out. “Ok! First we need to roll your stats! Yay dice rolling!” she said with a small clap before passing out four of the dice to each “Oh… I’ve never done rolls for stats before…” Fluttershy said with a slightly nervous gulp “Its more fun this way, trust me!” Pinkie scoffed “Lets make it all super dramatic and let each pony roll one at a time, k? Twilight, you go first. Just roll your dice and then add up the three highest and rinse and repeat five more times!” Twilight nodded, before she picked up the dice and…. Held them. For a few seconds. Then a few more. And a few more. The other four stared patiently for a bit, before Pinkie waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s closed eyes. “…Uhh….Twilight?” “Shhhh. I’m concentrating.” “On what?” AJ asked with a blink “My roll of course.” “Concentrating on what about it exactly dear? I thought you of all people would appreciate a good random number engine” Rarity replied dryly. “I… just don’t want to screw up.” “How exactly does one ‘screw up’ rolling dice?” the other unicorn replied back with a giggle “I… I just don’t want to ok?” Twilight shot back, smacking her hoof on the table, blinking as the dice came loose and rolled… and added up to a sixteen. “…Hrmm. Two points below the maximum and well above the mean. Excellent. Rarity, mock me again, I want to see if there’s a correlation.” _______________________________________________________ Twilight’s rolls averaged out from there, Fluttershy’s peeking a bit above averge as well which she was very happy to accept. AJ was on her last roll, and grinned slyly as the dice came to a rest “Hoo-ee, another seventeen! This set’s prettier than a princess on a train tah fancy-ville, and Ah dun even know what I’m doin with these numbers yet.” “Mmm. Yes, well, mildly impressive, but let us see if I can best it, shall we?” Rarity replied with a grin of her own as her turn finally came around. She picked up her dice, blew gently on them as they sat in her hoof, and rolled… and let out a squeal of delight as three sixes came up, marking the first eighteen of the night. “Ahaha! THAT is how a lady rolls dice my girls, they appreciate a gentle hand.” She picked them up, repeated the ritual, rolled… and stared along with four other sets of eyes as the dice came to a stop. With two pairs of snake eyes staring dully back at all of them. “…Wow. That’s… stastically impressive at least” Offered Twilight. “Oh my…” was all Fluttershy added. As for AJ, she was on the floor laughing her flank off. “Bahahahahaaaa! Geez sugarcube, you sure as hell rolled em like a lady alright. Let em lead yah on then drop yah cold!” Rarity finally managed to pick her jaw up off the table, giving a Pinkie a terrified look “Is that… does that count? Can you even get that?” “Yeeeep” Pinkie replied, doing her best to hide a giggle of her own. Rarity’s mouth contorted a few times as she tried to respond, to argue against it, before she sighed and regained her composure. “Fine then. I shall simply make up for it with my other rolls. Like so” she almost growled as she rolled again. “…This is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” Rarity whined as she stared forlornly at the result “Technically your three was much worse, though I agree that an eight is suboptimal” Twilight corrected helpfully, as both Pinkie and AJ lost it once more. _______________________________________________________ Rarity’s peaked at a twelve after that, though thankfully no more below ten. She sat glumly staring at her sheet as Twilight patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry Rarity, you can still make a functional character off of this. Did you want help making your character?” she asked, whizzing through her own sheet with ease, somewhat surprised at how well she’d retained her knowledge of the game. Only somewhat though. Studying was studying even if it was for fun. Which the majority of studying was anyways “I suppose so. I want to do something exciting. Something flashy. Magic most likely. They say three is a magic number yes?” Rarity replied with a defeated chuckle. Twilight nodded replying in all seriousness. “In over twenty different cultures yes, though unfortunately not in this game. In any case, there’s a few types of magic users, though the most prominent would be the wizard and sorcerers. Wizards learn magic from books, kind of like me, whereas sorcerers are born with it and fuel their powers by force of personality. "Magic powered by… personality?” Rarity asked with a small gleam in her eyes. “That sounds enchanting darling why, if that was how it works in real life, I daresay I could stand in line with you. Tell me more of these ‘sorcerers’” Twilight gave her a flat look that dissolved into a giggle. “Ok, well, you choose your bloodline…” On the other side of the table, Fluttershy was similarly guiding Applejack. “So, um, do you have any idea what you wanna do AJ?” “Honestly, not a clue. Ah was just gonna glance through n’ pick whatever caught my…fancy… first.” She stared at the picture that had landed before her as she was leafing through the pages, a powerful looking mare decked out in heavy armor yet with a look of peaceful conviction on her face, a soft glow almost visible around her. “… Hey Shy, what’s a paladin?” _______________________________________________________ “Ok, is everypony ready?” Pinkie queried a dozen or so minutes later, grinning at the four nods she received in response. “Super! Alright, then we’re almost ready to play, let me just tell you a bit about the world and stuff and let you all introduce your characters and then we can go on an ADVENUTURE!” she yelped with a bounce, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a rolled poster of sort. A really really big poster, to the point that Twilight started a “That shouldn’t even physically fit in ther-“ before AJ stuck a hoof in her mouth and just shook her head no. Pinkie rolled the poster out on to the table, and four small gasps could be heard as the others gazed upon it. It was a map of sorts, showing a continent none of them had seen before drawn in beautiful colors and detail. “Oh my…” “Darn Pinkie, that’s mighty impressive.” “Oh the colors, the designs, its gorgeous! “ “Pinkie, where did you get this? You didn’t even know this game existed until you borrowed a few days ago!” “Oh, I just drew it last night” She replied offhand, sorting through the rest of her bag. “You just… in one night... but… its…” Twilight tried to formulate some sort of response, before AJ’s hoof was once more in her mouth, giving her another shake of the head. Pinkie missed or ignored the exchange, looking over a notepad before nodding. “So! This whole continent is a far of land called Dorescia! It’s a place with its own countries, races, and adventures! Important for you all, at least right now, is here” she said, jabbing a hoof onto a dark splotch on the map almost as big as some of the countries “This is the city of Tharantonia, home of the arch mage council and free from the reign of any king. It has existed for millennia as a bastion of freedom and magical study and stuff, and has like a bajillion districts and neighborhoods bigger than most cities. You all have come from everywhere across the land to Tharantonia, each seemingly of your own accord, and at the beginning of the campaign you’re all in the lower class and kinda slummy dock districts, where you watch your coinpurse like a Gilda if you don’t want to lose it!” she said as she finished that cheery description. “So, take a bit and try to figure out why your character would be there, and then we can introduce your creations to the others!” They all blinked before going into thought. A few minutes later they had all pretty much settled on an answer for themselves and around the table they went. “Ok Twilight, tell us your pony’s name, class, and a little bit about them!” “Ok… well, my character’s a fighter pony named Dauntless Trooper. Her dad was a mercenary and taught her ever since she was little, but a year ago vanished after taking a job from a mysterious wizard. Dauntless has devoted herself to finding out what happened, but her only clue is that the wizard lived in this city. Is that ok?” “Yep!” Pinkie said with a nod, scribbling in her notepad before turning to Applejack. “You’re next!” “A’ight. Ah’m playing a paladin of the goddess Sarenrae, goddess of the sun n’ honesty, named Resplendent. She was born in the city and in a not so nice part a town either. She grew up lean n’ mean, till one day she stole from a wanderin priest who was visitin town. She nigh got scared to death when he showed up at ‘er shack the next morning politely askin for his stuff back, but when he didn’ get mad at her fer doin it she followed ‘im when he left, an he taught her all ‘bout Sarenrae an tenants. That was a few years ago an now she’s back tah see if she can help make the city a lil’ better than she ‘members it bein.” “Neato! Ok Rarity, how ‘bout you?” Pinkie asked, scribbling furiously now. “Hrrmph. Well, being a powerful sorcerer, the half faun Fabulous had always dreamed of moving to Tharantonia, and the docks was the only place she could find an apartment. She is doing her best to move up from there. Is that enough?” “Probably yea.” Pinkie said with a nod, writing only a few words before glancing to Fluttershy “And you Shy?” “Ok, well, um, I’m playing a half destrier rogue named Rusted Razor. He was a hitter and lockbuster for one of the local thieves guilds, but got kicked out after refusing a nasty job and is lying low now trying to decide what to do with himself and um why is everypony staring at me like that?” she finished timidly as she slowly ducked lower behind the table, even Pinkie Pie with a raised eyebrow as all four looked at her with varying degrees of surprise. “Oh, well, it’s just, you making that kind of character simply came a bit left of field darling.” Rarity finally replied. “You’re playin a colt?” AJ asked blankly “W-well, I figured you all were playing mares, and I just figured I’d help balance it out some…” “She’s right!” Twilight suddenly interjected. “Any good fantasy epic keeps its characters diverse in both gender and social position, to help intersperse different viewpoints in the story.” “And it’ll be fun to see her play him!” Pinkie added with a nod, before she grinned a slightly more excited than usual grin. “So does that mean everybody’s ready?” Four various forms of affirmative rolled out in response and with a slightly villainous cackle Pinkie ducked under the table. When she came back up, she wore a black cloak, the shadows only showing her bright blue eyes in their darkness, as her voice growled out from within. “It was a dreary, rainy day on the streets of… Fluttershy?” She stared at where the pegasus had been a few moments ago, before a voice squeaked out from under the table. “u-umm… could you GM without the hood p-please?” “Aww. Ok!” Author's Note Once more amusing, though came across the problem of trying to decide how far to go into the logistics of character creation. On one hand, I want to give people who hadn't played the game at least a vague idea what all the terms I was throwing about meant. On the other hand, its logistics. Hopefully I found some sort of balance. Oh, also of note is this is the first time the fact that Pathfinder's modded somewhat to fit Equestria shows up, in the mention of the races. Destriers are similar to orcs, fauns to elves. Once more, hope you enjoyed, next chapter's where the real fun begins!
Outside the TavernIt was a damp, dreary day in the Archcity Tharantonia. The clouds had rolled in that morning, and it had been coming down steady ever since. The streets, normally bustling at this hour, were only a trickle of the busy or careless going about their business. Our story begins at a tavern called the Drunken Morloch, where four strangers had by chance of destiny found their way to that day. A white mare in a brown cloak stood at a table near the door, quietly enjoying a simple meal of leaves and daisies, though to those with keen eyes the bumps under her cloak implied she was not always so quiet. At the bar, a hulking black half destrier was in a low muttering conversation with a bartender, one neither party seemed to be enjoying. A half-faun at another table was staring dully at the window, obviously waiting for the rain to let up so she could leave this dreadful establishment. And finally, a purple mare dressed in dull but well cleaned armor strode in through the doors. She glanced around at the patrons thoughtfully. The two at the bar spared her a glance before going back to their conversation, the half faun didn’t even spare that, but the hooded pony gave her a brief smile of welcome before returning to her meal. The purple warrior began to move towards the other. “Hello. My name is Dauntless Tr-“ “THEIVES, THEIVES HE- what? “ “…girls? What?” “Your voice darling… it… well never mind, just continue.” Rarity said with a shrug that mirrored itself on the others, impressions far from the strangest talent Pinkie had. “Right, then, so as I was saying…” “Thieves, help- gah!” A loud crash echoed outside, the words preceded them cut off with a painful yelp. All within bar glanced up warily, before Dauntless galloped outside, the three other patrons following in kind. The scene on the streets left little to the imagination. Broken glass was strewn across the ground, an aging pony amidst them struggling to stand after getting tossed through his own window. Dark chuckles sounded from the three ponies surrounded him, all armed and none looking too concerned about pointing their weapons at the elderly shopkeeper, as a huge destrier covered in tattoos of chains started to step through the shattered window. Dauntless growled, scuffed the ground with her hoof in preparation to charge, and called out “HALT, OR I WILL HIT YOU IN THE FACE WITH BLADED OBJECTS REPEATEDLY!” “…” And the world dissolved into laughter “What? Girls, what?!” Twilight asked as her friends all completely failed at containing their laughs, even Fluttershy covering up a small smile. “Seriously, what’s so funny?!” Applejack did her best to reply between snorts and chuckles “S-seriously is that you can’t be serious Twilight. T-that was the worst dang battle cry ah have ever heard!” “What? It conveyed my intent juxtaposed with threatening imagery! That’s exactly what a battle cry’s supposed to be according to ‘Calls to War throughout the Ages’.” “Maybe if you worded it better, but… as it is… teehee.” Fluttershy tried to add helpfully. “… Oh never mind, I’ll just use one of the generic ones the book listed.” … to charge, and called out “HALT VILLAIN!” before dashing into the fray “Ok everypony, roll initiative!” five twenty siders hit the table. “Con’sarnit. Three.” Grumbled AJ “Not the quickest draw in the west there I see miss Paladin.” Rarity commented with a giggle “eleven for me” “Twenty two” Fluttershy continued quietly. “And seventeen for me” Twilight finished. “Ok and the baddies got a fifteen, so you’re first Fluttershy! Yay!” “Ok, well… I delay until after the thugs go.” “Oh, alright then, that means you’re up Twilight! Or should I say, Dauntless!” “Right well then I…” The thieves were taken off guard as the fighter pony crashed into one of them, one of her battlespurs smashing into the closest one’s side and tearing a wound through his simple armor. The huge Destrier in the window blinked before disappearing back into the shop. The four outside all growled and charged the insolent fighter, but she dodged most of their clumsy strikes with the trained ease of a warrior, those that she didn’t dodge bounding off her armor. So focused were they on Dauntless, that it took a moment to realize that soon after they struck, their numbers had gone from four to three, The half destrier from the bar spat a mouthful of blood out from the vicious bite-mark his tusks had taken out of the neck of a thug, glaring daggers at the group as he stepped over the groaning pony. Things were not going their way, and it suddenly got much, much worse as a plume of fire exploded in the mist of all of them- “Fireball?! Rarity, that’s a third level spell, how the heck would you be casting it at first level?!” Twilight sputtered with a blink. “But… well at the front of the book it said something about bonus spells, and I had a high enough charisma score…” “Oh dear... Twilight, you didn’t explain that to her?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. “…no. I kind of told her to read it but…” “Ah… well, Rarity, those are just bonus spells you get once you’re a high enough level sorcerer to casts spells of that level in the first place. Sorry…” “Ah. I see.” Rarity said with a frown before she glanced down at her sheet. “Well then, what does that leave me… Very well, taste the awesome might of my undodgeable magic missile attack! Heeyah!” she yelped, rolling a four-sided which cheerily landed on a one. “…Two damage." “Right, he’s not down” Pinkie giggled. “Next up is resplendent Resplendent.” “Alright, ah charge at the one miss magic over here poked, and head-butt ‘im with mah rammin helm.” She rolled her twenty sided. “So, ah add mah… what now?” “Strength and base attack bonus” Twilight answered quickly. “Alright. Thirty.” “Umm. I don’t think you can get that high at level one” Pinkie snickered. “What? Ah got a seventeen strength and a base bonus thing of one, and ah rolled a twelve.” “No, no, strength bonus silly, not score. How is that not obvious?” Twilight reprimanded, earning her a soon to be patented AJ-flat-stare “Ah dunno, maybe because ah haven’t played before, or owned the books fer ten years? Anyway, fifteen then.” “Neato, you still hit, roll your damage!” The hood came off of the white pony as she charged the thieves as well, her bright yellow and gold armor shining slightly even in the dull gray afternoon as she smashed into the side of the bandit the half faun had struck with her spell, sending the poor bastard flying to the ground in a crumpled heap. Dauntless smashed a battlespur and then another into her foe, sending him to the ground as well. The final thug gulped, looked around… and dashed down the streak, jumping over Dauntless’s leg as she tried to slash him with a spur and ducking under the white pony as she tried to cut him off. The half destrier calmly reached into his armor with his tail and pulled a rusty dagger out, spinning around and launching it at the thug, the blade landing in his back with a wet thud. He stumbled, tried to keep moving, but suddenly went sprawled to the ground as a missile of pure force smacked into the back of his head. “Haha! Such is the might of the magical Fabulous!” the half faun said with a demure giggle. The white pony rolled her eyes before moving to help the old shopkeeper to his feet. “Hello sir I…“ “…What? If Pinkie can do a voice, ah can too” AJ said, shrugging uncomfortably as Rarity gawked from across the table “That’s fine of course but… since when do you of all people have such an eloquent Manehatten accent under you hat?” Rarity asked with a blink. “Since forever ah’ll have you know. Ah had to use one when ah was a filly back with aunt ‘n uncle orange. Silly thing, but ah check on it every once in a while tah make sure ah can still do it, not one tah waste a skill if ah dun have to, and it fits Resplendent more than mah southern drawl. Now can we play?” “Yes, yes of course, by all means continue. Showing up has been worth it simply to here you sound so un… uncouth” “…uh huh. Right. Anyway, as ah was sayin….” “I am Resplendent, servant of the goddess Sarenrae. Are you alright?” The old pony accepted the help gratefully, stumbling to his feet. “I be fine I be fine, but me shop! They were in me shop!” He whined as he stumbled towards the door. “I make looks for half the bloody district. Who knows what the- Ah no, but why?!” The pony fell to his knees as he which case was broken, staring forlornly at an empty cushion. “Was that an important key sir?” as Dauntless as she strode in the shop. The half faun and half destrier followed, the former casting the old man a sympathetic glance and the latter… pocketing one of the keys, grinning slightly as no one noticed despite the half faun standing right beside her… “Wow heehee. Nice roll ‘Shy. And you all need to add some points to perception it looks like. You get the key just fine.” “Again, statistically impressive Rarity. You actually got a negative.” Twilight commented with a snicker “Where’d you put that there three again Rares?” AJ asked with a grin. “…wisdom.” “All looks ‘n no common sense huh? Guess Fabulous don’t fall far from the tree-“ “Oh shut up. Continue if you would Pinkie” Rarity said with a glower, the rest of the group giggling before they continued. “Important?! Buck what I said before missy, it was the only important one, to me at least. It’s been in me family for generations! I was gonna give it to me grandson for his birthday this year… Please, all of ye, ye have tah help me. I’ll pay ye for it, just help me get that key back!” “How much?” asked the rogue at the same time Resplendent said “I would be happy to help even without the reward.” “Then I’ll take her share.” The rogue quickly amended, staring flatly at the shopkeeper “So again, how much?" “Ahm, well…” he rubbed his hooves together fretfully, desperate but a bit put off by the half destrier’s frankness. “… a hundred gold a share? I can make that up in a month most likely…” “Fine. C’mon folks” the rogue growled with a grin “Shouldn’t be too hard to find a full destrier covered in tattoos, even in this city.” The other three glanced at each other before Resplendent called after him “And why, pray tell, should we follow you?” “Because unlike you prissy pants, I know this city’s underworld, that’s more gold then I’ve seen in a month, and that punk pulled this stunt on my turf. And no one does that without getting a new scar or two. Names Rusted Razor, now stop gawking and let’s go get my paycheck.” “Wow, that was actually kind of badass Fluttershy” Pinkie said with a giggle. The pegasus smiled shyly at the comment as Pinkie continued. “So, how you guys want to go about trying to find Mr. Meanie pants in-*groooowwllmble*” She stopped dead as the telltale signs of an empty stomach sounded from within her, glancing around at the others in the stillness that followed before they all burst out into laughter. Eventually she calmed down enough to say “O-okay, how ‘bout first we do dinner things and then you guys can find Mr. Meanie pants.” “Okay. If I could suggest, there’s a new place down the street a bit that sells pizza. I think I have a menu somewhere...” Twilight said, searching a drawer and finding it with the relative ease of one whose silverware was organized alphabetically. “Ooh, pizza. It’s quite big in Canterlot now you know ever since the Prancien ambassador served some to the princesses last month. I wasn’t aware the trend had already reached Ponyville. Well, what shall we put on it? And no Applejack, I am not eating apples on my pizza.” AJ’s mouth shut itself before making a noise, before she tried again. “Alright, how ‘bout peaches then?” “I’d like to avoid fruit, umm, if that’s alright. I like onions though.” Fluttershy said with an apologetic smile” “Sorry, no onions, it would throw off my roots to leaf based vegetables ratio this week” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “How about… GUMDROPS!?” “No Pinkie” the other four all said simultaneously. ---------------------Ten minutes later---------------------------- Applejack had a notepad out at this point. “Ok. So. We need one large stuff crust with one quarter onions chopped horizontally an’ three quarters tomatoes and apples skinned and then bananas on the northeastern third, an’ a medium flatbread with peppers an’ bananas drizzled with caramel. Is that… right?” she asked glancing up at the other four. They all looked at each other, trying to figure out where exactly they went wrong. “…I could always just make us rose and daisy sandwiches” Twilight offered warily. The others all breathed a sigh of relief save for Pinkie, who sighed in dismay on a missed chance at a tasteventure. She brightened after Twilight put her finished sandwich in front of her and she took her first bite “Mmm, frosting and pickles! thanks for remembering Twilight!” Author's Note Thats why my local group just does subs instead of pizza. Pinkie's eclectic taste probably doesn't help here Anyways, figured it might be fun to sort of split the veiwpoints to both a tabletop view and a in-game world view. Good idea or bad idea?
The ManhuntAfter everyone had gotten a minute or so to get situated with whatever sandwich Twilight had supplied them, Pinkie belched loudly, grinning as everyone blinked at her “Ok, good, attention regained! So, how do you all go about trying to find Mr. Meanie?” All four broke into thoughtful poses for a moment, AJ’s chin resting on her hoof before she raised an eyebrow and shrugged, giving Pinkie a sly glance. This was Pinkie Game mastering…. “Ah call out Marco an’ wait for ‘im to call Polo.” “Oooh, good plan, good plan, but, lemme tell you a little secret” she said, leaning over to AJ, closer, closer, personal space quickly becoming a non element, nose to cheek. “…He doesn’t like games.” “…Ah. Ah see.” “I know, so evil right?!” Pinkie said as she slid back to her side of the table with a snort. “Any other ideas?” “…umm, well, since Razor, um, ‘works’ in this area, maybe he could ask some ponies he knows?” Fluttershy offered with a slightly raised hoof. “Hrrm. Ok, umm, give me a… well, are you asking these ponies nice like or scary like.” “…I don’t think Razor knows how to ask nice, so, um, scary I guess. If that’s ok.” “Sure it is! Yooou just have to show me what kind of scary face you give them!” Pinkie replied with a slightly growing grin. Six eyes rose at the party pony before they turned to look at Fluttershy, a mixture of curiosity at, amusement, and concern on the various faces at how the pegasus would react. “Oh… u-um, maybe we should try something else then…” “C’mon, it’s a good plan Fluttershy, and you’ve done fairly excellent in portraying Razor so far” encouraged Twilight.” “Yep, an’ it's all in good fun remember” added AJ with a winning smile. Rarity for her part looked a tad more concerned, but it wasn’t necessarily for Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked around as if to ensure no one had snuck into the kitchen to observe how silly she was about to make herself look. “Well… ok” She took a deep breath, hid her face behind her hooves to compose herself, before pulling them away to reveal her best, most ferocious snarl. “…grr. T-tell me” “…” If Fluttershy had done it to a little bunny, it probably would of given her a comforting hug and told it to practice some more rather than run in terror. (Well, actually her bunny would have smacked her with a carrot and gone back to whatever he was doing, but that’s beside the point.) Her friends were doing all in their power to keep themselves composed, and for all but one it was merely strained smile and silent, covered snickers. Pinkie was never one for composure however, and was failing miserably at covering up her giggles, eyes closed in her laughing fit “O-ok, um, sorry ‘Shy but no plusses, so go ahead and ro-“ The sound of hooves landing on the table snapped pinkie’s eyes open, and the sight before her cut the laughter off almost instantly. Those gaping blue pits weren’t eyes. They were portals into the ninth circle of hell itself, its power being called upon once more to contain the wicked and tame the cruel, as Fluttershy spoke in utter, deadpan calm as she stared down Pinkie from point blank range. “Tell me.” “…Roll” “HEY YOU MADE IT!” Pinkie exclaimed before the dice stopped even moving. “…” Everyone burst out laughing as Fluttershy fluttered back to her seat looking quite pleased with herself, if somewhat abashed. “Sorry Pinkie, but you said my best scary face.” AJ doing her best to keep her pounding on the table to a minimum “Gosh darn Ah wish yah coulda seen yer own face there Pinkie, was priceless!” “Indeed. I thought you of all ponies would of thought better than to ask that of Iron Will’s star pupil” Rarity said with her own dainty giggle, Fluttershy having the grace to look slightly embarrassed at that little debacle being mentioned. “Yep. Totally my bad there guys!” Pinkie said as she laughed herself, obviously no lasting harm done. “Ok, so, umm, leeeeeemme check” She said as she flipped through a notebook she had. “Ok, one of the ponies you scar for life says he saw somepony like Mr. Meanie pants go into a bar about ten minutes or so ago!” “Excellent! We go there then!” Twilight declared The four heroes found themselves outside another tavern. Ableit one that looked slightly less reputable than the one they had started at. “The Frontside Grass Muncher. How refined sounding.” Fabulous commented dryly as they looked up at the sign. Razor shrugged as he started walking forwards. “Wrong side of town for fancy girly. Now c’mon, we got money to make.” The other two follow, and after a moment the half faun sighed and followed in as well. The inside of the tavern lived up to all the class and wealth its name implied, which was none at all. Chairs and tables were scattered about with no regards to each other, and the whole, admittedly cramped affair was lit by a single lantern that swung in a dull circle as the quartet entered. It was empty save for a single, grotesquely overweight pony who leaned on the counter staring dully at a fly as it buzzed in front of him. Dauntless could of swore the stallion mouth was slowly opening as if to snap at the fly in hopes of a winged snack, and the warrior quickly coughed. The bartender blinked and shot up from the counter “Oh, err, welcome, welcome to, uh, my bar. Yep. What can I do for you mares?” “….Pinkie, how does your voice even get that low-“ “Twilight” AJ interrupted in a warning tone. The unicorn, shot her a glare, sighed, and motioned for the game to continue. Dauntless strode up to the bar and nodded. “Greeting sir. I was hoping you might have some information for us.” The bartender gave her a dull look, looked her over a bit… Pinkie leaned over and looked and looked at all their character sheets quickly…. … and looked back up with the same dull look. “For you? Nah. But for her?” He said, shooting the half faun a look as he grinned and winked, revealing the utter lack of teeth the right side of his mouth had. “Well I reckon I may remember something.” The half faun blinked and stared bewildered a moment. “… ew.” Razor rolled his eyes and whispered to her. “Look, you don’t need to marry the creep Girly. Just ask him the question and we bounce outta he-“ He was interrupted by the sound of the Resplendent’s hooves smashing into the bar, the bartender letting out a yelp as the paladin narrowed her eyes at him. “Sir, are you attempting to put my compatriot in a compromising situation?” “uh, I, uh-“ “We are in pursuit of a criminal sir” Resplendent cut off, eyes narrowing even further. “One who will continue to be a scourge upon this city each second he is free. And we have been told you know where he may be. And for every second you play your games here, is another one of those seconds he’s free. Do you wish that on your conscience sir?” She asked with a growl. “Well, no, but, I-“ “Good. He’s a destrier, with black chains across his body. Now…” She leaned in across the bar. “…where is he?” “… northern quarter, Quickins street, little apartment on the corner.” “Thank you sir. Sarenrae’s sun guide you” Resplendent said with a nod as she turned to leave without another glance. The other three looked at each other, before Razor snorted and followed. “Or we could do that.” The half faun and pony shrugged, before following as well. Fabulous trotted to catch up to Resplendent, the paladin giving her a questioning look as she did so. “Yes?” “I, just, well, thank you. That had the potential to be… uncomfortable.” The paladin shrugged. “It was nothing. Besides, as a paladin of Sarenrae, it is my duty to stand up for the weak.” The last part was said with an almost un-paladin like smirk. The half faun gaped slightly before turning away with a “hmph. We will see how weak you find Fabulous once you see the might of her magic!” “Ok, so you girls and guy reach the address. The building’s seen better days, and the windows are boarded up. What do you do?” “I go up the door an-“ Twilight started to say before Fluttershy stuck up a hoof and shook her head. “Let me do it. I go up to the door and make sure it isn’t trapped Pinkie.” “Ok, lemme roll real quick…. Darn, you see it! I thought for sure this was gonna surprise somepony, but you find a tripwire near the door, connected to some alchemist above the door!” Fluttershy nodded and rolled to disable, smiling slightly “Ok, so twenty four.” “Aww. No fireworks then, you do it right!” Pinkie said with a shrug and grin. Fluttershy nodded and motioned for Twilight to go. “Right, nice catch Fluttershy. Ok, so, I tell everypony to wait for the count of three, and then once everypony’s ready I count to three and bust the door do-“ “Except when you hit two, the door busts out on you!” Pinkie Pie cut off with an evil cackle. AJ grimaced.“Ah, con’sarnit, he-“ “-was prepared for us!” Yelled Resplendent as he broke off into a run, the Destrier from the locksmith’s having just blown threw the door and Dauntless in a hail of splinters. All four heroes quickly turned and galloped, and the chase was on! The four followed through the twists and turns of the streets, ponies and fauns getting knocked aside by pursuer and criminal alike. Razor growled and broke off from the group, yelling “I’ll cut him off!” before disappearing down an alleyway. The other three kept going, before gasping in surprise as the Destrier slowed for a moment and kicked a barrel of bananas over in their path. Fabulous scampered over them, Dauntless jumped over the pile with a mighty leap, and Resplendent yelped as she went sliding into a pole “And that’s why I’m not in heavy armor” Twilight commented a bit smugly as AJ rubbed her hoof down her face. The paladin pulled herself up in a daze, while the other two heroes dashed after the destier. As they ran, however, Dauntless slowly started to fall behind… “And that s why I am not wearing armor.” Rarity replied with a giggle as Twilight stared forlornly at her failed endurance check It wasn't long before it was only half faun and destrier sprinting through the streets, the mage barely capable of keeping up with the fiend, almost there, and when she caught him she would… well… um… Perhaps she should of thought this out better before outrunning all of her allies. Unfortunately for her, the destrier seemed to have that thought a the same moment, suddenly coming to a stop, grabbing her, and whipping her down to the other end of the alleyway they were at. She stood shakily up to her feet and gulped, stepping back a step as the beast snorted in anger and started walking slowly forward. “Ah, well, see, I’ve caught you, so you should very well surrender... Please?” she asked with a shaky smile The destrier grinned and shook his head, grumbling simply in a voice that sounded like more like a bear from the abyss than any kind of pony. “You’re screwed Girly.” “Hey, I got dibs on that nickname.” The destrier, blinked, started to turn around, and howled in pain as Rusted Razor tore into his back. He staggered backwards, before roaring in anger and pouncing towards Razor. Fabulous gasped, raised a hoof and said the words for a ray of enfeeblement…. “Oh, oh my. A twenty is a ‘critical’ yes?” Rarity asked with a blink at her roll. “Not quite, you need to roll to hit again first. I think. Not sure with magic, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight, leaning under the table to where the pegasus was still hiding after hearing Pinkie's destrier voice. "Y-yes. go ahead and roll Rarity" Rarity rolled “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-” … and a green beam shot out of it and flew right into the back of the destrier’s head. The thug fell face first into the ground, skidding a bit. If he had any strength left to move his mouth, he would of said “ow”. Razor stared blankly for a bit, before looking up at Fabulous. “Where the buck did that come from Girly?” A few minutes later Dauntless and Resplendent caught up, huffing slightly as they caught their breath. They were greeted by the sight of Razor carefully checking the ropes tied to a struggling destrier, Fabulous sitting quite smug nearby and smiling at the two as they appeared. The two warriors looked at each other, before looking at Razor. “Did you-“ “Nope” He cut off with a smirk, jerking a hoof towards Fabulous. The sorceress simply smiled slyly and raised an eyebrow at Resplendent. “ Oh, it was nothing. Even for somepony as weak as me” Author's Note The longest part of writing this part was figuring out what was in the stupid barrel. I don't even think they keep bananas in barrels. Anyway, after this the chapters get a little longer, but also probably only weekly updates.
Taking PointA few minutes later, a groaning destrier rolled his head to the side as he came back from bleary, painful sleep. “Whuzzah, who, wha… WHY AM I TIED UP!? I’M GONNA RIP ALL YER HEADS RIGHT THE BUCK OFF-“ “You’re going to what, darling?” The Destrier’s howl’s trailed off as he glanced up at Fabulous, who smiled demurely back down at him as she lounged atop a crate, her horn nubs glowing ever so slightly. “Go on, don’t be shy sir, what eloquent words of surrender were you going to present to us, which of course is where that sentence was going, wasn’t it?” The Destrier stared at the glow on her horns for a moment, glowering silently before spitting and grumbling. “Fine, crazy ass magic cheatin bitch. I surrender. Whaddaya want?” “Wow. That wasn’t even a challenge for you huh Rarity?” Pinkie said with a headscratch The white unicorn shrugged and smiled. “Well, intimidate goes off of charisma, so it simply falls within Fabulous’ wheelhouse as it were.” “Well that dun make a lick a sense. Why dun intimidate go offa’ strength?” Applejack interjected with a frown. “Ah mean, no offense, but with them stats Fabulous don’ exactly cut an imposing figure.” “Oh Applejack Darling, you’d be amazed how intimidating simple force of /personality/can be.” Rarity said with a dismissive wave. “Well, be that as it is, strength should still count right?” Applejack replied stubbornly. “It does if you take the feat intimidating prowess!” Twilight interjected. AJ gave her a flat look, before suddenly slamming down a hoof on the table in front of her. The unicorn jumped up in surprise, AJ giving a satisfied smirk. “Well see there, didn’ that intimidate yah?” “Yep! Which means whoever’s playing an Applejack should take the feat!” Twilight replied with a happy nod. “…” “In any case!” Rarity cut in… “Well sir, your name would be a good start” Fabulous replied with a shrug “Scab Wound.” “….Ew.” “Shut it. Now what the buck do you want?” “I think you already know that sir” Resplendent cut in “We were the ones who cut your robbery of the locksmith short if you recall.” “Oh. Right. That… No idea what you’re talking abou-GRAGHL!” “Holy crap Fluttershy!” “S-sorry, but I mean, he said he was going to when they first went to find him…” “Oh dear, that was… well, quite straightforward” Applejack didn’t even manage to form words, and even Pinkie had a bit of a blink before she continued “Shut up with the stupid.” Razor growled as he pulled his throwing knife back out of Scab and tossed it in his pack. “That’s for hitting a building in my turf. Now answer the question-” Razor blinked as something shoved him from behind into the nearby wall, Resplendent’s hoof slamming into the wall next to him as she growled. “Hold Razor. I will not allow you to use violence to interrogate a pony, no matter how evil he may be!” The half destrier just shrugged and grinned. “Why do you think I didn’t ask? Now are we gonna help the poor old man find his precious heirloom or are you gonna sit her and complain Prissy?” The paladin narrowed her eyes, the two keeping gazes locked, before Dauntless stepped between them. “Please, can we save this till later? We need this info now.” Resplendent growled but broke off, walking back down the alleyway “Fine. But try that again and I will return your knife point first ser.” Razor rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure you will. Anyway, so, buddy, key, where?” The Destrier glared daggers up at the half blood, before spitting. “I work for the Satyrs. Thieves guild trying to establish turf in the wharf quarter. Apparently this jobbed paid good.” Razor leaned in and growled back. “Where?” “Not much to look at, is it?” Fabulous asked with a sniff “You’ve said that to every building we’ve been to.” Dauntless replied dryly. “Well pardon me for keeping a higher standard of living than filthy squalor” the sorceress shot back. In her defense, the building really wasn’t much to look at. It was a warehouse well within the maze of streets and alleys that made up the inner wharf district, with three stories of dirt smudged brick walls and boarded up windows. A small ramp led up to a heavy, wooden door with iron chains through the door handle. Resplendent started up the ramp. “Well, let us get on with it t-“ “Whoa whoa there prissy. Why don’t you let me go first?” Razor cut in. The paladin rolled her eyes and continued forward. “A little late for gallant acts rogue. I can handle myse- ack!” she yelped as her hooves disappeared out from under her, just barely finding purchase on the pit’s opening as the ramp’s top swung down into a spike trap. “...whew” AJ wiped her forehead at the eighteen she rolled on her reflex save. Fluttershy gulped and tried speaking up once more “T-that’s what… um.. yea… I go help Resplendent up…” A hoof roughly grabbed her mane, yanking her back out of the pit and on the side with the door, its owner giving her a flat look as he helped the other two across. “I… take it you meant you were better qualified to scout ahead for such dangers.” “Yep.” “… My apologies.” “Uh huh. Just keep your mouth shut and hit the badguys and you’ll make it through this just fine.” “…” Resplendent was left fuming (And Fabulous snickering) as Razor went to work on the lock of the door. While he worked, Dauntless thought aloud. “Alright. So, they probably don’t know that we’re coming, so we have the element of surprise on our side. With that in mind, we should try to avoid as much contact as possible, and keep quiet when we do. Agreed?” The other two nodded and the clank of chains hitting the ground signaled the end of Razor’s work. “Well, mares first, so one of you get the honors” he said while stepping back. Fabulous quickly stepped back as well, while Dauntless and Resplendent both started forward before looking at each other. “I believe you’ve shown your prowess for dealing with doors to be suboptimal. Let me go first” Dauntless said dryly. The paladin narrowed her eyes and countered “I assure you that was a fluke. I shall take the lead.” “No, seriously, let me go first.” Dauntless urged “I insist elsewise” “well I insist the opposite…" “C’mon Applejack, I mean, I have a higher dex than you. My reflex is better and my initiative will make me less likely to be flat footed.” Twilight maintained “I will not leave Resplendent with such a silly legacy of door fai-*cough cough* Sorreh, got stuck in character. Ah ain’t leavin Resplendent defeated by a dern door. Let me go.” AJ stubbornly replied as she crossed her front legs. “Well maybe plan ahead and let the rogue do her- err, his job.” Twilight debated flatly. “Look, that was mah bad, but that’s why I should go first, to unbad mah bad. If somethin’s nasty on the other side I should-“ “-be the one to brave it as a warrior of Sarenrae. I would not feel comfortable letting another do so.” “I’m not a foal, miss Resplendent. I can handle myself.” Dauntless continued, now snout to snout with Resplendent as the rogue and sorceress stared blankly at the argument. “… You know, if it gets us through the damn thing faster I’ll just go first-“ Razor began, before both mares turned on him and yelled “NO!” “…” Pinkie glanced at Fluttershy hiding under the table after getting doubly snapped at by Twilight and AJ, then to Rarity boredly drumming her hoof on the table, then finally to the bickering pair “…THEY’RE DOUBLE DOORS!” She suddenly yelled. AJ and Twilight blinked before turning to their GM “Wait, what?” “Whuzzat?” “Yep! Double doors. You can both go first.” Pinkie affirmed with a nod “I’m pretty sure you said it was a single door the first time you described it” Twilight replied, one eyebrow skeptically raised. “Hrmm… nope, pretty sure I didn’t!” Pinkie returned with a giggle “… yes, you totally did.” Twilight continued “Did I?” “Yes” Pinkie shrugged and grinned a little bigger. “Prove it” Twilight opened her mouth to reply, closed it, opened it again, raised a hoof, lowered it, scowled as her brain worked a bit more, before she huffed. “… I can’t.” “Neato! So they’re double doors.” “Fine, then we both go first” Dauntless sighed with a shrug. Resplendent thought it over before nodding, taking position in front of one door while Dauntless to her place in front of the other. “Right then, on the count of three, one, two, three!” Dauntless whispered, and the two quietly opened the doors and stepped inside. Right into the line of fire of ten crossbow wielding thieves surrounding the door. “… You know maybe having that argument outside was a bad idea.” Dauntless said objectively. “Indeed.” “FIRE!” yelled the lead thief pony, and all hell broke loose. “Ok, so five shots on Resplendent and five on Dauntless. First Dauntless…” Five dice hit the table. “Whats your AC Twi?” “eighteen.” Twilight said with a gulp. “Phoeey, only two hits. Alright, what’s yours AJ?” she asked as she rolled again. “Twenty” She said with a small grin at Twilight. “Ooh, nice. Means I only got four hits on you annnnnnnd-“ She rolled one of the dice again “-one of them just misses being a crit.” AJ looked flatly at the dice, giving them an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture before sighing. “Alright, do yer damage then” Resplendent grimaced as a quartet of crossbow bolts found the holes in her armor, Dauntless fairing a bit better as she ducked a pair of shots before two caught her in the side. The two warriors gave battle-cries before charging into the thieves, all of them dropping their crossbows and joining the erupting melee. Fabulous stepped into the door and unleashed a magic missile on one unfortunate enough to be closest to her, the bolt of force cracking across the thief's forehead as it sent him sprawling to the ground in a daze. Razor bounded over the sorceress and into the room, catching another thief in the back with a throwing knife as he closed the distance. The thieves tried to rally and strike at the weakened warriors, but it seemed Dauntless weaved through the blows with ease and Resplendent only took a graze from one blade before she roared and gave one thief a buck that put him through a nearby window and into the street outside. After that, it wasn't much longer till the thieves were all collapsed across the floor, none looking like they were getting up any time soon. Resplendent and Dauntless looked around, both breathing heavy before looking at the other and giving a grudging nod. “I suppose you may take point miss Dauntless” Author's Note Oh man. I am so sorry this took so long for this chapter. Life decided it was going to do all the things at once and this just kind of got put on the backburner T^T . I'll try to be a little quicker with the next update, but after what happened this time I won't make an ass of myself and promise it'll be quick. As always though, hope you enjoy
