First Impressions
Quetzals and Caves
Session 1: First Impressions
Whoever it was that sent the letter, they couldn’t have picked a worse time or place. The November storms had come early to the port town of Oatsmill. Rain fell from the night sky in large, freezing drops. Wind tore through the wharf as a group of porters scurried to unload the only ship that’d moored that day, their hoofsteps adding to the sound of roaring thunder as they galloped. A mare in a grey oilcloth cloak darted between them as she made her way across the wharf.
Hale Storm tilted her head up as lightning branched across the sky. The flash reflected off her golden eyes and lit her white coat before the rain forced her to lower her head again. She had seen her destination ahead. Its sign was swaying and dripping in the storm beneath the tavern’s sagging overhang. The sign was carved to show a pitcher wrapped in a ring of kelp. Just enough flakes of paint remained to outline the name: The Drowned Flagon.
Having left the porters behind, she hastened her already-quick trot towards the tavern. Once she was beneath the overhang she threw back her hood and shook out her cropped red mane. She tried to look through the windows but they were crusted with sea salt. She could only make out a lit fireplace and some silhouettes within. Her saddlebags still held the letter she’d received in late May that told her to be at The Drowned Flagon tonight. It hadn’t given specifics as to why. Tonight, though, somepony in there would give her some answers. Hale took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and, with her usual military poise, strode through the tavern door.
The door swung closed as she looked around the tavern. It was sparse: only a few ramshackle tables and benches, a couple of which were shoved close to a stone fireplace on the left side of the building while most were in the room’s dark corners. There were fewer ponies in The Drowned Flagon than her peek inside had suggested. Besides the fireplace, the only light came from a soot-choked lamp near the bar that swayed with a creak after the door let wind in. The lamp lit a couple of empty stools, an aquamarine pegasus, well past her golden years, face down on the bar, snoring, and a hefty dirt-brown earth pony mare behind the bar.
Hale trotted towards the bar. She could feel the eyes of the few patrons: a group near the fire and a couple at corner tables. Somewhere back to her left somepony began a chuckle that ended in phlegmy coughing.
The barmare didn’t even bother to look up. She only continued to wipe a rag across a tin cup so beaten it’d probably seen more than a few ‘passionate disagreements’ in the bar.
Hale cleared her throat and addressed the mare, “What’s ‘ramshackle’ mean?”
THUD.
Apple Bloom’s forehead hit the table and nearly tipped over the Quetzals and Caves story-keeper’s screen. As if on cue, thunder boomed outside their clubhouse while rain continued to pound on the roof.
“Scootaloo, can’t ya try and at least stay in character? We’ve only just started!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “You’re the one using all the fancy words. When do we get to the good stuff?” She threw her forehooves up. “You know, the action!”
Sweetie Belle glanced up from the d12 she was batting between her hooves. “Tell me again why you failed last week’s vocabulary test?”
Scootaloo responded by sticking out her tongue.
“Ugh. It means it looks like something that could fall apart,” said Sweetie Belle. “Am I there yet, Apple Bloom?”
“Not yet, gimme a moment. Now what were ya gonna ask the mare?”
“Well, duh, it’s a bar, isn’t it? I’m gonna get some hard cider!”
Apple Bloom sighed and adjusted the screen back to as it was before the interruption. “Alright, fine. The mare looks up at ya an’—“
The mare leveled her gaze at Hale. “That’ll be two bits.”
“And how much for some food?”
“Two bits.”
Hale repressed a snort and dug the bits out of the coin purse under her wing inside the cloak. As she dropped the bits on the bar the barmare pushed a mug of sloshing, brown cider and a wooden bowl at her. She looked at the empty bowl and cocked an eyebrow at the barmare.
The mare snorted. “What, this look like a restaurant to you? Get it yourself.” She motioned towards the fireplace which held a steaming cauldron just out of reach of the flames. “Food’s over there. No refills ‘less you pay.”
Hale took a swig of the cider and nearly gagged. “What manner of drink is this?” she demanded.
“Kelp cider. Or maybe you didn’t see the sign?” A choked laugh came from somewhere behind Hale again. “You don’t like it, there’s plenty’a ocean out there. All you can drink. If the walk’s too far, there’s the hatch I push the drunks through at close.”
At the mare’s words Hale noticed the lapping sound of waves coming from underneath the building. The floor wasn’t damp from the storm, she realized, eyes widening, it was from ocean spray seeping through the cracks in the boards. She choked down the bitter drink with a grimace, its warmth filling her throat even as she shuddered at the kelp taste. She thanked the barmare, grabbed the bowl in her teeth, and trotted towards the fireplace.
She frowned down at the broth of oats and seaweed in the cast-iron cauldron. She was trying to balance the bowl on her left hoof while holding a ladle with her right when a voice from beyond the fire made her nearly drop both into the cauldron.
“Maybe you’ll be lucky and get the last of the carrot, Lieutenant Storm.”
Hale whipped her head around, careful not to spill her dinner. She could just barely make out another table pushed up to nearly the side of the fireplace. It was hidden from anyone entering through the door by both the fireplace and the fire’s light itself. A hooded pony sat at the table, the tip of an orange muzzle grinning wickedly from beneath the hood.
“Oh. I’m sorry,” the mare spoke again, “it’s just Storm, now, isn’t it? My mistake.”
Hale stepped around the hearth and set her bowl on the table. “You’re the one who sent the letter.”
The mare tossed back her hood and let the long curls of her indigo mane tumble out. Icy green eyes met Hale’s. “We’ll get to that shortly. We have another guest we’re waiting on first.”
Before Hale could respond her eyes were drawn to the lilac glow of telekinesis that flung open the tavern door. A tall, lemon-yellow unicorn stepped into the room. She was soaked through to her skin; her fuchsia mane hung limply at her side and dripped onto the floorboards as she glared around the room.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes went wide and she waved her hoof. “Ooo! That’s me, right?”
Apple Bloom’s head popped up from behind her screen and nodded.
“Cooool. So, um, what do I do now?”
“Well, y’all can talk to each other if ya want. But hang on a sec.”
Apple Bloom took a sip from an apple juice box while she read over her notes. Setting the empty box aside, she turned her attention back to Sweetie. “A stallion by the door looks up at ya all menacing-like—“
Starbright released her telekinesis on the door and let it slam shut. Her mauve eyes stabbed about the room. “Alright,” she grumbled. “First: I get summoned to this wretched town. Second: I disembark to find that the crew doesn’t have the slightest clue where my luggage went. And third: nopony even bothered to offer me an umbrella!”
“Her? That — that princess is who we’re waiting for? You can’t be serious.”
Starbright fumed at Hale’s words. She started storming towards the table by the fireplace but froze as a hoof trailed across her thigh.
“Don’t lishen to her,” said a stallion at a table by the door, “I likes pretty prinshessess.”
Wisps of lilac magic dribbled from the corners of Starbright’s glowing eyes. Her horn flared. Iron chains shot out from beneath the table and coiled around his legs. His eyes bulged as he was dragged to the top of the table and held in place.
Starbright leaned down to the stallion. “Sir. That is not how you address a lady.” She turned back to the fireplace, shook out her mane, and trotted towards Hale again, leaving a steaming circle of dried floor and a scent of wood smoke in her wake.
“Nightmare’s teeth!” Hale swore.
“Yes,” the orange mare chuckled, “that is who we’re waiting for.”
“Sweetie Belle! That was totally awesome!”
“Scoots...“ Apple Bloom’s voice came from behind the screen.
“Oh, right, sorry. I mean—“
Hale Storm snapped her jaw shut as Starbright approached their table. “Impressive,” she said, nodding towards the doorway.
“Countess.”
Hale cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Countess Starbright of House Aurora. But you knew that already, didn’t you? What was the meaning of your letter?”
Hale’s other eyebrow rose. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to hear you got one, too, considering your arrival. But no, the letters came from our new… ‘friend’ over here.” She nodded towards the other mare.
“Oh, Phil?” The orange pony waved a foreleg towards the tavern door. The other two turned and saw the barmare staring daggers at the scorched ring of floor. “Phil,” she called, “a moment, please.”
The barmare trotted over to their table and leaned in to let the other mare whisper in her ear while Hale and Starbright exchanged a curious glance. The barmare jerked back as if struck. “You did WHAT?!” She glared at the other ponies around the table. “You’d better be right about this, Keeps.”
Phil trotted back to the bar and began shaking the snoring pegasus.
Starbright frowned as she turned back to the table. “And what, pray tell, was all that about?”
The mare placed her elbows on the table and clapped her hooves together. “Oh, I do so love when the pieces all start to fall into place. Oh, but where are my manners? I believe a little introduction is in order.”
“But—“ Hale started.
“Lady Starbright here is currently on the run from her father’s guard to avoid marriage to a corrupt politician and former Lieutenant Hale Storm was dishonorably discharged and imprisoned after a particularly nasty accident at the training academy. You’ll note, however, that she’s not currently in prison, though. Strange, isn’t it?
“I do believe a fairly sizable reward has been placed by each of your respective pursuers. Does that about cover it? Oh, and you may call me Keepsake. I’ll be the one helping you out of each of your predicaments so long as you perform a few tasks for me.”
Hale and Starbright gaped in turn at Keepsake and each other.
Keepsake’s ears perked up. “I do believe the first task will begin shortly. You two are to apprehend Pewter, a diamond dog enforcer and right-paw hound to the Gemcap gang here in Oatsmill. The gang has been notoriously difficult to capture for reasons you’ll no doubt soon see.”
Hale and Starbright’s ears twitched. The roar of the thunder had changed.
“And… you know the task will begin shortly, how, exactly?” Hale asked.
Keepsake blinked. “Oh, I was really quite exacting in my letter to him, as well. He knows The Drowned Flagon well. He’s been coming here for the past year or so to shake down poor Philodendron there.”
The barmare glowered back over her shoulder as she shooed another drunk out the door.
“What this town needs,” Keepsake continued, “is actual protection. Somepony who will stand up to these thugs and give the good citizens peace.”
The lantern over the bar began to sway as a flash of lightning showed a massive shape lumbering past the tavern’s windows.
“And when you can’t find true heroes, you find ponies whom you can make heroes.”
The doorjamb groaned and shattered, splinters flying everywhere.
A grey mass of fur and muscle sidestepped through the broken doorframe and stood dripping on what remained of the door. The smell of wet dog was horrible. Beady, dark eyes blinked behind wire-rimmed spectacles. His gaze fell on the table beside the fireplace. “Yous,” he said flatly.
Hale and Starbright turned back to Keepsake only to find her seat empty. “It’s a setup,” Hale said.
The diamond dog balled his paws into fists as he stomped towards the table, batting aside furniture as he walked. “I was told yous two was comin’ ta try’n take down da Gemcaps. I’m here ta take dis place apart and yous wit it.”
Starbright’s eyes widened as he loomed closer. “I don’t believe it matters. We have other issues at hoof.”
Pewter leapt towards the two ponies with a hammer punch aimed straight at Starbright’s back. His fist struck only a bright flash of magic and turned the bench she had been sitting on into kindling.
Two meters away Starbright burst out of a bubble of magic. “Tsk,” she chided, “big but slow. Strong but stupid. Thugs are all the same. I’ll deal with this rabble.”
Pewter roared as he turned away from the pegasus. Hale took the moment to shrug the cloak onto her back and, with a single flap of her wings, flew up to the ceiling.
The diamond dog snarled, dropped to all fours, and charged Starbright.
She grinned as light poured out of her horn. Ribbons of magic swarmed out of the floorboards, cocooning the brute.
Her grin evaporated as Pewter tore through the ribbons without even losing momentum. “What?!” she shrieked.
“What?!” Sweetie shrieked.
Dice clattered behind Apple Bloom’s screen. “That’ll be seventeen points of damage, Sweetie. It’s your turn there, Scoots.”
Scootaloo scraped a few dice into her dice cup, put her hoof over the top and shook it. “Alright! Time to show this guy who’s boss.”
Starbright’s breath exploded out of her as Pewter’s shoulder slammed into her side. She rolled across the floor before skidding to a halt.
Hale pulled her legs up into Falcon Stance and dive bombed at Pewter’s broad back. At the last moment she spun in mid-air and rocketed both her back hooves down at him. Pewter grunted from the impact and threw a backhand at the attacker behind him. His paw grazed Hale’s leg and sent her spinning away into the chimney. Hale’s vision spun as she bounced off the stones and wobbled in mid-air.
Starbright rose shakily to her legs and glanced about. Her eyes fell on the cauldron. She made a whipping gesture with her horn and the cauldron rushed over and poured the remaining burning-hot gruel on the thug’s head and shoulders.
Pewter howled in pain. Wiping one paw across his spectacles, he reached up with the other and grabbed the floating cauldron.
Starbright’s eyes went wide and she blinked in disbelief as her hold on the pot vanished. “How is that—”
The diamond dog hurled the pot straight at the stunned pegasus.
“Hale!” Starbright shouted as her horn burst into light again. The table they had been seated at flew into the air in a stream of bright purple magic. The cauldron smashed into the table, splitting it down the middle, before thudding to the floorboards.
Hale shook her head to clear it. She could see that Pewter had once again turned his attention to the unicorn. She dropped back into her fighting stance. “Star! Duck!”
Starbright bit back a comment as she crouched down. The grey diamond dog ignored the call as he loomed over her, his sharp teeth gleaming in the light of the fireplace. A whistling sound filled the air as Hale flew in a tight circle, gaining as much speed as she could in the tavern. Letting out a whooping battle cry, she shot low over the floor towards Pewter’s backside. With a snarl he turned and straightened up to snatch the pegasus from the air. Confusion flickered behind his spectacles before he looked down to see Hale skimming towards him, forehooves extended.
Hale braced herself as she pushed her forehooves down onto the floorboards. She tucked in her wings and bunched up her body as she flipped over, mid-flight, before her back hooves slammed into Pewter’s abdomen. The diamond dog barely had time to register the impact before she kicked back off of his stomach, pushing the full force of her flight into him. Hale flapped her wings to gain altitude and spun back around to watch. Her kick had lifted him off the ground and flung him backwards, over the still-chained drunk and right through the tavern’s front windows. His claws tore long gouges in the wharf as he flailed, trying to stop on the wet boards, but he rolled and bounced until he crashed into the ocean with a huge splash.
Starbright and Hale rushed out into the rain.
Pewter’s head broke the surface and he bobbed on the cresting waves.“Yous two don’t know what yous done. Da whole gang is gonna be afta yous flanks. Jest yous wait.” He spat out a mouthful of water, turned, and paddled off into the night.
Hale and Starbright exchanged a look and trotted back into the tavern. Inside, they saw Keepsake climbing out of a hatch in the back corner, Phil staring aghast at the ruins of her entryway, and the drunk stallion, softly crying as he lay chained to one of the few surviving pieces of furniture.
Keepsake righted a barstool and sat. “You two do pretty good work, you know.”
“Why?” Starbright growled. “Why couldn’t my magic touch him? How could he break my control?”
Keepsake frowned for a moment. “That’s the next and far more important task. We don’t know what’s behind it. Or who, if that’s the case.”
Phil trotted over to the bar, glowering at Keepsake. “This — this was your plan? To destroy my business? My home?!”
Keepsake sighed and ducked inside her cloak. Her head poked back out with a bulging bitsack in her teeth that jingled as she dropped it on the bar. “This should be more than sufficient for the damages. And for providing these two with a place to work and live while they investigate this issue.”
Phil glanced among the three ponies. With a resigned shrug she snatched the bitsack, went behind the bar, and came back with a box of nails and two hammers. She set them down on the bar and stared pointedly at Hale and Starbright.
Hale sighed as she looked around at the ‘ramshackle’ tavern. She turned to the unicorn, “So… your special talent wouldn’t happen to be carpentry, would it?”
“Apple Bloom! That was awesome! Hey, Sweetie Belle, did you see how I totally saved you from that guy back there?”
“Yeah... but only after I saved you from that pot, first.”
Apple Bloom folded up the screen and put it on top of her notes. “Well I’m mighty glad y’all enjoyed it. And look, the rain’s stopped! I think it might be a tad late to start crusadin’, though. Sorry, Scootaloo.”
“Pfft, whatever, there’s always next time. Oh, hey! I wonder if we can get our cutie marks in roleplaying!”
Sweetie Belle cocked her head at Scootaloo, “What would that even look like?”
Scootaloo grinned and shrugged. “Anyway, it’s probably time to jet. You catchin’ a ride with me, Sweetie?”
“Sure! Just try to avoid mud puddles this time.”
“So you’re staying at your sister’s tonight, then?”
Sweetie Belle giggled, “Why, whatever gave you that impression?”
Apple Bloom waved as her friends trotted down the ramp to Scootaloo’s scooter. “See y’all in class tomorrow!”
“Bye, Apple Bloom!” the two said in unison.
She turned back to the table and continued cleaning up the dice and papers while further thrilling adventures and shocking twists sparked to life in her mind.
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Excellent. Well-written and fast-paced. Very good story so far, look forward to seeing more!
Transitions were sharp and amusing, the setting was beautifully painted and the combat was well-choreographed. Definitely following this!
The memories this one brings back. Good job! Not nearly enough junk food being scarfed down though....lol.
I never get tired of seeing D&D-style stories; the Pirate approves!
ONWARD!
Man I miss playing D&D....
Hmm, 17 points of damage taken and she's still standing? Either they're starting out at a higher level or the system has a higher number of hitpoints. First-level D&D characters in 3.5 would have 4-12 hp, and in 4E it'd be somewhere in the late teens, I think.
It's always nice to see more D&D fics. This line, in particular...
...brought back fond memories
Most excellent! I'm liking the scenario so far, and the little bit of CMC interaction was cute. It'll be interesting to see where you take this.
Thank you all for your comments. I'm so glad to hear that you've enjoyed it!
Hell----o... What is this?
I think I'll tag and read in a few more moments!
~Skeeter The Lurker
i really wish mu D&D sessions actually were like this, instead we all get sidetracked and nothing gets done.
Great story can't wait for more
Oh dear god. The CMC play DnD.
Just what the hell have you unleashed??
Well, whatever you've done... I'm here till the end!
~Skeeter The Lurker
Very good story here! I'll be watching this one, though I wonder what's going to happen when their big sisters find out. Or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...
Under 4000 words and in the feature box?
Everything I've been told is a lie.
2803454
There's even a 2k word one in there right now
A very entertaining read! Keep it up!
How has this not gotten more attention?!
FiMFic and EqD feature be damned, this deserves MORE!
I shall attempt to remedy this!
2802324 yeah that happens at mine too, although one time we did actually summon 100000 squirrel lemur things that shoot poison needles :D
2800957 might be pathfinder, as that has starting hp 20~
2804815 Ah, I heard that was like D&D 3.75?
2805611 its more like a rebalanced 3.75
great story - brings back fond memories of my role playing days.
Not a bad start. Less comedic than I was expecting, though, so I'm having to adjust a bit to the actual style.
I'm assuming "Hale Storm" is a pun rather than a misspelling.