Story's POV
Barn Proper
8:56 PM
"Wait," Gilda called out, earning a few stares. "I got it. Why not just say the monsters are taken out?"
"Taken out?" Fluttershy blinked.
"Yeah! I mean. There's this joke Story and the other guys always bring up in our games about dropping rocks and everyone dying. But what if, instead of us, it wipes out all the monsters and that Gutter-dude just walks out all safe and sound? Your principal's safe and...boom. Happy ending."
The girls each had their own reaction, most ranging between thoughtful or confused. A few of them glanced at me but I didn't answer. Instead, I sat in the corner with my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them.
"Not an option," Sunset firmly denied. She too was sitting down but in a chair she pulled out from the game room. "We just finished explaining; everything that happens is mirrored in real life. Except what we have our characters do."
"Yeah. And?" Gilda asked with a shrug. "Like I said, bunch a' monsters get crushed and the principal's untouched. Nothing bad in real life."
"A bunch of sentient monsters get crushed," Sunset corrected. Her tone dipped below neutral for a second. "There's no telling what effect that may have. It could be no one, it could be gorillas, or maybe it's people." Gilda flinched. "We cannot risk that."
My stomach churned at the thought as I hid my face further behind my knees. Fifty. That'd be around fifty people crushed by rocks.
Gilda turned away but soon enough turned back. "Look, are we even sure that your principal's in trouble? You're basing all this off your teacher getting in a freak accident. I get it, it's bad what happened, but are you sure this magic's gonna do what you're saying? What if your principal's fine?"
Pinkie's hair deflated as she held up her phone. Wordlessly, she pressed the button to put it on speaker.
"—the phone number of Celestia Faust," Principal Celestia's voice said in a professional attitude. "I am sorry that I am currently unavailable at the moment. If you could, please leave me a voicemail, or, try to contact my office number if you are trying to reach me during school hours. Thank you so much and have a great rest of your day."
Pinkie ended the call and put her phone away, dejected.
"You have your principal's cell?" Gilda asked.
"We all do," Sunset admitted. "She gave it to us before the Friendship Games specifically to warn her about any magic problems. Especially if it takes place at the school."
"Vice-Principal Luna's more of a night owl than Principal Celestia," Pinkie explained. "But she's not answering either."
Sunset gave her a look. "You have Vice-Principal Luna's number?"
As they discussed that, I stared hard into my knees. I wasn't sure whether I was letting paranoia get to me or not.
"Gilda. Sunset knows more 'bout this stuff than the rest of us," Applejack told her. Her pony ears had turned off a while ago, so Gilda wasn't freaked out by her anymore. "If she says our principal err anyone else is in trouble, we'd rather be safe than sorry."
"Okay. Fine," Gilda shrunk back, trying to blend in with the wall she was leaning against. "Go ahead and ignore me then; I got nothing."
"Aw, come on Gil. It's not like that," Dash tried assuring her. "Besides, it's not like we've come up with any bright ideas yet."
"She's right." Twilight nodded once. "At this point, we're workshopping our options. It's best to bring every idea we can imagine forward."
"I may have one," Rarity perked up. She was fanning herself next to the barn's main door for a while now. "Taking from Gilda's idea, perhaps instead of rocks falling, maybe there's someone in Story's world that can...pop in to help?"
"What, like a wizard err somethin'?" AJ asked. "How'd that work exactly?"
Pinkie's hair regained some volume. "Maybe he studies the element of surprise?" A few of the girls cheered up for a moment.
"What do you think Story?" Fluttershy asked, trying to pull me out of my rut. "Would that make sense? Would it work?"
I peeked up to see who was turning to me only to count most of the group. I felt for a moment like I needed to say something reassuring but when Sunset shot me this doubtful glance, that idea died out.
So instead, I silently shook my head and went back to moping.
"You know, we kind of need your help with this too," Rainbow told me, earning a sharp look from AJ. "It is your world, you know. Ya gotta give us something to work with here."
I lifted my head to deliver a tired glare. "I gotta give you something?"
She reeled back a bit. "Uh, sorry. I meant that—"
"I know what you meant," I sighed. "What do you expect? I don't know magic. The last hour of you all trying to explain this to me flew over my head. I'm still caught up on the Sailor Moon transformation-thing."
Rarity gave a pitiful chortle. "Sweetie Belle makes that comparison back home."
"Yeah, well, that's all I can think of." I had a bite to my voice that made me sound unapproachable. "My only take away from that was three things." I brought up a hand to start holding up fingers. "One; I can't see any of it. Two; what happens in-game happens out-of-game. And three; it all has to make sense."
"So no," I finally answered. "No, a superhero will not work. No one in a twenty-mile radius is able to save Gundren except for you. As I designed." I dragged out those last few syllables.
Twilight took a step forward. "About that. Didn't Sildar send a message?"
I groaned and forced myself to stand up. "Won't help."
Now that I was getting dragged into the conversation, my mind wasn't going to let me sit still anymore. Now, the girls got to see my sunken expression at eye level.
"Sildar sent a message to his guild with a magic piece of paper that will not arrive until sundown. And, as mean as it sounds, one random Dwarf kidnapped on the outskirts of the kingdom is not worth bringing in a powerful wizard. Or powerful anyone for that matter. To that guild, Gundren's only worth the 3000-ish gold they loaned him. They might put out a reward to see him come back and start up his mine, but it won't be another 3000. Especially when they think that Dwarf's as good as...As..."
My voice died in my throat but for some reason I cut to the next thought. "And even if I made up some miracle that a strong person was coming by at just the right time, they aren't gonna show mercy to an army of 'monsters,'" I flashed some air quotes, imagining an innocent apartment's worth of people. "It'd be the same as the rocks fall scenario. And I'd be the one that caused it. And if I have to play it out to have it all make sense, there might be a chance that Gundren gets killed off in the process.
"So there," I half spat, my guilt welling up to anger as I watched Rainbow fold. "Did that help? At all?"
"...no..." She muttered. "...i'm sorry."
I took a breath and tethered my anger. "Don't be. You shouldn't be. Please, don't." I backed off before anyone had to tell me to. "I'm. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I...I just...Urgh!"
I turned and kicked the wall, hoping I could put a hole through the rotten boards that made up these unused stables. All it did was make a thunk sound.
I stayed turned away from them, crossing my arms in an attempt to pretend like that didn't just hurt.
"Story." Sunset spoke up from behind me. I could hear her standing up from the creaking chair. "I know that this is terrible. It's a lot to take in and. And I don't have anything to say that'll make it better...I'm so sorry. I should've..."
"Told me from the beginning," I finished. "You already said that. And look, I get...Actually, no. I don't get it." I spun back around. "I have no idea how hard it was to tell me any of this in the first place. But I can tell it was hard. And just because I don't get it doesn't mean I'm gonna blame you for it. Obviously you didn't want any of this to happen."
Then I gave her the flattest look I could. "But why did you tell me?"
She furrowed her brow. "What?"
"Why did you tell me?" I asked again. "I mean, I would have never figured any of this out! By the time I realized you were all acting weird, you would have probably learned how to hide it or figured it all out. I would have gone on like an idiot thinking you were all adjusting to the game. And I would have never in my life made a guess that all of this is because of magic. But no. You told me.
"You told me that we have no choice but to play this game as if nothing's wrong. Because if we don't, everything will go wrong. And, I know this next part's going to sound really selfish. Like, really, really selfish. So ahead of time, I'm sorry! But, do you realize that I now need to run a reality-warping game, with a bunch of magical girls, perfectly, without breaking character? Because if I do, one or twenty things will all go wrong?"
I stepped forward and addressed the group as a whole. "I'm not upset because magic exists. I'm upset because in order to fix something I caused by complete accident, I need to keep screwing around with that magic, otherwise, a lot of other people are gonna get hurt. That's why I'm upset! I could have been blissfully unaware about any of this! So why risk telling me when I could've simply kept doing what I have to do anyways without knowing?!"
Sunset balled her fists up while Applejack stepped up. "If ya wanna be upset about it, point all a' that anger ta me. Ah'm the one who kept pushin' ta tell ya the truth when everyone was on the fence about it. Ah wanted ta tell ya 'cause it was the right thang ta do."
"How?" I challenged. "How was that the right thing to do?"
"Because you deserve ta know," she pressed.
"Not everyone gets what they deserve," I tried to argue. "And just because I deserve something doesn't mean that was the best thing to do! Why not tell me once everything was all figured out?"
Sunset stared me down. "Because what were we supposed to do if we didn't tell you and something bad happened? Then we'd have no choice but to confront you about it afterwards when it had gone from bad to worse. That would've been the same as letting you go on doing something bad!"
"Yeah, but you could've jus—" I covered my mouth to make sure I didn't finish that thought out loud. Yeah, but you could've just left me out of it anyways. I felt so terrible that I almost said that. I felt even worse that it was still what I wanted so badly.
And Sunset read that from me right away. She read how scared I was of realizing I would have been okay with that. But instead of getting mad like I expected, Sunset was guilty. "I don't blame you. And trust me, I used to think like that too. I didn't want to think about how magic could effect other people as long as I was okay. But you understand why we can't do that. Right?"
Wordlessly, I nodded. Then I watched as Sunset gave me this thin, genuine smile.
"Then you know why it was better that we tell you sooner rather than later. I was on the side of not telling you about this because...I don't even know why," she said in a sad chuckle. "But it took my friends to help me realize that. And it is so much better that we told you the truth."
Sunset turned back to face them and shared another smile with Applejack. "I know that this is a lot to take in. However, we dragged you into this. That is our fault and we're sorry. But now we need you to keep up."
I tried to smile along with them, but my shoulders slumped. "Which means that we'll need to play like nothing's wrong. Right?"
"Right." Her smile shifted to a determined glance.
I took a deep breath and craned my neck back to blow it up at the ceiling. "Fine. I guess that means I need to..." I let out a sigh. "Repress a lot of crap."
"Thank you, Story," Sunset told me.
"Don't. Don't thank me," I warned her; my sarcasm welling up. "Because if this ends well and we save our principal, I am holding this over your head for months."
She let out a snicker. "Not a year?"
"There's months in a year," I informed her. "I'll give you the bill after we're finished."
"Hey, get in line," Gilda demanded. "I'm collecting first."
Pinkie wrapped an arm around Dash's neck and moved her in front of the biker girl. "Technically, that was Rainbow Dash! She's the one that owes you this time."
"Wha—Pinkie?!" Rainbow glared, earning a collection of laughs from the other girls.
"Ya know what? You're right." Gilda smirked. "Dash, you're in for it when we're done."
Dash gritted her teeth and took the words in stride. "Yeah, yeah, that's fair."
"Anyways," Applejack brought everything back down to earth. "We should probably get back to the game. If we gotta play it straight, we'll be in fer the long haul till we clear out this Dark Pit Keep place."
I got a sour look. "Hold on. You don't intend on playing the game until you reached Gundren, do you?"
"Of course we are." Rarity smiled valiantly. "After all, it's the only idea we have of saving Principal Celestia."
"And like Sunset said, as long as it's specifically our characters that fight and kill those monsters, no one gets hurt in the real world," Twilight explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "A short cut sounds too risky."
"Yeah, no, that I got. Sort of," I told them. "I meant, do you all really think you're about to pull off everything tonight?"
All of them stared between one another, their resolve wavering.
"Aside from Platick and Glemerr, all of you just fought off a bunch of bandits and need a rest. You have no clue where Gundren is, and, if I'm understanding this right, you can't hear secrets about the game without the words sounding like a bunch of static or feedback or whatever."
"We call it gargling," Pinkie corrected.
"Doesn't matter," I went on. "Fact remains, if you're right about having to play this like a regular game, you aren't getting there tonight. If we loaded up on sugar and played nonstop, maybe you could find Dark Pit Keep by, like, five in the morning. But you'd be out."
"5 AM?!" Dash's eye twitched as the girls all had their own ways of showing shock. "But that's, like, ten more games!"
"More like two or three," I lamented. "But, out of game, why else do you think I put a ten day timer on saving Gundren?"
Twilight looked downtrodden. "Because it would take us about that long?"
"But that means we'd be comin' down ta the wire," Applejack pointed out.
"And that's what makes a good story," I cheered sarcastically, feeling a part of my soul die at my past deviousness. "Of course, I can't control what direction you girls go. It might take you ten days or it might take you five. What matters is whether or not you follow the right trail of clues."
"Maybe it's for the best that we take our time," Sunset relented. "If we really tried playing the entire game, we'd be too tired to do anything. We may even start making mistakes."
"But what about Principal Celestia?" Fluttershy asked, sharing everyone's concern. "If she really was kidnapped then that means she's somewhere else. All alone..."
"Can we really leave her like that?" Rarity bit her knuckle. "We were the ones that caused this. Maybe we should push ourselves."
"Nope." Big Mac shook his head, speaking for the first time since her sister transformed. "Look. Ah'm sure y'all wanna save her," Big Mac spoke for the first time in over an hour. "But ya can't do that if yer fightin' ta keep yer eyes open. That'll jus' make everythin' worse than it already is. Ya gotta be careful and do this with a clear head."
Everyone took those words to heart, already aware that Mac was absolutely right.
Sunset addressed us all again. "The game will try to match as many events as possible. As much as we want to help our principal out right now, it's already set in stone that Gundren's been kidnapped for two days at the least. Which means that it's possible Principal Celestia won't show up to school on Monday."
A chill ran down my spine. Wonder how the school's gonna react to that.
"It doesn't matter if we play everything tonight or stretch these games out," Sunset continued. "Principal Celestia will be missing for however long Gundren is. So we should use the days we have to the fullest."
"Question." Twilight glanced up. "If Principal Celestia was already kidnapped, when did that happen? We saw her yesterday at school but could she have gone missing today? That would change how many days we have."
"I think that it would've happened recently." Sunset stared at the ground. "The events of Gundren being taken off somewhere were never confirmed until tonight, after we confronted Klarg. Now that it has, Principal Celestia is fated for the same. That's what happened To Ms. Cheerilee. Her accident happened sometime after we saw Sildar broke his leg."
I felt terrible again but a sudden thought crossed my mind. "So then what if, for the future, I rewrite the game to avoid those kinds of events before you learn about them? Will they never happen?"
"That's a dangerous slope," Sunset told me. "It would have to be done where everything still makes sense. I would love to avoid any more problems but that kind of thinking was exactly why dunamancy became forbidden. Good intentions made for bad results."
My heart sunk again.
"However," she went on. "The sooner we can get to Gundren, the sooner that she will be okay. Which is why we have to do the best we can do. But before we do that, we should do one last thing. Story?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Right now, you can't see any of the magic that's happened around the game." I nodded along. "I think we should try to fix that first. So, what if I told you that we have a way to change that?"
I took another slow breath. "I'd probably ask why this is a hypothetical question and not a simple 'hey, let's flip a switch.'"
"It's because we haven't had a chance to test it." She gestured towards our friends. "We think we figured out how to get other people to see magic. You see, yesterday when we met up to work on Rainbow Dash's character, Rainbow said she and Gilda ended up in this odd space where they...saw their characters."
"Characters? Wait, as in the game's characters? Are they real?" I stepped back.
"Yes." "No." Rainbow and Twilight replied at the same time. A tense stand-off followed.
"We're still working on that," Sunset deciphered. "However, Gilda ended up there too and since then, she's been able to see all the magic that comes with the game. You and Big Mac haven't. We think that's our answer."
Despite the massive bomb drop that she tried ignoring, I was sort of following along. "O-Okay. Um, yeah. If you girls think that this is the best chance I got at seeing this magic then...okay. I'll trust you. Besides, I kind of want to see exactly what I'm screwing around with before I touch it again."
"Thanks," Sunset said for the second time. "I owe you."
"Watch it. You keep saying stuff like that," I pointed out with a breath. "You really shouldn't. You do not understand how serious I am on collecting those favors."
"I'll get over it," she promised me. Challenge accepted. "You want to make a character?"
"Not at all." My enthusiasm was nothing but fake. "Let's do this."
Everyone made our way back into the game room. One by one, we brushed past the curtain and took a second to worship the blast of AC greeting us until we were back to our respective chairs with Sunset dragging hers back from outside the room.
"Real quick, Ah gotta question," Applejack called out.
"Just one?" I quipped back. She ignored me.
"Is this gonna work the same way it did with RD an' Gilda?" Applejack asked. "Ah mean, can Story be the DM and a player at the same time?"
"Do I have to be the DM?" I sat down behind the screen and folded it down onto my notes so it wasn't in my way. "You're the ones with magic, can't one of you do it?"
Twilight was among the last to sit down. "Would that work?"
I blew a raspberry and gave this heavy shrug. "You're the magic experts, don't ask me."
"That shouldn't be an issue." Sunset shook her head. "From what I noticed leading up to it, both Gilda and Rainbow Dash were about to work on their characters when Story said the phrase. Long as we repeat that, it should do the same thing."
"In that case, can I go again?" Rainbow leaned on her elbow, flashing a cocky grin. "I mean, I did it before, I know how it works."
Just then, a thought crossed my mind. "Is this why you put all that thought into your character? Because you saw her?"
"Well duh," Rainbow said with a shrug. "You shoulda seen what she looked like before! Compared to Fluttershy and Sunset's characters, she was a mannequin. I couldn't just let her stay like that! I wanted to help her."
"That's another thing I want to test." Sunset leaned forward. "Rainbow Dash said the characters of everyone that was at the bleachers showed up even when they weren't working on their characters. We should try to control that."
"In what way?"
"Fluttershy and I were sitting next to everyone else. That's the only connection I see. Just to be safe, can everyone not coming with us step back outside?"
"But we just reacquainted ourselves with the air conditioning," Rarity complained. "Do we really have to go back into that stuffy barn? No offense Applejack."
"None taken." The farm girl waved it off. "Ah know it's a pot roast in there. What's say whoever ain't goin' gets some fresher air outside instead?"
"Meh," Gilda hummed. "I think I'd rather head back to Sky-Space. Besides, I know more about it than all of you apparently."
"Sky-Space?" I furrowed my brow. "We're really calling it that?"
"I'd like to come too," Twilight said, reorganizing her notebook and other supplies. "If only to put this idea to rest that our characters are alive."
"I'm telling you they are." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Why is it so hard to believe?"
"Because magic transforming or converting one thing to another has happened before. I even experienced it. But to create something entirely out of nothing? Not only does that not make sense, none of us have yet to see anything like that."
"What about the monster vines that grew out of the ground at the Friendship Games?" Rainbow leaned forward. "Those came outta nowhere!"
"The magic transformed the local plant life. It wasn't out of nowhere." Twilight didn't waste a second with that retort. "And before you suggest the portals at the Friendship Games, those weren't physically there either."
"Hold on, there's portals now?" I blinked, making a few of Twilight's hair stand on end as she looked at her friend.
"We've had a lot of past experiences." Sunset left it at that. "But Twi's not wrong there, Rainbow. Magic can't conjure something out of nothing. And whenever it does look like that, it's normally teleporting things or converting magic into a solid object."
"Well she's wrong about this." Rainbow settled into her seat with a huff. "Whatever. You, me, Twi, Story, and Gilda. Anybody else?"
"I think this will do for now." Sunset turned to the other girls as they were already standing back up. "Go ahead and take a real break girls. If we end up taking too long, we're counting on all of you to come check on us."
"Don't worry, we'll make extra sure everything's A through O-kay," Pinkie gave a mock salute before springing out of her seat and twirling past the curtain.
"We won't be far," Applejack assured us, tipping her hat. "Good luck y'all."
Fluttershy and Rarity followed behind AJ through the doorway, with the purple one giving one last forlorn look to the AC before braving the heat. Then, right behind them, Big Mac started out the door too.
"Wait, Big Mac?" He stopped and looked back at me. "Shouldn't you do this too? I thought you couldn't see the game's magic either."
"Eenope," he confirmed.
"That's on purpose," Gilda told me. "The girls wanted to see if our group had a magic problem too. That's why we're having everyone meet up tomorrow. Big Mac's gonna make sure nothing shows up from his end."
"...I guess that makes sense," I admitted. "But that means we're gonna have to make time tomorrow to not be playing this game. You sure that's a good idea?"
Sunset thought about it but nodded all the same. "We'll see how far we get after tonight. From there, maybe you can figure out how long it might take to reach Gundren."
"Okay. I can do that," I promised her. Then I turned to Rainbow Dash. "Whenever you're ready."
"Huh? Me?" Rainbow blinked.
"Well, yeah." I shrugged. "You said you knew how this all worked. And if I followed all of that correctly, someone else needs to be the DM this time."
"I was thinking that too." Sunset smiled. "We need someone who knows about this place and has already dealt with magic. If anyone can do it, I think it's you Rainbow."
"But. But I don't know how to run this stuff," she argued. "Besides, it's all Story's world anyways. Why can't he do it?"
"Because we want him to be a player just like you and Gilda were," Twilight explained.
"Master has given Dobby the title of player," I said in a nasally voice, making Dash freeze. "Dobby is not forever DM. Dobby is free!"
Despite my desperate attempt at lightening the mood, it was Twilight of all people who erupted in laughter. The other three just stared at me like I was crazy.
"Is that some kinda nerd joke?" Gilda glared at me. "Really dude?"
"Look, I've seen a lot in this past hour and it's about to get weirder. Let me have one moment," I defended. Then I looked to Dash who was watching Twilight's giggle fit in greater confusion. "Dash, look. We're just making a character. I don't know about magic but doing this kinda thing normally is nothing. Plus I already know how to do it. All you have to do is tell me when to roll dice and then you check them. I'll walk you through it."
Rainbow slumped forward, disappointed that she was getting outvoted. "Alright, fine, I get it. But if we go in again, I don't wanna be in charge of this stuff."
Sunset smirked. "Deal. Whenever you're set, just say the words."
I quickly reached into my backpack for a folder that had exactly seven blank character sheets and pulled one out for myself. I had them handy in case my players, erm, wiped out.
"You got it!" Rainbow cleared her head and reached over to Fluttershy's set of dice, plucking one of the dice and holding it up in her hand. Then she cleared her throat and readied herself.
"Let's start a story."
She let go of the die, letting it hit the table, and right away I watched as my vision started to swim as this DM screen of pure light appeared in front of Rainbow Dash before all my senses shut themselves down.
R⌰⎎v⊑n's POV
⎐toneh⌰⍜l ⌰nn
"Do you really got ten siblin's?"
"Of course," Rava confirmed with a huge grin. "In order there's Diesa, Viet, Nurkava, Kilvar, Kathra, Liftrava, Thoradin, then comes meself, Eridred, Vorava, an' itty Herbek." She giggled to herself. "Herbek hates it when any of us calls 'im itty! It's a mantle we always give ta whoever the youngest of us is. Poor guy's prolly stuck with it seein' as Da's gettin' on in years."
"That." Stostine blinked a few times. "That is...An impressive roster. Did you say some of your siblings also had 'Rava' in their names?"
"How'd you keep up with any of that?" Vareén gave her an odd look.
"We do," Rava replied. "This part ain't from the Dash Lass but from the Master; Rava means 'rising' in Dwarven. So Liftrava roughly translates ta 'rising strength,' Vorava means 'rising voice,' an' Ravathyra means 'a rise in rank.' Ironically, that means Ah know somethin' 'bout meself that the Dash Lass may never know."
"Oh, dat's sorta like Glemerr," Glemerr cheered happily. "Mah Player said she wanted me ta get along wit' all de other orcs that Ah grew up wit'. An' dat meant she needed Story ta come up wit' a bunch a' neighbors for me. So Pinks don't know as much about 'em as Ah do!"
"Is that so?" I quirked an eyebrow. "I dunno Miss Glemerr. Sounds more like yer Player was too lazy ta come up with all a them folk herself."
"Nah, it's nothin' like dat." Glemerr waved me off. "Ya see, Pinks said that it ain't fair fer her ta make up all a' mah neighbors since ya can't pick yer neighbors in real life! Then dere was somethin' 'bout how yer friends make ya who ya are an' not de other way err somethin' all fly-a-sophical like dat."
"I think you may have meant philosophical, Glemerr." Stostine placed her tea back on the table. "And that does sound noble. Although, that does bring up another point about us."
"About how we have some life of our own beyond what our Players give us?" Ricven asked. Stostine nodded. "I wouldn't quite agree. The rest of our lives are a result a' this world. All a' which was made by the Master. For instance, I got knowledge about the arcane and the folklore about this world. I even know some legends the Master made up at a time. But I couldn't tell ya where I heard of 'em from."
"That's true." Vareén stepped in next. "I know about the wildlife and where the good hunting grounds are in Leodaav. I don't know why. Maybe I've seen them. Maybe I heard of them. I don't know because Twilight never cared to answer that."
I looked between the three girls. "It seems as though this world, or more specifically the magic our Players tamper with, is tryin' ta fill in them blanks. Things that no one could ever hope ta think of imaginin' in a person."
"Except when our Players leave too much unsolved," Stostine went on. "Then those blanks are too big to fill in. For instance, I could tell you some features about the town my father runs, yet I have no idea what it is called."
"An' back when Ah was a walkin' blue marble," Rava started. "Ah didn't even 'ave that. There weren't holes ta fill in more than..."
"Then what?" Vareén eyed the Dwarf. "...What are you doing?"
Rava said nothing. She just sat there, unmoving with her mouth hanging open.
Vareén reached over and lightly flicked Rava on the ear. Then she drew her finger back, waving it around. "Ow. I think she's—" I blinked and Vareén's seat was empty.
"What in the?!" I turned to look at the others but all I saw was Glemerr staring at an empty chair that once held Stostine. "Miss Stostine? Miss Vareén? Wh-Where'd they go?"
Glemerr groaned in confusion, tossing away her tankard and looking all around the bar. They were nowhere to be seen. Not only that, Rava still wasn't moving.
"Lady Rava?" I stood up on my chair and took a very careful look at the Dwarf. She didn't breath, nor did she speak. And for the strands of hair that wasn't tied up in a bun, it floated frozen stiff in the air as she sat frozen mid-sentence.
"That ain't good," I decided, jumping out of my seat and running over to Sildar's room. Peaking in, Sildar and Dahlia, the girl I met before the attack, were still frozen in time. Not only that, but as I traced the border of my vision I found that thin haze still present.
The game's still on pause. But now so is Rava. How's come?
At that moment, the front door was kicked open as stumbling through it was an exhausted Platick. He looked ready to crumble with one hand clutching his ribs and the other at his bleeding nose.
I stared him down with a look of disbelief. He had the body of a runner but even still he was lulling in all directions to keep from doubling over in his delirium. Beyond that, all the dirt and blood stains he apparently collected on his way here made him look like he had been chased by a beast.
"What the heck happened ta you?!"
Between each wheeze, Platick straightened himself until he finally had his breath enough to speak. "You...Have no cl. Clue...How bad it. Is...To have time freeze. When you're riding a mad horse!"
I sucked in air through my teeth. "Ooh...Lemme piece it together; time froze the horse and you went flying till yer face carved the road?"
He took another breath and winced as he clutched his chest again. "Not. Quite. You see, I rode behind Leanne and when time froze, so did she. I flew forward and broke my nose on her hair of all things." He put some pressure on a part of his rib cage and instantly regretted it. "I think I crushed some ribs. Really made jogging for three miles suck."
"Dat's impressive," Glemerr told him. "Why'd ya jog all de way back 'ere dough? Ya should be lyin' down!"
"Since time's frozen, my nose won't stop bleeding." He pulled his hand back to reveal the gore that made me shiver in disgust as I turned away from him. "I didn't want to pass out from blood loss in the middle of the road."
He stepped into the inn, dropping himself into Stostine's seat and tilting his head back.
"Miss Glemerr?" I asked, shaking the sight out of my mind. "Could you be a dear an' help the poor man out?"
"Sure thing!" Glemerr trudged over and, without any sense of personal space, used Platick's chin to turn his head towards her. "Oof, it's broken alright. Ah'm gonna have ta set it."
"Pwease no," Platick mumbled while his jaw was still held tightly between the orc's thumb and finger.
"Don't worry, it'll only hurt a second!"
"Wai', Ah mean i', pwease," he struggled, spotting Rava out of the corner of his eyes. "Wa-Wava! Wittle hewp? You go' magik heawing, wigh'?"
"Unfortunately, Lady Rava checked out right before you entered the scene. And Miss Vareén pocketed our last healing potion 'fore she an' Miss Stostine vanished. Doctor Glemerr's your only option."
"...Jush ge' i' ova wi'h," he mumbled, resigning to his fate.
"I'll get ya somethin' strong from the bar," I told him, walking back to get his first round and Glemerr's fifth. "Oh, that reminds me! Miss Glemerr's had quite a few rounds 'fore you arrived. Ya might wanna make sure yer extra still durin' surgery."
"Wha?!" I saw him struggle until Glemerr put her second hand around his nose. "Wickven, you wittle shi—"
I started whistling a tune as Platick's heavy screaming rang out louder than any Thunderwave I set off today.
"Better make that a double," I spoke under my breath, climbing up the bar's wine rack to reach the good stuff on the top shelf. Once I had it, I started to prep their drinks before eying a few of the other glasses under the bar.
Maybe I'll make something for the girls too, I thought. Wherever they went, they'll probably want another round when they get back.