“Ah, damn it!”
Stepping out into the snowy night alongside the rest of their band, Spinner rolled her eyes at Valor’s swearing, trying not to shiver too much. “So which one was it?”
Scowling, Valor turned glanced back to frown at the bard, her breath coming out in steamy white puffs. “Huh? Which one was what?”
Spinner clucked her tongue. “The dark or the cold, which one did you forget about? Because don’t get me wrong, that was a great exit. You snubbed that dictatorial boor and even managed to score a few extra points by apologizing to whatshername on the way out. But from the way you were cursing just now, you either forgot that it’s freezing cold out here, or that it’s pitch black. I’m just curious which one slipped your mind.”
“At least the wind’s dying down,” muttered Shadow Star, digging through her saddlebags in the dim light coming from the inn’s front windows, along with the bright red gleam from the building’s steeple.
The latter might have been why Valor’s cheeks seemed to be flushed as she glanced away. “I kind of forgot about both,” she admitted sheepishly.
“I can take care of the cold,” volunteered Mystaria, teeth chattering. “I might not have prepared any illumination spells, but I doubled up on my ‘communal endure elements’ spell after we left that caravan, and I’ve still got the second one ready now.” She didn’t wait for any further commentary before she started casting her spell, clearly wanting to be protected from the chill as soon as possible.
“And these” – Shadow Star pulled several thin metal cylinders, each a foot long and with one end colored gold – “should take care of the lack of light.”
Spinner’s eyebrows went up. “Sunrods?”
The masked mare nodded, clearly pleased with herself. “That’s right. One for each of us. Just smack the golden tip against something, and these things will shine as bright as a torch for a full hour.”
“You couldn’t have used these a few minutes ago when that Lex guy hid the fire?” complained Woodheart, although the bite was taken out of her voice by Mystaria finishing her spell and reaching out to touch the druid, making the latter pony sigh in relief as the biting cold suddenly became bearable. “Make sure to do Littleknight too,” she reminded Mystaria, holding up the almiraj helpfully.
For her part, Shadow Star snorted at the complaint. “I would have if there’d been time to root through my stuff and pull one of these out. But since we were in the middle of a fight, and I thought we could still see that jackass’s glowing eyes, it seemed like a better idea to keep going at him.”
“It’s fine, Shadow.” Spinner couldn’t hold back her own groan of satisfaction as Mystaria placed a hoof on her after touching Littleknight, the bitter temperature suddenly feeling no more unpleasant than a mild spring afternoon. “If you’d used them before, we wouldn’t have them now, so it’s better this way.”
“I’m not so sure,” countered Valor with a frown. “If we’re all carrying lights, won’t these so-called monsters – presuming they’re even real – see us coming?”
“You’re probably right,” admitted Woodheart, examining the sunrods curiously – although they’d been adventuring together as Fail Forward for a while now, this was the first time that Mystaria hadn’t had a light spell prepared for when they’d had to fight in the dark; something which made Spinner grateful that Shadow Star’s cynicism tended to manifest as overpreparedness – before taking one in her teeth and whacking it against the side of the inn, causing the end of the metal bar to flare into brightness. “But it’s either that or we fight blind, and after what just happened, I know which one I’d prefer.”
“She’s right,” added Mystaria, placing a hoof on Shadow Star next. “It’s going to be disadvantageous either way, but it’s highly likely that whatever we’re going to be facing has some way of seeing in the dark. At least this way, they won’t get the drop on us.”
“I’m going to have a hard time playing my lute and singing if I have to carry one of those things,” noted Spinner, bringing her instrument – the focus for her magic, without which she’d have a hard time bringing most of her powers to bear – around and giving it a quick glance to make sure the strings were still tuned.
“I can take care of that,” offered Valor, pausing just long enough to let Mystaria put her ‘endure elements’ spell on her before lighting one of the sunrods and trotting over to the bard. “Just hold still for a second.”
Moving around behind Spinner, Valor held the sunrod up to her friend’s back leg and – before any of her teammates could ask what she was doing – twisted the length of metal into a loop, coiling it around the bard’s ankle. “There you go,” she announced, pleased with herself. “Hooves- and mouth-free transport, and you’re guaranteed not to lose it when the fighting starts.”
“That’s actually a really good idea,” marveled Shadow. “I mean, I’m not doing that, since even if we’re fighting an enemy that can see in the dark, there are still plenty of ways to take them by surprise, but still, that’s good thinking.” The effusive praise, uncharacteristic of Fail Forward’s sneakiest member, hung in the air for a moment, before Shadow gave Valor a suspicious look. “Which leads me to ask, who are you and what have you done with the real Valor Stronghoof?”
“Ha ha,” snorted the shield-toting mare as she wrapped a sunrod around her own leg. “Let’s just get this done in case those humanoids really do show up. And Woodheart, I am not putting one of these on you unless you’re covered up!”
“Ugh, fine!” groaned the druid as she pulled her cloak back on. “But I’m getting rid of this as soon as I need to start casting spells! The animal spirits have a harder time recognizing me as an ally if I’m not unclad like they are!”
“Meep meep!” added Littleknight, his head bobbing in what looked like a nod.
“Speaking of which, we should start with the usual buffs.” Mystaria glanced at Spinner first. “You want to use a ‘cat’s grace’ spell on Valor while I put a ‘shield of faith’ on her?”
Spinner nodded, quickly singing a ditty about a kitty as she cast the spell to make Valor more nimble, turning to Shadow Star as Mystaria cast her own spell. “Shadow, you want one of these too?”
“Make it a double,” joked the mask-wearing mare, trotting over to receive the spell from the bard.
“I just wish we had more time to prepare,” complained Woodheart as she pulled a few of the leaves and feathers off of her cloak, bundling them together and popping them in her mouth. She gave them a few harsh chews before spitting the material onto her hoof, walking over and pressing the gooey mass against a nasty bruise on the side of Valor’s head, the result of one of Lex’s punches after he’d put that hideous mask on. “If I’d had an hour, I could have asked one of the more ferocious spirits in the area to possess me so that I could fight on the front lines too.”
“It’s fine.” Having been on the receiving end of one of Woodheart’s healing poultices before, Valor didn’t flinch at having the soggy coagulation so close to her face. Privately, Spinner wondered if Valor’s having been raised by sun cats had anything to do with that; while those poultices worked, their unhygienic nature still made Mystaria and Shadow – as well as Spinner herself – flinch whenever Woodheart used them. “It’s not like Spinner’s had time to do one of those future-reading things of hers either.”
“It’s called a divination,” corrected Shadow Star, “and I can’t believe you still trust those things. You know they’re wrong almost as often as they’re right.”
Spinner stuck her tongue out at the masked mare. “It's not that my sneak peaks into the future are wrong, it’s that they require proper context to interpret correctly, thank you very much. Besides, I don’t hear you complaining when I’m using the shorter version to help everyone here react to the things an instant before they happen during a fight.”
“I still say that’s some sort of hypnotic battle-trance induced by the rhythm of your music rather than subconscious knowledge of the immediate future,” grumbled Mystaria.
Grinning at the old, and by now very familiar, debating topic between the two of them, Spinner opened her mouth to respond, but didn’t have a chance to get a word out before Littleknight meeped loudly, sitting up on his hind legs as he sniffed the air. “The wind’s picking up again,” noted Woodheart, listening intently to what the almiraj was saying. “Littleknight says he can smell something awful on it. Like old blood.”
“And the wind’s coming from the west,” noted Valor grimly.
Behind her mask, Shadow swore. “I really wanted that jackass to be lying, and not just because I was going to give him an earful later.”
“We should head to the edge of town,” announced Mystaria. “I don’t want this fight to happen in the middle of the village. Even if everyone’s inside for the night, there’s still a chance that an innocent bystander might become involved. Woodheart, Spinner, let’s keep casting while we move. We probably don’t have much time left to prepare.”
“Be careful.” Shadow brought her dagger out as they moved, taking point as she peered ahead. “Even if they’re upwind of us, the fact that they’re close enough for Littleknight to smell them means they’re already close enough to see our lights.”
Spinner didn’t respond, in the middle of casting another spell. Woodheart and Mystaria were the same, leaving Valor to nod. “Got it.”
But the words had barely left Valor’s mouth when Shadow came to a stop, their group barely having advanced a hundred feet from the front of the inn. Her eyes narrowing, the masked mare took the final sunrod – Valor having wrapped the other four around her friends’ hooves – and banged it on the ground, lighting it up before tossing it forward…
…and revealing a small army of hulking brutes directly in front of them.
The sight of the creatures made Spinner’s mouth go dry, and she almost fumbled her spell, barely managing to finish placing her speed-enhancing spell on herself and her friends. Although she’d fought bipedal enemies before, there was a stark difference between orcs and gem gnolls and the creatures in front of them now. The former had worn clothes and wielded tools, spoken languages she knew, and generally had plenty of other indications that they could be understood.
That understanding had been a potent advantage for Spinner. It allowed her to intimidate, confuse, beguile, or parley with the humanoids as necessary, since they possessed motivations and values that she could comprehend. In that regard, they were no different from ponies.
The humanoids in front of her now had no such indications about them. Almost ten feet tall, they were naked save for a few grisly tokens adorning them, their bodies covered by nothing else except thick, white fur. Their clawed hands carried no weapons or shields, flexing in a manner more akin to animals than people. Their eyes were wide, possessing a savage gleam that made her knees knock together, and while she felt sure that the gibbering and hooting they emitted was some sort of language, it wasn’t one she’d ever heard.
They were, in other words, exactly what she’d been told they were: monsters.
She simply hadn’t understood just what that meant until now.
Shadow Star apparently felt the same way. “…this is bad.”
“We’ve dealt with bad before,” snorted Valor, living up to her name as she stalked toward the throng. “And even if we fail, we’re gonna fail FORWARD!”
She broke into a charge then, the last word erupting from her lips as a guttural battle-cry, and the pitch was unusually low, as though her voice had suddenly dropped several octaves. The sound would have surprised anyone who hadn’t heard it before, but Spinner knew exactly what it was. She’s using her totem already, realized the bard, even as she began to play a rousing song on her lute. I hope that’s enough to overpower these things!
If it wasn’t, then this was likely to become very bad indeed.