As rough as entering the forest had been, they were catching up. Nothing like a nice rush of experience points from monsters a bit over one's own level. Dangerous, sure. Difficult? Sure. That didn't dissuade Button or his team and they had no competition, allowing them to find all the chests the heroes of the world hadn't claimed.
"Now... There's one that, of course, may be taken, but, more importantly, if it hasn't been taken, has a boss inside."
Sidestep raised a brow at this warning Button was giving. "Boss of what, m'lord?"
Burning smiled perhaps savagely. "I'm starting to understand him. If he says it's a 'boss', he means the biggest and baddest around."
"That!" Button pointed at Burning with a triumphant grin. "Exactly. If the monsters around here were a 10, power wise, this'd be a high 11 to 12. Not impossibly strong, but noticably stronger. Are we ready for that? I mean, maybe it's nothing but an already open chest, but..."
Sidestep put a hoof on his shoulder. "But you wished to confer with us ahead of time. M'lord, this is a wise decision. Burning, how do you feel?"
He slammed his hooves together with an explosion of fire. "If that chest's not open, we'll be the one taking it, and no monster is going to stop us. Do you know what element it is by chance? That'd give us a right edge it would."
Shoot. He scrunched with the distant memory of that boss. He'd overleveled for it, and its element wasn't that important, but if he could recall what it was... A dragon, he seemed to recall, laughing at the idea of a whole dragon in a chest. "Dragon..." he repeated out loud. "Oh!" It hit him. "I hated that one..."
Burning rolled a hoof. "Can you be a bit more specific, Button?"
"They have this move, sneezes one of your members right out of the fight, so you have to win with what's left." Button pointed to one and the other of his friends. "And it's random, and you can't avoid it."
Sidestep scowled at the idea. "I can see why you'd be upset, m'lord. If either of us were banished, I would be quite upset."
Burning roared with laughter. "Oh, but if it's me, then it's alright? I appreciate you being honest about it."
Button waved a hoof quickly. "We're a team. All of us are awesome." He didn't want to be down his big tanky fire pony or his elegant sword mare. And being knocked out of the fight himself would be lame! "We could just skip this one... But let's take a look at least. Maybe we're worried about nothing and the chest will be open."
Sidestep took a step forward. "Let us see. If it is open, as you say, there is nothing more to be discussed."
They smashed through a few monsters foolish enough to get in their way. "Ooo." It'd been a while since Button saw an entirely new spell. Spells only dropped from monsters rarely, with most gotten from stores. Squinting at it revealed its name. "Stop? Awesome!" He eagerly gobbled up the spell. Besides shoving it into one's chest, swallowing it also worked. The spell was his.
Burning watched the exchange curiously. "What spell was that?"
Sidestep also didn't look upset at Button casually claiming the spell. "I did not think I would find a lord skilled in spellcraft. It is an interesting thing. As you enjoy my swordplay, I find myself admiring your magic. If that is not improper, m'lord."
Button colored faintly, learning what it was like to be on the other side of that. "N-neat..." Being admired by Sidestep wasn't an awful thing. "The spell does what it's called. It stops an enemy in place. They can't move or do anything for a little while, which can make a big difference."
Burning raised a brow. "So if that dragon's about to sneeze, you cast that on them?"
Button crashed to his haunches. How had he not thought of that strategy?! He crashed both hooves against his face, burying his shame. "That's so obvious! That's why they put the spell here in the first place! How did I miss that?!"
Burning snorted a bit of flame from his nostrils. "Well, then we have less to fear. It would seem our scout isn't perfect, but who is?" He resumed forward motion. "Now let's see if this chest is even here."
As it turned out, the chest was there, but hung open. The heroes had claimed it on their way past. "Aw..." Buttons pawed at it. "Dangit..."
Burning shrugged at the empty chest and the colt mourning it. "We got plenty out of this place. No point cryin' over what we didn't get. Let's fight out of here and get back to town. This has been a great trip."
Sidestep set a hoof on Button's side. "He is not wrong. You have grown and enriched yourself, m'lord. Let us celebrate it and consider our next move."
"One thing." Burning started on the way out. "Do ye happen to know what was in that chest? Ain't there no more, obviously."
"Mmm, oh! Armor. A helmet." He reached up and tapped at his beanie-clad head. "Fire element, and stops, um, stop from happening..." He sagged as he walked. "Which was another hint! Wow, I really dropped the ball there."
Sidestep inclined her head as she moved alongside him. "But it was to little effect. We did not encounter the beast, and even if we had, Burning had arrived at the answer. No person, even a mighty lord, can face all of the world alone. That is why you have a blade, and other allies to fill in the spaces."
"Hm, would have liked that helmet." Burning shrugged and marched despite that. "Nothing fer it."
Sidestep reared up, just to bow towards Burning. "You have been a loyal assistant to my lord. We will redouble our efforts to find you a worthy piece of armor."
Burning broke into laughter at this. "I'm the one in charge of this party! Lord or not, that hasn't changed."
Button shrugged at both of them. "I thought we were, you know, equal?"
Sidestep blanched at the idea. "M'lord, you are my lord. We can't be equal. You are as high above me as the sky is above you. This is the way of things."
Burning twitched an ear up. "If she didn't already claim you as her adopted child, that'd worry me, or amuse me... Both probably." He inclined his head at the sword maiden. "You aren't mad at me, hm? He may be your lord, but I have the higher rank in our guild." He patted at the badge on his shoulder. "And this is adventuring guild business! So I'm in charge of this party."
Sidestep took a step back. "My lord has agreed to take part in this. To violate its rules would thus be dishonorable. Unless he commands it, I will assume he does not wish that. You are the ruler of this party, but not of me. I am his." She directed a hoof at Button. "But I will obey his command, which was to assist this party, and so I follow your directions."
"That's a mighty roundabout way of sayin' yer on board. Fine then." Chest behind him, he started back the way they came. "There any more chests around here?"
Button laughed nervously as he took off after Burning. "She's just an honorable warrior... I like it." His eyes sparkled with the romantic ideals of the honorable warrior pony. "So cool... Um, treasure, let's see..." Mentally, he ran through the map of the forest they were in, searching for any chests through the depths of his memories. "Oh, there may be one more, but it's lame, just a few coins. Not even worth checking."
Burning swatted Button firmly on the back. "This is another reason I hang around. That saves us time and danger. Then, we're done it sounds like. Another dungeon, tamed." He slapped his great hooves together. "Let's go celebrate! Any gold we get on the way out goes towards that party."
Button jumped into the air with a hoof pump. "Aw yeah!"
They fought their way out of the forest, no monster able to stop their desire to get back to civilization. The monsters of that part of the overworld were laughable in comparison. They hadn't followed the hero's journey, instead retreating, so the monsters only got weaker, mashed to bits before them.
"Welcome back." The dwarf pony was in the adventuring tavern of the town, nodding at them. "How'd it go? That I left it undone still rightly itches at me."
Burning stepped up and sank on the chair across from the dwarf. "We cleared it out fer you, promise." He nodded with certainty. "Where's that young one? Besides mine."
"Little Miss Belle?" He pointed across the way to where Sweetie was peering at job posters. "She won't quit no matter how much I tell her to, and I'm not her father, so ah can't rightly force the matter."
Button waved it off, seated to the side of the two grizzled adults. "She'll bounce right back to her hooves, just watch."
The dwarf raised his mug of spirits. "That's what I'm afraid of. Now that ah know the truth, can't bring myself to just... let her wander off to some unkind end."
Sidestep sat across from her lord. "If she is from the same place as you, my lord, might she share similar talents?"
Button considered that. "She knows stuff like I know stuff, but not as well." Oh, how prideful he looked. "But what else does she have? She can't examine stuff like I can... But that's all stuff she can't do. Sweetie!"
Half the room turned at the sudden shout, including Sweetie Belle. "Button? You're back." She trotted right up to their table and hopped nimbly up onto the table. "Welcome back, even if you cost me my party!"
"Hey, I'm still here."
"True, sorry." She waved at the dwarf pony. "This is Sure Shale, by the way. He's great, and he didn't abandon me, like some feathery ponies." She rolled her eyes at the memory of that abandonment. "Why'd you call me? I'm not giving up the adventuring thing."
Button shook his head quickly. "Well, neither am I! I wasn't asking about that. We were just curious what skills you had. We're both from the, uh, same place, so if I got a thing or two, why not you?"
Sweetie sank, head going onto two supporting hooves. "You can look and see, Button. Go on, stare at me."
"You're making it sound weird!" Button colored vividly. "Stop that!"
Burning nudged Button. "She may have, but it's still permission. Have a peek and settle our curoisity already."
"Alright, alright." He narrowed his eyes into a squint at Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle Type: Hero
Element: None Class: Bard
"Bard?"
Sweetie perked an ear. "I am?!" She reached out into nothing, horn glowing, and pulled out a lyre from nowhere. "I am!" She began playing joyfully, filling the area with spirited adventuring music.
Button reached out for the floating words and swiped them as the guild worker had done. Yep, a page two appeared with more information. "I would never have guessed that on my own..."
Innate Talents: Meta Knowledge(Level 3), Pocket of Holding(Level 3), Song of Unity(Level 5)
"Song of unity?" Button inclined his head, squinting at the words. "What's that?"
Sweetie halted her playing. "What? I have that too? This whole time I was a bard with awesome bard powers and I wasn't using it?!" She tossed her lyre away, it fading away as it sailed through the air. "I feel silly. I can try singing it and see what happens?"
Button shook his head quickly. "It's level 5! As high as my, uh, 'meta knowledge'. And that's pretty powerful."
Burning grunted. "Can't argue that. Your knowledge is something else." He leveled a hoof at Sweetie. "So yours has to be too, at level 5."