Somewhat to everypony’s surprise, the oathtaking ceremony went off without a hitch. Katrina’s interrogation was slated to happen back in Rally, the orcish capitol, which was a week’s journey away through a dangerous mountain pass, and in the meantime the party of fey were being given the benefit of the doubt, at least for public consumption.
They were not the only Adventurers to pass the trial, although the total number was barely a dozen, out of the hundred or so trainees who’d applied. Apparently, many teams hadn’t made it through the staged wolf attack in the forest, or had been caught by the zombie horde assaulting the tower and devoured. It was a bad year for newbie Adventurers, but a good year for the undertaking services at the local church. Many of the families of the deceased were not content to leave their loved ones rotting on a pile of corpses, and paid Rainbow Dash and Applejack to stealthily retrieve the bodies for revival, burial, or animation as an undead servant – depending on their budget. Rarity offered her services as an undertaker to the church during the rush, an offer which they accepted with great relief.
“The pay isn’t much,” Rarity admitted to the others as they met once again in the bar to discuss their next step, since business in Crossroads was going back to normal and they’d all had the time to rest and recover from the ordeal. “But there are some side benefits. Orcs don’t have any funeral rites or rituals for the dead, so I was able to secure a corpse to be raised as an undead servant of my very own.”
“You’re welcome,” Rainbow Dash said. “I figured, the rule is we keep what we kill as adventurers, right? So that orc we took down was ours to do with as we please. Even if that means turning him into some kind of super-creepy horribly burn-scarred zombie servant.”
“The burns just add to the intimidation factor,” Rarity replied, waving a hoof. “I decided to go full ‘evil chic’, with decorative spikes and a skull theme on his armor… I just wish I could afford something more protective than leather. Whatever happened to that lovely golden plate he was wearing when we fought him?”
“Uh…” Rainbow Dash said. “I think I’ll let Twilight explain that one.”
“Explain what?” Twilight asked as she entered the room, the clip clop from her hooves supplemented by a faint ‘shing shing shing’ as the shiny plates of her new suit of armor rubbed against each other. The shiny golden plates did make for a nice contrast against what little of her light purple fur was still visible beneath them. She caught Rarity staring at her armor, and struck a dashing pose. “Do you like it? Applejack recovered it from the zombie pile, and I spent all week refitting it to be worn by a pony. It was easier than I expected, actually.”
“It’s… marvelous, dear,” Rarity replied. “Masterwork quality, I assume?”
Twilight smiled. “Of course. You’d have to be crazy to make a suit of full plate without giving the extra 10% to make it masterwork, and the blacksmith here has good enough tools that I was able to avoid screwing that up during the refit.”
“Indeed.” The zebra took a careful sip of her wine. “It’s quite lovely.”
“Well,” Twilight said, taken aback by Rarity’s strange behavior. “I’m glad you approve. I was worried you’d want to make good on your threat to paint it, and I’d end up covered in stripes or something.”
“No, no,” Rarity said. “I think it’s been altered quite enough.”
As they all gathered around the table to compare notes, Twilight informed the others about a lead on a job, right there in town. In fact, in that very bar. The blacksmith was the brother of the barkeep, and had suggested that in repayment for the use of his tools – additional repayment, on top of Twilight’s old armor that she’d traded to him – she could do him a favor by finding out what had had his brother so worked up lately.
Figuring that they should at least hear his story before making a decision, the party approached the barkeep and asked about his troubles. He led them into an unoccupied room, and made sure to shut the doors and windows before filling them in, in a conspiratorial tone.
“Actually, I’m glad you asked. It’s a mite embarrassing, but I should have known I couldn’t keep it from my own brother. You see, a week ago, right after the ceremony you all were in, a strange unicorn paid me a large sum of gold to rent out my basement for a week, no questions asked. Enough gold that I was happy not to ask questions. The noises I heard from down there were awfully strange, but I just figured it was some weird fey magic – unicorns, you know?
“But then yesterday, Grizelda forgot that the basement was off limits, and headed down there to fetch a new barrel of ale out of the stores, and found the whole place full of smoke. I went down to check it out with her, and called out for this ‘Trixie’ mare to show herself, but there was no response – leastwise, not from a unicorn. There were things moving around down there, though. Things with glowing eyes, like little coals. We hightailed it out of there and barricaded the door, but sooner or later we’re going to have to have someone go down and clear up whatever mess that crazy unicorn made of my basement.”
“I don’t remember any ‘Trixie’ from the ceremony, but that name sounds familiar,” Twilight remarked.
“She was dressed like a noble, but with her sneaking around like that it might not even be her real name,” the barkeep said. “Regardless, I don’t care much about what happened to her. The week’s up, and I want my basement back.”
“So what’s it pay?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“I – I thought it was a favor for a friend,” the barkeep replied, acting insulted. “Some random critters like these aren’t any threat to a group of adventurers like yourselves.”
“Uh huh,” Pinkie pie replied. “Buuuut, you see… you’re asking a lot of us. Not only to go down into a dark, creepy basement, to fight monsters that we don’t even know what they look like, but you want us to not burn down your bar in the process. Do you know how hard that is for an alchemist?”
The barkeep stared at them. “Maybe I should ask another group.”
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and poked him in the chest. “No way! This is our job, we’ve got dibs. You’ve just got to pay up once we finish.”
“Are you helping me or robbing me?” he asked, cringing back from the griffon.
“We’re protecting the public from the monsters you reported to us,” Twilight Sparkle replied. “It’s our duty as Adventurers. As a separate consideration, Pinkie Pie was offering to accept payment in return for limiting the collateral damage.”
“We know you’ve got the cash,” Applejack purred. “You told us yourself you got paid good gold to get yourself into this mess. You give it to us, and we’ll getcha back out.”
“Half!” The barkeep said. “I’ll give you half, and any damage you cause gets taken out of your share.”
With the compensation agreed upon, the barkeep showed the party to the door to the cellar, located at the back of the pantry. Between Twilight’s magic and the barkeep, they managed to shift the pile of heavy cooking supplies that he’d been using to block the door. It opened into a smoke-filled stairway, the slightly sulpherous, choking smoke thick enough to block vision. Fighting in such conditions would be difficult, but nevertheless, the party had no choice but to –
“Waaaaaaaait!” Pinkie Pie screeched, as Twilight took the first step onto the stairwell. At the fighter’s confused glance, the alchemist flapped her wings a few times. “Pegasus, remember? Let me take care of that nasty smoke.”
“You’re trained in weather control?” Twilight asked.
“Uh huh,” Pinkie Pie said, squeezing past Rainbow Dash and Applejack in the tight confines of the pantry, until she was in reach of the smoke. “Just give me a second…” she said, grabbing hold with her hooves and teeth, and then grunting as she backed away, dragging the cloud of smoke with her, back through the kitchen and out the back door into the yard, where she formed it into a large looming cloud, twenty feet up. “Eugh. That stuff tastes nasty.”
“Yeah… pegasus ponies don’t usually push clouds around with their mouths,” Rainbow Dash said.
“From the smell, it’s elemental smoke,” Rarity said, looking worried. “We might be in trouble – most elemental creatures are difficult to damage with mundane weapons.”
“Well, at least now we can see,” Twilight said, lighting her horn as she descended into the darkness.
Even with the smoke gone, the inn’s basement was a cluttered place with plenty of hiding places for small creatures. The stairs led to a large open area in the center, albeit one cluttered with crates and barrels, but there were several alcoves in the walls across from them and to the right, while to the left a rack of large casks of ale loomed, set far enough from the wall for someone – or something – to squeeze behind them.
“Go away Trixie!” screeched a high-pitched voice. “We no care you make air smell bad again, this our home now!”
“Oh dear,” Rarity said, pausing on the stairs as she kept to the back of the party, to turn and address the barkeep. “I’m afraid your basement might be infested with mephits.”
“What are those?” Twilight asked, looking around but seeing nothing, not even the glowing eyes the barkeep had described.
“Weak elementals, at least physically,” Rarity explained. “Little flying creatures, like imps. Some of them have dangerous magic.”
“Yes, we have powerful magic!” the voice squeaked, from behind the casks. “More powerful than Trixie! You leave now, or you burn!”
“Ha!” Rainbow Dash said, flying over to where they’d heard the voice. She reached behind the barrel with one of her arms, but the small winged creature she’d spotted slipped out of her grasp, slashing back at her with tiny claws, although she yanked her claw back in time not to get cut.
“Come on out where we can see you,” Fluttershy said, her eyes glowing for a second as she added, “Please? Approach.”
“Nooooo!” shrieked the voice. “Get out of my head, Trixie!”
“We warn you!” cried a similar voice from the other side of the basement. “You burn now!”
And then, the basement was filled with fiery sparks. Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to shield themselves from the swirling embers with their wings, but Fluttershy cried out in pain, and Twilight’s armor provided no protection. While the fey were distracted, the mephits rushed out, surrounding the unicorn and slashing at her with tiny claws. Their forms were indistinct, almost seeming to be made out of smoke themselves, but ‘little flying creatures’ more or less covered it.
“Ow! Ow! Get off!” Twilight cried, as some of their attacks found her flesh.
“Don’t worry, sugarcube. I gotcha,” Applejack said, drawing her magic dagger in her teeth, and leaping to stab one of the creatures in the back.
Fluttershy gingerly reached out to heal some of Twilight’s wounds, while Rainbow Dash joined in on the attack, raking one mephit’s wings, only to watch her claws slice through the membrane like it was smoke, leaving them almost undamaged.
As Twilight flailed at her assailants, which scrabbled at her armor with their little claws, one of them backed up a step and burst into flames, filling the air with more of the sparks. Once more, Twilight and Fluttershy cried out in pain. “This isn’t working!” Twilight screamed.
“Juss ‘ang in dere!” Applejack said around the dagger, as she missed with a slash but managed to get hold of the rapidly shifting creature with one of her paws and tear out a chunk. “Too blurry to get at their vitals, but I’m wearin’ im down.”
“Please, win the fight for me, Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered, healing her again, “I’m sorry, I’m too weak to stay and die for you…” She turned and ran for the stairs, squeezing past Pinkie who was busy chugging one potion after another, and Rarity who was more or less watching the part of the fight she could see from the top of the stairs, which didn’t include actually getting within line of sight of the enemies.
“I said… get off!” Twilight shouted, nearly catching one of the mephits with her flail, but failing again. “ARGH! Don’t you dare!” she added, as, sure enough, the third mephit took a step back and burst into flames.
“Ha!” Pinkie Pie shouted, catching the mephit mid-cast with a thrown box. Unfortunately, this didn’t work as well as she’d hoped, and once more the swirl of embers engulfed Twilight and the others. When they cleared, the unicorn was barely standing, and Applejack was looking distinctly singed.
“I am sick of these Moon-forsaken BUGS!” Twilight shouted, finally catching one with her flail and splattering it into shards of smoke and soot.
“Ahh! Burn, Trixie!” squealed one of the survivors, taking a deep breath and then exhaling a cloud of choking soot. It was too much for the unicorn, and she coughed, and fell to her knees, then collapsed to the ground unmoving. Applejack too was in bad shape: still conscious, but with her face full of soot to the point where she could hardly see.
“This isn’t looking too good, is it,” Rainbow Dash asked.
“We ain’t done yet,” Applejack growled, lunging at one of the remaining mephits as it switched targets to Rainbow, and sinking her magic dagger deep into its back. It froze for a moment, then exploded in shreds of smoke, just like the first.
At that point, a lumbering zombie shambled down the stairs, followed closely by large dog. “Did somepony ask for reinforcements?” called Rarity, from the top of the stairs.
The last mephit took one look at the forces arrayed against it, and curled up in a ball. “Nooo! I give up! Trixie wins! No kill! No want to go back!”
“So… you reckon we should accept his surrender?” Applejack asked, struggling to wipe the soot out of her eyes, without much luck.
Rainbow Dash gave a pointed glance at Twilight – still breathing, thankfully, but obviously badly hurt. “Yeah, no so much.”
“Ahhh! No kill! No k – gglllrk –“
It took some doing, between the mephit’s resistance to most damage and the strange blurring effect, but between the two of them and the ‘reinforcements’, they eventually managed to take the thing out.
With the monsters cleared out, the party quickly searched the rest of the basement for any sign of trouble – or of Trixie. While there were no additional unicorns to be found, living or dead, they did find an expensive bedroll set up in one of the alcoves, near a small ritual circle drawn on the floor in black and red chalk. Other ritual components were nearby – strange candles, a silver bell, and a leather-bound book with what Rarity identified as the symbol for the plane of smoke on the cover. Rainbow Dash also spotted a pouch full of gold wedged into a small gap in one of the walls, behind a loose brick.
Which was a good thing, since between the extensive scorching from the repeated fire spells, and the crate full of fine china that Pinkie Pie had decided to use as an improvised weapon, their share of the barkeep’s money turned out to be just enough to cover their meals for the night.
Applejack just shook her head in disgust. “Never try to out-fox a merchant.”
“We didn’t come out of it with nothing, at least,” Twilight replied, dividing up Trixie’s gold into six equal piles. “If nothing else, it was certainly an experience.”
“Plus, we got this super-fun puzzle to do!” Pinkie Pie said, pushing around pieces of the shattered plates and bowls and trying to find which bits went together.
“I’m worried about this ‘Trixie’ character, though,” Twilight continued. “You don’t spend this kind of gold without some sort of plan, and what sort of Moon-forsaken plan involves summoning a bunch of wild mephits into the basement of a random inn?”
“I’m worried that these summoning rituals exist at all,” Rarity said. “These are far too cheap and easy for something that pierces the planar boundaries. Why – with these special candles, and the incantations from this book, I could open a portal to the plane of smoke.”
“Eee! Found a match!” Pinkie Pie said, holding up two pieces of ceramic to Rarity, who nonchalantly tapped them with a hoof, repairing the break with a cantrip. “Do you guys want to help? It’s really fun, really!”
“What’s the point?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s not like we’ll need fancy dishes when we’re out in the wilderness hunting monsters.”
Pinkie Pie giggled. “Oh, I’m not going to take them with us. Once I’ve got them all fixed, I’m selling them back to the barkeep for the hundreds of gold that he said they were worth. I mean, really – little pieces of fired clay, worth hundreds of gold? In the basement of some random inn, in the middle of nowhere?”
“More like the middle of everywhere,” Applejack said. “But I get yer point. You think he was cheatin’ us?”
“Oh, I hope so,” Pinkie Pie said, holding up another pair of shards for Rarity to mend. “Because if he was cheating us, then he’s a bad guy, and if he’s a bad guy we get to keep all his stuff!”