//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: An Unexpected Rescue // Story: At the Inn of the Prancing Pony // by McPoodle //------------------------------// At the Inn of the Prancing Pony Chapter 28: An Unexpected Rescue Mary Jo shuffled around a few sheets of paper as she prepared to referee the events of the following day for the party of adventurers. “The next morning you wake up, and eat breakfast from your rations,” she told them. “You say your farewells to Nestoria, and make your way outside her cave. “‘Be sure to come back afterwards and tell me what happened,’ the hermit says to Sparkle. She then gestures to Hope that she wants a word with her in private. You wait politely at the edge of the cave’s ‘porch’ while the two of them speak. Nestoria seems angry, but then the calm earth pony suddenly turns on her, saying two quick sentences that leave her utterly mortified. She backs up into the cave, and closes the door.” Ellen frowned, struggling to separate the speeches of her sister and of Hope, trying to figure out how much of it was planned. “Well, Midnight welcomes her back, cautiously. ‘Are you okay, Hope?’” Carry On’s player seemed buried in her equipment list, adding things they had picked up. “Hope looks briefly back at the closed door. ‘She...she just thought that I didn’t belong with the rest of you. I’m sorry for being too gruff with her. I promise to apologize on the way back.’” Ellen had noticed by now that Mary Jo didn’t even bother to pay attention when Hope did anything, seeing it as an opportunity to organize her notes, roll up stats, and so on, all while the words poured automatically out of her mouth. In fact, it took her a few seconds to realize that nothing was happening. “Right!” she exclaimed nervously. “So, you’re back at the crossroads, and Nestoria told you that Eggswife’s Horn, and therefore the Lost Caverns, are south. Which way do you go?” Ellen went back to watching Jojo. “North,” Luke said before laughing and rolling a die. “South, of course, I rolled a...17 for mountaineering, can I plot a course to Eggswife’s Horn?” Mary Jo eagerly picked up her Percentile Dice of Deadly Random Encounters and started rolling them loudly in her hand. “So you’re leaving the trail?” she asked. Ellen raised a hand cautiously. “I don’t know how I feel about this, since the path might take us there.” “‘What?’” asked Susan as Torn Deck. “‘Are you saying that the evil overlord who ruled a mighty empire from the Lost Caverns actually ran a road to and from her HQ? Smacks of Lawful Good behavior to me.’” “We go south along the trail,” said Gary with an eye roll. “Okay, you walk down it for about a half hour before it splits. One path heads pretty straight south towards the Horn, while the other...hold on...while the other path heads southeast.” She sounded a bit annoyed at her own distraction mid-sentence. “Hope looks down the southeast path. ‘What are those?’ she asks, pointing up in the sky.” “Do any of us need to roll anything to see whatever she’s seeing?” asked Gary. “No, no, it’s clear enough, at least in general,” Mary Jo told the players. “You see a pony-sized bird. It is attempting to dislodge a pony who has bridled it.” She then wrote something on a scrap of paper that she passed to Gary. “It’s a baby roc,” Gary read aloud. “I guess I could tell because of my pegasus eyes and the fact that I know just about everything ever. Oh, and the earth pony riding it is wearing a checkered bandana, which identifies him as part of the Earth Pony Army.” “Okay, so we don’t head straight for the Caverns,” Susan—Torn Deck’s player—concluded. “We could intercept them here, give them a misleading tip,” Ellen said, before hastily adding “That was in character, sorry.” “Hope, her lips firmly buttoned, keeps her opinion to herself. She races off down the southeast path.” “What?” asked Susan. “Is she going to disapprove even when we do the right thing now?” “Itty Bitty puts on an unexpected burst of speed, and catches up with Hope,” Mary Jo told them. “The rest of you are only a short way behind them. The path crests and then drops away into a mountain valley. This isolated place is one of rugged beauty, with rock spires and jutting mesas rising from a dish-shaped valley. The rock formations make the place a series of meadows and dells. There are scattered shrubs and a few groves of trees, but most of the area is covered with lush grasses. But enough about food...what do you do? Hope and Itty Bitty are increasing their lead.” “Can we reign them back?” Susan asked. “This place looks like a good place to get ambushed in.” “Well, you try,” said Mary Jo. “But you don’t want to be so loud as to attract attention, so...no. “The two race over a hill and are now out of sight. You begin to hear noises up ahead of a struggle, a struggle that seems to have broken out too soon to actually involve the earth pony or the pegasus.” “Well, no need for quiet now,” said Susan. “We race up to the hill.” “You follow the sounds of fighting around a couple of groves of trees to the space under an overhang of rock. There, you see several earth ponies in checkered bandanas fighting against flying creatures far too small to be even newborn rocs. Hope stands right in front of you, watching the battle. Itty Bitty, on the other hoof, has already dived in on the side of the flying things. What do you do?” “Oh crud, Um...Midnight lights up her horn and casts down Sanctuary for the most injured bird, before standing on the hill’s edge and raising her sigil up into the air. ‘By the light of the sun, and all that live below it, cease your fighting!’ Aand...” She rolled a few dice and winced. “Five hit dice of creatures are compelled to see me as friendly?” “Four ponies look up at the sigil in awe. ‘The Three-in-One!’ they cry out in unison. They look at each other, then race towards you. ‘Oh, cleric of the one true pony,’ one of them says. ‘Please guide and protect us!’ A second earth pony declares, ‘I was never in support of this venture in the first place!’ From the glares of the other three, he is obviously lying. “Meanwhile, Hope looks over at you. ‘The flying roc we saw was probably imprisoned at the back of that cave. I’m going to sneak in and see if there’s any more that I can free.’” Mary Jo looked over at Luke, who had been rather silent all this time. Of course, he was playing the thief, so that was kind of expected. “Thieves’ Cant” was practically shorthand for “playing the game entirely through passed notes”, after all. One of those notes made its way into Mary Jo’s hand. It said quite simply, “Remove weapons, into bag, all earth ponies. 20, 17, 21, 15, 16.” The numbers represented the results of rolling a 20-sided die several times, and would be applied against the defenses of each opponent. “Well, I’m going in,” said Susan. “I charge up a…” Gary started to say, then frowned. “Where’s Carry On?” “You have no idea,” M.J. said with a smile. “That’s never good,” Ellen laughed. “Great, so no Fireball, then,” concluded Gary. “I cast Web. If the thief gets caught in it...tough. Anchored on the overhang and an edge of the cave entrance.” The thief’s player calmly declared “Twenty eight” after rolling a pair of percentile dice. Ellen leaned forward. “Okay, so the thief is probably in the midst of them all, I think that I am going to do some good with my minions. ‘My followers! Please keep these poor birds, these creatures beneath the sun safe! Do not hurt them or your friends!’ Um...thirteen on my Diplomacy?” “Yeah, that will work,” said M.J. “They are already gullible enough to work for a maniac, after all. While you were talking, one of the ‘birds’ has flown up, armed with a miniature mace. ‘Bird?’ the miniscule flying pony cries out in a shrill voice. ‘Who you callin’ a bird? I’m a breezie!’” The audience and half of the players at the table groan at once, for this is a member of the notoriously-awful new player race that was introduced with the Second Edition in a transparent ploy to lure in the coveted four-year old market. Similar to Ewoks, nobody who wanted to be seen as “cool” ever admitted to liking them. Luke, as the breezies’ creator, cringed in his chair. “Oh!’ Midnight cries out, taking a step back. ‘An oversimplification for the sake of peace, nothing more! I only wish to keep anyone from being killed,’ and I roll for my diplomacyyy...agh, an eleven, my luck had to run out eventually.” “‘Yeah, whatever,’ he said. ‘Are ya with those dirty slavers, or against them?’ The Web spell goes off, by the way, and entangles three of the remaining earth ponies, including the one that Torn Deck just knocked out.” “‘I am against all forms of slavery and persecution,’ Midnight declared, as she held up her sigil. ‘Of all creatures under the sun!” Ellen was really getting into the interaction again, leaning forward in her chair and holding up her d20 in place of her sun sign. “You’re interrupted by Facet racing past you into the fray. ‘A true cleric bashes in the heads of her gods’ enemies. For Kelogto!’ She...gets one pony upside the head with her Staff of Striking, and wounds another on the backstroke.” Mary Jo then pretends to polish her nails on her lapel. “Also, Itty Bitty finally takes down the pony she has been fighting for the past two turns, although she looks pretty wounded.” Carry On’s player rolled a die, then suddenly smiled, and showed the natural 20 to the PH. Then he rolled again and his grin widened. Two more dice, and he wrote out a quick note with a neat skull on the back, before giving it to M.J. “Just then, Hope goes flying out of the cavern. She carves a neat hole in Burnished’s web, and slams into Facet, knocking her down. Stepping out of the cave and in front of the web is a freakishly large earth pony. ‘Eeeeaaaaahhhh!!’ he…” The spectators erupt into laughter at her laughably poor attempt to pull off a deep voice. “None of that!” Mary Jo warned. “Yeah, anyway, he screams his defiance.” “Okay, now I want to cast Fireball,” said Gary. He put on a particularly evil grin as he added, “I aim it at the web.” “‘I challenge you to single combat, leader vs. leader!’ cries Torn Deck.” “‘Boss! Boss! Boss! Boss!’ chant the remaining enemies,” M.J. tells them. “Burnished would be quite vociferously protesting his self-elected status,” said Gary, “if he weren’t busy casting a spell right now.” “‘Fine,’ said the enormous pony. ‘As the challenged party, I get to pick the weapon. I pick ponies!’ He steps forward, effortlessly picks up Hope and lobs her at you.” “Get him back to the web!” Gary cries. “Um...my character did not say that out loud. Still casting, still casting…” “Well, Midnight has to get Hope! So, full strength TK, grabbing her and trying to cushion her fall. ‘Where is Carry On?!’ she cries out.” Ellen pointedly looks at the player. Luke smirked. “Having killed the strongest looking earth pony in the group, and taken his appearance as my once a day disguise, I toss his pin-cushioned body directly at the big pony. Strength check...oooh, once a day reroll...that’s better, twenty two after adjustment.” “He staggers back a bit, but quickly recovers. ‘Hey, one at a time!’ he says with a pout. Pointing at Torn Deck, he says, ‘I’m fighting this one now. Wait your turn.’” “I…” Torn Deck’s player stalled. “I look around for something useful. Something other than a pony to throw at him.” “Get h—” Gary starts to say, before interrupting himself. He groans wordlessly in frustration. “Carot stumbles to her hooves. ‘That was no way to engage in honorable combat!’ she declares. ‘Hope, dear, are you alright?’ “Hope slowly opens her eyes, looking around until she finds Boss. ‘You’re missing something...’ she says, pulling a hoofful of golden bands out of her saddlebags. “‘No...’ the Boss says, backing away in horror. Not towards the web, Gary. Hope looks around at the other adventurers. ‘Duck,’ she instructs you, before dropping to the ground.” Gary threw his hands up in the air. “Ah, to hell with it—I was never going to hit him anyway. I duck.” Ellen ducked to the table, as though really acting through Midnight’s actions. “Is it safe yet?!” “Hit the me!” Susan cried out playfully. “Itty Bitty has fainted from blood loss,” Mary Jo reported. “So Facet is the only one who doesn’t react fast enough when three enraged baby rocs emerge from the cave and attempt to hammer the boss pony straight into the rock. He tries to escape, but then the roc from the beginning of the encounter picks this moment to join his siblings. He is noticeably missing his rider. Well, after that the remaining two ponies run for it, pursued by the other breezies.” “Can I cast a healing bolt on the cute pony from where I’m laying?” Ellen asked. “Yeah. You take care of her, while a bloodied Facet walks up to Hope. ‘Are you alright?’ she asks. ‘I’ve been better,’ Hope replies from the ground. “The breezie from before flies up to Midnight. ‘Thank you,’ he says with some reluctance. ‘You ponies did the bulk of the fighting, so the ill-gotten gains of those malefactors are yours.’” Ellen got back up from her prone-on-the-table position and smiled. “Good Sir Breezie, I would not want to take the gains from your people’s enslavement. But if you give it for the good of the world, or as a donation to the sun...’ she not so subtly hints.” The PH and the other players looked at her as if she were insane. Then Mary Jo recovered herself and replied for the breezie. “‘We were not enslaved,’ he says, raising a delicate eyebrow. ‘We were here to rescue the rocs, and for no other reason. Besides, one of those bits is wider than I am tall—how am I supposed to spend it?’” “Rightio...I forgot what breezies were like. ‘Oh, well I apologize profusely. I could provide you with some healing in that case, to hurry you on your way.’” “Less roleplaying, more immediate gratification,” Susan groused. The laughing audience agreed with her. During this time, Luke passed another note to M.J. that read “Loot everything but currency and magic items to be sold in bulk, gather the rest for the party.” A tedious procedure occurred at this point, known as “awarding experience”. As I assume most of my readers are not mathematically inclined, I shall not describe it in any detail. Along the way, the adventurers ended up somewhat richer, and also a bit better armed: Torn Deck gained the boss’ Crossbow of Speed (“Sweet!”), and Carry On claimed a Rope of Entanglement. “Who takes the gaudy brooch that the boss pony was wearing?” Mary Jo asks. “Well, my character was the one who challenged him,” Susan started. “Right,” said Luke. “Go ahead and wear the incredibly attention-grabbing treasure that everypony and everymonster is going to want to kill you to get.” Susan gives Luke a look. “I claim it, and don’t wear it.” “Burnished walks over to Hope,” Gary said. “‘And what, pray tell, are those?’ He’s pointing at those gold bands you mentioned earlier.” “‘I’m not sure,’ Hope replies. ‘Except that they were what was keeping those rocs docile. I saw one of them lying on the ground, and guessed that the escaping one must have accidentally knocked it off.’” “Burnished takes one for later study, with Hope’s permission, of course.” M.J. smiles. “Hope grants it, and puts the other three bands back in her saddlebags. Seeing that the rocs have settled down after getting their revenge on the pony who killed their mother—I would have had him reveal it to you in a dramatic monologue, if somepony wasn’t so interested in taking him down—she approaches to look to their health.” It did not escape the other players’ attention that the character she was castigating was one that she herself was controlling. “The main breezie consults with the others, who have returned from their pursuit of the fleeing earth ponies. ‘OK, we’ve reached a consensus,’ he informs them.” “‘Err...do you have a name, Mr. Breezie?’” Susan asked as Torn Deck. “‘I am known...as Bumble the Brave!’ the breezie proclaims. ‘It’s not funny! Anyway, we’ve decided that you lot are alright, for goofy-looking giants, that is. We’re extending an invitation to a party at our village tonight.’ He then puts on a very serious expression as he adds, ‘No looting.’” “Well, Burnished wants time to examine the band before entering the caverns, so he doesn’t mind.” “‘I’ve always wanted to know more about breezies,’ says Itty Bitty. ‘I suppose I can put off returning to my beloved earth for a little while,’ says Facet. ‘Any opportunity to make more friends,’ says Hope.” Ellen sighed. “Midnight looks wistfully around. ‘Must we leave the camp here so soon? Will we have time to offer up an offering of all the stuff here we don’t want to Cele—’” “How exactly were you going to pull that off?” Susan asked, out of character. “Burn it?” “I mean, if there was a Church of Celestia, you could go and make a donation,” said Gary. “But seeing that you are the Church of Celestia…” “Well, we would...I would say that burning anything damaged or soiled would turn it into fertile ash for the soil. Any metals and such...donated to the soonest homeless we meet. Midnight says as much, and smiles serenely,” Ellen decided. Mary Jo listened patiently. This wasn’t the first time she’s dealt with over-enthusiastic cleric players. “Yeah, alright. As far as you know, there aren’t any other hostile ponies around who would be attracted by a bonfire—” “I wake up one of the unconscious earth ponies and find out if there’s any other hostile ponies,” Susan quickly said. “Yeah, alright, they’re the scout party for the Earth Pony Army, and the others are a day’s march behind them,” Mary Jo told them. “A day?” asked Susan. “Do we really have time for a party?” “Hey, I think this research is important, and besides, I need to refill my spell slots,” said Gary. “The clerics are in the same boat. We have no choice but to start the caverns in the morning instead of earlier. Might as well squeeze one last party in, right?” “Oh! Ohohoh, Midnight starts to obsessively gather all the soiled and ripped tents, fabrics, the dead bodies, and she starts making a pile for a bonfire.” “She is assisted in this by the four earth ponies you turned earlier, but with some reluctance. After all, they are handling ponies that they fought beside, ‘before learning the error of our ways’.” “Excellent, I...Midnight comforts them. ‘There’s a lot of bitterness in death, but there are more beautiful things beyond, in Celestia’s lands. Each of you take one of your comrades, take them to the nearest town to begin receiving a proper burial.’ She gives them a few gold coins apiece, and a bit of rations to help them along. She then turns back to her party once those four have started along their way.” Ellen gave them a cocky smile. “‘The blood spatters will leave a trail, along with enough hoofprints to be possibly a large group. The larger group will think that the whole group went that way, giving us a good diversion. Bonfire?’ Midnight lights the pile aflame with a burst of magic. ‘A supposed signal fire to convince them to try and follow the scouts or turn back.’” “Hope, who had been watching you rather intently, turns with a toss of her head.” “Good thinking!” said Susan, ignoring Hope’s reaction. “For a second there, I thought you were going to throw away some good loot haulers for no reason whatsoever!’” “Hope...Hope, did I do something wrong?’” Ellen asked, eagerly and seemingly hurt by the reaction. “‘Hope?’” “Huh,” Mary Jo said to herself. “I would have thought that that little explanation was said out of character, but…she doesn’t want to talk. I guess we’ll move on to the party.” # # # “There’s a party,” she said a second later, deadpan. “There are hors d’oeuvres, and pin the tail on the winged donkey, and even a piñata. Of course, being breezies, everything is ridiculously tiny. Burnished ignores the festivities to focus on his research on the circlets.” Gary makes some rolls, which he reports to M.J. “You find out that they act as a Charm spell, specifically making the victim obey any orders that anyone gives her. The amount of magic invested in the device is so huge that it looks like resisting the effect while wearing the band is nearly impossible. Hope, who has been looking over your shoulder the whole time, asks, ‘Is there any way that it can be reversed?’” “‘What do you mean?’” “‘I mean, do you think you could make a band that cancels out any and all mental manipulation?’” Gary looked quizzically at Mary Jo. “‘What possible use could that be?’” “Hope sat back on her haunches. ‘Are you telling me that you’ve never gone into a dungeon, and had something try to take over your mind?’” Gary grumbled. “Damn mind flayers... Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” Ellen sat back. For the lack of a better word, she seemed wounded, but she stared at her sheet instead of her sister, while Luke was compiling a list from notes Mary Jo had passed him, probably of collected loot. “Bumble the Breezie lands on Midnight’s shoulder. ‘So, I expect that you’re heading to the Caverns,’ he says in a poor attempt to start a conversation. ‘Go in and drag out all of the gold and magic like everypony else?’” Ellen looked up, and nodded. “Midnight speaks softly, reverently. ‘My aim is to rid the world of the weapon of power inside. To give it up to my goddess, so that it may never be used to hurt another living thing.’” “Bumble turns his head. ‘And who says you can trust a goddess?’ he asks. ‘We thought we were serving a goddess once. She brought us here from the desperate place we were before, told us that she was the only good pony in a world of evil ones, and then set us out into this world to be her spies. Her name was Eggswife.’” “Midnight hangs her head in respect to the suffering of his people. ‘I’ve spoken with my goddess, and she makes no demands or offers...she just wishes that I do good. I suppose...I think that doing this is good. I hope that she feels the same way. But it’s the only path I have.’” “‘She’s trapped us here,’ Bumble confides to you. ‘A hundred years have passed since her death, and we still can’t leave this valley. There’s some kind of powerful magic in her lair that keeps us here.’ He lifts up on his wings and hovers before you. ‘I want to join your party,’ he says. ‘Do what I can to break this curse, and make up for all of the lives we ruined through our error in judgment. Do...do not take pity on me! I can truly carry my own! Watch.’ He reaches down to a silver leg band, and twists it. It’s color changes to gold, and with a flash, the breezie is replaced by a pegasus pony. “This manages to get everypony’s attention. ‘Who are you?’ asks Hope. ‘I am Bumble, and this is one of the magics that Eggswife gave to her servants—the ones she didn’t enslave with those headbands. It allows us to become ordinary ponies. I am no adventurer in this form, but I can take a good deal more harm than I could as a breezie. “‘Have you got any more of those bands?’ Hope asks. ‘Sure,’ says Bumble, ‘but you lot are already ponies.’ One of the other breezies flies in with a box filled with the magical items. Hope picks one up and pulls on it—it magically expands to be large enough to pass over her own hoof, if she so desires, and shows no signs that it couldn’t be pulled even larger. ‘Excellent,’ she says to herself.” “‘Mare, what are you up to?’” Burnished Lore’s player asked. “Hope merely gives him a mysterious smile.” Ellen sat forward again, and focused on Gary. “I need for Bernie to do something for Midnight. She takes him aside, and asks if she can purchase one of the mind control rings from him.” “‘Alright,’” said Gary in character. “‘After I’m finished building the anti-mind control ring.’” “You’re finished building the anti-mind control ring,” Mary Jo quickly said. “In fact, you’ve converted it into a first-level spell: Burnished Lore’s Ring Reversal. It only works to turn mind-control rings into anti-mind control rings, so no fair trying to use it on somebody suffering from some other kind of mental influence.” “Oh!” exclaimed Ellen. “Then I claim it for a hundred bits.” Ellen carefully notated the subtraction on her character sheet and wrote the mind control ring in her list of possessions, before carefully declaring her action: “I place the ring on myself and think of the sun.” # # # “What?!” practically everybody in the room exclaimed. Mary Jo gave her a sad look and shook her head. “Your vision is filled with a blinding white light,” she told her. “And it feels like your body has been incinerated by an unbelievably intense heat. You have a sense of immensity within you, of infinity around you. For one brief moment, you are the sun. “Then you find yourself back in the Astral Plane, with Celestia. ‘What is wrong with you?!’ she demands. ‘You would be dead right now if I didn’t just save you! No single mortal is meant to channel that much magical energy!’ (At least not before 20th Level.) ‘You...’ she stops on seeing your tears.” Mary Jo peered cautiously over her screen, hoping desperately that Midnight’s player wasn’t aping this aspect of her character as well. Thankfully, there were no tears on Ellen’s cheeks, but the look of awe and fear that Mary Jo saw brought back memories of late night hikes through the woods and secrets that her younger sister had let slip at the wrong moment. She obviously hadn’t understood what exactly she was doing. Mary Jo silently prayed that Celestia wouldn’t screw this up, and then allowed the character to speak through her. “‘You have done far better than I would have expected. Than one who has been in my service for so very little time. Perhaps...I am mistaking justifications for true motivations.’ She uses a hoof to lift Midnight up from her crouched position. ‘I do not require slaves,’ she says gently. ‘Or vessels for me to inhabit. If you know me, you know how I treasure clever minds. That is what I wish most of all from you, Midnight Sparkle. A pony who carries out my wishes...in a way that I would never expect. Otherwise, I’d just go down there and do it myself, yes?’” “‘Or...and forgive me if I speak out of turn...you would have my faithful friend, Hope do it,’ Midnight says cautiously, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she looks up to Celestia with curiosity unbound.” “‘That would be a matter between her and me, don’t you think?’ Celestia says with a small smile. ‘But yes, if there was something that I thought she could do better than you, I would forward the request through you, and it would be up to her to obey it. The same applies to any of your party, I suppose, although you are correct that Hope would be the most amenable to well-phrased requests.’” Ellen nodded, and relaxed a bit. “Then...I’m sorry for alarming you. I only have one more thing, the reason I wished to consult with you at first: I feel that I have failed my friends somehow, yet I know not how. What should I do to grow closer to them?” Ellen looked around the table, and mouthed “sorry” and shrugged, acknowledging that she was taking a lot of game time. “‘It is a pity that you cannot take them here,’ Celestia says, gesturing to her surroundings. ‘It is quite peaceful here, if you take the time to get used to it. But seriously, you need to talk to your friends if they have a disagreement with you. Knowing adventurers, they will probably try to make a fight of it, but I believe that persistence in this case will be rewarded. Is there anything else you wish to ask of me?’” “Celestia, am I allowed to say your name openly when I am out adventuring? I would like to...” “‘That would be Cutbelt’s c—’ Whoa, that’s creepy!” For the briefest of moments, Mary Jo-as-Celestia felt a gigantic version of her own eyes glaring down at her. “Mary Jo, are you alright?” Gary said, reaching over to pick up her hand. “You’ve been really—” “Cutbelt during game time!” Mary Jo snarled. “How many times do I need to say that?” Gary quickly pulled his hand back. “Alright, alright!” M.J. looked back at Ellen. “She said...yeah, you can say it. You can start handing out ‘Truth About the Sun’ pamphlets and everything—knock yourself out.” “Okay, great, that’s all I needed, I end the commune and take the ring off,” Ellen said quickly, smiling a bit more than usual. “Yeah, no, that’s not how mind-control rings work,” M.J. said with a grin. “Celestia uses her magic to remove it, and you wake up. Rather interestingly, the ring is nowhere near you when you recover.” The other three players all shared a nervous look—the rogue wannabe goddess now owned save-proof mental magic. “Nice one, Midnight,” Susan muttered under her breath.