Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay

by DoctorSpectrum

Chapter Eleven: Those Magnificent Mares in Their Flying Machine

“Um…” Octavia looked at Natural Twenty awkwardly. “I somehow don’t think that going after Celestia in a warship will be allowed, Vinyl.”

“Oh, on the contrary, Octavia, I am perfectly fine with you and Vinyl going after Celestia,” said Natural Twenty. “Of course, I can’t actually guarantee that you two will actually be able to defeat her, but should that happen, you’ll both be rewarded generously. Probably.”

Does that mean…more loot? Or does he just mean that we would become the new rulers of Equestria? wondered Octavia. Or could he mean that we’d be thrown into Canterlot Castle’s dungeon? She glanced over at Natural Twenty, who was smiling at her friendlily. It’s hard to gauge what his intention is should we go after Celestia … but at the same time, I like the idea of being rewarded with loot and becoming the rulers of Equestria… and then Vinyl and I could send servants out to finish off the temple in the jungle!

Thinking over a few more points, Octavia came to her decision. Knowing that she would regret it should it prove to be the wrong one, she faced Vinyl. “Vinyl?” she asked.

The unicorn mare was currently trying to balance a d20 on her nose, but it clattered to the ground as she raised her head to look at her friend. “Yo?” she asked.

“I completely agree. Let’s go take out Celestia using this ship!” Octavia announced. Now with a bit of luck, Natural Twenty will have been bluffing the entire time, and he won’t have planned for us to fight Celestia – thus giving us the element of surprise!

Vinyl grinned in agreement. Then a moment later she frowned. “Hey, I don’t have a slow reaction time!” she growled. There was a pause between all the ponies in the room.

“…I beg your pardon?” Octavia asked, confused.

“You were just saying how sometimes I have a slow reaction time!” Vinyl exclaimed. “And then you patted me on the head with those soft cuddly hooves of yours – have I ever mentioned they’re great for cuddling me- and then –” Vinyl stopped as she looked at Natural and Octavia, both of whom were raising their eyebrows at her. Her mouth slowly curled upwards from a confused expression to an awkward smile as she pieced together the situation. “Let’s never speak of this again?” she asked.

“Only when I need to tease you about something, you silly mare,” said Octavia, leaning over and giving Vinyl a friendly poke in the ribs.

“Vinyl’s sudden reaction aside, what are you two going to do?” asked Natural Twenty. “Or rather, what is Vinyl going to do?”

“Can she use her magic to reverse the spell on me?” asked Octavia.

“If she rolls well enough with an arcana check,” Natural Twenty replied. Both ponies turned to Vinyl.

“Well, Vinyl?” asked Octavia after it became apparent that the unicorn wasn’t going to roll the die immediately (she was trying to balance it on her nose again). “Are you going to roll the arcana check?”

Once more, the die fell to the ground as Vinyl looked at Octavia. “Depends,” she asked, slurring the word somewhat, “do I get cuddles if I roll well enough?”

Octavia smirked. “Oh, you’ll get a lot more than just cuddles, Vinyl,” she said, batting her eyelids a few times. “Assuming you pick up on the hints for once…” she added afterwards in a low mutter.

“Sweet!” said Vinyl, grinning. “Let’s spin this!” She clumsily levitated her d20 from the floor and threw it to the table. “Eighteen!” she cried happily.

“Which added to your arcana skill, gives you a thirty-two,” said Octavia, glancing at Vinyl’s character sheet. Both mares turned to Natural Twenty in unison. “How’s that?” Octavia asked, grinning.

Natural Twenty grimaced, unsure what to do. On the one hoof, that’s really not a high enough roll for Vinyl to undo high-level magic like that, he thought. On the other, most of this session was supposed to be them sneaking around the pirate ship and fighting the pirates, so I’m low on material to stretch it out…

“Well?” Octavia asked.

Natural Twenty shrugged. “Sure, whatever. Vinyl’s spell manages to undo the previous one she cast, turning Octavia back into a regular Earth pony.”

“Oh, cool!” said Vinyl gleefully. “Does she have, like, super lizard powers now?”

Octavia let out a small gasp of excitement as she considered the possibilities. Climbing around walls to avoid traps…being able to smell danger…having to find warm spots to heat my body – wait, that last one wasn’t so good… Shaking her head slightly, she grinned at Natural Twenty again. “Do I?”

Natural Twenty smiled friendlily. “No.”

Vinyl gasped. “What?! That’s bullshit!”

“Yeah!” agreed Octavia. “Why don’t I get lizard powers?”

“Because… there’s no reason for you to?” Natural Twenty pointed out slowly, raising an eyebrow. Octavia scowled.

“Damn. I was hoping that you wouldn’t think it through properly,” she said. “Regardless, we should probably do something about the pirate-lizards, Vinyl.”

“Do you think that if one of them bites you you’ll gain super lizard-pirate powers?” asked Vinyl excitedly.

“…I could improve my sword-fighting skills!” Octavia said, thinking it over.

“You could get drunk on rum with me!” Vinyl pointed out.

“We could sail the ship to an island and I could take it over using my pirate powers!”

“You could plunder my booty!”

Both Vinyl and Octavia were both very excited by this point at the prospect of Octavia gaining lizard-pirate powers. They both turned to Natural Twenty excitedly. “Well? Do I get the pirate powers?” Octavia asked.

Natural Twenty had been watching the two converse with a bemused look on his face, but as Octavia asked him, he raised an eyebrow. “…Why do you need to be bitten by one of the lizard-pirates to develop the powers?” he asked. “Can’t you just grab some pirate clothes from the ship, put them on, and declare yourself a pirate?”

Octavia scoffed. “Really now, Natural, you of all ponies should know that one simply doesn’t become a pirate overnight.”

Me of all ponies?! Natural questioned.

“Being a pirate is a way of life – I can’t just jump into it,” Octavia continued. “That’s why I need a pirate-lizard-”

“Lizard-pirate,” corrected Vinyl. “A pirate-lizard is a lizard who’s a pirate, not a pirate who’s a lizard.”

“- a lizard-pirate to bite me and give me the powers of a pirate,” Octavia finished. “It’s the only way in which I can become a pirate so suddenly.”

“Although it’d be much cooler if you were bitten by a lizard-ninja,” Vinyl pointed out. “Ninjas are much cooler than pirates.”

“I suppose that pirates are somewhat dirty, yes,” Octavia agreed, thinking it over quickly. “Regardless, would I get super lizard-pirate powers were I to be bitten by one of the lizard-pirates?” she asked.

“No,” said Natural Twenty bluntly.

“You’re not going to at least think it over?” Octavia asked, disappointed.

Natural Twenty blinked. “I’ve thought it over, and my answer is still no,” he said.

“Damn,” Octavia muttered. “I suppose we’ll just have to find some lizard-ninjas after all.”

“Hey, is the plural of ninja ‘ninjas’ or ‘ninja’?” Vinyl suddenly asked. As Octavia opened her mouth to answer, she was interrupted by Natural Twenty.

“You know, you two still haven’t decided what to do about the lizard-pirates,” he pointed out.

Octavia shrugged. “I suppose that Vinyl can just fly them all up to the crow’s nest. That way when they transform back into ponies they’ll be stuck up there, giving us the opportunity to tie them up.”

“Ah, but what if some of them are pegasi?” Natural Twenty asked mischievously.

“I didn’t see any pegasi,” Vinyl slurred.

“…Of course not. This is all imaginary,” Natural Twenty pointed out.

“Then I imagine that there are no pegasi-pirates!” Vinyl declared happily. “I mean, man, can you picture how crazy that would be? Pegasi-pirate-lizards. What’s with this campaign?”

“You two joined it, that’s what,” muttered Natural Twenty. “Anyway, I guess we’ll just have to see whether there are any pegasi in amongst the lizard-pirates, won’t we?” He was shaking a d20 in his hoof as he spoke, and he rolled it onto the table as he finished. “Natural One? Seriously?”

“You really rolled that badly?” Octavia asked, trying to contain her excitement.

“Yes, and it’s all the fault of Natural One –my brother,” he explained, seeing their confused looks. “It appears that he used up all of the natural twenties on this d20 when I wasn’t looking. I can’t believe that he would do that!”

Octavia shrugged. “Well, it looks as though none of the lizard-pirates are pegasi, so I suppose there’s nothing to allow their escape once they’re in the crow’s nest!” she said. “Vinyl, I assume that you’ll fly them up?”

“Aren’t I too drunk?” Vinyl asked, trying to balance a d20 on her nose for a third time. “That’s totally irresponsible, to fly while drunk!”

“…You’re drunk right now, Vinyl. You’re not in the roleplay,” Octavia said.

“…Seriously?” Vinyl asked. She rolled around so that she was on her back, looking at Octavia upside-down. (The d20 fell off her nose and to the floor once more). “Why aren’t I in the roleplay anymore? Why did you and Natural Twenty kick me out?”

Octavia facehoofed. “No, Vinyl, I meant… you’re still in the roleplay, but within the roleplay you’re not drunk. So you can fly the lizard-pirates to the crow’s nest.” She sighed. “Does that make sense?”

“…Can I get drunk?”

“There is some rum in the hold where you two were imprisoned,” Natural Twenty helpfully pointed out.

“Can I, Octavia? Rum is sooooo tasty!”

“Weren’t you just saying how dangerous it is to fly whilst-”

“I’ll let you be on top tonight if you let me get drunk,” Vinyl interrupted, grinning sheepishly.

“Deal,” said Octavia instantly. “Get as drunk as you like, Vinyl – just make sure that you fly the lizard-pirates to the crow’s nest.”

“Huzzah! I’m drunk!” Vinyl declared. She blinked. “…I need more alcohol, I can feel myself sobering up.”

“Do you mean in the roleplay, or real life?” asked Octavia, frowning.

“Both,” Vinyl said, shrugging. Octavia waved a hoof dismissively.

“Whatever,” she said. “The pirates are now up in the crow’s nest, so when the spell wears off they’ll all be stuck up there, and we can deal with them safely. They also don’t have weapons, so we should be fairly safe from them.”

“Good job, team,” complimented Natural Twenty. “Got to say, I didn’t expect you two to end up stopping them without a fight.”

“Well, it was really thanks to Vinyl,” said Octavia. “Without a time-freezing bracelet, I was completely lost. Anyway, can we search the ship for loot?”

“Sure,” said Natural Twenty. “Both of you roll perception checks; they’ll determine how much you explore the ship and what you find.”

“Sixteen with my perception skill added,” said Octavia. “How did you roll, Vinyl?”

“Nineteen,” said Vinyl, “with my modifier. Do I find something cool?”

“Yes you do,” said Natural Twenty. “Whilst looking around in the captain’s cabin, you open his draw and find –”

“Is it a subwoofer?” interrupted Vinyl.

“No,” answered Natural Twenty, “it is not. What you find is a compass, a treasure chest-”

“What’s in the chest?!” asked Octavia, sitting up straight. “Gold? Weapons?”

“The chest is filled to the brim with gold coins – all up, you estimate it to be worth about five hundred bits’ worth,” said Natural Twenty. “Consider it your reward for defeating the pirates without actually getting into a fight.”

“Cool,” said Vinyl, grinning. “Let’s chuck it overboard.”

“What?! Think of all the loot we can buy with that!” Octavia exclaimed.

“Hey, we need to get this bird into the air soon,” said Vinyl. “We’re gonna need to get rid of whatever weight we can.”

“…What bird? We’re on a ship, Vinyl,” said Octavia, deadpan.

“I know! An airship!” said Vinyl, beaming.

“But Vinyl, we-”

“Sssssshhhh!” Vinyl slowly said, leaning across from her armchair and putting a hoof over Octavia’s mouth. “You need to save your breath for blowing up the balloons,” she said quietly.

“I suppose, but-”

“Ssssshhhh! Balloon time now.” Vinyl leaned in and gave Octavia a quick kiss, grinned, then slid back to her armchair. “So, Natural Twenty, we have a compass, yeah?”

“Assuming that you didn’t throw it overboard as well, yes,” he answered.

Vinyl went over it in her head for a few moments. “…Nah, I guess we can keep it. Anyway, is there a map around in the captain’s cabin?”

“I was about to say that you found it with the compass and treasure before you interrupted me earlier,” said Natural Twenty. “It’s a map of one coast of Equestria and the islands within about one hundred kilometres of it.”

“Sweet!” said Vinyl. “I’ll plot us a course back to Canterlot, then help Octavia blow up balloons to get the ship into the air.”

“Do you two plan to do anything before getting the ship airborne?” asked Natural Twenty. Both ponies shook their heads. “Well then, let’s see how well your idea works.” Shaking one of his d20s in his hoof, Natural Twenty threw it to the table and watched as it rolled along.

“As you two attach more and more balloons to the ship, you can both feel it pressing into your hooves more gradually as time passes,” he narrated. “By the time you’ve started blowing up balloons in the final crate, you can look over the sides of the ship and see that it’s already out of the water.”

“None of this makes sense,” Octavia pointed out.

“They are magical balloons,” Natural Twenty quickly said. “As the final few balloons are tied to the ship, the entire ship floats into the air! Somehow, the two of you are able to steer it using the ship’s wheel. Vinyl finds an engine in the cargo hold which allows her to magically control the speed of the ship. Within minutes, the two of you are off to Canterlot, ready to slay Celestia for reasons I’m not quite sure of.”

There was a moment of silence. “And then?” asked Octavia, feeling quite excited by now.

“And then the session ends, because I hadn’t planned for any of this and I need to get onto that,” said Natural Twenty, smiling. “Sorry guys.”

“What for? We didn’t have to get in any more of those bullshit fights; I had a good time,” said Vinyl. “Am I right, Octavia?” She held out a hoof for Octavia to brohoof, which Octavia lightly tapped in return. “Yeah!”

“So, shall we meet again in a few days for the next session?” asked Octavia as Natural Twenty started to pack up his belongings and levitate his figurines into his saddlebag.

“Yes, that should work with me,” he said. “Monday I’m free; would that suit you two?”

“Sure,” said Octavia. “About one o’clock?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Natural Twenty said as he put the last of his belongings into his saddlebag. He nodded politely to both mares, waved a hoof, and then headed out the door. There were a few minutes of idle silence in which Octavia examined the figurine of her character whilst Vinyl tried for the umpteenth time to balance her d20 on her nose.

“So did you have any plans for after roleplaying?” asked Vinyl after the d20 fell off.

“Weeellll…” said Octavia, leaning partly off the couch towards Vinyl, “I was thinking that since we’ve got the house to ourselves again, we could maybe go to your room and cuddle for a bit.” She batted her eyelids a few times. “What do you think, Vinyl?”

Vinyl grinned. “I’m just gonna go grab a quick drink or two, then sure!” She leaned over and kissed Octavia on the nose. “Back in a sec.”

Octavia leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes as Vinyl got up to get her drinks. It had been a fairly good session today, all things considered. If it were up to Octavia, there would have been a decent combat session, but seeing how the last fight went it was probably better that there wasn’t one in this session. Still, if Celestia really was going to be fought in the next session then Octavia supposed she was getting her wish.

Octavia opened her eyes and frowned. How long did Vinyl say she was going to be? she questioned. Listening carefully, she couldn’t hear the sounds of the unicorn from anywhere in the house. “Vinyl?” Octavia called out. Getting no response, she got up from the couch and looked around the house.

It wasn’t long before Octavia found Vinyl – the unicorn was in her room, lying face-down on the bed. “Vinyl?” Octavia asked, feeling slightly nervous.

“Heeeeyyyy babe……” Vinyl mumbled, rolling over slightly so that she could speak properly. “’Sup?”

“When you said you wanted drinks… did you mean alcohol, or water?” asked Octavia, sitting on the bed and slowly stroking a hoof through Vinyl’s mane.

“I just wanted a little bit of booze, to keep the buzz going, y’know?” asked Vinyl. Her voice was very low and quiet. “Guess I overdid it a bit, huh?” She chuckled slightly.

“Oh Vinyl, you silly, silly mare,” said Octavia, lying down next to the unicorn. She gave Vinyl a small kiss, but the white mare had already closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Sighing, Octavia wrapped her hooves around her lover and joined her in slumber.

Comments

[Blue Eyed Brony]

I am loving Vinyl in this.

[LightningBass94]

Drunk Vinyl is best Vinyl!

[Kenshinryuu]

Nice chapter... and I would have totally said "Roll the dice to see if you contract instant Ninja/pirate lizard powers!" to my players just because that is awesome.

[ShadowLDrago]

4037648

Same here. I wonder if they will be facing, Celestia, Trollestia or Molestia. I suppose we're going to find out.

[survivor]

*Finishes reading* *Punches self in face* There that should make up for all the facehoof's.
Anyway this is a great chapter and I love the slow reaction time bit. Well... I hope the rest of the chapters doesn't end in me punching myself.