Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay

by DoctorSpectrum

Chapter Six: The Bridge of Death

“…Right, so where is this primitive tribe who have the tablet?” Octavia asked a few moments after she realised that Vinyl didn’t have a plan.

The unicorn shrugged. “Is that something you can roll for?”

“Not in this case,” said Natural Twenty, “as the two of you have a nagging feeling to head north.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow to Natural Twenty as Vinyl grinned and said, “Fine then, we’ll head south.”

Not this again, thought Natural Twenty, sighing internally. I go and set up a plot thread like that, and they just completely ignore it. “You can’t head south,” he said out loud, “there are poisonous plants in the way, and they’ll instantly kill you both if you touch them.”

“Fine then. We’ll head east.”

“More plants there. Also to the west.”

“…then how the bloody hell did we get to the temple in the first place?” Vinyl swore.

Natural Twenty thought about it for a moment. “You flew Octavia over the plants from the south. And-” he hastily added, as he saw Vinyl open her mouth, “due to the strange nature of the Amarezon, the plants have grown and multiplied amazingly fast, so you can’t fly over them now.”

After a moment of trying to think of a counterargument and failing, Vinyl scowled. “I hate this campaign,” she muttered.

“Well if you can find a way around the plants feel free to suggest it,” said Natural Twenty, “but if you can’t, shall I assume that you travel north?”

“I’ll use my magic to burn the freakin’-”

“Say, what is it exactly that makes us want to head north?” Octavia interrupted. “Aside from the fact that we are apparently surrounded by deadly plants?”

“…You see a glimmer in that direction which you suspect is loot?” Natural Twenty suggested.

“Excellent! Come on Vinyl, let’s head that way!” Octavia said cheerfully.

“But Octavia, what if –”

“I’ll roll to knock out Vinyl and drag her with me,” said Octavia, picking up and rolling a d20. “How does a seventeen sound?”

“Good enough for me,” said Natural Twenty. “Octavia successfully knocks out Vinyl and drags her northwards.”

“Goddammit, Octavia,” growled Vinyl, “I’m – I mean, my character – is going to have angry sex with yo- your character later the likes of which have never been seen!”

“I look forwards to it like nothing else,” said Octavia dismissively. “Anyway, you were saying something about loot, Natural Twenty?”

“Ah, yes. After dragging Vinyl northwards for around an hour, you end up outside a small village,” said Natural Twenty. “It looks as though the gleam you saw from a distance was from the sun shining off a gold tablet outside the village.”

“What the hay is that doing there?” Vinyl asked. “Sounds kinda pointless to me.”

“The villagers put it there to ward off evil,” said Natural Twenty, waving a hoof dismissively. “And before you two ask, it’s not one of the tablets you need for the temple.”

“I shall roll a stealth check to attempt to steal it without anypony noticing,” said Octavia. As she picked up the die to roll, she was interrupted by Natural Twenty.

“Don’t do that yet,” he said. “You see, there’s something I haven’t mentioned…”

“Urgh, of course there is,” Vinyl moaned. “What is it? A hydra guarding the tablet? A spell designed to blow up the entire Amarezon if the tablet is touched? A complex lock over the tablet, requiring another, separate quest to find it?”

“…Those are all actually quite good ideas,” said Natural Twenty, writing down something on a piece of paper as he spoke. “You may have just given me a few ideas for later in the campaign.”

“Ah, shit.”

“Anyway, I was going to say that the thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that whilst you’re outside the village, you’re not immediately outside it,” Natural Twenty explained.

“Meaning?” asked Octavia.

“Meaning that between you and the village is a rickety wooden bridge,” said Natural Twenty. “It stretches across a deep ravine between you and the village; a ravine which is at least thirty metres deep. Looking downwards, you see a shallow-looking river filled with rocks, which would surely deal a decent amount of damage were you to fall upon them. The bridge itself has some rotten and weak-looking wooden planks – as you watch, the wind blows one of them off the bridge and down the ravine.”

Octavia grimaced. “How far across the ravine is it?”

“Around fifteen or so metres.”

“Am I conscious yet?” Vinyl asked.

“Sure, why not?” said Natural Twenty.

“Hmm… I am not sure that I wish to risk going across the bridge,” Octavia commented. “Vinyl, do you have any ideas as to how to reach that tablet? And the village as well, I suppose?”

“Sure do,” said Vinyl. “I’ll pick you up and fly you across.”

“…You’ll what?” asked Natural Twenty, frowning.

“I said that I’ll pick up Octavia and fly her across,” said Vinyl, grinning. “I mean, I am conscious, and I can still fly, right? So what’s to stop me from doing it?”

Natural Twenty scowled as he thought carefully. “Sorry, did I say that you were conscious? I meant unconscious,” he said.

“Oh, come on!” Vinyl shouted. “That’s bullshit! At least let me roll or something!”

“Fine then,” sighed Natural Twenty, “roll an endurance check. We’ll assume that you’ve been unconscious this whole time.”

Vinyl did so. “Ten, with my endurance bonus,” she said, wincing a little.

“Well then, guess who’s still unconscious?” asked Natural Twenty, grinning.

“Urgh. Sorry, Octavia, but it looks like you’ll have to do this one by yourself,” said Vinyl. “Blame him,” she added, pointing to Natural Twenty.

“Hmm…give me a moment to think…” said Octavia, looking over her character sheet. “Natural, could I potentially leap across the chasm given that I have a high stunts skill?”

“Potentially, but I’m warning you right now, you’ll have to roll quite highly, and if you fail then you will fall down the chasm,” he cautioned.

Octavia looked at her character sheet a few more times, thinking carefully. Natural Twenty will probably make it that the bridge will crumble as I am crossing it, and that I shall have to roll to get across safely… I suspect that he will probably have some sort of scheme to prevent me from crossing safely that way. Although there is a high amount of risk, I think that leaping across the chasm is likely my only real option.

Breathing deeply, Octavia said, “Natural Twenty, I am going to try and jump across the chasm.”

Vinyl gasped. “You can’t, Octavia! It’s suicide! Well, for your character, at any rate.”

“I know what I am doing, Vinyl,” said Octavia calmly. “Natural Twenty?”

“…Very well then,” said Natural Twenty, putting one of his hooves to his mouth in contemplation, “roll when you’re ready.”

Octavia took another deep breath and picked up one of her d20s – this one was purple and white. I haven’t rolled this one yet for fear of using up its natural twenties, she thought. Let us hope that I am lucky. Slowly, cautiously, reluctantly, Octavia shook the die in her hoof for a few moments, before throwing it lightly onto the table. As she did so, she felt her heart rate build up exponentially out of nerves.

All three ponies in the room leaned forwards to watch the die as it clattered across the table. After what felt like an eternity, but was in reality was barely a few seconds, it stopped. Octavia let out a breath she hadn’t realised that she was holding as she saw the number on top of the die: twenty.

“W-well then,” she said, her heart rate slowing down, “with my stunts skill being eleven that gives me a thirty-one in total. I assume that that I successfully leap across the chasm?”

“Naturally,” said Natural Twenty. “You step back a few metres before charging towards the edge of the cliff, and with a mighty effort, leap off the edge! Your speed and strength are great enough that you land cleanly on the other side, and you don’t even hurt yourself doing so!” He smiled. “Nice roll, Octavia.”

“Thank you, Natural,” Octavia said, smiling as well. “Now that I am on the other side, I shall approach the gold tablet, and –”

“Uh, aren’t you forgetting someone?” Vinyl asked, putting a hoof up for attention. Octavia’s voice stopped immediately, Vinyl’s words hitting her like a ton of bricks. She slowly turned to Vinyl, one of her ears twitching slightly.

“Surely you- you don’t mean-”

“Well, I’m unconscious at the moment, so I’m sorta gonna need you to jump back over and carry me across,” Vinyl said casually.

“…Vinyl, are you aware of the circumstance which allowed me to leap across the chasm? There is almost certainly no way that I could make it across again to help you!” Octavia exclaimed. “Can’t you just- I am not sure- stay there until you’re conscious again, and then fly across?”

“She can, if she wants to be prey for one of the fearsome creatures of the Amarezon Jungle,” said Natural Twenty, smirking.

Octavia facehoofed. “Oh my Celestia…” she muttered to herself. “Fine, I shall jump back across and get you across as well somehow. Even though I am certain that I shall regret it…”

Picking up the same d20 as before, Octavia once more shook the die in her hoof a few times before rolling it. She winced as she saw the result, as unsurprised as she was by it. “How does a seventeen sound?” she asked Natural Twenty.

“You fall into the chasm,” he said cheerfully.

“Argh!” Octavia shouted. “Bucking hell! Thanks a lot, Vinyl!”

“Wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t knocked me out,” Vinyl said, shrugging.

“Argh… this is the worst possible thing ever!” said Octavia, pressing her hooves into her face. “How much damage do I take, Natural Twenty?”

He rolled a die. “You got lucky, Octavia – you landed in water, so whilst you still taken eighteen points of damage, I believe that that should survive that.”

“…Excellent,” said Octavia, choosing not to remind Natural Twenty of the damage she’d taken from the fedora hat earlier. “Although I am now at the bottom of the chasm with no way to get out,” she said, grimacing.

“Oh, this’ll be easy,” said Vinyl. “I’ll roll to gain consciousness,” she said as she threw a d20 onto the table. “Sweet, with my modifiers that’s a twenty-one. That good enough to wake up?” she asked Natural Twenty.

“I see no problem with this.”

“And now I’ll just fly down to Octavia, pick her up, fly her out and – hey, what’s the matter?” During Vinyl’s description of her actions, Octavia had facehoofed once more.

“Did it not occur to you to try and wake up before I leapt across the chasm?” Octavia growled. Vinyl shrugged.

“I didn’t think he’d let me,” she said, pointing to Natural Twenty.

“You could have at least asked!” Octavia shouted.

“True, but I mean – do you want to stand around arguing about who knocked out who and inadvertently lead to their own downfall, or do you want to get a hold of that golden tablet just sitting outside the village oh-so-innocently?” Vinyl asked, before batting her eyelids at Octavia.

Octavia’s anger and frustration was immediately replaced with eager, optimistic enthusiasm. “Of course! How could I forget? Natural Twenty, I would like to roll a stealth check to steal – actually, now that I think about it, have any of the pony villagers seen us?”

“It’s late afternoon, so most ponies are inside eating dinner right now,” said Natural Twenty. “Thus, more or less nopony has seen you yet.”

“Excellent!” said Octavia. “I shall still roll a stealth check though, as it never hurts to be cautious.” She picked up a green d20 and rolled it. “With modifiers, that’s a nineteen.”

“The tablet is attached to a large rock, but with a bit of effort you’re able to pry it off,” said Natural Twenty. “What now?”

“I shall put it into my saddlebag, and ensure that nopony can see any parts of it sticking out.”

“Naturally,” said Natural Twenty, “although due to its weight I shall make you suffer a penalty to acrobatics checks whilst you’re carrying it. Vinyl shall also suffer penalties to carrying you whilst flying if you still have the tablet on you.”

“That seems reasonable,” said Octavia, although she grimaced as she said it. “What now?” Natural Twenty rolled a die.

“Well, now the village sentry, who did see you earlier, and who did see you take the tablet, will beat his drum, summoning the rest of the villagers to surround you,” said Natural Twenty. He grinned. “I hope you’re ready for more combat!”

Comments

[Kenshinryuu]

I was honestly hoping for a "Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see!" type scenario. Got to love Monty Python. And I could have seen Vinyl having fun with the questions and finding ways to trick the bridge keeper.

[DoctorSpectrum]

3916645
I meant for this chapter to mostly take place in the village, but I ended up spending too much time on the bridge, so I decided to rename the chapter, and this was the best title I could think of. So if the intention for this chapter from the start had been for it to be all at the bridge, I definitely would have done a riff on that. I'll hopefully find a way to put it into a later chapter.

[Kenshinryuu]

3916931 Any Monty Python and the Holy Grail references would be appreciated. Holy Hand grenades, Black Knights, French Taunting, and Knights who say Ni!

[Bronypony2000]

That was funny and I think it's stupid to have
People dislike your stories they're awesome!!

[thecookiewookie]

Love the story, but I gotta say: Nat Twenty SUCKS as a DM. When forcing the campaign, you do it by making the characters' own actions end up causing the story. For example, 'As you arrive at the tree, you realize that your group has already moved on, and there's a looming sandstone monument nearby'.
THAT is good DM'ing. Nat Twenty is just a control freak.