Learning to Master the Art of the Dungeon

by ADashofShy

Twilight's Adventure: The Trials: Blood and Bone Pt. 1

Twilight’s Adventure: The Trials: Blood and Bone Pt.1

After a few perplexed glances Twilight clarified the riddle. “Basically the riddle is saying any class that is combat-oriented.”

“Well that certainly doesn’t sound like me at all!” Rarity responded emphatically.

“Can Trixie go to them and help them out?”

“Well, you don’t know that this is happening, so…” Twilight left the sentence hanging, hoping Trixie would understand.

“I’ve totally got this!” Sunset said with confidence.

Still addressing Trixie, Twilight said. “If you wanted to talk amongst the group about what to do-”

“The cleric and I head over to where Sunset and Rarity are-” Lyra interrupted.

“You mosey on over?” Twilight cut in with a grin.

“Yeah, mosey on over, check out what’s going on.” Lyra replied.

“Could we try the other door?” Rarity asked after Lyra was finished moving the miniatures.

“You can try.” Twilight replied.

“Well, we still have not seen what the other door does.” Rarity explained.

“You push on the door and magical writing appears.” Twilight said quickly.

Only those of Divine may tread,

Prove yourselves or become undead.

Trixie gasped, a look of excitement and delight shone clear across her face.

“I’ve got this one.” Rarity said misinterpreting the riddle somewhat.

“Based on the riddles, Sunset and I will are combat classes and will take the combat trial.” Lyra suggested to the group. “And then-“

Twilight cut her off there. “I’m not going to run separate things at the same time just so you know.”

“Am I just out of this essentially?” Derpy cut in.

“Well the other two have walked over to Sunset and Rarity, but you can catch up if you want.” Twilight replied. “You’re just drinking until you-”

“You’re piss drunk.” Sunset cut in.

With a goofy grin on her face Derpy leaned forward in her chair to move her miniature. “I rush on over-” She began before Twilight cut her off.

“I’m going to rule that if you’re going to be drunk then you’re going to take a -2 penalty to your Intelligence score.”

“Okay how about this: I’m not drunk.” Derpy replied. “I just had a swig of the alcohol, I didn’t drink gallons.”

“Uh-huh.” Twilight said skeptically.

Most the group responded skeptically as well.

“Okay, so I stagger over to the rest of the group.” Derpy moved her miniature so it stood with the others. Facing the group she put herself in character. “Sorry about that, I just needed a little top up! So what’s going on, what do we got here?”

“The wizard appears and she reeks of alcohol.” Twilight simplified with a chuckle.

Returning to the previous conversation Lyra looked to Twilight. “So you’re not letting us split up?” She inquired.

“I’m not able to run two combat encounters at the same time.” Twilight responded. “That’s going to hurt my head.”

The group quickly caught Twilight’s slip-up.

“So they’re combat encounters!” Lyra said, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.

“Wait hold on a minute we’re fighting?” Derpy chimed in.

“Well, yes I’ve tried to imply that for at least one of them.” Twilight said, attempting to take her mistake in stride.

“Why don’t we go do the regular combat, then we do the divine one.” Lyra offered.

“Can someone take the time to explain to me what’s going on?” Derpy said, having been both not present for the in-game and out of game reading of the riddles on the doors.

“Basically one of them sounds like it requires combatant-oriented classes, and the other has something to do with the divine and undead.” Twilight said, summarizing the riddles as succinctly as possible.

“And that will be where I go: Okay, I’ll take care of some undead for us!” Derpy said, slipping once more into character.

“Alright, seeing as Twilight would like us to keep together, Trixie, Sunset and I will go in and you two wait outside.” Lyra dictated, indicating that Derpy and Rarity should wait. “Unless of course you want to come and provide magic missile support.”

To this of course Rarity quickly refused, stating that she was far too frail for what might be heavy combat.

“Alright then, looks like me, Trixie and Sunset will go in.” Lyra said.

“Okay.” Twilight got up to begin drawing the new room on the map. “So the door opens.” She took a deep breath and began drawing.

“Well Rarity, looks like you and I get some time to know one another.” Derpy said cheerfully.

“Oh boy.” Sunset said, giving Rarity a sympathetic look.

At this Rarity heard a dark chuckle, as if some unknown evil force was laughing at her dire predicament.

Pushing on Twilight finished drawing the map. “I’ve had to modify it a little due to limited space but it’ll work.”

“Did I tell you about the time that I ran into a troll?” Derpy said.

Rarity gave a most unladylike groan. “Uuuugh!”

“It all started on a midsummer’s day...” Derpy recounted with a far off look in her eyes.

“Sweet Celestia help Trixie!” Trixie cried out painfully.

Suddenly Derpy stopped. “Wait so who’s venturing in?” She asked.

“We have the cleric, the fighter and the ranger.” Twilight replied.

“So Trixie, Sunset and Lyra?” Derpy said.

“Yep.” Twilight replied once more. She then turned to address the three adventurers who were entering the trial room. “So this room-” Twilight was cut of by Derpy joking about how she should tell Rarity her whole life story while the others were in the trial. Twilight gave a weak whistle to get the group’s attention but to no avail. Finally, raising her voice brought them back to the important part of the adventure at hand. “SO girls, right in front of you is some REALLY tall grass. But through the grass you can kind of make out a torch. What do you want to do?”

“So do you want to go, you first, me in the middle and the cleric in the back?” Lyra asked Sunset.

“That sounds like a good marching order.” Sunset agreed.

“Ok, so you walk through the tall grass and find yourself in a clearing marked by torches, looking up it appears that you’re outside and there appears to be a starry sky above you. Looking closely though you can make out rocky outcroppings.” Twilight described the room. “Also in the centre of the clearing there is a stake with a note pinned to it.”

“Is there a window from which I can view this clearing?” Derpy asked, wanting to see the group’s warriors in action.

“You know what, magically, a little side room appears for the wizard.” Twilight said, drawing an additional room beside the trial room.

“C’mon Rarity, let’s go in here and spectate, I’ll continue to tell you the story about the troll!” Derpy said happily.

“Wait, Twilight, so around the stake with the note, you said it’s a clearing.” Trixie said, looking for clarification.

“You’re in a clearing marked by four torches. The corners are marked by the four torches.” Twilight clarified.

“Very well, Trixie would like to go up and read said note!” she said, the authority returning to her voice.

“The note simply says ‘Survive.’” Twilight told Trixie. “And as you walk up to the middle, you hear chanting in Goblin.” At this Twilight grinned. “Roll Initiative.”

---

Sunset drew her greatsword, her muscles tensing as the sound of goblin chanting filled her ears. Beside her, Lyra pulled out her bow and nocked an arrow, ready to shoot anything that entered her sight. In the middle of the clearing Trixie stood looking for the source of the chanting.

In at attempt to ferret out the hiding goblins, Sunset swung her sword at the grass in front of her. However, as she swung, her sword impacted against a magical barrier; it appeared that the group was confined to the open ground. At this, Sunset swore under her breath in frustration, but remained where she was, hoping to get the goblins as they entered the clearing. While Sunset prepared to attempt an ambush, Trixie used her keen gnome ears to locate any of the goblins. Listening intently she managed to narrow down the general location of one of the goblins. Using this knowledge, Trixie fired her crossbow into a patch of the grass but unfortunately hit nothing.

At the same time Lyra attempted to pinpoint the goblins by using her keen hearing. As she strained her ears she managed to narrow down that one of the goblins was located in the corner near her. With this knowledge she fired off two arrows in rapid succession at the same patch of grass. Unfortunately both arrows whizzed into the grass, hitting nothing.

As the final arrow flew from Lyra’s bow, three goblins came crashing through the grass and into the clearing. The first goblin to come through ran up to Trixie and swung its morningstar at her. In its excitement to draw first blood, it swung too soon before reaching Trixie and missed her by inches.

The second goblin stayed away from the battle observing the three adventurers and waiting for the right time to strike. The third member of the goblin gang decided to rush Lyra, thinking the archer to be easy prey. However his clumsy swing was easily dodged and Lyra simply sidestepped the blow. The final goblin of the group swung at Sunset from his hiding spot in the grass, but due to the poor combination of his height, and the unique brand of bad luck they seemed to be having, the fourth goblin also missed his target, simply swinging at empty air.

In response to the goblin attacking her, Sunset swung her greatsword with deadly precision decapitating the goblin with a single swing. A spray of blood went up from the stump where the goblins head used to be, splattering Sunset with red

.Meanwhile, Trixie went to reload her crossbow. As she did, the second goblin, seeing an opportunity, swung his morningstar. Trixie, sensing the attack, without interrupting her reload deftly sidestepped the goblin’s swing and fired her crossbow. As the bolt whizzed by the goblin’s head Trixie cursed the goblin for throwing off her aim.

As all this unfolded the three remaining goblins continued to attack the group. The goblin by Lyra brought down its sword and dealt a light blow to her leg. The goblin that Trixie narrowly missed attempted to pay her back but once again missed his target. The other goblin standing near Trixie also attempted to wound her but as he swung Trixie dodged, the blow glancing off her armour.

As Lyra attempted to shoot the goblin in front of her he lunged, swinging his sword ferociously. At the last moment Lyra stepped back, right as the steel blade passed in front of her nose. In retaliation she fired off two arrows in rapid succession. Unfortunately as she nocked the first arrow, she pulled the string with too much force and her bow became unstrung. Lyra cursed under her breath at her bad fortune and quickly backed away from the goblin.

Seeing Lyra’s predicament, Sunset rushed over and swung at the goblin. Her sword landed cleanly in the lower abdomen, wounding the goblin greatly, however it rallied and managed to stay standing, glaring defiantly at Sunset.

Across the clearing Trixie once again went to reload her crossbow, and once more the goblins took the opportunity to attack. Haunted by their bad luck however both missed as Trixie sidestepped their blows. As she dodged Trixie fired her crossbow at the second goblin, spearing the bolt through its nose.

Seeing his companion speared through the nose, the first goblin swung angrily at Trixie. In his anger he swung too wide and missed Trixie altogether. The goblin with the crossbow bolt in his nose glared at Trixie and swung his morningstar. Due to the distracting pain of the bolt the goblin also missed Trixie and gibbered in frustration. The goblin near Lyra and Sunset didn’t act, still amazed by the gaping wound in its abdomen.

Frantically amidst the action, Lyra restrung her bow and took aim at the wounded goblin, hoping to secure the kill. Unfortunately she loosed the arrow too quickly and it soared above the goblin’s head and into the grass. “For the love of Celestia what is wrong with me!” Lyra grumbled.

As Lyra’s arrow flew by the goblin, it coughed up blood onto Sunset’s shoes. “Ergh, more goblin blood on me.” Sunset muttered as she brought her sword down on the goblin’s windpipe. Coughing blood on Sunset’s shoes seemed to have been effective distraction however, as Sunset only got the wind part of her attack, missing the pipe as the goblin ducked under the swing.

Still entangled in a fight with the two goblins, Trixie reloaded her crossbow, trusting that the goblin’s bad luck would continue to save her from being hit. As for the goblins, bad luck proved that unlike lightning it could strike multiple times in rapid succession. Upon completing her reload Trixie fired upon the goblin with the bolt stuck in its nose. The shot flew into the goblins ear lodging itself in some portion of the goblins brain, but the goblin still managed to stay upright and alive.

The brain-damaged goblin attempted to retaliate, however it seemed that enough damage had been done to him to severely impair his motor functions and his jerky swing went wide. Beside him looking as fresh as a daisy the first goblin lunged at Trixie swinging viciously, and continued to miss. Across the clearing the goblin with the gouged abdomen hacked more blood onto Sunset, swinging his sword at her. With his vision doubling due to all the lost blood, he swung at a phantom Sunset, cleanly missing the real one standing in front of him.

Deciding to let Sunset deal with the blood spewing goblin, Lyra turned around and fired at healthy looking goblin attacking Trixie, planting an arrow solidly in his thigh as he lunged.

“I am so sick of this goblin coughing blood on me!” Sunset yelled as more blood splattered onto her face. Aiming once more for the windpipe, Sunset sliced into it cleanly this time, and the goblin gurgled on the end of her blade, hacking up blood one last time before it expired.

Trixie reloaded her crossbow and once more the goblins seized the opportunity to attack. And like a bad smell, their bad luck would not go away and they both missed the cleric. In response to these latest attacks, Trixie fired once more on the goblin that now looked quite brain damaged. Due to an untimely sway from the goblin, Trixie’s aim was thrown off and her shot went wide.

As Trixie’s bolt soared into the grass, the goblins attacked, the brain damaged goblin missed Trixie entirely with a jerky swing at the open air, but the goblin with the arrow in his thigh managed to finally land a strike, his short sword grazing Trixie’s cheek.

Just as the short sword connected with Trixie’s face Lyra fired off a shot from her bow, with a miraculous combination of luck, skill, and training, she managed to put the arrow right in the goblin’s eye. The force of the arrow caused the goblin’s eye to explode, splattering Trixie, and the corpse hit the ground with a satisfying thud.

As soon as she heard the body hit the floor, Sunset dislodged her blade from the windpipe of the slain goblin and sprinted to attack the final goblin. Using her momentum Sunset brought her sword down on the goblin’s head and sliced vertically in half. With blood spraying everywhere the halves of the former goblin crumpled to the ground.

After the last goblin fell, the three adventurers looked around for a sign that they had completed the trial. As they looked, Lyra heard more goblin chanting, this time from deeper voices. Suddenly a hobgoblin came crashing through the bushes right in front of Sunset and another in front of Lyra. As this happened, Trixie spied a third hobgoblin coming out at the end of the clearing near the door.

The hobgoblin in front of Lyra swung its longsword with menace. Anticipating the attack, the ranger nimbly ducked under the attack. Meanwhile the hobgoblin that had come out of the bushes in front of Sunset attempted to remove her head from her shoulders. Unfortunately for the hobgoblin, bad luck was a cruel mistress, and as Sunset dodged his blow he was caught off balance and over-swung, sending his sword flying off into the grass. The final hobgoblin lumbered over from the edge of the clearing to take his turn to kill the flame haired girl, but she deflected the blow with her vambrace, while still laughing at the disarmed one.

As she ducked under the first hobgoblin’s swing, Lyra moved back and fired with her bow. The hobgoblin however had other ideas and somehow managed to bat the arrow aside with its shaggy paw, grinning all the while.

Sizing up her opponents and decided that the one who was still armed posed the bigger threat, Sunset brought her greatsword down on the hobgoblin. And then missed him entirely. At this Sunset swore under her breath. “Shit, I was doing so well.”

Trixie meanwhile hastily reloaded her crossbow and fired on the disarmed hobgoblin, hoping to weaken him for Sunset to finish off. However, Trixie acted too quickly and the hobgoblin growled as the bolt whizzed by his ear.

After the bolt flew by him the disarmed hobgoblin lumbered into the bushes and clawed around for his sword, retrieving it after a few seconds. The hobgoblin Sunset had missed decided to try and show her how to properly swing her sword, by once again trying to kill her. Having studied his lessons on swordplay thoroughly, the hobgoblin managed to land a blow, his sword biting into Sunset’s thigh with a squelch. The third hobgoblin closed the gap towards Lyra and took another swing. As misfortune would have it, the hobgoblin missed entirely, snarling in frustration.

In retaliation, Lyra took aim at point blank and fired her bow into the hobgoblin’s snarling face. The hobgoblin’s malodorous breath did little to deter Lyra and she managed to lodge an arrow in the back of the hobgoblin’s throat. At this, the wounded monster roared in pain, but remained standing.

As the hobgoblin by Lyra roared. Sunset hefted her greatsword and swung at the one in front of her. With a mighty swing Sunset cleaved the hobgoblin diagonally in half from shoulder to waist getting a liberal showering of blood and viscera in the process. The hobgoblin crumpled to the floor, Sunset standing over the corpse with a massive grin on her blood spattered face. “That’s what happens when you bring a knife to a sword fight.” Sunset said to the monster’s corpse.

Trixie meanwhile reloaded her crossbow, not realizing that the hobgoblin standing in front of Lyra was also beside her. Sensing an opening, the hobgoblin attempted to bring its longsword down on Trixie. Unable to react fast enough, the longsword cut into Trixie’s arm, causing her to let out a small scream of shock and pain. Despite the pain, Trixie managed to reload her crossbow and fired upon the hobgoblin in the bushes. In spite of the obscuring grass, Trixie managed to find her mark and another roar of pain echoed throughout the clearing.

The hobgoblin in the grass chose this moment to lumber back into the clearing and rejoin the fight. Swinging his longsword once more at Sunset. Luck however was on Sunset’s side, and she easily dodged the attempts to once more remove her head. At the same time, the hobgoblin who had attacked Trixie decided to try and press his luck, and found himself lucky once more landing another solid blow, the sword biting into her shoulder this time. Trixie screamed in pain once more, looking as though she might soon collapse.

In a foolish attempt to look awesome while trying to save her friend, Lyra decided to do a little grandstanding and fired her bow while looking away from the hobgoblin. Predictably her shot missed the hobgoblin entirely, even though he was standing right in front of her.

While Lyra embarrassed herself, Sunset decided to do what she did best: kill monsters with her greatsword. With a cocky grin on her face, Sunset brought her greatsword down on her prey, slicing the hobgoblin vertically in two. Unfortunately Sunset misjudged the power of her swing and only made it halfway down before becoming stuck, prompting her to plant her foot on the still standing corpse and yank the sword out, spraying her with a copious amount of blood. As soon as she had freed her sword, the hobgoblin’s corpse fell to the ground with a sickening squelch. “And here I was expecting some sort of challenge.” Sunset said as she gave her blade a quick inspection.

With darkness clouding the edges of her vision Trixie snatched a healing potion from her belt, unstoppered the bottle and went to drink the potion. Sensing an opening and the danger of the girl consuming the potion, the final hobgoblin took a desperate swing at Trixie. In his haste he missed her and Trixie downed the potion. Feeling much steadier with a fully healed shoulder Trixie let out a small sigh of relief and made her crossbow ready.

Knowing full well that his last moments were at hand, the hobgoblin decided to go out swinging. So once again he swung his longsword at Trixie, and once more all he managed to do was swing at the empty air.

Wanting to finish the fight quickly, Lyra fired two shots in rapid succession, but as Trixie was standing in her way at this point, the hobgoblin used her to dodge the projectiles. Lyra ground her teeth in frustration. “Dammit Trixie, why’d you have to move in front of me?” she muttered to herself.

Wanting to secure all three kills this battle, Sunset jogged over to the hobgoblin and attempted to decapitate him. Sadly Sunset had become a bit too cocky and forgot that she was not the only one who could dodge blows. In the end all she managed to do was shave some fur off the hobgoblin’s cheek.

With her crossbow ready to fire, Trixie took aim. As she lined up the shot, the hobgoblin, now sporting some rather unsightly facial hair, swung his longsword. Trixie however anticipated the attack and dodged it with ease, firing her crossbow as she ducked. With luck on her side, Trixie planted the crossbow bolt in the hobgoblin’s eye, which popped from the force, spraying Sunset with….eyeball. At this point, Sunset was looking quite red, with a touch of white from the eyeball goo.

The half-blind hobgoblin, unhappy with the shaving, faced Sunset and roared, swinging his sword blindly. Having half his vision meant that he was half as likely to land his blow, and the odds were not in his favour as he cleanly missed, swinging by Sunset’s head as she doubled over with laughter from how pathetic the creature looked.

Taking a few steps back to get away from the pathetic and disgusting hobgoblin, Lyra proceeded to line up a shot, but was too grossed out to look at the creature, causing her shot to miss entirely.

Having recovered from her bout of laughter, Sunset decided to try and clean up the mess of a monster in front of her. However as she swung, she caught another glimpse of the crossbow bolt nestled in the hobgoblin’s eye socket and was overcome by a fresh fit of sadistic laughter.

Trixie, following Lyra’s example stepped away from the hobgoblin, and reloaded her crossbow. Once she was finished she took careful aim and fired once more. This time she managed to hit the hobgoblin square in his midsection, putting a crossbow bolt right in his belly button. At this point, the hobgoblin looked almost ready to collapse but found the strength to stay on his feet.

With his refusal of death and the burning desire to kill the orange one, the hobgoblin roared once more, even as his vision began to cloud. He took another swing at Sunset, hoping to at least wound her before he passed from this world, but this time she parried the blow, denying the hobgoblin what might be his dying wish.

Wanting to wrap the battle up, but still getting over her nausea at seeing the hobgoblin’s eye pop, Lyra fired once more. But once again, she closed her eyes, this time just as she let the arrow fly and her shot missed, grazing the cheek of the hobgoblin, and evening out his facial hair.

Recognizing that her opponent was near death’s door, Sunset attempted to do what Lyra could not and kill the hobgoblin. But as she swung her greatsword the hobgoblin blocked her blow, refusing death for a second time.

Frustrated at her teammates inability to kill the hobgoblin, Trixie slammed a fresh bolt into her crossbow and fired at the monster. Finally managing to do what the other two had failed to do, the bolt landed in the hobgoblin’s good eye, and pierced its brain, killing it at long last.

A ragged cheer went up from the three adventurers, thinking that they had finally won. Sunset however noticed the hobgoblin’s hand twitching and poked at the body with her sword. Finding the hobgoblin to be unresponsive she let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia that’s over, I was getting tired.”

Choosing to be cautious, Lyra decided to listen for any more chanting, but could hear anything out of the ordinary.

Trixie on the other hand decided to abandon caution and went to loot all of the fallen enemies. To her dismay, the monsters did not have any valuable loot on them, aside from their (rather shoddy) weaponry.

As Trixie looted the bodies, Lyra’s keen ears picked up the sound of growling. At this she alerted the other two. ‘Guys, I think that there’s something else coming for us!” she cried out.

Catching a glimpse of a large creature with matted fur in the grass, Sunset readied her blade with a grin and said, “Looks like some bugbears have come to play.”

Author's Note:

Here we are, the first chapter to contain combat. I attempted to write the combat how I imagined it happened.

I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
I'm always looking to improve.

Additionally, I've taken over the Natural 20s count for any who are interested, as it stands:
Lyra: 1
Derpy: 1
Sunset: 1

Comments

[clubbzz]

I've had games that went like this.