Canterlot High's D&D Club

by 4428Gamer

(14) Character Creation

Rainbow Dash's POV
⎅⟒⍀⊬⊑ ⍙☍⊑ ⋉⍀⎍⍜☌ ⍀⟟ ⌇⎍⌰⌿⎅

---

"What is this?! Where are we?!"

"Down! Down! Down! Down! Down! Down!"

Both Gilda and I turned around to find three new figures that were definitely not there before moving around like we were. Two of them were terrified when they saw that we were miles above the ground standing on effectively nothing while the third one was looking around, spotting the planet and the clouds below us as well as the two suns high above us.

Wait. I rubbed my eyes and looked closer. Yesterday, when we were fighting the boss in the game, there were a bunch of our characters that showed up on Story's screen. These three didn't make all of them but they were definitely the same.

Thorn Wielder, Stostine, and...Ravathyra, I listed, stopping as I saw her. She was in the same armor the picture had her in but her face wasn't a face. Instead, her entire head was...like my head. The same shape, ears, everything. Only it didn't have any hair and its skin color was off. It looked bleached blue all over and the eyes looked carved in rather than there being eyes at all.

My spine started shaking as I watched Sunset's character try to calm the other two down. What was so weird about it was that the three of them as they spoke and screamed from how high up we were all sounded like us. Stostine sounded the same as Sunset and while Thorn Wielder was screaming I could imagine Fluttershy talking just like that.

"Is that your guys' characters?" Gilda asked, a complete loss for words.

I nodded and turned back to her. "Now do you believe me? It's magic! How else does any of this happen?!"

Back on the bleachers with the others, we started resting our eyes for a moment only to open them and realize everything was gone. We were suddenly standing with the bleachers or school nowhere in sight while the thin clouds glided beneath us and the two suns, one blue and small and the other orange and larger, overhead.

Gilda took it better than I thought she did. After she realized she wasn't falling but instead standing on air, she started looking wide eyed at everything around her. I guess the cool factor was better than the fear for her.

"I. I-I mean," Gilda tried to backpedal. "I dunno Dash. I'm still more sold on thinking Story and the bacon hair chick laced my coffee with something."

We had been here for maybe three minutes now and I spent it trying to come clean about magic. By this point screw the stupid 'No telling on magic' rule! I wasn't about to keep this from Gilda. Now if only I could get her to believe me. If I had Spike and a couple dog treats this would be settled with by now.

I groaned into my hands and Gilda sighed. "Alright, fine, look, I'll go with it for now. Magic. Got it."

She turned back behind us and looked up at the fourth other person that was here. A mountain of a lady maybe a whole foot taller than even Gilda standing with a dark cloak draped over her large frame while her hands held a giant spear I wanted nothing to do with. In all, she looked like a viking giantess.

It was Gekio, Gilda's character. She was another thing that Gilda gawked at before trying to take out her phone to take a picture. Only her phone wasn't turning on. Not that it surprised me. I was starting to realize that things are never that easy.

"How's come she ain't moving though?" Gilda asked as she stepped up right before the spear. And like Gilda said, Gekio hadn't moved. No breathing, blinking or otherwise.

I turned back to our characters. By now Stostine had given up trying to calm the others down and I could see her speaking a few words to quiet for me to hear as she moved her hand around. Finally with a flick of her wrist, blue ghostly flames spilled from her eyes and she started looking around again.

"No idea," I admitted. "Actually, I don't know about any of this stuff. Sunset's always been the one with the answers."

Stostine settled on Thorn Wielders vines for a second before I watched her perk up as though she heard something. Then, without warning, she turned around to stare directly at us; the blue flames still licking off her face.

Woah, I thought tensely as I stepped back. Gilda noticed and looked back as well only to copy my movements. "Uh...Hey there?" I slowly tried waving out towards them. Are they really there then? Can they see me?

For a brief instant I remembered the run in I had with Applejack's dream a few days back where a kid was fighting a training dummy. The not-elf that was watching that heard me shout and then reached out and touched me. That thought made another shiver run down my spine. One that forced my shoulders to join in.

Gilda, meanwhile, took a moment to try tracing Stostine's line of sight. "Uh, Dash? I don't think she's lookin' at us."

As though to prove it, Ravathyra and Thorn Wielder soon spotted Gekio themselves and tried to ignore their situation.

"Now who's this?!" A heavy Scottish accent cracked. My character's Scottish accent. "What's goin' on?! Who are ya?!'

Stifled chuckles became a torrent of laughter as Gilda rested on her knees. "That. That was your voi— hahahahahaaa~!"

I don't sound anything like that!

I stared her down as she leaned back to lean on Gekio's glaive for support. However, where her hand would have grabbed the handle, it instead faded through it like the spear wasn't there in the first place.

She tumbled backward, her laughter shifting to a yell as she fell backward, through the spear and partway through Gekio's body. Then, as she was halfway to the ground, Gilda's body seized before her momentum suddenly shifted to the side as Gilda tumbled to the floor.

"Ahhhhh," She cried, clutching the back of her her as she twisted in pain and anger. "Gah, stupid friggin' spear! Banged mah God dang head on the piece a'—" she cut herself off as she kept hissing and rolled onto her knees.

I was there beside her in an instant, helping to sit her up. "What happened?! You okay?!"

"Okay?! No I'm not friggin' okay," she roared. "What a dumb question. I hit my head on the stupid spear!" Her anger was getting the best of her. "Ugh...Am I bleeding?"

I checked the back of her head. "No. No, you're good. Wait, spear? You didn't hit the—"

"I should be asking you that," a deep voice growled from right next to us. It sounded like Gilda if she made her voice deeper. "Where am I? How'd I get here? Start talking."

Gekio moved the glaive to her dominant hand and rose it up before driving it down at the ground. At us.

I wrapped my arms around Gilda and before I realized it tried using myself as a human shield but it didn't matter. With my eyes closed as tight as I could make them, I heard Gekio let out a breath and then the longest second of my life before the sound of metal wedging itself into the ground from underneath us.

I tensed even tighter with Gilda complaining for me to get off of her. She was still alive. I was still alive. I forced one of my eyes open just a crack and found the shaft of the glaive emerging out of my throat and through Gilda's spine. And we were fine.

"You think we did this?" Stostine's voice called out. She was only a little nervous. "We only now arrived. We are as scared as you are."

I let Gilda go, giving her enough space to sit back up and turn around to see the glaive harmlessly passing through her body as I turned around in time to see a spark of lightning dance across Gekio's wrist and to her neck before she gave the kind of toothy grin you'd find on an axe murderer.

"You think I'm scared?"

Gilda glanced back up upon hearing her own voice and right away read Gekio's expression. "Uh oh. That ain't good."

"What's not good?"

"Well, uh..." Gilda thought her words over. "If that's actually Gekio? Then they just called her a coward. I usually, um, killed whoever called her a coward."

My character stepped between Stostine and Gekio, shield and hammer ready. "Ah ain't gonna lie an' say we ain't, lass," she admitted. Gilda didn't feel like laughing this time. "We want no trouble. If anythin', we want as far outta yer sight as you do. So 'ow's about we play nice now?"

Gekio seemed to consider this for a moment. "You know. This isn't the first time I've been summoned to kill. Won't be the last either. But it's the first time he's given me such a sad, easy job. Every other time it's been a challenge."

Gilda and I got our feet and backed away from the giantess as I grabbed my hand to keep it from shaking so much. Okay. We need out. How do we that?

"Hold on," Stostine spoke, holding out her hand. She was more worried now. ""Wh-When you say he, are you referring to. To...T-To the Master?"

I glanced over at Gilda who just shrugged.

"Master?" Gekio sounded just as lost.

"Y-Yes." Stostine ran with it, sounding so desperate. "The Master. We. We hear this voice. His. He controls what's going on around us. Is that the voice you hear?"

What is this about?!

Gekio watched them carefully, wearing the same kind of expression Gilda has when I tried telling her about magic. Only this time, Gekio looked to have a breakthrough. "oooohhh," she hummed quietly. "Okay. I think I know what this is. This is a hazing thing, isn't it?"

Hazing?

"Haze?" Fluttershy's character asked, sounding too close to the real thing. "You see haze?"

"Lord Deniz did say he was seeking an army of warriors," Gekio went on, resting her chin on her finger. "Aside from the creepy turquoise one in the armor, you look a little frail to fit in. Then again? I guess I was like you. Once."

"Oh yeah," Gilda hummed. "Yeah, I remember making that up. That's some of the backstory crap I made up for the game."

Ravathyra sighed, her mouth and jaw not moving. "Yer crazed."

"Oh, I better be," Gekio promised with another crazy smile. "Because when Lord Deniz makes a move for Umberlee's crown? He'll need the craziest of them all leading you small fries. That's gonna be me."

"Yep." Gilda nodded along. "Made that up too. I can't believe she actually knows all of this stuff."

"Gilda?!"

"What?! It-It's a thing I did," she defended. "And she knows it! I mean, she's her, so I guess that makes sense but..."

"Just one more question," Sunset's character asked as she looked like she was about to do more magic. Meanwhile Thorn Wielder took out her scythe while Ravathyra readied her hammer. "Who are you?"

"A good question." She reached back and removed her hood, letting us see the hair and war paint that pulsed with more electricity. "My name is Gekio. Sole survivor of a dead clan from the northern shores of Skel. Kingdom of Giants. Oh."

Then she drew a spear from inside her cloak. "And your new leader. Get used to it."

"Oh boy," Gilda sighed just before Gekio let out a war cry with spit and static spraying out in her frenzy before a small boom of thunder rang out from her, making us flinch as she took off towards the others.

"Gilda, we gotta stop her!"

"WE?!" Gilda spun around towards me and glared. "Are you kidding?! Check the muscles on her! I might be strong Dash but I ain't strong enough ta stop that!"

"Well we can't just let her kill them!"

"Alright, then you think of something!"

"Me?!"

"Yes you!" Gilda glared. "You're the one who was spouting off about all this crazy magic, cult nonsense! You know what's going on, you figure it out!"

"I told you, it's not a cult, it's..." My focus fell to the fight as Gekio jumped over a swipe from Thorn Wielder's scythe before she brought a flying knee to her face and using her weight to take her to the ground.

Thorn let out a cry all the way down that sounded way too much like Fluttershy for me to ignore. Gekio, on the other hand, didn't care as she rolled back to her feet and kept running.

"DASH!"

"I. I-I-I don't know!" I screamed back. "I don't know this! Magic is Sunset's thing!"

"Steal her thing then," Gilda commanded. "You said she's your friend, yeah?! Then you probably saw her handle this before! Just. Do what she does!"

Gekio's spear glanced off Ravathyra's shield in an ear-piercing screech before body checking the armored girl out of the way. Then she went to plunge her spear into Stostine before she created this magical barrier between them.

At this point, Gilda took my shoulders and turned me away from the fight. "Dash. Think! That spear went through us, yeah?! We can't touch 'em! Think of somethin' else!"

"Okay, okay," I shouted, taking in handfuls of hair from the sides of my heads with my eyes darting around towards the ground which was still the planet below our feet.

She's right. Do what Sunset does. Think it through, I told myself. I decided to start from the beginning. Alright, well, we all showed up here. Gilda and me first. Then Gekio. Then the others. Gekio wasn't moving and the three of ours did the second they showed up. I tried telling Gilda about magic and she thought I was crazy.

Next, Sunset's character did some magic and her eyes glowed. Then she looked at us. No. Not us. Gekio. They can't see us like the dream not-elf lady did...

I blinked. Wait. Not-elf lady. She touched my face. I felt it. Gilda fell through Gekio and hit something. She felt that! She thought it was the glaive but it wasn't. I saw her go through it and the glaive went through both of us. The weapons can't hurt us. Instead, Gilda fell into Gekio's chest and. And...

"Gilda, quick, you're head," I started as Thorn Wielder and Gekio squared off against one another. "What'd you hit it on?"

She frowned. "Well you saw it, didn't you? I hit my head on her glaive."

"No you didn't." I shook my head. "The glaive passed through us remember? You started falling through Gekio and hit your head somewhere on her."

I saw her try to replay the moment in her mind, holding the back of her head. "That doesn't make sense. I felt it. I've been punched in the back of the head before and it wasn't like that. It was definitely solid."

"Well either way, you hit your head on something else." I tried to roll with it. "You hit your head, fell out of her, and. And then..." I turned to watch the fight some more. Gekio spun around just in time to parry a flying shot of flames from Stostine before blocking another scythe swipe and gut kicking Flutter—Thorn Wielder. The gasp sounded the same either way.

"I think there's something inside of her," I blurted out. "You were phasing through her chest and you hit something. Then she started talking."

"So, what, you think there's some kinda switch in her?!"

Another cry, this time my own voice, rang out from the fight. Electricity leapt from Gekio and into Ravathyra's armor, electrocuting her. As she fell to her knees, Gekio then ripped the shield out of her hands and used it to start blocking more fire blasts as Stostine started moving in again.

"You said you hit something," I reminded her. "So, t-try hitting it again!"

Gilda watched as Stostine reached up to her tongue and pulled a shard of ice out of her mouth before aiming it at the barbarian.

Gilda swallowed her fear and stepped forward as Stostine flung the ice shard. It dug itself between Gekio's feet and started to glow before suddenly exploding like a grenade with shards of ice flying everywhere. One or two of them even phasing through Gilda's jacket before she could flinch.

"Oh, you better be right about this Dash," Gilda screamed, making me feel so worried as she kept inching forward.

Gekio tossed the shield aside and gave a heavy breath as the shards of ice stuck in her melted away. "Now this is what I'm talking about! I'm starting to see what our Lord saw in you three."

"Oh shut it, ya scrote," Ravathyra screamed back. She was lying on the ground in spear's reach as Gekio stared her down. "We ain't 'ere cause a' this Lord Numbnuts!"

Gilda slid in behind in behind Gekio, flinching again as she whipped around to stare down my character on the ground. "We were dragged 'ere jus' like you!"

"Sure this'll work?!" Gilda shouted back at me, arms ready.

"N-No," I shouted back, clamping my jaw shut before covering my mouth. Why didn't I just lie?!

"GREAT," Gilda screamed, plunging her hands into Gekio's back. She phased straight through and started feeling around blindly.

"How dare you," Gekio growled, raising her spear to run the armored girl through. At the same time, Gilda perked up with her arms towards the center of Gekio's back. "Insult the might of Lord De—"

...

"You...You're not?" Gekio asked in a daze.

"No!" Ravathyra stared right back with defiance. "An' you weren't either! This is all cause a' Master Story an' dem Players!"

I blinked. Then I blinked again. What?

"Master...Story...Master Story," Gekio repeated, sounding suddenly very familiar with the name. "Master. And P-Player? Player...Gil-Gil. Gilda? Gilda's my...what?"

Gilda slowly backed up, pulling out a round stone object that was still in her grip as she did. "Uh. Woah. H-Hold it." Then she looked to me. "Did she just say my name?!"

"And. Story," I added on. "Master Story..."

Gilda took a moment to process this and then stared down at the ball in her hands before abruptly dropping it at her feet. It made a clang that none of the characters seemed to notice. "Okay! I want out. I've had my fun. This was cool. The whole standing in space-sky thing. Seeing my...I don't know what I'm calling this. I want out. Now. How do get out?"

I started looking around again. I had nooo idea. "Uhhhhhh..."

"Come on Dash!" She shouted. "We're not just gonna be stuck here forever!"

"I know, I know," I shouted back. "I'm thinking. Um." I tried going through everything like last time. We're in space-air. Sunset and the others aren't here. The game people are here. They can't see us. There's a...What is that thing?

I stared down at the stone ball. Well, not ball actually. It was carved to have a bunch of flat surfaces all over it and had numbers set in. Each. Of them...

It was a die. A die made of stone with amethysts made into the shape of numbers and symbols on each side. It was the size of a cantaloupe but there was no doubt it was just like the one die that kept changing with whoever held it.

"I think with that," I told her. "I think that might be a start."

Gilda reached down and picked it back up. Despite being solid stone it didn't look like Gilda had much problem holding it up. "What is it?"

"That's a good question." As we spoke, the characters all started introducing themselves before Stostine came forward towards Gekio.

"Well I am choosing to think so. We are only four days your senior," Stostine explained about whatever they were talking about. Then she held out a hand. "Stostine Swordhand. I and my acquaintances here were previously in Leodaav."

"Gekio," the giant woman replied stiffly. "I was in Skel. But I think you already heard me say that. Well, me being...um..."

"We know what you mean," Stostine assured her with a chuckle. "Welcome. You have many questions."

Gekio let out a single laugh and shook the shorter girl's hand carefully as not to crush it. "Yeah. I do."

"Why's it made out of stone," Gilda asked, bringing my attention back to her and the die. "It doesn't feel that heavy."

"Yeah. It's sorta weird." I let myself smile a bit. "Mine was a piece of cloud, I think, but it still rolled like a piece of plastic."

"A cloud? Wait, you have one?" Gilda turned to see the group start to sit down, talking amongst themselves. "Is it in your girl?"

I went to answer but said nothing. Instead, I turned to see Ravathyra sit down cautiously since she couldn't see the ground. "I don't know."

Too curious to stop myself, I walked over behind Ravathyra and crouched down behind her. Then I looked at my hands. "Does. Did you feel anything when you were reaching for yours?"

Gilda thought for a moment and then shook her head. "Not really? It was like feeling around in the dark."

I nodded along and curled my fingers a few times. Well...Won't know until I try. Taking one more breath I reached forward and watched as my hands went through Ravathyra's armor like it was nothing. Then, after fighting the urge not to freak out I started feeling around.

It only took a second. Ravathyra was much smaller than Gekio and even smaller than the others so as I found the object, it took up a lot of the space in her chest. I then went to pull it out, expecting it to be stuck or something, but it came free right away. Like I just picked it up off a table.

And when it was out of her chest and in my hands I instantly recognized it as the same thing it had looked like at the game; a condensed storm cloud that had lightning shining from inside. It was that same lightning that lit up the numbers and symbols that were on each of the flat sides of the die. Also, like Gilda's, it was the same size.

"Woah, why's yours look like that?" Gilda frowned. "Gekio's the one with lightning, that one should be mine!"

I let myself smile a little. "Sorry Gild. I'm keeping the cooler one."

"Pfft. Whatever," she mumbled, glancing over towards the other two characters. "Think they have one each?"

I shrugged. "Makes sense. The die changed for Fluttershy and Sunset too." Still curious, I scooched around the circle of the girls until I was behind Stostine and started feeling around a little. Again, it was pretty easy to find the die. Except now, I couldn't pull it out.

"No good," I told her. "It won't budge."

Hearing that Gilda glanced over at Thorn Wielder. "Let me give it a shot."

She lowered her die towards the floor and tossed it aside before—

"Gekio?!" "GILDA!"

I ran over to where Gilda was standing, running through Ravathyra to do so, while the girls all stood back up to look where Gekio sat.

"Where are you?!" Ravathyra shouted, looking around. Then she started shouting. "Gaaaaaghhhh! Come on! What now?!"

"Calm down," Stostine told her, biting her thumb. "Something, more than likely the Master and our Players, brought us here. It makes sense that they might be the reason she left."

"Why?" Thorn Wielder asked.

"Well, this Gilda Player is not one of the seven girls," Stostine reasoned. "Perhaps she was only with our Players momentarily and then she left."

That's one word for it, I thought. Then I glanced down at the big die in my hands.

"Alright. Then tell me this," Ravathyra began. "'Ow's come we're the only ones endin' up 'ere? Every time they've played the game, they're all in one spot."

Stostine stopped biting her thumb. "Perhaps you answered your own question. They are not playing the game this time."

She was right. We all showed up to work on our characters. And the only ones there were those whose characters were here. Fluttershy, Sunset, Gilda, and me. Then Gilda and I got tired and showed up here.

Tired, I thought. We got tired...We're asleep!

I looked around some more. That's what this is! Gilda and I got tired and now we're here. That means that Sunset and Fluttershy are outside. Maybe? I wonder if they're watching what's going on. Maybe they woke up Gilda and she's telling them all about it!

Then why aren't I awake yet?

"Then what're they doin'?" Ravathyra frowned. "If not playin' that game then what else?"

"We have control of ourselves," Stostine pointed out. "There is no haze. Which means that they are not 'rolling dice' or whatever else the Master instructs them to do. So they are not controlling us."

Dice. I looked down at the giant die in my hands. Then I looked around. Gilda's die wasn't where she tossed it. That's where she tossed it, I'm sure. It must've vanished when it stopped.

I'm not awake yet I focused on that. If they woke Gilda up then they should've already gotten me by now. I'm pretty sure I'm a light sleeper. So then what's different?

I turned the die over in my hands. Maybe...Maybe I toss mine? Dice were meant for rolling and that's what Gilda technically did.

"I know it may not be the most settling," Stostine went on. "But I believe all we can do is wait this out. There seems to be no action we can take and we are trapped here by what Master Story and the Players may have done. It may be up to them when we leave."

Thorn Wielder let her shoulders sag before sitting back down where she was and hugging her knees while Ravathyra sighed. "Great. Just great. Stuck 'ere till the girl that didn't even make me a face decides ta stop lollygaggin'."

I didn't...give her a face? I shuffled in place for a moment. I mean, yeah, I guess I didn't. When Story tried setting me up for the game I just wanted it over and done with. So I wanted to skip all the useless parts. Is that why her head looks...like mine?

Ravathyra sat down beside Thorn Wielder. "'Least in them smelly goblin caves we 'ad the ale. Ah don' even got a drink round 'ere."

Thorn Wielder thought about this for a moment before she started to take out her things. After some digging she dug out this rusty looking canteen and poured out the water. Which actually went through the invisible floor toward the planet below.

The others watched her with confused expressions before she started unraveling some vines and held them in her hands before muttering some words that I was pretty sure wasn't even a language. But not too long after, I watched grapes, ripe and purple, begin growing out of her vines.

She set the canteen between her feet with the cap side up and began to pluck the berries one at a time. With each of them she would carefully squeeze them so the grape juice would fall into the canteen. After about four grapes, Ravathyra started laughing.

"Ah can't believe it," she spoke. "Are ya actually tryin' ta make wine?!"

"Yes."

Ravathyra giggled at the idea. "Lass, Ah 'ppreciate the thought. But it's gonna take ya hours just ta fill the skin there!"

"Time," Thorn Wielder answered, squeezing another grape. "Have time. We have." As she tossed the remnants of the grape aside it, like all the other berries, also fell through the ground towards the earth below.

"Thorn Wielder?" Stostine looked awkward. "I do not much about wine making but I am pretty sure that is not—" "Shhh, hehehehehehe!" Ravathyra giggled softer. "Nah, leave 'er be. She'll figure it out."

I smirked along with her but still had this pit in the bottom of my stomach as I kept staring at the die. This is so weird, I thought. My head, my voice. Sort of. She looks and acts like me. And I've seen what Rarity and Fluttershy and Pinkie made up for their characters. Even Applejack had something for her person and she hated that she got a thief. Meanwhile, I didn't even come up with Ravathyra. Story wrote that.

"By the way. Thank you for trying to protect me. When she initially charged at us," she clarified. "You blocked the spear."

Ravathyra snorted. "Ah please. Ya get yer fancy Shield spell a' yers. You'd a' blocked it anyhow. Way Ah see it, mah shield needs some use of it's own, don't it?"

She's just me. Me with a Scottish accent. I frowned. Fine. If that's the way it is, I'll make something awesome. Even if this is all some fake dream, I'm gonna feel horrible if I leave her hanging like this.

With a nod, I lowered my arms and then tossed the die high into the air. Second I'm out of here. I'll tell Sunset all about this weird place and then fill in all those blank spots I have about her. The die hit the floor and started clattering and spinning around before finally land—

---

Rainbow Dash's POV
???????????????

---

Everything was dark.

There was no bleachers next to the school or double suns with a planet below me. In fact, I didn't see anyone or anything at all. Just nothing. A black void where I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my...

Wait, what? Where? WHERE ARE MY HANDS?!

I tried looking a...

I can't feel my eyes. I can't feel anything! What? Where am I?! WHAT IS THIS?!

Okay Rainbow Dash. So, what did you want to start with first?

It was another voice. Story's voice. Both his voice and my own didn't come from anywhere. Any voice that happened felt like it was everywhere and nowhere. I wasn't even hearing them. I DON'T HAVE EAR—

Calm down. Calm. Down.

That was Story's voice. He sounded completely chill. As if nothing was going wrong at all. As far as I could tell, it sounded the same as when he was talking to me back with the others at school.

What do you mean start? Start what?!

Okay Rainbow Dash. So, what did you want to start with first?

You already said that! Wait.

Actually, it sounded exactly like what he said. Like a recording.

Ugh...This is more magic, isn't it?!

Okay Rainbow Dash. So, what did you want to start with first?

If I had a hand or a forehead they would have been slapped together by now.

Okay. More magic. Gilda's not here so maybe she's in her own Nightmare Land. I hope she's okay. She's probably more lost than I am right now. But alright. I got here when I rolled that die. I can hear Story's voice so maybe that means I'm closer to getting out now! Alright Rainbow Dash. Think this through some more. You only hear Story's voice. You can't feel anything and you want to get out. The only thing you have to go off of is—

Okay Rainbow Dash. So, what did you wan—

SHUT UP!

That one thing he keeps repeating, I summed up. He keeps asking where you want to start. And we were talking about my character before all this crazy stuff went down. Maybe he's talking about that. In that case...

Um. Okay then. We we're talking about Ravathyra, right?

Well yeah. What part about her did you want to start with?

Wait, that was different! YES!

Well yeah. What part about her did you want to start with?

And of course it repeated. I imagined another hand to forehead meeting before 'speaking' up again.

What's there to start with?

Well, anything I guess. Her name, her appearance, where she's from. Whatever you have an idea for first.

Alright. Then let's try...Appearance?

As my voice echoed that there was a flash in this dark void. I didn't have to turn to look at it, I was kind of able to see everywhere which was a weird thing to describe. But somewhere in this void I saw Ravathyra floating there. She had none of her armor and was just in a simple pair of shorts and a shirt with my face and a blue body like mine if it was all one solitary bleached tint and squished to look like what I assumed a dwarf was supposed to look like. It also had no hair and it's eyes were the same bleach blue as the rest of her.

Oh boy. She was like that this whole time? Ugh, I'm so sorry.

Cool. In that case, let's start with this. Roll me...

I heard the sound of book pages being flipped around before he listed off some dice. Which I had no hands or eyes, let alone a table, to roll with. So instead, the void decided to cut me some slack because directly above Ravathyra some numbers started flashing around like they were from a slot machine.

I looked at all the numbers and didn't really see any point to them. All of them were pretty small basic numbers.

...

...

Soooo...What're the numbers?

Aw come on, I gotta read 'em out? Fine! There's a one and a two on the left and the right has a two and a four.

Story's voice mumbled something that the dark void decided to make impossible to understand but whatever it was, it sounded like there was sass in there.

Okay. Now for math and...Alright! Ravathyra's three foot eleven and a hundred and thirty-nine pounds.

Is it really necessary to know her weight?

Sunset!

Sunset, can you hear me?! HELP! I'm trapped in a dark void and I can't feel anything! Also Gilda's somewh—

Meh, not always. But there's some stuff that calls for knowing how much someone weighs. Like traps for instance!

You sound a little too happy to say that.

Wha—Gilda? Was that Gilda's voice?! Is she...

No. No, this is more magic, isn't it?

As if to answer me, I watched Ravathyra begin to shift to fit the weight and height Story came up with. I was kind of built like a runner but now with the muscles she had on her, Ravathyra looked like a weight class above me. Dwarf aside that is.

Huh, I huh'd. Well at least it's not a carbon copy anymore.

Next, try picturing what she looks like in your head.

Done. Literally already done.

Then describe her to me. What are you seeing?

I focused in on her and tried to do just that. I imagined what he really meant was try and come up with how I wanted her to look. To start with, I didn't want her to look like me.

To start. How's about a different shade of skin? I don't think bleach blue is the way to go. So I pictured something else. To start I tried picturing her skin tone changing into anything other than a bleach blue. It made her look as if I drowned which was freaking me out the most.

In the end she had tanned skin with some clay red mixed in with it. Way different than the blue and rainbow combo I had. And as I kept thinking, I watched as this bright red hair spilled out from the top of her head, going past well her shoulders before it all started braiding and folding itself until it was one ponytail in the back. Then to make her way more normal, I quickly imagined eyes. Eyes with...blue irises. Yeah, that looked pretty nice.

Not bad! By the way, did you want her to have a beard?

I...Wait, she can have a beard?

Wait, how does that make sense? Rainbow's character is still a girl, right?

Girls can grow beards sometimes.

N-Not. Always...?

That's true with humans. However, Ravathyra's a Dwarf. Dwarves can have those kinds of genetics. That is if Rainbow wants her to. And even then it wouldn't be a full on beard.

...

Rainbow Dash, you're not actually considering that, are you?

I say do it. Hahaha, sounds cool!

You're not helping.

Stop.

The voices all went quiet as I watched Ravathyra grow out a stubble. It looked cool in a weird way, but I know the others might have said something. I could almost picture Rarity falling out of her chair.

So it was tempting. Verrrry tempting.

...

I had the stubble fall away into the void.

She shaves, how about that?

Works for me.

This is so childish.

But, Sunset, your smiling.

I am not!

When everyone finally dropped the great beard debate, they started asking few more questions that helped shaped what Ravathyra looked like. Scars, does she look tired, how does she hold herself, does she take care of her appearance, and a few other questions from the girls until finally Ravathyra looked like a different person in every possible way. In a lot of ways, she looked completely different from me.

The last though took me a lot longer to come up with an answer. What was her name.

I know you had me just fill in a name but with a lot of dwarves they have a birth name and then they have their clan name. Usually the clan name is a mix of two words like Ironnail, Trueblood, Fireforge, Axefist, stuff like that. Or it can be something fantasy sounding. Darahln, Trissker, Revnorr, so on. Do you have an idea?

Again the dark void tried to help. Instead of numbers rolling like a slot machine it was words: Redhammer, Heavypot, Steelfist, Anchordeep; the combos kept going. Every time I had an idea of my own pop into my head, the slots had it show up at the same time. It made me believe that maybe the slots was my own head trying to come up with something.

Finally, after maybe a couple minutes of watching the names line up, I had the slots stop spinning and rewind a few options back. That one, I thought.That's the one.

Ravathyra Dagarkin.

Daggerkin?

Da-gar-kin. Not dagger.

Kin like family? I think that sounds nice.

Not having dagger sounds right. Too try hard otherwise.

It's decided then! Ravathyra Dagarkin it is. There anything about the Dagarkin clan you can think of?

...Yeah, actually. I think I have a few ideas.

I started giving off a few smaller ideas which my friends took and then asked some questions. One idea kept connecting to others and before I knew it, I started to walk through all these ideas. At the same time, this dark empty void began to fill itself in with lights and shapes, people and places. All of it based around Ravathyra Dagarkin until it ended up being more than I could have tried filling in on my own.

By the time I finally realized how much time we were spending on this, I felt myself blink. Then I felt the sun beaming down on me with all my friends sitting around me. I felt my throat getting dry as I reached for my soda that so far only had one sip taken from it. I guess I never drank any while I was dreaming or in the void. It was still a little cold too.

When Story started writing down all the info from the background I was coming up with, I looked over to Gilda and gave her a careful look.

"Hey," I whispered. "Do you remember any of that? The uh..."

"Yep," she muttered with a nod. "I rolled that die and then woke up some space. Then ended up here...That happen to you?"

"Uh-huh." I took a deep breath, glad that I wasn't the only one that remembered. "You gonna be okay?"

"...I'll manage," She said, opening a bottle of water. She had finished her coffee a while ago now. "But when we're done here? I wanna talk."

We shared a smile and went back to going over Story's game. The whole time we were there, Gilda and I were the only ones that got to do much about our characters. Sunset seemed like she was interested in the idea too but she wasn't going to have time.

Oh well, I thought. Guess she'll have to wait till next time to do whatever we did.

---

3rd Person POV
⎅⟒⍀⊬⊑ ⍙☍⊑ ⋉⍀⎍⍜☌ ⍀⟟ ⌇⎍⌰⌿⎅
Meanwhile

---

Stostine laid on her back, listening as Thorn Wielder and Gekio worked together to squash grapes into now both of their canteens with too much focus. She wanted to save her water and knew that if she tried to help them either canteen would only get crowded by two people trying to pop grapes above them.

Her and Thorn Wielder never left the space. After Ravathyra had vanished, they were worried of what may have happened to both her and Gekio. Stostine had begun to worry that this was not them leaving safely but instead something far more sinister. Thorn Wielder had thought the same as well but tried to mask it with her idle work.

Except, eventually, Gekio came back. She reappeared and looked a little different too. The fur pelts that made up her outfit looked vastly different and she instantly started to talk to Stostine and Thorn about everything that had happened. How she grew up alone in a cabin far from civilization as a teenager.

She then talked about her clan and how she suddenly gained all these memories about them. Learning how to hunt, how to speak the tongue of Giants, her clan's wrestling bouts children were taught to compete in. And then how she would lose every one of them despite all the training she did on her own.

They weren't all good memories but Gekio was elated to tell them anyway. She admitted that she never had them before. It was something that made Stostine instantly feel relieved about. To learn that rather than cease to exist, Gekio was taken to get more information about her own life. Simple childhood memories.

It made her hope that Stostine would get whisked away herself while Thorn Wielder instead passed a pile of grapes to invite Gekio on her mission to make wine. Gekio and Stostine didn't have the heart to tell her it would only result in subpar grape juice so instead Gekio played along.

About an hour and a half passed as the three continued to sit there. By that point, almost all of them turned around when they heard the loud clanking of armor as the fourth member of the group was walking over to them.

Standing at exactly four feet, with red braided hair tied together in a ponytail was a Dwarf, beaming in glory as a silver necklace with the symbol of Ulaa, Goddess of the Hills and Mountains, clattered against the breast of her armor.

Her chain mail armor was all made up of chain links of brass giving it this golden brown color to it as the shield on her back was designed with a sheet of metal made to look like a large circular red gem with the outline of a mountain range above it made up of a silver inlay.

As Ms. Dagarkin's bright blue eyes settled on the three she held out her arms in a 'behold' like manner and laughed. "Well?! What do ya think?!" She asked in an accent that somehow sounded heavier and Scottish'er than before.

Thorn Wielder smiled. "Face."

"Ah gotta face," Ravathyra beamed even more. Then, as if to show it off, she opened her mouth wide and took in a deep breath of fresh, five mile in the sky, air. "Oh, You've no idea how much Ah love this!"

Stostine stood up and approached her. "Glad to see you for the first ti—yeeeeeeem!"

Stostine went into a high pitched yelp as she was scooped up off her feet and pulled into the biggest bear hug she ever felt in her life.

"Oh, gotta warn ya on that one, lass! Ah'm a hugga apparently!"

"I-I can tell," Stostine squeaked. "Please...can't breath."

Ravathyra put the thin mage down and turned to see Thorn Wielder offer her a canteen. It was only half full of her grape juice and her hands were purple from all the work she put into it.

"Wine," Thorn Wielder presented as she passed it on.

"Why thank ye Thorn," Ravathyra gave a small bow before downing the entire canteen, only putting it down when she was sure every last drop was gone from. Then she gave a deep satisfied breath. "My, that is the best set a' grapes Ah've ever 'ad! That vine a yer's a gift a' the Gods!"

Thorn smiled as her vines nestled against her arm happily.

"You seem chipper," Gekio pointed out.

"An' why wouldn't Ah be," Ravathyra proclaimed. "'Ere Ah am! A place no one's ever beheld before! Surrounded by ladies all over tha crust a' Prima! Leodaav, Drakehead, Cortás, an' Skel!" Ravathyra said, pointing to Stostine, herself, Thorn, and Gekio in that order. "All in one spot! Tell me. How often is anyone so lucky ta see that kinda beauty gathered up?"

The others took joy in the new attitude; almost as much as Ravathyra herself did.

"So then, Ravathyra? I ta—" "Sorry lass," Ravathyra cut in. "But the full name's Ravathyra Dagarkin. But if it's a mouthful, Rava's works just as well."

"My apologies." Stostine gave a mock bow of her head. "Rava. I take it your Player gave you a backstory as well?"

"Right ya are," Rava cheered. "Siblin's, hometown, an uncle, a mission, a church, Mum, Da, and a whole ton a' drive ta see everythin' the light touches! But Ah gotta be careful now," she said in a stage whisper. "You an' Platick may got yer secrets. But don't think Ah'm without me own."

"In that case. Would you like to take a seat with us? Rava?" Stostine gestured to where the imaginary floor they had been resting at. "We would love to get to know you."

"An' Ah'd love ta tell ya."

The four went to sit back down, Ravathyra rubbing her hands together greedily as she started going into as much about her own story as she wanted. Most of it true and others just tales that she thought would earn a smile at least half the size of her own.

Author's Note:

Back when I originally wrote this, Ravathyra Dagarkin (character sheet) was the same abrasive dwarf she was up until this point. Not only that but I had Rainbow Dash put on a voice and play along during the game all the way from the beginning even with the history between her and Story. It didn't feel right for her to play along like that until something happened.

Gilda on the other hand? Her and her character is an entirely brand new concern from the original draft.

---

I never really have a set schedule for this story and since this next week or two is going to be busy this may be the last chapter for a bit. So I guess consider this a small hiatus for now.

So then for now I would like to ask; what do you think of the story so far? What parts do you like and what parts do you think I need to improve on? And on top of it all, what do part of the story seems the most interesting?

When I can write the next couple of chapters I want to make sure that I'm focusing on what people are interested about. So that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Until next time!
Cheers,
-Zeke

Comments

[Chayn]

*looks at the title, looks at the concept, notices IRL dicerolls, upvotes* ...and I don't even like DnD.

[Mprimrus]

I want to see Spike make a character and join in.

[The Chronicler]

Rava's having a Pinnochio moment. This chapter was very sweet :3

[GemiNiah]

I am a little confused about how the magic affects RD and the girls but ig it’s a little secret for now on how it works all in all. I love how RD and Gilda are probably the only ones who saw how their character really act like and can see a little bit of themselves in them. It’s true for any d&d character imo, even if it’s just a tiny bit of yourself shining within them.

I’m not sure how bad Story would react with the magic but I am worried if the character’s start to rebel and literally try to “talk” to him to stop the conflict in their world.

I await for your next update!

[ChaosStar0]

Looking at Rava's character sheet. First thing I noticed is that the saves are wrong. She has 1 less Dexterity, 2 less Wsidom, and 3 less Charisma than she should. Her Spell Attack bonus is wrong too, that should be a +5. Spell Save should be a 13. Nothing else out of place that I can see.

Only other thing I think I should mention is that I would of swapped her Dex and Con Scores. That way she'd have 16 Con and 12 Dex, better for a Heavy Armor user. I get trying to even out her scores, but the only thing she'll use Dex for is her Saves, whereas Con is good for her Saves, and HP.

[4428Gamer]

10797566
What is it with me and these saves?!
Thank you so much! It's a good thing you caught that before I ever reached any scenes with the D&D characters. That would have been confusing. I think it's becoming a little too obvious that I've been without a D&D game for a while.

And you do have a point; the Con and Dex would make more since to be switched. But I had to look at it from the character's point of view. When Dash rolled and pick where the numbers went, she didn't know much about the game when she picked those stats. For someone like her or Applejack, they wouldn't know how to make the best use of their stats and would prefer whatever they thought sounded nicer.

[4428Gamer]

10796414
I'm glad to hear it! Thank you so much.

10796539
I think having that connection with a character is what always makes the game pretty fun in general! Even if the character's not directly you, you're the one controlling them. When they win, it feels like you win and when they get beaten it just drives someone to find a way to recover.

[ChaosStar0]

10797583
it's okay. I make characters for fun, so I notice these things, even though I'm new to 5e. 3.5 is my preferred edition. I know people new to D&D won't build their characters optimally. I didn't when I started in 2nd. I still don't, I just make sure they are capable and fun.

[Cyrus Colter]

So I have a dumb question.
Do you actually play D&D?

[4428Gamer]

10797707
I do!
To tell the truth, I haven't played 5e for a while now (except for playing out this story) but I've been playing Shadowrun and Pathfinder. Starting sometime this summer I'm hoping to start playing a 5e group. As for other D&D editions, I've only played 3.5 once or twice but not enough to know the system.

[Cyrus Colter]

10797761
ok.

[Moonlight Tome]

Y'know, seeing Ravathyra with all that joy just puts a smile on my face. I can't help it!

[Bookwurm666]

10796304
I'd like that too