(25) Break Time's Over
3rd Person POV
Game Room
9:46 PM
Out of all of Story's notes, he had gone over a single thing several times over; a large piece of sketch paper with a single large arrow drawn across it. Smaller arrows stemmed out along it with blurbs of information describing what each of them meant.
It was a timeline.
The game's campaign was mostly straight out of a module. That made it easy for Story to write up a timeline of events showing major plot points and how they would end should the party succeed, do nothing, or in a worst case scenario, fail or be wiped out.
Those smaller arrows were all of the 'bad endings' Story wrote in advance. He created these for the express purpose of reading out every bad ending the players prevented via their actions and heroism.
One example of this was the goblin cave. Had the girls failed, Klarg's forces would have kept ambushing wagons and caravans delivering to Phandalin; the mining village they were at now. By the time the kingdom would notice shipments of raw silver never coming in, it would be too late.
Townsfolk would slowly move, many getting ambushed by Klarg's band on the only road out. Eventually, Klarg would get more goblins under his control until he technically would be a warlord and start taking his 'army' on raids further into Leodaav proper.
They'd eventually be killed off by adventurers when they got too full of themselves. After all, it didn't make sense for a problem to never get fixed. But that would only happen after Phandalin's collapse as well as over one hundred lives lost.
That bad ending had a different meaning to it now. Events in the game not directly caused by the girls will happen in real life. Did that mean that there would be a gang of criminals robbing and murdering for supplies as Klarg was? Would people be forced to move away from a failing town? Would a hundred people die?
Story would never know because the girls prevented that. And he was okay with not knowing that.
Out of dozens of objectives and side quests, maybe two of them had a good ending if the girls did nothing. Sure, most of the problems were mild but the fact that it might carry over into something real made Story feel personally responsible.
The worst part was he couldn't tell them any of this. He tried. Story even tried showing them the timeline in an attempt to let them in on exactly how to prevent each problem. But that gargling stopped them from knowing anything about it.
For his next trick, Story took out a pen and tried crossing off all the bad endings or rewriting bland outcomes. That failed too. The new ink would vanish or the new outcomes would shift into further detail of what was already set to happen.
I can't retcon anything, Story realized, putting his hand over his mouth as he fished for an idea. They said I have to play everything straight. So no guiding their hand on this. But, wait...
He glanced down at the large dice pile to his side. If the magic's been here since the beginning...what about all the handholding I've done? I fibbed about dice a few times too. Did the magic break then?
Story shook his head. No. I'm not about to start pushing it now. Besides, they've been playing smart. Too smart if I'm being honest. He checked his notes again and tried really hard not to hate himself. Which is probably why I toughened up these bandits.
Story kept going over everything from behind his screen while the rest of the girls prepared themselves. Once the others came back, and Pinkie dumped a hoard of snacks no one knew the origins of on the table, Sunset and Twilight went over Sky-Space with them.
There were plenty of questions laced with curiosity, but they were either answered or added to the growing list of things to figure out later. In the end, everyone was up to speed and they finally had their sights on the same task:
Be a bunch of friends playing a nerdy game into the deep hours of the night for their principal.
Not only that, Pinkie also elected herself to be on 'fun duty' for the night. She would be make extra-super-duper-luper-zuper sure that everyone could make it through the game without being too upset. After all, they had to act like everything was normal. And what's more normal than having fun with a game, right?!
That's exactly what I was thinking!
Pinkie, we talked about this.
Oops! Sorry narrator voice!
While the girls were finished and set up, Story was still stressing over his papers. So when none of them made any moves to say anything, Twilight found herself raising her hand.
Story didn't have to look up. He saw Twi's hand from his peripheral and bowed his head sadly. "I'm. I'm not a teacher, Twi."
"Sorry. Force of habit." Twilight smiled sadly as she put her hand down. "We're ready to start when you are. But are you sure you want to right now?"
"We can always give you a little more time," Rarity admitted. "We understand this is overwhelming."
"You guys have told me that probably four times." He bit the inside of his cheek and looked up. Then he immediately set his eyes on the purple dog studying all the game pieces intently from Twilight's lap. "And yet the talking dog is also seated at the table."
"I wanted to see what it all looked like," Spike defended with a shrug. "I never got to see the games until now."
"And he won't chew any of the dice," Twilight assured him. "Right Spike?"
"Right!" Spike smiled. Then he pretended to think about it as his smile became more 'innocent.' "What about if they land on the floor?"
"O-kay," Story began, clapping his hands, ignoring Spike's giggling. "Let's...do this before I go insane. More insane," he corrected, earning more giggles.
"Coming back from our...two hour-ish break." He took a deep breath, letting what he learned from theatre class help to focus on the 'performance,' and began.
3rd Person POV
St⍀⍾e☍il⍜ I⍾n
Meanwhile
Once Stostine and Vareén were back, the latter passing Platick the leftover potion to heal his nose and ribs, Stostine went over everything that happened in that other place. Remeeting Gekio, the new being appearing and vanishing, and then each of them turning to smoke and flying off.
The only thing Stostine chose to leave out was her 'talk' with her Player. She was never going to admit any of what she said and Vareén seemed like the type to never gossip behind people's backs. Her secret was safe.
About four minutes into her explanation, Rava suddenly animated and finished her sentence like nothing happened. And from her point of view, nothing did. All she noticed was she blinked and suddenly Platick was here. Also, everyone was suddenly in different poses and staring at her in shock.
So when the Master's voice rang out from the ether some time later, they weren't nearly as surprised.
"Okay," Story's voiced announced with a loud clap. "Let's...do this before I go insane. More insane."
"Up. Sounds like dere gettin' ready." Glemerr downed the rest of her twelfth drink and wiped her lip. "Dink we should try settin' up where dey left us?"
"You can if you want." Stostine nodded. "Every time they start, the haze encompasses us entirely. It seems to reset us too."
"That's probably for the best." Platick took up his tankard in his grip. "Besides, I'm supposed to be several miles outside town on a horse. Don't think I'll make it in time."
"Coming back from our...two hour-ish break," the Master's voice went on. "As your char...Well, I mean, as they..." Story groaned. "Whatever, this is confusing. As you all Scooby-Dooed in multiple directions looking for clues, a few of you had some interesting run-ins. Starting with Thorn Wielder—"
The Master's voice abruptly cut off, presumably saying something only Thorn Wielder could hear.
"She never came back." Stostine frowned. "Two hours and not a sign of her. Where is she?"
"Hopefully we'll find that out soon," Ricven said with a negative look of his own. "Regardless, she's probably fine. Our Players don't got the best poker fingers."
"Poker. Faces," Vareén drilled into him. "You have got to be doing that on purpose."
"Next, Ravathyra," Story's voice cut in like a switch as it broadcast somewhere near the Dwarf. "After attending to the miners outside town, you had the welcoming wagon rolled out for you. Curtesy of the Redbrands."
"And Ah trashed 'em in record time," Dash declared confidently, putting on an accent.
"Aw yeah," Rava cheered, throwing up a fist. "That's me Player!"
"And after trashin' 'em," Story said in his own Scottish accent. "Nonlethally I'll add, you waved down Glemerr who was running by with a new friend and the three of you were bringing your new tour guides to town."
"Hehehe. Hey, dat's me," Glemerr said goofily as she started finishing off her mug of ale.
"Then, with Platick," Story continued.
"Let me guess; running back with a cart of crap and a message for Stostine?" Platick rolled his eyes.
"You're still a ways out of town but not for too long as Tucker is rampaging down that trail in record time. It's probably another ten minutes by crazed horse."
"How fast is that thang goin'?" AJ asked.
"Too fast," Platick said aloud.
"Well, it's supposed to be a draft horse but it would seem that it's looking for a career change," Story joked.
Stostine gave Platick a look. "What did you mean a message for me?"
"Apparently, it's not important enough." He shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, it was written in blood."
Suddenly, Stostine looked both pale and sickly as she tried fighting off her disgust.
"Finally, the last of you; Stostine, Vareén, and Ricven. You made your stand at the Stonehill Inn, successfully bringing down most of the bandits. While one got away, Ricven caught the second with a clever Charm Person."
"Oh, please, keep goin'," he requested as he feigned bashfulness.
"I cast a spell too," Vareén told the Master's voice.
"Miss Vareén, darlin'." Ricven chuckled. "You don't need ta be so envious a' moi. There's plenty a' me ta go around."
"I hate you."
"Which brings us to the other two recovering inside the taproom."
As Story continued to speak, the haze engulfed everyone's vision once more. Even as their minds became clouded, they tried looking between one another.
"Just like last time y'all," Ricven told them. "Let's sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."
Platick turned and through the fog, observed the dead Redbrand corpses. "Something tells me 'enjoy' won't be the right word for this."
"True," Vareén concurred. "But I'll be fine seeing the rest of them taken down."
"Same," Stostine responded.
"With all that said," Story began to conclude. "Let's..." He released a shaking breath. "Let's start a story."
Each character felt their minds take that familiar back seat as they each shifted to different locations with their respective Players taking the reins from there.
Story watched every single item on the table surge to life as magic wafted off the girls like translucent snakes. Simultaneously, Story brought up his hands and revealed that now he too had streams of powder blue aura coming from him as well. It was much thinner than the magic coming from the seven girls but still there.
Then, while each of the girls' dice piles changed their designs, Story noticed his own dice begin to change as well. Except they became empty. Whatever they looked like previously had now swapped out for milk-white shapes without numbers.
Curious, Story brought his hand over them and watched as the dice regained their vibrancy. As if awaiting his command.
He then stared at the notes either laid out or taped against his screen. Just as when he tried rewriting the timeline, all his notes came alive. Not only that, images formed as well. The characters, towns and landmarks, and scenes that were, are, and would come to pass. All upon his thought.
Story fought to get over the shock and he stared a little harder at the screen. Curious, he tried imagining the scene of the tavern he had just described.
To his surprise, the magic obeyed. An image of Stonehill Inn's main room surfaced, ready to help detail the scene however Story needed. It was like he was a set designer and the magic obeyed his words without question.
Alright then, he decided, finding a small bout of assuredness within himself. Okay. Let's try this.
Vareén's POV
Stonehill Inn
Early Afternoon
I propped my elbow up on the table, opening and closing my left hand get over the pain. At some point, one of those idiots ran his blade across my palm. It wasn't deep thanks to the leather gloves but it was hard to ignore.
"Will you live?" Stostine asked with a smirk as she tried not to grab at the bolt still in her hip.
"Har har," I lulled boredly. I balled up my hand and stared across the bar, watching a head peek out from the kitchen. It was the owner, Stonehill, watching us with a bloody kitchen knife in his grasp.
Probably from cooking, I surmised. He mentioned something about pork this morning.
"Are...Are they gone?"
I looked down at the three bodies littering his floor. "Depends what you mean."
"Dead? Not here? Away?" He stepped out a little more.
"All of the above, I am afraid," Stostine admitted. "We are..." I gave her the side eye. "I. Am incredibly sorry. Things escalated and we could not detain them bloodlessly."
He spent a few seconds readying himself and stepped out to look across his taproom. There were three corpses with two forming puddles. Not to mention his furniture all over the place and the front windows were shattered. As he assessed all the damage, we could see him swear under his breath as he tried figuring out exactly how much it would cost to repair this.
"Elsa?" He called over his shoulder. "We're closed for the day. Take the back door, I don't want you seeing this."
"Are the patrons okay?!" Elsa called from the back.
Stonehill looked us over and flinched when he saw Stostine's new accessory. "Uh..."
"We are fine Elsa," Stostine said for him. "As are the three others who were out here. Just go home for the day, alright? If anything happens, come find one of us."
"O...Okay!" She returned. "Thank you! You all be safe!"
"Oh, and Elsa!" Stonehill called again.
"Yes?"
"Trilena's over to Harley's with Pip. Go find her and tell her we're staying the night somewhere else. I don't want them seeing this either."
"Don't worry, I will. Be safe!"
I hmphed softly as we heard the backdoor open and slam in record time.
Stonehill wiped his brow as he turned away from the bodies. "This isn't all of them, you know."
"We know." I sat back, throwing my arm over the back of the chair. "They wouldn't be cocky if there were only five of them."
Stostine bit her lip. "Again, we—" I gave her another look. "Right, I really am sorry for this. We did not want to kill anyone."
And you said 'we' anyways.
"It-It's fine." He sighed. "Those thugs aren't us. They're from out of town. And they either get rid of outsiders or invite them to join. It's what they tried doing when they invited Ricven to come with them."
"So they were outsiders once too." Stostine pondered on that.
"Why are they picking fights?" I asked.
"Something about their boss." He came out from behind the bar and stood up a few chairs on his way to us. "I only hear it in passing since travelers stay here. Most of them get scared off. And the few brave enough get attacked. Doesn't lead to death too often though."
"Too often," I repeated. "So they've killed before?"
"Aye."
From the landing of the stairs, two men looked at the three of us. They were having some drinks until the Deadbrands showed up.
The younger of the two continued down the steps to meet us.
"You mentioned a name before. Thel, was it?" Stostine watched the man nod. "What happened, if you do not mind my asking?"
Story opened his mouth, but shut it as the color drained from his face. Both the notes in front of him and the screen told and showed exactly what Thel's story was. And as he watched, Story forced himself not to gag. He couldn't look away.
When it was done, Story turned to the side and huffed. He already sowed the seeds for this right before the girls told him about the magic. And despite his attempts, this was one of the things he couldn't change about the game.
It made him miserable. He couldn't stop himself from looking back at Sunset and saying "you had to ask?" But when Sunset returned this guilty look, Story took a deep breath and spoke.
"Thel was among one of the last families ta move here," the man started. "He used ta be a town guard elsewhere but the patrols kept him away from his wife an' kids. So he hung up the spear fer good. Took an apprenticeship under his father in-law as a woodcarver. When they moved 'ere, that's what he did. But I guess bein' a guard fer six years keeps yer wits sharp, eh?"
He made it to our table and with a gesture from Stostine he sat down across from us. "One day, back when them Redbrands didn't infest the Sleepin' Giant, Thel an' his wife, Mirna, were havin' a date night. Well, Redbrands showed up that night. Started leerin' at Mirna like a sack a' meat. So, wantin' ta keep their night from bein' ruined, Thel tells 'em off. And next..." He gave a small whimper. "N-Next thing, ya. Ya know..."
The room grew uncomfortably quiet as Story was forced to watch the scene play out in further detail from his side of the screen. Maybe the magic meant to 'help him' but it only made his terror and guilt boil up.
The other girls didn't fair much better. Everyone could see from Story's expression that whatever Story responded to, it wasn't good. Pinkie and Fluttershy felt miserable while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Gilda all had varying levels of enraged as they fought to keep their thoughts quiet.
But for everyone else, they were distracted from Sunset quickly flipping between notes of her own until finally she looked up. "Everyone wait."
Then she turned to Story and spoke as Stostine. "When did this happen?"
Story leaned back for a second but his sight was drawn back by the shifting words of his notes as they laid out every important detail of Thel; as though the magic was a sort of search engine.
"It..." Story cleared his throat to fight off the sob. "A little over a week ago." He nearly closed the DM screen so he wouldn't have to see the scene. "I'm. I'm sorry. I couldn't change it. It's too late to stop it from happening in real—"
"I said wait," Sunset demanded. He watched as she refocused on the paper in front of her; writing with one hand and counting with her fingers on the other. "The game's campaign began six days canonically, right?"
Story blinked a few times. "I...what?"
"When our characters met Gundren," Sunset went on. "That meeting took place six days before the day we're playing out right now. Yes?"
A flash of recognition ran across Twilight's face as she reached for her journal. Even before the magic happened, she made intense notes about whatever she thought was important in the game.
"Yes. Six days," Twi confirmed. "That's when we met Gundren in the Evening's Nest tavern. But how does that help?"
Sunset didn't answer right away. "Story, you just said Thel was killed a little over a week. Over six days then?"
Glancing back to the notes, Story saw one piece of information stand out from the rest to help answer the question. A description of Thel's death and precisely when it happened. He didn't feel like repeating it and only gave a nod.
"Wh-What." Fluttershy peeked a single eye out from under her hair. "What does that mean? Is Thel okay?"
"Well. No," Sunset admitted weakly as she read Story's face. "But it does mean whatever happened to Thel won't repeat itself outside the game. Dunamancy changes fate; meaning what will happen. It can't change the past. The magic only repeats what happens during the events of the game."
"So that means we're in the clear?" Rainbow's face lit up. "Awesome! So we're still good then!"
Story cringed. "Not. Quite."
"Aw, come on!" She gave it up as quickly. "Are you serious?"
Story huffed. "There's a lot more than just Gundren being in trouble. There's other stuff too."
"Well, yeah. 'Course we figured that."
Story looked up to Applejack as the other girls nodded behind her words. "We know there's more than just Principal Celestia ta save. And we ain't backin' out now. Besides, nothing's gone wrong yet we can't fix."
He glanced back at his timeline and, after a quick head count of each situation, AJ was right. They were all bad in one form or another but nothing was impossible for the girls to solve.
"Come on," Rainbow said after a moment. "Have some faith in us! We've gotten through way worse than this!"
"I can vouch for that." "Same," Twilight and Sunset admitted.
Slowly, Story wiped his face with the back of his arm and put on a brave face. "Alright. I'll trust you."
The girls smiled along with him as Story redoubled his efforts.
"...Ah was there, ya know?" The man revealed. "Not with 'em. Obviously. I was a few tables back. But. But I...I did nothin' but watch! There were only three of 'em. If we'd a had some spines, me an' the lads coulda even the odds a bit, yeah? Bu...B-But we...They had swords. They all had a sword and-and crossbows! What were we gonna do?!"
He stared hard at his fists through red, puffy eyes. And none of us made a move to console him. I couldn't. It wasn't my sort of thing. Even Stostine was silent on what to do.
But after an awkward amount of quiet sobbing, the man's friend that came downstairs next. He was much older, maybe his fifties, but looked well for his age as he looked between us. When he noticed no one making any moves to talk, he stiffened his upper lip.
"Can y'all do somethin' about it?" He asked. "Ya already got targets on yer backs. And yer stickin' around, aye?"
"Seriously? We..." I paused, catching this curious look from Stostine's eyes. Oh great, now she's got me saying it.
I cleared my throat and spoke again. "I didn't come here to kill bandits. I'm here to solve my own problems. And it involves someone alive...sorry." I looked down at the ground, avoiding their gaze.
But the old man had other plans. "Oh yeah? What about Thel's family?"
I sunk lower into my chair. Come on old man.
"Ruppert," Stonehill warned him. "These girls don't owe us a thing. They both got hurt defend—"
"You know what, no." I stared up into this salty old man's soul. "If he's gonna say something, have him say it." He started backing off but I wouldn't have that. "I said talk."
"..." Ruppert took a few seconds to steel himself. "...Thel's wife. His kids. They stole them too. Few days after Thel was gone, them bandits came ta his house. They broke in and took 'em all. Dragged 'em up ta their hideout in the woods and no one's seen 'em since. But they're alive."
Stostine and I were force to let that sink in. To her credit, Stostine didn't try to jump at the chance to ask anything further. Instead, she made me feel even worse by giving me this pleading look.
Oh please, don't do this. I tried shutting her down; to shake my head and tell her no. But she kept staring at me. No, don't drag me into this. I don't wanna do this. This isn't our problem, get over it. No...
Stostine could see my resolve cracking. I swear I could almost see her face debating whether or not to push the sad look further. She was laying it on think on purpose.
"...How old are the kids?" Stostine asked, all while staring right at me.
'I hate you so much,' I mouthed. My hood kept the men from seeing me do it but Stostine read it loud and clear. All she had in return was this disapproving stare.
I'd look away, but that would be a win for you, wouldn't it?
"They're both sixteen," he revealed. "Twin girls. One of them wanted to start a business."
I don't want to know. I winced, and then winced some more when Stostine laid on another stare.
"Why?" I finally asked. "Why are you telling us this?" He gave me this odd look but I didn't care. "I get it. It's a small town. Everyone knows everyone. Why are you pressing this particularly?"
Ruppert spent a second on himself. "W-Well...that's..." I never looked away. Mostly because my only alternative was Stostine. So eventually, the man caved.
"That's because I'm Mirna's father." He deflated.
Annnnnd there goes my resolve, I surrendered.
The first guy turned to look at him. "Why would you...?" But Ruppert shushed him with a motion.
"Them bandits extort most of the craftsmen 'round here," Ruppert went on. "I'm the impromptu carpenter. Thel and I stood our ground and didn't give 'em an inch. Neither did some of the others. But then they killed Thel an' took Mirna an' my grandbabies. Now they're holdin' 'em hostage on us."
"All to make you give them money?" Stostine's voice was level but her brow wasn't.
"Not exactly." He shook his head. "They don't know Mirna's my daughter. Just that she's someone's daughter. Phandalin's pretty tight knit, ya see. When they came around admitting they stole her away, they tried seein' who they could blackmail about it."
"All of us caved for him." The first guy tried his best to clean up his tears. "Everyone holding out on the Redbrands agreed to do as they say. They know we'll never stop so long as they still got Mirna and the girls. That's why we think they're alive."
I didn't bother looking away when Stostine watched my reaction. Instead, I closed my eyes and dismissed whatever excuses I was coming up with. Even if there was a good one, Stostine would keep guilt tripping me.
"Fine. We will help." Stostine seemed to think I directed that at her and so she gave me this thankful smile.
You better not say anything, I threatened her from my mind. "But I'm not about to pretend this'll be a happy reunion. Do you even have legit proof that your family's alive? We aren't about to risk our own lives on a whim, you know. What says they aren't lying to you?"
"Nothing," Stonehill answered for them. "But as far as we've been able to tell, those thugs don't kill for pleasure. Even...Even with Thel." He pushed himself to go on. "They did it to make a point. And he was the only one of us they've ever killed."
"And what of others?" Stostine frowned.
"All adventurers an' travelers," Ruppert responded. "They keep it out a' the streets, thank Tymora for that, but we know they do it. It's almost always magic people too."
This time I gave Stostine a careful look while she clammed up. Not so sure of yourself now, are you?
Stostine stowed her fear for later. "Would you happen to know why?"
When the three men failed to answer I leaned into view. "Something tells me they didn't think to ask."
"Ah. Right." Stostine nodded. "Well, that is a shame. It would have been helpful to know why."
"Well it's a good thing I got answers then!"
All five of us turned in unison as Ricven stood at the door, looking as smug as ever with a single meek Redbrand stood behind him like a good little Charm Personed victim.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
"About three minutes." Ricven shrugged. "I wanted my entrance ta be dramatic."
"You," Ruppert boomed, glaring at the Redbrand. But Stonehill did better.
The owner pulled that bloody kitchen knife from his belt and held it up like an amateur. An angry amateur. "You have a lot of nerve coming back here!"
The bandit debated whether or not to run but Ricven reached up and grabbed his sleeve. "Now, now y'all. Simmer down a bit. I believe we can be amiable about this. Ain't that right, Ulrich?" Ricven smirked up at the Redbrand.
Ulrich took a few seconds to lick his lips, trying to decide where his place in all this was. Except Ricven's magic chose for him. "You...You said they wouldn't be mad."
Stostine turned her head. "You shot me."
Ulrich's heart stopped. "You're alive?!"
Stostine twisted her head, letting the pops echo across the room. "Surprised?"
A chill ran down my spine. Did she have to crack her neck like that?
"Ricven?" Ulrich looked down. "I-I think I should go. I really underestimated how much they don't like me!"
"Oh, that's alright." Ricven stepped behind him and pushed the man in. The man let him too. "They like me, and that's all that matters. Sit fer a bit."
All the guys turned back to the two of us, with Stonehill taking the lead. "What's going on here?"
"I had a few...'words' with Ulrich here," Ricven didn't explain further. "For the time bein', he'll be answerin' all our questions fer us. Now then."
Ricven looked at the both of us and gave a light bow of his head. "Shall we get started, ladies?"
Rava's POV
Townmaster's Hall
Meanwhile
"You need to get out. I want you out. Get. Out. All of you! I cannot and will not keep them here!" The Townmaster, Harbin Wester, trembled with rage and fear. "In fact, you need to leave. Jus-Just leave the town! This is not helping anyone, and-and you are only making this worse!"
"Leave? Leave?! Have ya been listenin' ta a single word we said?!" Eglath sunk his greataxe into the floor, the blade several inches through the wood. Wester flinched but not nearly as much as when Eglath bent down to meet the rounded man dead in eye.
"Those punks have moved from shakedowns ta murders. Meanwhile, yer just shaking," he accused. "How many people have ta die for you to do something?"
"Dey almost killed Glemerr's friend too," Glemerr backed him up. "No more Mistah Nice Townmaster! Dey need ta be taught a lesson! A lotta lessons!"
"Glemerr. Eglath. Friends," I spoke, stepping past the semi-conscious bandits and toward the town leader. They practically dumped the bodies next to the door when we all came in. "Ah appreciate the two of ya standin' up fer me, 'owever, Ah ain't so wrecked that I can't fend fer meself."
Eglath stepped aside and let me walk up to Wester next. His rage subsided, leaving only concern as he brought all of his focus to me. The last five or so minutes was spent with the two muscle heads arguing and denouncing the man that he was simply refusing to listen anymore.
"I...Look, miss. I am so, terribly sorry about what has happened to you," Wester began, lightening up when he realized I wasn't glaring and screaming. "I can tell that you all had some sort of confrontation. I am not saying what they did was right. Although. Per-Perhaps this was simply all a misunderstanding?"
"Misunderstandin'?" I repeated neutrally. Neither of us believe that crock.
When he saw no chance in my expression, he turned to my attackers. The two lads were a bent mess but Anbera had come to amidst all the screaming and was watching us all as she nursed her noggin.
Tough lass. That shield to the brain knocked her down but her eyes aren't swimming anymore.
"Miss?" Wester directed himself at Anbera. "A-Am I correct? It was all a misunderstanding, yes? And you will not be doing this again?"
From under her lips, I watched Anbera glide her tongue across her teeth while she looked across all of us. And as her eyes settled on me, I saw this cocky gleam in her eye.
"Oh yeah~" she hummed with a weak smile. "A complete accident, it was. I mistook her fer a..." She held on that note, letting that blank check of an insult get filled in by my own thoughts. "...Somethin' or other. My bad, truly."
Eglath growled, tightening his fists. "If you really think..."
"But I can assure ya, missie," Anbera said, now fully at me. "That this will never happen again. I promise."
Is that what you think? I kept watching her.
"Th-There." Wester gave us this pathetic smile. "See? Lessons have been learned and this will not happen again. A-And I am sure that I can make up for any hard feelings! I. S-Say, perhaps...some monetary recuperation?"
"Monetary recooperation?" Glemerr's anger paused. "...Yer gonna pay chickens?"
I shook my head. "You really think bribin' us is a better choice than doin' the right thing?" Wester's only response was the lack of one.
I closed my eyes, picking my next words very carefully. "Awrite...Ah hate doin' this. Ah mean, really. Really, hate doin' this. So before Ah do, Ah'm gonna ask ya one more time. Harbin Wester, Townmaster a' Phandalin; are ya right certain ya ain't punishin' the attempted murder that these bampots 'ere took on me life? That is yer final stance on the matter?"
Wester pulled back. Despite the emotion, he had acted as though he was a cut above us. That was what drove me up the wall. But as I spoke like someone on his level, I saw those gears of his turn for the first time this whole conversation.
"I...Y-Yes." He had the same answer. "I am deeply sorry for the incident. Truly. But I cannot help you. I cannot keep them here and. And I must ask that you not press this issue further. As they are in no condition to assail you, a neutral conclusion would be the best one."
"So yer doin' nothin'?" Eglath translated.
Wester refused to look him in the eye. "I think...Similar to what I had told Ms. Swordhand, I think it would be best if you and your group moved on from this town. For both your health as well as the health of others. Understand, this group is volatile. When they are met with opposition, things have never ended well."
I drew a long breath and studied his demeanor. From that last fact, there was no doubt Stostine dealt with it too. It was probably a brick wall she couldn't break since Wester was the one in charge at the end of the day.
"Ah 'ear ya," I told him. His tense expression eased up a smidge. "Sadly, that ain't good enough fer me. So now Ah gotta play this card."
I reached down and took off my right gauntlet.
Suddenly, Glemerr let out a gasp and covered her head. "She's takin' off 'er glove! Shield yer face!"
"Face? Why wou—Waugh, hey!" Eglath got cut off when Glemerr used her other hand to press it into the goliath's jaw, shielding him from me.
"I's awrite Glem," I told her. "That ain't what's 'appenin'. Now, Wester? See here." I brought my hand out, pointing my hand forward knuckles-first so he could see the golden ring set upon my finger.
Pinkie let out yet another gasp. "Rava's married?!"
"What?" Rainbow froze. Then gave the pink frizzy girl an odd look. "No, Pinkie, that's not what I was—"
"But that's her ring finger," Pinkie pointed out. And, as she said, when Rainbow Dash presented her hand, she was pointing to that exact finger. "She's married!"
"Well, not always," Rarity cut in. "Rainbow Dash is using her right hand. Typically, wedding rings are worn on your left. Although, some ladies can prefer them on the right hand."
"What the—she's not married!" Dash shouted. She stared back at her paper for a second. "And it's called a signal ring!"
"I think you mean signet ring," Twilight corrected.
"Whatever!"
Rarity smirked. "Well, in that case, signet rings are commonly worn on one's pinky finger."
"But it's not my ring," Pinkie informed her. "Why would I wear Rainbow Dash's wedding ring?"
"For the last time, I'm not..." Suddenly, Rainbow sat back at Pinkie's snickering face. Rather than be mad, she rolled her eyes, smiling all the while. "Very funny, Pinkie. You can knock it off."
"Okaaay! But only if I get to be your wedding planner!"
"Wedding planner?" Twilight blinked. "You want to plan weddings Pinkie?"
"Well doi, of course, silly! You think I'd miss a chance to set up the perfect wedding party for my friends?!"
"The bachelorette parties will certainly be interesting," Rarity mumbled before the girls around her suddenly burst out laughing. From there, Pinkie and Rarity couldn't help but further devolve the focus into something far off course.
As they did, Story scratched his head at the scene while the magic game kept thrumming with life. Are they...What is this?
Without an answer, he eventually found Sunset's attention and tried mouthing a few confused syllables to her while gesturing to the others.
"Let them have this," she instructed him while partly listening to the madness. "Besides, I think we could all use a smile."
"Okay, okay, weddings aside," Rainbow stated, trying to end the train of thought before she had to think about it too much. "I'm using the signet ring, on the Townmaster. Does he do anything?"
Story glanced down at his dice where several of them spurred to life, calling for him to roll. Cautious, he plucked one of them and turned it over in his hand. The numbers were an ornate font with the base made of tarnished silver. The symbolism wasn't lost on him.
Then, as though reading Story's mind, magical writing formed on the table out of the same colored aura that came out of his hands. 'History +3.'
"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked him.
"Uh, yeah. I think so." He nodded but never looked away from the table. "That magic writing you mentioned. It's here."
He tossed the die out of his hand, noticing how it hit the tabletop and rolled with a heavy thump like real silver could. A ten. Plus the magic number; thirteen.
Story then watched as the magic fizzled out slowly, like it had been disappointed in the number.
Did it fail? Story scratched his brow. Then he thought over the number and why he rolled in the first place. Actually, yeah, it would. Magic aside, I'd say the same.
Story looked up from his dice at the cast ahead of him and cleared his throat. "Alright Rava. As you show him the ring..."
Wester's expression tensed as he continued staring back at the ring. He didn't know what house it stood for but he knew the intent.
Wester stuttered for a moment, glancing back and forth between it and myself. "Erm, I-I, um..." Her licked his lips and tried clearing his thoughts. "Terribly sorry, but, I do not know your husband."
"What?" I glanced down at my—it was on the wrong finger. Whatever!
With a growl, I shoved it further into his face. "This 'ere's the sigil of Clan Dagarkin, third clan of Cragen! Me father's name is Traubon Dagarkin; proud proprietor of a number of gold mines dotted around the Drakehead!" Wester stopped stammering as his face mummified into a pale slate.
"An' lemme tell ya! He's been lookin' at a few silver deposits last Ah 'eard. Perhaps Ah'll tell him how piss poor this operation's runnin'! He'll put ya outta a job so quick, ya wouldn't have time ta pull the tail out between yer legs and pack it up yer arse along wit' the rest a' yer lies!"
He tried backing away but I followed him. "Now you listen 'ere bub! Ah'ma ask ya again real nice like, aye?! An' if ya try givin' me some kinda run around jus' one more time, you'll have a lot more trouble than some shoddy bandits in their wee li'le capes givin' ya the shivers! YA 'EAR ME NOW?!"
Wester kept backing up until he ran his legs into the front of his desk. He would have flipped over it had he been another foot taller. All the while, he looked between me and the bandits watching from the entrance as he tried figuring out who was the worse bear to poke.
Story found himself seeing double as Rava's moment had broadcasted from his end of the screen while Rainbow rose from her chair in the midst of her shouting. To her credit, Dash's accent never flickered as her focus stayed locked on to Story. It almost made Story forget where he was for a second.
He again glanced at the die and saw it spur to life once more. Yeah, he agreed. Just what I was thinking.
"Rava?" Story said as he dropped Wester's fake fearful expression. "Intimidation check. Advantage."
"Awrite," Rainbow breathed as she tossed up two dice. As they landed, Story saw the magic act just as it did for him before she looked up. "Fourteen?"
He then moved onto his tarnished silver die and rolled it, smirking when he saw the outcome. Heh. I think I can get used to this part.
"I. I shou...No one had...N-None of this is my fault!" He blew up, turning away to hide away from my glare. "You must understand, I did not ask for any of this! I volunteered myself as Townmaster because this was supposed to be some quiet, podunk town! I just wanted a simple job! And that's exactly what this was until they came along!"
Anbera glared from the criminal pile. "I'd stop talkin' if I were you..."
"It is the truth!" he insisted. He snapped back to me. "They initially tried bribing me! I said no! I refused to take part in their antics! And as Ms. Swordhand suggested, I was poised to report them straight away. But the moment I penned that letter, they accosted me in my own home! They saw what I was doing and ripped it to shreds! They threatened to do the same to my neck. So fine! YES! I don't do anything about them because I don't want to die!"
"I said stop talkin'," Anbera screamed, finding some force to sit herself up.
"Does that make me as bad as them?! That I want to live?!" Wester continued. "What am I supposed to do, die for this place?! This village is nothing! I came out here for a quiet life away from those bureaucrats! But it turns out, all I did was trade one form of cutthroat for another!"
"Oh, cutthroat are we—eeEEeEeEeee..." Anbera tried standing up but Eglath reached over and put an iron grip on her shoulder while his other hand rested on the pummel of his greataxe still sunk in the floor.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Eglath growled.
Wester took a moment to catch his breath. "You think you're the first to offer your services? Travelers like you crawl out from the woodwork. Some die, others flee, and many end up joining these outlaws! That one on the floor was here last month!"
I spun around for a moment and found Wester pointing at one of the guys laid out on the ground. Dillard, I think his name was.
"Guilds exist for a reason." Wester stepped back. "They are to keep would be mercenaries like them from making things worse. And from what I've gathered, your group isn't affiliated with a guild. You're assisting the Whiteblades and nothing more. What will we do when you fail? We're the ones left to deal with the consequences!"
I took a breath to compose myself before turning back to the Townmaster. "Then we won't fail. Simple as that. You don't want 'em 'ere. That much is clear. An' their already stoopin' ta murder. Sounds like the consequences are dire enough."
I put my gauntlet back on and crossed my arms. "We're helpin' regardless. It's a personal matter now. So. Does that mean yer sidin' with them?"
He took in a deep breath and let out a huff. "Certainly not."
"Well then; Ah'd consider this yer best option." I looked back at Anbera and her lackeys. "These three need ta be locked up. Eglath says ya got cells in this buildin'. Tha' right?"
"...There's a hatch towards the back," he submitted. "It leads to a basement where there is a holding cell and then a one-person cell beside it."
"If..." From the other Redbrands, Ralf spoke through his broken ribs. "If you think you can put us in there and..." He paused to cough. "Survive the week. You're a bigger fool than we...thought, old man."
"Old? I'm in my late thirties," he clarified.
"Ya are?" Glemerr let out a whistle. "Dat's kinda old."
"No, it is not! Not for a human at least." Wester quickly went behind his desk and after a moment produced a ring of keys. "These are the only keys. One for the cellar hatch and the others for the cells. Take them downstairs. I will be down shortly."
"You?" Eglath snorted. "Why are ya suddenly fine with comin'? Five minutes ago, ya wanted 'em out."
"Obviously, I am not about to stay here or at home. They'll find me." He quickly began packing up papers and supplies from his work space. "There is an old desk downstairs. I will be conducting my affairs there until this matter is...hopefully resolved."
I nodded. "We understand. Erm, Eglath? Terribly sorry ta..." He held up a hand and shook his head.
"Don't worry about it, I got nothin' else ta do. Besides, yer friend here helped me finish tendin' ta my lemons. I'm free 'til the mornin'."
"Lemons," AJ said in a sudden realization. Then she pointed a finger at a neutral Story. "HA! I knew it was a citrus!"
The rest of the table, plus Gilda and the farmgirl's brother, all stared with empty expressions.
"Uh...Ahehehe." AJ lowered her finger. And then her hat over her eyes. "...Sorry."
"Dat's plenty a' time," Glemerr decided for us. "Jus' point us at wherever dis messily group's set up an' we'll do da rest!"
"Please do not do that," the Townmaster begged.
"Aw, come on!" Glemerr pouted. "Ah thought you were on Team Party Crashers!"
"Party Crashers?" I gave her a look. "Is that what we're callin' ourselves?"
"Of course I would prefer you take them out. As quickly as possible! But there is more than these three. They are an entire gang."
"He may have a point, Glem." She slumped. "First order a business is roundin' up the others. Once we're on the same page, then we'll start crackin' 'eads."
"In the meantime," Eglath piggybacked from me. "I can use some help lockin' up these three. What do ya say kid?"
Glemerr's face lit up like a forge. "Would Ah?! Ah'll bring 'em down right now!"
The half-orc brushed past everyone and quickly started scooping up the thugs, ignoring their pleas and cries of pain as they laid out over her shoulders.
"Meet ya outside sheriff!" Before any of us could even stop her, Glemerr kicked the door open, breaking the lock and stepping out to the shock of a crowd of townsfolk outside.
Guess they heard the screaming. I frowned. Hopefully the Redbrands aren't among them.
The goliath smirked. "Let's not keep her waitin'. She's a good kid."
"She just broke my door!" Wester whined.
"Yeah. Like I said." He walked over and snagged the keys out from the Townmaster. "A good kid."
Platick's POV
Phandalin Town Center
Meanwhile
As my boots finally met the sweet, merciful ground, my knees buckled as they and my hands joined my feet against the dirt. The stable, not moving, dirt.
Two hours straight. That crazy, demented horse had been running at that insane speed, nonstop, for two hours! I'll give the overgrown badger its credit, it cut down the time by half. But how is that thing not collapsing? Is that normal?
"Platick? Are you going to be okay?" Leanne asked from atop Tucker the horse. "I mean...This isn't the first time you've ridden a horse, is it?"
"From on one's back, yeah." I got up to one knee. "But I've ridden carriages and wagons. Horses never act like this."
"Oh." She found just about everything else around her much more interesting than me. "Yeah, well, uh, that's kind of normal...Anyways!" She switched gears. "I'm just gonna take my wares back to the shop. With any luck, I'll be able to open up before the miners come back for the day."
"Great," I lamented. "You do that. I'll just nurse the ground for a while."
"Take all the time you need," she joked. "Besides, you helped out a lot more than I thought you would. So whenever your done with...that." She chuckled. "Come by the shop after a while. I'll give you a bonus."
"Bonus?" I slowly found my balance to stand back up. "That's a change. Yesterday, I brought up a finder's fee and you instantly shot that down. Why now?"
"Let's just say I owe one." She shrugged. "Don't look into it too much, okay? See you around."
Rather than wait, Leanne lightly shook the reins and Tucker strutted down the road with the small trailer pulled along with it, leaving me in the middle of town.
Guess that means my schedule's cleared for the day. After a quick look at where the sun stood, I ran a few ideas through my head.
Assuming the others did what we agreed on, there shouldn't be too many other places to check. Not to mention, I doubt the local gossips care much about goblin sightings. Maybe I should try checking the other shops?
I turned around to do exactly that but something caught my eye first. Not far off, there was a gathering of people around the Townmaster's Hall. They were whispering between one another and among the more able-bodied I saw them holding tools, clubs, and even weapons in their hands. They were all watching the entrance intently.
Oh no, I assumed. Please, please, tell me that this doesn't have anything to do with the others.
I got probably about twenty feet behind the crowd before the door was suddenly kicked out of its frame with only a single hinge kept it from flying out at the townsfolk. The ones toward the front backed away in shock or held up their tools to shield themselves.
"Wha...Glemerr?" I asked out of pure confusion.
She had shuffled out the Townmaster's Hall with three bruised and half-conscious people all bearing red cloaks; the Redbrands no doubt.
"Oh, Platick, yer back!" Glemerr cheered as she stepped off the Townmaster's patio and threw the splitting mob as they watched in surprise. "Yer not gonna believe it! Glemerr just became a deputy!"
"What?"
"Yeah, Ah can't believe it eitha! But Eglath just told me ta take dese pett'ly idiots ta de jail! Ah didn' even know we had a jail!"
"So something's finally going to be done about them?"
The mob started forming around us, almost enveloping us entirely. "About the Redbrands. Are you gonna help?"
Ah no. I stiffened up. "Hold on a second. Nobody said anything about—" "'Course we are!"
I gave Glemerr the darkest glare I could hope to muster but all she did was wink back at me as if nothing was wrong. What are you doing?!
"Glemerr an' her friends are on da case," she decreed. "Ain't dat right, Pladdy?"
"No! I am not about to...Pladdy?" I deadpanned. "That wasn't even close to—" "Platick!"
I cringed before turning back to the building as Ravathyra stepped out. Then behind her stepped out some upper-class man and a goliath who could snap me like a toothpick if he wanted.
"Ah didn' know ya'd be back so soon," she cheered.
"Platick? Oh and Miss Glemerr too? Perfect timin'." This time, from a new direction, Vareén and Ricven had come from the tavern with a Redbrand member walking beside them.
"Guys," Glemerr cheered. "Yer just in time! Me and Platick were just tellin' everybody how we're gonna help stop the Redpans!"
"R-Red...Brands," one of the losers hanging off her shoulder corrected.
"Really?" Ricven flashed me a humorous grin. "Why Platick, I am impressed with your bravado. It really is fer that shopkeeping lady, ain't it?"
"Stuff it, gnome."
"Never mind that fer now." Ricven waved me off. "Miss Glemerr? Stostine needs some a' your mad doctorin' skills. She got pinned with a crossbow bolt."
Glemerr gasped and released her grip on the Redbrands, letting them fall from her shoulders and crash onto the hard ground.
"STOP DROPPIN' US!" the Dwarven bandit girl screamed.
"Where is she?!" Glemerr roared. "An' were's da punk dat shot 'er?! Glemerr knock 'em in da ground so hard we'll need a crowbar ta pry 'em out!"
Vareén stepped between the orc and the pale, shaking man in the red cloak. Then she jerked a thumb at the inn. "We made her lie down in her room. She keeps complaining so hurry it up."
Glemerr obliged, breaking out into a full sprint towards the inn while nearly stampeding over Ricven in the process. After a few words that were less than kind from him, Ricven dusted his vest off and turned back to me as Rava and her goliath friend came down to recollect the bandits.
"So much for being my deputy," the goliath joked.
"Okay. What is going on?" I asked, looking between them all. "I've been gone only five hours, thinking that you'd actually try sticking to the plan. Instead, you declared war on a band of two-bit thugs?"
The idiot behind Vareén stepped out. "Y-You guys don't have to keep calling us th—" he stopped talking real quick when I pulled out one of my many daggers and readied it to throw.
I took a slow, steady breath as I worked to calm my nerves. "Did any of you actually do what we agreed on? Because out of all of us, the only one that doesn't seem to be involved with beating up idiots is Thorn. At least she isn't dealing. With. This...?"
My anger came to a screeching halt as I watched, from the corner of my eye, a Cortássian elf walking out of some random house with a loaf of bread in her hands. A small child chased after her before wrapping his arms around her waist in an attempt to hug her. Which the elf hesitantly returned with a single arm while looking around awkwardly.
"Thank you again for saving our boy." A man stepped out onto the doorway. His voice was the kind that carried so it wasn't hard to hear him. The rest of the group seemed to hear it as well.
"We knew that forest was too dangerous," the man went on. "But we had no idea there were monsters out there too."
"And I'm so sorry for how I acted," a woman's voice joined in. She didn't step out of the house but it was obvious she was standing behind the man. "It's just...Those elves at the mountains. We're all on edge, you know? That, plus everything else going on. I hope you'll forgive me."
"...Yes," Thorn Wielder told them before patting the child's head. "Home. Safe."
"Yeah. Home is safe," the kid repeated before stepping back. "You be safe too, Wolf Lady."
Thorn pointed at herself. "Thorn Wielder."
"Oh! Right, sorry. Bye Thorn Wielder!" The boy waved, which Thorn returned, before he turned around and walked back over to his parents.
When the moment finished, Thorn turned on her heel and right away spotted me, the others, and a good ten members of the town all staring at her. Her hood was down, revealing her Cortássian heritage, and her scythe's blade was gleaming against the sun.
None of that seemed to matter to her, however, as she slowly brought up the loaf of bread and took a small bite out of it. Then she perked up, chewing the bread some more, and happily took a larger bite of it before walking over to us.
"'erro," she mumbled as crumbs spilled out of her mouth.
When none of us said anything, she glanced down at her hands and ripped her loaf in half. After another second of her swallowing her food, she licked the crumbs off her lips and held out the smaller of the two halves towards us. "Bread?"
This took a while to write up! With my own summer break, of sorts, wrapping up, I've been busy these last few weeks. Not to mention, a couple weeks back I just got myself a seat as a player of a D&D game! I'm not a forever DM, yay! 
That said, the next bundle of chapters from here on out will be heavily focused on the game. I don't know how many, only the dice know, but I do know it'll probably be a bigger cluster of chapters than the D&D sections prior.
Also, up to now, I've put character sheets of every game character in these author notes. I've been wanting to post Vareén's too but if I did, you'd be seeing a lot of ⏁⊑⟟⌇⌇⏁⎍⎎⎎⏃⌰⌰⍜⎐⟒⍀⏁⊑⟒⌿⏃☌⟒ and nothing else. So instead, I had another idea.
A few weeks back, I found a YouTube video of 50 questions that help build D&D characters. So, I took a day and I made one! For each of the seven characters...
This one is Vareén's. I know not everyone may be interested but I think it helps to show her personality.
It hints to backstory stuff Twilight made for Vareén that may never show up in the story. I also wrote the answers with Vareén's attitude so it's not a boring yes/no questionnaire.
If people are interested in it, let me know! I have all the others just because it helps to pen down their personalities. Plus, it was sort of fun. Very tedious though...
Now, all of that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time everybody!
Cheers,
-Zeke
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Ah, yes, the townmaster. Still a wimp I see. We wont change you for anything Harbin :P
....*snicker*....*giggle*........
Heh. Loved that end. XD
Looked over the QnA with Vareén, and I think it says a lot that she wouldn't change telling her then-boyfriend about her even though it led to a scenario out of her nightmares.
Very well written, as usual. Story really caught a lucky break with that “over a week” thing.
Frog.
"As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a land baron, controlling who gets what land as if I was some make-believe ruler telling his subjects where they could go. They would have to come up to me and ask ‘Oh please sir, please let me build a little farm so I could grow your favorite food.’
Kinda makes me smile how stupid I was back then. But who knows, maybe becoming a baroness would be that fun."
"Oh please sir"
"Oh please sir"
"Oh please sir"
I think Ricven might be in for a surprise.
"Tell me about your first kiss?
Admittedly, it was my fault. After these hunters I trained with split up, I tried walking away from that life. Wanted to be someone simple. I moved into one town and found a job as a leatherworker’s apprentice. But the leatherworker kept trying to charm me. One day, I let him buy me some drinks, and tried really leaning into the whole simple lifestyle. Then he kissed me. I kissed him back. A few months in, I thought I could be honest about who I really was with him.
I left town soon after he tried cutting my head off."
I'm also wondering if this world of Prima might be homophobic
10955628
I can confirm it was not a matter of homophobia. But I'll give you this, hang on to Vareén first kiss story. It'll have another meaning eventually...
10955702
I kinda figured, just wanted to say something lighthearted.
Very nice chapter. Really digging the DnD shenanigans, no plan is ever followed. Keep up the great work.
Gosh darn it, Thornweaver, who gave you permission to be so adorable?
....... has to be.