(30) End of Session
Platick’s POV
Griffonbound Vendor
During the Fight
I was tossed like a rag and fell against the edge of the table with my lower back. I let out a breath and forced myself to roll away just as a dagger sank its way through the tabletop with all the weight of this slender blue form behind it.
After regaining my balance, I turned to watch as the creature twisted and yanked the dagger. It pulled it and a chunk of the table out with hardly an issue. Then it turned to me.
Why did she make me do this alone?
“Oh, it’s alright Platick,” it spoke suddenly. Despite all the effort it put into skewering me, the voice of Leanne sounded calm and eerily delighted. “I’m glad you kept this personal. Makes it so much easier for me.”
It lunged forward, throwing one piercing motion after the next that I was forced to dodge or parry as we danced around the shop. While I had the range, it somehow avoided every strike I made and got in close.
It forced me to play defensive so that neither of us got a clean hit on the other. It would carve its knife along my armor while I caught the loose clothes that dangled from it. The walls and furniture were equally torn apart.
After about a minute of gaining and losing ground, I backed into the side wall and swung wildly. When the doppelganger saw that, they waited for the sword to finish its arc and raised its dagger to finish me off.
Desperate, I dropped my dagger and reached behind me, grabbing the first thing my hand brushed against. Surprisingly, it even had a handle as I swung it around.
What followed was the shatter of glass and a spray of oil coating both of us, making the monster flail backwards as their lack of eyelids meant the oil was free to dig into their eyes.
I put both hands onto the hilt of my rapier and drove it into the center of their chest. When it met any resistance, I wrenched it in whatever direction it took until the tip of my blade revealed itself through its back and reflected candlelight back at me.
All the while, the monster’s face stretched vertically. It was like putty being pulled tight as it screamed in Leanne’s voice. Only, it was a hideous noise. Leanne’s subtle country accent distorted into something between metallic and this melting shriek as I started yelling in return out of instinct.
Then, as I kept yelling, its scream went straight silent. The creature froze in place as every visible muscle went stiff as a sculpture.
My yell fell to a deep exhale. I was relieved for the moment of peace as I withdrew my rapier. Or rather, I tried to. The blade came about halfway through the beast’s body before it got stuck.
Confused, I watched as every abdominal muscle the doppelganger had slithered and coiled around the rapier like snakes constricting around it. Then the doppelganger’s stomach started curling inward to keep my blade lodged in the beast.
I studied every inch of it before noticing its yellow orbs were baring down upon me from underneath the glaze of oil.
And then the muscles on its face grew stiffer still. A taut grin of sinew.
“Just kidding,” Leanne’s voice joked.
I blinked. Then I looked at where I struck. What?! But, its heart. I-I stabbed its heart!
“No. No you didn’t,” it replied, making a chill run down my back. Then it twirled the dagger into a forward grip. “Was a good effort though.”
It made for a longitudinal cut across my neck which I ducked under to squat beside my rapier. Then, as it spun its dagger back to a reverse grip for the return swipe, I grabbed my rapier and yanked it downward.
The doppelganger gave up on the attack and released its muscles, letting me fall to the floor with the sword back in my possession. However, it left me perfectly exposed to get kicked like a dog.
By the fourth kick, I pulled a new dagger out from my hip and held it above me, letting the freak stomp their foot directly into it. Again, they shrieked and I followed up by driving the rapier into their stomach until I was up against it.
After a couple more seconds, it laughed in Leanne’s voice.
Wha—How?!
“I’ll tell you how,” it replied. “My stomach’s not there! Neither was my heart.” I tried pulling away but again it worked to anchor the rapier in place bef—
My mind became full of nothing but agony as a surge of pain shot down my arm. Multiple times in a row cold metal punctured my arm as I writhed in pain each time. It helped to paint my arm deep crimson all the way down to my hand.
Quickly, I released my rapier and forced my fingers around a second dagger before plunging both into either side of the thing’s neck. All I got in return was a wad of coagulated blue blood in my face before it gut kicking me in an attempt to push me away. It worked but not before I made a grab for my sword again.
Stumbling back a few feet, I stumbled and slammed into the counter spine-first. I crawled to my feet the same time it plucked the daggers out of its neck. It then tossed both of them across the room and steadied its own at me.
Despite no mouth or nose, I saw its body moving in a way that showed it was breathing. It was more than a little winded but I was still worse off by a mile. My body ached, I was losing blood, and I was down to my last dagger as the other four were scattered across the room.
It took a few seconds sizing me up, determining how best to finish me off before slowly leaning its head to the side curiously.
“Kiirnodel,” Leanne’s voice muttered from it.
Several alarms raised to my mind as my eyes gave away my fear. “What?”
“Kiirnodel,” it repeated as a visible chill rolled down the muscles like a spasm. “What are they? They...no, it...Okay, I am nothing like that thing, how dare you,” it said offendedly.
My brow laid low along my eyes. “That’s what it is. You’re reading my memories.”
Its face muscles twisted to another grin. “Took you long enough. You pride yourself on being so inquisitive~ It’s what drew me to you.”
...Go on, I said inwardly. While keeping a careful eye on her, I put my last dagger down on the counter and blindly reached for the brandy behind me. The glass was heavier than I thought. Thicker too. The cork was also too well secure to pop it off with my thumb. Darn it all.
“I wouldn’t, there’s poison in there,” it admitted. “I was gonna knock you out but you got a little too clever.”
Applejack sat there, furrowing her brow at Story. To his credit, he managed to bury his emotions to put on a good attempt at playing the bad guys fairly.
That didn’t mean Applejack was any less good at telling tall tales from facts.
“Can Ah make an insight check on that?”
“Wait, insight? Really? Now?” Rainbow asked, looking away from the strong cobra-like tendril that was Stalwart to stare at her friend. “How’s that gonna help in a fight?!”
Applejack ignored her and stared Story down. “Can Ah?” She pressed.
Story nodded. “Go for it. And I don’t think the game will gargle me when I tell you it has advantage.”
“Not surprised.” AJ shrugged, watching as Story rolled with one die pettering out and another flashing so bright it made Story blink a few times. After seeing that, AJ went for the magic wooden die and rolled it for everyone to see.
A natural twenty.
Strangely enough, Applejack didn’t get too many visions. Just a view of the doppelganger as it tried lying to Platick. If anything, Platick was probably getting glimpses of Applejack’s talent to pick out lies.
Story, meanwhile, sat back and licked his lips. He was overjoyed that AJ outclassed all the magic. But at the same time there was a fragment of him that was somewhat petty his doppelganger got read like a book.
“Wow.” I smirked. “That’s what a lying shapeshifter looks like? How sad.”
I watched its face scrunch into rage for a moment before it rolled its shoulders and regaining its composure. “Alright then. Check if I’m lying about this: I don’t read memories. I relive them as though they were my own. For example, Madame Kiirnodel? I know everything you do.”
My smirk faltered to a look of exasperation. “How unfortunate. That also means you know what happens next, don’t you?”
It scoffed. “You think I’m insane? I don’t plan on going anywhere near the Hidden Sight.”
I rolled my jaw and put the brandy back on the counter. Then I proceeded to pluck a small game piece out of my pocket. The Mage piece from my Dragonchess set. Once it spotted it, the doppelganger stepped back.
“Yo-You wouldn’t,” it said in surprise.
I just stared at it and thought to myself, You’re reading my thoughts, aren’t you? Say that again.
It faltered. “N-No. Stop! You don’t have to—” But I did. Instead of obeying, I took the piece in my fist and tightened my grip until both of us heard a sharp crack as I snapped the piece in two.
As the parts of it crumbled to the ground, withering away so fast that only a few crumbs of dust actually reached the ground. Even those withered out of existence.
The doppelganger’s hands trembled. “I...I-I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have said anything! I WOULDN’T!”
“I know you wouldn’t,” I told her calmly. Then, ignoring the lack of blood rushing through my arm, I raised my rapier. “But, you see, I’m not like the others. I’m not insane enough to think I’m unstoppable. If I die and Kiirnodel finds out you know? They’d find a way to make sure I pay for betraying them.”
Its muscles tensed. “Betraying them? In what way?! There’s no point lying to me, Fortuna, I know everything they’ve done to you! I’ve been reliving your memories all morning! You’re just being spiteful at this point! Why?! You don’t care about this town! You’ve never met Leanne. You don’t have a lingering hatred of things like me. There is nothing attaching you to this place! So why?!”
I narrowed my brow. “Interesting. You say you’re living my memories but you can’t live all of them at once, can you? You can only read so many at a time.”
I reached into a deeper pocket and pulled out two things. The first of them was Rava’s signet ring. “You’re right though. I don’t have anything tying me to this place. Neither does that naive Dwarf. But she’s my ticket to finding everything out. So I’ll pay my debt upfront.”
The doppelganger’s face twitched in such a way where it was more obvious thanks to the lack of skin to hide it.
“You wanna kill me? Because of some BS like friendship?!” It mocked.
“Not. My fri—” “Oh stuff it with that crap!” It interrupted. “I’m living your memories Platick! You think I don’t know when you doubt your own words? Say it all you want! Preach it till the Traveler regales the story! Or don’t. I really couldn’t care.”
I felt a huge dizzy spell hit me from the blood loss. I didn’t bother masking it; it’d see through me anyways. “Go ahead and try. You think that the Sight would actually be fooled by something like you? Even if you repeat the phrases, they’ll see right through it.”
“I won’t be sticking around that long. Just long enough to kill the rest of your friends and get back to the Baron!”
“Doors right there.” I pointed past it with my rapier. “Read my mind. Turning your back on me will be your dumbest move tonight.”
I watched the muscles in its neck shift around for a moment before it let out the most ear-splitting shriek I’ve ever heard in my life.
Then it charged.
“I’m not dying here,” I said defiantly as I got in a readied stance and played my hand.
Throw dagger. Feint then right. Hip strike. Throw dagger. Feint then right. Hip strike. Throw dagger. Feint then right. Hip strike. I kept my thoughts clear except for that montra that I repeated in my head.
Throw dagger. Feint then righ—
“Think that’ll work?!” It roared before chucking its dagger straight for me.
I fumbled around for a second, my instincts pulling me in so many different directions that I ended up going nowhere. Instead, I stood like a deer in the lantern light as a dagger sunk deep into the right of my chest.
In a fit of desperation, I flung the hand with Rava’s ring at the monster. The silver went flying at it along with the second thing I pulled out of my pocket with it; a vial of acid.
It was my plan to psyche out the doppelganger with my thoughts and throw that vial acid into the center of their chest. However, as a last ditch effort, I couldn’t do it right.
Instead, the vial and ring both sailed over its head as it went into a tackle, slamming into me and plunging the dagger through my armor and deeper into my chest. Behind the shapeshifter, I heard the shattering of glass, the strong scent of something like vinegar, and the sound of rolling silver.
“You wanna know what a dying man’s thoughts sound like Platick?” It asked. Then it leaned so close to my ear that it was practically kissing it while everything started going dark. “They sound. Like...”
Nothing.
3rd Person POV
Game Room
During the Fight
As the game carried on, three battles happened simultaniously. A majority of the girls saw nearly everything between the battle with Stalwart and the fight outdoors.
However, Applejack couldn’t see either of those fights, nor could she hear them. Likewise, the girls couldn’t see how their friend’s fight was truly going on with ‘Leanne.’ No one had time to realize that until the end.
Although, there was one other interesting note; the DM Screen. When the fight started, it showed Thorn Wielder, Vareén, and Stostine against a small army of Redbrands with Stalwart at the front. But it had changed twice in the span of the night.
The first was the inclusion of Ravathyra, Glemerr, and Ricven. Once the Redbrands rushed inside the bar and Dash and Pinkie made their surprise attacks, the three adventurers appeared. Rava and Glemerr were posed mid-swing, flanking on either side of Vareén, Thorn, and Stostine’s images. Then, Ricven was front and center of everyone, fully invested in his performance.
Since Glemerr’s face was hidden behind her Redbrand mask on the screen, that meant Ricven was the only one smiling. It made sense seeing as this was his debut on the ‘big screen.’ Rarity was even a little pleased seeing her creation like this.
But when Platick and the doppelganger’s fight appeared, there was a whole new style. Stalwart and the girls’ scene shifted to the side of the screen to make space for the rogue and shifter that appeared to the left.
It was something akin to an advertisement for a boxing match. The picture showed a bust of both fighters facing one another; Platick with a rapier and dagger and the doppelganger wielding a small cinquedea.
However, the detail on either opponent couldn’t be seen. Everyone saw the blades clearly but Platick and the shifter themselves were concealed in the darkness. There was only a dark outline of either of them, the silver eyes of Platick, and the yellow eyes of the shifter that could be seen.
Everyone saw the same picture. It was just that the rest of the girls assumed it was Leanne. They also assumed that the blue tendril that arrived with Applejack’s fight was also Leanne’s.
But there was something else they didn’t know.
The fight only lasted four turns with both opponents having two attacks each; two with the doppelganger’s dagger while Platick had a rapier and then a dagger in the off-hand. Neither of them had sneak or surprise attack dice so it was a battle of attrition.
At first, Applejack had better luck. Platick hit with almost all of his attacks while the doppelganger barely hit once. Then the doppelganger had a natural twenty. Then Platick hit with every attack while the shifter missed all of them.
And then Platick had a natural twenty. The doppelganger, who started with nearly triple the HP Platick had, now almost had the same HP he started with. And when Applejack heard that the doppelganger was getting weaker, she tried a Hail Mary idea of throwing an acid vial.
This failed and Platick, who only had a couple of hit points left, went down to a single stab.
By the time he realized this, Story sat in stunned silence. It hit him all at once what he had done and how Platick was all alone. There wasn’t a chance of the others coming to save him. By this point, the Redbrands had just closed in on Vareén and Stostine and Glemerr was still fighting back at the Sleeping Giant with the others.
Even if Pinkie knew about Platick’s condition, it would take her about five rounds to get there. More than enough for Platick to run out of death saves.
Then, Story looked down at his screen. He saw half a dozen scenes playing out in front of him. All of them were awful. One showed the doppelganger running away and leaving Platick to die. Another had the doppelganger finishing Platick off and disguising itself as him. A third was tying Platick’s corpse to a chair to use as bait against—
He looked away, covering his eyes. The others were worse than the first three and simply violence for violence sake. And unfortunately, it wasn’t surprising. In Leodaav, shapeshifters were rooted in the kingdom’s history of disasters. And in a kingdom where giants and goblins weren’t kill-onsight kinds of monsters, there were people trained specifically to hunt down and kill shifters.
He made doppelganger’s ruthless. This was the result.
“Story?” Applejack spoke up. “What happens now?”
Story glanced up, doing well to avoid eye contact with the screen as he looked back at her. “I. Um...I-It’s the end of the fight. Now.”
“Do Ah just. Do Ah sit here?” She asked. Then she glanced over to Rainbow Dash who was talking between Pinkie and Rarity over what to do next. A lot of it was gargled to her but it wasn’t hard to assume what they were saying. “Uh. What about Platick?”
Again, Story had that feeling of dread hit him. He didn’t see Platick in Sky-Space but if he was anything like Vareén or Stostine, or the character he brought to life, that meant Platick was—
“H-He’s fine,” Story lied, perking up in his seat. Then he watched from the corner of his eyes as all the scenes on his screen vanished save for one. The one where the doppelganger tries running away. “He—erm, you. H-He’s alright. You don’t have to do anything.”
As he said those words, the remaining scene blanked out. Actually, all signs of magic winked out of existence.
“...” Applejack took one look around her and gave him a disappointed look. “Story,” she started.
“N-No. I swear. He’ll be okay! I-I can make it okay.”
AJ turned her look into one of frustration. “Now hold on. Ya don’t go rockin’ the boat like that. What are ya talkin’ about?”
“I’m...” He thought to himself for a moment. “I’m...going to make it okay,” he said slowly. “I mean. After all, I’m, uh. I’m the one who runs this game, right? I’m the Master, aren’t I? That’s what the characters keep calling me.”
As he explained it, neither he nor Applejack noticed the magic slowly reactivating. Except, rather than spreading across the game, it spread across everything. The table, the floors, the walls, the ceiling.
Their friends.
“Plus, it’s all my world,” Story went on. “I’m narrating everything. I’m voicing all the characters, describing the world, deciding what number you need to pass something. I decide that.”
Applejack shook her head. “Story, that’s the worst slope ya could hope ta slide down. We don’t even know what this magic reaches too. Ah’m still havin’ a difficult time wrappin’ mah head around this ‘changin’ reality’ craziness.”
Story bit his lip but then AJ saw his eyes moving around as if searching for an answer in his head. Before she could call him on it, he snapped his fingers.
“That’s it!” He cried, reaching for his backpack.
Applejack sighed. “Story, ya ain’t listenin’.”
“No, I am listening. And you’re right. The changing real world reality-thingy is nuts. We shouldn’t mess with that. But!”
“No,” AJ retorted. “Ya don’t go throwin’ around buts when talking about reality! Sunset, will ya please talk some sense inta...Sunset?”
She looked across the table where Sunset was seemingly frozen in time; in mid-conversation with Twilight about something. Her mouth was partly open and she wasn’t blinking. Neither was anyone else in the room.
“St-Story? Story, stop. Look at the others.”
Story finished pulling out a binder from his backpack, filled to the brim with papers, and flinched when he saw all of them stuck in place. “Uhhhhh..."
“Okay. This? Right here? This is why we don’ mess with things!”
He put the binder down on the table and stepped over to Sunset since she was closest to him. He waved his hand and snapped his fingers but nothing made them move. And when he tried shaking their shoulder, they were as stiff as a statue.
“Okay,” Story squeaked. “Okay, fine. Applejack, you win. I take it back. I’ll do it! I’ll play the game legit. Just tell me how to fix them!”
“You think Ah know how ta do it?!” Applejack stared at him.
“I dunno, you’re the one that floated in the air with superpowers! D-Do it again!”
“Ah don’t think Ponyin’ Up is gonna do much here!”
Story opened his mouth but shut it again. “Ponying Up? That’s what you call that?”
“U-Uh!” AJ’s eyes started darting all over the room. “Well, um, Ah mean, that ain’t. Um. Le-Let’s focus on savin’ our friends, can we?!”
“Right! Um. Okay, good point, sorry,” he backtracked. Then he went back to his chair and looked around at his notes. The screen didn’t have those scenes to choose from but it didn’t have the typical game rules and tips on it either.
Instead, he saw this small, medieval round table made up of individual boards all hammered together. On the table was a candle turned on its side and still alight to reveal a small chunk of the table was torn out with stab marks around it.
“Huh?” Story blinked and leaned closer until he noticed that he wasn’t staring at a static image. Rather, Story was staring through the screen as though it was a small window.
He looked through it straight on and saw a door and two windows. The windows had heavy cloths to keep light from escaping as well as some adhesive holding the edges in place. Not only that but the door was tied down with rope with a chair pinned under the doorknob.
Wait a second, Story told himself. Curious, he grasped both sides of the screen and slowly lifted it up. His little window moved as if he staring at the room through a camcorder.
“Applejack, you gotta see this,” he said absently. And as he said that, the screen winked off again. “Wait, it’s gone.”
“Uh! Try again,” AJ said with a shaking stammer.
Story glanced up at her and right away he realized the two of them weren’t in the game room at the barn anymore. Rather, they were in a medieval shop that had been trashed from a duel that had just ended.
And up against the counter was the paused moment of Platick being stabbed by the doppelganger as it bared down on him.
They were inside Griffonbound Vendors.
Platick’s POV
???
My consciousness went in and out as only heavy bouts of headaches and aching pain from my chest roused me.
The last thing I remembered was that doppelganger stabbing me. It backed away from me and watched as I slid to the floor, gasping like a fish as pain surfed up and down my body.
Beyond that, everything came in flashes. In one moment, I watched the doppelganger kick out the chair I put under the door and cut the rope I had around the knob.
Then I blacked out again. Next, as my mind buzzed terribly, I heard voices talking nearby. They sounded terrified at first but the longer they spoke, the more their fear turned to worry.
“...No way! I’m not le...ng him..."
...
...
...
“You sure th..........aying with fire..."
...
“........on. Can you really......conscience?"
...
...
“........etter hope..othin’ comes a this..."
There were two voices. One of them was...familiar. Actually, both were. But I was too weak to open my eyes at that time.
Instead, as the voices went on, they became so muddled that I couldn’t hear any of it clearly.It became constant murmuring for a time. Then without warning, they were gone.
Couldn’t bother helping me up? I imagined. Maybe it was the Hidden Sight coming to decide what to do with me. They came earlier than I thought.
Some time after that, I woke up again. I was able to open my eyes but there was a lot of white noise. Everything was too blurry to recognize anything.
From what I could figure, someone stumbled through the door. They had maybe a white shirt and a deep brown cloth that went down to the floor from the center of their body.
My vision started winking out from there. At some point they fell to the floor. The thump surged me awake enough to blink to swirls out of my eyes. It was a person. They were half crawling towards me. At the center of their white shirt was red fresh blood. It dripped onto me when they got close.
“I-It’s okay,” they shouted breathlessly. I could barely hear them. “B...e love of Tymora. Keep th..." Whatever they said, I didn’t stick around to hear it. There was a warmth from them and that was the last thing I noticed before I passed out for the last time.
Applejack’s POV
Game Room
12:48 PM
“And as you watch Sister Garaele slump forward on the barely breathing body of Platick Fortuna,” Story narrated, slowly closing the screen with as monotone a face he had since he learned about all this.
“That. Is where we’re stopping tonight,” he announced as he placed the screen against the table and closed his eyes to take a deep breath.
The table was silent. Every one of the girls sat in their seats, mouths hanging like swollen apples reaching for the soil below. Gilda and Big Mac were even watching from their seats in confusion.
Meanwhile I sat there with my full attention at each of the girls waiting for the uproar. And, never one to fail, Rainbow Dash was the one to break the silence.
She slammed her fists on the table and stood up, glaring Story down. “Are you insane?!”
Story didn’t answer. Instead, he slipped the screen into his pack and started reviewing papers.
“There is no WAY we’re stopping now!” She screamed. “What happened to Leanne?! Is the rest of the town okay? What about our characters?!”
“Story.” Sunset spoke with a low tremble. Then she drew a careful breath. “What did you just do? Why is Garaele’s bleeding? How and why did she get stabbed?”
I watched Story stare harshly into his backpack and take a deep breath before burying his emotions deep. “You don’t know.”
“What do you mean we don’t know?” She asked darkly. “You just said her own blood. Leanne’s not there and Platick’s unconscious. How did it turn out like that?!”
Story blinked and tapped his finger to his lips. “Huh. Weird, that’s not what I said. I said it seemed like her own blood. Devil’s in the details. Regardless, it’s unclear what happened. And you won’t know until we play again.”
“Bu—” Sunset stopped talking, reviewing his words carefully. “That’s what you’re doing. You’re hoping that if we don’t know for sure, it won’t happen yet.”
Story nodded. “Ms. Cheerilee didn’t have her arm broken until after you saw Sildar’s condition. Not when you found the ruined cart.”
“That doesn’t stop the fact that you completely went against our plans!” Twilight glared. “We had everyone go into a curfew. We even took the time to have Wester officialize the documents. Rainbow Dash rolled a natural twenty to convince the townsfolk. No one had a reason to leave their homes.”
Story hummed, saying nothing as he started to write things down. “Look. I’m not going to risk saying anything that’ll ruin this. And I’m sorry that this is a really messed up cliffhanger. However.”
He reached over and held up his phone, clicking the button so it showed the time. “We’ve been at this for nearly seven hours. That doesn’t even count the drive up here or the prep I did beforehand. I. Am tired!” He whined. “And I’m drained from all this magic junk! I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t keep going.”
He put his phone on the table and kept writing notes. He knew it was garbled to us so he didn’t bother hiding it. “And last I checked, you needed me to run this game, right? Can you trust me enough to tell you everything’s fine?”
Rainbow huffed and started rounding the table. “How can we trust you?! You just let someone get stabbed and all of a sudden, you don’t care?!” She got right up beside him and tried reaching for him.
I was right there to catch her hands before she could.
“Rainbow Dash,” I yelled back. She glared up at me. “Ah trust him.”
That made her step back. “Wh-What? Applejack, he brought someone to your character; to Platick!”
“Actually, hold on, that’s a good point.” Sunset frowned. “Applejack was there when it happened. If she knows what happened then—”
“She doesn’t,” Story cut in. “And I can’t tell you anything more than that.”
“And we have to just follow that?!” Rainbow glared. “What if this doesn’t work? And Applejack, why aren’t you mad? You should be more upset than anyone!”
“Yet Ah ain’t,” I retorted. “And while Ah’m at it, Story’s made a good point! We’re all tired! Ah remember you mutterin’ this mornin’ ‘bout how we woke ya up much too early ta start fixin’ up this here game room fer tonight. You were guzzlin’ down soda like a leaky tractor fer oil!”
“No! Come on, I only had, like, five cans of soda,” Rainbow tried defending.
“Um. I. I trust Story too.” Fluttershy weakly raised her hand, earning a look from Rainbow Dash. “When we told him about how Ms. Cheerilee was hurt from the game, he was very upset. I don’t think he would let someone get hurt like this.”
Story tried hiding his emotions but a relieved smile cut through his mask. “Thank you.”
Sunset bit her thumb for a second. “...Story?” She waited for him to look up before going on. “I want you to tell me. Not what happened in the game. I mean, tell me you know what you’re doing. That there’s nothing to worry about.”
Story looked her dead in the eye. Then he nodded. “I know exactly what I’m doing here. You can trust me. And Applejack can vouch for me.”
I tightened my jaw and gave a firm nod. “Eeyup. It’ll be fine, girls.”
It wasn’t a lie. I did trust him for this. But even though the gargling was gonna make sure I didn’t give anything away, it felt so wrong not spilling the whole truth. Especially when everyone’s so worried.
A few of them weren’t wholly convinced. Rainbow and Gilda especially. The latter seemed ready to charge Story too but she was getting talked out of that by Big Mac.
The other suspect was Twilight. She looked on the fence about everything but I put her down as unconvinced simply because the rest of us were all on board.
“Thank you,” he told me with a nod. Then, after writing a few more things, he tossed his pencil aside and took a breath. “Alright. I need to get this packed and drive myself home to bed so I can proceed to not sleep for the next week.”
“How far’s yer house?” I asked him.
“Um.” He blinked. “Driving here took maybe forty minutes? But that was with taking a few wrong turns when I got close to your farm. I think I can get back in a half hour.”
“Story, it’s almost one in the morning,” Rarity reminded him. “I cannot imagine your family wants you driving this late at night. I know mine doesn’t.”
“Oh, you don’t know how right you are.” Story flipped his phone over and opened it to the messages. From where I was, I could see a few reading ‘Mom.’ All unanswered.
Never a good sign, I noted. “Ah’m sure yer folks would understand. ‘Sides, Gilda said yer Mom’s met the other group ya run, yeah? That means she’s met Big Mac.”
“Eeyup.” Mac smiled.
“I’m not about to ask if I can squat on your farm for the night.” Story shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, really, but I can’t ask that.”
“Why not?” Pinkie blinked. “All of us are having a slumber party here! With you here, we can even have a ‘Welcome to the Sonic Rainbooms’ party right after!”
“The what-Booms?” He gave her a look.
“It’s the name of our band,” Sunset informed him. “But I guess that’s also a group name too.”
Story smirked weakly. “Do I need to play an instrument?”
“Piccolo’s don’t belong in a rock band, Story,” Gilda joked.
“Hey, at least I can play an instrument,” he fired back.
The biker girl gave a fake glare. “Watch it.”
“You sure you don’t wanna crash here for the night. Gil?” Rainbow asked her.
“Thanks but no thanks.” She shook her head. “I’ve been here all day and my gramps needs me for some help back at the house. Plus, I’m not scared of driving in the dark like some people.”
“Said ‘some people’ still control—” Story’s voice died. “Urgh. That threat’s pretty bad taste now that I know Gekio’s...alive. Sorry.”
“Eh, you never mean it. Still, have fun figuring that out.” Gilda rolled her shoulders and stifled back a yawn. One that Fluttershy caught anyways. “I should go before I pass out on my bike. Lemme know if ya need me for anything. Just don’t expect me to wake up early.”
We followed her outside of the barn and said our goodbyes. Then, once she started up her bike, we saw her off as she took off down the trail.
“Will she be okay driving in the dark?” Fluttershy asked. “The road is really uneven.”
“Nah, she’ll be alright,” Dash told her. “I know Gilda. She wouldn’t let herself hit a pothole.”
“Don’t start jinxin’ us, Dash,” I told her. “Come on. We could all use some shut eye.”
She gave me a nod. Then, she turned over to look at Sunset who stood there with her hands in her pockets. Twilight was beside her. “We still not playing tomorrow?”
Sunset furrowed her brow. “That was the plan. But I thought we would’ve reached Glasstaff by now. And Thel’s family is still locked away. That means three people are locked away somewhere in real life.”
Story grimaced. “They’re safe, for what that’s worth. The Redbrands told you they were basically being kept as collateral for the artisan’s in town.”
“Which means they’re not in immediate danger,” Twilight surmised. “Maybe we can find them? Is that possible?”
Sunset brought her hand over her forehead and through her hair, pushing it back. “I don’t know. If I had a way to ask T…” She bit her lip when she saw Story watching. Then she faked a yawn. “Sorry. Ask our other friend, I’d have our answer. That won’t be possible until she notices the problem and fixes it on her end.”
“She can fix it too?” Rainbow’s eyes lit up.
Sunset smiled. “Yeah. Although.” Then it curdled a tad. “She’s pretty busy based on the last thing she told me. If I can think of a way to fix the book over here, I’m gonna do it.”
“Book?” Story asked.
“Uh, yeah.” Sunset turned to him. “We had a magic book that let us talk to another friend. She’s pretty far away. The book’s ruined though and since we can’t let anyone know about magic...”
Story looked as though a light went off in his head. “Ah. A no questions asked, kinda thing?” Sunset nodded. “Sorry. I got nothing for you. I know a few friends who do commissions for painting minis and props and stuff, but nothing with books.”
“It’s fine. I wouldn’t want to ask someone I didn’t know personally anyways.”
“I understand.” He started walking into the barn. “I’m gonna pack up the rest of the stuff. Um. Applejack? Where should I sleep? If you don’t mind.”
I looked at my brother. “Mac? Ya still got that old easy chair in yer room?”
“Eeyup. Doesn’t unrecline though.”
“It still comfy enough ta pass out on?”
“Eeyup.” He gave a thumbs up to Story.
“Thanks man.” Story looked back to us. “After I get some time to get over this, I’m. I’m gonna try reviewing some stuff with the game. Up until now, I’ve been preparing and shifting things you’d eventually run into. Try to make it cohesive, you know? I guess the magic never broke apart when I did that but now that I’m gonna see what happens, uh..."
“I can stick around,” Sunset volunteered. “Anything I’m not supposed to know will get garbled anyway. Plus, I can help if any magic acts up.”
“I’d appreciate it.” Story tried fighting another yawn, which made Rainbow Dash and Twilight yawn as they saw it. “Yep. We’re all tired.”
A few of us smiled at the yawners before we started winding down for the night. The girls already knew they’d stay the night so they brought whatever they needed. It was a little tight but the seven of us, and Spike and Winona, all piled into my room.
But as I got comfy on the floor, letting Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie take my bed, I stared up at the ceiling and my mind wouldn’t let me fall asleep. All I could imagine was seeing Platick as he was; beat and cut to a pulp and laying against the counter.
He was frozen in time as I saw him with a knife embedded in his chest and blood everywhere. He wasn’t looking up at me. His head was drooping down as he stared into the floor.
I never saw many action movies or movies that focused on violence. It wasn’t that I was squeamish. I simply wasn’t a fan of them. Especially movies where they kept trying to blur the lines between good and bad. I guess they tried giving the main character a reason to do all this bad stuff. I think they called those characters anti-heroes? I hate that phrase.
Funny. If I hate it so much, how’d Platick end up like that?
I didn’t have an answer. I knew why I made him so unlike me but why did I go in that direction? Why not have him be someone really upbeat or crank up the hero factor? Make him a cheesy robin hood or some rip off of the Daring Do movies. Now that I was thinking about it, a treasure hunter would have fit with a rogue.
And if I made Platick friendly, we could’ve avoided all of this. He would have been on board with taking down the Redbrands since the beginning and I wouldn’t have had to make a struggle to even be on the same page as the others.
Not to mention, Platick wouldn’t have gotten hurt like that.
But that wasn’t the thing that was putting me up in arms. I put Platick in danger. I had him fight Leanne alone. I convinced the others that I could handle one lying shopkeep. It was reckless. Maybe that’s why I felt so guilty.
I turned to my side and spotted Sunset. She and I were flanking my bed so I saw her through the space underneath it. She had her eyes closed but I could tell she was awake too.
Curious, I pulled out my phone and tried turning the screen on in a way where the light wouldn’t wake anybody. It was past three in the morning. Granny let Mac and I sleep in a tad on the weekends but that usually meant eight or nine AM. I had maybe five hours to get some shut eye.
I closed my phone and put it down only to feel it buzz immediately. I looked again and saw I had a single message.
From Sunset.
Can’t sleep either?
I glanced up and saw her looking right at me with a frown. Her phone was in her hand.
I shook my head. Wish I could tell ya why. Then I watched her type and after a moment my phone buzzed again.
Same here. Maybe the same reason.
Maybe. I started typing.
What was it like? Stostine in sky-space?
Sunset read it and blinked. Then after seeing me waiting for the answer, she typed away.
Shocking. She spoke at me. Out loud. She guessed I was listening.
She wanted me to make backstory for her. Said she had empty spaces.
I watched the three dots move around on my screen as Sunset typed a lot and kept holding down the delete button after each round of typing. When she finally had something, she sent it and let her body relax with a huff.
I want to help her.
I read that and felt this pit in my stomach grow. If Stostine was like that, what about Platick? Sunset definitely had more for her character than I did. How much of him was missing?
Sunset twitched when she felt her own phone buzz. And when she looked up, this is what she read:
I’m right with ya. I want to help Platick.
Think Story will let us do that tomorrow?
We’ll ask him together. But we should do that after checking around first.
We need to find out who is connected to Thel’s kids and wife.
Right
Thanks Sunset.
No prob
Both of us put our phones down and went back to staring at the ceiling. It still wasn’t easy, but after long enough, my body finally forced my brain into falling asleep. It wasn’t a deep sleep, but it wasn’t as restless as it could have been.
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Another excellent chapter, as usual.:D
I actually have a question for you as a DM.
Why is there this unspoken rule that, 'when a character dies, that's the end of their story'?
I mean, in game we have outer realms that represent various forms of heaven and hell, I mean "descent into avernus" literally take players on a journey to hell and back. We also have a bunch of spells "in universe" for bringing people back to life. So why do people seem to think a character dieing means they should be removed from the game?
Why not just have a plot point that they are now trapped in another realm trying to find a way back to take care of "unfinished business".
Maybe this would just be too much work for a regular game, but in a story like this, I wonder if the girls would really be willing to accept that somebody died.
And cheers to you too, Zeke. The last few chapters have been delightfully nail-biting.
Okay, I'm rereading this and I just now realized that there are several hints to subclasses:
- Glemerr has a mask, which is an item typically found with monks of the Way of Mercy
- Ricven is constantly using light and sound to dazzle his enemies, which would be expected of a bard of the College of Glamour
- Platick is invested in clearing his family name, and looking for proof, leaning him to being Inquisitive. ("Leanne" even says as much!)
- Rava is either Oath of Devotion or Oath of the Ancients, more likely Devotion considering her life and where she comes from
- And as for Vareén, she's most likely a hunter, but I'm not entirely sure.
Edit: Started re-reading this today, and I think it may be more appropriate to make Vareén a Gloomstalker.
It's funny how, even after reading something several times, you can still miss things and find them on a later read. I think I've read and reread this story about five times now, and it only really got me this time how many clues there were that Leanne wasn't all she seemed.
I also kinda got it into my head that the party meet the real Leanne at the Griffinbound Vendors, who then got replaced at the cave.
But I forgot that, oh wait, Leanne wasn't being extorted, and she already supplied the Redbrands.
In any case, I have no doubt we'll see her again, though not in the hideout.
Both captains are down! Forces are thinned out, and Glasstaff is probably shitting himself right now!