> Learning to Master the Art of the Dungeon
>  by ADashofShy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------Prologue--------

After the Battle of the Bands Twilight began to make regular visits to the Human world, to spend more time with her friends and become friends with more of the students at CHS. During one of these excursions she came across a game called Dungeons & Dragons. Curious, she purchased a starter kit and took it back with her to Equestria. On her next visit to CHS she posted an announcement looking to start a Dungeons & Dragons group. Figuring it was too nerdy of a pursuit to be of interest to her friends, she was taken aback when six of her friends responded enthusiastically to the idea.
After a few weeks of campaign planning Twilight was finally ready to call the group together for their first session which included the single most arduous task in Dungeons & Dragons, character creation. Luckily the human world’s Shining Armour had seen the advertisement and was willing to offer up his help as an assistant Dungeon Master when he was available. 
After two and a half hours, everyone had created a character and was ready to play. Gathered around the table were six unlikely adventurers. Sunset Shimmer had decided to play a Half-Elf fighter wielding a mighty claymore as her weapon of choice, sitting next to her was Trixie playing a Gnome cleric armed with a quarterstaff and crossbow. Beside Trixie sat Rarity who had opted to play a powerful (and fashionable) sorceress, to her left barely fitting into his seat was Bulk Biceps playing the rage fueled Half-Orc barbarian hefting a mighty greataxe. Continuing to the left and looking rather small next to Bulk with her eyes askew was Derpy playing the unorthodox combination of a Dwarven wizard wielding a gnarled and twisted quarterstaff. Finally, sitting next to her with bright cyan and white hair was Lyra playing a Half-Elf ranger armed with a powerful composite longbow.
The group began their adventure in the typical fashion for players new to the game, stumbling and making mistakes, but learning all the while. One of the early lessons that Derpy learned was: never insult the mother of a half-orc (She had made a decidedly tactless remark about Bulk’s character’s mother.) Early on Twilight decided to test the limits of the fledgling party’s capabilities by throwing a forest ambush at them followed by a large group of goblinoids. During the ambush Derpy discovered that wizards should never front line in combat, and Lyra proved time and again how skilled she was at dispatching foes. Eventually the group stumbled upon a natural cave that turned out to have been dug into, and after solving a basic puzzle the group found themselves in a dungeon. And so continued their epic first adventure into the realm of Dungeons & Dragons.
	
> Twilight's Adventure: The Dungeon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Twilight’s Adventure: The Dungeon 

The group sat gathered around the table in Rarity’s dining room, save for Bulk who had a shift at the gym, being a personal trainer meant his hours were sometimes unpredictable. Regardless, the rest of the group were ready to continue their quest. Twilight sat at the head of the table behind a screen of books to prevent the others from seeing adventure notes. Once everyone was settled she began by recapping their previous session.
“When you last left off you had barricaded yourselves in the stairwell room and broken Derpy’s table,” Twilight chuckled and turned to Derpy “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Rest in peace table.”
“You did not know what lay up ahead.” Twilight finished.
“Did we pilfer those brutes?” asked Rarity, remembering their previous sessions encounter with a bugbear.
“Yes, you did loot all the monsters previously, and one of you should have a potion on you.”
The adventurers all quickly checked their character sheets to see who had the potion on them. As they looked, Derpy spoke up.
“What the hell is a bed roll again?”
Twilight groaned internally and replied,
“A bed roll is basically a sleeping bag”
After a round of chuckles and some offhand discussion, Twilight brought the group back to focus on the game.
“On the ground next to the Sunset is Bulk Biceps who is fast asleep, out cold.”
“So in order for him to gain XP we’re just dragging his body around?” Lyra inquired.
Twilight decided to ignore the question and continue describing the current situation.
“In the room is some nice STONE STAIRS” Twilight looked pointedly at Derpy as she said this, as previously Derpy had wanted to take the stairs from some reason. “They are VERY SOLID!”
“They cannot be moved.” Trixie chimed in.
“Who’s got a pickaxe?” Derpy asked with a grin.
After another small round of chuckles, Twilight picked up where she left off.
“The room is about twenty feet by twenty feet, it’s not very big, there is a set of double doors right in front of the bottom of the stairs (these are spiral stairs so there is no real front) and to the left of the bottom of the stairs is a door with a room behind it that you guys have already explored.”
“It was the poker game.” Derpy added.
“Yes, there was a bugbear and a hobgoblin playing cards in there guarding a small chest.”
After some small discussion about marching order and figuring out who would be at the front of the group and who would be at the back Twilight asked the group what they wanted to do.
“Well the only way is to go forward.” Lyra said
“We COULD go back.” Rarity countered.
“How about we put my table back piece by piece?” Derpy said jokingly.
“Okay,  so what is marching order?” Lyra asked the group.
“Who has the highest hit points?” Rarity added.
“I don’t know about you but I’m in the back.” Lyra replied “I have to be in the back because I’m a ranger.”
“Technically the meat shields should be in the back and front of the group. Since Bulk is out of commission, Sunset, you take the front.” Derpy said diplomatically.
“Oh so I’m honourary tank again.” Sunset said in an amused voice. “Oh boy, this is going to end well.”
“I guess I’ll go next behind you.” Lyra said as she placed the miniature representing her character behind Sunset’s, “The cleric can go right next to me, and then sorcerer and wizard.” Moving each miniature as she named them, placing Derpy’s figurine on a square that was impassable.
“You realise that the wizard can’t move forward.” Twilight pointed out “There are stairs in front of him!”
As this unfolded someone called out “Front lines!”
“Why am I on the front lines?” Derpy complained.
“I don’t know, why did you try and hit so many goblins when we were in the brush?” Rarity asked, holding back a laugh.
“I don’t know, I felt ballsy that day!” Derpy called from the kitchen.
“Front lines!” Rarity replied
“It doesn’t mean I’m feeling ballsy today!”
Suddenly a small argument broke out over the placement of Rarity’s miniature being at the top of the stairs. 
“Wait, what’s the order of who’s going in combat?” Sunset asked.
“You mean the order of initiative? We don’t need to worry about that until combat happens, then we roll.” Twilight answered quickly.
The group moved their figures into the next room which came to a four way intersection and stopped to discuss their options.
“So which way are we going, left, right or forward?”Lyra asked the group.
“Forward.”
“Forward.”
“Forward.”
“Wait where am I in the group?” Derpy asked.
“You’re in the back.” Lyra replied matter-of-factly.
“Before we keep going, in order to protect Bulk I’d like to take the pieces of the once great mahogany table and build a small tent out of it.” Derpy announced tearfully.
“Doing so takes you about an hour.” Twilight responded.
“Ok time to move forward.” Lyra urged the group.
“You return to the intersection” Twilight narrated.
“Okay, once again which direction should we go?” Lyra asked her fellow adventurers.
“Should I send out my familiar?” Derpy replies.
“I will kill your familiar.” Lyra threatened.
“W-well-, I-, just it’s a better safe than sorry tactic!” Derpy sputtered.
“Ok so there’s three different directions, why don’t we split up into three groups of two and each take a different path?” Trixie offered.
“Because there are five of you.” Twilight responded flatly.
“Why don’t Trixie, Rarity, and Derpy go one way and Sunset and I go the other?” Lyra suggested. “You three go right and we’ll take the left passage and then we’ll reconvene afterwards and all go down the middle.” Talking to the three taking the left path Lyra said “You three might want to decide your marching order, what’s your AC (Armor Class)/HP?”
“Certainly not enough.” Rarity replied, sounding slightly amused.
“What about you?” Lyra asked, looking at Trixie.
“Trixie’s AC is 18 and she has 17 hit points!” Trixie replied imperiously.
“WHAT?!” Rarity cried out, shocked. 
“Trixie is a cleric,” Twilight explained, “They’re allowed to wear the heavier armours.”
“So you’re going to go in front, and you’re going to go in the back because you’re the squishiest of the group,” Lyra directed to Trixie and Derpy, “And that’s our marching order.” Lyra said turning to Twilight.
“Ok so I’m going to start with the group of two people,” Twilight began, “So, you come to a dead end, the there are wooden doors in the wall 20 feet to the north and south of you.”
“What’s your Listen skill at?” Lyra asked Sunset.
“Ahhh….Listen, listen, listen.” Sunset muttered as she scanned her character sheet.
“Mine is at +11.” Lyra said.
“That’s way more than me, because I got zip!” Sunset replied. 
“Your modifier is plus eleven?” Twilight asked skeptically, knowing that such a modifier was somewhat high for a second level character.
“Apparently, my skill modifier is six, my ability modifier is plus two, my ranks, three… I could be reading it wrong.” Lyra admitted as she listed off the components of her skill bonus.
“Yes, you’re reading that completely wrong, your grand total modifier is +6.” Twilight corrected.
“Oh ok.”
“Alright, which door do you want to listen at?” Twilight asked, bringing the group back to the game.
“I’ll go for the north door.” Lyra stated.
“Ok, roll your Listen check.”
“10”
“You hear the sound of water dripping.” Twilight described.
“Now I head over to the south door and do the same.” Lyra said and proceeded to roll the d20 again. “11.”
“As you press your ear intently against the door you hear a soft rustling sound.”
“I head back and relay this information to Sunset” Lyra said. “From the door to the north all I heard was dripping, so I deduce that it might be another open cavern, and from the left I heard soft rustling, so there might be something or someone there. So which way you want to go is up to you.”
“I think I feel like checking out the north door first.” Sunset said.
“The empty cavern?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to go for the empty cavern.” Lyra said, directing this statement at Twilight.
“Okay, so, you attempt to open the door aaaaand it is locked.” Twilight narrated.
“Ok, the other door it is!” Lyra exclaimed.
“Process of elimination.” Sunset added.
“Hold on, hold on, before we do that, do I have to make a Move Silently check to quietly open a door?” Lyra inquired.
“No, that doesn’t require a check.” Twilight answered. “If you want to quietly open a door and peek in, that’s not a skill related action.”
“Okay, I’d like to do that.” Lyra said.
“This door is also locked. There are no keyholes on either of the doors.” Twilight described. “On that note, I’ve spent plenty of time with this group, so I’m going to jump over to the others.”
Addressing the second group Twilight says, “You come to a dead end similar to that of your companions, there are wooden doors 20 feet to the north and south of your position.”
“They can hear us because it’s a loud open area, right?” Rarity asked out of game.
“I’m assuming you are being somewhat quiet about this.” Twilight replied.
“We don’t want to alert any enemies.” Derpy added.
“So, what do you three ladies want to do?” Twilight prompted, bringing the group back into the game.
“I’d like to check the door to the south.” Rarity announced. “Can I do a Listen check?”
“You can. I will allow it!” Twilight replied imperiously.
“I rolled a 14.” 
“Surprisingly, you don’t hear anything, except what sounds like the slight crackling of a torch.” Twilight described, a tad hesitantly.
“May I try the other door now?”
“Certainly, go ahead.”
“Wait hold on!” Derpy interrupted. “Why don’t we just knock, girls? It’s a door after all!”
“No, no! Listen check! Listen check!” Rarity responded urgently and proceeded to roll the d20. “18. 18 for Listen check!”
“You press your ear intently against the door and you hear a howling wind. It sounds like there’s a big room behind there.”
“May I peek inside?”
“This door is also one of the locked ones.” Twilight said with a chuckle.
“I’d like to try opening the south door then.” Rarity replied.
“The door actually opens.”
“Oooh!” Rarity said with a smile, “Can I peek inside?”
“Yes you can,”
“What do I see?”
“You open the door a crack and inside you can see a shelf with some food on it, there’s a nice cobbled floor, and what looks like the light of a torch upon one of the walls.”
“I beckon my teammates over to me.”
“Hold on, I want to check out the other door!” Derpy said with a grin. At this, the entire table let out a massive groan.
At this Twilight decided it was time to return to Sunset and Lyra.
“What are you two going to do?” Twilight asked.
“I-I didn’t get a cha-!” Derpy began.
“I know, I know. don’t worry.” Twilight said, cutting her off.
“We’re going to go regroup with the others and tell them what we found on our end.” Lyra dictated.
“Ok fair enough” Twilight replied.
“Could you put my character back on her feet please?” Derpy asked, her miniature having been knocked over a few moments ago.
After sharing information, the players decided Lyra should be the first to investigate the room, with Rarity following behind her.
“ Don’t worry darling, I’m behind you and I have magic missile ready to cast should you miss your first shot.” Rarity reassured.
“I guess I’ll quietly swing the door open then.” Lyra said.
“Alright, with the door fully open you can see directly across from you is the wall with the torch. On the north and south walls are some shelves with various foods on them. Against the back wall there is a stack of large barrels.” Twilight said describing what Lyra’s character saw in the room. “The room is devoid of monsters.”
“Oy girls what’s in there?” Derpy asked.
“Loot!” Rarity declared, indicating what she wanted to do.
“There is actually-” Twilight began.
“Excellent!” Rarity cried, not waiting for Twilight to finish.
“Hold on, slow down Rarity.” Twilight admonished.
“Remind me, how do turns work again? Can you just take as many as you want?” Derpy cut in.
“Well, when you’re out of combat I will try to organize you guys in the order you speak to me, otherwise, declaring actions, yes you can more or less do what you want.” Twilight explained.
“Okay.” Derpy replied, satisfied with the explanation.
Getting back to describing what Rarity found Twilight continued, “There is actually a small chest.”
“I scream out: ‘CHECK FOR HIDDEN BOOKSHELVES!’” Lyra said. “Are there any books?”
“No, this is a store room, there aren’t any bookshelves.” Twilight replied.
“I’d like to open the chest.” Rarity announced.
“You lift the lid, thank Celestia it’s not booby trapped, and in the chest you find ten gold pieces and a shiny ruby.”
“Ooh a ruby!” Rarity exclaimed delightedly. “Oh and I throw the ten gold at Lyra.”
“You threw it at me? Why would you throw it at me?!” Lyra said, an incredulous look on her face.
“You are pelted with some gold” Twilight said. “Also, on the rest of the shelves are various cheeses and dried meats.”
“Did you say ‘Cheeses’?!” Derpy said, perking up excitedly. A groan went around the table. “I run into the room and grab the cheese!”
“I will meta-game you for that.” Twilight threatened.
“What, why?” Derpy cried in confusion.
“Because you are down the hall.”
“What, I said I run into the room.”
“But you also said ‘Did you say “Cheeses?”’ while I’m describing to Rarity and Lyra what they see in the room. Your character has no way of knowing there is cheese in there.” Twilight explained.
“Oh, my bad.” Derpy replied, looking slightly crestfallen. “Rarity, say ‘There’s cheese.’”
Twilight rolled a d3, her designated die for meta-game damage. “That’s two.”
“What?” Derpy replied.
“That’s two meta-game damage.” 
“For what?” 
“For running in. You displayed awareness that your character shouldn’t have.”
“I forgot! It’s been three months since our last session!”
“And this is your reminder!” Twilight said with a mix of amusement and satisfaction, a smirk playing across her face.
“Twilight, Trixie joins the other two in the room!” Trixie stated with a small flourish.
“You see cheese, and barrels of….something stacked on the far wall.” Twilight described to Trixie.
“Can we check the barrels? Is that possible?” Rarity asked after Twilight was finished.
“Yes, you can.” Twilight replied quickly. “They have little spigots on them.”
“What are spigots?” Lyra asked, looking slightly confused.
“They’re like taps.” Twilight explained.
“I’m going to check some of the barrels.” Rarity stated, somewhat hesitantly.
“Ok, what do you want to do exactly?” Twilight prompted.
At this there was some debate on how to best check what the barrel’s contents were, suggestions included breaking the barrel or stabbing a dagger into it and seeing what came out.
Twilight gave a small chuckle and offered a suggestion. “You know, there are other things you could do to check. I know I’m breaking the barrier between DM and players, but you could maybe shake the barrels, stuff like that.” Lowering her head behind the wall of books that formed the Dungeon Master’s screen she let out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t put up with it today.” She muttered.
“Girls, it has a spigot right?”Sunset said, finally voicing her suggestion. “Why not just-” She left the thought hanging, so that the others could draw upon the conclusion she had already made several minutes before.
“Okay so, you turn the knob on the spigot and a golden brown liquid pours out onto the floor.” Twilight described for the group.
“Umm…” Rarity said, looking unsure about what to do. “Okay, I’m going to close the spigot.”
“Liquid stops pouring out of the spigot.”
“Does anybody have a bottle?” Rarity asked, looking around the table.
“Trixie will use one of her empty potion bottles!”
Amidst all this Derpy spoke up. “I make my way into the room.” she announced.
“There we go, that is legitimate, go ahead.” Twilight said.
“Trixie will use one of her empty potion bottles, open the spigot, and fill it with the mysterious brown liquid.”
“Girls, is that mead?!” Derpy broke in excitedly.
“You now have a bottle full of amber/golden-brown liquid.” Twilight said, addressing Trixie. “It’s a bit frothy.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie! takes her other bottle and fills it up as well!”
“You now have two bottles full of frothy amber liquid.”
“I know I used a potion, but do I still have the empty bottle?” Rarity inquired.
“You do keep potion bottles even after you have used up the potion.” Twilight replied.
“I might want to take a sip of the liquid.”
“I see this and speak out to Rarity and Trixie: ‘Someone taste it.’” Lyra said addressing the two.
“I shall take a sip of the liquid.” Rarity announced.
“I quickly rush over and shove Rarity off to the side and place my mouth directly under the spigot!” Derpy interrupted.
“Well! How rude! Considering where I am standing, how on earth do you push me off to the side?” Rarity huffed. On the map, her miniature was standing between two barrels and against the wall.
“Ok fine, I PULL you out of the way and position myself with my mouth open under the spigot and start chugging!” Rarity huffed once more at the drunkard, and gave Derpy a disparaging look.
At this Twilight rolled her eyes. “It tastes damn good, like ale or mead.” 
“Five more minutes girls!” Derpy said with a goofy smile.
At this Twilight decided to describe the scene that presented itself to the rest of the party. “Basically you guys see a senile dwarf...drinking her troubles away.” At this, Derpy let out a chuckle.
“Does anyone one have an empty bottle they could spare? *hic*” asked Derpy, taking full advantage of the opportunity to act a bit tipsy.
“No.” Came the general response from the rest of the party.
“If you want to be drunk, I will actually impose appropriate penalties and bonuses on your character.” Twilight said in a very serious tone.
“Ok, then I’ve had my fill and I stop drinking.” Derpy replied hastily.
“”Can I fill my bottle with-” Rarity asked.
“Go ahead.” Twilight said, knowing what Rarity was asking. “You pull the dwarf out from under the spigot and you fill your bottle full of ale.”
“I step fully into the room and take a quick survey of the inventory.” Lyra announced.
“There are… nice… white and orange wheels of cheese, there is some fresh looking bread, relatively fresh, and some cured meat.” Twilight described with some hesitation. She had not expected the players to take such an interest in the contents of a simple storeroom, forcing her to improvise on the spot somewhat.
“I decide to split the food between everyone in the party, that way we all have something to stock up on.” Lyra finally decided. “That way we all have some extra food for later.”
“I walk up, put my hand on her back and say ‘That’s fair.’” Derpy said in a still slightly tipsy voice. “Good on ya.” After some lamenting the fact that Bulk was not present to carry a barrel of ale, Derpy spoke up again. “I have a speech!” groans went around the table. “We’re twenty leagues down in a goblin piss-hole, we have less than no idea where we are-”
“Trixie covers her ears.”
“Bulk is down for the count, and my mahogany table is in splinters. Grab what you can because we have a long trek ahead of us! We will not get out of here in one piece, but we sure as hell will get out of here with our dignity!” Derpy finished with a grin.
“It’d be funny if this dungeon were actually really small.” Rarity commented, earning a chuckle from the others.
“Okay so now that we’re done all our shenanigans, we’re all going to regroup back in the intersection.” Lyra said to Twilight.
“Now that Derpy is finished with her grand delusions.” Rarity commented jokingly.
“I try to give a rousing speech to get you all in high spirits!” Derpy replied good naturedly.
Twilight gave a short whistle to grab their attention. “Okay, so you find yourselves back at the crossroads.”
“I have one thing I’d like to do before this happens.” Derpy announced. “I go back to the north door, I just want to see what happens, I bang on the door: ‘Hello, anyone there?’”
“Your voice echoes around the hallway.”
“Derpy get back here!” Sunset called.
“Wait, I just realised something.” Rarity began.
“What?!” Lyra said impatiently, wanting to go down the north passage.
“We didn’t do everything in the store room did we?”
“I’m not sure, did you?” Twilight replied.
“Can I check the torch on the wall?”
“It’s warm, feels like a torch and you pick it up. Nothing happens.”
“Ok so it’s not a secret lever or anything then. In any case, I’m bringing the torch with us.”
“Ok you are now holding a torch.”
“And a quarterstaff in one hand.” Rarity reminded.
“Okay then, you’re holding your quarterstaff like a walking stick.”
“Is it possible to still use my staff in battle?”
“Yeeeee-no.” Twilight had to stop and think.
“I’ll look it up!” offered Lyra, pulling up a Player’s Handbook.
“Ummm, just out of curiosity, we’re leaving three doors behind.” Derpy interrupted suddenly.
“They’re locked.” Rarity replied flatly.
“Well why don’t we try breaking the,?” Derpy countered.
“None of us have the strength.” Several of the party replied, almost simultaneously. 
“We have weapons, I get that Bulk could have probably knocked the doors down in one hit but-”
Suddenly Derpy got cut off as Lyra found the quarterstaff entry in the Player’s Handbook.”Quarterstaff, simple two handed weapon.” She read out for the group.
“Right, so because a quarterstaff is a two handed weapon, you cannot use it with the torch in your other hand.” Twilight said matter-of-factly.
“So we’re not going to check the other doors then?” Derpy asked, trying to bring the attention back to her plan of action. “We’re not going to try breaking them down?”
“Certainly not, we need to press on and see what is up ahead.” Rarity replied with some finality.
“We might come back to them later.” Sunset said hopefully. At this the rest of the group voiced their agreement.
“Oh! We could light the door on fire!” Derpy said, grasping at straws. “It’s wood.”
“Ok lets move on.” Lyra said, trying to get the group to finally move the adventure forward. With that, Twilight proceeded to draw the area at the end of the north corridor.
“Ok so this turns into a bit of a big room, there are two large,wide stone steps, that lead up to a pair of massive double doors.” Twilight described. “They are heavy, iron doors.”
“Trixie sees this and she runs right up to the steps!” The blue skinned girl cried out.
“Hoooold on!” Derpy called out “As the dwarf of caution I’m going to say, do you want to do that?”
There was a momentary pause. “Trixie just said it!” Trixie replied with a smirk.
“There could be traps!” Derpy cried out with exasperation.
“She runs up.” Twilight said, acknowledging Trixie’s action.
“Can I listen to the door on the left?” Rarity asked.
“It’s a-, It’s a very-,” Twilight began, and then thought better of it. “Okay, go ahead and roll.”
“15”
“You press your ear against the cold metal and you can’t hear anything.” Twilight told Rarity. Addressing the group she said “I’m just going to let you guys know, that by sizing up these doors, they appear to be very thick.”
“Can we perhaps peek inside?” Rarity asked, attempting a different tack.
“No.” Twilight replied simply.
“Can we check for a lock?” Lyra this time, also attempting to find a way past the iron behemoths that blocked their path.
“The doors aren’t locked, they do have handles on them though.” Twilight responded.
“At this point I think it would take three of us just to open one.” Sunset mused, voicing her thoughts to the group.
“Trixie attempts to open the door herself, regardless of what the fighter says!” Trixie cried out with almost reckless abandon.
Derpy suddenly spoke up: “I once knew a man who said that some of these doors could be opened by song, should we try singing?”
“Derpy, no singing!” Sunset cried out. Everyone at the table knew how badly Derpy could butcher a song.
“I know a good little shanty!” Derpy pressed on, oblivious to the rejection of her ludicrous idea.
As Derpy began to sing, everyone loudly drowned her out until it got through to her that her singing the doors open idea was about as useful as telling a dwarf and an orc to get married.
Twilight let out a small groan as the group fell into debating where they should stand for when the doors opened. “I need to know what you guys are going to do.” She said, almost tiredly. At this, the group made solid declarations as to where they would be. Lyra stood at the back of the group with her bow at the ready, and Rarity in front of her, magic crackling between her fingertips. Derpy and Trixie both readied their crossbows and Trixie readied herself to pull open the giant door.
“Trixie now attempts to open the door!” Trixie cried out, looking ready for action.
“The door doesn’t budge, but as you attempt to open it, some magical writing appears in the air.” Twilight narrated, beginning to ramp up for a minor reveal.
“I TOLD YOU! IT NEEDS TO BE OPENED BY SONG!” Derpy crowed triumphantly. At this a round of groans was issued from the group.
“The magical writing reads as such:”

Tests of brain and tests of brawn
You must defeat to face my pawn.


> Twilight's Adventure: The Trials: Archer's Ready!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Twilight’s Adventure: The Trials

After a moment’s pause, Twilight continued her narration of the events.
“As the magic words appear, you hear a strange whooshing noise throughout the dungeon” Twilight said.
Some of the group made ooh-ing noises.
“Ooooh spooky ghosts!” Lyra said.
“So, what do you girls want to do now?” Twilight asked to prompt the group forward.
“The door is slightly open, right?” Trixie inquired hopefully.
“No, it hasn’t budged.” Twilight replied.
“How about the door on the right?” Rarity suggested.
“It leads to the same place they’re double doors!” Lyra said
“Well then, it must have something to do with the other doors in this horrid dungeon.” Rarity surmised.
“They’re probably unlocked now.” Sunset added. “Or at least some of them.”
“Okay, let’s backtrack and split up like we were before, so me and Sunset, and you three together.” Lyra said, addressing the table as a whole.
“‘To face my pawn’ I’m guessing that it’s these doors.” Rarity murmured, pointing to the doors on the map that the group had found previously locked.
“We’ll probably have to face the pawn here.” Lyra countered, pointing to the double doors. “but he said we have to do a test of brain…? Might and bra-”
Twilight cut her off. “I said, ‘Tests of brain and tests of brawn, you must defeat to face my pawn.’”
“Just remember face could mean two things.” Derpy began. “We’re facing the pawn but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to fight it. Face could just simply mean speaking to it.”
“Ok.” Rarity replied skeptically.
“Yeah.” Lyra said, sounding unconvinced.
“I’m just making people aware of that.” Derpy said.
“I would be prepared to fight.” Sunset said.
“Yeah!”
“Ditto!”
“Oh yeah.”
“In any case, I’m going to leave my torch here.” Rarity began. “Actually I’m going to put it back on the wall. After that, I’d like to check and see if the door is open.” Rarity indicated to the northern door in the western portion of the dungeon.
“So as you push on the door this time-” Twilight began.
“I said CHECK to see if the door was open, darling.” Rarity interrupted.
“You have to give it a push to see if it’s open, these doors have handles, but no locks.” Twilight replied impatiently. “As you push on the door magical writing appears on it. It says: ‘With swords and staves you may prevail, but can you shoot without fail?’”
“Trixie shall take the lead!” The blue skinned girl announced with authority.
After mulling it over for a moment, Rarity’s eyes lit up. “I think I know what we need to do! Get your magic ready.” She exclaimed happily. “Well, let us open the door.”
With that Twilight began to draw a new room onto the map. While this happened the group talked amongst themselves.
“Just so you know, this room is big.” Twilight said as she counted out grid squares for the new room.
“How…?” Rarity asked, looking somewhat dumbstruck at the size of the room.
“What?” Twilight replied, still somewhat caught up in drawing the room. “Well there are some stairs leading down into the room.” She continued, catching on to what Rarity was asking. “The first thing you see is some stairs that go down and around.” Twilight added some spiral stairs to the illustrate.
“Ah, now it makes sense.” Rarity remarked.
“So, you get to the bottom of the stairs, I’m just going to assume you girls have gone down the stairs if that’s alright.” Twilight began.
“That’s perfectly fine darling.” Rarity assured. “Actually I’m not sure, is there anything dangerous down there?” After a pause the pale girl added. “I can’t ask that but, you know…”
“Okay wait, what weapons do you have again?” Twilight asked looking at Trixie.
“What weapons does Trixie have?” responded the blue-skinned girl.
“Yes” Twilight replied.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie carries a mighty quarterstaff, and a light crossbow that will always find its mark!” Trixie said with great flourish.
“I too have a quarterstaff.” Rarity added.
“Rarity, what else do you have?” Twilight asked.
“A dagger” Rarity responded quickly.
“Ok and you have a crossbow and a quarterstaff, right?” Twilight said looking at Derpy. “Alright then, Rarity, as you try and walk through the doorway you find your way blocked. The other two can get through just fine.”
“Very well, I drop my dagger on the floor.”
“You still find your way blocked.”
It’s a barrier, probably.” Derpy offered.
“As in magically blocked.” Twilight clarified.
“Oh, okay that makes more sense.” Rarity said. “Let me see, do I have the magic?” she pondered, looking at her spell list.
“I use my detect magic spell.” Derpy announced.
“There’s some faint magic around the doorway, and from what you can tell it seems to be blocking Rarity because she’s lacking a certain item that some others have.”
“It could be because of her race.” Sunset offered.
“It’s not because of race.” Twilight replied.
“Trixie will see if she can walk through the barrier!” Trixie announced.
“You and Derpy walk through the barrier just fine.”
“What weapons are the two of your carrying?” Rarity asked Trixie and Derpy.
“I have a quarterstaff-” Derpy began but suddenly broke off, realisation dawning on her face. “Remember what the writing said? It said something about stabbing enemies might succeed...but it’s the first shot that counts? or something like that. So, you need a ranged weapon. Do you have one?”
“Unfortunately I do not.” Rarity replied looking a little defeated. “It said staves and swords... “
“With swords and staves you may prevail, but can you shoot without fail?” Twilight recited.
“Oh! Okay, then I suggest you run back and switch places with Lyra. Inform her of what we need to do.”
At this, Rarity moved her miniature to where Lyra’s and Sunset’s were on the map and turned to speak to Lyra. “I’m unable to pass through the other door, perhaps we should switch places.”
Twilight let out a chuckle at this interaction. “Tell her WHY you need to switch places.”
“Oh dear, right. There’s a magical barrier that is preventing me from gaining access and we think that you’ll have better luck bypassing it.” Rarity explained and then added. “Because you have a bow.”
“After I deduce what Rarity is trying to cryptically tell me, I set off to help the others.” Lyra said.
“Okay then, so, you three find yourselves in a room with a massive, MASSIVE chasm. The chasm is…” At this Twilight began counting under her breath. “Forty-five, fifty, fifty-five, sixty…” Finishing her count she looked up at the group and continued. “Basically, there is a chasm about 70ft wide.”
“Trixie consults with the archer and the mage, she requests that they toss her over to the other side!” Trixie announced loudly.
Twilight looked a little shocked. “It’s SEVENTY FEET. WIDE. Not deep. WIDE.” Twilight said, doing her best to emphasize the width of the chasm.
“Oh okay then...can Trixie go back, grab the torch and throw it into the chasm to see how deep it is?” The blue skinned girl asked, deciding to take a different angle.
“Okay, as you throw the torch, wind howls by and extinguishes the torch. You hear a clatter after about three minutes.” Twilight said, doing her best to make the chasm seem large, and impassable.
“So what’s in the room?” Derpy asked, having been away in the kitchen for the last 30 seconds.
“A 70ft wide chasm.” Twilight replied.
“I know that part, but what’s at the other end?” Derpy asked in reply.
“I’m getting to that part.”
After a bit more pestering about what was at the other end of the chasm Twilight finally found a free moment to begin describing. “Which of you are elves again?” She asked.
“I’m a half-elf.” Lyra replied.
Well, with your “elf-eyes” you see three targets.” Twilight told Lyra. “Archery targets.”
“I relay this information to the group.” Lyra said, almost automatically.
“Trixie goes up to the centre and takes the first shot.” Trixie said imperiously.
“Wait a moment, don’t take the first shot yet.” Derpy interrupted. “Keep in mind where we are, and the situation, okay? We have to shoot without fail, so we know we have to shoot the targets. Can we shoot them one by one? Do we have to shoot all three simultaneously? And if we shoot said targets will we encounter any obstacles? Other than the large chasm in front of us.”
“If Trixie sees a target in front of her, she’s going to shoot it.” Trixie replied, sounding a tad annoyed at being interrupted. “So Trixie is going to take the first shot.”
“I just think we should analyze the situation!” Derpy said, attempting to be reasonable.
“Is it too late for me to leave the room?” Lyra asked, looking somewhat tired of the back and forth.
Twilight looked up from her notes on the challenge. “Uhhh, yes.”
At that, Lyra, Twilight and anyone else who heard, burst into laughter, Derpy looked around confused, thinking that people were laughing at her. “Wait, what? What’s wrong with what I’m doing?!” She asked in confusion.
“It’s not because you’re talking.” Twilight assured.
“Alright, if I can’t leave I may as well inspect the little platform area we’re on to see if there’s anything.” Lyra said 
“It’s a rocky platform, somewhat uneven, but it seems to be stable.” Twilight described.
“Trixie shall inspect the wall near the stairwell to see if there’s anything there.” said the one and only Trixie.
“There is actually, nailed into the wall, a scroll.” Twilight said,
“Trixie picks up the scroll and reads it!” Trixie announced to the group.
“On the scroll are details on what you must do to be allowed to leave the room. You must land ten successful shots on the targets, as a group. If you miss, there’s no massive penalty. You might take a bit of damage, but nothing serious.” Twilight told the group, detailing the rules of the Test of Marksmanship.
“Is the damage against the group or only the person who missed?” Lyra asked, looking a little concerned.
“Damage only applies to the person who missed.” Twilight responded.
“Oh, okay.” Lyra replied, sounding somewhat relieved.
“Also, this damage will be nonlethal.” Twilight added as an afterthought.
After this, some debate erupted between Trixie and Lyra about the most efficient way to complete the trial. After Twilight reminded them that as a group they had to land ten shots on the targets the arguing died out, and each of the three members placed their miniatures across from an archery target on the map,
“Before you start, I’m going to tell you something about ranged weapons that you haven’t had to worry about before. You’re going to be taking penalties on your shots.” Twilight began, getting ready to deliver a hopefully concise explanation on ranged weapons and range increments. “Because of the range increment, you girls will be taking penalties for accuracy on each shot.”
“What exactly is the penalty for the range increment?” Trixie demanded.
“For every full range increment, a minus two penalty is applied to your roll.” Twilight explained.
“And what exactly is a range increment?” Trixie demanded once again.
“A range increment is the value listed in a weapon’s range entry in the handbook. A bow or crossbow can shoot up to ten full increments. For the purpose of this challenge, and due to the magic of the room, everyone’s weapons have had their range increments reduced to 60ft, causing everyone to take one range increment penalty.” Twilight explained, trying to be as detailed as she could.
“Basically due to the magic I’m essentially blind in my good eye.” Lyra quipped.
“Or you could say that the penalty is due to very poor lighting in the cavern.” Sunset offered.
“That works too.” Twilight said, surprised she hadn’t thought of that detail before hand.
Finally Derpy spoke up. “There’s a couple of things I’d like to know.” She said, with a serious look in her eye. “Does it have to be a bullseye?”
“It has to be a hit.” Twilight stated “These targets don’t have bullseyes, there’s a few coloured circles, but no actual bullseye.”
“Okay the next thing I-” Derpy began but was cut off by the rest of Twilight’s explanation of the targets.
“I didn’t want to go too insane with the targets, because you’d have to be threatening criticals to land a bullseye.” Twilight finished her rather unnecessary explanation.
“My next thing is that I’ve got darkvision good up to 60ft.” Derpy said.
“That doesn’t mean anything here. Darkvision only goes active in conditions of complete darkness.” Twilight replied.”The lighting here is just poor.”
“You don’t know what I’m going to do though.” Derpy countered. “I want to look down into the chasm.”
“Umm...because the lighting is poor, and you’re not in complete darkness, your darkvision isn’t active.” Twilight responded, looking a little baffled.
“Then I send my familiar down.” Derpy announced.
“The chasm is three minutes deep, so you can imagine how deep that is.” Trixie said, looking somewhat impatient.
At this, Sunset cut in.“If you really think about it, it’s at least uh…” Sunset’s face screwed up in concentration as she ran through the physics calculations in her mind. “If it’s a three minute drop, you’re looking at between five to ten kilometres in depth.”
“But I’ve got a creature that can fly, it’s an owl.” Derpy said stubbornly.
“Okay, I’m just going to start taking shots.” Lyra broke in, finally becoming tired of sitting idly.
“So Twilight, is my familiar useless, is that what you’re saying?” Derpy asked, sounding a little troubled at the prospect.
“Umm...it’s not useless here, it’s just…”Twilight began choosing her words carefully, not wanting to discourage Derpy’s creative use of her familiar.
Derpy pressed the matter further, a hint of anger in her misaligned eyes. “How long would it take my owl to reach the bottom?” She asked.
“Well, remember the chasm is five kilometres deep.” Twilight began.
Lyra cut Twilight off, saying, “We don’t care what’s down there!”
“It’s nice to know what might be lurking at the bottom!” Derpy replied.
“How are you going to get down there?” Lyra countered, at this point looking rather fed up with Derpy’s antics.
“Derpy, the only way you are going to get down there is by falling, and if you fall down there you’ll end up dead.” Twilight said attempting to get the grey-skinned girl to see reason.
“The thing is, I don’t think it’s necessarily a drop.” Derpy replied defensively. “The riddle said make sure you shoot the targets without fail. So I’m thinking along the lines of, what if a platform rises from the chasm and brings up something.”
“Can I just take my shots?” Lyra cut in, sounding somewhat annoyed.
“If you’re going to start shooting-” Twilight started to explain.
“What do I roll?” Lyra asked impatiently.
“You’re basically just rolling for an attack.” Twilight replied.
“Okay, so it’s….a d8 for me?” Lyra said hesitantly, it had been a little while since the last session and the group was a tad bit out of touch with the combat mechanics. “No wait, it’s a d20 and then a d8.”
“For this, you don’t need to worry about the d8.” Twilight pointed out.
“After all, you just need to hit the targets darling.” Rarity added.
“Just for future reference,” Derpy cut in, still on the topic of exploring the cavern. “If it takes three minutes to inspect the cavern-”
At this, Twilight cut her off. “It didn’t take three minutes to inspect the cavern, Trixie dropped a torch into the chasm, and they didn’t hear a clatter until three minutes later.”
“Okay.” said Derpy, seemingly satisfied with Twilight’s explanation.
“So, I’m taking my first shot.” Lyra announced confidently and proceeded to roll the d20. “18.” she said quietly.
“Your arrow flies straight and true, sailing over the vast chasm and embedding itself in the target.” Twilight narrated. Looking to the others she said, “Girls, you know that Lyra has started doing the challenge.”
“Trixie is aware of this, but she is waiting for Lyra to finish because Trixie cannot find another d20 to use!”
In the midst of this Lyra rolled the d20 once more. “16.”
“Your arrow sails along an almost identical path as the first one, but your aim proves to be a tiny bit off, and the arrow lands just in front of the target.” Turning back to Trixie, Twilight said, “If you need a d20 then speak up next time. Does anyone else have a d20 they can spare?”
At this Sunset spoke up. “I do.” She proceeded to rummage around in her backpack and eventually handed Trixie a bright orange d20.
Once again in the middle of all the commotion Lyra had fired another arrow. “I rolled a 2” She said, looking fairly disappointed.
“That arrow flies way off.” Twilight said with a small laugh. At this point Trixie indicated that she was ready to begin taking part in the trial. “Okay, now that multiple people are taking shots, can we do this in a rotation please?”
“Also you said there would be penalties for missed shots.” Sunset reminded Twilight.
“What? Oh right! Thanks for the reminder.” Twilight proceeded to roll a d3, the die she had designated for metagame and minor nonlethal damage. After rolling it twice for the two shots Lyra had missed, she said: “You take four nonlethal damage.”
“Remind me again, how does nonlethal damage affect us?” Derpy asked.
“If it equals your current hitpoints you are staggered, and if it exceeds them you pass out.” Twilight explained.
“I’d like to clarify something.” Lyra said. “If I think I know what they have to roll to hit is that in-game or out-game?”
“That’s out of game, because it’s an actual number.” Twilight replied.
“Okay, and can I convey that number to Derpy and Trixie?” Lyra asked. “Without taking metagame damage.”
“No.” came Twilight’s reply.
“Okay.”
“Very well, now The Great and Powerful Trixie shall take her first shot!” Trixie announced with great flourish, Trixie then gave her d20 a roll. “18.”
“That’s a hit, your crossbow bolt flies across the chasm, and you hear a satisfying ‘thunk.’” Twilight said. “Go ahead Derpy.”
“I pull out my crossbow and make sure that it’s loaded.” Derpy began.
At this statement Twilight was reminded that Trixie and Derpy would have to reload between shots. “Just a reminder Trixie and Derpy, you two will have to reload your crossbows between shots.” Both of them acknowledged and Twilight indicated that Derpy could continue her turn.
Derpy rolled the d20, letting it slide from her hand onto the wooden table. “20!”
“You take deadly aim with your crossbow and pull the trigger, the bolt flies with pinpoint accuracy landing dead centre on the target.”
“YAAAY!” Derpy said with a grin. “I’m calling my crossbow Steve.”
While Derpy was patting herself on the back and becoming attached to her crossbow Lyra shot off another arrow, “Three.”
Knowing that this was a bad miss, Twilight opted not to describe how bad and rolled the d3. “You take one nonlethal damage.”
“Trixie makes use of her amazing speed to quickly reload her crossbow!” Trixie declared, preparing to take her next shot. With that she proceeded to roll the d20. “Did Trixie get a nine or a six?” The girl asked in confusion.
“There will be a dot indicating the bottom of the number.” Twilight replied.
Taking another look Trixie said “Trixie has rolled a six.”
“You take two nonlethal damage.”
“Very well. Also, Trixie shall name HER crossbow Dennis.” Trixie said this while looking at Derpy with a smug look on her face, clearly convinced her name was superior.
“Alright Derpy, it’s back to you, go ahead.” Twilight prompted.
“Okay, I reload my crossbow.” Derpy said and then rolled her d20. “Five.”
“As your bolt misses the target you feel an invisible force give you a hard slap, dealing two nonlethal damage, and a nice bruise.” Twilight said after rolling her d3.
“I would totally laugh if they ended up passing out in this room.” Sunset said with a chuckle.
“Wait, I took five nonlethal or two nonlethal?” Derpy asked, looking quite confused. At this the entire table burst into laughter.
“You took two nonlethal Derpy, but if you want to make it five, I have no issue with that.” Twilight replied jokingly. After the laughter had subsided Twilight gestured for Lyra to take her turn.
Lyra rolled the d20 a confident expression on her face. “14.” She said looking hopeful.
“Your arrow sails just to the left of the target, as it lands you also feel an invisible force leave it’s mark on you. Two nonlethal damage.” Twilight said, attempting to make her descriptions a bit more engaging. “Trixie, your turn.”
“Trixie once again reloads and then fires her crossbow!” Trixie rolled the d20, which rolled to the centre of the table and stopped precisely on: “1.” Trixie said, looking devastated.
“Luckily there are no real penalties for a critical fail here” Twilight said, looking sympathetic. “Your crossbow bolt just falls out of the crossbow and onto the floor. For missing, you take one nonlethal damage.”
“Trixie is at 14 hitpoints.” The blue skinned girl said morosely.
“Wait, are you subtracting the nonlethal damage from your health? Nonlethal damage doesn’t affect your health.” Twilight told Trixie. “Nonlethal damage just builds up, until it equals or exceeds your current hitpoints.” After explaining this she turned to Derpy. “Okay Derpy, you’re up.”
Derpy scooped up the d20 laying on the game mat. “I reload my crossbow and fire.” She proceeded to roll the d20, which came to a stop on a 14. “14 plus two attack bonus.” Derpy looked at Twilight expectantly, waiting to hear the result.
“Minus two for the range penalty.” Twilight quietly rolled the d3 behind her screen of books. “You take one nonlethal damage.”
Derpy looked a little disheartened by Twilight’s lack of description. “That’s it? Ok….”
Without waiting to be instructed, Lyra snatched up the d20 and rolled for her shot. “I rolled a 10.” She said simply.
“Plus…?” Twilight prompted.
“It doesn’t matter.” Lyra replied. She already knew her d20 roll was not good enough to hit the target, having kept track of what numbers hit and what missed she had figured out approximately what the minimum needed to land a shot was.
“Alright then, you take 1 nonlethal damage as well.” Twilight replied. Turning to Trixie, Twilight indicated that it was her turn to fire.
“Trixie reloads her AMAZING crossbow and prepares to fire!” Trixie shook the d20 vigorously before rolling it on the game mat. “Trixie has rolled a 12!”
Smiling at Trixie’s theatrics Twilight responded with, “You take one nonlethal, too.”
“Wait, how much nonlethal did I take?” Lyra asked, appearing to have been distracted by Trixie’s antics.
“You took one nonlethal as well.” Twilight responded. “Alright Derpy!” Twilight continued, mustering up her enthusiasm as best she could. The group had only been playing for an hour but the she was starting to feel the strain of being the Dungeon Master already.
“Reload!” Derpy called out snatching up the d20. “C’mon Stevie-boy!” She cried hopefully as she rolled the die. As the d20 slowed to a stop, the cursed 1 reflected in Derpy’s dismayed eyes.
“It appears that you didn’t conduct your reload properly and as you pull the trigger on your crossbow the bolt pathetically slides out and falls to the ground.” Twilight said with a chuckle. “One nonlethal.”
“As long as I didn’t shoot myself in the foot.” Derpy replied with a laugh.
Again, without waiting for instruction, Lyra rolled the d20. “19, YES!” she cried excitedly.
“Your arrow flies straight and true, solidly embedding itself in the target across the gorge.” Twilight replied, happy to see forward progress again.
Picking up on Lyra’s habit, Trixie scooped up the d20. “Once more, Trixie shall reload her MAGNIFICENT crossbow, and fires upon the target!” The die rolled across the table and came to a halt with the three facing skyward.
Twilight simply rolled the d3. “That’s two nonlethal.” She told Trixie.
“Is there any way I can revive them if they do pass out on me?” Lyra asked, preparing for the worst.
“Noooo.” Trixie replied, almost automatically.
Twilight paused for a moment to recall the methods of bringing back a character from unconsciousness. “You can make a heal check to wake them up.” She said finally.
Also taking cues from Lyra, Derpy looked around the table for her d20. After finding it she proceeded to take her shot. “I reload.” She announced, and rolled the die. “12” Derpy read out.
Looking almost apologetic at Derpy’s misfortune, Twilight rolled her die. “One nonlethal.” 
Quickly, Lyra scooped up another d20 and rolled it. “20!” She announced gleefully.
“Your arrow flies straight and true, as if guided by your thoughts and embeds itself solidly into the target.” Twilight narrated. Turning to the cleric Twilight said: “Trixie, go ahead.”
After declaring her reload Trixie rolled what was quickly becoming the cursed d20. As the die rolled to a stop a one glinted evilly at the seated players. The group (including Trixie) burst into laughter at the cleric’s misfortune. 
At this, Twilight rolled her d3 saying, “Due to a botched reload the crossbow bolt once again simply falls out of the crossbow, this time landing on your baby toe. That’s one nonlethal damage.” While describing this, Twilight gestured for Derpy to take her turn.
“I reload my bow and fire.” Derpy announced, rolling the d20. Once more the cursed die displayed a one.
Turning to Sunset (who had loaned Derpy the die) Twilight said, “Sunset, your die is cursed. They’ve rolled four ones so far and three of them have been on your die.”
“I think my d20 just doesn’t like them.” Sunset replied with a grin.
Returning her focus to the game, Twilight rolled for Derpy’s nonlethal damage. “Anyways, that’s one nonlethal.”
Amidst a sudden outbreak of conversation, Lyra rolled for her shot and relayed the resulting miss to Twilight.
Twilight responded with the usual.  “Lyra, you take one nonlethal.” 
Play continued over to Trixie, who seemed distracted by a side conversation about gag dice. “Trixie, focus!” Twilight called out sharply.
In her usual fashion, Trixie proceeded to reload and fire her crossbow, rolling the d20 with gusto. “With Trixie’s attack bonus she has rolled a 17!”
“You finally manage to properly reload your crossbow, and your bolt flies gracefully across the cavern landing on the target.” Twilight responded, trying to conceal an edge of tiredness creeping into her voice. “Derpy, your turn.” Twilight said turning to Derpy. However the girl seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Rarity and did not hear. Twilight snapped her fingers and called Derpy once more. “Derpy!”
Finally Derpy heard her name being called. “Huh? Oh!” She looked around, slightly confused. Realizing that it was her turn to fire she announced her actions. “I reload and fire.” She said, rolling the d20 once more. “Eight- uh- Eighteen!” Derpy read out, looking pleased with herself. “Sweet, I got another hit!” Derpy crowed once Twilight had confirmed the hit.
The pattern continued for another 20 minutes, with each girl taking turns rolling the d20 and calling their attacks. By the end each one looked somewhat tired, Derpy’s character had come close to being knocked out from the nonlethal damage, but was saved by the timely use of a health potion. In the end Trixie landed the final shot, ending the, rather lengthy, Trial of Accuracy. 
“As Trixie’s shot lands just barely on the target a rumbling noise fills the room and you watch as the chasm closes. Congratulations.” Twilight narrated, feeling somewhat worn down. “Also although none of you had looked, the doorway behind you had sealed and now swings open.”
As per usual, Derpy immediately began searching the room. “I inspect the walls again to see if there’s anymore messages.”
“A banner drops down that says ‘Congratulations!’” Twilight replied with the slightest hint of sarcasm.
“Can we get some confetti?” Derpy asked eagerly, grinning.
“ONE confetti drops down.” Twilight replied once more, the edge of sarcasm never leaving her voice. Returning to seriousness Twilight moved the adventure forward. “Also all of you hear a rumbling throughout the dungeon. I forgot to mention earlier, small detail, the giant iron door had three metal bars going across it.”
“Hold on, before you switch over to the other group, are we healed of our nonlethal damage?” Derpy asked, looking a tad worried.
“As soon as you exit back into the dungeon you feel refreshed.” Twilight replied. Turning to Rarity and Sunset she said: “I’m going to focus in on you two now. What are you doing?”
“It seems that the other three finished what they were doing, if that rumbling noise is any indication.” Rarity quipped. “So now we shall attempt to make some progress as well!”
“What door should we try first?” Sunset asked Rarity, looking a bit enthusiastic.
“Shall we roll for it, perhaps?” Rarity replied with some hesitancy.
Grabbing a d6 and designating odd as the south door and even as the north, Rarity rolled.
“A three, looks like the south door it is!” Sunset declared enthusiastically. With that  Rarity and Sunset moved their miniatures to the south door.
“You push on the south door, and once again, magic writing appears.” Twilight narrated. “This writing reads as such:”

Enter those of combat masters, rage, holy might, or technique
Prove your strength or be made weak.

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


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

After a few perplexed glances Twilight clarified the riddle. “Basically the riddle is saying any class that is combat-oriented.”
“Well that certainly doesn’t sound like me at all!” Rarity responded emphatically.
“Can Trixie go to them and help them out?”
“Well, you don’t know that this is happening, so…” Twilight left the sentence hanging, hoping Trixie would understand.
“I’ve totally got this!” Sunset said with confidence.
Still addressing Trixie, Twilight said. “If you wanted to talk amongst the group about what to do-”
“The cleric and I head over to where Sunset and Rarity are-” Lyra interrupted.
“You mosey on over?” Twilight cut in with a grin.
“Yeah, mosey on over, check out what’s going on.” Lyra replied.
“Could we try the other door?” Rarity asked after Lyra was finished moving the miniatures.
“You can try.” Twilight replied.
“Well, we still have not seen what the other door does.” Rarity explained.
“You push on the door and magical writing appears.” Twilight said quickly.
Only those of Divine may tread,
Prove yourselves or become undead.
Trixie gasped, a look of excitement and delight shone clear across her face.
“I’ve got this one.” Rarity said misinterpreting the riddle somewhat.
“Based on the riddles, Sunset and I will are combat classes and will take the combat trial.” Lyra suggested to the group. “And then-“
Twilight cut her off there. “I’m not going to run separate things at the same time just so you know.”
“Am I just out of this essentially?” Derpy cut in.
“Well the other two have walked over to Sunset and Rarity, but you can catch up if you want.” Twilight replied. “You’re just drinking until you-”
“You’re piss drunk.” Sunset cut in.
With a goofy grin on her face Derpy leaned forward in her chair to move her miniature. “I rush on over-” She began before Twilight cut her off.
“I’m going to rule that if you’re going to be drunk then you’re going to take a -2 penalty to your Intelligence score.”
“Okay how about this: I’m not drunk.” Derpy replied. “I just had a swig of the alcohol, I didn’t drink gallons.”
“Uh-huh.” Twilight said skeptically.
Most the group responded skeptically as well.
“Okay, so I stagger over to the rest of the group.” Derpy moved her miniature so it stood with the others. Facing the group she put herself in character. “Sorry about that, I just needed a little top up! So what’s going on, what do we got here?”
“The wizard appears and she reeks of alcohol.” Twilight simplified with a chuckle.
Returning to the previous conversation Lyra looked to Twilight. “So you’re not letting us split up?” She inquired.
“I’m not able to run two combat encounters at the same time.” Twilight responded. “That’s going to hurt my head.”
The group quickly caught Twilight’s slip-up.
“So they’re combat encounters!” Lyra said, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.
“Wait hold on a minute we’re fighting?” Derpy chimed in.
“Well, yes I’ve tried to imply that for at least one of them.” Twilight said, attempting to take her mistake in stride.
“Why don’t we go do the regular combat, then we do the divine one.” Lyra offered.
“Can someone take the time to explain to me what’s going on?” Derpy said, having been both not present for the in-game and out of game reading of the riddles on the doors.
“Basically one of them sounds like it requires combatant-oriented classes, and the other has something to do with the divine and undead.” Twilight said, summarizing the riddles as succinctly as possible.
“And that will be where I go: Okay, I’ll take care of some undead for us!” Derpy said, slipping once more into character.
“Alright, seeing as Twilight would like us to keep together, Trixie, Sunset and I will go in and you two wait outside.” Lyra dictated, indicating that Derpy and Rarity should wait. “Unless of course you want to come and provide magic missile support.”
To this of course Rarity quickly refused, stating that she was far too frail for what might be heavy combat.
“Alright then, looks like me, Trixie and Sunset will go in.” Lyra said.
“Okay.” Twilight got up to begin drawing the new room on the map. “So the door opens.” She took a deep breath and began drawing.
“Well Rarity, looks like you and I get some time to know one another.” Derpy said cheerfully. 
“Oh boy.” Sunset said, giving Rarity a sympathetic look.
At this Rarity heard a dark chuckle, as if some unknown evil force was laughing at her dire predicament.
Pushing on Twilight finished drawing the map. “I’ve had to modify it a little due to limited space but it’ll work.”
“Did I tell you about the time that I ran into a troll?” Derpy said.
Rarity gave a most unladylike groan. “Uuuugh!”
“It all started on a midsummer’s day...” Derpy recounted with a far off look in her eyes.
“Sweet Celestia help Trixie!” Trixie cried out painfully.
Suddenly Derpy stopped. “Wait so who’s venturing in?” She asked.
“We have the cleric, the fighter and the ranger.” Twilight replied.
“So Trixie, Sunset and Lyra?” Derpy said.
“Yep.” Twilight replied once more. She then turned to address the three adventurers who were entering the trial room. “So this room-” Twilight was cut of by Derpy joking about how she should tell Rarity her whole life story while the others were in the trial. Twilight gave a weak whistle to get the group’s attention but to no avail. Finally, raising her voice brought them back to the important part of the adventure at hand. “SO girls, right in front of you is some REALLY tall grass. But through the grass you can kind of make out a torch. What do you want to do?”
“So do you want to go, you first, me in the middle and the cleric in the back?” Lyra asked Sunset.
“That sounds like a good marching order.” Sunset agreed.
“Ok, so you walk through the tall grass and find yourself in a clearing marked by torches, looking up it appears that you’re outside and there appears to be a starry sky above you. Looking closely though you can make out rocky outcroppings.” Twilight described the room. “Also in the centre of the clearing there is a stake with a note pinned to it.”
“Is there a window from which I can view this clearing?” Derpy asked, wanting to see the group’s warriors in action.
“You know what, magically, a little side room appears for the wizard.” Twilight said, drawing an additional room beside the trial room.
“C’mon Rarity, let’s go in here and spectate, I’ll continue to tell you the story about the troll!” Derpy said happily.
“Wait, Twilight, so around the stake with the note, you said it’s a clearing.” Trixie said, looking for clarification.
“You’re in a clearing marked by four torches. The corners are marked by the four torches.” Twilight clarified.
“Very well, Trixie would like to go up and read said note!” she said, the authority returning to her voice.
“The note simply says ‘Survive.’” Twilight told Trixie. “And as you walk up to the middle, you hear chanting in Goblin.” At this Twilight grinned. “Roll Initiative.”



Sunset drew her greatsword, her muscles tensing as the sound of goblin chanting filled her ears. Beside her, Lyra pulled out her bow and nocked an arrow, ready to shoot anything that entered her sight. In the middle of the clearing Trixie stood looking for the source of the chanting.
In at attempt to ferret out the hiding goblins, Sunset swung her sword at the grass in front of her. However, as she swung, her sword impacted against a magical barrier; it appeared that the group was confined to the open ground. At this, Sunset swore under her breath in frustration, but remained where she was, hoping to get the goblins as they entered the clearing. While Sunset prepared to attempt an ambush, Trixie used her keen gnome ears to locate any of the goblins. Listening intently she managed to narrow down the general location of one of the goblins. Using this knowledge, Trixie fired her crossbow into a patch of the grass but unfortunately hit nothing.
At the same time Lyra attempted to pinpoint the goblins by using her keen hearing. As she strained her ears she managed to narrow down that one of the goblins was located in the corner near her. With this knowledge she fired off two arrows in rapid succession at the same patch of grass. Unfortunately both arrows whizzed into the grass, hitting nothing.
As the final arrow flew from Lyra’s bow, three goblins came crashing through the grass and into the clearing. The first goblin to come through ran up to Trixie and swung its morningstar at her. In its excitement to draw first blood, it swung too soon before reaching Trixie and missed her by inches.
The second goblin stayed away from the battle observing the three adventurers and waiting for the right time to strike. The third member of the goblin gang decided to rush Lyra, thinking the archer to be easy prey. However his clumsy swing was easily dodged and Lyra simply sidestepped the blow. The final goblin of the group swung at Sunset from his hiding spot in the grass, but due to the poor combination of his height, and the unique brand of bad luck they seemed to be having, the fourth goblin also missed his target, simply swinging at empty air.
In response to the goblin attacking her, Sunset swung her greatsword with deadly precision decapitating the goblin with a single swing. A spray of blood went up from the stump where the goblins head used to be, splattering Sunset with red
.Meanwhile, Trixie went to reload her crossbow. As she did, the second goblin, seeing an opportunity, swung his morningstar. Trixie, sensing the attack, without interrupting her reload deftly sidestepped the goblin’s swing and fired her crossbow. As the bolt whizzed by the goblin’s head Trixie cursed the goblin for throwing off her aim.
As all this unfolded the three remaining goblins continued to attack the group. The goblin by Lyra brought down its sword and dealt a light blow to her leg. The goblin that Trixie narrowly missed attempted to pay her back but once again missed his target. The other goblin standing near Trixie also attempted to wound her but as he swung Trixie dodged, the blow glancing off her armour.
As Lyra attempted to shoot the goblin in front of her he lunged, swinging his sword ferociously. At the last moment Lyra stepped back, right as the steel blade passed in front of her nose. In retaliation she fired off two arrows in rapid succession. Unfortunately as she nocked the first arrow, she pulled the string with too much force and her bow became unstrung. Lyra cursed under her breath at her bad fortune and quickly backed away from the goblin.
Seeing Lyra’s predicament, Sunset rushed over and swung at the goblin. Her sword landed  cleanly in the lower abdomen, wounding the goblin greatly, however it rallied and managed to stay standing, glaring defiantly at Sunset.
Across the clearing Trixie once again went to reload her crossbow, and once more the goblins took the opportunity to attack. Haunted by their bad luck however both missed as Trixie sidestepped their blows. As she dodged Trixie fired her crossbow at the second goblin, spearing the bolt through its nose.
Seeing his companion speared through the nose, the first goblin swung angrily at Trixie. In his anger he swung too wide and missed Trixie altogether. The goblin with the crossbow bolt in his nose glared at Trixie and swung his morningstar. Due to the distracting pain of the bolt the goblin also missed Trixie and gibbered in frustration. The goblin near Lyra and Sunset didn’t act, still amazed by the gaping wound in its abdomen.
Frantically amidst the action, Lyra restrung her bow and took aim at the wounded goblin, hoping to secure the kill. Unfortunately she loosed the arrow too quickly and it soared above the goblin’s head and into the grass. “For the love of Celestia what is wrong with me!” Lyra grumbled.
As Lyra’s arrow flew by the goblin, it coughed up blood onto Sunset’s shoes. “Ergh, more goblin blood on me.” Sunset muttered as she brought her sword down on the goblin’s windpipe. Coughing blood on Sunset’s shoes seemed to have been effective distraction however, as Sunset only got the wind part of her attack, missing the pipe as the goblin ducked under the swing.
Still entangled in a fight with the two goblins, Trixie reloaded her crossbow, trusting that the goblin’s bad luck would continue to save her from being hit. As for the goblins, bad luck proved that unlike lightning it could strike multiple times in rapid succession. Upon completing her reload Trixie fired upon the goblin with the bolt stuck in its nose. The shot flew into the goblins ear lodging itself in some portion of the goblins brain, but the goblin still managed to stay upright and alive.
The brain-damaged goblin attempted to retaliate, however it seemed that enough damage had been done to  him to severely impair his motor functions and his jerky swing went wide. Beside him looking as fresh as a daisy the first goblin lunged at Trixie swinging viciously, and continued to miss. Across the clearing the goblin with the gouged abdomen hacked more blood onto Sunset, swinging his sword at her. With his vision doubling due to all the lost blood, he swung at a phantom Sunset, cleanly missing the real one standing in front of him.
Deciding to let Sunset deal with the blood spewing goblin, Lyra turned around and fired at healthy looking goblin attacking Trixie, planting an arrow solidly in his thigh as he lunged.
“I am so sick of this goblin coughing blood on me!” Sunset yelled as more blood splattered onto her face. Aiming once more for the windpipe, Sunset sliced into it cleanly this time, and the goblin gurgled on the end of her blade, hacking up blood one last time before it expired.
Trixie reloaded her crossbow and once more the goblins seized the opportunity to attack. And like a bad smell, their bad luck would not go away and they both missed the cleric. In response to these latest attacks, Trixie fired once more on the goblin that now looked quite brain damaged. Due to an untimely sway from the goblin, Trixie’s aim was thrown off and her shot went wide.
As Trixie’s bolt soared into the grass, the goblins attacked, the brain damaged goblin missed Trixie entirely with a jerky swing at the open air, but the goblin with the arrow in his thigh managed to finally land a strike, his short sword grazing Trixie’s cheek.
Just as the short sword connected with Trixie’s face Lyra fired off a shot from her bow, with a miraculous combination of luck, skill, and training, she managed to put the arrow right in the goblin’s eye. The force of the arrow caused the goblin’s eye to explode, splattering Trixie, and the corpse hit the ground with a satisfying thud.
As soon as she heard the body hit the floor, Sunset dislodged her blade from the windpipe of the slain goblin and sprinted to attack the final goblin. Using her momentum Sunset brought her sword down on the goblin’s head and sliced vertically in half. With blood spraying everywhere the halves of the former goblin crumpled to the ground.
After the last goblin fell, the three adventurers looked around for a sign that they had completed the trial. As they looked, Lyra heard more goblin chanting, this time from deeper voices. Suddenly a hobgoblin came crashing through the bushes right in front of Sunset and another in front of Lyra. As this happened, Trixie spied a third hobgoblin coming out at the end of the clearing near the door.
The hobgoblin in front of Lyra swung its longsword with menace. Anticipating the attack, the ranger nimbly ducked under the attack. Meanwhile the hobgoblin that had come out of the bushes in front of Sunset attempted to remove her head from her shoulders. Unfortunately for the hobgoblin, bad luck was a cruel mistress, and as Sunset dodged his blow he was caught off balance and over-swung, sending his sword flying off into the grass. The final hobgoblin lumbered over from the edge of the clearing to take his turn to kill the flame haired girl, but she deflected the blow with her vambrace, while still laughing at the disarmed one.
As she ducked under the first hobgoblin’s swing, Lyra moved back and fired with her bow. The hobgoblin however had other ideas and somehow managed to bat the arrow aside with its shaggy paw, grinning all the while.
Sizing up her opponents and decided that the one who was still armed posed the bigger threat, Sunset brought her greatsword down on the hobgoblin. And then missed him entirely. At this Sunset swore under her breath. “Shit, I was doing so well.”
Trixie meanwhile hastily reloaded her crossbow and fired on the disarmed hobgoblin, hoping to weaken him for Sunset to finish off. However, Trixie acted too quickly and the hobgoblin growled as the bolt whizzed by his ear.
After the bolt flew by him the disarmed hobgoblin lumbered into the bushes and clawed around for his sword, retrieving it after a few seconds. The hobgoblin Sunset had missed decided to try and show her how to properly swing her sword, by once again trying to kill her. Having studied his lessons on swordplay thoroughly, the hobgoblin managed to land a blow, his sword biting into Sunset’s thigh with a squelch. The third hobgoblin closed the gap towards Lyra and took another swing. As misfortune would have it, the hobgoblin missed entirely, snarling in frustration.
In retaliation, Lyra took aim at point blank and fired her bow into the hobgoblin’s snarling face. The hobgoblin’s malodorous breath did little to deter Lyra and she managed to lodge an arrow in the back of the hobgoblin’s throat. At this, the wounded monster roared in pain, but remained standing.
As the hobgoblin by Lyra roared. Sunset hefted her greatsword and swung at the one in front of her. With a mighty swing Sunset cleaved the hobgoblin diagonally in half from shoulder to waist getting a liberal showering of blood and viscera in the process. The hobgoblin crumpled to the floor, Sunset standing over the corpse with a massive grin on her blood spattered face. “That’s what happens when you bring a knife to a sword fight.” Sunset said to the monster’s corpse.
Trixie meanwhile reloaded her crossbow, not realizing that the hobgoblin standing in front of Lyra was also beside her. Sensing an opening, the hobgoblin attempted to bring its longsword down on Trixie. Unable to react fast enough, the longsword cut into Trixie’s arm, causing her to let out a small scream of shock and pain. Despite the pain, Trixie managed to reload her crossbow and fired upon the hobgoblin in the bushes. In spite of the obscuring grass, Trixie managed to find her mark and another roar of pain echoed throughout the clearing.
The hobgoblin in the grass chose this moment to lumber back into the clearing and rejoin the fight. Swinging his longsword once more at Sunset. Luck however was on Sunset’s side, and she easily dodged the attempts to once more remove her head. At the same time, the hobgoblin who had attacked Trixie decided to try and press his luck, and found himself lucky once more landing another solid blow, the sword biting into her shoulder this time. Trixie screamed in pain once more, looking as though she might soon collapse.
In a foolish attempt to look awesome while trying to save her friend, Lyra decided to do a little grandstanding and fired her bow while looking away from the hobgoblin. Predictably her shot missed the hobgoblin entirely, even though he was standing right in front of her.
While Lyra embarrassed herself, Sunset decided to do what she did best: kill monsters with her greatsword. With a cocky grin on her face, Sunset brought her greatsword down on her prey, slicing the hobgoblin vertically in two.  Unfortunately Sunset misjudged the power of her swing and only made it halfway down before becoming stuck, prompting her to plant her foot on the still standing corpse and yank the sword out, spraying her with a copious amount of blood. As soon as she had freed her sword, the hobgoblin’s corpse fell to the ground with a sickening squelch. “And here I was expecting some sort of challenge.” Sunset said as she gave her blade a quick inspection.
With darkness clouding the edges of her vision Trixie snatched a healing potion from her belt, unstoppered the bottle and went to drink the potion. Sensing an opening and the danger of the girl consuming the potion, the final hobgoblin took a desperate swing at Trixie. In his haste he missed her and Trixie downed the potion. Feeling much steadier with a fully healed shoulder Trixie let out a small sigh of relief and made her crossbow ready.
Knowing full well that his last moments were at hand, the hobgoblin decided to go out swinging. So once again he swung his longsword at Trixie, and once more all he managed to do was swing at the empty air.
Wanting to finish the fight quickly, Lyra fired two shots in rapid succession, but as Trixie was standing in her way at this point, the hobgoblin used her to dodge the projectiles. Lyra ground her teeth in frustration. “Dammit Trixie, why’d you have to move in front of me?” she muttered to herself.
Wanting to secure all three kills this battle, Sunset jogged over to the hobgoblin and attempted to decapitate him. Sadly Sunset had become a bit too cocky and forgot that she was not the only one who could dodge blows. In the end all she managed to do was shave some fur off the hobgoblin’s cheek.
With her crossbow ready to fire, Trixie took aim. As she lined up the shot, the hobgoblin, now sporting some rather unsightly facial hair, swung his longsword. Trixie however anticipated the attack and dodged it with ease, firing her crossbow as she ducked. With luck on her side, Trixie planted the crossbow bolt in the hobgoblin’s eye, which popped from the force, spraying Sunset with….eyeball. At this point, Sunset was looking quite red, with a touch of white from the eyeball goo.
The half-blind hobgoblin, unhappy with the shaving, faced Sunset and roared, swinging his sword blindly. Having half his vision meant that he was half as likely to land his blow, and the odds were not in his favour as he cleanly missed, swinging by Sunset’s head as she doubled over with laughter from how pathetic the creature looked.
Taking a few steps back to get away from the pathetic and disgusting hobgoblin, Lyra proceeded to line up a shot, but was too grossed out to look at the creature, causing her shot to miss entirely.
Having recovered from her bout of laughter, Sunset decided to try and clean up the mess of a monster in front of her. However as she swung, she caught another glimpse of the crossbow bolt nestled in the hobgoblin’s eye socket and was overcome by a fresh fit of sadistic laughter.
Trixie, following Lyra’s example stepped away from the hobgoblin, and reloaded her crossbow. Once she was finished she took careful aim and fired once more. This time she managed to hit the hobgoblin square in his midsection, putting a crossbow bolt right in his belly button. At this point, the hobgoblin looked almost ready to collapse but found the strength to stay on his feet.
With his refusal of death and the burning desire to kill the orange one, the hobgoblin roared once more, even as his vision began to cloud. He took another swing at Sunset, hoping to at least wound her before he passed from this world, but this time she parried the blow, denying the hobgoblin what might be his dying wish.
Wanting to wrap the battle up, but still getting over her nausea at seeing the hobgoblin’s eye pop, Lyra fired once more. But once again, she closed her eyes, this time just as she let the arrow fly and her shot missed, grazing the cheek of the hobgoblin, and evening out his facial hair.
Recognizing that her opponent was near death’s door, Sunset attempted to do what Lyra could not and kill the hobgoblin. But as she swung her greatsword the hobgoblin blocked her blow, refusing death for a second time.
Frustrated at her teammates inability to kill the hobgoblin, Trixie slammed a fresh bolt into her crossbow and fired at the monster. Finally managing to do what the other two had failed to do, the bolt landed in the hobgoblin’s good eye, and pierced its brain, killing it at long last.
A ragged cheer went up from the three adventurers, thinking that they had finally won. Sunset however noticed the hobgoblin’s hand twitching and poked at the body with her sword. Finding the hobgoblin to be unresponsive she let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia that’s over, I was getting tired.”
Choosing to be cautious, Lyra decided to listen for any more chanting, but could hear anything out of the ordinary.
Trixie on the other hand decided to abandon caution and went to loot all of the fallen enemies. To her dismay, the monsters did not have any valuable loot on them, aside from their (rather shoddy) weaponry.
As Trixie looted the bodies, Lyra’s keen ears picked up the sound of growling. At this she alerted the other two. ‘Guys, I think that there’s something else coming for us!” she cried out.
Catching a glimpse of  a large creature with matted fur in the grass, Sunset readied her blade with a grin and said, “Looks like some bugbears have come to play.”