[Manehattan] Dungeons, Ponies, Magic and Dragons [CLOSED!]

[Davroth]

Reactions were mixed, which was to be expected. Though the allure of bits and the promise of serving a good cause was something that usually worked.

Ze old unicorn stallion looked between ze assembled heroes. He addressed Snicker Snack first. "Vat you should keep in mind iz zat you vill be entering ze inner sanktum of an old mountain pony mine. Zey are known to stock all kinds of valuables, and since zis mine has been abandoned a long time ago, it's all zere for you for ze taking. I vont ask any questions about anyzing else you find in zere. But you can expect zat it will contain all kinds of rare items zat vill fetch a good price wiz ze right trader."

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It was a little frustrating that Sugar Rush didn't quite pick up on what "no concept of money" means. There was no forcing that, though.

Ze hooded figure continued. "And if you vant more upfront, I don't haf much on me, but I haf zose." From somevere under his cloak, a small pouch viz four vials of different colours appeared, two red ones and two green ones. "Zose are two each of ze most potent potions of strengz and agility respectively. Zey are quite valuable by zemselves, but I haf little use for zem. Zey are yours."

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[colour=#a9a9a9]"Zat's ze closest to a drink zat increases your damage zat zere is in zis game at zis time."[/colour] The grey unicorn stallion added, looking at Alfalfa. [colour=#a9a9a9]"Zeir effect is temporary, but still useful in certain situations."[/colour] He just hoped that would appeal to Sugar Rush. It was sometimes hard to tell what his expectations were.

[colour=#a9a9a9]"Oh, and don't worry, Sketch. I vill tell you ven you need to roll on somezing, or do it for you. If you were trying to convince somepony else, zen you would haf to roll and see how successful you are. But as a general rule, you don't use your skills against ze ozer players, unless you absolutely haf to or you are working against ze group. Which is boz not advisable among not so seasoned players."[/colour] Drifting Veil hoped that explaination made sense to Sketch. As an experienced player himself, he tended to take a lot of things for granted, but obviously you couldn't with a group of first time roleplayers. He then continued, not being entirely serious: [colour=#a9a9a9]"Zough, should you want to do somezing in secret from ze rest of ze group, best pass me a note wiz vat you vant to do."[/colour] He chuckled slightly.

He is visibly content wiz ze ozer two's[colour=#000000] reaction. [/colour]"It honors you, Solemn Vow and Lady Regalia, zat you vant to take vare of zis situation regardless of payment, but still, take ze bits as a token of gratitude zat you would help an old unicorn like me." He laughs wholeheartedly, being increasingly satisfied wiz his choice of hiring you four for zis undertaking.

"Vell, here are ze bits." He lifted a big bag of bits on ze table, gold coins jingling happily inside. "4000 of zem, no less. It should allow you to prepare for vat's to come." He sat back and took a for gulps of his new drink, zat Alfalfa had graciously provided ven ordering a round of drinks. "Now, after you made sure zat everyzing is in order wiz ze bits, I'd be on my way. Zere's places I need to be, I'm sure you understand. And you shouldn't take too long to get on your ways to ze tower ruin as well. Time vill be crucial here. Unless zere's any further questions."

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In anticipation of what was to come next most likely, Drifting Veil pulled up the trader tables from his notes. They'd probably want to buy some equipment. And of course the wilderness notes, since they would travel for two days until they reached the tower ruin.

[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash groaned and facehoofed. [colour=#008080] "Why would you ... I don't even ..."[/colour] She paused... [colour=#008080]"No, wait, let's do this in-character ..."[/colour]

[colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack groaned and facehoofed. [/colour][colour=#ff8c00] "Why would you ... I don't even ..."[/colour]

[colour=#ffffff]She let out a long exhalation, then lifted her head again. [/colour][colour=#ff8c00]"Of courth we're going to do it! But we could have done it for more! That money would go for the purpotheth of THIENTH! For me, at any rate - and for you galth, you could conthider it a contribution to your 'be able to do good workth' fund! Doing heroic deedth ith important, but doing them well-funded is much better!"[/colour]

[colour=#ffffff]Despite her frustration, she wasn't slow in grabbing one of the potions of agility. [/colour][colour=#ff8c00]"Ooo! I'll take thith one!"[/colour][colour=#ffffff] She also grabbed the bag of money. [/colour][colour=#ff8c00] "I'll be *right* back... I don't want to count thith out in the open, and we need to break it down a little." [/colour][colour=#ffffff] She took a long draw off of the ale that arrived, let out a satisfied *ahhhhh*, and smiled to Alfalfa. [/colour][colour=#ff8c00] "Thankth! You're the betht!"[/colour]

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Silver Flash grinned, pulling out a notebook. [colour=#008080] "So I'll just have Snicker Snack take it back to her room briefly, count it out, mark it in her ledger, and separate out purses for each of you for personal recreation expenses. Fifty bits per should be pretty solid for getting whatever we want in town, for private purposes ... but if you want to buy anything for supplies for the adventure itself, make sure to have Snicker Snack buy it for you, so it can go in the ledger as an expense, so we can get it back! Any problems with that, or do you gals want to roleplay that part out?"[/colour] She grinned at Sugar Rush to include him in the 'you gals' comment, then took a ruler and started drawing lines down the page for her ledger - labeling the columns 'description', 'SS', 'ALF', 'SV', 'REG', 'in', and 'out', as well as a final, unlabeled column. On the first line, she wrote 'Prepayment' and put a '4000' in the 'in' column, then on the next line she put 50 under each name, and 200 under the 'out' column. Then, under Alfalfa's column, she wrote a 49.8 and described it as 'Ales all around.' [colour=#008080] "What's the charge for an inn room for the night, Deevee? Are we going with five half-bits for a single room, or two bits?"[/colour]

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[Davroth]

[colour=#d3d3d3]"Ze inn keeper would inform you that It's one bit for a night in the common rooms, vich is rows of beds in a big room shared wiz a lot of other travellers, or 2 bits for a single room. zere is also a special room for important guests traveling zrough, but it's currently taken. It would cost 8 bits a night if it wasn't."[/colour] Drifting Veil quickly replied.

Ze old stallion just sits there and takes anozer gulp of his drink as he waits for ozer questions.

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List of common goods sold here, list of possible traders passing through until they had to get going, the wilderness random encounter table... Looked like he had everything. [colour=#d3d3d3]"Just as a reminder, zere is a bit of urgency about zis first stretch, and zere might be consequences. Just keep zat in mind, especially zose who are new to zis."[/colour] He added, idly rolling dice behind his screen, and noting something in his notebook.

[Hippo]

[colour=#000000]As soon as Sugar Rush heard about the special room, he was about to blurt out and purchase it, but Drifting counted that possibility out as the room being taken. [/colour][colour=#800080]"I'll- Ugh!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Sugar Rush laid back momentarily as he watched Silver Flash go out of her way to be his personal banker. He was ok with this. But he had an immediate problem. [/colour][colour=#800080]"So? What are we waiting for? Lets go buy us some cool weapons!"[/colour]

[colour=#ff0000]"Where's the store? I need to buy a magical laser for Sprout."[/colour] [colour=#ffffff]Sprout came out of the darkness and landed on one of the chairs, looking really really cool. He crows really loudly and everyone thinks he's the best pet. Because he is.[/colour]

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[Imagination]

Sketch nodded in understanding to the DM. Try not to use abilities against the group. Got it. But he still wanted to play the good guy right, and it was nice that his character wasn't the only one that shared the sentiment. The potions he didn't have too much use for... Or at least he didn't think so, so he was going to defer and let the others have at them. One of which seemed to be snatched up rather quickly.

Time was of the essence, was it? Sketch didn't want to find out what the consequences were should they miss that time frame! Bad things are bad, Mmkay?!

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The Priest accepted the payment at the unicorn's insistence, though he likely wasn't going to see much of it for himself if he could help it. [colour=#fff0f5]"Again we thank you, good Sir... Now, gentleponies, we should make haste with gathering what supplies we need. The journey to the tower could be a long two days, and I feel it's best not to dawdle..."[/colour] Of course, he didn't really know where the shops were either. Somepony in the party must know, right?

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"Right...?"

He had no idea how getting to shops worked, let alone doing stuff at them. What if he had to barter?! HRNNG, he was terrible at bartering! Even in real life!

[RarityDash]

[colour=#000000]Vivid did her best to quietly keep up with the particulars. In truth she was more enamored with the character and the narrative then anything though. She was rather eager to actually begin the adventure. Talk of bits and supplies and other such thing was hardly very exciting to her. Hadn't they already gone through all that when they were drafting their character sheets? There wasn't going to be some protracted in game preparation phase now, was there? She was more eager to just hit something with her sword and direct Regalia toward righteous glory.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Regalia was getting anxious to get on the road to adventure. After all, every second wasted was the potential second that the artefact they sought might fall into the hooves of evil. Her comrades seemed more wrapped up in issues of their bits and spending them. None of this was a concern of the knightly hippogriff. Her sword would point ever in the direction of righteousness.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]As far as preparations went, she was far more concerned with making sure she had the right information to keep herself mentally prepared to lead this sordid band to victory. Her eyes fell once more on the hooded unicorn. She stared at him inquisitively.[/colour]

[colour=#00cccc]"So... what more can you tell us of this perilous quest we are set to undertake? What exactly is the artefact? What are its capabilities? What might we expect to see defending it? Who could be seeking to claim it for themselves?"[/colour][colour=#000000] Regalia presented a number of inquiries all at once.[/colour] [colour=#00cccc]"Surely these is more you can tell us about the target or the enemy? A true knight is prudent to never fight blind."[/colour]

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[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash let out a strangled noise. [colour=#008080]"One bit for the common room?!"[/colour] she asked, eyes bulging. [colour=#008080] "That's highway robbery!"[/colour] Then she cleared her throat, and shook her head. [colour=#008080] "OK, which of you guys took a single room, and which took a common room? Remember we still gotta get a good night's sleep before we start shopping. It's midnight, remember! And Sugar Rush - remember, this is a fantasy game, not a sci-fi game. There aren't any lasers... we could probably do something similar with an at-will cantrip casting magic item ... but that won't be freely available, and your bird might not be able to use it. But ... well, just a sec, let me note this down, and I'll handle that in-character."[/colour]

She scribbled on a notecard, for herself. [colour=#008080] "Maaaan ... this guys so rich, it'd have been easy to get more. Ah well, at least we have expenses..."[/colour]

[colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack, back in her private room, swiftly counted through the bits, making little piles on her bed, then separated out 50 bits each into little pouches, and put the rest of the bits back into several sacks... she slipped a few concealed coins here and there, amongst her things, divided the smaller sacks among her saddlebags - along with two larger sacks if one wished to make an impression - and closed it all up, tucking her own 50 bits into her purse, and holding the other three under her wing. Coming back out into the main room, she dropped one little pouch before each pony with a flourish.

Hearing Alfalfa's request ...[/colour]

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"And this is where you went, [colour=#ff0000]'Where's the store? I need to find an Amulet of Freezing for Sprout!'[/colour] " She mimiced Sugar Rush's eager tone of voice with ease.

[colour=#ffffff]She replied,[/colour][colour=#ff8c00] "Heh. You won't find anything decent here, Alfalfa ... but don't worry, I'll get th' thupplieth for you, an' be able to make it for you thometime down th' road. And cheaper than you coulda bought it! Might not have it for thith firtht adventure, but we'll have it for the thecond!"[/colour]

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Well, they'd better. She remembered one game where the gamemaster never HAD let her use her magic item crafting feats ... and that had been incredibly frustrating ...

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[Davroth]

[colour=#d3d3d3]"Zis is one of ze most travelled roads in Equestria to ze time. Only zose who can afford it sleep in ze in, some just camp around ze place, to save bits."[/colour] Drifting Veil clarified. He had actually just taken the value he had found in the source book.

Ze old stallion takes anozer sip from his drink. "I am afraid I already told you as much as I can, Lady Regalia. If I'm correct, which I believe I am, it iz some kind of power source for magic, but it didn't say anyvere vat form it has. It vil be protected by a lot of traps, ze way I know mountain ponies. But having ze key should help you to get past most of zose with little problem."

"As for who might be searching for ze artefact, ze only hint I found waz zat it might be related to dragons."

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[colour=#d3d3d3]"You all haf ze feeling zat he told you all he knows about zis."[/colour] Drifting Veil clarified.

[colour=#d3d3d3]"Now, you can buy most basic supplies at zis place, but zere are also travelling merchants passing by every day. If you vant to look out for something specific tomorrow, just tell me, and ze dice will decide vat kind of goods you can find."[/colour]

He was very eager to finally get to the real adventure.

[Hippo]

[colour=#ffffff]Alfalfa walked with Snicker as she counted out the money. Bored, he sat watching her count it all out, and wondered if she was crazy. And then, when she spoke, Alfalfa had to ask her. [/colour][colour=#ff0000]"Snicker, why do you talk like that..."[/colour]

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[colour=#800080]"I mean seriously. You sound like a crazy pony. Is that really necessary? I can't even understand what you're saying."[/colour][colour=#000000] Sugar struck a rare serious tone. [/colour][colour=#4b0082]"I mean, I feel like I'm the only mature pony in this game." [/colour][colour=#000000] Sugar didn't identify with the irony at all. Instead, he just crossed off his 250 bits and wrote 50. Which would argue whether or not this was really about Silver's character's lisp, or if he was just in the market for a laser and nothing else.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Sugar just sighed.[/colour]

[colour=#ffffff]Alfalfa stood up straight and readied himself. [/colour][colour=#ff0000]"Let's get going on this trip then, if all the cool stuf is out there. Lets blow this lame motel."[/colour]

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[RarityDash]

[colour=#336600]"I thought we already decided on supplies and equipment at the start? We're prepared enough for this aren't we?"[/colour] [colour=#000000]Vivid started.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]She was feeling increasingly anxious for adventure. Her need to have Regalia gallantly swing her sword at something was compelling. While she lacked Sugar's immaturity and obvious lack of patience, she was equally eager to just move the game along and stop worrying about the little things. It would be that which would inform Regalia's reply.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Regalia gave a solemn nod to the old stallion. [/colour][colour=#00cccc]"In that case I suppose there's nothing more to be said here."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]She looked toward Alfalfa and gave a long sigh.[/colour][colour=#00cccc] "I loathe admit it, but for once I do believe I am in accordance with this thick-headed buffoon. This is not a task that should wait. We should ride forth at once to complete the task. Idle time is time wasted,"[/colour][colour=#000000] the knight declared, nodding to herself.[/colour]

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[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash blinked in surprise. [colour=#008080]"Oh ... well, it's just supposed to represent her low charisma score. I can stop, if you find it too annoying."[/colour] She let out a soft *heh*. Talk about harsh critics! She returned to her journal, scribbling the night's lodgings into it and turning it around, passing it to Drifting Veil. [colour=#008080]"Right, so sounds like we're just sleeping the rest of the night, then heading off first thing in the morning. If you could just sign the innkeeper's name there, showing that we paid for our rooms? Aaaaand... we'll be off! Lay that expositional scenery on us, DM!"[/colour]

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[Imagination]

Whoa whoa whoa, DRAGONS?! Sketch wasn't sure how he thought about that. Then again, he did say it would be in the mountains, or something along those lines... and the game is called Dungeons Ponies and Dragons, so he probably should've seen it coming. Either way, Drifting isn't going to throw a dragon at them at level 1, right? ... Right?

Solumn Vow just chuckled at their eagerness. "So ready are you young ones to throw your lives away. But, I'll not deny time is critical. We'll be off once we're certain we're ready. Once we leave this area, who knows when we may have the chance to acquire provisions?"

He knew they were probably going to groan at the old stallion's cautionary nature, but hey, somepony's gotta be the voice of reason. Not that anypony was being unreasonable, per se.

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"So, uh... Where do we go from here again?" He was still learning the ropes, but this stuff seemed pretty simple so far. Then again they haven't done anything excruciatingly complicated. Yet. He was actually kindof excited for their first fight. What was it going to be? A goblin? Timberwolves? Ogres? A giant cockroach? He shuddered at the last one. He hated bugs.

[Davroth]

Ze barkeep looks kind of puzzled but zen just shrugs and put a hoofprint on ze piece of paper Snicker Snack handed him.

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Drifting cleared his throat, sitting back as he went through the scenario in his head.

Ze maps you were handed lead you east, towards ze Whitetail Woods. Ze times are peaceful, and you can travel along a big trade route, guarded by regular patrols by ze Royal Army. Zey don't give you a second glance.

After half a day, you finally reach ze point ven you haf to leave ze main road. A narrow path leads up a hill, zrough the trees. You follow ze way and reach a clearing on top of ze hill. Just as ze map had described, you find ze ruins of a building. From ze shape, it most likely was a stone tower.

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Behind his screen, Drifting rolled a couple of dice, nodding, and taking notes. He then handed out a couple of small pieces of folded papers to his players.

Zis is what ze area looks like.

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"Zo? Vat do you want to do next?" He asked, giving everyone a chance to read their notes.

PMs are coming, guys. Make sure to read them. ^.^

[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash leans over, looking at the scrawled map laid out on the table, grinning eagerly. Ah, the adventure begins properly! "OK, are we just now approaching from one side, or have we already been walking all through this, and thus know there's no bandits or traps just at the moment?"

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[Davroth]

"Ah, I forgot to mention, yes. You are just entering from ze souz, the bottom of zis map." Drifting added, flipping through his notes, waiting for the others to take in everything, and formulate a plan.

[Bramble Rose]

Silver Flash grinned. "All right. Standard procedure, then..." She looked over to the others. "OK, so first rule of playing these games... all the NPC merchants and whatnot can travel all over Equestria all year long without getting in trouble, but adventurers can't go a week without getting jumped by bandits, attacked by monsters, or some other thing. All the other merchants walk by these areas all the time without problems, but as soon as we show up, everything goes to tartarus. I always explain it away in my head that adventurers are snags in the tapestry of fate."

She leaned over the map. "All right, soooo... going in character..."

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Snicker Snack kept alternating between walking and floating along, bored bored BORED by how slowly everypony was traveling! Was this how it was for earth ponies and unicorn ponies all the time? Slow and everything in the right order? Not just jumping from interesting place to interesting place with everything in-between just a brief backdrop to a quick flight? Blaaaaaaaaah.

Then the broken tops of walls reached over the greenery, and Snicker perked up. Perfect! Finally! Something to do! "All right!" she cried eagerly, trying to tone down the lisp a little. "Thith is it! Now, there's a lot of guards walking these roads, tho there's probably a bandit troop somewhere around here... an' those ruinth are a great place for a hideout! So let'th approach cautiously. Anyone mind if I do thome scouting ahead to make sure it's thafe?"

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[Hippo]

Alfalfa walked behind Snicker, minding the building ahead. Sprout, his pet eagle, circled the building and made calls out to Alfalfa, a language only he understands. When Sprout returned, it was obvious to him the age of this building. "The ruins are so overgrown that you'd..."

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"I mean, I..."

"...say in my nature expert opinion that these ruins are more than half a century old."

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After Sugar read the note verbatim, he crumpled it up and threw it behind him.

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