Anon Quest: 1.2 Venturing the storm.

Mission #1.2; Venturing the Storm.

>With every new quest, Red Anon and the others receive 1000 gold (bits) to begin with, they however can deduct those bits in order to buy items in advance. Everyone at the table begins discussing what would be the best and worse amongst their various potions upgrades and optional spells, but they eventually come to a very fine choice.
Red Anon reads the item.
>“Steam Powered Wagon: Available if there is an Engineer in the party. Plus 20 distance per roll.”
>Rarity ask, “Is that good?”
“We’re going to have a lot of distance to travel, a normal wagon only offers plus 10 distance, and steam power means no horses to manage. It’s going to cost 600 gold though.”
>You’re growing impatient.
“Come on already. I’d like to whip you guys before the century’s over”
>Dash tells you, “Keep your pants on”, as Anon weighs the item. Finally, they decide to add it along with two heart potions, a loaf of bread and a mana potion. Back to the quest.

>Rarity looks from out the window with a disappointed frown.
>“My mane is going to be ruined”, she says with a whimper.
>Pinkie wraps her hoof around her neck and tells her, “Don’t worry Rarity, I brought my party wagon. Spike, could you bring it to the door.”
>Spike excitedly runs to her wagon and hops in to drive it over. He can barely see up to the screen, but manages to get to the door. With that, everyone enters and Spike drives off. He hits three ponies and a dog before exiting the border of Ponyville.
>“Thanks for trusting me with the wagon Pinkie. I think my driving’s gotten way better since last time”, says Spike.
>Pinkie gives a worried laugh. “That’s…great Spike. Ooh, as long as we’re all stuck together, who’s in the mood for a sing-alooong!?”
>Before she even gets the chance, you pull a card out of your encounter deck to set up their first fight. This should be pretty interesting.
>The sound of pecking can be heard on the roof of the wagon, and small dents begin forming.
“Save the singing for later Pinkie; it looks like we’ve got company.”
>“But it’s practically a storm out there”, whines Rarity.
>A beak pierces the window revealing a snapper bat trying to bite her mane. She gives an ear splitting shriek almost falling out of her seat. Snapping bats are as the name suggest, bats with sharp snapping beaks and razor sharp talons. Each is the size of a human child.
Anon commands her, “Get out! We’re not losing the wagon just because you want to keep your curls.”
>Reluctantly, Rarity along with everyone except Spike exits into the rain. Above, they see a flock of five snappers circling them. One is crimson, the other gray, then navy, then orange, then brown.
>Sensing danger, the two foot peppermint cylinder that is Pinkie’s turret activates. The light on its top begins to blink red, and soon an additional foot of black rises complete with a barrel that protrudes barely above her mane.
>The blinking light draws the attention of Crimson, and it dives towards Pinkie who fails to notice it. The turret however rotates to his direction, and a bomb is shot towards him. The projectile explodes in a small, yet festive display as the snapper tumbles through the wet ground.
>Pinkie turns asking everyone, “What just happened?”
>Navy and Gray begin to attack Applejack with Navy chomping her tail, and the Gray digging her talons into Applejack’s side. With a swift flick of the tail, she throws Navy off and in a quick turning motion drives her horseshoes into Gray. AJ’s upgraded strength along with a lucky role sends Gray rocketing through the sky, and not in the way you were hoping.
>The remaining two you send onto Rainbow Dash and they begin dog-fighting in the sky.
>“Get off me ya dumb bats”, says Dash who has Brown biting her left hind leg.
>The snapper almost breaks her leg with his strong bite, but she manages to shake him off.
>Dash misses a strike on Brown, but thanks to her x2 attack rate, she lands a fair blow on Orange to replace it. Snapper Orange fails to harm her, but Brown you can at least be proud of.
>Fluttershy quickly flies up to Dash and asks her, “Do you want me to heal you now”, but Dash tells her, “I’ll be fine, just promise me you won’t get hurt” as she and Brown begin duking it out.
>“Oh. O-okay Dash.”
>Fluttershy cautiously flies back down and goes into defense.
>As the fighting ensues, Rarity decides to summons herself an assist.
>As she casts her spell Rarity begins talking to herself, “A lady should not have to deal with these kinds of circumstances. Why in the wide, wide world of Equestria did I think joining Anon would be a good idea?”
>Crimson tries to get up after than horrible point blank turret attack, but from the diamond embedded in Rarity’s hairpin, she summons a sparkling white minion.
>It's capped with 40 health, 70 attack, and 30 defense, but it still manages to stomps your snapper’s head in.
>“Thank you, darling”, says Rarity as she watches her subject grind its hoof into Crimson.
>Your poor child barely manages to escape and flies away to attack someone else.
>Gray tries to fly into Pinkie, but Anon gives her a fierce slash with his great sword, and she accordingly ‘falls unconscious’.
>You have to keep things PG thanks to the company you’re playing with.
>In the midst of the chaos, Twilight’s hair begins to rise as her horn starts conducting electricity. From the storming clouds a bolt of lightning strikes Twilight, but her horn completely absorbs it. “Sterope’s Kiss”; a +20 lightning attack is casted and with a powerful bolt of lightning Navy is electrocuted.
>From the wagon you can hear Spike encouraging her with words like, “Great job”, and “Right on Twilight.”
>With the second phase entering, diamond mare pounces Brown as he tries to attack Rarity. Once brought to the ground Rarity whips him in the face causing him to give a ghastly wail.
>Snapper Orange drives it’s talons deep into Twilight’s flank causing her to give a painful shriek and barely letting Navy escape her sights. Unfortunately, Orange is hit by a reloaded firework from Pinkie and falls to the ground, unable to move.
>Crimson barely able to fly straight after that diamond mare attacked, but he still tries to power through and slowly falls to a distracted Applejack. He then chomps down as strong as it can on her hoof. It stings, but it’s nothing that will bring her down. Applejack looks down to the creature, pitied by his current state, before shaking him off. Crimson tries to recover, but he can barely move.
>“Sorry little guy.”
>She turns to her hindquarters, and gives a finishing blow in the form of a powerful buck to the skull. Your creature is given a slow, but fairly unsuffered death; knocked unconscious, and left to drown in the growing pools of muck.
>Navy and Brown are all you have left, and they begin clawing into Fluttershy. They both do pretty good as Fluttershy gets in the fetal position to protect herself, but from the sky Rainbow drops like a nuke onto Brown cratering him into the dirt.
>With only Navy left, she tries to escape death and fly away, but Twilight fires a beam into her, sending the poor thing to the ground. Navy tries once again, desperately wanting to leave, but Red Anon jumps out of nowhere and slices her in half.
>You can’t even be mad at your brother. You would honestly do the same thing if you were not the D.M.

>In the real world you tell the others, “The last snapper is sliced in half by Red Anon’s blade.”
>Dash gives an exited hoof pump.
>“Aw yeah, our first fight and we totally nailed it.”
>Fluttershy is much more concerned.
>“Will the snappers be okay. You did say that Red sliced him in half after all.
>“Well…It’s just a flesh wound.” You say.
>“O-okay.”

>With the last snapper sliced down the middle, Anon’s party has successfully gotten through their first battle. Now finished, Rarity’s minion turns back into a simple diamond and returns in its place in her hairpin.
“Is everyone okay?”
>Dash seems pretty beat up, but nothing below the half mark, Applejack’s still got plenty of bite in her, and Fluttershy will be fine. Twilight’s flank however will never be the same after this fateful day.
>The party gains fifty bits for some reason, along with 250 experience each.
>With their first battle complete, the party heads back into the wagon and continues their travels.
>As Spike hands the others towels, he begins praising them on how great they were. Anon know however, that these fights are jut to soften them up for when things get serious.
“Great job everyone but don’t get too comfortable, we’re going to go through at least three more fights before we make it to White Tail. Try to heal up as we travel along.”
[Regained health = ¼ distance between fights]
>Dash tells him, “Don’t worry, with me on the team no monster in all of Equestria’s going to stop us! We’ve got this quest in the bag, then I’m going to use my winnings and buy me a hot tub.”
>She leans back getting in a comfortably smug pose.
>Rarity says, “I’m going to use my bits to buy Eldrin fabric so I can make a magic proof ensemble. Whatever’s left I’ll spend on a vacation in Baltimare. What about you Twilight?”
>“I don’t care about money, I just want to save Celestia.”
>It becomes uncomfortably quiet.
>As they continue, Fluttershy stares outside the window, looking at the endless rain.
>She finally asks the question that’s surely crossed everyone’s mind at least once, “When do you think the rain’s going to stop?”
>“Sugarcube, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you”, says Applejack
>“Why would it even start so suddenly in the first place”, asks Fluttershy.
“The gods must be displeased today.”
>Pinkie buts in. “Naaah, it’s because the D.M. is evil.”
“…What’s a D.M.?”
>They continue their journey having to deal with more snapping bats, dark fairies, and a group of Apple Goblin that try to raid them while passing the forest. By the time nightfall hits, the party has gone through their bread and one of their heart potions for Rainbow Dash, but they also gained 250 bits and a ton of experience. Dash is especially beefing up, because experience is equal to an enemy’s HP plus the damage it gives you; seeing as Dash has taken the biggest beating, she’s already leveled up with plus 10 HP.
>With the moon rising to the sky and the entire team weary, salvation arises as they reach their first stopping point, Pinto Village.
>With a safe haven reached, Anon finds the nearest inn available for his party.
>The owner, a plump green earth pony with a blonde mane and a cutie mark of a broom tells them, “You’re lucky ya got here when ya did. I was just about to close this place.”
>Anon spends 210 bits allowing him and the ponies to spend the night in her inn. Spike however is forced to sleep in the wagon and keep it safe. He spends the rest of the night alone and shivering in a paper thin blanket.
>As the moon fully rises, the others begin to slumber. Twilight however stays awake, on the roof of the building, staring at the moon and speaking to herself.
>“The Princess shall not die as long as I’m around. This is the Lunar Republic’s fault, I’m sure of it. I swear, even if with my dying breath, I will defeat Nightmare Moon.”
From the stairs that lead to the ceiling Anon walks up and tells her, “Twilight, stop monologing and get some sleep. We got a big day tomorrow.”
>She gives one last glare to the moon before leaving the roof.