Session Zero
Wild Venture was flying as fast he could, dodging and weaving all the fireballs coming his way. Thankfully, he was a dexterous individual; not as dexterous as Silver Shadow, the party's very own rogue, but he could hold his own. Silver Shadow was agile, elusive, and also running away, passing Wild Venture as she dodged another fireball. "Wild, dodge left!" She called as a fireball collided with a tree instead of Wild Venture who had, thankfully, listened to the hooded mare and wasn't incinerated on the spot.
Silver Shadow was a very mysterious grey thestral mare. She didn't talk much, except when she needed too, never laughed, and no one knew anything about her backstory. But she was reliable in her talents, making her a wonderful skill monkey, and she was undaunted by any and all tasks put in front of her. Except right now, but that's because there are fireballs flying everywhere. Anyway, everypony thinks she is really cool and there's not a day that goes by that somepony doesn't tell her that, to the poor mare's embarrassment.
As Wild Venture flew up to not get hit by the flying debris from the tree, he twisted around to look behind him, trying to see how the rest of his friends were faring. He saw a small, lemon colored adolescent dragoness riding atop of a large and well built orange stallion as they too were dodging the many attacks assaulting them.
"Steam Roller—watch out!" Primrose, the druid dragoness called out to her ride as the orange stallion jumped out of the way just as a fireball landed where they just were.
Primrose could speak to all manner of creatures, critters, and the occasional plant, oddly enough. Although young and naïve, she was a happy-go-lucky friend that everypony enjoyed to be around. Especially with her down to earth worldview and her sporadic moments of unconscious wisdom. She can cast a small amount of magic, a feat difficult for a dragon, and she was also really good at what she calls "druid medicine"—which is just a fancy way to say she can combine a bunch of random herbs, nuts, and dirt concocted together to treat wounds and help with diseases. She also makes some killer potions that make you feel funny.
The armored, orange earth pony stallion carrying the small dragoness is Steam Roller, the party's Barbarian. Although he can be a bit simple-minded, he has a big heart for all of his friends and would do anything to protect them. Despite his unrelenting kindness, or what some might even call shyness, when Steam Roller gets mad—he flies into an unnatural rage that can frighten a fully grown dragon. Not joking, it happened one time.
"Thanks, Prim! How are you holding up back there?" Steam asked. Primrose moved closer to his ear, "I'm alright, but I don't know how long Sunset can hold on for!" She said, closing her eyes as a tree exploded next to them.
Behind Steam Roller and Primrose, a caramel colored unicorn stallion was hanging onto Steam Roller's brown tail with his teeth and screaming. The poor stallion hanging on for dear life is Sunrise Solo, the party's socially awkward bard. Despite his charismatic voice, and lovely lute playing, Sunrise Solo couldn't speak to crowd to save his life. He is a bit of a coward and basically failed at everything he's ever done, but his unapparelled cooking was to die for—making him a valuable asset to the team. Oh yeah, and his magic was also pretty helpful.
"Mmhph! Mmhph!" Sunrise said through a mouthful of Steam's tail. His horn lit up as he used telekinesis to prop himself up and using his hooves to hold onto Primrose's tail, still barely hanging on. "Blech—G-guys! Peach is on her own right now!" Sunset said with panic, looking behind him to an amethyst colored unicorn mare with two white goat-like horns on the sides of her head. Wild Venture could see her sprinting with all her might, dispelling and trying to dodge the blasts coming at her from the back of the pack.
That is Peachtree Amethyst, the party's unicorn-tiefling wizard. Her kind is rare as she carries the blood of Tartarus daemons, giving her goat horns on the sides of her head, sharp teeth, and an arrow pointed tail. Many saw her as a monster and a half-breed, but she was a great pony to be around. Peachtree was a very studious pony, able to conjure and cast many different spells that make her incredibly valuable to her friends. Although she had a problem with authority, she was good friend to have and would never leave anypony behind for anything. Seeing that she was losing ground, Wild Venture let out his wings spread eagle style, causing him to immediately catch in the air, passing by the rest of his friends, and finding himself next to Peachtree.
"Lovely weather we're having huh?" Wild Venture asked the tired mare. She was breathing hard and her body was slowly giving up on her. "Yeah! The Forecast... Didn't say anything about fireballs, today!" Peachtree said, breathing hard as she ran. Wild Venture grabbed her by her waist and hoisted her up, flying both of them back to the rest of the party. Peachtree’s face turned red from embarrassment as she gave a small thank you to Wild Venture through her huffs.
All Wild could think of was how thankful he was that Peachtree was small and weighed next to nothing; it’d be a tad embarrassing if he did all of that and couldn’t carry her back. The strength training he did with Steam was coming in clutch. Meanwhile, Peachtree flipped open her spell book with her magic and started to flip through the pages until she saw a spell that caught her eye.
"Hey! If I use a Dimension Door, we can make it out here in no time! But it’s a high level spell and I’m already low on fumes as is. If I cast it, that’s it for the day." Peachtree said. Wild looked back and saw the many lizard-like creatures running after them—staff and swords in hand, and casting the occasional fireball. “Dear Celestia, is that the only spell they know!?” Wild said as he dodged another blast. It didn't take a smart pony to make that decision.
"Ah pony feathers, do it!" Wild said, gaining on the rest of the party, his wings burning from the excess use. Peachtree did as she was told and began casting the spell. Her horn shined bright and her pink eyes turned white. Wild looked to the rest of the party. “Alright everypony, Peach is gonna open a hole for us, get ready!” As Steam Roller moved closer, Primrose spoke up.
“Where’s Silvy!? Does she know!?” Wild tried to find her as he looked ahead, but saw nothing. Just as he was about to say something back, he saw what looked to be something akin to boxes lining up cross the trees coming up. He smiled.
“We got a Silver Special coming up! Cast it!” Wild shouted as Peachtree shot the spell about fifteen meters in front, making a large white portal. As they approached the trap Silver laid out, Wild Venture could see about four bombs stuck to the trees.
This is what they call a Silver Special—an explosive trap meant to destroy everything that comes through it. Effective and destructive. Wild Venture called out to the trees just before going through the white portal. “Silvy—portal—hurry!”
A cloaked figure poked her head from the leaves of a tree, seeing her friends make it through the white portal. She sighed.
“Annnd they left me again.” Silver rolled her eyes, took a moment to find one of her gadgets on her waist belt, and glided down to the entrance of the now rapidly closing portal. She turned to look at the large lizard people chasing her and her friends as they ran through her trap. She gave a smirk. “Well, at least I get to have some fun,” She said as she pressed the button on her improvised detonator.
As the rest of the party made it through the portal, practically throwing themselves through to ensure they made it to the other side, they landed on what appeared to be a huge cliff side that overlooked a beautiful valley below.
“Ugh, did you have to land on me, Wild?” Peach used her magic to shove Wild off, rolling to the side. “I thought you loved my hugs.” Wild retorted, on his back now. Peach dusted herself off as she stood up.
“Sure, maybe if you didn't smell like manure all the time.” She rolled her eyes as she looked back to the white portal. Wild picked himself up, dusting off his clothes. Sunset made a whine as he sat up, glaring over at Wild Venture, who also stared back at him for a moment.
"What?" Wild said, his head titled.
“What do you mean what!? I thought you said the temple was abandoned! Ugh... And look at my lute! Its blasted to pieces!” He sat on his flank with a pouty face as he pointed his hooves at the broken instrument. Primrose just sighed as one of her claws lit up a golden hue as she aimed it at the destroyed lute. It began to mend together again as it formed to its original shape, looking good as new. "Stop being a baby, Sunny." She said, shaking her head.
Steam looked at Sunset with a head tilt. “I thought you could cast Mend as well?” The large stallion said. Sunset let up and sighed. “Well, yes, I can. But that’s not the point! It shouldn’t have been destroyed in the first place!” He started to pout again.
“Why hasn’t Silver gone through yet?” Peach said, interrupting the conversation. Wild’s face dropped. He started to flap his wings as he was ready to jump back through the closing portal, but before he could, a massive explosion erupted from it and threw a familiar grey figure into Wild, knocking the wind out of him. They flew over the cliff together, plunging into the depths below.
Instincts now kicking in, Wild Venture grabbed Silver in his hooves and tried to pull out of their twirl. Managing to pull through last second, Wild fought for control over his decent, allowing just enough time to land in the ground with a "controlled" crash landing. As they tumbled, Silver landed on Wild, scorch marks all over her face and clothes, and Wild Venture felt one of his wings snap the wrong way, eliciting a yell as he landed underneath Silver Shadow.
"Tssss.... Ouch that smarts." He winced and hissed as he felt his broken wing move as he partially sat up. "Silver, are you okay?" She didn't answer. Wild Venture's eyes widened. "Hey Silver, did you hear me? Silver... Silver!" Ignoring the pain from his wing, he slid from underneath, trying to see if his friend was still alive. He placed his head against her chest to see if she was still breathing. Thankfully, she was.
"Wild! Silver! Are you guys okay!?" Primrose yelled from atop of the cliff. Wild sighed with small relief. "Get down here! Silver is hurt!" He yelled back. "Okay! Hang on, we're coming down!" The yellow dragoness responded.
"...Too much..." Silver said, her voice barely a whisper. "What was that, Silvy?" Wild leaned down and put his ear to her snout to hear her speak. "... I said... I put... too much powder... Haha... Hahahaha..." Silver started to painfully laugh. Wild was taken by surprised; it was the first time this mare has ever laughed in front of him. She stopped though as her side erupted in pain. Wild smiled as he held onto her. "Don't move, we took a bad landing there. Prim will be here in a moment. Just relax in meantime." Silver nodded her head and closed her eyes. He spotted their friends descending from a path on the cliff as they hurried over. He looked down at the sleeping thestral mare.
"Well, that could have gone better, huh?" Wild Venture started to laugh to himself.
Also, he could have sworn that temple was empty.