| 5 |
| WIS |
| 18 |
[Perception] You roll an 18 (required 10). Success!
As your party makes its way back to the town square, you find it relatively quiet. The performers have since gone on break, returning the air to the hustle and bustle for the hour, with birdsongs and distant laughter as accompaniment.
Among the passers-by, you catch sight of a familiar cap-wearing filly once again, this time enjoying a paper cone of cotton candy. You decide to approach the youngster, and offer her a friendly greeting.
Tattle Tail: "Ahoy, heroes!"
Tattle Tail gives you her usual smug grin, ever making it seem as though she knows something you don't — which, in all likeliness, is the case. Still, out of curiosity, you figure to ask her about it.
Tattle Tail: "Yeah, I've heard a thing or two. Something about a magic ring you've been playing around with."
You playfully remark that a filly her age shouldn't be inquiring about such stories.
Tattle Tail: "Oh, I'm not interested in what you're doing with it. But you're using it, and that's been drawing attention to yourself."
You ask Tattle Tail what she means by that.
Tattle Tail: "You don't know? Rumour goes that you're flaunting an ancient relic with a powerful unknown enchantment on it. Your little toy might be priceless to you, but it's still worth thousands of bits to the right buyer."
Moonflower: "Whoa! That's a lotta bits!"
You admit that you were not aware of the ring's value.
Tattle Tail: "If I were you, I'd get rid of it as soon as I could; the more ponies learn about it, the more phoneys will, too. And you don't seem like the Upper Canterlot type, so I suggest you avoid that kind of trouble while you still know who your friends are."
You thank Tattle Tail for the advice, and say that you'll keep that in mind. Then, while you're here, you ask her if she's heard about any other rumours recently.
Tattle Tail: "Why? Getting bored of the festival already?"
You shake your head, and assure her that you only mean to stay in the know as an adventurer.
Tattle Tail: "An adventurer, huh? Well, I haven't found anything for you to help with just yet; from the sound of it, you've already taken care of most of the problems around here. But I did hear something that might interest you.
The way it's being told, royal funds have been granted to three of the major Canterlot guilds — the College of Equestrian History, the Equestrian Exploration Society, and the Fellowship of Guardians. Word is they're working on an undisclosed collaborative project, maybe even a new sister guild.
What's more, construction started this morning in Ponyville for a new building, and it's looking like it's gonna be some kind of small hotel... or a guild hall, if you ask me, since they've already got an inn."
Enter a comment
Still, I would believe the idea that our memory has been altered more easily if we had more evidence, given Occam's Razor. Simpler explanations are that ponies grow up fast and have different development milestones, or it's a minor plot hole. Though we don't really know much about where Trailblazer has been before the start of the adventure. Maybe there's some kind of meta frame story about how she wakes up one day being controlled by otherworldly entities (us, the players).
The curse of ambiguous pony age strikes again.
So, while the dream did jump ahead in time a few times, it’s otherwise a very accurate vision of what happened in our past.
Finally, there’s a mention of Blazer and Honourshine having been dropped off at the orphanage by “grizzled unicorn”. And that’s we all know about Blazer's past. Said unicorn didn’t told anybody his name or why he delivered them to the orphanage. He just brought them there and left. Like he didn’t want to reveal their past to anyone. Him having used a spell to erase our memory would make sense. All in all this whole thing smells fishy.
Moonflower mentioned a sudden time skipping happening and "It kinda felt like I was jumpin' over a lot of memories". And later she states that there"were all sorts'a cool plants that didn't grow down in the caves. It was kinda weird 'cause I know 'em now, but it felt like I'd never seen 'em before!" So, the vision did alter our memories. This is why I didn’t paid much attention to Blazer waking up and not remembering anything that happened yesterday. But again, Moonflower was far younger than we were at the start of the vision and still has memories from a fair early age.
- Recall what we know about the three guilds that were mentioned, and see if our companions or Tattle Tail have any contributions. (We at least know about the Equestrian Exploration Society from studying under and freelancing for them.) Who's in charge, and how are they governed? How do they interact with the power structures of Equestria? Are they forces for good, for evil, or just neutral?
- If this doesn't go anywhere or if we have time, try to find out when Windcaller is performing.
- If we go to Ponyville tomorrow we can also investigate the guild activity. That or do an all-day reading session.
- This kind of update gets my mental gears turning. I feel that my "play style" is analytical and that I value getting info more than other players, versus action.
- I remember an update with the backstory of the ring and how a group of isolated mares used it to make foals, but I can't find it.
- I was wondering how getting info that our character knows works. I assume questions to the Quest Master result in shorter snippets of info, versus spending a turn to recall/reminisce will result in longer thoughts.
But, for right now, thank Tattle Tail for the information and pass her a gemstone. Then let's head to the carpenter's workshop; a miniature boat that we made will make an excellent souvenir, especially if we win the race with it tonight.
Next time somepony new is flirting with us, we should keep in mind that it could be an attempt to steal our ring once we’ve fallen asleep. We should always take if off after we’re done and “hide” it in our Sidereal Bag. Future more, we should ask Moonflower if she knows any anti-theft spell that could be put onto the ring and maybe pay Princess Twilight another visit. I don’t expect thieves popping up at every corner but we still should be a bit more cautious from now on.
Sounds like we should also get the ring evaluated to find out more about it... but be aware that getting it examined may draw even more attention to it. Game on!