Fantasy Forum Fun, or that game from the three spells thread.

This will be a roleplaying story game, I don't want to do turn based, so we'll let things go organically.  If you can't post for a while you might just get dragged along, or we could all end up sitting around waiting for you.

The Characters:

We can have up to four players, those players can pick from the below characters, all characters get four things to start with, all get two personality traits, the rest depend on what you are:

A Prince or Princess:  You have to be nice, polite and you get to be a leader.  You get an item and a spell, and you are a pathetic human.

A Cat:  You are a cat.  You will get some basic cat abilities to choose from and a cool spell, but you are not a fighter, you don't hurt things that much with your claws, you can be brave but you are not a ninja.

A Bear Cub:  You mean well, and you are a bear, but you are not a big bear.  You like Princes/Princesses and try to get along with everyone.  You have great common sense about the outdoors, and have an idea for just about every situation, at least the less strategic ones.  You get bear sense and an item.

A Bird:  You are small and bright, you sing happy ditties and are upbeat, except when you are scared.  You get 2 bird traits.  Flying you get free, it is a nice one.  You are not fast though, you are a pretty little songbird.

A Dragon:  You are big and tough.  You have a cave and treasure, but you never-ever take your treasure out of your cave.  Ever.  You like Princesses and small animals, you might like the taste of a Prince, who knows?  You are great at dealing with big problems, but sadly the little ones are often the key.  You get two Dragon traits.

A Pony:  You are loyal and brave, you love your Prince/Princess and follow with them wherever they go.  You have secrets, but you never let them out.  No one must ever know you are more than you appear.  That is the way of Ponies.  You get a magic ability and an item.

Tell me what one you want, I'll respond with choices for you to pick from.

How to play:

Like an adventure RPG, but no dice or anything.  No fighting to win, sometimes you have to fight but that is just a step you don't get to win or lose fights.  (fights kind of go on until other stuff stops them)  Use your creativity, be silly, help people.  I will answer any questions and post relevant details when you act.

I'll post a start, then relevant characters take it from there, sometimes there is a choice, other times you just get to try stuff until something happens.

Go ahead and sign up.  Four person limit.

Im calling the dragon

I suspect I'm not invited, but if I were, I would be the Dragon first, the Cat second, and maybe the Bear Cub a distant third.

Can I be the ickle birdy? :)

You are welcome to play if you are cool about it.

There isn't much strategy to this, it is rather silly and inconsistent.  As storyteller I get to do pretty much whatever I want, and the players get to do things at my mercy.  If you can have fun with that you are welcome.  Arguing will not be tolerated (and by that I mean it will be ignored).

We have a Dragon (Foote) and a Bird (Ameena) so far

We need a Prince/Princess and either a cat, bear or Pony.

If you want grab one of those.

You want to know what would be fun? Having a Ronway randomly appear at some point in the game and tossing in a random element...

I hope is Helium. Makes everyone talk in funny voices.

Maaaaaybe we shouldn't give the dragon Helium.

Hindenburg.

That is all.

Edit: I am an idiot. Hindenburg was filled with Hydrogen. Sorry. Helium is delightfully unflammable. The Dragon approves.

Aren't you the dragon?

Curses for taking my use of element as an element from the periodic table. I obviously meant an element from the Ronway Table of death, destruction, doom, chaos, and fluffy bunnies.

Do they have big sharp pointy teeth?

I have the strangest sense of deja vu right now…

It is the Ronway table after all, who knows what it holds on it's cold, dark, motionless surface.

Is that the same table you place SotM on?

Ronway may play a fluffy Bunny, that is allowed.  He can have a power of Ronway.

His other ability is to be tasty and always covered in Barbecue Sauce.

Sadly I don't think I will actually be able to join in, as I only have a half hour before I dissapear until late tonight. Then tomorrow I will be playing a game or two with my younger sister, so I probably won't be on very often. Perhaps I will join the next one if there is going to be a next one.

Edit: And in that game, I will take the super awesome Bunny! I dare someone to try and eat me!

Same, busy until tomorrow night.

However, I REALLY want Ronway to run one. Maybe start one on Sunday.

I will probably sit this one out, unless you desperately need someone to take the role of the cat (the bear is probably too much for me) and nobody better than me can be found.  (This is exactly the basis on which I usually apply to jobs - "sure I kinda suck, but would you rather have an empty chair?"  Amazingly few employers seem to be desperate enough to require even my services; the economy must be improving after all.)  In general, I do not enjoy silliness, and I really enjoy having more autonomy than you've suggested this will involve.  But I might end up doing something very similar to this myself at a later date.  Whatever my other faults, imagination is the one quality I have always possessed in spades; I'm nearly always the gamemaster in RPGs, and I do pride myself on dedication to creating a compelling world and story.

Okay, for choices:

If you have a personality that you really want that you can't fit into the options just let me know and I'll work with you.  Also if you have a cool idea for an ability for your character, let me know.

Foote the Dragon:  Pick one from each of the four categories.

Personality1:  Cranky, Shy, Short tempered, Cowardly

Personality2:  Brave, Wise, Sly, Boisterous.

Dragon power1:  Fire breath, fast flying, super eyesight, Big (slower flight but tougher)

Dragon Power2:  Super Strong teeth, agility in flight, two heads, super strong tail.

Appearance: dragons can be all kinds of colors, with different wings, they can have horns and look fierce or silly or anything in between.

Ameena the bird:  Pick one from each of the four categories:

Personality1:  Shy, giggly, Boisterous, Narcissistic.

Personality2:  Absent Minded, cocksure, Jumpy, brave

Bird ability:  Lull song (lull anyone who hears it), super sharp beak, super quick flight, talk to any Fauna

Bird Ability2:  Shrill (when you want to be), flashy colors, incredible eyesight, really tough

Appearance:  not much guideline here, you are small though, and shouldn't be too flachy and beautiful without taking flahy colors.

Miaow!

(That's me being a cat. Because I want to be the cat. I hope that was clear.)

I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to believe that a Meerkat is an actual cat, this is game is absurd!

I'm cranky and boisterous. I'll also take fire breath and agility in flight. For appearance I'm thinking of being red,  two big black forward pointing bull style horns with a big ol white dragon beard. No spines on my back but have a white mane from my head down my neck similar to a horses. Pale yellow underbelly, just shy of being opaque. The glow of the fires heart can be seen. Long tail that can almost curl completely around him if he was laying down (need a long tail for that agility). Average wingspan. Prefer to walk on all 4s. 

Is that all I need? Was that too much? This is very much a learning experience for me. 

Are we playing this tonight? Because I'd totally love to be that Prince, but I've got a dinner date later and will be occupied until afterwards.

Okay then, let's see what I want...

I'll take giggly and jumpy as my personality traits. For my abilities I think I'll have fauna-talking and incredible eyesight. Appearance-wise I'll be about the size of a blackbird, but purple, with an orange beak (not too bright), dark grey legs, and dark blue tips to my wing and tail feathers. Because I like purple and blue :).

I suppose it may seem that I'm not able to post too often over the next few hours, seeing how for you it's probably about 7pm or something. But it's quarter to one in the morning here so I'll be off to bed in a little while - hope that doesn't put me at a disadvantage in terms of possibly being "left behind" if the story carries on without necessarily waiting for everyone to post. But I'm hoping this game will be fun...like a kind of very rules-light tabletop RPG, without even any dice or "proper" character sheets :D.

We aren't rolling tonight, I got kids to put to bed and sleep to get, so Meerkat can be the kat and Evandan55 rounds out the group as a prince.

Let's hope Foote doesn't like the taste of Prince.  (that is not my rule, my duaghter insists that some dragons like to eat Princes)

BlueHairedMeerkat the Cat: Choose one from each of the four

Personality1:  Aloof, "Rough and tumble", skittery (you like to bolt between hiding places), Bold.

Personality2:  Cowardly, Clumsy, Clean (obsessed with being), Cocky.

Cat powers*:  Invisibility, Pouncing, cleverness, sneaky

Magic Spell:  Summon shiny thing, find small animal, extreme safe fall, make self look scary.

*Cat powers all have a detraction to them.  Invisibility only works if you believe you are invivsible, so your head must be hidden (you can't see anything) and you love to hide, Pouncing means you can basically catch anything, but you also can't resist catching everything.  Cleverness lets you solve riddles, like playing music and figuring out traps and such, you have uncanny detection, but no desire to avoid them, you have to investigate, you also might enjoy singing.  Sneaky lets you find your way into and through anything, but you have to do so, you cannot resist trying.

Evandan55 the Tuxedoed Prince:  Choose one from each of the four.

Personality1:  Charming, Noble, Brave, Wise

Personality2:  unconfident, arrogant, elitist, mischevious

Magic Spell:  Discern North, candlelight, ranged tickle, summon grooming items.

Item:  Magic 8 Ball, sword, indestructible proof of lineage papers, big fancy crown.

Prince is an adolescent, not an adult, you don't have soldiers to help you.

Now I need each of you to help create the setting:

Bird:  What is the season and climate?

Dragon:  give me a magical artifact that is used against us.

Cat:  Which of the four heroes starts the story?

Prince:  How will we celebrate when we are done?

I wanna play!! Can I please be the pony, if the slots aren't already filled? I'll be around for 4 hours or so.

OK We're going five now.

Silverleaf the magical crochetting pony:  Pick one from each of the four

Personality:  Steadfast, Obediant, Brave, Free-spirited.

Pony Trait:  Royal, Fast, Allergic to Tuxedo's, Strong and Tough.

Magic Spell:  navigate perilous footing, Talk to all Fauna, Find a way out, Healing lick.

Item:  Bell, Magic Brush (of mystery), Pouch of Sugar Cubes, Magic Bridle (Mysterious!)

Pony must not let anyone know it has magic.  That is a violation of the way of the Pony.  (like don't let someone see you walking calmy up the near vertical rocky cliff or heal too many wounds with a single lick, and be careful what fauna you talk to.

Oh and your question for the setting and story:

What day does our adventure start and on what day does it end? (day of the week)

All the Characters:  (I'll fill it out as the info comes, once this is filled out we'll start)

Evandan55 the Tuxedoed Prince is a Prince in a Tuxedo.  He is quite the Charmer, though he is rather full of himself.  He always carries his very shiny sword around with him, and would never fail to offer a lady a light.

Foote the Dragon is big and red, he has big black horns on his head and a white mane and beard his underside is a pale yellow but you can tell fire lives in that belly.  He has average wings and a long tail.  He is Cranky and Boisterous (Mood swings?) he breathes fire and can pull off some pretty sweet flying.

Ameena the Bird is a large bird, deep purple with blue on her wingtips (some iridescence I'd wager).  Her beak is orange and sharp, but not as sharp as her eyes.  She has a smart look about her, like she always knows what is going on, and she probably does since she sees everything and listens to everything, no matter what language they speak

BlueHairedMeerkat the Cat is a big orange and gold cat, he isn't easy to find, as he prefers a stealthy vantage point from where to scout his prey.  He has a nearly irresistible need to catch things, and sadly for his targets he doesn't fail very often.  He likes to let people know about his exploits, either gifting his latest catch to a nearby friend, or making a grand show of cleaning his whiskers of its remains.  When bored, he seems to always find a way to amuse himself, there's always something shiney to chase.

Silverleaf the magical crochetting Pony is a credit to her breeding.  She is a tall Mountain pony, and her grey coat is still a little wooly from the winter.  There isn't a more reliable pony, or a quicker one when speed is called for.  People are surprised to see her lovely crochet blanket, since no one knows where it came from.  She has a lovely new saddle and bridle, and a very attractive brush and hoof pick.  She'd love a green apple or a nice brushing, or even a roll in the grass when her day's work is done.

Feel free to read each player's description, I might have left things out that you can use in the game.

Thank you! It's much appreciated.

Silverleaf the magical crochetting pony

Personality: Steadfast

Pony Trait: Fast

Magic Spell: Healing Lick

Item: Magic Brush (of mystery)

Mysterious. I can do mysterious. And I always wanted an ability called Healing Lick.

Appearance, which I forgot all about in my excitement.

I'm on the tall side for a pony - one of those hardy mountain types with hairy feet, but with a dished face and high tail carriage that suggests some posh ancestry somewhere down the line. My coat is steel grey and somewhat woolly in winter and if you know where to look, hidden amongst my mane are seven peacock blue hairs. My nose is soft and velvety and I appear very calm most of the time. My favourite food is green apples and my favourite thing to do is roll around on my back on the grass after my saddle's been taken off, before I settle into the serious business of eating all the grass.

I have a smart new saddle and bridle (with no bit - who wants one of those horrible things in their mouth all day?) with a small saddlebag containing my grooming kit and hoof pick, which doubles as a crochet hook. I get itchy if I have to wait too long between brushes.

The adventure starts on a Wednesday, and ends on Tuesday.

I love you.

Evandan55 the Prince

Personality 1: Charming

Personality 2: Arrogant

Magic Spell: Candlelight

Item: Sword

BlueHairedMeerCat:

Personality1:  Skittery

Personality2:  Cocky

Cat powers*:  Pouncing

Magic Spell:  Summon shiny thing (does this net me the shiny of my choice, or just a random shiny object?)

I'm a fairly large ginger animal, who would have a beautiful glossy coat of fur if I could have resisted pouncing on larger cats, angry squirrels or tenacious birds. As is, I'm a rather dishevelled thing, but one with the fundamental belief that I am the finest mouser and grandest feline in this universe and any other.

It's also taking a lot of self-control to not pounce on Ameena...

The Prince starts the story.

It's currently Spring, all lovely and sunny - no April showers or anything. It's that happy sort of "new life" feeling where all the blossoms and stuff are coming out and all the trees and fields and stuff look like something out of a kid's picture book (because I am a happy songbird and would probably get all miserable if it was the middle of December and everythign was bloody freezing) ;).

Artifact causing us trouble? That might have to be the orb of perpetual itchiness

We'll need actual names for our characters, just use yours when you post.

And now, the story begins. . .

The sky was a beautiful array of colors, the Prince was staring out across the palace grounds at the skyline.  Something felt off.  The Ball was a success as always, he had danced, flirted and regailed the bevy of princesses as always, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Son, is everything alright?" his mother inquired, "Your absence is causing distress amongst the guests."

"I don't know Mother, something is wrong, I can feel it," he straightened up and turned to face the Queen.  "I'm sorry Mother, I'm forgetting my manners, I will return at once."

"No my son, take some time, I will tell them you were needed by your Father, that should keep the princesses at bay."

He swung over the balcony and climbed down the lattice to the lawn, and started off into the night for a nice walk.

Anyone can post next, just join the story.  The plot will get going soon enough.  If you wish to hold off on joining that is cool too, you can join when you want.  Feel free to introduce chaos or plot to the story, that is cool too.  Have fun.

Prince Booker straighted his bow tie, finding his way across the lawn towards the palace garden. Unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong, he knew he would need help from his companions. Something was definitely not right in his world, but he had to make sure he wasn't the only one sensing the disturbance in the air.

Entering the garden, he strode to the very center crosspath in the garden. Scanning the immediate area for others, he found he was alone. He slowly raised his right hand as high as he could, snapping his fingers to produce a small flame just off the tip of his index finger--the signal to summon his most trusted informant and close friend, a large purple bird.

Jessico Von Whiskers crept along a branch - closer, closer, ever closer to the seemingly oblivious bird. This particular indigo menace had always eluded him, always flown out of his reach just as he was ready to pounce, and had always - always - mocked him for it. He'd show her now though...

Something flickered in the corner of his eye. Turning his head just slightly, he saw the tuxedoed prince, some distance away, casting a small flame. This show had attracted the attention of the damn bird though too, and she took off towards him, and away from Jessico. Bugger.

Ah, well. Jessico leapt out of his perch in the tree. If he couldn't catch Kwee, and now that she was airborne he almost certainly couldn't, he would at least see what was going on that had thwarted him.

(OOC - I'm the size and shape of a blackbird, not a crow, so I'm not exactly "large" ;))

From her perch in her favourite blue-leafed tree, Kwee sings a happy birdy-song to herself about how bright the sky is. She notices a human figure walking across the garden, one which then lights a small flame in its hand. Ooh, yay, it's that human she gets on well with, the one who doesn't mind her coming close and taking to him!

She immediately flits into the air and with a whir of wings makes her way over to the one whose name is Booker. She flies around in front of him and hovers briefly at eye level some distance from his face so that he'll see that she's there.

"Hi!" she says, brightly. as she darts back and forth in front of him "What did you want to talk about today? It's a lovely day, isn't it? Isn't it pretty? Lots of blue sky! And the sun is bright! Excellent flying weather, isn't it? Well, I suppose you wouldn't know because you don't have any wings, but I promise you it's lovely flying weather! See? I'm flying right now! Nearly all the flowers are out, by the way. Did you see? Except for those funny little yellow ones with the blue dots on. Those are still all bunched up, but I think they'll wake up within a day or two. Probably. And then they start growing those little orange berries that I like so much!"

All this takes approximately twelve-and-a-half seconds to say, after which Kwee gives a happy little laugh, flies around in a circle, and then heads over to Booker's hand in the hopes of taking up her usual perch on his fingers.

It takes Dragons a while to wake up.  One part of them wakes up first, it wakes up another part, that part wakes up another until finally the whole dragon is awake.  Dragons have lots of parts, so they take a while to wake up.

This evening the Dragon's fifth scale to the right of his belly line woke up first.  It was itchy.  It was very itchy.  The itchy scale bumped its neighbor, who bumped its neighbor, who was also itchy, and woke up the skin underneath it.  That skin twitched and woke up a muscle.  By the time the sun had started to set two thirds of the Dragon's belly was awake, one of his horns, his fire pouch, his front right leg and half of his tail.

All of them were itchy.

Now a half awake Dragon with the itches is a funny sight, but even more so when the Dragon's brain is still asleep.  There was much rolling and twitching and half of an awake tail sending the sleeping half flying all about.  There were even some fire snorts.  By the time the Dragon's brain woke up the sun had nearly set.

The twitching stopped, the Dragon thought, and felt.  Through the itches he could feel something was off, over near his left rear leg.  A small indentation about the size of a walnut where there shouldn't have been one.  The great beast roared and swung around, almost fully awake now.  Something was missing.  One of his treasures was missing.

Now you may wonder how a great beast covered in scales would notice a misplaced treasure the size of a walnut, esp. when he had been thrashing about for almost an hour.

Well Dragons, you see are very particular about their treasure, and even when they have stomping fire snorting fights they never upset their treasure.  It simply isn't done.

The great red Dragon cast a dragon snort spell, and in a little puff of smoke a dragon book appeared before him, and he started blowing through the pages.

There it was, item 8703Y Division A4, sub-division TT5, small objects.  One night stone, purple and grey with a hint of green deep inside it.

He looked around and sniffed for clues but even with his sharp eyes he was just too big to be of any use searching for clues.  He would need help; and a bath.  Boy did he itch.

[So, err, I wrote that intending it to be you, and then on the off-chance that you'd get annoyed at me placing your character where I wanted her to be, so I changed it to a random bird… I shall put it back how it was now :P]

Rowan was bored.

Things had been very dull since the Prince's expensive new grown-up stallion had arrived in the royal stableyard two weeks ago, all flashy black coat and long legs and iron shoes striking sparks from the cobblestones as he pranced around showing off, pretending to be spirited and nervous and thoroughly impressing all the stupid grooms.

"I'm sorry, Rowan," the prince had whispered to her. "My father insisted that a prince needs a proper war horse. I have to ride Malcolm so people see a real adult prince, not a child on a pony. You do understand, right? You know you'll always be my favourite." Rowan had nuzzled his shoulder in response, still seeing the little boy she'd schooled patiently until he was the best horseman in the Kingdom, and leaving a green blob of slime on his lapel. Mostly deliberately. She longed to speak to him and reveal that she was a magic pony who could be of great help to him, but magic ponies aren't allowed to let anyone know that they can talk and they certainly shouldn't share the secret of their magic.

Since then Rowan had lived in the paddock. It was a beautiful spring (and the grass was picking up nicely) and she was well cared for, but there were no more exciting rides through the beech woods or gallops on the moors. Prince Booker visited every day, but it wasn't the same.

She had to admit though, he did look very dashing on his new mount.

She also had to admit that she was developing a rather large crush on Malcolm, even though he was vain, stupid, and completely self-obsessed.

And what kind of ridiculous name was Malcolm, anyway?

[It's night time right now, isn't it? According to phantaskippy's first post.]

Booker moved his fingers rapidly, beckoning the bird to land on his fingers.

"Hey. Hey. Hey! Listen! Hey! Come on! Kwee!"

Extinguishing the flame over his fingertip, he caught Kwee on his first two fingers.

"Come on, settle down Kwee. Stop making so much noise. You realize what people would think if they saw me talking to a bird? Don't want anyone thinking I'm crazy, do we?"

Bringing Kwee along with him, the prince began walking toward the stables. 

"We need to go get Malcolm. It's time we took a trip." Booker said as he swung the stable doors open.

Ugh, not the stallion. Sometimes Jessico took great pleasure in following people, shooting from hiding place to bolt hole under cover of darkness, shadowing his target like - well, like a shadow. And that had been so much easier when said target was Rowan. Jessico had a fondness for Rowan, mostly because she was easy to follow; her and the prince would meander together, giving Jessico ample time to keep up. On Malcolm, on the other hand? Jessico had to run at full pelt, just to keep up.

Wearily, resignedly, he followed. He could never resist the call of the hunt, even if he knew it was fruitless. Even if his target wasn't prey. Still, compelled, he followed.

(OOC - Oops, I saw the bit about the sky being "a beautiful array of colours" on my re-read to double-check as to whether it was day or night, and made the wrong assumption, then didn't re-read the rest of the post to the bit where it said it was night time. Oh well, just pretend I went on about the moon and stars being bright and pretty instead of the sun, then ;))

"Ooh, a trip? Where are we going?" chatters Kwee excitedly as Booker enters the stables. "Is it somewhere fun? Does it have pretty colours? Hee-hee-hee, I like pretty colours! I suppose I should be going to sleep seeing how it's night time, but you're always just so interesting!"

All throughout the woods the animals were startled.  The night was full of snorts and splashes, and all kinds of animals making panicked noises.  The entire world seemed to be in chaos.

A Dragon was taking a bath.

The sound of high-pitched twittering from the direction of the stables drifted through the still night air to Rowan, who was resting one hoof and dozing in the shelter of the beech hedge in the paddock, snug in her crocheted blanket.

Awake now, she caught a few words from a familiar voice. "...crazy...talking to a bird...trip...Malcolm..."

Malcolm. Prettyboy Malcolm! Rowan choked back a sob. An adventure, without her?

More twittering. More muffled speech. The slight squeak of one of the stable door hinges, that the youngest stableboy kept forgetting to oil. The clatter of Malcolm's immaculate black hooves on the cobblestones. More twittering. Rowan couldn't help sneaking a peek through the bars of the paddock gate, and was rewarded with the impressive sight of the prince astride the big black horse who, as usual, was pretending to be spirited and sensitive instead of walking sensibly. The bird fluttered excitedly around the pair, tweeting pretty much non-stop.

Of course Rowan knew Kwee - the prince called the bird to join them almost every time they went for a ride - and found her amusing, but tonight she was in no mood for all that chirpy lightheartedness. You wait, Kwee, she said to herself. One day he'll find himself a handsome black shiny raven or something and won't have time for you any more. Then you'll be bored and lonely and then you might shut the hell up!

But it wasn't in her nature to be spiteful, and the pony's irritation faded almost as soon as it had begun. It wasn't Kwee's fault, after all. Stupid Malcolm was the one to blame! I don't trust him. Dancing around like that and not watching where he's going, he'll put a foot in a rabbithole before he's trotted a mile through the woods, and then what will happen to the prince? It's just not safe for him to be travelling without the supervision of a sensible pony - there are some dangerous creatures in Ronway Forest.

And that decided things; Rowan was going with him, whether he wanted her or not. A short run and a neat leap and the pony was over the gate landing as softly as she could into the moonlit courtyard. Better keep back, so he doesn't spot me until he's far enough away that he won't just turn around and bring me home, she though.

[Can the cat speak, or is he just a cat? Relatedly, does Kwee (and Jessico if he can speak) know that Rowan can, since the prince doesn't?]

(OOC - Since I've got the "talk to any fauna" ability, I'm playing it that Kwee is unaware she has any particularly special ability - she's just always been able to be understood by anything. So aynone who hears her speak will hear it in their own language, while conversely she hears everyone in hers. So from her point of view, everyone is speaking exactly the same language as her. If Rowan and Kwee have ever met before, they'll know they can be understood by each other because Kwee will have happily started wittering away to Rowan, and understood anything Rowan said in her presence - the same goes for Jessico, though I suppose Kwee might be a bit less willing to get too close ;). Do all our characters already know each other or have some of us not met yet?)

You can play it how you want, but you are a pony and anyone who knows youcan speak is a huge liability to all ponies everywhere.

However if you speak pony and the bird understands other people still won't, and it won't reveal anything special about you at all.

Of course everyone believes Ponies can't talk, so they would likely think the bird was silly if it starts relaying messages from the pony, or they might trust the bird, who knows?

Just don't go confirming it to people, or you'd ruin the entire setup that ponies have.  You aren't those big dumb horses after all, you are Ponies.

[So Jessico can't speak then, except to Kwee?]

Jessico Von Whiskers watched Rowan leap from his enclosure and trot after Malcolm and the prince. Well, that was unexpected.

Booker gave Kwee a light toss onto his shoulder, mounting his magnificent black steed, Malcolm. The stallion wasn't his favorite horse--the two of them didn't have as much syncronization as the prince had with other horses in years past--but Malcolm was a princely horse, and that was what was important. Image. Booker knew he had to look good no matter what; a prince was supposed to be handsome at all times, he thought to himself as he scratched his head and straighted his bow tie.

Kicking Malcolm to action, he trotted out of the stables, making his way towards a small dirt path that led to a nearby small village--Jagarciaosburg. He wasn't supposed to visit that village this late, but this was important. The air was wrong, Booker thought as he scratched his arm. Something needed to be done.

"Something's not right, Kwee. Something's wrong with... the air. Some of my servants were acting strangely before I left, and I don't feel right either. We need to go see the old man. He'll know what to do."

Scratching his bare chin, the prince turned down the dirt road leading through the Ronway forest. It wasn't a direct path to the village, but Booker was not about to use the uneasy Malcolm to cut through the forest at this time of night.

"Kwee, have you noticed anything wrong? I know it can't be just me, it has got to be... Oh great."

Seeing a figure laying facedown off the side of the path, Booker scoffed. Surely just another drunken peasant who fell victim to bandits. The prince loosened his sword, in case the robbers were still near. Skilled with a sword, ordinary thugs would be no match for him. Scratching his leg, he continued down the path.

However, upon approaching the body, Booker's eyes widened. Across the man's back was a cape showing Booker's family crest: a shining silver leaf on a green background.

Leaping off his horse, He approached the man, recognizing that he was one of his father's knights. The bandits must have been incredibly strong! Drawing his sword, he approached the body, turning it over to see the man's face.

"By the Great Scholar's beard!"

The man had no face! That is to say, the skin on his face had been torn off! And there were large chunks of skin missing from his arms! And his legs! And his chest! And his hands were covered in blood! Creating a flame in his hand to better examine the body, Booker shivered, scratching his cheek.

"Kwee, what could have happened to him? Why is there no blood anywhere else? Could he have... done this to himself?"

All characters can speak human.  Whether they do or not is up to the player, except in the case of Silverleaf, whose Pony can speak human, but it would violate the pony code.

Jessico can speak Cat and Human.  It is up to you if he chooses to reveal that or keep it hidden.  Cats don't do rules, they just do what they choose.

Kwee speaks everything, but Ameena has her unaware of the ability, she just doesn't understand that there are different languages, and everyone hears her speaking their language.  Prince Booker thinks she speaks human, Jessico thinks she speaks cat, Pony thinks she speaks Pony, and the Dragon will hear her speak Dragon (The Dragon might figure out something is strange with that)  Kwee hears everyone speak, and speaks in return.

I'm now very interested in where this story is going.

(Are we actually hearing Kwee in our native launguage or do we hear chipping but are somehow able to decifer it somehow?)

(Despite how entertaining this is I might have to stop reading, I have an uncontrollable urge to scratch when I do!)

Whiskey landed at the stable and did not like what he saw.

Nothing. The stable was completley empty. Whiskey, who had worked up a rather sizable appetite on his flight there, was getting a little impatient. Nothing was going his way at the moment. Not only was the itching grating on his already usually grumpy demeanor, but the stolen artifact from 8703Y Division A4, sub-division TT5 of his treasure room had him on edge. And now, to top it all off, that large grey horse that Whiskey had been eyeing for weeks has vanished and there was not even a consolation prize for him to munch on.

He started pacing anxiously, quickly gaining speed until it culminated in a deafening roar that took the form of a large fireball that smashed into the stable, setting the wooden structure ablaze. 

Whiskey stook in silence for a few seconds looking at what he had done. *Snort* "Ok, I feel slightly better. Needed to get that one out of my chest."

But in Whiskey's rash action, he ended up burning the only mop into oblivion. "I do NOT want my treasure room to be pink. I HATE pink! How am I supposed to become a Legendary dragon and strike fear into the hearts of adventurers if my lair looks like a human suckling station?"

Without a clean Lair, Whiskey has no chance at finding clues to his lost treasure. He needs that mop. And food. Possibly a drink. Whiskey knows of a village not far from this location known for its potent Ale's. Whiskey loves Ale (in fact, ales and liquors were the secret to how he was able to attain such a hot Fire Core at such a young age). He takes some time to rub his back against the only nearby tree that's not a smoldering pile of ash. Just as he is about to lift off back into the sky, he notices something that gives him pause. Tracks. Horse tracks to be precise, and large ones at that. They were headed in the same direction as the village.

*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniiifffffffff*

"Smells like....royalty..."

(You're just jealous there is a Ronway forest and not a Matchstick forest.)

[OOC: I reckon Rowan hears Kwee speak Human when she's talking to the Prince (since he can't understand Pony it's be weird if Rowan thought Kwee spoke Pony to him), but in a very twittery kind of way, like with a heavy Bird accent. And I think that Pony and Horse are dialects of the same language although it can be very difficult for a pony and a horse to understand each other, a bit like someone with a broad Glaswegian accent trying to explain to a South African where the railway station is.

Edit: There could be even more weirdness here - what happens if Kwee talks to both Whiskey and Jessico at the same time, for example?

Edit 2: Rowan's been very careful about pretending not to speak or understand Human. It would be a very bad idea to reveal that to anyone. She responds to the usual human-to-horse commands and such, as well as body language, tone of voice, etc. She just gives the impression of being a very smart pony.]

Jessico had no idea what the prince and Kwee were looking at - it was dark, and distant, and the prince's ungainly body was blocking his line of sight - but his keen ears couldn't fail to hear Booker's words, nor the tone of horror with which he spoke them. He had to get closer, to see this new development. Straight towards it was not an option, if he wanted to remain hidden. Up, on the other hand...

-----

The cat crouched on a tree branch was having great difficulty comprehending what he was looking at. This was a human who had, it seemed, attacked himself. He would have had to be a madman, a man possessed, but even then... It just seemed an insane, incomprehensible thing to there was a robin watching him. It was sitting on the tapering branch of another nearby tree, eyeing Jessico with almost a hint of smugness.

This would not stand.

Jessico pounced. He had often wished that he could watch himself attack, see himself leaping through the air. He could imagine it, just about, the lithe grace with which he moved, muscle and sinew encased in fur, but it just wasn't the same. He envied the world their view of him, but then, they didn't get to be him, and that was the greatest joy of all. The little bird saw him, took flight, but the claws of Jessico Von Whisker found him, plucked him out of the sky.

What he had not considered was the size of the brance on which the robin had perched; it was really very thin. Jessico hit it, it snapped, and the cat plunged downwards with considerably less grace (and one more dead bird) than he's possessed a moment ago.

On the bright side, he observed, it at least looks like the horse is going to break my fall.

(This is how I see Kwee's linguistic abilities - anyone who hears her speak, regardless of whom she's speaking to, hears her speaking in their own language, with a sort of high-pitched, childlike voice. She herself hears everyone speak in her language. She doesn't think anything of this, because it's something she's always been able to do so has never thought of it as unusual.)

As the night-coloured horse moves off with Booker on his back, Kwee takes off and flies alongside, preferring to avoid the bumps and jolts she'd get were she to stay on Booker's shoulder. She flits along roughly level with Booker's head, occasionally performing some mild aerial acrobatics as she encounters the occasional small gust of wind. She isn't really sure what Booker is talking about when he says that something seems wrong, but when he stops the horse and goes to look at something lying on the ground, she alights on a nearby fence post and peers down at whatever's making Booker so agitated. Then she sees what it is.

"Blood? Blood!" she quavers, suddenly nervous. "What do you think did it? Was it something with big teeth? Maybe it's something that might try to eat us! Maybe it started eating this one and then we distracted it!"

She starts hopping anxiously from side to side.

"I think we'd better go. Shall we go? I think we should go."

She's peering all around when suddenly she hears the sond of a tree branch snapping, somewhere above her head. She looks upward, just in time to see…something…plummeting out of a nearby tree toward them.

"EEEEeeeee!" she squeals, launching herself into the air away from the falling shadow.

Continuing his investigation of the body, Booker scratched at his face. For some reason, he couldn't stop scratching himself, as if his whole body itched. This was odd. Dismissing it, he checked the man's bloodied hands. Inspecting his fingers, he found something under the man's nails. It looked like...

"EEEEeeeee!"

"Kwee, what are you--"

Booker's thought was cut mid-sentence as a cat fell straight onto Malcolm's head, at which point, Malcolm decided to lose his calm and begin bucking wildly. Booker took steps away from Malcolm, yelling at his horse to calm down. Of course, Malcolm did not obey. Instead, he took off into the Ronway Forest, throwing the cat to the ground a few meters away from Booker.

"Well, great. There goes my transportation."

Jessico landed on his feet, as always. Following a quick scratch behind the ear - oh, that felt good - he sauntered towards the prince and his bird.

"I wouldn't worry about it, to be honest." Cats can't really shrug, but Jessico seemed to here. "I get the feeling something better will come along, given a littl time."

Kwee is flying in agitated circles some distance above Booker's head.

"It's a cat. A cat! A cat might want to eat me! Don't eat me, cat!"

"move quick, move quick" Thought Gnarl to himself.  He was a simple and small lizard but he could stay on task, and he had to get back.  The stone in his mouth tasted pretty.  A little bit warm too.  Gnarl liked these stones, they felt nice to carry.  The one from the dragon cave had been nice, but this one was nice too.

"move quick, move quick" he continued.  Color man would be happy, let him sleep on nice rocks maybe.  Gnarl like that.  Gnarl wanted to sleep, but wanted make color man happy more.  Color man make the bad things itch.  Dog itch, the tall things with too many feet itch, the human that catch Gnarl too.  Even Dragon itch.  They all itch and Gnarl safe.  Gnarl like safe.  Gnarl not dinner.  Dinner make Gnarl sad.  Nice Rocks and Color man make Gnarl happy.

[Cough cough, been a while since we've been doing this, no?]

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. 

"Settle down, Kwee. I won't let this beast get near you. You hear that, feline? Stay away from this bird. You've already caused enough trouble. Making me lose Malcolm. I suppose I have to walk, now? A prince does not walk. He rides."

Scratch. Scratch. Scra--Ouch.

Pulling his hand away from just to the side of his right eye, Booker felt moisture on his fingertips. Sweat? No. His own blood. Pondering for half a moment, his eyes fell passed his fingers, to the soldier on the ground.

Oh. Well it seems I've got a bit of a problem.

"Kwee, we need to move. Now. Cat, you... do as you please. Do not get your hair on my clothes."

Picking up his stride down the road, a panic inside the prince began to grow. Taking the road meant a very long walk to the village. There had to be a shorter way.

There was.

Cutting diagonally through the Ronway forest. At night. With monsters on the prowl.

Fearing the strange scratching madness creeping in the back of his mind, he knew he had no choice.

"Care for a... stroll through the woods, Kwee?"

The Great West Woods had several names, The Deep Dark Woods, The Forest of Night, one group of Faries insisted its name was Sven.  But one thing everyone agreed upon, you did not go in the woods at night.

I mean, just listen to the noises, growls and bubbling and gurgling and screeching.  It was obvious horrible things were eating each other in there.

And besides, no one went in the forest at night. (Except for Ralph the Butcher, he had a fight with the wife and went into the woods, never to be seen again)

I mean no one saw him go into the woods, but no one saw him do anything else either, so it is pretty obvious what happened.

You'd have to be pretty stupid, or maybe really really itchy before you would risk the woods.

That didn't mean Gnarl was afraid, he'd gone through the woods a lot, he liked them; they were dark and spooky and he was low and hard to see.  He didn't even smell tasty.  He knew what to avoid too, like the Faries playing transmorph tag, and the Fashion Witches, if they caught you you'd be trying on dresses all night.  The Troll cooks were the worst, making you to taste their fried carrion and Toad snot stew, and asking if it needed more salt or snot or maybe some more muck.

He was extra happy today though, he scurrid right through the Troll Kitchen and laughed when they started itching.

Jessico snorted. "You are kidding, aren't you, human?" He gave the spot behind his ear a quick scratch before remembering that he was in the middle of talking to someone. "Err, excuse me. Anyway, you know as well as I that walking through the Ronway forest - at night no less - is essentially suicide. You're not going to tell me you've never heard of the hoolichees, are you? Or the gribblesmark, or the red sailors, or the Tree Kraken that feasts on dim-witted birds?" Jessico winked at Kwee, smiling savagely. "These are not fictions, human, they're things waiting to eat you, to tear you limb from limb. So the best thing for you to do is to wait here. Something will be along very, very shortly."

Still nervous, Kwee alights in a nearby tree and starts hopping anxiously from foot to foot.

"I like forests," she says, "but not that forest. There are…things there. Things that might want to eat me! And…lots of weird things. And…and…"

Kwee looks down at the cat, wondering about his statement that "something will be along very, very shortly", and takes off again, flitting high into the air and getting a good look at the surrounding area to see whether or not the cat is joking about something being on its way.

Gnarl stopped, gently put down the stone and tasted the air again.

"Fur and pounce, sharp teeth.  Gnarl no like that."

Gnarl looked up, you never knew where that furry pouncy thing might be.  He didn't see Jessico though, he did see a flash of color go up into a tree, right by where he wanted to leave the woods.

"Tweet Tweet no find me, Gnarl clever and hard to see."

Even a creature with incredibly good eyesight wouldn't be able to find that lizard in this woods in the middle of the night.

"Tricky Gnarl go other way silly feathers."

Gnarl picked up the stone, and the moon shone off it for a brief second, shining a multitude of shades of yellows, oranges and pink, like a tiny sunrise in the forest night.  Gnarl didn't noice, he was busy heading back into the woods chuckling to himself.

Kwee notices something colourful shine for a brief moment.

"Ooh, what's that?" she asks, momentarily forgetting her nervousness. "Colours! Pretty colours!"

She flits a bit closer to it but hover where she is and looks back to see if Booker is going to follow.

"Kwee, stop it! Now is not the time to be chasing after shiny things! Not into the forest!"

Brandishing his sword, Booker dashed into the woods after Kwee. Passing through the threshold of trees into the forest, something unnerved the prince. The whole air of the forest was dense. He could literally feel the danger. But being a prince meant he was brave. So on he went, into the forest.

"Seriously, Kwee, what are you doing? Slow down!"

OOC - Kwee didn't fly off alone - she stopped to wait for you!