Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Trick or treat: Cavalia the ponytaur

At a crossroads just outside of town, one might stumble upon a very strange covered wagon. Two lanterns hang at its front, making it stand out in the night even from miles away. If a traveler came closer, they would find a stocky little pony grazing patiently by the side of the road, a large clown-like ruff around its neck. It doesn't appear to notice either the ruff or passing travelers.

Approaching the wagon, a large banner hanging on its side becomes visible. The hand-painted fabric reads: Cavalia's Curiosities and Miracle Cures. In smaller print beneath is painted: Exotic gifts from legendary adventures. And beneath that? In much smaller letters: All sales final, no exchanges or returns.

Next to this rather suspect wagon stands the shortest centaur anyone has ever seen -- it has the body of a stocky little pony, and the torso and head of a stocky little woman. In her hands she brandishes a pail painted with the words Free Samples. Her hooves paw the ground in anticipation of her first guest.

(NO LIMIT TO PARTICIPANTS! COME TRICK OR TREAT EVEN IF THERE ARE ALREADY PEOPLE HERE! )

Well, tonight was a fabulous night to go around to peoples' homes.

So far Thilga had collected an enchanted dagger, a pendant, and a magical orb. A good night indeed.

He approached the wagon excitedly: This one was a person who knew their way around magic. Perhaps a potion or two. More power.

Hello, he began as he stopped in front of Cavalia with what might be considered a brief smile; What do we have here?

The little pony-woman grinned broadly as she was approached by her first victim customer trick or treater of the night. Her hooves shuffled beneath her in poorly concealed excitement.

"Well hello there, fine traveler! Welcome to Cavalia's Emporium of Curiosities and Miracle Cures! May I offer you a sample?" She holds out the pail, showing off an assortment of what appear to be caramels wrapped in wax paper. "These delights have been infused with the essence of dragon blood, extracted by a new gnomish process that separates the magic from the blood. 9 in 10 professional wizards swears by the potency of our extraction process! These babies are guaranteed to give your muscles more tone, make your mind sharper and give your hair more lustre and body whencombinedwithanappropriateexcerciseregimenandabalancedbreakfast. I eat one of these every afternoon to beat the urge to take an afternoon nap and look at me!"

She flexes an arm, showing off her musculature -- much more dense and defined than is common to human women, even those of the adventuring persuasion. Then again, her body is only half human, so who knows what's normal?

"Try one! Try one! You won't regret it. It's on the house."

Thilga nearly jumped as the hybrid talked at him at a hundred miles an hour. He leaned backwards, blinked a few times, and crossed his arms. He waited patiently as she pitched him on the product, and looked over her arm when she flexed it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I see...

Well, I need no further convincing.

In a swift motion, Thilga reached forward, grabbed the candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth.

The "caramels" are soft, chewy, sweet and oddly spicey. They tingle on the tongue, and within a few minutes anyone with a normal constitution will start to feel energetic, like they just chugged a can of red bull. Cavalia's grin broadens until it looks like it's going to take over her face.

"Feel that? Now you're ready to begin training like a proper adventurer. Just one of these before your conditioning routine and you'll double your muscles in two weeks flat, and the more laps you run the longer your hair will grow! And the longer you use them, the more effective you'll find them. This is only the beginning! Here, take a handful to share with your family and friends. Let them know about Cavalia's miracle elixers!"

Thilga chewed thoughtfully for a moment, enjoying the flavorful candy. The energy boost caused him to smile, but then his hair burst into flames.

He looked up suddenly to make see his fiery hair before a nearby shrub caught fire as well. Random objects all over the nearby area began blazing.

What did you give me? Thilga asked wide-eyed. His telepathic attempts to put the fires out simply caused a strobe-light effect.

Well, this was embarrassing.

Cavalia's smile falters, but only for the briefest of seconds. Still, she rears into action, stomping out the flames vigorously to keep them from reaching her wooden wagon.

"See?! That's the power of Cavalia's miracle chews! The energy is literally bursting out of you! Try some push ups, work off that boost before you burn the town down with your new power!"

Her normal pony companion that had been grazing nearby rears and bolts, frightened by the sudden flames. Cavalia curses under her breath, looking very torn between giving chase and continuing to give her pushy sales pitch.

Thilga's eyes widened even further as he turned circles trying to focus on stopping the fires.

You mean they're supposed to do this??? In desperation, Thilga did as Cavalia suggested. He dropped to the ground and did push-ups.

Anyone who would happen to wander this direction would have a sight to behold: A traveling warrior furiously doing pushups while a ponytaur ran around stomping out fires that kept appearing and disappearing at random.

For the Stars' sake, is there an antidote?!

While Cavalia's front hooves continue to stamp fires, her back hoof kicks out behind her to loudly whack the low-riding wagon.

"SKAG! SKAG! GET OUT HERE! OUR MIRACLE CHEWS ARE TOO MIRACULOUS!"

Perhaps not even audible, due to the shenanigans going on outside the wagon, there is a small thump inside the wagon. A muffled response follows promptly.

“Gah, what in the nine hells are you doing out there, you four legged, effervescent, dung-brained, unshod, mini-horse?” A little door near the top of the wagon opens about half way through, unleashing the full volume of the angry voice. “I told you to let me sleep!” The little Kobold is wearing a blue nightcap with a little white ball at the end of it's ridiculous pointed yet droopy top. The collar of a matching blue robe can be seen just above the windowsill.

"I am not a mini-horse," Cavalia insists, dashing in circles to catch the constantly appearing fires and. "Those things are two feet tall. They're only barely taller than you, you overgrown rat. Now put out these fires! You put too much miracle in the miracle chews! You are burning the customers!"

Thilga continued to do push-ups until the little wizard's voice was heard. He stood up and looked at the door in astonishment, his hair subsequently catching fire once again.

For the love of all things desirable, just reverse the effects of the potion!

Thilga downed a few of his own potions, but they didn't seem to do much. Two different kinds of magic don't mix very well, he soon found out.

Skag rubs his eyes, still clearly working on waking up and figuring out what's going on. He looks like maybe he was going to say something until the guy with flaming hair starts drinking potions, seemingly at random. Instead of speech, Skag stands slack-jawed and stunned, one finger pointing at the potion drinking as if to say; I can't believe that's happening.

Recovering only takes a potion or two. “Whatareyoudoing,areyouinsane?” his voice goes up an octave and doubles in speed, now clearly awake. “Ifyourhairisonfire,youstickitinabucket. Youdon'tjuststartdrinkingmorepotions,getawayfrommebeforeyouexplode.” The whole thing only takes a few seconds, then he slams the door and the sound of frantic hustling and bustling can be heard from inside the wagon along with completely unintelligible rapid and agitated speech.

"He's going to EXPLODE?" shrieks Cavalia. At this, she drops the pail and reaches to grab at Thilga, trying to tuck him under one muscular arm. But, being pony sized, his feet are still likely to drag on the ground. "I HAVE TO GET YOU AWAY FROM THE WAGON!"

Thilga looks up at the wizard who was now speaking almost too fast for him to understand.

No no no, these are potions that I made myse-

His thought went unfinished as Cavalia grabbed him and dragged him away from the wagon.

Let me go, halfbreed! I am not going to explode!! His voice echoed, as he kicked at the ground and grasped in vain at Cavalia's arm around his neck.

A hatch on the top of the wagon opens and a boxing glove attached to the end of a bamboo tube comes out. Followed by, and clearly carried by, Skag wearing a metal cooking pot on his head, he hoists the tube up on his shoulder, boxing glove end aimed at where the potion drinker was standing.

“Oh, good, it looks like you've taken care of it. I wasn't entirely sure this would work, or that it wouldn't just knock him out or kill him or even make him explode. I guess your way works just as well.”

(This is too good to not join in on xD)

A hobbit and an elf had been watching the horror unfold for the past five minutes; they had been attracted to the flames and the general sounds of chaos, wondering if perhaps a village was being raided. Instead they found a flaming man being trampled by a tiny centaur, a little wizard-person-thing screeching almost incoherently, things randomly and spontaneously combusting into vibrant flame.

In other words, it looked like it would be a typical night for Kori and Crysor.

The elf's eyebrows were raised as he watched the commotion, the Crysor version of being astounded at the sight before him. Kori, on the other hand, was practically glowing with elation: fire and ponies! What more could he ask for?

"So much fire," he commented ecstatically, an almost devilish grin on his face. "I'm going to go see why." Without another word the hobbit skittered off to investigate and perhaps help with whatever was making things explode, since it appeared to be upsetting the pony woman and the flaming man. Crysor blinked himself out of his stupor and looked down at the hobbit, finally lunging to try to stop his friend. The last thing he needed was Kori getting hurt. However, at that moment he almost got run over by the frightened pony, which appeared to be still dashing around in a panic. The elf staggered back, trying to calm the horse down and keep an eye on Kori at the same time.

And he had been foolish enough to think that they were going to have an uneventful night. Silly old Crysor.

(D'oh! As luck would have it, I need to step out for the night. More in the morning, I promise. This is getting pretty hilarious. )

(Alright, Kim. Night! )

(sneaking one in as I pop home to change before going to get my mom from the airport!)

And suddenly, the situation changed dramatically. Two witnesses arrived on the scene. Cavalia freezes, her hind quarters coiled for what would surely have been a dramatic leap forward into a gallop, and just stares at the approaching pair. Then she whirls around, her hind legs performing a complicated sideways canter to turn her around in place, and brandishes the poor Atlantian at the tiny Kobold. "WE'VE DONE TOO GOOD A JOB! SAVE THE CUSTOMER!"