The Prancing Pony

A Side Quest for Taryn:

In this side quest, Taryn is confronted unexpectedly with an equine visitor. This horse is a beautiful creature with smooth marble stone skin and a sweet dimeanor.

When it first arrives, it's found tapping its feet on the glass surface of the ship and Taryn is immediately drawn to the magnificent creature. They open the cargo bay and allow the horse to enter. Taryn then joins the horse and has a brief time where he can't understand what the horse is wanting. It bows multiple times and Taryn attempts to both bow back, and in his confusion, draw his hammer thinking it's an invitation for combat. Eventually, he discovers the horse wants him to mount it.

Once he does so, he is zipped to another plane of existence where they are surrounded on all four sides with a different terrain: ocean, forest, prairie, and rolling hills. Taryn spends many hours wandering both the forest and the plains with the horse, thinking that he is being led somewhere. After a full eight hours of travel without feeling tired, hungry, or thirsty, Taryn prays to Tyr for guidance to help him communicate with the creature and learn the purpose of this interaction.

"Just speak to it" is the reply he receives. Doing so, Taryn discovers the horse was simply lonely and wanted a companion to play with. This heartwarming confession from the horse speaks true to Taryn and brings him great joy knowing he was able to help offer respite from the horse's loneliness.

Finally Taryn requests the horse bring him back to his ship so that he can continue his own journey, but promises to call to the horse using a special whistle whenever he's nearby (which translates to being at the second astral layer or lower while traveling).

As an added bonus, this horse can serve as a transport from ship-to-ship, passing through cargo bay walls without issue. It has also been used as a fighter vessel, allowing Taryn and his companions a way to get up close to enemy ships to do some melee damage to soft spots in their defenses.

Narrative Script

While traveling through the third layer of the astral deep, you hear an absurdly loud tapping on the glasssteal above you (most of the common room ceiling is made of transparent material for viewing outside

Cora looks up

It makes eye contact with you and taps again three times

Cora waves at it

Rom Kariv "what the!"

It bobs its head up and down and taps three more times

Taryn — "That creature is gorgeous…"

Taryn stares deeply at the beast tapping on the glasssteal, almost entranced or mesmerized by its presence.

Taryn - "Do you think that tapping is it calling to us? Does it want in or does it want us to go out there to it?"

Rodney Starfield - [exiting his bedroom] "yo I tried my innate powers this morning for the first time in months so you could all sleep in, The least you could freakin do is keep it down so I could the fuck is that!"

Ornithal "Hooters" Telluraves - "I did not know there were animals in the astral sea. And if I had known, I would not have expected a horse."

Taryn — "We should let it in. It doesn’t look aggressive or dangerous"

Rodney Starfield - "speak for yourself big boy"

Taryn - "That’s one for and one against I take it. What about the rest of you, and I sure the captain will want a say." Taryn walks over to the captain’s bridge and knocks on the door. "Captain! I’m sure you heard what’s going on. There’s a gorgeous horse on our ship and I think we should let it in!"

Ornithal "Hooters" Telluraves — "I am eager to inspect the sea horse more closely. I also think we should open the cargo bay for it."

Rom Kariv — "I vote let it in. Looks like it needs help." He looks for approval from Taryn

Captain Carl Ramsey - "are you sure astral creatures can be highly unpredictable"

Taryn — "I’m fascinated by this creature. I am sure I want to let it enter."

Rodney Starfield - remotely opening cargo, "Bay Good luck, I'll have to depressurize it so you're going to have to use your new toy"

Cora — "Seems like a good story either way. Let's do it"

Rodney Starfield - "Cora there won't be any air in there in a second, and I'm not using my last spell slot so that more people can participate, I've been forward to getting to use this food synthesizer for a long time."

Ornithal "Hooters" Telluraves — "Do not worry, Cora. Taryn will be fine." He pauses a second and looks down, considering, "Or he will be kicked to death. But he might be fine!"

Cora — "Like I said, good story either way"

Taryn goes down to the cargo Bay activating his bubble and entering the airlock. The lights in the air lock turn red and a siren starts playing. The siren starts getting quieter and quieter until the sound is gone entirely. At which point the other side of the airlock opens you walk into the cargo bay where the ramp has been fully extended. The majestic creature is sniffing around different crates

Taryn calmly approaches the creature. "Hello there"

It nays and bobs its head again tapping its foot once

Rom Kariv shakes nervously

Taryn bows respectfully. He then slowly walks to within arms reach, extending his hand. With his palm held outward, the horse approaches and puts his nose into it pushing gently. Much to Taryn's surprise it feels like a moving statue, solid as marble and just as smooth

Taryn — "you’re just a gentle giant." He pats it’s head. "Should we let it in all the way?" He calls out. "What are you here for", he whispers to his new friend.

Suddenly realizing there's no air in there, nothing to vibrate with his voice, Taryn says, "Oh", instinctively. Then sighs. He steps back from the horse then stomps his foot in imitation. The horse kneels. Taryn again imitates, keeping his gaze on the horse. it snorts at him. He taps his foot three times. If he didn't know any better he would swear the horse rolls its eyes as it looks somewhere else in the cargo Bay instead of looking at him.

The horse remains kneeling on the deck of the cargo bay.

Rom Kariv — "Maybe it's hungry? What do... Space horses eat?"

Rodney Starfield - "hopefully it's vegetarian like normal horses...." The three and a half foot tall fuzzball looks very uncertain about the two ton marble horse walking around in the same place he is

Taryn — Noticing the kneel might be an honorable start to an honorable battle, Taryn bows then places his hand on his warhammer and unlatches it from his hip. Startled it stands quickly and back away, Taryn sighs in frustration and puts the weapon down. The horse stops, frustrated with you.

Taryn — He scratches his head

It kneels again

Taryn — He bows again

Ornithal "Hooters" Telluraves — "This is a very polite horse."

Taryn — He then slowly approaches the horse, and places his hand on the smooth neck where the mane would be. He pats the back, implying the idea of mounting the horse while it’s kneeling and waits for a response

Rom Kariv — marvels

DM — The horse Bob's its head enthusiastically.

Taryn — He mounts the horse

The horse takes off running straight out of the cargo bay ramp and into the astral wild

Taryn — Taryn wraps his arms around the neck of the horse and grips tightly. A shock of nerves fling through his chest followed by an sensational amount of adrenaline.

Moments after the horse runs out and you feel it turn with you understanding you have some control of its direction The ship suddenly disappears in its entirety. As you are looking at it the astral deep's light gray hue gets darker and darker the horse runs and a straight line in a direction you couldn't even pinpoint floating in the emptiness. It runs for a solid minute when it comes upon a nebula in the distance that looks like the size of a mountain. As you get closer it gets larger and larger. You come to the realization that you are traveling at an absolutely absurd speed and the nebula is light years across. The horse plunges in without concern to the beautiful flowing colors and it is like you pass through a curtain into a beautiful forest meadow with rolling hills to the east large open wooded forest to the west and ocean to the south and open prairie as far as the eye can see to the north. While you taking the magnificence it takes you a few moments to realize the horse is no longer it's hard as it was before it does not feel like a statue any longer. You look down at the horse and see a perfectly normal mammalian creature who has bent down and is now eating some grass.

Taryn looks around to see if there is any obvious trail to follow or some sort of path that might have received foot traffic.

Cormin Tinkerrest — Wilderness from horizon to horizon

He shrugs then looks down to the beast

"I guess we just choose a direction?"

He clicks his tongue and kicks his heals into the sides of the horse and directs it into the wooded area and travels for 30 minutes.

Cormin Tinkerrest — After 10 short minutes your air bubble dissipates from around your head. You enjoy the beautiful breeze under the brightly lit canopy. As you enter the woods you see that they are huge evergreens hundreds of feet tall leaving large amounts of open space to run between

Taryn gasps in surprise, having forgotten it was on then immediately tries to inhale. "Ah the scent of evergreen trees. Beautiful. So horse, I wonder where we will end up. You seem familiar with this place." Taryn continues to ride the horse deeper west into the forest. He allows the horse to continue for another hour at a normal pace.

Cormin Tinkerrest — The horse enjoys running through the wooded area with you and simply continues to enjoy life you ride for an hour

Taryn looks around and then up through the trees to see if the daylight is shifting. "One and one half hour of you loving a frolic into the unknown. This place is unreal to me. But we will need to stop soon if daylight fades here or I get thirsty or hungry."

Cormin Tinkerrest — Upon commenting on it you come to the realization that you are neither thirsty or hungry, as you contemplate that fact you come to realize that you're also not breathing as you realize this you take a deep breath in and enjoy the smell of the pine trees again. It feels incredibly weird not to breathe and so every time it pops into your head you take a deep breath and then go minutes without breathing again

Taryn dismounts and begins to wander around the creature in a 30 foot diameter sphere, looking at the flora and seeing if there are any other signs of fauna that might inhabit the forest.

Cormin Tinkerrest — You find no other wildlife

Tary gets back on the horse and continue riding for another hour. (If nothing changes regarding scenery, I will try to turn the horse around and ride back to the grove.)

Cormin Tinkerrest — Nothing changes and you do turn around, you make it back to the Glade, you have now been in this location for 4 hours

When he gets to the grove, he will turn north and head into the prairie. Again, he will ride north for another two hours. (If nothing changes he will simply keep riding until a full day of travel passes)

Cormin Tinkerrest — You do so riding through open prairie that seems endless

As he continues through this endless expanse he begins to pray. "Tyr, please guide me. I seem to be lost. If you’re willing, please offer me any sign of where I must go."

Cormin Tinkerrest — "go home, back to your plane of existence, ask the animal he will take you. **Try**"

"Horse, if you brought me here there must be a reason. Can you please take me where you want me to be? Otherwise, I should get back to my own plane of existence and would like to return. Though, I have certainly cherished our time together and don’t want it to end."

Cormin Tinkerrest — The horse nuzzles you and you get a wave of thoughts jumbled together and not quite formed the way a sentient creature would. "Spirit Kindness friend. My home my grass my dirt wanted to show. When you visit close call for me we can play" The last bit came with a memory that is not yours of a woman whistling in the astral deep and the horse appearing.

"To welcome me to your home and share with me is truly a blessing. Yes I will be happy to visit you anytime. But how will I know when I am close? This seemed like an extremely far distance from where we started."

Cormin Tinkerrest — He imparts and image of the dark grayness of the astral deep, you can tell by the darkness that it is not the first layer but deeper in the second or lower.

"Wonderful! You have my promise we will play again. I have loved this time with you." Taryn pats the horse on its neck, "I suppose it’s time I return."

Cormin Tinkerrest — The horse bobs its head and kneels and you climb back on it sprints toward the exact spot you entered and you shift back into the astral deep, The saturation of the gray much darker than you are used to it quickly moves in the direction you came from and speeds off. After an hour of travel the saturation of greatness changes again lightning as you're rising through the astral deep. You come to a standstill and the grayness of the plane surrounds you. You look left and right and up and down and everywhere you can see but you don't see your ship.

You notice the horse also looking around. It puts its head down towards its feet for a moment and walks in a large circle finally looking up and speeding off. The reality around you once again gets darker and you move rapidly for several minutes before coming to a halt, you transition back to the third layer again and the ship is several miles in front of you. With a burst of magical energy that sends tingles all over your body The two of you pass through the cargo bay door. You dismount and save her well to your friend it turns around and passes through the door once again and leaves.

"Well", He says to himself, "That was an experience." He leaves the cargo bay and heads up to the common quarters