“That depends on whether you’ll listen when I tell you about Christopher Lee.”
“I won’t.Butthat’s because I already know all the lore. You forget how many times we watched those movies back in the day.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything.”
Our eyes meet and the warmth of his gaze sends fire sparking down my veins. Then he grins. “Did I ever tell you that Viggo actually broke his toes when he kicked that helmet inThe Two Towers?”
“I will throw this laptop at your head.”
He chuckles and holds up his hands in defense. “All right, all right, back to work.”
By the time the rest of our group arrives, Max and I have plowed through a mountain of homework. As happy as I am to see everyone, especially Zoinks with his big doggy grin, my anxiety for tonight quickly rises. I should have done more to prepare.
Last week we had to cancel our session because Felix was sick, which gave me a much-needed reprieve from figuring out how to handle this campaign, but I still haven’t done anything about it. I could blame my packed schedule, but really I’ve been procrastinating. That backstory and added mystery from Li and Felix really threw me. I can’t work out how to incorporate everything smoothly, but I also don’t want to tell them they have to change it.
I start the game again where we left off last time, with their characters exploring the city and throwing out miscellaneous suggestions of what they’d like to do next. I have no real plan for them.
But, when in doubt, throw a monster in their path.
“Ha!” Max yells after successfully attacking the harpies, our latest monster, once again. “I do thirteen points of damage.”
His yelling gets Zoinks worked up. The dog puts his paws on the dining room table and barks loudly.
“Thank you, my thoughts exactly!” Max calls to him.
Zoinks trots to Max for pets, then goes around to each of the rest of us for scratches and attention, which we happily give. Ilovehaving Zoinks here. Not only is he incredibly adorable, but playing with him kills a lot of time and keeps people from fully realizing how dumb this campaign is.
“Now you know why Zelda—and Zoinks—is such an extrovert,” Nova says, almost aggravated, as she gives Zoinks a kiss on the head. Her turn is next, so she has her ranger throw a dagger at a harpy for more damage.
“Li, what would you like to do?” I ask gently when Nova’s finished. She hasn’t said much since we started playing. Usually she’s so enthusiastic.
“Um…” She frowns and flips through pages of the manual in front of her. “I’m not sure. I guess Axolotl needs healing, right? I could do that.”
“If you want to,” I reply.
“I kind of wish I would have chosen another class,” she says after healing him. She picks at the food Mom made for everyone tonight. “I guess I didn’t realize how much fighting there was in D&D. Max, you were smart to pick fighter as your class.”
“I’m thrilled to be in a party with two druids,” Max tells her. “That means two people who could heal me when Ialmost kill myself for the fifth time this session.” He laughs, but her returning smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
Sure enough, Max finishes off the harpies after a couple more rounds but gets down to his last hit points and needs to be healed once again.
“There are certainly a lot of monsters descending on this city,” Nova says to the group when everyone is dusted off and ready to continue on. “What do you think it means?”
That I’m a boring Dungeon Master,I think to myself and squeeze my dice behind the screen.
“Maybe there’s something here they want?” Felix says.
“Or something is drawing them here?” Nova replies.
“Do we see anyone around we could ask about these things?” Li asks me.
“Um…” My foot is shaking under the table. “You’re on a main thoroughfare in the city, so there are many established businesses surrounding you. However, when the harpies came, the people on the roads ran for cover and the business owners all locked their doors and hid away.”
“It’s impossible to get information in this place,” Felix complains, and Li nods back at him.
“We just have to know how to ask,” Max says. “Is the road we’re on slanted?”
“Yes.” I have no idea why he’s asking, but I can’t keep shutting everyone down or they really are going to abandon the game.
