“Oh god, Liam, I wouldn’t dare.” Feeling sheepish, I reach forward to run my fingers over Howard’s fur, which immediately starts up the purr engine. “Do you think—am I playing wrong?”
“Wrong? How do you mean?”
“Like—is it normal for two players to roleplay privately?”
Liam pauses to pick up his milkshake, which had sat forgotten on the coffee table as I’d had my afternoon breakdown on his couch. What little is left is all but melted at this point, but he sips noisily from the straw in a valiant attempt anyway. “Honestly, one-on-one roleplay is pretty advanced for a couple of first timers,” he says thoughtfully. “Not a lot of my other players do it, unless they’re wanting to explore their character dynamics more seriously. But it’s just another way to engage with the game. I’m honored that you’re so invested.”
I nod to myself. “What about…romance?” My pitch drops dramatically on the last word.
He grins. “Go on.”
“Is that something that happens in other games? Flirting between characters?”
“Of course it is. Hell, I’ve seen characters get married, have kids, try to seduce the villain…all sorts of things. Some DMs won’t allow romance at their tables, but I’ve always thought that’s ridiculous. As long as everyone’s having a good time—and no one’s being, like, fucking weird about it—I welcome it.”
I don’t respond, but I don’t have to. Liam elbows my ribs. “If you do decide to pursue romance, you have my blessing.” He pats my hand. “Roll with advantage, Sadie.”
Chapter
Seventeen
“If anyone dares to step foot in this room before I say it’s ready, I’ll give you disadvantage on all rolls for the entirety of today’s game.” Liam’s using his teacher voice again. Even through the shut door of the game room, we can hear him with perfect clarity.
I hover near the dining room table with the rest of the players, picking at Jules’s snickerdoodle cookies and waiting for Liam’s go-ahead to enter. Morgan appears at my side and bumps her hip against mine. “Sounds pretty serious, huh?”
“What, disadvantage?” It would be a massive punishment, meaning we’d have to roll our dice twice but be forced to use the lower of the two numbers.
“Yes, but no,” Morgan says. “I’m talking about whatever it is he’s setting up in there.”
“Did you see today’s map, Sadie?” Noah asks as he comes to stand by me. There are snickerdoodle crumbs caught in his beard. I consider brushing them out but keep my hand at my side. “Got any insider info?”
Catching on, Jules and Morgan lean toward me, too.
But I’m going into this session just as blind as everyone else.
Whenever we have an exploration session like this one, whereour characters voyage into new territory, Liam brings out a lovingly crafted map so that we can better visualize how the adventure plays out in real time. He even gifted us with miniature figurines of our characters. I’d spent years in high school and college helping him paint miniatures for his games, but for this campaign, he’d done it himself as a surprise.
“I have no idea,” I say honestly. “He’s locked himself in there all day; Howard and I aren’t allowed in.”
Jules presses her ear to the game room door as Noah shuffles excitedly from foot to foot. Liam must hear his antsy dancing, because he finally emerges.
Our DM stands silhouetted in the doorframe, backlit by purple, green, and blue lamps scattered atop the table. Eerie music seeps from speakers planted in each corner of the room. The map is covered with a thin sheet of black fabric, though I can see the peaks and valleys of figurines and landscape pieces set up underneath.
“Come in, adventurers,” Liam intones. “Your quest awaits.”
At the base of the mountain lies a cave, and within ten paces of it, no plants grow. Jaylie has become used to the lush waist-high grasses of the rolling fields, but here they’ve withered to brittle yellow stalks, and the tree roots have calcified hard as stone. Shadows pour from the cave’s entrance, reaching out purple tendrils of darkness that seem to suck at the light. The worst part is how quiet it is. Jaylie can’t pick up any skittering sounds of insects underfoot, and even the breeze hangs still, ominously frozen around their shoulders.
“Well, this feels evil as shit,” Loren says cheerfully. “Are we surethisis the cave Alastair told us the crystal orb is in? Are we positive he’s not just trying to get us killed?”
“It does reek of dark magic,” Jaylie says slowly. “But I don’t think Alastair was lying. He’s too proud—and too desperate.”
“We’ll be fine.” Kain’s voice rumbles above Jaylie as he slides past her to lead the group into the cave, axe balanced over his shoulder. Morgana swallows audibly as everyone follows him inside.
It’s worse when the sun goes away. The light disappears entirely, and the silence feels like a blanket smothering all of their senses. Although Jaylie’s companions have the ability to see in the darkness, her own human eyes see nothing at all. Loren offers to hold her hand, but despite the temptation, she needs more guidance than that; she summons a ball of pale pink light between her palms.
“I could sing, if we want?” Loren’s voice sounds very far away, though he stands right at Jaylie’s shoulder. “Just to chase away the bad vibes, if nothing else.”
“And alert every creature in this cave to our presence? I don’t think so,” Morgana hisses.
