Dorna clears her throat and gestures to the tiefling. He’s the only one who has touched his ale, and he makes the group wait as he drains the mug dry. Then he tosses his head with a grunt, his long ink-dark ponytail swaying with the movement. His voice is a rumble in his chest. “Kain.”
A few seconds pass.
He says nothing more.
Jaylie jumps when Dorna claps her hands together, bringing everyone’s attention back to her. “Well, then! I’ll give you all time to get to know each other, but before that, I know you’re waiting for me to cut to the chase.” Jaylie feels the air shift slightly as everyone at the table takes in a breath at once, and Dorna smiles slowly, savoring the suspense. “We’ve got our muscle, one of the realm’s most talented rogues, someentertainment,and our very own lucky charm. I imagine you’re all wondering what in the Hells I have planned for such a diverse group of talent.”
With a flourish, she withdraws an envelope from her pocket, its blue wax seal already broken. As Dorna slides out the thick card and lays it flat on the table for everyone to see, Jaylie catches the delicate scent of lilies wafting from it. Reading the looping cursive letters embossed on the parchment, she lets out a puzzled laugh.
It’s an invitation to a wedding. Tomorrow.
“And that’s a wrap on session one! What did we all think?” Liam asks.
I have to shake my head for a second to clear it. I put so much effort into embodying Jaylie that it takes some time for my imagined tavern scene to fade, revealing Liam’s game room. In place of what I pictured as the worn wood of the tavern table is a white fold-out piled with character sheets, multicolored dice, and empty cans of craft beer. Liam stands just as Dorna had, with his hands braced on the tabletop and his bearded face stretched into an expectant grin.
“I loved it.” I’m surprised that Julie is the first to speak, considering that she barely strung together five words for the entire three-hour session. “I want to play more, right now. I don’t want to wait another week for next Sunday.” I immediately liked her when she arrived with a tray of brownies and a pitcher of sangria. I had complimented her sweater—it had little cats all over it—and she’d proudly claimed that she knit it herself.
She is absolutely adorable, which makes it that much funnier that her character is Kain. He’s all brooding purple muscle and devilish menace, while Julie is all sunshine, pastels, violet cat-eye glasses, and curly, pink-streaked brown hair. Her voice is also delightfully high-pitched, so I’m impressed that she gives such a convincing performance of Kain’s gravelly masculine tone.
Even with her head bowed low over her notebook as she scribbles down the last of the session’s notes, Morgan looks amusingly like a taller, beardless version of Morgana—which I suspect is the point. According to Liam, she decided to join the game last minute, so most of her character-building involved little more than tacking on an extra letter after her name. Long braids frame her face, and her beauty is enhanced with sparkling, bold makeup. She finally looks up at Liam with a smile. “You know, I had my doubts about D&D, but…it was a good time. A really good time.”
I open my mouth to say something, but the bard beats me to it.
“Fucking epic, man. I’m excited. Invested! Absolutely here for it.” Even though Noah has dropped Loren’s Zorro-esque Spanish accent, his deep voice draws my attention back to him in the same way Loren’s had drawn Jaylie’s. His grin is bright, and he stands with his hands gripping the back of his chair, buzzing with excited energy. If anything about him is cute, I’ll admit it’s his contagious enthusiasm for the game.
Liam’s about as short as I am, and seeing them side by side, I can tell Noah’s got at least a foot on us both. Frankly I’m surprised he isn’t playing a warrior-type character or a great big bear of a druid to match his bulk, but I’m charmed by Loren.
And maybe his player, too.
“Sadie?”
I dart my eyes back to Liam, hoping he didn’t notice how I was staring. But Liam just looks at me expectantly, and I can see a little tension in the way his brows knit together, despite his smile. He won’t be satisfied unless he’s assured that everyone had fun. It’s what makes him a great host—and an even better Dungeon Master.
“All right, fine.” I lean back in my chair as I raise my half-finished glass of sangria, toasting him. “Fantastic stuff, Liam. I can’t believe I held out on you for so long. I wish I’d been playing for years.”
He does a little fist pump of victory. “Good. Excellent. I’m so glad to hear it—and it only gets better from here.” He takes a long look at each of us, pleadingly, as if afraid we’ll ghost him after one session. “We’ll meet again next Sunday?”
“You know it,” Noah booms, clapping Liam on the shoulder.
Liam and I follow the others as they shuffle toward the front door and out onto the driveway. While Morgan and Julie chat animatedly as they walk to their cars, I linger near the doorway andmarvel again at the way Noah’s hair lights up as he steps into the sun. He catches my eye and gives a friendly wave before Liam shuts the door.
With everyone gone, I turn back to Liam for his honest opinion. “Was that a good game?” I ask. “Did we do all right? I don’t really have a frame of reference.”
Liam stands in the entryway, staring out toward his front yard. I let him process for a minute before he finally turns toward me with a wide grin on his face. “Oh, it was fantastic. Beginners are my favorite. I get to use all my old tricks that my veterans usually see through.”
My shoulders sag slightly. “You’ve told this story before? The whole wedding invitation setup?”
He presses a palm to his chest, offended. “What? No, of course not. I create a new story for each group.” His eyes twinkle. “But still, new players are easier to surprise.”
I’m not sure what he means, but I assume it’s something like reading too many books of the same genre. After a while, you get used to the same old plot twists. I elbow him as I follow him back to the game room. “Maybe we’ll surprise you, too.”
Swirling the last dregs of sangria in my glass, I meander around the room as Liam cleans up the mess from the table. It’s the only room I hadn’t been in until today, and from what I can tell, it’s the one room that Liam has fully claimed for himself. The bookshelves are full of brick-shaped fantasy paperbacks, game figurines, chess club trophies, and old photos. I smile at the framed pictures of our friend groups from both high school and college, dressed for academic competitions, anime conventions—god, I’d really fucked up that cosplay—graduation, and more. My blond hair had been much longer then, before I’d chopped it off after college to curl in a bob right at my shoulders. In one photo Liam and I pose after a middle school Quizbowl tournament, and with our matching pale hair and glasses, we almost look like siblings. There’s even a pictureof Liam and his first boyfriend at our high school scholarship ceremony, though neither of them had been out at the time.
The walls are decorated in the nerdiest way possible, with beautifully illustrated special-edition maps from books and video games, a tapestry fromSkyrim,and another Sadie Brooks original: a painting of Garzoth the Wise, Liam’s beloved character from the MMOLegends of Lore,posed in his fancy wizard’s robes as he holds a glowing orb aloft. It had been my college graduation gift to Liam, and when I first arrived at his house, I was touched by how many of my pieces he’d kept and shipped here all the way from Connecticut.
“They were great,” I say eventually. “The other players, I mean. I loved everyone’s characters.” Liam hums a happy agreement, and my gaze strays to Garzoth’s shining green eyes, which remind me of Loren’s own playful wink. “Tell me again how you met Noah?”
Liam waggles his eyebrows. He knows I’m intrigued.
