Chapter 5
W hat the fuck is he doing here?
He strolled through the front door, hands shoved in his pockets as he whistled quietly. At first, I told myself to calm down. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he was there. After all, he did play Creatures except this time, I barely paid attention. Even Devin’s comical accent couldn’t save me from my panic. He attempted to continue his barkeep’s conversation with my character, but I struggled to squeak out one-word answers. Behind the table, Anthony was pacing up and down the shelves, browsing the merchandise while shooting long glances in my direction.
Thankfully, no one seemed to notice my thinly veiled terror. Devin went around the table, allowing each player to perform any desired tasks at the bar. Aaron’s character, being a bard, wanted to serenade everyone in the room, while Cassidy’s rogue character swindled patrons out of their coin with her magical gambling dice.
I laughed along, pretending that my throat wasn’t full of marbles and that I couldn’t feel Anthony’s gaze boring holes into the back of my head.
It’s okay. Calm down. Don’t panic. Everything is oka—
“Mind if I join your game?”
Yes. I hunched my shoulders as I realized Anthony was standing directly behind me. He was so close that I swore I could feel his breath on my back.
Yes, yes, yes. I very much do mind.
“We’re sorta in the middle of a game right now,” Devin replied, scratching his head. “But we run tables every Sunday afternoon if you want to stop by next week.”
My spasming muscles loosened as relief trickled through my veins. For once, I was incredibly grateful for Devin’s presence.
“Well, can I just watch?”
No. No, nonono—
“Uh,” Devin paused for a moment. Even he seemed uncomfortable. “Sure, I guess. Grab an emp ty chair.”
Anthony sat next to me, his chair just inches from my own. I pressed a palm to my cheek, refusing to glance in his direction.
God fucking damnit. Go away, you creepy, stubborn, lowlife basta—
“Sorcha?”
I looked up, my cheeks still burning from Anthony’s unwanted presence.
“You speak Demonic, correct?” Devin continued.
I nodded.
“Well, the only quest on the job board today is written in Demonic, and you’re the only character at this table who knows that language.”
“Ah, okay,” I sat up straight, feeling sweat on my palm as I pulled it away from my face. “Well, I guess I should read it.”
“Excellent,” Devin pressed his hands together. “Follow me to the back, and I’ll tell you what the note says.”
I nodded, grateful to be able to step away from the table. This was a common occurrence at C if only one character could understand a written language, they’d be pulled aside and told the message in secret. It was then up to them if they wanted to divulge the information to the rest of the party.
Normally, the CM would lead the player to the far end of the gaming room, a few feet away from the tables. I was confused and a bit concerned when Devin led me all the way past the retail area and into the back storage area next to the restrooms.
“Uh, okay.” I glanced around awkwardly. The storage room was incredibly cluttered, but also perfectly organized, with labels on every pile of boxes. In the corner was a minifridge and a table with two chairs, the makeshift staff breakroom. “So, what does the message say? ”
“Forget the message,” Devin replied coolly, and I gave him a funny look. He pointed out the door, back toward the gaming tables. “Is that guy bothering you?”
I had been grateful for Devin before, but now I felt indebted to him. There was no message in Demonic. He made it up so he could pull me away from the table and ensure I was okay.
It gave me the sudden urge to hug him, but I quickly brushed the feeling away.
“Yes,” I admitted in an exasperated tone. “I met him on my dating app. We met up, but I wasn’t interested in a second date. And… he didn’t take it well.”
“Oh boy.” Devin ran a hand through his choppy, dyed black hair. He looked frustrated and… angry ? “I’ll be right back.”
“Devin, wai — ”
He was already gone. I was frozen in place, hands balled into worried fists as I fretted over the awkward situation I’d caused. Maybe this is just a coincidence. Even if Anthony is being creepy, I don’t have the right to make him leav—
A sudden shout made me jolt. Someone was yelling, and it wasn’t Devin.
I bolted out of the storage room to see Anthony, red-faced and pissed, yelling obscenities at Devin as the whole table looked on in horror. Cassidy and Aaron were panicked, and the preteen boys looked like they were about to flee the table. But Devin stood unwavering, arms crossed in front of his sweatshirt and his mouth pressed in a thin line.
He wasn’t having it.
“What’re you gonna do, emo boy?” Anthony taunted. Devin still didn’t budge, his facial expression hard as a mask. “Go blab to the owner?”
“I am the owner,” Devin growled. “Now get out of my shop.”
Thankfully, Anthony relented and stormed toward the front door. But as he did, he caught a glimpse of me standing in the back room, wide-eyed and pale as a ghost.
“Bitch,” he hissed before throwing the door open, disappearing into the parking lot.
As soon as he left, my composure melted into a puddle and I fell to my knees. My heart was galloping madly in my chest, I was covered in cold sweat despite the shop being seventy degrees, and no amount of tensing my limbs would stop the uncontrollable shaking.
Is this… a panic attack?
“Avery.” Devin rushed toward me, closing the storage room door so no one would see my reaction. I staggered to my feet, doing my best to hide my frenzied nerves. I would not break down in the middle of Critical Games.
I especially would not break down in front of Devin.
My breath hitched in my chest as I forced myself not to cry. Devin led me to the break area, plopping my shaky self down in a plastic chair. His hand lingered on my shoulder for a moment, and the feeling calmed me enough for my limbs to stop trembling.
“Stay here as long as you need.”
Devin’s voice was gentle, a tone I’d never heard from him. He was always a snarky, dry-humored, endlessly teasing pain in the ass. I’d never seen him like this before.
I nodded, worried that any amount of talking would cause me to immediately burst into tears.
“Here.” Devin turned toward the mini-fridge. “Let me get you a water.”
I heard light thumping noises as he rustled around the fridge, and he eventually pressed a cold miniature water bottle into my hands. The condensation on the outside cooled my sweaty palms — another small gesture that pulled me out of my panic attack and back to reality .
“Come join us when you’re ready.” Devin walked toward the door. “Or if you need to head home, no worries.”
He left, leaving me alone in the breakroom, surrounded by silence and my own deafening thoughts. I took a few sips of the water bottle, surprised at how thirsty I was. Outside, I could hear Devin’s muffled voice and a few laughs as their game resumed.
I placed the water bottle between my thighs. As sickening as the event was, I couldn’t let Anthony get to me. I would spend some time in the breakroom, letting myself calm down, but I wouldn’t leave. I would walk back out there and finish our Creatures creepy online dates be damned.
Besides, I thought as I tossed my empty water bottle in the trash. This session has been pretty fun.
Once I regained enough composure to go back to my seat, my party had already accepted a quest to find a missing halfling, entered a creepy cave dungeon, and picked off a whole horde of goblins and kobolds.
I had made it back just in time for them to enter the boss’s lair, where we all assumed the halfling was being imprisoned.
“But to make it through the door,” Devin proclaimed in an exaggerated, malevolent voice, “you must solve the riddle that lines the sealed-off entrance.”
“Okay,” Cassidy remarked, studying her character sheet. “What language is it in?”
“Roll to investigate.”
There was a hard plastic thunk as the die clattered onto the table. “S eventeen.”
“Well, the good news is, you passed,” Devin grinned. “Bad news is, it isn’t a language that you understand. But you’re pretty sure it’s written in Underling.”
“Uh,” Aaron frowned, looking down at his character sheet. “I can’t read that language either.”
“None of you can.” Devon raised an eyebrow. “But using your collective knowledge of the Underworld and their alphabet, I bet you can all work together to decipher this.”
Oh boy. I smiled and shook my head. Here comes another of Devin’s inane riddles.
Devin pulled a sheet of paper from behind his Crypt Master screen and placed it in the middle of the table. On it was a short sentence written in a scratchy alphabet, similar to Nordic runes.
“For every successful arcane check you make, I’ll tell you what one of the letters means,” Devin announced, clapping his hands together. “Now, begin!”
While the other players huddled together, rolling a cacophony of dice while studying their character sheets, I stared intently at the riddle.
A twisted grin crept across my face. I recognized those symbols.
“It says, ‘ Observe the Observer’s lair’ .”
Everyone immediately stopped talking and swiveled their head in my direction. Devin’s mouth hung open, his snakebite piercings jutting from his lower lip.
“H-how did you know that?!” he stammered.
“It’s a popular fantasy font called Dragonmark .”
“Once again,” Devin repeated, his face even more bewildered, “ how did you know that ?”
“I’ve used it for work.”
“ Work ?”
“Yeah. I work for a publishing company, dude. I’m the master of fonts. ”
Devin was speechless. He took a few moments to blink his way out of his disbelief, looking utterly defeated since his riddle was ruined.
“And an Observer , Devin?!” I continued. “We’re level eight ! Are you trying to get us all killed?”
He slumped behind his Crypt Master screen, his face buried in his fists. At first, regret burned through my stomach like acid. I may have taken it too far…
But as Devin began to shake, I realized he wasn’t upset. He was laughing. He raised his head, cackling like a hyena as he slapped a palm on the table. Suddenly, everyone at the table, even the preteen boys, was full of giggles. It was a scene that bordered on near hysterics, everyone’s faces red and eyes watering by the time we regained composure.
“Goddamnit, Avery,” Devin wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “Always the master at foiling my plans. And you know what?” His eyes narrowed. “I’m going to say that Sorcha spoke that aloud. Roll initiative.”
I gulped.
“You’re seriously having us face an Observer right now?”
Devin winked. “Better roll high.”
My die fumbled onto the countertop, displaying a disappointing number five.
Well shit.
“Oh noooo,” Devin teased in a drawn-out, mocking tone. “A five ? Well, the Observer rolled a twenty-one, and you’re standing right in the doorwayyyy...”
I scowled, but I knew I sort of deserved it for ruining Devin’s riddle.
But when the giant eyeball-like creature’s attack missed, I nearly leaped out of my seat with joy, once again thrilled to deflate Devin’s ego. He huffed, rolling a die around in his fingers with a deep frown on his face.
“Alright, fine . He misses. Cass, you’re up next. ”
We went around the table, taking turns strategizing against the formidable creature. The Observer’s central eye created an anti-magic area in whichever direction it was facing, so Liam and Cole used their fighter and barbarian characters to keep the Observer’s attention. While they bashed it in the face with their weapons, the rest of us slung spells at the monstrosity from a safe distance.
The Observer’s mythical actions were awful, with it having the ability to use the tentacles springing from its circular body to paralyze us, frighten us, or, if we were especially unlucky, instantly disintegrate us. After several rounds, we were all still standing, although Cassidy had taken a dangerous amount of necrotic damage from one of the tentacles.
While Aaron’s character held back to heal Cassidy, it was my turn to attack. I was a feral magic sorcerer, meaning that my spells could have unpredictable results—good or bad. Devin knew this, and made me roll a d20 die to see if my spell went haywire. It did, and he howled with laughter, rubbing his hands together in a maniacal fashion.
“You know this could work in my favor, right?” I hissed as Devin flipped through his Crypt Masters’ Guide .
He smirked. “Let’s hope it doesn’t.”
“Alright, d100… I got a 28.”
Devin switched to his Player’s Guide , frantically flipping through the pages until he suddenly stopped. He was silent, and his smile was immediately wiped from his face.
I grinned. “So what effect do I get, dear Crypt Master?”
Devin gave a long, exasperated sigh, “On a 28, you can take another action immediately.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You mean… I can cast another fire sphere?”
“Yup.” I could see the disappointment in his glassy eyes. “Go for it. ”
To my surprise, right after I hurled yet another giant ball of fire at the Observer’s backside, Devin announced that I had delivered the killing blow. Liam and Cole cheered, and I shook my head with a smile. Behind the dead Observer, the halfling we’d been searching for was imprisoned in a small cage.
And, conveniently, the ugly beast had the keyring wrapped around one of its head tentacles.
It was getting late, so we wrapped up the session by returning the kidnapped halfling to the tavern and obtaining our reward, a heaping chest of gold. The preteen boys were eager to spend their coin on more magical items, but Devin assured them they’d have plenty of time for shopping during their next session.
“Besides, boys, it looks like your mom is here,” Devin gestured toward the front door, where a woman with the same sandy brown hair entered with a wave and a smile.
The boys excitedly babbled to their mom about their session, and Aaron and Cassidy were quickly swept up in their own conversation. Which left me and Devin sitting together at the gaming table.
“So I’ve gotta ask,” I said as Devin packed up his books. “How did we manage to defeat that Observer? I have enough C&C knowledge to know we were way under-leveled for that.”
Devin grinned, leaning towards me as if he had a secret. “Liam and Cole’s favorite C&C monster is the Observer. They’ve been begging to fight one for weeks. So, I just nerfed the monster’s hit points so it would die quicker.”
I chuckled. “That’s cheating.”
Devin shrugged. “I mean, it was still a tough fight. But you throwing two fire spheres at its face in one turn took out a third of its health.”
I laughed. Devin laughed too as he packed up the rest of his supplies.
“You know,” he remarked as I walked towards the door. “You really should come to C&C more often. Today was fun.”
I nodded. It really had been. “Sure. Now that work isn’t so crazy, I’ll come next week.”
As I walked out the door, jogging to catch up with Cassidy and Aaron, I decided I liked Devin’s campaign after all. I’d had so much fun that I’d forgotten about the harrowing incident from earlier.
I groaned as the memory of it trickled back over me. I knew that even safe in my townhouse, it would still haunt my sleep that night.