Chapter Fifteen
Everyone finds a seat at the table, Max and Felix sitting on my right side, Li and Nova on my left, and me at the head.
They turn to me expectantly and I swallow tightly from behind the DM screen, a trifold plastic barrier sitting in front of me on the table.
The reality of being a Dungeon Master—and possibly making a huge fool of myself—looms larger than ever in my mind.
“Okay, well…welcome. Thanks for coming. Nova and Li, I know you both have characters already created. Maybe we should start by having you introduce them to us?”
Li slides deeper into her chair like she can disappear, but Nova leans forward eagerly.
“I’d love to. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this or how long I’ve harassed Hazel to get us here.
Thank you all for agreeing to play.” She puts her palms on the table.
“Okay, I’m playing a gnome ranger named Stump.
She’s a total introvert and hates most people and crowds.
She’d much rather be tromping through the wilderness than having a conversation, but she’ll make exceptions for a few people. ”
“She sounds like someone I know,” I interrupt with a wink at her.
“Yes, she and I might share a few characteristics. But she does have a love in her life, and that’s the animal companion she can have as a ranger. Zelda is a very large dog, and Stump travels by riding on his back since she’s so small.”
“Zelda?” Felix asks with raised eyebrows.
“It was my choice for our family dog’s name, but my parents overruled me. I was very into the game.”
“I didn’t realize rangers could have animal companions,” Li says, her eyes bright with excitement. “That sounds so cool.”
“Do you want to explain why you’ve loved this character build for so long?” I ask.
Nova grins. “Because Zelda is based on my real-life dog, Zoinks. Don’t judge that name either—my parents are big Scooby-Doo fans.
” She pulls out her cell phone and passes it around so the others can see a photo of Zoinks.
Nova loves her dog more than any human, including her parents, and I can’t blame her.
Zoinks may very well be the cutest dog in the history of dogs.
Li squeals so loud when she sees the picture that my ears ring. “Your dog is so fluffy!”
“He’s an Old English sheepdog, which means my family spends half our lives brushing him, but it’s worth it.” Nova’s expression softens like it only does for Zoinks.
“Can you bring him to our games?” Li looks between Nova and me like we’re her parents and she’s asking for extra birthday presents.
“I…um…” Nova glances at me for help.
“Well, I guess I’ll need to double-check with my parents, but they’ve always loved Zoinks, so I can’t imagine they’ll mind. Do you think he’d be okay here?”
She chuckles. “He’d be beside himself with happiness. And beside all of you because he’d need constant petting—he loves new people. And smells.”
“I love dogs,” Felix says.
“It’s decided, then,” Max says with a nod. “Our campaign is already better than everyone else’s since we have a dog companion. And a real one at that.”
Everything’s a competition with him, but I have to agree. Having Zoinks here for future games will be so fun. Plus, no one can be angry or fighting with him here. He’ll be like our D&D therapy dog.
“I guess I can go next, then?” Li asks tentatively.
She pivots between anxiety and excitement so quickly. I hope she can gain more confidence before this year is out.
When we nod encouragingly, she shifts in her seat and pulls out a notebook. “So, when I was here for the section dinner with Hazel, we all made D&D characters, and I made an elf druid named Ellywich.”
“You did that together?” Felix says. “That actually sounds fun.”
Of course he’d be shocked that the color guard does anything enjoyable. I swallow down my annoyance, but then Max elbows him and Felix sits up straighter.
“I didn’t know you did that with the guard,” Max says. “That’s a really cool idea.”
I blink, but once again there’s no sarcastic follow-up. It’s weird…and nice.
“I’ve been thinking about her ever since,” Li continues, “and I think she’s a gardener and farmer.
She loves growing food for her family and having others over so she can cook for them.
She gets up early and stays outside as long as she can every day, and the only reason she comes back in is to cook what she’s grown.
But, uh, if that doesn’t work for this game then I can change it and do something else. ”
Nova and I shake our heads immediately. “No, don’t change it. That’s great,” I say.
Her cheeks get pink. “And, um, she looks like this.” Li pushes a paper into the middle of the table, and everyone leans over to see a gorgeous purple-haired elf wearing orange overalls and holding a huge basket of produce.
“Whoa,” Nova says.
“Did you draw that yourself?” Felix asks.
“Yeah. I drew all the guard characters too. I’m happy to draw yours as well. I mean, if that’s something you think you’d want.”
“Um yes,” Nova says immediately. “Although mostly I want a picture of Zelda.”
“That’s awesome, Li. Thank you,” I say. “Felix, how about you? Did you get a chance to think about a character?”
“Uh…” He looks down at his phone and then back up. “I took some notes, but I should redo it. Or I could skip this session if it takes too much time.”
“But you said before you were pumped for your character,” Max argues.
Felix rubs the back of his neck. “It’s just…
this is totally weird, but I actually created an elf druid as well.
” He glances up at Li and there’s a moment of recognition between them.
Like they hadn’t quite seen each other until right now.
“But we can’t have two of the same character when there are only four of us, and Li came up with hers earlier—”
“No, it’s fine,” I say at the same time that Li says, “I can make a new character if you need me to.”
“No one needs to make a new character,” I interrupt.
“It’s a little unusual, maybe, but druids are a versatile class.
The party will need magic users and healers.
I think it can work. In fact, I bet it could add a fun new dimension to the party.
Maybe…” I hesitate, knowing what a huge ask this is.
“Only if you want, but maybe you two could chat sometime about your character backstories? Or text each other if that’s easier? ”
“That would make sense,” Nova says. “Maybe your characters could share some early experiences or even know each other?”
Li and Felix lock eyes across the table and I hold my breath. I know how nervous Li has been. But Felix nods and she gives him a tentative smile.
“Yeah, we could probably do that,” she says.
Whew. Okay, so far so good. I glance at Max and try to swallow down my anxiety. “Well, last but not least, what do you have, Max?”
“I’m playing Axolotl.”
My stomach flips and I turn more fully toward him. “From…the characters we created in junior high?”
“I didn’t know you knew each other before,” Felix says.
“We hung out when we were younger before he moved away,” I explain quickly before turning back to Max. “How do you still remember that?”
He looks incredulous. “The same way you do. You had Axolittle and I had Axolotl. They’re some of my favorite things I’ve ever created. There’s no way I’m playing some random character when I can play Axolotl, the dragonborn fighter who wields his two—” He points to me.
“Axes,” I say to the rest of the group.
The others chuckle at the silly gimmick name, but I’m shaken that he’s held on to that for so long.
I never would have guessed that he cared that much.
Granted, Max had fallen off the couch laughing when we thought up the characters, but he’d been a dorky thirteen-year-old, so the bar for making him laugh like that was low.
“Okay, well it sounds like we have our party, so…I guess we should get started.” More anxiety rolls through me.
They’re all looking at me eagerly, and it hits me how this whole thing rests on my shoulders.
Sure, they have to do their own role-playing, but ultimately the game can’t continue unless I can hold my own.
I’m grateful that the DM screen is there to hide my jittery hands.
We spend a little time making sure that everyone has complete character sheets and stats and then move into the actual campaign.
“All right, we start in a wide-open field outside the city of Darkthorn. You are all part of an enormous crowd that’s formed around a large wooden stage. Each of you is here to attend the Darkthorn music festival, one of the most well-known festivals in the land.”
“You have us at a concert?” Max asks. “Are all of the performers women?”
I blush. “Actually, yes.”
When I created this opening, I figured I should choose something that would be in my repertoire.
I haven’t been to many concerts or music festivals, but I’ve always thought how cool it would be to have gone to Lilith Fair, an all-female concert tour in the nineties. So, I took that as the inspiration.
The others ask questions about the details of what everything looks like, and what types of people are around, but I anticipated this and am able to answer everything.
“The final act comes onto the stage, and the crowd surges forward,” I say, adding urgency to my voice. “Just then, there’s a rustle in the surrounding forest, and an enormous opossum comes barreling toward the crowd. It’s as tall as a person and has glowing red eyes and vicious, long teeth.”
Everyone sits back in surprise, and I smile to myself. I’d seen giant badgers listed as monsters, so I figured I’d use that as a template.
“People begin to scream and run away in any direction they can.”
“Not me,” Max says confidently. “I’m dragonborn. An opossum isn’t going to scare me.”
I knew he’d react that way. “The opossum swipes at another concertgoer who gets too close, and they go flying into the air. Do the rest of you stay where you are or run?”
“We’re staying,” Nova says.
“I figured. Then it’s time for our first initiative roll to see who goes first for this battle.” We each roll a d20—our first time doing this together—which makes everyone grin.
“All right, time to finally do some damage with these axes,” Max announces once we determine that he’s going first. He gets a 19 on his attack roll, which means he definitely hits, and gets a high roll for damage as well.
I do some calculations behind my screen while Max and Felix high-five.
“That damage is enough that the opossum falls to the ground dead,” I announce.
“That’s how it’s done!” he shouts. “One blow from me is all it takes. Wait, don’t opossums have pouches? Do you think it could be storing anything of value in there? I want to loot the body.”
“You can certainly try.”
Nova eyes me suspiciously. “Are we sure this thing is actually dead?”
Aw man, she knows my expressions too well. “Actually, all of a sudden it pops back up and turns its red eyes on you again, Max.”
“But you said it was dead!”
“It was only playing dead,” Felix says with a laugh.
“An extra fun reason to use it as a monster.” I turn to Max. “I believe the deranged opossum is coming for you.”
The party spends the rest of the game fighting off the giant opossum and then a giant raccoon that appears, although that one gets away and runs back into the forest. They also question a few non-player characters about whether this is the first time a creature like this has been sighted and any reasons why it might be attacking.
To my utter delight and relief, there’s no hint of tension or animosity as we get deeper into the session.
The group is completely absorbed, especially when the raccoon gets away, and that helps me fall into my role instead of analyzing every word out of my mouth.
I’m particularly proud of having the raccoon escape so that they’ll want to follow its trail into the forest to get to our first dungeon crawl—a quintessential D&D adventure.
I can tell they’d like to continue, but we won’t have time to get far before my parents finish their game and kick everyone out. So, we call it there and pack up.
Li pulls me into a hug by the front door on her way out. “Hazel, that was the most fun I’ve had in forever.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Felix agrees. “I’m glad to be included.” He’s more subdued than Li, but he seems to mean it.
Nova hugs me next. “You did an awesome job. I’m so glad we finally did this.” She drops her voice and whispers in my ear, “And you managed to make it the whole night without fighting. Well done.”
“No one’s more surprised than me.”
I wave goodbye to the others as Max comes up beside me.
“This was a new experience. I think we both managed to lose our bet today.”
I’m surprised by the warmth in his expression. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think he was looking at me as if I was a friend.
“Or maybe we both won?”
“I like that explanation better. Although now we don’t know who’s bringing food for next Sunday.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Assuming there’s still going to be another session?”
“The group needs to figure out what happened to the raccoon. I wouldn’t deny you that.”
“Cool.” His smile does something to my brain chemistry that I don’t want to analyze.
After this past month, I didn’t think it was possible, but there’s no point denying it: I just spent a fun evening with Max. I guess D&D is even more powerful than I realized.