9. Jess
Jess
The stage at the Raivo Theater had been transformed into a fantasy setting, and as I walked in, I couldn’t help but be excited.
Brayonna had assembled her regular players from her Dungeons and Dragons streaming show, Critical Chaos, on stage for a special MVFC adjacent show.
She had secured a ticket for me in the front row which was a nice treat.
I’ve been a follower and supporter of Bray since the beginning, so a free ticket wasn’t a surprise.
However, a surprise awaited me when I got to my seat and saw who sat next to me.
He sat there with a flat expression on his face staring at the stage until he spied me approaching. When he smiled, I had to take a quick breath to steady myself.
I tried but failed to keep my pulse from racing when I saw him there. My face couldn’t hide my delight in seeing him again. He wore the same outfit from earlier in the day, though his mood seemed off. His shoulders were slouched, and he was rubbing his neck.
“Hey,” Daniel said, standing up to greet me. “What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said, pursing my lips. I glanced at the stage and then our seats. Something about this situation stunk. And I knew who to blame.
“I got a ticket from Brayonna,” he explained. “She went through my agent.”
“Mmm-hmm,” I said with a nod, and I could feel my lips pressing together. “I got mine earlier today. Hand delivered.”
He tilted his head and blinked at me. “Is there something wrong with that? I wouldn’t think sitting next to me is a problem.”
“I don’t mind sitting next to you,” I replied, drawing out my words and raising my eyebrows. “It’s the way I ended up sitting next to you.”
It took him a moment before his eyes widened. “This is a set-up.”
“Totally a set-up,” I agreed.
He gave me a small smile and a shrug. “I don’t mind it if you don’t.”
“I suppose it would be rude to leave after she got us the tickets,” I said in a one hundred percent completely reasonable tone.
“Of course,” he said with a slow nod as he sat down with me. “And I wouldn’t want to insult someone with such a wide fan-base.”
“Ah,” I teased. “A career decision. Very wise. Clearly you had input from your boss.”
His smile faltered a second, and he chuckled before looking away.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Nah, Faye was giving me crap about falling behind on my reading. She’s a taskmaster,” he explained, some of his energy returning. “I’m looking forward to this. I’ve seen the Diva show that had my costar in it and the one Bennet ran online. I’d like to see how they do in front of a live audience.”
“I’m surprised you’ve watched this kind of thing,” I said, settling into the seat next to him.
“My niece and I got hooked on watching them together. She grew out of it after a couple of years, so I haven’t kept up.
Still, what they do is pretty impressive.
It's very much an improv exercise with random dice and monsters thrown in. I don’t know much about the game, but the performances from these players are incredible. Do you play?”
I nodded, enjoying this side of him. He didn’t know a lot about geek culture, but the passion he showed for it made me smile. “Oh, yeah. I’ve done several one-shots and mini campaigns with Bray and Bennet on their Glitch channels. I don’t get to play much in person, but it’s always been fun.”
Our conversation was cut short as the house lights dimmed.
The crowd began to cheer as the Critical Chaos theme began to play.
One by one the players came out on stage.
It was Bray’s usual crew: Bennet, who played Crayden the barbarian; Louis, who played Grover the monk; Emma, who played Pippin the warlock; and Alex, who played Cricket, the gnome cleric.
As the crowd cheered, Brayonna made her grand entrance as the DM.
She had outdone herself with her costume: deep purple and green robes and a tiara that appeared to be made of iron spikes.
It was as if someone made a fey version of the Statue of Liberty minus the torch and tablet.
As the players took their places, Bray took her spot in the middle. “Good evening! Everybody say: greetings, intrepid adventurers!”
“Greetings, intrepid adventurers!” The crowd yelled back in unison.
“Welcome to a special live edition of Critical Chaos, here at the Mission Verde Fantasy Con!” Bray shouted.
The entire audience cheered and stomped their feet. Brayonna took her place behind the game master screen and waited for the crowd to calm down.
“All right, all right!” She called out. “Let’s get this game started, shall we? When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had quested into the Bog of Deneb searching for the lost orb of Mekalia. After some false starts and Cricket losing their boot forever to a sucking maw of mud–”
“I am still angry about that!” Cricket snarled.
“Bitch, you rolled three nat one’s in a row. Don’t interrupt,” Bray snarked back to the amusement of the crowd. “Where was I?”
“Sucking maw of mud,” Bennet provided, as he continued to take notes.
“Thank you! As the night begins to close in around you, the sounds of the bog come alive. Tell me, my friends, what do you do?”
Louis/Grover chuckled. “Well, we’re live in front of an audience, so I say we take a long rest and then go shopping.”
“Can we go back and find my boot?” Cricket asked.
“That’s not going to happen,” Bray said, shaking her head. “Again. Three nat ones.”
Crayden sighed. “I put Cricket on my shoulders and carry her through the bog Master-Blaster style.”
“Yay! I put my spurs into Crayden to make him go faster!” Cricket cried out.
“You have one boot and have never ridden a horse in this entire campaign! How can you have spurs?” Crayden complained.
“I’ll allow it,” Brayonna announced to the laughter of the crowd and Cricket’s glee.
“Oh, so it’s going to be one of those episodes,” Crayden groaned.
“Shut it, Dough Boy,” Bray said and then launched back into the narrative. “As you settle into a long rest-”
“That was a joke!” Grover complained.
“Too late! We’re in too deep!” Pippin laughed.
Bray continued not dropping a beat. “From the depths of the dark night you hear the sound of a struggle-”
“I unroll my blanket and go to sleep,” Cricket said, getting a laugh from the crowd.
“I pick up Cricket and put her on my shoulders, so we can investigate,” Crayden declared.
Cricket wasted no time and threw her arms into the air. “Spurs!”
“Damn it!” Crayden groaned.
“As you creep forward into the bog, you eventually find the source of the racket that sucked you into my plot… which was in no way railroading on my part,” Bray continued with some light laughter from the crowd.
“In front of you is the Hag of Deneeb. The holder of the MacGuffin I just forgot the name of.”
“Orb of Mekalia,” Crayden provided.
“Thank you. In front of her you see a wee halfling man with his rapier drawn, and they are doing battle.”
“Hail and well met, halfling male!” Grover shouted. “Are you in need of assistance?”
Bray smiled and stood up. “And now I would like to welcome my surprise celebrity guests for the evening. And I say ‘surprise’ because they didn’t even know they would be my guests!”
Watching the show and seeing my friends interact with each other, I had forgotten about the set-up Bray had done. I thought she was trying to set us up on another date, but now… goosebumps appeared on my arms. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I muttered to Daniel.
“So do I,” he whispered back, eyeing everyone on the stage suspiciously. On cue, a spotlight hit our faces, making us wince from the bright light.
“You’ve seen them verbally spar earlier this week and now you get to see them fictionally fight! Everyone welcome our Queen of the Valley, Jessica Richards, and the next Tyrst’an of Glen Orrin, Daniel Finnegan!”
We both forced a smile as the crowd erupted into cheers.
“Well, I suppose it would be embarrassing to say no,” Daniel said, standing up and offering me his arm.
“Are you sure about this? You don’t know how to play,” I asked as I took his arm and made our way to the stage.
“I’ve watched enough. I think I can figure it out,” Daniel shrugged. “I know how to improvise if need be.”
We got to the stage, and I waved as Daniel gave a small flourish and bowed. Chairs appeared at other sides of the tables and Bray ran over to give us character sheets and microphones. “Now, Daniel, you will be playing a halfling bard, and Jess, you will be acting as our BBEG for the evening.”
The crowd let out a long “Ohhhhhhh!” in appreciation of the twist.
I groaned. Of course, she would put us at odds with each other. I checked my character sheet and saw that I had been cast as an evil hag with homebrewed abilities. Bray obviously wanted me to have fun and tailored the character to fit my role-playing style.
“What’s a BBEG?” Daniel asked.
“Oh, you sweet child of summer,” Bray said, shaking her head in amusement. “Big Bad Evil Guy. Or Gal in this case. I forgot you were an RPG virgin. Think you can handle it?”
“I assume Bennet will assist me?” Daniel said, taking a seat next to Bennet.
“Crayden,” Bennet corrected, gruffly and in character. “And yes, I will help you tiny halfling man.”
“What is your character’s name, Daniel?” Bray asked.
“Oh, I get to name him?” Daniel gave me a sly grin. “Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose it would have to be Sir Roderick the Meh.”
The crowd erupted into applause, and I laughed along with them.
“Oooooo! Shots fired, and we haven’t even rolled yet,” Bray shouted with a cackle.
“Do I get to name the hag?” I asked, returning the grin to Daniel.
“Of course.”
“Kismet of the Sizzling Swamp,” I announced to the roar of the crowd.
Bray cheered and did a little victory dance. “Let’s roll initiative, people!”
“Good luck, Kismet!” Danny called out.
“I’m going to wipe the floor with you,” I growled back, in character.