Dating and Dragons (Dungeons and Drama, #2) (8)
As soon as the livestream opens, viewers start rolling in. My eyes widen at the numbers. Thirty, fifty, eighty. They just keep coming. To watch a D&D game run by teenagers? This is definitely not what I was expecting.
“Wow,” I say, before slapping a hand over my mouth. The others stiffen but don’t look my way. Whoops, I guess this’ll be a silent session for me.
“Welcome to all our viewers. We are Don’t Split the Party, and you’ve come on an auspicious day. For months, this party has battled everything from goblins to giants all in the hopes of reaching the wizard’s tower so they can recover the stolen wardstone and return safely to their homeland. It all comes down to today. Will they roll well and survive, or will today be their last?”
The others smile at each other. “I’m ready to avenge my mother’s death,” Mark says.
“And I’m ready to annihilate this wizard,” Kashvi says.
“You’ve certainly waited long enough. Let’s do this,” Logan says.
Sloane hunches forward, their face intent and voice low. “You stand in front of the massive wooden door to the wizard’s tower. The large trees surrounding the tower sway ominously and the sky is shadowy at twilight. The world is perfectly silent, as if every bird and beast is also waiting for the fight that is about to happen. How would you like to proceed?”
I notice that all the faces swivel to Logan, as if he’s the de facto leader of the group.
“What do you want to do, Hathor?” Mark asks.
“I’ll detect and dispel any magic the wizard has left,” Logan replies, but he’s not Logan anymore. He has a Scottish accent, and he sits up to make himself even larger than usual. He must be playing a magic user—probably another wizard—if he’s using spells.
“I run in first,” Sanjiv says as soon as they’ve broken down the door. “There’s no way there isn’t something else waiting to kill us in there.”
“You’re not going without me,” Kashvi replies.
“Good, because I don’t want to die today,” Sanjiv replies, and they share a grin. I couldn’t tell earlier if she got along with her twin brother, but they definitely seem to be a team now.
“You make it up a dozen steps before you hear the ear-bleeding sound of metal raking against stone.” To my amazement, Sloane pulls a rock and a small (but real-looking) sword from under the table and scrapes them together to create the sound effect. The grating noise sends shivers up my spine.
“Could it be a cage door opening? Maybe the wizard is releasing something?” Mark asks.
“Maybe.” Logan’s eyes cut to Sloane, who is smiling. Never a good sign.
“It’s a good guess,” Sloane tells the group, “but what you heard wasn’t a cage door…. It was armor. The clanking and scraping grow louder until you can barely think, and then five animated suits of armor come into view, each wielding two short swords.”
The party jumps into action again and I sit back, caught up in the role-playing. I’m blown away by how immersed each of them is in the game. It’s as if they are the characters and nothing can distract them. We weren’t nearly this committed in my last group. The five of us—Caden, Paige, Makayla, Travis, and myself—spent as much time joking, eating, and messing around as we did role-playing and running through encounters. Actually, it was probably closer to a 70/30 split. We barely made progress with the campaign.
But here? They joke with each other, but it’s only within the context of the game. No one’s interrupting to complain about the latest essay in Mrs. Calson’s class or bringing up the fight that broke out in the north hallway on Friday. And how can they all do accents? I don’t know any accents.
They polish off the armor and begin their search for the wardstone. I’m not sure what’s going on since this is my first time at their game, but I get the impression that Logan’s character and this evil wizard have some serious history—maybe they’re brothers?—and Logan is definitely giving it his all. The wizard sics some harpy minions on the party to distract them, and Logan half stands in his chair, screaming and sending orders. The twins work together, killing anything in sight, while Mark heals whichever party members need it. By the time they’ve defeated the wizard and the session ends, my heart is racing and I fall back against the chair. It’s almost like watching actors onstage as they improvise their lines. It’s incredibly impressive. Especially Logan. You’d think he really had a lifelong feud with his evil wizard uncle.
I’ve been too caught up to watch what’s happening on the screen, but I now see that the number of viewers has climbed to one hundred fifty. I take a deep breath. This is cool and all, but am I ready to have that many people watch me role-play live? What if I get confused and say something stupid? I mean, let’s be real, the question is when I do that, not if.
When the campaign is complete, they cheer and chat for a few minutes about how great it’s been before signing off. Once it’s clear that the livestream has ended, they all fall back in their chairs like I did, laughing and high-fiving.
“That was epic!” Logan cries. He points at Mark. “That was inspired when you paralyzed that harpy and used it as cover.”
“It just came to me!”
“And you two,” Sloane says, pointing to Kashvi and Sanjiv. “Amazing teamwork.”