The Dungeon Master

Miriam knew she should have been prepping for the game tomorrow. Her D&D group would be meeting, and she hadn't planned out the boss battle yet, or decided which of the Jungle Temple maps she'd downloaded would work best for her plans.

But instead, she was typing furiously at her keyboard. Some dipshit named BlackCatLady was, for real, trying to convince her that fanfic wasn't worth reading and couldn't ever be well written. That couldn't stand. BlackCatLady was so wrong, and Miriam just had to get the last word in.
But every time she thought she'd won, every time she was about to tab over to her favorite D&D encounter builder, her rival, her enemy, made another inane point and she just had to respond.

Miriam hated it when people didn't take her favorite hobbies seriously. In fact, she despised it. She had (most of) a goddamn English degree!

She had spent years improving her understanding of stories and literature, and some rando discord kitten thought she was a better judge of 'real literature' and 'artistic merit'? Fuck that.

But in the middle of her perfect, eloquent, well-sourced 400-word argument on how fanfic created a unique opportunity for literary estrangement, she started feeling... woozy. A little dizzy. She shook her head to clear it, but to no avail. Frustrated, she returned to her typing, promising herself to lie down for a bit when she'd just finished this one post.

By now, however, the letters on her keyboard were getting hard to see. Still, she had to finish her argument, and-

And then she was gone.

AT THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON!

Theo sighed as Miriam appeared in the shadowy doorway. He'd known from Ishtar's little introductory speech, but still didn't like to see another one of his friends brought into this.

Miriam herself stepped carefully out of the doorway. She was maybe 5'5" or 5'6", and dressed in a long skirt and a loose anime T-shirt hung loose over ample breasts. She had her dirty-blonde hair in an intricate braid, and muddy green eyes in a soft, fearful face. Her body language was closed up and rigid, with her shoulders hunched up and her sun- tanned arms kept close to her body.

As she saw Isthar, however, her eyes went wide, and her tense shoulders slackened.

Ishtar knew that this was partially her magic, her divine will which made the contestants relax... and it was partially the mere sight of Isthar approaching, walking like she was made of sex.

Which she was, of course.

With a dimissive wave of Ishtar's hand, Miriam's clothes transformed themselves, writhing around her body. Her t-shirt changed into chainmail, shrinking to be nothing more than a small bikini barely coveirng her tits, while her skirt shunk up the same way, until she was wearing nothing but a thong and a small curtain of mail over her ass and crotch. At least no metal touched her skin - there was some padding, and no chafing.

Ishtar gave the welcome spiel again, as natural and extemporaneous as before, then shoved her microphone in the young woman's face.

"Go on, then, tell us about yourself."

"Tell you about myself? Well, I don't know what there is to tell. My name is Miriam and I'm majoring in English Lit. Beyond my studies, I do part-time work as an English tutor and spend time on my hobbies, mostly LARP - that's 'Live Action Role Playing' - and Dungeons and Dragons. I read fanfic and light novels too, when I have time. Theo's a friend of mine, and plays a warforged barbarian in our weekly D&D game. Last time I had sex was... a month ago, I think, at the Ren Faire. I was a little too drunk, though. Not my favorite time. I don't have a lot of salacious details to share. Sometimes at LARPS, especially vampire one, I'll stay in-character while I get railed. Does that count?"

As she spoke, Miriam slowly turned red, though not quite as beet-colored as Joanna had. When she'd finished talking, her legs walked her over to one of the chairs, her wide eyes zig-zagging rapidly back and forth between Theo and the other contestants. "Theo? Joanna? I - what's going on here? Is what she said all true, have we really been Isekai'd?"

"Been what? Nevermind, yes, I... I think it all is true. I don't have any other explanation, but I promise, I had nothing to do with this!"

"O - okay."

Miriam sat down mechanically next to Anna, who reached out and took the girl's hand in her own. She wasn't usually touchy-feely, but the girl looked like she needed the comfort. And Anna could use it too.

With that, Ishtar spoke up, and all eyes fell on her as she did another introduction.

"Now, it's always nice to meet old friends, but a season of nothing but sexy friends growing closer isn't much of a season, is it? No fun without the drama! Luckily, our next contestant might shake thing up a little! She's kinky, she's sexy, and she needs a real man to-"

"Wait!" Theo shouted. "No need to bring her into this - Please, it's just going to cause more heartbreak on everyone's side, just let her be, I don't need to see her ever again."

Ishtar smiled in response, and it reminded Theo of the time a fox had gotten into his grandparents' chicken coop.

"Well, thank you for confirming what i was saying, Theo! How very polite. Heartbreak, conflict, delicious drama - that's what Showbiz is all about, loverboy. Now let's not dilly-dally - Everyone give a big hand to Theo's viscious mess of an ex, the hardworking, heart-breaking NIIINAAAA MIIIILLLER!"