D&D After Dark

It's games night, and once more, David and his friends got together to weave their own tale of daring adventure and dark magic. It had taken David a year to convince his classmates into playing Dungeons and Dragons, but after their first game, the group was hooked. They would try to meet up once a month at Brain's house, but due to extended family visiting, that was no longer possible. As a result, it had been almost three months since the group's last session, and they were chomping at the bit to start up again. Having previously just finished a major story arch, the anticipation for what David had in store for them was unbearable.

Tonight's event was made possible due to David's former flatmate moving back home for personal reasons. Thoughts of finding someone new to help with rent were momentarily pushed to the side, as this was an opportunity none of the group wanted to miss.

There were six regulars in the group:

David was studying literature, which was what fuelled his love of high fantasy and roleplaying. Never much of an actor himself, he loved writing stories and scripts for others, which led to him wanting to run "DnD" games as a dungeon master rather than as a player.

Katrina Faddon knew David through her childhood friend Brian. A classic bookworm; her realm was more science fiction than fantasy but was never one to shy away from a good story and did, like many d&d players, enjoy stories such as "The Lord of the Rings" and "Earthsea"(her personal favourite). Her long-running character was a Tiefling Bard named Meria.

Brian had known David for a while now. They met during their first year and found themselves sharing many of the same classes. Their friendship grew quickly as they had a common love of writing, leading to the co-creation of his returning Dragonborn Palidan, Bree-ock. Brian grew up with only a few friends. Until meeting David, his closest friend was and, in many ways, still is Katrina. Brian is actually deeply in love with Katrina but is afraid to say anything due to her already having a boyfriend named...

John is the relative newcomer to the group. Joining over the summer roughly the same time as he had started dating Katrina. A closet d&d fan for many years but ended up focusing on basketball; following in his dad's passion for the game. John is still well read and, like his girlfriend, a huge sci-fi nerd. Always wanting to be Han Solo as a kid, John was able to convince David to cannibalise the Pathfinder ruleset so he could play a gunslinger named "Sam Holo"(go figure).

Vicky is the group's wild child. Studying biochemistry and working as a pole dancer on weeknights; She is the life of the party. Roleplaying was her outlet given that she comes from a very conservative family that openly disapproves of both her job and her hobby. As a result, Vicky has always struggled when it comes to socialising outside of her work. However, her character is the most outgoing and reckless of the group. Drisilla the Half-Orc Barbarian has gotten the party into a lot of trouble over the years.

Niel was the odd one out. David's best friends since nursery; the two were always getting into trouble before maturing (a little) during high school. Looking at him, you would never think there was a nerdy bone in his body. Always on the football team, always in with the popular crowd, invited to all the parties, and to top it all off, his body was his temple. Yet under the stereotypical jock facade beat the heart of a true Tolkien scholar. He had read every published work, from The Hobbit to Unfinished Tales and, until recently, played a high born Elf named Vallen.

"Right, everyone settled?" Said David, smiling away at his friends whom all looked as excited as he felt. The group sat around the dining room table with David at the head of it. "I'll leave the blinds open since we still have a few hours of daylight. Is Domino's ok for dinner? There's a shop just across the street that does call and collect."

"Typical," said John with a smirk. "Knew you weren't gonna cook for us you lazy sod."

"Tried it, trust me you don't wanna'," said Niel, smiling as he shook his head.

The group started to laugh as David pointed a finger at Niel, half-heartedly trying to defend himself. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent cook," there was a long pause with only the sound of Katrina still giggling in the corner of the table. "Just need to work on not setting the place on fire is all." All composure was gone at that point as David burst out laughing before he could finish his sentence. "Okay, okay. enough of the hilarity. Let's get into it. Now, Niel, I'm still waiting for your new character, are you good to go or do you need some more time?"

"I'm ready but I was wondering if I could mix things up a little and try a female character?"

"Sure, I see no problem with that. Do you want to introduce her now or in game?"

"In game please. Need to try and get into character. Don't want to half-ass it."

"I'll keep you right," Said Vicky jokingly, giving Niel a playful nudge.

Katrina laughed and put on a phoney posh accent "Yes because Drisilla is the perfect example of how to act like a lady."

Vicky smiled and stuck her tongue out at Kat. "At least I got some in that last town we were in. Do remind us what happened to our sex-starved bard when she tried to seduce that guard?"

"Cheeky cow. I can't help it if my rebellious dice decided to roll ones the whole night." Katrina and Vicky had developed a sort of frienemies type relationship. David would later find out from Brian that this might of had something to do with John asking Vicky non-stop questions about her job the first time they met. Despite this, the two hung out regularly and would usually make the habit of taking bathroom breaks at the same time during sessions.

"They paid for it afterwards though," pipped in John with an oddly nervous smile. "She actually smashed the D20 with a hammer in front of all her other dice. Lined them up and everything."

David couldn't help but chuckle as he finished setting up his screen."You didn't?"

"An example had to be made." Katrina was fighting with all her might to keep a straight face as she said the words. "Now all the other dice know what fate awaits them if they fail me."

"I've created a bunch of monsters." Was all David could say before the table broke down in laughter once more. This was a happy time in a sea of stress. They all had exams coming up and their adventures together could very well be coming to an end if David got the study placement for his third year. He would miss this. But that was a while off yet and they had a "DnD" game to play. "Well then. Let's get started."