by Dale Britton
Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Somebody really smart who likes to help people. Someone strong and beautiful who can kick some butt if she needs to."
Jordan made a snorting sound.
"Hm." Ollie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Let's see... I have a half-fairy priestess that I was going to use as an NPC on my next campaign, but you could use her if you want."
"She sounds perfect! Can she do magic?"
Ollie nodded. "Yes, but it's mostly healing magic. She only has a few offensive spells. But she's really good with a staff, and she's very beautiful. At least, that's how I picture her. Oh, and she can use her fairy powers to turn invisible."
"Does she have a name?"
Ollie had actually been planning on naming her "Sarah", but that obviously wouldn't be a very good idea now. "Um, her name is Loriana."
"I love her!" Sarah exclaimed. "I think she'll be great."
A nearby car honked. Sarah looked over and waved at the driver, who was another cheerleader.
"Oh, sorry, I gotta run, but I'll see you guys later."
And before Ollie could even answer, she had jumped into the car and disappeared down the road.
"What just happened?" Ollie asked.
Jordan closed her eyes and shook her head. "The end of the world."
Chapter Ten
Johnny hurried home after school on Friday. He was more excited about playing the game tonight than usual, but also kind of scared. Ollie had told the rest of the group that Sarah was going to play with them again. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the surface, it was really exciting. Sarah was popular, pretty, and really friendly. Half the guys at school had a crush on her, Johnny included.
But he had to admit Ian was right. It was really strange that a girl like Sarah would want to hang out with their group and play their role-playing game. She was a cheerleader, one of the most popular girls in the school. Why would she want to be associated with a bunch of geeks? Well, it wasn't like they were totally worthless. Ian was playing tennis this year, and he had friends on the team. Ollie was in with the smart kids and could hold his own at school. Johnny himself was fine, especially with his art friends. But George and Jordan, well, they really didn't have much of anything outside of their small group. Jordan hardly ever spoke a word when they weren't playing.
What was Sarah's game? Johnny wouldn't be able to look at her tonight without wondering if she was some kind of spy or saboteur. He didn't know if he should hope she really did like Ollie, or if that would make things even worse.
According to Ian, Jordan was crushing on Ollie. Apparently, Johnny was just as clueless as Ollie, because he hadn't noticed it either. Now that Ian had pointed it out, though, Johnny could totally see it. Jordan always sat next to Ollie at the table. She always waited for him after school. And the way she looked at him sometimes...
It was weird to think of Jordan like that. She had always just been a part of the group–just one of the guys. But now that he thought about it, he realized she was actually kind of pretty. She was the kind of girl who didn't seem to care about her looks and didn't go out of the way to make herself look nice, so he had never really noticed. It didn't help that she was usually sullen and didn't talk very much. But he had to admit that when they were playing the game and she got excited during a particularly difficult battle, there was a kind of beauty in her fierceness.
Well, he'd think about all that later. Right now, it was time to get back to business. Johnny went to his room and grabbed the model he'd been working on for the last two days. Ian had asked him to make a human outpost for the campaign he was working on, and Johnny was happy with the way it had turned out. His models had improved a ton since the group had first started making The Map over three years ago. He had gotten much better at adding detail to the buildings and painting them so they looked almost real, like actual life-sized structures that had somehow been shrunk down to miniature proportions.
Johnny studied his model looking for mistakes, but he couldn't see any obvious flaws. He had included a tiny stable, a shop where you could buy weapons and armor, a small church, and a bunch of other buildings and houses too. The whole model fit easily in the palm of one hand with plenty of room to spare.
He took it down to the basement and studied The Map. They were running out of room to expand. At the rate they were going, they would need to add yet another table. Of course, if Ian decided he didn't want to play anymore it might not be an issue.
After some thought, Johnny chose a spot not far from their last campaign, up in the northeast corner of The Map. There were hills nearby, which was one of the things Ian wanted. There was also an elvish settlement not too far away, and that would make George happy. Most of the terrain in this part of the world was covered by forest. It would be interesting to see what Ian had in mind for the area.
Johnny examined his work, decided to change the orientation of the outpost a little, then added some imitation landscaping and trees to make it all blend together. He was a perfectionist when it came to this kind of thing, but eventually decided it was as good as he could make it.
He stepped back to admire his work. It looked like the outpost belonged there, as if it had always sat in its current location. Satisfied, he walked back upstairs to await the arrival of the rest of the group.
He was excited for the new adventure to begin, but also afraid it might be their last.
Chapter Eleven
Ollie was explaining the mechanics of the game to Sarah when George came down the stairs, the last to arrive. Johnny was making some minor adjustments to The Map, while Jordan was sitting at the table glaring at Sarah and Ollie.
"Hey, George," Ian greeted.
"It's crazy out there," George said as he took his customary place at the table. He was shivering from the cold. "I think there's going to be a blizzard or something."
"Figures it'd happen on the weekend," Johnny said. "Why can't we have snow when there's a chance to miss school?"
"I just finished going over the basics with Sarah," Ollie said. "Do you think you're ready to play?" he asked her.
"I think so," Sarah said. "Let me just run through it one more time. My character has health points, and when they get to zero, that means she's unconscious. If they get too far negative, she'll die. I can cast spells until I use up all of my magic power." She glanced at her character sheet. "The only weapon I have is a quarterstaff, and I have a lot of skill with it." She smiled. "And my mom was a fairy, so I have special fairy powers, like turning invisible for brief periods, and putting people in a trance."
"Good," Ollie said. "Just remember not to go crazy with your magic. It will eventually run out, and you want to make sure to always have some in reserve in case we meet a monster when we're not expecting one."
"Does that happen a lot?"
"Almost constantly," George said. "Dangerous world, remember?"
"What kinds of monsters?" Sarah asked.
"Pretty much anything you can think of," George answered. "We've been playing for a long time, so we've had to be creative to keep things interesting. You've got all of the standard monsters of course, like werewolves, goblins, trolls, vampires, things like that. But there are a lot of things we've created ourselves, like my three-headed carnivorous razor birds, or Ollie's sludge monster. And then there's..."
"I think she gets the picture, George," Ian interrupted. "Let's try not to scare her too much, okay?"
"Why would it scare me?" Sarah asked. "It's just a game, right?"
"Not to everyone," Ian said, glancing sideways at George. "To some people, it's a lot more."
Chapter Twelve
"All right," Ollie said. "What characters are we using? I'm going to stick with my wizard for this one. We all know what Jordan's using. What about you, George?"
"I'm using Jared, my half-elf."
"As long as you don't tell us his backstory again," Ian said. "I don't think I could take it."
"But..."
"No," Ian said. George made a loud sound of disapproval.
"I'm going to use my ranger," Johnny said. "He'll probably be good with all of the forest nearby."
"What's a ranger?" Sarah asked.
"Kind of a hunter," Ollie explained. "Good with bows, good tracker, really good in nature. You'd probably like him."
"All right," Ian said. "We've got a wizard, a barbarian princess, a ranger, a half-elf fighter, and a half-fairy priestess. Pretty interesting mix. Is everyone ready to start?"
"Let's rumble," George said. Everyone else groaned.
"All right, heroes," Ian started. "You have been summoned to a remote outpost in the uncharted northwest region of Valoria." He pointed to the new structure on The Map.
"Wow, Johnny," George said. "That might be your best work yet."
"You made that?" Sarah said, staring back and forth from Johnny to the model. "That's incredible!"
Johnny's face turned bright red. "Thanks," he murmured.
"Johnny made most of the models," Ollie confirmed. "And all of the good ones."
"That is literally the most amazing model I've ever seen," Sarah said. "How long did that take?"
"A couple of days," Johnny's face was still bright red. "I did some of the work in the wood shop at school."
"So, this is where we are?" Sarah asked, staring at the outpost. "I can almost imagine the people. Is that a stable? Ooh–Look at the tiny horses!"
Ollie was afraid Johnny might burst with pride if he let this go on any longer. "All right, Ian. Why are we here?"
Ian cleared his throat. "You have been summoned by the local council. There have been reports from the trappers who work in the nearby forests of strange occurrences in the region. Travelers have been disappearing. Animals have been dying with no visible cause. People have been getting sick. One of the council members is a low-level magic user, and he has seen signs of dark forces at work. They wish to hire you to find the source of the trouble, and to stop it. This is your task."
Ollie looked around the table. Everyone, even Sarah, nodded solemnly.
"We accept the task," Ollie said.
From outside, there was a crash of thunder that could be heard clearly even from the basement. The lights in the house flickered.
"Wow," said George. "That was so dramatic!"
Chapter Thirteen
For a moment everyone sat in silence.
"I don't think I've ever heard thunder in the winter before," Johnny said.
"It's pretty rare," Ollie said, "but it can happen. Especially places like this, where we're right on the lake. Some people call it 'thundersnow'."
"Pretty cool," Johnny said.
"Funny, though," Ollie said. "You usually can't hear the thunder from very far away because of all the snow. It muffles the sound. For us to hear it so loudly here in the basement it would have to be really close."
"How do you know all this stuff?" Sarah asked. "Do you have Google in your head or something?"
Ollie shrugged, blushing. "I just read a lot, and I usually remember the things I read."
"Ask him anything," George said. "I bet you he'll know the answer."
"Look." Ollie glared at his friend. "Can we just get back to the game? I'm not a carnival show."
Ian chuckled. "Okay. What would you like to do?"
"Well, what's available here in the outpost?" Ollie asked. "We'll need supplies, and we need information. We definitely want to talk to that local magic user."
"There's a shop, but it's not very extensive," Ian said. "Mostly just basic supplies. There's also a tavern, a stable, and a small church. The regional council meets once a week at a house on the edge of town. They're waiting there now to talk to you."
"Well, let's not keep them waiting," Ollie said.
"The council consists of five members, all human. They welcome you into their meeting. They offer you a reward of two hundred gold coins if you will help them."
"That's not very much," Johnny said.
"So?" Sarah sounded indignant. "People need our help. We should do it for free."
"Well, sure," George said, "but one of the goals of the game is to find treasure. That lets you improve your characters. Then, when you're stronger, you can fight tougher monsters. And help more people."
"I guess," Sarah said. "But people out here probably aren't very rich. That's probably as much money as they could get."
"Don't worry, Sarah," Ollie said. "We always accept the quest. There will be opportunities to find more treasure during the campaign."
"Oh, okay."
"The leader of the council is a man named Uther," Ian said. "He gives you a map of the surrounding area. He's marked different places where people have disappeared or where other strange things have happened."
"How many?" George asked.
"Five," Ian said. "Mostly concentrated to the north."
"What does Uther do for a living?" Sarah asked. "I mean, this can't be a full-time job."
"What does that matter?" Johnny asked.
"I don't know, " Sarah replied. "I just like to know who I'm dealing with."
Ian showed remarkable patience. "He's a farmer. He lives a couple of miles outside of town. In fact," he said, starting to get into it a little, "his family owns the largest farm in the region. That's how he was able to rise to a position of power in the community."
"What do they farm?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know," Ian said. "Wheat, probably. Potatoes too."
"I think we should talk to the magic user now," Johnny said. "He'll be able to tell us something."
Sarah leaned forward again, but Ian cut her off before she could ask her question. "His name is Wendall. He lives in a small cottage just outside the outpost with only his cat, and he hires himself out to the local population when they need magical help." After a second's pause, he added, "and his favorite color is green."
"What's the cat's name?" Sarah asked. Jordan looked like she wanted to strangle her.
Ian looked like he wanted to laugh. "How about Whiskers? He's a huge and friendly cat, all orange. Great mouse-catcher."
"What does the magic user know about what's happening," Ollie asked.
"Wendall," Sarah said.
"What?"
"What does Wendall know about what's happening. He has a name, you know."
"Well, this is where it gets interesting," Ian said. "Wendall has sensed a strong force nearby that's interfering with his spells. He doesn't think someone is purposely trying to mess with him, but something big is causing a disturbance in the magical energies in the region. It's making it hard for Wendall to do any magic work. It seems to be coming from the north."
"Well, everything seems to be pointing that way," Ollie said. "What's up there?"
Johnny examined The Map. "There's an elvish settlement about fifteen miles to the northeast. They might have some more information. They have a store where we could load up on magic items, and they also have a training facility. Other than that, it's all uncharted. Just hills and forest all the way to the edge of the map."
"Maybe we'll discover what's up there," George said. His excitement was barely contained. "I love the start of a new campaign."
Ollie felt the same way. He glanced over at Sarah. "I have a feeling this one's going be the best one yet."
Chapter Fourteen
The party bought supplies at the local shop. This took much longer than usual because Sarah wanted to know all about the shopkeeper, and the other customers, and everything that was for sale, and the dog that was lying on the ground just inside the door. But eventually, they had all the food, torches, and other necessities they needed for their journey.
They stopped in the tavern to see if anyone had more information but didn't have any luck. Thanks to Sarah's probing, however, they did learn about a local specialty–a rabbit stew made with locally grown potatoes.
The group's last stop was the little church, where they met a priest. His name was Peter, and he lived in an apartment ab
ove the chapel with his wife, Greta, and his two small children. He was well-loved by the locals, who often came to him for healing. Lately, he had seen much more sickness than usual and had felt the darkness that had moved into the area. He was worn out from the constant drain required to perform his healing rituals, and he had been praying for God to send someone who could fight against the scourge that was slowly destroying the young settlement.
Enter the heroes. The party assured Father Peter that they would root out the evil and bring peace once again to the land.
"All right," Ollie said. "Anything else we need to do before we leave town?"
As one, the entire group looked at Sarah.
"What?"
"Just wondering if there was a bird or something you wanted to look at," Ian said, but he was smiling. Jordan was seething about Sarah's antics and the others seemed a little annoyed with her, but Ian was actually enjoying Sarah's unique take on the game. It was keeping him on his toes, that was for sure. He had already added three characters he hadn't planned on, and pages of back story.
"I'm sorry," Sarah said. "I know I shouldn't talk so much, but this is just so interesting. I've never done role-playing before."
"It's all right," Ollie said. What else could he say? "You'll get the hang of it. You're doing great."
Jordan grunted loudly.
"All right," Ollie said. "It's fifteen miles to the elves. There's a very good chance we'll run into something on the way. Should we invest in horses?"
They took a quick vote and decided to save their money. In the game, a fifteen-mile walk really wasn't that far, and they would want money when they got to the elvish compound. Later, when they were searching the region for clues, they might reconsider.
"Then it looks like our work here is done," Ollie said. "Is everyone ready for the adventure to really begin?"
Before anyone could answer, there was another thunderclap, this one even louder than the first.