Authors’ Note

We all have our origin story, that, while they begin the same way, always diverge pretty quick during those first few years. Many of us figure out who we are over the following days, who we want to be when we grow up, and while some of us mature slower than others, overall we all end up letting go of childish things. But then there’s some of us who use our imaginations to our dying days, who keep their miniatures from D&D, Pathfinder, or even Firefly or Vampire the Masquerade, or keep their collection of books on their Kindles or computer hard drives of their favorite novels. Tolkien, R.A. Salvatore, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, while all of these people and many more I could name are vastly different from each other, it could be safely argued that many of them, if not all of them, have never let go of their imaginations. They have never let go of their ability to dream, to conjure up entire worlds from the ground up, and they have given us cause to laugh, to cry, to shout for joy or to scream in terror and horror. They have given us an escape from our world, even if they choose to write their stories in our modern age, and that is why I have always loved writing, why I have loved reading and exploring the possibilities that such stories present to someone like me. The reason is pretty simple, because as all of you reading this can say, I have plenty of reason to want to escape my reality, at least for a half hour, an hour, because that is at times all I can afford with my at times very busy life.

My reason for wanting to escape my life though is a bit more than some, but less than others I’m sure. I have a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, I am 27 years old, and like many nerds and geeks that live out there in our big bad world, my imagination is still very much intact. It is still very much alive, because without it, without a means to escape even for a little bit the hardships of a life that would have otherwise been incredibly difficult to push through, the world would have been a lot darker for someone like me, who has never been able to walk a day in my life without at least a lot of assistance. And running? Playing football, hockey, or simply enjoying a walk through the local park? Well, there are handicap leagues for hockey and soccer, but the point is, I never had the physical ability to try, and I’ll admit, I didn’t really like sports anyway so I never really had the will to get myself into shape even while I could, before I was trached and ventilated when I was ten years old. As of this writing, I’m on home mechanically assisted life support, I have to have nurses come and go during the days and nights so my mother can actually get some sleep for a change, let alone have a chance to have a life of her own, to work and to have friends outside our home. Even then, it’s not easy, especially since I have two brothers, Cyle and Craig, the latter of which also has Muscular Dystrophy and a little Autism on top of that.

But to get back to my main point, games like D&D, Pathfinder, stories about dragons, monsters, demons, elf warrior women, castles full of dark entities, I could go on, but all of these and more besides allow someone like me to escape my humdrum life. To imagine something better, something grander than my limited means could ever allow me to do as things stand now. And I’ve always been good with words, I’ve always had a knack for writing my own little ideas, once I truly found my joy of the art. I started off not liking to read, let alone write, but Harry Potter changed that while I was laying in a hospital bed, sick with my latest bout of pneumonia and almost complete respiratory failure. Then, as my mother read about this young boy with a lightning bolt scar on his head as he struggled through his first year of school where magic was real, hidden but still present, right alongside our own world, something eventually clicked and I started seeking out my own adventures. I started to find other stories that captured my heart and mind, that allowed me to escape my otherwise piss poor existence during those days. But my love for fantasy didn’t really come about until my high school librarian, a kindly older woman that I quickly befriended when I became a pretty regular customer, pointed me towards the Icewind Dale trilogy, which I naturally moved towards the Legend of Drizzt once I had utterly devoured this thick, thick tome of almost a thousand pages of walking through the icy tundras of barbarians, dragons, and an evil wizard hellbent on conquering the whole of Faerun. Of a dark elf trying to rise above the evil reputation of his people and carve out his own existence among an otherwise unforgiving frozen land. Of a dwarven king exiled from his ancestors’ homeland, trying to keep his dying people alive in this same place. Of a young girl, orphaned by goblins and orcs, learning to fend for herself amidst this world of monsters and heroes both. Of a human barbarian, an uncivilized brute or so most people thought at first, yet he would later become the greatest warrior of his tribe, as well as a strong, powerful and steadfast ruler that would unite the tribes of his homeland.

All of those examples might have been from one series of books, but the point remains the same. This is simply my attempt to offer that same escape, that same hope that the monsters in our lives are not insurmountable. That there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, literally and otherwise. mply my part in an otherwise grand tale. My name’s Chad, and I welcome you to take a look at what an imagination as rich as ours can conjure up when given sufficient cause and inspiration. I’m simply the original creative mind behind this story, and if not for my own group of fellow ‘adventurers’, my own close friends I’ve made over the years that share the same deep seated passions I do for their own reasons, I doubt this would have gotten off the ground.

Chad Michael White-Smith

Samantha Harrison sighed heavily and leaned back in her seat, futilely trying to cool herself with some halfhearted fanning of her hand in the murderous summer heat. Even this late in the evening, the heat had only slightly abated, but that was not her most pressing concern in that moment. No, her immediate concern was coming up with a way to beat her brother at his own game, but it was proving a far more difficult task than she had initially imagined. The pile of books in front of her, all of which bore strange monsters and people in medieval styled armor plastered all over their hard backed covers, offered so many options and rules that needed to be followed that it was nearly impossible to keep all of the numbers, skills, and more straight in her head. As for the notes she had taken in a plain, blue covered notebook that was opened up in front of her scarcely used computer, a hand me down from her brother that still worked amazingly enough, they had long since started to become a jumbled up mess. It was like looking at a completely alien language as she tried to make sense of the rules applied to spellcasting, combat, and basically everything else that her brother had tried to explain to her. But she was too stubborn to give up, and she was determined to power through the process of character creation for her first Dungeons and Dragons game.

Some might call this sort of rivalry between siblings unhealthy, but it was just the way the two of them worked with one always trying to best the other. It was certainly their main motivator in what would have otherwise been boring subjects. Although, even their deep seated ‘contest’ couldn’t bring her brother to put in the effort for sports. He was more the intellectual than the outgoing, physical fitness type in the family like herself, but that was fine with her. But just as he didn’t enjoy being physically active like she did, Samantha found it difficult to sit still in front of a computer screen for hours on end, playing games or chatting with friends over the internet. Which meant, such games as Dungeons and Dragons she normally avoided like the plague, yet for some reason, in a moment of weakness, she had agreed to give it a try. There were other reasons, but that had been the start, her reluctant agreement to try a game she normally wouldn’t have given the time of day to.

Which led to her current predicament as she picked up the copy of the Player’s Handbook she’d been given and flipped to a page she had marked with a sticky note and tried, once again, to make sense of the only class she felt even remotely comfortable with in giving a shot. The support related skills, the healing spells, and the idea of following some divine entity had caught her eye for some reason she couldn’t begin to explain if someone had asked her why. Still, with a little help from her twin brother, she had begun the slow process of putting together a human, noble born cleric that followed a god of law and war. According to the D&D lore and rules for the game itself, you needed a god or goddess to follow and give your faith to, or a cleric was pretty much useless, but choosing one that fit her character’s alignment had taken the better part of two hours on its own because there were divine entities for virtually everything. Gods of murder, rage, passion, lust, love, childbirth, and practically everything else known to the human condition. She was pretty sure she had even seen a few that venerated sex and the erotic arts as acceptable forms of worship. She had moved on almost immediately away from those before she had stumbled across the one she had finally settled upon, which led to where she was now.

Staring at the tired looking Chinese African American girl gazing back at her from her full length mirror attached to the back of her bedroom door, Samantha winced at the subtle bags under her deep brown, almond eyes. The short, tangled brown curls that framed her dark skinned face weren’t exactly helping her self esteem either, nor was her rumpled, sweat stained white sleeveless T-shirt or the faded blue jean shorts doing her any favors in that area. “Ugh….why did I agree to this?” She mused and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand in annoyance in an effort to stop her vision from going crosseyed more than it was already from spending an inordinate amount of time of staring at the small print of the book in front of her. Even with the assorted pictures inside the book she had open in front of her, the Player’s Handbook was a wealth of information on everything the aspiring adventurer would ever need to survive in the wild and untamed worlds of fantasy and magic she was planning to partake in.

An eerily similar smirking face, minus the newly straightened brown hair, chose that moment to poke his head around her partially open door. “Because you actually think you have a chance of beating me at my own game. Or you might just enjoy searing headaches.” A tired but small half smile tugged at Samantha’s lips as she turned her head to look at her brother, who was currently leaning against the door to her room. “Either way, I find this thoroughly entertaining.”

“This might be your area of expertise, but I wouldn’t count me out of the fight anytime soon Sammy.” She replied before gesturing to the half filled character sheet that she had situated on the right of her open notebook. Even though she knew that he had the distinct advantage given his years of playing Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and a number of similar games throughout his life, that didn’t stop Samantha from closing her note book and hiding her character sheet before her brother could get a glimpse at what she had put together. Samuel was never one to cheat in anything he did, but she had never done anything like this before, so she felt the need to err on the side of caution. Something about unintentionally sharing the workings of her overworked brain didn’t sit well with her anyway. Besides, Samuel could be a huge jerk when it came to winning at D&D, of all things, or so she had learned over the course of his many years of playing with assorted friends. He had a tendency to share his exploits, long after she at least had stopped listening more times than not.

Ignoring the silent gesture of keeping her character information from his eyes, Samuel pushed away from the door and crossed the small distance between them in a few short steps. “Aww, really?” He hissed with a feigned, knowing wince. “Oh well, your call sis. I didn’t come up here to catch a peek at your girl anyway, mom just wanted to know if you’d be down for dinner.” Stopping at her desk, Samuel turned and leaned his butt against the hardwood surface, an action that would have usually gotten an annoyed glance, but this time he was mildly disappointed when Samantha didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow.

Looking at a wall mounted clock, Samantha groaned when she saw what time it was. “Shit, I’ve been up here, slogging through this mess, for that long? No wonder my eyes are about to fall out of my skull.” It had been about two when she’d started, and from what the clock on her wall said now, which was nestled between two posters of Rachel Platten and AC/DC respectively, it was closer to five thirty, almost six.

“Better hurry, your salad will get cold.” Her three and a half minute older sibling sarcastically muttered on his way out with a half hearted wave of his hand over his shoulder.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Samantha called after him and began to quickly stack up her books into a neat pile before putting her notebook away in a safe place, the character sheet for her noble born cleric tucked into its mostly clean white sheets of paper. Once that was taken care of, she stood to her feet, and winced as she then noticed that her right leg had fallen asleep. Grimacing as pins and needles raced down her long, muscular calf, Samantha had to shake her foot to and fro to restore some semblance of circulation. Once she was sure she could safely walk on it again, only then did she shut her bedroom door on her way out and head downstairs to the kitchen.

“Well look who finally decided to join the land of the living. And here I thought your brother was the only one who wasted his time with that fantasy crap.”

Samantha stopped, turned midstep, and gave her mother, Martha Hamilton Harrison, a warm, one armed hug before taking the offered salad bowl from her mother’s wrinkled but still strong hands. “Says the woman who binge watches a fantasy show. Anyone tell you about the Red Wedding yet? You’ll love it, very festive.”

“Don’t get smart with me little lady. You know nothing, Samantha Katrina Harrison.” Martha shot back, grinning in retort as she continued to bustle about the moderately well appointed kitchen they were able to afford. Samantha and Samuel both did their part in setting the table even as they shared an amused smirk behind the older Harrison’s back as their mother continued her running commentary. “But yes, one of the girls at the hospital already told me. I wanted to gouge her eyes out for ruining that particular dark turn of events.”

“At least she’d already be in a hospital.” Samuel quipped as he sat down at the table, and dug into a small bowl of salad alongside a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

“Eh, sad but true.” Martha shrugged and sat down with a tired but contented sounding sigh as she let her eyes sweep over the two young adults before her. It was an action both Harrison children expected from their mother, and they bore the slight concern and worry they could see on her face without complaint. “Just don’t do anything too crazy, especially if you plan to invite Erica along for your game or whatever it is. She’s a wild one that Erica.”

Samantha nodded, but was quick to protect one of her close friends, even though their mother’s worry was somewhat well founded in this instance. It was no secret to anyone that Erica Flynn was a rebellious young woman that listened to no one, least of all her own parents. Still, Samantha loved that about Erica, on most days, and while they had a far better relationship with their own mother, the twins understood why Erica was so determined to stand out. “Oh she’s not that bad mom, and don’t let the hair fool you. She’s just in one of her slightly less thought out rebellious moods is all.”

“Huh, wonder if I could talk her into making out. Now that would piss off her- OW! Hey!” Samuel rubbed at his forehead, glaring at his surprisingly actuate sister, and started to toss the offending meatball back at her, only to freeze mid throw when they caught the disapproving glare from their mother. A sheepish chuckle escaped Samuel’s lips before he popped the meatball into his mouth without another word.

“If only that had worked on your father.” Martha mused, getting lost in far less pleasant memories before the twins saw her shake her head of curly brown hair for a moment. It was streaked with its first hints of gray, but neither Samuel or Samantha mistook the first signs of old age as weakness on Martha’s part. She was still quite the fierce den mother when they, or anyone else, made the mistake of giving her attitude.

“But seriously, think I have a shot?” Samuel said with a laugh as Samantha glowered at him. Despite the jest, the change of subject was silently welcome by all of them.

“In your lowly pathetic dreams maybe.” Samantha muttered none too quietly, and stabbed another meatball on her own plate with her fork before popping it into her mouth.

“Well, I guess I could flirt with Laurie, might be fun to watch Wei squirm in the corner all night.” Sam said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, but the gleam in his eyes said he liked the idea of tormenting Wei in such a fashion.

“You’re despicable.” Samantha grumbled, but couldn’t help the flicker of an amused smirk from appearing on her face despite her efforts to contain it. Wei Yao was another of their good friends, and it was a badly hidden secret that he had a thing for Laurie Mattson. Everybody knew it, including her. The problem was, he hadn’t quite been able to work up the nerve and just ask her out.

As such, Samuel shrugged his shoulders again. “No I’m a pragmatist. And I accept the fact I have zero chance with Vanessa. Mr Pretty Boy will no doubt be trying to hit that.” Vanessa Hillas, and ‘Pretty Boy’, aka Sebastion Fletcher, had recently become a couple in the last few weeks. Not that Samuel really found Vanessa all that worth the effort, but he was still a guy, and she was a good looking woman. So naturally he couldn’t help but look anytime they were in the same room together.

“Samantha, what about that nice quiet boy, Nate right? You could do worse honey.” Martha chimed in, much to her daughter’s utter humiliation.

“Mom, no offense, but I think you’re the last person I’m gonna be taking dating advice from.” Grimacing the moment the words left her mouth, Samantha looked down for a moment as Martha’s mocha toned features hardened at the none too subtle snub she had let slip. “Sorry…” Samantha grimaced and looked away, unable to meet their mother’s gaze.

“No, you’re right, but I am trying to be helpful here dear.” Martha sighed but brushed off the remainder of the failed marriage and the end result of that whole, very messy, affair. That was a story none of them liked to talk about, but every now and again, someone brought it up.

In an effort to restore some of the earlier cheer that had been present in the small dining room slash kitchen, Samantha turned the conversation elsewhere. “But, for the record, his name’s Nathan.”

“Even better. Just like that actor you had a crush on when you were twelve. Didn’t he play the space cowboy?” Martha asked, but she knew the answer to her question. The little mischievous gleam that had returned to her brown eyes said as much. “Mmm, might of had to fight my own daughter for that man’s undivided attention.

“Mom! That was way too much information!” Samantha protested loudly as her cheeks turned several shades brighter.

“Hon? You’re twenty four years old, you’re a little old to be embarrassed by something like that.” Martha droned but smirked in no small amount of good natured satisfaction at having put Samantha on the defensive.

“And it wasn’t much of a secret anyway, especially since your diary didn’t have a lock.” Samuel added with a laugh as he speared another meatball.

“Ugh….you two are the worst.” Samantha growled under her breath before using her knife to stab two of her meatballs in one flick of her wrist.

“You planning to eat that or kill it?” Samuel said and nodded to the two little orbs of meat that were currently, slowly sliding down the length of the skinny blade that was sticking upright in the middle of the spaghetti pile.

“Better the meatballs than your crotch.” Samantha retorted without missing a beat, her almond eyes never leaving her brother’s face, a similar pair of almond eyes staring back at her.

Despite the threat of bodily harm hanging between them, Samuel didn’t flinch away in the slightest. “Wow, not taking the latest dumping well at all, I see.”

“Dumping? What’s he talking about sweetheart?” Martha asked, and looked towards Samantha just as she sighed and crossed her arms across her stomach.

“Tom and I, we decided to take a break.” She said after a few moments had passed of uncomfortable silence. There wasn’t much to say beyond that since there hadn’t been a loud argument between them or anything along those lines. They had just grown increasingly distant and Tom had eventually packed his stuff and walked out of their apartment right after their final exams. She had seen it coming, but it still hurt.

“More like he got bored.” Samuel muttered, just to get a reaction out of his sister, which came in the form of another meatball being flung at his head. This time though he was ready, and caught the projectile with his free hand before it too disappeared into his mouth.

“Don’t get discouraged hon, some men just can’t handle strong, independent women. And you!” Samuel couldn’t help flinching as a spatula was thrust in his face. Where their mother had been hiding the implement, neither of them knew, but it had the desired effect as Martha took control of the situation. “Be nicer to your little sister.”

“Alright alright.” He was quick to say before rubbing the back of his neck while Martha put the spatula down on the countertop behind her chair. “If it’s any consolation though little sis, I hated that little shit. You’re too good for a guy like that.”

“Well, it’s not like I dated Tom for his high intellect anyway.” Samantha informed him with a mischievous grin.

“Gross. Didn’t think you had it in you sis. Oh wait, you did.”

“Sometimes I wonder if you two will ever grow up from your constant bickering.” Martha said and shook her head at the pair before taking a sip from a glass of wine she had since poured herself before sitting down at the table again. “Can’t say it isn’t nice having you two home again for a while though.”

“Yeah well, we needed somewhere to crash for the summer, even though the AC being broken again makes it kind of difficult to function.” Samuel went on to tug the bottom of his shirt in an effort to generate some air to emphasize the ever present heat. An action that was hardly necessary, but it got the point across none the less.

“Maybe you should lose a few pounds, lardass.” Samantha muttered this time, and poked at her brother’s slightly swollen stomach with her fork before he could bat away her hand.

“It’s amazing no guy wants to stick around with such a charming personality like yours.”

“Enough already you two, your friends should be showing up any minute. Want me to break out the picture album? I’m sure they’d love to-” She never got a chance to finish as both of her children rose from the table at the same time, their chairs scraping across the hard linoleum in their haste.

“Thanks for dinner mom!” Samantha rapidly blurted out as she grabbed her plate and headed back upstairs.

“Yeah, what she said.” Samuel agreed, started away from the table, only to turn around and grab his own plate of half eaten spaghetti and its accompanying salad.

Having only half heard her brother behind her, Samantha was soon sitting at her desk, her books once more sprawled open in front of her as she began to take notes. Her plate of food she half heartedly poked as she continued the slow process of building her character, but it wasn’t until almost another hour passed and she hadn’t made any significant progress as she finished the last of her cleric’s spells and skills, that she came across something interesting on a page she hadn’t meant to flip to. A single word caught her eye, as did the accompanying picture and the explanation below it that told of half vampire, half human entities, called dhampirs.

The picture was of a raven haired, comely, tall, and slightly pale woman in studded, well polished brown leather armor. A curved blade was clenched tightly in her left hand, which was stretched outward towards a menacing looking full blooded vampire if the drops of blood running down the right side of his mouth were anything to go by, or the fangs that jutted from his upper teeth. The malevolent, smug, haughty look on his face only served to impress upon Samantha that the vampire lord believed himself to be the superior in the confrontation that had yet to unfold in the picture before her as his long, crimson red cape and dark blue vestments fluttered about on unseen winds, but from the grim, angry set of the woman’s jaw, Samantha was willing to bet the elder vampire was in for a fight he wouldn’t walk away from without more than a few scratches.

“Dhampir….” She said aloud, rolling the word around on her tongue as she leaned back in her computer chair, her pen locked between her thumb and forefingers of both hands. Staring at the largely empty space of her character’s background and history, the gears of her mind began to spin with renewed vigor. From what she understood, clerics of any goodly alignment were created for a handful of purposes, but the most prevalent of which, again from what she had gotten from the books she had rifled through, always seemed to be the elimination of undead creatures. It might not have been the most common idea, to create someone with vampiric traits to be such a driven, divinely empowered holy warrior, but it sounded quite intriguing to the ‘younger’ Harrison. “Well, she won’t be boring.” Samantha muttered to herself as she began to fill out her character’s history, that turned out to be far more extensive than she had initially planned by the time she finished.

When she finally stopped writing for the night, she had gone far beyond the space allotted on her character sheet’s background section and had used a page from her notebook to do the rest before tearing out the page to stick into a vanilla folder she had set aside for this very occasion. Once her papers were situated in the folder and the Player’s Handbook tucked under her right arm, Samantha nodded her approval of a job well done. “There, let no one say I do anything half assed.” Pushing away from her desk, Samantha turned in her computer chair and stood to her feet, only to stop when her almond eyes fell on the full length mirror that covered most of her door.

For but a moment she thought that she didn’t see her actual reflection, but rather it was as if she was looking at someone else. She still saw her dark skinned, athletic, muscular if slender frame, but for just a split second, perhaps from a trick of the low light in the room or her tired, exhausted mind playing tricks on her, Samantha swore she saw the shadow of an afterimage over her own reflection. While it was gone when she blinked, she could have sworn that for a moment, a similarly pale faced, tall, slender but fanged woman was staring back at her.

She had sharp, angular features to her face, her eyes were jade, luminescent orbs, and Samantha couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy at her illusionary self’s straight, lustrous raven locks that fell to and partially over the front and back of her shoulders, which in turn were partially covered by metallic guards that ran down the length of her arms. The armor went down to her feet, all of it made of heavy looking iron, and stopped at her neck, while the breastplate bore a symbol, that of scales with a greatspear serving as the balance between them. Chufen’s symbol, which made sense given his domain that centered around the law and war, and not always in that order.

With an exasperated shake of her head, she decided that she needed some time away from the guidebooks and all things dungeons related. Her mind was far too occupied by it if it decided to mess with her in such a fashion. After all, that was the only logical conclusion she could come to. Unless her brother had somehow managed to modify her mirror into some sort of hyper advanced HD TV, and could also look into her mind, but that was about as ridiculous as being able to call down divine fire with a wave of her hand.

Despite her disbelief in such things, she still had the irresistible urge to tap at the thin reflective surface with a fingernail. After making sure that no one could see her or was close to her door she slowly lifted her right hand and tapped the mirror’s surface with the nail of her index finger three times. Aside from the slight sound nothing else could be heard or otherwise observed, her reflection the same as ever stared back at her. “I need a drink.” Samantha softly mumbled to herself with another shake of her head. Leaving her door open behind her, she started down the hall, but stopped when her eyes fell on the right hand wall, and the line of family photos and pictures from various points in time, and felt her eyes drawn to one in particular.

Behind the glass and framed in a scratched, hardwood frame, Samantha’s almond eyes fell on the family of four, herself and Samuel standing before their mother, Martha, and their father who had his arm around their mother’s shoulders. All of them were smiling, happy, content, but it hadn’t lasted. It was one of the few pictures that were left that her mother had insisted in keeping of those far happier days, all the rest had either quietly disappeared into boxes in the attic or had been thrown out by herself or Samuel. But this last reminder of their life before things had gone to hell in a handbasket, coupled with her recent breakup with Tom after their final exams, had a bright, raw spike of rage spilling forth. Before she could stop herself, Samantha slammed a fist into the glass, hand already raised again for a second strike before she stopped herself. With a low growl she stomped away, leaving the dented, broken frame behind her, the cracks centered over her father’s face, obscuring his tan, handsome bearded face completely. To her, he alone was at fault for so many things in their lives, and sometimes she wished that she could do more than just glare or destroy his damnable photos. Samuel was the only one that bore witness to his sister’s momentary outburst, and remained silent as he watched from his partially open bedroom door.

Despite the differences he and his sister had he couldn’t say that he did not wish to do the same. He only held himself back since he doubted that he could stop himself before permanently destroying the memento, and while it meant little to him, his mother still valued it greatly. Blowing out a breath and running a hand through his short, straight brown locks, Samuel waited a few minutes to leave his room to give his sister time to calm down before following after her.

He found her in the kitchen helping herself to a bottle of beer. He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at that because his sister rarely if ever drank alcohol. The only conclusion he could come up with was that something was bothering her, which given how she had smashed the glass to the picture frame in the second floor hallway, was a likely conclusion. “What’s wrong? Has Tom called you? Begging you to take him back? To be an ass?”

“No nothing of the sort… Well I still think about the bastard from time to time, but I can’t help it. It’s pretty recent after all.” Samantha muttered as she slammed the fridge door shut.

“True, but not recent or severe enough to drink alcohol, so what’s going on?” Samuel wondered aloud, getting the feeling it was a little more severe than his sister’s recent breakup with Tom.

Samantha didn’t answer right away as she started away from the kitchen counter. She instead took a second pull from the bottle and gave the cold liquid a moment to slide down her throat before speaking further. “It’s… just the mirror freaked me out for a moment. Probably read too much about your crappy fantasy game.”

“Wow sis, you’re on fire. Reading so much that you start fantasising about D&D? I am so proud.” Samuel said with a smirk and waggled his eyebrows challengly. “Or are you already getting cold feet?”

“Bite me.” She retorted, and playfully, if firmly, shoved Samuel back before moving to collect her book and folder from the living room table where she had left them. Just as she started to head towards the basement, beer in one hand and her strange, to her, collection of notes and books under her other arm, the doorbell rang. Before she could begin to answer, Samuel beat her to it.

Upon seeing who was on the other side, Samuel chuckled and offered the first of Samantha’s friends to arrive a playful smirk. “Hey Wei, what’s the delay?”

“Ten years and you still can’t come up with a better joke.” Wei chortled and slapped a hand on Samuel’s shoulder before he was admitted into the Harrison home. “Sam, looking as fine as ever. The basement cleaned up or does it still look like the set of an old horror show?”

“Good to see you too Wei.” Samantha’s eyes sparkled and danced in cheer at the young man’s greeting. “The basement’s good, no more skeletons hanging from the ceiling, promise.”

“Yeah, but grab a mop will ya? Still got blood on the floor from a few of our previous frie- I mean victims.” Samuel snarked with a smug grin, amused eyes never leaving the form of his friend.

“Ah good, because Laurie sent me a few emails earlier, wanted to make sure the laptop she was letting me borrow didn’t end up covered in old, half rotted pizza slices or blood splatters.” Holding up the computer in question, Wei gently nudged the door shut behind him with his foot before following after Samantha while Samuel took a seat on the living room couch, his barefeet soon resting on the table’s surface. “She’s finicky about her tech our Laurie, but I can’t say I blame her.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

“By the way whose turn is it to sacrifice their laptop so that Nathan can join us?” Samuel asked and looked at his twin sister. “Yours? I mean he is more your friend then mine, but if yours is broken, ‘cough’ again ‘cough’, you can take mine.” Samuel stated as he dug around the couch’s cushions before his hand came up with the TV remote. “Anyway, I’ll be here, it ain’t my game night tonight anyway, so there’s no point in my being downstairs. Still, say hello to Erica from me, if I don’t get the chance.” He finished while suggestively waggling his eyebrows until his sister threw a cushion at his face.

“We will. See ya Sammy.” Wei said and bounded down the stairs by gracefully leaping over the railing, much to Martha’s horror as she chose that moment to walk into the living room. A soft thud was heard followed by a groan when he hit the ground. “I’m fine… I think. I didn’t hear anything snap at least.”

“Crazy idiot’s gonna break his damned neck one of these days.” Samantha heard her mother say under her breath, but she didn’t believe a word of it. Wei might not have been the most cautious person around, but he was the most surefooted person she knew. “Samantha, tell your brilliant tech friend, don’t even think about dating that boy until he’s got himself some decent life insurance.”

“Your concern is as touching as ever Mrs. Harrison.” Wei called from the bottom of the stairs as he turned to look over his shoulder at Samantha. “Your mom’s got a point though, but I sometimes just can’t help myself.”

“I know Wei, I know. Just… try to be less adventurous? For Laurie’s sake? She’s got enough to worry about without adding a broken neck to her list of concerns.” Samantha said to her rather energetic companion as she caught up with Wei, just as he nudged open the basement door.

The basement was large and comfortably appointed. A couple of couches were situated around a large, metal table that would have looked better on a patio than in the middle of the basement. The sliding glass door on the far side of the somewhat clutter filled area faced the stairs, which gave an unobstructed view of the small backyard and the fence the ran the perimeter of the otherwise large space. A pool table dominated the area just besides the stairs, as did a washer and dresser that rested against the wall next to the pool table.

“And while we’re at it, maybe we’ll get you a nice shiny new spine so you’ll finally ask her out.” Samantha said as she stepped around the couch, and sat down with a softly exhaled sigh.

“Hey! It’s not my fault, it’s just… she is so perfect you know? I don’t want to mess this up, she’s my friend and I don’t want to ruin that, you know?” Wei babbled and Samantha had to admit that she was almost surprised that his eyes didn’t transform into hearts in cartoon fashion while he babbled on and on. Still, she was grateful that despite his babbling he didn’t run into any walls, distracted as he was as he soon plopped down on the couch next to her own.

“So, still rolling that badass wood elf ranger?” Samantha asked as she slapped down her folder, her book, and her half finished beer on the table. The only reason she knew what a wood elf ranger was was because like Samuel, Wei had more than a passing interest in anything Dungeons and Dragons related, so she had had to sit through his exploits on more than one occasion. Unlike Samuel though, Wei simply enjoyed the chance to tell his character’s story, regardless if he’d been on the winning side of a long running campaign or not, so in his case, Samantha was happy to listen to him talk about the capable, long lived ranger in question.

“Nah, my new one is way better!” Wei boasted with a proud grin before his cheeks turned several shades brighter just as quickly. “Laurie… helped me to come up with the idea. It’s a surprise, so don’t even bother asking.”

Samantha would have lied if she had claimed to be surprised. For Wei, Laurie was an integral part of all of this. Still she couldn’t help but admire him for it, he never treated Laurie any differently despite her disability. Even when she was clearly struggling, she could tell that Laurie appreciated it. On the other hand, Wei could always somehow find the joy in life.

One of her best memories was watching Laurie streaking down a hill, screaming in a mix of terror and excitement with Wei hanging onto the back of her chair, laughing like a madman. While not the safest idea, to be sure, both of them had come out of the occasion in one piece, and Laurie hadn’t been able to hide the ear splitting grin that had been on her face for the rest of that bright, cheery spring day a few years back. That was just one of many examples she could come up with when Wei had brought them all to tears of laughter or at the very least, had given them a reason for some much needed smiles. If Laurie was the brain of their little group, then he most definitely was the heart.

When the sliding door opened up, presenting the third of their little group, Samantha couldn’t help but shoot the young woman in question a wry grin as Erica dusted her torn, dirty jeans off with her hands. “Damn, hopping that fence in your backyard, not as easy as I thought it’d be.” Erica Flynn was hard to define, but she had her own valued part in their little group of friends. She might have been the rebellious, independent aspect of them all, but it was hard to find a better person to have at your back if you were able to gain her trust.

“You do realise that we have a perfectly fine front door upstairs right?” She snarked back and rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics, though the smile never left her face. “It’s still working last time I checked.”

“And listen to another lecture from your mom? Nah, I’ll pass thanks. ‘Sides, I’m not exactly in my Sunday best, or did ya miss the bright blue and pink highlights?” Erica gestured to her brightly colored hair for emphasis before flopping herself down on the other couch, which put her right next to a slightly uncomfortable looking Wei. “Don’t get me wrong SamSam, I love your mum, but I know what she thinks about me. Trust me, better we avoid each other as much as possible. ‘Least she’s bearable to be around though.”

She just shrugged in response, knowing that it would be futile for her to try and convince her friend otherwise. Erica and Martha had never seen eye to eye, and while they had had their arguments, Samantha knew that Erica really did like her mother. They just had a strange way of showing it was all.

Wei, having since gotten the laptop Laurie had let him borrow set up on the table, gave a little triumphant shout when he pulled up the Skype program and saw there was a waiting vid request from the last of their group. “Nathan’s on. Activating feed, now.” A few quick pecks at the keyboard and a click of the mouse had the video feed window popping up on the screen before Wei spun the computer around so the webcam was facing the group at large. “Mic check, testing. Testing. How’s the weather out there Nate?”

“Is that you Wei? I thought I saw you for a second. New York sucks, thanks for asking.” Nathan replied, his face and upper torso visible. There was a glass of water beside him as he looked at the screen in front of him, headset over his ears and microphone close to his mouth. “How are you guys?”

“We’re good Nate.” Samantha told him with a smile, but on the inside she was shocked. Nathan had never been one to display too much emotion, but now the cheer that had always been just below the surface was gone. His face looked tired and haggard, and she could easily spot the tension he was trying to hide. Not too surprising, last she had heard, was that his parents, the last of his family, had been killed in an traffic accident, and the guy who did it was still at large, having fled the scene.

“So… how are you doin?” Wei asked tentatively, and looked to the other two for guidance, not sure how to proceed. When Samantha and Erica could only shrug and shake their heads, uncertainty on their respective faces, he rolled his eyes at them and turned back to the laptop.

Nathan sighed but ran a hand across half of his stubble covered face. “Better, now, still probably about as well as can be expected given… what happened.” With that he lifted his glass to his lips to take a sip of water. Holding it aloft before him, he glanced into the clear liquid, like he was trying to find answers in the glass.

“Well, we’ll always be here for ya Nate.” Erica stated, surprising them slightly since she wasn’t one for emotional support. “Did they at least get the bastard who did it?”

All three of them almost jumped out of their chairs when the glass in his hand shattered, its shards burrowing themselves in his flesh. “No, and that’s what’s really got me upset.” Nathan stated flatly before getting up to clean up the mess without a single noise of discomfort from the glass shards now sticking out of his hand. “No matter what happens… I- I will always hate that guy for this.” He finished bitterly, his voice as audible as ever, even after he left the camera frame.

Erica grimaced, and while it was no secret that she wasn’t the most sensitive person when it came to other people’s feelings, Samantha still fought the urge to slap the shit out of the multicolor haired woman not five feet away from her. It was moments like these that she wondered how they hadn’t killed each other, but she pushed that to the side as she instead addressed the webcam once Nathan had gotten himself put back together, his hand bandaged in white cloth, minus the glass shards that had embedded themselves in his skin. “I know this is going to sound trite, Nathan, but you don’t have to be here for this. You can take a few days, a week, whatever. We’d understand.”

“I know… but it’s either that or stare at photographs from… long ago. Wondering what could have been, remembering what I have lost. I- I need this. Something different for a change. My boss sent me home anyway. I worked myself to the ground as long as I could but… it wasn’t helping.” He replied quietly, dark eyes far away before he shook himself out of it and offered them a shaky smile.

“Only wish I could give you a big hug buddy, oh wait I can!” Wei made a big show of embracing the laptop, and was rewarded with the sound of soft chuckling from hundreds of miles away a moment later. “There, see, I’ve still got my uses even with a few state lines between us Nate.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t get a big head Wei.” Erica chortled but nodded as he took his spot on the couch next to the computer on the table. “So, we ready to get this shit going or what?”

“Yes, I believe I am, and Wei, thanks.” Nathan told his friends softly, still looking as tired and haggard as before, but to Samantha’s eyes, perhaps just the slightest bit less tense. It was an improvement, and that was enough in Samantha and the rest of the group’s collective opinions.

“I’m good.” Erica said as she held up a folder with dozens of bright, punk rock stickers and scrawlings covering the front of the black folder in her hand. Samantha followed her example and nodded to the plain faced vanilla folder on her side of the table. Wei just smiled as he slapped down his own binder full of information for his character, but made no move to open up the brown and beat up binder in question. He was keeping the others in suspense, even as Erica casually flipped open her folder without a care in the world and began to haphazardly arrange her papers on her side of the table before digging out a small wooden box full of assorted dice.

“Now as you all know, we entered Laurie in that G&S Super Critter contest, and I have a little surprise for all of you....” Samantha began, but was, unsurprisingly interrupted almost immediately.

“Wait… Laurie is part of this? Is she in the other team because then I have to point out that we should watch our backs when Wei is around.” Nathan said quietly, perhaps a weak attempt at a joke, but it certainly also contained some truth.

“Wait, what contest?” Wei asked, utterly confused at the massive smiles on his friends’ faces.

“Like we were going to tell you about it. One sexy raised eyebrow from Laurie and you would have spilled your guts.” Erica said with a grin and chuckled to herself.

“Hmmm…..yeah you’re probably right.” Wei admitted and shrugged his shoulders. “But seriously, what contest?” He asked a moment later and looked towards his friends expectantly for an explanation.

Taking that as her cue, Samantha looked towards Wei. “The short story is that the contest required us to tell the guys at G&S why they should show our D&D adventure on one of their ever expanding list of shows. With them getting increasingly bigger, doing live shows, and all the charity work they do, they had a contest to try and draw in the potentially next big thing to continue their good work. Well, we presented Laurie to them, half expecting not to win, and even if we didn’t, they’d have likely shown our entry to the audience at home during one of their shows or something.”

“So you basically pimped out Laurie, good to know.” Wei chuckled but gestured for Samantha to go on.

Rolling her brown eyes at the jest, Samantha did just that. “Imagine our surprise when I got an email back a couple weeks later, saying that they wanted to try and give us a shot. We might not be famous voice actors or anything, but considering the fact Critical Role started in a similarly humble setting, it’s not so outlandish to imagine the possibility. Besides, we did this for Laurie, not our own personal fame or notoriety.” Samantha playfully rubbed at her stunned friend’s shoulder and causally added in one more thing, almost as an afterthought. “Oh, and by the way, we’re giving you all the credit for this. You’re welcome.”

The closest thing they had ever seen to sheer terror slowly crept over Wei’s handsome features. “What? B-but what if she hates it?” Wei asked with panic in his voice.

“She’s fully aware of this, genius.” Erica shot back immediately. “It was all she could talk about, hell, she’s still giddy about it. It’s been torture for her not to tell you if you must know.”

“Really?” Wei asked shyly, as a blush spread across his face.

“Does that truly surprise you?” Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow, his dark brown eyes glinting with amusement for a moment. “You do realize that even I am aware just how inseparable you two are? And I’m halfway across the country.” Wei shot his friend the bird, which had Nathan’s small smile widening a little in response to the rare outburst from their normally cheerful companion.

“Nathan, would you like to do the honors and introduce our guest?” Samantha asked as she pulled a hidden laptop from under the couch and started to set it up. “No worries guys, they won’t have to share for long.”

“With pleasure.” A few taps on his side of the world later, and a secondary window appeared next to Nathan’s own, signaling that he had opened his own window to their Dungeon Master to make communication easier. “Team, may I introduce the uh… it’s called Dungeon Master right?”

“Yup.” Wei replied impatiently, eyes fixed on the still blank video chat window of the second laptop once Samantha got the machine powered up.

“Alright, in that case may I introduce you to our Dungeon Master for the evening?” Nathan said with a light smile and bowed theatrically as the image next to his own brightened up, and gave the group their first look at the man of the hour himself at last.

Samantha and Erica shared a matching, wide grin when Wei’s jaw fell to his lap in awe inspired shock and surprise. “Holy shit! I ah mean, it’s awesome you’re actually willing to DM for us....”

The hearty, cheerful laugh that got from their Dungeon Master was followed by a half hearted, dismissive wave. “I get that a lot. But when I heard about your friend and your tales, I found it hard not to give this group a shot. You’re the lucky winners after all, G&S and their insane contest ideas, and this is the result.” The complaint was met with a round of sympathetic chuckles since they couldn’t begin to imagine how busy the leading man for Critical Role was on a regular day, and now he had this to worry about on top of everything. Despite this, the warm smile on the man’s face said he wasn’t bothered so much by this latest addition to his already busy life. “But from what I’ve been told about your characters and the world you’ve put together with a little help from yours truly, I think we’ll gonna be just fine. So, you all understand what’s expected then since this is gonna be all over the net?”

“Yeah, we read the fine print.” Ercia droned, but couldn’t help but grin despite her utterly bored tone. They were all excited for the same reason though. Having entered Laurie into a contest ran on the ultimate site for all things nerdy and Dungeons and Dragons related, they’d been the lucky winners out of thousands of applications. Of course she felt pretty good about where this could potentially go if it all went well.

“Oh, and no swearing. Just kidding, say whatever the hell you want, more spontaneous that way.”

“So just act natural?” Nathan asked, cocked his head to the side, and shrugged. “I think I can do that.”

“Cool. So, let’s go around, introduce ourselves, and go from there. We’ll practice a few times so it becomes almost second nature when we get the actual feed going. Tech guys are taking their sweet time on this end, so we have time to get comfortable with our respective roles. Samantha, mind leading this little party?”

“Huh? Oh right, of course.” Samantha said, and finally began to pull out her assorted information sheets and notes before following Erica’s example and dug out her newly acquired box of dice for the evening. The fact that they were hand me downs from her mother of all people, said a lot about the kind of person their mother had been in her youth many years ago. Despite her not understanding their fascination with D&D, the idea she had given it a try herself when she was much younger had netted Martha a lot of brownie points from Samuel and Wei. The gift of the old, treasured dice might have been better received by her brother, but Samantha still treated the objects with a reverence and deference she still found a little surprising.

“So….how do you want to do this?” Their DM asked as he and the rest of the group waited patiently for Samantha to get herself situated.

“Okay honestly, you ever get sick of saying that?” Wei chimed in, now that his initial shock and surprise had ran its course and he was able to think in complete sentences again.

The DM chuckled once more, and shrugged in response. “Not really. It’s nice to see all that wonderful joy on my friends’ faces when they’ve come out the other side of a fight with most of their body parts still attached.”

“That’s reassuring.” Erica droned in retort.

“Isn’t it?” He asked with a kind, if mischievous, smile.

“Okay, I think I’m good here.” Samantha said as she turned back to the second computer, only to see Wei was already on top of it. A few clicks later and he’d gotten the Skype feed going so that Nathan no longer had to share the screen with the Dungeon Master.

Picking up on Samantha’s nervousness despite the vast distance between them, said DM made it a point to try to get her to loosen up. “Alright, word of advice Samantha? Don’t think about all those people that will be watching. Just have fun, be yourself, you’ve seen the shows by now, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how crazy we get on the set.”

“I’ll try… it’s just I never really expected this. But no turning back now.” Samantha said, which was more than enough for her friends to know that now that she had said it aloud, she wouldn’t be turning back. Once Samantha came to a decision, she rarely ever changed her mind on seeing her decisions through to the very end.

“Nope. I will say this though, you certainly know how to get your feet wet. First time D&D game and you choose to plaster it all over the web.”

“Who dares, wins.” Nathan replied simply and gave a shrug. “Or at least dares.”

“Might be a good time for Shepard’s prayer. To paraphrase, please gods, don’t let Samantha fuck this up.” Wei quipped with a laugh. “The Astronaut, not the Commander.” He clarified when Erica gave him a mildly puzzled look.

“We won’t talk about the ending.” Erica muttered once her unspoken question had been answered before impatiently waving her hand at Samantha. “So come on already, tell us about your character SamSam.”

“Alright already.” Samantha grumbled, but she picked up her character sheet and its accompanying sheet of notepaper before leaning against the back of the couch. Taking a steadying breath, she let her brown eyes sweep over the things she had written down one last time, committing the notes to memory, and looked up towards the webcam that was above their DM’s window. “Alright, I only finished her a little bit ago, but the highlights are that she’s a noble born human with a dark secret. She’s a dhampir, a half vampire.”

“Oh, now that was not what I was expecting. Most people tend to stick with the classics, especially for their first game. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, but I’m all for the unexpected.”

Samantha couldn’t help but relax at the praise their DM gave her before she continued. “Thanks. Anyway, her name’s Katarina De Leon. Sorry, that’s Lady Katarina Francesca Cristina De Leon. She was raised not by her parents, but by her mother’s side of the family. Her mother left her on her aunt’s doorstep before disappearing into the night to catch up with her vampire lover. Despite being born a cursed being, Katarina had a relatively normal upbringing, outside of her father’s dark and corruptive influence. When she found out the truth, Katarina swore to hunt down her father and find the truth of why her mother had done this to her, so she became a cleric of Chufen. Once she had finished her training and she felt confident she could survive the journey, she left the safety of her adoptive family’s home, and hasn’t turned back.”

Their DM nodded his head in approval once Samantha had finished her character’s story. “Well, that’s definitely some pretty powerful motivation, I’ll give ya that. So now I have to come up with an appropriately Strahd like undead overlord on top of everything else, good to know.”

“There’s no rush.” Samantha was quick to say. Even though she didn’t have the experience of being a DM in any capacity, she could therefore only imagine the massive amount of work and preparation that went into the process of keeping the countless people, monsters, stats, and settings straight. That said, it had to have been quite the undertaking just to gather all of the information together, let alone put it together in such a way that made sense and gave virtually limitless possibilities for adventure and excitement.

“Oh that wasn’t a complaint, but let me make a note of the highlights real quick.” Tapping at an unseen document on his side of their shared connection, the DM took a moment to examine his work before nodding his approval once more. Clearing his throat once he was sure he had gotten everything right, a horrific gasping growl filled the basement. “How’s this for dear old dad?”

“Um, perfect?” Samantha said with a wince, wondering how the man could even still speak after using such a painful sounding voice. On the other hand, their DM was probably the most skilled voice actor she had ever seen, thanks in no small part because of her recent binge watching of every episode of Critical Role to date.

“Wow, this guy doesn’t mess around. I suddenly feel hopelessly underprepared.” Erica muttered and sent a worried glance at her sheet about the same time an involuntarily shudder went down her spine at the change of voice.

“You’re worried? How do you think I feel?” Wei muttered at her and began to frantically check his notes. “This has to be perfect.”

“Wei, ease up, you’re driving yourself crazy.” Nathan advised calmly and tried to give his friend a reassuring smile, he managed to do so but with it was evident that it was rather difficult for him.

“Sorry… it’s just…” Wei stopped and shook his head in embarrassment.

“On a totally unrelated topic Wei, are you familiar with Greek Mythology?” Nathan asked, which had the desired effect of distracting the nervously sweating Wei.

“What? No, not really.”

“Well according to the myths, humans originally had four arms and legs, a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, thus condemning them to spend their lives searching for their other halves.” Nathan told his friend with a straight face. “A beautiful sentiment, don’t you think?”

“.........Right.” Wei deadpanned, but the smirk that had replaced his worried frown was proof enough that Nathan’s little lesson had worked.

“Not gonna lie, I want you right now, just saying.” Erica told him with a grin, and chuckled softly when Nathan blushed bright red.

The look on their DM’s face said that he was finding it incredibly difficult not to laugh at the antics playing out before him. “Yep, I can already tell how this is going to play out.” He mused, before a chuckle escaped him at last as he nodded to Wei. “Well since you volunteered, you’re next.”

“Well...alright then.” Wei blew out a breath and nodded as he tried to get comfortable. Shifting about on the couch with both laptops within easy reach, Wei picked up his own character information before flicking his gaze towards his group of friends. “Once more unto the breach and all that right?”

“Hold it flyboy, I’m up next.” Erica said, drawing everyone’s attention towards her as she stole the metaphorical spotlight.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2:  The High Elf Bard