Nathan stared at the schedule in confusion. He had been certain that he had a shift tomorrow and the day after, yet the schedule before him claimed that he was free for the next three days. Something he didn’t necessarily welcome as his common tactic in the past few weeks was to work himself to the brink of utter exhaustion, drag himself home, and get some hopefully dreamless sleep. The work he did as a sort of intern in the hospital usually ensured that he was tired enough for that. Instead he was forced to try and figure out who had gone around his head and changed what had been set in stone as far as he was concerned.

“What is this?” He muttered under his breath and glared at the offending piece of paper as if it were responsible for the change. It wasn’t, but it made him feel a little better to stare at the offending schedule as if he expected it to burst into flames under his accusatory glare.

“I figured you’d say that.” Alexandra, one of the nurses, the head nurse to be precise, said from the side. “Look, Nate… I know what you’re trying to do, but you aren’t gonna do anyone any good working yourself to death. So take the next three days off, I mean it. No sneaking in like you did last week. If you show up, you’re fired.”

An ultimatum, he should have expected it, but he had counted on their desperate need for everyone willing to help. The hospital was understaffed on a good day, so for her to give him three whole days pretty much screamed how concerned she was about him. A part of him was even touched by the gesture, the greater part though was annoyed by her insistence on meddling with his affairs. As such, nathan turned to Alexandria, his face twisted into an angry, if hurt, sneer. “You’re bluffing, you need all the help you can get, and I’m practically slave labor, so don’t worry about the overtime.”

“Try me, you should know by now I don’t bluff. You’re putting yourself and everyone around you at risk.” Alexandria replied coolly, but even as she berated him for his recent attempt to grind himself into the dirt, Nathan couldn’t help but give ground under her unerring gaze. As loath as he was to admit it, he knew that she was genuinely worried about him, which made it that much harder to refuse the direct order to get himself put back together again.

“Fine.” He muttered and nodded at her in defeat, though he despised the fact that she was right. When she turned around to take care of more pressing matters, he sighed in utter defeat and made his way back to the changing room. He didn’t take much with him, but he could hardly walk around the hospital with his street jacket. With a few muttered goodbyes, he gave his colleagues his farewells when he met them. Thankfully the changing room itself was empty since he hated to be drawn into the vacuous conversations that often took place in there. The last week alone had been mostly about him, how he felt and other things he didn’t want to talk about.

As if summoned by his thoughts however, Henry Melzer, one of his fellow orderlies, made a point of stopping him on his way through the front lobby as he gave him one sympathetic, worried look, and just couldn’t stop himself from offering the same empty platitudes and ‘comforting words’ everyone had been spouting as of late. It hadn’t helped before and it certainly wasn’t going to help now, but the annoyed glance Nathan gave the man in question didn’t seem to register. “Hey Nathan, you okay man? Listen ah, if you ever need to-”

So much for empty. He thought rather annoyed, it wasn’t that he didn’t like the guy, but he just hated the question and its usually accompanying promise of assistance, couldn’t hear it anymore after everyone he had ever known and then some had asked him that exact same thing multiple times over the course of the past week alone. Instead of giving him a piece of his mind though and telling him where he could stick his concern, Nathan gave Henry a small, sad little smile and nodded his head. “Thanks, Henry. But right now I just want to go home for a bit and sleep.”

“That’s… good. So… I guess I’ll see you in three days?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He replied with a shrug and walked past the young man. “Take care till then.”

“Yeah… you too.” Henry said quietly and clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Something Nathan hoped would be different when he talked to his friends, his real friends anyway. The fact that people acted like they were stepping on eggshells around him was slowly driving him crazy. He would have appreciated it far more if they would just treat him like… before.

As he walked through the corridors of the hospital, his nose was once again assaulted by the strong smell of antiseptics. It didn’t bother him, at least not anymore, but when he’d been a child he had hated that sickly sweet smell. Now though he welcomed it, because it was at least one constant thing in his life. Still, he had played with the thought of changing where he planned to finish his internship. Not because of the people, despite the last couple of weeks that had pushed the boundaries of his limited patience, but because his parents had been brought here.

Even when you’re not trying to learn, and Nathan most definitely wanted to learn even then, you picked up things, patterns of behavior, body language, posture. So when he had seen the faces of the doctors and the defeated looks on their faces, he’d already known that his parents wouldn’t make it. When he had seen them… he was fairly sure he could have diagnosed every injury they had suffered. Perhaps he could have, but he hadn’t wanted to, he had just wanted to help them. Not that his wish had been granted in any shape or form.

With these thoughts in mind, he turned around the corner and was finally able to see the doors that would let him out of this accursed building. His joy though was short lived when he saw a lighting bolt race across the darkened sky. Rain, nothing was as frequent in New York as the rain that seemed to plague the city without pause.

“Great, just fucking great.” Nathan growled and marched towards the doors with a scowl etched on his face. The curse of being a bicyclist was that, while you saved a small fortune on gas which made living in the city that much easier to bear, you were left vulnerable to the mercy of the weather’s whims. But such thoughts as the weather and what it foretold were blasted from his mind when the next lightning strike gave him pause, because in the light of the weather phenomenon, he could see his reflection in the glass doors. Except that it was not his reflection that greeted him, as it had countless times before. Like a ghostly afterimage he could see a young man standing in his place, a young man with something otherworldly about him.

The man stood taller than his own average height of five foot six inches, and possessed snow white hair that almost seemed to reach his shoulders at the sides and at least partly fell into his eyes. Though the hair failed to hide the darkness within his eye sockets, for all intents and purposes it seemed as if they opened into a gateway into a cold and unforgiving abyss, slowly drawing the observer in and promising only terror. The clean shaven face was stoic and expressionless in stark contrast to his own surprised expression. His skin was a pale ash gray and he was tall and wiry, possessing the body of an agile if strong fighter. Not only that, but if the being’s bottomless, black eyes weren’t enough, Nathan was certain he could see glowing, orangish red veins that began to pulse and crackle with a hellish fire before they faded, leaving the being’s pale gray skin otherwise unremarkable.

The black leather coat which ended in three separate coattails had a silver lining running across the edges, and seemed to flutter in an unseen wind. A lone, slender plainly adorned longsword hung in a leather belt that held up his equally dark, silver lined leather pants which were tucked into well worn brown boots. Despite his rough, dirt streaked appearance, Nathan couldn’t help but sense a kind of quiet, stoic air about the otherwise frightening demonic figure in front of him. Even when the pale skinned demonic being smiled a little, displaying sharpened teeth that ended in sharp little points in his mouth, the almost palpable aura of confidence undercut by a layer of quiet wisdom and strength was hard to ignore.

Before he could study this hallucination brought upon by sleep deprivation more, it disappeared, but once it had disappeared, he could see an older woman standing just behind the glass doors, having trouble closing her umbrella. A trick of the light, nothing more. He thought with a relieved smile, but it sure as Hell hadn’t felt like a simple trick of the light. That had been too vivid and realistic, despite the otherworldly appearance of his altered reflection, to have been a simple trick of the light.

The reflection he now faced was one he was intimately familiar with, for it was his own face that stared him down with those dark brown eyes he had inherited from his mother. The dark brown hair on his head had gotten so long that he would probably need to visit a hairdresser soon, and the stubble on his, admittedly surprisingly bland, boring face, was also rather unwelcome. He just hadn’t had the energy to shave in the last few days.

With a shake of his head, Nathan moved to open the door and hold it open so that the older woman could enter without further trouble. “Thank you, young man.” The woman said with a smile and nodded her head in gratitude.

“No problem.” Nathan replied with a nod of his own before he stepped outside to brave the power of wind and rain. His mood soured further when he noticed that it was even worse than he had first anticipated as he had to brace himself slightly when a strong breeze threatened to knock him off his feet. It didn’t help any that the rain was being blown right into his face by the wind no matter how much he pulled his hood down. With another grumble he ran to his bike, which of course was as wet as everything around it since the flimsy cover that was meant to protect it from the elements was being anything but sufficient.

Despite all those uncomfortable factors, he was still undoubtedly far faster than any car on the city streets. Far too many of them were trying to get home and were thus blocking each other’s way, something he could and did outright avoid. Despite that, he arrived at his flat looking like someone who had just jumped into the ocean, wet to the bone and probably not that far from hypothermia.

As fast as he could he chained his bike to the nearest bike rack, before doubling back to the door to his flat. Fumbling with the keys for a moment as he ran up a flight of stairs, he unlocked the door with a sigh of relief, glad to be finally out of the cold rain and stepped into his ‘home’. Pulling the wet jacket off himself, he shook his head before carrying it to his laundry container and throwing it in with a bit more force than necessary. The rest of his clothes quickly followed.

Now naked he stepped into the shower and turned it on, gasping in not quite joy as the warm water hit him and began to warm his freezing body. He knew that he’d bee under the shower far longer than necessary when it started to grow steadily colder by the time he stepped out, but at least he felt better afterwards. After he dried off and put on some new clothes, he checked the clock with a tired glance. He still had enough time to eat something and then lie down for about two hours before the others would be expecting him. Or at least two hours of staring blankly at the ceiling since sleep wouldn’t come easily, if it came at all.

His dinner was nothing fancy, just the remnants of the day before, but it had been enough to keep him going for a while longer. All things considered though, he didn’t really care about much else at that moment. And despite his doubts about being able to sleep, he nonetheless lay down on his couch and stared at his ceiling, brows furrowing in thought, and hoped that he’d be able to get at least a little rest before that night’s activities.

Unable to quiet his mind, an image of the strange man he had seen reflected in the glass came unbidden and unwanted. He knew who and what the image was supposed to be, Nathan had written him up with the express idea of using him for his character for his first game of D&D, but once he took a moment to think about it, he couldn’t help realizing that the darkness he had seen in those abysmal eyes matched the pain and guilt he saw in the mirror every time he dared to look these days. Instead of continuing to waste time on making sense of something that was impossible in the first place, a low growl escaped him and he turned around so that he was facing the windows instead of the ceiling, before Nathan closed his eyes stubbornly.

His eyes snapped open when the ringing of an alarm clock filled his small flat. Confused, he looked at the clock and was surprised to see that he had been able to sleep for almost two hours, and no dreams had interrupted him this time. Problem was that he was still so very tired, he glanced at his laptop. For a moment he considered writing his friends an email, apologizing but telling them that he wouldn’t be able to come tonight. They would accept it, they’d likely even encourage him even but what good would that do? No, he wouldn’t duck out on them, and besides, having gotten some unexpected rest, Nathan felt better for it.

Furthermore, he knew precisely how he would spend his time if he did turn tail and ran from this. He’d stare at photos, reading their last emails or whatsapp messages again and again. Or even worse, stand in front of their graves for hours on end and stare unseeing at the gravestones. If any of his friends knew that he once had spent an entire night like that, there would be hell to pay. Their more energetic members, like Wei, would probably even fly to New York to coach him in ‘how not to be an idiot’. While the gesture would have been heartfelt, it was something he wouldn’t allow if he could help it because for one, it’d have been terribly inconvenient for his friends to go to such lengths for his sake, and two, he just didn’t have it in him to endure such treatment in the first place. No, it was better for everyone if he didn’t give them a reason to worry in the first place.

Aside from that he could do with the distraction, something to do over his usual, dreary and dull routine. And if he were being honest with himself then he would rather make sure that Laurie had some fun than allow himself to sit around and sink into depression. Well, more so than he’d done already anyway, but that wasn’t something he tried to think about. With that in mind he made his way to the laptop that sat alone on his dining room table, and turned it on. Thinking briefly about the character he had created, and the image he had seen in the glass on his way home, Nathan had to wonder, briefly, if there was something more at work than simple sleep deprivation and grief playing tricks on him?

With a shake of his head, he prepared everything for the upcoming evening. Headset, webcam, character information and notes that came in a tidy, organized binder with a black, clean cover, something to drink and eat, and a small watch that he put on the table in front of him. His friends would see that he was online, so until they contacted him, he could use the time and try to calm down and do something productive with his hands.

As productive as taking a watch apart for example, checking every little detail for the hundredth time, before putting it back together could be. The last few days he had had to abstain though, far too much grief, anger and other emotions had been on the forefront of his mind to even consider taking the delicate mechanisms apart. His grandfather had taught him everything he knew about making and maintaining watches, and as odd as it might have sounded to the casual observer, there was something calming about tinkering with such a delicate instrument that had a single purpose in its existence, and that was to keep track of the passage of what so many took for granted. Time.

And speaking of time, this particular wind up watch had been in his family for many generations. His grandfather had originally built it, before eventually giving it to his son before his father had eventually given it to him. A few parts had to be replaced during all that time, but it was still very much the watch that his grandfather had created when he himself had been an apprentice watchmaker under his own father. And perhaps, just perhaps Nathan felt closer to them when he worked on something that had been in his family for so long.

The slight pinging sound of his laptop alerted him to the fact that someone had contacted him. Pulling himself away from his introspection, Nathan ran a hand across his stubble covered face and shook his head to clear his wandering thoughts. With a glance at the screen he saw that it apparently had been Laurie, or at least someone that was using her laptop. That likely meant Wei or one of the others were borrowing the machine in question, although if he recalled correctly, Samantha and Samuel had their own computers, so if one followed the logical course, it was likely Wei then.

Putting the watch aside for the moment, he put on the headset, and initiated the video call. Which was how he ended up in this particular situation of his friends staring at him like ‘don’t fuck this up’ alongside the polite curiosity of an internet and voice actor legend. And after the reveal of his friends’ own respective characters, Nathan found that he had a surprisingly high standard to match in his own way, but unlike Erica or Wei, Nathan was certain he had enough to work from to make things interesting in his own right.

To be honest, he was rather nervous, surprisingly so perhaps given his situation, but he was afraid that his idea might seem stupid or childish in comparison. He clenched his right hand slowly to keep himself calm, and received a sharp reminder of the wounds he had suffered there earlier. Although he actually welcomed the pain in a way, it was different from the pain that wracked his mind, distracted him from it even. As such, he was able to proceed with his own character’s introduction with only a momentary lapse on his part.

“Alright. Given the theme and setting of the world we’ve thus far not talked about in the slightest, I decided to… well wing it. My character is called Nathaniel Truth, and he is the child of a human woman and a demon knight who had left the abyssal planes and sought to combat his chaotic nature. Kind of like Paarthurnax I guess… anyway, their happiness would not last however, as the peasants who lived close by believed them to be as evil as all demons and their followers they had thus far heard about. As a consequence of their fear, they hired a band of ‘heroes’ to deal with the ‘threat’, but unknowingly to them, they were not the only ones wanting to kill them. For the former comrades of Nathaniel’s father had also come to kill him for deserting them and his former demonic overlord. Amidst the chaos that claimed his parents lives’, only Nathaniel managed to hide from the combatants as both mortal champions and demonic soldiers battled each other fiercely in the ruins of his home.” Nathan told them and tried his best not to wince when they all continued to stare at him unflinchingly, perhaps curious or perhaps condemning him.

“Once the dust had settled, the young tiefling fled the ruins of his life, with only an amulet that contains pictures of both his parents as a reminder of what he had. Nathaniel was forced to grow up fast in a world that despised him though he does his best to keep to the virtues his parents had instilled in him. Since he is, as far as he is aware at least, the only one of his kind, he is currently searching for a purpose in a world that would love to see him dead. And since the death of his parents I- he feels like he is alone in the darkness. Thus he hunts their murderers for answers, for he can’t even remember their names, and an heirloom of his father’s. A demonic blade, hoping that it will give him some closure and perhaps for once feel right in his hands. For every mortal weapon he held thus far felt… wrong for the lack of a better term…. That’s all.”

Either having missed the near slip of the tongue, or he chose to ignore it, Nathan couldn’t help the relief he felt when their DM nodded his head about the same time an approving smile tugged at the man’s face. “Nice, very nice. Let me make another note or two….” While he did that, Nathan couldn’t help but see that Samantha, Erica, and Wei were all giving him sympathetic looks that told him they hadn’t missed the none too subtle reference to his recent tragedy in his character’s backstory. They too said nothing though, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to know that they understood, or at least were willing to treat him like always beyond their heartfelt, sincere wish to help him in whatever way they could. But they had made their initial offer, and then let the matter drop, which he greatly appreciated far more.

“Just one question.” Their DM said with a slight smirk. “Are you a fan of Devil May Cry?”

Nathan blushed a deep red in response. “I admit that I drew a lot of inspiration from there.” He lowered his head in embarrassment and hoped that no one would needle him about this little obvious fact too badly.

“I figured as much, and since this little band of outcasts and rogues have been revealed to me, it seems fitting you’d follow the trend. It’s not a bad game to draw inspiration from though, provided we’re talking about the original series, not the….’reboot’ that came out not so long ago.” Their DM chuckled even as an involuntarily shiver went through Wei at the mention. Nathan had a feeling, going by his friend’s reaction, that he hadn’t missed out on much from not playing the game himself.

“Never played the reboot to be honest.” Nathan admitted with a small smile and cocked his head to the side. “I actually thought more about the third installment, my favorite one to be honest.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Wei chimed in.

“Nerds.” Erica droned, but she too was smirking quietly from her spot on the couch next to their mutual friend.

“What does that make us exactly?” Samantha asked the group at large, which had a small chuckle escaping Nathan as a result.

“Just one question.” Nathan said and looked at the feed of his friends, now with determination slowly filling his eyes and mind. “We’re not actually gonna call ourselves Sux Alotica right?”

“Haha, definitely not. We can do far better than that in terms of insults anyway.” Wei said before he tapped at his chin. “Hmmm…. How about the SHITs, oops that’s taken.” Wei said in mock disappointment.

“God, no.” Erica protested vehemently and shook her head so rapidly that Nathan was worried for a moment she would snap her neck.

“You sure you aren’t related to a certain bard I know?” Their DM asked Wei, but before he could respond, he had since turned his attention elsewhere. “In any event, you can work that out once we get underway folks. Besides, you’ve given me a lot to think about for future morally conflicting situations to throw your way.”

“Great, why do I get the feeling we’re about to regret this?” Erica droned.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if you weren’t terrified of your Dungeon Master.”

“That’s a job requirement?” Samantha asked, much to Wei’s amusement.

“Yes.” Their resident DM replied and nodded his head sagely. “Just to let you know, your opponents have just introduced their last party member. Gotta say, your friends are kinda scary. Or they’d just make shockingly good serial killers, I’m honestly torn on my opinion truth be told.”

“Then why are you grinning like a loon?” Samantha couldn’t help but ask before Nathan could do so himself. It was a valid question though since the little smirk on their DM’s face was hard not to notice.

“Oh, no reason. I just love my job Sammy.”

“Ugh, please don’t call me that. That’s my brothers name.” Samantha groaned and leaned back in her seat and let out a deep breath.

“Oops. Sorry Sam. On that note though, for the sake of the feed and the game in general, I’ll be referring to you by the names of your characters. So, Katarina, En’hana, Lokta, and Nathaniel.”

“Present and accounted for sir.” Wei replied enthusiastically before he cracked his knuckles by stretching his arms, fingers interlocked together.

“I’ve been ready since I sat down.” Erica protested, but a none too subtle jab to her side from Wei’s elbow had her straightening up on her side of the couch. “I mean yes, I’m good to go.”

“Same here. Let’s see what kind of trouble we can get into.” Nathan stated in turn before his brown eyes fell on Samantha’s face.

Taking a breath, Nathan had to admire the way Samantha’s jaw set and the way her eyes seemed to light up in their own brand of determination, and he was happy to note, some measure of anticipation. Despite his emotional torment, he couldn’t help but share the sentiment he could see on his friend’s face as she got into character. The tone she adopted for Katerina De Leon spoke of nobility and someone used to having their orders obeyed, yet he could hear a note of warmth even then. “Fortune favors the bold and foolish or so I’ve been told. I too am ready to begin our journey.”

“Alright ladies and gentleman. Let’s have an adventure.” Their Dungeon Master announced enthusiastically and gave them all a wide grin. “Think you’re up for it?”

“Does Trinket shit in the woods?” Wei asked with a smile, feeling particularly clever.

“Nope, just on Vax’s bed. Let’s get started!” With a loud clap, the DM launched into his introduction. While it was still a rehearsal since the feed hadn’t actually started, that didn’t stop the man from going all out as he normally did. As such, Nathan, Erica, Wei, and Samantha could only watch, enraptured as their DM ran through the planned introduction. “Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another of Geek and Sundry’s zany, insanity inducing shows that you’ve all come to expect and love. For those of you just tuning in for the first time, well, you’re in for a hell of a treat. Tonight’s show is a special one though, and something new we’re trying for the first time. Unlike most of our group games, where there’s only one side to the story with the likes of Vox Machina or the Force Grey Giant Slayers from our newer series, this one will present two groups playing on opposite sides, in a largely home brewed world of their own. But as to how this came about in the first place, well, that goes in hand with a contest we held a while back where we got close to three thousand applications in as little as a day. Just goes to show you that our Critter Community is as active as ever, and for that we thank you for the continued support and aid you’ve continued to give throughout the years.”

Taking a moment to let that sink in, their DM took a breath and let a little, mysterious grin pull at his lips before folding his hands on the table in front of him. “This newest contest was simple, tell us why you deserved to be on our next live stream group of Dungeons and Dragons. Many of you had a lot of good introductory videos sent our way, some of you emailed us or used snail mail, but however you got the word to the guys here, we considered each and every one of them carefully, and we’ll even play a few before the stream’s over. Unfortunately, we had to settle on just one, so without further ado, here is the winning entry.”

Samantha and the others didn’t need to see the video clip that would be aired once things got underway. They all had had a hand in its conception, minus Wei, and Nathan was fairly sure that they wouldn’t forget what they had said for the rest of their days since their reason for submitting an application in the first place had not been for their own benefit. Their enjoyment was a happy side effect of having won the contest in the first place for Laurie’s sake, and while they had had to reveal a lot of personal information regarding their friend’s trials and tribulations to get to where she was now, in the end it had been worth it just to see the utter joy on her face when news had come back of their success.

As such, Nathan allowed himself a small smile as he leaned back in his chair. For the first time in what felt like a very long time he was content with where he was. It lasted only for a few moments, but even then his cheer refused to be so easily defeated. He was doing something worthwhile for his friends and that alone was more important to him than most things in his life. The only thing left to do was to give his best in the game ahead to make sure that everyone could enjoy it for as long as possible.

So, while they were still in the rehearsal stages of their future show together, when he was called to introduce his character once their video clip had been shown, Nathaniel was ready. Doing his best to hide any signs of nervousness, he gave a small smile and introduce first himself, then his character and class along with a bit of his backstory before passing the torch to Wei. It wasn’t that surprising that the joker of their merry band actually got the DM to spit out his drink on camera, to Wei’s immeasurable pleasure, before giving Erica the spotlight. Topping him by getting their happily taken DM to blush profusely, Erica gleefully added a few extra bits of debauchery and sin before tagging Samantha in. Their unofficial leader managed to keep her wits about her as she introduced herself and Katarina in a voice that wouldn’t have been out of place at a nobles’ banquet. She even went as far as to give a small theatrical bow to the webcam before sitting back down.

“Alright, not bad you guys.” Their DM said with a nod of his head as he looked up and to the left towards someone offscreen. “You sure? Cool, alright. I guess we’re going live in the next ten minutes. If you need a moment to get a drink, go to the bathroom, best do it now. We’re in this for the long haul.”

“Too bad Laurie had to Skype, you could go play Seven Minutes In Heaven in Sam’s room.” Wei’s response to Erica’s teasing was to fumble for a coherent response beyond the spluttered outburst that escaped him instead.

“You guys totally suck, I just want you to know this.” Wei was able to get out once he remembered how to speak.

“I bet you wouldn’t mind if she s-” Erica never got a chance to finish because Wei slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Moving on. Moving on.” Wei muttered, and started to pull his hand away only for Erica to teasingly flick her tongue over one of his fingers. “Dude! Seriously?!” He yelped and jerked his hand away in a flash.

“Well, to be fair, you know how she is.” Nathan couldn’t help but point out before sending a look at Erica. “However, you should know better than to tease him like that.”

“Would you guys stop embarrassing me in front of the badass space cowboy? ....Sorry, I like team shooters.”

“Oh this? This is nothing. You should have seen some of the stuff I had to deal with long before we got our own show.” Their DM said as he waved off the apology. “And look at that...” He playfully looked at his bare wrist. “It’s high noon.” He growled with a southern twang.

“Alright McCreep, that’s enough of that.” When Wei shot her a dirty look, although whether because she had mocked their DM or because she actually knew who he was referencing was hard to tell, Erica only shrugged in response. “What? I play Overwatch too.”

“Hmmm….two points off your Armor Class for mocking the DM.”

“You wouldn’t.” Erica protested in alarm.

“No but I’d think about it.” He replied without missing a beat, a mischievous smirk once more appearing on his face. “Just be glad Wil isn’t here instead. A magical anvil would probably crush you or something equally horrible.”

“Damnit!” Erica cursed under her breath and sent a glare at the snickering Wei by her side. He only laughed harder when he saw her glare which soon melted into laughter of her own. “I still find it hard to believe someone could possibly roll that poorly.”

“I was there and I still can’t believe it.” Their DM agreed in disbelief as those that had seen Wil Wheaton’s appearance on Critical Role remembered that the rumors of the infamous ‘dice curse’ were more than rumors. Somehow, Wil Wheaton, an accomplished voice actor in his own right, among other things, had managed to very nearly break the law of averages with his repeated, very poor rolls of one after one after one. But they weren’t given much time to dwell on the walking impossibility that was Wil Wheaton as their DM clapped his hands together. “Alright seriously, go get yourselves ready, we’ll be starting soon and we haven’t even gone over the world itself yet.” Having been bidden to tend to some last minute business, the group dispersed for a much needed break to gather new sodas, snacks, and anything else that could be grabbed on the run, advice that their DM took to note himself as he got up from his seat to do the same.

If they had stuck around for a few seconds longer, someone might have noticed the eldritch light that began to emanate from Samantha’s dice in the form of golden, sparkling dancing lights that faded away just as quickly….