{M} I thought we were going to play D&D! [IC]

[Enigma]

"Hey Dion," Sam said with relief when the other opened the door. He ducked his head to get past the head jamb and stepped inside the house.

"Hey Reven, hey Riss," he greeted in turn, keeping a wary eye out for ceiling fans and hanging light fixtures. "Nice place you've got here."

He eyed the snack table and cleared his throat. "Uh, could I please have a glass of water? It was a long walk." Bottled soda and water was too easy to count, nobody seemed to mind when he drank tap water.

From his messenger bag, he pulled out two large bags of jerky that he added to the snack table. "Uh, I hope this is okay?"

Turning towards the game table, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow, that's... a lot of detail."

Finding his place, he picked up the tiny miniature and studied it minutely. The tiny figure of Jack of Shadows looked perfect. "Wow, that's ... just perfect," he managed.

[Highland Sniper]

"Yeah, just help yourself" Reven said as everyone sat down.

A few moments later a woman walked into the room, seeming ready to leave. "Rev, I'm going out to see some friends, so don't get any ideas..." She started before taking in the set up and the rest of the party and her eyes fell on a book off to Reven's side. "Just don't get too crazy." She finished, the comment seeming more for Reven.

"Yes, mom." He said with a sweet smile as she left without another glance.

Dion blinked as she left, "Well... she didn't scream or call the police." He said as he sat down and snagging some of the jerky, "mind if I take some, Sam?"

"Well, everyone ready?" Reven asked as he rubbed his hands together, looking about as eager as he thought everyone else felt to get started.

[tbgg]

Riss glanced at the book next to Reven and frowned. She couldn’t seem to understand what the cover said. What was it for?

She smiled at Reven’s mother and waved as she exited, wondering what kind of craziness Reven had gotten into in the past that his mother was hoping he would avoid.

At Reven’s question, she nodded her readiness, snagging a sprig of perhaps a dozen grapes and holding them in her hands. For good measure, she took another drink of Sprite and returned the can to the table. She was ready to get started.

[Enigma]

"It's on the table," Sam replied to Dion, stepping out of the kitchen with a glass. He'd already drunk a glassful while he was in there. "Help yourself."

Returning to his place at the table, he stripped off the messenger bag, then pulled out from a front pocket a protein bar. This wasn't one of those granola types, but an extruded bar that was like eating chewy, gritty sawdust. This one claimed to be chocolate however he knew very well it was anything but, especially as how it didn't make him break out in zits for days afterward.

Rule three of being a good guest - don't eat everything in the house - he had quite the appetite when he got to eating. There were a few buffets in town that wouldn't let him in anymore.
Rule four of being a good guest - don't eat greasy food, especially pizza, chips, or anything with beans.
Rule five of being a good guest - don't break the furniture. A lot of it tipped easily.

He gave the chair an appraising look and decided it was sturdy enough as he stripped off his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, then gingerly slid into the seat. If he didn't keep his stuff close, it might get left behind.

From the warning his mother gave him and the look at how prepared everything was, Sam hoped that Reven wasn't going to spring some kind of special effects on them. He didn't react well to surprises and the last thing he wanted was another 'Lurch incident.'

Rule six of being a good guest - don't break the host.

His phone had long lists of rules he created. Some saw that as being a good person. Good people, he reminded himself, didn't need rules. It was embarrassing to remember why he had so many.

"I'm ready to play," he rumbled, then took a bite of brown chewy sawdust.

[Highland Sniper]

"Alright. You're all out in a small field several miles out of a small town. You guys decided to camp out as it got too late to continue." Reven said as everyone got seated with all their snacks, "Please, take a moment to describe yourselves and discuss how you're together."

"I'm Min'yeara, a small, petite Kitsune woman with long red hair, a nice curvy figure, and a nice bust. I'm a warlock." Dion said, "I stand about 5'3". I have been wandering around for a while and have probably run into one of the others on the road. I'm open to discussing in better detail how I know the party."

Dion took a sip of his soda and chewed on some of the jerky as he listened to everyone else.

[Enigma]

Sam glanced at Riss, then said, "Uh, I'm Jack of Shadows, I'm a small man with brown hair and pale skin, only recently released from prison in Dunden. They branded a 'T' on the back of my hand for the crime the judge convicted me for, theft; and before I was released, they decided to exile me, branding an 'X' on my shoulder that's still a little sore. The ship got blown off course and let me loose in a fishing village, so I'm on the road hoping to find a city or something when I, uh, ran into Min'yeara and Myste?"

He shrugged, glancing at the other two. "That sound okay?"

[tbgg]

Riss said, “I’m Myste Rillsong, and my first name is pronounced just like the word ‘misty’. At 5’9”, I’m both taller than the average human and shorter than the average Elf. I’m a Water Genasi, and I have cyan-colored skin and medium blue-green hair down to my mid-back. I’m slightly overweight for my height and would be considered to have a curvy figure. My mother was a half-Elf, and I have half-Elven ears.”

“I’m 19, and spent most of the first 18 years of my life onboard a ship, which had visited most of the countries on both the Eastern and Western continents. I have spent the last year on my own just wandering, and people find me exotic and interesting. Between my stories and my music - I play lute, flute, and pan flute - I find it easy to earn my way at inns and even tend to easily gain access to anyone with an interest in far-off places. I met Min’yeara at one of my stops a few months back, and we’ve been traveling together ever since. The two of us recently met Jack and he decided to join us. I personally bear no prejudice against Jack over being exiled, owing to the fact my family has been known to engage in a bit of ‘dodgy business’ from time to time.”

She now smiled up at the three guys. “Is that good enough for all of you?”

[Highland Sniper]

"I think that works out great, and I don't give much a darn either since I'm sorta avoiding things myself." Dion said, "And for the first while, as long as Jack isn't trying anything, I'm happy. Though I wonder why I'm with Myste in the first place. But we can iron that out later."

"Great," Reven said with a smile before he pulled out the strange book, and flipped through it, and looked at his notes before stopping at a page with a suppressed chuckle as began to chant some unintelligible words.

Dion looked interested and concerned at the same time like he wasn't sure if this was good or not, and what he should be doing about it.
But the choice was made for them as lights sprang from the book and connected with the players around the table.
The room seemed to twist and shift as everyone seemed paralyzed as Reven continued his chant.
The room spun and stretched as everyone connected to a light contorted.

Colors filled everyone's vision, spinning, twisting, shifting, and moving by fast.
But as soon as it started, it stopped, and there was only darkness.

In a few more moments light tickled everyone's eyelids, prompting them to open.
Things didn't feel right.

[tbgg]

Riss - or at least she thought of herself as Riss - gasped as the light from Reven’s chant connected with her, Dion and Sam. She was about to write the whole thing off as some kind of fancy light show when she felt herself contorting and saw all the colors - she was aware of several of them - red, yellow orange brown, gray, and white, but predominantly shades of blues and greens. They moved so fast and in so many different configurations that she could scarcely keep track of them, although she didn’t think they were there for long.

When the lights stopped, blackness overtook her, but that, too, lasted only a few moments. When she opened her eyes again, gone was the game table and all of her snacks, although she did still hold her sprig of grapes. Only the hand that held the grapes was of a cyan color. Grabbing a strand of her hair, she pulled that to where she could see it. Gone were her familiar brown curls and a medium blue-green tress appeared instead. Tapping her right ear revealed a long ear with a softly rounded top point. Myste. Glancing at the others, she saw a petite red-haired woman and a small man with pale skin and brown hair dressed in drab colors. D and Sam. Or perhaps rather, Min’yeara and Jack. She didn’t see Reven, or anyone else who could be him.

“Bleedin’ son o’ a boar-kissin’ gnoll,” she grumbled. “Why in t’ name o’ t’ T’ree Ancestors did Reven do t’is ta us?”

And where in the world did I come up with those figures of speech from? I don’t talk like that. But Myste does.

She searched the eyes of her two companions for answers.

[Enigma]

Sam let out a low groan and opened his eyes. He was in the middle of a field with the heavy tops of the grass waving above him, the sky was turning different colors as the sun edged towards the horizon, and someone near him was swearing.

"Wh.. what happened? We were sitting at th... huh?" Sam's voice faltered. "My voice..?"

He sat up - and realized he wasn't wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt anymore. This was leather... armor? With a sword hanging from his belt...?

"How...?" he squeaked, shocked, turning towards the other. "Drugs! It's just drugs, someone slipped something into the water! It's gotta be, because this can't possibly be.... "

There was a blue girl next to him with pointed ears....

He got up, and realized he was shorter - and dressed like his character, right down to the T branded on his left hand.

"This... isn't some drug-fueled dream, is it?" he managed, hearing his new voice, not nearly as deep as it used to be. "We're really here. In the game."