Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth (for Soul_of_Kia)

[Crossedes]

For the first time in several minutes, June looked up from the sea of notes before her, glancing at the door at the sound of a knock before swinging to glance at the clock. It was finally time. Years of trying to get some fellow wrestlers to join a game with her, and she had managed it on her first attempt. Oh, and she should answer the door. Or Flo, who had been ranting for the last fifteen minutes after she had arrived early and fiddling nonstop with her character sheet, her dice, her chair, the world map, the- well, everything, would get it. On cue, the Brit popped up to get it herself.

"I got it. Legs are already tight anyway..." Not good, considering she had only been sitting for about eight of the minutes since she had arrived. June was going to have to keep her reined in, wasn't she? Fine, good! At least she had someone to rein in - three someones.

She wrote down something before she forgot it as Flo swung the door open. "It's the young'ns! I like that skirt."

June looked up and stood to greet them, her arms spread wide for the invitation to the table. "Hello hello! You guys got your characters ready? It'll take us a few minutes to get all that sorted out, but I've got all my prep ready." She beamed. While she had planned to do this forever, no one was ever truly ready until the week of the actual upcoming game. The size of the screen she had selected to hold her notes probably served as a testament to just how prepared she truly was... One might consider it a disturbing amount.

Flo wistfully skipped back toward the table, picking up her character sheet and holding it up. Her own sketch sat in the corner, which she had shown June at least three times already - a voluptuous tiefling in furs and leather with a sea of ample cleavage and horns large enough that she would likely need neck surgery before she reached her forties. Oh, and a giant flower in her hair. June wouldn't call it the best sketch she had ever seen, but Flo seemed immensely proud of it. That was all that mattered.

"As long as no one brought a hot tiefling barbarian! That's my territory, loves." June watched her flutter her eyebrows. "Speaking of, tiefling's've got pre... preeee-" She stopped to think. "-prehensile tails, yeah?"

June nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Flo chuckled. "Gonna be naughty as hell."

[The_Soul_of_Kia]

Dash and Rai entered, both greeting their lovely host and the excitable Flo, before responding to June's question.

Dash answered first, opening a small folder she had with her that had papers in it, holding up one that showed a picture of a wood elf, clad entirely in green, with a hood and cloak made of leaves, and holding a bow. "Yep, I got my Wood Elf ranger all ready! She's ready to fill some bandits and Kobolds and Orcs with arrow after arrow, make pincushions of them all!" She said excitedly.

Rai answered after, pulling off his backpack and opening it, fully aware that it didn't exactly help his image, but justifying it by how full it was as he skimmed through it. "Right...character sheet...character sheet...dice...spare dice...spare maps...custom map ideas and drawings...campaign ideas...ideas for a Sonic the Hedgehog campaign and character...Ah, here we go!" He said with an excited smile, pulling out a folder with his own papers in it, pulling out one that showed a slim blue anthro dragon in leather armor, with a sword on his belt, several small tools and musical objects on a table nearby, and a lute in hand, blowing out a small jet of blue flame as it played.

"Got my Dragonborn Bard right here!"

[Crossedes]

Yes. Everyone was ready. June could have lapsed into ecstasy right then and there - she really liked this game - as she sat down and listened, almost sparkly-eyed, as the two latest arrivals revealed their characters. Not only had they gotten into the ideas, come up with art, and crafted an actual balanced party, but they showed pride in the results. Most wrestlers proved so incredibly aloof about fandom, their passions - anything that didn't involve weightlifting and acting tough didn't appeal to them. June couldn't imagine how she could be any more excited.

Flo commented first, jabbing a finger at Dash's ranger first. "Gonna get screwed. Like, in the good way."

She moved the finger over to Rai's bard. "Is he a spoony bard or a screw-y bard? Either way, don't know what kind of parts dragonpeople have, but gonna get screwed in the good way too." June couldn't decide if the Brit meant her character would do the screwing or if either character was hot enough for someone to end up screwing them, but she figured she shouldn't propose the question and encourage the other woman into turning this into too much of a screw-fest.

She smacked her hands on the table, clearly excited. "They look fantastic. And you guys already showed me your sheets, I just need to get some tokens-" She reached behind her to dig into a giant chest, filled to the brim with different tokens. After a few seconds, she produced figures of a suitably hot tiefling, an elf that could pass for Dash's character, and the one blue dragonborn she had in the entire collection. Lucky. She passed them out to each person and tried to think of what she needed to do next. For all the games she had played in, she hadn't had the chance to lead much of anything.

She bought herself some time with a question as she patted out the map in front of everyone. "Here's the world, in case anyone wanted to see it before we start. Did anyone have any questions?"

Flo, who had finally made it back to her seat after looking over June's shoulder during the search, fingered at her tiefling figure and asked the question that truly seemed to be on her mind. "So what are the rules on screwing?"

June twisted her mouth, figuring it would come up sooner rather than later. "I mean, I'm not going to stop you as long as it's not the whole campaign... but NPCs will have their own minds, you know. No natural 20s mean automatic screwing nonsense. It's up to you guys to decide anything else."

[The_Soul_of_Kia]

Rai couldn't help himself, blushing bright pink as the incredibly lovely Florence asked if his dragonborn would screw, and what parts he had, just chuckling a little awkwardly and rubbing the back of his head. Dash however, took it in stride, placing a hand on her hip and saying with pride. "You better believe she will! My girls spent way too much time in the woods with too many prissy elves for her to not get some strange, ya know what I mean?"

Rai had been about to try and make a similar comment, wanting to sound confident in front of these new people, but was distracted as June put maps out on the table, immediately gaining his curiosity as he walked over and began studying them intensely, clearly getting himself immersed in their layouts. He also let out an adorable sounding squee of excitement when June handed him his character figurine, admiring the paintjob on the blue dragonborn bard, impressed that June happened to have one at all in her collection.

Getting her own figurine, Dash and Rai sat down at the table, looking over the maps and getting their respective dice out of their bags, as Rai spoke up.

"This looks awesome June! You've clearly put a lot of effort into this set up! So, what's the campaign your running? Ravenloft? Temple of Elemental Evil? Mad Mage of the Underdeep?" Rai asked, excitement shining in his eyes as he got his sheets ready.

[Crossedes]

"Hell yeah! That's the spirit," Flo cheered, pointing a finger at Dash as she explained her character wanted to get freaky. June watched, just glad that every single conversation thus far in the group chat hadn't involved their characters getting it on. In fact, it sounded like an afterthought to Flo that had just occurred to her today. June didn't actually care what they wanted to do with their characters as long as she didn't have to listen to raunchy fanfiction from across the table. Though with the way Flo turned her finger back onto Rai, she figured the Brit must have had thorough plans. "And we'll find out about dragon boy. Is he big and bad enough!?"

Or she would dwell on it the whole rest of the time. June was glad she had the means to distract everyone with actual, tangible toys to put in front of them. Her best eager, cocky smile crossed her face as Rai asked what they were going to be playing, and she held up a notebook filled to the brim with additional papers she had stuck in it. Yeah... this thing was a long time in the making. "We are playing something totally custom. It's gonna have a little bit of everything you mentioned, plus a lot more. A..." She glanced at the notebook, trying to comprehend just how much she had written. "...lot more."

She cleared her throat. Right. "Okay, let's get going!"

She realized her campaign's opening was standard fare - help with some townspeople's minor problems, yadda yadda - but June's storytelling and stakes raised by the time they had made their way through two, three hours of play. Flo had flirted with everything alive, threatened a "rough snu snu handjob" on an NPC, and climbed on her chair three different ways, even doing a handstand at one point, but altogether, things seemed to be going brilliantly.

"-a check of the first couple of tables in the inn doesn't reveal any young women that seem to be around the right age, but you're on time and you remember being told your contact would be here."

Flo perked up, speaking in character - a poor Russian accent. She had really gotten into the roleplay, though, so June wouldn't complain. "Draggy-boy. It's an inn, you are a bard. You could play and see if you can seduce her into showing her face, eh?" She mimed jabbing him with her elbow.

[The_Soul_of_Kia]

The last three hours had been some of the most fun young Rai had ever had in his life. He was playing a game he loved, with people who enjoyed it just as much as he did. June was proving to be a wonderful DM, creating fun scenarios that allowed each player to do what they enjoyed. Together, they had fought bandits, rescued villagers from slavers, cleared a cave of Kobolds and it had been a blast the entire time.

He was enjoying his newly met companions as well. June, aside from being a stunning beauty, (...well, that went for all of them really), was smart, had a fun sense of humor, and a keen mind for the game. Dash was...a little odd in some ways, but had kept things lively with a stream of fun comments and quirky ideas...and then there was Flo, another beauty, the british woman had been exciteable all day so far, and while her...consistent flirting comments and innuendo, especially towards Rai, had made the teen blush and stammer more than once, something that seemed only encourage her. Still, he still dug her vibe and her energy flowed to everyone, keeping them all excited and in high spirits the whole game so far.

Plus, June had made a point of stocking up on some awesome snacks, which Rai greatly appreciated.

Now though, they were in the inn, needing to find a contact, and Flo had turned to him, speaking in character and suggesting he play a tune to draw her out. Rai thought it over for a moment, then nodded.

"Hmmm...Yeah, I agree actually. Maybe our contact just hasn't noticed us yet. I bring out my lute, and cast Enthralling Performance, adding a bit of magic to the notes my Dragonborn plays, He begins to play a known tavern song, a famous one about a lusty barmaid and her wizard customer, known to be a crowd pleaser in most taverns, so that the crowd, including our contact, will look our way and notice our group..."

He said, before rolling his dice, tossing it into the dice roller built into the table, hoping he got a high enough number to succeed and not screw up his song!

[Crossedes]

June watched them communicate - and double-checked to make sure she had the right name for the NPC in question - from behind tented fingers. Though she had expected nerves would eat her up when she ran her first session, everyone had been so invested that it had led her to become more and more invested, so much so that she had stopped worrying. Even Dash, who wasn't directly involved in the exchange, seemed completely invested in everything happening. Perfect. She hid her excited smile behind her hands.

As Rai rolled, she did too, sending a dice down one of the towers and checking it before she checked his roll. She rolled once more, just because she knew turning what she was planning into two rolls made everything seem more dramatic. "So, as you start plucking this out, the crowd seems... mmm, mildly interested. A few heads turn, they acknowledge who's playing, another bard, they go on about their evenings. But as the magical effects start to take hold, you see the enthusiasm pick up. You don't think you got quite the whole room, but most of them seem enthralled. We're talking about jumping out of their seats, leaving their food, wandering over to bump your partymates out of the way to listen. A few more perk up and sort of blush when they realize what you're singing about."

She pushed her notes aside to add a bit more drama. "Uhhh... Sheylyn, roll for perception."

Flo, bopping to some unheard song - June should get music for the next one - threw her dice aimlessly on the table rather than using the dice tower at the mention of her character's name. June imagined she forgot the tower was there. The Brit blew a few raspberries and sang as she calculated the total. "I see shit I seeeee shit... Eighteen."

"You can see a smallish figure in a hood near a back table who gets up, clearly uncomfortable and looking all around at all the ruckus, and starts to try to shuffle toward a back door back by the side of the bar. You see a little blonde hair spill out of her hood when she does."

Flo just blinked at her for a second before the lights came on upstairs. She mimed pulling at Dash's sleeve. "Elfy girl, I see her!" That darned Russian accent again. "Come, we will go have at her... I mean, catch up to her." She crooked her finger at Rai, too, like she was beckoning for his bard to follow when he had a chance. "I'll walk that way," she said in her normal voice.

[The_Soul_of_Kia]

As Rai's Dragonborn Bard, who he affectionally named "Scales", both because the DND Dragon language was...actually really hard for him to pronounce, and because PUNS ARE COOL, successfully rolled, he noticed Flo bopping and moving to some tune in her head...and Rai saw he had a rare, a VERY rare, chance to actually impress a girl! YEEEEE!

Putting down his soda can, (cream soda, because June had the BEST snacks,)Rai reached down for his backpack. Inside was ALL of his DND stuff that he had made or collected over the years of his fandom...including something very near and dear to him. Every growing boy at least once in their life had the dream of being in a rock band and playing an instrument, and after saving and scrimping, his mom, as a 16th birthday present, had gotten him an instrument of his own, one he had become quite adept at playing over the years, due to many nights alone with plenty of youtube tutorials.

Out of his bag he pulled his treasured instrument...TINY UKELELE!

Quickly he pulled it up onto his lap and let his fingers begin strumming, taking a couple seconds to twist the pegs and get it in tune, before strumming away at a jaunty little tune on the fly, to accompany Flo's bouncing around. It wasn't for long, as the game had to continue and he didn't want to hold it up, but enjoyed the brief moments of attention it got him, blushing a bright red. He certainly never expected his first time playing this thing in front of anybody to be 3 hot girls in a DND game...but there he was!

The game continued as their contact, one of the view people not currently crowding around the blue dragon bard, tried to get away, only for Flo to point her out.

Dash nodded, grabbing her dice and going to give it a roll. "Alright, my wood elf, Calen, notices the blonde hooded woman as the Sheylyn points her out. Since she's heading for the backdoor, my Calen looks for a nearby open window, and tries to climb out of it. That way if this contact is trying to get away, we can flank her and catch her!" Dash said excitedly, giggling at Flo's fun russian accent, before rolling her dice.

[Crossedes]

"Oh shit!"

June herself echoed Flo's more crass words - if she had any reason to doubt just how much Rai had invested himself in the game before, and she didn't, the sight of him whipping out a miniature ukelele and doing a... decent enough job of playing it would have convinced her. Flo tore into a round of clapping for it, using it as an excuse to gyrate a bit more, but June just watched in awe at this little band of great players she had managed to assemble. When he finished, she clapped too, but Flo put the cherry on top herself, jabbing a finger across the table at Rai.

"You bring that thing every week, and I'm sittin' by you from now on! Dash's been replaced."

June nodded along before shuffling through her own kaleidoscopic pile of dice to find one in particular she had in mind. "Youuu just earned an inspiration die, and now if you don't bring that thing to every game, we're all going to be hugely disappointed," she said as she rummaged, before finally managing to find a bright gold die with especially shiny letters to roll down the table at him. "That's yours to add to whatever roll you want to add it to."

It took them a second, but they got their brains working again on what was happening, Dash getting them back on track. "You do find a window, and while it is somewhat near the barmaid, you can tell well enough that she's completely focused on Scales. As a ranger, you have absolutely no trouble getting out there, and in your darkvision, you can see her walking your way. She stops when she spots you in return, and she's trying to be subtle... but she starts turning to head the other way, right into..." She held a hand out at Flo.

"Yeaaah! I'm going to push through the door and if I see her just... bearhug her breakfast out of her lungs." June didn't even have to tell her to roll for strength - she was already doing it. "Aaaaaagh! Twenty-six! Big mama tiefling will hug anyone who wants it!", she declared in triumph, grabbing a pillow that June had set nearby in case someone wanted to rest their head and squeezing it so tightly that she could have pushed her own considerable breasts out of her shirt.

June threw up her hands. "She can't even beat that. You grab her up in a bearhug, and she tries to flail right and left for a few seconds before realizing that, uh... big mama tiefling is stronger than her."

"Ey, you!" The Russian accent returned. "Why are you being weird!? A man named, uh..." Flo looked across the table at Dash. "Was... was it Corny? Corny told us to talk to you!"

June stifled a laugh, wondering how Flo had remembered "Corny" instead of "Cormac" but letting them figure it out on their own.

[The_Soul_of_Kia]

Rai had probably never blushed a brighter shade of pink in his entire life than that moment, playing his tiny ukelule, the "Twinkulele" as he had dubbed it, given his own twink status, but at the same time, he also beamed with pride as he played. While none of the girls their had known Rai for longer than the day, it would be...fairly obvious from the happy, if embarrassed, look on his face that getting this kind of attention, especially from attractive women, was an extremely rare event in his life, one that probably he'd never experienced before. While he admittedly did look more like a kid with his excited smile and shining eyes...it would be hard for anyone watching to not also feel good for him. Dash certainly did, clapping along with the melody and giggling as he played.

When he was done, he blushed more and rubbed the back of his head in humbleness as Flo sat next to him, giggling as Dash gave stuck her tongue out at him in mock offense for losing the british womans fancy. That adorable look suddenly turned into a wide eyed look of awe as June gave him a golden die for inspiration, holding it up as if he had found a legitimate treasure, the cute nerd nerding out over the dice and cuddling it before thanking June.

With that, Dash had made her move, and luckily, between her and Flo's big tittied tiefling, they quickly captured their quarry, with Rai quipping that Scales would catch up as soon as the audience stopped tossing coins for him to collect. No sense leaving money behind after all.

"Well, while we wait for our pet dragonborn to join us..." Dash said, making her voice softer and more breathy and softly melodic as she spoke in character, giggling as Flo continued her fun accent attempt and mangled the name of their contact. "What my attractive tiefling friend is asking, is that a man named Cormac gave us your description, he claimed you have some information for us specifically. There's no reason to run or panic, you won't be harmed, we just need you to give us the information you have."

She asked, rolling her dice to see if her attempt at persuading the squirming contact would work!