Chapter Text
As they wrapped up their short reprieve, Tad looked to his allies with expectancy as he resheathed his weapon. “Ready to head out?”
Nate adjusted his bag before giving a sharp nod and quick thumbs up. Darkshadow stretched her arms upward with a grunt, clearing any dreariness from her body. “Ready.”
Opening the door ahead, they stepped from the safety of the small room into a much larger space. Three tables lined the wall of this room, each with stacks of strange parts and papers scrawled with spells scattered about. A large, hairy creature ran to and fro across the room, reading papers and adjusting equipment. It had a burly physique and long arms that would drag across the floor and wore a large white coat. As the door closed behind the group, it quickly turned to the group, a wild look in its eyes. “What you whipper-snappers doin’ here?!” Before any of them had a chance to respond, he turned to the nearest desk, grabbing a purple crystal shard. “No matter! You help Tommy finish the churd!”
The three looked at each other, puzzled, before each asked a question. “Umm, who are you?”
“What are you?”
“What is a churd?”
The creature quickly faced the party, standing straight with head held high, one arm behind his back and the other holding the front of what was now clearly a lab coat. “Dr. Tommithy Twinhert, genius among bugbear. Churd is latest invention, but requires assistance with last few components. You shall help, and I shall give you key to next room.”
“O…k?” Tad and Nate looked to Darkshadow for a plan, to which she simply gave a confused shrug.
Tommy beckoned them to the table he stood at. On closer inspection, they saw him holding two strange devices close, each a disturbing amalgamation of metal and flesh. “First, flabulator requires connecting to chronometer with healing magics. Spell or potion will do.”
Once the stunning silence had finished settling, Tad was the first to step forward, pulling out the bottle of glimmering red. He carefully poured it over the joint Tommy held, and where the thin stream of liquid landed, metallic flesh knitted together. The boy winced at the disturbing sight. “Something like this… I guess?”
“Good good. Next…” Tommy dashed around the room, gathering several crystals attached to a long string. After tying them around one of the extra fleshy bits of the device, he reached for a dial that slotted into a small panel on a metallic portion before holding the amalgamation up to the group. “Gleeple requires calibration using magical fire.”
Darkshadow was quick to step up. “I’ve got this one.” She swiftly dove into the bag on Tad’s back and fished out the bottle of glowing orange.
“Hey!”
Tad’s protests were brushed off like water off a duck’s back. “Not like you knew it’s a bottle of alchemist’s fire.” Before either of her teammates could ask, Darkshadow hastily uncorked the container, releasing a torrent of flames from the glass prison. She aimed it towards the machine in the bugbear’s hands, coating it in burning orange as some of the pyrophoric liquid dripped onto the fleshy surface. Within the inferno, the crystal wreath shifted hue from a clear lavender to a burnt orange.
“Excellent!” Tommy ran to a table again, grabbing a tangle of metallic struts forming an odd-shaped frame. He placed the device everyone had been collaborating on into the steel cradle, putting it on his shoulder. “Lastly, spreem requires priming with magical missile.”
As the other two had managed to contribute to the ‘churd’, Nate looked between his two allies before holding his hand out, allowing a golden light to build within his palm. “I can handle this.” A moment later, the light shot forth from his palm in a brilliant blinding bolt, striking the iron nest with a guiding glow. The device hummed as it absorbed the energy, making several clicking sounds as the glow dimmed.
Once the spell had fully been absorbed, Tommy gave a raucous cheer. “Yes, Yes! Perfection!” Shifting the metal frame from his shoulder, he held the finished contraption in his hands. “My masterpiece, the churd is complete.” He buried his arm into his lab coat pocket, pulling out a small orange after rummaging for a bit. “Thank you greatly. As promised, here is key to next room.”
Darkshadow reached out tentatively, taking the orange with a confused expression. “Thank you?”
To that, Tommy gave a shallow bow before turning to the hall the group came from. “Good luck passing your trial.” He called back over his shoulder with a wave, taking the contraption with him as he left through the passage.
On approaching the door marked as the exit, the orange flew from Darkshadow’s hand, splatting against the stone frame as it shifted downward. The group stood in awkward silence for a moment as the passage onward revealed itself, a glistening moist sheen on every surface of the corridor. The three nervously looked at each other before steeling themselves for the next room
Curiosity nibbled at N as Abel described the scene, a question sitting at the edge of his tongue. The moment the game master took a moment to pause, he asked. “So, was that like, an orange key or stone or…?”
A cocked eyebrow and the tone he answered with were the only clues to Abel’s confusion through his smile. “Nope? The citrus fruit.”
That piqued Thad’s interest, there could have been something more to the conversation’s current focus. “So was it a magic orange, or poisonous?”
Abel sniggered, finding amusement at the group's fixation on what was supposed to be a brief, mundane description. “No, just a regular orange.”
Uzi followed with another question, using the voice she had been putting on when speaking in character. “So why do you think it was an orange?”
It took a moment for N and Thad to catch on with what the edgy little drone was suggesting with her enquiry, though when the spark of acknowledgement glinted in their eyes, Abel couldn't help but give a smile that would rival N's regular cheer.
The two took a moment to think about Darkshadow’s question, humming to themselves as they thought about it. Nate was first to respond, with genuine honesty in his words. “Maybe he was afraid of scurvy?”
The three continued walking in silence until a few beats later, they started to giggle and laugh at the ridiculousness of what they had just worked through. Their laughter settled as they reached the next room, a large natural cavern with a massive lake, the edges lost to a mist that hung low. In front of them, the slick stone floor gave way to a small wooden pier with a rowboat moored to the side, a stiff humanoid figure standing next to it. As they tentatively approached, the figure slowly creaked to life, their body on closer inspection an amalgam of wood and rusted steel. It spoke with a low gravelly sound, something… artificial. “Arr! Who be ye? More adventurers lookin' t' cross the lake?”
While the whole group were confused by the sight before them, Tad was the first to speak up. “Sure?”
The figure pulled a battered black captain's hat from behind itself, a white skull and crossbones painted on the front. “In dat case, I accept two kinds o' bounty. Ye can either answer me riddles three correctly, or ye can defeat me 'n me crew in combat, wha' ye say?”
The three looked to one another in confusion before Tad responded. “Err, one second.” Afterwards, the group huddled around each other, head down as they held their private meeting.
Nate spoke first, voicing his concerns. “So what are we going to do?”
Darkshadow was quick to respond with confidence. “We could take him.”
A slight panic entered the halfling’s tone as he followed up. “But he said he has a crew, and I don’t see anyone else so…”
Tad nodded in agreement with a hardened look. “Yeah, we have no idea how many are in hiding. It’d probably be smarter to try the riddles.”
The tiefling rolled her eyes with great exaggeration, sarcasm dripping from her words. “Fine.”
The huddle broke as they turned to face the robotic sailor. “Ok, we’ll answer your riddles,” Tad stated with an assured smile.
The figure gave a gnarled smirk as they pulled down an eye patch over their head from their hat. “Mighty well then, first riddle. A landlubber has a barrel full o' gold doubloons dat weighs five hundred pounds. Then he puts somethin' in the barrel, 'n har! Now it weighs less than five hundred pounds! Wha' did he put in the barrel?”
As they pondered the answer to the first challenge, muttering ideas such as balloons or feathers, Nate snapped his fingers and proudly exclaimed the answer that came to him. “A hole!”
The pirate-like robot chuckled as its hand swivelled along its wrist, swapping with a hook stored in a compartment in the forearm. “Good, next riddle.” It proclaimed. “S-M-H-D-W-M, wha' be next in dis pattern?”
Silence befell the group again as they searched deep in their minds for the answer. As he slowly unraveled the pattern in his head, Tad was the first to speak up. "I think I’ve got it. It stands for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months. So the next one would be…"
Darkshadow looked at the human as she cut him off, realisation in her tone and glee on her face. “Y, for years!”
The automaton was caught off guard with how quickly they answered, midway through attaching a plastic parrot to its shoulder. “Mighty fine”, it responded, after finishing its adjustments. “Last riddle. Wha' be somethin' dat fades 'n goes o'er time but some o' its residue will always remain?”
As with the first two, the silence was broken only by murmurs of thought and water droplets from stalactites that filled the cavern. It took a few minutes longer for anyone to speak up before Nate and Darkshadow looked at each other with confidence, stating their answers in unison. “Memories.”
The robotic rapscallion gave a raucous cheer, the sound echoing throughout the cave much longer than it should have. “Ah har! Ye've answered all me riddles correctly. In dat case, ye may take me boat t' the other side o' the lake.”
Darkshadow and Nate gave each other a high-five in celebration, while Tad approached the figure of metal and wood. He bowed his head in respect as he replied. “Thanks! We'll make good use of it.”
With that, the group clambered into the wooden vessel, Nate taking charge as he readied the oars. Darkshadow quickly settled into the boat while Tad took a while longer to find his sea legs. Before pushing them off from the pier, the constructed captain gave a few ominous parting words. “Good luck ye scallywags. Ye'll needs it.”
Looks of suspicion and concern were shared among the three adventurers-in-training, unsure how to take the android's words. Whether unable or unwilling to turn back at this point, the team pressed forward. Nate kept the boat going at a steady pace as it cut through the water, quickly running against a sandy shore that led to a passage carved in the stone. As they trudged through the sand, Nate noticed Darkshadow playing with a coin that had a bright silvery shine. He recognised it as a valuable platinum piece from its shape but chose not to confront Dark about where she had gotten it.
Approaching the carved tunnel, it was choked with cobwebs, a door not far into the darkness tangled in the sticky silken threads. Darkshadow hesitantly pushed the door open, brushing the curtain of spider silk away. In the centre of the room, a massive disembodied humanoid head hovered above the floor, the bottom of its neck capped with some kind of metal device as it muttered gibberish to itself. As the group stared in many forms of horror at the creature, it quickly began to speak louder. "Mumford. Potato. Spelling. Casper. Igneous." At its crescendo, a piercing hiss came from beneath it, and a handful of thin strips of parchment fluttered before the three.
As the papers danced around the party’s feet, voices from the webbed shadows above chittered. Four large spiders descended around the head, one approaching Darkshadow at the front of the pack while the other three gave reverence to the muttering cranium. It gathered the parchments as it approached before presenting them to the band. In whispered chitters, it spoke with a ghostly voice. “Read, to self, not aloud.” They each looked at the paper strips with scepticism, trusting this to be a trap of some sort, but with no clear way to continue forward, they decided to take the risk.
At that moment, everyone was startled as their devices lit up, each with a light jingle. As they sat there stunned for a moment, Abel calmly gestured for them to check the message, another smirk on his face. Uzi looked to Thad and N, the former hesitantly opening the device while the latter looked puzzled over the message. Intrigued, she pulled the tablet closer to inspect what had been sent. It was a private message from Abel titled ‘DM’s whispers 🤫’.
[1ostDr0ne]: This is about the message you read.
[1ostDr0ne]: I’ll ask you to make a DC 20 Int saving throw. If you fail, you must follow these instructions to the best of your abilities. ‘The spiders are your long lost friends; you can trust them.’
— — —
After reading their nonsensical messages, the feeling of magic washed over them. As the feeling dissipated, Darkshadow and Nate spotted a golden glow coming from the wall ahead, forming the outline of a door. “Well that was weird, but pleasantly easy for once.”
As the two started towards the exit, Nate quickly picked up on something strange: The calm and grounded Tad was not following them. Instead, he hid in a dark corner, trying to be as invisible as possible. He turned to the young human, approaching as carefully as possible. “You ok Tad?”
The fighter bristled at the question, nearly ready to jump in fear. Sweat poured from his brow as he wore a cracked smile. “Wha, me? Na, I'm totally fine!” His eyes darted around the room like a dragonfly.
Nate continued questioning Tad with all the care he could muster while Darkshadow looked on in confusion. As she was about to act, her eyes caught a glimpse of Tad’s piece of paper as it fell from his hand. Faster than the others could react, she snatched the parchment, quickly reading over its message. ‘You fear everyone except the head. The head is the only one you can trust.’ With this and the magic feeling from earlier, she quickly put the pieces together. “Hey! He’s been brainwashed by some kinda magic that was on the paper strips.”
Hearing this, Nate took a moment to think as he formulated a plan. “Ok Tad, we might be able to help, but you’re going to need to trust us, ok?” Tad mumbled an agreement after a while, slowly willing himself through his building fear. “You’re going to have to follow us out of this room. That might clear whatever magic has got you so afraid. Think you can do that for us?”
Fighting past the panic building in his core, Tad took a shaky breath before giving a murmured response. “Ye-yeah, sure.” Following his two allies, his feet felt like lead being pulled through thick mud. As he crossed the threshold into the corridor beyond, the magic barbs latched into his mind released, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he held. “Wow, that was weird.”
Hearing the fear leaving the young man's voice, Nate sighed in relief, pleased that his plan worked. “What even was that?”
Tad shrugged. “I dunno. It was like… I couldn’t think clearly. Like I wasn’t fully myself for a while…”
A hand landed on his shoulder, drawing their attention to Darkshadow, who started to step down the pathway ahead while still facing the group. “Creepy, hope we don’t have to deal with anything like that again.”
The other two each gave a simple hum in response as they followed deeper into the hallway. It didn’t take long for them to enter another room. Three metallic levers were set into the wall on the far left, while the door in front appeared locked with a large lever handle. Above the door, a message was engraved into the stonework, written in dwarvish runes. Nate read it aloud as the group entered. “One lever in this room opens the door ahead.”
Without missing a beat, they each moved to one of the levers on the wall. “Fine, let’s get this over with.” Darkshadow pulled hers down first. As the lever hit the bottom of its arc, everyone suddenly teleported to the ceiling before quickly crashing back down to the floor. Between the pained groans of everyone else, the young tiefling’s frustrations were reaching their limits. “What the heck?!”
Standing back up while nursing his bruises, Tad went to pull down the next lever. As he did, a small potted fig tree appeared in the centre of the room. Everyone stared down at the potted plant for a minute before Tad voiced his confusion with a simple question. “What the…?”
Nate was the last person to pull a lever, reaching over his head to grab it and pulling it down with his full weight. As the lever slammed into place, the room became shrouded in darkness and a large glowing countdown starting from ten filled the floor. Everyone quickly prepared for a fight as the numbers ticked down, fading from a cerulean blue to scarlet red. 3… 2… 1… Their eyes stung as the light returned to the room, followed shortly by the sound of a single half-hearted party horn and a small sprinkling of confetti. As the tension in everyone released, Nate spoke up with a question, as though anyone could answer it. “What the…?”
With no further levers on the wall to pull and no other visible changes to the room, Tad asked the others a question, clear exhaustion from these events in his voice. “One of those must have opened the door, right?”
“It better have.” Darkshadow curtly responded, quickly striding over to the door. As she grabbed the handle, she froze as a look of realisation and frustration blanketed her face. “Guy?”
“Yeah?”
“The puzzle said a lever in this room opens the door. And this is a lever handle…”
Abel nearly greeted the floor as he doubled over, cackling. Wiping tears from his eyes, he tried to speak through his laughter. “I did not expect to get you guys with that one!”
“BITE ME!” Uzi snapped, though lacking any edge to suggest hostilities. If anything, it looked as though she was trying to smother an equally giggle-filled smile that threatened to grace her face.
Thad leaned back in his chair, hands resting behind his head as he let out a light chuckle. “Man, you got us good.”
A confused grin was worn by N, enjoying the atmosphere of everyone’s shared fun, but not understanding the joke. “Haha, I still don’t get it…”
As his laughter began to die down, Abel attempted to wheeze out his words as the story continued. “Ha… ha… Anyway…”
Making their way down the corridor, no one spoke of how exhausted they were, the only sounds being the grumbling murmurs of Darkshadows' frustrations at the room prior. As they approached the end of the cold stone passage, the shrouding darkness abated to two bejewelled sconces carrying flames that gave no heat. Between the sconces stood a large stone door that was left slightly ajar. Even from a distance, it was easy to see that this room wasn't intended to be easily accessed. Chunks of stone and wood lay strewn outside the door, riddled with broken locks. Magic wards sizzled ineffectively, their power reduced to nothing. Tad gave a weak cough to break the silence before trying to make small talk. “Well, if this isn't a boss door then I don't know what is.”
Darkshadow gave a large sigh of annoyance before repeating something she had said earlier with a more sarcastic tone. “Fine, let’s get this over with!”
As she strode to the door, ready to face whatever lay beyond it, Nate nervously ran up to join her while giving a light chuckle. “Here we go!”
Before Tad could follow, the ground shook as it began to gently tilt toward the battered doorway. Everyone could feel as though they were being pushed into the room. As they shuffled in, they saw a simple wooden table bearing a small, squarish cloth-covered object sitting in the middle of the room, illuminated by warm rays of light pouring from the ceiling. Patterns of scintillating green stones covered the floor and walls, forming the shape of a draconic creature in the eyes of Darkshadow. With only the table standing out in the room, Tad moved towards it, reaching for the cloth as he approached. Just before his fingers graced the tapestry, the green stones surrounding the area began to shake, ripping themselves out of the floor and walls. Darting like snakes to the centre of the room, Darkshadow and Nate managed to keep their footing, while Tad was thrown to the floor by the rush. The stones clambered over each other, regrouping themselves into the form of a snarling young green dragon. As it announced its presence with an ear-splitting roar, everyone prepared themselves for a gruelling fight.
Darkshadow reacted first, racing up to the winged lizard as she drew her twin daggers. As the knives racked across the dragon's scaled leg, only the tiniest of gashes were left on its hide. “You gotta be kidding me…”
The creature took a deep breath as it slowly reeled its head back, wispy green mist leaking from its maw. Everyone took this as a sign to brace for an attack, one the legends of dragons frequently spoke of. As they held their guard, the dragon lurched its head towards the ground, spewing a torrent of green clouds that quickly rolled over everything in the room. Though quick to hold their breath, the team felt the toxic vapours sap at their strength and burn their eyes.
Tad hoisted himself off the floor, recovering from the wyrm’s formation. A cough brought on by the last of the acrid mist brought speckles of crimson to the palm of his glove. Understanding the threat in front of him in a way Darkshadow didn’t seem to, he opted to draw a javelin from a small collection held on his back. He pulled his arm back before dragging it forward, putting all his might behind the throw. As it cut through the air, the javelin flew over the dragon, missing it entirely. After his shoulders had slumped in disappointment, he felt a strange magic restore his lost stamina, bathing him in a warm glow. He turned to see Nate, seemingly casting a spell meant to aid the ill and fallen.
Before the battle could continue, a booming voice cut through the tension. “ENOUGH.” With that, the room faded into mist, becoming nothing more than another dream. That mist familiarly swirled around the group before forming into the recognisable visage of the old man from the beginning. “I have seen all I need to.”
The sound of movement informed Darkshadow to Nate and Tad moving closer. She gave them a brief look to gauge their thoughts before pressing the wizard for more info. “And?”
The old man (Cronicus was his name, right?) hid his eyes under a wide-brimmed hat as he smirked. “I have faith that you will be able to walk the path fate seems destined to lay for you.”
“And the reward?” Darkshadow continued to press. She refused to have gone through all that for nothing.
A sigh escaped his lips as the wizard waved such single-mindedness aside. “You will find the treasures you acquired among your things when you awaken, along with a token that will carry what protections I can provide.” His tone changed to something more questioning. “Now, before you return to the waking realm, do you have any questions?”
Half a moment of silence passed before Nate surprised his allies by stepping forward. “What was the nature of this darkness you foresaw?”
The old man seemed sombre to hear such a question. His voice shook ever so slightly as he responded. “My vision was unclear. There were armies of the undead, vicious hags and a conspiracy that could unravel the multiverse”
This brought a question to Tad; unsure how he would help given his humble background. “And what do you expect us to do about it?”
A mist began to shift around the open space, slowly obscuring everything. The last thing any of them heard was the low, grumbling voice of the wizard. “That is something that can only be known in time. Speaking of its passing, you shall be waking any moment… Now.”
“At that moment, you all wake up in the beds you were sleeping in beforehand. By your side is a small leather pouch containing the spoils you each found in the dungeon, along with the gravity that it was more than a dream…” Abel smirked from behind his cardboard crenelations as he announced what the group experienced, pausing to gauge their reactions.
Thad and N sat in awe, with sparkles in their eyes as they drank in the finishing scene. Uzi, meanwhile, seemed more… irritated? Disappointed? It was hard to tell, even with the question she asked. “Is that it?”
The game master didn’t rush to defend himself, giving a light shrug as he replied. “That’s everything I had planned as a taster. You guys enjoy it? Yay? Nay” He shuffled his hand between thumbs-up and thumbs-down, tentative to seek out feedback.
They each looked around the group, reading each other before turning back to Abel. N was the first to respond, with a wide smile and glee in his eyes. “That was great!”
Uzi followed moments after, with a devilish grin as she clambered to stand on her chair. “Hell yeah! That was a lot more fun than I expected.”
A softer smile than they had seen prior found its way onto Abel’s face, before taken by surprise seeing a fist presented by a grinning Thad. Abel released a short sigh as his smile returned, and he met the fistbump with his own. As the gesture parted, Thad let his thoughts be known. “Nice”
Hands sharply clapped as Abel returned to his presenting persona. “Awesome! In that case, I invite you to join in with the adventure I’m running with the other group. We’ve been running every Saturday for the past month now.”
A thumbs-up from N, a sharp nod from Uzi, and from Thad, a brilliant smile. “Sure!”
Practically vibrating with excitement, Abel gave a quick cough to control himself before continuing. “Well then, seeing as we’ll use these characters, everyone advances to level two!”
The group erupted in cheers, with Thad and Uzi exchanging a loud high-five. N, caught up in the excitement but with something on his mind, asked, “Woo! What does that even mean?”
With a shrug and a roll of his wrist, Abel explained. “You get some new abilities and spells, some more hit points and generally get a bit stronger.” He continued to rattle off a few more details of levelling up while helping the others out with the process.
As the day rolled into the late hours of the evening (early hours of the morning?), Thad reached out with a stretch as a yawn escaped his throat. “Welp, it’s getting late, so I’ma gonna head out.”
At this, the others finally noticed the time, prompting N and Uzi to start packing away their things. Abel also began putting things away, moving books to shelves and empty bowls to the kitchen. “Fair, I’ll DM you guys later to workshop the story of your characters joining.”
“Alright, laters!” As the door closed behind them, Uzi and N began making their way back to her room, planning to spend the rest of the night (day?) together. It was strange; as they walked, they couldn’t help but share with glee the fun they had playing this new game. Speculating what adventures lay in store for their characters, who they would meet, and what they would fight. It seemed like no matter what happened, they would have fun telling these stories; their only hope was that they got along with the other two drones of this group. Maybe they would remember to ask Abel who they were…
[1ostDr0ne]: We got’em! 🎉
[Bu66le9um ]: Nice! 😘U r d best dm, you know that?
[Vi0len1]: So what nightmares you gonna cook up for us?
[1ostDr0ne]: Pack your bags kiddies, cos we’re going on a trip to Ravenloft!
[Vi0len1]: Hell yeah! Vampire hunt!
[Bu66le9um ]: Ironic 😏