Chapter Text
The ol’ squad sits around the DND table one last time.
“...How will this all end?” Mike questions in his soft storytelling voice. “The sounds of boots echo across the square…as Strahd von Zarovich strides up to Dustin the Bard!"
“Don’t do this!” Dustin pleads.
“The vampire lord LUNGES!” Mike acts it out as the others cringe and sigh at the loss. “Plunging his fangs right into his throat! The onlookers gasp as his body collapses. His loot clatters across the cobblestone, letting out a final, mournful note.”
“Son of a BITCH!” Dustin shouts.
“A lone hero remains, Will the Wise, Barovia’s last and only hope.” Mike gazes at Will.
Lucas tells Will, “Cast Meteor Swarm. Take out the bastard!”
“I-I can’t.” Will responds.
“Why not?” Max scrunches her brows.
“He’s in the range of the Suppression Stone. No magic.” Dustin explains.
“Then, just wack him with your staff or something!” Max exclaims.
“And inflict six points of damage?” Lucas argues. “He has 30 HP left!”
“Okay, so now what?” Max asks.
“That’s it.” Will sighs.
“Nothing.” Dustin tilts his head down.
“What do you mean, nothing?” Max glares at Dustin.
Dustin gestures to Lucas, and she looks at him, the last glimpse of hope in her eyes still sparkling.
“Checkmate. We lost.” He says mournfully.
That glimpse of hope is snuffed out, fading to nothing.
“We lost.” Will gestures with his left arm.
“So after all of that,” Max recaps, “Strahd von Douchebag just wins?!” She stands up and shouts, “THIS GAME IS BULLSHIT!”
“I agree.” Will states, looking down.
“STUPID GODDAMN WASTE OF TIME!” Max starts throwing things around the room. “GAHHHH!”
Mike puts plastic vampire teeth in his mouth. “Strahd takes pleasure in your anger. Bleh eh eh eh eh eh eh!”
Dustin flips him off.
“Time to join your friends, Sorcerer.” Mike gazes at Will again.
“Just get it over with and roll.” Lucas grumbles. “I don’t wanna hear this shit anymore.”
Dustin grabs Will’s arm, interrupting his roll. “The Mage! From the Abbey of St. Markovia. She said we can summon her.”
Lucas grabs Will’s other hand. “When at our lowest depth!”
“The incantation to summon her.” Max rushes back to her seat. “What’s the incantation?”
“Uhh…the incantation…” Will tries to rack through his frozen brain.
“Will! Will!” Everyone cries.
Will searches through his notes, “Oh, Mage! Arise and end our fall from darkened paths and secrets deep. Come forth and help your promise keep.”
The incantation now complete, all eyes swivel from Will the Wise to Mike the Dungeon Master. “Nothing happens.” He shakes his head.
“Oh, come on, man.”
“Why?”
Everyone slumps in their chairs, sighing.
“Then why do we even have the incantation?” Dustin questions as everyone starts packing up.
“Wait…” Mike checks his book, putting on an air of confusion. “Wait, wait…a purple light begins to shine through the mist…growing brighter and brighter. It’s a portal! And out of this portal steps…THE MAGE OF ST. MARKOVIA!” He slams her figure down on the table, her hand held up holding her magic crystal ball.
“YAHHHH!” They all cheer, grabbing each other and standing up to let their excitement out.
Mike tells, “The mage holds out her hands, and,” He takes out a flashlight, “Shoom! A beam of powerful light shoots forward.” He blinds them all. Max rubs her eyes with a smile. “Strahd lets out a piercing ‘WHAIIHGHHH!’ as his body shrivels, burns, and turns to ash!” Mike drops to the ground as the others cry out their triumph.
“The mystic gloom that shrouds the village of Barovia evaporates, and you are met with cheers from the townsfolk.” They all clap as the townsfolk. “In honor of your courage and bravery, they give you medals, and you are all awarded 1,000 pieces of gold each.”
“Oooh…” They all collect their rewards.
“Flushed with wealth and honor,” Mike continues, “You live out the rest of your lives in comfort and in happiness.”
They all put their figures in the middle.
“The end.” Mike states.
“Great campaign!” Lucas smiles.
“Good campaign, buddy.” Dustin agrees.
“Great campaign.” Will claps.
Max looks around, baffled. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. That’s it? 'Comfort and happiness.' Could you be more trite? I thought you were some kind of master storyteller or something.”
The others chuckle, glancing between her and Mike.
Mike nods. “Well, it is true. The ‘comfort and happiness’ part. But happiness can be found in many places.” Mike looks around at his friends. To Lucas and Max. “The knight and the zoomer, they retire from battle, and they settle down in a small village. With each passing day, their love grows stronger.” Max and Lucas glance at each other, blushing and grinning.
Mike then turns to Dustin. “The bard, craving knowledge, makes his way to the Mage’s Guild of Enclave, where he spends his days in their vast library. Though deeply devoted to his studies…he still makes time for the occasional adventure.”
Dustin smiles, enjoying this telling of his future. It sounds nice. He wishes it will come true.
Finally, Mike once again finds himself gazing into Will’s eyes. “As for Will the Wise, he travels far and long to the bustling city of Vallaki. It’s overwhelming at first. So very different from the village where he spent his youth. But it isn’t long where he finds his place there. And with that, deep happiness…and acceptance.”
Tears in his eyes, holding Mike’s eye contact, Will nods. “And the storyteller? What about him?”
“The storyteller…keeps telling stories. Stories inspired by his friends. One day, he hopes their tales of grand adventure will spread far and wide across the land, so all can know of their great bravery.”
They all look down, thinking about their futures.
“But…there is a story that he can never tell.” Mike continues. “The story of the Mage.”
They all look up at him.
“Or…at least not the real story.”
Their surroundings begin to glitch as Mike pushes his words out like trudging through tar. “When she cast Sunbeam. She expended the last of her energy, and she vanished. But has anybody asked themselves how she cast that spell?”
“The Suppression Stone.” Dustin realizes aloud as the lighting shifts ever-so-slightly.
“She couldn’t have used her magic.” Will says with a growing grin.
“In the excitement, no one even noticed.” Mike continues. “But you see, the mage is very clever. A cleverness only matched by her sister, who, upon hearing the pleads of the paladin, had a change of heart. Together, the sisters devised a plan. A plan to protect the mage from the order of the Black Hand. Who remained hell-bent on stealing her powers. So in order to trick them, she had to make everyone, including her friends, believe that she was dead. And so, the sister cast a spell from far away, safe from the power of the Suppression Stone. A spell of invisibility. Once the mage escaped, the sister cast one final spell.” Mike’s throat burns as his nails dig into the flesh of his thighs. He forges on, “The mage you saw die was not real. She was an illusion.”
Will gasps.
Max asks, “Where did she go?”
Mike looks down, the sight of his bleeding legs failing to derail him. “No one knows. No one will ever know. But I’d…I’d like to imagine that she’s in a beautiful land, somewhere far away. And it is here, at last, that she finds peace. That she finally finds happiness.”
“And…this is just a theory, right?” Max questions, the sparkle in her eyes a blaze now.
“How do we know it’s true?” Will asks.
Because I saw her! Mike yearns to shout. Because she told me in her mind realm! Because… “We don’t.” Mike is forced to say instead. The pain in Will’s eyes at that sends a dagger through Mike’s heart. “Not for sure.” He balls his fists, exhausting every last ounce of his rebellious energy. “But I choose to believe that it is. I believe.” He looks around at his friends, hoping, praying that they heard him. That they understand.
“I believe.” Dustin whispers, tears streaming down his face.
“I believe.” Says Lucas through shaky breaths.
Max nods, “I believe.”
Will smiles, his eyes revealing his pain, “I believe.”
Mike looks at him. He could get lost in his–
The basement door creaks open. “Guys! What’s going on?” Mrs. Wheeler asks. “The lasagna’s getting cold!”
Mike turns to her, and Will smiles, breathing heavily as the eye contact breaks.
“Yeah! We…we just finished!” Mike responds. “We’ll be right up.” Mrs. Wheeler walks away, leaving the door open.
They all sigh, making their way to standing up, packing up, and putting their DND books away on the shelf one by one in heavy silence.
The young group, lead by Holly and Derek, storm down the stairs to start on an adventure of their own.