Chapter Text
For the past couple of years, John has been living in a town called Wellston and keeping to himself. The only friend he has is Seraphina, a rich girl who he opened up to the novel concept of cutting loose and having some fun. The primary way John does that is by playing a tabletop role-playing game with her called Tales of Terran.
“You have…the most insane luck.” John Doe sighs from behind the storyteller’s screen. He’s been playing Tales of Terran with Seraphina for a while now, just the two of them with him behind the screen, and every single time she manages to create a different overpowered character that blasts through anything he prepares.
“Make a more challenging encounter,” Seraphina shrugs.
“I had thirty guards in this fight!” John retorts. “Thirty turns before you, because you rolled terribly for initiative. The fact that you survived that long is a miracle on its own!”
“Sounds like a skill issue,” Seraphina smirks, and John huffs.
“Well, I can’t exactly get one of the module adventures without a whole group. They’re balanced for parties of four or more,” John says.
“I can take it,” Seraphina says with a glint of determination in her eye.
“No,” John says sternly.
Seraphina sighs. “Well, I want some kind of new challenge.”
“Look, you won this round,” John admits, “I’ll see if I can figure out something to do.”
After Seraphina leaves, John sighs and puts his things away in a closet. His eyes trail to a small box tucked into a corner of the closet, big enough to fit in a palm.
A new challenge, huh…? John hesitantly reaches for the box, but he stops himself. He shakes his head and hurriedly closes the closet.
~=~
In the library the next day, Seraphina is electing not to work on homework and instead work on her next character.
Maybe I could give John a break, just this once… Seraphina takes some notes on a new character idea.
“Oh, ToT!” a familiar voice exclaims excitedly, and Seraphina looks over her shoulder to see Remi. “I didn’t know you played, Seraphina.”
Seraphina doesn’t know Remi too well. She knows her because she’s the little sister of one of Arlo’s friends that’s moved on and graduated, and really, she only knows Arlo because the guy insists that well-off families should know each other.
“Eh, I’ve only really played with one person,” Seraphina admits.
“Oh, you should play with us!” Remi says excitedly. “Blyke, Isen, and I have been getting ready to play. We don’t have a storyteller or anything, but my brother just sent us a ton of dice. I think I’m getting close to wearing Arlo down to play, too!”
“Hm…” Seraphina thinks for a moment. “What if I got my friend to be the storyteller? He’s been doing alright with me, and the only reason he hasn’t been trying more complex stuff is that we don’t have a group.”
“Oh, that’d be perfect!” Remi grins. “Could you ask? That’d be amazing.”
“I’ll see what he says and text you,” Seraphina nods.
“Thanks, Seraphina! You’re the best!” Remi says jovially.
At least now, I might be able to get a bigger challenge in this game… Seraphina thinks to herself.
~=~
Arlo doesn’t particularly like John Doe. And no, it’s not because he “hates poor people” (as John so eloquently puts it), it’s because the man is a veritable enigma. Even Isen, someone who could probably learn more about someone than their own mother, could find absolutely nothing about John Doe. The man has his own crackpot theories, but Arlo is only interested in the facts, and the facts are that there is nothing to be found on John Doe except the existence of his Father, who happens to be a writer for that strange dice game that Remi has been wanting to play. Arlo never paid it much mind, but once he learns that John will be the one in charge of this whole thing?
Arlo may not know anything about John, but he knows that he doesn’t like him. So, Arlo went online, found the most unkillable build in this game he could get his hands on, and made it purely to spite whatever John has planned for them.
~=~
John can’t believe Seraphina managed to find a group. He especially can’t believe she’s talked him into doing this! He’s never done this for a group before! He’s a rookie when it comes to storytelling!
Well, whatever. John still has a good module, so he might as well use it. He’s sure Seraphina’s build and her luck will be insane, Arlo’s probably gonna be a dick about this whole thing, Isen’s a nosy bastard, Blyke gets fired up easily…Remi’s probably fine in the long run, but John just wants some goddamn peace and quiet! Maybe if he plays with them, though, they’ll at least decide to leave him be outside of the game.
In John’s house, he’s set out some snacks for everyone while they’re settling in. He’s setting up the storytelling screen on the table.
“So, everyone’s familiar with what they need to know?” John asks.
“Yeah, yeah, we got the characters,” Blyke says as Remi puts multiple boxes of dice on the table.
“Do you guys need that many dice…?” John questions.
“Rei sent me a bunch of dice!” Remi says. “Let’s see, he also had a lucky die he wanted me to have…where’d I put it…?” She starts sifting through her bag.
John sighs. “So, Sera, what bonkers build have you brought me today?”
“Well, I was thinking about letting you off easy…” Seraphina smirks. “But then we got a group, so I decided that I didn’t have to. I’m playing a Monk.”
“Naturally reflavored to fit the setting better,” John assumes.
“Naturally,” Seraphina nods.
“Why put the choice in the game if there isn’t a place for it naturally?” Arlo critiques.
“It’s for a planned expansion, I think,” Isen remarks. “Hang on, aren’t we missing someone?”
“I’m here!” Elaine suddenly bursts in. “I’m here! I’m…” She stares at John. “What are you doing here?!”
“Bitch, I live here,” John huffs. “And I’m the storyteller for the game. What are you doing here?”
“No one wanted to be the healer,” Blyke admits. “So she’s our Cleric.”
“Ugh, it’s run by you?” Elaine huffs. Elaine has always thought that Seraphina could do better than John in terms of friendship. “I thought maybe Arlo would try running things…”
“If you guys have a problem with me being the storyteller, we can stop now…” John frowns.
“No,” Seraphina says demandingly. “You’re our storyteller, and that’s final.”
“Let’s just get started,” Arlo huffs. “We’ve got our characters, we all know the benefits. Let’s just play this game.”
“It’s not like some board game to just start up…” John sighs. “Look, if you wanna start, we can. Lemme find the intro, there’s a whole spiel…” He sifts through the book.
“Found it!” Remi holds up a box that fits in her palm triumphantly. “Rei’s lucky die!”
John’s eyes trail to the box…and his eyes widen.
Wait…is that-?!
Remi opens the box up, and the teal die glitters with a storm-like symbol where the ‘20’ should be.
“Ooh, it’s pretty…” Remi smiles.
“No-!” John gasps as the die reacts to the presence of the players and flares brightly! Teal light fills everyone’s vision…
~=~
A figure leans against a wall in an alleyway, groaning as he’s shrouded in a black hood.
“No…no, no, no!” He rushes over to a puddle on the edge of the alleyway and sees an all-too-familiar reflection staring back at him. He staggers out of the alleyway and looks up, seeing a silver sun in the sky.
“I’m in Terran again…” The man who was once John mutters.