Chapter 28

After breakfast the next morning I made some last notes, then printed off my newest version of “Boken Nabasen” and got the soft camera bag ready. Dad watched and asked what I was doing as I grabbed three tapes and added them to the bag.

“Well, I figured I would set up the camera and record the game. This way I can use it to make any further changes, and maybe show to Brad. Or anybody else that wants to see it for that matter.”

“Don’t forget Mandy,” Dee added. “She might like a copy, so she can go back over it for ideas for illustrations she might have missed.”

“Thanks, great idea Dee. I think I will go ahead and do this for all my games from now on. Maybe someday splice them together as a presentation.”

“Don’t you need special equipment for that Pete?”

“Well dad, it helps but is not needed. I can do some things with the camera and a VCR, but a switch like they had at that first convention would be a huge help. Yet another thing I will have to look into getting. I just wish I could do that with a computer, just splice video together like editing a document.”

“Yeah, maybe in 50 years!” Dee snorted. “They can barely play beeps and boops, and animate drawings about as complex as Georgie here can make. It is gonna be a long time before a computer we can afford can do something like that.”

Soon I had everything packed away, and with camera bag, and two backpacks I put everything in the back of dad’s car and Dee and I headed to Reseda. We got there at 10:30, and not only was Holly and Mandy there, Peggy and Keith was also.

I hugged them all, even surprising Keith when I hugged him. “Keith, it’s good to see you my friend. And yes, you are always welcome. That craziness was a long time ago, and we are all over it. Holly, can you open the back of your car please?”

She did and I threw the backpack for the weekend in the back, then with my game pack and camera we all went inside. We all chatted as I got the camera set up, and had them all sit around the table in different places until I found the perfect angle. I used some tape to mark the position of the tripod, then moved the camera two more times, each time putting down more tape.

“Pete, what are you doing?” Mandy asked, slightly puzzled at my actions.

“Well, this is something I learned from Gloria. Whenever she filmed me at a convention, before we started she would have one of the guys use tape to make marks like this. Some were for where she wanted the cameras, others were for where she wanted me to stand. I figure this way I can occasionally move the camera around, and get different shots. I just wish I had the money for more cameras.”

They all looked impressed at that, and I took a sheet of paper out of my notebook. I wrote down the date, location, and “Boken Nabasen” and then taped Mandy holding it for 30 seconds before I stopped it. “There, not exactly a clapper board, but that will help if I want to know what this is of.”

Ms. Jackson arrived as I was finishing, and I introduced her to everybody. I then gave her a tour of the store, and showed her some of the adventures I had written. “I have to admit Mr. Culver, I am somewhat impressed. I had thought your friend there was pulling my leg, but I did some digging on you and was not sure if the Peter Culver I found was really you. But now I am sure it is, you have what, three dozen writing credits already?”

“Something like that,” Dee said and smiled.

“Oh, Dee here is my stepmother, and she was my first editor. I kinda fell into all of this. I was playing the first game I wrote at a small convention near La Cañada, and a guy saw it and told me he wanted to publish it. A few months later I was at a bigger convention to give my first playtest of the adventure for him, and Dee was there and sat in on it. A few months later she started dating my dad, and got me to write occasional articles.”

“And he is very good, Ms. Jackson. He is one of our most popular writers, because he constantly thinks of things nobody else does, or in entirely new ways.”

“Please, Sandy. I will be having a photographer here in a few hours, but I think this is another story I can write up. And yes, I already cleared things with Mr. Cummings, I understand what I can and can not say.”

By this time everybody had shown up, so I handed out the character sheets and we started. Skip’s son was there to help out in the shop while his dad played, and we also drafted him to operate the camera sometimes. He had a blast, every 20 minutes or so moving it to another position.

And quickly everybody was really getting into it. This was far more serious than most of my works, and the mood was somber but also fun. They had accepted the help of the youngest daughter of the High Priestess when the pizza arrived and we all took a break.

Keith came up right away, and said the game was radical. “Dude, I can hardly believe the difference between this and Kaos. This is way more complex, how can you keep it all straight?”

“Well, it is not all that hard, I have it written in branches. Kind of like those ‘Find your own Adventure’ books. As you all make decisions, I check off boxes on a sheet I made up, and that helps me keep things straight. You have already blocked off over half the possible endings, and soon there will be only two.”

“Two?” Sandy said.

“Yes, either they beat the game, or they all die.”

Everybody laughed, and Sandy looked puzzled. “OK, I get the idea, they all try to beat whatever the adventure is. What exactly is your role in all of this Pete? Are you the adversary?”

“Well, in general the Dungeon Master or Game Master is supposed to be a neutral observer and narrator. We pick or create the setting, then as you saw we play-act it out. To some, I am the enemy to be beaten. But when it is done right, the adventure is challenging, but not deadly and my role is only that of a judge and narrator. Oh sure people may and often do die, but a well-crafted one will leave them battered but victorious. My earlier ones were kind of quasi-joke adventures. I even had the seven dwarves in the first one, and had them off chasing a gold rush that did not exist.”

Keith and Holly both laughed at that, and admitted that they were both there for that first game. “It was like really wicked. Most times we all just call these ‘dungeons’. And Pete here did the exact opposite for the first game he wrote, there was no dungeon at all. Almost everything happened either in a town, or out in the wilderness.” Holly reached out and rested her hand on the back of mine and we smiled at each other as she said that.

Then Keith added in his bit. “And we all started laughing when we realized there were seven dwarves. But he was quick to say that these were THOSE dwarves. Pete, tell her what happened at the convention when they had you play the game in front of an audience. Dude, that was radical.”

“Well, as a form of publicity when they released it they had me run a game at a convention in front of an audience. That time, one of the party asked ‘Where’s Dopey?’. Now as the DM I have the option to take things like that as out of character. But I decided to be a bit snarky and had him make a roll against his charisma. He failed, and the dwarves got all offended, wanting to know who in the hell he thought he was, and who he was calling ‘dopey’. There was no fight, but they were told to leave the camp where in all other games they had been invited to stay.”

Sandy was writing quickly in her notebook as I said that. “Then as I got better, I tended to pattern them after elements from film noir. Enemies embedded in the party, MacGuffins that served no real purpose other than to get them off on their adventure. Things like that. This one, I guess it is kind of a love letter to Okinawa. They are their own culture, not unlike say Hawaii. With their own history, religion, language, and beliefs before they were taken over by Japan over 100 years ago. I tried to capture a lot of that in this adventure. And hopefully others will decide they want to look into the things I wrote. Also, maybe inspire other people to write similar adventures based on different cultures.”

“So other cultures are not a big part of the game?”

“Well, yes and no. The races here are elves, humans, dwarves, and the like. All humans, no matter where they live on the planet are all just humans. Oh, the Deities & Demigods book has mythos from all over, including Greece, Norse, Japan, American Indian, India, and others. But most game settings are almost exclusively set in a pseudo-European environment. I hope with this others see that this does not have to be, and inspire them to incorporate other cultures and beliefs.”

Soon all the pizza was done, and we started back up. Mandy was sketching away like crazy, and I knew she had a lot of good inspiration from this test. Finally after a second round of pizzas and a lot of photos from the photographer we were in the home stretch. They were fighting the final boss, but before they got there Osuushi the large gentle monk had died. And in the final battle, three of the players were killed. One of them was Mandy, which she did not like but also gave her more time to draw so she was not complaining much.

Finally they made it out, badly battered with almost half the party dead. But they had banished the demon from the realm, and the entire village celebrated.

Then the part none of them expected. I had the High Priestess and her new protege kneel next to those who had fallen, and all gasped as I described how their souls rose out of the body, and the High Priestess asked them if they would accept their new charge. All of the players who had died of course agreed, and I then described how they all took their place as new Kami for the households of the village.

I symbolically closed the cover of my notebook, and removed the screen. Everybody started to applaud, and Mandy, Dee and Holly all came up and gave me hugs and kisses.

“Pete, best adventure ever. I almost wanted to cry when Osuushi died, and then I wanted to cry all over again when they were all raised to the level of minor deities to watch over the village. This is something really magical. And I am honest when I say every group should have at least one person die, so they can experience that.”

“Thanks Dee. And I think so also, that is one reason why so many go in with the party. To guarantee that at least somebody dies while going through it, even if it is not a player character. But your decisions as you played also determined the last fight. If you had not helped the younger daughter, the boss would have been tougher. If you had not accepted the help of Osuushi, it would have been even harder. I had played it out, if you had made all the wrong decisions as you played, the demon would have killed you all without effort.”

Keith whistled. “So it was more than just beating the bad guy at the end.”

“Yep, it was also about helping the village and the people that lived there. If you all had just rushed to get into the tomb as fast as possible, nobody would have survived. You needed their help spiritually in order to beat him.”

Sandy soon said goodbye, and asked if I had anymore information on when the game would be published.

“Oh, probably November. Next weekend I am doing a game convention in Anaheim. That will be a final playtest for the publisher, and I will also be giving a presentation there. Mandy as you saw has been drawing like crazy, and she is my illustrator so figure two to three months for final clean-up, printing, then distribution in time for Thanksgiving for holiday sales.”

I was giving everybody hugs and saying goodbye, then after packing up the camera I threw everything into Holly’s car and we were heading South. She kept saying how great that was. “And Keithie is right, you really have matured as a writer Pete. That was so much better than I ever expected. I hope you have room in your trophy case, if that does not win you more awards I will eat my bra.”

I laughed and squeezed her hand. “Thanks, and that would be quite a mouthful if you have to do that, Areola.” She slapped the back of my hand, then wrapped our fingers together again. “So tell me, where are we going?”

“Well, I booked us a room at a motel in Seal Beach. It is a little town between Long Beach and Huntington Beach. Then dinner at Captain Jacks, a steak and seafood place there. After that, we will both have to see.”

We pulled in at just after 6, and Holly already had a key to the room. I brought in the bags, and I told her she could shower first. She grabbed a small bag and went into the bathroom as I pulled out the shirt, tie and slacks I had in my bag. When she was done she came out with her hair still in a shower cap as I slipped in after giving her a soft kiss. 5 minutes later I was starting to get dressed. I was watching Holly, now just clad in bra and panties putting on some makeup and smiled.

I caught her looking at me in the mirror, and winked as her reflection blushed at me. She pulled a short green dress over her head, grabbed a clutch, and out the door we went. Dinner was really good, and I had the steak and prawns as she had a steak. We shared a half carafe of wine as we ate, and we both said the food was really good.

Once I paid the tab I directed her to head south on PCH, and soon we were in Huntington Beach. I had her pull into the parking lot, and soon we were hand in hand walking up to Odyssey. The doorman looked at the card I handed him, and I explained to Holly I had gotten it when I came here with Linda before I left. “We were not 21, so they would not let us in. The manager gave me this and said I was welcome back afterwards.”

A few minutes later the same manager came up, and the doorman handed him the card. He looked at me, and smiled. “Yes, about two years ago, right? Short girl though, not this one.”

“Yes sir, and yes different girl. I am home on leave, and thought this would be a good time to come back.”

He smiled and handed me the card back, then told us to enter. “To be honest, this is the first time somebody actually came back. Go ahead and keep it, you can use it one more time. Welcome to Odyssey, and thank you for coming back.”

We were both impressed, the place was small and cozy, and the music sounded great. Holly checked in her clutch, and soon we were dancing. We danced for about a half-hour, then after several slow songs where we held each other very closely, we decided to take a break. I got us both drinks, and we chatted as we watched the others dancing.

“Pete, thank you for bringing me here. This place is great, and I never knew it was here.”

“Well, I found it in a review and they said it was an all-ages club, like Hot Trax. But when we got here, it had just gotten a liquor license so it was 21 and up. The manager there gave me that card as an apology since we had driven all the way here and could not go in. It was not our fault they had changed in the weeks before we came.”

Soon we had finished our drinks, and went back to the dance floor. This time when the slow set started Holly plastered her body tight against me, and I could feel her body pressed tightly against mine. We moved so close we could almost have been kissing, looking deeply into each other’s eyes. I had one hand on her hip and the other caressing the skin between her shoulders, as her fingers lightly caressed and teased the back of my neck.

We were both excited, as was obvious when she pressed her belly tighter against me and purred softly when she felt my excitement pressed into her. When the last slow song ended and the DJ started to take up the pace, she looked into my eyes.

“Pete, can we go now?”

I kissed her softly, then hand in hand we went to retrieve her clutch. As soon as we were back in the room, Holly slid into my arms and we kissed. It was amazing, both tender and passionate. And it felt so incredibly right, not at all like I had thought kissing her again would be like.

Finally we broke apart, and she told me she was going to shower and clean up for bed. I sat in the chair and removed my shoes and socks as she kicked off her shoes then pulled her dress over her head. I smiled as I saw her torso come into view, and she smiled back as she reached behind herself and removed her bra. Then in just panties and her bag in hand she slipped into the bathroom.

I stripped down to my briefs, then pulled out a clean pair from my backpack and turned on the TV. I saw it had an FM radio built into it, so I went through the stations until I reached KOST, a local soft rock station. I leaned back and smiled as I listened to Whitney Houston then Air Supply, then Holly came out only wearing a towel. We shared another kiss and I could taste she had brushed her teeth. So I grabbed my own bag and took a shower myself. I brushed my teeth also, and went ahead and shaved again. I slipped into my clean briefs, then went into the room.

I saw Holly had done some more changes while I was in the shower. An ice chest I had not seen before was on the small table, as were three lit candles. “Go ahead and grab one Pete” I heard Holly say, and I looked at her. She looked amazing, in a thin nightie that was a light red, and reached halfway down her thighs under the silk robe I had gotten her. I grabbed a wine cooler out and moved over to lie next to her on the bed.

I opened mine, and we lightly touched bottles then each took a drink. That was perfect, and I was never ashamed or thought it was not “manly” to like a wine cooler. I had grown to appreciate wine, and it tasted good. We talked about how much fun we had dancing, then about the game from earlier.

“Sometimes it’s hard to believe it has been over two years since I have played D&D with you, and your style has really changed Pete.”

“Well, no. Not really, it is just that this was a particularly serious one for the most part. Kinda like how I make the silly sexual ones, and Dee makes the more serious romantic ones. Both are about sex, we just approach it differently is all. But hers is a lot of fun also.”