Chapter 4

I had managed to get over my own chagrin by the time I heard the girls coming back down the hallway outside of my game room. I wasn’t sure which of them, between Tori and Elyse, had made the comment but either way it was flattering to know my efforts to keep myself up paid off to the point a college coed thought I was ‘hot.’

Still, I was sure that once I was more of a regular facet in their weekly routines, the ‘new’ factor would wear off and I’d just be their friendly weekly Dungeon Master.

“Ready for our entrances, Shane?” Rhia called from the hallways, still out of view.

I chuckled and shook my head. “Should I announce you in?”

“Sure!”

I shook my head, grinning a little, and picked up the first character sheet. Thankfully they had all limited themselves to First Level characters and based on my math had used the standard array rather than rolling. I’d used all sorts of different Stat Generation methods over the years, and all sorts of game systems in general, but with the modern system I found the standard array was best for introing new players.

“Hailing from the city at the centre of the world,” I said in a deep announcer voice. “Knight-Paladin and overall do-gooder, Olivia of Parnasus!”

Both of the other girls in the hall made fake crowd cheering noises and started clapping as Rhia came in through the door with a big smile on her face. I’d been expecting some basic costume accessories and props, but apparently, they’d gone for full costume changes. Rhia, or ‘Olivia of Parnasus,’ was wearing a skirt that went down a little past her knees and had soda can tabs sewn onto it in a chainmail pattern, and strappy leather sandals on her feet. Her top had been replaced by a grey leather corset that did dangerous things to her waist and cleavage, and it looked like she’d sewn a gorget out of a silver-coloured cloth that hugged her neck and upper chest. She was wearing an iron band on her forehead, keeping her hair out of her face, and had on the leather vambraces I’d bought her when she’d come along to the Ren Faire with me and her parents and our D&D group when she was a high school senior.

“What do you think?” She asked, spinning as she walked around the table.

“Holy crap, Rhia,” I said. “You went all out!”

“I think I’m going to try to use some cosplay YouTube videos to make a proper breastplate, but I ran out of time with finals,” she said, adjusting her corset as she looked down at it. I had to gulp a little - I knew she was chesty like her mother, but I’d never been quite so presented with that fact before that day.