Chapter 6

That came from Sheila, a typical response on her part when Jake did something that she wasn’t expecting.

The elevator began a slow rumbling upward. It wasn’t built for speed, and there were a few hitches and jolts on the ride up. To say we were all wide awake right now was the epitome of understatement.

Finally, we reached our destination, the elevator clanging to a stop. As the doors opened, well, it certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. We were in the attic, I suppose, but it was quite large.

One whole section of the roof, pointed towards the back I guess since we didn’t notice it on the way in, was completely glass. The rain was pelting against it, and we were very aware now of the lightning and the rumbling of the thunder.

There was no lighting except for the flashes outside and a few candles burning on the large, wooden table in the center of the room. There were just enough chairs for us, and, there was Jake, already seated at the table, in a dark cloak.

Each of us took our seat and got our papers and dice out, anxious to hear about this year’s adventure. When we were all settled in, Jake began.

“The lands of King Equus the Merciful have been under siege by the evil Warlord Seth Falmouth. More dark forces have been gathering for many months in the East. It’s rumored that the Warlord himself is on his way to supervise a final push. Falmouth is a very powerful wizard, with few morals and even fewer scruples.

King Equus fears that his kingdom is doomed, unless, unless a decisive victory could be scored against the evil Falmouth. Your task is to find the Warlord and defeat him and his massive Goblin army, sending his forces into disarray ... and turning the tide in the war.”

Collectively there were nods of approval around the room. Each of us liked where this was going. As 23rd-level characters, we each were quite powerful in our own way.

I picked up my orange, 20-sided die.

“Epic roll?” Everyone nodded and got their 20-sided die ready.

At the beginning of each adventure, each of us rolled a 20-sided die, including Jake, to see how well we would do. Jake would be rolling to determine how tough the adventure would be for us. It was all for fun.

We all rolled simultaneously. A roll of 20, the highest one can get, would mean we’d perform at an epic level. A roll of 1, called a “Nat One” for a natural one, would mean we’d be pathetic. Somewhere in-between is what was expected, hopefully, higher vs. lower.

I rolled a nat one. First time I had ever done that, so I laughed and pointed. There were some groans of disgust, and within seconds it became apparent that everyone had rolled nat ones! The odds were ... astronomical! All except Jake. Jake had rolled a 20. This spelled disaster.

“Oh, who fucking cares! This is bullshit, we’ll be fine!”

That came from Ash, and as we all looked at her, a huge flash of white filled the room as lighting struck the house, instantly followed by the loudest sound I’d ever heard in my life. We were all blown from our chairs onto the floor, all except Ash, who seemed frozen for a moment in time. She was standing, and all around her were, well, goblins.

Yes, goblins. Short bastards, pointed ears, not much hair, ugly as fuck. Goblins.

They took hold of her and then poof, they were gone!