A Roll of the Die - 1. Inception
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Day 2
"Lisette wants to join our adventuring party," Tristan announced to his comrades the next morning as they ate breakfast.
Karla burst into laughter, drawing attention from everyone in the room. She leaned in, elbow on the scarred wood, a broad smile on her face.
"Is that sheath for your sword so tight you'll forego all others?" she teased.
"I am NOT saying that!" Tristan protested. "She knows the healing arts, including herbs and potions, and none of us can cook worth a copper."
"I'm amenable," Miri said.
Miriam was as happy to still be in Nystria as Matthew was disappointed. He was sullen and withdrawn, and when they had woken, he had not wanted to talk as they had agreed to do. Now, though, she watched as he picked at his bowl of porridge, wearing a frown and a thousand-yard stare. If she could make Nystria feel like home for him, perhaps he would forget about the acceptance letter from Harvard his parents had framed in their living room. Unfortunately, as Miri, she couldn't confide in the others because of the extraordinary situation.
Miri watched Matthias push the porridge around his bowl, the same distant frown he'd worn the night they'd slipped out of her single mom's house for that D&D game in Newtown. Six weeks, that was all they'd had — stolen kisses on the porch, nothing more. If she could make this new life feel like home, maybe the Harvard letter pinned to his parents' fridge would stop haunting him.
She couldn't even seek guidance from Karla — the alter ego of her friend Carol from Ohio — who had privately advised her to have her character Miri seduce Matthew's character Matthias as a way to let him know she wanted to sleep with him as herself, not just her alter ego.
Matthew didn't feel like eating despite being hungry, and the bland, almost tasteless food didn't help. He ate slowly, the desire to return home overwhelming every other thought. He had so many plans and so many goals, but Miriam showed no interest in helping him, despite her surprise 'I love you', said after dating for less than two months. He feared she believed going to bed together would mean a lifetime commitment. In that way, the endless string of maidens Tristan attracted seemed much safer, assuming no enraged fathers or brothers took action.
All Matthew could do, at least for the moment, was to do his best to conform to his character — Matthias — and discover what happened to Miriam and him, which he felt was the first step to figuring out how to return to Newtown so he could go to Harvard.
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After breakfast, Karla left the inn and warily approached the smithy. When she came to the already stoked coals, she slowly made her way around to the back of the building, where she found Brandon and Marcus waiting.
"I wasn't sure you would show up," Brandon observed.
"And miss the chance to have my unploughed field tended to by an expert? Not to mention coin and adventure."
"Then come along to meet Pavel."
He and Marcus led Karla down a narrow alley behind the smithy that seemed to be a dead-end. When they came to a wall, Marcus produced a key which he inserted into a disguised keyway. After Marcus turned the key, Brandon pushed on two bricks, causing a hidden door to open. Karla followed the two men into the passage, paying close attention to every detail. She was wary, but she felt Brandon's desire to deflower her would keep her safe. A woman could count on a man acting on lust almost as much as she could count on the Sun rising.
They quickly reached a room where a burly, bearded, leather-clad man was waiting.
"Pavel," Marcus said, "this is the potential recruit I told you about."
"She does appear to be more than simply another fresh flower to pluck," Pavel observed.
"She is," Marcus confirmed. "She wears good leather armor and moves like someone who knows how to handle herself. The bow she carries is finely crafted, and her sword is made of fine steel. Sean and his men haven't returned, and that means we need someone with her skill with the bow and sword."
That comment confirmed for Karla she'd chosen wisely and she'd had more than a bit of luck. She absolutely had to ingratiate herself with this Guild, no matter the cost, as the reward being offered for the return of the merchant was outrageous and would provide enough coin that they would not need to worry about funds for years to come.
"What do you say, girl?" Pavel asked.
"I say you will not find anyone more skilled with the bow or in knowledge of the woods who is seeking his or her fortune. I can put an arrow through an apple at forty paces and disappear before it hits the ground. I can track anyone, and I know the lands between here and Langford better than most. I'll help you for my own purposes — adventure and coin."
"Every man or woman for his or her self?" Pavel asked.
"We each do what is best for ourselves, but if we throw in together, it means we work together, not against each other. What happened to your man Sean and the others?"
"Unknown," Pavel replied. "They did not return last night as planned, and I fear the worst. Perhaps our first task is to discover what happened."
Karla smiled inwardly but kept a passive look on her face. The task being offered was already completed; all she would need to do was go through the motions for appearance's sake before reporting back. Then, she had to hope Lisette would be able to spike Brandon's ale; otherwise, she would be in a serious bind.
"Easily done," Karla declared confidently. "Where were they last seen?"
"I left them in the woods about half an hour's walk this side of Langford," Pavel replied.
"Then I'll be off," Karla said firmly. "I want to make use of every bit of daylight. I'll gather my things from the inn and head out immediately. You'll see I get results."
Pavel nodded, and Brandon escorted Karla to the secret door.
"Bathe before tonight," Karla said. "And your plough shall find untilled land."
Brandon smiled and operated a mechanism, causing the secret door to swing open. Karla quickly stepped through it and headed for the Soaring Falcon via a roundabout route, checking to see if she was being followed. At one point, she thought someone was paying too close attention, but a woman grabbed the man's arm and pulled him away, berating him. Karla smiled, as she'd had that effect on men from the time she had completed fourteen years.
When she arrived at the inn, she found Milos in their shared room and quickly apprised him of the situation, as well as her concerns about Brandon.
"Lisette was well serviced, so she'll serve us well!" he chuckled. "In fact, so well serviced she's agreed to join us once she can end her employment at the inn. Given her skills with herbs, potions, and cooking, I'm positive she'll be able to solve your problem."
"Skilled at pleasure as well?" Karla asked with a smirk.
"So it would seem, as Tristan appears quite happy," Milos replied with a grin.
"I need to be off!"
Karla gathered her things, kissed Milos, and headed out to complete her mission. To make it there and back, she'd need a horse, so her first stop would be the stables.
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Once Karla had departed, Milos and Tristan met in the common room, waited ten minutes, then left for Hantain's smithy.
"Matthias does not seem himself," Milos observed. "I can tell Miri is concerned."
"I sensed the same," Tristan agreed. "I'll speak with Miri when I have a chance."
"Good. I let Karla know Lisette would help and that she plans to join us. That's going to complicate things for you."
Tristan laughed, "Perhaps, but she's soft in the right places, tight in the right places, and quite adventurous with her mouth."
"Not a maiden, then?"
"Blood proof on the bed linen!" Tristan declared triumphantly.
"And Dari?" Milos inquired.
"Shall be thoroughly ploughed as soon as the opportunity arises. You know I never miss those chances!"
Milos smiled and nodded, as what Tristan had just said was true — he was very successful in relieving young women of their maidenheads.
They reached the smithy and struck up a conversation with Hantain, a huge man with bulging muscles, made so by swinging his hammer against steel on an anvil. Tristan quickly negotiated a reasonable price for a padded chain mail shirt, and both men engaged the smith's apprentice to sharpen their blades. When that was accomplished, Milos inquired after an expert in sword and shield, and the smith referred him to Lothar, a Knight of local renown.
They took their leave, heading for the Keep, stopping at a bowyer along the way so Milos could acquire new bow strings and arrows for Karla. Once at the Keep, Milos inquired about Lothar, and a moment later, the Knight appeared, attended by a squire. Milos and Lothar discussed training and, after some back and forth, agreed on a rate for training, with Milos hoping he could make the daily sessions given their mission.
"If you are looking for work," Lothar said, "the docks always need guards, and Mercer, the merchant, has a warehouse to be guarded."
"Much obliged," Milos replied.
Milos and Tristan took their leave, heading for the docks.
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Meanwhile, Miriam despaired for Matthew, but she had no idea what to do for him. Instead, she assumed her Miri persona and set out for the college in search of a teacher from whom she could learn more powerful spells. She did fear that she might encounter Kranos the Arcane, though he usually kept to his compound outside Fulham, only coming into the city to purchase supplies.
As she walked, Miriam's fingers tightened on the strap of her pack as the cobbled street climbed toward the college towers. Matthias was searching for a way to return, and she wondered what that would mean for both her in Nystria and him in Ohio. Her thoughts turned to Ohio, and she wondered what her mom thought, if, perhaps, she had called the police and a search was on for Matthew and Miriam.
Miriam felt she had to try to get Matthew to adapt to their circumstances, and she believed that if they could become lovers, Matthew would have a reason to begin adapting to being in Nystria. If that failed, she wasn't sure what she might do. As much as that concerned her, she had to set it aside and focus on the task at hand, which included assimilating into her new environment.
Her current situation differed from that of her friends, who could easily find someone to train them by asking a fellow swordsman or archer to train them and agreeing on compensation. She, on the other hand, as a sorceress, would need to develop a relationship of trust with an older, more experienced mage and likely offer service or even servitude to gain knowledge of more advanced and more powerful spells.
She reached the college, and her first task was to gain entrance to the library as someone who was not a member of the college. She accomplished that by crossing the palm of the librarian with a pair of silver coins. Access gained, she sought tomes about magic, mana crystals, and the physical world, in search of methods to marshal natural forces to her will. She hoped to be noticed and perhaps find an older mage who would aid her.
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While Miri pored over her tomes, Matthew determined he had but one possible course of action — to seek out the wizard Kranos the Arcane and beg him to reverse the geis or whatever it was that had trapped him and Miriam in the Game World and allow them to return to the Real World. To do so required a visit to Kranos' estate, so he gathered his things and set out, leaving Fulham on foot by the main gate.
Matthew, relying on Matthias' memories of the area around Fulham, turned southeast and followed the main road between the Haven, the capital, and Southham, a major port city. The road was regularly patrolled and, therefore, safer than the road east, which they had traversed the previous day, coming from the Grinning Griffin in Langford, Matthias' hometown in the Game World.
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