Chapter 46

The next morning was pretty smooth. We each took a fast shower, and Deana was making breakfast as dad and I loaded up her luggage into the truck. And the drive to and checking in at Burbank Airport was uneventful. Dad and Dee shared a kiss, and soon we were boarding the plane.

Linda sat next to me and held my hand tight. This was actually the first time she had ever flown, and she was a bit nervous. But she was also excited, and spent over an hour just watching out the window. After an hour or so I moved back to Holly and asked if we could trade places for a bit. She said not a problem, so I sat next to Deana.

I handed her an envelope I had pulled out of my carry bag, and told her to just read what was in it. She pulled out the copy of Dildo of Seduction, and as she read it she alternated between snorting, laughing, turning red, and looking at me in shock and amazement. Then finally she gave a chuckle, and asked me what I was going to do with that. “Well, at the con I am going to give that to Mr. Cummings.”

“Pete, you know he can’t publish that, right? I mean, there is no way he could ever publish that!”

“Oh, I know. But our agreement gives him first right of refusal, so I have to at least give him a chance first. Honestly, I am not sure if I could ever publish this. However, I was thinking I might pay to have a run printed up. Then try selling them to stores, at conventions, through the mail, things like that.”

“I take it you guys have actually played it?”

“Yeah, we did a test the other day. Everybody loved it, but they also were a bit shocked by it as well. Let’s just say that with the right group, I think this would be a lot of fun however.”

“Oh no doubt! Trust me when I say I would love to actually take part in a game of this, it is one of the kinkiest and most perverted things I have ever read! So in this playthrough, what all ended up happening?”

I gave her a brief R rated rundown of the game, including Linda enjoying herself to completion, Mandy being entertained by two kobolds, and each of the guys at least once being stupefied by what they had encountered. And finally Mike riding a female vampire as he tried to keep her fangs from his neck, and Holly enjoying herself for a minute or two with the prize at the end. Dee was giggling, and said she got the idea, and thanked me for my more toned down description of how it went.

We chatted until it was time for the lunch, and I moved back to my seat and Linda and I exchanged a few brief kisses and she said she was so excited at the trip. Finally, we were making our descent and were getting off the plane.

We were standing waiting for our luggage when Holly noticed a girl holding a sign that said “Mr. Culver”. I went over to her, and it seems she was an escort and guide provided by the convention. Ginger was cute, in her 20s, and said she was available in case we needed to go anywhere. I had not expected this, and when I told Deana she said we should just go with her, she would meet us at the convention after she got checked into her own hotel.

So once we got our suitcases we followed Ginger, and got into a large Continental. It was not a limousine like we had at the prom, but it was only a small step down from one. She handed us our passes and room keys, and then a card, saying we could have her with 30 minutes notice any time from 8 in the morning to 10 at night.

I thanked her, and said I was not sure if we would be going anywhere while we were there. But we would call her if we did decide to do something. She said she would be waiting downstairs for us, and would take us to the convention once we were settled in. She gave us all a big smile, and soon we were in the room.

We quickly dropped off our stuff, and with what we thought we would need in my backpack we went back downstairs. Ginger had us taken to the convention hall, and said all we needed to do was tell somebody at Will Call and they would get her for us.

And I thought some of the conventions I had been to before were large! This one actually took up the entire Convention Center, and was huge! Just the vendor room alone was the size of some conventions I had been to in the past. We wandered through everywhere, watching games being played. I even checked out the tournament schedule, and saw that a game of Oubliette was going on. We decided to head there and slipped into the room. The game was about halfway through, and one of the staff came over and told us it was a closed tournament.

I explained to him I was the creator, and just wanted to see how a tournament for it here was done. He checked my badge, then grinned. And after shaking my hand explained how they were doing it. The Defender was a member of the convention staff, and the players were being evaluated on how well they passed the rooms and traps. He said it had been a popular tournament entry, and almost all of the seats had been taken during per-registration. We talked a bit, and I asked him when it would be finished.

When he told me at 10 on Sunday with awards given at 1, I asked if I could be there for that. He grinned, and said that would be awesome. And since it was about an hour before the keynote, it would not be a problem. I gave him my room number, and he said he would get everything confirmed. We had just stepped back out onto the floor when I heard my name called out over the PA. And heading to the front, I was not surprised when I saw Mr. Cummings. We shook hands, and he took us to a small room he had set aside.

He gave me the schedule for public demonstration of The Guild Wars, and I asked him if he had an idea for the plant. He told me that one of his playtesters would meet me the next morning, and they thought the thief again should be the plant and he would play it. I said that was fine, and handed him the envelope. “Pete, is this another one?”

I grinned, and said it was one I had just finished. He was pulling the pages out as I explained that since he had right of first refusal, he was of course getting the right to look at it first. Well, he coughed after reading the introduction, and halfway through the second page, he looked up at me, his eyes big. “Pete, you know we can’t publish this, right?”

“Yeah, I figured that. I actually have no idea who to even pass this to, I might just self-publish it. But you still have the right of first refusal, so that is your copy.”

He grinned, and shook his head. “Well, let me tell you three things. First, I think it’s great. Second, I bet you could sell a lot of copies if it does get published. And third, I am refusing it. I will have the letter done by tomorrow morning stating we have reviewed it and declined.”

We both laughed, and I told him that is exactly what I had expected. But then he surprised me, and said there were a few small publishers here he would quietly take it to during the convention. He asked me if I would be willing to do a playtest, and I said it was not a problem, but I had one main and one lesser stipulation.

When he asked me what they were, I told him that the main one was that Deana wanted to sit in on it, and the lesser one was that at least half of the players had to be female. He laughed, as did Linda and Holly. He asked why, and Holly said that she had loved playing it. And without several females it might get uncomfortable. Mostly for the girls that were playing it, as well as for any guys that were there.

Mr. Cummings nodded, and said he would see what he could do for tomorrow night after my presentation. We shook hands, and soon we were back on the floor. We had an early dinner, then went walking the floor. One of the guys was asking for players for a game he was about to run, and we decided to sit in. Soon he had a full table, and he pulled out Chaos in the Capitol. We each grabbed a sheet, and I ended up with Kaos. With a grin I handed it over to Holly, and I ended up with the other fighter and Linda the mage. We all played like we had never played it before, and Holly had them cracking up with her playing of the character.

When the loot was divided up, Linda grabbed the dagger, and after a quick break we started the second half. Of course since nobody knew who we were, it was fun actually just playing it and pretending it was new to me. And we all had a blast. However, Linda never used the dagger, knowing exactly what it was.

We took a longer break and ate some pizza one of the guys ordered, and were soon playing the third part. During this time Deana joined us, so she sat back and watched as we played through a game she knew we were intimately familiar with.

And it went just as I had intended it. Holly was given the note, and when she entered the room, the other players gasped and swore at her. We beat the Archmage, and I was knocked unconscious at the end. Holly did her usual temper tantrum by kicking the corpse and swearing at it. Everybody was laughing, and before anybody could stop her Linda came up and stabbed my fighter.

One girl started to swear and said there were two of them, when after a roll the DM announced I was healed. Linda handed over the note she had gotten when she cast her Identify spell. And she said that a reverse necromantic spell healed, so she knew exactly what it was. Finally, most of the players all got what had been happening, and the DM was looking at all three of us when we headed back to town. The girls and I largely played quiet, and as a group the others decided to capture the Captain themselves and bring him to the King.

So that was done, and everybody was rewarded. Finally, it was done, and the DM asked if we had played before. Linda laughed, and gave me a big kiss. “John, notice we have been calling him Pete all night. Now, look at who wrote that.”

John looked, then said “You’re Peter Culver?”

I nodded, and he shook my hand. “Oh, and the cute girl over there who played Kaos? That is Holly, she is the one, the only, the original Kaos. So what you saw here, that is actually how I intended her to be played.”

Everybody shook our hands, and I signed John’s copy. They all admitted it was a great game, and they had no idea I had played it before. At that John admitted he suspected it once Linda never used the dagger, only passing a note that she was using an Identify spell and wanted to know the results.

“When she did that, I suspected she knew what was going on, but she still played it like she had not done it before. I have done this game several times, and that was the only time nobody ever used it to stab a monster.”

I nodded. “Notice, the magic user is the only player with no magical weapons. Oh, she has magical armor, but no weapons. The idea was that they would take it and use it, and as usually happens get the crap beat out of them once they did. Linda here knew that.”

“Yep, I only used Identify to make sure he had not changed what it was. Once I knew it was Reverse Necromantic I knew it was good. And when Pete here was unconscious and bleeding out, I had to use it then or he might have died.”

And in that she was actually right. I was already at a negative 7 hit points, and was close to death. And in the last two battles our cleric had used up all of his healing spells. We chatted a bit longer, and they all promised to attend the demonstration of The Guild Wars the next day. I was going to Will Call to have them call Ginger, and Deana told me to forget it. She offered us a ride to our hotel, and instead I told them to let Ginger know we would need a ride to the convention the next morning at 9.

Finally, we went up to our room, and as the girls sat on the couches I pulled a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and poured all four of us a glass. Deana grinned, and asked if this is what our evening parties were like. We all laughed, and I actually said pretty much.

“Well, most times it is from two to four couples, and we have one or two bottles of champagne. Then do some kissing and kissing games until we go to bed. And no, we do not have orgies or anything like that. Mostly for the last hour or two before bed we just relax and unwind.”

“Kissing games? What are those?” She raised her eyebrow at that. I looked at the girls, and they both blushed and said nothing.

“Girls, want to help me out here? No? Well, to be honest, it is not unusual for us to swap partners. And no, just kissing. I will kiss Holly, as her boyfriend kisses Linda. At one convention Mandy was with us and I took turns kissing them as Holly here kissed her boyfriend. Nothing really dirty, just some friends having some slightly naughty fun. And yes, generally they wear my dress shirts and panties and not much else. And it sounds dirtier than it is. In fact, almost any teen movie like Fast Times is more naughty than the things we do.”

Linda nodded. “That’s a fact. We all seem to like it when we kiss each other. But that is all we do, really. Pete here is still the only guy I have been with, and other than that Holly has never been sexually with Pete. It is really only the swapping aspect that some might not understand.”

Deana sipped her champagne and nodded. “Well, I’ve been to college, and I have seen similar things that went a lot farther. And it does sound like innocent fun. In fact, it could almost come out of an Archie comic, with the Archie-Veronica-Betty triangle in there, with Reggie as the fourth. Nobody ever complains if in one issue Archie and Betty are kissing, and in the very next it is Archie and Veronica. So yeah, it sounds like mostly innocent fun.”

I then asked Deana if she was doing anything the next night. When she said she was not, I invited her to the playtest after my first keynote. She grinned, and said she would not miss it for the world once I told her what it was of. I told her that Mr. Cummings was going to arrange for some people to be there, and if needed Holly and Linda would play also.

“I told him it was best with half females in the group. So if he does not have enough, the three of you could fill out the party. And yes, he said he could never publish it, but he is going to see if he can find somebody that would. Personally, I would like to see it published, but it would not be a problem if it is not.”

“Why is that Pete?”

“Well Deana, I think I would like to see at least something published that pushes the boundaries. So many modules are just so routine. Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, Tomb of the Lizard King, The Secret of Bone Hill, things like that. I think it would be good if something a little more naughty was published.”

She nodded. “But I would suggest you use a pseudonym in order to do it. ‘Pete Culver’ is now a well-known creator, and something like that might tarnish your image. And sure, many will know it was you, but at least make it not so obvious.”

I nodded in agreement, and soon the bottle was finished, and with hugs to all of us she left and said she would see us tomorrow. Linda and I both hugged Holly, and she went to take a shower as Linda got the couch turned into a bed, and I got the coffee ready for the next morning. All we would have to do is turn on the machine.

Finally, Holly came out, and with a hug and kiss for each of us, Linda and I went to bed. We kissed and caressed each other for a bit, but it had been a long flight and day, and soon we were both drifting off to sleep.

The next morning we had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, and Ginger was waiting for us in the lobby. The same Towncar drove us to the convention center, and we said we would not need her until after 10, if at all. She said she would be somewhere on the floor, and she and the driver had a pager if she was needed. And with a wave we all departed.

We hit the vendor area first, and I got several interesting expansions that were by smaller publishers or out of print. I then found a boxed set of Chainmail, the original D&D rules and grabbed it. I doubted I would ever play it, but I did want it for my collection. The girls all got some miniatures and dice, and we decided to hit the game room again.

We watched several games being played, and I decided to run one. I pulled out one I had made and not tested yet, and soon we had a full party. This one was more of a traditional dungeon crawl, but the group still loved it. I got some comments, and Linda made notes for things I should consider changing.

I looked at the schedule, and saw another phase of the Oubliette tournament was just starting, so we all headed there. We got there, and saw that they were just standing around. The same guy we talked to last night came over, and this time he introduced himself as Sean. “Well, we are actually about to cancel this game. The guy that was supposed to run it is a no-show, so this one will just be written off.”