Chapter 58

Becky and I did the same the next morning, both of us knew our time together was drawing to a close. When we got to the convention, Mandy was sketching away and showed me. It was a draft of the proposed cover, and it was almost like I had described it.

“Wow, looks like you sold a lot of stuff yesterday Mandy.”

“Oh yes! I made over $2,000 just yesterday, I sold almost all of my work for published adventures, and about half of my unrelated works. I will probably not even bother to set up for the next con or two, they cleaned me out once they realized who I was. And some of the vendors who still had leftovers of your older adventures. They all told me they sold out.”

“Yeah, not a surprise. I bet most are out of CW magazines also, I signed a lot of those too.”

“Yeah, I made a good deal this show, thank you again, Pete. But if you can excuse me, I still have a lot of work to do on this.” I took the hint and kissing her forehead Becky and I headed out. And once on the open game floor, several people came over to talk to me. And the entire time, Becky was right beside me. Finally, she pulled me into the media room.

She sat in my lap, and after a long kiss, she rested her head on my shoulder. “Pete, you really are oblivious to that, aren’t you?”

“Oblivious to what, babe?”

Becky just shook her head. “Holly and Mandy are right. Did you not notice that over half of those that came up to you yesterday were girls?”

“No, not really. What’s so unusual about that?”

“Well, guys outnumber girls here by like two to one. And most were trying to flirt with you. I thought they were joking, or exaggerating. But they do treat you kind of like a rock star. If you had wanted, you could have probably bedded a quarter of them by barely trying. And you barely noticed!”

I looked at her, dumbstruck. “How would you know that?” I asked.

She laughed and kissed me. “Oh, it’s obvious. Look how many had hard nipples, or leaned forward as they talked to you, almost presenting themselves to you. Others would stand with one foot in front of the other, then reverse. I bet they were pressing their thighs together, squeezing. Some even crossed their feet, I know those ones were squeezing themselves. And when I started to touch you, most backed off. They recognized as you said, an Alpha Female marking her claim. God help you if you ever came to one of these and were single, they would eat you up. I bet you would be lying in bed an hour later wondering how a 16 year old girl got you into such a position.”

She then kissed me, tenderly and I held her as we did. It only lasted a few minutes, then she stood up again and hand in hand we went back out onto the floor. I saw an open table in a corner and asked Becky if she could get Holly to come join us. She smiled and a few minutes later they were there together. I grinned at her, and asked if she was up for a little “Chaos in the Capital”, and she squealed and kissed my cheek before heading off. Becky grinned, and comment that had to be a yes. And five minutes later she was back with both Mandy and Dan. I laughed when Dan admitted he had actually never played this adventure before.

I got my screen set up, and pulled out my notebook with the original adventure. “God Pete, you still have it?” Holly laughed, and I nodded. But said that I was thinking about putting it somewhere safe though.

I was not even surprised when we finally had a group, and three of the ones that joined us were girls. Only Dan and the boyfriend of one of the girls were guys. However, I did not miss at all that Becky made sure to sit to my right, and introduced herself as my girlfriend.

But they all had a blast. Holly the expected airhead, Becky playing a human cleric, Mandy the ranger, and Dan took the fighter. And Holly teased and flirted with him shamelessly. It did not take long until we had around forty people gathered around, and in the back I saw dad, Dee, and Brad all grinning. I just shrugged at them as they knew what was coming next. Kaos firing a volley of Grasshoppers at the orcs.

When we finished, two of the girls admitted they had played it before, but wanted to see how I did it. Dan along with the other guy admitted they had played at least one other Kaos adventure, but not that one. And one of the girls handed me that very module, and I laughed and signed it.

At that point the couple looked at me. “This is yours? As in, you made it?”

“Yep, about six years ago. Becky here though only just recently started playing, and I thought she would get a kick out of it. And Kaos, that’s Holly. My best friend, and the real Kaos. She would have killed me if she had heard I had played it with anybody but her.”

“Damned right, dude! Fireball wand up the wazoo! No lube!”

Mandy laughed. “But you’re too ditsy to pick the right one girl!”

“Like, that’s not a problem, like duh! You would think I am a total Joanie or something! Why, I just shove both of them in! That way I am sure to get the right one. I know I might be stupid, but I’m not like totally stupid, ya know?”

Becky was actually crying she was laughing so hard, and it felt good to be home, playing with my best friend like this. The three of us carried on for another five minutes, before I started to pack everything up. One asked if I could do another, and I just shook my head. “Sorry, but I got another presentation tonight, and I think if I don’t get my girlfriend some lunch soon she will start gnawing on my arm. But thank you all for playing, it was a lot of fun.”

Laughing we all left, and went to see the three older folks. Brad grinned, and said that was as entertaining as when he first saw it. “Tell you what, I can have the other two in about 15 minutes. Wanna do the test now Pete?”

I looked at dad and Dee since it was their room, and they both nodded. So I said that was good, but I was not kidding about lunch. Brad laughed and said he would go put in an order, then get the other two and meet us upstairs.

An hour later with most of us snacking away on the fixings form the taco buffet I was handing out the character sheets. I teased Brad that while technically Mexican food is “American”, that was not quite what I meant. But it would do. Holly was a little bummed Kaos was not involved, and I told her I could not use her in every adventure. We gave dad a fighter, and soon they were on their way.

Here’s the problem with my dad, he can be too damned smart. He was the one that realized as they finished destroying the fixed spike defenders that none of the plants had actually attacked first. It had been almost accidental brushes with the plants that had caused them to attack. And at that point they passed the next two groups, only taking minor damage but not even trying to fight them. At that I sighed.

“OK everybody, time freeze here. Dad, you’re too damned smart! Yes everybody, that actually is how this is written, in this area they only attack if attacked first. Becky, Dee, you got injured incidentally, not maliciously. I’ll just say that when you see the big tree, that is the point where combat is guaranteed. But do me a favor and humor me, please? Let’s go back to the end of the last combat encounter, and continue without that knowledge. Part of the test is also to make sure I did not make it too hard.”

They all agreed, and Dee kissed my dad for being so smart. And there was not much to the first three waves they had bypassed, they did not move and were easily killed. But the last though, that was different.

They entered the start of the clearing, and stopped and just watched. Brad and one of the interns he had grabbed made their perception checks, and both noticed that at least some of the plants were moving. They continued to watch, then slowly moved into the clearing. Then they saw a six foot tall plant with a large green bulb on top of a stalk moving across the road in front of them. “Fuck, triffids!” dad said, and Brad nodded.

“Actually, these are called ‘Fyta’, but close enough for government work. Not triffids, but there are similarities.”

Well, they got mauled pretty good, and used up most of their healing when it was done. Becky was the worst, her cleric had been trapped under one for four rounds, and her armor was destroyed. They cautiously made their way into the center of the ring of oaks, and saw the tree in the center. Then they met Cythad the Mad, and the battle was intense. Becky was knocked out early as she had no armor to protect her anymore, but Mandy bound her wounds real fast and was back in the fight. One of the interns did die before they finally took him out.

The Fyta queen explained to them why that had all happened, and rewarded them all for helping free her and her children. She called for the workers to come out, and they fed and cared for the party, and the next morning presented them with gifts. Dee was playing a druid, so she was presented with the “Fyta seed”, and given directions as to what to do next. Then they all left the grove in peace.

Thankfully they all loved it, and after filling out critique sheets that Brad passed out and collected, Dee looked at me. “OK Pete, I have read your article, this is not what that was really about. What gives?”

“Well, what you ran into today was a young Fyta grove. Only ten years old. As it gets older, it expands and more evolved fyta appear. At Stage one, just the Warrior and Worker Fyta appear. Call this Sage two, where it now had multiple layers of warning and defense. When a grove reaches roughly Stage five, then it changes again. And at that stage, the Queen would have her roots extend deep in the ground, and a chamber there would open and a new class would emerge. Humanoid, intelligent Fyta. I am still working on those, but they would all basically be rangers, druids, or thieves. No ability to steal, but increased ability to hide and sneak. Even more so outdoors, more like a ranger-thief hybrid class. That so far is the pinnacle of Fyta development, but those are an intelligent race of individuals. I thought they might make a fun NPC, or even character.”

“Wow, how long would that take?” dad asked.

“Oh, not long. That seed Dee was given would grow into one, just as this one will. In the blink of an eye for a tree. Around a hundred and fifty to two hundred years.”

They all laughed, and then a more informal conversation about the game. Brad said he loved it, especially as it introduces not only an entirely new group of creatures, but one that could be expanded on even more. “Yeah, that was part of my idea. I figure we can follow this up with a Stage five grove. That would be a mandala, and by then hopefully I will have the next stage worked out. I figure that a Stage six grove would be more symbiotic, maybe animals in addition to Fyta working together. Still working that out though.”

“Well, it’s sold. It is a bit like the last one, but I know if I pass on it Totally Sucky Rules will snatch it up in a heartbeat. And Fyta would be in the next Monster Manual for sure.”

I grinned. “Well, why not make your own then? Hmm, call it ‘Spillikan’s Bestiary’. Spillikan is a wandering Gnome Sage, an elderly gentleman of say 400. But he spent a lifetime collecting lore and studying monsters. He sees them all as good, but many are misunderstood. Have the introduction from Master Spillikan himself, giving his philosophy of monsters, and even after each entry a small footnote commenting on them. Say a beast he observed smells like mint, or how an intelligent and ugly but evil race makes lovely glass figures. Do up a few hundred pages like that, make it universal so all systems can use it.”

Brad grinned. “OK, you got a deal. You all signed the disclosure agreements, so this has to stay confidential. Pete, you are now Spillikan, start writing. But don’t worry, this is a long term project, as in two years. TSR is already working on a new edition, so I am not about to rush this out, only to see it become obsolete the next year. But I want it ready so we can make fast changes and rush it out when they do release their next edition.”

The interns left soon after, and there was still plenty of food left so Becky went to get the last of the champagne as we all sat around talking. Dad admitted it had been a lot of fun, but he likely would not play much since somebody had to watch George. George looked up as dad said his name, and grinned and wiggled his fingers. An olive stuck to the tip of each one.

All of us started tossing around ideas for new monsters, and Brad started making up a list. “OK, most of these are pretty good. Start writing them up, and Mandy, you know what I will be wanting.”

“Yep, illustrations of each of them. OK, I can do that. Pete can describe to me in more detail what mature Fyta looks like when he has finished writing that up.”

“Great. I have a bunch of others that will want in on this, and we can throw in a lot of monsters from our various modules that are original. That probably gives us around a hundred already just at the start. This is what I love about you, Pete. You almost always give me a lot of work, but it also always pays off. I will see about finding a book publisher, this time a pamphlet style will not work.”

We had a nice time relaxing and chatting, and this time we finished all of the champagne and soon everybody was heading off. Becky and I got back to our room, and after a long shower where I used my fingers to give her two climaxes she dragged me to bed.

She had not even bothered to dry her hair, and I could feel her long wet tresses sliding along my thighs and belly as she bobbed her head up and down, sucking my cock. But only after a few minutes of taking me as deep as she can, she pulled up and kissed me deeply. Her hands went behind my neck and she rolled onto her back, pulling me on top of her. I felt her hand still grasping my cock, and she broke the kiss. I looking into her eyes, and she whispered softly “Can you do what you did to me the other night Pete? Sliding your cock between my lips?”