Dm And The Dirty 20S Pt 02

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All Characters are 18 years or older.

This story is a bit of a slow burn dual-story that very much requires the reader to start from the beginning. It does not require intimate knowledge of D&D or other TTRPGs, but is very much about playing those sorts of games and the fantasy of roleplaying. The two stories are those of the Players, and their Characters. As such this story comes with a warning of having strange Point of View/Narrative hotswaps in the middle of chapters as the players around the table move in and out of character.

In this chapter you can expect flirting, kissing and flashing.

The second session of the campaign brings on new challenges with the bandits, and the girls start to get surprisingly comfortable with Shane.

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Chapter 14

"Hi, Shane!" Tori and Elyse both chimed as they came in through the front door. They both had their knapsacks, and Elyse was carrying a 24-pack of Corona while Tori was carrying a bottle of rum.

"This is to say thank you for putting up with us," Tori said with a dazzling smile as she handed me the bottle. Her teeth were a perfect white, her smile a perfect mix of playful and sweet, and she was wearing a crop top over a pair of plain grey sweatpants with slip-on sandals on her feet. Her dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun with sunglasses perched above her forehead, and she looked all for all the world like the gorgeous college coed she was.

"Thank you," I said, accepting the bottle. It wasn't exactly top-shelf stuff, but it wasn't in a plastic container either. "You ladies didn't need to do that."

"Yes, we did," Elyse said as she came in. Despite her thin form, she was sporting a nice little set of lean arm muscles as she carried the case of beer. Her hair was down, mostly hiding the undercut, and she was wearing a thick-shouldered tank top and a pair of jean shorts that looked like they'd been crafted out of what had once been a pair of tight jeans, the ends of the legs left with a rough fringe. "You're putting up with us on a Wednesday afternoon when you could be doing anything else. Like work. Or socialising with more interesting people."

"OK, hand that over," I said, setting the bottle of rum down on the little table where I set my keys when I came in the door and taking the box from her. "And to be clear - there are very few other things I'd rather be doing than running a game for you ladies. I love running a good game, and the way last week went I think we're going to tell a really cool story and that you ladies are wonderful."

"Awe," Elyse said with a grin, turning to Tori. "He likes us, he really likes us!"

Tori snorted and chuckled, rolling her eyes at her roommate's antics. "Thanks, Shane," she said.

"Come on, I'll show you ladies where your booze will live," I said. "Then you can go get changed. Rhia is already back there." I led them into the garage and loaded the case into the beer fridge there, only to turn around and notice that Elyse was looking at my car and Tori was looking at my bike that was hanging up on its wall hook.

"You cycle?" Tori asked, blushing a little when she noticed I'd caught her minorly snooping.

"A couple of times a week - I should probably get out more than I do," I said. "I've never been a runner, but healthy body, healthy mind."

"I used to when I was in high school," Tori said with a smile. "I biked all over my home town since I couldn't get a car. I don't trust leaving a bike outside our apartment building, and we don't have enough space for me to store a bike in our place."

"I said we could make room," Elyse said, a little exasperation in her voice, then looking at you. "Two years running now, the weather gets better and she's mooning all over people with bikes and I tell her we can make it work and she says, 'No, no, it's fine.'"

"Shut up," Tori scoffed a little, rolling her eyes even as she smiled.

"What about you, Elyse?" I asked. "You looked like you were ready to lick the bumper of my jeep."

"Maybe I was," Elyse laughed. "This is a 2018 Wrangler, right?"

I raised my eyebrows. "How could you tell?"

"That was the year they introduced the 4th gen of the model," Elyse said, turning and running her hand along the ridge of the hood. "All the new bells and whistles, same Jeep fun. Did you buy it new?"

"Used," I said, shaking my head. "A couple of years ago, but I've always liked Jeeps."

"Do you take the doors off for the summer?" she asked, turning and looking at me hopefully.

"I do," I chuckled. "Though I don't go mudding. Maybe I'll take you ladies for a ride out to grab an ice cream or something after you beat the first boss fight of the campaign."

"Oooh," Elyse said with a big grin.

"Top down, doors off?" Tori chuckled. "That sound you're hearing is Elyse's panties hitting the floor."

"Tori!" Elyse said, slapping her roommate's arms as she blushed.

"Ignore her, Elyse," I chuckled. "My panties drop at that thought too."

Both ladies started laughing, and we all headed back into the house just as Rhia was coming down the hallway looking for you. Her costume from the previous game had changed slightly - she was wearing the strappy sandals, the leather vambraces and the skirt of 'chainmail' made from soda can tabs, but the corset she'd worn before that had pushed her considerable bust up into a shelf was gone, replaced by a smaller waist-only corset the same colour as the vambraces and what looked like a loose crop top that had gotten the same soda can tab treatment as the skirt. The fabric gorget was still there along with the iron circlet keeping her hair out of her face.

"There you guys are," Rhia said.

"Nice costume change," Tori said.

"Thanks," she replied. "I realised that my armour is supposed to be all chainmail right now, so I'm going to hold off on making a breastplate. And don't worry, Shane. I already put a towel on my chair seat and hung one over the back."

"Ah, yes, young Padawan," I said. "Learn fast, the art of not scratching my furniture, you do."

All three of the girls snorted and rolled their eyes at me, but gave little smiles as well.

Elyse and Tori rushed off to get changed into their costumes, and I followed Rhia back towards the game room.

"So," she said as we both sat down in our seats, the promised towel coverings in place. "Disappointed I'm not wearing the corset? I know it was a little... provocative, even if I didn't catch you staring last week."

"The better you feel your costume fits your character, the happier I'll be with it," I said. "But it was a pretty stunning addition, I'll give you that."

Rhia grinned cheekily at me. "Maybe my next character will be a rogue or something. It could probably pass for leather armour."

"Have some more faith in your gameplay," I said. "You won't die. Probably."

"Not what I meant, Shane," she said.

"I know, Rhiannon," I teased her back.

It didn't take long at all for Tori and Elyse to come back to the game room, both in costume. Tori's hadn't changed from the previous week, but Elyse had started making the changes to her robe that she'd planned. The black silk robe had dark blue and purple stitching in swirling designs along the bottom half.

"It's not done," Elyse said, doing a turn for all three of us to show off the work so far. "I'm trying to decide if I should do, like, a snake motif on the top part or something else. Maybe spooky clouds and a crescent moon."

Rhia and Tori both gave her some ideas, but I was busy trying not to cough. When Elyse had done her turn and then pivoted at the waist, gesturing to some of the embroidery work, I'd very nearly gotten flashed through the open armhole of the robe. It had definitely not been designed to have the arms taken off, and Elyse's mesh elbow-length gloves didn't add any protection.

There was no nip slip, however, and Elyse took her seat and all three of the gorgeous, costumed ladies turned to me expectantly.

"Alright," I said. "Let's get started.

Chapter 15

The ladies wanted vengeance. For the town, but especially for Pretty the Tree - they really had made it almost too easy for me to set them up, naming a tree and letting me get away with giving it a cute child-like voice.

We still had a little bookkeeping to do, however.

"First things first," I said. "Let's talk about your level up. Rhia, what did you pick up?"

"Olivia got more health, obviously," she said. "And I got access to my Paladin spells, and more importantly my Smite ability."

"Cool," I nodded. "I'm excited to see what you come up with for how it looks when you do that. I also need to know what you, Rhia, dream about doing with your degree when you graduate, and one long-term goal Olivia has if she survives her adventures in Tremulous Crook."

"Oh," Rhia said and blew out a breath. "Um, I want to be an actress. Probably TV, not movies, but I'm not sure. And Olivia wants to... She wants to build a temple to Revelry."

"What would that look like?" Tori asked. "A medieval dance club?"

"Maybe," Olivia laughed. "I'll have to come up with something. Maybe it's an entire fairground or a banquet hall. She's from Parnassus, which is the biggest city in the world, so I'm sure there's plenty of different kinds of things she could do."

I knew that, if it were someone in my regular group, the likely answer would have been 'a brothel, obviously.' Thankfully, even if Rhia was hoping for some sexual shenanigans in the game, she wasn't so single-minded in having a dirty mind. "That's a good goal for Olivia, I think," I said. "But now I'm a little concerned that I'm going to lose you to Holywood eventually."

"Oh, definitely not," Rhia said. "I'm more likely to go to New York than Holywood, but even that I'm not sure of. I'd way prefer to get onto a TV show that shoots somewhere that

isn't

in the entertainment hubs."

"Still," I said, playing up my wistfulness. "The baby bird flies from the nest."

Rhia stuck her tongue out at me, making the other two chuckle.

"What about you, Tori?" I asked, turning to the Indian girl. "What did you get levelling up, what's your goal, and what's Jade's?"

"Well, I got access to my Ki," Tori said. "So I can use that to do a flurry of blows and attack again on my turn, or to defend myself. And I also got more health. For my goal, I've always known I want to be an on-air news anchor. I'm doing a minor in Journalism, and I'm hoping I can get a job for a local station when we graduate - I'll try and do freelance stringer work first if I can't get in right away, maybe shooting a guerilla documentary or something. And doing local theatre on the side."

I had been expecting Tori to be heading to Holywood, if not New York or overseas to London. With her looks and personality, unless she froze up under pressure or something, I couldn't see her getting cast in

something

within a couple of years. The News was definitely a pivot from that, but I could also see it.

"Interesting path," I nodded encouragingly. "And it sounds like a lot of fun to pursue while you're young and full of the energy needed to make it work. What about Jade?"

"Jade doesn't really have plans, I don't think," Tori said, thinking for a moment. "She doesn't want to go back to her roving family on the Plains, so maybe she wants to rebel by settling down somewhere. Maybe she'll be the bouncer for Olivia Bar-Temple."

"You're hired," Olivia grinned. "The pay is shit, the hours are awful, but you can drink all you want and there aren't any rules about not sleeping with the guests."

"Hah!" Tori barked a laughed.

"How about you, Elyse?" I asked, turning to the blonde. "How was getting levelled up?"

"Easy, and hard," Elyse said. "Tori helped, so I got more health too, and I got my Sorcery Points so I can get an extra spell per day right now. But it was hard to pick what spell I wanted!"

"That's being a sorcerer," I said, nodding. "On the one hand, you feel like every spell choice matters. On the other, you aren't constantly overloaded with trying to decide which spells to prepare for any niche situation you might run into. Want to tell me which spell you picked?"

"Can I keep it a secret until it comes up?" she asked. She really did look exotic, with her pretty tomboy features plus the addition of the costume jewellery and elf ear prosthetics, and the hopeful look in her eyes was a killer.

"Sure," I said. "I love surprises."

"Cool," she said with a grin.

"What about plans?" I asked.

"Um, well, I kind of want to get into the film industry too, but on the crew side. I'd probably start with either camera work or lighting work. Eventually, I'd want to be a DP or AD," Elyse said. It was an interesting career choice - being a director of photography on a film or show was a big task since you were basically in charge of the

look

of everything, and an assistant director did a

lot

of managing. "As for Renee, I think she wants to eventually retire to a little magically hidden cottage in the woods to raise shadow-cats, but before she does that she wants to find out the secret of her sorcerous blood and the shadows that she controls."

"Very cool," I said. "And depending on what you ladies do, that could be very possible. Keep your ears out for when you might have a chance to talk to someone or do some research."

"Cool," Elyse said.

"Anything else you ladies want to go over before we start? Any questions?"

"What's the most powerful magic item within five miles of the town?" Rhia asked with a smirk.

"Well, the most powerful magic you're aware of is the more of friendship," I replied with an equal smirk.

"Booo," Tori laughed. "We want fat loot."

Chapter 16

After a quick recounting of the first session, we jumped into the game with the three adventurers heading straight for Headswoman Pelli's home where they had stayed two nights prior. They found the Headswoman there having a meeting with two of the other elders of the town, a pair of old grandmothers who represented other families that had sent two generations of men off to the war against the Dark Tyrant in the east.

It didn't take long for the girls to get the jist of what had happened. The afternoon after they had left the day before, a large group of the ruffians who had been frequenting the town Inn had come into town and been asking questions about eight travellers on the road matching the girls' description. The ruffians claimed their innocent friends, a group of hunters, had been viciously attacked near the King's Way and they were looking for the 'vile bitches.' No one in town believed them, based on their dress and the thuggish way they acted and demanded things, but that didn't mean secrets were kept. One or more people in town had spilled the beans about the girls' visit, and what had been seen.

"Eight?" Elyse asked in confusion. "Did someone else come through town?"

"Nought but you and them," Pelli said with a shrug.

"Musta been someone spinnin' tales," Grandmother Florence said. She was the oldest of the three women and smacked her lips in disgust after she spoke.

"Pelli said you killed some 'o them sumbitches out in the woods," Grandmother Yellowdove added. She was a halfling woman, so her age didn't show quite as heavily on her since her folk kept their youthful appearance for much longer. "Any chance one or two got away?"

"A crossbowman," Olivia grimaced. "Almost took my head off, and shot Jade in the ass, then disappeared into the forest."

"It was my thigh," Jade sighed in exasperation.

"Well, that's the fibber then," Grandmother Yellowdove said with a nod. "Went back and had to tell 'is friends why 'is other friends was dead, and made up a story about there bein' more 'o you so they didn't sound like the coward they is."

"Men," Renee said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. Then Elyse giggled and flashed me a grin.

The bandits, or ruffians, or whoever they were had occupied the tavern for the night, and everything had been tense until, late in the evening, a piercing animal howl had cut through the countryside. The girls all looked at each other upon hearing that, connecting it to their fight with the big magical wolf and its death howl. The boss of the ruffians had gotten enraged when he heard it, and he ordered the firing of the Inn and pulling down of the Chun-Shi Tree since it was a local landmark that the girls had been seen admiring. Then he'd broken into the Town Hall and destroyed every piece of furniture with his own hands and found the lockbox with the small amount of taxes that Pelli collected to have ready for the actual tax collectors who would come out in the name of the Duke.

In the morning the ruffians had left the town. Pelli and the Grandmothers felt a little thankful that no one had gotten kidnapped or something, but the destruction of the Inn and the ruin of the Town Hall were severe economic blows to the town. The loss of the 'big apple tree' was a cultural loss - they didn't know anything about the legend of Chun-Shi, but every wedding in the village for generations had been conducted under the boughs of that tree.

After a brief discussion, the girls convinced Pelli to call a meeting of Town Elders so that they could make their pitch to hunt down the bandits as the official sheriffs of the town.

They stayed with Pelli again in her home that night, and Olivia asked questions about the other Elders they hadn't met and found out that three older men on the council of seven were likely to cause the most problems; two of them were patriarchs of the largest farming families and had been appeasing the bandits for a couple of years, and the third was the local Hedge Priest, an elderly dwarf who claimed to have been part of the founding of the village. The Dwarf also happened to worship Grace, a deity whose followers were often known for turning the other cheek and forgiving others rather than seeking vengeance - often to their own detriment. Those three could swing very well swing the seventh member of the Elders, the devil-born Elf Margaretta. She was apparently a hermit, and a bit of a witch, who had come to the village several human generations ago and gone through a turbulent time due to her fiendish features, bearing curled horns sprouting from her brow and permanent scorch marks on her fingers as markers of the pact that some ancestor of hers made with a creature of the Hells.

Armed with that information, the next morning they attended the Elder meeting in the cleared-out Town Hall. The girls had a plan, however, and split up before the meeting when they saw that one of the farming family heads was running late. Renee stayed outside, waiting to socially ambush him, while Olivia and Jade went to work inside on the dwarf and the farmer there.

I decided to take it easy on them and let the girls separate the two so that they could each make their own attempts to sway the men ahead of time rather than give them one roll for both. Tori and Rhia apparently had different approaches planned, so that ended up being a good thing.

Jade ended up talking with the farmer and Grandmother Yellowdove, recounting the fight with the wolves and the size of the pelt they got off the donkey-sized one. She was clearly working the angle of reminding the farmer of the dangers his family, and the others like them, were facing on the farms where they were isolated. I gave her the option of rolling diplomacy or intimidation to see if she'd made her case but she wasn't trained in either of the skills so they were the same. She decided on diplomacy since it was the more positive of the two, but she only rolled a ten total. The farmer Elder was impressed by the story but thought she was telling a big fish story and stretching the truth a bit.