Chapter 2 - Room 122
The Dungeons and Dragons group met on the main campus in the engineering department on Wednesday nights. Professor Habersham always reserved Room 122. Natalie and Christie walked down the flight of stairs to Room 122 which was in the basement. The brunette girl wrinkled her nose at the smell as they walked past stacks of storage boxes lining the semi lite hallway.
"Smells damp and dusky down here. I didn't even know there was a basement in this building. It's creepy down here." She looped her arm through her girlfriends, "Are you sure you didn't bring me down her to murder me? I don't think they would ever find my body down here."
Christie grinned, "Nah when I murder you I am going to do it way more classy than this. You deserve a classy murder."
Natalie giggled as they entered the dimly lit room. She enjoyed that Christie could keep up with her quirky sense of humor. The first thing that hit Natalie was the smell in the room. It smelled of some type of exotic spice that was rather pleasing to the senses. Natalie glanced around the room and took in the scene. The room was almost empty except a few storage boxes in the far corner, rectangle table in the middle of the room, and the chairs surrounding the table. At the head of the Table was Professor Altos Habersham.
Christie was right about one thing about the man, he was a brilliant chemist. He was well respected as a professor at the college as well as in the world of chemistry but he gave Natalie the creeps. She could not explain, there was just something about him that seemed off. He was a very good teacher, firm but fair and Natalie had to admit she would not have passed chemistry if she would have had any other professor. He did not look odd at all as far as professors go. He looked about fifty or so, tall, always dressed nice, and had a well-trimmed beard, these piercing black eyes, and a deep voice. But still to Natalie there was just something off about him.
When she took his class he kept staring at her at times. Not as a creepy old man who wanted to give her candy and then throw her into a black cargo van with blacked out windows and drive away, but just kept looking at her in a strange way. One day after her class he kept her to discuss a test and he wanted to know more about her than the test. He asked her where she was from, asked about her family, where they were from, etc. He was kind about it and showed a deep interest as Natalie told him about her and Savannah and her family. She had no problem talking about Savannah or her family and their heritage. She was very proud of both.
In front of the professor on the table were card board trifold screens set up to block the view of anything behind them and directly in front of the man. The screens had lots of writing, columns with numbers, and pictures of various fantasy images on them. Behind the screens a thin line of smoke rose up and drifted into the air. Natalie knew that was where the scent was coming from and assumed the professor was burning incents. He did not even look up as they entered the room and seemed entranced with whatever was in front of him and behind the screens.
"You're late." Said a male voice from one of the chairs at the table and it brought Natalie out of her trance.
"Fuck you, Lou." Christie said and the other boys around the table chuckled. "Natalie this is Lou, Lou, Natalie."
Natalie smiled and extended her hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Lou."
The young man ignored her, pushed up his glasses, and started looking at the papers scattered in front of him.
"Don't' mind, Lou, Natalie. He is so much smarter than the rest of us he seems to forget we lesser people exist. He lives in his own world where they don't teach social skills." A male but feminine voice said.
"Rain!" Natalie exclaimed and walked quickly over to the boy, who stood up, and hugged him tight and kissed his cheek causing him to blush.
Natalie had met Rain through her girlfriend and just thought the boy was darling. He was five nine and very thin and effeminate looking and acting and openly and obviously gay. He was also extremely good looking with girlish looks. Natalie had told Christie he was cute but in truth he was actually pretty. Not handsome looks but pretty girlish looks. He had the emo look about him with a hair style that was cut to make it look messy and his hair was dyed a dark vibrant blue. His real name was not Rain but it was what everyone called him and how he introduced himself. Natalie did not know why and neither did Christie, and in truth neither knew his real first name.
Rain blushed at the attention Natalie gave him which caused Natalie to giggle and kiss him again.
"Watch it, Rain; she may give you something you don't want." Another voice at the table said.
"Not cool, Derrick." Said the boy sitting across from Derrick. Natalie looked at him and smiled.
"I know you. You are Jason McCoy." Natalie said.
Jason was the starting quarterback of the Mercer Bear's football team. He was tall, very handsome, well built, and sexy Natalie thought.
Jason stood up and smiled as he shook the girl's hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Natalie. The dork on my right is Michael."
At the table but in a wheel chair was Michael. Natalie knew who he was and felt pity for the boy. Michael had muscular dystrophy and spent his life since he was five in the wheel chair. Natalie had a couple of classes with him her freshman year and he was an English Lit. Major also. She smiled at the boy.
"I know Michael but doubt he will remember me. We had classes together once."
Michael smiled, "I remember, Natalie. Nice to see you again. Don't let Jason's all American looks fool you, he's a jerk and bigger nerd than the rest of us."
Jason laughed and playfully hit Michael on the back of the head. "Hush boy. I wish I never would have volunteered my freshman year for that group and met your sorry ass or at least they could have given me a hot girl to wheel around campus."
Natalie could tell there was real friendship between the cripple and the jock.
"And Derrick you know." Rain said in an uncomfortable voice and the room got suddenly quiet.
Lou looked up, "What...what's going on? Have we started yet?"
"We miss you at the frat house, Natalie." Derrick said ignoring Lou, "We are having another party this weekend and I am sure several of the brothers would love to see you again." The boy smirked.
Natalie smiled at him in a very charming manner, "Why that's just darling of you to invite me, but last party I went to did not live up to all the hype. Things just seemed very little to me."
Jason and Michael laughed and Rain giggled while Christie just glared at Derrick. Natalie took her girlfriend's hand.
"Well...I...I," Derrick muttered for something to say and not thinking of anything clever blurted out, "I still have your panties in my room."
Natalie just smiled, "Keep them. They are probably the only thing you will ever be close to that smells like a girl."
Michael and Jason laughed again and Rain blushed and put his hands on his face. "Crude, dear, very crude." He said and Natalie just winked at him.
Christie managed a small smile at the comment but still glared at Derrick. Natalie took her hand, "Come on, baby, you need to help me learn to play real fast so we can get started or poor Lou is going to have a stroke."
They sat down and Christie put her back pack on the table and started pulling out books and papers and a small cloth bag and some pencils. Natalie sat next to Rain and smiled as she noticed the boy kept looking at Jason. Oh poor Rain, she thought, he crushing on him very bad.
"Ok the first thing we do is make a character. Here is your character sheet. Now we need to determine what race you want to be. Like human, elf, dwarf, half elf and so on."
"Can I be a...what was it...a draw like you."
Everyone at the table minus the professor, who had yet to say a word, moaned and almost in unison shouted, "Noooo!"
Natalie looked confused, "Why...what's wrong with that?"
Rain ginned, "Its pronounced drao not draw and the drow are the meanest and cruelest race in all of Faerun. They are dark elves and live in the Underdark, that's deep underground even deeper than where dwarves build their homes. We don't need another one in the party. You can be a half elf like me."
"But Christie is one."
"Cause I am special." Christie said with a grin. "Verana is a Drow priestess but she does not serve Lloth, the spider goddess. She rejected her and her heritage and is a priestess of Eilistraee, Lloth's daughter but a good aligned goddess."
"Good or not, Verana is mean and very cruel. Remember what she did to those half orc bandits we were going to bring in for the bounty?" Rain said.
Michael chuckled, "Yeah she toasted half of them alive and then made soup from the bones and made the other half eat it."
"Well the stupid things kept complaining they were starving and would not shut up and then that one told me he was going to rape me and take me back to his clan and breed me like a sow." Christie said with a giggle.
"You...you did that?" Natalie asked.
"Well redeemed or not, she is still a drow female." Christie said as if that justified her action. "Drow females are the top of the food chain in the Underdark, baby, even over the drow males. They don't get fucked with."
Natalie looked confused as Christie picked up one of her books that was Titled Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manuel Volume 12 and opened it up and flipped through the pages and when she stopped she handed it to Natalie.
"That is a Drow female."
Natalie looked at the picture, "Damn, she's hot." She said. The picture was a drawing of a very well-shaped and busty female in skimpy metal armor with skin as black as ink, full read lips, and white hair. In her hand was a whip that had five heads and each head was that of a snake. On the chest of the armor plate was the image of a large spider.
"So give me my choices again?" Natalie asked.
"Ok in the front of the book are a list of races players can be. The manual has tons of monsters in it but players can't be most of them. Just the ones in the front."
Natalie looked and selected a moon elf. She flipped to the page that had the description of the moon elf and liked the picture. One was of a male and the other a female. Both had long dark hair and pale skin. She thought both were pretty.
"Moon elf is good. Suites you." Michael smiled at her. "Looks like you actually. I mean with the hair and skin tone I mean." The boy was flustered.
"Better be careful Michael, that's Verana's girl you are trying to flirt with." Jason laughed.
"Bah...Ahira would cut the dark skinned elf to pieces." Michael laughed.
It took Natalie a moment to realize they were talking about their game characters. "So...it's a role playing game right? Who's to say I am her girl in the game. Maybe I am on the market." Natalie said with a smile.
