Archive of Our Own ^beta

Gem was bored. But this was not any new experience for her in her many years of public schooling and droning on teachers. Gem was slumped at her desk head resting on her fist while her other hand lazily held a pencil and slowly doodling flowers on the edge of her character sheet, with its carefully penned in stats and decorations.

One more try, Gem tells herself, but then again she has said that to herself many times with different groups and campaigns, when all she wants is to play her silly fantasy game, with her carefully crafted character that she has been looking forward to playing for months.

Ara Varic sits on top of the carefully pristine piece of paper. She is an Elven druid specializing in combat wild shaping and a liking of making flower crowns to give to her friends of which there are many, especially with the ability to talk to all the animals in the forest near her village.

Gem’s small face twists into a grimace yeah right for all things are better after the anarchy by no stretch of the imagination are they kind or even are people trusting, and dnd groups as it turns out, are particular about who they are going to play with, and a tween deer hybrid with an unfortunate habit of just brute forcing all her (in-game) problems, doesn’t seem to fit the bill all that well. Well, this time this character will be a well of sunshine, with no fireballs in the room no, touching all the buttons, Gem will be the model player and then she can finally make some friends.

The bell rings and Gem practically leaps out of her chair, hastily stuffing her notebook back into her bag as she practically gallops out of the room, only having half an ear out on what the teacher asks for homework, her character sheet being clutched in her hand like a lifeline.

Just one more try, Gem thinks, Just one more try.

—

Gem is the first person to arrive in the designated classroom, making it there in what seems to be record-timing. She waves shyly to the Teacher who had volunteered to watch the kids after school activities and the kids whose parents couldn’t pick them up right away and weren’t allowed to walk home alone, Miss Cleo a Zombie Mutant with an awesome, mechanical leg that was the PE teacher and the absolute coolest. Miss Cleo smiles back briefly before her attention returns to her looking at her papers, and doing whatever teachers did when they weren’t teaching.

Gem’s eyes searched the classroom before they landed on the perfect table. It was round and near the back of the classroom out of the way of the other activities of the kids in the classroom, with enough room to lay out a battle map or whatever else the DM and other players brought with them. Gem smiles and sits down and sets up her stuff before the other players get here.

The classroom slowly begins to fill up with kids as Gem occupies herself stacking her carefully hoarded set of dice. They were a birthday present from her parents after they had discovered her obsession with fantasy and DND. They were made of a clear sparkly resin with little preserved flowers and clay mushrooms littered throughout the different dice, and they were her absolute favorite especially the little gold flower that was on the natural twenty of the d20 so you got a special color when you rolled particularly well. Gem was just trying to balance the d4 onto the d20 when there was the sound of the clearing of a trout from behind her. Gem was startled out of her concentration, accidentally knocking down the dice tower, and leaving the scare around the table, thankfully none of them fell off the table so she was able to quickly bring them all together in a pile before turning to her visitor.

The person who stood behind her was a Netherborn boy about Gem’s age with a pair of small horns just sticking out of his scalp, and a forked tail wrapped around his ankle, his mutant traits if anything reminded Gem of a dnd tiefling if missing the different colored skin. He was tall and lanky growing into his height with brown hair, and eyes, with a simple black t-shirt and a nervous smile.

Gem stood up from her chair with a smile beaming on her face, as she stuck out a hand to shake, “Hi, I’m Gem, You're here to play DND right? What’s your name?”

“Impulse,” the boy returns, taking her hand as Gem shakes it viciously, “Yes, I’m planning on running the session if that’s okay.” Gem smiles even wider at Impulse at that admission.

“You’re DMing? That’s so cool I’m too scatterbrained to do that, have you run any other games? What made you want to play DND?”

Impulse seems to relax at Gem’s easy acceptance, as he sits and begins to unpack all of his material and DM stuff onto the table as the two of them talk about what made them want to start playing Dungeons and Dragons as well as what inspires them in fantasy. Gem just finishes ranting about elven culture and how the arches and grand designs are reminiscent of real-world architecture when there is an argument that can be heard outside the classroom.

“Gribba I already told you this was my thing, go work on making Mumbo into class president behind his back or hang out with the bad boys or something.”

“But Pearrrrrl,” ‘Griba’ whined, “I can totally play nice I promise,”

The first person Pearl apparently was not impressed, “The last time I tried to get you and Jimmy to play with me you didn’t make it past character creation,”

“Please, you'll be gone a whole afternoon.”

“And you will survive without me, bye Grian,” and with that, the conversation was finished as another student entered the room, looked around, and started heading for their table. Pearl was an avian with two pairs of black wings one on her back and one on the sides of her head. She had long brown hair and was wearing a navy blue hoodie with slits in the back to fold her wings through. Oh, Gem thinks to herself she must be the other player.

“Hi,” Gem starts, “I’m Gem this is Impulse, the DM you’re Pearl right?”

Pearl hums in affirmation, taking out a crumpled piece of paper from her bag and trying to smooth it out on the table. “Yep this is my first time properly playing though so, I might not be the best at it,”

“That’s fine,” Impulse affirms, “this is my first time DMing so we can all learn together,” Pearl smiles at him for that. “But since we are all here we might as well start.” Pearl nods in affirmation while Gem claps in delight, “What are you both playing? Level three should be good,”

Gem goes first, practically bouncing in her seat, “I’m playing Ara Varic a wood elf druid, from the circle of the moon, which means that she is really good at wild shaping and I can use that for combat, she has the folk hero background and has lots of animal friends.”

Pearl picks up afterward wings on her head fluttering nervously, “I’m playing Dura CandleBreacker, a half-orc investigator rogue who loves mystery and adventure and is sneaky looking for clues about a mysterious necklace she was given at a young age.”

Impulse smiles looking up from where he was writing down notes, “That should be good, for the first time. And with that, I guess we are all ready to start. In the world of the Forgotten Realms, there are many magical creatures and places, but none so well known and regarded as the continent of Hiwos known to house some of the greatest adventures, builders, and magic practitioners in all the land. And this is where our story begins, Ara and Dura have been traveling together along the road for a good week when you come along the road to a small village that goes by the name of Boatem running low on supplies and in need of some work you go to the tavern to try and find some work. Once inside, what do you do?”

“Is there any sort of announcement board or anything to advertise where you can find jobs?” Pearl asks.

“Roll an investigation check,”

“Which die is that?” Pearl asks Gem points it out and Pearl rolls, “7 plus 6 so 13,”

Impulse nods at this “Your sharp eyes quickly notice a board that has a poster saying Adventurers wanted, it talks about a mischievous inventor living at the edge of town who has been causing ruckuses so there is a bounty for his capture to be returned to the town and brought to justice for his crimes,”

“Hum,” Gem starts before continuing in an exaggerated posh accent, “Seems like there would be a lot of traps for an inventor's secret layer, you good at handling those Dura?”

“Yeah, I’m good at traps and stealth and all that kind of stuff,” Pearl says looking cheery, also in character, “Though we should probably ask around town about him so we have the most accurate information,”

“Yeah,” Gem enthuses, “I can also ask if the woodland animals have seen anything, they would probably know exactly where to find him,”

“Who do you guys look to first for this information?” Impulse asks.

“There are other people in the tavern, right? Can I ask the bartender?” Pearl continues.

“Sure you go over to the bartender and what do you say?”

Pearl thinks about this for a moment before she seems to be hit by an idea “I have this feature called menacing because I’m a half-orc, can I use that so I don’t know get them to tell me something?”

“Ah okay?” Impulse says a little bit hesitantly, “Tell me what you say, and then roll an intimidation check say DC12,”

“What’s the deal with the inventor at the edge of town?” Pearl says in a deeper voice before she rolls her dice and makes a face, Gem looks over at it and then also makes a face.

“Can I stand behind her and look menacing to give her advantage?” Gem asks hesitantly.

“What do you do to be intimidating?” Impulse asks, raising his eyebrow, which fare Gem had made Ara to be as agreeable as possible and not cause problems, or fight out of wild shape, wait wild shape!

“I wild shape into a…” Gem stops for a moment going through the wild shape cards she had made for a long minute looking for something that could fit the situation… oh that works “Dire wolf and growl,” she finishes smugly.

“What’s a dire wolf?” Pearl asks.

“It’s like a wolf but bigger,” Gem explains.

“You can turn into a giant puppy?!” Pearl exclaims with delight.

“I can turn into a giant puppy,” Gem says smugly.

“Okay, Gem, you turn into a giant wolf in the middle of a crowded bar. This is correct?” Impulse clarifies and Gem nods beaming back. “Okay, Pearl you have advantage, roll another die and take the higher.”

Pearl rolls again still beaming before looking down and having her expression fall, Gem looks down and makes another face. They look at each other at the same moment and a bit of understanding comes over them both, yes this is the only course of action.

“I attack the barkeep-”

“I hide and then sneak attack,”

Impulse looks at them like a man thoroughly out of his depth, “Okay?”

There is silence for a good moment before they all burst out laughing.

—

“Okay so the town is centered around their Idol this Boatum Pole, but there is something fishy going on here, the animals said there are more and more of them going missing randomly, so what if they are being sacrificed to this false idol,” Pearl explains going full conspiracy mode.

“But how?” Gem asks, having given up the accent about ten minutes in.

Pearl thinks over this for a second before an idea comes to mind, “The Boatum Hole '' She announces with revenants.

“The Boat hole,” Gem agrees completely seriously.

Impulse burst out into another fit of laughter from where he had been scribbling from behind his DM screen.

—

“The Demon stands on top of his platform high above the cause of his contraptions below and begins to say,” Impulse then lowers his voice to a deep gravel, “‘those who dare enter my home shall die a fiery death in the pits of despair you shall fear the eternal punishment of-’”

“But we have soup,” Gem interrupts, miming holding out a bowl of soup.

“Roll a persuasion check, the DC is going to be pretty high cause you interrupted his ritual-” Impulse starts only to be cut off.

“Nat 20,” Gem exclaims, face splitting into a blinding grin.

“Dura also holds out a bowl of soup,” Pearl adds helpfully.

Impulse rolls a d20 in front of the table which lands on a three, before looking to the two girls and with complete serenity says, “The patron God of the Boatum Hole, a demon of chaos, and the void looks at you two at the bowls of soup that you offer him and says, ‘I do like a good bowl of soup.’”

“Ara Misty steps up and hugs him,”

“You take three points of necrotic damage from his aura,”

“Nooooooo,”

—

“Is it alright if I sit here,” Gem looks up from the book she was reading in the cafe during a lunch break from school, to see Pearl standing above her fidgeting nervously.

Gem shrugs, closing her book, “Sure what brings you to my little corner of everything?” Gem asks curious because she had never seen Pearl hanging out near the cafes and food stands during lunch.

Pearl shrugs back sitting down next to Gem at the table “The friend group was fighting over which comic book canon was better and I got sick of it.”

“Boys?” Gem asks with much serenity

“Boys,” Pearl answers back in the very same manner.

—

“Dura looks at her necklace, the thing that has led her to this very moment that has been her obsession for so many years, she looks at it and thinks of what she sacrificed to know its secrets to know its dark history to know what it kept her from becoming, She looks back at the people around her at Ara, at Denic, at Tilly, and with that, she releases her grip on the necklace and watches it fall down down,”

“And as it spirals down,” Impulse continues the narration, “The Image begins to warp and flicker before bursting out of it comes to a mirror image of Dura light where she is dark. Dark where she is light, she smiles menacingly and dark, I want you both to roll initiative,” with that he takes out a paper battle map and rolls it out onto the table. He goes to get the little paper figures that they use as minis before Gem stops him with a hand and pulls out three little boxes wrapped in paper.

“I made us something for our 15th session,” Gem says nervously as the two begin to unwrap the presents that Gem had made.

“Oh Gem,” Pearl says, carefully examining the little sculpture of Dura that Gem had made with reverence, “Thank you,” she says, putting it down on the table before tackling Gem in a hug. Impulse joins in a moment later having unwrapped his mini of his favorite NPC The chaos demon the Group had named Denic. And they all smiled together in that warmth.

…

Half an hour later there was the sound of preteens screaming in outrage.

—

“Soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup soup,”

Doc slowly closed the bedroom door, Pearl would be okay, but Doc didn’t want to know what the kids were doing with the extremely elaborate seemingly torcher chamber for a dice.

He remembers well the last time he questioned those three, he just felt old.

—

“Okay,” Pearl says, putting down a large pot on the friend's lunch table “I have made soup.”

“Like real soup?” Gem asks, looking at the pot curiously.

“I mean we can’t be the soup group if we haven't properly had soup together,” Pearl explains, easily starting to ladle out the soup for each of them to take.

“Makes sense,” Impulse agrees, taking a spoonful only for it to stop halfway to his mouth, “You are completely sure this is safe to eat?”

Pearl scoffs “Obviously,”

It’s safe to say that Gem is the one who is relegated to soup duty from that day on.

—

Gem and Pearl stare at the paper for a moment longer, both being unable to parse the meaning from the blocks of text in front of them.

“Can I just roll investigation?” Pearl asks finally.

“Sure you’ve been at it for 30 minutes you can have advantage,” Impulse says not looking up from where he has his head in his hands.

“I have reliable talent so that's a 22,” Pearl says smugly.

“The answer was to move the heads onto the corresponding descriptions,”

“Oooooo,” Gem says “I get it now.”

“Of course you do.”

—

“And with the defeat of the Royal court and the distribution of the kings' wealth, our story ends there, Dura finds her meaning in the investigation of celestial affairs and Ara goes to eternally protect her new home and grove.” Impulse finishes closing the large DM’s guide. Pearl and Gem clap politely.

“Who’s DMing next time?” Gem asks.

“Not It,” All three of them say at the same time.

They figure something out... eventually.

—

“Hey, do you guys remember the first time we played DnD together?” Gem asks sprawled out on her back, her graduation having been shed almost as soon as they had all sat down, “I was so nervous.”

“You were nervous?” Impulse asks from where he is lying down next to her, “You seemed to be the only one not.”

“Nope,” Gem says, popping the p, “it was my fifth time trying to find a group, and I just wanted one to work out so well the nerves turned into confidence.”

“I for one am glad you were so confident,” Pearl adds, “I would’ve never come out of my shell if it wasn’t for how much you took in stride”.

“You mean how much we messed up Impy’s plans?” Gem questions playfully.

“Ahhh don’t remind me,” Impulse bemoans in fake exasperation.

And as the group falls back into an easy routine of playful bickering and teasing, Gem thinks Yeah that one more time was worth it.