Hey all. I've been wanting to do this for a while, just to further announce my total geek to all of you, and I doubt that this would be at all interesting to most of you, but for those who like this sort of thing all the power to you for reading something I've spent time geeking out on.
In essence, this is extra stuff to The Annals of Darkness series that I have been writing, using random continuity from the fic. There are very few spoilers here for things that may/may not happen during or after The War, but a big what if simulation of if the gang decided to…well, you've read the summary and I might as well show you rather than tell you. Warning, should you read this without experience you will invariably learn many of the rules of the game and might end up wanting to play it. Now should I have a character do the disclaimer or should I just—
(Yuffie poofs in via a cloud of black smoke and raises her hand in the air)
Yuffie: "Ooh! I will! Shire Folk does not own us, Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or Forgotten Realms in version 3.5e D&D! Now let's start the geek out so I can get onto killing things and taking their shit."
Oh yes, rated M due to language and possible situations that may arise.
-A-D-
The Annals of Darkness
Table of the Keyblades
Chapter I: The Party
Laughter echoed across the beach of a small island on the world of Destiny Islands. The sun had set in the west an hour before, and a bonfire cast light onto the sand and faces of the teenagers enjoying each other's company. There were twelve in total around the fire, chatting idly or laughing at jokes and stories told or the antics of their members.
Sora swept a metal hand through the wet spikes of his chocolate hair, getting out some of the ocean's water just recently put into it. "You're lucky Tidus," he said, his cerulean eyes staring at the blond who'd just tackled him into the surf. "If I didn't have my oil here with me, Winry would be on my case faster than you could blink, and then she'd be whacking you on the head with her wrench."
"Good thing it is here then," Tidus said, giving the Keyblade Master's red-headed girlfriend Kairi a sly look, "now Kairi can put all the lube on you she wants."
"Careful Tidus," said the girl with indigo eyes as she grabbed the can of oil and rag that was lying on a log, "keep talking, and I might just spill this oil on you and send a spark from the fire to it."
"No you won't Kairi," Selphie said, just shaking her head. The auburn-haired princess shrugged and came over to Sora, who was now drying the automail limb he had for a left arm off with a towel. Sora'd lost his arm in an accident during a battle, and his friends had found a pair of mechanics in the town of Resembool in the world of Amestris who were able to fashion a new arm for him. Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako had done a wonderful job, but Sora had learned the hard way that it rusted easily in salt water, and gotten a scolding from Winry that he hadn't been taking care of it properly when he went by to get it fixed.
He was sure that the goose egg he'd received at the end of Winry's wrench had lasted for a week.
While Kairi oiled Sora's arm, working hard to clean it free of all the ocean's salts and keep the joints moving smoothly, Sora smiled warmly at her while also looking around at his group of friends that had come back to Destiny Islands with them even after all they'd been through. Riku was here, of course, and Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie had returned home to the Islands as well. Roxas and Naminé had come back with them too, the two former Nobodies enjoying their lives with their new 'twins'. What surprised Sora was that Hayner, Pence, and Olette, the Twilight Town trio, had been able to convince their parents that they should relocate to Destiny Islands so they could live close to the friends from the Islands that they'd grown so close to.
There was one other addition to the gang, one that Riku especially was very glad to have. Yuffie Kisaragi had come to live on Destiny Islands too after receiving her own Keyblade, staying in the house of her boyfriend. They still couldn't believe it. Riku had actually fallen for Yuffie during their long fight, something that was making both Keyblade Wielders very happy. Every time either one of them looked at each other these days it seemed impossible for either of them to refuse the smile that appeared an instant later.
"Urg!" Hayner declared dramatically, flopping back onto the sand and gazing up at all the returned stars. "I'm so bored! All we do is hang out, go to school, and practice to keep ourselves sharp for whenever the next villain's going to step up and try to take over."
"So dating me's boring Hayner?" asked Olette with an amused smile, the brunette waiting to see his reaction.
He smiled back at her. "Going on a date with you Olette is never boring, I'm just saying that we should actually do something."
"I agree," Roxas said. "All this peace is just a little boring."
"But it's what we fought for," Naminé said, her hands hugging her knees. "To be honest, I'm content."
"I'm with Riku," Kairi said, still rubbing the oiled rag up and down Sora's arm. It was a soothing motion to her, and Sora knew that she loved doing it as much as he enjoyed the feeling of the oil soaking into the parts of his arm and getting it clean. "Life has become just a little passé considering all we've been through in the past year."
"Tell me about it," Yuffie remarked, poking the fire with a stick. "Coming here to watch over you guys, fighting to defend this place, finding a boyfriend, getting a Keyblade, fighting Heartless, Nobodies, monsters, Maleficent, and even gods? Island life seems a little dull after that, wouldn't you say?"
"I like it though," Wakka chipped in, leaning back. "Me an' Tidus can get back to blitz training, yah?"
"You know it," Tidus said eagerly. "Our school team's going to take the cup this year, no doubt about that."
"Just make sure you slam the Krakens," Riku said. "We can't forgive them for winning last year."
"Oh don't worry, we'll take them down!" Tidus guaranteed.
Pence spoke up in the silence that followed. "You know, it doesn't have to be so boring," he said slowly. "We could do something other than schoolwork, dating, and training."
"Like what?" Hayner asked. "Go out and kill a few fiends? No thanks. We've done enough fighting for now. Let the Guardians handle that job."
"No," Pence said. "Why don't we start up a Dungeons and Dragons group?"
Sora added his groan to the group chorus. "D&D?" he asked. "C'mon Pence."
"No seriously," Pence said through the blush that was running rampant across his cheeks. "It could be fun, and it'll pass the time."
"But that's for geeks and nerds," Yuffie said. "No offence."
Pence didn't appear to take offence at the comment, but Roxas spoke up before he could. "Besides, that's an adventure RPG right? Why should we pretend to be badass adventurers when we already are badass adventurers?" To prove his point, the only one who wore the purple and gold cape of one of King Mickey's Knights of Disney Castle held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade into his hand. The blond looked admiringly at the Twilight Thorn Keyblade in the firelight, with its circular white hilt and black cylindrical blade. Where the hilt met the blade the two ends of it wrapped around the black core of the Keyblade in a double helix, meeting up with one another near the end to form the skeleton key portion, which actually didn't extend out but only increased the length of the Keyblade as a bayonet.
"Well," Pence said, rubbing the back of his head, "because you wouldn't have to be yourselves."
That caught Sora's interest a little. "Hm?"
"You wouldn't have to be kickass saviours of light," Pence continued, "you could be evil if you wanted."
"Wait a second," Yuffie said, sitting up and looking at Pence. "As geeky as this is, we could be total dicks to everybody like we secretly want to be, and there'd be no consequences?"
"In the game there'd be consequences, but it's not like you personally would actually be affected in any way. If you wanted to go around stealing people's stuff you could, or if you wanted to join an organization that wants to destroy the whole world because they find it fun you could, or you could become a member of a holy paladin order and spread justice across the land or even just go around stomping orcs and undead."
There was a pause after Pence started speaking that stretched on for many minutes. "No," Tidus said, shaking his head. "I've got Blitzball; there's no way I'm giving that up for fantasy role-playing."
"I'm with Tidus on this one Pence," Wakka added.
"Aw, come on," Pence fired back. "You guys were complaining about being bored too."
"Yeah, but D&D seems even more bor—"
"I'm in," Naminé said.
Everyone gaped at the blonde Princess of Radiant Garden. "Naminé," Selphie asked, "are you serious?"
"Yes," she said with a nod of her head. "It sounds like it might be fun. It might even give me a few ideas for things to draw or paint too."
Pence smiled encouragingly. "Thanks Naminé. That's one."
Sora mulled it over. "You know," he began, "I think I'd like to try it too."
"Really Sora?" Kairi asked. "You want to play too?"
"Why not?" Sora shrugged. "I mean, if I really wanted to go and kill a bunch of orcs I could just open a portal to Middle-earth and go hunting, but I'd rather stay here."
The others looked at each other in slight discomfort while Sora and Naminé shared shy smiles with one another and Pence. They looked to be the only three to stick their necks out and admit to wanting to play something that had such a social stigma around it. "You don't have to completely commit," Pence said aloud to the rest of the group, "I'm just asking if you want to try it out."
Kairi bit the bottom of her lip and looked about to speak when Selphie burst in. "No way Pence," she said. "I'm not going to do something like that; I've got gymnastics, though I might come by and watch you guys for a laugh or two." Sora felt his cheeks burn.
Now Kairi did speak. "I'll play," she said, her voice suddenly joined by another two. Riku and Yuffie had spoken simultaneously in agreement to try it out.
"So long as nobody finds out about this," Riku hastily added. "I'm serious. This cannot leave this group that I'm going to try playing D&D."
"Why?" asked Olette. "Might lose that bad boy image you've got?" Riku found it sufficient to stare at Olette until she looked away.
Roxas sighed. "Well, if you five are in, then I'll play too," he said, giving Naminé a weak smile. He looked to Hayner and Olette. The couple glanced at one another before looking at Pence.
"No promises," Hayner answered for them, "but we might come by and check it out."
Pence nodded his head. He'd probably expected as much from the group, but to have the six agree was great. "Fair enough," Pence said. "Where do you think we should meet and when?"
"Might as well start soon," Naminé said. "Tomorrow maybe? I'm sure we could ask Ovan to put aside a room in our house, right Kairi?"
"Yeah we could," Kairi answered, looking at her twin. Ovan Ramius, the Marquess of the Marchlands of Ramius, was a nobleman of Radiant Garden and had been a close friend of King Raithen, Kairi's actual birth father. He'd been named her godfather when the auburn-haired Princess of Heart had been born, and had since come to Destiny Islands along with his wife and two sons to live with and provide for the twin Princesses.
The good boon about that was that they now lived with six hard working servants in a big mansion the Marquess had had built, all but two of the servants from the castle that stood in Radiant Garden.
"Okay," Sora said, "so tomorrow at Kairi and Naminé's then?"
"Sure," agreed Roxas. "It's a Sunday tomorrow anyway."
Selphie rolled her eyes and gazed into the fire as it made a loud crack and sent a plume of sparks into the night air. "Have fun," she said whimsically.
-A-D-
A blonde-haired girl of nineteen wearing a white tank top with a pleated brown skirt that just brushed the lower edge of her knees was shaking her head at Naminé and Kairi as the two went from room to room in the mansion, searching for one of a suitable size that would also be out of the way enough to suit their purposes. "I still can't believe you two," said Agatha, Naminé's personal handmaiden. "Dungeons and Dragons? Really?"
"Yes," Naminé answered tiredly. "So are you going to keep saying that or are you going to help us?"
Agatha Quin sighed. Handmaiden, protector, close personal friend, fellow person who'd endured Ur's insane training or not, she was still a servant and had to oblige. "Yes Your Highness," she answered, joining the two females.
The three were at it for only a few minutes more, combing the ground floor for a nice room, when both of Ovan's sons came in. Kairi had first been surprised when she'd met them. She had expected that a man who had been her birth father's friend would have had children around the same time as he had, but while Kairi was sixteen her two 'godbrothers' Alton and Harland were ten and nine respectively. "What are you doing?" Alton asked.
"Looking for haunted rooms," Naminé replied.
"But the mansion was just built!" Harland answered with a giggle. "There aren't any ghosts here."
"There will be if one of you hides all my underwear all over the house again!" Naminé hissed. The two laughed and ran off before Naminé could do anything, like casting a spell that would turn them into popsicles.
Kairi frowned and looked at the doorway where they'd run away. "We're going to need a place where they won't bug us."
Agatha nodded her head. Truthfully she'd like to find a secluded place where the brats wouldn't bug her. The Marquess and his wife were very doting and liberal with them. Not a single room in the house was off-limits to their sons, not even the private bathroom Naminé and Kairi shared.
But there was one room that the two Keyblade-wielding Princesses kept locked whenever they were not within it. Not even their bedrooms were kept so private from the two boys. "Naminé," said the servant, "your studio."
The girls' eyes brightened as they looked at each other. "Yes, that'd be perfect! They won't bother all of us in there, and it's got plenty of room," Kairi said.
"And light," Naminé added, "what with all the windows." Kairi and Agatha both nodded.
"You can wait for our friends and show them up when they get here Agatha," Kairi said, "we'll set the room up." The blonde servant nodded.
It was only a half-hour later with the clock saying that it was around ten past two in the afternoon when Sora and Roxas arrived up in the room. "Hey Kairi," Sora said, greeting his girlfriend with a smile and a kiss. "How've you been?"
"Good," she replied as Roxas and Naminé shared their own greeting kiss and words, "how was the ride here?"
"Uneventful, but Réodfeax seemed to enjoy outrunning Quickfeet."
Roxas frowned at his brother. "That's only because chocobos like Quickfeet aren't used to racing against your big-boned horse."
"Hey," Sora said with playful seriousness, as if he had told Roxas this same line numerous times, "do not make fun of my horse." He looked around. "So we're in here huh?"
"Yep," Kairi answered. "It's the only place in the house we can be sure of that Alton and Harland won't bother us."
Naminé's studio was a long rectangular room on the second floor of the mansion in its north wing on the west side, measuring twelve metres in width and twenty-eight in length (from an east-west standpoint). It was painted white on three sides, with the side directly across from the ten tall arched windows that faced the west painted a dark wine red. The door was on the southeast edge of the room, and was the only door one could use to enter the room. Naminé had also ensured that it was fitted with a deadbolt, and kept it locked whenever she wasn't inside. The best part was that there was no key for the lock, but that was never an issue for her or Kairi. The windows were individually bordered by thick black curtains with white pinstripes.
In the middle of the room there was a table a metre and a half wide and ten metres long. Normally it held Naminé's paints, brushes, blank canvases, pencils, coloured pencils, crayons, blank sketchbooks, and other assorted items she used in her artwork, but right now it was bare. All of these supplies had been moved into a corner of the room. Normally the room contained two armchairs as well as a small coffee table where the two Princesses would sometimes sit, but now there were ten other comfortable chairs placed around the long table.
Sora nodded and went to the little coffee table and sat down. "Good on that," he said, placing both of his hands behind his head. "It's bad enough that they think I'm insane for wanting to kiss you all the time, but if they knew that we were all in here playing a game I don't know what they'd do."
"I just hope they don't find out," Naminé said. "Because if they do, and if they complain, as much as Ovan respects our privacy and our need to be by ourselves with our friends, either he or Kaylee is going to insist that we let the boys join us."
Roxas visibly paled. "That'd be hell."
Riku and Yuffie arrived ten minutes later, and the six of them were comfortably chatting together when Pence, with a bulging backpack, was lead into the room by Agatha. "Thanks Agatha," Riku said to the servant. She gave him an amused look and he quickly added, "Can you make sure that nobody knows that I'm here? Especially the two kids?"
"Don't worry Riku," she said, putting her hand on the handle of the door, pausing only as Naminé's black kitten Bast silently padded her way into the room. "Nobody's going to learn from me that you're a geek."
"I'm not a geek! I'm just trying it out!"
But she had already closed the door.
Pence went to the table and placed his bag down. "Sorry for being late guys, I had to make sure I had all of the books I need."
"It's okay," Yuffie answered. "We were just waiting on you since you're the only one who knows what he's doing." Pence gave them a sheepish look before opening up his bag and pulling out several hardcover books and sheets of paper with black boxes and lines on them.
"So," Naminé began, heading the move towards the table, "how do we play?"
Pence gave her a smile of gratitude that she was at least eager enough to ask the big question. "Well first you have to make a character, and then we can get started."
"Sounds reasonable," Riku noted, "I mean it is a role-playing game."
"Hey!" Naminé exclaimed as she picked up one of the hardcover books Pence had unpacked. "I've got this book."
Everyone looked at Naminé like she had just grown another head. "You've got a copy of the Monster Manual?" Pence asked, completely surprised.
"Yeah," Naminé answered, "but it was really just for the pictures and the names of creatures inside of it. I couldn't understand a word of all that ess-tee-are, con, aych-dee stat stuff that was also in there."
"After tonight you will," Pence said, still smiling.
"Alright," Kairi said, looking at all of the books Pence had laid out in confusion. "So… just how do we go about making a character?"
Pence handed each of his six players a pair of sheets, the top one saying 'Dungeons & Dragons Character Record Sheet' in block letters in the top right corner of the page. "First, I'm sorry but I've only got two Player's Handbooks so you'll all have to share until you can get your own, you pick your race and your class. After that we can work on your name, and your height and weight, eye colour, hair, stats, skills, languages, background and all of that lovely stuff."
"Okay…" Roxas said slowly, taking the copy of the Player's Handbook Core Rulebook I v.3.5 that Pence was handing to him.
"All of the character creation information is in there in the front of the book," Pence explained, giving the other one to Kairi. "It tells you about the ability scores first, which are your stats, and then the different races, and then the different classes you can play as."
Kairi nodded as she looked at the table of contents. There sure were a lot of subjects that the book covered. Combat, magic, spells, something called 'Alignment', equipment, religion, treasure, adventuring…
"Hey I could play a Dwarf," Sora declared, excitement rising somewhat in his voice.
"Half-elf," Naminé murmured, flipping through pages.
"Hey, I was still reading the contents!" Kairi objected.
"We'll worry about that stuff later Kai," Naminé answered. "Race and class first like Pence said."
Pence smiled and put his hand on another book. "Those aren't the only races though," he said.
Yuffie looked up. "What do you mean?" She spotted the book. "What's that?"
"I've decided that you guys are going to be playing in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting," he declared, "so there's this book, which also has all of the other playable races of the continent of Faerûn on the world of Toril. There's still Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Half-elves, Half-orcs, Halflings, Gnomes and them, but it adds a lot more variety." He pushed Races of Faerûn forward, and Naminé and Sora started looking at it instead of the regular Player's Handbook. "And since you're in Forgotten Realms, the gods are also different than the ones in the handbook." He presented Faiths and Pantheons.
Yuffie stepped back and took a look at the table. There were more books than just the two Player's Handbooks, Races of Faerûn, Monster Manual, and Faiths and Pantheons; also revealed from Pence's backpack were Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, Unearthed Arcana, and Spell Compendium; and there were still a few more inside of the backpack that Yuffie couldn't make out! The raven-haired ninja groaned and pushed her palms into her eyes. "Ugh, so many books…"
Pence laughed. "You don't have to read and memorize them all."
"We don't?" Roxas asked, hope rising in him as he looked at Pence.
"No," the jet-haired teen replied. "That'd be crazy. The base rules are pretty simple. All of this is just supplementary information, optional rules and additions, and for reference whenever a situation comes up that nobody can remember the rule to." Roxas clapped his hands together and looked up as if he were thanking Poseidon that he didn't have to memorize all of these books this afternoon.
"I don't know," Riku muttered, "should I play a Human or an Elf?"
"Pence!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Which is the best race for a thief?"
"There's no thief class in three point five," Pence answered, "but you could play a Rogue. That's pretty much the same thing."
"Great, Rogue, but what's the best race for a Rogue?"
"Halfling," Pence answered without hesitation.
Sora and Kairi raised their heads simultaneously at Pence's word. "Halfling?" Sora asked. "You mean a Hobbit."
It was Pence's turn to look at them funnily. "No, I mean a Halfling."
"No, a Hobbit," Kairi returned definitively. "Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo; they called themselves Hobbits. And we met a number of Hobbits of Bree while we were in Middle-earth at the Prancing Pony."
"Well…" Sora relented, "they did call Pippin 'Prince of the Halflings' in Minas Tirith."
Pence shook his head. "Okay, they might be Hobbits in Middle-earth, but they are called Halflings in D&D."
"Alright," Yuffie said before either Sora or Kairi could interrupt again. "I'm going to be a Halfling Rogue and steal all your guys' stuff."
"I've decided," Naminé said, standing up straight. "I'm going to be a Moon Half-Elf Wizard."
The others gave Yuffie and Naminé funny looks. "But you guys pretty much are a rogue and a wizard," Kairi laughed.
Yuffie looked affronted. "Excuse me Kairi? I'm the Great Ninja Wielder Yuffie Kisaragi!"
Pence smiled and grabbed something else out from his backpack. "Well, we've got two of you decided, so why don't the rest of you sit back and watch as I help Yuffie and Naminé make their halfling rogue and half-elf wizard?"
Riku nodded his head. "That sounds like a good idea. Plus, I still need to figure out what I want."
"That's fine," Pence said. He gestured to Yuffie and Naminé, and they came over to him. "Here, take these pencils. We'll start with the Abilities. These are your stats. 'Str' is 'Strength', 'Dex' is 'Dexterity', 'Con' is 'Constitution', 'Int' is 'Intelligence', 'Wis' is 'Wisdom', and 'Cha' is 'Charisma'. Strength is self-explanatory, dexterity is how dextrous and agile your character is, so you'll want a high dexterity score Yuffie; constitution is your character's health, stamina, ability to concentrate, and determines the number of hit points you have; intelligence is how well you can learn new things and reason your way through problems, Naminé this is going to be important for your wizard; wisdom is common sense, willpower, perception, intuition; and charisma measures a person's force of personality, persuasiveness, ability to lead, physical attractiveness and the sort."
"Wait a second," Sora said. "But a person could also be really attractive, yet is a complete dunce and can't lead anything or goes along with everything somebody else says. Or someone could be completely ugly yet have a strong personality."
"Like Quasimodo," Yuffie said. "He pretty charismatic, but he's still deformed."
Pence looked at Sora long and hard. "There is an Appearance stat that deals with physical attractiveness by itself," he told him.
Naminé looked down. "Well it's not on the sheet."
"That's because it's not in the core rulebook," Pence muttered.
"Well why not?" Riku asked. "I've probably got the highest Appearance stat of all six of us but I'm sure Sora or Naminé has the highest Charisma."
"Hey thanks Riku," said Sora, impossible to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.
Pence sighed. "The Appearance ability score," he said slowly, enunciating his words perfectly, "is brought out in the supplementary rule book called the Book of Erotic Fantasy."
Everyone stared at him for a few seconds. "The Book of Erotic Fantasy?" asked Roxas, deadpan. "You mean people came up with rules for sex in this game?"
"Yes," Pence said, nodding. "Applying your constitution score with how long your character could keep up having sex, regional taboos, chances of getting diseases or pregnant, spells that enhance appearance, spells that prevent pregnancy, magical lingerie, the infamous chain mail bikini…" He noticed the blank looks that appeared on the faces of Sora, Roxas, and Riku and stopped.
Kairi, Naminé, and Yuffie also noticed and glared at their men. "For the record, none of you are going to make female characters and none of us are going to tell you if our characters have one of those or not," Kairi said sternly.
"I was going to refuse to let them make girl characters anyway," Pence told her.
"I still think we should use that stat," Riku said.
"And that book," Sora added. "It makes things more real."
Pence sighed. "Do all of you want to include the option of sex in the campaign?"
"Yes," chorused the three males.
Pence looked to the girls. Kairi shrugged. "Why not?" she asked rhetorically.
"Alright," Yuffie shrugged.
"No problems here," said Naminé. Sighing again, Pence reached into his backpack, muttering that he thought something like this might happen, and extracted the book. He placed it as far away from Sora, Roxas, and Riku as he could, meaning that he placed it right next to himself.
"Anyway," Pence began again, "those are the seven ability scores. Now, the way that I assign points is by rolling dice." He placed what he had taken from the backpack before he'd been distracted on the table. It was a small clear plastic rectangular case with a black base, and inside were a number of differently shaped dice that had emerald green as a base colour, with whorls of slightly lighter and darker tones mixed in underneath numbers in white. He flipped the case over and pulled off the black base, then gently poured his dice onto the table; and Pence picked up the standard six-sided die. "We roll a d6 four times, and then take away the lowest number. This will give us a score between 3, which is horribly awful, and eighteen, which is great. We then roll again for the other six, because of appearance, and then place all the numbers in. I'll tell you if we need to reroll your stats because they're too low."
"Too low?" Yuffie asked. "Ha, like they'd be too low." Pence shrugged and handed her the die.
Clack-clack-clack!
"3!"
Clack-clack-clack!
"4!"
Clack-clack-clack!
"4!"
Clack-clack-clack!
"5! Okay, so four plus four, plus five gets me thirteen," she said.
"Not bad," Sora said, nodding his head.
"Now roll again," Pence told her. Yuffie did so. She rolled 3, 6, 4, and 1 for her second roll; 1, 6, 5, 4 for the third; 5, 3, 6, 6 for the fourth; 5, 6, 4, 4 for her fifth, 5, 1, 1, 5 for her sixth, and 2, 4, 2, 4 for her seventh and final roll.
"So your ability scores are 13, 13, 15, 17, 15, 11, and 10," Pence said. "You rolled pretty good Yuffie."
"Naturally," she said with a smile and a smug shrug as if it was obvious. "So now I just put these into the boxes, right?"
"Yes," Pence told her. "Since you're a rogue you're going to want to put 17 in dexterity, but you're also a halfling and they get a +2 racial bonus to Dex but a -2 racial penalty to strength, so you might want to put your 17 in strength and have it reduced to 15 and put a 15 into Dex and have it bumped to 17."
"Screw that," Yuffie said. "If I get two free points in dexterity then I'll put the 17 there and make it 19. I'm what, three feet tall? I can put the 10 into strength."
"Then you'll take a -1 penalty on any roll you make that requires you to use strength," Pence said while Naminé picked up the die, "including attack rolls."
"What!" Yuffie yelped just as Naminé rolled. "Well forget that plan then. 17 into Dex and 15 into strength."
"Good choice," Riku said. Yuffie continued to scribble down were she was putting her ability scores while Naminé rolled out her own.
"13, 9, 14, 13, 16, 13, 15," Naminé said after she finished rolling.
"Alright," said Pence, "now you're a half-elf, so you don't have to worry about penalties or bonuses."
"What about Appearance?" Sora asked, looking through the Player's Handbook. "Are their racial bonuses or penalties on that? It's not in this book, so…"
"Oops, forgot about that," Pence said, grabbing and opening Book of Erotic Fantasy. "Uh…no. No modifiers based on race, except that you're going to take a -2 penalty on Appearance whenever dealing with a race that isn't your own unless you're an elf or a fey, because they're universally appealing. Naminé, your character is fine because you're a half-elf, so you're treated as an elf."
She rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that," she said, marking down her scores.
"Okay," Pence said, "now the rest of you."
Naminé smiled and looked at Kairi. "Want to be a Moon Half-Elf wizard like me Kairi?"
"No way," Kairi answered. "I'm gonna be a Human Ranger."
"I suppose I don't really care what I am," Sora began, "but could I wield a Keyblade?"
"No," Pence said.
"Why not?"
"They aren't in the game."
"But it's possible that this world exists right? So it's possible that somebody in this place has been chosen by a Keyblade before, so it's possible that my character could have a Keyblade."
"Sora, if you were to have a Keyblade I'd probably have to invent an entire new class for you. No Keyblades. Besides, you already are a Keyblade Master, you don't need to RP one."
"Well could I have a sword that I can summon in and out of hammerspace?"
"NO!"
"Fine," Sora huffed, looking at both the Player's Handbook and Races of Faerûn. "How about a Shield Dwarf Cleric?"
"You want to be the healer?" Naminé asked, looking up from her sheet.
"Ouch, never mind."
"Oh don't be a dwarf," Kairi said. "If you play a dwarf and I play a human our characters couldn't…"
"Yes they could," Riku broke in while he and Roxas looked through the other handbook. "They just couldn't have babies. Go back to the Sorcerer description."
"Okay…" Sora said slowly. "Ooh, could I be an Avariel?"
Pence looked up from where he was now helping Naminé and Yuffie work on their hit points, ability modifiers, and skill points. "You want to be a winged elf that looks down both literally and figuratively on every other species?"
"Never mind. A Centaur?"
"I don't really want to have you play a race that's stronger at first level than the base races."
"What's an Air Genasi?"
"Off the table Bast!"
"The Genasi are descendents of unions or love children of elemental-related creatures and humanoids. Essentially they're part elemental humans."
"Cool," Sora said eagerly. "I think I might want to be one."
"They are also more powerful than a standard first level character, so they have a level adjustment of plus one, so no."
"Oh come on Pence!"
"No Sora."
"Fine then," grumbled the brunet Keyblade Master. "Male Illuskan Human Fighter."
"Typical," chuckled Riku. Sora shot him a look.
"Well what about you then Riku?"
"I'm thinking of playing a Paladin," Riku told him.
Pence smiled. "Wow Riku, you want to be a champion of justice and goodliness?" He smirked and shrugged. "What race?"
"What race would you suggest?" asked Riku.
"For a Paladin? Aasimar."
"Then I'll be an aasimar," Riku said. Sora frowned and flipped through the book. He opened his mouth wide and looked at Pence in disbelief.
"But it says here that aasimar have a level adjustment of +1 like genasi do," he pointed out, stricken. "How come Riku can play an aasimar but I can't play a genasi?"
"Because Riku's going to be the paladin," Pence answered simply.
"That's DM favouritism Pence," Naminé said, giggling.
"Hey, he's going to be a paladin, so I might as well let him be an aasimar."
"This sucks," Sora pouted.
"Well Roxas," Yuffie said, glancing at the blond, "you're the only one who hasn't picked yet."
The blond Keyblade Wielder smiled wide and placed his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. "Oh, I've chosen all right."
"What?"
"Shield Dwarf Barbarian," he replied.
A knock came on the door. The group looked up and then glanced at one another. Kairi rose and went to the door. "Yes?" she called.
Agatha's voice came through the wooden portal. "Another one's here Kairi." The auburn-haired Princess blinked, and then unlocked the door.
"I changed my mind," Olette said, revealed on the other side of the door with a blush on her face. "I'd like to try my hand at it."
"Great!" Sora cheered as she came in. "The more the merrier, except Pence isn't letting me pick the race I want."
"Just grow up Sora," Pence said.
Naminé looked at their Dungeon Master. "Pence, it says here that I know all level zero spells, but that I can only memorize and cast three in an entire day?"
"Oh no," Pence said quickly. "I've changed that."
The blonde looked at him in shock. "You've changed the rules?"
"Well, I'm using a variant rule," he admitted. "Like the other book, there's a different set of rules for casting spells in Unearthed Arcana that deals with allowing you to memorize a set number of spells, but that instead of having limited casts per day you can cast those memorized spells as many times as you like so long as you have enough spell points."
"I'll take that rule," Naminé said quickly.
"And there's additional spells in Spell Compendium and… the other book in case you want to learn some of them instead of the ones in the Player's Handbook."
"Thanks," said Naminé, now cracking that book open and perusing through it as Riku took the die from Kairi and began rolling his stats. "Hm, what about a deity?" She put aside Spell Compendium and picked up Faiths and Pantheons instead. "Hm… Elven Pantheon...HOLY!"
"What?" three of them asked simultaneously.
"My Keyblade shares a name with one of these gods!" Naminé exclaimed. "I don't care, I'm picking Sehanine for the deity my half-elf wizard worships. That's just too awesome."
"It would be better if you worshiped Mystra or Corellon Larethian," Pence put in, "since Mystra is the human goddess of magic and Corellon is the head of the elven pantheon and also is the elvish god of magic."
"Nope, don't care Pence. I'm worshipping Sehanine."
"Who would I worship?" Yuffie asked curiously. "I'm a Halfling."
"Brandobaris," Pence said offhandedly, "but Yondalla over all."
"Why Brandobaris?" Yuffie asked.
Naminé flipped to the page. "Master of Stealth, the Irrepressible Scamp," she read.
"Oh yeah," Riku said, "that's going to be a halfling rogue's god."
"Actually," Pence said, scratching his head, "you'd probably worship Dallah Thaun instead, only you'd tell everyone that you worship Yondalla."
"Why's that?" Yuffie asked.
"Dallah Thaun's a really secret halfling goddess that they don't tell other races. She split from Yondalla when Yondalla created the halfling race, but they're still… the same goddess? I can't really remember. Oh which book is that in?" Pence asked himself, rummaging through his backpack. "Main difference between Yondalla and Dallah Thaun though is that if something harms a large number of halflings, Yondalla would support and nurture the survivors while Dallah Thaun would seek vengeance. Now if I could only find that book," he added, pulling three more books out of his bag, but completely unsure if he'd find the description in any of them.
"Okay, so I'm a female Illuskan Human Ranger," Kairi said to herself, writing the information on her sheet. She frowned. "Shit."
"What?" Olette asked.
"One of my ability scores is six," Kairi answered. "And if I'm reading this right, then that means that whenever I have to roll for an action that is related to that ability I'm going to have to subtract two from my roll."
"That's right," Olette said. "Bad luck there Kairi. What do you guys have so far for the party?"
"A Fighter, a Paladin, a Ranger, a Wizard, a Rogue, and a Barbarian," Pence answered, leafing through the pages of one of the books. "Nope, it's not in here…"
Yuffie looked up at the newcomer as the kitten Bast jumped back on the table, only to get grabbed and placed back on the floor. "Wait, you mean you know how to play too?"
"Not really," Olette answered. "But I listened enough to Pence as he and a few others in Easy played, when we weren't deployed, to pick up the basics."
"They could use a Cleric," Pence suggested, skimming the table of contents of another book. He looked at the third, shook his head, and then pulled out the last book he'd brought with him. His brown eyes brightened. "Yes, Races of the Wild! This is the book! Here, Yuffie, you can even borrow this one if you want. It's got a huge chapter all about halflings in it."
"Cool," the raven-haired girl replied.
"I was just thinking that," Olette answered, meaning the Cleric, "or a Druid or a Bard."
"Why not another Rogue?" Yuffie asked, giving the brunette a twisted grin while cracking open the book Pence gave her.
"I'll be an Elf Ranger," Olette answered instead. Kairi perked up.
"Two Rangers huh?" she asked aloud. "That'll make for some fun times."
"Which sub-race of elf?" Naminé asked.
"Hm?"
"They're in Faerûn," Pence told her, "so which race of elf?"
"Wood Elf," Olette answered easily. Pence nodded his head and glanced around the table, a Male Illuskan Human Fighter, Male Aasimar Paladin, Male Shield Dwarf Barbarian, Female Illuskan Human Ranger, Female Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, Female Moon Half-Elf Wizard, and a Female Wood Elf Ranger.
This was going to make for some interesting nights. Already his mind was looking for an adventure to pit his poor friends on. "Alright," he said, giving Olette a spare set of sheets, "so has everyone got their ability scores rolled out and placed them, except for Olette of course?"
"I think so," Sora said, looking over his character sheet and glancing at the others. Some of their heads nodded, while others were looking into books. Yuffie was pouring over the chapter on halflings in Races of the Wild, and Naminé was checking up the spell point variant rule Pence said he was using in Unearthed Arcana. The clack of Olette rolling the die resounded through the room.
"Alright," Pence said, "what would you guys like to work on next; skills, physical appearance, names, background, feats, alignment, religion, or equipment?"
"I wants a name," Kairi said quickly. "I can work on what she looks like after I have a name for her."
"I agree," Naminé said, not looking up from the book she was reading.
"Same here," said Roxas. "No Bast," he added while picking up the kitten, "off the table."
"Give her here," Kairi ordered, extending her hands. "She just wants to be petted, don't you Bast?" The black cat started to purr as she sat in Kairi's lap, the red-head now gently stroking the cat's body.
"Wait, what's this Appearance ability you guys have penciled in on your sheets?" Olette asked, looking at Kairi's sheet. "It's not printed in on mine."
"It's a numerical value for how attractive your character is," Riku answered. He grinned. "Mine's 17."
"Where'd that ability come from?" Olette asked curiously. Pence sighed.
"Book of Erotic Fantasy."
Olette blinked. "Seriously? We're playing with that?"
"Yes," Kairi said simply.
Olette shrugged. "Okay…"
"Okay, names," Pence declared, switching topics and flipping pages. "Alright, names in Faerûn. On this page are typical names that you'd encounter among the humans of different regions, as well as the other races in Faerûn. Sora, Kairi, since you two are the only ones with human characters and both are Illuskan, I'd suggest that you pick names from here."
"Okay," Sora said, standing up and moving to get a better look at the list. He noticed that there were a lot of different names put down. Chondathan men he saw had names along the lines of Darvin, Evundur, Grim, Helm, and Morn; while their women were Esvele, Kerri, Miri, or Tessele. Dwarves had Barundar, Khondar, and Thorik among others for males, while females were Belmara, Kiira, and Tace. None of them were Illuskan humans though.
"I like Westra," Kairi declared. She bit her bottom lip. "But I don't really want to take a name straight out of the book. Hm… Eletra? Eletra Greenwood? Yes, that'll be it. My ranger's name is Eletra Greenwood."
"Stor Stormwind," Sora replied with a grin, pulling two names right out of the book. "Good strong name for a fighter."
"Pence," Riku said with a bit of annoyance. "There aren't any names in here for aasimar characters."
"Or half-elves," Naminé added.
"Aasimar are usually from Mulhorand," Pence said, "and half-elves can be from anywhere like humans. Pick a home region and figure out a name from there."
"Well I figure we'd want to at least be close by wherever Illuskans are," Riku mentioned. "Can we have a map?"
"Yeah, here," Pence said, pulling a single copy of a map of Faerûn out of his backpack. "Be careful, because that's the only map I've got. Illuskan humans generally live in The North, which is up here in the northwest of the world, as well as in the city and region of Silverymoon, called the Gem of the North, among the Silver Marches; and the City of Splendours, Waterdeep."
"Well if they're up here," Riku began, pointing at the dot that was labelled Silverymoon, "and I'm a paladin, and the paladin class says that one of its home regions is Silverymoon, then I'll pick that as my home region."
"Mind telling me how an aasimar managed to get from Mulhorand to Silverymoon?"
"I walked," Riku answered, deadpan.
"You walked all the way across the world when you were a baby?"
"Then I was born there smartass. It doesn't say that all aasimar have to be from Mulhorthong now does it?"
"It's 'Mulhorand'."
"Whatever. My name's going to be Johnny C. Norris, by the way."
Pence covered his face with his hand. "That's not a Faerûnian name…" he groaned.
"So?" Riku asked. "It's my character."
"Well I'll be…" Naminé said slowly, "I'm going to be Innohnine Moonfall."
"Balin Stoneaxe," Roxas said gruffly, already doing his best to imitate the rough accent of the dwarves. Sora and Kairi looked at him in wonder for the choice of his character's first name. They'd told their stories of course, and were surprised and a little touched that Roxas would choose to name his dwarf character after Balin, son of Fundin.
Yuffie frowned slightly. She was still looking at halflings in Races of the Wild. "Hey Pence, what's with this d20 and d% thing on this name generator?"
"Oh," he said, his face brightening after Riku's thinly veiled Chuck Norris tribute paladin. "That's a twenty-sided die and a combination of two ten-sided dice, one with the numbers zero through nine on it and the other with zero-zero to ninety. Here, want to use the table?"
"Sure," Yuffie said as she took and examined the three dice Pence handed her. "Gives my halfling a colourful name, don't you think?" She looked at Riku as she said this. He couldn't help but smile.
"Talindra Amalith," Olette declared, writing down her elf's name.
"Okay," Yuffie said, sticking her tongue out slightly after she rolled the d20 once and the d% four times, "so my halfling rogue is named Furindy Penelibaris." She grinned at the looks the others were giving her zany outlandish name. "Want to know what it means?" she asked.
"Sure," Sora offered.
"It means 'snug woodland and unlucky crafter'," Yuffie answered.
That got a few laughs out of the others. "Snug woodland?" Kairi asked.
Pence laughed too, but gave Yuffie a slightly pleading look. "Maybe not something so outlandish Yuffie. Would a name like… Meaghan Tallfellows work?"
"Oh hell no," Yuffie replied earnestly, still smiling however, "my halfling is Furindy Penelibaris!"
Pence shook his head and looked at the clock. It was already getting close to five in the afternoon. He'd forgotten just how long character creation took. "Okay, so we're got your character names, races, classes, and ability scores. Think maybe we can do alignment and then we'll call it a day and you can work on physical descriptions on your own?"
"Sounds like an idea," Kairi agreed, continuing to pet Bast. The kitten had fallen asleep in her lap. "What is alignment?"
"It's your character's standpoint in life," Olette answered. "It's classically divided into six: Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic; and Good, Neutral, and Evil."
"What do those mean?" Roxas asked. "I get that we're all Lawful Good but—"
Pence laughed. "Are you really Roxas? If you had to beat up a guard and take his clothes in order to sneak around to free a bunch of captured people, would you do it?"
"Of course," Roxas said.
"Then you're not Lawful," Pence told him.
"And you need your head examined if you think I'm Lawful," Yuffie added.
"I don't think that I'm going to have to establish differences between Good, Evil, and Neutral," Pence said, "but here (he grabbed one of the Player's Handbooks), Lawful vs. Chaotic. Lawful characters tell the truth, keep their word, respect authority, honor tradition, and judge those who fall short of their duties. Chaotic characters follow their consciences, resent being told what to do, favour new ideas over tradition, and do what they promise if they feel like it.
""Law" implies honour, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closemindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.
""Chaos" implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.
"Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey nor a compulsion to rebel. She is honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others.
"Devotion to law or chaos may be a conscious choice, but more often it is a personality trait that is recognized rather than being chosen. Neutrality on the lawful–chaotic axis is usually simply a middle state, a state of not feeling compelled toward one side or the other. Some few such neutrals, however, espouse neutrality as superior to law or chaos, regarding each as an extreme with its own blind spots and drawbacks.
"Animals and other creatures incapable of moral action are neutral. Dogs may be obedient and cats free-spirited, but they do not have the moral capacity to be truly lawful or chaotic."
"Never would have guessed that," Naminé said, giving the kitty sleeping on her sister's lap a fond look.
"And…" Olette said, looking at the other copy of the handbook, "it says here in this table that Dwarves are generally Lawful Good, as are Paladins; Elves and Rangers are Chaotic Good; Wizards are Lawful Neutral; Humans and Halflings are Neutral; and Half-elves, Barbarians, and Rogues are Chaotic Neutral."
"Aasimar?" Riku asked.
"You're lawful good," Pence said flatly.
"Why am I lawful good?" Riku asked.
"Because you're playing a paladin; you're lawful good. Do you think you can handle being a shining example of goodliness and justice?"
Riku laughed. "Johnny C. Norris doesn't follow laws; laws are made so that others are more like him." A few groans and rolling eyes met his joke along with a laugh or two, so Riku considered it a success.
"Well, I'll be chaotic good," Kairi said. "Seems like the best option for my ranger."
"Same here," added Olette.
"Chaotic neutral," Yuffie declared with a devious smile on her face.
"Why do I feel as if she's going to steal all of our shit while we sleep?" Sora asked with a little bit of anxiety.
"Don't worry," Riku said. "If she tries it, I'll backhand her until she gives our stuff back."
"And then I'll cut your purse strings," Yuffie returned.
"Sora, Roxas, Naminé, what about you guys?" Kairi asked.
"I think neutral good for my fighter," Sora told them. "Still good, but not really biased towards order."
"You know," Kairi mentioned, "if anything I think us Keyblade Wielders are all chaotic good."
"I'd have to agree," Pence said whilst nodding. "Roxas? Naminé?"
Naminé's answer came slowly while Roxas remained silent. "I think… lawful neutral," Naminé said at last. "She's motivated by her own needs and ambition, which also come from being a half-elf, but upholds the order of society without giving in to the needs of the people she doesn't know." Pence nodded approvingly.
"I don't know!" Roxas groaned exasperatedly. "I'm a dwarf, which means I'm lawful good, but I'm also a barbarian, which is chaotic neutral! How am I supposed to make sense of this?"
"You're a dwarf," Pence told him quickly and reassuringly. "Your character's upbringing of being a dwarf is more important to him than his class as a barbarian. You have undying loyalty to your kin and your king, but being a barbarian makes you a bit more resistant against some rules and traditions. I'd call a dwarf barbarian neutral good at best."
"Okay," Roxas repeated, "neutral good."
Pence nodded and Kairi checked the time. She groaned and stretched before pushing Bast off of her lap. "Well, apparently that's most of the character creation done, since we still don't have backstory, physical description, skills, equipment, or whatever the heck feats are called."
"I can do most of that for you guys if you want," Pence offered. "Since I know what would be best for your classes and everything."
"No, we'll do it on our own next time," Sora answered. "But, it is getting close to supper time. Hey, if we don't have any homework tomorrow, how about we finish this up then?"
"Sure," Naminé agreed, nodding her head. "You guys want to stay for supper?"
"Did you tell Helia that we'd be here for supper?" Yuffie asked.
Both Princesses winced. "Oop."
"Oh well," Riku sighed. "We'll work on it later. Here, Pence, hold onto my sheets will you? I don't want any random house guests Yuffie and I might have finding them."
Pence rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. But next time I want all of you guys to at least have a Player's Handbook and a set of dice like mine."
"Where can we get them?" asked Olette, rolling one of the green dice around in her fingers.
"Any big comic book or otherwise 'Nerdvannah' store," Pence told them, packing his things away. The black-haired boy looked at all of them again.
Stor Stormwind, the male neutral good Illuskan human fighter, played by Sora.
Furindy Penelibaris, the female chaotic neutral Lightfoot halfling rogue, played by Yuffie.
Innohnine Moonfall, the female lawful neutral moon half-elf wizard, played by Naminé.
Eletra Greenwood, the female chaotic good Illuskan human ranger, played by Kairi.
Talindra Amalith, the female chaotic good wood elf ranger, played by Olette.
Johnny C. Norris, the male aasimar paladin, played by Riku.
Balin Stoneaxe, the male neutral good shield dwarf barbarian, played by Roxas.
Pence smiled again. A fighter, two rangers, a rogue, a wizard, a paladin, and a barbarian were all brought together in one group for him. This was certainly going to be a very interesting party, especially since none of them could heal yet!
-A-D-
Well that's about it for the first chapter. Shown is most of the character creation process, and actually the quickest to go through. Shopping for equipment takes the most time. I'm not writing down all of that here though. There are also so many other details involving creating characters in the Forgotten Realms that I'm just going to 'skip' over them here.
Anyway, if you're reading this still I hope that you're enjoying it and will continue to enjoy reading about Sora and the gang role-playing heroes, even though they are heroes themselves!
In other news, I have a Facebook group set up for fans of The Annals of Darkness. Click on the link in my profile to ask to join if you feel so inclined.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
