"No matter what he says, let me do the talking," Lucas said seriously as he looked into Henry's eyes. "I don't care that you have many high-level skills. You have to leave this to me. I know what I'm doing."
"Lucas, I don't want him to take advantage of you," Henry said with that impatience in his voice that sometimes happened.
"You can't protect me from this guy. You know nothing about this world, but I do. You'll have to trust me for once," he said. Lucas was laser focused on his task at hand.
Henry tried to reach past him, but Lucas grabbed his hand. "I've got this."
Lucas rolled for his turn and utterly destroyed the troll he and the rest of the party were trying to get past. He smiled winningly at the game master while the others in his band, except a dour Henry, cheered him on.
"I could have done something! I had a sword and a charm." Henry looked at his character sheet to confirm. "The rest of this… stuff."
Lucas shook his head. "It wasn't your turn, and for certain tasks, my character is better than yours. You don't always get to be the best at everything, Doc. It should be good for you to feel like the rest of us normal people for once."
"Oh, I'd never call you normal, Lucas," Henry said.
Lucas gave him his normal look for when Henry was saying something insensitive or derisive. "I'm glad you decided to come with me, but this is my game. If you want my expertise, you have to accept it for what it is."
Henry appeared resigned. "You're right, but when you invited me for a night of gaming with your friends, I was expecting something a little different. Poker, perhaps."
"Have you ever played Trivial Pursuit?" Lucas asked him. "I would have all the pop culture answers easy, and you could knock out the history and science. We'd kill at that game."
"Yes, so why aren't we playing that one?" Henry asked him.
"Because you're supposed to be playing this game, but you're barely doing that," the dungeon master said irritably. "Lucas, your friend is a terrible player. My grandmother can do better than he can, and she's old."
"Yes, I wouldn't want age to get in the way," Henry said, certain he was much older than the young man's grandmother.
"Listen, he's cool," Lucas said to the game master. "Henry, be cool."
He was quiet for a while and studied his character sheet while the game progressed. Henry might not have understood the role playing game very much, but he was too competitive to lose and embarrass him or Lucas.
"And now the dragon," the dungeon master said with theatrical laughter. "How will you fight? Sir Henry, it's your turn."
Before Lucas could make a suggestion, Henry shushed him. He said, "I think I have it. I want to use my orb of Lucilla."
The dungeon master checked and told him what he would have to roll to win with that move. Lucas crossed his fingers and told Henry not to mess up. Morgan let the dice fly and landed the right score.
"Yes!" Lucas cheered, pumping his fists. "In your face!"
"So we both won after all," Henry said, sounding pleased.
"Exactly. Do you want to play a few more rounds?" Lucas asked.
"Yes, I guess so," Henry replied, now more interested in the game since he was winning.
"Great! What's my next move?" he asked the dungeon master.