Dormrooms & Dorkwads
Prologue
By Lightningstrxu
Betas: Paulternative/Archivist of Nyx
BOOOOOOOORED!
That was what Yang wanted to shout to the heavens as she lay in her bed. However, she couldn't very well do that, as Ruby and Weiss were currently huddled over the table intently studying for an exam. Technically she should be studying too, but nah! But that meant she couldn't afford to let out a peep, lest she face the wrath of the Ice Queen; and as much as annoying Weiss was one of her favorite pastimes, for the sake of her sister's studies she'd take it back a notch.
But that meant no music or video games, or anything that could make noise. In other words, absolutely nothing fun. Yang supposed she could sneak down and steal some of Blake's literature. But given its contents, those types of books were best reserved for alone time. Speaking of her partner, she too was unfortunately busy, out on a date with Sun.
That just cycled around back to her current predicament: sheer absolute boredom. Staring at the ceiling, she had counted the individual specks of dust that dotted it. Three hundred twenty-one, for those who were curious. Okay, that was enough sitting up. She jumped down to the floor below. "I'll be back later," she said as she left the dorm.
Thus began her search to find any source of entertainment as she wandered the halls of Beacon. But sadly, as it was a Friday night, the halls were vacant, as the student body saw fit to go out. That was when she saw it. Down the hall, she saw Jaune and Neptune walking side by side. Jaune, carrying two cases of soda; Neptune, several bags of chips. She watched as the two boys went inside an empty classroom.
"Now what are those two up to?" she wondered aloud. Judging from the copious amounts of junk food, they were obviously having a party.
A party without her!
Well, that just wouldn't do. She was Beacon's Party Queen; it just couldn't be called a celebration without her. Marching confidently up to the door, she only briefly considered whether or not it would be rude to barge in uninvited. But hey, every party needed a crasher, didn't it? Turning the doorknob, she burst inside.
"Alright, everyone, let's kick this party off with a Yang!" she greeted excitedly.
Five sets of eyes looked up from the table, five very different and very eclectic people stared at her. On one side of the table sat Jaune and Velvet, on the other Neptune and Cardin. At the table's head sat Yatsuhashi.
"Can we help you?" the towering upperclassman asked sternly, perhaps annoyed at her sudden intrusion.
"Oh sorry...I saw Jaune and Neptune walking along and thought there was a party going on." she began nervously. Her eyes took in the sights before the table littered with graph paper, dice of varying size and shape. Oh there was definitely a party going on...an adventuring party.
"Is there a reason you felt it was okay to barge in?" he grilled again.
"Sorry again, I was just really bored and saw you with all the snacks so I thought I'd party crash. But I see you're all busy…" she gestured to the table. "Whatever this is."
"Barracks and Beowolves!" Velvet piped up, answering the unasked question.
"Yes, that." Yang nodded, feigning ignorance. She very much knew what the game was. "So I guess I'll head out." she needed to get out of here, before it was too late. Before…
"Why don't you join us? You know, since you're bored." Jaune offered. "You know if that's okay with you Yatsu?"
Someone asked her to join. Curse you, Jaune and your niceness. It was fine. There was no way a bunch of B&B nerds would be cool with a new player joining in on the fly.
"What do you all think?" Yatsuhashi asked the table.
"We could use a fifth," Cardin shrugged.
"I wouldn't have to pull double duty anymore as the token girl and the token faunus," Velvet commented. "So I'm cool with it."
Yang's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. Had Velvet really just said that? It was such a socially inappropriate joke. By the gods, she was among her people. She could barely stand it, she had to leave. Yatsuhashi was her out, luck please don't fail her now.
"You can join if you wish."
Crap, she thought. That was her chance at a clean break. Now if she wanted to leave it would be up to her own willpower to go, and she wasn't sure if she could. The sound of dice clacking as they rolled, the scratching of pencil on paper. This whole situation was so nostalgic, so alluring. But that didn't matter; she had to leave now. If she stayed now, there would be no way she could hide it. Her darkest secret would be exposed.
That Yang Xiao Long used to be a massive dork!
Long before the days of Beacon, Yang had been just a normal nerdy girl. Hair in a ponytail, thick glasses and braces having geek. A fun night to her was kicking back with some dice and beating monsters.
But after making a successful saving throw against the horrors of puberty, coming out the other side a literal blonde bombshell with two big natural twenties to call her own, Yang decided that a change was in order and she reinvented herself. Contacts, new hairstyle, new clothes.
Her days as an awkward nerdy caterpillar were over, having transformed into a beautiful social butterfly.
But even having reinvented herself and now a member of the cool kids club,the allure of those days still called to her, now louder than ever. It was fine, she could just politely decline. Say no and leave before it was too late. Walk out that door and avoid this whole thing. Back into an evening of utter boredom.
"I'm just bored enough to give it a shot," she said, sitting down at the end of the table opposite Yatsuhashi. One night couldn't hurt after all. It would just be one time, one last time and she could call it quits for good.
"Very well." Yatsuhashi nodded. "Jaune, if you would help her with character creation."
"Yeah, sure." Jaune replied, moving his chair further down the table to sit near her. He set before her a character sheet and a set of dice. Looking at the blank sheet waiting to be filled in filled her heart with nostalgia. The game hadn't changed at all, she had been worried that it might have switched things up to a new edition. "So, are you familiar with B&B at all?"
Intimately, she wanted to reply. She knew the ins and outs like the back of her hand. She could feign ignorance and pretend that she didn't have a clue, but that would lead to Jaune explaining rules she already knew, and that would grate on her.
"Yeah, I used to play a little...uh, Ruby used to make me play with her since she didn't have anyone else to play with." Yang hastily scrambled together an excuse for why one such as herself would be familiar with the game. Ruby was a dork, so it made sense that she would play. However, that was an outright lie. Her sister never saw the appeal in dungeon crawling and fighting monsters. That's what Huntresses already did, why play a game of it?
"Okay." Jaune nodded. "So do you remember enough to make a character on your own? Or do you need help?" He slid the Player's Handbook in front of her.
Oh by the gods did she remember, her fingers itched to get her hands on that coveted book. To read its pages once more. "I think I can handle it, I'll let you know if I need any help." Gingerly, she picked up the book and cracked it open. Endorphins flooded her brain as she was instantly taken back to the days of yesteryears. "So what level are we at?"
"Three."
"Gotcha." Yang nodded, a reasonable level to start at. That was when most classes unlocked one of several specialties they could have. It's what made two people playing the same class distinct. "So what are you all playing? Anything your group needs?"
"Well, I'm playing Falgrin, my dwarf…" Cardin began.
"Don't tell her!" Jaune interrupted. "You're here cause you're bored, right?" Yang nodded. "Then don't bother worrying about what we need, or a role you need to fill. Make whatever you want and have fun. Everyone cool with that?" He looked back at the rest of the table who all gave varying levels of agreement.
Yang felt her heart flutter. She could kiss Jaune right now if he were any closer. He had just given her the greatest gift that any B&B player could ask for.
Free Reign!
She wouldn't have to argue with anyone about who would be a tank or a healer. She could do whatever she wanted. But first things first she'd need to roll her stats. Checking the set of dice, she found it the usual set of seven dice a player was allotted. A single twenty-sided die, a twelve-sided, two tens, an eight, a six and a four as well. She would need three more six-sided ones. "Can I borrow some D6's to roll my stats?" As soon as the words left her lips, panic set in on her. She had just called them a D6. That meant she was hip to their lingo. Had she outed herself as in the know?
"Yeah ,I've got plenty!" Velvet chimed in happily, grabbing from her rather generous pile of polyhedrons. "I'm kind of a dice goblin."
"You don't want hers, she rubs them on her feet for luck." Cardin chuckled.
"I do not!" Velvet protested, playfully punching him in the side.
It was a strange sight to behold, there was definitely a story here. How Cardin, the former bully of both Jaune and Velvet, ended up in a B&B group with them had to be a fascinating one. But as the upperclassman passed her the extra dice, she needed those thoughts vanished. It was time to make the magic happen.
With four dice in hand, she let them fly, the plastic cubes clacking wonderfully on the wooden table. Looking at the dice, she dropped the lowest number rolled and added up the result. Fifteen, a good start. Hopefully her luck would continue. She continued rolling until she had all six stat points needed.
15, 18, 13, 11, 11, 13
Yang stared at the numbers she'd rolled. A very good spread and she had even managed to roll the coveted eighteen, the highest possible roll. That meant if she chose the proper race, it would be possible to start with a twenty in a stat, the maximum allowed. That was a huge advantage!
Thumbing through the pages, Yang contemplated what she would make, having no clue as to the party makeup of the group. Something that could cover all bases, perhaps. A warlock then, she decided. They had some spellcasting ability but not quite as strong as a dedicated caster, like a wizard or sorcerer. But what kind? Warlocks had several different patrons from which they could draw power from. After refreshing her memory, she decided on the celestial patron as it would give her some limited ability to heal just in case. Now what pact? Each warlock got to choose a pact benefit. Pact of the Tome for more spellcasting, the Chain to gain a familiar to aid in combat, or the Blade to give her an edge in melee.
Mulling it over, she decided on Pact of the Blade. She'd make the perfect all rounder. Now it was time to decide on her stat placement. The first was obvious as she put her eighteen into her Charisma, this would determine the power of her spells. Her next highest was fifteen, did she want to focus on her Strength stat to access more powerful weapons or Dexterity to avoid attacks? Playing it safe, she assigned the fifteen to her Dexterity. She could make up for the lack of Strength with the right weapon. Well, since she was going to focus Dexterity she could then assign one of her elevens to her strength, and while she was at it, she put the other eleven in Intelligence. She didn't feel like playing someone smart.
Well, that left her two remaining thirteens going to both her Constitution and her Wisdom stats. It worked out perfectly and it would give her a good amount of health and mental resistance respectively. Now came the final step, choosing the perfect race. Well, she was already a celestial warlock with a penchant for melee combat. What could be better than an Aasimar, a race of humans with heavenly origins? She chose to be the Scourge Aasimar, this would give her a plus two bonus in her Charisma, and plus one in her Constitution. Perfect for what she needed.
With stats assigned she just had to do some finishing touches. Assigning her character skills, and background. As well as the spells she would know. Deciding to embrace the whole vanquisher of darkness theme, she had going on she gave herself the Haunted One background. Her character would be a monster who hunted monsters. Was it edgy and cliche? Oh hell yeah, it was but it would be fun. This combined with her class granted her the skills Intimidate, Investigate, Survival and Religion.
Now came her cantrips and spells. Quickly browsing through the list, she chose what she needed. Cantrips were simple enough. Eldritch Blast was a must-have for any warlock, giving her the power to blast foes at a distance. For her second, she chose Toll Of The Dead, a cantrip that dealt more damage to a target that already was hurt that made the sound of funeral bells when cast, the perfect thing for her edgelord of a character.
At last came her spells. At third level she knew four spells total. Going through the list, she chose four that would make sense for her character. "How's this?" she asked, passing her character sheet to Jaune.
Looking it over briefly, he nodded in approval. "Everything looks good. You forgot your Invocations, though."
Eyes widened in feigned surprise. She hadn't forgotten, she had left them purposefully blank in order to give the illusion she was not a seasoned veteran. "Oh right!" She snatched the sheet back and added the missing features. Agonizing Blast to give her more damage and Armor Of Shadows for more protection. "There, all good. I'm ready when you are."
"Very well." Yatsuhashi said flatly. "It will be a little while before you join in, we'll have to find a way to work in your character but I think I have an idea."
"Okay." Yang gave the Game Master a thumbs up.
"When last we left off, you had just entered the dreaded Tomb of Nazerick where a powerful undead mage had taken up residence…" His voice trailed off as Yang's imagination took hold, practically vibrating in her seat. She was so excited.
The Adventures of Lucina Darkbane were about to begin.
Well this is a thing, against my better judgment I start another story, but this one should be relatively short, and may or may not continue depending. So do you me esteemed readers want the adventures of recovering nerd Yang? Let me know. Also please let me know if you want more in depth D&D rule usage or playing a bit more loose. I'm going to try and explain terms just in case people reading have never played.
Lucina Darkbane
Warlock Level 3
Celestial Patron/Pact of The Blade
Aasimar (Scourge)
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 20
