Alan arrives at the mental health facility a few minutes early, wanting to ensure he arrives on time to pick up the new player. Alice had explained everything to him earlier in the day and he had enthusiastically agreed to helping her patient out. He hadn't asked any questions about why the person was in the facility, he honestly doesn't care. But he did ask for name and age. He trusts Alice enough not to lead him astray, despite not being in contact much over the last decade, but he needed to be sure.
Walking into the front door, he greets the receptionist and tells him he's waiting for Dr. Mills. The receptionist nods and offers him a chair in the waiting room. Alan thanks the man and sits down, waiting only a few minutes before the psychiatrist and her patient walk out. He smiles at his old friend and gets up, offering his hand to the younger woman.
"I'm Alan," he says. He's surprised by the handshake he gets as she squeezes his hand but lets it go quickly.
"Emilia," she replies softly, her eyes running down his body quickly. He isn't what she was expecting from a professor. She expected someone more severe looking, like the enlisted and officer professors at West Point. Alan, to her, couldn't be any further from them if he tried.
"Try to have her back by ten," Dr. Mills tells Alan. "She is still a patient here and needs to be here for count."
"Of course," Alan promises as the three begin to walk out into the snowy parking lot. Emilia pulls her jacket closer as the cold air wraps around her body and listens to her doctor and her friend talk for a bit. Seeing Alan start walking to his car, she follows behind about half a step and gets into the passenger seat quickly. She moves the vents to face her even before he turns the car and heat on.
"Want to get food first or eat while we play," Alan asks as he carefully navigates the snow-covered parking lot.
Emilia looks at Alan silently, not sure what to say. "I don't have any money on me," she finally admits, blushing with embarrassment. "I ate before leaving."
"And I'm sure you're still hungry," Alan says as he turns right and drives off. "Here, I'll get something quick, you can eat whatever you want, and then you can snack as we play tonight."
Emilia bites her lip, feeling overwhelmed by the kindness and the ease that she's been accepted by Alan. He barely knows her and already he's treating her as a friend. She doesn't hear as he puts on a podcast as she tries to untangle the knots of emotion in her mind. Wrapping her arms around herself again, her right hand rubs the bandages under her jacket and shirt self-consciously.
Alan allows her time for herself, knowing how difficult his own experience with mental health issues has been. Not wanting to scare her, he drives in silence except for the history podcast he starts. In the drive-thru, he gets a few burgers, two large orders of fries, and two large drinks. After taking a burger and his order of fries, he hands Emilia the bag with a soft smile. She takes the bag but doesn't return the smile.
The remaining trip takes another 15 minutes as the two eat silently while another episode of Alan's podcast comes on. Emilia finds herself thinking it's a bit on the nose for a history professor to listen to history shows and feels her lips twitch up a bit. She even pulls a cheeseburger from the bag halfway through and finishes it just as Alan pulls into the drive of a two-story building. The dread she felt earlier that day returns and her leg begins bouncing rapidly.
"It's alright, Emilia," Alan says softly, killing the engine but keeping the heat on. "We can sit here for a minute if you need to."
Emilia's face contorts as she looks back and forth between the house and Alan. Even as a kid, she had never seen a house so large. The house she had grown up in had been a single story. If this house was only one story, it would still be twice as big as the house she grew up in. Embarrassment fills her as she realizes that her apartment is probably the size of one of the bedrooms in this house. She takes a large breath and Alan feels his heart break as she looks at him.
Alan tries to find the right words to comfort the younger woman. He had been intimidated the first time he had seen Tam's house a decade ago, but he can see in Emilia's something even deeper. He had grown up thoroughly upper middle class and used to the occasional lavish display of wealth. He knows what he'd do if she was a friend, but she isn't. She's a stranger he agreed to try to help.
The two sit for a few more minutes while Emilia looks down into the paper bag. Taking one last long breath, she unbuckles her seatbelt and gets out. Alan smiles and pulls his keys before grabbing a backpack in the backseat before leading Emilia through the freshly plowed drive and walkway. He opens the front door and the two are immediately surrounded by heat and the smell of something cooking in the oven. Emilia shyly walks behind Alan as he leads her through the hall and into a large living room.
She grabs onto his backpack instinctively as she's suddenly standing between a large living room where Kristen sits in the largest couch Emilia has ever seen, a laptop in her lap, and a slightly smaller kitchen with a bushy haired woman rushes to make sure she has everything ready. Orchestral music plays over the surround sound system.
"Tam," Alan yells over the brass section, getting the Black woman's attention. Her tired eyes turn to him then light up when she sees Emilia.
"You must be Emilia," Tam says with a mix of Southern and northern accents. Emilia moves slightly to hide behind Alan further but can't help but think Tam seems to float now. Despite wearing a t-shirt and jeans like Alan and the other woman in the living room, Tam seems more graceful. She looks over the woman and lets out a smile as she reads the shirt: I'm the DM. I can throw a Fireball whenever I want. She has no idea what the words mean, but she enjoys the thought regardless.
"Not everyone is here yet," Tam continues. "We're still waiting for Mike and Nick to get off work, or pull off each other, feel free to make yourself comfortable and I'm sure Alan and Kristen will help you with your character."
At the sound of her name, the raven-haired woman looks up from her laptop. Emilia bites her bottom lip as she looks at the older woman. Emilia can't help but feel sorry for Kristen as she sees the tired eyes. But that thought ends in the next second as those tired eyes turn into sharp, intelligent eyes that seem to read Emilia.
"Hello," Kristen says, putting her laptop to the side and relaxing. "Alan can be a bit intimidating, but he's a teddy bear at heart," she adds jokingly. Emilia cracks a smile but can't help wondering if that includes the woman herself as well. Looking at Alan quickly, Emilia finds herself moving towards the couch slowly and sitting on the couch with a foot between her and Kristen.
"I understand you've never played D&D before," Kristen says, more of a statement than a question. She grabs a second laptop and opens it up. The computer opens to a website already prepared and Kristen begins explaining a few of the rules, the basics of the game, and then helps Emilia build her character, a human fighter.
As the two are building Emilia's first character and going over the rules, Alan and Tam are finishing up in the kitchen. Just as they are finishing up, Mike and Nick walk in loudly. Emilia jumps as the two men, both nearly six and a half feet tall and looking like they belong in a gym rather than carrying laptops and drinks getting ready to play some nerd game.
"Oh shit," the one on the right says as he sees Emilia. "I'm sorry. I don't think we got the message about a new player. I'm Mike and this is Nick."
Emilia tries to calm herself, her knee bouncing as she looks at the two men. Unlike the other three, these two were still in their business attire: nice shirts, a tie each, black pants, and well-polished shoes. They even had the typical business style haircut. They were the exact picture of what Emilia feared she'd be walking into. Except their shirts might be half a size too small.
"Mike is our Cleric," Kristen says. "He'll be your best friend in this game. As you're wailing on enemies, he'll make sure your health doesn't get too low. Nick is our wizard. Protect him. He's our nuclear option."
"What do you play," Emilia asks, relaxing a bit as the two newcomers walk towards Alan and Tam, setting down their drinks.
"I'm an Artificer and Tam is a Barbarian," Kristen replies. "Think of an Artificer as a fighter who makes things. Alan multiclasses between Sorcerer and Warlock. He can jump between short bursts of melee combat and ranged combat. His character is probably the scariest of the group. Between his Warlock patron, which seems to enjoy using him as a puppet randomly, and a weapon that pulls him in the other direction, Alan's character is the most chaotic. Tam is our gracious host and DM. She's the one who's created this whole world and has led us through thick and thin over the last decade."
"Are these your original characters," Emilia asks somewhat bewildered.
"Not exactly," Alan says from the kitchen. "We didn't start with 5e, the current edition. We started with 3.5. I've lost two characters, a Monk and a Druid, before I created my Sorcerer. And even he has been killed more than once. Mike and Nick had to change their characters a bit when we changed editions. And the Artificer has only been around for a few years. Kristen's original character still appears every now and then, but she hates my character's guts and keeps trying to cleanse him."
"And one day she will manage it," Kristen adds with a grin.
"Well, if the three of you are done flirting," Nick jokes, bringing food and drinks to the living room and setting it on the side of the large table. "Food and drink are ready, which means we need to start digging in so Tam can weave her story and add Emilia to our story."
Poison and Kira stand over the dead bodies of three red robbed wizards. Both women's tails were flicking excitedly as they stare at the six floating obsidian orbs. Each orb would open a portal to the other world in six different areas. Poison had initially been disappointed that the locations were set, but that was a minor setback. It didn't really matter. What matters is that the orbs work and will work unless destroyed. It means she can send as many waves of minions and creatures as she needed to take over the other world. Without a word to her companion, Poison turns and walks away. Kira grabs six silk bags and carefully puts each orb in the bags.
The other four are waiting for Poison and Kira in a small annex off to the side of the great hall. Even the cold thick walls can't silence the sounds of hundreds of waiting warriors on the other side of the doors. Only Kallus smiles as Poison and Kira appear behind the group. Not acknowledging any of them, Poison walks to the heavy door and opens it. The great room beyond goes silent as Gnolls, Goblins, Tieflings, and a variety of other races stand at attention.