Hysteria
(Here we go again! I realized that I uploaded two chapters at once, last time. That was down to me not paying attention. I thought Chapter 5 was uploaded, already. Anyway, this chapter's namesake comes from the classic by Def Leppard. I love Def Leppard. They might be my second favourite musicians of all time, behind only David Bowie. I will see where this chapter takes me, I will get to Dungeon some Dragons. I will be writing from a campaign book that I have, however, as I don't have the time to create my own world. Yes, I type these writers notes before I start writing the story, in case you hadn't figured out, already. Let's go!)
Leyon heads upstairs to find Monika, taking up a hot cup of coffee to her. He finds her in the room that looks out the left side of the house, sitting on the bed. "Here you go." He says to her with a smile. He can tell she's thinking about something, but she still smiles sweetly at me.
"Thank you Leyon." She responded, before returning her attention to the window. I wonder if she's concerned about Natsuki? Or if she's looking for Yuri and Sayori? It could be something else, unrelated to those things, I guess. But if that's the case, I wonder what it is?
"Penny for your thoughts, President?" I decided I'm going to bite the bullet and inquire. She looks around at me, a little shocked at first, but then smiles away.
"Well, the clouds are getting even darker. Which could be a problem for Sayori and Yuri." She starts off. "Secondly, I hope Natsuki's okay and finally…" She pauses. The smile leaving her face as she rests the coffee on a coaster on the bed side table. "I have nightmares of what I did, Leyon. I'm not that girl anymore and I know that, but…" I can see tears welling up in her eyes. "I feel like something is torturing me."
"Nightmares…" I can't help but empathize with that. I don't know when my next one will hit me. Poor girl, she doesn't deserve that. "Hey." I say and I just wrap my arms around her. "It's okay Monika."
"Leyon?!" Monika lets out in surprise but then I feel her arms around me, accepting the hug. I don't know for sure if this is a good fix, or not. At least she's sort of happy, for now. "You give good cuddles." I hear from her, in a soft, happy tone of voice. I was about to say the same to her, but then someone knocks on the door.
"I'd better go get that. Take your time, alright?" I say to her. She smiles, sweetly, at me again and picks up her coffee. I head downstairs and open the door. Sure enough, there's Sayori and Yuri. "Hey ladies, come on in. Natsuki's sleeping on the couch" I say, quietly, and shut the door behind them. The girls took their bags upstairs, as Monika came down. She looked a lot happier now.
Yuri dropped her bag off in front of the room she was in last night, which left Sayori in the room which faced her house. She was happy about this, obviously. She'd be happy, no matter what room she was in.
A short time later, Natsuki woke up from her nap. She yawned a stretched, which was kind of cute, and sat up on the couch with Sayori quickly taking a seat next to her. There's a warm, gentle but also sad smile on the face on the Vice-President. I understand that look, actually. Knowing Natsuki's story with her Dad, it's no surprise that Sayori looks at her friend that way. "Are we getting into the game now?" Natsuki asks after another Yawn.
"I wish." I said, looking out the window. The time has gotten on a bit, and the rain is getting heavier. "I was thinking of getting food delivered, but I wouldn't want to put a delivery guy through that." As I say that, I turn around and see Sayori, index fingers together, looking nervously at me. I let out a long sigh. "You ordered food on the way here, didn't you?" I then look at Yuri, who, also, looks a little nervous. Sure enough, my doorbell is rung, no more than ten minutes later and the food is here. They've ordered Pizzas. Three of them. One all meat, one all cheese and one all vegetables. Monika's a vegetarian, so that one was ordered with her in mind.
"Thank you, Sayori!" Natsuki and Monika say together. I do the same and grab a slice of cheese, after bringing over a tray with Soda's and water. We all enjoy a quick chat about school and the upcoming summer holiday. I say upcoming, but then Monika looks at us all slightly confused. "Did you all forget that started today?"
Okay, I should get a free pass, but I play along with the other girls. My guess is Sayori is playing along as well. "Uhhhh…." She let's out. "If I said no, would you believe me?" I wish I could hold my laughter, but I can't. Neither can Monika, who almost spits her water back into her glass.
I take the empty pizza boxes to the bin, outside, and slam the door. The rain is one thing, but the wind has picked up quite considerable as well. I'm a little worried about that, truthfully. Up until I hear Monika call out to me while I walk through to the kitchen. "Leyon! We're ready to play now!
I nod and bring a tray glasses of water over, placing them on the little side-tables on each end the couches. Then I walk over to my Book Shelves and grab five felt-lined, wooden dice trays. green for Monika, purple for Yuri, pink for Natsuki and blue for Sayori. I keep a red one for myself.
"One last thing. A gift for each of you." I say to them and hand the little leather pouches. Each of them now has their own set of metal polyhedral dice. Seeing their smiles and surprised expressions, along with hearing their various words of gratitude warms the heart and makes me smile. I pour my dice into the smaller, thinner section of the tray and put my hands together. "If we're all ready to go…?" I look around the group, after my assumptive question. All four girl's nod. And with that, I begin. "Welcome. To the village of Phandalin. A small mining settlement at the base of the Sword Mountains, which you can see to the South. To the north, the vast Neverwinter Woodlands."
I look around and see Yuri taking notes as I'm talking. It's really cool to see her take this so seriously. And with her characters Sage background, it makes sense that she's doing that. Monika, Natsuki and Sayori are listening, intently, taking in everything. This is going to be fun. A literature Club telling their own story of adventure? That is awesome. I decide now's the best time to give them a bit of flavour text about this settlement.
"Phandalin's residents are quiet, hard-working folk who came from distant cities to eke out a life amid the harsh wilderness. They are farmers, stonecutters, blacksmiths, traders. prospectors, and children. The town has no walls and no garrison but most of the adults keep weapons within easy reach in case the need for arms should arise. Visitors are welcome here, particularly if they have coin to spend or news to share. The Stonehill Inn at the centre of town offers modest lodging and meals. A couple of doors down from the inn, posted outside the townmaster's hall, is a job board for adventurers."
All four girls look at me with varying degrees of intrigue. It's like they're trying to picture this fictional place in their minds. Which is exactly what I wanted. Now I just need to keep them hooked. But I'm not the only storyteller here. I'm the scene-setter. The referee for the rules. The voices of the various bartenders, children, blacksmiths… I am the everything else guy. And as much as this story is mine to weave, it is theirs to tell. "So… What would you like to do first?" I ask the group.
Monika takes the initiative for the team. "I say we secure some kind of lodging, for our time here. I look out of the cart that's bringing us into Phandalin for a villager and say 'Ho there, friend! Could you point us in the direction of a nearby Inn?'."
I smile, this is cool to see. "The villager, a middle-aged looking Elven Male, look curiously at your group and replies 'Aye! Continue south and take the first left, you'll find the Stonehill Inn on that corner.' Your cart driver, a Human Male with long black hair nods and waves at the Elf, without looking at him.
Sayori pipes up at this point. "'Thank you, kind Ser!' I shout back and then go back to shining my Shield." Sayori informs us. Yuri chuckles a little, and so do I. She really has gotten into the Role-Playing aspect of the game. I hope she gets the rules, soon. Thankfully, I customised her dice tray, so it has slots for her D20, which I've labelled as her main dice. I look round the group and I'm curious about something.
"Actually, now that I think about it. Do the four of your characters know each other?" I ask them. A group dynamic is important, for this kind of things. Sure, the girls know each other, but their characters? Probably not.
"I…have a suggestion." Yuri stutters out. "Sayori's character, Rios, mentioned she had a contact in Neverwinter, yes?" Sayori nods at Yuri's question. "So, could that contact have given Rios the job here, as well as sought out some aid from other adventurers." I nod and smile at her "Perfect. So that's how we all met. And we would have tried to learn what we can all do."
I can't help but be impressed by Yuri's forward thinking. Or maybe she just improvised those details very quickly? Either way, this level of thinking from a new player is admirable.
"Alright." I say to them. "So, the cart pulls up outside the Stonehill Inn and, I'm assuming, you're walking inside?" They all nod and grin, with expectation. I describe the interior to them, which isn't all that special. There are a few tables around, with some people drinking and conversing about their days.
"I take a seat at a nearby empty table and let the rest of the party handle paying for rooms. I'm not really the talkative type." Natsuki informs the group. Which gets a bit of a giggle from myself and Monika. "But I will say I to Rios and Moniq 'Can you ask about food and grab me a tankard of Ale?' And then I give Moniq two gold to cover the cost".
Over the next hour, the girls eat, chat with the locals, pray at the Shrine of Luck and manage to acquire rooms and sort out a contract for their first job. The party is to head up to Umbrage Hill to try and bring back a midwife named Abadra Gwynn. With Dragon sightings in the area, it's not safe for her to live away from the village. A rumble of thunder overhead shocks the room. Which, not going to lie, would have added a lot of atmosphere to the scene I was describing, had I not jumped out of my skin, as well!
"Hey, Leyon…" Sayori says, Yawning. "I'm tired. Can we pick this up tomorrow?" She asks. I look up at the clock and, sure enough, it is 11pm. It's dark outside now. Although, the streetlight isn't on. How odd… Anyway, I look at the girls and they all look tired. I nod and smile at them.
"Yeah. Okay, girls. I think we can put this session on hold. I'll see you all in the morning." Natsuki stands up and nods, heading upstairs. She's clearly the most tired. I nod back at her and make sure she goes to the right room, which she does.
"Goodnight, Leyon. Thank you for having us." Yuri says and follows Natsuki upstairs. I wave to her and smile. "Don't stay up too much longer, okay?"
"I won't. I'm just going to tidy up a little. Good night Yuri-!" I just about finish that sentence, when Sayori hugs me. I give a hug back and smile. "Good night to you, too, Sayori." I say into her shoulder.
"Niight, Leyon!" She says, enthusiastically, but in a very sleepy tone of voice, and then she slowly makes her way to her room. I start to clean and then notice Monika helping me out.
"You don't have to earn your keep, you know. You can go to bed." I say to her with a laugh. She forces out a small, cute giggle, but then I remember what we were talking about, earlier. "Ah, sorry Monika. I hope that didn't come off as insensitive?"
She shakes her head and looks up at me with a weak smile. "It's okay, Leyon. I just… I'm afraid. I don't want to have another nightmare." She says to me, clearly forcing back her tears. I can't help but feel bad about that. I give her another hug and try to console her.
"I understand. I'm scared, myself, Monika." I say to her, pulling back and looking into her eyes. "I had that nightmare the other night and it rocked my very foundation. Laying down and closing my eyes may bring something terrible that I don't really know how to deal with."
Monika looks up at me and manages a much more genuine smile, cuddling into me a little. "I guess we have more in common than I first thought." She says to me. I look down and nod at her. "Do you have any idea how to make yourself comfortable before you sleep?"
I chuckle and grin, mischievously. "You could come to bed with me and cuddle up?" That, get's a much bigger laugh than I thought it would. I was joking, obviously, but I wasn't expecting that from Monika. I laugh with her and scratch the back of my head. "Uh, no, not really. Sorry."
"It's okay, Leyon." Monika responds with a smile. And she starts to walk upstairs. "You've given me something to smile about. That might be enough." She gives me a playful wink and a single wave with her left hand. "Good night, Leyon!"
"Sweet dreams, Monika." I respond and leave a lamp on in the kitchen, just in case someone gets up needing a drink in the middle of the night. "Whoo boy…" I say tiredly, as I walk in to my room and fall into the bed after a long yawn. I smile and close my eyes, thinking about Monika.