ENTERING THE GAME

Chapter Thirteen

"Up Midnight Mountain"

Beth knocked on the door of the clubhouse. She had been listening at the door for several minutes, and, not hearing any voices, had finally worked up the courage to announce her presence. "Um...h-hello?"

Hearing no reply, Beth waited several more minutes before she tried the door. She was surprised to find the little building empty. Had she gone to the wrong place? Gotten the date wrong? She was sure Linda had told her to come here today, and she'd introduce her to her friends. Had it just been a joke? "Let's make fun of the fat girl?" But Linda had seemed so nice.

Beth stepped inside and looked around. There were strange books with monsters on the covers, a few notebooks, and some papers here and there. She also noticed two pairs of girls' shoes on the floor, pushed under a table. So they had definitely been there. But then, where had they gone?

Beth sighed and walked over to the books and papers. There was one with Linda's name on it. STR? INT? WIS? Each was followed by a number. What did all of that mean? Was that how you played the strange game Linda had asked her to join?

"Come on, Beth! These guys are all okay. I mean, Greg's kind of a meanie sometimes, but I won't let him pick on you. Besides, I'd like to have another girl in the game with me."

"Why aren't there any other girls playing the game?" Beth had asked.

"I...guess because they think it's weird," Linda admitted. "You play a fighter or a wizard or a thief and fight monsters. I know you like fairy tales, and it's kind of like being in a fairy tale."

"But I don't know any of them," Beth had pointed out. "What if they don't like me. What if they make fun of me? You said one of them's mean!"

Linda patted the shorter girl's hand. "Sometimes he's loud and rude, but I promise, if he says anything to you, I'll tell him off."

"Then he'll hate me," Beth said, her eyes dropping to her feet. "I just moved to town, Linda. I...I don't know anybody but you. I don't want people to not like me before they even get a chance to know me."

In the end, she'd finally said that she "might" come over, but she might not. And now, here she was, late, and it seemed everyone had gone off and left her. Should she wait for them to come back? From the shoes there had been another girl there besides Linda. Had she talked somebody else into joining and didn't want to play with her anymore?

She picked up one of the books and turned some pages. Cleric...this seemed like another word for priest. Druid...someone that talked to animals? That sounded interesting, but didn't Linda say she was going to play a druid? She didn't want to copy her! Fighter...paladin...ranger...magic-user...illusionist...thief...assassin...ASSASSIN?! What kind of game was this, anyway?!

...

Needless to say, Linda and Penny weren't as happy to see a horned, bat-winged, fanged, cloven-hoofed girl in a skimpy outfit as the boys had been.

"Ahhhh!" Penny cried when she first saw the half-demon. "A monster!"

"Don't be rude!" Andy told his sister. "She isn't a monster! She's a princess under a spell!"

"And she's gorgeous!" Greg said with a grin.

S're-tal'gis glared at Penny. Penny glared back. Then the elf girl crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Bleah!"

The half-demon crossed her eyes and stuck out her own tongue. "Nyah!"

Linda leaned over and hissed in Andy's ear, "Would a princess stick out her tongue at people?" She seemed angry. Had he done something wrong?

"She's...under a lot of stress?" Andy suggested.

Linda snorted and walked away from him. Boys!

Girls! Andy thought, watching her walk away.

Penny hurried after her friend. "If she's a princess, I'm a vermicious k'nit!" she said.

"I know," Linda agreed. "A princess would be refined, not dress like a...a..."

"Bimbo," Penny finished for her. "Yeah, she'd wear a long gown and she'd try to hide those wings and horns, not strut around like 'Look at me! Do you like my boobies?'"

"You're right," Linda said. "And a princess wouldn't dress so skimpy like that. They wore long gowns, and white gloves, and they didn't wear their hair loose like that."

"Yeah, they wore it up, like Cinderella when she went to the ball," Penny added. She looked over at Linda sadly. "I'm sorry..." she started to say.

Linda turned towards her friend. "Sorry? For what?"

"Cause Andy was looking at her too," Penny said, "and he should know better than to check out another girl right in front of his girlfriend."

Linda's face flushed. "I'm not his girlfriend!" she said quickly.

"Then why are you blushing?" Penny asked.

Linda looked away. "I-I'm getting a sunburn!" she stuttered. Actually, she wasn't getting a sunburn, and that had worried her. Linda was a natural blonde, with blue eyes and very pale skin. Even though it had been overcast much of the time they'd been traveling, it had been sunny long enough that her arms should have started turning red. She had no doubt this was another effect of playing that stupid organ. She was upset enough already about what might be happening to her, she didn't need to worry about some floozie coming onto her guy! Linda gasped. Had she just thought of Andy as "her guy"?!

"What's the matter?" Penny asked, hearing her gasp. She looked around. "Is somebody following us?"

"No," Linda said quickly. "No. Just...all this crazy stuff keeps happening to us. I'm sick of it!"

"Yeah, me too," Penny agreed. "And my feet hurt. Dang, I wish I'd bought some boots!"

"Yeah, me too," Linda said, even though her feet hadn't hurt since she'd gotten to the temple. What had that awful organ done to her?! She sighed. "I guess we should go back and try to be nice to her. Even if she's not a princess, she was cursed pretty bad."

"Unless she's supposed to look like that," Penny said.

"What do you mean?" Linda asked.

Penny looked up at Linda, her eyes suddenly scared. "She looks like one of the monsters in David's monster book," she explained. "Some kind of demon I think, with horns and wings and everything. It didn't have any clothes on."

Now Linda's eyes also looked scared. "A demon?" she repeated.

"Yeah," Penny said, nodding. "You think...you think she might be that monster I thought was my familiar? I mean, he turned into a goat, so many he could turn into a girl too?"

"I don't know," Linda admitted. "And David can't seem to remember much from his books, so I don't know if it would be any good to ask him."

Penny nodded her head. "Yeah, he's a pretty bad Dungeon Master," she agreed. "And he probably wouldn't want to tell us, if she's got him and the other guys under some kind of spell."

Linda let out a deep breath. "I'm afraid she doesn't need magic to charm them," she reminded the other girl.

"Yeah, boys are so dumb, falling for girls just cause they can see their boobs," Penny agreed. "Maybe if you dressed like that you could get them back on our side and..."

"Penny! Really!" Linda gasped, her face turning redder. "Nice girls don't dress like that!"

"But don't nice girls finish last?" Penny asked.

"It's nice guys," Linda said. "And even if that's true, I'm not going to lower myself down to her level!"

"Then what are we gonna do?" Penny asked.

Linda stopped and turned around. "We go back," she determined. "And we play nice with Princess Demon. But we keep our eyes open and see what she's up to. If she's not the same demon, I'll bet he'll try to get in touch with her."

"Okay," Penny said, not sounding at all happy. "Maybe we can ditch her when we get to the next village. Unless the boys want to stare at her butt some more."

They returned to find everyone waiting for them. "It's about time," Andy said. "We have to get going!"

"Going where?" Linda and Penny both asked at the same time.

"Up the mountain," David told them, adjusting his glasses.

The girls looked up the mountain. And up. And up. Penny almost fell over backwards.

"Why the heck are we going up there?!" the elf girl demanded.

"The princess says there's a magic sword somewhere near the top, and it might help us," Greg told them.

"How would she know something like that?" Linda demanded. She couldn't hold back the squeal when she felt hands on her shoulder.

"Oh, I know a lot of things," S're-tal'gis assured her in a voice meant to drive the guys wild, but disgusted the two girls. "You'll be ever so surprised, my friend..."

...

After cooking and cleaning and other jobs that had left her both filthy and exhausted, Prudence was told to go back to the stream and clean up. "Tomorrow ye'll be meeting the coven, and I won't have a disciple of mine looking like a rag picker!" Hepzibah told her.

Since the sky was covered with thick black clouds and it starting to get dark already, Prudence was quick to wash off the dirt and smoke and get dressed. She was still shivering by the time she started back to the old witch. A light sprinkle had begun, and a fairly strong wind had whipped up, sending tree branches dancing wildly.

Prudence, knowing she would be starting up the side of Midnight Mountain when she returned, kept looking nervously towards it. From what she could see, it was bare rock, black and without vegetation. She sincerely hoped there was some sort of trail. The thought of having to climb up the mountain like a fly horrified her. It occurred to her that Hepzibah had so far not told her anything about witches or witchcraft, just that she'd meet a coven, or group, of them tomorrow, when she took her initiation. When she'd asked what would happen during the initiation, she'd just been told "Never ye mind! Ye'll learn soon enough!" Why didn't she want Prudence to know until the last moment? Was it that big a secret...or was it so terrible that she'd try to run away if she knew beforehand?

When she returned, she saw that Hepzibah wasn't alone. There was another old crone with her. As well as a girl about Prudence's age.

"It seems you'll have a bit of competition on the morrow," Hepzibah told her. "This here's ol' Heliotrope, and she's bringing a recruit to the ceremony as well. Ye'll have to fight for the position in the coven."

That was fine by Prudence. She didn't want to join anyway. Being a witch wasn't as wondrous as she'd assumed, considering the way Hepzibah lived. But wait. What if the girl that failed to join was done away with to silence her so she couldn't give away any witchy secrets. Not that Prudence had learned any secrets as of yet, but the old witch was so nasty, she might kill her just for the fun of it. And this Heliotrope looked even older and uglier than Hepzibah did. She looked at the girl. Blonde, blue-eyed, and beautiful. She hated her at first sight. Even if she wasn't in danger if she lost the spot on the coven, she decided she couldn't let a girl like that beat her!

"I am Suzanne," the blonde girl said. Even her name was pretty!

"Prudence," the other muttered, suddenly hating her own name even more than usual.

"Well, let's be going!" Heliotrope said, showing a few yellowed teeth. "It's a long way up the mountain, and it's getting dark already!"

Having heard stories of witches riding on brooms or mortars as far back as she could remember, Prudence wondered as they started on their way why neither of the old women could fly. Was Hepzibah not as powerful as she'd thought? Just a hedge magician that knew a few simple tricks and faked the rest?

She would soon find out otherwise...

...

Deborah Silverthorn looked sadly at the red curls lying about the ground at her feet. She reached up and felt her now short hair. She had worn a braid since she had been a tiny child, and it had reached past her waist but minutes ago. Her head felt strange now, as if something were missing. Had she erred in making this decision? She was already a paladin. A holy fighter of Hieroneous. Always before that had been enough.

But now she felt that she needed to do something more. To purge the taint that had been placed on her until now proud family name by her brother, Danar. How could he have done it? How could he have turned to evil? There was even that hideous, surely false rumor, that he had turned from Hieroneous to the thrice cursed Hextor!

Deborah's stomach knotted in shame. How could she go on the way she had, knowing that her own brother was probably committing acts of pure evil? Someone had to counter that evil. And who better than his sister? But to do that she needed to learn new skills, and devote her life more fully to the cause of the good and the just. She would spend this day and the next fasting, then become an Anointed Knight the following day. The ceremony would have taken place on the morrow, but that was the final day of Patchwall, which was a known day and especially night of evil.

...

"Something tells me we shouldn't be on this mountain trail," Linda told Penny. "Not today, anyway."

"Yeah," Penny agreed. The two girls had decided to stay away from the new arrival and were bringing up the rear, and both were disgusted that the boys clearly wanted to be near her. The boys didn't even seem to notice they were there and weren't waiting for them. "This place is creepy!" There was a flash of light in the sky in the distance. "That lightning's getting closer, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," Linda agreed. "I think we're going to have a big storm either tonight or tomorrow." She looked over at the younger girl and lowered her voice. "Are you afraid of thunder? It can't hurt you."

"No, I'm afraid of lightning," Penny admitted. "Loud noises don't bother me." She looked over at her friend. "Do they bother you?"

"Not really," Linda told her. "I just don't like being outside when it's thundering and lightninging. Wait. Lightninging. That's not a word, is it?"

Penny giggled. "Don't worry," she said. "I make up words too sometimes. Ow!" She stopped and hopped on one foot as she pulled a long thorn from the other foot. "My feet are gonna be so sore!" she moaned. She looked at Linda. "How come you don't step on these things like I do?" Linda hadn't cried out or hobbled once from stepping on something since they'd left the village.

"I...don't know," Linda admitted. That worried her. Was it because she was a druid, and they weren't hurt by things they might step on in the wilderness? She didn't remember such an ability being listed in the book. There was something about "passing without trace" through leaves and branches and other things, but they didn't get that ability at first level.

"Linda?" Penny whispered suddenly in her ear. "I gotta pee."

"Hold on, guys," Linda called to the boys, who seemed to have forgotten the two of them were with them. "Penny and I need to...freshen up a bit."

"What?" Greg demanded, putting his hands on his hips. "You two gonna go put on lipstick and eye shadow?"

"No, we're gonna make dolls of you guys and stick pins in them!" Penny said.

"You'd better not, you witch!" he told her.

"I'd tell you what you are," Penny said, glaring up at him, "but as a lady I don't use that kind of language!"

"What would you know about being a lady?" Greg demanded.

Linda sighed and grabbed Penny's hand. "We'll be right back, you guys," she said, dragging the little elf into the bushes. "Nobody peek!"

S're-tal'gis followed the girls. Embarrassed, Penny slipped into a bush to relieve herself. The demon girl stepped up to Linda and smiled. "My, but boys are silly creatures, aren't they?" she asked.

"They're all right," Linda said loyally. "I'm known much worse." She normally was very talkative, but there was something about this girl she didn't like. Wouldn't someone turned into a horrible monster be depressed and angry and cry that they wanted to be human again? Why was she so happy she had horns and wings and a tail...unless she'd always had them?

"Which of them is yours?" S're-tal'gis asked. "I don't want to take your boyfriend from you."

"I-I-who said one of them was my boyfriend?!" Linda said, blushing.

"Her boyfriend is my brother, Andy!" Penny said, coming out of the bushes. "You stay away from him or I'll kick your butt!"

S're-tal'gis hissed, her eyes going scary. "You think you can, little elf girl?"

"You better watch it!" Penny told her. "I got magic powers!"

"Indeed?" the half-demon said. "So have I. Just what powers do you possess, little one?"

"I didn't know princesses studied magic," Linda said.

The demon turned towards her. "I...I learned them after I was changed," she said. "To-to survive in the wilderness after I was forced to leave my kingdom."

"Oh," Linda said. Well, that sounded possible. "But who taught you, if you had to leave everyone you knew?"

"Who taught the two of you?" Sre-tal'gis demanded. Since neither Linda nor Penny could answer that question, Linda didn't ask again.

"Excuse me," Linda said instead, slipping back where Penny had been a moment before.

"You hide from the boys when you make water?" Sre-tal'gis asked.

"Of course we do!" Penny said. "Don't tell me princesses pee in front of boys?"

"Well...not when I was a princess," the demon said, trying to figure out how to answer without sounding like a liar. She'd never met a princess, but something told her they wouldn't do something like that. Making friends with Linda and Penny was more difficult than she thought. The boys took one look at her body, and, like all males, went stupid, but these girls were too clever and might figure out what she really was if she wasn't careful. Sre-tal'gis wasn't used to using her brain in difficult situations, and now her head was starting to hurt. She struggled to change the subject.

Just then there was a huge flash nearby, followed almost immediately by a loud shaking BOOM! The light rain suddenly became a heavy downpour.

"We'd better get back to the boys," Linda said, tying her drawers back on. "We have to find some sort of shelter from the storm!"

"Yeah, and fast too!" Penny agreed, as the girls headed back to where they'd left the others. "It's getting dark!"

Sre-tal'gis grinned as she followed. Was the elf afraid of the dark? How...interesting...

...

Russet sighed as she followed her brothers through the cave they'd discovered. A narrow passage led up, and they had decided to follow it to see if there were any wild beasts that might come down while they were asleep and surprise them. The way up was pretty steep, and dwarves were not built for climbing.

"Damn it!" she muttered as pebbles slid under her boot, nearly making her fall.

"Watch your language!" Bronze admonished her.

"You two are cursing," she complained.

"We are men," Copper said. "Ladies do not talk that way." He stubbed his toe. "Hellfire!" he yelled.

Russet muttered under her breath. Ladies didn't get to do much of anything. Perhaps she'd be a better warrior today if they'd taught her more than how to swing a weapon without falling down or hitting herself. They didn't even want her to watch them practice so she could try to learn some sort of ideas about fighting, and she'd had to hide to observe them.

"Be quiet, the both of you!" Bronze hissed. "How can I listen to tell if there's anything up ahead if you two keep chattering away like squirrels?!"

Russet pressed her lips together. She had a feeling he was just keeping her with him until he could find a respectable dwarven family, then marry her off to some oaf that thought the same about women as he did, if not worse. But he was now head of the family, and a good girl did what her family leader said.

Suddenly she heard a scratching sound up ahead and above them.

"Hear that?" Bronze said, drawing his ax from his belt. "Copper! Be ready to defend Little Sister if need be! Russet! Try not to act like a woman!"

Russet clenched her teeth. Did he have to sound so condescending all the time?

Something can into the light of the men's torches. It had a huge head with what looked like pincers on its head. Above it were two little fuzzy stick like things that kept moving around.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Are ye daft?" Bronze demanded, waving his ax at it. "Tis a gigantic ant, of course! Stay back, girl!"

That was an ant? She'd never looked at one close enough to see what it looked like. It was so ugly!

As Bronze rushed to attack it, a second giant ant crawled down the side of the cave. Copper moved to fight that one.

Russet watched her brothers, keeping an eye for any more surprises. She wasn't sure if she wanted to fight too or not. She was tired of them treating her like a halfwit, but the memories of being helpless against that wolf made her want to just curl up into a little ball until Bronze told her it was safe.

A third ant suddenly dropped down behind Bronze. She cried a warning. He turned and struck it on the head. The first ant was down and not moving anymore, leaving him free to deal with the newcomer. So it looked like she wasn't needed.

She thought otherwise when a fourth ant suddenly appeared and came at her. She clutched her hammer and forced herself forward. It moved its head, avoiding her first swing, then snapped at her, mandibles making loud clicking sounds as they struck together. She took a step back. Those jaws looked like they'd bite an arm off if the ant got too close!

She moved forward again, her hammer this time clanging against the snapping mandibles, the impact shooting painfully up her arm from her fingers to her shoulder. It snapped at her again. She squealed and leaped back. As it came at her she struck one of the creature's antennae. The ant seemed confused. It started walking about in circles. She hit it in its hindquarters. It spun back and snapped at her yet again. Again she squealed and leaped back, this time losing her balance. She fell on her rump, cringing as it moved towards her. It sprang at her. With a scream, she threw her hammer at its middle. It fell back, but was quickly recovering. She pulled herself to her feet and leaped for her weapon. It snapped again, so close that she could feel the wind of its movement hit her. She raised her arm to strike again, when the ant suddenly turned away. Copper had finally finished his opponent and had rushed to her rescue. She was relieved, but didn't want him to say she was useless again. So she swung at the ant, hitting it so it turned back at her, then swinging again, putting every bit of her strength and weight behind the swing. Crack! The ant, good feeler still flailing about, fell over.

"I told ye to stay back!" Bronze told her angrily.

"Fear not," Copper bragged. "I've saved the little lady."

"But...I was the one that killed it!" Russet complained.

"Naturally, once I'd weakened it enough for you," Copper said.

Russet clenched her hands. She'd done right this time! It wasn't fair for them to still treat her this way! Just because she'd been born female!

"Let's move on," Bronze said. "I'll lead the way. Copper, stay with Little Sister and keep her safe!"

"Let us away, Little Sister," Copper said with that insufferable smirk that she'd long ago come to hate.

The three dwarves continued up the mountain.

...

It was very dark and very wet as our heroes trudged up the dirt trail, which was now mud. They were walking their horses and Penny's pony. Riding would have been much too dangerous. Behind Penny, avoiding the pony, was her cat familiar. It obviously didn't like being wet, but there was just no way Penny could pick it up and hold it inside of the folds of her cloak since she was holding the pony's reins and struggling to get the cantankerous critter to behave itself and stop trying to sit down or wander away.

"Gross!" Greg cried, lifting one cloth wrapped boot and trying to shake off the mud. "Should've gotten some boots instead of these dumb shoes!"

"At least you're not walking barefoot through this stuff!" Penny complained. "I hope this is all mud and not poop!"

"Don't even think of that!" Linda begged her.

"Yes, walking through manure, especially wet manure, can give you worms," David said.

"Don't tell something like that!" Linda cried.

"Yeah!" Penny added. "If I get worms, I'm gonna make sure I give 'em to you!"

"Isn't there some sort of nature spell that can make this rain stop or something?" Tom asked. He stopped to lean against a rock and remove one of his boots to shake some mud out of it.

"If there is, I don't know it, and I don't want to!" Linda told him.

"She's not high enough level to control the weather," David said.

"I told you guys we should have started at high levels!" Greg said angrily. "We could have done this is style!"

"High what?" Sre-tal'gis asked.

"Uh...the top of the mountain is very high," Andy said. They'd all agreed they wouldn't tell anyone they didn't belong in this world. The thought of being experimented on by some curious, medieval mad scientist was scary.

The demon girl looked at him and made a face. That was clearly a lie. So the boys weren't as completely under her charms as she'd thought. She looked over at Linda. She was pretty, but covered up so much, she couldn't compete with a half-succubus if Sre-tal'gis really put her mind to vamping Andy. But the girls were already suspicious about her, and she wasn't sure she could handle all of them in a fight if she had to, even if they did seem fairly incompetent.

Except that everyone except Penny and the demon girl slipped and fell in the mud at least once, the trip was pretty uneventful. The moon was high in the sky when they spotted a cave.

"Thank goodness!" Linda cried. "I'm soaked to the skin!"

"Better let us menfolk check it out and make sure it's safe first," Greg said.

"Oh, thank you, you big strong man!" Sre-tal'gis said, batting her eyes at him. Since it was so dark, only Penny could see it. She made a face and stuck her tongue out at the demoness. Sre-tal'gis was the only one that saw that, and did the same. Penny blew her a raspberry. "Pbbbbtttt!" The succubus blew one back, forgetting she was supposed to be a princess, and princesses didn't do that sort of thing. "Pbbbtttt!"

"Penny!" Andy yelled from inside the cave. "Is that you? Knock it off!"

"I'm not the only one!" Penny complained.

"Stop yelling and get in out of the rain, dummy!" her brother said. "The cave's empty. Let's see if we can make a fire and dry off a bit."

Suddenly realizing she was freezing, Penny hurried inside right behind Linda. No one noticed the demoness glaring after her before following them.

...

Not having anything better to do with her time, Beth had decided to roll up a character just for the fun of it. Character class...why not assassin? Just to be different. She rolled for strength, intelligence, and the rest. What else? Money and items to buy? Sounded boring. She'd just pick armor and a weapon. Assassins can only use leather armor? Okay. She wrote in pencil, intending to erase everything when she'd finished. "Leather...armor..." She thought about the comic she'd seen of a red haired barbarian woman with a sword. She'd worn a chain mail bikini. Must be awfully uncomfortable. But this was just for laughs, so she changed it to "leather bikini."

Beth picked up a second book. This had a lot of complicated looking stuff in it. Near the back she saw listings for potions, scrolls, and other magic items. She skipped around, reading the ones that looked interesting to her.

"Deck of Many Things...let's see...Sun gives a magic item and...50,000 experience points? What are those? Moon...1-4 wishes. I'll take that! Star...gain two points on your major ability. Okay. And...Gem! Gain your choice of 20 jewelry or 50 gems. I'll take gems because there are a lot more of them! And magic item...let's see...sword plus 1, Flame Tongue, plus 2 vs. re-gen-erating creatures, plus 3 vs. cold using, in-flammable, or a-vian creatures, plus 4 vs. undead. Don't know what all that means, but it sounds interesting with all those pluses, so I'll take that, and...Hey! What happened to the light?!"

.

Welcome to Oerth, Beth! Hope you survive the experience! And tomorrow's Halloween! What could go wrong?

.

S:15 I:11 W:14 D:17 C:15 CH:12 CO:15- 1st level assassin- HP:7