Dungeons and Dragons

The Die Master

Chapter 7: A Whole New Game

In a burst of sparks, Presto found himself standing in a stone chamber. He looked across a long table to see Mallacar sitting comfortably, looking very much alive.

"No way! You're dead!" Presto shouted.

Mallacar had a very grave expression on his face. "What you and your friends 'killed' was merely my avatar."

"Avatar?" Presto asked.

"Yes," Mallacar replied, still wearing his grave expression. He then waved his hand over a model of Venger's castle on the table. The roof disappeared, and Presto was amazed at what he saw. Inside were holographic images of his friends, and in the center lay a wooden model of Mallacar, with a whole burned through it. Suddenly, the wooden figure burst into ashes.

Presto looked back up at Mallacar, who replied, "I sent that avatar into the Realm to ensure that I am never put in any real danger. Unfortunately, he was the only one I have. Oh, excuse me, I haven't explained this properly. You see, this whole board is a scale model of the entire Realm. I can monitor all of the activity in the entire Realm through this living model, right from my castle in the sky."

Mallacar motioned to a window, and outside was the entire flat and board-like Realm of Dungeons and Dragons. Like a mighty satellite, Mallacar's castle floated above all. Mallacar then pointed at Presto, "And you, my friend, are going to lead your friends in one final challenge against me!"

Mallacar took a cup and gave it to Presto. Inside were the seven dice that made up the Percentile, and a small wooden figure of himself.

"Is this. . .?" Presto asked.

Mallacar answered, "An Avatar I've prepared for you. Through the use of the dice of the Percentile, you will control this Avatar as it rejoins your friends. It will behave in a matter so identical to you, that your friends won't notice any difference. You must do whatever it takes to lead your friends against my final assault on them. It will be a battle of strategy between us. If you win, I will free you all. If I win, I'll destroy you right here."

Suddenly, Mallacar took a step back in surprise. Standing right next to Presto, was the spirit of one of the six wizards, Palladar.

The violet wizard placed a strong arm on Presto's shoulder.

Presto began to feel a new boldness and confidence. Crossing his arms."Well, guess what, Mallacar! We've beaten you already! Why should we have to do it again? So how about you just give up and let us go back to Earth!"

Angered by Presto's impudence, Mallacar took a step forward and said, "No, I have only begun to fight! Now, I have given you this challenge, and you are going to accept it. I want to see just how intelligent you really are. Don't you want to prove yourself to me?"

"You always were the most intelligent one, Palladar. . ." Mallacar added mentally.

Palladar simply nodded determinedly and disappeared.

Presto nodded in an identical fashion and said, "Alright, Mallacar, I accept your challenge, and me and my friends are gonna win too!"

"Good," Mallacar said, "Now, Dungeon Master shall oversee this contest."

Dungeon Master was soon standing nearby.

"Come on, Dungeon Master! Don't let this guy boss you around!" Presto said.

Dungeon Master just sadly shook his head, and then said, "Presto, by using the dice to unleash your magic, you will unlock your Hat of Many Spells' Rod of Wonder Effect. This means that depending on the number you role, your hat may produce an unpredictable effect instead of the spell you intend to cast. I shall inform you of the result every time."

"Enough exposition! I will have my satisfaction now!" Mallacar said with a face like thunder.

"Magician, please place yourself onto the board," Dungeon Master said simply.

Presto took the small figurine and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm doing it," he said, and he placed himself near the entrance of Venger's castle. He then looked up at Mallacar and said, "Hold on, I thought you said your only Avatar was destroyed? Are you going down there yourself?"

"No, you fool," Mallacar said, "I have a pawn down there that intend on making full use of. . ."

The group of heroes, once again one friend sort, walked out of Venger's castle, and received a pleasant surprise.

"Over here, guys!" Presto shouted as he waved to them.

"Presto's okay!" Diana shouted.

"Hold on!" Eric said, jumping in front of them, "We saw Presto disappear. How do we know that he's the real Presto! It could be a trick Mallacar set up for us."

Presto face-palmed himself and moaned, "Aww, come on, Eric! We don't have time for this!"

Sheila stood defensively in front of Bobby and said, "Eric's right, I don't trust him!"

"I think it's really you, Presto!" Bobby called out, and Uni expressed here agreement.

Hank watched Presto closely and asked, "If you really are Presto, then what happened to you after Mallacar made you disappear."

Presto laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, it's kind of a long story, you see-."

Presto was interrupted by a huge trembling that shook the ground. Everyone kept low as the shaking threatened to throw them off their feet.

"What's going on?" Presto asked asked as he looked down onto the living map of the Realm.

"Behold the castle," Mallacar said.

Inside the castle, the huge Heart Stone containing Venger was glowing. A distinct pattern of cracks formed around it, and they glew with white energy, and then, the entire crystal exploded. The blast was so enormous, that it shook the entire castle to it's foundations, causing it to collapse in a heap of rubble.

The heroes looked up in shock as smoke arose and took form Venger himself. The image then faded as Venger rode down towards them on his Nightmare horse.

If you were to look closely into Venger's eyes, you could see that a battle was being fought.

"Arrgh! My body! It has a mind of it's own!"

"Wrong, fool! It's my mind!"

"You! You will pay for this Mallacar!"

"Shut-up, and just let me take control, and do what you never were able to do!"

"Coward!"

"SHUT-UP!"

"Oh no! I've got to do something!" Presto said. He grabbed the dice and threw them, saying, "Okay! I'll knock him out of the sky with a Magic Missile!"

"70. Very good," Dungeon Master said warmly, "Your spell takes effect as planned."

Mallacar scowled.

"As quick as a whistle, here comes a Magic Missile!" Presto said, and a projectile of magical energy shot out of his hat, and made a direct hit with Venger's Nightmare.

The black, flying horse whined in pain as it was destroyed by the blast. Venger quickly jumped off and flew down to meet the heroes.

"You brats have been a thorn in my side, long enough!" Venger shouted.

"At least let me do the speaking!"

"I told you once, I told you twice, shut-up!"

Hank sent an arrow out towards Venger, who merely extending an arm and said, "Unholy Aura!"

"A malevolent darkness surrounds Venger, protecting him from attacks, granting him resistance to spells cast by good creatures, and weakening good creatures when he strikes them," Dungeon Master says.

"Yes! My strategy is working!" Mallacar said.

"Oh no you don't! I'll just undo it!" Presto said as he rolled the dice again.

"46, your spell will work, bu a Rod of Wonder effect will occur as well," Dungeon Master said.

"Rats!" Presto said.

"Hold on, young magician, who says that is a bad thing. . ." Dungeon Master said with a slight smile.

"I'm pulling your plug, Venger!" Presto said, and his hat gave a huge flash, causing the Aura to vanish. But it didn't stop there. The hat then began to make sounds like a thunderstorm.

"Uh-oh," Presto gulped.

"Tell me when it's over," Eric said as he took cover behind his shield.

The hat trembled, and then a huge Lightning Bolt shot out and struck Venger directly.

"EEEEEYYYYYYAAAAAARRRRGH!" Venger shouted.

"You aren't doing so well, aren't you, Mallacar!"

"Just you wait, once I've destroyed these children, I'll make your death nice and slow, you filthy turncoat!"

"Alright, no way is that Presto! The real Presto wouldn't be as good as this guy!" Eric said angrily as he pointed at Presto.

"Eric, would you just give him a break!" Diana said.

"He's probably just jealous that Presto's doing a lot better than him!" bobby said.

"Guys ,can we talk about this later, after we're out of danger!" Hank said as he launched an energy arrow.

Venger countered with a fire ball, and the attacks canceled each other out. He sent another fire ball at Bobby. The Barbarian smirked and said, "Okay! Baseball again!"

Bobby deflected the attack with his club, but Venger then summoned a huge wall of ice, which canceled out the fire ball.

"This isn't hard at all, Mallacar! Of course we're gonna win!" Presto said.

Mallacar's face was red with rage. He threw his dice hard and said, "No, this is the end. I'll obliterate you all with Arcane Fire!"

"Then I'll just cast a spell that will protect them from fire!" Presto said confidently as he threw his dice. The result was 26.

"Your spell has been wasted," Dungeon Master said.

"Darn!" Presto said as he slammed the table hard, "Now what happens?"

"Arcane Fire!" Venger shouted, and he threw evil flames toward Bobby and Sheila.

"Don't worry guys! I'm on it!" Presto shouted, and opened his hat and pointed. Immediately, there was a huge whoosh of air that sent Presto sprawling. This was then followed by a cloud of green gas that enveloped everyone.

"GROSS!" Bobby shouted and covered his nose. Uni brayed in disgust, and Bobby quickly covered her nose with his free hand.

"Oh man! Fine, I take it all back, this has got to be Presto!" Eric shouted as he gagged and covered his nose.

The Arcane Fire stopped inside the stinking cloud, and a strange reaction began to take place.

"Take cover!" Hank shouted.

BOOOOM!

The fire and gas exploded, knocking everyone flat to the ground, senseless.

Eventually, they all began to get back up, sore and severely weakened by the blast.

"Enough," Venger snarled as he struggled to his feet, "Let's finish this once and for all!"

Venger raised his hands and began to recreate his Arcane Fire.

"I'm gonna try again!" Presto said as he rolled his dice. The result, a 34.

"No! Not again!"

"Pathetic," Mallacar said.

"Or is it?" Dungeon Master said with a straight face.

"Don't worry! I'll get it right this time!" Presto shouted.

"Uh-oh! Everyone take cover!" Eric shouted.

"Now that times are really dire, please give us something that'll stop that fire!" Presto shouted.

Presto fell back as the hat was wrenched from his grasp, and then floated in mid air. There was huge rumbling sound, and something a huge burst out of the hat, and then landed with a a huge crash.

"What the heck?" Hank shouted.

The huge African rhino stomped the ground, and then charged at Venger at full speed with its horn at the ready.

Venger stood in shock for a moment, and the quickly gathered his Arcane Fire.

"Bobby, distract him!" Presto shouted.

"I'm on it!" Bobby said, and he slammed the ground with his Thunder Club.

The earthquake caused by the club caused Venger to stumble backwards, his Arcane Fire flying into the air. Hank quickly took aim and shot at the airborne fire, resulting in an explosion that showered Venger in flaming energy arrows.

Venger raged and shouted as the arrows painfully knocked him forward, right into the charging rhino. Right before vanishing, the rhino slammed into Venger, sending him flying into the air, and landing headfirst on the hard, rocky ground. With all of the fight, and all of the wind, knocked right out of him, Venger could only fall flat on his back and remain still.

"No! I don't believe it!" Mallacar shouted, pounding the table with supreme rage.

"You have lost once again, Mallacar," Dungeon Master said.

"We have our deal, now let us all go," Presto said as he smiled and folded his arms.

Mallacar kept on slamming the table and screamed in Presto's face, "No! Never! I must defeat you! All of you! Or I will never be satisfied!"

Presto scowled angrily as he gabbed his dice and shook them hard in his fist, "I knew you were lying, so I had a plan all along. We're all gonna make sure you let us go!"

"How?" Mallacar challenged.

"Like this!" Presto said, and using his free hand to nervously fix his glasses, Presto threw the seven dice.

Mallacar stepped back as in a flash of light, he saw the violet wizard Palladar standing in Presto's place. Mallacar turned to look at Dungeon Master, and from the confident look on his face, he could tell that he could see the wizard as well.

The vision came and went as quick as a flash, and now they were all focused on the roll of the dice.

4, 6, 8, 10, 10, 12, and 20.

"No! Impossible! How could he have unleashed a Decca-Seven?" Mallacar gasped.

"Wow, we've beaten Venger twice!" Bobby said.

"Yeah, but he's not the one we want," Presto said as he waved his hands over his hat.

"What do you mean Presto?" Dianna asked.

"If we have ever want to get out of this world, we've gotta take down the one who created it," Presto said.

"But we defeated Mallacar, remember, and we didn't get nothing!" Eric said, gesturing back into the rubble of Venger's castle.

"But that wasn't the real Mallacar," Presto said.

"It wasn't? But how do you know?" Sheila asked.

Presto smiled and said, "I'll explain later guys, but now, it's time for us to end this! Let's go!" And he cast a mighty blast of magic from his hat that created a massive dome that covered everyone all around. The Presto Avatar smiled and winked one last time, and then was completely vaporized into dust and scattered by the four winds.