"Game Night!" Logan cheered, kicking in the door of Gabriel's apartment.
"You better fix that before you come in here!" the raven called, wincing as the door fell from its hinges.
Logan blushed with embarrassment. "Oops. I forget how strong I am sometimes…"
"So it's just the OG Dream Defenders tonight, huh?" Rachel asked, coming into the living room with a bowl of chips. Currently in the room was Gabriel, Adam, Silver, and Logan.
"Toren would be here, but he's still off being a prince," Silver said.
"Oh, I did invite someone else over, though," Logan said, turning back to the door as a particular peahen walked in.
"I heard you were having game night tonight, and I just had to see what it was like," Almyra said.
"Glad to have you, Almyra. The more the merrier," Gabriel smiled. "Though I should warn you that Game Night can get a bit intense around here."
Almyra giggled. "Oh, it surely can't be that bad!"
The others looked at each other. "Well, let's just say that the last few game nights have been… chaotic…" Rachel said. The gang all remembered the past Game Nights:
Silver
Gabriel, Logan, and Adam were all hiding in the guest bedroom, with Logan using his super strength to hold the door closed. "You can't make us guys do this!" he shouted.
Suddenly, Maleficent's Bane cut the door down, revealing Rachel and Silver on the side, the boy having a makeup kit in hand. "Come on, you let me pick the game this time," Silver said.
"You never said it would be makeovers!" Adam shouted.
"Yeah, I won't be caught dead in makeup! It makes my feathers itchy," Gabriel said. The raven then saw and open window and quickly turned into his feral form, flying out. "See you guys later!"
"Traitor!" Logan shouted, only to gasp as Adam was dragged away by Silver.
"You're coming with us, Logan!" Rachel said, grabbing him by the leg.
"No! I want to live- I want to live!" Logan screamed.
Rachel
"Wait, so how does this game work?" Adam asked.
"Dude, we're an hour in and you're just now asking that?" Logan questioned.
"I thought the rules were simple enough," Rachel shrugged.
"Rachel, I think you're the only one that knows how this game works," Gabriel shook his head. "Here let me see the instruction manual." The raven picked up the booklet, only to frown as he read it. "Rachel, half of your "rules" aren't even in here!"
"Oh, I'm using house rules, like my family does," she explained.
"You can't use house rules at your friend's house!" everyone else shouted.
Logan
"Darn it," Logan said, watching as Silver picked up a power star. The gang were all playing Mario Party (well, the boys were playing- Rachel elected to just watch), and Logan was currently in last place. "I needed that star to get back on the board!"
"Don't worry Logan, I'll just land on the Happening Space and move the Star Space back over to our side of the board," Adam said.
"Silver still has to move after this," Gabriel pointed out.
"Oh, I got a Happening Space!" Silver exclaimed, the players watching as the Star Space swapped back over.
"Okay, that just means that Adam needs to-" Logan started to say, only to see Adam also land on a Happening Space, moving the Star Space once more. Logan's eye twitched.
"Oops, sorry," Adam shrugged.
"Its… It's fine…" Logan said, a bit manic. "Besides, Gabriel would need to roll a 14 to get that Star and secure his lead, and the odds of that are very small."
Gabriel then cheered as he rolled a double 7 on his Double Dice Block, getting him his fifth star of the game. "That's Mario Party for you, baby!" the raven cheered.
"Oh are you $ %*^#$& kidding me!?" Logan screamed, turning into his jackal form and angerly tossing his controller at the wall, smashing it into pieces.
"Language!" Silver exclaimed.
"You owe me another control for that," Gabriel pointed out, only to get pulled into a comical dust cloud as Logan started wrestling him. "Dude, chill out, it's just a video game!"
"And this is why Mario Party ruins friendships," Rachel sighed.
Adam
"Okay guys, I got the pizza!" Gabriel called, walking into his apartment with a stack of boxes. The raven's smile fell as he saw a scene of destruction: Silver as curled up in the corner crying, Adam was missing his robot arm as he desperately tried to put out a fire, Logan was screaming his head off, and Rachel was chasing Logan with a chair.
"Oh Gabriel, thank the stars you're here!" Kessie exclaimed.
"What happened here!?" Gabriel asked.
"They just started playing the game Adam brought, and then all of… this happened!" Kessie explained.
Gabriel sighed, waving his arms to freeze everyone in place with Fantasia. "Will someone tell me what in the name of Walt Disney brought you all to this state!?"
The others pointed at Adam. "He did it!" they shouted.
The cyborg held up his hand in surrender. "I just suggested we play one of the greatest board games, and them as soon as we got into it, things went out of control!"
"Which game did you pick?" Gabriel asked. The raven looked over to the game table before sighing. "Monopoly, seriously? It's like you want us all to hate each other…."
[***]
"Gabriel, you okay there?" Almyra asked, waving a wing in front of her face. "You got a distant look in your eyes and a mirage effect started floating around your head."
"Oh, sorry, I was just having a flashback to all the other game nights we've had," Gabriel explained. "But luckily for us- and the integrity of my apartment- I will be the one picking the game we play on this Game Night!" Clapping his hands, the raven made a book appear, which once opened caused the room around them to fade away into a starry background.
"Oh, is this a magic game?" Silver asked.
Gabriel nodded. "I was talking with my brother, who's a big fan of D&D, and he was telling me how he was creating his own RPG system based around an anime he likes. So I figured: why not do that myself? Everyone, this is Disney Quest: Magical Adventures. In it, you and your friends can relive any Disney story as a role-playing adventure, fighting bad guys, learning spells, collecting items, and taking on some of the biggest Villains Disney has to offer."
"That sounds awesome! When do we start?" Logan asked.
Gabriel held up a hand, before picking up the book. "First, you guys need to figure out what kind of role you want in the party. Since this is the first game we're playing, I think I'd be best if each of you got a role that you'd be familiar with." The other five lined up as Gabriel read off what their roles would be. "Rachel, since you're a sword mage, I think Paladin will do well for you. You're focus will be on using magic to enhance your sword, as well as protecting the others."
"Sounds good," Rachel nodded.
"Adam, you'll be a Gadgeteer. If there's anything with technology, you can handle you. You'll also have the most futuristic weapons of the team, though that does come with the drawback of longer recharge times on attacks."
"I'll whip us up some good inventions," Adam said.
"Logan, you'll be a Fighter. It's a pretty straightforward playstyle with martial arts, though I've mixed it with some classic Barbarian elements as well, such as tanking hits through rage and stuff like that."
"If a wall gets in our way, I'll just make a path forward- with my fists," Logan grinned.
"Silver, you can be a Curse Breaker. It's a support class, but that means you can focus on keeping the party alive with healing spells. If dark magic is a problem, you'll be able to dispel it."
"I'll do my best," Silver bowed.
"As for Almyra, you'll be a Dancer, obviously. It's similar to a Bard, with encouragement spells and charm casting, but using dance instead of singing. Think you can do that?"
"Just another day for me," Almyra giggled.
Gabriel nodded. "Okay then, that just leaves me being the Storyteller. Basically, It's like the Dungeon Master. If the game gets too crazy, I can rein the story back in, or get us out of here if need be. Also, prepare for me to not hold back in my storytelling." Closing the book, the raven waved a hand off to the side, creating a portal. "So then, for tonight's game, we'll be going to Agrabah. You're quest will be to find the magic lamp in the Cave of Wonders and escape."
"Sounds easy enough," Rachel said. The gang all stepped through the portal, coming out on the other side in the dungeons of the Sultan's Palace. Looking around the place, the group saw that Gabriel was now glowing purple, his body transparent like a ghost.
"Oh yeah, I also can't interact with you guys, only narrate," Gabriel explained. "Now then, to put on my narrator voice…" He coughed into his hand before making his voice echo. "Or adventurers start their journey in the dungeons of Agrabah, having been arrested for a crime they didn't commit. Suddenly, a voice calls out to them from the darkness."
"Ah, looks like I wasn't the only one to get on the Sultan's bad side," said a voice, with the figure stepping out to reveal an old man.
"Nope!" Logan said, running up to the old guy and punching him square in the face.
"Did you just punch out an old man!?" Silver shouted.
"Oh come on, we all know that it's just Jafar in disguise," Logan said. "We've all seen the movie."
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "In response to you rudely interrupting him and breaking his nose, the old man turns you into an animal."
"Wait what?" Logan titled his head, only for the old man to cast a spell on him, turning the young man into his feral snowy owl form. "Oh, come on, really?"
Almyra gasped, picking up Logan and hugging him tightly. "You're so cute and fluffy!"
"Just be glad Destiny isn't here to see this," Rachel giggled, watching as Logan went red in the face.
"Silver, you're a Curse Breaker, right? So, break this curse!" Logan said.
"I don't know any spells," Silver said.
"What?" Logan said flatly.
"He means that we're so early into the campaign that none of you have any gear or spells," Gabriel explained. He shook his head and pulled out the rule book. "I had an entire quest line where you'd get some basic gear before going to the Cave of Wonders, but no, Logan decided to punch a sorcerer in the face. And for that, Jafar leaves you all to rot in the dungeon."
"If you won't help me, then enjoy rotting in this dungeon!" the old man shouted, vanishing in a puff of red smoke.
"Well, great…" Adam sighed. "We just started and one of us is cursed, the bd guy got away, and we're all stuck in this dungeon. Now what?"
Rachel looked around, before going over to a wall and knocking on a few bricks. As she did so, the stones moved away, revealing a secret passage. "There. Now we can go find the Cave of Wonders ourselves."
"But don't we need the scarab that Jafar has to summon it?" Almyra pointed out.
The sword mage grinned. "That's why we're going to pull a little heist first. After all, if we're in the Aladdin role for this game, might as well be the best street rats we can be, right?"
"Now you're getting it!" Gabriel cheered. "So, with their way out, the team sneak out of the dungeons to track down Jafar, the Sultan's vizier and the one whom held the key to their treasure…"
[***]
From there the gang had a great time on their quest, even if there were a few road bumps along the way. Some highlights of the game include:
Silver using his connection to animals to get Rajah to help them distract Jafar, thus giving Adam time to find the scarab in the vizier's workshop (with the Gadgeteer stealing a few objects for the gang to use along the way as well).
Almyra using his dancing skills to distract the guards as they escaped the palace.
Rachel fighting off desert bandits and getting better gear for the team to survive out in the dunes.
And Logan… well he was still stuck in his owl form, and being a snowy owl at that, he was trying really hard not to faint from the desert heat. "Why… is it… so… hot!" he exclaimed.
"Oh quit complaining. We're almost there," Adam said.
"Tell me that when you're not covered in dense feathers meant to keep you warm in the snow!" Logan shot back.
"Both of you need to stop acting like kids," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. Pulling out the scarab relic, she held it up to the sky, putting the pieces together as it flew off into the desert. "See, It's just over these dunes."
"As the group followed the scarab, the sand started to stir as the head of a giant tiger formed in front of them," Gabriel narrated. "The Cave of Wonders: a place of great treasures, but also the home of the genie's lamp, what their quest was all about. The cave warned the travelers that they must only take the lamp and nothing else, lest hey be trapped inside for all eternity."
"Yeah, yeah, we all know that part," Silver waved off. "Let's just grab the lamp and get out of here. I think I have sand in places I don't want to mention."
With that the gang all went into the Cave of Wonders, everything suddenly paused, surprising even Gabriel. "Uh, what's going on?" Almyra asked.
"I don't know," Gabriel said. Looking around, he noticed that the rule book was glowing and opened it up. "Oh, right, since this is a magic game, I set up a spell on the book to notify the Storyteller whenever something was going on in the outside world. Looks like the pizza I ordered just got here."
"Aw, but we're just not getting to the good part!" Rachel sighed.
"Hey, you can't go on an adventure without eating first," Gabriel said. Casting a spell from the book, the world returned to normal around the team, setting them back in Gabriel's apartment. The raven then put a bookmark in the book before closing it. "There, now the game is saved to where we last were."
"Like a video game," Logan nodded. "Wait, why am I still in my owl form?"
"Oh, I cast an actual transformation spell on you for trying to derail the campaign so early," Gabriel teased.
"Dude, seriously!?" Logan shouted, making everyone else laugh. "Ugh, you all owe me some extra pizza!"
"How about you get to have the first wish once we get the lamp?" Silver offered.
Logan nodded. "Fair enough."
"The game can wait. For now, pizza!" Gabriel said, everyone else cheering as the raven went to grab the food from the courier outside. It was to be a night of fun for all, and a game that the Dream Defenders agreed they'd definitely be coming back to at the next Game Night.
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed this fluffy adventure! The opening part was a fun montage of ways that game nights can go sideways: being forced to do makeovers, playing games with confusing rules or people using house rules, making the terrible decision to play Mario Party (which is fun, until someone has their luck turned around and the game laughs at your misery), or the even worser decision to play Monopoly, which included a reference to the infamous Community meme.
In real life my brother is actually working on his own D&D homebrew game, based on the anime "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure." This chapter is a tribute to him, including the shenanigans that players get up to trying to derail the narrative or the wacky things they have to do to complete a quest.
Next Time: Gabriel checks in on Beth and her brother in Hollywood Studios!