AN: So, I realized that it has been awhile since my last chapter of Adventures of the Smiling Critters, but now I'm ready to publish my first Smiling Critters chapter of the year! Since I am now finished with my previous story, I am now going to focus on writing Adventures of the Smiling Critters from now on, so I hope to publish chapters to this story more often! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Chapter 6
Dungeons and Critters
One day, the Smiling Critters made their way over to Bubba's house as he had something very important that he wanted to tell them. None of them knew what was going on and hoped that nothing bad happened.
"So, what do you think Bubba called us here for?" Bobby asked her friends.
"I'm not sure. I hope he is okay." Crafty hoped, worried for her friend.
"I'm sure Bubba is fine, Crafty! Knowing Bubba, I wouldn't be surprised if he called us here to check out some nerdy invention of his!" Kickin guessed.
"Well, we don't have to wait too much longer to find out." Picky said as she and her friends approached the front door of Bubba's house.
The Smiling Critters made their way to the house and were about to knock before the door suddenly swung open. Surprised by this, they took a few steps back before Bubba excitedly stepped out the house.
"Oh, good! You're all here! Everyone, I have exciting news!" Bubba announced.
DogDay let out an excited gasp in response. "You just found out that the Harmony Comet is going to be arriving soon and we are all going to see it tonight?"
"No, DogDay. For the last time, I don't believe in comets that can grant any wish." Bubba sighed.
"So, what did you call us here for, anyway?" Hoppy asked.
"Come inside and I'll show you!"
With that, Bubba led everyone in his house. The Smiling Critters followed Bubba as each of them silently wondered what he wanted to show him, whether it was a new invention or a new discovery Bubba made. As everyone followed Bubba into the living room, they were led to a nearby table.
"Everyone, I would like to show you all something incredible that has been a part of my childhood." Bubba directed everyone's attention to a nearby box on the table.
The box appeared to be some kind of board game with an image of a fantasy setting on the front. There were images of knights, wizards, dragons, and all kinds of mystical creatures in the center and right at the top of the box was a title that read, "Wizards and Dragons".
Hoppy squinted at the box in confusion before she turned back to Bubba and said, "Okay, I don't get it. Is the incredible thing you that want to show us supposed to be under the box?"
With a facepalm, Bubba sighed. "No, the box is what I wanted to show you." Bubba picked up the box before showing it to his friends. "This is a board game called, Wizards and Dragons. It is a board game I played a lot during my childhood. I just found it from cleaning out my attic and I was wondering if we could all play it together! Imagine being transported into a fantasy world where you go on epic adventures and learn spells and magic to save the world!"
"Ooh! That actually sounds kind of fun!" Crafty admitted.
"I agree! I think we should all give this game a try!" DogDay agreed.
The rest of the Smiling Critters all agreed as they felt that this would be a fun game day. At least, everyone except Kickin. He knew Bubba well enough to know that he was mainly into the games that have way too many rules.
"I don't know. This isn't going to be some kind of nerdy game that requires the skills of a genius to understand, is it?" Kickin asked.
"Don't worry, Kickin! I promise the game won't be that difficult!" Bubba promised before opening the box and dumping all its contents.
This revealed all kinds of graph paper with numbers and equations that Kickin couldn't figure out for the life of him. After getting over his surprise, Kickin decided that he was not going to participate in this.
"Nope! I'm out of here! You can do this without me!" Kickin turned to leave before his friends stopped him.
"Kickin, wait! Why don't you give it a chance? You'd never know until you try!" Bobby explained.
"Yeah, unless you are not up to the challenge and know you are going to lose!" Hoppy teased with a cocky smirk.
As Hoppy said that, Kickin immediately stopped in his tracks before turning around.
"Oh, you're on! Alright, Bubba! How do you play this game?" Kickin asked as he sat down at the table with his friends.
"Well, the first thing we should do is choose what character everyone should play for the game. These are all the characters you can pick from!"
With that, Bubba set out a bunch of cards across the table, each of them showing pictures of various fantasy characters. One by one, the Smiling Critters chose what characters would work best for them.
Since he was the leader, DogDay decided to become a captain. Kickin chose to be a knight because he thought it was a cool character while Hoppy chose to be an archer since she preferred a swift and fast character. As for Picky, she wanted to be a farmer to provide her team with nourishments when they needed it. Both, Crafty and Bobby decided to be the supporters of the group with Bobby being a healer and Crafty being a mage. Before long, CatNap was the only one who didn't decide on a class yet.
"Looks like you're the only one left to make a decision, CatNap! What would you like to be?" Bubba asked.
Without a word, CatNap casually pointed towards a picture of what looked like a wizard.
"Ah, a necromancer! Good choice! Looks like we are all ready to start the game! I will be the game master and get us all started!" Bubba cleared his throat before he set up the scene for the game. "We start off in a medieval kingdom as we begin our adventure."
In their imaginations, the Smiling Critters were transported into a medieval world. Each of them wore costumes that fit with their fantasy characters.
DogDay had on a red cape, along with gold knight armor, along with a sword and a shield. Kickin's knight armor was silver in comparison and had a matching silver sword in his hand. As for Picky, she wore a pair of blue colored farmer overalls with a pair of brown boots and a light brown hat on her head. Hoppy had on a brown tunic as she carried a bow with a quiver of arrows at her side. As the healers of the group, Crafty and Bobby wore a couple of robes with Bobby's being white and Crafty's being light blue as they both carried magical staffs as weapons. Finally, with CatNap, he simply wore a black cloak with a magic wand in his paw.
As the team was assembled, they walked through a destroyed kingdom as they could hear Bubba's voice in the distance.
"As you explore the kingdom, you all realize that it was brought to ruin by an evil dragon. You make your way to the castle where you introduce yourselves to the great ruler of the kingdom."
Soon the Smiling Critters entered the throne room before they all kneeled before the king.
"Brave warriors! We are eternally grateful for your help to restore peace to our land!" the king spoke. "Thanks to your great skills and power you can help save us from the fury of the dragon! I wish you all luck on your adventure."
"Wait a minute. If the king is so great, why doesn't he help us out on our adventure?" Hoppy suddenly asked.
"Because he is not an actual character." Bubba's voice called out in the distance. "He is just an NPC that we only see one time on our adventure."
"Aw. It would have been pretty cool for a king to fight a dragon by our side." Hoppy sighed.
Once the king wished everyone luck, the Smiling Critters left the kingdom into a wide open plain. They traversed through the plains until they took notice of a bunch of vegetables on the ground.
"Huh? That's strange! What is a pile of vegetables doing in the middle of nowhere?" DogDay asked. "We aren't anywhere near a farm."
Soon everyone brought their attention over to Picky, who seemed just as confused as the rest of them. "Hey, don't look at me! I can't even produce vegetables until a higher level."
At that moment, everyone heard Bubba's voice once again. "All of you encounter a seemingly harmless pile of vegetables. What you don't know is that they are secretly monsters in disguise."
Suddenly, the vegetables sprang to life, each of them glaring at the Smiling Critters with red eyes and sharp teeth.
"Wait, wait! Hold on!" Kickin suddenly called out, snapping everyone back to the real world. "Vegetable monsters? Really? That's the best idea you could come up with?"
"Hey, it's just the beginning of the game! I'm sure the monsters would get more creative from there!" Bubba promised.
"Bubba, I have a question!" Picky raised her hoof. "My character wouldn't happen to have an eat command would she? That would help us easily defeat the vegetable monsters!"
Bubba chuckled. "Sorry, Picky! All you can do is support the team!"
Back in the fantasy world, the Smiling Critters began their battle with the vegetable monsters. DogDay was the first to attack, so he swung his sword, but suddenly missed.
"What? Why didn't I hit them?" DogDay asked, confused.
"Sorry, DogDay! The number value on the dice you rolled was too low, so your attack didn't hit them. Now the monsters get to attack you." Bubba explained.
With no way to defend himself, DogDay turned to the monsters with a nervous smile. The monsters didn't give him a chance to react before they tackled him to the ground.
"Hang on, DogDay! Leave them to me!" Kickin raised his sword and tried to attack the vegetable monsters as well.
Unfortunately, just like DogDay, Kickin ended up missing.
"What?! How could I miss?! They were right in front of me?" Kickin yelled in disbelief.
"Looks like you missed the dice roll by one point." Bubba noticed.
"One point?! Really?! Come on! Can't you make an exception?" Kickin complained.
"Sorry, Kickin! Rules are rules! Looks like its your turn, CatNap! What spell would you like to use for this battle?" Bubba asked.
CatNap gazed at his lists of spells for a few moments in silence. After a few moments of deciding his next move, CatNap pointed towards one of his spells.
"Wait, you want to use the obliterate spell? You might want to rethink your strategy, CatNap! You need the highest dice roll possible for it to work."
Despite Bubba's protests, CatNap still insisted on using that spell.
"Okay, if you say so." Bubba finally agreed.
With that, CatNap rolled the dice on the table. Much to everyone's surprise, the dice landed on the highest number possible. None of them could believe what they were seeing. While they were struggling with playing the game, CatNap was able to perform his most powerful spell like it was nothing.
"Aw, you cheater! How is it that you are doing a lot better at this game than we are?" Hoppy complained.
"I, uh, don't know how he did it, but it seems that his spell is effective." Bubba said, still trying to comprehend what he witnessed.
In the Smiling Critters' imagination, CatNap blasted the vegetable monsters with a powerful beam, slicing them to pieces. This not only defeated them, but turned them into regular vegetables. With the monsters defeated, Picky approached their remains before placing them in a basket.
"Well, can't have these go to waste! Now we have something to eat for the road!" Picky smiled.
Creeped out by this, DogDay replied, "Uh, sure. Eating the corpses of our fallen enemies. That's not morbid at all!"
"At least we now won our first battle!" Bobby said before taking notice of something in the distance. "Hey, what's that?"
Curious, everyone looked over towards where Bobby was looking at to see a herd of giant bird-like creatures. They all hid behind a bush to take a closer look.
"What are those things?" Crafty asked.
"Those are chicibas." Bubba explained. "They are mystical birds that you can tame. If you are able to catch them, they can take you across the lands at high speeds."
"Big deal! I doubt they could be as fast as me!" Kickin bragged. "Either way, I'm sure I can catch them, no problem!"
"Are you sure that is a good idea, Kickin? They look a little too big." Crafty explained.
Unfortunately, Crafty's warnings fell on deaf ears as Kickin decided to tame one of the birds, anyway. He carefully sneaked over to one of the bird and was about to grab it before it noticed him and let out a loud screech.
Startled by this, Kickin gave a scream before the herd of chicibas ran towards him, trampling him to the ground. Before long, the chicibas ran away, leaving Kickin beat up and bruised on the ground.
"Wh-What just happened?" Kickin managed to speak, despite the pain he was in.
"According to the rules, you were a few sneak points short to tame the birds. Maybe next time, you should choose a ninja class." Bubba suggested.
Kickin soon let out a growl of frustration. "I'm really starting to hate these stupid rules!"
"Not to worry! I know about a shortcut through the forest that leads to the dragon's lair!" Bubba assured.
With no other choice, the Smiling Critters decided to traverse through the forest. They all carefully walked through the woods, each of them getting the feeling that they were being watched by monsters lurking in the shadows.
After a few moments of exploring, they took notice of a creature lying on the ground. They took a closer look to see that it was a goblin. Sensing the Smiling Critters' presence, the goblin opened its eyes and stood up in a fighting stance. Despite its fierce expression, it was obvious to the Smiling Critters that it was in no condition to fight.
"Alright, this fight should be pretty easy. Now that the enemy is weak, you can hit him with a preemptive attack! Crafty! Bobby! Since it is now your turn, what would you do?" Bubba asked.
Crafty took a moment to think before she replied, "I think we should spare the poor thing."
Bubba's eyes widened in surprise at what Crafty said. "Wh-What? Crafty, I know that you and Bobby are the healers of the group, but you do have a good couple of offensive spells to take the goblin down."
"You want us to attack it while its so weak?! Bubba, that's just cruel!" Bobby yelled.
Seeing that he wasn't going to change his friends' minds, Bubba decided to go along with it. "Well, okay, I guess. Roll the dice to see if your spare tactics would work."
With that, Crafty and Bobby rolled the dice in hopes that their strategy would work. Much to their misfortune, the dice ended up getting a really low number, resulting in their fantasy characters getting attacked by the goblin before it ran away. This left Crafty and Bobby lying on the grass as they noticed that their health was really low.
"Bubba, would it be alright for Bobby and I to heal each other?" Crafty asked.
"Nope! Sorry, Crafty! Your turn just ended." Bubba replied, much to Crafty and Bobby's disappointment.
As the fight came to an end, the Smiling Critters continued their trek through the forest. It wasn't long before they heard a scream in the distance. Sensing that someone was in danger, they ran towards where they heard the scream before they came across a pink anthropomorphic chicken maiden, who was being cornered by a minotaur. The maiden backed away slowly as the minotaur approached her with a giant axe in its hands.
"Oh no! She's in trouble!" DogDay gasped. "We have to save her!"
The minotaur soon turned around as it noticed the Smiling Critters. It soon let out a mighty roar as it charged forward with its axe.
"Don't worry, guys! I got this!" Hoppy stepped forward, aiming her bow at the minotaur.
Back in the real world, Hoppy nervously gazed at the dice in her paw. She shut her eyes tightly, silently hoping that her attack would work. After rolling the dice, Hoppy opened her eyes to see that the number was high enough for her to attack.
"Yes! Finally!" Hoppy exclaimed, relieved that her attack would actually work.
Back in the game, Hoppy fired an arrow right at the minotaur. It was a direct hit, but much to Hoppy's shock, the minotaur didn't even flinch as the arrow bounced off him.
"What the heck, Bubba?! I thought my roll was high enough!" Hoppy yelled.
"Oh, it was! It's just that the minotaur is a pretty tough enemy, so his defenses were too high for your arrow." Bubba pointed out.
"What?! How is that fair?!" Hoppy couldn't believe what she was hearing.
This time, Kickin stepped forward to take on the minotaur. "Tough enemy or not, he is going down!"
At that moment, Kickin charged forward with his sword. Before Kickin could make a move, the minotaur effortlessly grabbed Kickin by his sword, lifting him up in the air to his eye level. All Kickin could do now was give a nervous smile before the minotaur threw him against a nearby tree.
The impact left Kickin dazed and confused as the minotaur stood above him and was just about ready to swing the axe. What the minotaur didn't know was that Kickin hit the tree so hard, it caused the branches to shake uncontrollably. Before the minotaur could realize what was going on, one of the giant branches snapped from the tree and fell on the minotaur's head, knocking it unconscious. Kickin soon recovered from his dizziness to see the fallen minotaur in front of him.
Kickin breathed a sigh of relief before he stood back up. "I totally meant to do that!"
"Oh, thank you so much, my brave knight!" The chicken maiden embraced Kickin in a tight hug, leaving him lovestruck.
"Uh, i-it was no biggie! I am pretty awesome!" Kickin bragged.
"We're just glad that you didn't get hurt!" DogDay said. "By the way, my friends and I are searching for the dragon's lair. You wouldn't happen to know where we can find it, do you?"
"Of course! This dark and scary cave will act as a shortcut that would lead you directly to the dragon's lair!" The maiden pointed towards a nearby cave.
Crafty trembled at the sight of it. "Why does it always have to be a dark and scary cave?"
"We'll be fine, Crafty!" DogDay assured. "Once we get through the cave, we'll finally be able to defeat the dragon!"
The Smiling Critters were just about ready to leave before the maiden called out for them. "Before you leave, I would like to give a reward for the brave knight who rescued me!"
With a smile, Kickin rushed over to her side. "Well, if you want to give me a kiss for my efforts, who am I to refuse?"
The maiden giggled. "No, silly! It's something even better! I would like to give you an ally!"
"An ally?" Kickin raised a confused eyebrow.
It was at that moment when a sleepy looking fairy slowly flew towards Kickin.
"I would like you to meet Nighty the Annoying Fairy!" The maiden introduced. "She might not be much help now, but once she's awake, she would be able to teach you things that you already knew!"
Suddenly, Nighty opened her eyes with a happy grin before speaking to Kickin in an annoying high pitched voice. "Hey, did you know that in order to defeat enemies, you need to swing your sword?"
Already annoyed with the fairy, Kickin felt his eye twitch. He went through all the trouble to defeat the minotaur, and his reward was a fairy who blatantly states the obvious.
"Really, Bubba? You made the NPC give me an annoying fairy as a reward? I mean, what's next? Are you going to give me an empty bottle as a reward too?" Kickin retorted.
At that moment, Bubba darted his eyes over towards his notes, which revealed that there really was an empty bottle as a reward for one of the side quests. He then pushed the notes over to the side so no one would see them.
"Uh, moving on! You soon find yourselves in the dark depths of the cavern leading to the dragon's lair. Not even the tiniest bit of light could be found, but you press on."
The Smiling Critters traversed through the dark depths for what felt like forever as they all kept an eye out for anything that might attack.
"Ugh! I'm so hungry!" Picky groaned. "I haven't eaten since we started this adventure. It's a good thing I kept those vegetables with me!"
Picky reached into her basket before taking out a carrot. She was about to bite down on it before Bubba stopped her at the last moment.
"Hold it, Picky! You need to roll the dice to see if your character can eat the vegetable."
Dumbfounded by this, Picky replied, "Wait, I need to roll the dice just so my character can eat? Don't you think that's a little excessive?"
"Sorry, Picky! Rules are rules!"
With a sigh, Picky rolled the dice but was just a few numbers off with her roll.
"Ooh. Sorry. Guess your move didn't work." Bubba apologized.
"Bubba, please! Have some mercy! My character is starving!" Picky begged.
"Sorry, but I can't just bend the rules. Guess you'll just have to wait for your next turn."
Soon, Picky started to get frustrated with the game too, so she crossed her arms in a pout.
The further the Smiling Critters traveled in the cave, the darker it got. To counter this, DogDay lit a candle to help everyone see where they were going. Unfortunately, this ended up catching the attention of a swarm of bats from above.
Upon noticing the bats, the Smiling Critters screamed as the bats swooped down on them. They all did their best to fend off the bats, but the bats wouldn't let up as they continued to swarm around them.
"There are too many of them!" Bobby yelled, trying to shoo the bats away with her staff.
Crafty tried to do the same with her staff, but it didn't do any good. "How are we going to stop them?"
"Maybe Nighty can give us some advice. Nighty, do these bats have some kind of weakness?" Kickin asked, only to notice that the fairy was asleep, much to his frustration. "Oh, sure! Now you decide not to talk!"
Kickin was soon taken off guard when one of the bats rammed into him. This ended up waking up Nighty as she noticed Kickin barely fending off the bat with his sword.
"Hey, watch out! If you get bit by the bat, your health would get lower! Not to mention you would experience status changes like poison, sleepiness, dizziness, blindness, confusion-"
Now more infuriated with the fairy than ever, Kickin turned to Nighty to yell at her. "Would you just be quiet for 5 seconds so I can-"
Before Kickin could finish his sentence, the bat he was fighting bit him, causing him to collapse to the floor as he began to experience all of the negative status effects Nighty just mentioned.
It was at this point when the Smiling Critters were hopelessly outnumbered. Desperate to end this fight, DogDay looked through his attacks before discovering that he could use a light attack on all enemies.
"Hang on, guys! I'll try to cast illuminate to defeat the bats!" DogDay announced.
"Careful, DogDay! You would be wasting a turn if you don't roll a perfect number!" Bubba warned.
With a gulp, DogDay rolled the dice, hoping that his desperate attack would actually work. The dice rolled across the table before landed on the highest number possible. This caused DogDay to beam in excitement as he was now able to attack all the bats at once.
Raising his sword, DogDay illuminated a beam of light that lit up the entire room. Unable to see, the bats kept crashing into each other and nearby walls. As the light dimmed down, DogDay looked around to see that all of the bats were knocked out.
"Alright! We won!" DogDay exclaimed before he felt weak all of a sudden. "Ugh! What's going on?"
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention. Casting illuminate would permanently cut your health by half." Bubba explained.
This left DogDay baffled by this strange rule. "Why would the creators of this game come up with such an unfair rule?"
"Because-" Bubba was about to answer before he paused as he started to wonder that himself. "That's actually a good question."
"You know what? Nevermind. Lets just get to the end of this and defeat the dragon already." DogDay replied, secretly wanting this game to end.
"Please tell me that we are close to the dragon." Hoppy begged.
"Actually, it is right in the next room!" Bubba said, much to the relief of his friends. "Right after you get through the Impossible Maze of Confusion."
Back in the game, the Smiling Critters were all shocked to see that they were standing in the middle of a maze with countless doors and passages. With how many possible directions they could take, it would take them forever to find the right path.
"W-We seriously have to go through this confusing maze?" Hoppy stuttered, overwhelmed by the maze.
"Oh, it's not that hard! There are only 450 possible routes to take." Bubba casually replied, as if it wasn't a big deal.
It was at that moment when Kickin started to lose it. "Are you kidding me?! We went through all this trouble dealing with these unfair rules and now we are in an area that is impossible to escape from?!"
As Kickin started to have a meltdown, Nighty flew by his side and said, "It appears that you could take a moment to relax and take deep breaths. Did you know that in order to breathe, you need to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide?"
"Shut up, Nighty!" Kickin snapped. "That's it! I can't take it anymore!"
Back in the real world, Kickin stood up from his seat, wanting nothing more to do with the game.
"Kickin, what's wrong?" Bubba asked.
"What's wrong?! What isn't wrong? This game of yours is awful!" Kickin yelled. "We dealt with all these stupid rules that sucked all the fun out of the game! No one is having fun anymore!"
"What? But that's not true! Everyone loves the game, right guys?" Bubba asked as he was sure everyone would agree with him.
Instead, Bubba was surprised when no one would answer him. The Smiling Critters all remained silent, as if trying to think of a way to let Bubba down gently.
"Listen, we're glad that you have a game you love, but I don't think it's for us." Hoppy explained.
"I think my character would have starved to death at this point." Picky sighed.
"Bobby and I still didn't get a chance to heal each other from that goblin attack." Crafty reminded Bubba.
"And I'm still sad we didn't get to befriend a single monster." Bobby sighed.
"Not to mention that I'm still recovering from that move that permanently sapped my health." said DogDay.
Seeing that his friends were in agreement, Kickin turned to Bubba and yelled, "You see? No one likes your stupid game! Why you enjoyed that game during your childhood, I will never know! Wizards and Dragons is not a good game and it never will be!"
The room was silent as Bubba couldn't believe what Kickin just said to him. This whole time, he thought he and his friends were having fun, but they all hated the game. With a sigh, Bubba stood up from his seat.
"Okay. I see how it is. Sorry I made all of you play a game you didn't want to play. I just thought it would have been fun for us all to do something together as friends." Bubba started to tear up as Kickin's angered expression softened. "You can all just leave. You don't have to put up with my stupid game anymore."
Unable to hold back his tears, Bubba ran upstairs so he would be left alone.
"Bubba, wait!" Kickin held out his arm, but it was too late as Bubba was far gone by this point.
As Bubba ran to his room, Kickin was overcome with guilt for what he said to his friend.
"Kickin, you didn't have to go that far!" Bobby scolded. "You really hurt Bubba's feelings!"
"Ugh! I know!" Kickin covered his face. "I'm such an idiot! I have to make things right with him!"
With that, Kickin ran upstairs in search for Bubba. He walked down the hallway before taking notice of Bubba, who was sitting down on his bed, holding what appeared to be a figurine of an alchemist. Feeling bad for his actions, Kickin decided to sit down on the bed next to Bubba.
A few moments of silence went by before Kickin spoke up. "Hey, that's a pretty cool figurine you have!"
Bubba looked up before giving a slight smile. "Thanks. He is actually my favorite character from the game. I remember being an alchemist a lot during my childhood of playing Wizards and Dragons. You don't have to pretend to be interested though. I know the figurine is pretty dumb."
With a twinge of guilt, Kickin awkwardly looked away. He knew that Bubba only wanted to spend time with him and the others. He couldn't get mad at Bubba for that.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I've said before." Kickin apologized. "I've been a real jerk."
"I can't really blame you for getting frustrated. I guess the game can get a little tricky. It's just that Wizards and Dragons was a game that I really loved, and I wanted to share that enjoyment with others. I know that you think that the rules are dumb, but they are what make the game fun." Bubba explained.
"Hey, I really do get it. If the sports I play don't have any rules, then that would suck the fun out of those games too, but what's the point of following the rules of a game if no one is having fun?" Kickin asked.
The blue elephant continued to gaze at his wizard figurine in silence as he pondered Kickin's question.
"I guess I have been a little too strict with the rules. Sorry I took all the fun out of the game."
"Eh, don't sweat it! Why don't we go back to the game?"
Bubba's eyes widened in surprise at what Kickin said. "You still want to play?"
"Yeah, if I'm being honest, I've been looking forward to taking down the dragon! Just take it easy with the rules, alright?"
Bubba nodded. "Sure, I think I can do that!"
With that, Kickin and Bubba walked back downstairs so they could continue the game. As everyone returned to the game, the Smiling Critters were understandably nervous with what the rest of the game has in store for them.
"Okay, so now that we are back, we have to go through this impossible maze, right?" DogDay asked.
Bubba gazed at each of his friends to see that they were all exhausted by this point. All he wanted was everyone to have fun, and dealing with a maze seemed like the last thing they wanted.
"You know what? Why don't we just skip the maze?" Bubba said, much to the surprise and relief of his friends. "If I'm being honest, even I feel that the mazes in this game get a little too complicated. Let's move on to the end. You learn a teleportation spell that helps you get through the maze and into the final hallway to the dragon's lair as you are about to have your biggest fight yet."
The Smiling Critters walk down the hallway, each of them mentally preparing themselves for their last battle. As they marched forward, the silence was broken by the rumbling of Picky's stomach as she hadn't eaten in a long time.
"Do you need a moment to eat, Picky? You need to keep your strength up for the upcoming battle." Bubba explained.
"I would, but I have a feeling that I would mess up with the dice again." Picky replied.
"Oh, just forget the dice! Rolling the dice just to get a simple snack was a stupid rule anyway!" Bubba said, much to Picky's surprise.
"Wait, you thought the rule was stupid? Okay, who are you and what have you done with Bubba?" Picky said with an amused grin.
Bubba chuckled, "Well, while it's true that rules are important, they shouldn't get in the way of the fun of the game!"
"Speaking of rules, guess what, Picky! According to the rules, you can actually increase our stats and make us stronger depending on what kind of vegetables you feed us!" Kickin explained.
As Kickin said that, Bubba was left surprised by the fact that Kickin actually knew that.
"Kickin, you really have been paying attention to the rules!" Bubba smiled, touched that Kickin had took the time to look over the rules.
Kickin shrugged. "What can I say? You'd never know when you would find information that would come in handy!"
With that, Kickin began to guide Picky on what vegetables she should feed her friends in order to find the most effective way to raise their stats. As they had their snack break, the Smiling Critters felt themselves getting stronger to the point where even DogDay recovered all the health he lost from his last attack.
Once they were all ready, they raised their weapons and entered the lair of the dragon. They all found themselves in a giant room and were surrounded by pitch-black darkness. After taking a couple of footsteps, they were able to hear heavy breathing from about, so they looked up and were shocked to see an enormous dragon in front of them.
Sensing the Smiling Critters' presence, the dragon opened its eyes and stood up, towering above them. The dragon gave a mighty roar as it got ready to fight. Raising their weapons, the Smiling Critters attacked the dragon with all they got. DogDay and Kickin swung their swords at the dragon while Hoppy fired as many arrows as she could. Meanwhile, Crafty, Bobby, and Picky continued to support their team as Crafty and Bobby healed anyone who was injured and Picky provided food to everyone to keep their strength and spirits up. CatNap casted spells of his own, using his most powerful lighting spells.
As the Smiling Critters fought back, the dragon began to breath fire towards them. DogDay dodged the flames when Kickin came up with an idea.
"DogDay, I know that captains usually aren't the ones to take orders from soldiers, but I need you to raise your shield! According to the game, the shield is fire resistant!" Kickin explained.
"Really?" DogDay raised his shield against the dragon's fire, which effortlessly blocked every single flame.
"Wow! Good thinking, Kickin!" Bubba complimented. "Although, thinking outside the box is just as important! Do you have a move that goes beyond the game's conventions?"
Kickin took a moment to ponder Bubba's question before he thought of an idea. "Actually I think I might have a plan! Nighty!"
As she was called, Nighty appeared in front of Kickin before talking in her usual annoying voice. "Hey! Do you need my advice on something?"
"Not exactly! I just need you to hold still!"
Before Nighty could ask Kickin what he meant by that, Kickin suddenly grabbed her and threw her straight at the dragon.
"Whee!" The fairy cheered in joy, despite the clear danger she was in.
It was at that moment when Nighty ended up landing on the dragon's head. As the dragon noticed Nighty, it desperately tried to shake her off its head, but the fairy still continued to cling on to it.
"Hoppy, aim your shots at the dragon's toes! It would trip the dragon up!" Kickin ordered.
"Leave it to me!" Hoppy aimed her bow before firing an arrow at the dragon's toe, causing it to trip. "Awesome! I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is really starting to pick up!"
"And that's not all!" Bubba announced. "I just decided that the king isn't an NPC anymore! He decided that he should help you out on your adventure after all!"
At that moment, the king that the Smiling Critters met at the beginning of their journey entered the room, sword in hand. He slashed at the dragon, causing it to back up in fear.
"Woo! Way to kick that dragon's butt, Your Majesty!" Hoppy cheered.
Suddenly the dragon spread its wings and flew in the air before it took a deep breath as it got ready for a powerful attack. The Smiling Critters watched in shock, wondering what the dragon was planning.
"Uh oh. That doesn't look good." Picky took a few steps back.
"What is it doing?" Bobby asked.
"Listen everyone, the dragon is about to attack with everything it has." Bubba explained. "Its next attack would be devastating enough to knock you all out at once. CatNap, since it is your turn now, it is up to you to summon your most powerful magic spell."
CatNap gave a silent nod before taking the dice in his paw with the intent of using the obliterate spell once more. He threw the dice and the Smiling Critters watched in anticipation as the dice rolled across the table. The dice slowly rolled to the highest number needed to cast the spell. Right at the last moment, the dice rolled on the wrong side, landing one number short of the requirement, much to the Smiling Critters' dismay.
"Oh no. We were so close." Crafty despaired.
"Is this really it? Is our adventure really over?" Hoppy asked.
Bubba couldn't believe it. Despite his friends' best efforts they would end up failing to save the kingdom. He looked down in sadness before he realized something.
"Wait a minute! I almost forgot! I haven't took our friendship points into account." Bubba realized.
"Friendship points?" DogDay repeated.
"That's right! You have all worked extremely well as a team, meaning it earns you one more point on the dice!" Bubba smiled before tipping the dice over to its highest number.
Now that he was able to cast the spell, CatNap raised his staff and fired a powerful beam at the dragon. This not only stopped the dragon's attack, but also knocked it out of the sky, leaving it with only a sliver of health left. With the dragon on the ground, everyone approached it as it was now Crafty and Bobby's turn.
"Okay, Crafty and Bobby now is your chance to finish the dragon. What would your last move be?" Bubba asked.
Both, Crafty and Bobby shared a couple of smiles with each other before nodding in unison as they knew exactly what the other was thinking.
"We roll to spare the dragon!" Crafty and Bobby exclaimed in unison.
They rolled the dice, earning a high enough number for their spells to work. While Crafty used a purify spell on the dragon, Bobby casted a cure spell, healing the dragon of its wounds.
The dragon opened its eyes, and unlike last time, the dragon was no longer terrifying and stared at everyone with a genuine smile, thanks to Crafty's purify spell. Thankful for what Crafty and Bobby had done for it, the dragon lowered its head, to which Crafty and Bobby pet it in response.
Bubba smiled before he continued to narrate. "Having destroyed the evil from the dragon's heart, all of you returned to the kingdom as heroes! The kingdom slowly returned back to its former happy state with a little help from the dragon."
To emphasize his point, the fantasy world showed everyone rebuilding their homes with the dragon helping out by carrying wood, stones, and other building tools on its back for everyone to use.
"You have all experienced all kinds of adventures and trials, but all adventures must come to an end. Now, you will say goodbye to everyone who helped you along the way." Bubba said.
Meanwhile in the fantasy world, Nighty was saying goodbye to Kickin.
"We have been through a lot of adventures together, but I must return to the realm of the fairies! It's time to say goodbye, but I promise to never forget you and-"
Nighty didn't even get to finish her sentence before Kickin ran as far away as possible, desperate to get away from the annoying fairy. "See you never, Nighty!"
"Your adventure might be over, but the villagers will never forget your bravery, and tales of your courage shall live on forever!" Bubba concluded the story.
Once the game was over, the Smiling Critters snapped back to reality. They all took a look outside to see the sun setting as they realized that they had been more invested in the game than they thought.
"So, what did you all think of the game?" Bubba asked. "I know that it had a few ups and downs, but-"
"It was awesome!" Hoppy exclaimed. "Having a king fight a dragon by your side was epic!"
"It has been a little rough, but I say it was a really fun adventure!" DogDay smiled.
"I loved how I got to share food with others! The farmer was the perfect class for me!" Picky explained.
"Bobby and I enjoyed being the healers of the group too!" said Crafty.
"Yes, it's so much better to befriend our enemies instead of defeating them!" Bobby smiled.
Bubba was touched that his friends actually enjoyed his game. Despite how strict he was with the rules, he was glad that they were all able to make a compromise to make the game fun for everyone.
"Thanks, everyone!" Bubba thanked. "It means a lot that you all stuck around til the end!"
"Well, even I have to admit, the game wasn't as nerdy as I thought it would be!" Kickin admitted. "Maybe we can play the game again sometime!"
Bubba smiled. "Sure! I think I would really like that! But first, I have to change up the rules a little to make the game more fair and balanced for all of us! Maybe next time, you can be the game master, Kickin! I actually want to become an alchemist again!"
"Sounds good to me! Just don't expect me to include Nighty in our next adventure!" Kickin shuttered at the memory of the annoying fairy, to which all of his friends laughed in unison.
As the game came to an end, the Smiling Critters packed all of the game pieces up and put them back in the box before heading back to their homes. One by one, all of Bubba's friends left until he was the only one left in the house. Taking the box, he placed it on a nearby shelf as he looked forward to the next time he and his friends would play Wizards and Dragons together.
AN: Well, that's the end of the new chapter! As someone who loves RPGs, this was a fun chapter for me to write, whether it was including RPG tropes or making fun references to other games! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I promise it won't take me as long to publish the next chapter of the story!