"Oh, the games get some things right but others they are way off on. Honestly, it's the more obscure races that are really frustrating since they don't exactly want to be interviewed on how accurate our games are." – Indi game company owner

"Hey guys, welcome back." Said a familiar voice as Kurt attempted to navigate a cooler through the door to the game store while Val held it open. "Here to join the game with Steve?"

"That's the idea." Val said "He asked us to bring drinks, but we didn't know what kind so…" she waved her hand at the cooler that Kurt was pretending to struggle with.

Kurt looked up and saw Frank walking around the counter. He approached after they made it through the doorway and into the mostly empty lobby. The man did a quick glance around before leaning in and speaking in a lowered tone of voice.

"Listen, I appreciate you going through all these lengths to look human, but you can drop the act with me." He said while looking at Kurt.

Immediately straightening up, Kurt gave the shop owner a hard look. He had scented him before when they first came in and hadn't noticed anything more than human. That lead to one possibility. "A mage?" He half stated, half asked.

Frank shook his head. "Close, wizard actually." He beckoned them in and out of the doorway. "So, I had my suspicion when you came in the other day, but it was hard to tell with my wards picking up so many paras but now I know. Well, I know you are…something just not what."

"And you decided that now was the time to spring that on us?" Kristi asked from where she had slowly positioned herself slightly behind the man. Her words startled him, and he turned to see her glaring at him.

"Umm…yes?"

Waving Kristi off with his hand, Kurt addressed Frank. "Is this going to cause any issues?"

"I don't think so." Frank said after a moment of consideration. "Steve is a normie but is in the know and seems to be cool with it all. Come on, I'll walk you up and show you the fridge. Steve has a shelf that you can put drinks in rather than lug a cooler around."

The trio shared a look, having a silent conversation before they all turned to follow Frank up to the second floor, this time using the elevator. They crossed the short hall at the top and opened the door near the bathrooms. Inside was a small kitchenette with a microwave, short section of counter with a sink and a fridge. Kurt set the cooler down and began stocking the fridge while Frank excused himself to go back to checking in some inventory.

"That is a little unsettling." Kristi said after he had left. "I am used to being able to sus out who is and isn't on our side of the veil. With him, I felt nothing."

Kurt paused and looked up at her. "Yeah, that's one of the reasons human magicians are scary. You don't know until they want you to know." He paused for a moment as his words pushed his thoughts on another path. "I guess it's a courtesy that he told us. We are essentially at his mercy right now so let's try to not push his good will."

The girls nodded, quickly agreeing to the idea of staying on his good side while on his turf. They finished loading up the shelf labeled 'Steve – Saturdays @ 6PM' and headed over to small game room that had the door open and the light on.

They noticed the sole occupant of the room sitting behind a screen and writing, judging by his posture and the little movements he made. The man looked up as they approached and stood from his chair with a smile.

He was of middling height and build, just a little extra weight on his frame. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties in age with bright blue eyes partly obscured by his glasses. His light brown hair was neatly combed over to the side and held in place with some sort of hair product. All things considered, he looked to be a completely normal person in jeans and a sweater.

"Hi folks. Is one of you by chance Val?" He asked in a voice that was a clear as it was deep. Kurt would describe it as perfect for radio or voice acting just from those few words.

"That's me." Val said and waved her hand. "You are Steve?"

"Yup, the one and only… wait, nope, there is another Steve. Eh, he only comes to the other groups so its fine." He cut himself off and side bared before coming back to focus. "Yes, I am Steve, the GM for this group. So that would make you Kurt and you are Krista?" he pointed to the two in question.

"Kristi." Corrected the dragoness.

"Oops, sorry." He quickly scooped up his note pad while flushing in embarrassment. "I think I copied it down wrong."

"It is no trouble." Kristi said.

Steve then held out his hand to shake each of theirs. "Great to meet all of you. Please sit, sit. Let's get rolling some characters. I really hope I don't let you down and you want to stick around."

"Are you hurting for players?" Val asked while she shuffled around the table to an open seat.

"Nope, just wanted someone else to help with snacks for the group." Steve laughed. "But in all seriousness, yeah, I need to round out the group. Playing with only a few is fine, but it limits how the players do things."

Kurt accepted the stack of character sheets from him and sat at the end next to Val with Kristi nearest Steve. "Probably easier for you though." Kurt offered.

"Eh, kinda. Sure, it's easier to keep track but I also have to plan farther in advance since the pace is so much faster with only three players. Six in a group is about perfect." He began fishing in his bag. "Do you guys need dice or…?"

"Yes, dice and minis." Val said. "We were reading the rule books that we got but didn't go any further. But we did bring drinks! Coke, diet Coke, Gatorade and waters since we didn't know what people liked."

Steve laughed and passed out dice, trays and a couple generic mini figures. "In the future I think just pop and water will be fine, unless you want something specific. Alright, are you ready to make some characters?"

"Yes!" Kristi said and clapped her hands together. "So excited."

"Great." Steve said as he opened his book and binders. "So, I use preset stats for the characters, it's for balance purposes and then you don't get really odd stats from random rolls." He flipped through his binders. "With that in mind, what do you want to be?"

*****

Half an hour later, they had finished creating each of their two characters. Kurt ended up with his first being a human rogue. Val ended up as a tiefling warlock. Kristi had picked a half-elf monk. They had also made a promise to pick up their own dice and mini figures before the next game. Kurt was about to offer to go get them now when a strange sound could be heard.

There arose such a clatter of something in a can falling to the wood floor, followed by some muttered cursing before the clack of hard heels on wood. "…orRRRYYY. Sorry I'm late." Came a squeaky female voice followed by a short woman coming into sight around the wall. "I got stuck at- oh…"

The newcomer stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of the half-filled table and Steve all staring at her, clearly having stopped in the middle of something. One of the cans of mixed nuts in her already overloaded arms dislodged and clattered to the floor, telling everyone what the first noise was.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Oh, biscuits." She sighed and tossed her things into an empty chair. This allowed them to get a good look at the young lady.

Kurt immediately picked up that she was a dwarf, just going by her smell. She could also be described as compact, being short with powerful limbs. Her hair was a deep, russet red color and pulled back into a bun centered behind her head and showing her fair skin. It gave her a professional look that tied in with her blouse and slacks.

"Steve, I am so sorry. I got held up at work and traffic was a mess." She said while stooping to pick up the can she had dropped.

"Mel, its ok. I just said I was going to be here early for the new players. You didn't have to come early." Steve said and stood to help her sort her things. "These are our new friends that will hopefully be sticking around if I can be a decent GM."

Mel popped back up with her snack in hand. "Oh, you are a great GM! I am sure they will love you." The expression on her face as she looked at Steve was one of adoration. "I love your campaigns and one shot's! So much better than my last group."

After they sorted out the bags, coat and snack situation that came in with the tornado known as Mel, Steve introduced them. "This is Kristi, Val and Kurt. Guys, this is Melody Tapper. She is currently playing a dragonborn cleric and has been in our group for…twooo? Yeah, two years now."

"Closer to two and a half, actually." She said before turning to Kurt and the girls. "It's really nice to meet you all." She did her best to reach across the table and offer her hand.

They sat back down a moment later and began talking about the campaign setting. Mel caught them up on some of the more interpersonal bits while Steve stuck to the wider range of the story thus far. Thankfully they had only missed a few sessions and the party was just arriving at a new city where they would be introduced.

Kurt heard more people coming up the stairs, two people judging by the very distinct cadence to the foot falls. A moment later he heard some hushed conversation and glanced through the doorway to see another pair of men walking in.

One was extremely heavy set, somewhere in his mid to late thirties by Kurt's estimation but dressed in designer clothing. The other was a tall and skinny man who was rolling his eyes as his hefty friend hissed in his ear.

"Don't be an ass again. Remember how the last campaign ended, and half our players decided to leave for another table." They had stopped halfway across the main room to have a last-minute conversation.

"Well, they should have been so easily triggered. It's not like I actually did anything. If they can't handle my personality, then maybe it's best they left." Said the slim man and Kurt raised an eyebrow at the comments.

The first man then glanced to the door where he saw Kurt watching with his eyebrows raised. He ducked his head and looked away before starting to walk forward again. The tall slim man seemed oblivious and just kept talking about 'player rights' and how he wouldn't be censored.

"And here they are." Steve said as the pair walked in. "Guys, this is Kurt, Val and Kristi." He put a little extra emphasis on the last syllable of Kristi's name, like he was reminding himself.

"Hey, I'm Adam." Said the heavy-set man. "Really nice to meet you." He shuffled around the table to shake hands while the other man ignored them went to sit. "And since he won't introduce himself, his name is Jayson."

Kurt and the girls exchanged greetings and Adam put a few bags of popcorn on the table near where Mel had put the cans of mixed nuts. Val told them about the drinks, and everyone got some snacks before returning to their seats while Steve began his recap and introduction to the session.

Jayson seemed to keep to himself for the most part, rarely commenting or even making eye contact as they played. All his actions were explained briefly and without flair as the parties met in the town market.

The rest of the table seemed to at least take some notice of his rather muted attitude but got over it as time went on. Steve just went on running the game, calling a break for a few minutes at the midpoint before he brought them into a combat scenario that they had stumbled upon. It was when spells started flying that Jayson became more animated.

"And then I will cast…" Val began before Steve held up his hand.

"Remember you already used you're action and bonus action." He said.

Val looked at the game board and frowned. "I-I guess I will move? Can I just move around to flank the skeleton that Adam is attacking?"

"Ugh, just do it. You have thirty feet." Jayson grunted in annoyance. "Come on this isn't that hard." He muttered under his breath.

Val and the rest of the table ignored him which seemed to grate on him even more. Steve moved her mini to be flanking from Adam's barbarian. Then it was the enemy turn and the undead monsters attacked. Mel had to make a hard call on who to heal but eventually settled on Kurt's rogue that had been caught in the crossfire when more monsters emerged from the ground.

"Oh, come on, I needed the healing." Jayson said after Kurt updated his hit points.

"Well, you're fine, you are only down like twenty percent." She said back. Jayson huffed before attacking the enemy on his side of the board.

The combat progressed until they figured out there was a crystal hidden in the room that was animating the skeletons. Once that had been dealt with, the party made their way out of the crypt and back to the church where they had received the quest.

They collected their reward, splitting it evenly and dividing the loot. Jayson made a point of reminding them that he had 'dibs' on the shield they had recovered from a tomb. They didn't know what his paladin was going to do with two shields but just let him have it.

When Steve ended the session, they all sat around a chatted while packing up. Unfortunately, that included Jayson becoming even more vocal.

"You really have to get better at managing your time between turns." He said to Val. "I can give you some pointers if you want. Maybe we can meet outside game hours."

Val didn't even look up as she cleaned up her spot at the table. "No thanks." She kept her tone light and friendly but didn't say any more.

Jayson turned to Kristi. "How about you? There are a lot of strategies to optimize your monk."

"No thanks." She said and glanced to Kurt after rebuffing the antagonistic player.

Catching the look, Jayson's pale face began to flush. He looked between Kurt and the girls and must have come to some conclusion because he then stuffed all his things into his backpack and left muttering under his breath about 'dice bunnies', like it was a thing.

Everyone else at the table watched him go. Adam looked down in embarrassment while Mel scrunched her face in annoyance. Steve just shook his head while helping to sweep up around the table. Val did not have such self-control, however.

"So, what stick is up his ass?" She said.

Steve looked shocked while Adam snorted hard before laughing. Mel chuckled a little before being the one to answer. "He thinks he is God's gift to DND."

"I think he just has some strong opinions is all." Steve answered, trying to play peacemaker and failing miserably.

"Steve, the only reason he quit hitting on me every session was because I told him I would castrate him if he even touched me." Mel said. The comment made the GM's eyes widen in surprise. "Honestly the only reason I put up with him is because you are so amazing."

Adam turned to Kurt and gave them a little context while the other two had a muted conversation. "Jayson came in hot a few years ago and tried to set up his own campaign and group. When that didn't work, he tried to GM in here. After a few sessions, he pretty much lost all his players because he made very niche scenarios that pretty much let him trap players in rules the entire time."

"Sounds like he took the Players Vs. GM meme a little too seriously." Val said.

"You could say that. He also got a reputation for being a not very nice person to some people based on their race and gender." Adam said while rolling the tops of the bags on the chips he brought and putting little clips on them. "I do try to keep him out of trouble since I have known him the longest but there is only so much I can do."

"How do they let him back in here then?"

Leaning in a little bit, Adam lowered his voice. "Word has it he is pretty much on his final warning from Frank. Steve only accepted him into the group since it's kind of known that he always tells it like it is and is acting as a sort of D&D parole officer."

Kurt reached a hand over and offered a handshake. "Thanks for the heads up. We don't really want to get involved with any of that nonsense so we will keep our eyes open and let Frank know if anything comes up."

Adam retuned the handshake and the trio said their goodbyes and headed down the stairs, making sure to stop and get some dice sets, paints and figures from Frank before he closed up for the night.

"How did you like it?" Frank asked. "Have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was fun." Kristi smiled and put her purchases in her bag. "It's way more hectic in person than what I saw on YouTube."

Frank laughed. "Ha, yeah you don't really understand the little pressure that comes from a room full of people staring at you when you have to make a decision that might kill your character or everyone else's."

"Yeah, Steve was really helpful though. Adam and Mel really were patient and super engaging to play with." Kurt said while carefully setting the paints into a pocket of his backpack.

"No 'issues' at all with the session?" Frank said, putting a little extra into the word 'issues'. He had picked up on how Kurt left one person out while talking.

Kurt thought for a moment. "He didn't really do anything…wrong. But he is kinda of a…Hmm."

"Snob?" Kristi offered.

"I was going to say brat." Val said.

"Let's just say he is not the most helpful to having a fun filled evening." Kurt said after looking at the girls who were both trying to portray the picture of innocence after their suggestions.

Frank sighed. "I'm sorry about him. I was about to ban him a while back but offered him one last chance, sure he would mess up. Well, a year and a half later, he is still just this side of the ban line." He looked genuinely remorseful. "But I am a man of my word and so far, much to my annoyance, so is Jayson."

"Hmm, bet you would have more people looking to play if he wasn't around." Val said while leaning on the counter.

Reaching under the countertop, Frank brought out a little notebook. "This is a list of people that said they would be interested in playing here again if he isn't allowed back." He opened the book to show them twenty names on the list labeled 'If Jayson is banned'.

Kurt and the girls shared a look before Val spoke up. "We will let you and Steve know if anything comes up that would be ban worthy." With that, they said their final farewells and headed out. None of them noticed that there was an extra person watching from the parking space several dozen yards away as they climbed into Kurt's car and headed for home.

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