Roll Initiative

That night was just a bunch of waiting. Xavier and me sitting there, watching TV, him drinking whiskey and eating potato chips, me fiddling through the gaming manuals of Dungeons and Dragons. He kept the door to his father’s bedroom open so he’d be able to listen for a call or a yell or a scream or a thud or something, just in case.

“Say, Corn.” Xavier said, hot whiskey breath enveloping the entire living room. “Let’s roll up some characters.”

“Sure.” I said, wondering if that was the most appropriate thing to do in light of the situation. Xavier saw the concern on my face.

“Don’t worry about it, my friend.” Xavier smiled a bloodshot smile. “We’re gonna be awake for a long time. Because I can’t sleep. Which means you won’t sleep. Which means we might as well do something to pass the time in between my dad needing to go to the bathroom. And the programming on the television set is something aweful. So get your dice out, homie! Let’s roll some characters!”

I had to admit, Xavier made sense. In his own weird, almost morbid, way. In his drunk, potato chip eating, way. In his most frail, human, way.

“Okay.”I said. And I pulled out my bag of polyhedral dice.

A few hours later, half a bottle of Jack Daniels, and two bags of potato chips later, we finished.

“Awww yeah!” Xavier said, victorious. “I’m gonna name this motherfucker Xavier The Fox Cobain!”

“I like it!” I said. Because I did.

“Me, too!” He’s got a hell of a first name!” He said, smiling.

I smiled, too.

“This guy wears a red, wide-brimmed, hat that usually covers his eyes. Only reveals his bark brown, thinly trimmed, goatee.  He wears a leather overcoat that falls a little past his knees, also colored red. He carried a dagger, a crossbow, and a quarterstaff. Somewhere during his developmental life, he befriended a fox companion, and since he’s a mage, that fox became his familiar. The fox’s name is Human. Get it? That’s funny, if only to me!” Xavier said.

I laughed.

“But he’s only half mage. The other half is rogue. So the multiclass combo creates this kind of treasure-hunting adventurer type. But Xavier Fox Cobain is only after magical treasure. He wants to become powerful enough to save his beloved Karyssa Rosemetal from her evil husbands tyranny, because her evil husband happens to be the King of The Frozen Dragons!” Xavier said, standing up, picking up the half empty bottle of whiskey. “See, Corn, they grew up together in the Land of Sand, as childhood sweethearts. But he was of a ill-reputed family. His father was the town mortician, frowned upon as a necessary evil. Her family was somewhat royalty related. And the only reason why they even hung out was because Xavier was infatuated with her so strongly, he would steal into her mansion and recite her love poems before the guards could get to him. And that’s where is rogue training began!”

I was getting into this story!

“But wen she turned 18 years old, she was betrothed to that asshole King Verdugo of the Frozen Dragons and moved to the south. Away from Xavier. And away from his love…” Xavier became somber.

I felt for the character. I wondered what would happen next!

“So he decided to win her back. But the only way he could do that, was to become more powerful than that dickhead King Verdugo. So he went out on a few misadventures to find wizards who would teach him the ways of magic. And after several years of dabbling here and there, stealing magic books from random hackneyed sorcerers, he finally learned the language of the arcane arts!”Xavier said, finished, took a swig of the whiskey, and plopped down on the couch.

“And that’s where I come in!” I declared, excited! “My character, Nroc Dogbeard, the dwarven warrior, was kicked out of the Hill Clan of the North for fraternizing with humans. Because Xavier Fox Cobain was one of them! Yeah! That’s a good connectors!”

“Damn right!” Xavier said, smiling at my improvisation. “Then what happened?”

“Well, Nroc helped you fight off some wizard you took a spellbook from and after that, they became good friends. He listened to your tale about love and even though you were stealing stuff that didn’t belong to you, he believed in the ultimate goal you wanted to accomplish. Because, he too, has loved and lost…”I said, pretend saddened.

“That’s good, Corn!” Xavier said, excited for me. “Keep going!”

So I did! “Then, one day, when we were about to get captured by King Verdugo, because he heard of us and got scared of us, and sent out thirteen bounty hunters all wearing skull masks, we…”

That’s when Xavier’s dad’s moans drifted into the living room fantasy. The entire world of Frozen Dragons and True Love and Dwarves and Foxes slowly dissolved. The sobering reality of why were in his dad’s apartment came back.

Xavier stood up. Blinked a few times. Took a step forward and said, “Time out, Corn. Let’s go help my dad…”