Shelly didn't consider herself a nerd when she was a kid. The others did think she was a bit of a tomboy for liking dinosaurs and comics over ponies and tea parties. Of course, girls typically outgrew that stage when puberty started. Shelly was still into comics through her high school years and into her adult life, though she never considered herself a real comic geek. For one thing, she had a healthier social life than that.
She particularly never considered she'd be playing a tabletop roleplaying game with a self-proclaimed gaming clubs of nerds. Obviously the fact that they were turtles and she was a triceratops didn't figure into that all. She had played RPG games before, she was at least a bit familiar of what the game was about. At least the guys in the Green Glacier Adventure Clan were being supportive since it was her first time. The dungeon crawl she was doing with her barbarian character had doing well so far, though she was pretty sure they were holding back since most of the monsters there were weak. The skeletons were the biggest tip-offs.
"So, how much longer until we get to the final boss?" asked Shelly.
"Actually, you're almost there already," said Peter, "You're coming to a large door. Upon the door is written 'Beyond this door lies the lair of the Minotaur. Turn back now or face his wrath.' Do you proceed?"
Shelly snorted and said, "I'm not coming all this way just to turned away by a door."
"Excellent," said Peter, "But this is the tabletop version ends."
"Say what?" asked Shelly.
"It isn't always just pen and paper," said Tom, "We do live-action roleplaying too. And this boss fight is going to be one for you."
"I didn't think we'd be doing it this time," said Shelly.
"It's part of the initiation," said Adam, "You have to be good at improvising."
"So where is this LARPing going to take place?" asked Shelly.
"We have to take you there," said Peter as he held up a blindfold. He paused as he considered Shelly's frill. "Er, maybe it'd be better if you just close your eyes," he said.
"Fine, I promise not to peek," said Shelly before closing her eyes. She allowed herself to be lead by the turtles. She wasn't sure where she was going, but it couldn't be very far.
Eventually, she heard the rustle of cloth before Peter said, "You can open your eyes now." Shelly opened her eyes to see she was in a tent. All that was in there was a table that had a set of clothes on it. There were two openings to the tend, one behind her and one before her. Peter's voice said, "Ok, once you put on your costume, go out through the other side."
Shelly raised an eyeridge when she saw that the costume was for a barbarian. "How did you know what my character would be?" she asked.
"Well, there was a limited choice of character classes for you and we guessed it would most likely be of the warrior type," said Adam's voice, "We got other costumes just in case."
Shelly shrugged a bit before she started changing into the costume. She had a feeling this barbarian costume was a Halloween costume. But at least it stretched enough to fit her body. Although it left plenty of skin uncovered, at least she didn't look one of those pinup girls from a fantasy online site. She also found a few weapons, though they were obviously not the real deal. She picked up a thick wooden stick that would be a good stand-in for her character's club.
Once she exited the tent, she saw she was in a meadow that had cardboard walls set up in a ring. She was rather surprised to see a Minotaur waiting for her. But then she reminded herself he was just a bull Animalian who was also wearing costume armor and his axe was most likely made of foam. "So, how'd they rope you into this?" asked Shelly.
"I usually play the Minotaur at the Meat Market's plays," said the bull, "I'd like to be actually menacing for once instead of giving off sexual overtones."
"I wouldn't bet on it," said Shelly. She looked around before spotting the turtles sitting on what looked like lifeguard chairs above the walls. "Ok, so how does this work?" she asked.
"It's pretty much a play-fight," said Peter, "You each attack each other, every time you hit each other with the ends of your weapon, you lose one health point. First to lose all their health points lose."
"So is that it?" asked Shelly.
"There are other moves you can do," said Adam, "You can do an Intimidation roll, which will force your opponent to go into defense until you've made a certain amount of hits. A Taunting roll will make your opponent attack in blind rage for a certain amount of hits. And I literally mean 'blind rage', as in they'll be doing it with their eyes closed. You can also do a Seduction roll."
"Excuse me?" asked Shelly flatly.
"Doing Seduction rolls will build up arousal points to your foe. If your foe is too aroused, they'll be unable to fight and you win," said Adam, who looked like he couldn't believe he was saying that.
Shelly put a fist on one hip and said, "Ok, which bonehead made up that rule?"
"Jerry," said Peter, Adam, and Tom at the same time. Jerry just gave a dopey grin.
"Yeah...we're not doing that," said Shelly flatly.
"Hey, a guy can dream," said Jerry.
"Ok, let's get it on with," said Shelly.
"Try to keep it clean and in character," called Tom.
The fight between the 'barbarian' and the 'Minotaur' was pretty interesting, even if it wasn't very thrilling with the obviously fake weapons and soft blows. The dialogue was a bit one-sided as while Shelly's character would give one-liners, the Minotaur was confined to just grunts and bellows. But even if the Minotaur didn't talk, he was still able to use Intimidation and Taunting rolls with particularly loud bellows and obvious body language. The rolls' effects depended on the outcomes of the combatants rolls on 12-sided dice. Only a roll higher than the opponent's will take effect, the bigger difference determining how many hits the effect will last.
Shelly was able to do pretty well for herself, as she evaluated the Minotaur's strength and weaknesses. It became clear to her that her defense was better than his. This worked to her advantage when he got a successful Intimidation roll. But when she Intimidated him, she was able to get more strikes in. She also found that Taunting the Minotaur was a bad idea because his hearing was more acute than hers. But by keeping a solid defense, she was able to whittle down the Minotaur's health until she finally won.
The bull Animalian panted as he put down his axe. Shelly wasn't sure if he was sweating or not. "That was a good game," he said, "You're better than you look."
"You weren't a bad fight yourself," said Shelly, shaking the bull's hand.
"Well, gentlemen, I think we have our newest member," said Peter, "All in favor of inducting Shelly into our ranks?"
"Aye," said the other turtles.
"Then it's unanimous," said Peter, "Shelly, welcome to the Green Glacier Adventure Clan."
==========
After that, the expanded GGAC had lunch, the bull having to go back to the Meat Market. "So, do you guys do LARPing all the time?" asked Shelly.
"Not all the time. We also have working out and sparring at the dojo," said Adam.
"We've also been talking with those Japanese guys about our show," said Jerry, "And I just got this killer idea. The evil organization who's making Animalian super-soldiers, who are all being controlled by neural collars, decide to make dinosaur soldiers. But they didn't put the neural controls too deep in a triceratops thinking she'd be easier to control because she's an herbivore. But she'll escape and join the turtle's side."
"Are you offering me a place on your show?" asked Shelly.
"Well, we're most spitballing ideas," said Jerry.
"Thanks, but I need to consider my Rhino Squad duties," said Shelly, "I mean, I have plenty of free time, but I'm not sure if I can balance an acting career."
"Talk about it with your boss, see what he thinks," said Tom, "But you won't be the only triceratops for long."
"Well, anyways I think Mayor Clara will be interested in watching the video from this LARP fight," said Peter, "I think she could work something into the Renaissance Festival with it."
"There's bound to be other LARPers who'd want to fight a real Minotaur," said Adam.
"I guess so," said Shelly, "But you guys will have to start looking for more members for your clan."
"Why?" asked Jerry.
"Because with my inclusion, the girls now outnumber the boys," said Shelly. She quickly snapped a picture of the guys' face as they realized what that meant. That was definitely going on her Facebook page.