Somehow waking up at 8 in the morning and not leaving for work was harder than the 30 minute drive in traffic with hundreds of others. Troy didn't know how exactly that was possible. All he had to do was get out of bed, maybe a shower, have coffee that he made at his own house and then get dressed. He even got to wake up an hour later because of no traffic. Yet, somehow he slogged through each action as though he hadn't gotten to sleep in the last week or so.
Though, some of that was still due to the new jitters he felt about Lancer. Throughout the night he'd been thinking about the lion man and what he'd want to do with him. However, with those jitters also came a hint of fear. How early would too early be to resummon him again? Was three days normal or would wanting to see him sooner be okay? Also, how would he even know whether or not he would specifically summon Lancer?! Would it just be some random Leonin whenever he did so or would it be one he'd been specifically thinking about?
The questions kept him up later than he should have been. He had to end up going for a midnight walk around the neighborhood to really cool his head down. And once he'd laid back down, they just started right back up again. He forced them out of his head, trying to think of anything else.
Even as Troy grabbed his coffee and sat at his desk, he felt them coming right back up. Luckily, he had an email. At least a little bit of a distraction. It was from Mark. "Shit..." Troy cursed as he wondered what all had changed and not. New questions, more pertinent to his situation sprang to him as he clicked it open.
'Hey Troy,
I've been thinking about inviting you to DnD for a while now. I asked Dusty already and he sounded really excited to join. I suggested you too and he said you'd love to do it. But I figured I should ask you first. A couple of my other friends aren't really able to play right now so I figured I might be able to start a new campaign. It'll be based off of the world I already made. I'll DM (do all the hard stuff =D). All you have to do is show up with a character sheet and some ideas. I'll be more than happy to workshop some if you want! I've already been thinking about something that you might like. =P
No is okay too, but Dusty might be really disappointed if you didn't join...
Anyways, let me know.
Mark Vendor'
Troy mulled over the idea for a little bit. Would he really want to waste a night a week playing a game with coworkers? That's when he received a text from Dustin. 'Tell Mark yes!'
'WHY!?' Troy texted back.
'I want to meet your boytoy!'
Troy felt himself fume a little bit. 'He's not a boytoy!' Followed by a rage emoji.
It was more annoying that Dustin just sent back a couple of rolling eye emojis than responding with words. Troy continued to fume as he looked over the email a bit more. Mark didn't seem angry that he had the book. And if he really wanted to know what was possible, a fantasy game built around hundreds, if not thousands, of royalty free monsters might give him a few ideas on how to properly use the book. Eventually, Troy hit reply.
'DnD thoughts.
I can join. That would be fine. But I've got a new'
Troy hung on the word. For some reason he found it incredibly hard to type, 'boyfriend.' Could he really consider Lancer that? All they had was about 30 minutes and most of that was sex before he fell asleep in Lancer's arms. "Damn it..." he slammed his fist into his desk. Then continued the message.
'I can join. That would be fine. But I've got a new friend who might want to join too. Would it be okay if I asked him?
And what about dice? Don't I need those? And a little figure? What about books? I don't think I can afford too many of those right now. Looking online they look like they can be pretty expensive. Not to mention it probably won't be a while before I'm able to get them. And then which books should I buy? I've never seen anything like them before. It's like some of them say module. Do I want those or no? And how am I supposed to learn the rules? There seem to be a lot of them. Would it be bad if I don't know anything? Or is that fine? How long are you going to be okay with me not knowing the rules? There look to be entire textbooks worth of them and then how am I supposed to remember them all? And can I keep asking you questions?'
Looking over his email, Troy was starting to stress out again. He didn't know what he should say. And maybe the onslaught of stupid questions would make Mark realize he was a bad fit for this anyways. Troy hovered his mouse pointer over the send. A wicked grin appearing on his face. "Yeah, he'll just say no after all that anyways. Then I can just tell Dustin that and not worry about it." Then clicked send.
In less than a minute he already had reply.
'The more the merrier Troy! I'd love to meet your new friend. But for right now just choose a race and class. I'd suggest something like fighter or barbarian. Those are the easiest newbie classes. But since you're a bit of a furry, Druid isn't that hard to pick up either. ;D
But for right now, just roll 6 sets of 4D6 (a six sided die four times) and then get rid of the smallest number in each of the groups of four and then send me the total of the three dice. (You can also just type dice roller into google to make it a lot easier than finding physical dice) Also, send me your race and class. Here's a list to make it easier.
[DND5ERACES.XLSX] [DND5ECLASSES.XLSX]
Don't get too overwhelmed we can always change it later!
Mark Vendor'
So many emotions started stirring. Fear. Confusion. Worry. Anger. How dare Mark call him a furry again! Troy did his best to stay calm as he waited for the 9am meeting. The hour only seemed to drag on even slower as he thought about what he'd just gotten into. It didn't help that Dustin sent him a text saying, 'I'm going to be a werewolf barbarian! You have to choose something else!'
'Werewolf isn't even a race dumbass,' Troy texted back.
'Doesn't matter. I asked Mark and he said it's fine. But on full moons I might betray you... XD'
"Are you kidding me!?" Troy didn't know how to react. Had Dustin and Mark really been planning this for a while now? A bit of jealousy mixed in with that cocktail of emotions. "Whatever," he dismissed it. They weren't kids anymore. Friends were allowed to have friends outside of him. He went to google and typed in dice roller to find a six sided die appear then added three more and logged the totals, minus the lowest one. '11, 12, 15, 15, 9, 12.'
Troy didn't know much, but he did know the higher the number the better. He could have fudged them. Made sure to make them a bit higher so he'd have better stats, but a feeling of guilt seemed to linger inside him. 'It's a game, since when would cheating make it more fun...' he thought to himself. Then looked through the two sets of excel spreadsheets. Troy was a bit amazed at just how organized the whole thing was. It listed each race along with their boons and some good classes to go with it. And then the class one seemed to have everything organized listing what they were good at and how to properly make a character.
Scanning through the list, Troy's saw just how many different 'furry' characters he could be. Being part dragon, or rabbit or obviously lion all sounded incredibly appealing, but he wasn't about to give Mark the satisfaction. He instead chose human. And then fighter, for mostly the same reason. But also because spells felt a bit complicated. And how much hard could just swinging a sword be? He quickly sent the email back to Mark.
Mark returned one rather quickly as well.
'Perfect!
Everything looks good. I'm so glad you chose human. That'll make a couple of things a bit easier. Also, you'll be starting in a tavern just outside of Humaduri with Dan-Gar, Greg's half-orc barbarian, and Rosco the Gnoll barbarian. Just send me your friend's stuff too (when you get the chance). It won't be a problem to add him.
Mark Vendor'
A part of Troy wondered if having so many martials in a party was a bad idea. He could have been a druid if he was supposed to. But the more he thought about it, the more thought about it, the more he wondered if dictating how he was supposed to have fun would actually go. "Just go with it..." he told himself.
The meeting started promptly at 9am. Everyone in the office was stuck in their little boxes, while Mr. Anderson's box grew bigger and centered in the bottom of the screen, showing that he was speaking. It was obvious that no one was paying attention. With hundreds of employees, each in a box no larger than an inch tall and wide, there was no way to actually be able to tell what they were doing as long as they were vaguely looking at the screen. But still, Troy's eyes caught Mark's square, watching him write far more than any notes Mr. Anderson had spoken. Or maybe he just stood out as the only elf in the entire world with bright red hair that almost seemed to be glowing at the moment. It was tied up, but the happy little smile on Mark's face seemed to be radiating a glow off of him.
"First off," Mr. Anderson cleared his throat. "I apologize for any rumors that you may have heard. I feel as though I should do that first as saying a dragon attacked our business is a bit silly. I must also apologize to Dustin for my outburst--"
"S'all right boss!" Dustin quickly interrupted, talking over his boss. Their voices intertwined on the program.
Mr. Anderson paused. 'Please don't speak unless prompted,' Doris quickly added it to the chat. However, Dustin still looked really proud of himself. Then Mr. Anderson continued with his speech. Most of it was, "Blah, blah, corporate jargon, we're all in this together, blah, blah." Nothing the entire office hadn't heard hundreds of times and not believed.
Troy mused with himself about all the things that Mark had changed. Thinking about the dwarf that Mr. Anderson had become seemed to be fairly fitting. He looked over at the book. 'They are in view...' he thought. 'And my mic is off...' Without much of a gesture, Troy said "shift." He didn't try to think of anything specific. Just maybe wonder if that would allow the target more freedom of the spell. That didn't mean he didn't watch with interest though. Seeing the tall lean older man start to shrink was amazing.
His thin shoulders quickly broadened only looking broader as he diminished from his 6' height. With each inch gone, he only seemed to grow broader. His lean muscles bulked up with more powerful muscle opposed to the lithe athletic he clearly worked hard to maintain. White hair grew around his face into a mighty beard. Rapidly dropping down past his chin and then down past his chest. There wasn't as much distance to go, but that didn't make the beard look any less impressive as it braided itself and ornaments were added to it.
Troy was a bit surprised. He wasn't trying to think of Mr. Anderson as a dwarf, but he couldn't deny the man made a pretty good one. Short, to the point, no bargaining, and one for style. It was even evident as his home office changed. No longer were there cheap looking bookshelves behind him, but rather ornate ones made with the best of wood and with a golden trim. Even the knickknacks changed a bit. A prized alcohol lined one of the shelves, but it was no longer a standard whiskey but something that looked far more priceless.
Even as Mr. Anderson went through his speech, a faint smile formed on Troy's lips as he looked around the call a bit more. Spotting Greg only made it grow more. The small nerdier guy looked bored out of his mind. He was mindlessly playing with a pen as waited for the meeting that didn't even have to be an email to end. Troy said "shift" again, trying not to force a specific beast on the man. Just as he finished the spell, he could see the pale man's skin start to turn green. It's dark foresty green color started in patches but rapidly spread across his body.
With each part that was touched, Troy could see the bodily changes as well. Greg's small weak body was rapidly adding bulky muscle. His shoulders grew wider, filling out his polo shirt and stretching the buttons to the limits. Two heavy pecs pushed out in front of him making those buttons strain even more. The sleeves stretched tightly around his growing biceps, clearly straining as they grew from baseball sized to footballs in mere seconds. Greg accidently snapped his pen as his hands grew over twice the size they had been. Firm muscle built inside that clearly was used in hard labor.
Still, it was odd seeing his jaw grow further out in front of him. Sharp pointed teeth grew from the bottom row of his teeth, two being far larger than all the others. His nose flattened out along with his face. Though, he looked far tougher than anyone Troy had ever seen before. It didn't matter that he was currently shoved inside of a salmon-colored polo that was looking like it could burst at any second, or seeing how his camera wasn't adjusted to his new height, or how his desk was clearly too small for him, Troy figured not many people would want to pick a fight with someone like him. Or maybe it was the twin battle axes mounted on the wall behind him. Troy couldn't tell for sure, but they sure did look real.
Even though Greg had started to do chair dips as he waited for the meeting to end, Troy's attention turned to other employees. Each time saying shift. He was surprised as to how many of them were the same as Mark had made them. Even though he couldn't remember a lot of them, he knew Doris was a fairy. And watching her large body shrink down to a mere 4 inches and large dragonfly wings sprout from her back was interesting. The same true of Susan who had been turned into a succubus. Her skin turned a deep red and the low cut top that she always wore seemed to completely vacuum to her looking almost like skin with how tight it clung to her sexy body. Several of the guys in the call seemed to start paying a bit more attention to their screens again as she twirled her tail and stared longingly into the camera. It wasn't until Doris turned Susan's screen off that they looked disappointed again.
"Crazy..." Troy muttered to himself as he continued to shift people. He wasn't trying to think of anything specific. Just see where the magic would take them. And it seemed like each one would turn into something close to their personality. Several centaurs were the work horses of the company, a couple of halflings were some newbies who just wanted to joke around, or the guy who had just started working out turn into a minotaur. It was like the magic would mold to their own desires as well. Troy tried to shake it off. He still had a full day of work to do. And then think about DnD. That somehow felt like a full nother job. He sighed as he waited for Mr. Anderson to finish his speech.