A fair deal of shouting ensued, mostly aimed at Alex for buying this game and making them all play, particularly when he noted "That rule about the winner getting a wish makes a fair deal more sense now." To ease his mind, Alex turned to the fridge, grabbing a beer, and noticing the potions he had purchased, which he took back to his seat.
"Think one of those might turn me back?" asked Frank.
"They might, but I can't give you one, we're too far away."
"Are you seriously concerned with the stupid rules here? Just give me a damn potion!"
"No, I mean I really can't. I mean... look, one of you grab one and hand it to him."
Everyone remained seated, with puzzled looks on their faces.
"Well, can someone at least lift me onto the damn table? I'd just climb up, but my shirt's too heavy like this and I don't think any of us want me to abandon it."
"Sure," Alex replied, gingerly scooping his shrunken friend's shirt into a wad and depositing it near the edge of the board, before moving on to the next space. "A troll charges you 2 Gold to cross his bridge. You may instead battle the troll, adding a die to any skill for a total of 10 or more, but fail and he will tear off one of your arms for a snack... I'd be worried if I didn't have all this gold on me... hope this isn't actually coming out of my bank account." He tossed in a token, and passed the dice.
Ben slid over to the next space. "The bored and feisty daughter of the local sheriff begs you to sneak her away in the dead of night. Outwit or outfight the sheriff with a 6 or more and she will travel along with you. Fail, and spend the next three turns in his jailhouse... well, it could be worse." He rolled successfully, thanks to his bonus. "So what does that actually do for me, you suppose?" Suddenly, there was a frantic knock at the door. "... Oh."
Charley took his turn while Ben answered the door. "A gang of thieves demands your gold, give over every coin, or try to convince them to spare you... eh." Charley boredly tossed a die, which came up as a 1. "So they would normally take the clothes from my back here too, but I can duel them right? Same number I need to hit, but I use might?" He rolled another die. "And... I'm not suddenly naked, so yes, that seems to be how it works."
Ben opened the door to reveal a perfectly ordinary young woman, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, who quickly came downstairs, explaining herself too fast for anyone to get a word in. "Hi, I'm Carmen. Just saw your shop, and I needed a break from dealing with my dad- oh, what a neat looking game! Looks like you're just getting started, mind if I hop in?"
Before anyone had a chance to warn her otherwise, Carmen grabbed the only character card left in the box, "The Mischievous Lass," the matching pawn, and pulled up a nearby folding chair to have a seat right between Ben and Charley. There was a bit of a pause. The wizard card Alex had seen at the shop should have been the last one in the box, although at this point, that really was not surprising. Allowing an innocent bystander to jump into what was clearly a dangerous game is something someone should have objected to however, and it was a bit surprising that she had no reaction to the diminutive form of Frank, although it was entirely possible she simply hadn't noticed him yet. Everyone seemed to be too busy pondering if Carmen had just spontaneously popped into existence, a creation of the game like the potions, or she really was the daughter of the local sheriff, pulled in by the game's magic.
Before anyone could broach any of these subjects however, Dave snatched up the dice, and broke the tension. "Welcome aboard! Contrary to everything you here, those of us frequenting the basements of game stories aren't all a bunch of creepy shut-ins with poor social skills and hygiene, but it's still too rare to ever see a woman in here. Nice to see that changing." Carmen grinned and giggled in response, suggesting he was indeed becoming more charming. The number on his card had even changed to reflect it, and he could swear the illustration even looked a bit thinner. "In light of what else is on this board, I think I'm just going to stay here as long as I can." He rolled just barely high enough to remain where he was, and passed the dice along.
Evan moved another space closer to Dave, passing out advice to his fellow player as he rolled his way through an easy challenge, conning 2 Gold from a hapless farmer. "So Dave, this puts me within 2 spaces of you. Why don't you let me handle that check for you next turn? You almost botched it, and there's definitely a few ways you could pay back the favor down the road."
"Deal," Dave replied, and the two felt an odd electric charge between them. Much as no one was able to take Alex's potions from him, the game would now compel Dave to pass Evan the dice next turn, and comply to whatever favor he eventually asked. Evan slid the dice over towards Frank, who was awkwardly covering tugging the collar of his shirt up around his waist as he half-crawled forward to see what options were available now that he had moved to the Mysterious Forest track. The sight elicited a shocked laugh from newcomer Carmen, and once again kept all eyes off Dave, whose features were slowly starting to shift to a completely androgynous look.