A D&D Story (Flash February Day 16)

This is a campy little story emulating the informal fun of D&D with friends! Enjoy the silliness.

This flash fiction story is stylized as a session of dungeons and dragons with friends. I used my own D&D dice to tell the story!

Thank you to

Bradley Ramsey

and

Tales Of Omnipotence

for this flash February Day 16 prompt!

“An eerie fiend has trapped you inside your own mind. The only way to escape is to tell a grand tale proving your imagination is worthy of keeping alive.”

---

You clamber up the final flight of stairs, reaching the top of the castle’s northwest turret. The air around you stifles your breathing; magical energies swell and seem to emanate from beyond the wooden door in front of you. Before opening the door, everyone give me a perception check.

“That’s a 15 for me,” George said.

“10 over here,” from Cliff.

“Only a 9 for me,” Emily added.

On a 15, George, you understand that this energy is not natural. The castle is, of course, a magical construct, but this is far too strong to come from the building alone.

“It’s got to be Thoranxis, guys!” George called to the table.

“I open the door,” Emily said.

You open the door. The stairway is overcome with the magical energies. Everyone give me a dexterity saving throw.

George: 19

Cliff: 4

Emily: 13

Okay, George and Emily, you pass. Cliff, you’re shoved down a flight of stairs from this wind, but you only take 1 point of damage. However, as George and Emily pass through the doorway, it slams shut before you make it up the stairs.

“I try to smash it open!” Cliff yells.

Just a minute. Everyone, roll initiative.

George: 13

Cliff: 5

Emily: nat 20!

Okay Emily, you’re first. You and George see, standing in the middle of a rune on the turret’s floor, Thoranxis. He is mumbling something in an ancient language. What do you do?

“I’m going to attack recklessly with my greataxe. That’s an 18 and a 12 to hit.”

The first hits, the next is a miss.

“Okay, and that’s 16 damage!”

Nice. Next up is Thoranxis. He regards you with disgust, Emily, and flicks his wrist. Give me an opposed strength check.

“19!” from Emily.

George, you watch in horror as Emily’s body is thrown by an unseen force off the turret. (“NO!” from Emily). She begins falling hundreds of feet. Then he sets his soulless eyes on you. It’s like he’s not truly before you, but on every plane of existence and nonexistence simultaneously. The thing staring you down is beyond mortality, beyond sentience. Thoranxis has evolved. He looks at you, George, and in your head you hear your mind is the key to my ritual. He points a finger at you. Give me a wisdom saving throw.

“Oh no.. that’s a 9.”

George, all senses go blank. But that’s not right—no, it’s not blankness. Your sense are overwhelmed. You can’t focus on any one sight, sense, smell, taste, or feeling. You’re no longer on the top of the castle. You don’t hear the sickening crunch as Emily’s body completes its horrific journey to the ground. You don’t see the pool of Cliff’s blood leaking under the door. (“What??? What happened?” Cliff asks).

Then everything clears. You open your eyes and you’re in a dark place. A person stares at you. He looks like you. He is you. But something is off, it’s an uncanny resemblance. The person says Tell me a story. Perhaps it will save your life. Give me a performance check.

“Nat 20!”

Amazing. I’m speechless. You may have just saved your party. Tell a story, George.

---

"Once upon a time in a place called the Shire,
An ogre called Frodo took a ring to a fire.
He and his friend, Donkey, traveled for months,
They tore through fiends and gave off the energy of c*nts.

With friends all around, axes and bows to aid,
The group trudged and, true enough, saved the day.

O'er mountains they hiked, through rivers they sailed,
But when Westfield fell, Gondor bailed.
So make amends the party must do,
Before the evil Prince Charming and his army can strike true.

Lucky for Frodo and Donkey, the plants are fatal;
The party crushed the Prince, and to the ring Frodo yet cradled.

At last the ring was cast into lava,
To put an end to Prince Charming's needless drama.
The world celebrated the death of the Prince,
To the West our heroes traveled, where they've been ever since.

---

Thoranxis is pleased with this offering. He releases your mind from its imprisonment.

“At the end of my story, I cast fireball! Wow I rolled so well—47 damage!”

George, you see his torched form crumple to the floor. This, you realize, was not the real Thoranxis, but a copy. You also realize that Emily and Cliff stand behind you. Their deaths, too, were in your mind. On the floor lies a scroll. And that’s the end of this session!