This monster of a freebie story for my Work in Progress, The Players Are the Thing was born, only it took me forever to finish. Due to its large side, I'm going to break it into three fragments. This is Part 1...
Smoke poured through the keyhole, threatening to choke the two adventurers. Amberwyne and Isolde covered their faces and tried not to cough.
“We must find the key.” Amber squinted her watery eyes, trying to make out her surroundings in the crypt.
“Make a perception roll.” The Storyteller showed no mercy, especially when she was hungry. She eyed the nearby box of pizza and got up to get herself an especially large slice.
Rhane breathed in the scent of pepperoni and clutched her dice in a sweaty palm. She opened her fist and let the D10s fall.
Amberwyne squinted, searching every alcove Rhiannon had made oblique hints about the key being hidden within. There was no sign of it. Not that she trusted the two faced minion of the Dark Goddess…Rhiannon always had an agenda. Seldom was it of benefit to Amber and Isolde, although the silver tongued manipulator had a way of convincing the other two women it did.
“Isolde will search, too.” Mona grabbed a handful of dice and rolled for her character.
Isolde examined the chamber, opening a chest. Piles of pearls and tiny skulls grinned up at her in almost lifelike fashion. She shut it in a hurry.
“It should be here.” She reached up to touch the blue tattoo on her neck rising into her blonde hairline. Some of the symbols on the chests were very similar to the runes which adorned, binding her to Amberwyne. Not that she was unwillingly bound. “I can feel it.”
Amber shivered. She could feel something, too, the chill of a familar presence, the scent of a perfume like decaying roses.
No. She couldn’t be here. Not her!
“Is she?” Rhane spoke for her character, glancing across the table at Beatrix.
“Make another perception roll.” Beatrix sat down in front of the table covered with their maps, character sheets, and dice. She took a bite of pizza, trailing strings of mozzarella as she did.
Her own stomach growling, Rhane picked up her uncooperative dice, which refused to roll right. She took a deep breath, shook them in her hand, and rolled.
Beatrix glanced at the depressingly low numbers. “No. There’s no sign of her. Something about this place feels familar to Amber, though. Something very like Fidessa.”
Amber rubbed her arms, only to drop a hand to hilt of her blade. “Something is wrong. We should leave.”
“And abandon the key our liege lady commanded us to bring to her?” Isolde didn’t look up from the chest she rummaged through.
“Isolde, you find a sculpture which looks like your old mentor’s work.” Beatrix paused to chew. “Roll for willpower.”
Mona gulped, picking up far few dice than she’d like before tossing them. “Uh oh.”
Too many ones glared up from many ten sides shades of purple landing upon the table.
At the mercy of her player’s bad luck, Isolde ran her fingers over the stone, feeling the curves and grooves, the essence of the shape. Faella, her former mentor, had taught Isolde to release whatever lurked within the stone with her chisel. Tracing the edges, revelling in the cool hardness of the statue, the artist turned adventurer was taken completely off guard by the attack.
A pair of yellow eyes opened with the grooves of the stones to lock onto Isolde’s gray blue ones.
“You’re mine now.” A husky, feminine voice, sibilant and suggestive wormed through her head. “Let’s not tell little Amberwyne about this just yet, shall we?”
Mona shivered, looking at the note Beatrix had passed to her, in spite of the tomato stain on it. Isolde shivered along with her, feeling the sinister presence spread through her head, seizing her limbs. “Where is the key? We must find it.”
“All right, we’ll keep looking.” Amberwyne swallowed her own misgivings and glanced at the unopened chests. “I don’t think we’re safe here.”
“Everything here was wrought to lure foolish artists into this chamber.” Isolde tried to force the words out between her lips, revealing the enemy within her to Amber. “Much of its owner’s power was channeled and trapped into that key, including my true form.”
“What?” Amber turned to stare at her companion. “What do you mean?”
“I meant the demon’s true form. This demon can be released or controlled with the key.” The creature fumbled for reassurances to the girl accompanying her vessel, struggling against Isolde’s urge to scream warnings at Amber. “We’ve got to make certain it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Isolde’s eye twitched, along with the corner of her mouth into a weird grimace.
“Wouldn’t Amber notice something is wrong?” Rhane glanced over at Beatrix.
“Make a perception roll.” Beatrix licked the pizza sauce off her fingers.
Rhane rolled her dice, willing tens or at least sevens to appear. None showed their faces.
“No way is Amber going to notice.” Beatrix grinned, not bothering to hide her malevolent pleasure in her villain’s plan going so well. “Make another willpower roll for Isolde, Mona.”
Mona grabbed a bunch of dice, shook them, blowing on them for luck, before rolling them in her hand.
Isolde reached up to press her fingers into her temples, fighting the demon within fro control. “Amber, run! I can’t control my own body!”
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