As Kus stood outside Bobby’s apartment door, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement mixed with nervousness. He raised his fist and sharply khree times. It had been far too long sihey all had been together, and he was eager to catch up with his friends over a session of Dungeons and Dragons. Ohat would likely start overly serious before quickly morphing into a medieval spstiedy. He was still smiling when the door was jerked open, Bobby standing in the doorway, a wide, matg grin spreading across his face.

  “Kus, my man! It’s so good to see you!” Bobby excimed, pulling Kus into a massive bear hug. While Kus himself wasn’t a small man, looming as he did a bit of six feet tall, Bobby himself was a titan among men, being just a hair under seve i. Though Kus could have easily resisted his friend’s pull, he’d always beeronger after all, he willingly went with it. It really had been too long.

  “It’s great to see you too, Bobby!” Kus replied, returning the hug with equal enthusiasm.

  Kus stepped into the apartment. Just beyond the entry was the living room where all of his other friends were already gathered around the dining table. Allison waved from her seat, one hand still reag for her dice. Fred and Sara fshed smiles of their own, hands full of character sheets and what were likely pages of backstories.

  “Kus, you made it!” Fred excimed, rising from his seat to give Kus a fist bump. The smallest, most bookish of the group, Fred made up for his ck of height with nearly boundless energy, especially when it came to his hobbies.

  “Wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Kus responded, returning Fred’s fist bump with a grin.

  Sara chimed in, her voice filled with warmth. “We’ve been looking forward to this game night all m! It’s been too long since we have all hung out together.”

  “Yeah, seriously,” Allison added, putting the finishing touches on her own character. “We really shouldn’t let life get so busy we aren’t able to see each other.”

  As he took his pce at the table, Kus felt a pang of guilt for letting so much time pace siheir st get-together. “I know what you mean. But I’m really gd we could all get together today.”

  “Alright everyone, now that we are all here, let’s get started,” said Bobby. He moved to his spot at the head of the table, and as he sat down his face went stern. His was now in Dungeon Master mode. He cleared his throat and began.

  “Wele to the first session of our neaign,” Bobby began, his serious expression not enough to distract from the excitement in his voice. “Now, let’s introduce our characters. Kus, since you were the st to arrive, why don’t you start us off?”

  Kus pulled out his character sheet and cleared his throat. His eyes darted between Fred and Sara, a smirk on his face as he described his character. “I’ll be pying Sir Trombun, a noble human padin on a quest to uphold justid protect the i. He wields a sword that beloo his mentor, and he te armor adorned with the symbol of his order.”

  Fred and Sara make eye tact them promptly boo Kus at the same time. Bobby and Allison break out into ughter, having known this was ing as soon as Kus had said he ying a padin.

  “e on, Kus. A quest to uphold justice? More like a quest to be b. Where is the fun in justice?” asked Fred pintively.

  “Yeah, Kus, I’m not sure how fun this will be if you are stantly shaking your head in disapproval every time we find some piece of treasure or decide to skirt the w a little.”

  “You mean steal and engage in crime?” Kus asked.

  “Tomato, Tomato.”

  “Tomato, Tomato?”

  Sara blew a raspberry, “You know what I mean.”

  “Fine,” Kus said with a ugh, “I will try to be more of a voice of reason instead of ht preventing your fun. Deal?”

  Getting a sidering nod from Sara, Fred responded with a grin of his own. “Fine. But don’t be surprised if we tie up Sir Trombun and leave him behind if he starts preag about taking a mhteous path.”

  The whole group ughed again.

  “Alright. Allison, you are up ,” said Bobby.

  “I’ll be pying Lyra, a skilled elf ranger who roams the wilderness in search of adventure and treasure,” Allison bared her teeth in the crude approximation of a wolf. “Her wolf panion Dreena apanies her on her journeys.”

  “Excellent. Fred?”

  Fred spoke up at Bobby’s prompting. “I’ll be pying Brother Aric, a devout human cleric devoted to a god of healing and passion.” His face then took on a shifty look. “He also isn’t above solig donations with his trusty mace.”

  Before Kus could get a dig in at Fred for his character, Sara introduced her own with a mischievous smile. “And I will be pying Sylvia, a ing elf rogue with a knack for stealth and for liberating precious items from their unworthy owners. She’s quick with a dagger and even quicker with her wits.”

  “Wonderful, then I wele you all to the world ix!” Bobby then unched into a five-minute-long opening narrative of the campaiging the stage for how the characters all meet through a city marketpce as a riot breaks out over an unpopur tax levied by the new lord. With each minute fleshing out the world the campaign was set in, Kus found himself leaning further forward in his chair, his imagination ignited by the promise of discovery, danger, and glory to be won.

  The hours passed in more fun than Kus had experienced in a long time, what with his endless work and the stant pressure of his family’s debt looming over his head. Loosing himself in the rolepying, Kus had urged his new panions to stick together as they navigated the chaos, using his padin’s strength aer armor to shield his friends from harm. Allison and Fred had kept their characters close behind him, striking down any of the agitators that had tried to attack them. Sara herself had sent her rogue running ahead, scouting a route through the riot. The session ended up cluding at arou in the evening as their whole group was deputized by the city guard to track down the ringleaders of the right, that they might be brought to justice for defying the city’s new ruler.

  “Wow, I really have missed this,” Bobby said as the fihe session. “We o pick this up agai weekend.”

  Looking around, Kus saw everyone was looking at him. He khat he was the weak link when it came to hanging out. Kus resolved that there would be another session soon and that he wouldn’t be the st to arrive.

  “Actually, before we get to that,” Fred said, “Sara and I wao share something with you all. Sara?”

  Sara lifted her left hand from her pocket. Where her hand was bare before, now a very respectable-sized diam graced her ring finer.

  “Fred and I… we’re engaged!”

  A collective gasp of surprise and delight rippled through the group as Fred looked at Kus and Bobby. “And we couldn’t imagiing married without our closest friends at our side. Kus, Bobby, would you do us the honor of standing with me as groomsmen?”

  Kus’ eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly stepped to Fred’s side of the table to cp him on the back, only barely beating Bobby there to do the same.

  “Of course, Fred! I’d be honored.”

  “Yeah, what Kus said, Fred. I would be honored as well.”

  While Kus and Bobby pulled Fred into a group hug, Sara stepped around the celebrating friends to stand by Allison.

  “And you, Allison, will you be my Matron of Honor?” asked Sara.

  Tears welled up in Allison’s eyes as she nodded. “Oh, Sara, I’d be thrilled to. I ’t wait to be there by your side on your wedding day.”

  ”Excellent!“ Fred cheered at hearing Allison’s respoo his fiahis calls for a drink! Bobby, do you still have that bottle i? You know the one.”

  While Bobby darted off to the kit, saying as he did that there should still be some of it left, Kus felt his pocket vibrate. Cheg his phone, he saw Dr. Halter was calling him. Immediately ed, since his boss generally did not work this te, Kus excused himself from the celebration, and then made his way to the bathroom before he answered.

  “Dr. Halter?”

  “Kus,” Dr. Halter greeted, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’m gd you were able to take my call. Listen, I need you to e to the office right away.”

  Kus frowned, a sense of unease creeping over him at the terse urgen Dr. Halter’s voice. “Is everything okay, doctor? You sound a bit… off.”

  There was a brief pause oher end of the line before Dr. Halter responded, his voice tight with restraint. “I’m fine, Kus. But we have a situation here, and I need your help to resolve it.”

  Kus’ heart sank at the ominous tone in Dr. Halter’s voice. “What kind of situation?” he pressed.

  “Just a small issue with some paperwork,” Dr. Halter ughed. It wasn’t his usual jovial oher. Mixed in with it was barely hidden stress. “It is urgent but with your help, I think it be fixed pretty quickly.”

  “ it wait until Monday? I’m with some good friends and—”

  ”No, it must be now,“ Dr. Halter interrupted. “I’m sorry, but it really ’t wait.”

  Something must really be wrong if Dr. Halter was insisting on Kus ing right this instant. Frowning at the fact that he wouldn’t be here to properly celebrate with his friends, Kus knew he had already made up his mind as to what he would do.

  “Alright. Just let me tell my friends and I’ll be on my way to the office.”

  “Thank you, Kus. See you soon.” The call disected.

  Staring at the phone in his hand, still not able to set aside his unease, Kus after several long seds put it ba his pocket. Stepping bato the living room, Bobby whiskey from an expensive looking bottle into gsses for a toast. At his return to the room, everyone looked in his dire. Smiles began to dim at the frown on his face, but before they could ask what was going on, Kus spoke.

  “Sorry everyone, Dr. Halter called with a work emergency. He says he needs me right now, and that it ’t wait.” He grimaced. “So, rainche the toast for me?”

  Fred set his gss down and stepped over to Kus, g him on the shoulder. “Of course, man. Just do what you o do. We make it a night this ing weekend?”

  “t me in.” Kus pulled his friend into another gratutory hug.

  Kus gathered his things, then stepped around the room, giving hugs and goodbyes to everyone. With each of his friends, he said out loud he would be seeing them soon, hoping that the act of voig it out loud would make it that much more likely to happen.

  The door closed loudly behind him as he made his way dowreet to Dr. Halter’s office. A drop of water hit his hand. A storm was ing.