Towers And Tieflings: ONC 2021 Longlist

2: A Fantastic Start

A woman in a clean blue dress chases the four adventurers down as they attempt to exit the village the following in-game day. Although she clamors for their attention quite a few times, the group is so engrossed in their excited conversation they don't notice.

"Wait, please! Help me, Knight of Azora!"

As the woman gets closer, Adam receives a small notification pop up in the corner of his vision, a benefit to having a high 'Perception'. His three companions, lacking in all wisdom-based skills such as this, remain blissfully unaware of the woman's cries until the paladin turns to locate them.

"Fair lady! What can I do to assist you?" The human says, giving her his most reassuring smile.

Kohl and Seamus share a snort of laughter at Adam's attempt to role-play as a holy paladin.

"You sound like such a dork!" Kohl cackles, ever so helpfully.

Seamus quickly joins in on the Adam-bashing. "Just talk normally, weirdo!"

Orianna just stares at the both of them, one eyebrow arched. "Why do you guys even want to play a roleplaying game if you think it's lame?"

"I can kill stuff, set things on fire, take over a kingdom, tax the crap out of all my peasants, buy a billion cool items..." Seamus continues to list activities of a nefarious nature.

"Yeah, all that plus I can look like a smoking-hot pirate badass as we pillage." Kohl gives Seamus a high-five, grinning as the halfling struggles to reach her raised hand.

Adam, having chosen to ignore his friend's jeering, manages to calm the woman down enough so that she can communicate her request to the group.

"I heard you brave adventures were quested to kill the wizard; he has taken my son! Please, return my baby to me!"

For a moment, Seamus appears stunned. All three friends turn to watch his reaction, anticipating an incoming onslaught of rage.

"Seriously? Do the Towers & Tiefling's RNG gods have some kind of insanely strong grudge against me? This is exactly the kind of asinine mega lame-a--"

Orianna just sighs in relief, happy that the wizard is guilty of something and that the bartender didn't completely misrepresent him as being bad. She had been worried they had been quested to kill an innocent magic-user, and wasn't sure she could let her party go through with it.

"We'd be happy to return your child. What's their name?" Orianna says, worried that the game's algorithm would interpret the tiny man's tirade as a refusal.

The woman looks at Orianna, taking in her horns and pink skin. She then turns back toward Adam, her teary eyes pleading, searching for confirmation. It's almost as if the tiefling's words didn't matter in the slightest.

While this is going on, Seamus continues to complain about yet another toddler he has to find until tear droplets leak from the pirate's eyes as she laughs uncontrollably, doubled over.

Adam looks a bit reluctant as he reassures the woman of the party's acceptance of her task. He asks for a few more details about her and her son before letting her shuffle off, adding them into a 'Notes' tab on his player interface.

Afterwards, he lays a hand on Orianna's shoulder. "Sorry the game makes the townspeople act like such butts to you."

"It's okay." Orianna beams at him while continuously glancing at their point of contact. "Kohl did warn me this could happen when she and I first started talking about me joining the group. It's actually a very interesting aspect of the game; it's cool that the NPCs know enough to treat us differently."