𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑

𝟒. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐞𝐜𝐧𝐚

"𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙪𝙚𝙨
𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚."

⬻ 𝘞𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 - 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 ⤖

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟔

So maybe you were overexaggerating about how terrible Hellfire Club would be. It was actually way more entertaining than playing with Will and your small group of boys, but really no less different in terms of format.

Your character was one that Will helped you create when he was ten or eleven years old. A lawful good level sixteen fairy named Clarabella who only ever truly existed in the backgrounds of campaigns because they mostly played without you there to babysit them on weekend nights. 

Maybe you should have spent those two hours before Hellfire polishing up your character sheet instead of napping in the back of your car because if you learned one thing tonight, it was that you had a lot of catching up to do.

Eddie stalked the group behind a barricade of guidebooks and binders overflowing with notes, always ready with a devastating loophole just when it appeared that someone in your party might finally have the upper hand. More than once, Gareth had to lean over and whisper directions at you when you looked especially lost or confused.

Being the only girl in a group of guys that you've either known since infancy or who were supposed to graduate three years ago was strange. It also became increasingly harder to disappear behind Mike or one of the others when it fell on Clarabella to deliver the final blow to Lord Vecna.

"So you just—you take the die and you—"

"I know how to roll dice, thank you very much," you say, snatching the twenty-sided die out of Gareth's hand. He nodded as if to silently correct himself, instilling you with false confidence.

You glanced up at Eddie, who had his arms crossed loosely over his Hellfire shirt. A wicked glint in his eye challenged you to seal the fate of your party members. It might just have been the army of pillar candles mounted all around him, but his eyes seemed to glow and flicker with raw intensity in the dark room.

With a nervous gulp, you leaned over to Dustin who sat on your opposite side. "What number do I want?"

"Twenty. Jesus Christ, can I please do it for you?"

It was the last roll of the session. If you lost, everyone lost and Lord Vecna would be free to continue his cultic rampage.

"No," you gasped at the absurdity of the question, cupping the die protectively against your chest. Your mismatched set of dice was missing a d-20 so you were begrudgingly borrowing one of Eddie's, praying that he didn't put some type of curse on it before forking it over. "Clarabella worked hard for her moment of heroism, Dustin."

"There's no shame in running, Clarabella," Eddie teased from across the long table, fingers folded under his chin. "You could always roll to charm Vecna and float on back to fairyland with your cute little wings."

Someone behind you snorted and your eyes darkened, fist instinctively clenching around the plastic before letting it slip from your hand. "Clarabella is from the Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls, you jackass." 

As the speckled blue diamond clinked down the board, you felt Dustin grip your shoulder from behind. When you first wandered into the blacked-out theater room that night, you never envisioned yourself actually holding your breath as a plastic game piece bounded across the dark velvet tabletop.

All hands were removed from the table to avoid disturbing its path. Eddie sat up, his throne whining with protest as it pushed back across the floor. When it finally went still halfway down the table, you sat up out of your chair and craned your neck to see what number it landed on.

20.

The room suddenly fell dead silent and all eyes slowly turned toward you. You hesitated before falling back into your seat. "That's...uh...did I do good?"

The members of Hellfire all waited anxiously for Eddie's verdict. Knowing him, he'd be able to spin your once-in-a-lifetime win into a tremendous failure. But to your surprise, he sounded equally disappointed and amazed as he sat back and whispered; "Lord Vecna has been defeated."

It took a moment for the truth to sink in before everyone started chanting all at once. A jumbled mix between 'crit-hit!' and 'Clarabella!' that carried through the hallways and exploded out into the parking lot as everyone dispersed outside. They got some strange looks from the wandering spectators of the basketball game, but they didn't seem to mind as they clutched each other and pumped their fists high into the night air.

You clung to your half-empty Mountain Dew as you watched your boys parade through the parking lot from underneath the awning of the school building. You'll admit that you forgot how cool the game was, but you didn't want to give away just how victorious you felt with a certain dungeon master still lingering about.

"That was actually really awesome."

You spun around to see Eddie leaning his shoulder against one of the double doors. He snickered at you and glanced down at a small object he had balanced between the ridges of his knuckle. In one swift movement, he flicked it into the air and caught it in his opposite hand. "Thought you might want a trophy from your first big win."

"Awful bold of you to assume I haven't kicked ass before," you say, setting your drink down on the cement before holding out your empty hand. Eddie swaggered forward and deposited the object in your palm. Under the orange street light, you could see that it was the same blue speckled die that you rolled at the very end of the game. Your smile immediately straightened as you let it slide between your fingers. "Aren't these like...important?"

"Important?" He shrugged. "Yeah. Replaceable, also yes. But this one..." he tapped his finger to the middle of your palm, intent on not severing the eye contact he had formed with you. "This one is priceless."

You struggled for  something snarky to say, but as much as you wanted to pretend you hated Eddie, this was likely the sweetest thing he's ever said or done for you. "You're getting extra extra powdered sugar on those brownies, by the way," you smile, closing your fist around the die. "Thank you."

"You know where to find me," Eddie winked, walking backward toward his van that had been parked haphazardly on the nearest curb. Somehow, you just knew that he was watching you as you walked back across the parking lot to where Randy was waiting out by the middle school (Because Andy threw a bitch fit when he heard you were going to be at the school while he was playing).

You knew that he would wait until he knew that you got to your car safely before he pulled out of the parking lot. You also knew that he would pretend he wasn't if you looked back even once. So you let him play the silent hero before driving all the way back across town to Max's trailer. 

(A/N: Happy Munson Monday! I totally didn't forget and write this chapter all last night. Definetly not. Also I know very very little about dungeons and dragons and most info i stole directly from the show or google, so don't get all caught up if something is incorrect cause that is like the opposite of my concern rn. That's all! Thank you so much for reading!)