A Plague of the lower planes (A DnD based story)

Chapter 2: Stepping away from the table

The university day ends, all classes finish by 4:00pm so all students know when their friends will be free or who won't be busy after a set time; the group of students that had just met yesterday find themselves standing around the DnD table confused why nothing had been set up like last time, their miniatures were still in the case. the DM screen hadn't been set up and no map was laid out on the table. The door creaks open as Ludwig steps in, his hair messy and dishevelled as per the norm but he seems a bit down for some reason.

" Hey guys, sorry about this but we can't play a session today.. " he spoke, answering their silent questions with a saddened and almost melancholic look brushing onto his face for a brief moment as he stares at his feet, no bag or satchel with him which would be unusual if it wasn't the end of the day.

" Did something happen? ", Casey asked, pushing back her long black hair to the top of her head as it fell in front of her eyes- she looked at Ludwigs reaction and could tell from his shifting that she was spot on but knew he wouldn't admit it outright.

" We can help ya, we're friends now ", Ritchie butted in- trying to comfort Ludwig as he knew Casey wasn't meaning to be brash but she spoke with sharpened words.

" Well... My bag was stolen by some guys in my class, I thought people would stop being pricks in university since we're all adults but they don't leave me alone at all, it's either my height, my hair or the fact I'm so skinny ", Ludwig began to open up, he shook with what appeared to be at first, fear, but soon was easily recognisable as rage, " I'd fight back don't get me wrong but they're always in a group and I can never actually do anything that wouldn't be a huge risk "

" Can you show me a picture of them.. " A quiet voice spoke out, surprisingly it belonged to Ciaran; the one you could always hear laughing across campus basically but he seemed to not manage a smile or even a joke as he stood beside Ludwig whilst the smaller man opened his phone for him. Ludwig showed them a picture they posted recently on their social media, Ciaran's eyes darted away from the picture and to the information around it- it was recent and in a place he knew all too well.

The group jumped a bit as Ciaran moved, he headed straight for the door and left his things behind; Casey and Ritchie joining him as they all left the room much to the shock of those left inside. Ludwig, Cindy and Kimberly all stood alone in the room, moving to their seats as they all spoke quietly, Kimberly seemed much more reserved and shy when her girlfriend wasn't around and Cindy was always the same so it fell on Ludwig's shoulders to get a conversation going and clear the air.

" So.. Uh, I don't have much luck with relationships but I enjoy learning about the relationships of other people. If you don't mind me asking would either of you be willing to share the story of how you ended up with your partners? ", Ludwig asks, rubbing his palms on his trouser legs as he look up at them, trying to hide the fact he was sweating from nerves. Kimberly and Cindy both seemed to immediately perk up at the question and both rushed to speak, accidentally starting at the same time and trying to figure out who would speak first; eventually, Kimberly agreed to start and looked at them both with a smile.

" So ya know already that me and Casey are from the states, we met their obviously but we've been married officially since we turned 18. We actually got married in Vegas where we're both from so Casey has always had a bit of a gambling problem. Anyway, Casey turns up to the casino my family owns one day and starts to win quite a bit, she seemed to be gaining a lot of money and you know how casinos can be when that happens. Anyway, she seemed to blow it all immediately without cashing any of it in and lost what could have been almost twenty thousand dollars and since that day she kept showing up almost everyday, betting atleast a thousand on anything and wracking up a bunch of money before blowing it, this went on and on for about a month until she became famous in the casino and the dealers would spend their busy shifts in a game where they attempted to get Casey to go as high as they could make her before she blew it all and lost, they basically knew she would lose it all eventually and wanted to see if they could get her to a record high before she lost it and this went on for another month until one day; a dealer managed to get her to go up to ten million dollars and he set the record for the highest, unfortunately for him she didn't blow it, she suddenly became much better at the game and won making her the rightful owner of the ten million, this enraged my dad who ran the casino and he was going to have some goons knock her out but when he went to go meet her he saw a pin on the bag she carried with her, ended up being a lesbian pride flag which he knew I was a lesbian too, and smirked; he ended up setting us up and convincing us to get married which happened pretty quickly and he explained to me that Casey and I should divorce after a year and I'd get the money back from the split. You should have seen how mad he was when we ended up actually falling in love and moving away to Sweden together with her reward money and set up a lavish life here, we've been married ever since, we're 22 this year by the way so about 4 years together. " Kimberly recalled the past with a bright smile, the can in her hand being spun gently a she smiled and tipped her head back in delight, squealing as images of the younger Casey flooded her mind, when she was much more rebellious. Ludwig and Cindy also appeared to smile at the story, enjoying it through to the very end but just when Cindy went to take her turn- the door to the room flew open and the three that left returned with smirks before sliding the satchel that belonged to Ludwig along the desk and to him; he stood with shock as Cindy rushed up to Ciaran and began to check him, she tilted his face and stuff similar before sighing with relief and hugging him.