"You have until the stroke of midnight to win a game of your choice or I shall take your soul. Choose carefully." Deaths voice sounded like bone grinding against stone.
"If that's the case... I choose D&D," Andrew said.
"What's D&D?" Death asked bewildered.
"What? You've never played Dungeons and Dragons? Oh, it's fantastic, you're going to love it! I'll help you make your character. Just pick something you think will be fun."
"I choose to be the incarnation of destruction, the reaper of souls, the finality all men must face." Death said from the shadows of his hood.
"That's great, but you have to pick from a list here. You know what, let's pick bad. You seem to like attention."
"Does the bard harvest souls?"
"No, he, uh, plays music and stuff." Andrew didn't know what he did, no one played one in his group.
"I do play a mean bone harp," Death said wistfully. "It's settled then, let's play!"
"Well, now you just need to roll dice for stats. Real easy just pick those up and roll them for each of these," he said pointing to the stats on the character sheet.
Death clutched them in his skeletal hands and rolled them across the dining room table.
"That's a six, a six and another six, " Andrew said fairly impressed with the roll.
"Okay, just do that a few more times."
Death rolled triple sixes five more times.
"That seems a little suspect... you wouldn't be cheating, would you?"
"You would accuse me of cheating?" Deaths voice rose in anger.
"Nope. You're just very lucky. Eighteens across the board! Great job."
Death hissed in response.
"Okay Death, the game is starting." Andrew took a deep breath and imagined a small town with a bustling tavern full of adventurers. Busty barmaids hustled from the kitchen to the tables with trays of ale and stew.
"Death, you are sitting in a tavern sipping your ale. Patrons are sitting around tables talking, but too quietly for you to hear. What would you like to do?"
"I want to kill everyone." Death said leaning forward over the table. It may have been Andrew's imagination but he thought he saw a glimmer of excitement in the depths of the hood.
"Uh. These are seasoned veterans of the Second Carthian War. They will kill you pretty easily."
"Oh." Death's shoulders slumped a little.
"But, the man at the table next to you starts speaking a little louder. He mentions a secret tomb he had found in the woods recently. But he couldn't find a way to open the door."
"A secret tomb? Intriguing! I will force him to tell me where the location of this place is."
"Alright, some action! Roll that dice there, the one with the twenty sides to see if you can over power him."
Death snatched the die off the table and gave it a roll. It slid to a stop on the number one, then after a long second hopped and landed on twenty.
"Is that good?" Death asked.
"Very good! That's a natural twenty! You pick the man up by his collar and threaten his life. He gets a map out of his pouch and hands it over to you. It is fairly crude but it outlines the location of the tomb."
"Oh, oh, okay," Death's voice changed a bit as he began to spoke for his character, "Thanks for doing business with Dante the Bard! You shall all remember his name!"
"Everyone in the bar is stunned into silence by your proclamation! These veterans of a hundred battles cower in fear at your ferocity."
"Excellent!" Death steepled his fingers together, "Let's go find this tomb!" He couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.
Andrew watched the seconds tick away on the clock. Death was so engrossed in his adventure that he hadn't realized just how much time had passed. It was already eleven thirty.
"Okay Death, you find the narrow trail marked on the map that leads up the mountain to the tomb. Birds are calling from branches above you and you spot a deer leap away over a small creek."
"There is no time to waste! This tomb won't explore itself. Onward!"
"The trail is over grown with roots that try to snag at your boots. Loose rocks try to trip you but you have such natural grace that you almost dance down the trail."
The hands on the clock spun and spun as Andrew talked.
"The woods give way to a cliff. The ancient door is easy to see as it is outlined in runes carved into the cliff face. There are four lines of runes carved into the door itself. Would you like to try to decipher them?"
"Yes, of course!" Death picked up his dice and rolled. Another natural twenty.
"It's a riddle." Andrew cleared his voice and spoke in a lower tone.
"Until I am measured I am not known, Yet how you miss me When I have flown."
Death placed a bony finger underneath where is chin would be.
"Interesting . . . and so simple!" Death said triumphantly.
"The answer is time!"
"The door glows blue as you speak the command word! In a flash the stone door vanishes revealing a dark stone corridor!"
"But, it is also time to call it a night," Andrew said with a slight grin.
"We can't stop now!" Death moaned, "Or have you forgotten our arrangement? I get your soul if you don't beat me in a game before midnight!"
"Well, it's after midnight. And after my bed time. We can play again if you want to find out what's inside the tomb." Andrew said hopefully.
"You have a deal. Next time I'll bring some beers." Death said as he rose from the table then vanished in a burst of shadows.
