From Secluding to Playing
By: Adrie Clendineng
Tags: Dungeons And Dragons, Campaign, Friends

Prompt: Write a 700 word story in the fantasy genre. It’s about a hermit and should include a wooden cross. Also use the sentence ‘Who needs friends?’ Bonus prompt: Your character is loved by everyone.

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“Why do I have to come to your stupid D&D meeting?” I asked my unnervingly cheer friend John as we went into the game store where this boring meeting would be held.

“Well, how else are you gonna make friends? Besides this is one of the last things I could think of to get you more friends besides me.” He answered in a cheery yet also desperate voice.

“Blah, who needs friends? I got my books, Tv, and work. Those are all the friends I need.”

“Come on Noah, at least joining this one game so we can hangout. You always hole yourself up in that little room of yours. Besides, it’s our senior year in highschool and I know very well that if I don’t help you find some new friends then you’re gonna be stuck in that little cave of yours until the sun burns out.”

“ Why should you care about my room, it has everything I could ever actually need.”

“Please Noah?” John pleaded “Just one game then you never have to play it again.”

“FINE,” I groaned. “But just one game.”

“YAY!” John exclaimed. He started running to a table with a group of 4 already at it. I am assuming that the group at the table is also playing D&D with him. With John distracted, I tried my best to sneak out. Right before I left the store, John ran back over and grabbed my jacket. John got a good grip on my hoodie and proceeded to drag me all the way over to the table. I didn’t fight because I know that it would be futile.

Once we got to the table, John picked me up and placed me in the empty chair next to the DM spot. I just crossed my arms and tried to dig deeper into my jacket to maybe escape this situation, that didn’t work.

“ Hello everyone, Happy Thursday.” John greeted. “Today I brought in a friend of mine who never played before so be patient with him today as he gets used to all of the rules.” The group that turned to me. Now that I got a better look at them up close and not from the other side of the store, I could see that the group of 4 consisted of a large male with a black shirt and he looked like he was a bouncer or security guard in his off time, a young female who had box braids and a few purple bands in her hair to go with her shirt, an androgyneos looking person with a black and red billed hat, black jacket, and red shirt, and a girl opposite of me with a sweater and had light blue rimmed glasses.

“Hey Noah, It’s great to see you.” Said the Bouncer, “My name’s Tyrone and I go by he/him.”

“My name’s Tasha and I go by she/her.” Said the lady in purple. Then Mr. Black and Red greeted, “Hey Noah, name’s Knife and I go by they/them. Nice to meet ya.”

“And I’m Emelia but you can call me Emma and my pronouns are they/them.” Ms Light Blue sky finished.

“Noah, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Said John, really tring to make me make friends. I sighed and introduced myself,

“Hey, name’s Noah and I’m fine with any pronouns.”

“Great, now that we have everyone’s names and pronouns out of the way-” John said but Tasha interrupted,

“You forgot your name and pronouns Smiles.”

“Oh, that’s right,” John said and facepalmed. John’s a pretty forgetful guy so I wouldn’t put it past him to forget to introduce himself. I am surprised that he has earned the nickname smiley, probably because I’ve never heard it before so I guess that makes sense.

“Well Hi there, Name’s John but you probably already knew that. And I go by he/him pronouns.” John finally introduced.

“Noah, since your new D&D I made you two character sheets, the hermit is one I wrote close to your own personality and the wizard I wrote as the complete opposite just to give you some options.” John placed the character sheets in front of me and I immediately chose the Hermit. Lots of people called me a hermit so might as well live up to it. John placed the other character sheet in a folder and tossed me a dice bag. Once I caught the bag and got ready, we started the Campaign that would give me the closest group of friends I’d ever ask for.