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The Dice Must Roll

Chapter 1: Making Characters

By Draconicon

The old neon sign blasted the store's name up and down the street, reflecting off of car windows, puddles, and the windows across the street for everyone to see. The d20, it was called, and it had been the place to get good board games, modules, cards, and anything else one could play that wasn't electronic for pretty much Charlie's whole life.

Pity to see that it's going through hard times, the panther thought as he walked through the front door.

Back when he was in high school, Charlie could walk into The d20 anytime after noon and see dozens of people. Playing card games, playing board games, running a campaign in the corner, whatever. There'd be literally a dozen different games someone could jump in on, and there'd be game boxes along the walls waiting for someone else to start them up. These days...

Well, he spotted his friends in the corner, all of them still deep in discussion about the next game (he hoped). Darren, the human shop owner, was in the middle of sweeping up the aisles near the front of the store. And...that was about it, sadly.

He shook his head as he unzipped his coat, throwing it over his shoulder as he walked forward. Darren looked up as he passed, nodding.

"Charlie, good to see you," he said in his usual neutrally-friendly voice.

"You too. Everyone set up back there?"

"That's what Greg said. He has some sort of surprise for you, I think."

"Heh, anything he bought from you?"

"I wish. But have fun, anyway."

"Thanks."

He gave the dark-skinned human a high-five as he passed, feeling a bit like a furry mirror as he did. Not many black panthers in the city, either.

His friends, a folf, a husky, a wolf, and a stingray all looked up as he approached. The former three grinned, while the last rolled her eyes.

"What kept you? Greg's been holding back the campaign til you got here," Ailsa said.

"Work. Not a lot you can do about that," he said, throwing his coat over the back of his chair and sitting down. "So..."

Everyone, him included, turned to face the husky at the far end of the round table. Greg smiled as he reached behind his back, the husky chuckling the whole time.

"Ladies and gentlemen...I am proud to announce..."

He paused, tugging at something again.

"I am proud...to announce..."

Whatever it was must have been stuck good. Greg kept tugging, grunting and grumbling to himself in short order, and Charlie wasn't the only one that was hiding a giggle as the husky kept pulling at whatever he had hidden behind his back.

"I AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE - Get out of there you fucking - GAH!"

The husky went tumbling head over heels, some set of papers or others following along. He rolled backward into one of the war-gaming tables, jostling a few of the figures that were placed on it. If it had been a game night, there would have been hell to pay for that, but it was just a display set.

As Greg walked back to the table, Ryker the folf shook his head.

"You are never going to be a bard, you know that?"

"Hey, I play the DM. That's just as good," Greg muttered. "Anyway, as I was trying to say. Ahem. I am proud to announce the beginning of a new campaign. Behold!"

Leaning in as the papers were spread out, Charlie had to admit that the layout was actually worth the wait. Old pages - really old, not just that aged effect that some booklets got - sprawled out in a picturesque fashion, revealing a map of a horrifying-looking land. Old trees with vampire bats, werewolves roaming the land, ghosts that rose from a graveyard; it had all the hallmarks of a good horror setting, and one that they hadn't played yet, to boot.

Greg sat down, grinning as he stretched his arms out over the table.

"Feast your eyes on the land of Katharn, overrun with the horrors of the great Lord of Horrors, Rodrigo the Ruthless. His power corrupts the land by the day, and with every passing night, his strength grows. He seeks to take the day and turn it to endless night, to take the heart and soul of all those that stand before him. And he will accomplish it, too, unless a valiant group of heroes rises to slay him."

"...Eh, 5/10," Ryker muttered, shaking his head.

"Five?! Come on, that's a seven, at least," the husky grumbled.

"You were doing okay until the end there. I know dragons that tell a better story than that."

"Well maybe you should have them DM for you, instead. Oh, wait, you gotta pay them for that," Greg said. "I'm free."

"And almost too expensive for that," Lorkos, the wolf, muttered just quietly enough to avoid being heard by most of the table. Most. Charlie still caught it.

He chuckled. The group had been playing together for a while. Even though they were either in college or employed these days, they still got together every week or so to play a game. Their campaigns had kept them together through a lot of problems, like when Lorkos broke up with his girlfriend and couldn't handle anyone's company outside the games, or when Ailsa had been outed as...well, what she was, and needed support.

In any case, the banter was a constant, and nobody was surprised when it started up again at the expense of the DM. Considering what a ham he could be, everybody more or less expected it.

Charlie looked over the papers, as did Lorkos. The wolf was the first to ask the question that they were all thinking.

"Any restriction on races and classes?"

"No evil classes this time. And I was thinking that we keep to the non-humans this time," Greg said. "Just the anthro races, if you don't mind."

"Awww, and I was going to play a boring human fighter that went around stabbing things all the time," Ailsa said, rolling her eyes again. "Of course we're going to play anthro species."

"Come on, give him a break." Charlie patted her back. "Anyway, let's get started, huh? Who wants arcane?"

"I'll take that," Lorkos muttered.

The panther nodded, going through the usual list of roles. Arcane, Divine, Tank, Rogue. That was the general list for these sorts of things, though he was surprised that the wolf had gone for Arcane. Usually, the big guy went for either the Divine or the Tank. Maybe he was trying to branch out a little bit.

After a few minutes, they'd gotten it all settled. Lorkos was going for a sorcerer, something to test out some new ideas he had on the game system. Ryker, as usual, was going for the rogue, pushing himself to be a good little sneak-thief. From the way that the folf was talking, he wouldn't be surprised if Greg ended up narrating some surprise butt-sex throughout the adventure.

Ailsa, on the other hand, grabbed the Tank role right off the bat, and to everyone's surprise, she picked Paladin. With everyone at the table staring at her, she shrugged.

"Hey, just because the school called me a witch..."

"Not like that," Charlie jumped in. "Just, uh, wasn't expecting you to go for that. Was thinking you'd try a barbarian."

"Please. Like I'd want to shove myself in a loincloth with what I have down there."

The table was split between those that blushed and those that didn't. Greg and he were bright red in the cheeks, while Lorkos and Ryker just smiled a bit. He wouldn't be surprised if the pair of them were thinking of exactly what that'd look like.

"And that leaves the Divine role for me. Cleric or druid, cleric or druid..."

As the others started rolling their stats, he pulled out the handbook. Flipping between the two roles a few times, he debated what would be useful.

Animal companion never lets you down, he thought. And with all the undead around, wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes, particularly one that can't really turn against the party...

That said, the cleric would be a pretty good choice, too, particularly at the lower levels where the whole Turn Undead power was beyond useful. Then again, if Greg decided to go werewolf heavy...

That was the turning point for him. There were too many different types of monsters in the campaign for him to go full cleric. If it was just undead, that'd be a different situation, but with the type of monsters that they could be running into, it was better to have a companion and a chance to pacify animals. Werewolves could be all sorts of help, if he could get the right rolls.

"So, what kind of hook are we going through this time?" Ryker asked as they continued filling out their character sheets. "Night at the tavern, meeting up on the road? Last men standing at the brothel?"

They all threw their dice at the folf for that, but he just laughed it off.

"Come on, you know it'd be in character for me to do that."

"For you, not the rest of us," Lorkos muttered. "Let's get this done, huh? Don't want to have half the sheet left to do at the next session."

Everyone agreed with that, even Ryker, and the four of them went quiet as they continued filling in their character sheets. The only chatter came as someone or other asked questions about the game for the purposes of filling out their character sheets fairly, such as what sort of equipment was available and whether they would be able to access magical items right at the start (half the equipment list and no being the answers).

They were just about done when he glanced over at what Lorkos was putting together.

The sorcerer-in-progress was less of a standard sorcerer class and more of a combination. It seemed to take in demon magic, like a warlock, but with the bloodline style of a sorcerer. It seemed to have a number of downsides, too, but had a high-risk, high-reward build that meant that any spells that went off successfully would hit much harder than usual...but only on the same gender.

"What, you possessed by an incubus this time?" he whispered to the wolf.

"That's the thought," Lorkos muttered back. "Not possessed, more bound, but you get the idea."

"Huh. Usually that's Ryker's thing. You're not so..."

"Perverted?"

"Yeah."

"Trying something different."

"Hey, good for you."

The wolf smiled slightly, then turned back to his character sheet.

Before long, they were done. They passed their sheets to Greg who, in turn, passed them a set of dice. Each of them took the little box of colored dice and put them away, tradition dictating that these dice, and no others, would be the ones that they used throughout the game. Fresh-bought, completely sealed, so that nobody could say that the luck had gone out of them just yet.

Here's hoping that mine had the luck put into them, this time.

They were just packing up, getting ready to go home, when Charlie thought to ask something.

"So, where did you get this game, Greg? Looks older than anything we've played before, and Darren said you didn't get it from him."

"Um, well..."

The note of embarrassment in the husky's voice was more than enough to get all of them turning on their heels, looking him right in the face. Greg rubbed the back of his head, umming and hmming until Ailsa grabbed him by the arm.

"Spit it out."

"Well, um, it wasn't so much that I didn't get it from him, as much as I, um, took it from the back room."

The four players groaned, slapping their hands over their faces as one.

The back room was where Darren kept all the discontinued stuff, things that were either no longer going for sale or didn't have a place on the sales floor. There were hentai games back there, too, things that were not suitable for a general sale, and things that were probably better off not being seen in the light of day.

If Greg had pulled it from back there, that meant that it was as good as stealing. Before they could come after him for it, though, the husky was already well into his own defense.

"I'm going to put it back as soon as we're done playing it, I promise. And besides, it's not like it's a bad game. I read through it. There's good characters, strong enemies. Great setting, too. And it's not like we're sharing it out to anyone."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You better give me a freaking brothel," Ryker grumbled.

This time, nobody threw anything at him. They were thinking something similar, insofar as getting good things for their characters.

And I guess it doesn't really do any harm, Charlie thought as Greg promised them the world. It's just a couple of games before we finish it up. Then we go back to the regular stuff...and I tell Darren to get a better lock for his store room.

They packed up and made their way out. Ailsa was first gone, hopping into an Uber before disappearing. Ryker went around the corner to get his motorcycle, and Greg grabbed his car from the front of the shop. Charlie was still getting his coat on as Lorkos nodded towards the side door.

"Need a ride home?" the wolf asked.

"Wouldn't say no."

"Come on."

They left with a wave to the human, making their way into the side alley. The beat-up two-seater was as bad as it had been since their senior year, but he could tell that Lorkos was doing his best to keep it up. It didn't have any of the bigger wear and tear problems that some cars that old would have had, and it still looked about the same rather than looking worse.

Shaking his head, Charlie climbed into the passenger seat. After pulling his seatbelt on, he pulled out his new dice. Bright green. Pretty suitable for a druid.

"Hey, Lorkos?"

"Yeah?"

"What made you want to try being a sorcerer this time?"

"Just wanted to try something new," the wolf said as he closed the driver's side door. "Why's it matter?"

"Just didn't know you were into guys."

"Character is. Not really sure I am."

"...Heh, well, wanna try something else new?"

Lorkos paused in the middle of turning the key, looking back at him with an arched eyebrow. Charlie chuckled, pulling the d20 out of the little standing box.

"Just saying. Could try out giving a blowjob. See if you like it. Nobody'd ever know, considering how empty this alley is."

Shrugging, he tossed the dice across the dashboard, just for the hell of it. It rolled around for a bit, spinning and clattering across the vents before coming to a stop just a few inches away from the middle of the car.

16.

He felt a strange sort of...tingle, for lack of a better word. Almost like he'd been shocked.

16+6=22, something seemed to say, almost like it was pulling from his character sheet. Sure, that had been the diplomacy skill bonus, but -

The rough pads of Lorkos's fingers grabbed his crotch, rubbing it a few times before moving to the zipper. If the panther hadn't been belted in, he was pretty sure that he would have jumped right out of his skin. He looked back at his friend, saw the intent look on his face, and knew that this was as serious as could be.

Well...I did offer...

He felt oddly calm as his up-til-now straight friend unzipped him and fished out his sheath. The tip of his cock, pink and just a tiny bit spiky, was just showing from his sheath. Those fingers, rough and yet gentle at the same time, rubbed him along the edges of his sheath, tickling his cock and nudging it to come out the rest of the way. The panther was happy to let it happen, relaxing and groaning under his breath as he got harder and harder.

He let out another soft groan as those fingers found their way up to the tip of his cock, running along the sides and then along the soft barbs at the head. The feeling of that intent interest, that strange curiosity, only helped him to get even harder.

Fuck...wouldn't have picked him...to be this interested in a dick.

It didn't take long before the panther was fully hard. He panted a bit as the wolf slipped out of his seatbelt, leaning over the middle of the car and looking down at his cock. Lorkos seemed so...focused, so determined. It was both a little intimidating and rather sexy to look at, he had to admit.

"You, uh, you gonna taste it?" he said, hardly believing what he was saying.

"In a second."

"Okay."

"Don't rush me."

"I'm not."

Good lord, he didn't want to rush the wolf on this. Not when it felt this amazing so far. He hadn't had anyone touching him down there since prom. College had been a complete dry spell for him so far, so he wasn't going to complain about this taking a little bit longer than some people did.

Come on, just enjoy it...enjoy it so we can do it again...

Soft little puffs of air replaced the fingertip touches, and then they were replaced by a soft, velvety tongue. It took everything Charlie had to not thrust his hips up at that, and he bit his lips to keep from moaning loud enough to catch Darren's attention from inside.

Holy fuck...

Lorkos was taking it slow, his tongue exploring, teasing, prodding at the panther's cock. There was none of the eagerness that you might have seen on a porn video, but there was plenty of attention to be had. Some of the licks along the sides of the shaft were less pleasurable, but every time that the big guy pulled his tongue up to the tip was heaven. The feeling of his barbs being flattened out and then pulled up again only made him hornier, and he had to clutch at the car door and the middle divider with his claws to keep from popping too quickly.

It wasn't like the wolf wasn't enjoying it, either. He might not be saying much, but Lorkos was definitely blushing enough to look like he was enjoying this more than he let on. He turned his head this way and that, his tongue flicking out from time to time to lick from a different angle, guiding the panther's cock further up until -

"Mmmph..."

Charlie bit his tongue, feeling his cock sliding into that wet muzzle and then further, further back towards the throat. There was no hesitation, just pure, forceful exploration of what he could do. Every lick, every suck was more intense and powerful than he might have gotten from a gay guy. No finesse or technique, just a lot of force, a lot of pushing to get him to cum.

And that was what he was going to do, very soon.

As the wolf bobbed his head up and down, finally getting to the good part, Charlie leaned his head back and puffed for breath. He wasn't thrusting, even though he wanted to. He didn't want to make Lorkos gag, or -

Then his friend swallowed him down to the base in one fell swoop. There was one gagging spasm as the wolf pushed himself past his limits, and that was all that Charlie could take.

"Nnnnngh!"

The panther moaned as he came, Lorkos pulling back at the last second. The first shot went down the wolf's throat and the rest of it went all over his face. Charlie barely noticed; he was too involved with the feeling of cumming from something other than his own hand to really go into it.

By the time that his afterglow set in, he had painted the wolf's face white, and the poor guy looked at him with gentle, baffled confusion.

"...What just happened?"

"I...think it's commonly called an orgasm," Charlie said.

"That...that's obvious," he said, blushing. "But...did I just..."

"...You mean you..."

"I can remember it, but..."

"But what?"

"I can't remember deciding to do it. You just asked and...and I was doing it. I don't..."

"..."

The pair of them turned to the d20 still on the dashboard. They stared at it for a few seconds, the little thing seeming to gleam back at them with a not entirely natural light.

It went flying out the driver's side window a second before they peeled out of there.

The End