Bones scattered with a flash of divine light that gleamed from Velana's sword.

"If any of you plan on wrapping things up any time soon, that would be helpful!" She shouted over her shoulder, before pivoting on her heel to bring her sword down on a skeleton in the midst of reassembling itself.

"I'm trying!" Kaladin shouted back, before resuming his arcane chanting. Before him, the necromancer laughed, sending a bolt of black and green magic directly for him. There was no getting out of the way without sacrificing the spell he was casting, and with the way the battle was going, he likely wouldn't have the mana to try again.

A blur of red and brown cut in front of Kaladin's vision, right before he heard an all too familiar grunt of pain.

"Rurik!" Faelen screamed, and Kaladin could only watch as his dwarven companion collapsed in a heap, black veins spreading across what skin was visible.

The sight of his friend in the dirt made Kaladin's blood run cold. His first instinct was to run to his side, cast a healing spell. He could save him, he knew that.

"Finish the necromancer, Kal!" Velana interupted his panic, "I've got Rurik!"

That was right, Velana was a paladin of Vorleth; her god had granted her the ability to heal. Not as much as one of Kaladin's spells, but it would be enough-- especially against necromantic magic.

His resolve firm in the face of Rurik’s sacrifice, Kaladin turned his attention back to the necromancer that had been terrorizing the city for so long--

"Alright, roll to hit," from behind his Game Master screen, Alan hid his excitement with a well-timed sip of off brand soda.

Across the table, Jake nervously rolled his twenty-sided die in his hand. The young man stalled for a moment, adjusting his glasses and glancing down at his character sheet once more to make sure he knew which modifier to add to his roll.

“Don’t roll with that die; you’ll get us all killed!” Saz blurted, shaking her head furiously, 

Naomi nodded, leaning back in her chair, “Yeah, you should have put that die in dice jail ages ago!”

It was true. In the six hours the group had been playing in their latest session of Realm of Reclamation, Jake’s luck with the dice had been unfortunate to say the least. If Alan remembered correctly, Jake’s highest roll so far had been an 11. Which, unfortunately, was not cutting it for this end-stage battle with Korvath, the Necromancer.

From his end of the table, Dre finished his beer, “If I have to roll up a new character because you whiff this, Rurik’s ghost is haunting you.” He laughed.

“Forget Rurik, we’d be lucky if we escaped a total party massacre,” Naomi scoffed.

If Jake could get any paler, he would have, “Geez, guys, no pressure or anything.”

“It’s the final battle against your first Big Bad, there’s got to be pressure,” Alan reassured Jake, giving the younger man a smile,“Remember, we’re here to have fun.”

“We’re here to kick ass,” Dre corrected.

Alan had to bit back a laugh at Dre’s outburst. Despite his annoyed act, Dre had been a solid team player during their RoR campaign. Then again, Dre had always been a rock solid player, ever since he and Alan had been roommates in college. 

It had been a stroke of luck, back then, to find someone else who enjoyed the same obscure table top role play game. Dre had joined Alan on many a misadventure to the game store to hunt down a running game of Realm of Reclamation, and suffered through more than their fair share of bad players and bad game masters. When Alan had enough and decided to become a game master himself, Dre had not only been supportive, he had roped in his new girlfriend Naomi to join him in being Alan’s first players.

Five years later, Alan was the best man at Dre and Naomi’s wedding. Their game sessions continued, with Dre and Naomi occasionally running a session or two every few months. But Alan found he liked being a game master, it helped him flex his creative muscles after a long day at the office.

Their gaming group had grown when Naomi casually mentioned that her best friend and maid of honor was interested in learning to play. And that was how Sarah (or Saz, as she preferred to be called) was brought into their group. To this day, Alan wasn’t sure what amazed him more: that a blonde paralegal who ran half marathons for fun would indulge in role play games, or that when Alan asked her out to coffee, she had said yes.

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Saz and Alan had been dating for three years now, and Saz had made for a killer player in their usual sessions. Though Dre had definitely gotten a lot of milage out of calling her a rules lawyer (Naomi had to put a stop to that, if only for her own sanity). 

Jake was the newest addition to their gaming group, and the youngest of them by several years. As Saz’s kid brother, Jake was currently fumbling his way through college, and crashing with Saz to save on room and board. When Saz had begged Alan to let Jake join their group for a few sessions, Alan hadn’t questioned his girlfriend (not to mention he wasn’t about to turn away a potential Realm of Reclamation fan). Though, as it turned out, Jake was a complete newbie to the gaming scene; he’d never even knew dice could come in other shapes than cubed. The group had held Jake’s hand through the tricky process of character creation and his first few one-shots before they tackled an actual campaign.

And here they were now, at the final battle, and everything hinged on Jake’s final roll.

Saz held up a finger to stop Jake from rolling, digging through her messenger bag. “If you’re going to roll big, you better use these!” With that, she withdrew a metal dice case. She stood, handing the case to Jake.

Jake opened the case, and Alan had to admit, even he was surprised that Saz was offering to let Jake roll her lucky, solid rose quartz dice. Even Saz didn’t roll them too often, not wanting to wear out the luck faster than necessary (and also because they cost a pretty penny-- Alan would know, since he was the one who bought them as a birthday present for Saz one year).

“Saz, you sure?” Jake asked, picking up the shiny D20, “What if I--”

“Don’t you dare manifest that energy while touching my die, Jake!” Saz shook her head, “Now roll! It's almost midnight, and some of us have work in the morning.”

With a shaky nod, Jake rolled the pink die in his hand before tossing it into the center of the table. After a few heavy clinks against the table surface, the die came to a rest, a metalic 16 face up on the table.

“Okay, sixteen…” Jake muttered, checking his character sheet, “And I’ve got a…plus two to spell attacks, that’s eighteen.”

“Plus one, because Faelen gave you that eye of true sight pendant,” Naomi added.

“Right!” Jake nodded, “...so does nineteen hit?”

Alan didn’t need to glance at the stats for Korvath to know that it did, “Roll for damage.”

“Yes!” Dre was standing now, both hands on the back of his head as he watched Jake collect three standard D6 and tossed them. A three, a four, and a six. Thirteen total.

Alan had to resist the urge to grin, “So how does Kaladin vanquish Korvath the Necromancer?”

Jake flinched as the raucous shouts from Dre and Naomi, his cheeks turning pink, “I…uh… Kaladin finishes his spell, and says…uh… ‘You like the dead so much? Go join them!’”

“There we go, way to role play!” Saz grinned.

That was saying something, considering how, at the beginning of their campaign, Jake would only speak when it was his turn, and only ever as Jake, never as Kaladin. Alan made a note to reward Jake for his efforts, “As the spell strikes Korvath’s chest, you can see the dark magic tethering him to this realm begin to unravel. Korvath releases an unholy shriek of pain, his hands withering even as he reaches out toward you, failing to seek retribution for thwarting his plans for the city of Alderei. Within moments, all that remains of Korvath are a few ashes, and the bones of his followers.”

“Velana sprints across the mausoleum to Rurik,” Saz jumped in, before affecting a deeper voice, “Hang in there, Rurik! She places a hand on Rurik’s chest, and invokes the might of Vorleth to banish the darkness harming him.”

Alan didn’t ask for a roll. At this point, it was just for flavor anyway, “A glow passes from your hand into Rurik’s chest, allowing him to regain consciousness.”

“Love that for me,” Dre laughed, adopting the worst attempt at a Scottish accent Alan had ever heard (Alan suspected Dre was doing it on purpose), “Aye lass, that’ll do for me! I think I’m ready for a stiff drink.”

“Don’t worry, Kal,” Naomi added in character, “Faelen elbows Kaladin’s thigh, ‘I’ll cover you for the first round of drinks.’”

Jake cleared his throat, “I…um… Kaldin nods, and says… um… “Just the first round?””

Naomi grinned, “Let’s not get too cocky, hero.”

“And with that, your party has successfully saved the city of Alderei.” Alan nodded, shutting his notebook, “Obviously, I know you guys are going to loot the mausoleum and everything, but I think we can agree that we don’t need to RP that.”

“Not at this time of night,” Dre shook his head, “I open in the morning, and I know it’s going to be rough shift.”

As the group went through their usual ritual of cleaning up, debriefing from the game, and excitedly chattering about what was to come next.

“What do you even do after a long campaign like that?” Jake asked, putting the rest of the salsa back into Alan’s fridge.

“I’m sure Alan’s already got a million ideas up his sleeve,” Saz grinned, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Alan’s cheek before stashing the half-eaten potato chips back into the cupboard.

Alan laughed, “Oh, don’t you worry. Next session will be just as fun, even if we need a bit of a palette cleanser after Korvath’s schemes.”

Even as he said it, Alan couldn’t help but feel stressed. He was sure Saz or Dre could tell he was lying through his teeth, and that he had no idea what to do next. But mercifully, neither of them said anything.

Truth was, Alan had spent months planning and outlining and preparing the campaign they just finished. And work had him slammed, leaving him with little left in the tank to think of any new ideas.

But he had time before the next session. Surely Alan could think of where the party could go after defeating a necromancer warlord in a couple of weeks, right?