Veronica was amazed that Ophelia left after she finished her presentation. She either didn't notice or didn't care that Veronica was freeing her little "volunteers" from the torture devices and traps she put them in. Thankfully, nobody was hurt aside from a few minor bruises or scratches, but they were nearly impossible to console until Ophelia restored them to normal size as she left. Veronica was just glad that she herself wasn't shrunk.
The next week came quickly. Veronica held her breath and was constantly anxious that Ophelia might show up at one of her classes and cause havoc, but, thankfully, Ophelia was nowhere to be found.
That is, until Friday's History Club meeting. Veronica was still just as shocked and frightened when she turned on the light to the HC meeting room and was greeted by Ophelia, grinning with her trademark macabre smile. She was very excited, and you mentally prepared for another "presentation". Veronica thought about emailing her students not to come to the club meetings anymore, and felt relieved when it seemed as though they might not show up. But, to Veronica's consternation, Ophelia merely snapped her fingers and caused five of the "volunteers" from last week to suddenly appear in the room. The door shut on its own, once again, and while Veronica turned to your students to comfort them, Ophelia began to set up... something on a table in the middle of the room. It looked almost like a big, big table-top model that one might expect to use in a game like Dungeons & Dragons. But it was intricately crafted.
"Friends, please gather round" she said, trying to sound polite. When everybody only looked up at her like deer caught in headlights, she held her hand out to snap her fingers. Not wanting to upset the Abner woman, Veronica and her students reluctantly approached the table. It was almost a beautiful construction, made of what looked like real stone and wood. The top had what looked like real grass and weeds leading to a half-ruined and crumbled stone hut. Veronica realized that these "diorama" pieces were likely from the real world, just miniaturized. Veronica saw that most of the diorama had little windows on it, but could not see very much through them. "Don't look through those" Ophelia chided. "You'll ruin the surprise."
Veronica caught something moving through one of the windows, and tried to examine the window to figure out what was inside, but was snapped back to attention by Ophelia. She wondered what was in there. It almost reminded her of those tube and tunnel sets that people put hamsters in. But Veronica knew that there were no hamsters in this diorama.
"I had fun in History Club, but I have decided we are going to do a new club now. We will do Games Club. Have you all played Dungeons and Dragons before?" she asked with that macabre smile on her face? "I have played it before with some of my sisters. But I thought it was a little bit boring. Ooh, I want to roll dice and talk about what my character will do!" she said, in a mocking voice. "It's not fun when you have to imagine the game. So instead I invented my own last week. I call it "Castles & Creatures. Instead of rolling dice and moving little tiny figures around, I think to myself, wouldn't it be more fun for everyone to get to really experience what it is like to be hero? I think it would be fun. So I came up with some characters and a fun little story for us to play together. Won't that be fun?"
Veronica gulped. If an Abner thought this was going to be fun...
She smiled again. "I will be Dungeon Mistress Ophelia. If you want to address me during game you can call me Dungeon Mistress or Ophelia, but if you don't say that then I will assume you are speaking in character as part of role playing" she said. "I came up with characters for all of you to play. We will need one Cleric, one Ranger, one Fighter, one Wizard, one Rogue, and one Warlock" she said. "Does anybody have any preferences, or do you want me to pick?"
"I don't want any part of this!" one of the students, Chris, said. He was a nice young man, and was working on transferring to a four-year institution to get a teaching degree. Last week, he was subject to Ophelia's water torture, strapped to a chair and forced to sit while occasional drops of water dripped down on his head. He was quite anguished when Veronica released him. He turned and tried to open the door, but found it would not budge. Ophelia snapped her fingers, and Chris disappeared and reappeared in the palm of Ophelia's hand. He appeared to be about four and a half inches tall, and was dressed in Cleric robes, holding a big Warhammer in one hand. It appeared he had some prosthetics on to make him appear like a half-orc, but he was clearly still recognizable as Chris.
"You will be my Cleric" she said, waggling her finger in his face like she would a bird in a cage. She then pinched him around his head and dropped him right on top of the diorama, dumping him in front of a tree and near the ruins on top. "Your character name is Orchris, you are Paladin hunting monster in this dungeon" she said.
"Where is my little Cynthia?" she said. Ophelia snapped her fingers and Cynthia suddenly appeared in her hands, at only four inches tall. She was dressed as a Ranger, in black leather, and had two swords at her hips. Her smile became very wide when Cynthia began to turn on Ophelia's palm, freaking out that she was shrunk again. She felt her head, and realized that she was wearing prosthetic pointed ears. "You will be my darling little Elf girl. Your character name is... Cyndi" she said, after thinking for a moment. She bent down and kissed "Cyndi" on the head, leaving a little red lipstick on the tiny girl's forehad and neck, and then picked her up by one arm and dropped her next to Chris.
She continued to follow suit with the other three students, transforming them into a Fighter, Wizard, and Warlock. Finally, Ophelia turned to Veronica, and snapped her fingers. Veronica felt her heart drop into her stomach as she suddenly felt like she was falling, and then realized she were standing on the giant pale hand of Ophelia. She smiled down at Veronica. "You will be my sweet and tricky little rogue" she said. She looked down and realized she was wearing uncomfortably tight leather that exposed some of her skin. Victoria would never wear anything this revealing, and felt her face turn red as the giant Abner rubbed her finger on some of her exposed skin. "Your character will be named... eh, I'll just name you Victoria again. Easy to remember" she said. She cradled Victoria in her palm for another moment, and then deposited her next to the rest of the tiny people. Veronica noticed she was taller than the rest of the miniaturized people, even the "half-orc". "Veronica, your character is half-giant. So you're big, but you like to sneak".
Ophelia sat down in a chair she pulled up, her gigantic face looming high above you and your "party". "Ok. So, let me explain to you rules and story." She walked everyone through the rules, which seemed quite complex. There was no dice-rolling, no character sheets... it was all done live. Each person could move and talk freely while there were no events going on, but if a monster started a fight, or the Dungeon Mistress was speaking or moving them around, they would be frozen in place unless it was their turn to move. They would all have to be physical and to move and swing their weapons on their own.
Chris tried to protest as Ophelia prepared to explain the story to her "friends". "You can't do this! Change me back!" he said.
"I'm sorry, is someone saying something? The Dungeon Mistress can't hear you unless you address her directly" Ophelia said, pretending she could not hear him.
Chris tried to walk off of the edge of the game board, but found Ophelia's hand suddenly in front of him, blocking his path. She flicked her wrist, smacking the tiny "half-orc" with her fingers, causing him to roll backwards a few feet.
"You can't leave, we are just about to start! Now sit still so I can tell you the story" she said. She grabbed Chris and stood him upright next to you.
"So, you are a party of adventurers, and you have all joined forces together because there is a monster lurking in a dungeon near your hometown that is threatening the peace and prosperity of the land."
"Sounds like an Abner" the Fighter, Jessica (now "Jezabel the Halfling") muttered. Ophelia responded in kind by reaching over to the tiny woman and flicking her in the stomach, causing her to fall flat on her back.
Ophelia cleared her throat, frowning at the tiny fighter. She then reached down into a bag she had laying on the table, out of the party's view. She turned her head away from Veronica while she rooted around in it. She then held something up in front of the party. It looked like a doll in her hand, but at this point everyone knew it was likely a miniaturized person.
"You're hunting this vampire. Her name is Lamia. She's an evil half-vampire sorceress, and unless you stop her, she's going to turn you and everyone you know into her thralls" she said. "She's going to be played by this one right here. She was one of my favorite dolls when I was a little girl. She's even a real half-vampire. My mother and father brought her back for me from a trip to Transylvania. Isn't she a pretty doll?" Ophelia said. Veronica felt a stomach knot forming. She was stressed out by the thought that this woman might just keep her small as a toy - or as a toy. Was that other woman really a vampire? She hoped not.
Ophelia put her hand on one of the lower levels of the "diorama" and lifted it, tiling the first three layers and causing all of the little heroes to fall over. She put Lamia on the lowest floor, and then shut it. She then reached her hand out and scooped all of you up, lifted away the top, and dumped Veronica et al on some tiles next to a fake staircase. "You enter the dungeon..." Ophelia says.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author