Read Online A Thorn Among the Lilies by Michael Hiebert - Free Book Online Page B

allowance to buy this set. Be happy with it. The next thing I’m gettin’ is the Dungeon Masters Guide and the Player’s Handbook. ”
    â€œWhat ’bout the Monster Manual .”
    â€œOh, I forgot ’bout that. I’ll need that, too.”
    â€œThis game’s gonna cost you a small fortune,” Dewey observed.
    â€œThis is why I think you should buy some of the stuff.”
    â€œWith what? I don’t even get an allowance. Besides, ain’t all those books for advanced D and D?”
    â€œYeah, but I reckon we’re ready to move up.”
    â€œI further reckon this game would be tons more fun with more players. Even just one or two.”
    â€œI agree. I wonder what Bo Burkett’s doin’?”
    Dewey laughed.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œBo Burkett?”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with him?”
    â€œBo Burkett couldn’t find no cheese in the middle of a dairy farm. He’d never understand this game.”
    â€œThe game isn’t that hard.”
    â€œWould be for Bo Burkett.”
    â€œI don’t think Bo Burkett is dumb. His marks seem okay in school. He’s in some of my classes,” I said.
    â€œMaybe you couldn’t find no cheese in the middle of a dairy farm neither, then.”
    â€œWhere did you get that expression? I’m not even a hundred percent sure they’d have cheese at a dairy farm.”
    â€œWell, you and Bo Burkett should play together, then. I’ll play somethin’ else.”
    â€œYou’re weird. Anyway, where were we? I think next time we play I’m going to have some NPCs go out with you.” An NPC is a nonplaying character controlled by the dungeon master.
    Carry walked into the room. “What are you two turds doin’ now?” She picked up one of the dragon dice off the table. It was the ten-sided one. “Hey, what’s this? It looks kinda neat.” D&D comes with a bunch of different dice, all strange and exciting. There’s a four-sided (which looks like a pyramid), a six-sided (which was a normal die), an eight-sided, a ten-sided, and a twenty-sided.
    We were currently in the middle of a game. Dewey was in the dark recesses of a dungeon where torches lined the walls, stuck in a very short and narrow passage. He had just come up to a door on the western side of the hallway. The torches threw weird shadows in their flickering light.
    â€œHmm,” he said. “I’m betting the door’s a trap.”
    I asked Carry for the ten-sided die she’d grabbed. “Can you please just let us play?” I begged.
    â€œWhat? I finally show an interest in somethin’ you’re doin’ and you want me to just leave you alone?”
    â€œYou’d never understand this game,” Dewey said.
    â€œLike, whatever,” Carry said back. “If y’all can play, I am sure a cat could play it.” She gave me back the die and continued on into the living room and turned on the television.
    I rolled the ten-sided die.
    â€œWhy’d you just roll that die?” Dewey asked.
    â€œIt’s a secret.” I actually rolled it to see if any wandering monsters would be coming down the hallway toward him if he didn’t open the damn door. Wandering monsters are monsters that aren’t already set in the game. They just appear at random, by specific dice rolls.
    â€œHmm,” he said again. “I still can’t decide on this door. The last time I opened a door and you rolled a die right before, there were four basilisks behind it waiting to eat me. This time my strength is ’bout half as much as it was then. Four basilisks would kill me.”
    I rolled an eight-sided die. Bingo.
    â€œQuit rollin’ that damn die!” Dewey snapped.
    â€œYou hear a rumble from down the hall.”
    â€œWhich way?”
    â€œYou can’t tell yet. Too many echoes off the stone walls and floor.”
    Dewey sighed. “Okay, I open the