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Disclaimer: The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended.  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This story is copyright (c) 2011 R Nelson. All rights reserved.

~o~O~o~
Thanks go out to all my beta-readers and their awesome ideas/feedback. Crowd source stories are kinda fun. Sorry if I've been ADD with all the other stories I'm bouncing back and forth between. Thanks go out to djkauf for his grammar fixes. Lie, Lay, Laid, Lain, Layed are bad words.

Jake woke without flinching and snapped to full alertness with a light touch to his shoulder. He slowly turned his head and opened his eyes. He tensed slightly at the unexpected sight of a male dark elf, but quickly realized it was only Brian, using his dark elf disguise mask. It must be time for his guard shift and he felt somewhat reassured by his response because despite his screwed up body, he still reacted like an experienced combat veteran.

Brooke lay next to him and he felt a little twinge of reluctance at the need to leave her side and the shared warmth of their bodies, but he had a duty to perform. In a potential combat zone, it was critical for everyone to get as much rest as possible while ensuring the safety of the troops under their command. Fatigued soldiers got sloppy and made bad decisions in battle.

Brooke whimpered a little, but remained asleep as he carefully extricated himself from her side.

Jake shivered momentarily when the cool night air struck his exposed legs and upper chest. The air temp had to be in the mid fifties and he knew he should feel colder than he did, but maybe his body was acclimated to the climate or his skimpy outfit magically kept him warmer than it should. While he could appreciate the freedom of movement his skirt provided, the exposed skin on his legs was definitely not a comfortable feeling and he lamented looting it from the boss fight. If only he hadn’t equipped the new druid armor and kept Jancaryn’s druid hotpants, he might feel less exposed right now.

“Anything to report?” Jake asked, stepping closer to Brian and keeping his back to the hotly glowing coals to help his night vision. The fire probably needed another log or two added to keep it going until the morning.

Brian shook his head. “Nothing, boss. It was pretty quiet, but Emily can’t get to sleep for some reason.”

Jake glanced over to her. She sat in a lotus position with her back to the fire.  “Well, at least she’s relaxing.”

“Yeah, a little, but she’s mostly been working on her magic.  She managed to cast her Human illusion spell on herself and was pretty damn excited about it.” Brian grinned wryly. “She canceled it after a few minutes because the illusion also gave her human vision and she hated feeling night blind. As you can see,” He gestured to his face. “I can’t really blame her, but she thinks her disguise spells should last an hour or two on their own.”

Brian reached up to his face, his fingers somehow found the invisible seams of his mask and with a careful, gentle motion, his dark elf illusion mask peeled off his face. Instantly, his body wavered and shimmered as he returned to his human shape. He grimaced with distaste as he blinked his eyes. “Damn, human vision sucks.”

Jake nodded with agreement because as a wood elf, he thought his night vision was pretty good and far better than what he had as a human.  He knew it could be a significant advantage in battle, but he’d trade it in a heartbeat if he could be male again.

“Well, it’s good that she can disguise herself…” He smiled with appreciation as he considered the possible hassles they may have with a dark elf in their group.  He hoped D&D and all the fantasy authors got it wrong about the hatred for the race.

Brian’s face clouded momentarily as he considered the possible problem. “Yeah, that could be a good thing.”

Jake fondly patted his friend’s back. “Hey, get some sleep. Nothing we can do about it now.”

For a brief second, Jake thought Brian was going to hug him when he turned to toward him. Thankfully, he jerked to a halt before he did something uncomfortably non-dude like. “Good plan.” He shyly grinned before turning back to his wife.

Jake watched as Brian spent a few tender minutes with Emily before he lay down and fell asleep with his head on her lap. He felt a little alarm when his eyes started to tear up and his throat tighten at the sight of his friend’s love for each other, damn girl hormones. He managed to make himself laugh at the situation by telling himself the ‘How do you make a hormone?’ joke. With his girliness suppressed, he decided to toss another log on the fire before starting a slow patrol around the stone columns of their camp.

After his eighth or ninth pass around the perimeter of their camp, he came across Emily leaning casually against one of the columns and staring up into the night sky. At his approach, she turned her eyes to him and smiled. “Hey, Jan. Have you looked at the stars?  They’re so beautiful.” 

He glanced up at the brilliant tapestry displayed above their heads. “Yes, they are pretty bright. They kind of remind me of the night sky in Iraq. Without the lights and when the desert winds weren’t blowing, the night sky could be very clear, but this is much better.” He sniffed the crisp, clean air. “No pollution at all to mess up the upper atmosphere.”

Emily pulled away from the column and wrapped her cloak around her body. “Well, like Brian said, I’ve made some progress with my magic. Do you wanna see if I can help you figure out yours?”

“Umm, sure?” Jake asked, hesitantly before he caught her glance at him with concern. He straightened with resolve. “I mean, yes, please. What have you figured out?”

Emily described her burgeoning magical ability as being more like math. A + B = C. She felt like she had a slowly charging essence battery deep inside her body. When she wanted to cast a magical spell, she tapped into her battery and added the essence (A) to the spell formula (B) and got a result (C).  “Well, it’s a little more complicated than that because B also seems to be tied to my own imagination because I used my art skills to visualize the spell, but you’re a druid; So, I think your magic will be different from mine, but I’m not sure.” She shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

“Okay, sounds logical, I guess.” Jake moved to a spot inside their camp that was furthest away from the rest of his friends and to further try to account for Murphy’s Law.

Jake mentally reviewed his character’s low level spells. He had a few nice, safe ones he could try, but he decided his Summon Water spell was probably the safest and most useful. Cure Light Wounds needed an injury and Detect North was hardly a definitive display since he could simply look for moss on the back of a tree to figure out where North was. He had a few higher level spells and abilities he would like to try, but he figured it was better to start out small. He also faced away from them before he tried to figure out a way to tap into his possible magical ability.

It took a few minutes of relaxing and centering himself, as Emily called it, before he felt ‘the spark’. Once he had the ‘ah-ha’ moment, magic happened and his precautions proved to be a wise move, because unlike in the game, the water didn’t magically appear in his inventory as prepackaged, stackable water skins. Instead, the water started as a small blob hovering a few feet off the ground and then, with a slight gurgling sound, rapidly grew to about two feet in diameter.

Casting the spell was also the closest thing to a religious experience Jake had ever experienced in his life. Unlike Emily’s description of the magic, his magic seemed to come from all around. For a nano-second he felt a connection to every living plant, animal, the earth and even the sky. As brief and fleeting as his connection to ‘the world’ was, the brief touch left him with an indescribable feeling of peace and security. The entire world was alive, he was a part of it and it felt wonderful.

“Holy crap! Emily, do you see this?” He smiled with satisfaction as he turned back to his friend. With his focus broken, the ball of floating water promptly fell; splashing harmlessly on to the ground.

Emily smiled and hugged him. “That was awesome, Jan!”

Jake spent the rest of his guard shift thinking about what he experienced when he cast his spell. He remembered feeling a deep and personal connection to something much larger than himself, something simultaneously primal and deadly, but also warm and loving. He didn’t know what ‘it’ was and he had a hard time describing it, but Emily seemed to understand.

“Gaia.” She said, smiling peacefully at him.

“Gaia, what?” Jake asked.

“Sorry, I thought you knew.” Emily paused and gathered her thoughts. “Okay, you’re a druid, right?”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, I think so…”

“And, druids are protectors of nature, right?” She smirked expectantly.

“Yeah...” Jake hesitantly agreed even though he had never considered them as such in the game, but based on their powers, he could kind of see the link.

“Well, Gaia is essentially the same concept as Mother Nature, the goddess of the natural world and as a druid, you’re a part of the natural world. It’s the source of your magic, I think.” Emily smiled as Jake digested her information.

Everyone knew about Mother Nature, but people invoked it more as a warning to not build a house in Florida and call it Hurricane proof because ‘it’s not nice to try fooling Mother Nature.’ To him, this Gaia thing sounded and felt more like what he expected “The Force” to be back when he and his friends pretended to be Jedi Knights. As a test, he closed his eyes and looked deep inside himself.

The connection to this ‘Gaia/Force’ thing was still there and it was both reassuring and alarming to him. Reassuring because it meant he could tap into it at will and with a moment’s notice versus spending priceless minutes ‘centering’ himself.  Alarming because his dream and virtual reality theory were both starting to feel a little less likely to him.

However, if he really was Jancaryn, a 60th level druid, he might not be the helpless female wood elf he initially thought he was. Jancaryn’s nature based powers would certainly help his friends survive in the wilderness and with a source of fresh drinking water; they had one less survival necessity to worry about. Hell, his character even had a little used Create Winter Berries spell. They might not need to worry about food now either.

He sighed and the extra bounce on his chest brought him back to reality. Jake had been focusing so much on his magic that he completely forgot about how wrong everything else was. His hair was too long, his voice was too high, he was too short, frail and weak, his clothes were all wrong, his girlfriend was only a girl friend, he blocked out the problem with his missing manhood, but it could be worse, he could still be missing his right foot. Despite everything wrong in his life, he found his last thought extremely amusing and ironic.

“What’s so funny?” Emily asked, concerned.

Jake chuckled. “Oh, nothing, and everything. I was just thinking about how messed up my life is right now, but hey, I’ve got two feet!” He giggled as he briefly lifted up his right foot.

He found himself wrapped in a tight embrace by Emily, with his face pressed against her wonderfully perfect chest. He wanted to complain about being so damn short, but it felt so good being held by her. He couldn’t help it, he started to cry and once he started, he couldn’t stop himself. 

“Shhhh, it’s okay. Everything will be fine. I’m here…” Emily rubbed his back and whispered into his ear, occasionally repeating those words, or something similarly reassuring.

He lost track the time, but when he finally stopped crying, he was amazed at how good he felt. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off his chest. It made him realize that he wasn’t alone and he had friends who cared about him.  He knew it before, but it wasn’t until his unexpected cry that he consciously realized it. He sniffed and gave Emily a quick squeeze before disentangling himself from her. “Thanks.” He looked up at her and grinned. “I think I needed that.”

Emily grinned mischievously at him. “Yep, consider it a girl advantage. You can cry, no one will ever call you a wuss and it often leaves you feeling better in the end.”

Jake couldn’t help it, he giggled, which made Emily giggle, which caused a chain reaction of giggles and another spontaneous, hug between friends as they both struggled to contain their mirth.

He still felt curiously buoyant and cheerful when he woke a grumpy Nick for his guard shift. Once Nick got started with his shift, Jake lay down and snuggled against Brooke. It wasn’t until his body was pressed against her delightfully warm body that he noticed how cold he felt. For the first time in their relationship, he shivered and hugged her tight to warm up instead of Brooke stealing his warmth.

He could normally fall asleep in less than a minute in just about any position or situation, but he found it a little hard to relax. His body didn’t feel right and it took him longer to find a comfortable position. He was also a little keyed up from his successful casting of a spell and despite of how good he felt now, his breakdown in Emily’s arms had him a little concerned.

He knew women could be a little emotional at times. What if he had a similar kind of breakdown in the middle of a battle? Women weren’t that bad, where they? He didn’t think so and he even remembered joking with his squad mates about allowing women into combat roles. The joke was to just wait until it was that time of the month and let them go at the enemy. The enemy would probably surrender in no time.  He thought it was kind of funny at the time, but not so much now.

He sighed with frustration and shifted his hips a little until he found the perfect spot snuggled up against Brooke. Jake heard Nick and Emily softly speaking in the background and he felt a little curious about what they were talking about, but he was comfortable and sleep claimed him before his curiosity could be satisfied.

~o~O~o~

Nick grumbled when a too cheerful Jake/Jan woke him for his guard shift. “Damn it, I was in the middle of a good dream…”

“Sorry, bud...” Jan sleepily yawned and politely covered her mouth. “But it’s your turn. Em’s awake and helped me cast a spell; maybe she can help you too?”

Nick had to suppress a smile. Jake was damn cute as a wood elf chick. “Yeah, maybe.” He sat up and his armor dug into his side. “Ouch, this shit hurts!”

“Why didn’t you take it off before you went to sleep dude? You’ve played enough D&D. You should’ve known better.” Jan smirked as she offered Nick her hand to help him stand.

Jan gasped with surprise and stumbled forward. She quickly grabbed onto Nick with both hands and braced herself to keep from falling onto him as he pulled himself upright. She might be half a foot taller than he was, but her body was so lithe and petite. Nick chuckled at her determination to help him up. “Damn dude, sorry. If you’re 90 pounds soaking wet, I’ll be surprised.”

She looked a little disappointed with herself and it made Nick feel bad for making a joke about it, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it right now. It is what it is. He twisted, causing his neck and back to crack in multiple places, sounding like a machine gun to his ears. “Ahhh, phew! That felt good!”  He grinned and stamped his feet on the ground a few times before grimacing uncomfortably.  “Fuck me to tears...Now I gotta take a piss again.” He sighed with resignation as he looked outside of the stone columns for a place to relieve himself.

Jan giggled and gasped with surprise as she caught herself giggling like a girl. “I’m glad I’m not the only with problems in that department. Umm, I’ll keep an eye on you, but don’t go too far away and don’t piss on the columns either, please.”

Nick grabbed his battle hammer and strode out of the relative protection of the circle. He glanced behind him when he reached a spot in the middle of the field that looked good.  Jan maintained an alert watch over him while Emily looked away. This time, it took him a little less fumbling with the catches for his armor to free himself. He smiled with satisfaction as he relieved himself. “Ha! Brooke doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Closer my ass.”

Nothing jumped out at him and if it wasn’t for the fact he had a wood elf and a dark elf babe back near their fire pit, he could almost fool himself into thinking everything was normal. He was simply out having a keg party in the middle of a corn field. He knew it wasn’t the case and he sighed before securing his armor and clanking his way back into camp. 

With him back, Jan saluted him before she lay down and snuggled against Brooke. The idea of two wood elf babes in bed together made his armor uncomfortable. “Damn dude, that’s just wrong…” He muttered with frustration.

The two of them together reminded him about Allison. Jan had Brooke and Brian had Emily, but what happened to his wife? He was trying to be a man and tough it out, but was she alive and back in their world mourning his death? Was he dead or was this all like Jake thought, a dream? If it wasn’t a dream, he prayed that Allison escaped the explosion, but at the same time, he selfishly hoped she was somewhere in this world.  He loved her and no matter how cool it might be to be stuck in some fantasy world, he didn’t want to be alone.

Being a dwarf kind of sucked too. If Allison was in this world, was she also a dwarf? If she was, he prayed she didn’t have a beard because she would freak the fuck out and it would be wrong on so many levels.  He made another circuit around their camp and added a new log to the fire. He figured it would take the fresh log an hour or two to burn down. He would use that as his timer to wake everyone up.

“You’re looking a little lost in thought there Nick, how’s it going?” Emily asked, softly, her beautiful and exotic dark elven features with her piercing cobalt eyes capturing his full attention.

He dismissively shrugged and rested his hammer on the ground. “Oh, going fine here. Sucks to be so f’ing short, but meh, could be worse.” He guiltily glanced over to Jan before returning his attention to Emily.

Emily softly chuckled. “Hey, being a woman isn’t the end of the world, but Jan is probably going to need our help adapting, just like you’ll need help with your, umm, reduced stature.” She grinned for a moment before pursing her blood red lips with determination, making her look even more attractive. “You’re not going to be too stubborn to ask for help, are you?”

Nick shook his head and held up his hands in mock surrender. “Oh noes, not me. Under this gruff, short exterior, I’m a bastion of compassion and understanding.”

“Ha, right!” Emily grinned. “But, seriously, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I think we’re all here for you because I’m worried about Ally too.”

Nick startled. Emily was too damn perceptive, but she and Ally where thick as thieves together. “Whoa, who said I was worried about her? I’m sure she’s safe. I mean, she’s not here, so she has to be okay, right?”

Emily bent down and hugged him, her face and expressive eyes an open book to him. She was clearly worried about him and Ally. She also smelled nice. “Ahh, right, thanks…” Nick rubbed his eyes to keep them from betraying his emotions. “Got some dust or ash from the fire in my eyes there…”

Emily smiled fondly down at him and snuck a friendly, affectionate kiss on his forehead. “Yeah, the new log is popping a lot, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s tha ticket.” Nick grinned as he tried to mimic the liar from SNL, his gruff voice struggled to reach John Lovitz’s higher registers, causing Emily to giggle. “Well, umm, I better keep an eye open here and you should get some sleep.”

Emily frowned. “I want to, but I’m at all not tired, and this,” She gestured to their surroundings with wonder. “It’s just so exciting! The colors I can see in the dark are amazing. I wish I had my sketchbook here…”

“Hmmm...” Now Nick was worried about her. Emily was such a gentle, compassionate and caring woman. He hoped Dark Elves in this world weren’t as universally feared and hated as they were in D&D because he wasn’t sure she could handle it. “Well, Ja-Jan mentioned something about magic. Since yer awake, would you mind helping me with that magic mumbo-jumbo stuff?”

Emily giggled. “Sure, but me thinks you’re going to be a problem child.”

Nick frowned. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
 

“Oh no, but Paladins are holy warriors, right?” Emily canted her head to the side, quizzically studying him.

He slowly nodded with agreement. “Yeah?”

“Well, when was the last time you went to a church?”

Nick rubbed his chin through his thick beard. “Hmmm, my wedding?”

“Yep, and do you believe in God or any god?”

Nick hadn’t really giving it much thought before, but now seemed like a good time. Especially, if it helped him figure out how to use his paladin’s powers. “Well, maybe? I guess I’m kind of Agnostic, hell, maybe even Atheist because which religion is right? I mean, with all the religions on Earth and with each one having their own ideas about god or gods; what if they’ll all wrong?”

“And, that is why you might have a problem with your powers.” Emily pantomimed reaching for and grabbing his throat. “Your lack of faith disturbs me…”

Nick almost fell over. Emily’s Darth Vader impression was pretty damn funny. “Oh my god, Em. Please don’t do that again. I don’t wanna accidently soil my armor!”

Emily wrinkled her nose. “Oh yeah, that would be bad!”

“Yep, but I think I get what you’re saying. In D&D, Paladins were always lawful good and devoted to their god or goddess. I could never play one because they were just too goodie-goodie for my tastes.” Nick frowned as he considered his problem. “Shit, I’m screwed because I don’t even know the name of my character’s god. I mean, I kind of know they had gods in DBO, but I never paid attention to them.”

Emily smirked and nodded. “That’s what I thought, it’s Moradin.”

The name resonated with Nick and surprised by the feeling, his eyes snapped up to her face. “How in the fuck, sorry, hell, did you know that?”

“I’m a nerd?” Emily grinned and shrugged apologetically. “I mean, to help me get into and really understand our characters for our group’s portrait I painted, I read the DBO manual and background story. The names of most of the gods just kinda stuck with me for some reason.”

 “Well, that’s good…” Nick glanced away. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to bring up his and probably Brian’s concern about her race. “Umm, what did it say about Dark Elves?”

“I’m guessing you already know?”

“Well, kind of.” Nick glanced over to the sleeping Brian. “We all played D&D and Dark Elves or Drow Elves weren’t very popular with the rest of the races.”

“You mean, they were evil, right?”

Nick pinched his fingers together. “Just a little.”

“Yeah, the game manual said the Dark Elves were an evil race and everyone feared and despised them.”

“Well, that’s how they were in D&D too, but hey, maybe they aren’t like that here?” Nick tried to be hopeful for her. It didn’t work.

Emily sighed. “I hope so, but I kind of doubt it. I’m not that lucky.” An ironic smile danced across her face.

Nick reached out and hugged her. “Don’t ya be getting all down on me, woman. I’ll kick the everlasting shit outta anyone who tries to mess with you!”

Emily giggled. “And bite their kneecaps off too?”

Nick grinned and wagged his finger at her. “Hey now, don’t ya be hating the dwarf here. I’m not short, I’m just vertically optimized for hitting people where it hurts!”

Emily’s laughter brightened his soul and left him feeling confident. He didn’t expect her to be aware of the possible problem with her race and her refusal to let it drag her down made him even more determined to protect her and all of his friends. As Norros, his character had an Aura or Protection spell or ability that magically protected the entire group from damage.

Nick gripped his hammer with determination and took a step away from Emily. “By Moradin’s beard, protect my friends from evil!”

Thrumm!

His entire body vibrated with power. It filled him before overflowing and flashing out in a perfect circle, encompassing all of his friends with a pale white aura. To him, it felt like a bomb went off and he was surprised to find the camp still intact when the after image faded from his vision.  He blinked his eyes a few times. “Holy fucking shit!” He glanced up apologetically. “Sorry, I mean holy, freaking Moradin!” He glanced over to a grinning Emily. “Did you see that?”

She nodded. “Yep. It was pretty wicked.” She pinched her arm. “I glowed a little for a second and I feel a little safer, like you’re watching over me, I think.”

“Well, hot damn!” Nick laughed until he considered the implications of their discovery. “Hmm, I guess this means there really are gods and I’m guessing I need to get my shit together, I mean, clean up my act because it would be mite harder to keep my promise to protect you without the power of my new god, right?”

“I dunno about that Nick.” Emily smirked mischievously. “You’re a dwarf and if nothing else, dwarves are pretty damn stubborn, right?”

“Hell yeah…” Nick nodded with agreement.

“So, I’m not worried,” Emily crossed her arms and glared at him with determination. “But if you start going door to door, trying to sell people bibles or something, I’m going to have to stop you.”

~o~O~o~

A hand on his shoulder followed by a gentle shake was all it took to wake Jake from a confusing dream.  He dreamed about being a giant black panther like his DBO character, Jancaryn. He decided he had been playing the game a little too much if he was dreaming about being his character.

“Hey, I need to go to the bathroom. Do you need to go?”

He looked up and at first, he felt confused. Yes, he had to go, but why was he camping outside, who was this elvish woman and why did he think she was Brooke?  Then, it all came back to him. “Oh, crap, it wasn’t a dream…” He muttered as he sat up, clutching his cloak against his tiny, frail, female body.

It was brighter out than he expected. Nick must have let them sleep later than he should have. They were all supposed to be up and alert at sunrise in case their camp was attacked by orcs, dragons or something crazy, like mice. Intending to chew him out, he glanced over to Nick. He stood resolutely, giant hammer in hand, watching over the camp. Brian and Emily were still asleep. He stopped himself; it wasn’t worth worrying about now.

Jake turned back and nodded to Brooke. “Yeah, I gotta go…” He grimaced as he considered how much of a hassle the simple act of relieving himself was going to be now that he couldn’t just whip it out and pee behind a tree. He sighed with a mixture of resignation and frustration, but there was one thing he could do to make it a little easier. “Nick, gimme your shovel. I need to make us ‘ladies’ a proper field latrine.”

The simple hole in the ground helped a ton. Even Brooke appreciated having it and with the necessary, unpleasant business done, the pair returned to camp. “Umm, Jan, could you help me with my armor?” Brooke asked as she held up her breastplate and apprehensively glanced at all her other miscellaneous armor bits.

On the inside, Jake cringed when Brooke addressed him as Jan, but he promised his friends he would be cool with the name and he refused to prove his friends wrong. “Sure, not a problem, love.” He grinned as he helped her into the tight fitting metal breastplate.

It took the two of them about ten minutes to get Brooke fully prepared for battle and seeing her fully kitted out made him feel a little inadequate in his comparatively skimpy leather skirt and top outfit. Sure, Brooke had a shield, sword and lots of protective armor, but he had successfully cast a spell. While it was only a simple Create Water spell, he had a lot of other Druid spells and abilities that could make a huge difference for the group. It made him feel a little anxious to prove it to himself and his friends that he was a valuable member of the group.

“What time did Emily finally get to sleep?” He asked as he returned Nick’s shovel.

Nick looked up at the sky. “Maybe 30 minutes ago? She started yawning as soon as the sun started to rise and conked out pretty fast after that.”

Emily was their best magic user and if they got into a firefight; her spells could be the deciding factor. Without her operating at peak effectiveness, things could be tricky. “Hmmm, I’m a little worried about her…” Jake decided to leave his thought there because he caught himself factoring her combat effectiveness against a possible encounter.

It was the same thing he did as a squad leader in the Army and in the game, but now it made him feel a little insensitive and cold hearted because these people were his friends, not trained soldiers or some computer simulation that always worked when the player pushed a button.

Jake decided to table his concerns for another time. His friends seemed to be holding up and adapting to the situation better than he was. Brooke and Nick were doing the smart thing and eating some of their rations, but based on their expressions, they probably tasted like crap. A rabbit or two would’ve been nice, but none of them had a bow and he wasn’t sure it would be a good idea to send one of them off to hunt anyway. However, a pot of coffee would be heavenly right about now.

It was time to wake Brian and based on his reaction yesterday, Jake grabbed his staff and used it to gently nudge him awake from a safe distance. Instead of popping up and dropping into a combat stance, ready for action, Brian’s eyes calmly open. “I’m awake.” His voice roused Emily, but instead of fully awaking her, she mumbled discontentedly and snuggled herself deeper against Brian’s chest.

With as much of their rations eaten that they could stomach, Nick and Brooke took the initiative and began packing up their sleeping gear. Jake motioned for Brian to come to him. He nodded and carefully extracted himself from his wife. She whimpered a little, but otherwise remained asleep. “I’m a little worried about her. I know she wasn’t able to get any sleep during the night and now she looks pretty dead to the world.”

Brian frowned. “Yeah, I’m worried she might be nocturnal, but it’s hard to say since nothing in the old D&D Players Guide never specifically mentioned it.”

Jake nodded with agreement as he reviewed his meager knowledge on the subject. “Didn’t the guide book have something in it about their magic and items getting weaker when exposed to sunlight?”

“Yep, but I’m hoping all that was just BS to give GM’s something to mess with their players if they tried to play a Drow.”

“Me too…” Jake frowned as he considered the possible problem having such a weakness could do to their little group. He sighed and decided to move on because there was nothing they could do about it right now. “I guess we can let her sleep for a few more minutes, but we need to get a moving, find some kind of civilization and hopefully get some answers as to where the hell we are as soon as possible.”

“Yep, do ya want me to scout the old road a bit more?” Brian gripped his dagger’s hilt.

Jake glanced over to Brooke and Nick.  Nick was done packing his kit and Brooke was done with her own, but she was also taking care of Jake’s kit. “Yeah, that would be a good idea, but take Nick with you and don’t go too far.”

“Got it.” Brian quickly nodded.

“30 minutes, max. We’ll wake Emily up when you get back.”

Brian smiled with excitement and gave Jake a half-assed, sloppy salute. Jake was tempted to dress him down for saluting him like he was an officer, but he couldn’t decide which offense was worse. The crappy salute or the fact he attempted to salute him. Brian probably thought he was showing Jake respect or something. He sighed with resignation. “Just go, you lunatic. Remember, 30 minutes.”

As Nick clanked noisily behind Brian, Jake turned to Brooke. “You heard the plan?”

She nodded. “Yep. Sounds good.” She picked up his bedroll and handed it to him with a grin. “Sticking shortie with him will keep them from getting too far.”

Jake chuckled and coughed with denial as he took the offered item and repacked his bag.  His stomach grumbled and reminded him he needed to eat something. The ration bar wasn’t as bad as he expected it to be, but it also wasn’t something he wanted to eat on a regular basis. He might have to try his berries summoning spell soon. On the plus side, if the ration bars were anything like MRE’s; they may stop him up and take care of part of the latrine problem for a day or two.

~o~O~o~