A low mist crept along the ground as the first of the orcs breached the wooden gate. They approached in a wave, snarling, armored, weapons raised, trampling over garden plots and knocking aside anything that didn’t bleed as they advanced. The village of Brogwyne was quiet no longer. Somewhere just beyond the gate, a dog barked, then yelped.

At the center of the town square, four figures stood waiting. One wore a tattered red cloak, her hands already glowing with summoned flame. Another spun his spear, then held it low, eyes locked on the orc vanguard. In front of them, a heavily armored dwarf hefted her warhammer above her shoulder. The last, a hooded rogue, stepped into shadow, vanishing even from the sight of his companions.

The orcs gnashed their teeth and surged forward.

“Everyone, roll for initiative,” Matt said.

The immersion broke with the sound of dice hitting the table. Four pairs of hands reached across the cluttered surface of a table set up in the dorm’s game room strewn with character sheets, pop cans, a greasy pizza box, and purple velvet dice bags.

Dylan leaned forward. “Eighteen!”

“Thirteen,” Travis said.

Laura squinted at her d20. “Seven.”

Hannah frowned at hers. “Ugh. Three.”

Matt, in an old office chair with a cardboard screen on the table in front of him, hiding his secrets from the other players, looked around at the group. “The orcs go on eleven. That means you’re up first Dylan. What do you do?”

Dylan adjusted his hoodie, thinking. “I’m hidden, right? So I’m gonna use my movement to climb up to a nearby roof and shoot down at the orcs with my bow.”

Matt nodded. “Make an acrobatics check.”

Dylan rolled, glanced down. “Fourteen.”

Matt smiled. “Perfect. The house next to you has a low fence and a sloped roof. You climb the fence, get a running start, and leap. You kind of half-land on the shingles, but manage to scramble up, and now you’re on top of the roof with a clear view. What do you do?”

“I take out my bow and look for the biggest, meanest-looking orc. I want to shoot him right between the eyes.”

“Make an attack roll.”

Dylan rolled his favorite d20. It spun, clattered off his pop can, and settled.

“Natural twenty!” he yelled, both fists in the air.

“Hell yeah!” Travis shouted, reaching across the table for a high-five. Laura and Hannah joined in.

Matt grinned. “Alright, roll for damage.”

“Okay, that’s a critical hit, so my bow does 2d6 damage instead of 1d6, plus the 3d6 for sneak attack becomes 6d6… hang on.” Dylan rolled a flurry of dice. “Thirty-eight damage.”

“Damn,” Hannah said, eyes wide.

Matt leaned into his notes, looking at the orc leader’s stat block. “You fire at the orc you’re pretty sure is the leader. The arrow flies straight through his eye socket and buries itself deep in his skull. He doesn’t even get a death scream. He just drops dead.”

The whole group cheered. “A one-hit kill on their leader!“ Laura exclaimed.

Matt shook his head and reached for another die. “Okay. I’m rolling a morale check for the rest of the orcs. Let’s see…”

He rolled. “They got a six. Having just watched their leader get absolutely wrecked, they decide that maybe this wasn’t the right village to mess with. They break formation and start running. A few drop their weapons in panic. A couple stumble over each other trying to get out.”

The table cracked up.

“Run away orcs!” Hannah cheered.

“I shoot a fire bolt over the heads, just so they don’t even think about coming back!” Travis was still laughing at the image in his mind he had of the fleeing orcs.

The game carried on until just after midnight. They took turns grabbing slices of cold pizza, refilled paper cups with Coke Zero, and argued over whether a displacer beast could technically be flanked if it kept shifting positions every round. No one won the argument, but that didn’t stop them from rehashing it again forty-five minutes later.

As the game wrapped up, nobody moved right away. They stayed around the table, still half in character, half just themselves. They went over the best moments. Dylan’s critical hit, the orcs running off, Hannah’s barmaid scene, and the displacer beast argument that still wasn’t settled.  From there, the conversation drifted like it always did. Thoughts on the new Tyler, The Creator album. Which classes sucked. A story about someone from Travis’s dorm getting caught stealing dining hall trays.

At some point, Travis nodded off in the beanbag chair. When Laura nudged him awake, he sat up straight and shouted, “I cast Fireball!” Then looked around, confused, slowly realizing the game had ended a while ago.

Nobody let him live that down.

There were no shots, no parties. No one streaked the quad. Just pizza, dice, and a night that made sense to them.

Laura and Travis were the first to pack up. Laura grabbed her coat, Travis grabbed the last slice of pizza, and they disappeared down the hall. That left just Matt, who stayed long enough to clear the table of dice and Coke cans, then called it a night too.

Hannah lingered near the window as Dylan zipped his hoodie.

She turned to him. “Dylan, are you still good to walk me home? We ran late, so I get it if—”

“No, it’s okay,” he said. “You ready to leave now?”

“Yeah, I’m a little eager to get home, so if you don’t mind…”

He didn’t. They stepped out into the cold night and started across the quad. For a little while, neither of them said much of anything. Their footsteps broke the quiet, scuffing lightly against the path.

“You had a good game tonight,” Hannah said. “You got us off to a strong start with that orc leader. Then you closed the night by seducing that sexy Elven barmaid.”

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “That was fun. And you were right about the displacer beast, by the way. But trying to convince Matt is like trying to argue with a wall. It didn’t help that Travis agreed with him, especially when he’s supposed to be on our side.”

Hannah smiled. “It doesn’t matter. We still completed the mission, so it was a good night.”

They walked a little longer. Campus lamp posts cast soft patches of light and long shadows across the sidewalk. In the distance, they could hear the low thud of dance music coming from one of the frat houses.

“Can I ask you something?” Hannah said.

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

“In D&D, you always play these smooth, charming characters who get all the girls. But in real life, you’re so shy, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a girl.”

“That’s because I’m Dylan Drexler. Physics major. Not Zephyr Kade, rogue with sixteen charisma and expertise in persuasion.”

“Maybe. But all the things Zephyr says? They come from you. He’s just some version of you.”

“Yeah. A better-looking, cooler, more confident version.”

“I don’t know. I think if you tried, you’d surprise yourself.”

They turned down her street. Porch lights were scattered here and there. Her building came into view.

“Well,” she said. “This is me.”

“Okay. Cool. I had fun tonight.”

Hannah looked at him. “Dylan.”

“What?”

“Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said?”

“Uh, I think so?”

She let out a breath and smiled, like she was trying to stay patient.

“Make a perception check.”

That surprised him. He didn’t know what she was expecting,

“Say a number, doofus.”

“I don’t know. Twelve?”

“The challenge rating was eight. You succeed. You notice a cute girl standing in front of you. You realize she’s been flirting with you all night. You think back and remember how she touched your hand when you both reached for the same slice of pizza. Then how she smiled and told you to take it. Later, when you lost your ring of protection in the game, she put her arm around you. In real life. Not in character.”

He looked at her, then down, like he wasn’t sure if she was joking or serious. “And then the walk home… when she told me I should try putting some of Zephyr’s skills to use?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Ooh. I think I get it.”

She gave him a look, part smile, part are-you-kidding-me. “Make an insight check.”

“Eleven. But I get a plus three with wisdom. So, fourteen.”

“You get the impression that the cute girl standing in front of you, smiling and batting her eyes, is waiting for you to do something.”

He paused. Looked unsure. “Maybe I don’t get it actually.”

Hannah stared at him for a second. “For crying out loud, Dylan,” she said, shaking her head, then stepped in and kissed him full on the lips.

He tensed, caught off guard. But he didn’t pull away. After a moment, he kissed her back, slow and a little clumsy.

“The cute girl points to the building. She tells you that her room is beyond the front door.  Then, in a low voice, she says, ‘Would you like to join me?’ What do you do?”

Dylan nodded, finally realizing what was happening.

Hannah took a few steps backward, grinning wide, finger curled. “C’mon. Let’s go upstairs.”

She turned, walked to the entrance, and glanced back to see if he was following. He was.

They were on her bed, still fully clothed. Dylan’s back was pressed against the headboard. Hannah kissed him slowly, her hand rested on his cheek as she moved closer. Each time she reached for his waist, he tensed.

She pulled back a little. “You’ve never done this before, have you?”

He gave a shaky smile. “Not exactly. Not at all, really.”

“That’s okay.” She ran her fingers down his arm. “We can go slow. And stop whenever.”

They kissed again. She took his hand and brought it to her chest, over her hoodie. When she pressed it against her breast, he pulled away like the contact shocked him.

“I have an idea,” she said. “Sit in the chair.”

He looked confused for a second, then got up from the bed and sat in a desk chair a few feet away. Hannah stayed on the bed and propped her back against the wall so that she could face him. She wrestled her hoodie over her head and tossed it aside, revealing a tank top underneath that rode up a little, then settled back into place.

“Now you take something off.”

He hesitated, then pulled his T-shirt off. His chest was lean, a little bony around the shoulders, but there was definition too. A body built more from forgetting to eat than from the gym.

“You look good like that,” she said.

She leaned back and kicked off her socks. Then she slid out of her joggers. Her panties were black, simple, cotton. The tank top hugged her frame, rising again slightly as she shifted on the bed.

“Your turn.”

Dylan stood, nervous, but he didn’t want to stop. He unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down, his eyes locked on Hannah the whole time. His erection strained against his underwear. There was no hiding it.

Hannah sat up more keenly now. Then, slowly, she removed her tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her perky breasts stood out naturally. She smiled when she caught the look on his face. She bounced on the mattress and shifted her shoulders quickly, just enough to make her breasts jiggle.

“First time seeing titties in real life?”

He looked like he wanted to speak, but all he managed was a slow nod.

She smiled again, more gently this time. “You can come back to bed if you want. Or just stay right there and enjoy.”

She reached into her panties and slipped her fingers beneath the cotton. Dylan watched her closely. His hand was inside his briefs now, moving with quiet tension.

Hannah spread her legs a little wider. “You ever seen a girl touch herself before?”

He shook his head.

“College is for first times.”

He kept going, a little shaky, like he didn’t trust his voice if he spoke.

“I like knowing you’re hard because of me,” she said. “I like how you can’t stop staring.”

Her fingers moved slower now, like she wanted him to see everything. She was watching him just as closely. “It looks like you’ve got a nice cock. I knew you’d be big under all those baggy jeans.”

He gave a small laugh, surprised.

“I’m serious. If I were sitting on it right now, I’d be moaning and begging for more.”

His chest tightened, but his hand kept moving.

Hannah rubbed faster, her free hand reached up to pinch her nipple. She moaned quietly, like she was trying not to give too much away.

“I’d ride you slow at first,” she whispered, “then faster when you started to thrust into me. You’d try not to come too fast, but I’d be so wet, and so tight, you wouldn’t last.”

He groaned quietly, hips twitching.

“Are you close?”

He nodded.

“Not yet,” she said. “I want you to watch me first. Look at my fingers. Look at how wet I am for you.”

She pushed her panties to the side, giving him a clear view. Her fingers worked in smooth circles. Her thighs trembled. She let her head fall back for a second, then looked at him again.

“This is all for you, Dylan.”

Her breathing picked up, and her back arched. Her moans became louder and less controlled now.

“I’m gonna cum soon,” she said through gritted teeth. “You’re so fucking sexy with your cock in your hand stroking for me.”

She slid her panties down and kicked them off like they were in the way. Then she spread her legs and let him look. This was his first real view of a naked woman, and she was glad it was her. Hannah’s fingers went right back to work like she hadn’t missed a beat.

“Now you,” she said. “Let me see your cock before I cum.”

Dylan pushed his underwear down. He stood there fully exposed, shaking with nerves, but he didn’t look away.

He watched her as she tensed, thighs shaking, toes curling into the sheets. She gasped and let the sound ease out, her hips bucked over and over again as the orgasm rolled through her.

Hannah leaned back, still breathing heavily. “Look at my pussy, Dylan. Stroke yourself while you stare at it. Imagine fucking me.”

That did it. His hand moved faster, eyes fixed between her legs. His knees wobbled slightly, and he knelt on the edge of her bed as his orgasm overtook him. He gasped, then came in sharp pulses, hitting both her sheets and her legs.

Hannah grinned. “You okay?”

“Holy fuck.” It was all he could say.

“That sounds good,” she said, reaching for a towel.

She wiped her legs, then laid the towel over the wet patch on her sheets.

Hannah flopped back and opened her arms. “Come here. I need a cuddle after that.”

Her chest was still rising a little too fast. Dylan climbed in beside her and wrapped an arm around her bare waist. He wasn’t nearly as nervous now.

“Guess this kind of changes things,” she said.

He met her eyes. “Yeah. I mean… obviously.”

She smiled. “Good, though. Right?”

“The best,” he said, and kissed her forehead.

The next Friday, Matt was already setting up the map when the door opened.

Dylan walked in first. Hannah followed. They were holding hands. Not in a look-at-us kind of way, just naturally, like it had been that way for a while.

Travis looked up. “Whoa. Is this…?”

“I knew it!” Laura shouted, cutting off Travis. “I knew something was going on!”

Hannah smiled and took her seat like nothing was different. Dylan tried to act normal too, but the smile kept creeping back.

Matt flipped a page in his notebook. “Took you long enough. You guys look good together.”

Travis leaned across the table. “Wait. Are you guys, like… together now?”

Dylan glanced at Hannah. She shrugged, still smiling. “We’re here to play,” she said. “Let’s roll.”

Matt took the cue.

“News of the orc leader’s quick death spread through the vale. Soon, the name Zephyr the Orc Slayer was known in all the villages, not just human ones. Orc ones too. And when the name reached Grongrash, son of the fallen warlord Agrush Hell Bringer, he swore an oath to avenge his father’s death…”