Page 7 of Dating and Dragons

Mark looks over his shoulder. “Who cares about school when there’s D&D to be played. Quinn, are you ready for the epicness you’re about to experience?”

“Um, I guess?”

“You guess.” Sanjiv snorts. “Be grateful you’re allowed to witness us firsthand.”

Mark cracks a smile. “Most mortals never get the chance.”

That’s enough to set my nerves ablaze again. Before meeting this group, I felt pretty confident about my D&D knowledge, but now I sense that I’m the newest of newbies. It’s too late, though. I’m already down the stairs, so there’s no turning back.

Chapter Four

Whatever I was expecting to see, it’s not what I find at the bottom of the basement stairs. Sure, there are the usual things you find in a lot of Ohio basements. There’s worn carpet, low ceilings, and a well-used couch pointed at a big TV. There’s even an Ohio State sign on the wall, which looks old enough that it might have been installed by the builders in the ’80s.

And, of course, they have a long table covered with D&D manuals, papers, and figurines. But there are also webcams set up on tripods and table microphones at each of the seats.

Kashvi waves to another person, who’s clearly waiting for the group. “This is Sloane. They’re our DM.”

I wave hello, immediately recognizing Sloane from the striped rainbow hat in the parking lot that first morning. Short tufts of black hair, tinged purple and blue, stick out from under their hat, and they’re wearing a black Fullmetal Alchemist T-shirt.

They wave back from behind a trifold DM screen. “Quinn, right? Welcome.”

“Thanks.” Everyone files in around me and sits down at their respective chairs at the table. “Um, what’s with all the tech?” I ask.

In my old group, there was an unwritten rule that we wouldn’t be on our tablets or phones during the session unless we were looking something up. It kind of kills the mood of role-playing when half the members are too busy on Reddit to pay attention to what’s happening in the game. But I’ve never seen anything like this setup.

Logan shoots Kashvi a surprised look. “You didn’t tellher?”

“Didn’t tell me what?”

“I didn’t want to scare her,” she replies to him before turning to me. “We aren’t a usual D&D group. We actually livestream all our sessions.”

“Like Critical Role?”

They all smile and nod. “We’re notquiteas popular as them yet, but yeah,” Mark replies. “They’re one of our idols. Someday we’ll get viewers like they do.”

I try to school my features, but that’s a pretty huge dream. That D&D group has had a massive online following for years. Millions of people watch the Critical Role D&D sessions and TV show. “So…do people tune in for your games?”

Sanjiv huffs. “Do you think we’d do all this if people didn’t tune in?”

He gestures at the diffused lighting and decor. I see now that bookshelves line the walls on either side of the table. They’re filled with various editions of D&D manuals, fakepotion bottles, weapons, and dice, I guess so that there’s a themed backdrop behind the players. “We’re making an exception, but usually no one is allowed in this room except players,” he continues.

“If you want to watch us, you stream it,” Sloane adds, and points to a laptop to their right.

“Okay, she’s got it,” Kashvi says to them. To me she explains in a quieter voice, “They get a little defensive, sorry. We’ve had a few sessions where we got close to seventy-five viewers, but mostly it’s thirty people or less.”

“It’s growing,” Mark adds.

“Today we’ll get big numbers,” Sloane adds. “People love watching the end of a campaign.”

I nod, my eyes big. “That’s cool.”

“It’s extremely cool,” Sanjiv says.

“Well, sit back and enjoy,” Logan says with a small smile. He’s the only one who isn’t being intense about this livestream, and I appreciate it.

He turns to Sloane. “Are we about ready?”

“Ready,” they reply.

---