Chapter Text
Chris sat with Anna as they worked on their characters. Once everyone had gotten settled into the groove of creativity it was actually kinda fun. Chris wasn't really sure how she felt about Digital Dungeons itself, but she was a little excited to try something new.
She'd heard about stuff like D&D but hadn't really looked into it before. When it came to games she mostly enjoyed ones with cozy vibes or interesting puzzles. Action and horror were not really her thing, she only ever really watched her friends play those kinds of games. It was easier to deal with when she was a level disconnected from it. Hell, she used to get stressed out playing Monopoly or Jenga with her family when she was young. Anything competitive seemed to bring out the worst in people, so she learned to just let them have their fun without causing trouble.
This however kinda sounded like playing make-believe though, and that was something Chris had plenty of experience with. It was something she had done all of her life, even after she had been bullied for it, she just learned to hide it better.
It was never the same after everything changed.
"Christine?" came Anna's voice, splitting through her dissociation.
"Huh?" she asked back.
"You okay? You looked lost in your head there."
Chris looked away quickly. "Yeah I'm good, just thinking about my character."
"Oh! Cool, you have any ideas?"
She shrugged. "A couple. I don't think I'm going to be very good at the game so I was thinking of playing something more supportive, like a cleric."
Anna smiled softly. "I played that last year, it was fun! But be prepared for people to rely on you for healing."
"Well at least I'll know what to do I guess," Chris said with a light chuckle. "What about your character?"
"Oh, well I wanted to try something different this time. Something more... protective I guess? I dunno, it sucked having everyone else get hurt and only being able to help them afterwards. But I'm not very good at this either," Anna explained. She had started nervously fidgeting with a silver bracelet on her wrist.
"Sounds like we'll work quite well together then," comforted Chris.
Anna looked at her in surprise, but it brought a smile back to her face. "Yeah, that sounds good. Okay I'm gonna make a paladin."
They spent some time making decisions for their builds and filling in their respective character sheets. Anna helped Chris when she got confused at how certain things worked, like Armour Class and Spell Slots. At some point Caine stopped by to see how they were doing, asked if they had any questions, and helped them correct any mistakes they had made.
Chris still wasn't used to the constant attention from people around her. It was honestly kinda tiring. But everyone was so nice so she felt bad asking for any kind of space. At one point Anna got a little too close into her personal space and rested her hand on Chris' shoulder and she flinched so hard she almost fell out of her seat.
"Oh! Sorry..." Anna apologised, looking extremely guilty.
Chris winced and her own guilt twisted within her chest. "It's okay... I was just surprised," she lied on instinct.
"Well it looks like the last thing you need to fill in is your character's name."
Chris looked at the empty field where the name should be. She honestly hadn't put much thought into it. She wasn't very good at naming things. Her first stuffie was a dolphin named Dolly.
She tried to think of words associated with jesters—which she had decided would be her character's appearance—but they all sounded too close to clown names. She didn't like clowns. Then she happened to glance to her right and noticed Felix talking in the corner of the tent with Caine. Chris usually struggled with deciphering people, how they felt, and their intentions. But Felix was a complete enigma to her. It was like a puzzle. The more she found out about the pieces, the more she wanted to put them together.
He always had something to say, usually a joke, mean or snide. He treated everything as if it didn't matter and complained a lot, even when he eventually went along with things. But then he had these moments. On the bus. That morning when they sat in the common room in comfortable silence doing their own things on their phones.
Even just a couple hours ago when Ophelia had said she liked role-playing games, he looked at her with a neutral expression that seemed more real than any other she had seen on his face.
Now Felix was deep in discussion with Caine, and whilst she had no idea what they were talking about she could tell that whatever was being said was making Caine ecstatic. That made her smile. She reached one hand up to her hair and suddenly knew exactly what her jester's name should be.
She picked up the pencil and filled it in: Pomni.
—
Felix stood over Emily. She was as small as an ant beneath him, so weak and fragile and so easy to crush. But she was smiling. It was uncanny. Why was she smiling? She should be terrified right now. The slightest move and she'd be a splatter beneath his heel.
"You're pathetic," Felix spat out. The sound echoed off of the darkness around them, reverberating repeatedly.
Yet she did not react.
"I'm the one saving you from them!"
No reaction. She just kept smiling up at him, and that pissed him off more than anything.
"I'll make sure no one else hurts you, that is my pleasure alone. You should be thankful to have something constant in your life when everyone else is abandoning you," he tried again.
This time Emily slowly raised her hand and placed it on his shoe. He didn't even feel it.
"I forgive you," she said softly.
Felix recoiled, the words overpowered the echoes of his own, bouncing and amplifying and becoming so loud. Too loud.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, you freak!" he tried to yell, but he could no longer hear his own words.
Just the endless assault of those disgusting three words.
"I forgive you."
Felix stomped his foot down. Then after a second he lifted it and stomped again. And again. And again.
He waited for a few seconds and then his leg started lifting, but it wasn't him raising it. Suddenly Emily was growing, completely unharmed, lifting his foot until he toppled over and landed on his ass.
"What?! You think I regret what I've done. I do not. And I would gladly do it again a thousand times. You're weak and small and pathetic!" he screamed inaudibly.
Emily kept growing until now he was the ant beneath her. She was still smiling, but the look in her eyes was far more sinister now.
Felix's head throbbed with pain. His entire body was vibrating from the relentless noise that kept echoing around him. The words began to lose all meaning. The syllables blended together in his mind. He shut his eyes and pressed his hands to his ears but he could still feel it.
He felt a gust of wind and looked up. Emily had raised her leg now, the sole of her red sneakers looking down on him like a bird to a worm.
He raised a hand.
She lowered her foot.
He screamed.
And then he woke up.
—
Felix screamed awake and shot up, punching the air around him as if struggling for dear life.
"Whoa, dude, chill. It's okay," came the voice of Dmitri standing a few feet away, head peaking over the bunk.
Felix looked around. He was in the daisy room. It was just a dream. But as the details came back to him the fear was quickly replaced with anger.
"Get out," Felix whispered, barely able to hold himself together and prevent himself from shaking under the emotional weight.
"What?" Dmitri asked with a tilt of his head.
"GET OUT!" Felix yelled, throwing a pillow at him.
It bounced off of Dmitri's torso harmlessly and he backed away with his hands raised. "Jeez okay. Just wanted to let you know breakfast is ready. Caine wants everyone up and ready in an hour for our first session."
He opened the door as he spoke and left without another word.
"Fuck!" Felix screamed, punching the wall to his left with such force that he felt it in his elbow. He gasped and grabbed his hand, knuckles throbbing painfully. It didn't look broken though. So that was good. How fucking embarrasing would that be?
His mind raced in circles. His heart pounded in his ears. His body wouldn't stop trembling. But he forced himself out of bed, threw on the first clothes he saw, and grabbed his backpack. He needed to repress all of this right the fuck now. Whatever that stupid dream was it shouldn't be affecting him like this. It must be withdrawal symptoms. Even though he had only had one smoke yesterday and it had worn off well before he fell asleep. It was just a withdrawal dream.
And yet it kept playing through his mind as he got dressed and exited the room. He checked his phone. 8:57am. He'd slept through his alarm, and bad. Almost four whole hours. He was about to head out through the back door when he realised he'd be much more likely to get caught if he didn't at least tell someone where he was going.
He headed towards the kitchen. He could still see the giant form of Emily standing over him in his mind's eye, about to crush him like an arachnophobe would a spider. He shook the memory away and replaced it with the earlier one. Him standing over her. That was how it should be. How it always was. She was the ant beneath his heel.
Several people were sat around the dining area, chatting as they ate pancakes, a stack of which stood upon a plate on the kitchen island, surrounded by various toppings. Syrup, powdered sugar, fresh lemon slices, and chocolate chips.
Anna and Christine were sat at one table, whilst Ophelia and Dmitri were sat at another. Emily was nowhere to be seen thankfully. The second he entered the room Ophelia looked at him with concern and he almost threw up right then and there.
"Morning Felix," she said carefully, as if he was a porcelain plate that would break under too much attention.
"Hey, you doin okay?" asked Dmitri. "Bad dream?"
"I'm fine," he retorted, a little too quickly and a little too sharply.
That caused those at the other table to pause mid-conversation and look at him. All of a sudden the room was too small and the smell of the pancakes was like a toxic miasma filling his lungs. He had to get out of here.
He took a breath and forced his body still, letting his smile naturally form though it wasn't as wide as it usually was. "I just need some fresh air. I'll be back before Caine needs us."
Ophelia and Dmitri shared a look.
"Are you sure?" Anna asked. "What about breakfast?"
"I'll skip breakfast, I just... need a walk," he replied turning to head back the way he came and closing the door behind him.
The sky today was cloudy, the sun hidden by a huge nimbus that was starting to darken. It would probably rain in the next couple of days. Felix walked around the grounds for a few minutes, not heading anywhere in particular and checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming to check on him. When he was confident he'd be alone he headed deeper into the woods than before. Not by much, he still wanted to be able to see the back door in case anyone came looking for him. He just couldn't use the same spot as yesterday, he didn't want to risk being too close to the building.
***Drug Use Scene starts here***
When he finally found a good spot with a tree stump large and clean enough to hold his supplies, he wasted no time rolling. It was rushed and imperfect and probably wouldn't smoke cleanly, but he didn't care. He lit it instantly and inhaled deeply.
Then he broke down coughing his lungs out.
What the fuck? The first one of the day was always the harshest on his throat, but he wasn't some kind of lightweight. Still, the second he recovered enough he took another hit. His mind began to fog, the images still playing against his will started to blur, obscured by the calm relief that ran up the back of his neck and dulled everything.
He kept coughing between hits and at one point he dropped the joint and cursed. It was a little dirty and the cherry had fallen out, but he wiped it down and sparked it up again. One side was burning faster than the other so he kept having to use the lighter to balance it out.
He thought about yesterday. About his conversation with Emily. About how small and terrified she looked. He thought about the dream, and he rewrote the ending. He stomped and stomped and stomped and then he stepped back and she was just a tiny splatter of red amongst the void. He kept playing the scene back, over and over with each hit, inhaling with the rhythm of his foot hitting the ground. Exhaling as he looked down at the smudge that was once known as Emily.
He solidified it, reinforced it until it became more real than the actual contents of his dream.
***Drug Use Scene ends here***
And when he was done he flicked the end of the joint into the brambles and let out a sigh. The air was fresher after a smoke. It was nice. He looked down at his phone to check the time. 9:41. Plenty of time remaining. Felix looked down at the red tin, still open. Those small colourful tabs were calling his name, but he was better off saving them for a rainy day.
He once again sprayed himself with enough deodorant and cologne for three people, packed everything away, and started walking again. He decided to take his time walking off the smell, circling the perimeter of the campsite until he saw Dmitri emerge from the back door, looking around for him.
He started heading back and once Dmitri finally noticed him he seemed to relax a little.
"Good walk?" Dmitri asked once he was within earshot.
Felix shrugged. "Could've been worse."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"What, the walk?" Felix questioned with a smile.
Dmitri frowned. "You know what I mean."
"No clue," he lied, shrugging.
"Come on dude, it looked like you had the worst nightmare of your life."
Felix's grin didn't falter an inch. "I was just startled by your ugly mug being the first thing I saw."
Dmitri chuckled lightly at that. Felix finally stopped a few feet away from him. He narrowed his eyes slightly and sniffed the air twice.
"Why do you smell like a men's locker room?" Dmitri asked.
Felix snorted a genuine laugh. "You're just jealous I smell more manly than you."
"Hah! At least I don't smell like I just took a bat to the entire cologne aisle. Anyway come on, we're late. Let's go digitize some dungeons or whatever."
The two of them finally headed towards the Moon Tent, joking with each other the whole way.
—
"No matter who you are, no matter where you're from, you find yourself falling into a circular portal of fractal noise and landing on the ground with a loud thump," described Caine, hands hovering in the air dramatically.
The group was all sat cramped around the hexagonal table within Caine's so-called lair, sheets in hand, sets of dice in front of them, and a monitor on the side of the GM screen facing the players, currently showing a poorly rendered 3D environment of the ugliest circus Felix had ever seen. It was like Caine took the chaotic, abstract mess of the common room and made it a hundred times bigger.
Felix sat wedged between Dmitri and Ophelia, though he didn't seem to have it the worst. Christine in particular looked extremely uncomfortable in the small space between Alexis and Anna, arms close enough to brush against each other occasionally. Each point of contact got a small flinch from Christine. Felix wondered if they even noticed.
"You stand up and look around, finding yourself in a small room stylised after your personality, with a bed and various paraphernalia scattered around," Caine continued. "Anna, your character leaves her room to see someone unfamiliar also emerging at the same time. Anna and Ophelia, would you like to describe your characters for us?"
"Oh sure, I'll go first," said Anna. "Ragatha is an elf, she has long braided ginger hair and long ears. The first thing you'd probably notice is that one of her eyes is a blue button that has been sewn onto her. Looking a little closer you'd notice her skin appears to be made of cloth with seams and stitches holding her together. She's wearing a full suit of blue metal armour and has a shield on her back but no weapon anywhere on her."
It'd be impressive how comfortable she seemed when she actually got into it if it wasn't so pathetic.
"Ooo really cool visuals. Okay, okay, my turn," said Ophelia as she held up a piece of paper to show everyone. "This is my girl Ribbit, drawn graciously by the resident saint Emily."
Felix saw Emily blush slightly and rolled his eyes, causing them to land squarely on the art of the character and he froze. It was... actually good? It depicted an anthropomorphic frog dressed up in furs and hides and wielding a longbow. It wasn't coloured, but it didn't need to be. Felix had seen some of Emily's art over the years and it was always decent—though he would never admit it to her—but this? The detail. The shading. The anatomy. Felix wondered if Emily had gone to art college after all.
Naturally Felix immediately repressed these thoughts and shot a smile directly towards Emily specifically, who—of course—noticed.
"What, are you a furry artist or something?" he jabbed.
Emily's breath caught.
"How do you know what a furry is?" Alexis asked.
Felix shot her a look. "What? A guy can't have hobbies?"
Ophelia cackled at that.
Caine cleared his throat loudly. "Alright let's keep this moving. Another door in the hallway opens, Dmitri would you like to describe your character?"
"Whaaat, but we haven't even interacted yet," Ophelia complained.
Caine ignored her.
"Okay, sure," Dmitri chuckled nervously. "So Kaufmo is a three foot tall clown," he explained with a straight face.
Almost everyone at the table made some kind of noise. Felix chuckled at the absurdity. Ophelia snickered. Anna whispered an 'aww'. And Alexis and Christine both groaned.
Dmitri seemed proud that at least two of the reactions were some kind of laugh, so he kept going. "He's wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit with fuzzy red balls running down along his torso and a frilly blue mantle around his neck." He paused for a second and then pulled the sleeve over his right arm. "Oh and his face looks like this."
On his upper arm was a tattoo of a sad cartoon clown with a big red smile and a yellow cap.
And that pulled a genuine laugh out of at least half the table.
Felix slammed his fist on the table a couple times between cackles. "WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT?"
"Clowns are cool," Dmitri chuckled with a shrug.
"Next!" Caine called, pointing at Felix.
Felix groaned. "Ugh, do I have to?"
"Yes!"
Felix ran his hands down his face and sighed, but plastered on his smile none-the-less. "Well my character is the pinnacle of masculinity. He's a seven foot tall purple rabbit man wearing pink overalls over light leather armour, and he immediately pulls out his metal baseball bat and points it at everyone threateningly."
"Compensating for something?" Alexis snorted.
"Can it Joseph." Felix pointed at them.
"What?"
"X-D-D-C-C!" Caine yelled incomprehensibly, pointing to Emily next.
Emily jumped slightly at the attention but otherwise seemed excited to introduce her character. She held up another drawing she had made, for her character this time. This one was coloured to perfection with what looked like marker. It no longer had those clear directional marker lines her art used to.
It depicted a short grey tiefling with one curled ram horn, the other horn had been broken off and left a sharp stump. She was wrapped neck to toe in thick red ribbons like a bloodied mummy and had three black leather belts at different angles across her torso. The two most notable feature were the giant axe she held across her shoulders and the theatre mask on her face. It was the same one she had worn that one halloween. Half comedy, half tragedy. With tears falling from both black eyes.
"S-sorry I didn't have time to colour yours Ophelia-" Emily apologised quickly.
Ophelia waved her hand dismissively. "Are you kidding me? It was free art! I'm not complaining! It looks amazing! And so does yours! Wow, she's so pretty!"
"Agreed," said Alexis with a smile.
Emily's face grew bright red and she laughed nervously. "Th-thanks guys. Her name is Gangle-"
"Oh come on," Felix interrupted.
Emily froze. "Wh-wha?"
"You're so unoriginal," he jabbed with a laugh.
"She's much more unique and interesting than your Bugs Bunny from Wish ass man," Alexis jabbed back.
"Can we stay on topic here?" asked Caine with more than a little frustration in his voice.
"S-sorry Caine!" Emily immediately apologised. "Who's next?"
"I'll go," said Alexis, "So walking through their own door is who at first looks like a tall and lanky but hunched individual with a gaunt face, no lips, and large yellow eyes that differ in shape from each other. They're wearing tattered burlap clothes and their limbs bend at odd angles. Then when they notice they're in company, their body suddenly ripples and shifts into that of a normal attractive elven man in noble clothes."
"Whoaaa," whispered Emily, slack-jawed.
Ophelia squeaked. "Changeling?"
"Changeling," Alexis confirmed.
"And last but most certainly not least!" Caine called, spinning his finger to point at Christine who flinched visibly.
"Hey, I wasn't done," compained Alexis.
"Well we're on a little bit of a time limit here! There's adventure to be had!"
"Um... Well my character is a human woman wearing a red, blue, and yellow jester costume," Christine explained. "Her face is painted white with red circles on her cheeks, and she has a satchel hung diagonally around her body."
"Is she short?" asked Felix casually.
"Uh... yes?"
He laughed. "Accurate."
"Ooo a fellow clown enthusiast!" Dmitri cheered happily.
Christine immediately looked very offended. "Pomni is a jester, not a clown!"
"What's the difference?"
Felix tilted his head. He was sure he didn't hear that right.
"Jesters are important members of the royal court! Clowns are terrifying abominations!" Christine defended.
"Haha, ouch!" Dmitri belly laughed.
"Pomni?" questioned Felix.
Christine looked at him. The second point of eye contact he'd ever seen her make. She smiled softly. "Y'know, like-" she cupped her pom-pom balls of hair with both hands.
Felix looked away and told himself his face was absolutely not going red right now.
"You take a second to look between each other in confusion, and then with a snap," Caine snapped for emphasis, "Someone appears floating in mid air. Helloooo my rubber baby buggy bumpers he yells!"
"Uh... what?" asked Anna.
"Please don't tell me-" Alexis started.
Caine lifted his cane so fast it flew up above him and he grabbed it dramatically. "My name is Caine and welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus! I am your ringmaster, and I'm here to show you the most jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, mind-bending paraphernalia you've ever laid your eyes upon!"
Felix cackled again. He didn't know if it was the weed or the complete absurdity of the scenario, but this was funnier than most comedy skits.
"The Digital Caine is a short dapper man in a red suit with a cane—just like the real deal!—except his head is a massive set on dentures that contain his eyes which his teeth bend around like lips when he talks."
"That is a horrific image. Clearly an evil overlord," said Ophelia.
"Um," started Pomni getting into character, "How do we get out of here?"
"Get out?" asked Caine.
"Yeah, like, how do I go home?" Gangle asked nervously.
"Why would you wanna go home?"
"Yeah, come on guys, why wouldn't you wanna be here?" Jax joked with heavy sarcasm.
"Exactly! We've got adventures to go on! But if you must know, the only way to find any kind of Exit Door would be by learning the secrets of this circus! Speaking of which, it's time for our first adventure!" Caine paused to press a button on his laptop and the image on the monitor changed to a curtained stage with large colourful bubble writing across it. "Gather The Gloinks!"
"Aww jeez, this again?" said Anna, running a hand up the back of her neck.
"What the fu$% is a Gloink?" asked Pomni. Not even a second into the curse word and invisible speakers played a censorship buzz sound. "What the sh!+?" said Christine.
"Now, now. We can't have any of that foul language around here my dear. The Circus is a place for all ages," Caine reprimanded.
"How the fu$% are you doing that?" asked Alexis.
Caine ignored them. "And I'm glad you asked Pomni! Gloinks are small mischievous critters that steal anything and everything they run into. Why do these humanoid hash browns do this? How do you stop them? That's for you to find out! Now good luck! And have fun my little superstars! Caine then vanishes in a puff of smoke."
"What the fu$% was that?" asked Dmitri.
"So! What do you do?" Caine asked the players.
"Uh. I guess we introduce ourselves first?" Ophelia suggested.
"Okay and then?"
"No like. Ribbit turns to those around her and says Hello? Who are you guys? Do you know where we are?"
Caine frowned, but didn't interrupt this time.
—
Everyone introduced their characters.
Christine was playing Pomni, the Jester of the Kingdom of Bank, advisor and right hand of the King.
Anna was playing Ragatha, a paladin from the realm of Stitchwilde who had failed to protect her queen.
Emily was playing Gangle, a survivor of the Nuclear Wasteland, which Felix was sure was just the story of Fallout.
Alexis was playing Zooble, who claimed to be the prince of a kingdom that 'none of you would know'. Though there was clearly more to it than that.
Dmitri was playing Kaufmo, the Gnome fucking Clown, Ophelia was playing Ribbit, a frog, and Felix was playing Jax, the traitor.
And then Caine hurried them along as if there would never be enough time for everything he had planned. Which Felix thought was quite odd, but maybe he was just excited to get started.
Their characters explored the digital grounds, and the screen changed back to display the wide open circus that Caine described as the main tent. Along the edges of which were many doors and hallways that branched off. There did not seem to be an exit anywhere.
What was there however—Caine described—were packs of roaming shapes that picked up seemingly random objects like chairs, tables, and textureless cubes that they carried out of sight.
"Maybe we need to go and check the doors around the tent?" suggested Christine.
"Nah, we should follow them. That'll probably lead us to their leader or something," said Felix.
Felix—and only Felix—noticed Caine twitch.
"But what if the doors lead to something useful?"
Ophelia held her hand to her chin. "I agree with Pomni."
"So do I," added Anna.
"Well why don't you go do that. And we-" Felix gestured to the rest of them. "-actually go find the root of the problem."
"Fine," said Christine.
Felix's smile fell by less than an inch.
"What?" said Caine in surprise. "You can't split up! That's rule number one of situations like this!"
"It would help cover more distance," agreed Dmitri.
"But-!" Caine stopped flat. He took a deep breath and recollected himself. "Very well, but we're handling the doors group first."
The doors group—unsurprisingly—found diddly squat. The first door they opened led to a void with a tower of carousels spinning in the distance. The second door was a bathroom with a mannequin sat in a bubble bath. The mannequin screamed and a giant face came racing at them causing Pomni to make the first check of the game.
"Roll reflexes to close the door fast enough Pomni," explained Caine.
Christine picked up the d20 and rolled. She looked at the number and did the mental math and then nervously announced, "10?"
"Good enough!" Caine cheered, "You slam the door shut in it's face which causes it to crash into the door and imprint the shape of itself across the wood."
"That's now how wood works," said Felix.
"You're not there!"
The next door just opened to a blank wall with a boxing glove that came flying out and knocked Ragatha on her ass with a roll of '5'.
"I'm starting to think maybe this wasn't the right idea," suggested Ophelia.
"Told you so~" teased Felix.
Caine glared at him and he just smiled back.
"It is around then that you all hear a scream," announced Caine, clearly seeing where this was going. "And we will cut to the Gloink group."
"Okay cool cause I just wanted to follow the ones that pick up stuff and see where they go," said Felix.
"As you begin to follow them, a group of them surrounds you! Roll reflexes!"
That was the third reflexes check in a row. There were at least 19 more possible checks they could be making use of, but no apparently everything was out to get them.
Felix rolled the die near him. "18," he announced smugly.
Caine frowned and rolled his own die. "You manage to dodge most of them but then one jumps up and hits you in the face! You take-" he rolled another die, "1 damage!"
"This is stupid," said Felix.
"You all continue on until you see a large hole in the ground that bends out of sight."
"That's it? Just a hole?" asked Alexis.
"Maybe they are going down the hole?" suggested Emily.
"Only one way to find out," teased Felix as he looked at Emily who gulped audibly.
"Alexis, lemme see those reflexes!" Caine announced suddenly.
"Wait what?" they complained.
"A group of Gloinks has snuck up on you!"
They rolled their eyes and die at the same time. "9."
"They all stick to you and push you down the hole!"
"Oh come the fu$% on," they swore.
"And that is close enough to a scream that it's what the other group hear," decided Caine.
"Welp, nothing more too it!" said Felix. "I push Gangle down the hole!"
"W-what!?" yelled Emily.
"Is that allowed?" Anna asked Caine.
Caine looked at Felix in turn. "Make a strength check, and Emily you make one too."
Emily looked strangely confident hearing that. She rolled first. "17!"
"Natural 20," announced Felix.
Emily whined.
"Sorry Emily! But the dice have spoken. Jax pushes Gangle down the hole."
"I jump down the Zooble hole," Felix added.
"And then he jumps down after her, leaving Kaufmo."
Dmitri just blinked. "I forgot I was there I'm gonna be honest."