DM it, marian!

gavin cardigan walked into the Pub, hanging his coat, fedora, and scarf on the wall.

"you're looking at a mighty hungry man tonight, danny.  what've you got for me?"

danny blake poured him a pint of Guinness and replied, "chai boey."

"um...what's that?"

"a mustard greens stew, with pork belly."

cardigan nodded, taking a sip.  "make it a very large bowl."

he walked towards the back, hesitated, and muttered a mild curse under his breath when he saw his friends gathered around marian in the back, a dungeon master screen in front of her.

okay, maybe it wasn't that mild.

his spirits brightened considerably when foxy charles patted the space next to her.  "just in time!"

he grunted as he settled next to her.  "can i have some armor or something?  i'm getting tired of being taken out with one hit."

"you're a rogue, gavin!" marian admonished him.  "rather, your character Garvin is a rogue, and they can't wear heavy armor.  by the way, burkie has added a sidebar to the left to help everyone remember who is playing whom--"

"i think it's safe to say that he's playing us all."

marian scowled, it being one of her best and--in gavin's presence--most often used facial expressions.  "shush!  he also added a 'search' function to the blog which will be really useful."

"for what?"

"to whom?"

"new readers?"

"do we even have any old readers left?"

"we certainly don't have any young readers."

"maybe we have fictional readers."

"we have to have at least one reader or we wouldn't exist at all."

"we don't exist?!"

"stop it!  now, ready? okay!" marian sounded like a cheerleader as she looked around at the assembled players.  "you've survived the rather light skirmish at the graveyard and recovered a key.  the dog has run off, seemingly having fulfilled his purpose."

"how do we know it's a him?"

"we never found out the dog's name!"

"um..." marian ruffled some papers, clearly flustered and unprepared for this.

jasper curled his bottom lip back between his teeth and let out a shrill "FWEET!  FWEET!"

"here, doggy!" sierra called out.

"um....okay, guys, the dog just runs off," marian told them.  "now--"

tucker strums a chord.  "Trotter plays a happy chord on his guitar and casts a 'charm' spell to compel the dog to come back to us."

"guys, that's not part of the scenario.  let's--"

"but we're roleplaying!  the story has to adapt to how we react.  isn't that how this is supposed to work?"  the Lurker reasoned.  "the dog comes trotting back and i cast 'tongues' to speak to it in dog language."

"there is no dog language--"

monte, the Pub's resident cardigan welsh corgi, gave an indignant bark from over by the fireplace.

"it's a she of the species!  and her name is Stella von Ripperschnauzer," the Lurker informed them.

"invite her to join us!  she'll probably be very useful."

"guys, rangers don't get an animal companion until 3rd Level, and i didn't prepare--"

"that's okay, Jinkster's a quick study and learns fast for a 1st Level," Seyarrah noted.  "he went to the best schools!"

"okay, fine.  Stella joins the party."

"yay!"

"huzzah!"

"woof!"

danny delivers cardigan's stew.  "good call."

the Lurker's eyes go wide.  "oh, Stella's hungry!  she suddenly chases after an evil rabbit that just darted from behind a tombstone."

"wait, an evil rabbit?"

"i don't want to watch her eat an innocent, cute bunny.  do you?"

"good point."

"guys, we need to get to the castle now," marian was scowling extra scowlingly now.

"wait, the poor thing is hungry!  she's earned her reward by leading us to the key, don't you think?."

"while she eats, Garvin takes out the new throwing knives and start sharpening them against a whetstone while Stella eats the evil rabbit," gavin explains around a mouthful of stew.

"nice thinking, Garvin!" foxy beams at him.  "and Malifox stars wiping the bone dust off of her swords, because bone dust can be poisonous."

"Trotter sits on a tombstone and tunes his guitar."

"Seyarrah points her hands at a pile of twigs to start a cook fire," sierra noted, "and starts heating up some leftover mustard green stew."

"guys, you have a quest to fulfill over at Castle Elsinore!"

"we need to eat, to keep our strength up," taylor told her, "so Russert pulls out a hot dog and places it on the end of a whittled-down stick and places it over the flames of the fire."

"i've got ale," Jinkster announces.

"hear, hear!"  Garvin pulls out a mug.  "and, um, here here."

"the Lurker wants a hot dog, too," the Lurker announced.  "with mustard."

"guys, you don't have hot dogs or mustard or stew.  you have trail rations and dried beef--"

"trail mix?!  i need more than peanuts and raisins if i'm gonna storm a haunted castle."

"it's not trail mix; it's trail rations!"

"which is...?"

"um...dried fruit and, um...nuts, and...."

"trail mix.  no thanks."

"FWOOSH!"  the Lurked fwooshed with a flourish of hands.  "s'mores!"

"yay!"

"no, no s'mores!!!!"

"mmmmmm, s'mores."

"nom nom nom"

"i'm gonna need a nap after this."

"hmph."