[SNEAK PEEK]Life-Like Visuals
Carmine's tabletop RPG party is MIA... they'll have to turn up eventually right?
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Life-Like Visuals By Limewah Subscriber Reward for Carmine (January 2025) SNEAK PEEK
Carmine : [18:20] FINALLY out of work, i’m on my way home!!! So sorry, I’ll try to be there on time
Carmine : [18:58] Just grabbed food, I’ll be there in like 15, I’ll be coming in hot, start without me!
Carmine’s claw drummed on the desk, as he stared at the still empty voice chat room. He was still a bit breathless - work had kept him late, and he’d practically sprinted to catch a bus, before stopping in the nearest fast food joint. The burger and fries were an unsatisfying lump in the dragon’s gut now; he’d probably have to sneak away mid-game to grab a snack.
There was going to be some combat in this section, at least. So there’d be time for that - some of the other players took ages with their turns.
…That depended on whether or not they actually turned up. So far there wasn’t any sign of them. Or the DM for that matter. And it was now 20 minutes past the expected start time.
He checked the group chat. No one had made apologies for being late, so he had to assume they were still coming.
“C’mon, c’mon…”
He tried to keep his annoyance at bay; no point in bringing that to the session. But it was a little bit frustrating after the day he’d had! He’d have to bite his tongue for the first hour, until the hangriness subsided.
He moused over to the link for the game room and clicked it, just to see if the server for it was up and running.
It was. Which made it extra strange that the GM still seemed to be offline.
He logged in regardless and slid it over to his enormous main monitor - an impulse purchase after winning a little bit of money in a competition. It was expensive, but so colourful and crisp… better than reality.
The screen practically towered over him as he ran over his character sheet. If you could call what he was playing a character. He was basically playing himself but as a knight. Nothing wrong with a bit of wish fulfillment.
The map was a swirling mass of blue, like stardust blown by solar winds. Leem normally didn’t put up a ‘curtain’ like this to hide maps at the start of sessions.
“Weird.” Carmine stood up from his chair and groaned, pushing his hips forward and bending backwards to crack his back. “Guess there’s time to make some popcorn or something…”
Just as he began to walk, he heard the tell tale chime of someone joining the call.
“Oh! Hello?”
He peered at the screen. Just below his icon and his screen name, he saw…
“Sal’yashe?”
That was one of Leem’s NPCs. Leem didn’t usually change their screen name though.
There was silence on the other end. The mystery caller’s name didn’t light up.
“If you’re trying to talk, I think you’re muted.”
It began to occur to Carmine… maybe this was a prank of some kind. Or a surprise. It wasn’t his birthday… and today definitely wasn’t a milestone for how long he’d been playing.
“Okay, seriously, what’s going on?”
Still nothing.
“Okay, I’m gonna get a snack, I’ll see you in a second, whoever you are.”
“Wait jussst a moment, please.”
The voice was strange, yet familiar.
It was mellifluous and silken, with a slight accent - soft Ts, the hint of a lisp. It sounded different to the ‘impression’ of the snake’s he was used to hearing from Leem. Maybe they’d warmed up for this. But Sal’yashe wasn’t in this current fight anyway…
“Leem, is that you, or someone else…?”
“Keep lissstening to me, and maybe you’ll figure it out.”
“Ohh, okay Leem.” Carmine laughed. “Now I get it. You’re trying to mess around with me as a ‘reward’ for being the only one who made it.”
“Is that what you think is happening? Sssilly dragon. The othersss were far quicker to believe their earsss.”
It wasn’t the first time Leem had teased or tranced him, especially when they found out about his crush on that snakey warlock.
“The accent’s really good, by the way, you sound totally different! It almost sounds exactly the way I imagined Sal’yashe would”
‘Sal’yashe’ chuckled. It was low, from the throat. Carmine shivered. That sound penetrated right through his annoyance and disbelief.
“Sssstill ssskeptical? Why not turn your attention to the ssscreen, for me…”