•••
Harper stayed seated after the music was over. It took a few minutes but the band finally dispersed from the room that they had gotten ready in. Eddie caught her glance and tilted his head, gesturing for her to follow him.
She stood up from her seat and followed the boy outside. Harper rounded the brick corner and spotted Eddie Munson leaning against the wall in front of her. He turned to look at her and sent her a grin before his face quickly turned serious. He grabbed her shoulders.
"Are you alright? Did that guy do anything to you?" He paused, glancing over her once more to see if she was injured, "Because I swear if he-"
"Eddie." Harper interrupted, "He didn't do anything." She glanced down at the ground, "I'm just glad you noticed the roofie... if you hadn't-" Harper paused before she could think about it.
Her face was quickly pulled into Eddie's chest as he engulfed her in a hug. Harper hesitated for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist.
Eddie then pulled back once more, his hands on her shoulders again, "Hellfire is my job to protect." Harper could see an angry look in his eyes, but it was masked well by his concern, "I told you to bring someone with you." He dropped his hands, crossing his arms and leaning against the bricks behind him.
"I know." Harper didn't know why she felt so nervous, but Eddie's voice was so low and his tone was so demanding that it made her feel... she didn't know, "It's just, one of the people I would have brought is too young, under 18... and Nancy Wheeler- well she's got a stick so far up her ass that she doesn't know how to have fun. So I settled on going alone." Harper explained, "I was doing fine until that guy grabbed my thigh."
Eddie's eyes widened, "He touched you?" His stance grew tense as he looked at the girl in front of him, "Sh*t"
Harper noticed the darkened look in Eddie's eyes and couldn't help but feel small, "Luckily, you interrupted him before he could go any higher." The boy's eyebrows furrowed.
"I swear if I ever see him again-" Eddie started before taking in a sharp breath cutting himself off, "Do you have a ride home?" He asked.
Harper looked away from the boy, "No... I was just going to walk home."
"Hell no."
Eddie breathed, "Not after what happened tonight." He picked up his guitar case and started walking toward his uncle's van. He opened the door for Harper before shutting it after she sat down.
Eddie then got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the parking lot. It was silent as Eddie tapped his ringed fingers on the steering wheel. He let out a sigh before fumbling in his jacket pocket and pulling out a box of cigarettes. He pulled one out of the box with one hand while driving with the other. He put the cigarette in his mouth and placed the box back in his pocket before reaching into the other one and pulling out a silver flip-top lighter. He flicked his hand backwards, opening the top before striking the wheel of the lighter, a small flame lit up before Eddie held it up to his cigarette. He let go of the steering wheel for a second to hold his hand behind the flame before placing it back on the wheel. He closed the top of the lighter, placing it back in his pocket.
The boy breathed in before letting out a sigh, smoke flowing from his slightly parted lips, "I'm not mad... at you at least." Harper glanced over at the boy, the two of them in the same car must look like quite the odd pair, Eddie "The Freak" Munson and Harper O'Brian.
Harper nodded, understanding.
"It's my duty to protect all off Hellfire. I need to watch over the sheep." Eddie said before putting the cigarette up to his mouth again and taking in a breath. As he spoke the smoke filled the car, "And I really don't want to lose a single sheep."
Harper hadn't noticed that they were already outside her house. Eddie stopped the car and put it into park before turning towards Harper.
"Please, Harper. Be careful. I- we care about you, even though we haven't known you that long... I can tell Hellfire would be devastated if something bad happened to you." Eddie said, his normal joking tone and amused-sounding voice nowhere to be heard. Harper couldn't tear her gaze away from his eyes.
Harper nodded, "I'll be more careful from now on, Eddie." She breathed.
Eddie took one more breath of the smoke before leaning towards Harper. His nose was inches away from hers as he spoke, "Good... we can't have the sheep getting lost now, can we." He said, his voice low and gravelly. The smoke from his lungs filled her senses as he breathed out. Harper felt her face heat up, but the smoke in the car hid her expression well.
"R-right." She mentally cursed herself for stuttering, "Thank you for driving me home, Eddie..." Harper said as she turned and opened the van door. As she stepped out all the smoke was released from the van. She turned back and waved at Eddie, "Thanks again, Eddie! Bye!"
Eddie sent her a grin before she shut the door and he began to drive away, but before he got far enough away he honked the horn twice, causing Harper to let out a chuckle.
•••
"Take time to set up your characters." Eddie said, sitting down at the head of the table, "I'm being generous this time, so your characters regain their spell slots and health." Harper looked down at her sheet before erasing the used spell slots, she thought it was a little suspicious that the DM was allowing them to regain their health at a random point, but quickly brushed it off.
Gareth glanced over at her, "Hey, Harper, how did you enjoy the show last night?" He asked, "You know after..." Harper shook her head, trying to indicate that he shouldn't mention it in front of the younger boys.
"It was good!" She spoke, I really enjoyed the songs you played." Eddie, who didn't look like he was paying attention sent a glance to Harper, "It's been a long time since I've been to a show and you guys were mesmerizing up there. The way you played was-" She paused trying to find the right word, "Breathtaking."
A small smirk grew on Eddie's face which went noticed by Harper, "Glad you enjoyed it, sweetheart." Eddie said, his voice low as he dug through one of his bags, looking for mini figures.
"Being in Corroded Coffin sound so cool!" Mike spoke up, erasing his four points of damage and rewriting his original health.
Eddie chuckled, pulling out the mini figures and placing them on the board, "Maybe once you turn 18, little man." He looked up at the boy now that he was all set up, "You can't go into The Hideout unless you are 18."
Mike let out a disappointed huff. Dustin and Lucas also seemed pretty disappointed, they just wanted to watch the show.
"Alright. Everyone ready?" Eddie asked, leaning over the table and propping one knee up on his chair while he stood with the other, his hands pressed flat against the table. The party hummed in agreement, the occasional 'yes' or 'uh-huh' thrown in, "Perfect..." Eddie grinned, lifting one hand off the table and using it to describe the scenery around them, his voice was low and just above a whisper as he spoke, "The rainforest around you is dark, yet calming. Rain patters against the ground. You are in a clearing that is too dark to make out anything clearly."
Harper turned to Eddie, "What can I see?" The boy looked confused for a second before looking down at Harper's character sheet.
"Right, High Elf. Darkvision up to 60 feet." Eddie nodded, "Well, you can make out a single path in the clearing but the path is too long for you to see the end of it." Eddie paused looking down at the mat before drawing a large circle with a path on one side of it, "Organize where you are." The group all looked down at their mini figures and moved them into a place that seemed right.
Gareth spoke up, "I'm gonna roll a perception check!" Everyone turned to Gareth with deadpan faces.
"You literally always do this." Lucas groaned, placing his palm on his face.
Gareth chuckled and grabbed a D20 before giving it a good shake in his hands and tossing it onto the table. After rolling for what seemed like too long the D20 landed on a solid 1. Gareth groaned and the entire party let out a chuckle before hearing Eddie speak up.
"Roll for initiative." Everyone's head snapped toward Eddie and they let out a groan, several curses being released from people.
The sound of dice rolling on the table filled the room, and Eddie turned his head to Gareth.
"8."
Jeff was next, "13."
Eddie then turned to the other guy whose name Harper figured out was Stanley, or Stan, "16." Stan said.
"9." Dustin breathed.
Lucas looked at the battle mat nervously, "23." Whatever they were fighting he would have to go first.
Mike and the other boys shared a look, "17."
Eddie turned to Harper last, "20." She said, feeling her chest tighten at the suspense.
"Out of the middle of the trees jumped the Abominable Yeti! Lexia and Sundar the Bold were able to make it out of the way in time, but Gareth the Great was right in the way of the monster's claws." Eddie rolled a D20, "What's your armor strength Gareth?" Eddie asked, half paying attention while he wrote down the order that the battle will play out.
Gareth let out a groan, "Sixteen."
"That hits, Gareth The Great takes 14 for slashing damage and 7 for cold damage." Eddie grinned before hearing the chatter from the other players in the part.
Mike spoke up, turning towards the rest of the party as Gareth rolled to see his damage, "What the hell is a Yeti doing in the rainforest?" Everyone was confused and turned to look at Eddie who had an evil grin on his face.
The boy brushed off the question before sitting back down in his chair and turning towards Lucas, "What would Sundar the Bold like to do?"
"I want to use my hunter's mark, and shoot him with my longbow," Lucas stated nervously.
"Roll to see if you hit," Eddie smirked.
Lucas rolled over 11 which was all that mattered, he landed his hit, successfully doing 18 points of damage.
Eddie chuckled evilly, "You're going to have to do better than that." He then turned toward Harper, who was next on the plan, "What's your move?"
The girl looked down at the mat, "I'm going to use fireball."
"Roll to see if you hit." Eddie said, watching as she rolled, "Good luck." He breathed.
It hit.
Eddie's eyes widened with interest, as Harper grabbed her D6. Since her character was level 15 she had to roll 13 times, "47." Harper said as she looked up at Eddie.
"Good girl~," He said, voice low, and a smirk on his face. He quickly turned his attention away from Harper and towards the sheets of paper in front of him. Harper felt her face heat up. What was he doing to her?
"The yeti reaches towards the closest person to it, which still happens to be Gareth, and swings once more," Eddie explained before rolling some dice and seeing the hit, "Twenty damage."
Gareth groaned once more, "Not fair guys, someone direct it away from me!" The party chuckled, knowing that Gareth would be fine.
"Mike, you're up," Eddie spoke.
The boy thought for a second, "I'm gonna use my bonus action first. I'm going to cast Holy Weapon on my sword for my bonus action. And for my action, I'm going to hit the Yeti." Mike rolled to hit and got above the right amount before rolling for damage, "15."
Eddie nodded before scribbling something down on his sheet.
•••
"Who puts a Yeti in the middle of the rainforest?" Dustin asked, talking to the group. Everyone looked around confused, wondering the same thing.
Gareth perked up, "I'm going to roll a per-"
"No!" Everyone cut him off.
Harper looked around silently before turning to Eddie, "I'll roll for arcana on the body." Eddie nods and gestured for her to roll.
She rolled her D20, and added her modifiers, "33."
"Holy sh*t." One of the boys said.
Eddie chuckled, "The body of the Yeti is letting off a familiar magic aura, one that you have felt many times before. The magic is the mark of The Cult of Vecna."
"Dammit!" Dustin exclaimed running his hands through his hair anxiously, "The Cult put a Yeti in the middle of the forest!"
•••