"Our story begins in a magical forest. Our heroes Sir Archibald of Westforth, Grimgrom Strongheel, Elena Leafthrown, and Cecil Withers were sent on a quest by the king of CopperWood to retrieve the stolen crowd. The thief being the mighty Skeleton Prince," -Dylan
"Archibald, are you sure you are leading us in the right direction? This forest is giving me the creeps!" -Elena
"Relax Elena, I'm sure he knows what he was doing. After all, we elected him as group leader!" Cecil
"The Skeleton Prince came through here I'm sure of it. The bones we see here are a surefire clue," -Archibald
"Our heroes kept creeping up the trails, walking past the blissful trees. The pile of bones kept stacking higher and higher the further they got into the forest. Eventually, they reached a massive cliff that was blocking their path," -Dylan
"This is a problem!" -Grimgrom
"Don't worry. The prince must've used a spell to get up. We can find a way through," -Archibald
"Before the heroes could react, a group of goblin bandits jumped out from behind them. Three little guys and one big brute. It was a trap and ambush," -Dylan
"It's an ambush!" -Elena
"Everyone in formation! Who's going first?" -Archibald
"One second. Ok I'll go first. Archibald, Elena, then Grimgrom alright?" -Cecil
"I unleash the Aura Force to protect us!" -Cecil
"Thanks!" -Elena
"Alright. I'll melee them," -Archibald
"Does it hit?" -Elena
"Hm, yes it did thankfully," -Archibald
"I'm stunned from the last battle. I need to skip this turn," -Elena
"Sounds good. Grimgrom what are you going to do?" -Cecil
"I cast fireball," -Grimgrom
"The area is too small, you risk setting us on fire!" -Elena
"I don't care how small the area is, I said I CAST FIREBALL," -Grimgrom
"Aw, it missed anyways. Better luck next time," -Archibald
"Wait, why is our pet Snippy here?" -Cecil
"Snippy the Kobold ran in and completely ran over the goblin bandits, defeating them instantly. The heroes moved on with their day and paused for a bit to calm down after the chaos," -Dylan
Dylan's dog Ramona jumped onto the table and ruined the Dungeons and Dragon board that Dylan had set up.
"Ramona! You ruined the table!" -Dylan
Ramona barked loudly and ran away. Dylan went after her to feed her and let her outside. He apologized to his Dungeons and Dragon friends and decided to call it a night for the game. They went home, and after cleaning up the rest of the table, he went to his room to get ready for bed. He had work to do the next day. On the walls and desk were miniature painted figures he used for Dungeons and Dragons. One day, he plans on creating a human sized version of the game for true immersive gameplay.
The next day, Dylan went over to the Novafuel Industries factory, a manufacturer that provides energy sources for people in the country.
"Good day Orion," -Dylan
"Good day Dylan. Any progress on the serum?" -Dylan
"It's getting there. I was busy last night with my Dungeons and Dragon game," -Dylan
"Ah that again. How is that going?" -Orion
"We were getting somewhere until my dog messed up the board," -Dylan
"It happens. See you at lunch," -Orion
"See you Orion," -Dylan
Dylan walked over to his office and lab to resume work on the serum. In the files were notes on what the serum could do. Novafuel planned to inject the serum into test subjects and jot down the results for later. He spent the next few hours testing different chemical mixtures and substances together before settling on one to have ready for further testing.
"It's perfect," -Dylan
He sent it off to have it delivered to a nearby Novafuel testing facility before going to Mr. Sub with Orion.
"What are you having this time?" -Dylan
"Probably just the same as usual," -Orion
"Yeah, same for me too I think," -Dylan
"I saw the people come in to get the serum. You think it's gonna be the last test?" -Orion
"I hope so. The boss wanted it done within the next few tests so I'd be glad if this was the last," -Dylan
After finishing up their meal, they began to walk back to the factory. Dylan got a text from Mr. Grizz, his boss. He wanted Dylan to come to the testing facility right away.
"He wants me at the facility. I'll see you later Orion," -Dylan
"Alright, good luck," -Orion
Dylan catched a subway and took the 20 minute ride towards the testing facility. After being ID'd and checked in, he met up with Mr. Grizz by the viewing platform.
"There you are son, I wanted to meet with you about the serum's performance," -Mr. Grizz
"Hi sir. If this is about the lack of energy I'm sorry, I might have forgotten to add the nitrate in," -Dylan
"No, no problem. I wanted you to come so I could congratulate you! There were some really nice results shown today," -Mr. Grizz
He took Dylan downstairs to the vessels containing the first test subject. It was a lizard that had been turned into a mutant creature, resembling a goblin.
"The mutant has shown no signs of aggression and obeys basic commands from our scientists, but why does it look like a goblin?" -Mr. Grizz
"I added a little DND twist to the serum. I hope that's not a problem," -Dylan
"That's not a problem. As long as they obey orders. This will be great for business," -Mr. Grizz
"What was the point of the mutant project again? I felt like it wasn't described in enough detail," -Dylan
"As a product. Families will be happy to have new pets instead of the basic dogs, cats and birds. These mutants will pave the way for a new generation of companions. Ones that can also listen to commands. We will make this a new industry norm for the world I tell you boy," -Mr. Grizz
"I don't see the problem with dogs. I think they make fine pets," -Dylan
"Yes, well, not all of us see eye to eye. Stay here to monitor the mutants. Let me know if anything odd happens. I will be back in my office to report this to our shareholders," -Mr. Grizz
Mr. Grizz left the building and left Dylan to keep watch over the new mutant with the other scientists. Dylan was really interested in the new mutant he made. He didn't expect it to really make animals look like Dungeons and Dragons characters. As the day turned into night, more scientists left to go home, but Dylan stayed behind to keep watch over the goblin.
"What a beautiful mutant you are," -Dylan
The goblin went to the edge of the vessel to look at Dylan. It looked at him curious.
"Hi buddy," -Dylan
Dylan wanted to let him out of the vessel, but before he could, he checked the time and noticed he was late for his Dungeons and Dragons session. He took the subway back and went back home. After setting up the board and getting snacks for the other players, they resumed their game.
"Where were we? Oh right. Our heroes finally made their way to the Skeleton Prince's fortress, which was being heavily guarded by Skeleton guards," -Dylan
"There's a lot of them here. What kind of approach should we take?" -Archibald
"Let's just talk to them and get our way in without fighting," -Elena
"Elena, your charisma level is like 1. We'd never get past," -Cecil
"At least I have an intelligence above 5!" -Elena
"Cecil is right. I think our only choice is to fight, or to sneak past," -Archibald
"Let's fight!" -Grimgrom
"Grimgrom ran straight into the battle and alerted 7 guards in the area. Three of them stood near Grimgrom, while the other 4 went to the other members of our party," -Dylan
"Alright, battle formations again! Same order as last time?" -Cecil
"We need to roll for initiative first," -Archibald
"We have no time for that. Let's just do the same as last time," -Grimgrom
The heroes took their time casting spells and launching attacks towards the skeleton guards. Grimgrom almost died, but a member was able to heal him back to full strength. After defeating the guards at the gate, they advanced inside the fortress to fight 8 more guards. The battle was close, and they almost lost Grimgrom again, but still the heroes were standing and ready to defeat the skeleton king. That is, if they had more time.
"Ok it's getting late. I need to go home now," -Aidan
"Yeah, same for me. I got Valorant to play," -Airic
"Oh brother!" -Aidan
"I'm tired too," -Mason
"I need to practice my music again. Got a big day of training tomorrow," -Julian
"Alright, we can pause our game for the night. I can take you guys home," -Dylan
Dylan drove his friends back to their homes. Julian was the last one to be dropped off.
"Thanks for hosting again and sending me home," -Julian
"No problem dude," -Dylan
"I got a cool new song and technique to show you that I learned not long ago," -Julian
"For sure man, good night," -Dylan
Dylan drove back home and cleaned up the board before heading back to his room. He did more research on creatures that the mutants could look like. Mr. Grizz asked for more variety of mutants that they could sell. He even wanted some mutants to have some of their special powers, really going in the Dungeons and Dragons theme. Dylan was happy to have his passion used at his job and being distributed across the world. Part of his research looked into elves, dragons, and giants.
Dylan came into the lab the next work day to further enhance the serum by adjusting the appearance of the mutant based on what the current specimen looks like. Mr. Grizz stopped by to check on him.
"Everything alright Dylan? You sound busy," -Mr. Grizz
"Yes sir. I'm just improving the serum. Nothing too drastic the tests will not need to be redone," -Dylan
"When you're ready, come into the boardroom. I want to hold a meeting about our mutants and how we will send them off into the world," -Mr. Grizz
"Sounds good sir. I will be there soon," -Dylan
Dylan finished up the serum for good this time and went to the meeting. Mr. Grizz started it shortly after while Orion stood guard.
"Greetings fellow scientists, and employees. Today I am here to talk about plans for the distribution of our mutants. These creatures will prove to serve as great entertainment and assistance for people around our planet. We will distribute a small sample of them to a local school in the city. After taking notes and monitoring them for a month, we will expand to city wide distribution. And eventually, the entire world will get to see what we created," -Mr. Grizz
As Mr. Grizz finished his plans, an explosion at the front gates of the building was heard, and people with guns and masks started to move in.
"Move in, people move!" -Robber
Scientists and other employees of Novafuel hid while the raid took place. Orion went in to take them out.
"I will help take care of this," -Mr. Grizz
He jumped down into the lobby and yelled out from his megaphone loud orders that temporarily paralyzed the robbers coming in. Some of them started to back out. His suit was fortified with bullet proof plating to shield him from the incoming gunfire. Mr. Grizz picked up the leader of the group and threw them outside where the cops were waiting. Once the area was cleared out, the other employees went back out from hiding. Dylan went in to check in on Orion.
"Brother are you ok?" -Dylan
"I'm good. They were no threat," -Orion
"Who were those guys?" -Dylan
"People online who have heard false rumors about our mutants. They want to free them, but they do not see that they will be free, and that they are in good hands with us," -Mr. Grizz
"Seems awfully violent to come in with guns when this project has been pretty secret," -Dylan
"They have their reasons. We will show them that our project will succeed," -Mr. Grizz
After the cops came in to clean up the mess, Dylan returned to his office, still shocked as to what happened. He texted his friends about what happened at work today and put the serum back into a locked box. The situation was too much for him too handle, so he took the day off earlier and went home. After painting some more miniature figures and designing new game boards, Dylan struck an idea. He wanted to make something that could protect himself in case more people broke into trying to break out the mutants. His initial design was a powerful blaster that could shoot pulses of energy. He further designed it to resemble a dragon's mouth, calling it the Dragon's Breath. After getting some schematics ready, he looked online to find someone who could build his weapon. He found a person's phone number online in some forums and decided to give them a call.
"Hello, who's speaking?" -Stellar
"Hi. I'm looking to have a weapon designed. For self defense of course," -Dylan
"And you called thinking I'm running a weapons business?" -Stellar
"I saw your number online on a forum page. They told to call if I wanted to have a weapon made," -Dylan
"Oh, that. Listen, that number was not meant to be shared like that. I think someone in my group gave it out by accident. Are you in any position for this?" -Stellar
"My workplace was attacked recently. Novafuel industries was hit by a group of raiders," -Dylan
"... Novafuel Industries, the ones making the serum and mutants?" -Stellar
"Yes, exactly. How did you know about that our project isn't live yet," -Dylan
"It's become quite the talk in the town. Ignoring that, I had a change of heart. I will text this number, and you can send me the schematics of your weapon. I will have an engineer build it and send it right to your address. Sounds good?" -Stellar
"Uh yes sounds great. Thanks again… What was your name again?" -Dylan
The recipient hung out before they could give an answer. Dylan was just glad to have found someone who could give him something to protect himself when needed. He sent the schematics to the stranger and then went to bed early.
In the testing facility. The goblin sleeping was awoken after hearing a loud grumble from the back of the room. A large mutant started banging on the door before quieting down and going back to sleep.
At the testing facility the next morning, Dylan went over to help transfer the mutants into delivery trucks. Many more goblins and trolls and small orcs have been created since his last visit. Each mutant was tagged and checked to make sure they did not show any signs of violence.
"You think they will be happy in their new homes?" -Dylan
"I'm sure the children and families and other people will be happy to have their very own mutant," -Mr. Grizz
"Right," -Dylan
"Once the month period of observation is done, you can start looking into more forms of mutants. I'm sure that the Dungeons and Dragons brain of yours could come up with some more ideas for the company," -Mr. Grizz
"I'll try my best sir," -Dylan
"Good. Keep this up, and you'll get that promotion in no time," -Mr. Grizz
Mr. Grizz hopped into a delivery truck. Dylan stayed behind to monitor the mutants and continue tagging them. During his work, he heard a loud bang coming from the back of the facility. He noticed it and walked slowly towards it. Before he could open the door, another bang pushed him back. He ran away back to the smaller mutants and just resumed his work, ignoring what he just witnessed.
In a tall science building in the city, Stellar worked on some paperwork before heading over to a laboratory. Lunar was inside conducting some tests.
"How's the weapon for our friend coming along?" -Stellar
"I'm almost done making the first prototype. His schematics were really well designed and themed. I'm loving it," -Lunar
"You need to eat less McDonalds," -Stellar
"I prefer Chipotle," -Lunar
"Whatever. Good work so far. Report back to me when it's done and tested," -Stellar
"Will do Stellar," -Lunar
Lunar attached two compartments to store energy for the Dragon's Breath. One stored ice particles, while the other carried flammable liquid. After activating the weapon and putting it on. He fired the two different blasts at two different dummies. The first got burned to ashes, while the second got turned into an ice cube.
"Sick," -Lunar
Stellar walked back to his computer and put on the news. The first delivery trucks of mutants were being delivered to the school.
"We are live here as the first mutants of Novafuel Industries are being delivered to a school. The mutants are designed as entertainment for children, but can also obey orders according to the company. Here are some words from the CEO himself," -Reporter
"It's my pleasure to be able to share such a passion project from the entire staff team of Novafuel. We really wanted to make a big change into pets by making our own, and we believe this will take over and perform better than all previous common pets. Say goodbye to your dogs and cats. Goblins and Orcs will become the new norm," -Mr. Grizz
"There you have it. Novafuel believes that these mutants will replace our traditional pets. Only time will tell to see if they are right," -Reporter
Dylan was watching the news at the testing facility as well. He was proud of the work he had done, but he was worried about how the people would treat the mutants. They still needed to be treated with respect and care, like traditional pets.
A week later in the middle of the night, mutants at the school were trying to escape their cages. They grew in size and also in aggression. Their living conditions were miserable and they did not have the same care given as other pets. A goblin was able to break out, and the other mutants followed. After some more breakouts, the mutants increased in size even more and started destroying the school.
The next morning, as Dylan headed to work, he noticed the destroyed school. After he arrived, he made sure to call Mr. Grizz to tell him what was happening.
"Sir, did you see what was happening at the school? I think the mutants escaped," -Dylan
"I saw. I'm sure it will be fine… Just proceed as normal at work," -Mr. Grizz
"But sir!" -Dylan
Mr. Grizz hung up before Dylan could voice the rest of his concerns. Orion came over to check in on him.
"Is everything alright Dylan?" -Orion
"Check the news. The school we gave the mutants has been destroyed, and the mutants took off their trackers. This is not good," -Dylan
"You mean these mutants?" -Orion
Orion handed Dylan his phone and showed him live footage of mutants in the city destroying buildings and scaring citizens. The goblins, trolls, orcs, and other mutants had grown to the size of trucks and were showing extreme signs of violence. The news reporter on the ground voiced their concerns. In the background, Dylan could see the group of robbers from the raid attempt. They were protecting the people from the mutants.
"Those guys who raided us. They knew about the dangers the whole time. They were just trying to stop us from causing a disaster," -Dylan
"Not your fault. You didn't give the order for distribution," -Orion
"We need to help somehow. There's a mutant still in the testing facility. We need to set them free," -Dylan
"I'll come with you," -Orion
The two took the subway towards the testing facility. No employees were present as they were all busy dealing with the chaos caused by the mutants in the city. The mutant behind the door was still causing noises trying to get out. With Orion's help, Dylan was able to open the door. Immediately, a large dragon-like mutant ran out, flying around the facility while breathing ice and fire.
"Holy fuck!" -Orion
"This is absurd!' -Dylan
The dragon saw Dylan and dove towards him. Orion Shielded him from the fire, but was eventually knocked out of the way. As the dragon walked towards Dylan, all Dylan did was stand still and put his hand out while looking away. He was hoping the dragon would see it as a sign of care. As it got closer, it slowed down. Looking at Dylan's hand, it put its face on it.
"Easy there boy," -Dylan
Dylan fed it a snack and patted it around, showing that he could trust it.
"How did you tame that thing?" -Orion
"It just needs care. I will call you Drago," -Dylan
The dragon appeared to approve its new name and let Dylan get on its back.
"Hop on, we need one more thing," -Dylan
"Can't believe I'm not getting paid for this," -Orion
Orion got on Drago and they flew off. They held on for dear life as Drago flew fast and in violent patterns. Dylan took them to his house and landed Drago somewhere on the street away from cars. They waited patiently until someone arrived at his house.
"I got your weapon here good sir!" -Lunar
"Thanks for having this in on short notice. We really needed it," -Dylan
"Of course, and you are?" -Lunar
"I'm Dylan, that's Orion, and the dragon is Drago," -Dylan
"Wow, and I thought my inventions were crazy. I'm Lunar. Is everything all good?" -Lunar
"We need to fight the mutants in the city. They are wrecking it hard," -Dylan
"Ah right. I saw the chaos from the tower. Take me with you guys. I can help out," -Lunar
"What can you do engineer?" -Orion
Lunar pulled out his super merge and merged some cars together with boulders and created a makeshift tank weapon.
"Wow, noted," -Orion
The three of them got on Drago and flew into the city. Dylan and Lunar started blasting away at the mutants to get their attention and group them up. Drago helped with his own breath as well.
"This thing works so nicely!" -Dylan
"Thanks, appreciate it," -Lunar
"We need to group them up and then take care of them at once," -Dylan
"I can merge them with something small to shrink them," -Lunar
"Sounds like a plan," -Dylan
Drago flew around the city three times to ensure each mutant was accounted for. Once they rounded them all up, they got them together in one area in the centre of the city at a park. Lunar charged up his super merge and got all of the mutants in one zap. He got up a pebble and added it to the mix, merging them together. The group of mutants shrunk in size instantly, turning into mini pebbles that wobbled around. Drago landed and Dylan went to collect the mutants and safely stored them into a jar.
"We did it!" -Lunar
"Thanks for your help Lunar. Couldn't have done it without you," -Dylan
"No problem, but he caused this mess?" -Lunar
"Our boss's project failed, but I think we can talk it over with him. Tell him to shut it down," -Dylan
"Uh, you might want to see this Dylan," -Orion
Dylan looked as the news camera was looking at a rocket that appeared outside the testing facility. Mr. Grizz and his employees were loading more mutants and serum into the rocket.
"What is he doing?!" -Lunar
"He's going to launch them worldwide. We need to stop him. Drago, let's fly," -Dylan
Drago took off once more and headed straight to the testing facility. The rocket was still taking in more mutants, and more serum was being loaded into the tanks.
"This is crazy. Why is Mr. Grizz trying to distribute more after the mess today?" -Orion
"This project has been the company's dream, and I don't think he will stop until it's fulfilled," -Dylan
Drago landed and Dylan, Lunar, and Orion got off.
"Mr. Grizz! You need to cancel the project!" -Dylan
"Can't you see, Novafuel needs this. I will not rest while we were so close to victory," -Mr. Grizz
"The mutants failed. We can't let them stay with random people. They need proper care and more testing," -Dylan
"The government has come to seize my serum. I will share it across the globe before it's too late," -Mr. Grizz
"I'm afraid we can't let you do that," -Lunar
"I was hoping you would say that," -Mr. Grizz
Mr. Grizz took a sample of serum and injected it into himself. Instantly, he grew in size and turned into a large bear-like creature. His roars were powerful, and pushed the trio back.
"Ok, I was not expecting that!" -Orion
"It's never been tested for humans. He lost his mind," -Dylan
Lunar went out to fire blasts at him to distract. Orion took the opportunity to charge in at his legs to try to take him down. One stomp from Mr. Grizz shocked the ground and knocked both Lunar and Orion away. Dylan activated his dragon's breath to shoot out fire and ice to disable his arms. Once that was done, Drago went in to slam him down with his tail. Mr. Grizz got up and jumped to the rocket, as it took off.
"We're too late," -Orion
Dylan got on Drago and started flying towards the rocket. As Drago got closer, Dylan hopped on and went inside. He made his way to the mutants' cages and started letting every one of them out. Mr. Grizz noticed and started clawing his way inside the rocket, damaging it.
"You can't stop this Dylan!" -Mr. Grizz
Dylan hurried up and released the rest of the mutants.
"Don't worry little guys. Everything's going to be alright," -Dylan
He headed over to the engine room and saw the supply of serum. He knew he couldn't let him out and tried to think of a way to dispose of it. Mr. Grizz broke a hole into the rocket and grabbed Dylan out.
"You will not ruin my dream!" -Mr. Grizz
He dodged his punches and froze his claws into the side of the rocket. After getting back inside, he pulled out his plans on the serum and tried to find something that could help. Dylan saw that the serum was extremely flammable and low temperatures would cause it to explode. He started freezing the serum in the tank before the rocket left the atmosphere. Mr. Grizz kept trying to grab Dylan, but the mutants on board started biting at Mr. Grizz, protecting him.
"Get off me you pieces of waste!" -Mr. Grizz
After freezing the serum, Dylan turned on the heat and started blasting the frozen serum. He ran to the other end of the rocket and jumped out just as it exploded, ensuring to grab each other mutant on the way. Mr. Grizz, stuck on the rocket, had no choice but to sit with the explosion.
"NOOOo!" -Mr. Grizz
As the remains of the rocket fell, Dylan tried finding a way for him to survive the fall. He held onto a piece of the falling debris and used it to make his way across the air towards the other mutants. Nearly halfway down, Dylan was able to catch all of them. Drago came up and picked up Dylan.
"Good job Drago!" -Dylan
Drago took Dylan to safety on the ground. Lunar made a net with the super merge to catch the rest of the mutants.
"Great work up there Dylan," -Orion
"Had to save them," -Dylan
"That was one hell of a show," -Lunar
"Wait, take cover," -Dylan
Lunar put up an energy barrier above them as the rest of the rocket fell down with Mr. Grizz. He was badly injured, barely clinging onto life with the serum's help. The trio went to check in on him.
"Sir, it's over," -Dylan
There was no response from the CEO.
"I think he's done," -Orion
"I feel bad. His company's legacy and this is how he went out," -Lunar
"He used the mutant to destroy the mutant. He had it coming," -Dylan
"We should get out of here," -Lunar
Drago took the trio back to Dylan's house as the police and other government officials came in to clean up the area and form investigations.
Two weeks have passed since the passing of Mr. Grizz. The news reported on the aftermath of the situation with the investigations finished Novafuel Industries was being shut down until further notice following the harm created by the mutants. Dylan's house was being used as a temporary safe haven for them until they could find a new home for them. Dylan hoped it would come quickly, as Ramona was not happy with the extra guests, and began fighting with them.
"Ramona! Easy girl, they are friends. Gus, put the beer bottle down, it's not yours to drink!" -Dylan
After settling down the mutants and Ramona, Dylan walked back over to the Dungeons and Dragon table, hoping to finish their Dungeons and Dragon game once and for all.
"The heroes have made it inside the fortress of the Skeleton Prince. It was looking eerie and quiet, too quiet," -Dylan
"I don't like the silence in here," -Archibald
"We got this. Think about the prize after!" -Cecil
"The king should've sent us with more of his guards. We could've used the backup. Grimgrom almost died twice!" -Elena
"I am fine I assure you," -Grimgrom
"As they crept deeper into the fortress, they stumbled upon a set of doors that went downstairs. They went in and saw a dungeon with plenty of jail cells. Inside the cells were skulls and the skeletons of any prisoners who were inside. The heroes made sure to group up together more. Finally, they reached a large throne room, where they met face to face with the Skeleton Prince," -Dylan
"You are the ones the CooperWood king sent? I expected a challenge!" -Skeleton Prince
"We are here to put and end to your terror and retrieve his rightful crown," -Archibald
"That king is no more fit to be king than a goblin fit to a ruler," -Skeleton Prince
"The Skeleton Prince summoned his undead army all across the throne room, surrounding the heroes. He got up with his bone sword and jumped down, slicing the battlefield into two," -Dylan
"It's on," -Elena
"Roll for initiative," -Archibald
"And so, the heroes went head on into a fiery battle against the Skeleton Prince. As fellow mutants gathered around the table to watch the battle play out, they only had one thing in their mind. The Dungeon Crawler was here to watch over them," -Dylan