Towers And Tieflings: ONC 2021 Longlist

5: Deceptive Appearances

"This is freaking ridiculous." Seamus inspects the squirming squirrel in his grasp, trying to discern if it's an elf girl in disguise. The halfling rogue lets out a yelp as the squirrel sinks its tiny teeth into his flesh, flinging the furry creature far into the forest on reflex. "We'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack then we'll have tracking a druid down here. She could be any of these animals."

"True," Adam says. He scoops a spider onto his sword and swivels it around a few times to see if it reacts abnormally. It does not; the artificial arachnid is absolutely terrified. Adam lowers his blade to the ground and gently shakes the poor thing off. "But at least we're headed this way anyway. We should reach the Spire by tomorrow, and the wizard's tower a day or so after that."

Kohl, having chosen to take a more morally questionable path to locating the runaway druid, aims an arrow at a potential suspect flying overhead as the group traverses through trees. "This would be so much easier if one of us had the 'Speak with Animals' spell. Orianna, does your wizard have anything like that?"

"Let me check." Orianna scrolls half-heartedly through her spell list, her failed and nearly fatal encounter with the goblins still haunting her. "No, doesn't look like I have that ability. Should I?"

"Nah, 'Speak with Animals' is typically just a druid thing." Adam answers, staring straight at a deer. It scampers away as soon as it sees him, and he sighs at the fruitlessness and difficulty of the search.

Orianna's eyes flash for a moment at Adam's mention of the mysterious girl. "Druids seem really powerful."

"Yeah, they're super overpowered," Seamus chimes in, ever-so-helpfully. "Druids can heal, cast spells, use melee, shape-shift into a giant bear or something and tank, and a bunch of other cool stuff. They're so broken, it's dumb."

"If you think druids are so awesome, why didn't you play one?" Kohl nudges Seamus's shoulder playfully after she successfully shoots down her target, nearly knocking him over. After watching the bird disappear and its carcass pop up in the half-elf pirate's inventory, Kohl decides it's safe to say her prey had not been a shape-shifter in disguise.

"Cause rogues are broken too. Plus, they're way more fun to play. What about you, Kohl? Fighter is like the most boring, basic class of all time."

"That's just the way I like it. No spells, nothing complicated, just stabbing stuff in the face. Simple, satisfying, yet still so fun."

Seamus nods, respecting Kohl's player preferences as well as completely understanding the amusement gained from wanton virtual murdering.

Orianna, however, still has more on her mind. "So why did you guys want me to play a wizard then and not a druid? If they're so cool, wouldn't that have been a better choice for the party?"

"Well, yeah, maybe. But druids are so complex and multi-faceted that they're really not something a new player should take on." Adam shifts the weight of the two backpacks on his shoulders, uncomfortable in more ways than one. His tiny, devious rogue companion had roped the paladin into carrying both their belongings hours ago.

"Oh." Orianna's fists clench, frustrated by her lack of game knowledge and the feeling of holding her friends back.

"I mean playing a wizard is tough enough as it is," Adam hastily adds, "and you're already doing us a huge favor by playing a magic user. Why make your job even harder than it needs to be?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Orianna says as she pulls her spell list back up. She starts to read through it thoroughly as the group strolls onward, feeling determined to prove her worth in the next battle and to never again be a uncertain lump frozen in the sidelines.