The Twenty-Sided Dice

Chapter 6: Out Of Place

Something was very wrong. The GM was in the Plane of Souls, sitting atop his amber throne, trying to figure out where Maya could be, trying to figure out what Tanya's secret about Addison's plot could mean for him, and trying to figure out what he should do about the Jamie situation, and whether it was a good idea to tell anyone about that particular detail yet.

For the past few weeks, Jamie had been leaving subtle notes near his permanent portal location, clearly addressing him and clearly threatening him. Jamie had written that he knew everything about the Evelyn incident, and that he was coming for revenge. The GM was hoping that Jamie had been in contact with Maya, as she was the only one that he had told about all that, but something told him that it was never that simple.

He stood up, looking around nervously. He still didn't know where Maya was, and Erin was still in the Plane of Spirits. Well, he could fix one of those problems, at least.

He quickly teleported to the Plane of Spirits, grabbed Erin, and teleported to the Material Plane to bring her back. She looked around with a severely panicked expression, and he quickly gave her a basic understanding of what had happened to her and what was going on. She immediately calmed down, though her gaze still held severe suspicion of him and his story.

"You need to go look for Maya. If what you just transmitted is all true, then I have an idea of where she may be." Erin's voice was unflinching, and the GM read her mind, knowing how improbable her idea was.

"You're right, she would go to the game table as soon as possible, if she has enough control of her powers to get there." The GM decided that it was a good idea, and that it wouldn't hurt to check, if anything. Wait. Where was Xavier? If Maya was missing, Erin was here with him, and Tanya was at her secret black market, as far as he knew, then where were Emma and Xavier? Hopefully they would know to meet at the game table, too. The GM snapped his fingers, and he and Erin immediately teleported to the library.

"Let's go, Erin. We still don't know where Emma and Xavier are, so let's hope that they're all at the game table." The GM spoke in an authoritarian manner, but Erin just glared back at him, extreme distrust in her eyes.

As they walked into the clearing, they could sense that something was wrong. Emma, Xavier, Tanya, and Maya were nowhere to be seen. But out of the corner of his eye, the GM saw Madison hunched over behind the table, clearly crying. Erin was clearly alarmed, which was appropriate, considering that the last time they had seen each other was when Erin had attempted to kill her while being controlled by evil powers.

She whispered to the GM, "You need to talk to her. She probably hates me, so it's really not a good time for me to be here, I think. I'll just wait by the trees." He nodded, and Erin shrank back between a pair of pine trees.

The GM slowly crept closer, and saw Madison, sitting helplessly next to a girl with a severe-looking stab wound. He looked closer, realizing that it was Maya.

How had this happened? Who did this? He ran closer, gasping loudly, ignoring Madison's startled stare.

"Who are you? Get away from her! Can you help me heal her?" Madison was clearly very conflicted, not sure if he was there to hurt or to help.

"I'm her father, the GM. How did you meet Maya?" The GM was struggling to keep his voice even, struggling not to let his emotions show.

"She got me out of the Feywild. We were barely here for 5 minutes before Taylor, of all people, came out in a creepy cloak and stabbed her! Please help me, I don't know what to do... I'm not a healer, that was always Jamie's job. I think it's poisoned, do you know anything about poisons?" Madison was still sniffling, but now her eyes were crazed, flickering around in a panic. The GM examined the wound closer, and immediately recognized it.