An Inspiring Curse - Patron Reward - TG/TF (Patreon)

A  night for tabletops was once again at hand. Claire the beautiful  Dungeon Master had everything ready for a nice fun Halloween One-Shot.  Her friends, Abby, Cole, and Archie were ready and willing players.  Everything seemed to be set. Claire knew she had a hard enough time  actually getting everyone to the table at the same time. Though by  channeling her godly Dungeon Master powers, and waiting for a government  holiday, she managed. The game would finally be played, and dice would  be rolled.

Clatter

The  first set of dice were already being rolled in fact. Claire was doing  just a few warm-up tosses, not that it was needed but it was something  she enjoyed doing. “Hm pretty average so far.” Claire speaks cool and  calm, her blue eyes scanning over her table cluttered with hand-drawn  maps. Brushing her dyed dark blue hair over her shoulder the energy  filling her was becoming apparent. “Aaaah this is gonna be great! I’m  glad that lady was willing to sell me some of her props.” Pushing a  black witch hat back a bit to fit properly on her head Claire smiles  away confidently. Her friends were almost here, and she was prepared and  looked cute. “Heh, seems everything is ready! The goddess Claire shall  decide the fates of our heroes once again!” Jumping up in place Claire  trails her finger over the rim of her witch hat and nearly falls over  from her black socks slipping against the wood floor. “N-not again!”  Balancing herself she takes a short breath and brushes off the sides of  her dark blue skirt making sure to get out the lingering wrinkles from  sitting a while. To complete her outfit, she wears a black loose top  showing off her collar bones and shoulders, the long sleeves covering  parts of her hands. Glancing at herself over; her outfit seemed in top  condition. Even her small accessories were good, necklace, some  bracelets, her spider web designed nails, and a choker around her neck.  Even if her players called her a cruel goddess, they also called her a  pretty one, she needed to keep up appearances. “The witch hat is a  little simple, but heh, that lady insisted that I should be the only one  to wear it after giving me those props. And here I was hoping she’d  give me her bunny ears. Well, take what you can get.”

Knock, knock

Finally,  the time to shine was at hand! Claire rushes to her front door and  swings it open with a wide toothy smile parting her lips. “Hello, my  fellow adventurers! I see you have come to my humble abode in order to  find the spooks and maybe even some treats!”

The  three players awkwardly wave at their Dungeon Master, the other female  of the group speaking up kindly. “Course Claire, I brought some jelly  beans with me too like you asked.” Abby steps on into the home with the  large bowel of candy swishing back and forth. She was a bit of a chubby  girl in places, wearing just some jeans and a t-shirt she was a pretty  normal girl. Brown hair and brown eyes to boot. Though Claire could call  the look average given her more bubbly choices, her Abby got along well  regardless.

The next of the  group Cole was sort of a nerd to Claire. Walking into the house Claire  often thought his best features were probably his blue eyes. Even if she  had a pair of blues herself, she liked looking at others. Though Cole  beyond that was what you would expect of a cliché nerd of the past.  White button-up shirt, pocket protector even with pens and notebook  tucked away, blue jean pants. With his short black hair and scrawny  build, Claire thought he fit the cliché a bit too well. “Are we going to  start soon?” The bad part of Cole was his voice, Claire found it a bit  annoying. Something about it made him sound like a know it all. That  would be fine normally, but Cole actually acted like a know it all. The  gang would just want to play and he would ruin a session to talk for an  hour about how Claire decided to handle the rules. Which in this reality  and the fantasy realm, meant Cole and Claire are enemies.

The  last of the group is Archie a pretty normal guy that had more recently  got into tabletop games. Pretty average in build, shoulder-length brown  hair with brown eyes, no stand-out features. Though he does wear  black-rimmed glasses and has a goofy smile Claire enjoys. Today he was  just wearing a normal black t-shirt with blue jeans himself. Claire was a  little sad no one in her group tried to dress up. Though she did not  say it was required, so no cause to complain. “So Claire, this one-shot  isn’t canon then, that’s what that means right? I still get to use my  Nayvla though?”

Everyone was  finally in one spot and all of them were already chatting! Ignoring Cole  though and waving Abby over to the snack table, Claire focuses on  Archie first. “Yes!” Clapping her hands excitedly Claire tries to not  hop this time. “You see! Not sure how hard this will be for you guys.  Soooo I’m being nice and saying if anything horrible happens, you won’t  have to kill off your characters.” Claire gives a smirking glance back  to Cole and then Abby, her gaze landing back on Archie as it often does.  “Thooough I mean, my group is a bunch of girls. Soooo maybe Abby could  be a guy if her character dies hehe.”

Cole  and Archie both groan a bit at the lame joke but Abby sticks her tongue  out at the boys with a mocking tone following. “What, what, my pretty  princess adventurers need a strong man to take care of them? Don’t  worry, I think my small Seraphine can be man enough for now.”

Claire  had never given restrictions on what characters her players should  make. Of course, that meant she wounded up with all female players.  Seraphine the Tiefling bard for Abby. Talne, the human paladin for Cole.  Nayvla, the elven wizard for Archie. All the player's women of all  shapes and sizes. Though Abby’s character was physically the smallest,  she ended up most often the only one to pull everyone’s attention to the  main task. Cole’s character is the tallest one, suppose to be a buff  paladin GF(girlfriend) as he says. While Archie’s character somehow  became the group mom and at times a better healer than the paladin. A  mixed bag of people to deal with but most of the sessions they had  Claire thought went pretty well. “Okay!” Clapping her hands again Claire  snaps her finger in the air to grab attention to her. “No one has said  anything about my hat! Though this is okay! I am just pointing it out!  For now, though, I know Mr. or should I say Miss impatient hates  waiting.” Cole groans again softly. “We can get started, let’s take our  seats! I got some fun stuff planned!”

Another  session begins, Claire starts by setting the stage as her friends sit  down at the table. The session was Halloween-themed and Claire did so  enjoy her horror cliches. The party starts within a small town placed a  good distance away from any main city. The town has been dealing with  disappearances and has hired a band of adventurers to help due to the  local law enforcement not being up to the task. The session seemed well  and good, the party starts by gathering info from a local doctor that  has their own theories about the matter. After questioning the doctor,  the party finds out a woman lost her daughter recently just a few homes  away. Going to question her next the party learns the girl had met a  strange man with a white mask. Though she was not harmed by them and  even gave them a present, a special knife her mother had crafted for a  famous hunting chief.

Cole sighs staring at his paladin girls token on the grid. “You… you’re saying this human chief. Is named Gordon?”

Archie  laughs waving off Cole to not give his words power! Instead, Archie  role-plays as his character trying to make it a character interaction.  His fake motherly woman voice gracing the table. “Hah, come on it’s no  big deal. Plenty of people are named Gordon. Now Talne, that is a  strange name, haven’t heard many humans with one like it. Though do not  worry Talne, I still find you pleasant… or at least not as bad as other  humans I’ve worked with.”

Abby  on the other hand rubs at her chin and stares over the board. She too  was invested in the role-play giving herself an energetic voice rather  than her usual monotone one. “The others, in this case, were just taken  it sounded like. This girl though, her diary said she met him over the  course of a few days. The others may be dead, but… the girl may be  alive. Oh, Imma use detect magic!”

Claire  smirks at the group. They at least could tell something was odd. She  goes into detail about how certain traces of teleportation magic is  within the room. Though the traces were oddly fresh, like the creature  was there just moments ago. The party rushes outside and surely enough  find the strange man stalking behind a tree in the backyard. After  engaging in combat and trading blows the party believes to have killed  the killer. Though leaving the knife and mask behind they take the body  to the doctors. Only to realize it was the body of someone else. Using  detect magic on the man showed a completely different aura. Going back  to the scene of the fight, the mask and knife were also gone.

Archie  sighs slowly dragging his hand along his face. “We… we did the most  cliché thing in a movie somehow… we left the weapon behind, the mask, we  shoulda just poured acid on him right then…”

Claire  snorts at the comments but goes on with the game. Only as she rolls her  dice for the killer to move behind her screen. The dice spin when they  hit the table. “Huh…?” Poking at it they still spin.

Cole  rolls his eyes and sits up a little in his chair. “Hello? Dm? What  happens next then, we’re mingling in the party, do we see anything  weird?”

Slamming her hand down  on the dice, Claire gets them to finally stop, but now they were giving a  slight glow. “Huh… guys something really strange just happened.”

Abby pops some jelly beans into her mouth and sighs slowly. “What did you get two twenties in a row again?”

Claire shakes her head no; nervously chuckling. “N-no, not that, like my dice sudden—”

WHOOSH

The  dice spin back up releasing a gust of wind from themselves. Claire was  rolling two twenty-sided dice, and now both of them were reading a one.  Startled Claire stumbles back standing on her feet. “G-guys what the  hell?! This is not funny; you know I scare easily!”

Archie  slowly turns his head in question first looking Claire up and down.  “Now… are you alright miss? Should I grab you a drink?”

Stretching  his arms out Cole gives a loud yawn and sinks back into his chair  seeming unconcerned. “Did you stub your toe or something? What are you  freaking out about?”

Abby of  course was now by Claire’s side gently holding the side of her arm  looking concerned. “Are you alright hun? What made you jump like that?  You’re gonna have us worried here just bursting out of your seat.”

Though  Claire appreciated the comfort, her three friends. All of them were  still talking as if in character. “You’re…” Looking between their very  serious and concerned eyes made Claire feel all the more confused.  “We’re um, not playing right now. I really did get scared… Um, see my  dice were spinning strangely. And then this gust of wind kinda like  exploded out.”

The three  players look between each other for a moment and then Abby walks over to  the DM screen and grabs the dice to look at them herself. “They don’t  seem enchanted. I don’t think anyone was playing a prank on you.”  Closing her eyes for a few moments Abby nods sagely, her voice still  full of energy like she was Seraphine. “Oh! Maybe you got nervous and  accidentally used your powers, Claire!”

The  whole matter was confusing. Claire looks at her hands, and then her  friends. All of them looked serious, none of them were laughing. Cole  was still a jerk even. “You… you all think this is normal. This, this  can’t be real.”

SLAM

Cole  slams his hand on the table making it wobble with force. “Course it is  girl!” Standing up, Claire could barely believe her eyes. Cole was  taller now, probably seven feet tall if she had to guess. Though not  just that, she could see his abs showing through the white button shirt.  It looked like it was ripping off his body. “What are you staring at  now? My magic doesn’t work on people like you, so if you got sick… well  I’d say suck it up.” Just like Cole’s character now the tone suddenly  softens, and he crouches down to get eye level. “Though, if you think  it’s something serious tell us. If we have to go find some other god to  help you out. It’s no big deal for us.”

If  Cole changed so much in just a few seconds; Claire was afraid. Afraid  or not though she turns her head toward Archie. Just like Cole, they had  changed as well. The first thing Claire takes note of is Archie seemed  to have developed breasts. They were pressing against his shirt.  Archie’s skin was also much paler than it used to be. It looked like she  was staring at a female version of Archie in a way though some features  were still normal. “Claire? You’re staring.” Archie’s voice too sounded  more mature and feminine.

Nothing  made sense anymore, Claire could only assume she was dreaming or magic  was real. “Did, did that lady give me magic or something?” Claire  mumbles to herself and sheepishly grabs at Abby’s red hand for support.  “WHAT?!” Leaping back Claire turns to Abby now seeing her usual gal pal  now with completely dark red skin. Her hair which she never wanted to  dye was now black as well. Abby’s fingernails were also a pitch-black  color and looked a bit sharp. As Abby smiles nervously, Claire could  tell the girl's teeth were sharper too. “This… cosplay wouldn’t be ready  that fast. What the heck is going on?” Claire slowly pinches at her  thigh, her eyes wincing a little in pain. “I can feel pain, this is real  then. Or I think it’s real? This… this is all so much. None of you guys  even seem to know what happened.”

A  long sigh comes from a deeper yet still feminine voice. If Claire did  not know it could only be Cole, she never would have thought it was.  “Come here, girl.” Claire did not want to move to Cole of all people,  but suddenly the arm lifts her into the air, just one arm picking her  off the floor. She’s then pressed into a large set of breasts that were  definitely not there before. “You’re having a panic attack by the sounds  of it. Calm yourself and let’s get back to the fun why don’t we?”

This  was apparently supposed to be Talne, being soothing? “MmMMm—” Claire  pulls herself from the breasts and drops back to the ground gasping for  some air. “A-ah… you’re all. You’re all becoming; your characters?”  Claire glances at Archie and watches before her eyes as his ears  suddenly get pointed and longer. Twisting herself around she watches a  tail sprout out of Abby’s backside and swishes back and forth on its  own. “I… I’m sorry everyone. I. I didn’t know this would happen.”  Claire’s hands begin to shake, maybe she was actually having a panic  attack. Were her friends dead now? Locked away? How was she supposed to  save them? The transformations were happening before her eyes and she  had no idea how to stop them. “This… this is too much.”

Crossing  her arms under her chest Archie seemed far too much like Nayvla now.  Somehow her clothes twisted and melded together making a long skirt.  Despite becoming the characters, the clothing still seemed rather  modern. A maxi skirt, a pair of black ankle boots along with a sweater  blacktop. It seemed like the outfit was trying to match up better with  what Claire was wearing. Though again the more obvious changes were  Archie too now had even larger breasts, their face even looked feminine  and sharp in a few places. Though like an elf they looked beautiful,  with no makeup insight they just look that good straight out of bed.  “Talne, stop pestering her so much, let her take a breath. Do you need  to lie do Claire?”

There it  was, that motherly voice referred to Cole as Talne, even though Claire  already said she was not playing around, that it was serious. To the  three around her, that just was their names. “A few breathes doesn’t do  this justice.” Claire grabs at her chest and does her best to breathe in  and out. It was calming her down a little but she had no idea how to  handle the situation before her. “Everyone… sorry.” Claire lets a long  sigh pass her lips, her eyes closing as she thinks just what to say. “I  was overthinking a bunch and it just sorta came out during our session. I  didn’t mean to bum you all out.” Her eyes dart between her morphing  friends, they at least seemed to buy it. Clearly freaking out was not  going to solve the problem, she needed to think.

Fizzz

Claire  was doing her best to calm down and it really felt like it was working.  Her eyes slowly close and a wave of calm washes over her body. It was  unnatural in a way. “Wait…” Her eyelid sheepishly peeps open and stares  at Archie’s glowing hand, or at this point, it was just Nayvla. The  elven woman had her spell book open, and seemed to be casting what  Claire assumed was calm emotions. It made little sense though, her  friends had the magic powers of their characters even? Did the rest of  the world change because of something she did? “Arc—Nayvla… why are you  casting on me?”

Nayvla brushes  her long beautiful black hair over her shoulder her eyes kindly staring  Claire over. It was only really a minute Claire thought, but nothing of  Archie seemed to be left now. “You seemed far too panicked, I simply  wished to calm you. Don’t worry, I would never cast anything harmful,  you know this sweetie.”

Shivering  at the sweetie comment Claire sighs and sits back down into her dungeon  master chair. “Um, so, does everyone wanna sit back down then?”

Seraphine  leaps over Claire’s shoulder spinning in the air. The feat was amazing  in itself but the girl lands on the table with her bare feet. A hand on  her hip she brushes off her short plaid pleated skirt. She seemed a lot  more girly than normal, it was fitting since that was how Abby made the  bubbly character. “Hold on!” Seraphine shouts her words and pulls out a  lute from seemingly nowhere. “Let me get everyone back in the mood with a  pleasing serenade!” She grins and throws her jacket off, showing a  simple midriff top covering her petty chest. She looked like a dancer in  an outfit like that, though as she spins on the table strumming at her  lute, Claire does feel calm. A song of friends, a song of love, a song  that eases the anxiety brewing. Claire listens to the melody and was  hypnotized by it almost. “And there you are love~!” Blowing a kiss to  Claire the red-skinned girl twirls off the table with another leap. Then  she too walks over to her chair and takes a seat. Of course, the  motherly Nayvla is the only one clapping.

“So?”  The blunt words of Talne rise from the depths. Claire almost forgot she  too was in the room with how surprisingly quiet she was. Looking over  the girl, she too seemed fully changed now. A tight white t-shirt clings  to her toned body, a black bra clearly under to hug at her rather ample  chest. She was still wearing jeans though unlike the other skirty  girls. Talne’s long blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail still  gave her a feminine look. Of course, Cole also gave the girl the same  blue eyes. “Cole’s probably still shitting his pants scared. Haha, the  nerd would wet himself in this situation. You still okay to get back  into it Claire?”

Claire was  positive she heard those words correctly. Talne, was referring to Cole  as if he was a character. Looking down at the table she had worked on so  hard. The pieces were indeed different than before. The figures looked  like how her friends normally did. “R-right… three humans against some  magical slasher. Scary stuff.” Claire says the comment a bit worried,  though from her friend's reaction it seemed that was correct. “You guys,  um, almost have things solved. We’re at the finale here.”

Everyone  scoots their chairs in and stares at Claire with anticipation. If her  friends were now players, was she in a different reality, or altered  reality somehow? Claire’s mind wanders but she keeps the game going. A  few dice roll, and the party keeps getting closer to the truth. They  find out whoever this killer is seemed to live in the area in the past.  And apparently has a sister that was given to another family because the  father felt like they could not take care of her alone. After  discovering this they realize the killer is aiming to gain something  from the sister. It is not hard for the group to realize who the sister  is. Though of course she grabs a boy and wanders to a random house alone  by herself. Leaving the party to chase after her. As soon as they  enter, they see the masked man cloaked walking behind the boy the sister  had brought with her. Luckily the party pushes the killer away and gets  the two incapable teenagers out of the way for the big fight. “What  would you like to do?” Claire gives a faint smile looking over the  board. If her friends became the characters, what was Claire? Was she  supposed to be some kind of actual god now? If that was the case what  exactly could she do, closing her eyes and wishing things back to normal  was doing nothing.

“Gun”

Claire  blinks hearing all three of her friends speak in unison. Apparently  Homes and Humans did not have a lot of creative weapons. Having glanced  at the human character sheets as well, they did all have guns. Letting  it slide the party blasts the killer with a series of bullets and defeat  him. The whole thing was the killer just being crazy for one, but also  wanting the other piece of a necklace that gave him his power. Combining  the sister’s necklace with the brothers themselves the party watches  the necklace release the little girl thought possibly dead from a pocket  dimension. It also creates a barrier around the one who wears it. A  gift from their mother to protect them if they stay together. “And  that’s the end of our session. You all head back to the guild and report  your success.”

Nayvla wipes a  tear from her eye and leans back in her seat happily. “Ah, I must say  Claire it was rather sweet. Hehe, I could tell what movie you were  basing it on, but you made it pretty cute. I’m glad there was a happy  ending for the little one.”

Talne  sighs and grabs her figure into her large hands. “I still can’t believe  Cole decided to put that body in a tub of acid… though it is in line  with his character. I had to.”

Seraphine  stretches out her arms and yawns. “Mmm… I’m just glad Abby got her  jelly beans back! I was getting worried for her ya know?!”

Chuckling  to the reaction Claire tries to relax a bit more. Though they were  different they still acted like her friends in some places. There had to  be a way for her to actually figure out her powers. “Well, I’m glad  that went well. I know this was just a one-shot filler kind of thing.  But you can all give yourselves inspiration for next session.” The group  all laughs and nods. As they all check off their inspiration box though  as they do their eyes all twitch in time with one another. The sound of  laughter and happy gestures halt. “H-huh?” Claire blinks a few times  and stands up from her chair waving her hand in front of her friend's  faces. “H-Hello? Are you all alright?” Biting at her lip Claire looks  down at her hands, she only said they could give themselves inspiration.  “Why would… whatever I can do as a DM, somehow triggers my abilities?”

Nayvla  suddenly shakes her head and gasps at the air like she had not been  breathing. “A-ah… geez, that was so.” Pausing she grabs at her breast,  then her other hand tugs at the side of her long skirt. “W-wait?! What  the hell I’m a chick?!”

Talne  has a reaction like that as well. Though she has a shit-eating grin on  her face as she runs her hand against her chiseled abs and squeezes at  her own oversized breasts. “Sweet, I never thought this day would come.”

Seraphine  on the other hand covers her chest quickly seeming rather embarrassed.  If her skin could turn even redder Claire assumes the girl would be  blushing. “What the hell kind of outfit is this?!”

All  of these girls were suddenly acting like their original selves. Claire  could only assume by inspiring them, it made them normal at least in the  head. “This… u-um! So everyone! Just calm down alright!”

Shrugging  Cole stays seated examining his current body intently. Archie worriedly  looks around unsure where to touch or what to do. Abby angrily stares  at Claire and raises her voice with that cute tone. “My whole body is  even red! I don’t know what the hell is going on Claire but you need to  change us all back, right away!”

Claire looks back and forth between all her friends and curiously holds her hand in the air. “You all lose inspiration.”

POP

Like  the air had popped suddenly the three before her were now talking and  chatting again like nothing had even happened. “What the? It actually  works?” Whispering to herself Claire starts flipping through one of her  many books. “Would this be like my spellbook then? Do I only have  control over all of them? Aaaah, what if the whole world actually  changed? I haven’t gone outside yet.” Closing her eyes Claire goes into  deep thought. “What can I make them do, can I make them do things they  wouldn’t want to…?” Shaking her head right away Claire tries to push the  thought aside, she could not control them that much, right? Even if a  dungeon master can railroad at times, usually the saves for rolls among  other things are fair enough in some way. “Wait… can I make new life  then or something… could I make a monster and make it just be  overpowered so they can—” Squeezing her eyes shut again Claire gives her  head another shake. Why was her mind randomly going to how to screw her  friends over? That was not like her at all. Even if she had control  over them in some way, she needed to be fair. “Hey so everyone….”

The  party looks to Claire they were still smiling and happy about getting  through the session. “Yeah, what’s up?” Seraphine asks nice and calm,  her body swaying back and forth still clearly full of energy.

“Well.”  Claire breathes slowly, no reason she could not enjoy having a group of  actual female friends, right? It would give her a way to test her  abilities too, then maybe she could figure out how to turn every back.  She only needed to inspire them as well to give them back their original  will. “Hooow about you all roll for me? A saving throw! If you lose,  yooou all gotta have a slumber party at my place tonight. With college  making us busy we kept not getting too… But I haven’t hung out with you  all in a bit.”

The trio giggle and all say the same thing. “We choose to fail.”

Oddly  enough as soon as they say that Claire notes that their eyes give a bit  of a flash. Her powers could work if they choose to fail too? “O-oh!  Great, I figure we all haven’t had some girl time in a while so; this  will be fun! Seraphine you’re gonna have to teach me how you do your  eyeliner.”

The tiefling girl  gives a toothy smile back and bats her eyes. “Oh~? I’ll have you know my  beautiful infernal genes make me— Nah who am I kidding, I’m no pretty  elf like Nayvla, I take like twenty minutes getting it right, that’s  after I practiced a bunch.”

The  girls laugh and giggle, this may not be all that bad Claire thought.  After all, she could give her friend's will back any time she wanted.  “Ooooh, Talne! I bet you’d look lovely in a dress I got, it’s pretty big  on me, buuut it’d be short on you, but you’d rock it!” Claire’s  excitement grows, her own voice bubbling out. Talne was blushing from it  passively looking away. Nayvla was enjoying herself, even if she was  just starting to clean up the game table like the mom-type, she was.

The  night was just waiting for more fun. There was no need to worry or  panic, after all, Claire could give them back their will anytime she  wanted.