"Was this planned, or did this happen by accident?" Mr. Toomin looked at the group of players, who seemed more coordinated than he had planned.
"Kind of both. We all wanted to be shape-shifters of some kind." Rachel spoke up, sitting at the far right side of the table. The group consisted of six players, a bunch of kids who thought Dungeons and Dragons would be a fun way to waste some time, since they were all in detention together for at least a month. "I'm a changling barbarian. I like beating things up."
This was the second day of detention for the seven of them. Jake, Cassie, Tobias, Marco, Ax, Rachel, and one other kid sitting in the far corner of the room, who insisted he didn't want to play. Mr. Toomin was left in charge of the 'prisoners' for the next two months, thanks to a poker game he lost to a fellow teacher, who would've been here in his stead had he won.
"Alright, so... Jake, you're a Shifter Sorcerer- Cassie, you too? You sure you don't want to shake things up at all?" Mr. Toomin rubbed his head a bit as the two stared back, Cassie looking more excited than Jake.
"We have a joint backstory. Both of us were part of the same tribe, and joined a rebel faction together. I don't really want to say anything else yet." Cassie smiled a bit as she pointed at her sheet, reading it as if she hadn't thirty times already. She and Jake sat next to eachother on the left side of the table, with Ax sitting to the right of jake, closest to Toomin.
"And you, Ax?"
"I am a Changeling Artificer. I grew up with my changeling family in a valley. We were always working on technology together before my brother and I were sent to war. We were separated during battle. I am looking for him still." Ax spoke without hesitation, sitting with his back perfectly straight. He seemed a bit too mannerly to be in detention.
"Are we on me now?" Marco spoke up, sitting on the right side of the table closest to Toomin, across from Ax "I'm a Human Druid. Gorillas are my favorite thing to wildshape into, and I am quite the charmer if you know what I mean."
"We don't." The quieter child, Tobias, replied. "Anyways. I'm a druid too, but I'm a Kenku... Just because I want to push how far I can go with creative and vocal limitations." Tobias, sitting next to Marco, seemed to be the only one who knew most of the rules of the game. Supposedly he's played before, although no one knows how since he is an only child.
"Well, its too late to change things now anyways. I've already worked your stories into the campaign." Mr. Toomin looked around the room, a bit excited to start a new campaign with some fresh faces.
"If thats it, then we can start. Across the snow-blanketed-”
"I'm playing too." A voice rose up, breaking Mr. Toomin off mid-sentence.The kid, who remained silent until now, dragged his chair to the far end of the table, and showed his smartphone to the group. "I just made a character. He's a Mindflayer druid, who specializes in the creation of more mindflayers."
The table stood silent, a bit taken back by the intrustion. Jakes eyes seem to burn as the kid, named Esplin, sat, and continued to speak.
"Hmph. They're made by putting these little slugs into the eyes or ears of a humanoid. That humanoid then becomes a mindflayer after sometime."
"Esplin, you can't play a mindflayer, that's not a character race." Mr. Toomin sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes.
"Yes it is. Look. I made it using the homebrew available on D&DBeyond."
"Dude, you can't just jump in now. Toomin's already worked everything into the game. Do you even have a backstory?" Despite usually being the first to let others join in, Jake showed some resentment towards Esplin- though it probably wasn't unfounded. Esplin was known for being... well, not nice.
"Of course. I was sent out to fetch some more humanoids for breeding purposes, and got captured by Giths. After I escaped back to the underdark, all the other mindflayers were missing. So now I'm desperate to make more and bring the race back to its former glory in the hopes of reigning supreme over all life."
"Toomin, if you're going to let the deliquents play while they're supposed to be punished, the least you could do is let them all play." A voice spoke from the now open door- the Maths teacher, Mr. Krayak, stood in the unoccupied space, looking down on Mr. Toomin. "I can see an educational reason for this. I won't tell anyone unless you exclude young Esplin."
Jake looked at Mr. Toomin with annoyed eyes, shrugging before throwing himself into the back of his chair. Rachel scooted her chair away from the edge and closer to Tobias, who was scowling a bit. Cassie had a bit of a worried look on her face, which Marco noticed, cocking his eyebrow. Ax remained neutral.
