upon this place, where weary travellers can find a bed for the night and a hot meal, exchange tales of their adventures with their fellows and perhaps put together a party to embark on the next quest. You don’t know what the future holds beyond tonight, but you’re in a refuge, a place of safety – or so it seems, for now.’
A shiver ran down my spine and my eyes snapped open. The faces around the table were all transfixed, leaning in towards Adam. I reminded myself to stop seeing Freddie and Nat and Archie and all the rest of them, and to stop being myself, too.
For tonight – and for every Tuesday for the foreseeable future, until we got bored and wound up the game, or my character was killed in battle and I had to choose a new one – I wasn’t Zoë Meredith, pub cook and unsuccessful serial dater. I was Galena, a skilled fighter with the strength, dexterity and toughness that had been bestowed on me by rolls of a twenty-sided dice. Freddie was Hesketh, a bearded barbarian who could swing a double-headed battle-axe as easily as if it were a toothpick. Archie was Dun, a rogue who could move as silently as a cat and pick a lock in seconds. Nat was a sorcerer called Annella, Nat’s friend Lara was a cleric called Lorien, and Freddie’s mate Tim was Torvid, a ranger.
‘As you drink and eat,’ Adam went on, ‘you notice a group similar to yourselves, armed and equipped as if for a journey. They, too, are huddled over earthenware bowls, devouring the food as hungrily as if it were the finest roast fowl. And they are also talking among themselves, secretively and urgently. And you notice that the meal they have been served is far superior to the thin stew on your own table. It is the finest roast fowl. There are roasted roots, too, rich gravy and a freshly baked loaf. And in their glasses is not weak small beer but vintage red wine.’
‘What a rip-off!’ Freddie exclaimed, then hastily got back into character. ‘I mean, does it not seem strange to you, comrades, that they should sup so finely while we make do with a meal that is barely fit for pigs?’
‘I’m going to totally diss this place on TripAdvisor,’ said Nat. ‘Freddie – I mean Hesketh – should we discuss this matter with our noble hostess and try to learn the reason for this shameful discrepancy?’
‘We could do that,’ said Archie – or rather, Dun the rogue, ‘or we could attempt to relieve them of their meal by stealth when the next course is delivered by yonder serving wench.’
Right on cue, Kelly put a couple of fresh bottles of wine on the table, along with a plate of barbecue pork ribs and one of corn on the cob, charred from the grill. Adam watched in silence as we discussed the matter, slipping in and out of character, taking big gulps of red wine and piling into the food, unlike our poor imaginary characters with their thin stew, and decided that our characters would have a chat with the imaginary landlady.
He glanced down at his notes, which were hidden from our view by a cardboard screen printed with castles, dragons, warriors on horseback and a wizard gazing into a crystal ball. ‘The landlady tells you that the nearby fortress, Castle Drakeford, was recently invaded by an evil lord from lands to the east, who has installed his garrison there. Those men are his soldiers, and they descend on the village each evening, plundering and demanding crops, money and food.’
‘Bastards! I had them for wrong’uns right from the start,’ said Archie.
‘Ssshh!’ Nat elbowed him in the ribs.
‘But there is worse to come,’ Adam continued. ‘The landlady’s only daughter, a beautiful young maiden named Zarah, has been captured by Lord Brandrel. In just twelve days, he intends to take her as his bride. And it is well known in these parts the terrible fates that have befallen his previous wives: one driven mad and plunged to her death from the highest battlement; one given to his soldiers to use as they pleased after she refused to comply with his twisted desires; a third chained in a deep dungeon guarded by a dragon. But that last may merely be a tale told by old men after too long in the tavern.’
I glanced around the table. Everyone was leaning forward, fascinated. It was like the noise