[ WP ] According to legend , back in 1984 , a group of students played Dungeons and Dragons at a local forest never to be seen again . In 2017 , a group found an old ammo box with D & D stuff and when they recreated what took place 33 years ago , they were missing however , one escaped to tell what happened .

*Millersville Sherrif's Office* 
 
 *Saturday, April 15th, 2018* 
 
 *11:45pm* 
 
 `` Just take a breath son. No one here is gon na hurt you, you just tell us whose blood is on your face now, alright?'' 
 
 I looked the Sheriff in the eyes for a moment as I took a long slow deep breath as instructed. The two older pot-bellied gentlemen who had found me, currently standing behind the only law officer for over 50 miles, continued to stare in shock as they waited to hear what I would say. And I was n't exactly sure what that would be. 
 
 I looked back at the Sheriff again. He had probably spent his whole life in this little town, being hired on as a deputy underneath some kind of relative, an uncle was my guess, and now he was one of the most important figures in this sleepy little town. He likely did n't have any aspirations beyond holding onto his office as long as humanly possible, and so probably did n't have enough of a mind or imagination to understand half of what I could say. But there was no doubt that I had to tell them something. 
 
 `` Well...'' I started to speak and then looked at the faded linoleum tiles as I thought back to how I had even gotten myself into this situation. 
 
 ~ 
 
 *Gary's house* 
 
 *Thursday, April 13th, 2018* 
 
 *4:30pm* 
 
 Darren had waltzed into our weekly session and thrown a newspaper clipping down onto the game table so violently that a squad of orc miniatures went tumbling across the map as if they were hit with some kind of tornado spell. 
 
 `` Ha!'' 
 
 Gary and I immediately shared a completely unamused look as Sheila picked up the half crumpled paper. This was not the first time we had been the audience for this particular brand of amusement. In fact, the first time Darren had told us the story, we had all just figured he was trying to be edgy with some kind of ghost story, because he was just weird like that. And then we had heard the story several times afterwards, both by him and from others. Once some new visitors to our local games store were talking about a group of potheads out in San Diego. Another time Gary mentioned how he saw a letter printed in an issue of Dragon Magazine that said they had been a bunch of privates from down in Florida who were on leave. Even Darren had told the story at least two different ways, with little details changing each time. But the cast was always the same: a young guy either still in or fresh out of high school ( the dungeon master ), his female next door neighbor ( a barbarian ), and then two college guys who were a freshman ( the wizard ) and a junior ( the priest ). 
 
 Now our weekly Dungeons & Dragons group was a close enough match that we had assumed Darren was just trying to scare us, and then when we started finding other references we just chalked it up as a weird coincidence. Besides, I was the freshman and I always played priests, while Darren was now a senior and he was just as exclusively a wizard player. So that was enough to offset the fact that Gary, who had graduated high school the year before, was our dungeon master and Sheila, who just happened to live one block over from him, had picked a barbarian as her first character in her first ever D & D game. But then she spoke up. 
 
 `` Holy crap you guys! This is like totally real!'' Nervously she extended the article towards Gary as though she was trying to defend her using of an ability on her character sheet. As Gary took the paper and began pouring over it carefully, Darren began his victory lap. 
 
 `` See man! I told you guys man. I was wrong that other time but I was still right. This totally happened. I told you man!'' 
 
 `` It says it was over in Millersville,'' Shelia added supportively. `` Do n't you two remember hearing about that old abandoned plantation? The one with the cave?'' 
 
 `` Crooked cavern'', Gary added flatly. 
 
 `` Yeah, it says they got lost in those caves. We should totally go check it out. That town is like... not even 3 hours away.'' 
 
 `` *Might*,'' Garry added quietly. 
 
 Darren, who apparently had n't heard him, continued to add fuel to fire Sheila had inadvertently started. `` Yeah! It will be like a real adventure man. This is the kind of thing we all dream about!'' 
 
 `` **Might. **'' Gary threw the article onto the game table with as much care as he would a used tissue. `` It says specifically they *might* have gotten lost in the caves. But I have been out to that plantation, which is precisely a three hours and twenty seven minute drive by the way, and its overgrown with wild bushes, kudzu, trees, and other kinds of foliage.'' It did n't escape me that even when talking about real life events Gary could n't help but sound like a rules lawyer. `` And then there is the fact that we would be trespassing, which now makes this a night mission. Which means we could get lost, or separated, or separated and lost, or all of the above and hurt. Or even worse, thrown in jail. This is a bad idea. And besides, we still have two more levels of this dungeon to clear.'' 
 
 `` What dude?'' Darren collapsed into his chair instantly defeated. `` Last week you said we reached the final door man!'' 
 
 `` Well,'' Gary began with a sheepish look on his face from having uncharacteristically let a spoiler slip. `` That was the last door... on this level.'' 
 
 `` Man, I do n't even believe you man. First thing man. First thing you always say is nobody lies out of character. And then you go and pull this bullcrap man?'' 
 
 Gary had begun to formulate a response and Darren was already knee deep into a counter-argument, so I was n't surprised they did n't hear me the first time. 
 
 `` We go.'' 
 
 `` Are you serious,'' Shelia asked me quietly with wide eyes. Gary and Darren had continued their bickering so I spoke up again. 
 
 `` We are going.'' This time it had the desired effect and the other two men turned to look at me in silence. `` We can just keep playing and pretend to do all kinds of crazy stuff. Or we could do something instead that apparently nobody else has thought about. We know what happened, so why did n't we hear about the police investigating? The DM had sent the group on a mission to destroy a vampire lord as he slept deep under the earth in his lair. The wizard was a pyromancer, so we know that fire was involved. We go to the plantation at night, park our cars behind the main house building, and go down into the caves looking for any kinds of scorch marks on the walls. Either we find nothing and still have a really cool trip to remember, or we find what we are looking for and solve a three decade old mystery. Unless you can explain how dirt can spontaneously combust Gary.'' 
 
 The three others at the table had sat wordlessly as I gave my little speech and were now going through the motions of deliberating the plan. I could see it in Gary's eyes that he was intrigued, so that was it. The other two would look to Gary as the DM for some kind of indication that this was ok, he would make some kind of neutral statement on the matter, and then they would go with my idea. They always followed my ideas when it mattered, I guess it was partly due to my demeanor from being prior military, and partly due to have the most amount of experience playing D & D. But they always followed my lead nonetheless. 
 
 Looking back, this is the one time I wish they had n't.
