Page 66 of The Christmas Accomplice

“Twenty-six.”

“Okay.”

“Is that too many?”

“How many tables do you have set up?”

“Six.”

“That’s no problem. A couple of tables will have an extra player.” Welton closed the binder and stood up. “Can I see the room?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course.” Reece started to walk away, but then stopped and turned back. “You really think you can help with this?”

“Let me ask you this before I answer. Do you have to be the one running the game, or can you be the one managing the activity?”

Reece considered the question. “I can be the one managing things, I guess. Edward didn’t say anything about having to run the game.”

“Okay, good. So, no, I can’t simply help you with this. I’m going to run this game like nobody’s business, and make sure this activity gets five stars across the board.”

For a moment it looked as if Reece might cry, but then he pulled back his shoulders and smiled. “You’re really saving me here. I want you to know I realize this.”

“It’s the least I can do. Now show me where this is going to happen.” He looked over at Dean and Nick and waved for them to follow as he called out, “Come on. There are non-player roles that need to be filled.”

Dean practically skipped across the lobby he was so excited to be invited along. Nick had a quick conversation with another woman behind the desk before she hurried after them.

The ballroom was nicely decorated with lights strung around the ceiling, a few well-placed plastic snowmen as tall as Welton, and the tables covered with snowflake tablecloths. A different set of D&D dice waited in the middle of each table, and Welton looked to Reece in surprise.

“You had D&D dice?”

“Found them in a plastic tub in the back of a storage room.”

“I’m impressed. I thought we’d have to improvise.” He crossed to the head table and set down the binder, then flipped pages until he came to the list of characters. After reading through the list again, he faced Reece, Nick, and Dean. “The good news is I’ve played this same type of modified game a few times before, and won one once. The bad news is whoever created this activity pretty much stole it, probably from an online blog that went into a lot of detail about how to run it, but that part isn’t included.”

“Graham,” Reece said, sharing a sneer with Nick.

“Well, Graham could be in trouble for what he did. But that’s the least of our concerns right now. He obviously intended to overwhelm you with all this detail and the number of NPCs that are needed.”

Nick raised her hand. “Sorry, NPCs?”

“Non-player characters.”

“And those are…?” Nick said. “Sorry, I’m not a hot gay nerd.”

Dean snickered, and Reece blushed as he shot a dirty look her way, but Welton ignored them all. “Those are characters who assist the game players with information or tools or treasure.”

“Got it.”

“We probably need a couple more people to effectively pull this off, but there’s never more than one NPC needed at a time, so each of you can take on multiple NPC roles.” Welton looked at Reece. “Do you have a bunch of Santa hats or elf hats? Ideally the same style of hat but in different colors?”

“Yes!” Nick shouted, then held a hand over her mouth. She lifted her fingers away from her mouth and said in a softer voice, “Apologies, I’ve had little sleep and a lot of coffee. There are a lot of elf hats in the restaurant storage area. The servers and cooks wear them on Christmas Day.”

“Do you think they’ll let us use them?” Welton asked.

“I can check,” Nick said.

“Yes, please,” Reece said, and she hurried out of the room.

“What should I do?” Dean asked.