Kelli knew how to roleplay.

She created layered characters and played them consistently. Sometimes she had them share traits with her, but other times she played them to act totally different than she did in real life. She herself was sweet, kind, generous, and reliable. She smiled easily and laughed a lot. But, boy, could she play stingy, selfish, mean-spirited, or unpredictable characters when she wanted to.

Whatever type of character she played, though, she played it extremely well and made it totally fun.

Her gaming group adored her. And they did their best to make and play characters that were as creative and fun as hers were.

Kelli was 23 years old, of mixed racial heritage--half Asian, half European--and very attractive. She lived by herself, and though she wanted to host games, her apartment was too small to comfortably fit the four to six friends who she usually played with. That meant she always traveled to whoever was hosting the regularly schedule game.

Like clockwork, she would arrive 10 minutes before game time. She would bring her share of drinks and snacks, and get them setup so they were ready for everyone to partake of them. Then, she would lay out her gaming supplies: tablet (for e-copies of the rules); paper and pencils (for notes); and, of course, dice (for making those all-important rolls that drove the action of the game forward).

Once she had done all that, she would shed her shoes (and, if she wore them that day, her socks) because she was a barefoot girl at heart. And when she settled into her seat at the table, which was always at the far end from the game master, she would lean back in her chair and prop her feet up.

No one minded her doing this because she kept those feet clean and unblemished. And, she never put them anywhere near a person's food or drink. Though she would occasionally nudge or even playfully kick someone, if, for example, that person did something silly, disruptive, or out of character.

During one particular game, that is exactly how Kelli sat--leaning back in her chair, with her feet up--and exactly what she did--playfully kick the player next to her, who had purposefully made a very silly decision that was about to cause havoc with all their characters.

"What?" asked the player innocently.

She was a curly-haired, impishly cute, and sly young woman named Brianna, who often did foolish things in-character just so she could see what mayhem would result.

This time, the result required all players to make saving throws for their characters. Specifically, they needed to use their wisdom stat to resist falling into a hypnotic trance. Brianna's warrior character had caused this by freeing an evil wizard who cast a spell on the group to enslave them to his will.

All the players rolled:

Brianna had a low wisdom score but rolled high enough to succeed. The other players--Nicole, Cerisse, and Dina--all succeeded, as well, either by the luck of their dice or by having a decently high stat.

Now it was down to Kelli. She played an acolyte, whose god granted her magical spells. Wisdom was her primary stat, and she had put as many points as possible into it to aid her in both her spell casting and in situations like this, where she had to resist mind-affecting spells cast by others.

She rolled:

And failed.

It was a critical failure. She had rolled the lowest possible number, so no matter how good her wisdom was, it didn't matter. In the game, the evil wizard successfully hypnotized her. Now she had to roleplay being under his control.

Nicole, Cerisse, and Dina groaned, while Brianna smirked. The party would now function at 3/4 strength in dealing with the wizard. And the wizard himself had now doubled his power by placing a capable spell caster in his thrall.

In character as the wizard, the game master told Kelli that she was his slave and must do whatever she was told.

Kelli, though not happy with this development, simply nodded. She closed her eyes. Then, she took a deep breath, held it for a time, and finally released it. She often did this when she was preparing to play out something complicated, difficult, or involved.

When she opened her eyes, she stared blankly ahead. Her expression was completely passive. She lowered her feet, stood up from her chair, and raised her arms out in front of her. Then she walked around the table to stand by the game master.

"I must obey my master," she said in a slow, monotone drawl. "I must do whatever he says."

For the rest of the session, Kelli never broke character. After a while, the game master told her to sit back down at the end of the table. When she did so without putting her feet back up, he said she could do that, too. She did as he bid her, placing her feet as they had been before.

Finally, after a couple more hours full of chases, combat, and spell slinging, the game master ended the session.

All four players' characters remained alive, but Kelli's acolyte remained hypnotized and enslaved to the wizard. Would Nicole, Cerisse, Dina, and Brianna's characters be able to free her and defeat her evil master? That remained to be seen. They had failed to do so this time. But in the next session, maybe they would fare better. They certainly hoped so.

After the game wrapped up, Nicole, Cerisse, Dina, and Brianna said their goodbyes and then left to go home.

But Kelli stayed.

She continued to sit at the table, her feet up, her eyes wide and blank, her expression passive.

"You're not leaving yet, Kelli?" the game master asked.

"I cannot leave until my master instructs me to," Kelli said in the same monotone drawl she had used ever since her character had been hypnotized.

"You do the know the game is over, right?"

"Yes."

"But you're still acting hypnotized."

"I am not acting."

"Huh. How so?"

"Because I am hypnotized."

"Really? You're hypnotized?"

"Yes."

"Do you realize that it was your character, rather than you, who was hypnotized in the game?"

"Yes."

"So, are you just roleplaying right now, or are you--not your character--hypnotized?"

"I am hypnotized."

"Since when."

"Since I was triggered to re-enter my trance state when my character was hypnotized by the evil wizard."

"When were you first put into this trance state?"

"Last night."

"Did you know about the trigger before it activated?"

"No, I had been made to forget it."

"Did you know you'd been hypnotized last night?"

"No, I had been made to forget that, too."

"Okay. So, what would've happened if you hadn't failed that save? I mean, with your character's high wisdom, the odds were that you'd succeed."

"I used a special weighted die that I was given last night."

"Given to you by the hypnotist?"

"Yes."

"And who was the hypnotist?"

"It was you, Cyril, my master."

"So you do remember," Cyril said.

"Yes," Kelli said. "You said I would remember everything while I was hypnotized. But I would forget everything when I woke up."

"Well, I have to say, my lovely slave, that you are as good a subject as you are a roleplayer. And that is saying a lot. Now, take those lovely peds off the table again and walk on them over here to me."

"Yes, Master."

Kelli did as she was told.

"We're done with roleplaying and games today," Cyril said. "But we're not done having fun, at least I'm not. I have a beautiful, barefoot, hypnotized slave to command. What should I have her do first?"

Cyril thought for a moment. Then, smiling devilishly, he gave his first command to his beautiful, barefoot, hypnotized slave.

And as Kelli carried it out, she proved her Master's words to be true: She was just as good a subject as she was a roleplayer....