Role

Chapter 3

After a long day's worth of acting, Vahrtznif returned home to regail his
parents with the stories of heroism he acted out earlier that day. His
beautiful mother sat at the far end of their table, with a face of stone.
Smiling, the young bearded duergar approached his mother to give her a hug.
If it is one thing Vahrtznif knew about his mother, it is that her emotions
typically matched that of her current facial expression in that they are
stone-cold. As he hugged her stone body, her stone lips remained still, for
she was, is, and always will be a statue.


A mandolin enters the room. "Vahrtznif, what are you doing? Do not hug your
mother.Play me, instead." Vahrtznif walked slowly to the mandolin with his
head hanging low. "Aw man, but I like to hug my mother." The mandolin
blinked a soft tune and responded "don't worry that you cannot hug your
mother, Vahrtznif, because I will huge you."


The mandolin began blinking faster, furiously now, and his once relaxing tune
quickly turned into a cacaphony of moistened eyes. Vahrtznif struggled, as
it he knew what was happening... Manny the Mandolin was huging Vahrtznif.
One inch... two inches... and, yes, three inches later, Vahrtznif had been
huged above his previous height. Sobbing, Vahrtznif began pleading Manny to
stop while layering the soles of his boots together. "I don't want it, I
don't want to be huged, I want to be hugged. I know being hugged is like
being huged but with an extra g, but I don't want what you offer." By the
end of his last sentence, Vahrtznif had managed to create shoes with a 2-foot
rise on them. He slipped them on to his feet, blinking a sad tune back to
Manny, who plucked himself purely.