It is good to be a Dungeon Master

So Saturday I took my young son swimming at the community pool. About two hours in I heard screaming and hollering from a group of young boys 7 to 10 next to me. I looked over and my parental radar went off. When I investigated it turns out they were splashing a yellowjacket wasp back into a gutter. A wasp that was very much alive.

It was one tough bug it endured 10 minutes of being splashed into the gutter and still trying to get out. Then is was splashed into one of the gutter holes and didn't emerge after a minute. The boys all crowded together looking at where they last saw it. I couldn't resist myself viewing this classic setup.

I go over and say in my best DM voice.

You know guys this is the part of the movie where the monster disappears. You don't know where it is. It could to the left, right or worse underneath you.

About half of them ran away screaming. The rest tried to look brave but were looking around with their eyes.


Yes indeed it is good to be a Dungeon Master.

Epilogue

As turn out the wasp was really tough and crawled out a minute later and the splashing resumed. A few minutes later I exercised the right of parental intervention when the splashing turned into poking the still active wasp. I used one of my son's pool rings as a platform for the wasp to crawl onto. Amid shouts of "drown it" and "smash it", I exited the pool and shook it loose in a nearby vertical culvert. It was the one spot nearby the kids couldn't get at it.