Hey, Everybody!
Have you ever gone on a quest to prove yourself to someone whose opinion you’ve deemed important? That’s what Mary Windfiddle is doing right now, and her companion Aurum is helping her. The third one of the group, the dwarf Bruno, is sleeping back in the camp, unaware of his friends’ actions and “guarded” by a grumpy little pixie.
Last time, Mary and Aurum just entered a cave which was supposed to contain a beautiful garden filled with light and green trees but in actuality was filled with… well, nothing.
Mary looked at Aurum, confused.
"I promise there was a garden here” she said. "I saw it in my dream!"
"Maybe it was just a dream" he shrugged.
"No, it wasn't! I have PROOF!" Mary waved the orange seed in his face.
"Okay, okay" Aurum stood back. "Then what?"
"Let me think."
Mary ran her fingers on the wall again, looking for the smallest crack or hidden mechanism and when she didn't find any she decided to look with her other eyes.
She liked her Eldritch Sight. It was one of the prettiest gifts from her Patron. It made the world around her colourful with magic.
And now, it also made it passable. Through the blue glimmer of the spell's effect, there wasn't a wall at the far end of the cave, only more of the stone chamber.
"Come on" Mary grabbed Aurum's hand. "I can see the way!"
“What?” the bard said. “Wait, nonono, that’s a wall-- Oh!”
"Wasn't that great?" Mary was chirping joyfully. "I passed the first test using one of my Patron's gifts! He must be so proud!"
Aurum took a long gulp from his flask and shook his head.
They had just entered a narrow corridor with a wooden door at the end. It was empty, safe from a small chest lying next to the door. Mary walked ahead with the bouncing step of someone who had just done the greatest thing in their life.
And stepped on a trap.
The tile under her foot sank with an ominous "khhhhhhhh ch-k" and, behind them, a "splat" announced the fall of something on the floor.
A giant cube made of jelly was now filling the corridor from top to bottom, side to side. Like something a cook might put in to show off their skills, there were some bones and half-rusted armour swimming inside.
Aurum ran towards the door and tried to open it. Mary followed, sending out an Eldritch blast towards the creature. It got pushed away but didn't seem to get hurt.
"There are keys here!" Aurum shouted. He had just opened the chest. "Like, a million of them!"
He started trying them one by one, turning around to blast the creature with one of his own spells. It did some damage but not nearly enough to make a dent.
The cube was coming closer. Little pseudopods had grown from under its bottom and it was pulling itself with a nasty slurping sound.
"We'll never find the right one in time!" Mary panicked. "Give me that!"
"What the…"
She grabbed the shining stone from Aurum's hand, looked through the keyhole and, with a blink, Misty Stepped on the other side. She heard a scream and a thud from Aurum's direction. Then raised the latch of the door and took the full hit of the falling bard. They unscrambled on the floor, stood up and slammed the door shut, barring it again with both the latch and their own bodies.
"You… ditched me in the dark with the monster!" Aurum said, his voice still a bit too high-pitched after the scream. "I thought you’d left me there to die!"
"I’d never!" Mary said. "But there was no time to explain the whole plan! That thing was going to dissolve us!"
They stood like that for a few seconds until they could no longer hear the slithering of the jelly's pseudopods.
"Buuut, guess what!" Mary's eyes were shining. "I passed the second test!"
Aurum sighed and reached for his flask.
Sooo, how did you like this little snippet of an adventure? Are you happy that Aurum and Mary didn’t fight the jelly? I’m told that jellies are rarely a good thing to fight and adventurers are encouraged to run away from them when they can. We didn’t know that when we played this session, of course :) We did it by instinct. That’s how good we are! :)
Anyway. Hope you enjoyed reading this!
Here's the next part!
Take care and be well!