Hello, Everyone!
I hope you're well. I'm here with another part of Mary Windfiddle's adventure. I hope you like it! This one is not as intense as the last one we had but our heroes sure need the breather.
Last time, Mary and her party managed to save a couple of dwarven loggers from being taken to their death. They fought three duergar and an awful bloodthirsty creature called a Roper. It almost got to Paulina and Aurum but our friends realized that it was just hungry and made sure to let it help itself with the defeated duergar.
Mary was really shaken up by the whole endeavour but she didn't have much say in the matter.
The cavern echoed from the sound of clanking on metal. Bruno released the two loggers from their chains and healed them up as much as he could. They thanked the whole party for their help.
"The duergar were taking us to some creatures," they said. "The 'brains', they called them. They said that if we didn’t know anything about some Artefact, we were useless and bragged how the creatures were going to empty our heads and leave us mindless."
They spat in the direction of the now dead duergar.
The dwarves, Belt Ormus and Victor Goras, were two of the seven survivors of the battle in the valley that the goblin scouts had observed. Seven, out of thirty-one sent down the tunnels. Last they'd seen, Bruno's brother Saami was alive and kept captive in the duergar fortress Barakuir, in the heart of their city. When Victor and Belt spoke about the troops that were in there, Mary felt like the ground had disappeared from under her feet.
Gracklstugh was a big place. There were legions of dark dwarves in the city, led by the stone giant Agrax. There were dark elves (or drow, as they were called), commanded by an enchantress of some sort. And finally, there were many Bulettes and Carrion Crawlers roaming about under the duergar's control.
With each consecutive creature mentioned, Mary felt her heart sink more and more. How were they supposed to sneak through all of that?!
They led the loggers up the wall and into the goblin village. There was a hole in the cave ceiling there, secured by ropes and leading to the surface near Meraket. The goblins used it to exit the Underdark and sell their fish in return for other necessities. Now, it was going to be the loggers’ salvation.
But before they sent them off, they decided to take advantage of Kiyra and Viyra’s hospitality some more and prepared to rest in the safety their village provided. Scaling the wall and fighting the Roper had taken most of their energy.
After they’d eaten and gathered near a campfire, Mary took out the makeshift map she’d made of the tunnels and the group started discussing their next actions.
“We can’t simply walk in Gracklstugh!” Mary said. “Didn’t you hear? There are duergar and dark elves! Legions of them! And many, many Bulettes! We had difficulty defeating one, and even then, we had the help of lady Kaire and sir Genos! I don’t see how…”
“What do you suggest then?” Bruno interrupted her, sharply. “We can’t leave my brother in the hands of the duergar!”
“Well, I… um,” Mary hesitated. Bruno’s tone was always so antagonistic towards her! “Can we, maybe, um, try to get the deep gnomes on our side? They seem like a power that can be used…”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” Bruno said. “We don’t know anything about them. What if they’re allied with the duergar, or it takes up too much time to get them to listen to us? We don’t have the luxury of time!”
Mary bit her lips. They really didn’t. “It was just a thought,” she trailed off.
There were other suggestions but none of them seemed good enough to be acted upon. Finally, after much discussion, they decided to wait until morning and do some reconnaissance around the duergar city. That way they could make a more informed choice when it came to it.
They prepared to go to sleep. Mary didn’t know whether it was day or night in the darkness of the cave. Her body told her she had to rest but her mind was filled with all the fear she’d felt since they’d entered the tunnels. Her heart was racing and it was difficult to calm down enough to fall asleep.
Perhaps that was why, when she finally did, she had a nightmare.
I hate it when the party argues! Aren't they supposed to be friends? Who gives them the right to have a mind of their own?! 😆😆😆
Anyway… Next time in Mary's adventures: a dream with the scent of oranges. One that I'm not sure Mary would like…
Until then,
Take care and be well!
(and leave a comment if you like the story, I'm really interested in what you have to say about it!)
(Also, here's a link to the chapter guide. You're welcome!)