Hey there!
I hope you’re doing great! I sure am!
I keep on writing down this awesome D&D adventure and I'm happy if you're still reading!
Last time we saw my dearest Mary and her three companions, they were under the road between Pamagos and Myth Adofhaer, following the trail of their employer’s stolen treasure chest. They came upon a large cavern, a few Duergar dwarves and a light elf chatting around a campfire, under the ominous reddish-brown stain of someone splattered on the wall. One of the Duergar took the chest into a tunnel and they followed him.
Human eyes, as it turned out, were not built to see in darkness. Mary, Aurum and Jared were all holding on to one another and to Bruno who was leading the way. It slowed them down a little but by some miracle it didn’t give out their advance. The Duergar dwarf was so loud, cursing and clanking and dragging the chest, that he never even heard them coming.
When they finally attacked, he stopped, taken aback. He looked them up and down, seemed to weigh his chances, one against four and… stood back with his hands in the air.
"Take it", he said. "It's not worth my life, too!"
The adventurers took his weapons, tied him down and started asking questions. There was something strange in this whole situation. The worm, as Mary had informed everyone back at the surface, was not supposed to act this way. It was a scavenger, it rarely attacked for food and never for objects. Moreover, dark dwarves and light elves weren't usually seen in one place, let alone act together as road bandits.
The dwarf, Barhados, didn't even try to be secretive about the whole ordeal. He was furious at a “giant made of stone” who had killed his brother Ugarhos before his very eyes. He told Mary and her companions everything he knew. His boss was gathering treasures under the ground and they were using the worms to steal from the non-suspecting travellers. He didn't know what the money was for but he did know that if he went back without the chest, his life would be forfeit. He asked the adventurers to spare him and help him if they can, otherwise just kill him right here and then.
The humans looked at Bruno. It was well known that the light and dark dwarves had bad blood between them, and they couldn't imagine a more light dwarf than their albino companion. For everyone's surprise, Bruno nodded and agreed to help the other dwarf.
Of course, they wouldn't give away lord Dwendel's treasure. They emptied the gold and jewels into a makeshift sack made out of their cloaks, and filled the empty chest with rocks. After all, the bandits wouldn't have known what was in the locked chest, right? It could have been rocks all along. The Duergar's boss might not even check the chest before he was safely away.
While they were filing the cloak-sack, one of the items from the chest sparked Mary's curiosity. A long, slim box, locked up with a strange rune, was just lying on top of all the treasure but seemed somehow different from the rest. She couldn't open it without disturbing the rune so she just put it in her bag, separate from the other stuff.
The party said goodbye to Barhados and left him to pull the--now significantly heavier--chest down the tunnel. They were hearing his grunts for quite a while until finally they were too far away to be able to.
"I sure hope we did the right thing here" Bruno said gravely.
Up on the surface, lord Dwendel welcomed them warmly, seeing that they came out with his treasure. He emptied the sack into a pile and spread it out, then stared at it for a while, but with every passing second his expression got more and more worried.
Suddenly Mary realized what he was looking for. Her hand brushed the outlines of the long box in her bag and she felt somehow reluctant to give it back. It was such an interesting little object! But in the end her upbringing prevailed. Her whole life she'd been taught to respect other people's possessions and, with a sigh, she did.
"Sorry, there was one more thing" she said and handed it to their employer.
His eyes widened. He reached for the item a little bit faster than it was necessary but collected himself and finished the movement almost absent-mindedly, casually putting the box in a special inside pocket of his cloak.
Then he announced that, as a thanks for his hirelings' success, they'd be rewarded their 10% of the treasure and be allowed to spend the next part of the journey riding in one of the nicer wagons instead of on horseback.
When Mary went to the wagon and finally opened her book in peace, she realized that she hadn't used a single spell during this whole accident. She frowned. She was supposed to practice her magic in the midst of action, not sit back and watch as other people do stuff!
"What'cha reading?" A voice pulled her from her thoughts.
A little blond head was peeking from the wagon's window. It was lord Dwendel's son, William.
"Nothing of interest to you", Mary grumbled. This kid reminded her of Leefie and it wasn't the moment…
"Let me see!" he said and grabbed the book from her hands.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrip!
Mary’s face contorted with rage. Her eyes narrowed, blood started pounding in her ears. Her fist clenched and arcane energy started gathering around her fingers.
"You, little…"
But until she stood up and opened the door to go after the book destroyer, he was already gone. It was a good thing, Mary thought after she'd calmed down. It wouldn't have been the best thing to have Eldritch-blasted her employer's six-year-old because she got angry.
She went to find Bruno and ask him to Mend her precious book.
So, how do you like Mary's adventure so far? That was the end of our first game session and it took me more words than I thought it would but I seem to not be able to shorten anything.
Now, I think I missed the chance to cut the story in a way to have any kind of tension or a “narrative peak” but you’ll forgive me. I’m still learning!
Anyway, thank you for reading! I hope you stay for more!
Take care and be well!