Hello, Everyone!
Last time our heroes managed to get themselves out of a battle with a sea monster and searched through its underwater cave for their loot. I mean, Bruno and Aurum searched, Mary stood outside, unable to make herself enter because of the many, many decaying bodies inside.
Then, they went out of the water and the nasty atmosphere of Ekoba enveloped them right away. They went in the inn they'd taken a room in and witnessed a few strange conversations. Then, Mary excused herself to her room. She checked her notes and found out something shocking:
The Lanurey Trost whose Bag of Holding they'd found in their room, was sometone they knew!!!
[20/09], Myth Adofhaer
“We met a really nice girl today. Her name is Lanurey and she’s a half-elf, so she isn’t as stuck-up as the rest of the people here. And even though she’s one of Aurum’s exes, she’s at least not as featherbrained as that woman Reina!”
[21/09], Myth Adofhaer
"Lanurey helped us a lot during the fight with Kloth yesterday. We would have been dead if it wasn't for her skills, and we wouldn't have found where Olivia was hiding. It's so good to have someone who's good with locks and sneaking around."
[28/09], still Myth Adofhaer, ugh!
“It seems that making potions is easier with a mentor. Who'd have thought? Lanurey helped me today, and it was fun. We managed to make two potions of Waterbreathing and we chatted the whole time!”
[30/09], on the road
”All right, I admit, having a Bag of Holding is The Best Thing Ever! Lanurey is so generous to let us keep all our stuff in hers! I’m so happy that they let her travel with us!”
[8/10], Pamagos
“Lanurey keeps paying our bills. It’s so nice of her! I hope we can return the favor one day. On the other hand, Mr. Perres seemed quite impressed by her.”
[14/10], Ekoba
”We’re going to spend the night at Rory’s inn. Lanurey gave in her right to one of the beds, so that Aurum and Bruno would be able to rest up, and now she’s sleeping in her bedroll on the floor. I told her that if it were up to me, I’d hold on to one of the beds and let the guys fight for the other. She said it was a good thing I don’t need to sleep then.”
Mary’s whole body was trembling from the realization. They’d had a fourth member of the team. They’d had another friend. How could they forget?!
“It’s in my handwriting and all,” she continued. “See, it’s written in between all the other stuff which I remember writing. I remember writing it all… except for the parts about Lanurey!”
Her heart was about to burst out of her chest, the headache she was having was so immense that it made her dizzy.
“But it doesn’t make sense,” Bruno said. Mary and Aurum had called him in the moment they’d realized what they’d found. “Why would we forget this Linoley?”
“Lanurey,” Mary corrected. “It’s Lanurey and she was one of us!”
The room fell silent. They were all staring – at Mary’s notes, at each other, at the Bag of Holding. They knew how they had come to possess it now.
“I…” Mary said, “I think you should have this. She probably gave it to you.”
She handed Aurum the amethyst ring he’d found on the night Lanurey Trost had disappeared from Mary’s notes. He took it with a nod and put it on. He held his gaze on the line on his forearm. It was drawn with his own makeup kit.
“I don’t remember making that,” he said. “How do I not remember making it?”
“We don’t remember a lot of things,” Mary said, thinking about the lines she’d discovered on her own arm when they were on the shore.
Then she gasped. The note! If the part of her that remembered had been able to give her a message in written form, could she do it again?
She took a pen and some paper and started writing.
“This is so stupid! But I don’t know what else to do. The handwriting on ‘Why do you ignore it’ was MINE. The entries in my journals about Lanurey Trost were MINE. Some part of me knows what is going on. I’m calling for her. You KNOW I’m checking my notes all the time. You know I’ll READ them. What is going on? Why don’t we remember Lanurey? What do the lines mean? Please! If there’s a way, tell me everything that I won’t be able to remember!”
“That’s how,” she explained her friends, “if we check the note later, I might have written the answers and…”
Her eyes glanced at the paper and she stared at it. There was a sentence under what she’d just written. She didn’t remember writing it.
“I SAW IT EAT THEM BUT I CAN’T REMEMBER,” it said.
“Wait, what?!” Bruno said.
He grabbed the piece of paper and wrote, much slower and more crooked than Mary. They watched as under his question, he slowly drew seven straight vertical lines.
“What?!” he huffed. “Why did I make these?!”
It was Aurum’s turn to write. Mary watched as the words came from underneath his hand in a neat and fancy handwriting.
“What do the lines mean?” he wrote.
And underneath: “GO BACK IN THE WATER AND LOOK!”
They all glanced through the window and then at each other. It was already dark, and they’d just come back from a fight with two underwater monsters.
“Wait ‘till morning?” Bruno suggested.
The others agreed tiredly.
I hope we get more clarity when morning comes. What about you?
See you next time!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: These are my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum and Bruno) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.