Hello, Everyone!
In every writer/illustrator’s life, when work and life-stuff get in the way, there comes a time for a hard choice to be made. Truth is, I don’t have nearly enough time to both write AND draw these days, and so, the choice is as follows:
Either I concentrate on drawing illustrations for the next few chapters but get some time off from posting until the drawings are ready; or I post the chapters with my go-to place-holder picture (seen in this post) and save the drawing-thing for better times (which, honestly, might be never).
I don’t know what’s better, so I turn to you. Which is more important for your viewing pleasure? The pretty pictures or the story? Please let me know in the comments!
Edit: I've managed to fill in the missing illustrations after a spur of inspiration and, finally, some free time!
Anyway, here’s today’s chapter of Mary’s story. Recently, our heroes have been dealing with the mystery of ‘Flamingo’ – the person who’d stolen Mary’s story and published it under their pseudonym. They met with the owner of the printing house Mr. Steel and got the thief’s bank account and directions to the ‘Gallery’ where, in our last episode, they found Rafael di Pitoya, the painter who’d made the book’s cover. He encouraged Mary that her story was good and would be even better if she’d edited and published it herself, and promised to draw a portrait of the person who'd ordered the cover art.
The next morning came with a Sending to Papios Ferenc. Soon enough, they had a name for Flamingo's bank account.
"Who's this Nymphadora Flay?" Bruno said. He and Mary were sitting for breakfast in the almost empty tavern. "Wasn't Flamingo supposed to be a man?"
Mary shrugged. There could have been a lot of explanations but they wouldn't know the real one until they followed their lead.
"The surname sounds awfully familiar, though," she said, searching her memory for another person named Flay.
"Mornin'," came Paulina's voice.
She came down the stairs in full adventuring gear, along with Vivian and Asya.
"Where are you going?" Mary said.
"On a mission!" Paulina grinned. "Our gigs come one after the other, and our new employer said he was in a hurry, so…"
"Where's, um, Toto?" said Mary.
"With your bard," said Vivian and rolled her eyes. "They're still snuggling in his room."
"Oh!" Mary felt her ears start to burn. "I thought Aurum liked women."
"So did I about Toto, but it seems like your bard is quite persuasive.”
"Anyway, I hope he hurries up," Paulina said. "Or we'll leave without him."
Toto came running down the stairs, ready for the road, his ears even redder than Mary's. Paulina made fun of him, he mumbled something, and then they were leaving.
"Hope we keep in touch," Mary said and hugged her friend.
"I'll see you around," Paulina said.
When Aurum joined the other two, they had breakfast and hurried to the bank. Giving the name Nymphadora and the number of the account, they received an address: Number 8, Good Word Street. They wandered for a while and asked around, until they were finally able to find the building in question.
The neighbourhood they had entered was kinda shady. The streets were narrower, the houses all cramped up and high, and there was almost nothing green growing inbetween them.
Number 8 was a two story brick building, bigger than the rest, a creaking sign with the words 'The Salty Bitch' hanging over the door.
Instead of someone’s home, it was a tavern.
"Huh," Bruno said.
Upon entering, the trio found that it was a busy morning. A bunch of what looked like schoolgirls had occupied most of the tables, eating toasts or pancakes, drinking some kind of juice, talking and giggling loudly.
Mary and her friends were, of course, immediately recognized. Even before they were able to find a table of their own, they were crowded by a group of teenagers asking for autographs and retellings of their story.
"Leave the other patrons alone! Shoo!" the owner of the tavern--a half-elven woman--said from the counter. "Vlad, take care of it!"
The waiter hurried to the trio and led them towards a table away from the girls.
"It's the nearby school," he said apologetically. "They come during the long break and we serve them breakfast. No alcohol, of course, Lilly makes sure they don’t even ask."
They chatted with Vlad while he was taking their order, casually asking him about 'Nymphadora'.
“Oh, yes, I know her,” he said.
“Does she live here, on the second floor?” Mary asked.
“Oh, no, of course not!” Vlad said. “We’re not an inn, just a tavern. The second floor is for personal use only.”
“Then where does she live?”
The waiter shrugged and went to get their order.
That was suspicious. Either this wasn’t Flamingo’s actual address, or this Vlad person was lying to them. What if after finding out that they were looking for Nymphadora Flay, he went on and warned her?
Mary took out a few pages out of her notebook and made her familiars. She sent Peter, as the smallest of them, to follow Vlad and let her know if he snuck out to meet someone in secret. Aingels climbed on her shoulders and started purring, looking for something invisible around them.
For lack of anything useful to do, Rudhol hopped on Aurum's lap. They seemed to like each other ever since Mary'd first summoned the almiraj.
All the teenagers, who were still looking at them, went crazy! A handsome bard with a cute little bunny? What more could a girl wish for?
Aurum reveled in their attention until he got bored of it, and then he went off to another table where a huge half-orc was currently emptying a mug of ale into his throat.
"Of course I know 'Dora," Mary heard him say and jumped to attention. "She and Jared play cards with us all the time."
Jared?
A jolt, like electricity, passed through Mary's whole body.
That's why she remembered the surname! Jared Flay! The obnoxious fighter they'd worked with, all the way back in the beginning of their adventures.
But how did he get access to Mary's journals? When? And… why?!
Did you expect that turn of events? We sure didn’t when they happened on our D&D table. Well, actually, Bruno’s player had mentioned Jared as a possible culprit for the book-stealer, but we dismissed it almost immediately. Why would that guy even care about Mary’s book?!
Anyway, I hope you like the story so far. Please tell me in the comments about the illustrations conundrum and I hope to see you in the next chapter.
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)