Hello, Everyone!
Last time in our dear Mary's adventures, the trio left Rabajorhax' orphanage and went on their way towards Pamagos. Mary had to ride behind Aurum which was distracting, but not as much as the 'Moustache Curse' which made evil moustaches and eyebrows appear on her face. Aurum promised to remove the curse but we can't be sure if he succeeded.
The adventurers reached Pamagos and headed towards 'The Maimed Lion' to meet with Paulina and her company.
“‘Sup, loosers!” Paulina said when they got to her party’s booth in ‘The Maimed Lion’.
Her hair was magnificently crimson and she had even more piercings than before. She’d grown some of her beard out. Mary found herself smiling stupidly as she waved at her.
“You have to have lost to be a loser,” Bruno said. “Scoot over!”
He sat in the booth across of his sister. The others joined him. Aurum sat between Toto and Vivian and, after some hesitation, Mary settled beside Asya. Now that she had time to look at the group as a whole, she noticed they were all quite battered and scarred.
“What happened to your hair?” she asked Asya.
“Fire,” the woman said. “Went right through it. Came on the other side but my hair was… well… not a nice sight. In the end I had to shave it all off. ”
Mary remembered her own encounter with the flaming skull in Pritley. She winced, remembering the searing pain of the fire. If the creature had aimed a bit higher or if Bruno hadn’t been so quick to heal her, she, too, would have to worry about her hair.
(or, you know, her everything)
“I don’t think I’ll be able to go home for a while,” Asya said with a sad chuckle. “I fear that Alexa won't recognize me.”
The trio ordered drinks and some lunch, and Paulina’s company called for--by the look of the table--yet another round of alcohol for themselves.
“Psst,” Aurum leaned over and whispered to Mary. “Who’s Alexa?”
“Asya’s daughter,” she said. “She’s back in Belfast, her grandmother is taking care of her while...”
“Ah,” the bard said, suddenly not that interested. “Anyway…” He turned around and grinned. “Paulina, my friend!”
“Yeah?”
“You know how much I appreciate you and your… resources.”
“Oh, really?”
They proceeded to talk about his weed and it was Mary’s turn to lose interest. Their drinks arrived and Bruno picked up his mug with the happiest of expressions.
“Finally, some good ale!” he rejoiced. “I’ve waited for so long! The only thing the elves had tasted like piss!”
He chugged his mug in one gulp and ordered another.
“So,” he turned to Paulina, wiping his moustache. “Where did you do after we last saw you?”
“Why do you care?” Paulina said. “To go rat on Mom?”
“Pffft, as if she’d care. I’m just keeping the conversation going!”
Paulina and her companions started talking about going to Greystone and fighting goblins and hobgoblins in the Crooked Mountains. The dwarf girl’s eyes glinted when she described how they accidentally set a whole cave system on fire. At one point Mary realized that she was staring at her without actually listening.
“What did you three do, anyway?” Paulina said, making her blink into attention.
The trio described their investigation in Myth Adofhaer. When they got to the fight with the undead, Mary looked down and took a long breath.
“I, um, almost died… twice,” she said quietly, rubbing her neck through the shawl she was wrapped in.
Paulina nodded with what Mary hoped looked like compassion.
“... but we got a statue in our honour,” Aurum said with a grin.
“A statue?” Paulina turned to Bruno. “So typical! The Golden Boy sucks up to yet another Big Shot. What a surprise!”
“Oh, shut it, Poly!” Bruno said. “You’re just jealous that we’re going to get paid a bunch when we go to Dynatos Perres!”
“Pfffsh!” she scoffed. “As if I care! You know how much money I’ve sent Mom only in the past month? Three hundred gold pieces! Three. Hundred. Eat it, Brunost!”
The cleric shrugged. Mary could swear she saw a glimpse of brotherly pride in his expression.
“Anyway, who’s that Tesaya woman you’re talking so much about?” Paulina asked.
“It was, um, our hostess,” Mary said. ”Didn’t you read my letter? I wrote you about her.”
Paulina shrugged. Mary didn’t know what she was expecting but this stung a little.
“We need to do something about your hair,” the dwarf girl said, looking her up and down. “You’re starting to look as boring as you are.”
“Boring?” Mary frowned. “What do you mean? I'm an adventurer, I save people and fight monsters! That's not boring!”
“Well, we do all those things, too,” Paulina said. “But we look cool while doing it! You see: you,” She pointed to Mary, ”are a boring adventurer, and we,” she pointed to herself, ”are cool adventurers. Simple as that.”
The gesture reminded Mary of that time she’d held the furious rat-Paulina in Nurvureem’s lair. She almost said so, but her friend’s words had cut her and she fell silent instead.
She wasn’t boring!
The two groups proceeded to talk more about their adventures and future plans. Mary, Bruno and Aurum learned that they’d scared Jared shitless with the threats Bruno’d Sent him. They found out that Paulina and company were aiming to go to Dzabras next and that they’d hated being in Ekoba. It was cold and stormy out there, they said, and the people were shitty.
When it came time to pay their bills, Leon surprised them by saying that everything they’d ordered had been free.
“I have a celebration of sorts,” the tabaxi said and raised his maimed arm. “It’s been six years since my accident.”
“And you’re celebrating that?” Paulina said.
“It could have been way worse,” he said. “I could have died.”
Soon, it was time for Mary and her company to get going. Dynatos Perres might have been a decent person but it wouldn’t be nice to make him wait too long. They stood up and bid their goodbyes.
“It was nice seeing you, Poly!” Bruno said and ruffled his sister’s hair.
She protested loudly and punched him on the shoulder. He laughed.
Aurum shook hands with everyone and, with her peripheral vision, Mary saw him take something small and wrapped in paper from Paulina. More weed, she supposed. She rolled her eyes.
She stood at the booth’s doorstep and smiled awkwardly at her dwarf friend. Paulina grinned and pulled her in a bear hug.
It was an awkward embrace. She smelled of camomile and ale.
It's always nice to meet friends, don't you agree? Mary might not really like (or know) Toto and Vivian but Asya, and especially Paulina, are great :)
See you next time when we'll go meet Dynatos Perres.
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.