Hello, Everyone!
How are you doing? I'm taking a break from writing this month, just to make sure I still like it. Although I enjoyed it immensely, at one point last year it started to feel like a chore. And I don't want that to happen to Mary's story, I really want to keep it up.
Even though I'm not writin, I don't intend to skip any updates. I have a decent amount of parts already written and I just have to edit and post them when they're supposed to go out. The illustrations, however, might have to suffer for my break.
Anyway, welcome to the next part of Mary's story. She and her friends just survived another weird fight. Last time, they used Aurum as bait and lured the person who was kidnapping all the elven maidens in Myth Adofhaer. The kidnapper--a hooded woman--not only appeared, but straight out attacked them. She seemed to have the upper hand for the majority of the fight, as the group’s attacks passed through her form without hitting her. It turned out that she was none other than lord Dwendel’s daughter, Dorina , who’d disappeared six years ago, after allegedly helping the elves find the culprit for the same kidnappings that were happening right now. Thanks to Bruno’s quick thinking, the trio and Tesaya managed to get out of the fight and seemingly chased Dorina away.
They had to support Aurum on the way home. Bruno and Tesaya had healed him to the best of their abilities but the bard had lost a lot of blood and recovering from that would take more than a few spells.
The dress their hostess had given him when he turned into Lanna was ruined beyond repair. There was blood covering it on all sides. The bard took it off when they arrived at Tesaya’s and they found out that despite the wounds on his body, the cloth and the leather armour underneath it were completely intact.
“The other dagger did quite the number on my clothes,” Bruno said, showing the place where Dorina had cut him. There was a clear slash through his shirt and gambeson.
“I don’t understand how that’s possible!” Mary said. “One moment she could be material enough to do damage to us, but the next all our attacks just… phased by.”
"Yeah," Aurum said, rubbing the red line across his neck, "She became incorporeal again when Bruno's guiding bolt was about to hit. That’s how I got free. The cord she was holding passed through my neck and released me.” He glared at Bruno. “Man, your spell hurt!”
The dwarf shrugged. “How could I have known what was going to happen?”
"Did you see what she did when Aurum fell unconscious?" Tesaya said.
"No,” the bard huffed. “I was too busy bleeding out."
"She tried to take you," Tesaya said. "She grasped your ankle and was beginning to pull you away, but the moment I swung to strike her, her hand phased through you."
"But why did she keep attacking even after you'd returned to your normal form?" Mary wondered. "The moment you changed back, I feared that she'd rush for Tesaya. After all, she is the exact type as the rest of the victims.”
They looked at their hostess’ blonde hair. She took a strand, gave them a small smile and shrugged. ‘I’m willing to make the sacrifice,’ Mary remembered her saying. Now it made even more sense.
The four of them tried talking more about their fight, but without more information on their attacker and her weird blade, their conversation soon moved to other things.
“Your necklace looks pretty cool.” Aurum said. “How does it work?”
Tesaya described the magic of the item. The different gems embedded in the chain were enhanced with three different spells. The one with the yellow jewel was able to bless. The two green ones were for curing wounds. And the third, the red ones, which they hadn’t seen in use, had the ability to enhance her fighting abilities.
“I noticed something of yours as well,” Tesaya said. “That bell you used to hurt Dorina. Can I see it?”
“Only if you give me the necklace,” Aurum said.
They exchanged magical items and spent some time to check them out.
“That’s one of Maheshvara’s bells,” Tesaya said. “You know, I’ve met him.”
“You’ve met Maheshvara?” Mary gasped.
Tesaya nodded.
“How? When? Wasn’t he alive, like, a thousand years ago?”
“Just three hundred,” Tesaya chuckled. “But I’m almost that old, too. He came to our history class once, to tell us more about his battle at Kipsos pass. He died from old age, not long after that.”
Aurum coughed. “When you say ‘not long after’...?” he said.
Tesaya smiled. “About 30 or so years,” she said.
Tesaya paused, as if lost in thought. She raised her eyes at the ceiling and sighed.
“It would be nice to have another Maheshvara some day,” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘another’ Maheshvara?” Bruno asked. “Like give his name to one of his children or something?”
“No, he…” Tesaya looked at them with a frown. “You do know that ‘Maheshvara’ is a title and not his actual name, right?”
“Um, no?” Mary said. “What was his name?”
“Joakim Berros” Tesaya said.
“Where are his other bells now?” Aurum said.
“They were passed down to his son but he never used them in battle. And a few years after that, in 960, they disappeared. Stolen. How did you come upon this one?” Tesaya pointed at Mosrael. “I thought they were all lost for the ages.”
“We found it in a Bulette’s claw,” Bruno said.
Tesaya raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, we fought one of these in Meraket,” Aurum said. “Pretty clumsy beast, if you ask me. Wasn’t a big deal.”
Mary smirked at her friend. The only reason he hadn’t been decapitated by the bullet back then was because it slipped on a pool of blood and missed him.
Remember the Bullet incident? That was so long ago! It’s really cool that we get a continuation on the bell’s mystery but wasn’t there something else inside that creature that might be a bit more relevant right now?
Check the next episode and see!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary 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.