Hello, Everybody!
Last time, our heroes went to the elven cemetery and looked around Falka’s mausoleum, where Dorina Dwendel wanted to meet them for their final confrontation. Instead of her, Mary and her friends were faced with a shadowy entity calling himself ‘Kloth’. He wanted them to let him escape punishment for his crimes, offering to make them heroes and solve the case without including him in it.
To sweeten the pot, he conjured two caskets containing the bodies of Mary’s dead parents, and offered to bring them back.
Mary froze in her place, her mind ringing with grief. The people who’d brought her to this world were lying in the caskets before her.
So they were--both--actually...
She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Yes, she knew about Halas’ passing and had read about Dalia’s disappearance… but even after all that, a part of her had still been hoping it wasn’t true.
But it was. They were…
“Mary?” Aurum’s cautious voice came to her muffled through the noise in her head.
She snapped out of it, letting out a ragged breath. This wasn’t the time to think about her dead parents. She had to concentrate.
“I’m sorry,” she addressed the shadowy figure, trying to sound as dense as she could. “I’m not sure I get what you’re saying. Can you explain it some more?”
That was stalling for time and it was obvious, but Mary didn’t know what else to do and noone else was rising up to the occasion.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Kloth sneered. “I thought you were way more intelligent when we last spoke, Miss Windfiddle.”
What?! They had spoken?! When?! Mary frantically thought back. She didn’t remember speaking with a dark entity like this before. Was it possible that she’d forgotten?
In any other occasion she never would have doubted her memories, but the last few hours had made her question some things. Was the door to the mausoleum really locked when she first checked it out? Was the vase really empty? And did she really not pay the bill back in the tavern?
And. When. Did. She. Speak. With. This. Thing?!
“Think about my offer,” Kloth said, taking Mary out of her thoughts. “There are still four girls alive in my laboratory. What is destroyed cannot be brought back, but the ones who live can be saved.”
“Like Dorina?” Aurum said.
Kloth laughed.
“No,” he said. “Dorina belongs to me.”
“What happens if we decline?” Bruno asked.
“We will fight and someone will die,” Kloth said, almost matter-of-factly.
“And what is it that you actually want?”
“To be dead to Myth Adofhaer. I’m going away and I want to be left alone.”
Mary looked at her friends, hesitant to say anything. They looked back with the same expression.
“You have one hour to decide,” Kloth said.
And just like that, the shadow dissipated and the wall of the mausoleum was visible once again.
Silence fell on the cemetery. Mary stared at the ground where her parents' caskets had disappeared when Kloth left, and tried to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat. The other three were standing still, just as quiet as she was. It was Aurum who spoke first.
"Mary?" he said. "You're not tempted by what that thing showed you. Right?"
Mary shook her head a little too enthusiastically. Her parents were dead, and as much as she wished that they weren’t, there were other things that mattered more than her own wants.
"In any case, we can't accept his offer," Bruno said. "It's too much of a gamble."
"What do you mean we can't accept it?!” Mary snapped. “There are four elven girls still alive! We should do everything in our power to save them!"
“Yeah?” Bruno said. “And what happens if we agree to set this thing free and it starts kidnapping and killing again, only in some other place? Who would be responsible for that?”
“This thing reeks of evil,” Tesaya said. “And un-death. It is my duty as a Paladin to destroy it.”
“But if we do…” Mary said. “We– we don’t know where the girls are. They might as well die until we find them, or, or… this Kloth thing might kill them just to spite us. I… I can’t have any more people’s deaths on my consciousness!”
She looked at the others defiantly.
“I agree with Mary,” Aurum said. “I like the idea of saving the maidens we know we can save. And, you know, unveil the whole mystery. We can think about the rest when it comes to it.”
Mary nodded at him. Then she had another thought.
“Can’t we accept, set the girls free and then just… attack him?” she said.
“There might be some kind of binding for accepting the offer.” Bruno shook his head. “Should I remind you that you already have one such contract on your plate?” Bruno said.
“Wha…?”
“Gillean,” he said. “Or, you know, two contracts, if you count Nurvureem.”
“We don’t count Nurvureem,” Mary said stubbornly.
“Nevertheless. If we accept a contract and then break it, there might be consequences.”
Mary dropped her head and crossed her arms. This wasn’t right. None of it. Whatever they decided, it would be the wrong choice in some way or another.
I have a love-hate relationship with impossible choices in D&D. The feeling that you can’t doeverything just breaks my heart. But also, sometimes we get to cheat fate, and it’s the best thing in the world!
What would you choose if you were in our heroes' shoes? Would you accept Kloth’s offer and pretend you’ve solved the case in order to save the elven maidens? Or would you attack him to save any potential future victims?
I’d love to read your takes on this little conundrum!
The actual solution our heroes found will be revealed in the next episode!
Until then,
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.