Hello, Everyone!
How are you? Are you prepared for the final boss-battle? It’s going to be really exciting!
Anyway. Mary and her friends are currently in the elven cemetery, facing an entity known as ‘Kloth’. Last time, he offered them to leave him alone in exchange for some fame and the lives of four kidnapped elven maidens. Our heroes tried to ask for more than what they’d been offered (‘Show us the girls first’, ‘Give us Dorina, too’, etc.) and that made Kloth lose his patience.
His figure, which up until that moment was just a shadow, densed up into a tangible humanoid form. He rose his staff and started an ominous chant that made the cemetery grow very cold.
The incantation echoed through the night. The elven graveyard darkened and filled with the sound of moving dirt and moaning voices.
Mary wasn’t ready for this. She thought they’d have at least some more time to talk, time to try and convince Kloth… But they didn’t. Fear gripped her heart and stood her hands. She could only watch how her friends, much quicker to get themselves together, rushed into action.
Aurum ran to the dark figure, his voice weaving a bardic spell, and released it into the folds of Kloth’s cloak. A small melody hung in the air above the entity’s head. Kloth pushed Aurum away but Mary managed to get a glimpse of her friend’s smile. Whatever he did, it was successful.
Kloth raised his staff. Mary could see it better now – it was made out of bones and was topped with a young dragon’s skull, eyes glowing red. A pulse of necrotic energy came out of them and spread in a sphere around it. Four of the gravestones on the ground burst and undead figures crawled out of them. To Mary’s horror, one was of a young elven woman, her eyes wild and her lower jaw missing. She reached out her arms and started walking towards Bruno.
But he didn't pay her much attention. He had Dorina Dwendel to worry about. She jumped out from the earth behind him and plunged her stiletto in his waist. The dwarf yelled in pain and swung to hit her, but she was already ethereal. His hammer passed through her head, doing no damage. Dorina laughed, playfully waved a hand and returned to the ground.
Tesaya looked around, saw all the undeath around her and snarled, almost like an animal. She threw away her shield, as if it was useless, grabbed her sword with both her hands and ran to Kloth with a speed she hadn't seemed capable of. She slashed the dark figure once, twice, and each time, her sword lit up and burned away his darkness with Divine light.
Then, she moved aside and raised her hand. A flare shot out from her open palm. It flew up and above the trees, and when it went above the canopy, it burst into a ball of warning red sparks, lighting all the surrounding area.
“All right,” Kloth growled, looking up at the flare. “If you’re calling for Myth Adofhaer, then I’ll destroy Myth Adofhaer.”
The mouth of the dragon staff opened wide, burning with the same red light as its eyes.
Kloth’s voice rose above the cemetery. “Ia Shub Nigurrath. Larak thuul kroth. Ngui ik rak'falas. Ish miraak thas.”
“He says something about ‘night of the dead’,” Bruno yelled out. “Brace yourselves!”
A new necrotic pulse burst from the staff, but this time the sphere spread out and away, throughout the cemetery and beyond.
The ground erupted with undead.
“Ia Shub Nigurrath,” came from all around now. “Larak thuul kroth. Ngui ik rak'falas. Ish miraak thas.”
Surrounded by so many enemies, Bruno called upon his god and his holy symbol glowed. Mary’d seen him use it like that once before – when they were up against the drow’s Darkness back in the tunnels. The celestial light glowed in the night, hurting their enemies and filling Mary’s heart with warmth and hope that everything will be all right. She finally came to her senses and sent out her Eldritch blasts to the two closest undead, destroying one of them right where it stood.
“Ia Shub Nigurrath. Larak thuul kroth. Ngui ik rak'falas. Ish miraak thas.”
More undead were raising from their graves. Each new awakened corpse had its eyes glowing red and its mouth chanting the same words Kloth had started the ritual with. They were two, four, ten, twenty… Red eyes glowed everywhere. Far in the distance, ominous green dots joined them – a couple of Flaming skulls had awakened at the edge of the cemetery and were beginning to burn everything around them.
Ignoring the raised dead, Aurum jumped in front of Kloth and rang Mosrael. The bell didn’t make a sound to Mary’s ears but the entity behind the skull mask writhed in pain and agony. His hands shook as he gripped his staff harder.
“No!” he cried out.
The mouth of the dragon skull opened up and bright light shone through. It had a vaguely humanoid appearance, which got more and more distinct the more it struggled to get out.
It was a soul, pure white and shining. The soul of an elven woman.
Kloth grabbed it and forcefully pulled it out. He seized it by the throat and squeezed; and it screamed. It screamed so loudly, so painfully and in such agony, that Mary felt her heart twinge and burn. She doubled in pain, clutching her chest with both her hands.
Her heart jumped one more time and then stopped abruptly. Mary drew one last ragged breath and her body crumbled on the ground, unmoving.
She was gone.
Oh, hello! How are you doing? Nice weather out there, no?
What, Mary? Mary’s in Death Save territory right now. What else would you expect when she wasn’t able to make her CON save against the Banshee’s Wail?
For those of you not too familiar with D&D rules, 'being on Death Saves' is when a character is dropped to 0 hit points and falls unconscious. They’re not dead dead, but they’re fading quickly. Only a few rolls of the dice separate them from their actual demise.
But you, guys! It’s my baby’s first time being unconscious! I’m so proud!
And scared. Yes. Right. She might die.
But will she?
Let’s wait and see, in our next--and possibly last?--episode of Mary Windfiddle’s Adventures!
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.