Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes left Myth Adofhaer and headed out for adventure. About half way towards Pamagos, they found a couple of kids in danger and they rushed to save them. That's how a fight ensued, against a strange creature that was able to influence their minds when they looked it in the eyes. Fighting without looking turned out to be a very difficult thing and soon, Bruno fell into the creature's mind-control. It dove into the ground and pulled him under.
The ground above where Bruno had disappeared began to close. Mary and Aurum tried to run towards him but the creature burst out of the earth and stood between them and their friend. Its shell was covered with dirt and goo, and it was fiercely clicking its mandibles at the two of them.
Mary's mind was racing. There was no time to keep fighting the 'proper' way. Bruno could be suffocating down there!
As quick as a lightning, she considered her options. She couldn't hurt the creature via Eldritch Blast or another one of her combat spells. They needed line of sight and she dared not look directly at it, for fear of losing control over her mind and actions.
So, she couldn’t hurt it. But she could make it run away. She didn’t have to look at it to do that!
She grabbed the small white feather from her component pouch and held it between the palms of her ourstretched hands. She ran at the creature and heard it screech in horror. If the magic was doing what it was supposed to, the creature was currently seeing the thing it was most afraid of. Mary didn't know what it was. She didn't care. All she cared about was removing it from her friend so that they'd have enough time to dig him out.
The giant insectoid screeched again. Aurum had rang Mosrael. Mary felt it jump up and dive into the ground, way more deeply than before. The rumbling of its underground retreat faded in the distance.
Mary and Aurum rushed to help their friend.
Digging out Bruno wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It was, in fact, quite difficult, with his heavy armour and all. At one point, the two children they’d saved came from the ruins and tried to help out. Their small hands didn't do much, but the job was already pretty much done. Bruno came out of the ground, coughing and spitting out dirt.
The trio cleaned up and managed to talk to the kids. They introduced themselves as Ilyana and Anton. Said they lived with 'Papa' and pointed away from the road, seemingly towards nothing. Mary frowned and looked them up and down. They were pretty cheerful for almost having met a horrifying death in the mandibles of a monster. Their cheeks were rosy, their smiles wide, and their pockets full of… something. Mary took a long breath and tried to suppress the sudden urge to scold them. She could finally understand the annoyance in Lilly’s voice when she’d lecture her for doing something stupidly-dangerous.
"Why were you in the middle of nowhere, getting chased by a monster?" Bruno said instead of her.
"We were off to the town," Anton said, "to get some… supplies."
The children winked at each other and snickered conspiratorially. Mary rolled her eyes. Who did they think they were fooling?
“What kind of supplies?” she asked.
“It’s a secret!” they answered.
“You know what, we’ll come with you,” Mary said, looking at her friends for confirmation. They nodded. “Lead you home and all that. It’s dangerous to go on alone.”
“All right,” Ilyana said, “but we’ll have to make a stop to out stash first.”
Mary shrugged. A small detour was fine, as long as they were going to meet the children’s ‘papa’ at the end and see why he’d let them wander alone.
Ilyana and Anton led them towards a small patch of trees, away from any road. They kept on being secretive about their 'stash' and anything to do with their journey to town. Mary couldn’t tell whether it was because they were just playing coy for the sake of playing coy, or because they were hiding something serious. She looked at her friends and saw her own suspicion written all over their faces.
Then Bruno’s expression changed to amusement and he pointed at one of the trees. Mary followed his eyes and saw a strange carving etched on the trunk - one of a middle-aged human man, bearded but completely bald, with a round belly and a huge smile. She found herself giggling at the sight. Over her left shoulder, riding her horse after Perjurio’s untimely demise, Aurum snickered as well.
“Who’s that?” Mary asked the children.
“It’s Papa,” Anton answered.
“But why is he…” she hesitated. They had just passed by a rock and a big log that had the same carving as the tree. “Who’s etched him on everything here?”
“I don’t know,” Anton shrugged. “Prob’ly a fangirl.”
For some reason Mary found this extremely funny. Her friends joined in and their laughter resounded through the air.
The children led them to a big hollowed tree amidst the grove. A lose piece of bark covered a hole in the trunk and acted like a door. Inside, a plethora of colourful wrappings peeped out. Ilyana and Anton emptied their pockets and stuffed their content into the tree.
It was candy. The children’s secret stash was candy.
Somehow, that was the funniest thing of all.
Have you ever thought how creepy being amused without a particular reason could be? I felt like that when we played this episode. Why would our characters laugh out of a sudden? Why would they find everything so darn funny?
I hope we don't get ambushed in the next episode!
See you then!
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.