Hello, Everyone!
Have another part of Mary’s adventures!
Last time, after finishing an exhausting fight with Dorina Dwendel, Mary and her friends had time to talk about what had happened, as well as a few other things (which made Mary think that the elven city might have been part of her mysterious past). Meanwhile, Bruno sent a message to Dorina and received an answer baiting them to meet her again. But after the fight they’d just had, they weren’t ready to face her again. So, before acting, they decided to find out more about what they were going up agaings. They learned about Dorina’s magical weapon and wondered if it’d be able to pierce the protection of Mary’s orange tree.
There was only one person they could ask.
Mary opened her Book of Shadows on the page where she'd lead the correspondence with her Patron. It was blank but the moment she wrote ‘Hello’, a ‘Yes, Mary?’ appeared undeneath.
“Are you watching us right now?” she asked.
There was a pause and Mary imagined her Patron’s cunning smile.
“Maybe?”
“So you know what we're intending to do?”
“Yes.”
Mary beamed. She knew it. He was always watching, always ready to help and protect her!
“I wanted to ask you, is the dome of the Orange tree stronger than the stiletto? Can the weapon penetrate the barrier?”
“See, Mary, the thing about a dome is that it's, well... a dome.”
The word ‘dome’ was underlined and then circled a few times.
“Oh,” Mary wrote.
She felt so stupid. Of course Dorina could come from underneath, they had already seen her do that!
She was about to close the book but her pen lingered on the page.
“Gillean?” she wrote.
“Yes, Mary?”
“When are you going to summon me?”
“Soon.”
“Good. I can't wait to see you!”
She closed the book and, feeling kinda embarrassed, told the others about the dome thing.
“Well, it was worth the mental exercise,” Tesaya shrugged. “I suggest we go to rest now, and decide our next steps in the morning.”
“Yeah, but I don’t need to sleep,” Mary said. “I can try doing something useful during the night.”
“What do you mean you don’t need to sleep?” Tesaya said.
“It’s another of my Patron’s gifts,” Mary explained. “He gave it to me back in the tunnels under Belfast.”
“I see. Well, I think we did a lot of useful things today, and we’re all tired,” Tesaya said. “Tomorrow I can help you go where you wanted. How’s that?”
Mary looked sideways at the floor.
“Yeah, that sounds ok,” she said.
Then, the moment Tesaya looked away, she Messaged Aurum.
“I really want to go to the Archives again, but I’m sure they won’t let us check everything that we want. Can you help me sneak out later? I need your invisibility spell.”
The bard gave her a barely noticeable nod.
Before they got separated for the night (they had decided that Mary was going to share Tesaya’s bedroom, and Bruno and Aurum were going to use her spare one), Bruno approached Mary.
“Can you ask Gillean something else?” he said.
“Yes, of course!” Mary said. “What is it?”
“Dorina's ability to become immaterial,” Bruno began, “I was wondering if he knew something about it. Like whether it is a spell, or an item, or…”
He continued talking but Mary got distracted in her own thoughts. She’d just remembered something she wanted to ask Gillean for herself. She opened her Book for the second time this evening and wrote inside.
“Gillean?”
“Yes, Mary?” came the answer, just as quick as last time.
“Did you see our fight today?”
“Yes.”
“We think that our attacker was Dorina Dwendel but I really hope that’s not true. You said that if you saw her face, you could search for her in the Fey Lands. Did you have a good look while we were fighting?”
“Yes. Give me ten minutes.”
Mary drummed her fingers on the page and looked at Bruno who was patiently waiting for her conversation to be over. She smiled at him apologetically, pointed at the book and shrugged. After what seemed like an eternity, she got another message.
“She's not here.”
Mary was disappointed but she wasn’t ready to quit just yet.
“Do you have any contacts in other planes that you can ask about her?” she asked.
“Well, I can ask you,” was the answer.
She frowned. Did that mean that he didn’t know anyone else?
“I see.” she whote.
Suddenly, the disappointment gave way to excited curiosity.
“Wait, am I your only Warlock?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Mary beamed and drew three exclamation points on the page. Then, still smiling like a pumpkin, she closed the Book.
“Soo?” Bruno asked. “Did you ask him about Dorina’s ability?”
Mary did a mental facepalm. She'd forgotten! She was so distracted by the realization that she was more special to Gillean than she'd previously believed, that she'd completely blacked out about Bruno's request.
She glanced at her book and then at the dwarf. She didn't want to bother Gillean for the third time but neither did she want to disappoint Bruno.
“Yes, I asked him,” she lied. “He didn't know.”
He probably didn’t, anyway. No need to waste everyone's time by checking.
‘Easily distracted by feeling special’. That’s what should be written next to Mary’s portrait in her Agent of Pamagos file :) But it is a special thing to be someone’s ‘only’ something, so I can relate to her excitement.
Have you felt that way, too?
And will you read the next episode? I think Mary’s going to try and sneak out 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.