Hello, Everyone!
Welcome to another episode of Mary Windfiddle's adventures!
Last time, as our heroes were talking to Dynatos Perres about the dragons that threatened Erathos from multiple directions, a portal suddenly opened in the middle of the room, and Tesaya (the Elven Paladin and friend of the group) stumbled in. She was grievously wounded, shot by many arrows and having lost her right arm. While Bruno and Aurum took care of her injuries, she told the group about yet another threat. 48 years ago, in a big battle beyond the Teeth, another dragon had been fought and imprisoned. Now, Tiriel Elaire (the very unlikable female Elder of the elves) intended to free him and use him against the other nations of Erathos.
Mary realised that the map she possessed might be showing where the dragon’s prison was, and they wondered if there might be even more dragons that they didn’t know about.
"How come none of that information reached you, anyway?" Agatha turned to Dynatos Perres. "There are dragons almost at your front door, and you didn’t know anything about them before we came. I think your spy network sucks.”
Mary gasped.
“I mean, with all due respect,” Agatha said, adjusting her voice to be less hostile. “Has it occurred to you that maybe someone’s making sure that you don’t get all the information?”
For a couple of seconds, the peeping of the canaries was the only sound in the room.
"Sadly, you appear to be right," Mr. Perres said, finally. "I'm juggling too many things lately."
“So let us help!” Mary said. “What can we do? Talk to Tiriel Elaire? Maybe, if someone is gathering dragons, they are using her as a pawn in their own game. She might not know the whole scope of the situation.”
“I’ve tried sending her multiple messages,” Perres said, “but she hasn’t replied to a single one. I’ve…” He looked sideways. “I’ve asked for a legion of Devoted from Zerakas tol, in case things got worse.”
Mary’s eyes widened. The Devoted were famous for being fierce fighters, undefeated in battle.
“I…” she swallowed. Thinking about legions and armies had prompted her to remember something that worried her much more than Zerakas tol’s Devoted. “I heard that the elves were on their way towards Frinkeltong. Do you think they’ll attack it?”
“As far as I know,” Dynatos Perres said, ”their army is currently stationed at the border. They haven’t crossed it yet. Perhaps the Pamagos Agreement is what’s holding them back.”
“But if Tiriel Elaire is intending to use the dragon from the Swamp...” Mary didn’t finish her thought. She couldn’t bear thinking about her home city burning with dragon fire.
“She’s acting like a real fool,” Bruno grunted. “Doesn’t she realise that she’s endangering the whole of Erathos by freeing that monster? Her precious elven forest will burn along with everything else!”
“I suppose she means to endanger Erathos, doesn't she?” Dynatos Perres murmured.
“If we can't reason with Tiriel, what about the White Queen?" Bruno said. "Can we do something about her?”
Dynatos Perres slowly shook his head.
“It's better not to disturb her,” he said. “We tend to leave her alone at all times, if we can help it.”
“What if we offer to resurrect that Meltharond person?” Bruno said. “That might ‘suade her to our favour.”
"In any case, we should find out more about what Tiamat's cultists are up to," Agatha said. “There’s obviously something really fishy going on with them, but what exactly?"
“There… might be a way to find out,” Mary said very quietly. What she'd been thinking made her really nervous. What if the others found it a good solution and actually made her do it? She swallowed hard. “I have an… invitation. Nurvureem said she wanted me to come to her home and write down the story of her life. That might include what the Cult is planning…”
“Yeah, no, that ship has sailed,” Bruno scoffed. “After what we did with Nymphadora, she wouldn’t want us over.”
“Not for a chat, anyway,” Aurum added.
Mary shuddered.
"Miss Windfiddle," Dynatos Perres said, "Can you give me an exact description of everyone involved in that case? Kalien, the person with the dry hand, Nurvureem's human form? I can pass them over to my men and see if we can find out more about them."
"We can go to Rafael di Pitoya and get him to make portraits of those three," Bruno suggested.
"No, a written description would suffice, I think," Perres said. "There's no sense in making you thr… I mean, you four...” He nodded towards Agatha, “take on such trivial tasks. As a matter of fact, let me know if there are any other small matters to take off of your plate, so that you can concentrate on the big things ahead of us."
There were… a lot of 'small things' the group could think of. Nymphadora was one. Someone had to take care of her, get her away from her brother and his people. Said 'people' were another ‘small thing’. Agatha reminded everybody that they were Children of Terpesh and shouldn’t be underestimated.
"There's something…" Mary said. "You might consider it a small matter and I guess in the grand scheme of things it really is… but it's very important to me. Maybe the most important." She looked at Mr. Perres and he gave her a nod, prompting her to continue. "It's my family. They're in Frinkeltong and I'm worried about them. I… if the situation wasn't so serious over here, I'd already be with them, trying to take them to safety and away from the war."
"I see," Mr. Perres said. "I think I can do something about that. Get them out of Frinkeltong and relocate them here?"
Mary shook her head. Pamagos didn’t seem much safer right now, with Nurvureem and her cultist friends roaming the streets.
"What if you sent them to Zerakas tol?" Aurum suggested. "I'm sure the elven army wouldn't get there any time soon."
"That's an idea," Dynatos Perres said. "I can send some guards to accompany them on the way and settle them in Francesca’s city.
"I…" Mary thought about her small gnomish family in such a big place like Zerakas tol and her heart tightened. “Yes, that might be for the best. Thank you. I’ll give you a letter to travel with the people you send, to explain things and make sure my family knows what to do.”
Our friends seem to be preparing for some big things. Where do you think they'll go next? And will Mary's family be safe?
See you next time!
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, Bruno and Agatha) 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.