Hello, Everyone!
Long time no see! I mean, read? I mean, glance, while just clicking 'like' until you have enough time to read? Or is it just me?
Anyway!
Here's what's been going on with my dear D&D character Mary Windfiddle in the past several days. Her party went to the dwarven city of Belfast where Bruno is from, met his family and got the scoop of the situation – an enemy force led by a creature named Agrax were after a mysterious Artefact, Bruno’s brother Saami was lost in the tunnels beneath Belfast and everyone was on edge.
The trio went down the tunnels, got joined by Bruno’s sister Paulina, befriended a goblin tribe, fought some duergar, almost got eaten by a Roper and saved a few dwarven loggers. That was all in one day.
Then, Mary had a dream which got them way off track and into the lair of a black dragon named Nurvureem. They almost got captured, saved a dwarf named Fennec and managed to escape. Mary got traumatized for life and decided she wasn’t going to sleep anymore. That was day two.
On day three the now bigger party followed a prison cart and fought against a couple of dark elves. Paulina and Fennec almost got killed, Mary cried a lot, Saami called a deep gnome named Roko and he helped them find an alternative--and safer--way under the ground.
And that’s when the crawling began. The concept of ‘days’ lost its meaning, everyone was tired and worried about Mary. She was still not sleeping and on the verge of collapsing. Finally, after a heart-to-heart with Aurum, she had the courage to stand up to the nightmares.
Instead, she was magically transported to her Patron's abode. He offered her tea, reassured her that he cared about her, apologized about the whole ‘dragon quest’ and gave her presents. Mary forgave him instantly. He also told her his name--Gillean--and I think he said that her father had sold her soul to him but I’m not quite sure??? What’s ‘fatebound’ supposed to mean?
Anyway!
That’s pretty much where we go back to the story. Mary’s back to her friends, they’ve just finished crawling through the tunnels and everything is wonderful.
I hope Belfast is still standing. The adventurers were gone a bit longer than they were supposed to…
"Welcome to Belfast" Roko said as the front wall of the tunnel opened up and revealed…
… a dozen crossbows and spears pointed at them.
They had appeared right inside of Papios Ferenc's bank vault. There were a lot of dwarves inside. Mary recognized some of their faces from the Council they'd accidentally attended when they arrived in Belfast. There were some loggers, too. Having met Fennec and the other four, she could see the difference in posture and clothing between them and the fancier dwarves.
"Wait, those are my sons!"
Konstanz Airhammer, Bruno's mom, made the guards lower their weapons and rushed towards them. She gave Saami a hug, looked at Bruno with pride and when she got to Paulina, her face contorted with a few conflicting emotions. There was anger and displeasure, yes, but Mary was sure she saw relief, too.
“Welcome, heroes!” they heard from the gathered dwarves. It was Papios Ferenc, the richest dwarf in Belfast, speaking. “And thank you for your help! Thanks to you, this will soon be all over.”
In the middle of the vault there was a small table, and on it - a green crystal the size of a pineapple. It was pulsing with soft light.
“Is that…” Mary began.
“The Artefact, yes!” Papios Ferenc said. “After Brunost sent us that message, we scoured the ruins and found it in less than a day and a half. This object contains a huge amount of raw magical power.”
“It’s good that I thought to ask about it,” Aurum murmured.
The dwarves didn’t pay him any attention. He glowered at them and crossed his arms. Meanwhile Roko couldn’t look away from the crystal. Bruno noticed this and exchanged a few quiet words with him. Then raised his voice.
“This person,” he said, “helped us find a way through the tunnels and get back safely. We owe him our lives and we’d like to give him a reward. If he may, he wants to examine the Artefact.”
The dwarves didn’t object and Roko stepped forward. He was staring at the crystal in awe, his eyes widened to the point of reflecting its green glow. While he ran his palm across its surface, trembling in adoration, Mary’s Eldritch Sight confirmed what Ferenc had already said – the Artefact was brimming with magical energy. It was pure and uncolored; it didn’t belong to any of the schools of magic.
“Are you feeling anything strange?” Mary asked. “Anything unusual?”
“I feel like this is the best thing that's ever going to happen in my life,” Roko whispered. “And I’m sure no one at home would believe me if I told them about it. Also, I want it. It’s the most beautiful…”
A low rhythmic rumble echoed through the cave and made Mary look around in worry. It sounded like approaching footsteps.
“What’s that?” Bruno asked.
"The rock giant, Agrax," Papios replied.
It turned out that the dwarves had already made arrangements with the duergar and they were going to give up the Artefact. The clans didn’t want to fight a war over such an object, albeit as highly magical as it was. Also, it was technically found outside of their mines and there wasn’t one clan holding ownership over it. It was an easy--and ultimately unanimous--decision.
“We can’t just… What if it’s too powerful?... What if it’s a weapon they use against us?...” Mary and her companions started talking one over the other.
But it was too late. The steps were coming closer and closer and they didn’t have time to devise a strategy to defend the crystal. Mary saw Moira hug her daughter tightly and realized they couldn't fight. They had innocent bystanders here, people who had just gotten out of captivity and pain. They couldn’t put them through this!
“If the duergar or the dark elves are coming this way, we must hide quickly,” she whispered. “We can’t risk being seen!”
The group that had until recently crawled through Roko’s tunnels rushed towards one of the far walls of the vault and got closer together. Mary cast a Minor Illusion to make it look like there was nothing but rocks there.
And they waited.
The thumping of the steps kept getting louder and louder. When it was just close enough to suggest that it was already at the vault's entrance, the dwarves cautiously stepped back to clear a path to the crystal.
The rock giant Agrax appeared in the frame of the tunnel. There was something strange about him. He was smaller than the last time Mary saw him, as if to accommodate for the size of the tunnel he was walking in. To her Eldritch Sight he was all glowing in green, with magical ropes wrapped around his torso and leading back into the tunnel.
There were about a dozen dark elves who’d entered the room with him. A dozen Darkness spells, Mary thought in fear. We’d never have been able to take them if we’d fought!
There were no facial features on the rock that stood for Agrax’ head, but it looked around. He turned to the dwarves, then to the Artefact, and went towards the small table. Reached his hand, took the crystal and turned around without saying a word. When he exited, the dark elves followed just as quietly as they’d come.
To Mary's Eldritch Sight, a small light winked on top of the tunnel entrance. It was glowing white and she realized it was some kind of Divination spell. Was somebody else watching the whole scene?
She waited for it to disappear before dropping her illusion. After being so close to their foes, her heart was beating like crazy.
Aurum was the first one to break the silence.
"Let's see what they do with that Artefact," he said and reached into his pouch.
He took out a small crystal lense and started humming a melody while looking through it in the direction of the tunnel. That was a new spell he was learning. It allowed him to project his consciousness somewhere else and it was a great way to spy on the enemy.
Oh, no! Do you think giving up the Artefact was a good decision? What would you have done in our heroes’ places? I hope it doesn’t turn out a huge mistake in the long run!
See you next time when we’ll find out what Aurum’s spell is going to let us find out.
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!)