Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our band of heroes finally got to the Swamp of Agony. They had a challenging flight above the mountain called the Teeth, and when they landed in the swamp, Mary was quick to activate the special magical tree her Patron gave her. It grew and provided the group with shelter for the night.
Thick mist began covering the swamp outside of the orange tree. It flowed slowly at first, but then it fell so suddenly, like a blanket was thrown over the world.
Mary was restless. She barely waited for her friends to fall asleep and opened her Book of Shadows. There were no messages waiting for her. She repeated her previous questions for Gillean--Why hadn’t he replied? Was he angry? Did something bad happen to him?--but, again, no answer appeared on the pages. Her heart tightened even more. She looked at her sleeping party and wondered whether to tell them about what was happening. Silently, she shook her head. They had so many other things--important things--to worry about. Her Patron's silent treatment was the last thing she should burden them with.
After all, even if he didn't want to talk to her, he was still lending her his magic. She could still be useful.
Mary closed her Book and peeked out through the branches of the orange tree. She had the feeling something was going to go very wrong the moment it shrank back into her wand, and didn't want to be surprised. After all, she was the one guarding the party right now. She had to be alert.
Her eyes didn't meet fog when she poked her head out. Instead, she bumped into some vegetation. Vines and leaves--all kinds of plant life--were enveloping the dome, and they had already covered half of it.
Mary looked at her friends. She didn’t want to wake them up now. They needed to get their rest in order to be able to fight and travel the next day. Aurum, for one, needed to sleep to regain his ability to turn into an eagle again.
She took a breath and reached her hand outside of the dome. She channelled her magic and sent out a wave of necrotic energy at the plant. It shuddered and shrivelled, all the moisture draining out of its form. Immediately, what was left of it pulled away from the tree.
This Blight spell she'd learnt turned out to be really effective against plants!
Mary sighed with relief. She’d postponed the moment they had to deal with this threat. Hopefully, they’d have a few more hours in the safety that Gillean’s tree provided. Her friends were going to be able to rest up.
“Mmm'ry?” Bruno murmured from his bedroll. “Wh't’s g'ing on?”
“Nothing urgent,” Mary whispered. “Go back to sleep.”
He didn’t wait for a second invitation, turned around and soon began snoring lightly. Mary smiled and poked her head out once again, to check if the coast was clear.
There were no vines anywhere to be seen.
“Hey,” Tesaya said, waking up after a short while. Elves usually needed less sleep than humans or dwarves. “I’m feeling well enough. You want to try and sleep?”
Mary considered the offer. Her body didn’t need to sleep, but she knew she wasn’t at her best when she didn’t. And she would surely need all her wits when they faced the Order of Falka. She had to use every chance she had to rest.
“Yes, please,” she said. “Just be careful, there was some kind of a plant creature trying to creep on the dome a while back. I think I pushed it away but we can’t be too careful.”
Tesaya nodded. Mary moved her bedroll closer to the tree trunk and lay down, using the roots as a pillow.
Sudden pain pierced Mary's ankle and she got ripped away from her sleep. Her foot was pinned to the ground by a powerful grip. She screamed and heard her friends shuffle and yell.
Suddenly, the ground erupted from below and Mary witnessed her wand fly, orange tree shrinking and retracting in mid-air. Through her own pain, she cried out a 'No!'
She had forgotten, again!
The tree’s protection was not a sphere. It was a dome. It didn't do anything against attacks from below!
Something hoisted her up, swung her in the air and shook her like a ragdoll. Through the pain and confusion, Mary realized it was a vine. It continued tangling up – around her leg, her waist, her torso… It enveloped her head and restrained her limbs. A vine stuffed itself into her mouth, gagging her screams and preventing her from speaking her spells. The vegetation closed around her head and everything got dark.
It was disorienting. And claustrophobic. And… awfully familiar. She had just gotten swallowed by a monster.
Again.
Sooo...
Who said 'Shambling Mound'? You get a gold star :)
I can't believe we forgot about the orange tree's only drawback! Again! Last time, at least, our DM used an NPC (Gillean) to let us know how stupid we're being. This time, however, we were in no such luck...
See you next time when we fight this thing!
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: Mary Windfiddle's story is 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.