Hello, Everyone!
Last time, had some interesting encounters in the Swamp of Agony, as well as a few laughs along the way. However, their last short rest had them being too careless and too noisy, resulting in something finding them.
Let's see what it is!
(Also, in this episode, there's a reference to one of my favourite Doctor Who monsters. Can you see it?)
The figure stood there, unmoving, dark cloak draping around its body. A big hood hovered over its face, hiding its features in shadow. A sob--somehow both childlike and womanlike at once--came from the hood’s opening. It begged to be helped. Mary felt the muscles of her feet instinctively contract, as if wanting to take a step towards whatever was making the sound. She managed to stop herself from moving, but her heart was beating like crazy.
There was a passage in one of the books she’d read on the Swamp, about a weeping creature in a dark cloak. It was in the ‘dangerous creatures’ section.
“Don’t let her come closer,” she said and reminded the rest of the group about her research.
“What do we do, though? Do we try and talk to her?” Bruno said.
“I wouldn’t call it a ‘her’,” Tesaya said, studying the creature under her furrowed brows. “Let’s stick with ‘it’.”
“But it doesn’t look that dangerous, it’s just crying.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t risk it.”
“What if we just went and attacked it first?” Agatha said.
“But it’s not doing anything! It just stands there!”
“It’s creeping me out! Let’s just leave, it might not follow us.”
“Are you willing to bet our lives on it?”
“Wait! Stop! Look at it! Look!“
The creature had come closer. It was only about forty feet from them now.
“Did anybody see it move?” Mary said.
They hadn’t. It had done it while they were talking amongst themselves.
“What if it only moves when we’re not looking?” Bruno said.
Another whimper came from under the creature’s hood. It sounded so real, like someone was actually hurt or scared! Mary shuddered.
“Don’t let it out of your sight!” Bruno said. “Don’t even blink!”
They started backing away, in a big circle around the figure, making sure they had someone’s eyes on it at all times. Somehow, without actually moving, the creature was always facing them. The sobbing sounds never stopped, as much as the group increased their distance from it.
“What if we did try to talk to it?” Mary said after a few minutes of this stare-down.
“It’s very far away now, we’d have to shout,” Tesaya said. “I wouldn’t do that here. We don’t know what else might be listening.”
“I can try and Message it,” Mary suggested.
She pointed at the creature and whispered the words for the spell. Her message was simple – ‘Who are you? What do you want? Can’t you just let us go?’. Mary tried saying the words in Celestial and Infernal, and asked Bruno and Tesaya to help her translate them in Undercommon and Elvish, just in case the creature didn’t understand Common. But she never got an answer. She tried looking at it with her Eldritch Sight, too, but she was too far away for a clear reading. Its silhouette was blurred when trying to detect magic, and it had something of a greying aura. But this could mean anything.
Soon, the trees got really dense and it was very hard to keep their eyes on the weeping creature. They had to call out to each other to coordinate now. Words like ‘Who can see it?’ and ‘I’m coming up to a tree now, who’s taking over?’ rang through the forest.
Until a second whimper joined the first.
“Screw that!” Agatha hissed. “Let’s get out of here!”
They agreed.
This seemed like the ‘last-resort sort of thing’ Tesaya had talked about, and so, they stopped and geared up for flying away. They never let the hooded figure out of their sight, and they never managed to see where the second cry was coming from, but soon it didn’t matter.
Aurum’s eagle form brushed the tops of the nearby trees as they flew away.
They didn't fly very long. Tesaya's concerns about something seeing them, as well as the lightning occasionally flashing around the eagle, made them really uneasy to stay in the air.
About twenty minutes in, they flew over a small village – just a few huts standing on a wooden platform. Its inhabitants couldn't be seen, but it didn't look abandoned. Small wisps of smoke raised above the crude rooftops of the buildings.
The eagle passed above it and flew on, undisturbed. From the air, they could see another instance of the path of fallen trees. This one was going in the opposite direction--from south to north--as if whatever had made it was making rounds or was looking for something through the swamp.
They landed not far from the trail, and in the last few minutes before the Waterwalking spell wore off, Bruno was able to find a few fallen trees and magically fuse them to fabricate a platform for the party to camp on. Mary planted her wand in the flowering pot she kept in her bag just in case, and they all found shelter under the dome.
The little fairies had installed swings on the tree branches. They were swinging each other and chattering excitedly. Sometimes, they would point to Mary and her friends, and burst into laughter.
Mary opened her book and found the Comprehend Languages ritual. On the one hand, she wanted to understand what the fairies were saying, as it most definitely concerned her group. But on the other, she desperately wanted to know if they had heard any word from Gillean.
When the ritual ended and the spell took effect, the small creatures' bumbling turned into words.
“[What about the pointy-eared gal and the sexy bard?]" a pixie said. “[She looks like she can give him a good time!]”
“[Naaah,]” another one said. “[It's the cat for the sexy bard. I'd say they can get it on for hours!]”
“[Then the pointy-ears is for the dwarf,]” a third pixie joined up. “[Oh, I can see them clicking. And clicking, and clicking, and clicking...]” It began making thrusting motions with its hips and the others laughed.
Realizing what they were talking about, Mary snapped the connection off. She turned away and stared at the ground, feeling her cheeks start to burn.
"Mary?" Bruno's voice came to her from above. "Are you ok?"
She raised her head, met his eyes and immediately looked away. The giggle of the fairies still echoed in her head.
"I'm fine, it's nothing, really!" she said, maybe a little louder than she meant.
"You sure?"
And clicking, and clicking…
"YES! I'M GOING TO MAKE SOME TEA NOW!"
The pixies burst into laughter.
This was so much fun! 😆 The fairies, as well as the weeping creature!
Weeping.
Do you get it?
And it moves while you're not looking?
I'm so happy that our DM included it in our adventure! I literally squealed when Bruno's player said 'Don't even blink!'
See you next time, when we'll be interrupting the story with an Art post, followed by a very special Interlude.
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.