Hello, Everyone!
How have you been? I'm... really not super well, real-life-wise, but Mary keeps me sane :)
Her story is continuing. Last time, the trio reached Myth Adofhaer, the elven city in the Red Forest. All their preconceptions about the elves got confirmed, as everyone they met treated them with arrogance and disdain. In order to pass the invisible barrier around the actual city, the humans and--to the elves’ disgust--the dwarf, had to have a special ‘Key’ placed on them. Peculiarly, the guard who did the incantation said that Mary already had a Key. Bruno attributed that to the sapphire brooch she had in her possession, as they’d seen the same brooches on a group of elves entering the city.
Noanar. That was the name of their black-haired guard. The other didn't even acknowledge their presence, but when asked, Noanar would answer their questions, albeit with a lot of exasperation and eye-rolling.
They were led through the city and Mary's eyes filled with wonder at the beauty and splendor surrounding them. The leaves of the trees here weren’t red like the ones outside the wall. They were as green as they’d probably be in spring and summer. All the buildings (if you could even call them that!) were part of the natural look of the place. The whole city was built on the trees, branches interweaving to form platforms, stairs and habitats. Soft light with a bluish tint illuminated the paved streets, and almost gliding through, elves of all shapes and sizes were going on about their day. Some of them glanced at the party passing through but nobody said anything.
The group reached the inner side of the city wall where a few stone structures were squished together, away from the all-natural design of the rest of the city. There, they were made to wait, as another unfriendly-looking elven clerk was flipping through their documents with the pace of a snail who wasn't in a hurry.
Finally, he turned to them.
“What’s your business in the city?”
Mary frowned. Hadn’t he read it in the papers?
“We, um…” she staggered. “We are agents of Pamagos...”
“Yes, I can see that,” he said.
Mary sank into her shoulders, as if she’d been scolded. She glanced at Bruno and Aurum but none of them seemed like they wanted to step in and help her out. She decided to try mentioning a name that the elf might know and be respectful of.
“We, um, have a letter from Dynatos Perres,” she said weakly.
“Yes, I can see that,” the elf repeated, just as hostile as before.
So, the letter didn’t do much to help them after all. Or maybe without it the elves were going to be even more antagonistic?
“We, um,” Mary tried again, ”we are investigating the undead attacks that started this year and wanted to talk to anyone who’d witnessed the, the, um… the ones from six years ago.”
“Oh, really? And why is that?”
“Um…” Mary swallowed hard. Why was this person so irritated with them? “We wanted to see whether what happened here last time can help us with the, um… current investigation.”
"That's something you have to address to the people upstairs," the elf said.
Mary instinctively looked up, to the ceiling of the one-storey building. The elf smirked.
"It's a matter for the Council of Hundred," he said as if speaking to a toddler. "But they are busy people. It might be days before they decide to see you. You’ll wait in the barracks until then. No wandering around the city, no disturbing the peace and quiet."
He stamped their documents and handed them back, then gestured to Noanar to take them away.
“Excuse me?” Mary said, already at the door. “Can I ask one more thing?”
“What?”
"Do you know where we can find lord Alexander Dwendel? He's our friend and..."
"I’m not an address book," the elf scoffed.
“I see. Last thing," Mary said. She was beginning to get annoyed by this man. "Can you tell me your name?”
The elf clerk stared daggers at her. Finally, after what felt like a whole minute of tense silence, he gave her his name. Tamish Pranas.
Mary wasn't a person who held grudges but she decided to dislike Tamish Pranas forever.
The party was led to another one of the stone barracks. It was a low but long building, with a narrow corridor and several rooms on the sides. One of these rooms was meant for al three of them.
Noanar positioned himself in front of their door and told them to rest and not cause any trouble. Aurum grinned and nodded, too enthusiastically to be actually sincere.
The moment the door shut behind them, he conjured his Mage Hand and sent it through the wall to the corridor beyond. They heard a shuffle and an exasperated grunt coming from their guard. Aurum snickered.
"This place is so foreign and hostile!" Mary said, throwing herself on the hard bed. "Why do they hate us so much?!"
"Might have something to do with our ears not being long enough.," Bruno said, too calmly for Mary's liking.
"With longer ears come better opportunities for revenge," Aurum said, still busy navigating his Mage Hand.
He was tickling Noanar's ear as if there was a bug constantly landing on it and then flying away.
“I wish there were at least some friendly faces to talk to. Like lord Dwendel and his family. What I wouldn’t give for them to be here!”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Bruno said.
He used his Sending spell to contact Lord Dwendel and got a response almost immediately. The lord found out where they were staying and came, along with his wife and little William.
“Oh, my goodness! You’ve grown so much!” Mary exclaimed upon seeing the boy.
“Yes, but you were too late,” William gave her his toothy smile. “You lost your chance. I already have a girlfriend!”
Damn! Those elves are so unpleasant to interact with! I wonder if there’d be at least some that our heroes are going to vibe with…
Isn’t it interesting that ever since Tolkien, elves have been portrayed as those snotty arrogant assholes that no other race likes? Have you ever seen a piece of fiction or Actual Play where they have been depicted in a positive way?
Next time – finally talking with some nice people. We haven’t seen the Dwendels for some time, let’s see what they’ve been up to.
See you then!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)