Hello, Everyone!
Happy International Children's Day! Mary’s story hasn’t been much suitable for children recently but I hope you still like it.
Last time we saw our hero, she was plagued by nightmares and couldn’t sleep. The party had just escaped the dragon and was resting on the other side of a collapsed cave wall.
Mary said she was fine.
Mary wasn’t fine.
Her eyelids were heavy and her eyes burned on the inside. She felt weak and irritable. She even snapped at Paulina when the dwarf girl joked about her drinking camomile instead of smoking it.
“It helps me calm down!” Mary hissed in her friend’s face. “Stop nagging me, ok?!”
Paulina backed away, confused. She was then engaged by Aurum.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “Everything is dark again. Can you… you know, do the thing?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. She rummaged through her bag and after a long while managed to find a small piece of carrot, even more gross-looking than the last.
“Eat up!” she said.
“Nice!” Aurum said and swallowed the shrivelled vegetable to get his darkvision back.
The party gathered their things and cleared the campsite. They had to be quick and careful on their way back. They knew the layout but that didn’t mean they should be overconfident. After all, now there was another person they had to take care of.
Fennec was doing a lot better. He was walking at the same pace as everyone else and was even answering questions when asked, but was otherwise very quiet and got startled by every sudden sound.
Passing the rope bridge was surprisingly easy. The entity in the chasm was sleeping, giving out only inarticulate whispers and mumblings. The ceiling above the bridge was clear, no sign of the Roper they’d previously escaped. Mary wondered what had happened to it. She hoped it had fallen victim to the entity - that would be a satisfying end for such a vile creature. However, she couldn’t be sure. All the while they were crossing to the other side, her tired eyes were darting around in search for the monster, or at least a rock formation that looked like its sleeping form. But there was nothing of the sorts. It had disappeared completely.
When they came to the underwater tunnel and prepared to dive in, Aurum stopped and turned to the others.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “and I kinda want to see what’s on the other side of that green portal. I have the feeling it’s something important.”
“Last time we passed by it, I saw light coming through,” Bruno said. “And there was a calling I felt from Ord.”
“Really?” Mary said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to hold us back. We had more important things to do then.”
“One more reason to go in,” Aurum said. “What if what you felt was the Artefact?”
Oh, yeah. The Artefact. So many things had happened in the past few days that Mary had completely forgotten about Agrax’ ultimatum and the search for the thing that might prevent a war between the dwarves and the duergar.
But that portal seemed very dangerous. She remembered losing the connection to her familiar when she sent him in there. What if it killed people?
But then again, dragons also killed people. And back when Mary had told Aurum that she needed to go to one, he’d supported her unconditionally.
“It’s a good idea!” she said. “I’m in.”
The bard grinned.
They swam through the tunnel--Bruno, again, almost walking on the bottom under the weight of his armour--and reached the air bubble in the middle. Aurum, Bruno and Mary stayed there while Paulina helped Fennec get to the relative safety of the next air-filled segment. She came back a few minutes later with most of their rope.
They tied it around Aurum’s waist and prepared for diving. The bard was going to go in the portal alone and look around on the other side. If he didn’t find anything interesting or he fell into danger, he was supposed to pull on the rope twice so they’d get him out.
“Wish me luck!” he said and they dove down.
The portal was shimmering under the water and was coloring everything in its sickly green light. The moment Aurum passed through, it pulsed. Something dark and tattered slid out of it and Mary, Bruno and Paulina found themselves face-to-face with a creature made of shadows. It had a vaguely humanoid form, with burning red eyes and a ragged cloak. The moment it left the portal completely, it lunged at the adventurers.
Mary was closest. She raised her forearms in a gesture of self-protection but it was useless.
The creature’s skeletal hand grabbed her by the wrist and that caused her so much pain that she almost screamed in the water.
She managed to hold her breath but but felt dizzy. It wasn’t all because of the pain. The creature had done something to weaken her! The skin on the place of impact felt icy-cold and had blackened, as if suddenly drained out of life. Mary yanked her wrist off of the creature’s grip and tried to swim away.
In her peripheral vision she saw Bruno and Paulina pull the rope, tyring to get Aurum back. His outline was still visible on the other side of the portal. They dragged him near, but the moment his body reached the swirling green circle, it hit it and bounced off.
He was stuck in there!
Bruno gestured towards the shadow creature and then the portal. In her panic and confusion, Mary couldn’t understand his motions. Her mind was clouded by so many things, not least of which the lack of oxygen. The dwarf threw her the rope and took an attack stance. Paulina joined him and they began fighting the shadow.
Mary sent out an Eldritch Blast, expending her last breath, and rose to the surface to get some air. When she dove back, she saw her friends trying to push the shadow back towards the portal. Paulina was just about to toss it through, when it wiggled in her arms and she had to let go. It was now standing between them and the green circle.
In the next few moment, several things happened almost simultaneously. Mary shot another Eldritch Blast at the shadow. Bruno waved his hands, gesturing his sister to move aside. Paulina dove away.
The cleric sent a mighty prayer towards the dark creature.
It stopped amidst its movement and recoiled, as if terrified by the dwarf. It swam away as quickly as possible. And since Bruno had positioned himself just right, it didn’t have any choice but to enter the portal, making it pulse again.
The moment the creature passed through, however, Mary’s eyes widened and she almost yelled out in the water.
The rope! She’d dropped the rope!
She saw it get pulled, once, twice, and it slid through the portal completely.
Oh, man! It’s difficult to describe an underwater battle! I have not being able to use words like ‘said’, ‘yelled’ or ‘screamed’ :D
Anyway. I hope Aurum is OK on the other side of the portal. The way things are going, he might have to stay there for good.
Hopefully not, though.
See you in the next chapter!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)