Hello, Everyone!
How are you doing? How’s life? Mine is way better with our D&D game! Every time something dull is happening or I’m in a place I don’t really want to be, I get into daydreaming about Mary and her friends. It’s really, really nice--albeit maybe not entirely healthy…
Anyway, on to Mary’s adventure. Last time, after visiting the elven prison and talking to Maquiel Prouvier, our heroes went to see Lyria Thei, the woman used six years ago to capture the--presumably--innocent man. The more Mary learned about Dorina Dwendel, the more disappointed she felt. She vowed to be less trusting from now on.
That’s what happens when one of the heroes we make in our heads turns out to be a villain.
“Where do you want to go now?” Tesaya asked when they left Lyria behind.
“I’ve been thinking,” Mary said. “Dorina reacted very weirdly when I mentioned her father. I was under the impression that they were close and loved each other…”
“That’s only lord Dwendel’s point of view, though,” Bruno said.
“Yes, that’s what I’m worried about,” Mary said. “We don’t know what their actual relationship was. Maybe we should look into that.”
“Do you think it’d be a good idea to tell the father that his daughter attacked us last night?” Tesaya said.
“No! Of course not!” Mary exclaimed. “But… I don’t know, we’ve never spoken to her mother. She might be less… emotional about it.”
“Let’s leave the Dwendels for now,” Tesaya said carefully. “We can always ask them later, when we’ve learned more about what’s actually happening.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t use Dorina’s name at all,” Mary suggested. “People could figure out that we’ve seen her, and that could raise some questions…”
“Yes, we can think of a code name for her,” Bruno said, almost mockingly. “What do you think about ‘Dori’?”
Tesaya looked equally amused and dismissive when she shook her head.
“We can still say ‘Dorina’," she said. "It's a pretty common name."
The discussion shifted towards Balaine Endoras. Bruno and Aurum wanted to see him and find out whether they could trust him any further. Mary was a bit apprehensive. She was afraid that her friends would find out about the Message she’d sent him during the Council of Hundred. She suggested going back to the Archives.
“We could look up Dorina’s ability, or Maquiel’s trial, or teleportation spells and the name Olivia,” she listed.
“Speaking of the Archives,” Tesaya said. “What were you looking for yesterday?”
She was staring intently at Mary. The girl bit her lips. She was hoping their hostess would let that incident pass without mentioning it.
“Um…information about the previous abductions?” she tried to weasel out of the subject.
“Come on, Mary!” Tesaya said, tilting her head. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m sorry, it wasn’t connected to our case,” Mary blurted out. “I shouldn’t have done it.”
“Do you think I’m going to tell on you?” Tesaya said. “I didn’t then, and I won’t do it now.”
“But it really was stupid,” Mary said.
“I’m listening.”
Mary sighed. She didn’t feel like sharing her failures but it seemed that she had to.
“Back in one of our journeys we found the abode of an elf called Sylvanas,” she said, “and I was looking for information about him. He was doing some kind of interesting research into plants and...”
“I see,” Tesaya said. "I've heard of him but don't know much about his work. But back then you said you had many things to look for in the Archives. What else?”
Mary glanced at her bag where all her notes resided. She’d been writing list after list with questions, but there was one item that stayed the same in each of them.
Her father.
“It's not important for the case, I promise,” she said weakly. “And it’s… um… a personal matter.”
She’d told herself that she didn’t want to bother her friends with her own story. They had enough on their plate as it was. She’d shared it with Aurum last night, but that was only because he’d insisted.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Tesaya said. “I can help!”
“Well, no offence, but I haven’t even told Bru…” Mary began and stopped.
She covered her mouth and looked at her dwarf friend. He was frowning. Was he feeling betrayed that she hadn’t shared with him? She didn’t mean to, she just…
“I’m sorry!” she said, wanting to justify herself. “It’s really not important, that’s why I didn’t say anything.”
Aurum was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read. Was he disappointed, too?
“And you probably can’t help, anyway,” Mary continued, trying to sound nonchalant about the topic. “Unless, by any chance, you knew of a person called Halas. But you probably don’t.” She looked at Tesaya with both fear and hope.
The elven woman raised her eyes as if trying to recall something.
“I know the name,” she said.
Mary’s heart leaped in her chest, almost painfully so. She felt her breathing almost stop. She tried to speak and the sound that came out of her mouth sounded like a squeak. She coughed and tried again, desperate for answers but trying not to seem so.
“R-really? Who… whose was it?”
“There was a human man with that name who lived in Myth Adofhaer,” Tesaya said.
Mary’s head was spinning. So he did live here! She was on the right track!
“I didn’t know him personally,” Tesaya continued.
“But there must be people who did!” Mary insisted.
"Well, I'm sure there's more information about him in the Archives," Tesaya said pointedly. “All I know is that he died a while back.”
“H-how long ago was that?” Mary asked, almost whispering.
“About twenty years?”
Mary, who was almost twenty herself (or at least thought she was; after all, Lilly and Bramble couldn’t have been sure of her age when they’d found her) wasn't able to find any more words. She looked at Bruno and Aurum’s confused expressions and remembered that they were on a mission. It wasn’t the time to ask about her father. He was going to have to wait.
She swallowed and tried to calm herself down.
“You’ll have to, um, tell me m-more when we finish with today’s investigation,” she said, trying to sound indifferent.
Tesaya nodded sharply. She seemed almost… irritated? Mary didn’t know their hostess could be anything but pleasant and polite. She felt awful for making her angry.
She took a deep breath and changed the subject.
“Sooo, to Balaine Endoras?”
This was a hard scene to go through during our game session. I went through an entire emotional rollercoaster, thinking about how I didn’t want anyone to find out Mary’s secret search, while at the same time wanting to have Tesaya tell us more. Plus, I, too, didn’t want to disappoint my fellow players the same way Mary didn’t want to disappoint Bruno and Aurum.
It’s hard roleplaying sometimes. But it’s fun.
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!)
An important disclaimer: These are 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 and Bruno) 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.