Hello, Everyone!
Last time in our story, Mary and her friends had an intense talk with Balaine Endoras, one of the Elders of Myth Adofhaer. Mary made a very poor impression, and on top of that her friends found out that she’d been withholding a certain information from them. Tesaya and Bruno even yelled at her! (well, all right, they didn’t actually yell, but that’s how Mary perceived it).
Mary was so upset by the whole thing that she tried to run away.
“Mary, STOP!” Aurum yelled after her.
Mary felt a sudden stiffness in her body and her brain screamed in terror. Using all her willpower to resist the Hold Person spell, she turned around, only to see Aurum pointing a sharp needle in her direction.
Fear gripped her heart. The part of her that knew she shouldn’t be scared of her friend stepped aside, making way for a primal, desperate need to escape.
She whispered the magic words, and Misty Stepped as far as the spell allowed. The sound of her friends' yelling fell far behind, but she heard quickly approaching steps. It was Aurum. He’d started chasing her.
She looked around for something--anything!--to help her. The streets in this part of the city were busy with people, everyone going on their own business. She heard some of their gasps and disgruntled shouts behind her as the bard was shoving them asideto catch up with her.
“Help!” she screamed. “I’m being chased!”
She ran into the busiest part of the crowd and unleashed her Fey Presence. It was one of Gillean’s first gifts but she’d never liked using it. It was supposed to influence the minds of everyone around her and charm them into helping her.
It didn’t.
People started shouting after her and she realized, in horror, that she’d just broken Myth Adofhaer’s rule number one – ‘no mind-altering spells’. Now it wasn’t only Aurum that was chasing her. She’d made it worse.
She bolted away from the street and into the forest.
Suddenly, a rancid smell entered her nostrils and her stomach churned. A yellow cloud had appeared around her, obscuring her view and making her sick. She began coughing violently, uncontrollably, and crumbled to her knees, throwing up the lunch she’d had just an hour ago.
Aurum’s face emerged inside the cloud. He was grinning triumphantly. This cloud had been his doing.
“Come on, Mary,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before they’d caught us.”
Mary could hear the guards shouting in the distance. She raised her head to look at her friend--tears streaking from her eyes, feeling a piece of lettuce in the corner of her mouth--and took out her dagger. She saw him step back, unsure of what she was about to do.
Mary drew the dagger across her finger and disappeared from view.
Mary’s Misty Escape had teleported her as far as she could go, and had given her a few precious seconds of invisibility to let her hide from Aurum’s sight. The only thing she’d had to do to use that ability was get injured, and she’d taken care of that herself. Now, she was sniffling quietly in the roots of a big tree, far away from her friends.
People were walking around her without as much as acknowledging her sorrow. She stood up and started wandering among the trees. She stepped off the paved streets entirely. Her head was completely empty, and her eyes had dried up. She didn’t want to think of anything. To feel anything.
Soon, she found herself in a small clearing with a stream passing through. A unicorn raised its head and looked at her. This one was bigger than the one she’d seen before. It had a more muscular body, and its mane formed something like a goatee.
Mary stared at it and a strange idea popped up in her head. What if she befriended the creature and went off with it? No facing off her mistakes, no being scolded or looked at with disappointment.
“[Please, can I come closer?]” she asked in Celestial.
The unicorn tilted its head. Encouraged by the lack of negative responce, Mary took a step towards it. The creature quickly turned away, gave out a disgruntled snort and jumped into the forest.
It, too, didn’t want to have anything to do with her.
Mary sat down on the ground and stared at the water. How could she be so stupid? How could she face her friends now, after her foolish, childish behaviour? How could she make things right?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Bruno’s voice inside her head. He was using his Senging spell to contact her.
“We’re going back to Tesaya’s,” he said. “Come when you decide you want to.”
Although she desperately wanted to be with them, she just couldn’t do this. Not after her whole scene…
“I’m sorry,” she returned as an answer. “I need to be alone right now.”
She got no reply. Of course she wouldn’t. She’d lied to her friends, what was she expecting? She hugged her knees and pressed her head into them, trying to think.
An unfamiliar sound tore the air. It was sudden and frightening, and was followed by complete and sudden darkness. Mary gasped. She’d gotten so used to her darkvision that she’d forgotten what it was like to not be able to see. Fear gripped her heart, as she was struggling to look around herself.
A small light appeared in front of her. It grew, and grew, and it turned into an arc; and she was suddenly passing that arc, stumbling into a completely different place.
A place she knew.
Her nostrils felt the smell of citrus and exotic herbs. The sound of a burbling cauldron filled her ears. Her hands touched the leather wrap of an armchair.
“Mary!” the voice of her Patron said.
Her eyes finally managed to focus. She was in Gillean’s hut.
Soo, how did you like this little Mary vs. Aurum skill challenge? I think Mary won it :) I hope the bard’s ego is not too damaged by that.
But we’re going to see Gillean now! How cool is that? He’s always there when Mary needs him! It’s so sweet!
Have a wonderful remainder of the week!
See you next time! Until then,
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.