Hello, Everyone!
How are you doing? I’m pretty busy and the lack of sleep makes me feel closer to my dear Mary, who’s had a rough time lately.
I had a birthday, though :) Had some friends come over, it was awesome.
Annnyway! Last time, in order to avoid being ambushed by the inhabitants of the Underdark, our heroes went into a side tunnel, led by a Deep gnome named Roko. They crawled for what seemed like an eternity and then stopped for some rest. Roko revealed there was a strange engraving on Mary’s sapphire and they talked with the female elf they’d saved from the duergar.
Also, Mary is fine.
Silence was once again creeping on the improvised camp in the middle of the ground. The blue crystal was lighting the walls and ceiling of what was, in actuality, not more than a burrow, only big enough for the group to lay down more or less comfortably. Most of the people Mary and her friends had saved so far were already sleeping, exhausted by their captivity and all the crawling they’d done on the way here.
The only ones who were still awake were talking quietly.
“I’m sure you know a lot about the mountain and all its secrets,” Aurum said to their gnome guide.
“I do,” Roko grinned.
“Have you seen any magical artefacts lying around?”
“If I’d seen any, they wouldn’t be lying around,” Roko said. “They’d be in my hands instead.”
“No, but if they were dangerous to the person holding them?” Bruno chimed in.
“If they were, then I’d be far away from them,” the gnome said.
“Ok,” Aurum said. “But if there were any artefacts like this, where would anyone look for them? Like, where would no one have looked before?”
“The ruins.”
“Ruins?”
Aurum looked to Bruno who, in turn, looked to Saami. The older brother shrugged, he hadn’t heard of any ruins. Roko sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Once upon a time,” he began like he was reciting an old legend, “about twelve centuries ago, there were giant cities flying in the sky. One of them fell on this mountain and from its buildings and streets came the ruins.” He paused and shrugged. “Buuut, nobody goes there.”
“Why?” Mary asked.
“What do you mean why?”
“Is it dangerous? Are there magical artefacts that can kill you? Or legendary monsters who’d fight you? Why can’t you go there?”
The gnome looked embarrassed. He twiddled his thumbs and his ears reddened a little.
“It’s because my grandma said we shouldn’t,” he admitted.
This sounded like something funny but nobody laughed. Mary, for once, liked Roko a lot and wouldn’t laugh at him for respecting his family’s wishes. She wasn’t the best example in that regard, but she wouldn't fault someone who was.
“We should tell the Council about the ruins when we go back to Belfast,” Bruno said. “They might send a group to find the artefact there.”
“Speaking of things to do when we come back,” Paulina said, “Remember those paintings we found in Nurvureem’s lair?”
At the mention of the dragon’s name Mary found herself flinching ever so slightly.
“When we go back home,” Paulina continued pointedly, “go to Leopold’s antique shop. I think he’ll be able to tell you more about them. I’d come with you myself, but I have the feeling that I’ll be grounded for life. Sneaking out like I did is sure to have angered Mom."
“But you shouldn’t be grounded!” Mary protested, wanting to reassure her friend. “We’re all alive and Saami is free because of you!”
“Yeah, well… You’ve seen my mother. She’ll never admit that I did good.”
"You did amazing!” Mary said, and added, a little bit quieter. You are amazing!"
"You don't have to tell me I'm amazing," Paulina huffed. "I already know that. But mom will never let me be myself while I’m over there."
“Well, then, why don’t you come adventuring with us?” Mary said suddenly, surprising even herself. Her ears started burning. "You can be yourself with us…"
“Come with you?” Paulina scoffed. “With the golden son?” She nodded towards Bruno. “To always be in his shadow? No, thank you.”
“He got away,” Mary insisted. “Why can’t you?”
Paulina pointed at her brother and her eyes flickered with anger.
“HE told mom he was going to be ‘the best cleric in the world’. He told her he was going to be famous and bring home a bunch of money.”
"You're going to bring home money, too," Bruno said, jingling the platinum chains from Nurvureem's lair. “That’s your loot, remember?”
"Pfshh!" Paulina said. "If you think that's going to suade her! She's already convinced that I'm the embarrassment of the family."
"You don't have to be the anything of the family,” Mary said. “You can be your own person. You just need to decide what you want to do."
"I know what I want to do!"
"What is that?"
“What I want to do!”
“But what is it?”
“What I want, ok? Not what other people tell me to." Paulina rolled her eyes. "Just leave it, ok? You wouldn’t understand.”
Mary pressed her lips.
“Oook, I think it’s time to go to sleep, everyone,” Roko announced. “All the little boys and girls need to be fresh for the crawling you’ll do tomorrow.”
He leaned back and the ground jumped up to form a bed underneath his body. That’s a thing Mary’d noticed about the earth around them, it made itself useful to the gnome in any way possible. He adjusted the stone as a pillow under his head and immediately fell asleep, snoring happily.
Oh, hi! Quite a lot of talking in this one. Being all cooped up in a tunnel will do that to a group of people.
Anyway. Next time in Mary Windfiddle’s adventures – the talking continues. Mary is fine. So fine, in fact, that she’s in no way of any danger to the other members of her group. Nope. Not at all. Denial to the max :D
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!)