Hello, Everyone!
Last time, seeing that they were getting closer to the Dragon's prison, our heroes went on and prepared for the upcoming trials. Aurum popped off one of the two Zaga bottles they had and everyone drank (gaining the benefits of a Heroes' Feast spell). Bruno and Mary had a disagreement... or rather, a fight, beacuse, according to our favourite dwarf, she was getting too reckless and put everyone in danger with that Demon she decided to talk to. Mary got upset and yelled at everyone, and then Aurum came to her to calm her down. They talked about battle scars and confidence and the whole time Mary fought through a major blush.
Now, they've almost reached their goal!
"I have an idea," Mary shouted over the sound of pouring rain.
They were trudging on the swamp surface, heads tucked into their cloaks to protect them from the wind.
The others stopped and turned to her. Water was trickling down their clothes and armour, and Agatha looked particularly unhappy with her wet fur.
"I was thinking," Mary called out, trying to outshout the storm, "instead of attacking the Order members the moment we see them, we could try and trick them into telling us some information. There is this new spell I've been working on, and I think now I'm strong enough to cast it. It can make us look like another group of Order people – faces, clothes and all…"
"It would be nice if I didn't look like myself in front of them," Tesaya said, nodding to her missing arm.
"Oh, yeah, can you make her two-handed?" Aurum said.
"Only in appearance," Mary said. "It’d only be an illusion."
"That's ok," Tesaya said with a tame smile.
"Anyway, its a good idea," Bruno said. "How long can the spell last?"
"For eight whole hours!" Mary said proudly.
"Then let's try it. It can't do any harm."
Mary took a stance and concentrated. She made the wand gestures and said the words, and after a few moments, under the rain now stood four elves and a tabaxi.
"Sorry, Agatha," Mary said. "I thought it'd be more convincing if you looked like yourself and we pretended we were bringing you to have your soul sacrificed."
"Cool."
"Why am I the only black-haired one?" Bruno said, checking out the image Mary's spell had given him.
"And why do I look like that clerk guy from Myth Adofhaer?" Aurum protested. He'd taken out his compact mirror and was inspecting his new face.
"Stop pestering Mary!" Tesaya said. "She did a great job."
She waved her new illusory arm and gave Mary a thumbs up.
"I think you should lead us,'' Mary said to her, "as you are the only one of us who actually speaks elvish. And you should take this." She handed Tesaya the sapphire brooch. "If anyone asks you to present credentials, it'd be good for you to be able to give them something that wasn't an illusion. And if we manage to fool them, we could outright ask them what's going on. If we were members of the Order that hadn't received Tiriel's new order yet, we'd want to know what they were intending to do, right?"
The five of them kept on walking under the rain for a couple of more hours. Then, the tree line ended abruptly. Ahead of them, a deep chasm descended, a couple hundred yards in diameter and as far down as their eyes could see. Above it, the dark clouds swirled around the center of the storm, where a sliver of clear blue sky opened like a giant iris.
But even in the Eye of the storm, rain still drowned the area. The wind blew the drops inwards and made them seep into the nothingness below. The swamp water poured over the edge, forming an everrunning waterfall.
Agatha found a stone and flicked it into the chasm. They saw it fall in and disappear into the deep. As much as Mary strained, she couldn't hear it hit the bottom.
"Now what?" Bruno said. "This feels like a dead end."
"The prison is probably all the way down," Agatha suggested. "We should walk the edge and look for a way there."
"We don't have time to circle the whole area," Tesaya grumbled.
"Maybe we should confront the elves head on," Mary suggested.
She cast her shimmering Guiding Hand to see where they were going to come from, and it pointed towards the Kipsos Pass. Almost by habit, she followed the spell with her Eldritch sight.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. “There is an enchantment on the hole! It’s illusiory magic! Maybe there isn't a chasm there at all!”
"I'll go," Aurum said. "I have a new... thingy now. Even if this is a hole, it won't let me fall."
They tied a rope around his waist and slowly unreined it as the bard walked forward. At first, his stride was hesitant. Mary saw his muscles strain when he stepped over the edge, but then he let out a surprised 'huh'. He continued his walk, careful at first, and then more and more confident with every step. From the group's perspective, he was walking on thin air!
"Umph," he huffed, bumping face-first into something. He rubbed his nose and felt the air in front of himself. Then, after cocking his head as if inspecting something, he turned around with a grin.
"Come on," he said, waving them closer. "It's safe! Just... be careful, you should step exactly where I stepped, otherwise you'll fall to your death!"
Mary stared at the ground in panic. She hadn't thought to remember Aurum's paces! She made a mousey step ahead and watched as Tesaya and Agatha stomped around her, as if they hadn't paid heed to their friend's warning.
"He's messing with us, Mary," Bruno said, walking past her, too. "There's no hole."
Mary blinked and now she, too, saw through the illusion.
There was no drop at all. There was, instead, a wide clearing right underneath the Eye of the storm, and a simple building, made from a single stone block that rose in the middle. Mary scowled at Aurum and he chuckled.
As she approached the building, a female voice rang in her head.
"BEHIND THIS DOOR, AN ANCIENT EVIL LIES," it said. "IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, BEGONE!"
They'd found the dragon's prison.
Oh, we're so close now! See you next time! I can't wait!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: Mary Windfiddle's story is 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, Bruno and Agatha) 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.