Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes fought Racox and his undead mount, the Gold dragon Diohastos’ remains. It was a difficult battle because our target was always in the air and hidden inside his saddle, but after a quick Fireball to the face and some Agatha-and-Mundus action, the dragon rider was no more. The dragon flew up but Aurum teleported himself and Agatha on top of it and they quickly dispatched it, too.
However, when they came back down, they were carrying a body – a woman, burned beyond recognition, who had been tied to Racox’ saddle. Mary went from elation to despair in a flash, realising that it was probably her Fireball that had killed her.
Mary's feet quavered underneath her weight. She made a couple of steps forward and sagged. Taking the dead woman's head in her lap, she stared unblinkingly into the blank space. The voices of her companions came to her muffled, as if from hundreds of feet away.
"... resurrect her?" Mary said weakly.
“Sorry?” Agatha said.
“Can we resurrect her?” she repeated a bit louder, getting more and more distraught with every word. “Please! Please, resurrect her!” She looked at Bruno and tried to stuff the diamond of her Belfast patch into his hands. “I can’t… it’s all my fault. Please fix it!”
“Mary, calm down. We can resurrect her ten times over.”
The dwarf moved aside and revealed the contents of the sack that Aurum and Agatha had taken from Racox' saddle before it crashed. The bag was full of uncut diamonds glimmering in the daylight.
“Racox must have been taking them to the White Queen for Meltharond’s resurrection,” he said.
Mary gaped at the diamonds. There were enough there to resurrect an army!
“I won’t be able to do the ritual right away,” Bruno said. “But I can prepare her body for when I do.”
He kneeled down and ran his hand over the woman’s corpse. Ord’s light flashed around it, and preserved it so that its soul could return to it later.
“What was she doing on the saddle, anyway?” Agatha asked.
“She was probably being taken as a sacrifice for Racox’ ritual,” Bruno replied.
Mary gasped. “A sacrifice? Wait, will YOU need a sacrifice?”
The Cleric scoffed. “Of course not! Ord doesn’t work that way.”
Mary calmed down a little. Gently, she wrapped the dead woman with a cloak, and tried to pay attention to what her companions were saying.
“I wonder if there’s a way to resurrect Diohastos, too,” Aurum said pensively. “He could be a good ally to have around.”
“It’ll require a much stronger Cleric to resurrect someone who’s been dead for so long,” Bruno said. “We can ask Francesca when we meet her.”
“Do we need to keep the skin until then?” Agatha said. “Will it even fit into the Bag of Holding?”
“I’m not putting that in the Bag!” Mary protested.
“You won’t have to,” Bruno assured them. “If we manage to find someone to do the more complex ritual, they won’t need a body to cast it.”
“Well, all right-y then,” Agatha said, rubbing her hands together. “How do we get to the next dragon on our list?”
"We'll have to get out of here and go somewhere safe first. We can't face Nurvureem at the state we're in now."
"Where do we go? Pamagos?"
"Perhaps not? Last time she found us too quickly, as if someone had been watching the barracks. We can't get there and expect Nurvureem to leave us to rest before we are ready to fight."
"Then what, Zerakas tol?"
"Yeah, if we want to pop up in Reina's room."
Aurum made a sour face.
"Do we have any other circles we have coordinates to?"
"Well…" Aurum said. "There are the ones in Belfast and in Sylvanas' lab. And the Cedar Woods, of course."
"Still no Frinkeltong."
"Well, its not like we had time to find it out."
“We have to think about what we’re going to do with Diohastos’ skin, too," Mary said. "We can’t leave it lying like this. It’s… disrespectful.”
“Oh, I know!” Aurum gleamed. “We can sell if to Granny! That way, we can also ask for a way to travel without expending our own energy, as well as get some useful stuff.”
He held out the ruby amulet and called for the owner of ‘The Hut’. Mary tensed up. She wasn’t sure if she was in a good enough state of mind to deal with the hag.
(At least they didn’t have to fear that they’d have to pay her with the Hand of Vecna. When Mundus had dealt with Racox, the dry hand had been lost along with its owner.)
We haven’t seen Granny Gretel for quite some time. I wonder how the old hag is doing. Mary keeps on not trusting her but Aurum seems strangely attached. I wonder what his secret is!
Anyway, see you next time!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossaries (Part 1 and Part 2)
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.