Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes woke up in a still bleak and depressing Pamagos. It turned out that the paramagical effect brought by Nurvureem's reign of terror had not disappeared with her death and was interfering with the group's magic recoveries (in D&D terms: they weren't getting their spell slots back after a long rest).
Only time and the gradual shifting of the people's morale could lift the paramagical effect, but Aurum wasn't ready to accept that. In a particularly sad moment, watching a bunch of funerals caused by the dragon’s cruelty, he gathered a crowd of the grieving and told them that The Great Cleric Brunost Airhammer was going to resurrect their loved ones.
Mary, shocked by the ease with which he could promise such impossible things, tried to warn the people that he was talking nonsense, but it was in vain – their desperation drove them after the bard and towards the unsuspecting (and currently magic-less) Bruno.
The crowd moved through the streets of Pamagos, gathering more and more people in its way. They were shouting, pleading, begging and cheering. Aurum was walking in the midst of all the excitement, head held high, talking cheerfully and answering questions. He was no longer replying to Mary’s Messages.
“We’re not making any promises, but…” Mary heard him say. “Just wait until we get to ‘The Maimed Lion’! Our distinguished Cleric will take care of it all!”
Mary hurried up to outrun them, but by the time she reached the inn, a crowd had already gathered around it. The news of Aurum’s promises had spread fast. She watched the bard scribble on a big piece of paper and post it up on the front door. He went into the inn and she followed suit, sneaking through the back door.
“How could you do this?!” she yelled at his face. “Bruno can’t revive ALL the dead of Pamagos!”
“So what? He can revive at least some of them! And that’s more than nothing!”
“But what about the others? Did you think about them? How many disappointed and heartbroken people will there be, because of your empty promises?”
“I wrote down rules for the revivification. They can read, they’ll know wheather their dead can be resurrected or not.”
Just then, the door of the inn opened and Bruno and Agatha flew in.
“What did you do?” Bruno groaned, heading towards Aurum. “Why are people expecting me to do miracles?”
They told him what had happened. He frowned.
“You can’t want me to do it all, I’m just one person!” he said, rubbing his temples.
“Can’t your God help?” Aurum said.
“Sure he can.” Bruno raised his arms to the ceiling in a mock prayer. “Oh, Ord, please revive everyone that’s died in Pamagos recently!” He waited for a couple of moments and snapped to Aurum. “It obviously doesn’t work like this.”
“I thought he might be impressed by a selfless act of courage,” Aurum suggested.
“Look, I know you were trying to do good,” Agatha said. “But maybe you should have talked to us beforehand.”
Bruno sighed again and went to the bar to get a drink. Agatha followed him. Mary and Aurum stayed behind.
“You always do that,” Mary spat out. “You never think about what other people want. You do things instead of us and expect us to--what--thank you?”
“Are you talking about Merilla?”
Mary realized she was talking about Merilla. She hadn’t started the argument with this thought, but it had somehow made its way into her mind.
“It was important to me that you’d land the final blow on Nurvureem,” Aurum said. “You needed to boost your confidence.”
“Who are you to decide instead of me?” Mary insisted. “You didn’t believe that I could do it by myself and that’s why you turned me into a beast! But I’m better than I was before, I can do much more than you think I can!”
“Then why don’t you DO it then!” Aurum yelled.
Mary pursed her lips.
A commotion came from the second floor. Down the staircase, Dynatos Perres himself arrived, followed by the fiery-headed Elaria with her pseudo-dragon on her shoulder.
“Are you insane?!” the woman hissed. “There is a crowd of people down there, on the brink of becoming a mob! They're already fighting about who gets to be resurrected first!”
“There is an evil magical effect plaguing the city,” Aurum explained. “We needed to do a great good to neutralize it.”
“You’re not doing good,” Mary cut him off. “What these people have lost…”
“Have you thought about what I’ve lost?!”
Mary opened her mouth to tell him that they hadall lost people, but he didn’t let her speak.
“Yes, your parents are dead. But you’ve never even known them, it can’t be the same. Me? Toto is a pile of torn-up limbs somewhere in Nurvureem’s lair. Lanurey is lost forever. And…” He clenched his teeth. “You all knоw I want to resurrect Balaine, but you won’t do nothing!”
“Endoras is GONE, Aurum!” Mary yelled. “His soul is DESTROYED! He can’t come back anymore. And Lanurey was my friend, too! Do you think I don’t suffer for her?”
“Your friend. Right.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the amethyst ring he’d gotten in Ekoba. “She was my fiance!”
Mary pulled back, as if she'd been struck. Her heart broke into a million pieces. Why hadn’t she thought about this? Of course Aurum was distraught! But how could she have known, he was keeping all of that to himself!
“If I could do anything to resurrect any of them, I would! But I can’t.” the bard said. “However, what I can do is help Bruno save all these innocent people who died for nothing!”
There was silence in the room. Aurum threw Lanurey’s ring on the table and it began to spin around, before it slowly settled down and lay there, unmoving.
Such an emotional episode! And everyone has a point in their own way. But what doyou think? Is Aurum right to expect all that miracle-work from Bruno? Is Mary right to fight him for it? It all sounds like a race – who has lost more than the others?
Anyway, see you in the next episode!
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.