Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes finally managed to catch up with Racox and started a fight with him and the Undead remains of the Gold dragon Diohastos. Racox tried to summon the Earth Elemental Agrax but Mary ’s Counterspell freed it from the Dry Hand’s control and it left the fight. Racox used Blindness and Diohastos’ ‘breath of Death’ to weaken the group, but Aurum’s Slow and Mary’s fiery Eldritch Blast seemed to get back at him.
Diohastos' skin was above them, torn up and singed from Mary's Fireball and Bruno’s Guiding Bolts. Racox was nowhere to be seen. The saddle was still giving him full cover from most of their spells.
“I should have taken care of you at the start, dwarf!” his voice sounded, stretched out and slowed down. “Up!”
The dragon started ascending. Soon, it was going to be out of the range of their spells. Racox appeared on the saddle, waving his Dry hand in a series of arcane gestures. His whole face was burning with anger because of how long it was taking him.
Mary’d seen those motions before! Bruno used them to Banish the Demon Glabrezu! Racox was trying to send their cleric to another Plane of Existence! But Bruno didn’t flinch. His Symbol shined brightly, his armour glowed with holy flames, his white beard was blowing on the wind. He raised his hand and let lose another Guiding Bolt, lighting up the Undead dragon and making its skin shiver.
But it was Aurum that finished the fight. His eyes followed the dragon’s ascend and, holding a small vial of broken crystal, he drew a complicated form in the air. A wall of pure arcane energy enveloped Diohastos and closed around him like a sphere, separating him from his rider. The cultist got shot off into the air. He plunged to the ground, waving his arms around with a horrified scream. The leather straps that used to tie him to his saddle flapped around like a pair of useless wings.
Agatha followed his fall with the hungry attention of a cat stalking a mouse. When he slammed on the ground, she ran to him and plunged Mundus into his chest.
The moment she turned the dagger, the world swirled around the blade. It syphoned Racox through the wound, and with a loud popping sound, the man was no more.
Only a thin cloud of bloody mist was left in his place.
Now, there was only Diohastos’ remains to deal with. Mary almost expected it to drop down when its master perished, but instead, it was still thrashing in Aurum's sphere, trying to get out and fly away.
"The spell's going to last about nine more minutes," the bard said. "What are we going to do with the thing?"
“Try to kill it?” Bruno said. “It looks pretty damaged already…”
“But first, can we get all of this death-juice off of ourselves?” Agatha said, looking pleadingly at Mary.
Mary waved her wand and cleaned everyone up. All the blood, rot and puss disappeared as if they had never been there. Only the feeling of emptiness and disgust remained.
“All right. Everybody, at the same time?” Aurum said.
He waved the Wall of Force away and they released their spells. An Eldritch Blast flew through the air, connecting with a Guiding and a Lightning Bolt. But they weren’t strong enough. The dragon shook them off and started rising up.
Where was it going?! Did it have another Master to answer to? Was it going to go on a rampage and destroy the nearby villages? Or was it still going towards the White Queen, despite Racox’ death? With every beat of its wings, he was flying up, farther and farther away from anything they could use against it.
Mary caught Aurum’s eyes. He looked at the dragon’s ascend, looked at Mary, and then at Agatha. Then, as if making a quick decision, he grabbed the tabaxi’s arm and dragged her through a Dimension Door.
The shimmering outline of the other end appeared high in the air, a few feet above the dragon. Mary saw the tiny figures of Aurum and Agatha pop on the saddle and almost skiddle off. She sighed in relief when they managed to hold on.
All she was able to do now was watch, holding her breath, while the bard and the tabaxi dealt with the dragon. For a short moment, they disappeared from view, the saddle and the dragon’s body blocking the view. Then, Agatha appeared next to Diohastos' wing and ran her daggers across its length. It parted from the body, and the dragon began falling, swirling around in a downward spiral.
Mary and Bruno jumped out of the way at the last moment. Diohastos’ remains slammed to the ground, splattering into a lifeless pile of flesh. A small crater formed around its broken and tortured form. It flinched one last time, and stood still.
Aurum and Agatha lowered slowly towards the ground, held up by the bard’s Feather Fall spell. The tabaxi was holding something in her arms.
Mary ran towards them, smiling ear to ear.
“We did it!” she exclaimed.
She was so proud of herself! She’d held her own in this fight, she’d shown that she didn’t need Agatha’s help or Bruno’s schooling. She’d been smart, she’d been powerful! She’d escaped the first blow of Diohastos' breath. Her Counterspell had removed Agrax from the battlefield. Her Fireball had made a lot of damage – and she hadn't even SEEN her target at the time!
Triumph blossomed in her heart. With that, and the memory of the glint of fear in Nurvureem’s eyes, she felt like she could do anything!
And then, Aurum and Agatha landed, and she saw what they were carrying.
“We couldn’t do anything,” Aurum said. “She was already dead when we found her.”
Mary felt her heart stop. Her stomach churned and she gasped for air, as if she’d suddenly lost the ability to breathe.
Limp in Agatha’s arms, there was a woman bound in ropes, horribly burnt, to the point that she wasn’t even recognisible. With horror, Mary remembered the Fireball blossoming on her fingers and flying towards its target.
She’d killed her. She’d killed that woman.
It was all her fault.
Oh, no! My poor Mary! So far during her adventures, she’s seen people die because she wasn’t able to save them, but this is the first time she’s actually dealt the finishing blow on an innocent person.
How quickly triumph turns into despair!
Anyway. This is the end of this chapter. It doesn’t leave our heroine in a very good emotional state… but at least they managed to defeat Racox. That’s a good thing, right? It was a good choice to go after him.
Right?
Well, in the next chapter, we’ll see the consequences of our heroes’ actions.
See you then!
Take care and be well!
Episodes of Mary Windfiddle's story come out every Monday and Thursday.
(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.
