Hello, Everyone!
Last time, after having her leg torn off in a fight and having almost a whole day to get used to this fact, Mary had a visit by Granny Gretel - the mysterious hag the party had been dealing with. She said she could make the leg grow back and asked only for 100 gold pieces in return. Afraid that there was a hidden stipulation in the deal, Mary looked for the guidance of her Patron and he tentatively adviced her to accept.
When Mary closed her Book and turned around to face Granny Gretel, the hag was grinning.
"So, you've decided?" she said.
"A hundred gold pieces in exchange for making my leg grow back the same as it was before," Mary said. "And nothing else."
"Yes," the woman said.
Mary extended her hand for a handshake. Granny wrapped her spider-like fingers around it and gripped it tight. A tingle started from the base of Mary's neck and travelled all the way down her spine.
"So?" she said when nothing else happened. "Are you going to…"
"I'm waiting for my money, dear," Granny said.
"Oh, yes. Right."
Mary counted a hundred gold pieces and handed them to the hag.
Then, Granny raised her left hand and licked the tops of her fingers. She gestured towards Mary’s missing leg and waved, as if calling for a friend to come over. At the same time, she began chanting.
"Grow, grow, grow, three times in a row. Walk, walk, walk, so nobody will gawk."
Mary felt a tingling on her leg, like it had been asleep and was now getting its circulation back. She rubbed the sides of the stump and realised it was a bit longer than before.
In the next few minutes, inch by inch, the leg slowly grew back in its place. Mary stared at it. Some part of her couldn't believe it had been that easy. What if it was a dream, or a trick, or…
"You're welcome, dear," Granny Gretel interrupted her thoughts.
"Yes," Mary murmured. "Thank you!"
"Anything for my favourite granddaughter." The woman stood up and cracked her back. "Now it's time to go. Aurum, dear, will you send me off?"
"Of course, Granny," the bard said and they went out.
Still in some disbelief, Mary wiggled her toes. Slowly, cherishing every movement and sensation, she put a sock on her new foot. Bruno handed her her old boot. It was almost intact after the fight with the Hydra, but she cleaned it with magic just to be sure.
Then, it was time for celebrations. The trio went downstairs and found a free table to sit at. When Trim came to take their orders, he gasped and stared at Mary.
"How…?!" he whispered, his eyes fixed on her leg. "You were… It was…"
"I… um…" Mary licked her lips nervously. "I got better?"
He shook his head and went back to the kitchen. Mary could see him throw her looks again and again, as if to make sure that what he'd seen was true and she, indeed, had grown a whole new leg.
"He helped us a great deal last night," Bruno said. "When we brought you in."
"Did you tell him anything about what happened?"
"He didn't even ask," the dwarf said. "Only whether we had a run-in with the SSS."
Mary could imagine yesterday's scene from Trim's perspective. The three 'merchants', who came with a lot of oranges and weird asks, went out for a morning stroll and returned hours later, all covered in blood and excrement. And the one that got crippled in whatever endeavour they'd been, was now walking on two legs again, with no explanation whatsoever.
Their orders arrived shortly after. Mary was going to have ale, same as her friends. She'd been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours and wanted something stronger than tea. However, she made sure it was only one drink – she didn't want to risk another hangover.
They toasted for their shared victory, and Bruno and Aurum told her what she’d missed while being unconscious. The narration was filled with a lot of gestures and sound effects, as if words weren’t enough to describe what had happened, but this is what Mary gathered from it.
Down in the sewer, the moment the two saw Mary get devoured, they unleashed their spells upon the head that had swallowed her. It immediately got blasted off of the Hydra's body. However, before Bruno or Aurum could reach it, the remaining heads snatched it and tore it in two, dropping Mary in the sewage water.
That was probably when her leg got ripped off.
The boys kept fighting to save her. Aurum threw a Stinking Cloud at the heads and made them almost cough their insides out. That distracted them from the delicious Mary-snack.
Bruno, for his part, was shining like a beacon, his Holy symbol firmly on his chest. His spells seemed to be especially effective against the Hydra and it tried, multiple times, to pull him under the water with its nasty arms. Nothing could knock him off of his feet. He blasted the Hydra with his Sacred Flame, and the second-to-last head burst into flames.
The Hydra, left with one remaining head, tried to sing again, activating its cloaking ability. However, Aurum had had enough. He aimed his Lightning Bolt at random in the direction of the invisible monster, and the spell connected. The Hydra was electrocuted on the spot.
Once all of the heads perished, so did the body. Aurum described how nasty it had been, watching it melt in real time, and told her how Bruno had tied a rope to his waist and had jumped in the waste to find Mary’s leg. He’d looked for it for almost an hour, hacking and slashing at the Hydra’s remains.
“I feel stupid now,” the dwarf admitted. “I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to reattach it.”
“Are you serious?” Mary said. “That was such a heroic thing to do for someone like me! I owe you so much!” She smiled. “And I have my boot now! ”
She hugged Bruno and bought him another ale which he drank with pleasure.
I'm so happy Mary is ok. It would have been hard to play her one-legged. Before Granny Gretel intervened, I was thinking of retiring her and making myself a new character. But I'm happy that everything is fine now.
Although... 100 gold pieces IS too low of a price. There must be something else going on! I hope we get to know it one day!
Anyway. See you next time!
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 Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: These are 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 and Bruno) 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.
