Hello, Everyone!
How are you? I’m… can you guess? Tired! But happy because this chapter was a lot of fun to write :) I hope you like it!
Last time, our adventurers had a fight with some undead in a small village between Frinkeltong and Pamagos. They managed to defeat the enemies but at the price of one of the villagers’ life.
Mary took it quite badly.
The next couple of days passed without any more trouble. They rode around lake Dunlain, across the endless golden fields of Pamagos and, finally, through the gates of the capital city.
Bruno sent a message to Paulina and she gave him the name of the inn she was staying in – ‘The Maimed Lion’. Mary beamed at the thought of seeing her friend so soon, and she bounced on the street, as if walking on air.
Thinking of the dwarf girl, she missed the first few people who pointed at them and started whispering. However, she couldn't ignore the shout.
"Mary! Mary Windfiddle!"
There were two girls running towards her, screaming with glee. A man and a woman chased after them, trying to call them back, but to no avail. The girls hurled at Mary and wrapped their arms around her waist. She froze up with her hands in the air.
"I'm sorry, Miss Windfiddle!" The man had managed to catch up with the girls and ushered them away from Mary. "They're so excited to meet you! They've read your book three times!"
Oh! Right! The book. They must have recognized her because she was on the cover.
“I want to be just like you when I grow up!” one of the girls said, wide-eyed and sincere.
Mary didn’t know what to say. She smiled helplessly and looked at Bruno and Aurum for support, but they were also busy. A few men had encircled Bruno and were complimenting him on his fighting prowess, and a group of young men and women had crowded Aurum, giggling excitedly. More and more people were surrounding them. Pieces of paper and open books were waved around for Mary to sign, chapters were discussed enthusiastically, questions were asked… Everyone seemed psyched to meet them.
The ten minutes the trio had assumed it’d take them to reach ‘The Maimed Lion’ turned into an hour. Finally, they were able to reach the inn and went inside, followed by a smaller but still quite considerable crowd of people.
They were met by the inn’s owner, a tabaxi man with the head of a lion and an arm that looked like it had been broken in several places and then not fixed very well. He introduced himself as ‘Leon’, and after hearing whom they were looking for, pointed towards the back of the hall.
Paulina was there, waving a hand, smiling and almost unchanged, save for the color of her hair – now a bright, candy-like pink. Mary’s mouth spread wide and she almost forgot all the people around her. She ran to her friend and squeezed her until she patted her on the back to show she needed a breath.
Paulina was sharing a table with three other people. She introduced them as her own adventuring party. There were two half-elves – a man named Toto and a woman named Vivian. The third person Mary already knew. It was Asya, the human who'd done her yarn braids in Belfast.
Mary smiled at her and glared at the other two. She didn’t know them. What were they doing with her dwarf friend? Were they close to her? Closer than she was? She looked them up and down, inspecting to see any signs of Paulina and Asya’s hairstyling or modifications. There weren’t any. She sighed with relief and finally said ‘hi’.
The seven of them had brunch in ‘The Maimed Lion’. It turned out that Paulina and her party had already finished their first two missions and were celebrating the occasion. They wanted to treat Mary, Bruno and Aurum but they didn’t get the chance – Leon was so pleased with the clientele the trio had brought him that he didn’t ask for any money. He even gave them rooms on the second floor. So, there were perks with being famous, not just awkwardness.
People were still coming to their table to get a few words in, ask for an autograph or just shake their hands. Mary didn’t enjoy any of it. She felt like she didn’t deserve it – after all it wasn’t she who’d written and published the book.
This wasn’t the story she wanted to get out into the world. She wanted to write about Imre Stormbringer, the mighty warrior with a heart of gold. Her notes and journals were only research for what was going to be ‘the greatest story ever’. Not this. Not her life.
Who would want to read about a useless bookworm from Frinkeltong?
Who, indeed? I believe there are a few people in here who do. Or at least I hope there are :)
But anyway. Fun fact about Mary’s character creation: when I was thinking about her ideals, flaws and fears, the first thing I wrote was that she was afraid of someone stealing her manuscript and taking all her glory away. But I didn’t even mention it to our DM! He thought of this plotpoint all on his own.
What is it, that you say about great minds? XD
See you next time, when we’re finally going on our little investigation to find the person who stole Mary’s work!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)