Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes were just on their way to meet Dynatos Perres, when they had an unexpected encounter with their old ‘friend’ Jared and his sister Nymphadora, along with a group of what seemed like mercenaries from Terpesh. Poor Nymphadora looked all beaten up and Mary asked her companions to try and rescue her.
They followed Jared and his goons to ‘The Leaky Sink’, a shady tavern that Agatha visited in secret earlier, and decided to send Aurum inside, in disguise. He chose the visage of no other but Kalien, Nurvureem’s servant, and went in before anyone could object.
Meanwhile, Agatha admitted that she’d been to the tavern and shared a worrying information – earlier on the same day, Kalien himself had been there, along with his Mistress. Mary tried to warn Aurum via Message but he didn’t respond.
They waited for what seemed like an eternity. Mary kept on screaming in Aurum’s head but he ignored her completely.
Then, suddenly, a loud ringing noise came from inside the tavern. It sounded like the bard’s Shatter spell. Mary and Bruno shared a worried look. The Cleric lit his holy symbol and it enveloped them in light, and Mary conjured her Mirror duplicates to protect herself against harm. Shouts and screams rose from inside the tavern.
But before anyone could react, Agatha ran towards the tavern. In the blink of an eye, she was already at the door. Another blink, and it was gaping, kicked open by her foot. A third blink, and she was sprinting out, carrying the bard on her back.
Mary and Bruno stopped in their tracks. Aurum--in his true form--jumped down from the tabaxi, dusted himself off and cleared his throat. The back of his shirt was covered in blood.
"Sooo, Nurvureem's in there," he said, almost nonchalantly. "And she’s super hot…"
He turned around and sent out a Stinking Cloud towards the tavern door. It got dispelled almost immediately.
From the now unobscured entrance, a massive humanoid figure burst out. It ripped the door off of its hinges and sent it flying out on the street. It was a woman – tall, strong and fierce. Her steps were heavier than her frame suggested, and her black hair spilled behind her like wings. A very familiar sword resided on a leather strap on her back.
Mary’s heart jumped into her throat.
Almost too fast for her movement to be perceived, Nurvureem reached Aurum and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. Recognising his face, her anger melted into a cruel grin.
"Hello, dear!" she purred. "Why don't we have some nice lighting in this murky evening?"
She unclasped her sword and gripped it in her free hand. With a ‘Clang!’, its tip dropped onto the ground. The Dark Lady uttered a single word as command and the blade burst into flames. The heat was so intense that the pavement around them started melting.
The woman's all-black eyes flashed towards Mary.
“Mary Windfiddle!” Nurvureem said, chuckling at Mary's flinch, “I am disappointed. I was really pleased with your book. I rewarded you and even invited you into my home. But you didn’t come. You refused my generous offer. So…” She sighed dramatically. “What do I do with you?”
Mary found herself paralyzed by fear. Her breathing was jagged and shallow and her heart was hardly beating. She struggled to speak.
Nurvureem smirked and looked at the others.
"I can see that all three of you are here,” she said happily. “And you've got a new friend, too. How wonderful!"
“Hello,” Agatha said. “Nice to meet you. I think there’s been a misunderstanding. We’re friends, we didn’t mean any harm.”
“You didn’t, did you?”
Nurvureem flashed her a nasty smile.
"Hey, sooo," Aurum said, attracting the dragon’s gaze. "How have you been?" He was trying to sound cool but there were sweat beads breaking out on his forehead.
Still holding him by his shirt, Nurvureem brought him up closer. He was like a rag doll in her hand.
The bard cleared his throat and continued: "What brings you to Pamagos?"
Nurvureem licked her lips. "Fun," she said. "You?"
"Fun, as well. Or revenge… But they're basically the same, right?"
The dragon chuckled.
"By the way, sorry 'bout that." He nodded towards Nurvureem's arm. The sleeve of her shirt was torn up and a streak of blood was faintly visible under it.
"Oh, that?" the Dark Lady said. She waved her hand casually. "It's only a scratch."
"I didn't mean to harm you, I had beef with the group in the next booth."
"Oh, really?"
“Yes," Agatha said. “There is a girl inside…”
Mary’s eyes widened and she tried to catch the tabaxi’s attention, furiously shaking her head ‘no’.
Agatha frowned at her but continued. “She is hurt and we wanted to help her.”
“Oh!” Nurvureem said, glancing at the tavern. Only the corner of her mouth rose up. “You care about that girl, don't you? I think I’ll take care of her, then.” Her all-black eyes flickered towards Mary. “Mary Windfiddle,” she said, making Mary flinch again. “When are you going to come visit me? I have a lot of things to tell you about myself and my life. A lot of things you can write down for your next book.”
With a single motion she buried the tip of the flaming sword into the pavement and wrapped her fingers around Aurum's throat, squeezing it as if she was playing. Her palm was almost as big as his whole head. The whole time, she was staring at Mary, letting her know that her answer should come quick, before she’d grown bored of her pray.
Mary tried to speak but her throat had dried up completely. She swallowed hard.
“I'll come,” she squeaked, her eyes full of unfallen tears. “Of course I will! Just tell me when and where!”
Nurvureem grinned. “At my swamp, in one week’s time.”
Then, she uttered the same one-word command and her sword’s flames died down. She put Aurum back on his feet and turned to the tavern.
“I'm going to take care of things inside now. You can go.”
Oh, my! I don’t know about you, but Nurvureem gives me the chills. our DM plays her so well, being all intimidating and scary! I used to have nightmares about her!
Anyway, see you next time when we’ll find out what’d happen to the tavern and see if our heroes are able to save the people inside. But before that, take a look at this art post I made, with a few more pictures of Nurvureem's human form.
Take care and be well!
(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, 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.