Hello, Everyone!
Long time no see! It's been more than a whole month since I've last posted about my dear Mary Windfiddle and her adventures! I hope you'll enjoy gatting back to our D&D story!
Last time, our heroes had just started their pursuit of one Racox, a.k.a. the Dry Hand, when they got ambushed by Nurvureem and her servant Kalien. The attack was so unexpected and ferocious that the group was forced to flee, but not before Mary was almost sliced in half by the dragon’s fiery sword.
The world twisted into focus, as the group shifted out of the streets of Pamagos and landed in… another place. Mary found herself lying on a field of short golden grass, crickets and little birds chirping around her. Bruno was fussing around her, healing her abdomen and trying to get her on her feet. She groaned. Her euphoria was quickly draining away and giving way to pain and discomfort.
"Here, have a sip," Agatha said, handing her a flask.
Mary drank and made a face at how sour the taste was, but the alcohol trickled down her throat and warmed her insides, making her stomach tinge.
"What happened?" she asked. "Where are we?"
"Welcome to Bytopia!” Mundus announced.
“Bi-topia?” Bruno repeated.
"A whole new Plane of Existence for y'all!” Mundus continued. “One of the higher ones, at that. Heaven of traders, artisans and gnomes."
Mary sat on the soft grass and finally took a look at her surroundings. They were in a vast field of grassy hills spanning in all directions. A couple of bunnies ran through the grass and popped into the nearby bushes. A hind raised its head to look at them. It flicked its ears and went back to grazing. The whole scene was so calm and serene that it made fighting Nurvureem seem like a nightmare, rather than something that had happened just a moments ago.
Then, Mary's gaze panned up, and the surrealness of the view made her feel dizzy.
(Maybe Nurvureem was the truth after all, and this was the dream? A few precious seconds of peace and quiet before the end?)
There was a whole other world, hanging above their heads. A huge upside-down city with blinking lights – houses and temples, palaces and towers. A tall mountain was suspended there, next to the city, and its peak mirrored the peak of another mountain that rose from the ground that Mary and the rest of the group was on. There was no sun or moon above, only the golden twilight and the little lights from the impossible city. The whole world felt… unreal.
The sound of livestock bells sounded in the distance and came closer.
"By the way, what year is it?" Mundus said. “I’ve been in the dark for so long that I don’t even know anymore!”
While Agatha and Aurum were entertaining the dagger, Bruno concentrated on Sending a few messages.
“Dynatos says there was an alarm bell in Pamagos just now,” he said. “An attack with many people dead. It seems that Nurvureem’s taken a residence in Pamagos and this wasn’t her first ambush.” He sighed. “On the other hand, Orswald is doing all right. They’ve already got twelve balistas with nets against aerial attacks.”
Hearing about Nurvureem and her exploits, Mary felt the blood drain from her face. They had angried the dragon, again. More people were dead because of them!
“Mary, are you ok?” Aurum said.
She tried a smile and nodded unconvinsingly. Then, a strange thought filled her heart with a new worry.
“Mundus?” she said. “This Plane, this Bytopia… does time here move differently than in our Plane?”
If it was in any way like the Fairy Realm, they were going to be in big trouble. Time flew very weirdly out there, five hours with the Fairies could mean five years in Erathos. Or five minutes. Nobody knew which way the clock would turn. And they didn’t have Gillean here, to magically fix time.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Mundus said. “Time is pretty much the same here. Space, however, is a bit wonky. When we come back to your world--if that’s what you wanna do--we might find ourselves in a predicament..”
The livestock bells had been coming closer and closer as they talked, and now, a flock of sheep came into view. The shepherd's dog made a wide circle around the group and barked a few times. The shepherd--a small gnome in a modest white-and-beige attire--waved a hand and smiled. Mary found herself waving as well.
“‘ello, ‘ello!” he said when he came close enough to talk. “You four seem like you had a nasty death!”
They stared at him.
“Yeah, well, look at ya lot!” he said, gesturing to their bloody and acid-torn clothes. “It seems like you died quite violently. Wonder why you’re ‘ere then…”
Mary felt her heart tighten.
“Wait, we’re not…” she began, but couldn’t finish. What if they were? Her wound had been pretty serious.
The shephard squinted and then raised his eyebrows.
“Woah, right! It seems like you’re indeed not dead at all! Why are ya ‘ere then?”
“We were transported,” Aurum said. “But wait, why would you think we were dead? I know we don’t look really presentable but we’re quite alive!”
“‘ere in Bytopia everybody’s dead,” the man said with a shrug. “It’s one of the places people go when they, ya know...” He dragged his forefinger across his throat. “Anyway,” he continued. “Nice to meet ya, my name is Bosygus Palatypus.”
“Bless you,” Aurum said. The man laughed.
“Ya wan’ a place to stay? It’s getting pretty late out here. Not that there’s anything to harm you if you stay out, but I’ve got nice soft straw for beds and what not.”
The four of them looked at each other. It was going to be nice to have somewhere to stay and rest up.
Phew! It looks like Mary and her friends are safe, for now. I hope they can recover from Nurvureem's ambush. What do you think about Bytopia? As far as I know, it's existence is real D&D lore but I haven't read much about it. If you've ever played the game, have you been there?
In any case, see you next time!
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.