Hello, Everyone!
Last time, after finding their way through the Dragon's prison, our heroes finally reached the final chamber, where the Dragon was--presumably--held. During their final fight, the group was beginning to notice some weird actions coming from their elven friend Tesaya... And when she left the rest of the party fighting a tough fight to go into the next chamber alone... Well, they realised that something was truly wrong.
Our heroes followed her immediatelly... but it was too late. Taking out a powerful Artefact, Tesaya cast a spell which began breaking the enchantments holding the Dragon imprisoned.
(By the way, if you don't remember who Tesaya is or what she used to be before, I did two recap episodes about her (here's No. 1, and here's No. 2).
Hope they're helpful!)
The red spots dancing in Mary's vision cleared, and she was finally able to see. The chamber was in disarray. Half of the chains binding the gate were lying on the floor. The other half were straining under the pressure of something trying to push its way through. The giant clangs from underneath sounded more and more impatient.
But… there was something even more disturbing than that.
The reason the chains were breaking… the reason the gate was even penetrable… Whatever Tesaya had done with the Artefact, it had torn up the world. Mary's eyes, so used to seeing the Weave of the Arcane, stared at the grey emptiness around the gate.
The magic was gone there! It was like a hole in the fabric of reality!
…unsettling…
Another bang shook the ground. Mary gripped her wand. She had a crazy idea. She couldn't cast magic above the gate, but what if she created some? Would that be able to stitch the rift? Her body moved before she had time to think properly. She jumped forward, her hands finding the flowering pot in her Bag of Holding, and pushed her wand deep in the soil. The orange tree started sprouting. It was creating itself, it was creating magic.
Mary hurled herself towards the gate and felt hope rise inside her heart… But the moment that her body passed the threshold of the Weaveless zone, the tree shrunk back inside the wand. Mary sprawled onto the gate, hands clutching the now useless flowering pot.
"Don't embarrass yourself. Meridia!" Tesaya sneered behind her.
Mary felt the burn of shame envelop her whole being. Why would she think she was strong enough to patch up the world?
"Let's all wait for only a few more moments," Tesaya said. "He shall rise, and then we'll talk."
She was standing before the gate, her hand on her waist. Her face… it wasn’t the face Mary knew. Half of it was Tesaya, but the other half was contorted into a monstrous one-sided grin and covered in dragon scales.
Just like Kalien's.
Mary jumped to her feet and away from the gate. An Eldritch Blast formed in her hand. She didn't want to hurt her friend, but was that really her friend? Maybe Tesaya was controlled, like Dorina had been, or it was someone else pretending to be her. Maybe knocking her out was the only way to deal with her right now. After all, even if they hurt her, Bruno could easily heal her when she was herself again.
The Blast crackled through the air, but it missed Tesaya by a few inches. Mary’s heart wasn’t in it. However, at the same time, Bruno sent out a Guiding bolt, followed by his Spiritual hammer. Both landed their blows on Tesaya, but she shrugged them off with barely an effort.
"Are you really Tesaya?" Bruno yelled.
"Oh, yes!" The woman chuckled. "I've always been me! And now, it is time,” she added triumphantly. “Meet your Lord and Emperor, Trax'rion the Conqueror!”
With a crushing, thunderous sound, the gate in the floor burst out of its hinges. Lightning shot up into the chamber, and from the hole, an enormous claw emerged, followed by another, and then a head, with one single thick horn protruding from the forehead.
It was the dragon. But he wasn’t Red, as the group had previously thought.
He was Blue.
“Rejoice, friends!” Tesaya exclaimed, with a zealous glimmer in her eyes. “And welcome, under the rule of our true Emperor!”
“WELL DONE, TESAYA!” the dragon rumbled. “NOW, GIVE THEM THEIR TASK.”
Tesaya turned to the group and smiled.
“What makes you think that we’ll serve your Master?” Bruno said before she was able to speak.
“Oh, you’d want to!” she replied. “See, Trax’rion 's different than the rest of the dragons. He doesn't want destruction. You're his subjects and he'll take care of you. He'll govern you, the way no mortal could ever do!"
“What does that even mean?”
“Oh, you’ll see soon enough.” Tesaya chuckled.
With the corner of her eye, Mary saw Agatha sneaking towards the Paladin and her Master. She was holding the wooden dagger, ready to pierce the flesh of either one of them.
“So, your task. We want you to go and stop Racox The Vile,” Tesaya said. “You know him, only you’ve been calling him ‘The Dry Hand’. He wants to get the White Queen back in the game, and we can’t have that.”
With an almost lazy motion, she swatted the dagger off of Agatha’s fingers and pushed her away, then continued, as if nothing had happened.
“Racox should be leaving Pamagos at any moment now. Might have even already left, I haven't been following his movements too closely. He’s going North, and he’s going to try to resurrect Meltharond and convince the White Queen to invade Erathos. You four... are to stop him.”
She looked them over, one by one, as if assessing their strength.
“Now, there’s something you should know about Racox,” she added. “He’s got the Hand of Vecna, a powerful necromantic Artefact. You should be careful about it.”
“As if you’d care!” Mary spout out.
“Now, come on, Mary, I do care about you! I even still consider you friends. After all, it was you three that I came to, when they caught me with a blade on Tiriel's throat. I knew I could count on you to believe me!”
Mary’s heart was breaking. She wanted to cry, to shout, to fight… But the eyes of the dragon were following their every movement, and his breath was crackling with electricity. She was powerless.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why are you doing this?”
Tesaya leaned towards her.
“I told you already. In Nature, the strongest survive. They govern the weak, and the weak don’t have a say in it." She paused. "You don’t have a say in it.”
“Falka did!” Mary said through gritted teeth. “Falka was stronger than your precious Trax’rion!”
Anger flared in the dragon’s eyes. He swung his tail and slammed the nearby wall. Rubble clattered to the ground.
“FALKA IS DEAD!” Trax’rion roared. “AND SO IS ZERAKIEL! ONLY I SURVIVE! ONLY I WILL RULE!”
The dragon had now fully climbed above ground. His body was filling the chamber almost to the brim. His wings scraped the ceiling, his claws made indents in the floor, and his head towered over Tesaya, making her look tiny in comparasence.
“MYTH ADOFHAER IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST TO PAY THE PRICE FOR QUESTIONING MY DOMINION!” he rumbled. “IT’S TIME, TESAYA. OUR CONQUEST BEGINS!”
Tesaya nodded and turned around. Then, as if she’d just thought of something, she reached into her Bag of Holding and took out a small sack.
“Here, this is for you. I don’t think I’ll have any use of it anymore.”
She threw the sack at Aurum’s feet and he kneeled to open it. He gagged and stepped backwards, and with his motion, the sack’s contents rolled out on the floor. Balaine Endoras’ disembodied head, pale and covered with long dried-out blood fell to the ground and gaped at the group with its milky-white eyes.
Mary felt fury overtake her. She screamed, and lashed out, Eldritch Blasts enveloping her arms. She wanted to hurt, to punish, to destroy. She wanted Tesaya to suffer, like she’d never wanted anyone to suffer before.
Her Blasts flew out of her hands, but the moment they closed on the Paladin and her Master, their energy disappeared. The hole in the Weave of magic was still there, and it undid her spell the moment it touched it.
Mary cried out in impotent anger, as the dragon pressed into the ceiling and tensed his muscles. The stone crumpled and broke, and it started falling in the chamber. One of Trax’rion’s wings covered Mary and her friends, protecting them from the rubble.
“It’s been good seeing you three,” Tesaya said, turning around with a smile.
The half of her face that looked like the dragon crackled with electricity, and she hunched over, laughing triumphantly. Blue draconic wings erupted from her back and extended in the air. She beat them a few times, as if to test them out, and then rose above the floor.
“We’re going to pay a little visit to Myth Adofhaer now,” she said, grinning. “And you know what’s the best thing about that? Their army is not home!”
Oh! Oh, no! Tesaya, how could you?!
Everyone, this has been a masterful betrayal, let's all give it up for our DM! I don't know how he managed to keep this a secret for all this time! I'm amazed and in awe, all the while Mary is devastated and on the brink of tears.
But that's life (and D&D). Strong emotions, both in- and out- of game!
By the way, this it our mid-Arc finale! I'm so happy to have been able to share this story with you so far! Now, I'm going to take a short-to-mid-length break, to prepare the next episodes and draw all the illustrations.
Do you want to have a Q&A in the meantime? Please ask me (and our DM) anything in the comments!
Anyway, when the next episode is ready, this link will lead you straight to it!
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: 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.