Hello, Everyone!
We continue our little Demon detour.
Last time, our heroes debated whether to help the creature, kill it, or just send it to where it came from. They decided to wait until the morning, when Bruno was going to have the spell to Banish it. They spent a restless night into the Orange tree, with Agatha keeping watch, and when morning came, with it came the Demon. It burst into the clearing, leaving our heroes with just enough time to hide into the nearby bushes. It destroyed the platform they'd been sleeping on, but didn't see them.
And then, Mary, sent it a Message and attracted its attention.
This was probably the most daring--and foolish--thing Mary had done in her life. The Demon was leaving, she could have let it go and wait for Bruno to do his Banishment behind its back.
It could have been easy, and painless, and--ultimately--a lot less dangerous than what she was doing at the moment.
”Are you in pain?” she sent into its head.
The Demon turned around and scanned the tangled plants around the clearing. It didn’t have eyes, but it was looking for them, nonetheless.
However, it wasn’t answering Mary’s Message. She repeated it and got a reply in a language she didn’t know.
Without taking her eyes off of the creature, she reached into her component pouch and found the small clay figurine she used for her Tongues spell. With trembling hands, she pressed it to her forehead and repeated her Message for the third time.
[“OF COURSE I’M IN PAIN, YOU FOOLISH HUMAN!”] the Demon screamed inside of her head.
[“We can help you!”] Mary sent. [“Just tell us what to do!]
[YOU CAN TAKE THIS DAMNED THING OFF OF MY FLESH!”] the Demon roared, raising its pierced arm, still dripping with blood.
Mary felt someone grab her wrist. It was Bruno. “What are you doing?!” he hissed. “Are you insane?!”
She didn’t pay him any attention, her whole being concentrating at the Demon. It had already clocked her exact location and was staring at her with its eyeless face. She had to be really careful with her next words.
[“What is going to happen when we take it off?] she said.
[“I’LL BE FREE.”]
Mary gulped. What did that mean, exactly? Free to go back to its Plane? Or free to wreak havoc and kill them the same way it’d done with the cultists?
Mary’s confidence was dwindling with every beat of her heart.
[”Please don’t hurt us!”] she begged.
Bruno stepped in front of her and raised his Holy symbol. It glowed bright… but nothing else happened.
“I can’t Banish it,” he said. “Something is interfering with my spell!”
The Demon was only a few feet from them now. It stopped and reached out its pierced hand. From this close distance, the Anchor looked a lot like a wooden stick.
[“IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING, THEN DO IT ALREADY!”] it said.
Mary couldn’t move. She was suddenly afraid that she’d made a grave mistake. What if them freeing that creature meant the destruction of everything that they held dear? It wasn’t a wounded kitten, indeed. The heat coming out of its giant body enveloped her and made her skin crawl.
“Guys?” Agatha said hesitantly. “The stick… um… spoke to me. It said that if we took it out, we’d free the Demon.”
“Free it? To do what?” Mary squeaked.
“And what do you mean, the stick spoke to you?” Aurum added.
“Free it,” Agatha said, “as in ‘be able to Banish it’.”
She stepped forward, hands raised in a sign of peace. The Demon followed her with his eyeless gaze. Agatha bent down and took the Anchor in her hands. It popped off without any effort.
The Demon looked at its hand, then at Mary and the rest, and it started chanting.
Oh, no! No, no, no! Was that a harmful spell? Was it trying to destroy them, now that it was free? Mary shot her hand up, almost instinctively, and cast a Counterspell. The magic the Demon was trying to make dissipated mid-casting.
It bared its teeth.
[“SO, BE IT THEN!”] it bellowed. [“I’LL FEAST FIRST!”]
It stepped towards Mary. A question invaded her mind, uninvited. How did Demons feast? Did they eat the body of their victims? Or the soul? She didn’t want to lose her soul! Mary winced and prepared for the worst…
Then, there was a loud ‘POP!’, and the Demon vanished into thin air.
“You’re welcome!” Bruno grunted behind her, holding his Holy symbol in one hand.
The Demon had been Banished.
Mary slumped on the soppy floor of the swamp, and took her head in her hands. She felt dizzy. That was too close, even for them!
“So, Mr. Mundus, you can say ‘hi’ to the group now,” Agatha said, taking her out of her thoughts.
The tabaxi was holding the Anchor, which turned out not to be a stick at all, but a wooden dagger instead.
“Come on,” she said. “Tell us who you are!”
The rest of the group looked at her with confusion. Her ears dropped as she frowned.
“I swear it’s talking to me,” she said. “I’m not making this up!”
Mary was inclined to believe her. After all, she was used to talking with a being whom nobody else could hear.
She blinked into her Eldritch Sight to check the dagger for any sign of magic. Bruno, too, held his hands out to examine it for any sort of curse or weird properties. They were not able to see anything. It seemed like just a simple wooden dagger.
“It’s still talking inside of my head,” Agatha murmured. “Says you’ll think I’m crazy for hearing it.”
“No, not crazy,” Mary said tentatively. “But it might be dangerous to hold on to it. Let’s stash it in the Bag.”
She opened the flap on her Bag of Holding and held it up for Agatha. The tabaxi nodded and made a motion to drop the wooden dagger inside, but… she tucked it in her belt instead.
“The fuck?” she exclaimed.
She tried getting rid of the blade again and again, but each time she held on to it even harder.
Finally, she sighed.
“Looks like I have to keep this cursed thing for now.”
This was a nerve-racking encounter. I can't imagine what it'd be like to fight that thing! Good thing we managed to avoid that!
See you next time when we finally get to 'the eye of the storm'!
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.