Of Dice and Glen is a story being written following D&D 5th Edition rules and using Minecraft as the battle mat (and to set the scene). Each of the two writers control their own characters and share the job of Dungeon Master (controlling the environment, story, monsters and background characters). As a result, neither of us has any clue of what's going on or where this is going. So, let's have fun!
This story is split between episodes being posted on the second Monday of every month.
You can find the first episode here and the
previous episode here.
Of Dice and Glen Episode 10: Strange Happenings
The next morning, Luna rolled over on her somewhat grubby pallet and mumbled sleepily. Drifting in semi-consciousness, she heard her own words as if from far away. Sitting bolt upright in alarm, she groggily reached for her dagger in the gloom of the basement.
“Dragony-face!” she shouted. “Quick!”
“What? What is it?” Shaddar demanded, bolting upright and grabbing for his bow.
As the fog of sleepiness began to drift apart, Luna realized her mistake. Looking away, she put her dagger away and shrugged.
“Never mind! I... It’s ok! We’re safe!”
Giggling awkwardly, she stretched, tail tensing, then relaxing behind her.
Shaking his reptilian head, Shaddar relaxed and stretched. He coaxed life from the coals of the fire then examined his wounds from the previous day. They were healing well and wouldn’t cause him any trouble. In fact, he felt better than ever.
He started packing up his bedroll.
“Do you have everything you need before we go to town?” he asked Luna.
Town. She had entirely forgotten about that. Stiffening, she turned to snarl at the idea, not him, when she felt an odd prickle. It was similar to the sensation of magic casting, but it was moving from the top of her head, down, across her face, then around her neck. The anger at “town” mingled with the magical sensations and she gave an echoing snarl.
The tiefling’s nose began to elongate and her ears, face and hands began to sprout fur. With the snarl, she fell to all fours and her weapons, backpack and clothing merged and disappeared. A full-grown wolf now crouched, ready to spring, where Luna once stood.
Startled, Shaddar took a step back, his hand sliding to his sword hilt.
“Luna…?” he asked cautiously. He’d heard stories of those so attuned to nature that they could take on animal form, but he’d never been sure if they were true.
“What?!” she tried to snap, but all that came out was a guttural, aggressive bark. The wolf blinked and gazed down, in confusion, at its paws. The cunning, intelligent eyes widened and Luna gave a frightened whine.
Sighing, Shaddar relaxed.
“Come on, enough playing around. Let’s get going.”
The furry, solidly muscled limbs began to shake and Luna’s red tongue flopped out of her mouth as she began to pant nervously. The piercing eyes pleaded with her dragonborn friend and there was genuine fear in them.
Finished his packing, Shaddar frowned at the wolf in the flickering firelight.
“Is something wrong? It’s really neat that you can turn into a wolf - that’s some powerful magic. You won’t be able to climb the rope like that, though.”
Padding over to him shakily, the tiefling-wolf pressed its powerful body against one of Shaddar’s scaled legs. Her whole body was shaking now and the whine was repeated. Hesitantly, she scraped one paw at his boot, gazing up at him with that same pleading, terrified expression.
Powerful magic. From where? I’m scared! Help me... Please, Shaddar... I’m so scared...
“You okay?” The white dragonborn kneeled down at her side. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you have no idea what’s going on. On the other hand, I never would have guessed you were powerful enough to turn into an animal at will.”
At will...?
Slowly, the trembling stopped and the wolf’s eyes closed. Luna concentrated all her energy and imagined herself, as she realized she must appear, in wolf form. Then, her unaccustomed magical focus straining, she envisioned herself in her ordinary form. Every detail shimmered in her mind, from her horns, all the way down to her tail.
The fur began to recede, the ears shortened and returned to their normal position and the small horns poked out from the rapidly growing hair. Luna crouched beside her friend, breath coming in sharp, painful gasps as she opened her eyes.
“Son of a gnoll’s nephew...” she breathed, then glanced up at Shaddar sheepishly. “Sorry. I wasn’t playing around.”
“You didn’t know you could do that?” the dragonborn asked.
“No,” she almost laughed. “That was... Very strange, but I think I know how to do it again. Here!”
Closing her eyes, she envisioned Writing Desk in her mind’s eye. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated and tried to stretch her wings, gaze about at the world through beady, penetrating eyes.
Nothing happened.
“I guess it was a one-time thing,” she shrugged, opening her eyes again. “What were you saying?”
Shaddar thought back and shrugged. “Just that we should get going if we want to find out anything about this note.”
“Oh,” the former wolf slumped and nodded grimly. “Yeah, that.”
Sluggishly, but swiftly, Luna packed up her bedroll and checked her equipment, then dragged her feet toward the stairs.
“I don’t want toooooo..!” she whined, sounding for a brief moment like the canine form she had just quit.
“Neither do I,” Shaddar said. “I suppose we could always find another forest to live in and allow evil to have its way with ours.”
Luna narrowed her eyes and glared at Shaddar.
“Fine,” she stated and began to climb the ancient stairway. “But I better get something sweet. And a new pair of boots.”
Chuckling, Shaddar followed her. “Would you mind making us some light?”
"Wh- oh! Right! I forgot; you're blind," she grinned back at him, but obligingly popped a fireball into her outstretched palm.
Continuing up the stairs, they found nothing had changed. The corpses, the mouldering scenery, everything was untouched.
"I guess nobody came nosing around. We were lucky."
“This place is fairly well hidden,” Shaddar said. “If we’re truly lucky, no one will ever find it again.”
They climbed up to the top room of the tower, filled with mounds of dirt dimly illuminated by the hole leading up to the surface. They scaled the rope, up into the blinding sunlight. The two goblin corpses still remained - swarming with flies - but the kobold had been dragged off by something - most likely a fox.
Shaddar looked around, at the corpses and the barely visible crenulations protruding from the ground and at the hole they’d emerged from.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving it like this,” he said. “Sooner or later, someone could find it. Especially if whoever wrote that letter sends more searchers.
Wrinkling her nose at the putrid dead, Luna skittered around the hole on all fours, sniffing like a dog.
"Maybe if I throw enough fireballs it will collapse on itself?" She suggested, hopefully, to her companion, tail wagging lazily through the air.
“Perhaps,” Shaddar said, his voice tinged with doubt. “It lasted gods know how many years underground, though, it seems fairly sturdy.”
He looked to the mound of dirt that had been hauled out of the tower, his tongue flicking with indecision. “My instinct is to bury all traces of this place, but dislike the idea of taking so much time.”
Nodding, Luna, too, stared with a frown at the stonework at their feet.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, suddenly, leaping upright and grinning. “Just one second!”
Without another word, she ran into the forest and disappeared.
“I - Luna…!” Shaddar gave up with a sigh, shaking his head. His eyes landed on the insect-ridden goblin corpses. Those would be a beacon for any further agents searching for this place.
His snout wrinkling in disgust, the dragonborn started moving the corpses to drop them down the hole into the tower.
Discover what happens next in Episode 11:
Furry Friends and Giggling Trees
Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
