DnD Wife Stories

Bricky lay on the ground outside the arena. He had not regained consciousness since the battle earlier and none of the others knew how to help him. Tobias shook him a bit to try and rouse him from his state. He searched for signs of life, signs of stirring, but there was nothing. If he didn’t know better, he would think Bricky was dead.

As Tobias held Bricky’s body, there suddenly came a jolt of something electric. It ran from Bricky and even touched Tobias as his fur stood out with the shock of power. Bricky’s eyes snapped open and he sat up just as quick. His eye turned yellow as he looked at Tobias and he seemed to get back to normal. Around them the other warriors were receiving the normal medical care. Tobias attempted to do the same for Bricky to no avail. Conventional healing just didn’t seem to do anything for him.

Instead, Bricky moved the useless bandages aside. He pulled out what little thread he had left and a bent needle that looked like it could snap at any moment. With those meager items, be began to sew himself shut. His wounds were sealed. Not by magic, but by the work of Bricky’s calloused hands. He also used some of the leather scraps that he had left over from making Bogbean’s new boots and sealed the larger holes with them. The end result was a patchwork of sewing accross Bricky’s face that was more nightmarish than before, but he did feel a bit better.

He felt more stable now but he did get the feeling that something was missing. He thought on it for a moment before looking around as if searching for something. Drexla was hovering a bit above the travelers she was with and noticed something strange that caught her eye. A shadowed figure looking a lot like Bricky was hovering on the edges of the light. He went to move and knocked over a table and all its contents on the ground, but no one really noticed among the noise of the festival. Seeing that the figure was getting away, Drexla went to follow him at a distance.

The shadowed figure ran further ahead, deeper into the more shadowed areas of the festival grounds. The figure knocked over more things as it went. Drexla pursued as silently as she could. She thought she was right behind the figure when it ducked into a dark archway with deep shadows and seemed to disappear from sight. The figure completely melted into the darkness and left behind a wake of destruction that left the festival attendees scratching their heads and wondering at what caused the mess.

Not seeing any sign of the figure, Drexla eventually drifted back to the group. At the side of the arena, the fighters were being fed and bandaged from the previous bouts. Libations were abundant and merriment was well underway. Luna was receiving treatment and had just finished up when Drexla flitted up close to Luna’s ear to inform her of what she saw.

“Luna,” She whispered, “I need to talk to you.”

“Hmm, what’s wrong?” replied Luna.

“I saw something really weird.”

“Okay,” said Luna, more intrigued now.

“I was flying high above and I saw Bricky but like a shadow Bricky. He ran and knocked a bunch of shit off the tables then he hit the shadows and disappeared!”

“How did you know it was Bricky? He’s been with us the entire time.”

“No, it was a shadow Bricky!” insisted Drexla.

“It was a shadow..Bricky?” Luna asked, bemused by the descrition.

” I recognized the build and he’s pretty distinguishable from the other inhabitants. It had to be him, or a part of him.”

“But did you see a face or anything?”

“No, he was a shadow, but it was Bricky.”

Luna began muttering to herself, trying to puzzle out what was going on.

“You’re the magic person, so I thought you would know.”

“But, I’ve never heard of anything like that! I’ll have to do some research! We might want to ask Bricky about it.” Luna trailed off as they looked in Bricky’s direction.

“I don’t know that he would know, but I thought you should know. So, I’ve done what I can.”

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for, shadow people.”

“Shadow Bricky.” Drexla corrected.

“Shadow Bricky.” Luna confirmed with a serious nod. “I’ll try to find out what I can.”

“And it was physical enough to knock things off the tables. So it isn’t really a shadow.”

“So, it was a shadow but also with a physical body? Was it.. you know with shadows they confirm to the person they belong to. If they move, the shadow moves with them. Was this that?”

“No this thing was standalone. It was a full person. Shadow Bricky.” Drexla insisted again.

Luna was pensive for a while. “That is so strange.”

“I thought so too. That’s why I told you.”

“I don’t know what that could be. I don’t know if I know anything about that..” she trailed off as she began to rifle through her notes. From some of her research she found that the idea of a magically generated autonomous shadow could be conceived and was entirely probable in this case. She looked up at Drexla after a moment.

“Well, there is proof to confirm the use of shadow selves.” It was also entirely probably that Drexla has seen a trick of the light and a strong breeze, but Luna kept that thought to herself as she added more information to her notes on Bricky and the unfolding situation. Drexla saw her reticence to believe and began to protest but Luna interjected first.

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but we have to take all possibilities into account. I’ll have to do some research and I don’t know what to do after that.”

“We also haven’t ever seen anything like him before so, it could be something he can do.”

“True, I’ve never seen a sewn together person before Bricky.”

“That’s all I’m saying. It’s wise to keep an eye on him for now.”

Luna nodded.

“Something is wrong for sure.” Drexla added.

“Should we tell the others?”

“Probably, because he might not even know what is happening to him. He might need help.”

“Right. He seems nice enough and I don’t want to make up my mind about him before giving him a chance to explain or understand what is happening. We’ll talk to everyone when we start to settle down for the night and are all together.”

Drexla nodded and the two of them turned towards the rest of the group that was discussing tomorrow’s bouts. They were all very excited after the matches and were looking forward to more.

As they made their way through the festival, Luna approached Tobias.

“Hey Tobias, do you know anyone around here who I can talk to about magical knowledge?”

“I don’t know anybody. The last time I was here, I was a cub.”

“Ahh, I see.”

Tobias tried to think of someone but he really could not remember anyone he spoke to.

“I don’t really know much about this myself,” Tobias said, looking down at his hands. “I barely know anything about magic. I’ve barely had this for a couple of months at most.”

Bogbean was nearly catatonic as her belly was nice and round with food.

Tobias looked around and saw the plethora of festival games and fun snacks that were abundant around them.

“Do we want to play around some or head back to the camp to rest? You all look like you need to lie down a bit.”

While the others discussed what they were doing Drexla flapped her wings to rise higher above the crowds to see more. She tried to use her gauntlet to see if she could detect any magical signatures around.

Below, Tobias asked again, “So, festivities or rest?”

Luna replied that she wouldn’t mind heading back to the cart for some rest as they had another heavy day of fighting tomorrow as well. There was plenty of time to enjoy the festival. The others nodded their assent and they all began to rise preparing to make their way back to their camp. They were tired, sore and in need of a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow’s bouts were sure to be even more intense than today’s.