Mariang

Mariang is a player-controlled (by RielCZ) character from the Fairytale Hearts (Tintervale) Universe.

### Aliases

Mariang, Maria, Deeriang (when wildshaped as a deer)

### Languages

Common, Quori, Celestial, Druidic, Primordial

## Fairytale Inspiration

Mariang is a character from traditional Filipino folk tales/legend. She is the (usually) kind diwata/fairy/goddess/spirit/person inhabiting Mount Makiling in Luzon; some say Mount Makiling appears to have a woman's face in it. She is described with copper skin, white robes/dress, and long ebony hair.

The specific story used for Mariang's inspiration (HERE) is an abridged version of the famous Jose Rizal's account of the legend as published in *La Solidaridad* in 1890 (example English translation HERE). The account describes the sometimes conflicting accounts of a reclusive young woman who cares for the mountain (including restoring order after storms) and the people nearby (including loaning people jewels for important celebrations).

The specific story in which Mariang was trapped details a hunter who found her hut after chasing a wild boar. Mariang chastised him for hunting her boar, but invited him inside. She fed him and gave him ginger, which he put in his hat. On his walk home, his hat started to feel heavy, so he discarded some of the ginger; when he got home, though, he realized the ginger had turned to gold! He tried to find some of the pieces he had discarded, but was unable to.

## History

### Act I: Tutorial

#### Initial Meetups

Mariang heard a voice telling her to go to the library. She walked through and felt frightened by the many faceless creatures she saw. But she wanted to help them. And wreak vengeance on whomever caused all this.

She first encountered Peter, and let him hide behind her. She then encountered Beaumont, and finally Valerianella (Nella). They remembered where the library was (part of the priory) and navigated there.

There, they met Flit, a pyewacket. Mariang asked Flit what crime he committed, but Flit essentially commented that the plot would have to further advance, causing Mariang to frown. The party learned they were selected because they have the "pages" from a Fey spellbook bound to their souls.

#### ~~Part One:~~ The Three Trials

##### The Room With Four Walls

Flit led Mariang and the others into a room with 4 walls, one with 1 dot, one with 2 dots, etc. After some of the others tried pushing the dots in order -- and at the prompting of Flit to think "outside the box" -- Mariang realized the group had to break the wall with the 4 dot. After some effort with their weapons, it went down, and the whole room opened to a church-like setting.

##### Character Creation

Flit said that the party would sometimes be required to bring the otherwise faceless background characters into the story (charisma check) -- "the story of the four heroes saving the city". After Nella tried unsuccessfully to bring a Monk into the story, Mariang managed to get one of the praying monks to awaken and, after she described to him the story of the four heroes, asked (with some prompting from the others) directions to the library.

##### Fight!

There were six demon creatures the party had to face off against. Mariang used Shillelagh to enchant her staff, and tried twice to hit the demons to no avail. Luckily, Peter came to her (and Nella's) assistance and slayed the demon that had been attacking them. Thereafter, the beings' true forms were revealed; unluckily, it turned out they were all real people, and Flit mentioned that anyone who dies in-story dies IRL. Luckily, these were just illusions. ~~Unluckily, ones Peter had earlier killed were not illusions.~~

#### Meeting The Unreliable Narrator

The party met the illusory form of their host. They further explained the nature of the town's curse, and how the party members were freed due to a flyleaf. They also mentioned the ultimate party mission: go into stories, find people with pages, get the pages and free the people, and reassemble the original book (the Codex of All Stories).

The party learned the location of their first adventure, a garden by a rich kid school.

### Act II: The Quest for the Red Rose

#### En Route

The party went to the place where the Unreliable Narrator told them to go. They found a walled garden that they were unable to see into; it appeared hazy. The gate into the garden was guarded by a lizard and a butterfly. The lizard and butterfly were laughing at a boy inside, who was challenged by the girl he was courting to find a red rose in the garden; there appeared to be no red roses, however.

The party expressed desires to go inside. Mariang particularly wanted to help the boy find a rose. The lizard complained about the party disturbing the story plot, and refused to let the party go in. This escalated to a fight, where the lizard transformed to a lizardfolk. In the end, Valerianella restrained the lizard (though it was not unconscious) and the party pushed through him into the garden.

#### In the Garden

##### Exposition

In the garden there were many hedges, akin to a maze; it seemed to be the story trying to protect itself.

Indeed, the boy was encountered, and he talked about needing to find a red rose. He refused the party's help to find one.

A brown bird (a nightingale) was seen; Peter talked to the bird via Speak with Animals, and it was discovered that the bird planned to be an ultimate sacrifice love; it had discussed plans with the red rose bush, wherein the bird would prick itself on the thorns, and its blood would colour a budding rose red and encourage it to bloom. This did not sit well with the party -- especially to Mariang, who (as a druid) had other means of forcing a flower to bloom -- but before the bird could be stopped, it flew away.

The hunt was then on to find and hopefully save the bird, as well as assist the boy if possible.

##### The Maze Runner

###### Part 1

The party found a yellow rose bush that just wanted friends... so badly, it was prepared to keep friends there against their will. Beaumont was captured, and freed by Peter's rats.

The party then backtracked and went the opposite direction, and eventually encountered a treasure chest. They left behind the 200 gold, but took gardening supplies. Mariang took a watering can, because she just wants to help the flowers grow.

~~Mariang briefly got caught in the maze's darkness as they left the treasure chest.~~ The ~~rest of the~~ party encountered an angry bear that was hibernating. It was inadvertently blocking the path to some blackberries.

To better sneak about the maze, Mariang cast Pass Without Trace about the party.

The party found a path with some mushrooms, but fearing they might spell poison they backtracked and went the other direction. They then encountered a rabbit, selling some old wares (apparently because her husband remarked there she had too much junk) in exchange for... blackberries. The party went back to the bear, and Peter managed to convince the bear to move in exchange for a more comfortable sleep via Beaumont's sleeping bag. The party collected 30 blackberries and went back to the rabbit, where they bought an inverse lantern (that can darken rather than lighten an area, so long as the light isn't from the sun or moon) and an heirloom owlbear scarf (that Beaumont wanted).

###### Part 2

The party had its way blocked by a particularly thick hedge. Mariang went to investigate, but only got thorns in her hand (and lost some HP). Eventually, the rabbit told us that this happens sometimes and to go seek help from the mice who lived in the mushrooms.

The party subsequently returned to the mushrooms, where the mice were. Peter, given his skills with rats (and his speak with animals), spoke to the mice and was told that they would tear down the hedges if the party was able to do something for them: place a bell around a nearby cat, so that the mice would hear when it was coming.

The party found the cat. Peter convinced it to take the bell collar if it looked cooler, and some thorns from the hedges were added to the collar. The cat belled, the party returned to the mice, who cut down the hedges. The party then continued on.

Mariang and the rest of the party heard the sniveling boy from earlier. Mariang was fine with sneaking past him and leaving him -- her concern was getting to that rose bush before the nightingale died -- but Beaumont stopped along the way and got after the boy.

The party continued and encountered a tree/Dryad who claimed that the nightingale was her friend and would sing in her branches. She didn't want the party to interfere in the nightingale's wishes, which was to die for the boy's rose and in so doing prove that true love was worthy of the ultimate sacrifice. She charmed Beaumont, to try and convince everyone to take the Dryad's side. Mariang and Nella did the opposite; Mariang particularly said how the nightingale deserves to live to be able to spread more love and kindness around, impossible if she dies. Mariang successfully persuaded the Dryad to stand down and let them continue (though Beaumont was particularly hostile after his charming magic wore off).

Thereafter, the party encountered the hostile rose bush, the nightingale inside.

##### A Thorny Battle (AKA Fighting a Rose Bush, Deja Vu)

Mariang started the battle by trying to get the rose bush to stand down and release the nightingale, stressing there were other ways to accomplish the goal of getting a red rose to bloom. This was a futile effort, and Mariang decided to make the terrain about the Rosebush difficult so that it would injure itself should it try to come closer to attack the party.

Unfortunately, this was useless in the end; the rosebush used a legendary action to sink into the ground and appear far away. At least the little bird-like monsters flitting about and seemingly protecting the rosebush did not successfully attack Mariang.

Mariang wildshaped into a Visayan Spotted Deer (with a speed of 60) so that she could race to the rosebush. She hit it with an Antler's attack. The rosebush then did its legendary action to appear far away again! Mariang transported Peter on her back and dashed to the rosebush, where Peter continued to try and help/heal the Nightingale. Mariang did another Antlers attack -- her antlers were becoming quite filled with thorny vines. The rosebush legendary action'd away again, and Mariang -- Peter on her back -- raced up to it again, or at least as close as she could before she was stopped by Beau who was in the way ~~because we didn't know at the time that that was just considered difficult terrain and Mariang could get around him~~. On Deeriang's next turn, she did a Hooves attack -- because it does less damage than Antlers and she didn't want to really hurt the rosebush or Beau who was very nearby, and because her antlers were getting full of vines -- which was enough to do the job. Dancing atop the bush and aiming for the feet/roots of the bush, she successfully incapacitated the boss.

##### End Matter

After some coaxing and convincing by Beau that this wasn't right, the nightinggale went free and turned back into a Kenku. The page it released was read aloud: in the end, the nightingale died to grow the red rose, the boy found it and gave it to the girl, but the girl had moved on and said that another guy had given her jewels instead, so the boy was bitter and stepped on the rose, the end. So, in the end, it was good the party saved the bird and didn't just grow a rose themselves. Beau took the page.

Mariang un-wildshaped and took the vines out of her hair.

#### Epilogue

The party left the garden and talked to Flit, who commended them for their efforts in getting the pages and also said he would show up soon enough for their next adventure. He then left.

The party members discussed at length when and how they would meet again. The conversation primarily turned into them discussing where they lived. It turned out Mariang lived on the large hill across the lake from Peter, who could summon his rats if anything went wrong. Mariang discussed with Beau his "roommate" and he realized he should ask her (Beauty, presumably) before he invites anyone over -- though she might also appreciate company who was not him. Mariang said she lived alone in a secluded hut, to which Beau said must be lonely; Mariang invited everyone to come join her for a meal sometime, which Nella said sounded lovely.

The party went their separate ways.

There was an ephemeral figure though at the very end, who remarked that finally something (interesting) was happening in the land of Tintervale.

### Interlude: Peter Comes to Play

#### Peter

The morning after the events in the garden (a "chilly midwinter morning"), Mariang (and everyone else in the party) received a letter from an enchanted trumpet heralding that Beau was inviting all the party to stay in his manor. However, Mariang chose not to read the letter right away, preferring to use the bit of associated social interaction as a reward after she had gotten some of the day's tasks done.

And those tasks entailed laundry! Peter encountered Mariang washing clothes in/by the lake, and Mariang beckoned him over and invited him to her home; she said something to the effect of, "You are very welcome to come, it is very difficult to find my home and people cannot usually unless I let them." Peter helps Mariang gather her things, and they set off.

Mariang's home is a conventional hut with a strong scent of ginger. Her home is small and isolated, but it's her cultivated area and she enjoys it despite her sometimes loneliness. She prepared a meal of fruit for Peter, and conjured some fish for his pet otter, Buddy. Buddy acted playfully disruptive -- trying to steal Peter's food, hat feather, etc. -- which Mariang laughed at but otherwise did not intervene over.

Mariang explained her fairytale story, and Peter thought it was nice and calm; Mariang questioned Peter as to what he believed the moral of her story to be, and they settled on "don't take gifts for granted". Peter inquired what she thought the hunter was up to, and Mariang guessed hunting or fishing, but didn't really have a clear answer. ~~(Out of character, Riel wasn't super interested in having the hunter's backstory explored -- but he might show up at some point, who knows!)~~

Trying to think of mutual interests, Mariang remembered that Peter is a bard; Peter then pointed to his panpipes. Mariang revealed that she plays the harp, often at night, and sometimes she can be heard.

Mariang and Peter talked about Buddy. Peter said he wasn't sure how Buddy got to be his friend/pet, and Mariang suggested that Peter try Speak With Animals with the otter. Peter didn't want to today ~~which was good for Shinko as nothing was prepared for that, and also Riel remembered that Druids can change their spell list so maybe she could have just spoke with Buddy too but oh welp~~ and Mariang remarked that he was pulling a Flit.

They discussed their letters from Beau. Mariang remarked that it might be nice and less lonely to be among friendly company, and though she agreed with Peter that she didn't HAVE to move even if the others in the party moved, it might increase her want to move. But, she wanted to have everyone over at her place first, regardless of what she would decide to do. Peter worried about taking advantage of Beau's hospitality, but Mariang remarked that that concern showed his heart was in the right place to consider the move.

Mariang tried to get Peter to open up about his story, but was largely unsuccessful. She tried to comfort him, though, by saying it wasn't him, it was the story, and that he can't dwell and be stuck in the past forever if they are to make positive change for the future and for the town. Peter was still unconvinced, but well, Mariang tried.

#### Kobold Child

There was a loud sound outside, and Peter followed by Mariang stepped out the door to investigate. It turned out to be a young deaf Kobold child, who had been caught in a snare trap. Peter was very wary and backed away, prompting Mariang to ask if she should help, and Peter was insistent that she should but nevertheless dodged and hid behind a tree.

Mariang used Mind Link to give them the power to telepathically speak with her. They explained they were caught in a trap, it seemed like it was just a normal trap, and Mariang subsequently freed them from the trap.

The child explained they were looking for "the music man", and that the man had taken their friends away, and that if they followed the man they might find out what happened to their friends. Mariang said she hadn't seen him but would keep an eye out, "in case he wants to come and apologize," she added somewhat passive-aggressively. She also said she hadn't seen their friends, or necessarily knew their whereabouts, but would keep an eye out for them, too.

Trying to ease their mind, Mariang invited them for some food. The child remarked that Mariang is nice, unlike the people without faces, and unlike the Mayor, who didn't like the child very much. Mariang said that was OK, she didn't like the Mayor, either.

The child came to her home. Peter followed but stayed out of view. Once the child was satisfied, they left and thanked Mariang with both thought and sign language. Mariang instructed them to stay far out of the woods.

Mariang softly reprimanded Peter, saying that it is one thing to do something (out of his control), and another to not do something (that is in his control). She agreed that it would have been very tough to face him, and that he doesn't need to confront this part of his past right at this time, but she would hope he can eventually own up to things and move forward in a positive way: "show him that you are not your story", "show him you are nice, because you are", or something akin. She ends by commanding him to "not be so hard on yourself, and finish your meal!"

Mariang asked him how he's feeling, and he replied like s\*\*t. To take his mind off things, Peter decides he wants to do some housework, and Mariang puts him to work with a Filipino Broom (walis tingting).

### Act III: The Righting of Beowulf

#### Exposition

Mariang arrived at Beau's castle by way of instruction from Peter's otter Buddy, which Peter had sent her via Animal Messenger. There, she saw Peter, Nella, and Beau; the formermost two had accepted the latter's call to live there.

Mariang learned that, in the distance. there had been music and general crowd revelry; it had largely dispersed and quieted by the time she got to the manor.

Flit explained that there was a monster seeming to cause trouble, and that the unreliable narrator had mentioned a single name: Grendel.

The party soon left to investigate the chaos.

#### Initial Exploration of the Chaos

The party entered a region surrounded by snow. They were unable make any progress searching for clues outside ~~bad dice roles~~.

Inside the main mead hall building (Heorot), Mariang used Detect Magic to find a magical sword. At Beau's suggestion to search the sword for runes, Mariang found one that said "Hrunting". Nella found a notebook that revealed that a monster coming to attack the partygoers for their revelry and loud music was not a one-off occurrence, but had been happening every night for long enough that the King called on a warrior for for help.

Outside again, Beau had the idea to search for blood and Mariang the idea to search for footprints, but the snow had covered the blood and there were footprints everywhere -- nothing useful.

The party was then taunted ("Can't even recognize the obvious cue to make this story progress. This is why authors are the ones that write stories. You have to do better than that if you want to entertain.") by a creature that resembled a shadowy crow with purple eyes flecked with silver, and as it moved it seemed to leave a smudge behind for several seconds. The creature changed into a deer, followed by other animals, and finally to a wolf. Beau guessed it was a fairy. It gave a noncommittal response, followed by saying it has a far bigger purpose in the story but its role has yet to be needed. It left the parting advice of "Try being a little more clever."

Mariang got after the creature by saying, "If you're not going to help, stay out of our way!" The creature called her saucy, and Mariang smirked back.

The creature departed with "Fine, don't listen to me. But you've been warned, the story has very little patience for faffing about. Make it good little heroes, I grow bored."

Mariang said, "We'll make it better than good and not just to entertain you!"

Peter lamented the fact they were being watched. Beau and Peter agreed it seemed like Flit would be the best to ask about this situation and who that wolf might have been.

The party decided to just let the story run its course and come back tomorrow morning, when there would be more action.

#### Back at the Castle

Mariang and the party went back to Beau's castle for the night.

Mariang met Adelaide and introductions were made. Mariang said she hoped the Adelaide would learn her real name, and the latter said she hoped the former would help stop the monster and stuff.

The next morning, Mariang was awoken by a feather duster. After she got after the feather duster for waking her, and at the duster's insistence the master had called everyone up, she went and joined Beau and the party.

Not long after, Flit arrived to make himself some tea and deliver some information (without being too helpful given the mentor curse). The party learned the story they were in was ~~the testosterone-poisoned~~ Beowulf, and that Grendel was coming each night to kill, and then Beowulf would kill Grendel, and the story would just escalate into a bunch of killing; the party was to try and stop that so to help preserve the lives of the townsfolk. Flit said that Beowulf would arrive by sea, so it would probably be good to start at the lake.

Flit also said that the shadowy creature they'd seen was likely a fairy, and Beau exclaimed that he knew it. Flit said it was likely the one who cursed the town and warned not to needlessly antagonize it, but said that if it hadn't killed the party then and there it probably wouldn't, at least for now.

Mariang showed the sword she found to Flit, who commented that "magic swords in medieval tales are a dime a dozen... but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not useful."

Beau had some questions for Flit from Adelaide. The party learned they can't give up their pages lest they turn into minor characters and be unable to effect meaningful changes in the story. However, it should generally be safe to go around as long as they don't accidentally wander into any others' stories -- specifically to watch out for dangerous ones. The two agreed it would be good to give Adelaide more autonomy.

Flit left after nabbing a croissant/pastry.

Beau caught Adelaide up with what Flit said.

Then, the party ventured off toward the lake.

#### Meeting Beowulf

The party waited around and soon Beowulf and his crew showed up. Although they initially mistook Beau for a monster, it was relatively easy for them to be convinced that Beau was no threat to them.

Beau suggested that the partygoers just stop playing the loud music, but this not once occur to Beowulf and he had seemingly no plans to heed that advice.

After a brief exchange between the groups (largely improvised because the party had made no prior discussion of their game plan), Peter had them convinced that Beowulf's cousin Hrothgar had hired the party to greet Beowulf and lead him to Grendel, and that Grendel was in the forest. However, Beowulf was unimpressed with the party and suggested that if his cousin had hired the party and were unable to take down Grendel, that Beowulf and his men had better take on the party to warmup / ensure they could handle Grendel.

The party tried to rebut this and convince Beowulf it was not in their best interest to fight, but at Beowulf and his crew's insistence about a fight, initiative was to be rolled.

"Well I just hope you know what is going to be coming for you," Mariang said. "Tough words Lassie," one of the backup dancers said. Mariang replied with "I am tougher than my words believe me," which offended the backup dancers.

The fight was relatively straightforward. Mariang took out a number of backup dancers via moves like Thunderwave. She even "tangoed" with one of them, dancing 'round with him and getting hits in using her staff and the Shillelagh cantrip. After most of his crew fell or surrendered, Beowulf left the boat; he was quickly defeated using a combination of Peter's Gust of Wind propelling Beowulf through Mariang's 20 foot radius of Spike Growth'd spiky bludgeoning damage-causing difficult terrain.

Beowulf got after Mariang for having not used the sword during battle. Beau had the idea to show Beowulf the sword, considering the latter seemed to know something about it. Beowulf commented the sword was a magical heirloom sword, but wondered why it went to Mariang rather than the "man of the household."

Beowulf picked up his men and went on his way into the forest.

#### Entertaining the King

The party went back to the herot. Beau stayed outside in case the warriors inside were monster hunting trigger happy, but the rest of the party ventured inside. Mariang threw open the doors and took the lead, and everyone in the mead hall turned their attention toward the seeming trespassers.

The King, Hrothgar, seemed reasonable enough about the situation, calling for calm and asking what the party wanted.

Mariang thanked him for inviting them in and his hospitality, and got after someone for insinuating they invited let themselves in ("Well he could have kicked us out!"); she was subsequently called a lippy wench.

The party tried to preach taking a pacifist route and reasoning with the beast, though Hrothgar laughed at the idea and called Mariang a "typical woman" for proposing diplomacy despite all the carnage that had already taken place; Mariang, and the party in general, did not necessarily have a good response to that.

Beowulf came up, and the party said he was out looking for Grendel. Hrothgar expressed skepticism, wondering why his cousin did not first meet him. Nevertheless, with Beowulf on the case, Hrothgar said that the party's services would not be needed.

Mariang concluded by saying that the party would go, but also declared that they fought Beowulf. Hrothgar seemed almost disturbed by this; "You picked a fight with Beowulf?" Mariang replied, "He picked a fight with us, and we are still standing!"

That seemed to impress Hrothgar enough to let the party try to show their strengths in battle. Peter failed at the panpipes. Nella failed at trying an attack. Mariang succeeded at wildshaping into a deer and pushing a dragon skull menacingly toward Hrothgar.

Hrothgar was impressed at Mariang and noted the usefulness of wildshaping, but was unsure how useful Peter and Nella would be. Unferth -- who was drinking because he lost his sword, the one that Mariang found -- suggested the remaining party members "test their metal" via a drinking contest. Peter, who was especially frightened by this prospect, took this opportunity to say they had one more party member and he subsequently went out to fetch Beau.

The warriors were initially ready to attack Beau, but quickly stood down when Beau convinced them he was on their side, at least not a mercilessly killing monster. Beau partook in a sword fight against Unferth, having given Unferth one of his blades; thought Unferth was good, Beau was better.

Hrothgar, sufficiently impressed with the party, let them go out to protect the herot from Grendel. Though Beau wondered why they wouldn't just cease their partying, Hrothgar (who, like with Beowulf, didn't seem to consider this a viable option) commented that that was the best way to bring Grendel back.

Mariang unwildshaped and presented the sword back to Unferth, as a sort of "gesture of goodwill despite your loss". This seemed to make Unferth enter an incredulous rage, and the other party members left and ushered out Mariang, They lectured her not to pull stunts that humiliated others, though Mariang protested that they seemed to like displays of force, and she was trying to show the party had clout. The whole thing went much to her consternation.

#### Grendel Attacks!

The party waited on all four sides of the herot, which was at the top of a hill, until Grendel came.

Though the party did not explicitly tell Mariang from where Grendel was coming, she figured it out based on their movements and set a trap of spike growth in the direction where he was moving. Unfortunately, Peter started aggro'ing it and it chased him -- in the opposite direction of her trap.

Grendel liked hurling rocks, and Mariang hurled some magic stones back at him; 1 hit, 2 did not.

Mariang used Ice Knife against Grendel. Although the initial hit did nothing, the resultant explosion delivered 10 damage to Grendel (and Beau, whom Grendel had been holding).

Grendel threw a rock into the herot, wrecking a lamp and causing a small fire. Mariang dispelled her spikes (as panicked people started rushing in that direction) and used her mini create food and water bonus spell to create 10 gallons of water over the fire, putting it out before it could spread.

Shortly thereafter, Mariang wildshaped into a Kalaba buffalo and leapt down off the cliff side, taking surprisingly little damage. She got some good ram/charge attacks against Grendel (knocking him prone both times), though also failed a couple times with her hoof attack.

Peter dealt the final blow to Grendel by viciously mocking the beast with intensifying panpipes -- at a good time, considering he was headed toward the herot (after a fairly lengthy period where he was blocked in by the party and could not advance toward it due to fear of Peter's dissonant whispers). ~~(Mariang came so close of taking it out, she left if with 2 HP just before Peter's turn.)~~

The party talked with Grendel to try to convince Grendel to leave, but also to understand his viewpoint. Grendel commented that he was tied to the land for a long time, then the "pink pigs" (Hrothgar and his men) took residence and disturbed Grendel's peace. Hrothgar saw them "conspiring with the beast" and says he won the land fair in conquest. Beau started to escalate the situation, and it seemed like he might battle Hrothgar for the land. Recognizing everyone was injured and that that would not be a good idea, Mariang called out that violence wasn't getting anyone anywhere and successfully de-escalated the situation.

Grendel then said that his mother was a mediator, and that if the party could meet him and her at the bottom of the lake where she resides, he would leave everyone well alone. He then picked up Hrothgar and ran off.

The party took a short rest to heal.

#### The Dive

The party was faced with how to get to the bottom of the lake. Mariang had the idea to ascend a shopkeeper to try and purchase gear for diving, and then remembered that she didn't have to buy a potion because she could wildshape... but Beau and Nella would still have to find some way. Beau and Peter thought it best to ascend a magic shop and buy potions.

The party went into town to ascend a shopkeeper. Peter knocked wimpily at the door, and Mariang knocked louder. A human woman came and berated them for coming at a late hour, though Peter declared it was an emergency. The woman sold them 2 breathe underwater potions that last an hour, at a "buy one get one free" price if the party returned later and helped fetch her ingredients so she could brew some more; Peter agreed to the purchase, Mariang pledged they would return (at a godlier hour) and help, and the party split the costs. Beau was confused why everyone split the costs, i.e. it wasn't just him and Nella paying; Mariang winked at him and he became more confused.

Peter had been having a constant panic attack at the thought of going to the lake, and explained his story. Mariang asked if had to do with the Kobold child, and he said it did. Mariang told him that wasn't him, that was the story, and he is better than the story, but Peter was unconvinced.

The party got to the lake, where Beowulf -- who said he had seen Grendel, carrying Hrothgar, jump in and down into the lake -- was undressing, preparing to hunt Grendel and save Hrothgar. He leapt in, Peter did immediately afterward, then Mariang wildshaped into a giant soft-shelled tortoise. Beau held onto her for support.

The water was acidic, and Mariang took acid damage, along with most of the rest of the party.

The party came across an undersea cavern, where Grendel, his mother, and Hrothgar likely were. Beowulf swam inside, and the party followed.

## Personality

As evidenced by her inspiration story, Mariang is kind, helpful, and empathetic. This intrinsic sense of goodness probably comes in part from her Quori spirit. She also may exhibit something of a vengeful (but not necessarily cruel) personality, perhaps more tied to her human side.

She generally tries to keep things civil and de-escalate where possible. She is also not afraid to take charge, especially when the men in the party are bickering, anxious, etc.

During the Beowulf adventure, she had a general demeanour of taking no BS.

To quote Shinko (in Interlude: Peter Comes to Play), she is the Mom friend.

## Trivia

Mariang's hair turns from ebony black to platinum-streaked white when she casts spells.

Her staff has a rock in it near the top curved part.

The sun on her tunic-dress is the 8-ray sun on the Philippines flag.

Mariang was the first party member to kill an adventure-final boss.

Mariang has a limited version of the create food and water spell which she can use once per day, given her story background.

## Art

Thanks be to the artists of Americaland DND!

### Mariang as Focus

Riel's original concept art: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/561818730640703488/911456559534596106/IMG\_20211119\_212231.jpg

Revised Art (thanks Rabbit!): https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/561818730640703488/938517073963921418/Mariang.png?width=861&height=646

Pride 2022 art (thanks Rabbit!): https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/561818730640703488/990898102472966204/Painting\_Pride\_Mariang.png (Full photo compiled by Shinko at https://imgur.io/dyKrbBW)

Mariang finds herself under the mistletoe (thanks Shinko, Merry Christmas 2022!): https://64.media.tumblr.com/5db632c942a2418601d2e78156df3b65/8aba1f8321d00e34-ca/s500x750/eeeaa8bb17d98c537d53696a6f5c9d813091a36e.png

A cool pic of her by some painted trees (thanks Rabbit) https://www.tumblr.com/rabbitdoesarts/705580452076994560/anniversary-present-for-riel-my-partner-of-three?source=share

### Contains Mariang

Peter's first day comic (thanks Rabbit!): https://64.media.tumblr.com/4cb090d4780eac21bfe517642c6e8c84/923e5b3431399f21-83/s1280x1920/eccf8df4f69abc57bfe059dfeaff82c1497d966d.png (comic at https://rabbitdoesarts.tumblr.com/post/687151789703872512/peter-had-a-rough-day-he-was-awakened-from-a)