When Erin woke up, it was so cold that it hurt. She was inside her inn when she opened her eyes and nearly screamed from the sudden pain of the cold. Not buried under snow, although that was her first thought. No; she and Pisces had been rescued and the snow melted yesterday. But she […]
Archives
2.08
April 9, 2017
I had at least eight blisters by the time I ran through the gates of Celum, nearly two days later. I blame myself, really. Running in ill-fitting boots is about the stupidest thing you can do to your feet—aside from running barefoot in the snow, that is. Yep. That’s me. Ryoka Griffin, not-so-barefoot Runner. You’d […]
2.07
April 4, 2017
Where do we go from here? That was probably the name of a song of some kind. That wasn’t too significant; everything was a song title in the end. But where did she and Erin go from now? After they’d saved Ceria (and Olesm) from the ruins? After they’d lost the others. Where did they […]
2.06
April 2, 2017
“…Lady Reinhart? Lady Reinhart, are you sleeping?” Magnolia woke up with a start. She looked around blearily for a fraction of a second before her natural instincts took over. She sat up and smiled genteelly while the room swam back into focus. Theofore the Assassin blinked at her as he stood at attention. The sight […]
2.05
March 28, 2017
For a second Ryoka’s heart stopped. The casual violence stunned her. But then her instincts and years of practice kicked in and she was raising her hands and moving away from Gazi. Across from her, Ryoka saw the huge Drake’s eyes narrow. Relc stared in shock at Zevara as she collapsed for one second, and […]
2.04
March 25, 2017
Ryoka closed her eyes and knew she was happy. It was such a rare feeling she savored it. Happy. Ceria was alive. One of them was alive. That the others were not— She could focus on that later. But one person remained. They weren’t all dead. She was saved. It was just a moment. And […]
2.03
March 22, 2017
It was an odd procession that walked down the empty halls of Liscor’s undead ruins. Not that the ruins were undead; rather, they were infested with the undead. In theory. No one had seen a corpse yet, living, undead, or just dead. But they were ready. Still, it was an odd group Ryoka found herself […]
2.02
March 18, 2017
“Who’s ‘they’?” “Pisces didn’t say. He only said that if Ceria was alive there could be others.” “And she’s alive?” “Yes! The message-spell-thingy said she needed help. She’s somewhere in the Ruins, down deep.” “And with Relc and Klbkch you think you can save them, right?” “Yeah!” “Forget it.” Erin paused. “…What?” Zevara held a […]
2.01
March 15, 2017
“Are we going the right way? I think we’re lost.” “Mm. Patience. This is the right direction.” “Are you sure, Krshia? I think we’re lost. All this grass looks the same to me.” “There is no road, Selys. We must trust we go the right way, yes? And my memory is not so poor.” “But […]
2.00
March 12, 2017
The inn was dark when the traveler first arrived. No – to begin with, she wasn’t really a traveler. She was a Runner, which was completely different. And she wasn’t lost. Neither had she decided to visit the inn out of a need for sleep or food or even a burning desire to use the […]
Interlude – The Call
March 7, 2017
[User Rose has joined the conversation.] [15 Users Connected] [Squirtle344] – Lol. Another one! [BlackMage] – Rose, welcome. Glad you made it. [batman] – SUP. [Rose] – Okaaaaaay. Magical floating screen. o.o [strider_479] – That was the last one in several minutes. Looks like most of us are here so do we want to […]
March 4, 2017
1.63
Ryoka Griffin was in sight of Liscor when she saw the smoke and found the bodies. She came across the Gnolls so suddenly she barely stopped in time. A few Goblins picking past the Shield Spiders already trying to drag the corpses into a pit-nest leapt away, screeching in alarm. Ryoka looked around for another […]
1.62
She knew when the first skeleton cut her that she was going to die. Erin stared down at the open skin on her arm and wondered if she could push the two red halves together. She raised the frying pan and hit the skeleton with all her strength. It fell down. Erin kicked it until […]
1.61
Why did the dead try to kill the living? Was it hatred? Did they seek to defile the living, to drag them into the same unending torment of their lives? Did they envy those who still drew breath? Or was it a greater mystery? Did the undead simply want others to join them, to add […]
1.60
Erin sat in her inn, staring at the table. She didn’t have anything better to do. Normally, she served customers, chatted, or played chess, but she couldn’t today. They were all gone. Pawn had left for the city with the other Workers, promising to come back tomorrow. He—still couldn’t move right. But the other Workers […]
1.59 H
“What about this room?” “Empty.” Sostrom shook his head as he walked out of another dark room, his staff glowing. Calruz stomped out behind him, growling irately. Ceria tried not to scowl at her friend, but it was hard. “Not a thing?” “You can see for yourself.” Sostrom pointed into the dark room and shook […]
1.58 H
The dead charged out of the darkness in an unending tide of desiccated corpses. Their ruined flesh and glowing eyes in hollow sockets flickered in the torch and magelight. Zombies ran, crawled, or shuffled in a wave of discolored skin, but they weren’t alone. More undead had appeared: skeletons that sprang at the nearest adventurers […]
1.57 H
On the day of the expedition, all the members of the Horns of Hammerad woke and trooped downstairs to breakfast in silence. Erin, the cheerful [Innkeeper], had provided breakfast—eggs and bacon. It was the second day in a row she’d provided the same kind of breakfast—but most of them didn’t care. It was nice, hot […]
1.56
“Fire! Put out the fire!” Of all the ways to wake up, hearing that shouted from below still beat being stabbed in the chest. But the Horns of Hammerad were still out of bed and racing downstairs within seconds of hearing it. A cloud of black smoke billowed out of the kitchen as Erin stumbled […]
1.55 R
The sky always looked redder here. Whether it was the air taking something from the ground or the very nature of the land altering the atmosphere itself— Even the clouds over the Bloodfields that separated the north from the south looked tinged by ichor. Reddened, like the earth itself, by blood. Not just blood from […]
1.54
Erin woke up to the noise that defined her life. The sounds of chess. It was a soft sound, most of the time—one she’d learned in all of its subtleties. Chess sounded different. The board mattered, for one thing. Erin usually played with wooden pieces—the ones from the DGT electronic chess board manufacturing line. It […]
1.53
Ceria woke up first. It was an unconscious act on the part of her body that her mind wanted no part of. As the first rays of dawn hit her, she opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. It was too early. And despite her early rising, Ceria was not a morning person. […]
1.52 R
On the first day, she saw the Goblins. It was as she ran through the grasslands around Liscor, the Flood Plains, which were a barrier to armies and passage in the spring and empty in the short winter on this continent. She stopped when she crested the hill and saw them fighting in the small […]
1.51
“I am individual. I am Antinium.” That was the first whisper Erin heard out of Pawn. He sat, no longer bleeding, in the inn as she wrapped a bandage around his severed stumps. The healing potions the adventurers had used had stopped the bleeding, but there was no way to restore lost limbs. And his […]