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Erin dreamt of swords flashing, of cannonballs exploding around her, and of blood. Rivers of blood. Klbkch stood in front of Erin and asked if she were ready. She looked at him as he bled in her arms. His mandibles opened, and he rasped into her ear. “I obey my Queen.” She shook her head. […]

When Erin woke up the next day, her eyes were tired and she was full of bleh. Bleh being her word for her mood. “Bleh.” Toren paused and stared at her. Erin blinked at the walking skeleton with blue flames in its eyes and made weak shooing motions until it went away. She didn’t feel […]

When Garia arrived in Esthelm just before midday, she saw the commotion outside the Adventurer’s Guild before she’d even dropped off her delivery. Sugar. Several bags of it—enough for a huge rush order in one of the bakeries in town. The heavy, sticky delivery had messed up the inside of Garia’s pack. She’d have to […]

After two hours of talking, the shouting began—and stopped almost as fast. Tempers had risen—and no sooner did a chair scrape back than they all caught each other and took a second to breathe. The six people sat around a table and studied each other carefully. They were all warriors, and all but one of […]

When Krshia came round, she did so dramatically. Erin had fussed over her for a few minutes before realizing there was no way she was going to be able to pick the Gnoll woman up. She was twice Erin’s weight, and her fur made her look even bigger. So Erin just sat and scrutinized her. […]

Erin sat with Rags and stared at the mage in her inn. Scattered around the trio was a mess of empty dishes, remnants of a large breakfast. Ryoka sat in a small room in the Adventurer’s Guild in Esthelm and waited as the half-Elven mage got ready in front of her. They were separated by […]

Ryoka sat in an inn and munched on her potatoes and stewed meat. She felt guilty about it, but the dinner menu hadn’t exactly been diverse with options, and she was hungry. Still, she felt guilty. Her plate was about 80% potato and 20% meat. And it wasn’t great meat at that. The potatoes actually […]

“Awaken, Human.” I’ve listened to my share of alarm clocks over the years. When I was a kid, my parents gave me an old-fashioned one* that I had to wind up constantly or it wouldn’t go off. First chance I got, I switched it out for a digital alarm and then my iPhone.   *Vintage, […]

[Innkeeper Level 12!]   Someday, Erin was going to hear that annoying message in her head and jump off a cliff. But at least she’d gotten eight solid hours of sleep afterwards. Blearily, Erin got up and wondered if she leveled because of the skeleton. Something to do with the skeleton? Did [Innkeepers] level up […]

Erin left her inn three times over the course of the next two days. The first time she went out, she visited Selys, and the two had a long chat—lecture, really—about not going out and fighting monsters alone. Then they visited a bathhouse, helped Erin pick out more clothing, and went to see the ruins. […]

I slow down after about twenty minutes of sprinting. Not because I don’t feel like running faster, but I know I’ve got a long way to go. So I reduce my pace from record-breaking speed to a sustainable jog. A bit faster than normal, but I can’t help it. I’ve got the music. Currently, I’m […]

Running is a peculiar thing. And it’s one of the few things I’m qualified to talk about in any world. For me, running is as close to living as anything I do. I’ve studied it, practiced it, and made it mine. I can’t claim anything else like that. But if running is pure, life is […]

Erin walked down the street, and she felt like sighing. No—she felt like her entire existence was a long, slow sigh. She was tired. Tired and weary in her very bones. But more than that, she was just disappointed. And that was the worst feeling of all. Humans. She’d missed them. Really, she had. She’d […]

At first, the laden cart rumbling through the northern city gates attracted little attention. This late in the day, the traffic going in and out had thinned, but there was nothing odd about two passengers sitting on the back of the cart while a Drake [Farmer] brought his merchandise into market. The expression on the […]

When they removed the bandage from Ryoka’s leg, the other adventurers flinched back. All except for Ceria and Calruz, that was. Ryoka stared down into the bloody, ripped mess of skin and once again was profoundly grateful for the numbing magic they’d put on her leg. Gerial looked pale as he gathered up the bandages. […]

Once, she’d broken her arm. When it had happened, Ryoka hadn’t even felt the pain—it was just the shock of it that hurt. Only when she’d dragged herself from underneath the motorcycle and waited for the ambulance did she feel the pain. It hurt. But oddly, the worst part hadn’t been the pain. Now, if […]

After a few days, Erin concluded that she had three types of customers. The first type were the Antinium, namely Pawn and the Workers. He brought them every day or every other day as soon as the sun touched the tops of the mountains in the southwest. The sun rose and fell in the same […]

As soon as she slammed the door shut, Ryoka collapsed against her bed. Static seemed to crawl over her eyes, and roaring filled her ears. Pain. It was coming back. She would have lain there forever, but the pain made her move. There was only one relief. Ryoka staggered over to a chest at the […]

Ow. Fuck. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ouch. Ow. It hurts worse than that. It hurts…more than anything I’ve ever felt. Like someone’s tearing off my leg, like I want to remove it myself or scream. The cute words—they’re there so I don’t scream. I didn’t know it could hurt so much. I’ve broken bones—this—this is […]

Erin sat on a grassy hilltop and played a game of chess. It made life easier. When she was playing, she could forget about life. She could forget about suffering. It didn’t end such things. Chess was an escape. If you were bleeding or crying, it couldn’t help. Playing chess would bring no one back. […]

Silence. Erin walked in it. It was the numbing static in her head. It was the sound of tears falling in her heart. It was everything. She walked in the darkness. Short, narrow walls of dirt enclosed her. She followed a massive shape as it led her through the tunnels. Her arms were breaking, her […]

They were called Workers. It was more than a name. It was their purpose, their role in life. In the Hive. Worker.  That job included many things. They were hammers to build new tunnels and structures for the Drakes and Gnolls in the city. A butcher to separate meat from bone, or a sweeper to […]

Some days, he, Klbkchhezeim, hated Liscor. Hated Liscor and Izril and every miserable species his people had failed to kill in their first war upon this continent. And he wondered when the third war would begin and thought of killing them all. It was no longer as easy as it would have been. He was […]

They called her the Deadly Flower Blooming in the North. Which was…a mouthful of a title. After her first meeting with Magnolia Reinhart, Ryoka Griffin had asked who, exactly, she was. ‘Head of the Reinhart Family,’ was her answer. Which begged the question what that meant. The Reinharts were one of the Five Families. Well, […]

The Ruins of Albez sit at the heart of what had once been a magical kingdom. Or perhaps a community of mages. Or an ancient citadel of—you know what? It doesn’t matter. There’s almost nothing left anymore to tell a visitor what it had been. Once, this hillside of collapsed dirt and dug-out structures was […]