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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]