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(The Wandering Inn is on break until March 18th for Patreon readers and March 23rd for public readers.)   She had watched him die. Poisonbite scrambled up the mountain. Her hands were scratched and bloody. She was hurt. Her wounds burned. But she was alive. It was no blessing. Poisonbite’s eyes ran. She could still […]

The world was watching. Below Liscor, an army of Humans was gathered. A force ready to sweep south, to break the walls of the Drake city. And in front of them were Goblins. A people described as monsters. They had come here, not of their own volition. They had been herded. Driven like cattle. Manipulated. […]

(Due to the next chapter being delayed, 5.62 will come out on Saturday, March 2nd.)   He rode on through the night. The wind cooled the blood spattering his body. It soothed the burning wounds he’d taken, and the sweat. The land passed by him, grass turning to dirt, to inhospitable stone. Garen rode towards […]

They ran. Through the night, following their leader. Past rocks and around forests. Splashing across a shallow ford in a lake. Pausing only to drink and rub the sides of their horses. Drink stamina potions, offer the rest to their mounts. Run alongside them. Fly. It was as if they were one creature at times, […]

“You promise?” “I promise.” “You double promise?” “I…will promise twice if that matters. Which it does not.” “Erin told me double promises are better than single promises. Like crossing one’s heart or making a promise with a pinkie.” “I see. We do not have…pinkies. Our hands are not pink. Nor do our hearts cross, generally. […]

She had to get ready. Erin Solstice woke up on the eleventh day with that thought echoing in her mind. She didn’t know how she knew, or why, but she knew she had to get ready. They were coming. Whoever they were. So Erin opened her eyes, half-sat up— And decided she could use a […]

They came for him. Three of them. Old friends. They charged forwards, howling, ghosts from his past, aiming at him through thousands of Goblins. For a second Garen was frozen, staring into each face. Then he reacted. He drew his sword and time slowed. In battle, time always felt elongated to Garen. It wasn’t that […]

So. This was how it went down. None of them had really expected it. Not like this. Then again, they hadn’t expected to expect. Foresight wasn’t a huge ability of theirs by and large, at least for the grand things. Small things—the way a nick in a sword caught in a sheathe and held just […]

Garen Redfang saw the axe spin through the air. He saw the silver flash, the way Reiss recoiled. And the way the Goblin Lord stared dumbfounded down at his severed stump of a hand. He didn’t see the second one coming. “Look up.” The leader of the Redfang Tribe growled. But he was sitting on […]

Day 10   On the tenth day, it was three Goblins who made a difference. As the sun rose, the Humans led by Tyrion Veltras drove the Goblin tribes south once more. Today was the day that they moved by the entrance to the High Passes, the home of Garen Redfang’s tribe and one of […]

Krshia Silverfang knew as she woke up that something was not right in Liscor. She could feel it, as if her city had a pulse around her. And it was her city. She had lived in it for ten years and made it her home. From wandering the plains as most Gnolls did in tribes, […]

Erin stared at Numbtongue. The Hob wore a pair of steel cuffs that had just been placed on his wrists by a Gnoll [Guardsman]. The Hob looked at her, and then at the ground. He was wet, sweaty, and looked…beaten. So did the other Hobs. What had happened? Green blood still dripped from Headscratcher’s hands […]

Happy. Of course, Goblins had a word for the feeling. They understood happiness as well as any other race, no matter what other species thought of them. They had a word for happy and more words for grief and anger than could be expressed in the limited language of the common tongue. But they had […]

Erin Solstice was sleeping, and then she woke up. That was generally how her life worked. She squirmed about comfortably in the blankets that were her bed in one corner of the kitchen, and then opened her eyes. Sleepily, she changed clothes beneath the sheets, grabbing freshly laundered clothes from the neat pile lying next […]

Day 9   She knew. Before the sun rose, Rags knew. It was a gaping hole in her heart, a certainty of loss. It was fury and grief. And tears. Goblins didn’t cry. It was a waste of water. But despite knowing that, despite knowing that the Goblins clustered around her were watching their Chieftain, […]

(This story is on break until January 8th for Patreon readers, and January 11th for Public readers!)   It was a fated encounter, if you believed in fate. If you didn’t, it was still fated because Bird was Bird and there were only so many times Erin could distract him with a plate of hot […]

Every species had a way of meeting. Not individually, but in large masses. For instance, Gnolls had no written law, but they still obeyed tradition quite scrupulously and they had a number of customs that related to interaction between two or more tribes. When two tribes of Gnolls met, there were ceremonies to be observed. […]

It had been a long time since Olesm had sat in his office without being afraid or stressed out. A long time, and yet a short one. In his head, Olesm knew that it hadn’t been that long. A bit over a week at most since the Raskghar had begun attacking in force. But oh, […]

Day 5   The Humans came with the dawn. They blew war horns, waking the Goblins of the Flooded Water tribe from their sleep. But the Goblins knew the Humans were coming and so many were already awake. They surged out of their camp as the Humans appeared in the distance. Only, this time there […]

Even when he’d left, even on the days when he sat in the sand or snow, Velan could still remember the humid heat, hear the buzz of insects and feel the wet soil under his feet. As he swam across the ocean he still remembered his home. It was that place that had shaped him. […]

The sky was open. A warm sun shone down on the green grass below. The air smelled of spring. In the field just outside of Celum, the flowers and wild grass had been cropped short. A [Shepherd] must have taken his flock through the meadow not too recently. That also meant there were piles of […]

Night deepened and turned to day. The dungeon that had rung with the sounds of battle grew silent. The adventurers, Antinium, and people of Liscor returned to their city through the magic doors, breaking the exits behind them. They returned with the captive Gnolls, with a Minotaur in shackles, and a half-Elf. In triumph. In […]

“I can’t believe it. I can’t. Is it a message? A code? Were they just bored? Or—something else?” “Mm. I don’t know.” “It has to be something. It can’t just be nothing. I have to know what it means.” “You agree it means something, don’t you? Foliana? Foliana?” The Squirrel-tribe Beastkin looked up. Foliana, leader […]