Vong turns to Rakatha and I, shrugging his massive pack onto his shoulders. What else could he possibly have to say, and why is he always smiling? “Hey, dinner is on me. I know a place,” his face scrunches into a mischievous grin that, with his black top-knot, makes him appear a little like a squash. He turns to step… Read more →
Tag: fantasy
Passage 42: The Report
With the setting sun on the seventh day, we arrive back in Nodkis and check in with the Adventurer’s Corps. Surprisingly, Corporal Level is still there and crowds us into his cramped office almost immediately for our report. He glances at his ledger, “C-4, around Tullikins. How’d it go?” Level smiles and waits patiently to write it all down. I’d… Read more →
Passage 41: The Spot
We return to the edges of Tullikins farmville by a slightly different path and, as dumb fucking luck would have it, stumble upon another patrol being attacked by a small band of goblin archers. The patrol is at a disadvantage in a small gully lined with trees where the goblins have both cover and the high ground. The goblins outnumber… Read more →
Passage 40: The Stray
Vong looks up from his cleaning and grins also. I don’t think he has any idea what he is grinning about but is simply glad for the opportunity to do it with others. Voella’Tien is still attending to the man as we crowd around his unconscious form. “I think we should take him back to town,” says Vong. “He’s starving.… Read more →
Passage 39: The Beguilement
Immediately he digs into the ground and charges, howling like a madman and frothing at the mouth. I do the only logical thing: I mind control him. Yes, he might have resisted my control if he got lucky and was really concentrating but, in his mental state, sliding into his mind takes almost no effort. Rakatha stops short of Vong… Read more →
Passage 38: The Tangle
Voella’Tien’s divine magic envelops us and I feel the blessing’s energy shielding me from harm. A second spell is cast and I feel her will, trying to sense me, press on my will. Normally I would try to resist these types of spells—I don’t need someone reading my thoughts or assessing my motives—but this spell is known to me so… Read more →
Passage 37: The Blessing
After word spreads that we are here on official business, the Tullikins offer us some of their produce and the use of the great, stone hearth in the common hall. Even though we should be pursuing the goblins, Vong has a wonderful time preparing a humble pot pie and warm mashed fruit over skillet bread. It’s a little bland but… Read more →
Passage 36: The Labor
The farmville is nearby; this corn field being the first of many we cross as we make our way to it. The group is on high alert for the goblins to return, but we do not spot them again. Though my owl had been dozing before, I will it to provide aerial coverage so that I am not subject to… Read more →
Passage 35: The Run-In
The camp is torn down and the party is, at last, ready. We turn northwest into the bottom corner of our sector. Though we have left the easy terrain of the road, the tall grasses and occasional grove or outcropping of shrubbery does little to hinder our passage. There are babbling brooks and a balmy breeze through the leafy trees… Read more →
Passage 34: The Fitness
The morning comes too soon for my liking, but I rise and begin my morning routine. Vong is still asleep and Voella’Tien is standing a little away from the camp watching the mists swirl across the fields. My movements snap Rakatha awake with an obviously learned speed, further cementing that he was not only a pit fighter, but a slave… Read more →