Tag: fantasy

The soldiers are singing drinking songs and dancing around the fire. From where I am sitting they remind me of my goblin tribe. What a strange couple of years that had been. A figure, silhouetted by the bonfires, toddles toward us with a bounce in his step. The ornate staff identifies him as Val Maxis from quite a ways off.… Read more →

Two days later the Elysian army breaks through. The orcs had been putting up an aggressive defense but the sustained losses have finally taken their toll. Yet I am not surprised to hear the men chattering about what they discovered on the inside: the occupying force had been quite a bit smaller than the Elysians had though. I’d noticed that… Read more →

The wizard Val Maxis is poking around my potions when I return. His slight start when I catch him tells me it wasn’t merely idle curiosity. He casts me a friendly smile as I climb into the cart. I acknowledge him but don’t actually say anything. He watches me while I work for several minutes. The antitoxin is ready to… Read more →

This orc really asked for me? I wouldn’t have guessed he was the orc in question but I suppose it makes a queer kind of sense in retrospect. I know this orc to be called Ulsh, and he is my most habitual customer. He has visited my shop once a week for the last two years. Usually he browses my… Read more →

I can see the gate of Nodkis from the back of the herb cart, where I have been relegated to full time apothecary duties. This suits me just fine. Healers were dispatched from the capitol of Ark Aegion and now bolster the medic division, allowing me to do what I’m good at: work alone. The siege has resumed. Reinforcements arrived… Read more →

With the fighting stopped, the battle clerics of Kurdu come into the triage tent to assist. The additional healing magic is invaluable and the cots are half empty by sundown. I am sitting and tending to one the few recovering patients still in my bank of cots come dinnertime. A commotion stirs just near the back entrance. “Sir, you should… Read more →

The orcs do not run away at the first sign of opposition and the fighting continues well on into the night. The triage tent is at twice capacity, with less fortunate patients lying on the ground in between the cots. The grim faces of the men who bring the injured remind me of slaves who are not yet broken: with… Read more →

When I became spontaneously attuned to magic in my youth, there were no other arcanists around. It wasn’t until I left home, a man, that I learned that we can sense one another. I can sense Val Maxis’s power now. It feels like standing near a blacksmith’s forge, arcana radiating off him like heat. I can only imagine what it… Read more →

I am assigned to the medic division. In the march back to Nodkis I had been routed from Sergeant to Lieutenant to Major to Colonel until coming to stand before Chief Medic Artin. Unlike other refugee-conscripts who are fueled by a sentimental rush to fight for their home, I have already negotiated a wage. As an apothecary I am adequate,… Read more →

In my travels, I have learned that each nation has its own pantheon of gods. Indeed, the borders of nations are, first and foremost, based around creed before being further refined by things such as race or geography. Here in Elysium they are devoted to Risha, Kurdu, and Ard Agdawn. In Dromatica it is the All Father, Tliamach, and Ismadrial.… Read more →