Challenge #02003-E179: Adventure is Out There — Steemit
Everyone has heard of the Fisher King. Very few have heard of the Adventurer King, the one who decided to help his Kingdom by personally fighting the problems that plagued it. Unfortunately for Sir Dravyn, he is one who definitely has heard of the Adventurer King. Because he’s the one who has to save that highborn ass on a regular basis.
Though the boy who was still King was growing into a man, he was evidently not growing into one with much in the way of sense. His cohort of ragtag adventurers didn’t quite believe that he was King of the Realm. They didn’t truly understand that Sir Dravyn was Oath-sworn to follow and protect and obey his King. Half of them didn’t believe he was actually the King. In spite of meeting him on the throne and in his official robes of state.
Right now, though, it was hard to believe that His Majesty was intelligent life. He had, after all, got his butt handed to him by a Dragon he had attempted to charm, pickpocket, and then seduce. He was, frankly, lucky to still be alive. Most of that was due to the Cleric, Thanryl. Who had taken a very unfortunate vow of honesty.
Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi
Challenge #01891-E067: Stop, Children — Steemit
There are cities just like this one all over the world. Bustling metropolises full of people of all colours, all creeds, and all species. Faeries nest in the eaves of human buildings. Orcs run the sanitation crews. Goblins are everywhere - but since when weren’t Goblins everywhere? They’re clever and cunning and when allowed to learn, they will. The streets are full of steam and the latests counterculture is taking over an area of the tall buildings, and some of Central Park.
This is the Age of Man, of invention and rockets to the moon, and it is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. At least, it is if you’re part of the Summer of Love.
Young Orcs have flocked to it. Because they can achieve love and understanding despite the race riots and segregation. Despite struggling and struggling against their multiracial oppressors. Despite any claims that slavery was ‘a hundred years ago’. It wasn’t. Some Elves speak out. A species with long lives and longer memories can be a ball in other’s courts. If they’re on the other side.
Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi
Challenge #01879-E055: You Have Been Randomly Selected — Steemit
They had tried, once, and only once, to send the Great Hero to defeat the evil forces of darkness. What they discovered was the Unwritten Rule: Whatever you set out to face down will be the greatest challenge you have ever encountered. To send a Great Hero after the big bad was to invite horrors against which none were truly prepared. Not even the Great Hero.
It’s a fable, now. A fairytale. But the Adventurers know the truth of it. Newbies just starting out don’t face foes more powerful than Goblins and the occasional Orc. When they get up there, they start facing down Eldritch Horrors and otherworldly entities set on eating existence as it is known.
Rulers and nobles certainly know this, and publish a great reward (that will be inevitably claimed by a band of kids in gimcrack armour and some newly-acquired cool things) for ridding the realm of some slightly-nasty foe as a form of test before going against the true threat.
Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi
Challenge #01673-D212: Middle Finger to Fate
An appellation for a person or group of people: They Who Defy Fate – @recklessprudence
On the day that the children become adults, be it their first blood or their first chest hair, they are told their fate. Most resign themselves to it. Some… fight.
Rare are the ones who are successful, and fewer still are the ones who go courting it.
Helen was told by the village seer, “You will die childless, and surrounded by Imps.” She did not resign herself to her fate. She did not fight it by girding on armour and learning to fight, or vowing to kill every Imp in her kingdom. Helen merely packed her things and went walking for the nearest mountains, because everyone knows that Imps live in mountain caverns.
Support me on Patreon!
Continue Reading
Challenge #01599-D138: Manifested Destiny
But the [Tech] is on the fritz due to what I believe would be classified as ‘bombardment by an angry god’, which violates your warranty, as we all know. – @recklessprudence
The Smudger hemmed and hawed over the broom. Ran a pendulum over the length of it and whistled backwards, the sure sign that something expensive was about to happen. “Are you sure you haven’t angered any gods?” they said.
“Not to my knowledge,” said Duji. She had her knitting out because it had already been ten minutes. “I always try to stay on their good side, me. You never know when it’s going to be helpful.”
The Smudger lit some incense and carried the burner under the bristles. “None of your ancestors ticked off a supreme power? They’re the ones that go in for cursing until the somethingth generation.”
Continue Reading
Challenge #01505-D044: Convoluted Revenge
“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. ” - Carrie Fisher – @recklessprudence
There had never been a more elaborate plot to advance a child in the history of anywhere. It was so elaborate that it didn’t come to light until years after the fact, when they found Chatelaine Fairweather’s diary.
It began, as most things do, with a snub. Chatelaine Fairweather’s daughter was passed over for advancement to the Lady’s Maid, or even one of them, in favour of a cousin with all the brains of a mayfly. And the worldly experience of one, too. But since the Lady’s Maid was also the feast’s cup-bearer for the Lady and her staff, the Chatelaine came up with a plan.
First, she gained a favourite cup, and instructed the witless Lady’s Maid to always bring her drinks in that cup. But she made certain that nobody else heard the instruction. It was a cheap thing of gilded bronze and glittering glass, appropriate for the Chatelaine’s station.
Continue Reading
Challenge #01462-D001: The Curse of Vows
Rest in Peace.
Now get up. And go to war. – @recklessprudence
Falstaff the Paladin breathed in with great difficulty. “Would it kill you,” he croaked, “to at least let me rest for a day or two before the resurrection spell?”
The appropriately-named Faith concentrated on her healing mantras for a moment. “The longer you’re dead, the worse things get for you. Do you remember the Brain Damage Incident? I remember the Brain Damage Incident. And let’s not talk about the intestine regrowth from the last time your body went missing on the battlefield.”
“You’re talking as if that’s my fault,” grumbled Falstaff. The absolute worst thing about being revived was feeling the things that had happened upon death. The release of bladder and bowels was always the most mortifying. Feeling his death wound heal was always the creepiest. “I’m no longer in charge of my body when I’m dead, you know.”
Continue reading
Challenge #01455-C360: Monster?
http://modmad.tumblr.com/post/154298352575/thelittlemonsterlover-x
Large scary demonic creature and the tiny child that keeps putting flower crowns on it. – Anon Guest
[AN: I wish I knew what the writing in the comic said, but I shall do my best]
I am the thing that bumps in the night. I am fear incarnate. I am terror. I am the fate that waits for bad children. I am a monster in the dark. I am… Nightmare.
For untold centuries, I grew strong on the fears of children. I knew nothing better. I preyed on those who wandered too far. I devoured those who strayed from the beaten path.
Life… was. It was neither good nor bad. I had no experience of such things. Not until I met Daisy.
Continue reading
Challenge #01310-C215: The Opposite of Magic
@recklessprudence - a tip of the hat-rack to the late, great, Sir Terry Pratchett