Challenge #03091-H183: Pause Button Broken
bkf48a day ago:
I’d love for wraithvine to meet this guy! :-)
internutter73a day ago:
They’d for sure bump into each other via other shenanigans.
WV: Whoa! That’s one heck of a Destiny you’ve got there. What do you have up your sleeve.
A: Well I have this weird bell, these passive qualities, and I can [ABILITY] once a day.
WV: Cool. I can teach you how to be clever with that.
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03050-h127-fate-destiny-a-basket – DaniAndShali
[AN: Whoops I stole that thunder a bit early. So this has to be adjusted more than a smidge.]
Wraithvine set up a dummy in the middle of a rocky area most folks in Paxdale used as a source of ammunition[1]. Little could be harmed there. With a sending spell and safe distance from the Chosen One, Wraithvine the Eternal told Amatu, “All right, lad. That dummy is a bad evil nasty person. What’s your favourite weapon?”
Typical of a farmer’s boy, Amatu readied his sling and picked up a rock. Most people would laugh. Wraithvine watched with a critical eye. There was a distant cry of, “Stay away from my Mama,” as the rock flew. Then the dummy… was a cloud of splinters.
Pondermoore summed it up with magnificent eloquence. “Whoops.” She looked up, and caught the pumpkin head before it could cause an even bigger mess. “Pondermoore glad we good guys.”
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03088-H180: If I Had a Bell…
The bell, when rung, could be heard loud and clear, but no one whose ears worked, could hear it. Only those who had magic. When it was rung, it caused all other bells in hundreds of miles to ring as well. The louder it rang, the louder they did. And only Amatu could ring it. For the bell was his, it formed the day of his birth. – Adventure
[AN: Big thanks and love to DaniAndShali who provided the link to the preceding story]
It certainly looked like an old bell. Ancient and weathered, rich with patina. As a bell, it was certainly useless. It didn’t have a tongue and, upon further investigation, never had and never would. The general consensus around Baumkyn farm was that it was either an apprentices mistake or some kind of strange food covering.
Amatu rather liked it, for the bas-relief on its outside. “Maybe it’s a bell for ghosts,” he joked, swinging it like a watchman. “Five o-clock, and all’s haunted!”
Every bell in Paxdale sounded at the same time. Every clock rang their carillon. Every music box played their tune. Amatu, still a very young man, instantly put the bell down and backed away, anticipating a matronly lecture.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03082-H174: A Random Act of Kindness
He sought out, not Waithvine, but the kobold he traveled with. The young man, finding them along the trail, carried with him a basket of fresh fruit, fresh breads, dried meat, and sweet-filled pastries. Once he saw her, looking to the three travelers, the bugbear, the kobold, and the elf, the youth held out the basket to her, bowed and said softly, “Thank you.” For he never forgot how she undid his bindings, and stopped him from ending his own life that terrible, lonely, night. – Anon Guest
At last. He had found her. Beeyo checked the Basket of Preservation to be certain everything inside was intact. The spellwork was still secure. Everything in there was as fresh as the day it had been placed there. This was important. They say, “No good deed goes unpunished,” but because of her impact, no good deed should go unrewarded.
On a dark night, a terrible night, so many years ago… Back when she was only known as Thief… a Kobold had crept past a boy in chains, and stopped to stare. Beeyo hadn’t had a name, then. Property didn’t often get names. He hadn’t cringed, hadn’t feared for his life. In fact, he had been trying to saw his wrists away with a moderately sharp rock. The only escape he had been capable of at the time.
Until a monster turned her lockpicks to his shackles, gave him a leaking waterskin and half a hub of stale bread and whispered, “Run.” That night had changed his life. A pair of kind hands had changed his life. Made it one day longer. A Cleric formed the next pair of kind hands, taking in a lost and starving child and altering his path. Change for the better. Beeyo had never forgotten the monster that chose not to be monstrous, and paid the favour forward.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03072-H164: Surprise Change of Plans
She was hunting for them, seeking hir out. The ancient one, the magi who went by many names, the one who had a thousand children, and more grandchildren than the world would ever know, yet possibly none by their own blood. Spotting their camp, the kobold, hir, and the bugbear child. Slowly through the underbrush she went as silent as a shadow in the moonlight. Then, swiftly, she sprang. Sudden flares shot out behind her in brilliantly colored sparkles, almost blinding in the evening light, and she held out a huge bag of gifts, magic had allowed her to carry it, and shouted. “Surprise! Happy Founder’s Day!” She’d been sent to seek out the one who’d helped found many the village and city that gave the unwanted homes. – Anon Guest
In retrospect, Wraithvine should have really paid attention to the way Rawr kept looking off on one specific direction. The kids’ new eye had something special about it, and when he looked off to the left, or closed his original right eye, something was askew in the way things should have been. As ze frequently said, Today, we learn. Tomorrow, we do better.
Anthe, naturally paranoid, glared in the same direction, but could not detect anything. Wraithvine made the mistake of passing it off as more of their combined and mutual nonsense. They had alerted at the presence of birds, hares, rabbits and, in one case, a goblin answering the call of nature in the woods. Anthe’s reaction to that had simply accelerated the poor creature’s process.
After the fact, with a held Chain Lightning ready for a definite attack, Anthe with her drawn daggers, and poor little Rawr halfway between hiding and attacking, Wraithvine swallowed hir heart back down and shrieked, “Don’t do that! We could have killed you!”
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03072-H149: Artisinal Life Story
I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth is irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are – MewTwo
Wraithvine had a saying. It went, Everyone starts the same - wet, naked, and screaming. If you were truly awful, ze would make sure you exited life the same way. It was rare, but when it did happen, the whole world heard about it. That is not this story.
This was a story of a scion. Born in ignominy and a humble house. He had many sisters by other fathers, and that didn’t matter because his mother loved them all to distraction and did her utmost to keep them safe. Which included coming along with her only son to make certain he didn’t come to a bad end.
Ms Oxbrydl was most definitely a witch. She, too, could press on the power of narrative to her advantage. The good news was that she, too, knew better than to tempt fate. No questions with obvious and painful answers were tolerated at all. Then there was Trash, the Goblin Rogue.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03065-H142: According to What Plan?
A young man, still a boy really, is Called To Adventure. His mother, well aware of the mortality rate of heroes, leaves the rest of her children with her unmarried sister and sets out on her OWN journey, to make sure that her eldest survives HIS journey. – Anon Guest
Everyone knows the story. A great and ancient wizard finds the hero foretold, who then goes across the country to fulfill a series of prophecies and finally defeat the ultimate evil, making a team of friends along the way. It should be smoother than a river stone.
Wraithvine had done all the research and was currently between mentees. Having put all the prophecies together and tracked down the scion, ze made the offer and waited. Nothing ever went smoothly. There was always gum in the works whenever ze attempted to operate off a script.
This time, the foretold hero of legend had his mother in tow. A stern brick of a woman whose hands were always moving at something. If her deity wasn’t one of the Creators, then there was something else grievously wrong with the universe. She was currently knitting a sock and glaring at Wraithvine like a suspect fish at the markets.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03040-H117: Accepted Market Price
If you can’t blow them away with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit. – Anon Guest
“Two thousand gold per square quarter-inch of ear… five hundred per digit of phalanges… three hundred for the tarsals and metatarsals…” The person running the tally was not a necromancer. They were not a crime lord. They were an “acquisitions agent” for the Dark Market. Not the Black Market, the Dark Market. It’s much, much worse.
“Oh don’t worry about me,” Wraithvine muttered to hirself, “You go ahead and take a day. I won’t get into any trouble on a nature walk to hear the bell-birds of Lalhelia…” Ze had lived, effectively, forever. This wasn’t the first time that ze had been audience to hir price per piece. It was, however, one of the more insulting. “Two silver per karatweight of my liver? Two silver? Really? Last time it was fifteen!”
The Tallyman working on Wraithvine’s price per piece looked up from his books. “There can’t have been a last time, you’re still alive.” Okay. So not that easily gulled. Great. Time to spin a stronger yarn.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03013-H090: Something Popped Up
Young Vee gains a reputation among the village as a child healer, a toddler prodigy, a little sorceress with a healing touch. It is rumored she can heal any wound, and any illness, that befalls a person. Unfortunately, that rumor spreads outside the valley through travelers, and falls into the ears of less than scrupulous adventurers seeking to gain fame and fortune.
Vee’s from this prompt.
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02854-g297-here-s-one-we-made-earlier – Anon Guest
Several alarming things occurring in Lower Petraine. The starting point was that the ersatz mayor’s toddler was shaping up to be a very powerful sorcerer indeed. All because Marvin Antheson was the adopted child of the Kobold Rogue, Lady Anthe. Draconic heritage actually works on adopted family, if the love bond is strong enough.
Second, that selfsame toddler could apparently cast Wish. At least, that was the diagnosis for Rar and his new eye. They couldn’t tell, and Vee was not in control of her magics just yet. Small children with their magic taking anchor were a terror under the wrong circumstances. For instance - an infant Tiefling in distress is capable of using Thaumaturgy to make their emotional state known to anyone in a very large radius.
Third - she had yet to use any other magics but “Kiss Better”, which was even more disturbing. What else could she kiss better? What else was she capable of? The entirety of Lower Petraine unanimously decided to keep her away from the more disturbing edges of medical intervention. That did not stop word getting around.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #02949-H026: When You Assume
They were a HERO! That is what everyone said they were. They crushed nests of kobolds before those imps could spread, destroyed dragons for the gold freeing the kings that sent them after the dragons from their scaly wrath, cut down teiflings where-ever they were found to ensure those demons could claim no souls.
They were a hero, everyone said they were… right?
So when they entered the city to cleanse it of the blight said to exist there, seeing all that existed there, why did it feel so… wrong? They had a job to do. They raised their blade to strike when someone grabbed their hand from behind. Face to face with the elf….. everyone said they were a………. but… were they?
A premise - a “Hero” comes to New Hope with the intent of wiping out the “evil” inhabitants. And learns a lesson they never forget.
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02868-g311-to-change-the-world – Lessons
Everyone is a hero in their own narrative. Nobody sets out with a sword and a hope of being a great adventurer with plans to cause as much chaos and devastation as possible. Things just… tend… to happen that way. Mostly because Adventurers have a solid streak of ‘dumbass’ in their makeup. Ardin the Protector set out to eliminate all evil in the world. To him, that meant all evil creatures.
Through his eyes, every Tiefling was a devil-spawn waiting to drag innocent souls into the assorted hells. Every Orc was a savage Barbarian destined to destroy an innocent village or to become part of a rampaging horde. Every Kobold was a sign of an infestation that was a sure sign of rot and corruption. There was no other way to see it. If you did not agree with him, you were allied with evil.
He was a great hero. Especially if you listened to his Bardic sidekick. He had liberated so many places from evil creatures. He wore a bugbear’s fur as a trim on his cape. He had dragon teeth on his necklace. He had rings and bracelets made from Tiefling horn. And worse, he had heard of New Hope. Through his eyes, it was little more than a nest of pure evil. It was crawling with Bugbears, Goblins, Orcs, Kobolds, and assorted halfbreeds. There was even talk that it had been founded by a Tiefling. How it had been allowed to prosper was beyond him.
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