Zalan struggled under Hatewing’s claw, but the slightest movement sent pain spiraling through his body. His arm was almost certainly broken and he couldn’t move an inch from under the claw.
He looked at his friends to see how they were doing. Rep was staring at him in horror, his mouth bloody and his arms lacking weapons. He held a ...
“Rep, can I borrow your sword?” Zalan asked.
Rep immediately handed over his sword, not a moment’s hesitation.
“Any idea you have is much better than my lack of idea or ability. Take everything you need,” Rep said earnestly, watching Hatewing’s eyes for its next attack.
“Sky blue! Ice!” Gorb called, pulling Fran...
“Run! Run!” Yelsa cried. “I will battle Docrun over taking on an Elemental Dragon! Just get me out of here!”
“What’s an Elemental Dragon?” Zalan asked, backing away from the hulking creature as it embodied the entire chamber and spread its wings. Its black visage took over all the light entering through the hole in the ceil...
“He’s coming up the stairs!” Zalan hissed urgently.
The others immediately dragged themselves to the edge of the stairs to confirm. They watched in horror. As soon as they reached over the edge, they witnessed Docrun stepping up another stair, then inspecting the area slowly before taking another step.
“He is movi...
Zalan looked up at the newest room they entered. They were at the foot of a giant spiral staircase leading to where the dragon and treasure lay. He was breathing laboriously, rubbing at the throbbing wound in his bruised neck. He looked around at his friends, trying to get a feel for how well they fared.
They were down to four swords, one ...
Zalan could feel Docrun running after him as much as he could hear his thunderous steps. He threw a bolt of lightning behind him without looking and heard Docrun stumble for a moment as Rep’s hand reached out and touched the handle. Rep grasped tightly, then had his face smashed into the door by Docrun’s decrepit, gray hand. Rep cried out in pa...
The reanimated, Fleshless King Docrun stood numbly, waiting silently. Zalan saw that hanging from his hip was a white, dimly shining object. Half of it was an hourglass, and the other was a skeleton head that the sand would pour into, except there was no sand. Zalan heard the faint scratching at the door behind him, the previo...
The group got to their feet after having had long enough to appreciate the fact they wouldn’t be trapped inside the Chaos Chamber until the end of time.
“I ran too fast and abandoned my arrows. I left about half,” Yelsa noted, looking over her quiver.
“And we left behind some perfectly good daggers,” Rep added, t...
“This cannot be right,” Fran said, punching the wall furiously. “I just destroyed this stone!”
“The Chaos Chamber repairs itself?” Yelsa asked Rep, terrified.
“I do not know. I was only told they are unpredictable and one should never enter one,” Rep replied.
“There must be something we are missing. There mus...
The five gathered below the yellow artifact, its monochrome yellow hue overpowering any other colors they brought in with them.
“A Chaos Chamber? What is that?” Fran asked Rep.
Rep was staring intently at the ceiling, then looked around them cautiously, his eyes lingering on the two skeletons in one corner.
“It is a tr...
They waited a long while in the room. The wings, shrieks, and door-scratches of the Razortongues soon decrescendoed and dissipated when they could no longer hear the adventurers on the other side of the door. The danger felt like it was over, save for Rep’s injury. After about two hours of rest and waiting, Zalan asked Yelsa how Rep’s...
“Rep!” Zalan jumped up and rushed over to him, looking over the wound spilling freely on the floor. “Stop the bleeding! That’s a bad cut!”
Yelsa hopped up and poured water over the wound as Rep bit his lip and winced in pain. Zalan took his sword and cut off the lower end of his tunic to cover Rep’s wound while Yelsa went throu...
Zalan breathed easier once he could see the top of the set of stairs, confirming that there were no more Melders in the large chamber. He waved his friends forward, encouraging them to come up as well, free from any imminent dangers. The next floor greeted them with a large wooden door, holding up much better than the entryway had at the op...
Zalan gripped the armrests of the chair tightly as he stared at the door in front of him. The rational part of his mind knew that something was wrong. He shouldn’t be at the hospital. But his heart was running on all cylinders, crashing against his chest and desperately seeking an explanation. He didn’t understand what was going ...
The group prowled forward, remaining as quiet and cautious as they could whenever they crossed into a new room. They had traversed three chambers so far, each one growing darker as sunlight dim and sparse. They were searching for an area with stairs, as that would lead them to the peak of the castle where the dragon presumabl...
The group assessed themselves before continuing into the castle. Yelsa’s foot was still slightly wounded which caused her to lean heavily on her good leg, but she insisted that she was fine to continue, eager to go home as soon as possible. Rep and Fran had no signs of injuries, leaving only Zalan and Gorb with bruises.
“I’ll be fine,” Zalan i...
2024-02-14 17:03:15 +0000 UTC View Post
“What… what do I do?” Zalan screamed, raising his sword at the creature.
The new Narg was taking in the scene. The injured Narg with Fran, Gorb, and Rep on one end of the field outside the gate, and Zalan in front of it. The Narg grunted in a deep croak and began raising its club. It didn’t raise the weapon to full height befo...
The Narg looked like a troll with an amphibious frog-face. It wore flattened metals as armor on its body and had spikes protruding from the back of its prodigious head. Its eyes were uncanny, small, round, and on opposite sides of its head like a mix between a spider and a toad. The Narg had too many fingers and toes with wretched lon...
The five travelers left Poppyville in high spirits, carrying an air of excitement from the previous day’s festivities as well as having rested in comfortable beds behind protected walls rather than camping outside. They traveled close to the river, knowing that it would eventually lead to the Castle of Docrun that they could no...
Rep explained to Zalan that the town they were approaching was called Poppyville, named after the flowers that were surrounding it. Zalan couldn’t tell any one flower from another. He accepted that there were probably a lot of poppy flowers amongst the differently colored flowers surrounding the city.
It was a beautiful entrance, lin...
Zalan looked between his four companions in confusion, as they continued to watch him carefully, like something dangerous was creeping from within him. Rep looked like he was trying to calm the others down with his eyes alone. Zalan turned around to make sure that the Boznok was dead, then looked to Fran, desperate to break the strange silence....
The travelers emerged from the forest quickly, the lack of need for breakfast had them on their way immediately after waking up. Zalan was only now coming to terms with just how incredible an Artifact the Satiator was. There was so much time normally put into cooking and eating that they could now skip. He took a moment to consider himself grate...
Zalan wasn’t sure how long he had remained in the brooding, catatonic parts of his mind, but he knew for certain when he was lucid once more. Fran, Rep, Gorb, and Yelsa were looking him over with concern and compassion. He was sitting upright against a tree, cold sweat drying from the top of his head to the base of his neck. His eyes we...
The travelers continued their way on the path, the lush grass opening to some sparse trees in a lightly wooded forest. At first, Zalan found this shaded area a welcome improvement until he noticed the way that his companions began watching the trees for ambushes, drawing their weapons even though there was no immediate threat. Zalan ...
The light packs felt strange to the weathered travelers. When the food was low, it usually meant they were nearing the end of the journey they had packed for, but now they were just exiting Oriton. They felt a mix of unease and liberation, except for Zalan who was blissfully unaware of the absence of weight in his pack. The guards ...
The next few minutes of travel went by in silence, Zalan spending much of his time trying to understand the Artifact simply by staring at it. Fran occasionally sighed in reminiscence, remembering particular attacks during the recent battle and how close to death they all came. She was perfectly happy carrying the conversation with herself. But ...
“I’m stronger now,” Zalan determined as the stats faded from his forearm. “And wiser?”
“Wisdom has nothing to do with your wisdom,” Gorb replied.
“Right,” Zalan said, confused.
“Correct, you are still a fool!” Fran said, smiling as she looked over the dead Giant Gargoyle with mirth.
“What is it,...
Zalan gripped his sword tightly, his arms shaking as the Giant Gargoyle sized up the three fighters. Fran’s sword was bright with flames and attracted the most attention. Zalan had given up trying to imbue his sword with electricity and instead tried to look at both the Giant Gargoyle and the dozen Sickly Gargoyles at its feet, panickin...
Fran led the way outside the gate, waving off the warnings received by the guards on the walls. She walked with a skip in her step, so much energy that Zalan wondered if she had one of those Indefatigable Iron Artifacts on her person, but quickly dismissed the idea as being very foolish for an adventurer, especially one outsid...
“How much time do you think has passed in my homeworld?” Zalan asked Rep once they were underway. Zalan didn’t like the idea of being in a coma so long as he was in this world. He wondered what Asher was thinking, seeing him sleep for so long after he visited.
“Not much time at all, I would venture. Seconds, maybe,” Rep s...