Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
The chronicles of Team Big-hearted And Determined (B.A.D.)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Echolocation" data-source="post: 8486208" data-attributes="member: 7011911"><p>The next two stories are well into the Adventure Seven, but before the convocation:</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Autumn Afternoons</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>23rd of Autumn, 501 A.O.V.</strong></p><p></p><p>After three weeks away searching for her mother’s murderer, it’s incredibly soothing to be back home, even if only for a few days. Ella would have to thank John again - and study his spell carefully on the way back to Drakr. Despite watching him cast it, she hadn’t entirely grasped the mechanisms behind the divine magic. Magical transportation via plants was far beyond anything her mother or Gramma had ever shown her.</p><p></p><p>Thoughts for another time though… as Ella dashes through the garden with three children in hot pursuit.</p><p></p><p>Her reward for arriving home without work responsibilities has been supervising the younglings, and right now she’s participating in the time-honoured tradition of “working off the jitterwiggles before dinner”.</p><p></p><p>It's remarkably similar to chasing chickens - although thankfully the actual chickens are still in their pen; the hens being among the few things still in their rightful place. Unlike Ella’s boots. Those had been stolen by every child present several times before being discarded among the garden shrubs. The magical compulsion to acquire them had worn off after the first thefts but that hadn’t stopped it being a fun game.</p><p></p><p>“Alright!” Ella spins to a stop, laughing as several children pile into her and send her sprawling. “You got me!” The grass tickles as Skeet squirms in delight. His magical speed had made Ella the undisputed champion of tag until it wore off and now the youngsters were all determined to make her “it” at every opportunity.</p><p></p><p>“You’re it!” Sofia affirms as she hugs Ella’s waist and grins at her through a cloud of orange curls. Cador nods, for once not disagreeing with the bossy little gnome, and Andy shyly follows suit as he clutches her arm.</p><p></p><p>Ella giggles, shooing them away. “Okay! Just… give me a minute.”</p><p></p><p>Sofia scoots off her lap and watches disapprovingly as the older gnome takes her time getting her breath back. “Fine.” The little redhead puts her hands on her hips and pouts. “But if you fought a dragon then you should be better at running away, Elsie.”</p><p></p><p>“Who told you I fought a dragon?” Ella wrinkles her nose good-naturedly as she scoops Andy into her lap and starts plucking leaves from his hair.</p><p></p><p>“It was all over the newspapers,” Sofia assures her, with all the authority of someone who doesn’t rip up every piece of available paper for random craft projects.</p><p></p><p>“Alright,” Ella eyes at Sofia with amusement, “but what makes you think fighting a dragon would make me any better at running? It’s hard to fight if you’re going in the opposite direction.”</p><p></p><p>The smaller gnome puffs up importantly, adopting a lecturing tone: “Well the Waffle Man says that if we’re fighting a- a-”</p><p></p><p>“A stronger adversary,” Cador chips in.</p><p></p><p>Sofia nods graciously at him, “-a bigger anniversary, then we should be smart instead of strong. And getting set on fire by a dragon doesn’t sound very smart.”</p><p></p><p>The tiefling grimaces as she wonders what other advice her teammate had shared. “Well-” she ruffles Andy’s blue hair as she ponders how to proceed, “-that’s very good advice from Angharad and I hope that if you ever meet something dangerous you remember it, but sometimes running away isn’t the best option. Dragons are probably faster than you so getting behind cover is a higher priority.”</p><p></p><p>Teri perks up where she’s braiding flowers into Dustin’s tail with Maria. “What’s a dragon like?”</p><p></p><p>Ella looks at five expectant faces and finds herself tongue-tied. How to describe Gradiax’s daughter? A half-mechanical cripple left abandoned for centuries after her parents were torn away from her? No awe-inspiring monster from myth but an angry soul set on revenge against the smaller races who’d tried to erase her kind’s entire existence… How to explain that?</p><p></p><p>She pats Andy’s head and lets him off her lap as she plucks a small piece of fleece from her belt pouch and starts teasing the strands apart. “The one I met wasn’t particularly old, as dragons go,” she begins, “but she looked a bit like this-”</p><p></p><p>With a flick of Ella’s hand and an arcane word the fleece seems to billow outwards: forming an illusory cloud of steam. Late afternoon sunlight fails to penetrate its shadows but after a moment a large shape shifts in its depths: scales and metal gleaming. The children gasp as a burning red eye fixates on them and a beat of shadowy wings sends the steam swirling, almost revealing Terakalir’s true, tortured form before the illusion wisps away into nothing.</p><p></p><p>Ella forces a grin and tucks the fleece away. “See? Not much chance of running away from that.”</p><p></p><p>“...Do it again!” Teri pipes up. Sofia nods vigorously and even Cador looks impressed. Andy peers intently at where the illusion was, his tiny brows furrowed as if wondering how to recreate it. Ella has no doubt that given enough time and practise he could.</p><p></p><p>“No time for that, I’m afraid!” The investigator claps her hands briskly as she stands. “You get one game of hide and seek and then it’s dinner time!”</p><p></p><p>The resulting groans turn into a mad rush as Ella puts a hand over her eyes and begins loudly counting. A tug on her other hand interrupts though and she peeks down to see Andy’s big green eyes staring up at her solemnly.</p><p></p><p>“-Fifteen and a half!" She stoops down, still with a hand over her eyes, and whispers: "What’s wrong, cricket? Don’t you want to hide?”</p><p></p><p>Andy shakes his head and nestles into her side. “Was it scary, Elsie?” he lisps. “Fighting a dragon?”</p><p></p><p>Ella’s eyes soften and she abandons her self-made blindfold to scoop her little brother up into a hug. It’s slowly getting harder to do: him being all of seventeen now, but she can still manage it. There's an indignant yell from halfway down the garden: "You peeked! You have to start again!" and the tiefling rolls her eyes.</p><p></p><p>“Twenty!” she calls over Andy's shoulder as she closes her eyes and rests her chin on his hair. “It was scary,” she whispers back, “but it was mostly sad.”</p><p></p><p>He blinks against her shoulder. “Sad?”</p><p></p><p>“Nineteen and three quarters!” She nods and rocks back and forth gently as Skeet sways - the prosthetic contributing to the hug as best he can. “Fighting is always sad,” she murmurs, “even for a good cause. We should try to help people like Ma did, not hurt them.” She takes a deep breath, suppressing a familiar ache, and yells: “Eighteen point nine!”</p><p></p><p>There’s a distant rustle of leaves and the sound of arguing as Sofia and Cador fight over a hiding spot. Andy nestles quietly into the curve of Ella’s neck and thinks.</p><p></p><p>“Are you sad a lot?” he lisps softly, with surprising gravitas.</p><p></p><p>The older gnome stills. “More often than I’d like,” she whispers back.</p><p></p><p>A tiny hand uncurls from the hug and gently pats her hair. They pass several numbers that way, until Andy speaks up again: “Ma made na-nasty medicine s-sometimes-” he frowns, struggling with the sibilants, “-but it helped.” The little gnome squeezes her anxiously. “Does fighting help people, Elsie?”</p><p></p><p>The earnestness in that question brings a lump to her throat and Ella swallows before replying: “Sometimes… if it keeps people from doing bad things, but that doesn’t make it good, just necessary.”</p><p></p><p>The younger gnome nods, considering. “Like sprouts.”</p><p></p><p>A watery laugh bubbles out of her. “And what have you got against sprouts?”</p><p></p><p>Andy screws up his face, nose wrinkling. “They're all st-stri-” he struggles with the combination of consonants before giving up. “Yucky.”</p><p></p><p>Ella chuckles. “Should I tell Aunt Maya?”</p><p></p><p>The tiny gnome’s eyes widen as he shakes his head vehemently. “N-no! Not Gran either.”</p><p></p><p>“Alright,” Ella grins. “My lips are sealed.”</p><p></p><p>By now the yard is conspicuously quiet: only the buzz of insects and occasional muffled giggles breaking the silence. Ella nudges her brother with her chin. “Shall we go find the others?”</p><p></p><p>Andy brightens and nods. “Okay!”</p><p></p><p>She grins and shifts him onto her shoulders so he can see, and the tiny blue-haired jockey clutches her horns as he looks around. “That way!”</p><p></p><p>There's a tug on her left horn and Ella turns obediently, yelling: “Six-five-four-three-two-one! Ready or not, here we come!” before opening her eyes and pelting across the yard.</p><p></p><p>Dustin snorts and flicks his ears as he watches, pondering the oddities of two-leggeds. The conjured pony's hoof knocks against something small and brown as he grazes and he sniffs it dubiously. A peculiar gleam enters his eyes and the pony side-eyes the laughing gnomes before picking the boot up between his teeth and trotting off into the orchard.</p><p></p><p>As it turns out, the most cunning adversaries for this game of hide and seek might very well be a pony and a magic boot.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">✰ ⚙ ✰</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Echolocation, post: 8486208, member: 7011911"] The next two stories are well into the Adventure Seven, but before the convocation: [CENTER][B]Autumn Afternoons 23rd of Autumn, 501 A.O.V.[/B][/CENTER] After three weeks away searching for her mother’s murderer, it’s incredibly soothing to be back home, even if only for a few days. Ella would have to thank John again - and study his spell carefully on the way back to Drakr. Despite watching him cast it, she hadn’t entirely grasped the mechanisms behind the divine magic. Magical transportation via plants was far beyond anything her mother or Gramma had ever shown her. Thoughts for another time though… as Ella dashes through the garden with three children in hot pursuit. Her reward for arriving home without work responsibilities has been supervising the younglings, and right now she’s participating in the time-honoured tradition of “working off the jitterwiggles before dinner”. It's remarkably similar to chasing chickens - although thankfully the actual chickens are still in their pen; the hens being among the few things still in their rightful place. Unlike Ella’s boots. Those had been stolen by every child present several times before being discarded among the garden shrubs. The magical compulsion to acquire them had worn off after the first thefts but that hadn’t stopped it being a fun game. “Alright!” Ella spins to a stop, laughing as several children pile into her and send her sprawling. “You got me!” The grass tickles as Skeet squirms in delight. His magical speed had made Ella the undisputed champion of tag until it wore off and now the youngsters were all determined to make her “it” at every opportunity. “You’re it!” Sofia affirms as she hugs Ella’s waist and grins at her through a cloud of orange curls. Cador nods, for once not disagreeing with the bossy little gnome, and Andy shyly follows suit as he clutches her arm. Ella giggles, shooing them away. “Okay! Just… give me a minute.” Sofia scoots off her lap and watches disapprovingly as the older gnome takes her time getting her breath back. “Fine.” The little redhead puts her hands on her hips and pouts. “But if you fought a dragon then you should be better at running away, Elsie.” “Who told you I fought a dragon?” Ella wrinkles her nose good-naturedly as she scoops Andy into her lap and starts plucking leaves from his hair. “It was all over the newspapers,” Sofia assures her, with all the authority of someone who doesn’t rip up every piece of available paper for random craft projects. “Alright,” Ella eyes at Sofia with amusement, “but what makes you think fighting a dragon would make me any better at running? It’s hard to fight if you’re going in the opposite direction.” The smaller gnome puffs up importantly, adopting a lecturing tone: “Well the Waffle Man says that if we’re fighting a- a-” “A stronger adversary,” Cador chips in. Sofia nods graciously at him, “-a bigger anniversary, then we should be smart instead of strong. And getting set on fire by a dragon doesn’t sound very smart.” The tiefling grimaces as she wonders what other advice her teammate had shared. “Well-” she ruffles Andy’s blue hair as she ponders how to proceed, “-that’s very good advice from Angharad and I hope that if you ever meet something dangerous you remember it, but sometimes running away isn’t the best option. Dragons are probably faster than you so getting behind cover is a higher priority.” Teri perks up where she’s braiding flowers into Dustin’s tail with Maria. “What’s a dragon like?” Ella looks at five expectant faces and finds herself tongue-tied. How to describe Gradiax’s daughter? A half-mechanical cripple left abandoned for centuries after her parents were torn away from her? No awe-inspiring monster from myth but an angry soul set on revenge against the smaller races who’d tried to erase her kind’s entire existence… How to explain that? She pats Andy’s head and lets him off her lap as she plucks a small piece of fleece from her belt pouch and starts teasing the strands apart. “The one I met wasn’t particularly old, as dragons go,” she begins, “but she looked a bit like this-” With a flick of Ella’s hand and an arcane word the fleece seems to billow outwards: forming an illusory cloud of steam. Late afternoon sunlight fails to penetrate its shadows but after a moment a large shape shifts in its depths: scales and metal gleaming. The children gasp as a burning red eye fixates on them and a beat of shadowy wings sends the steam swirling, almost revealing Terakalir’s true, tortured form before the illusion wisps away into nothing. Ella forces a grin and tucks the fleece away. “See? Not much chance of running away from that.” “...Do it again!” Teri pipes up. Sofia nods vigorously and even Cador looks impressed. Andy peers intently at where the illusion was, his tiny brows furrowed as if wondering how to recreate it. Ella has no doubt that given enough time and practise he could. “No time for that, I’m afraid!” The investigator claps her hands briskly as she stands. “You get one game of hide and seek and then it’s dinner time!” The resulting groans turn into a mad rush as Ella puts a hand over her eyes and begins loudly counting. A tug on her other hand interrupts though and she peeks down to see Andy’s big green eyes staring up at her solemnly. “-Fifteen and a half!" She stoops down, still with a hand over her eyes, and whispers: "What’s wrong, cricket? Don’t you want to hide?” Andy shakes his head and nestles into her side. “Was it scary, Elsie?” he lisps. “Fighting a dragon?” Ella’s eyes soften and she abandons her self-made blindfold to scoop her little brother up into a hug. It’s slowly getting harder to do: him being all of seventeen now, but she can still manage it. There's an indignant yell from halfway down the garden: "You peeked! You have to start again!" and the tiefling rolls her eyes. “Twenty!” she calls over Andy's shoulder as she closes her eyes and rests her chin on his hair. “It was scary,” she whispers back, “but it was mostly sad.” He blinks against her shoulder. “Sad?” “Nineteen and three quarters!” She nods and rocks back and forth gently as Skeet sways - the prosthetic contributing to the hug as best he can. “Fighting is always sad,” she murmurs, “even for a good cause. We should try to help people like Ma did, not hurt them.” She takes a deep breath, suppressing a familiar ache, and yells: “Eighteen point nine!” There’s a distant rustle of leaves and the sound of arguing as Sofia and Cador fight over a hiding spot. Andy nestles quietly into the curve of Ella’s neck and thinks. “Are you sad a lot?” he lisps softly, with surprising gravitas. The older gnome stills. “More often than I’d like,” she whispers back. A tiny hand uncurls from the hug and gently pats her hair. They pass several numbers that way, until Andy speaks up again: “Ma made na-nasty medicine s-sometimes-” he frowns, struggling with the sibilants, “-but it helped.” The little gnome squeezes her anxiously. “Does fighting help people, Elsie?” The earnestness in that question brings a lump to her throat and Ella swallows before replying: “Sometimes… if it keeps people from doing bad things, but that doesn’t make it good, just necessary.” The younger gnome nods, considering. “Like sprouts.” A watery laugh bubbles out of her. “And what have you got against sprouts?” Andy screws up his face, nose wrinkling. “They're all st-stri-” he struggles with the combination of consonants before giving up. “Yucky.” Ella chuckles. “Should I tell Aunt Maya?” The tiny gnome’s eyes widen as he shakes his head vehemently. “N-no! Not Gran either.” “Alright,” Ella grins. “My lips are sealed.” By now the yard is conspicuously quiet: only the buzz of insects and occasional muffled giggles breaking the silence. Ella nudges her brother with her chin. “Shall we go find the others?” Andy brightens and nods. “Okay!” She grins and shifts him onto her shoulders so he can see, and the tiny blue-haired jockey clutches her horns as he looks around. “That way!” There's a tug on her left horn and Ella turns obediently, yelling: “Six-five-four-three-two-one! Ready or not, here we come!” before opening her eyes and pelting across the yard. Dustin snorts and flicks his ears as he watches, pondering the oddities of two-leggeds. The conjured pony's hoof knocks against something small and brown as he grazes and he sniffs it dubiously. A peculiar gleam enters his eyes and the pony side-eyes the laughing gnomes before picking the boot up between his teeth and trotting off into the orchard. As it turns out, the most cunning adversaries for this game of hide and seek might very well be a pony and a magic boot. [CENTER]✰ ⚙ ✰[/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
The chronicles of Team Big-hearted And Determined (B.A.D.)
Top