Durran took a longer time to return than Argrave had anticipated—and by extension, Elenore was delayed, too. In truth, he was a little surprised to see her get emotional about Durran. He’d shared that with Anneliese, and she guessed that her emotions had been building for a long time: decades...
2023-07-19 06:53:58 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave sat on the windowsill of Margrave Reinhardt’s keep, peering out into Vasquer. Anneliese sat in a chair just before him while Galamon stood beside her, ever watchful. These two had been his main council through his most difficult moments, easing the transition from hothouse flower colleg...
2023-07-18 06:53:45 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave stared at Durran as he very obviously tried to avoid the subject. Thinking back… he remembered Durran asking questions about the Alchemist. Anneliese had inadvertently taught him to be well-used to indulging idle curiosity, and he trusted Durran enough to blab about the Alchemist withou...
2023-07-17 06:53:02 +0000 UTC View PostMargrave Reinhardt of House Parbon was diligently reading through all of the reports that he’d gotten this morning. Undead attacks had become more prevalent, and so he was much more proactive in looking for anomalies. Abominations from the Order of the Rose were more common everywhere, and the ...
2023-07-14 06:55:08 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave and Anneliese spent the remainder of the day with Galamon and his family. Dras had given him the duty of dealing with the killings in Veiden while he investigated another matter, and with the ice wraith dead, that meant his duties were over. Rhomaden and Galamon were quite similar in appe...
2023-07-13 06:53:15 +0000 UTC View PostGalamon blinked his eyes open. The whole of him felt heavy, but it was considerably better than the numbing pain that had come after his battle with the ice wraith. That had been one of the fiercest opponents he’d ever faced, beaten only by the Shadowlander in Dirracha. But for foes that he’d...
2023-07-12 06:51:51 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave felt a brief sense of the totality of Vasquer’s perception extending deep into the mountains and the depths below. He could see the cavern which Anneliese had retrieved her A-rank ascension, and could see the marble city below that. Nothing stirred in their streets, and beyond a certain...
2023-07-11 06:52:01 +0000 UTC View PostAnneliese and Onychinusa sat on the rocks of the mountain peak. The ancient elf stared at the snow elf.
“Your braid is pretty,” Onychinusa said matter-of-factly. “I tried to copy it, but I couldn’t.”
Anneliese smiled at the sincerity as her fingers brushed the half-crown bra...
2023-07-10 06:53:07 +0000 UTC View PostAs Melanie delivered her line, she turned back and popped open the chest in a fluid motion. Argrave immediately spotted several relics of value—relics recognizable enough to pinpoint where, exactly, she had been. Her expeditionary team travelled to a cave in the west, at the base of the mountai...
2023-07-07 06:51:18 +0000 UTC View PostMelanie, a native of Relize, technical royal auditor for the crown of Vasquer, but definite sword-for-hire walked beneath a fortified archway. The building was wedged firmly in the valley road leading to the newly-born capital of Vasquer named Blackgard. Her long red hair whipped against her neck...
2023-07-06 06:53:55 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave and Anneliese sat on the sandy coast of the Bloodwoods, staring out across the vastness of the ocean that divided this continent from others. Orion stood a healthy distance away, guarding them diligently while giving them space to speak alone. They faced the sun as it faded beyond the hor...
2023-07-05 06:53:53 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Anneliese returned from her visit to Onychinusa far later than she normally did, and with a large smile on her face, Argrave knew she had made a significant advancement in helping the wounded ancient elf. In truth, hearing of her descriptions of her condition day after day was quite saddenin...
2023-07-04 06:52:10 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t want her to hate us, but I understand why she does,” Argrave nodded as the dryads grew closer. “So long as she knows that we did what we did to hurt Erlebnis, not her.”
“Please, give this to her!” Anneliese called out, retrieving a paper from her pockets. She dropped ...
2023-07-03 06:53:07 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave’s head turned ever so slowly, taking in all the sights before him. He saw the redwoods, as thick as towers and stretching as far as the eye could see. He saw the destruction left behind by the paths of war—the elves, Kirel Qircassia’s servants, or the centaurs following Sarikiz’s ...
2023-06-30 06:52:17 +0000 UTC View PostErlebnis fought from an incontrovertibly advantaged position. He had already proven that his emissaries were a match to the elven gods. Every second he waited, his presence on this realm grew stronger, allowing him to field more of those potent combatants. If they should bunch around his breach, ...
2023-06-29 06:56:10 +0000 UTC View PostSarikiz sat before Argrave, much of the tension in her shoulders drained. Her eyes did not wander from place to place so frantically, and she did not fear an attack from any direction. Indeed, it might be said that she seemed somewhat happy.
“Kirel Qircassia had made that rift. So long as...
2023-06-28 06:55:07 +0000 UTC View PostSarikiz stared down at the four assembled elven gods. Then, in sudden motion, she lashed out fiercely and her foot descended on them with tremendous weight. Merata, Ghan, Ujin, and Gunlik and joined the strength of their projection to catch the attack.
“Stop it!” Argrave shouted out, st...
2023-06-27 06:56:04 +0000 UTC View PostOf all the original protagonists that Argrave had encountered, Dimocles was the one that that had acted most like a player of Heroes of Berendar. His personality was the most well-suited for that role—just like him, players sought to collect things for the sake of collecting them. Artifacts, sp...
2023-06-26 06:56:14 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave and Anneliese crouched near a redwood tree. Both had heavy, tired eyes, but upon looking at the other in the eye they were renewed with flame. They exchanged a nod of tacit understanding, and then Argrave rose up and walked ahead alone.
Though his steps were heavy and he took them s...
2023-06-23 06:53:49 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Argrave, Anneliese, and Orion made to return to the elven camp, Anneliese’s scouting discovered that it was simply gone.
...but further scouting showed that it had moved to another location, seeking an advantageous position in wake of the sudden shift of roots in the forest. With the...
2023-06-22 06:54:43 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a while, Argrave managed to get the story out of Anneliese. When she mentioned going too far, too deep, she was talking about her evaluation of Onychinusa’s emotions. Apparently, what she had experienced was so profound she could all but perceive the elven woman’s thoughts. It had enabl...
2023-06-21 06:54:30 +0000 UTC View PostAnneliese felt sick to her stomach as she followed Onychinusa and the dryad down into the place that was to be the deciding point of this scheme. Battles she could handle, wars... she felt she had vision, there. But now she had insisted Argrave deviate from the surer course, following her down th...
2023-06-20 06:55:44 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave and Anneliese spent their time stuffing their packs full of the valuable things in this library. There were bags enough to carry more than they probably had a right to. Onychinusa looked a little taken aback at their blatant raiding, but this place was a point of research for shamanic mag...
2023-06-19 06:56:16 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave opened the first tome left behind by the elven monarch, reading through it carefully. It began without introducing its author, diving right to the heart of its contents. It was written in a strict yet elegant script. The writing was uniform enough it seemed typed.
I have witness...
2023-06-16 06:55:38 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave and Anneliese walked up to Onychinusa as she played with the dryad children on the ground. She seemed to have resigned herself to being adorned with all manner of flamboyant leaf accessories-- from Argrave’s sight, he saw a few rings, a crown, and a bracelet, each and all made of flower...
2023-06-15 06:56:24 +0000 UTC View PostOnychinusa looked upon the older dryad after she made her offer and said, “I agreed to help, but I don’t know what it is you’re asking of me.”
The mother dryad stepped up to Onychinusa, staring her eye to eye. “I cannot fault you for that. The circumstances of your birth were very...
2023-06-14 06:55:35 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave turned his head to Onychinusa, placing both of his hands upon his hips. She looked up at him, perhaps already knowing what it was he was going to ask.
“Would you be willing to help them?”
The unwrinkled hag looked bitter, and her hands fidgeted as she grappled with the ide...
2023-06-13 06:54:05 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave walked into the vibrant architecture of this stone monument to a culture long perished, seeking to restrain the Brumesingers before they caused any problems. Though he was cautious about the dryads, he felt inaction might pose a problem given the fact his druidic bonds were doing somethin...
2023-06-12 06:56:24 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the conversation with Batbayar, Argrave managed to get a few hours of sleep… sleep made harder by knowing the most pivotal part of the plan would come in twenty-four hours. Less, given the time that had elapsed. Batbayar evidently decided that time was of the essence. His conscio...
2023-06-09 06:57:13 +0000 UTC View PostAfter days of protracted tension and combat, much of which Argrave survived on little sleep, he finally laid his head down in one of the tents the Veidimen honor guard had pitched. He wasn’t alone, as the tent was shared with Anneliese and her acting-sister Onychinusa, and he wasn’t at peace,...
2023-06-08 06:56:02 +0000 UTC View Post