Dantes arrived at the Cruel Lady in the early morning, finding it surprisingly busy for that time of day with a few men and a woman leaving quickly with their faces covered by large hats, and a shameless man walking ahead of him and even holding the door and telling him good morning as he moved t...
2024-06-27 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDantes stood in a darkened alley surrounded by filth and broken glass, feeling as much at home there as was possible. He wore his dark green jacket with the hood up, protecting from the light drizzle that fell that day, and had a scarf inside the jacket just below the hood. He flexed the fingers ...
2024-06-25 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostHe awoke without either Clay or his sister in his garden, though he could sense that they’d been there recently. He found Jacopo sleeping peacefully next to him on a bedding of old leaves, and a number of feathers from his own pillow. He raised his left hand, turning it forward and backward. It...
2024-06-22 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDantes could feel the blood loss sapping his strength as he ran, but he was moving on pure instinct and could think of nothing but his desire to escape. Eventually he collapsed in a dirty alley. He started to push himself up, but collapsed back down. Jacopo reached him shortly after.
2024-06-20 12:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I though everyone might like to see the character portraits I've generated since I put out the last batch. As I said before I mainly make these for my own notes and reference and they aren't perfectly accurate, but I felt you all may get a kick out of them. For the record however you picture them...
2024-06-19 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostTo Mondego and his men, it seemed as if all hells had broken loose. Vines whipped up and grabbed the wrists of the men holding knives to Alessa and Caressa’s necks, and dragged them to the ground. Dantes himself appeared behind Zilly, and shot out his living branch redirecting the crossbow aime...
2024-06-18 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of the conclave was much more relaxed, with them mostly deciding more on what kind of trade with Dantes they’d want to do, and sharing another meal and some booze. Dantes decided to pass on staying through the night, his concern for what might be happening at Rendhold in his absence am...
2024-06-15 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostCoal rode his warthog into the clearing in the middle of a hearty laugh.
“And the man chased you right into the swamp?” he asked Lorna, who was walking next to him, her gator, Beast, bolting ahead of them with surprising speed so that he could leap into the water.
“Yes. He...
2024-06-13 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDantes stood in front of the ancient tree deep in the heart of Rendhold with Jacopo sitting on his shoulder. He went through a quick mental checklist to make sure he was ready. His bag was filled with the Herbs he’d gotten from Hema, some of the guns and gunpowder he’d looted from Iron and hi...
2024-06-11 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostJacopo followed the woman into one of the administrative buildings, using his key to push through the anti-vermin enchantment and slip through the front door behind her. This building was different from the others. There were fewer regular Magisters and secretaries, but there were a number of gua...
2024-06-08 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Dantes was occupying himself at the Cruel Lady, Jacopo was sitting behind some documents on a shelf in Pacha’s office. He’d just left another note on his desk, but before he could slip out, he heard someone approaching, and so had found a place to hide.
Pacha pushed open the door,...
2024-06-06 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIn Uptown, the Cruel Lady stood out. A black building with barred windows and a massive sign with the establishment's name framed by a large black whip. It was flanked by a bookstore with flowers in the window, and a bakery filled with frilly cakes. Dantes stepped to the front door of the whoreho...
2024-06-04 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostDantes stood from his bedroll and flexed his fingers as he moved toward Orebus, Merle, and Felix. It had started to rain, and a light drizzle was falling over the garden, which he sensed that many of the plants enjoyed, though a nearby cat was grumpily licking its fur nearby as it was forced to h...
2024-06-01 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostMoving through a mirror was very different from moving through trees. With the trees there was a sense of oneness with everything and a loss of ego, but with the mirror there was only an intense discomfort and awareness of something other watching, followed by a sudden return to reality ...
2024-05-30 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostOnce Felix had completely resigned himself to his fate, he actually began to seem as if he was enjoying the prospect of breaking the collars. He and the other mages began to theorize and work toward the safest way to break them. They spoke quickly and enthusiastically to one another, b...
2024-05-28 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostDantes walked along the hall, dripping wet in his disguise with his boots squelching with every step. The corridor he stood in was long with doors on either side, seemingly too close together to house actual rooms. He moved to the far end, and climbed the staircase up to the second highest level ...
2024-05-25 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes adjusted the black cloak he’d wrapped around himself, clasping it with a bronze pin in the shape of a triangle in the center of a circle, a symbol thought to represent stability in magic, and one worn by the members of the Academy when they were on official business or on the grounds of ...
2024-05-23 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDantes didn’t make his former collared friends wait in a pit of dwarven corpses and vermin for long. He shifted back to himself and leaned against the wall behind him, coughing lightly into his fist to get their attention.
They turned and looked at him, and Dantes waved. It was a risk, bu...
2024-05-21 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDantes wound his way back up through the outer city and back to where his boots clacked comfortably against concrete. The sun was high and he’d spent several hours getting information on the different local plants that Hema had sold him. Though Clay had frequently interrupted her so they could ...
2024-05-18 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostDantes smiled at the woman and patted one of his pockets filled with coin.
“Don’t worry, I’m here to buy. He spread his awareness through all of the plants nearby, finding that all of them were well cared for. He also detected at least one other person watering some plants in the back...
2024-05-16 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes spent the next two days recovering. He focused on improving and expanding his gardens, talking to the local flora and fauna, and monitoring the reactions to the sacking of Mondego’s storehouse.
The guard was furious, with both Gavain and Pacha. The adventurer’s guild struck...
2024-05-14 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostGavain ran at a very impressive clip to the docks. Even with Dantes taking him along mainly back roads and alleys, they still reached the warehouse within the hour. Dantes’s dignity was a bit bruised by being carried the whole way, but in his withered state it definitely made things easier. Bes...
2024-05-11 12:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDantes woke up to the feeling of the sun beating down on him in the high heat of midafternoon. He squinted, slowly pulling himself up. His mouth was dry and tasted of bile. He dragged himself to his bedroll and grabbed his waterskin. He swished a mouthful of water around in his mouth and spat it ...
2024-05-09 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostHe wasn’t sure how he made it back to his garden with Jacopo, but he did. He shivered, but felt hot. He retched, but had nothing left to come up. He curled himself into a ball on the dirt a half-dozen feet from his bedroll, and lost consciousness.
He stood in darkness, still in tremendous...
2024-05-07 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDantes made it to the docks with time to spare and began sending out rats and roaches to search all of the nearby vessels that had just come into port. As he did that, he slipped into the dock manager’s office with Jacopo. It was early, and so there was only a skeleton crew napping on some cots...
2024-05-04 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe next night, Dantes and Jacopo wove through Uptown as rats, moving from block to block until they reached the Administrative Square. They skittered past the statues of the gods in the center, avoiding a few overworked clerks, and one romantic tryst occurring under the shade of one of the colum...
2024-05-02 12:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostDantes climbed quickly and easily onto the roof of the building behind which was the alley that Felix was still pacing in. He made his way to the edge of the building, and shifted into ratform before shifting back when Felix’ back was turned. He crept quietly behind him and gave him a gentle sh...
2024-04-30 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostDantes watered his fourth garden, drawing his black hilted stiletto to trim a few browning leaves from a bush as he listened to the gossipping of pigeons on the freshly cleared roof behind him.
“How was the park?”
“Bad. Old woman wasn’t there again. Miss her dearly.”
...
2024-04-27 12:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostJacopo moved quickly through the city, using the mental map Dantes had given him to move toward Uptown. Dantes hadn’t frequented that part of the city, as most were turned away at the gates unless they could prove they had business there, but there were ways through for those who really wanted ...
2024-04-25 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe Bitter Wife was not the finest establishment in Rendhold, far from it, but it certainly did its best to live up to its name. Gambling, whoring, drinking, even fighting if you were into that sort of thing, all of it was available to the Bitter Wife’s patrons. It was located southeast of the ...
2024-04-23 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post