Yeoldebard

“‘We do seem to be somewhere,’ said Diggory. ‘At least I’m standing on something solid.’” Brakes hissed. The bus wheezed to a stop, and Rufus’ voice took on an almost frantic pace. Reading aloud to a quiet audience, he raced to squeeze out one more sentence, one more line before Sakis would be trapped in his void with nothing to entertain him. “‘Why, so am I, come to think of it-’” “Everyone off the bus, and line up toes on the grass,” Mrs. Cunningham called down the aisle. Sighing heavi

Sakis stabbed the doorbell. Whistling cheerfully with the music inside, the satyr hopped a bit, working out the kinks from interdimensional travel. It took barely half a minute for the doorknob to rattle before falling silent. Muffled voices filtered through the barrier, and the door finally opened to reveal a scowling Rufus and a teen boy behind him. “You keep doing that!” Rufus grumbled. “Ringing the doorbell? I like the music.” Sakis shrugged. “You must be the great and powerful time tr

DING! Music swelled through the living room, the opening bars of Entry of the Gladiators clamouring to announce the arrival of visitors. Sakis glanced up from where he lay in front of the TV. “I see the circus has arrived.” “It’s Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Eve,” Rufus denied. “They’re staying until Friday. I think.” “In other words, yes, the circus has arrived,” Jessica sighed, heading for the door. “Rufus, change the channel.” “Mammam!” “You can watch this show when my parents aren’t

5 am. A trumpet erupted from Rufus’ clock, and he shot up as horns swept around the call. A frazzled mind dragged him out of bed, and he stammered out, “Athanasios, I need you!” Sakis appeared on the scene barely a second before the door flew open. Too close. The satyr shuddered as Rufus slapped the clock and Jessica stared wide-eyed at them. The music shut off. Silence lunged at them, only to be swatted aside by Jessica’s laugh. “Well, good morning you two. What’s the occasion?” Rufus g

Rufus fell asleep. Through a long, dark ride, even with the coming separation, what was a young child to do when dragged out of bed so early? Sakis watched, though. Sakis listened, as Sean and Jessica discussed plans, debated schedules, did everything they could to push away the pain. He knew that strategy all too well — how many summoners had done the same? And when light flooded the car, when they crawled to a stop to flash Sean’s ID at a guard, Rufus finally stirred in his booster, bleari

The crowd ebbed and flowed around him, always at a respectful distance, always growing, shrinking, regrowing. In this realm outside time, who knew when they arrived or left? Yet Sakis often amused himself by trying to recognise faces. To this point, he had yet to exist beyond sometime around 2100 CE, which implied that Aphrodite was all but forgotten by that period. Nor had he existed before… uh… 430 BCE? Ish? Dates were a bit uncertain given several different calendars, an entirely different

It took a third day to end the massacre. When Louis returned to camp, they discovered a massive bonfire blazing as soldiers threw cloth, leathers, even some jewellery into the flames. All the spoils of Jaffa were cleansed in fire, and the French even seemed happy to be rid of them. A vicious campaign started through whispers. The army had clearly caught the plague! No, it was just a cold; the plague couldn’t spread in the desert heat. Louis paid little attention to the rumour mill the next d

The siege began early in the morning. Set to monitoring the Mediterranean coast against any looming naval support, Louis entertained themself instead by watching the artillery corps heaving guns into place atop low hills, aided by the unfortunate infantry who wandered too close. Fortifications were built against answering fire, and somehow, the army managed to get most of the cannon to within 150 metres of the wooden wall enveloping the hilly city. Officially, the siege didn’t actually start

Yep! I had a lot of fun researching the varieties native to that region. Apparently someone recently found a seed that was around 2,000 years old, and was able to make it sprout.

Lines scrawled across a parchment, fluctuating between smooth and shaky as Arlo’s ability scores bounced between normal and cursed. He wasn’t directly moving against the crown yet, and the [Geas] wasn’t happy. At the same time, he couldn’t act until the heroes led the charge into Castle Korvosa; Arlo needed their distraction to locate Ileosa and have any chance of besting her. Charging at a well guarded queen with the intent of simply snatching her crown wasn’t exactly conductive toward succes

Well into that Egyptian winter, rest eluded Louis. They suppressed revolts in the fall, marching from village to village and burning those who refused to surrender, and marching back upon those who had surrendered but who proceeded to change their minds the second the French had moved on. By the time the revolts had been thoroughly quashed, the 2nd Demi-Brigade was sent along the Nile to the coastal city of Damietta, marching near the entire length through steady rain. There, vague promises we

“My strength is not in my sword, but in my heart. If I lose my sword, I have lost a tool. If I betray my heart, I have died.” “We will search. But resurrection is against his wishes. Not only would it dishonour the dead, but it is unlikely to succeed because his soul is unwilling,” Sera said, gently driving the stake into Godwin’s heart. “We will burn his body, and sell his gear when we return to Korvosa, after finding Serithtial and dealing with the undead threat.” The paladin stared at a c

They went in hot. Godwin charged through the wide gap in the wall, heading straight for the dragon lurking in the shadows while Arlo covered him with a pistol. Laori’s [Stone Shape] finished a mere second before Sera finished a [Dispel Evil], testing a theory she’d had. If she was right, the dragon would get the hell out of Dodge. If she was wrong… well, the element of surprise was enough to put the wyrm on the back foot. Hopefully. The Pharasmin leapt willingly into the ensuing melee. Godwi

“First item of note: the castle is under a [Dimensional Anchor] spell.” The group sat under the dubious shelter of the castle’s barbican, on the mainland side of the causeway. A good distance away, orc bodies burned on a massive fire, all that remained of the tribe that had barred Sial’s and Laori’s approach to Scarwall. Their new allies were definitely powerful enough to help Arlo’s group through the castle. They just had to find a way inside. Arlo turned the Pharasmin swirl over between hi

As it turned out, getting a dozen terrified women to follow him had been the easy part — and that was including having to track them all down. The hard part was barring stone doors from an enemy who had no problem commandeering scrolls of [Stone Shape] and flat out deleting the barriers. Arlo thanked Desna’s lucky stars that the sewer entrance was so well hidden. Only one breach in their defences, and that was feasible to plug with his body. And potions. Over a dozen potions. He wasn’t fight