“Ya can see the thing I found in the mornin’!” Taava protested with a smile. “Ya dragged me out inta the cold and I wanna go sleep!”
We’d almost made it back to the inn and Taava was steadfastly denying me a look at the assassin’s blade we’d found stuck into the roof of a building by the harbor.
“We found it!” I insisted. “And no one dragged you out into the cold—you decided to chase after me. Also, it is morning.”
<... 2022-10-05 02:56:27 +0000 UTC View PostAgain, I want to thank everyone for your continued support! We have a full cover now!
The other kinda cool news that's coming up is that between volumes, when public releases are going to include some of the voted side stories, both tiers will keep getting regular releases to push them further ahead. The goal is at least two additional chapters (1 week) for both tiers, but it may end up being more. This will happen in November.
Quick Edit: Fixed the attachment to not be a co...
2022-10-01 00:12:27 +0000 UTC View PostI took a look across the room. There were to charred skeletons, a burned mass, and another dead body. The wall opposite the beds was cracked, and one shutter was, too. At least it looks like we were attacked.
“We heard a commotion, miss.” A tall human woman wearing a hastily-strapped-on chestpiece addressed Seyari. She looked over Seyari’s shoulder despite how Seyari kept the door mostly closed. “Is everything all…” she trailed off, eyes wide.
“We were attac...
2022-10-01 00:03:19 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This one was super fun! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and it changed a lot during editing, too. The side story tilts a little more ambiguously modern than what I would normally write in-setting, but I think the familiarity kinda adds to the coziness. Sadly, this isn't canon (but who knows, maybe someday!). Monthly story pdf coming tomorrow with the next chapter.
“I’m home!” I called into the house, ducking so my horns ...
2022-09-30 04:27:02 +0000 UTC View PostAfter everyone else had gone to bed, I sat up alone on watch. I really resented having to set a watch at an inn room, but if Taava was right—and I strongly suspected she was—it was a necessary precaution. And, since the beds were tiny and I didn’t need to sleep every night, I ended up staying up, sat at the foot of Taava’s bed like a large, grumpy stuffed animal.
We—particularly Taava—had expected “potential assassins” to quickly become “very real assassins wh...
2022-09-28 03:00:34 +0000 UTC View PostI took the last watch before morning. Back in human form, I sat up, stitching around the two extra holes I’d made in my last shirt earlier that day. I could probably have shifted and tucked my arms in, but that would have ruined the effect. Ruined it for me, at least.
I wanted to leave the holes, reasoning that I’d make them again. Seyari had relented, and I’d spent most of my watch making alterations to the battered top. I wondered if there was a time where I would have been nerv...
2022-09-24 02:24:33 +0000 UTC View Post“Why did you offer to help her?” Seyari asked me.
“’Cause she’s a super great person and I’m a damsel in distress!” Taava answered cheerily. She didn’t skip a note of her playing.
“I wasn’t asking you!” Seyari snapped.
In response, Taava started to hum loudly along to the tune.
The four of us had stopped for the night, just outside the marsh in a sparse forest. All of us were seated on the ground around a fire and our newest ‘member’ had offer...
2022-09-21 02:43:18 +0000 UTC View PostI woke up before Seyari, who was still asleep in my arms. My feet and lower legs were cold; I must have stretched out during the night. I thought back to the previous evening’s activities. I’d learned a lot from the more experienced woman and, honestly, I felt great today.
The pain of the last few days had dulled, but I knew it would stick around. I wanted some amount of it to stick around.
I pulled my cold legs back up into the bed and looked toward the wind...
2022-09-17 03:46:23 +0000 UTC View PostI put another cut of venison into the hot pan and watched it sizzle. Given my relative immunity to fire and heat, I’d volunteered to hold the pan since we didn’t have gear for it. My arm wasn’t getting tired, but I still shifted the pan between my four hands out of some lingering habit.
Behind me, my half-angel partner Seyari sat on a log and stared into the flames. Across from her, a Cavenish man with messy black hair, Salvador, also stared into the fire.
I looked up at the...
2022-09-14 02:25:57 +0000 UTC View PostThank you all for your suggestions! Next month, I'll try to make a reminder before the poll goes up, in case there are any last-minute additions.
For now? Have at it! Vote and tell me which side story will be made by the end of this month.
You should be able to vote for multiple options if you wish.
This poll will be open for a week.
2022-09-12 20:03:04 +0000 UTC View PostI ran as fast as my legs would carry me. Footsteps of the man who killed Zach and Abby thundered behind me, getting closer and closer.
I ran and weaved and ducked through burning buildings. Fire bloomed around me, turning the broken homes red. Shattered windows glared at me with jagged, twisted smiles. The walls leaned in and the flames closed in and the footsteps finally reached me and—
I woke up with a start.
My heart raced in my chest and my pulse thundered in my ears. ...
2022-09-10 02:28:27 +0000 UTC View PostI desperately wanted to see the sun shining through the clouds when I woke up, but I had no such luck. The heavy gray pall still churned slowly across the sky. Everything was wet, but it hadn’t yet rained today.
Seyari and I had spent a sodden, miserable night under the lee side of a rocky hill. My partner was still asleep, the slow sound of her breathing giving better comfort than anything else I could imagine right now.
Yesterday had been a waking nightmare. Today I hoped for ...
2022-09-07 01:27:46 +0000 UTC View PostSuggestions for the September side story are open! I'll collect suggestions for a week or so ahead of the vote.
Side stories are approximately chapter length (min 2000 words, max ~10k).
Reply to this post with ideas! Or slide on into the discord and post in the Side Story Suggestions channel!
Ideas do not have to be canon! What ifs and alternate timelines are perfectly acceptable. Do refrain from i...
2022-09-04 02:46:47 +0000 UTC View PostLorelei and I arrived to a scene of carnage. We’d already passed the site where I was ambushed; the group had moved up to be ahead of the collapsed area, and that’s where this new fight had started.
We arrived in time to see a wounded Seyari facing down two people. Bodies were scattered around the trio; all of the dead had been sliced or burned by holy magic. Seyari herself was aglow with power, eyes and hair shining through the rain.
She looked a complete mess, one arm hangin...
2022-09-03 04:09:46 +0000 UTC View PostHi Patrons! I want to thank each and every one of you for another month of awesome support! This month's story-to-date PDF finally has art courtesy of #JoBalalala6337 on Discord.
There's also been a cover art update over on RR & SH. The titling is still temporary. More final titling has been drafted, but still needs to be put together with the art. Expect that sometime in September.
Lastly, this PDF has no major changes except a bit of revision to the first page of Chapter 1. ...
2022-08-31 03:03:03 +0000 UTC View PostPerspective: Zarenna
I stood shocked after hearing Lorelei’s voice. I’d walked right into an ambush, meant probably for both Seyari and me, alone. How did they know we’d come through here? How was Lorelei here?
“You are not in charge!” a deeper voice yelled.
I needed to move—now. I was in the open; a near cliff with ambushers on top on one side, and a ravine down to the river on the other.
Bolts of magic and magicked arrows flew by...
2022-08-31 03:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Hi everyone! This side story was a whirlwind to do. Next month, I'm going to hold the vote earlier to give myself a bit more time with the prompt. I got it done on time, but cut it way closer than I would have liked. That said, I'm pretty happy how this one turned out and I hope you enjoy it!
The bell above the door chimed as I walked into the Righteous Bean. Walked? Dashed, more like it. Seyari had skipped class again today, ...
2022-08-31 00:35:38 +0000 UTC View PostPerspective: Lorelei
I watched the tips of the pine trees through the window of the carriage. Across the fields, the dark green points stood all in a line like soldiers before a battle. Overhead, gray clouds hung low in the sky. It’d rain soon.
I always liked the rain back in Ardath. I could sit inside and feel cozy while the world seemed to slow down around me. When the clouds broke and the sun came out, the mist coming off the fields was always so pretty. I ev...
2022-08-27 03:48:08 +0000 UTC View PostSeyari lent me a spare change of her own clothes for the walk back to town—I had to go barefoot since her shoes wouldn’t fit. Her clothing stretched awkwardly over my much larger frame, but the loose fit (for Seyari) worked just well enough to keep me decent.
Much of our stuff was gone, but thankfully we hadn’t taken everything with us when we went with Ruston to hunt the demon. Still, one of our packs, some rations, and the sleeping part of our camping supplies had been turned to...
2022-08-24 03:43:56 +0000 UTC View PostIn silence, the three of us made our way up toward the ridgeline, following the creek. Seyari’s wind magic swirled the air around us gently, obscuring our scent and sound. The supernatural stillness of the forest put me on edge. I’d gotten used to my presence having this effect, but when I passed through in my normal form, the forest seemed to hold its breath. Here and now? The forest was dead.
The plants around us seemed fine, but no animals truly lived here. Subtle signs: blackber...
2022-08-20 02:52:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe whole tavern was stunned into silence.
Fredrick broke it. “Damnit, Ruston…”
“What happened?” I asked.
“His father… disappeared trying to chase down where the monsters are coming from,” Fredrick responded with some hesitation. “It’s not my place to talk about.”
I turned to Seyari who had narrowed her eyes at Fredrick. “I think we’ll talk to him in the morning,” she said.
“I think we should talk to him tonight,” I looked at Seyar...
2022-08-17 03:43:40 +0000 UTC View PostVote for what you want to see written for this month's side story!
This poll will be up for a week, and the story will be be posted before the end of August.
EDIT: We have a tie! That means I'll decide between the top two options. For fairness, I am going to pick the older suggestion (coffee shop AU). And don't worry, we'll see the other options show up again next month. Expect the story to release on the 30th of this month.
2022-08-13 04:12:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe road south continued. Gradually, the path widened from a trail to something a particularly determined person might have been able to get a wagon down.
Our mood was bright against the dull gray day. There’d been a short rain in the morning. The petrichor and birdsong were a sharp relief against the last few days. I hummed a tune while we walked. Not something I remembered from my old life, but I’d heard the tune many times in Navanaea. Aretan’s mercenaries had put word...
2022-08-13 04:03:17 +0000 UTC View PostIf you're new, or catching up, start here! As always, your support is awesome and you are too!
We’d hardly walked a hundred meters down the road when I saw a path intersecting ours. Perhaps it was a road once as well? Stones had been laid along it, rather than the packed earth of the trail we were following.
Still in the new growth of short, dense trees, I couldn’t see past a bend down the other trail.
I looked at Seyari. “I—”
“Fine,” she cut me off then sighed. “But stay careful, and if we fight, I’m calling the shots this time, Lana.” 2022-08-10 04:19:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Seyari and I talked through the night. Mostly about our pasts, but really about anything we could that would take our minds off what had happened. Seyari said she was doing it for me, but I doubted she was unbothered by death. Even after everything Yothariel did, Seyari still tensed up when she spoke of killing.
Come dawn, I changed my clothes for new ones without the extra holes my arms and tail had punched out last night. I hadn’t noticed until we packed everything up. Our tent had ...
2022-08-06 07:54:34 +0000 UTC View PostSuggestions for the August side story are open! I'll collect suggestions for a week or so ahead of the vote.
Also, I think it's relatively clear, but side stories are approximately chapter length (min 2000 words, max ~10k).
Reply to this post with ideas! Or slide on into the discord and post in the Side Story Suggestions channel!
Ideas do not have to be canon! What ifs and alternate timelines are p...
2022-08-03 02:46:40 +0000 UTC View PostI didn’t like Jacob. The entire time Seyari was haggling the price for a weeks’ worth of food, he stared at me across the fire pit. The sun set, negotiations finished, and he’d only looked away when Ned addressed him.
I tried to pay attention to how Seyari argued for a price, but wasn’t fully able to. She started with relative items for bartering, then used those items value to suggest a price. I weighed in a few times, once to confirm that, yes, I do eat a lot, and the ot...
2022-08-03 02:42:22 +0000 UTC View PostHi everyone!
Once again, I want to thank everyone for their support! Here's this month's story-to-date PDF. For those who have been reading ahead for a while there's some additional content (mostly introspection) added to Chapters 25 and 32 that may not have been there when you read them. There shouldn't be any significant changes aside from grammar and typo fixes.
2022-07-31 20:21:57 +0000 UTC View PostPerspective: Zarenna
The pine forests of northeast Ordia made me nostalgic for the tall green firs of my homeland. Everything looked like an altered version of the forests I played in as a child. I imagined this far north that the weather would be warmer, but the elevation kept the air cool.
I walked beside Seyari in my human form. The wet crunch of needles under boots was a familiar, comforting sound. Were it not for our grim goal, I’d be tempted to call the at...
2022-07-30 03:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post